“Such determination. As I expected of you.”
“Enough formality. Let’s finish this!” Cecilia sprung forth as forcefully as she yelled, striking gracefully, beautifully, but more than anything forcefully. With a loud clang, their swords met—and Chelsea’s was cut through. “Third!”
Even though Chelsea was disarmed, Cecilia pressed the attack. She knew what was next. She couldn’t not know. Chelsea was like a sister to her—as far back as she could remember, they’d learned together, trained together. And in this situation, there would be only one response.
“......!”
Chelsea grabbed her own broken blade from midair and, ignoring the blood welling up from her hand as she gripped it, thrust toward Cecilia’s eyes. And those eyes, burning blue, turned toward it. Firmly. Fearlessly. Unflinchingly. As if there were only two things in the world. The blade. And Chelsea beyond it.
“.........”
The duel was over. Chelsea’s blade stopped, a hair’s breadth from Cecilia’s eyes. Cecilia’s, a hair’s breadth from Chelsea’s jugular.
“A draw, then.” Cecilia cast away her weapon. Realizing that the battle was over, Ichika hurried to wrap his coat around Cecilia. “Thank you, Ichika.”
“I, uh, I mean I kind of had to,” Ichika spoke nervously, knowing he’d seen something he wasn’t meant to. Cecilia looked at him bemusedly. And Chelsea, watching the glow between them, closed her eyes.
“Welcome back, Mistress.”
Cecilia nodded in satisfaction.
“I’m home, Chelsea.”
The duel between master and servant had concluded.
✦ ✦ ✦
A helicopter from the RAF’s IS special forces squadron carried them to their destination in the Highlands.
“Let’s go over the operation again.” Chifuyu’s voice came over the radio. “Orimura. Shinonono. Huang. Bodewig. You’re to ascend to orbit using the graviton catapult and make contact with Excalibur. I’ll be blunt. You’re decoys. Your job is to draw the attention of the defenders while Alcott makes a long-range sniping attack from the surface using a BT particle accelerator. The success of the operation rests in her hands.”
Ichika waved to Cecilia across the aisle to reassure her and said, “Don’t worry. We’re all in this together. It’ll be fine.”
“Ichika...”
A projection display opened between them, as if to interrupt.
“This is your target.” A sword, floating in space. Its 15-meter length focused sunlight before unleashing it on the Earth. More images showed its blade splitting, and a field forming between its prongs like a lens.
“This is...”
‘Like an IS’ sprang to mind.
Chifuyu, noticing the realization, turned to Chelsea.
“Chelsea Blankett. Fill them in.”
“If I may. Officially, the Excalibur is a top-secret bombardment satellite built by the US and England. In reality, it’s an IS fused with a human being.” The cadets weren’t sure how far they should trust her. “You might ask how I know this. The answer is, my little sister Exia Caliburn is its pilot... No, its core,” Chelsea intoned solemnly.
Cecilia was shocked. “Chelsea, you have a little sister?! You never—”
“Had. She’d been completely erased from government records. And I searched for her, for so, so long...”
The cadets gasped in shock. It was impossible to even imagine what Chelsea must have felt when she found out.
“Wait. Excalibur was under Phantom Task control when it attacked Japan. So why are you helping destroy it?” There was that one unanswered question, and Cecilia was sharp enough to bring it up.
“It’s gone out of control. Maybe she awakened. Maybe there was another reason. I don’t know. But now, Excalibur has left its orbit and is moving toward England. Its target is Buckingham Palace. There’s no time to lose.”
The royal family had already been evacuated, but the destruction of a national symbol would be sure to have a major societal impact. Therefore, it fell upon IS Academy to secretly recapture or destroy Excalibur. IS Academy, with the latest IS and no geopolitical entanglements. Not to mention, an insistence by Tabane that her own participation was tied to that of its cadets.
“I may have stolen the third Blue Tears unit and joined Phantom Task, but my country—and my sister—were always my highest priority.” Chelsea fell silent and closed her eyes. No one could possibly understand the depth of her self-loathing—except Cecilia.
“Chelsea, when this is all over...” She understood that the cryptic challenges had been to help her grow. She knew that Chelsea’s loyalty had been unwavering.
“I accept whatever punishment is chosen for me.”
“No... When this is over, Chelsea, I expect us to have tea. Understood?”
“Mistress... It would be an honor.”
Madoka, pilot of the stolen Silent Zephyrus and its upgraded form Kurokishi, watched with obvious boredom. Even more displeasing to her was being kept in a separate helicopter from Chifuyu.
“Tch. A fricking tea party? Are you serious?” Her voice practically dripped with venom. She opened her locket for a moment and stared inside before tucking it back under her blouse and glaring at Ichika. “We’ll settle this once and for all.”
Ichika, feeling her glare, replied softly, “Yes. We will.”
There would be no one there to stop them. No matter what Chifuyu thought. The hand of fate weighed upon them as they silently passed time until arrival.
“This is...” A forested mountain, far away from civilization. The only sign of human life, a gigantic structure which looked like an observatory.
“This is our BT particle accelerator. The air defense cannon ‘Afternoon Blue.’” Chifuyu alighted from another helicopter and met up with the group. She looked like she had something to say, but then changed her mind. After all, Madoka was there. No matter what was going through her mind, she had to stay composed. “All right! Take up your positions! Blue Tears units, sync with Afternoon Blue. Orbital detachment, get busy with final adjustments to your O.V.E.R.S. packages!”
The time to rise to the heavens had come. Strangely enough, to do battle with another IS.
“Outer space... Really, what’s going on with IS Academy?” It was an obvious question, and one which slowed Ichika as he started in on tuning. I have a bad feeling about this... I hope it’s just nerves. It was something he’d felt before, though. Not just fear... Premonition. Silently, he buried his head in preparations, trying to shake the feeling that was haunting him.