Kiana
The air in the hangar bay detonated.
It wasn't an explosion, but the sheer displacement of air caused by Project Nidhogg launching itself forward.
The black machine moved with a terrifying velocity, blurring into a streak of charcoal and neon red as it closed the distance between the containment pit and the Valkyries in a heartbeat.
"Holy shit!" Wendy screamed.
She acted immediately, and a violent updraft erupted beneath their feet. Kiana felt herself being lifted, weightless for a split second, before the wind threw her bodily to the right.
A beam of concentrated red energy slashed through the space where they had been standing a microsecond ago. The concrete floor melted, leaving a glowing trench of molten slag that hissed and bubbled.
Kiana tumbled, skidding across the metal deck plates before rolling into a crouch, her pistols already leveled.
"That thing is fast!" Kiana yelled, firing a volley of bullets.
The rounds struck Nidhogg's armor but pinged off harmlessly, deflected by an invisible kinetic field that shimmered like heat haze around its chassis.
The machine ignored the impact, its single red optic locking onto Wendy, who was hovering near the ceiling.
"It's ignoring us!" Mei realized, landing gracefully to Kiana's left, her katana drawn. "Wendy! Hold it back while we finish off the Aesir!"
"You got it!"
"Let's go, Kiana!" Mei ordered, her eyes tracking the second threat. "The Aesir!"
The massive Aesir was charging its plasma cannons. Unlike the fluid, predatory Nidhogg, the Aesir was a walking tank.
It stomped forward, the hangar floor trembling with every step, its heavy shields raising to create a fortress of blue energy.
"You two scrap the heavy metal! Don't keep me waiting!" Wendy's voice crackled over the wind.
Wendy dove, summoning a tornado that slammed into the Nidhogg, forcing the black machine to skid back and break its pursuit.
Kiana broke into a sprint. She forced herself to move fast, faster than she ever had before, weaving in a zigzag pattern to throw off the Aesir's targeting systems.
Twin plasma bolts erupted from the Aesir's cannons. Kiana slid underneath the first one, feeling the heat singe her hair.
She jumped over the second, kicking off a supply crate to launch herself into the air.
"Eat this!" Kiana shouted, unleashing a barrage of energy rounds directly at the Aesir's head sensor.
The bullets exploded against the blue energy barrier. The shield rippled but held firm.
A massive mechanical arm swiped at her. Kiana barely managed to twist her body in mid-air, the metal fingers missing her by inches.
The wind pressure alone sent her tumbling backward, landing hard on her shoulder.
"Kiana!" Mei called out.
Mei was there in an instant, a streak of violet lightning intercepting the Aesir's follow-up strike.
She parried the massive fist with her katana, the clash of steel on steel creating a shockwave that blew away the dust.
"I'm fine!" Kiana scrambled up, ignoring the pain.
She watched Mei work. It was breathtaking and frustrating all at once. Mei moved with such strength that Kiana couldn't replicate.
She parried, sidestepped, and slashed, her blade hunting for weak points in the shield. Every strike held immense power, shaking the mech.
'She's fighting it so easily,' Kiana thought bitterly, 'And I'm just... distracting it.'
The memory of the corridor of Cocolia's taunts, the data about Kenji's torture, flashed in her mind.
Everyone was evolving. Mei was controlling her powers. Wendy was holding off a monster with winds that could topple cities.
'If I don't do something, I'm just dead weight.'
Kiana grit her teeth. She looked at the Aesir. Its kinetic shield was a pain in the ass.
Mei could probably charge up an attack to destroy it in one shot, but with the shield in the way, it would take too long.
It didn't help that the Aesir was constantly attacking both of them…
'That's it!'
"Mei!" Kiana yelled over the roar of battle. "Charge up an attack to finish it in one blow!"
"I can't! It keeps attacking me when—Huh?" Mei glanced back, deflecting a laser bolt. "Kiana, wait! The shield is still up!"
"So you'd better charge a strong attack!"
Kiana didn't wait for a response as she charged straight down the center.
"Hey, bucket of bolts!" Kiana screamed, holstering her guns and sprinting directly at the towering machine. "Over here!"
The Aesir lowered its cannons, aiming point-blank at the white-haired girl running into the kill zone.
"Be careful!" Mei screamed as she continued to condense pure lightning into her blade. A purple glow enveloped her body as horns once again materialized on her head.
Kiana watched the plasma coils glow bright blue. She waited. One second. Two seconds. The heat was intensifying.
'Now.'
Kiana jumped up so high that she reached the ceiling and launched herself off it, slamming her foot onto the Aesir with every ounce of energy she could muster.
"SMASH!"
The kinetic field held steady, but Kiana's relentless effort was able to finally bypass its shield.
She hit the mech's hull, not able to damage it, but pushed it downwards with enough force to destroy the ground beneath it, destabilizing its footing.
The massive mech lurched. Its footing compromised, the heavy machine tipped forward, its aim thrown off. The plasma blast went wild, scorching the ceiling instead of Kiana.
'The shield takes time to regenerate!'
Kiana used the momentum to slide between the mech's legs, drawing her pistols as she looked up at the exposed underbelly of the knee joint.
"Mei! NOW!"
Kiana unloaded both clips into the joint. The metal sparked and exploded. The leg gave way completely, and the Aesir crashed onto one knee.
Mei didn't waste the opening.
She appeared in the air above the fallen mech. Her eyes glowed with the intensity of a storm. The violet lightning around her blade condensed, turning almost pitch white.
She descended like a judgment.
There was a singular, deafening crack of thunder. A line of purple light appeared vertically down the center of the Aesir, splitting the armored chassis from head to hip.
For a second, the machine stood frozen in time. Then, the two halves slid apart, crashing to the deck in a shower of sparks and burning oil.
The reactor went critical a moment later, exploding in a fireball behind Mei as she sheathed her blade with a sharp click.
Kiana stood up, breathing hard, her face covered in soot. She looked at the wreckage. She had done it. She had created the opening.
"That was reckless, Kiana. But it worked." Mei said, panting. There was no judgment in her eyes, only relief and pride.
"I told you," Kiana grinned, wiping sweat from her forehead, though her hands were still trembling slightly. "I'm not useless."
"I never said you were," Mei replied softly.
WHOOSH.
A body flew past them, skipping across the hangar floor before smashing into a stack of shipping crates, shattering them to splinters.
"Ow..." Wendy groaned from the wreckage of the crates.
Kiana and Mei spun around.
Across the hangar, Project Nidhogg stood amidst a swirling vortex of green wind. It was unharmed. It rolled its shoulders, the red veins on its armor pulsing rhythmically. It looked... bored.
"Okay," Wendy coughed, floating back up, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead. "Bad news. The wind isn't working. It's a lot tougher than I thought."
Mei drew her katana again, the electricity crackling violently. Kiana reloaded her guns, the brief victory against the Aesir forgotten.
The real fight was just starting.
/ — /
The Hangar Bay fell into a tense silence.
Across the expanse of scarred metal, Project Nidhogg stood motionless. Its single red optic cycled, the aperture widening and contracting as it processed the combat data from the fallen Aesir.
"It's not attacking," Kiana whispered, "Why is it just standing there?"
"I think it's learning," Mei said. She could feel the machine's gaze weighing physically on her skin. "It watched us fight the Aesir. It's analyzing our fighting styles."
"Well, let's see if it knows this pattern!" Wendy snapped.
The Wind Herrscher thrust both hands forward, and the air pressure in the hangar dropped.
A tunnel of vacuum-force wind materialized around the Nidhogg, slamming into it from all sides.
"Get crushed!" Wendy yelled, clenching her fists.
The wind compressed around it, but the Nidhogg didn't brace itself. It didn't deploy shields like the Aesir. Instead, it stepped into the wind.
The charcoal armor plates shifted seamlessly, adapting to the airflow. The red veins beneath its chassis flared, drinking in the gale's kinetic energy.
Wendy's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Guys, watch out! Its shield is much stronger than the Aesir's! The energy redirects is amplified!"
"Still, don't let up!" Mei shouted. "Kiana, flank it! I'll take the center!"
Kiana broke right and unleashed a torrent of energy rounds, aiming for the machine's joints. At the same time, Mei surged forward, transforming into a streak of violet lightning. She aimed a heavy, horizontal slash at the machine's midsection, intending to cut the power conduit to its legs.
The Nidhogg pivoted on one heel.
It ignored Kiana's bullets completely. The field around its body flared, dissolving the rounds into harmless sparks upon impact.
But for Mei, it reacted.
As Mei's blade swung in, the Nidhogg raised its left arm. It didn't block; it caught the blade.
CLANG.
Sparks showered the floor. Mei's eyes widened in horror. The machine had caught a Herrscher-powered strike between its armored palms, halting the blade inches from its chest.
"How—!"
The machine tilted its head. The single red eye bored into hers. For a second, Mei hallucinated. She didn't see a machine.
She saw Kenji, sparring with her in the dojo, catching her wooden sword with that annoying expression.
'Too slow, Mei,' the ghost of his voice whispered in her memory.
The Nidhogg twisted its wrists.
Mei was wrenched off her feet and thrown away into the metal wall. She tried to pry herself out, but the machine had already changed targets.
It ran towards Wendy, sending a high-speed roundhouse kick powered from the kinetic energy of Wendy's own attack.
Wendy was launched across the room, getting sent flying through a stationary transport ship.
"Wendy! Mei!" Kiana screamed.
She was the only one left standing.
Kiana stood twenty meters away, her pistols leveled at the monster that had just swatted two Herrschers like flies. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.
'What do I do?! It absorbs energy. It has no cooldown. It moves like Kenji… This is bullshit!'
The Nidhogg turned slowly to face her.
Inside the machine's logic core, subroutines flashed at lightspeed. > THREAT ASSESSMENT:> TARGET A (THUNDER): HIGH THREAT. HIGH ENERGY YIELD.> TARGET B (WIND): HIGH THREAT. HIGH ENERGY YIELD.> TARGET C: LOW THREAT.
The red eye focused on Kiana.
"Target acquired," the machine synthesized. Kiana's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. It was a distorted, metallic approximation of a boy's voice.
Kiana flinched. "Kenji?"
Too stunned by the voice, Kiana failed to react when the machine lowered its center of gravity, the servos in its legs whining as they compressed for a launch.
"Kiana, move!" Mei screamed, scrambling to get up.
The Nidhogg vanished.
It crossed the distance in a blur of neon red. Kiana didn't even see it move. One second, it was across the room. Next, a wall of black steel was looming over her.
Kiana looked up, her blue eyes reflecting the glowing red aperture of the machine's face.
She raised her arms in a futile attempt to block.
'I'm not strong enough,' the thought screamed in her mind. 'I'm going to die.'
The Nidhogg raised a clawed hand, the energy conduits glowing white-hot, preparing to drive a strike straight through her chest.
"KIANA!"
Mei reached out, lightning arcing from her fingertips, but she was too far away. Wendy was too dazed to stand.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Kiana watched the deathblow descend.
'I'm sorry, Mei. I'm sorry, Kenji.'
She closed her eyes.
CRASH.
The blow never landed.
A literal fireball slammed into the Nidhogg from above, knocking the massive machine sideways just inches before it connected with Kiana.
Kiana opened her eyes, gasping for air.
Standing between her and the stumbling machine was a figure clad in a sleek battlesuit. Her fist was still extended, smoke rising from the knuckles.
"Fu Hua?" Kiana breathed.
"Apologies for the delay. The elevators were… unavailable." Fu Hua said calmly, dropping into a combat stance.
/ — /
"Fu Hua?! Since when could you make fireballs?!" Kiana scrambled back, her boots scraping against the metal deck.
CRASH.
A massive greatsword slammed into the floor next to Kiana. A split second later, Himeko Murata landed on the hilt, grinning despite the ash smeared on her cheek.
"Did someone call for a teacher conference?" Himeko quipped, jumping down and hauling her massive Nexus fusion sword onto her shoulder.
She glanced at Kiana, her grin softening into something fiercely protective. "You okay, Kiana? You look terrible."
"I... I'm fine," Kiana stammered, the adrenaline crash making her knees weak. "Just... cut it a little close."
"Status report!"
Theresa Apocalypse descended from the upper gantry, Judah's Oath floating ominously behind her chains.
She landed between Mei and Wendy, her expression serious.
The rescue team was fully assembled. Six Valkyries stood against the darkness of the Hangar Bay.
"We're alive," Mei said, limping slightly as she joined the circle. "That thing... It's not a normal mech."
Across the hangar, Project Nidhogg shook its head. The machine reoriented itself, its gyroscope whining as it compensated for Fu Hua's strike.
It didn't rush them this time. It crouched, the red veins on its armor pulsing faster and faster, emitting a low, vibrating hum that rattled Kiana's teeth.
"What is it?" Theresa demanded, eyeing the sleek, charcoal-black machine. "I've never seen a mech's signature like that."
"The prototype's called Project Nidhogg," Wendy explained, floating down to land beside Himeko. She wiped blood from her forehead. "Cocolia built it using data from Kenji. Basically a copy of him."
"A copy?" Himeko frowned, tightening her grip on her sword. "It looks like a nightmare wrapped in a metal suit."
"It's worse," Mei said quickly, her voice urgent. "It has the usual mech arsenal, absurdly fast, and it has a kinetic absorbing field and can store it to release stronger attacks."
"It eats our attacks," Wendy clarified bitterly. "I hit it with a wind attack equivalent to a category four hurricane, and it just drank the energy to fuel itself! Cocolia also said that it has zero cooldown!"
Fu Hua adjusted her glasses, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed the machine's stance.
"Don't be too quick to trust her words. Think, why would Cocolia tell us her toys exact abilities so we can plan around them? It must not be as strong as she described if it's only a prototype."
"But still, its kinetic absorber is a pain. It targets the highest energy output first. It flagged Kiana as the weak link because she wasn't radiating as much power as us."
Kiana flinched, looking down at her boots. "I... I couldn't stop it."
"Hey," Himeko said, giving her a motivational kick to her leg. "That just means you're the stealth bomber. We'll draw its fire. You find the weak spot."
"It's charging up," Theresa warned, her chains rattling as Judah unfolded its golden spears. "Whatever it's doing, it's going to be big."
The Nidhogg let out a mechanical shriek. The red aperture of its face widened. The air in the hangar began to distort, pulled toward the machine as if it were a black hole.
It was gathering every scrap of ambient energy in the room—the residual lightning from Mei, the wind from Wendy, the heat from the destroyed Aesir—condensing it to power itself further.
"Get ready!" Theresa commanded. "We need to overpower its shield and destroy it quickly!"
Himeko stepped forward. "I'll take the brunt of it! Fu Hua, flank it right! Kids, attack all the openings!"
"Roger!"
The Valkyries tensed, ready for the clash of titans. The Nidhogg's core shone with the brightness of a dying star.
And then, it stopped.
The reactor's roaring hum cut out instantly.
The blinding red light died.
The machine froze mid-charge, its arms raised to fire a beam that never came.
"What happened?" Himeko asked, blinking.
"Look at its chest." Fu Hua whispered, narrowing her eyes.
Kiana squinted through the gloom.
In the center of the Nidhogg's sleek black chest plate—right over where its "heart" reactor would be—a dent appeared. It pushed outward from the inside.
CRUNCH.
Metal shrieked as something punched through the reinforced chassis from behind. A hand burst through the armor plating, gripping the machine's internal wiring.
The Nidhogg twitched violently, its limbs spasming as its central nervous system was severed.
It didn't die instantly. Cocolia had built it to survive. With a mechanical shriek of rage, the machine's survival protocols overrode the damage.
Its upper torso swiveled 180 degrees with a sickening grind of metal, its red optic locking onto the assailant clinging to its back.
The hand didn't let go. It grabbed the edge of the hole it had made and pulled. With a sickening sound of tearing titanium, the figure behind the machine ripped the Nidhogg's upper torso apart.
The massive robot crumpled forward, its legs giving out. It crashed to the deck, lifeless.
Standing amidst the steam and sparking wires was Kenji.
"Pitiful… Is this really all you could manage, Cocolia?"
He was a mess. His white containment suit was covered in blood. But the most terrifying thing wasn't the gore.
It was his eyes.
They were glowing a piercing red.
He stood on the corpse of the God-Killer machine, breathing heavily, steam rising from his skin as his regeneration factor knitted the skin on his knuckles back together.
He looked up at the six Valkyries frozen in shock. He looked at Himeko's raised sword, at Theresa's chains, and finally, his gaze landed on Kiana.
He reached down, grabbed the severed head of the Nidhogg, and tossed it casually toward them. It rolled across the floor, coming to a stop at Himeko's feet.
"Lively crowd."