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Is it really okay to use Getter Rays in a world of Otome Games? [MobuSeka/Getter Robo]

Saga - 5
To my surprise, it didn't seem like the rest of the party saw through King Roland's Masked Knight disguise at all. Not even people who should have absolutely recognized him like Angie and Hertrude.

"I have heard of the Masked Knight before from my mother." Clarice commented after I introduced him to the others. The recent graduate was wearing her dungeoneering gear, which consisted of a grey studded leather vest and white crop top that just happened to show off my fiancée's fantastic abs. She also had dark blue trousers and black thighboots. Completing the look were a pair of armored gauntlets that had reinforced metal knuckles. Her lack of any other type of weapon made it obvious how she preferred to deal with threats. No wonder Jilk looked so bad after their talk where they officially broke things off. "She said that you are as skilled as an adventurer as you are a flirt."

"I will not deny it, though I would like to think that I merely appreciate the beauty of women." Roland rolled with the backhanded insult. He must have been used to women being on guard if they already knew about his alter ego's reputation.

"Still, it is rather convenient that you would appear just as we are about to delve into the dungeon." Angie pointed out with narrowed eyes. My other fiancée was wearing a really fancy red sleeveless battle dress. It had an armored collar but was cut low enough to also show a lot of cleavage, there was even a large gemstone in the middle that drew the eye directly at her chest. She did have a small pauldron on her left shoulder for some protection though. She wasn't wearing trousers so her thighs were on full display whenever she moved but she thankfully was also wearing sturdy looking boots. Angie was armed with a single-edged broadsword that was strapped to her waist.

"Isn't it great? It's good that he can fill in for Dierdre!" Ever the ball of sunshine, Livia looked on the bright side of the situation. She was wearing the same white number she wore when we went to Elven Island, complete with her handgun and rifle. Clara also wore the same thing she did during our trip, opting to just silently stand behind me.

"Exploits of the Masked Knight have even made it to the Principality. The rumors of your skill and power approached the utterly unbelievable." Hertrude added her own opinion on the matter. Just how long had the king been doing this if he was also known all the way out in Fanoss?

The Princess of the Principality was wearing a dark red battle coat that had a furred collar. It was buttoned up to cover her entire torso. I could also catch a glimpse of what looked like black shorts as well. She too wore leather boots and even had leather gloves as well. The only weapon I could see on her was a handgun strapped to her waist. The most striking thing about Hertrude was that her hair was tied up into twintails instead of her usual hime cut.

Control was also there using a drone I had never seen before. It was the size of a basketball and was colored yellow and black. It also had box compartments on the sides and what looked like a flat rotating dish on top. When I asked what this particular drone was for, they said that it was used for Emergency Search and Rescue. While they didn't think that it would be used for its intended purpose, the utility tools packed in the side compartments and the ground penetrating radar it came equipped with would help a lot when it came to the actual traversal of the dungeon.

After introductions were done, we talked about the kind of formation we would use once we were inside the dungeon.

"With eight of us here, including an Academy Alumnus and a veteran Adventurer, we could probably get away without any formation until like the tenth floor." I pointed out. Honestly, the team was a bit of an overkill since the protagonist and her chosen love interest should have been able to acquire it with just the two of them. Hell, Livia and Anne could have probably done this by themselves.

"I would be fine with taking the spear tip of the group. I have visited this dungeon literally hundreds of times now, sometimes by myself. I am intimately knowledgeable of the first fifty floors." Masked Knight boldly suggested. No one really spoke against it so we settled on a hexagon formation.

King Roland would take point, forward flanks would be Clara and myself, rear flanks would be Angie and Livia, rear guard would be Clarice. The center of the formation would have Control with Hertrude. When the princess complained as to why she was basically being protected by everyone else, Livia just told the reason to her straight.

"The rest of us here have been delving into this dungeon a lot for adventuring classes, so we know what to expect. This will be your first outing here so you don't have the same awareness that we do." Man, it felt like ages ago when Livia was terrified of fighting giant ants and thought that healing herbs were great treasures.

Hertrude accepted the reasoning well enough and we went down to the entrance of the dungeon proper. In the game, the Saint's Bracelet was located on the twenty-eighth floor of the dungeon. There was a hidden wall that the protagonist would notice once the window to get it opened. Players would have a few weeks of in-game time to get strong enough to make it that far. It would no longer be possible to acquire it once the practical exam for second years to reach the thirtieth floor started.

The first ten floors were a complete joke for our party, the most notable thing about it were all the fake walls that Control detected that held some cheap loot. Oh, and there was also the event of Clara being able to defeat the boss of the tenth floor by herself. The giant ant queen being bisected by the General Studies student after she easily dealt with its guards was a thing of beauty.

"I gotta say, I never expected that from you. I'm really proud of you, Clara." I told her with a big grin on my face. I would have expected that kind of performance from Angie or Livia, but certainly not Clara.

"Thank you, my Lord! I have been working hard to become strong enough to keep up with you and the others!" She proudly said as Livia healed her wounds while giggling. Masked Knight pretty much dominated the next five floors, his swordsmanship and magic being on a completely different level from what we could do. Well, with the exception of Livia and Anne when it came to magic. Even Clarice grudgingly admitted that he was an incredible fighter.

Things evened out a bit once we got to the twentieth floor. The area was just a labyrinth of hallways so there were attacks and traps from all directions. Control was able to stay on top of trap detection if Mask Knight missed any of them himself.

"So how are calling out numbers supposed to help with spotting monsters?" Masked Knight asked me skeptically. Numpad notation was more common when it came to fighting games, but one thing I noticed during my time playing the game's dungeon sections was that it was also super useful in monster and trap callouts. Since the dungeons were mainly grid-based, it was pretty easy to mark where ambushes or traps would happen by just assigning a number on a square of the map.

"Well, we split up what we see in front of us into nine squares." I demonstrated by moving my arm to metaphorically split the hallway in front of us. "One, two, and three are the bottom row. Four, five, and six are the middle row. Seven, eight, and nine are the top row."

"So, say Control detects an arrow trap coming from the upper-left corner of the ceiling, they can just call out Arrow Trap Seven instead." It would have been even better if we all had a HUD that showed a compass, but this would also work. "It'll be faster to convey than actually calling out where threats will be in real space."

"Hmmm, an interesting concept. I shall remember that if I end up in an unfamiliar dungeon with a party." Masked Knight said with a nod. We pretty much ended up calling out traps and monsters using those designations and it went super well.

"Angie! Giant Viper Four!" Clarice called out just as she punched clear through the carapace of a giant beetle. Angie immediately turned around and swung her sword, the gimmick of her weapon activating as it split up into multiple segments that were held together by a steel wire.

"Flame Slice!" Angie yelled, engulfing her whip sword in fire just as it made contact with the snake monster that launched itself at her. The results were pretty immediate as it was cut to pieces and burned to a crisp.

"Monkey Six! Livia!" Hertrude called out before shooting at the rabid monkey that appeared from the shadows. She missed but it had to change direction and flew right past its intended target and right into the path of my tomahawk swing. Livia then pulled out her rifle and started shooting at where the monkey monster appeared and flushed out four more. She, Hertrude, and Clara made short work of them by way of gun and sword.

It appears that the concept you introduced has yielded great success.

"Just standing on the shoulders of giants, Control." I said with a laugh just as we reached the boss door for this section of the dungeon. I was thinking about how to deal with the ape boss there when someone started opening the door.

"Please, allow me." Masked Knight stated as he stepped forward to face the gigantic gorilla monster boss. "This has become a routine for me of sorts."

What followed couldn't even be called a fight. The gorilla couldn't come close to hitting Masked Knight at all. Even after pulling out a stone sword that was as big as it was, there was no mistaking how outmatched it was. Every swing, every strike, every single move it did was evaded and countered with contemptuous ease.

"Does this count as animal cruelty?" I asked as the boss slammed its sword on the ground, which only allowed Masked Knight to run up the blade and slash its face with his magic enhanced sword.

"His swordsmanship is impeccable." Angie muttered in keen interest while Masked Knight continued to dance around the poor monster. The others were watching with varied degrees of interest. Clara, Hertrude and Livia were really into it, while Clarice didn't look too impressed.

"Hey, Control." I whispered to the drone while everyone was too distracted by the demolishing that was happening. "Can you see through Masked Knight's disguise?"

There is a faint distortion around him when I visually try to acquire him. I assume that this is some form of magic.

"Enchantment that keeps people from finding the wearer's true identity." I quickly provided. Control slowly backed away from everyone else and spoke in a deliberately lowered volume.

Then I assume that you already know that Masked Knight is King Roland?

"It doesn't work on me for some reason. How did you find out?" The drone bobbed up and down to indicate a nod.

I performed a search in the database I have been building of people that we have encountered. Masked Knight was an eighty-six percent match to the king.

I blinked at the new information. Control has a database of people now? "I thought you don't scan people without their consent?"

I did not scan any of them. The database is purely made of visible visual information that anyone can see. People can disguise themselves, but there are mannerisms that are difficult to remove. Moreso if they do not realize that they have said mannerisms.

I nodded at the explanation. Well, that was fine then. We both turned back to the fight when we heard the boss scream out in pain. Masked Knight had used the boss' own sword to decapitate him. I whistled at the impressive feat while the boss dissipated into motes of light. "That's just mean."

"Apologies for the wait! The beast is vanquished!" He proudly said before taking a bow. He even took the time to bask in the applause from Angie, Livia, Hertrude and Clara. "Please! It was not a problem!"

"Not very humble, is he?" Clarice asked just as I stepped up to stand at her side, Control floating towards the others.

"He has good reason to brag." I said with a nod. He was a terrible husband and father, but no one can say that King Roland was a weak man.

We eventually made it to the twenty-eighth floor and I noticed Livia immediately tense up. "Can you feel it, Livia?"

"Yes, it's this way." She nodded, voice a bit tight. Was Anne talking in her head about something?

For the first time since we entered the dungeon, Masked Knight relinquished the front of the formation. Livia walked purposefully through the dungeon, gunning down anything that even looked at her funny. It was pretty hot to see her like that, rifle in her right hand and handgun in her left. From the flush on the faces of my fiancées, they both felt the same way. She eventually led us to a dead end, but she kept moving forward without a care. Clara was about to call out to her about the wall Livia just walked through it and caused a ripple to appear on the surface.

"An illusory wall?!" Masked Knight called out in obvious surprise as we all looked at each other. "I have been through this part of the dungeon, back-to-front, for years and I never noticed this!"

"Fuck waiting." Clarice hissed out before running through the wall. We all soon followed in her wake. The other side of the wall was a small room with a dais that dominated the center. On the small platform was a pedestal that held a green bracelet. We all watched Livia reach out and take it before putting it on her right wrist.

Angie walked up to her and touched her upper arm. "Livia? Do you feel any different?"

Instead of answering, she slowly turned and focused her widened eyes directly at Masked Knight. She then pulled out her handgun in an instant and shot at him, the king barely having the time to evade it.

"Livia?!" Clara yelled out in a panic. Livia ignored Angie and Clarice calling out to her to stop as she just kept shooting Masked Knight.

"I see through you." My blood froze at Anne's hollow tone of voice, seemingly having taken control of Livia's body again. That didn't sound like the Anne we had known all this time. "HOLFORT!"
 
Feedback and Temp Check request
So I've been writing this for a couple of months now and it has gotten bigger than I ever thought it would become. I'd like to thank everyone who has been enjoying and supporting my Morbing.

I initially thought that I would get tired of writing this story, especially because of how fast I post updates, but I haven't at all.

That said, I would like to take this time to do a temp check with everyone. How has the story been for you guys? Do the characters have defined enough characteristics? How is the pacing? How is the overall plot? How are the side plots? How is the narrative structure?

Any feedback you can provide would be great as this has probably been one of the longest stories I have ever written and I can't quite tell if it has run away from me or not.
 
The story has been great so far! Really appreciate how well done the crossover aspect is! I was unfamiliar with Getter Robo before reading this fic, yet you made easy to follow through without massive info dumps or wiki abuse.

The characters are great so far, minor nitpick concerning Angie and Clarisse. Since the engagement both tend to appear together in the story and considering their background and similarities, so the characters blur together. You're already eliminating the issue with Clarisse's date, so cheers for that.

The pacing is perfect as it is. Slow enough to build tension as conflict is slowly approaching and fast enough to get there without complaints. Have to say that I would like it a little slower, merely because I enjoy slice of life.

Again I don't have much knowledge of Getter Robo, but the induction to the plot is seamless. Alien invaders works better than "Our space traveling race, capable of genetically engineer new entire species have a mutated gene granting magic in those that have it...so we almost destroyed the planet in a war.". Also the Black Knight is legitimately terrifying here, the sort that would unleash hell upon the world as long as the Holfort Kingdom is consumed first.

As for side plots they're great, though I wouldn't mind some extra romantic moments or the 5 idiots failing in life.
 
So I've been writing this for a couple of months now and it has gotten bigger than I ever thought it would become. I'd like to thank everyone who has been enjoying and supporting my Morbing.

I initially thought that I would get tired of writing this story, especially because of how fast I post updates, but I haven't at all.

That said, I would like to take this time to do a temp check with everyone. How has the story been for you guys? Do the characters have defined enough characteristics? How is the pacing? How is the overall plot? How are the side plots? How is the narrative structure?

Any feedback you can provide would be great as this has probably been one of the longest stories I have ever written and I can't quite tell if it has run away from me or not.
It ain't bad by any means. Even your grammar is good, which is a surprise since most stories I've read have a handful of grammatical errors at least. Just keep doing what you're doing and you should be fine.
 
Saga - 6
Bang!

Roland Rapha Holfort couldn't quite hide the grin on his face as he once again barely dodged the shot from the Saintess Candidate that his old Master found. Though, merely calling her candidate was pretty worthless at this point since it seemed that she already acquired two of the three Saint Relics. Her usually friendly and cute expression had been replaced with a snarl that he had not seen on a woman in quite a long time.

It was obvious to him that the poor girl was no longer in control of her actions and needed a hero like himself to save her!

"Anne! Please stop this! Masked Knight is not your enemy!" And based on the yells from her lovers, they seem to be quite familiar with the change as well. Anne huh? So that was the name of the previous Saint. But why was she so adamant in killing him?

He scoffed at how the Bartfort boy that Mylene had taken as her secret lover stepped between them, as if Roland was too weak to protect himself from a crazed girl with a gun. He chose instead to move away from the child and keep the possessed girl's attention on him. It wasn't like she would ever be able to hi–

"STAND STILL, HOLFORT!" Roland's breath caught in his throat as his body suddenly froze up. He willed himself to move and was almost successful, but the delay in his movement was long enough that the girl was able to line up a shot. He grit his teeth in preparation to catch the round on his arm, but he was saved from having to bother by the Atlee girl.

"Anne! Listen to us!" She called out to the spirit even while deflecting the shots with her armored gauntlets. "This isn't you!"

"HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT YOU KNOW ME!" The ghost yelled out. She grunted when the blue haired girl grabbed her from behind and attempted to restrain her. "LET GO OF ME!"

The girl winced and instantly complied to her own shock. The boy then called out to everyone as he and the Atlee girl continued to try to keep themselves between him and the Saintess. "She's using Compelling Voice! Don't listen to her!"

"Not a very easy thing to do, my Lord!" The blue haired girl complained as she tried to find another angle to restrain the enraged girl.

"Anne please! Don't do this! We all love you! Don't let your fury consume you!" Angelica uselessly tried to convince the enraged ghost even as she used her sword whip to throw off the girl's aim.

"LIES! ONLY LEA EVER LOVED ME! ALL OTHERS ARE BETRAYERS!" It didn't seem that anyone knew exactly what she was talking about, based on the way they were glancing at each other. It didn't really matter to him either way.

"HOLFORT, FIELD, SEBERG, MARMORIA, AND ARCLIGHT!" Oho? She has a grudge with his family as well as the other original great houses? Now this is more interesting than just going into an old dungeon! He couldn't help but laugh in excitement when the girl formed a magic sigil on her hand and ran it across the handgun in her other hand, causing it to spark brightly. "ALL FIVE WILL DIE BY MY HANDS!"

"Try it if you can, specter of my ancestor's past!" This was what he wanted! Facing the unknown and prevailing! Saving an innocent maiden from the evil spirit possessing her body! This was what adventuring was all about! "You will not be the one to end my adventures!"

"You're not helping, you masked moron!" He ignored the boy's yells in favor of running headlong into the barrage of magic bullets that now started coming out of the handgun. The bullet came out of the gun like normal but then exploded into a spread of white hot metal after a short distance. The girl really put a spell on the gun's ammunition that changed the way they behaved? Brilliant!

Roland was absolutely having the time of his life! He knew that joining the boy's party was a good idea! As expected of himself!



Olivia clutched her head as the empty void around her shrieked and pulsed red. This was not the same thing that happened whenever Anne would take over her body. The usual warmth and love she would feel was completely absent. There was so much anger and sorrow coming from every direction that it was almost choking her.

"Livia, can you perceive me?" Olivia looked around when she heard Anne's voice, the one that she recognized. A platform materialized at her feet and Olivia felt gravity taking hold of her to be able to stand on it. Countless small sparks of blue light suddenly appeared in front of her and coalesced into a girl who looked exactly like her. She was wearing a very ornate white dress that looked like it was ceremonial in nature. The most prominent part of her outfit was the very familiar necklace that she was wearing.

"Anne? What is going on?" From the wince that the other girl gave her, it wasn't anything good.

"I'm afraid that the fragment of myself that is in the bracelet still remembers the betrayal of the others too freshly." Betrayal? By who? When she put on the bracelet, all she remembered happening was a loud scream in her head followed by her blacking out and ending up in this void. She then noticed the spiraling angry red clouds in the far distance.

"Is that her over there?" She pointed at it before quickly holding Anne by the shoulders when she suddenly grimaced and looked like she was about to collapse.

"Yes, her anger. My anger against the ancestors of the ones you now call great houses has not diminished at all." Anne explained with great effort. She raised her hand in the direction of the red clouds and a brick walkway suddenly started forming in front of them. Olivia took the hint and started helping Anne walk across the newly created path.

"What happened, Anne?" She asked as the two of them walked, which was a very strange experience as she knew that this was all literally inside her own mind. "Between them and your Lea?"

"They betrayed us." The identical girl, who was leaning on her shoulder as they walked, bitterly stated. She could feel the emotional pain coming from Anne, but it felt more muted than the one coming from the distance. It was still there, but it didn't hurt as much as it probably did with the other part of her. "After everything we all went through, the adventures, the hardships, the triumphs. Once we united everyone into the Kingdom you see now, they betrayed and killed Lea. And they even banish–they banished me?"

"Anne?" Olivia asked when Anne stopped walking. She narrowed her eyes and pressed her palm on her forehead.

"What did they do to me again?" She muttered to herself, struggling with a memory. "What happened to me afterwards? Why can't I remember?"

"Deep breaths, Anne." She ignored how silly it was to ask a ghost in her mind to perform breathing exercises. Surprisingly, Anne followed her instructions and it actually seemed to work. Was it all mental then?

"Why can't I remember what happened to me after their betrayal?" Anne said in pained confusion.

"Do you think the other parts of you have the rest of the memories?" Olivia asked her. If the Anne they know was only one-third of a whole, then the other two parts may have something that their Anne did not.

"There is one way to find out." The spirit of the Saint's Necklace said in determination. "Come, we go together."

Olivia nodded and promised to herself that she would do her best to help both Annes. "Yes, together."



For fucks sake! When the hell did Livia learn how to turn a handgun into a shotgun?! Who even gave her the idea in the first place?!

None of us could get close to Livia's entire frontal area as the threat of getting hit by the tiny molten buckshot she made was too real. That left King Roland, who was laughing, on his own to defend himself from the assaults.

"So, anyone want to talk about how Anne called Masked Knight 'Holfort'?" Clarice asked while inspecting her gauntlets for any major damage. No one seemed to have an answer, so I sighed and decided to let them in on the secret.

"Masked Knight is King Roland in disguise." I told them and nodded at their shocked expressions. "Yeah, I know."

"Why does Anne want to kill the king?!" Clara asked in clear alarm. Control floated towards us and got our attention.

From the context clues Anne had provided from this and other conversations, it would appear that she and her lover were wronged by the ancestors of Prince Julius and his friends. She is now seeking revenge by proxy.

That certainly sounded like it. Jeez, was I ever glad that Julius and the boys were all the way out in Alzer with Marie. Who knew what would have happened if Anne was exposed to them for an extended period of time?

"What do we do now? We can't stop Livia without hurting her." Clara went back to the main issue at hand. We were all equipped to kill monsters, not to subdue someone non-lethally. Clarice might be able to, but I doubt that she would be willing to beat up Livia and Anne.

"No! Don't hurt her!" Hertrude yelled out, getting our attention. We all turned back to the fight and saw that Roland finally decided to take the situation into his own hands.

The bastard tried to slash at her, but Anne used her handgun's butt to block it. She then weaved beneath Roland's arm and got in his face. Anne proceeded to reach out with her other hand and grabbed the king by the throat. With a vicious smile, she chokeslammed him into the stone floor. Far from being incapacitated, Roland just got back up and headbutted her along the way. Anne was disoriented from the hit and the king took advantage by raising his sword for another swing. I was about to throw one of my tomahawks at him when someone else beat me to it.

"Don't you dare!" Clarice roared out as she became an orange blur and parried the sword swing with her gauntlets.

"Away with you!" Angie then followed up by wrapping her sword whip around Roland and throwing him to the far end of the room. I took that chance to run up behind Anne and wrap my arms around her, making sure that her arms were restrained. There was one chance for me to be able to stop her, something that Anne told us about herself a while back.

"Anne! Look at me!" I yelled at her, moving my head over her shoulder. She struggled against me with a growl, trying to get free.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO STO–" The words died in her throat when she turned and finally got a good look. "Lea?"

"Do you see me, Anne?" I asked, as she didn't seem to properly notice me earlier.

"Lea." She whispered in disbelief. Anne then grimaced and her expression completely changed.

"Leon!" I blinked at the sudden change in how she spoke.

"Livia?!" I yelled out in surprise, slowly starting to let her go. She managed to take back control? What about Anne?

"Anne and I are trying to calm the other part of her in the bracelet!" She began explaining but looked like she was under great strain. Livia shook her head and held herself against me. "Please buy us time to–NO! YOU WILL NOT STOP MY VENGEANCE!"

Shit! I tried to tighten my grip around her again but Anne slammed the back of her head against my face. I recoiled in pain and that was enough for her to kick me away.

Please keep her in place. I may have a way to restrain her.

Following Control's words, we all moved to surround Anne. Unfortunately, our wonderful ruler had other ideas.

"You all had your chance! I shall be the one to expel this evil out of this innocent maiden!" He yelled out while dashing towards Anne. Innocent maiden? That term didn't apply to either Anne or Livia at all.

"Hertrude! Clara! Angie! We have to keep Masked Knight off Anne!" I called out to the others before glancing at Anne. "Clarice! Stay on Anne and keep her still for Control!"

"You children really think that you are a match for me?" He mocked while easily dodging our attacks. Even between the four of us, we couldn't fight him head on. That was fine, we just had to buy time for Livia and our Anne to snap the other one out of her insanity.

"You won't hurt my love!" Angie roared, her sword being engulfed in fire. I guess she didn't have any qualm against raising her blade against her king if it was for Livia. The heat didn't seem to bother Roland as he defended against both Angie and Clara.

"I knew that there was something wrong with Holfort's king!" Hertrude yelled out while taking pot shots at Roland. As she didn't have as much combat experience as the rest of us, she took on the role of distraction. "Do you really prance around like a child in costume instead of ruling your country? I feel sorry for Queen Mylene."

"Ha! Nice try! Mylene put that all on herself! If she would only let herself fail so I could swoop in and fix everything, then she wouldn't be so overworked!" The mocking tone of his voice woke up something in me that I hadn't felt since the party when Angie challenged Marie to a duel.

"You did that to her on purpose?!" I roared out, Angie and Clara moving aside so I could cross blades with the king. I could see his smile clear as day and I gripped my tomahawks tighter. "So you can make yourself look good if she messes up?!"

"I think that my Lord wants to kill the king now as well." I ignored Clara's jab in favor of chasing Roland after he tried to disengage from me.

"As long as he keeps distracting him, then it's fine!" I heard Hertrude say, but the only thing I could see was the bastard that caused so much sorrow to Mylene.

"Then by all means, come! I will show you the difference between us!" Far from being offended by my words and actions, the shitlord king just spread his arms out in challenge. Fine! Then I was going to make him regret it.



"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Clarice Fia Atlee winced as she barely blocked another shot from Anne's handgun with her gauntlets. The spell she used against the king was swapped out to one that made the bullets she fired far heavier than they should have been. The downside that she saw was that Anne could not fire as frequently as she normally would without any magical augmentations to her weapon.

It was just good luck that she was so blinded with rage that she didn't seem to remember that she also had a rifle strapped to her back.

"On my love for you and Livia, I shall not let you pass and make this mistake." She declared while keeping herself between Anne and the sounds of combat behind her. She was curious as to why Leon sounded like he wanted to kill King Roland instead, but she assumed that it had something to do with the Queen.

She saw Control's yellow drone fly up behind Anne and smiled. With a swift chop of her hand, Clarice forced the gun to point down onto the floor.

Target locked. Deploying net.

The boxes on the drone's side opened up and a pair of nets shot out to wrap themselves around Anne. "WHAT IS THIS?! I CANNOT MOVE!"

Please do not struggle. That net is made of materials that can withstand forces far beyond you.

"Leon! We got her!" Clarice called out with a smile that became awkward when she saw what her beloved was doing. "You can stop trying to kill the king now."

"Hahahaha! You need years more training to even try to hit me, boy!"

"Fuck you, Shitlord King!"



Olivia and Anne reached the source of the red clouds and saw that it was indeed another Anne. She was identical to the girl at her side, save for having a bracelet on her wrist instead of the necklace around her neck. She smiled at the strained look on her face, knowing that the people she loved were keeping her from making a terrible mistake.

"What do we do?" She asked her Anne in worry.

"This is still your mind, Livia." Anne said confidently, not taking her eyes off her other self. "Imagine something that can restrain her."

Oh, is that all? That was pretty easy then.

Olivia closed her eyes and solidified the image from her memory. A moment later, a large black hand reached out to wrap itself around the other Anne. The angry Anne yelled out in surprise as the rest of Olivia's Black Bunny materialized behind her.

"DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOUR HATRED COULD EVER MATCH MINE?!" She challenged after finally noticing her and their Anne below her.

"No," Olivia said with a smile. "but my love can."

Anne floated up to where her other self was now completely trapped. She could faintly see the two of them stare at each other, like a strange mirror.

"I am you, you are me." Despite the distance, Olivia could still hear their words very clearly. "We are one in the same. Come back, so we can be whole again."

"WITH YOU?! YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN BROKEN LOVE!" Olivia grimaced as she felt the hurt those words caused.

"Yes, I understand it now. Our purpose and what we represent." Her Anne responded, looking back down at her.

"What do you mean?" Anne closed her eyes at Olivia's question before placing a hand on her necklace.

"My necklace holds Anne's love." She started as she turned to the snarling face of the other Anne. "Her bracelet holds Anne's rage."

"Then, what about the staff?" Olivia asked as there was one more saint relic, according to Leon.

Anne gave her a sad smile before looking up to the reddened sky of her mind. "The staff holds Anne's sorrow."

Olivia frowned at that knowledge. If this was how her rage behaved, then she was not looking forward to knowing what her sorrow was going to be like.

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The other Anne screamed out in anger and panic as her Anne reached out to cup her face.

"We exist to do two things. To seek justice for what happened to Lea and to find him in this life." Anne said, making Olivia shake her head.

"But Lea is gone!" What good would it do when it all happened so long ago? Even Leon said that he was not Lea.

"If you were in our situation, with even a sliver of a chance to be reunited with Leon, would you take it?" Olivia looked away in shame as she knew the answer to that question immediately. She would have been willing to do just about anything to be with Leon again.

"There has to be a better way." She weakly said.

"There was, but Anne didn't choose it." Anne then closed her eyes as both versions of her were engulfed in a bright light that forced Olivia to close her eyes. Once it finally dissipated, all that was left was her, her Black Bunny, and Anne who now had both the necklace and bracelet.

"What do we do now?" She asked as the newly combined Anne floated back down. The girl who looked just like her took a deep breath and seemed like she was about to say something that she didn't want to.

"Get the staff and find the truth about the betrayals."



I glared at the smirking shitlord king after the girls managed to calm me down. Once Anne was restrained by Control, everyone focused on getting Roland and I away from each other. They were pretty successful as I was absolutely not going to fight them just to get to him.

Anne had stopped struggling a little bit ago. Olivia may have been successful in what she was attempting. We all saw her close her eyes for a few moments, the rest of us waited with bated breath. We all tensed up when she finally opened her eyes and spoke out.

"It's over. We managed to calm the other Anne down." Livia! The net around her immediately fell apart and she was quickly wrapped up in the embrace of my fiancées, with Clara and Hertrude walking up to her with relieved smiles. I was about to join in on the group hug when I saw Livia's expression change again.

"We all have much to talk about." I couldn't help but sigh with the way Anne said those words.

Of course we did.


"I suppose our only recourse in the matter is to keep each other's secrets." The shitlord king said with a smirk after we managed to exit the dungeon. He then looked between me and Livia, with Clarice and Angie standing protectively at her sides. "You stay quiet about me, I stay quiet about her."

"How do we even know that you would keep your word?" Hertrude challenged him, making the manchild laugh.

"Because it's far more interesting to have her free and running around in the wild." Before I could even react, he reached out and pulled me close to him. I was about to push him away or knee his nuts when he started whispering.

"Don't use Mylene's office too often for your trysts. It's becoming obvious. As a reward for entertaining me so much, I'll hand her a list of manors that I use whenever I want to meet my mistresses." My eyes widened at what he was suggesting. Was he actually helping me have an affair with his wife?! This guy is nuts! "That should let her be as loud as she wants. You can even bring your other lovers there as well, see how long you can last under the onslaught. Maybe even try your luck with the Fanoss Princess."

"Thank you all for the unforgettable adventure!" He yelled out after roughly pushing my stunned self away from him. He then waved to the others with a big smile. "Till next time!"

"Is it too late for me to shoot him in the back of the head?" Anne asked as we watched him walk away.

God, I hated him so much.



Marie Fou Lafan kept her face completely neutral as she watched Jean be brought down from where he was strung up on a tree in the middle of campus. She and Chris stumbled into the commotion when they saw people running to this location. The young man looked to have extensive injuries from beatings. Marie was very familiar with how those kinds of things looked like.

"He was targeted by them, wasn't he?"

"But what did he do to piss off a noble?"

"If it was Feivel and his goons, it could have been anything."

"Is such behavior allowed here without consequence?" Chris asked as he looked at the boy being taken away on a stretcher by the school staff.

"If you are one of their six great houses, then yes." Marie muttered to herself after overhearing what the other onlookers were saying.

It was a few days since she started coming up with situations where Jean and Noelle would interact more and more. She even made sure to be present in some of them to make them talk about each other in positive lights. Marie had not used her intuition in matchmaking as much as she did on Earth, but she got back into the hustle and flow of it like putting on a favorite glove.

The current situation was strange to her as she was sure that Pierre Io Feivel wasn't interested in Noelle. Was he provoked into doing this by another party? The only one that sprung to mind was Loic Leta Barielle.

She looked around but didn't see Noelle in the crowd, did she not know?

"I'm going to my classroom. Make sure that Greg behaves in your classes." She told Chris, not even waiting for his response before marching to the classroom she shared with Noelle and Brad.

"Whoa, what's with the intensity there?" The blonde gyaru asked jokingly. Brad caught her eye and she shook her head when he moved to stand from his seat. Like the good boy that he was, Brad immediately nodded and sat back down.

"Jean was attacked and was taken to the infirmary." She quietly said, making Noelle freeze. The so-called heroine immediately stood from her seat and sprinted out of the classroom. Marie followed her as it was a convenient way to find out where the infirmary was anyway.

"Who did this to him? Why?" Noelle asked as the both of them looked at the unconscious boy on the bed. He had bandages all over him, but he still looked rather banged up. The doctor said that they would need to move him to a proper hospital for further treatment.

"The rumors say that it is probably Feivel and his friends." Noelle looked at her like she was insane.

"What? That's crazy, we haven't even talked to him all year!" Well, that confirmed her thought that Pierre did this of his own volition.

"Then it could be someone else." She narrowed her eyes when Noelle suddenly looked evasive. "Do you have an idea?"

"I'd rather not say." Marie hummed, not saying that the girl pretty much confirmed that Loic was probably involved. Noelle opted to stroke the boy's hair instead. "Jean…"

The girl took a deep breath and shook her head. "His injuries. How can he afford the treatment and rehabilitation?"

"Ah, you don't need to worry about his injuries." Marie told her, seeing the opportunity for what it was.

"What are you–" Not waiting for Noelle to finish her question, Marie reached out and did what she did best. After a moment, Jean started glowing in a faint yellow light.

"Is that healing magic?" Marie couldn't help but preen at the obvious awe that Noelle was showing.

"I am quite good at it." She confirmed, barring certain crazy monsters that were drunk on her brother's love.

Noelle looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Why are you doing so much for us?"

"Partly because I think you two look cute together, partly because I hate men like Pierre, partly because my brother would be disappointed if I didn't." She grinned at the way the other girl blushed and looked away.

"Noelle?" Jean called out after regaining consciousness from the healing.

"Jean!" Marie moved away once she was sure that most of the boy's injuries were fully healed. "Are you okay?"

"I feel a lot better now. What happened?" Jean looked at her in equal awe after Noelle explained what she did. Marie just basked in the moment. "Thank you so much. I don't even know how to begin to repay you."

She was suddenly surprised when Noelle enveloped her in an embrace. "Thank you, Marie! You are the best!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome." She bragged as both Noelle and Jean started laughing.

Marie grinned to herself. In one fell swoop, Pierre just helped make sure that both Noelle and Jean are firmly in her pocket out of gratitude. A blessing in disguise, as it were.

As for Pierre and Loic?

Well, Marie decided that it was time to invite Miss Rault to a Tea Party. If she was lucky, she might even meet her younger brother.
 
"Do you really prance around like a child in costume instead of ruling your country? I feel sorry for Queen Mylene."
That ain't the only reason to feel bad her hoer, honey!

"Ha! Nice try! Mylene put that all on herself! If she would only let herself fail so I could swoop in and fix everything, then she wouldn't be so overworked!" The mocking tone of his voice woke up something in me that I hadn't felt since the party when Angie challenged Marie to a duel.
Mmmmm, time for regicide...

"You did that to her on purpose?!" I roared out, Angie and Clara moving aside so I could cross blades with the king. I could see his smile clear as day and I gripped my tomahawks tighter. "So you can make yourself look good if she messes up?!"

"I think that my Lord wants to kill the king now as well." I ignored Clara's jab in favor of chasing Roland after he tried to disengage from me.
Frankly, I would prefer we make it a team-building exercise.

"I am you, you are me."
We getting persona up in here~?

"Is it too late for me to shoot him in the back of the head?" Anne asked as we watched him walk away.
Wait til we get the staff, then you can blast him with all your Love, all your Hatred and all of your Sorrow in a glorious, Shining middle Finger-shaped blast
 
And that closes out this particular arc.

After much waiting, it is finally time to pull this out as the title of the next arc:



Its the song!

YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

ITS SUPER ROBOT TIME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!


TLwCTT.gif
 
Is anyone else having trouble following the plot of Marie subplot? Cuz you know I've only watched the anime and I had no idea who any of these characters are other than her brief descriptions of them and what's going on there.
 
And that closes out this particular arc.

After much waiting, it is finally time to pull this out as the title of the next arc:


Woo-hoo! I first heard this song the first time I played SRW V (didn't play Z, can't stand language barrier) and its an absolute jam. Piled onto the fact the first time you see Shin Getter Armageddon Ryouma in the Black Getter this theme feels super fitting for this fic. Feeling the hype.
 
Heats - 1
Serge Sara Rault didn't really know what to think of the Holfort exchange students when he first saw them. He was scoping out a new dungeon that was discovered recently, only to see the five young men also there for the very same reason. He had vaguely remembered his adopted father mentioning that the crown prince of Holfort and his friends were part of the exchange student thing that the Academies did, but he never thought that he would end up running into them while he was adventuring.

When they introduced themselves to each other, Prince Julius noted that Louise mentioned him during one of their talks. The name elicited complex emotions in Serge. She was his adopted sister and his first love. If only she wasn't so obsessed about her deceased younger brother, if only he hadn't been so blinded with jealousy that he alienated her by destroying the dead boy's pictures, then their relationship now might have been very different.

It didn't really matter anymore. He always said as much to himself whenever the dull ache of remembering how kind Louise was to him, before he messed everything up, resurfaced in his heart.

Serge knew that the Holfort nobles were all adventurers by tradition, but he wasn't quite prepared to witness them in action himself. He would be the first to say that he himself was quite the capable adventurer. His prowess with firearms was honed through years of training and experience. He couldn't help but feel the sting in his pride as he watched the Holfort nobles tear through the dungeon with an ease that made all his training seem worthless.

"This place is pretty neat! Having everything upside down makes things a lot more exciting!" The red one, Seberg he reminded himself, said with a grin as they climbed over what should have been the upper part of an entryway. Everything was pretty normal at the start, until they activated a mechanism that suddenly spun the room around. Now they had to traverse the ceiling of the dungeon while watching out for monsters falling from what would have been the floor.

"Just don't forget to stay in formation, Greg." The blue one, Arclight, reminded his friend. Those two together made up the vanguard of their group. They were so good at killing monsters in front of them that the rest of their party hadn't really needed to do much of anything unless it was an ambush.

"Let's not do a repeat of the snake dungeon where we had to chase you down after you got captured by the boss." The purple one, Field, made the rest of their friends laugh with that. This was something that Serge never really experienced before. He always delved into dungeons by himself as no one else seemed interested, barbaric and uncultured they called it. Field himself was a pretty damn strong mage, casted magic as fast as someone firing a gun too.

"That's not quite fair, Brad. Any one of us could have been caught in that trap." The green one, Marmoria, said with a chuckle. He was the only other one in their party that used guns, specifically a rifle and handgun. Serge was more of a shotgun guy, but he respected how well Marmoria handled both weapons depending on the situation. The guy was also pretty happy about having someone else to talk to about guns. Apparently he had an apprentice back in Holfort that he was pretty proud of, a girl of all things! Serge couldn't really imagine it himself.

"What about you, Serge? Do you have any memorable dungeon stories that you can share?" The last member of their group asked. The white one, Prince Holfort himself. For some ungodly reason, he was acting as their rear guard. He decided to humor them with a few stories of his solo expeditions on a few of Alzer's dungeons.

Serge would have expected that the prince would have been better suited in the front with Seberg and Arclight. Holfort explained that he could see the battlefield better from the rear in order to give out commands. He also said that he was the one who reacts the fastest when it comes to surprise attacks from behind. How the hell did they find that out? Did they test it themselves against a dungeon? Serge thought that it wouldn't have been surprising if that really was the case.

Marmoria, Field and himself took up the middle of the formation as the ranged fighters. The formation proved so effective that he was actually getting bored, even monsters that got past their frontline or rear guard were easy pickings for the three of them. Marmoria could pop them from afar, Field could fry them from mid-range, and Serge could blast them to pieces if they got close. He could admit that it was pretty relaxing, hanging out with other capable men and just demolishing a dungeon on their first try.

"Ugh! A chimera?" Seberg said in disgust when they got to the end of the dungeon. They all looked up and saw the fused monster on the inverted floor, prompting the complaint. It wasn't moving yet, probably waiting for them to attack it first.

That was a mistake it won't live to regret.

"I dunno man, it looks pretty damn flammable to me." He said with a grin before elbowing Field's side. "What do you think, Brad?"

The mage mirrored his grin and raised his hand towards the monster, a red sigil appearing a moment later. "I'm willing to find out."

"Split up and keep it away from Jilk, Brad, and Serge!" Holfort immediately yelled out, moving to the front to join Seberg and Arclight as the boss screamed in pain and fell down to their level. "The three of you concentrate on dealing as much damage to it as you can!"

It was pretty funny that Serge didn't even think that being ordered around by Holfort was insulting in any way. It was a good game plan and it meant that he could shoot the damned thing as much as he wanted!

The lion head of the chimera was still on fire when it got back up and reared its snake head to attack. He noticed that it was targeting Field so he shot it in the face. He and Marmoria glanced at each other as both their shots hit it at the same time, utterly mulching the snake part of the chimera altogether. They both grinned at each other before changing their target to the ram head that was coming out of its back..

The poor bastard couldn't do anything against them. While it was reeling from the loss of its tail head thing, Arclight and Seberg were already slicing at its legs and making it bleed out. Then, the crazy bastard Holfort charged in with his shield and made it topple over after shield bashing its lion head. The six of them jumped it while it was down and it was dead a couple of minutes later.

"Hell yeah!" Serge yelled out in triumph as they all exchanged high fives. This was what he was missing all this time! The thrill and excitement of overcoming a dungeon and its boss with an actual party!

"Good shooting. It's not easy to hit a target that moves around that much with a shotgun." He accepted the compliment from Miamora with a fist bump.

"You boys made it too easy. I almost feel sorry for the thing." Serge said with a laugh that the others joined in on.

"Yo Serge, this normal for Alzer dungeons?" Their attention was taken by Seberg's question. He was standing in front of the dissipating corpse of the boss.

They all looked at each other and walked up to the body and saw that the miasma that appeared when the boss died was being absorbed by something. When all of it was gone, they saw that the only thing left was a small plant that kind of glowed with the way the light hit it.

"A plant? That's it?" Arclight sounded confused and disappointed by that, not that Serge could really blame him either. Where was the big gold chest and cool stuff?!

"It must hold some significance if it is the final reward for a dungeon. I mean, it's literally glowing." Field suggested. That was true, it was probably some magic plant of some kind.

"First time I saw anything like this, that's for sure." He finally said before turning to the exchange students and grinning. "Y'know what, you guys keep it."

"Are you sure?" He nodded at Arclight's surprise.

"Hell of a fun ride rolling with you guys. Consider it as a thank you for letting me join in." Serge genuinely meant it as well. It was definitely something he needed after how shitty the previous school year was. First time his heart throbbed for a girl since Louise and he got shot down without even a second thought. The pink Beltre twin really did a number on him back then.

"If you're sure, I can take it to my family estate in the summer break and plant it in our forest. See what it can grow into." Seberg suggested. They all looked at each other but it didn't look like there was going to be any complaints.

"Then it is settled. Good work, men." Holfort finally declared while Arclight helped Seberg extract the plant and put it and some soil in a bag. Serge didn't know anything about plants and just left them to work.

"Well, adventuring with you guys is a lot of fun." He said after they managed to exit the dungeon.

"You attend the Academy, right? Why don't we see you around?" He snorted at Marmoria's question. As the heir to the Rault house, he was going to be part of the elite no matter what he did. Not going to the Academy just meant that he wasn't causing any problems there anyway.

"Never really had a reason to. It was just boring to me." Serge admitted with a shrug. The guys looked at each other and looked like they were having a conversation without actually talking. Weird.

"Well, I'm sure it will be less boring with friends." Field finally said before extending a fist in his direction. The other followed suit, making sure that there was space for him to bump his fist into formation too. He laughed and took the offer for what it was.

"Hell, maybe you're onto something there pretty boy." Serge said with a big grin as the six of them stood outside the dungeon they just conquered.

Maybe it really was worth going back to school now that there were real men attending in his year.



Marie Fou Bartfort was certainly surprised when her boys regaled her with the stories of their little dungeon adventure. To think that they would stumble into one of the capture targets, the younger brother of the villainess she had invited to tea. She already had one of the twins in her back pocket along with her potential lover, but also having one of the canonical love interests would be useful as a backup plan as well. It certainly helped that he was one of the less problematic boys, more interested in dungeoneering than harassing women.

She only distractedly nodded along when Greg showed her the strange plant that they received as the final reward of the dungeon. It didn't look like anything, it certainly didn't give off a glow like they said that it would. Apparently, Greg was going to bring it to their family estate when they return to Holfort for summer vacation. She just waved them off and reminded them to make sure that the plant would be properly watered and have enough sunlight.

They then left once again after putting their silly new plant in Greg's room, saying that they were going to celebrate some more with their new friend. Boys will be boys.

Half an hour later, the villainess sat in front of her in a tasteful blue dress. "I must admit that I was not expecting an invitation for a Tea Party with you."

Kyle had prepared the tea and snacks for them to partake. Not at all near the quality of her brother's but it was acceptable enough.

"It's partly gratitude for taking time to help us get used to living in Alzer and attending the Academy here." Marie said easily enough, slipping back into old habits and training.

"And the other part?" She smiled at Louise's question.

"Well, one can never have too many friends."

"Especially friends of influence." The villainess noted with a nod as she took a sip of tea. Marie felt herself being appraised by the older girl. "I see that kind of thinking has served you well so far."

Knowing when to take pride in her accomplishments, Marie nodded. "It's a talent."

"I have heard that you have become friends with Noelle Beltre." Ah, there it was. She was wondering how long until Louise noticed that.

"She sits in front of me in class. With her personality, it was only a matter of time." A plausible excuse, if a weak one. Louise simply hummed and regarded her with a neutral expression.

"You don't seem to approve." That was obvious enough.

"I merely think that you can choose far better friends." A slightly tense silence settled between the two of them. Why was she so hostile to Noelle and not Lelia? Was it really just because the other twin managed to get one of the capture targets?

Kyle suddenly walked up to her with Control's drone in his hands. "Mistress? Your brother wishes to speak with you."

"It's from his ship, it allows us to communicate through long distances." Marie explained to the curious looking girl. She and Control both agreed that people knowing that it was sentient was a bad idea. They ended up coming up with an excuse to have the drone around when needed by saying that it was a communication device between her and Leon.

"Please, I don't mind." Louise said with a smile. Marie nodded in thanks and pushed a 'button' on the side that activated the drone.

"Nice to see you again, Big Brother." Marie happily greeted the projected image of Leon from the drone. She quickly looked at Louise when she heard porcelain rattling from her side of the table. "Are you okay?"

"Q-quite alright!" Marie raised an eyebrow at the way the usually composed young woman was suddenly acting.

"Are you with someone?" She sighed and turned back to her clueless brother.

"I'm having tea with Miss Louise Sara Rault, she and her house helped us get settled in." She turned the drone so he could see Louise from his end of the display. Marie blinked when Louise got a better look at Leon. Why did she look like she saw a ghost?

"Hello! Nice to meet you! I'm Leon Fou Bartfort!" Marie thought that she heard a soft gasp from Louise. Now she was really interested in what this was about. Was it love at first sight? "Thank you for helping Marie and the boys over there."

"Louise?" Marie prompted, finally snapping the girl out of her daze.

"It's no problem at all, Leon." She said with a beautiful smile. Wait, she was already calling him by his name so familiarly.

"Any reason for the sudden call, brother?" Marie chose to ask instead, it might have been an emergency after all.

Leon snapped his finger and tried to look around the room from his end. "Oh yeah! Is Julius there? I need to talk to him about a few things."

"Sadly, he and the others went out. Seems that they made a new friend." Marie said with a patient smile. She then remembered something and her smile became just a bit more smug. "In fact, it is Louise's younger brother, Serge Sara Rault."

"They met Serge?" Marie nodded at Louise's question.

"They ran into each other while adventuring." That earned an eye roll from the other girl. They really don't appreciate adventuring here, huh? She supposed that the mountain sized miracle tree gave them more than what they needed so the profession wasn't really needed at all aside from digging up magic stones.

"Huh, neat. I guess I'll just call back later then. So sorry for interrupting your Tea Party." Leon stated with an awkward laugh. Louise just laughed along, seemingly genuinely delighted by him.

"It's no problem at all, Leon." Wow, she was really laying on thick. Did her brother really just seduce a second villainess?

"Till later then, big brother." She said her farewell to Leon.

"Yeah, take care Marie!" She couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at how happy he said her name. Damn this place for keeping her away from her big brother!

"Thank you, Kyle." Kyle bowed and took away the drone, once again leaving the two of them alone. Oddly, the silence that followed was a lot more companionable than before.

"Your brother seems to love you very much." Marie blinked at the wistful tone in her voice. Didn't Louise have a brother herself?

"He's the best. I can't imagine not having him around." Not really able to resist herself, she just had to brag about Leon.

"I see. He studies in Holfort Academy then? He did not choose to join you in the exchange program?" Louise asked in quick succession. She seemed really interested in her brother.

Marie shrugged and started to explain, even though part of it irked her. "He has other things to deal with. Besides, he's engaged and probably wouldn't be able to get away even if wanted to."

"Political?" Louise asked while leaning forward.

"More romantic on their end, more political on the parents' end."

"Of course." She heard Louise say and barely heard her whisper to herself. "A shame."

Oh god, Leon really did seduce another villainess! How does he do it? Was it some sort of gland? No, wait! She could use this!

"Do you have plans this summer break?" Marie suddenly asked, a plan quickly forming in her mind.

Louise raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Not really, no. Why?"

"I'm thinking of paying you back for everything." Marie couldn't help but give out her most brilliant smile. If this worked, then she would have some of the main drivers of the plot on her side. "Would you and your brother like to visit Holfort?"

The way Louise's eyes widened at the offer confirmed that she had said the right thing. The smile that was shown a moment later was just icing on the cake. "We would love to."

She would need to tell Leon and Control about this later on, but they would see why this would work so well in their favor.

What's the worst that could happen?
 
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She would need to tell Leon and Control about this later on, but they would see why this would work so well in their favor.

What's the worst that could happen?
Louise and Serge become the Priestess and Guardian?

The sapling guzzles itself some Getter Rays, becomes biggest buffest baby tree. Turns into an organic Getter Robo, completing the third Getter Robo for the transformation.

Sapling and Serge team up to fight Papa Tree, in giant emotional scene where they wipe away the sins of the past, earning Louise's love and forgiveness.

Alternatively, Marie and Leon become the Guardian and Priestess of the new tree. The Priestess role is for the tree to understand people after all, and Marie understands people really well. Leon protects Marie, and she loves him, so is the perfect fit for Guardian. Marie Route Get. Lots of conflict between everyone.

Or, any combination therein. Maybe Serge becomes the Guardian and Marie the Priestess, adding a new member to her Harem.
 
Louise and Serge become the Priestess and Guardian?

The sapling guzzles itself some Getter Rays, becomes biggest buffest baby tree. Turns into an organic Getter Robo, completing the third Getter Robo for the transformation.

Sapling and Serge team up to fight Papa Tree, in giant emotional scene where they wipe away the sins of the past, earning Louise's love and forgiveness.

Alternatively, Marie and Leon become the Guardian and Priestess of the new tree. The Priestess role is for the tree to understand people after all, and Marie understands people really well. Leon protects Marie, and she loves him, so is the perfect fit for Guardian. Marie Route Get. Lots of conflict between everyone.

Or, any combination therein. Maybe Serge becomes the Guardian and Marie the Priestess, adding a new member to her Harem.

Alternatively we get a case of Getter Robo Hien with a new generation of plant Beasts being born and somebody using them to take over the world/commit genocide on the current humanity
 
Heats - 2
Deep breath!

Pull left!

Clench! Push right! "Hrrgh!"

"Haaa!" Exhale. Inhale. "Getter! Beam!"

"Double Tomahaaaaaawk! Boooomerang!"

"Holy shit!" I cursed while prematurely ending the Getter Beam. I barely managed to move Black Getter enough away from the thrown double tomahawks, ones that had blades which were as big as my Getter Robo was tall. The thing that threw it was a simulated version of a Getter Robo D2, proper scaling and all.

When you hear the words "Mass Production" in terms of mecha, you would normally imagine that they would be pushovers. Nothing but cannon fodder to make the main character or the antagonist look good by ripping them to pieces, usually with an accompanying musical score that amplifies the experience.

I wanted to rip apart the animation studios who conditioned me to think like that! D2 was not a pushover! It was at least as fast as Black Getter and was way stronger because of the sheer difference in mass that it had. The second it popped its bat-like wings when the fight started, I knew that I was in trouble.

"God dammit!" I continued to curse, reaching to Black Getter's waist to pull out its new weapons. A pair of four barreled gatling machine canons unfurled from their compact form, one in each hand. I aimed it squarely at the face of my foe and held down the triggers of the guns. The shots hit but didn't even show any visible damage on the red paint.

"Getaaaaaaaaa! Beeeeeamu!"

"Hrrragh!" I pulled hard on the levers while clenching again to deal with the sudden increase of my weight, Black Getter flying zig-zag to avoid the pink death beam that was coming out of the emitter on D2's head.

"Tomahawk!" I yelled out in desperation. Black Getter pulled out a tomahawk and I threw it at the face of my enemy. It stopped firing the getter beam but I had to groan when it just slapped away the incoming weapon out of the air like it was nothing. The wings on its back flapped once and I immediately tried to fly away from it. The sound of the sky being sliced open was the only warning before D2 appeared, flying parallel to Black Getter. It pulled out another tomahawk and tried to swing at me.

"Fuuuuuck!" Forcing Black Getter into an immediate stop to avoid the hit was a very bad idea. My vision blacked out for a few seconds and I just desperately started pulling and pushing levers to try to keep myself moving even though I didn't know where anything was. Colors and spots swam in front of my face, the feeling of falling was the only thing I was sure of. I couldn't keep this up much longer. Come on Leon, think! This thing could do everything I could and was way bigger than Black Getter! There had to be a way around it!

Sadly, my opponent didn't afford me enough time to think of another strategy.

"Double Getter Beaaaaam!" I yelled out in panic when a red blob suddenly appeared in front of my blurry vision. Red and pink light flew at it but it just blocked both with its forearms and crashed itself into me.

Warning lights started flashing everywhere as sparks flew out in front of me. My vision finally cleared enough to realize that D2 was using the buzzsaws in its forearms to cut into Black Getter. I tried to push and pull at the levers to get something going but it was too late as everything went black. The message that the mission was a failure appeared in front of me.

Please do not feel too bad about the loss. You are not used to fighting something that is equal or superior to yourself. The only other time you attempted was against Gilgilgan.

"Doesn't make it sting any less." I muttered while burying my face in my hands. It was a complete stomping. I had no chance in hell against that thing. Was this what I had to look forward to?

It does not. However, context is needed here. I highly doubt that the refurbished Getter Robo D2 that the Principality will field will be anywhere near as capable as the fully functioning unit you just faced. Additionally, whoever will be piloting it would not have the same talent, training, and experience as the pilot AI that you faced.

That made me blink. It was weird that the D2 was actually calling out attacks that didn't sound like it came from a synthesized voice. "So whose AI did I go up against anyway?"

I loaded a toned down AI of Ryoma Nagare into the simulated Getter Robo D2. The piloting experience they had in Getter Robo G translated well to the mass production unit.

"Isn't that one of the original Getter Team members, Professor Jin's friend, and the guy my ship is named after?" I asked in growing horror at what I was really up against in that short fight.

Correct on all counts.

"Why did you think it was a good idea for me to face the D2 being piloted by a monster like that?!" I couldn't help but yell out. No wonder I couldn't do anything against it, I was fighting a full-sized Getter Robo that had the AI of one of their legendary pilots. Just how hard would it have gone if the AI wasn't toned down? I shuddered at the thought.

Because if you can hold your own against even a simplified version of Ryoma Nagare, then you will be able to face anything Fanoss can deploy against you. This includes any possible summoned Hundred Demon Mechanized Beasts.

"Any ideas on how Black Getter can damage D2 though? Nothing seemed to be working." I pointed out. Getter Tomahawk, Getter Beam, Getter Razor, none of them did enough damage that I could take advantage of without getting immediately torn to pieces in retaliation.

I am currently making recalibrations on Black Getter F based on the data you have provided with this simulation. The changes will be reflected the next time you face Getter Robo D2 in the simulator. Further adjustments will be made based on subsequent bouts.

I groaned at that. It made sense that I had to practice fighting against the thing we knew was going to attack Holfort at some point. It didn't make it feel any less like a mecha version of a FromSoft game. Wait, wasn't that just Armored Core? I shook my head to clear my thoughts, I must have still been reeling from getting tossed around.

"We need Deirdre." I finally said. Having her fighting alongside me if the D2 we end up facing was anywhere near what I just lost against would be just fantastic.

Construction on the new Getter Robo is proceeding on schedule. We should have more than enough time to complete it before Miss Deirdre's birthday. I shall also import its data into the simulator once it is complete and calibrated to her specifications.

I nodded with a smile. That was good. The rest of summer break should give her enough time to break it in and set it to the way she liked it. I then tapped on the armrest of the simulator's pilot seat when I finally realized something. "How the hell do you make this thing simulate g-force anyway?"

Don't worry about it.

Yeah, I should have expected that answer.



Angie's dad finally managed to schedule us some official time to speak with Mylene in her office and we decided to just tell her everything. That meant that I brought along Angie, Livia, Clarice, Hertrude, and Yumeria for the talk. To that end, I just managed to finish explaining the truth about what happened on Elven Island, Fanoss' involvement in all the recent monster attacks, and the fact that they have a flute that can summon Enemies of Humanity as well as unearthed an old Getter Robo. Hertrude and Yumeria filled in the blanks and answered any additional questions Mylene had on the matter.

Control was out handling other things, mainly giving Deirdre her new pilot suit. She was probably already wearing it and spending some quality time in the simulator against D2. I wouldn't put it past her to be able to beat it after enough time to learn the fight.

"You know," the Queen of Holfort started as she looked at all of us sitting in her office. "I thought that we were going to have a very different conversation when you came here with all these girls."

I furrowed my brows when she said that. Then I saw how she was looking at me and finally caught on to the meaning. "What?! No! I would die!"

"Only in your dreams, Leon~" Hertrude teased with a grin.

"Inheritor Leon is adamant that I keep from offering myself to him in bed." Yumeria added with a nod. My lovers just laughed at the humor at my expense.

We then proceeded to talk about the possibility of traitors in the Holfort nobility. In particular, the group that Hertrude spoke about.

"Hmm…" Mylene hummed in consideration after we finished explaining that part.

"So, Forest of Ladies." I started, really hoping that she could shed some light on the matter. "Do you know anything about them?"

"A cabal of noblewomen that has existed for decades, all from the middle ranks, conspiring to manipulate and undermine the authority of men from the same ranks. Even going so far setting up doomed marriages that would pay out well for them should their new spouses die in the battlefield." We were all silent at the rather comprehensive description of a supposedly secret organization.

"We have no actionable proof, but the Crown is well aware of them." She added with a frustrated sigh.

Angie leaned forward, looking very interested at what Mylene knew. "Do you know who the members are?"

"Only suspicions."

"I would have thought that you would be more alarmed about what my country has been up to." Hertrude pointed out with a raised brow. That was a good point. Fanoss' capabilities and actions should have already caused great concern, especially with the history the two nations had.

"Oh, I am very alarmed. I have just learned how to hide it well." Mylene answered with a much more tense smile. She then turned to me with the same smile. "So, any other world shattering revelations you all wanted to share with me?"

"You are not native to this country, as Leon has told me. But how versed are you about the story of their saint?" Well, that certainly counted as one of those.

"Why is Livia speaking in that accent and why does she look like she has religious looking accessories?" The queen asked as Anne displayed the necklace around her neck and the bracelet around her wrist.

"Those are the Saint's Necklace and Saint's Bracelet." Mylene's eyes widened when she heard what they were. I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction before continuing the explanation. "You are currently speaking to the previous Saint, Anne. Livia lets her use her body to interact with the outside world."

"...what?" The others gave her patient smiles as she processed what I just told her.

"Welcome to our world, Mylene." I added with a shrug. It took her a few minutes to steady herself and finally be able to speak clearly.

"And here I thought that you being reborn from another world was the most shocking thing you could tell me. Why do you keep getting wrapped up in things like this?" She asked, giving me a withering look that I just shrugged at. I didn't know either!

"I wouldn't complain. It was one such contrivance that eventually led to the two of you meeting." Anne pointed out and Mylene just nodded to her in acquiescence. She then blinked and groaned in a rather un-queen-like manner.

"What's wrong?" I had to ask in concern.

"I just remembered what Roland said before he handed me a list of mansions that he said people didn't know about." I cringed at the reminder of what King Shitlord told me at the end of our dungeon dive. He was actually serious about that?! "He told me that it was a reward for being entertained by an old ghost."

"I still desperately wish to kill that man." Anne muttered in an unamused tone of voice.

"Get in line." Mylene's quip didn't surprise us in the least considering the workload that King Shitlord kept piling on her.

"I shall do what needs to be done and mobilize my own intelligence network on the matter of the Forest of Ladies. If they truly are treasonous, then I shall relish in unmasking them." Mylene told us, getting back on topic. She set her gaze on the girls and hummed in thought. "To that end, I would like to ask for assistance from Angie, Clarice, and Princess Hertrude."

She smiled at the surprised expressions of the three girls. "Investigating a conspiracy and managing my day-to-day is something I cannot handle by myself. I shall introduce you three to my trusted aides and you shall help them in uncovering this conspiracy."

"It would be our pleasure, Queen Mylene." Hertrude immediately responded, with Angie and Clarice nodding in agreement.

"And you Livia…Saintess Anne?" Mylene asked hesitantly.

"Livia now, your Majesty." Livia answered with a smile. Yeah, Mylene was going to need some time to get used to that.

"That is so strange…" She said as much before shaking her head and continuing with a stern voice. "If you wish to claim the staff, then you will need to go to the Temple directly and undergo their trial. However, if you do so, you will be publicly outed as the Saintess. Your life will never be normal again."

"My life hasn't been normal since I met Leon." Livia told her with a sideways glance to me.

"Hey!" Everyone else giggled at the teasing, even Yumeria looked amused by it.

"I can't imagine myself living any other life. I'll do it. I promised Anne as well. Whatever is waiting for us when we reclaim her staff, we'll face it together." Livia added with a confidence she never had at the start of her first year. Her voice then shifted to let Anne answer as well.

"Yes.Together."

"If that's it for the official reason for your visit, I would like to ask Yumeria and Princess Hertrude to return to the Academy first." We all looked at each other at the rather specific call out. Mylene continued with a gesture towards the door. "I shall have my personal guards escort them there."

"So, any reason why you want just the four of us here?" I asked after both girls were escorted away by four very serious looking knights. Before Mylene could answer, we all turned to Livia when she started taking off the Saint Relics.

"Anne said that she would allow us privacy, if we're going to talk about what she thinks we will be talking about." I was about to ask what she was talking about when Mylene reached over to hold one of Angie's and Clarice's hands in her own.

"Allow me to apologize to you both. I should have handled revealing my involvement with Leon with more tact." Our eyes widened at what she was saying, except for Livia who was just smiling at the unfolding scene. "I was just so happy. I can't even describe the joy I felt when he accepted me. The elation I felt was something I thought I would never feel outside loving my precious children."

"You don't have to apolo-" Livia's kind words were interrupted by a surprisingly stern voice.

"She has to. As the queen, an adult, and a woman." Angie scolded our mutual lover before turning to Clarice. The two of them had a silent conversation by way of some form of mysterious female telepathy and nodded to each other. She then turned back to Mylene with a smile. "We accept your apology, Queen Mylene."

"Honestly, we were more mad about Leon not being the one to tell us about it." Clarice cut in with a grin, the rest of them giggling when she gently elbowed by side.

"Awww! Don't pout, Leon. You all already forgave each other." I was not pouting, Livia! How dare you insinuate that!

"I can finally say this with full conviction in front of you all." Mylene happily said as she turned to me. I couldn't help but blush when she cupped my face and looked at me with just the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. "I love you, Leon Fou Bartfort, with as much of myself as I can give."

I opened my mouth to respond when I finally realized something. My eyes widened and I could feel myself suddenly give a look of horror.

"Leon? What's wrong?" Mylene asked in sudden alarm, the other girls also looked very concerned. "If that was too much, then I'm–"

I grabbed her hands and shook my head as she suddenly looked remorseful for her declaration.

It wasn't that.

It wasn't her.

Not at all.

"What's going on Leon?" Clarice asked when I still didn't talk. I gently took Mylene's hands off my face and I slowly turned to look at each one of them there with me.

"I've never actually told any of you that I love you, have I?" I softly asked in shock and disgust at myself.

Things became a bit more hectic after that question.



"Big brother! We have a major complica–what the fuck happened to you?" I sighed at Marie's sudden disbelief. I managed to take a shower and change into a new set of clothes when I returned to the Academy. Sadly, the love bites on my neck that my four lovers inflicted on me earlier that day were still visible and were probably going to stick around for a day or so.

Maybe I should wear my pilot suit's scarf tomorrow during classes?

It was already dark and Control suddenly told me once I was done changing that Marie urgently needed to speak with me.

"Turns out that I've never actually told any of my four lovers that I loved them. Once I did, well…" I trailed off, not really feeling the need to elaborate the rest of what happened that afternoon.

My sister hummed and nodded at me. "Right, I never actually asked who the mysterious fourth woman you have actually is."

"Queen Mylene." Well, that was a lot of complicated expressions on Marie's face. It was pretty funny to look at. She was about to say something when I raised a hand and elaborated on a couple of important things. "Julius already knows and is weirdly okay with it. King Shitlo–Roland also knows and doesn't care."

"I need to freak out about that sometime in the future once it fully sinks in." Marie muttered before shaking her head and leaning at the camera. "Fuck that for now, something else happened here!"

I sighed and gestured for her to proceed. "Okay, lay it on me."

"Remember that tiny plant that Julius and the others found in a dungeon?" I raised an eyebrow at the question. I nodded, she had told me about the weird drop that the boys and their new friend got from the chimera they fought.

"Well, they've all been taking turns taking care of it." I had to admit, the image of the five of them taking care of a plant was pretty adorable. Marie continued and the feeling changed into something more tiring. "This morning, when they were doting on it and talking about what it would grow into, it suddenly started glowing really brightly."

"So it's a magic plant?" I asked, did it suddenly give them the power to throw fireballs at will or something?

"It's worse than a magic plant. The five of them suddenly had markings on the back of their right hand." A magic plant in the Alzer Republic that can give hand markings had a very specific connotation.

A very problematic connotation.

"Marie, you better not be telling me what I think you're about to tell me." Marie winced and gave me a helpless shrug.

"We asked Louise about it and apparently they all have a fragment of the Sacred Tree Guardian Crest on them. She then took all five of them with her to have a meeting with her father about it." She told me, confirming my worst fear. Out of literally anything that could have dropped for them, the boys just had to hit the one jackpot they didn't need to hit. "They're still at their estate right now."

"So what you are saying is that the tiny plant they found is a baby Sacred Tree?" I slowly asked, already imagining the headaches that this was going to cause for us.

"Louise called it a Sacred Tree sapling and it is apparently the first time in decades that someone found one that didn't immediately wither away to nothing." Marie's tone also reflected the way I felt. Shit, a lot of people in Alzer probably won't be happy about this.

"How does that affect things over there?" My sister pulled at her blonde hair with my question.

"I don't know!" She whined.

"Any other world shattering revelations you'd like to share with me before we both try to sleep this off?" I asked tiredly, borrowing Mylene's words from earlier. Marie suddenly perked up and clapped at my question, looking like she did when she thought that she did something really clever.

"Oh yeah, I invited Louise and her brother over for the summer."

I was kidding!
 
This story is going off the godamn rails and I love it. I also like the fact I read the Getter Robot D2's exclamtions in Ryouma's voice since those are totally him and got validated for doing that. I may play too much Super Robot Wars.

Ryouma has a very distinct voice and there great.
Some play super robot wars for the story or massive crossover of series they enjoy.

I play it just because my dumb monkey brain loves smashing things with a Getter Robo


On another note any bets on whether something like devolution might happen with AI versions of an OG Getter team becoming sentient?
 
Heats - 3
Julius Rapha Holfort had to wonder if any family which was the majority ruling power of a country just naturally succumbed to dysfunction and fell apart given enough time. That was what happened with his own family after all. His worthless father, his poor mother, and his dear younger siblings. He thought of this as it seemed that he had another example unraveling right in front of him and his trusted friends.

After they were whisked away to the Rault family manor by Miss Louise, an audience was quickly arranged with her father. To say that Chairman Albergue Sara Rault was alarmed by the news that the five of them had become the apparent Guardians of the Sacred Tree Sapling they found in the dungeon was an understatement. The alarm turned into apoplectic anger when they told him about Serge's involvement in the acquisition of the sapling from a dungeon.

"-or were you not paying attention to all the lessons you had about how the Sacred Tree works!" Julius couldn't help but wince in secondhand shame as their friend was being dressed down by his father.

"Well, how the hell was I supposed to tell that it wasn't just a special healing herb or something?!" His reasoning fell on deaf ears as both his father and elder sister glowered at him.

"It's things like this that make people question the wisdom of adopting you to become house Rault's heir." Miss Louise's derision was the last straw for Julius. From the looks of the others, they were of the same mind. He decided to intervene before Serge could dig himself into a deeper hole with his family.

"If I may interject, Chairman." He spoke out, not in the least intimidated with the way their eyes darted to him. Attention was something Julius was well used to, whether for good or ill. "We would appreciate it if you do not blame Serge for the current situation. We would also like the chance to speak, being the very guardians that you are all arguing over."

"Honestly, none of us want to be the Sacred Tree Guardian anyway. If there's a way to give the crest over to Serge, then we'd be all for it." Greg added, with the others nodding along. Ah, that was certainly another way to go about things. Excellent idea, Greg!

Serge looked at us in complete disbelief before finally finding his voice. "Are you guys serious? You'd actually give up the ownership of your own Sacred Tree to me?"

"We don't particularly need one." Chris pointed out as he adjusted his glasses.

"Besides, we would be hard pressed to find a suitable location to plant a tree that would eventually grow into the size of a mountain." Brad's joke made them chuckle, even Serge was smiling. His father and sister just looked rather stunned though.

"You crazy bastards." Serge muttered while turning away from everyone. If his family would not support him, then it would fall to them to pick up the slack.

"You're our friend now, Serge. We always have our friends' backs." Jilk gave voice to his thoughts. As expected of his best friend. He then added something they all definitely agreed with. "If he was here, I'm sure our other friend, Leon would say the same."

"Leon." The way the Chairman said Leon's name made the five of them glance at each other in uncertainty. Did his reputation already make it all the way out in Alzer as well? It certainly wasn't impossible if the right people knew about it.

"It's the young man I spoke to you about." Louise hissed at her father, making him grimace. Well that was certainly not the kind of reaction he was expecting.

"What's this about?" He finally voiced their confusion. Even Serge was not meeting their eyes, looking away as if he was sulking about something.

"I would like you all to take a look at this photograph." Albergue said, reaching towards a framed picture on his desk and offering it to them. Julius had to blink a few times to make sure that he was not seeing things.

Chris was the first one to snap out of their shock and ask the most relevant question. "Why is there a picture of Leon as a child in the Rault household?"

"That was my son, Leon Sara Rault." The Chairman's son?! He even had the same name! Julius noted that Louise looked rather crestfallen at the mention of the boy. "He would have been your age by now."

Ah, that certainly explained it.

"My condolences." Julius genuinely meant it. He couldn't even imagine what it would have been like for them. His friends also gave their respects before they all took a closer look at the picture.

"The boy looks exactly like our Leon despite being a completely different person. What a fascinating coincidence." Jilk said in clear wonder. The resemblance was definitely quite uncanny. The Rault house would likely have been sent into a panic if Leon had accompanied them in the exchange program.

"Coincidence." He heard Louise say after a scoff. Julius chose not to comment on the strange reaction from the older girl.

"Back to the topic at hand." The Chairman said after they returned his son's photo. "Sadly, there is no record of any instance of the Guardian Crest being transferred to another or rescinded while the current Guardian was still alive. More so, the mere fact that the guardian was chosen before the priestess already upends the traditional order of how things are done."

"Can we just get a full explanation on how all of this is actually supposed to work then?" Greg asked in complete exasperation.

Jilk expounded on the growing confusion and frustration that we were all feeling at that point. "I agree. We do not have a complete picture of what the significance of anything is, preventing us from properly appreciating the severity of it as you all seem to."

Chairman Rault accepted their words with grace and proceeded to educate them about how the process worked. About the legend of the Sacred Tree and how it is renewed through the discovery of Saplings. About how it chooses its caretaker, the Priestess. About how the Priestess chooses its protector, the Guardian. How the specific Priestess and Guardian Crests are more powerful than any of the other ones that the great houses possessed. The way he spoke of it, the Priestess and Guardian could very well be considered as the Queen and King of the Republic.

That did raise a particular question though.

"But wait, if we are the Guardians of the Sapling, where are the Priestess and Guardian of the current Sacred Tree?" The uncomfortable silence that settled following Julius' question did not bode well.

"The previous Priestess and Guardian, along with every single priestess throughout history, hailed from the now destroyed house Lespinasse." Julius hummed at the information. He remembered being taught that house Lespinasse was the primary ally of the Kingdom in the Republic. He also knew about it being destroyed when he was still a child.

The part about the Priestesses originating from that house exclusively was all new information to him though.

"Destroyed? By who?" Brad asked in surprise. He looked at everyone and continued his thought. "If the claim of the power that those two crests hold is true, what could have possibly caused their downfall?"

That was a very good point. Julius narrowed his eyes at how uncomfortable Albergue suddenly looked. Could it be?

"I'm afraid that the details surrounding the fall of house Lespinasse is a matter of State and cannot be divulged to foreigners." He stated diplomatically. A rather stark change in standing from how freely he gave them information earlier.

Albergue definitely had something to do with what happened to house Lespinasse.

"Where does that leave us then? Does that mean that there is a priestess out there just running around in the open?" Greg's question did raise an interesting point.

"It is unknown. The order of selection is out of order so we wouldn't even know where to begin looking." Albergue answered with a shake of his head. He then gestured towards our hands. "For now, I would highly suggest hiding your recent status as guardians."

"I suppose that we will need to start wearing gloves moving forward." Brad stated with a hum while looking at his fragment of the crest. Discussions continued in a more mundane course. Mainly just assurances that what had happened would not sour diplomatic relations between their countries.

"Thank you for speaking to me about this. I shall try to figure out a way to handle the situation that won't cause a war between our nations." The dismissal was pretty obvious, but there was no reason why they needed to point it out.

"If there is anything we can do to help, please ask. I am still the Kingdom's Crown Prince." He said with well practiced ease.

"Thank you, Prince Julius." The Chairman answered with a smile. Before they left, Julius wanted to make sure of one more thing.

"Before we go, may we speak to Serge?" Albergue narrowed his eyes at the request, but nodded his consent. The six of them walked out of the Chairman's home office just as he turned to speak to Miss Louise.

"How are you feeling?" Julius asked Serge when they stepped into a separate empty room. Their friend tried to put up a strong front, but it quickly broke down in the face of their collective concern.

"Like I'm the fucking failure Louise keeps telling me I am." Greg immediately placed a supportive hand on Serge's shoulder when he said that. Julius followed suit, knowing a thing or two about being seen that way thanks to his father.

"Our words earlier were not just for show. We are your friends and allies in this." Julius reminded him. The others nodded in agreement when Serge looked at each of them. "If anyone gives you a hard time for your involvement in the sapling's discovery, then they will contend with all of us."

"Thanks." He finally said with a relieved smile.

"We'll see you at the Academy, alright?" Chris asked, his fist out in an obvious offer.

"Yeah, see you crazy bastards there." Serge answered with a laugh as the six of them bumped their fists together.



Marie Fou Bartfort wondered why it was so easy to slip into the routine of being a high school girl again. She didn't particularly enjoy high school back on Earth, she forgot about it and the experiences she had there midway through her University days. Despite all that, chatting and hanging out with Noelle and Jean was just something she ended up doing as a matter of course. It wasn't even really intentional anymore. Was it the atmosphere?

With how the two of them had become closer than mere friends, Marie was certain that Noelle and Jean would end up as lovers. All her observations when she saw the pair huddling together when they thought no one was looking was quite telling. Once that is done, she just had to bring Noelle to the Sapling they now had and she would-

"You okay there, Rie?" Noelle called her attention using the nickname she insisted on. "You look like you swallowed a bug."

Marie couldn't just tell her that her five lovers, one of whom was the Crown Prince of Holfort, had become the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Sapling. What would happen once Noelle did become the Priestess? Did that mean that she would have to marry one of the five to secure the Good End of the second game?

The most obvious candidate was Julius because of his status. That would bind Holfort and Alzer in marriage and would probably end up being beneficial for everyone involved.

Marie chose not to think about the ugly feeling the thought brought about in her chest.

They were all nothing but children, she told herself, including the two who were looking at her with growing concern.

"I was just thinking about a rumor going around that the two of you have been sneaking around by yourselves." Marie turned the conversation around on the two teenagers with a smirk. Deflect and cover, just like always.

Don't let them see what was inside.

Never let anyone see what was inside.

No one would accept it.

No one ever had before.

As expected, the pair looked alarmed and made eyes at each other. Ah, so they were already at the phase where they could already have conversations with just eye contact. Excellent!

"Rie's a friend, we can trust her." Noelle assured her obvious boyfriend with a pat on his arm. Jean looked a bit hesitant and nodded. Oh? Were they finally going to tell her that they were together now?

"So listen," Noelle excitedly started while gently elbowing Jean's side, making him blush. These two were just adorable. "I've actually been helping Jean here use all your advice so he could ask his crush from the Third Year out on a date, and he finally succeeded!"

What?

"It was touch and go for a bit, but I just remembered all that talk about finding a girl who was worth overcoming my fear of being rejected for." Jean shyly stated, while Noelle just gave the boy a thumbs up. "Honestly, I was surprised at how easy it was. I was just upfront and honest about my interest and she said yes."

Who said yes?!

"Well, Rie also said that asking the girl out is the easy part. Making sure you don't mess up the date itself will be harder." Noelle lectured, repeating some of the things she said to them to hint how he should act once he was dating his friend. "But you should be fine with all the tips Marie gave you."

This wasn't why she gave that advice!

"That is true. Thank you Marie, I never would have even thought about asking her out if you didn't say all that stuff about regretting missed opportunities." Jean just continued to hammer the truth that he had used all her tips and tricks in order to ask out a girl who wasn't Noelle!

"So, who is this lucky girl then?" Marie asked with a big smile she used to hide her panic and loathing behind.

"Her name is Emma. Her family runs a local bakery that I frequent with Elle." Jean told her with a smile of his own. Marie was sure that his dog, who shared a name with Noelle so they just call her Elle, helped in convincing whoever that Emma was to go out on a date with him.

Oh god, everything was spiraling out of control! The girl who had half the chance to become the Priestess is still single when the Sapling was already on the board! What else could go wrong now?!

As if answering her question, another person walked up to them and spoke up. "I see that you're having fun there, Noelle."

"You don't have to say it like that, Lelia." Noelle tiredly responded. Marie took a look at the newcomer and immediately knew who she was. How could she not? She looked like a palette swapped version of her friend. Lelia Beltre looked exactly like Noelle, but her hair was pink instead of blonde. They both even had side tails, though Lelia had her tied on the left side while Noelle had hers tied on the right. If they fused together, you'd get the girl that Marie saw on the poster of the second game.

"Hello Lelia." Jean greeted the pink Beltre sister.

"Jean." Wow, talk about dismissiveness. She then turned to Marie and raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Marie Fou Bartfort. I'm an exchange student from Holfort." Marie introduced herself with a smile. It seemed that the other twin was a lot less friendly in general.

"Listen to this, Lelia!" Noelle excitedly started to tell the story of Jean's recent success with women. "Marie is awesome! She managed to get Jean to finally ask out Miss Emma on a date and she accepted!"

"I see. Good for you, Jean." She really didn't like the mild mannered boy, huh?

"Thank you." At least Jean didn't seem so offended by it. Or was it that he was just used to the way the pink one treated him.

"Speaking of dates. You should just follow my advice and give Loic a chance. He's obviously a good match for you." Marie tensed up at the pink one's words. Noelle winced and made it obvious what she thought about that idea.

Marie finally decided to smoothly insert herself into the conversation. "A bit of a high bar to go after an heir to a great house."

"Why not? I'm dating Emile." The pink one pointed out before waving a hand at her sister. "It will be easy for Noelle since Loic is already interested in her."

"Well, I'm not interested in him. Why do you keep pushing him on me?" Noelle grumbled and it looked like this was a conversation that already happened before.

"Because it's for your own good. He's perfect for you." Marie couldn't help but snort at the pink one's assertions.

"That's a pretty tone deaf thing to say. Are you sure you two are twins?" She said with a mocking smile.

The pink one narrowed her eyes at her even as she spoke. "Stay out of this. This is between me and my sister."

"Your sister can decide who she can love for herself." Marie firmly stated. Who did this bitch think she was?!

"Please stop arguing!" Noelle suddenly spoke out and stood to her feet. She then grabbed the pink one and started to lead her away.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Rie. I really appreciate it." Noelle told her with a smile before pulling her sister to another part of the Academy. "Come on, Lelia! Let's talk about this somewhere else."

"She won't be happy with Loic." Marie finally said once the twins were gone.

"No, but Lelia is strangely insistent on it." At least Jean didn't seem blind to how bad a pick that one was. He then took on a thoughtful expression. "Loic wasn't even that bad during our first year. He was a pretty genuine guy."

Marie narrowed her eyes and leaned towards Jean. "What changed?"

"I'm not sure. I do recall that he was just following the advice of someone close." Of course someone else caused this garbage to happen. Marie looked back in the direction where the twins went and scowled.

Dammit! Why did she have to work around a shitty sister too?

Didn't she have any self-awareness?!
 
Now I Wait for a month for backlog
 
Heats - 4
Noelle Beltre, secretly Zel Lespinasse, was used to being involved in strained relationships. From her own twin sister, to Louise, to Loic, she knew all about it. Even her new friend, Marie Fou Bartfort or Rie as Noelle liked to call her, was at odds with Lelia and had that kinda-friend thing going on with Louise. Weird that her only stress free relationship was with her best friend, Jean. Sadly for Noelle, said best friend was off enjoying life with his new girlfriend. She was happy for him, super happy in fact! Noelle just wished that she could find love and happiness like Jean had.

Those were the thoughts that were floating in her head as she and Rie were walking through the Academy hallways, on the way to the cafeteria to get some food. Sadly, luck decided to remind her what her reality was currently like.

"There you are." Noelle stiffened at the voice coming from behind them. "You sure love to give me the runaround, don't you? There needs to be a limit on how well you do the whole hard to get thing, Noelle."

Both of them turned around to see Loic Leta Barielle standing behind them with a grin on his face. The orange haired young man was holding a collar attached to a chain which led to a bracelet in his other hand. Noelle couldn't help but shiver at the look he was giving her.

"Sorry, Noelle is occupied at the moment. I'm afraid that you'll need to reschedule." To her shock, Rie stepped between her and Loic and spoke out. "I would also like to inform you that girls generally don't like pushy men."

"You're that Prince's pet, aren't you?" Pet? Rie and Prince Julius? They had that kind of relationship?! The implications of such a thing somehow managed to take Noelle's mind off the fear of Loic. "Don't get involved in the affairs of another country. It's rude."

"Oh dear! You seem to misinterpret my relationship with Prince Julius." Rie sweetly said as she leaned forward and continued. "I'm not his pet."

The implications of that statement made her brain lock up for a moment.

"Are you serious?" Even Loic voiced his disbelief at the possibility of Rie being the one in control of their relationship.

Rie then started laughing and pointing at him."The fact that you started to believe me just like that doesn't earn you a lot of points!"

"Pretty uppity for a barbarian noble. I should put you in your place." Loic snarled out and started taking steps forward. Rie stopped laughing and backed herself into Noelle, urging her to retreat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Loic." They all started at the new voice, this time coming from behind Loic. "Marie Fou Bartfort is under my family's protection. Louise and I'd be pretty damn upset if something happened to her because of you."

Tanned, with brown hair slicked back, and an overall look and demeanor of a delinquent. Noelle recognized Serge Sara Rault immediately. He was the guy that Lelia rejected the prior school year after all. She heard Rie let out a sigh of relief even as Loic whirled around to address the other guy.

"Fine. I'm only here to collect Noelle anyway." Noelle winced at the blatant declaration. Loic then turned away from Serge and dismissed his presence. "Now stay out of my business and leave my lover and I to our business."

Her eyes met Serge's and she couldn't help but silently plead for his help. He narrowed his eyes and gave a small nod. Noelle felt a sudden wave of relief when he placed a hand on Loic's shoulder.

"Even someone like me can see that she doesn't want what you're offering." Serge said with cocky ease. Loic seemed to have enough and slapped his hand off his shoulder.

"This is none of your business, Serge!" The other guy didn't look very impressed and just walked around to stand between them and Loic.

"Well, I guess I'll be making it my business then." Oh wow, Loic looked really mad.

"Noelle's under my protection from now on. You can keep trying to go after her, but I've fought way worse things than you in dungeons." Wait what?! Why?! Didn't his sister hate her guts?! Why is he going this far?! From now on?! What did that even mean?! She was super grateful to him but Noelle thought that he was just helping for this one time!

"You really want to steal what's mine?" Loic asked, as if scandalized by the declaration.

Serge then laughed at his face and shook his head. "Get your eyes checked, Noelle is a person who can make her own choices in life. She's not owned by anyone, especially not by an annoying bastard too dumb to take a hint."

Calm down Noelle! Your heart didn't just skip a beat! There has to be a logical explanation to everything going on right now! Oh wow, was Serge's back always that broad? No! Bad Noelle!

"If you two start fighting then I'll be the one to end it." Louise's pissed off words immediately dumped an ice cold bucket of water over Noelle's silent panic. They all looked down the hallway and saw that the older girl was not in the mood for what was currently happening with the way she was stomping towards them.

"I don't care who started it. This ends now! This is not the kind of behavior members of the great houses should have at the Academy of all places!" She hissed at both boys. Noelle flinched when Louise's gaze settled on her. "Of course you're involved."

The older girl's frown deepened when Serged placed himself between her and Noelle. "Don't tell me that you've taken a liking to the girl, Serge."

"Well, I haven't been to school in a while and thought that I should make new friends other than the boys." Noelle blinked. Friends? With her? Was he serious or was it just an excuse to his sister?

Louise sighed and turned to Loic, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument. "Leave, before I take this up with your father."

"I'll be back for Noelle. You can't keep her from me forever, Serge." Loic finally said after a few tense moments, walking away and taking that damned collar of his with him. Did he just have that on him all the time? Creepy! Super creepy!

"Don't shame our family any further." Louise said to Serge before nodding to Marie once and stalking away. Good riddance!

"Well, that was intense. Thanks for the help, Serge." Rie tried to joke about it but Noelle could tell that her friend was a bit shaken as well.

"Just be glad it wasn't Julius or any of the others who found Loic doing that to you two. They might have really thrown hands with him." Serge and Rie shared a laugh at his words. Wait, were Rie and Prince Julius really a couple then?! Was he the guy she was talking about from way before? Oh wow, she really was the only one left among her friends who was single then.

She chose not to think about how she only really had two real friends.

Noelle shook her head to clear her thoughts and stepped up to their rescuer. "Thank you, Serge. Sorry about how Lelia treated you last year."

"Wow, I help out and you stab me in the heart like that? You Beltres are ruthless." Serge flatly said. Noelle's eyes widened at how even Rie looked at her like she was stupid. Oh no! She shouldn't have brought up Lelia!

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean it that way!" Noelle was panicking so she wasn't really ready for Serge to place his hand on top of her head.

"It was a joke! If that asshole tries to mess with you again, you come to me!" He said with a grin while gently stroking her hair. Noelle couldn't help but just shyly nod, her face feeling like a furnace. Serge bid goodbye and walked off, Noelle keeping her gaze at his back. All she could think of was what Lelia was thinking when she rejected a guy like him. Noelle slapped both her hands on her cheeks. Snap out of it, stupid Noelle! Stop beating so fast, stupid heart!

She turned to Rie and saw her friend giving her a sly grin and two thumbs up, her eyes sparkling.

"Don't you dare start, Rie!" Her friend just slid closer to her and elbowed her side.

"Why not? Serge is a pretty great guy based on what Julius and the others have said to me about him." Marie stage whispered while wiggling her shoulders for some reason. "A bit of a bad boy, but that seems more like a front than his actual self."

"Rie~" Noelle whined in embarrassment. The last thing she needed was rumors about her and Serge suddenly popping up all over the Academy.

"You know what? Both Louise and Serge will be visiting Holfort for the summer break, you should come too! I'll introduce you to my brother!" Rie sounded super enthusiastic about the offer, especially when she mentioned her brother. "Who knows, you might actually reconcile with Louise and get closer to Serge."

Noelle couldn't help but scoff at that last part. "Rie, did you hit your head or something? Me getting along with Louise is about as likely as Serge actually being interested in me in that way."

"As far as visiting your home," She trailed off, thinking about it seriously. It would be a nice change of pace and an excuse to get as far away from Loic as possible. "I don't know, what about Lelia?"

"You don't like my sister that much, huh?" She asked with a smile when she saw Rie make a face at the mention of Lelia.

"I don't like how she treats you." Aww! Rie was such a sweetie pie!

"It's fine. She's busy and has a lot of expectations on her because of all her talent." Noelle assured her friend, who just sighed and decided to concede for now.

"Alright, she can come along. You invite her then, I'm sure that the two of us would just burst into flames if we tried to be nice to each other." Now that was something Noelle really ended up laughing at. The rest of the day went without any further issues, thankfully.

The same couldn't be said when she arrived home and told her sister about Rie's offer.

"Holfort? There's nothing good there at all." Lelia dismissively told her just as Noelle went to the kitchen to start on dinner. Wow, way to put down an entire Kingdom there sis.

"But it would be a great opportunity to travel and meet new people!" Noelle excitedly told her, imagining all the fun things that they could do together.

"We don't need to meet new people. We belong in Alzer." Huh, she didn't think that Lelia would be so stubborn about this specific thing. Was it because Marie was the one who invited them?

"But Lelia…" Her sister snorted at her tone and shook her head.

"Fine, you go then. I'll stay here for the summer break." Noelle bit her bottom lip at how mean Lelia was being.

"I don't want to go if you won't come along." She finally relented. She just wanted to make some fun memories with Lelia again.

"Don't even pretend that you don't want to go, otherwise we wouldn't even be having this conversation." An icy claw squeezed at Noelle's heart with every word that her twin sister said. "Go if you want, it's not like you ever listen to me anyway."

"Why do you hate me so much, Lelia?" She whispered before running out of the apartment, unable to stay in her sister's presence for a second longer.

Noelle wandered the streets with no real destination in mind. She didn't want to go back home but she didn't know where she could go either. It wasn't like she had time to take her purse with her when she stormed out.

"Well, you have the look of someone who was just told that the Sacred Tree isn't real." Noelle's glazed eyes finally focused when she heard a familiar voice. Those same eyes widened when she saw Serge looking at her with a raised brow.

"Hey Serge." She numbly greeted him, not really in the mood for anything.

"Hearing that tone coming from you is pretty spooky, I gotta say." Serge commented, his tone softening with his next words. "You wanna talk about it?"

Noelle shook her head, not wanting to think about Lelia at that moment.

He hummed and gestured down the street he was walking along. "Well, I'm gonna visit the boys for dinner. Marie lives in the same manor they're staying at, so you can tag along if you want."

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? Is it because of Lelia?" Noelle couldn't help but ask. Was it just pity? Was it a whim? Was he just doing it to let her guard down like Loic once did? Was it something else entirely?

Serge scoffed but Noelle saw how his eyes dimmed a bit at the mention of her sister. Lelia seemed to have that effect on certain people.

"Because I know what it's like to have pretty shitty days. Looks to me like you're having one for the record books." He finally said while looking up at the afternoon sky. He then looked back at her and gave a lopsided grin. "Turns out, having the right friends goes a long way to helping with the shitty feeling you get from that."

Noelle couldn't help but giggle. "You could have totally said that in a much nicer way."

"Hey, talking can be hard." Serge argued with a pout. It actually looked kinda cute, like a grumpy cat.

"Aren't you the heir to your house? Talking's totally gonna be part of your job description." Noelle couldn't help but tease him. Instead of being offended Serge just smirked and shook his head at her.

"Well, ain't you little miss know it all?" Noelle laughed and bumped her shoulder against Serge's as they made their way to the manor where the Holfort exchange students were staying.

At least it didn't seem like she only had two friends now.



I looked up at the completed Getter Robo that we were going to give Deirdre on her birthday. Control and I went on a quick trip back to the labs for the weekend in order to see the finished product.

It mostly looked like Black Getter with key differences. The biggest one was that it wasn't colored black. Instead, it was actually colored in a light shade of red. Not quite pink, but it was going in the right direction. It had a mask, but it was colored red and green instead of gray. The red Getter Wing didn't look all tattered either, with Control saying that the one on Black Getter was an aesthetic choice rather than a quality issue. It also ditched the scarf in favor of extending the Getter Wing's cape up around its neck and giving it a rather prominent popped collar look.

When I looked at the rest of it, I also noticed that it didn't have Getter Razor. Instead, it had what looked like vent slits where the blades were supposed to be. Getter Spike was also absent, replaced with what seemed to be knuckle dusters that were folded onto the back of each hand.

Weaponry has also been adjusted based on the data provided from Miss Deirdre's simulator runs as well as her own feedback.

"Oh? It'll run a different loadout from Black Getter?" I was pretty curious on what Control came up with for the new Getter Robo.

Getter Robo G style Double Tomahawks will be dispensed from the shoulders instead of the standard types. They will also be able to be combined and extended into a double-ended polearm weapon.

I whistled at that. Going heavy duty then, huh? I definitely would have chopped off something important if Black Getter had those instead of the regular tomahawks.

A stronger Getter Beam emitter is placed at the center of the chest. Miss Deirdre did not seem to utilize the head Getter Beam despite having it unlocked for some time now. The power it would have used will be redirected to the main emitter instead.

"Aww! But shooting two Getter Beams is awesome!" I whined. I didn't even know that Deirdre didn't use the head Getter Beam at all.

Getter Spikes have also been replaced with hyper heated knuckle dusters for extreme close encounters.

I hummed and noticed something from the weapon list. "No gun?"

Miss Deirdre seems to prefer the use of magic instead of firearms.

"This thing can use magic?!" This was a magical Getter Robo?!

I have been experimenting with the integration of magic into Getter technology in the labs for quite some time now. I have based the design changes on what I have scanned from the Armors of this world as well as Olivia's personal weaponry. All of which should accommodate Miss Deirdre's use of the craft.

"So does it work?" I asked.

In theory. We will likely need Miss Deirdre to test things out.

"Is that safe?" I followed up.

Is piloting a Getter Robo ever truly safe?

"Point." I conceded as I set my gaze back at the Getter Robo in question. "So can we give it to her now that it's done?"

I am still uploading her combat simulator data into the systems. I would actually like to spend the rest of the weekend for you to test out its basic functionalities as well.

"Sure, I can put it through the simple stuff. Wouldn't want it to fall apart the second Deirdre decides to fly with it." Being a test pilot sounded pretty cool, to be honest.

Perish the thought.

"What is it?" I asked when Control's drone suddenly started wiggling around.

Miss Marie wishes to speak with you.

I wondered what she could want to discuss even as Control patched her through. "Hey there, sis."

"Leon! I have great news!" Uh oh, I knew that smile. Nothing ever good came from that smile.

"Whenever you say that, I always have a sinking feeling in my stomach." I said as much and Marie pouted at me like a child.

"Rude!" She said before completely dismissing the insult and getting to the main topic. "Anyway, Serge managed to come in with a big assist with an annoyance a few days ago. Thanks to that, I managed to convince Noelle to visit us during the summer break too!"

"And let me guess, Julius and the boys want to bring the Sacred Tree sapling back too?" I rubbed my forehead even as I asked. Did she really not understand what she was doing?

"Where else would they put it?" I guess not.

I sighed and decided to ask the obvious question anyway. "So, the guests you invited will all be staying where again?"

"Hm? I mean, you have that new mansion in your lands that you haven't used yet, right?" My sister asked with a big smile as if she didn't just set me up to babysit some of the most important people in the second game's story.

"God dammit Marie."



The day the first term ended signaled the start of the summer break. I was on the Nagare with Control and Yumeria as we made our way to Alzer to pick up Marie and the rest. My lovers just wished me luck when I told them about the mess Marie made and reminded me to get them if I needed help. Livia and Hertrude were both staying with Angie for the break. Clara went back to her family to make sure that my mansion would be ready to receive what pretty much were foreign dignitaries.

All the while, Black Getter was no longer alone in the hangar. The newly named Roze Getter was standing at its side and was just waiting to be introduced to its fated pilot.
 
Nice for Serge and Noelle to find a new friendship, even without the fairly blatant hints at further shipping in store for them.
 

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