Chapter 331: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (49)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 331: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (49)
Upon arriving at the battleship, Adele immediately issued her orders.
“Sheryl, I need you to take the pilots and launch immediately.”
Sheryl looked at her for a moment before asking, “Are you planning to defend this place?”
“Yes. The enemy force is smaller than I expected. It seems Arsenos didn't commit a large-scale force, likely because this is an abandoned planet.”
“Understood.”
With that short reply, Sheryl headed for the hangar. As the atmosphere grew tense and heavy, Adele turned to the three people who remained behind: Lisa, Oh Hyun, and Mason, still bound and silent.
She spoke calmly.
“I’m going to release you.”
At the sudden declaration, Lisa narrowed her eyes and asked, “Why now?”
“There’s no point in holding onto you when you refuse to say anything. It’s just a waste of food. Besides… this is your chance to return home. There’s no downside for you.”
“Well, if you’re letting us go, I’m grateful.”
“Su-hyeon, release them.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Su-hyeon quietly approached and deactivated their wrist restraints. Oh Hyun rubbed his wrists, letting out a small breath, while Mason watched Adele with a heavy gaze.
“I can’t give you any Mobile Weapons. I won’t let you pilot them and attack civilians.”
At her words, all three of their expressions hardened. Lisa spoke cautiously.
“We… we didn’t do anything like that.”
“In any case, we’ve recovered the units you arrived in. The rest is up to you. Please leave now.”
The three exchanged glances before turning their backs without another word. Armed employees of the Licencia Group followed behind them, a precaution against any unforeseen variables.
Su-hyeon, who had been watching the scene in silence, spoke cautiously once the door closed.
“Miss… are you sure it’s alright to let them go like this?”
Adele seemed lost in thought for a long moment. Finally, she nodded, her voice low and composed.
“Yes. From what I can see, they truly didn’t know anything. If they were hiding something, their eyes would have betrayed them… but there was no sign of that at all.”
“But what if—”
“It’s a waste of food. There was no reason to keep them, and I don’t have the emotional luxury to hold onto them out of spite.”
Adele slowly walked to the window and looked outside. Beyond the civilian sector, smoke was rising. In the distance, the silhouette of an Arsenos battleship cut across the sky.
Without taking her eyes off the view, Adele asked quietly, “How is Hina?”
Su-hyeon hesitated for a second before answering carefully, “Miss Hina is… the same as ever.”
A corner of Adele’s mouth lifted in a weak smile as she muttered, “She must be very sad.”
“…Yes.”
“It’s hard on you, too, isn’t it?”
Su-hyeon nodded after a slight delay.
“A little.”
Adele didn’t press further. Though she tried her best not to show emotion, an unreadable fatigue was etched in her quiet gaze.
“For now, let’s go to the bridge. There’s a lot to sort out.”
Su-hyeon nodded silently and followed her.
*
After leaving the battleship, the three of them stopped and looked up at the sky.
The heavens were stained red. Above, the Arsenos fleet circled, and the trajectories of bombs piercing the atmosphere streaked down like flames.
“…Why the hell are they going this far…? They’re not soldiers, they’re civilians…!”
Lisa’s cry tore through the air like a scream. Rage, despair, and confusion were tangled together in her voice.
Mason stared at the sky, silently clenching his jaw.
“Is this… the justice Arsenos was talking about?”
After a long silence, Oh Hyun lowered his head.
“I don’t know what’s what anymore…”
Lisa turned her head and replied quietly, “Neither do I…”
Then, Mason let out a long breath and said, “Haa… well, this is no time to be standing around. Let’s move.”
The three nodded grimly and got to their feet. At that moment, a massive shadow fell over them from the sky.
“……!”
What they saw when they looked up was an overwhelmingly intimidating silhouette that defied all common sense. It was several times larger than a normal unit, with thick armor plating. It was an unfamiliar design, belonging to neither the Federation nor Arsenos.
Lisa narrowed her eyes and muttered, “…What is that?”
In that instant, a massive cannon barrel opened toward the ground.
KRA-KOOOOM!!!
The explosion rocked the earth. The ground split apart, and shrapnel flew in every direction. A deafening series of blasts echoed as the wreckage of buildings was sent flying through the air.
“Get down!”
The three of them instinctively ducked. Sand and debris grazed their heads. Their senses were on high alert, and the taste of dry dust filled their mouths. The massive silhouette, vaguely visible through the smoke, descended with a roar. The moment it landed, it unleashed an indiscriminate barrage of fire. It was a literal large-scale massacre, with no distinction between targets.
“This is… this is just a slaughter…!”
Her eyes were a mixture of fury, terror, and a storm of other complex emotions. Mason gritted his teeth and peered over a collapsed wall.
“…Dammit.”
Oh Hyun silently raised his head. The distant corpses, the bloodstains on the ground, the destroyed shelters, the children crushed to death… everything was a picture of despair.
In that moment of utter hopelessness, a pure white flash descended from the sky.
“Huh? What’s that…”
A pristine white unit descended through the smoke, followed by a large number of Licencia Group machines.
Sheryl Mortimer’s Eclipse opened fire with all its weapons, beginning to suppress the Arsenos units. The front line wavered in an instant. But the sight filled Lisa and her companions with a strange sense of dissonance.
“…Our allies are being attacked, but they look like the side of justice…” Lisa muttered.
The three looked at each other in silence. After a brief pause, Mason spoke up.
“…Lisa. I’m thinking of going to the Licencia side.”
“What?”
She turned to him.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“If we just stand here and watch, I think I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
Mason said, his eyes narrowed. His gaze was filled with resolve.
“You saw our military just now. Civilians, children… burned alive. Even if they’re our allies, this isn’t right.”
Lisa drew a sharp breath. Then, she broke into a grin and lightly punched him in the chest.
“Haa… I’m not about to let you go alone, so I’m going too.”
Their gazes then turned to Oh Hyun. He was standing on the rubble, silently looking up at the sky. The face of his dead younger sister flashed through his mind.
“…I’ll go too,” Oh Hyun said quietly. His voice was low and firm, filled with determination.
Mason nodded.
“Good. That’s the right call.”
The three of them set off, heading past the ruined streets and into the city, a chaotic mix of smoke and gunfire. They pushed through the flames and past the explosions, making their way toward Adele Licencia.
*
Sheryl Mortimer narrowed her eyes, glaring at the massive unit in her sights. The black steel armor covering its entire body, its overwhelming silhouette… there was no doubt. It was the Obsidian, the weapon the Federation had been secretly developing.
“…So, the young miss was right after all.”
She muttered under her breath, secured herself in the cockpit, and switched on the comms.
“This is Sheryl Mortimer. All units are to immediately halt the indiscriminate attacks on the citizens. I will—”
She glared at the machine again.
“—take on the Obsidian.”
Responses from the other pilots came through the comms channel. Sheryl immediately gripped the control stick. The Eclipse’s frame vibrated as it began to accelerate. Its compressed nozzles spewed high-temperature exhaust as the unit soared into the air, instantly positioning itself above the Obsidian.
“Targeting the forward sensors first.”
The beam rifle flashed as it fired. However, the thick composite armor was merely scratched, remaining otherwise intact.
“Tough one.”
She immediately banked the unit. The Obsidian reacted at the same time. Automated turrets popped out from its shoulders and took aim at Sheryl’s machine.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
A volley of shots that seemed to chase the speed of light. But Sheryl evaded, letting her unit fall through the air as if collapsing.
“A frontal assault is impossible.”
She rotated the Eclipse and moved swiftly to the Obsidian’s flank.
“I have to aim for a spot near the core. The cooling line on the chest… that must be its only weakness.”
She had already identified the Obsidian’s structural vulnerabilities. Although its exterior had been improved, its cooling line structure was unlikely to have changed much, considering energy efficiency.
KRA-KOOM!
She attacked, aiming for its weak point as the Obsidian fired, but the external panels on its chest separated as if in response, deploying a high-output defense field.
“Heh…”
The exposed cooling line from a moment ago was gone. Massive armor plates had folded to cover the gap, and the direct hit from her beam dissipated across the surface.
“…They’ve even perfectly reinforced its weak points.”
Suddenly, high-output plasma cannons on both of the Obsidian’s shoulders activated and aimed at her.
The Eclipse dove sharply, sliding across the ground. Two beams of light tore through the space she had just vacated. The ensuing shockwave and flash swept across the terrain.
“Its mobility is atrocious, but they’ve invested everything into its defense and attack power.”
Sheryl sent the Eclipse into a sharp, diagonal ascent, changing its trajectory. A heat-seeking warning immediately followed, but she just clicked her tongue.
“…Tsk.”
She aimed precision shots at its joints, but they were protected by layers of overlapping variable armor.
“Those Arsenos bastards… they’ve completely modified it into a monster.”
A corner of her mouth lifted.
“In that case—”
Sheryl half-rotated the Eclipse and descended, slipping in behind the Obsidian. The shoulder-mounted Impact Cannons on its back unfolded, automatically locking onto their target.
“The exposed propellant nozzle… this has to be it.”
KRA-KOOOOM!!!
The barrage slammed into the Obsidian’s rear. For a moment, a shockwave and flames erupted, and the massive unit was pushed a step forward. But as a counterattack came immediately, Sheryl ascended. The giant hunk of metal, the Obsidian, slowly turned its head, tracking her.
And then—
[Warning. High-energy reaction detected.]
A sharp alarm blared inside the cockpit. Sheryl gripped the Eclipse’s controls, keeping her eyes fixed on the Obsidian.
“It’s planning something. But I have no intention of letting it.”
Just as she was about to adjust her aim—
KABOOM!!
A plasma blast from behind her grazed the side of her unit.
“Tsk.”
Sheryl banked to evade, instinctively scanning her radar. Multiple shots were concentrating on her position. Covering fire from an enemy ship. And at the same time, the Obsidian began to move.
This isn’t good. I should pull back for now…
Just as she began to increase the distance, a new unit signature appeared on her upper-right radar.
Three units descended, cutting through the sky. A comms channel opened immediately, and a woman’s voice came through.
[Sheryl Mortimer, we’ll handle the battleship up ahead.]
“…Are you sure? They were your allies, weren’t they?”
[Right now… I can’t think of them as allies.]
A slow smile spread across Sheryl’s lips.
“Alright. Then I’ll leave them to you.”
The Eclipse repositioned itself. She turned her head and slowly took aim at the Obsidian once more.
“Well then… shall we have a proper fight?”
With that cold whisper, all of the Eclipse’s thrusters ignited at once. The instantly accelerated unit skimmed low across the ground, circling around to flank the Obsidian.
KABOOM!!
A beam fired as she circled at high speed shot up vertically, grazing the Obsidian’s side armor. As the heavy, lumbering machine turned its head in response, Sheryl was already moving in another direction.
“Did you really think you could keep up with the Eclipse’s speed?”
She moved, repeatedly striking the exact same spot.