Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume2 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 2===
Orba quickly stood up and immediately assembled his imperial guards. He hurled orders at them. He left a few to survey the slaves, and had the rest chase them by airship. He had prepared an airship unit in case Zaat resisted even with Shique pointing his sword at him.

At this time, Pashir closely observed Orba—or to him, Prince Gil. In such an upset, he handed down orders rapidly in succession without any hesitation. The one who skilfully threw the sword at him in the previous gladiator game; the one who made Orba sneak in amongst them to gather information…

''This brat...''

He hated him enough that he wouldn’t be satisfied even if he killed him ten times, but on the other hand, he could feel himself hold Gil Mephius in a bit of awe.

The Imperial Guard’s airships took off one by one, but the bow of the airships piloted by Zaat’s subordinates turned around to intercept those on their tail. Orba’s airship unit comprised of those experienced in flying, but their number of allotted ships were few, nor could they be said to have gone through official training. They were blocked by a handful of ships and were unable to chase the ship steered under Zaat’s poor handling.

“Aren’t there any other ships?!”

Orba turned left and right, asking a soldier he grabbed, but there were no airships here at the arena, as they weren’t handy to have around. Of course, a new garrison of dragonstone ships were being readied at this moment, but if Zaat reached the flagship before they rescued Ineli, they would not be able to lay a hand on Zaat

''Damn you Zaat, for uselessly resisting.''

Orba wanted to capture Zaat alive by all means possible. Then he could make Zaat spill out the names of all the people involved in the plan.

“Damnit!”

Then, an airship landed to a stop beside Orba just as he cried out. Someone had managed to get one. “Good,” Orba said, a smile spreading across his face, and when he looked over, he went wide-eyed for an instant.

“Aren’t you going?”

It was Vileena.

She heard the prince’s cry, and personally strapped herself onto an airship—used to move the envoys to safety—that had just come back to board the nobles. Turning a deaf ear to any attempts to stop her, she turned on the ether engine and made haste to Orba.

She hovered the airship just above the ground, and quickly bundled her hair.

Orba was about to be begin to say something, but was quickly urged on by her gaze and nodded back.

“Of course.”

This was no time to argue.

Orba strapped himself in the back, and Vileena took off without a second’s delay. The hum of the ether engine beat like the chattering of teeth and the ship, taking on the appearance of a wyvern, rose, gradually gaining speed.

“Did you make…”

“Huh?”

“Did you make Orba participate in the tournament for this?”

For an instant, Orba was unable to hide his unease at having his own name brought up.

“Y-Yeah.”

“Why did you not tell me this earlier? You must have been laughing at me throw my childish tantrum in a fit.”

“O-Of course I wasn’t.”

“Then why?...Do you not believe you can confide in me as your future wife yet? Do you still suspect me to be a Garberan assassin?”

''Women.''

Why was it that even at times like these that they could take priority over their own circumstances? Even as the roar of the wind whooshed past them and the airships they passed continued to open fire. Then, an enemy ship noticed them and began to descend.

“More importantly, they’re coming!”

“I know that. I’d prefer if you didn’t look down on me.”

Vileena huffed, and swerved the ship left with all her strength. Orba, who felt as if he was going to fall off, hurriedly grabbed the edge of the cockpit. The sound of gunfire directly below the ship whizzed past them.

“I may have forgotten to mention it,” Vileena said calmly as her eyes were fixed to the front, “but as a word of caution, this will ''not'' be a smooth ride.”

''This bitch.''

Orba was instinctively about to shower her in insults from his childhood days, but held himself back. Instead, he seized the gun mounted on the rear of the ship and fired off a warning shot at the ship that just flew past them and was beginning to turn around. The orange trail of the bullet bent like a whip below him.

“Wait. Could you not shoot please? It gets in the way of flying.”

“But…”

“The air is my domain.”

Even as she said this, Vileena continued to splendidly dodge the return fire. While Orba was assaulted countlessly by a chilling sensation, Vileena slipped past the enemy ships trying to spread out into a defensive formation and caught up right behind the air ship Zaat piloted.

''Impressive.''

Orba was amazed at the princess’ manoeuvring skills. She would make a promising airship instructor for the Imperial Guards.

The garrison flagship came closer, blocking the sunlight and darkening the view in front of him. And with little pause, it lined up with Zaat’s ship and opened its hatch, where Zaat jumped in.

Vileena pedalled the airship to a crawl. Orba, not stopping, jumped down and tried to run over to Zaat.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Zaat had also jumped down and landed with a roll while holding Ineli by the shoulders, but he did not forget to point his gun at her forehead.

There were no signs of anyone in the hangar. The majority of the soldiers had been deployed outside and the rest were likely steering the flagship.

“B-Brother…”

Using the fiercely trembling young girl as a shield, Zaat stood up once more.

“Who would’ve thought it would be the prince. I would never have expected to be caught red-handed by ''you''.” Those eyes tore up in hatred.

“The life granted unto by His Majesty, is it? Or could it possibly be from Lord Simon? That man speaks his true mind too much. Be that as it may, I would never have imagined you would see even up to the slave’s rebellion—”

“Enough of this, Zaat. There’s no place left for you to run. If you’re also a noble, accept defeat like a man and hand over Ineli.”

“Ha!” Zaat snorted. “Well aren’t you the hero, prince. I bet you’d love to have this written down in history. But unfortunately for you, that won’t happen. As if I would let even a bit of your imperial history to remain. For the dawn celebrating me as Mephius’ ‘founding’ king, first, I will have to burn that tainted history to pieces.”

“That’s great.”

“Silence!”

[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v02 297.jpg|thumb]]
Zaat further pressed the gun against Ineli, who was almost like an infant about to burst into tears.

A strong wind blew in from the opened hatch. In the midst of the clothes and hair flapping noisily,

“It will not end like this. The stagnation you self-proclaiming imperials created will ruin you from within. And at that time...I ''will'' return. To here, to these lands of Mephius!”

Saying this, Zaat fired a shot to Orba’s side. It was to restrain Vileena, who had begun to stealthily circle the afloat airship to behind Zaat’s back. Even the princess dropped down and shrieked. Within that moment, Orba made a dash for Zaat.

Drawing out the sword from his back, he tried to lunge at Zaat’s arm. Zaat never expected the prince to come charging at him with a weapon in one hand, and hurriedly switched targets. But it was already too late. In that quick moment he was already within thrusting range.

A gunshot sounded. This time, luck was on Zaat’s side. Orba’s injuries from his battles with Gash and Pashir affected him more than he expected, and when he was a mere distance away, he toppled over from the wind.

“Guh!”

Orba fell over backwards with a groan. The bullet shot through his chest.

“Brother…!”

“Prince!”

The cries of these two girls overlapped. Zaat gave a low, maniacal laugh while his brows glistened with sweat.

“With this…with this, there’s no turning back.”

Orba lay collapsed and unmoving. “Prince!” the princess called out from the airship once more. Zaat turned his gun to the princess who began to climb off her airship. Her platinum hair swayed as she glared at the rebel.

“You…!”

“This is what he gets for acting heroic. He should have just stayed the usual prince and quietly trembled in the corner of the stands.”

“And you were the one driven to a corner by that prince’s hand, were you not? Surrender yourself, Zaat. Then you’ll only have been a man who strayed off his path.”

“It is because I want to return Mephius back to man’s hand that I have performed this deed. Do you not understand that, little girl?”

“Pitiful man,” Vileena murmured, “blinded by your own words. A country cannot be led by a single person. You are a pitiful man who does not pay heed to the times, and continues to chase after a delusion without knowing when to give up, just like that pitiable Ryucown.”

Vileena threw words of ridicule at him, thinking it might make him falter even a little. However, fortune still smiled on Zaat. Seeing the Imperial Guards were more or less held in check, a ship from one of Zaat’s subordinates surfaced her way. Even then, she did not give up.

“First and foremost, where will you escape to? There are no powers willing to hide you, who turned against your master.”

“Oh, then what do you think of Garbera?” Zaat sneered, suddenly enjoying this conversation in its entirety. “As righteous knights, won’t they gladly welcome me, who bore my fangs against the nefarious Mephius?”

“What foolishness. As long as I am here, Garbera and Mephius will be tied together. Do you think you can sever that bond so easily?”

“Lass, you speak as if you know everything. But you understand nothing. It was none other than Garbera that involved you, down to your very life, in this plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I wonder...I’ve already spoken too much. There will be plenty of time from now on. Why don’t I slowly explain it to you during our journey in the sky?”

The hatch opened and an airship came in. Two soldiers jumped down and approached her way. Vileena ground her teeth. The prince was in the corner of her view. The prince, collapsed face-up, was still unmoving. ''It can’t be,'' she thought. The prince criticised and sneered at by many. Truthfully, Vileena was also annoyed at his weak attitude. She had also gotten angry at him. But he was a prince who sometimes took bold incentives with ingenuity that riled his foes. Everyday, he showed a different face, where even if she tried to understand him, she would suddenly notice the day gone by and wonder if maybe today, she would be able to come to an understanding of him.

''That that prince would meet his end here...''

And even as they glared at one another, Zaat called out to the soldiers holding their bayonets.

''We will take the women with us. Move away the prince’s corpse. Be sure to properly dispose of it. It’s better to make it look like we have more hostages.''

The soldiers stepped over Gil’s body and grabbed Ineli away from Zaat. At that time, Ineli put up a weak struggle.

“M-Me? What will happen to me? What will you do with me?”

“You? Hmm...we’ll have you act as a shield against Mephius’ pursuers,” Zaat gave a smirk. “And then after that...when I’ve completed my conquest, I suppose I’ll have you put on the guillotine to represent the imperials. The people will rejoice and will surely jeer and throw stones at you as you are handed your punishment.”

“I...I don’t believe this. I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Zaat elatedly suppressed a laugh.

“Even you should be aware of the everyday troubles the people are put through. You should know of the anguish his retainers are put through, knowing the very foundation of the country might change tomorrow on the emperor’s single whim,” he said in a sing-song tune. There was no doubt Zaat Quark thought himself an envoy of justice at this time, who would be told throughout in many historic records. Why was it that those eyes that should have been unable to capture the citizen’s suffering, were now able to? He, at this point in time, held the impression that he had stood up for the people.

“Hiii!”

The soldier who gripped Ineli’s shoulder suddenly gave a jolted scream.

Someone had grabbed him from behind. As the soldier violently swung around his arm in a panic, that someone stole the bayonet from him, and following a whack on the head with the handle, kicked the soldier aside.

“It can’t be!”

Zaat stumbled backwards. Before his eyes opposite the collapsed soldier, he beheld a pale-faced apparition.

“Impossible! T-The bullet...I’m sure the bullet definitely hit you…”

Orba, while huffing for air, narrowly dodged a thrust from an incoming soldier and slashed him in the stomach. The soldier silently fell and this time, Orba was the one to step over his body.

With each step he took, pain seared throughout his upper body. The bullet had definitely hit him. That impact, even now, struck through his entire body like a heavy brick. Not paying any mind to Ineli, who was now practically crawling her way to escape, Zaat gave a loud mouthed scream.

“D-Don’t come any closer!” he shouted, as if he were possessed by a ghost.

He took aim with his gun again. Orba slapped it away with his right hand.

“What was that? What did you just say, when you used the slaves, of how they staked their lives, and then trampled all over them? As if you could even understand.”

Orba spouted hoarsely, and chopped Zaat on the temple with his left hand.

His knees lost all power. Orba laid his unconscious body onto the floor. At that time,

“Zaat-sama!”

He saw another man at the stairs leading up from the hangar. The man’s name and face were unfamiliar to Orba, but he was an officer of the Blue Bow Division, Gary Lynwood.

It was unfortunate for them both that, at this time, Gary saw Zaat collapse as a sign of him being dead. He gave in to his anger and shot his gun. A bullet bounced off near Orba’s feet.

Orba fired back. At that time, he was assaulted by a furious vertigo. His reactions were all the more slowed by his injuries.

''Bang, bang, bang!'' Three shots were fired and his body convulsed. It wasn’t Orba’s though, but the body of Zaat, which he quickly used as a shield.

“Tch.”

Orba spat out some blood and fired a shot over Zaat’s shoulders. It struck Gary in the chest and threw him against the wall where he fell down sideways, leaving a trail of blood.

Like this, the struggle where a single breath sent his whole body running in a fever came to a close.

“Shit!”

Zaat’s body slid out of his arm. Orba himself fell on his knees and furiously arched his back. Sweat raced down his face and continued to drip onto the hangar floor.

Without a doubt, Zaat had breathed his last. Orba bit into his lips.

''Now the trail leading to Oubary’s involvement is gone.''

He could also try to capture Zaat’s subordinates, but the chances they knew the full contents of the plan were slim.

The ferocious emotions that held him had, after the battle concluded, been overtaken by a rush of forlorn anguish.

''What was I fighting for then? To protect the prince’s status? To protect those stinkin’ Mephian nobles?''

As he was about to forget himself and kick at Zaat’s corpse,

“Prince Gil.”

A girl was running to him as if she were trying to fly.

Vileena knit her brows and had opened her faintly moist lips. Under the heavy winds generated across the hatch, her hair had come undone and swayed behind her. When Orba saw her, a mysterious feeling welled within him.

''I see...''

It came so suddenly and filled the bottomless emptiness within him, if even a little.

''If there had to be one, if there had to be one reason, then my objective was...''

“Are you injured? Let me see where you were shot. No, actually, don’t force yourself to do the impossible and lay down there...”

“I’m fine.”

“But…”

And it was at this time that Orba was overcome with exhaustion. He reached over the single point burning under his chest and took out a shining, golden medal. The bullet was driven into the upper part of that medal. It was crumbled, but still seemed to give off heat. Vileena gasped.

“Prince?” Vileena asked dubiously.

“Why is the prince carrying this?”

Orba was momentarily at a loss for words. Only the sound of Ineli wailing resounded within the hangar.



Afterwards, Orba strapped himself onto an airship piloted by a soldier. Ineli got on Vileena’s ship. Both ships flew off from the flagship.

Below them, the fight continued to unfold. There, Orba announced from above of Zaat’s death and Ineli’s rescue. The movements of Zaat’s soldiers quickly grew less coordinated. Victory was already more or less decided in the arena. They knew their final acts of resistance to be vain and were nothing more than a pointless struggle.

The flagship captured by Zaat’s soldiers had also been seized by the garrisons reformed fleet.

Like this, the final day of the founding festival had passed and the series of revolts were brought to an end.

And Orba was—

—well, he was remembering the excruciating pain he suffered throughout his whole body, particularly on his right shoulder.

Although the medal had stopped the bullet, the impact had likely fractured his collarbone. Nonetheless, he could not afford to rest his body just yet. There was still the portion of cleaning up.

Orba saw to Vileena and the others being dropped off at a safe place and had his ship head towards the arena once more.