A blinding bright light faded, revealing a breathtaking grassy plain. A gorgeous blue lake rested nearby, alongside a handful of sporadically placed trees.
This is the initial sight that Noda, Esten, Setsuna, and the winged warriors were greeted with inside the door they entered.
The shining sunlight reflected off of Setsuna's glasses as he scanned the environment. "I can't say this is the type of scenery I had in mind when considering the potential environments we'd most likely run into. It certainly isn't anything that remotely resembles what I encountered earlier when captured within a smile door."
"These doorways may be more artificially designed than the ones that captured us earlier, since I would guess these are pathways the smiles themselves often use." Suggested Esten.
Noda sighed. "Don't fall for this shit. In a minute here I can guarantee some powerful monster is gonna burst outta that lake or somethin', and smack us across the land."
"Esten makes a fair suggestion." Stated Setsuna. "However, I somewhat agree with you Noda. We should wait until we've seen more than a simple grassy plain before concluding much."
"Then I propose we search the trees and the lake for any deadly creatures that may be hiding within." Esten answered.
Before anything else could be said, one of the winged warriors let out a little chirp, tapping Esten upon the shoulder. It gestured toward an object that could be seen hovering high in the sky.
Everyone's attention shifted to this object.
"Great. Here we fuckin' go..." Noda said.
The object suddenly rocketed toward the grassy area everyone was standing within. It smashed against the ground, creating a massive crater, while also destroying a significant portion of the surrounding land. The lake blew away, and a majority of the trees snapped due to the heavy wind created by the impact.
Once the dust settled, the object was revealed to be a large, robotic looking mech. It had several mechanical staffs attached to its back. It slowly stood upright, and shifted its attention to the Elite and their winged warriors.
Noda's heart pounded as he made eye contact with the machine. He swallowed, and then said. "Okay... right now... I need the winged warriors to ambush this thing."
"What an appalling idea. We do not yet know whether this is an enemy or not. Blindly attacking it is a clever way to guarantee it acts hostile." Voiced Esten, her eyes focused on the mech, with a hand on her blade.
"That's right, sorry. Guess we probably should ask this friendly looking thing if he wants to invite us to dinner so he can introduce us to his world."
"That clearly is not what I mean, filthy berserker. It is simply common sense to not attack something you know nothing about."
"If we stand here and let this fucker make the first move, one of us could die before we figure out how nice it is."
A single winged warrior then stepped forward. It adjusted the positioning of its legs, before burrowing underground.
Soon enough, the rest of the winged warriors followed the first's lead. They all burrowed underground, and began circling around the large mech.
Esten drew her sword. "Wonderful. Now we do not have any other choice but to engage."
"Wait a moment." Said Setsuna. "At the least we can observe how this machine compares to a group of winged warriors. Don't forget that we're being accompanied by creatures from the very species we're attempting to eliminate. These are the same entities who apparently conquered the Archipelago all those years ago, and who we ourselves cannot presently defeat. It isn't ridiculous to assume that the winged warriors can win here."
The winged warriors gradually increased the speed in which they circled around the mech. The mech shifted its attention to them, and watched the winged warriors continue to move faster and faster.
Before long, all of the winged warriors simultaneously bursted from underground, launching themselves in the direction of the mech from all angles. Immediately once they did so, the mech swiftly grabbed one of its staffs, and roughly tapped it against the ground.
Every single one of the winged warriors fists made contact with a magical shield that formed all around the mech. They all hovered in the air, and quickly backed away after the unsuccessful attack.
The mech's staff lit up with a reddish hue. It made deep, strange verbal noises as this occurred. It raised the staff high into the air, as the red hue grew larger.
All around the area, thousands of small red orbs of light appeared. The mech aggressively pointed its staff toward some of the winged warriors, slowly moving it around so that it pointed at each of them at least once. Following so, the red orbs of light all began to shoot toward the winged warriors.
In response, the winged warriors began to rapidly fly in several different directions. They weaved their way through the air, dodging all of the orbs. Many of the winged warriors attempted to attack the mech again, however they would be stopped by its magical shield each time they did so.
Each orb of light that missed its target, would proceed to slam into the ground, causing a huge explosion. With the winged warriors dodging so many, massive explosions were currently occurring all over the entire area.
One winged warrior in particular came up with the idea to dodge one of the orbs at the last second, while standing next to the mech, hoping this could break through its shield. After attempting this, however, the orb was simply absorbed within the shield.
This continued for some time. Before either combatant could make a different move, though, another mech abruptly appeared, interrupting the fight.
It came down from the sky much like the other mech had, but it bashed its fist across the face of the original mech as it landed, easily breaking through the shield.
Several pieces of robotic parts from the first mechs face broke and scattered across the ground due to the blow it sustained. Following the punch it took, the first mech was soon met with a sweeping kick to the mid section courtesy of the second mech.
This attack sent the first mech tumbling across the landscape. It stabbed its staff into the dirt, using it to halt its momentum, regathering its balance.
From the first mech's face, gallons of blood began leaking out from where it had been hit. It opened its mouth, and spoke, however its words were all in some sort of alien like, indecipherable language.
The second mech removed a staff from its back, and responded in the same language, using its staff to then summon a collection of humungous floating swords. It pointed its staff toward the first mech, sending the swords zooming at it.
Aggressively standing upward from a kneeled position, the first mech rapidly twirled its staff in a circular motion, knocking away all of the swords. It then used the magic within its staff to reactivate the shield it had earlier, however this time with three separate layers of defense, and proceeded to charge toward the second mech.
Once the first mech reached the second, it lowered a shoulder, and smashed into it. The three layers of magical shielding shattered against the second mech, causing additional damage. Much to the first mech's surprise, however, this attack was not powerful enough to move the second mech from its position. All it did was cause minor scratches and breaks upon its face.
Making a noise, the first mech seemed to come to some sort of realization. It glanced backward, and noticed that it was missing a leg, which had directly resulted in its attack being far less effective.
Blood poured from its missing leg like a fountain. Directly next to its leg, a man stood. A long, white scarf was wrapped around this man's face, covering his mouth and nose. Only his shiny blue eyes were visible, as the rest of his head was covered by his white, medium length hair. The scarf trailed a good distance behind the man, who was gripping a transparent blade in his palm.
The man bolted to the left, then the right, and then the left side of the first mech again. His movements were barely visible, and the man hardly shifted his physical stance as he did so.
A couple of seconds later, the first mech's body split into four separate sections. One by one, the severed sections roughly plummeted onto the dirt. The second mech slammed a fist against the first's jaw, sending its now limp upper torso across the landscape before it could join the other body parts upon the ground.
Having attained victory with the help of the mysterious man, the second mech put away his staff, and triumphantly nodded toward his ally.
The scarf donning man, who's name was Setzen Yesta, nodded back. He then shifted his attention to the Legion of Elite and winged warriors, who landed around the Elite now that the battle had ended. "The Legion of Elite. Heh heh. I tried to tell Kiryu you'd make it here just fine." He said, putting away his blade by having it fade into a mist.
Noda stared back at him. "I'm gonna guess you're one of the secret, all powerful warriors Kiryu mentioned we've been oblivious to for all this time? Perfect. You can tell us everything we need to know about whatever the fuck the shit inside this doorway is."
"Hold on a moment, Noda." Cut in Setsuna. "I find it strange that Kiryu made no mention of anyone else being here. He was certain to make note of a majority of the information we'd need to make it through the pathways, yet failed to bring up the fact that an ally of his was wandering within one of them. Is he not aware that you're in here?" He asked Setzen.
In response, Setzen itched one of his eyelids. "Eh... well you see, I've managed to trap myself inside of this place, because I failed to wait until my other allies were prepared to accompany me over here to the Blackened Archipelago. I've been stuck within this illusionary world for around a month, after stumbling upon those three mysterious doorways while exploring on my own. So, no, he doesn't know I'm in here. But thankfully, and much to my relief, I have been blessed with the presence of who I believe will become wonderful friends of mine. To finally meet you formally is an honor, even if it is only a handful of your members."
"Yeah, it's a real pleasure." Said Noda. "But hey, you mentioned havin' other allies you were supposed to wait for. Does that mean they should be here with Kiryu?"
"I'm unaware of how many of my comrades decided to make their way over here. It was still undecided when I left on my own. As you can see, I am quite strong. So I had a belief that I could at least take care of the mutation device here by myself. Heh, but as you can can also see, it turns out that I should listen to my friends more often. Despite how much I tend to bring up teamwork and the bond I have with my comrades, it seems I've still failed to trust them deep down." Setzen's hopeful expression momentarily faded, before quickly returning. "But it's nothing I need to be too concerned over. Anyone can change with a bit of effort. Plus, right now our focus needs to be on getting out of this place. You mentioned this being some sort of pathway, my friends?"
Noda nodded. "That's right. According to Kiryu, each of those three doorways lead to the home base of some of the strongest creatures on this island. But as you've seen an example of, each doorway has within it some kinda fictional world or whatever. We've gotta make it past this world somehow in order to get through the pathway. You said you've been here for a month, right? And ya look like you've made good friends with that big ass robot. So let me ask, just what kinda fuckin' place is this?"
"This is a world dominated by a race of mechanical looking creatures. Make no mistake though, despite their robotic look, these beings are alive my friends. They must eat and rest, and they bleed when injured. They aren't man made and are not being piloted. What you see is a living, breathing species." Answered Setzen.
The mech next to him nodded in agreement, and gestured with a thumbs up, before crossing its arms.
Setzen continued. "I've decided to call them 'Organic Machines'. 'OMs' for short. They are currently at war amongst themselves. This friend of mine here is part of the rebellion group. You see, these mystifying creatures are quite similar to ancient tribes when it comes to the structure of their towns and everyday life. And their chief..." Setzen's calm demeanor suddenly completely vanished. His eyes harshly narrowed, veins tensing and appearing visible around them. "Is a vile, piece of stone hearted filth!! He's begun brutally sacrificing the lives of the women and children here, in exchange for something as low and meaningless as power he's able to attain by giving them up to some kind of supreme god who's recently appeared!! It's repulsive!! Just the thought of this monster enrages me!!" A visible wind, made of the same substance as his transparent blade, began forming around Setzen. It slightly damaged the ground, creating a small crater around his feet. The more he yelled, the more aggressive this wind became. "After hearing what you've said, I believe the way we are meant to make it past this illusionary world, may be by resolving whatever conflict is troubling its people! So by slaughtering this thing who dares call himself the chieftain, it's possible we could successfully make it through the pathway!"
"Please lower your voice. I would prefer to retain my ability to hear past the age of thirty." Said Esten. "There is no need to become this upset. You admitted yourself that everything here is completely fictional. All of these people who are dying do not exist. Still, I suppose I understand to an extent that it can be difficult to separate the things that occur here from reality, since this place is rather realistic."
Calming himself down upon hearing Esten's words, Setzen steadied his breathing and returned to his previous tranquil demeanor. "You're absolutely right. I apologize for losing control of my emotions. Despite how real everything here may seem, this is a fictional world. Well, a fictional world that can quite easily end your life. Heh heh."
"Considering the fact that this chief is still alive, even after the mention of his name alone pissed you off so much, I'm gonna take a guess that the abilities he's received from this god have made him damn near unkillable." Hypothesized Noda.
"I will say, he's going to be a difficult one to take care of. With the help of so many new capable combatants though, I'm sure we'll manage just fine." Setzen responded. He then continued. "My new friends, nearby here we have a home base where a majority of those rebelling against the chief have been staying. If you don't mind, I could take you there so that we may discuss things together with the rest of the Organic Machines. Don't worry, I'll be sure to help you communicate with them."
Setsuna was the first to answer. "Having all of us join forces sounds as if it's the obvious course of action moving forward if we plan on defeating this abomination of a chieftain. We would be foolish to decline."
"Damn right we would be. So let's fuckin' go. I wanna see the other big ass robots we'll be fighting alongside." Added Noda. "Sound like a plan to you, Esten?"
"Yes. I am not interested in dying here, so clearly joining a team comprised of both the powerful robots in addition to the individual who is close to Kiryu is the ideal choice." She replied. "Plus.. I am in desperate need of a shower. Because you interrupted me earlier, I have not been able to rinse anything from the past day off. I am still covered in all sorts of nauseating fluids from a number of sources."
"If this place is their base, I'm sure they've got some sorta area used for washing themselves. I think we could all use a quick rinse after all the Colossal Soarers and smiles we've torn to pieces." Noda said.
Setzen raised a finger. "Eh... well you see, the mechs here tend to use lakes or streams to rinse themselves off. So there isn't a section at the base specifically for bathing."
It was hardly noticeable, but Esten's eyes widened ever so slightly. She let out a small cough before saying. "That is fine. I suppose I have no other choice but to wait for the next opportunity. Anyway, we should begin making our way toward this base. Otherwise the other groups will escape their pathways and have an entire battle against the smile queen before we manage to even leave this initial area."
"Well we certainly wouldn't want to leave our other friends with no help in what I can imagine is a most lethal situation. So, I'll go ahead and lead the way. Follow me my friends, and I will show you to our most impressive sanctuary of operations." Setzen gestured for everyone to accompany him.
Agreeing, the group followed Setzen as he led them to the home base of the rebel Organic Machines.