Prologue

With the medical technology the Federation had, it only took Taki a week to recover from all of the injuries he sustained from his unfortunate mission. When he was finally released, his body may be ready to return to the fight, but his soul wasn't. Instead of reporting for duty, Taki chose to lock himself up in his room.

He lost her. After everything he promised to her, he lost her.

Taki couldn't stop blaming himself for her death. He thought if he was just a bit stronger. If he was just a bit more aware of the nature of their mission. She wouldn't have died. She would be going back to the base with him, even if she was injured, at least she would still be alive.

Now, she was gone forever.

While Taki was grieving the death of his lover, the war continued. The Federation would have been fine without their two best pilots if not because of the Separatist's new ace pilot. One that easily defeated normal pilots and could stand toe-to-toe to multiple ace pilots at once and still came out victorious.

She called herself Athena, and she was a huge threat to the Federation as no pilot in the Federation was skilled enough to fight her. Well, except for one. And the Federation president was well aware of this. He knew only Taki had the skill to fight against their new threat.

That's why the president decided to visit the grieving pilot personally. Hoping he could convince him to return to his duty and defeat Athena.

"The Federation needs you son. Without you, many innocent people are going to die," the President said, standing behind Taki sitting in front of his window. In his hand was a tablet, filled with pictures and videos of him and his dead lover.

Taki ignored him, staring blankly into the void outside. He already lost the one person he held dear the most. He had no more reason to live or even fight for the Federation. He just wished to be left alone.

"The Separatist has a new ace pilot that called herself Athena. From what our  spies could gather, it seems like she is the one responsible for Luna's death."

Those words hit Taki hard. It made him realize that the one who killed her lover was a missile, launched from a mecha. He didn't remember what it looked like, but if what the president told him was the truth, then Taki still had one last thing to do.

He stood up from his chair and placed the tablet on a nearby table. His eyes were now filled with determination. After so long without a purpose, he finally had one.

"Fine. I will fight. But only to defeat Athena, nothing else," he said.

"That's all I'm asking for," the president said with relief, "See you back in duty, son."

The president left, leaving Taki to prepare. After a brief consideration, Taki decided to let go of his old identity and don a new one. Ares, the God of War, was his name henceforth. And he would stop at nothing until he took down Athena, the one responsible for Luna's death.

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