Joachim Iyamur 

• Graphic depictions of wartime violence. Episode 2.

A high speed combat craft flew east from Olympias in the west. The pilot is Joachim Iyamur—who had received a request from Cainan.

“Once I’m done with this mission, I’ll finally be able to retire. Hehe, I gotta get fired up!”

Joachim was in pursuit of Solo, the orphan of Saint Bathsheba, as well as Zephyr, Solo’s attendant.

According to information Cainan had received through his own channels, the two had stolen an aircraft in Ephes and were headed east.

Joachim made a guess based on that information.

To the east of Perses was a large defense network constructed by the Machines—making it near impossible to slip through.

It was also unlikely they would head south, where Sargon’s forces were engaged in combat with the Machines.

“So naturally, the only place to go is north.”

Joachim smiles in reverie. Once this mission was complete, his rosy life would begin.

“I can finally get out. My life of being hated and resented is over. What’s not to laugh about? Wait for me, my prince!”

—The way our generation was treated was incredibly heartless.

What was so heartless about it? From the moment we were created, we were sent off into battles we were destined to lose.

With the sudden death of the Saint who had been directing the fight, the chain of command became a mess. The Machines took advantage and launched a counterattack—forcing us to retreat.

It was… Hell. It was hell itself.

There were corpses everywhere you looked. People started to turn on eachother, others ran away screaming. Some of them even took their own lives.

Even in such a shitty situation, it was the barrier troop’s mission to provide encouragement.

I worked so hard in that hellscape.

The job of the barrier troops is to encourage the troops, but that was just a pretense. In reality, our job was about beating them, threatening them, and controlling them with fear to turn them into fighting machines.

But our job wasn’t just kicking back and watching it happen. We were soldiers too.

Sometimes you had to fight the Machines out on the front lines.

There wasn’t any time to retrieve them, so the corpses were left scattered all around. It was a miserable sight.

If I stayed in a place like that for too long, I’d go crazy. There was only one trick to continue working there.

Suppress your emotions. That was it.

Well, there are some people who couldn't do that.

But I was different. It was easy to make the distinction.

No matter how much abuse they hurl at me, it doesn't matter. I just do my job.

Oh, right. I forgot to mention—I had a dream. I was going to escape that hell and get my freedom. 

My dream came true sooner than expected.

When I returned from hell, I was greeted by a bunch of big shots from headquarters. They gave me a useless medal and superficial praise.

Well, thanks to that, I was able to leave my unit.

With a little patience, I thought I’d be able to enjoy the rest of my life freely—without being bound by anyone. But that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Medals were troublesome things, and a troublesome job had come my way.

I was an independent mercenary—just a puppet of the big shots.

My new “duty” was to destroy anything that got in their way.

“Yeah, some freedom…”

Still, it was a step forward.

As long as I was still alive, as long as my spirit didn’t break, then someday…

Even after several years of becoming a mercenary, I hadn't made a single step forward.

Then, I received a strange request from Lord Cainan—a key leadership figure.

The request was as follows:

Bring back the Saint’s orphan, “Solo Monia” and his attendant “Zephyr Nialde”. They have both escaped Olympias. The higher-ups are all in a frenzy right now. If something like this were to come to light, it would cause an uproar.

Additionally, I was to “Protect Solo’s life”.

Seemed like Solo was a popular guy—being targeted by both anti-Bathsheba factions and the Machines alike.

Normally, I’d refuse a job that didn’t pay well.

But hey, my master had dangled the bait right in front of me.

“...What if I told you the reward for this request is a comfortable estate in Syracuse and upper-class freedom?”

Of course, I immediately said yes.

—Solo Monia, the Saint’s orphan.

I thought he was just a spoiled brat, but he was actually pretty interesting.

I was planning to give him a quick walloping, but that thought flew out the window the second I saw him.

…What the hell, he’s just like me.

It would have been a piece of cake to drag him back home. But hey, I had a dream about this kid.

Maybe at the end of this dream, there might be true freedom—

With Joachim’s help, Solo’s group reconfirmed their route to the northern region. 

“So, if we’re heading north, what’s the plan, Niania?”

“Knock it off with the Niania… From this point, we’ll cut straight through the Caspian Rift Valley.”

“You wanna cut through there? Are you for real? The war with the Machines has totally changed the landscape, you know?”

“Really?”

“I didn't know that either…”

Joachim sighed at their lack of familiarity, and he continued as Zephyr and Solo exchanged glances.

“If the ship falls, we’re dropping straight to the bottom of the valley. It’s the end of the line for us if that happens, right? I’m not gonna lie, it'll be safer to take a detour.”

No matter how combat ready the aircraft was, that didn’t necessarily guarantee they would be able to take a hit. Especially in the Caspian Rift Valley, where there would be no escape route.

“If that’s the case, then we should take a detour through the east and go through the city.”

“Although, that’ll take some time.”

Joachim brushed up his hair, struck a strange, dated pose, and pointed a thumb to his chest.

“Leave it to me, I know the area well.”

Joachim quickly picked out the most reasonable route among their possibilities. The shortest was to head north along mountains via Bactria—once the site of a clash between Saint Bathsheba and a large Machine force.

The group loaded their supplies into the aircraft and quickly left Alvir behind.

Solo and his group were making favorable progress, and they were to approach the southern end of the Caspian Rift Valley soon. Along the way they retrieved supplies from a combat ship that had been abandoned on a battlefield, and arrived at their first stop—Karaj Colony, the southernmost city. Joachim then carefully headed into the city area alone.

The Karaj Colony is located in a dry region that receives little rainfall. Sand rides upon the wind and piles up throughout, giving it a somewhat desolate impression. However, there’s no doubt that it’s a relatively large city among those bordering the Caspian Rift Valley.

Having visited several times in the past, Joachim skillfully gathered supplies as he took in his surroundings with nostalgia. Then, a row of several military vehicles passed by from the opposite direction.

“Cough, cough…! Don’t drive around in the middle of downtown, you son of a bitch!”

As he was covered in a massive cloud of kicked-up dust, Joachim yelled in the direction of the vehicles. As if he was heard, the last vehicle in the row came to a halt, then slowly turned around towards his direction.

"Ah shit… Do I stand out…?”

Shortly thereafter, the vehicle came to a halt in front of Joachim.

“Are ya alriiiight, brother?!”

A man leaned half of his body out the open window and waved. The man had a particularly unique aura about him, especially in the desolate landscape of Karaj. His fiery deep red hair and eyepatch stood out. The bracelet on his arm sparkled as it bathed in the sunlight. His appearance, which was hardly that of a Paragon soldier, was somewhat similar to Joachim's.

(That bracelet... I feel like I've seen it somewhere recently, but I can't remember where...)

Although Joachim harbored doubts, he decided to avoid making himself any more conspicuous and simply deflected those thoughts while thanking him.

“――Sorry for totally interrupting your shopping.”

"Don't worry about it. Hey, what's your name? My name’s..."

“Nah, it’s alright. I have a feeling that we’ll be able to meet really soon, right bro?”

"Huh? What do you mean by—Ah, he’s gone."

The vehicle had already headed for the naval base and was barely visible. Joachim felt a strange chill and decided to suspend procuring supplies and return to where Solo and the others were.

Returning to the aircraft, Joachim told Solo and the others his point of view about what had happened downtown. However, neither of them had any idea who that was. Solo, with his arms folded, was wearing the same bracelet as the red-haired man—but Joachim didn't notice.

Joachim felt an unsettling atmosphere at Karaj and urged Solo and his group to immediately depart. His reading of the situation was correct; with three aircraft chasing their own. All of them are medium sized, expensive, high-performance military ships.

“No good… They’re catching up!”

“At this rate we’ll be forced to surrender! Zephyr, let's escape to the Caspian Rift Valley, it's more maneuverable there!”

“It’s unavoidable… Hold on, you two!”

The aircraft passed through the rocky terrain of the Caspian Rift Valley below. Although Zephyr’s skills in maneuvering a ship were remarkable, they were outnumbered. The tail of their ship was grazed by enemy fire, and the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in the ruins of what appeared to be a city built into the cliffs. It was fortunate that the damage was minimal, but staying here meant certain death.

“Guys! Get out of here right now!”

As soon as they exited the ship, their pursuers were already closing in. Joachim led the way and looked around to see if there was any way they could escape, but he abruptly heard a voice from behind him, and turned around.

"What are you doing, Solo?!"

There, Solo had a look of fervent rage plastered across his face. He held a large gun whose size was massively disproportionate to himself, and aimed the muzzle at the enemies’ aircraft.

“Hey, Solo! With a gun like that—”

“I’ll send those guys flying with all my power! BARAKIEL!”

As if it responded to his warcry, the barrel of the large gun Solo held, “Barakiel,” started to emit a glittering light.

“BLOW THEM AWAAAAAY!!”

A faint twinkle flickered, and immediately after a maelstrom of light shot straight into the sky. The lightning-like flash disappeared into the sky, and all that was left behind was a gaping circular rocky tract and the remains of an enemy ship so wrecked that it was impossible to comprehend what its original shape was.

“What kinda joke is this…”

“...Tch! There’s one ship left!”

“—HEY!! What the hell kinda insane power was that?! You seriously had the nerve to fire something like that at me like it was nothing?!”

“I turned the firepower level down that time. It's fine, right?"

“Shit! Is this what the kids are like nowadays?”

“This isn’t the time for that! Here it comes!”

Zephyr pointed towards soldiers disembarking from an enemy airship that had just landed.

“Ah well, I guess I have no other option but to prepare for the worst… Listen up all of you, there’s only one way we can resolve this situation!”

"Joachim?!"

“Iiiiit’s…”

The two of them held their breath in anticipation for Joachim to speak.

"RUN AWAAAAAAY!!"

True to his word, Joachim ran off in the opposite direction with all of his strength.

The group weaved their way through the ruins that lined the Caspian Rift Valley to advance forth. Joachim repeatedly shouted and looked behind him to confirm.

“Hey Solo! Can’t you wipe them out with that gun of yours?!”

“Once you fire it, it takes a long time to recharge!”

“So you’re a bare-handed thug now! I knew it was the right decision to run away!”

“A ‘skilled mercenary!’ Who do you think you're kidding by calling yourself that!”

"Ha-ha! Listen up Solo! A superior mercenary soldier can discern the stench of death!”

“Either way, it's only a matter of time before they catch up to us! We have no choice but to hold out until Barakiel can shoot again!”

As Zephyr said, their pursuers were drawing in close. As soon as they ran into the ruins, the sound of gunfire echoed. While Solo and the others were on the defensive, the enemies surrounded the ruins, spacing out for coverage.

“These guys are skilled…”

Even though it was a situation where an attack could happen at any moment, strangely the enemy only tried to intimidate them and made no attempt to approach. Initially they seemed cautious of Barakiel, but suddenly an ear-grating “beep” and electronic noise echoed.

“Ah~ah~ah~! Wittle Sowo Monia, can you hear me? Can’t you just obediently surrendeeeer? I don’t reeeeally like fighting, y’know.”

“—What the, why the hell…?”

Feeling as though he was pinned down by his arms, Joachim peeked from over his cover to see a red-haired man repeatedly speaking provocations through a megaphone, completely unarmed.

"...So that guy is their commander!"

“Oh? OH?! Found ya, brother! Seeeee, my hunch was right on the mark after all! Ahahaha!”

"Ugh... Shut up..."

The redhead shouted without a care in the world about the loud audio clipping of his voice, and innocently waved his hand at him. Joachim didn't respond, and while keeping his own emotions in check, he ascertained the number of soldiers surrounding them in the ruins. He could confirm no more than ten of them.

“Aah— AAH—, can’t you hear meeee? The name’s Lotto! The guy who came all the way from really far away to capture little Solo! That cannon-like gun from a bit ago, you won’t be able to use it for a while, right? If you value the lives of your friends, then I think you should surrendeeeer!”

The sound of high-pitched, flippant laughter echoed endlessly.

"Shit, is that guy deliberately trying to provoke us?"

“Well, I’m sure he has leeway because he has a highly skilled squad.”

Amidst repeated gunfire intended to instigate, Joachim calmly analyzed the situation and offered a proposal to the two.

"We might have no choice but to surrender here."

“We came all this way, and you want to surrender now?!”

“Search for a way out of a potentially fatal situation. While there is life, there is hope. When you die, that’s it. But as long as you’re alive, opportunities will come. You want to make it to the northern land alive, right?”

Joachim spoke in an uncharacteristically earnest tone, leaving the two of them speechless.

Is this it…?

Such thoughts crossed their minds at this moment.

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion resounded in the air. Checking the situation around them, the ruins where Lotto had been standing were swept up in thunderous flames. From the look of shock on the faces of Lotto and his soldiers, it was clear that this was an attack by means of someone else.

“Enough! Next I’ll take them down all at once!”

A frigid voice that seemed out of place on the battlefield. Everyone stopped moving and looked in the direction of the voice.

In the sky above, a battleship with a line of gun turrets was flying, with their muzzles still aimed firmly at Lotto and the others. No matter how skilled the Paragons’ military squadron was, the overwhelming difference in power would make it impossible to overcome. Then, Lotto laughed for a while as if he was enjoying this situation, and shouted into the megaphone.

“You’ve narrowly escaped death, li'l Soloooo! See ya aroooound!”

With skilled hands, Lotto issued the evacuation hand signal and gallantly left the scene with his dispersed soldiers. Solo, still unable to process the situation after seeing how skillfully it was handled, muttered as if he was trying to convince himself.

“We… Were saved, weren’t we?”

“Well, seems like it. The squad retreated, but that flying ship isn’t one that Paragons operate. It’s… A Machine battleship.”

The unknown battleship that appeared before them was operated by a Machine.

The word “Machine” put everyone on their guard, but a girl with long black hair descended among them

As soon as the girl saw Solo, she came running towards them.

“Hey, are you alright!?”

“A woman…? Zephyr, is she a Machine too?”

“No, she’s probably…”

“You’re Paragons, right? That’s gotta be it!”

The girl expresses her joy with her entire body, and Zehpyr and Solo look at her in bewilderment. With a sidelong glance, Joachim mutters to himself.

“Never thought I’d see a Returnee is a place like this.”

“A Returnee!?”

Solo braced himself at the mention of the word, but it seemed the black-haired girl had no intentions of instigating a fight. She waved her hands in a desperate appeal. 

“I won’t attack you. I just wanna talk, okay?”

“...You think I can just believe that!? What could you have to say when you’re responsible for making the world this way!”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be nice if the world was filled with smiles?”

“Huh?” the three of them voice in unison at the girl's unexpected reply.

“I’m Mithra! Mithra Tercera!”

“Ha, even if you say that, the world is gonna end up trampled again anyway!”

Solo wasn’t able to contain his emotions, and Joachim calmly stepped between him and Mithra.

“Thanks for the help, young lady. But I don’t think anything good will come out of getting any more involved with us, you feel? We might have to deal with those guys again.”

As he speaks, Joachim urges Solo to hurry along.

Mithra lowers the corners of her eyebrows and points in the direction they’re heading.

“The aircraft parked over there is yours, right? It was burning up pretty bad, you know?”

“What!?”

As if on cue, a large explosion rang out. It seemed the aircraft Solo’s group had been using had been blown to smithereens. 

Zephyr muttered helplessly as she watched the pitch black smoke stretching into the sky.

“No way… What are we going to do now…?”

“Hey, do you want me to give you a ride? It might be a little tight with four people, but…”

A Returnee girl had appeared by chance during their escape—dark clouds hanging in the sky above her.

No one could have known that this impossible encounter between the two species would dramatically change the fate of the world in the years to come.