Crack—
Accompanied by the sound of a shattered dome and a shower of debris from above, hundreds of Angeloids led by Ikaros descended from the sky.
"Master, orders received. Commencing enemy purge."
Before the soldiers below could even recover from their shock, the Angeloids unleashed a barrage of attacks from above.
High-energy beams rained down, vaporizing every unlucky target they struck in an instant.
"Enemy attack!! Alarm!! Enemy attack!!!"
The search teams scrambled to raise their weapons and fire back, but their solid ammunition had no effect on the Angeloids.
Cover was useless as well. Even their few heavy weapons could only make small ripples against the angels' portable shields.
"Angels!!! They're angels!!!"
Panicked soldiers reported the incomprehensible situation to their superiors.
"Angels? What do you mean? Weren't they called dragons?!"
"Have you seen any flying dragons?…"
The officer was about to ask more questions when the communication line suddenly went dead.
At the very moment the invasion began, the universal electronic warfare angel—Nymph—had paralyzed all planetary communication systems.
Every city instantly fell into chaos.
The Angeloids finished their battle against the natives in no time.
Within less than a minute, Ikaros had completely purged all nearby hostiles.
"Southwest, 3.2 kilometers—retrieval target detected."
"Astraea, retrieve 02. The rest, disperse."
A stream of data flickered across Ikaros' crimson eyes as she issued her orders.
Astraea scooped up the trembling 02, who had curled into a terrified ball, and took flight toward the ship.
The other Angeloids divided into smaller teams, spreading their wings and flying off to distant locations.
...
Inside the "Birdcage."
A Western-style house stood quietly within a walled dome.
This was the place where FRANXX mech pilots were raised.
Children lived freely here as they grew up, their days filled with training and daily physical checkups—but they were never permitted to leave.
Day after day, they lived the same monotonous lives.
"When will we finally get to pilot a FRANXX…"
By the lakeside, a little girl with short blue hair lay lazily on the grass, gazing up at the sky.
All she could see above was a framework of glass panels and metal beams.
They were like caged birds—trapped within this artificial world.
"I really want to see the outside world…"
Miku let out a soft sigh.
"The adults don't allow it. They say the outside is dangerous, full of Klaxosaurs."
Beside her, a brown twin-tailed girl answered quietly.
"Maybe when we grow a little older, they'll let us out."
"...Grow older?"
Miku reached a hand toward the sky, as if trying to grasp the sun.
As the oldest among the children, she had long begun to ponder certain questions—
What existed outside the Birdcage?
Who were the adults really?
Why did they have to live the same life, repeating endlessly day after day?
But there were no answers.
From childhood, their education had always been that the Klaxosaurs had destroyed humanity's homes.
Only they—the children—could pilot FRANXX mechs to fight the Klaxosaurs and protect mankind.
"It's strange… why have we never seen the adults' faces?"
Miku recalled that in the few times they had met the beings known as "Papa," the adults were always masked and cloaked like clergy.
Their faces were hidden, their voices cold. No one even knew if "Papa" was male or female.
"Thinking too much won't help. Tonight the adults are giving rewards to the best performers—you'll definitely get one, Miku."
"Have you thought about what you want?"
The twin-tailed girl laughed cheerfully.
"Rewards, huh?... I want to go outside and see the world. But that's impossible, isn't it?"
Miku shook her head, a bitter smile on her lips.
"No… Papa would never allow it…"
Suddenly—
As she gazed absentmindedly up at the glass dome—
Whoosh—
Several dark shadows flashed past above her, so fast she couldn't even see what they were.
She could only vaguely make out that the shapes seemed like some kind of winged creatures.
Then—
Zzzzt—
Boom boom boom boom boom—
"Target located. Commencing purge."
Following the AI's emotionless announcement, the Angeloids launched a full-scale assault on Plantation 13.
They descended from the sky like Valkyries, swift and precise, shattering the city's defenses in moments.
The "Birdcage" facility that raised FRANXX pilots was supposed to be the second most secure location in the entire city—only the research center was more protected.
The guards stationed here had no idea what was happening.
Their daily duties consisted mostly of catching runaway children and maintaining basic order. They never had to fight Klaxosaurs, and the children themselves posed no threat, making their jobs quite easy.
But against a spacefaring civilization's planetary assault, they had no psychological preparation whatsoever.
Within the first moments of engagement, they were crushed by overwhelming firepower.
Boom—Zzzzt—
From high above, the Angeloids conducted airstrikes against the ground below.
Beams of high-energy light, electric arcs, and plasma weapons streaked across the sky like a rainbow, pouring destruction upon the earth.
Even those hiding in the deepest underground bunkers were annihilated by corrosive missiles that left not even ash behind.
"Ehh?! What's happening?!"
The children in the Birdcage were thrown into panic.
They had lived their entire lives here—none had ever seen anything like this.
The adults were all in chaos, some fleeing, others hiding—none had the time or ability to look after the children.
"Is it the Klaxosaurs?"
"Or… aliens?!"
A group of terrified children huddled together, utterly lost.
"Look! That's… a ship?! And what happened to the dome?!"
Miku pointed sharply toward the sky.
In the distance, the glass dome had been blown open, leaving a massive hole.
Through it, a silver-white starship was slowly descending from above.
"Ah…"
They had never seen a spaceship before. All they could do was stare blankly, too stunned to react.
Fortunately, the Angeloids' targeting systems were highly precise, and their firepower carefully avoided harming the children.
Click—
The ship's hatch opened, and another small squad of Angeloids emerged.
They gently flapped their wings as they descended before the group of children.
"Come with us. Master wishes to see you."
"Master?…"
Miku repeated the unfamiliar word, standing protectively in front of her friends.
"What do you want from us?"
"Master bears no ill will. He will free you from the adults' enslavement and give you a better life."
The Angeloid leading them spoke patiently, crouching down to meet their gaze. She even took out a few candies from her pouch as a greeting gift.
"Come now. Didn't you want to see the outside world?"
...
A short while later—
Aboard the Aurora.
The Angeloids brought the group of young girls onto the ship.
"Master, all human targets retrieved."
"These are the names and corresponding individuals."
The lead Angeloid saluted Setsuna and guided the group of little girls onto the deck.
Most of them huddled together timidly.
Having lived their entire lives inside the Birdcage, suddenly being brought aboard an unknown spaceship by beautiful winged beings completely shattered their understanding of the world.
Still, the Angeloids' gentle appearance and kind demeanor helped ease their fear somewhat.
"Oh…"
Setsuna's eyes fell on the small girl at the front—red skin, little horns on her head.
"02?"
Then his gaze shifted to the shorter blue-haired girl standing behind her.
"Miku? …Ah, Miku."
"And Kokoro, Ikuno, Ichigo…"
Every familiar character from the original story stood before him, now in adorable loli form.
Even from their hairstyles and facial features, he could tell who was who.
"Did we come too early?"
Gudako blinked, feeling something was off.
"No."
Setsuna nodded in satisfaction.
"We arrived just in time."
"!"
At this point, 02 was still just a little loli.
The two horns on her forehead stood out distinctly, and her crimson skin made the other girls subconsciously step back a little from her.
"Oh, so she's the protagonist of this world?"
A group of shipgirls surrounded her, examining her curiously.
A shackle clasped around one of her ankles, engraved with the code [02].
"02 was cloned by Dr. FRANXX from a strand of hair belonging to the Klaxosaur Princess. She's a Klaxosaur hybrid, used as a test subject by the humans here."
"They hoped that when she grew up, she would become an elite mech pilot and help unlock the secrets of the Klaxosaurs."
Setsuna touched the shackle lightly, and it snapped open with a soft click.
"Do you have your own name?"
Belfast crouched down in front of 02, asking gently.
"...Eh?"
The little girl tilted her head, thinking hard for a long time, utterly confused.
"Where are you from?"
"..."
02 stared blankly at them, silent, not saying a word.
"Would it be alright if Commander called you 02?"
"..."
Still, no reaction—just those wide eyes staring straight at the people around her.
"She can't speak yet."
Setsuna sighed, offering her a candy.
Since birth, she'd endured harsh experiments and brutal training, but no one had ever taught her basic human knowledge.
"Mmph!"
Cautiously, little 02 placed the candy into her mouth—the first sweet thing she had ever tasted.
Her whole body shivered as she sprang up in surprise.
"02… 02…"
She repeated her number over and over again.
"Take her to get her wounds treated, and run a medical check."
Setsuna gestured toward the Angeloids. Astraea quickly stepped forward, leading 02 away.
"Blue blood detected… abnormal genetic sequence… non-human markers confirmed…"
While bandaging her, the Angeloid noticed the girl's biological differences.
"Hmm, her bloodline really is different from that of normal humans."
"As for the others…"
Setsuna turned his gaze to the rest of the shivering little girls clustered together.
"Miku, Kokoro, Ikuno, all here…"
"You know our names?"
Miku gathered her courage and stepped forward.
"Um… who are you?"
To them, Setsuna was also an adult, but he didn't look or act like the ones they knew from the facility.
"Hmm… it's complicated, and you probably wouldn't understand all of it yet…"
He paused for a moment, thinking.
"To put it simply—we're from another world. We came here to solve the Klaxosaur problem."
"I'll give you all a much better life—far better than what those adults ever could."
"Eh?"
The little girls looked at one another, wide-eyed in surprise.
"Are you… Papa?"
In their world, "Papa" was the all-powerful, commanding figure—the one they had to obey unconditionally, training tirelessly to become worthy FRANXX pilots.
"...If that's how you want to understand it, sure."
Setsuna opened a holographic interface and summoned two shipgirls.
"Illustrious, Shoukaku—these little ones are yours for now. Take care of them and help them understand our situation."
"Try to explain things simply—they're too young to grasp complicated stuff."
"Understood~"
One lady from Azur Lane and one from Kancolle appeared before the children.
"Come now, everyone, follow me. Let's get you something to eat…"
Illustrious and Shoukaku knelt down with gentle smiles, patting the girls' heads tenderly.
Just the warm, motherly aura radiating from the two ladies melted all the children's fear away. They followed quietly as the pair led them onto the ship.
"..."
Gudako stared, speechless.
"Wait, we're starting the loli-raising arc again?!"
"What's wrong with that?"
Setsuna replied matter-of-factly.
"We came at just the right time—build an emotional bond from childhood. Perfect."
"..."
Thinking of the Black Bullet lolis and little shipgirls back at the base, and now looking at the ones here—plus the quiet Griseo standing beside Setsuna—Ritsuka Fujimaru suddenly had the urge to award him the title of "Master of Loli-Raising."
...
Meanwhile—
The Angeloids continued their systematic conquest of the DITF world.
Since communication between fortress cities had been completely severed, none of them knew what was truly happening.
It wasn't until waves upon waves of Angeloids descended over the cities, launching precision bombardments on the ground forces, that people began to panic.
"City 11! We're under attack by unidentified forces! Requesting immediate reinforcements! Repeat—requesting reinforcements!"
"City 15, we're being overwhelmed by countless angels! We lack sufficient anti-air firepower! Requesting FRANXX support!!!"
"City 5, requesting FRANXX units immediately!!..."
Against the Angeloids streaking through the skies, conventional ground-based firepower was utterly useless.
Naturally, everyone thought of the same thing—
—The FRANXX.
Developed by Dr. Werner FRANXX as humanity's primary anti-Klaxosaur weapon, these mechs were powered by the compatibility between two pilots. With a skilled pair, a single FRANXX could slay a Klaxosaur—and now, it was humanity's only weapon that could possibly fight back against the invading Angeloids.
Every city desperately sent pleas for help to the central authority.
Unfortunately, with Nymph's electronic warfare blackout in effect, not a single message ever reached the top command.
The fortress cities, scattered across the continents for magma-energy extraction, became isolated islands once communications fell. None knew what was happening beyond their own borders.
...
City 13 — Central Industrial Zone.
Deep underground, in a heavily fortified research complex—
"So beautiful…"
A man in a white lab coat leaned on a cane, half of his face mechanical. Dr. FRANXX himself gazed up in admiration at his masterpiece.
Within the vast subterranean chamber stood a row of mechs, each with a unique color scheme.
But the one that drew the eye immediately was the red-and-white unit standing in the center—around sixty meters tall.
[Strelizia]
Unlike traditional mechs, its design was clearly anthropomorphic, possessing an elegant and unmistakably feminine silhouette.
Aside from the propulsion unit on its back, there was not a single excess component on its smooth, curvaceous frame. Its proportions were so well-balanced that one could almost call them… voluptuous.
If mechs had genders, then Freedom Gundam and Barbatos would be male—while Strelizia was unmistakably female.
In one hand, she held a massive orange-tipped spear over several dozen meters long; in the other, a polygonal white shield. Her eyes remained closed as she stood motionless, serene and solemn.
This was Dr. FRANXX's magnum opus—the strongest anti-Klaxosaur weapon ever created, built at immense cost and effort by the entire city.
—Strelizia, also known as "Bird of Paradise."
Unfortunately, since her creation, no pair of pilots had ever succeeded in activating her.
Her immense power demanded impossible compatibility between partners—requirements no team had ever met.
"Hm… that experimental subject, No. 02—perhaps when she grows up, she might be able to pilot Strelizia."
Dr. FRANXX stroked his chin thoughtfully.
That girl cloned from the Klaxosaur Princess' DNA—she was the perfect candidate to pilot Strelizia.
"She might even be able to unlock Strelizia's final form… ah, I'd love to see that with my own eyes…"
"Wait—no, if she's the stamen, Strelizia still needs a pistil. Who could possibly match her as the pistil?"
The doctor suddenly realized a major issue.
A FRANXX required both a male and a female pilot. Having 02 as the stamen wouldn't be hard—but finding a compatible pistil was another story.
An ordinary human might survive two or three rides at most before being completely drained by Strelizia.
"No good. I need to start selecting candidates immediately…"
Muttering to himself, Dr. FRANXX picked up his communicator, attempting to contact the higher-ups.
Perhaps he could select potential partners for 02 from the Birdcage's children.
Beep—beep—
Zzz—
Static filled the device—heavy interference.
"Signal's bad underground?"
Puzzled, he turned to call his assistant—
[Target located. Retrieve Strelizia, Delphinium, and Argentea units.]
Zzzzt—
A deafening crack split the air above as high-energy lasers carved straight through the ceiling.
The Angeloids used beam weaponry to bore a massive circular hole tens of meters wide, descending one after another from the sky.
"???"
"Wait—who are you?! What are you doing?!"
Dr. FRANXX was stunned.
"The Commander has retrieved experimental subject 02. We are now reclaiming the corresponding FRANXX units."
"Do not resist, or we will use force."
The Angeloid explained dispassionately—since he wasn't listed as a purge target.
"??? You're taking both 02 and the FRANXX?! What about the Klaxosaurs?!"
The doctor could barely process what was happening. His mind was already spinning with the implications—if they took everything, how would humanity fight the Klaxosaurs?
"We will also retrieve the Klaxosaur Princess."
—
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