It’s War! The Battle on Coastal Waters

I lent twenty Frame Gears to each participating nation. Two Knight Barons

and eighteen Chevaliers.

Just about every country in the regular world... I mean, the eastern continent,

was participating. Excluding Brunhild, there were eighteen participants in total.

The tribes from the Sea of Trees weren't participating because they were so

prideful when it came to their physical prowess that they refused to battle

inside Frame Gears. Twenty Frame Gears to each of the eighteen countries

made for a total of three-hundred-and-sixty Frame Gears. Then, there were fifty

being deployed by Brunhild, plus my Reginleif and the nine Valkyrie gears. In

total, there were four-hundred-and-twenty mechs ready for combat.

When Yulong was invaded, we only had two-hundred Frame Gears, so now

we had more than twice that. We definitely had the advantage, but we needed

to keep in mind that the mutants were trickier than regular Phrase. We couldn't

make light of them.

Norn and Nia were also here in their Over Gears. I also made Ende come

along with his Dragoon. Our forces were completely prepared, there was just

one issue...

"They're actually emerging in the middle of the sea, huh...?" Doctor Babylon

grumbled as she crossed her arms. She was surveying a map on one of her

laboratory monitors.

"How waterproof are our Frame Gears right now?"

"Reginleif and the Valkyries will be fine, same with the Over Gears and Ende's

Dragoon. Even if you fully submerge there shouldn't be any issues... Though you

should expect slower reaction times thanks to water resistance. The other

Frame Gears are a no-go, though. Their cockpits don't have appropriate sealing

measures. They'll be fine up to their waists, but any deeper and they'll start

taking on water. It could easily endanger the pilots if it comes to that."

In a worst-case scenario, our pilots could end up drowned... There was always

the emergency escape button, though, so I didn't think it'd be likely for anyone

to actually drown. That being said, someone could fall unconscious and then

have their Frame Gear submerged, which would be certain death. It was

definitely safer to fight on the land.

"We still don't know what they'll do... Our best bet is to monitor them with

search magic after they emerge, then set up defenses in their path."

"Don't forget there'll probably be airborne ones as well." We had a few ways

of dealing with flying enemies. Reginleif and Helmwige were capable of flying.

Brunnhilde, Grimgerde, Rossweisse, and Waltraute (with its cannon equipped)

were capable of long-distance assaults, too. I was sure we'd be fine.

I left the fine-tuning of the remaining Frame Gears to Babylon and her

workers, then I left for Brunhild castle. I happened to see Karen nearby, so I

walked over to ask something I'd been worried about.

"You wanna know if the enemy'll use divine venom?"

"Yeah. If they started spreading it around, then I wouldn't be able to

participate. Neither would Yumina and the others."

"Don't worry about that, you know? Divine venom is soaked into the earth

and air. It basically turns a vast area into an anti-divine zone, you know? But I

mentioned earlier that the venom doesn't mix well with water. The seawater

should dilute it and disperse it before it can do any real damage, you know?

Plus, it's a hard substance to create to begin with."

That meant the meteor shower might have depleted their current supply of

the stuff.

"Divine venom is created by sacrificing the soul of a god, you know? So we

probably have a good idea of what was used to create this batch..."

"...The servile god who got eaten, huh?"

That annoying NEET god had his body absorbed, and now his soul was being

used to create poison... What a hopeless idiot. He really did get what was

coming to him.

I guess you could consider the divine venom coating Isengard some kind of last

curse from that NEET bastard. Why does that asshole have to cause me trouble

from beyond the grave? What was he the god of again? Being a total annoying

sack of crap?

"Still, we need to keep thinking up ways to counteract the divine venom...

Have you guys been working on anything?"

"The god of agriculture, er, Kousuke is attempting to cultivate a plant that can

absorb the venom and convert it into magic energy. It isn't going well though,

you know?"

"Is it a hard job?"

"I'll say. He's basically trying to infuse his divinity to create a whole new

species linked to him from scratch, you know? It's even more complex than

forming elemental spirits."

That definitely sounded tough. That also explained why I hadn't seen Uncle

Kousuke around very much... I made a mental note to visit him with some

snacks later on.

Just as I was thinking about what he might like, my phone started vibrating. It

was a call from Ende.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, Touya? Sorry but there's something I wanna discuss. Could you come

over?"

"To your house?"

"Yup."

Ende, Melle, Ney, and Lycee lived together in a house in the castle town. It

wasn't too far from the castle, so I decided to walk over.

On the way there I looked north from the terrace to the training field. Rosetta

was over there making final adjustments to the Over Gears.

I could see the prone figures of the two massive mechanical animals, one red

and one black. The two Over Gears certainly looked impressive from a distance.

And so, I headed a little closer and saw the irritatingly familiar image of a

certain pumpkin-pantsed prince.

"What brings you here...?"

"Ah, Touya! Most impeccable timing! I never would've expected the crown's

abilities could be used in this way!" Robert was practically swooning at the sight

of the two Over Gears.

...This bastard came here with Blau's ability, didn't he? Come on, man... I have

it bad enough with Karen and the other divines popping up out of nowhere.

"Nia! Norn! May I ride in that too?! Please! Pretty, pretty please!"

"Shut the hell up, sleepy!"

"You should stick to babbling in your sleep. It's annoying for you to do it

awake as well."

Robert stepped a little closer and took an iron claw attack from Nia and a shin

kick from Norn. He was certainly as irksome as ever, but that was basically this

guy's default state of being.

"Over Gears are attuned to the Gollems inside them, so only that Gollem's

master can pilot them. Even if you boarded either of these, they wouldn't

move."

"Ah, really?!"

"They're pretty much exclusive to crown Gollems anyway. Norn's Leo Noir

and Nia's Tiger Rouge were the same Over Gear structurally, but we couldn't

swap the Gollems operating at the heart of either. We do have another spare

frame for parts and stuff, but we don't have a crown to make use of it..."

I suddenly covered my mouth, realizing the fatal mistake I'd just made.

Robert's glittering gaze pierced through my very soul. Ugh... I don't really like

being looked at like this by a guy...

"So you're saying you could make one of these machines for my crown, Blau?!

I can have one to ride in as well? Oh, that's amazing, Touya! Thank you so

much!"

"N-Now hold on a second... That's not so simple..."

"You should just build it already, dumbass. That pesky prince'll just keep

bugging you daily until it's finished."

Damn it.

Norn's words felt like they came from her own experience. I cast a glance

toward Rosetta, who responded with a sigh.

"Well, sir! The base is fundamentally identical, so we could make one. Yessir

we can! But it'd take a while to tune up and synchronize with his Gollem, sir!"

"Norn has a lion, and Nia has a tiger... I wonder what I should have! Perhaps a

magnificent deer! Although, if you two have cat-based models, perhaps a dog?

Oh, perhaps a wolf or a fox! What do you two think?"

"I can't really say I give a crap one way or another. Maybe a blobfish? That'd

suit your face."

"Bear sounds good to me. Why don't you make like one and hibernate

forever?"

Robert was seemingly unaffected by the girls and their harsh words. I was

pretty impressed by his mental fortitude...

"We won't be able to make you one in time for the upcoming battle. You'll be

with the other western world leaders, observing the fight."

"Hrmm... What a shame! Well, I'll simply participate next time, then. Do you

think you'll be alright without my power, though? I must admit, I worry a little

that you only have Norn and Nia!"

"Huh? You trying to start a fight with me, idiot?"

"You're the last person I want to hear being worried about me."

Robert took another iron claw to the face from Nia, then another shin-kick

from Norn. He did actually seem genuinely concerned for them, he just didn't

speak with much tact...

The ultra-masochistic prince cheerily ate all punishments the girls had to

offer.

Welp, I'm sticking around too long. Better head off... I left Robert and the

others behind and made my way to the castle town.

After a while, I walked through the garden in front of the large house near the

castle town's outskirts. Melle, who looked human thanks to my magic device,

came out to greet me.

"Ahhh, Touya. Welcome to our home. It's been a little while."

Even though she looked like a regular girl, she just looked like the Sovereign

Phrase to me. She was wearing an apron, and almost gave off the image of a

young and happy housewife. I was suddenly filled with the urge to punch Ende

in the face.

I entered the house. It was a good size, but it wasn't overly fancy or anything.

Ende, Lycee, and Ney were waiting for me inside.

It wasn't polite of me to show up without a gift, so I opened up [Storage] and

gave some cookies to Lycee.

"Sorry to bother you. There was just something I wanted to discuss."

"What's up? Is it something to do with the battle?"

I sipped some tea as I spoke with Ende. I'd asked him to participate in the

fight with his Dragoon, so I was wondering if he had some kind of issue with

that.

"That's part of it, at least. Melle and the other Dominant Constructs can sense

traces of the mutants, since they were formerly kin. They can sense them when

they try to emerge from the space between worlds. They can't tell timing and

numbers as well as the guild's sensors, but there are actually areas where

they're better."

"How so?"

"They can identify the construct classes that are coming through. There are

going to be Upper Constructs during the battle tomorrow. But that's not the

main thing here... They sensed that Dominant Constructs are going to come

through as well."

"What?!"

A mutant Dominant...

The Phrase were originally split into two factions. Ney's side, who wanted to

find Melle... and Yula's side, who wanted to find other means of power. In the

end, most of the Phrase got consumed by Yula's mutant army and became

fodder for the wicked god. Ney ended up reuniting with Melle, and joined our

side.

"If the Dominant Constructs that appear end up being Leto and Luto, can you

let me handle them? I have a score to settle."

"Leto and Luto, huh...? Those were the twins who roughed you up so hard

you ran off crying, right?"

"Crying?! Hey! I might have run off, but I wasn't crying!"

"I dunno, man... You seemed pretty desperate to me. You went to another

world and got some sacred treasure blades, then Uncle Takeru beat your ass so

bad you lost your memories and ended up being used as a pawn by the corrupt

nobility of Triharan... Remember?"

"Auuugh! Shut up! Shut uuup!" Ende closed his eyes and shook his head

violently, prompting Ney to smack him in the side of the head.

"You're the one who should shut up, loudmouth!"

"Gagh!"

Ende slumped down against the couch.

"I have a score to settle with Leto and Luto, too. Mind letting us do it?"

"I'm fine with it, so long as you don't have an issue with me stepping in if it

gets too bad."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Ney bowed her head slightly. She'd certainly softened up a bit after settling in

Brunhild... She used to be the kind of person who felt like she'd bite your head

off. Seemed like Melle and the others had a calming influence.

It made sense, though. Her goal was always to reunite with Melle.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask. How many Dominant Constructs are with

the mutants?"

"Back before the golden corruption, it was only Luto, Leto, Yula, and Gila

against me. But I don't know if the situation has changed."

"How do you mean?"

I quirked a brow in response to Ney's words. I'd beat Gila so that would only

mean three of them remained...

"We came searching for Lady Melle, the sovereign. But it's possible that Yula

called more Dominants from Phrasia. He'd been planning to usurp Lady Melle

for a long time, since before we started traveling through worlds. I'd be

surprised if he didn't have more Dominants on his side."

And if those Dominants became mutants... Let's face it, they definitely would,

then they'd probably end up joining the upcoming invasion force.

If the emerging Dominants weren't Leto and Luto, then I planned on having

Moroha, Takeru, and Karina take them on. In times like this, it was best to turn

to the gods for help... Even if I was a god myself, I was a trainee! They had a job

to support me!

"Oh, right... Ende, do you think you can beat mutant Dominant Constructs?"

"Hey... Don't think so lightly of me. I'm a disciple of the god of combat

himself, right? Ahaha... Do you know how many times I've faced death in that

hellish training? Ahaha... Ahhh... Y-You have no idea what I've faced... M-My

mind is clear, my heart is pure... Ahaha... Ahahahahaaaah... Augh..."

I didn't know what Ende was recalling, but his eyes swirled around in his head,

and he began to laugh bitterly. I honestly worried about his health sometimes...

"Get it together, Endymion."

"Ack. Y-Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Melle. I was just thinking about my training."

Melle shook Ende a little, and he returned to normal. I wondered if Takeru

wasn't going a little far with the training. Frankly, I didn't want Elze to turn out

like this guy, so I was a little worried about her.

"...Thanks for the snacks."

I was wondering why Lycee hadn't said anything during my entire visit. That

mystery was answered when I looked at her and saw the entire bag of cookies

was gone. She certainly operated on her own wavelength...

...Are we gonna be fine tomorrow? No, I'm sure we will be. We've prepared

everything we possibly can, now all that's left is to crush the enemy.

We've got new allies with us... They'll probably help. Probably. It's definitely

gonna be fine.

Probably. I think.

◇ ◇ ◇

"They're coming."

Markers began falling down all over the place on my map. Upper Constructs

needed more time to get through, so the markers all represented Lesser and

Intermediate Constructs.

The Dominant Constructs would take time to come out as well... The ideal

situation would be to mop up all the mooks before the real threats showed up.

"How annoying... Wish they'd just appeared in front of us."

I could hear Elze's annoyed voice come out from Reginleif's cockpit comms. I

understood her feelings.

I looked at the emergence zone with a divinity-infused [Long Sense] spell, but

I could only see flying mutants.

Given my map's markers, the rest were probably crawling along the seafloor.

"They're headed directly southwest, then... Seems like Yumina's prediction

was entirely correct."

"Yup. That's probably the case."

Hilde was on the mark. Before the mutants had shown up, Yumina suggested

that the mutants might have been trying to make a beeline for Isengard.

Just as she'd said, that was exactly the direction in which they were headed.

And that meant they'd have to pass by Panaches first.

I'd already received permission from the king of Panaches to deploy soldiers

to his territory. I'd summoned several Valkyries to record the battle, which was

being transmitted to a live feed back at the Brunhild HQ.

All the leaders of the east and west continents would be watching that

screen, the King of Panaches included.

I had four-hundred-and-twenty Frame Gears lining the Panaches coastline.

All of them stared out to sea, waiting for their enemy to appear.

If it was any other terrain, I'd have used [Meteor Rain] to trash a bunch of

them, but I held back due to fears of causing a tsunami.

"Touya, are we cleared to deploy against the flying ones?"

"Think so... Yeah, we are."

I gestured up toward Linze's Helmwige. It was in flight mode, ready at my

command.

The only two Frame Gears that had flight-based capabilities by default were

my Reginleif and Linze's Helmwige. Rosetta had, however, engineered several

flying packs for the Valkyrie gears. Yae's Schwertleite and Hilde's Siegrune had

both used them in the past. But unfortunately, we realized that they put too

much strain on the pilot and the machines, so we had Doctor Babylon go back

to the drawing board... She didn't design anything in time for this fight, though.

The Over Gears had taken priority.

To be honest, having flying attachments was a pretty niche and situational

requirement anyway. If the enemy didn't show up above the sea, then

Brunnhilde's sniping, Grimgerde's barrage, and Rossweisse's waveform attacks

would've been more than enough to deal with airborne foes.

I had Reginleif float upward and stop level with Helmwige.

"Linze, stay within Brunnhilde's firing radius. Yumina, support Linze with your

sniper."

"One shot, one kill. I'll handle this."

I was more than comfortable leaving that side of things in Yumina's hands.

Reginleif soared through the air. Though the sea's surface was calm, I knew

that beneath the waves, an army of mutated monsters was coming for us.

There were roughly a thousand airborne mutants headed our way like a flock of

birds as well.

"Fragarachs activate! Mode Change: Dagger!"

The twelve wing-esque crystal slabs on Reginleif's back immediately shifted

into forty-eight tiny daggers. Then, they began orbiting the mech.

"Let's go! [Gladius]!"

The forty-eight orbiting blades shimmered in the sunlight, rushing headlong

toward the inbound flying foes.

I used my divine sight to verify the locations of the cores and pierced through

them precisely. The crystal blades danced through the air, leaving a glimmering

trail behind them as they cut mutant after mutant. The creatures melted down

into goop and faded into the sea.

The mental strain behind that attack was rough, though... Manipulating fortyeight blades at once, even with the boosted mental capacity from [Accel], was a

difficult task.

Linze's Helmwige masterfully took down the ones that slipped through the

cracks of my attack. The two revolver cannons on her wings automatically

sought out enemies and pummeled them with crystal projectiles.

Just like Leen's Grimgerde, it didn't run out of ammo. We had them set up to

automatically reload via teleportation from Babylon's ammo stores.

Still, if we had revolver cannons on all our Frame Gears, we'd definitely run

out of ammunition too quickly. Plus, it increased the risk of friendly fire.

Yumina's sniper shots took the ones Linze and I missed every now and then.

True to her word, she was capable of firing through the core of each one with

just a single shot.

Her aim was incredible, especially since she didn't have divine sight. I

wondered if she was using her foresight ability to assist her aim... Maybe she

saw the images of the future and knew exactly where to hit. Thanks to Linze

and Yumina, I'd already taken out more than half the flying enemies.

I checked the radar map in my cockpit, and the mutants on the seabed were

still marching toward the Panaches shoreline. They'd already moved beneath

us, so I decided it was best to worry about dealing with the flying ones.

I used [Gladius] to melt more and more of the mutants. And eventually, their

numbers were thinned to a quarter of the original amount.

"Touya! They're making landfall now!"

I heard Sue's voice through the speaker and turned the camera feed toward

the beach. A vast swarm of coconut crabs, crawfish, and other crustaceanshaped mutants emerged from the depths. The filthy constructs scuttled along

the beach, exuding a murky golden glow as they marched onward. I saw a few

isopods and regular crab-shaped ones, too.

"Looks like our guests have arrived. Time to roll out the welcome wagon!"

Leen and Paula were inside Grimgerde's cockpit, weapons primed. Various

segments on the black Frame Gear's body began opening up. Arms, chest, legs,

and waist... all opened, exposing Gatling cannons and pod missiles.

"Get blasted, sea scum!"

A hail... Or rather, a total storm of crystal bullets crashed down upon the

landborne mutants. Countless enemies were reduced to barely recognizable

shapes, utterly obliterated by the barrage.

"Wow! Let me give it a go, too!"

Sue's Ortlinde Overlord raised its right arm high into the sky. I knew what was

coming next...

"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"

The powerful rocket-powered punch slammed into a group of mutants,

mowing them down with ease. The arm wasn't stopping there, though. It

skidded across the beach and plunged into the sea, kicking up sand and

saltwater all over the place.

The rocket-punch continued mowing through submerged enemies until it

eventually broke the surface and created a vast pillar of water in its wake. That

attack was seriously strong...

Sue's Frame Gear really wasn't suited for combat against fodder.

"Let us roll, let us!"

"Yeah."

"Let's do this!"

Yae's Schwertleite, Hilde's Siegrune, and Elze's Gerhilde charged out onto the

beach. The Frame Gears behind them, piloted by soldiers from all around the

eastern continent, took up their arms and charged as well.

"I'll support you from behind!"

Lu's Waltraute swapped out to its C-Unit and began swiftly supporting the

others across the battlefield.

The C-Unit was a long-range cannon on the right shoulder, allowing Lu to

snipe the enemies one after the other.

Music began blaring from Rossweisse's speakers.

...This song of all things. I don't imagine Sakura'll have a satisfying answer if I

ask her why she chose this one.

It was a song by a famous rock band from England. Specifically, it was by their

lead vocalist. His band members arranged this version and had it released after

he died of illness at forty-five years old. I had the original release, too.

The lyrics were direct and to the point, with lines like, "I was born to love

you." The lead singer's voice was powerful enough to shake anyone down to

the soul.

Sakura's voice rang out across the battlefield, just as clearly and powerfully as

the original singer's voice. The soundwaves reverberated against the ether

liquid inside the Frame Gears, giving them temporary boosts.

"Brunhild knights, charge!"

"Belfast knights, move out!"

"Don't hold back, Regulus knights! Show them that we're a force to be

reckoned with!"

The knights began to clash against the mutants as the battle music

invigorated them. Steel clashed against muddied gold, smashing the Lesser

Constructs to bits. Then, they began tactically surrounding the Intermediate

Constructs as well.

The ground was littered with smashed cores and black sludge. It was a little

late to think about, but I hoped this wouldn't pollute the sea at all. I was kind of

worried this would turn into an oil tanker spill situation or something. The

waters looked mostly okay, though, so I figured it was probably fine.

"Oh?"

I looked over to the beach and saw two mechanical animals charging around

the mutant horde. It was almost as if they were competing.

The two Over Gears emitted shockwaves that prevented the mutants from

even approaching them. The enemies were blasted over by the shockwaves,

allowing the knights to rush in and stab them while they were down.

At a glance, it seemed like a clever, coordinated attack. But I knew better.

They were just charging around as they pleased.

"Hey, Over Gears. Don't go charging into our allies, okay?"

"Hey, geez. You think I'd do something like that? Trust me here."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself now. You're the kinda person who charges in

without thinking."

"Excuse me?!"

I sighed slightly as the two started bickering over the comms. But thankfully, a

shining goddess appeared to save me.

"Nia... I'm fairly sure I'm always telling you not to charge on blindly."

"Est?! H-Huh?! Why are you here?!"

The deputy leader of the Red Cats, Est, appeared behind Nia in her Red Lynx

Frame Gear.

"I didn't invite the Red Cats to participate this time around, but I let Est

deploy with our knight order. I needed someone to keep you in check, after all."

"Jerk!"

"Now, now. Enough of that. I thought you'd be fine left to your own devices,

but it seems like I really do have to tug at your reins..."

Est's Red Lynx deftly leaped into the air and straddled Tiger Rouge. Seemed

like when she said that stuff about rein-tugging, she meant it literally.

"Now, then. Hi-ho, Nia! Away!"

"I'm not a horse!"

"There's nothing wrong with being a horse. Now, let's work hard together...

Unless you don't want dinner, that is."

"Augh!"

Tiger Rouge rode out along the shore with Red Lynx on its back. They were

fighting pretty well together. It really spoke well to their history.

The battle was slowly becoming more of an all-out brawl, but we clearly had

the upper hand. Brunnhilde and Waltraute were doing a great job of supporting

the less experienced pilots.

I suddenly received a message from Ende's Dragoon.

"Touya, Upper Constructs inbound. Melle says there are three of them."

"What?!"

Three... This wasn't the first time multiple big ones had shown up. I

remembered the incident with the nautilus and the peacock. Come to think of

it, that was the first time we ever saw mutated Upper Constructs.

Three of them would be a struggle, though... Especially with Dominant

Constructs coming in after them.

"Touya, look at the sea!"

I turned in response to Yumina's voice and saw an enormous whirlpool

forming nearby. Wait, the Upper Constructs are showing up here instead of with

the Lesser ones?!

The whirlpool kept on growing larger until it resembled an antlion's nest

made of water.

Eventually, the middle of that whirlpool began to fracture, and space itself

started cracking.

The cracking spread to the left and right and reality at the center of the

whirlpool shattered like a mirror. The whirlpool vanished, replaced by three

massive creatures above the sea.

"Incoming!"

The first one came crashing down into the water. It stood up on its hind legs

as if to intimidate us. It was small for an Upper Construct and had the shape of a

stag beetle.

That still didn't mean it was small by human standards. It was about as tall as

an office building. I had a feeling even our Frame Gears could be crushed up in

its mandibles.

The second one floated on the sea's surface. It had a star-like shape... It was

clearly some kind of starfish. It slowly rotated as it floated along the water.

It was over a hundred meters long, at least as wide as a baseball stadium.

The final one that pushed itself through space and appeared before us was...

A Dragon.

It was a two-headed Dragon.

It had the physical appearance of a western Dragon, the kind of bulky firebreathing monster you'd see in stories of knights and chivalry. This one didn't

have any wings, though.

Spikes jutted out from its body from head to tail. It even had gnarled horns

sticking out of its chest.

The worst thing about it was its size, though. It had to have been at least one

and a half times as large as the starfish. This was absolutely the largest Upper

Construct I'd ever seen.

The two-headed Dragon splashed down into the water, all four of its clawed

feet digging into the seabed. Water splashed all over the place.

It was only then that I noticed the figures standing atop the Dragon's heads.

Two Dominant Constructs with muddy-gold protrusions on their bodies. They

almost looked like identical twins, but one was male and the other female. They

weren't very tall, either. They didn't give off the vibe of a man or a woman.

Instead, they were more like a boy and a girl.

Two Dominant Constructs with similar appearances... Don't tell me that's...

"Touya, you promised, remember?"

I heard Ende's voice on the comms.

"So that means they're who I think they are?"

"That's right. Leto and Luto. The ones that caused the whole mess for me a

while back."

I looked back up toward the Dragon and saw the twin mutants cackling atop

the heads.

"It would appear we have a great many spectators, Luto. Whatever shall we

do?"

"We must greet our new friends with open arms, of course."

The two-headed Dragon dug its feet into the seabed even more as it aimed its

heads at the shoreline. Crackling electricity began to dance all over its body as

particles of light gathered in both of its open mouths.

OH HELL NO! Two enormous lasers beamed from the Dragon's mouths in the

blink of an eye, sending out a burning flash of light into the vicinity.

"[Shield]!"

I cast a defensive spell, empowered by my own divinity and Reginleif. Usually,

the barrier was invisible, but it glowed with divine light as it stood in the path of

the two particle beams.

In most cases, a spell imbued with divinity was unbreakable, but since the

enemy was empowered by the wicked god, the circumstances were far from

normal. The barrier I'd set up gradually began to crack and strain under the

force of the incoming blasts.

Fortunately, it managed to endure the full brunt of the attack, but it shattered

to pieces right after.

"Way to attack hard right off the bat, geez..."

I was a little worried for a second there. I hadn't expected them to do that.

"Hey, Ende. I'm gonna move these two someplace else. You good to take

them after that?"

"Yeah. You can leave it to me, Melle, and the others."

"Gotcha. Let me just set that up for you then. Fragarach Mode Change:

Chain!"

The forty-eight daggers orbiting Reginleif joined together and formed chain

links, then combined into a single large chain. Both ends of the chain had

weighty phrasium ball weights attached to them.

The chain, imbued with my divinity, orbited Reginleif as it gradually

lengthened.

"Go now. Snare those two Dominant Constructs, Gleipnir!"

The phrasium chain hurtled toward Leto and Luto at incredible speed,

wrapping itself around them like a crystal snake.

"What is this?!"

"How is this...?!"

The two ball weights dragged down as the chains bound Leto and Luto,

drawing them both together.

I knew it wouldn't last long, so I deftly sent the two of them blasting toward a

sand dune away from the main battle.

"Gh!"

The chains around the duo started to crack under their resistance. Given that

they had the wicked god's muddy divinity, I wasn't surprised.

I didn't want the Fragarachs breaking this soon into the fight, so I released

them from their bonds, dropping them to the sand below.

The two of them landed without issue, but it wasn't over for them.

"[Prison]!"

I used my sealing spell to lock them up. Under ordinary circumstances, they

wouldn't have been able to escape.

Unfortunately for me, I was pretty sure that if they focused their attacks,

they'd be able to get out at some point.

Well, if they could focus, anyway.

"They're confined to that area. Do what you want with them now."

"Cheers, Touya."

The black-and-white Dragoon sped toward the dune, holding Melle and the

other two Phrase girls in its hands.

The Dragoon came to a halt and they all leaped down to the ground. Then,

Ende popped open his cockpit and joined them.

"Hoh. And here I was wondering what this was all about. Are you not the

former sovereign and her ragtag gang of weaklings?"

"Goodness me, Ney? I never would have imagined you teaming up with

Endymion of all people. I was sure you ran back to Phrasia in tears, tail between

your legs like the good little dog you are."

Ende and his allies walked through the [Prison] threshold, ignoring the jeering

from the twins. I'd set it up so anything other than the mutants could pass

through it.

"...Leto. Luto. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Melle called out to the twins as she

and her allies stood to face them.

I was a bit worried about how they'd fare, but I decided to trust in them. I had

a lot to do, after all.

I transformed the Fragarach chain links back into flat boards and had them

rest on Reginleif's back. We had to deal with the incoming Upper Constructs.

"Touya, how shall we handle them?"

I didn't reply to Yumina for a few moments, since I was contemplating our

course of action.

"Sue, deploy your Overlord against the stag beetle. Sakura, you support her.

Yae, Elze, and Hilde, take Linze with you and target the starfish. Leen, Lu, and

Yumina... You cover the knights and attack the Upper Constructs when you have

an opportunity. I'll handle that two-headed Dragon. If you guys take down your

target, immediately go and back up the other girls."

The stag beetle was seventy or eighty meters long at most and Sue's Ortlinde

Overlord was thirty meters, so I was sure it could hold back the beetle if it came

down to it.

Ortlinde had been designed from the ground-up as a defensive Frame Gear

anyway. It had impeccable defenses. If you added in Sakura's music as support,

they'd be unstoppable.

I was a bit concerned about the starfish, since I didn't know how it would

attack, but I had faith in the four girls I'd sent after it.

All I had to do was take out the two-headed Dragon as quickly as I could, then

help the others as needed.

I'm counting on you, Ende. Don't let those Dominant Constructs get over here.

"Valkyries, move out!"

I reactivated the Fragarachs on Reginleif's back, then flew off toward my

target.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Alright, now it's our turn!"

Sue sat inside the Ortlinde Overlord's cockpit. She was positively brimming

with joy. She was excited to finally be on the front lines of a battle. The

defensive nature of her mech typically relegated her to the rear guard.

But this time, she had express permission from Touya, so it was fine to beat

the enemies to a pulp.

"Touya's always been a little protective of me. I'm one of his fiancees, too!

I'm plenty capable! A couple Upper Constructs aren't a problem for me!"

"Be careful... Don't get ahead of yourself... The Grand Duke worries about

your rash nature..."

"Buh... I-I was just amping myself up! I'm not getting ahead of myself!"

"Good..." Sakura's soft voice fed through the cockpit speaker, making Sue

panic a little.

She did regret that she'd made such a childish comment. Sue was the

youngest of Touya's fiancees, after all. Yumina and Lu were the next youngest,

and they were two years older than her.

Even though there were only two years between them, Sue thought there

was a vast gulp of maturity between her and them. She wasn't necessarily right

about this, though. It was just how she saw it. Still, feelings like that made Sue

impatient to grow up faster. She wanted to become more ladylike, just like the

girls older than her.

She'd recently asked her mother Ellen to teach her sewing, proper dancing

form, and proper etiquette. The results weren't exactly befitting a noble lady,

though...

"Well, whatever! Time to crush that beetle!"

Sue rapidly operated the command console within her customized cockpit.

She poured magic through her fingers as she inputted various commands.

"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"

Ortlinde Overlord's right arm began spinning rapidly before launching off at

the elbow. The shining golden right hook flew into the stag beetle, smashing

against the surface of its body.

The right hand whirred against the beetle's carapace for two full seconds

before pulling back, failing to penetrate it. The enemy's body had cracks all over

it, but they regenerated in no time at all. It eventually returned to an unhurt

appearance.

"Hrm. Guess it can't be beaten that easily."

With regular Phrase, destroying the core was enough to kill them. It was the

same with the mutants, but since they weren't see-through, it was hard to track

their weak spots.

Plus, the Upper Constructs usually had multiple cores, so they were even

trickier to deal with.

At a glance, it was easy to assume they wouldn't be in the legs or mandibles.

They'd probably be in the torso or abdomen.

"If only I could locate the cores."

"I can handle that... Rossweisse is a support Frame Gear, so it can do that kind

of thing..."

"It can, Sakura?"

More musical magic came from Sakura's Frame Gear.

The song was the main theme of a movie about a guy who went to the past in

a car-shaped time machine. It spread out across the battlefield in a vibrant way,

befitting the title "The Power of Love." Then, it washed over the Upper

Construct.

It wasn't an offensive ability, so it simply ran through the beetle's body like a

light, pinpointing the location of its cores.

"There are three cores... One in the head... and two in the chest... They're

positioned in a vertical line, spaced out a bit... I'll send the readings."

"Neat."

One of Sue's monitors displayed an image of the Upper Construct. Three

glowing dots were highlighted on the image, showing the core locations.

"Now I can aim and hit them properly. Just need to figure out a proper

attack."

Sue grumbled a bit at her screen. It took considerable power to smash

through an Upper Construct mutant and reach the cores inside.

Even with Sakura's music strengthening Ortlinde, she wasn't sure if she could

do it alone. Plus, all three cores needed to be shattered one after the other, and

fast. Otherwise, the regeneration would just kick in.

She was thinking maybe she should move the drill bits from Mjolnir, the

subterranean tank that made up Ortlinde's legs, to Ortlinde's arm. Then, she

could use a cannon knuckle spiral...

"I had a feeling it might end up like this!"

"Huh?! Wh-Wh-What?!"

Sue was startled by the sudden voice from the speakers. The voice belonged

to High Rosetta, the lead maintainer of the Frame Gears and manager of the

workshop.

"We made a special tool for the Ortlinde Overlord, yessir we did! Time to

hammer that button! Whammo!"

Babylon, which floated high in the sky above the battlefield, fired a weapon

down to the ground. It landed right in front of Ortlinde Overlord, kicking up

sand everywhere.

The sound it made at first was a gigantic thud. Then, as the rest of it fell, it

was more of a metallic clinking.

"That's..."

The weapon was a gigantic metal ball with a golden luster. It was attached to

a giant chain. The weapon could be called a morning star, but it was positively

enormous. It was truly a weapon befitting the Ortlinde Overlord.

"Yessir, we really went and did it! It's the anti-Upper Construct giga gravity

weapon, the gold hammer!"

If Sue had more knowledge, she might have responded with "That's more of a

throwing hammer than an actual hammer!"

"The gold hammer uses [Gravity] and [Prison] to accumulate magi-graviton

energy in its ball component as it swings around. Then, when it hits its target,

it'll unleash all the accumulated energy and crush the target to dust, yessir it

will! The more you spin it, the stronger it'll get... But if you swing it too much,

Ortlinde Overlord won't be able to heft it anymore. You gotta be careful, yessir

you do!"

Sue didn't fully understand Rosetta's explanation, but she understood that

she had a powerful weapon at her disposal.

Ortlinde Overlord picked up the chain handle of the gold hammer. The chain's

length reached up to the Frame Gear's chest. The ball lifted with relative ease,

so it seemed to be a reasonable weight for the time being.

Even in that state, it would be a devastating weapon to any regular enemy,

but an Upper Construct would need further strength.

"Alright! Time to be a brave and noble lady... Let's go!"

The Ortlinde Overlord began to spin the gold hammer around. It started by

swinging the weapon back and forth like a pendulum to pick up momentum.

Slowly, the gold circle began to spin around in a full circle, picking up speed

and kicking up sand in the wake of its wind current.

The hammer's position shifted to a horizontal rotation without losing any

momentum. Sparks began flying from the golden ball, and Ortlinde's arm

started accumulating severe mechanical strain.

Sue could tell immediately that the weapon was building up massive force

inside. The [Prison] enchantment was keeping that energy stored inside.

The stag beetle started generating light inside its mandibles. Much like the

Dragon earlier, it was trying to unleash a particle beam laser.

"Oh no you dooon't!"

Ortlinde Overlord began to shift, spinning its entire body around like a

spinning top to add more force to the gold hammer. And, after reaching the

maximum limit that Ortlinde could take, the weapon was let go, flying toward

the stag beetle along with all its magi-graviton mass.

The gold hammer struck true, flying like a bullet into the Upper Construct.

Dark particles flowed from the gold hammer on impact, the sheer force of it

distorting reality itself around the mutant foe.

A furious shockwave shook the very space in the surrounding area.

The body of the stag beetle began to crumble into fine grains before blowing

away like dust in the wind. Every part of the creature, cores included, had been

turned into powder.

"Crumble to dust!"

The twisted, distorted region of space destroyed the stag beetle instantly.

When it finally subsided, there was nothing left but the gentle whoosh of

nearby waves.

It was complete and utter obliteration. Despite Sue's words, there wasn't

even dust left. It was simply gone.

The gold hammer itself ended up disintegrating as well. It seemed even the

weapon couldn't withstand the force of the energy it was designed to contain.

"I did it, Touya! I did it! Wait, huh?"

Sue started celebrating in the cockpit, but Ortlinde Overlord suddenly fell to

its knees. Steam and mana particles began rising from its joints, and the armor

on its limbs began crumbling away.

All the monitors and displays inside the cockpit turned off, and the entire

machine switched to emergency power.

"Huh? Why's it not moving?!"

"No need to worry about it, ma'am! That's just the recoil from using the gold

hammer, yessir it is! Ortlinde's just overheated for a bit, that's all! Seems like

we'll have to tweak Ortlinde a bit more so it can handle the collapsing energy!"

Sue opened up the cockpit hatch and hopped out of the immobile Frame

Gear. The battle was still going on over at the main beach, so she could see the

figures of Chevaliers taking on Lesser Construct mutants.

"Good work..."

A light pink Frame Gear appeared below Sue. It was Sakura's Rossweisse.

Sue pouted a little as she leaned against Ortlinde's chest hatch.

"I'm glad I beat that beetle, but I can't help Touya and the others now!"

"Don't worry... I'll go help them on your behalf..."

"No fair!"

Sue knew it was childish, but she couldn't help but throw a little tantrum.

After all, she'd been waiting a while to make an impact with the others.

"It's okay... You did good, Sue. Be proud... Monica, please send Ortlinde

Overlord and its pilot back to the hangar..."

"Roger!"

"Hey... Wait, I'm not done sulking!"

The kneeling titan, along with Sue, was wrapped up in glimmering light and

warped away from the beach.

Sakura's Rossweisse was left behind, ready to continue supporting her allies.

"Now then... Should I help Elze's group or go to the Grand Duke...? Or wait,

maybe I should support Yumina and the knights...?"

Sakura used search magic within the Rossweisse cockpit to get a grasp on the

situation.

There was no reason to worry about Elze's group. Elze, Hilde, and Yae were an

unstoppable trio when it came to physical combat.

However, Sakura was even less worried about Touya. There was no way he

would ever lose a fight. Hell would surely freeze over before that happened.

Sakura's belief in her fiance teetered on the verge of unwavering, blind faith.

With all that in mind, it was most logical for her to follow up with Yumina and

the knight orders. Rossweisse specialized in support from the back, so she'd be

able to make best use of her Frame Gear in a large-scale battle like that.

Sakura quietly affirmed that course of action before rushing back toward the

carnage.