"How...how has Perun won on her own 5 times in a row?" I say panting on the ground with T-elos standing next to me. I look up and she looks agitated, not to mention I can feel her anger too.
"T-elos is a powerful blade indeed. On her own, she probably would be able to overpower me most of the time. The problem is you, Nick." Could she have put that more nicely? "A Blade is as good of a fighter as her Driver. You have potential Nick, Zenobia has taught you well when it comes to the basics. I want you to train with Amara for today to improve your combat abilities. T-elos, you have a free day today, but don't get carried away, I still don't fully trust you yet."
"Hmph, I don't need your trust. I know how to control myself." T-elos replied as Perun walked away. Amara comes into view as Amara gets up from sitting down on the sidelines.
"Okay Nick let's get down to business, You have a good grasp on offensive attacks and defense, your problem is your reaction speed. The only true way to work on that is to spar with me. So let's do this!" T-elos then walks off to the side while I stand face to face with Amara, who was slightly taller than me now that look at her. Alright, let me get in my stan-.
"Huh" The next thing I knew, I was on the ground.
"The opponent won't wait for you to be ready when attacking" Wow she's really fast, no wonder Perun paired me up with her. I get up and brush the dust off my jacket. My side was throbbing in pain from that throw. I decide to take the offensive and rush at her with a punch. She blocked it and countered by grabbing my extended arm and pushing me away. I regained my stance and try again, I rush at her again but this time instead of running straight on, I dart left at the last second and throw a punch at her side. She tanked it as expected, but she has a delighted look on her face. "Good job, you're able to adapt to a situation well. I didn't expect that move, but it won't work twice. Now it's my turn." Oh no.
*Time skip brought by Amara doing a backflip*
After about five hours of nothing but sparring, I feel like my reaction time is getting better. During that time, we also trained with weapons, more specifically with the sword I have. I managed to genuinely beat Amara a few times, but I feel that I would still lose if my opponent was Zenobia or Raye.
"Not bad, you improve fast," Amara says we clean up from our sparring with different weapons. "Just practice what I told you with T-elos and you'll get even better in no time. Oh by the way T-elos, KOS-MOS wanted to be here to spar you but had to help with research at Tora Industries."
"Tell her I'm ready to fight anytime," T-elos said confidently. I then wondered about something.
"Why is KOS-MOS helping out a tech organization?" I asked out loud.
"Well, Tora industries helps all the nations with security, since the founder wanted to be able to help everyone in need, with their biggest project being artificial blades. With light being such a rare element for blades to have, the organization asked me if I could lend KOS-MOS help with the development of artificial blades that have the light element. There's only been one in the history of artificial blades, the first one. The founder decided to keep that sort of power a secret, but with the technology we have now, we can now recreate it."
"I don't know, maybe it was kept a secret for a reason," I replied.
"That's what I think as well, but there's no evidence that the head of research is doing anything devious, so the royal capital can't interfere. I've tasked KOS-MOS to alert me if anything seems suspicious. So far she said everything went fine, why don't you guys go over there now? I've heard that they wanted to see you anyway after rumors spread that T-elos was in town."
"Sure, we still have time before we have to meet up with Raye and the others. You wanna go T-elos?" I ask her as we're walking outside the palace.
"We have nothing better to do right now, besides we might see KOS-MOS. I have a bone to pick with her."
"But she hasn't done anything to you though," I said with a chuckle.
"I don't know but I just don't like her for some reason," With a sigh, we decided to go to Tora Industries. We had to ask for directions since I forgot to ask Amara. It seems getting lost is my specialty. When we finally get there, I look up and notice that this building is huge! It had to have taken up the space of four of the surrounding buildings. The doors slide open and a person wearing a lab coat and a notepad walked up to us.
"Hello, we've been expecting you."
"Uh, you knew that we were coming?" I asked the lady slightly concerned.
"Yes, we have we were going to request the royal guard to borrow you anyway. T-elos controls the dark element unlike almost any other dark blade in existence. We'd like to ask you if you would allow us to borrow her to help us test the integrity of our artificial blades"
"Uh we don't have much time here in Tantal but we'll do our best," I replied as the lady smiled and motioned us to follow her inside. We follow as the doors slide close behind us.
"You're too nice Nick," T-elos said to me. It wasn't loud enough for the lady in front of us to hear but I still heard it nonetheless.
"I know, it's just who I am I guess. Besides, we also came here for more than just sightseeing. We also came here to check up on KOS-MOS and to see if there's anything suspicious." I reply. We kept walking throughout the facility seeing many cool things and technologies.
"And this is where we create artificial blades." The lady told us as we walk past a large window on the wall. On the other side was a room of engineers building what seems to be an artificial blade.
"Woah I would've thought these would be mass-produced," I said out loud.
"Well of course artificial blades can't be mass-produced. The making of them takes time and dedication, which is why our most experienced engineers are allowed to create them." I continued to look out the window to see if anything was happening, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. We decided to keep walking when we heard a loud commotion in front of us. We decided to run towards it when all of a sudden a door flew off and hit the wall across from its original position.
"Another fail Riku?" The lady said as if it has happened. I was still stunned that a sliding door was able to fly that far.
"No not a fail, just a lesson!" A nopon covered in oil marks walked out the doorway to greet us. "Oh, who are new friends?" The lady then said that we are just guests.
"Hello I'm Nick and this is T-elos Nice to meet you Riku, what were you working on?"
"Riku working on a project to help boss! However, the machine just blows up in Riku's face." The lady then seems like was surprised.
"Oh dear me, I'm running late for my next meeting. Riku could you take our friends to where KOS-MOS is. That would be a great help." Riku then agreed as the lady walked off.
"Riku will take to boss's lab. He is the head of light element research. Riku is just an apprentice so not allowed to take part in the research."
"Don't worry Riku, you'll become a great inventor in no time," I tell Riku to motivate him. Riku thanked me for my enthusiasm and he would show his inventions if he had a chance. After about a few minutes of walking, we finally made it to the supposed research lab. Riku took a key card from his pocket and slid it into a card reader. The door then slid open to reveal a large room that had a lot of contraptions that I was not familiar with at all. I turned to see T-elos scanning the room as well until her eyes locked on to something... or rather someone. "Uh, T-elos we're not here to fight remember?"
"I know it's just that KOS-MOS still annoys me."
"Oh do friends know KOS-MOS?" Riku asked. I told them how we knew each other and then we walked over to her. She seemed to be talking with a scientist.
"Hello, Boss!"
"Oh Riku I'm glad that you're here, please take this data to the engineers downstairs." Riku then takes the papers and starts to walk off.
"Riku hopes to meet friends again!"
"See you later Riku!" I reply as he walks out the door. I turn around to face the scientist who began speaking.
"Hello, I am Doctor Viator and I head the Light research at Tora Industries. I'm sure you've seen that we've asked for the help of KOS-MOS to accelerate our research time."
"Yea, it seems like having the help of a light blade is better for research instead of producing light-attribute ether from scratch," I reply trying to sound as smart as possible. I could see that T-elos easily saw through my speech pattern, but luckily didn't say anything.
"Yes, that's exactly it. You are quite intelligent for a young man such as yourself. Everything here is to help improve the lifestyle of everyone in Alrest! Now that the destruction blade is here I would like her to test the durability of our artificial blades. And to do this, we would like to have you attack one.
"Hmph seems easy enough," T-elos exclaims. "Sure I'll wreck a bot or two for you."
"Wonderful, follow me to our rough testing room. That is where we conduct the more physical tests in this building."
"Sure." We follow him down a few floors to a different room. This one was much larger than the one we were previously in. The artificial blade was already set up on the other end of the room. Since it was dangerous for anyone else to be in the room, I and KOS-MOS were told to be in the spectators' room which had a large window to watch from the other side of the wall. As soon as Doctor Viator gave the okay, T-elos summoned her Greataxe and started attacking it. Let's just say that the bot didn't stand a chance.
*Time Skip brought by KOS-MOS doing the robot*
After a few more tests, we finally said goodbye to the doctor. As we were walking down the stairs with KOS-MOS, she said something that surprised me.
"I have noticed that some of the artificial blades T-elos destroyed have a device in them that's meant to absorb ether."
"Hmm, why would he need to absorb ether if the robots were going to be destroyed anyway, maybe his research?"
"Then he wouldn't need a reason to lie about the purpose of the tests," T-elos responded. KOS-MOS then gave a nod of agreement. I looked surprised.
"It sounds like you two finally agreed on something since we've been here."
"..." The sound of annoyed silence told me that they didn't want to admit that I was right. After thinking for a bit, I got an idea to sneak into the building at some point and discover what is going on. T-elos liked the plan, but KOS-MOS seemed to hesitate.
"Although sneaking in is an option, the chance of it failing is over sixty percent." Which seems true. Tora Industries has a lot of security in the form of card readers and people constantly roaming the halls. Hmm, let's see.... Wait I have an idea.
"What about Riku, I'm sure if we can explain our situation to him, he might be able to help us," I exclaimed. KOS-MOS seemed to like the idea, so before leaving we decided to sneak our way to Riku's workshop. I could remember where it was due to the door being missing from earlier. I took a peek inside to see Riku working on something. "Hey, Riku we're back!"
"Oh hello, friends! Did not expect to see you so soon." Riku replied excitedly. "Riku can now show you inventions!"
"I would love to see them, but we need to tell you something," I reply before I explain to him what he discovered. After we told him the situation and our plan, he seemed rather hesitant.
"But boss never seemed that bad before."
"I know I didn't notice anything weird either until KOS-MOS here said something." After some convincing, Riku agreed to help us. "Thanks, Riku. If it turns out that it's nothing, we'll stop the investigation. But until then, please keep an eye on him. We'll come back tomorrow and share any new information.
"Ok, Riku will see friends later!" We finally walk out of the building to see Raye and the others waiting for us.
"Just on time, we were on our way to the library when Amara told us where you were," Raye says as the doors slide close behind us. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yea we are. We'll see you later KOS-MOS." KOS-MOS then said goodbye to us as we make our way to Tantal's library.