Editing HEAVY OBJECT:EX Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 9===

“Heivia…”

Quenser grabbed the shoulders of his awful friend who was lying on the ground surprisingly close by.

He violently shook the boy.

“Heivia! Get up!! This is no time to be avoiding reality!!”

“”No…I’ve had enough…”

Heivia was not just passed out. He held his head in his hands and he grimaced like the stress was twisting his stomach into an S-shape.

“The battle is over. We lost. So just leave me alone. What else can we do against that monster!?”

“We can’t just sit here.” Quenser pulled out his radio. “The White Flag signal hasn’t been sent out. I don’t know if something happened back at the base or if all those bugs destroyed the equipment, but the battle hasn’t ended yet. I’m worried about the Princess too, but we can’t open her hatch with the tools we have on hand. We need to hurry back to the maintenance base zone. If we don’t go rouse Frolaytia and get her to raise the White Flag, we’ll all be slaughtered!! The Trinity Style will stop by the base first and then take us out on the way back like a souvenir or something!!”

“Please no!! I’m a noble!! Winchell family blood isn’t supposed to be lost in a place like this!!”

“Fine, then stay here and get blown to pieces!! How about I stick a bomb on your back!?”

He forcibly motivated the boy.

He pulled Heivia to his feet like he was a child throwing a tantrum in a department store toy aisle.

They were less than ten kilometers away from the maintenance base zone. Quenser looked around in search of a firetruck that had escaped destruction, but then Heivia started moving.

The Faith Organization soldiers had started crossing the river now that they knew there would be no more resistance. Heivia set his sights on one of the large motorcycles they were using and he swung his rifle to knock the driver off with a lariat.

He then beat down the soldier on the back seat before he could recover.

Gasping for breath and wiping an unpleasant sweat from his brow, Heivia spoke with bloodshot eyes.

“Pant, pant! D-dammit, if we’re gonna do this, then we’ve gotta go all out. Let’s change into their uniforms to blend in, Quenser.”

“I knew you could do it if you tried. I just wish you’d recovered a little sooner.”

The size of the uniforms was a little off and one of the motorcycle’s side mirrors had broken when it fell over, but it was far better than driving across the wasteland in Legitimacy Kingdom uniforms. Heivia took the driver’s seat and Quenser sat in the back seat as the two idiots made their way back to the maintenance base zone among the Faith Organization soldiers.

The sky was changing from the blazing orange to the dark curtain of night.

It was twilight, the color of parting.

They were returning to the familiar base they had woken up in that morning, but it was already filled with the tingling stench of death.

First, the mountain-like Object yelled a message down through its speakers.

“Attention Legitimacy Kingdom!! We have no intention of slaughtering you! Immediately disarm yourselves, move where we can see you, and put your hands in the air!! Hiding will be seen as intent to resist and we will attack!!”

Despite the announcement, the countless cannons covering the Object’s spherical main body were intermittently firing. Whenever it spotted someone moving or trying to hide behind cover, it mercilessly vaporized them.

On the ground, the Faith Organization soldiers were shining their flashlights around.

Those flashlights were attached to the end of their assault rifles. That would normally reveal their position, but boldly walking around with such obvious light sources was another symbol of their absolute victory.

They seemed to be searching inside the buildings, below the large vehicles, and in other possible hiding places to drive out all of the soldiers. Quenser and Heivia saw several of their comrades being kicked in the back or butt to toss them out into the open.

“This is awful…”

In his stolen Faith Organization uniform, Heivia sounded like he was having a nightmare as he slowed down the motorcycle so as not to stand out.

“I supposed it’s better than lining them up and shooting them or stripping only the female soldiers naked, but we can’t function as an army at all now. There’s no chance of turning this around…”

“Since they’re using the infantry for the search, the Trinity Style’s acoustic sensors really must not be working right. And it isn’t just the disturbance speakers. Did the Princess manage to destroy the actual sensors in that extreme situation?”

Whatever the case, Quenser and the others were faced with the exact opposite of the situation a few days before. Quenser could now imagine just how difficult it had to have been for Skuld to wait in that tiny cockpit for the hatch to be pried open.

“Captured Faith Organization soldiers, you also come out with your hands up! We do not wish to accidentally take your precious lives!! Please assist us so we can avoid any misunderstandings!!”

With vulgar laughter and relaxed behavior, the Faith Organization soldiers kicked the kneeling Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers to the ground mostly just for fun. At this rate, they might start pretending to surf on their backs.

“Where’d our busty commander get off to? She hasn’t been captured, has she?”

“That’s one question, but why wasn’t the White Flag sent out? I know the control tower collapsed, so was there a problem with the communication equipment?”

The two idiots discussed the situation while blending in with the Faith Organization soldiers on the stolen motorcycle, but as Quenser looked around, his face tensed up.

“You’re kidding…”

“What, did you find our busty commander?”

“No, but it still isn’t good. Heivia! You keep looking for Frolaytia and dealing with the White Flag. I’ve got another job to take care of!!”

“What is it!?”

“I found Skuld. If I don’t do something, she’ll be captured and killed!!”