Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Robert Frost

CHAPTER I

THE END

Chains… I see chains. A square, a cube, a tesseract… Infinite, endless, eternal, unlimited, everlasting, without end… In a flash, now I see its smallest links, down to the oxidized spots… The next moment, the continuous geometric transformation once again happens before my eyes… But what is wrapped by it? I see nothing…

Our story started in Kyoto, the country's old capital, and now still a bustling port city. In here, time is ambiguous: On one hand, the castles, temples and even the customs seemed still in their undisturbed slumber. But on the other side, the city continuously expand its boundaries while shorten the Destruction-Creation cycle. This was a place where the beat of modern lives constantly drummed in each and everyone's heart on the day, only to be replaced by the melodies of cello, saxophones and pianos at night – The Jazz Kissa were still standing there like the art that they presented.

It was a hot summer night, when wind had just begun its favorite composition of rustled wind. Light had already gone out in the neighbor, and everyone deep in dreams. Except one. His face was obscured by the leaves, saved his eyes: They were bright, luminous so. But like sunset, an unwavering sadness casted upon them.

He brought up a pipe that seemed quite worn out – under moonlight, scratches appeared like scars on the varnish surface. But when he struck the first note, all suspicion was replaced with admiration.

There wasn't a humanly tune. We couldn't even call it music. It came and went like the wind, eurhythmic but also fragile and unpredictable. If nature could sing, this was its song. For us, it instantly sneaked its way into our hearts. Our ears thirsted of this nectar like bee to honey. This, coupled with a young boy – a forest elf would be more appropriate – was playing it created an enchanting illusion.

The rhythm suddenly got higher and higher, until it compared to gales. A Tengu screech. The climax was near. And just when it was right on the cliff… It broke, like glass under hailstorm. Then, everything went down to silent. The play was end by a raven's cries.

The flautist gazed to the moon. It was the 14th of a Lunar month, but it was pale like the death, more dark than light…

"I'm home!" Cold stone tingled her foot, and the familiar smell of wood rushed to her nostrils. A figure was sitting in the middle of it, the only rays of sun that managed to sneak in danced on the threads.

Despite the darkness, Houki managed to navigate through the cramped room – Covered all four walls were unfinished musical instruments, mostly unstring.

"Already home so soon?" The figure raised a scalpel, the reflected light making Houki squinted her eyes. With surgical precision, the artist cut down a piece of the thread, before letting it flew away. The strings fell straight down, thus earned a disappointed sigh of its maker.

"Ichika" Houki officiously put a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you take a rest. Aunt Yukiko made some delicious food."

"Just a few more. I'm almost done." Another thread, this time fly straight out of the window. "I tried to weave silk with bamboo, but I can't seem to find the perfect ratio." That explained the dozen of strings before Ichika.

"How is Tokyo?"

"It's noisy and crowded and dusty." Houki actively avoided Ichika's knowing gaze by focus on his work: A Futozao which was taut with cat skin. The sao, which was made of ivory, had two of three strings.

"Let me guess… You stayed at the shrine all the time, again? That is a waste." Finally, Ichika had found a string that descended down in a waving fashion. He giddily stretched it between two sticks and applied various level of force onto it. A very sharp and sweet sound.

"… Did you read my mind?"

"That's just you."

There was something divine in the way he worked. It was like someone dreaming in the daylight. His eyes closed, but his mind fully opened to the unseen world.

Houki decided not to disturb her friend anymore. "Fine, then, but you will have to eat microwaved."

"That is fine." His face light up a bit. Now she really want to get out of here. It's all because of that smile: While it was very bright, his sad eyes lengthen his face, created an unwavering depressed expression.

And it made her blush.

A panoply stand in the middle of the room, surrounded by alien scientific and engineer instruments. It bore a striking resemblance to a Samurai: 2m tall, white lamellar-arrangement plates on a black body, and a silver ponytail. The mask, instead of hole for eyes and note, only consisted of a narrow visor plate.

Working on it were two people: One is a girl, her face and hair were white as snow. She was regal, even compared to the mythical Snow Queen.

"The power adjustment is done, Doctor." Her heterochromia irises (left black and right gold) flashed in exasperation and relieve.

"Finally!" Exclaimed the purple-haired woman. Her out-of-place late-Victorian dress (modified to suit laboratory work), coupled with the bunny ears (which were waving in a cheerful manner) made people loss their words.

Who could imagine this ebullient woman was Dr. Tabane Shinonono, the (self-proclaimed) genius of scientists?

She ran her hand on its edgy armor. On the rims, a light that seemed to have been purified by a quartz warmed her arms.

"Now, to the articulation we go!"

"Still, it's unlike you to use others' researcher like this." Her assistance remarked.

"Hika-chan and her team might not be as good as me, but Kuromochi have truly overdid themselves. I'm impressed. Without me, she upgraded, no, innovated [Kuzuhara]. It would be a waste to let this masterpiece go waste."

"Do you seriously think that these would be enough?"

"No, but this is only the first phase. [Byakushiki] itself will grow with its operator."

"But why him?" She must had been holding herself from asking this question. Her tone were in a professional voice, but a light of concern glimed from the corner of her eyes.

"It's fate..." The sigh seemed to carried within it resignation. "It can't be changed…"

Sunrise itself carries many meaning. To plants, it's time for them to shed the dew and raise up the leaves. To herbivores, it's another chance to roll on the grassfield. To carnivores, the hunt is over, and the curtain now raised. To human, it decides whether would it be a nice or bad day to live – and to die.

Sipping the tongue-scorching tea, Ryuuin Shinonono seemed deep in trance. Behind this thin, aromatic mist, he seemed more like a Xian, clear of picayune thoughts and worries. His breath harmonized with the air. It was only times like this that he might escape from the ever-brewing storm inside. However, just as darkness still gloom over red sun, something had been bothering him.

He could taste the bitter of green leaves and sweet of rain water, earthen of Raku ware and metal of tama. But something is different. It's the same thing that his wife herself panted, her ash was scattered there, and their daughter cut these by her own hands. The charcoal, the flame, the water, the earthen wares, nothing changed. So what could go wrong?

Ryuuin's line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by the cold wind.

"It always puzzles me of what do you like that tea so much, father."

Tabane, whom acted like this is her own house, sat down right across her father and poured one cup for herself. She seemed more than emphatically to make her taste it, though.

"I've already told you, child, but you could never understand it." She hadn't changed much, her father noted. Still these same eyes that questioned everything, and her dyed hair which once made his late wife threw a terrible tantrum.

"Yes I do! You could never get past her death!" The accusation glare might had been able to burn him if it was sunlight.

"Isn't you the same, child? It's our Shinonono's nature to drink our grieves."

"That same old same old rhetoric. I couldn't fathom how could you sit here, pretend nothing has happened, and shed not even one thought for Houki and Ichika's safety." The Chabudai could almost collapsed under her fist.

"Don't forget that you created this mess. If not for your ambition, everyone would had stayed the same."

"Yes, I know! But at least I never make my loves ones pay for my sins..."

"That is enough!" For the first time since the start of the conversation that Ryuuin showed the first sign of rage. Even Tabane seemed to had taken back a bit with the prospect of a Chabudai gaeshi.

"You're not a Shinonono anymore. Tell me what you want to do with us, if not then leave!"

"Fine! I'm here to handle Houki this!" The paper was pushed toward Ryuuin, it said: "Apllication of Infinite Stratos Academy".

"Do you think I'll ever let my child near these abominations?"

"'She' is the least of our concern, and if anything happens, Chifuyu would be able to protect them. Something that you can't."

Her father seemed to went between accepting it and tearing the paper in half. Tabane lowered her voice into a more persuasive manner:

"I know that it's hard to let her go, but that it's what must be done."

After a long time of reasoning, he finally put down his judgement.

"Prove to me what you're capable of. Then I might consider it."

"Great! Also, I need to take Ichika with me."

"What do you want with him?"

"Our brother'll be the one to end this, just as how we started it."

"…This house does not welcome you, so make it quick."

"And I want nothing more than to leave this place.

Ichika reflected what had been happened to him for the last weeks.

Tabane-nee had spirited him to this island in the middle of nowhere – she and Kuu-chan (old habit dies hard, he couldn't stop to Chloe's much annoyed nickname) were so tight-lipped about the location. The reason, as plainly stated by the Doctor:

"Ik-kun, prepare to be blown away!"

…Actually, it wasn't all that fun. Kuu-chan told him that they were in need of an assistance for [Byakushiki], one of their latest [IS]. That machine, Ichika could saw the familiarities to his sister's [Kuzuhara]. However, compare to the latter, these large wings seemed a bit too much for him.

Anyway, he had been receiving crash courses about [IS] and [Byakushiki]. Structure, motors, computer systems, weapons,… His head, even now, were still spinning with all jargons. It made him questioned why couldn't they picked up a more experience person instead of him. But again, they were all hermits, or even worse, fugitives. Every countries were after Tabane-nee for her mind, and a lot more whom she made grudge with.

His job here was to provide data for [Byakushiki]'s development – Tabane-nee explained that it was made for Houki, and since he and her was taught by the same master, he need to give as much as possible.

"How do you feel, Ik-kun? Can I start the simulation?"

"I'm fine. Please do it." The whiteness around him broke up into cubiques, then reconstructed. A desert was made. However, he couldn't even breath the sandy air – all was a simulation.

"READY… START!"

[Byakushiki], still in its factory setting, appeared in a dull gray coating. An alien white light leaked from the rims on its chest, limbs and wings. Other than that, [Byakushiki] lacked anything that was remotely grandiose – Just the fact, ma'am.

Weapon wise, Ichika carried with him [Yukihara Nigata], a very long nodachi that was higher than his head if stand straight, and a diamond-shaped shield that Ichika could not comprehend why he was given it – An [IS] barrier was the strongest defense now knew to men.

But it wasn't much compare to his enemies. [Byakushiki] identified them as [MBIS-01A3 Geoffrey], mainstream model of US Army. Beside the most advanced mechanism, [Byakushiki] was also regularly fed with the latest info of both private and military channels – That explained the unknown 'A3' in the model numbers. This version hadn't been revealed to public yet.

These Desert Camouflaged, Hover-capable machines were all equipped with AR-20 20mm Recoiless Rifle, which could slowly but surely siphon all of his shield point if he decided to charge in. And he lacked any type of firearm – not that he was good with them to start with.

Ichika tried to recall his tutor on the Geoffrey models:

"The 2.5th generation [MBIS-01 Geoffrey] line is made to suit the needs of all four branches. The 01A is the Army's variant, main role is long-range support for infantry, or replaced tanks in vanguard roles. While not integrated with technological advance of 3rd Generation like the [Raphael], it's a solid unit with robust firepower and impressive resilient. Versus an [Uchigane], a [Geoffrey] has more chance to survive if it maintains a distance of 2km or more."

"… 2km or more…" So he had to figure a way to close the distance. But how?

Looked down on his shield, Ichika suddenly realized that it's surface was reflective as a mirror…

… Eureka!

"You got that right, Ik-kun!"

"Doctor, do you think that is a bit too obvious?"

"A bonus, nothing more. Go go Ik-kun, kick their asses!"

A brewing sandstorm caught the attention of the [Geoffrey] squad. A column, small at first, now had grown to the height of the blue sky. However, the density of it was much higher than common ones. Almost like a stationary object spinning with high speed had caused this.

The [Hyper Sensor] picked up a silver glint on the center of the storm. Since it was impossible to fully identified whether was their target was the cause of the storm, they decided to make it closer to the source. The squad split up into three: Two flanked on the sides, while the third held back in purpose of supporting fire.

They started up by unleashing a barrage to see if there were any reaction. The bullet vanished without a trace into the cyclone. Nothing appeared on [Hyper Sensor], except that silver glint.

"Closer, closer,..." Ichika silently pleaded.

When the aggressors finally reached the outer edge of the storm, it suddenly blew up, expanded into all directions.

In the mist of dust, a sand arrow headed straight to the [Geoffrey] formation. It was like a sandworm was moving under the desert, readily to snatch any of the helpless victims.

And it did: Sand surged up, and before they registered it, one [Geoffrey] had already fell apart in a perfectly clean cut.

The predator, after claimed its first prey, had retreated underground.

Then the second. A vertical slash that ran from the hip upward. Rifles flared, but all the lead only met the death body of their comrade.

After that, it was the third and fourth. [Byakushiki] – Their [Hyper Sensors] finally picked up the target – but that was the last thing they felt, before oblivion fell upon them. Ichika had chopped off both heads in one swift motion.

[FORMATION D] The lead machine ordered its subordinates. They immediately form a circle, their guns facing out. The first barrage came in time to intercept the enemy, who was in his fourth charge. The sand wave died down.

Before Ichika shot up from the ground, right on the center of the formation. The shield on his left hand, it seemed to have bent a bit.

"Doctor, I thought the plan was to use the shield as a distraction?"

"… Like sister, like brother, I guess?"

Yes, he had used it as a makeshift drill.

The carnage continued, mainly with the Geoffrey awardkly turned around, wasting their ammunitons chasing a shadow, while Ichika killed them one by one.

And after 5 minutes or so, the number of [Geoffrey] was reduced to a mere 3. Body of fallen enemies lay waste around Ichika. He was like a majestic God of War, the sorching sun rose high above his head.

However, they were giving Ichika much heads: After the initial assault, he had lost his element of surprise and was forced to face them in the ope. While not being designed for extreme-Close-Quarter-Combat, the sole [Geoffrey] was standing ground to him in a knife fight. And he could not freely obliterate him: the other targets were constantly whipping lines of fire toward his direction.

Letting the enemy to score a slash against him, Ichika closed the distance and jammed his sword. However, without the unique [One-off Ability], [Yukihira Niigata] was equal to a pup's claws, nothing more.

But what choice did he have? His shield meter was in the red level – one more [Reiraku Byakuya] and that would be all. Even if he rolled the dice, her would only be able to cripple one enemy.

Continue this cat-and-mouse was also not an option. Ichika could sensed that those three were trying to surround him. A triangle of sort had already in the process of forming, and if he attacked one vertex, two others would be free to rain bullets on him.

Time for a gamble!

Ichika activated [Ignition Boost] and shot up in a curve. Bullets were one or two inches after his shadow. And when he was directly above the target, he deactivated it for a freefall. Using the momentum, Ichika skillfully disabled it with a round kick. Then, he rocketed with the [Geoffrey] still in his hold. Using it as a shield, he rammed into the other enemy.

[REIRAKU BYAKURA] ACTIVATED

[Yukihara] pierced through both. Somehow, this scene made him thought about an abriged image: Yakitori stick, fried rare.

Two down, one to…

Ka-BOOMMM!

The vague idea of a blast is all he could felt.

"Sorry, Tabane-nee!" Ichika ruffled his hair apologetically. He had continued his stretch of losses to 5 in the last 8 simulations. However, Dr. Shinonono showed him an assurance smile.

"Don't worry! We have done with gathering data. And Ku-chan, please show him the statics."

"Total time: 10 minutes and 34 seconds. Number of enemies destroyed: 7 on 8. Reason of defeat: [AIS] grenade."

"See? It's better than last time. There is only one left!"

Before Ichika could thought of a fitting response, Tabane had already put a pair of plastic-and-nylon bunny ears on his head.

"This calls for an celebration! Ik-kun, time to show your skill with the pan!"

… Now he got the picture. Today was turn for Tabane-nee to cook…

As Ichika defeatedly dragging himself toward the exit, lowered her voice and spoke to Chloe:

"Is it ready?"

"After today's performance, I think that we should begin."

"… We'll initiate the plan 'White Carrot' at 9 A.M tomorrow." Tabane switched her tone again. "And Ik-kun, I want Yakiniku!"