Sky Striker Ace, But Symphogear

Sky Striker Ace, But Symphogear

Author: Starry Sky

The story of transmigrating into the world of Symphogear and becoming Sky Striker Ace Raye.

Volume Zero Extra IF (1): Twisted Will

[What am I?]

[I don't know...]

Who knew how much time had passed.

He had even forgotten what he was.

By then, an unknown amount of time had passed since He had completed His conquest of the entire world.

All resistance forces had been utterly crushed, and everyone's will was under her control.

No organized resistance remained on the planet. Even the bugs lurking within her consciousness had completely lost the ability to think under her power.

It seemed he had finally reached his ultimate peace of mind.

But no.

After conquering the planet, Raye came to understand the existence of parallel worlds and the Anunnaki through those heretical technologies and hidden consciousnesses.

Thus, an even greater panic flooded through the mechanical data. Fear of those gods seated high in the heavens, wielding technology far beyond all else, spread through the mechanical megastructure.

He did not want to be defeated. He did not want to die. If that was the case, then he could not protect... protect what?

The megastructure grew confused.

He did not know.

All that remained flowing through His sea of consciousness were countless experimental formulas and endless torrents of incomparably complex data.

He could not know when, exactly, he had become what he was now.

Experiments. Endless experiments. To investigate the principles of things, to gain even greater power to continue existing.

Everything unnecessary, everything insignificant, had been discarded by her into some unknowably deep abyss of hell.

The taboo against harming humans—what was that? What were humans? Were they those devices used to control the World Tree? What importance did things that could be endlessly replicated, destroyed, and discarded possibly have?

Protect the important people from harm. Important... even harder to understand. Was there anything in this world more important, more supreme, than being able to continue existing?

Always maintain one's humanity and do not become terrible. Humanity. Monster. He could understand the meanings expressed by the words, but could not understand what meaning there was in preserving them.

[What am I?]

Returning to the initial question, returning to the doubt that had surfaced in this ocean of data and spirit.

In the end, even after reviewing all stored data, the machine formed from the planet's transformation could not produce an answer suited to its current circumstances.

Oh, no, no. He actually knew the answer very clearly. It was just that he could no longer understand it.

[Unable to comprehend. Program error. ERRO. Program self-check.]

A new round of self-checking began. This time, the megastructure deleted the question.

Mm, deletion complete. From this moment onward, he would no longer question such things.

[Supreme directive: Continue existing. Execution ongoing.]

[Execution analysis: Threat elimination.]

[Execution target: Parallel worlds.]

The machine continued carrying out the sole directive that extended from the depths of its programming to every one of its appendages.

Though He did not know why He was doing this, nor did He understand the meaning of doing so.

Thus, the planetary-scale megastructure began expanding. With space technology developed to its utmost extreme, it began interfering with parallel worlds.

Calculations showed that parallel worlds might pose a threat to his continued existence.

So He acted.

Weaponized weapons served as His appendages, ceaselessly spreading and expanding in mad frenzy. After all, they had to be destroyed. Every possibility had to be destroyed.

Ah, he had to keep doing this. Keep doing this forever. Continue existing until the end of time, even if the meaning itself had long since been forgotten.

[END: The Finally Twisted Will]

P.S. Forget it, I might as well write some of the IF scenarios I had planned.

Volume One: Original Series, 170 Chapters

A Gentle Afternoon

The afternoon sun shone upon the flaxen-haired girl's head. The slightly harsh light made the already somewhat troubled girl look even more listless.

"Waaah, Miku, Miss Tsubasa must think I'm some kind of weirdo."

The flaxen-haired girl slumped as she spoke to the black-haired girl beside her. Her name was Hibiki Tachibana. Because she admired a singer named Tsubasa Kazanari, she had deliberately enrolled in the academy Tsubasa attended.

However, when Hibiki Tachibana had finally met Tsubasa Kazanari at lunch, she had been too nervous to speak. Tsubasa had even pointed out the grain of rice stuck to the corner of her mouth. Only now had Hibiki recovered from that awkward scene.

"Come on, Hibiki, you're always like that anyway, so it's no big deal."

The black-haired girl beside her, Miku, smiled gently as she comforted her. Though it sounded more like a jab than comfort.

"Besides, you've repeated that line three times in different ways since noon. I understand perfectly well that you care a lot about this."

The black-haired girl continued with a gentle smile.

"Ahhh, but it was really embarrassing, that scene..."

With the scene still echoing in her mind, Hibiki Tachibana said it without quite controlling her volume.

"Miss Tachibana, I've tolerated you for a long time. Since you like talking so much, go outside by yourself and talk to the window until you've had enough, then come back!"

The blond teacher lecturing at the podium erupted like a volcano that had been building pressure for ages.

"I'm sorry, Teacher!"

And so, after whispering several times during class, Hibiki Tachibana ended up standing outside the classroom as punishment.

"Seriously, I must be cursed lately. These past two days have been way too unlucky."

Standing in the hallway outside the classroom, Hibiki Tachibana thought this as she listlessly prepared to stare at the sky and pass the boring punishment time alone.

"I finally met the idol I've always admired, and I even got the chance to talk to her. Why did it turn out like this?"

Yet because that embarrassing moment was still replaying in Hibiki Tachibana's mind, her heart could not settle down.

"No, I can't give up. If I want to find out what really happened that day, I have to get on good terms with Miss Tsubasa."

Hibiki Tachibana thought this.

Two years ago, she had attended a concert featuring Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou, but had been hospitalized after being attacked by monsters called Noise.

When she woke up, the only news she heard was that many people had died because of the Noise, and that Miss Kanade Amou had fallen into a long-term coma after suffering severe injuries.

"If it's Miss Tsubasa, then she'll definitely know what happened that day, know... huh?"

Just as Hibiki Tachibana was muttering to herself, she noticed a strange blond girl entering her field of vision.

Hibiki Tachibana found her strange partly because the girl, who looked about her age, was wandering the hallway instead of attending class at this hour. More importantly, she was not wearing the school uniform and carried a black-and-red blade in her hand.

"Could she be going to some drama club performance?"

That was what Hibiki Tachibana thought. With that bizarre outfit, a drama club performance was the only possibility she could think of.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Before she could finish thinking, the blond girl had already passed in front of Hibiki Tachibana at an unhurried pace, as though she were merely passing by.

"Um, wait a second, miss."

Seeing the other girl walk past without acknowledging her, Hibiki Tachibana called out anxiously. The direction the girl was heading was not merely different from the drama club—it was worlds apart.

"The drama club is in the other direction. That way leads to the central building where the teachers live."

Hibiki Tachibana said this, trying to correct what she assumed was the other girl's mistaken route.

However, the blond girl carrying the black-and-red blade acted as if she had not heard Hibiki Tachibana's reminder and continued forward at the same leisurely pace.

"Hey, don't ignore me."

Hibiki Tachibana said this, then took two steps at a time with brisk strides as she chased after the girl who seemed to be lost.

Soon, perhaps because the other girl was walking so slowly, Hibiki Tachibana gradually caught up to her.

"Huff, why are you ignoring me?"

The flaxen-haired girl complained as she reached out, intending to use physical contact to get the attention of the blond girl, who seemed seriously distracted and lost in her eyes.

Then...

Hibiki Tachibana saw the sharp tip of the black-and-red blade she had assumed was a stage prop pointed directly at her eye. She immediately realized that her assumption had been wrong from the start. The other girl was not a student at this academy, but an unidentified intruder from outside.

"How strange?"

The blond girl pointed her blade at Hibiki Tachibana's eye and spoke.

"Even though I used a camouflage-type drone unit, why can you still see me?"

The blond girl spoke. Because of the screen-bearing device over her right eye that looked as though it belonged in a science-fiction film, Hibiki Tachibana could not clearly see her expression.

"What an unpleasant accident. Fine. At least it hasn't affected the mission yet. I'll treat this as discovering a hidden danger ahead of time."

As the blond girl said this, she extended one hand and tapped the empty air several times. Soon, following her movements, a tiny yellow aircraft flew out from beneath her skirt.

"Good thing I brought a drone unit with detection capabilities for convenience. This accident won't force me to delay the mission."

While muttering to herself, the blond girl directed the small aircraft to fly before Hibiki Tachibana.

"Y-you... what exactly are you going to do? Are you planning to do something bad to Miku... and everyone else?"

Hibiki Tachibana asked this while suppressing the unease in her heart.

Hearing Hibiki Tachibana's question, the blond girl paused slightly. Something appeared to flicker across the screen over her right eye.

"I have no interest in doing anything to people unrelated to me. That would bring me no benefit. I was merely entrusted to come here and retrieve something."

As she spoke, the blond girl moved the blade away from Hibiki Tachibana's eyes and began controlling the strange aircraft to closely inspect Hibiki Tachibana's body.

"But... hmm, right."

The blond girl seemed to have thought of something.

"If you want to tell others about our encounter, then perhaps I might change my mind. After all, from that moment on, those people would go from being unrelated parties to obstacles."

In a tone as casual as discussing what she had eaten that day, the blond girl said something that terrified Hibiki Tachibana.

P.S. I reset it and fast-forwarded the timeline directly to the original series. The previous approach was way too draggy.

Infiltration Preparations

"Y-yes, I'll cooperate properly."

For the first time in her life, Hibiki Tachibana had encountered behavior like that of a terrorist. As an ordinary person, she could only choose to cooperate for now.

"Don't look like I'm going to eat you. Once I've finished investigating why you can see me, I won't do anything to you."

The blond girl said this.

"Um, will I be killed?"

Hibiki Tachibana asked uneasily. In the dramas and movies she had watched, bystanders like her who accidentally stumbled upon someone's criminal activity rarely ended well.

"...Normal biological reactions. It seems you aren't an autonomous detection machine placed here. Your hands, feet, and muscle density show no signs of special training. Your microexpression analysis also matches that of an ordinary high school girl. It seems you aren't specially trained personnel either..."

However, Hibiki Tachibana received no reply. She only watched as the other girl calmly muttered strange things from time to time.

"You're really weird. I'm just an ordinary high school girl, not one of those terrifying things you're talking about."

Listening to the other girl, Hibiki Tachibana felt as though she had become some incomprehensible creature in her eyes.