Ningen Marionette.

Arsène sprinted through the school corridors, running and going up the stairs, quickly cutting the corners and making his way to the rooftop, pushing past everyone in the way. As he reaches the roof, he opens the door and pants as he looks forward. He scans the area but finds nothing on the rooftop. He walks forward while scratching his head; he was at least expecting the air carrier or aircraft from the day before to wait and take him to the battlefield. He looked around the roof, sighing as he looked down at his shoes. He crouched to tie his shoe's lace, quickly tying a knot to both of the shoe's laces. He then lets out a sigh as he looks down at the ground.

Another demon attack. Is this demon also going to be colossally large? Will Arsène be of any help at all during this fight? Will he even prove to be useful or worthy? And what about that strange armor? Will it respond to Arsène and try helping him?

"Who am I kidding? Why would an armor come to save me... It's an armor."

He sighs as he stands up; he then hears a loud thud. He turns around to find Vanessa panting and standing in front of the opened rooftop door. She closes the door and starts marching towards Arsène, who steps back a little as he watches Vanessa approach him. Vanessa quickly grabs at his collar and pulls him close to her, their faces inches away.

"You're not going to run away after randomly making a fool of in front of the entire class, buddy."

Arsène gulps, looking around before trying to smile nicely and be in a more friendly tone.

"Miss Vanessa, didn't you tell me to 'fuck off' and never contact you again?"

Arsène tries to rebut Vanessa, but she only lets out a grunt of frustration as she lets go of his collar. She then crosses her arms and looks at Arsène, visible irritation on her face.

"Yes, I was about to head to my lecture hall, but the fact you were running around the campus was told to me as your substitute teacher. And don't forget, you embarrassed me in front of your entire class."

Arsène hesitates, looking at Vanessa in the eyes as he opens his lips to reply.

"I swear, I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of everyone; I just thought I knew who you were and was thinking maybe we could talk an-"

"And what kid? Do you think we can be buddies or 'pals' after that? Oh please, as if I will be friends with some high schooler who just happens to know me. Grow u-"

She stops talking, her eyes widening as he looks at something behind Arsène. Arsène, confused by the feeling of the wind hitting harder on his back. He slowly looks behind, eyes widening.

"Sup, did I disturb?"

Arsène turns around to look at the massive machine towering over the building that he and Vanessa were standing on. Arsène takes a small step back; Vanessa, on the other hand, falls back, eyes wide and shocked. Arsène, however, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before smiling and looking at the mech as he yells.

"Kami! Is that you?"

The mech nods its head and extends its hand. Arsène, though not sure what to do, gets to the hand and stands on it. He then looked back at Vanessa, who was down on her lower back and trembling. Arsène smiles and bends down, extending his hand.

"Hop on!"

Vanessa looks at the mech, then down at me, both uncertainty and fear playing in her voice at the same time.

"Are you insane?! Why would I get onto that... thing's hand?"

She yells, looking at me. Arsène sigh and look at the mech; the mech nods its head as it extends its other hand and picks up Vanessa. She yells, hitting the mech's hand with no avail. Both the hands go up to the mouth, and Arsène takes note of the mech's appearance. The machine had massive and sharp teeth, with some sort of... sunglasses in front of the eyes. A massive cloth was tied around the neck of the mech, flowing back due to the wind like a cape in the air. Arsène watched as the massive machine's head rose and its teeth jarred open. Arsène hesitate but step into the mouth; the floor feels squishy and soft. A moment later, the machine dropped Vanessa in the mouth as she screamed and fell on her knees. Arsène extends his hands, wanting to help her up.

Vanessa, in return, just slaps his hand away as she stands up and groans in irritation.

"Why do I have to be around you or your shit?"

There is a massive chuckle as Kami speaks, the voice seeming louder through the speakers.

"Now, lady, don't be mad. We can't really allow someone who found out Arsène's identity or job to walk free. So please, cooperate."

Vanessa scoffs, looking to her side and mumbling something. Kami speaks again.

"Now, Arsène, walk towards the end of the mouth; there should be a ladder to the cockpit."

Arsène looks nervous but nods; he sighs in uncertainty and walks towards the end of the mouth, Vanessa looking around before following Arsène. Arsène walks over and sees a ladder of metal going down the throat. Arsène looks down; one wrong step and you fall for some time, no idea what's at the bottom. Arsène clears his throat, looking at Vanessa, then at the ladder. He quickly grabs at one of the rods, then places his foot on one a few rods below. Arsène sighs before slowly descending the ladder. Vanessa's eyes widen, then she hesitates to climb down. As Arsène descended the ladder, Vanessa grunted with anger before getting on the ladder and slowly descended herself.

Arsène slowly descended the ladder, then stopped as he felt a platform below his foot. He quickly nudges his foot on the platform before letting his other foot down and standing on the platform. He turned to see a small entrance to a room, with a hydraulic door in the front. Arsène looks around before seeing a panel on the side. Arsène cautiously pressed my palm on it. The panel scans it before the door lets out fog, steam, or sort as the door opens. Vanessa, at the same time, gets onto the platform, standing beside Arsène. They both look at the cockpit; their eyes widen as they look into the cockpit.

"Hop in."

Kami says as he stays seated in the middle of the cockpit, screams and computers on the walls of the cockpit. Arsène smiles before walking into the cockpit, walking over and standing beside Kami. Vanessa hesitates but also walks in, standing and looking around. The screens on the walls were showing the footage of the front and back of the machine's surveillance systems. Arsène notes the fact that Kami had his eyes closed and stayed seated, still as a rock.

"Sorry about not greeting you guys myself; the neural link made me incapable of talking to you guys directly. But please, settle down beside my seat and hold onto the railings connected to my seat."

Arsène and Vanessa share a look at each other. Before crouching down beside the seat and holding onto the railing connected to the seat. Kami chuckles before the mech moves. The mech stands up, looking up at the sky. Before bending a little and leaping into the air. Arsène held onto the railing tightly as Vanessa let out a whimper. But then there was a sudden shift in motion, and instead of falling back down, it started flying up in the sky. The mech then enters the clouds, flying slowly before Kami increases the thruster speeds. The mech then speeds up in the sky, flying faster. Arsène looks up at the screen. Looking at one screen, he sees clouds passing through it. Through the other, the back cameras showed the city below. Arsène gasped, remembering a similar experience as the time he was in the aircraft yesterday.

A few minutes pass as the machine flies through the clouds before slowly down a little and descending the clouds. The mech flew in the air; the sky was dark and cloudy; the surface below was easier to see, but it was overwhelmed by the shadow of the clouds. Then Arsène looked at the other screen; he could see a wall of mist or clouds a few feet in front of them. Vanessa makes an audible gasp before opening her mouth to ask.

"What's that?"

Arsène gulps as a drop of sweat travels down his chin.

"I don't know..."

Kami chuckles before the speakers and even himself speak out.

"That right there is where 'it' is located and moving."

Arsène looked to Kami.

"It?"

"Demon Valefor."

Vanessa's eyes widen, looking at Arsène.

"Wait, that's where the demon is?! Then why the fuck are we heading towards it?"

Kami chuckles again as the mech moves mid-air and descends. The machine then enters the mist, and the vision from all the screens seems almost thin, and almost nothing more than 2 meters away can be seen. Then Kami says it out loud.

"We are going to fight that demon."

"We?!"

Both Vanessa and Arsène ask in sync. Arsène, however, sounded less surprised, while Vanessa was quite against the idea.

"Woah Woah! Hold on! Why am I joining this fight?!"

Kami didn't respond and just increased the speed of the machine. There was utter silence until there was a sudden turbulence. Kami grunts as he says.

"We've been hit."

"Hit? Why what?"

Arsène asks, trying to find out what caused the turbulence. Kami just replies bluntly.

"Demon Duke Valefor."

Vanessa's eyes widen and her grip on the railing tightens as she closes her eyes to calm down. Arsène, on the other hand, looks at Kami and speaks out loud.

"Kami, let's land and fight this thing."

Kami smirks as he replies.

"As you command, Lil Bro."

⋈

The machine descends, landing with a quick. The ground shakes, and the mist covers the land in front of the mech. Kami quickly turns on the front lights, making it a bit easier to see. Kami grunts as the mech looks around, trying to find the demon.

There is a momentary silence before a demonic roar echoes through the mist-filled area. Kami quickly yells:

"Brace for impact!"

Arsène and Vanessa quickly grab onto the railing, and almost as if in sync, the mech is hit and there is turbulence. The machine stumbles back before there is another hit, then again. And again, the hits and turbulence kept coming one after the other. Kami luckily was tucked in and had seatbelts on. Arsène and Vanessa, however, were thrown back and forth, still holding onto the railing of Kami's seat.

The hits stop for a brief moment as the mech steadies itself and stands properly, then flashes its lights forward. In the mist and light that approached a figure, it had a mostly dark color palette. Arsène shook his head before sitting up and looking at one of the screens; the screen showed the front surveillance of the machine. Arsène squinted his eyes, looking closely as he made out the figure.

The figure was standing on all four of its legs. The creature had an animal, lion-like body with a maine too. However, the head was that of a human, the eyes devoid of anything and empty. The creature opened its mouth; it had sharp teeth, but the most sickening part was that the creature had another mouth inside this one with the same sharp teeth. The head had long, outward-pointing ears, similar to a donkey. And in the back, Arsène could make out a line moving around with a sharp edge at the end; it looked like a tail.

The creature roared as it then spoke.

"Arrogant child of man, I am quite surprised you are bold enough to face me, the Demon Duke; Valefor."

Kami chuckles before pointing at the demon, the mech raising its hand and pointing its metallic finger at the massive demon.

"I am sorry, pal, but I already killed a king demon. You're going to be a piece of cake!"

Kami laughed without any fear. Therefore, the demon instead just growled in a low and threatening tone.

"Purson's death was the result of both arrogance and carelessness; you just happened to either take him down when he was off guard or he was simply too weak."

Valefor crouches on its front legs, almost steadying itself for something.

"And your demise shall be at my hands."

Kami just laughs again as he points out.

"Don't you mean... paws? Since you know, your body is that of a lion!"

Valefor growls.

"Enough of your insolence."

Kami tries to talk more, but almost as soon as Kami starts speaking, the mech is thrown back with great force, sending it flying back. The mech hits the surface, stumbling back a little before Kami grunts and steadies the mech again. He quickly looks around, trying to find the demon. Suddenly, there was more turbulence as another hit was made. The machine stumbles back again, but before it can regain its composure, another hit is given.

Vanessa and Arsène held tightly onto the railing as the turbulence was throwing them around the cockpit. A few alarms blared as the roars of Valefor echoed across the battlefield. Kami scoffed in irritation.

"You little-"

Then another impact was made, sending the machine stumbling forward. The mech turns around quickly, lifting its fist and landing a punch, but it only hits the ground, not Valefor. The mech keeps trying to land punches but misses as Valefor moves at high speeds, landing constant strikes on the mech. The speeds of the demons cause the wind to shift in motion as a vortex of wind begins to form.

The wind picks up in speed, spinning in a spiral-like rotation at great speeds as dust and rocks rise into the air. The winds move violently, sending debris rising into the air and moving along with it. Thankfully, due to the mech's mass, it wasn't lifted and sent flying along in the vortex. But the chances of winning seem slim as long as the vortex is around, meaning Valefor must stop moving for Kami to get a chance at landing a strike.

"At this rate, the mech will be crushed or destroyed by these attacks."

Arsène looks around as alarms blare in the cockpit.

"Armour damage: 17%. Aetherial blood lost 20%."

The computer repeats over and over again as the lights in the cockpit turn red. Kami grunts for a minute, but then something in him shifts; he then lets out a laugh even though the mech is taking constant beatings from Valefor.

"You're up, Arsène."

"Huh? Me?"

Arsène looks at Kami, who still kept his eyes closed and just smiled as he stayed seated.

"That thing is fast, and my machine will not be able to keep up to its speeds. You, however, may be able to."

Arsène hesitates; he is about to question the idea. But some part of him, somewhere in him, decided not to. Some part of him was afraid of the idea of facing a demon that was colossal compared to him. But another part of him was quite thrilled by the idea of facing this entity, thrilled to fight it and defeat it. Without his knowledge, he was already grinning and smirking like an idiot.

The turbulence kept going as the machine kept taking one hit after the other. Vanessa kept looking back at Arsène and Kami, waiting to see what would happen next, or she just wanted this to be over. Arsène abruptly stands up, standing steadily despite the turbulence. He takes a deep breath before looking up.

"Kami, open the mech mouth; I will hop out and do what I can."

Kami smiles. Nodding as Arsène exited the cockpit and went up the ladder.

"Good luck, Lil Bro."

Kami mumbles.

The mech's mouth opens as Arsène stands up; the instant Arsène musters up the courage and steps out, he is immediately pulled out of the mech's mouth and thrown into the vortex. Arsène lets out screams, but they are muffled by the loud winds. Arsène gets thrown around in the winds, fortunately not getting hit by any debris.

Arsène then closes his eyes, thinking for a moment. The winds rock Arsène around and throw him around, but he just stays calm. He tries to remember, trying to remember how. How he was able to summon the armor and how he managed to use it. He stays silent, completely calm, and composed for a moment. For a second, he doesn't feel or notice the winds throwing him around.

"Focus... Focus.."

He mumbles to himself. Slowly, the armor creeps and trails down his spine, the armor slowly forming and becoming solid. The lower body first, then the torso, then the arms, and finally, it covered over his face. He opened his eyes, and he was surprised to see that his sight was significantly better and heightened than his original vision. He looks around and spots a shadowy figure moving around in the vortex with great speed. He squints his eyes and steadies his form, adjusting to the armor as his eyes follow the quick-moving demon. Now he has to figure out how to approach and attack the demon, not to mention how to cover the distance and match the speed of the demon. But suddenly, almost on instinct, Arsène extends his hand and points towards the speed devil. Suddenly, a high-tension wire of sorts or something similar shoots out of Arsène's hands, traveling at high speeds. Arsène then feels it attaching or penetrating something, as he hears a roar echoing through the vortex. The vortex slows down as the demon halts looking around. Arsène takes this chance to strike, and the wire of sorts pulls Arsène, sending him flying towards the demon with speed.

Arsène then strikes a punch to the demon's face, sending it stumbling back as it screeches. The vortex continues, but Arsène somehow can stand perfectly still on the surface. The demon stands back up, roaring as it sprints away into the vortex. Thanks to the armor, Arsène can make out the silhouette of the demon sprinting through the vortex.

"I don't know what you did, but that stopped the constant hits and stopped the turbulence! Great one, Lil Bro!"

Kami says out loud through the speakers of the mech, and Arsène makes out the mech has fallen to the ground. He grows concerned but decides to focus on the demon at hand. Arsène started scanning the area; the winds howled as the speeds were severe and fast. He could slightly make out a large creature darting around the field; a voice echoed through the winds.

"Child of man, prepare to face your doom."

Arsène, sensing something isn't right, immediately readies his arm. The pulsing energy in Arsène starts glowing red like the other day. The demon leaps forward, aiming one of its paws and planning to crush Arsène in one move. Arsène roars as he punches forward; the punch connects to the paw of the demon. Arsène roared as he pushed his forward and put more force into his punch. In an instant, the arm of the demon starts tearing off, the skin and muscles tearing off the arm as only bone remains. The demon screeches as it moves to the side; the power of the punch travels past the demon, missing its main body by a few meters as the punch travels into the sky.

The vortex disappears as the mist clears out a little. Arsène pants as he watches the demon try to spring only to fail and collapse on the floor. Arsène readies himself for another punch but halts as he hears something moving at great speeds and breaking the sound barrier.

"Fire in the hole!"

Kami screams as the spear from yesterday comes shooting down, severing one of its legs as Valefor, making the demon roar in pain. The demon turns to look at Arsène, growling.

"You fools, I will just regenerate my legs before you can ki-"

Before the demon can finish talking, the mech appears behind the demon through the mist and grabs the spear, then the mech slices off the remaining limbs of the demon. The demon screeches but then uses its tail as a whip, swinging it with force as the edge of the tail tears off one of the arms of the mech, sending the severed arm flying away.

But Kami ignores it, making the mech swing a strong kick to the demo, sending it flying into the air. Kami smirks as he screams and throws something.

"Killer move!"

The chains fly over and wrap Valefor in tangles, lifting and suspending the demon in the air.

"What are you?!?"

The demon tries asking, but the mech positions itself, pulling the spear back as Kami screams.

"Finishing move.."

The mech grips the spear tightly as it takes a step back.

"World-Breaker!"

He screams as he throws the spear with great strength and sends it flying at high speeds. The demon screeches as the spear pierces it, scorching it away. But even after finishing off the demon, the spear pierces through and flies away into a distance with great speed. Arsène stands up, looking at the direction the spear went in and then back at the mech. The mech raises its hand, and in an instant, the spear comes piercing the air barrier, stopping as the mech grabs it and causing it to halt in its hand. Inside the cockpit, Vanessa held onto the Kami, looking at one of the screens as the mist settled down, and it became easier to see what was behind and in front of them. She holds onto Kami a little tighter; her face is a shade of red as she mumbles.

"That was kind of cool..."

Arsène meanwhile stumbles towards the mech, then uses the wire things to swing onto the mech. He pants as he stands on the mech's shoulder.

"You could have done that in the start, yet you didn't."

Kami chuckles, the machine putting its hands on its waist, looking prideful.

"Well, that wouldn't have been fun now, would it?"

Arsène sighs in disbelief but chuckles.

"You're not wrong, I guess."

But then the demon's core starts floating towards the mech; they watch as it approaches, readying themselves.

"What is it this time?"

Arsène grunts as he readies himself, but for a moment loosens as his armor starts glowing, making a strange sound. At that moment, the core of the demon breaks into energy, and the energy then slowly starts getting absorbed by the armor. Arsène and the other two watch in surprise as the armor absorbs the energy and then returns its normal purple pulsing energy.

There is a moment of pure silence, then Kami lets out laughter.

"I guess you 'leveled up' in a way!"

Arsène thinks for a moment but then shrugs his shoulders and chuckles.

"Yeah, you're right."

Vanessa sighs and then yells.

"Alright, alright, can we go back now?"

Both the mech and Arsène nod. Arsène then holds onto the mech as it leaps into the air and then makes its way back to the school.

⋈

The climate around the school area was quite humid and cold. It seemed like it would rain. The school was somewhat silent, most probably because all the other students were in the class and were busy studying. The mech descended slowly from the clouds; it landed with a little quake. The ground shakes a little as the mech lands. Arsène jumps off the mech and lands on the roof; he looks back as the mech slowly descends its hand with Vanessa standing on it. Vanessa gets down the hand as it is mere inches above the roof's surface. She stumbles a little but steadies herself before looking back at the mech.

"Well, I will return Mech Aegis X-01 to the hangar and be back at school. You guys go back to your classes or lecture halls."

The machine waves its hand as it leaps into the air and goes into the clouds again. As the roof was silent and still, Arsène and Vanessa looked at each other. Vanessa sighs before looking at the sky.

"I should have taken his number."

Then she looks to Arsène.

"Do you have his number?"

"Well... No."

Arsène lied as easily as he breathed. He then looked over his arms and legs, then turned to Vanessa.

"So.. how do I get rid of this armor?"

Vanessa looks as confused as Arsène.

"How would I know? It's your armor, not mine."

Arsène looked back at his hands, clenching them as he closed his eyes and began to think. What does he have to do for the armor to disappear? How to make it disappear like the other day? He goes deep into thought, trying to figure it out.

Eventually, the armor slowly starts disappearing, the armor running back up and into his spine. Vanessa watched in utter awe as this happened, unable to say anything. Arsène then turns to look at Vanessa, smiling.

"Well, we figured it out somehow."

Vanessa and Arsène chuckle but stop when hearing a thud behind them. They look back to see a girl standing, her face in utter shock as she looks at Arsène and Vanessa. The pair then looked down to see some books in a box, assuming that was what the thud was. The girl trembles as she opens her mouth to say something, but the pair quickly run over to the girl covering her mouth.

"Look, this looks weird, but don't tell anyone, please!"

"Yes! Please don't tell anyone!"

The girl looks surprised but nods. She says something as the pair cover her mouth; they then take their hands off. The girl sighs before readjusting her glasses and then smiling to look at Arsène and Vanessa.

"Woah! Are you two with the Defense Force?"

Arsène smiles and nods; Vanessa, however, grunts in irritation. Both of them note the girl's legs still trembling.

"Well, Arsène here is with the Defense Force; I, however am not."

Vanessa answered, pointing to Arsène, who was standing beside her and nodding. The girl nods, looking at Arsène. She claps her hands together as her eyes light up with excitement.

"That was so cool! Is that armor or suit-like thing your superpower?!"

Vanessa and Arsène glance at each other before Arsène turns towards the girl and laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Well... I am not sure. My father, Yami, told me it's a 'prototype' and never really explained to me what it was."

The girl nods, putting her fingers to her chin as she smiles.

"So are you now some sort of superhero?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly consider myself a'superhero,'' but I will protect those in need."

Arsène looks down for a moment.

"Just like him."

Vanessa turns to look at Arsène; she was supposed to be surprised, but some part of her knew who she was talking about. Arsène continues.

"I want to be just like him; I want to be calm and composed even in the face of danger. Just so my teammates and whoever I am protecting will feel safe."

The girl looks surprised, but she doesn't budge any further. She then looks at her phone.

"Oop, I am going to be late for class!"

She turns on her heel but looks back one more time.

"You guys should go too. See you later!"

She says as she walks away. Vanessa sighs before yelling.

"You better not tell anyone about this!"

The girl leaves the roof, leaving Arsène and Vanessa alone. There is a moment of silence, but it is broken when Arsène clears his throat.

"So, did you have fun?"

"No, not in the slightest."

Vanessa replies almost immediately, crossing her arms as she looks at Arsène.

"But I guess it was somewhat cool."

She says as she plays with the strands of her long black hair, slightly blushing. Arsène chuckles, then looks at Vanessa, smiling.

"That's good to hear, so can we be friends then?"

He extends his hand, waiting for Vanessa to shake it. Vanessa looks down at the hand; she is unsure but then smiles.

"Sure, but only friends."

She says as she shakes his hand. Arsène chuckles.

"Thanks, Nessa."

"Nessa? Isn't that the name you called me this morning or something?"

Vanessa's eyes slightly widen, but she just shakes her head before smiling at Arsène.

"I don't mind nicknames, I suppose."

She says as she lets go of Arsène's hand, then she looks at her wristwatch. Her eyes widen.

"Shit! I am late!"

She turns towards the roof's door and starts sprinting. She waves her hand as she walks away.

"See you later, Arsène!"

She says as she exits the roof, leaving Arsène all alone on the roof. Arsène looks up at the sky.

"Nessa... Why do I feel such a connection to that name?"

Arsène's eyes widen as he clutches onto his uniform, looking down, as his face is beet red.

"Why do I feel my heart racing so much?"

He mutters as he pants. Some part of him felt a deep connection to this nickname, almost as if he knew Nessa long before they actually met. He gulps as he turns to the exit of the roof, feeling the wind gently play with his hand. He sighs as he looks at his phone. A new message? He tapped on the notification; it was from Mukyu. Arsène reads the message slowly.

'Hey, I noted down your number back in the class. Where are you? The teacher has been asking for you.'

Arsène's eyes widen as he turns and starts to run.

"Shit! I am late!"