[b][i]Intermission Four - Darkest Hour[/i][/b]

[b][i]Refugee Camp North of Manila - 12/3/2022, 10:54, UTC+8 (Three Days Later)[/i][/b]

[quote=@Digmata]
"I guess the Imperial Court can be a pit of snakes." she spoke as she appears behind the prince for like the tenth time since they started handing food. She is about to leave to stop the brewing fight when she heard the broadcast, turning what was meant to be terrible occasion into something a little more hopeful.
[/quote]

"The intrigues were low-key until an Arms Master offered to make our mother more fertile so that the Imperial Family can have more legitimate children," Crown Prince Shinyahito answered Cristina as he handed out more bowls of soup to the line of refugees. "That was how my sister and I were born, but even then, things only grew [i]really[/i] dark when she manifested her Noble Arm after a kidnapping attempt by a random terrorist group trying to make a name for themselves. That gave her actual power, and things got worse, not better, when I received my Noble Arm too; that and our different views on succession put us on a collision course."

He frowned before saying, "This camp needs more tents. Hopefully, there are a few left in storage; our supplies of them have been interrupted by enemy attacks."

One of the MPs guarding the camp, a woman, then ran up to them, saying in Filipino, then in broken Japanese, "We've received a new shipment, but we don't know where it's from; the boxes are unmarked. It could be booby-trapped or even a WMD..."

The Crown Prince's eyes glinted before he said, "I'm on it. Mr. Griffin, Ms. Rangel, can you two mind the soup kitchen and watch out for trouble while I go? I have a bad feeling about what's coming..."

He then told Cristina, "My Noble Arm has the power to analyze what it touches; some sort of psychometry. But I'll need someone to watch my back while I do so; want to walk with me to the storage tent? I'll be going there anyway..."

Assuming that Cristina went with him, Crown Prince Shinyahito went off to the large storage tent at the back, half-expecting it to be almost empty except for junk and a few bits of scrap metal and plywood.

It wasn't. Instead, row upon row of plastic boxes filled the space; some of them had been opened against regulations, revealing several compressed prefabricated tents made of weather-resistant plastic, plus solar panels, batteries, and lights, along with portable toilets and recycling equipment. There was even a collapsible hospital building made of high-grade polymers with carbon-fibre support beams. Hope warring with suspicion inside him, Crown Prince Shinyahito conjured up his spear and touched each box with the Noble Arm, trying to reach the memories of whoever made and touched this.

His eyes opened in response as he spoke, "It's from the Director; he also included a message for me to relay to you - A chance to save... her is coming."

[hr]

It happened in an instant. The moment Crown Prince Shinyahito and Cristina were gone, several of the 'refugees' drew knives and pipe pistols and leapt upon Mikey and Archer, stabbing and shooting, hoping to take the volunteers by surprise. At the same time, several explosions were heard in the outskirts, as cries of, [b]"For Lubao, for the Corriente Family, for the Continuation Government of the Philippines!"[/b] were heard all over the camp, some from infiltrators who were going around swinging machetes and shooting at civilian and military folk alike, others from masked gunmen who were attacking the camp guards.

If Mikey and Archer survived, or if [i]someone[/i] was there to help them out of the sudden ambush, they'd see a portal opening, and a silver-haired woman with two swords would asually saunter out from it, saying, "Where is the sister who abandoned me?! Tell her that I've come for her!"

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[url=https://www.imgchest.com/p/agyvqvmb489][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/l7lxc3vegm7.png[/img][/url]
[i]Originally Selveria Bles from Valkyria Chronicles, now Basilia Bernardino of the Downward Descent.[/i]
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[@Gerlando][@Nimbus][@Digmata][@ctrlsaltdel][@Archazen]