I'm in another world, and I start out transformed into Lancelot.

What a troublesome guy that makes you grit your teeth, yet you have to admit his "value"!

The gloomy expression on Jugglus's face slowly faded, and a smirk slowly spread across his lips—a classic, almost manic, smile that would make even Gai (Red) cringe. "Hmph...troublesome..."

He slowly turned around, his gaze piercing through the reinforced glass at the end of the corridor, sweeping down at the human city below, immersed in dazzling lights. Behind those myriad lights lay a facade of peace and prosperity, and deep within the bureaucracy lay corruption and arrogance.

Rose provides a goal, but how to interpret it is up to Jugglus Juggler's own aesthetic of dark drama.

"Team... Captain? Is that you?" A sleepy and confused female voice suddenly came from around the corner of the corridor, breaking the silence that had ended the standoff.

Yuka rubbed her sleepy eyes, her hair disheveled, still clutching her beloved tablet computer that she almost never parted with, and staggered over to check what was happening.

He was clearly awakened by Commander Kuriyama's short, painful roar.

"What happened... Waaaaah! Commander Kuriyama?! What happened to him?!?" Yuka's sleepiness vanished when she saw her commander collapsed on the ground.

"It's alright, Yuka." Jugglus's expression switched seamlessly the moment Yuka approached, instantly donning the "reliable" mask that belonged to Shota Hebikura, his eyes filled with concern and seriousness.

“I came to check the equipment warehouse security and just happened to witness someone attacking the officer! That guy,” he paused, his gaze sweeping over the spot where Rose had disappeared, as if recalling the vague outline of a thug, “was too fast to catch up. But the officer seems alright, maybe he was just stunned, or perhaps he inhaled some kind of nerve-numbing gas? Notify the medical team.”

"Too, too arrogant! How dare they attack their superior in the core area of ​​the armory!" Upon hearing this, Yuka's face turned pale instantly. She immediately started frantically tapping on the tablet screen with her fingers, which were so fast they were almost blurry, to send an emergency medical support request.

After completing the procedure, she couldn't help but wrinkle her small nose and sniff the air a few times, tilting her head in confusion: "Nerve-paralyzing gas? Strange... there doesn't seem to be any special irritating smell in the air? Only a little..."

She strained to discern the extremely faint, almost dissipated scent in the air—a kind of… “Captain, the… um, coffee scent? And a very, very faint… like… the smell of a rare metal component processed at high temperature and precision, or the… cooling smell emitted after an energy circuit is overloaded?”

"It's a little pungent and slightly burnt. Could it be that the attacker's equipment was damaged in the fight?" Her professional skills allowed her to detect the unusual aura left by Rose's energy.

Hebikura's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly. Yuuka's senses were as sharp as ever. However, this "coincidence" just went with the flow.

"Hmph, perhaps. Anyone who can infiltrate the heart of the defense force must be well-equipped." He casually brushed aside this detail, drawing all his attention back to the unconscious Commander Kuriyama, his tone becoming extremely heavy, "The most urgent matter now is to ensure the Commander's safety!"

The sound of hurried footsteps grew louder as the medical team rushed in with stretchers and equipment.

Hebikura watched as Commander Kuriyama was carefully placed on a stretcher and carried away, his expression remaining solemn. He spoke softly to Yuka beside him, a sound that seemed more like a somber warning to the entire armory and the entire high command of the defense force:

“Our enemy is more cunning and dangerous than we imagine. The illusion of peace... may soon be crumbling, Yuka.” His tone carried a chilling premonition. “Internal and external... crises lurk everywhere. Some necessary pain and profound lessons may truly be unavoidable... We must find a way to make people see things clearly.”

Yuka was taken aback by the captain's unprecedentedly serious tone. Her fingers, gripping the tablet, tightened slightly, and her face tensed: "Captain...you mean..."

Jugglus Juggler didn't answer directly, but gave her a meaningful look. His gaze was complex and unfathomable, containing a warning, and also seemingly hiding a kind of "reluctant" determination.

"Put Yoko and Haruki on high alert immediately. You," he said, looking at Yuka, "analyze all the surveillance and residual energy data from tonight as soon as possible! No matter who the attackers are, there can be no next time."

"Understood!" Jiehua immediately straightened her back, her eyes sharpening, radiating the fighting spirit that researchers have been inspired to ignite.

——Inside the laboratory——

Rose's private laboratory remains a technological sanctuary, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the world. The cold metallic luster is illuminated by a soft white main light, and the surface of the precision instruments flows with a faint light symbolizing readiness.

Rose casually tossed the transparent energy canister that bound Serebolo into her hand, and like a miniature amber containing a restless universe, it landed steadily on the pre-set azure blue energy "cushion" on the table.

Inside the jar, the purplish-black parasitic life form—Cerebro itself, a bizarre fusion of a deep-sea monster and cold machinery—was waging a futile struggle.

It frantically rammed its hard shell against the invisible barrier, each impact producing a dull "plop" sound, perfectly absorbed and dissipated by the force field, only to be reflected on the holographic monitoring screen as a series of powerless energy peak curves.

Its high-frequency, venomous, and panicked screech, sounding faint and distant through the energy barrier, was like a desperate signal being swallowed by the deep sea.

Chapter 139 The Prelude to a New Stage and a Prelude to Saying Goodbye to Old Friends (1/2)

"Save your energy, dear civilization terminator~" Rose drawled, her icy blue eyes flashing with a mocking cold light.

"The security system in this suite was specially designed by me to house lively, rare cosmic specimens like you. You won't even leave a scratch before your energy is depleted."

She gracefully sat down in the high-backed chair, her long legs crossed, with the composure of a feline surveying its prey.

"Plop~" The familiar standby bubble sound rang out, and the soybean ball Zero silently slid down from an inconspicuous data interface on the ceiling, hovering precisely next to the binding tank.

Its screen displays an emoticon representing intense focus: 【(。--) Scanning and analyzing...】, and its beady eyes emit two fine, dark blue probe beams.

Like the eye of the most experienced surgeon, the Sereblo inside the tank began to be dissected and scanned layer by layer.

“Alright, Zero,” Rose said, swiping her finger across the screen. “Analyze the neurotoxin you just got from Commander Kuriyama. Focus on how that parasite controls brainwaves.”

"Got it, boss! Let's dig into their past!" Soybean Ball responded energetically, and several analysis sub-windows immediately popped up on the screen.

Data flashed by like a waterfall, interspersed with dynamic prompts such as "[Concentration detection... Database comparison... Brainwave simulation interference threshold calculation in progress...]".

Inside the binding container, Cerebro seemed to sense the cold, probing force outside that seemed to want to see through it from the inside out, and it thrashed about even more wildly, making futile noises.

Rose's fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest unconsciously, her gaze sweeping with interest over the several split screens on the light screen: battlefield residual data, spatial anomaly waveform diagram, and frozen images of Zeta and Ace fighting side by side.

Finally, her gaze fell back on the "rare sample" leaping and bounding within the energy cage before her. A bold and mischievous thought, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, rippled through her brilliant mind.

"Hehe!" She chuckled softly, as if praising her own sudden inspiration.

Rather than allowing this source of spiritual pollution to continue causing trouble within the Earth Defense Force, turning Commander Kuriyama and the entire strategic system upside down, and causing everyone to pay a pointless and painful price...

Why not—let the genius mechanic personally step in and "help" it find a more suitable stage? And while we're at it…make a cameo appearance as the…final boss of this "game of civilization's self-destruction"?

"The warning bell that Jugglus Juggler wants needs to have a sufficiently heavy sound... The graduation trial that Zeta needs needs to match the intensity of the stage for the ultimate hero..."

Her slender fingers traced an invisible path in the air, as if outlining a script. "And how could the climax of this boring game be complete without a truly qualified organizer?"

But as a guardian, she knew clearly that the battlefield had to be moved to another location and could not take place on Earth.

The genius's gaze fell to the corner—where the illusory image of the [Morgan Water Mirror - Modified Version], radiating chaotic starlight, floated silently. Spatial displacement for packaging and delivery? That was its specialty!

The plan instantly took shape in her mind, and her fingertips quickly "poked" at the hidden communication "window" established with the world's consciousness.

The thought, like a precise flow of code, packages and sends the core request, and at the end, it doesn't forget to include a cute emoticon pop-up: "[Can I use ( )?]".

Almost instantly after sending, the "small window" flashed, and a concise feedback message popped up, carrying a knowing "I knew you'd do this" tone:

[Yes.] Clean and efficient, without any unnecessary delays.

"Done!" A glint of excitement flashed in Rose's eyes as she snapped her fingers happily. The sudden, sharp sound startled Cerebro inside the binding jar, causing it to brake abruptly and freeze against the jar wall.

Countless tiny stars and ribbons exploded on the soybean-shaped screen: 【( )*: Boss stage setup permit obtained! Boss is awesome!】

"The grand finale..." Rose stood up, walked to the illusory image in the water mirror, and lightly tapped her fingertip, causing the deep star map to slowly rotate, "...I, the screenwriter, will handle it~ Let's give this scene... a more profound stage setting~"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

But surprises always come faster than plans.

The laboratory, nearing dawn, was as quiet as the deep sea, with only the faint hum of the intelligent temperature control system like breathing.

The terminal screen suddenly lit up in the dimly lit room, and the buzzing vibrations dragged Rose out of her light sleep.

"Tsk...so noisy..." Rose muttered in a muffled voice without even opening her eyes, her hand groping along the edge of the bed for a moment before finally swatting away the annoying source of vibration.

His icy blue eyes barely opened a crack, focusing on the bold, red-highlighted title of the urgent internal notification on the screen—Invitation Letter Regarding the Launch of the Joint Research and Development Project for the Fourth Generation Special Airborne Mech Weapon (Special Airborne Mech No. 4)—

Several 3D renderings followed closely behind.

"Huh?" Rose propped herself up, her blonde hair falling lazily over her shoulders. She clicked on the model image and zoomed in, her icy blue eyes instantly filled with disdain, all sleepiness gone, replaced by naked criticism.

"Is this some kind of shoddy knock-off?" The mecha design in front of her felt clumsy; the lines were neither smooth nor sharp, the overall proportions were off, and it lacked any functional aesthetic appeal. Even looking at the modeling data, she could feel an overwhelming sense of cheapness and imitation.

The image of the real Ultraman Zero immediately popped into her mind. Although that guy was indeed incredibly arrogant, always sporting a "I'm the most handsome guy in the universe" look, it had to be said that his unruly and dashing demeanor and fighting aesthetics were ingrained in his genes.

The iconic headdress, the sharp eyelight, the fluid silhouette—every detail showcases a perfect balance of power and speed.

As for the things on the blueprints... "It's not that they're no different from the real thing," Rose said, pressing her fingertip hard against the aesthetically unappealing shoulder armor lines of the mecha on the virtual screen, her tone filled with the superiority of a technical artist.

"It can only be said that it has absolutely nothing to do with it." She drew out her words with disdain, as if commenting on the poor work of some third-rate counterfeit craftsman.

Chapter 140 (4K) The Prelude to the New Stage and the Prelude to the Farewell of Old Friends (2/2)

Just as she was about to throw this "rubbish design draft" into the mental trash can, the last sentence of the notification suddenly caught her attention.

We cordially invite you, Dr. Rose, to participate as a core engineer in the entire assembly and system integration of the Special Aircraft No. 4.

"...Oh?" This was unexpected. It wasn't some clandestine research and development by higher-ups, but rather a public and aboveboard invitation for her, an "outsider consultant," to participate deeply?

The words "core engineer" seemed to possess a magical power, precisely striking at Rose's deep-seated desire for control over cutting-edge system integration and her penchant for debugging.

No matter how terrible the design draft is, once it's in her hands, there's plenty of room to unleash her "fine-tuning aesthetics" during the assembly and debugging phase.

Concealing those ugly, exposed interfaces, clearing those blocked neural pathways, and even optimizing the energy conversion ratio of those cumbersome components... A subtle curve of excitement, characteristic of engineers, appeared on her lips.

"Whoosh—" Rose threw off the covers, her bare feet stepping onto the cold floor, and clapped her hands energetically. "Alright! Anyway, it's the type of work I like, I'll take it!"

When a genius mechanic encounters a challenging system integration project, it's like a top chef seeing a rare ingredient; the inherent eagerness to try out the project outweighs any criticism of its appearance.

However, as soon as her finger touched the coffee machine button, Rose paused, a cold glint flashing in her icy blue eyes.

Given that this less-than-ideal-looking Unit 4 will most likely become a coveted prize for villains in the future—after all, its performance is questionable, and it's bound to cause a lot of trouble.

Or... how about secretly adding a "small" anti-theft device to its core drive circuit? Hmm... how about setting it so that only drivers who have passed the dual authentication of specific biological genes and neural fluctuations can activate the core?

If it's an alien or an unauthorized person attempting to force activation...

A series of thoughts flashed through my mind: Should I detonate the core engine and turn the intruder into cosmic dust on the spot? Or should I put the mech into counter-attack mode and beat the intruder into a pulp?

She even imagined a comical scene of a hapless villain being caught by a mecha arm and slammed to the ground with a "bang bang".

"Hmm..." But the next second she touched her chin, rejecting this "easy" plan. No way. Unit 4 is, after all, the armory, a vital asset for Earth's fight against monsters.

Blowing it up would be too wasteful. Even if we use it to attack people, it's not worth it if we accidentally injure friendly forces or damage facilities...

Fingertips tapped rhythmically in the air, simulating the rhythm of data input. Finally, a more reliable solution clearly took shape in his mind. "Let's change it to forced unbinding + automatic emergency shutdown!"

She snapped her fingers cheerfully, "And here's a little warning as well." Specifically: If an unauthorized user forcibly starts the system, the system will be forcibly locked three seconds after intrusion is detected, triggering a core self-check and restart process.

As for the complimentary "Little Warning Package"—which uses core energy to release a tiny electrical pulse flow—it gives those unsuspecting intruders a brief but "unforgettable" numbing massage experience to their subcutaneous nerve endings.

Yes, absolutely harmless, but enough to make them tremble on the spot and deeply remember the majesty of technology! It both protects valuable assets and completes the punishment.

It even thoughtfully saved the finance department an astronomical amount of repair costs—perfect! A truly ingenious security lock solution!

Rose took a satisfied sip of her coffee, a confident yet slightly "kind" smile clearly visible on her lips.

With safety measures in place, she couldn't wait to disassemble the "brain" of "Unit 4" and see what interesting "fine-tuning upgrades" she could make during the assembly process.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Time jumps to the sun-drenched community square.

When Yoko, Yuka, and Haruki received the event notification flyer at almost the same time—an event with a completely different art style: the Armory Protection Tokyo One-Year Anniversary Touring Thanksgiving Charity Show—Special Aircraft Seven's Super Cute Dream Experience Show!

The air seemed to freeze, and the only sound could be the regular, low hum of the Sevenger's vents.

The three stood in a row, clutching the glaring notice under Sevenger's massive steel form, their expressions on the verge of collapse.

On the notice, Sevenger's chibi-style head is grinning with an oversized mouth, and next to it is written in colorful fluorescent strokes: "Sevenger, the Mech Messenger of Love and Peace".

“…So,” Yoko said, shaking the piece of paper in her hand, which felt like a hot potato. Her tone was a mixture of bewilderment at being forcibly pulled down from her pedestal and a subtle heartache at the shattering of her idol image.

"Our new mission... is to pilot Sevenger to the plaza and publicly...act cute?" She wasn't even sure if "act cute" was a fitting description for a giant combat machine. This was even more absurd than asking her to drive King Ghoul to plow fields!

"Eh—?!!" Yuka frantically adjusted her glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of her nose, while clutching her precious tablet, which was practically an extension of her body, as if the thin plastic sheet was her last technological haven.

"We...we're going to change its paint job?! Is this...is this some kind of important research project? My anti-monster particle cannon miniaturization data is still being analyzed! My database is about to run out of data!" She felt her rigorous scientific spirit being attacked by pink bubbles and childish paint jobs!

"Huh?! Huh?! Huh?!?!?!" Haruki's voice trembled with disbelief, his face contorted in shock. "Oh my god?! But the captain said this mission is extremely important! It concerns... the citizens' trust and support for our armory..."

He tried hard to recall Captain Hebikura's serious and earnest expression (which, in retrospect, was definitely a lie), attempting to understand its deeper meaning, but his voice grew weaker and weaker, like a deflated balloon.

Is it a bit too... abstract to have Sevenger, known for its hardcore monster-fighting gameplay, engage in "dream interactions"?

Three pairs of eyes refocused on the glittering slogan on the notice and the grinning, cartoonish head. The only sound in the air was the occasional "whoosh—pop" of pressure relief from the Sevenger's vents.

And the rustling sound of wind carrying fallen leaves across the edge of the notice in the distance seemed to be silently mocking the three petrified elite warriors.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Complaints aside, military orders are paramount.

On the day of the performance, the community square was completely transformed into a sea of ​​children's carnival.

Forced to work, ace pilot Yoko, feeling utterly hopeless, pilots the mascot Sevenger, who has been sprayed with stars and flowers, making gestures such as "raising hands," "waving arms," ​​and "twisting waist."

The originally heavy and reliable mechanical voice system has been specially processed into a childlike electronic voice: "Hello everyone, I am Sevenger. Please take care of me."

Tough guy Haruki temporarily took on the role of an enthusiastic host, jumping around the venue with a megaphone: "Look here, kids! Seven is launching a heart gesture! Biubiubiu~! Oh!"

Yuka huddled in a corner, clutching her tablet, her face taut and completely unable to control her expressions.

She felt that her professional dignity and Sevenger's glory as the iron fist weapon that once protected Tokyo were being submerged in this colorful, sweet, and noisy ocean.