Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter21 (section)

===Beretta’s Write Bring: Entry in Heavy Barrel Grazie’s Memory Bank===

I’m running!

Grazie runs down a hill. When I look down from this 8-yard height, I can see Paris burning in the night.

The Germans tried to fortify their defenses and lock down the city, but they could’ve done a better job. France has tons of catacombs you can use as underground passageways. The Resistance used those to transport Heavy Barrels during the uprising and they are far more complex and numerous than the Germans know.

While the diversion unit was attacking the wall directly, another unit entered Paris through the catacombs. Once inside, they would perform some sabotage and attack the wall from within.

My Heavy Barrels unit’s job is to charge in from the outside after that. Hence why I’m running.

<The dawn approaches. The chilly wind blows hard across my armor as I travel along a hilly road. I can hear the footsteps of the three Heavy Barrels barely keeping up with me.>

They’re all so slow, but maybe I’m just overexcited.

I have no hint of doubt anymore.

Yes, I’m fighting to liberate this world and prevent my grandma from being erased.

I can’t let anything happen to that old woman who tried to act tough but was really just too kind to tell me.

I’m feeling so optimistic. Even though I have no idea if I really can keep her from being erased if we use the Wort Bombe.

I’m just going for it while assuming it’ll work out.

But I can’t not do it. Because that would mean giving up.

<My view down the slope shows me the lines of light of the German Soldat and Ritter-class fighters scrambling from the airport in northern Paris. I can hear the roar of them tearing through the night sky.>

Way too slow. We’ve already brought the fight to the city itself. Which means I just have to keep running.

<The slope ends and I enter the city.>

My Heavy Barrel’s legs give me a speed of nearly 100mph. I might be shattering windows and tearing roofs from the houses I pass by. Sorry, but I need to keep going.

I speak through the communicator the Allies equipped me with.

“Assault Heavy Barrel Unit, we’re about to break through the blockade. Eastern Attack Unit, please fall back immediately.”

<Up ahead, I see the blockade wall on the road past a row of houses. It’s about 5 yards high. It looks like they gathered sandbags and unneeded vehicles to create a quintuple wall. A large checkpoint door is installed dead ahead.

A flare launches into the night sky from near the wall. That’s our allies saying they’ve finished falling back.

The checkpoint troops notice us at the same time, delivering a spray of machinegun fire.>

That’s fine. I charge in with my spear raised on the right and my shield raised on the left.

The hits must be delivering a powerful shock, but that’s not enough to stop a charging mass of metal that weighs 24 tons all told. Besides, my steel shield has been engraved with a traditional defense emblem, so you’d need at least a Tiger’s tank gun to punch through it.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> arrive within 300 yards of the wall.

The checkpoint door bursts open and two large figures appear from within. They’re Heavy Barrels.

Three armored trucks loaded with machineguns hurry through after them and then the door closes.>

Oh? Three armored trucks and two Heavy Barrels? You don’t stand a chance against me.

“Sight Devices: Omnidirectional Sight: Sign.”

My field of vision widens. I can see the night sky reflecting Paris’s flames and I can see the wall. That wall is in the way. I want to see Paris.

I crouch low and charge in. And I move fast. I need to run fast!

<The three sets of footsteps behind me grow more distant. My speed is definitely rising.

I rapidly approach the two Barrels up ahead. Neither one has a shield, so they raise the sword in their right hand.>

They’re both righthanded, so going for the one on my right would be the standard tactic.

I run to close the space between us. I hold my spear below my right arm and move to tackle one of them.

Before that one can swing down their sword, I swing my spear up, using my underarm as the pivot point. I aim for their left side – the side without a sword.

<It slices through.

The enemy Heavy Barrel’s left arm is severed at the shoulder and flies through the air. They lose their balance but just barely manage to remain on their feet.>

You could’ve not done that!!

To rid myself of my charging momentum, I throw a kick straight into the one-armed Barrel in front of me.

If they collapse, they’ll crash right into the armored truck behind them.

<With a loud crash, one Heavy Barrel and one armored truck slam into the blockade wall, taking them out of the fight.

At the same time, the Barrel’s left arm falls from the sky and hits another armored truck.>

Okay, that last part was pure luck. But that isn’t all. The left Barrel will probably try to swing down their sword in a hurry. But that won’t work. I use the force of the kick against the other Barrel to spin myself to the left.

I take circular evasive action to the left, making a full spin with my shield extended.

<The enemy strikes at the spot Grazie just vacated.>

Do they think they cut me down? They clearly don’t know when to Point. Pointing to check just as you make an attack is standard practice. Like this.

<A superb backhand blow slams into the enemy Heavy Barrel with Grazie’s 21 tons and the shield’s 3 tons plus centrifugal force.

Beyond the shield, I can feel the enemy’s bulletproof armor breaking.

The 9-yard-tall male Heavy Barrel flips end over end in the air.>

Sorry, but I need your help to clear the way ahead. And I kick.

<Grazie’s roundhouse kick slams into the chest armor of the male Heavy Barrel flipped upside down in midair.

With a loud clang of heavy metal, the chest armor shatters and the entire Barrel crashes into the checkpoint door.

I hear the deep crashing and smashing of steel and other structures and the large door collapses in the opposite direction.

I can now see the streets of Paris that the wall had been blocking from view.>

Hell yeah. There’s still another armored truck, but I’ll let the unit I had fall back take care of it. Have the other three in my unit still not caught up? I send them a transmission.

“Sword Lady here. I’ve cleared a path into Paris. I’m about to enter the city to continue the mission. Over.”

Okay, time to run. We’re taking the road alongside the Seine until it runs into the Louvre. Then to the Eiffel Tower.

If we can settle things there, we should manage somehow. The broadcast station should be telling all of France about the fight for liberation by then and that transport plane will have been stopped from taking off.

Then I just have to borrow that broadcast channel.

I just have to say I’m Beretta McWild and that I want to liberate France and make it real.

I have to do this. Time to get running again.