Agartha, The Mechanical City Part 2

"It is huge, it is... Far larger than the one in Isengard," Yae murmured as she

looked up at the Gigantes in wonder.

We'd managed to take out the Hecatoncheir with just three Frame Gears. My

Reginleif, Yae's Schwertleite, and Hilde's Siegrune. If this thing was about as

strong as the Hecatoncheir, then I wouldn't need all my wives to fight it, but its

strength wasn't actually known to me. Since it was made by a different country,

it probably had different capabilities...and I didn't want to take any chances.

"Where are we going to move it?"

"I was thinking either some place in Isengard or Yulong. Just in case, you

know?" I replied, quickly answering Linze's question. But on second thought, I

decided that Isengard was the best bet. That country was basically completely

ruined, while Yulong had begun to slowly build up various villages and

settlements from its earlier destruction. I didn't see the need to get in their way

if they planned on civilizing the place.

"So we're all going to fight it?"

"If you're up for it, yeah..."

Even though I was talking to Yumina, she wasn't the one who responded to

my proposition.

"I wanna! I'm up for it! Dad! Please! Me!"

"Yeah! Me too! C'mon, lemme at it!"

Linne and Allis jumped up and waved their hands. I let out a small sigh,

wondering why Allis was even here. I'd warped back to Brunhild to get Yakumo

to help bring the others over, and for some reason, Allis tagged along. Ende was

there as well, of course.

"No. It's too dangerous. You guys can watch on the monitor, okay?"

"It's okay! We can pilot Frame Gears!"

Hmm... I know they can do that, but still... I guess there's the auto-eject

function in case of extreme emergency, but I'm really not sure this is... Huh?

What's this presence?

"Fret not, dearie. Should the worst come to pass, I shall see them to safety."

Granny Tokie suddenly appeared, walking over from behind Linne and the

others. I hadn't seen her in a while. Apparently, she'd been busy with some

business in the divine realm, but I didn't know what kind. She had dominion

over Space-time, which meant she could freely teleport or even freeze the flow

of time itself. Looking over the safety of a couple of children was nothing to her.

As if emboldened by Granny Tokie's words, Allis and Linne looked back up at

me with puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not sure if Linze and Ende are okay with it, though..."

"I'm sure Linne will do fine! And I know Granny Tokie will keep her safe. I

approve!"

"Look, man...we both know I don't want her to do this...but she's gonna end

up getting her way no matter what I say."

Linze replied with enthusiasm, while Ende replied with dejected resignation.

"Go ahead, Linne. You can borrow my Gerhilde. I think it'll be easier for you to

fight in than Linze's Helmwige, right?"

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Linne exclaimed as she leaped forward and gave

Elze a big hug.

Yeah, I guess as far as punching goes, Gerhilde's the best Frame Gear for the

job. Wait...can you even punch this thing?

I looked up at the massive Gigantes, wondering if smacking it around would

even do anything.

"What about you, Allis? Gonna take your dad's Dragoon?"

"Umm...I don't really like the Dragoon... It's too speedy..."

"What?!" Ende yelled, his shoulders slumping.

Ende's Dragoon was a specialized Frame Gear that emphasized mobility over

all else. It fought the exact same way he did, effectively. The mention of it

reminded me that it was probably due an upgrade. I hadn't given the thing any

attention in a long time. Allis could coat her Frame Gear with crystalline armor,

so that still gave weaker Frame Gears like the Dragoon a combative edge...but

she didn't seem to like the idea.

Allis suddenly spoke up, saying, "Umm...I want to ride Ortlinde, but...I

probably can't, right?"

"Hm? My Frame Gear?" Sue mumbled, looking over in confusion.

Oh... Yeah. Sue's Ortlinde is definitely second only to Elze's Gerhilde when it

comes to punching and kicking, and it's the most defensive out of all of our

Frame Gears as well.

"My Ortlinde is far slower than your father's Dragoon. Are you sure you're

fine with that? I suppose I could let you use it..."

"I am! I'd really love to! Thank you!" Allis cheered and gave Sue a big hug.

Ende, unfortunately, continued to mutter quietly to himself, sounding rather

depressed.

Yakumo, Frei, Quun, Yoshino, Arcia, and Elna declined to participate. They

were happy just watching on the monitors. Well, Quun wasn't exactly happy.

She thought destroying Gigantes was a terrible waste, after all.

We decided that Yumina, Lu, Sakura, and Leen would serve as the rear

support team, while Linne, Allis, Yae, and Hilde would be in the vanguard. Linze,

Ende, and I would respond accordingly when we were needed.

We set up the monitors in Agartha's plaza, then had Kougyoku's birds carry

the cameras to shoot a live broadcast.

All right...let's take down this hunk of junk!

◇ ◇ ◇

I hopped to Isengard to scout out the area before the battle. It would've been

bad if there were people around when we awoke the Gigantes, after all.

Isengard's capital, Isenberg, was still in a state of ruin. I ran a [Search] to look

it over and quickly realized there weren't any humans around. Though while I

was at it, I ran another search.

"...Run search. Evil cyborgs."

I'd wondered if that masked woman and her weird minions that Yakumo had

mentioned were around, but apparently, they weren't. They might've left after

Yakumo escaped, fearing that someone like me might show up in her wake.

Whatever the case, I'd secured the knowledge nobody was in the area. Even if

we got a little rowdy, there'd be no risk of hurting anyone.

The plan was simple enough. I'd bring all the others over and have them

board their Valkyrie Gears. Then, I'd head back to the underground city and pick

up Gigantes using [Gate]. After that, I'd travel to Isengard with Reginleif...and

just kind of play it by ear at that point.

I brought everyone over as planned and they got into their Frame Gears. Ende

was joining in the fight as well, presumably to keep an eye on Allis.

"Wow! I can see all over the place! This thing feels so much heavier than

normal Frame Gears too! Amazing!" Allis exclaimed as she stomped around in

the Ortlinde Overlord, which she'd apparently never tried out before. She

flexed the mech's arms, waving them around wildly.

Ende nervously stood nearby in his Dragoon, watching her intently.

Relax, old man. She'll be fine.

"Hiyah!"

As Allis did that, Linne was flexing her skills in Gerhilde. She fired out a pile

bunker shot from one of the arms. She had a surprisingly good level of control

over the machine, as if she'd piloted it before. I personally felt she wasn't quite

as adept as Elze, though that was only natural.

Linze was looking over her daughter, much like how Ende was watching his

own, but she was much calmer than he was. She had confidence in Linne's

skills, so there was no point in her fretting.

Typically, a special Frame Gear could only be piloted by the person it was

made for, but there was a degree of leeway for immediate family members or

those with similar magical signatures. Since Elze was Linne's aunt, they were

close enough for there to be no issues in terms of piloting. And as far as Allis

went, she was part Phrase...so that made her a lot more adaptable when it

came to magical signatures. Though that could've actually been a trait from

Ende, honestly. I didn't actually know.

All right, they're all geared up. Time to head back to Gandhilis and send the

Gigantes over...

I made it back to Agartha and saw everyone huddled around the monitors I'd

set up. The cameras mostly showed Ortlinde Overlord and Gerhilde warming

up.

King Gandhilis was staring intently at the screen as he asked, "These are the

gigantic Gollems found in the Duchy of Brunhild, aren't they? The Frame Gears,

yes? I've heard much about them."

"They're not exactly Gollems, but...yeah. Basically. They're what we'll be using

to take the Gigantes down."

"Are you sure they'll be enough? Weapons of its scale brought devastation to

our entire continent in the long past, you know...?"

"I'm sure it's a powerful weapon, but it can't match up to the wicked god. I've

beaten things far stronger than this before, and I have a backup plan in case

stuff goes south. Anyway, I'll send it over now."

In the absolute worst-case scenario, I was ready to fully unleash my Divine

Apotheosis and use the power of my godhood to obliterate the Gigantes. That

kind of attack would totally trash the Gigantes, though, and I had a feeling both

Quun and Gandhilis in general wouldn't appreciate that solution, so I wanted to

avoid it if possible.

All right, I should quit wasting time. Let's just warp this damn thing over

already.

"[Gate]."

I opened up a portal beneath the Gigantes, and it fell through the bottom to

Isengard along with bits of rock and soil. As it fell, a flash of light roared out

from the Gigantes. I had a feeling that the sudden motion was registered as an

attack, which woke it from sleep mode.

I closed up the big portal, then opened up a smaller one underneath me. In a

flash, I was standing in Isengard. As I looked around, I saw that the Gigantes had

landed exactly where I'd planned, but it was already rising from the heap of

rubble. It was much smaller than the wicked god, but its body was still larger

than the Hecatoncheir. In terms of size, it was comparable to an Advanced

Phrase. And as far as its actual form went, it looked like a gigantic humanoid. It

wasn't quite as streamlined or sophisticated as a Frame Gear, however, so it

still looked pretty blocky and rough around the edges. Something told me that

it hadn't been created with style in mind. It looked more like a mishmash of

various parts that didn't quite fit properly.

Several pipes and vents jutted out from its back, fumes of glimmering residue

sputtering out. It had long, bulky arms and thick tree trunk legs, but its head

was tiny, giving it a somewhat uneven look. Its head was shaped like an armet

helm, with no facial features to speak of. A faint red camera light peeked out

from the eye slit, moving left to right and back again.

"Bhhhhhh..."

It slowly creaked and rumbled, its massive arms rising upward.

"Ah! It's lunging forward! Yae, Hilde! Incoming!"

"Mmm?! Understood!"

"G-Got it!"

Yae's Schwertleite and Hilde's Siegrune were right in front of the Gigantes, so

they quickly responded to Yumina's command. The very next instant, the

Gigantes brought its huge fists slamming into the ground. The earth rushed out

of the impact point like a tsunami of soil. It rumbled outward, surging like a

mighty wave, kicking up rock, dirt, and dust in its wake.

Had they not heeded Yumina's warning, Yae and Hilde definitely would've

been caught right in the middle of it. I had a feeling Yumina's precognition had

been triggered.

"That ability's not unlike the [Earth Wave] spell... I wonder if that's a Gollem

skill...or perhaps something more akin to an artifact?" Leen murmured. She

couldn't help but analyze the situation from within her Grimgerde, but I

personally felt we could save the postulating for later. Quun would probably

have a lecture prepared for us by the time we got back, anyway.

Wait, I shouldn't just stand around gawking.

"Reginleif!" I called my Frame Gear out from [Storage] and immediately used

[Fly] to rocket into the cockpit. It'd been a long time since I'd actually fought in

it, come to think of it.

As my Reginleif took flight, I received a communication from Linze's

Helmwige.

"Touya. Could you let us try on our own first?"

"Huh? I mean, sure, but are you sure it'll be fine?"

I wasn't necessarily worried about my wives, but I had some level of concern

about Allis and Linne. They weren't used to the Frame Gears they were piloting,

and they were up against an unknown foe. Even if I knew they'd be safe, I

couldn't help but wonder if they'd be able to fight to their fullest.

"I can do it without your help, father! Just watch us!"

"Linne's right! You can stand by, okay?! You too, dad!"

"W-Wait, me too?! But Allis...!" Ende exclaimed, letting out a sorrowful yelp.

Hmm... I guess it'll be fine. Linze and the others have divine blessings on their

side, and there are seven of them here. Couple that with the fact that Granny

Tokie is watching over the kids and it's kind of overkill even without me.

"All right. I'll stay back. But if it gets too bad, I'm interfering."

"Okay!"

I could hear Linne and Allis cheering happily through the speakers. I also

heard Ende yell some kind of protest, but I elected to ignore it.

"All right, let's do this! Charge!"

"Wait there. It would be folly to charge in against a foe you know nothing

about. We should wait and observe its movements before making our own

move."

"Aww... Okaaay," Linne mumbled, pouting a little as Hilde stopped her.

However, I definitely agreed. There was no point in rushing in.

At that exact moment, the Gigantes's shoulder armor opened outward like a

gull-wing door, revealing rows of missile pods inside.

Vwoom.

A roaring sound rang out as hundreds of missiles were launched into the air,

glimmering trails of magical residue trailing behind them.

"I've got this! Stardust Shell!" Allis roared as she charged forward with the

Ortlinde Overlord, raising its left hand high into the air.

Several starry lights coalesced above the battlefield, weaving together into a

huge defensive barrier. The missiles struck the wall of stars, exploding on

impact. Those that were merely deflected detonated in the debris below

instead.

The destructive power unleashed by the missiles was immense... Had the

Gigantes unleashed them down in Agartha, the entire place would've caved in.

Once the hail of missiles ceased, the Ortlinde Overlord's right arm came

swooping upward.

"Eat this! Cannon Knuckle!"

The Ortlinde Overlord's right arm detached from the elbow and flew over

toward the Gigantes. It was quite the delightful rocket punch to witness from a

distance.

"And now this! Crystal Arm!"

The airborne rocket fist suddenly found itself coated in phrasium, coiled with

crystal vines until it was more like a gigantic arrow barreling through the air.

Compared to the Gigantes, even the thirty-meter Ortlinde Overlord looked

small. If the Gigantes was the size of a human man, then the Ortlinde was a

baby in comparison. However, a sharpened rock the size of a baby's fist would

still hurt an adult if it went hurtling into them at high speed.

The Gigantes took the impact square in the chest...yet the mighty impact

failed to make a dent in the Gollem's armor.

"What?!" Allis exclaimed, letting out a surprised yell. The rocket fist then fell

limply to the ground, and the Ortlinde quickly reeled it back in.

"It didn't work?"

"Even the Ortlinde's fist wasn't enough...?"

Hilde and Yae looked up at the Gigantes in shock. As far as raw destructive

power went, the Ortlinde was the strongest Frame Gear in our entire arsenal.

The downside was that it was fairly easy to avoid its attacks, since they were

slow, but this had been a direct hit, and it was even coated in phrasium. Just

how thick was this Gollem's armor? I wondered if it was made out of something

equivalent to phrasium.

"When the fist hit it, I heard a peculiar noise... It was like hard rubber, I

think...almost like a reverb of sorts. I don't think the chest armor is metal..."

Sakura said, sending us a message from her Rossweisse.

Huh, really? So it's like a shock absorber or something?

"Then we must slash it, we must. Sakura-dono, support us with your magic,

please!"

"Got it."

As soon as Yae finished talking, Rossweisse's symphonic horns moved from its

back to its shoulders. A song then began to blare from the speakers, and it was

a melody that I recognized...

Sakura's singing voice was as beautiful as ever. The song was written as the

main theme song to a movie in which the main character rode a funny-looking

white dragon. The song started and ended with a fade in and a fade out,

suggesting that the song had no beginning or end. Apparently, it was

deliberately done that way, as the story itself was a never-ending one.

All the Frame Gears in Sakura's range were immediately bolstered.

"Kokonoe Secret Style: Phoenix Blaze!"

"Lestian Sacred Sword: First Cutter!"

Yae's Schwertleite and Hilde's Siegrune blasted forward, their slashes rippling

through the air as they lunged toward the Gigantes. The massive foe was

unable to avoid the incoming attacks, resulting in direct slashes to the flanks of

its legs.

The Gollem didn't come out of the attack unscathed, losing a piece of its

outer plating. However, the attack barely did anything at all, the results

comparable to a tiny scrape if it had been on a person.

"Hm... It was not quite enough, it was not."

"Yes, its size is certainly an issue."

The Gigantes reflexively swung down at Yae and Hilde, as if it had flown into a

rage. The girls easily avoided the attack, but the impact kicked up more debris

and dust. Fortunately, they'd already anticipated that, so the flying rubble was

easily slashed down in midair. The speed at which it all happened was hard to

process, even for me.

Laser sights suddenly appeared all over the battlefield, and turrets jutted out

of almost every part of the Gollem's body.

"Whoa! What?!"

Linne's Gerhilde seemed to be within range, and it was already under attack.

Luckily, it was a dexterous Frame Gear, so Linne was able to deftly avoid the hail

of fire.

"Linne! Grab on!"

"Mom!"

Helmwige rushed over in flight mode and swooped in low above Gerhilde.

Linne had Gerhilde grab the hook that Linze dropped from above, allowing her

to fly off into the sky with her mother.

The Gigantes suddenly looked upward, its two head-mounted cannons

moving to track the girls as they fled upward.

"I don't think so."

Seconds later, a storm of crystal bullets smashed into the Gollem's face,

courtesy of Leen's Grimgerde. That attack didn't do any meaningful damage,

but it was enough to grab the enemy's attention. The Gigantes was now solely

focused on Grimgerde instead. It lunged forward with a sweeping punch, but

Grimgerde merely floated above the point of impact.

I was actually a little worried about Leen's ability to dodge, since the only

Frame Gear less mobile than Grimgerde was Ortlinde in its Overlord form.

More laser sights came out from the Gigantes's turrets, this time trying to

focus on both Ende in his Dragoon and Lu in her Waltraute. However, the two

were far too agile for it to get a clean shot in, so they simply weaved their way

across the ground and made it waste its shots.

As all this went on, Yumina's Brunnhilde slowly picked off each turret, one

after the other, with its sniper. I was honestly shocked by how accurate her aim

was...

"Hm? It has recovered from our earlier attack, it has?"

Yae's voice made me raise an eyebrow, and I quickly noticed that the wound

inflicted by their earlier attack had regenerated. Apparently, it had selfrestorative capabilities much like the Hecatoncheir. In other words, the only

way to beat it was to destroy its interior faster than it could repair itself. It

wouldn't be able to restore critical damage, after all.

"Dad! Get me a weapon! Something good for kicking and punching!"

"Huh?"

A message suddenly came in from Linne in Gerhilde. I looked over and saw

she was riding Helmwige through the air like a surfboard.

Didn't you say you wanted to do this without my help...? Well, whatever.

"Uhhh... Okay... Mode change: Knuckle & Greave!"

The Fragarach plates on Reginleif's back disconnected and flew over to

Gerhilde as they changed shape midair.

Linze told me not to interfere, so this is all you're getting.

Gerhilde's fists were coated with phrasium, but clearly, Linne needed

something a little extra to get the most out of her attacks.

The Fragarachs transformed into gauntlets that wrapped themselves around

Gerhilde's fists, spiked prongs jutting out of the knuckles. They also wrapped

around Gerhilde's legs, creating reinforced leg armor with spikes on them

"All right! Now I can do this!"

Helmwige zoomed forward until it was right above the Gigantes. The massive

Gollem was distracted by Ende's Dragoon and Lu's Waltraute, so it was

completely oblivious to the duo above.

The sight before my eyes made me pause for a moment to think about the

difference between Gollems and robots. This Gollem clearly had the capacity to

be distracted, which made me think it had some kind of human trait to it.

Gollems weren't merely robots, after all. They all had some element of

personality to them, and legacy Gollems usually had more personality than

most.

In the Hecatoncheir's case, the old witch-king overrode any hint of

personality, but it felt to me like the Gigantes had a sense of self that operated

alongside its programmed orders. Though obviously, that didn't mean we could

negotiate with it. We were already in the middle of battle, so I saw no reason to

stop.

Linne took advantage of its distracted state, leaping Gerhilde off Helmwige's

back and hurtling down toward the Gollem below.

"Meteor Kiiiiiiiiiiiick!"

Gerhilde, its entire frame made intensely heavy thanks to [Gravity], landed a

direct hit on the top of the Gigantes's head from above. Moments later, a dull

metallic clunk rang out, and its entire head caved inward and smashed into its

torso.

Gerhilde's base weight was around seven tons, so I couldn't even begin to

imagine how heavy it had been after being amplified. This wasn't just

something falling out of the sky and conking a person on the head, it was more

like a lead golf ball falling from a skyscraper directly onto someone's skull.

The Gigantes, understandably, couldn't recover from that. It stopped moving

entirely, lurched forward onto its knees, and eventually fell flat.

◇ ◇ ◇

"...Did they defeat it?"

The people watching on the monitors in Agartha were stunned beyond belief.

The Gollem had fallen so unceremoniously that they'd barely had any time to

register what had happened.

"I'm not surprised my Frame Gear and one of our daughters could pull that

off. It was a fine finisher, to be sure. Still, it's not over yet..."

"Mhm. There's more to come, I think."

Elze and Sue calmly watched the situation unfold on the monitor, their

comments prompting everyone else to cautiously look back at the biggest

machine on the screen.

A low rumbling and a mechanical roar creaked out from the Gigantes, its

prone body spewing puffs of magical vapor.

"Auuugh! They totally scrapped it! I told them to be gentle!" Quun yelled,

losing her cool. She seemed genuinely distressed as she looked at the Gollem's

caved-in head.

Frei and Yakumo silently shook their heads at her and turned back to watch

the screen. The monitor only showed more billowing vapor rising from the

Gigantes. And then...with a dull clunk...the Gigantes's right arm fell off at the

shoulder. Another clunk rang out a second later, and the arm broke off at the

elbow. Magical vapor filled the camera feed, obscuring what was happening.

Only clunking sounds rang out across the battlefield.

When the smoke eventually cleared, the Gigantes's body was broken into

several pieces. The left and right arms had come off and broken apart at the

elbows, producing four pieces in total. The left and right legs had also come off

and broken apart at the knees, producing another four pieces. Then there was

the head, the upper torso, and the lower belly.

The Gigantes had broken into eleven distinct parts...but not as a result of

Gerhilde's attack.

"A-Ah! Look!" one of the people watching on the monitor yelped, finding

themself unable to hold their voice back any longer.

One of the separated chunks of the Gigantes slowly began to shift and

reassemble...and it eventually took the form of a smaller humanoid Gollem that

was roughly the same size as a Frame Gear. The other parts followed suit, and

all eleven parts transformed... The head part didn't finish its transformation,

however, meaning ten smaller Gollems remained.

"Hm... The Gigantes was structured similarly to my Ortlinde, was it?"

"My goodness! Merging and separation functions?! That's incredible!"

Sue could only sigh as she realized what the Gigantes was truly capable of.

Quun, on the other hand, looked more excited than ever. Frei and Yakumo once

again shook their heads in disapproval before turning back to the monitor to

see what would come next.

◇ ◇ ◇

The Gigantes had split its body apart and separated into different Gollems. Its

head wasn't functioning properly, so it ended up becoming ten Gollems in total.

One from the upper torso, one from the belly, two from the upper arms, two

from the forearms, two from the upper legs, and two from the shins downward.

I never expected it to be a segmented Gollem. Honestly, it was remarkably

similar to the Ortlinde Overlord.

Just because it split didn't mean things were easier either. Each individual

piece was still larger than the average Frame Gear. They were all at least the

size of the Ortlinde Overlord. The two torso pieces were the biggest by far,

though. Not necessarily in height, but certainly in width. If each of them had

their own Q-Crystals and individual power sources, then it stood to reason that

the head was the one that kept them cohesive. Once the head had been

crushed, the Gollem split apart because it wasn't able to remain synchronized.

"There are ten of them...and ten of us. This seems perfect to me, it does," Yae

said, her cheerful voice flowing through the speakers.

Huh? Does she want us to each take one?

"I'll take the biggest one then, okay?!" Allis exclaimed, her voice ringing out

over the speakers as she made the Ortlinde Overlord's knuckles smack

together.

The biggest Gollem was probably the upper-torso one, but that was also the

one that had deflected her Cannon Knuckle attack earlier. I wondered if she'd

be okay. Though that said, it was probably best for us to have our biggest Frame

Gear take on their biggest Gollem. Ortlinde didn't just have the Cannon Knuckle

at its disposal, after all.

"It'd be wisest to take out the weakest one as a group first. After that, we

should each split into teams and take them on one at a time."

Yumina was right. It seemed far more advantageous to whittle down their

numbers. Sure, in battle manga it was more flashy or cinematic to do one-onone battles, but when it came to actual combat, it was always better to gang up

on your foes and take them down one at a time. The opponent might have been

thinking of that too, though, which was why you had to identify the weakest

link as soon as possible. And as far as the weakest went, those would probably

be the Gollems that formed from the Gigantes's upper legs. They looked the

frailest by far.

The Gigantes didn't have very long legs, but since they had to support the

body, they were still probably pretty thick.

"Let's get ahead of this while we can," Yumina stated. She then trained her

sniper rifle on one of the upper-leg Gollems.

"We should attack them from beyond their active range. That's the best way

to ensure our victory," Leen said, her transmission punctuated by the shoulders,

legs, and chest armor on Grimgerde sliding open, revealing multiple missile

pods. Grimgerde's arm Gatling guns and finger vulcan cannons primed

themselves and aimed at the same Gollem as Yumina.

"Let's settle this!"

Lu's Waltraute suddenly transitioned into caster mode, the large cannon on

its back tracking the same Gollem as the other two.

"Fire!"

A massive hail of bullets rained down on the enemy Gollem, riddling the

machine with holes. The armor on the legs clearly wasn't as sturdy as the

plating on the chest, since it blew open and fell backward after the volley.

The other nine Gollems began to move immediately. They split into two

groups, one in a defensive formation and another in a counterattack formation.

The two upper-arm Gollems had long-range capabilities, so they unleashed the

Gigantes's shoulder missiles.

Yumina and the others promptly spread outward and avoided the missile

shower.

The upper-leg Gollem that had been attacked recovered and stood up, but it

was missing most of its armor plating. Smoke billowed from its body. I could

hardly believe it had taken such heavy fire and come out unscathed. Talk about

tenacious...

"Cannon Knuckle!"

A moment later, out of nowhere, the Gollem was suddenly smashed into

smithereens by Allis's well-timed rocket punch. It was so thoroughly pulverized

that there was no hope for it to regenerate, which meant there were only nine

left.

"Let's go after the other one."

On Yumina's command, the long-range trio focused their attacks on the other

upper-leg Gollem. Much like the first one, it was blasted until it was

smoldering...leaving the perfect opening for Linze to swoop in with Helmwige

for the coup de grâce. Her Frame Gear's crystal wings easily sliced through the

dazed Gollem, bisecting it cleanly.

Two down, eight to go.

The upper-arm Gollems began firing on Helmwige as it circled them in the sky.

She deftly dodged every attack with ease, swerving and sliding past every

missile and bullet launched upward.

When'd you get so good at maneuvering like that? You're like an ace pilot...

During our honeymoon, we'd ended up visiting a few arcades and I ended up

being pretty surprised by how good Linze was at the shooting games. Actually,

all my wives were surprisingly deft at stuff like that...

"Hilde-dono and I shall take out these attackers, we shall."

"That's right! We're perfect for the job!"

Yae's Schwertleite and Hilde's Siegrune closed in on the upper-arm Gollems

that were firing on Linze. The Gollems had missile pods on their backs, Gatling

guns at their sides, and shields on their shoulders. They were clearly long-range

attackers. That said, they did have spears for close encounters as well.

However, even with those spears, Yae and Hilde had the clear advantage if they

could push them into a melee fight. Normally, it would have been impossible to

make it through the hail of bullets, but Yae and Hilde were powerful and agile

enough to knock bullets out of thin air.

"What are the two forearm Gollems like?"

"They seem slow, but also quite tough."

Yumina asked for a status report, and Sakura quickly replied. The two Gollems

were definitely on the stocky and heavily armored side.

"I'll handle them! I'll use Mama Elze's pile bunkers to break them to bits! Can

I, mom?!"

"Sure, you can... Could you offer her some support, Sakura?"

"Mhm. Got it. I'll help Linne out...and make sure she stays safe."

Apparently, Sakura's Rossweisse and Linne's Gerhilde were the ones selected

to face down the forearm Gollems. Rossweisse's soundwave magic could

probably make that thick armor more brittle.

The sight of Linne charging forward must've sparked Allis's competitive

streak, as she quickly pointed Ortlinde's finger over towards the upper-torso

Gollem.

"I'm gonna trash the big one now!"

"Sure. Ende can take on the second-biggest Gollem."

"Huh?! Touya! You can't just decide stuff like that!"

Ende started complaining over the speakers, but I just mentally tuned him

out. I knew he was capable of resonance stuff similar to Rossweisse, so it only

made sense to assign him to a heavily armored target.

"Hey, Allis, you wanna see your dad beat a bad guy, right?"

"Yeah! I'd love to see him do it!"

"W-Wait, she would? You would?! H-Ha ha... Th-Then yeah, I'll do it, Allis! For

you!"

Pfft! You're dancing in the palm of her hand, Ende. You're one useless man,

you know that? Powerless in the face of your daughter... I'm in the same boat,

though...so it's not like I can talk.

With those targets decided, that left Yumina, Linze, Lu, and Leen to face the

lower-leg Gollems. Those Gollems seemed to be designed for hand-to-hand

combat, with bladed weapons jutting from their arms. It wasn't that they were

wielding swords, it was more that their hands were the swords. They weren't

quite as large as the other ones, but they still stood taller than regular Frame

Gears.

Even though it was two against four in this case, most of the remaining girls

were long-range attackers. The key to winning this fight would be for the girls to

maintain their distance.

"Let's do this!" Linne exclaimed as she took Gerhilde and had it charge toward

one of the forearm Gollems. Sakura's Rossweisse began to transmit her singing

voice in tandem with the strike.

...Why this song, of all things?

From what I understood, it was a famous American rock song. The lyrics were

apparently about the lead singer finding the girl he had a crush on in high

school on the pinup page of an adult magazine.

Sakura's wedding ring was imbued with all kinds of divinity, so she should've

been able to understand the English lyrics...

The resonance pulse emitted from Rossweisse rocketed against the forearm

Gollem, shattering its armor in an instant.

"Let's go! Pile bunker!" Linne roared, smashing Gerhilde's fist hard into the

exposed innards of her Gollem foe. The pile bunker hissed as it shot forward,

penetrating the shattered armor and stabbing through the Gollem.

"One more!"

Gerhilde's left fist raged forward. A loud bang rang out as the next pile bunker

drove forward, smashing up the circuitry inside the Gollem. The Gollem

shuddered and trembled, convulsing in a spastic fit as it fell forward. And with

that, it powered down.

Wow, she killed it with one blow. Oh, wait, I guess it was two.

"Now, onto the next one!"

Gerhilde turned to face the next forearm Gollem, but it suddenly fired the

Gigantes hand on its back toward her like a rocket.

"What?!"

Linne hurriedly tried to dodge the incoming strike, but she wasn't quite fast

enough. And so, the hand managed to grab Gerhilde.

Oh crap! Should I interfere?!

Right as I was thinking that, four dagger-shaped Fragarachs shot out from

Rossweisse, aiming at the thumb of the giant hand that held Linne in its grasp.

Linne took that opportunity to wriggle free, putting some distance between

herself and her foe.

"That was scary!"

"You let your guard down because the first enemy was weak... Always be

alert, okay?"

"Okaaay..." Linne mumbled, her voice sounding a little dejected as Sakura told

her off. I couldn't blame her for being rash, though, since she'd so expertly

dispatched the first enemy. She probably thought she had a good thing going.

I looked over and saw Allis in the Ortlinde, struggling against the chest

Gollem. They'd locked hands and were pushing against each other, vying for

supremacy in a contest of physical might.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Ortlinde's raw power output was higher than even Reginleif. It was the single

strongest Frame Gear we had. The boosters on its back roared as Ortlinde

gained ground, pushing the enemy backward. However, right when the chest

Gollem looked about ready to crumble, a vulcan cannon popped out by the side

of its head and aimed directly at Ortlinde's face.

"I don't think so!" Allis roared, leaning Ortlinde back slightly and smashing it

forward in one heavy motion. She actually had her Frame Gear headbutt the

Gollem, knocking it on its back.

Wow... It's like pro wrestling...

The toppled Gollem quickly rose to its feet once more, bringing its fist

smashing toward Ortlinde. Allis blocked the attack with Ortlinde's left arm,

bringing her right fist up in a counter.

Unfortunately, the impact barely did anything at all... It was just as I'd

thought, that Gollem had the thickest armor of them all. The headbutt from

earlier had simply knocked it off balance, rather than actually damaging it. It

had a kind of inverted triangle shape, so it wasn't too hard to topple.

The Gollem seemed completely sure of its defenses, enough to abandon any

attempt at self-preservation. It pushed the offensive against Ortlinde, forcing

Allis to shield herself.

"Dang it!"

The drill bit attached to Ortlinde's leg separated and fit itself onto the Frame

Gear's right arm. That arm then swung forward, getting through one of the gaps

the Gollem left during its flurry, the drill's tip pressed against the Gollem's

rubbery armor. And yet, it still wasn't enough to penetrate the plating. The

most it had done was dig a little dent into the supple surface.

"I've got you right where I want you!" Allis shouted. A second later, the drill

began to rapidly spin. Bit by bit, the drill bit began boring through the rubbery

armor.

"Prisma Rose!"

Crystal vines began digging into the Gollem's armor, cracking it apart. The

vines seemed to snake outward from the Gollem's insides, fixing it to the floor.

After a few brief moments, it powered down.

Apparently, Allis had triggered her prisma rose on the tip of the drill, allowing

it to enter the Gollem and destroy it from the inside. As a result, a haphazard

mess of vines and thorns protruded from the chest Gollem's armor. It had been

thoroughly annihilated. Unfortunately, that told me the insides were probably

completely wrecked... I had a feeling Quun was probably screaming at the

monitor...

"I did it, dad!" Allis cheered as she looked out toward her father, who was

locked in battle with the Gollem that had previously been part of the Gigantes's

belly. It was a thick Gollem with short, stubby legs that had two arms with

Gatling guns attached to its sides.

Ende's Dragoon easily dodged the bullets it was firing, however. In terms of

raw speed, it simply couldn't match up to what Ende brought to the table.

"Looks like Allis is done, so I'll wrap things up here too."

The Dragoon pulled two short crystal swords out from its waist, brandishing

them. The high-speed rollers then went into full acceleration mode, sending the

Frame Gear rocketing forward. Ende masterfully sliced off one of the Gollem's

arms as it charged by, before promptly doubling back around and catching the

other. Then, in one final motion, the Dragoon turned and sped forward once

more. It held both blades out as it moved, letting the speed do all the work. The

Gollem was bisected before it had time to process what was going on.

"That's the end of that."

Just to be sure of his victory, Ende brought both blades slashing through the

Gollem's chest. It fell to the ground, glimmering smoke pluming upward from its

destroyed frame.

The fight had ended so quickly that it almost seemed unfair. But in terms of

raw matchup...Ende probably would've done that to any of the Gollems here.

"Not bad, right, Allis? Your old man's pretty cool when he tries, isn't he?!"

Ende said as he turned around in an attempt to get his daughter's attention...

Unfortunately, she hadn't even been watching him. The moment her battle had

finished, Allis had left her father behind and went to join the other girls.

"Sh-She left?!"

...Damn. I feel your pain, man... You tried your best, but sometimes that's just

not enough.

Ende sent his Dragoon running after Allis, ready to meet with Yumina and the

others.

I glanced over and noticed that Linne had already taken down the second

forearm Gollem. At the same time, Yae and Hilde had also dispatched the

upper-arm Gollems without taking a scratch.

All that remained were the two lower-leg Gollems that Yumina's group was

facing. It was ten against two at this point, so our victory was all but assured.

There was nothing I could imagine our enemies doing to win at this point.

I kind of felt bad, honestly. The fully combined Gigantes was clearly the fullpower version of the ancient technology. Once we'd crushed the head, we'd

basically divided its strength.

Linne's crushing attack had secured our victory at the very beginning, so this

was basically just cleanup.

Linne really was the MVP here, huh...? Guess that's one of my daughters for

you. I'm pretty impressed.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Goodness me... I expected a racket, but it turned out to be rather

interesting, no?"

"That's one of the endweapons... Where was that thing resting, I wonder?"

Far out on the outskirts of Isenberg, two shadowy figures stood watching the

battle from afar. One was a red-haired woman in a domino mask, the other a

man in a diving suit. The woman held an orange mace in her hand, while the

man carried a blue hatchet.

Tangerine and Indigo were their names. They'd come here after hearing a

report from one of their Gollems that had been stationed in the area. Thanks to

Indigo's weapon, Deep Blue, they'd been able to teleport a little bit away from

the battlefield with relative ease.

When Touya had run his search spell to keep an eye out for evil-looking

Gollems, he'd made a critical error. The Gollem working for the duo was a

perfectly ordinary one. It wouldn't have aroused any suspicion at a glance, so it

slipped by his spell.

"Those are the giant Gollems of Brunhild... It's my first time seeing them, but I

must say they're rather impressive. Scarlet's right, I think. Our creation won't be

a match for them."

"Hah! Do you think we'll be able to achieve our goals with thoughts like that?"

Tangerine said, sneering all the while. She was evidently irritated by Indigo's

defeatist tone.

"I'm not worried, Tangerine. Scarlet will create a machine that far outclasses

theirs. Just give it time. That's why we secured the Ark, after all. With Chrom

Ranchesse's legacy on our side, how can we fail? We'll create a worthy vessel

for our new god to descend upon this world."

"Hmph! You sound awfully confident. Is your piety so strong because you

were a man of the cloth once, Indigo? Not that I care, mind you. So long as this

world suffers in the process, I'll be happy," Tangerine said, shrugging casually as

she spoke. She then hoisted her mace, Halloween, up against her shoulder.

Though they called themselves the wicked devout, not all of them were

especially pious. Some just wanted to watch the world burn.

"Either way, we can't just leave after seeing this. Let's bring a few gifts back

for Scarlet to take a look at, all right?"

Though the diving helmet obscured it, Indigo flashed a sinister grin.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Cannon Knuckle!"

Allis used Ortlinde to defeat the last remaining Gollem. Defeat was an

understatement, though... She blasted it to smithereens. I had a feeling Quun

and Doc Babylon were already upset.

"We did it! They're all down!"

I heard Linne celebrating from within Gerhilde.

All's well that ends well, I suppose. Was a lot easier than I expected, even...

Not that I can talk. I basically did nothing.

I quietly hoped the people watching on the monitor weren't judging me for

my inaction... I didn't want to be perceived as some deadbeat husband who

made his wives do all the work for him.

Ugh... Whatever. I'll pick up the slack during cleanup duty.

I gathered up all the broken Gigantes pieces, but just as I was about to open

my [Storage], the ground began to rumble and bubble upward and the Gollem

head and chest pieces were enveloped in blue bubbles... And then, they fell

through the ground, leaving watery ripples in their wake as they vanished.

"What?!"

"Touya! Someone on the cliffside, three o'clock!"

Yumina's voice made me turn Reginleif's camera. I saw two shadowy figures

on the nearby cliff, but they rippled away just as the Gollem pieces had. I could

only make them out for a split second, but I distinctly saw a red-haired woman

and someone wearing a diving suit. In other words...they were the wicked

devout!

"Run search! Wicked devout! Now!"

"Searching... Search complete. No results found."

Dammit... They're blocking me off again!

I quickly ran a search for Gigantes parts, but nothing came up either.

Ugh... That can't be regular teleportation magic. Maybe they can transfer to

another space or something...?

"Tch... They let us do the hard work, then made off with the spoils..."

It was the Ark all over again. I should've taken more care, especially

considering the fact that I knew I was up against foes that had access to warping

magic...

I quickly pushed the remaining Gigantes pieces into [Storage], just in case

they decided to come back for more. I wondered why they only took the head

and chest parts... It was either that they couldn't take more, or they didn't need

more. There was no way of knowing which was the correct answer, though.

I can't believe they did that... They're getting more brazen, that's for sure.

I sighed quietly, thinking about the situation from Reginleif's cockpit. My

introspection was cut short by my phone, however.

Ugh, Quun... Right, she was watching the whole thing from the monitor. You

can't blame me for this, though! How was I supposed to deal with the situation

if I didn't even know it was gonna happen? Cut me some slack!

The ringtone kept on buzzing away at me, heralding the inevitable doom I'd

suffer if I picked up. I gulped nervously before finally accepting the call.

Dammit...

◇ ◇ ◇

"Auuugh! How could you have been so reckless, father?! You've broken more

than half of them beyond repair! What were you doing out there?!"

"I mean, technically, I wasn't doing anything at all... It's not my fault!"

"I don't wanna hear your excuses!"

Quun was positively fuming. I could understand why, though. The Gollem

we'd fought was a priceless remnant from an ancient civilization. It was truly

one of a kind...and we'd just about trashed it. The upper-leg portions were

shredded, and the forearm Gollems were covered in cracks thanks to Sakura's

symphonic horns. The pieces Ende and Hilde had fought were in better shape,

but for the most part, everything was scrap metal. I mean, the stuff Ortlinde

had hit with its cannon knuckle was basically dust...

The head Gollem, which would've housed the main Q-Crystal that functioned

as the Gigantes's brain, had been stolen. The chest piece, which apparently

housed the primary G-Cube power source, had been whisked away by the

wicked devout as well.

You didn't have to be Quun to be mad about the thievery. It was my own

carelessness that got us into that mess. Still, I didn't think it was my fault the

Gigantes pieces got so badly roughed up. I didn't even participate in the fight.

"Agh! Don't you understand a thing?! That Gigantes was a priceless relic! We

could've reconstructed it to fight for us using the power of Babylon! But even

putting that aside, don't you have a heart?! Think about the blood, sweat, and

tears that must've gone into building that thing! Think about the poor ancient

engineers! And now it's junk! It's glorified scrap!"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I get it. Sorry... Are you still mad?"

"Of course I'm mad! You're not even listening!" Quun yelled, stomping her

feet. She resembled her mother when she was angry... The sight made me a

little nostalgic, even. It caused me to think back to when Leen threw tantrums

like that.

I couldn't help but smile, seeing how alike they were. She truly was her

mother's daughter.

"What's the smirk for, father?! Is this funny to you?!"

"Oh, no... Sorry..."

My unconscious smirk provoked Quun into hurling a lightning bolt at me.

Whoops... I must've really ticked her off.

"Calm down, okay? It's not like you expected to recover it intact, right?"

"I suppose you're right, but still..."

Elze, who hadn't participated, came over to save my butt.

Finally... She's been lecturing me for like thirty minutes straight, you know?

Couldn't you have saved me a little sooner?

"Well, it's fine. I'm sure we can still recover enough of the technology from

the broken parts. Plus, it's better to lose the technology than have Gandhilis

come under threat..."

"Thanks for understanding..."

King Gandhilis offered me some words of consolation. I wondered if Quun had

intentionally reprimanded me so harshly so I wouldn't get in any political

trouble.

"Augh! What a waste! This is a tragedy! It's awful!"

No, that's probably not why.

"At any rate, shall we get to dismantling the Gigantes here in Agartha? My lab

is most interested in analyzing it."

"Of course. I'd be happy to cooperate with you."

Doc Babylon quickly chimed in after I brought out the remaining Gigantes

pieces. I had a feeling she'd already cast [Analyze] and gotten an understanding

of it, though.

"By the way, I'm curious. What will we do with Agartha itself?"

"Hmm... It falls within the confines of my nation, yet this place existed before

Gandhilis was even conceived of... Under ordinary circumstances, we'd

recognize the autonomy of the native inhabitants, but it would seem all of them

are Gollems..."

Perlulushka and the other Gollems didn't have designated contractors, since

the people they had originally contracted with and served were long dead, and

none of their descendants remained to take on the sub-master role in their

programming. They were the only remnants of a long-dead civilization, and they

had nobody to serve any longer. The typical protocol would have been to just

reset them and have them assigned to new masters, but...

"Don't be absurd! These are ancient legacy Gollems with memories of the

past several thousand years! You can't just reset them! The information they

carry, as well as the things they've seen, are far too valuable!"

Elluka was vehemently against the idea of resetting them. There were a

handful of Gollems that retained their memories through contracting. Albus,

the white crown, and Blau, the blue crown, were among those that could still

remember the distant past. But in general, it was considered highly abnormal

for humanoid model Gollems to maintain their memories. They were far more

fragile than some of the more heavy-duty Gollems, and they tended to be the

kinds of Gollem that were more regularly transferred from master to master.

Of course, whenever a Gollem was transferred to someone who wasn't bloodrelated to their previous master, they had to be fully reset in order to make the

new contract. That was why there was so little living memory of the ancient

civilizations among them.

Humanoid Gollems were built to live with people, which was precisely why

Perlulushka and her kin were so valuable. They had intact memories of the

culture, customs, and daily lives of the people who lived all those years ago. It

remained to be seen if the more generic Gollems had those memories, but at

the very least, Perlulushka did, so erasing those memories in the form of a

factory reset would be tantamount to destroying precious historical records.

That was why we couldn't have her contract with a new master. Frankly, it

would have been historically and morally wrong to have her do it.

Perlulushka was a Gollem, but she had a will of her own. I personally felt that

leaving her to manage the underground facility was for the best. And so, I

brought the idea up with King Gandhilis. He agreed and began drafting up a

plan to have Agartha be a checkpoint midway through the tunnel I'd built.

Perlulushka lived to serve humanity, and as such, she had no objections to the

proposal either.

Oh yeah, I was in the middle of digging that tunnel, wasn't I...? Finishing it off

is gonna be a real pain in the ass.

"What, why us? We didn't sign up for that!"

"You didn't fight, Elze. Why not help now?"

"I can't use Earth magic, remember? If it's digging you want, just make Ende

do it. That'd be way faster."

"Huh?! What do I have to do with this?!" Ende asked, jumping up in a panic

after Elze volunteered him.

Quun was too busy looking over the Gigantes pieces to help, while Leen was

tired from the battle. Thus, I could only count on Ende.

"Man, gimme a break! You guys have been using me like a workhorse lately!"

Ende grumbled. However, I didn't understand what he was complaining about.

If he didn't want to be a workhorse, why did he let us treat him like one?

"C'mon, let's go! I'll flatten things out, then you can do the digging."

I buffed myself with [Power Rise] and grabbed Ende by the scruff of the neck,

carting him away. I just wanted to get this over with.

"Ah! T-Touya?! A-Allis! Help me!"

"Good luck, dad! Do it for me!"

"A-Aaaugh! O-Okay! Your dad's gonna give it his best!"

Whew. Good thing Allis has him whipped.