With the rapid construction of the Marcus' Island base, peculiar needs began to rise that the inventor prince didn't perceive before.
For example, he needs a lot of sand and other minerals that he can't easily buy in high quantities.
Metal and its related submaterials are understandable, since his company is literally called 'Robotics', but other stuff… like different types of sand used for concrete creation…
That would raise flags…
Because of that, Marcus decided that it was time to improvise.
He began to develop a new method for acquiring sand, which was needed for Roman concrete.
First, he adjusted the cargo hold so that it could hold something like sand. He was focused too much on hard materials like iron. Then he began developing drilling and excavating technologies.
Just like that, days passed, and he got some decent bedrock legion bots meant for resource gathering.
Sadly, because of that, he was behind schedule. His sisters will be coming to Area 11, and his base is unfinished.
However, he didn't panic; instead, he decided to turn to what all of humanity had done not long ago, and that was raiding.
Though he won't be raiding manufacturing factories,… he will visit sites directly.
"Can I come with you?" Kallen clapped her hands, similarly to how Anna is doing now when she wants something.
"Your Dagda is not meant for any of these tasks…" Marcus replied as he looked at the mech beside Milly's Flidais.
The machine was finished just days ago, and Kallen had been biting her nails waiting to use it.
Sadly, there are no enemies.
"How about Euro Britannia?" She asked, having a look of realisation.
"...What about it?"
"Isn't Siberia a resource-rich land? Metals, concrete, viable sand… all of that should be there."
"We could gather resources and wreak havoc there!" The girl explained, midway, getting even more excited.
"...You are on to something."
'We need to appear outside of Japan to make outsiders think that my workshop is somewhere else.'
Marcus slowly nodded. He agrees to her proposal.
"Very well, we shall invade Euro Britannia for resources."
With that said, he looked at his mechs.
"Load them to Blackbird."
"Once we are there, we won't use Blackbird for mobile suit storage as the cargo bay is for resources." He explained to her.
Meanwhile, the machines left their storage areas and walked to Blackbird.
"I know. It's fine with me; even if my machine doesn't have cruising mode like yours, it can fly very fast."
Kallen replied with a smirk on her lips. She has no idea about the differences, but her Dagda is very fast without even folding into a plane!
"Indeed. Then let's go."
"I am coming as well." Leila pulled her head away from the computer and looked at them.
"I am responsible for logistics and resources, remember?" The girl reminded them that she is the one who allocates things and reports what one needs.
"Sure. Though you will need to travel with your Andraste afterwards."
"I won't because I don't need my machine. The onboard plane's computers are enough for me." As she said, she got up and walked over to him. All of a sudden, she took his hand and began to pull him towards the plane.
"Ugh!" Kallen swiftly grabbed his other hand as the trio began to walk towards the plane's platform.
The platform is slowly becoming a hangar, with crates and legion bots for digging, mining, and even excavating.
Since they are robots, they don't need to resemble humans.
For example, mining ones have much bigger hands that are meant for cutting through rocks, powerful flashlights, a larger selection of cameras, and different sets of vision.
While excavators don't have legs at all, caterpillar wheels replaced them, and they have a storage of water for turning brittle sand into much easier-to-control wet sand.
With all the preparations complete, the plane took off.
~~~~~~Meanwhile, on Plane Heading Towards Area 11~~~~~~
In a meeting room on a large plane, a small group of soldiers dressed in magenta, the custom colours of Britannia's uniform, were Cornelia and her closest commanders.
They are about to be briefed by the Princess, who has decided it is time to share the information she has received.
"I know the timing is a bit off. But only now I received this information, Prime Minister himself." By Prime Minister, it means the 2nd Prince Schneizel himself.
"Over the past several months, a strange flying Knightmare has appeared on Euro Britannian's frontline with the E.U.
This Knightmare is nothing we have ever seen before."
Cornelia showed them the video of a flying machine effortlessly snipping down Sutherlands at top speeds.
The blue energy emitted by the rifle is particularly eye-catching.
"The weapon used is what we call an energy or a beam. The heat of this blue energy is enough to melt Tungsten instantaneously."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Tungsten is the alloy that is used to armour all of their Knightmares!
"...Now, to the other thing is that you need to know… this machine can leave and enter the atmosphere at will."
*GASP*
The princesses showed images on the screen of a familiar machine going up and then entering the atmosphere on the other side of the planet.
What they were seeing was basically… alien technology.
"I am showing you this because this Knightmare has been reported operating in Area 11.
And it's the same Knightmare that was reported at the Shinjuku Ghetto incident, the machine that took the life of my brother Clovis!" Cornelia's voice got icy when she mentioned her sibling's death.
"..."
"..."
"... Are there any more details? This doesn't help us find out more about this machine." Her knight asked the Princess, who showed a bloodthirsty grin, hinting there is.
"In fact, we have. Not long ago, two machines visited a castle in Europe. This castle was special; they were developing seventh-generation mobile suits."
"S-Seventh!?"
The officers gawked at this information.
"Yes. This new machine's pilot is a European." She showed some blurry images, while they couldn't make out her face, but they could make out her hair.
It was a blonde girl.
"According to a spy in this development facility, this girl was a friend of the head researcher and designer.
Her name is Anna Clement. Finding out who this friend who has blonde hair is not hard."
Soon enough, Cornelia showed the picture of this blonde girl.
"Her name is Leila Malcal, an ex-Britannian noble; her old family name was Breisgau."
"..." The officers heard this surname before.
"Wasn't there a prominent politician with that name in the E.U. a while ago?" A burly man asked; he recalled something about this.
"He was assassinated in a rally; the only one who survived that incident was this politician's daughter," Cornelia explained as she was holding all of the information.
"I see."
"So she is the lead? We should look for her in Area 11?" Princess's Knight asked.
"Precisely. If we follow her, we will know who is the pilot of the other machine…"
But at that moment, an officer barged in, looking panicky.
"M-My Princess! Apologies! B-But we just got word that Saint Petersburg is under attack by two unknown machines!"
"Entire city!? They are bold! Do we have a direct link to Euro Britannia?" The Princess scrambled, and her followers followed.
"Euro Britannia is technically a tributary state… but they shared footage with us." The soldier swiftly adjusted the screen and showed a quality video.
What they saw was a mess. Red Sutherlands were fighting a crimson-orange and a golden machine that had large hands. This machine was brutal, grabbing Britannian knightmares and ripping them in half by hand, followed by blue beams from the air that were shredding everything in its path.
"...another model… this one looks close quarters…" Princess' Knight commented with a worried tone.
It was clear by this point that they were not dealing with a single rogue factor, but an entire international organisation with unknown motives.
"How close are we to Saint Petersburg?" Cornelia asked the soldier.
"Quite close, there is a reason they contacted us as 2nd Princess, your influence is strong in the Empire. That's what the Grandmaster of St Michael's Order said."
*Snort*
The Princess snorted. Now she felt that she needed to assist.
Besides… this is an opportunity.
"Set course for Saint Petersburg. We are going to assist the Holy Order of St Michael."
"Yes! My Princess."
"The transporters that are close turn them around for support. No one who attacks Britannia will pass without punishment when I am close!" Cornelia wants to see these machines in person!
"Of course Princess…however the Emperor…" Her knight responded with a bit of concern.
"I know, Guilford, but this is an opportunity we can't pass up." She knew what this meant. If she messes up, the Emperor won't be pleased.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"Hehehe… you guys are so fragile!" Kallen giggled as she ripped another Sutherland in half.
It was strange for her to see red Sutherlands… on top of that, they had this fancy custom job.
Her Mobile suit was telling her that these guys were a Holy Order of some sort.
"Don't get that carried away, Kallen." Leila's face appeared on the screen. The blonde showed that they had split up; Marcus was several kilometres away from her.
"Don't worry. Even if that happens, my Dagda won't disappoint me."
[I wasn't designed to fail, my Mistress.] Her mobile suit AI replied.
"I know. Now let's see how far we can push these Euro Britannians!" She grinned as she saw an incoming lancing squad.
'Wait…their colouring…'
Her eyes widened for a second as she looked at their classification.
'The IFF is telling me that they are regular Britannian military?'
A casual dig in the databases revealed that they are Britannians, not Euro counterparts… what are they doing here?
[Updating radio frequencies.]
[Compiling new information]
Her eyes widened for a second, and what she saw was another 30 Sutherlands and 5 new models!
"What are those?"
A schematic popped up showing a custom machine of some sort.
"Gloucesters? Knight variants… " She whispered under her breath.
Her eyes ended up on a single machine that was rushing towards Marcus.
'Princess Cornelia.'
Kallen was surprised, but then her AI showed her the possible route Cornelia's forces had taken before.
Since the Princess was at war with Euro Britannia in North Africa, the only route she could have taken to arrive in Japan was via Euro Britannian-controlled Anatolia, Russia and Siberia.
In other words, Cornelia's was close either way.
'Well, the siblings should catch up.' She smiled before focusing on the lancing squad before her.
"You guys never learn, do you!"
Her Dagda's hand expanded and got longer as red energy surged through the hand before she slammed into the incoming lance. The lance morphed into a blob before the heat went into the Knightmare and exploded like a balloon.
She just cooked the machine in seconds, not that she stopped with a single attack as she danced around the Knightmares with her taller and bulkier machine effortlessly.
"H-How can it move like that!?" The Lancing squad panicked as their weapons got sliced like tissues before losing limbs… the soldiers needed to eject seconds later.
"So much for Britannian's finest." Kallen scoffed as she looked around. It was a field of wrecked Sutherlands.
Such a sight brought a smile.
She finally has it! The power to oppose the Strongest Empire in the whole world!
~~~~~~Meanwhile, a Few Kilometres Away~~~~~~
"There you are!" In the distance, Cornelia saw a dark purple machine with wings that had blue plasma. As she got closer, she realised that her cameras and fact-spheres were experiencing some sort of issue. They can't show the machine properly.
Eventually, she got close enough to jump towards the machine in the air.
The mech was that high. It looked as if it was looking down on the world below, like it was a theatrical play or something close to it.
"My brother shall be avenged!" The Princess exclaimed as she tried to run a lance through the machine.
But then, the mech turned around and faced her, catching the lance without any difficulty.
Cornelia's eyes widened in surprise… her top speed lance… was caught!?
"Is that it?" A synthetic voice coming from the enemy machine asked her.