Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones

Phase 1: For You, the Replaceable Ones (代わりのいる君たちへ) is the first story arc in.

Introduction
''Thank you for waiting so long for us to prepare. Now, I will finally start up the game.

However, are you sure about this? This is merely my personal opinion, but I believe the difficulty level is quite high, given the present circumstances.

Still, I am well aware that you know the joy of achieving victory, especially over conditions such as that. This is a considerably high tier of difficulty, after all.

Your opponent is already fully prepared.

Plot
The Battle Standard Festival begins with an air show from each of the Five Great Factions. Soon after, each kette participating in the Festival is introduced. Meanwhile, three mysterious Kings consult with Jestress about inciting an apocalyptic event on mankind.

The Festival concludes without incident. The participating Gauntlet Knights enjoy an afterparty at a virtual onsen hosted by Warcat. The Gauntlet Knights make an oath to maintain their friendship. Amidst the celebrations, Miyao Mitake witnesses a vision of an altered version of himself that describes brutal ways in which he will kill Lingji and Koshka. Miyao ignores these visions and attempts to enjoy the party. Some time later, Jayden senses Miyao at an arcade and attempts to talk to him. He learns that Miyao has a second personality named Meow that is responsible for his great abilities as a Gauntlet Knight. Jayden develops a crush on Meow and struggles with treating Meow and Miyao as different people.

A variety of international issues come to a head at once as a result of the Three Kings. Seshat comments that the international tensions could lead to a fourth World War. While in a virtual room with Gunhild and Lilja, Koshka's Kizuna begins to malfunction and she repeatedly says "help" and "caution" in Russian. Gunhild and Lilja leave after Koshka glitches out of the room. It is revealed that Koshka is currently being operated on by scientists as part of an experiment. Meanwhile, Vier Dreissig shows a man seeking eternal youth around her research facility. She initially implores that he join another researcher who had already devised a flawed version of eternal youth but learns that the researcher had hanged himself. Vier leaves the room, giggling. She reveals to the man a secret hatch at the bottom of the facility that she believes contains an isolated spacetime 1,000 years in the future.

Toujirou uses Selcom technology to extract classified information from drunk executives. On December 1st, various international conflicts come to a head and it seems to many that war is imminent. Toujirou meets with his son, Miyao Mitake, and explains that a fourth World War is inevitable. Shortly thereafter, the Gauntlet Knights are thrown into military missions. At Miyao's behest, each Gauntlet Knight kette completes their mission without casualties. Meanwhile, Seshat interrupts a meeting at the ABN Saint Florian International Airport and subdues an underling named Mr. Gray.

Miyao learns that Toujirou created and now heads a chivalric order and is inspired to do the same. Miyao recruits the other Gauntlet Knights into the Order of the Public Bath, stipulating that they can no longer rely on national leaders to decide the right course for justice. Soon after, a litany of increasingly violent international incidents occurs, culminating in a biological attack that destroys 30% of the world's food crops. Nations affiliated with the ABN were solely unaffected by this attack, leading to accusations of their perpetrating it.

In order to broker peace across the world, LATO forcibly installs anti-war figures in political power in all nations and calls for these figures to join a conference that would ultimately discover the masterminds behind the recent string of international incidents. Toujirou appears as a photographer for this conference and the main stage explodes as he takes a picture. The diplomats are all killed and the blame is placed on a faulty Dimensional Container on a Gauntlet Knight present at the scene.

In Vier Dreissig's underground laboratory, a scientist named Mario unveils his finished research: a massive machine meant to reclaim Earth's "dignity". He activates the machine and subsequently kills himself. The machine causes a superearthquake to shake the entire planet and destroy a vast majority of environmental 8MS, nanomachines that maintained the Earth's ecosystem. The destruction of the 8MS restores the nuclear winter that began after World War III and accelerates the virus that partially destroyed the world's food crops. Amidst this, a second truce is called by LATO in order to put military tensions aside and focus on restoring the Earth's atmosphere. The truce is scheduled to go into effect at 24:00 UTC on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, a hacked helicopter drone assassinates Cyril Africacommonwealthrealm, Rethabile's older brother and the only known diplomat who survived the LATO explosion.

Just before the truce goes into effect, defense drones all around the world are compromised and begin attacking various cities. The Gauntlet Knights eventually manage to subdue them, but worldwide casualties number in the billions. Miyao once against sees the altered version of himself who then predicts another 8MS disaster that would destroy the 8MS inhabiting the ocean, leading to reduction of oxygen and clean water.

On December 25th, the Gauntlet Knights hold a party in order to keep their spirits up. Meanwhile, government officials from around the world suspect intentional sabotage on the part of the Gauntlet Knights and instate a group of monitoring officers to direct the Knights and court martial them if they act suspiciously. The Knights are forced to fight in territorial disputes before the truce begins. Having been forced to abandon the ideals of the Order of the Public Bath, several Knights are killed. Gunhild is shot down when her shield falters and Chloe activates a failsafe switch on Lilja, causing her to plummet to her death. Miyao becomes enveloped in a fight with Lingji and anticipates that his shield will fail before hers does. Suddenly, Toujirou takes control of Miyao's Gauntlet and uses it to punch through Lingji's skull, just as Miyao had envisioned before. A notice to the Knights declares that the international truce is in effect.

Arctic Ocean Union

 * Miyao Mitake
 * Jayden
 * Gunhild
 * Chloe Ironside
 * Koshka
 * Lilja Viljakainen
 * Okonogi

Central Ocean Union

 * Lingji Liu
 * Momotake
 * Aysha
 * Sujatha
 * Rukhshana
 * Andry

Abrahamic Brother Nations

 * Leah
 * Fatma
 * Stephania
 * Naima
 * Stanisław
 * Naomi

Africa Commonwealth Realm

 * Noor
 * Gannet
 * Mariana
 * Rethabile Africacommonwealthrealm
 * Ishak
 * Abdou
 * Cyril Africacommonwealthrealm

Other

 * King of Sorrow
 * King of Ridicule
 * King of Fury
 * Jestress
 * Seshat
 * Vier Dreissig
 * Toujirou Mitake

Deaths
All deaths are listed only as they are told in  and apply only for the individual arc, not the overall series.
 * Gunhild, shot down during combat on December 25th.
 * Lilja Viljakainen, forced to fall to her death by Chloe Ironside on December 25th.
 * Lingji Liu, punched to death by Miyao Mitake on December 25th.

Trivia

 * Upon it's initial release, video streaming was only permitted up to the seventh chapter.