Shinei Nouzen/Chronology

## Prequel Stories

### Volume 10: Fragmental Neoteny: Brand

Shin had been on the battlefield for almost a year. His captain, Eijyu, suggested that he start considering his Personal Name and mark. Shin was dismissive of the idea, as he thought it was a pointless endeavor. The captain suggested the name **Báleygr**, due to his flame colored eyes, but Shin didn't think it fit him.

After a sortie in which the entire squad save for Shin had perished, he had come across a destroyed Juggernaut of an unknown squadron. The pilot had already decomposed within the cockpit. While his promise was to carry on the deaths of his squad mates, he felt that it was his duty to carry this stranger's mark as well. The Personal Mark painted on the unit, a headless skeleton wielding a longsword, resonated with him. After burying the bones and collecting the marks of his squad mates, he returned to the base. He requested the chief mechanic to paint the mark on his own Juggernaut, replacing the longsword with a shovel. Shin officially took up the Personal Name of **Undertaker**, the sole survivor that dug the graves of his comrades.

### Volume 10: Triage Black Tag Daily Life

In his fifth year of deployment, April of RY 367, Shin and his squadron are combined with veteran remnants of other squadrons from the Eastern Front to form Spearhead Squadron, with Shin leading as captain. Characteristic of Shin's squadrons, Spearhead does not patrol the battlefront for the warning on Legion attacks, instead of relying on Shin's ability to detect the Legion. Despite the Processors' years of experience and the advanced awareness of the Legion, Spearhead soon takes losses. By the time Spearhead receives their new Handler, three Processors have fallen in action: Mashu, Mina, and Kujo.

## Main Story

### Volume 1: Eighty-Six

**Coquelicots Blooming Across the Battlefield**
Shin fought a battle in which his squadron was annihilated. His Handler at the time asked how many had survived, to which Shin ignored him and disconnected the Para-RAID.

**Chapter 2: All Quiet on the Skeletal Front**
On May 22nd RY 367, Shin and the Spearhead Squadron received the first Para-RAID synchronization from their new Handler, Vladilena Milizé. The Handler continued to check in on the squadron nightly, with Shin always the first to curtly greet her in a businesslike tone. The first half-month of Lena's presence as their Handler would pass by without any casualties in the squadron. Shin and the rest of his squadmates would entertain her for the time being, knowing that her time as the squadron's Handler would be short lived, just like the rest of them.

**Chapter 3: To Your Gallant Visage at the Underworld's Edge**
Relations between Lena and the squadron would sour after Kaie's death on June 15th. Lena herself would disconnect abruptly from their resonance after Theo's tirade. She would eventually nervously reconnect with Shin later that night. As always, Shin greeted her in a businesslike fashion, without a sense of disdain the rest of his comrades had shown earlier. Sensing that Lena was eager to prove herself once more to the squadron, Shin gave her a chance and introduced his comrades' names to Lena one by one, also telling her about his promise to carry the tags of his fallen comrades. He would eventually introduce himself as Shinei Nouzen, to which Lena would ask if he was related to a Processor by the Personal Name of **Dullahan**—Shourei Nouzen. He confirmed that Shourei was his brother and told her of his death five years ago. He admits to Lena that he does not have any plans once he was discharged, only that his current goal was to search for his brother.

Shin—who had always been observant of his squadmates despite never seemingly looking at them—noticed that Theo had felt bad about his outburst towards Lena. The next day, Shin would set up Lena and the squadron to make amends, all the while he mostly kept silent. The squadron was able to set their boundaries for Lena, and in turn they would tolerate Lena as their Handler.

**Chapter 4: I Am Legion, for We Are Many**
One day, when Shin and Lena were making idle chatter regarding Lena's duties and Shin's brother, Shin suddenly urged everyone to prepare for battle. Once ready, Shin made a request to Lena to turn off her Para-RAID for the mission, as the incoming Legion assault was comprised of many Black Sheep. As she did not understand Shin's intentions, Lena did not cut off her Para-RAID. Shin was content with only warning her and proceeded with the battle. As soon as Lena began to panic due to the voices, Shin forcefully cut the link. Shin would explain his ability and background to Lena later that night, as well as his theories on how the Legion operated.

**Chapter 5: Fuckin' Glory to the Spearhead Squadron**

As Shin was inspecting the supplies sent by Lena, he was rudely informed of a "special warhead" she had sent by one of the resupply officers. He soon contacted her via Para-RAID to thank her for the explosives she had sent—i.e., fireworks. He increased his synchronization level to where the cheers of his squadmates could be heard by Lena. Shin continued to talk to her. He thanked her for letting his fallen comrades be honored by an artillery salute, reminisced with her about his brother, and asked her to not forget the Spearhead Squadron once they perished.

**Chapter 6: Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum**
Shin and the remainder of the squadron finally informed Lena of the execution ground that was the First Ward after four of their members died during a sortie. They laid out all of the lies the Republic has spouted to them over the years as evidence of their certain demise within the next month. Shin and Raiden looked back on that day's battlefield, regretting that they couldn't find pieces to etch the names of their fallen. Shin listened intently towards the sounds of the Legion and confirmed that his brother had finally found him. Shin expressed his joy at the situation, which left Raiden stunned. Shin asked what Raiden would do, to which he replied that he would stick with their Reaper to the very end.

The Spearhead Squadron was ordered to deploy on their Special Reconnaissance Mission. Lena apologized that she could not rescind the order, to which Shin assured her that this was their destiny from the beginning. The Spearhead Squadron would soon deploy on their mission with five members remaining, all had accepted their fate. Shin especially had looked forward to putting his brother to rest.

**Chapter 7: Good-bye**
Shin and the Spearhead Squadron engaged against the Dinosauria manned by the vestiges of Rei. At first, Shin gave the order for everyone to advance ahead of him as he took on his brother alone. Raiden and the rest objected to their leader's order, instead choosing to support him by eliminating the other Legion surrounding Rei. Another form of support would arrive in the form of Lena's artillery. Shin left his squadron to their own devices as he fought his brother mano-a-mano, blocking out all other distractions. Through their dance of death, the two brothers would have their final conversation. Shin would eventually make a mistake and lose consciousness.

Rei approached Undertaker, intending to assimilate his brother into the Legion. His squad mates would attempt to bind the Dinosauria with their anchor wires, but the Juggernauts were simply too light, unable to stop the unit completely. The efforts of the squadron would not be in vain, however. Just as Rei's micromachine hands prepared to tear off Undertaker's canopy, Lena would fire her artillery in his direction. As Rei did not intend to have Shin simply die, he used his micromachine arms in order to protect him, not knowing that the shell was a dud.

Shin awoke after Lena fired the dud and resumed combat. He fired one final high-explosive anti-tank warhead from his cannon at point-blank range. Before Rei was destroyed, his micromachine arms slipped into Undertaker's cockpit and gave Shin a final goodbye. Shin finally let out the emotions he was unable to express since his near death. After composing himself, Shin and his squad mates would bid Lena a brief, nonchalant, and carefree farewell.

### Volume 2: Run Through the Battlefront (Start)

**Chapter 1: Ride of the Valkyries**

**Chapter 2: Panzer Lied**

**Chapter 3: Wild Blue Yonder**

**Chapter 4: Beneath the Two-Headed Eagle**

**Chapter 5: Cries "Take Aim"**

**Interlude: When "John Doe" Comes Marching Home**

### Volume 3: Run Through the Battlefront (Finish)

**Interlude: Get Your Guns**

**Chapter 6: Over There**

**Chapter 7: Something to Die For**

**Chapter 8: Run Through the Battlefront**

**Chapter 9: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel**

**Epilouge: We'll Meet Again**

### Volume 4: Under Pressure

**Prologue: Missing in Action**
Annette recalls Shin from her past memories. It was Annette who gave him the nickname Shin instead of using his full name, Shinei. The two have known each other ever since they were children. She recalls Shin as a bright child who would often smile, along with his older brother who would always spoil him, making him a cry baby. Annette remarks that she believed his entire family raised him with love and affection, which made him into a kind, carefree child. Shin lived in the house next door to Annette, and they would play together everyday. They would often have their spats but would make up for it the very next day. Annette believed that the two of them were close enough friends that they'd been vaguely confident things would stay this way even once they grew up.

Shin stood on the runway as Annette exited the plane, waiting to greet her. Initially she was unable to recognize him, as it has been years since they last saw each other. She later noticed that the officer who greeted her was around the same age. Shin did not recall who his childhood friend was at that moment. He continued to face her with a practiced, perfect salute. As he approached Annette, she got a closer look at his distinguishing features, black hair of an Onyx and the bloodred eyes of a Pyrope. Annette asked the captain who greeted for his name, to which he responded to her question with an indifferent composure.

**Chapter 1: Call on Duty**
Shin knock's on Lena's door to inform her of the transport to headquarters. The encounter was not long after the two finally met face to face for the first time. The other four senior Eighty-Six retreated to the barracks, leaving Shin as Lena's guide to the headquarters. Since meeting their former handler in person for the first time they day before, there was not much time for them to rekindle their old friendship. In the car ride on the way to the base, Shin told Lena about what happened during the Special Reconnaissance mission two years ago and how him along with the other four Eighty-Six made their way to the Federacy.

Upon arriving at the hangar, Shin warns Lena, that in a few short moments, she should direct her anger towards him and no one else. Lena is later greeted with a "welcome", resulting in her being splashed by large amounts of water from the soldiers. Shin later reveals that upon her assignment to the Strike Package, they received a lot of complaints from soldiers. He allowed them to "welcome" her because he knew that their dissent would not simply go away and repressing it would be ineffective. Despite allowing that display of "retribution" and deciding on the details himself, Shin still believes that Lena did not deserve such punishment, despite her believing it herself. Shin reminds Lena that she is not the one responsible for the situation in the Eighty-Sixth Sector and that she had no power to rescind it either.

Shin later gives Lena a tour of the base, with Frederica and Kurena curious about their interaction and attempting to eavesdrop and follow them. Theo reminds Frederica that Shin has already been embarrassed enough, with his initial conversation in the Reginleif with Lena being recorded and shared in the briefing soon after the mission. As Shin continued to give Lena the tour of the base, she returns his 9 mm automatic pistol, one that he’s known to carry around in order to free his comrades who died in battle. As Shin received his pistol from Lena, his expression fell silent, it was then that she realized the processor she was conversing with on the field was Shin himself. The two apologized, with this sudden feeling of embarrassment rushing over them. Shin clarified the situation to Lena, and assured her that he never doubted she would reach their final destination. It was then he saw that tragic expression she had been dawning since she found them, He realized the heavy burden he had placed on his former handler back in the Republic, reminding her once again that she alone was not responsible in atoning for the sins of the Republic. He later remarked that her macabre uniform and red streak in her hair did not suit her. Lena clinged to Shin in tears, the aftermath of the Republic being wiped out has finally caught up to her.

**Chapter 2: Identification: Friend or Foe?**
Standing in the chief of staff, Willem's room, Shin and Lena were both assigned to the Federacy’s operation to retake the Republic’s northern administrative Sectors, as part of the Eight-Sixth Strike Package. The mission was to takeover the Republic’s northern secondary capital of Charité’s underground central station terminal. Their objective was to eliminate both legions, the Admiral and Weisel. Willem later escorted the two to a meeting room, where Ersnt was in a meeting with Representative Primevére, an Alba from the Republic of San Magnolia. The Alba later expressed discontent, reminding Ernst that the Eight-Six are weapons belonging to their country. It was then that both understood the meaning behind Willem bringing them into this room. After the call ended, Shin made a remark towards Willem, that if the Federacy no longer found them to be useful, they would abide by the demands of the Republic. To which Willem did not defend the Federacy’s position, but was in agreement with Shin’s remark.

**Chapter 3: Front Toward Enemy**
**Chapter 4: Triage**
**Epilogue: Wounded in Action**
### Volume 5: Death, Be Not Proud

**Prolouge: The King of Corpses**

**Chapter 1: Melancholy of Monsters**

**Chapter 2: Citadel of the Swans**

**Chapter 3: Deaf to the Songbirds’ Lament**

**Chapter 4: Ex Machina**

**Epilogue: Flowers Bloom Not on Snowy Fields**

### Volume 6: Darkest Before Dawn

**Prologue: Harsh Mistress**

**Chapter 1: In the Werewolves’ Forest**

**Chapter 2: Life’s but a Walking Shadow**

**Chapter 3: Shoot the Moon**

**Chapter 4: In His Heaven**

**Epilogue: Home Sweet Home**

### Volume 7: Mist

**Prologue: Mist of The Battlefield**

**Chapter 1: Haze Blue**

**Chapter 2: Mist Blue**

**Chapter 3: Fog Blue**

**Chapter 4: Starlight Blue**

### Volume 8: Gun Smoke on the Water

**Prologue: The Red Dragon**

**Chapter 1: The Gun in the High Castle**

**Chapter 2: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale**

**Chapter 3: Into the Storm**

**Chapter 4: The Tower (Upright)**

**Chapter 5: The Tower (Reverse)**

### Volume 9: Valkyrie Has Landed

**Prologue: The Beast of Gluttony**

**Chapter 1: The Mermaid’s Bargain**

**Interlude: The King of Spades and Queen of Hearts’s Interminable, All Too**

**Trivial Dispute**

**Chapter 2: The Ashen Battlefield**

**Interlude: Where Was the Blue Bird All Along?**

**Chapter 3: Off With Her Head!**

**Interlude: To Know How To Kill Siegfried, One Must...**

**Chapter 4: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall, What Do Ordinary Mirrors Show?**

**Chapter 5: And the Piper Advanced, and the Rats and the Children Follow’d**

**Epilogue: The Clock Ticks On, Even in the Crocodile’s Stomach**