I powered through my chores with everything I had and headed back.
After changing from my work clothes into my Officer Academy Tracksuit, I made my way to the gymnasium, where my comrades had already claimed their positions at the simulators.
By the way, I call it a gymnasium, but its official name is the Multifunctional Indoor Training Facility. No matter how you look at it, though, it’s a gymnasium.
Since then, the number of terminals had grown even further, with a total of one hundred units installed. There has to be a production line somewhere dedicated solely to churning these things out...
As a holder of a national qualification for electrical work, I took the lead on the installation. I also drafted everyone who had completed the Engineer Course to help. I didn’t give them a choice!
With the gymnasium now effectively an arcade, the air was filled with the hum of fans exhausting heat from the terminals.
Kevin sat at a terminal, several windows open as he remotely operated drones. It appeared he was issuing commands from a radar vehicle.
This time, the members with lower grades—those who had still wanted to fight on the front lines—were instead deployed to special vehicles in the rear. In truth, it wasn’t that they were incompetent; they just had lower grades specifically in humanoid fighter piloting. Everyone had their own specialties, from radar operation to holding a drone operation qualification.
Seriously, why did you guys think you belonged on the front lines?
There were a few people in missile vehicles. Nina-san remotely operated tanks and howitzers while simultaneously managing several standard fighters.
The humanoid fighter force was organized differently now, too.
First was the First Squad, centered around me. The Second Squad, led by Edge. The Third Squad, led by Claire. And the Fourth Squad, led by Melissa.
We had abandoned the Imperial Guard’s signature move—a forced breakthrough using shields—and shifted our focus toward evasion whenever possible.
"How the hell are we supposed to dodge beams?!"
That was the general consensus, but we had no choice but to try. When the other humanoid fighter pilots cornered me, demanding to know how I did it, I could only tell them it was "grit."
But after a few rounds, they started to manage. In short, it was all about getting used to the rhythm. If you sense bloodlust, you dodge for your life. If you fire toward that bloodlust, the attack will land.
Beyond that, it was a matter of sharpening your nerves, maintaining situational awareness, and ensuring you never let yourself get cornered into a position where a hit was guaranteed.
That part was difficult. It remained my primary challenge.
Melissa was much better at positioning than I was, so she was the one they hounded next.
"Well, you know, they come at you with slashes, right? So you just circle around to the side or the back, use the enemy as an obstacle to shield yourself, and break their formation. Then, you know, if you have the leeway, you cut their wrists or something—"
As expected, her explanation was incredibly vague. It was a classic case of can anyone actually do that?
When she claimed she’d already verified the technique, we ended up putting it to the test on the spot. In the flesh. We surrounded Melissa, wielding the cores from industrial resin wrap I’d scavenged from the kitchen.
Melissa lunged toward the guy at the very front—specifically, me. She parried my strike while landing a counter-blow to my solar plexus. As I doubled over with a groan, she slipped to my side. She grabbed me by the neck, shoved me toward the guy next to us, and used me as a "Leo-shield" to block him.
Without a moment's hesitation, the other guy clobbered me in the head. It actually hurt. By then, Melissa was already gone.
Another guy was supposed to have attacked her from behind. Or so I thought, but then—whack—she smacked the face of the guy who had circled behind her. She slipped behind him, kicked his ass, and sent him stumbling into me.
"Yipe!"
I was sent flying and had to perform a breakfall. The floor was hard, forsooth.
"See? I can do this much against opponents who haven't practiced group coordination."
"Melissa-san... I was the one taking all the damage there."
"Well, you’re the Captain, so I figured you could handle my serious efforts! ♪"
Even with that cute face, it wasn't okay.
"Now I just have to do this against guns! ♪"
"Like hell you can!!"
"I. Will. Do. It!!"
That had been the farce from last night. It was around today that everyone started to feel it: I think... I’m starting to stop being human...
Once I’d finished my work and returned, the joint exercise with Thomas’s squad began. Thomas wore a beaming smile, his face practically glowing with confidence.
"Hahaha! My squad won’t lose either! After all, we survived that onslaught for a full minute!"
Everyone turned to stare at Thomas. The same thought crossed our minds: Wait, only one minute?
We were currently at the stage where we would only lose after taking out half the enemies. That was the point where the Linear Blazer would appear as reinforcements and wipe us out.
Well, whatever. Let’s just do this.
We booted up the simulation, and everyone focused their minds. Recently, everyone had come to realize that this moment of mental concentration was vital.
"This is Edge. Second Squad, deploying."
"This is Claire. Third Squad, deploying."
"Oissu, it’s Melissa~. Fourth Squad, heading out~"
"It’s everyone’s favorite Leo-kun, pyon. First Squad, going pyon~"
"Die!"
The ritual concluded with the usual grateful insults from the group. We all took flight.
The stage was a ground mission.
"Rear Support Squad, Kevin! Missiles incoming!"
As the missiles approached, Kevin scattered decoy drones, followed by a smoke screen. Under Kevin's cover, we took aim at the enemies with our plasma rifles.
There!
"Fire!!"
Our shots pierced through the enemy machines. But the pressure was intense! The enemy count had increased to match the addition of Thomas’s squad!
"Hyah-haaa!!! This Maso-game is pure hell, babyyyyy!!!"
Someone had already snapped. Seriously, guys.
But we fought on with intrepid valor.
"Gah! Leo! I’m hit!!!"
Casualties began to mount among the boys. Then, it happened.
"Thomas's squad has been wiped out."
"That was way too fast!!!"
From that point on, it was a slaughter. We were overrun by the sheer violence of numbers. The enemies were double their usual count, after all. It was impossible!
But I didn't give up, dodging attacks from every direction.
"Kyah! Kevin's machine is down!"
Ah, it was over. I’d been using Kevin's radar as my main camera; I trusted the radar data more than my own naked eyes.
"The—the Linear Bl— has appeared... guaahhhhh!!!"
The Linear Blazer arrived and scattered the boys like leaves in the wind. It was hopeless! Just as I thought that, a Death Blaster blast caught me, and I was dropped from the sim.
"I guess we end at the same spot as usual..."
Getting past this point was proving incredibly difficult. We held a review meeting afterward.
Claire raised her hand. "Hey, I was thinking... maybe this counts as a 'clear.' You know how in some roguelike games, it ends when an enemy you absolutely can't defeat shows up?"
"Fairy-san, what’s the word?"
"I keep telling you! I haven't adjusted the difficulty! Listen to me!!! It’s not over yet, but you need to realize that this is a garbage game that’s impossible to win in the first place!!!"
"But you know, it feels like we might actually be able to do it?"
"Thomas's squad was wiped out in less than a minute! Don’t you get it?! They're the Imperial Guard! They're an elite unit!"
"That's as it may be. I feel like if we optimize a bit more, we can make it happen."
"That’s not the point!!! If you can clear this, it means you could win even if you turned an entire Area Army against you!"
"Oh... Well, that's roughly the number we'd have to face in the worst-case scenario! Right?!"
If we somehow blundered into the Revolution Route, we’d end up facing exactly that many opponents. Thinking of it that way, this was a vital rehearsal.
"True! That’s what would happen if His Highness were ousted!"
"T-They actually intend to win! These people! They’re planning to defeat the entire country with military force... They're idiots... They're a whole group of idiots..."
To be honest, I’d been thinking that in an emergency, I'd borrow Fairy-san's power to disable the national infrastructure and use the chaos to flee in the middle of the night. But if we can actually win, it’s better to win. Violence is our common language!
And so, the peaceful days would come to an abrupt end. After all, we still hadn't defeated the invisible one.