City Series:Volume6d Chapter7
Chapter 7: The Ruin Soars[edit]
7/24/1943 22:50 – 23:12
The future is supposed to be waiting for us
But we know that
To be a lie
We also know how to break through that lie
The Allied Bombing Unit[edit]
The Allied bombing of the German mainland was started on a small scale by the RAF in ’41. They did not see real success until the 1000-bomber night bombing of Cologne in ’42.
With the value of quantity proven, America sent their Eighth Air Force to the UK at the end of February of ’42, but they failed to show results due to lack of preparation and an insistence on daytime bombings. This problem continued until they sent in a lot more B-17s, strengthened the B-17s, researched close formations, and included escort craft.
The UK and US militaries began joint day-and-night bombings on June 10, 1943, and they bombed Hamburg in July over the course of a week with the US handling the daytime and the UK handling the nights.
The bombing of Berlin in August of ’43 was entirely at night, so the US was reduced to backup and the RAF handled the actual bombing. Later, starting in ’44, the US’s Eighth Air Force reorganized and took a more central role. Near the end of the war, they sent in an average of 1400 bombers and dropped more than 3000 tons of bombs on each bombing.
Part 1[edit]
Black and white powers clashed in the dark night below the pale moonlight.
The black cutting power was dodged with the speed of the racing wind.
The white crushing power was dodged with the nimbleness of the flowing wind.
A black roar was released.
A white shout was released.
The sound and the noise made the air tremble.
That trembling grew to a rumble that shook the grass, the trees, the ground, and the forest.
Part 2[edit]
The white dodged the black’s Ober Emblem attack.
But the black’s feet rode the wind forward for a second attack.
On the first step, its right foot kicked to the right, sending its body to the left. Its wings kept it moving forward all the while.
It circled around to the white’s left. Because that made it easier to swing the sword in its right hand.
On the second step, it worked to control its leftward-flowing body.
Seeing that, the white took evasive action to the right. It slid its feet over out of the black blade’s range.
The black took its third step. It used that step to stop all of its forward momentum.
It stomped the ground hard.
Its momentum tried to push it forward, but it swung its sword from the right, twisting its body around to the left on its heel. It rotated its ankle and stuck its knee out to lean into the turn.
The bent knee lowered and thus stabilized its stance.
Its ankle motor cried in protest of the inertial weight pushing past the joint’s movable range.
But that didn’t matter. With its lower body stabilized, it turned its hips to the left, leaned its upper body over, and completed its turn.
This produced a rapid slash of its sword.
It raced along a horizontal line, making a shrill sound more like a whistle than just slicing the air.
But the white backed away and dodged it.
The black blade produced a shockwave.
“!”
The white responded by throwing its left fist forward quickly enough to break the sound barrier. An explosion of water vapor surrounded the fist and then it extended its fingers to pierce straight through the shockwave launched by the black.
The air ruptured. With an atmospheric scream resembling tearing paper, the white’s hand jabbed toward its enemy which was holding its black sword in a follow-through stance. The jab was aimed for the enemy’s unguarded side.
The black immediately raised its left foot behind it.
Its body still carried the great momentum of its weight, as well as its rotational movement. By standing only on its right foot, the momentum would make it spin.
It threw a rear roundhouse kick.
A heavy crash and sparks flew. The black left leg had repelled the jabbing white hand.
The black continued its rotation and kicked off the ground to put some distance between them.
It used its wings for some shallow flight. Then it faced forward.
The white was pursuing. They were 5 yards off the ground with less than 10 yards apart. Air exploded from their backs.
“!”
Their swords clashed.
Black and white sparks flew.
Their swords were locked and pushed at each other with equal force. They both accelerated more to push back the other. The white flapped its six wings and the black made full use of its dragon-like black wings.
They both raised their voices.
They roared. Their roars instantly joined together and their power ruptured between them.
The black blade shattered and the light surrounding the white sword burst. With a sound much like shattering glass, white and black lights scattered, illuminating or darkening their surroundings before vanishing like fading fog.
They both tore deep into the grassy ground as they landed.
The instant its feet were on the ground, the white charged toward the black.
Part 3[edit]
<The Emperor brings death to his enemies.>
<Destiny is not bound by death.>
- <Destiny ensnares people in its threads.>
<The Emperor is no person.>
<Destiny confirms what the emperor is.>
- <Destiny can turn a person into an emperor.>
- <Destiny can turn an emperor into a person.>
- <Destiny ensnares people in its threads.>
<The Emperor is…>
<The Emperor is no mere person!>
Part 4[edit]
White and blue wind Lives collided before Hazel’s eyes as she hid behind the stump.
The battle between 10yd metal giants was too fast for her to follow with her eyes. She had to hide behind the stump and follow the battle with the wind and the Aerial Words she could hear.
The line Berger had drawn in the ground was located in front of the stump.
The wind told her of the battle being fought past that borderline. It told her the two were evenly matched.
…Berger.
This wasn’t like in ’39. He could fight on his own now.
“You’re going to settle this without my help, aren’t you?”
But she held the ring and pendant in her hands to keep the wind from blowing them away. Her hands were sweaty, but she squeezed them tight, refusing to let go.
Part 5[edit]
Neue Kaiser ran.
<The Emperor is a conqueror who bends even destiny to his will.>
Gelegenheit’s blade was shattered by a Bust attack from behind.
In the scattering black light, Schwarz Löwe took evasive action. A new blade grew and sliced through the air.
<Destiny and the emperor can never see eye to eye.>
Schwarz Löwe vanished within arm’s reach of Neue Kaiser. But…
<The Emperor looks destiny square in the eye.>
Neue Kaiser moved right up alongside Schwarz Löwe.
“!?”
Schwarz Löwe cried out in surprise and Alfred’s voice shouted from Neue Kaiser’s voice device.
“You cannot escape me!”
Schwarz Löwe launched a swift attack.
<Destiny can cut through anything.>
<The Emperor resists destiny.>
Neue Kaiser dodged but did not move away.
Schwarz Löwe fell back and actually faced Neue Kaiser head on this time.
<Destiny slays the emperor in plain sight.>
<The Emperor views destiny in order to resist it.>
They shouted their Erklärungs.
<The Emperor…>
<Destiny…>
They both paused for a moment.
<The Emperor seeks out destiny!>
<Destiny can never forget the emperor!>
They both rushed toward each other.
Schwarz Löwe took a few steps and swung Gelegenheit up from the hip.
Neue Kaiser planted one foot in front of the other and swung its sword down from above.
Both Grösse Panzer shouted as they made use of their full strength.
“Berger! Why not use your Ober Beweisen!? Or how about getting her help!?”
“You’re the one that isn’t even using his Ober Emblem!”
The rising and descending curves broke the sound barrier and drew out a cloudy trail to reach the other.
The twin trails of cloud collided just before that could happen.
The clang of metal on metal accompanied two things flying into the sky.
The first was Neue Kaiser’s Werkzeug.
The other was Schwarz Löwe’s attachment staff for Gelegenheit.
The Werkzeug spun several times through the air before stabbing back down into the field with a sound like splitting rock.
Gelegenheit clattered solidly down onto the field.
The two shifted immediately from their follow-through stances to jumping backwards. They moved about 10 yards apart and spread their wings.
They readied their now weaponless arms, opened their mouths, and roared.
The white and black wings gathered air.
The wind blew in a spiral around them and the black one raised both fists and its voice.
“Full drive – max power!”
Light began to race across Schwarz Löwe in response.
The Ober Emblem’s armor transformation filled in all the gaps.
The Ober Emblem hadn’t been fully activated, but now it was.
The wind wrapped around it as it roared.
“Activate full barrel mode! Begin full drive!”
Neue Kaiser did not activate its own Ober Emblem. It only raised one hand.
“Come.”
The white Grösse Panzer’s wings lifted as far as their movable range allowed as it beckoned.
The black one responded by charging forward.
Part 6[edit]
Schwarz Löwe had grown a small horn and it sent out its fists in straight-line attacks.
It didn’t just use its footwork to assist the alternating right and left swings. It flapped its wings to put some real weight behind the attacks while keeping the footwork light.
It unleashed a flurry of attacks.
Neue Kaiser responded with evasive action and its own metal fists.
The ultra-hard fists collided or were swept aside with elbows, scattering metallic noises and sparks into the wind.
Neue Kaiser took a single step forward to place its full strength behind its fist. Its upward-swinging elbow sliced through the air, producing a shockwave that tore a line into the ground.
Schwarz Löwe dodged the flying shockwave blade by a few feet to the left and used that time to move as far forward as it could.
Neue Kaiser swung up both its arms.
A pair of shockwave blades shot out, tearing through the ground like it was slicing through the clouds with its wings. The summer grass scattered and the dirt flew as the ground was audibly split.
Schwarz Löwe chose to break through the center.
The shockwaves broke its shoulder armor, tearing into shoulders that had become partially biological thanks to the Ober Emblem. But it leaped forward nevertheless.
It passed through the valley between the shockwaves.
It all came down to a series of instants.
Neue Kaiser used its leg thrusters to slide backwards, so Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings once to extend its leap and threw a downwards kick like it hoped to stab its leg into the ground.
Neue Kaiser slid further to dodge that kick. It aimed for the moment Schwarz Löwe landed, but Schwarz Löwe forced itself to rotate on its downwards-kicking right leg to throw a roundhouse kick with its left leg.
Its right leg groaned in protest, but the black semicircle caught Neue Kaiser who had stopped sliding to begin an attack of its own. The kick hit its right shoulder.
It didn’t do much damage, but it did bring Neue Kaiser to a full stop.
Schwarz Löwe swung down its leg and charged in.
It unleashed all the power stored in its back to not give Neue Kaiser a chance to react.
An explosion of air launched the nearly 30ton machine forward. Its raised fist and the rest of its body broke the sound barrier and continued to accelerate.
Its right first slammed into Neue Kaiser’s chest.
It produced a heavy sound of impact. The force of the blow and the impact cracked Schwarz Löwe’s right fist.
But it didn’t care.
It had seen Neue Kaiser lift off the ground a bit.
It used the acceleration from its back to throw its left fist.
That fist cracked too, but a crack formed in Neue Kaiser’s chest armor as well.
“–––––!!”
Schwarz Löwe continued punching, not hesitating to unleash a flurry of attacks.
Neue Kaiser drew out a line on the ground behind it as it was pushed back.
Schwarz Löwe pushed forward. It increased the force of the right-and-left full-body punching motion, hitting its enemy with the shockwave more than the physical blow. The ground was already tearing away and Neue Kaiser was pushed back along a ground containing nothing but dirt exposed by the shockwaves.
The sounds of mechanical movement were answered by the sounds of metallic impacts. More and more heavy attacks were sent out from below.
Just as Neue Kaiser lifted from the ground, the thick layer of hair on Schwarz Löwe’s back vanished.
They had already reached the ends of the field.
Schwarz Löwe was about to send the final attack toward airborne Neue Kaiser’s chest.
Only the primary armor remained there and Schwarz Löwe prepared to send its right fist there.
“!”
The attack sounded like a cannon blast.
The fist broke the sound barrier, a white umbrella of vapor spread out around the wrist, and the air exploded around it.
The blow landed, making a nice sound.
The chest armor worn over Neue Kaiser’s Panzer Kleid was obliterated and the primary armor below was dented in the shape of a fist.
With a loud sound like spraying water, Neue Kaiser was launched toward the sky.
But it did not end there.
Without warning, Neue Kaiser released all of the air gathered in its wings.
“You amateur!”
It instantly brought its airborne body back to the ground.
It circled in front of Schwarz Löwe which was crouched in its follow through to the upwards punch.
Neue Kaiser stood up and made a powerful flap of its wings.
It rushed forward and clashed with Schwarz Löwe, placing the black Panzer on its white shoulder.
It easily lifted it.
But that wasn’t all.
With Schwarz Löwe on its shoulder, Neue Kaiser leaped up and grabbed Schwarz Löwe’s neck.
It soared forward with its feet off the ground, its forward acceleration instead coming from its wings.
“Weren’t you supposed to be the best in the world 8 years ago!?”
Neue Kaiser used its top acceleration to slam Schwarz Löwe into the ground. With the acceleration provided by Neue Kaiser blocked by that wall of dirt, Schwarz Löwe’s metal screamed and it bounced hard.
The black Ober Emblem shattered and scattered as ether light.
Schwarz Löwe’s remaining momentum tore a rut into the ground for several yards as the Ober Emblem vanished. The black biological armor it wore was stripped away.
All that remained in the wind and moonlight was a black Grösse Panzer with smoke belching from all across its body.
Part 7[edit]
Neue Kaiser left Schwarz Löwe behind as it glided several more yards and then landed.
The line Berger had drawn on the ground was a few dozen yards ahead of it. Past that was the stump that was tilted after the wind dug up some of its roots.
Beyond the stump, a woman stood alone, her blonde hair blowing in the wind.
Neue Kaiser viewed her and then itself.
White smoke was leaking from the gap between its chest and stomach. But…
“So this is your answer.”
That was all it said because the wind blew behind it.
“!?”
It turned around to find Schwarz Löwe had gotten up and was charging forward without its Ober Emblem.
Its broken right fist flew out.
Neue Kaiser gathered its strength and intercepted the attack with its own right fist.
The fists collided and produced a sound like shattering rock. Both of them were sent flying.
They ended up about 20 yards apart, but that was nothing for a Grösse Panzer.
They stared at each other, their gazes seeming to audibly clash.
A moment later, the Panzers themselves clashed.
They threw attack after attack, broken fist colliding with steel fist, elbows flying, and jabs intersecting.
Schwarz Löwe roared.
The impacts were growing louder. They grew so frequent they melted together into a single loud noise.
All of that sound vanished without warning. They had both swung their bodies to dodge the other’s fist.
They both raised their right fist to try again. They swung their fists using the momentum of returning from their evasive action.
They raised their voices in what could have been a roar or a scream.
“–––––”
They both stepped forward, lowered their hips, and leaned forward, their fists capturing the other’s face at the point of greatest impact.
Their fists landed at the exact same moment.
The lighter Schwarz Löwe was blown backwards with a “!”.
The heavier Neue Kaiser collapsed backwards with a “!?”.
Schwarz Löwe intentionally landed on its left shoulder and rolled to protect the wings on its back.
But Neue Kaiser planted a foot behind itself and stopped its fall.
With what almost sounded like a sigh, Neue Kaiser placed its cracked right hand over its face.
Its shoulders rose and fell like it was out of breath and its eyes dropped to Schwarz Löwe lying face down.
Schwarz Löwe could still move. Its almost completely destroyed left arm and right leg were trembling.
Neue Kaiser slowly readied its fist, but then it looked down to its feet.
He stopped moving.
A woman stood down there.
Part 8[edit]
It was the Heidengeist woman.
Neue Kaiser’s gaze had dropped to where Hazel Mirildorf stood.
But it wasn’t just looking at her.
The step back it had taken had crossed the line Berger had drawn.
“–––––!”
Neue Kaiser gasped as Hazel ran between its legs.
She ran toward Schwarz Löwe attempted to get up from the ground.
Once she reached it, she turned around to face Neue Kaiser.
She spread her legs, planted them firmly on the ground, and spread her arms protectively in front of Schwarz Löwe.
She looked up at the white Grösse Panzer with angry eyebrows and tears in her eyes.
“That’s enough. You already crossed the line between the past and the present.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath. “Or do you plan on repeating the past?”
Part 9[edit]
Neue Kaiser froze in place.
Schwarz Löwe also froze halfway through getting up.
Hazel didn’t move either.
The three of them preserved their silence and stillness, but after the span of three breaths, something other than them moved: the forest.
The birds in the dark forest squawked and took flight. And not just from their immediate surroundings.
“Eh!?”
Hazel looked up into the sky where so many specks were flying around in a frenzy it looked like someone had thrown a fistful of sand. Their voices were loud, hoarse, and incessant. Birds were flying from the forest covering all the mountains surrounding them.
The flapping of their wings and the rustling of the shaken trees drowned out all other noise.
Hazel could see the Lives of fear and panic. The birds were trying to escape something.
…But what?
She saw the answer in the northern sky beyond the soaring birds.
A dark river flowed through the sky. The river was far larger than the one of birds and it stretched for far longer.
Hazel had seen this before – last year in Cologne.
When a thousand bombers flew together, they would create a single silhouette from a distance.
“The bombing of Hamburg.”
Her words seemed to push Neue Kaiser to action.
The white Grösse Panzer took solid steps past her and Schwarz Löwe. It approached its own sword stabbed into the edge of the field.
Schwarz Löwe got up as well.
Hazel turned toward it and saw it kneeling with the secondary cockpit hatch opening.
Schwarz Löwe said nothing. Neither did Neue Kaiser.
Neue Kaiser reached its sword and pulled it from the ground. Then it slowly turned around, pointed the sword toward Hazel, and spoke.
“Why do you insist you will not run away and why do you protect destiny?”
Hazel kept her protective position in front of Schwarz Löwe as she answered the question coming from beyond the blade.
“Because that is my way.”
“Even if you lack the strength to back it up? Are you okay with dying as long as you can protect someone else?”
“I have no intention of dying. But I don’t want to lose anyone else either.”
She worked to calm her breathing, lowered her head, and got the words out the best she could.
“I don’t want to lose anyone, so I will not run away and I will not let them die!”
As soon as she was finished, Neue Kaiser swung down its sword.
Part 10[edit]
The powerful sword slash did not hit Hazel. It stabbed deep into the ground next to her.
The tip split the borderline with the past that Schwarz Löwe had drawn in the ground.
“So that is the answer to 8 years ago and the purpose of the Messiah who will guide our power.”
With that, Neue Kaiser’s motors whirred as it slowly spread its wings.
The six white wings spread and fully extended themselves with a smoothness very unlike a machine.
They emitted their wind straight down.
Hazel saw the movement of the wind. She could see the air around them gradually gathering toward Neue Kaiser’s wings. The blue Lives leisurely flowed past her feet and tangled around Schwarz Löwe’s limbs as they moved toward the white Grösse Panzer.
Its wings bent as they accepted and stored the gathering air.
With a loud noise, the six wings chose not to restrict the gathering air and instead let it swell out but never escape.
The air flowed into the wings where it was compressed.
Hazel heard the cold whisper of the night air gathering and being released.
The wind blew in from the northern forest, producing rustling ripples through the trees.
The night sky was red to the north. The bombing had begun.
The wind formed from the explosions and heat was racing across the sky to reach them here.
That wind blew at Hazel’s hair and she moved against Schwarz Löwe’s left side. Her bare feet stood on the dirt as she hid behind Schwarz Löwe and viewed Neue Kaiser.
The white Grösse Panzer spread its wings and looked straight up into the sky from the center of the wind swirling through the clearing.
Hazel also looked up to see the blowing wind altering the air currents to form a spiraling updraft that the birds used to draw out a large circle.
The ring of birds left a blank hole in the sky where she saw a single light.
That was the moon. The crescent moon floated in the center of the circle of birds.
“––––––”
Just as her attention turned to the moon, a powerful wind blew in.
But this wasn’t an ordinary gust of wind blowing in from the distance. It was the intimidating wind of a powerful presence in the sky.
A white shape flew in the sky above, wrapped in wind. The white Grösse Panzer flapped its wings and produced a wind that shimmered with heat while it ascended straight toward the moon.
Hazel’s coat flapped in the wind spread out across the field.
“Berger!”
“I can hear you. I’ve got to be in the second worst shape in the world, though.”
Hazel frowned.
…It must be bad if he’s saying that.
The damage must have gone behind his broken hands. The joints and motors were probably acting up as well. However…
“Hop on, Hazel. I need your help if I’m going to keep up with him.”
Her shoulders jumped at Schwarz Löwe’s line and she started to say something.
But when her eyes met the glowing sight devices, she shut her mouth.
She nodded just once.
Strength returned to her drooping eyebrows. She could tell she probably had a funny look on her face, but she still opened her mouth and asked a question.
“Berger, what are we going to do about him?”
Schwarz Löwe’s response was simple.
“We pursue him.”
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