Codarls were Amalgam’s lambda driver-mounted ASes. They weren’t as strong as the Eligores, but they were overwhelmingly more powerful than standard ASes.
Sabina felt a slight irritation at his words. “All of our Codarls have been dedicated to the defense of Merida Island. Leonard-sama decided we were enough to complete this mission. Why don’t you stop complaining?”
“Of course,” he snapped back, “but I think you’re the one who’s unhappy about it.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You wanted to stay on Merida Island, didn’t you?” Fowler pointed out. “Considering what’s about to happen, I’m sure you want to be with Leonard-sama.”
“No,” Sabina denied. “I wouldn’t be of any use on that island at all.”
Besides, that girl was on Merida Island. Even though she had ‘awakened’ at Yamsk-11, her attitude hadn’t changed as far as Sabina was concerned. She was as arrogant and stubborn and self-righteous as ever.
And yet, Leonard needs her, Sabina reminded herself. And not just him... Everyone who serves him—all of us—need that girl. She has the power to right the mistakes of this cruel world and make them never have happened.
He doesn’t look at me anymore. He doesn’t touch me anymore.
Of course, I never expected I’d have him all to myself. That’s the kind of man he is. I’m sure he’s slept with any number of women just like me, more than I could ever know. There’s nothing wrong with being one of that number.
But...
Why must he give his heart to that girl—to that brat, Chidori Kaname, of all people? It would be one thing if it were for her body, but it isn’t. He’s kept it perfectly platonic, devoting himself to her to an almost laughable degree...
Things had improved for a while after his injury in Mexico. He’d ordered Sabina to be rough with Kaname, to drive her to the psychological brink... to exhaust her. Sabina had felt relieved then, glad that he had finally decided to treat Kaname as a tool—that he’d decided to take her by force. That situation was much easier for Sabina to handle.
But the girl had changed before Sabina could break her down. It happened at Yamsk-11, where Kaname had suddenly become the one in charge. Then everything had gone back to the way it was before, and Leonard had never raised a hand to her again. Instead he’d begun to dote on her, agreeing to the spoiled princess’s every demand...
Sabina was sick of watching them. Taking the Ishkashim missile base was merely a decoy to lure out the remnants of Mithril, but she was glad that it had taken her seven thousand kilometers away from Merida Island if it meant she wouldn’t have to look at them anymore. Even if it meant becoming a sacrificial pawn...
“I don’t mind at all,” Sabina said calmly. “But, Mr. Fowler...what about you?”
“I do mind a little bit,” he admitted. “It’s a shame not to be present for the historic moment.” His voice over the radio was self-recriminating.
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s all. As long as the TAROS activates properly, I won’t have any cause for complaint.”
Those who followed Leonard were very strongly motivated. The reasons for their motivation varied widely, but what they had in common was an almost frenzied hatred and anger towards the current world, and for the past events that had brought it to its current state. If there was some way to reject that past they hated so much, they’d take it. That feeling was what had led them to join this ridiculous war.
Sabina, having grown up in a life of exploitation in the slums, had many reasons to hate the past. Fowler seemed to have his reasons, too. When they were working together on missions, she had seen signs of the same anger in him now and then. That seething anger—an anger like a charcoal fire—was proof that he had left some piece of himself in the past.
She’d heard he’d had a wife and children. That something had happened, that he’d been unable to protect them. But that was all. Sabina would probably never get to learn the whole story, just as she’d had never told anyone but Leonard the reason for her own anger.
Returning to the task at hand, Sabina zoomed in with her optical sensors. The Soviet AS forces were approaching in the middle of her screen, marching to their deaths, step by step...
“Shall we initiate?” Fowler asked.
“I was planning to watch a bit longer, but... if you wish,” Sabina agreed. “I’d like to stretch my legs.”
“Let’s begin, then.”
Sabina closed the channel and switched her Eligore’s power source—the palladium reactor—from idle to battle output. The machine’s low hum grew louder. The reactor itself was silent, but the cooling device made noise based on its output.
The winters of northern Afghanistan were harsh, and the current temperature outside was a blistering minus thirteen degrees. The heat put out by their palladium reactors was probably exceeding what they could hide, and outside of the ECS’s field they were probably already registering as unnatural heat sources.
One of the enemies searching with infrared sensors seemed to have already noticed the heat source. The troop stopped and began scanning carefully in the direction where Sabina lay hiding. Their allies seemed to be exchanging conversation and data, arguing about whether or not there was a “suspicious heat source” there.
Of course, Sabina thought. Electronic data... She knew their wavelengths and the protocols well, and she knew the various types of signals they were exchanging. Sabina’s Eligore analyzed it all with a powerful operative function, exploited weaknesses in the systems that would normally be unexploitable, and swiftly rewrote important battle programs which should not be rewritable. She was turning it all to their benefit.
The specialty of Kaspar, who had died at Yamsk-11, had been sniping; hers was electronic warfare. The electronic warfare systems that had been customized for Sabina, used in tandem with her own unique skills, turned her Eligore into a witch on the battlefield.
The six Shadows in the sixteen-machine squad began to go berserk. They had cutting-edge electronic weaponry and data link functionality, and they hadn’t been in the field for long, which made them as vulnerable as children raised in cleanrooms exposed to bacteria for the first time.
One Shadow began firing at its allies, while another began launching anti-AS missiles randomly across the area. The remaining two turned their guns at each other and fired simultaneously—as if they’d coordinated it—and destroyed one another in a fireball.
The ten Savages didn’t seem to have gone quite as mad as the Shadows, but they had been rendered immobile. Some had lost all their sensors, some had had issues with their drive systems, some saw their gas turbine engines begin to go haywire and put out smoke.
Sabina could hear the voices of the enemy operators: fear and confusion; shouts of anger and pain... Magnificent, she thought appreciatively. The screams of Russians are the most sublime.
She lifted her ECS invisibility mode. In the twilight that bathed the mountains in orange, her Eligore appeared. Her machine’s armor was as white as a virgin bride.
Pulling a 37mm rifle from her back, Sabina leaped her Eligore into the air, scattering snow. “Leonard...” she whispered. I don’t need the power of the lambda driver. If you want to see the world burned in nuclear fire, I’ll make it happen. With my own innate abilities, I will prove I can be your sword. I’ll do things that that other woman could never do…