27. Shattering Light
Lower your posture.
As if lifting from below.
Cut through the arm, riddled with gaps, and aim directly for the neck.
Even in the worst case, Mio alone must be recovered.
The blade, wielded with that intent, produced no destruction.
No flash occurs, not even from ether interference.
The Black Knight's ether envelops the Etherdagger's blade, as if wrapping it in embrace.
The decisive strike, charged with lethal intent, was crushed.
What lies there is a disparity in output that no amount of skill or technique can overcome.
The Long Sword stood planted in the ground as though it would never be used.
Place Mio on your right arm.
Extend the left arm forward.
Jin's leopard ceased movement with only that.
The thought of it being unpleasant lasted only an instant.
The coating of the机体's entire ether coincided with the simultaneous dents forming across the armor.
The armor, capable of withstanding vacuum, began to pockmark like foam polystyrene under pressure.
It was the same as deflecting an ether dagger.
Abundant ether enveloped him, pressing inward with controlled force.
The precision of the ether manipulation was staggering.
The way she wielded vast quantities of ether like limbs—truly regal.
Jin felt cold sweat trickle down his spine.
The nanoskin armor maintained a constant total mass.
Repairing damage reduced the overall thickness by a fraction.
It did not promise infinite regeneration.
Deformation of the frame and fracture were only a matter of time.
Either the cockpit would collapse inward, crushing him.
Or he would rupture before that, unable to endure the pressure.
Either outcome was one Jin wished to avoid.
"Forgive me, Corporal..."
He had been told not to use it—but that could no longer be said.
He decided, after the fact, to apologize to Jin.
"Configuration B, load."
Loading settings.
"Code Triple Six. Unlock all limiters on the Ether Reactor!"
The Leopard's Ether Reactor screamed.
A high-pitched wail of agony—this was not its intended function.
The final move, promised an end.
Reactor output spiked.
The entire frame shrieked under the surge of ether exceeding tolerance.
In an instant, the status readout turned crimson.
Not from external pressure—but internal rupture.
Critical operation of the Ether Reactor, the power core.
The last resort, boosting output threefold at the cost of complete system failure in minutes.
Once activated, the reactor would be scrapped.
The机体, overloaded with ether beyond expectation, scorches and disintegrates at multiple points, rendered useless.
The combat capability gained is barely enough to match that of three units combined.
Frankly, it rarely proves worthwhile.
Except in cases like this—where fighting alone is required.
The ether surrounding Leopard is forcibly severed.
Ether light leaks from various points of Leopard, which is collapsing from within.
A figure sprinting, trailing light behind.
It appears, in some way, divine—and fleeting.
The Black Knight draws the Long Sword.
Before that, Jin takes a step forward.
The hilt, before it is gripped.
An ether dagger, driven to sever the handle.
A weapon released cannot be wrapped in ether.
"Idiot! It’s because you let go of your weapon."
Yet, contrary to Jin’s expectation, the unguarded Long Sword deflects the ether dagger.
Shock registers—briefly.
The mechanism unfolds instantly.
"This entire area is dominated by its ether, then."
The Long Sword, distant but still under pressure from Jin's frame, merely bore an ether coating.
That must be the case.
The Black Knight extends the palm carrying Mio.
A substance resembling liquid envelops Mio.
"Mio!"
A cry escapes Jin involuntarily.
While Jin tenses, Mio floats carefree within a sphere of liquid, undisturbed.
She does not seem to struggle for breath.
The Black Knight grips the Long Sword with one hand, raising it high.
A metallic cry echoes.
Overpowering it, a shriek of the atmosphere.
The sound erases objects around it.
A high-frequency barrier, born in an instant from the Long Sword.
A vibrational weapon capable of reducing all things to dust through resonant waves.
"Vibrational weapons are minor armaments...!"
At one time, high-frequency blades and similar armaments had been researched within the convoy.
All of them proved ineffective in a vacuum and faded into obscurity—ornamental failures.
Yet the Long Sword now activated displayed destructive power sufficient to erase even that impression entirely.
The Black Knight glowed faintly.
It recognized the light as etheric resistance—its own creation, enduring the attack.
Simultaneously, the liquid enveloping Mio.
That substance appeared to be a defensive barrier deployed by the Black Knight to shield Mio.
"What kind of attack is this!"
If such a weapon were unleashed in an urban area, the damage would be catastrophic.
Buildings vanished into rubble within an instant, then into dust.
Even the outer walls nearby trembled.
And Jin's Leopard as well.
It would not have endured without the Ether Reactor operating at critical capacity.
That is to say, the fate awaiting it upon reactor shutdown is finer than dust.
And this attack from the Black Knight is merely collateral.
Vibrational waves emanating from the Long Sword.
Yet the blade's original purpose remains cutting.
To be struck by the blade's source of vibration—
even the Leopard's current Ether coating cannot fully repel.
On a battlefield dominated by Ether, the attack of the opponent with the highest Ether Reactor output reduces to mere vibration.
A rather ironic situation, one might think.
"Even brute force has its limits."
The outcome remains the same—finished after one strike.
Jin's course does not change.
Save Mio. Defeat the Black Knight.
One step.
The机体 advances forward.
They gauge each other's range.
Legs move in a circular motion.
Distance: thirty meters.
Unbelievably close compared to combat across hundreds of kilometers in space.
Jin traverses that distance with explosive acceleration.
Not an exaggeration—true detonation.
The机体's ether explodes beneath its soles.
No second strike—first attack, decisive.
A frontal charge, too obvious.
The Long Sword, vibrating at increased frequency, descends.
Focus.
Each vibration becomes visible.
One second ahead.
He dives into the future where he will be.
The机体's frame screams during a right-angle maneuver.
Jin's Leopard spins sideways again in another explosion.
Two ether daggers clamped between one hand's fingers.
If one blade cannot sever it, then use two.
Jin executes the calculation—simple to the point of absurdity.
Two blades sink into the Black Knight’s neck.
The Long Sword reverses its arc.
It spins with a speed beyond belief, slicing through the flank to cleave the Leopard.
Decision made in an instant.
He grants one arm—left.
Pinched between frame and frame, the trajectory forced into a twist.
Reversal completed in 0.5 seconds.
That was enough.
The strike, delivered with two ether daggers, fails to sever the head.
The Black Knight’s left arm slides between the neck and the blade.
The thickness of gauntlet-like armor.
It cuts through the lower arm halfway—then halts.
Why is there an arm here.
He released his grip from the Long Sword, which had severed his left arm halfway through. He understood. But why.
The question filled Jin’s mind.
A second into the future.
The intuition only the Ace who had saved him countless times before possessed.
In an instant, a single thought flashed through his mind like a burst of light.
“You too…”
Could it be the same?
That the Black Knight, like Jin and the other Aces, could see one second ahead.
It was too late now, even as he realized it.
Jin’s finishing blow had already been blocked.
The Black Knight’s right knee struck Leopard’s abdomen with crushing force.
“Gh…!”
After a moment of searing pain, sensation in his right leg faded.
The same feeling he had experienced half a year earlier.
The sensation of his own flesh reduced to minced meat—something he had sworn never to feel again.
Thanks to a drug instantly injected, numbing his pain receptors, he did not lose consciousness from the agony.
He raises his foot once more, aiming to crush the abdomen still retaining its form.
"Never... let you..."
The last remaining weapon.
He draws the Ether Rifle.
He quietly realizes the head—impossible.
Two rounds left. Even piercing the left arm serving as shield, the head beyond remains unattainable.
Ether deflection. This unit masters it.
Then Jin changes his final objective.
"CP. Unlock the airlock on my signal."
At point-blank range, he presses the barrel against the Queen-class right arm’s elbow.
Faster than the opponent can sense his intent, Jin pulls the trigger.
Ether discharged in close contact.
The light, deprived of direction, breaches the Black Knight’s Ether coating and severs the joint beneath.
The rifle flies off. The right arm falls.
Jin catches it with the Leopard’s leg, gently lowering it to the ground like a soccer ball.
The Black Knight, its left hand torn and ragged, reaches for it.
For reasons unknown, this unit is fixated on Mio.
It was clear without needing to rely on instinct—this would draw its attention.
"Now! Open the airlock!"
He shouts.
The airlock responds, opening.
"Ooooh!"
Channeling all the unit’s Ether into mobility, he pushes the Black Knight into the gap created.
Behind it, the emergency bulkhead mounted on the airlock seals shut.
All according to plan.
Just before closure, Mio’s form briefly emerges from the sphere—relief flashes across his face.
After a struggle within the airlock, they break through the outer bulkhead and are ejected into the vacuum together.
And Jin—without the combat package, the unit had lost control.