Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter4 (section)

===Part 6===

The western defensive line had pushed the enemy back outside of Germania.

The Geheimnis Agency there was led by a Hound unit comprised primarily of Air Force Fallschirmjäger.

But in front of that unit was a unit of 12 Grösse Panzers.

The military’s tanks were stationed across the urban area facing west. When the enemy moved in, they would fire and fall back. If the enemy withdrew, they would move forward and fire. Their role was to blockade the roads.

The only usable road was the wide-open major thoroughfare.

The AIF group was a Heidengeist unit led by Pale. They hid behind or on top of the buildings lining the road as they fought.

The battle had reached a standstill.

In the borough of Charlottenburg, several Grösse Panzers fired machineguns on the surface.

The shapes moving quickly down the road were attempting to slip past the Grösse Panzers and below the dome.

But they couldn’t manage it thanks to the Hounds and the barricades set up behind the Grösse Panzers.

The AIF front line was led by Pale Horse, a man with two prosthetic arms.

The silver-haired one-eyed man refused to fall back with a male Grösse Panzer in front of him.

The Grösse Panzer was the same color as his hair. It was covered by old-style silver armor.

Its name was Neue Silber.

Pale moved right to dodge the silver Panzer’s sword as it jabbed just off the ground.

The sword shifted to the side to pursue him.

“Oh!” he roared while raising his left prosthetic arm.

The metal arm had an extra-large hand that slammed into the thick blade, producing sparks.

With the sound of scraping metal, Pale was lifted from the ground.

His large body was launched back into the sky. But he used his Hard Wolf reflexes to twist around in midair. He punched his right fist against the sidewalk curbstone at the end of the road to spin himself around and land on the ground.

His boots slammed hard into the ground. And with a breath, he rolled forward.

The massive sword flew over his head before crashing into the first floor of the building behind him.

Air-splitting pressure exploded within the building.

Dust and wind broke through the windows, pursuing rolling Pale as a wave.

He kicked off the ground to stand back up.

He ran forward, toward the feet of the silver Panzer.

He kept his legs moving and his boots sounding loud on the road as he moved just his eyes to observe his surroundings.

Grösse Panzer legs grew from the road like a scattering of great trees, but these trees were on the move.

Past them, his subordinates had split into even smaller teams to obstruct the path of the Grösse Panzers.

“Didn’t think we’d make it this far this fast! Our balanced division of troops threw you off, didn’t it, Heiliger Karlsruhe? Your brother’s Silber Löwe looks good on you.”

About 20 yards in front of him, Neue Silber held a sword at the ready.

Pale didn’t slow his run as he pulled both his fists back.

His boots pounded on the hard road while his arms made sounds of breaking metal.

His fists were transforming. The panels that had formed his upper arm armor had split into three side-by-side panels.

The middle panel rotated inward toward his thumb. The other two rotated toward his little and middle fingers with their ends sticking out like a ram.

The usual fingers were tightly clenched, sinking into the giant palm.

The two three-fingered hands of metal jabbed sharply up into the sky just once.

Then the new metal fingers formed their own fists.

This created a pair of even bigger fists.

He ran, holding his arms down at his hips and building up his strength.

Looking forward, he saw a Grösse Panzer move between him and Neue Silber.

The black Panzer looked down on Pale’s path forward and raised its giant right leg.

[[Image:City_v06e_165.jpg|thumb]]

It intended to stomp him.

Pale looked up at that metal foot and opened his mouth, baring his canine teeth.

“Outta the way!” he shouted, swinging his left fist.

The arm shot diagonally out from his hip and steam burst from the elbow to accelerate it further.

The metal fist split the air.

And not just once. It accelerated thrice as it flew.

It produced three roars before slamming into the sole of the dropping Panzer foot.

The sound and power broke through in an instant.

Pale pulled the fist back as soon as it hit and the impact sent the foot flying backwards.

The leg swung backwards like the Panzer had thrown a reverse kick and its upper body lost its balance.

It toppled over.

The 8-yard metal warrior collapsed toward Pale on the road.

Pale was already spinning.

He had used the force of the impact to pull his left fist back and used the rotational energy to swing his right fist overhead.

He twisted his body to the left while accelerating his right fist.

His boots cracked and shattered the asphalt below him.

But he didn’t care.

He stretched his body out like a stick and his right fist shot out at the top of that.

The metal fist accelerated thrice in midair, catching the collapsing Panzer on the jaw.

The simple impact had a simple result.

With the crash of demolished metal, the large figure was lifted from the road.

Below the airborne Panzer, Pale Horse lowered his hips with his legs embedded shin deep in the road.

The Panzer’s shadow slowly flew back behind him and his own shadow was cast on the road by the dome’s light. His gray hair was a mess, his fists were pulled back behind him, and his upper body was bent over and emitting hot steam.

But his eyes were directed dead ahead. He bared his teeth in a smile.

“Okay, let’s do this, Heiliger. In the name of our pasts and in the name of what we’ve both lost.”

He was answered by the Panzer crashing to the ground behind him.

The sound of breaking metal joined the sound of breaking asphalt. However…

“I am much too old to fall for your silly provocation,” said Neue Silber’s vocal device.

“Coward! You would run away!?”

The silver Panzer fell back before answering Pale’s question.

Two other Panzers identical to the earlier one stepped between them.

That was when a great noise reached them from the mist to the south.

Pale briefly glanced in that direction, seeing a small red light rising into the sky through the mist.

“What is that?”

Pale was answered by Neue Silber while it took another step back.

“A flare from our southern vanguard. It means they have located the Messiah.” The silver Panzer turned around. “You sent most of your forces to the east and west to divide our forces while you sent a small assault team down the center to Tristan. Using the railroad, most likely. Anyone could have predicted such a simple plan.”

“Then you knew but still came here to lure us in?”

“Our primary forces remain within Tristan. We had no way of knowing which railroad you would use, but once inside Germania, there is only one track leading to Tristan. The solution was simple: keep our cool, lure you into that singular route, and send a defense unit there.”

A deep roar of straining metal came from the northeast. That was the sound of several transport vehicles loaded down with cargo.

Neue Silber walked toward that noise.

“We will capture the Messiah. Because that is what Neue Erde desires.”

With those parting words, Neue Silber stared to walk into the fog.

Pale walked toward the two Panzers left to stop him.

He pulled his feet from the ground to take his first step.

But his eyes remained on the silver Panzer vanishing into the fog.

Toward his true opponent who was attempting to leave with the fog enveloping him.

He bared his teeth and let out a deep sigh.

“That overconfidence is going to get you in trouble.” He sounded disinterested. “I have one warning for you.”

Still showing off his teeth, he pointed a giant metal finger toward the departing silver Panzer.

“A Neue Kavalier is supposed to clear the way for the Messiah. Lose sight of that and you are in for a rude awakening, Kommandieren.”