Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter21 (section)

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

I’m running.

I’m using my Heavy Barrel to run through the streets of Paris now that it’s been plunged into the devastation of war. First, I had my two damaged companions evacuate while I, the other remaining Barrel, and two light tanks we rendezvoused with act as bait to guide the enemy away.

We’ve broken through the defensive line – the enemy’s main force on the northern end of Paris – and they’re chasing after us now. I need to keep running so I can guide them to the Eiffel Tower’s Champ de Mars.

The light tanks are keeping up pretty well. Their metal caterpillar tracks slide on the stone paving when they take a corner, but they aren’t falling behind. They’re like puppies.

<A shot from behind passes by overhead and crashes into an ''appartement''.

The enemy is just as desperate as I am.>

But this will be over soon enough. The gigantic Eiffel Tower is dead ahead.

<Enemy fire comes from up ahead as well.>

The enemy’s main southern force is fighting with another of our units.

<The current time is 4:56 AM.

The sky is growing brighter and I can see the shape of the city’s buildings even without the streetlights.>

I have 4 minutes until the scheduled time at 5. I’ll make it.

The enemy chasing us – or being lured in by us, I guess? – probably thinks they can pin us between themselves and their friends at Champ de Mars.

We’re 500 yards from there.

<An enemy Heavy Barrel suddenly appears from a side street.>

I ready my spear and leap. I slam a kick down while almost directly above them and I also jab my spear down toward their shoulder.

<A direct hit. But I can’t pull my spear from their shoulder as they start to collapse.

They also manage to pull one leg back to just barely avoid collapsing.

Then they raise their sword to->

Outta the way, buddy. I draw the Third Flame Emperor from my hip and swing it.

<The slash severs the enemy’s right arm at the shoulder.

Then one of the light tanks fires a shot into the enemy’s chest armor. The Barrel collapses, bringing down the front wall of a bistro behind them.>

Damn, I so want to retrieve my spear…but no. Not enough time.

<The current time is 4:57 PM.>

I need to drop the shield too. It’s too heavy. All I need from here on is the Third Flame Emperor in my right hand.

I resume running. The Champ de Mars awaits. Our victory awaits.

The sky keeps growing brighter and it even looks a little blue now. Dawn is fast approaching.

<A transmission arrives.

“Resistance Branch 1 Combat Engineer Unit 1 to the Commander

“Report: At 04:58, we finished our work below Paris. All preparations for the coming operation are complete. All we require is the attack from Sword Lady.”>

So they’re done. I bet this didn’t happen during my grandma’s time. There really was something they could only pull off with me here.

I keep running.

<It’s a straight shot down the road. I see a large space past the homes and ''appartement''s lining the road. The Champ de Mars is 800 yards long and 300 yards wide.>

I can see it.

<But the shots from behind are a much greater threat on this straight road.

The Heavy Barrel accompanying me stumbles forward and collapses after taking a hit from behind.

“Please.”

That one word is his final transmission.>

I’m less than 300 yards from the Champ de Mars.

Sorry. I feel bad for everyone with me, but I need to focus. I hold Third Flame Emperor in both hands and raise it as if resting it on my shoulder. From here on, I’ll need the powerful flames of its attack.

I can feel the hilt in my hands. The cannon on my secondary cockpit aims straight up and fires.

<The fired bullet is a ball of light with no real attack power. The blue bullet rises high into the sky and I essentially leave it behind me as I continue to run. It turns to blue spray and vanishes in the sky, which is still fairly dark.

After a short pause, I see a similar light rise in the sky to my left, more toward the Champ de Mars.

I signaled my approach and my allies responded.>

Does that mean they’re ready? Then let’s do this. I duck down as if crawling on the ground, and…

<Another transmission arrives.

“Resistance Branch 2 Unit 3 to the Commander

“Report: At 04:59, we took control of Paris’s central broadcast station. We will now relay the state of the battle to all of France. Everyone, keep fighting for victory. Your actions will spread a spirit of liberation across France.”>

Yes, yes, yes! Everything’s in place!!

<nowiki><I</nowiki> enter the Champ de Mars.

My field of vision quickly opens up. I have a wider view of the cloudless early morning sky.

I arrived at about halfway up the park. To my right, I can see more than 20 enemy tanks and around 15 Barrels of all weight types. There are even more armored trucks and infantry, so they certainly look like they have the upper hand.

My allies are descending to the east on my left, but the enemy has moved out in front of them.>

I do not hesitate to burst out in between those two armies.

<An impressive number of shells are flying back and forth.>

Not a problem. I know how to dodge those. I just have to liberate my excited emotions a bit while I run.

Grazie’s Over Emblem, Ange, is all about mobility, but I also have the Third Flame Emperor.

<Ether light wraps around my running legs and the arms wielding the Third Flame Emperor. The Over Emblem is activating.

The transformation only takes a moment. My four limbs don ether armor from within the armored combat dress.

And the Third Flame Emperor reacts to the Over Emblem by activating its own power.

The emblem engraved into the sword’s blade absorbs the ether flowing in from Grazie and fierce power is unleashed from the entire blade. As the name suggests, it is fiery power.>

Flame Emperor, the weapon he left me, lend me your power here!

“Whoever’s in the broadcast station! I’m about to deliver a decisive blow toward Paris’s liberation, so make sure everyone in France knows!! Let them know that France can be liberated!!”

<From Grazie’s shoulder to its back, the long flame sword grows at a faster rate than my own breathing.

It is now approximately 30 yards long.

The air shimmers above the sword as it heats up as if rejoicing at its own activation.>

I swing the sword as if to slice through the oncoming hail of shellfire. A simple swing like that is all it takes to transform the flying shells into steam. No attack in this world can surpass the all-consuming flames of this sword.

<nowiki><I</nowiki>have arrived near the center of the Champ de Mars.>

I have a single goal: leap full strength toward the fountain in the center.

<Grazie leaps into the warming morning air. The jump surpasses 10 yards in height.

Grazie twists around in midair to swing the flame sword around and down.>

I take aim at the central fountain.

A major branch of the catacombs running below Paris is located directly below that fountain. It’s almost like an underground version of the park that gathers nearly all of the city’s underground passageways.

A combat engineer unit set up explosives and Phlogiston in there. I just have to detonate it with this fiery attack. It’s the same principle as the crust destruction that finished off the black dragon. I forcefully swing down the Third Flame Emperor.

This will end it.

<The large central fountain is cleaved in two by the flame attack from that Device which had been made into a divine spell weapon. The attack triggers a Live transformation in the stone of the fountain structure and even the water itself to ignite them both. They are instantly set ablaze.

The fire burns strong and the result immediately shows itself in a horribly simple fashion.

Paris explodes.>