Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter5 (section)

===Part 4===

A battle was underway in the center of Germania.

A silver Heavy Barrel fought a man with two prosthetic arms. They were Heiliger and Pale.

The two inordinately large people ran southeast across a deserted wasteland.

They were just inside the western side of Germania. Another 10 yards south and they would reach the large hole between Charlottenburg and Tiergarten.

There was no road. A Word Rifle beam had torn a trench in the ground from east to west. If they ran much further, they would reach the main road and they could take that east to reach Tiergarten.

The only movement beyond themselves was the occasional tree, building chunk, or sign falling to the ground after being launched by their battle. Sounds of combat came from far to the east and west, but only the Heavy Barrel and the man could be found here.

Pale’s gray hair was matted with blood. Blood dripped down his forehead and the scar on his one eye had reopened.

But he bared his bloody teeth and smiled at the silver Heavy Barrel.

The pulse coming from Tristan was slowly increasing in speed and volume.

“What’s wrong, Heiliger? Distracted by Tristan’s out-of-control pulse? It only took one good blow to throw your main force and your western unit into disarray. So what now?”

“You are meant to command your entire army, so why do you seek a personal fight?”

Pale didn’t answer that.

The silver Heavy Barrel looked to the sky where the moon shined through the dome.

“You will die soon. Tonight is not a full moon like it was during the previous war. You cannot draw on your true power as a Heidengeist, so you are struck relying on the Frühmond drug. Your Archetype bloodline cannot save you here.”

“Really wish you didn’t know that!”

A sword rushed in. The strike was made while running, but it was steady and drew a perfect arc toward Pale’s back.

He swung his metal fist back and punched the blade.

The metal clang coincided with Tristan’s pulse.

With the roar of wind being pushed away, Pale’s fist was knocked forward by the force of the sword.

He moved about 10 yards ahead of Neue Silber and landed on the shaking ground.

“Too slow.”

A powerful slash dropped down from directly above.

Pale clenched his teeth and punched the ground. His metal fist went through its triple acceleration to blast away the dirt.

With a trio of roars, Pale used the power of his fist to leap forward. As soon as he was away, the asphalt behind him exploded from a sword strike. He summed up his thoughts by whistling.

He saw the ground was shaking even more than before.

“An earthquake? No, his sword strike and the pulse were in sync.”

A great hole had opened up within arm’s reach. When a shock ran through the ground, it could be seen as a vibration, especially on cracked and broken ground.

Another pulse arrived from Tristan.

On the nauseating pulse, Pale landed and faced forward again.

The amplitude of the ground’s shaking was growing sharper and more focused as he viewed his opponent.

Neue Silber straightened its forward-leaning body and began putting its sword away at its hip.

Pale stood up and asked a question.

“Why are you sheathing your sword? In a rush to go somewhere?”

“You are only trying to buy time here. Your fists can never reach my Panzer.”

The silver Heavy Barrel’s blade vanished into the scabbard at its hip.

Pale viewed the black scabbard and frowned.

“You think I can’t reach you?”

The silver Heavy Barrel did not respond.

Neue Silber looked up and away from Pale. It viewed the top of Tristan.

That was the tallest point in Germania.

An AIF two-hull transport ship was battling Erlkönig in the sky above that.

Neue Silber spread the six wings on its back. It had already started gathering air in those wings.

Pale clicked his tongue when he saw the shimmering heat rising from the wings. And just before that moving air became a wind…

“I just thought of a great way of getting my fist to you.”

The silver Heavy Barrel did not even look his way. But Pale still bent his left elbow and directed his left fist toward the ground.

The movement came suddenly.

His left fist clenched as tight as possible.

The heavy metal frame made some noises as it formed an even larger metal fist. The elbow had already pulled back behind him in preparation to throw a punch. He bared his fangs but kept his voice relatively quiet.

“So stick around a while longer.”

After that, his voice and his fist gave a roar.

His arm flew straight down toward the ground and it gained extra acceleration as metallic noises and steam came from the elbow.

The fist parted the white steam. And not just once. It happened thrice before the swing was complete.

The air was audibly destroyed three times before the fist struck the ground.

With the sound of compressing dirt, Pale kicked off the ground.

He used the force of the impact and his own strength to produce an incredible acceleration.

His crouching body leaped to the left of the silver Heavy Barrel with the force of an artillery shell.

“Nh.”

In an instant, Neue Silber took a defensive stance and Pale landed to its left, blasting dirt into the air.

Neue Silber turned toward him just as Pale punched the ground again.

The triple blast of acceleration sounded in an instant and Pale launched himself behind the Heavy Barrel.

All that remained was the afterimage of his silver hair, the cloud of dirt rising from the ground, and the powerful shaking of that ground.

The silver afterimage moved behind Neue Silber.

Neue Silber planted its feet firmly on the ground, drew its sword, and stabbed it backwards.

The sound of a sword slicing flesh and the impact of a fist could both be heard from the direction it sent the sword tip.

The white smoke of smashed air surrounded it and something leaped to its right.

Another triple metallic noise followed.

Pale left behind an afterimage showing a slashed cheek as he circled in front of Neue Silber.

He bled as he lowered his hips and pulled his left shoulder back to stand at an angle. Sweat dripped down his brow and his left arm’s elbow was glowing red with heat, but there was a smile on his lips.

“Let’s finish this!” shouted the beast.

With another crash of impact, the ground’s vertical shaking increased and the silver-haired man left an afterimage as he leaped to his right and Neue Silber’s left, which was north.

Pale landed with both feet firmly on the ground and faced forward. He was about 12 yards from the silver Heavy Barrel.

The ground was shaking below him and the amplitude had surpassed half a yard.

The repeated blows had formed waves that increased the shaking.

He used that shaking to lightly kick off the ground and jump straight up.

Just then, he heard a faint voice from the distant sky. It was a man’s deep but carrying voice.

“Attention all knights within earshot!”

Pale caught some of what the voice said next while in midair.

“So the time has come for the Neue Kavaliers to learn of the Wheel of Destiny,” he muttered, spinning through the air and readying his right fist behind him.

The ground below him had reached the lowest point of its amplitude.

Meanwhile, Neue Silber grabbed the hilt of its backwards-thrusting sword with both hands.

The silver Heavy Barrel twisted its body toward Pale and raised the sword to swing it down in a large arc.

The quaking ground started to rise.

With the threat of the ground below and the sword above, Pale’s eyes were on the sword.

“Do you know how much force it takes to shake the weight of a city by half a yard?”

It all happened in an instant.

Pale did not dodge the slash.

He opted for an offensive defense. He swung his left fist straight up to punch the blade.

With a sound like shattering glass, Neue Silber’s blade instantly broke from the hilt and Pale’s left fist broke in return.

The impact slammed Pale’s body toward the ground, but just before he hit, he shouted up at his foe.

“You’re about to find out!”

Pale’s right fist flew diagonally down toward Germania’s rising ground.

That fist had applied its triple acceleration to the vector provided by Neue Silber’s sword strike.

It struck the ground with all that built-up momentum.

The fist smashed into the ground and Germania rumbled.

Then the principle behind a ricocheting bullet gave Pale’s body great speed.

He twisted his airborne body, giving himself a rapid spin that sent his right arm forward.

He saw Neue Silber still in the follow through for swinging down its sword.

Beyond that, he also saw a large pit opened in Germania’s ground.

His metal right elbow clicked like a key turning in a lock and all of its steam ports opened.

White steam blasted behind him for the primary acceleration.

The same sound repeated and the secondary acceleration began.

Shortly thereafter came the tertiary acceleration.

Each time the fist’s speed increased, it tore through the air and created a ring of white vapor.

The sound arrived after a short delay.

The metal fist struck the Heavy Barrel in the chest.

The impact pushed Neue Silber backwards.

Its weight provided no real resistance as the chest armor shattered and the force of the blow passed through it and out its back.

The six metal wings on its back ruptured like a flower.

Pale then tackled Neue Silber’s chest with his shoulder.

The Heavy Barrel staggered and tried to regain its footing, but…

“Kh!?”

It could not get its feet back on the ground. In fact, there was no more ground below its feet.

It was already out over the enormous pit.

Its wings were broken, so there was only possible outcome: succumb to gravity and fall.

“Pale Horse! Why waste your time on a personal vendetta against me!?”

“This isn’t personal.” Pale was out of breath with his right fist pressed against Neue Silber’s chest. “Those young fools are fighting up on Tristan right now. What’s so personal about keeping an old man out of their hair, Heiliger Karlsruhe?”

Pale didn’t wait for a response.

He took one look around as their falling speed picked up. He laughed bitterly as the growing wind of their fall rang in his ears. The surface of Germania was above them now.

The wind grew, carrying away the sweat on his brow.

“I doubt this fall is enough to kill you, so how bout we get round two started?”

He accelerated his right fist with it still pressed against the Heavy Barrel’s chest.

A loud crash followed.