Namsak is a small town in Southeast Asia. Anything goes in this area - corruption, violence, black market arms trading. One thing that Namsak stands out from the rest is that this town is the home of the Arene ("arena") where AS dukes it out with other AS in the special coliseum - a part of illegal gambling.
Sousuke arrives at Namsak following a lead that may lead to Amalgam. While at Namsak, Sousuke meets a girl named Nami and a French reporter named Lemon. Lemon is a poor reporter who traveled all the way here in or to find something to "make it big," while Nami is an active 16 year old girl who leads one of the AS fight teams. Nami's AS pilot was murdered and she had no one to pilot her Rk-91 Savage named "Crossbow." (Note the name "crossbow" with "arbalest.") But then Sousuke appeared asking for the name of the dead AS pilot....
With Sousuke piloting Crossbow, Nami's team began winning each fight after fight at the Arene. With the amount of winnings, Nami's team was able to retrofit their Crossbow into much better shape. They even had enough money to paint their AS, to which Sousuke paints it white. Lemon became the accountant and the primary sponsor for Nami's team.
Sousuke begins to feel that living a life with Nami, her assistants, Lemon isn't so bad. It has only been several months since he decided to stake out on his own to find Chidori, but he begins to forget about her and why he has to go through all the trouble against Amalgam. Couldn't I just forget everything? Couldn't I start a new life here with them? As Nami begins to fall in love with Sousuke, things make a turn.
The police chief of Namsak, pissed off at the winnings of Crossbow and Nami's gang, arrests Sousuke and Lemon when they are out buying parts at the local black market. As with any other place with lackluster corruption, the police plays a major role in illegal gambling and kickbacks. With Crossbow winning all the time, the amount of cash flow going into the pockets of the police chief is diminishing. After spending the night at the slammer, Sousuke accepts the police chief's demands to stave off on winning - on one condition. Sousuke wants in on a deal to play in the "real battle" reserved for VIPs.
Sousuke's main purpose was to come to Namsak because of this one lead: many of the AS pilots of Amalgam seem to all have experience in fighting a real one-on-one battle in the outskirts of Namsak. Not the pish-posh sporty fight at the Arena - the real one whose betting stakes are so high that the rich and the VIP gets to enjoy. And unlike the sporty Arena battles, the real one involves using live artillery - a duel to the death.
The police chief acknowledges this and sets Sousuke free that day, but leaving Lemon behind as "collateral." When Nami asks what happened and confronts Sousuke to tell her the truth, Sousuke has a flash back of Kyoko being strapped with explosives at the top of Jindai High yelling "I don't want to die knowing nothing!" (incident occurred in previous main story novel). Sousuke tells Nami the truth - that he's a remaining member of Mithril, about going after Amalgam, and to retrieve something very important to him. Nami, after much consideration, believes Sousuke and helps him out.
Nami and her gang sets up their Crossbow for Sousuke. Nami sets up a better OS, in which she says to Sousuke "I spent all night creating this OS." Sousuke, was surprised when she said that - "You did all this in one night? By the way, I always wanted to ask you - where did you learn to restore and retrofit this old AS without any prior knowledge?" To which Nami replies "Huh? You can do this by playing and fiddling around with this several times." It is highly implied that Nami is a prospective Whispered at this scene.
Sousuke appears at the real one-on-one battle in the outskirts of Namsak. Nami and her gang are separated and escorted to a different location by the police. Sousuke's Rk-91 Savage battle enemy was....an M9 Garnsbuck equipped with ECS. Watching this from a safe location was the corrupt police chief and...Mr. Kurama (member of Amalgam, appears in previous main story novel). Sousuke's gamble was correct - no government in the world can get an M9 yet, unless they happen to be Mithril or Amalgam.
Sousuke wins the battle against the enemy M9, whose pilot happened to be a former member of Mithril who surrendered to Amalgam. When Sousuke learns that Mr. Kurama is in the VIP area, Sousuke hurries to that location. However, the police chief and Mr. Kurama comes out with a hostage - Nami. Mr. Kurama dares Sousuke to come out or else Nami gets killed at the count of ten. At the final countdown of "two," Sousuke decides to come out to save Nami, when Mr. Kurama suddenly says "oh hell, I changed my mind" and shoots Nami anyway without saying "one" or "zero." Nami is killed.
Furious with rage, Sousuke tries to attack when a group of masked forces suddenly attack the police chief and Mr. Kurama from all sides. It was Lemon and his forces. Lemon's true identity is a member of Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure - a French intelligence agency who is on the trail against Amalgam. Lemon managed to escape the jail and was able to rescue Nami's gang from their deaths, but did not arrive soon enough to save Nami.
With Lemon's help, Sousuke manages to get his Savage up and running to chase after the police chief and Mr. Kurama. After several battlecapades of Sousuke's AS and several Arene AS, Sousuke finally confronts Mr. Kurama in the building of the Arene. Sousuke is seriously injured in the final one-on-one gunfight, in which he manages to usurp priority information from Mr. Kurama right before his death - Sousuke: "Where is Chidori!!"
Mr. Kurama: "In San Carlos. Or in Nikero. Or Grenada. That's all I know. Shit I should never have quit smoking."
Sousuke lies near death with images of Chidori scolding at him to "get up! move foward!" as he hears Lemon's voice of "Epinephrine! Need medic here stat!!"
-Cut scene to some remote tropical area-
Chidori dreams of someone giving her information
-I'm sorry
-Why are you sorry?
-I am sad
-Why?
-I couldn't be your replacement
-Is he alright?
-I don't know
-Why?
-Because I am dead
-Where is he now?
-In Namsak
It is implied that this Whispered conversation is between Chidori and Nami.
-Cut scene to some remote arctic region-
Wraith meets up with a mysterious man
"You have the stuff?"
"We are both on our own now."
"So what is this AS' name?"
"There is none since the project was scrapped - but if it had one, it would be known as..."
"ARX-8"
TO BE CONTINUED
Several interesting thing to note from this novel:
A little of Sousuke's past is revealed - a distant memory scene where he recalls his real mother clutching a very young Sousuke in her arms inside an airplane that made an emergency landing on an icebed.