A lone man sat in a ‘prison cell’ in the heart of the Holy Crux Empire. This was a special man, one appointed by the Holy Crux Emperor for a special, unknown task. He did not know why the Emperor had chose him to sit in this lavish ‘prison’ where he was waited on like the emperor himself, but ultimately, he didn’t care. He was content to live out the rest of his days in lavish luxury, drinking the finest wines and eating the finest food. He was perfectly happy and content, until the reason he was placed there became apparent.

It started as a headache of ever-increasing agony, followed by the pain spreading through the rest of his body. Soon after the bones in his body began to creak and then crack and then finally shattering while his organs, eyes and tissues ripped themselves apart. He howled in primal agony and fear as he began to transform into someone else over the course of 12 excruciatingly painful hours until the man who was once there was no more and, in his place, stood the revived Holy Crux Emperor, Hiroyuki.

Yes, one of Hiroyuki’s abilities had come into play, allowing him to cheat death and return to the Holy Crux Empire’s capital of Lugusgrad. Hiroyuki panted like a dog as the last bits of the person who used to be there vanished without a trace. Eventually, there was only Hiroyuki in that ‘cell’, with the blood and gore that had fallen from the poor sod having fully returned to Hiroyuki’s body and finished his revival.

Hiroyuki swept his black hair back with his hands and let out an arrogant laugh. He had done it. He had escaped the embrace of the reaper and now was back in one of the safest places in the Human Lands. Like always, the kami and destiny favored him. He now just needed the time, resources and numbers to fight off the western barbarians and their golems. He was sure that he could mount a successful defense of the Empire, even if it meant letting the other nations be overrun and their citizens enslaved or killed.

They were ‘gaijin’, so what did he care if they died or lost their freedom? The Theocracy had promised him that they would return him to his homeland when he had won the crushed the barbarians, and he had faith that, like always, he would get what he wanted. In his home nation, he was untouchable, only here in this backwards and barbarous world was he even slightly vulnerable. He was, ultimately, chose by the Kami to do great things, just like his father and grandfather had told him for the longest time. He had to teach those bastard barbarians not to stand in the way of his perfect, divine greatness.

But first things first; he had to prepare the nation for what was surely to come.

…

Char and Amuro stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Both had ranked up during ‘Operation: Fruitless Endeavor’, but while Amuro had only ranked up once, Char had ranked up twice. Amuro had become a RX-78NT-1 Gundam Alex, while Char had become MSN-02 Perfect Zeong. Both were far more powerful than they were originally, but while they were comrades they still had an animosity towards each other over a single individual. Both were infatuated with the same being, and both went out of their way to impress ‘her’.

Char had volunteered to be in on ‘wall duty’ knowing full well that an attack was imminent and that he could use this as a chance to score a victory against a VIP, while Amuro had kept watch over the Ground Gundam and had taken down tens of thousands of elites before his rank-up. Char had been around longer, and Lalah was technically in the same faction as him but Amuro had gained quite the list of achievements due to his tireless actions in slaughtering high-rank monsters before the war and now the massacre of the Crusaders.

“Amuro, you really have become more callous. Where is the optimism and idealism that you had only a few short months ago?”

“The same place it has always been, Char. Unlike you, I still believe in the potential that the Humans outside of the Alliance have. However, I know well enough that some people will never change without proper incentive.”

“That is why we should raze their nations to the ground. We should give them no hope of ever being able to defy the Creator.”

“Don’t you see that will only create more hostilities in the future?! If we give them such harsh treatment, then they will undoubtably rise again.”

“You overestimate them. If we take over their nations…”

“And then what will the Creator rule? Nothing. He will rule over the homeless, hungry, desperate few who survive in abject poverty while the rest become criminals. He would not want to rule over a land like that!”

“And you claim to know his will?!”

The battle of words was escalating with no end in sight. That was until one of the Zudahs came back with alarming news.

“Sirs! There is something wrong with the bodies of one of the VIPs we managed to kill.”

Char and Amuro turned to face the Zudah Commander.

“Besides the fact your unit broke protocol and suicide-rammed one of them?” Amuro retorted.

“Besides that. The body of what we think was the enemy commander is… well, I don’t know what to think of it.”

Char and Amuro followed the Zudah Commander to the body of Emperor Hiroyuki, which was contorting and cracking like something out of a horror movie. His charred and broken body was slowly healing, while at the same time the features, size and build of the corpse began to shift horrifically.

“How long has this been going on for?” Char inquired.

“About 9 hours. When we first got the body, it was already twitching despite having a hole through its head and having been lying on the field for over an hour.”

“Then… maybe whoever died used some ability to escape.” Amuro postulated.

“What do you mean?” asked Char.

“Perhaps the reason the body is shifting is due to the person who ‘died’ having ‘switched places’ with someone else. That way, even if they died, they could simply revive at a more secure location.”

“And this body, here?”

“The body here may be the remains of whoever is having their body taken over. It is like a twisted form of body-snatching/ body-changing magic.” Amuro stated.

The assembled MSGs were silent. Whoever this commander was, he obviously would rather condemn an innocent man to a horribly brutal end than face his own death. He was likely the kind of person Char believed made up the whole of the Human Lands and the type of person Amuro believed simply held powerful positions. Either way, they were dealing with someone who cared nothing for the lives of others and would gladly sacrifice them to achieve his goals.

The general consensus after this was, “Just what we need to be facing… A person who views life in the exact opposite way as the Creator. If this isn’t a challenge to our Creator’s ideals then nothing is.”