Weltkrieg: A Youjo Senki Fic

It was somewhere far away, somewhere off and far-fetched. Watching in eternal vigilance since the crumble of Human Foundation, an extradimensional entity that threatened the entire timeline of humankind.

Atlas Institute, better known among the three great branches of mage's association as the Atlas temple or Titan pit.

The branch that predated thousand of years before the creation of mage's association. The searching, question, wondering and observing the mundane and the extraordinary.

The room was bereft of anything, with the constellation still shining brightly above. Three obelisks in the middle, surrounding them in perfect symmetrical alignment. As the gigantic ritual spell was erected on its middle with dozen man and woman, the finest student and tutor of the atlas, powering and manning the device.

Now, their job was to ensure the human foundation to stay afloat, observing in vigilance over the entire timeline of the world, since the disappearance of the great magician who mastered the second magic; kaleidoscope, magic that governs the operation of alternate timelines.

"Check status." The woman commanded, her purple hair braided to the back as she supervises the entire academy and temple, Sion Eltnam Atlasia, the director of Atlas Temple.

"Tri-Hermes, on stable condition. Processor on safe condition."

"Shifting, Now observing, the 3rd timeline on coordinates xxx-yyy. The Chaldea has reached the 4th singularity. Location, in London 1888. Calculating…Master probability of success less than 5 percent."

Sion sighed in relief, even if it was 5 percent, the chance was already the highest record so far other than the timelines who only have the probability on average of 2 percent.

They were already grasping the straws, with the wandering sea, the other mage's association branch that governs between the gap reality of the human world and the reverse side, gone.

Then the ritual circle flash in red, as announcing something bad will happen. Magus, in furious silence typing over the circle, searching the causes.

"Report."

"Alert, alert, 7th class distortion has been detected in an unknown coordinate. Requesting top-priority observation upon the timelines."

Her face turned into bewilderment, 7th class distortion was the lowest of the lowest. Why it was being reported by the Tri-Hermes? There's a cause of this, why it was being reported, she thought.

"Access…has been denied, ma'am." A man in his teen, scrunching up his face in confusion.

"What do you mean about being denied?"

"We can't observe the timelines, something is interfering with us."

In a logical sense, it was impossible, the ritual is erected synchronously with Tri-Hermes the heart of Atlas temple. Tri-Hermes is a supercomputer that based-off from the supercomputer of Mooncell, an alien device that capable to observe the timelines of human foundation.

She addressed everyone in the room, "Make this top-priority, search the cause and access the timelines no matter what. We need insurance that it won't ruin all of our progress."

Everyone synonymously nodded at her command, continuing their work.

"And search for time-space fracture, anything that could be circ.u.mvented or bypassed."

If there's smoke, there must be a fire. There's a possibility, the distortion was dampened by anything that interferes with Tri-Hermes computation, and therefore was much bigger than the initial report of 7th class distortion.

"Affirmative."

Unified Years, 1914, East Prussia, a region of Königsberg, Empire secret military and Research Facility.

The wind billowing, in a gentle breeze sweeping over the field of flowers. A contrast of the constant shouting, and artilleries roar behind it.

Still, it was just another day in the Obsidian round table, a paramilitary organization in the empire formed on my request to research, develop, and train.

Why, yes. I finally came up with a name, an insignia, and you know what? An armband, with the color of the red as the fabric. Remind you of something?

I was standing there, between the green grass and the multitude of colors of flowers. All have been maintained properly, the base not only contained military facility but also civilian compound, in a few months, it will resemble a small city. Since there was nothing in here but hill and forest, also sea on the other sides.

Violet had gone somewhere, possibly the firing range to test a newly developed rifle or the cafeteria to test the newly developed…sweets. There are only two hobbies of hers after all.

I don't want a strict, imperium of mankind style organization, for the Emperor! Or something like that. Curfew still placed both for Personnel and Civilian, no one under no circ.u.mstances leaves without reports.

In a time of peace or non-emergency, the holiday was placed on Saturday and Sunday. And another whole of rules that promotes healthy and productional working condition.

Everyone was obliged to be put on an embedded tracking formula, to ensure secrecy of the facility. In a few months, we'll have enough mana to erect a barrier that will camouflage the entire facility, in addition to the current barrier that blocked any sound waves from the inside.

"What? Do you prefer the sea instead?"

Though in reality, I just wanted to find an excuse to escape the paperwork Albert somehow managed to stack it on my desk.

That cursed subordinate of mine, maybe I should implement rules Imperium of mankind style? Yeah, I would love a commissar that shout 'not one step back!' and shoot that Untermensch to oblivion.

"No, it's not something like that!" She said in a beet red on her cheek, "It just, why?"

"Ah, nothing. Isn't it just suffocating, spending your time inside that room?"

"Yes…" She said in half-hesitation, unconvinced over my arguments. Even in my past life, I was technically an introvert that basically only talked in time of necessity. Though, it's now affected by my growing phase.

I crouched down, observing the bees that fed upon the nectar of flowers, "If I remember, isn't it awkward to call you Z23?"

"Eh, I think it's fine." She said in denial.

"Nonsense, people would investigate why your name is just a number."

"If it's your order Kommandant, then I will graciously accept the name." She said in a formal tone, though I inwardly sighed. Her mind was still rigged to her previous life under Nazi Germany.

Type 1936A destroyer, she was the number 23 in line. Commissioned in 1940 by Korvettenkapitãn Friedrich Böhme. Participating in various notable engagement and battles over her career as Kriegsmarine destroyer. She was the biggest hitter among her sisters, after being retrofitted in 1944. Decommissioned in the same year after being badly damaged by a British air raid in the shipyard at La Pallice, France.

She wasn't the most tragic ship out of them all but met a sad ending after the war. Being worked as a minesweeper for the French Navy, and all her parts were slowly stripped and scrapped until 1951.

Of course, it was all normal in any military service, she's a weapon after all until I met her in that room. What can I do? She's breathing, feeling pain the same as me.

I nodded at her instead, standing up and walked past behind her.

"Professor Humbert, finally you come." I greeted the middle-aged man, still polished in that aura of vigor as reflected from the big smile he gave me. His well-trimmed mustache could rival the General Rudersdorf himself! I thought.

"Of course! I should, when I heard you develop a sort of fusion of magic and science weapon, again!" He gave me a hearty laugh.

"Well, I can show you now, though we have to move to the artillery range for testing."

"Haha, sure, sure my boy." I can't believe this nice old man is the same colleague as Doctor Schugel himself.

"Nothing big, though I'm sure we're started to leap forward. I've handed the bullet-proof vest, and that gyrocopter concept you had forwarded months ago."

At least he was calmer than Schugel despite his obsession over anything that contains science or magic. He was a man that quick and excel in every field but never linger too long, until he hopped to another thing that fancied his mind.

I forwarded something that nice and worth the effort, like offering candies to a child. Once he built a working prototype, he will lose interest in it, and that's where the others come in, perfecting the prototype. That's why he was the main head of the research branch, technically supervising the science and arcane branch in this facility. Though, I'm sure he just thought this as his personal playground or all-you-can-eat buffet.

In a blink of time, we've arrived at the artillery range, a compound that used to…explode things. Everything is barren around it as the earth gouged off, creating holes here and there. Nothing special.

Some other personnel still testing some prototype, another still attempts to extinguish the smoke that coming from a rocket battery.

We draw a quite few of onlookers, I still remember some of the faces here as I personally recruit some of them. And surely a child less than 11 years old, as the high commander of the base left a quite impression on them.

"So where is it? I didn't see anything?" He looked around.

"Patience professor, Frey, show me your rigging." It took quite a brief time until she realizes I called her.

"Yes," She closed her eyes as a low hum reverberates around, her surrounding motes in dim light, unhindered despite the sun above.

"Mein Gott! this is amazing." His eyes wide open, as he suddenly got too personal on Freesia, examining her rigging.

"Prof--"

"This is intricating. Is this a quadruple torpedo mount? Why interesting…ouch…ouch, bad dog, bad dog!" As he started to drown in his fantasy, the ship jaw bit his hand, though he successfully squatted it off.

"Professor! Mind your manner." I called to him.

"Hmm, yes. Simply fascinating, too bad I wasn't magically gifted to search deeper."

"So, you like my new toys?" I smirked at him.

"Hmph, like there is anything I didn't like from your toys, so to the demonstration then."

"Ah, yes. Frey, would you mind."

"Yes sir," she placed herself, with her hand gripped on the handle of the keel of the rigging or in this case, besides the jaw-dog kind of ship.

"Fire!"

*Boom* a good chunk of debris toppled off the ground, like smoke billowing off the dog mouth.

"Hmm, quite unsatisfactory. But the yield is presumably the same if a 15cm deck gun was fired upon a patch of land." He took note, observing the explosion.

"Good job, Frey." I thanked her.

"But how it works?"

"She has an artificial heart, you see, when mages draw their mana, the magic circuit inside them was made as a sort of manufacturing assembly that converts free air mana to prana, like turning oil into gasoline."

"Yes, I know that." He scoffed, I smiled instead.

"If a magic circuit was the same as a manufacturing assembly, then her heart is equivalent to a factory. Then the ship rigging is a sort of side-product when I noticed a spatial distortion when she tried to perform a formula."

"Wait a minute, you said you built a successful artificial heart?" He asked me, in disbelieve.

Of course, all of it is just a made-up lie. The existence of the ship girl will be only my secret, I don't know what kind of repercussion she'll face if she wasn't a human instead of a weapon.

"Miraculously pulled it off, somehow it only works to female," I stated.

"Interesting," Placing his hand on his chin, in a thought.

After that, I answered many questions that he asked him. Since the purpose was to create an illusion, that she's just a normal human girl. After quite a while of heating discussion, and note exchanging we part our ways.

"Frey," I called to her, we were walking to the cafeteria. Sea was sighted on the horizon, as we stared on the orange skylines.

"If I dragged you to another war, would you follow me?" I asked her in a deep voice, as I put down my hat visor.

Instead of the horrifying reply I expected, I felt she was smiling behind me, "What kind of questions are that commander? Of course, I'll follow you even to the deepest hell itself." She shifted her gaze on the sky, "Even we've just met for one day, even I felt my body was broken into thousands apart inside the pitch darkness, I felt a string of fate will play a grand symphony for us."

"I see." I faintly smiled while wiping a trickle that managed to come out of my eyes.

I felt like a horrible person, of course, I am. Such a hypocrite thing to say, to me who stand on thousands of dead corpses beneath my feet.

"Let's grab a bite, shall we?" I managed my smile as we took off to the cafeteria, I'm sure Violet has been waiting for me or taking a nap somewhere.

"Yes, Kommandant!"

And do I have to tell you once, of how regretful I am to bring Freesia to my office, once she saw the mountain stack of papers. Oh, how I wanted to swear in the name of God, only this time, this time when her iron fist raining down upon me, in the form of a personal secretary. As rumor spreading around the base, awful wailing could be heard in the middle of the night coming from the Haigh commander office.