Chapter II: Brynhildr

“Let me explain the situation.”

The scene was the operations room in the hidden complex below IS Academy. Originally, it was meant to be kept a secret from the students, with no exceptions made—but now, every student with their own IS was there. Houki, Cecilia, Ling, Charlotte, Laura, Kanzashi, and Tatenashi stood in a line. Before them were Chifuyu and Maya. The operations room must have had its own independent power supply, as its displays were still lit up. But rather than modern holo-projection displays, they were older screens.

“You know, I’m surprised there’s this kind of thing down here.”

“Yes. It’s truly a shock.”

Ling and Cecilia whispered to each other as they looked around the room, but they weren’t able to avoid Chifuyu’s notice for even a moment.

“Huang! Alcott! Quiet down, we’re trying to brief you!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“My apologies!”

Chifuyu’s shout cut off their whispered conversation, and Maya zoomed in on a portion of the display to begin her briefing, “All IS Academy systems are currently down. We’re under some kind of electronic attack... That is, we’ve determined that it’s a hacking attempt.”

Maya’s voice had a rare hardness. Whatever was going on must have been serious, or students would never have been allowed down here.

“So far, there’s been no harm to students. The armored shutters have been closed as a precaution, but as of now they’ve been unnecessary. Of course, not all of them—some have been left open. So at least people can go pee if they have to.” The joke fell flat. “Any questions about the situation?”

“Yes.” Laura raised her hand. The active-duty pilot was, as usual, the first to take action. “I’d heard IS Academy’s systems were all developed from the ground up.”

“Well...” Maya started as she looked around the room nervously.

Noticing this, Chifuyu answered instead, “That’s not the problem right now. The problem is that it’s happening.”

“What are they after?”

“If we knew, this would be a lot easier.”

That was the end of Laura’s questions. No one else raised their hand, and Maya moved on to explaining their mission, “Shinonono, Alcott, Huang, Dunois, Bodewig. You’re to enter the access room and execute a cyber-dive into the IS core network. Sarashiki Kanzashi, you’re to back them up.”

Maya’s instructions were clear and direct, but were met with only silence from her students.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Maya was nonplussed by the shocked reaction of everyone but Tatenashi.

“Cyber-dive?!”

“Yes. You remember how, in class, we covered how it was theoretically possible for an IS pilot to virtually enter cyberspace by means of their neural bypass? That wasn’t just a theory. Doing so is banned under the terms of the Alaska Treaty, but the current situation falls under the exceptions laid out in Article 4.”

“That wasn’t what I was confused about!” Rin’s fists shook at her side.

“Indeed! This... This ‘cyber-dive’ is...” Cecilia trailed off in confusion, and Charlotte took over. “So we’ll be using our IS synchronization and nanomachine signaling to enter cyberspace...”

“It’s not dangerous in itself. It just doesn’t seem useful. Normally you’d be better off just getting directly at the software, or at the computer itself.”

Laura’s reassuring explanation was met with an objection from Kanzashi, “But when you’re in cyberspace, won’t you be completely defenseless? I’m worried about if anything happens.”

Finally, Houki summed up their worries and piped up asking, “Isn’t it too dangerous to gather all the pilots in one place?”

Chifuyu, having considered these worries, rejected them in response, “No. This operation requires entry into cyberspace to repel the attackers. No objections. If you have a problem, leave!”

She was forceful enough to cow the students.

“I mean, I wasn’t that mad about it.”

“It was just a bit of a shock.”

“We can do it. Right, Laura?”

“Yeah. We can.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“We’ll show you we can do it.”

With everyone in agreement, Chifuyu clapped her hands together to break up the meeting, “All right! Get to the access room, and get started! Dismissed!”

Spurred on, Houki and the others filed out. With that, only Chifuyu and Maya were left in the room. Chifuyu, Maya, and Tatenashi.

“I have separate orders for you.”

“Which are?” Tatenashi’s usual playfulness was gone.

“With the Academy’s systems down, I’m expecting visitors.”

“Unwanted ones?”

Chifuyu had gleaned that, in their current situation, a third force may try to take advantage.

“That’s right. And the others won’t be able to fight. So sorry, but I’m putting it all on you.”

“Mission accepted.”

“It’ll be a hard fight.”

“But I am the student council president.” Her cheeky grin did nothing to cut through Chifuyu’s stoniness.

“Your IS took more than a few scratches in that last battle, though. Isn’t it still being repaired?”

“Yes. But I’m Sarashiki Tatenashi. I know how to fight from a disadvantage.”

The student council president wouldn’t yield an inch. Seeing the determination in her eyes, Chifuyu sighed, then fixed her with a stern stare and said, “It’s all up to you.”

Tatenashi bowed in acknowledgment and left. As the door slid shut behind her, Chifuyu and Maya spoke regretfully.

“What are we doing? We’re supposed to be protecting our students, not sending them out to fight.”

“Ms. Orimura...”

She wanted to say ‘we have no choice’ but she couldn’t. There was no excuse for putting children on the battlefield. Both of them knew it, in the depths of their hearts.

“There’s no time to sit around. We have our own jobs to do.”

“Yes!”

Chifuyu and Maya began their own preparations.

◇

Chifuyu, wearing a black bodysuit like a ninja’s, looked up as she pulled the straps on her cavalry boots tight. Before her hung six sheathed IS blades, each filed down to the narrower profile of a katana. Sliding them into the holsters at her hips, she took on the appearance of a strange modern samurai.

“I haven’t had my hair up like this in a long time.”

She pulled it into a ponytail and tied it off with a braided cord, then picked up two more katana.

“Let’s go.”

The door slid open. Striding into the darkness, she was lit only by the emergency lights in the floor. Her face, reflected in her steel, showed a smile.

◇

“All right, then.” Tatenashi slipped through the hole she’d blown in a defensive shutter, making a light landing. “Evacuation is almost complete. So it’s okay to come out now.”

She snapped her fan open, revealing the word ‘welcome.’ But the greetings would be delivered not with a smile but with an iron fist.

[Intruder alert! Intruder alert!]

An alarm rang out from Tatenashi’s phone. Opening it up, she looked at the screen. A separate array of cameras not on the Academy network—that is, unauthorized cameras—showed her enemy. She couldn’t tell, under their camouflage which looked like bundles of autumn leaves, whether they were men or women, but there were six of them. At first glance, the camo looked almost like ghillie suits, but it was far more advanced.

“Those must be the new stealth suits that capture their surroundings on one side and then display it on the other.” The ‘leaves’ were flexible pieces of treated film which, when switched on, wrapped around their wearer. By displaying their surroundings, they made the wearer seem transparent.

Our systems haven’t been down for long, either. And they already got a special ops team with the latest gear here? Something smells fishy. It did have to be a separate faction, though. If it was the same one behind the hacking, it would have been more effective to begin the assault at the same time as the power went out. They must have us under observation. How... Crude.

It may have been IS Academy, but it was also a school for young girls just on the cusp of blossoming. Do they have us under 24-hour observation? Where’s their sense of mystery, of romance?

“Oh?”

The hallway stretched out into the distance. Unblocked. Silently. But something was there.

“Why, to think that I’d already meet you here. I truly am blessed.”

Pssht. Pssht. Alloy bullets shot forth from silenced pistols, only to stop hanging in the air in front of Tatenashi.

“......?!”

“Mmhm. That’s just my Active Inertial Canceler.”

Really, the IS Mysterious Lady had already begun to scatter its aqua nanomachines. They may not have been able to block IS weapons, but small arms fire was another story. Tatenashi grinned at her unseen foes’ sudden hesitation.

While under normal circumstances she wasn’t able to sense them directly, but with the aqua nanomachines, it was easy. Even invisible and soundless, they still took up space in the hallway. And where the nanomachines weren’t... Then—

“Click.”

Tatenashi mimed pressing a button. A moment later, an explosion tore through the hall.

“That was one of Mysterious Lady’s little tricks. Did you enjoy ‘Clear Passion’?”

Indoors combat was Mysterious Lady’s specialty. It was an IS built around spreading and controlling nanomachines. Meanwhile, no matter how well-trained and well-armed her foes were, they were only human. Even an IS which couldn’t fully deploy was still an impossible foe.

“I feel like I’m bullying you,” Tatenashi sighed, but then chuckled. “And honestly, I enjoy it.”

She gave her best impish grin. Still, though, she was fighting against a raid targeted mostly at unarmed schoolgirls. Her cause was just.

“All right, here it comes. Let’s go! Tatenashi Five!” As Tatenashi spoke, she split into five. Five Sarashiki Tatenashis, all lined up in a school uniform but holding a lance. “Well, really, it’s all Mysterious Lady, but whatevs.”

Really, they were phantoms of the mist, formed of aqua nanomachines and projected by nanomachine lenses. The problem was picking out the real one. And even if most of them were mist, they could still—

“Boom!”

They could still explode. Yet bullets would do nothing to them.

“Captain! We can’t take much more—”

“Whooooa!”

Man after man, the elite of the elite, fell before her. Another squad showed up to reinforce them, but it made no difference.

“Fall back! Fall back!”

She was just 16. Her IS, and she herself, were in no condition to fight. Yet still, the battle went her way. It was a reminder of how the development of the IS rewrote every rule of war.

Tatenashi grinned, giggling, amidst the fire and the flames, looking every inch the villain.

◇

A woman advanced through the darkened passages as she listened to the explosions from above. This infiltrator of IS Academy’s secret subterranean complex was the leader of the American special operations force ‘Unnamed.’ She was equipped with an experimental stealth version of the IS Fang Quake. This model had several subtle differences from Iris’s assault type. To begin with, its custom paint, rather than flashy tiger stripes, was the deep blue preferred by the Navy SEALs. Completely undecorated, without even unit insignia.

But that was a given. The ‘Unnamed’ had no nationality, no race, no faith, no name. They truly lived up to their one name. There was no official record of their service or association with the American military, either. Such a unit would have, as a matter of course, no insignia.

This woman, too, had no name. Only the title of ‘squad leader’ for communication. The cruelty of her training had driven what name she might have had from her mind. Now, she was a nobody. An unnamed leader for an unnamed squad. This was her world.

Without a word, she advanced. Her objective, the unregistered cores stored at IS Academy after the previous battle. With those, the US wouldn’t just gain access to more IS. It would gain access to highly-effective drones. This was even more important than increasing the number of IS available. Yes. With this technology, the plan would be complete.

And with that, we could redraw the map of the world... She didn’t know the details. She didn’t care. All that mattered to her was her mission.

“......?”

The Fang Quake’s forward floating drift stopped. Its sensors picked out a human form in the unlit hallway.

“En garde!”

“......?!”

Two words, then a sudden assault. With the sudden ring and spark of blade on scabbard-mouth, a shadow leapt toward her back. Suddenly, the passage lit up like the light of day.

“Brynhildr...” the squad leader gasped in surprise.

A woman stood tall in the light in front of her. It was Chifuyu, in her jet-black bodysuit. From her hips hung six sheathed katana, three on each side. In her hands were another two. Those were the blades which had struck at the Fang Quake.

Is she serious? That was the first thought which leapt to the squad leader’s mind. No matter how many times she checked her sensor, Chifuyu was wearing no IS, only the bodysuit. Cut like a scuba diver’s, it covered all of her body which was visible, except for the heavy cavalry boots and the martial arts gloves on her hands. Only her face was visible. But still—

How does she think she’s going to put up a fight with just a Kevlar suit? It might be bulletproof against small arms fire, and perhaps even cut-resistant. But in front of an IS’ firepower, she may as well have been naked.

“What’s wrong?”

“......?”

“Bring it. You’re facing off against the first Brynhildr. The first woman to be recognized as the strongest in the world. Show me what you’ve got, soldier.” Chifuyu smirked. Smirked with supreme self-confidence.

◇

“This must be...”

Houki, Cecilia, Ling, Charlotte, Laura, and Kanzashi filed into the access room. Everything inside was painted a bright, reflective white. To their sides were six reclining chairs, three on each side. It was almost like a hair salon.

“Relax in the chairs. I’ll cover you from the desk.” As Kanzashi spoke, the others laid down in the chairs.

“What is this place, anyway? It’s like something out of a movie.”

“Indeed. I’ve never seen anything like it. How about you, Ling?”

“Mmm. There’s nothing like this in China. And why’s it underground, anyway? This is weird.”

“Yeah. Something’s not quite right. The operations room earlier was pretty heavily fortified, too.”

“Wait, Charlotte. You scanned it with your IS?”

“Yeah. A little bit, at least.” Charl held her finger to her lips.

“I don’t recall any facilities like this in Germany, either. What’s going on at this school? Is it really just a high school?”

The others were silent as they mulled the implications of what Laura had said. It was something they’d all wondered before. ‘IS Academy has too many secrets.’ It was something none of them had said, but all of them had felt.

“I need to get this working...” Kanzashi half-whispered. The others nodded and connected their IS to the terminals in the chairs.

“All right, to connect your IS to the core network, I’m going to need you to set them to software priority.” Kanzashi had already opened her Uchigane Nishiki, called forth a console, and was typing away.

“Ah...” Charlotte spoke up. “I remember reading a book about going into a game world. Is it going to be like that?”

The others were surprised at her palpable excitement.

Clearing her throat, Kanzashi answered, “I mean, it is a virtual world. I’ll be backing you up from out here, so focus on reactivating the core system... I’ll guide you while you’re inside, too.”

“Got it,” Ling answered energetically.

With that, the five laid down and began to focus.

“Here goes!”

Kanzashi activated the system. In the blink of an eye, they passed out as if in comas, their consciousnesses transported to a fantastic world.

◇

“Where am I?”

The first to speak was Cecilia. Before her, grassy moors spread out as far as the eye could see. A gentle breeze tempered the heat of the June sun. Just as the hum of nature enveloped her, Ling’s voice rang out, “Eeek! What the hell is this thing?!”

As she shouted, she clutched at the hem of her dress. It was a vivid blue, with a white pinafore tied over. Just like Alice in Wonderland. Surprised by her sudden shout, the group looked around at each other.

“This is...”

“We’re...”

“All wearing the same clothes?”

Their confusion was broken as a window popped open in midair, “This is Kanzashi. How’s it going in there?”

“It... It’s like a storybook...”

Kanzashi thought for a moment before replying to Charlotte.

“It must be...” They could hear the clatter of her keyboard as she spoke. “I think I understand... The virtual world you’re in is being hacked. You’re going to need to play out the role you’ve been assigned.”

“Role?!” Ling, speaking for the five, grimaced in astonishment.

“Wait, you mean we have to be Alice?!”

“I’m not sure. The space you’re in is very unstable.”

“So if we’re Alice...” Charlotte glanced over at Laura.

“What is it?”

“I figured if anyone was going to be the rabbit, it would be you.”

“Hmph. Don’t compare me to a mere pet. We proud Schwarze Hase—”

“Ahh!” A sudden yell from Cecilia interrupted them.

“Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!”

Hoppity-hop-hop. The rabbit took a watch from its waistcoat pocket, looked at it, and then hurried on.

“There it is!”

“Catch the rabbit!” The five nodded in unison at Kanzashi’s order.

“Hold it right there! Agh... Dammit! It’s impossible to run in a dress!”

“Ling, you just need to hold up the hem like this—”

“Hmph. I’ll go on ahead, then.”

“Hurry up! It’s almost to the woods!”

Cecilia pointed as the rabbit disappeared amongst the trees without a glance backward. Chasing, the five followed into the dense forest. Tracing a path overhung with foliage, they soon reached a clearing.

“And what’s this?”

Five doors stood in the middle of the woods.

“Are we supposed to go in?”

“I guess so...” Kanzashi hesitantly replied. They could see bursts of static overlaying her face. “Signal——breaking up——going to have—make your way to—yourselves—”

“Roger!”

Nodding, each of the girls opened the door before them and stepped through.

◇

“Mmm...”

Ling waited until the dazzling glare around her faded before opening her eyes. As she took her first step through the door, she had felt her consciousness torn asunder from the world around her as the world faded to white.

“Just where the heck is this, anyway...” She glanced around, a question mark floating over her head. “Wait, am I—”

It was a backdrop she knew well. An atmosphere she’d felt many times: a classroom in the middle school she’d attended with Ichika. The orange haze of sunset filled the room, and far away, she could hear the baseball team practicing.

“But why middle school?” It was only in her confusion that she realized her clothing had changed. “This is the sailor uniform they had us wear...”

A deep blue, nearly black collar. Wearing it every day, she’d always found it unstylish, but now, it had a pleasant nostalgia.

She quietly paced the room, getting her bearings. It seemed real. As real as could be. The heat, the humidity, even the smell was just like she remembered. But it wasn’t.

She tried to call forth her IS, but she couldn’t find its standby bracelet form on her arm.

“...This must be a trap.”

Realizing it, she decided to make her escape before its author could come calling. Making her way to the door— Rattle.

“Huh?”

Before she could grasp the handle, it rolled open in front of her.

“Hey, Rin.”

“I-I-Ichika!”

Before her stood Ichika, in the stiff-collared jacket of a retro school uniform.

◇

Clang! Chifuyu’s blades rained slash after slash on the armor of the Fang Quake, but not one managed to cut through. Four had already dulled to the point of uselessness.

“Hmph.”

Planting another in the floor, she drew forth a replacement from a scabbard at her hip. The shrill grind of the blade as it sprung forth echoed chillingly through the room.

“...Haven’t you taken this far enough?” Squad Leader—to give her the only name she knew—spoke with a steely voice, but behind her ice-cold intonation sparks of frustration were beginning to fly.

“Hmmmm?” Chifuyu tauntingly feigned confusion. “Don’t you have a wedding to bomb or something? What are you doing at a high school on some middle-of-nowhere island?”

“.........”

“You’re after those drone cores... And something else too, aren’t you. Well, you picked the wrong day. Byakushiki is somewhere safe now.” A whisper of a smile flitted over her face.

Squad Leader gritted her teeth and blurted out, “So you’ve figured it out. Then... Why?”

“Hmph. ‘Why give battle anyway, when there’s no way a human could stand up to an IS?’ you mean?” Chifuyu’s blades whooshed through the air and into a striking stance. “Because I’m no ordinary human.”

In an instant, the katana curved inward. But this time, Squad Leader caught them in her right fist.

“You’re wasting your time!”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Letting her swords go, Chifuyu snaked her arms around her foe’s body. Moving fluidly, she lifted Squad Leader up in a grapple, tensing a wire in her hand.

“Guh!” A choke of surprise escaped Squad Leader’s mouth as the garrote tightened around her neck.

“I thought you’d be smarter than to rely on your IS’ life support like that.”

The wire burned through the energy field, and Chifuyu was already shifting her balance for a spinning kick.

“......?!”

Chifuyu didn’t even break a sweat as she slammed the IS, and the pilot inside, into the wall.

Squad Leader was beginning to panic. She’s inhuman. But—

But what?

It still isn’t enough to even scratch my IS.

That’s why she couldn’t understand.

Why is she trying to—

Chifuyu, not wanting to give her opponent time to think, unleashed another hail of blades.

“What’s wrong, Yankee? Show me what you’ve got.”

“You’ve got a big mouth, Jap.”

Again, sparks flew.

◇

“All right, time to get some data out of Byakushiki. Open it up and stand on the scanner for me.”

“Okay.”

I nodded at Hikaruno and followed her instructions. A ring of light washed over my IS as the scanning began.

“We’ll start with hardware data. Open up the fourth cable port for me?”

“Got it.”

I’d learned at least this much helping out like with Kanzashi. As instructed, I opened the port.

“Okay, okay! Here goes!”

She plugged the cable in with a snap. Zzzap!

“......!!”

“What’s wrong?”

“It felt almost like a shock.”

“Huh? That’s funny. Hold on, I’ll check it out.”

“Okay...”

As I wondered what was going on, I suddenly heard Kanzashi’s voice inside my head, “Ichika...”

“Huh?”

“Mm?” Hikaruno and I looked at each other, both confused.

“Did a private channel just open up?”

“Nope, couldn’t have. You’re in safe mode.”

“That’s weird.” It had felt just like a private channel... At least, I thought so.

“Anyway, let’s tune your thrusters output. Bring them all up to five percent for me?”

“Okay.”

Putting other thoughts aside, I focused on the data collection.

◇

“......!”

Chifuyu’s last katana bent with a dull cry.

“This is over.” Squad Leader’s movements were swift and precise. She drove a quick left jab into Chifuyu’s gut, and an explosion rang out as Chifuyu was blown backward. “That was...”

Unsure of what she had just felt, Squad Leader looked down at her hand, seeing the last few smoking wisps of cordite. Dammit. She realized, now. Chifuyu had gained distance, been protected by active armor, and now, she herself was enveloped in a forest of katana.

With that, Chifuyu spoke a single word, “Shatter.”

The blades exploded at the sound of her voice. The forces of the explosions cracked the floor, crumbled the walls, fractured the ceiling. Chifuyu, chased by flames, raced down the hallway.

“You’re not getting away!”

Chifuyu’s elusiveness had finally broken through Squad Leader’s discipline, and her irritation flared up. Firing up her thrusters, she roared down the hall in pursuit. Aiming at Chifuyu’s back, she unleashed a fierce blow—but Chifuyu, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, nimbly backflipped over it.

“Hmph.”

Planting her foot firmly in Squad Leader’s face, Chifuyu used the momentum to turn a corner. She tumbled through a door, then spun to body-check it closed and tumble for cover. Echolocation shows it as a dead end. Now I’ve got her! Squad Leader, her thrusters at full power, chased.

“Bah!” She kicked the door open, but the moment she entered the room, spotlights snapped on.

“Your turn, Maya.”

“Roger that!”

Chifuyu pulled the stealth cloaking away. Under it was a Rafale Revive equipped with four gigantic Gatling guns.

T-The Quad Phalanx?! No longer a mobile weapon, between its weight and the anti-recoil stabilizers, but a turret of incomparable firepower. By the time her stomach turned, it was too late.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!! A hail of cannonfire rained down upon her. Gunsmoke welled up like a devilish jack-in-the-box. Behind Maya’s IS, Chifuyu nonchalantly watched while sipping a mug of coffee.

“Yeah... You make the best coffee, Ms. Yamada.”

“Oh, that? It’s just instant.”

“.........”

A minute later, Squad Leader, bruised and bloodied, was tied up by Maya and Chifuyu. The last few drops of her coffee had a salty, metallic tang.

◇

“Well, that’s that.”

Tatenashi, having finished tying up the men of the special ops squad with Kevlar rope, let out a sigh. They’re obviously American. No one else would be here after the drones so quickly.

The problem was, how did they knock out the school’s systems? If they stayed down too long, she’d have to break each classroom’s shutters open herself for circulation. And vandalism like that? From the student council president, even? Ah well, no sense crying over spilled milk.

“Let’s go.”

Tatenashi switched her IS into standby mode to save energy and took a step forward. As she did, a shot from a silenced gun tore through her belly.

“Huh?” She coughed up a bit of blood, and, still bewildered, tumbled forward.

“You finally let your guard down.”

Dammit! I was too careless! The tied-up men slouched their ropes off. They must have cut themselves loose with hidden plasma cutters. Now, their arms and legs were unbound.

“What do we do with her?”

“She’s the Russian pilot. Japanese by birth, but it looks like she’ll give anyone a turn if it lets her get her hands on an IS.”

“And...?”

“Stop her bleeding and give her a shot of morphine to keep her quiet. We’re taking her and her IS back with us.”

“Roger.”

The men set to work as ordered, their first step gagging her to keep her from biting through her tongue.

“Mmph!”

“Keep it quiet, or you’re gonna bleed out.”

Her stomach ached as if it was being torn apart, but soon, the shot of morphine to her neck pulled her consciousness away.

“I... chi... ka...”

Without thinking, she called out his name before losing consciousness.