Imperial standard time, 08:30.
The flagship Hyperion deployed twenty-four high speed tactical cruisers carrying elite Holy Swordsmen units. Under covering fire from the fleet, the cruisers were able to stage an offensive landing in the Fourth Assault Garden’s third military dock area.
Under the command of Princess Chatres, each unit began fighting the Voids and successfully retook the dock, forming a bridgehead in the city.
Seven Holy Swordsmen died in the fight, with forty-two injured.
After successfully taking the dock, the units spread out, each heading to their designated objectives.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Here they come, Lady Selia!”
“Right, Regina. Cover me!”
Riselia sprinted ahead and slashed through the giant charging at her. The ogre-class Void toppled to the ground, falling on its back with a large thud. Sakuya instantly moved in and cut through its neck. It died, producing a suffocating cloud of Void miasma that filled the air.
They were in one of the towers controlling the Fourth Assault Garden’s city functions. There was a large Void Hive built around the tower, its crystals cracking and rupturing as several more ogre-class Voids crawled out of them.
With the Bloody Sword prepped in one hand, Riselia sprinted toward another nearby Void. Countless blood blades flashed through the air, cutting into the Void’s body.
“…They just keep coming!” Regina shouted as she used her Drag Howl to blast both the Voids and their Hive.
But sadly, this large Hive, integrated into the city, was difficult to destroy. It was then they heard a loud explosion—far in the distance, a large pillar of light burst out, tearing into the sky.
“Is that Princess Chatres’s Holy Sword, the Ragna Nova?!”
“It’s as impressive as ever…”
Seeing the strongest Holy Sword in action on the battlefield, the two of them were taken aback by its might.
“Miss Selia, shouldn’t we use that?” Leonis, who was running a short distance behind them, pointed down the street.
“Huh?’
Riselia looked in that direction and saw a large battle vehicle buried in the rubble. It was an anti-Void combat model, a blaster vehicle. One of the Fourth Assault Garden defensive units must have left it behind when they retreated.
“Military vehicles have a biometric lock, and it might be wrecked, too…,” Regina said.
“I think we’ll be good on that front—Leite, can we use this?”
“Yes, master.” Schwertleite nodded and hurried over to the vehicle. She opened its hatch and began taking it over from the inside. A few seconds later, the biometric lock was undone, and the vehicle’s turret swerved noisily. The mana cannon fired, blasting the Void Hive.
“Whoa, look at that firepower! It’s a match for my Dragon Slayer blast!” Regina exclaimed.
It was certainly much stronger than a blaster vehicle normally was.
“…Even if it was mostly grounded, this truly is impressive. I can see why the Deus Machina is on the same level as my lord,” Leonis whispered to no one in particular.
“Let’s follow it and break through!” Riselia said.
The blaster vehicle, controlled by Schwertleite, charged forward as its turret continued firing.
“I—I’m not going to let this thing outshine me!” Regina boarded the turret and, shouldering the Drag Howl, fired blasts of her own.
✦ ✦ ✦
“—How fortuitous. We have sacrifices charging in, just waiting to be claimed.”
Fourth Assault Garden—the Central Garden’s eighth underground level. Sitting in front of the screen monitoring the mana furnace, Nefakess snickered maliciously.
“This will save us the trouble of having to gather more Demon Swords.”
He turned around, his eyes settling on a black-haired girl clad in a pitch-black dress. The Demon Sword Queen who Deinfraude had produced.
Elfiné the Void Queen.
The girl did not respond at all, however. Her eyes were full of empty darkness. Nefakess nodded, satisfied, and issued an order.
“—Now, go forth, ye vessel of the Demon Swords. Devour as much as you please.”
The girl’s fingers traced the air, producing a Void tear.
“I am the Vessel of the Demon Swords. I beckon the offerings to the power of Nothingness…,” Elfiné spoke, her voice emotionless.
And then, the ebony angel vanished into the Void tear.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Drag Howl fired thrice, producing three deafening blasts that tore a hole through a solid bulwark.
“I did it, Lady Selia!” Regina said from atop the blaster vehicle’s turret, holding her fingers up in a V sign.
“Eighteenth platoon, just arrived at the control tower. We’ll be entering it now.”
“…Ro…ger. Stay…igilant…,” Fenris’s voice crackled from the radio.
Riselia reported to the eleventh platoon, which was en route to another control tower, and prepared to go inside.
“Let’s take control of the place fast, before the Void Crystals start hatching. Charge!”
Riselia and Sakuya moved ahead of the other two as vanguards, charging in through the tower’s gate. At the same time, the blaster vehicle Regina and Leonis were riding followed suit, its engine howling as it careened ahead.
There was another large Void Hive formed within the premises of the control tower. The crystals erupted, with medium-sized insect Voids crawling out of them in large numbers.
“Insect-types—this kind has extremely high regenerative powers!” Riselia said, slashing ahead with the Bloody Sword.
The crimson blade flashed, producing a whirlwind of blood that cut into the approaching Voids.
“Mikagami style, Ultimate Blade Technique—Thunderclap!”
Sakuya put up a good fight, too. Blue lightning sparked through the air, and a moment later, the remains of the Voids scattered on the ground.
“We’ll follow you, Lady Selia!”
As the two attacked with their swords on the frontline, Regina and Schwertleite backed them up with covering fire.
“—There’s more of them coming from behind,” Leonis said, perched atop the blaster vehicle.
“…?!”
Regina turned around and saw several large serpentine Voids, their bodies covered with carapaces, approach the vehicle while kicking up rubble in their wake. On top of that, the ground around them tore open, and many Voids shaped like human hands crawled out from the under the rubble.
“Hand-roper-class Voids?! They can be tricky…!”
The countless hands reached out to grab the vehicle’s fuselage.
“If we don’t do something, we’ll be caught between these Voids and the ones inside the control tower!” Regina said as she blasted the hand-roper-classes creeping toward them.
“—That sounds bad.”
It didn’t matter how many of them they defeated, because so long as the Void Hive remained, more would emerge. And destroying a Hive this large in a short period of time would be difficult.
Chatres’s Holy Sword might have been to destroy it one blow, but…
She touched the terminal on her ear.
“—Lady Selia, leave this place to us.”
“Regina?” Having just cut down a Void, Riselia turned to face her.
“We’ll set up a barricade to keep the Voids outside out. Use that time to seize control of the tower.”
“But Regina—”
“We can buy you fifteen minutes. Leite, please.”
“—Understood. I shall serve as the master’s shield.”
The blaster vehicle drifted, stopping in front of the entrance as a makeshift barricade.
“Hurry, while we have time…!”
“…All right. We’ll be counting on you, but don’t do anything reckless,” Riselia said.
“You have my gratitude, Miss Regina. I’ll give you my castella later, as thanks.”
“Really? I’ll be holding you up to that, Sakuya…!”
Riselia and Sakuya raced through the gate and entered the control tower’s interior.
“All right, let’s give them hell. Holy Sword, Mode Shift—Dragon Storm!”
Regina deployed her sword’s multi-barrel artillery form atop the blaster vehicle. It was a base-defense mode, optimized for large-scale suppressing fire.
“Get smooooooooked!”
The barrels opened fire, sweeping through the approaching Voids.
“Impressive,” Leonis said.
“Heh-heh, isn’t it, though? Well, kid, did you get a better impression of how good I am… Wait, what’s that?!” Regina looked up in alarm.
Crack, crack, crack…!
Something large was emerging, tearing through the cloudy sky.
“Isn’t that…?!” Leonis’s eyes widened with shock.
It was a ship. A pirate ship made of bones, enveloped in Void miasma.
“A Void ship?! I’ve never heard of that!” Regina whispered in shock as she watched it cast a massive shadow over the ground.
“…That’s my lord’s ship, the Wild Hunt!”
“Kid?” Regina looked at Leonis, dubious at his whisper.
“Ah, kid, what…?”
“You two take care of this place. I’ll be off—”
Saying this, Leonis faded into the shadows.