Marcus, high above Paris, looked at Ecne, who had just arrived.
Those red projectors that are used instead of thrusters look utterly amazing. The red energy of Geass is a very viable alternative for Ion Technology.
Not that he completely ditched Ion Tech, as it's potent stealth tech. In fact, mixing Geass with Ion Tech is the way forward, as he is now invisible to both regular radar and heat vision.
Making it truly an alien tech.
As the Inventor pondered, the mech's hands moved and offered to walk over from Tiranis to Ecne.
"Tiranis, return to the Flagship. Once this is over, we shall return to space."
[Understood, sir.]
The mech acknowledged its orders.
Once he was in the cockpit of the Geass Mobile suit, the holograms came to life. The next generation of the Cockpit was a sight to behold for the Prince as he felt that he was in a true spaceship that he could control with his mind.
"Shall we go, Ecne?"
[Always ready, My Prince.]
The female AI confirmed that it was ready to go.
"Good."
With that said, the Geass interface popped up on his HUD as he selected population scan.
The percentage of energy charging began as Ecne began to descend; meanwhile, Tiranis rushed upwards to leave the planet.
Marcus looked down at the city as he selected the range of the scan.
'As far as I recall, there are ghettos where Japanese stay.'
The Prince checked the map of those.
Once he located it, he flew over to be right above it.
~~~
'Shit-Shit-Shit-Shit-Shit!!!' Ryo knew what kind of machine that thing was, which all of a sudden got in the way of his plan to kidnap Gene Smilas.
That thing was the nightmare-inducing Mobile Suit of Anaheim. The soldiers of the EU said that if they are unlucky enough to see one of those things, they will have horror dreams for the rest of their lives, as facing one of these things is impossible. You either live because of the pilot's fancy and suffer nightmares for the rest of your life, or you die.
It would seem he will be in the third category… and that is he escaped with his life, but he started to feel dread as that machine isn't gone!
"Yukiya, we need to get the fuck out of here," Ryo said to the younger teenager.
"...What about Ayano?" The brown haired bomb expert asked his friend.
"Haven't you seen what that thing was!"
"One of Anaheim's toys?" Yukiya replied, not really aware of how dreadful those things were.
"Toys!? Those things are nightmare-inducing! You either die or suffer for life." Ryo explained with a sweaty forehead.
"You shouldn't listen to ex-soldiers and their weird stories," Yukiya replied, almost eye rolling at the older teenager.
"You haven't seen what I have seen." The taller, older teen exclaimed in frustration. He saw what happened to soldiers who survived the encounter with Anaheim's special mobile suits.
No weapons work on them, bullets, explosives…nothing and on top of that, the sheer explosive power that can erase Knightmares with a casual blast from their rifles.
The most advanced EU machines make soldiers feel naked and something akin to bringing a stick to a gun fight.
There is no escape or no hope; the only thing one could dream of is the hope that the pilot of these alien freaks is bored and will leave the soldier alive.
"So you are—" Yukiya stopped as his mouth opened. As he gazed into the distance. Ryo, seeing that expression, stopped and turned around.
High above the alley, there was a machine with a red halo and red wings; it was a white-and-red mobile suit, with spread hands, silently floating like a deity looking down on the entire city.
"...T-The devil… T-This is the thing that ended the war in India in a single day. This thing brought the entire nation to its knees in mere hours! W-What is it doing here!?!" Panic began to settle in.
The rumours about this thing have reached the EU in a matter of hours after the capitulation of India. The stories of soldiers committing suicide, or turning on their superiors in a matter of minutes, entire garrisons would cease to exist! The men would rather kill each other than face this thing!
That is why they named this machine the Devil. The red colour even adds to the case that this machine was a nightmare given physical form.
"...Ryo…it's looking at us!" Yukiya
"Shit…fuck! I knew that Anaheim would come back! You either die or they let you live! This is no other way with these freaks!"
As he complained, red rings appeared around their pupils, and they stopped talking; instead, they simply stared at the machine that flew over and landed before them.
Ecne then picked them up and flew away, back to the waiting warship in the Atlantic Ocean.
~~~
"T-They are here!?" Ayano swiftly got out of the simulation sphere as she was about to dash there, but Anna stopped her.
"Relax, we don't know if your friends will be hostile."
"They are my friends!"
"Your friends, not ours. Anaheim has more than a handful of enemies and people who are afraid of us.
Relax and let's approach this without rushing." The pinkette explained with a small smile. She knows this well enough. After all, she was at the receiving end. She was more than terrified of Marcus and his machine.
"...Fine." Ayano slowly nodded. She looked down and recalled that she was wearing a purple-and-black uniform of Marcus' retinue; she was, in the most literal sense, now part of Anaheim.
'Considering how Ryo is around anything Anaheim… Yes, I should not rush it.' the girl sighed. She envisioned this far better in her mind.
The pair walked over and saw that Marcus was emerging from a different Mobile Suit.
"Ecne. It makes sense if he wants to locate people." Anna understood why this peculiar machine was used.
'Though… I hope Paris is not in a state of panic. This machine has a certain amount of notoriety.'
A machine that can force people to kill each other? Or wield light that affects the state of mind, among other things.
It's the most supernatural asset in Anaheim's inventory.
"Why?"
"You don't follow the news, do you?" Anna asked with a strained smile.
"Not my thing." The sword-wielding girl shook her head in denial.
"This is Ecne; it wields energy that can affect people's minds. In India, Marcus forced soldiers to kill each other.
He conquered the whole nation in a day."
Now that made Ayano a bit spooked.
"...You are not joking, are you?"
To that question, Anna simply looked at the black haired girl.
"No reason to lie, Ayano, you will see all this by yourself. Besides, you can see that your friends are quite passive."
Now that she commented on that, the girl looked at them!
"A-Are they okay!?" She was about to walk there, but Anna stopped her.
"Relax, once the energy runs its course, they will snap out." The nerdy girl explained to the concerned Ayano.
"...okay."
The pair slowly walked over as the soldiers took her two friends away.
By this point, Ecne walked over and docketed in a specially prepared holding place. This thing keeps the machines in place in case of an attack on the warship.
All of the carriers and hangars have these.
In KK unit cases, there are special holds that drain excess energy generated by Fusion Reactors. In other words, at the moment, the support vessel they were on has two sets of Fusion Reactors it can tap into.
Some of the functions can be overcloaked for extra damage.
Not that anyone except Anaheim's navy knows that little secret. Having the KK unit onboard is like having an energy boost.
"Nicely done, Marcus." Anna smiled at him as she walked over. The Prince was looking at his KK-Unit deeply in thought.
"Hmm? Oh, Anna." He smiled back at her the moment he saw her.
"Is there something on your mind?" She asked him after noticing his pondering look.
"Just some ideas for Gundams." He replied before taking her hand.
"I see. How is the project coming along?" She asked him. The next generation of their most powerful machines is a big deal. KK-units were the ones who created the Faction. These machines are the bedrock and the face of the faction.
They are so notorious that they have nicknames like the Winged One, Angel, Beast, and Devil. Even Cornelia's mech has a nickname; even though everyone on the planet knows this mech is piloted by Cornelia, they still call it the Caped One.
One could say that Marcus's dream to make them symbols of absolute power has been achieved.
"The reactor still needs some work before we can properly minimise it. The 'bones' have already been tested, the cockpit is already in use in Ecne, and the OS has been tested by Sub-Legion systems.
The only things that we are at the drawing board are the thruster systems and extra combat support systems that we are considering."
"...what kind of systems are you thinking?" Anna frowned a bit. This was a bit odd for her because Marcus is working with Lloyd and Cecile on this.
Three top developers are still at such early stages after weeks of working on it?
"Well…" he smiled at her before looking at Ecne. "Variations of Geass systems. I already heard how C.C. is complaining about using outwards, so why not create something like a self-hypnosis system that could boost performance?
After all, we are talking about brainwaves. If we train people's minds at such a fundamental level, it would improve their chances of a breakthrough.
Achieving higher levels of thought, one step closer to the next stage of humanity."
"...I remember you were talking about this." Anna nodded before asking about the other thing.
"And thrusters? Is Ion Technology not good enough?" She asked with a strained smile.
"Ion technology is still used by Gundams, but not as Thrusters because for thrusters I am thinking to use the same technology utilised in Ecne."
Her eyes widened as she saw the red energy, the bird-shaped wings and the halo.
"Wait… is it better than Ion thrusters?"
"Yes, far more versatile and can be used offensively and defensively. On top of that, it will be able to mix with graviton technology… in theory."
"...if you can add all that in next generation… the leap would be as similar as jumping from tanks to seven generation Knightmares." The girl commented as she could only imagine how much damage even one of these Gundams could do.
Gravity offensive utilisation alone could change the field of war. But what she saw from Ecne's Geass powers…
"More than that. Tanks can still land a lucky shot and blow up a Knightmare. The armour utilisation hasn't changed since Glasgow. It's still the same good ol' Tungsten." Marcus joked as he recalled that little fact.
Unlike them, he continues testing new versions of armour creation for his mobile suits—new combinations at the atomic level.
As the pair were talking, all of a sudden, they began flirting, which made Ayano deadpan.
"Ahem." The girl coughed into her fist to get their attention.
All of a sudden, they stopped and looked at her.
"Right, we should go check on them," Marcus remembered that he got some new people. He then spoke to his AI.
"Legion, tell the captain to set course for Constantinople. We are going back to my city. Tell the rest of my private force to join me there."
[As you wish, sir.]
"What are we doing here?" Anna asked him.
"I am going to continue my work there, while I wait for the armies to move on and prepare for the invasion of Africa.
The old continent is in shambles with Britannian retreat.
We are going to conquer it and prepare the site for a space elevator there."
"Ohhh! Right, I completely forgot about that!" The pinkette clapped her hands in excitement. "We already have the technology to build such a thing! Not only that, but even the rail system I designed would work." The nerdy girl was already giddy to see such a monolithic construct!
Only the new girl looked a bit cautious. Midway, realising that the pair of them were made for each other.
Excited over such things…all she wants is to get her sword back!