by Shouji Gatou
That’s enough! Summoning an animalistic rage, Kaname bore her fangs to the presence.
It retreated, cowed, and sulked to her, N-No need... to gegeget so mad. No neneneed, no need. I won’t do anything. I’m not bad...
Strange, she thought. Is it scared? She was about to scream like a wild beast, to hurt it more, when—
Stop it, Kaname-san! This, too, was a voice just like hers. But it was different; it was someone else’s. Whose?
Ah... yes. That bibitch is here. Come to interrinterrupt... the first voice sulked.
Try to tempt her again, and I won’t show you any mercy, warned the second.
Pfft. I’m here. I’m still hehehere. Hererere, the first voice said.
We won’t need you, the second voice told the first one, because I’m here.
Nonowrong. That’s wrong. You’re wrong.
Go away, the second voice commanded.
It went away—the first voice, at least. The second one, the newer one, proceeded to speak to her. Kaname-san... Kaname-san?
What is it? Kaname demanded suspiciously. Who are you?
Never mind who I am, the voice told her. I have a favor to ask of you.
A favor?
Tell him something.
Tell who? Kaname asked. And what?
Use the lambda driver to aim at the giant’s back... at one of the cooling devices... the voice advised.
Huh? She was confused.
One of... the enemy’s lambda driver cooling... the voice trailed off.
A fragmented image appeared in her mind, and then vanished. Kaname just sat there in silence.
Then, all of a sudden, the world seemed to snap back into place: Streams of light in the dark; the caved in roof of the Center; the kei truck, whose engine had breathed its last. She could hear gunfire coming from somewhere; Sousuke was fighting, off in the distance.
Kurz Weber had seized her by the shoulders, his expression serious. He didn’t have his usual playboy air. His eyes were so blue that they made even Kaname’s heart skip a beat.
“Wh... What is it?” she stammered.
“Uh?” Kurz said, blinking. He was back to his usual idiocy immediately. His grip on her relaxed and he let out a sigh of relief. “You’re back...”
“What is it? Did I... do it again?”
“Yeah. No matter what I did, you wouldn’t respond,” Kurz admitted. “You kept muttering... then out of nowhere, you shouted, ‘Stop it, Kaname-san!’ Scared the hell out of me...”
She wondered what he meant by “no matter what I did,” but she forced herself not to think about it. It was likely the reason her cheeks stung, though.
Tessa was lying in the bed of the kei truck. She seemed to be alive. Kaname remembered what she’d seen—rather, what she’d heard. Had that been Tessa’s voice, or something else?
She told Kurz what she’d learned. They had to use the lambda driver... somehow... against a cooling device on the giant’s back. Its lambda... something. She didn’t know what it meant. All she knew was that it was important—very important.
The giant’s back. Maybe once she saw it, it would make more sense.
Hey... what the heck am I thinking? Kaname wondered. This was all way too dangerous. If that giant saw her, it would stomp on her like a bug. Plus they didn’t have a car, so if it came after them now, there’d be no way to escape it. Did she want to get squashed underfoot? She could get hit by stray fire, too. And what if the building collapsed on her? She’d die. She’d be seriously dead.
This has nothing to do with me. Why should I put myself in danger? I’ve already been through so much. I’ve done enough, haven’t I? What I should be doing is hiding. That’s right. Just call it off... she told herself frantically. Even though she already had her conclusion.
Her conclusion...
I mean, he’s in danger. And he needs me. Then there’s how I feel... It’s not like his relationship with her changes that. I really don’t want him to die. I don’t. I really, really don’t. Which means I’d better go and do it.
“Ugh, I hate this. Darn it!” she moaned. Fear was a nasty thing. The minute you let your guard down, it reared its head again. She cleared away the cobwebs, then turned to Kurz and held out her right hand. She repeated the line she’d said once before: “Kurz-kun, give me your transmitter!”
The Behemoth drew the huge tachi from its back and swung it sideways at the Arbalest. The bludgeon, which was as long as a transmission tower, tore through the air.
Sousuke braced himself, then jumped. The sword swept past, just beneath his machine’s toes.
He turned the Arbalest over in midair, popping a shotcannon blast at the enemy’s head in the process; its movement and fire control systems made such acrobatic shots possible. But once again, the shell bounced off.
It’s like there’s nothing I can do! he fumed to himself. The barrier came from the lambda driver. Did it have any limits? Was there any way to nullify it? The tachi came streaking down from the sky. Sousuke dodged it, and called to his AI, “Al!”
《Yes, Sergeant?》
“We’ve got a lambda driver, too, right?!”
《Affirmative.》
Yes, his Arbalest was mounted with a similar device. Sousuke was vague on how it worked or what it could do, and he had never gotten a proper explanation on what it was, but... “Assuming the enemy has a lambda driver too,” he asked, “is there some way we could fight it?”
There was a brief silence. 《Unknown.》
Not again. Some stupid classification settings were blocking the explanation.
“I’m requesting the information as an NCO in the field!” Sousuke yelled.
《Request noted. But answer unknown.》
It must really not know. Even the AI, Al, knew nothing about the Lambda Driver.
Try to remember what happened before, Sousuke told himself. Your fight against Gauron’s AS two months ago, when we were escaping enemy territory... He’d followed Kaname’s advice and imagined “pouring his will into the shot” as he fired the shotcannon. The lambda driver must have activated in that instant and canceled out the enemy’s force field.
It’s worth a try... he thought. He let out a long breath. He stood his machine stock still on the roof, aimed his gun, and concentrated. Stay calm. Don’t tell yourself it’s stupid. Tell yourself that this shot will break through his shield. Believe it... Yes, just like the last time...
Tearing through the Exhibition Center’s roof, the Behemoth approached.
Aim right at its head. Imagine it...
“Let’s go...” Sousuke whispered. He pulled the trigger. The muzzle spat flame. The shot fired. The air around the Arbalest rippled for a second. Some kind of alarm went off in the cockpit, and a small triangle symbol flashed in a corner of the screen.
Did I do it? he wondered. The shell he had fired stopped in front of the Behemoth. But it didn’t break apart like before; it held its shape.
It was a strange sight—the arrow-like AP round slowly but surely forcing its way forward, while a low, eerie throbbing rang out. It was like a pair of invisible hands had grabbed the shell, and the two were now battling it out.
But soon enough... There was a pop, and the shell seemed to break through. It flew smack into the Behemoth’s neck.
“Did I make it?” Sousuke wondered. Moving his machine back quickly, he surveyed the result of the exchange: smoke was rising from the giant’s neck, but there was no change beyond that.
“Nothing?!” Sousuke asked in despair. The hit had landed, but the damage done was minor. The enemy was too big. It was like expecting to sink a battleship with a single shell.
The Behemoth reeled for just a moment, then immediately turned back to the Arbalest.
Just as they made it to the east end of the Center, a two-meter-long piece of metal frame flew at them. It grazed Kaname’s nose and impaled itself in the ground, causing her to cry out in panic.
They were close to the parking lot side, where the Be
hemoth and Sousuke’s machine were fighting beneath the night sky. Actually, to call it a fight wouldn’t be quite accurate—Sousuke’s machine seemed to be limited to running around, dodging the giant’s attacks. He was weak; pitifully weak.
No, she decided a moment later, the problem was the enemy’s size. For something so big to move that fast... It just wasn’t fair. In fact, Sousuke must be pretty incredible to be able to dodge those attacks...
“Ahh...” She was terrifyingly close to the battle. Every movement of the machine generated a gust of wind that rustled her hair. The towering thing’s every gesture sent rubble flying, storms raging, and earth shaking. Its every step kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt, obscuring her view of its back.
“I think we should go! It’s too dangerous!” shouted Kurz, who had come with her.
“No! I need to get closer!” Kaname insisted, though what she really wanted to do was turn around and run.
“But—”
“You don’t need to come with me!” she shouted. “Run, if you want!”
“You think I’d ever do something that lame?!” Kurz said, looking like he wanted to cry.
“Then do what you want! Either way, I’m going!”
“Oh, come on!”
Choking on smoke, the two of them ran along the Center’s outer wall. The area around the staff entrance—where they’d been standing just a few seconds ago—was hit by a falling lump of concrete and smashed to smithereens.
The tachi roared through the air at the Arbalest. The Arbalest dodged, but it was pursued moments later by a sweep of machine gun fire.
Sousuke winced as his machine took shots in the leg and the chest. They were all at weak angles, and they didn’t penetrate far, but they knocked the Arbalest off balance.
Taking advantage of the moment, the Behemoth reached out with its free hand. I can’t escape... Sousuke thought, and it was in that very moment that his machine’s left arm was grabbed tight. Its armor began to creak and pop from the pressure. It’s so powerful...
“Hoh... hohhhh...”
the Behemoth laughed as it raised the Arbalest up over its head. The G-forces were dizzying.
Was it going to slam him against the ground? Not even this machine could withstand an impact like that—it would fly to pieces at the joints!
Sousuke pointed his shotcannon at the giant’s thumb and fired. Despite his proximity, that barrier manifested yet again, deflecting the shot. It was no use.
In that case...! Out of better options, Sousuke turned the shotcannon toward the Arbalest’s own upper arm and pulled the trigger. He felt a jolt of impact as the rest of the machine tore away from the captive limb; having earned its freedom by force, the Arbalest crashed into the Behemoth’s shoulder before plummeting toward the ground below.
Desperately working the movement control system, Sousuke managed to right his machine and land it feet-first. Evaporated shock absorbent jetted like steam from the joints of its lower half. His AI rattled off a succession of damage warnings.
From behind an orange trash can, Kaname desperately tried to get a glimpse of the giant’s back. Look out! she wanted to shout, but it’s not as if that would help him. Worrying and panicking could wait until she found something he could use.
Where is it... where? The giant’s back was high above, and shards of metal were raining down. It was hard for her to keep her eyes open.
The slanted armor on the Behemoth’s back was made of a series of blocks. Where was the cooling device? Cooling device... there’s probably a hole or something for it, she thought.
“Kurz-kun, do you see a cooling device?!” she yelled.
“There’s a bunch of ’em!” he said. “Those long things... and the round ones!”
A bunch of them... that did seem to be the case. There were countless small holes in the giant’s back: two rows of them on either side of its spine; two long slits and four round holes.
Which one... which one is it? she wondered. The cooling device for the lambda driver... What did that mean? If the lambda driver needed cooling... and there was a hole for that... was that its weak point? Was he supposed to attack it?
But which hole was it?!
There’s no way to beat it, Sousuke realized. No blind spots. There’s nothing I can do to make my shots effective. My drive system is severely damaged. I’m reaching my limit. I’m going to die here. Just as Sousuke thought that—
“Sousuke, can you hear me?!” came a short-range communication.
While keeping his attention focused on dodging, he said, “Chidori?”
“Okay, listen up! I don’t totally understand it, but there should be a cooling device for that lambda driver thing in its back!”
A cooling device—of course, any machine would have one. “And?!” he asked.
“And... I think you should attack it!” she told him.
“You think?!”
“That’s all I know! Also, it can’t be a normal attack! You need to use the lambda driver! You have one, right?”
“Did the colonel say that?” Sousuke asked suspiciously.
“What, Tessa? I don’t know, but... ah, I think so!” Kaname said. “Let’s say that’s what happened!”
“Do you really expect me to—”
Just then, Sousuke realized it. Kaname and Kurz were within arm’s reach of him, squatting in front of the wall of the Center. What were they doing in such a dangerous place?!
That moment’s distraction was his undoing. The giant’s kick came from the left side. The approaching leg consumed his vision. He couldn’t dodge. It hit him. The Arbalest traced a low arc in the direction of Kaname and Kurz, and he hit the wall back first.
He heard a scream; it had come from Kaname. Good, he thought. I didn’t crush her.
Sousuke’s body was starting to go numb. His head was swimming; alarms were ringing in the cockpit. In a corner of his vision, he could see Kurz on the ground, shielding Kaname with his body.
“Hoh... hoh hoh...”
The Behemoth was looking down at him. It had seen Kaname and Kurz, too. He had no other choice, now. If he withdrew, that monster would step on them. He’d just have to finish it.
“Chidori... which hole?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“The cooling device,” he tried again. “Which hole is it?”
“Ah... it’s...” He could hear her gulp on the other side of the radio. “The narrow slits. The right one or the left one... either one will do. Just remember to attack using the lambda driver.” This time, her voice was confident.
The narrow slits. He remembered them. They were on the lower half of the back, close to the hips. They were downward-facing, so it would be easy to take aim. The only question was whether he could invoke the lambda driver’s power on command.
“All right.” Sousuke picked his machine up and took a deep breath.
“Hoh... give up...”
the Behemoth—no, Takuma—said. There was something exhausted in the tone of his voice. Was he... getting weaker? Time to die... The towering giant readied its tachi in both hands and swung it down at him with all its might.
Sousuke dashed his machine forward, just barely dodging. A piece of his shoulder armor went flying; the Behemoth’s tachi hit the ground and snapped in half.
The Arbalest’s charge continued; it scrambled low between the enemy’s legs. It then threw itself down, face up, and slid along the ground on momentum alone. Sousuke turned the shotcannon upward and saw the monster’s back beyond the barrel. The long slits—there they were. He aimed for the right-side one, which was at an easier angle for him.
Focus—that part was easy. Imagine pouring his will into the shot—that part was hard. Believing the shot would land—he’d just have to. Die! That wish was the most important thing.
He fired. Just like the last time, the air around the Arbalest warped. The shot went flying. As before, the Behemoth’s invisible wall activated, stopping it halfway. But the shell continued to struggle,
inching forward... Then, as if flicked by a rubber band, it smacked the Behemoth straight in the back. Shards of metal went flying.
His shot had hit the slit dead center, making it through. It had gone in.
Sousuke could hear something break down in the giant’s body, but the damage looked minor from outside. It was hard to believe something so small could really harm the massive brute...
Sousuke remained silent. For a few seconds, nothing happened. The Arbalest and the Behemoth both remained exactly where they were. And then...
The asphalt beneath the Behemoth’s feet cracked, and the giant began to sink. It was as if gravity had finally caught up with it. Its right knee bent; its ankles began to tremble, creak, and break. The arms it had moved so freely before suddenly dropped, as if yanked to the ground with chains. The skeleton and drive system screeched, and oil leaked from its joints. Armor plates began to break off here and there, dropping to the ground. The Behemoth was beginning to crumble.
It was the breaking of the hip joint that brought the house of cards tumbling; it crashed into the ground, blasting to pieces from the force. There was no explosion, but parts of the torso were on fire. Dust, flames, and thick black smoke billowed everywhere, while smaller parts continued to clatter to the ground.
That was that. An anticlimactic end.
“I can’t believe it...” Kaname’s voice came through in a whisper.
Sousuke said nothing, but glanced at the radio questioningly.
“I said ‘the long slit’... but I was totally guessing. I can’t believe it worked.”
That was the last straw. Sousuke dropped his shotcannon in exhaustion.
Rubbing her aching head, Teletha Testarossa left the Exhibition Center to find the Behemoth already in pieces. She sighed in relief; she definitely hadn’t counted on passing out there, but it looked as if Sousuke had made it through—thanks to Chidori Kaname, her fellow Whispered. She didn’t like to admit it, but that girl was really something.
The reason the Behemoth had collapsed was quite simple: The lambda driver’s pseudostring repulsor fields were all that was keeping it stable; without that device in place, it would break down under its own weight. It was the same logic that caused whales to die immediately when they came up on land.