While she was focusing so intently, however, she failed to notice something at the edge of her vision: the beam of light that surged across the unclouded, midday sky.
“Something’s...coming?” Anna whispered suspiciously beneath her breath.
No, even then, the movement was too odd. It clearly bore purpose, suddenly changing its path before plunging down toward the middle of Front-Edge City.
Anna caught only a glimpse of its enormous wings. It braked suddenly only a moment before it would’ve crashed into the ground. A powerful gust of wind stirred up a cloud of dust, concealing its form for a brief moment.
“And what’s that supposed to be?! Wait! Did we just get attacked?!”
“I’m fairly certain that’s not the case...” Anna replied. “There’s something moving in there.”
“Don’t tell me we’ve got a monster on our hands now! Of all the times to show up too! Gimme a break!” Meddié moaned, clutching her head in frustration.
Front-Edge City was indeed the farthest frontier in the kingdom—a dangerous area bordering the monsters’ den that was the Forest of No Return. But the area had been cultivated more and more, with sightings of monsters near the city dwindling in recent years.
Rising to its feet a moment later, it finally came into view. Far from what they’d guessed, the first thing they saw was its strong, sharply shaped helmet, and beneath it, a visage modeled after a human face. There was no mistaking it—it was an enormous instrument fueled by magical energy made in the shape of a human. It was a Mechsteel!
There was no telling which side the Mechsteel belonged to. It surveyed its surroundings before gallantly walking toward Agile Gazelle. It was enormous. It was even taller than the Tyrant Rhino, which itself was already large by Mechsteel standards. Now finding themselves being looked down on, Meddié and Anna flinched.
“H-Hold on, what? Are we up against this guy after all?!”
“No...that’s not it. That mech, it... It has to be—”
Making its way over to Agile Gazelle, the mysterious Mechsteel began to speak in an extremely casual tone.
“Sorry there! I came as fast as I could, but it looks like I showed up late to the party!”
“Ah! That voice!”
“I knew it. It’s you in there, isn’t it, father?”
“That’s right!” The mysterious Mechsteel—and Watt from within it—puffed out their chests before realizing something was off and falling into a flustered panic.
“Huh?! Hold on now—why am I hearing Anna’s voice from Gazelle, huh?! That means you’ve gotta be with Meddié! What’s all this about? I told you to stay at Otto’s place!”
“I-It’s just—” Anna stammered before pausing. “I wanted to help everyone too.”
Watt couldn’t help but smack his own forehead. He’d come rushing over, all to find a situation like this? Still, when he thought it through, he should’ve seen this coming. His daughter didn’t have the sort of personality to just quietly sit around while others protected her.
“Man...” Watt started, “I’ve got a good enough idea of what happened. You’re due for a good talking-to, but...I’ve got some chores to finish up first.”
“Master! We’ve got five of those big lunks inside the city! And there’s a whole slew of ’em outside!”
“Got it,” Watt replied. “You two just fall back and leave the rest to me.”
Lightly waving his hand through the air, Watt turned around to face his foes: two of the massive mechs he’d fought the other day—Tyrant Rhinos. And based on what Meddié had said, there were three more of them wreaking havoc somewhere.
“These guys sure do have the whole place staked out!” Watt said. “Guess they must really want those top spots for themselves to go to all this trouble!”
Watt’s Mechsteel began to walk forward completely unguarded. He seemed to be leaving nothing but openings for an attack, but the Tyrant Rhinos hesitated. Just because a tiger was sleeping didn’t mean there’d be anyone who’d go out of their way to step on its tail. Still, if the tiger came at them nonetheless, they’d only be devoured if they didn’t fight back.
“Captain, that Mechsteel, it’s—!”
“I know... And given the fact that it flew through the sky to make its appearance, I’m afraid it’s no paper-mache sham we’re dealing with here.”
The captain leading the squad of Tyrant Rhinos was visibly tense. They all knew that Mechsteel—no, it’d be more accurate to say that there wasn’t a soul living in the capital that didn’t know that Mechsteel.
“You—who are you? That Mechsteel doesn’t belong in a backcountry like this!”
“Good question,” Watt replied. “Who am I, huh?”
He scratched at his cheek, at a loss. He’d thrown away the sort of life that would require introductions over a decade ago. The man living in the city was Watt Sears, just a simple worker. But Watt had brought out the mech after giving up on his attempts to leave his past behind him, so he couldn’t just leave it at that either. And besides, he couldn’t look lame in front of his daughter. Fathers were truly pitiful creatures.
“Nobody important. I’m just a retired knight, that’s all,” Watt answered. “I rushed over here as fast as I could to help out my friend and my daughter when they needed me. Guess that about sums it up.”
“A retired knight...?”
The captain was an old-timer who’d been around for a while—that rang a bell somewhere in his memory. But before he could clearly remember just who that was, his subordinate shouted back at Watt.
“That’s enough of your nonsense! The only ones who can own that Mechsteel... There’s no way they would ever be in a place like this! There’s a heavy price to pay for impersonating them!”
“So you know him, do you? Tch, I’m the one who’s had enough of the nonsense! Can’t believe I’m seeing esteemed knights of the capital acting like bandits all the way out here! You bastards are makin’ your mechs cry!”
“You don’t know the first thing about us!”
“Wait! Don’t go off on your own!” the captain cried.
Shaking off the captain’s restraint, the subordinate leaped at Watt. The Tyrant Rhino rushed forward with a howl, leveling everything in its wake—only for Watt’s Mechsteel to stop it in place with the single arm it had casually left outstretched. Clenching the Tyrant Rhino’s head, the Mechsteel sank its fingers in with a sharp metallic screech. Cracks ran through the Tyrant Rhino’s face as its neck gave a piercing creak.
“Sorry ’bout that. I can’t afford to hold back.”
“Ngwaah?!”
The regulator coordinating the mech’s harmonization with its Steelrider was located in the Mechsteel’s head. Having his connection with the mech forcibly broken off, the Steelrider was struck with a violent recoil. The Tyrant Rhino screamed, writhing in pain, only for Watt’s Mechsteel to grab it and lift its massive frame into the air through sheer force. Tyrant Rhinos were heavyweight mechs, but Watt made nothing of its tremendous bulk.
“There ya go! Take ’im back with ya!”
The captain only barely dodged as Watt chucked his subordinate back at him. He could hear the other man’s dying groans as he crashed into the ground. Even with the Tyrant Rhino’s resilient, heavy armor, having its own weight turned against it was too much to endure.
“Seems there’s no doubting his strength now. To think our Tyrant Rhinos would be overpowered...” The captain gave up searching his memory to confront the hopeless reality now before him. “But I’m afraid we can’t just tuck our tails and scamper away!” His Mechsteel let out a piercing whistle.
Hearing the emergency signal, the other Tyrant Rhinos scattered throughout the city gathered together.