Fafnir’s head split open. Rather than a head, it looked closer to a gun turret made from the start to serve as a cannon barrel.
“Pilots, board your Titans! Operators and engineers, evacuate in the emergency transport vehicles!”
“Move it!”
The gathered pilots all broke into a run at once. Just as Princess Saya was about to board Kaiser, Fafnir’s cranial cannon barrel emitted a crimson light.
A charged particle cannon.
A light bright enough to blot out even the sun flooded my vision. Before it did, I covered my eyes and ran, throwing myself into the core seat.
Just as I was about to close the core hatch, someone grabbed it and leapt inside.
“P-Princess?”
“Pardon me for a moment. It seems the enemy’s target is me.”
The target is the princess?
Then I really don’t want to ride with her.
The main sensor finally came online. The surrounding environment appeared on the screen. The moment I turned my head and looked at Kaiser, I knew. The target was unmistakably the princess.
Kaiser’s core, struck directly by the charged particle cannon, was melting into molten metal.
The princess murmured, as if she weren’t particularly flustered.
“A charged particle cannon. It suits the name of an evil dragon. It must be like the flames a dragon breathes. A meaningless piece of equipment in long-range combat, but if it lands a direct hit at close range, it has that much power.”
“D-Deep! We’re getting out!”
“Do it properly!”
“Deep, Dive!”
Why am I the one getting scolded?
The thrusters ignited with a sound like popcorn popping. As we accelerated and punched through the wall of the collapsing temporary hangar, the other Titans belatedly came into view.
Princess Saya clicked her tongue and snatched my smartwatch. The communication channel connected to Ailey spun rapidly.
“Th-That’s mine!”
“Be quiet! This is Princess Saya! Anyone on the emergency channel, respond at once!”
Only crackling static returned.
The princess grew irritated and pressed herself close against me. Then she pulled a belt from the side of the seat and fastened both her body and mine to the seat together.
“This is a little…”
“I know your maneuvering style! If I don’t do this, I’ll smash my head into a corner and die!”
No, she was right, but still.
“I-If we’re being precise, I’m an unrelated man, you know! You should go to A-Aaron instead!”
“You don’t feel like a man to me, so it’s fine!”
No, damn it. Isn’t that reasoning a bit much?
The princess swept her gaze around and clicked her tongue.
“Tch. The heat from the charged particle cannon must have wrecked long-range communications! But that light just now should have let the professors know this location! Running comes first!”
“Get away?”
From that thing?
Above the collapsing temporary hangar, Fafnir slowly rose into the air.
The roar of its powerful main rocket engines. Metallic wings spread out on both sides. Even a sharp tail that seemed designed for both balance control and close-range combat.
Its appearance was completely different from the Titans I knew. At the very least, it looked nothing like an imperial Titan.
“That’s a Titan from the Eastern Union! It looks like a lizard, and its defining trait is its incredible mobility…”
A crackle of static cut off the princess’s words. The short-range channel indicator lit up.
“Heavy Machine, firing!”
“Zeus, bringing it down!”
Bombardment-type Titans.
Among us, they were the only ones that could be called anti-air forces. If they spread out a net of firepower, they could suppress Fafnir’s movement.
As the two Titans began pouring out missiles and bullets, Fafnir moved as if in response.
It wrapped its wings around its front, its acceleration vector aimed downward.
“Don’t tell me that thing is…”
Kraaaang!
Rather than landing, it was a fall. Rather than a fall, a descent.
Not a simple descent, but a dive that turned the Titan’s own weight into a strategic weapon.
Zeus’s massive body caved in and collapsed to the ground. Only shallow bullet marks remained on the wings that had passed through the barrage. Contrary to how it looked, they were made of quite sturdy armor.
The moment Fafnir rotated its body, its tail spread wide and revealed its blade. Heavy Machine stood there, unable even to think of evasive maneuvers.
At the same time, a slender close-combat weapon deflected the tail.
“Being good at setting traps alone does not make one an excellent maid.”
“French?”
The rapier it held used a stake-shaped bomb as its blade. It was ambiguous whether it could be called a rapier, or even categorized as close-combat equipment.
It was nothing more than a makeshift measure born of desperation, an extremely temporary piece of equipment.
Fortunately, Heavy Machine seemed to realize that as well, grabbing French and reverse-thrusting backward. Fafnir immediately ignited its thrusters after Heavy Machine.
With them ignited, Fafnir’s head slowly turned.
Its gaze went straight toward Ailey.
Our eyes met.
“We’re fucked…”
Fafnir folded its wings and began accelerating while hovering.
“Isn’t it noticing because you’re doing nothing but running away in a straight line?”
“You s-said running came first!”
“There is such a thing as moderation! More importantly, why do you stutter less when you talk back?”
“B-Be quiet!”
Even when I drew the standard pistol and fired behind us, Fafnir only blocked the rounds with its wings and didn’t slow down at all.
“We lack firepower!”
I know that.
I turned the main sensor forward. Alex, who had been ahead of us, glanced this way and instead sped up.
Did Revan have no intention of helping? Not that I had planned to trust him much anyway.
I turned back again. The moment I aimed at Fafnir’s sensor, Fafnir raised its wing and covered its main sensor.
“Aaron!”
Because Icarus had accelerated straight toward me.
“Don’t call my name so casually, commoner!”
Hovering and acceleration. Icarus thrust one leg straight forward.
It was a blow that used the Titan’s own weight as a weapon, similar to what Fafnir had done. But it was an attack he had learned through mine.
With a cracking impact, Fafnir was pushed backward. The marks where it had been shoved across the ground were clear.
However, that was all.
“Hah.”
Aaron exhaled as if dumbfounded.
It should have had no vision, yet it reacted to the attack and adjusted its thruster output to keep its balance. Normally, Aaron must have intended to at least make it roll across the ground once.
“So you’re saying that pilot isn’t someone who relies on the Titan’s performance?”
Aaron clicked his tongue and raised his battle-axe and rifle.
“I can only buy a little time. Take Her Highness and run as far as you can!”
“B-But Aaron…”
“Then don’t call me. What do you want me to do?”
You were already coming before I called.
Icarus accelerated toward Fafnir, and metal began clashing against metal. Leaving the battle behind, I shoved the sticks and pedals forward roughly.
Thud.
“Uh.”
A sound that should not have happened came from behind me. Ailey shouted urgently.
“D-Deep! Don’t accelerate! The thruster pipe is on fire. If you accelerate, it’ll explode!”
“If I don’t accelerate, Fafnir will kill us!”
“If the thruster explodes, there’s a high chance it’ll take the core with it! You, me, and the princess will all die!”
Of all times, now?
I cut the thruster ignition and started running forward. I couldn’t use hovering either. Without the thrusters, all we could do was float in place.
“E-Even so, since it’s Aaron, while he holds out, we can r-run…”
Crack.
Along with a violent impact, my spatial perception ability expanded my field of vision drastically. I could sense the situation behind me, where Icarus and Fafnir were.
Icarus staggered as Fafnir’s wing struck it directly. It wasn’t fatal, but it was enough to throw him off balance.
And that had been exactly Fafnir’s intention.
Fafnir left Icarus behind and accelerated straight away. It flew in a straight line toward Ailey, and at the same time, its tail pointed this way.
Straight toward Ailey’s core.
The tail’s thruster ignited, and in an instant, the tail blade flew in.
I’m going to die.
Clank!
That was the scene I saw, until the sound of a wire anchor driving in reached my ears.
My spatial perception ability began painting a different scene in an instant.
The wire drew taut, and with a clack, White Bunny reeled it back in. That acceleration, using hovering and thrusters at the same time, was incomparable to heavy-armored types.
“Keep Her Highness safe—no.”
White Bunny blocked the tail blade’s path.
Karina Luna does not like those who are not nobles. Because they are people who have never experienced the life of a hero.
But if one of them had to become a hero, then it had to be the one who defeated her.
“Deep.”
Otherwise, it would wound her pride.
Doing as one pleased was the privilege of a noble young lady. A young lady had to be able to do both bad and good deeds as she pleased.
“With this, the debt I owe for looking down on you is repa…”
Crunch.
White Bunny was pierced through. With a grinding sound, the tail wrapped around its waist and crushed it. With another crunch, that waist was severed in two.
Hiss.
“Run.”
The long-range communication indicator lit up.
A silver Titan accelerated and slammed into Fafnir.
“From here.”
Professor Zeke gritted his teeth.
“Get out of here, right now!”
At the same time, Icarus grabbed me and began accelerating.
The distance from Zeus collapsed on the ground, and White Bunny smashed in half, widened in an instant.