Inside the Avid’s cockpit, I gripped the control sticks. The machine started up, its monitor displaying data on my surroundings. I could feel the engines rumble in the cockpit. It wasn’t rage I sensed from them, though, but curiosity.
“You’re curious too, eh?” I asked the Avid.
Its engines groaned in response. It did seem to be wondering about the successors it was about to face.
The Avid had really shown its emotions ever since I’d installed the Machine Heart in it. Personally, I didn’t think that was any different from the AI implemented in the enemy mobile knights. But people saw the Avid as having “gained a heart” from mysterious ancient technology, which didn’t provoke any disgust in them.
“Well, why don’t we go meet them, then?”
The Avid walked through the hangar almost entirely of its own accord, heading for the catapult. That utilized a combination of magnetic and magic power; it was like a cannon that fired mobile knights as shells. As we got the go-ahead to sortie, it would launch us.
A small window popped up onscreen; it showed Eulisia, who would serve as my operator. She was in work mode, a serious look on her face, but her voice made her sound as if she were in a bad mood. “The supreme commander himself is not supposed to sortie.”
Since she felt the need to complain, I felt the need to ensure that she looked at this the right way. “This is mere recreation. I’m only going up against four mobile knights, you know.”
“Yes—four very, very dangerous mobile knights! Forbidden weapons operating independently through artificial intelligence! They’ve clearly trained on your battle data too, so don’t you think they’ll be pretty tough to fight? We should just surround them with two hundred thousand ships and blow them to pieces.”
“If they were designed to surpass the Avid, there’s probably extra fuel in their storage space. Who knows how long they could mount a resistance?”
“Either way, don’t you think we could overcome them with numbers?”
“Of course. That’s why this is merely recreation.”
Even mobile knights with AI aboard couldn’t fight forever without supplies or maintenance. However long they held out, it wouldn’t mean anything against an overwhelming number of foes. Even with rare-metal armor, they’d eventually hit their limit and face destruction.
Still, Calvin had really missed the opportunity to use these units as a proper trump card. Deploying them now was no more than futile resistance on his part. And if a commander deployed his trump card at the wrong time, it simply meant he was incompetent.
“The Avid is dying to sortie, so can you launch us already?”
Even while I conversed with Eulisia, the Avid seemed to be itching to deploy.
Eulisia pouted. “You talk like that mobile knight of yours is alive. You’re really fond of it… Couldn’t you be that fond of me?”
“No, I definitely like the Avid more than—”
“Launching.”
“Ah—hey!”
Before I could finish making my attitude toward Eulisia absolutely clear to her, I was propelled from the Argos.
The view around me turned to outer space as the Avid used its thrusters to speed toward the white mobile knights we were targeting. I could tell the Avid was getting more and more excited, as if looking forward to the fight. All its meters showed ideal readings.
“Okay, let’s see how well you managed to replicate me, shall we?”
I was likewise interested in the Seventh Weapons Factory’s—that is, Nias’s—level of success in recreating the Avid. Even if Calvin had forced her to do this, Nias wasn’t the type to cut corners in her work.
When my allies retreated, they’d created a clear path for the white mobile knights to head straight for the Avid. Magnifying the craft on my screen, I did note several of the Avid’s features. The differences were the white craft’s color and their dull, completely unadorned heads.
“Pure white…like heroes of justice or something. Guess I’ll open a line to them.”
Would the AI respond to me? I was eager to find out, but when I tried starting communications, they completely ignored me and continued their attack.
“You’re no fun,” I sighed.
The Avid seemed to want to take the initiative and offer a little greeting. It opened several magic circles behind us. I guessed that it planned to see what the foe was capable of by hitting them with long-range attacks first.
When missiles launched from the Avid’s magic circles, the enemy craft deployed magic circles of their own. The four machines swiftly assumed a formation. I’d heard that experienced pilots who’d been in the same unit long enough could complete complex coordinated maneuvers, almost as if performing an acrobatics show. The four white craft were staging such a show for me now. Each deployed the same number of magic circles as the Avid, but since there were four enemy craft, that meant four times the magic circles.
“It doesn’t look like their spatial magic capabilities are much different,” I mused.
Meanwhile, both sides attacked. We traded live ammo and optical weapon fire, missiles and projectiles blowing up before they reached the other side. My vision went white with explosions and flashes, and since I was outnumbered, I began feeling a bit like I was at a disadvantage.
“The difference in numbers is pushing you back, Avid,” I teased.
The Avid responded by manifesting more magic circles, as if its competitive spirit had roused. The other craft did the same thing, however, so they were still beating us in numbers.
Then our adversaries split up and moved to surround the Avid. Soon enough, we were taking attacks from four directions. To protect itself, the Avid deployed the shields affixed to its auxiliary arms, but the enemy came at us with so many attacks that it was hard to believe that they originated from four mobile knights.
In the cockpit, I was impressed. “So this is what it’s like to face the Avid.” Since it was something I could never have done before, it was strangely compelling.
The Avid continued to avoid the enemy’s attacks, firing back from its magic circles, but they wouldn’t break that nasty formation they were in.
“They’re trained on my fighting style, but they still lack a sense of playfulness. Hmm… We’ll never settle things at this rate.”
Under these conditions, neither side could end things definitively. Maybe a winner would emerge if we kept going like this, but it seemed likelier that we’d all run out of ammo before that.
The enemy must’ve realized that too, because their strategy changed. Two moved to support the other craft, continuing their long-range attacks, while the other pair took up blades and approached for close combat.
“Okay, I’ll see how well you guys can replicate the Flash.”
I gripped my control sticks and took over maneuvering, directing the Avid to take evasive action. I could just make out traces of the slashes I dodged.
“They can imitate me to this extent…? Pretty impressive.”
I flew the Avid backward, observing the movements of the two sword-wielding foes. It was hard to believe that the mobile-knight pilots replicating the Flash were AI.
I was so amused that laughter bubbled up in me. “Ah ha ha ha! Not bad at all, Calvin!”