“Wha...?”
Takamaru Ijuin opened his eyes in an unfamiliar room. It seemed to be an infirmary, wherever it was, and there were several other beds besides his own. Bottles and jars of medical supplies filled the cabinets.
Ijuin struggled to dispel the fog in his mind. “How...did I get here?”
He glanced around from his bed. His clothes had been replaced with a beige patient gown. In the beds directly next to his, he recognized Executive Officer Jurota Shiba and the officer from Fukuoka, Kiriko Kaji. They were still fast asleep.
He pulled himself up and stumbled over to the window. “The ocean?!”
Blue stretched out in every direction. They were on a boat, and a fast one by the looks of it. What in the world had happened?
“Ah, you’re up. I’m on my way.”
Ijuin jumped at the sudden commlink. He’d heard that voice somewhere. But he didn’t recall accepting any connection with her.
Did she do something to us in our sleep? he wondered.
He remembered now. They had been on the sidelines, backing up the Asura Frames, when she’d appeared out of nowhere...
“I’ll accept my thanks later,” she had said. “For now, let’s keep this brief. I’m here to rescue you, so don’t resist and try not to be a restless sleeper while I’m carrying you. Thank you, good night.”
“And then she slapped us with sleeping gas!”
The most he knew was that it had been a girl. He hadn’t seen her face beneath that metallic blue armor. It wasn’t hard to identify the variety of Exo-Frame it had been, though, based on the buttery smooth landing. Flight powered by anti-gravity lifters was easy to spot. And then she’d pointed her finger at Ijuin and the others and blasted them with smoke, knocking everyone out cold.
“It had to be the Mark V! Meaning that chick must be with the Chinese military.”
“‘That chick’ has a name.” The door to the infirmary opened and in came a girl speaking fluent Japanese. Ijuin whipped around and nearly flinched at her dainty beauty and flowing black hair which waved behind her as she came right up to him. “That’s Zhou Xueli to you. Allow me to explain your situation so you know what you’ll be thanking me for.”
“S-Situation?” Ijuin stuttered, stunned by her looks. “What situation?”
She looked older than him, and the leather military jacket she wore was awfully intimidating, but beneath it she only had on a pink hoodie and black tights.
“I noticed a bit of a crisis unfolding in Kyushu during a rare break in my exceedingly busy schedule,” Xueli gloated. “So I came running. And who do I find but a trio of potential victims of a deadly meteor collision in need of rescuing? Which I did, by the way. This makes me, Zhou Xueli, your savior.”
“Okay?” Ijuin recoiled. “Wait, we almost died?!”
“Very much so, yes. Now if you’d be so kind as to express your gratitude with more than words, I have an idea.” Xueli stood straight and tall. “I’m looking for valuable personnel, you see, and it can only be fate that I’ve come upon not one but two individuals gifted with nano-augmentations! Join me! You’ll be most welcome as members of my support staff!”
“Uh, no? Can you take us back to Japan, please?!”
“Japan? The country formerly known as Japan collapsed months ago, and we’re already well on our way to Shanghai. Give it some thought, won’t you? It’s not a bad offer.”
“You literally kidnapped us!”
The ship they were on was apparently a Chinese destroyer, but as far as Ijuin was concerned, the only thing being destroyed was his sanity.
✦ ✦ ✦
Castle Whirlwind, the keep of Quldald of the Whirlwind—Chosen Dharva, master of the wind, and handsome general of otherworldly armies. He stood in his chamber among the flickering flames of numerous candles, a white mask in hand. It was a simple piece, unadorned except for two drawn-on eyes.
The archmage put it on and uttered a single word: “Armorize.”
His white robes at once began to change. Brass-colored armor covered him from head to toe, but this suit wasn’t made of traditional plates. It fit the wearer’s form snugly, more like metal-coated clothing than anything else.
In fact, it greatly resembled the Asura Frames worn by the heroes of Earth.
Quldald wanted to replicate that very aegis. And so he had commissioned the fae blacksmiths to do just that, integrating all manner of rare charms and artifacts into the design. Again, much in the same way the Asuras had been created.
Yet the result was strangely aberrant.
“Perfect,” Quldald moaned. He chuckled, admiring himself in the mirror.
The white mask concealing his face was unchanged, but it was interposed by two smaller, entirely new masks where his ears would be. Two burly, metallic arms extended from each shoulder, and two more thinner arms had grown from either flank, all freely motile. He put all six of his hands together to form a mudra sign in front of his gut.
It was the very image of the legendary, three-headed, six-armed Buddha.
“Devicers of Earth. Now I, too, have become one with vajra. The time of our climax is nigh!”
The true purpose of sending the stars down had been to buy time for this very creation. And now that it was complete, Quldald regarded his new godhood with delight.