06 Recovery Operation for Mainship 6

The streets of the urban area are already ruined by stray fire.

Moving by vehicle through them is difficult.

Thus, Sō carries the vehicle like a child, propelling the Leopard forward.

It is not comfortable, but there is nothing to be done about it now.

Mio aims her rifle, blocking Raven’s shot aimed at the back with her shield.

She immediately retreats into the shadow of a building.

Utterly obnoxious.

"...Well, in any case, I can't shoot anyway, so..."

She also wants to suppress the stray fire entering the city.

But more than that—she cannot make up her mind.

The previous shot was aimed at the weapon.

To dodge stray fire while targeting only the weapon requires skill beyond Mio’s ordinary level.

When she thinks of the pilot, imagining him as someone else’s child, her son’s face flickers in her mind.

If it comes to that, there’s no way she can bring it down.

In that sense, May was never suited for the military.

Sometime ago, Kou said.

It was the right choice not to commission her.

She didn’t understand at first—but now she realizes her husband understood her better than she understood herself.

She cannot bring it down.

But she cannot entrust such a task to an untrained guardian either.

Whether she herself is capable of such refinement is highly questionable—but like her brother, her guardian’s talent is exceptionally high.

Perhaps even greater than her brother’s, given age.

She cannot allow someone like him to die here.

That is not all.

Few in the Defense Force have ever fired upon a human target.

In active service, pilots who have never fired at a human are the overwhelming majority.

Yet those rare few who have—uniformly speak of one thing.

The difference between before and after firing—it's something they all speak of.

Many have been unable to continue serving, their minds haunted by that single shot.

I don’t want to see my younger brother become like that.

Logically, placing May in front of the defense would yield the highest success rate—but that is precisely why May cannot choose it. That is her weakness.

“But what can you do?”

Because she wanted to protect others more than herself. That is why May threw herself into training school.

Her resolve remains unchanged, as it always has been.

She deflects another rifle shot with her shield.

Closing the distance steadily.

Naturally, the closer the range, the easier it is to hit.

Do not entertain delusions that range matters little—whether near or far, the outcome is roughly the same.

……Something about Yuriya seems to be growing more inhuman every year.

Distracted by unnecessary thoughts, her footing falters.

She nearly steps on a civilian evacuating—just barely maintains balance.

The opponent did not miss the opening.

Closing the distance in an instant, drawing the ether dagger.

"Close combat... here?!"

Blocking the strike with her shield.

Remaining in a defensive posture would result in being overpowered.

Aware of this, May drew her own ether dagger and countered.

The blade was short—minimizing collateral damage, as much as possible.

Pressing the opponent’s arm down, shielding from above.

The tip of the ether dagger planted in the road began to melt the pavement.

The Leopard unit of May’s mech pierced through the arm gripping it.

The ether transmission system severed—opponent’s arm ceased function.

Good, May thought, giving a small victory gesture in her mind.

One arm disabled. This unit’s firepower halved.

Scanning the area, she spotted the other unit targeting the guardian unit.

"Guard!"

May activates her unit’s jump maneuver while issuing a warning.

Raven, locked in pursuit of the tackle with a shield raised, loses balance—her shot at the guardian is thwarted.

But the cost is high.

May’s unit, completely destabilized, becomes the target of a sniper strike.

She cannot react in time.

Her chest, near the cockpit, is pierced. The arm equipped with the shield ceases function.

“…Bad.”

The shield is quite heavy.

With the shielded arm disabled, she cannot purge the system.

She is now a dead weight.

To stop the attack on the guardian, she has no choice but to use her own body as a shield.

“…Would deflecting the coating withstand two or three shots?”

But no more than that.

She had to decide.

Herself or the other.

Whose life to sacrifice.

She did not want to make such a choice.

Ideally, she would have postponed this indefinitely.

But if forced to choose, the answer is already clear.

A child is waiting to return home.

A husband is waiting to return home.

Firing this weapon will surely change her.

She does not know if she will be able to lift Junpei after returning.

Still.

"Big sister!"

"! Idiot!"

Shu had returned.

The vehicle had been left on a stretch of intact road.

She saw him sprinting toward the communication tower.

He had come to the aid of his adoptive sister in peril.

He knew full well his own inexperience.

Yet he could not stay still.

But to Raven, the identity of the opponent, or how inexperienced he might be, made no difference.

May’s damaged Raven’s rifle was aimed at him.

In response, Shu’s Leopard raised its rifle.

They fired almost simultaneously.

The muzzle of Shu’s rifle trembled. The shot stretched into the void.

Raven’s shot, in contrast, pierced Shu’s rifle with precision.

Shu’s cockpit remained intact only because he executed an immediate evasion.

The sense to anticipate an enemy’s fire at that range was astonishing.

He wanted to take cover, but another unit blocked May.

Frantically, Shu raised his shield to intercept the incoming fire—but the enemy’s second shot would arrive first.

May began to speak.

But her trigger pull would be faster than her breath.

Thus, when the radiant light from above struck Raven’s rifle at that precise moment, comprehension lagged.

A hole carved into the road.

Raven, his rifle shattered, lifted his gaze to the sky.

A new raven descends.

Raven, drawing the ether dagger mid-leap, lands and severs both arms of the opponent before him in a single motion.

Faster than the other could react.

The Raven, severed of both arms and off-balance, is not allowed to retreat—his head is cut clean off, rendering him combat无效.

The original Raven, attempting to restrain May, retreats into the building’s shadow, choosing to regroup.

The intruding Raven swings the ether dagger toward the fleeing figure.

By directly manipulating the dagger’s form, the blade writhes like a serpent, coiling through the shadowed alley to strike the hidden enemy.

The fallen Raven collapses, his head and both arms shattered—destroyed by an attack he cannot comprehend.

May alone knows of one who could perform such a feat.

"Kō!"

"Really you, May? I thought there might be a Leopard somewhere... but it turns out it was you after all..."

The voice returns, slightly puzzled—but it's May who seems more bewildered.

"Why are you here?"

He hasn't heard of Kō being among the three fleets where Jin is stationed.

Given the random overlay, the convoy’s current position should be unknown.

That's why May and the others ran toward the communications tower to transmit the beacon signal.

"...It's a long story. Honestly, even I don't fully grasp how it happened. In any case, when I arrived at the convoy, this is what I found."

"See? I told you it was May."

Uria must have fired a spontaneous counterattack upon seeing the internal combat.

She insisted, without hesitation, that the one fighting there was definitely May.

But without that exterior breach shot, without Kō’s intervention, neither May nor Shō would have survived.

"Already perfect! I'm utterly smitten! Guard! We're getting a nephew or niece!"

"No need to report that!"

"What, you're the guard now... thought I saw some clumsy movement there."

"I haven't even trained a full year yet, so cut me some slack, big brother..."

"Can't wait to hear that excuse on the battlefield."

Regardless, the unexpected had occurred—but the communications tower had been secured.

Now, rescue requests to other squadrons and the mobilization of the remaining fleet were possible.

From the tower, a beacon transmitted.

For an instant only. Longer would risk drawing other ASID units.

Still, that brief moment would be more than enough for the waiting surviving fleet.

With that fact, combat in the vicinity of the squadron entered a new phase.