Chapter 12:
Wedding Gifts
WHILE CLEO’S IMPERIAL GUARD fleet was being wiped out, Haydi—currently in command of the Purple Tail—received a report from a staff officer.
His eyes widened. “Four unidentified mobile knights are approaching from the planet?”
“Yes, sir. They’re capable of leaving atmosphere independently, and their objective appears to be House Banfield’s main fleet.”
“What can four mobile knights do on their own? Shoot them down.”
“W-well…just one of those models inflicted heavy losses on our ground forces. Baron Exner’s heir is now engaged with that craft, but he’s at a disadvantage and has requested backup.”
“Baron Exner’s kid… That’s Boss Liam’s pal, right? He’s supposed to be pretty good, isn’t he?” Haydi put a hand to his chin in thought.
Just then, the communications operator turned around to report, “Unidentified craft have left the planet’s atmosphere and begun attacking our allied ships! H-heavy damage?! They’re requesting assistance—”
Haydi looked out at the battlefield from the bridge windows. “Yeah, I see ’em.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Four white, unidentified mobile knights were routing the ships of the nobles in House Banfield’s faction.
One noble rose to his feet on his ship’s burning bridge, blood dripping down his head. Looking up, he saw one of those white mobile knights outside the bridge windows, lifting the rifle in its hand and pointing it straight at him.
“M…monster…” The noble only got out that one word before the rifle fired a beam, piercing the bridge and burning it to ash.
The white mobile knight was setting out for its next target when knights in their own units surrounded it.
“Think you can do whatever you want, huh? We’ll take you—”
The knights had begun saying something, but the enemy craft was already heading for its next objective—and if the knights were getting in the way of that objective, it would have to eliminate them too.
The mobile knight tossed away its rifle and lifted a Western-style double-edged blade in one hand. Performing a cheap imitation of the Flash, it destroyed the opposing squadron of mobile knights in its immediate vicinity. Then it immediately took off for its main objective.
Nearby, the other three white mobile knights were doing heavy damage to craft around them as they headed for their destination, destroying any opposing mobile knights or ships they passed.
“Are these the count’s—”
“That can’t—”
“Just shoot them! We simply have to attack them from a distance!”
The four white mobile knights raced through the chaos of the battlefield.
The nobles in House Banfield’s faction were taking serious damage from just four enemy craft. The mobile knights slashed through hundreds of thousands of ships, wreaking a path of merciless slaughter. They did so with no emotion, however; in attacking, they were merely executing their orders.
Finally, a ship from House Banfield’s main force appeared before them with its accompanying Nemains.
“Quit letting four measly mobile knights run rampant!”
At the appearance of those Nemains—which were considered next-gen mobile knights—the white craft changed their tactics. Facing those new adversaries and judging them to be a bigger threat than what they’d faced before, they immediately sped toward one another.
“They’re trying to regroup, Captain.”
“Don’t let them! We have to destroy them before they can meet back up!”
The Nemains opened fire on the white mobile knights to prevent them from regrouping. Meanwhile, the ship behind them provided cover fire. That meant that the white craft were facing attacks more intense and accurate than before; they were facing a particularly skilled group, even within House Banfield’s forces. However…
“Annihilate.”
The white craft took advantage of their unmanned state to move in ways no normal mobile knight ever would. Maneuvering along trajectories even human knights couldn’t have withstood, the white craft took down House Banfield’s reinforcements one by one.
Seeing his subordinates shot down one by one, the Nemain squadron’s captain slashed at the white mobile knights. “How dare you kill my men?!”
A white craft blocked the Nemain’s blow with its own sword. A moment later, the Nemain’s arms and legs were severed, leaving it nothing more than a head attached to a torso.
Inside its cockpit, the captain was shocked. “That was Lord Liam’s—”
Before he could finish, a white mobile knight thrust its blade through the cockpit, destroying the craft before continuing to its next objective.
✦ ✦ ✦
By the time information about the unidentified craft had reached the Argos’s bridge, the damage had already been done.
“Th-this is still unverified, but five craft resembling the Seventh Weapons Factory’s Avid have apparently been spotted. Four left the planet’s atmosphere and attacked our allies. The damage is severe.” From that communications operator’s report, the enemy’s movements clearly sounded unnatural.
Having seen the data on the enemy craft, Claus frowned gravely. “They’re moving in ways that I can’t imagine any human passenger tolerating, knight or not. Furthermore, aspects of their fighting style resemble yours, Lord Liam.”
When I checked the footage I’d been provided, the white mobile knights did appear to utilize the Flash.
“So…these are the successors to the Avid that the Seventh Weapons Factory was commandeered to create,” I murmured.
Claus turned to me. “You knew about this?”
“I got a report about it from Kukuri,” I said bluntly.
“If you’d told us about that beforehand, we might’ve been better prepared for them,” Claus said, although without anger.
True, I could probably have prevented some damage by sharing what I’d learned with everyone. But either way, I was currently more curious about what was inside these craft. “If these craft were simply superior to the Avid, they wouldn’t do this much damage. What’s inside them is the real problem.”
Claus agreed, putting a hand to his chin in thought. “True. If they managed to find pilots this skilled, there’s not much I can say except ‘well done.’ If the pilots are actually human, that is.”
He was paying attention to the enemy pilots’ skills himself, and his own experience fighting in mobile knights had probably given him a sense of foreboding about what this could mean.
Even if these enemy pilots had trained on my fighting methods, their style was too similar. Mobile knights that can replicate the Flash and move in ways that human pilots can’t withstand…
“I’ve seen movements like these in a simulator,” I noted.
When I gave him that hint, Claus’s eyes widened. “It couldn’t be…”
There was a certain mode you could choose in a fight simulator; it let you run through missions against AI opponents. That was a relic of a bygone age intended to prepare pilots for another potential AI uprising. These days, such training was a mere formality, but it kept humanity from forgetting that they’d once almost been wiped out.
In other words, the Avid’s successors were loaded with AI. That technology was taboo, not only in the Empire, but for all of humanity. In this reality, it was considered folly to allow weapons to operate independently through artificial intelligence—a reminder of humanity’s bitter past.
No wonder Claus was shocked, although normally he was so unflappable. As I stood up from my chair, I felt a touch of superiority at having startled him. “Have our allies fall back. We can’t let anyone else die in vain.”
“But then the enemy will come—”
“I’ll face them.”
The Seventh Weapons Factory had created these mobile knights using my own rare metals, so I didn’t see a problem with scooping them back up for myself on the battlefield.
✦ ✦ ✦
Marie’s Teumessa perched on the wrecked bridge of the flagship that had commanded Cleo’s Imperial Guard fleet. Her Teumessa had already destroyed the bridge, and behind her, the flagship spewed fire in several places.
Atop this bridge, which might explode at any moment, Marie was receiving a report from Haydi. “Lord Liam’s going out to intercept the unidentified craft? What do you think you’re doing, Haydi? Deploy at once and protect him!”
As Marie seethed in wide-eyed anger, Haydi desperately defended himself on the other side of the monitor. “The boss turned down our help! He said not to interfere, since these are his prey!”
Marie had no argument against that. If this was a command from House Banfield’s head, even she had no choice but to obey it. “St-still, you should’ve stopped him, even if you would’ve been defying orders! Or sortied anyway!” she cried.
“Our orders are to wipe out the rest of the enemy,” Haydi replied. “Also…”
“Uh-huh?” Marie grunted.
“They loaded up those enemy mobile knights with AI,” Haydi finished, a sour expression on his face.
Mobile knights were only equipped with limited AI functionality to support their pilots. The craft weren’t supposed to move on their own through AI control.
From the look on Haydi’s face, Marie guessed what he was getting at. “They went and did it, did they?!”
Enraged, she leaped up from the flagship, and fired her beam machine gun into it, blowing it up. Then she commanded her men, “Whoever can keep up with me, great—we’re going to Lord Liam’s aid right now!”
When Marie had given her orders, allied mobile knights sped after her Teumessa’s back.