“Good job!” Koutarou exclaimed. “Nothing less than I’d expect from you!” He smiled, showing no sign of surprise. Since he could sense spiritual energy, he’d known they were holograms from the start and had had a hunch about what their plan was.
“Curse it! Damn women! Not just once, but twice!” Maxfern shouted.
“What should we do, Maxfern-sama?!” Grevanas asked.
“That’s obvious! Send in our squads! Don’t let them leave alive!”
“At once!”
Maxfern might have been outsmarted, but he still had soldiers and mobile weapons deployed in the area, so he would use them to take down Koutarou’s group with a frontal attack.
Before firing the missile, the Liberation Army had deployed a large number of forces. The majority of the transferred forces were unmanned craft, but there were also some human squads. That was an outrageous act that the Imperial Army would never do. It was extremely dangerous to use transfer gates before they were stable. So while unmanned crafts could be sent at times under the assumption that some would be lost, humans would never be sent over. Being able to do that without batting an eyelid was one of Maxfern’s terrifying sides. After firing the missile, those forces set out for the affected area with the large mobile weapon in the lead, and they were facing Koutarou’s group.
“But we won’t lose either,” Clan replied. “After Theiamillis-san discovered us, we deployed our forces too.”
The Forthorthe Imperial Army wasn’t without a plan of their own. Once Kiriha, Clan, and Ruth had been successfully rescued, they’d deployed their soldiers. Before then, no one could communicate with the girls because the enemy would have reached them first. But that restriction on comms had disappeared once Theia and Sanae-nee had them safely away. All of the unmanned craft in the area were being called in, and standard forces were marching over.
“I only wish we had your new machine ready for you,” Clan said.
“That would be too much,” Koutarou replied.
As battles had started looking more like wars, he would often fight in the Warlord-series mobile weapon because there were large enemies on the battlefield, though there was another reason for it too. Koutarou’s Spirit Vision wouldn’t allow him to avoid stray bullets or attacks from unmanned craft. However, when the enemies were few, he could handle himself. Still, the danger shot up when a battle became more disordered, and even more so after Koutarou was discovered to be the Blue Knight. With that in mind, after Kiriha and Harumi’s “very polite request,” Koutarou had ended up using the Warlord series. After the last battle, Warlord had been seriously damaged, so a new machine was being built, but it wouldn’t make it in time. Koutarou would therefore be relying on his sword and armor for the first time in a while.
“Please make do with me for today,” Alunaya said.
“I don’t have to make do with you. You’re always a huge help,” Koutarou replied.
In Warlord’s place, Alunaya had returned to his original form, and Koutarou was on top of his head. At twenty meters long, the dragon was far larger than Warlord, and his firepower was equally powerful. If anything, it was Shizuka who had to make do.
“Uncle, you can’t overdo it, okay?!” Shizuka said.
“I know, I know,” Alunaya responded consolingly.
“I’m not so sure...” Shizuka said with suspicion.
Only Alunaya’s soul had come to the modern world, so transforming into his original form took a great deal of mana. When he returned to Shizuka’s form, the less mana he had, the weaker his control over gravity became. That would appear as an increase in weight for Shizuka, which was a problem a girl in her teens didn’t want to have.
“I’m here this time too, so don’t worry, Shizuka,” Sanae informed her.
“I’m counting on you, Sanae-chan!” Shizuka pleaded.
Sanae-chan was also next to Koutarou. She was in her astral-projected form and would support the others. Meanwhile, Sanae-san was taking refuge with the body.
“It has been a while, Fire Dragon Emperor!” Maxfern’s voice came from the large mobile weapon facing Alunaya. “So, you’re the Blue Knight’s slave now?!”
Both sides were acquainted. Two thousand years ago, Alunaya had been enslaved by Grevanas, which was why Maxfern sneered at him.
“Indeed, I am having fun,” Alunaya replied. “It would seem you are using something rather unshapely.”
Alunaya wasn’t perturbed. He simply bared his fangs and calmly retorted. He did have a point, as Maxfern’s large mobile weapon was quite misshapen. The general shape was round, with propulsion and weapons sticking out of it. It had been made with only victory in mind. When two mobile weapons were the same size, a sphere was the strongest shape, even when accounting for the protection of a distortion field. And since a large generator could be placed in the center of the ball, both offense and defense were strengthened.
Moreover, since there was no real front, aside from the back part, which had been destroyed by an explosion, it could attack in any direction. There were no blind spots, with it constantly being on the offensive and very sturdy. Its structure made a lot of sense in melee and for fighting Koutarou, but it was no doubt unshapely.
“As long as I win!” Maxfern said. “There’s nothing as foolish as losing because you’re concerned with looks! Brace yourself, Fire Dragon Emperor and Blue Knight! This is where I will settle the score with you!”
At Maxfern’s words, the Forthorthe Liberation Army advanced. Small unmanned craft at the front formed a wall, and behind them human soldiers and large mobile weapons were being deployed. It was a dangerous strategy of having the Imperial Army fight the unmanned craft while the Liberation Army attacked from behind the wall.
“We’re going too, Blue Knight!” Alunaya cried.
“Yes!” said Koutarou. “Ruth-san, I’m counting on you.”
“I am sending the forces forward, Master!” Ruth answered. Her words didn’t quite feel right to Koutarou.
There should only be unmanned craft coming, right...?
The Forthorthe Imperial Army should only have had a few soldiers in the area, since they were the ones who had descended with Koutarou and the others a few hours earlier. So that should have been their main troop, but what advanced was a force quite unlike it.
“What is this?!” Koutarou exclaimed.
“Oh, what an interesting thought,” Alunaya commented. “A steel legion?”
Koutarou was surprised, and Alunaya laughed. What advanced from behind was a band of unmanned craft, but its composition was abnormal. There were various unmanned craft with humanoid craft at the center. In the front were unmanned craft with heavy armor and firepower meant to support the front line, and the humanoid ones accompanied them with handheld firearms, covering their blind spots. The troop carriers were also taking part in the attack under automatic control. Farther in the back were medium-sized unmanned craft for shelling, aiming at the approaching enemy. In the sky were reconnaissance drones, kamikaze drones, and medium unmanned craft flying around instead of fighters or helicopters. It was like a trade fair of machines, and “steel legion” was a good name for it.
Who wouldn’t be surprised by that? Clan sighed while looking at the forces advancing.
Nobody else would try to make a military force like this. If anything, it was too difficult from a technical point of view. After all, crafts of various designs would have to work in concert with each other. Adjustments would also need to be made in the middle of battle as allied and enemy numbers fluctuated. Maintenance was also a source of confusion, since all sorts of technology would be mixed. That was why only one or two types of unmanned craft were normally used. Yet Ruth had used them despite all that because they were lacking in numbers.
Clan had objected to the suggestion at first. “Sure, this will make up for our lower numbers, but what about controlling them?” she’d asked. “If all they can do is go forward, they’ll be destroyed!”
If the unmanned craft couldn’t coordinate, their AI would make them fight on their own. They might cooperate at some points, but they would essentially just charge and attack. That would make them easy targets. Since they needed to do more than just buy time, Clan didn’t think letting the simple AI control them was realistic.
However, Ruth’s response was reassuring. “I will handle it somehow! I have done research into this before, though I haven’t done any testing!”
The steel legion had been born from the current conditions plus Ruth’s special talent. The only things that could immediately make its way over from the Imperial Army’s side were unmanned craft. But one or two types wouldn’t be enough. Since they were normally deployed as support for normal forces, there weren’t enough to make up a main force. So Ruth had scraped together all unmanned craft from nearby bases and spaceships without caring about the standard theories behind such warfare. Naturally, that meant all kinds of machines were mixed together, and coordination should have been impossible, with them only being able to recklessly charge.
But Ruth had made the impossible possible.
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