Editing City Series:Volume1 Chapter 7 (section)

===Part 13===

At 3:47 PM, Mayer saw the Kaiserburg slide to the side.

It moved left.

He sent the Flammen Ritter in the same direction and the clock tower of Berlin’s city hall finally came into view.

The Kaiserburg moved behind it and did not come out on the other side. The dot on the radar at the front of the cockpit indicated the ship was hiding behind the clock tower.

It was luring him in.

Which side would it attack from?

It would likely fire a guided Kugel first, but they could not see him either. They would be using their radar to blindly guide it based on the distance between them.

He guessed they intended to target him once he frantically avoided the Kugel. Dodging it would mean his loss, so he had to cut it from the air.

…''Can I do it?

The Flammen Ritter was less than thirty meters from the clock tower and cutting down a Kugel at that range would not be easy.

…''But I have to.

He would cut down the Kugel and continue on for a close-range dogfight with the Kaiserburg. This opponent had no close-range ability, so he would win. Or at least take it down with him.

He produced Schwert on the right and left.

He regulated his breathing. It did not matter if his ribs hurt because the pain would numb his tension. The nauseous feeling from before had passed. His focus grew sharper and he entered top form for this sort of battle.

“Good,” he muttered.

At that very moment, the Kugel flew out.

But there were two: one from the right and one from the left. The left one was white and the right black, so they were an Eisen Kugel and a normal Kugel respectively. However, he did not have time or a need to check on that. They were both dangerous.

He swung up the Schwert and had a feeling it would work.

That was when something changed.

The two Kugel made sharp turns right in front of the Flammen Ritter.

“What!?”

Before he could finish his question, the white Kugel struck the red brick clock tower. With a quick hardening sound, the clock tower turned pure white.

The brick had been transformed into ice.

The black Kugel struck its base.

It only took a moment for the tower of ice to collapse.

It sounded like a waterfall.

The massive tower of ice scattered smoke made up of what looked like silver sand and it collapsed toward the Flammen Ritter. It was like a wall. No wall could have worked better.

But the Flammen Ritter could not move. Mayer could not move. The great noise and pressure filled him with panic and a single thought dominated his mind.

Right or left? Which direction would the Kaiserburg come from?

The enemy was trying to drive out the Flammen Ritter using the falling tower and he could not give them what they wanted.

…''Which is it?

The angle of the tower’s collapse grew, but Mayer continued to think.

He had to choose one or the other. If he did not move, he would be crushed by the ice. He could destroy it with his Panzer Emblem, but he would be wide open afterwards.

…''Do I have to make a gamble?

But then he realized something.

An all or nothing gamble was not a true competition. Being suicidal and being willing to risk your life were not the same thing.

He could not allow himself to think that way.

Then what do I do?

“…!”

An idea came to him. This idea was almost guaranteed to take him to Walter.

He threw out all of his previous predictions. He could not use conventional thinking when fighting that ship.

He had been asking “left or right”, but the answer was obvious.

“Straight down the center!”

He shouted out and fired a Lanze. The lance of light stabbed into the center of the ice tower. He raised his fighter’s power as far as it would go and shot forward. He flew straight toward the spot the Lanze had hit.

…''Go!

He swung up his two Schwert. For an instant, he saw a second Kugel fly by on either side.

…''I was right.

…''They tried to panic me, but I was slower to respond than they expected.

…''That’s why they fired again just to be sure.

The dp-XXX had not moved. He was certain of it now. They intended to shoot him head on while he avoided the ice tower and expected an attack from the left and right.

…''But I didn’t fall for it!

He felt insulted and the feeling grew into a blazing anger inside him. He flew toward a white wall with a Lanze sticking into it.

He slammed his Schwert into the area weakened by the Lanze and the belly of the ice tower tore open. At the same time, he sent the Flammen Ritter flying into it.

He tore through.

Everything around him was pale blue and white.

A powerful shock ran through the fighter. The tower may have been collapsing, but it had great mass. This was much like accelerating and flying into a sand dune.

Metal across the black fighter cried out in protest, but he did not care.

He raised the fighter’s power even further and swung the Schwert. The swords of light sliced through the ice and the tips of the swords seemed to reach the other side. Trusting this was the end, he jabbed the two Schwert forward.

He felt them plunge deep into something heavy, but the tips felt light. They had reached the open air.

“Gooooo!”

With a roar, he accelerated even more and the space before him opened up. He almost gasped at the expanse of open air before him.

Just as he had expected, the dp-XXX was there. It was exactly where his radar said it would be.

“You’re mine!”

Even with a guided shot, the field emitter had to change direction before firing a Kugel.

The dp-XXX had only just fired Kugel to the left and right, so it had not had time to turn the field emitters forward.

This was why taking the initiative led to victory.

He charged forward with the Schwert still held straight out. He could destroy a Kugel even if one was fired.

As he drew closer, Mayer faced straight forward and knew he had won.

At the same time, he noticed something odd.

For some reason, someone stood on top of the dp-XXX.

[[Image:City_v01_278.png|thumb]]

He recognized the person. It was the young woman named Else he had met at the Breuer house. She was the one Walter had said would be fighting alongside him.

She was the one he had promised a confrontation with.

She wielded a submachine gun atop the dp-XXX.

…''?

In that spilt second, doubt filled Mayer.

A bullet fired by such a tiny machinegun could never sink the Flammen Ritter. Nevertheless, she pressed it against her shoulder and aimed his way.

…''What is going on?

He then remembered what Walter had said over the radio.

“Then our victory is pretty much guaranteed.”

What had he meant?

Thoughts raced through Mayer’s head until he felt dizzy, but he made a single prediction.

“It can’t be!”

In that instant, he thought he heard a sound: a gunshot.

It was the light, fleeting, and yet lingering sound of a submachine gun firing just once.

That shot settled everything.