Turning point

Two days later

Imperial Capital of Merovingard

Imperial Palace

§

Located deep behind the tall walls of the Imperial Palace was a massive garden of extraordinary beauty, the so-called Lumen Garden.

A massive section covering an area of 135 hectares within the Imperial Palace and divided into four parts. The Great Garden or Großer Garten in the native Imperial language, the Sonnegarten, the Williangarten and the Wulfengarten. A vast number of native and exotic plants thrived and flourished within these gardens, from the most common roses; to the magnificent flowering magnolia trees; and even the rarest orchids nature has to offer.

The Lumen garden was and always has been, one of the testament of how royal the Imperial Royalty can be at times.

However, completely unknown to literally everyone save a select few within the empire, there was a fifth garden; aptly named Lizens Garten. Smaller in size, not even a worthy comparison can be made between the public and this one. However the fifth garden has its own charm, as it was the private garden for the Imperial family, filled with many strange and rarest of rarest plant life, beautiful yet enigmatic.

Located deep within the heart of the fifth garden, was a gazebo which even though large enough to look like a small house, still looked rather plain compared to the bombastic and magnificent design commonly seen in the architecture used by the Imperial Royalty.

There was a man sitting there on a large dining table, dressed in regal red and gold attire befitting an Imperial Royalty. His bright blond hair that resembles a lion's mane and his tall stature was enough testament of his Royal blood. And to anyone who would doubt his legitimacy, the twin scarlet red iris of his eyes would be the final proof.

This man was none other than the Crown Prince of the Empire; Hannibal Rex Maximilian Albert Von Lineal.

His well-defined features were reminiscent of the old Junker aristocracy, a face full of vitality, intelligence, and authority. In simpler terms, he's very handsome.

However at the moment, that good looking face that could definitely make many women swoon was plagued by a frown and dark expression.

The reason was because of the report he's reading. The digitalised words sprawled across the table screen was enough to put a damper on his mood.

It was a report of the failed siege of the federation fortress of Rock Castle. The whole division and the four armored regiment sent there as reinforcement were all but completely defeated, the success they achieved on breaching the fortress wall now felt like a silly joke pulled by the federation forces to mock the empire.

With their forces broken and scattered, the Imperial army sent to Rock Castle has no choice but to withdraw all the way from Verdania, and as if to make matters worse the news of their defeat there had threatened to cause the entire theatre of war in Verdania to crumble with the federation mopping the floor with the Imperial army as the mop.

"Defeat after defeat… how many times would they embarrass me like this…" Prince Hannibal mumbled to himself in distress and barely suppressed anger.

This war that lasted for four years had taken a significant toll on the Empire's economy and overall integrity. As of now everything was extremely fragile and such a fact only caused more problems for the Crown Prince.

"Sounds like you're in quite the predicament." A sweet voice came from all the way across the table.

It was only after hearing the voice, that the Prince was reminded he's not alone in the garden.

Almost hidden behind a mountain of sweet dessert and a tea set was a young lady.

Just like Prince Maximilian, she was dressed in equally exquisite clothes albeit in a much more subdued style of black and gold. Her mid length wavy hair was as impressively gold as the prince's, the fact that she also has a similar fair smooth skin and the same features of the usual Royal family blood brought the impression that they looked quite alike.

The only radical difference between them was the eyes that the young lady possessed.

Gold, it was coloured gold. Golden eyes that shone as bright as the sun itself.

If the Prince was described as very handsome. Then the young lady sitting in front of him would be called; utterly beautiful.

"Don't act like this doesn't concern you." The Prince complained. "If you recall, this whole operation was your idea."

The young lady merely chuckled to herself. "Fair enough." Before stabbing another piece of cake with her fork and sliding it down into her mouth.

"Mmmhh." She moaned in delight. "These cakes are simply heavenly. As expected of the Palace chef's I suppose."

The Prince frowned at the young lady who seemed to be in a very good mood. "Try not to enjoy yourself too much, you're only even allowed to step in the Palace because I allowed you to."

At that the young lady stopped eating and looked at the Prince right in the eye, albeit still with a bright smile.

"I'm well aware of your generosity, that's why I'm 'enjoying myself' as you said."

The Prince can only sigh at the young lady's attitude. "The operation of taking Rock Castle was a complete failure, I hope you're taking this seriously."

"But I am! Oh and speaking of which," She suddenly tapped her finger a few times on her side of the table. "You might want to see this."

He began examining the image shown to him with a subdued interest, at least for a while until he realised what it was.

An image of a giant machine that looked like a human. A 10 meter tall war machine shaped like a fully armored bipedal tank, standing upright and holding a weapon like how a human soldier would.

His hand slammed down the table with enough force to shake the entire surface, all the way to the young lady's side.

"Where was this taken!?"

"Where do you think?"

"Rock Castle…"

"Bingo! Also from the intel I received, apparently there's three of them."

After some consideration, the Prince regained his composure. "This intel, how did you get it?"

"Survivors from the 101st regiment, the dragoon unit sent for reinforcement for that siege."

"We need to contain the intel before it spreads too far."

"Already on it, my men are already on their way to Point Echo. The remnants of the 101st seems to be holed up there. I'll be going there tomorrow."

"This is worse than I imagined." The prince said while rubbing his forehead.

"You need to relax a little, I think you're overreacting." The young lady commented while stirring the tea in her hand.

"I beg your pardon? My army is destroyed, morale is plummeting into the ground, and we lost our chance to even salvage the disaster that is the Verdanian war theatre. Now pray tell me, am I really overreacting!?" The Prince's tone had shifted into a more violent one, his frustration surfacing.

Even so, the young lady remains completely unfazed and has more interest in her tea and cake rather than the Prince's outburst.

"We've practically lost most of our southern territories! We are barely hanging on in the north, the fleet won't be able to hold on much longer. And now there's a good chance we just completely lost control over the entire west. I don't think you realised the extent of our situation here!"

Again the young lady mostly ignored the Prince's ranting. A satisfied smile tugged on her lips as she sipped on her tea.

"The federation are also fielding those experimental mechs now, even if those were just a prototype or early models, it could spell our doom! It won't be long until they complete the design and mass produce that technology. When that happens, what do you think will be the fate of this Empire— My Empire!?"

After a second sip, the young lady lets a content sigh. It took a moment for the Prince to realise she won't respond if he keeps yelling at her. He chewed on his lips for a moment before reining his emotions in.

Seeing that, the young lady finally spoke. "Oh you're done? I thought you'll keep going until the sun sets."

"How can you stay calm when all of this is happening….?"

At that the young lady's smile grew slightly wider. "Because, my dear Prince, unlike you who complains when things don't go his way. I spend it thinking about how to make it go my way no matter what."

Her slender fingers tapped against the table once again and a new image along with a video appeared on the Prince's side.

His eyes went wide at the sight. "Is… is this.. is it already complete?"

"It is. Two days ago actually, funny how coincidence works don't you think? The very same day the federation started using these kinds of weapons is also the day we finished ours."

"Is it combat ready?"

"It still requires a few tweaking and several test runs, but overall it's ready for deployment."

"How many?"

"Including the prototype we used for the preliminary test, four units."

"Only four?"

"You do realise how costly this project is right? I'm more surprised we haven't bankrupted the Empire's shambling economy by building those things."

"How soon until we can field them?"

"A week at most. We still need to arm them."

"It's way too long…"

"Settle down will you? Have some faith in our Empire's soldiers. I'm sure they can hang on for a bit longer."

"I hope they do, otherwise we'll be seeing the day the federation flag flew over Merovingard."

"Oh no need to worry, with this weapon on our side, the tide of this war will soon be turning in our favour."

"Indeed, I'll be expecting good news."

The young lady lifted her cup of tea in a cheering gesture as a response.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No, not really. Oh hold on, I could use some favour from someone like you dear Prince."

"What do you need?"

"Nothing too complicated, just a sealed letter signed by you expressing your assent for the formation of my unit. I need it to bypass a few bureaucratic nonsense, I'm not in the mood to deal with papers."

"Your unit?" The Prince confusedly inquired.

"Yes, I'll be going into battle using the new weapons after all. Is there a problem?"

The Prince was quiet for a moment before giving an answer. "No, nothing. I'll have it delivered to you before you leave."

"Splendid! I suppose our business today is done then, so I'll be taking my leave."

The young lady finished her tea before standing up and began walking out of the gazebo.

The Prince remained seated as he watched the figure of that young lady slowly exiting the garden.

"Someday…."

§

Somewhere

Allen was dreaming.

Spread before his eyes, a fertile plain with trees dotting the landscape and green hills as far as the eye could see. He could feel gentle winds blowing past him, green leaves dancing with each gust.

He was standing on a dirt road that led to a house, nestled on top of one of the large hills. A huge oak tree stood in front of the house, somehow it looked majestic and scary at the same time. The house itself was large but not too big, a two-story house commonly seen in the countryside.

The dirt road leading to the house was surrounded by flower fields on both sides; various colors such as red, yellow, and white give it the image of a familiar abstract painting.

As he walked closer, he saw a familiar figure standing on the veranda of the house.

The figure was a woman, her long flowing hair was the same brown color as his. The woman was standing there smiling, as if welcoming him home.

He quickened his pace, from walking slowly to running hastily when he recognized the woman's face.

His hand reached out, desperately trying to reach her, but couldn't even grasp a single strand of her hair. His legs were pulled forward by a deep longing, yet no matter how fast he ran, the woman remained so far away. His mouth desperately called out to the woman, but no sound escaped his lips.

Then in an instant, in a flash of light, everything shattered into pieces like a broken mirror and the dream ended.

Allen slowly opened his eyes, not to the same green scenery of his dream, but rather to an unfamiliar grey surroundings.

A tired sigh escaped his lips.

"That dream again…." He clutched his head in distress.

Luckily for Allen, he doesn't have to dwell on it for the moment as he wanted to examine his new surroundings.

He was lying on a bed inside a room of grey walls, ceilings, and bright white light pouring from the windows. Several beds arranged in two rows filled the long room and there's a curtain between them.

'A med bay.'

The mystery of his new surroundings was solved but a new question popped into his mind.

'How did I get here….?'

He tried to recall what happened before he woke up in the med bay but received a headache as answer.

Thankfully it didn't last long and he was able to recall what happened.

The fire and explosion, the last image that entered his mind was when he charged into that unknown machine and did what basically equaled as a suicide charge.

'Not as much as suicide if I'm still alive I suppose.'

Allen wasn't planning to die anyway, as soon as he overloaded the dragoon's power core, he ejected himself out of the cockpit.

'The blast must've knocked me out.'

He shook off that thought and tried to sit up. His body ached so badly that he recoiled and groaned in pain. Examining his body showed there's several bandages covering his torso.

Another thing of note...

His left arm and leg were completely gone. The leg was missing up to his knee leaving only a stump, meanwhile his arm was entirely gone all the way to his shoulder.

The normal reaction of someone missing their limb would be shock, panic, or even lose consciousness. But the only thing in Allen's mind was slightly irritation.

"Where did they put my prosthetics…"

He had lost both of that limb a long time ago and replaced them with cybernetic prosthetics, it wasn't cheap for someone of his standard but it was a fairly common treatment nowadays for people who needed it.

His prosthetic was military grade at the very least since he's a soldier, even though it was in the lowest available specifications. And unfortunately for Allen, until he finds his prosthetics, he won't be able to move from his bed anytime soon.

A solid few minutes passed in quietness for Allen, just looking into the room with no particular interest. There were several other people lying in bed like him, some sleeping while the other groaning lowly in pain, and the rest were minding their business. There's also several military nurses passing along now and then doing their job.

He was about to go back to sleep when a familiar face entered the room.

"Oh! You're awake!" A female voice exclaimed in surprise.

Allen looked to the entrance to see who it was and saw none other than his squadmates who also happens to be his friend. Short straight blond hair styled in a typical military look, striking blue eyes, white skin typical of northerners. It was none other than Hound 3, otherwise known as Private First Class Hilise Ricther.

Hilise quickly approached his bedside on the right and dragged a chair along with her. "How are you feeling?"

"Good enough… I guess."

"Nice!" And then Hilise punched his shoulder, playfully but enough to make him wince and even earned Hilise a glare from a passing nurse. "That's for trying to die you dumbass."

"I wasn't trying to?"

"Then what's that about a suicide charge!? Beagle squadron found lying half dead in the ground with your dragoon apparently rammed into that giant bastard!"

"Beagle? They're alive?"

"Yeah, only two of them left though. But that's not the point here! They had to drag your unconscious ass all the way here, your wounds were pretty bad I thought you were actually dead!"

"Okay… sorry I guess? But like I said, I wasn't planning to die. I just got knocked out before I could escape."

Hilise looked like she still didn't believe him but left it at that. "Fine…"

"You've seen my prosthetics anywhere?"

"Oh right. I forgot you're wearing those. " She glanced at his absent limbs for a moment. "They took those rusty things off and hauled it somewhere else. No offense, but they looked ancient. You never thought of upgrading them?"

"No. It works, so I don't really care."

There was a long silence before Allen spoke again. "Can you give me a sitrep of our situation right now?"

"Huh.. well. Everything basically went to shit after we lost at Rock Castle. The 77th Division along with the reinforcement force; the 80th, 89th, 100th, and our 101st dragoon regiment are basically goners by now, no less than 300 survivors out of like 15.000 soldiers escaped the federation counterattack."

"What else?"

"Most of the survivors got scattered all over Verdania, but what remained of the 101st are all here at Point Echo. That includes our squadron, Beagle or what's left of then anyway, and a couple of Ofnirs."

"It's that bad huh…."

"Yeah, we've been hearing rumours that the entire Verdanian theater is being abandoned entirely, our forces are on mass retreat. Man… felt like all we do in this entire war is just losing and losing."

Both went silent again, on Allen's part the terrible situation was just sinking in now.

"Anyway if you want to go out. I can get a wheelchair for you?"

Allen just stared at his friend for a moment, rather surprised at her offer but didn't show it.

"What?" She asked, also confused at his lack of answer not reaction.

"You're awfully generous today."

"Am I not always generous?"

"You charged lieutenant Wendel 50RM for helping him with laundry."

"Can I not get small compensation for small chores?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal by military regulation."

"Okay fine, I get your point. Let's just leave this topic of talk."

Talking about the lieutenant reminded Allen of something. "Our… squadron. Is the captain?"

"Pretty much alive, well too alive to be honest. He's with lieutenant Vigo right now and the other officers dealing with the fallout of our failed siege."

Allen nodded at the information. Meanwhile Hilise looked somber.

"Can't believe lieutenant Wendel and the rookie are gone. I don't think either of us was close to them, but still… leave a bad taste in your mouth doesn't it?"

Allen can somewhat relate, losing a comrade in arms is never easy to anyone.

"Captain Hawkins seems to be hit hard though."

'He's always a good man isn't he…' Allen didn't voice out that thought.

"Anyway, it turned dark so… wanna go out? I'll push you around in a wheelchair like I said."

Allen was about to answer when someone else cut him off.

"Sorry... errr.. Private, but he's not yet cleared for going outside." A nurse chimed in before walking away, it seemed she overheard their conversation.

"So she said." Allen turned to the bummed out Hilise

"Haaah… Well, guess I'll come back later then." She sighed before standing. "Get well soon, you hear me? It'll suck ass without you around, I dunno if I can stand Lieutenant Vigo lecturing me about cheese and waffles anymore."

"Yeah."

The room became quiet again after she left, leaving Allen to dwell on his idle thoughts. A thought that brought him back to the sight of that unknown machine.

'Can't believe they're using it here.'

It felt like ages ago when he last saw a machine like that, it may look different in form and level of technology but to him they're all the same.

Same war machine.

Same monster that he saw back then.

'I wonder how the federation even has the technology to build it.' A few possibilities surfaced within Allen's mind. 'Could it… no.. no way.'

A particular possible scenario piqued his interest but he quickly thought of it as impossible.

'Doesn't matter I guess… Doesn't change anything that I have to do…'

Indeed, his mission, his reason to fight— the real reason remained unchanged.

Allen laid back down to the bed and closed his eyes.

'Still… I guess the timetable has to be adjusted….'