042
‘3518, the first rebellion.’
It was a year in the distant past, 200 years ago. To me, who had not even lived a century, it felt like a very distant event.
Kinuan said that there was a rebellion in the empire in 3518.
“I’ve never heard of it before. Is this a history that the Empire is hiding?”
“I won’t hide it, but I won’t teach you either. If you don’t care, you won’t know.”
I hesitated whether I should listen to the story more. Kinuan also waited for a moment, perhaps sensing my conflict.
“… … It seems highly likely that the users of Archie’s Victory are somehow connected to rebels, or rather terrorists. After all, they have deep roots.”
After much thought, I said:
“That’s why the Empire has been tracking and compiling a list of Archie’s Victory users. However, even Investigator Jillian Campbell only knows that Archie’s Victory is related to the rebels. She doesn’t know that it’s a combat technique created by Noel Mulizka.”
The relationship between Noel Mulizka and Akies Victima was a secret. I chewed on that fact.
“Is it that important that Noel is the founder of Aikies Victory?”
“To be precise, Noel wants to hide the fact that he is a combat theorist with achievements. Being the leader of a rebel army is a stigma that should be despised by the Empire. However, the combat theories established by Noel, including Archie’s Victory, still have a great influence on the Imperial Army. He is both a contributor to the Imperial Army and the worst criminal.”
As soon as I heard Kinuan’s words, many questions came to my mind at the same time.
“Akis Victory is not the official fighting style of the Empire. Its direction is also different.”
“As I said before, Archie’s Victory is one of the fighting techniques created by Noel. It’s also his last work.”
I was curious about this person named Noel Mulizka.
‘How many fighting techniques like Archie’s Victory have you created?’
I couldn’t believe it at all. It wasn’t for nothing that Kinuan was called a genius.
“If you weren’t a traitor, you would be held in high esteem in the empire.”
Kinuan laughed at my words without denying them. It was a subversive word that came out of my mouth. A traitor and a great man.
Kinuan seemed to be thinking about where to start. Then he slowly moved his lips.
“From the day our ancestors first bashed their rivals in the African wilderness with rocks… … to the day we explored galaxies beyond our solar system, we humans fought with our own flesh and blood. And so, thousands of years later, the age of the superhuman finally arrived, thanks to advances in biotechnology and machinery.”
We have surpassed our natural biological limitations. We don’t call them superhumans because they are now ‘normal human beings’.
But humans in the past would have been different. In the days when everyone was organic, humans who had strengthened their brain and nervous system and changed their limbs into machines would have looked like superhumans, or maybe monsters.
“Just as the advent of firearms made the fighting techniques of the cold-weapon era into decoration… … In the era of superhumans, the fighting techniques of the organic human era were no longer applicable. Cybernetics technology did not wait for humans and developed rapidly. Each time, the fighting methods changed countless times, and before we knew it, humans were even able to dodge bullets.”
“A new fighting style and theory was needed.”
“From the stage of replacing parts of the body to full-body prosthetics, there was a transition period of hundreds of years. During that time, many fighting methods and theories appeared and disappeared repeatedly. Then, a genius appeared who summarized the theory and method. A genius called by the times.”
That was Noel Mulizka. The inevitable presence that marked the transition period and opened the stable period. There were such people in every field. The great person who appeared when the times, luck, talent… … all of these came together and became one point.
“The ballistic control techniques that you learn in the Royal Guard were also created by Noel Mulizka. Before that, dodging and bouncing bullets was a skill that only legendary soldiers and mercenaries could do. It was the domain of those who had honed their intuition and intuition to the extreme by crossing countless battlefields and firing lines. Noel theorized and established it, making it usable even at the level of a ‘superior soldier.’”
This is amazing. I would have thought that ballistic control techniques had already been established two hundred years ago.
Kinuan listed some of Noel Mulizka’s achievements. He didn’t mention all of them, but there were many combat techniques and theories that I had heard of. The golden ratio, which optimizes the output, volume, and weight of cybernetic bodies, was also a result of Noel’s formula.
“For some unknown reason or occasion, Noel Mulizka, a non-permanent advisor to the Imperial Army, rebelled against the Empire. However, a full-scale war was impossible. The Imperial Army was already strong. Noel created a completely new combat strategy for irregular warfare-style guerrilla activities. That was the Archies Victory.”
I now fully understand the special nature of the Archie’s combat techniques. If it were a combat technique for guerrilla activities, it would have none of the shortcomings it had before.
“It didn’t matter if their brain function was abnormal. It wouldn’t be strange if they died at any time, and they wouldn’t have fought with the intention of living long. And since they were irregular troops, there wouldn’t have been any unified standards or uniforms, so they would have needed flexible fighting techniques that could adapt to their own situation and environment. It would be difficult to improve the quality of the army by establishing training centers, so they would have focused on a small number of excellent soldiers… … .”
I poured out my words and then closed them. Kinuan wasn’t finished speaking yet.
“Noel only appointed the most suitable of the Archies Victory as his confidants and officers. Those few elites are the mother and head of the rebel army.
The remaining tails were tails that could be detached at any time. Noel’s rebels resisted the Empire like that. Even though they seemed to have been annihilated by the Empire’s large-scale purge operation, only a few close associates who had learned the Archies’ fighting techniques somehow survived and dispersed throughout the Empire, fighting local wars and guerrilla wars. Since there were people who were dissatisfied with the Empire, it was easy to recruit soldiers to ‘consume’.”
The rebels were like weeds that would sprout again no matter how much they were trampled. The Archies Victory users would somehow find a way to survive due to their nature. They could even fight without having to wear high-performance suits, so it would have been easy to disguise themselves as ordinary citizens.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Would you think that someone with a non-combat body would be a key figure in the rebels? Even if they were stopped by a random checkpoint and four or five combat body soldiers stopped them, the user of the Archies combat technique would easily escape.
The picture is forming in my head. The users of the Archieus combat technique would have scattered to various parts of the empire and attacked the empire’s main facilities. Then, when they were caught, they would just throw in their locally recruited subordinates as bait and escape to another area. They would be difficult to track because they would maintain a certain level of combat power even without a high-performance body.
So how did the Empire root out the rebels?
… … After a while, I had a scary thought. I wondered if my guess was correct.
“How did the Empire suppress Noel’s rebellion at that time?”
“Since it was difficult to tell the difference, anyone who was suspicious was killed. At that time, if there was no one who could prove your identity, it was as good as dead. Since the empire adopted an extremely hard-line policy, even users of the Archies combat technique were killed one by one. Even civilians started to accuse outsiders of being rebels. If they were not careful, their region would be devastated by mass slaughter.”
I didn’t ask how many innocent people died. The number would be beyond my imagination.
“Did Noel die like that too?”
“By private execution.”
The betrayal of Noel Mulizka, a key figure in the Imperial Army, and the mass genocide of the Empire…
And it was natural for the Imperial Army, which had suffered greatly from irregular warfare guerrillas, to manage users of the Archies Victory separately.
It was not good news to spread outside, especially since Noel Mulizka’s legacy still had influence on the Imperial Army.
I opened my eyes slightly. Then I raised my head stiffly and looked straight at Kinuan.
“The reason the Captain sent me… is because he thinks Instructor Kinuan is connected to terrorists?”
Kinuan clapped his hands lightly twice.
“That’s right, Luca. If you can find or uncover evidence that I’m in league with Nemesis, you’ll be able to go straight to the heart of the Royal Guard.”
It’s ridiculous. How could a guard, especially a recognized instructor, collude with terrorists? And if the captain of the guard is so suspicious, why does he leave Kinuan free?
I stared at Kinuan. I couldn’t see the depth or the end. On the other hand, he seemed to know everything about me.
“I don’t think the instructor is in collusion with terrorists.”
“You may think so, but the captain of the guards thinks differently. Let me give you a little advice for your advancement. Investigate and find traces of my time in the lower districts.”
Kinuan’s words sounded like a provocation. I frowned.
“I will report what I heard today to the captain of the guard.”
“See you next time, Luca.”
Kinuan stood up, opened the door himself, and saw me out.
As I left the main training center building, I stopped walking. I tried to calm my emotions by taking a deep breath.
… … To put it bluntly, I’m a little excited, but everyone is making fun of me. The captain of the guards and Kinuan are using me to gauge each other’s intentions.
It was dangerous. If things went wrong, I would likely be ‘consumed’.
But I won’t be consumed by this. That’s not why I crawled all the way here.
* * *
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The next day, I logged onto the network and researched Noel Mulizka and the first rebellion.
My higher-ups would see my browsing history, but it didn’t matter. They would know that I had already gotten into it quite deeply.
‘As expected, there are no other records or information.’
There was a major rebellion in 3518, and the Empire put it down. That was the extent of the information I could access.
In particular, it was clear that the records regarding Noel Mulizka had been erased. He was only mentioned briefly as the leader of the rebellion. There was no record of him as a combat theorist or a contributor to the military. Not even a single photo of him could be found.
‘After erasing all traces for two hundred years, there’s probably nothing left.’
The same goes for Aki’s Victory. It was listed as one of the third-rate fighting techniques whose origins are unknown.
‘It seems like the official route won’t work.’
To find out the background of Kinuan, you must go to the lower areas.
I applied for an interview with the captain of the guard, and was granted permission in less than twenty minutes. For other cadets, it would have taken a day or two.
