Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 9. (12:41 AM)
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A powerful explosion shook the entirety of the Tindalerose territory. Many of the citizens were spooked at the event, but nobody panicked.
They were used to their Lady Reyshia occasionally trying out some new weapons for her Ark, so for them, it was a common matter.
However...for some people, it was a different matter altogether...
◇ Astra's POV ◇
I was stupefied at what I saw. My chest was thumping furiously as I tried to make sense of what happened.
'Did Lady Reyshia just... crash?'
Her pale face that was shown on the screen awhile ago came to my mind. I remember she was trying to fiddle on something, but there wasn't any response to whatever she was doing.
'Was that my fault?'
The moment the idea came to mind, I shivered. It was a scary thought. I fiddled with the panel in here so if this was a remote control device, then I'd be in deep shit. In the worst case scenario, I'd be hanged to death.
Also, I'm quite worried about that master of mine. The fact that I'm alive is proof that she too, is alive. After all, war slaves' lives are bound to their master.
I ran outside as I tried to find anyone who was nearby. As I went inside the mansion compounds, I encountered a maid who was sweeping the pavements with a broom.
I raised a hand. "Um!" I called out with urgency. "I need your help! Please!"
The maid raised her head, showing her expressionless but gorgeous face while her brows twisted to a frown. "What is it, sir slave."
I ignored her rude-sounding remark. "It's about Lady Reyshia!" I told her with urgency. "The Valkyria crashed!"
Her frown deepened as her eyes narrowed into a glare. "Crashed?" she spoke coldly. "Do you know who you're talking about?" she added.
I admit. I don't actually know much about Lady Reyshia. However, I'm aware of her piloting skills as the repairman had already blabbered much as he was repairing.
'Damn it! I can't just admit its my fault.'
However, no matter what, my life was in danger. And so was Lady Reyshia. "It's the truth!" I told her. I was desperate. "I...I think something happened!"
"Is that the truth?" she asked. Uncertainty was in her tone now.
I nodded.
"I see. Then, I will have to ask you about it later. Please follow me." She instructed as she raced towards the gate. I followed her without question.
The moment we reached the gate, she took out some sort of key and positioned it near her mouth. She then whispered some sort of things I couldn't hear. The key then glowed as I heard something loud in the distance.
It was approaching, and fast. And a short while later, something fell from the sky with a loud boom. I unconsciously covered my ears as a dust cloud scattered everywhere.
"Hurry on." A the maid's voice resounded in my ears as I felt something grab me, and the next thing, I was riding some sort of motorcycle.
"Hold on tight." She instructed. I did as she said, and held onto her waist. It was much more narrow than I thought.
"I'll warn once, but don't think of anything weird." She said. And then next instant, we sped through as we instantly broke the 120 kph speed.
◇◇◇ Third Person POV◇◇◇
High-pitched beeping sounds registered within her ears as it warned her of the errors appearing on her panels. She felt her consciousness returning thanks to it. As she then tried to open her eyes.
"...uugh..."
Her eyelids twitched as she groaned weakly in pain. She slowly opened her eyes, and shifted her vision to the panels that glowed in yellow colour, indicating some warnings.
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Her situation was nowhere near good. Valkyria was just repaired 2 days ago, yet it was already damaged again. And quite severely at that.
However, she tried to recall what exactly happened as her visual scanners revealed that she seemed to be underground.
"If I remember..." she thought quickly and finally recalled.
□■□
As she was falling from the sudden shutdown of Valkyria's systems, she quickly placed her hand on the Aether Core as she poured as much mana as she could. And as she did, the panels lit up as expected, but there was no time.
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The prompt appeared but she was getting closer and closer to the ground.
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"Skip Diagnostics. Quick Boot." She instructed, omitting the unnecessary parts in her instructions. - - - "Maximum defence mode! Deploy Type-3 Barrier at max!" she yelled her instructions as she was already a few dozens of meter above ground. And the next moment, a blue spherical barrier appeared and enclosed Valkyria right before it landed on the ground. She made it... ...or so she thought, but for some reason, an explosion suddenly exploded right beneath her, as it created a deep hole on the mountain she fell on. It penetrated through her barrier, which was supposed to be the cutting-edge barrier technology in the empire with ease. And the next moment, Valkyria fell through the hole it created. Along with boulders and rubble. □■□ Recalling the earlier events, he consciousness completely woke up as she subconsciously tried to stand, but her head hit the hatch of her cockpit. She tried to open the hatch, but there seemed to be boulders blocking the path and preventing it from opening. She looked at the panel again. - - About 40 seconds... she could still make it. She reached out for the control rods as she pressed something. Valkyria glowed for an instant, then released a shockwave that blew away the small rubble. However, she then noticed that something had changed in the panel... - - The Aether Pulse had reduced 20 seconds in the operation time, but the 10 seconds were more than enough for her to escape. With her hands still gripping the control rods, the Valkyria moved as it lowered its body. It next moment, it jumped, clearing itself away from being buried. It landed back on a clear underground space with a loud boom. - - The next moment, the Valkyria lost power as all its light went out. What remained was utter darkness. Reyshia took out a wand and cast a basic illumination spell. A small ball of light appeared in front of her as she controlled its position at will. She then opened the hatch—manually, which meant it was heavy—and barely managed to move it until enough space opened to fit her. She crawled her way outside, and stood as she scanned her surroundings. And from what she saw, it seems she was inside a giant cave.