Parallel Vol. 6

Chapter 19: Awakening

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Taiga, stop it." Saeko nudged Taiga, who had doubled over from crazed laughter. She smiled embarrassedly at Seki and James, who glared at the laughing teen. Judging from the twitches at the corner of her lips, the young woman was suppressing an urge to laugh.

"Oh. See!? I told you guys..." Taiga wheezed, struggling to speak between bursts of laughter. "You shouldn't underestimate that crazy bastard!"

Seki frowned, recalling the technician's warning at the start of the test. Connecting to the supervisors, he asked, "What did Suzuki purchase?"

"Mato Suzuki bought a stock Infiltrator, a Rapid-Defense-Kit, a winged-suit module, and a basic sword for roughly 2.5 million and donated 10 million to the mission funds to purchase the daemon. Then, he bought two custom Berserkers with a tungsten glaive, twin electric-buzzsaw hoops and two Razorclip SMGs for 30 million with an extra 5 million for storage. Finally, he purchased a Grade 3 Neutron Bomb for 120 million. At Grade 3, the Neutron Bomb is similar to a small nuke, capable of wiping out a small town. We believe it is what was used to cause the recent explosion." The voice in Seki's ear paused and then said, "Apologies, Sir. We did not think they had the funds to purchase this level of weaponry."

"No. It is not your fault." Seki shook his head with a long sigh. "It was a calculated risk. We left it in the options for a reason. According to our analysis, they would use it to blow up Cassia, only to realize he could protect himself with his will shield. It's Suzuki who's weird. Why did he target the space station?"

James chuckled. "It makes sense that you can't understand his reasoning. There's a fundamental difference in reasoning between a regular human and that child." His smile widened as he observed the calamitous winds threatening to blow the trainees off their feet. "You all see this as a training mission, but to Suzuki, the second he received the mission, he was trying to save the earth from invading aliens. He will do anything to accomplish that task, no matter the cost.."

"Essentially, you got beat by a dedicated roleplayer," teased Taiga as he smirked at Seki. "You never should have called this a mission. You're dealing with a madman who goes as far as creating new personalities to deepen roleplay. Did you think he would play by your rules? While the rest of us focused on defeating Cassia, he instead was thinking about how to reduce the alien threat as much as possible. He would have blown the entire thing to hell and back if not for the station's defences."

Seki's eyelids twitched as he adjusted his glasses. "Are you having fun calling someone else a madman for once?"

"Wow." Taiga grabbed Saeko's hand and placed it on his chest. "Feel that, Saeko? My heart's hurt. My middle-aged handler's getting cynical and mean with age." Chuckling as Saeko yanked away her hand, he added, "Just don't forget our bet, Seki-tan."

Noticing Seki's flaming eyes, James came to his old friend's rescue. "Don't be too confident, Taiga. Suzuki may have gotten rid of the Decanus mechs, but he still needs to kill the ace pilot. I shouldn't have to tell you that is impossible for the current him, right?"

Taiga's smile froze. "Yeah." His gaze turned solemn as he looked at the screen. "But only the current him."

***

Huuu~

Violent winds gradually subsided over the flooded compound, clearing smoke and ash that temporarily covered the base. As the tempest ebbed, drones picked up a massive crater where the elevator once stood. Without its foundation, the elevator was beyond repair. The aliens would have to build a brand new set before they could resume operations. While not exactly what he intended, Suzuki's bomb altered the face of the war for the near future.