Chase 4: Shadow Flare
I was taken to the third level of Arg by a military police A.T. After leaving the arena on the second level, we descended to the third level using the elevator in the main tower. The military police A.T. “Wheel Dog” led me down a straight street from the elevator exit on the third level, stopping in front of a circular building where the street turned into a three-way intersection.
The building, with its gentle slope, was clearly not military police headquarters. A large, all-glass door slid open, and as I entered with guns pointed at me by military police officers dismounting from their A.T.s, the familiar smell of machine oil wafted from the end of the hallway.
I instinctively understood. This was a battling arena.
After passing through a straight corridor, I was taken at gunpoint to the president’s office. The room’s interior could only be described as gaudy. The fabric walls and the chandelier, roughly a meter in diameter, hanging from the ceiling — containing no less than 100 light bulbs — gave the impression of a rising elite living in ultimate luxury. No one would look at this room and assume it was a workplace.
At the end of the room was a wide, frosted glass panel. At the front of it, a heavyset man sat with his hands clasped under his chin at a wood-grain desk. His bald head still had a fine layer of hair. Judging by the numerous framed medals on display, there was no doubt this man, presumably the president, was a military officer.
And on a plush, buttoned sofa in the room’s center, Ronni sat with a smug look on his face.
“Ronni, what’s going on here?”
I remained calm. After all, I was being held at gunpoint, so I couldn’t yell.
“I wanted to team up with you and make some money,” Ronni said calmly, then stood up. “Okay, Kain…the highest bounty in Arg is on the third floor. The quality of the customers is good, too.”
“What about Covarn?” I asked. “You seemed to really like Covarn.”
Ronni frowned. “Covarn!? He’s a good, honest person, but he’s really bad at making money. Sometimes he even does it for free. It’s just ridiculous. He paid the prize money for your matches out of his own pocket.”
“You’re such a rotten woman…” I muttered, and Ronni smiled.
“That’s how it is these days. You can’t survive on anything less. It’s really hard to make it as a woman on your own, after all. You’re a man, so you probably wouldn’t understand.” She said the last part sarcastically.
“That’s why,” Ronni continued. “I need a guy like you to help me. Work for me. You used me when you came to this planet. Now it’s my turn to make a profit.”
But I ignored her and said, “Where did you put my A.T.?”
“It’s here. You’ll be fighting on this floor as my Votoms pilot.” Ronni said casually.
“So I’ve been set up, huh…” I was thrown.
“But I promised that the match would take place on this floor.”
The chairman looked up from the documents in front of him, removed his glasses, and stood up. “That won’t work, Ronni. We can’t use this man as a commodity.”
“Wait a minute,” Ronni yelled. “That’s not what we agreed on! You said you’d use a good Votoms pilot from the upper levels if we brought one down here!”
“I definitely said that.” The chairman readily admitted.
“Besides,” Ronni continued, “You said you’d let me take charge if I brought you a good Votoms pilot.”
“That’s true, I said that.” He walked away from the desk. It wasn’t just his face that was fat; his body was just as bloated.
“But,” he said, glaring menacingly at Ronni, or rather at me, who was standing behind her, “I think you brought the wrong man. He’s the Blue Knight.”
“So what?” Ronni asked, her tone sharp as she pointed at him. “As long as he’s strong, that’s fine, right? You were the one making a big fuss about how you’d lose all your Votoms pilots if you didn’t bring in strong ones.”
But the director remained calm.
“It’s true that this level uses clever people like you to attract Votoms pilots. I, like you, smell the promise of the Blue Knight. But he can no longer be used on this level.”
“Why?! Tell me why!” Ronni yelled, raising her eyebrows. “If there’s no good reason, I’ll mobilize the military police surrounding this man, Director.”
Ronni thought she was being intimidating, but it had no effect on the Director.
“The military police? You think those men were acting on your orders?”
“What?”
“Those men were acting on the arena’s orders. ‘Bring me a skilled Votoms pilot from the second level.'”
Ronni gritted her teeth. “You tricked me!”
“No, that’s not it. Those military police didn’t know we couldn’t use this man, either.”
“So, what’s the reason?”
“I just received an order from the Black A.T.,” he said with a resigned look on his face, and showed a document on his desk. “Don’t use him.”
“From the Black A.T.?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Chairman, yesterday you said, ‘If Kain fights Radolf, he’ll definitely end up fighting the Black A.T. and get killed.’ Didn’t you pull him down to this level during his match with Radolf?”
Ronni opened her mouth to protest, but the Chairman spoke calmly.
“The Black A.T.’s power is absolute on this level. If we defy it, we won’t be able to conduct battling in this arena.”
“I still refuse!” Ronni yelled. “Absolutely not! I’ll be a matchmaker for the Blue Knight. What’s so special about the Black A.T.?”
“If we let him live, all your efforts to become a matchmaker will be wasted,” he answered, admonishing her. “There are still plenty of Votoms pilots out there. For now, you should think about your own safety.”
“Then I’ll leave this town,” Ronni shouted. “I know what he’ll do. If he can’t beat the Black A.T. in a match, he’ll do whatever it takes to get revenge. It probably won’t be battling any more. It’ll be war. If things go wrong, the whole town could be wiped out, and that might suit him just fine. The odds of dying are different when it’s one-on-one. That’s why we need a matchmaker. A sharp-witted matchmaker. Isn’t that right, Kain?”
The chairman’s voice interrupted Ronni. “Take that woman away!”
One of the military officers approached her.
“You old bastard! If you touch my merchandise, you’ll pay for it!”
The military police officer grabbed her as she was screaming wildly, and threw her out the door. The sound of her kicking the door continued for a while, then stopped.
The chairman began to speak to me. “So…are you the Blue Knight?”
The gentle demeanor he’d had while speaking with Ronni was gone. His tone had become cold and steely.
“I heard you defeated Radolf on the second level.”
“When did you hear that?” I asked in a low tone. It hadn’t even been an hour since I’d fought Radolf.
He brushed me off. “That’s irrelevant. You seem quite capable, but the Black A.T. has ordered me to kill you.”
I gritted my teeth. The man before me was undoubtedly connected to that Black A.T. in some way. I felt the urge to leap at him and make him confess, but the men around me, guns drawn, wouldn’t allow it.
“Now’s the perfect time. I’ll give you a place to die, worthy of a Votoms pilot.”
With that, he called his subordinate over the intercom.
With a soft knock on the door, a door at the back opened and two men appeared. I strained all my senses, searching for an opening. But it was hopeless. The men switched places with the military police and pointed their guns at me.
“Take him away,” the chairman ordered, his jaw almost fused with his neck, and the two men simultaneously jabbed at me with their guns. I felt as if I was being forced out of the room and led down a brightly lit corridor lined with thick carpet.
After walking about 150 meters, we turned to a side street on the right, and the carpet suddenly disappeared. The corridor wall was made of steel plates. After walking about 10 meters, I came across a heavy-looking door with multiple rivets at the end. One of the men slowly turned the silver handle, and the door creaked open like a sliding door.
Inside the brand-new room stood a single A.T., and a man sat next to it.
The man was wearing only military pressure suit pants and was completely bare from the waist up. His ribs jutted out from his chest, and his heartbeat was clearly visible through his thin skin. Despite this, his round, gleaming eyes emitted a sharp, piercing light.
“W…where am I!?” The words escaped my mouth.
One of the men holding a gun spoke. “This is the waiting room. You’re about to start battling. You’ll be killed along with that man.”
“Use the dog-type next to you.”
Before he finished his sentence, a strong shock from behind knocked me forward. I’d been kicked in the back by the men pointing their guns at me. At the same time, I heard the heavy sound of the door closing behind me.
“What did you do to get arrested?” the man sitting there muttered softly. It was a dry, husky voice.
I turned toward him. However, my vision was pulled not by the man, but by the A.T. in landing position next to him.
The overall silhouette, like that of a tortoise-type A.T., featured a softly curved chest hatch, but subtle modifications, such as the shoulder armor plating, the emphasized the wedge line. Furthermore, the triple lens on its face was integrated into a wedge-shaped head separate from the fuselage, with U-shaped roll bars on either side.
“Rising Tortoise…!? Why are you using this A.T.?” I asked the man in surprise.
It was a custom A.T. from the team of Mima Sencutter, the wandering matchmaker. Mima must have only arrived at Arg a few days ago. There’s no way such an A.T. would have descended to this third level.
“Do you know this A.T.?” the man asked, sounding surprised. “How did you hear about it?”
“Yeah, a guy named Mima kept telling me to try riding it.”
“Mima?” the man started, startled. “You mean Lieutenant Colonel Mima?”
“Lieutenant Colonel? Is he still active? I thought he didn’t look like much of a Votoms pilot…”
“I see,” the man said with a smile. “So you’re the Blue Knight, Kain McDougal.”
I looked at him skeptically. “You know a lot about this.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Mima’s been looking all over for you,” the man said. “My name is Kevec. I work for him.”
“You’re a subordinate? So that A.T. belongs to the military?”
“It hasn’t been officially adopted yet, but it’s tentatively called ATH-16. It’s a new model.”
“Why is it being used in battling?” I asked.
“It’s a combat test. Nowadays, all the skilled Votoms pilots have moved on to battling. That’s why we’re here collecting close combat data.”
“I see…”
Kevec took out two mission discs from next to the A.T.’s disc driver. “Please give these to the Lieutenant Colonel. They contain data on the Rising Tortoise and the secrets of the Black A.T.”
“The secrets of the Black A.T.?” I asked.
“That’s right. I was originally a spy who infiltrated this city to protect the secrets of the Black A.T. They — the group we call the Paranormal Society — have incredible A.T. technology in development. Their goal is to steal it and use it in the new FX-grade models. But I’ve been captured and they’re trying to kill me. What’s more, I can’t even contact headquarters. So I’d like to ask you for this favor.”
“I see. I get it. This disc contains his information. But you’ve managed to keep it hidden for so long.”
“It was confiscated once, but the information is cleverly hidden in the exercise program on the mission disc. Unless they know the combination of the special code and program number, they won’t know. They’ve given it back to me for today’s match.”
I took the two discs and shoved them into my right breast pocket. “With an A.T., we might be able to escape this arena. You don’t need the disc, do you?”
“I have a copy. But I can’t escape. Look at my body. I was thrown into a sensory deprivation chamber for five days without food or water.” Kevec spat this out through his parched lips.
Sensory deprivation chambers were used by space combat units during the Hundred Years’ War to train for the loneliness of space. They say humans go insane if trapped in silent space for two or three days. Even with extensive training, four days is the limit. Kevec managed to survive five days, a testament to his incredible mental strength.
But as he stood up to enter the cockpit of the Rising Tortoise, his steps were unsteady. Just as Kevec started up his A.T., the buzzer suddenly sounded, signaling the entry of the contestants.
I opened the hatch of the dog-type A.T. that was crouched next to Rising Tortoise. Along with the smell of machine oil, a pungent odor wafted from the cockpit. The machine looked extremely old.
I got into the cockpit and started it up. As I tried to move it, I could feel the wear and tear. There was something strange and unnatural about walking. Perhaps a malfunction in the leg balancers was causing the machine to try to collapse outward. What’s more, the combat information that should have been displayed on the goggles wasn’t there.
I opened the disc driver. The mission disc was fully seated in the slit. The monitor scope lens was also working properly. It was just that the machine was old.
The heavy machine gun worked — or so I thought, but only after the first shot. From the second shot onward, it was just blanks. This A.T. was truly a coffin.
But I had to win this battle and escape alive. I would hate to be killed by the Black A.T.’s minions. Plus, I’d just gotten my hands on a computer disc said to contain the Black A.T.’s secrets. Using this, I might be able to convince the Black A.T. to challenge me to a fight, regardless of Radolf.
Suddenly, an arena door opened, and guards with guns rushed in.
“Get out to the ring now!” they shouted, and one of them pressed a switch on the wall.
A section of the wall slid open with a dull thud, revealing an arena before my eyes. It was an oval ring, measuring at least 100 meters in diameter. Metal partitions were scattered throughout. The seating area was elevated from the perimeter, and a lattice-like fence protected the spectators. While it couldn’t guard them from bullets, it offered protection from an A.T.’s fierce attacks.
The people peering into the ring through the fence appeared to be somewhat upper-class. They were shouting, but no vulgar jeers or insults were coming.
I closed the hatch and walked my machine to the center of the ring, keeping an eye on my surroundings. Sure enough, I could see at least eight two-tone blue and white military police A.T. Wheel Dogs lurking around the ring. They were there in case we were to escape — but that’s not all, they also meant to intimidate us.
At the same time, I check for escape exits. Four A.T. passageways, aligned with the ring’s long and short diameters, opened wide. Above the entrances were four-meter square signs labeled A, B, C, and D.
The service entrance directly in front of me was A, and it looked like a partition covered the entire opening. A would be the best option for a covert escape. If I wanted to seize a moment’s opportunity, D, diagonally forward and to the left, would be the best. There were no partitions within a 10-meter radius of the opening. I decided to use either passage A or D to escape.
Also, considering the worst-case scenario for escape, I had to keep in mind the possibility of using Kevec’s Rising Tortoise as a decoy. After all, the enemy used firearms. However, my A.T.’s heavy machine gun has been tampered with, and it was old. The only weapons it could actually use were arm punches and “pile guns,” directional hooks attached to its legs. In close combat, a nearly obsolete A.T. could even beat a new one, depending on a pilot’s skill. However, when it came to a gunfight, the performance difference in even a single sensor could be a major deciding factor.
Whatever the case, getting out alive was my top priority.
But suddenly, escaping became secondary for me. That’s when Kevec’s A.T. and I arrived at the center of the ring almost at the same time.
Of the three A.T.s waiting in the center of the ring with their hatches open, the only one with a slimy sheen emanating from its entire body was a black Mid-class dog-type A.T. called a Strongbox. Its ring name was Dark Ox. Inside the cockpit, I spotted a man with a malicious grin plastered on his face.
His name was Oura Nigada. He was the man who’d been the Shadow Flare’s partner when Sha Bak was killed. He had tied up Sha Bak’s machine with wire. If he hadn’t dragged Sha Bak out of the cockpit, at least his body would have remained. The moment I saw his face, the blood that had been quietly flowing through my body began to burn hot. He was just a man employed by the Black A.T., but he was undoubtedly Sha Bak’s sworn enemy, whom I had been pursuing for six months.
“Nigada! A bastard like you in a place like this!” I roared into the microphone.
“What did I say back then?” Nigada growled menacingly over the radio. “You forgot the mercy I showed you by not killing you. I’ll finish you off with my own hands.”
At that moment, a thunderous roar erupted from the heavy machine gun in his A.T.’s hand. Bullets fired continuously for two seconds. They blew off the heads of the men peering into the ring on the other side of the arena’s fence, one after another. A red swath of blood stretched in a straight line along the wall of the building.
“I hate guys like that,” Nigada roared, laughing loudly. “You’re one of them.”
At the same time Nigada spoke, box pointed the muzzle of its heavy machine gun at me. Smoke was still billowing from it. It seemed the ringing of the bell had no effect on him now. Nigada grinned and closed the hatch. A heavy thud echoed.
When I fired the heavy machine gun I held in my hands at the box, the box’s gun barrel also erupted in flames. With a deafening roar, the heavy machine gun flew through the air and shattered into pieces. In that instant, I slammed the accelerator pedal into a roller dash toward the left side of the box. Acceleration was extremely slow.
The upper half of the box rotated at the waist, tracking my machine. The barrel of the heavy machine gun, held firmly in both arms, moved in sync with the rotation of its upper body. Fire erupted from the muzzle again. But a split second earlier, I slid behind a partition about three meters behind the box.
The partition was a single metal slab about five centimeters thick. It was about two meters wide and over three meters high. They varied in size, but the one I used to hide my machine was a large one, measuring over five meters in both length and width. Ahead of me, Kevec’s A.T. was engaging two A.T.s: a Mid-class dog type and a Heavy-class ST Tortoise.
A gunfight ensued at some distance. The large triple-barreled bazooka held by Kevec’s A.T. fired from the tip of its barrel with a thunderous roar, the resulting shockwave shaking a partition about five meters away.
At that moment, the shrill sound of a siren signaling the start of the match finally rang out throughout the arena. The high-pitched screech of the A.T.’s gliding wheels cut through the siren and approached.
Suddenly, the box slipped through the gap between two partitions and appeared right in front of my machine. In an instant, I stepped on the accelerator pedal. The machine began a roller dash. In the monitor, the box rapidly approached.
“You idiot!”
I quickly raised my A.T.’s right arm and slammed it down, aiming at the heavy machine gun in the hand of the box that was passing in front of me. But at that moment, the box thrust out its left fist. The top of the fist opened up, and a wire was ejected. I felt a downward-pulling vibration in the cockpit. It seemed as if the box’s wire had wrapped around the head of my A.T.
The box stopped, and as I pulled my left arm toward my chest, the A.T.’s feet slipped and it lost balance. No matter how hard I pressed on the accelerator, its legs wouldn’t function and it wouldn’t push off. My A.T. completely lost its balance and fell forward. A vibration slammed into the cockpit.
“You’re an idiot!” Nigada roared. “You’ve been captured in this city — no, your fate was sealed from the moment you met me. You’re going to die!”
I could hear Nigada’s fearless laughter. I raised my machine. The box readjusted its heavy machine gun forward, aiming at me, sitting in the cockpit.
Nigada’s confident voice came in. “This is the end…”
But with a dull bang, the box disappeared from the monitor. Kevec’s A.T. had rammed into it.
“Don’t touch him, I’ll take him down myself!” I yelled into the comm.
Kevec’s voice came over the comm. “But you must survive.” He didn’t sound strong, but he was full of determination.
At that moment, the box rose and grabbed Kevec’s bazooka barrel and the Rising Tortoise’s armor-plated left shoulder, and pushed it upward. The bazooka’s barrel pointed straight up and exploded. Part of the ceiling structure fell.
On a scale, the Tortoise is a Heavy-class A.T., while the Box is a Mid-class, but in terms of weight and power, the Box wins. The Tortoise’s feet began to slide.
“Kevec, get away from that thing!” I shouted, righting my machine.
At that moment, the Scopedog, holding its heavy machine gun at hip level, suddenly approached from the front. Sparks were flying at its feet from the rotation of the gliding wheels.
Just ten meters away, the muzzle of its heavy machine gun fired. I quickly turned my machine sideways. The Scopedog, traveling at high speed, passed just 50 cm in front of me. I moved directly beside the Scopedog. The machine swayed violently from side to side.
The Scopedog lost its balance during the roller dash, toppled over, and my A.T. was dragged down along with it. But at that moment, my A.T.’s right arm snatched the heavy machine gun that had fallen from the dog’s hand — either way, the pilot was likely a minion of the Black A.T. — and without hesitation, hit the trigger on the control stick.
At the same time, the A.T.’s finger pulled the trigger of the heavy machine gun. A bullet fired with a roar from the muzzle, ripping the Scopedog’s cockpit to shreds. The dog shuddered and exploded. I switched the monitor’s view to Kevec’s A.T.
The monitor showed Kevec shaking off both of box’s arms and, with a single swing of its steel left arm, throwing box’s machine aside. Next, Kevec’s A.T. fired the triple bazooka at an ST Tortoise hiding behind a partition! With a five-second gap between them, the shells were fired above, left, and right. The three shells collided into the partition, sounding like a single, eardrum-shattering roar. The ST Tortoise was pushed back by about three meters.
Kevec’s A.T. fired another bazooka round. The shells struck the ST Tortoise’s head, hitting the triple sensor without missing. The ST Tortoise exploded, sending a pillar of fire shooting up from its head. The flames spread from its head to its chest and lower body, and in a flash of light, the ST Tortoise vanished.
At that moment, Nigada’s box crept up behind Kevec’s A.T. I aimed my heavy machine gun at the box’s feet and fired a barrage. Bullets lashed at its feet. For a moment, the box hesitated and stopped.
“Nigada, you’re fighting me!” I shouted into the microphone.
That’s when it happened. Suddenly, the heavy machine gun I was holding exploded, and at the same time, the barrel of Kevec’s A.T.’s triple-barreled bazooka was ripped off its base and sent flying. It appeared to be sniping from a military or police A.T. lurking nearby. What a clever move, I thought to myself.
Two images appeared on the monitor. One was Nigada’s box, sparks flying from its feet, rapidly approaching in a roller dash. The other was the sudden appearance of two tortoise-type A.T.s behind Kevec’s A.T., near Passage B.
“Kevec, behind you!” I shouted.
But Kevec didn’t seem to hear me. In the monitor, Kevec’s A.T. collapsed. It had been rammed by two A.T.s from behind.
At that moment, I felt a tremendous impact from above. Nigada’s box had rapidly approached, ripped out a partition, and slammed it down onto my A.T.
Nigada’s voice came through. “I’m really going to finish you off,”
The box raised the partition again. This time, facing the side. It was the smallest type, measuring three meters long and two meters wide, but it was basically made of the same metal as an A.T.’s armor plating.
In that moment, I pressed down on the accelerator pedal. The gliding wheels roared at high speed, and the machine began to move.
“Avenge Sha Bak!” I roared and tilted my right control arm forward. My right arm pointed toward box.
At the same time, Box it swing the partition down. I hit the red trigger on the control stick with my thumb. In an instant, a jolt ran from the right side of the cockpit. It was the impact of an arm punch. But there was no resistance from the control stick. The arm punch had hit the partition and knocked me back.
Overheated steam billowing from every joint, Kevec’s Rising Tortoise charged forward, sparks flying from its feet.
“Blue Knight! Run!” Kevec’s voice came through the speaker.
Rising Tortoise lunged at box’s shoulder. Then, a horrifying, high-pitched sound like the surface of glass being scratched continued for about two seconds, and the two A.T.s crashed into the spectator fence, tangled together.
“Get out of here, Blue Knight! Fast!”
I turned the monitor in the direction of Rising Tortoise and saw two enemy A.T.s rolled over. Both their heads had been ripped off. This was undoubtedly the highly advanced “head out” technique used in real battle.
I yelled back over the radio. “You’ve got such great skills, why don’t you get out of here yourself? I have something I need to do. You run!”
“Your great skills are thanks to the A.T.’s performance.” Kevec’s voice came from the tortoise, which was struggling with the box and spewing steam from its entire body.
I moved my damaged A.T., which had lost its right arm, to the side of the two A.T.s.
“Kevec, get away from that A.T.! It’s my prey!”
Kevec’s distressed voice answered. “Kain, these guys are forcing me to give up data on a new A.T.! I can’t go back to the military like this. I gave you a gift. Information on the Black A.T. You’re a former soldier, too. Don’t make me look any worse.”
Kevec’s unwavering determination was clear on the other end of the speaker.
At that moment, I felt a chill run down my spine as a voice interrupted. Kevec and Nigada must have felt the same shock, since their A.T.s also paused their movements for an instant. The voice was expressionless, yet held a menacing presence that sent shivers down my spine. The voice was definitely not Kevec or Nigada, but a third man!
“Kill those two.” That was all he said.
“Understood, Shadow Flare.”
Shadow Flare. He was finally here!
“Start with the spy.”
Box, with its back to the fence, slid its right elbow into the Rising Tortoise’s abdomen. However, the Tortoise didn’t react. It seemed its muscle cylinders had completely overheated.
“Kain, make sure you give the lieutenant colonel the disc!” Kevec’s shout rang out, and box’s right arm stretched out sharply.
“Aaargh…”
Box’s arm punch pierced the armor plate on Tortoise’s abdomen, crushing Kevec’s body inside.
“Kevec!” I shouted.
The voice of the man Nigada called Shadow Flare rang out again. “Kill him, too.”
At the same time, an explosion occurred behind me. The Rising Tortoise’s overheated muscle cylinders must have caused the surrounding equipment to explode.
Box aimed its heavy machine gun at my A.T.
Nigada’s voice came through the comm. “This time, I’ll make sure you really die.”
“Die? I won’t die until I kill you all. Never!”
“You fool…”
The muzzle of box’s heavy machine gun fired. A thunderous roar echoed, and the surrounding ground shattered into pieces.
“Are you threatening me?” I asked mockingly.
“You’ve been spying on us for half a year. You’ll enjoy the rest of your time in the afterlife, as payment for that.”
Nigada grinned from the cockpit of the box. Or so I thought. Before he could finish his sentence, the muzzle of a heavy machine gun fired.
I could feel the impact of provocative fire coming from the right side of the cockpit. Reflexively, I hid my machine behind a partition. Another warning attack.
“Hmm, hiding, are you? For someone so obsessed with revenge, you’re acting like an child.”
I could imagine Nigada’s sarcastic face on the other end of the radio. His mouth twitching, his eyes darting.
“Come out, Blue Knight.”
I gritted my teeth. Even if he told me to come out, there was no way I could. After all, I was completely unarmed. There was no chance of winning a direct battle against an A.T. equipped with heavy weaponry. I operated the monitor, searching for the firearms from the A.T.s that Kevec had defeated. But the partitions blocked my way, making it nearly impossible to retrieve them without being detected.
Nigada, growing impatient, began roaring through the radio.
“Come out from behind that partition! You’re trying to get revenge and you won’t even show yourself in front of me?”
The box’s heavy machine gun fired a warning shot toward the sky.
Nigada continued angrily. “Or are you gonna run away, you coward? Then stop chasing us and change that ring name of yours!”
He was spouting off all he wanted. But to defeat him, I needed a weapon more reliable than arm punches. I had to desperately suppress my rising rage and devise a plan for a counterattack. But Nigada continued to yell at me, becoming increasingly arrogant.
“Blue Knight, are you a coward like that failed Quentian? He was a Votoms pilot, but he was afraid of battle. He didn’t even have the will to fight us.”
The moment those words hit me, rage coursed through my body. There’s a line a man can’t cross. They defiled my friend, and denied my very existence since the ceasefire. As my blood roared, I pressed down on the accelerator pedal, launching from behind the partition.
I charged straight toward the front of the box. The accelerator pedal remained on the floor. The gliding wheels sucked in maximum energy, accelerating the machine. I could see the box right in front of me, only 10 meters away. In an instant, its heavy machine gun fired with a roar.
I quickly raised both arms of the machine and clasped them together to protect the head sensor. Then, I tilted the machine slightly forward. I felt the impact of the heavy bullets hitting both sides of the cockpit. But not from the front.
On the monitor, I could see the A.T.’s arms, which looked like interlocking steel beams, and the box itself through the small gap between them.
“Do you think you can keep it up like that forever?” Nigada shouted confidently.
One after another, bullets pierced my machine’s legs and its left arm, which was held out in front. The gliding wheels began to spin, and the machine began to slide under the pressure of the heavy machine gun’s bullets. I thrust the pile guns on the A.T.’s ankles into the ground. But that was pointless, since it only scratched the surface.
Bullets continued to fire from the box, seemingly endlessly. Amid the hail of gunfire, I slowly, step by step, moved my machine closer to the box.
The impact of a gunshot reverberated through the cockpit from the right. It seemed the armor plate had been shattered. But in this position, there was no way the generator could be hit directly. The only way to win was to close in and use the right arm punch, the only limb still functioning.
Rage dominated my entire body. “Strike the enemy before you.” The words I’d always heard in the military echoed repeatedly within me. Suddenly, white smoke began to billow from the left console. The muscle cylinder on the left side of the machine must have overheated. Was this machine at its limit?
“Is this how my revenge will end?” I groaned from inside the cockpit.
Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. The heavy machine gun had run out of ammunition. In the monitor, box was removing the magazine.
“Now!”
I made a furious dash forward. Box dropped his heavy machine gun and made a roller dash. The machine closed in.
I hit the red trigger on the control stick. My surviving right arm emerged from behind my left arm and thrust out. At the same time, there was a flash of light around my elbow, and it extended sharply toward Box’s head. I felt a dull impact from the right. But it wasn’t the sensation of an arm punch. Box had turned and grabbed my machine’s right arm.
I heard Nigada’s voice. “Your final resistance was in vain, it seems.” And at the same time, box ripped off my machine’s right arm.
With a sound like the creaking of rusty hinges, the arm disappeared along with the cockpit wall. A loud roar rang out.
The triple scope lens on the head of the box peered into the cockpit. My instrument lights reflected off the lens. At that moment, box lurched to the right, as if it had been deflected by something. Gunfire.
I reflexively looked in the direction the bullet had come from. The passenger holding area. In a service entrance near the lower row of seats was a blue A.T. Berserga. It was holding a heavy machine gun.
Berserga jumped into the ring and made a furious roller dash toward the box, about five meters! It slammed into Box as it tried to stand up, and grabbed it, bringing the machine down. Berserga’s hatch opened. The pilot jumped out of the cockpit, taking off their helmet. The pilot was Ronni.
“Get in this one, Kain!”
I jumped out of the dog and, using the arms of the box as a foothold, climbed into Berserga’s cockpit.
“This A.T. is tricky to use,” Ronni said, handing me the helmet.
“Why’d you bring Berserga?” I briefly asked.
“I told you, I’d make your matchmaker. I won’t let them kill you. Besides, the match is still on. No one’s gonna say anything if you switch to that one. It’s gonna be exciting. Get ready!”
With that, Ronni dashed toward the audience.
At that moment, the military police A.T.s that had been hiding there stood up. Each unit aimed their guns at Ronni.
Nigada’s voice rang out. “Wait! Killing that woman isn’t worth a penny. And she’s right. The battling isn’t over yet.”
The Strongbox shook and rose to its feet, pushing Berserga aside. The box shook itself defiantly.
“Now the real battle begins. I’ll destroy you and that A.T., Blue Knight.”
“Interesting,” I answered. “But you’re the one who’ll be looking into hell.”
I put on my helmet, closed the hatch, and lifted Berserga to its feet.
At the same time Ronni jumped out of the auditorium, the military police A.T.s turned around and aimed their guns toward me and Nigada. But the box raised its hand.
“You think I’d be defeated by a guy like this?” Nigada said to the military police.
“Roger, Captain.”
As the voice replied, the military police A.T.s lowered their guns. It was unlikely that Nigada was a military police officer. However, this organization, made up of army outcasts, was extremely strict about hierarchical relationships. That’s why Nigada’s orders were accepted.
“You’ve got your A.T. now,” Nigada said. “Let’s settle this once and for all.”
I moved Berserga back, putting about 10 meters between us.
“Yeah. Let’s go!”
Box, held its gun at hip level. Sparks flew from its feet. It charged toward Berserga.
I pressed down on the accelerator. The gliding wheels roared, and the machine began to accelerate. It was heart-stopping, on a completely different level from the used dog I’d just lost. No, more than that, my entire body was enveloped in the confidence that only a weapon I was familiar with could bestow.
I heard Nigada’s voice. “This is your final farewell. Explode as clean as possible.”
The machine thrust both arms forward and approached at high speed.
I pressed down harder on the pedal. The machine creaked slightly and began to accelerate rapidly. At the same time, I switched the monitor lens, which I’d been using at wide-angle to monitor the military police A.T., to standard. Only Box’s black machine was displayed on the monitor. A standard lens makes it easier to intuitively identify the enemy.
Box’s head was displayed on the monitor. Relative distance, approximately two meters.
I tilted left and forward, and pushed down hard on the wheel axle. Berserga began to slide sharply to the right of the box. The scope lens on the box moved as if tracking me. No, it wasn’t just the lens; the entire machine was sliding sideways as well.
“Idiot!” Nigada shouted. “You’re using the same tactics as the Quentian!”
“Shut up!” I shouted, pulling up on the lever in my left hand with all my might. It was the landing lever. I felt the cockpit sink.
At the same time, the image on the monitor changed to show the machine being lowered.
“That’s stupid! You’re out of your mind!” Nigada yelled.
I used the landing gear to send the machine sliding sideways and sink. The box’s arm punch cut through the air above my machine. At that moment, I let go of the lever. It instantly returned to its original position — and I felt a slight G-force in my stomach and a shock from the machine’s left arm.
Berserga’s deadly weapon, the pile bunker, pierced the box’s abdomen. However, because I’d fired from a low position, the spear only passed very shallowly along the armor plating. It wasn’t a fatal blow to the A.T. If I’d been lucky, it would have impaled the pilot, but I couldn’t hope for that.
I pulled the pile bunker’s lever again, returning the spear to its original position.
The box, which had gone motionless, began to move unsteadily as if released from a spell, and fell onto its back. I used Berserga’s leg to kick up under the Box’s cockpit. The impact caused its hatch to jump up. Inside, Nigada was groaning and clutching his reddened left shoulder. The pile bunker had gouged him.
“He’s not dead yet.”
I thrust the A.T.’s left arm into the box’s exposed cockpit and grabbed Nigada.
“Now you’re about to see hell,” I said coldly. Nigada was already suffering from blood loss, his face pale and panting.
“Sha Bak’s sworn enemy! Die!”
I slammed the left hand, holding Nigada, against the closest partition wall with an arm punch. I heard the sound of flesh popping. His body was torn to pieces. Blood sprayed everywhere, and Berserga’s arm was so red it was no longer fitting for the Blue Knight.
Oura Nigada was dead. But to me, it wasn’t even one-tenth of my goal of avenging Sha Bak.
I brought Berserga closer to the box. The secret to their strength must be hidden within this machine. If I combined it with the mission disc I received from Kevec, I’d be able to capture the Black A.T.’s true form.
Just as I reached Berserga’s hand into the box’s hatch, its body was torn apart by fierce gunfire. Both arms were blown off, polymer Ringer’s liquid splattered everywhere, and the cockpit hatch was deformed.
I quickly pulled Berserga away and shifted my gaze. In an instant, the figure of the Black A.T. leaped into my eyes. It had a vertical camera eye, and an iron claw attached to its left arm. It was standing near the exit of the passage marked with a large A, its large-caliber machine gun at the ready.
“You’ve finally arrived, Shadow Flare!” I screamed and pressed down on the accelerator pedal.
But at that moment, dozens of military police A.T. Wheel Dogs rose up around me. They glided along, sparks occasionally flying from their legs. They were a highly trained unit. Before I could move closer to the Shadow Flare, they had Berserga surrounded. Two or three more were also near the Black A.T.
They were armed with electric shock rods and heavy machine guns. I would be no match for a simultaneous barrage. My only option was to engage them in close combat.
I attached my heavy machine gun to my waist and dashed forward. Two of them were closing in on me. Both units assumed arm punch positions.
I used both Berserga’s arms to block them, and aimed my returning fists at their heads. At the same time, I activated both arm punches. My iron fists sunk into the heads of the two units in front of me without missing a beat. Losing their sight, both units lost their heads and retreated.
The rear surveillance sensor signaled the approach of another A.T. Berserga’s head rotated 180 degrees and locked onto the enemy. It raised its electric rod and approached with a roller dash. I rotated both gliding wheels on my legs in opposite directions and aimed toward it.
The rod swung down. But I wasn’t going to be defeated like before. I blocked the rod with my shield. The electricity wasn’t transmitted. With a swift arm punch from my right arm, I flipped the A.T. over.
The Wheel Dogs surrounding me scattered. In their place, a unit equipped with a heavy machine gun stepped forward. This was bad! I raised the shield on my left shoulder and roller dashed.
The three or four units in front of me opened fire. A considerable number of bullets converged on Berserga. However, most of the bullets hit the shield and bulletproof plates on its legs, ricocheting off other parts and preventing fatal damage. However, a gut-wrenching roar filled the cockpit.
Berserga roller dashed and slammed into one of the A.T.s. The nine-ton mass of iron struck with the momentum of 40 kilometers per hour. The opposing pilot suffered an enormous impact. The Wheel Dog was thrown several meters and slammed into the ground. Berserga lost the momentum it had gained.
My idea that using the fallen A.T. as a shield would prevent the others from firing was naive. They were firing, concentrated on Berserga. Stray bullets hit the fallen A.T. several times. An explosion! Are you trying to kill me even at the expense of your ally?
I grabbed the heavy machine gun from my waist. Unless I charged desperately, I’d never reach the Shadow Flare. I fired indiscriminately. I could feel the rapid fire of bullets through the control stick. The roar continued for about three seconds, and the two Wheel Dogs in front of me, ripped apart like beehives, spewed black smoke from their bullet holes. The next moment, they exploded, their limbs flying in all directions.
A third Wheel Dog approached from the front, closing in like a shadow. However, I instantly closed the distance and the A.T. was flipped over. I shot the receding A.T. from behind on the monitor. Its upper body exploded. The lower body traveled about 20 meters before losing balance and falling.
The next A.T. was about 30 meters away. It fired its heavy machine gun wildly. When it was about 20 meters away, I had Berserga aim and fire. The bullets tracked in a steady line, scraping off the scope lens area of the Wheel Dog’s head. But it continued to approach. The gliding wheels on its legs continued to roar.
Are you serious about fighting in full line of sight?
Its bullets grazed the left and right sides of my machine. As it got closer, the shots began to converge in the center. I aimed Berserga’s heavy machine gun again. It was approaching. 10 meters away —
I pulled the trigger. It was transmitted to Berserga’s steel finger as an electrical signal. With a thunderous roar, the muzzle of the heavy machine gun fired. The next moment, the Wheel Dog’s upper body was torn apart. Shattered fragments fell to the ground.
But destruction has its limits. With this single shot, the heavy machine gun had only 30 rounds left, enough for one more shot. I aimed from the hip and pressed down on the accelerator pedal. The Black A.T. still hadn’t moved from the entrance to the passage.
It continued to watch my battle intently. I drove my machine into the gap between two Wheel Dogs, getting a glimpse of the Black A.T.
One Wheel Dog raised the electric rod it was holding to the sky and swung it down at Berserga as I tried to charge past. I crouched and dodged. A spark ran between Berserga’s head and the electric rod. A faint whistle could be heard from above the cockpit.
In an instant, the Wheel Dog’s flanks disappeared from the left and right of the monitor. No more were in sight. The encirclement had been completely broken. The rear sensor indicated that the Wheel Dogs had turned their machines toward Berserga. But there was no gunfire.
That’s right, now, about 30 meters in front of Berserga, stood the Black A.T. It stared motionless. That alone conveyed an immense sense of intimidation.
It’s Sha Bak’s enemy.
I knew that very well. But my fingers, gripping the controls, made no move to pull the red trigger, just a centimeter away.
Rage and frustration alternated throughout my body. I took my foot off the accelerator. Berserga continued to slide for about five meters before coming to a halt.
I was about ten meters in front of the Black A.T. The Wheel Dogs watched, motionless, watching us face off.
I concentrated my nerves on my fingertips, trying to break free from the black A.T.’s mental grip, and pulled the control stick upward. Berserga aimed its heavy machine gun at the Black A.T. Directly at its cockpit. Suddenly, from the other end of the comm came the same voice that had shocked the three Votoms pilots in the previous match. It was a hushed, yet commanding voice.
“I cannot fire at you.”
“I can fire!” I roared, trying to convince myself.
However, against my will, my index finger only moved slowly. But, little by little, I was certain it was approaching the trigger.
Are you scared of that man?
I cursed myself. Finally, my finger was on the trigger.
Suddenly, the cockpit hatch of the Black A.T. began to rise. Without a single creak, it swung open, pointing skyward.
A man rose up in the cockpit. The light streaming in from the corridor made it only a silhouette, but it was a man with long, straight hair, the man who had brutally shot and killed Sha Bak.
There was no doubt it was Chris Kurtz.
Many cords pulsated around him, like blood vessels.
I knew my fingertip was on the trigger. But my fingers were stiff and wouldn’t move. No matter how hard I concentrated, it was impossible.
In the soft glare of the instrument panel, the man’s mouth moved slightly…
“You will die here.”
END OF BOOK ONE