[User recognition. Glaepnir. System startup.]
A sharp startup sound rang in her ears.
She winced at the dull ache she felt at the back of her neck.
"Does it hurt?"
"At first it felt like I'd die, now I'm kind of used to it."
She answered the quiet voice coming from behind her.
It was Ren, riding with her.
"Your nerves are directly connected to the frame. Most people die during the connection procedure."
"...You sure are quick to say that."
Yan shook her head as if fed up and looked around the cockpit where she sat. Blackened scabs were splattered everywhere, making it a ghastly sight.
It was like looking at the scene of a murder.
"Alright, then explain now. Who you are, and why I can move this thing."
"Will you believe me if I tell you?"
"I have to. From the look of things, you're the only one who knows anything about this thing."
Having said that, Yan faced Ren.
Black hair and black eyes. Even the black uniform added to her dark impression, making Yan look not just gloomy but decadent.
In contrast, Ren facing her looked pure white.
Her snow-white hair and eyes gave her an inhuman cleanliness, as if she didn't belong to this world.
"The key."
"...What?"
"I'm the key. A key wandering in search of its owner."
"What are you saying, something completely nonsensical?"
Yan suppressed her frustration at Ren who introduced herself as a key out of nowhere.
This woman had been like this since they first met.
While thinking that, Ren's mouth opened again.
"This child is a test. It will test whether you're a human suitable to hold the key."
"What are you talking about, what I want to ask is..."
Just as she was about to retort, the sound of footsteps from afar made Yan snap to attention.
Cain had said he would personally bring his colossus in case the one she rode might collapse.
"It seems we don't have any more time to spare."
In the end, she had to give up on getting anything out of this woman.
What she needed wasn't her identity but how to use this thing.
Thinking that while suppressing her irritation, Yan heard Ren speak.
"The operation method. You need to learn it properly. Remember your first battle?"
Since Ren seemed helpful as a manual at least, Yan let out a sigh of relief.
"I only remember a little. The movement..."
Saying that, she gripped the control stick and tried to move her hand.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she tried to move it.
Oooong-
What moved wasn't the arm holding the control stick, but the massive arm of the colossus.
The colossus's body moved naturally, as if moving its own limbs.
But that wasn't the important part.
"You've got to be kidding, my body...?"
Her entire body below the neck wouldn't move.
It was as if her arms gripping the control stick were essentially tied to the cockpit.
"It intercepts neural signals from the brain and transmits them to the frame. While connected, you're essentially half-paralyzed."
A sigh escaped at Ren's voice kindly explaining the principles one by one.
Unless the connection was severed, escaping from this frame was impossible.
If this frame were destroyed, she would surely die as well.
- How about it, can you keep moving?
The voice coming through the loudspeaker made her snap to attention. Before her stood Cain's silver-glowing colossus.
Below it, knights had gathered in groups of threes and fives, chatting among themselves.
"The knights use loudspeakers, is this possible too?"
"Focus your consciousness. When you try to speak, it will speak for you."
Focus? How should she do that?
Yan frowned at the vague explanation, but there was no further explanation. Having no choice, Yan decided to follow Ren's words and opened her mouth.
- No problem.
At Yan's voice coming from the colossus, the other knights watching stirred.
She really could operate a colossus.
Someone from the Penal Corps, and one without mana at that.
Some were appalled, while others watched with interest.
- Good. Then come this way for a performance test.
- Understood.
After saying that, Yan took a slow step forward.
But soon she couldn't help but grimace at the heavy sensation enveloping her entire body.
"Ugh...!"
It felt like struggling in a swamp.
Even taking a step felt like wearing metal plates all over her body.
'How on earth did I fight back then?'
According to Cain in the silver colossus before her, this frame had torn apart the elf army's colossus.
She had done something like that, but she simply couldn't understand it.
If even taking a step was this hard, how on earth had she managed it?
Thump. Thump.
"With that kind of movement, it defeated the elf army's colossus? Hard to believe."
"With such sluggish movement, it'll be turned into a pincushion before even entering close combat."
"They say the armor is sturdy, so maybe it could be used as a meat shield?"
"Haha! Even if one rides a colossus, the Penal Corps is still the Penal Corps!"
The mocking voices of other knights could be heard from every corner.
But Cain watched the movements with a serious gaze.
'The frame itself is different from ordinary colossus. No, can we even call that a colossus to begin with?'
Joints that moved as naturally as a real person.
Armor plates that moved fluidly with them.
Everything about the colossus moving now was something modern civilization couldn't even dream of stealing a fragment of.
- Can you run faster?
At Cain's question, Yan put more strength into her body.
Having become somewhat accustomed to walking, Yan's colossus moved at a brisk pace.
But Yan's body controlling it was already covered in cold sweat.
"It's harder than I thought...!"
"You're moving a mass hundreds of times your own body. The amount of signals input and information processed are on a different level."
"I thought so when I first rode it, but you should've told me beforehand...!"
Yan cursed while exerting herself.
She had reached Cain's colossus before she knew it, but her entire body was already wrecked.
"Mobility nominal. For a first activation, condition is good."
"I feel anything but good..."
Yan answered Ren between ragged breaths.
After a deep breath she felt her body stabilize somewhat.
- Good. It's certain you can move it. Then now...
Just as Cain said that and began to move his colossus-
Beeeeep-!
A piercing trumpet blast echoed all the way to headquarters.
It was the trumpet of a sentry sounding the alarm.
- Every last one, battle stations! Enemy assault!
Cain, who shouted that while aboard his colossus, was the first to charge out.
"Damn it, an attack at this hour?!"
"Call the remaining knights too! Bring as many spare frames as possible! Hurry!"
The knights who had been watching Yan's mobility test also hurried to their posts. In an instant, four colossi carrying pilots raced out of the maintenance yard toward the front.
"Move! Everyone get off the path! If you're in the way you'll be crushed by a colossus!"
Soldiers scrambled off the road with shouts at the unscheduled deployment.
Some soldiers stared blankly at the colossi advancing-a sight rarely seen on the frontier.
"Elf Kingdom colossi confirmed! Three units in total!"
- Don't stop the bombardment so they can't link up! Infantry suppress the enemy infantry and use smoke to blind them! Pick them off one by one!
At Cain's command, five Imperial Army colossi lined up in a row. Before them, a horde of goblins packed the entire front, roaring.
"Kiiiiiek!!!"
And above them appeared the Elf Kingdom's colossi.
From the colossus armed with machine guns in both hands came a voice filled with fury.
- Those are the ones who defiled our sanctuary and burned the villages of our neighboring tribes! Kill them all!
"Kiiiiiek!!! Humans! Kill them all!"
"Humans! We'll kill them! We'll eat them! Today's a feast!!!"
Soon, the sounds of terror rang out.
With that as the signal, the goblins packed along the front began a frenzied charge.
"Hold your fire!!! Too many enemies! Don't waste ammo!"
"Open fire with the artillery's barrage! Everyone hold position!!!"
This time it was defense, not attack.
While the Penal Corps on the front line slowed the charge, the regular troops in position loaded their machine guns in unison.
"Penal Corps first line collapsing!"
"Second and third lines are seeing mass desertions! They'll break any moment!"
"Useless trash, can't even be used as fodder!"
If she hadn't boarded this colossus, she too would be on that front, killing goblins.
Wedged among those giants exchanging fire with the Imperial Army colossi.
Yan watched the battlefield with that thought.
Meanwhile, the goblins began pouring through the completely collapsed Penal Corps line.
And when they reached a certain point-
"Now! Blow it!"
Boom-boom-boom!!!
The explosives planted along the final defensive line detonated at once, obliterating the densely packed goblins.
"All units commence firing!!!"
Bang! Rat-a-tat! Tat-tat!
"Kieeeek?!"
"My leg! My leeeg!!!"
"Kieeeek!!!"
Their positions had been reversed from the last battle.
Most of the already small goblins were shredded beyond recognition by the blast, with few survivors.
The Penal Corps who had fought alongside them were no exception.
- The enemy's momentum is broken! Knights support the infantry at my command! Do not advance recklessly!
- Keep charging! If you die fighting, you will be reborn as honored elves! Fear not death! Charge!
The goblins surged forward in chaotic disarray.
Yet that was the most effective tactic.
No matter how many machine guns and cannons were fired, the swarm could not be held back forever.
"There are too many! At this rate the first defensive line-"
"Hold out! Retreat signal will come once the connection is complete!"
Trenches dug over ten layers after long battles.
The only way to withstand the goblins' overwhelming numbers was to whittle them down gradually.
That was how this front had held until now.
But this time was different.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Despair crept onto the soldiers' faces at the earth-shaking sound.
They sensed the giants who had foiled the last attack had returned.
"Damn it! Enemy colossi charging!!!"
"At a time like this?!"
Three colossi thundered onto the front line, their footfalls shaking the ground.
- The Elf Kingdom Royal Guard Knights join the battle! Glory to the Saint King!
***
"I'll go too."
"Impossible. You're spent just walking. Fight like this and you'll collapse in five minutes."
Ren warned in a quiet but firm voice.
Watching soldiers prepare for deployment, Yan focused her mind.
Rumble...
The colossus crouched and gently placed a hand over its chest. The cockpit hatch opened, offering a way out.
"Get down."
"...?"
Ren looked puzzled at the sudden order to leave.
But Yan's expression remained unchanged.
"Sorry, but if this line collapses, I'm dead. I can't waste this chance just because my body won't keep up."
"Dead? Losing the battle doesn't mean you have to die."
"It does. At least for me."
Yan replied quietly to Ren's question and tilted her head.
A signal to hurry.
"...Five minutes."
"What?"
Yan asked at Ren's abrupt words.
"How long your consciousness can hold. Five minutes at most. After that..."
"I'll collapse like the first battle. Right in the middle of the front."
"Right."
With that, Ren leapt from the cockpit.
Light as a feather, she crossed to the colossus's hand.
She glanced back at Yan, still seated in the cockpit, and spoke quietly.
"Don't die."
"...What?"
Yan's eyes widened.
In over ten years of war, she'd never heard those words.
"If you die, I have to find the next person. It takes too long. Inefficient. So don't die."
"Ha, haha, hahaha..."
Not quite a hollow laugh.
She couldn't help laughing at the strange feeling she'd never experienced before.
"I absolutely won't die."
Yan told the puzzled Ren. Those words seemed meant not for her, but for someone else.
***
- Where are the proud knights of the humans? Have they fled like cowards?!
- Silver Knight! Come forth! My spear, Buertael, shall pierce your colossus!
One carried machine guns, one assault guns, and the last a massive lance.
Colossi outfitted with different equipment each charged into the battlefield and hurled attacks at the infantry struggling to hold the line.
Thud-boom!
Sandbags and cover set up in the trenches exploded from a single round of the assault gun, and a hail of machine-gun fire rained down on the scrambling infantry.
- Damn it, how did they break through that far?!
Cain spat a curse and rushed headlong into their midst.
The moment the silver colossus they'd targeted appeared, the elf knights wore triumphant smiles.
- You've arrived, Silver Knight!
- Your legend ends today!
And with those words the lance came crashing down.
Yet if he could be felled by something so simple, no one would have praised him as the Silver Knight.
Screeech!
A wide armor plate, like a shield, slanted across to block the lance's path. The colossus, its force misaligned, momentarily lost balance and showed an opening.
- Opening!
- Where do you think you're going!
Another colossus intercepted the Silver Knight's assault gun that had been aimed at the gap.
The remaining colossus leveled its assault gun at the four colossi belatedly joining the fight, holding them off.
- Shit, take cover! Everyone take cover!
- Commander! At this rate...!
For a brief while, even friendly support could not be expected.
'We have no choice but to pull back.'
Because of the sudden situation, the card he had gained only with difficulty had not even been played.
The Elf Kingdom's force-just three units-was pressing the entire front.
Faced with the overwhelming technological gap, he could only clench his teeth.
'If only we could at least pierce that armor...'
At the moment he was about to order the retreat-
An Elf Kingdom colossus seized the opening and burst in within an instant.
- Royal guard Delranel! I'll claim the Silver Knight's head!
'Damn it, a blunder at a time like this...!'
The Silver Knight hastily raised the shield mounted on his arm.
Yet the spikes equipped on Delranel's colossus pierced straight through it with a single punch.
Thud-boom!!!
'Guh-?!'
Delranel, grasping Cain's now-unbalanced colossus, crushed it to the ground.
- Hwahahaha! Come on, beg for your life! Silver Knight! Hurry up!
As he spoke, Delranel stretched one hand toward the Silver Knight's cockpit.
He intended to skewer the pilot together with the cockpit using his spikes.
- With this...!
The instant he raised his hand, aiming for the cockpit-
Clang-!
Something flying from somewhere snapped the raised colossus arm back hard.
- What the-?!
Delranel looked around in bewilderment at the sudden impact.
When he finally saw what was slowly approaching, the blood drained from Delranel's face.
- A, aaa...! Aaaaaah!!!
The colossus he had tried to cast from his mind in this battle-
The monster that had devoured his own colossus greedily was now walking slowly toward him.
- Hey, Delranel! What's wrong?!
- Monster! A monster! That monster's coming agaaain!!!
Hearing Delranel's shriek, the monster lifted its head and looked at him.
An alien colossus of ashen hue.
It was Yan.