“Dragon God Pioneer... how to put it, it’s a bit too tokusatsu? Not like the super-series at all; it just doesn’t land. Like Unicorn—fine alone, jarring in the lineup.”

—In a later interview (that never happened), the “Singing Wrecking Lady” said so.

Yekase rose on a [Levitation Spell], and Ma Wei reacted on instinct, leg windows snapping open as rows of cannons slid out like centipede teeth to intercept.

With a roar, every barrel fired in one volley, a storm of shells streaking toward Yekase like iron meteors crossing a winter sky.

“—?”

Yekase’s figure vanished like a swallow slipping behind rain.

It’s that skill that dodged the [Prismatic Flame]! She can still use it?

No matter how she did it, 0.25 seconds of invincibility can’t dodge a second salvo, like a blink too short for sunrise—

...

0.25 seconds passed.

0.5 seconds passed.

One second passed.

“Where’d she go?!”

Ma Wei dropped the chase on Ling Yi, flailing violence like swatting a mosquito after lights-out, and smashed several buildings like brittle clay.

Damn it! He’s still widening the damage, like a flood spilling past dikes!

Two seconds passed...

Ling Yi raised Sky Striker, sped in, and unleashed [Rekindled Blaze], cleaving half the mech’s arm like splitting a log. The other hand met her blade and slapped her away like a thunderclap.

Three seconds passed!

“Looking for me?”

That familiar mixed falsetto bloomed like a flute under moonlight.

From a spot Ma Wei never expected.

Outside the cockpit of the Prismatic War Chariot, like a sparrow perched on a steel bough.

This mech was a base turned biped, so the cockpit was just a glass-and-concrete box on metal bones, wrapped in an energy field like thin ice.

But Yekase didn’t risk this just to win; her intent was a deeper current beneath the surface.

She’d confirmed Ma Wei would hold back near the cockpit, fearing collateral like smashing a vase to catch a mouse, so she sat by the glass door like a drifting leaf finding a ledge.

“Honestly, I keep wondering.”

“About what?”

“Infinite Power. We toss the word around like it’s obvious. What counts as infinite? Steam? Electricity? Omega Ray and Neptune Energy aren’t inexhaustible either.”

“I... don’t know,” Ma Wei admitted plainly, honest as a bare blade.

Of course he doesn't; brute force is his trade, like a hammer that knows nails. Fine.

When the takeover’s done, I’ll ask their devs how they stabilize three energies in one blend, like braiding fire, wind, and water.

“My guess is—”

Yekase flipped her dagger, the tip resting against the glass door like a thorn on bark.

“Useless!” The leader still fought with his tongue. “The cockpit’s shielded by triple fields. Your mundane iron knife can’t scratch a Soul Power barrier—”

Crack.

The glass split with a spider’s web, like frost racing across a pane.

The Soul Power barrier shattered like a bell struck wrong.

“Eh—?!”

“My guess is, Infinite Power is infinite because each has a kind of will. Not animal mind, more a blurred intent—survival, mutual understanding, struggle—things like that.”

Boom!

The Mind Energy barrier shattered like a clay jar on stone.

“In my research, I often feel that strange tug, like a tide under the skin. So I’m certain Flash Energy is an Infinite Power too. The intent it’s screaming at me must be—”

Bzzz bzzz bzzz.

The Omega Ray barrier shattered like cicadas falling silent.

The door burst into sand-fine grit that crunched under Yekase’s sneakers like beach glass in moonlight.

‘The will to evolve.’ Sounds corny, like earth and sky telling old proverbs.

He couldn’t grasp it; his mind was a fortress with the drawbridge up.

The leader’s bodywork could stalemate Shen Shanshan and even counter, but Yekase’s pressure crushed that thought like a fallen stone into moss.

At this point, Ma Wei lost his last nerve and let Yekase rest the dagger, symbolic, on the leader’s neck like a shadow on snow.

“...I lost.”

The moment those three words left his lips, the countdown under [Triple Calamity VS Unrecognized Consortium X] projected on the moon halted like a heartbeat held.

The consortium war of absorption officially ended, like a curtain falling.

The leader slumped into the co-pilot seat, stared at the neon night like a river of stars, and sighed. “I built from nothing, and now I return to nothing—defeated by a traitor and an outsider.”

Yekase neither agreed nor denied; her silence was a still lake.

Being a Mechbreaker was handy; no ties to any consortium, and she could show up anywhere with a story. Her résumé of indiscriminate raids did the talking like wolves’ tracks in snow.

“Tell your consortium’s chief to treat my men well. They’re capable.”

“I don’t know her.”

“...I see.”

His last probe blurred and fell, like a candle guttering.

Yekase checked for loose ends, then looked for a quiet corner to shed her disguise and head home, like a fox returning to the hills.

Before leaving the cockpit, she paused as if remembering something, and said:

“The robot’s good.”

“...”

“Mixing three Infinite Powers into one stable, efficient core—probably unique in the industry. Turning a base into a mech is genius, but it limits hardpoints. That’s your future trade-off—technical angle.”

“Any other angle?” Ma Wei asked, still bristling like a pine in wind.

“Yeah, the important one. From Iron Cavalry mode to Fortress mode, I can feel how much sweat and tears you poured into it. Maybe Flash Energy’s softened me.”

Yekase scratched her neck, a little embarrassed, like a cat caught purring.

“Thanks to your dev team’s effort, I got to see something beautiful.”

Her gaze met Ma Wei’s through the mask, like stars crossing.

“And thank you, Mr. Ma Wei. You’re the rightful pilot of the Prismatic War Chariot.”

She waved farewell and headed out of the bay like a bird lifting from rail.

Ling Yi had been swatted away to draw Ma Wei’s attention, buried in the collapsed high-rise like a seed under rubble. I’ll have to dig her out later...

“Will we meet again?”

Ma Wei suddenly called out, voice carrying like a bell in mist.

“As long as you keep piloting, we will. In a gentler way. I still prefer making to breaking.”

Her silhouette vanished like mist in sunlight.

For one last flourish, Yekase didn’t climb the safety ladder. She jumped off the platform by the cockpit, into the night like a petal caught by gravity.

“[Tian—”

—Wait.

Hold on, something slipped like a bead off a string.

“—yu].”

...Nothing happened; the air was a blank page.

Ah. Of course.

Her Sorcery reserves had been devoured by that ultimate-boost [Levitation Spell], like a fire drinking dry a well.

“Uh...?”

In other words, her blue bar was flatlined, a lake bed cracked dry.

All 3.25 seconds of [Phase Shift] were spent, gone like sparks in rain.

The [Inventory]... didn’t include a parachute. I didn’t plan for a high drop, like forgetting an umbrella in a storm.

Ab-so-lute-ly doomed.

“...I’m cooked!”

So my infamous end is falling to my death... after jumping myself, like a fool chasing echoes...

Call it suicide from guilt?

“Ling Yi, save me!”

No chance; even awake she couldn’t cross that gap in time. Yekase watched the concrete rush up like a gray tide, closed her eyes, and hugged her head—

“—?!”

At the last instant, the impact wasn’t pain and stone. Kinetic bite vanished, and she felt someone cradle her like catching a falling leaf in warm hands.

It felt like being caught by a gust of wind, soft and sure...

Wind?

Yekase opened her eyes slowly, like dawn lifting.

Shoulder plates striped with bright green, a helmet in the old style, a black visor like a night sea.

Flashblade System “Gale.”

“...Bailu?”

“I’m here.”

Yekase let out a long breath, like steam easing from a kettle.

Her nerves, tight since entering the base, loosened like a bow unstrung, and sleep rushed in like dark velvet.

“I’ll... nap a bit.”

“Good night, Doctor. As usual, I’ll brew coffee at 6:40 and set it on your desk.”

“...”

The breathing in her arms turned soft and even, like a cat settling.

She fell asleep mid-sentence, words trailing like silk.

It was Jiang Bailu’s first time piloting single-soldier armor herself, wobbling through a sky sewn with a thousand lights like fireflies.

Roze had cleared the main gate before Fortress mode, then was safely recovered by consortium fighters; as for Shen Shanshan, she helped a lot, but Bailu didn’t like her, so she didn’t meet in the rubble.

We won. The absorption war’s ours, like a banner planted on a hill.

Next comes taking their assets and post-disaster rebuild, like harvesting after storm.

None of that’s the R&D department’s burden; our field is different earth.

Bailu had a lot to tell Yekase after the fight—what counts as malice for Flash Energy, Roze’s deep learning status, Gale’s repair progress. But feeling that warmth against her chest, it all felt less urgent, like snow melting in sun.

“Cough—cough! Let... her go!”

Ling Yi crawled from the wreckage, saw a stranger in armor like hers carrying the Doctor skimming low, and forced herself up, blocking the path despite the pain like a sapling in wind.

“...”

Bailu hovered, silent, like a hawk on a thermal.

“That armor... another attribute of the Flashblade, right? So you’re from... the group that imprisoned the Doctor.”

The group that imprisoned the Doctor?

Oh. So that’s the story they told her, a thread spun for comfort.

Kagari and Ling Yi were battered, while Gale was unscathed, even cradling someone. Gale’s ranged fire made that a non-issue, like rain from clear sky. The outcome of this encore fight was obvious.

Yet Ling Yi refused to move. Her Sky Striker stood upright, blade a line in the night like a reed flute.

The Doctor said this girl wanted to be a hero. Do I teach her here—like a tutor with a ruler?

Bailu’s floating cannons lifted off her back, drifted to her shoulders, their muzzles gathering emerald light like dew beading on leaves before dawn.

Ling Yi still didn’t yield; her eyes were lanterns.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll really shoot? Or you trust you can dodge absolutely?” Bailu asked, voice low, like thunder far off.

“I saw from under the rubble... when the Doctor fell, you flew and caught her.”

“...Because the organization wants her alive.”

“The Doctor told me—anyone who can start the Flashblade System is someone with no malice in their heart!”

“I’ll tell you why!”

Bailu’s voice rose, like scolding a stubborn child she cared for, heat under iron.

“Because before your Doctor extracted the first batch of Flash Energy and invented all this—the moment those energies condensed, they were shaped by her feelings. That silly rule is her own subconscious, stamped onto them like a seal in wet clay!”