"I'm off, Father."
"Reiko, I'm counting on you."
"Yes!"
"Condor 1, Titan 2, launching now."
With Titan 2, piloted by Reiko, secured on board, Condor 1 rose into the sky. The craft flew toward the massive Warp Gate constructed on the cleared slopes of Mount Hourai, situated just behind the laboratory.
"I'll be issuing commands from here," Jin said as he headed to the control room inside the laboratory.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, this way!"
A fierce battle raged on the third floor of Asunt Castle. Three golems were advancing, specifically targeting the royal family. In an attempt to stop them, the royal ritter corps and the Royal Guard magi-ritter corps had rushed to the scene.
Lotte stood her ground to protect the prince, a tray in her hand and a mop slung across her back.
"Wind Blow!"
Firing wind-type magic in rapid succession to push back the encroaching golems was Airi Solyus of the Royal Guard magi-ritter corps. She relied heavily on wind-type spells because using fire or lightning magic indoors would risk collateral damage to their own allies. However, it was a grim reality that wind magic had little effect on golems. Wind Blow was the only spell capable of moving such massive opponents, and even then, it was all she could do to hold them at bay.
Outside the castle, attacks from the flying spheres continued, leaving half of the soldiers occupied with the defense of the exterior.
"Lyla, help me!" Airi shouted, her breathing ragged from the repeated strain of casting.
Her colleagues were firing Wind Bullets, but the attacks were clearly lacking the power to stop the metal intruders.
"B-But, Sister, I..."
"Just do it! No more excuses! If you don't step up now, then when?!"
As Lyla continued to hesitate, Prince Ernest called out to her from behind. "Lyla, please. Neither my father nor I possess any offensive magic of this caliber. I feel miserable having to rely on you, but we have no choice."
"Your Highness..."
With the prince going so far as to plead with her, Lyla knew she could no longer hold back. Steeling her heart, she took a firm step forward.
＊ ＊ ＊
Before dawn, while the world was still submerged in the deep darkness preceding sunrise.
Azul Lake was a massive body of water situated on the border of the Celuroa Kingdom and the Kingdom of Franz. Its length exceeded one hundred kilometers, and its maximum depth reached nearly three hundred meters. From those lightless depths, an artificial structure began to surface.
It was a spherical construction, roughly seventy meters in diameter. As soon as it broke the surface, its massive upper dome slid open to reveal a giant Warp Gate sitting at its center.
The Warp Gate hummed to life. Emerging from the rift were giant golems and the aircraft designed to transport them.
"Father, we have arrived at Azul Lake as scheduled. We are now banking toward Tetrada."
From the center of Azul Lake to Tetrada in the Klein Kingdom was a straight-line distance of about one hundred twenty kilometers. The maximum speed of Condor 1, while carrying the weight of Titan 2, was roughly one hundred kilometers per hour; they were expected to arrive in a little over an hour.
The Raptor and Falcon squads were scheduled to reach their own objectives at almost the same time.
＊ ＊ ＊
A desperate struggle was unfolding atop the walls of Tetrada.
On one side, the Klein Kingdom's Third Ritter Order fought to the death to hold the city. On the other were the golems sent by the mysterious invading force.
"Fire Bullet!"
The magi of the ritter order fired spells to keep them at bay, but the two mysterious golems easily deflected the projectiles with the small shields mounted on their left arms.
"Tch, anti-magic shields?!"
They were fighting on the crest of the wall; it would be several more minutes before the magi-ritter corps could arrive. If even one of those two golems reached the inner city gates in the meantime, the battle would be over.
"Charge! Stop those golems at any cost!" Vice-Commander Niclas Fahlheit bellowed.
Following his command, five ritters charged forward. However...
"Gyah!" "Gwaaah!" "Gah!"
The flying spheres in the sky unleashed the lightning magic Thunderbolt, and all five men were struck down instantly.
"N-No!"
In that opening, one of the golems reached the stairs leading down from the wall.
"Damn it! Flame Lance!"
As a last resort, Niclas unleashed the most powerful fire spell he could cast. His target was not the golem itself, but the staircase. The stone structure disintegrated under the force of the Flame Lance. He had calculated that even a golem would be unable to jump safely from the eight-meter-high wall due to its immense weight.
But his gamble failed. The soulless golem simply threw its massive frame into the air and leaped.
An eight-meter drop was a height no human could ever survive, but the golem didn't care. A thunderous roar echoed as it hit the ground, shattering the paving stones. The golem rose, even though its lower body was mangled. Its ankles were snapped and its knees were bent at impossible angles; it was obvious to everyone that it could no longer walk.
However, the golem's objective was to breach the gate, a task a single magical strike could accomplish.
"Men below! Do not let that golem near the gate!" Niclas screamed with all his might. The ten soldiers guarding the inner gate leveled their weapons at the fallen machine.
"Gyaaaaa!" "Gua!"
When the defenders turned their attention downward, magic rained from the sky. When they looked up, the remaining golem on the wall struck.
"Dammit, attacks from the sky are this troublesome?!" Niclas spat, experiencing the tactical nightmare of aerial warfare firsthand.
With cover fire from above, the mangled golem dragged itself to the city gate. Aiming its intact right hand at the wood and iron, it unleashed a spell. It was the same Flame Lance that Niclas had used, but the scale of its power was incomparable. A torrent of fire ten times larger than Niclas's hit the gate.
The bronze latch and iron hinges were instantly vaporized. Then, the massive city gate began to tilt, slowly falling outward.
It was the sound of defeat for the fortress city of Tetrada.
＊ ＊ ＊
In the city of Strial, within the Kingdom of Egerea, Duke Blue and Count Kuzuma had arrived with their personal retinues. They were moving to reinforce the defense of the capital, Asunt. They had left Blue Land in the care of Count Guarana.
"My late father fought against the Celuroa Kingdom. I will do the same for my country!" Kuzuma declared. Though the worried face of his fiancée, Beena, drifted into his mind, he cast aside his personal feelings to face the national crisis.
"We should be able to reach Asunt by tomorrow night," Duke Blue muttered as they prepared to move out.
At that moment, Count Kuzuma happened to look up at the sky. He squinted, feeling as though something had just crossed in front of the sun.
"What is that?"
They weren't birds. A cluster of strange objects was flying high in the sky, heading directly toward the capital. Yet, strangely enough, he didn't feel an ounce of dread.
＊ ＊ ＊
"The gate is open!"
"Excellent! First and second companies, prepare to—"
Just as the Kingdom of Franz's army was about to begin its final assault, a massive shadow blotted out the sun.
When the soldiers looked up, they saw a bizarre object floating above them. Four rings were arranged in a square, connected by a cross-shaped structure, with two heavy cables hanging down to support a wide platform. And standing upon that platform was a giant golem the likes of which none of them had ever seen.
The giant golem, riding the strange flying craft as it descended, touched down exactly between the Kingdom of Franz's army and the city of Tetrada, glaring at both sides.