Posted on November 12, 2025

CHASE 6: RESPITE (part 2)

“It seems you’ve recovered, Blue Knight.”

The door slid open with a dull thud, and Mima Sencutter appeared. His slicked-back hair was messy and tossed in all directions.

“You’re almost like an overman with your recovery ability.”

“An overman? How do you know what Sha Bak said?”

Mima hesitated for a moment. “Well, there was someone in the intelligence department who was tracking him.”

This man must have looked into my past. Or Sha Bak’s.

“Do you know anything about overmen? If so, please tell me.” I asked as earnestly as I could. If I understood overmen, I might uncover the true nature of the destructive insect screaming inside my head during the battle with the Black A.T.

“No, I’ve only heard that such people existed in the Astragius galaxy a long time ago.”

“I see…”

I sensed Mima was hiding something, but I didn’t press further. Right now, defeating the Black A.T. was more important than any overman.

“One more thing. Let me ask you. Do you have any muscle cylinders? The arm punch assembled for Berserga…isn’t that actually for a Rising Tortoise?”

Instead of answering, Mima said, “Blue Knight…about that data Kevec left behind… I still can’t analyze it. I need your help.” He grabbed my arm and pulled. “Covarn, I’m borrowing the Blue Knight for a while.”

“Bakuel will be ready in about an hour. Then I’ll send someone to fetch you.”

Ignoring Covarn, Mima dragged me out of the maintenance bay.

“What are you hiding?” I asked Mima as we walked down the long, dimly lit corridor. My body had recovered enough by now to walk without support.

“What did you hear from Kevec?” Mima asked back. “Did you ask him anything about the Rising Tortoise?”

I quickened my pace to keep up with Mima’s brisk stride, thinking about Kevec. “I heard it’s a new model. They’re developing an A.T. called the FX.”

“He sure talked a lot. For a soldier,” Mima said in an angry tone.

“He’d apparently been thrown into a sensory deprivation chamber. When I met him, he was emaciated, just sunken eyes that were unnaturally sharp.”

“I see. So that’s the state he was in when he met you.” Mima fell silent. After a moment, he spoke in a calm voice. “You might end up piloting an FX someday, so I’ll tell you now.”

“FX?”

“FX-series A.T. That’s the Development Department’s abbreviation. It’s the next-generation mainstream Armored Trooper the military is developing in preparation for the coming rematch. Its armament and performance far surpass current A.T.s.”

“So the Rising Tortoise is a test unit for that…you said it was the ATH-16?”

“Correct. Functionally, the model that fought the Shadow Flare is more advanced than Kevec’s model.”

“I guess so…” I muttered that half-heartedly, feeling a gloomy foreboding at the hint of renewed conflict. The rumor that the Hundred Years’ War truce was merely a cover for both militaries to expand their capabilities seemed to be no falsehood after all.

“And the equipment Monete acquired is for the FX. Seems the military police had their transport convoy ambushed.”

“The FX?”

Mima shifted his goggle-style sunglasses slightly up and down. “ATM-FX1. The successor to the A.T. commonly called the Mid-class.”

“Can Mid-class parts be used on a Heavy-class Berserga?”

“A Light-class A.T. has been completed. It’s smaller than the Mid-class and boasts higher mobility. Because of this, Mid-class A.T.s are being pushed out of their original roles and transitioning to heavily armed, high-powered units.”

“And at the same time, they’re getting larger…?”

If the systematization and development of A.T.s had progressed that far, the military’s return to war might be imminent. With the resumption of war, we’d likely be conscripted back into the military.

— Before the war resumes, I must defeat that Black A.T. —

My mind raced with urgency. But I had absolutely no concrete plan to take it down. Worse still, right now we were being hunted by military police who’d allied with the Black A.T.

“We’re analyzing it here.”

Led by Mima, I arrived at the edge of a building, right where it vertically pierced the ceiling of this level of the city. It resembled an underground garage. Even darker than the other rooms, it was a space that was suited to darkness. Within it, the silhouette of a trailer appeared, as if floating.

Mima opened one of the double doors at the rear of the trailer and stepped inside. I climbed the ladder beside the exhaust vent and followed. Inside the trailer, the light was blindingly bright. Deep within, illuminated by numerous lights, computers were arranged in orderly rows.

Mima approached a computer and began operating the keyboard. “Let me show you the analysis patterns we’ve attempted so far.”

A scale ran across the display, bringing letters, figures, and bar graphs into view.

“No matter what ciphers or random number tables we use, we can’t decode it.”

Mima touched one of the keys. At the same time, the letters on the display moved upward one by one and then disappeared. They all displayed the word “error” in red.

As the display cleared, Mima muttered, “Cross-referencing with computer languages was useless too. Did Kevec say anything about this data?” he asked, looking troubled.

“I think he mentioned it was hidden within the mission disc’s movement program…”

“The mission disc…?” Mima asked thoughtfully, then suddenly began pounding the keyboard. “It’s the language used on the mission disc. That means we’ll need to use a completely different system than the computer disc.”

Mima switched the computer to mission disc analysis mode, entered the data, and activated it.

“Surely, this will…”

He stared at the display, his eyes filled with hope. But moments later, the display showed nothing more than an ordinary action program.

A sound, barely a sigh, escaped Mima’s lips. “Is analysis impossible…?”

I stared intently at the display and said. “No, wait. Below the displayed text. It looks like grid lines, but there are broken, intermittent lines.”

“Could be a bar code,” Mima said breathlessly. “Let’s call up the random number matching table and try decoding it.”

Until now, nothing specific had appeared on the display. I watched him operate with anticipation. But no matter how much he tried, only error messages appeared. All stating that converting the bar code into information was impossible.

Mima ran his fingertips through his hair. “Looks like this method won’t work either…”

What dark secret of the Black A.T. lay hidden behind that barcode that wouldn’t translate into language? I’d lost to that Black A.T. twice before. What was the source of its bizarre power? Without knowing that, the only thing left for me was a miserable death.

The blood in my entire body was gradually beginning to freeze. My spine stiffened. Unconsciously, my right fist clenched, my fingertips digging into the flesh. My left arm showed no reaction. It felt like holding a pillar of ice. Cold, yet burning hot.

Yet, even as I tasted this relentless sense of defeat, I recalled the battle unfolding before me between the Black A.T. and Rising Tortoise, comparing the capabilities of both units. Speed was even, but the Black A.T. overwhelmingly surpassed it in power and armor. But its armor could be breached with the reinforced pile bunker. Suddenly, something clicked in my head.

“Mima, do we have any spare parts left for the Rising Tortoise?”

“What are you planning to do with that thing?” Mima asked suspiciously.

“To enhance the Berserga.”

“But the specifications won’t match. Even though it’s Heavy-class, it’s a full size larger than the Berserga. You could call it Super Heavy-class.”

“If we can’t use it as is, we’ll use it as a reference. Right now, I see no other way to beat it than to enhance the Berserga’s armaments.” With a fury bordering on madness, I shouted, “Something…right, something more important in the battle? Surely I’m missing something.”

After I said that, Mima fell deep in thought. But no matter what he said, I didn’t care. My mind craved powerful weapons. It was a different feeling than when I tried to take Berserga from Sha Bak a year ago.

After a moment, Mima parted his thin lips. “Only the jet roller dash mechanism and the solid shooter remain, so you can use them for defense.”

I grinned. “That’s enough.”

Suddenly, the light inside the trailer dimmed. A slender female figure, illuminated by reflected light, appeared near the door. Ronni.

“Kain…Covarn wants you to come.” Ronni said, sounding confused.

“Got it,” I answered briefly and stepped out of the trailer.

“Kain, what are you going to do with the upgraded Berserga?” Ronni asked as we passed each other.

“You’re annoying.”

“Because, Kain, I’m scared. You…you’re not afraid of dying, and you seem to be rushing toward it!” Ronni gripped my right arm tightly. “Why do you want to fight the Shadow Flare, Kain?”

“It’s fundamentally different from your style of battling,” Mima said. “Kain can’t simply stop fighting the way you can.”

Ronni’s fingers relaxed. I silently shook off her hand and left the garage.

I heard Mima’s voice trying to reason with her. “He’s trying to repay a huge debt only a man can understand…”

In the maintenance yard, two other men were waiting beside Covarn: Bakuel and Atodo. They had neatly arranged electronic equipment around them and stood encircling the Berserga.

“Something’s definitely off about this A.T.” Bakuel said haltingly, pointing at a black cord attached to the frame of Berserga’s cockpit block. The section equivalent to ribs in a human.

“Any idea what this cord is? It’s hidden right in the gap between the cockpit frame and the armor plate.”

I moved closer to Berserga and stared intently at it. I pressed it with my thumb. It was mounted, half-embedded, near the corner of the L-shaped frame. It didn’t feel like solid like a wire. Instead, it had this squishy, unreliable texture.

I traced the cord with my fingertips as I circled the machine. “No clue. Never seen this before. Normally, even during disassembly and maintenance, we only X-ray the frame around the cockpit and the armor. This thing never showed up on scans.”

The cord encircled Berserga’s cockpit from above, below, left, and right. Occasionally, it was tucked inside the frame. Then it would emerge again after a gap of about one centimeter. The ends were directed toward the generator mounted on Berserga’s back and waist.

Moreover, it was set up to merge midway with several other cords, all extracting energy from the generator. Then, between where it protruded from the frame and the generator, small iron plates about one centimeter thick were attached. A pair, one on each side. I picked one up.

“They were embedded into the underside of the rear armor plate. But they’re not necessary for powering the A.T.” Atodo said, pushing up his round glasses with his fingertips. “And this system was directly connected to the waist balancer. At first, I thought it might be a sub-sensor for the balancer, but it seems to be more than that. After all, it’s fused into the frame. We can’t just carelessly remove it.”

Berserga still had equipment I didn’t know about.

“One hundred and eight…” I muttered, remembering Sha Bak.

“What do you mean, one hundred and eight?” Atodo asked.

“The number of points where the cord is embedded into the unit.”

“One hundred and eight!” he exclaimed, startled. “That’s the number of sensory nerve convergence points.”

As soon as he said it, Atodo pulled out the scanner and pressed it against my pressure suit.

“What are you doing?!”

“Looks like this thing’s hiding some secrets. Kain, how long have you been using this pressure suit?”

“About a year. Right when I started battling with Berserga’s original owner.”

“I see…” Atodo said, studying the probe’s data. “Found something interesting. This pressure suit has small terminals embedded in it. One hundred and eight of them. Just as I thought, they’re placed on points like the wrists where sensory nerves converge.”

I undid the cuff of the pressure suit wrapped around my waist and bit through the lining near my wrist. Inside the soft inner fabric sat a squishy thing, about the size of a pinky fingertip.

“So this is the terminal?” I poked at it with my fingertip. But it was firmly glued in place. I couldn’t pry it off.

“Kain, put on the pressure suit and sit in the cockpit.”

Atodo directly connected the cord and balancer, then started the generator. As the generator began its heavy growl, I slipped my arms into the sleeves with Covarn’s help. Pulling the fastener up to my neck, I slid into the seat inside the machine.

“Grab the control stick.”

Driven solely by my desire to understand the system’s true nature, I did as Atodo said. First, I supported my left arm with my right hand and placed it on the control stick. Then I positioned my right arm where it belonged.

“It’s activated!” Atodo, who had moved to the rear of the Berserga, called out while holding the probe in one hand. “Now, shift your balance to the right.”

I leaned my body to the right.

Atodo let out a wild cry. “This system is incredible!”

Drawn by it, I leaped off the seat. With my left arm immobilized, my balance upon landing was poor. I stomped hard onto the ground and turned back toward Atodo.

“Kain, this thing’s incredible,” Atodo said while flipping the generator switch off. “Your movements trigger the sensory nerves, and this system controls the balancer. Never seen anything like it.”

“My movements…? How could something like that be sent to the A.T.? The A.T.’s balancer responds to the mission disc.”

His eyes gleaming like a fascinated child, Atodo continued. “This is the sensor for that. Meaning it catches your reactions at the pressure suit terminals and relays them to the frame’s cord. It’s converted into electrical signals by that metal plate and sent to the balancer.”

“So I’m the balancer for Berserga…”

“You could say that. And it also has the ability to provide feedback to the pilot about the A.T.’s own abilities and combat information. If you’re not aware of this system, it’s likely that its original owner used it for self-training as a Votoms pilot.”

“What’s the use in receiving data from an A.T.? A pilot can do it alone…”

“Isn’t that the ideal form of man-machine? But this system…it seems it hasn’t been used for quite some time. About half a year, perhaps. Judging by the state of its charging, it finally woke up when you fought the Shadow Flare.”

A chill ran down my spine. If Berserga itself was the source of that destructive impulse that began stirring in my mind during the battle with the Black A.T…

A new doubt gnawed at me. Was I controlled by Berserga? By this machine, tainted with Sha Bak’s grudge? No, that can’t be. An A.T. can’t possibly have that kind of power. Otherwise, my revenge would be meaningless.

“We’re removing this system.” I told Atodo. Even I was disgusted by my own stubbornness.

“What? With this, you’d be unstoppable!” Covarn added with exaggerated action.

“Yeah, why throw away something we already have?” Bakuel and Atodo chimed in.

“We don’t need this system. Instead, we’ll add different equipment.”

I explained my Berserga modification plan to them in minute detail.

Atodo let out a cry of admiration. “Wow…incredible! That way, even using the old muscle cylinders, Berserga can double its power-up!”

Bakuel nodded in agreement. “True, it can be operated perfectly well even without the left arm.”

Only Covarn looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Now that we know that, let’s get started on the modifications. Kain, check the disc driver. Bakuel, take the materials to Mima…”

Atodo flushed with enthusiasm. I sat down on the ground and connected the disc driver, the device that reads mission disc data, to a small power source. Simultaneously, the check monitor lit up.

I activated the disc driver alone. But the monitor only displayed standard functions. I opened the cover. Only four of the seven slots had discs inserted. From the pocket on my left chest, I pulled out the disc containing my personal data, though it was wrapped in a thin, 10 cm square diskette, and inserted it into a slot.

An image appeared on the monitor. It was my unique combat pattern. At that moment, something flashed in my mind.

— Mission discs work effectively when several of them are linked together.

Kevec said he hid the Black A.T. information inside the disc along with a special code. So, to activate it, I just need to combine it with some other data.

— Kevec’s personal data? No, that’s not it. Something usable by Military Intelligence, and something only the military possesses.

I grinned and stood up.

“Kain, what’s up?” Covarn said in a sarcastic tone. “Still trying to tack on more gear?”

“I’m going to grab the Black A.T.’s intel. The disc driver is fully functional. It’s safe to use.” I said that as I pulled my personal data disc from the disc drive, shut down the power, and left the maintenance bay.

I hurried to the trailer where Mima was. I ran to the door. Suddenly, the door swung open wide. Ronni appeared from inside. The moment she saw me, she said, “Sorry, Kain…”

Before I could reply, Ronni dashed off.

“Did something happen?” I asked Mima, who was silently continuing his work at the computer.

“Well, I don’t know.” Mima said, looking as if nothing had happened. “More importantly, aren’t you supposed to be present for Berserga’s overhaul?”

“We might be able to analyze Kevec’s disc.”

“What?!” Mima said with an expression of disbelief. “I’ve been working on this and haven’t found a single clue!”

“You’re not a Votoms pilot. That’s why you don’t understand. Do you have the Black A.T. data the Intelligence Department acquired? Preferably from before Kevec went rogue?”

“This.” Mima pulled a disc shining with iridescent colors from the disc rack. It was about 10cm in diameter. “It’s a computer disc, but…”

“We’ll cross-reference it with the mission disc language, then synchronize it with the barcode data we found in Kevec’s files.”

“Very well…” Mima, still wearing a suspicious look, turned back to the computer and began operating it. “But what good will this do?”

“Kevec used the mission disc system for decryption. With this method, they’ll never crack it. After all, we’re creating the language based on the military disc.”

Mima finished his keyboard operations and stared at the display. Nothing was showing yet. “Looks like it’ll take time,” he said, suppressing his anxiety.

“To synchronize the military disc with the mission disc, we have to combine three languages.” Just as Mima said this, the display screen, glowing blue, suddenly blacked out.

Mima muttered in despair. “Another failure…”

Moments later, the display slowly but surely began outputting standard Gilgameth characters and images.

“Oh…” A gasp of astonishment escaped Mima’s lips.

Then, alongside the information the military had gathered so far, the data Kevec had obtained vividly appeared on the display. Summarizing the content, it was as follows:

The Shadow Flare is a new type of original A.T. developed by a group of arms dealers known as the OverSociety. Currently, only one unit has been confirmed. Though considered a prototype, its combat capability is extremely high. It appears the Society is colluding with the Balarant military using this mass-produced model.

Furthermore, the final data points to the Shadow Flare’s base within Arg, and the headquarters of the OverSociety — apparently a huge battleship capable of developing large-scale weapons, including A.T.s — is currently approaching Melkia.

The data concluded with the hope that this information would yield favorable results for FX development and the Gilgameth campaign.

“Is this all?” I muttered. “Even with the power of the Intelligence Department?”

“Even this is valuable. If that pilot was in the military, we can trace their background. And their base — there’s only one battleship like that in the entire Gilgameth fleet.”

“Mima, maybe that’s true for you…”

A desperate thirst began. Kevec’s data revealed absolutely nothing about Chris Kurtz’s secrets. In the end, the only means left for me to defeat Chris Kurtz himself was to enhance my own armaments.

“If we can integrate a system where the A.T. and pilot are organically linked,” Mima said in a matter-of-fact tone, “the FX’s capabilities will skyrocket. Kevec left us something really valuable.”

“What if that was built into Berserga?” I said in a heavy, subdued voice.

Mima brushed his hair back. “How could something like that even exist?”

“I don’t know either. But…if Sha Bak installed it, then he betrayed me,” I muttered.

Two gloomy days passed, dreading the arrival of the Black A.T., and Berserga’s repairs were complete. While its appearance remained largely unchanged, the machine had been restored to near-new condition.

But my left arm still refused to move. Ignoring Vilpeg’s warning that amputation might be unavoidable if there was no change by tomorrow, I sat in the cockpit for the first time in ages to test Berserga. The feel was good, but unease lingered. How much performance did Berserga have hidden inside it? Could it stand up to the Black A.T.? Everything hinged on this test.

I pressed down on the right accelerator pedal. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Berserga took its first step. The mechanism’s engagement wasn’t smooth. It left something to be desired.

I pressed the side pedal next to the accelerator pedal. This was for the left side. Simultaneously, I moved the control stick using only my right arm. Berserga’s left arm swung up dramatically. The side pedal for the arm-switching operation was functioning perfectly. The right-side operation was also flawless.

I pressed both accelerator pedals simultaneously. The gliding wheels roared beneath my feet, and the machine began its roll.

I pressed a button on the right console. A heavy thud reverberated from under my feet, and the armor plate covering the leg cavity opened backward. Wheels attached to the tip touched the ground. The deep roar of the turbo fan filled the air, and an arrow-like acceleration pierced the cockpit. The jet engine, housed inside the chamber, had ignited.

The craft accelerated at high speed. 70…80…it surpassed 100 kilometers per hour. But the auxiliary wheels provided good stability. The ground seemed sloped, causing the craft to drift slightly left.

I pressed down on the left accelerator. With a roar, the jet engine’s output surged from the branched nozzles beside the left leg, and the machine banked right with a sideways G-force.

The pre-positioned 15cm-thick steel plate loomed before me. As I passed it, I activated the arm punch. An unbelievable explosion erupted around my elbow, causing the forearm to violently extend and retract. The impact felt heavy.

I halted Berserga and turned to face the steel plate. The mark of the arm punch bulged on the back surface, giving off a shimmering, iridescent sheen.

I aimed Berserga’s left arm toward the steel plate. My right arm grasped the grip that protruded from the base of the pile bunker below the shield. I pulled the control stick. In tandem, Berserga’s right arm pulled the grip. The rear end of the pile bunker emitted a blinding flash.

The spear launched sharply with blinding speed. Berserga’s left shoulder vibrated faintly. A hole about 15 centimeters in diameter opened in the steel plate. The surrounding area was scorched from the intense heat.

I had transplanted the solid shooter’s projectile ejection mechanism into the pile bunker. The power increased, but it seemed the limit for consecutive use was three times. Any more than that and the frame wouldn’t hold.

Now, Berserga should have had sufficient power for combat. But I felt something was missing. An unease ran through my entire body, telling me that victory was out of the question with only this level of armament, and I might not even be able to protect myself.

I dismounted Berserga. Vilpeg, Atodo, and Bakuel rushed over, each marveling at Berserga’s power. But I alone remained gloomy.

“No other weapons? I need more weapons than this!” I shouted.

Covarn, who had been staring at me with a grave expression, finally spoke. “You’re still talking like that? No matter how many weapons you pile on, you still can’t beat that black bastard in your current state. What’s gotten into you? Where’s the guy who roared he’d keep fighting even unarmed after losing to him?”

Vilpeg berated Covarn. “Covarn, cut it out. Kain can’t use his left arm.”

“No, he needs to hear this. He’s terrified of the black one. That’s why he’s relying on weapons. And what’s instilling fear in him is that left arm. It still hasn’t healed.” Covarn flashed a sarcastic smile. “Cut off that left arm already.”

A sharp crack echoed as my nerves snapped.

“If you keep this up, you’ll end up just like those other Votoms pilots who got killed. Falling into his trap without even realizing it. Self-destructing, clutching only the weapon you relied on.”

True, my desire for weapons stemmed from fear of the Black A.T. But hearing him say that made me lose my temper.

“You bastard!” I grabbed Covarn by the collar. Squeezed tight.

“If you still have that much energy left, why don’t you fight me? But no weapons or roller dash.”

“Unarmed?”

“That’s right. I’ll use the Clever Camel we brought here. If it used any new equipment, you wouldn’t stand a chance. If you win, I’ll take back what I said. If you want, I’ll even bet all my money.” Covarn studied my expression. “You’re in?”

Driven by fury, I replied. “Get ready.”