Erich barely had enough time to make love to Yumi before being shipped off to his next training exercise. The newly crowned Oni Empress had taken the throne by force, but she had her own blood claim to it. And because of this, the chaos that had prevailed across Oni Space for the last year and a half had finally come to an end.
The former Emperor was now in custody, where he would await a trial in a kangaroo court. Naturally, there was only one sentence that awaited him, and that was an execution. In the meantime, Prince Ryu was stripped of his Royal Title, and disowned from the Kondo Dynasty. His biggest crime was simply supporting his father's claim to the throne.
As for Ayumi, she watched the event unfold on the Galactic Network, and was beyond happy that she would finally be more than just Erich's alien lover. Her dreams had come true, and she was now Erich's lawful fiancee. Something that did not exactly seem to sit well with either her people or her future husband's.
Erika seemed to have embraced the idea, as she was by now so accustomed to Ayumi, that she felt if she were to dare disagree, it would perhaps ruin the friendship which had formed after numerous trials between the two of them.
Of course, Erich was completely unaware of these things, and was instead sitting in an orbital drop pod, while wearing a standard set of Star Marine Power Armor. It had been two weeks since his orbital drop training had begun. And unlike the time he had deployed from space to the Oni Capital, he was no longer dropping with just his armor.
After all, Basic Power Armor, and its MK I variant which were used by normal WRAITHs in the field were not equipped with antigravity technology, and because of this, he as a W-2 was expected to learn how to drop from space in a pod.
It was an incredibly dangerous endeavor, one which could easily be shot out of the sky by enemy artillery, and this was naturally simulated in the training. A robotic voice appeared in the pods, as it counted down the time before the pod dropped from orbit.
"Countdown in t minus fourteen seconds."
The voice continued to countdown the seconds while Erich's heart pounded as if it were about to give out. Evidently, Tia could detect Erich's unusual heartbeat and was quick to comfort him with her soothing voice.
"Don't worry master, Tia is certain that you will be alright. And once you complete one thousand simulated drops without incident, you will be certified as a proper W-3!"
Erich was just about to thank Tia for her words of comfort when he felt his stomach jolt. The pod had dropped before he could even speak a word, as he barreled through the atmosphere of a fortress world, which did everything it could to shoot both him, and the other twelve hundred candidates out of the sky.
In all honesty, there wasn't much to dropping in a pod. It was all about dumb luck. It could not be steered and was locked onto its target location. But one was expected to perform the drop and exit the pod without any sign of vertigo. As well as regroup at the rendezvous point.
The echo of explosions resounded through the air, as Erich's pod barreled through the sky, while its energy shields extinguished any fires that might affect the structural integrity. One by one, the twelve hundred pods were blown out of the sky, with the WRAITH recruits inside them being turned to scrap and meat paste.
And yet Erich continued to barrel towards the planet below. Until finally, id deployed to such a low altitude that the parachute deployed. This was not your standard cloth parachute, but was instead just a device that jutted out of the top of the pod and was designed to slow his descent.
However, there was just one problem: the chute did not deploy automatically like it should have. Evidently, the pod either malfunctioned, or was damaged by one of the shells which struck it. Thus, Erich had no choice but to reach out with his hand, while free falling through the air, and pull the manual deployment.
After nearly ripping the lever out of its socket, the chute finally deployed, but it was several seconds later than it was supposed to be, which meant that when Erich's pod finally crashed into the ground, the fall was far more devastating than it should have been.
Half of the pod was torn open from the impact to the point where it looked as if it were a soda can that had been shot by a 9mm. And Erich had flown out of its interior and crashed into a nearby building.
If it were not for his cybernetic implants, which made his bones virtually indestructible, or the power armor which took most of the damage. Erich would have likely broken every bone in his body. But after groaning in agony, and dragging himself out of the rubble which collapsed on top of him, he miraculously found that he was still alive.
Erich then searched the wreckage for his rifle, where he found it too had survived, and after grabbing ahold of it, and inspecting its functionality, he determined that painful as this drop may have been; he was more than capable of rendezvousing with the other survivors.
Thus, he immediately took off to meet up with the others. Where once he arrived, he was evaluated based upon his performance, before being sent back into orbit and dropped again. He would continue to drop for three whole months, before he was deemed capable of performing such a task adequately on the battlefield.
---
Unfortunately, Erich found no rest after three months of nonstop orbital drops. Instead, he was given a quick shower, and was told to meet up with the Supreme Leader on the capital of Germania.
It took him a while to arrive, but when he did, he found that this time around he was not alone with the man. Instead, Mirage was sitting across from Emrys when Erich entered the man's office. Before he could even ask why she was there, Emrys spoke with a rather stern tone in his voice.
"Sit down, we have some important matters to discuss...."
Erich could immediately tell by the man's tone that whatever was about to be said was not something that was in his favor. However, much to his surprise, the moment he sat down, he received a file from Mirage, which he quickly opened to reveal the stunning figure of the Light Elven Princess. As well as an entire dossier about her, including everything from her personality, her likes, her dislikes, her family, her friends, and her occupational history.
This information stunned Erich, who quickly asked what the hell it was all for.
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with this?"
Emrys gave Mirage a silent nod of the head, who then began to speak on her superior's behalf.
"This is Princess Celestia Asterion, heir to the Alfheim Dominion. As you may be aware, the Centennial War Games are upon us, and we have it on good authority that after the little stunt which the Oni Empress played, her mother will be having her investigate you. After all, after you so foolishly followed Yumi's orders, and placed the crown on her head, the entire Galaxy now believes that you are to be our next Supreme Leader."
This news shocked Erich immensely. Become the next supreme leader? Was this some kind of Joke, however before he could ask the immediate question which came to his mind, Mirage continued.
"This is an excellent chance for you to display the strength of the Empire, and to engage in some international diplomacy on behalf of our Supreme Leader. You are a certified W-3 and have skills that few men in the galaxy have. You have also proven yourself to be a capable leader.
It is because of this that you have been promoted to captain, and will temporarily be leading your own group of low ranking WRAITHs for the purpose of this exercise. After you have completed whatever orders you are given, you will then attend the ball that is thrown every one hundred years following the completion of these war games.
All the heads of state within Alfheim Space, along with their families and their successors, will be present for this occasion. So, I must reiterate, so that you can get it through your thick skull, that you are to be on your best behavior. Because if you act poorly, or embarrass yourself, your behavior will reflect on the rest of the Empire."
Erich was flabbergasted by this information, from what it sounded like he really was chosen to be Emrys's successor. Thus, he looked at the man in disbelief before voicing this concern aloud.
"Am I really your successor?"
Emrys sighed heavily, and shook his head, before concealing the truth of the matter from Erich as he leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on his fist.
"No... But as it currently stands, the Artificial Intelligence which is in charge of selecting my true successor has yet to choose a man to fill my shoes. Which is why I am still in this position, even though the war with Terminus concluded years ago.
The fact of the matter is, the galaxy now thinks you are my successor, and if we were to show up to the Centennial Ball without a designated successor, it would make our Empire appear weak, and would embolden our enemies. So, since everybody already believes you are my successor after that little stunt you pulled, I figured I might as well make use of this whole mess.
You have your orders. You will regroup with the Armada, which we will be dispatching to the borders of Alfheim space, where you will take charge of your temporary unit, and conduct the tasks required of you during the War Games to the best of the ability. Once this is concluded, you will rendezvous with me in Germania, before the two of us visit Alfheim Space together.
And as Captain Kuhne has already stated, you are to be on your best behavior. I feel I don't need to say this, but knowing how dense you are, I would be remiss if I didn't. This means that under no circumstances are you to flirt with the other heads of state or their daughters, which includes your new Fiancee and her Royal Aunt...."
Erich nodded his head in understanding, albeit a little offended by the Supreme Leader's last remark. As he saluted the man before preparing for his next deployment. Once he was gone, however, Mirage glared sternly at Emrys before asking the immediate question that came to her mind.
"Why didn't you tell him the truth?"
Emrys simply scoffed before responding to Mirage's question with one of his own.
"You have been quite intimate with the man. What do you think would happen if I were to have told him that he really is my chosen successor with the way he is now?"
It was now Mirage's turn to scoff as she responded to Emrys in exactly the way he was expecting.
"Knowing that idiot, it would probably go to his head. So what, you plan to wait until he has fully matured until you tell him the truth?"
Emrys wore a cruel smile as he nodded his head in silence. It was only after several seconds passed did he reveal his next thought to the woman.
"Either that, or until I've properly beaten that rebellious streak of his out of his thick skull..."
Mirage scoffed once more and shook her head with a smug smile on her pretty face, before revealing her thoughts on that issue.
"That is easier said than done...."
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