Kurisutarumajishan Chapter IX: Tides of Endless War

"This girl…" Hanagura said as sunk back on her chair. "Did you see what she was capable of?"

"This girl.. she's unnatural… She's like a Demon, if a Demon manifested itself as a darker force" She replied, her voice shaking slightly.

"Describe her" Hanagura said, motioning her to speak once more.

"This girl.. her Flare was indescribably black… It's a black void… I-I.." She stuttered, showing signs of disdain and fear. "She was just… Eating everything around her… That black veil on her figure.. it's just this all-consuming void of hate…"

"Is that so?" Hanagura muttered, showing quite a lot of interest in the matter.

"Yes…" Farah replied, subtly shaking.

Hanagura leaned on to the table, interlocking her hands as she rests her head on it, thinking.

"Farah, I want you to trust me, trust me until we find out if Kalliope is okay" Hanagura assured. "If… Hell forbid… Kalliope is gone… Just keep yourself and your entire team with me, is that understood?"

"Yes… Of course Hanagura…" She replied.

"We'll have to stick together.. if we don't wish to burn in the depths of our own world" Hanagura nodded her head, motioning the office door.

"Okay then.. I trust you Hanagura" Farah replied, her voice emanating an ounce of hope.

She exited the room, and went ahead towards her team's bunks. Hanagura remained in her place, pondering questions that sprouted during her questioning, falling in a rabbit hole of anxiety and fear as to how she herself would fair against this girl, if Kalliope herself has exerted that much alone.

Hanagura pressed button for the intercom, leaning close to the steam punk like microphone.

"Lieutenant Carter, bring your shock troop with you" She said. She waited in her quarters, she took a paper from the desk drawer, took a fountain pen and started to write onto it.

The Lieutenant entered, he propped his weapon into the door, and forwarded to the desk. He saluted to greet his superior.

"General! I have come as you asked" Carter responded. Carter is a tall warrior, 2 inches shorter than his General, he was what the Demons called, a "Raytailanan" a reptile like humanoid with differing skin colour, with white being the more prominent and common. Raytailanan Demons were crocodile like in appearance, their tribe's kind was specialized in reconnaissance due to their hunting abilities, as well as their natural ability to see in the dark. Because of this, Raytailanans were often given a spot within intelligence ranks, as well as positions within Special Forces and even the Royal Guards.

Carter was renowned for his violent manner of interrogating prisoners as well as his prowess in hunting, killing over a thousand important Knights in different kingdoms within the Coalition, famously killing Reanard The Assasin and Alex the Formidable. Lt. Carter, wore a special armour that identified him of his position, a very light and sharp angled breast plate with four segments that protect the ribs downwards, a shoulder pylon that resembled that of the Arbiter, and a pauldron that held the weapon binders on them.

"Lieutenant" She called as she finished the letter, handing it to him. He accepted, taking it from her.

"Any other requests General Hanagura?" He responded, standing at ease.

"Nothing else. Follow what is written in the paper, and record the happenings, if the unfortunate occurs…Bring her remains back to us" Hanagura said, her voice deep in grim and fear.

"Y-yes.. General" He saluted. "Although.. do change your demeanor dear General. Let's hope our comrade is alive and well"

"You're right Lieutenant" Hanagura replied "Pardon my demeanor"

"It's not a serious matter General, I'd rather you worry about yourself General"

The Lieutenant exited the room, his men stood up and looked at him with anticipation.

"Scouting mission, towards the battle occurring at General Kalliope's base" He informed reading the paper. "There will be no engagement, we'll be deploying five minutes from now so do get your stealth loadout before we set out"

"Yes commandant" They all replied, bowings slightly.

They headed to their quarters, retrieving their items before setting out towards the forefront of the battlefield. Carter stood by the gate awaiting his men, who marched clad in their stealth gear, in contrast to the technology of the Humans, the Demons have seemingly reached the industrial age where mechanical weaponry such as rifles and other weapons are being manufactured, with their Panzerwagens being the latest addition to the arsenal. Carter's team consisted of three riflemen, a Sniper, and a radioman who carried a short burst radio, they all lined up by the gates before Carter, who inspected his watch.

The clock ticked, he tucked it on the side of his armour.

"Check your equipment before roll out" He uttered as he took his bolt-action rifle, opening the chamber before loading it with a magazine, the others followed before idling themselves.

"Equipment check complete" He said, he took a device that had a crystal sphere in the middle, he turned it on as suggested by the green light that's been blinking. "This Carter and the 78th Demon Corps, 0600, Operation start. Let's go do this mission quickly"

Carter opened the small door, letting his men go out first before they ran to the right side into the woods. He joined his men, lowering themselves into the brush as they scuttled towards the Tangkagare Rouheri Demon Base.

"Is there something wrong Commander?" Asked one of his soldiers.

"Nothing Private Garr" He replied sternly "Keep close in formation, we don't want to attract the enemy's attention"

"Roger, keep formation" Followed Garr, who also ordered the rest of the squad.

As they scuttled through the forest before feeling the wild shaking of the earth as the ground shook. They all halted, and grabbed onto a tree.

"What was that?!" Kenneth shouted.

"Keep your voice down, we must be near" Carter said, motioning to lower their voice.

"What is she fighting that the earth must shake under their steps?" Borja, their demolitions expert.

"I don't know Borja. Keep low in the bushes, we need to get closer" Carter responded, he counted his men, and proceeded to order them to their post. "Borja, Kenneth, I want you over just that treeline over there. Garr, Uirenth, get inside the base and retrieve any important documentation and files, do not leave without the Operation Logs and the project files. Now move!"

The four had slipped away, scuttling on their abdomen reaching their posts, with both Borja and Kenneth recording the battle as it happened, writing it frivolously in a small pad.

Carter climbed into one of the taller trees in the area and observed from there, seeing that both Borja and Kenneth were documenting the battle he nodded to himself, counting and recalling his men's names. He looked towards the other two, who had successfully infiltrated the base, he did the same.

It wasn't his first time meeting an existence erasing monster, having already fought a few during the middle stages of the war until the summoning of the Demon Queen. He fought beside his General, and had since became her right hand man until her promotion then allocation into the Eisenring Tropen. He observed from atop the tree branch he carefully crouched on, aghast at the fireworks of flashes and swift sword swings propelled by the Demon General.

"What the fuck is this…" He muttered as he watched overhead, he kept taking quick glances towards the entrance where Garr and Uirenth infiltrated in. He was getting twitchy, impatient, he kept glancing towards his teams and all of a sudden, a dark miasma filled the air, spreading across a wide area. It reached them, making them feel paranoid about their situation, something has blinded their senses and they don't know what's happening.

"Garr! What's happening?!" Uirenth whispered at Garr, who was visibly disturbed as everyone else.

"I have no idea! Let's get everything from this locker and waltz out! I have a bad feeling about something!" He replied, readying himself to run at raptors pace.

"S-Sure" Uirenth agreed, taking a chunk of folders and stashing it in his bag.

Carter was getting quite paranoid, anything he hears has become an enemy to his eyes, looking around, squinting around the brush and the bushes. A single rustle his eyes darts towards it, a knock at the tree's trunk woke him up, he held the branch and looked down.

Below he saw the four men he commanded, ushering him to go down. He did, scuttling down to the base of the trunk haphazardly.

"D-Did you get it Uirenth?" Carter asked, his eyes watering, he wiped them off as he breathed hastily.

"Yes Captain… Are you okay?" Garr replied as he opened the bag Uirenth carried, revealing stashes of documents inside. Carter shook his head in a tottering manner, before doing a mental head count of everyone, repeating their names under his breathe. He motioned for them to follow him, before he proceeded to scuttle back towards their base.

Carter was out of breathed as he scuttled with his crew, Garr took his captain and hoisted him to his back. As they scuttled out of the area the ground rumbled, the shock troop was staggered, digging their claws into the ground as the earth kept rumbling under a mysterious force.

Uirenth noticed a beam of white light piercing the castle, tearing it in half as it beamed upwards before it collapsed into itself, crumbling slowly away. They peeked out of the brush they hid, scanning for any enemy nearby, instead they were met with a billowing smoke and a loud creaking of metal as the tower fell onto its weight, collapsing quickly. As soon as the damage had been done, the miasma has lifted, releasing the group out of their discombobulated state.

"What… was that…" Garr asked his colleagues, panting as he soon relaxed himself.

"I… I-I don't know" Carter replied, he glanced at his other crewmen, and they were starting to relax as well. "We need to get back to base, they'll start to examine the site soon so let's hurry"

"Yes sir!" they replied, before scuttling back towards their base.

Roungkagare Tanaki Demon Base | Present Time

"What was that rumbling?" Hanagura asked, directing the question to one of the Commanders that visited her office.

"I'm not sure General, I hope the shock troops is doing well" Said one, looking around the room.

"Believe in them Commander Horace, they'll be here soon with the information we needed" General Hanagura assured, motioning for them to sit on the couches.

Commander Horace, the commanding officer of the Heavy Assault troop stationed at the Demon Base. He is a Taurion soldier, with a build that's exceptional for his species. The Taurioss Demons are large demonic creatures that are well known for their thick hide, arrows and at times, cannons were rendered useless fighting against the Taurioss Demons. In their stead, the fields are covered in high yield landmines to counter their natural armour, and in the case for the Taurioss, the hide has lessened around their legs making them susceptible for attacks. Commander Horace was decorated in a Commander's armour were similar to Carter's in design, only that it was modified to suit his body type.

Beside Commander Horace was an average male Sapiens Demon, a common type of Demon found in any ranking of the Demon Army, commonly as cannon fodder. Commander Kiersten wears a light chest plate, with similar pylons on his shoulders, his great sword lay beside him with his arm wrapping around the hilt. The Commander was laid back, although quite powerful despite his calm and somewhat lazy.

Another burst into the room, a female Demon who wore a similarly designed armour, seemingly out of panic.

"General! Commander Carter has returned!" She roared. General Hanagura stood from her chair, and employed her to bring them in.

"Bring them in Commander Nakamura" She commanded.

A few minutes passed, and Nakamura returned with a quite misshapen, tired Commander Carter strung on her shoulder. She went ahead putting him on the couch, Kiersten aided, whispering assurance to Carter, who took deep breathes.

"What happened to him Nakamura?" He asked, keeping his comrade straight in his place.

"The shock troop encountered the person in question described by Farah…" Nakamura replied, she looked at Hanagura. " It would be better if the Commander explains the encounter… If you can, Commander Carter"

The heavy breathing commander waved an arm weakly, she nodded and sat beside Horace. Carter stood, aided by his comrade to the chair in front of the General.

"Commander" She spoke, leaning forward to give him a drink to which he took, draining the cup empty. "What happened to you?"

"General…." He gasped, still emptying the glass, before lightly placing it after gasping. "The Tangkagare Rouheri Demon Base has fallen…"

Everyone was silent, uttering not a word to whomever in the room. Hanagura stood, her expression mixed in a palette of confusion.

"What…" Hanagura uttered as she walked beside Carter, holding his shoulder.

"The base is gone… Hana…" Carter repeated "I don't know what happened to Kalliope, but the base is gone"

"It's… Gone…" She muttered "How..."

"A white beam pierced the base, it burned everything it touched and melted our metals to liquid" He replied, his voice subtly shaking. "The goddamn thing turned everything into molten ash in seconds…"

"Kalliope… What about her…?" Hanagura followed, Carter simply shook his head.

There was silence once more among the group, there was nothing to be said, neither was there any thought to vocalize. Hanagura slowly trotted to her seat, hopelessly sitting down, and laying on her chair. The other Commanders were speechless, unable to say a thing that could help with the situation, neither dissipate it.

Farah burst into the office door, panting, holding a pendant to her chest. Everyone looked at her with worry.

"Kalliope…" She muttered. "Where is she…"

Carter looked away from Farah, she took notice and pressed him with answers.

"Carter… Carter… Tell me what happened…" She pleaded. "Commander Horace…. Commander Nakamura…?"

They all looked away, unable to answer the poor Itellach.

"Commander Kiersten… Hanagura…" She pleaded, calling their names as she looked towards them.

Hanagura took a deep breath, she took her beret and wore it. The Commanding Officers looked up at her, with sorrow and perseverance.

"As you all know…" She started, masking the sadness in her voice "General Kalliope is currently M.I.A, we have no means of tracking the General, nor can we now simply march into Tangkagare Rouheri freely. The enemy has successfully demolished our defenses in that base as well as that Environmental Transformer, the tower was supposed to transform the forward base into something similar in our Hell Regions, with that gone we won't be able to exploit its benefits to our full capacity."

The Commanding officers were quite shocked, the General had twisted the situation to whatever advantage she can pull from it, covering the truth of the matter from Farah.

"We are now the Hell Army's first line of defense against the Coalition. We must push back and reclaim land or our efforts in this war is wasted, and to do this, we must learn our enemy as best as we can. Information is key, especially if our opponent is something out of this world" She glanced towards Farah, and then went to look at her comrades.

"Commanding Officer Carter will lead the reconnaissance, Commanding Officers Horace and Kiersten will be in charge of raising our defenses and our forces. If it comes to it, I want you to order the newer Panzerwagen models from General Gelguug and have them sent to our front line as soon as possible" She ordered, they nodded before exiting the room to abide by the commands. "Farah, I want you to help Commander Nakamura study the Flare and Aura of our person of interest. It is appreciated if we get to learn more about our opponent before any confrontation is held."

"I… I…" She stuttered, worry and anxiety enveloping her. "Yes… General Hanagura…"

"Ms Farah" Nakamura called, nodding at her.

"I'll follow.." She replied, doing so as Nakamura opened the door.

The two had exited the room, attending to their commands.

The room was left empty with Hanagura standing behind her table. She then reached out to her telecom and called for Carter and Kiersten, the two soon entered the room again.

"General!" They saluted.

"At ease" Hanagura said, they followed suite. "Our priority is knowing if General Kalliope is truly defeated… Whatever remains of her, or if she had fled and survived must be reported and brought back to the base immediately. The Tangkagare Rouheri Base has fallen, we must retrieve the General, my plan for the next few cycles would rely on our friend's escape, if not… Then I'm afraid that we must surrender to the opponent…"

"General Hanagura!" Carter exclaimed "Surrender?! Why should we bow to these humans!"

"They've broken multiple peace treaties even before the war! They've proven themselves to be incapable of-"

The two looked at each other, before Kiersten continued on his dialogue.

"Defeating us in a coordinated… Effort…"

Carter was in disbelief, he trusted Hanagura and had never failed following her lead. Of their many skirmishes, none had sounded as absurd as surrendering to the Coalition, or rather, to Natsuki.

"Hanagura… I know you… But do you have to think of such an absurd move..?" Carter reasoned.

"We've followed you, you've lead us to multiple victories, no one has died under your command and now this… What if we get executed after..?" Kiersten added, agreeing with Carter.

Hanagura took a deep breath, before responding to the two of them.

"Before my rule, before I met you guys… My old squadron was slaughtered and hunted.. We were responsible of sabotage and siege attacks on Human and orc encampments, we poisoned fairies.. and even killed our own to establish the Queen's rule." She sighed, before continuing. "We were relentless with our attacks, and the men we lost started to pile up until our leader was captured and executed.. I was forced to lead the remaining members, at times.. sacrificing them to achieve the goal we wanted"

The two were silent, a bit confused of the sudden storytelling, yet it brought them sorrow that such a great leader as Hanagura was born from the harshest bloodsheds during the initial stages of the war.

"Our village.. is in danger of getting axed from the map, they might be the next one after Kalliope had failed to defeat that one human. I don't want to see the faces of our people, thinking we've betrayed them" Hanagura held their shoulders "We promised each other during that night… Remember?"

"We retake Gunghaym Village, no matter the cost. Our home shall be safe…" Chanted the two in sync, before looking up at a smiling Hanagura.

"Victory is nothing without loss" She said, before patting the two. "Our goals are vastly different from theirs, this is our own."

Carter and Kiersten were quiet, they looked down as they thought about what Hanagura had said. They had stuck together all this time because of the love for their village, they've vowed to protect it at any cost, may it be a life of their comrade, or to surrender and fight for their village's freedom. Isn't this what we've always dreamed of? To lay down ourselves to protect something we truly admire? To protect a loving society until your bitter end?

Or was I wrong in thinking that?

They nodded, placing their hands on Hanagura's shoulder. They looked at her in the eye and responded.

"Lead the way General"

3 Hours Later | Roungkagare Tanaki Demon Base Present Time

Commander Horace entered in the briefing room with a slew of folders in his hand. He joined with the rest of the Commanders as well as Hanagura.

"Commander Horace, any news of our potential reinforcements?" Hanagura asked as she leaned on the planning table.

"Yes General" He replied, placing the folders on the table before opening them. "I've sent a request letter to the Qurezane Bongare Demon Base, in request of some reinforcements, preferably the newer models of the Panzerwagons"

"What was their reply?" Hanagura asked, walking to his side to read the papers.

"They said that the newer models are still in testing, though we'll be armed later this week with the current mainstay" He flipped through the pages and pointed at the illustrations that were with them, showing them to Hanagura as she inspected the files.

"Can't you convince them to bring the tanks tomorrow or the day after? We don't have a week until this person arrives" Hanagura asked as she inspected the files.

"I did.. We were denied.." Horace replied in a fading voice.

"Why so?" Hanagura asked, quite enraged about the matter.

Horace took a deep breath before reaching below the pile of folders, procuring a black folder and opening it. The contents of the illustration was wildly different from everything else that had been engineered by the Demon Army, it was strange, bizarre at the very best.

"What is this?" Hanagura asked as she flipped through the pages. "Why is this folder mostly redacted… What's this machine?"

"The Demon Queen seems to creating a large machine of sorts to pilot, it's supposed to be powered by a special crystal of sorts" Horace replied confused. "From what she had told me the crystal looks like an ordinary Amethyst, though it has properties that resonate with emotion"

Everyone was quite confused, there wasn't anything they had discovered that had that property, nor was there any item that could do so.

"What do you mean resonate with emotion? What does it look like?" Nakamura asked, curious about the item in question.

"I was only given such information, any additional would harm the secrecy of the project" Horace explained, shaking his head. "The project was a secret, and apparently, the Demon Queen wants full priority with the machine.. so materials would be hard to obtain to create the tanks for the army"

"What about the war? Don't they care about losing troops at all?" Carter protested.

"General Seraheim is having a hard time with allocating materials for the army, if this continues it might slowly burn into a war of attrition instead, is what I was told. She assured me that she'll try to bring the reinforcements as soon as she can"

Hanagura sighed, then pacing the room, pondering for an answer.

"Call the General once more, try and get a more earlier date for the arrival, we need that reinforcement" Hanagura pushed. "If we want to fight this demon we'll need that extra firepower"

"If you say so General" Horace nodded, before exiting the room back to the Transmission Office.

She sighed, before continuing the meeting with the rest of the Commanders.

"Once more…" She muttered, before repeating the mission. "If we're to fight this demon… We'd need to lure her in the base, before showering her with the firepower we have…"

"General" Carter called.

"Carter?" She responded, looking at him.

Carter approached her and held her hands, Hanagura looked down and saw that her hands were shaking, Carter motioned for Nakamura to fetch her some water and gave it to Hanagura.

"Sit down General, rest. Kiersten and I will handle it" He assured, patting her back. He looked towards Nakamura and Kiersten and motioned for them to get close to the table. They did so, and gathered around it as Carter started to explain a new plan.

Hanagura sat on the bench, drinking the water in small sips.

The meeting was adjourned by Carter, who told the others to do their tasks as planned, he sat beside the General who had a blanket over her. He took a sip of his cup, and explained the new plan to the General.

"What's the new plan Carter?" Hanagura asked, fiddling with the glass.

"If you want to fight this person, Horace's company would be the first one to engage, he'll try to exhaust her before mine and Kiersten's engages this demon. Nakamura will try to heal our forces until the enemy can be incapacitated beyond their combat ability"

"That's based off of Farah's information?" Hanagura asked, nodding at the plan.

"Mhm, she sounds amateur, but how she kills doesn't" Carter replied, taking another sip. "It's a gamble, though, I hope that all things considered, you won't fight it"

"Change of heart huh?" Hanagura asked.

"I guess you can say that" He replied, before standing up and fixing himself up. "I'll get going, I have to inform my men just in case"

"Mhm.. go ahead" Hanagura nodded. "Let's prepare well…"

Carter left the room, leaving Hanagura to her devices alone.

How could someone just pop into existence like that? Was a question stuck inside her mind, the moment Nakamura had told her what she had found, it was the only question that remained unsolved for her. There was nothing like her in previous, historic or ancient records that they can scour, the information was passed to the intelligence unit of the Eisenring Hollentruppe, Gelguug, was unable to surface a record that was according to the information that was relayed.

This was a problem for the Demon Army's Queen, who uses the Demon Nation's archive of documents and records of events as a medieval sort of path to keep tabs on entities that may prove to be a danger to her cause. This was effective, despite its age, along with the biological experiments done upon Itellach Demons, the Demon found a more effective way of combatting Humans and other races in their war through the use of steampunk machinery and Tesla-like contraptions.

The genetically enhanced Itellach demons were used as radar projectors, honing into different life signals of the entities that posed harm to the Queen's rule and war. This came at the cost of needing to be precise with the data to locate each person of interest, and without nothing to go off on but minute details and panicked descriptions of the P.I, there was little of what an advanced Itellach could do to locate, or learn from the entity in question.

"What are you… Where are you from…" She muttered to herself as she pondered the questions wildly, deep in her thought and trying to rationalize the events that transpired, and will transpire. The first General of many has fallen from this entity, she makes one wrong move and her tower of progress will fall.

Time passed, and the base was in the edge of their seats, they await the fate of their reality, hanging upon two thin strings that held heavy weights under them. The General sat upon her quarters, resuming her routine as if nothing was about to happen, the Commanders stood on their posts, their weapons held with shaking hands. And the hand of their world shook in gravity and weight upon the base, like an anvil threatened to be dropped on an innocent man's skull.

"C-Commander Carter! Commander Kiersten!" Shouted one of the demons above the castle walls. "THEY'RE HERE!!"

The Commanders were alerted to the front of the gates, Carter and Kiersten had positioned themselves on the other side of the castle gates, with the guardsmen awaiting by the mechanisms to pull it aside.

"Kiersten" Carter mumbled "Don't do anything drastic alright?"

"Listen here lizardman, I should be the one telling that to you" Kiersten replied.

They shot themselves warry and nervous grins, before bumping their forearms together, slowly approaching the gates.

"Commanders! They've stopped!" Shouted the guardsman nervously, his voice shook audibly, like his body who struggled to stand upright.

The Commanders took notice and nodded at the guardsman, before nodding at the gatekeepers who slowly turned the mechanism to open the gates. As Carter and Kiersten walked past the gates, exiting the protective walls of the fortress to the outside, they strolled farther from the fortress, their soldiers anxious and twitchy in their places.

No mutter was breathed, no sword was drawn, nor was there a movement in the grounds that lay in front of them. The Commanders strolled down the dirt road calmly and as they did they had encountered their visitors, who stood a distance from them.

Their visitors wore the black veil of the sky, casting ungodly shadows upon their figures. Two of them, one in a ponytail and one with both her swords unsheathed, lay dormant in her hands as they watched the Commanders. Behind the figures were two carts, seemingly a supply cart and a smithing cart, they looked rustled and slightly damaged, but there they were. Standing with strength behind the two whom commandeered the party.

"I am Commander Carter! The assassination and reconnaissance officer of the Roungkagare Tanaki Demon Base!" He announced, drawing not his weapon but his tongue.

"I am Commander Kiersten! The Commanding officer for the ground troops of Roungkagare Tanaki Demon Base!" He announced as well.

They both saluted, before bowing deeply.

"We implore you inside our fortress! We wish to negotiate our freedom!" Carter said, sweating bullets as he bowed.

"In exchange for our life, we will aid you in the destruction of the Demon Queen! We have our own town to protect, it is a must that we keep that promise!" Kiersten added.

There was silence between them, a storm rolled slowly into the afternoon sky, its shade of grey spreading around the clouds, before it completely enveloped the sky. The figures looked at each other, taking a while for them to converse silently as they had not uttered a word since their arrival.

The Commanders looked at each other before returning to their bows, patiently awaiting the response of their adversary. As time passed, rain started to fall down the sky, pitter pattering down the ground in a dull noise. In time the rain fell hard upon them, and the figures returned their gazes to the Commanders, who stood in anxious beating of their heartstrings.

"Raise your heads" Said the closest figure. Her shoulders held a strange shape for a shoulder pauldron, almost leaf-like in shape, with a head gear that curved into her back of her head.

"We accept your proposition, we will spare you in exchange for the information we needed" Said the other, who sheathed her gigantic weapons into her back holsters. "If our negotiations comes into fruition, then we will invite you into our ranks, and liberate your town from the Demon Queen"

The Commanders rose quickly, they looked at the figures with shining eyes and a smile that welcomed relief.

"We are relieved to hear your response! We shall prepare our briefing room for your arrival" Carter said, nodding to Kiersten who ran back into the fortress. "Do tell me, to whom do we owe the honour of negotiations?"

The figure with leaf-like armour halted the second, she thought for a moment before giving a proper answer to Carter.

"Neo Zeon"