At Veldora's words, each person felt something stir within them.
And before they could act on that feeling, it happened.
A raid.
The ceiling of the underground shelter serving as the resistance's headquarters collapsed with a thunderous roar.
"What!?"
Zaza cried out, frantically looking up at the ceiling.
Black smoke billowed through the breach, and patches of grey sky were visible through the gaps.
Zaza stood there, stunned.
Ignoring the speechless Zaza, Sharma was the first to react.
"This is bad! If this keeps up, harmful substances from outside will flood in!!"
At Sharma's shout, Lindou sprang into action with impressive speed.
Gathering the working adults and the children nearby, she began guiding them toward the underground levels designated as emergency evacuation shelters.
Perhaps thanks to the many drills they had run, the evacuation was carried out with almost impeccable efficiency.
The only ones crying and screaming were the very youngest children, who were still too small to understand.
Without any significant commotion, the human presence on the floor where Veldora and the others stood was gone.
"Impossible… This is an underground shelter that withstood a nuclear blast! To punch through from the surface all the way down here — could it be a—"
A special small-scale nuclear penetration round.
"!?!"
Zaza stood rooted to the spot in a daze.
If his guess was correct, then this could only mean the Empire had committed to this operation in full force.
They had been caught off guard, and Zaza feared that everyone living in this hideout would be massacred if things continued like this.
However, a doubt nagged at him.
"…Wait a moment. If that was a special small-scale nuclear penetration round, then by now this entire floor should be a sea of molten slag…"
And yet, the violent force that had pierced from the surface all the way to the ceiling had, for some reason, stopped right there.
Zaza found this puzzling and couldn't help but voice his confusion.
Seeing Zaza like that, Veldora grinned.
Just moments ago, it was Veldora's power that had averted the crisis.
Having only just become popular, he wasn't about to let some uncouth intruder ruin things. That was what Veldora had been thinking when he had spread a barrier over this entire floor to protect it.
"Heh heh heh, Zaza. You see, the thing is—"
This was the perfect moment to show this clueless Zaza just how magnificent he truly was — or so Veldora thought, and he was just about to boast when— Five mobile weapons descended through the smoke-filled opening in the ceiling.
"Master, something's coming in!"
"Tch, those pestilent creatures… always getting in my way…"
Veldora clicked his tongue in frustration.
It was just his usual routine — do something good and nobody even noticed.
"What shall we do, Lord Veldora?"
"Hm?
"Understood."
With that brief exchange, Beretta stepped forward to face the five incoming machines.
Seeing this, Zaza rushed to stop her.
"Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait! Those things are dangerous! That distinctive silhouette on all five of them — that's probably a mechanized squad led by that bastard Carmen. His rank was sergeant or second lieutenant, but he's a battle-hardened mechanized soldier. There are rumors he's a madman who's single-handedly wiped out multiple mercenary groups! With just Beretta, you'd be at a huge disadvantage!"
Zaza knew Carmen.
He knew his savage aggressiveness.
He knew about the famous mercenary outfit that had been annihilated by just a handful of mobile weapons during an operation he'd been part of.
From the mouths of those who had been deliberately spared and allowed to survive, Zaza had learned that name — along with the terror that came with it.
This man was called the worst in the southern theater, and now he was standing right in front of them.
There was no blaming Zaza for panicking.
"It looks like they're here. Beretta, be careful!"
"And don't kill them! If you actually go and kill them, you might really piss Rimuru off."
"Understood."
Even after hearing Zaza's warnings, the three of them exchanged casual remarks without a care.
Watching them, Zaza couldn't hide his agitation and pressed on.
"Don't kill them… Hey, hey, are you serious? That's not the issue here! Sure, I'll admit Beretta is strong, but those mobile weapons aren't anti-personnel kill-dogs — they're real anti-army weapons! Five of them, no less! We don't stand a chance! We need to buy time and get out of here, or we'll all be wiped out—"
"Zaza, calm yourself. I'm here too, you know. There's no way we could lose!"
"So what if you're here!? Even if you make your little pancakes or whatever, those things won't just look the other way!!"
Veldora had tried earnestly to calm Zaza down, but the message simply didn't get through.
Then again, it was understandable.
After all, in Zaza's mind, Veldora was the most useless person around.
"Owww… that actually hurt my feelings a little…"
Veldora was genuinely stung by how little regard Zaza had for him.
Ramiris patted him consolingly.
—Meanwhile.
While Veldora and the others carried on with their foolish banter, Beretta and Carmen faced each other.
◇◇◇ Beretta stood before the five approaching mobile weapons — the augmented-armament squad led by Second Lieutenant Carmen — without a hint of tension.
The five machines descended gradually and touched down on the ground.
The tremor that ran through the floor upon their landing suggested they were immensely heavy.
They stood just over three meters tall.
Thick armor encased humanoid frames resembling heavy knights.
"Giants, hm?"
Beretta murmured softly and took one step forward.
From the lead machine, a voice called out to her.
"Well, well — bingo right off the bat. So you're the resistance's new weapon that took down those kill-dogs? My name's Carmen, rank of second lieutenant. I'm in command of this squad."
It was Second Lieutenant Carmen.
He had a concentrated emotion-suppressant rolled into a cigar clamped between his lips, and he introduced himself with a long, deep drag.
"I don't know what you mean by 'new weapon,' but if you're referring to the fact that I defeated three of those hounds, then that would be me."
"Oh? So it really is bingo. Lucky me. So — what's your name?"
"—Beretta."
"Hoh, never heard of it. So you're not one of those famous terrorists, huh? New recruit? Well, whatever. There's one thing I'd like you to clear up for me—"
"And what's that?"
"Nothing really — just curious. We fired a special small-scale nuclear penetration round with the intent of destroying this underground nuclear shelter… so why is this place still intact? What kind of trick did you pull? I'm fascinated."
"Simple. Lord Veldora, who stands over there, was protecting this location. That is all."
There was no need to hide it, so Beretta answered honestly.
But Carmen snorted with contempt.
Thermal readings had indicated that Veldora was nothing special — the data confirmed as much.
So he didn't believe Beretta's answer for a second.
"I see — you'd rather not say. Fair enough. Anyway…"
Smoke rose from his cigar.
The instant Beretta's gaze flickered toward the wisp of smoke, Carmen moved.
Blinding speed.
The augmented armaments — the pinnacle of super-science — belied their bulky appearance; they could accelerate from a standstill to 1,000 meters per second in a mere ten seconds.
But his action wasn't an attack.
In Carmen's view, he had merely strolled forward — a greeting of sorts to gauge Beretta's reaction.
Carmen's hand came to rest on Beretta's shoulder.
The shockwave generated by that instantaneous movement crashed over her, but Beretta stood there as if nothing had happened.
She had felt it as nothing more than a light breeze.
"Oh? Unfazed by that, are you? Impressive — that's what makes you worth breaking. But before that, I've got orders from Colonel Grassam, so hear me out. Surrender to us and reveal the secrets of your capabilities. In return, we'll even arrange for you to live comfortably in the city. I'll give you ten seconds — give me your answer!"
Carmen blew cigar smoke in Beretta's face as he spoke.
In truth, he wanted to fight. But he had to follow orders. Reluctantly, he delivered his ultimatum.
"You said Carmen, was it? Do not presume to give me orders."
Though her expression was hidden behind her mask, Beretta's voice oozed displeasure.
Savoring her reaction inwardly, Carmen tightened the grip on her shoulder and spoke.
"Well, if you're going to side with these trash, then as far as I'm concerned — you're the enemy."
He flashed a savage grin and attempted to crush Beretta's shoulder— But Beretta casually brushed his hand away.
The hand of an augmented-armament unit, brimming with crushing gravitational force — deflected with a single hand.
Carmen was thrown badly off balance and staggered back to his subordinates.
Shaking with rage and humiliation at the sheer impossibility of what had just happened, he let out a thunderous laugh.
"Heh, heh — AHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, that's good. That's really good. It's been ages since I've run into an enemy worth fighting. But listen—"
Carmen paused, took a deep drag from his cigar.
The seething fury dissipated in an instant, and Carmen's calm returned.
He continued.
"Before we start, let me give you a reality check. I hear you've got a high-output reactor rated at over 100,000 kilowatts built into you — that your pride and joy, is it? Pretty impressive for something built in an external research facility, I'll give you that. But here's the bad news: the fusion reactors built into our augmented armaments are rated at a maximum of 870,000 kilowatts. What do you think of that — over eight times the output? And there are five of us. You never had a chance from the start. This is your last chance — surrender quietly!"
He delivered the ultimatum per headquarters' orders while forcibly restraining his volatile temperament. Carmen might be a problem child, but he wasn't the kind of lawless brute who ignored commands.
However, once a battle began, no one could hold him back.
That savagery stemmed from a deep-seated hatred for the resistance — it had nothing to do with Carmen's original personality.
Which was precisely why even he himself couldn't control it.
"Surrender? I have no intention of obeying someone weaker than me. And above all — I currently have a master. Your tone is rather unpleasant, I must say."
"Hmph! Then brace yourself — and regret it once you know the truth!!"
"Hmph. Don't worry — I won't kill you."
The cigar had been reduced to its final wisp of smoke and was snuffed out.
And that was the signal.
"Ridiculous! I'll be the one to assess your capabilities personally. Do try not to break too easily!"
Carmen grinned fearlessly and roared.
For Carmen and his squad, whose combined might exceeded one million horsepower, crushing the enemy before them was a foregone conclusion.
And yet.
"Hmm. There seems to be more here than I expected. I may actually need to get serious."
That was what Beretta said.
Those words sent Carmen's emotions erupting.
The suppressants had worn off.
Carmen's reason blew away, and he unleashed his full fury.
The augmented armaments, fused as one with their pilot, roared to life in response to Carmen's will.
The extreme heat and pressure, always held in check by electromagnetic containment fields, ignited the thermonuclear engines.
The resulting plasma current surged through his body like boiling blood.
This was converted directly into electricity via magnetohydrodynamic generation, granting Carmen staggering power.
Raging, untamed force.
Though human, Carmen had become an incarnation of the sun.
Transcending his identity as a mechanized soldier, he transformed into a tactical-class weapon.
At the same time, Carmen's subordinates had completed their own preparations.
Each one became an incarnation of the sun, just like him, unleashing immense combat power.
Though only a squad, their combined force was equal to — or greater than — a full division from the previous generation.
Victory.
For Carmen and his crew, there was simply no other possible outcome.
And now, Carmen was a raging war machine— "I'll crush you! I'll crush you with my own hands, Berettaaaaa—!!"
—He would not stop until the mission was complete.
And so, the battle began.
◇◇◇ Carmen charged at Beretta with devastating shockwaves in his wake, his enormous weight driving him forward.
This time, he was in full combat mode — a charge intended to obliterate Beretta.
Compressing the tremendous thermal energy produced by his fusion reactor, Carmen's fist screamed.
Thermal Compression Fist.
The thick armor of the augmented armaments enveloped his fist, loading it with lethal destructive force.
Overwhelming, crushing power.
Power that exceeded one million horsepower — enough to reduce any target to dust.
However— Beretta read the attack perfectly.
Instead of catching the linear flow of force head-on, she redirected it, disrupting Carmen's balance and flinging him aside.
A textbook shoulder throw.
"Softness overcomes hardness" — but that was nothing more than a fantasy.
Manipulating the direction of the Thermal Compression Fist's force through simple biomechanics was impossible.
Any half-measure of strength would simply be swallowed whole.
And yet, Beretta had thrown Carmen for one reason only — her power truly exceeded his.
"What!?"
"She threw Captain Carmen!?"
Carmen's subordinates were the ones in shock.
A fatal blow launched at speeds exceeding the speed of sound — deflected by a method they could never have anticipated. Their astonishment was entirely justified.
Carman was just as surprised.
But he was quick to regain his footing and self-reflected.
He didn't want to admit he'd been careless, but he admonished himself for relying too heavily on his own strength.
"Don't panic! She's a martial arts expert. Reacting to supersonic speeds puts her at least at master level! Spread out — avoid one-on-one close combat!"
Carmen gave his orders without losing composure.
His subordinates obeyed, forming a surrounding formation in the blink of an eye.
And Beretta— "…Good grief. More trouble than I expected. Without magicules, the Omnisense's accuracy is poor. Light reflections, wind movement, heat, sound, and intuition — this is going to be tougher than I thought."
That was her assessment based on the contact she'd just had.
Both arms that had deflected Carmen's blow, along with her torso where the attack had grazed, had deformed from the heat and impact.
Even with her Physical Attack Nullification and Natural Effect Nullification, she had taken minor damage.
If she had been any slower at reading the data, that single blow could have been fatal.
The absence of magicules was showing its effects here as well.
Beretta used Mineral Manipulation to liquefy her own body.
This repaired the damage, and the same attack would no longer harm her.
Even as she made this judgment, Beretta kept her eyes on Carmen and his squad.
"Hmph — Omnisense, is it? So that's your sensor suite? Seems quite high-performance, but let's see if you can dodge this!"
Carmen flashed a confident smile and gave orders to his subordinates.
Four augmented armaments shifted from their surrounding formation into combat stances.
Carmen's next tactic was a coordinated wave assault by all four.
The augmented armaments' maximum ground speed was three times the speed of sound.
That was the same as the kill-dogs, but their capabilities were fundamentally different.
Where the augmented armaments truly excelled was in acceleration from a standstill.
But it didn't stop there.
The kill-dogs couldn't execute fine trajectory adjustments — the same principle that made jet fighters vulnerable to lateral impacts due to their structural limitations.
Sharp directional changes imposed tremendous G-forces — centrifugal burden — on both the machine and its pilot.
Though kill-dogs were computer-controlled, their structures weren't built to withstand lateral G-forces.
The augmented armaments, on the other hand, enabled fluid, unpredictable movement even at extreme speeds.
Rapid maneuvers at three times the speed of sound certainly affected the human pilot inside.
But for mechanized soldiers like Carmen and his squad, that was no issue.
With the aid of auxiliary processing units, they pushed their speed to the limit and executed a flawless coordinated assault.
"Tch—"
Beretta clicked her tongue as she dealt with the onslaught of continuous attacks.
Two arms weren't enough.
So Beretta activated the Ultimate Gift: Puppeteer King, drawing in surrounding matter to generate multiple tentacles thicker than her arms.
Each one reflected her will, moving with complete freedom.
Each one also functioned as a sensor, allowing even faster situational awareness.
The sound arrived after the fact.
An enormous force field had formed on the spot, shredding anything caught within it to pieces.
Carmen's mechanized squad adjusted their movements to avoid mutual interference, while Beretta countered expertly from her very first encounter with the assault — a spectacular melee had erupted on both sides.
◆◆◆ "…Wow, that's incredible."
"Indeed. Beretta, stealing the spotlight right from under my nose…"
"That — that's not the point at all!"
Ramiris murmured in admiration, while Veldora grumbled about some misunderstanding, and Zaza shot back at them in exasperation.
The analysis unit attached to Zaza's brain was reconstructing the information his visual sensors had captured. Only now, with that aid, could Zaza even comprehend what was happening.
A battle at speeds he had never witnessed.
Veldora and the others' casual commentary on such an extraordinary fight was, to Zaza, utterly unacceptable.
"Incredible? Can you even see what's going on, Ramiris?"
"Umm, it's a little tough, but I can more or less make it out."
"Of course I can see it. Crystal clear, I tell you!"
"I wasn't asking you, Veldora. You don't need to put on a brave face."
"—!?!"
If Ramiris said she could see it, then she probably could, Zaza decided.
He couldn't imagine just how high-performance she was, but this tiny body clearly incorporated unknown technology.
And the proof of Beretta's power was right before his eyes — leaving no room for doubt.
Beretta was going blow for blow against Carmen's death squad without retreating a single step.
That exceeded even Zaza's imagination, and he realized he needed to drastically reassess Beretta upward.
(A weapon forged in an external research facility, capable of fighting the city's frontline forces on equal footing… I can hardly believe it, but I have no choice but to accept it.)
This fact was a ray of light for the resistance.
That was what Zaza thought.
With Beretta here, perhaps there was a chance of victory in the operation they had been planning.
Aware of his own excitement, Zaza turned his focus back to the battle.
Veldora watched the preoccupied Zaza with a somewhat lonely expression.
Am I being treated carelessly now? he wondered, fixing Zaza with a flat stare — but Zaza was completely ignoring him.
"Hey, Ramiris…"
"What is it, Master?"
"Perhaps I should have been the one to fight after all."
"Why is that?"
"Why…?"
He couldn't very well say it was because he wanted the attention.
What a sorry dragon. Well, human-shaped at the moment, but still.
"Ahem! Look, Ramiris — that one is trying to do something to Beretta!!"
Unable to bear Ramiris's pure, earnest gaze any longer, Veldora changed the subject.
"Oh, you're right. Hey, doesn't that look bad?"
"Indeed. But if it's Beretta, she should be fine…"
As Veldora had pointed out, Carmen — the only one not engaged in the melee — was up to something.
He had connected both arms of his augmented armaments, bracing them together like a turret.
Zaza, too, had overheard Veldora and the others' exchange and casually glanced toward Carmen.
And then he realized.
"That's—"
Zaza mobilized everything he knew — his own knowledge and the reports from surviving mercenary companions — and identified what that stance meant.
But by then— "Scatter!!"
Carmen's roar thundered across the battlefield.
Simultaneously, with perfectly synchronized movements, the four augmented armaments pulled away from Beretta.
"—What?"
The instant Beretta turned her gaze toward Carmen, it was already over.
Her tentacles, held at the ready, couldn't react in time and were blown aside, and holes were punched through Beretta's body — forged from living magisteel.
And then a single beam of light struck Beretta square in the face.
With a soft thud, Beretta's head fell to the ground…
"Berettaaaaa—!!"
Before Ramiris's scream could even reach her, Beretta collapsed on the spot…
◆◆◆ Carmen grinned.
Everything had gone according to plan.
No matter how powerful the enemy, their victory was assured — he was certain of it, and savored the satisfaction.
"Oh, wait — did I just kill her? Well, the important parts should be intact, so Miss Hiragi should forgive me."
Saying that, he burst into a hearty laugh.
The tactic Carmen had chosen was to have his subordinates serve as decoys while he fired his most powerful main cannon.
That cannon was the Neutron Convergence Beam.
Employing a combination of high-frequency magnetic fields to accelerate and decelerate neutrons, it channeled the neutron beams generated by the fusion reactor through both arms — which had become the gun emplacement — and released them in a single concentrated burst.
Its muzzle velocity exceeded 10,000 kilometers per second — sub-light speed.
Even accounting for atmospheric deceleration, evasion was impossible.
And its destructive power went without saying.
No matter what kind of being stood before it, sustaining no damage from the Neutron Convergence Beam was unthinkable.
There was only one countermeasure — stop it before it fired.
Carmen was certain of his victory as he drew out a new cigar and clamped it between his lips.
"Well, you fought well. I was betting my squad could take you down, but I'll be damned if you didn't fight us to a draw. You even forced me to use my trump card — the Neutron Convergence Beam. You should be proud."
He grinned in good spirits.
A full-power battle — and victory. A rare thing indeed.
Unlike the battlefield where he only bullied the weak, this fight carried the exhilaration of combat he hadn't felt in ages.
A sensation he hadn't experienced since becoming a mechanized soldier.
Laughing to his fill and savoring his satisfaction, Carmen moved to collect Beretta's remains— And stopped.
A flicker of unease.
He could have sworn the corpse that was supposed to be Beretta had moved.
"…Wait. Could she be…"
Carmen signaled his subordinates to hold.
And before their very eyes, Beretta's hand stirred.
◆◆◆ Beretta picked up the fallen object, trembling.
Her body was shaking in fine tremors — from damage, it seemed.
No. That wasn't it.
The trembling wasn't from damage, but from— "This is bad, Master…"
"Y-yeah. Beretta looks like she's seriously pissed off…"
"Huh, hey? Beretta's okay? She took that hit and she's okay? …Wait, what do you mean 'seriously pissed off'…?"
Beretta held the object up and examined the damage with her own eyes.
It was a mask.
The mask that matched Rimuru's — the one that concealed Beretta's true face.
Her long hair gleamed with a silver luster, shielding her exposed face from view…
"This is bad. Beretta's true face — Rimuru had created it to his own aesthetic preferences. He told her that if anyone found out, it would cause unnecessary trouble, so he placed this mask on her. Rimuru may have forgotten about it by now, but… that face and the mask given to her by Rimuru were Beretta's treasures…"
"Is that so? For Beretta, who normally never shows any emotion, this is unusual — she's completely consumed by fury…"
Beretta wore a mask that fit over her head from above.
It was the mask Rimuru had placed on her, carrying the meaning of concealing her true face.
Beretta had faithfully continued to obey the order that had sprung from Rimuru's playful whim.
And now, it had been destroyed.
Beretta's rage reached its limit in an instant — and shattered through.
—And so, the retaliation began.