Hyperdimensional Studio's office.
Correction—the break room.
In the break room, the sisters Yokoshima Saori and Yokoshima Kaori both wished they could watch the livestream too.
They wished the Hyperdimensional Channel would let members directly share the stream with nearby people so they could watch together.
"Kaori, why did Miss Lacus say Mr. Ije thinks she's dangerous?" Saori suddenly whispered to her sister, then glanced back at the pink-haired girl who made even another girl like her lose focus whenever she looked at her.
"I don't know either," Kaori replied, shaking her head.
She had also contacted the company behind the Gundam series and learned a little about the SEED setting, hoping to find out whether Lacus Clyne had some special hidden setup. Unfortunately, she had not found anything useful.
Of course, by "useful," she meant useful in explaining why Mr. Ije believed Lacus was dangerous.
She had learned a little about other things.
For example, the setting involving extraterrestrial life-forms.
According to the project outline, there was indeed a planned storyline in the future about an invasion by alien life, though the specifics had not been finalized yet.
As for when it would happen, the plan was to set it after the story where Coordinators developed a new branch.
And that Coordinator-branch story was the theatrical film that might already have released on Asuna's side. Over there, it had been revealed to take place in C.E. 75.
That meant the alien life-form invasion would probably happen very soon. It might even happen that same year.
Which also meant the time Lacus had left to prepare for that invasion was, at the shortest, only four years.
"Kuroneko?"
Kuroneko suddenly opened her eyes. Was she about to share the video with them?
"Saori, Kaori, could you take a look at this? It feels really familiar, but I can't remember what it is right away."
As Kuroneko spoke, she opened the video she had downloaded onto a real-world hard drive and played it. The footage showed a Tactical Surface Fighter that seemed to have been constructed out of BETA.
The machine felt extremely familiar, but she simply could not recall it on the spot.
"Huh? What is this? It does look familiar. Let me think—wah, Kaori!"
Kaori had leaned her face right up to the screen, blocking both of their view.
"N-no way!"
"What is it, Kaori?"
"Kaori, did you figure out what it is?"
Kaori had recognized it, but her expression was one of disbelief.
Then she said a name that left both Saori and Kuroneko frozen.
...
Sado Island.
The combined human fleet had originally been swept up in joy after successfully breaking through the BETA, but now what little joy remained among the upper ranks had frozen solid.
Because the mutation inside the Iron Original Hive was truly enough to make one's skin crawl.
Even though the scene looked like internal slaughter, that did not mean it was good news for humanity.
Take ants, for example. Normally, a colony had one queen, while the worker ants revolved around her and acted according to her commands.
So what would happen if two queens appeared in the same colony?
Most likely, they would slaughter each other. Afterward, the newly born queen might refuse to acknowledge the workers that belonged to the original queen and massacre them as well.
Returning to the BETA, could something similar be happening here?
A Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA had been born, and it even possessed on-site command ability. It was a command-body class.
After this thing was created, it did not recognize the BETA manufactured by the original command body—the brain-class—and that was why they had begun killing one another.
If that was the truth, there was nothing to celebrate.
Because the combat performance displayed by this command-capable Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA was a nightmare. Humanity had only just felt as if it might crawl out of hell, only to be kicked straight down into the abyss.
Yes, humanity now had the XG-70b Susanoo II, and its firepower should be more than capable of destroying this Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA.
But at the moment, there was only one. Producing another would take a considerable amount of time.
And what about the BETA's manufacturing speed?
Even if this new Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA was produced slowly, surely it would not be even harder to build than humanity's XG-70b Susanoo II.
In addition, humanity needed G-elements to manufacture the XG-70b Susanoo II. They had only just captured one Hive. How many units could the G-elements from that Hive produce?
The BETA, meanwhile, had nearly twenty Hives. And that was only counting the ones on Earth.
"Dr. Kouzuki, what is that thing?"
"Could it have been built by analyzing that machine and using it as a reference?"
Inside the cockpit of the XG-70b Susanoo II, Yuuko Kouzuki was being questioned. That particular question was exactly the possibility she feared.
The BETA might have analyzed his machine in order to counter it—or perhaps simply used his machine as a template—and manufactured a Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA.
Even worse, this new species might be on the same level as a brain-class and possess command capability.
In the past, brain-class BETA could only remain inside Hives.
Now, that function had become mobile. It might even be able to command BETA forces according to the precise conditions on the battlefield and adapt on the fly. That possibility was enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
Was this the greatest change caused by her bringing in outside help?
It was a terrifying development she truly never could have imagined.
And what about him?
He was still in this world, but he had not appeared. That gave Yuuko an even more horrifying thought.
He might have been captured by the BETA.
If so, had the BETA learned about the special existence known as the Hyperdimensional Channel as well?
Could the BETA also use him as a medium to travel to other worlds?
At that thought, Yuuko could barely stop herself from ejecting him from her world immediately. If she did, that would forcibly separate him from the BETA.
But she held herself back, because all of that was only her own speculation.
He might not have been captured. He might also be trying to figure out how to eliminate that Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA.
If she forced him back to his original world now, then who would handle the Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA?
"W-what is that now?"
"Is it absorbing the other BETA's life force?"
The fearful voices brought Yuuko back to herself. She stared at the video feed from the peninsula Hive.
The Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA's cables, which had pierced into the other BETA, were glowing. It looked as if something were flowing through them.
When the cables pulled free from the controlled BETA, that BETA froze in place and stopped moving entirely. It had also shriveled somewhat, becoming dry and withered, like a human corpse drained of moisture.
It looked as if its energy had been drained and absorbed by the Tactical Surface Fighter-class BETA.
That was another horrifying ability. Yuuko bit her lip so hard it nearly split.
She closed her eyes and checked her own livestream room in the Hyperdimensional Channel again, but still did not see him online.
She was also hesitating over whether she should tell the others about the possibility she had imagined.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: That Tactical Surface Fighter-shaped BETA is extremely bad news. I just logged out to confirm it. It looks like Eva Unit-01 from my world's EVA series!!!
That sudden message left Yuuko stunned.
EVA?
Unit-01?
She had no idea what that meant.
But judging from the way Kuroneko's emotional text appeared, this was clearly something extremely dangerous.
(End of Chapter)
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