“Gaaaah! My precious Licorne!” Cleare wailed dramatically.
Although they’d managed to shield their allies, the Licorne hadn’t come through unscathed. A violent tremor had rocked the ship, putting immense strain on it, which was the reason for Cleare’s dismay.
Putting up a defense wasn’t as simple as harnessing energy from the Sacred Tree Sapling to fortify their shield. Marie panted heavily as she stood on the bridge, hands clasped tightly around her staff. She had shared the burden of protecting their whole army alongside Livia. To be precise, Marie had shouldered the majority of that burden.
“Miss Marie…” Livia said worriedly, examining her face.
“Hmph. This is child’s play,” Marie sniffed. “You should save your power for later.” Despite her bravado, her face crumpled in pain and exhaustion.
“Lady Marie, if you’re that worn out, you should rest!” Carla fussed.
Marie smiled tightly at her, the edges of her lips straining with the effort. “I-I’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”
Kyle carried over a bottle of water and a towel. “Mistress, if you push yourself too hard, you’ll end up passing out.”
“I-I told you, I’ll be fine. I’m not so weak…that I’d pass out from something like this.” Marie was gasping even as she spoke, only staying on her feet by clinging to her staff to support her weight on it. She grabbed the water and gulped it down.
The voices of Leon’s friends echoed in her ears. They had crowded around the Licorne to protect its passengers.
“Keep the enemy away from the Licorne!”
“Don’t even bother aiming! Just shoot straight in front of you. There’re enough enemies that you’ll hit something!”
“Aaah! I knew I shouldn’t have tried to act tough by fighting in this stupid war! Leon, you absolute idiot!”
Yes, there were cries of dismay among them.
Leon’s friends had excellent ships and Armors because Luxion had personally seen to their construction. On top of that, they’d fought many battles over the past two years and become more coordinated under such circumstances. Since Leon had forced them to fight so often, they’d grown accustomed to it. Regardless, Marie found their presence reassuring.
She wiped sweat from her face. Even his friends are giving this their best, she realized.
Leon had been wise to gather such stalwart allies at the academy. They were proving integral to this battle. Leon had admitted to binding them with contracts, but as Marie saw it, they shared a strong bond of friendship too.
However reliable they were, though, the situation was too volatile for them to let their guard down. A few people’s efforts wouldn’t change the severe disadvantage at which the royal army found itself.
Cleare’s blue lens flashed. “Tch! Some slipped past our allies’ defenses!”
Having sensed the danger the Licorne posed, a swarm of monsters gathered around it. The beasts ignored the ships that encircled them to act as shields, charging right past. One was over twenty meters tall.
“Fire at them!” Angie shouted at Cleare.
“Sorry, but after the damage we just took, I can’t. It’ll take thirty more seconds to recover enough to fight. Don’t worry, though; I have something prepared for just this occasion,” said Cleare.
Marie’s eyes flew open wide. “Wha…?”
Someone had carved right through the enormous beast coming for them, transforming it into a burst of black smoke. She soon realized it wasn’t just one person; there were two pure-white Armors outside. They looked almost exactly like Julius’s Armor, with a few discrepancies, and masks had been fashioned over their suits’ faces.
“You seem to be in distress, ladies,” said one pilot.
Images of both pilots, who wore masks just like their Armors, appeared on their internal monitor.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Angie demanded of them.
In response, the two adopted similar poses, almost as if they’d planned and coordinated this beforehand. As they spoke, their voices even overlapped.
“I am a nameless knight. For the moment, you may refer to me as the masked knight.”
“I’ll call myself the masked knight for now.”
The two even sounded like Julius.
All Marie’s strength drained away, and she crumpled to her knees. Oh my God. Is this the power of genetics?! Both masked knights’ demeanors struck her as ridiculous, which clued her in to their true identities. Biology was a terrifying thing.
Alas, that wasn’t the end of the ridiculousness. The two knights hadn’t noticed each other until that point, and the moment they did, they began bickering.
“You there! I’m the Masked Knight, not you!”
“I could say the same to you! I pulled an all-nighter figuring out this getup. You have some nerve copying me!”
Neither seemed to realize who the other was, which was all the more awkward for those watching the spat unfold.
“That mask of yours is inferior to my own!”
“Oh, now you’ve done it! How dare you insult my mask? Eri assured me I looked dapper in it! Prepare yourself! I’m going to cut you down where you stand!”
Everyone bearing witness sighed in exasperation. The two masked knights were Roland and Jake.
Livia’s face sagged with exhaustion, her features morphing into a blank mask. “You’re both nuisances. Go home.”
Roland recoiled, shocked at being treated so coldly by a woman. “M-Miss? That’s awfully callous of you, don’t you think?”
Jake, on the other hand, had no interest in Livia’s feelings; Erin was the only woman who mattered to him. “I’d be a laughingstock if I went back now. Whatever—I get it. For now, I’ll be the bigger man and fight as this loser’s ally. Just try not to hold me back, impostor.”
Flustered and indignant, Roland roared back, “I’m the original between us! Me! And your voice makes you sound like an awfully young man. If they gave birth to an arrogant swine like you, I bet your parents look like brainless clods!”
“You bastard,” Jake replied through gritted teeth. “Two can play at that game. Am I right in assuming, from your actions, that you’re a lowlife loser adult? Oh, no need to answer. I can tell I’m correct even without you admitting it.”
“You…you worthless brat!”
Cleare ignored their endless squabbling, “These two came to me separately before we left, insisting that they wanted to take part in the battle,” she explained. “I borrowed a couple of spare Armors Luxion had created and gave those to them. Intriguing that they both created similar designs.” If what she said was true, she hadn’t come up with their masks, they had. Father and sons unknowingly shared the same aesthetic.
Marie stared out the window at the two. “Genetics sure are something else.” It was a bit disheartening to think that Julius had donned that same guise, putting himself on the same level as this pair.