Clank.
The bulkhead opened.
Peres wiped away sweat and stepped inside the command center.
The southern wind was hot, sticky, and foul.
The South she had lived in had never once offered her a comfortable life.
"So it’s a declaration of war just two weeks after telling me to look on the bright side."
"Lady Peres, have you arrived?"
"No greetings. Keep doing what you were doing."
The situation officer hadn’t even been looking her way to begin with; he’d simply spoken.
Everyone had long since grown accustomed to Peres’s temperament.
"We can at least say it’s fortunate they gave us a two-day grace period."
Peres nodded at Kaya’s words.
Perhaps those two days were the last shred of conscience Daniel had left.
Or perhaps it was a way to preserve as many as possible of those who would become his subjects in the future.
In any case, they had evacuated most of the civilians over those two days.
It had been an irresponsible, haphazard evacuation.
They had urgently contacted countless surrounding clans and, without even waiting for a reply, sent the refugees out first.
Not even Peres knew where or how they would survive.
If they were lucky, they would live.
The southern jungle where you survived if you were lucky, and the battlefield where you died painlessly if you were lucky.
Better to choose the battlefield over the latter.
"Any deserters?"
"None. Surprising, isn’t it? If I were a pilot, I’d have punched through the fortress walls and surrendered by now."
"You could have deserted even now, as a researcher."
Kaya smiled subtly.
"Being a researcher is my calling. And as an unaffiliated native of the South, it’s not easy to defect to the Empire either. If we’re lucky, we might even win, no?"
"A researcher, yet leaving it to luck."
"Researchers are human too."
The human called Kaya was truly contradictory.
The reason she appeared kind on the outside was to hide the refined madness within.
"Aren't you excited?"
"About what?"
"A new-model Titan was spotted on the southern front. How confident must they be to send it to the front lines just two days after deployment? The fact that it’s white means it probably came from the North."
"Not excited at all. Because I’ll have to give orders to die just to confirm that new model’s performance."
"If you can't avoid it, enjoy it, as they say?"
"They also say silence is better than meaningless words."
Kaya finally closed her mouth.
Raising her head to look beyond the wall, she could see the advance of Titans approaching from afar.
They marched slowly.
They did not run.
They did not rush.
The vanguard Titans raised shields covering their entire bodies as they approached.
They were imitating the fortress walls.
It would be difficult to dismiss as mere imitation.
"Deploy the turrets to the front."
"Aren't we defending the rear?"
"There are no ace pilots on the southern front. Rather than splitting off forces to flank us, they’ll try to break through the front while minimizing losses."
"Understood."
Daniel was the one who had maintained the front lines until now despite the absence of ace pilots.
It proved that his ability to command the front was exceptionally outstanding.
His ability to forge individuals into a collective was undeniable.
"What about Dolores?"
"We evacuated her with Deep’s group. Deep said he’d return, but it’s uncertain whether he really will. He hadn’t even tuned the newly made Titan, after all."
Ailey was the only one who could more or less communicate with the old man suffering from dementia.
Peres had had no choice but to send them together.
Even that had taken too long, and they had been forcibly sent out only after the enemy was detected.
"We can only hope he returns in a mass-produced model at least. What about Banshee?"
"It's in the hangar. The nuclear generator is—"
Beep.
It was a communication signal.
The moment Peres pressed the button, Daniel’s voice rang out.
"This is Daniel, commander of the Southern Front. Prior to engaging the Southern Liberation Army, in order to first propose surrender..."
A surrender offer that would not be accepted.
The other side knew it too; they were simply following Imperial law.
"We decline. We all know how this ends."
"I have observed the formalities."
The communication cut off.
BEEEEEP!
Suddenly, an alarm blared like mad.
"Report!"
"Clan Titans approaching from the rear!"
"Tch."
Of all the timing.
No—precisely because it was this timing.
The essence of a clan was a mercenary band.
It was only natural to fight for whoever paid the most.
"Are they clearly approaching?"
"Yes!"
"Maintain the forward turret deployment. Send the reserve unit’s Titans to the rear. Exhaust the rear fortress walls as much as possible, but preserve personnel."
There was no answer.
"Soldier, did you hear me?"
The situation officer slowly turned his head.
"…They’re flanking!"
"What?"
"The clans are bypassing the Liberation Army fortress and charging toward the front!"
The essence of a clan was a mercenary band.
"Confirming clans! Space Marines! Pikkamagwi! Iron Fist! And numerous others!"
"Commander! A communication request from the clans! It’s Robert of the Space Marines! Will you accept?"
And at the same time, they shared one and the same mother.
"Connect him."
Beep.
And the essence of those who shared the same mother was one.
"Robert. State your intentions. Are you joining the battle?"
Sons.
And sons.
"For Mother!"
***
Tatatatatat!
Boom!
Bullets raked across them.
Shells flew in.
Rounds of various sizes, fired by multicolored Titans, crashed against the shields.
Some rounds ricocheted, while others exploded.
There was one thing all those rounds had in common.
They failed to slow the advance of the fortress-like shields.
The clans who realized this fact slowly ceased fire and opened the distance.
The experienced sought cover, but many Titans did not.
"Heavy-armor shield unit. Begin counterattack."
Clank.
The Titans tilted their shields diagonally to the side, and gun barrels emerged through the gaps.
Thud!
Clan Titans collapsed in droves.
It wasn’t precise fire, but shots aimed low at core height.
Titans that had failed to take cover in time all fell.
"Regroup. Upper deflection firing line. Deploy shields."
At Daniel’s signal, the Titans raised their shields diagonally upward.
Kakakakakakang!
Turret rounds poured down onto the shield armor.
Their vision brightened with sparks from the ricochets.
"Bombardment sniper unit. Eliminate defensive turrets."
Kra-boom!
One turret was smashed to pieces.
It was called sniping, but what they fired wasn’t sniper rifle rounds—they were shells capable of demolishing buildings.
Kra-boom!
A second turret was destroyed.
Belatedly, the turrets began moving and shifting positions.
But it was nothing more than movement within fixed rails.
Turrets unable to evade the shells exploded one by one.
Titans seated in the turrets crashed to the ground.
Daniel looked ahead.
It should be time to begin full-scale combat.
Clank.
Whooooom.
As expected.
The Liberation Army’s gates opened.
***
"All Titan squads ready, begin sortie!"
Peres shouted.
"Squad 3, ready. Beginning sortie."
"Squad 5, ready! We’re sortieing!"
"Squad 2. Moving out."
"Squad 8! The hangar entrance is damaged due to turret explosions! Opening procedures underway!"
As always, something had to go wrong.
The clans' charge was not yet over.
"Hold the line. Hold it and die."
"Understood!"
"Squad 8, opening complete! Sortieing!"
Not all the clans of the entire jungle had gathered here, but those that had were fairly major, and only those with ace pilots had assembled.
"Hey! What are you doing! You think I’m supposed to match you!"
Robert of the Space Marines.
"Did you think I’d bow to your word?"
Angelos of the Pikkamagwi.
"Is now the time for you lot to be fighting each other?"
Manus of the Iron Fist.
They had sufficient numbers.
The problem was not quantity, but overall quality.
Even the absence of ace pilots was no problem under that command ability.
Rather, it was even more dangerous now that the turrets' firepower had been lost.
"Report turret status."
"60% of all turrets damaged!"
"Switch the remaining 40% to automatic fire, and sortie all Titans currently engaged in firing."
They would compensate for lacking quality with quantity.
Quantity pushed to excess was inevitably stronger than quality.
The total number of clan and Liberation Army Titans gathered was roughly eighty.
This excluded those already shot down and those yet to sortie.
"The advance has halted!"
Good.
The enemies began lowering their shields one by one, drawing close-combat weapons.
Once drawn into melee, the side with more attacks held the overwhelming advantage.
With the clans fighting alongside them, their side couldn't help but be more advantaged.
Then he would step forward.
"White new-model Titans spotted in the enemy lines!"
The Empire’s new model.
"How many in total?"
"Sixteen units!"
A disgusting number.
But if he controlled his forces sufficiently, losses could be minimized.
"Transmit to all squads! Enemy new models have entered the battlefield! Color is white! Exercise caution since we don't know what new functions they have, and absolutely do not engage alone—"
"That one's mine!"
"Don't go alone, Manus!"
"Where do you think you're going!"
Damn it.
The only troops he could control were the Liberation Army.
He hadn’t even expected to control the clans.
Manus's black Titan accelerated forward and instantly collided with a white Titan.
Thanks to that, one stopped, making its exterior easy to examine.
"Kaya, analyze it."
"There’s nothing special about it. The tricolor scheme based on that white is somewhat unusual, but other than it being a composite type combining heavy armor and high mobility..."
Screech!
The white Titan moved.
It blocked Manus’s sword with the shield on its left arm, then twisted the shield to send the blade sliding off.
At the same time, it whipped the shield outward.
"Such an obvious attack!"
The moment Manus regained his balance with reverse thrust, the white Titan instantly accelerated.
Lost it.
He could follow it with his eyes, but the Titan’s movements could never match it.
"That thruster performance?!"
"Manus!"
"That bastard!"
Clank.
It was an ordinary standard rifle.
Boom!
The moment it fired at point-blank range, Manus’s Titan was crushed.
It was firepower impossible from ordinary bullets.
"Understood."
Kaya, watching the hologram, smiled.
"Simply put, it’s fast, uses AI improved beyond existing models, has sturdier armor, and its weapons are basic but enhanced."
"Tch."
If it had been specialized in something, it would have been better.
If it were something with a defined purpose, they could have devised a countermeasure.
"An all-weather type. Should we just consider it a next-generation Titan?"
It was several times more vicious than that.
A next-generation Titan. The Empire’s new model.
If there was a pilot capable of overwhelming even the difference in machines, the Liberation Army had one.
Peres.
She would have to entrust command to another, but if there was no other way, it couldn’t be helped.
"Kaya. I’m sortieing. In a Titan—"
Beep.
"Did you wait long?"
Peres closed her mouth again.
Kaya’s eyes widened in surprise.
Ta-ang!
Simultaneous with the sniper shot, one white Titan’s head was pierced.
"Deep."
Acceleration.
And acceleration.
There was a Titan diving into the ocean that was the battlefield.
"Dive."
A genius.
A hero.
"Go."
And the hope of the battlefield.