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{"Hey... what are my orders? Are we going to fight? Tell me... Tell me what to do!"}
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Main Hexcode || #E46B63 ||| Secondary Hexcode || #875FC1
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{Sympathy || Hiroyuki Sawano}
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{"All checks have been completed, sir. I am prepared to begin the test."}
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{"Another test? N-no, of course not! I have no objections. I will do whatever you require of me, sir."}
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{"Please, not again...! No, no, I won't... I won't let you...! I WON'T LET A SINGLE ONE OF YOU LIVE!"}
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• Combat Data •
Compared to the average pilot, Aster has much less formal training. While her reaction speed is certainly impressive, and her control sense is already fairly good, there's clear room for improvement when it comes to actual experience - especially considering that most of the time she's spent in the cockpit has been as a test pilot rather than an actual soldier. However, despite her inexperience, she has several advantages that the average pilot doesn't, which helps to not only even the playing field, but perhaps even give Aster the upper hand.

Most notably of all, surgical application of metallic augmentations to her existing bone structure, having most of her organs replaced by mechanical prosthesis, and partial replacement of some of her damaged muscles with carbon fiber cybernetics has significantly increased her physical durability. Due to this and her specially designed piloting suit and harness, she's capable of withstanding G-forces that might even kill a normal person, and which would at the very least render them unconscious. Due to this, she's capable of disabling safety limitations on rapid directional shifts without many serious consequences, allowing her to perform maneuvers that almost no other pilot can.

Secondly, compensating for her lack of experience is her Mobile Weapon's prototype adaptive learning computer, which records data on any enemy units it encounters and begins to calculate probable flight paths and vectors of attack, altering its predictions based on new data to slowly become more accurate the more she sees of a given unit type and its capabilities. While right now, this interface lacks sufficient data to be of much use, its ability to quickly help her to adapt in battle might be the difference between life and death.

And, finally, her unit's harness is equipped with a multitude of vital sensors which monitor her status, transmitting it back to a ground crew behind allied lines. In the event that she begins to show signs of heightened stress, a stabilizing agent can be injected directly into her body to keep her from experiencing feelings that might detract from her combat ability, such as fear. Other injections for different purposes are also prepared, such as painkillers in the event that she's wounded by an attack on her cockpit, or, for emergency occasions, an awareness booster that temporarily drastically increases the user's reaction time. Unfortunately, this last compound tends to also heighten existing states of stress or tension, and repeated doses can result in extreme irritability and emotional instability. It also causes a "crash" after it begins to wear off, which tends to result in a prolonged period of emotional turmoil, depression, anxiety, and fatigue, accompanied by painful headaches. Because of this, it's usually held back, as although the side-effects can be treated over-time, the immediate consequence of increasing Aster's stress is usually a violent panic attack in which she begins ignoring orders and attacking anything in sight.

As far as actual piloting is concerned, Aster generally favors close-quarters combat. Her aim, while decent, is nothing exceptional, but her incredible reaction speed and ability to perform dangerously fast maneuvers without difficulty give her a distinct advantage when it comes to chasing a target down, bypassing their defenses, and tearing them apart. This might also have something to do with her burgeoning psychotic streak, as the more she focuses on one enemy, the more recklessly determined she becomes to rip them to bits. This is probably her fear at work, as any enemy she can't immediately kill in turn presents the possibility that she herself might be killed. The more anxious she becomes, the closer she comes to having a panic attack, and in turn the more desperately she fights. Her obsession with revenge likely also plays a part, as she's shown rather sadistic tendencies before, taking great relish in crippling every opponent she can and toying with them before finishing them off. While this certainly does make her rather frightening to face, it also hampers her effectiveness, however, meaning the closer she happens to be to a berserk rage state, the easier it is for an enemy to counterattack.

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{"It hurts... It hurts so much...! The pounding in my head won't stop... I have to fight... I have to follow my orders..."}

{"No... isn't this enough already? Please, let me out... Somebody, let me out of here! I'm scared... I'm scared!"}

{"It's kill or be killed. Kill or be killed. Kill or be killed... Kill or be killed! Kill or be killed!"}
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• Personal History •
Aster was born only one year into the Great Orio War, in a small rural community on the edge of the Therux State. During the early stages of the conflict, the Western Coalition was pressing the offensive in the wake of the Helen Tower incident, and as such, besides occasionally hearing about great battles in school or seeing the death tolls in the papers, it didn't really concern her while she was growing up.

Everything changed, however, when the Northern Frontier began its counterattack. As the Coalition's invasions failed, it by bit, the battles grew closer and closer to home. Suddenly, seeing mechanical units patrolling the streets of her hometown wasn't uncommon. At first, it was exciting, seeing what new machines were being deployed and hearing stories from the soldiers about the northern country, and how they'd one day return there triumphant to exact vengeance for all the comrades they'd lost. She respected the soldiers, marveling at their dedication and bravery in the fact of such a terrifying threat as the greedy foreigners who wanted their lands, their homes, and their very livelihood. Her idolization of her "heroes" was such that she swore one day that, when she was older, she'd become a soldier too, and defend her country from evil.

Even hearing news that things were going poorly on the front, Aster wasn't afraid. Her heroes would protect her, right? But one day, when she was 14 years old, close to the end of the war, the unthinkable happened. A northern reconnaissance unit, mistaking the town for a military base due to the darkness and the units garrisoned there, launched a surprise attack at what they thought was part of their enemy's supply line as part of one final campaign of decimation against the Therux State. Aster woke up to the sound of mortar shells raining down upon her home, and wasn't so much as able to run outside before the house collapsed around her.

She can't remember precisely how long she lay, pinned beneath the rubble, choking as the smoke filled her lungs. All she knows is that, by the time she fully came to her senses, everyone and everything she had ever known and loved was gone. Heavy rain was pouring down as the smoke turned to clouds, extinguishing the very fires that had given life to it. As the dirt beneath her gave way to mud, Aster managed to slip free, and wandered the desolate, crater-marked streets of the dead village. She called out for help, but nobody answered her. In the aftermath of the attack, it turned out that she was the only survivor, protected miraculously by the fact that the house had toppled over sideways, and the debris had caught at a point just above the floor rather than crushing her completely. In turn, the rubble protected her from the mortar bombardment, while the blanket she'd still had draped around her from sleep had kept her safe from the noxious fumes and smoke.

Just like that, she was alive. It was as if through some cosmic accident, the world had forgotten that she was supposed to have died that day. So, she continued wandering aimlessly, in a daze, calling for help that wouldn't and couldn't arrive. This part of her memories, too, is a blur. She's told she was picked up by a group of volunteers from the next town over who'd heard of the attack and came to look for survivors. From what she was told, they found her lying by the side of the road almost five miles from the destroyed village, face down shivering in the rain and still calling for her friends and family to answer her, even though she was coughing up blood.

A medical examination after the fact revealed that she had multiple broken ribs, a severe concussion, and a ruptured lung, as well as several other broken bones, and three dislocated discs in her spine that had only been aggravated by how much she'd moved after her injuries during the collapse. In addition, large chunks of her flesh had been burned away by fire, and the doctors feared that she might never walk again, and might even have sustained brain damage. Simply putting her under and then finishing her off was seriously considered as the merciful option. But, due to the timely intervention of a certain "aid group" which arrived on the scene, this proved to be unnecessary.

The Pygmalion Institute was, at the time, the forefront of medical science. However, when the war took a turn for the worse and Therux began to have its lands and people decimated, its researchers turned their focus to a new project: the creation of "super-soldiers," who might be able to protect the country. Bribing government officials to turn a blind eye to the legality of their doings, they began experimenting on any test subjects they could get. A girl with no living relatives and no home to return to, who they could take in under the guise of medical aid work and then declare dead without anyone being suspicious in the least was the perfect specimen for their research.

At the very least, they did what they promised to do: they saved her life. Her burned flesh was cut away and rapidly regrown through cloning technology, then transplanted back onto her body. Her broken bones were healed, and even the damage to her nervous system was undone by replacing most of her spinal cord with cybernetics, followed by the rest of her skeleton and then some of her muscle tissue. Those of her organs which had failed were similarly removed, discarded, and replaced, either by cloned tissue or mechanical substitutes. When she finally awoke from the repeated surgeries, almost a year had passed, and due to the brain damage she'd sustained, she couldn't even clearly remember who she was or what had happened to her at first, although her memories slowly began to return, albeit unclearly.

However, there was one thing she held onto, even on her darkest days when she couldn't remember her own name. She wanted to keep people safe, wanted to be useful, wanted to be a hero... wanted to be anything that would validate her survival when everyone she had known and loved had died. The Pygmalion Institute immediately set upon this as the most obvious weakness they could exploit in her, and soon convinced her to "work" for them, offering her a chance to "better Humanity" through testing. She complied, and by then was too dependent on them to even think of trying to quit later when the effects of the many drugs they tested on her began to take their toll.

She became wildly inconsistent, her mood switching seemingly at random. The slightest, most inconsequential things would set her off into furious anger, or sometimes, she'd just begin crying and wouldn't know why. At almost any sudden sound, she'd feel like the walls and ceiling were closing in on her, like she couldn't breathe. Images of fire and the shock of distant blasts repeated themselves in her mind, unbidden. Even compared to what had come before it, this part of her life above all was a living hell. And yet, she persevered. For the sake of telling herself that there had been a reason after all, for two years she persevered, doing whatever was asked of her, be it fighting, testing new serums - some of which turned out to be addictive, causing even more problems for her already disjointed mental state - or seeing how many Gs of force she could endure without suffering from complications.

With the war's conclusion, however, peace was the first thing on everyone's minds. The bribes paid by the institute could only go so far, and soon, the government began to grow curious as to what exactly the Pygmalion Institute was up to behind closed doors. When their attempts to cover up their supersoldier project backfired, and a disgruntled employee leaked data on their experiments, they were forced to flee to the Freelands, where they went to ground and hid for a while.

What they needed most of all was a new backer - someone with the money and power to fund their continued experiments, and a buyer for whatever "products" they might create. They found one in a certain Sir Andreas Thorne, of the Hylo Empire. A "knight" of the Empire - in practice an elite mecha pilot sanctioned by the royal family - he'd formerly held territory on the northern boundary of Hylo. However, with his holdings decimated and most of his followers killed in the war, he was rapidly on the decline in the royal court, losing both the Queen's favor and his political power. Desperate to make some great play to win back his standing, he thus managed to talk the Queen into letting him pursue research into not only newer, better soldiers, but also superior machines with which to close the technological gap with the Frontier's MK3 mecha. Thus, with his remaining estate, he managed to buy up the work of the Pygmalion Institute, along with several freelance machinists from other sources, in the process effectively paying their way into the country.

Under the direction of Sir Thorne, their research was to be combined with the creation of a superior mobile weapon, pairing what was to be the ultimate pilot with the ultimate machine. Designated the FURY Project, it focused on circumventing the limits of MK2 machines not by creating a more efficient but equally safe means of operation, but rather by adapting pilots to the usage of increasingly high-spec, unsafe machines that would be tailored to their usage.

Unfortunately, between the knight's limited resources and the Pygmalion Institute's destitute condition, they only had three surviving subjects from the original project, designated "Tisiphone," "Megaera," and "Alecto." Of them, Aster was the third. Although she was the most extensively modified physically, her mental state left much to be desired, and it was only with great reluctance that they began using her as a test pilot for the third of their new machines. But, with the possibility of a new war looming on the horizon, they needed to produce something that the royal family would be interested in, and so redoubled their work with renewed diligence and desperation, using every single resource at their disposal. Aster, surprisingly, complied with their orders to become a pilot without any fuss, as, in her emotional turmoil, only one thing held constant.

She wanted to be a soldier, yes. Or at least, she thought she did. But she wasn't really sure why, anymore. Was it really for the sake of others that she'd chosen this hell? And who had benefited from it? Even if someone had benefited from it, what did she care? She couldn't make the world a better place, anyway. But there was one thing she could do. If she could find the ones who had shelled her home, who had killed everyone she knew and forced her into this agony, then, at long last...

She could finally make each and every one of them suffer like she had.

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{"This is real combat? This is what it feels like to kill someone? It's so... easy..."}
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{"Alecto, launching for sortie. Begin recording data."}
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Main Hexcode || #E46B63 ||| Secondary Hexcode || #875FC1
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{MOBILE ARMOR || Hiroyuki Sawano}
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{"Sustaining fire! Damn you, I won't let you get away!"}
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• Design Features •
A bastardized mix of Hylo and Therux technology, the Alecto bears some slight resemblance to the basic frame structure of the Therux "Paladin" and "Chevalier" units, but is also split into easily switchable modular pieces similar to mass production Hylo models. Its torso armor, too, is much closer to Hylo machines, with a heavily plated core module containing the cockpit and main reactors and a low, compact sensor array with 360 degree cameras protruding from the top, shielded on either side as best it can be without obstructing the unit's vision by armored, fin-like protrusions from the main chassis. Conversely, the limbs are more like those of its Therux counterparts, with a rounded, smooth aesthetic with periodic notches forming hardpoints upon which additional weapons, thrusters, and equipment can be mounted. Because of this odd mix-and-match design style, it has a very gaunt, spindly look to it, with a comparatively small torso and long, lean limbs. However, this does have a purpose - to decrease air resistance by rounding out the frame and cutting down on large areas of mass that would otherwise hinder its movement.

It's clearly designed with a focus on speed and maneuverability, as its entire frame is equipped with small maneuvering thrusters, in addition to two large engines mounted on movable joints protruding from the shoulder armor. This means that, unlike most machines, which have frame-locked main engines and several smaller "turning engines," the Alecto is actually capable of freely re-directing its main thrusters to almost instantly accelerate in any direction - a maneuver which would tax most pilots to the breaking point, necessitating Aster's special qualifications in order to make use of the unit.

Due to its extensive network of propulsion systems, as well as its large height and thin limbs making its footing a little bit unsteady, the Alecto thus seldom moves by walking, but rather by gliding across the surface of the ground. While it's not capable of getting much altitude save by jumping into the air with its powerful leg coils, it's nevertheless specialized towards sustained levitation, allowing it to traverse difficult terrain such as water, ice, or rocky ground with very little difficulty, and putting it at a comparative advantage in such circumstances.

However, at the same time, it sacrifices durability for mobility, as its experimental armor is significantly less effective than its designers hoped it would be. While the Alecto can repel small arms fire and most portable anti-armor weapons without much difficulty, any kind of gun emplacement or sufficiently large armament wielded by another mecha would only need to hit the same spot twice to shatter its armor in that place completely, likely doing catastrophic damage in the process. So, in order for the Alecto to survive, it's imperative that it keep moving and pushing its advantage of speed to the maximum, making it something of a natural hit-and-run fighter meant to strike quickly, outmaneuver otherwise superior units, and bring them down before they can retaliate.

• Frame Size Classification •
Although it's as tall as most other units of its class, it's significantly lighter and leaner. Its only real "armor" is a layer of thick conventional plating around its cockpit and the sensor suite in its head, and some experimental "EM Armor" covering the rest of its body. In theory, this is meant to use the precise emission of magnetic fields - governed by the unit's adaptive computer - to counter incoming projectiles, rapidly decreasing their impact velocity - if physical - or overall beam cohesion - if laser/plasma based. However, in practice, the only way they could make this energy-efficient enough to be practical was by decreasing the output of emission, meaning that it's only really good for soaking up small arms fire and lower-yield anti-armor rounds. Larger weapons such as those mounted on mecha might not fully penetrate on the first shot, but they'll definitely succeed on the second, making the armor somewhat impractical - as expected from a rushed prototype machine.

However, the Alecto is something of an exception to the usual rule that "smaller means weaker." That is to say, the unit's physical strength isn't necessarily bad, as it's easily capable of holding and wielding its rather large melee weapon of choice, the Breaker Blade, without any real difficulty. This is partially accomplished through miniaturization of the existing motors governing the unit's arm functions, and partially performed by using extra thrusters in the arms to increase the sword's momentum when swung, allowing it to overpower "stronger" units through sheer weight and impact velocity.

Overall, on a 1-9 scale of 1 being the lightest and 9 being the heaviest, the Alecto would come in at a 2, or perhaps a 3 at most.

• Overall Firepower •
As it's generally a short-ranged skirmisher unit, the Alecto generally forgoes homing weapons and other such delicate methods of attack in favor of raw firepower. However, although not necessarily focused on precision, most of its ranged weapons are fairly precise, being largely single-shot, high-damage armaments. And, with the adaptive computer to compensate for recoil and enemy movement patterns, the Alecto can actually reach startling levels of accuracy despite its short ranged focus.

On a 1-9 scale, it would come in at about a 5, being equal parts damaging and precise.

• Maneuverability and Mobility •
While its maximum directional acceleration is somewhat average for its weight category - which, being very light, is nonetheless significant - its maneuverability and ability to glide over the ground with tremendous speed and agility is on a level that's closer to a MK3 unit than to a MK2 machine, being some of the best that a nuclear-powered mecha is capable of, to the point that only someone with Aster's augmentations can make full use of its agility without killing herself.

On a scale of 1-9, it would come in at a 1, with an overwhelming advantage of control and precise maneuverability over other units, even ones that can match or exceed its overall speed.

• Overall Assessment •
The Alecto is a hard-hitting, lightweight, fast-moving unit meant to get in and get out quickly. With its arsenal of high-powered experimental weapons, it's capable of dealing significant damage even to technologically superior units, and manages to be difficult to hit even for machines that can keep up with its overall speed. However, it's also very flimsy, and can't carry much equipment with it into the field, forcing it to settle on a role of either a close-quarters ambusher or a long-range harrier before the battle starts, and then stick to that role no matter what else might happen. As such, it functions best when supported by other units that complement its own abilities, rather than working on its own.

On a scale of 1-9, it would be a 7.

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{"I'll split you in two!"}
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• Handheld Armaments •

• EXM-003 "Breaker Blade": The Alecto's distinctive signature armament. At first glance, it appears to simply be a large handheld lance or sword, with a pointed tip backed by the weight of the double-edged "blade." Although it resembles smaller cutting weapons in form, in function, the only real purpose of its sharpened tip and edge is to pierce the outer layer of armor, while the lion's share of the damage it deals is simply caused by its sheer weight and impact velocity. As such, it's less of a elegant slashing or thrusting weapon and more of a glorified, brute-force bludgeoning instrument. However, it also has another function, like many of the FURY Project's experimental weapons. The blade is actually capable of splitting in the middle, revealing a high-powered magnetic accelerator that launches small shells stored in the capsules around the "crossguard." At mid-range, it can be used as a somewhat effective ranged cannon, but its damage tends to fall off the greater the distance between it and its target, as the shells rapidly disintegrate due to friction. Because of this, it's most effective when fired directly into an enemy at point blank, and as such, the cannon is more often used to finish an enemy that's already been skewered by the weapon, as a way of confirming one's kill. When not in use, it folds up and attaches itself to a socket in the unit's right arm.

• EXR-004 "Wolf Howling": An alternative to the Breaker Blade, also carried in the right hand. It's essentially a more compact version of the Breaker Blade's linear cannon, capable of firing larger shells over greater distances with increased precision, serving an opposite role to the Breaker Blade's brute force approach. With this precise armament, the Alecto is capable of filling the role of a fast-moving long-range support unit, changing positions rapidly while taking potshots at enemy units to cripple them from a distance. However, its ammunition capacity is limited, and it can't be fired multiple times consecutively without risking overheating it and melting the barrel, rendering it useless. It's also a bit difficult to use in close quarters, as it takes a short amount of time to fire, allowing the enemy to predict the attack and dodge. Because of this, it also comes equipped with an under-mounted grenade launcher for suppressing enemy units who try to close the distance, buying time to get to a better position and fire back.

• EXR-006 "Dragon Tooth": An optional sidearm, carried in the unit's left hand. Although it appears to be a high-calibur single-shot or burst-fire pistol, it's actually somewhat more complicated than that. Instead of firing standard slugs, it launches small rocket-propelled mines which lock onto a target's heat signature, and aim to use drills mounted on their undersides to latch onto an enemy unit, burrow into its armor, and then explode for critical damage. In theory, this would allow for easy elimination of large, armored targets that rely on thick plating to protect critical systems. However, they have a tendency to detonate prematurely on contact, as the weapon is still in development, making it somewhat imperfect as of yet.

• EXM-009 "Ajax": An alternative to the Dragon Tooth. A simple shield carried in the off-hand, capable of covering pretty much all of the unit's upper half when raised in front of it as it advances. It's surprisingly durable, and treated against beam weapons, but that's about all there is to say about it. There's only so many innovations that can be made to improve "thing that I put between me and the enemy to stop him from hitting me."

• Fixed Armaments •
• EXF-012 "Hellions": Mounted just below the left shoulder, on the underside of the arm. These fixed missile batteries can be used to launch two high-yield dumb-fire rockets, or up to eight smaller guided missiles. In a pinch, these guided missiles can also be scattered outward in all directions based on an automated guidance path and used as chaff, scrambling incoming homing weapons in the process.

• EXM-001 "Last Resort": A backup melee weapon affixed to the underside of the Alecto's right wrist. When deployed, it unfolds, and an electrical current runs through the blade, rapidly producing a tremendous amount of heat. It can be used as a makeshift claw of sorts, melting through the joints in enemy armor and peeling it away to strike at the vulnerable systems underneath. In a pinch, it can also be launched on a cable hidden within the folding mechanism to stab an enemy at a distance, then reeled back into place. However, it's not very durable, and can snap if the user isn't careful.

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{"Multiple target locks acquired. Computer is now running calculations on observed data. Forecast complete! We're firing!"}
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• Custom Features •

• EX-ALS: The Alecto's main feature, and the system it was designed to serve as a testbed for. This onboard computer system gathers data on enemy units, their top speeds, turning radii, maximum acceleration, standard movement patterns, armaments, and more based on information recorded in the field. Over time, it begins a statistical analysis of this data and computes likely actions that an enemy target might take, calculating ideal shot trajectories and flanking paths based on this information. The longer the Alecto fights a given enemy, the more apt it becomes at telling its pilot how to counter that given enemy. However, it's still a machine, and is fallible. Were someone to somehow get wind of how it was predicting their movements, they could simply begin piloting in a deliberately haphhazard manner, causing all of its calculations to overshoot their mark and forcing Aster to rely on manual aim rather than the computer's predictive assistance.

• ECM Suite: The Alecto is equipped with a state-of-the-art electronic warfare module inside its dome-shaped head/sensor suite. Using this, it's capable of scrambling enemy radio signals, interfering with other targeting computers by sending them false signals, and generally playing havoc with enemy machines. This, in conjunction with its high mobility, makes it a royal pain to try to shoot down, as despite its garishly bright coloration, it's difficult to so much as get a lock on it.

• Design and Operational History •
Originally conceived as an all-purpose mobile weapon, the Alecto's designers had to greatly cut down on their plans in order to make it function. It was originally supposed to be fully capable of sustained atmospheric flight when equipped with an optional flight module, but also capable of equipping thick extra armor and an alternative back-mounted weapons package for ground-based combat. However, due to lack of materials, fuel inefficiency, and the fragility of the unit's frame, both of these ambitious plans were eventually scrapped, making it an odd sort of hybrid between an airborne assailant and a simple fast-moving skirmisher.

However, it has nevertheless been successful in field-testing a number of experimental weapons in controlled testing conditions against dummy opponents, and its learning computer shows promise of revolutionizing mechanical warfare in the future. But, as of yet, it hasn't seen active duty, and has only performed in a few mock battles against actual pilots.

Will the advent of learning computer systems usher in a new age of victory for the Hylo Empire, or will this ambitious machine fall to pieces along with its pilot? With war looming on the horizon, only time can tell...

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{"Together with Alecto, I'll protect this country. Those are my orders, and orders are absolute."}
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