Chapter 46: The dream goes on
*In case anyone is confused, this is a dream sequence chapter*
It was dark, but not exactly completely blackened.
No, no, no, no, please no.
The tormented soul traced through the darkness with his eyes and made out various shapes, walls, bunk beds, wardrobes, and many more.
No, no, no, not again.
The tormented one screamed internally, covered his crying face with his hands. Hands, surprisingly, they were both there, intact, not the phantom hands or anything like that, real hands.
His chest creaked, tingling with pain. He was alive still.
No, no, no, why?
The tormented one asked god, crying.
Why am I still alive?
He cried internally, silently without a single sniff. He cried a tearless cry. He cried a soundless cry.
Why me?
He asked god soundlessly.
Why me?
The tormented man asked.
Am I so unworthy of salvation? Is my sin so great that I deserve no salvation?
The tormented man clawed at his chest and his throat, crying a tearless and soundless cry. Death was his only salvation. Death was his only hope and future. And death, death itself was the very thing he was denied.
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Time seemed deviated from its usual path, slowing down. Through the retinal display, the youth see a strange display of fireworks. So beautiful, so ephemeral, the sparks that lit the darkness momentarily in a flash of brilliance and then completely faded into the night.
It almost escaped him that he was a part of that fireworks, he was, too, a piece of firework, glowing in the darkness of the night, shooting higher and higher toward his own climax.
The night is cold and dark, seemingly invincible and untouchable. The darkness is overwhelming, so overwhelming that it would make people question if dawn would come. But within that thick veil of darkness, the fireworks nonchalantly lit the night world with their own light. So very fleeting, so very weak, that glimmer of light was.
Boom, a firework went off, tearing at the night veil with its flash. Boom, another firework went off, joining its brother, illuminated the night sky. Boom, another firework reached its high and set off. Boom, boom, boom, more fireworks joined, tearing the night with the light of their existence. Boom, boom, boom, boom, more fireworks followed, reaching the height of their existence, concluded their lives with a blast.
Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
And yet, no matter how bright it is, how many it is, no fireworks could ever peel the veil of darkness, even their accumulate effort meant nothing, for that was the job of dawn. But dawn seemed faraway like an unreachable fantasy.
All the fireworks could do was shooting off, expiring and dreaming of that unreachable fantasy.
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"Ignore that Fort class, fly pass it"
Fuck that, the youth curses at the one just gave the command over the com, fuck that.
That Captain ranked Eishi who just gave the order dies off almost immediately, could not handle a more complicated corkscrew maneuver through the Fort class' flank, got himself impaled airborne.
Fuck that, the youth cursed, forgoing his worn down reactive shield and catching the deceased man's sword that was sailing through the air. Fuck that, the youth went full frenzy on the Fort class, spinning like a top over the Fort class with his blades set loose.
The Behemoth never got a single chance to defend itself, full of cuts. Its jagged-edge tentacle cut off, its belly torn, its upper torso split, its head spewing blood like crazy, all in but an instance. But the monster was resilient and tough, it willed itself through wounds, sweeping its legs at the insignificant flying robots around it in a last ditch attempt, missed, every single one of them.
Boom, the earth thunders, erupting dirt within the rain of blood. The Behemoth went down, cold, not fully understand why the world is spinning like crazy until it see its own headless body.
"Go, go, go, Shirogane," bewildered cheers erupt within the com.
"Stick with me, go, don't stop," the youth yells back through his oxygen mask, gunning at the flanking monsters through with his dual cannons stored at his TSF's back. And to the youth's command, his brethren in arm joins the carnage, cutting and gunning at a flanking horde of monster.
It didn't look good, not at all.
The youth scanned the map with a single glimpse at his HUD. He saw a concentrated number of BETA appeared, flocking together to form barricades, layers upon layers in the twelve hour. They have caught on to the plan and tried to counter it with their sheer number. Why now, of all time, they decided to be strategic, the youth cursed.
The BETA obviously didn't care to make a single strategic decision until now after almost 18 hours of battle and yet now, they did. That made it worse for this suicide squad to complete the mission.
The youth prayed while moving forward, "Tsukuyomi san, please, you have to do something about this,"
Unless his mentor somehow created a miracle, digging her way through those barricades, only doom awaited everyone.
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It finally sunk to her that she was exhausted, that she, too, was no machine and that she, too, despite being one of the very best Eishi in the world was all but a human. She made one mistake after another and her blades seemed like unwieldy steel poles. She felt faint, her mind nearly went blank for a second. It was getting dangerous. Not right now, she bit her lips and willed herself.
She plastered the oxygen mask on her face in a hurry to regulate her breathe whilst making a quick maneuver to make some space. A sharp pain stung her neck, searing. That was just a usual dosage of caffeine and adrenalin shot.
She hated them. She could never got use to them, injections and all. Her pupil always got the wrong impression that she was such a strong warrior that she refused to rely on them. Though, the actual reason was that her veins were more sensitive than most, thus, always swelled up badly or ruptured after an injection. However, it was all of a small matter to her now.
A glimpse at the top of her retinal display, Tsukuyomi saw many darkened windows among her escort unit channel, disconnected, MIA. They were whittled down, slowly. The goal was still faraway, unreachable, and yet, her men fell one after another. At this rate, they wouldn't able to reach anywhere near 20 klicks around that Laser Firing squad.
The BETA used their superiority in number to the maximum advantage, and now, they even incorporated tactic into their movement.
Tsukuyomi didn't dare to hope for a miracle to appear, kept on fighting. She emptied her cartridge quick with dozen of buck shot, clearing rows of defending BETA. Hundreds of grapplers and tank class BETA went down like that and yet, Tsukuyomi saw no chance of moving forward. She switched position with Ebisu and Kamiyo, reloaded her guns with the sub-arms while constantly kept approaching BETA at arm length with her blades.
One grappler managed to knock Kamiyo's gun away with its fore claw, stunned Kamiyo for a moment. It charged, sweeping its other claw at Kamiyo. Had Kamiyo was any less of a fighter she was, that would have been the end of her life. She reacted just in the nick of time, lunged forward before the monster could build up momentum and was able to stop its claw with her TSF's body. Robot and monster wrestled each other for several seconds to gain dominance over each other until Kamiyo ended it, slipping her TSF's razor fingers deep into the grappler's torso.
Tomoe and Ebisu immediately moved in, covering Kamiyo with their salvo of buck shot, clearing the area.
It was then, Tsukuyomi realized that her subordinates had long passed their limit and all that kept them going was simply their unrelenting will.
Tsukuyomi told herself that she was their leader and that she could not show any sign of weakness, especially at this critical moment. It's on her to do something. It's on her to create a blood path to the objective. It's on her to create a miracle.
"Switch," Tsukuyomi ordered her unit to reshuffle their position and they did accordingly.
"Trail formation," Tsukuyomi yelled, took on the Storm Vanguard position and let the rabble of her unit to position themselves into the formation. The trail formation was a defensive formation that meant for escorting missions and the like. It would serve no purpose using the trail formation to go against these stacked barricades of BETA.
But Tsukuyomi had an idea, instead of colliding their force against the BETA and allowing themselves to be whittled down one by one with the usual Arrowhead, Tsukuyomi would instead focus all of the BETA's attention upon her alone in the Storm vanguard position and in return all of Tsukuyomi unit's firepower would be focus at one point, Tsukuyomi herself.
The battle would be simple. It would be a contest of strength between Tsukuyomi herself and her enemies. If Tsukuyomi's might was greater, her unit would slip into the BETA's barricades just like a blade. If it was the otherwise, Tsukuyomi could only hope someone else other than her would create a miracle.
It was a gamble.
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Triple buckshot salvos were fired in succession, ten grapplers went down, dead before hitting the ground with their full weight. A small open space was created, small but enough for Tsukuyomi to arrange her blades into full swing. She mowed down a row of grapplers with pure strength and precision. The blades cut into the body of the monsters of extraterritorial origin, slicing through their bone and still have enough momentum to toss the monsters into the air.
Buckshot, full-swing, buckshot and full-swing, Tsukuyomi repeated the procedure over and over again, mindlessly opened a path toward the objective. She fought with her guns and blades, sometimes even with her TSF's body. There was moment that her swings were too wide and thus allowed openings within her defense, grapplers and tanks class BETA would jump at the opportunity, trying to punish Tsukuyomi for her mistakes. Her discipline and reflex saved her, barely, in the last seconds. Tsukuyomi angled her machine to absorb the blow, parrying the attacks with the armor of her Takemikazuchi.
There were moments that it was close, too close that Tsukuyomi could see herself dying. She pushed herself too far, too reckless and too unlikely of her to do so. She went out of norm. She stepped out of her comfort zone, becoming reckless and even more reckless as every second passed. Her blades went full frenzy, dyed with madness and rage, not even a trace of grace and discipline remained. Her cannons spitted fire angrily, wreak devastation and destruction on all that stood on Tsukuyomi's path.
Still, it was not enough. Even for someone so skilled, so powerful and so experienced like Tsukuyomi, it simply wasn't enough. She advanced, faster than before but not fast enough for her unit could reach the objective before wiped out.
The shadows of Fort class BETA loom, ten or more. Tsukuyomi wished she could go around them, but no, she could not. Ignore them and charge through? Tsukuyomi was not sure how many of her men would die for that. She cursed herself for not detecting them faster, otherwise she would have requested some artillery support.
"Ebisu, Kamiyo, Tomoe, take down those four, drain your 120mm if you have to. Bring them down fast," Tsukuyomi ordered her aides while tagging the targets, at the same time ordering the rest of her men to set up a perimeter for them to clear out the fort class.
Her trusted aides acted as they were told, went for the kill, speeding forth.
Jagged edge tentacles sailed through the air. The jagged tip of the tentacles made them looked like harpoons. But the Blood was no fish. The trio of Imperial Royal Guards swiftly brought down the first Fort class, expending their 120mm cartridges on its head. The second Fort class coiled its tentacle, missed, it retracted its harpoon like tentacle and tried to launch its primary weapon another time. Not a chance, Kamiyo twisted her machine in the air, chopping down the tentacle port before it was launch. Ebisu and Tomoe swiftly followed, each delivered a series of spinning cuts on the monster's shoulder blades to bring it down. The third Fort class was accompanied by fifty or so tank class, but it was seen through by the trio, Ebisu and Kamiyo cleared out the tanks with their 66mm while Tomoe baiting the Fort class to shoot its harpoon like tentacle at her. And it did, shot and missed, totally exposed itself. The trio wasted no time and punished the monster for its mistake, hacking and shooting, with their blades and assault cannons. The monster was resilient, trying to toughen up and weather through the onslaught, smashing its pole like legs around. However, the trio's combination attack proved too much for the 60 meter height monster. It was brought down, not before taking some fifty cuts and several hundreds of 66mmm shell into its body. The fourth Fort class was perhaps bewildered, stunned, wasn't able to react in time and allowed the trio to approach it uncontested. It shot its tentacle at the trio at the last minute, coiling it, perhaps hoping to latch on at least one. But no, it missed. Kamiyo barreled leftward while Tomoe span right, confused the monster even further. Before the monster could retract its tentacle for another attack, Ebisu married her blades like a scissor and cut it off. Then, the three girls went for the kill, hacking and shooting at the monster. The Fort class tried to cover itself from the attack, smashing its legs around, twisting and spinning around, flailing. It only delayed its inevitable doom. Before long, it too went down as the trio stabbed their blades right through its skull.
The trio then turned, checking if Tsukuyomi was doing well.
It was then that the trio realized that they was tossed right into a myth of old, that they might have a chance, that they might be able to do it, that victory might not be an imaginary hallucination.
They saw a god of war. They saw a war god descended into the realm of mortal, once again for the third time in their life.
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The vermillion waned and painted the sky with a gloom of red. The earth was even redder, filled with the angry glow of burning phosphorous and explosion while the red body fluid of monsters flooded the battlefield. But none would match the tint of red on the armor of the god of war. It was painted red and repainted with the red of blood over and over again.
The crimson war god led the charge with crushing motion, leaving a trail of destruction in her path. Bathed in blood, iron dust and gunpowder smoke, the god of war was the god of war, the incarnation of death and destruction. Destroyers, grapplers, tanks, forts, no matter the size, they all fell swiftly to the might of the war god.
Batches of 66 meters monsters crowded, forming a barricade from a far while hordes upon hordes of 15m to 26m monsters forming a funnel formation, containing the god of war and her followers with sheer number like death jaws. But the war god was the war god, the hope itself, the one to overturn the impossible.
Her blades worked wonder, the god of war feigned off the closing death jaws with flurries of steel. There was no stop, no slowing down. The war god's blades turned blur with the after images of themselves and then became almost invisible to the eyes with their blinding speed. They entered the monsters' bodies just as fast as they exited, leaving geysers of blood shooting off with a delay effect as the war god passed through them. The jaws of death closed tight, but not tight enough to finish their job, jammed by the war god's sheer strength.
The struggle lasted for a while, just as long as one need to gulp down his cup of tea. The war god's blinding blades proved too much for the giant death jaws formed by colonies of giant monsters, tore them apart. That alone gave the dwindled followers of the war god just the boost of energy they need to brace themselves for whatever may come their way. Hollered their war cries, the war god's followers were set to burn out what left of them, pitching their worn down bodies against the very might of the monsters just to catch up with the war god's giant back.
But the death jaws were not the only thing stand hindering the god of war's advance. That barricade made of 60m behemoths stood tall, towering and unmovable like the earth itself. But the god of war was the god of war, the mightiest among the mightiest. The crimson war god brought blade up then strike it down, once and for all, summoned spears of destruction from the sky to rain down upon the so ever unbreachable and unbreakable wall, tearing it asunder with glaring flames of crimson born from the chain of earth shaking explosions. The monsters danced within the angry heat of napalm and died in utter agony.
The great wall made of giant monsters was brought down, another wall raised. Smoke and dirt shot off to the air due to those sundering explosions, forming a great cloud of darkness, a perfect place for the monsters to prepare an ambush, trying their luck against the war god and her followers under that veil of darkness.
The war god didn't see any monsters came out of that dark screen of smoke, pitting their number against her might with their usual rushing tactic. She knew that it was a trap. But she didn't stop or slow down, she went full speed into that cloud of darkness. The monsters forced her hands to summon the spears of destruction and made full use of the cloud of smoke and dirt born from those spears of destruction. Normally, she would wait for the screen of darkness to settle by itself or go over it. But not this time, the jaws of death were still there, torn up but still persisted, waited for a chance to close shut, grinding the war god and her followers in between. With no other option, the war god resolved to breach through the ambush even if visibility was stolen from her, plunged through the wall of smoke with down slowing down.
The war god was the war god, even when blinded.
Her blades went up and down, high and low, spinning, with deathly precision and speed, with immense force, forming a storm like wall made of blades with the god of war herself being the eye of storm. Just like that, the god of war rode the storm, swept through the ambushing horde of monsters that stayed on standby. That storm of blade hit the ranks of monsters full force, without any shred of mercy, blowing them apart like bundles of straw.
But even that storm like wall of blades could do only so much against that many of ambushing foes under that darkness. Few of the monsters managed to breach that wall of blades, not completely intact, gravely wounded, but still posed enough of a threat to the god of war. However, it took more than that to take down a god of war. The god of war was the god of war, invincible. Her armor was razor sharpened blades, touching it and one would be shredded. And they did, the poor bastards, expending the last of their breath making as much as scratches on the war god's armor.
And so the god of war charged forward, right through that cloud of darkness. Her followers, not protected by godly divine protection, mostly fell short, dwindled greatly. Most of them unable to break through that cloud of darkness, were swallowed whole by the closing in jaws of death. But that too, would not slow down the god of war. The god of war was the god of war. The god of war would not weep or shed so much of a drop of tear. The god of war knew not weakness. She was the symbol of strength and victory. And so she did, channeling her grief into rage and from rage destruction was born. With every strike she made, she infused strength into her remained followers.
It was then, the followers of the war god found themselves caught amidst a myth like reality and became a part of that myth. It was this moment that myth and reality interwove with one another.
The god of war was the god of war, a being of myth, a bringer of myth.
And yet, for every mythology, there was always a clash, a great clash between the most invincible beings. For the Great god Odin, it was Fenrir; the almighty Zeus, it was the old titans Cronos; the god of storm Susanoo no Mikoto, it was the great serpent Orochi.
The ground tremor all of sudden. Several thousands of BETA were immediately tossed into the air by an eruption of dust and dirt. The earth started to split and within that split, a leviathan like no other appeared.
For the modern day god of war, it was a monster, so large and so powerful that even a monster of the size of Fort Class BETA looked like but feeble ants.
A leviathan serpentine shaped BETA, actually, more worm like than serpentine, but with razor teeth, each as towering as a Fort class BETA. It was huge, towering. Its head alone was thrice the size of a Fort class. Its body, it was long, mostly burrowed in the sand, but judging from the size of its head, it could be over 2000 meters. It was a towering monster of overwhelming might and reeked of death. It was almost like a monster that came out of mythologies where gods and monsters walked the earth.
So this was what wiped out the initial taskforce that was responsible for dealing with the laser class, the god of war thought quietly, measuring her opponent.
She would not avoid it, not because she was the god of war, but because she could not run. There was no way for her to outrun such monstrosity.
It would be a fight, an inevitable fight for her and her opponent. Neither she nor that giant worm could step down from this fight.
Bring it on, the god of war bellowed and charged.
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For a moment, the youth thought that dawn has arrived, that the dawn he prayed has arrived. But no, it didn't. That light, it was bright, bright enough for people to mistake that it was dawn itself, until the youth learned that he knew nothing of the night, nothing.
The night was not over.
That monster, whatever it was, it reminded the youth of the World Serpent itself, or the Yamata no Orochi.
He remembered about the earlier report of the unknown strand of BETA that wiped out the two taskforces. It was no big wonder that even the best of fighters would succumb to this monstrosity. They might as well nuke it or toss the high yield explosive S-11 SD at it, otherwise, the youth could not bring himself to imagine how such leviathan of a monster could be brought down.
It was then, the youth received order to separate from the leading unit, to force a two-pronged attack. Tsukuyomi's unit, the Alpha team would try to contain the monster, attracting its attention whereas the rear unit, the Bravo team would try to maneuver around the monster and forced their way toward the LUX and Magnus Lux.
The youth cursed inwardly. There was not much they could do without Tsukuyomi and her Blood unit. Still, there was no other way around this. The youth could not think of a better solution, not that he could even think straight in the first place.
And so the youth bellowed with his weakened voice, charge, and they all did.
The youth together with a group of four Eagles from Imperial Army took the lead, draining their 66mm mag with buckshot, clearing a path. Wordlessly, without any signal, they coordinated their attack. It was almost strange. It was as if they were meant to do it together. A few Liger and Warhammer joined the fray, refused to be left out, making short work of the flanking BETA to keep clear of the 8 hour and 4 hour direction.
He could do this. The youth thought, if his mentor could do this, he too, could.
With his twin blades and twin assault cannon, the youth advanced, turning everything in his path into corpses. To his side, the quartet Imperial Army Eagles took the role of support, fully attuned themselves into Gun Sweeper regardless of their equipped gears. It was almost strange that these guys who he knew nothing about could coordinate so well with him. But it didn't matter. They were doing a damn well of a job. He needed a supporting cast and these guys stepped up to that role.
The youth scanned the battlefield through his retinal display, following the path drawn by the operator. When he looked at his HUD, the youth realized that among this rear unit, apparently, none of the captain rank or above officers remained alive. The highest ranking among the unit was 1st Lieutenant, and it could be seen that there were at least 9 of them among these forties Any of the 9 could assume the role of the leader. And yet, strangely, these forties were looking at him, as if waiting for an order.
The youth didn't know if he did anything that pushed himself into this position. He seriously had no idea. If it was just his Yokohama base brothers and sisters in arm, it was nothing surprise. And yet, these men and women, they weren't just his Yokohama brothers and sisters, they were from Imperial Army and UN base from somewhere else. They all were looking at him, expecting a leadership of some sort in him.
The youth can felt the pressure on him all of sudden.
With his burn out brain, the youth thought that if these men and women needed a leader in him, he might as well as acted the part. It would be just the same as usual, playing cool, putting on a mask of a champion.
"Guys, we will circle around this worm then go straight for those laser bastards. The Alpha team will attract as many BETA toward them as they can and that including this giant worm. Don't let their effort go wasted,"
The youth encouraged his men.
"Hagane," the youth called out to the four Imperial Army Eagles in Gun Sweeper positions, "Stick with me, watch my flanks and make sure not to get ahead of me."
"Roger," the quartet Eagles replied.
"Ligers, I need you to pump some anti-laser chaff as soon as we go around this giant worm. That would lose us a few of these grapplers bastard and brought us a couple of minutes before these bastards realize our actual position."
"Copied,"
"Guys, move," the youth commanded, began his own assault at the objective
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They are thinking.
The youth suddenly came to a realization that his enemies were clearly reacting and adapting to the new battle plan. He has learned that the BETA was fully capable of thinking and fully capable of being strategic when they want to be through various classified materials. However, according to the materials, the BETA rarely resorted to strategy to deal with human, they rather rely on their sheer number as always. The likelihood of the BETA resorted to make strategic decision was one tenth of all likelihood.
And yet, here they were, the same BETA that he learned through the materials, they were making one strategic decision after another, constantly matching and countering every strategic move the suicide unit made.
They forced an encirclement around Tsukuyomi's unit with that giant worm and at the same time, they were diverting their force to deal with his unit.
However, they were a step late, losing the position of his unit for couple of minutes. That was his one and only advantage for the moment as the scale was tipping toward the BETA. They were catching up, slowly but steadily.
Twelve of hundreds Destroyer suddenly appeared out of nowhere, crawling out from same the hole that the giant worm dug. Within minutes, the youth and his unit cleared them out with salvos of buckshot and sabots. And that delay cost them the lead advantage, the buggers were sacrificial pawn for the bigger end game.
Artillery support was jammed, completely, by the sheer combination power of the Lux and Magnus Lux. None of the missiles reached the targets, not even anywhere near, all were intercepted in mid-air.
The youth and his unit soon found themselves surrounded by thousands of BETA of various sizes, undermanned and outgunned. But the youth was blind, completely blind of the despairing disadvantage. He kept moving forward while flowering his blades to feint off his enemies. The curve of his blades proved perfect for slipping around the necks of the grapplers and the torsos of the spider-like tank class BETAs. His form was far from perfect and yet it was efficient. The youth pushed forth, blades arcing in with rapid strokes, arranging dozens of tanks and grapplers straight to an appointment with death himself.
The four Gun Sweepers supporting him were smart and experience enough to not get in his way, keeping his rear and flank clear of peril. The rest of the unit struggled, keeping up with the youth's speedy advance. Nevertheless, they stuck to the plan, keeping the formation while moving forward.
The youth heard deafening explosions through his ears. He could even feel the shockwaves. It came from the direction of the Alpha unit. Needless checking with his eyes, the youth could tell that it came from the high yield explosive S11- SD. Some of Tsukuyomi's men must have tried to bring the giant worm down by setting off their own machine with the self-destruction trigger of the S11-SD. He dared not look at that direction. He dared not imagine what it looked like over there. He was afraid.
The youth tried to escape his fear, finding shelter within his swords and guns and within the death of his enemies.
However, everybody who saw that would think otherwise, for it was a killing frenzy.
The youth moved like a hurricane, smashing and tossing everything on his path to the air, dead before hitting the ground. Every BETA around him were drawn to him, got sucked into his killing range and then tossed around in every directions, mutilated beyond recognition.
The impenetrable walls of BETAs separated left and right, a windy path was gradually appeared from within, as though giving way to the youth, as though fearing his demonic like form.
The youth took the chance, setting his thrusters on fire and preparing a straight boost toward the objective. He nearly died for that, if it wasn't for the supporting Gun Sweepers' clutch save, dove forth and stopped the youth from jumping into that opening path.
Score of lasers cut the air, scorched one Eagle of the Hagane. The Eagle was completely vaporized in a ball of flame.
"That was a trap. You walk into that, you die,"
The youth heard a male's voice screaming, not sure who.
"Move left, following the grapplers,"
The youth immediately moved accordingly to the urgent command, swiftly followed the moving left rear of the BETA just in time.
Another score of lasers slashed the air, accompanied by two more explosions subsequently.
"What should I do?"
The youth asked, short-breathed, never seen anything like that throughout the materials that he worked with. He knew nothing of a trap like this or even was aware of the BETA were capable of pulling such a complex strategic decision.
"Sticking close to the grappler if you don't want to get shot. Try to push through them,"
The men of the Hagane replied according to their experience, trying to reorganizing the unit. But as experience as they were, they weren't prepared for what came next.
The separating right wing of the trap sped forth, ignoring the youth and his group of vanguard buddies. Before anyone could make out what was going on, that newly organized army of BETA went straight for the rear unit of the Bravo, cutting and slashing.
The Bravo squad immediately found themselves divided into two smaller units. That was the BETA's intention.
Shit
The youth cursed, trying to help his men at the rear but was stopped by the Hagane and the Ligers.
"Don't. It's too late. Move forward and kill those shitty laser and avenge them," they said, brimming tears.
The youth tried, requesting artillery support from the Fleet but they were jammed by the Lasers.
The youth cried, bellowing a mourning cry and let his better judgment won. He slammed the Mk II against the nearby grapplers and stuck to the left wing of the dead trap.
He soon found that the BETA had his horizontal movement sealed little by little by widening the trap, allowing the Laser firing squad to have better angle to his unit. To make it worse, they tightened the left wing, filling it with more rampaging Fort class and destroyers in their midst.
"No, it cannot end like this,"
The youth heard a despairing cry from one of his men and he had no word or idea to rebut.
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The sea of monsters parted, a clear path was fully opened. But, everyone knew that it was a trap, a deadly trap. Any TSF took that path would surely be vaporized. There was no cover. Death was the only result. It was proven.
Had the youth been his normal self, he would probably stopped, buying time to think away out. But right now, his brain worked not, overwhelmed with every information from his surroundings. Cutting, hacking, shooting, covering, dodging, killing, his brain can only take him that far. He's just mimicking everyone around him, not thinking at all.
"Shirogane, the path is clear, go, go, go, only you can do it,"
1st Lt. Irina snapped him out, calling out to him not by his call-sign but his name, instructing him via the com.
The youth immediately broke away from his rank, plunged straight into that open area, heading straight for the objective, paid no mind to the screams of his allies.
Warnings flashed, stacking up on his HUD. Death's coming. Death's here. The trap sprung again, gleefully. The Laser strands sent their regard, launching heated death rays through the air.
It was almost as if 1st Lt. Irina directed the youth to die and he did just that.
But there was no explosion. There was no ball of fire. There was only a trail of black smoke like a black snake. Before long, people realized that the armored Mk II was very much alive, intact, speeding toward his objective while constantly shooting off anti-laser chaffs.
"To me," the youth yelled at top of his tired lungs.
And his brothers and sisters in arm without thinking twice. They stopped thinking, took the plunge, into that trail of metal cloud without confirming the directive from the operator. It was impulsive and instinctive of them to do so, chasing after the youth's back. They mimicked the youth, following his flight path while pumping metal cloud to surrounding area.
There was no time to wonder. How did the youth escape his certain doom? There was no time to wonder.
The youth evaded doom once. But, there wouldn't be the second time.
1st Lt. Irina thought so, everyone thought so, and even the youth instinctively thought so.
Death returned, rearing his ugly head mercilessly, bringing his scythe upon the defiance one. Heated iridescent lasers seared through the open air toward their locked target, tearing through the dense cloud of metal particle.
Death claimed his due this time. A ball of flame rose from within the trail of smoke, thinning it before the shadows of several Eagle sped by, thickening the smoke with their own chaffs. One Eagle went down in that barrage.
The Mk II was whole, still speeding and so was the youth. It was almost like a miracle.
But miracle would not last. Death was furious. He was angry, stupefied. He swooped his scythe of death upon the illegally modified machine and the youth, time and time again, wreaking havoc and destruction.
Death got everything, everything except one. Death's scythe just could not claim his target, the very one he meant to get, kept missing and missing. The youth and his patched-up machine kept eluding death, not once, not twice and certainly not thrice. Three times the charm, it was simply no luck that death was defied. Death has finally met his match.
It made no sense. It was as illogical as it was unscientific. How did someone can possibly avoid an optical weapon? That was not possible. 1st Lt. Irina thought so and so did everyone else … but they hoped otherwise. And this time, their hope was rewarded. Their champion showed them why he was their champion.
The roaring sound of jet engine the Mk II produced was more like a gloating sneer, ridiculing the so call absolute death, the so call bane of aviation.
Death immediately retaliated, refusing to give up, letting the defiance one know that he was the one in control, tossing a concentrated barrage of iridescent beams into the air.
Zom zom zom
The air was heated up so much that it wailed every time a light barrage was tossed upon the air.
The black snake made of metal cloud was torn beyond asunder, in pieces it was. Again, death claimed his due, but, not his most desired target, not the one that managed to tarnish his reputation, not the one that rubbed mud upon his face. Death only slowed the youth down, barely.
If anything death managed to accomplish, he woke up a sleeping god of war in making. The mentor was a god of war, the apprentice, too, a god of war, soon to be made. Death just has managed to create his worst enemy.
If the laser strands had brain to think for themselves, they must have been extremely confused. How did they possibly miss such target? Not once, not twice and certainly not thrice, they kept missing again, again and again. They managed to lock on him. They would not miss their targets. They should not. And yet, this time, they did, piling up misses after misses. They should be the one to ridicule others not the other way around.
Heat laser beams launched in barrage, one barrage after another; but by all mean, that was no saturation attack. They were all locked to their target.
Human reflex should not save him. Even all those highly advance sensory in his TSF should not save him. And definitely that bulk of metal, that lumpy and heavy TSF should not save him. Nothing of norm should possibly save him.
The youth knew not what he did and understood lesser of what he did. He jabbed the sticks left, laser beams passed by. He jabbed right, lasers melt a portion of his machine's armor. He should have been incinerated the very moment he plunged head first into the death trap. Even the youth realized that himself. And yet, he managed to do the impossible.
The first time, it was probably luck and it probably cannot be anything other than luck. The second time he evaded the death beam, it's a testament to his training and skill. But not the third time and the one after that, luck and training could only take him so far.
Super-sense, precognition or whatever it was, the youth knew nothing of that. He had a feeling that he got to evade, and evaded he did. His gut wrenched, his fingers tinkled, his spine shuddered painfully and unexplainably; thus, unexplainably he made evasion maneuvers base on that and he escaped death by a hair breadth. If he was himself, his normal self, he would probably suspect 1st Lt. Irina for knowing an explanation to this when she told him to dive head first.
The youth knew nothing that lead up to this. But one thing he knew for sure, he was hot, as if every nerve in his brain was set on fire. He's fighting at a higher level than he has ever done before. For the first time, the youth understood his mentor ambiguous words from way back.
It was like an on and off switch, Tsukuyomi once said, describing this state. It was not something one could control, even for someone like Tsukuyomi herself.
"Normally it's off, and it remains off but once you manage to flip it, it's on. And once it's on, you will surely know that it's on," Tsukuyomi ambiguously explained in a most unlikely instruction from a good teacher such as herself. Her explanation was never as vague as that.
That night for whatever reason, during their normal sparring, he managed to flip the switch within Tsukuyomi herself. And destroyed he was. Nothing worked out for him, everything, every technique, every trick, every gimmick, every scheme he threw at Tsukuyomi were crushed. Tsukuyomi was always strong but that night, she was beyond that. Untouchable, invincible, matchless, there was no proper word for the youth to describe that. He was so in awe and overwhelmed that his entire Japanese vocabulary was reduced to "It's crazy." And he kept repeating that all night long.
The youth remembered asking his mentor whether it felt like an adrenalin shot.
"Yes and no," was Tsukuyomi's answer, "It's very similar to that but it's sort of different," an ambiguous answer.
Only three times in her life, Tsukuyomi managed to get into that state, she said. The first time, it was at the historic battle of Kyoto when the BETA first invaded Japan. She got hot at the end of the battle and singlehandedly killed no less than 500 Laser class while buying time for the army to evacuate civilians. The second, it was in another losing skirmish against the BETA, she managed to flip her switch around the end of the battle. The third, it was out of nowhere while training the youth. "Don't think much about it. Don't depend on it. It's not like it's something special or anything. If you manage to get into it, it's good but never count on it," Tsukuyomi also said at that time, and end the topic. Such was her word, because it was not a reliable option. It's not something one could control.
His senses were heightened to a normally unreachable summit. His awareness expanded, deeper and further into the beyond. Time seemed slowing down, no, it was almost like he was on a different plane of time compare to everything else. It was a strange feeling. He felt enlightened, almost disillusioned into thinking that he alone was invincible. He had the feeling that he would not miss any shot. He had the feeling that he was unstoppable, too strong and too fast for anything to contain him. And reality reflected that. He was unstoppable and uncontainable. He felt as if a war god deity had him possessed.
Concentrated laser beams fired at him, too fast for any of manmade to evade, too fast for any human's reflex to react. Once fire there's no evasion, there's no escape. And yet, the youth avoided them. He evaded at the very moment the Lux and Magnus Lux pulled the trigger and fired off their death beams. He didn't know that, not yet.
Had the BETA knew better, they would have toss a saturation attack at the youth, spraying and praying, counting on luck, and that would have probably seal the deal and killed the youth. But no, they were programmed like that, too accurate, too precise, too co-ordinate to a fault. They aimed and shot, lock on first then shoot, precisely, without a deviation or error. But this time, that precision, that accuracy did nothing to save them. It backfired on them.
Twenty more klicks, the youth thought.
It didn't take long for the BETA to realize that calamity was upon them. Whoever it was, whatever it was, the one responsible for commanding the entire BETA force on Sadogashima beach at the time recognized that the youth was a real threat to their operation, just as much as Tsukuyomi.
A good twenty of dozens of Lux and Magnus Lux switched their priorities from checking the human's artillery bombardment to but a single target. That oversized worm which more resembled the Jormungandr the serpent of Midgard than anything, it was the BETA's ace, a last resort. It was used to contain a war god. Now another war god was born, they have to make do with something else.
Firing in rotation, Lux and Magnus Lux, no stopping, no resting.
Zom zom zom
The air wailed, torn upon, completely scorched by the enlarging barrage of heated lasers.
Zom zom zom
The blackened snake made out of metal cloud dispersed beyond repair. The anti-laser metal cloud chaff could only take so much, thus revealing the trailing Eagles hiding inside the metal cloud snake.
Zom zom zom
Down went the Eagles, a great 15 of them were incinerated upon revealed their positions. The remaining Eagles had no other choice, quickly halted, thickening the surrounding area with metal cloud chaffs to shield themselves from the fury barrages.
Zom zom zom
The darkened snake of metal could was no more. Only a cluster cloud remained, stopped and unmoving.
Zom zom zom
And yet, the heated barrages didn't end. There was no hint of stopping for them … for the head of that cloud snake was still whole.
Zom zom zom
Around 190 of combined Lux and Magnus Lux launched barrages upon barrages in rotations. Their target now reduced to just one, a single target, a single TSF.
His head, tattered, half burned, barely stitched to body. His armor, carbonized, melted, here and there, shoulders, waist, legs, and arms. Yet, miraculously, the winged titan was far from dead. He was very alive, alive and angry.
Never before, was such massive firepower focused on a single target in the history. A combined 190 Lux and Magnus Lux were more than enough to take on an army, wiping out every airborne missiles, every aircraft. Yet, ironically, all of that firepower could not contain a single TSF. All they could was slowing that TSF down, delaying the inevitable doom.
On that day, the BETA was received a grim premonition.
Zom zom zom, zom zom zom
Calamity was upon them. Death was upon them.
Among the rear guard, five of thousands medium sized BETA rushed forth, claws and pincers rose high, intercepting the approaching calamity in order to protect the laser firing squad of 700 units. It was a desperate effort, a last ditch effort. It was no strategic decision.
"Out of my way," Calamity spoke. His voice was fury, sticky and scorching like molten lava. He was the manifestation of mankind's anger. He was the crystallization of the faintest of hopes that lingered and etched within the hearts of those who were fought on the bloody battlefield." He was the crystallization of the prayers for exalt, a fiery torch that lit the night.
The five thousand grapplers and tanks served no purpose to contain the calamity. They could do nothing to stop the calamity. They could do nothing to slow down calamity. Worse, their positioning got in the way of the laser strands, get in their line of fire and bought a great 15 klicks of mobile cover for the furious calamity.
Like a sword of fire cutting against a blob of butter, the youth charged through that five thousands BETA, not wade around them, charged through them, straight line. His gun blazed, spitting depleted uranium and punching holes through countless BETA's bodies. His swords blurred, lopping heads, dissecting bodies at a speed that unlikely for an F4 to achieve.
All of sudden, three Lux units at the foremost of the firing squad exploded, dead, upper body splattered on the golden sand of Sadogashima, pulverized. A good thirty to forty Lux went down just like that in a span of 4 seconds.
Zom zom zom
The sound of wailing wind persisted, not for long, died out by the vengeful roaring of assault cannons.
Raatatata
66mm shells danced, feasting upon the defenseless monsters. The Lux and Magnus Lux, they were created to be the strongest spears, thus only focus on offensive power and have little to no defensive capacity. They fell just like that, one after another.
It was then, the BETA firing squad realized that they were inside the killing range of their enemy. There was nothing to stop that.
Doom has arrived. The god of war has arrived.
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The titan twisted in the air, spinning whilst setting his cannons ablaze. He set his blades free, as though each of them had a mind of its own, sweeping and mowing their targets. He made full use of all six arms of his.
It was no fight, really. It was a one side massacre, a slaughter. Around the titan crimson erupted. Blood geyser, splashed, splattered and fell like rain. The titan as if possessed by death himself was manically painting, a picturesque painting using all but a single color. And whether they wanted or not, Lux and Magnus Lux alike, they all became a part of that spectacle. It was hell for the BETA.
Almost 400 Lux and Magnus Lux went down in a blink of eyes, most of them were the Lux, a great 200 other wounded, limping and escaping.
On full auto, the titan's cannons depleted fast. That's 2000 of 66mm shells. The titan didn't hesitate, discarding his cannons and fully devoted to his blade. Even without his gun, he could not be slow down. Without paying much attention to the circling grapplers, tanks and destroyers behind, the titan had his eyes solely on the laser strands.
There were many moment he saw his life flashing before his eyes. Freakish eye balls flashed expelling death ray. But he was always half a step before them, faster as if he managed to glimpse at the future itself and avoided his doom.
He fought like possessed. For every wound inflicted upon the Mk II, he retaliated with greater fury. It was as though for every wound the BETA inflicted upon him, the stronger he became.
His blades wreaked destruction and death, even cut apart the flashbacks in his mind. The youth's plane of thought was cut out from the world. He could not hear the cheers. He could not hear the screams. He could not hear the command of his CO. He could not hear the sound of the approaching twenty of thousand BETA, rushing to salvage the situation.
Kill, kill, and kill.
That was the only echo within the youth's mind. He was possessed.
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A giant pincer hammered, swooping. The youth turned, parried the attack with one blade and drove the other blade into the grappler's body. He twirled his swords, flowering them in circular motions to swash down several tank class BETA pouncing at him. A Magnus Lux came into his line of vision, well hidden behind several Grapplers until now. Its eyes flashing, locking on the Mk II and preparing to fire.
Tough luck, the youth thought, dove low, passing through several swooping pincers of nearby grappler to obstruct the laser attack. The Magnus Lux reacted, adjusted its sight accordingly. Too slow, way too slow, the youth and his machine was a step ahead, rushing forth and decapitated the monster with a single strike.
Since when he was surrounded by this many BETA, since when these scattering Laser strands managed to find cover among these crowd of medium and large size BETA, the youth had not a single idea. But he care not. He got one job, nothing else matter.
Kill.
Immediately, the youth looked for his next target. On his HUD, he saw several Lux hiding behind a batch of Destroyer on his two hour. He moved, running, diving and leaping like a parkour artist whilst resting his overheated Jump units, he ran pass a couple dozens of Destroyers and Grapplers. Nobody could believe that a Gekishin could make that kind of movement, probably until they see this, that a variant of a F4 could be so agile and mobile.
The Grapplers flailed their pincers, mowing, sweeping, crushing, hammering, and slashing. The Destroyers frantically rushed forth, body-blowing, tackling, tossing, jumping, ravaging, and stampeding like a herd of water buffalo on a loose. Their combined effort made it difficult for the youth to approach his target, barely. The youth proved superior, despite taking a couple of whacks, he reached his target and with a low sweeping slash, he sent 5 Lux flying into the air, very dead before they landed on the ground.
The Mk II slightly shook, rolling and skidding to absorb the impact of a Fort class BETA's attack. The youth clicked his tongue, annoyed by the warning on his HUD regarding the damage on his machine's arms. That attack busted his left arm completely. He's down to his right set of arms now. He suppressed his desire to get back at the behemoth that was six times the size of his machine and instead searching for the nearest Lux and Magnus Lux.
He has already killed two third of the Laser Firing squad, only a good 200 Lux and Magnus Lux remained. They were marked, they can hide within ranks and ranks of melee capable class BETA but there was no escaping. The youth would pick them off, little by little at a time. Only a good 200 left, the youth told himself.
He saw a concentrated group of Lux and Magnus Lux to his twelve, regrouping while being guarded by a dozen of Fort class BETA and hundreds of Grapplers. They made quite a distance from his position, fully taking advantage of the time he wasted to hunt down their scattering brethren. It would be extremely hard to break through that wall of monsters. The youth immediately marked them on his HUD again, requesting artillery strike from the fleet and searched for other targets. Mingled among the Fort Class would hurt the Lux and Magnus Lux their ability to intercept artillery fire, obstructing their line of fire. The 60 meters high monsters may did a great job of checking the youth's ability to kill the laser strands but they also got in the Laser strands' line of fire, preventing them from being effective.
Napalm missiles launched, 15 in total, sailing through the air, only two were intercepted. They landed accurately upon their designed target, engulfing the monster mob in flames. The monsters didn't scream, or screech or wail or cry as their bodies melt down, they had no vocal organ. They danced in the flame and died. It was an overkill.
It was so easy for the artillery to strike down on their newest target. So easy that the Command Operator who called for that artillery strike dared not believe in the result. She only dared to hope that one or two of that batch of missiles would hit the target. Regardless, she reported the result to the commander in charge. It was so easy that the commanding Admiral of the combined Fleet became awestruck. He dared not believe it. He was downed to the Fleet's Flagship Dreadnought, two Battle cruisers, and four Heavy Cruisers to keep up the artillery. Even combining the remained pieces and launched all the missiles at the same time, the BETA should have intercepted them all airborne. Maybe if he was lucky, a few missiles would probably land but they would not be able to create this kind of result.
It was then, for the first time, after more than 16h of non-rest battle, the battle-weary Admiral Kouzuki felt like he could win. No, he could already see the ending of this battle.
This is it. This is it. This battle is ending. We are winning, the Admiral thought, clenched his fist tightly and ordered his men to support the lone Mk II in any way they could; investing as much Anti-laser metal cloud warhead upon the moment of needed as they could, pouring Napalm missiles upon requested as they soon as could, launching as many explosive shells upon requested as they could, making the youth's request their top priority.
The youth, of course, he couldn't understand significance of the earlier success artillery strike. After all, he wasn't there inside the HQ, he was on the battlefield, fighting. His mind was so blank and empty that he could not think of anything else other than striking down his targets, as soon as possible. Even when his CO told him as such that his request would be the top priority, he could not understand it, not the reason behind it nor the difference it could make. He didn't even understand how and why the earlier artillery was so effective. He didn't understand that he was the reason for that; that he has messed the BETA's formation, crushing their rank so bad, messed up their battle-plan so damn bad that they hit the self-destruct button and made irreversible mistakes upon irreversible mistakes. The youth simply called for the artillery strike, instinctively, not even sure if it would work.
Even when confused by the news from his CO, the youth didn't slow down in putting those damn monsters around him to rest.
He tried to reassess his situation to continue his fight and barely, just barely he had it done. His mind was too blank for any critical thinking, too empty to allow his normal out of the box thinking style to work. It was just barely sane, enough for him to track down his enemies and stick with his objective.
He was surrounded by BETA. The remained of the BETA firing squad mingled among layers upon layers of close combat orientated BETA. He could see at least a good 20 or more Fort. The Mk II could count some twenty thousand of combined grapplers, destroyer, and tanks.
"Just a little bit more," the youth prayed, "Stay with me, Mk II."
His trusted steed was a mess, breaking down right now. None of the sub-arm was even responding, dead. Right leg, everything below the knee joint, none responded; the youth had to use the left legs and his thrusters to make up for that for a while up to now. But that was not the worst yet, his thrusters were heating up at an alarming rate. He was overworking them, sure, but that was probably due to the leakage of coolant somewhere.
He might be a warrior among warriors like Lu Bu of three kingdom era or the almighty Odin, chieftain of god but his Mk II was no Red Hare much less the divine Sleipnir. It was an above average machine and that's all it was in performance. It has outdone itself a long time ago.
The youth knew that his steed has long passed its limit. There was so much a patched up Gekishin could take. This was clearly overdoing it. It has fought for over 16 hour with little to no resting or maintaining. The damage was stacking up.
"Stay with me," the youth encouraged his machine as though it was a sentient being.
He swept his eyes toward his surrounding once more. This's probably it. This's probably his limit. This's his grave. He wouldn't make it back.
"Until the last Laser class go down, stay with me," the youth whispered to his steed.
The youth thought of Meiya. He thought of the White Knights.
He would not see them fall. He would not allow them to fall. For that, the laser strands must be put down, every of them, till the last one.
The thought of his loved one gave him strength, a tiny bit to overcome his fatigue. That tiny bit of strength infected the Mk II one way or another. And then, the duo, human and machine resumed their hunt for the remained of the laser strand now hiding among the rank of their forces.
And so, the youth plunged forward with his Mk II, spinning, rolling, leaping and hunting down his targets.
The BETA of course didn't just sit and allow themselves to be done so easily, using their massive number to crowd the youth while repositioning the remaining of their Laser squad.
The youth would not allow that, not on his watch, not after pushing them this far. He tracked any concentrated lump of Lux and Magnus lux on his HUD, marking them with smoke signal and leaving it to the supporting artillery to deal with. The latest metal cloud rocket salvo from the fleet had effectively sealed off the fighting potential of the Lux and Magnus Lux for good; they wouldn't able to intercept the missiles with a metal cloud of this density covered them. But at the same time, this metal cloud cut the youth off from everyone else. The com was filled with static. Laser transmission was obviously out. The youth can only use smoke and flare to guide the artillery attack.
Why did he allow himself to be cut off like that? Inside the metal cloud smoke with twenty of thousands BETA with nobody to watch his back. The youth had no idea. Was the commander trying to sacrifice the youth for the sake of winning the battle? Or was this what the youth has told the HQ to do? Did he tell them to do this? Did he? The youth had no idea. He could not remember the content of his yelling into the com earlier. He remember Lt. Irina yelled at him "No". Not sure what she said though, no, no what? No, I would not allow that. No, that's suicidal. No, no, no… which one was it? Which no was it? He could not remember, not a single damn thing.
Doesn't matter, the youth thought, it doesn't matter. The Laser class, both Lux and Magnus Lux were now sealed, for good, have no impact to this battle whatsoever until they manage to get out of this mess and repositioning themselves properly.
Visibility sucks though. The youth barely saw anything beyond three meters and forfeited his life to his reflex and luck.
He cursed, parried off blows after blows, almost blindly, not daring to take another strong hit while hopping toward the nearest targets with the Mk II's good leg and burned-up thrusters, cutting and chopping with the Mk II's remained arm. He relied on his luck and instinct, barely, to live through it.
A grappler blindsided him within the smoke, hard.
He felt that strike. He felt it, for that grappler managed to do the impossible that no BETA had ever done until now, penetrated through the youth's defense.
The youth tried to breath, but he could not. Air was whacked out of his lungs.
He tried to intercept the killing blow, and succeeded he did, barely. He deflected the falling pincers with his blade, not understood how he did it as he could barely see anything with his tears filled eyes. By the time the youth could see the blur that was the body of the grappler, he drove his blade into it, buried it deep.
He gasped for air, while ordering the Mk II to scramble up to its feet. His left elbow hit something while he was jabbing his dual control sticks for dear life. It took a while for him to register that it was the wall of the cockpit that he just hit. It was dent, like really dent, up to the pilot seat.
It was then the youth understood that it could be it. That he could have died back then, taking a blow like that, blindsided. If this machine was anything other than a Gekishin, and 'that was it, he's dead'. Only the frame and the cockpit of a Gekishin could take such punishment and came out alive. Otherwise, that grappler would have burst right through the cockpit and kill him.
He saw figures of grapplers within the smoke, smelling blood and came for the kill. The youth tried to retrieve his blade only to discover that it was stuck within the rib cage of the previous grappler.
Shit shit shit
The youth cursed, backing away from the figures, deploying his knife instead. He felt a searing pain within his chest as the Mk II hopping backward and he chose to ignore it, focus on his battle.
Two grapplers came to view, diving toward him for an easy kill, or so they believed. The youth sidestepped the first grappler, barely with a hop from the Mk II's good leg, stay in midair for a second with his burned up thrusters and carved out the monster's spine fluid with his knife. The second grappler, perhaps didn't expect that, was in no stance to protect itself got stabbed in the head, dead.
Shit shit shit.
The youth cursed, still tracking down his objective on the HUD and at the same time avoiding attacks from several grapplers around him. He was surrounded, completely, wounded and vulnerable. Losing that blade was his end, his defeat. No great warrior, great swordsman let go of his sword. He was a god of war no more. He was invincible no more.
Facing defeat, the youth refused to give up, kept on fighting. Perhaps, there was really a warrior within him or simply that his brain was too tired and blank that it was in a state of denial, refused to believe that he was defeated.
With only a single knife, the youth carved out a path for himself, paving the road with carcasses and blood. Surprisingly, that machine could continue the fight. Still, it moved and still it refused to give up. So battered that it looked like it would fallen apart at any moment, and yet that worn-down, clobbered, damaged machine was fighting, still. The link was still there, the perfect synchronization was still there. Man and machine alike, they both refused to give up and decided to go out in a blaze. Or so they thought.
Every monsters, every tank class, every grappler, every destroyers around the youth was put down at the same time, choking in their own blood and spasm.
The noise of assault cannon filled the air.
The youth could not understand what happened, still kept his guard up, reacting to every motion his tired eyes could track. Several figures appeared within the smoke cloud, strong and tall, coming for him and he was readied for the fight with his knife.
He then saw the Eagles in UN and Imperial Army marking.
Even then, the youth did not understand that he has escaped death yet again.
"Shirogane, you crazy kid"
Within the ever static com, he heard a voice, a hearty and excited voice.
On his retinal display, a small window popped up showing a teary face of a man. He knew that man … that guy belong to the Liger Company. These guys had finally caught up to him.
"You have done it,"
"You have done enough. Leave it to us."
Two Ligers and one Warhammer formed a protective layer around him with their Eagles, with their guns and swords drawn. One Shark, one Rapier and three Imperial Army's Eagles took the rear guard. The rest, eleven Eagles, including two of the remaining Hagane, the mix of UN army from other bases and Imperial Army took the vanguard position. The youth's Mk II was well protected in the middle of the formation.
He saw the faces of men and women on his HUD, familiar and unfamiliar, all teary in the eyes.
Why the tears? He wanted to ask and yet he could not. He felt as if his tears were coming out at the same time, that he was infected by the atmosphere.
What tears are those? What meaning do they have? Neither the youth nor the soldiers were aware. They were not even aware that they were tearing up.
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Author note:
Hello everyone,
Hello everyone, I feel that it has been really long since I last wrote a note. Well, I will make this short.
First, I will probably rewrite some early chapters of this fanfic for the story to have a better flow; so do expect some change. I will definitely inform everyone when the rewriting project would begin. Until then, if you could reread this piece from the beginning, it would be my pleasure.
Second, I know my update has come out at decreasing speed. Well, you can blame Yuuko for that. She tossed me into the world of muvluv and have me fighting BETA day in and day out to assist her hero in silver. Kidding, it's actually ML Altered Fable and TDA that is the real reason. Hayase should have more screen time in Altered Fable and she deserved a route in that, damn it. TDA series is a blast, really, but no Hayase … damn it. Learning Japanese paid off, totally worth it even though I barely understand everything. Still a lot of plot holes, we definitely need one or two more episode to put a concluding end to the entire series. PS: I was never a fan of OP characters and yet it was strangely satisfying seeing how OP Takeru was in the TDA series. When I see "that" grin in the end of latest episode, I was like "it's show time boy".
Third, trivia. My top favorite muvluv characters goes by order:
1st: Hayase. Is there any doubt on that? She's my favourite age's character since rumbling heart. Takayuki is totally not worthy of her, he is on top of my most intolerable characters. Damn it, she deserves better. A yuri route with Haruka, or may be a route with Takeru, I can't decide which is better for her.
2nd: Takeru and Yuuko. Can't really decide, so I just put two of them on the same place. They are awesome characters with a lot of depth and complexity. (Still working on completing Yuuko's end game. Do prepare for some twist)
3rd: Meiya, I'm a sucker for prim and proper, honest and strong girl like her. I wish I could meet someone like that in real life soon. Hopefully, my gf is not reading this.
4th: Takamura Yui, she is defintely Meiya's and Takeru's love child if they ever had one, with some serious tsundere sickness.
5th: Irisdina Bernhard. (Spoiler alert) The only character I could love and tolerate in Schwarzesmarken, the rest of the casts made the show extremely painful to watch. I definitely expect age to butcher her right at the end of the show just like they did to Meiya. But I was secretly hoping she could make it like Yui. Damn it, I should have known to not put false hope on Age showing us mercy.
Did I say that I would make this short? Oops.
Lastly, I didn't expect that there is still people reading and following this fanfic, definitely. I have expected that people would have forgotten about it since update come out with delay like forever. Thank you for that. Let's me know your thought on the chapter and what do you expect in the next chapters to come, it would probably be helpful, probably. Once again, as always, thank you for following and supporting.