Chapter 49. There is no victory

The youth rescanned his unit, sixteen in total with the addition of Marimo and four other volunteers. Marimo aside, the youth had no idea what the other four volunteers could even bring to the table. He quickly divided the squad into two team, Alpha and Bravo base on their combat experience and tendency. He initially intended to let Marimo in charge of the Bravo team since most of the squad knew her and were more or less respect her ability as a TSF pilot and commander. He intended for the Bravo team to be in charge of providing cover fire and became an independent unit when situations called for it. Nevertheless, the youth deeply questioned his decision for a moment before assigned Marimo to his Alpha team, believing that he could fight better where he could watched over her. It's not like Marimo need someone to babysit her on the battlefield. She was an elite pilot and a great fighter and a veteran with more combat experience than most people in the youth's newly formed squad.

Regardless, the youth realized that Marimo wasn't the problem, he was. He wouldn't able to fight to his full potential not knowing if Marimo was safe or not, of course, there was no safe place on a battlefield…

Thus, Marimo was assigned to his team and the Bravo team would be leaded by the old commander of the Cracker.

Before long, the fight broke out. The youth listened to the booming sound of artillery shelling from afar. According to the images provided by satellite scans, no laser strands sighted within area, a piece of good news. The Navy kept shelling the BETA with their artillery, the bombers and combat choppers took flight, raining bombs and shells on the BETA. Without the presence of the laser strands, there was nothing the BETA could do to protect themselves against the firepower of the UN army.

Nonetheless, the youth and the many TSF pilots of his squad weren't positive about the outcome of the battle. There were only so much they could do against a horde of five hundred thousand of BETA, half dead or not. The combat potential of the base have been greatly decimated after Operation Babylon. There was only a fully function Destroyer class vessel within the UN Navy to provide immediate artillery fire. The five tank squadrons, a hundred of tanks to assist shelling the advancing BETA horde, they merely slowed down the horde, delaying the inevitable. The bombers, too, could only delay the inevitable outcome regardless out how many napalm bombs they dropped.

"HQ to Hound 01," Hound was the new call sign of the youth's unit. The White Knights were no more, dead. He was the last White Knight, the only surviving White Knight. He could not bear the sight of someone else to put that insignia on their shoulder. "Expecting contact with enemy unit in five minutes," the operator's composed voice rang on the communication channel.

The youth wasn't familiar with that voice, it wasn't 1st Lt. Elena. Apparently, she didn't make it either. Her transport vessel sunk during Operation Babylon.

Listened to the voice of a strange operator, the youth wondered why he didn't mourn for Elena. Perhaps, his mind couldn't handle that, going that far, mourning for yet another friend. Losing the White Knight was the straw that broke the camel back, he couldn't handle more than that.

"Is there anyone among us who has not written his will?" the youth let his voice sounded through the com.

"…" None of the member of the youth's new squad knew how to reply to such bizarre question. Normally, before go to the battle, the unit commander would try to light up the mood, relieving the tension. Also, it was almost a taboo to mention something like dead and failure, avoiding demoralizing or adding extra pressure to the combatants. And yet, the youth just breached that unspoken law.

"I didn't think much when I wrote it but now when I'm thinking about it, I wrote something extremely embarrassing and cheesy. You know, the kind of content that make people frown and ask if I was seriously put down something like that as my last word ever. I want to go back and punch myself in the face for writing something like that ever. But, well, I have already handed it over, what can I even do now?"

"Go back and tear it apart before someone could read it," Marimo replied.

"Genius, why haven't I think about it sooner?" the youth hit his forehead soundly as he responded.

"…Now, I think about it. I have to dispose my porn stash before someone found it," the ex-commander of the Cracker joined the conversation.

"Dude, you are supposed to circulate them around. You are supposed to share them, dude, not stashing them to yourself like that,"

"Damn, I still have my ex's picture in my locker. If my wife find out about that, I would be so dead"

Soon, the rest of the squad joined, responding with similar reply that they must return to dispose their embarrassing effects and leftover. Some of them giggled, laughing at the youth's poor attempt to relieve the tension.

By the time the countdown hit the three minute mark before contacting the BETA force, the youth straightened his unit, "Guys, let's end this chatter"

There was no more chattering on the channel, absolutely silence.

"Ready your guns and prepare for combat," he ordered and his men did exactly as they were commanded.

"Bravo, proving cover fire and maintain your distance. Alpha, stay behind me, we will take down every Fort class sighted, otherwise, take what they give you, don't try to force things."

"Copied."

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Shirogane Takeru scored the first blood, propelled his new TSF into the ranks of the advancing BETA, blades arching. Ten grapplers went down in a hurry, limbless, headless, and bisected.

Marimo wordlessly screamed from the inside, shocked by her boy's wild action. It wasn't a part of the plan. By the time she realized that her scream were soundless, she jumped into action, and chasing after her boy, twenty or so grapplers have been killed and over thirty tanks and grapplers were immobilized by that purple knight.

The entire Alpha team was stunned, trailing fifty meter behind of the youth's purple machine with their slower Gekishin, picking up wounded and immobilized targets with relative ease. Every then and now, a couple of tanks, grapplers, or destroyers, wounded or untouched would find themselves in the path of the trailing Alpha team, Marimo and the men would put them down easily.

By the time Marimo fully took over the command, making the rest of the Alpha team into a well-oiled machine, the youth has claimed his two hundredth kills and immobilized more than three hundreds BETA.

Marimo has heard the rumor of the youth's skill after she was assigned to her new post but she could never picture it fully. Words told that the boy Marimo knew has transformed into an outstanding fighter, an inspiration example and a champion. Of course, Marimo knew of the boy's untapped potential, she knew of his talent and his ingenuity and she believed that one day, he would be one of the best TSF pilot mankind has ever seen. And yet, even with that expectation and knowledge, Marimo could not bring herself to fully comprehend the spectacle before her.

It was only now, Marimo fully understood her boy. A boy he was in the inside despite his age, flawed and weak and yet, once he found himself on a battlefield, that boy Marimo knew, he would be no more, he would be an inspirational fighter, a leader and an invincible champion among champions, every bit rumors described him to be.

Perhaps, if Marimo didn't know how weak he was, mentally, she would place a lot of hope on those shoulders, she would follow that lonely back until the very end underneath his nigh invincible shadow. She felt like crying but she knew the battlefield was no place for tears.

The gods, what were they thinking? Why would they create him to be such a softy, a crybaby, a sweet child only to make him the most talented of a fighter? Why would they give him that many tools for combat only to forget giving him a heart of steel? Why would they make him shoulder such heavy burdens?

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Within the first ten BETA he killed, Shirogane Takeru realized that combat has never been so smooth and easy for him. He didn't have to push the limit, not that he fell a limit at the moment, neither him nor his machine. His blades viciously fell one target after another, sank deep into the neck of a Fort, serving its neural spine before claiming another Fort in the next second.

The youth's old TSF, the Mk II has always encouraged the youth to bring out the wilder side of him with its imbalanced weight and mismatched propulsion. On the other hand, this Type 00R, its perfect balance kept that wilder side of the youth in check while revealing the more discipline side of him. His blade work underwent a significant change without the youth's notice.

The large, wide and powerful swings that opened many windows of opportunity in the youth's defense faded into the void of his blade work after the thirtieth BETA he claimed. The wild deceptive acrobatics footsteps the youth love to take grew less in number. The youth found out that they were needless. He was too fast, way too fast for his deceptive footwork to effectively force a reaction out of his enemies and he need not take such large swings to bring about impacts. None of the monsters could react to any feint he disked out and the thaumaturgy of his deceptive fighting style became rather redundant.

The youth unconsciously added more spins and pirouettes into his blade work and footwork, the same way Tsukuyomi and Meiya would, and immediately he felt their apparent effect. He need not exert himself. He need not open himself to counter attacks. The metal knight tamed the wilder side of the youth and encouraged the more discipline side of him to come out. The techniques and blade work that Tsukuyomi drilled into him, disciplined and graceful, beautiful and were a marvel to watch, like a waltz.

Soon after claiming twenty more BETA, the youth discovered that such beauty and grace didn't really suit him and his new machine. He focused too much in the defense and wasted too much time on a single BETA. He remembered Ayamine and the woman who passed the Valkyries insignia to him. Simple and ferocious was their attacks, wild and graceless, nevertheless practical. The youth had them ingrained within him, the moves. He simplified his attacks, straight forward and simple, less tricks, dismantling many of his defense mechanisms and focusing on the offense. Vicious was his blade work, one time a mesmerizing beautiful waltz another time a complete display of savagery, complex in one moment and simple in the next.

By the time Shirogane Takeru sent two hundred of grapplers' heads flying, he realized he has not reached his full potential, the metal knight told him so. He could fight better. He was too fast, unnecessarily fast.

Chizuru and Mikoto would always take time to observe their surrounding whenever they could to bring about the greater effects or adapted better to the battle.

Thus Shirogane Takeru slowed down every now and then to allow his eyes swept the battlefield, scanning. He fought with more control in his blade work afterward and he was deadlier than ever. Surprisingly, when he slowed himself down, he actually sped up.

But even a death dealing machine he was, Shirogane Takeru knew that he was far from maximizing his combat potential after brought down almost a thousand monsters with his twin blades. Marimo and Tama came to his mind. Nobody utilized the six arms of a TSF with such efficiency like Marimo and nobody could aim and shoot with deadeye precision the way Tama would.

The Type 00R urged the youth to try it, the engineers created the Type 00R with six arms, why fighting with only two? And the youth had no reason to dismiss it. Two main arms flourishing the twin blades, two sub arms adding stability and efficiency to the assault cannon and the two Mount Pylons at the back to fire the guns; easier to describe, harder to do. The youth could only do that consciously for an extended amount of time before, too much work for him due to the large of his focus invested on his wildly deceptive footwork and feints. Now that he no longer needed those deceptive footwork, he felt less burdened fighting with six arms. Every time he claimed yet another victim with his blades and guns, the Type 00R would tell him that he was a step closer to completion. He repeated, fighting with guns and blades, again and again and again. After claiming another one thousand monsters, the youth was under a hallucination that the gods had created him with a total of four pairs of arms, one flesh the other three metal.

The youth fought, sending yet another hundreds of heads rolling on the ground, only then he found his knight of metal has completely filtered anything unnecessary out of his movement.

A machine is only as good as its controller and a pilot is only as good as his machine.

So, it was true after all.

The youth kept fighting, claiming more monsters with his weapons as he fought. He cut down so many monsters that his purple TSF turned red and brown with their blood.

And eventually, the inevitable came. No matter how brilliance he was, the result was inevitable. The operator announced that the base was lost, completely overran by BETA and thus HQ set their initial plan into motion, triggering the self-destruct button to set the entire base ablaze, blowing hundreds of thousand BETA along with the base.

It was then, Shirogane Takeru understood that he has lost his house to the BETA this time. He has lost his lovers, his family and his home to them, this time, even his only house was lost to him, forever.

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Anger had no form. Thus, the youth gave shape to it. Anger was wicked edge of his slashing blades. Anger was the recoil of assault cannons. Anger was the mutilated corpses of monsters. Anger was the welding of flesh and metal.

Anger had no color. Therefore, the youth dyed it with his hands. Anger was the red of splashing blood. Anger was the orange glow of depleted uranium. Anger was the green of monster's brain. Anger was a trail of purple, the afterimages of a sorrowful knight.

Anger had no sound. Hence, the youth orchestrated it. Anger was the roar of guns. Anger was the thud of corpses against the floor. Anger was the chaotic dissonance of the screeching jet engines, the death throes of monsters and the war-cries of soldiers. Anger was the soundless lament of a young man whose lover was loss.

Anger had its own characters. Anger was blind, uncontrollable and hot like flame itself. But no longer anger retained its true self; with his fingers, the youth mold it. Anger was the merciless clarity that identified the monsters' weakness. Anger was the tamed discipline of a pair of flashing blades. Anger was the coldness of a young man's mind.

Anger was a set of two, a man and a machine.

Anger was an overflown drop of tear on a man's cheek.

Anger was the trailing dust of fleeing monsters.

Anger was the late arrived five hundred knights.

Anger was blue, red, white and black.

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Author note:

Shout out to grabblers for saving me the trouble of writing chapter 19 from the beginning by providing the backup. Man, I'm ashamed of myself when a reader of mine took better care of my work than me. I have learned my lesson and will back-up regularly from now on. Once again, thank you.

Alteisen Reese, thank you for pointing out the misplaced chapter 26, 31 and 35. I have no idea what could lead to that, perhaps bugs or glitches? I have recovered those chapters, once again shout out to grabblers, thank you for providing the backup.

Announcement:

While this chapter is understandably short, it is a temporary goodbye to the post apocalypse world Shirogane Takeru. You won't see him again in a very long extended period… and when I mean "a very long extended period", I meant it. You people who emailed me, ranting about how much you don't like this version of Takeru, you've got what you wish for now, be careful of what you ask for. Don't email me and ask for his return any time soon.

A friend of mine suggested a collaboration, telling me that I could post my stories on one of his website and could upload illustration to go along with my stories. With all the bugs and glitches I am experiencing at the moment, I have decided that I might as well do so. You can follow my stories with the link below.

mynovel35. wordpress.

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projects/muvluv-fanfiction-the-last-moment-miracle/

Let me know what you think about this change either by email or comment. Also, the illustrations will be handle by me and bebekawai.