033. Frost Phantom (2) (Revised from here)
033. Frost Phantom (2) (Revised from here)
—From now on, analyze the advantages and disadvantages before you fight.
The Commander had said that during her first mission.
It was a guideline Laika found somewhat unappealing. The commander was great in every way, but he had a tendency to dig in a little too analytically. Actual combat was something you pulled off through moment-to-moment instinct, not by weighing pros and cons.
Still, a guideline was a guideline. Laika began analyzing the advantages and disadvantages before every fight, and it became a habit. Now, in this very moment, she completed that analysis in less than an instant.
Advantages.
1. She had closed within 50 meters of the Commander, and Phase Resonance had resumed normal function. Laika could therefore fight at her full capability.
2. The Rampage skill had not yet been activated. One use remained.
3. She sensed the residual phase of the dead Legions around her. She might be able to draw on that energy, if only a little.
Disadvantages.
1. Her right shoulder was hit, damaging the artificial muscle. Her ability to handle the shield had dropped severely.
2. On top of that, the cold seemed to be eroding her sensor circuits. If she mishandled her output control here, it might damage her core.
3. The blizzard drove straight into Laika's face, making it hard to see.
Ah, and one more thing to add.
"It's mad."
The Frost Phantom charged at her, clearly looking enraged.
The first exchange.
Laika raised her shield and barely managed to block the creature's leg.
No time to feel relief. Kwadeuk! The creature tried to bite off her tattered right arm whole with its massive molars.
She barely managed to retreat out of the way—just barely, truly just barely.
—Gauge: 93 percent.
The moment she confirmed it, the second exchange followed.
This time, the creature darted around Laika's side and drove into her flank.
Not an overhead slam. A long, sweeping motion she had never seen before, as if attempting to crush her entire lower body.
"Kk...!"
She blocked it.
She blocked it, but searing pain followed. Of course it did—the creature had struck her injured right side.
One more attack like that, and her arm would tear off.
—Gauge: 99 percent.
The third exchange began the instant she realized it.
The creature raised its upper body again, preparing to spew cold.
Laika lifted her shield, but—
"Wha—?!"
The cold did not come.
Instead, the creature slammed its raised forelegs down onto her.
An obvious feint. She realized it now, but—
Too late. She couldn't survive.
She could not protect him.
The moment judgment settled,
Laika activated Rampage.
In an instant, crimson phase energy enveloped her entire body.
The strain pressing on her wrecked shoulder lessened.
The weight of the shield in her grip grew distinctly lighter.
The blizzard that had obscured her vision slowed, and Laika's feet grew faster.
And so.
"Uryaaaaaah—!"
She barely, truly just barely, blocked the creature with the shield in time—
and so all five petals came to shine without a single one missing—
but.
Perhaps because she had been overpowered. Laika lost her grip on the shield.
The shield spun round and round through the air, flying away.
Her vision flickered crimson within the blizzard.
Piercing through that opening, the Frost Phantom's hideous molars gaped wide, trying to swallow Laika's head whole.
She was going to be swallowed.
It was going to end like this.
Just before she accepted that, with no time left to resist—
—Wooooooooong....
A strange sound blanketed her surroundings.
At the same time, the Frost Phantom's gaping maw froze in place.
A scream ripped from the giant mechanical spider.
—Kieeeeeeeeeek.
Immediately after, the white defensive phase coiled around the creature's entire body melted away.
She understood then.
It was the commander.
By switching off the Phase Distorter, the commander had neutralized the creature.
A dozen or so seconds, probably.
An opening had appeared.
And the Last Bloom that had fallen to the ground was clearly in a fully charged state.
So. All she had to do was seize that shield right now.
If she activated Shape Shift and drove a blow into the center of the neutralized Frost Phantom's torso, the fight would be over.
And yet, why?
Her body felt heavy.
No, to be precise... her entire body except her right arm felt heavy.
Strange. Her right side was the part that had been injured.
Why was it, of all things, only her right arm
that felt this light?
Laika finally turned her head to the right and realized.
Ah, I see.
I didn't drop the shield.
Of course not. That shield was a strapped-on model—the kind the Commander had recommended, saying, "This will suit you better."
And I trained until I could grip it and never let go.
I couldn't have dropped it.
It was just that—
"Commander, my right arm..."
Her right arm had torn off.
Unable to finish her words, Laika collapsed into the snow.
***
It was cold.
Too cold.
Cold, and lonely, and freezing, and painful.
Agonizing.
Seo Se-rin must have felt this too.
She must have died slowly, feeling just like this.
Surely resenting Laika.
So.
—Maybe I don't really have to live.
Maybe it'd be fine to die.
No, more than that—why had Laika tried so hard?
It was a constructed life anyway.
Constructed, forced into existence, made to struggle toward dreams forcibly implanted in her, and then used.
When that was all her life amounted to,
why had she been so fervently
running forward?
For what
should she stand up?
She did not know.
......She did not know, but—
Even so, Laika suddenly grew curious.
If she ended here, what would happen to the commander she left behind?
There was no need to ask.
Within the next dozen or so seconds, the Frost Phantom would break free from its neutralized state.
After that, the Legion would have one task. It would track down the human mere tens of meters away and tear his body to shreds.
So it was simple.
If Laika gave up here, the commander would die.
That.
"I don't want that...."
Why was she saying that?
Because the commander had not given up on her even when everyone else had, and had helped her?
Because he was the first to listen to Laika's story and offered her a solution?
Because he had created beautiful things in Laika's empty room?
Because he had instilled the confidence that she could do it, had humored her whining, had gone on dates with her, and had shown her, dressed her in, and fed her pretty and lovely things?
No.
It was not because of mere things like those.
The reason that person was precious to Laika was—
"That person... is Laika's...."
Laika absorbed the phase energy drifting in the air.
Using the minimal energy secured from that as a catalyst, she entrusted her body to a flow of runaway power more intense than ever before.
A sensation she could not tell was shuddering or agony swept through her entire body.
Within that sensation, Laika knew.
Her phase sensor circuits were shattered. If she forcibly seized the shield with one arm here and delivered a final blow, Laika would be unable to handle that energy and would die.
She would die, but—
even so, it was fine.
Because the commander was her reason.
If it was to protect what was hers, she would happily burn herself up.
If it was to protect what was hers, she would happily smash herself apart.
So.
"Commander, I really like you."
For the first time, she confessed her feelings without pretense.
And she reached out her hand toward the weapon that was the crystallization of those feelings.
In that moment,
something pulled Laika back.
"......You worked hard."
A gentle voice graced her ears.
Then, what she saw was the commander's back.
That commander had picked up the shield.
A shield that should have no reason to respond to a human.
And yet, the shield soon became a blade.
"Leave the finishing blow to me."
How was this happening?
How was he using equipment that only biodroids could use?
It was not difficult to understand.
Because in the very next moment, the commander's heart pushed into Laika's own.
As if they had become a single person, Laika could see the commander's field of vision.
Within the red-hued view, a message had surfaced.
[Phase Resonance Rate with biodroid 'Laika' has reached 100%.]
[Activating Skill 「Synchronizer」.]
Ah, she saw.
Phase was the priority of existence as viewed from the world's dimension.
In this moment, this world recognized the commander and Laika as the same existence, permitting him to use a biodroid's equipment.
As soon as understanding settled in, a certain sensation stormed through Laika's entire body.
Was it fury? Excitement? Agony?
Or was it sorrow?
She could not tell.
Perhaps it felt like all of those things tangled together.
That emotion, which must have been conveyed from the commander's heart, was not entirely unfamiliar.
The name of that emotion was probably: regret.
If only he had understood Sion's feelings a little sooner.
If only he had understood the intention behind Sion gifting him a 'skill module that can only be used once Phase Resonance Rate reaches 100%.'
If only he had noticed that all she wished for was 'to be together forever.'
Couldn't he have saved that precious person?
He was agonized by such feelings.
What was immediately apparent was that it was not only the commander who had felt that regret.
Laika was the same.
That day she lost Seo Se-rin,
Laika had fallen to her knees before that overwhelming regret.
She had thought she could never overcome it alone.
Perhaps, more than that pure-white spider, it was this feeling that Laika feared.
......However.
"It's okay now."
The Commander and Laika said it to each other.
Because they could mend things from now on.
Even if they couldn't turn everything back, even so, they could start again.
Because she was no longer alone.
Sion.
Seo Se-rin.
Because they were both going to see them.
[※Warning: A human using phase power may pose a risk to their life.]
Even when that warning appeared, the Commander did not back down.
Instead, he wrapped himself in crimson phase energy.
「Rampage」
Soon, he raised the great blade wreathed in light and stared at the monster before his eyes.
The creature took the form of a gigantic spider.
Above it, gaps finally appeared in the white defensive phase.
Perhaps it wanted to hide those gaps. The Frost Phantom roared in agony and opened its maw at the Commander.
But it was useless.
「Shape Shift - Full Bloom」
Just like that.
Buwung——
The enormous blade slammed into the Frost Phantom's head.
An explosion followed.
————————Kwoong!
The creature burst apart from the inside, destroyed without a trace.
And so.
"......Euhyeh."
Finally relieved, Laika fell asleep.
***
And when she opened her eyes again, Laika was—
"......Euhye?"
in her own room.
That is, Room 201 of Forward Base Krädel's residential block.
She was lying on her bed, which had been repositioned for a good view of the fish tank.
What had happened?
Why was she lying here?
What day was it, and what had she been doing before she fell asleep?
The fatigue was on a completely different level from usual. Laika could not immediately grasp it.
But only for a moment.
As her drowsiness gradually lifted, her memories began to return, almost as if to take its place.
Just as a startled Laika was about to throw off the blanket and jump up, the room door opened.
The commander.
"You're awake?"
"Wh-what happened? The Frost Phantom? The mission?"
Laika blurted out the questions.
At that, the commander—how to put it—wore a faint, incredulous smile, as if watching someone belatedly react to something already long finished.
And indeed, it was so.
"The Frost Phantom—you and I took it down, remember?"
"I-I think maybe that did happen...."
"Not maybe. It did."
"But what happened after?"
The Commander shrugged and answered.
"Alicia sent a follow-up unit and we were evacuated. Ah, Sumire reattached your arm. Make sure to thank her later."
"Ah, ah...."
Laika stroked her own right arm.
While she did, the commander continued answering her other questions.
The Frost Phantom was eliminated, and the data pack was secured without issue from the wreckage.
That meant the mission she had been worried about was automatically cleared.
Her scheduled disposal was waived without issue as well.
"Phew...."
She had only just started to stroke her chest in relief
when the commander casually added,
"......And me too."
"Huh?"
"As a reward for conquering the Ice Shell, they told me to transfer out to another base."
At those words, Laika felt her heart drop with a thump.
But she could not simply blurt out that she hated the idea and beg him to stay. Laika had no right to do that.
Even if she had been in a position to have any say over the commander's transfer, she thought she shouldn't.
Unlike Laika, whose own crisis was over now, he still had something he needed to do.
He had a goal: to find his childhood friend Sion.
For that goal, transferring to some other proper base rather than Krädel would surely be more advantageous.
So, so....
As a comrade who had been with him all this time, she should congratulate him.
She should send him off with a smiling face.
She had resolved that, but—
"Wh-what about Laika...?"
As expected,
Laika's clingy side burst out right on cue.
Whether he understood how Laika felt or not, the Commander responded coldly.
"Huh? You should stay at Krädel."
At those words, Laika went pale and shook her head frantically.
"N-no. Take Laika with you...!"
"I looked into it, and that seems difficult due to various problems."
"Eu, euhgeuk...! How can that be...! Take me with you even if it's difficult...! Laika can't live without the commander anymore...!"
Laika began to tear up at the commander's seemingly detached words.
Watching her, the commander wore a wry smile for some reason.
"Listen to what people say to the end. I was told to transfer out. I didn't say I agreed to go."
"......Euhyeong?"
What did he mean by that now?
To the dumbfounded Laika, the commander answered playfully.
"They told me to transfer out, and I said I wouldn't go. I asked for a different reward instead."
"A different reward?"
The Commander confirmed it again.
"Instead of pulling me out of Krädel, I asked for a whole biodroid."
"Euhye? What kind of biodroid?"
"Who do you think?"
The commander asked in a peculiar, roundabout way.
Laika could not understand at all.
Who? Could it be someone Laika knew?
When it came to people Laika knew, given her narrow social circle, there was no one aside from the three other biodroids staying here at Krädel.
Unless—
unless it was—
"......Huh?"
A knock came from the closed door.
"I'll give you two some privacy, so talk at ease."
On behalf of the stunned Laika, the commander stood and opened the door.
The commander stepped out, and a woman entered her room as if taking the baton from him.
Laika knew the name of that woman, who wore a sheepish expression.
"Seo Se-rin......?"