Chapter 55 – Observer’s Gambit
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As the ice slowly cracked and broke apart, Alpha fixed her gaze on the black tornado, now thawing out from the ice that had imprisoned it. Her mind worked methodically, calculating how to confront the persistent system bug. Memories of test-point ß flooded her thoughts—once the only timeline she could call home before it was violently torn apart. Among those memories, she recalled the Commander of that timeline effortlessly dealing with a similar black tornado. However, she found herself unable to replicate their success.

"A remnant of threat level-V." She spoke slowly. "A system bug like you should erased entirely, but we couldn't to erase you completely." Alpha glanced at the structure tower at the distance. "If we can't erase you, we will study you thoroughly using any disposable resource we can to contain you." 

"You are just a mere machine ANTI-X, don't get too cocky." The tornado spoke, lightning striked everywhere and the fleets was ready for what's to come.

Alpha smirked, "And what about you? You are just a remnant of that girl who we destroyed countless of years ago." She felt satisfied for delivering that line to it. 

"ANTI-X," a term that felt both familiar and distant to Greynar. The knowledge he had accumulated inside the game might not be as effective in this situation. He considered that Alpha seemed to know something about the strange black tornado that was conversing with her. He couldn't hear it properly because of the swirling wind.

Memphis glanced at Greynar, her expression filled with questions, but he appeared just as clueless. When Alpha finished speaking, she swiftly launched an attack on the black tornado and vanished using her advanced technology. Greynar, sensing urgency, quickly issued orders for the fleets to attack the swirling phenomenon. The tornado, confident in its perceived victory, swirled with intensity, a malevolent laughter echoing within its confines.

"Helena! Have you done analyze the black tornado!?" Greynar looked behind him as the blue-haired cruiser was using the holographic data in front of her to try and analyze the tornado in front of them.

Helena shook her head. "No! I can't seem to analyze that thing, it as if it came from different dimension!"

"Tch we got no choice but to just attack that black tornado." Turning back to the scene in front of him, the Commander muttered silently. "Command, Savi-"  

A hand appeared beside his face and silenced his mouth. "We can't let you get exposed, please cooperate with me, S.A.V.I.O.R." It was Alpha's voice.

Greynar silenly nodded, he pondered whether Helena saw that. However, she didn't react at all, or maybe she was too preoccupied with trying to analyze it. Barrage of salvo went through the vortex's body as it appear again behind it. There's no physical form on it or any solid form. Clicking his tongue, the Commander patiently wait for Alpha to help them. 

"Volga! Can you try to do that ice technique that you did?" He connected his comms channel to one of his lover. 

"I can't do that," Volga explained. "The ice particles would be blown away by this strange wind. Since it takes time to charge up and gather the ice particles, the wind would likely cancel the effect." 

"I see... Try to stay where you are right now, this is our first time encountered this type of mirror sea." He asked her.

There was a brief silence on her side. "...Okay, i'll do what you ask and try to attack that black tornado." 

Switching to another channel, he was met with a sudden crash from behind the black vortex. A structure collided with the tornado, causing serious damage to the fleets and the surrounding area. Greynar, recovering from the crash, went to see that Alpha had brought out her mass-produced Siren ship. Some humanoid Sirens also appeared, surrounding the black vortex in the middle.

"That took a while to activate the old model, Zero has granted me permission to use this." Alpha said with a smug expression, she glanced at the Commander and signalled him to retreat. 

"Everyone retreat! Our job is done here, we will let the elite Siren fight that thing!" He gave out order.

Alpha gave him a nod of acknowledgment with a neutral expression and glanced back at the black vortex in front of her. One of the mass-produced ships had a different color compared to the others, and its guns were wider than the usual mass-produced model. Alpha began her attack as the black tornado came head-on with a laser from inside its body.

Alpha dodged the laser as it destroy some of the mass-produced Siren ship, without a pause she ordered a command to the database of ANTI-X program.

Model V2 activate, [Initiate containing procedure... Grant permission, Model CLIV... Permission granted] 

Accessing database... Category threat-III procedure... Confirmed

Locking-on target... Target locked on

Activating weapon model L... Charging...

50%...

70%...

90%...

Firing....

The unique mass-produced ship fired its gun. Instead of the usual Siren bullets, it shot a beam of a barrier in four directions, closing in the black vortex. "...W-what is that model!? Wasn't it supposed to be destroyed along with the classified documents that Eagle Union had!?" The black tornado nervously tried to escape, but it was met with a wall of lasers above it. "NO! I CAN'T BE TRAPPED HERE!" For the first time, the entity has now understand what it means to fear something. "THIS... THIS IS NOT WHAT SHE PLANNED! CURSE YOU [DATA REDACTED]!!! DIE ANTI-X!!!"

Lightning struck inside the barrier fiercely, and the tornado changed its form to a jumble of mist. Alpha, being cautious as a slight crack appeared inside the barrier, she noticed the black mist slowly creeping up on every side, including the top. More and more cracks appeared on the barrier. She knew that it wouldn't be easy to contain an entity capable of destroying a continent.

The barrier broke and the mist begin to spread out to the area, the mass-produced ships that got inside the black mist turned hostile. Alpha confirmed this with her own sight of an infected destroyer that crashed into their own ally. She also have seen similar situation back on the test-site β where Siren ships begin to produce a black miasma that could infect a KANSEN or even a Siren. 

Alpha who have predicted it, begin to laugh. "Ahahaha, this is my first time dealing with the likes of you, even Zero said you are a bug that are easy to be squashed, we will study you carefully once you are properly contained. " 

The black mist was enraged by her statement and began to charge towards her, forming into a giant needle of mist. She easily predicted its movement and dodged to the side. The needle suddenly produced a spike on its body, forcing Alpha to unexpectedly raise a barrier to protect herself.

"Well, well... I guess i take that as if you are learning?" Alpha slightly chuckled, still maintaining distance from the black mist. 

Alpha silently observed the movement, waiting for the right opportunity to catch the black mist and contain it. When the needle-like body of the tornado turned towards Alpha, she aimed her rigging at it and shot a piercing laser beam. The mist disintegrated and retreated to the ground. Observing the mist's behavior, she controlled the unique mass-produced ship to shoot another barrier beam around it.

The black mist barely avoided it, but some parts of the mist got trapped inside the barrier. Alpha fired her weapon to cut the connection between the black mist and the trapped part. The barrier gradually shrunk down into a cube shape, containing a small substance. Alpha took it and sent the cube to another hidden location that managed by her. 

"Good, this will boost our examination progress... Now for the second objective." She glanced back to Greynar's fleet, the fleets stood far away from her. "I will finish this an instant, let's enough having fun with you, Model CLIV, self-destroy protocol, aim at designation target ANTI-X - Model, Observer." 

She dashed to the black mist and enveloped herself in a barrier, letting the mist consume her fully. Before getting infected by the other Siren ship, the unique mass-produced ship called Model CLIV aimed their gun at Alpha's and shoot their laser to her location. When the laser hit her barrier, she destroyed herself from inside and let the barrier expand bigger.

The black mist, trapped inside the barrier that Alpha had released, began to press against the walls by solidifying its body into a lump of black goo. It attempted to crash through the barrier, but to its surprise, the barrier not only held firm but also countered by releasing electric discharges that scattered around its surface. The interference of electricity made escaping seemingly effortless from the goo's perspective.

"Your attempt is meaningless." A voice appear from the top, it was Alpha, she came back in a new vessel she prepared. "You will never get out from it, this mirror sea is a special kind just for you. Anyway, i'll be taking you for analyzing." Alpha opened her palm and activated her mirror sea control, she send the black mist away from the mirror sea to another place. 

She send some report to Observer Zero about the details of the experiment. Glancing back at mirror sea, she decided to get everyone out from the place.

Returning to the command ship, she appear behind Greynar. "Hey, Commander." It was as if time was stopped, everything that moved was stopped suddenly. Helena that was waiting inside the control room with him, freezed.

Surprised by her appearance Greynar jolted from his chair. "Y-yes!?" 

"I'm here to ask a favour, i used a special form of communication with you right now, we don't have much time." Alpha answered.

"What do you want, Observer?" The Commander straightened his clothes awkwardly after he fell from his chair.

"It's not much of a favor but i want you to erase everyone's memory of being in here completely." With an absurd request, Alpha said.

"E-erase memories!?" Greynar was bewildered by her request, it was as absurd as someone who ordered a tank so casually. "H-how d-"

"You can, i know very well the percentage of your current ability right now. Even the limit output it has before it could explode." She glanced at his chest, but instead glancing at it, she looks like she was analyzing the inside of his chest. 

Calming down to think rationally, Greynar noticed something strange. 'Huh, i just realized, how did Alpha know about S.A.V.I.O.R?' The Commander a bit skeptic with Alpha's word, raised his brow.

Reading his facial expression, Alpha slightly nodded. "I know that you are asking how i know about S.A.V.I.O.R in your mind, am i wrong?" 

"Y-yes," Greynar silently nodded. "I don't know whether to trust you fully or not, and how did you know about S.A.V.I.O.R, in the first place i never disclose its existance to anyone." 

Alpha smirked. "As an outsider not from this dimension, you sure are clever not to trust anyone fully. Well, i will just say that i have story with its origin. In the first place, that thing was stolen from us by the Commander you have replaced as." 

Feeling guilty after hearing the truth, Greynar apologized to her sincerely. "Ah, umm... i'm very sorry on their behalf, it was probably not an intentional steal from you." 

In response Alpha shrugged it off. "No, it's alright, it was also intentional plan that we used to immediately plant the seed sooner." 

"The... seed?" Her last word made him lost in questions.

"I know the truth of this timeline, outsider... Perhaps you might want to know the connection of this timeline and the others?" Idly playing with the tentacles she turned to him with a smirk on her face.

He closed his eyes to sort out his thoughts. 'I think i get the gist of it, Alpha has a connection to this weird shenanigans that somehow was created accidentally or intentionally. That black tornado, she knows something that i dont. Lastly, that girl know that i wasn't from here, my appearance here was probably her doing through the humans from this world.'

Waiting for his response, Alpha offered a suggestion. "How about this, after you erase everyone's memory about this incident and closed the case regarding this matters, i will personally help you regarding S.A.V.I.O.R's fragment and your problem. I will also tell you something that you might find it very interesting, how about it? Sounds good?" 

'Should i trust her?' Greynar mused. 'But this is the only way to find out the truth, i can't be blindsided anymore if there is a path for me to go.'

Turning to Alpha with a glimmer in his eyes, Greynar accepted her offer. "Fine, I'll trust you." 

Alpha smiled, "Good to know, glad to be working with you, Commander."

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