The World of Otome Games is Tough For Mobs - Volume 13 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

A Three-Pronged Attack

ALTHOUGH ARCADIA had successfully countered Luxion’s attack, he wasn’t completely unharmed by the process. A violent tremor ran through the fortress, setting off warning sirens in its corridors and alarming the people in the command room. Defending against the blast consumed a substantial amount of energy.

Moritz watched on the monitors as Luxion sank beneath the waves. His fists trembled on the arms of his chair. Frantic, he ordered, “Fire another blast at him! Make sure he goes down!”

It didn’t matter that the initial blast had been enough to rip a hole through Luxion, or that he’d been swallowed up by the ocean. That wasn’t enough for Moritz to relax.

“I would love to do just that,” said Arcadia, no less anxious about their predicament. “Unfortunately, we have already used too much stored energy. It would be dangerous to further drain our reserves when there are still AI enemies on the battlefield.”

“Khh…!” Air hissed through Moritz’s clenched teeth.

Arcadia had already channeled the maximum possible amount of energy into his blast to take down Luxion, which had been a wise call. They’d at least driven Luxion from the field.

Still, Moritz couldn’t rest easy. “Is that really it? Will this battle end so simply?” It was a letdown—far too anticlimactic, considering how Finn had hyped up Leon.

Arcadia’s eye moved from side to side. “You have overestimated the power of old humanity’s weaponry. Luxion is a formidable opponent, but a migratory ship could never beat a fortress such as I.”

Moritz sank back in his seat. He sucked in a deep breath. “Perhaps. I suppose all that’s left is to finish them off.”

With Leon down for the count, the rest of the royal army would quickly lose morale and disperse. Luxion no longer posed a threat either, which meant no one would be left to impede the imperial army.

“Please leave exterminating the civilians to me. I promise to snuff out each and every one, no matter where they try to hide,” said Arcadia. 

In his eyes, all Holfortians were old humanity’s descendants. The very idea of annihilating the last dregs of his mortal enemies visibly elated him.

A chill ran down Moritz’s spine, but however reprehensible he found this part of their mission, he knew he had to carry it out to ensure his people’s future.

“That seals it. Victory is ours,” Moritz said, sure the royal army would fall to them quickly.

Several of the Demonic Creatures present in the room to assist Arcadia provided updates on the situation.

“That attack strained your shield past its limit.”

“The fortress’s barrier has weakened.”

“It taxed the ship’s interior as well. It will take time to recover.”

The damage from Luxion’s attack was more substantial than they’d anticipated. Even Arcadia hadn’t expected it to be that bad; his mouth twisted in displeasure. “His flimsy blast had that much impact?” That would’ve been impossible if Arcadia were in full working order, but since he’d only just awakened, Luxion’s attack had proven devastating.

Moritz shook his head to refocus himself. We can’t let our guard down until we finish off the enemy completely, he decided.

The monitor in front of him displayed the enemy’s entire fleet. It would be too dangerous for Arcadia to fire his main cannon again, so Moritz opted to have his army take over the rest. “Send out all the Demonic Knights who’ve been on standby. Tell them to destroy the enemy in front of us and end this nightmare of a battle.”

One of his generals nodded. “In their current state, the royal army will be no match for our highest-ranking Demonic Knights.”

“Wait,” Moritz interrupted. “Have Finn remain on standby here.”

A wrinkle formed on the general’s forehead. “You aren’t sending out the first seat?”

Moritz glanced at Arcadia, who answered on his behalf. “Finn is Her Imperial Highness’s favorite. There’s no need to make her anxious by sending him.”

Not deploying their best soldier because Imperial Princess Miliaris wouldn’t like it was absurd reasoning. Everyone’s expression soured, but nobody bothered to argue the point, since they were confident that victory was already theirs.

“He’ll be insurance for us, in case the worst comes to pass,” Moritz muttered under his breath.

***

Aboard Arcadia was a special room where Demonic Knights stayed while on standby. Finn and Brave were inside, left behind by their fellows who had received orders to deploy. Finn sat with his arms folded over his chest. He didn’t say a word.

As worried as he was for his partner, Brave tried to put on a cheerful front. “The top brass must be idiots if they’re not ordering you onto the field,” he said. “With you out there, this whole thing would be over instantly.”

“Yeah.” Finn sounded disinterested.

“W-well, still, I guess it’s good you don’t have to go,” Brave continued. “This way, you won’t have to fight Leon and the others.” He was striving to comfort Finn, although he obviously wasn’t very good at it.

“Sorry for worrying you, Kurosuke.”

“It’s fine; we’re partners, after all! And I see you’re still stuck on calling me that. You sure are stubborn, Partner.”

Finn grinned, and Brave laughed.

Mia burst into the room, followed by her maids and several Demonic Creatures. She had been put under heavy guard to keep her safe. The moment she spotted Finn, her worried expression broke into a smile. “Sir Knight!”

“Princess Miliaris? What are you doing here?” Finn asked, bowing to her.

She stared at him in surprise, eyes round. It took only a moment for her expression to crumple with sadness. Finn sensed instantly what she wanted from him.

“Apologies, but I’d like to speak with Her Imperial Highness alone,” he said to the contingent of maids and Demonic Creatures who’d followed her into the room.

The maids glanced at one another and shook their heads. “We cannot leave. We’ve been ordered to stay at Her Imperial Highness’s side at all times. Even if it weren’t our duty, we couldn’t leave her alone with a man. That would be inappropriate.” If anything improper took place, they’d be the ones punished, and none wanted to shoulder that risk for him.

“Unacceptable,” said one of the Demonic Creatures.

Another agreed. “We cannot allow it.”

“There is no reason we can’t stay with Her Imperial Highness.”

Unlike the maids, their insistence wasn’t borne of duty but rather of stubborn insistence on being with Mia. After all, they were willing to sacrifice their very lives to keep her safe, which made them that much harder to convince.

Finn frowned, unsure how to proceed.

“Oh, shut up, all of ya!” Brave shouted at them. “Get outta here quick, or I’m gonna lose it!”

There would be considerable damage if a fully functioning Demonic Core like Brave went berserk. Reluctantly, albeit for different reasons, the maids and Demonic Creatures exited the room. Soon only Finn and Mia—and Brave, of course—were left.

Finn guided Mia to a nearby couch and sat down beside her. “What have you come here for?” He spoke more casually this time, the way he normally did.

Mia visibly brightened, but her expression clouded just as quickly. “Sir Knight, I don’t want you to fight,” she said. “This whole war is a mistake. It’s too cruel that some of us have to destroy the others for the fighting to finally end.”

Her argument was a childish, idealistic one.

Finn smiled thinly. How many times had he explained this to her? We have no other choice. He almost let those words slip out of his mouth but managed to swallow them at the last second. Mia’s kindness and innocence reminded him too much of his little sister from his previous life.

Instead, he said, “You don’t need to let it weigh on you. His Majesty and I—along with the rest of those involved—will shoulder this sin until our deaths.”

“Sir Knight?” Mia spoke his title questioningly, a nervous crease on her forehead. She seized a fistful of his clothing, clinging to him. “Why does it sound like you plan on leaving me behind? Didn’t you promise you’d protect me forever? There’s no reason you have to take part in the fighting.”

He smiled gently at her and peeled her fingers from his clothing, taking both her hands in his. “I can’t be the only one shying away from responsibility. Besides, my duty is to keep you safe. To make sure this world remains one in which you’re healthy enough to run around outside as much as you want.”

Whatever else happens, I’ll protect her. I’m not the weakling I used to be. In his past life, he’d regretted being unable to do anything but watch as his little sister passed away. His desire—his need to be in control, to do something—was what drove him.

“Sir Knight,” said Mia, “I…I…”

“None of this is your fault,” Finn interrupted. He couldn’t let her finish. It would shake his determination to see this through. “The rest of us—His Majesty, the other knights, and I—will finish this.”

“But—”

“It’ll be all right. I’ll protect you.”

She squeezed his hands. When she lifted her chin, her eyes were dewy with unshed tears. “At least promise me that you’ll come back to me no matter what happens, then. You have to promise.”

“Yeah, I prom—”

Before he could finish, Brave interjected, “Partner, above us!” His gaze was directed at the ceiling, and there was panic in his voice; he must’ve sensed something.

***

The command room was in chaos. Something was plummeting toward them from far, far above, originating outside the planet’s atmosphere.

“From outside the atmosphere?!” Moritz cried when he heard the report, jumping out of his seat.

Having been outwitted, Arcadia scowled. “So that’s what your plan is.” The monitor inside the command room showed an unidentifiable blur heading straight toward them. From what they could tell, it matched their data on the Partner.

“It’s Archduke Bartfort’s ship!” Moritz realized. He was in obvious panic over the encroaching vessel. The generals and military staff in the room with him were similarly flustered. None had anticipated an aerial attack like this.

“Trajectory identified,” said one of the nearby Demonic Creatures. “It’s on a collision course with Arcadia’s fortress.”

Arcadia’s eye narrowed with fury. “It figures you machines would resort to your special kamikaze-style attacks. You’re as boorish as ever.”

The Partner measured over seven hundred meters long. Bursting through the atmosphere would lend it incredible destructive power as its mass plowed straight toward them. Even Arcadia wouldn’t come out unscathed.

“You went to the trouble of leaving the atmosphere, only to reenter and attack, hm? Sadly for you, tactics aren’t as effective once I’ve already experienced them.” All Arcadia’s previous displeasure disappeared as a smile curved his lips, his eye narrowing into a slit.

Moritz was sweating bullets. “Move the fortress, quickly!”

“That’s pointless,” said Arcadia. “If we moved, he would only adjust his trajectory. I know where he originated from, so I simply need to ensure my barrier is thickest where he makes impact.” As he spoke, he began concentrating his energy so that the shield’s thickest point was directly above him. That would weaken the rest of his shield, but such was the cost of defending himself. As an extra safeguard, he decided to use his main cannon after all. “The best way to handle this would be to shoot him down before he can reach me.”

Arcadia drew from his energy stores, and a reddish-black ball manifested in the air above him. As soon as all preparations were made, he commanded, “Fire.”

The blast shot upward. The Partner attempted to swerve away from it, but it couldn’t react fast enough. Arcadia’s blast cleaved through its hull, shaving off a chunk. If Arcadia’s predictions were correct, the ship was probably stocked full of blasting powder. That would be the best way to inflict the maximum possible damage on Arcadia, so long as the Partner hit its target. If it carried that much powder, it should explode from the damage it sustained.

Not that it mattered, since with half its body gone, the Partner had slowed considerably. It didn’t seem like it would even make an impact.

“Oh? So, you don’t have blasting powder aboard, as I anticipated,” remarked Arcadia. “Did you not have enough time to prepare it?”

When he saw the Partner, Moritz had initially been relieved but soon drew his brows together. “So the royal army, and the spaceships with it, were a diversion. Archduke Bartfort certainly planned this out.”

The Partner sped closer to them, flames bursting from it. Arcadia gradually began moving the fortress, trying to prevent a direct hit. However, the Partner’s AI immediately corrected its course, keeping its aim on Arcadia.

“How pitiful,” said Arcadia. “Even if you manage to strike the fortress, that will not be adequate to take me down.” He flashed his pearly-white teeth, grinning in delight at having outmaneuvered the machines. “However much you struggle, you cannot stave off our inevitable victory.”

The Partner slammed into Arcadia’s barrier, the vessel’s body crunching and exploding in a fiery blast. Shrapnel and whatever remained of the ship itself slowly tumbled into the sea.

There was a slight tremor within the fortress, but that seemed to be the attack’s only impact. Everyone in the command room heaved a sigh of relief.

“Give me a report on the situation!” Moritz barked at the others, redirecting his attention to the war effort.

His subordinates scrambled back to their positions.

“R-right! Um, there’s no damage to Arcadia.”

“The magical barrier managed to fully withstand the attack.”

“B-but due to all the energy it required, we no longer have a barrier at all.”

Arcadia ignored them, his mouth cracking open in maniacal laughter. “Hya ha ha ha! Has the rust gotten the best of you after all these years, you filthy machines? If you really wanted to bring me down, you should all have launched a collective attack from outside the planet’s atmosphere. But you couldn’t do that, could you? That’s why you settled on this pitiful excuse for a battle plan as your last resort.”

As much as Arcadia ridiculed their efforts, he knew there was nothing they could’ve done differently. Even if Fact had them launch a collective attack, their chances of succeeding would’ve been far too low. The kingdom’s disadvantage in this battle was staggering.

“You never had a chance of winning,” Arcadia spat at them smugly.

That attack really had me on edge, Moritz thought, mopping sweat from his brow. At least now we’ve sunk both of Archduke Bartfort’s ships. He froze. Hm? No, wait. Where’s his third ship?

The Partner was no better than scrap metal after the blast when it struck Arcadia’s shields, and Luxion had disappeared beneath the waves. They’d all assumed that, with Luxion’s main ship out of commission, no other vessel could stand up to Arcadia. But one ship was unaccounted for and had yet to be spotted on the battlefield.

“Watch for the Einhorn!” Moritz ordered, his voice shrill with renewed panic.

With Luxion and the Partner gone, the Einhorn was all that remained.

Arcadia quit laughing and spun around, facing the rear of their army. “What’s that thing approaching us at top speed?!” There was a tremor in his voice.

The object in question—which was blasting straight toward them—was, in fact, the Einhorn.

***

The intense turbulence and gravity inside Arroganz’s cockpit made for an unbearably uncomfortable ride. I was plastered to my seat, the cushions flattening beneath me. But something else concerned me far more than that agony.

“For the love of everything, just don’t let this plan end in failure. Then I’d really look like an idiot,” I said.

The Einhorn had taken off ahead of the rest of the army, opting for a long detour around the battlefield so that we could surprise the enemy from the rear. Once we were in position, the boosters Luxion had attached to the ship for extra speed started firing on all cylinders, accelerating straight toward our destination. I’d been suffering in the intense gravity from that point on.

“Please swallow your complaints. I reduced the gravitational impact considerably. It could be worse,” Luxion told me, nagging at me the same way he always did.

“Seriously? This is reduced gravity?” I only managed to speak with great effort, but Luxion talked smoothly, as if this had no effect on him. Maybe that was a given, since he was a machine, but it still pissed me off.

“I sorted through the information Cleare and Fact sent us. According to them, Arcadia has no offenses left to use against us.”

That had been the whole purpose of our strategy—to wear Arcadia down.

“Looks like it was worth sacrificing the Partner, then,” I said, grinning through the agony.

Luxion moved his lens up and down, nodding. “Yes. The Partner accomplished its final mission successfully. It is almost time, Master. Soon we will be the ones fulfilling our duty.”

“Make sure to get us there as safely and smoothly as you feasibly can,” I added. I knew what I was asking was impossible, but I had to try.

“I will do my best,” Luxion said without really meaning it.

My teeth sank into the mouthpiece he had prepared for me. It was meant to keep me from biting my tongue.

“Thirty seconds until impact,” Luxion announced, beginning the countdown.

Violent tremors, likely caused by incoming fire, racked the ship.

“Ten seconds until impact.” And after a few more seconds, “Five, four, three…”

***

The imperial army’s ships began firing on the Einhorn. The monsters had shifted position, flocking to Arcadia’s rear in an attempt to act as shields against the enemy vessel. However, they hoped to shoot the Einhorn down before the need to physically block it arose.

“How dare you?!” Arcadia howled. “And with that sad excuse for a ship!”

Whatever they tried didn’t slow down the Einhorn. It ignored their attacks, plowing forward and smashing right past the wall of monsters like they were nothing.

Moritz’s brow furrowed at the sight of Arcadia’s panic. His eyes darted back to the monitor, where he watched the Einhorn. “A three-pronged attack,” he muttered to himself.

Luxion’s main ship and the Partner were mere diversions to weaken Arcadia so the Einhorn could make its move.

The name “Einhorn” fit the ship perfectly, since it had a single horn on its prow. From its containers, it launched several hundred missiles which pelted the monsters in the air around it. Their attempts to shoot it down proved futile; worse yet, the return fire sank a number of their ships.

“We can’t stop it.” Moritz stood firm with his arms crossed over his chest. He hollered at his men, “Brace for impact!”

None of the tremors they had experienced compared to the violence of the one that followed.

Arcadia’s intense fury left his eye bloodshot. “You filthy, oil-covered piles of scrap!” he screeched in a high-pitched voice.

The empire’s victory had been all but assured up to this point, but this surprise attack had tipped the scales. Who would win was anyone’s guess.

That’s fine, Moritz decided, welcoming this development. It’s for the best, really. Come at us with everything you’ve got. Whoever survives until the end will rule this planet. Don’t hold anything back!

He’d been plagued with guilt at the thought of murdering innocent civilians who couldn’t even fight back, but he wouldn’t feel so bad about it after a battle to the death in which both sides fought tooth and nail.

The command room descended into confusion.

“Have the army keep fighting the enemy forces,” Moritz commanded, reining everyone in. “Tell them there’s no need to worry about the attacks on Arcadia. Call back the Demonic Knights!”

The multifaceted attack on Arcadia had shaken their army already. Ordering them to continue the assault would keep them from hesitating in front of the enemy, wondering whether they should double back to protect their emperor and Arcadia. Moritz was summoning the Demonic Knights again because they’d be needed to deal with the Einhorn. Its horn had punctured Arcadia deeply, providing an infiltration point a number of intruders were already taking advantage of.

Arcadia’s enormous eye twitched with irritation. The monitor switched to the intruders, and he glowered at them. “You have some nerve, breaking into my fortress.”

These intruders piloting Armors boarded Arcadia. One Armor had a particularly unique design, as well as a gargantuan container on its back.

Moritz and his men grimaced.

“That’s Arroganz.”

“The archduke himself came to attack us.”

“He must be out of his mind.”

Five other Armors accompanied him, followed by a veritable army of drones whose camera lenses gleamed eerily.

Arroganz paused and turned its rifle toward one of the cameras. A voice filtered from its cockpit microphone. “Hey there, everyone from Holy Magic Empire of Vordenoit,” Leon greeted those watching in the command room. He fired at the camera; the monitor went black, but even without visuals, they still heard him. “And a special hello to the man responsible for this whole war—His Imperial Maj-ass-ty, the sad sack of crap calling himself your new emperor.”

Those around Moritz erupted in fury at the archduke’s impudence, but the emperor himself found Leon’s candid greeting rather pleasant.

Gentle tremors ran through the ship, indicating Leon and his comrades had begun their assault on the fortress.

Moritz burst into laughter. “He’s as crude as Finn said he’d be. There aren’t many in the world who would dare insult me like that.”

Everyone in the room froze, confused by his reaction.

Moritz sobered, the emotion draining from his face. “Let’s give our new guests some entertainment,” he ordered.

“A-as you command, Your Imperial Majesty!” His men scurried to carry out his orders.

The whole time, Arcadia trembled with rage and indignation. “Never in all my battles with old humanity have my inner walls been breached. You shall pay for this. You will suffer before this is through!” Veins bulged across his body, but his incandescent fury ebbed quickly, transforming to panic. “Where is Her Imperial Highness? Send guards to protect her, quickly!”

Exasperated, Moritz sighed at the creature and its intense mood swings. His gaze fell on the cane in his hands. Father, the man you sought to join hands with has boarded our fortress. We’ll win this, however, as long as we can take him down. I’ll shoulder all the blame when this is over by forfeiting my own life. When I do, I expect you to tell me why you betrayed us in the first place.