Editing City Series:Volume6b Chapter6 (section)

===Part 6===

Berger knocked out the final soldier with a rapid collision from his right foot.

He was once more the only thing moving on the runway.

His black coat flapped in a gust of wind carrying the scent of fire.

He could see an elevated platform at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit located past the black cedar forest north of the base. The platform was needed because the edges of the meteorite pit swelled upwards.

A new road had been created from there to the base.

Three large forms were visible on that road.

One was a blue Grösse Panzer.

“A modified version of Blau Löwe, huh?”

To its right was a large Grösse Panzer transport truck. The truck was loaded with some kind of cargo covered by a black cloth and it remained stopped on the road.

On the other side of the truck was a red Grösse Panzer, mirroring Blau Löwe’s position.

“That combination must be Bermark Nein. Does that mean Alfred’s Schwarz Löwe is here too!?”

He observed his surroundings but saw no enemy approaching.

Instead, he heard a noise.

It reminded him of grinding teeth, it was louder than the wind, and it came from the center of the base.

Something big was moving there.

“They started closing the shipyard’s barrier, didn’t they? That aerial warship is meant to fly, but they’re hiding it underground.”

He whistled and resumed walking.

His eyes were on the two Grösse Panzers and the truck.

He moved forward without even hiding his “what’s going on here?” look.

He had a skip in his step as he left the airfield and entered the base itself along with a heated wind.

Just then, two Mittel Panzers exited a large hangar.

Their heads were made short, but the overall size of their warrior’s silhouette rivaled the Grösse Panzers. They were colored almost entirely black and wielded a thick short sword in their right hand. The left hand held a Panzer shotgun.

“Jagdhunds? Alfred would never pilot something so cheap.”

Berger even smiled as he increased his pace to a run and stuck his hand below his coat to prepare for battle.

He saw the Jagdhunds react.

They both aimed their shotgun toward the walls and corners of the hangar and fired.

“–––––!? Are they on my side?”

He was answered by four shotgun blasts and the splintering of wood.

The hangar was 100 yards across and the entire thing shook.

It tilted.

Four more blasts sounded.

The tilt gained an eye-drawing appeal as it teetered on the verge of collapse.

The metal supports broke and the holes blown in the wall were squashed flat by the weight from above.

An ensemble of bursting metal followed.

The Grösse Panzer hangar partially collapsed, looking more like it had melted than anything.

It all happened in an instant.

“Oh? Restricting it to infantry?” commented Berger as he changed direction.

He turned toward the center of the base and picked up his pace.

On the way, he noticed the two Jagdhunds turn their short heads made of composite armor, which required turning their full bodies along with it. With a whirring of mechanical parts, their sight devices focused on him.

They both gave quick bows and the one in front raised its metal thumb. It first pointed toward the runway and then at themselves.

Realizing what that meant, Berger pointed at the other Grösse Panzer hangar out ahead of him and then pointed at his own face.

The Panzer formed a circle with its thumb to ask “okay?”

He raised Gelegenheit to say “okay”.

The Panzer nodded and the sight device’s glowing light wavered in a way that suggested a smile. Berger saluted with just his hand.

“That’s Bermark Nein over there! The second things go south, you get the hell out of here, okay!?”

The Jagdhunds nodded in response and moved out ahead.

Their feet thundered across the pavement and their metal bodies were not burned or slowed by the heated wind blowing in.

They passed by Berger, so he put his sunglasses back on and ran past the half-destroyed hangar.

The adjacent Panzer hangar had its door fully open.

Something blocked out the light escaping from within.

He could hear metal footsteps as something emerged.

He sped up.

He shoved Size C Phlogiston Tanks into Gelegenheit. His left hand demonstrated his fast reload skill by attaching 10 of them in a row.

Gelegenheit was shaped much like a spear.

His right hand’s fingers wrapped around the middle of the hilt and he spun it around using just his fingertips.

“I shouldn’t be doing this when they barely gave me any money for this mission. But lucky for you, I’m the second most accommodating guy in the world!”

As he spoke, a shadowy blade grew from the spinning Gelegenheit.

It extended with blinding speed.

The shadow field was only satisfied after reaching a length of 40 yards.

He wrapped his right arm around the hilt and held it to his side before extending the arm out to the side, parallel with the ground.

His arm’s movement sent the black blade out horizontally like a wing.

He also held his left hand out to the side while he ran.

“Ready for takeoff!”

<Destiny reveals no exit.>

The hangar was bisected all at once.

The slash sounded like a symphony of metal being severed hundreds of times in a single instant.

Berger only needed a little over 8 seconds to clear the 100-yard road in front of the hangar.

The Grösse Panzer preparing to exit the hangar collapsed after one of its legs was severed.

Metal groaned and the wind blew.

Neither was stopping anytime soon.

Both sounds continued nonstop as the top half of the hangar shifted toward the road and fell. It made no attempt to stop itself.

The structure collapsed.

The destroyed building was decorated by the roar of dirt flung into the air and the smell of oil.

But Berger lowered his hips, turned toward the hangar, and stopped in place.

He viewed the collapsed Grösse Panzer through his sunglasses.

“That wasn’t Schwarz Löwe!? Where is that moron!?”

The arm sticking straight up from the wreckage of the hangar was from a mass-produced P-model.

Berger quickly stood up.

Just then, the wind fluctuated behind him.