10 - Resistance x Crisis

Because she was moving at high speed and turned off her automated controls, both became her undoing, Regina’s unit crashed and gouged the ground again as it slid.

“Guh… hah,” Regina gasped.

An alarm rings out in the now-dark matrix.

When she looked at the status monitor, the chest was flashing yellow.

The Stella Corpus power reactor is mounted on the chest, and the armor there is thick and offers incredible protection.

However, it could be damaged in battle, and a mechanism was built-in to prevent the power reactor from exploding, by activating a safety device that triggers when a certain damage threshold was reached.

“Fuck……” Regina hissed.

If the safety device activates and the energy supply stops, even if it’s a giant humanoid weapon system, it’s no better than a puppet with cut strings.

[Hahaa!] Iniuria scoffed. [That’s not good, is it?!]

As Regina grits her teeth and glares at her opponents, the four Centurias walk leisurely toward her.

They keep the barrels of their guns aimed at her.

Having cleared various scenario simulations, Regina was overconfident in her skills.

She was praised for her excellent grades and became complacent.

In the end, she underestimated her opponent, telling herself that Iniuria was not worth fearing.

She mistakenly thought she could be calm and reasonable about fighting her.

Even though she knew there were 4 enemies, she only focused her attention on Iniuria.

“…!”

As if driving away the negative thoughts, Regina clings to the emergency battery-powered console and calls up the holo-menu with trembling hands.

Enemy units are coming.

Regina can’t move her hands well.

Her thoughts only trend toward the worst.

Her vision blurs.

[Take this!] Iniuria yelled.

As Regina tried to restore main power with her trembling hands, Iniuria’s unit kicked Regina’s.

She clenches her teeth from the shock and hugs the console to endure.

Perhaps the impact absorption mechanism was also malfunctioning due to the damage, and the impact was stronger than she expected.

[Hahaha! You’re looking real good aren’t you, Regina!?] Iniuria mocked.

The wall monitor continued to show Iniuria’s face as she scorned the teary-eyed Regina.

Frustration, regret, and fear. All manner of negative emotions swirls like a storm.

Even so, Regina resumed operating the holo-menu.

[Yeah, yeah, that’s good! Keep it up! Going to keep doing your best, aah?!!]

Regina grits her teeth, tapping multiple items on the menu with the unpleasant taste of iron in her mouth.

(Once I can finish this… as long as it’s restored!) Regina thought.

If power is restored and her unit can move again.

As long as she can move, she could take on all of them!

It was the only thing that kept her going.

There is still hope.

(With this──!)

Regina tapped the last item, reconnecting the main power, and the matrix lights reactivated.

The outboard camera of the machine lights up, and the enemy units are clearly visible on the monitors.

“… I can’t let you lot get the better of me!” Regina yelled.

The left arm is useless, and the legs have accumulated damage from the crash.

But her right arm still works.

If so, then,

“I’m going to crush you…!” Regina screamed.

The thrusters forcefully lifted the unit and smashed it into Iniuria’s machine, as though they were headbutting it.

Then, a counterattack.

Iniuria’s slams her fist into the lower back, where the matrix is—

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[Gonna~rip~you~out~♪] Iniuria hums.

The monitors that lit up the matrix disappeared.

“!? ～～～～～～～ !”

Unable to comprehend what had happened, Regina was dumbfounded for a few moments, but immediately let out a cry of agony at the shock that struck her.

The seat’s protective function seemed to still be active, and her inner suit helped absorb the impact and kept her from being thrown out.

But the shock didn’t kill her.

The matrix shook and rattled while the rest of the unit was motionless.

“… Ugh,” Regina moaned.

Her vision blurs. Her thoughts are a mess. She feels like vomiting.

“ Buh… geha,” Regina wretches.

She throws up inside her helmet, the stench snaps her back to consciousness, Regina’s sense returns to her.

“… What, the?”

She whipped her shaking body around and managed to get her helmet off.

She repeatedly took shallow breaths, she endured nausea that threatened to come up again.

It was so dark she couldn’t see anything.

Her pilot suit should have kept her body temperature stable, but the chills don’t stop.

A flicker. A light came on.

“Ah……” Regina gasped.

The light grows, and Regina hears a familiar voice she never wanted to hear again.

──You will become the strongest.

──You will protect humanity.

──You must not lose to anyone.

──This will be easy for you.

──Why can’t you do it?

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──If you can’t do it, it will shame us all.

──It is your duty.

──You have to do it.

──That is the reason for your existence.

“Ah, aaah…” Regina whined.

She curls up in herself and covers her ears.

Still, the voice attacks her.

──You can’t do it.

──Do it again until you can do it no longer.

──If you have time to cry, move your hands.

──Haa, how pathetic.

──I can’t believe you can’t even do this.

──Do it.

── Do it.

── DO IT!

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH…!”

Regina screams as she wipes away the saliva and puke left on her face.

It was as if she was drowning out the voice.

So she can no longer hear it.

[Ha-haa!] Iniuria laughs. [What’s wrong, Regina!? Not feeling too good anymore?!]

“!?”

She comes back to reality with that harsh voice.

Her consciousness clears and she can see her surroundings unobstructed.

The monitor on the wall shows a noisy, bleak wasteland, the status figure is dyed black, and the console’s holo-menu flashes warnings and the emergency battery’s remaining up-time.

“What……?” Regina said.

[Oh? Don’t know what’s going on?] Iniuria said. [You want to find out!? Well, I’ll tell you what!]

“Uuu,” Regina whines.

Regina’s unit has come to a complete stop, a merciless shock hits her.

The images on the monitor changed at a dizzying pace, and finally, Regina saw a Centuria putting one foot on her unit and pointing the muzzle of her rifle at it.

[You do know the control room can remotely take over machines, right?] Iniuria asked.

[Get it now?] a Stulti asked.

[We stopped your machine, how’d you like that~?] another Stulti said. [Well?! Can’t do shit, can you?! Kyaahahahahaha…!]

Regina frowns at the deafening glee.

[That’s a good face… a real good face right there! Right?! Regina….!]

So deliriously delighted, Iniuria squeals with a twisted expression of joy, she isn’t even bothered by all the spit flying on the inside of her helmet.

[No matter how much you struggle, you weren’t a match for us from the start!] Iniuria yelled. [No weapons! No friends, either! You’re just a poor, poor little bitch with nothing to your name…!”

“… You’re a coward,” Regina growled.

[Haah?] Iniuria barked. [You still don’t get it, do you? This is a battlefield, isn’t it?]

Regina’s unit was completely unable to move.

Having given herself an overwhelming advantage, Iniuria speaks calmly as she rides her high.

On the other hand, Regina, literally out of control, snapped at her in a last-ditch effort, but she could not break Iniuria’s calm and composure.

“You can’t do anything without your friends…” Regina said. “You’re nothing more than terrorists occupying the control room.”

[Haha! You’re just a fucking useless loner, aren’t you?] Iniuria said. [Also, call it strategy. It’s written in your favorite textbook that creating a favorable situation for yourself is key, right?]

“Huh, you, of all people, reading books?” Regina asked.

[And what about you?] Iniuria said. [What’s the use of stalling for time when you can’t even turn things around?]

Regina is at a loss for words at Iniuria’s ridicule.

Her unit is completely disabled.

There is no point in escaping.

The fact that the control room is occupied means that even other units cannot deploy. So no help will come.

The only hope Regina has is that the Security Department in charge of maintaining public order will act, but she can’t count on it because they don’t know the actual situation.

Maybe they’re already in motion, or maybe they’re still observing.

That Regina was even trading barbs was just stubbornness, though she wanted to deny it.

At the very least, she could hurt Iniuria’s self-esteem.

It’s a desperate situation.

She had heard the words. She also studied the scenarios. In order to prevent any of this from happening, Regina had thought of countermeasures.

And yet, she found herself in this critical situation.

The opponent she hated so much had completely outsmarted her, and even her last resistance is brushed off, and there was nothing she can do anymore.

(Even though… I gave it my all,) Regina thought.

All the knowledge she’d accumulated.

She had browsed a titanic amount of data from the past to the present and hammered it into her head.

She built up her physical strength.

She ran, she trained, and she tormented herself to her limits because was smaller than others her age and at an inherent disadvantage.

She honed her technique.

She even used her days off to push the simulator to its limit and did as many scenarios as she could think of until she cleared them.

She gets headaches because she kept constantly staring at monitors, her eyes are tired, and her skin is in terrible shape. Her fatigue never disappears, she’s always tired, and her hands are calloused.

She absolutely hated it.

Like the other students, she wanted to make friends, chat, eat together, and hang out after school.

She wanted to sleep without worrying about the time during the holidays and weekends. She wanted to make plans with her friends and go out with them.

She wanted to eat sweets. She wanted to eat a bowl of delicious food without worrying about the calories.

She wanted to dress up and be fashionable. She doesn’t know how to do that, so she wanted to talk to her friends, choose outfits together, and buy matching sets.

Even so, she had to stand as the strongest—the side that always had to be protecting others.

She was jealous. Envious. She tried her best to hide those feelings.

And yet—

“Is this… all it amounts to…?”

This is the result of sacrificing everything and working hard.

“All I have done… in the end, for what?”

Her vision blurs.

She can’t stop sobbing.

[Puh… ha, haha, AAHAHAHAHHAHA!] Iniuria laughs. [What is it? Are you crying? At your age, you’re crying like a little baby?! Nice, real nice, yeah?!! That’s so sweet, isn’t it?! That’s a good look on ya, Regina…!]

The sight of this rude, impudent woman so enjoying watching Regina’s pride shattering and her sobbing like a child sends chills down Regina’s pride.

The fire of passion ignites in Iniuria’s heart, and her cheeks flush and tighten from ecstasy.

[More… cry some more! Scream! More! More, more! Show ‘em more of you! Cheeky brat! Little bitch! Let me see you cry! SHOW MEEEE…!]

With bloodshot eyes and drool spilling out of her mouth, Iniuria moved her unit to her impulses and kicked Regina’s disabled machine.

And then she kicked it again, and again.

Regina curls up and tries to defend herself, but Iniuria kicks harder and harder as she wouldn’t give her the mercy to try.

“S-Sto… stop it,” Regina pleads.

[Aha♡,] Iniuria squeals.

The high-performance microphone picked up her tiny whisper and delivered it cleanly to Iniuria’s ears.

Iniuria despised Regina from the first time she saw her.

A little girl who doesn’t fear Iniuria and glares at her instead.

She always imagined Regina crying and begging for forgiveness, and she was always looking for an opportunity to make it a reality.

What could be called an obsession, or rather a delusion, has now become a reality.

At that moment, Iniuria reached a peak.

[Aha-HA-haa♡.]

She violently manipulates Regina’s unit and puts her machine’s hands on the waist armor.

It creaks and squeaks.

“ IYAAAA…!” Regina screamed.

[A-HAAA♡.]

Iniuria only gets even more enthusiastic, she forcibly tries to tear off the armor plating.

[He-Hey, Iniuria? What are you doing?] asks one of the Stulti.

They were enjoying the public execution of the school’s honor student from their special seats, grinning all the while until Iniuria started acting strangely. But, Iniuria doesn’t respond and focuses on tearing out Regina’s unit’s armor.

[Eh, what~?] one of the Stulti in the control room says. [Are you going to kill her already? That’s fast, right? Well, I’m getting tired of it~. Come on, hurry up and open her matrix already.]

[……… Nn,] an operator grunts.

[Huh? What? Did you not hear me?]

[You can’t! I can’t possibly do that sort of──!]

[Then you’re going to die, yeah?]

Even at gunpoint, the operator refuses to open Regina’s matrix.

While crying and regretting that their vulnerability had led to this moment, the operator resisted till the end.

Their reward was a gunshot.

[Well, that’s done~,] the Stulti said. [Now, it’s time for the end!]

A command from the control room was sent out, and the waist armor that was about to be forcibly ripped off slid off instead, exposing the matrix.

“Stop… stop!” Regina screamed.

Her plea was in vain, the hatch opened and her seat protruded out.

The frightened, timid, helpless girl is exposed to the wilderness.

[Theeerreee yoou aarrreee,] Inuiria hums as a giant mechanical hand reaches out to Regina.

“STOOOOPPPP!” Regina screams.

It’s the only thing she can do.

A warning tone sounds and the four Centuria take evasive action according to the automated controls.

[What the?!]

[Another unit!?]

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[Where!?]

[Uwaaah! ?]

Beams land on the ground near them, and they explode.

Even if they were hit continuously, the shots were of so low intensity the Centurias would suffer insignificant damage.

However, as training units, they will automatically execute their “Evade Fire” protocols.

After the 4 Centurias had been sufficiently split up, a new Stella Corpus landed in front of Regina.

Her eyes are blurred with tears. The cloud of dust kicks up.

Even then, Regina saw it.

The unit is white with beautiful, curved armor plates.

[Regina, are you okay!?]

In a white giant robot, Ratio came to save the damsel in distress.