Sparks in the Ashes
The embers from the burning building danced through the air like fireflies. A squad of robots burst from the ruins and raced across the shattered road. Gunfire echoed from every direction. The lead robot weaved through the bullets with impossible grace, drew its own weapon, and fired back—then the world froze.
A few seconds later, the paused scene flipped upside down as upbeat rock music blasted through my speakers. I hummed along, fingers already clicking open a new browser tab.
It was the wildly popular mecha series Aindium. Launched fifteen years ago, it was widely regarded as a landmark in the genre. What began as a TV anime had expanded into manga, games, theatrical films, and novels, growing more beloved with each new medium. There had even been a live-action adaptation—something fans politely never mentioned, treating it like a dark family secret.
The ending credits rolled, and the teaser for next week’s episode began to play.
“...But someone appears to stand in their way… Next time on —The Distant Battlefield—”
Tonight’s episode had been pretty solid. As a longtime fan, I was curious what everyone else thought. I opened the fan site where new posts flooded in by the second and clicked on a random thread.
As the discussion around the latest episode began to die down, a new argument flared up. Because Aindium had been beloved for so long, it had a massive base of hardcore fans. The new anime adaptation had also brought in a flood of first-time viewers, which made every debate especially heated. The biggest one, of course, was the “true heroine debate.”
A handsome male protagonist naturally attracted competent and charming heroines, and the series’ tradition of polyamorous relationships was one of its biggest draws. The female characters in this installment felt more like classmates, so there wasn’t a clear frontrunner. But a new underclassman character who had appeared recently was gaining popularity at an alarming rate.
Her name was Ruwina, a first-year who was one grade below the protagonist. Her mysterious debut atmosphere had given way to a bright, affectionate personality and stunning visuals that clearly received the animation team’s full love and attention. She had even taken first place in the recent fan site popularity poll. As a result, she was under constant attack from supporters of the original heroine candidates.
As a fairly longtime core fan, I couldn’t just sit by while this kind of bait was being thrown around. My fingers flew across the keyboard.
I cackled at the replies for a while until sleep finally caught up with me. I shut down the computer and collapsed into bed. At my age, staying up all night to watch anime live was starting to take its toll. From next week on, I’d just watch it after waking up.
Oh, right. There was still one thing left to do before bed.
I opened the Aindium mobile game on my phone, burned through all my stamina on auto-battle, then tapped the once-per-day free summon that had just refreshed with the new date.
A brilliant flash—
“Oh.”
From the free summon—which was supposed to have much worse rates than paid or earned summons—I had pulled a highest-grade character. And judging by the loading bar, it was a brand-new one I’d never seen before…
Huh?
“SSR Ruwina?”
When did they add Ruwina? The protagonist of this series had only come out recently. I didn’t remember seeing any update notes about her. Even searching the game community turned up nothing except people asking when she would be released.
My drowsiness vanished completely. I sat up straight and selected Ruwina in the character menu.
Ruwina Edelstia
— Text corrupted —
The garbled text made it obvious this pile of code had glitched again. They must have accidentally pushed the next character to the live server by mistake. The gacha was supposedly locked, but maybe they’d left her in the free summon pool anyway. Typical sloppy work from the dev team.
I poked around to see if I could preview her skills or stats, but every field was blank except for the corrupted introduction text. At least I finally learned her full name. She’d been such a mystery that even the official site only listed “Ruwina.” Edelstia, huh? It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
It felt like a major spoiler. I was about to take a screenshot to post on the boards when—
Flash!
A blinding light burst from my phone screen, and my mind went completely white.
The first thing that woke me wasn’t the sharp pain in my chest. No one could stay calmly unconscious with explosions ripping through their ears and heat scorching their back. Had a gas line blown?
I looked around, but everything was pitch black. If I stayed here, another blast might catch me. But my body, sprawled on the ground, refused to move.
BOOM—!
While I struggled to get up, a massive pillar of fire erupted nearby with a deafening roar. A huge silhouette appeared in the flames. I’d thought it was just the shadow of a building, but it was slowly moving toward me.
What the hell was that? A giant?
Every time its footsteps shook the ground beneath me, I felt my lifespan shorten. I was certain that in a few seconds I would be crushed to death by this unidentified colossus.
I had to move—
Thud.
Please move!
“Hngh.”
A voice that sounded awkward even to my own ears slipped out, and my fingers twitched. Then, as if by magic, my frozen body began to obey. I pressed my clammy palms against the ground, pushed myself up, and forced my trembling knees to straighten. Even in perfect condition I probably couldn’t have outrun it; now that my whole body felt like it had been through a meat grinder, it seemed even more impossible. Still, my legs somehow dragged me forward.
Luckily the giant hadn’t noticed me. The earth-shaking footsteps gradually grew distant. Another explosion roared behind me, and I ran blindly forward, eyes fixed straight ahead.
How long did I stumble through the dark mountain path, using the burning trees—set ablaze by the explosions—as makeshift torches? Their lives burned away to give me light.
Whirr—
The sound of machinery came from afar. An engine? At least it wasn’t the giant that had been trying to kill me. The relief made me drop my guard completely.
My legs gave out. I collapsed to the ground, so exhausted and disoriented that I felt like I could fall asleep right there.
While my mind drifted in a haze, the surroundings grew noisy, then quiet again. Suddenly my body floated upward. Someone was carrying me on their back.
Instinctively, I curled my arms around them, half-embracing the person supporting me.
“Ugh…”
My throat was so raw the groan didn’t even sound like my own. A moment later, a low voice spoke.
It was the calm, tightly controlled voice of a young woman. I was sure I’d never heard it before, yet somehow it felt familiar—and comforting. Following her words, I closed my eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.