This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

SHADE

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From his perspective, Shade didn\'t think that he\'d be working with a literal Goddess. Granted, he never truly believed all that nonsense back when he first landed in Kattleyna years ago, but he supposed that some of the customs were starting to rub off on him.

It also didn\'t help that he had to at least know enough about the [Eld] and the like if he wanted to be accepted by the beautiful women he would like to thoroughly respect.

"So I just load the cannonball in and light this fuse thing?"

"That\'s the gist of it, my pri-Shizu," Shade nodded, stopping himself from addressing the princess with the proper tone to use her actual nickname. "From there, it\'s all a matter of aiming and hoping it actually lands."

"That\'s pretty cool... even for Vestygian technology..." Shizu wondered aloud, her excitement at being shot at and fighting back feeling rather weird for his survival instincts. "Time to let loose some cannonballs then!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Shade decided that he should do his part as well. Seeing as they were both more than strong enough to handle their own cannons, they settled on operating their own cannons, which meant that they had to load them all by hand themselves before firing.

Which, now that he thought about it, was probably the slowest way they could do it.

"Fire!"

[*BOOM!*]

Barely managing to cover his ears, Shade almost jumped at Shizu\'s sudden attack. The princess was laughing hard as the cannon in front of her smoked with ordinance, Vestygian technology doing its best to hopefully sink its creators.

"Shizu, you should at least-"

"This... is... awesome!"

And there she went... He had known the princess long enough to know that she could be such a child when it came to fighting. He didn\'t really know how or why the once small princess suddenly came back looking like her mother, but he just knew that Lady Guidance and Moriya had something to do with it.

Nevertheless, those questions could wait. They\'ve already promised to answer them, after all.

[*"What\'s our situation out there?!"*]

"Oh? So Moriya finally found the button for it then..."

Craning his neck, Shade aimed his sights at the communication device mounted to the side of the weapons room. A piece of Marquean technology, of course, with its pale blue lines denoting the use of circuitry that those eggheads were so fond of. Truly, there was nothing more firm than the three truths of this world: Kattleynan obsession with mysticism, Vestygian love for order, and Marquean love for all things complicated.

"What was that?! Was that Moriya?!"

"Yes," Shade nodded, loading his own cannon before letting out an attack of his own.

[*BOOM!*]

"So he can talk to us even if we\'re far apart, huh," Shizu wondered aloud. "That\'s... not what the Empire uses though?"

[*"That\'s Maruki, at least... Shade?! Shizu?! Shen?!"*]

"No. No, it isn\'t," Shade chuckled. "That\'s Marquean technology, the same as those found on the bridge."

[*BOOM! BOOM!*]

"Damn!"

Moving quickly, Shade moved to embrace Shizu, shielding her from most of the shockwaves as explosions rang above them. It would seem that Maruki was starting to slip with his defense if one of the cannonballs actually made contact.

[*"Shen?!"*]

He grimaced as he heard their so-called mechanic\'s name. While he conceded that the girl had a [Manifest] suited for her job, he didn\'t think she was ready to join them on their voyage. And even then, he wouldn\'t really want someone so young risking her life to do a man\'s job.

[*"You\'re alright then..."*]

"He\'s talking to the others then?" Shizu asked beneath him.

"The device only works in one direction for those that aren\'t on the bridge," Shade explained. "He can hear all of us, but we can only hear him talking to the others."

"That\'s useful," she chuckled. "Also, can you get off me?"

At that, Shade instinctively switched to his cool voice as he smoothly got up, "Of course, Shizu."

Helping her up, he quickly dusted himself off before turning his attention to the speaker. He needed to at least tell him that they were doing fine and that there was something that he could do to actually start hitting their enemies.

"Moriya, can you hear me?!" Shade called out towards the device. "If you look at your console, there should be something that would engage the [Rig]\'s inherent defense systems."

"There\'s more stuff this thing can do?!"

"Make sure to at least be ready for the change in controls once you do it, however," Shade continued, ignoring the way that Shizu was hugging her back in an effort to talk into the device. "If I recall correctly, once you switch to battle mode, the [Rig] will turn into a veritable fortress."

"What?! That\'s so cool! So-"

"Yeah, that\'s that," he quickly cut Shizu off. "We\'re going to keep firing at the enemy for now. But keep in mind that these things aren\'t really the best when it comes to defending ourselves."

[*"Go ahead and do your thing, Shen,"*] Moriya chuckled, addressing Shen on one line before he continued. [*"And as for you, Shade and Shizu, I found the button. Get ready for some assistance on my end."*]

"Hope you\'re ready," Shade scoffed.

Turning around, Shizu\'s disheveled form quickly made him turn away as he covered his eyes. "S-Shizu, you\'re chest is showing."

"What?" the princess curiously asked, her tone slowly coming down from her usual excitement as the realization slowly dawned on her. "O-oh..."

"Please cover yourself up," he politely added. "The enemy\'s still firing, and we have to-"

[*VVRRROOOOOOMMMM!!!!*]

"Well, here we go, I guess."

"What\'s happening?"

Shade almost let out a chuckled as the [Rig] shuddered around them, the very hull groaning in protest as the engine below roared harder than it ever had before.

"We\'re about to have a good time," he smirked. "The [Rig]\'s switching modes as we speak, and we\'ll have more tools to use to destroy our enemies."

"Ooh!"

He let out a laugh as the princess let out her excitement in spades. The view he was getting from her was amazing when it lasted, but it was time to get serious.

"Let\'s get ready to board the enemy [RIg]," he grinned. "It\'s only a matter of time now."

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