Editing City Series:Volume1 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 8===

Dogfights either ended in a single attack or after passing by the enemy. A fighter craft would fire Kugel or slice with Schwert either head on or while in pursuit.

Giant warships mostly used shells so they could avoid accidental collisions, but craft like the Eisen Soldat primarily fought at close range. They had high mobility, so long-range attacks would not hit them and they could neutralize Kugel with their Schwert.

One Soldat saw a fourth explosion blossom in the sky after another pilot was ejected with a white parachute.

At this distance, the dp-XXX looked the size of a grain of rice. The ship slowed as if watching the dropping parachute.

The Soldat received a transmission.

“Eins 1 to Eins 2 and 3. Eins 4 and 6 will contact the enemy first. We will use an arrow formation. I’ll attack while you two cover for me.”

Eins 2 nodded.

“Understood.”

He checked on Eins 3 to his right. Eins 1, their commander, was down below to complete the triangular formation.

They had not broken the sound barrier, so he heard the roar enveloping the three of them.

He saw two contrails form and draw an arc toward the dp-XXX from above. That would be Eins 4 and 6.

The dp-XXX did not move.

Eins 2 spoke to the neighboring craft.

“Eins 3, what do you think of that ship?”

“I’m not really sure. All I know is that it’s powerful.”

“Even when it’s just floating there like that?”

“Do you want to go up and poke a sleeping tiger?”

Eins 3 had a point. The enemy ship appeared to just be floating, but it had already shot down more than ten of their craft.

“We can’t let our guard down.”

“Eins 2 and 3, this is Eins 1. Enough chatter. Let’s spread out.”

“Understood.”

As instructed, Eins 2 tilted his craft left. The roar of the craft slicing through the air filled his body as he moved away from Eins 3. The triangle grew larger.

…''Is this far enough?

Once he had enough space to freely use his Schwert, he saw the others contact the enemy. Eins 4 and 6 shot toward the dp-XXX from above.

The two craft rapidly descended toward the ship that almost seemed to be basking in the sun.

Suddenly, the ship shot straight up.

“!”

It was on a collision course, so the descending craft corrected their courses to fly by the ship on either side. From his position, Eins 2 had no way of knowing which was Eins 4 and which was Eins 6.

At any rate, the two drew their Schwert and tried to fly past the dp-XXX.

…''They’re going to hit!

In that very instant, the giant ship suddenly moved in reverse.

“What!?”

A voice came from the communicator and the shout was filled with protest.

It was only natural to protest. A ship flying straight up had suddenly changed course by ninety degrees as if it had been hit.

And it rapidly came to a stop.

An aircraft could not react to these movements.

…''This is ridiculous!

“What kind of ship is this!?”

The two craft fell defenselessly past the front of the dp-XXX and the ship swung its two Schwert up as if to strike them in the nose.

Eins 2 saw the swords of light easily slice through the metal.

With a sound much like splitting stone, the two fighter craft were transformed into four masses. The pilots ejected just before the craft collided with the air and exploded.

Eins 2 had no time to sit idly by and watch. It was their turn next. His group of three had to take on that absurd ship now.

…''Can we beat it?

As soon as he thought that, Eins 2 heard a voice that stifled the momentum of his thoughts.

“Eins 1 here. I’m going to contact the enemy. Cover for me.”

Strength gathered in his eyes and he saw Eins 1 move forward down below. The other craft was beginning its attack.

As Eins 1 charged in below, Eins 2 and 3 had to cover from behind on either side. Tension wrapped around Eins 2’s body and his fear slowly vanished.

He checked his radar. The dp-XXX was retreating at about the same speed as they were advancing.

He operated the right and left field emitters to prepare a Kugel in each. He adjusted the field emitters’ direction based on his distance from the enemy. The loud sound of their movement pierced his body.

“Eins 2 here. Beginning covering fire!”

He launched the Kugel.

A dull tremor ran though the metal craft and the sound of firing burst toward the back.

The fear from before had completely vanished now. His focus on shooting down this enemy had overwhelmed the fear.

He fired.

“…!”

He could not even hear his own shouting voice, but he continued firing the Kugel again and again.

Eins 3 also fired Kugel from the right.

No one could evade fire from two directions like this. Moving out of the way would expose your back or belly to either the left or right.

Still moving backwards, the dp-XXX sliced through the Kugel with its Schwert.

Eins 1 used the gap that created to approach from below. The covering fire kept the enemy in place, so he would make an attack using the third dimension from outside that line of fire. That was a basic tactic in aerial combat.

As the commander charged in, he drew his Schwert and began flying upside down. He planned to cut into the dp-XXX as their bellies passed by each other.

…''Will it work?

Eins 2 stared straight forward as his vision blurred from the vibration of firing his attacks.

His shaking vision saw Eins 1’s attack preparing to tear apart the enemy.

In the instant Eins 1 reached the enemy, Eins 2 stopped his covering fire.

And that created an instantaneous opening.

“!”

The dp-XXX moved forward as if kicked. It went all out, ignored the fighter craft approaching from below, and soared with all of its might.

“That thing’s fast!”

That movement would have been impossible for a normal fighter craft. It had directly gone from stopped to soaring.

After a moment, it exchanged attacks below and charged forward.

It accelerated even further and their relative speeds filled the gap almost immediately. The mass of metal emitted dull light as it tore through the air.

“…!”

Eins 2 let out a cry not even he could hear and operated the field emitters. He switched from Kugel to Schwert.

The swords of light thrust forward from the field emitters on the ends of the wings.

At the same time, wind with actual mass slammed into him.

“Wah!”

The enemy ship was approaching with frightening speed.

He did not even have time to swing the Schwert.

A mass of roaring noise slammed into him from the right. Their shockwaves had collided as they passed by. He forcibly controlled the shaking of his craft and heard an unpleasant sound run through the core of his body.

He heard an explosion behind him and he knew what it meant.

Eins 3 had been destroyed.

The dp-XXX had chosen to take care of Eins 3 before him.

“…”

He felt a surge of relief.

The feeling of having been saved won out over the regret or anger that his ally had been destroyed.

He subconsciously sped up to escape. Running was the only option. He was at a disadvantage now that the enemy was behind him.

He sped up even further. He was now flying forward at full speed. He was desperate and he was gasping for breath.

The wind and noise rushed behind him as he accelerated. He thought there was no way he could draw any more speed out of the craft.

But that was when he sensed something truly unpleasant.

He noticed an intense presence to his right.

Something was approaching from behind and coming up beside him on the right.

…''It can’t be!

He was dumbfounded.

…''Is something there?

He knew what it was. He knew deep down, but he did not want to admit it. That contradictory thought asked him to check, so he looked to the right.

“…!”

The dp-XXX was there.

“Impossible!”

The enemy ship was flying in reverse.

It had flown straight forward, destroyed Eins 3, and then caught up to him in reverse.

It was absurd. He was moving forward and flying as quickly as possible.

…''That thing is on an entirely different level.

Was its pilot even human? What about the centrifugal force? Wouldn’t the ship break? Who had built it and how? And…was there no way of defeating it?

There was no one there to answer those questions.

Eins 2’s mouth opened to ask a meaningless question.

“What the hell are you!?”

At the same time, he swung his Schwert as hard as he could.

The horizontal strike was sharp and heavy.

However, the dp-XXX was gone.

It performed a side flip as if jumping over Eins 2 from the side.

“…Ah.”

Eins 2’s gaze followed the ship as it flew over him with the ceiling of the sky behind it. He looked up at the large leaping ship that almost seemed to be dancing.

For just an instant, it showed its belly to the sky but then twisted around. The backlight of the sun vividly showed off its silhouette.

…''It’s beautiful.

As soon as that thought ran through his mind, Eins 2’s fighter craft was sliced through by the Schwert extending from the dp-XXX.