CH 228

A Fierce Fight

While the Empress was fuming with anger, the battle between Kisei and the Wibel Hounds is on the verge of climax.

“Just four more!”

Shouted Kisei as he pierced the engine of another [Varlona] with his pile bunker. He has already run out of ammunition and melee has become his only remaining mode of fighting.

However, the Wibel Hounds are also running low on ammo. Moreover, since many of them have been shot down, they can no longer afford to suppress his movement with their barrage.

“Giving us such a tough time!”

Despite the fact that she’s done nothing in this fight, Diaroze let out a sigh with a slightly tired expression. It appears that after being consecutively cornered in this battle, she’s mentally exhausted.

“As expected of you, [Wicked Star]! You’re truly worthy of our respect!”

On the other hand, Chief Makina who is supposed to be the one cornered right now has a look of joy on her face. She doesn’t seem to be frantic at all. From the beginning, it seems that she’s already expected their battle against the [Wicked Star] to conclude like this.

“We’re gonna lose at this rate, Chief. What do you want to do?”

“Of course! We fight to the end! We can not afford to disappoint the [Wicked Star] after all!”

“Disappoint?”

A curious word came through the public channel but Kisei doesn’t have the time to worry about it right now. The [Lastochka] unsheathed an ax from its waist and rushed toward the [Ex-Caliburn] while dodging the spray from its machine gun.

“Mugh!”

Befitting her position as the chief, her assault was skillful and precise. Kisei caught her ax with the photon saber in his left hand. As the blades grind against each other, the [Lastochka] quickly twisted its body and performed a knee kick to the [Ex-Caliburn]’s abdomen.

Using reverse thrust, Kisei avoided the blow with minimal distance. At the same time, he used the bayonet attached to the tip of his rifle to poke back at the [Lastochka]. Makina avoided it by slightly shifting her striker but the blade still managed to scrape off the paint of her armor, sending some rough vibration through the whole striker.

“Chief! I’m coming!”

Following that shout came muzzle flashes. She blasted her rifle without minding the possibility of friendly fire. Seeing that, Kisei immediately kicked off the body of the [Lastochka] and took a distance.

A beat after, tracer bullets with fiery red tails cut in between the two strikers.

“Damn!”

Even though she was almost shot, Makina did not try to rebuke her subordinate for that.

“Next time don’t warn me and just shoot! You can’t catch the [Wicked Star] otherwise!”

It appears that this is also part of their strategy. Certainly, machine gun’s small-caliber bullets can’t pierce through a Zenith’s armor plate but a shot like that couldn’t have been made without prior planning.

A bead of cold sweat started to trail down Diaroze’s forehead.

“What a troublesome bunch…….! There will be no end to this if we take our time here! Quickly take them down!”

“You don’t have to tell me!”

That’s right. They can not afford to waste time in a place like this. After all, they need to head over to the Melemheim fleet to join up with Saki and the others as soon as possible.

Regardless, he needed to reduce the number of enemy strikers first. Chief Makina is a formidable enemy. With support from excellent subordinates, she can buy a lot of time here, or at worst, he might even lose. Shooting down her subordinates first is probably the best course of action here.

“Kuh!”

Makina’s subordinate grit her teeth when she noticed the [Ex-Caliburn] blew its thruster toward her. Her [Varlona] is certainly an excellent striker but its performance is nothing when compared to a Zenith-type. Even if she tries to escape, the acceleration power of [Ex-Caliburn] would eclipse hers.

Her only chance is to intercept his charge. Judging so, she pulled the trigger and sprayed her machine gun at the approaching Kisei but the sound of gunfire turned silent in just a few seconds.

[[Ammunition Zero]]

Her cockpit AI announced in a dry voice. She immediately threw the machine gun away and pulled out the longsword from the scabbard on the waist. She’s readying herself to intercept the [Ex-Caliburn]’s photon saber but suddenly the muzzles on its head flashes, spewing out a large number of bullets toward her.

The shot was not aimed at the body but the hand of her [Varlona] that’s holding the longsword. The bullets accurately pierced the joints and the motor and wiring inside were damaged, making the longsword fly away due to the sudden loss of grip strength.

“Ugh!”

Gritting her teeth, she realized that she doesn’t have any way left to resist. At the same moment, the bayonet pierced into the abdomen of the [Varlona] causing the phase transition turbine to stop rotating sending catastrophic vibrations through the whole striker.

“Three more to go!”

“Ugh, there’s no way left! We are going for it!”

Although she’s piloting a Zenith, Makina doesn’t even think that she can take Kisei with only the support of her 2 remaining subordinates. She has no choice left but to make a bet and go for broke.

At the command of Makina, two [Varlonas] charge at Kisei with their machine guns. Following that, the [Lastochka] rushed at him with an ax from above.

“They finally lost it huh! This is our chance!”

Kisei already knew that without being told but he doesn’t complain. Instead, he avoids the bullets and rushes toward the [Lastochka].

“Got you!”

He then fired his wire gun toward the unprotected body of the [Lastochka]. With the sturdy carbon woven wire and the reeling power of the motor, Kisei swung the [Lastochka] away and unhooked the wire. As A result, Makina’s striker was thrown toward a [Varlona] in the back.

“Uwahh!”

The two strikers collided with the scream from the pilot. But ignoring them, Kisei threw his photon saber at the remaining [Varlona] who was dumbfounded at the collision.

Without missing its mark, the beam blade pierced into the belly of the [Varlona]. After a moment the photon saber’s capacitor ran out of juice and stopped producing its blade.

“G, Guh……!”

However, without care, Kisei rushed toward the [Lastochka] with his bayonet. Makina was still disorientated from the impact and couldn’t move out of the way.

Unable to defend herself, Makina clenched her teeth and prepared for impact but the final [Varlona] suddenly ignited its thruster. It dashed out and got between Kisei and the [Lastochka].

“Tsk!”

Kisei did not lose patience and pierced the engine of the [Varlona] with his bayonet. It was a brief moment, but Makina managed to use that time to gather herself. She blew her thruster and blew away from the [Ex-Caliburn].

“Now we can have a one on one……!”

Hearing that from Kisei, the corner of Makina’s mouth raised up.

“Fine by me, Let’s do this!”