Before anything happened, before he was Yekase, before he was Dr Ika, that boy had a simple wish:

If I have a workshop where metal sings, I’ll be happy.

He never wanted to upend the world. He knew he wasn’t born under a comet.

But maybe, with things that were only his, he could glow a little brighter in the dusk.

Like… machines he invented with his own hands.

They could be special in his stead, one-of-a-kind, leaving his voice on streets washed by neon and moonlight.

As he walked that road, he brushed past kindred makers and felt their intent in steel and solder. Each one, novice or master, moved him like a talk with Professor F.

Then, one day, he started making only what others wanted. In a shadow with no color, he went numb, like a frog in cooling ash.

Sometimes, he’d look up at the view from the nineteenth floor, where the city breathed like a tide.

Right. What did I want to invent—?

Rrrrrrumble—!!

Ma Wei and the Triple Calamity base… fused.

That’s not exaggeration.

He shot into the basement ceiling, and the metal softened like melting ice cream. It swallowed him whole.

“Whole. Freaking. Gulp…”

Shen Shanshan muttered something. Not important.

The base kept quaking, like a drum under a storm.

Over the three still in the basement, the ceiling that had eaten a man drifted higher and farther, like the sky lifting, until—

A ribbon of color lanced in from the edge.

City glow poured from outside, a river of neon and street-sighs.

The whole Triple Calamity tower

was rising.

Then the building transformed.

From the basement up, the core folded upward and outward, snapping into leg-like pillars.

From walls whose odd thickness only blueprints betrayed, armor plates three floors long slid free and locked into place.

Side annexes became arms. Five loader manipulators punched through glass on each side, unfurling as fingers.

The rooftop helipad split like a steel lotus, revealing a deep shaft. A colossal Prismatic War Chariot head rose from it, its stern gaze looking down at Yekase, who stood in the square pit that used to be the basement.

Finally, the chest flooring folded inward, revealing three rhombi, apex to apex.

One deep azure. One vivid blue. One silver-gray.

Mind Energy. Soul Power. Omega Ray.

Three engines for a city-busting weapon.

Three streams of Infinite Power braided into harmony, coursing through its frame like rivers through stone.

So this… is the true “Triple”?

Shen Shanshan’s poise cracked. “I, of all people, never heard the base hid a move like this… Boss, you were guarding against me too, huh?”

“No kidding! Who bares their soul to a merc?”

Shen mulled it over, then pointed at Yekase.

…You two are actually pretty close, huh?

On any other day, Yekase would’ve snarked back. Now she just stared up, frozen, at the fortress-mode Prismatic War Chariot. The mask hid her face, but the shock felt like a cold wave.

The War Chariot’s right hand lowered and ferried the leader up. He dropped into the cockpit.

“Princess! Got anything? If not, we fall back!” Shen couldn’t stop them, so she grabbed for Yekase.

“……”

“Shell-shocked? Snap out of it!”

“…It’s beautiful…”

“Huh?”

“I’ve kept asking what I truly wanted to invent… and the answer’s right here.”

“Is now really the time?”

“Robots! Giant robots! The kind that transform and combine! That was my first dream!”

“She’s having an episode?!”

Yekase spread her arms, demanding of Shen, “Don’t you think it’s beautiful? Don’t you think it’s romantic? Single-soldier armor is fine, but giant robots are—”

Shen didn’t answer. She scooped Yekase up and sprinted into a stairwell the War Chariot hadn’t eaten.

“I can’t see it anymore!”

“This is a battlefield! Get a grip!”

She nearly ripped off Yekase’s mask, but professionalism stopped her hand.

Thump. Butt to rubble.

“...Ugh…”

“Feel better now?”

“Mm… building a dedicated MS from scratch right now is still too hard…”

Not better at all.

Shen’s confusion deepened. In her mind, Unit 3614 always kept her cool. New toys could excite her, sure, but not like this. What triggered her?

Was she lying about being unaffected? Did that Flash Energy hypnosis track snag her too?

Then it should’ve hit earlier!

Either twenty-meter-class robots were just that irresistible to her, or this Prismatic War Chariot hit her sweet spot. Only two options…

“...Sorry. Got a little high. I’ve handled a lot of Flash Energy lately. Some residue must’ve resonated with that mixed power.”

“…”

So she really was high on it!

“Yeah, Flash Energy woke some very old memories. Screening them on a battlefield is… a bit much.”

Yekase scratched her head and stood.

“Where’s the leader?”

“He boarded.”

“This unit’s tough, but at that size it guzzles power. Internal batteries won’t last. We just have to drag it out.”

Unreliable as the command sounded, Shen still felt a bit relieved.

Better than a breakdown.

Rest here. Save strength. Prep for the final push…

“—Hello?” Yekase pressed a finger to her earpiece. “What? Don’t— Huh?! Right nearby—”

She froze.

“What is it?”

“Ling Yi… Flashblade Red just entered.”

“What? She doesn’t know third-party interference is banned in a devour battle?”

“Probably doesn’t. And if she does, she won’t care.”

Yekase’s stomach knotted like a twisted cable.

Ling Yi was eating out with family close by. She heard the commotion, stepped out, saw the building turn into the Prismatic War Chariot… and transformed without hesitation.

Her motive was clear as rain: protect the civilians.

She didn’t know Ma Wei only wanted the two hiding under his feet…

Shen reconsidered. “Perfect, then. If Flashblade Red keeps Ma Wei busy, our odds go up.”

“She absolutely can’t beat him! I haven’t even built her second form!”

“She can switch forms?”

Shen didn’t like mecha—too flashy for her taste—but she caught the tech value in that.

“Feels like you’re better at small, precise single-soldier armor anyway.”

“I’m good at everything.”

“Ha.”

Yekase didn’t go back the way they came. She hit the stairs, sprinted down empty corridors, and burst onto street level.

She looked up. The fortress-mode Prismatic War Chariot stood six stories high. A small figure orbited it like a scarlet swallow. Ma Wei must’ve thought she was Consortium X reinforcements. Twin shoulder turrets spat fire. Thankfully, every shot missed.

Yekase reconnected to Ling Yi’s channel.

“We’ll stop him together.”

[Doctor, you’re nearby too? Thank goodness!]

“Uh, yeah, I was out buying parts today… Anyway, keep kiting. Share your camera feed. I’ll find a weak point!”

[Got it!]

Beep— A tiny screen slid before Yekase’s right eye. One thought filled her head the instant the image bloomed.

You could call it big,

but it was vast—

A twenty-meter-class giant. Even the Beast King Squadron’s Dragon God Pioneer would look small beside him. That’s how monstrous the scale felt.

The lens made him loom even larger.

Yet Ling Yi showed no fear. She circled fast, weaving through every shot like a swallow through rain.

She’s gotten that good at flying…

[Identify yourself! Name yourself!]

Ma Wei’s voice boomed from loudspeakers.

Ling Yi cranked her amp and matched his roar. [I’m Flashblade Red! You run a giant robot in a city, and you don’t care who gets hurt?!]

[Those who know a battle is coming and don’t evacuate deserve the fallout!]

[We can’t talk sense, huh…]

“I see it. The cockpit.”

Ling Yi flipped to the squad channel:

[Go straight for it?]

“No. Breaching a cockpit door takes finesse. Keep the heat on you.”

Shen jogged out of the stairwell and caught that line.

Two people who knew Yekase to very different depths understood at once. They shouted almost in unison:

“What are you planning? Don’t tell me—?!”

[Finesse? Doctor, are you about to—!]

“That ‘don’t tell me’ exactly!”

Yekase pulled something from inside her coat.

Then she spread her arms, like a bird taking the wind.

“Celestial Speech! Levitation Spell!”

The Levitation Spell’s lift, climb rate, and hover time could all be brute-forced higher by pouring in more Sorcery. And that ceiling—

No human had ever touched it.

Yekase didn’t know her body’s daily Sorcery throughput. She didn’t have time to care.

“You can use magic too?! Perfect!”

Shen pressed both palms between Yekase’s shoulder blades. Warmth flowed from skin to core, a stream into a river—sharing the casting load.

“Sorcery Transfer!”

“Three, two… one! Go!”

Shen shoved. Yekase shot skyward. Her slim body, buoyed by a Levitation Spell packed with nearly all their power, became a black cannonball streaking toward the cockpit.

Shen’s knees buckled. She dropped into the rubble.

She raised her right fist and shouted at that receding shadow:

“Fly high for me— soar!”