Editing City Series:Volume6c Chapter7 (section)

===Part 4===

Rose tensed on the central #6 ship’s bridge when she sensed something hit her on the port side.

“I can load the Babel Kanone’s next round in just a few minutes, so if I can hold on a little longer…”

Then she heard the wind through the downpour of bombs.

It came from port, where she had been hit.

A black figure was flying up from below, producing a soaring sound from its rapid ascent.

“That Panzer!”

She had seen it before. But it vanished high into the sky a moment later. And…

“!”

With countless sounds of wings, her vision was filled by the color white.

It was a flock of doves.

Hundreds of flapping wings shook the air as they flew toward the night sky.

The white flock hid the black shape from view.

Rose could not hide her surprise as she tilted her head and directed her attention below.

No more antiair bullets were rising from the center of the city where Cologne Cathedral was located. The Requiem had lost a few of its own cannons as well.

But the enemy remained overhead, dropping bombs.

The Requiem’s armor, defense emblems, defense through inertial control, and the ship control and damage reduction provided by Rose’s Erklärung all worked to stop those bombs and protect the city below.

But the enemy was relentless.

She saw the colors blue and red arrive from either side to meet that enemy.

Those were Grösse Panzers. The two who served Alfred.

“Lady Rose! We are here to support you!!” shouted Neue Blau.

Rose smiled back with a troubled expression.

“What are you two doing here? Does this mean my big brother is already on his way?”

“Indeed it does. Sir Alfred is hurrying here as well!”

“I see,” she said, tapping her right foot’s toes against the bridge’s floor.

Then her voice spoke from the entirety of the Requiem.

“Big brother, can you hear me?”

After a short delay, she received a staticky response.

“I can…DLP-444LSX.”

“You can? I’m glad. Right now…”

She looked overhead.

A light resembling a silver shooting star approached the bombers and fighters from outside the Requiem’s firing range. A silver Grösse Panzer raced, spun, and leaped through the sky while fighting something.

The opponent was colored black. That was the Panzer that had ascended earlier.

It was named Schwarz Löwe and it had fallen into enemy hands three years ago.

But while she watched the clash between the two Panzers…

“How long has it been since my big brother and bigger brother fought the same opponent?” she muttered, eyebrows raised.

The exhaustion vanished from her face and she shouted toward the blue and red Panzers.

“I will be your general. You two move further forward and meet with your master.”

“But we are Sir Alfred’s-”

She cut them off with a thin smile.

“Since when can a mere Sein Frau talk back to the eldest daughter of Karlsruhe, the bloodline of generals!?”

After a pause, the blue and red Panzers nodded.

They spread their wings and accelerated.

The bursts of wind struck Rose from either side and she assessed them with satisfaction in her voice.

“Well done.”

The blue and red winds drew twin curves up into the sky. They flew over the river flowing through the sky.

Rose watched them leave and then sighed.

At the same time, an even louder alarm blared from within the Requiem.

“I have a feeling something more is coming. The bombers are slowly ascending.”

She raised her head and the Babel Kanone bullet loader at the rear of the Requiem expelled a cascade of white steam from its ejection port.

She narrowed her eyes at the sound.

“Attention, everyone.”

She mouthed the name of a certain man.

“In response to the fourth alarm, all ship sectors shall be opened, command authority shall be shifted to me and me alone, and all of you shall evacuate.”

She repeated that a second time over the sound of the fourth alarm.

“This is a strict order.”

Just as she finished, one of the enemy aerial warships succumbed to its damage and fell.

The bombers ascended instead.

“Something is definitely coming,” she muttered to herself, spreading her arms.

Wind was whipped up all around the Requiem. The ship’s defense field was changing shape.

That wouldn’t do much against a direct hit from the aerial warship, but it would be an effective wide-range umbrella against the scattering wreckage and the shockwave when it exploded. She spread out that field and continued firing the cannons while looking to the sky.

Silber Löwe was still battling Scwharz Löwe. They were both moving quickly.

“Are you enjoying this, bigger brother?”

Immediately after directing her question into the sky, her Requiem-linked senses picked up something. A great power was rushing in from the distance. It was like a punching fist and it brought her pain just to view it.

She spun her body to face that way – to the north.

“–––––!?”

Her entire body radiated puzzlement and surprise and Heiliger questioned her over the radio.

“What is that, DLP-444LSX!?”

She could not get the answer out of her throat.

“That is…”

She knew exactly how powerful it was because she had the same power herself.

So she raised her voice.

“Flee, bigger brother!! That’s my-!!”