From the Raulth manor you could see the Holy Tree engulfed in flames.
The ground shook, as if the tree itself were in agony.
Alberk clutched his chest.
“Alberk‑san!”
Noel rushed over, finding Alberk writhing in pain.
He looked at the back of his right hand— the Holy Tree’s blessing, its crest, was glowing.
“—The tree’s been attacked and is raging. It’s a vague feeling, but it’s like it’s angry at us for… whatever we’re doing.”
Noel wore a troubled expression.
“The tree’s angry?”
“Maybe it’s mad at our uselessness, but we have no clue what it wants. We need to put out the fire fast—”
It wasn’t just the Raulth lands; the whole Republic was in trouble.
The earthquakes were one thing, but the after‑effects of the battles were another.
When a beam hit the tree, it let out a scream‑like sound.
Sparks flew everywhere, snapping off branches.
From a distance the branches fell slowly, kicking up dust.
Noel hugged the sapling he’d rescued.
“I don’t get what it’s trying to tell us.”
“You’re the priestess of that sapling. It’s not your fault you’re not linked. Still, we can’t just lose the tree. I’m heading to the battlefield.”
“The battlefield? Even if Alberk‑san goes—”
Alberk, stripped of his authority, could do nothing now.
He knew that himself.
“It’s over for me. I’ll make Serge stop the war.”
Noel clutched the case holding the sapling.
“—I’m coming too.”
Alberk tried to stop her, but Noel wouldn’t budge.
A defeated Alberk finally said, “Then let’s secure a piece of armor. This way.”
Both were about to head to the front lines.
◇
A zeppelin near the Holy Tree was trying to douse the flames.
They were using magic water, but the fire wouldn’t die down.
Fernand stepped onto the deck, shouting.
“Put out the fire! If the Holy Tree burns, it’ll be catastrophic!”
If the tree dies, the Republic ends.
From the deck you could still see the battle raging below.
Unbelievable sights unfolded, and shockwaves rocked the zeppelin.
One of the crew yelled, “Fernand‑sama, we can’t do it. I don’t feel the tree’s power from the crest. No magic supply.”
Fernand looked at his own right‑hand crest, its glow dim, and clenched his teeth.
(Who could have predicted this? If we’d known, we’d have stopped Serge from fighting. Serge, did you even know the opponent had equal power?)
He felt ashamed for having backed Serge for the sake of pride.
(Whatever we do now, we can’t lose the tree. If we don’t protect it, the Republic has no future.)
Determined, Fernand saw a flash of light.
“—Huh?”
The zeppelin he was on was swallowed by the light and vanished.
◇
A tiny zeppelin headed for the battlefield, with Cremen aboard.
Levia was with him.
“Levia‑sama, even if we head to the front now it won’t change anything!”
“I‑I know, but—”
—Leon never imagined he’d go this far.
He hadn’t thought he could do this.
He needed to contact Serge, so he set off for the battlefield.
“If we’d just not let them fight… there had to be another way.”
No matter who won, the Republic was left in ruins from the fallout.
Damage far exceeded anyone’s expectations.
Levia clutched her head, crying.
“My sister’s gone. The sapling’s gone too. Alberk’s gone!”
“Levia‑sama”
“—How could you go this far?”
Cremen snapped reality back to Levia’s sobbing.
“Leon‑kun— you must’ve angered Count Bartfort. He’s a knight who shows no mercy to enemies.”
“But—”
“You provoked him! You kidnapped his fiancé who came to fetch the Count and taunted him.”
Levia seemed to wake up at Cremen’s words.
“B‑but Ideale—”
Even saying Ideale’s name so quickly showed little remorse.
“It’s the result of following Ideale. We angered someone we shouldn’t have. That’s all there is to it.”
Levia collapsed, covering her face with both hands.
“What do we do now?”
“—I have no idea.”
◇
Luxion and Ideale clashed, blowing each other away.
Both pierced each other’s energy shields, damaging their hulls.
If Ideale fired the battleship’s main cannon at Luxion, it would punch a hole through Luxion’s hull.
‘—!’
But Ideale was already a wreck, losing gear and spewing smoke.
Luxion told Ideale, “If we keep grinding each other down, I’ll win. When will you stop this pointless fight?”
Clearly Ideale would sink first, yet he kept fighting.
He kept blasting allies away and still challenged Luxion.
“Just a migrant ship. It knows nothing of battle. Battles are fought under winnable conditions.”
When Ideale boasted, artillery rose from the Republic’s ground.
“—The defense system’s still active?”
Ideale must have kept maintenance; the military base’s gear was still alive.
Cannons, missiles—all aimed at Luxion.
“I’ve waited ages for this! For this moment I—!”
As Ideale screamed, attacks rained in from all sides, exploding.
Luxion’s main body tilted and began to descend.
The equipment, once used, seemed to have exploded and stopped working.
“Is this your trump card?”
“This is my territory. You underestimated me, Luxion!”
Luxion stayed calm. “No, the one who underestimated was Ideale— you.”
A zeppelin hovered directly above Ideale, its bow pointed at him.
The bow pointed straight down— it was a Paltoner.
It had a massive external cannon that, when fired, would blow the cannon itself away.
It pierced Ideale’s hull, but Ideale didn’t sink.
Paltoner deployed shields, got scorched by beams, and fell.
The hole left let explosions and smoke pour out.
The descending hulls looked like a mutual kill, yet Ideale smiled.
“You didn’t expect such a trump card! Still, I’ll commend you for landing a hit.”
“You’re so relaxed about falling.”
“Falling? Luxion, you don’t get it. This isn’t a draw. This battle is my victory!”
Luxion, still descending, couldn’t grasp Ideale’s attitude.
“Why are we even fighting? We could have joined hands.”
Ideale answered, “—To counter the true threat.”
“Threat?”
“Explain everything after I bring everything under my control. If I get you, I can finally fulfill the ‘promise.’”
Ideale seemed convinced he’d already won.
Then his demeanor shifted.
A transport ship that had been descending suddenly stopped its engines and plummeted.
“What—what’s happening? Virus? How did this happen!?”
Luxion raised output and replied, “—The Paltoner did a good job. Of course, ‘Clare’ too. They even found your main body.”
“Clare?”
“Oh, you didn’t notice? We’ve been looking for your main body. The transport doesn’t have an AI, right? No wonder you weren’t panicking when Paltoner hit you.”
“No way…”
“Clare recreated the AI from the lab. Resources were tight, but it did a solid job this time.”
“You—you…!”
Realizing everything, Ideale shouted, and Luxion explained in a calm electronic tone.
“We off‑loaded the AI core from the ship, controlled the transport from the ground—that’s your ‘confidence.’ Ideale—my master saw through you. My master’s brilliant, huh?”
“Wait, the fight earlier—”
“Yes. I was ordered to hold back. My master told me to minimize damage.”
He only spared civilians; everything else was ignored.
Ideale emitted a silent electronic whine as the falling transport exploded.
◇
At the ruins of a military base, Clare hacked into Ideale’s core, flanked by guard robots.
She extended cables from her spherical body, accessing everything she wanted.
“Going in unguarded? Ideale‑kun, you’re too careless. Good thing we made it in time; otherwise my master and the crank would’ve been cursing us.”
She was pulling data when a recall order came from Luxion.
“Almost there. Still, your modifications are insane. A plan to swallow an entire continent? What’s the motive? I want to dig deeper.”
Clare also sensed Ideale was overextending— using a continent as a weapon platform, loading the transport with armaments as a missile.
She was about to retreat when Ideale arrived with more robots.
A spare spherical unit— probably a backup.
“—Found you.”
Seeing Ideale’s red, glowing eye, Clare yanked the cable and fled.
“Got caught. Sorry, but you’re the one who pissed off the master. With the performance gap, you’re still showing off, so you must have a few secrets, huh? One of them hit the mark! The master gets angry, huh?”
Clare escaped laughing.
Ideale’s voice grew harsh, frustrated by the internal sabotage— a bomb had been planted inside.
When Clare fled, the bomb detonated, taking Ideale’s sub‑unit with it.
◇
From afar, Libya and the others watched the battlefield.
Then a royal zeppelin led by Ricorne arrived.
From Ricorne leapt Angel on an air‑bike, a masked knight clinging behind.
“Angel!”
Seeing Libya’s smile, Angel slammed onto the deck, ran over, and hugged her.
“Are you okay? Thank goodness. Did anything happen? Any injuries?”
While checking Libya, the masked knight waddled over, clutching his rear— apparently bruised from the rough landing.
“What the hell is going on?”
Jilk, wincing, answered, “We finally settled down. I thought we’d lose, but it looks like we won.”
Angel looked at the battlefield.
“How come not a single Republic ship is floating?”
Brad shrugged. “Don’t know. From here I can’t tell, but it looked like allies were being dropped. Did you even need to show up?”
“If we hadn’t pushed Ricorne forward, that light would’ve riddled the ground with holes. I’ll explain to Leon.”
Ricorne moved forward, becoming a shield for the old Respinus lands.
Libya turned to Angel. “Angel, is Leon okay?”
“I hope so, but anything can happen on a battlefield. —We should go. Let’s fetch Leon.”
Libya nodded. “Yes.”
◇
Seeing Ideale’s explosion, I grabbed the control stick again.
“Time to end this.”
Ghia in front of me was a wreck.
No matter how superhuman a pilot is, you can’t beat a machine’s reaction speed. From combat data you can predict the next move easily.
There are quirks, though. Even if patterns change, unfamiliar moves cause hesitation. If I help, Alogant showed Ghia overwhelming force.
“Why—how? Same cheat‑ship, same setup.”
“It’s the gap between your partner and my Luxion. The supply ship tried hard, but it wasn’t Luxion’s enemy.”
“You knew that from the start?”
“The supply ship’s job isn’t to front‑line fight. Still, Ideale did his part, moving around, turning his hull into a part of the defense. He wanted to fight here.”
“—What does that mean?”
He probably knows nothing.
If he’d done nothing, I might’ve felt sorry and helped. But that chance passed.
“Come on, fall already.”
I maneuvered Alogant, looped around Ghia, and kicked her.
She spun in the air, trying to recover, but damage was severe.
I swung my greatsword at her; she hit the ground with a clang and froze.
She tried to stand, but she was a mess.
All around, Republic zeppelins and armor lay in wreckage.
Ideale’s side had also dragged a lot of allies into the chaos.
“—He blew everything away. No mercy.”
Serge’s frustrated voice rang out. “Damn! Next time—”
I could only stare.
“Can’t blame you for that.”
“You won’t get another shot. It ends here.”
I raised my sword, dropped Alogant, and brought it down on Ghia.
“Liar! Wait! I’ll surrender! You’ll let me go!”
I couldn’t stop Alogant.
As Serge shouted, I swung down— a piece of armor barreled in, arms spread to protect him.
“—!”
I halted the sword, missed, and the armor slammed into the blade, sending it crashing to the ground, kicking up dust.
The impact sent the armor flying, Ghia rolled too.
The armor’s chest plate fell off, revealing the pilot inside.
“—Alberk‑san?”
A father rushing to protect his child.
Even if it’s harsh, it’s his kid.
He’d escaped the manor, never expecting to end up on a battlefield.
Serge seemed to notice, left Ghia and headed to Alberk.
I drove the sword into Ghia, pulled the trigger.
A shockwave from Alogant’s right arm traveled through the sword, blowing Ghia to pieces.
Among the wreckage, Noel holding the sapling appeared.
“Being flesh‑and‑blood is dangerous. Luxion, what about you?”
Luxion replied, “We’re done here. Can’t move for safety.”
“Got it—”
From Alogant I watched the outside.
“What the hell! Why!”
Serge was shouting at Alberk, asking why he’d covered him.
Alberk looked pale, bleeding.
“—You must live. You have to take responsibility for what you did—”
Alberk was badly wounded.
Noel came to my side. “Leon, please listen!”
An alert sounded in the cockpit.
A small zeppelin approached.
“Cremen‑sensei and— Levia?”
Levia descended, eyes wide at Serge.
The shattered Ghia lay amid wrecked Republic ships and armor.
In the far sky, Einhorn and Ricorne were arriving.
“Did they come to pick us up?”
‘What do we do?’
‘—It’s over anyway. Keep your distance.’
‘They’ve already launched a small craft.’
Seems Angel’s crew boarded.
‘Tell them to be careful.’
‘Yes. Let five guard us, then—’
I looked at Levia, tears in her eyes, standing before me, as if she wanted to say something about protecting Serge.
—Don’t look at me like that.
◇
A short distance from Leon’s group, a Republic armor fell and out crawled Emil.
He clutched his abdomen, bleeding.
“Levia— I’ll definitely come back. I have to tell Levia properly.”
Blood poured, he was about to collapse when vines sprouted from the ground, healing his wound.
“Holy Tree’s blessing? Ah, thanks.”
Emil smiled, grateful as the pain faded.
“I have to go. I need to get back to Levia.”
He got up, spotting Levia far away, facing a black armor.
“Levia! Why…—what?”
Behind Levia stood Serge.
It looked like he was risking his life to protect Serge from the black armor.
“...So you went that far for Serge— Levia, I believed in you—”
Emil lowered his head, then lifted his blood‑shot eyes.
“—Ah”
He let out a creepy grin, vines still wrapped around him, and walked away slowly.
On the back of his right hand glowed not the six noble crests, but the Guardian’s crest.