07 Reclaiming the Mainship 7
"Push them back! Hold this position—reinforcements are coming!"
Jin drives the enemy griffon down, rallying those around him at the front line.
For a single moment, the beacon transmits.
The dispatched fleet will return upon receiving it.
"Surrender! You've lost!"
Dodging through the griffon squad attempting to pin him down, Jin relentlessly shoots down Raven.
Most of the fleet and most of the units, Jin believes, have no connection to Chi.
Indeed, only the cyborg squad and a few ships still maintain morale.
The rest are already crumbling.
Though briefly revived during the battle with ASID, the line has been torn apart by an enemy force far stronger and more organized than standard models.
Yet the cyborg squad holds firm.
Evasion ratio remains even.
The side being pressed shows extraordinary resilience.
A small unit breaking in from the flank smashes through with no regard for endurance.
Identification signal: Third Fleet.
Jin recognizes one unit in particular—especially agile—and lets out a quiet cheer.
“Lieutenant Sasamori! Still alive!”
“Instructor. No, I never doubted it… but you’re moving rather stiffly.”
The imperfect condition of the机体 is immediately apparent.
In contrast, Kou’s unit is fully operational.
No hesitation in its movements.
“Perfect handicap. Anyway, you’re earlier than expected. The beacon just activated.”
“No… that’s not the point. I just heard from May. Mio’s missing.”
“What?”
“I don’t fully understand the situation myself…”
Jin shifts slightly out of formation at those words.
The convoy is closing in significantly.
At this range—Jin checks Mio’s current location from his handheld device.
A function using GPS independent of communication lines.
A feature activated after a major incident of getting lost, though this is the first time he’s used it.
The location indicated—part of Ship One. Near the harbor district, in the warehouse district.
Why would she be there.
The purpose of Chi’s group has become clear.
It aligns closely with Jin’s expectations.
Ah… then it must be.
The very outcome he had hoped would not come true—has come true.
“Did Instructor Sasamori mention anything else?”
Jin asks, switching to an individual channel.
Kou hesitates, glancing away briefly. Then he speaks.
“I think it might be a mistake, but Mio was seen disappearing with a humanoid ASID.”
Ah… a sound like a sigh escapes Jin’s lips.
He had never known he could make such a pitiful sound.
“…You noticed, then.”
He had feared it might be so.
He had prayed it was not true.
Above all, he did not want that gentle girl to know such a harsh reality.
But her disappearance meant she had come to understand what kind of being she was.
He had wanted to end it all before that moment.
Even if he still carried a bomb beside him, he had wanted to prolong this life just a little longer.
That wish was now unattainable.
Then there was only one thing Jin had left to do.
“Sasamori Captain. I leave this to you.”
“Huh?”
Without hesitation, Jin abandoned his duty.
He turned away from the line and headed toward the convoy.
“Ah, wait—Captain! Where are you going!?”
“Nastin Captain. A brief errand!”
He passed Yuriya’s unit in a near-miss maneuver.
Jin watches Raven retreat from the battlefield—his pulse quickens.
If it’s heading toward Ship One, that only intensifies the urgency.
"Wait! Eastiang Jin!"
The griffin closes in from behind.
The ether rifle is caught in a lateral slash.
"Stay out of this!"
"That voice. You’re Chi, right?"
Kou, handed off to Jin with casual ease, obeys without hesitation.
The man he met eight years prior.
That time, too, he’d spoken of the cyborg squadron.
Kou hadn’t expected to meet someone he knew here—yet his grin sharpens.
"Parents don’t let outsiders interfere when they’re picking up their kids."
"You don’t know anything… get out of my way!"
Chi draws the ether dagger, closing in for hand-to-hand—yet the distance is perfectly within Kou’s range.
A martial art that fully exploits the机体's joint structure, twisting even the blade itself.
It cannot be properly defended against on first sight.
Chi's griffin is sliced apart in an instant—each strike tracing a path that never repeats, even for a single moment.
Damage is barely contained to the armor, yet she can no longer track it with her eyes.
"Kou...!"
Chi recognizes the voice, the tone.
A trainee she once shared a barbecue with eight years ago.
She marvels at how much skill he's developed in just eight years.
In the range of close combat, Kou is already—
"Are you saying you're better than Jin?!"
His pride is wounded.
A cybernetically enhanced human is being overpowered by a mere flesh-and-blood opponent.
Despite the superior performance of her machine.
The distance is unfavorable—Chi attempts to create space—only to be forced forward by a sniper shot at that very moment.
A moment's separation, and a sniper round cuts through the air, aimed to intercept.
“What kind of nerve do you have…!? Don’t you fear friendly fire!?”
To fire a sniper shot while rapidly exchanging close-combat positions is beyond reason.
But to Yuriya, such a shot is merely a minor challenge.
An opponent who commits atrocities so brutal they might be called a widow-maker.
After several repetitions, Chi recognizes it is not chance—it is deliberate.
"...Two ace-class pilots, then."
Chi offers a dry smile toward a pilot who surpasses even the cyborg squad.
One irregularity like Shōgō Jin was still tolerable.
But to have such extraordinary aces appear one after another like this—
Why did we carve up our bodies like this?
Frustrating.
We could not obtain what we desired—only by tearing open our own flesh.
How is it they possess it?
A gryphon from the same unit fires a rifle at the Kō unit from the flank, attempting to support Chi, who is being overwhelmed two-to-one.
As the gunfire intensifies, the Kō unit can no longer endure and retreats, maintaining distance with suppressive fire.
The situation is temporarily stabilized, but the battle in this sector is already turning decisively.
Defeat for the Second Fleet.
Acknowledging this, Grace—once commander of the dispatched unit—issues the order.
“…Retreat! Recover supplies at Ship One, then withdraw!”
Originally, this battle was not essential to the Second Fleet—nor, for that matter, to the Laitera Project.
The supplies still exist within Ship One now.
Mio and what could be called her primary body—those two were the reason Ship One could no longer move. They remained here solely because of that.
"Watch your retreat direction. Engage the Third Fleet and the ASID in a pincer!"
As the enemy flanking them shifted sideways, the Third Fleet and the humanoid ASID faced each other directly, colliding their lines.
That was the calculation—chaos would ensue, allowing the Second Fleet to gain significant time for withdrawal. Yet—
"...You're not fighting?"
The humanoid ASID clearly didn't regard the Third Fleet as a threat.
Ignoring the ally beside it, it pursued only the Second Fleet.
"What is this?"
On the Third Fleet's side—some had even aimed their weapons.
But before the Raven, acting with normal reflexes, another unit stood in the way.
"That unit... it came later..."
Grace’s thoughts were cut short.
The obsidian single-eye ASID, pressing forward with overwhelming force, was already overwhelmed just holding off the Black Knight’s slash.
“Hmph... This isn’t even comparable to simulator drills!”
Even against Jin, who had prepared thoroughly, the advantage could not be secured.
The existence of Chi’s next-generation ace, engaged in combat.
The battle with the Third Fleet had been anticipated.
Yet despite all preparations, the outcome remained disastrous.
“But I’ve achieved the minimum objective.”
Grace smiles, halting the Black Knight’s forced advance through the unit, aiming for Ship 1.
Victory was not required.
A decisive defeat had to be avoided, but a minor loss was acceptable within the plan.
“The time is already past. Jin.”
The counter displayed in the cockpit’s corner.
The value had already reached zero.