Mock Battle (2): One Man, One Army
Captain Lucas, commander of the Second Search Battalion’s boarding company, arrived on the bridge with a face tight with nerves. It was the first time he’d been summoned to the morning briefing.
“The Knight Order sent a cooperation directive. We’re to conduct a mock battle with our boarding troops and their knight candidates.”
“Knight candidates, sir?” Lucas’s expression soured. A mock battle against knight candidates. Honestly, he couldn’t even picture it. At his rank, opportunities to cross paths with knight-level combatants were almost nonexistent. The strongest opponents he had ever faced were little more than cyborgs. For regular infantry, even cyborgs were tough enough, but knights operated on an entirely different plane. They were assault weapons capable of wiping out an entire battalion-sized boarding force and seizing a warship, beings who could stand toe-to-toe with angels.
Any soldier worth his salt knew the requirement for a candidate to be formally appointed as a Regular Knight: single-handedly engaging company-sized forces. In other words, although the enemy this time was only one person, that single individual was equivalent to an entire company.
One soldier carrying the fighting power of a hundred-man company? What in the world was that supposed to mean? The moment the abstract opponent he had only ever imagined became real, Lucas’s brain simply froze. He had never been taught how to fight someone with the strength of a hundred people. Maybe that lesson came with higher rank?
“We have two weeks until the mock battle. The venue is a virtual space modeled directly after a Carnelian-class light cruiser. They’ve already sent the access code, so you can begin using it today.”
In short, they were expected to study every possible tactic over the next two weeks. They could do things impossible on a real ship—test every kind of heavy weapon, even destroy sections of the vessel to block pathways if necessary.
It also meant that anyone who still couldn’t break through a single company even after using every trick in the book would never qualify as a knight.
“The division headquarters is lending us two platoons of boarding troops, so for the next two weeks you can focus exclusively on mock-battle training.”
Focus on training. Easy to say. In his heart, Lucas had no idea where to even begin. He had nine years of service, real combat experience, and had studied relentlessly for promotion, but all of that assumed battles between comparable infantry forces. There was almost no doctrine on how to handle these irregular, off-the-scale special combatants.
The only thing Lucas knew about facing knight-level forces was the purely theoretical method of trapping the enemy in a Gravity Distortion Field by any means necessary and then unloading every ounce of firepower available.
“I will do my utmost.” It was the only answer he could give—an equally theoretical declaration of doing his best.
While Lucas was gathered with his platoon leaders, discussing the upcoming mock battle against the knight candidate, Master Chief Petty Officer Frederick paid a visit to the company office.
“Oh! Chief, what brings you here? Please, have a seat.”
Frederick claimed a spot on the sofa and gave his usual warm chuckle at the sight of the troubled-looking officers.
“I’m not sure how much help it’ll be, but I came to offer a few pieces of advice.”
Both Lucas and the platoon leaders brightened instantly. Frederick was a living archive of sixty-four years of hard-earned wisdom and frontline experience. Strictly speaking, his specialty was rifleman, yet he had spent nearly fifty of those years fighting on the absolute front lines—an old war hero in the truest sense. Among the countless fierce battles he had survived, several had naturally involved knight-level special forces.
Frederick had faced such threats a total of six times. Five of those encounters had nearly killed him; he had only survived thanks to the timely arrival of friendly Salvation Knights. On the final occasion, however, he had succeeded in killing the enemy after suffering heavy casualties. The golden shield insignia on his uniform proved it—the highest honor given to a boarding company that had successfully defended its ship against an overwhelming foe.
“The first thing I want to tell you is this: never use aimed shots.”
Lucas and the platoon leaders looked puzzled. Don’t aim?
“Even if it’s only a candidate, a knight is still a knight. Assume aimed fire is impossible. The moment you try to line up a shot, your head will leave your shoulders. The key is a proper kill zone. Your powered suits have a tactical networking function, yes? Use it.”
There was indeed such a function—one that linked nearby squad members to suppress a designated area with no gaps.
The tactical network let the suit’s system calculate each soldier’s position and assign firing sectors. The soldiers simply fired into their assigned zones, allowing the system to build the most efficient kill zone possible.
Lucas had always wondered why such a function even existed. Now he understood—it was designed specifically for fighting special forces.
“By the time you see the target and aim, it’s already too late. Keep the tactical network active at all times. The moment you spot anything, form the kill zone without hesitation. And you’ll need to pour on at least three times the standard firepower.”
Lucas’s jaw dropped. The standard rifles used by boarding troops already possessed terrifying power capable of punching straight through friendly powered armor. Simply maintaining a kill zone with that level of firepower was impressive enough; tripling it sounded insane.
Firing at triple power would tear massive holes in the ship’s corridors, never mind the armor.
“The truly frightening part is that even then, you still can’t be certain of a kill. They’ll weave through that storm of bullets, slicing mana rounds out of the air while advancing along the optimal path. The Knight Order’s nanosuits can shrug off most damage as well.”
The words “this is insane” nearly slipped from Lucas’s mouth. And they were supposed to stop something like that?
“Also, when you train inside the virtual space, feel free to smash up anything that can be destroyed.”
“Excuse me?”
What kind of advice was that? They were supposed to protect the ship, yet he was telling them to wreck it?
“Your objective is to defend the bridge, isn’t it? Even if the ship takes some damage here and there, as long as you protect the Mana Engine and the bridge while neutralizing the special forces, it’s still a win.”
When put that way, it made sense. The usual goal of enemy special forces boarding a ship was to disable it and render it combat-ineffective. If they could safeguard the ship’s heart—the Mana Engine—and the captain even at the cost of some superficial damage, the operation would be considered a success.
“Since this is a test, there are a few conditions. The knight candidate cannot attack the Mana Engine or destroy the ship itself; their sole objective must be to seize the bridge. The boarding company, on the other hand, may use any methods available but cannot employ the Gravity Distortion Field. Additionally, ship damage must not exceed fifteen percent.”
Fifteen percent… It sounded like both a lot and not much at all. Still, the engine room and bridge were absolutely off-limits, as were any areas carrying the mana circuits. That left only a limited number of sections that could safely be destroyed.
“And this may sound cruel, but you cannot stop them without casualties.”
Lucas and the platoon leaders stiffened slightly.
“Your opponent may look human, but they are a superhuman who has already begun to transcend human limits. Hoping that ordinary people like us can stop such a being without any sacrifice would be pure arrogance.”
It was something they had vaguely understood, but hearing it from a man who had survived six such battles made the words weigh heavily on their chests.
“Those are the three big points. Think through the rest, run some practice drills against the AI, and if you need more advice, just ask.”
“Thank you, Chief!”
Using Frederick’s advice as a foundation, the boarding company devised an overall strategy and detailed response protocols. Then, brimming with tension, they faced off against the AI knight in a mock battle.
The result was a crushing defeat. Excluding roughly ten troopers who were too heavily wounded to continue, most of the company was annihilated. The bridge fell in barely ten minutes.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
When the simulation ended and they revived in the virtual space, all Lucas could do was curse at the absurd outcome. They were supposed to hold out for thirty minutes? The sheer ridiculousness of it left him laughing helplessly.
“Let’s review the footage.”
“Review? What’s there to review? We don’t even know what hit us.”
The First Platoon Leader was right. Third Platoon, split into squads to block key corridors, had moved to the designated position the instant they detected Second Squad’s annihilation. They had tried to link up with Second Platoon to pincer the enemy from both sides.
The problem was that Second Platoon had been wiped out in less than a minute of contact, and the surviving remnants of Third Platoon were annihilated almost immediately after arriving. Defensive turrets and bulkheads scattered throughout the ship were torn apart like paper. The company headquarters, First Platoon, turrets, traps, and designated marksmen—who had established a defensive position along the single corridor leading to the bridge—lasted only three minutes before being obliterated.
It was one thing to hear about it, but the reality far exceeded imagination. The company headquarters and First Platoon had coordinated with the turrets to create a dense kill zone, yet the enemy simply sliced through some rounds, ignored others, and charged straight in. Even after being struck by high-powered mana rounds, the knight somehow remained completely unharmed. No one could understand how.
Second Platoon had apparently thrown plasma grenades, only for the grenades to detonate inside their own defensive perimeter. A Gravity Distortion Field? It was prohibited in the mock battle, but even if it weren’t, how were they supposed to use it when they couldn’t even see the damn thing? Lucas genuinely wanted to open the skull of whichever designer thought a Gravity Distortion Field could restrain a monster like that.
When they slowed down the combat footage, the admiration only grew. The instant a soldier from Second Platoon threw a plasma grenade, the opponent accelerated forward, snatched the grenade out of the air, and hurled it back into the platoon’s own position. Then the knight kicked off the deck and retreated outside the blast radius. When the company headquarters and First Platoon established their kill zone, the enemy cut down every mana round heading for vital areas like the heart or head, while simply blocking those aimed at limbs with the nanosuit’s defensive power. The way the knight twisted and deflected incoming fire with fluid, instantaneous movements made the soldiers’ vision swim with despair.
While the entire boarding company was taking a break outside the virtual space—stretching, eating snacks, and trying to cool their heads—Frederick visited again.
“Didn’t go well?”
“Chief… how the hell are we supposed to hold out against that?”
“First, show me the combat footage.”
After reviewing the battle record between the boarding company and the AI knight candidate, Frederick’s expression grew strange—half astonished, half like he was trying not to laugh.
“Why are you people fighting a knight?”
“Pardon?”
Lucas blinked stupidly. Frederick pointed at the AI knight’s uniform—specifically at the emblem engraved on the left breast.
“That emblem is only granted upon formal appointment as a Regular Knight. Did you perhaps not adjust any settings after deploying the AI knight?”
Lucas had no memory of changing any settings. According to Frederick, the default setting when deploying an AI knight was a fully qualified Regular Knight. What the boarding company was supposed to face was a knight candidate—someone whose skills fell short of that level.
Regaining some confidence at this revelation, the boarding company re-entered the virtual space, adjusted the settings, and ran the mock battle once more against an AI knight candidate.
They were annihilated in twenty-one minutes.