IV

IV

 

"Leave? What nonsense!" Heidrich roared. He was seething with rage at this intrusion. "You must remember me, but do you think you could defeat me as a normal human?"

In the next instant, Heidrich changed positions, looking like a bird folding his wings. The soldier fixed his gaze and then accelerated across the snow at an unbelievable speed.

"Can you keep up with me, Sword Dancer?!"

Heidrich swung his swords. His movements were lightning-quick. However skilled the soldier, it would have taken perfect timing to counter the two swords coming from the left and right.

"You are indeed fast. But that's all." Hugue grimaced a little as he faced the challenge. He gently moved the rod in his hand and split it into two parts. The rod was in fact a sword in its sheath. Hugue slipped out a thin metal blade. "Speed alone is not enough to defeat me."

"What?!" Heidrich exclaimed in surprise. In a flash of blue and white light, his two beloved swords were shattered into hundreds of pieces, sparkling as they fell." Ho-how...?!"

A tuned soldier could pluck a hummingbird out of the air. But a regular person wouldn't see a thing.

"Fire! Kill him!" Heidrich screamed. The soldiers shot at Hugue, buying Heidrich some time to put some distance between the two of them. But it wasn't enough, as Hugue ran around him.

"Those who live by the sword..."

The jumping power of a tuned soldier was enough to rival that of a vampire. It was not possible for a flesh-and-blood human to keep up. With the calm voice like that of a god of death, Hugue pulled himself close to the face of the terrified Heidrich and whispered: "Will die by the sword, Amen."

There was a flash of blue lightning, and what remained of his swords danced up into the sky... along with the severed head of Heidrich.

The scream and gush of fresh blood seemed to come a moment too late.

"He-Heidrich?!"

The soldiers gasped in shock at the sight of their commander's destruction. In the next moment, their shock turned to horror. "Bring it on!"

Discarding Heidrich where he'd fallen, Hugue ran at the lines of soldiers. Left and right, there was a flash of light, a red cloud, and the sounds of screaming.

"Fire! Get some distance and shoot him!" The officers tried to call out their orders, but their voices couldn't get through. The murderous light danced through the ranks. It seemed to play with the fleeing soldiers as it ran through their lines, leaving behind only corpses.

"Get the mechanical soldier! We can use him as a hostage!" one officer screamed, suddenly remembering the existence of the precious hostage they had managed to capture. They could use him as a shield!

"Where is he?! Bring him here!"

However, the only reply that he got was a mocking voice: "I don't think they're going to listen." From the driver's seat of one of the vehicles, a large soldier looked down. His lips were twisted into a strange expression, and sunglasses covered his eyes. The soldier laughed. "But we could be friends... get together..."

The laughing man next to him was none other than the mechanical soldier! When he realized it, it was too late. Leon pushed the switch that was clutched in his hand.

In the next instant, there was a brilliant white light. While they had been occupied by Sword Dancer, Leon had taken the gunpowder and covered a stolen vehicle with it. He had mixed aluminum and magnesium and ammonia in with the gunpowder. It had the effect of creating a blinding white light and a cloud of tear gas. All the soldiers in the vicinity sucked it in.

The soldiers temporarily lost their sight and coughed and spluttered in the gas. Leon took the chance to call to his friend. "Done! Get in, Samurai!"

He slammed his foot down on the acceleration. The diesel engine roared.

"There's no point staying here!" Leon yelled. Hugue nodded and deftly jumped onto the roof of the vehicle. He looked searchingly up into the clouds. "Quickly, Father Garcia. They're coming!" The heavens opened.

Hugue had been right. From the gap in the clouds came hundreds of black balls that fell down to the ground.

The soldiers were distracted and looked up to see what was going on. They didn't even have time to scream before they were obliterated in a cloud of blood. The Vulcan cannon was originally intended for anti-vehicle use. Its power was large enough to turn several dozens of humans into flying chunks of meat in one shot.

"Pretty good, Samurai! Let's go!" Leon yelled.

The vehicle accelerated quickly. A few unfortunate soldiers who found themselves in its path were hurled over the hood. The car set a course for the summit of the mountain.

The swordsman clung to the hood as the car threw him from side to side. He looked up into the sky. The cannons didn't cease. Every so often, one would hit close, by but they did not turn Hugue's gaze. He was staring intently at the three huge shadows that had appeared from out of the cloud cover. Three huge warships were descending, all with the motto "Vineam Domini" emblazoned along the side.

 

***

 

"Your Eminence, the remnants of the enemy have been almost entirely cleaned up. However, according to the reports of the landing forces, there are no members of AX among the dead."

Half an hour later, Arnold di Cambio had received a transmission from the parachute unit. A bead of sweat formed on his tense brow. He was standing in front of the command desk on the bridge of the Jahoel. His voice was reverent. "According to the prisoners that we took, they were headed with the Tallinn residents to a cave about one and a half miles from here. Shall we pursue them?"

"Of course," the young man who sat behind the command desk replied immediately. He scratched at his black hair. He then turned his attention to the monitor and smiled. "Pursuing AX is our sacred duty. Defeating New Vatican is just a happy bonus. Captain Cambio, start battle preparations."

"Bu-but, Brother Matthaios..." Cambio timidly looked at the Inquisition officer, who was playing with a staff in his hand. Cambio usually cut a strict figure and could strike fear in all his subordinates, but compared to the man he was now facing, he may as well have been the Madonna herself. "They are currently hiding among the residents of Tallinn. If we attack now, there will be a great loss of life to the citizens."

"That's just too bad. We don't want to leave witnesses; I think we need to annihilate everything."

"What?" Cambio was astonished. Was Matthaios telling him that it would be better to kill them all?

Matthaios then opened a thin file and started talking about something totally unrelated. "Did you know about this, Captain? It looks like this country had oil. Look, the cave they've hidden in is probably where they mine the Oilshell. This is really something. Oil is a precious resource that not even the Vatican has much access to. But this little out-of-the-way country has been quietly mining away. It's amazing, isn't it?"

"Um... yes?" Cambio managed a half-hearted reply. He couldn't stop the feelings that were swirling round inside him now. Cambio couldn't understand this Inquisition officer, but he had a bad feeling about all of this. And a veteran captain's instinct was always right.

The Inquisition officer closed the file and in a calm voice asked, "Captain, just as a thought... If the citizens of Tallinn were to get caught up in the fighting with AX and were, unfortunately, slaughtered, then who would this mountain belong to?

"The mountain...?" Cambio was really puzzled. What was he talking about?

However, it didn't seem like Matthaios was really looking for Cambio's input. He immediately started answering his own question: "Oil is a gem of the people. If the owners were to be annihilated, then we couldn't let it lie neglected. It would need an honest and prudent organization to oversee its continued mining. Don't you agree?"

Finally Cambio was realizing what the Inquisition officer was talking about. He wanted to take the precious oil for the Vatican as spoils of war. And to get those resources, he was prepared to perpetuate something really terrible.

"Your Eminence, you can't really—"

"Anything that happens here will be the responsibility of Duchess of Milan and AX. We were only doing our duty as we pursued the heretics. Sometimes, terrible things happen. We can't take the blame for that," Matthaios said.

Matthaios handed Cambio the file and quietly stood up. He gently tapped the cane in his hand as he added another order: "I want you to have the Uriel prepared. I will take command of the battle. Raise the altitude of the Jahoel and be on standby. I want you to patrol and provide air support."

When he had finished giving out his orders, Matthaios walked away from the command desk. He left the captain alone as he headed for the hanger.

If he only wanted to murder all of AX and the townsfolk, it would be simple. It would only require a few cannon shots and bombs to the mountain for it to be all over. But he was thinking of the future, and he wanted to try and safeguard the pipeline. Therefore, he had decided to launch a ground attack to prevent unnecessary damage.

"Then we will wipe out three thousand townspeople. How many years has it been since such a purification?"

Matthaios raised his hands as the elevator descended down to the hanger. His face was flushed. He was exhilarated. He reached up and rubbed his finger down an old scar. He smiled faintly.

"This will be the biggest task since Tangier. I hope I'm not disappointed."