A Lion Against a Hare

 

Greisen’s raid struck like lightning, and in the blink of an eye, the Defense Force of L451 Defense Dome was annihilated.

The ruined Bears, the shredded remains of armored vehicles scattered in disorder—one could grasp the scale of the devastation at a glance.

「Damn it. Why did it come to this!」

Nate ground his teeth. But there was no time to dwell on regrets.

「So much for the ideal outcome. Just when we were beginning to see a glimmer of hope…」

Clenching his jaw, he glared at the display.

Greisen’s troops had already infiltrated through the destroyed shelter and were now locked in combat with the Defense Force.

「Greisen leads the vanguard. A full-scale Argoforce army is behind them. They’re aiming for complete annihilation.」

Greisen’s forces, too, had upgraded their weaponry. Thanks to their recent exploits, they had brought numerous Defense Domes under their control. The rewards of conquest, no doubt.

There was no way the L451 Defense Dome, which had just been upgraded to manufacture Bears, could match such firepower.

「Hurry up with casualty retrieval! These enemy forces are unlike anything we’ve faced before. We don’t even have time to evacuate—we’ll fight them in the city!」

Urban warfare—always the last resort.

It meant dragging the enemy into the heart of the Defense Dome.

「Get the children underground! At the very least, we protect them!」

Evacuees swarmed toward the underground shelters.

Some were trampled, caught in the surge and injured in the chaos.

In a destroyed armored vehicle, a Familia managed to raise a single arm and tried to push forward to the front lines.

A silhouette that had lost its legs swapped in spares and deployed immediately.

「Has the Argo Army surrounded us completely? They, too, might be testing Greisen… But I’ll be damned if I let us become a footnote to their strategy.」

「We’ll dispatch reinforcements as well.」

Aimer announced. She couldn’t just stand by and watch the slaughter inside the dome.

「As you can see, this is the state we’re in. I’m sorry we can’t meet your expectations. You should evacuate while you still can.」

Nate replied to the Eustitia’s call, urging them to withdraw.

「Understood. We’ll pray for your survival.」

Kou answered in Aimer’s place and cut the transmission. Nate surmised it was to spare the girl from having to make the call.

Wise, Nate thought. If he had offered to help them, Nate would’ve been the one in trouble.

「If Trireme gets involved, this could spiral into full-scale war. And I don’t want the L451 Defense Dome to be the trigger.」

His muttering carried weight.

Such a conflict would undoubtedly draw in the other Defense Domes.

And if that happened, no one would help the refugees from the L451 Defense Dome. The story of Kurt Company’s employees wandering aimlessly in exile was infamous. No one wanted to get involved in another mess.

「Still… It wouldn’t hurt if they helped out a little, would it?」

Some began to mutter that Greisen’s attack had only come because ‘those people’ arrived. Nate shouted them down.

The offer of aid had been sincere.

「After all they gave us, blaming them is beyond unreasonable! Have you forgotten? If not for them, the Murders would’ve wiped us all out!」

「Exactly. They’ve already given us more than enough… and we’ve done nothing in return.」

Fran responded, and Unit 6 launched from the hangar.

「So they’re fielding cutting-edge units? —Doesn’t matter. Let’s go, Unit 6!」

The enemy formation had clearly evolved.

There had to have been large-scale support from the Stones.

「We’ll fight too. We’ll fight with Epos to the bitter end!」

The Therianthropes mounted Epos and launched.

「Form up the vehicle units—move! Do not let them through!」

In the L451 Defense Dome, where Familias were scarce, even half-track vehicles had to be piloted by humans.

Unlike Familias, human soldiers couldn’t be regenerated. And many had already died in battle.

「At least we managed to produce a few Bears. Let’s make them count. We will defend this place.」

Nate would never give up.

He didn’t believe for a second that the enemy—who had failed to exterminate them with Murders—would hesitate now.

They would resist. To the last man.

He was always searching for the best move.

「Even if we all fall, our fight will be passed on by the people of Nisos. But I don’t plan to become a legend. This is just natural. We’re protecting our home. That’s all. Let’s make sure as many of us survive as possible!」

「Yeah!」

Morale surged in the L451 Defense Dome.

With grim determination, they began organizing to repel Greisen.

◆　　◆　　◆　　◆　　◆

「The enemy is advancing faster than expected. This is…」

Kou, too, was working within the MCS to grasp the unfolding situation.

「Confirmed: Argoforce aerial carriers. The Argo Army’s support.」

「A textbook strategy. Gain air superiority, then advance on the ground. Hard to believe this much force is aimed at a single Defense Dome.」

Fuyuki could only gape at the disparity. The difference in force was nothing short of overwhelming—almost theatrical in its excess.

A deployment worthy of the old saying: a lion hunting a hare.

「Analyzing the Silhouettes advancing at an extraordinary fast pace… Confirmed: They are Aberration Silhouettes. Less than ten units total, but their firepower is overwhelming. Bears won’t even slow them down.」

「They are going all in from the start. And they’re even throwing those into the fray…?」

「Confirmed: a mixed force of Eber IIs and Is following up. Over ten silhouettes total. Multiple Kazakhs identified…」

「Greisen is fielding Kazakhs!?」

Kou was genuinely stunned. Kazakhs were Silhouettes equipped with armored muscles, and their performance was on par with the Lanius A1—they were the main force of the Argonautai.

Even more shocking than the Aberration Silhouettes was what their presence implied: the staggering level of support Greisen was receiving from the Argo Army.

「Did this happen… because we joined the battle?」

Aimer didn’t even try to hide the pain in her voice.

「No. That’s not it. Not even the Stones could mobilize this much power so quickly. This was their plan from the start: an overwhelming show of force to crush the resistance with Murders, then roll in with raw might. They’re just using Greisen as the front—far more effectively than we expected. That’s all.」

Fuyuki calmly traced the data, trying to read the enemy’s logic.

「Greisen at the front line. The Argo Army in reserve. And with Argoforce controlling the skies, they’ve got full air support.」

「Fighting inside the dome was the right call. I’m sure they didn’t want to turn their living quarters into a battlefield, though…」

The urban warfare in P336 Fortress Area had been brutal.

That battle had been bigger in scale, but it had begun in the same way—with an aerial carrier strike. Had Marujin not appeared, they might’ve lost the whole Fortress Area.

「I see Eber IIs and even land battleships in the rear formation. With just the forces loaded aboard Eustitia, we’re not enough.」

「Yeah. Nate knows that—that’s why he told us to fall back. A normal commander would’ve begged for help.」

「He’s a man of duty. Told you so.」

「Exactly the kind of person we need for our plan.」

Fuyuki nodded deeply.

「Their goal is overwhelming devastation. With Murders and this display… it may be intended as a public show of force. Like a military parade—with live targets.」

「Why the need to be so overwhelming?」

「Because if Greisen is now a state, and they’ve conquered ten Defense Domes, then their leader is a head of state.」

「So L451 Defense Dome is just an example…」

Fuyuki answered, and Aimer’s face twisted ever so slightly at the conclusion.

「It’s cruel, yes. But because it’s deemed worthless, they crush it completely—to terrify the other Defense Domes. If fear leads others to defect, then it’s a small price. It’s a basic strategy. Even the Stones have used it before.」

「We’ll stop them.」

「Of course. I won’t stand by either. Let’s leave the inside of the dome to them—our job is to drive back the Argo Army.」

Everyone in the crew already knew that.

Kou’s Unit Five began to move.

「This is Outis. Calling all Aubade Force units for support. The enemy is the Argo Army. Coordinates transmitting now. Astraea, surface from the deep!」

If Kou was using the name Outis, then this was a full-blown emergency.

The moment the call went out, tension surged across the entire Aubade Force.