Youjo Senki: Falling is like Flying

VI

She looked out of place. The small, blonde girl at the table, surrounded by men twice her age. She was, admittedly, short for who she was, but some of the men were nearly one and a half times her height

And the looks that she was given... She shuddered to think.

Absently, the girl toyed with the black tie resting on her throat. She was by no means the forefront on fashion, evening having to get Viktoriya to do her tie for her.

She sighed, glancing at the clearly bored weather analyst who was reading off his information. He looked to be about Tanya's age, and she did not fail to notice how his attitude perked up when he saw her paying attention to him.

She scowled under her breath, hiding her face. Disgusting and disgraceful. She found herself running a finger across the bullet scar in her left shoulder, where Viktoriya's bullet hit her after her encounter with a mage wielding a trench gun.

She remembered him from somewhere, just not where.

"Miss Degurechaff. Your opinion?"

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The blonde girl stood on the small stage, overlooking the mages, standing in formation in front of the flag she called her own.

Captain Mary Sue looked over her men, those united under the flag of the Unified States. The mage abruptly turned, marching toward their transports, in their own wings.

She had seen the reports. The Reich, once the Empire, was preparing for war. The François republic, a puppet, had played a bad hand, and this was the result.

"Another war.." Was what escaped her mouth, the General beside her glancing over.

"It seems inevitable at this point, does it not? The United Kingdom of Albion may support the François... well, pardon my bluntness, the François have majorly miscalculated." Mary shrugged.

"May I speak with you in private?"

"Hmm? Oh, of course General." Mary departed the stage, walking into her office, closing the door behind the General.

"We've had news of your father. A diving team from the United Kingdom of Albion went to the wreck site, recovered a few bodies and a rifle.."

Mary froze, tears welling. "A-a... really? You found.. Papa.."

"Yes.. we found Colonel Sue's body.. the rifle in him seemed to have been channeling magic.. his body and the rifle is almost perfectly preserved."

".. He was killed by a member of the Devil Of The Rhine's air wing..."

"It appears that way."

"And what of his present.. the submachine gun..."

"We believe the prototype was looted from his corpse before he fell into the sea.. perhaps the rifle became stuck.."

Mary clenched her fists. "They couldn't just settle for killing him, could they!? No! They had to loot him!" She was acutely aware of the tears falling down her cheeks and the dryness of her throat from screaming.

Her adjutant glanced inside the room, then looked away, shaking her head. This was going to be a long day...

The general was grim faced, but bade farewell and left, leaving a resolve in Mary Sue's heart. She was going to kill the person who slew her father.

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In the realm of the Gods, God himself gazed down upon the girl blessed by 3 miracles.

"Fate will bring you and Tanya Von Degurechaff together. The question is.. will you be able to kill her."

——————————

'Curse you Being X!' Tanya screamed in her mind as she exploded, her mana glowing in a protective screen as she fell.

The parachute billowed and inflated, slowing her fall to a gentle drop. Viktoriya's orb glowed brightly, propelling the brunette over to the unconscious blonde, catching Tanya over the river that she would have fallen into.

Tanya had been testing a new Jewel the Elinium Type 103, another creation of the mad Doctor Schugel. Obviously he thought that the Quadruple cores of the type 95 weren't enough, so he made the Type 103.

With 8 cores.

Tanya could barely hold the thing together. It was heavy, had 448 times the chance of failure compared to a single cored Jewel. And that was just with the risk of desynchronisation. If you included part failure...

Viktoriya touched down on the testing grounds, high in the Alps, her breath leaving her body as smoke. Tanya was removed from her and taken to the stations medical facility, after having gingerly removed the bomb that was the Type 103 from Tanya's unconscious form.

Viktoriya looked over at Dr. Schugel, a slight scowl on her face, sufficient enough to keep him quiet. She took this as her cue to leave, slipping away, into the shadows.