Human Reform League, Shenzhou.
The Jibei Plains, on a vast battlefield.
Here, the rampaging Beta and the steel giants charging at full speed were locked in fierce combat.
A Tieren High Mobility Type was seen moving at high speed, weaving through the battle formation dense with monstrous insects.
Then, it swung the carbon-steel alloy blade in its hand, sinking it into the body of a Grappler-class before its eyes.
The severely wounded Beta still tried to struggle, but having been nearly split cleanly in half, what could it possibly do?
It merely feebly raised the great scythe of its forelimb, and then stopped moving.
…Even in the last instant before death, it was still thinking of how to annihilate the enemy.
That is the Beta.
Compared to them, their enemies, that group of humans, clearly would not adopt such a way of thinking.
“Hah… hah…”
It was inside that Tieren’s cockpit that Second Lieutenant Nan Wanxing heaved violently, her chest rising and falling erratically.
In the earlier battle defending the capital, her valorous conduct in combat had earned her a promotion to the next rank.
And she had formally inherited the post of company commander of the 7th MS Company, which had originally been only a temporary appointment.
If viewed through the worldly lens of climbing the ranks and getting rich, then she should right now be walking a broad, smooth road…
…That said, but at this moment.
Together with the fatigue that spread through her entire body, what welled up in the girl’s heart was merely an especially conspicuous sense of powerlessness.
In this operation, to annihilate the Laser-classes deep behind enemy lines, the HRL military had of course dispatched a special detachment to carry out the decapitation strike.
The 7th MS Company she led was among them.
As the foremost vanguard unit, and also the only unit to have reached the vicinity of the Laser-class position at the target location.
Beneath her helmet, through the visor-type display that integrated external imagery and battlefield data, Nan Wanxing confirmed her company’s combat losses.
Light points still flickering.
One, two, three…
“…Damn it. Only three people left…! Everyone, converge toward my position! If we gather our fighting strength in one place, there should still be hope…!”
She pounded the instrument panel before her somewhat resentfully as she gave the order.
Yet just then, a matter that made things even worse arrived as well.
The cursor on the radar vanished further.
This indicated that now only two remained.
“Ah…”
A stunned sound unconsciously escaped Nan Wanxing’s throat.
Again.
Again someone had lost their life, on this battlefield, before her very eyes.
And again, was it only her… who could live on?
This feeling of eking out survival made her instinctively want to retch.
But she held it down.
“Company commander, company commander… what, what on earth are we supposed to do?!”
Because the somewhat panicked cry for help from the only remaining comrade also rose at this moment.
As the unit’s commander, showing any emotion that could make others waver was absolutely forbidden.
“…Live.”
So in the end, Nan Wanxing only gritted her teeth.
“For now, just think about how to survive. That’s enough!”
She stepped on the pedals in the cockpit, and the Tieren used its air cushion to pivot.
The 200mm smoothbore gun it gripped also kept firing, aiming to check the movements of the Beta before them.
But the action seemed utterly useless. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
No matter how many were killed, more Beta would only trample over the corpses of their own kind and come surging up.
In the battle that repeated, repeated, and repeated again, no dawn of survival could be seen.
Until a friendly signal marked in green on the radar entered Nan Wanxing’s sight without any warning.
…Reinforcements?
“Advance toward the airspace above the target! Move fast!”
And following that, along with a somewhat hoarse radio transmission, what Nan Wanxing saw was this: in the gradually dissipating leaden clouds, breaking through the dusk’s horizon, over a dozen steel giants flying in formation.
“Hey, Company Commander! Look, isn’t that the naval aviation’s tactical fighter unit?!”
And the sole surviving comrade’s astonished voice, tinged with some joy, announced their identity.
Tactical Surface Fighters, full name “Tactical Surface Fighter.” Apart from Mobile Suits, they are another entirely different type of mecha combat unit in the world.
Their characteristic is the tail-fin-shaped jet device equipped on their backs, the “Jump Unit.”
While retaining the humanoid form, they can achieve three-dimensional maneuverability and short-term flight that ordinary MS lack.
Thus, together with the MS whose home ground is ground combat, they have been mass-issued by various nations as standard-issue weaponry.
And the model of the craft now approaching was, without a doubt, the Human Reform League’s MiG-31 Tactical Surface Fighter, the “Firefox.” Able to carry ten large cluster air-to-ground missiles, “Phoenixes,” on each of their left and right shoulders, they were the trump card of this operation.
If only these big fellows could be thrown into the battlefield, they could annihilate tens of thousands of Beta in one stroke and seal the victory.
For this reason, headquarters should have given them the order that they could not sortie until the Laser-classes were completely annihilated.
After all, even losing a single unit to their interception could potentially have a subversive-level impact on the situation.
Then, why…?
But before Nan Wanxing could collect herself, the battle situation advanced even further ahead.
“No need to be polite to these monsters, fire all the missiles! With the blood of these bastards, let us pay homage to the souls of the comrades who fell in battle!”
In the communication channel, the commander of the tactical fighter unit shouted.
At the same time, those Phoenix missiles mounted on both flanks of the MiG-31s detached from the bodies.
Under the pilots’ precise guidance, they formed a terrifying rain of missiles, roaring toward the Beta swarming in groups on the ground.
The monsters that had originally been so ferocious now seemed somewhat insignificant beneath the reflection of that countless fire.
And what happened next left only one possibility.
The cluster bombs pouring down burst with a bang, and chain after chain of interlocking fireworks bloomed open.
In an instant, Rush-class, Tank-class, Grappler-class… Regardless of the differences in type, what ultimately remained was nothing more than the same indistinguishable ashes scattered on the ground.
The skyline was dyed deep crimson by the raging fire and the setting sun.
And having completed their bombing mission, the MiG-31s’ formation lingered in the sky above.
Looking down from their commanding height at the scene they had created, as if admiring some work of art.
At this moment, Nan Wanxing also came back to her senses from her confusion.
“…7th MS Company to the tactical fighter unit. Thank you.”
Following that, she opened communications and, with a touch of disbelief, thanked them for their timely support.
“What are you saying! This is the fruit of your efforts.”
But the other party seemed to have something to say as well.
“Huh? Our…?”
“Yes. If not for your ground forces’ desperate fighting, annihilating that detestable bunch of Laser-classes, it wouldn’t have been our turn to appear! It’s we who should be saying thanks.”
“Eh?! But we still haven’t been able to reach the target location…”
“…Hm? Then I wouldn’t know. But the fact is, headquarters received a report that ‘the hunt for the Laser-classes has been completed’… Besides you, are there any other units here?”
“…No. I don’t think there would be… In fact, the survivors of the assault unit are only the few of us left…”
Incomprehensible.
Although each of them was alone inside their mecha’s cockpit, Nan Wanxing could feel that atmosphere of exchanging looks of bewilderment.
Was it a false report they received?
…Impossible.
Leaving aside the matter of who among the HRL forces would take the risk of falsely reporting military intelligence.
Then, who completed this mission?
A secret unit?
Or a mercenary not belonging to the military system?
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t seem to find a reasonable explanation…
And before Nan Wanxing could figure it out, the sound that began beeping at her ear pulled her back to reality.
“A new identification signal? …From, from the enemy’s far rear…?”
Nan Wanxing said in astonishment.
“I’ve received it on my side too. Is it that one?”
And the tactical fighter unit’s commander concurred, his voice trembling somewhat.
“Hey. Could it be that the one who cleared out all the Laser-classes… is, him…?”
And then, beneath the gradually fading radiance of the dispersing setting sun, the target the signal indicated revealed its true form.
It was… an unfamiliar MS.
Though the layout of the unit’s various parts was somewhat similar to the old-model Leo, it nonetheless possessed a completely different aura, and what could be called a somewhat luxurious, eye-catching ornamentation.
A modified model, then.
So Nan Wanxing surmised.
Yet for some reason, she felt… this modified Leo somehow looked a little familiar.
As if she had seen it not long ago…
Could it be?!
Thinking of this, Nan Wanxing hurriedly compared the data recorded in the database.
Infrared radiation, laser scanning, and the fully automatic response signal transmitted by the cooperative IFF system.
That’s right.
This Leo’s certification code… it was that of a figure Nan Wanxing knew.
Or rather, one she had found quite impressive.
Yes.
His name was—
“…Red One.”
Beneath her helmet, Nan Wanxing spoke with a touch of relief.
And at this moment, that red modified Leo seemed to have sensed something.
It turned back around, and with a high speed difficult for an ordinary Leo to attain, jetted toward the distance, as if wanting to leave.
“Strange, it’s leaving again… Hey, did you say something just now?”
At this, the MiG-31 commander asked curiously.
“…It’s a call sign. Red One. That machine’s.”
“I see. Do you two know each other?”
“No. I know nothing about him…”
She removed her helmet.
The black long hair coiled atop her head also scattered with the girl’s movement.
Letting the suppressed sweat drip down her cheeks, Nan Wanxing merely gazed at the receding silhouette of the steel giant.
Then she reached her hand forward.
As if to hold someone back, and yet also as if to interrogate.
“Red One. You. Just what are you…?”
Bonus Chapter +1
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