Editing City Series:Volume6b Chapter6 (section)

===Part 7===

“!?”

When he looked back toward the front gate, he saw several people entering the base from the Black Forest.

They were moving so quickly it was difficult to detect their scattered movement through the shimmering heat.

“So the second wave has arrived.”

Berger sighed, got up, and heard something. First, he noticed the alarm encompassing the base.

“They’ve switched to the third alarm.”

He whistled lightly and took off running, his eyes forward.

Once past the tree-lined road, the front gate was to his left.

The gate and its metal guard tower had been destroyed and two armored trucks were rolled on their sides in front of it.

The trucks had countless scars that could only have been the result of claws.

Right from the gate was an east-west road dividing the base in two. Following that would take you to the base’s command building and control tower.

Short warehouses were lined up on either side of the road and the shipyard and Vaterland were past that.

Some new intruders were entering the base through the destroyed front gate.

They were AIF Glossolalian Special Forces. Most of them were humanoid.

Their uniforms had not been modified to accommodate Altered transformations and they wielded whatever weapons and shields they specialized in.

They took cover behind the toppled armored trucks and prepared to fight.

One of them noticed Berger. The young man held a Device – a sword that resembled a musical instrument.

He looked back in the blowing wind and said something to someone.

A middle-aged man emerged from behind the armored truck in response.

He wore one of the AIF’s insignialess caps and he caught Berger’s eye before sending hand signals.

He pointed toward the command building and raised first one and then two fingers.

Berger nodded, raised three fingers, and pointed at the man.

The man nodded.

Berger returned the nod and glanced over at the command building.

Two armored trucks were still stopped in front of its entrance and they showed no sign of moving. He could see a few soldiers using the trucks for cover, but they did not seem to be doing much of anything.

“Do that and a single area-of-effect spell takes you all out.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he heard what sounded like shattering glass. He looked up into the sky to see the air moving near the shipyard across the road. Embers were launched into the air, scattered by something blowing up from below.

A transparent glowing hemispherical field was emitted from the ground there.

“They’ve occupied the top of the shipyard’s barrier with an omnidirectional field, have they? How many witches did they send on this mission?”

He gave a nod of acceptance and beckoned toward the soldiers hiding behind the trucks at the front gate.

The same middle-aged man nodded back, raised his submachinegun from the edge of the truck, kept an eye on their surroundings, and shouted something to his comrades.

A few others raised their weapons and fired along with him, but the rest ran toward Berger.

A few ran toward him on the road.

The one in the lead was the young man who had initially spotted Berger. He held his Device below his right arm and held his submachinegun in his left hand. Once he reached the center of the road, he gave a bashful smile and spoke.

“It looks like the Vaterland is operating at critical, so our 3rd Platoon can handle the-”

The man only got that far before Berger heard an odd sound. It was distinct even with the swirling of the thick and hot wind.

He heard the movement of a Grösse Panzer. As a Panzer Kavalier, he would recognize that sound anywhere.

“!?”

He turned toward it – to the west.

His gaze raced past the base, through the Black Forest, and to the Alfheim Meteorite Pit.

That was about a mile away, but he definitely saw the blue Grösse Panzer using the red Grösse Panzer’s shoulder to steady a rifle longer than it was tall. It had already taken aim.

Berger tried to shout a warning.