Editing City Series:Volume6b Chapter7 (section)

===Part 4===

<Destiny clears the way ahead.>

An Erklärung raised its voice and Alfred roared from his throat: “Ah.” He used that single tone.

The two Texts clashed and the Tons ruptured between the two weapons. The black and white lights briefly bent before popping like a balloon, moving the surrounding air.

“…!?”

Alfred’s feet slid about two yards back and Berger was blasted a few yards through the air before landing down on his knees. Their weapons’ lights were gone now. They had vanished.

Alfred was the first to straighten back up. He readied Rein König in both hands without speaking a word.

Berger faced him and stood up while replacing his weapon’s Phlogiston Tanks.

“It’s been 4 years, hasn’t it?”

“Why are you here?”

Alfred’s tone made it clear that was not a real question. But…

“Why is the divinely named dog crawling back now?”

“I know you know why. Because I’m the only one who can match you. After all, I’m-”

“What is the point of being second best?”

Alfred leaped.

He attacked with a voiced “ah” and Berger caught it on Gelegenheit.

<Destiny contains great power.>

“What power have you gained in the past 4 years? Even Gelegenheit is ''her'' power.”

Their weapons clashed and the white and black lights burst. They both pulled their weapons back and moved before the lights had fully vanished.

Berger went right and Alfred went left.

“We have spent those 4 years protecting this land, yet you have been obsessed with helping people escape.”

<Destiny clears the way no matter what anyone says.>

“That destiny is no match for my voice.”

White and black crashed together.

Rein König and Gelegenheit pressed together, their lights enduring.

Berger’s blue eyes and Alfred’s brown eyes glared at each other with only the former’s sunglasses in the way.

Berger did not even smile.

“You’re the same tiresome bastard you always were!” accused Berger.

“You just don’t understand what it means to take life seriously!” shot back Alfred.

“You really haven’t changed at all! You know what I did to-”

“I was the one who killed her. Because she was a Heidengeist. And when that killed her…when that actually killed her, it was already over.”

They separated.

Alfred opened his mouth to release his voice and Berger attached two more Phlogiston Tanks.

White and black light erupted from their weapons. Alfred raised Rein König overhead so it would not destroy the barrier and Berger held Gelegenheit low.

They were about 5 yards apart. With their weapons, they could arrive within striking range in a split second.

They looked each other in the eye, their shoulders rising and falling somewhat.

“I can’t believe Rein König can’t cut that.”

“This is the first time Gelegenheit’s failed to cut something.”

“Why not change weapons like four years ago?”

“No,” said Berger. “I will never use my Heidengeist blood again. I decided 4 years ago I would become human.”

“Then you cannot defeat me, divinely named dog. You cannot defeat me without that power that altered a human’s destiny – altered her destiny.”

[[Image:City_v06b_289.jpg|thumb]]

“…”

Berger wordlessly lowered his body.

Alfred stretched his body up, raising Rein König even higher.

“!”

And he swung it down.

<Destiny can sweep you away.>

The black attack deflected the white attack to the right.

The deflected white afterimage drew a circle to rise back up and then swung back down for another attack.

It was fast, but Berger deflected Alfred’s attack to the left this time.

His vision was briefly filled by light, but he felt no fear. He ignored the intensity of light and slammed Gelegenheit up and to the left.

<Destiny will escape you.>

The white and black clashed.

“It only took four years to create such a great difference?”

Berger heard Alfred’s comment.

A moment later, the white was knocked away by the black. Knocked upwards.

The light emitted by Rein König vanished.

No, it was eliminated. Because Alfred had stopped producing his voice.

With the repulsion between the two weapons gone, Berger’s Gelegenheit wandered through the air.

“––––!?”

He could see Rein König flying through the air. It had left its wielder’s hand and now rotated through the crimson-dyed night sky, high above Berger’s head.

“It can’t be!?”

Berger readied himself and lowered his gaze to see Alfred running toward him.

Predicting Berger’s defense, Alfred had used Rein König as a diversion. He had thrown it away and sent himself forward, using the light as a shield.

Alfred closed in on him, so Berger used Gelegenheit’s hilt to guard his face.

Something metal hit the hilt: a dagger aimed for his forehead. The dagger was deflected into the air with a metallic clang and a flash of light.

But it was not over yet.

Alfred’s hands raced out.

He held ten Panzer Reinigungs between his fingers, sending them toward Berger.

Two were stopped by Gelegenheit – the two aimed for his head.

The remaining six reached him.

They hit his right shoulder, right forearm, left upper arm, left chest, right chest, and left side. Then the Panzer Reinigungs all ignited.

Smoke burst out the back of the aluminum tubes and the sacred wood stakes stabbed into Berger’s body.

“!”

The impact knocked his feet off the ground and he flew backwards like he had been hit by a log.

But Alfred moved forward even faster.

He pursued airborne Berger and swung up his right leg. Faster than the wind, he kicked up at Gelegenheit, which Berger had readied defensively in both arms.

Once his foot was high enough, he converted it into a powerful attack. He dropped the heel straight down.

The direct blow to the chest caused Berger to collapse backwards in midair.

“It’s not your bedtime yet.”

Alfred kicked off the ground once his foot reached it, sending himself even further forward.

He reached out his left hand to reach Berger’s collar.

But instead of grabbing it, he pushed. He pushed Berger further through the air.

Meanwhile, his right hand was held aloft.

Something fell into that hand: Rein König.

“Even more boring than I expected!”

He suppressed his scratchy voice, placed his right hand alongside his left, and swung the sword horizontally. With a sound like the sword tip tearing through paper, a white trail of water vapor formed behind it.

The invisible attack known as sword pressure was not just a wind. An explosion of sound slammed into Berger midair.

Water vapor audibly exploded and Berger crashed into the edge of the barrier. The concrete of the edge broke, scattering rubble and forming a cloud of dust.

Alfred came to a stop, spun around to use up his inertia, and swung Rein König. The wind produced by the blade scattered the dust before it could reach him.

He took a breath and looked to the pile of rubble, noting blood seeping from the gaps. Red blood.

The blood still had the heat of a living body, so white steam rose as it spread.

“One of the Panzer Reinigungs reached your heart. Just lie there and die.”

Alfred let his shoulders slump a little.

Just then, a giant shape cast a shadow on him.

“Is that Nein!?”

Two Grösse Panzers entered the base. They had just left the Black Forest and were about 30 yards away. The wind must have carried his artificial vocal cords’ voice to them.

The blue and red Panzers turned to face him.

“I am glad to see you here, Sir Alfred.”

“Because I knew I couldn’t rely on you! What’s the enemy doing? You can tell from up there, can’t you!?”

“The enemy’s main force is scattering and they appear to have failed to take the command building. The Vaterland, however, is a different matter.”

Alfred took a look around.

He could hear gunfire and shouting voices. The sky was shimmering from the heat of the fires below and it was colored by an endless supply of embers and smoke. The scene could only be described as a battlefield.

His face clouded slightly when he took a glance toward the pile of rubble in front of him.

But only for a moment. He soon formed a satisfied grin and crossed his arms.

Then he noticed that Berger’s blood was starting to solidify atop the barrier.

“It’s already drying?”

This was not a blood’s natural coagulation. The blood was bubbling. It was solidifying from heat.

He crouched down and touched the barrier. An instantaneous change came over his face.

“Nein! You’ve overlooked something. Something major.”

He turned to the right of the blue and red Grösse Panzers entering the base and looked to the Vaterland on the westernmost edge of the base.

“The enemy wasn’t after the command building!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, crimson flames erupted from the tip of the Vaterland. The flames seemed to explode as they rose even higher into the night sky.

The wind blew though, carrying the heat.

Alfred stood tall and fearless in that heated wind.

“Nein! Destroy the Vaterland! They’ve set it to go berserk!” A breath. “They’ve sent its Phlogiston below this barrier! The really pure stuff! This will disturb the Tons of the Gard-class down there, possibly turning it into something else! Hurry!”

“Understood.”

The blue Grösse Panzer ran toward the Vaterland tower that stood twenty times taller than it. With a rifle in one hand.

The red Grösse Panzer unexpectedly turned south and shouted.

“Sir Alfred!”

Sparks repeatedly burst from the large shield it held, producing a sound like a ringing bell.

That was gunfire. From something large. Following that artillery-level gunfire, another new sound entered the battlefield. Heavy metallic noises pounded out a deep tempo. Metal feet were felling trees as they approached.

Two Grösse Panzers were approaching. They had the crude armor shape of German models with green painting and they wielded shields and specialized submachineguns.

As soon as they passed through the main gate and entered the base, they entered a run.

They apparently intended to use the remains of the Grösse Panzer hangar as a shield. Their fire was entirely focused on Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau. Their plan was to pin those two in place, giving the surviving troops time to escape and preventing the Vaterland from being shut down.

Alfred ignored the non-tracer gunfire flying overhead.

He made his way toward the enemy Grösse Panzers while the gunfire sounded a lot like someone pounding on a metal wall.

“Nein! Get to the Vaterland. Once it’s destroyed, break through the barrier! My Busting would ignite the Phlogiston with its destruction Tons, so keep your priorities straight! I’ll deal with them in the meantime!”

“But, Sir Alfred! Your Panzer!”

“You think a destroyed hangar is enough to crush it!? That thing’s the finest piece of tech the Geheimnis Agency has put together since the Rot Löwe! And it’s the only Eingeweide Panzer without a lion name!”

He looked back toward the bleeding rubble on a whim.

Nothing had changed.

The ends of his eyebrows dipped a bit and he dropped his gaze to his left hand. He wore a red ring there.

But he soon faced forward and began to walk. Toward the enemy Grösse Panzers and the destroyed Grösse Panzer hangar.

He saw the enemy Grösse Panzers pull giant metal tubes from their backs. Those were incendiary bombs.

They intended to throw them into the hangar to detonate the fuel within and destroy all the equipment.

“You fools.”

Alfred walked across the barrier that gave off a shimmering heat thanks to the Phlogiston running wild in the shipyard below. He shifted Rein König to his left hand and raised his voice.

“Our first battle shall be fought in the very forest from which the Messiah was born! Meet the strongest Eingeweide Panzer, built by my friend and born from my very own voice and flesh!”

He raised his right hand as he walked and shouted toward the destroyed hangar.

“Awaken, Kaiser!!”

With that, a Text raced through the air. Space itself was rewritten by the deep voice.

<The Emperor is a conqueror.>