The Knowledge I Once Had Has Run Dry

I already exhausted every bit of knowledge I had from the original story before heading to Karmanu last time. The identity of the enemy forces, what kind of abilities or units the upcoming foes would have, and exactly when they would strike—everything was shrouded in fog. But in a world where an anime had become reality, simply sitting back and watching an unknown future unfold would be a sin. At least I was able to make some inferences from the message boards. I nearly missed my chance, though.

“Mikhail! How many?”

“Protect Yui. Ten seconds.”

The situation was urgent, so our words were heavily ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠abbreviated. The CT Club trained together often, so we could understand each other even when speaking like this. Thankfully, the two other pilots with us also caught the short commands. They moved to shield Yui while keeping the enemy in check.

As we passed through the forest at the base of the hill, I spotted the enemy unit that had tried to ambush Yui—only to be blocked by Mikhail. It was one of our academy’s mass-produced Aind-class units. The shoulders were painted blue, marking it as part of the Blue Team. An internal spy? Or had it been hijacked?

Mikhail, the best close-combatant among the first-years, was already starting to get pushed back. The way the enemy slipped past his shield and struck at weak points didn’t look like the movements of a broken-down training Aindium at all.

Clack. Bang—!

I had brought a shotgun instead of my usual sniper rifle, specifically for my match against Rendel. My original plan was to keep it hidden and surprise him when he closed in…

Each training round was larger than an adult man’s head. The spread of pellets engulfed both the enemy unit and Mikhail’s Aindium. Mikhail saw me charging in with the gun and deftly slid to the side, forcing the enemy’s back toward me while minimizing his own exposure to the shot. Even though they were training rounds, taking a full blast of buckshot at this range would make movement difficult from the sheer impact alone.

Thud. The shot slammed into the enemy’s back plating. It must have rattled the cockpit hard, yet the unit didn’t stop.

The enemy’s sudden outstretched hand shoved Mikhail’s Aindium backward. Then an axe came crashing down toward him. The enemy’s weapon was a training single-edged axe with a blade length of three meters. Swords were the most common close-combat weapons for Aindiums, but hammers and axes saw occasional use too. In the fourth series title, Warrior of the North Wind, the protagonist’s mech Lancaster used an axe as its main weapon.

The terrifying thing about an Aindium’s axe was its weight. Even though this was a training model, only the material and dull edge differed—the shape and mass were nearly identical to the real thing. A solid hit would shred an Aindium’s armor. Mikhail’s shoulder guard was torn clean off.

The enemy slipped the axe blade into the gap between neck and shoulder, then swiftly twisted sideways and swung the axe upward in a vicious arc.

The Aindium’s head flew high into the air before thudding to the ground. Mikhail, who had lost his main camera in the blink of an eye, staggered backward. Belated suppressive fire poured toward the enemy unit.

Rat-tat-tat— Boom!

Yui joined the barrage as well. Bullets and shells rained down, but the enemy unit calmly sidestepped, dodging most of the attacks. In the middle of it all, it hurled its axe and split another regular cadet’s Aindium head clean in two.

To think it would use that massive axe as a throwing weapon. I was both dumbfounded and impressed by its accuracy.

After completing its attack, the enemy spun halfway around—only to find me standing right in front of it.

“Got you.”

Boom!

The shotgun blast at point-blank range shattered the enemy Aindium’s head. With its main camera gone, movement in this dense forest would be severely limited. If I played my cards right, I might even be able to capture it and use it as a prisoner.

But then the enemy Aindium spun on its heel and began sprinting through the woods at high speed.

No way. It could move that fast?

Even on flat ground with a working main camera, running like that would cause most pilots to lose balance. “Everyone, stay here and wait,” I ordered my teammates before chasing after it.

I kept losing sight of it as I tripped over roots, cracked earth, and rocks. Before long, I had completely lost the enemy unit.

“Haa… Haa…”

Teicia ran through the forest path. The natural breeze still felt somewhat unfamiliar. The sun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she felt directly on her skin instead of through glass. The scent of forest and sea. All of it was strange and wondrous, but she had no time to savor any of it.

She was currently in the middle of escaping.

How long had it been since she last turned her back on a battlefield and retreated? Even though this was nothing more than children’s games rather than a real life-or-death battle, and even though this was a strategic withdrawal due to mission failure rather than a dishonorable flight, it still stung her pride.

She, one of the most skilled agents in the Church, was running from rookie pilots who had only just taken their first steps. Yet strangely, she didn’t feel bad about it. Instead, a peculiar excitement welled up inside her, making her breathing unsteady.

I’m not some weakling who gets winded after running only a few kilometers, so it must be excessive excitement.

With a light deep breath, Teicia quickly steadied her breathing. She hid in the shade of the trees and checked behind her. The outdated Aindium she had been piloting was now hidden by the forest and trees, out of sight. The Aindium that had been chasing her was nowhere to be seen either.

“Huu…”

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Teicia let out a sigh of relief and opened the front of her suit to vent the trapped heat.

“It really is hot here.”

The season was approaching early autumn, but for someone who had spent her entire life in the artificial environments of the Moon, space, and cockpits, the temperature and humidity were almost unbearable.

The pendant around her neck jingled between the fluttering collar of her clothes. Teicia pulled it out and clutched it tightly in her palm.

“My lord. Today’s luck was rather poor, wasn’t it?”

Teicia was an outlier even within the Church. While the vast majority of believers were devout to the extreme, her somewhat different worldview made her prefer monologues disguised as confessions or simple soliloquies over prayers offered to the divine. Her tone was like that of someone speaking to a friend or close colleague. It was a habit she had been scolded for many times, yet showed no sign of changing.

Because of that, aside from her piloting skill, Teicia was often looked at sideways by the Church—an existence too valuable to brand a heretic, yet too uncomfortable to fully embrace. The rather absurd reason she had been assigned to this mission was that her mental age was supposedly closer to that of a student than the others.

“Well, it’s an order from someone who wants me to fail, so I’m not exactly putting my faith in it.”

She was already used to the subtle mockery and contempt. But that didn’t mean she would simply endure it quietly. In fact, she was quite skilled at seizing every opportunity to benefit herself.

And in this mission, she had discovered something.

“That last attack was chilling, wasn’t it?”

The pilot of the Aind-class who had driven her back with only two shotgun blasts. Seeing how they had rushed over to protect the Vivald-class pilot named Yui, it was likely they belonged to the CT Club. Having now properly memorized the club name, Teicia muttered as if remembering something.

“But they definitely used it yesterday. Why didn’t they use it today?”

The Vivald-class pilot had not brought their fairy companion today.

“I wonder why.”

Teicia shook the pendant as if interrogating it, then smiled faintly and stepped out of the shade, heading back toward the academy.

We found the abandoned enemy unit in the forest, but the cockpit was already empty. I had sent a message to the headmaster right away, so he would be moving to capture the intruder. Still, to charge straight into a one-versus-many situation… I didn’t know exactly what abilities the enemy possessed, but if this had been a real battle, we might have been the ones defeated.

Charging in with a single axe, taking down two units in under two minutes in a five-versus-one fight, then escaping safely? That was a feat only someone on Rendel’s level could pull off. If you added a personal unit and whatever abilities they hadn’t used yet…

I tried to ignore the goosebumps rising on my arms and gripped the controls again.

“Everyone, let’s regroup with the main force.”

Having been thrown into chaos by a single enemy’s raid, we were exhausted beyond measure. We decided to link up with the main force led by Senior Carson. The main force had apparently been attacked by Rendel too, but they couldn’t have been completely wiped out. Not against anything less than the White Fang.

“Senior Carson.”

“We were ambushed from the rear. Is the main force okay?”

From what I heard, out of the forty-five Aindiums excluding us, a staggering six had been taken out. Some might think six is nothing, but the match had only just begun. Apparently ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠five of them had been casually sliced apart by Rendel alone as he brushed past. Rendel really might be the best close-combat protagonist in the entire Aindium series. The first protagonist, Black Wolf, had been a near-omnipotent mid-range specialist, and the protagonist of North Wind, Muraka, specialized in chaotic melees rather than quick, precise slicing.

Seeing Rendel even stronger than I expected made me feel a strange sense of pride, knowing I had contributed to that growth.

“Did Senior Rendel retreat?”

“What? He came this way?”

While I was still talking to Senior Carson, a bullet slammed into the tree right beside me. I immediately took cover and signaled my team behind me to stop.

“Everyone, circle around from the back and regroup.”

“It’s Senior Rendel.”

It was clearly a warning shot fired on purpose to miss. What Rendel wanted was undoubtedly a one-on-one duel with me. Each Aindium had a number attached, and if our team’s information had leaked to the Blue Team, it wouldn’t have been hard for Rendel to find out my number.

The moment Rendel’s name came up, Yui and Mikhail withdrew without a word.

A short while later, Rendel’s Aindium appeared in the clearing in front of me.

“Senior?”

This match was designed to minimize operator abilities as much as possible, so communication hijacking wasn’t allowed. Each team also used different comm channels, so to talk to the opposing team you had to use external speakers. I never expected anyone would actually do it—especially when the battle had only just begun. I hurriedly turned on my own speaker to reply, but it felt a little embarrassing. Anyone nearby would hear our entire conversation.

Rendel spoke in a bright voice as he drew his swords. A pair of blades, similar in configuration to the White Fang.

“Yes. They launched a surprise attack on us.”

I would explain everything later, but now was not the time to blurt out unproven claims about enemy forces infiltrating. So for now, I would stick to the story that I had simply repelled Blue Team attackers. At least until the match ended, I would maintain this stance.

But Rendel’s reaction to my answer was strange.

“What? What do you mean?”

His tone carried a lonely lament, as if I had done something wrong. I was so taken aback that I shot back.

“You just finished fighting too, didn’t you, Senior? I heard you destroyed five units!”

The mental abnormalities that series protagonists went through were burdensome to be involved with, but honestly, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand. If I imagined Rendel having an intense one-on-one fight with someone skilled—like Senior Carson—my heart felt just a tiny, tiny bit restless. No, I definitely wasn’t thinking anything strange like I should be the one on the receiving end of those swords. Who would think that? It’s way too weird.

“S-Senior. Then let’s just pretend nothing happened until now for both of us.”

I had no choice but to protect Yui from outside forces. Rendel had no choice but to come find me. Therefore, the battle that was about to begin would be our true first fight.

I swapped the shotgun’s magazine for a fresh one and checked the secondary weapon I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prepared just in case. Rendel also sheathed and drew his swords again, then loaded the submachine gun he had readied as a secondary weapon.

I minimized the message board in case of a second raid and gripped the controls tightly.

“Shall we begin, then?”

“Don’t regret it.”

Thud.

Shotgun in hand, I took a large step forward and fired the first round at Rendel’s Aindium.