**Doo! Doo! Doo! Doo!**
The invader alarm in the hangar started to reverberate once the weight of the Knight-Mare called Ignis was compromised. For an unknown reason, the juggernaut's weight reduces gradually by ten to close to hundred kilograms every second.
In less than three minutes, the metal machine was about half of its original weight. All those extension frames that were unique to this Ignis were nothing but eroded metal powder. It was like some metal-eating bacteria is invading Ignis and eating it from the outside.
"Hold it right there, Duchess Chi-Lei. Release your control over the Ignis, right now!" a soldier with a similar soldier uniform like this crimson-haired female officer warned with his gun pointed at her. If she dares to make a sudden move, the bullet would effortlessly go through her skull from one side and getting out from another.
(Note: Chi-Lei also means Crimson Bolt or Lightning. I believe it is suitable for a female who can become a female lead, based on her hair color and temperament.)
"Yao-Huang, why bother? I'm sure you know that I will not submit no matter what." the female officer called Chi-Lei replied. It was evident that the gun pointed at her hardly intimidates her.
(Note: Yaoshi, or Obsidian Rock, was the meaning of Yao Huang's "Yao." The Huang also means emperor. But since this is Sci-Fi work and not eastern, you can ignore the importance of Huang in his name. There's a reason for calling him Yao Huang, of course.)
"Chi-Lei! Pull back your order on Ignis!" Yao Huang turned the safety off from his pistol. The atmosphere between them was tense with each second past until Ignis was nothing but an empty shell.
"Ebony!" Yao-Huang shouted. An arm from the hangar beside Ignis came in mercilessly to do his bidding. The palm that came in without warning was trying to grasp Ignis' remains.
It seems that the Knight-Mare called Ignis has already expected this to happen. To ensure its fragmented bits escape from this facility, Ignis willingly sacrificed two of its fragments.
What remained on the Knight-Mare Ebony's palm were two dull fragments. The two fragments have nothing that resembles Ignis at all.
"Duke Yao-Huang!" the soldiers greeted Yao-Huang when they came inside this hanger. And without any order or instruction to them, the soldiers pointed their weapon at Chi-Lei.
Until another officer with the same uniform as the two made his appearance. But unlike the other two, this officer hides his face behind a mask. All they could discern is that he had golden hair and a pair of golden eyes.
"Remove Chi-Lei's uniform and throw her into the stasis chamber. Keep her frozen until it's time to release her from the stasis prison." the officer said.
"We can't do that! We still need to get the information about Ignis' whereabouts from her! This duke suggests that we stuff her into the torturing chamber first!" Yao-Huang said.
"Yao-Huang..." the golden hair officer called Yao-Huang's name once.
As if there's a hidden might behind his voice, it made everyone present inside this Ignis' hangar kneel. Even Yao-Huang and Chi-Lei were unable to withstand the sheer power behind his voice.
"Are you questioning my decision?" he asked.
"This duke doesn't dare!" Yao-Huang immediately answers the question without hesitation. His head was swamped with his sweat just from a simple question.
"Take her to the stasis chamber. Throw the two pieces of scrap away." the golden hair officer added before leaving. It felt like a field of gravity was removed from this hangar. Afraid that they'll be punished for not prioritizing the officer's order, the soldiers quickly perform their duty.
Chi-Lei's uniform was taken away, leaving her with a plain inner layer of standard military uniform. She was escorted by close to twenty soldiers as they headed to the stasis chamber. Based on Yao-Huang's expression, he was very dissatisfied with the instruction.
But unfortunately for him, he had no ability nor power to override this command.
"Ebony, throw that two useless fragments and return to your hangar," said Yao-Huang as he left the empty hanger where Ignis was a while ago.
The lights in the hangar were turned off a row at a time until darkness encroaching it.
Hours after the darkness stays here, a dim light that is barely noticeable in this hanger secretly moves away like it was alive. Once it got into the ventilation shaft, the light vanished.
...
...
...
"Damn it! To think that getting this Reactive Armor refilled would cost me close to 750 Geass." Li-Xin was cursing in his heart after he was quoted a repairing fee. Since the armor and helmet were part of his belonging right now, it was a must to get it repaired each time after returning from the battlefield.
He would be a fool if he tried to return to the field without getting it repaired. But there are a lot of them that went back without getting their Reactive Armor fixed. After all, not everyone is as lucky as Li-Xin to earn extra cash to get his armor repaired.
Who would've spent the money enough for seven rounds of booze to repair that?
Also, using the word "repairing" was exaggerating because the procedure was simple. A bottle of brand new Reactive Bots would be added to the existing Reactive Armor for them to assimilate together.
One million Reactive Mycelium Bots.
That's what is inside a bottle that cost 750 Geass in market price. And the Reactive Armor a soldier is wearing could support between three to four million Reactive Mycelium Bots, depending on the quality of their armor.
A stronger armor would cost them even more, but for the money they're paying, it would protect them much better, of course.
Hence, unless they're someone with potential like Li-Xin, they won't be thinking about investing in repairing their Reactive Armor.
"Would you like to proceed?" the shopping console inside his allocated room repeated the question. If it received no reply from Li-Xin for more than five minutes, the system would return to its sleeping mode for power saving.
"Process it." Li-Xin placed his palm on the console and approved the transfer. Seven hundred fifty Geass was withdrawn from his biometric account for the payment. Looking at his own statement that barely passes the two thousand Geass mark, Li-Xin knew that he eventually has to return to the field again.
"What a bitter life of a soldier I had... Ah!" Li-Xin complained. But at the same time, he was changing to a set of good-looking clothing. Because poor or rich, one has to get some entertainment after a life and death battle.