Allenby Rossi was an ever-bright and cheerful soul whose life revolved around a single, passionate pursuit: training. Her ultimate ambition was to claim the crown as the DSAA champion, following closely in the footsteps of the mother she admired so deeply. Driven by innate altruism, she was physically incapable of turning a blind eye to anyone in need, always ready to lend a helping hand. While her bottomless kindness earned her deep admiration, it came with a humorous quirk—whenever she got overly excited, her speech patterns took on a distinct, energetic DSAA flair.
Yet, this radiant optimism was hard-earned. As a young girl, Allenby struggled immensely to control her immense, latent physical strength. Misplaced bursts of energy during gym class often shattered equipment or sent terrified classmates scattering, earning her an unfair reputation as a dangerous outcast. She spent years in painful isolation, weeping over her trembling, uncontainable hands.
That dark loneliness ended when her grandfather—the legendary master of the "Undefeated of the East" martial arts—stepped in. With stern patience, he drilled into her that true strength was worthless without self-control, strict etiquette, and a compassionate heart. Thanks to his rigorous discipline and her own unyielding work ethic, Allenby blossomed into a respectful young woman. Every morning before entering any arena, she would pause to bow deeply—a silent vow honoring her grandparents and the discipline that saved her from her own volatile nature. Recognizing her raw potential, her grandfather eventually introduced Yoshitaka Fuji during her fifth-grade year to serve as her specialized mentor.
The morning sun broke over the residential blocks of Midchilda with a sharp, cool breeze. Moving in her focused 'Adult mode,' Allenby paced stride-for-stride alongside her father. She paused twice to assist elderly neighbors with heavy crates of milk and groceries, treating every act of service as an extension of her conditioning.
"Always keep your center of gravity low, Allenby," her father called out over the crunch of his boots. "A true champion doesn't just run fast; she runs with purpose."
"Got it, Dad!" she replied, her bright smile flashing through the exertion.
After returning home to a hearty breakfast prepared by her mother, Allenby opted out of standard public transit. Strapping on her custom-tuned high-speed rollerblades, she carved through the waking streets, effortlessly outpacing the school buses. She arrived at the summer school gates well ahead of time, her wheels screeching softly against the pavement.
A group of female classmates quickly drifted over to her. "Say, Allenby, are you participating in the upcoming DSAA tournament?"
"Yes! I've been training just as hard as my mother did when she was young. I want to be just like her."
"I heard there's still no official date released," another classmate chimed in. "Are you nervous at all?"
"Not even a little bit," Allenby laughed, tossing her hair back with sparkling eyes. "I can't wait to stand on that stage and claim the crown."
As they walked toward the main building, Allenby's buoyant stride slowed slightly. She glanced down at her open palms, remembering how they used to shake violently from her unguided power. But the ghost of her past vanished quickly, replaced by the grounding voice of her grandfather and the warmth of genuine friendship.
'I am not that lonely girl anymore,' she thought, her internal resolve hardening like tempered steel. I have my family, I have my mentors, and I have this city.'
Reaching the heavy oak threshold of the school entrance, Allenby paused out of deeply ingrained habit. She bowed low and respectfully toward the building—a silent, daily vow to honor the martial discipline that had saved her from her own volatile nature—before stepping inside. The distant horizon of the DSAA championship was still months away, but for the first time, she felt entirely certain she was running on the right path.
Miles away at the Saint Church, Fuji sat alone at a polished wooden desk, meticulously mapping out a specialized training schedule for Allenby's upcoming days off from summer school. His mind, however, was heavy with anxiety. While Allenby possessed more than enough raw power to clear the tournament preliminaries, his greatest fear wasn't her opponents' skill—it was foul play. Specifically, he worried about illegal Device Jumpers slipping past the tournament's security checkpoints, waiting to ambush unsuspecting fighters in the finals. To counter this, he was drafting contingency plans for the absolute worst-case scenario.
Miles away in the commercial district of Midchilda city, the noon sun beat down relentlessly on the asphalt. Lieutenant Arc and Ginga had just wrapped up a grueling investigation following a sudden warehouse fire managed by the local disaster prevention unit. While civilian rescue operations had gone smoothly, the physical evidence left behind was deeply unsettling. The fire had gutted the interior, yet Arc's tactical visor picked up an impossible anomaly: the automated fire sprinklers, equipped with independent thermal sensors and heavy-duty water mains, were completely dry.
Arc crouched down beneath a scorched steel beam, his fingers tracing the rusted valve of the sprinkler head. He adjusted his visor, cycling through diagnostic overlays.
"Lieutenant Arc, did you find anything?" Ginga asked, stepping carefully over a pile of soot-stained debris.
"The fire sprinkler system here didn't just malfunction, Ginga," Arc muttered, tapping his visor. "It was disabled manually before the fire even started. The override logs show deliberate interference."
"Something's off," Arc muttered, standing up and dusting off his gloves. "The fire sprinkler system here didn't just malfunction. It was disabled. These valves are built to engage automatically the moment ambient temperature crosses critical thresholds, but the internal routing has been manually clamped shut."
Ginga frowned, crossing her arms. "Could it be a mechanical failure? A lack of maintenance?"
"Not with these readouts," Arc replied, tapping the side of his visor. "The override logs show deliberate interference. Someone shut these down on purpose before the fire even started. I'm compiling the telemetry report for you now."
As Ginga's terminal chimed with the incoming data file, she immediately flagged the local TSAB precinct and the building owner for formal questioning. The two investigators walked out from the charred shell of the building toward their parked cruiser. Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a wave of loud, synchronized cheers erupting from a nearby local game center hosting an open regional arcade tournament. Recognizing the venue and spotting a familiar uniform among the crowd spilling out near the entrance, Ginga tilted her head in surprise.
"Wait, isn't that...?" Ginga murmured, pulling Arc by the sleeve toward the doorway. "Isn't that one of operatives from Battalion 454?"
Inside, the arcade was packed to capacity, the glowing neon lights casting vibrant blues and purples across the faces of cheering spectators. The tournament had reached its grand finale, pitting a calm, collected female participant against a tense local challenger. With fluid, lightning-fast inputs and absolute composure, the young girl completely dominated the screen, executing a flawless combo to secure the championship match.
"WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION! THE CHALLENGER, SILVER WOLF, HAS WON THE GAME TOURNAMENT!" the automated announcer boomed.
The victor pushed back her gaming glasses. It was Louve Alisea Zonda——younger sister to Commander Sonya Alisea Zonda of Battalion 454. Louve was not only a prodigy-level gamer, but an active operative whose specialized barrier jacket could integrate directly with digital systems, converting tactical data into a gaming-like interface that granted her preternatural reaction speeds. To Ginga and Arc's utter bewilderment, Louve bypassed the cheering crowd entirely, walking straight past the registration desk and heading directly toward Arc with a knowing smirk.
"I didn't expect you to show up here, Onii-chan," she teased.
Arc blinked defensively. "Hold on—Onii-chan? Have we actually met before?"
Louve giggled softly, enjoying the confusion etched across the young investigator's face. "I know who you are, Onii-chan. I was there when Sonya Onee-chan put you through that test. Your name is Archibald Enzo, right?" She leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a playful whisper. "Or should I say... your real name, Izumi Kai?"
Arc's blood ran cold. He lunged forward, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Sssst! Keep your voice down! Let's move somewhere private—now."
Moments later, the trio secured a soundproof private booth in a nearby karaoke lounge. Safe behind heavy, insulated doors, Arc finally removed his tactical visor, revealing his true face and letting out a long, exhausted sigh.
"Louve-san," Ginga asked, her eyes darting anxiously between the two as she sat beside Kai. "How on earth did you figure out Arc's identity?"
"Oh, it was easy," Louve said cheerfully, kicking her legs up on the booth's bench. "I do a lot of freelance data recovery and hacking work for Onee-chan. When I intercepted the initial file of Archibald Enzo and ran facial cross-references against restricted historical databases, the dots connected themselves immediately."
"Hacking? Wait a minute—how old are you?" Kai asked, rubbing his temples.
"Seventeen," Louve replied smoothly.
"Geh?! Seventeen years old?!" Kai and Ginga blurted out in unison, staring at her in disbelief.
"Relax," Louve reassured them, waving a hand dismissively. "No one else outside our immediate circle knows your real identity, Kai. Your secret is safe with me. But speaking of secrets..." Her expression shifted into something much more mischievous. "Want to hear some fun stories about Sonya onee-chan, Kai Onii-chan?"
"Actually, yes," Kai said, leaning forward despite his better judgment. "Why does Commander Sonya have such an intense obsession with me?"
Louve launched into a vivid description of her older sister. Sonya Alisea Zonda, feared and respected across the forces as 'The Resolute Lady' and 'Gentildonna,' was a legend of unyielding discipline. She possessed iron-clad manners, an absolute intolerance for failure, and a ruthless work ethic that spared no one—least of all herself. While countless suitors from high-ranking noble families vied for her hand, especially around holidays like Valentine's Day, Sonya treated romance with total disdain, viewing physical and mental self-improvement as her only true calling.
More terrifying than her social standing, however, was her physical prowess. Louve described how Sonya's innate 'transcend dimension' ability allowed her to exert raw physical force far surpassing ordinary humans—and even elite male combatants. She had been known to compress solid iron training balls into marble-sized spheres with her bare hands and rip open magnetically sealed blast doors through sheer muscle strength alone.
"And the reason she's interested in Kai," Louve added with a grin, "is because you're one of the very few people who survived a direct clash with her and walked away with your strength intact."
Ginga slowly turned her head to look at Kai, expecting him to share her awe. Instead, she recoiled in sheer terror. Kai's face had drained of all color, turning a stark, ghostly pale. He looked as though he had just stared directly into the abyss, shivering from a deep, bone-chilling dread.
"K-Kai-san?!" Ginga stammered, shaking his shoulder. "Are you alright?!"
"She... she can crush iron into marbles with her bare hands?" Kai whispered, his voice trembling as past memories of his rivalry with Sonya—and her attempts to draft him as her personal assistant despite Commander Hayate Yagami's fierce objections—flashed violently through his mind.
Before Kai could recover from his existential panic, Louve casually pulled out her handheld tactical terminal, flipping up a digital photo file. "Oh, that reminds me. While we're talking about old ghosts, Onee-chan and I also looked into your old days back in Riot Force 6, Kai. Specifically... that strange weapon you used to carry."
Kai froze. On the screen was a high-resolution scan of a dark, menacing blade—the Soul Edge. The Buster sword that Kai carry as his Intelligence device when he facing a mutated person but feel nothing on Kai himself, until Regan Rivian who disguise as Kai took over and become his scapegoat of Adamatron.
"That thing isn't a standard Intelligence Device, is it?" Louve continued, her tone turning unusually analytical. "It acts more like a living weapon, a parasite of lost logia origin even everyone don't know how that thing appear at Midchilda. Even when your imposter, Regan Rivian, stole your Soul Edge and used your identity to frame you and kidnap Commander Hayate, Sonya Onee-chan still believed in your raw human grit. But make no mistake—that weapon is a ticking time bomb." Said Louve in serious tone.
Far across the city within the high-security corridors of TSAB Headquarters, an emergency summit was underway. High-ranking officials, including Supreme Commander Lindy Harlaown, tactical commanders such as Hayate Yagami, and regional battalion heads, sat around a massive obsidian conference table. The primary agenda was an escalating security crisis: the sudden, unexplained proliferation of mass-produced Soul Edge fragments operating in the wake of the Adamatron attack.
The parallels to the infamous historical Diaboli case involving UN cooperation were impossible to ignore, yet this new threat was far more insidious. Initial infection vectors remained completely untraceable until ordinary civilians were suddenly hijacked into functioning as living, autonomous Intelligent Devices. Because the earliest modern records of the anomaly tied back to Izumi Kai, suspicion had inevitably fallen upon him—though Kai himself had miraculously remained uncorrupted by the blade. The situation had exploded into a logistical nightmare when Kai's rogue imposter, Regan Rivian, stole a primary shard, framed Kai for high treason, and temporarily kidnapped Commander Hayate Yagami. Lindy Harlaown, exercising her considerable administrative authority, had deliberately falsified field logs to shield Kai from immediate arrest by corrupt higher-ups, officially assigning Specialist Lieutenant Archibald Enzo to spearhead the investigation into the Adamatron and Soul Edge syndicates, as well as tracking down the elusive Device Jumper network utilizing Soul Edge shards.
The atmosphere in the room was suffocatingly tense. The central topic on the agenda was the sudden proliferation of 'Mass-Produced Soul Edge' weapon—an insidious plague causing a spike in violent crimes across Midchilda in the wake of the Adamatron attacks. While the anomaly bore unsettling similarities to the historical Diaboli incidents in Exceed, the operational profile was entirely unprecedented. The contagion originated from mysterious anomalies that infected ordinary civilians, mutating them into living weapon conduits.
Commander Hayate Yagami leaned forward, her expression grave. "The primary concern is how these Soul Edge shards were smuggled past planetary customs into Midchilda in the first place, and how they managed to bypass initial containment protocols."
Lindy Harlaown raised a calm, authoritative hand to quiet the murmuring room. To protect the integrity of ongoing investigations and shield Izumi Kai from heavy-handed higher-up inquiries, Lindy deliberately obfuscated the official records. "Specialist Lieutenant Archibald Enzo is currently handling the Adamatron and Soul Edge contagion vectors directly," Lindy stated firmly, noting Kai's ongoing recovery from injuries sustained during Regan Rivian's betrayal. "His clearance covers all related device-jumper anomalies, operating under my direct authority and in coordination with Commander Yagami's division."
Further complicating the military briefings was the anomalous nature of the Adamatron magic circles, which bore no structural resemblance to standard Midchildan or Belkan spellcraft, nor to Formula Eltria or Inherent Skills. Eschewing the traditional classifications of Mage or Knight, operatives utilizing these systems were classified as 'Soul Reavers'—warriors capable of seamlessly blending frontline melee dominance with heavy bombardment spells, echoing the versatility of commanders like Hayate Yagami through an entirely different mechanical lens. Archival research conducted by Yuuno Scyra confirmed that the core architecture closely mirrored forbidden ancient dark magic from the Belkan wars known as 'Schutzraum Geist'.
Modern Schutzraum Geist stood as an isolated, volatile magic system, completely detached from recognized paradigms. It relied on compressed magical energy to yield devastating long-range shooting arrays and explosive bombardment spells, while simultaneously reinforcing the user's physical musculature and weapon proficiency to terrifying degrees. It was a martial discipline engineered specifically to overwhelm traditional defenders in single combat.
Compounding the tension in the briefing room was the conspicuous absence of the commander of Battalion 731. Widely known throughout the TSAB as a ruthlessly arrogant faction that mirrored the worst traits of Regiuz Gaiz—yet shielded entirely by high-level government immunity—Battalion 731's leadership was currently positioning himself to become the next Prime Minister of Midchilda. Despite falling nominally under the TSAB banner, the sheer brutality and unchecked corruption of Battalion 731 made them universally despised by honest officers.
Back at the quiet courtyards of Saint Church, afternoon shadows lengthened across the stone walkways as Allenby arrived for her private training session. Yoshitaka Fuji stood waiting by the training ring, his expression etched with deep concern. He had spent the morning reviewing threat assessments regarding illegal device-jumper modifications smuggled into upcoming athletic brackets. Despite rigorous pre-tournament inspections, underground syndicates had found ways to bypass security checkpoints, creating a lethal hazard for unshielded competitors. To ensure she was prepared for the absolute worst, Fuji slid a dense stack of encrypted tactical video data across the table—combat logs of historical DSAA matches featuring brutal upsets and illegal gear usage.
"Allenby," Fuji began, his voice grim and steady. "I know how much this tournament means to you, and I know nothing is supposed to overshadow your matches. But you need to study these past bouts. If you encounter an opponent running an illicit Device Jumper in the final brackets, standard tournament rules won't protect you."
Allenby stared down at the data files, her bright expression sobering into one of fierce determination. "Mentor... is this all because of those Device Jumper rumors?"
"Yes," Fuji admitted, leaning forward with an intense, paternal gaze. "I'm not taking any chances with your life, Allenby. I need you to understand how to dismantle an opponent who is cheating the system. I refuse to let anything happen to you out there."
Allenby let out a confident breath, standing up from her chair and giving a sharp, fighter-style salute with a wide, reassuring smile. "Mentor, you don't need to worry! I am not planning on losing this tournament. I have my family, I have my mentors, and I love this city too much to ever give up!"
Fuji allowed a small, proud smile to break through his stern facade, nodding slowly. "I trust you, Allenby. But give me your word. Promise me you'll keep your guard up."
"I promise, mentor!" Allenby declared, her voice ringing with absolute conviction beneath the stained-glass windows of the church.
With the tournament just two months away, the countdown had officially begun. But beneath the glittering lights of the arena and the energetic dreams of a young girl striving to be a champion, the twin shadows of mass-produced Soul Edges and rogue Device Jumpers continued to spread their dark roots across Midchilda.
*To be continued...*