The underlying principle of Aether Front is Aether copy technology: it records any living creature inside an Aether Coin, then prints it out for sparring battles against other players.
To better suit gameplay, the game's planning department balances the Aether Spirits' stats within a certain range—unlike those Alliance designers with their salary-padding approach of 'add flour when there's too much water, add water when there's too much flour.'
The Aether Spirit stat system runs on an extraordinarily intricate and complex balancing mechanism, one that both lets Aether Spirits fit into the game and preserves their characteristics and stats to the greatest possible extent.
This is meant to encourage players to capture Aether Spirits with better talents and species—and from the game's launch right up to now, this balancing mechanism has never once had a problem.
Aether Spirits exempt from balancing do exist: above the Overlord-class, there are also the legendary Aether Spirits of 'Aether Front'—the Guardian-class.
Just like the legendary beasts and the Mythical Pokémon in Pokémon, owning a Guardian-class Aether Spirit is the dream of every single trainer.
Few ever get their wish; a Guardian-class Aether Spirit is by no means something a player's personal strength can defeat or capture, and generally they're only trotted out when the officials hold an event or release a movie.
Guardian-class Aether Spirits come with one setting: the Aether data they contain is infinitely close to the prototype, so their in-game settings and their real-world settings are almost completely identical.
But conversely, an Aether Spirit whose Aether data is infinitely close to its prototype isn't necessarily Guardian-class.
Caelus hadn't studied the settings of Guardian-class Aether Spirits all that closely; he figured it was perfectly fine to just treat Ultraman Ace as a plain, unremarkable Overlord-class Aether Spirit.
Erudition Emanator Bronita, before she broke apart, had whipped up all the Aether Spirits Caelus needed.
Humanoid team: Ace, Goss·Corona, Goss·Solar Eclipse, Tiga·Multi Type.
Machine team: Sword King Ryujinmaru, Super Granzort.
Aberrant team: Lord Ravager·Abundance Phantylia, Divine Tree·Ten-Tails (can chain-evolve into Rinnegan Phantylia).
A plain, no-frills team setup.
On top of that, there's also Aether Front's core gameplay: Aether Spirits can have their stats and skills enhanced by being fed 'chips.'
So Bronita had also whipped up some perfectly ordinary chips to leave with Caelus.
Pity that Sylvia and Lynx still came up a little short on strength—they couldn't force Caelus to use even one of his chips.
Ultra Guillotine, followed by a flowing, seamless Ultra Guillotine, into another Ultra Guillotine.
Dismember, dismember, dismember some more!
Caelus's masterful, exquisitely precise command of the battle pushed the spectacle to an even higher level.
"Mm, now that was a thoroughly satisfying Aether Spirit duel!"
Caelus folded his arms and gave a slight nod, his tone sincere and content, as if he'd just been through an evenly matched, dazzling exchange of skills.
This acknowledgment from a strong opponent was like a finishing blow, utterly shattering what little fighting spirit Sylvia and Lynx had left.
The two sisters stood frozen in place as if hit with a petrification spell, gazing blankly at that heaven-spanning silver-and-red giant in the center of the arena and the Aether light-dust scattering beneath its fist.
This is a freaking Aether Spirit!!
This is a freaking Aether Spirit?
Having easily won the duel, Caelus obtained the Corridor of Fading Echoes badge.
Not sparing even a moment to cheer for Caelus's victory, the one who immediately stepped onto the dueling arena was—the Galaxy Batwoman!
The gray-haired girl hefted her signature Galaxy Bat, the corners of her mouth splitting into a manic grin brimming with battle-lust.
Her blazing gaze locked onto the ominous-aura'd [Aberrant]-type Aether Spirits that Sylvia and Lynx had mechanically re-summoned.
Facing the [Aberrant]-type enemies, Stelle unleashed her world-shaking wisdom, pondered for a brief second, and decided to send out the [Humanoid] type that [Aberrant] counters.
"Rules are made to be broken!"
She fished out an Aether Coin swirling with starlight, made a baseball-swinging motion, and knocked the Aether Coin flying high into the sky.
Holding her bat raised aloft, Stelle let out a clear shout that rang across the battlefield:
"Tiga!"
Vmmm——!
Accompanied by that classic, pleasing transformation sound effect, a brilliant dazzling radiance bloomed, and the familiar sense of a heaven-spanning presence once again enveloped Sylvia and Lynx.
Only this time, what towered before them was a Power Type Tiga, its body striped in red and silver, muscles bulging, brimming with primal force!
"N-no way?!"
Sylvia felt her nerves were about to snap.
You're doing it too?
"Huh?"
Lynx's little mouth, which had only just closed, fell dumbly open again.
How is this nightmarish scene playing out all over again?!
"Uh, want me to swap in a [Machine] Aether Spirit that's countered by the [Aberrant] type instead?"
Seeing the two sisters' reaction, Stelle scratched her head.
Her team setup was as follows:
Humanoid: Tiga·Power Type, Sky Type, Goss·Luna.
Machine: Ryujinmaru, Super Granzort.
Aberrant: Mother of Deception·Cocolia, Ultimate-level·DanteMon.
"Eh, forget it, I figure any of them works about the same, so I won't waste time swapping."
Seeing that the dazed, vacant Sylvia gave no answer, Stelle simply waved her hand: "Tiga, go get 'em!"
"Hyah!"
No fancy command was needed at all; the giant let out a battle roar and stepped forward.
Its sole landed, shaking the ground with a tremor, and that red iron fist wrapped in overwhelming power swung out in the most plain, unadorned, despair-inducingly wide-open stance!
Basic attack!
The Aether Spirit's carapace shattered as it went flying backward with a scream.
Auto-attack!
A textbook-pro five-hit combo: basic attack into auto-attack, auto-attack resetting the basic attack.
Tiga turned with the momentum, its elbow smashing down like a sledgehammer onto another Aberrant's head, slamming it viciously into the ground!
The third Aberrant tried a sneak attack, only to be caught by a precise backhand uppercut from Tiga, its massive body sent flying into the air!
Followed up with a swift, fierce straight kick.
The last Aether Spirit, knocked down by its own teammate, hadn't even climbed up before Tiga's enormous sole came stomping down with irresistible force.
The Aether Spirits in Sylvia and Lynx's reserve squad were already no match for the earlier Overlords, and before Tiga they were like paper toys—crumbling to pieces in an instant, dissipating into a sky full of multicolored light-dust.
"Hahaha, this is… really getting my blood pumping!"
Stelle planted her bat into the ground, folded both hands over the grip, and laughed up at the sky, her high spirits utterly undisguised as she looked down on all under heaven:
"Sylvia, the me right now burns hotter than you! More ROCK! Power IS melody!"
"This is nothing but a mere numbers game!"
The arrogant laughter echoed through the Corridor of Fading Echoes.
The corners of Sylvia's mouth twitched madly like a metronome gone out of control, while above Lynx's little head it was as if she'd been spammed with a barrage of invisible question marks, her tiny CPU on the verge of overload from the violent shock to her game-world worldview.
In their hearts, the two sisters roared in unison:
How—do—you—two—even—have—the—nerve—to—say—that, aaaah?!
Talk about counting the numbers AND padding the stats!
Those numbers were filled in with your feet, weren't they?
This is cheating, right?
This is absolutely running a mod hack, isn't it?!
But then, why didn't the official system pop up any scarlet warning window saying [Abnormal Fluctuation Detected]?!
This isn't scientific!
A deathly silence shrouded everything for several seconds, as if even the air had frozen.
Finally, Sylvia and Lynx slowly, laboriously lifted their heads, their gazes meeting with complex emotion, instantly reading in each other's eyes that helplessness, and that awe toward these 'heroes (monsters).'
The two of them drew a deep breath.
"...As expected of you two."
Sylvia's tone was dry.
"...We lost."
Lynx echoed as if sleepwalking, with a touch of grievance.
"You flatter us! You flatter us!"
Stelle grinned, baring a mouthful of white teeth as she cupped her fists, her smile blindingly bright.
"Standard play, no biggie~"
Sylvia and Lynx turned their heads in the synchronized motion of Pacific Rim mecha pilots, their gazes drifting darkly toward the pink-haired one, voices carrying a faint tremor and one last struggle:
"March… y-you wouldn't happen to be hiding a giant Aether Spirit too, would you?"
Then there'd be no freaking point in playing!
"I don't have one—who even uses an Ultraman for Aether Spirit battles?! This is straight-up cheating!"
Fury!
March 7th was, surprisingly, enraged!
She brandished her little fists, stamping her feet on the spot in anger.
"And the most important thing is!"
Her voice abruptly climbed higher, carrying an accusatory tremor as Little March pointed at Stelle and Caelus, her little face both furious and pitiful, as if she'd been jointly betrayed by her closest friends.
"You two! Neither of you gave me one! So you were just busy living it up yourselves and left me on the sidelines to suffer, huh? What happened to us being a team forever?! What happened to sharing the good fortune?!"
"Ah, can't be helped."
Facing the angry March 7th, Stelle folded her arms and heaved a rather world-weary sigh:
"Ah Qi, it's not that we won't give you one."
Stelle spoke earnestly and meaningfully: "It's really because… an Aether Spirit this far above regulation—if your willpower isn't strong enough, you simply can't control it, and forcing the command would get you hit by backlash! We're doing this for your own good!"
"Didn't you see Ash get savagely attacked by that ranting old flamer?"
"That's nonsense!"
March 7th glared at her adorably in indignation: "Aether Front doesn't even have a trainer-level setting at all!"
"It's a hidden level—only top players can see it."
Stelle kept a straight face.
"Really?" March 7th blinked suspiciously, her momentum waning a little:
"But even so, everyone's spent about the same amount of time leveling up—how could the levels possibly pull apart so much?!"
Caelus, who had been silent all along, now slowly shook his head and let out a long sigh, his tone tinged with a hint of regret:
"Sorry, Ah Qi..."
Caelus paused.
March 7th thought there was going to be a plot twist, and looked up, her eyes full of hope.
Expression calm and candid, Caelus offhandedly added the line that made Little March's face stiffen: "It's that Bronita hacked it for us and bumped up our trainer levels."
"..."
Sylvia and Lynx clutched their foreheads in despair.
They were certain this game had no trainer levels and that March had been hoodwinked—but the two of them had definitely hacked something!
"Bronita made them, did she."
March 7th half-believed it now—after all, the Aether Spirits had all been whipped up by Bronita.
"Fine, then forget it."
March 7th stepped onto the dueling arena, and Sylvia and Lynx's eyes lit up together—were they finally going to get one evenly matched, exciting battle?!
"Go, Torijinmaru! Super Storm Bringer!"
However, the moment they saw the [Machine]-type Aether Spirits March 7th summoned—thirty- to forty-meter-tall, dazzlingly cool mecha—all that was left on Sylvia's face was the numbness of someone who'd been trampled by reality over and over.
March 7th really didn't have an Ultraman, but she had Mashin Mecha!
One of the reasons the Ultraman Aether Spirits could approach their original stats is that Stelle and Caelus had not only seen them, but transformed into them.
Every Mashin Mecha they'd piloted had been reproduced by Bronita and packaged into Aether Coins.
The duel's outcome held not a shred of suspense; March 7th successfully claimed the badge.
White Seele hadn't wanted to battle—she was a card-collecting player gathering cute Aether Spirits—but the spirit-broken Sylvia and Lynx shoved the badge straight into her hands and sent the four of them out of the Corridor of Fading Echoes.
"Let me see… the next stop is the Showdown Paradise in Cloudford!"
With her slender, delicate fingers, March 7th pinched and zoomed the phone screen, checking the regional map of Aether Front badges.
"Let's go!"
...
Not sparing even a moment to catch her breath after seeing off the four numbers-monster players, the one who immediately arrived at the dueling arena was—the Haxxor Bunny!
"Yo, Sylvia, Lynx—the Champion candidates turned out to be you two?"
An extremely distinctive, brisk, milk-powder-sweet voice.
"Bronie, how come you didn't come along with Stelle and Caelus and the rest?"
Sylvia did her best to settle her mood after being repeatedly trampled by Ultramen, sizing up this 'young Bronya' before her—one from a parallel timeline with a wholly different temperament.
They'd crossed paths once at the welcome banquet; while you couldn't call it a deep friendship, they were 'friends of friends' all the same.
"Act together?"
The Haxxor Bunny tugged at the bunny-ear hood of her tech jacket and let out a short, light laugh.
She slipped one hand into her jacket pocket and tilted her head slightly, the hood's shadow half-concealing her expression, revealing only that smile carrying absolute confidence.
"A player who truly stands at the summit has always been a lone wolf."
"Solo-queueing up the ranks, going SOLO to the top—that's the romance of a top player, get it?"
She took a step forward, her invisible aura spreading along with it:
"Come, Champion candidates of the Corridor of Fading Echoes—let me see whether you're qualified to be my warm-up opponents."
"Don't underestimate us!"
Lynx, who'd lost three matches in a row, had long since reached her limit; she threw out her recovered Overlord-class Aether Spirits, Outer Cosmos Ice and Outer Cosmos Flame.
Sylvia re-summoned her rock band deck.
"Oh~ not bad~! It's decided—you're the one, Rodent Bunny!"
The Haxxor Bunny tossed out an Aether Coin.
The Rodent Bunny was the sniper rifle among the Haxxor Bunny armaments that Miss Haxxor Bunny had used back in her Arc City days.
She'd tweaked it just a teeny-tiny smidge with Aether Editing.
Unlike Stelle and Caelus, the Haxxor Bunny—in order to defeat Silver Wolf—was a genuine cheater!
Sylvia and Lynx stared blankly at the forty-meter-tall, enormous blue Aether Spirit—the Armed Rodent Bunny—and the Aether Coins in their hands clattered to the ground with a crisp sound.
What the hell am I even supposed to fight with?!
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