The Nightmare of Galantid
"Heliane! Calsira! Link up with our allies!"
Jincheon? What's going on?
"An enemy mecha is coming, and it's no ordinary one!"
A-Alright!
Jincheon had never ordered them to fall back with such urgency before. The two women immediately cut their speed and rejoined friendly forces.
Beatrix, however, had been listening in on their channel and kept right on following. Jincheon snapped at her in irritation.
"Captain of the Guard? That includes you, you know."
Who the hell are you to decide whether I retreat or not?! No matter what enemy appears, the Imperial Guard never yields!
"Ha. For fuck's sake."
The steel in her voice told him words alone would never move her. Jincheon let out a long breath.
No choice, then. I'll have to fight defensively while I size up the enemy machine.
Faced with a mecha he had never seen before, he resolved to stay on the defensive and clear out the surrounding enemies first.
But before he could, those enemies began to withdraw—almost as if they were clearing a dueling ground for him.
Here it comes!
Sensing the murderous killing intent racing toward him, Jincheon locked eyes on the approaching machine once more.
It was a mecha painted in a harmony of orange and white, a little taller and bulkier than the average frame. The only other striking feature was a pair of large disc-like structures with holes bored through them, mounted on both shoulders.
A Calsorn Empire relic.
The armor plating was nothing like Giranlek design. It had to be a Calsorn relic. And it carried no visible weapons at all.
Every armament is internal, no question.
How could he be so sure?
No one charges in with this much killing intent empty-handed. That just doesn't happen.
As if to prove the point, a voice thick with hatred burst across the open channel.
Red Gareld!!
What the hell? That voice sounds completely mechanical.
The voice was strange, but the hatred aimed squarely at him was unmistakable. Jincheon leveled his lance gun and squeezed the trigger.
Pikikikiking!
Lasers streaked toward the enemy—including the ones from Beatrix's own lance gun.
Whoosh!
The orange mecha dodged the barrage with the same blistering speed Jincheon himself used, then thrust its left arm forward.
Clunk! Kwaaaaaah—!
A massive gun barrel erupted from the back of its hand and unleashed a laser several times thicker than any standard beam, slamming toward Jincheon.
Lasers were supposed to travel at light speed, yet once they packed enough physical force and bulk, they still took a measurable moment to reach their target. The orange mecha shattered that common sense, firing a beam both thicker and faster than anything else on the field.
"Hmph!"
Even so, it was nowhere near enough to outpace Jincheon's dynamic vision and instincts. He slipped aside with room to spare.
Having exchanged "greetings," the pilot of the orange mecha finally introduced himself.
My name is Levin Poltein! Knight of the glorious Reinforce Knights!
"Reinforce? Never heard of them."
Bzzzt-krrreeeek-kiiiiing!
"Whoa—what the hell? Comms interference?"
Jincheon genuinely had no idea who the Reinforce Knights were. The question only triggered a burst of static and screeching from the other end—noise born of rage so extreme it overloaded the brainwave-driven speakers that formed Poltein's voice.
Back when the Rastold Silverion forced a breakthrough into loyalist space, a knight order came to pin us down. You charged them alone, wiped out half their number, and came back.
It was Beatrix, not Jincheon, who recognized the name.
"Hmm… oh. Yeah, that rings a faint bell."
A faint bell? A faint bell?! From that day on I have lived for this moment—to take my revenge on you!
"What do you want me to say? Want me to pat you on the back for all the hard work?"
Die!!
Talking only fed the fury and hatred. Poltein seized control of Grancion through pure brainwaves and opened fire again.
Gareld shot upward to evade—
Clunk! Whoooom!
—only for Grancion to transform mid-flight into a fighter form and streak above Gareld at a speed that left it in the dust.
Fast!
The enemy had deliberately approached in mecha form just to hide that transformation until the last second.
Don't think speed is your exclusive weapon!
Grancion snapped back into humanoid shape overhead, thrusters screaming as it dove, folding blade on its right arm already swinging.
Jincheon raised the gatling shield to block—
Shhk!
—and the monomolecular cutter sliced clean through a shield that could shrug off laser rifles all day long.
If Jincheon's instincts hadn't made him keep his grip, the arm would have gone with it.
Ha!
Kra-crack!
"Guh!"
Poltein had already known the shield would fail. He simply kept diving and kicked the severed plate away.
Jincheon tried to dodge, but the machine couldn't match his reaction speed; part of the shoulder crumpled under the impact of the flying shield.
Pikiiing!
Ugh!
Jincheon was not about to take it lying down. Even as he slipped aside he snapped the lance gun up and fired.
The shot forced Grancion to break off and open distance rather than press the follow-up.
If I still had a body, that would have hit me…!
Only the pure brainwave interface had let Poltein dodge in time.
Fast and strong. In that case…
Jincheon's face hardened. He floored the thrusters, pushing Gareld past every rated limit.
Poltein matched him instantly, closing the gap in a heartbeat.
On the ground the shockwaves from their movements would have been catastrophic.
Jincheon discarded the lance toward his opponent and drew both laser swords from his hips in one motion.
Vwooom! Krachchch!
Grancion carved through the discarded lance and lunged, monomolecular blade flashing—only for Jincheon to meet it with a laser sword, smashing the flat of the monomolecular edge aside and countering.
Kraang! Paang!
And so the high-mobility duel began.
Both pilots ignored recoil and G-forces entirely, becoming twin streaks of light that slammed into each other, rebounded, and struck again.
"Wh-what the hell is that…?"
Beatrix, unable to even enter the same speed bracket, could only stare in blank shock as Gareld and Grancion became two razor lines of light across the void.
If she had been either of them she would already have blacked out or red-out, consciousness flickering on and off like a broken switch.
"Hahahahaha! Hwahahahahaha!"
Jincheon's laughter, however, never stopped.
"Slaughter's fun, but a real fight against a strong enemy is the best! Coming to this world was the right call!"
Grancion's specs clearly outclassed Gareld's.
For the first time in centuries Jincheon was the underdog, forced to rely on pure skill and experience to bring down a superior machine—and the situation thrilled him to the core.
Damn it! I threw away my body and climbed into a Calsorn relic and I still can't kill this bastard!
Poltein found the razor-thin stalemate unbearable.
He had sacrificed everything—his flesh, his humanity—for revenge, yet he still could not one-shot a machine inferior to his own.
Is this talent? Is this what true talent looks like?!
All his life Poltein had been praised as a gifted pilot.
When a person finally meets a talent that utterly eclipses their own, they become one of two things: the kind who accepts it with humility and keeps grinding at their own pace… or the kind who burns with envy and will do anything to drag the other down.
And almost no one chooses the first path when the superior talent belongs to the man they have sworn to kill.
I won't accept it! Why—why the hell does a bastard like you get that kind of talent?!
Bits!
Abandoning any hope of crushing Jincheon through raw superiority, Poltein deployed a new weapon.
Shshshsh!
Three long, slender objects shot from each shoulder—six in total.
"Those are…?"
The moment the stick-like devices with gun-barrel tips appeared, every trace of ease vanished from Jincheon's face.
Pipipiping!
"Shit! They're panels—bits!"
Lasers began spitting from the tips. Jincheon threw Gareld into frantic evasive maneuvers.
Kra-crack! Pik!
The bits tracked him with merciless precision, pouring fire without pause. Damage piled up on Gareld with every volley.
Kiiiiiiing!
Jincheon was not content to simply take it. Head vulcans roared to life, spitting streams of fire at the swarm.
Pupupuk! Kwaang!
Even as the bits danced wildly, Jincheon's calm ki-sense and steady aim brought one of them down in a fireball.
Krachchch!
But Poltein, free of flesh and gifted with superhuman cognitive speed, guided the remaining bits by pure brainwave. They began carving into Gareld's flanks and legs, slowly reshaping the machine through cumulative damage.
Only Jincheon could have lasted this long. Any other pilot would have been shot down the instant the bits appeared.
If this keeps up, I lose!
Judging the fight unwinnable on current terms, Jincheon frantically scanned for an exit—and found one.
Their high-speed duel had carried them close to the planet Galantid 1.
That machine is definitely a Calsorn relic. Meaning any real damage will be a nightmare to repair.
The instant the thought formed, Jincheon dove straight for Galantid 1.
He raced to the razor-thin boundary where gravity began to claw, then turned to face Poltein.
The bits trailing him swarmed in, ready to rake Gareld's back—
Huh?!
—only for one of them to snag in the planet's pull, its control suddenly sluggish.
Kiiiiing!
The lagging bit became easy prey for the head vulcans and exploded.
"Hahahahaha! One little slip and gravity drags you under! Best damn stage for a thrill ride!"
You crazy bastard!
Poltein spat curses at the man who had turned the lethal gravity boundary into a dueling arena.
Of course, as long as Jincheon's ki-sense never faltered, gravity would never touch him.
Does he not value his life? How can anyone choose to fight here?
Ignorant of that fact, Poltein could not comprehend a man who gambled like he had only today to live.
"What are you waiting for?! Not coming? If this is enough to make you quit, don't ever open your mouth about revenge in front of me again!"
Grrraaah!
The word "revenge" dragged up the memory of the commander who had once looked after him. Poltein lunged—
Haaaah!
—only for Beatrix to suddenly streak in and open fire on Grancion.
"What the hell are you doing?! This isn't a fight you can join!"
Shut up! I'm not letting you hog all the glory forever!!
Long-range potshots just get dodged! I have to close to a range where evasion is impossible!
Refusing to fall any further behind Jincheon, Beatrix had chased to a moderate distance, then, the moment Grancion hesitated, closed the gap and struck.
I'll make my sister look at me again!
If she destroyed a mecha far faster and stronger than Jincheon's Gareld, Eirin would finally trust her once more.
Filled with that single thought, Beatrix dove for Grancion's flank and fired her lance gun.
Stay out of this battle!
Poltein recognized the pilot—Beatrix, a knight he had once respected—and warned her off.
I am captain of the Imperial Guard! Don't you dare look down on me!!
The warning only enraged her further.
She already felt dismissed because of Jincheon; now Poltein was telling her to stay out as well. Fury flooded her to the roots of her hair.
Then I'll deal with you first!
Her refusal to withdraw turned Poltein to counterattack.
Whoooom!
Fast!
Grancion closed the distance in a blink, monomolecular blade already swinging. Beatrix snapped her upper body back and dumped thrusters, just managing to slip past.
She was an ace among aces; once she registered the speed, that much was within her skill.
Pikikiking!
She raised the lance gun and fired—only for Grancion to vanish in a blur of afterimages.
"Ah?"
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!!
The instant she lost visual, the warning klaxon on the left side of her cockpit went berserk.
Grancion filled her left screen, right arm already mid-swing.
Sister…!
Certain she could not dodge, Beatrix squeezed her eyes shut—
Kra-jijijik!
"Kyaaaah!"
—and the monomolecular blade carved through her machine, metal screaming, shock slamming through the frame.
But the cut had landed above the cockpit.
Jincheon had lunged in at the last second, snared her foot with a wire, and yanked her downward.
Ha! So even you have someone you need to protect? In that case—!
Seeing the rescue, Poltein kicked the bisected mecha hard, hurling it toward the planet.
"Goddamn it!!"
Jincheon could not abandon Beatrix—his target for conquest—to die. He tried to reel the wire in, but planetary gravity seized her machine first.
Taste the same pain I felt! Kwahahahaha!
Poltein fully expected Jincheon to cut the wire and save himself rather than be dragged down with her.
He only wanted to inflict a fraction of the loss he himself had suffered before finishing the revenge—
"Hup!"
What?!
—yet Jincheon dove straight into the gravity well after her, racing to intercept Beatrix's falling machine.
"Hey. You."
Jincheon's voice crackled across the channel toward Poltein.
"Levin Poltein. I've memorized the name."
With those final words, Gareld positioned itself as Beatrix's shield and began the long fall toward the planet below.