289 Vanguard Part 2

He didn't hope that it was truly an army sent by the empire. After all, he still has a lot of things to do. He was even unaware of Wallace's current situation on the northern continent. 

Sigh~

"I have to deal with this alone... I can't coordinate with the magicians here yet... It's too early."

Ace didn't think that the incoming troops were from the Federation as it was not their style to use an asteroid as a cover. He was sure that it was from the enemy. 

Luckily, considering the size of the celestial body, the army that has been sent were surely few in numbers. 

Normally these vanguards being sent for an away mission would have 5-10 years before sending their reports back to the empire. 

"But if they have sent a vanguard here... It's definitely not a coincidence. Did they found another Cube of Paradox?"

Ace shook his head as he realized that it may also be the result of investigating the Prince's previous actions. After all, they may have left behind some clues from their previous Sacred Relic's investigation.

Although their chief researcher during that time made some arrangements to remove any traces of their experiments, they may have left a little clue that has been processed for years which resulted in today's problem. 

Ace was also confident that the planet's protective cover created by the prince's team was still present. It means that they shouldn't be capable of detecting the planet's existence as of the moment. 

"Then, is this really a coincidence? Maybe the empire has sent a lot of these Vanguard roaming around this star system or maybe galaxy and stumbled upon this path?"

He was thinking about how to deal with these enemies. He may have a way to obliterate them using the maximum power of his accumulated mana. However, a part of his mind wanted to capture a few of the empire's army to gather information. 

Ever since he was sent here to this Earth, he no longer has any news about the Federation and the Empire and of course, about the Zymeth Spaceship.

Wallace wanted to know what happened after he left that place as the spaceship was surrounded by the enemy's fleet. He remembered that the force of the Empire was even commanded by his father's supposedly friend, Solon. 

He clenched his fist as he couldn't easily decide about the best course of action. Capturing the soldiers may result in many unknown problems. Completely destroying them should be the best course of action. 

Ace took a sip on his tea as he decided to consult other people. He glanced at the plaza and noticed that the third batch of the players should be reaching the climax of their simulation already.

***

Hilda and the other four players were in a precarious situation.

They were suddenly flooded by numerous Mech Frames who had an absurd movement speed. If not for their brain-boosting magic, they may have been unable to capture any of the enemy's movements at all. 

"I can't move..."

"Guys... I think that they disabled my Steel Knights..."

"I no longer have any vision!" 

"Me too... Oh no... I can't reach the command center!"

Hilda heard the other players panicked after being immobilized by the enemies.

It seems that the Mech Frames were planning to capture them alive. Perhaps they wanted to study the Steel Knights they have so they wanted to avoid destroying it. 

Luckily, it seems that the mana artifact they were using for communicating with each other was still not being blocked due to its unique construction. 

"The cockpit ejection system seems to be failing as well..."

Hilda muttered as she tries to calmly analyze their situation. She remembers that after dozens of Mech Frames broke out of the automaton's last line of defense, their group of five tried to eliminate them but failed due to the enemy's superb piloting skills.

The enemy also possesses unknown technology that manages to block some of their bullets and magic spells. 

Hilda and the others used their Steel Knight's special ability but it only lessened the increasing numbers of the Mech Frames by a small amount. It didn't take too long before they were captured by the enemies and realized that they were being lifted up and probably being sent to the floating monstrosity in the sky. 

"I can't stay like this..."

As Hilda understood their situation, she realized that they can't just wait until they were sent to that huge spacecraft up there. It would be their end once it happens.

They have to escape or fight back whilst some of the automatons and the mid-size battleship made by Wallace was still fighting out against the enemies. 

Speaking of which, that battleship was truly impressive as it could hold on until now. 

Hilda cleared her thoughts as she closed her eyes to visualize her plans for escape. 

As soon as she opens her eyes, a determination can be seen as aside from being a pilot, she was a proud magician who possesses a powerful mana artifact.

She has a series of spells that she believes to be suitable in creating a path for her escape. 

"Manual Override..."

As soon as she got full control, she immediately controlled the system to forcefully open up the cockpit.

That's right. She didn't plan on using the ejection system but decided to get out of here in the most basic way. The danger was high, considering that they were being carried by the Mech Frames, and they were surely on guard against surprise attacks. 

However, she realized that the enemies were similar to the Dorssian Empire.

There were some things she learned inside the virtual world and one of them was that the Empire wasn't fully aware of their magic skills until they battled against the natives of this planet for many months. 

In short, she realized that this foreign enemy may have come from outer space as they haven't used any mana on their attacks at all. Not a single mana fluctuation can be detected and only some unique energy can be felt. 

With this in mind, she plans to surprise the enemy and deal with them using her strongest magic spell. She would no longer hold anything back and release everything unlike how she battled during the TMAC. 

Clang!

The hatch started to open as Hilda readied her mana artifact.

She already told her plans to the other magicians and it was up to them whether they will use this chance to help her or not. She had to immediately act before they were sent to the spacecraft above.

'Now...'

"Full Traceless Oscillation!"

***

"Wallace? What brought you here? Is it time for me to perform?"

Miya asked in surprise as she thought this man would just overlook the whole event at the plaza until the end. 

"No, it's not time yet... Something just came up and I'm trying to relax my mind by going here..."

"That's that only reason?" Lacus suddenly said while tagging along with Yumi and Erza in front of Jade Rain, the reconstructed Iron Knight. 

Ace smiled wryly at this...

He actually wanted to ask for Yumi's opinion about the possible reaction of the higher-ups if they learned that there was already an incoming threat twelve days from now. However... Now that he was here, he suddenly realized that it was better to keep this a secret for now and silence the incoming enemies. 

He also smiled at the young girl with long red hair beside Yumi. He invited Erza here not just because Yumi told her to have a connection with the Ministry but also to get in her good graces. It seems that Lacus wanted to acquire something on this kid that would help them in the future.