Before No. 2 could say, “I can’t accept that,” No. 16 blew up in anger, yelling, “Are you kidding?”
“We can’t approve the deployment of reinforcements. Command wishes for resolution with your current manpower.”
No. 2 couldn’t hear any emotion in Futaba’s voice. Didn’t she know she was pretty much telling them to die?
“There are hostiles gathered near the elevator of the server room. Please swiftly make your way to the destination.”
They had called for reinforcements precisely because they couldn’t do that. The path to the peak of Mount Ka’ala was infested with an unbelievable number of Machines. Even though the troop had embarked before dawn, when they expected the Machines to be sluggish, the Machines were not as inactive as they had hoped.
Furthermore, the number of Machines was not the only thing that was unexpected.
“It’s no use! Can’t locate the cooled area in their torsos!”
Dahlia’s voice contained traces of panic and irritation. Up until this point, all they’d had to do was use their thermo sensors to iden-tify the cooler brain section of the Machines and attack that point. But the enemies today had no distinguishable contrast in heat throughout their bodies.
“As expected. They most likely put some heat-insulating mater-ial around their cooled brain unit,” No. 21 said, with furrowed brows. The Machines had analyzed their attacks, learned, and come up with a countermeasure …
“We aren’t like you, floating safely in orbit! Send us reinforcements already!” No. 16 roared at the transmission device. She was clearly panicked. But the replies that came back through the transmission were blissfully unaware of their predicament.
“I’ll repeat. Use the local resistance to protect the YoRHa squadron, and make your way to the elevator.”
“What is the resistance to you—just pawns on a chessboard?”
Dahlia’s face was red with rage. It was only natural. The lunar stronghold had ignored the resistance for so long, only to use them when it was convenient.
“Let me talk to the commander! I demand an answer from the commander!”
Talking to the operator was getting nowhere. At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to reach the elevator, much less destroy the server.
“This is a direct order from the commander.”
“There’s no way …”
No. 2 was speechless. This is the second time, she thought bitterly. Command had given no explanation when they rejected the mission cancellation request. This time too, her call for reinforcements had been rejected without a single concrete reason.
It wasn’t like their request was obviously impossible from a technical or time perspective. But Command wasn’t lifting a single finger to help. What was Command thinking?
“Leave this to me! Everyone go on ahead!”
Lily’s voice brought No. 2 back to reality. Lily had both arms raised, standing in the way of the enemies. The red eyes of the Machines all locked on to Lily.
“Watch out!”
Just as No. 2 saw that Lily was in danger, she felt her limbs weigh her down. That’s when she remembered the report she had gotten from No. 21 the night before.
“Sorry! I don’t have full control over it just yet!”
Lily yelled with her arms raised. It wasn’t just No. 2 and the resistance that were being pinned down. The Machines were also frozen in place.
“Is this?”
No. 2 knew the answer already.
“Gravity wave! Lily can use enemy attacks now!”
Struggling to keep herself from sitting, No. 2 repeated No. 21’s words in her head.
The night before—after Lily had told No. 2 that “Rose is my only captain!”—No. 2 had curled up in a fetal position at the edge of camp. No. 2 had felt unreasonably dejected until No. 21 came up to her to explain the situation.
“Sorry about Lily back there,” No. 21 said, as she began explaining the series of events that happened within the past hour.
“You ran into her right after she activated gravity wave.”
“What do you mean? Why Lily?”
“Logic viruses take over a chassis and make it attack its comrades. The majority of these viruses force the chassis to fight past its natural limit, making it stronger in close combat. But I suspect that Lily’s virus was the type to copy its own attacks onto the infected chassis, or perhaps Lily’s attack potential was too low and the virus decided to use its own attacks through Lily’s chassis.”
“W-wait. Sorry. I can’t keep up.”
“In other words, Lily is capable of Machine-style attacks now.”
“That’s amazing!”
“That’s if she can control them though.”
And No. 21 told No. 2 to not tell anyone else, because Lily wanted to keep it a secret for now …
“Wow! They aren’t moving!” No. 4 said as she jumped in the air, probably because gravity had returned to normal. No. 2 almost fell on her behind as a result.
“I did it!”
Lily swung her arms in a big circle. No. 2 and the troop were able to move, but the enemies were still fixed in place.
Lily, who had mastered gravity wave, looked back with a satisfied smile.
“Head toward the elevator now! Hurry!”
But Lily’s technique was but a way to slow combatants down. It didn’t destroy the hostile units. So while the enemies were stuck in place, so was Lily—which meant …
Rose shook her head firmly, as if she had read No. 2’s mind.
“We’re not going to leave without you!”
They didn’t know how long Lily could sustain her gravity wave, but it was most likely not for long. The Machines that were now frozen would start moving after the wave dissipated. When that happened Lily would be left in a horde of enemies, all alone.
“It’s okay! I want to be useful!”
Lily stared down the enemy. Her straight posture exuded her strong determination.
“I was a scaredy-cat. I was a useless coward. But you saved me. You told me, of all people, to come back. That’s why I want to be useful!”
“Fine,” Dahlia replied, as she walked over to Lily.
“I’ll support you.”
“If Dahlia is staying then I am too,” said Margaret.
“Then I’m staying too,” No. 16 said, and turned toward No. 2.
“YoRHa squadron gunner No. 16 will now accompany the resistance to defend Mount Ka’ala!”
“But No. 16 …”
“No. 2, no, captain. Once we return let’s kick Command’s ass,” No. 16 said in a jesting tone.
“And, if I left it to an incompetent person like Dahlia I would be too worried.”
“Who you calling incompetent?” Dahlia replied as she looked back.
“You wanna go?”
“Let’s do it!”
Dahlia and No. 16 laughed as they bickered. Now they would have two people for close combat, and two people for long-range combat. Still, it was uncertain whether they would be able to contain the situation …
“I’m against it. Splitting up our forces is dangerous.”
Dahlia emphatically interrupted Rose.
“If we all stall here, the mission can’t go on! Captain Rose, let us do it!”
That was a good point. Since they couldn’t expect any reinforcements, they needed to create an opening. No. 2 agreed that at this rate they would all die. On the other hand, splitting up their already small group was also dangerous. Separate groups might end up being too undersized to handle waves of enemies.
Either choice was dangerous. As a captain, which way was No. 2 supposed to choose …
“Okay. We’ll split into two and continue.”
If she had been the one to decide, No. 2 would not have reached a decision this quickly. She might’ve still been hesitating, on the verge of crying. But, realized No. 2, she and Rose had reached the same conclusion. Whatever the chance, if there was even the smallest possibility, they would bet on it.
And she wouldn’t want to waste Lily’s desire to be useful. She understood how Lily felt, because she also had an inferiority complex of feeling like useless baggage. Wanting to be useful to her comrades. If she had a chance, she wouldn’t want to waste it either.
“No. 2, is that okay?”
“Yes!”
No. 2 looked at No. 4 and No. 21. They both nodded. After saluting to No. 16, No. 2 chased after Rose.