Warfare Augmented Intelligent Frame Unit-Chapter 141 – SENPAI

Chapter 141 - SENPAI

As we gazed at the towering mushroom cloud billowing in the sky, the aftermath of that massive explosion—an oppressive silence fell over us. The once-sturdy terrain had been obliterated, leaving behind a smoldering crater that looked like it had been clawed out of the earth by a furious god.

Fei’s cybernetic sabertooth tiger came to a slow, respectful halt, its gleaming metal paws resting on scorched asphalt as we stood witness to the destructive power of our dear friend’s ultimate attack.

“Cindy…” Fei whispered, her voice trembling.

“W-why…” Myrrh whimpered, her eyes shimmering with tears that clung stubbornly to her lashes.

“Your sacrifice will never be in vain,” I murmured, bowing solemnly toward the epicenter of the blast. “Rest in peace, Cindy.”

“You may have been a chaotic, foul-mouthed WAIFU partner,” Remuel added, placing his hand reverently over his heart, “but you were the best of us.”

Then, just as the mood thickened with sorrow—a loud, unmistakably tomboyish voice sliced through the heavy silence like a shockwave:

“Wow, rude much!? I’m still not dead, idiots!”

We all snapped our heads toward the crater. The smoke had begun to clear, revealing a silhouette stepping through the haze like a phoenix reborn.

It was Cindy—alive and very much annoyed. Her humanoid form staggered into view, her uniform now reduced to scorched, tattered strips that barely clung to her frame like battle-worn rags. Her crimson hair had puffed out into a wild, unapologetic afro, as if the explosion had rewired her entire aesthetic.

Our grim expressions melted instantly into stunned smiles. Relief washed over us like rainfall after a dry war. Of course she was alive. This was Cindy—there’s no way she’d let something as trivial as her own self-destruction finish her off.

Truth be told, we all knew she’d survive. We just wanted the dramatic effect.

“Cindy!” Fei cried out with her synthetic voice, tinged with static and desperation.

“Fei, don’t stop! Keep moving! I’ll hold the line!” Cindy bellowed, her voice echoing like a war drum across the battlefield. Her eyes burned with fire, even as ash drifted around her like snowfall. “And you, Remuel! Stay and support me, you stubborn little midget! If you ditch me now, I swear I’ll actually die this time!”

“Okay, okay,” Remuel muttered, scratching the back of his head as though this were just another Tuesday. He threw me a crooked smile, half-exasperated, half-resigned. “Well, I guess this is where we part ways.”

He gave my shoulder a firm tap.

“I’ll leave Neil to you, Zaft.”

“I swear I’ll bring him back,” I said, clenching my fist. “Just… don’t get yourself killed out there.”

“With Cindy as my partner?” Remuel chuckled, the dry laugh of a man facing his doom with both eyes open. “I think I prefer to be killed.”

Before I could reply, he turned, vaulted off the ledge, and slid down Fei’s massive metal tail like a street punk on a rail, riding the sleek cybernetic surface like a skateboard until he landed with a clean roll. He stood tall and saluted, his silhouette framed by smoke and sparks. “Take care, Zaft, Myrrh, Fei!”

“Stay alive!” Myrrh called out, returning the salute with crisp form. I raised my hand in unison, a silent vow in the gesture.

Cindy and Remuel answered not with words, but with a knowing glance—sharp and warm—followed by faint, defiant smiles. In that brief moment, a hundred unspoken emotions passed between all of us.

Then Fei turned away, her sabertooth tiger Frame Unit igniting its boosters and sprinting down the ruined highway, the pavement beneath it shattering under the pressure of sheer velocity.

And just like that, only Cindy and Remuel remained—two warriors against the incoming horde.

They bumped fists with a heavy clack, their knuckles wrapped in grit and grime. Together, they turned to face the encroaching tide of Cosmic Beasts, dozens, maybe hundreds—howling, shrieking, coming for blood.

“How many times can you even do that self-destruct trick?” Remuel asked, eyeing her charred silhouette.

“Maybe four or five more times,” Cindy replied with a lopsided, carefree grin, casually scratching her newly puffed-out red afro like she’d just woken up from a nap and not detonated herself a few minutes ago. “If I push it beyond that, I’ll probably pass out… or melt. Could go either way.”

“Then let’s make every blast count,” Remuel said, his voice sharpening as he tapped the holographic controls of his WEEB System. “I hate to admit it, but your self-destruct is almost as terrifying as Zaft’s weird nuclear tech. We’re not going to last long out here—we hold until help arrives.”

“I don’t need no stinkin’ help, you pint-sized backup dancer,” Cindy scoffed, shooting him a side-eye as she flexed her fingers. “All you gotta do is sit tight and duck when I go kaboom again.”

As the wind howled past them, stirring the embers and cinders on the cracked ground, Cindy raised her morpher high, her aura pulsing with rekindled energy. Her voice rang out, bold and unshaken:

“Frame Unit, Awaken!”

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I could no longer hear their voices from this distance. The only thing that reached my ears now was the deafening whump of nuclear-like detonations—Cindy’s second round of self-destructive insanity lighting up the battlefield like an apocalyptic firework show. Each blast rippled through the air with bone-shaking force, vaporizing hundreds—no, thousands—of Cosmic Beasts in an instant.

And yet… they kept coming.

The surviving beasts—scarred, smoldering, and frenzied—crawled and soared through the smoke, driven by some relentless, hive-minded purpose. I wasn’t even counting anymore. What was the point? They were endless.

“We’re here!” Fei’s synthetic voice rang through the comms, sharp and clear.

I snapped my head forward just in time to see a towering steel wall looming ahead, like a fortress dropped straight out of the sky. Massive plated gates rumbled open with a thunderous clang, and from behind them emerged four colossal Frame Units—larger and bulkier than anything I’d ever seen. Each one was armored like a walking fortress, wielding dual gatling guns the size of small vehicles and wielding tower shields thick enough to stop a cruise missile.

These weren’t ordinary Frame Units. Their sheer presence felt like the tide turning.

“They must be using some kind of advanced Armor Module,” I muttered, narrowing my eyes. “TSUN? DERE? Maybe something new…”

“It’s the SENPAIs!” Myrrh shouted, her voice rising with awe and unfiltered hope.

“The what?” I blinked, thrown off by the sudden change in tone.

“The SENPAI!” she repeated, practically bouncing in her seat. “Sovereign Elite National Protectors of Authority and Integrity! They’re the royal guard units of the Kaiserin herself!”

She turned to me, her eyes sparkling with fan-girl energy.

“They’re all handpicked by the Kaiserin! Chosen from the strongest WAIFUs across the empire to defend her throne! They’re legends!”

“Get in!” one of the SENPAI WAIFUs barked, her voice modulated through heavy tactical filters as she cocked her colossal dual gatling guns with a thunderous clunk-chak-chak. Without missing a beat, she unleashed a storm of bullets into the oncoming swarm.

The air erupted with the roar of rapid-fire gunfire—each round a blazing tracer that tore through the sky like wrath made manifest. The bullets didn’t miss. Not a single one. They tore through the airborne abominations with brutal precision, ripping wings, limbs, and grotesque heads apart in midair. The shrieks of the Cosmic Beasts were drowned by the unrelenting barrage, as their flesh and black blood rained down like a grotesque storm across the ruined highway.

The other three SENPAI WAIFUs joined in instantly—moving in perfect, synchronized formation. They formed a living turret wall, turning the entire front line into a bullet inferno. Tentacles flailed, bodies dropped by the dozens, and within seconds, the ground was slick with alien ichor.

Fei’s sabertooth tiger Frame Unit drifted hard, kicking up sparks as it skidded sideways into the steel fortress. We burst through the open gate, and as soon as we cleared the threshold, the enormous doors groaned and began to seal shut behind us with a deep ka-chung… ka-chung… THUNK.

At that exact moment, the four SENPAI WAIFUs halted their fire. The whirring of cooling barrels echoed faintly as smoke drifted from their still-hot weapon cores.

One of them stepped forward—tall and commanding, her Frame Unit bristling with reinforced armor and crimson decals. Her glowing head-mounted cameras rotated with a soft mechanical hum as she scanned Fei’s sabertooth tiger, then turned to me… and finally settled on Myrrh.

“You must be the first years from Orbital Tech,” she said, her voice a calm, authoritative contrast to the chaos outside. “Agent Feena Arcaliburn informed us of your arrival. The Kaiserin is awaiting you… in the launch bay.” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Thank you,” Myrrh said earnestly, her voice still carrying the weight of everything we’d just survived. “And please… send reinforcements to our friends. They're holding back the swarms, about two to three kilometers from here.”

The lead SENPAI WAIFU gave a single, sharp nod. “Understood. We will commence an immediate rescue for your allies.”

“Thank you,” Myrrh replied again, bowing low in gratitude, her long greenish blonde swaying slightly as she rose.

“Meike, you’re with me,” the lead SENPAI ordered, tapping a glowing panel embedded in the steel gate with her armored fingers. “Open the gate! Commencing Rescue Operation SEN-07!”

With a mechanical hiss and groan, the gate split open once more. Then, without hesitation, two of the SENPAI WAIFUs launched forward—wheels deploying from their armored feet with a snap—shooting down the highway like living tanks on rollerblades. Their heavy frames glided impossibly smooth, twin barrels recharging as they vanished into the smog of war.

Behind us, Fei’s sabertooth tiger Frame Unit shimmered and collapsed into thousands of glowing data fragments, returning her to her human form. She dropped to one knee, gasping for breath, her arms trembling from exertion. Sweat beaded on her forehead and dripped down her cheeks.

Without a word, I rushed to her side and pulled a water bottle from my belt pouch. She took it with shaky fingers and whispered, “Thanks,” between breaths.

A soft hiss of steam drew our attention. One of the SENPAI WAIFUs reverted to her humanoid form, standing tall and graceful. She was dressed in a pristine, high-tech maid uniform reinforced with light combat plating. Her short black hair framed a composed face, and though she looked to be in her mid-twenties—older than us, but younger than Agent Feena—her calm presence felt like steel behind silk.

She dipped into a precise curtsy. “Miss Alicent, please follow me.”

Myrrh nodded politely, then turned to glance at both Fei and me. We returned the look in sync, exchanging a silent moment of mutual understanding.

Without another word, the three of us began walking, boots echoing softly against the polished metal floor as we followed the maid deeper into the fortress.