Chapter 335: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (53)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 335: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (53)
The moment Sheryl Mortimer stepped out of the Eclipse, she walked straight toward Oh Hyun, who had just disembarked from the red mech, Exile.
Without a word, she grabbed him by the neck.
“Ghk…!”
Caught by the unexpected attack, Oh Hyun’s feet left the ground. Choking, he grabbed Sheryl’s wrist with both hands, but she didn’t even flinch.
A startled Lisa started to rush forward, but Mason, who was beside her, quietly blocked her arm.
“Wait. For now… let’s just watch.”
Sheryl stared down Oh Hyun without blinking.
“You. I thought I’d give you the benefit of the doubt last time, maybe even treat you like a human being.”
Her voice was low and cold.
“I was mistaken. You’re just trash.”
“Kegh… khk…”
As Oh Hyun struggled, not a single emotion showed on Sheryl’s face.
“Don’t act so recklessly, consumed by madness. I don’t care what kind of vengeance you’re after. But if you can’t understand how dangerous your actions are…”
Sheryl’s grip tightened.
“Then you’re just… trash.”
With those words, Sheryl released her hand. Oh Hyun’s body collapsed, slumping to the ground. The moment his knees hit the floor, a heavy thud echoed across the hangar.
For a while, he just gasped for air.
“Gasp… haa… haa…”
Sheryl looked down at him before turning her back coldly.
Lisa hurried over to Oh Hyun and gently took his arm.
“Are you okay? Can you get up?”
But Oh Hyun kept his head down, silent. Just then, Mason stepped up from behind and spoke in a firm voice.
“Oh Hyun.”
His tone was quiet but heavy.
“It’s time to stop acting like a spoiled brat and doing whatever you want.”
Oh Hyun slowly raised his head. Meeting his gaze directly, Mason continued resolutely.
“Back when we fought the Arsenos forces, I thought you’d finally come to your senses. I thought you’d let go of some of that vengeance.”
At his words, Oh Hyun’s brow twitched slightly.
“But I was wrong. It was the same thing this time. The moment you saw the Earth Federation insignia, you charged in without a second thought.”
Mason looked down coolly at the silent, head-bowed Oh Hyun.
“Revenge? I get it. But at the very least, you shouldn’t be harming the comrades fighting alongside you.”
He paused for a moment, then met Oh Hyun’s eyes and added, “And you. Do you even know how you’re killing your enemies?”
“I…”
“If you keep this up… you’ll be no different from the bastards who killed your sibling.”
Oh Hyun’s shoulders flinched.
“No… you might have become one of them already.”
“What…? You’re saying I’m the same… as those bastards…?”
Oh Hyun’s eyes widened as he glared at Mason, gritting his teeth.
“That’s right. It seems you can’t see it through those eyes blinded by madness.”
“What the hell do you know—!”
Oh Hyun’s hands began to tremble. His fists clenched.
“Don’t give me that shit! I’m… I’m different from them!”
His fist cut through the air, flying toward Mason. In that very instant.
Smack!
A sharp sound cracked through the air as Oh Hyun’s cheek was struck hard.
It was Lisa.
She stood there silently, her hand still raised. Her eyes were trembling, but her expression was firm. Looking stunned, Oh Hyun slowly turned to face her.
“…Huh… wha…?”
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now?”
The hangar fell into a dead silence, as if everyone had stopped breathing. Oh Hyun stood frozen, one hand on his cheek, staring blankly at the floor.
Lisa spoke again, her voice quiet.
“You hear one thing you don’t like… and you immediately throw a punch at a comrade?”
Oh Hyun didn’t answer, his lips pressed into a tight line.
Lisa watched him silently, then decided this wasn’t working. She grabbed his wrist and pulled.
“Come with me.”
Lisa climbed into the mech and played one of the combat recordings.
“Look.”
The video showed the recent urban battle on the planet’s surface. Burning buildings, debris scattered across the roads, and mechs engaged in combat filled the screen. It also showed a shell fired from Oh Hyun’s unit blowing an enemy mech to pieces.
He watched the screen with a stoic expression. To him, it was nothing more than a scene of Federation scum getting what they deserved.
But Lisa, as if expecting this reaction, paused the video. She pointed to a spot on the screen.
“Here. Look closely.”
She was pointing to the area behind a collapsed commercial building. Amidst the dust and debris, the faint figures of people could be seen huddled behind a half-demolished doorway.
“Are those… people…?”
Oh Hyun’s eyes wavered ever so slightly.
“Yes. Civilians. People who couldn’t evacuate and were left behind. I barely spotted them on the radar right before you fired, and Mason managed to save them by firing a guided shot in the opposite direction.”
Oh Hyun stared at the screen without a word.
Lisa continued calmly.
“Me, Mason… honestly, we miss things in the heat of battle, too. But we… at least we try to be aware.”
She closed the screen and looked at Oh Hyun.
“But you… you just fire indiscriminately. You don’t care who’s there, what’s there, nothing. And that…”
Lisa paused. After a moment of silence, she added quietly, “How is that… any different from the bastards you despise so much?”
Oh Hyun finally tore his eyes from the screen and lowered his head. As if in disbelief, he spoke cautiously.
“I… all this time… I’ve been doing that…?”
Lisa slowly nodded. But her eyes held more pity than condemnation.
“We didn’t tell you. We were afraid of how it would shock you… afraid you weren’t ready to accept it on the battlefield.”
Lisa lowered her gaze and continued softly.
“We didn’t know how it would destroy you if you found out you’d harmed civilians in battle. So… both Mason and I kept our mouths shut.”
She took out her terminal and muttered, “But… thinking about it now, that was the bigger mistake.”
Oh Hyun swallowed hard. Lisa looked him straight in the eye and said, “You were never… a trained soldier to begin with. You were a civilian who lost his family and was suddenly thrown into this fight with us.”
She trailed off for a moment, then continued as if she’d made up her mind.
“Demanding the cold-heartedness of war from you… maybe that was too much to ask. But listen—”
She stood quietly in front of Oh Hyun.
“You’re a soldier now. You chose this. As long as you’re the one holding the gun, piloting the mech, and standing on the battlefield… you can’t say you didn’t know anymore.”
Her words meant that from now on, every choice he made was his responsibility.
Lisa added one last thing.
“So whatever you do from now on, don’t look away from the consequences. Face them. And… take responsibility to the very end.”
With that, Lisa quietly left.
Oh Hyun remained where he was. He stood motionless for a long time before slowly raising a hand and turning his terminal back on.
He replayed the video file he had just seen. Then he began to open and check the other combat records Lisa hadn’t shown him—the internal logs from his mech, the engagement situation reports, every single one.
People crying amidst the wreckage, blood-soaked civilians in collapsed residential areas, children who had died cowering helplessly behind a fallen wall… The trail his mech had left behind, the results of the shells he had fired.
“Ugh… Uuugh…”
Oh Hyun suddenly clamped a hand over his mouth. A wave of nausea rose in his throat. A suffocating sensation. He stumbled, leaning against a wall as he dry-heaved.
But he didn’t turn off the screen. With reddened eyes and a blurry vision, he watched until the very end… he watched every single video.
For the first time, he truly faced what he had done.
*
As soon as I got the call that the mech was finished, I headed straight for the hangar. And there it was, the Requiem, standing before me.
A much more refined silhouette than before. It was a completely new machine.
Faint fluorescent lines ran along the panels of its glossy black armor plating. A heavy frame, a solid stance. It looked like it could launch onto the battlefield at any moment.
I let out a smirk and muttered to myself, “Badass.”
“Haaa… So, what do you think? Like it?”
A voice that sounded half-dead came from my side. It was Lillian.
Her hair was a tangled mess like a bird’s nest, and the dark circles under her eyes reached her cheekbones. Her work clothes were torn and stained with grease, and her hands were wrapped in several layers of bandages.
Despite all that, her expression was filled with pride.
“What on earth did you do? I can tell it’s different just by looking at it.”
At my question, Lillian looked up at the mech and murmured, “The frame was replaced with an ultra-lightweight conductive alloy. The core was swapped for a detachable reactor, and the output control is a two-tier sequential system. I also installed a separate auxiliary processing unit. The control system was tuned for response priority.”
“Armaments?”
“Specialized for close combat. A blade, one high-frequency plasma kaiser. Fixed-mount convergent beam cannons under the armor on both sides. I also added an auxiliary pod for electronic warfare countermeasures, and the data link system has been completely replaced.”
I slowly placed a hand on the leg armor.
“Incredible work for such a short time. And all by yourself.”
“Well, I am… pretty incredible.”
Lillian smiled, though her body looked too exhausted to even stretch, then added in a low voice, “Check the cockpit.”
She pointed a finger at the mech’s abdominal unit.
“The G-limit has been removed. You approved it, so I set it that way. Right now, this machine is configured to follow your reaction speed, acceleration, and directional changes completely.”
I nodded silently.
“That’s what I wanted.”
But Lillian frowned.
“However… whether the mech can actually withstand it is another matter entirely.”
I waited for her to continue.
“The Requiem is ultimately an assembly of parts. The moment its output catches up to your reactions, the load on the frame will multiply. Even if it’s theoretically under 7Gs, based on your reaction speed, the joints could be torn apart.”
I smiled.
“Well, that’s my problem to deal with.”
“And… these aren’t official Licencia parts. I can’t guarantee reliability above 80% of max output. It hasn’t been tested, and half of it was tuned based on my gut feeling. Depending on the situation, the mech could break down first.”
“Understood.”
“You don’t look like you understand at all…”
Ignoring Lillian’s words, I climbed into the cockpit. I threw myself inside the hatch and sank into the seat.
The control stick felt good in my hands after so long. Familiar.
I pressed the ignition switch.
Beep—
The internal panels of the mech reacted in sequence. LEDs lit up, the main monitor slowly activated, and the interface began to appear, one element at a time.
【 Unit Name: Requiem 】
【 Serial Code: RQM-00 】
【 Pilot ID: Jin Seo-yun 】
【 Control System: Tactical Manual + Assist Mode 】
【 Auxiliary System: ACS (Adaptive Control Sync) Activated 】
【 Requiem RQM-00: Initiating Startup Sequence 】
The cockpit was bathed in blue light as the mech began to vibrate gently.
“Lillian. ACS? What else did you sneak in here?”
Her voice came from below. It was tired and rough, but held a hint of anticipation.
“Adaptive Control Sync system. It’s an auxiliary unit I developed. It’s designed to adapt to you… to make the mech respond perfectly.”
“Tested?”
“Nope.”
“…So I’m the guinea pig again.”
“After I’ve done this much for you, you’ll do a little test, won’t you?”
“Well… as long as it’s not something weird.”
“Don’t worry. It should feel pretty good.”
“That sounds even more suspicious… Explain it in more detail.”
Lillian took a shallow breath and slowly continued her explanation.
“It’s a system that analyzes the pilot’s reaction speed, control habits, and physical rhythm in real-time to automatically adjust the unit’s response.”
“Automatically?”
“Yeah. Even if you get tired or your concentration drops, the mech will correct itself to maintain optimal response.”
“Isn’t that just an auxiliary computer?”
“No. This one has learned your data. Your movements, your preferred evasion patterns, the timing of your acceleration in aerial combat… It’s learned all of that, so it’s designed to react faster than a standard response.”
Somehow, her voice was laced with a subtle glee.
“Alright, I think I get it. Basically, it assists my movements.”
“Right. It’s almost like the mech is—”
“Then let’s test it now.”
“Gah!! Don’t move!! Wait, you crazy bastard!!! I’ll open the door, just stay still!! You’ll break my equipment!! You piece of shit!!!”
I ignored the transmission and slowly pulled the control stick. The mech’s interior vibrated, and the Requiem’s body began to move.
KRRRAAANG—!
“Aaargh!!! It’s breaking!! My precious parts!”
Lillian’s scream echoed through the comms.
“I’m seriously going to kill you… I told you not to move! I’m opening the door right now!!”
BOOM—!
The hangar door began to open, and the floor clamps automatically disengaged.
Like a beast breaking out of its own egg, the Requiem rose, silent yet menacing.
I followed the flow and pulled the control stick. Lillian’s voice rang out one last time.
“Die! Just die!”
“Alright. I won’t.”
I smirked and leaned back deep into the pilot’s seat. Now then… it’s time to move.