Izanagi Devastator Tank

**Key Features** | »» *"Fujiwara"* Wave-Force cannon»» Burst missile pods (x2)»» 6 fully-articulated legs w/ retractable wheels»» Kinetic-burst autocannons»» 火 (fire) kanji on sides

## Tactical Analysis

* **Devastator Hexapod**: Not quite a tank, not quite a mecha, the six wheeled Izanagi Devastator Tank boasts impressive speed and is armed with missile launchers and kinetic burst autocannons, giving it a serious punch against land and air alike.

* **Phoenix rising**: While retracting its wheels in favour of its six legs cuts the Izanagi's mobility considerably, doing so allows it to use its most powerful weapon--the Fujiwara Cannon. This Wave-Force weapon can rip straight through any target, but is hampered with short/medium range in favour of quick reloading.

* **Superior power, superior maintenance**: While devastating in combat, the Izanagi is difficult to produce, maintenance-heavy and flat-out expensive to field. Also, it is quite slow to move and turn when in walking mode.

* **Absolute Defense System**: To ensure the Izanagi's survival the Empires are starting to install the "Zettai Ryōiki" defense system, giving the Izanagi a group of point defense drones and the duplicator to make more. Though the current experimental nature of it means that only veteran crew are given the upgrade.

## Excerpt from 'Izanagi no Mikoto', published by Sukima Books

### *Chapter 1: The one who was two*

It was a hot day in summer. A standard, typical Japanese day in summer, with temperatures well over 38°C, even in shadowy areas. It was a technical impossibility to find shelter from the nuclear fusion reactor (the Sun, namely.) shining its glory down on the people getting toasted below.

There are many who would be thinking of 'who would work in this sweltering heat', and indeed, there were people who did, like the genius minds of Kanegawa Industries who were **fired** up about their newest creation. Tired about the ongoing debate which recently swept the Empire on how any kind of mecha is not worth its weight in ore from the anti-mecha camp, and the pro-mecha camp who keep claiming without mecha the Empire would have been even more devastated than it already was, and only the mecha were effective guardians (Namely the ominous King Oni as their backer).

*"Mokou-taicho (Captain), are you ready for the test run?"* Mokou looked up from under the hatch, covered in oil, grease and grit. *"Almost. There are a few more adjustments to be made with the engine and servos, but everything else is all green."* With that said, Mokou would wearily yell for a wrench, which was tossed into the hatch, where some clanking noises and 'owwie' would emanate from.

Mokou's head popped out from the hatch with grease on her face. She wiped it off with her towel and bellowed, *"Let's get started. Everyone, and I mean, every single one of you armed with pens, paper fans or wrenches, get off the field!"* Scientists, technicians, even emergency response crews, all scurried into control tower, specially-designed bunkers or parked their vehicles behind reinforced structures.

Mokou would have not taken her own sweet time. She clambered her way out, jumped onto the ground, opened the door leading out of the hangar and got into an Auto Go waiting outside. Accelerating to full speed on the trip back to the control tower, the Auto Go engaged its jump pistons and literally flew across to the other side of the test range, landing beside the control tower. Mokou would hurriedly slam the door behind her and dash up into the air-conditioned room full of glass windows, monitors of data and video feeds, as well as lots of people.

*"Yoshi, everything has fallen in place and looks good. Systems all green, everything in defined parameters."* Mokou would jab at the 'push to talk' button and grumble, *"Anyone, be it rabbits, cats, birds, humans, youkai of the legends, get off the field, the firing range, the predicted course of arrival for the AI-controlled units, everything. This is not a drill, I repeat. This is not a drill, we are commencing preliminary testing now! Anyone who fails to listen will get burned by me, personally!"*

### *Chapter 2: The birth of Izanagi*

Mokou would give the operator sitting tensely next to her, a faint nod. A few seconds, rattling and sounds of metal screeching and the roar of a powerful engine would fill the air, canceling out the peacefulness that was before it. The ground started trembling, equivalent to standing near a King Oni when it stepped beside your tank. The tremors were strong enough that even the control tower personnel could feel how ominous it was. The hangar doors slid open slowly, revealing something hidden in the cool shade.

Something began storming out of the hangar, neither tank nor mecha, the **Izanagi Devastator Tank** revealed itself to the world around it. Glinting in the sun with its armour, armed to the heavens bristling with weaponry made to riddle people and helicopters with lots, and lots of holes.

*"Mokou-taicho, the experimental hexapedal theory has proven itself. We have a stable centre of gravity, the Izanagi is more than capable of supporting its own weight and distributing it fairly to all legs."* was transmitted from inside the Izanagi's cockpit. *"Excellent!"* was the only answer from Mokou, while scientists at the back and around monitors would be gleaming, some would be contacting others about the success of the theory. Mokou would jab the 'push to talk' button'. *"Begin the preliminary tests! Phase one: Movement, traction, stability, articulation!"*

The Izanagi would raise a leg, which came down with a loud thump. Then another, and another, until the Izanagi was roaming around at a speed which no one would expect from a walking tank. There would be gasps, *"woah"* and the occasional *sugoi* from the back of the control tower, but Mokou would be looking intently at the Izanagi's progress, silent.

*"Commence phase two: Deployment of the wheeled movement system, unit height change, pressure on the...in short, just step on the pedal!"* would crackle from the transceiver in the Izanagi's cockpit. The Izanagi would crawl to a still, strange whining and mechanical sounds from the legs. Soon the Izanagi's height would increase, but in actuality, the Izanagi had 'put on shoes', or more specifically, wheels protruded from under the legs of the Izanagi.

*"Izanagi, charge!"* Mokou's voice resonated throughout the cockpit of the Izanagi and the base. There would be an ominous rumbling, and then the Izanagi lurched forward... slowly... accelerating. Faster, and faster, accelerating and gaining more speed. *"This speed... this... gracefulness... it's just like..."* Mokou would be appalled at the unexpected gracefulness of the Izanagi, as would everyone in the control tower. The motion tracking cameras had little difficulty tracking the Izanagi, but maintaining a high resolution feed was not. The Izanagi would soon reach its theoretical top speed, gliding over the test range as majestic as a phoenix.

### *Chapter 3: Flames of the Phoenix*

The Izanagi slowed down, slower and slower, soon it came to a halt, just like a phoenix returning to its nest. *"Phase 2 is completed. The Izanagi's top speed has been determined to be 154 kilometres per hour...this is unprecedented."* would crackle from the transceiver in the control tower, as Mokou would jab the 'push to talk' button. *"Initiate phase three: Weapons trial!"* Mokou, despite being the chief engineer behind the Izanagi, started to shiver a little in expectation at how the Izanagi would fare in battle. *"Keine-san, we'll start off with the secondary weapons... load and spin up the autocannons. A squadron of 17 AI-piloted Chopper-VXes to engage the Izanagi on aggressive setting. Your task is to shoot down every single one of the VXes...remember, they're watching."*

*"Realistic ground-to-air engagement accepted, Mokou-taicho."* Keine would strengthen her will, run a quick weapon system check and rest her hands on the triggers. From the horizon, blades chopping up the air would fill the speakers, as the VXes would soar out towards the Izanagi, fanning out. Keine had no difficulty maneuvering the Izanagi into position while the AI-assisted missile pods would provide covering fire, inadvertently shooting down several VXes on a 'chase' command. *"Assuming manual control of the autocannons in standby mode!"*

Ear-deafening noises of indescribable sounds blared through the speakers, which were shut down immediately and automatically as their fail-safe to prevent deafness. Mokou would be absorbing the spectacle with a fiery passion, as her creation was seamlessly moving around, gracefully engaging the VXes with ease. In a matter of time, the VXes would have fallen to the ground as flaming wrecks, with the Izanagi standing proud and tall, relatively undamaged.

Mokou would finally push the *"push to talk"* button, *"You did a fine job, Keine. Take a breather. We're commencing the final phase in a few seconds."* Somewhere in the distance, the whirring of engines and treads would be heard, but in the range there was only the Izanagi's presence. *"Commence phase 4, first combat trial of the **Fujiwara Cannon**!"*

From the edge of the test range, a platoon of 35 AI-piloted Tsunami tanks would steamroll over obstacles in their way like a tsunami, charging forth at the Izanagi. Keine would initiate defensive manoeuvres and activate the Fujiwara Cannon, but the operating system began reporting an inability to stabilize its targeting array, plot a firing solution amongst the multitude of other errors. The engineers and scientists at the back of the control tower began to unravel the theory of the Fujiwara Cannon and what happens to it during high-speed movement, but Mokou would hear none. It was predicted.

*"Mokou-taicho, if what the guys at the back say is correct..."* Mokou would watch as the Tsunami pound at the Izanagi while driving circles around it and put her fist on the 'push to talk' button, having anticipated the outcome: *"Keine-san, revert to mecha mode, if you would please."* The Izanagi's wheels would retract as the thumps of the Izanagi's legs would resound in the test range again, drowning out the Tsunami and their cannons. *"OS is reporting all green! Targeting array is stabilised, fire solutions are plottable, everything..."* The Izanagi's sensors would pick out four Tsunami tanks in a tight diamond-formation on an assault vector to the Izanagi.

The Fujiwara Cannon hummed... hummed... and hummed. For a moment all sound seemed to be sucked out of the air. With a deafening blast, blinding light and the instantaneous appearance of the Wave-Force beam, the Fujiwara Cannon had annihilated the four Tsunami tanks. There would only be burning remains of pieces of Tsunami tanks with treads strewn here and melted pontoons there. All the while through the Fujiwara Cannon's first debut, there would be silence in the control tower.

Keine was astounded, Mokou was dumbfounded and some of the scientists would be in disbelief, while the other personnel would be in awe. The Izanagi would change to its wheeled configuration and hit on full reverse, luring the Tsunamis to form a spearhead before anchoring itself with its legs, firing the Fujiwara Cannon again and cutting a swathe out of the remaining Tsunami tanks. The few remaining Tsunami tanks charged the Izanagi head-on as instructed by their AIs, but the Fujiwara Cannon reduced the Tsunami tanks to molten parts and pieces.

*"Mokou-taicho! Say something, moshi moshi?!"* came from the transceiver in the control tower. Mokou was stunned...still. She had not expected the experimental Fujiwara Cannon to be this devastating. Having watched the Izanagi live up to the name of '**Izanagi Devastator Tank'**, Mokou picked herself up, ordering the Izanagi back to hangar and Keine to her quarters. The scientists and engineers would be pouring their hearts out on the performance data gathered, scientific breakthroughs and weapon effectiveness data, while the cleanup crew would be grumbling about pieces strewn here and there, meanwhile Mokou and Keine would be enjoying themselves in a hot spring, chatting about something 'boing', with delicious sake to accompany them.

## Behind the Scenes

* The basic idea resembles the supertank from *"Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex - Episode 2"*.