Watching the merciless suppression efforts in the news, Primevére realized what the Federacy was trying to do. They avoided blatant displays of brutality like killing unarmed civilians while making a public display of how they one-sidedly crushed the insurgents. As a warning to strike fear into others. Or perhaps this was like a coliseum match, or a circus, meant to satisfy the masses’ hunger for palpable, satisfying justice.
“Th-this is inhumane… They’re treating our Republic people like circus animals…”
The Republic people being hunted down were like martyr prisoners, while the Reginleifs were like wild animals or gladiators, and the Federacy people watching this were the audience of the amphitheater.
As he watched this cruel Roman holiday that should have faded into the annals of history, Ernst furrowed his brow.
“You think you’re ones to talk? You threw the Eighty-Six into the Eighty-Sixth Sector, and you’re trying to trap Federacy soldiers on the front lines, and you think you get to say that? Oh, and you can spare me the ‘human-formed cattle’ hogwash. Even you people don’t really believe it. So yes, how could you people engage in such inhumanity?”
Primevére twitched at his remarks. If he knew this much, the answer for why was all too clear.
“To protect our families.”
Ernst regarded her silently, and Primevére raised her voice, growing enraged.
“Yes, to protect our families! So my precious children, my husband, my parents, and my siblings don’t die on the battlefield! That’s what the Eighty-Six were for! That’s what…labeling them as pigs in human form was for!”
If they didn’t reduce them to something inhuman—if they didn’t have to think that the Eighty-Six were someone’s children, husbands, parents, siblings, friends, lovers; if they had no way to defend their families but to fight—they wouldn’t be able to stand their own vileness.
And when one wanted to be blind to their own vileness, looking away only made sense.
“This is all the same; we’re doing this to protect our families! That’s all! If the Republic is in the way and can’t retreat, the Federacy has no choice but to fight! We have to protect our families! We don’t care for Eighty-Six or the Federacy, so long as our families are safe!”
As she hollered at him, tears spilled from her eyes. She spoke out of love for her family, her comrades, and her homeland, but it was just vileness coated with a thin veneer of love. The true form of that love was the evil that came when one placed the things they held dear against the things they didn’t care for on the scales, then decided to discard the latter.
And this was vileness everyone carried within them, so why did this man look at her with feigned ignorance, blaming her like none of this applied to him? Why was he forcing her to be aware of it?
“Everyone’s the same! The Federacy’s the same! Everyone’s fine with sacrificing and killing others so long as they’re safe! That’s just how things work!”
Ernst sighed softly, like a firedrake spewing out a stream of flame.
“—Could you please try to not irritate me?”
For a moment, what happened next didn’t register in Primevére’s mind, of course—or the other Bleachers’. A loud, dull thud filled the room, followed by Primevére spinning for a moment before crumpling to the ground.
“…Huh?”
The Bleachers froze out of reflex. Primevére had fallen to the ground like a broken doll, and she lay still. Her sprawled limbs were twitching as dull red spread over the carpet. Her head’s shape had changed—her skull had caved in.
They didn’t instantly register how the attack happened—that was how casually Ernst threw away the chair he had used to bludgeon Primevére before picking up her discarded assault rifle. He checked the chamber, then loaded the first bullet with an exasperated smile.
“Love, eh? Yes, well, I suppose love would do it. It is at the very core of humanity. I do know people have killed and discriminated in the name of love.”
None of the Bleachers fired at him. Some did neglect to load the first bullet, like Primevére had, but some of them didn’t, and they could have fired if they pulled the trigger. But they were transfixed in place by the black anger burning in this firedrake’s eyes as he calmly smiled at the sight of bloodshed.
“But…saying you don’t care because of love. That you have no choice because of love. Using love as an excuse, as justification, without trying for reflection or improvement. Not even trying to better the vileness and unsightliness of humankind.”
He flipped the assault rifle over, gripping the barrel and holding up the gunstock. The gunstock of this collapsible assault rifle had the strength of a metallic pipe, with a weight of four kilograms, exceeding that of most bladed weapons. He held the gunstock’s tip up like a bludgeon.
“So you speak of love when all you do is use it to affirm your own vile ways? If that kind of love is what defines humans—”
—then creatures like that deserve to perish.
✦ ✦ ✦
Most of the noncombatants were a disorderly crowd who couldn’t last against an armored unit. The 1st Battalion was able to take control of all Quitortan’s blocks in no time. It was quicker and easier than when armed Republic soldiers had rounded up, restrained, and taken away millions of unarmed Eighty-Six.
Grimacing as he made that irritating association, Shin sent Grethe a report that the operation was complete. The other battalions sent similar reports from the other cities, too. The armored division that was set to pass through increased the speed of its march. Since they did so despite being ahead of schedule, the vehicles the insurgents were carried into had to wait until they passed.
What is it now?
Shin furrowed his brow. The armored division’s retreat was higher on the priority list compared with ferrying away the insurgents, so the insurgents having to wait was understandable on its own. However…
“—Strike Package commander, I’m sorry, but if you don’t hurry and get out of here, the next force will get stuck.”
As that question crossed his mind, he got a wireless message from the scout unit sent ahead of the armored division. Both had to communicate using the command post as a relay point, meaning there would be a time lag, so they cut the usual introductions and went straight to explaining the situation.
“The armored and artillery forces are fine, but the infantry at the end of the line are pretty much stampeding. They basically have no chain of command anymore. They’re not sticking to the order of retreat, so if you don’t want them to catch up to you, you need to hurry.”
Shin grimaced. He was informed, of course, that there were deserters from the infantry unit when the Saentis-Historics line collapsed, but…
“You guys should prepare to get off the highway. If you don’t, that angry mob will surround you, and you won’t be able to move.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The Federacy forces ignored established retreat theory, hurrying the armored and infantry forces ahead while only offering minimal artillery support to the infantry left behind in the defensive line. They rained fullbore gun rounds, which couldn’t compare with howitzers and had limited ammo, on all fronts.
The Federacy’s railgun, the Kampf Pfau, boasted long-range abilities that could be fired at the front lines while remaining a safe distance away. It had low accuracy that had to be compensated for by firing a large number of shells at once, but when it came to bombarding an entire battlefield, the width of its circular error probability proved effective.
But it had two fatal flaws: its great weight, which meant it could only move along the railway, and the slow movement of the spades required to offset its recoil.
Once the trajectory of its shots was reverse-calculated to determine its position, the Morpho began their counterattack. The Kampf Pfaus deployed across the different fronts, as well as their crews, were exposed to a rain of 800 mm shells. The Kampf Pfaus were meant to keep the Morpho in check by matching their superior range—which, of course, meant the Morpho were just as capable of counterattacking the Kampf Pfaus.
The peacocks that offered artillery support to the front lines were shot down one by one by lightning rained down from the giant butterflies. As the bombardment died down and silence descended on the front lines, a floating bridge filled the void of its predecessor, and Aranea units crossed the many rivers flowing through the battlefield. The metallic army stood over the horizon, waiting for the bridges to link the two shores.
And at this point, the Federacy no longer had the cannons that would keep that at bay.