Arcadia's Surprise Attack

Wiiing—! Wiiing—! Wiiing—!

Klaxons howled through Imperial Orbital-04, bathing the entire colony in a strobe of emergency red. Clapping a hand over one ear, Geon glanced nonchalantly at the mechanical eagle perched on his shoulder.

"Hey, Dark. That escape pod we left docked over there—it's safe, right?"

"Yeah? Good enough, then."

Geon stretched into an idle yawn and began brushing sandwich crumbs off his shirt when suddenly—

Grab!

A slender hand clamped around his wrist, violently yanking him forward. Startled, he glanced back to find Seria, the very officer who had handed him cash before parting ways only moments earlier.

"Geon! What are you doing standing around? We have to get out of here!"

"Uh… Seria? You haven't left yet?"

"Are you blind to what's happening?!" she shouted over the blare of sirens. "It's a surprise raid! A refugee with no connections and no memories like you will be the first to die if you hesitate!"

Seria tightened her grip with grim resolve. A fierce sense of duty burned in her eyes—the unyielding pride of a noblewoman and an officer who refused to abandon a defenseless civilian to slaughter.

"Whoa, hold on a second! Seria, where are you taking me?"

As Geon was dragged along, Seria dodged falling debris from shattered storefronts without breaking stride or looking back.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly! I am Seria, ace pilot and the only daughter of the commander of the Neo Terra Alliance's 'Iron Blood' 3rd Fleet!"

"…An ace pilot?"

"That's right! So stop having second thoughts, trust me, and follow my lead. I will protect you to the very end!"

Watching her dash forward with such fierce conviction, Geon stifled a quiet chuckle.

The daughter of the Iron Blood 3rd Fleet Commander, huh? Well, talk about top-tier backing.

Plastering on a look of helpless innocence, Geon willingly matched his stride to hers.

Boom—! Crash! Rattle!

Breaching the smoke and rising flames, they arrived at Imperial Orbital-04's restricted military docks. Waiting in front of a transport ship bearing the prominent insignia of the Iron Blood 3rd Fleet were two female pilots, pacing with anxious expressions.

"Lady Seria! You're safe!"

"Sitrep, now!" Seria barked. "How on earth did those Machine Empire bastards breach a neutral zone?!"

One of the pilots stepped forward, voice tight with urgency.

"It's a special clone infiltration squad from the Machine Empire Arcadia! They exploited the colony's demilitarized status by disguising themselves as civilian cargo transports!"

"What's their objective?"

"The Latest Next-Gen Mobile Suits belonging to both the Earth Alliance and our Neo Terra Alliance stationed here! Two of our elite frontline units were just hijacked! Arcadia's clone pilots are currently piloting them and tearing through the colony's interior!"

"What…?! They dared steal Neo Terra machines?!"

Seria's expression turned frigid. In a heartbeat, the commanding aura of a seasoned soldier enveloped her entirely. "Understood. Prep my personal unit in Hangar 1 immediately. I'll tear those scrap heaps apart myself."

"Understood, ma'am!"

Seria turned toward the hangar, then paused and pointed back toward Geon, who was standing quietly behind her.

"Escort him aboard the fleet's primary transport ship as well. He's a displaced refugee who lost his memories while drifting through deep space. He has nowhere safe to stay, so see to his protection until this battle is over."

"Excuse me? A civilian aboard the command transport?"

Seeing the pilots hesitate, Seria hardened her tone. "He is my personal guest. Treat him with utmost courtesy."

"…Understood, Lady Seria!"

The two pilots snapped sharp salutes. Seria turned back to Geon, softening her expression into a reassuring smile.

"Geon, you'll be safe inside the vessel. I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going to eliminate the hostiles, so stay put and remain unharmed, understood?"

"Understood. Please be careful out there, Seria."

Geon offered her a warm, harmless smile worthy of any grateful refugee, then stepped smoothly inside the flagship transport of the rival faction.

Well, look at that… I just secured VIP entry into the heart of a Neo Terra fleet without lifting a single finger.

Shown into a comfortable evacuation lounge, Geon flopped down onto a plush sofa without a shred of tension.

"Haaah. Truly, lying down is the pinnacle of life."

"Relax, relax. Our brilliant ace pilot will clean up the mess outside."

Yawning wide enough to crack his jaw, Geon closed his eyes and drifted off.

A few hours slipped past in peace—until—

KABOOOOM—!

An ear-splitting blast ripped through the air, violently bucking the entire hull. The ceiling collapsed, sending plumes of scorching fire and jagged shrapnel roaring through the corridors like an iron blizzard.

Fzzzt…

Yet the space immediately surrounding Geon remained dead quiet. Sheltered within ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a shimmering silver dimensional distortion barrier conjured by Dark, Geon opened his eyes at his own leisurely pace, not a single hair out of place.

"Man… I'm exhausted, and they're already raising a racket."

Rising from the couch, Geon surveyed his surroundings. The scene was pure devastation. The hull had been blown wide open to the void of space, decompression alarms wailing weakly as the corpses of Alliance soldiers drifted across the buckled floor plates.

Amid the mangled wreckage nearby, a ragged cough broke the silence.

"Cough! Hrk…!"

Stepping closer, Geon found a middle-aged man in a formal officer's uniform spitting up thick mouthfuls of blood. The ornate golden insignia pinned to his torn shoulder boards marked him as a senior commander of the 3rd Fleet.

With fading eyes, the man looked up at Geon, pouring the final remnants of his fading life into a desperate whisper.

"Se… Seria… Please… she must… live…"

His hand fell limp against the deck plates.

Geon regarded the corpse with detached indifference, then shifted his gaze toward the open expanse above the colony.

The surprise assault orchestrated by Arcadia's clone operatives had concluded in an utter rout for the Alliance. The warships and mecha of the Iron Blood 3rd Fleet were scattered across the docks in smoldering, unrecognizable ruins.

Standing triumphant amid the carnage were three hijacked next-generation mobile suits, their towering frames humming with stolen power.

Kneeling beneath their massive iron feet were Seria and the two female pilots from earlier, their cockpits abandoned as they were forced into unconditional surrender.

"Father…! Sob… Father…!"

Seria clawed at the bloodstained deck, weeping uncontrollably. The dying officer Geon had just encountered was indeed her father—the supreme commander of the 3rd Fleet.

At that moment, the optical sensors of one of the hijacked machines flared an ominous crimson.

The colossal barrel of the mobile suit's beam rifle pivoted, locking onto Geon with lethal precision.

"Whoops."

Chuckling dryly, Geon raised both hands in a mock gesture of surrender and strolled casually toward Seria.

"Geon…?! You're… you're still alive…?"

Tear-stained and trembling, Seria looked up in disbelief. Geon merely took his place beside her, tilting his head back to gaze at the colossal war machine blotting out the sky.

"Excuse me. What happens to us now?"

Through the mobile suit's external speaker, the rasping, synthetic voice of an Arcadia clone pilot sneered down at them.

"You have two choices, inferior vermin. Either be atomized into dust right here, or live out the rest of your miserable lives as slave labor for the Arcadia Empire."

"Ah… hard labor really doesn't suit me." Geon sighed heavily, muttering toward the mechanical eagle on his shoulder. "Hey, Dark. This won't do. Deploy the Astrape."

"Good bird. Efficient as always."

Smiling serenely, Geon shook his head at the looming machine whose beam rifle remained fixed on his chest.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm really not built for taking orders from someone else."

"Then die, you arrogant wretch!"

Losing patience, the clone pilot squeezed the trigger.

Zzzzzzzt—!

A blinding lance of high-energy plasma tore through the air, screaming straight toward Geon and Seria's group—

BOOOOOOOM—!

Tearing through the ceiling from the heavens above, a titan clad in jet-black armor descended faster than sound, slamming into the deck directly before Geon.

Clang!

The searing, multi-thousand-degree beam blast struck the specialized composite armor along the machine's back and shattered into harmless sparks, failing to leave behind so much as a scorch mark.

"W-What is that machine…?!"

Seria and her pilots gasped, paralyzed with awe. Sleek, terrifying, and radiating absolute dominance, the black god of war was unlike any mobile weapon designed by human hands. It was an impossible relic of lost technology—a Chief-God Class Mobile Weapon.

The Astrape.

Stepping forward with leisurely strides, Geon issued a quiet command. "Dark, throw a barrier around those three women. If stray shrapnel kills them, I lose my chance to collect on that meal."

A translucent sphere of spatial distortion enveloped Seria and her subordinates. With a casual wink toward Seria, Geon leapt lightly into the Astrape's open cockpit hatch.

Hiss—clack.

The hatch sealed shut. The Astrape's dual optic sensors ignited with a predatory, brilliant crimson.

"W-What the hell is that thing?! Fire! Destroy it all!"

Panicking, the three hijacked Alliance mobile suits and dozens of supporting Arcadia drone craft unleashed every weapon in their arsenals. Artillery fire and missile barrages flooded the colony interior with a sea of flame.

Yet when the smoke cleared, Astrape was already gone.

BOOM!

"Too—too fast—!"

A single leap.

Surpassing Mach velocity in a fraction of a second, the Astrape warped the very air around its silhouette. With a single, fluid slash of its physical blade, one of the stolen Alliance prototypes was cleaved cleanly down the middle, erupting into a violent fireball.

KABOOM!

"Impossible! A machine with these specs doesn't exist in our database!"

"It's a monster! Evade—!"

It was not a battle; it was an execution.

With every step Astrape took, Arcadia's frontline machines were crumpled, torn, and crushed like discarded tin cans. Like a king sweeping pawns off a chessboard, the black titan wiped out the entire strike force, drones included, in less than sixty seconds.

Crash—!

As the final enemy unit disintegrated into scrap and fire, absolute silence settled over the ruined colony docks.

Slowly, having concluded the one-sided slaughter, the Astrape turned and walked toward Seria. Lowering itself onto one knee in an elegant salute, its chest hatch slid open.

Out stepped the young man in casual civilian clothes.

"Whew… It's been a while since I piloted. My joints are killing me."

Stretching his arms as he hopped down to the deck, Geon caught sight of Seria's slack-jawed expression. The shock was so profound that she had forgotten her grief, staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Geon… Just… what on earth are you…?"

Before Geon could offer an answer, a thunderous tremor shook the heavens.

Rumble—!

High above, where Arcadia's earlier bombardment had punched a massive breach through the colony's armored dome, reality itself began to buckle. Space-time folded, twisting until an immense dimensional warp gate tore through the void.

Fwwwoooosh—!

Gliding through the tear in space came the legendary dreadnought that had struck terror into the hearts of all galactic superpowers.

An insurmountable apex of over-technology, draped in pitch-black armor and pulsing with geometric light—

The Dien Fleet.

The colossal flagship settled into position, its monolithic silhouette blotting out the sky through the shattered dome.

"Th-That ship… The one that appeared a year ago…?!"

"No way… Why would that ghost battleship be here…?!"

The two female pilots screamed in panic. Seria trembled from head to foot, overwhelmed by the sight.

For the past year, the identity of the absolute sovereign commanding that invincible warship had remained the greatest enigma in the known galaxy.

Framed by that breathtaking spectacle, Geon turned back to Seria with his trademark harmless grin.

"I told you earlier, didn't I, Seria?"

Geon raised a finger, pointing lazily toward the continent-sized flagship dominating the colony's sky.

"I said I'd pay you back for the meal. That ship up there? It's mine."

Seria's breath caught in her throat.

The man she had pitied as a penniless, amnesiac castaway—the one she had bought street food for and handed pocket money—was in truth the supreme commander capable of bending the entire galaxy to his whim.

The colony fell dead silent.

"Signal lost! All communication with the special clone infiltration unit deployed to Imperial Orbital-04 has been completely severed!"

"What?! What happened to the Alliance next-gen units they secured?!"

"All units destroyed, sir! Time elapsed until total annihilation… exactly fifty-eight seconds!"

Panic tore through the core military command of the Machine Empire Arcadia.

It had been an airtight operation. By exploiting the vulnerability of a neutral colony, they had successfully stolen rival prototypes and routed an entire enemy task force. To hear that the entire unit had evaporated in under a minute was something no strategist could comprehend.

"Incompetent fools! Pull up the telemetry logs and playback the last black box recording immediately!"

At the commander's roar, distorted video static flickered across the command center's main display.

Through the broken feed played footage of an all-black mobile weapon—Astrape. Moving at velocities that mocked the speed of sound, the machine butchered the empire's units as if peeling apart tin foil.

"Th-There is no record of such a unit in the imperial database! Its performance… it can only be categorized as a Chief-God Class Mobile Weapon!"

"Wait… Look above it! What is that…?!"

The footage violently warped as the camera tilted toward the breach in the colony's ceiling.

Emerging through the spatial distortion was a single, pitch-black vessel large enough to dwarf the entire sector, radiating complex geometric luminescence.

The dread phantom that had manifested out of nowhere a year ago, casting both the Alliance and the Empire into paralyzing dread.

"Why would a vessel that has remained dormant for an entire year appear at a neutral colony?!"

The commander's face drained of all color.

A pinnacle of lost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠technology capable of glassing an entire planet single-handedly had just strolled right into the very site the Empire chose to attack.

"Issue a Tier-1 planetary emergency across all imperial forces immediately!"

The commander screamed, his voice cracking with terror.

"Reclassify that colossal dreadnought and the pilot of that black unit as the Empire's highest-priority, indestructible threats! A monster that should have never been provoked has awakened!"

Far away, backed by nothing more than an easygoing smile, Geon had just set the balance of the entire universe trembling.