"Can I play with Phoenix, Daddy? He beat Dolphy, so I want to see how strong he's gotten! It's been a few years since that duel.", The young, fiery red-haired girl asked the giant red, ogre-like man beside her. He was seriously tall. Over three times as big as the girl was. Hearing that, he smiled.
"Gahaha! No need to ask me that, Shirley. If you want to go out and play, then go out and play.", The Red Ogre said, letting out a bellow. "I won't let you go alone, though. Take one of the squads. They got a decent sniper on their side, enough to wipe out five of ours in one shot. You saw how that blast struck across the battlefield just now."
"Uh-huh! That blast lit up the entire place. Seems like they have a special weapon. A normal sniper rifle shouldn't be capable of such a feat. I saw who shot it too. Seems to be a girl around my age~", Shirley teased. Hearing that caused the Red Ogre to laugh again.
"Is that right?", The Red Ogre replied. "Well, we have orders to cause a ruckus here. Kill to your heart's content."
"Yay!", Shirley happily said, only to whip out what appears to be a mixture of a chainsaw and a blade, but the best part? Its base was that of an orbal rifle. The chainsaw blade was added on top of it. Very similar to Randy's Berserker weapon he obtains later on. That meant it allowed Shirley to attack from a wide range, even though she excelled at close combat.
Sure enough, it was the Red Ogre beside Shirley, her Father, and the sub-leader of the Red Constellation. A threat to be reckoned with. Even during Azure, he was considered the level of a "Super Boss". Not only that, the entire SSS gets to fight him during a timed event, and the best outcome was bringing the man to his knees for just a moment or two at most. That's how ridiculously powerful this man is. One of the strongest on the Zemurian continent. He could even give Mueller's father, the Thunder God, a run for his Mira!
As for the girl beside the man, she was of course, Shirley Orlando, his daughter, and cousin to Randolph Orlando, the very same boy Naoto had a near fight to the death with back at the Osborne Villa when the Red Constellation raided it. It's been some years since then, but it looks like Shirley is wanting to get a slice of the cake. Shirley has long since joined the Red Constellation and has already participated on the battlefield.
There was not much mention of Shirley back then due to how much younger she was compared to Randy, but with the passage of time, she now has a chance to fight Naoto. The Red Ogre had given Shirley similar training to Randy, but what Randy goes through has not happened yet. The trials to become the War God's successor, the leader of the Red Constellation, and brother to that of the Red Ogre. But during that whole process, Randy flees, and eventually joins the CGF and subsequently, the SSS. But that will be a story saved for another time.
Right now, Shirley was observing the destruction of her enemies, her blood was pumping with anticipation. One thing to point out about this Shirley was, even though her weapon appeared just like the weapon she uses later on which ironically shares the same name as the Divine Knight, Testa-Rossa, Shirley does not have that exact same weapon here. Just one that is very similar. After all, Testa-Rossa is considered an S-Weapon, the same rank as Berserker. Only a select number of people can get S-Weapons to begin with. Shirley has not earned hers yet.
After allowing Shirley to enter the battlefield, she collapsed her foldable orbal telescope, and placed it into one of her pockets. Placing her blade onto her back, she placed her hands behind her head, and acknowledged the Red Ogre.
"It's just a bit of a shame Dolphy isn't here to watch me fight Phoenix. That's not without reason though, right, Daddy? You got him under the wringer to become the next War God.", Shirley said with a grin.
"Indeed the lad is. Randolph is set to go through that hellish training and tackle the trials of the War God in the next couple of years.", The Red Ogre said, nodding his head. After he said that, he pulled out what appeared to be a gigantic war axe that was just as large, if not larger than his own body. He swung it around as easily as if he was swinging around a baseball bat. "And if Randolph succeeds, he'll get a weapon just as powerful as my axe, haha!"
Next, The Red Ogre jabbed his war axe into the dirt beneath him, causing it to stand up on its own. Doing so caused the ground to quake a bit, but Shirley didn't seem bothered by it oncesoever. It was then that several black-clad and red-clad Jaegers appeared beside the Red Ogre. The Red Ogre suddenly turned around, and now had his back against the rocky terrain.
"Ya hear that, you bastards? It's time to start the next wave!", The Red Ogre declared. "Destroy everything, kill everyone on sight! You know our motto by now. If we don't set a blazing trail, then we aren't the Red Constellation!", The Red Ogre continued to yell, raising everyone's morale.
""Ja!"", The Jaegers exclaimed back in unison, doing their signature response.
"Let's go boys!", Shirley also exclaimed, and raised her chainsaw blade. It didn't take long for a wild red aura to leak from her body. Feeling Shirley's aura, the Jaegers felt their own blood pumping.
Yet since they were all beyond the forest, Naoto's group with the Northern Jaegers couldn't hear it.
As the Jaegers began to fan out, one large swift shadow dropped down from one of the tree branches further inside the forest, revealing a figure clad in black armor. That signaled this person was from Nidhoggr. A rather big orbal assault rifle could be seen strapped over his shoulder.
"You really know how to rile up our squads don't you, Vice-Commander of the Red Constellation. Or should I call you the Red Ogre?", The figure said, who was none other than Nidhoggr's Commander. "And do not lose sight of what we were contracted to do. You remember, right?"
Hearing that, the Red Ogre grinned, which allowed him to bare his unruly teeth at the Nidhoggr's Commander.
"Of course we do. That's what you're getting YOUR mira for. You're the one who reached out to us for assistance, not the other way around, haha!", The Red Ogre said. "Ya can leave that old buffoon to us. Tonight will be the last day Colonel Valestein will take his last breath. His retirement is long past due.", The Red Ogre continued. Grabbing his giant axe from the ground, he brandished it before him. Despite doing that action, Nidhoggr's Commander didn't even flinch.
It was then everyone heard a single clap of thunder streak across the murky clouds in the sky. The night was turning darker and darker with each passing moment.
The moon was now shrouded away by clouds. Thick and dense ones. Both the Vice-Commander and Commander glanced upward, and felt a drop of rain splatter against their faces.
"Heh. It looks like we'll have to work tonight to achieve our goals. Rain will start soon.", Nidhoggr's Commander said. "And it looks like you are dead set on clashing with Zephyr and the Northern Jaegers. We'll take some of our squads and attack them from behind, and go split off to assist Prince Balmund. I take it you have things covered here."
"You know it. I didn't think North Ambria's royalty would still be alive and well. This whole country is one big shit hole. The Northern Jaegers are tryin' to cause a revolution and all that and while that sounds fun, we're workin' for the prince. He's trying to take back the capital after the Salt Pale struck. There's even that crazy lady who gave him the push to do so, gahaha!", The Red Ogre said, letting out another laugh.
"For once, I can agree with you, Red Ogre. I did not anticipate for a traitor to be within the Northern Jaegers. She's putting up quite the front. Between us, her, and the Prince's funds, this contract came to be, so we'll see to it that he reclaims his lost land.", Nidhoggr's Commander replied, nodding his head beneath his helmet.
After the Nidhoggr's Commander said that, he let out a low frequency whistle toward his fellow Jaegers. He gave them the signal to move out. It didn't even take a couple moments before several sounds of ruffling leaves struck their ears. Shortly after, half of Nidhoggr vanished, along with their Commander. Only a few squads of black-clad Jaegers remained behind to assist the Red Ogre fight back against Zephyr and the Northern Jaegers.
"Guess that's our signal then. It's time.", Shirley asked the Red Ogre. He turned around, only to see Shirley ready to enter the fray and speed off toward Naoto's direction.
"Sure is. Go take the squads and have your fun. If you find the boy, don't kill him. The price on his head is too high and I don't want that many targets painted on our backs. At least for now. If we cross paths again in the future, it might be a different story then.", The Red Ogre surprisingly said, issuing an order to not kill Naoto.
Shirley's shoulders slumped over in disappointment, but she acknowledged the Red Ogre's command.
"So no killing. Fine. That doesn't mean I can't fight him. I can't wait to go fight the guy who beat Dolphy!", Shirley happily responded, letting her previous sadness vanish entirely. She was now excited.
Shirley then got ready with several red-clad Jaegers who were ready to support her back. They all quickly vanished into the darkness of the night, leaving the Red Ogre to observe the ongoing battle. A couple more thunderous booms struck the clouds above. It was going to be a stormy clash.
The next wave of battles is about to begin, and this time, it will be on two fronts. One on the outskirts of North Ambria and the border of Erebonia with the other taking place more toward North Ambria's Capital, Haliask.
However, at this time, no one knew in the Red Constellation that the candidate who was currently in motion to become the next War God, Randolph Orlando, was already creating a plan of his own to break free from this entire mess. He wanted to live freely, and not be bound to the ways of the Jaegers. He had received a rude wake up call when he fought Naoto way back then...