86 - Volume 4 - Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 

FRONT TOWARD ENEMY 

“—Now then, let’s explain the operation.” 

Liberté et Égalité’s small briefing room was fully occupied. Standing in front of the holo-screen was the tactical commander, Lena. Before her were the unit commander, Grethe; five staff officers; the commanders of the seven squadrons making up the unit; the squad members themselves; Annette, who was to inspect another matter during the operation; and for some reason, a single Mascot. 

“The following squadrons will be participating in the operation: Spearhead, Brísingamen, Nordlicht, Lycaon, Thunderbolt, Phalanx, and Claymore. We will be employing all seven squadrons that make up the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package.” 

The Spearhead squadron was commanded by Shin and formed with the survivors of the former first ward’s first defensive unit. The Brísingamen squadron was commanded by Shiden and was headed by the former Queen’s Knights. The Nordlicht squadron was commanded by Bernholdt and was the only one consisting entirely of Vargus soldiers. 

Second Lieutenant Yuuto Crow, who’d served at the head of the eastern front like Shin and Raiden, was in charge of the Thunderbolt squadron, and Second Lieutenant Rito Oriya headed the Claymore squadron. Second Lieutenant Reki Michihi of the northern front commanded the Lycaon squadron, while Taiga Asuha of the southern front led the Phalanx squadron. Seven squadrons, consisting of 168 soldiers in total. 

However, compared to Shin’s recon, which had detected that the Legion’s defense was a regiment-size force, these numbers didn’t seem all that encouraging. The majority of the Legion were likely the swift Ameise and Grauwolf types, as well as self-propelled mines and the Anti-Tank Artillery types—Stier—which were adept at ambushes. 

“The stage of the operation would be old Charité’s underground central station terminal and its surrounding facilities.” 

A three-dimensional holographic map of the terminal was displayed. It was a massive underground facility with seven levels, reaching a maximal depth of 105 meters below ground level and extending 5 kilometers to the east and west. 

A murmur of “Whoa, what a pain…” spread among the Processors. A main shaft meant to funnel in sunlight extended up through each level from top to bottom. The dome-like main hall used the shaft at its center, and from there passages and platforms spread out like a spiderweb, with subway tunnels extending horizontally and vertically. That included switchover lines and the railyard, as well as countless service routes, making it an extremely narrow and complex battlefield. And there were seven floors of it. 

To make things even more complicated, each floor’s structure wasn’t placed on the same axis as the floors above and below it. The floors were built in a clockwise spiral around the main shaft, with the facilities of the first level and the seventh level placed 180 degrees away from each other. It was a portrait of the infamous Charité Underground Labyrinth, known for throwing off one’s sense of direction. 

“…Are the Republic citizens morons or something…?” Rito whispered with a straight face, prompting Taiga, who sat beside him, to whack him on the head. Lena felt the same way, honestly. 

“Our first objective is the Admiral’s control kernel in the main hall of the fifth level’s fifth block. The second objective is the Weisel’s control kernel in the northern section’s fourth level’s fourth block… According to Captain Nouzen’s reconnaissance, it’s speculated that both Legion are incapable of moving from their positions.” 

The Power Plant type and the Auto Reproduction type were, as their names implied, massive, city-size Legion facilities. That prevented them from moving in the underground Republic facility. They probably used the underground facility’s walls in place of a frame, turning the whole area into a Legion unit. 

“In addition, it’s estimated that the Weisel’s nuclear-fusion-generation facility is located in the seventh level’s emergency water tank. There’s no need to approach that facility… Or rather, do not go down there. Depending on the makeup of the place, there’s a high risk of radiation exposure.” 

Thanks to Shin’s ability, they were able to conclude that there were no Legion on the seventh level and below. The Legion’s electronic devices likely couldn’t withstand severe radiation. Since the operation’s objective wasn’t complete seizure of the installation, the minimal requirement for its completion was the destruction of the Admiral on the fifth level. The other Legion combatants would retreat and eventually cease functioning. As such, there was no point in going below the sixth level anyway. 

“The Spearhead squadron and the Claymore squadron will infiltrate the installation from the surface, through the central station building’s main shaft. The Nordlicht squadron and the Thunderbolt squadron will begin a simultaneous infiltration from the subway tunnels connecting to the first level’s southern block. Spearhead and Nordlicht will handle the invasion, while Claymore and Thunderbolt will serve as their backups.” 

“Roger.” 

“The Brísingamen squadron will remain on the surface and serve as the operation headquarters’ guard. The Lycaon squadron will remain as a reserve force. And the Phalanx squadron—” 

“I’ll be borrowing them, if you don’t mind,” Annette interjected plainly. 

As the technical adviser for Sensory Resonance, she had received a request from the relief expeditionary force headquarters to investigate a certain matter. It was unrelated to this operation, but circumstances demanded they complete this objective concurrently. 

“Very well… Furthermore, the operation’s area is currently under Legion control. Before the operation begins, the relief expeditionary force will seize control over the ten-kilometer radius surrounding the central station building. While they take control, the Strike Package will execute the operation… The blockade’s time is eight hours. We’ll have to eliminate the targets within that time frame.” 

Eventually, the Strike Package would have to handle those parts of operations as well, but they currently lacked the manpower and firepower to do so. 

“The armored infantry provided to us by the relief expeditionary force will handle maintaining control of seized points within the facility and radio relay to operation headquarters. You can leave defending the lines of communication to them… That is all. Any questions?” 

Standing at the head of the line of the squad captains, Shin raised his hand. 

“May I say something, Colonel?” 

“Go ahead, Captain Nouzen.” 

“Try not to rely on my recon too much during this operation.” 

Lena blinked once. 

“Understood… But why?” 

Shim grimaced slightly. 

“Put simply, it’s an experience issue… I can detect their positions on a two-dimensional plane without fail, but in a three-dimensional environment… I’m not confident in my ability to pinpoint their positions in vertical space.” 

The Juggernauts Shin and the Eighty-Six piloted were surface weapons. While they had naturally experienced fighting in urban areas and mountainous regions with varying levels of elevation, both their units and the enemy were fundamentally always on land—standing on the same surface, on the same plane. The Processors—including Shin, of course—had no experience fighting on a battlefield where many confrontations took place across multiple levels of elevation. 

“In addition, since we’re fighting in such narrow topography, we can expect multiple skirmishes to break out among smaller platoons. Keeping track of all their situations and giving them all warnings is going to be…honestly speaking, rather difficult.” 

“Ya sure are useless when it counts the most, huh, Li’l Reaper?” Shiden teased, although Shin ignored her. Perhaps they were simply oil and water, but the two of them clashed often. Lena was actually surprised they could keep arguing over every little thing. It had been that way since the day they met. Shin’s expression was usually indifferent to the point where it almost felt condescending, but now he wore a childish expression befitting his age, and that made Lena secretly enjoy their little spats. 

“My Brísingamen squadron will make do somehow. My Cyclops is a reinforced-sensor type, so I’ll be able to keep an eye out over on my side, too.” 

Fixing each of them with a half-lidded glare, Frederica said, “I shall keep track of each squadron’s status along with these buffoons. I may not know the enemy’s positions, but knowing the positions of our units may allow us to maintain control of the situation.” 

This girl, who was the squad’s Mascot, had the mysterious ability to know the present state of those whose names and faces she knew. Shin and Raiden wouldn’t say any more about her, and the girl herself seemed to dislike Lena, who had no idea what such a young girl was doing in the military. But that aside, Lena smiled at the small girl, who was several heads shorter than everyone else, despite the military cap she wore. 

“I’ll be relying on your assistance, Aide Rosenfort.” 

Frederica looked away with a “Hmph.” A peculiar atmosphere filled the briefing room, and Grethe and the staff officers were desperately struggling to hold back their laughter. 

Kurena tilted her head quizzically. 

“I don’t mind us charging in, but can’t we drop one of those bombs that pierces the ground and blows up? One of those… What do you call them again? Bunker busters?” 

Bunker buster—a subterranean penetrating explosive. As its name implied, it was a generic term for a large bomb that penetrated defensive structures built underground and exploded after forcing its way into the structures, killing personnel with high efficiency. Its distance of penetration varied, and depending on circumstances, it could bore through sixty meters of reinforced concrete. While a bunker buster wasn’t quite strong enough to blow away Charité’s massive underground central station terminal in a single blast, dropping several would be more than enough to destroy the control kernels. 

Incidentally, while a bunker buster couldn’t be loaded on surface weapons due to operation procedures, they knew of its supposed effectivity from a monster movie the chief of staff had given them. The small mountain of media data was played daily on the cafeteria’s and the lounge’s televisions. It was a fairly popular present among the Eighty-Six, who’d lacked this kind of entertainment in their youth. 

Lena shook her head in denial, though. 

“The bunker buster is a bomb equipped with a heavy warhead, and it has to be dropped from a very high altitude in order to pick up speed, so that it can use that kinetic energy to penetrate. We can’t mobilize any bomber jets to drop it when the Legion have air superiority.” 

Kurena knit her brows. 

“Uhhh…,” Raiden added from the side, “if you drop something heavy from high up, it digs into the ground, but if you drop it from a low altitude, it doesn’t even leave a mark, right? Same thing here. Bunker busters have to be dropped from high up to penetrate like they did in the movie.” 

“O-oh…” 

“That’s why our only option is charging in with our Juggernauts…” 

Shiden gave a thin smile. 

“I like it. Hey, Lady-Killer, let’s have a race to see which one of us takes out the Admiral first: your Spearhead squadron or my Brísingamen squadron.” 

“Brísingamen is supposed to defend the base. Are you gonna desert your mission?” 

“You can leave that job to the old man’s Nordlicht squadron. Guard duty on the surface is too boring for me.” 

“…I don’t mind defending HQ, but don’t drag me into your petty bullshit…” 

They both ignored Bernholdt’s murmuring. 

“I can’t let an idiot who abandons their mission on a whim handle infiltration. Sit back and guard like a good dog.” 

“Whoa,” Theo whispered. It didn’t show on Shin’s face, but he was uncharacteristically annoyed with her. Exhaling loudly as if to shift gears, Shin said, with Shiden still smirking: 

“About the infiltration route from the tunnels, there are Legion set on all the rails. They’re hardly moving, so they’re probably Löwe or Stier lying in ambush… Do we have a way of handling them?” 

Lena nodded coldly. 

“I’ve thought of a countermeasure.” 

On top of Charité’s central station’s ringlike seventh-line inner tracks, in the darkness of the tunnels descending into the first level, a Löwe lay in wait between pieces of rubble that had been carried in. Abiding by its mission to stay vigilant for an enemy that may or may not come, it stood guard, never growing tired of its duty. 

It was hard for it to even swivel its turret in this cramped one-track tunnel, but that in turn worked in its favor when it came to playing defense. The tight tunnels meant the enemy would always come from one direction and couldn’t dodge to one side. And should the enemy bring in infantry, they would be far too fragile; a single multipurpose shell would sweep them all away. 

Even if the Löwe was destroyed, the explosion of the shell would cause a cave-in, and if the shell didn’t explode, the Löwe’s massive frame would impede the enemy’s advance. And while the enemy would be busy trying to remove the obstacle, reinforcements would creep up on them. 

It was a firm position, one that was unlikely to be penetrated. 

At that moment, a light shone up from the other side of the tunnel leading to the surface, followed by loud vibrations and a thunderous roar. Something was approaching at high speed along the circular tracks the Löwe was lurking on. The Löwe’s sensors had low detection ability, but they still picked up on what it was soon enough. 

It simply moved that quickly. It advanced with a sharp, characteristic rumbling that cut through the air of this closed space, rolling down the tracks headfirst. What appeared before it was an aluminum-alloy ten-car subway train with sleighs substituted for its wheels, and its interior filled with rubble and scrap wood. Pushed by rocket boosters, it skidded along the metallic rails, leaving sparks in its wake as it rushed onward with startling speed. Its weight of over a hundred tons bore down on the fifty-ton Löwe. The Löwe withstood the massive kinetic energy for a moment. 

Only for a moment, though. 

“Activation of all rocket sleighs confirmed—all underground-mass shells launched, and removal of obstacles confirmed, Colonel Milizé.” 

“Roger that.” 

Through the Para-RAID, the squadrons could make out Second Lieutenant Erwin Marcel, the officer in charge of Vanadis, giving his report, and Lena’s silver-bell-like voice responding to him. Feeling the vibrations rumbling from within the tunnels even inside Wehrwolf, Raiden groaned at the sound of his Handler’s voice, which seemed stiffer than it had two years ago. 

“…Strapping rocket boosters on abandoned, unmanned train cars and launching them down all the tracks to barrel through the Legion lying in ambush, huh?” 

The subway tunnels had been built sturdily to account for the risk of a derailing, so at the very least, they wouldn’t cave in easily…but even so, this felt somewhat extreme. 

“Say, Shin… You sure this colonel is the same crybaby princess who commanded us back in the Eighty-Sixth Sector…?” 

“…I think so.” 

The silver-bell-like voice ordered them coldly and stiffly. A tone befitting the Bloodstained Queen. 

“Tracks clear—Vanadis HQ to all units. Commence infiltration.” 

“Let’s go.” 

The central station building’s main hall. In the center of the domed ceiling was a highly transparent glass pane, from which sunlight was funneled through the main shaft to the underground. With Undertaker taking the lead, twenty-four Juggernauts crossed the wiring meant to prevent trespassing and danced through the rays of light, firing their wire anchors in a gradual, vertical descent. No one’s face wavered as they launched their wires at maximum speed to make their units descend. 

There was very little freedom of movement in this stance. If they were fired upon from below, they’d be unable to do anything about it. Meanwhile, sunlight shone from above. The Juggernauts moved as if sliding down the golden rays of sunlight. 

These four-legged spiders, the color of bleached bone, sailed through the light, chasing the symbol of the skeleton carrying a shovel, like monsters defiling the sanctity of some sacred district. At the same time, it was like a scene taken straight out of mythology, blasphemous and at the same time solemn and queer, detached from realism. There was no one to condemn nor admire this moment in this place people had once frequented by the tens of thousands every day. 

Shin could hear Raiden grumble as he heard that noise coming from their linked sense of hearing. 

“…They’re down there, the fuckers.” 

“Yeah.” 

Passing through a layer of thick concrete, they reached the first underground level’s main hall. Lurking in the darkness beyond the glass were the all-too-familiar angular silhouettes of the Legion. Staring them down, Shin used Undertaker to kick against the glass wall. The fuselage resisted, and the moment it swung back like a pendulum, Shin activated his pile driver. 

The 57 mm pile driver, capable of penetrating a Löwe’s upper armor, shattered the fortified glass to pieces. Surrounded by glimmering shards, Undertaker and its twenty-three companions descended into the darkness of the great hall. 

“—Mm.” 

The round tunnels extending from the surface to the first underground level were completely dark. Piloting Cyclops, which stood at the head of the column, Shiden stopped her rig’s advance as a point of light lit up on the radar screen. 

Shiden’s Cyclops was a night-raid model equipped with an antenna unit that resembled a unicorn’s horn and enhanced its communication and radar capabilities. Early in the war against the Legion, the Republic had deployed a number of these Juggernaut models on trial runs, and the Reginleif went on to inherit that genealogy. 

No response from the IFF device. The white blip representing an unidentified enemy turned red a moment later when it was identified as a hostile unit by cross-referencing the database. The enemy numbers rose, painting the radar screen red within moments. They crawled up from the tunnel’s slight incline. 

Simple, crude, almost caricaturized human forms advancing on all fours with an enemy’s cruising speed. As she looked at them through her screen set to night vision, Shiden grinned from ear to ear. 

“Finally you show up… I’ve been getting tired of waiting for you fuckers.” 

Shiden’s smirk was full of confidence, while her odd eyes radiated pure bloodlust. 

As the squadron’s twenty-four units stepped onto the colored floor tiles, they could hear the faint metallic sound of the enemy’s joints unlocking as they shifted from standby mode to combat mode. It was a massive hall with a diameter of two hundred meters that had a circular mezzanine corridor above it with suspension bridges leading up to it. At its farthest end was a wide staircase. The passageway surrounded the circular hall, with a large treelike pillar and an elevator unsteadily blocking their view. 

The glint of optical sensors lit up the darkness. The high-pitched shrill of high-frequency blades activating echoed and resonated throughout the space. The Juggernauts standing with their backs to the sunlight filtering in from the main shaft dispersed at roughly the same moment the sound of gunfire echoed from the darkness. 

Anti-tank shells traveling at a horizontal trajectory with a velocity beyond the speed of sound pierced the glass shaft. The Juggernauts spread out around the hall in small groups, and the silent silhouettes of nimble machines followed in swift pursuit. 

It was then that Undertaker burst right into the ranks of the Legion, as it always did. As it stepped over one unfortunate Stier and cut it down with a high-frequency blade, Shin quickly examined the Legion’s defensive force’s formation. 

…All according to the colonel’s predictions. 

The main force was Stier lying in ambush, accompanied by Ameise and Grauwolf types. These were all considered lightweight combat Legion, and there wasn’t a Löwe or Dinosauria in sight. They wouldn’t be able to maneuver properly in these cramped underground conditions. The Löwe’s preferred range was two kilometers, and this hall with a diameter of two hundred meters was far too small for them. And if the Löwe’s powerful shells were to impact a pillar, there was the risk of the whole facility coming down around them. 

“All units, refrain from using your main battery if possible. We should be able to handle Stier and Grauwolf types with our secondary armaments.” 

“Roger.” 

Shin crossed paths with a charging Grauwolf—only to suddenly brake. The opponent’s blade missed its mark, and Shin used the momentum to cut down the Grauwolf before stepping over its wreckage to force a pile driver into a second one’s head. He then took a low, sharp jump to land in the middle of a rear platoon of Stier. 

“Shin, we need to get control of things up there first. Wouldn’t want ’em raining down on us.” 

Theo’s platoon fired wire anchors, ascending up to the mezzanine floor’s webbed pathway. In between fighting, they stole glances at the corridor leading up to the adjacent sector, its walls gouged, and caught sight of self-propelled mines crawling out in droves. 

…There were quite a few of them. 

Shin narrowed his eyes, confirming the sum total of enemies in the upper corridor and the main hall. There was a limit to the number of bullets and shells they could carry, and in particular, their pile drivers only had so much gunpowder. Cold weapons like the high-frequency blade didn’t run out of ammo, but out of everyone in the operation, Shin was the only one who had them equipped on his rig. 

The arrangement was that while the Juggernauts took over the lower levels, the armored infantry would maintain control over the upper ones, so if they ran out of ammo, it would be possible to go and restock. 

“…I’m really starting to miss Fido right about now.” 

“Pi.” 

“Mm?” 

Sitting in a corner of Vanadis, which was filled with countless optical screens, Frederica noticed Fido was going back and forth near the command car in disorderly steps. It looked somehow anxious. Like a large dog that had thought it might finally get taken for a walk but was left behind, moaning in protest at a master who wasn’t there. 

Stretching up on her hard seat, Frederica looked over at the Scavenger through the bulky pane of the command car’s window and smirked. That metaphor was more than apt; Fido had indeed been left behind. Because Fido was taller and slower than a Juggernaut, they couldn’t bring it along, as it had no way of navigating the subway tunnels’ cramped spaces, which required a lot of vertical movement. It had been decided that for this mission, it would supply provisions only on-site and not follow them into battle. 

Fido, however, seemed unsatisfied with the arrangement. All the way up to the operation’s starting time, it had thrown (what could only be described as) tantrums over not being able to accompany them, but Shin had kept refusing. 

Switching the intercom’s setting to external speakers, she ordered into the microphone: 

“Calm down, Fido. Stay within borders!” 

“Pi!” 

“Should you go down there and get shot down in the tunnels, you would only serve to block Shinei’s and the others’ route of escape. Are you trying to summon such a plight upon yourself?” 

“Pi…” 

It seemed to have dropped its shoulders dejectedly. Frederica couldn’t hold back a smile. 

“Not to worry—he will return safely. That one will never let the Legion get the better of him. But surely you know this, for who has fought by his side longer than you have? Things will certainly end without incident once again.” 

“Pi.” 

“Oh, you truly are a well-behaved one. I, of course, understand just as well. I have been by Shinei’s side and fought with him for the past two years, after all.” 

A clattering sound—the sound of something falling to the ground—came from behind her. Upon turning around, she saw Lena bend over to pick up her clipboard. 

“…Excuse me.” 

Her silver-bell-like voice was thick with false calm, made to hide an agitated shiver to her tone. Sneaking a glance at her profile, Frederica smirked a bit. Marcel and the other control personnel seemed to be looking away intentionally, plugging their ears and reciting an odd mantra: “Nope, nope, can’t hear a thing.” 

“My, is something wrong, Colonel Milizé? Does my and Fido’s relationship with Shinei bother you in some way?” 

Frederica’s sly remark made Lena grimace. She recalled how, despite it having been moments before the operation’s start, Shin and Fido had seemed to be squabbling a short distance away from Vanadis. 

I already told you, we can’t take you along this time. Stay put in HQ. 

Pi…! 

Shin had repeated as much time and again in a huff, while Fido’s large form, which likely weighed over ten tons, had swayed to and fro as if shaking its head in childish denial. Most people would probably grab their sides laughing at this odd but pathetic scene (Shiden actually laughed so hard she couldn’t move, and Raiden watched, flabbergasted), but Lena couldn’t find it amusing. 

She knew Fido was his longest-running comrade and precious companion, but the way Shin coddled it so much seemed more like just plain attachment. Maybe the fact that it was an autonomous machine just made it all the more precious in a way. Lena still couldn’t bring herself to enjoy the sight, though. The Scavenger throwing a tantrum was so much like an obstinate but loyal hunting dog. Shin frowned as if fed up with it, but he showed a hint of a smile. 

And then there was the girl, Frederica. She held the odd position of Mascot and, like Shin, was of mixed Onyx and Pyrope blood, which made her cling to Shin as if she truly were his younger sister. Shin may not have been aware of it, but he seemed to spoil her quite a bit. Lena honestly didn’t like it at all. 

“It’s nothing.” 

Incidentally, Frederica left the switch for the external speaker on, and their exchange leaked outside. 

“…Master Sergeant, do they think we’re, like, signposts on the wayside or something? Like local landmarks, just standing here?” 

“Drop it.” 

The ones left behind to guard HQ were the only squadron in the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package to consist entirely of mercenaries: the Nordlicht squadron. Bernholdt replied shortly to his squad mate’s stealthy whisper. 

“Doesn’t it piss you off, though? We’re being treated like decorations.” 

“I cherish it, man. I wouldn’t get involved in these kids’ sappy game of house if you paid me.” 

“…Figures.” 

Getting easily excited or sad over every little thing, worrying too much about things that didn’t warrant that much concern… It might mean the world to these kids, but Bernholdt mostly saw it as a waste of time. The idea that the stone-faced captain was caught up in it, too, though… Now that was a fun thought. Apparently, he could act his age after all. 

“Don’t get caught up in the idle chatter. The kids are fighting in the tunnels. It’d be no joke if HQ got attacked and taken over while they’re busy down there.” 

“Yes, sir…” 

“And besides…” 

He scoffed as his large body—as thick as a small bear’s due to years spent on the battlefield—shifted uneasily in the Juggernaut’s cockpit. 

“…I can’t shake this bad feeling… I just can’t see things going this smoothly against the Legion, y’know?” 

His thoughts wandered to the Reaper. Even if they were under Bloody Reina’s command… 

“There!” 

Cyclops’s front left leg bore down like a hammer, kicking away a self-propelled mine that tried to creep up on it. The self-propelled mine was torn in half by the impact, and its upper and lower halves went into uncontrollable spasms as they landed on the concrete between the tracks. As Cyclops stomped over this corpse that hadn’t even been alive to begin with, more and more self-propelled mines crawled out in droves from the darkness beyond the maintenance corridor. 

Those faceless, poorly made humanoid shapes crept across the ground rapidly, flocking around the Juggernauts’ legs like zombies from some horror movie. The whispering of their artificial voices, meant to lure in humans by fooling them into thinking the self-propelled mines were children or injured people, made them all the more frightening. 

Mommy. Mommy. Where? Mommy. 

Take me. Take me with you. Take me. 

Save me. Don’t leave me. 

“Like hell anyone’s gonna fall for that!” 

This maelstrom of whispers would paralyze most people in terror, but Shiden simply laughed through bared teeth. Stomping and kicking, the Juggernaut crossed through the self-propelled mines that flocked to it like black ants. Self-propelled mines triggered upon contact and had enough firepower to penetrate a Vánagandr’s upper armor, so marching through them in a lightly armored Juggernaut was the height of madness. 

Cyclops’s reinforced sensors blared out an alert. Regarding the proximity alert with her indigo right eye, she pulled back the control stick to apply the brakes. The next moment, several child-shaped self-propelled mines descended from the maintenance corridor, right where Cyclops would have been had Shiden not braked. Small hands waved through empty air, missing their mark, and their stomachs, stuffed with explosives, fell aimlessly to the ground. 

“Morons.” 

She pulled the trigger while mocking them. Her rear-mounted gun fired a buckshot that decimated the self-propelled mines, which had been trying to get to their feet. An 88 mm shotgun. It sacrificed penetrating power in exchange for suppressive power against the lightweight Legion and was Shiden’s weapon of choice in close combat. 

“Ha, like sitting ducks! It’s like you were never there to begin with!” 

The fragments of the humanoid weapons lay scattered across the concrete. Kicking them aside, Cyclops charged at the self-propelled mines that kept crawling out of the woodwork, cackling all the while. 

“Spearhead’s guys are still squabbling in the central hall… Let’s eat all of these up before that headless Reaper has a chance to steal any prey from us!” 

Cut down with a vertical slash across its front armor, the Grauwolf crumpled to its feet with a heavy thud before going silent. The reverberations of his consorts’ cannons died out, and Shin carefully examined the now-silent hall. 

…It appeared they had cleaned the place out. 

“Colonel. Suppression of the main hall is complete.” 

“Roger that, Captain Nouzen. Leave clearing away the remnants of the enemy to the Claymore squadron and advance down the route to the second level.” 

“Roger… Colonel, are you all right?” he asked, noticing there was something of a sigh mixed into her response. 

“Hmm? …Yes, as long as I’m not Resonating with too many people at once, or if it’s only the captain of each squadron.” 

Even if the amount of information shared through the sense of hearing was relatively light, staying Resonated with over a hundred Processors at once for prolonged periods of time was taxing. Therefore, as tactical commander, Lena Resonated with only each squadron’s captain and the infantry unit’s commanders. It wasn’t much different from what Shin was experiencing, since he was connected to the other captains in addition to his direct subordinates, but lack of experience made it that much harder. 

“I’ve had to command many more at once back during the large-scale offensive… You don’t have to worry about me.” 

Another voice cut into their conversation. 

“Sorry for interrupting, but it’s Penrose. If you’ve got the first level secured, it’s time for me to begin my investigation. As we agreed in the briefing, I’ll be borrowing the Phalanx squadron.” 

“Second Lieutenant Asuha here. As she said, the Phalanx squadron is rolling out.” 

Following Annette’s words was the voice of the Phalanx squadron’s captain, Second Lieutenant Taiga Asuha. Hearing the earnest voice, Shin spoke. 

“—Asuha.” 

“What is it, Nouzen?” 

“No, it’s just…” It wasn’t something he could describe in distinct terms. “I’ve got a weird feeling about this. The Eintagsfliege are spread thick outside. We might be outside the war zone, but don’t let your guard down.” 

“You worry too much, chief… Roger that. It’ll be fine—I’m not one to get sloppy.” 

“Professor Penrose, the area might be blockaded, but this is still a battlefield. Pull back on my order if I sense any danger.” 

“I know… I’m sorry, but you’re distracting me, so can you move away a little?” 

Watching as the dark-skinned captain of the Phalanx squadron, Second Lieutenant Taiga Asuha, moved back to his rig, Annette turned around and prepared to get to work. They were in an office building a short distance away from the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package’s tactical headquarters. It was one of many buildings surrounding the station. The spacious entrance hall was located in the basement, and at the end of it were stylish elevators. 

At the center of the hall was a curved, silver-rimmed, rail-like object that broke through the ceiling, probably designed in the shape of the Charité Underground Labyrinth. The skylight beyond it had likely broken and fallen in. Annette walked through the room, her heels clicking against the marble floor colored faintly by the shadow of the Eintagsfliege’s distant silvery glow. 

Apparently, the Federacy military had detected a disturbance in RAID Devices present around this building. It had been discovered several months ago, when the military had been gathering information during preparations for the recapture operation. According to reports, there were no issues with Resonance between squad members, but there was someone else connected to the Resonance, constantly connecting and disconnecting in an unstable fashion. 

It sounded like the kind of poorly cobbled-together ghost story people sometimes cooked up on the battlefield. The Federacy’s RAID Device had been created by analyzing Shin’s and his group’s devices after they’d been recovered, making it an inferior copy. Even the Republic’s original models were a black box of sorts that operated without its makers knowing exactly how it worked, though, so in terms of performance, there weren’t any major differences between the two models. 

However, the Para-RAID was the sole communications method capable of broadcasting under the Eintagsfliege’s jamming. If there was any chance of it not operating properly, it could get in the way of completing military objectives, and so Annette had been requested to look into it, and since she’d insisted that—as the leading person in the field—it would be faster for her to check by herself, she’d asked to come to the battlefield. 

Her activated RAID Device didn’t show any abnormalities. She checked to be on the safe side, and none of the Phalanx squadron’s Processors detected any kind of interference, either. Walking around the entrance hall with her hands in her lab coat’s pockets, she peeked into a certain corner before falling silent. 

“…So you’re the culprit.” 

The shield method was an excavation method based around using a cylindrical excavator called a Shield Machine that was the same size as the tunnel’s diameter. The tip of the Shield Machine would break through the sediment while Segments were strategically placed in order to stabilize the tunnel. The Segments were one-to-two-meter-high blocks that were several dozen centimeters in length, and tunnels built with the shield method were circular, with that geometric shape seeming to go on forever. 

The second level’s northeastern block was reinforced with steel Segments and was no exception to that rule. Standing at the front of the line as they descended into the tunnel, Shin was suddenly assailed by an odd feeling while in Undertaker’s cockpit. 

The view of the circular tunnels that seemed to go on forever. The two train tracks extending endlessly into the darkness. The electric cables on the ceiling, and all sorts of unknown wires. The lamps that were placed in regular intervals, now silent and dead, unable to cast their light anymore. 

This silver tunnel that resembled an endless corridor was as solemn as a dead king’s catacomb. 

It was like running through a perpetual nightmare, with one’s perception of time growing fainter and fainter. As if they were in the stomach of some mythical serpent. It threw off their sense of reality, with the monotonous scenery lulling them into a semi-hypnotic state, making them think the tunnel was longer than it was, like a geometric pattern with no end in sight. 

As they advanced down the tunnel, a strange sensation came over Shin, as if he were sinking into his own consciousness. 

You couldn’t remember your own brother… 

Maybe that was why. He grimaced as her silver-bell-like voice suddenly bubbled to the surface of his memories. 

Your grandfather might remember your brother and family. 

Shin. You actually do remember me. 

It was all unnecessary. 

He wouldn’t remember it. Not at this point… He didn’t even want to remember. 

The sound of wailing reached his ears. A rectangle of light was visible at the end of the earthen tunnel. Shin confirmed there were no ambushes near the exit and went ahead, maintaining his cruising speed. 

For a moment, the harsh light blinded his eyes, which had grown used to the darkness. Shin squinted as he looked around. There was a large circular pool in the floor, filled with what looked like a silver furnace of flickering Liquid Micromachines. It was a generator for creating the high-polymer material forming the core of the Legion’s propulsion system and their artificial muscles. There were also lathes and presses for metalworking. 

Looking deeper in, Shin saw lightweight Legion like the Ameise and Grauwolf types moving along a conveyor belt, and a dry dock for assembling Löwe and Dinosauria. What looked like suits of armor were suspended from above in what was probably an assembly line for self-propelled mines. Deeper in still was a large boxlike machine that resembled a scanner typically used by humans, except much larger. That was probably for inspecting completed Legion. 

As if in preparation to intercept the Juggernauts with the full might of the available Legion, all processes ground to a halt. The robotic arms writhing oddly in the gaps between the conveyor belts, as well as the gantry crane on the ceiling, froze midoperation. 

…However. 

They’re here. 

The wails of sorrow echoed from behind the machinery, in the shadow of the crane arms, as they lay in wait. Shin could sense them. 

“…All units, switch ammo to APFSDS.” 

APFSDS—Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot. No one replied, but the heavy, solemn sound of their 88 mm cannons loading was all he needed to hear. 

“Twelve units to the left and twelve to the right behind the generator—shoot them down along with the generator.” 

Annette’s gaze fell on a crouching, dehydrated corpse sitting inside a cramped storage space hidden between the wall panels. It was dressed in the Republic military’s deep-blue uniform, and the quasi-nerve crystal on its neck glimmered blue. It was probably one of the Republic’s Handlers. 

Annette had no experience in performing autopsies, but from the looks of how dry the body was, this person had not died recently, and based on the fact that it wasn’t decayed, either, it had probably died during the cold, arid winter. Probably around the time the recon unit was near this building. 

“So you were the one who kept connecting and disconnecting…” 

It was simple, really. This person had tried Resonating with the recon unit while they were still alive, but on the verge of death. Physical distance didn’t matter to the Para-RAID, and Republic soldiers didn’t have Federacy soldiers registered as Resonance targets. But there were no known accounts of someone trying to Resonate while on the verge of death, either. 

The human brain was even more of a black box than the RAID Device. According to theory, when people died, their consciousnesses sank into the collective unconscious and disappeared. There was the possibility that the moment that happened, those connected to them through Sensory Resonance would feel some kind of reaction. Not that she had any intention of testing this theory. Annette collected her thoughts as she looked down at the corpse. 

The reason the recon unit hadn’t found this Republic soldier’s corpse was because they’d been on the lookout for the Legion and not humans. The Úlfhé?nar—the reinforced exoskeleton used by the armored infantry—had sensory capabilities inferior to the Ameise’s, and considering that this corpse, at the time, had been dying and unmoving, with most of its body heat lost and its pulse faint, detecting it would have been that much harder. Annette finding it had been mostly coincidence. 

…I’ve always been bad at hide-and-seek. 

Annette bit her lip as that thought suddenly crossed her mind. 

Bad at hiding…and seeking. 

Or rather, Shin used to be so good at it. Whenever she hid, he found her right away, and when it was his turn to hide, she could never find him. Games always lasted that much longer when Annette was It. And still, hide-and-seek was one game she often played with him. 

Found you, Rita! 

Because she loved seeing that smiling face when he found her, no matter where she hid. 

The sudden reminiscence made tears well up in her eyes. She glared at the corpse in front of her to shoo the feeling away. It was then she realized. 

“…How?” 

How has this person only been dead for a few months? 

The Legion’s large-scale offensive had happened almost a year ago, late last summer. She would never forget how on the night of the Republic’s founding festival, the Gran Mur had collapsed, and within just one week of that, Liberté et Égalité had fallen. 

At that point, the northern secondary capital, Charité, had been brought to ruin. The Legion didn’t take prisoners and couldn’t tell soldiers apart from civilians. There couldn’t have been any survivors. 

Following that, the remnants of the Republic had gone farther south, and the next time humankind set foot in Charité was when the recon unit arrived. There were no Republic military personnel mixed in with the relief expeditionary force, either. 

It all led to one conclusion—there shouldn’t have been any Republic soldiers who could have died here several months ago. 

What’s…going on? 

Suddenly— 

Standing guard near the building beneath the massive cloud of Eintagsfliege, the captain of the Phalanx squadron, Taiga Asuha, frowned unpleasantly, sitting in the safety of the Juggernaut’s cockpit, as did his comrades. 

“—Sounds like hell down there.” 

Taiga’s comrade of several years and vice captain, Aina, replied with a smile. 

“I’m fine right now, since I’m not Resonated with them, but it really does look bad, Taiga. I’m hearing the Legion’s voices.” 

“Yeah… No idea how Nouzen’s still sane when he has to hear this twenty-four seven.” 

They may have been fellow Eighty-Six, but Shin had been sent to the first ward’s first defensive unit two years ago—the final disposal site for Processors who’d outlived their welcome, and from there, he’d been cast out to the Legion’s territories. Taiga had been in the eighth ward until just six months ago. There was no relation between the two of them. Taiga had heard about his infamous ability, of course, but there were few left on the Republic’s battlefield who’d actually come into contact with it. 

Even battle-hardened Eighty-Six and the cruel Bloody Reina had fallen into a state of panic the first time they’d touched on Shin’s ability. It was for this reason that captains and vice captains, who were obligated to remain Resonated to Shin at all times during operations, all Resonated with him several times prior to any operations in order to grow accustomed to the strain. 

At least, that was the idea, but it was still…harsh. Being Resonated with Shin, who was an expert in melee combat and always fought within arm’s reach of the Legion, was much harder than using the Sensory Resonance under more normal circumstances. 

The Reaper who breaks his Handlers and any Eighty-Six who can’t stand the wails of the dead, huh… 

Taiga sighed, recalling the cold, emotionless expression and bloodred eyes that seemed to fit that moniker all too well. Maybe he could only keep it together because he was constantly exposed to the voices, or maybe it was the other way around—the continued exposure wore out his sensitivity. Even after coming in contact with that much death, after three years of service, Taiga couldn’t imagine seven years of fighting through those screams. 

It was then that he heard a feeble whisper of grief from the Resonance. 

“…I don’t want to die.” 

This wasn’t a normal factory to begin with. It was an Admiral—they were effectively in the stomach of a Legion far larger than the combat types—in the bowels of a slaughter machine bent on wiping out humankind. Every single machine in sight was part of the enemy. 

The laser cutters used to handle steelwork fired their rays like elongated swords. The nearby robot arms brandished their three-clawed fingers like a hawk’s talons. A flock of spiderlike machines of unknown purpose and name, as large as medium-size dogs, flocked to the Juggernauts, trying to trip up their legs. 

Evading, cutting through, and stomping out those obstacles, Undertaker ran ahead. Even with countless pieces of writhing machinery blocking Shin’s field of vision, his ability allowed him to see through the Legion’s hiding places accurately. 

“Anju, we’ll be passing by a gantry crane in twenty seconds. There’s one in the shadow of the third crane from the right. Probably a self-propelled mine. Take it out with a proximity-fuse round.” 

“Roger… Second Lieutenant Jaeger, don’t forget to substitute the missile launcher for a tank turret today. And remember to change your ammunition, too.” 

“R-roger.” 

“Theo. There’s an enemy group behind the Löwe. They’ll be coming out soon.” 

“Roger… Ah, I think I just saw them for a second—it’s a bunch of Grauwolf types. Rito, take care of any I miss.” 

“You got it.” 

High-explosive projectiles meant for lightly armored targets burst against the ceiling one after another, raining shards of something that had once held a humanoid shape onto the floor. Grauwolf types leaped over half-assembled Löwe in an attempt to swoop down on the enemy, only to be mowed down by an anchor fired horizontally. 

Twenty-four Juggernauts rushed ahead, through fire and metal rain. They broke through the production area, once again invading the tunnels built for the train tracks. This time, however, the diameter of the tunnel was large enough to accommodate an eight-track railway. Double rails. Those were the high-speed rails they had heard about—the ones the Legion had repaired. 

The predictions were correct, it seemed. This was where the Morpho had been headed at the time—to link with the nuclear fusion Admiral behind the Gran Mur’s walls, where it could aim at every one of humankind’s spheres of existence. 

It was then that the faint, sorrowful voice of a girl echoed in his ears. 

“I don’t want to die.” 

Furrowing his brow, Shin lifted his gaze in the direction the voice had come from for a moment. It had come from… 

“The surface, huh…?” 

It wasn’t where Lena was… Not where the tactical headquarters were, but elsewhere. 

A group of Grauwolf types noisily crept out from around the building, surrounding the Phalanx squadron, who stood on the defensive. Taiga clicked his tongue in annoyance, wondering where they’d popped out of. 

Charité’s central station terminal—the Legion’s underground labyrinth—spread out across this Sector’s underground. There could have been exits to the surface that weren’t marked on any map, and the Grauwolf types were only two to three meters tall. It was entirely possible for them to escape through a ventilation hole or the like. 

“Aina, cover the major! Professor Penrose, get inside Estoc!” 

“Roger that, Taiga!” 

“Understood… Be careful!” 

Aina’s unit—Estoc—responded, turning aside. Through his main screen, Taiga could see Annette running across the glass-paned building… She may have been an Alba, down to the last thing she said, but she wasn’t a bad person. 

“Handler One, enemy detected. Engaging in combat… All units, don’t forget our target for protection is in the rear!” 

His squad mates’ responses echoed through the Resonance. Looking around at his consorts assuming combat stance, Taiga turned the sights of his 88 mm cannon to the enemy. 

“…I don’t want to die.” 

The sorrowful voice spoke in a human tongue. It was what Shin called a Black Sheep—a soldier unit that used a degraded copy of a human brain, constantly looping and replaying its final thoughts before death, without any of the memories or intelligence it had in life. 

“I don’t want to die.” 

But still…it was irritating. Taiga was reminded of his own dead comrades, who’d likely mouthed the same words in their final moments. 

“I don’t want to die.” 

Did he—did that red-eyed Reaper, incapable of shutting his ears to these wails, grow used to them? Did he eventually just feel nothing after hearing them? Or was it that he couldn’t bear to listen to them anymore, pitying them as they were forced to lament their ill fortune even after death? Was that why he returned to this endless battlefield, despite countless brushes with death, to bury the Legion? 

A Grauwolf leaped diagonally from behind the cover of rubble, charging at him. Taiga shot it down with heavy machine-gun fire and stomped over its remains to shift to a new target, when it happened. 

From behind them, from the entrance where there was no enemy in sight, came a flash of light. 

“…Huh?” 

That flash turned out to be sparks of short-circuiting electricity. Estoc had been cut in half, its cockpit block slashed through the middle and its severed circuitry blooming into a flower of high voltage like a death wail. Annette, who’d been running over to it, froze in place. A red flash of blood spurted out into the white sunlight. 

“Wha…?!” 

Then a second unit grappling with a Grauwolf to Taiga’s rear left was cut down. A third unit was bashed along its side and knocked back. To his sides, above and below him, to his front and his rear, Juggernauts were cut in half, their malfunctioning limbs twitching in place of screams as they all crumpled. 

Wh-what is this…?! 

The Grauwolf types fighting against them weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. Their armaments were the same as every other Grauwolf’s: two high-frequency blades and a multi-rocket launcher. Estoc, the first to fall, hadn’t even been fighting a Grauwolf to begin with. 

The method of how they attacked was unknown. Only the sound of the wind being sliced echoed alongside the incessant wailing of the dead…and the screaming of his comrades, tearing through the sunlight. 

“Shit… What is this? What the fuck is going on?!” 

“Aina! Aina’s been—!” 

“Ah—” 

A canopy blew off, and the severed head of a Processor took to the air like a bad joke. During the one moment Taiga was distracted, the Grauwolf in front of him closed in. He detected its artificial murderous impulse. 

But that was all. 

The black frosted sheen of a blade slashed at the edge of his optical screen, flashing in the sunlight. 

That was the last thing Taiga ever saw. 

“…!” 

Frederica suddenly stood up, kicking her chair away. All color drained from her face, and her bloodred eyes shot open. Noticing the girl’s unusual demeanor, Lena briskly walked up to her from across the narrow compartment. 

“Are you all right? What’s the—?” 

Those crimson eyes weren’t looking at her. They were frozen in shock and terror as they beheld the grim spectacle taking place far away. As she took several shallow breaths, her bloodless lips managed to form the following words: 

“…The Phalanx squadron…” 

The squadron charged with defending Annette, stationed not far from here, in what should have been a safe sector… 

“…was just wiped out………!” 

His ability still picked up the wailing of the enemies that weren’t in his field of vision yet. He alerted the rest of his squad mates to the danger as a horde of self-propelled mines leaped out in front of Undertaker’s feet like a surge of black water. This really is a bit much, Shin thought as he squinted at the sight of the distorted humanoid figures filling up the eight-track railway in the blink of an eye. 

Just as the Eighty-Six had once been back in the Republic, the self-propelled mines were disposable weapons. It made sense to send them out in droves, but…this was still too much. After covering a certain distance, Shin could only perceive the Legion as a single group, and his battle with the Morpho had taught him he couldn’t pick up the voice of a dormant unit in a state of stasis. 

But still, these numbers were far too much. 

A human figure approached him from his blind spot, as if gazing at him from the edge of his field of vision. Shin pulled back his unit’s front left leg before it could cling to it. There was no point wasting precious gunpowder on a brittle self-propelled mine. But just as he was about to kick it away… 

It met his gaze. 

“?!” 

He reflexively jumped back, almost colliding with Raiden, who swore in annoyance. Shin couldn’t pay that any mind, either. He fixed his attention on the figure on his main screen, which stepped back as if afraid. 

He couldn’t hear any wailing. 

Impossible. 

They were underground, and the concrete and sediment impaired wireless communications, but the armored infantry unit assisting them set up a relay to the surface. Using the data link, he compared the enemy-detection status of each of the other squadrons with the voices he could pick up, then clicked his tongue. 

What a pain. 

Confirming the status of the Para-RAID, he spoke to all the squad captains. 

“…All Strike Package members…” 

Cyclops’s radar picked up an enemy group. Unarmored humanoid targets weighing roughly a hundred kilograms each. Self-propelled mines. A highly condensed group of brittle self-propelled mines were easy pickings for a cannon’s buckshot fire. Shiden licked her lips, ruminating on the foolishness of the hunks of scrap metal. 

It was then that she heard the sound of someone gasping through the Resonance. 

“All Strike Package members, cease all combat and retreat—Shiden, don’t shoot!” 

“?!” 

Shiden’s index finger flew off the trigger at the last second. Cyclops hopped back, with Shiden pressing a hand against her left ear. The quasi-nerve crystal implanted beneath her skin had been taken out when she joined the Federacy military, along with her variable data link ear cuff, but habits picked up during four years on the battlefield died hard. 

“What the hell?! I was just about to take out that whole group! The timing was perfect!” 

“Assuming those are Legion… But the ones I was talking about weren’t.” 

“Huh?! Then what else would they—?” 

Halfway through her words, Shiden realized the truth. The enemies were antipersonnel weapons the Legion had developed in humanoid form. However badly made, the self-propelled mines were only shaped like humans. So if the figures in front of her weren’t self-propelled mines, the answer was clear. 

The figures emerged from the darkness, with staggering steps that made them appear wounded, just like the self-propelled mines that couldn’t walk upright. But their silver colors stood out all too clearly. 

An Adularia’s silver eyes stared at Cyclops. They stared at her. 

The Legion used their blatantly unfair technological advantage to tirelessly develop and stay one step ahead of humankind. But their programming prohibited them from making a weapon that was too similar to a human. Even the self-propelled mines, which were close in that regard, didn’t have human faces. They lacked mouths, noses, and of course, eyes. 

Which meant that this… 

“So that’s what’s going on…?!” 

Shiden swore under her breath. What the fuck? 

“…There’s white pigs here…?!”