Volume 14, 21: Heavenly Banquet

Volume 14, Chapter 21: Heavenly Banquet

Droplets glow in the world’s eyes

Which of the two dancers

Can speak like you?

The battle began with a clash on the front lines.

The pure-white two-winged Level 9 Angelus automatons used swords and cannon-equipped Cowling Swords to attack their enemy from the sky and ground like a great wave.

Their downpour of cannon fire and horizontal blasts crushed the miscellaneous approaching soldiers and they would use their swords to cut down the survivors.

UCAT did not have many who could fly. All three hundred thousand of the enemy automatons could do so, but UCAT only had at most a thousand per army and those thousand were too important to be worn down on the front lines.

This meant the clash between armies resulted in the pure-white army pushing back the miscellaneous army with an overwhelming wave.

“…!”

The angels could be heard firing and return fire flew from the surface.

But the UCAT forces could not hold their position as the phalanx of angels pushed forward.

The UCAT scout units sent forward to secure the front lines were all pushed back behind buildings or below elevated roadways.

The pure-white angels moved in to crush the enemy scouts who would send intelligence back to the rest of the enemy.

They had the upper hand in numbers. They also had the upper hand in mobility and combat ability.

But they knew not to underestimate this enemy. The word “caution” was carved deeply in their base memories.

“Yes.”

The angels opened their mouths as if to sing.

They opened their mouths as they filled the cloudy sky, fired, and crushed the enemies who had failed to escape the front line in time.

They sang in a tone above the audible range as they flew through the sky and placed their feet on the backs of high-rise buildings.

“We were made to serve mankind.”

Some expanded their Cowling Swords to reveal the blade.

“But only one of them remains to be our master.”

Some closed the blades and opened the cannon.

“We desire mankind.”

They created a great wave of cannon fire and sword strikes.

“Oh, will you become human? Will you become human? As this inhuman world is made human, listen to the song that summons humanity.”

The angels formed a great ring in the sky and their wings glowed as they protected the Leviathan.

Even on the ground, the wings reacted to the song by filling with light and glowing brightly.

“————!”

After confirming the position of the enemy’s front line, they charged in their phalanx formation.

In an instant, their acceleration produced an explosion of water vapor behind their charging ranks.

This supersonic tsunami produced cannon fire and sword strikes as it approached.

Armored uniforms could not defend against it, tanks were too slow to avoid it, and their numbers were too small to weather it.

The road was torn apart and the windows of the buildings shattered.

The white wave of thousands approached UCAT’s front line faster than sound.

“…!?”

They all prepared their defenses.

“Have you ever heard of brute force?”

But then some people stepped in front of each army to face the white tsunami.

They wore blue armored uniforms. Their entire bodies were covered in metal armor, their arms held giant shields, and their feet…

“Let’s see how you like my stylish skates!”

They held their shields forward with both hands.

Those defenders stood on the front line of all eight armies and gave a unified shout.

“We are the armored soldiers of American UCAT! We’ll pave the way, so follow us!!”

With those words, blue light burst from the accelerators on their backs.

A moment later, their heavily-armored bodies shot forward.

The blue armor used sharp acceleration and a sharp trajectory to slam into the white wave.

The speed displayed inside their helmets instantly reached two hundred mph.

Their commander gave a shout toward the approaching white wave.

“Brace for impact!!”

They crouched low and held their shields as if to shovel into the ground.

“!!”

They collided.

The enemy’s speed was greater, but they had the greater armor and mass.

A deafening sound filled the air.

It sounded like colliding rocks and it was accompanied by a flash of light.

The wind burst and cutting blades of shockwaves raced every which way.

Most of those on both sides were blown away, but the enemy had the overwhelming advantage in numbers.

Their wave was thick and very nearly swallowed up the blue collision.

“Bear with it!!”

One of them gave a yell as one of his shields was blown away and he thrust the other one in front of him.

“Stay low and push through!!”

The angels were flying while they were racing along the ground, so by angling their shields, they could deflect the enemy behind them.

“Blow them away!!”

Behind them, the people making up the front line fired on the white wave knocked upwards by the armored soldiers.

The shock of the upwards impact left the angels defenseless, so the counter punch of the bullets was enough to break them.

But the armored soldiers continued forward without worrying about that result.

A second and third wave was waiting in reserve, so they charged forward to fill the holes broken by the others.

They endured, punched, and tore through the white wave, but they were also knocked away and crushed. Nevertheless, not one of them allowed themselves to be pushed back.

“Ahead! Go ahead! After all…we don’t have a single reason to fall back!!”

Up in the sky, they could see pure-white reinforcements flying to each region.

But before those reinforcements could arrive…

“————!!”

They all accelerated.

They aimed for the gap between the enemy and the ground.

Their arms were simply thrust forward without doing anything fancy.

They kept their center of gravity low and desired only to move forward.

One collision led to another and they heard gunfire behind them.

It sounded like applause.

So they continued forward. They moved quickly and sent pieces of asphalt spraying backwards.

They used their weight to send doll pieces scattering.

“Let out a roar, men!”

They saw the end of the angel tsunami. Beyond that was the enemy’s true front line.

An overhead formation positioned like a great wave and a gunner formation straight ahead were both visible beyond the charging tsunami.

But as long as they could break through the tsunami, they could face the angels’ front line.

“So let’s go! This is the last big wave of the year!!”

With those words, the men rushed forward.

A few of them were lost to the flying white sound wave, but…

“!”

A single signal gun rang out and they blasted the stormy winter wave into the sky.

Like a wave hitting a breakwater, their armor, speed, and conviction smashed the wave to pieces.

They had lost most of their armor, but…

“Ohhh!!”

They made it through.

They swung their bodies forward to become a blue wave of their own and they flung themselves toward the enemy.

The angels’ cannon fire poured down like rain and flew in from straight ahead, but the strikes and impacts were no longer enough to stop their momentum.

“————!!”

But a moment later, the accelerating blue wave was crushed from above.

“!?”

It was an invisible power.

By the time they realized it was gravity, it was already too late.

They had been hit by a massive surface.

They had been knocked down.

The soldiers in blue armored uniforms were knocked and crushed to the ground, their own weight and speed sent them rolling along the ground, and their entire bodies were destroyed.

It only took an instant.

All that remained were a cloud of dust and the shimmering heat of the sputtering accelerators.

All that could be heard were the sounds of falling equipment and groans of pain.

All, that is, except for the sounds of wings in the sky.

Soon, everyone saw countless angels descending from the heavens.

The first to descend wore white armored uniforms, had the words “Level 8 – Arch” engraved on their arms, and had twelve wings. Their hands were empty, but the air was bending around them. They were controlling powerful gravity.

And these newcomers were not the only enemy reinforcements.

Some new forms were visible behind the Angelus automatons forming a wall up ahead. These automatons had larger wings than the Angelus ones and were armed with gun-spears and shields.

Their armored uniforms resembled suits of armor and were engraved with the words “Level 7 – Prince”.

A great sound came from behind even them.

It was a tremor of the earth.

Giant forms suddenly appeared from between the buildings lining the road.

These giants were over ten meters tall.

The four-winged gods of war carried swords and shields and had the words “Level 6 – Powers” carved into their shoulders.

A look into the sky showed white wings both large and small flying in circles through the heavens.

That ring of angels was slowly descending.

The people meant to fight back could only gasp as they prepared their guns and swords.

That ring of angels descending in waves from the Leviathan was on its way to the eight attacking formations of people.

“Old mankind,” announced the angels. “If you do not wish for a new world, then be washed clean by this deluge of power. Over.”

After that nearly singing voice, the flapping and tremor of the angels signaled the beginning of their true attack.

Atop the Leviathan, Mikoku watched the angels attack.

The distortions of space appearing here and there looked like giant spheres of shimmering heat.

Those told her the Arch automatons were fighting.

Just like the 3rd-Gear automatons, the Arch and Prince types could use gravity for offense and defense, so they could stop bullets and bend optical weapons. If the Angelus types fired and cut through afterwards, they could break through the enemy formation evenly instead of in isolated locations.

The transparent glowing map of Tokyo surrounding Mikoku made the advance of the white army clear.

Not even one third of their forces had been deployed, but they had already pushed back the front of the enemy army quite a bit.

“Is there nothing they can do?”

As she asked her weak question, the wind rose from below.

The battle created that wind.

As her hair fluttered in that wind of battle, Mikoku frowned and looked at the battlefield map.

The black lines of the enemy were still falling back.

She held a hand toward one line in particular and an image appeared over it.

It used the visual information taken from the automatons.

The three-dimensional image showed people in blue and white armored uniforms being knocked into the air or to the ground and sometimes even collapsing after having their bodies crushed.

Mikoku frowned and closed her eyes as she watched it.

“—————”

She breathed in and listened to the one-sided din coming from below.

All of the sounds were being directed outward from within.

She immersed herself in that intense noise and asked something of the automaton behind her.

“Noah, what am I supposed to do?”

“Smile. The victor should enjoy herself. Thus…”

Noah spoke calmly and seemed to be chastising her.

“If it would make you sad, you should not create it. The new world, that is. Over.”

“I see.”

Mikoku nodded. She kept her eyes closed and ended her nod partway through to hang her head.

“…That’s right.”

She looked up with her frowning eyebrows raised.

Several images from the automatons were displayed before her eyes.

They were all images of many people being defeated or slain.

The automatons were doing their job well, so Mikoku inhaled.

She reached a hand toward the fallen people and clenched her fist through the transparent image.

“Is this all!?”

She gave a shout, breathed in, and let her body tremble once to erase her hesitation.

“Is this really all it took to defeat us back then, old world!?”

The angels spoke.

They spoke as they crushed their opponents as if devouring them, faced the individuals sent flying like ocean spray, let their maid uniforms sway, and walked silently.

“Is this all? Over.”

They advanced without end.

They continued firing and the number of reinforcements grew until the surface tension seemed to break and they spilled from the streets.

“Don’t you have anything more? Over.”

The angels moved forward as they spoke.

Their glowing wings shook the air and their cannon fire tore into the walls and earth, creating great pits.

The sounds were metallic. Bullets flew across the battlefield with a sound like the plucking of strings.

“It rings out.”

The angels spoke.

They sang.

“Yes.”

They seemed to desire something.

“The infinite begins. The finite ends.”

They advanced through the sky.

“Life shall be without end. Death shall be but a short comfort.”

They advanced along the earth.

“Flesh shall be born. Bone shall not be buried.”

They advanced through the air.

“Everything shall be accepted. All shall be rejected.”

They advanced between the buildings.

“Will we be brought there by the ring of the heavenly bell?”

They advanced along the asphalt.

“Will we be brought there by the desires of the world of man?”

The heavenly army of three hundred thousand and of nine types sang as they advanced.

“I no longer want to lose anything.”

They were as calm as can be.

“I will no longer try to gain anything.”

Their weapons targeted the human ranks.

“Because everything is there.”

They squeezed their triggers and sent their words toward the people who were too frightened to move.

“Over.”

But just before the final rumble of cannon fire sounded, something shot out toward them.

It was a voice.

“Are you stupid!?”

The speaker used light itself for wings.

“What are you so satisfied with!? What do you mean you won’t try to gain anything!?”

The attack came from the heavens above.

“What’s that, some new kind of diet!?”

Like a comet, light fell from the sky and collided with the angels’ front line.

The evacuated people watched as the angels’ front line was torn into by a power descending from a spot that seemed higher than heaven itself.

A crater with a radius of over one hundred meters was torn into the earth.

The surrounding buildings were knocked over along with the enemy and a girl with wings of light stood in the center.

Yes, that power was sure to arrive.

That power would always appear before those who fought.

She would not listen to voices asking for help.

She would arrive seeking the battlefield as her home.

The weapon she wielded was a white Cowling Spear.

Someone muttered its name.

“Gungnir…”

Someone else forced a laugh in response.

“You’re late, valkyrie.”

The winged girl did not turn back toward them.

But the glimpse of her face visible from the side contained a slight smile.

Then she began to move.

No words were needed.

No introductions were needed.

She charged toward the enemy formation.

She threw in all of her speed from the very beginning.

She did not even need to dodge the cannon fire hurriedly fired back at her.

“————!!”

She destroyed them.

It only took an instant for several dozen automatons to be thrown high into the sky. And…

“G-Sp2! Second form!!”

She pulled back the spear tip and spun around.

She aimed the spear upwards and it had become a cannon by the time she finished her spin.

She fired.

The blast tore into a four-winged Powers god of war. The light entered through the ten meter giant’s right side.

“G-Sp2! Keep at it!!”

She swung the weapon around and the extended blast transformed into a giant saber.

It cut through the god of war and sliced apart the automatons who had been blasted into the air.

They were all destroyed.

The people were initially confused.

“H-hey.”

They called out to each other.

“Ohhh!!”

Then, they advanced.

They stepped forward and the fearful ones synchronized their steps with the others to move forward.

They sped up and their pace grew to a run.

“…!!”

They all followed the winged girl who had chosen to move ahead into the fray and mow down the enemy.

She must have known what they were doing because she waited for them inside the enemy formation.

“Now.”

She stopped.

She could hear the people rushing in behind her. She could hear their solemn yet powerful footsteps.

With her comrades’ audible presence behind her, she spoke.

“I am Kazami Chisato, member of Japanese UCAT’s Team Leviathan and caretaker of 10th-Gear’s Concept Core weapon.”

She prepared her weapon and gave the charging angels a beckoning wave.

“Bullets and blades aren’t enough to catch up to my wings.”

A moment later, Kazami entered a horizontal flight.

The wind exploded and she circled behind a few of the charging Angelus automatons.

“—————!?”

They frantically turned back toward her, but she ignored them.

After all, her comrades were approaching from behind. She could hear their overlapping footsteps, voices, and spirits.

“Ohhhh!!”

Finally, she heard them collide with the angels she had passed.

The collision sounded wonderful. It was the sound of their various powers colliding.

The battlefront had been opened. They were making progress.

…Now they can fight.

So she moved on. Her target was the twelve-winged angel doll standing on the road directly ahead.

It was not Noah, but she recognized this mass-produced model.

Noah had avoided her attack in the underground meeting room, so…

“Help me let off some steam!!”

She fired her cannon while charging in.

The light flew ahead of her, but the Arch automaton raised her right hand.

She used powerful gravitational control.

“————“

G-Sp2’s light was bent only fifteen centimeters in front of the hand.

It flew into the sky, but…

“I knew that would happen!”

Kazami thrust the spear tip forward.

Arch automaton #72 aka Arch72 received Kazami’s attack.

She expanded her gravitational control to its max radius of two hundred meters around her palm.

Receiving a spear strike with her gravity and deflecting it behind her was a simple task.

She successfully received it.

Once it was stopped in her right hand and the girl was briefly stopped with it, she would throw in a zone of extra weight using her left hand.

It would be over once she crushed the girl.

But then she noticed something strange. The strike to her right hand was light.

“…!?”

Arch72 instantly checked with her high-speed sight devices.

It was indeed the spear tip that had hit her hand, but…

…It was the lower shield portion!?

The shield was easily removed from the spear.

The spear continued forward, leaving the shield behind.

The spear’s wielder, Kazami, circled to Arch72’s right with the spear.

A moment later, Kazami flapped her wings.

…!

She vanished. She had circled behind Arch72.

Arch72 responded by accelerating.

She made her clockwise turn by using her gravitational control to spin herself like a top.

She was instantly able to check in all three hundred sixty degrees.

Yet Kazami was not there.

“That’s some nice spinning.”

The voice she heard came from behind her as she spun.

The enemy remained behind her spinning back, so Arch72 decided to swing both hands back to send a mass of gravity behind her.

She would slam that gravity into the enemy.

It only took an instant.

She heard the earth torn into for around a dozen meters behind her.

But…

“I’m over here.”

For some reason, she saw wings in front of her.

The wings held a partial spear tip and gave her a sharp look.

Arch72 did not understand.

“When? How!?”

“Spinning with you would’ve gotten me hit, so I flipped over you with my wings. That’s all.”

Arch72 briefly did not understand what the girl meant. Her memories were the ones provided by Arch0 aka Noah and those memories included Kazami’s combat speed.

Her calculations told her this girl could not possibly move faster than her.

“You don’t get how this is possible? It’s simple.”

Kazami gave the answer.

“Why did I fire first to briefly stop you? Why did I make a feint with my spear instead of circling behind you from the get-go? Why did I focus on speed and stay behind you instead of attacking? Why did I fly up from the easily-predicted spot behind you?”

“Well…”

“If I have a way of using my experience and tactics to lower your speed and raise my own so that calculating everything out with a simple speed value isn’t enough, then I can still get the upper hand here.”

“You’re going to lose. And not to me.”

Arch72 saw Kazami crouch down.

Beyond her, UCAT soldiers aimed their guns her way while taking control of the battlefield.

A moment later, a spark of gunfire pierced through her.

It passed through the very center of her chest. This was enough to tell her this entire situation was a lost cause.

And it had been done by the hands of those without any particularly great power.

Brunhild heard a joyous cry.

She had charged to the front line and fought using Gram, but at some point, the others had passed her by.

She had a thought as she saw them move ahead.

…Once I moved to the front line, they realized they could advance.

The reports from the other locations told similar stories.

The bearers of the Concept Core weapons were cutting a straight line into the enemy’s front line.

The people were following that bearer of power.

Some had been shot, cut, or crushed, but none of them felt any more fear.

“You all sure change your tone when things start looking better.”

Brunhild pulled her hat low over her eyes but still advanced with the black cat by her side.

She scattered defense charms with her left hand and lifted the holy sword in her right.

The witch raised a sharp voice.

“Go forth, mankind!!”

She spoke of the reason why she had been late to arrive.

“We will now raise our flag! We will raise the wall to hold the world in place!!”

With those words, Tokyo was enclosed in sudden walls of light.

The walls of bluish-white light rose from a semicircle formation at their base.

The semicircles were seals created from an emblem and they had a radius of over five kilometers. Their bottoms stabbed into the earth while internal patterns and writing rotated around the bluish-white semicircles.

These were circular seals.

The power of the Concept Cores had created a sealing field.

The reason each region’s main fighter had been late stood tall in the sky.

They towered above the battlefield.

Their colors were still pale and the top of the glowing walls still seemed to fade into the sky.

Regardless, the walls in the eight directions illuminated the people from behind.

The light also illuminated what approached them from up ahead.

The people moved forward as if pushed onward by the light.

They advanced while supported by the semicircles and walls surrounding them from eight directions.

But the heavenly host did not sit idly by.

They sang.

As the prelude to the ringing of the bell, the three hundred thousand sets of wings sang as they advanced.

And as the two armies prepared to clash, two things appeared: a pure-white god of war and a pure-white mechanical dragon.

At the same time, a voice spoke from atop the Leviathan in the center of the heavenly host.

“Okay!”

Mikoku raised her right hand with Noah by her side.

“Units 1 and 2, head out!”

With those words, Noah lightly waved her hands.

The gods of war waiting in the city and the mechanical dragons flying through the sky flew toward the eight approaching armies.

“Now!” said Mikoku. “Let all the forces of heaven attack!!”