For the Eighty-Six, death is a way of life.

—EIGHTY-SIXTH STRIKE PACKAGE,

MISCELLANEOUS JOURNAL SCRAWLING

| Azura Ren |
 Copyright

86—EIGHTY-SIX
Vol. 6

ASATO ASATO

Translation by Roman Lempert

Cover art by Shirabii

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or
persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

86—Eighty-Six—Ep. 6
©Asato Asato 2019
Edited by Dengeki Bunko
First published in Japan in 2019 by KADOKAWA
CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA
CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY,
INC., Tokyo.

English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC

Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the
value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage
| Azura Ren |
writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich
our culture.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book

without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual
property. If you would like permission to use material from
the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the
publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Asato, Asato, author. | Shirabii, illustrator. | Lempert,
Roman, translator.
Title: 86—eighty-six / Asato Asato ; illustration by Shirabii ;
translation by Roman Lempert.
Other titles: 86—eighty-six. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On,
2019—
Identifiers: LCCN 2018058199 | ISBN 9781975303129 (v. 1 :
| Azura Ren |
 pbk.) | ISBN 9781975303143 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN
9781975303112 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975303167 (v. 4 :
pbk.) | ISBN 9781975399252 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN
9781975314514 (v. 6 : pbk.)
Subjects: CYAC: Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.A79 .A18 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058199

ISBNs: 978-1-9753-1451-4 (paperback)

978-1-9753-1452-1 (ebook)

E3-20201024-JV-NF-ORI

| Azura Ren |
 Contents

Cover
Title Page
Insert
Epigraph
Copyright

Prologue: Harsh Mistress

Chapter 1: In the Werewolves’ Forest
Chapter 2: Life’s but a Walking Shadow
Chapter 3: Shoot the Moon
Chapter 4: In His Heaven
Epilogue: Home Sweet Home

Afterword
Yen Newsletter

| Azura Ren |
 PROLOGUE

HARSH MISTRESS

The Legion do not dream.

Dreams were the brain’s way of sorting through memories.
And though the Legion’s Liquid Micromachines were
modeled after a large mammal’s central nervous system, they
were still only mechanical. They didn’t need to execute the
same process.
And for that reason, she would never dream again.

<<No Face to Mistress>>

An incoming transmission from one of her consort units

roused her from the twilit void of her standby mode. Her
optical sensor whirred to life. For the first time in the ten
years since this body of hers had been put into operation, she
got the impression that her fuselage was beginning to creak.
The United Kingdom—which she was currently fighting—
had branded her the Merciless Queen. Her armor was glacial-
white and had been emblazoned with the Personal Mark of a
| Azura Ren |
goddess leaning against a crescent moon. She’d long since lost
the machine guns she had once been equipped with. She was,
after all, the last of the original production line of Ameise: the
Scout-type Legion.
The transmission was relayed through the Eintagsfliege
blanketing the sky and the Rabe—the Sentry-type Legion—
lording even higher above them. It reached her from far
beyond her hiding place in the Dragon Fang Mountain.

<<Operation objective incomplete. Requesting explanation as to why

operation objectives were rescinded.>>

She resisted the urge to sigh. Of course, she’d long since

discarded the mouth, throat, and lungs needed to do so, but
old habits were not so easily forgotten.

<<Rescinded? The objective was completed, No Face. In the wake of this

operation, the United Kingdom has lost the majority of its Alkonosts. The
enemy front line has fallen, and we have successfully gained footing in
their territory. In the next operation, we will penetrate their defensive
line and bring the fighting to open terrain: the arena where we Legion…
where armored weapons reign supreme.>>

In a cold, calm, and collected manner, she asserted that the

unicorns of the north were on the brink of collapse. From
hundreds of kilometers away, No Face responded to her
report. No Face served as second-in-command of the Legion’s
unified wide-area tactical network’s command echelon: a
Supreme Commander unit that oversaw the offensive against
multiple nations. No Face also doubled as one of the Supreme
Commander units in charge of the control network that
handled decision-making for the Legion across the continent.
He—it was assumed that No Face had once been a man
| Azura Ren |
anyway—was a commander unit created by assimilating the
neural network of a dead human being, so he likely retained
trace memories and personality quirks from his time among
the living.
But the Legion’s communications were secured, and in the
process of encrypting and decrypting messages, the speaker’s
idiosyncrasies tended to be ironed out. When her own words
were transmitted to No Face, they likely came across as the
dull, emotionless noises of a machine, as well.

<<Capture of primary targets—Báleygr, Hveðrungr, and Minerva—is not

yet complete.>>

These three high-priority targets were in the anti–United

Kingdom front—her designated war zone.
The name and personal history of Báleygr, the unique
individual capable of pinpointing the Legion’s whereabouts,
were unknown to the Legion.
Hveðrungr was the code name for the developer of the
United Kingdom’s drone-piloting system—the Sirins. His
name was unconfirmed, but he was presumed to be Viktor
Idinarohk, the fifth prince of the United Kingdom.
Minerva was the code name for a Republic engineer. Her
name: Henrietta Penrose.
The former two were confirmed to be present at the United
Kingdom base during the last battle. Minerva was not
detected at the time, but intel suggested she had moved from
the Republic to the Federacy—and from there to the United
Kingdom.

<<Is their capture imperative to the completion of the Legion’s directive?

>>
<<It carries strategic significance. In addition, there is high probability

| Azura Ren |
that Báleygr may be a worthy successor to receive total command over
the Legion. Receipt of new directives is the primary objective of the
unified network at present.>>
<<…………>>

The Legion were siege weapons developed by the Giadian

Empire. Even after all this time, their goal had not changed.
The Legion identified humankind as a target marked for
destruction—even after the Empire had fallen—in accordance
with their fallen nation’s dying will. They were adhering to
their final order: Wipe out the enemy.
The Legion never once rose in revolt against humankind.
They were obedient tools incepted by flesh-and-blood people
—albeit people who were no longer alive—and they were
simply following orders. Seeking out a human to lead them
was an instinct hardwired into their central processors.
The Legion were initially created to fill the roles of rank-
and-file soldiers and low-ranking officers. High-ranking
officers—who were exclusively human—would still be in
charge of strategy and delegation.
One of the safety measures applied to the Legion’s initial
directive specified that if they went a certain period of time
without receiving new orders, they were to request orders
from a member of their assigned leadership. And if no such
person was available, they were to seek out a successor they
deemed fit to command them.
And as No Face had stated, Báleygr was a potential
successor to receiving this right to command the Legion.
Mixed Onyx and Pyrope blood was seen as a mark of the
Giadian Imperial bloodline. High-ranking nobles vehemently
rejected the mixing of different bloodlines, and old
households in possession of special abilities were particularly
opposed to the idea. There was no telling how the heterogenic
aspects of their bloodline might influence each other once
mixed, after all.
| Azura Ren |
 Taking this into consideration, it was generally accepted
there could be no mixed bloodline other than the Imperial
bloodline. And it was probable that the current
administration had repeatedly dispatched Báleygr to frontline
missions, where the mortality rate was exceptionally high, out
of a belief that the old ruling class would be a hindrance to
the new regime. However…
She sank into contemplation. According to the optical
footage captured by the Phönix, Báleygr was a soldier in his
late teens. And there was no heir to the Imperial bloodline in
that age range, even among the branch families. If there was,
there would have been no need to crown the Imperial
princess, who had still been an infant at the time of her
coronation…
That soldier could not be the “emperor” the Legion
sought…
But No Face’s next transmission derailed her train of
thought.

<<Mistress. Did you lure Báleygr into your designated war zone?>>

For a moment, she kept quiet. His assumption was correct.

That was her intent when she delivered that message through
the Phönix. She had programmed a unit that should not have
been defeated to relay her words in the unlikely event that it
was. The message would contain nothing of discernible value;
it was a mere summons to draw Báleygr to her, without giving
so much as a hint of her whereabouts.
Except…

<<That’s our objective, isn’t it, No Face…? Is there a problem with that?
>>
<<Negative. After Báleygr is lured to the designated location, he must

| Azura Ren |
be exterminated.>>

………?
She fell into puzzled silence. If she still had eyebrows, she
would have surely furrowed them by now.

<<Are we not seeking a successor?>>

That was what No Face had said earlier. Such was the
Legion’s collective will. She was one of the Supreme
Commander units in charge of the unified network, and even
she couldn’t resist the instincts hard-coded into the Legion,
both in the case of absolute orders and absolute restrictions.

<<Affirmative. Our mission is to seek out the successor to absolute

command…>>

No Face then cut out for a moment. He had paused, as if in

confusion. But in the next moment, the malevolent chill
befitting a commander of the Legion—they that stood in stark
opposition to all remaining spheres of human influence—
filled his voice once more.
It was the unwavering tone of one that would slaughter
anything and everything.

<<…and swiftly dispose of him.>>

| Azura Ren |
 CHAPTER 1

IN THE WEREWOLVES’
FOREST

The Legion force heading for the Revich Citadel Base changed
course soon after the base was retaken. In response, the
United Kingdom’s reinforcements weaved their way through
the enemy’s advancing forces and reached the base a little
over a day later.
The Legion offensive was currently being delayed thanks to
these reinforcements… A delay was all they could manage.
They couldn’t counterattack, force the Legion to retreat, or
even hold the line. In other words, neither the Eighty-Sixth
Strike Package nor all the forces of the United Kingdom’s 1st
Armored Corps would last on this battlefield.
Regrettably, the Revich Citadel Base would have to be
abandoned despite the Strike Package’s and the Sirins’
desperate struggle to reclaim it. The relief unit’s white
transport truck and the Strike Package’s steel-blue heavy
transport vehicle left the base behind, solemn as a funeral
procession.
| Azura Ren |
 As she sat in the tightly packed passenger compartment of
one of the heavy transport vehicles, Lena stared out over the
bleak snowscape through the bulletproof-glass window.
She gazed at the precipitous cliffside base—the site of their
woefully short-lived respite from the battlefield, the base
they’d fought against the Legion to reclaim and ultimately
failed to keep. Her attention shifted to one corner of the cliff,
where the remains of the siege road were just barely visible.
Those Sirins and their Alkonosts, who had willingly
sacrificed their mechanical bodies to form that gruesome
bridge, held prized United Kingdom state secrets. The Sirins
especially so, since the makeup of their neural networks
would be exceedingly valuable to the Legion. The United
Kingdom tried to recover what they could in the short
amount of time that they occupied the base, but what was left
over would have to be completely destroyed with explosives.
They gave their lives for the sake of humankind but
wouldn’t be mourned as humans.
The Eighty-Six, whose service during the Revich Citadel
Base operation was no less instrumental, also suffered heavy
damage. Battle-hardened though they were, they still had to
fight for their lives in harsh, snowy weather conditions they
weren’t accustomed to. And even with the odds stacked
against them, they ultimately succeeded in pushing back the
Legion. But from a tactical standpoint, their efforts bore no
fruit, and they walked away from the mission with next to
nothing. None of them had said a word since leaving the base
behind. The sense of defeat lingered in the air like a heavy
smog.
The siege route made from the wreckage of the Alkonosts
as well as the Sirins’ broken bodies was easily the most
haunting element of the battle. The dead filled the moats,
forming a mountain of ruin that allowed the Eighty-Six to
scale the cliff. It was a massive gravestone marking the place
where the human-shaped dolls were crushed and trampled to
| Azura Ren |
death, laughing all the while.
Seeing it broadcast on a screen was ghastly enough, but the
Eighty-Six had watched it happen before their very eyes. And
they then had to walk over that road, knowingly treading
upon those girls’ remains, acknowledging their sacrifices as
they pressed onward.
Their mental anguish was immeasurable.
Shin, now sitting opposite Lena, had been there, too. Lena
frowned, recalling the expression he had made as he beheld
the mountain of the Sirins’ remains. He had looked like a lost,
confused child who could’ve vanished into the snow at a
moment’s notice. Even Shin, who had survived the horrors of
the Eighty-Sixth Sector with certain death hot on his heels
every day, had made such an expression…
Turning her attention to the rest of the compartment, Lena
watched the Processors slumbering silently, half-sunk into
their seats. None of them seemed like they would be opening
their eyes anytime soon. Shin similarly leaned against the
firm backrest, with arms crossed and eyes closed. He wore his
usual, almost overly calm expression, but he was visibly pale.
He still hadn’t shaken off the several days’ worth of fatigue
he’d built up during the siege battle.
He’s asleep, right…?
Lena gingerly reached out and grabbed the blanket that
had been tossed to his side. A person’s body temperature fell
while they slept, and the heavy transport vehicle was air-
conditioned, so she imagined he wouldn’t get much rest if he
was cold. Struggling against the cramped space of the
compartment, she slowly unfolded the blanket. But just as she
moved to cover him up with it, Shin’s crimson eyes fluttered
open.
“…Lena?”
“Eep!”
He blinked a few times and then looked up at her in a daze.
Realizing how close they were, Lena reflexively jumped back.
| Azura Ren |
She let go of the blanket in the process, and it gently fell onto
his lap.
“…? Did something happen?”
“N-no. No, er…”
Lena sat back down in her seat with an unusual swiftness.
She then straightened her back and placed her hands on her
knees in an excessively formal fashion. Finally, she spoke,
while turning her flushed face in a random direction.
“I thought you were asleep. So I…”
“Oh…”
His reply was lackluster, and his reaction was still a bit
sluggish. Lena anxiously furrowed her brows.
“You must be tired. Go ahead and get some rest.”
“Not yet. We’re still in enemy territory.”
Shin shook his head gently, knowing he wouldn’t be getting
any sleep.
“The United Kingdom’s reinforcements are handling
patrols and combat. Their numbers are more than sufficient,
so you don’t have to push yourself, Shin… It’s fine. This isn’t
the Eighty-Sixth Sector.”
This isn’t the lonely battlefield where all the fighting and
the death is left for the Eighty-Six to endure alone. This isn’t
the Eighty-Sixth Sector, where the whole world is against
you.
“I know you might consider it human nature for people to
sacrifice others to save themselves. But it’s also human nature
to fight to protect one’s home and the people they hold dear.
So…it’s fine, really.”
“………”
Shin said nothing. He just hung his head and looked at the
floor. His blinking had slowed down, as if he was
withstanding the urge to let his eyes close. His gaze was
unfocused, too. He was likely exhausted.
“…Lena, you…”
The words that left his lips didn’t feel like they were
| Azura Ren |
directed at her, but at himself.
“…You can still say that…? Even after seeing that…?”
Lena blinked once at his question but soon nodded when
she understood what he meant: the words she’d once told
him.
Is this world beautiful?
This world… Its people… Could you learn to love them?
“How can you be so…?”
His question was curt yet felt so oddly imploring that Lena
couldn’t help but crack a faint, sad smile. He’d completely
given up on this world, and to him, the sight of the siege route
the Sirins had made with their own bodies felt like the symbol
of all the world’s malice gathered into one place.
That bridge of bodies represented the bitter truth of the
world.
And Lena didn’t want to believe it, but maybe that was true.
Still…
“…You’re wrong. I… Even I can’t help but think that people
can be despicable.”
There were times when she couldn’t help but shiver with
disgust at the maliciousness of the world; at her homeland,
which felt no shame in persecuting the Eighty-Six; at the way
her reports constantly went ignored; at the way her
complaints were misunderstood; at everyone’s apathy; at the
sight of her subordinates, whom she knew by name, dying in
droves.
Not to mention the piles of corpses of the unnamed many
who had perished in the large-scale offensive.
She also felt disgust at herself—for never asking anyone’s
name until she was admonished for that very act of
negligence; for never even thinking it strange.
The world and its people weren’t all beautiful and kind.
There were some who were so unsightly that she couldn’t
even bring herself to face them directly.
And still…
| Azura Ren |
 “But… It bothers me. If that’s really how the world is,
everyone is… No, I am…”
Before she could lay her heart bare at the height of despair,
she stopped herself and shook her head. He was no doubt
exhausted. His body and mind must have been screaming for
respite.
“I’m sorry. We should finish this chat later… Forget about it
and relax for now. If you can’t fall asleep, just rest your eyes.”
She reached out for the fallen blanket and drew it up to his
shoulders this time… This, of course, brought her hand near
his face. The back of it brushed against his cheek, and she
quickly banished all thoughts of how cold he felt. Instead, she
stuffed the edges of the blanket between Shin’s back and his
seat so that the vehicle’s vibrations wouldn’t cause it to fall
off.
She then returned to her own seat and watched him.
Abiding by her words, Shin closed his eyes, and before long,
his body grew limp.
He had been so exhausted that he could hardly keep his
eyes open, so Lena couldn’t imagine he would stay awake
much longer. The heavy transport vehicle’s seats were hard,
and sitting in them was by no means a comfortable
experience. But even so, Shin was able to lean back and fall
asleep in no time at all.

| Azura Ren |
 His sleeping face was surprisingly youthful and quite fitting
for his age. Lena couldn’t resist the urge to smile, but she soon
knit her brows again. The reason why he fell asleep so easily
was more than his exhaustion from the siege. The ghostly
wails of the Legion had died down when their large group
dispersed. And the Sirins were gone, too.
For the last few days, he had been fighting in an area where
the nightmarish screams of the mechanical ghosts constantly
boomed in his ears over a several-kilometer radius. It put
significant mental strain on him. To make matters worse, he
wasn’t used to siege battles. Challenging a stalwart
fortification and repeatedly launching ineffective attacks had
a way of wearing on one’s spirit. His fatigue was so severe that
the moment the opportunity presented itself, he immediately
dozed off.
…Why?
Lena pursed her lips tightly. The opposite had happened
time and again. Lena shared the sorrow, the pain, and the
guilt that weighed on her, and Shin accepted it and comforted
her.
But why didn’t Shin ever say he was in pain? Why didn’t he
rely on her…?

A holographic map appeared over the mother-of-pearl table,

which was covered in polished ebony.
“In the wake of the recent Legion offensives, the second
line and the 1st Armored Corps’ tactical area have fallen.”
This briefing was being conducted in the United Kingdom
of Roa Gracia’s royal palace, in a conference room dedicated
for war councils. It was attended by military officers and
members of the nobility who were in charge of military
operations. Even those who were still on the front lines
| Azura Ren |
appeared in holographic form and watched the three-
dimensional map on the table.
The map’s holographic lines traced the shape of one of the
United Kingdom’s war zones: a corner of the Dragon Corpse
mountain range, in the country’s northern region. The United
Kingdom’s army was stationed to the north, while the Legion
were lined up along the south. Between both armies was a
lowland, which served as the battlefield of the second line.
By now, the United Kingdom’s forces had been pushed
back to the northern mountain’s peak, having been forced to
retreat to their reserve encampment. The Legion’s main force
had covered the base of the northern mountain, and the
majority of the map was dyed crimson with red dots that
signified the enemy forces.
“The Legion are currently forming an advance
encampment in this area. According to the estimates made by
the Strike Package’s Esper, there is an enemy battalion
included in this encampment. Our recon reported that this
battalion is a group of armored units, primarily made of Löwe
and Dinosauria. It is safe to assume they’re preparing to
launch another offensive.”
This was one of the Legion’s trademark tactics for breaking
through enemy lines. They would pressure peripheral
defenses by sending in a concentration of Dinosauria, which
boasted overwhelming firepower, and then suppress the front
with additional units. They’d repeated this tactic time and
again against the United Kingdom, the Federacy, the Alliance,
and even against the Republic of San Magnolia, following the
Morpho’s destruction of their walls.
“If they break through our reinforcements in the Dragon
Corpse mountain range, the next battlefield will be in the
southern plains. These are the United Kingdom’s farmlands—
and effectively our lifeline. If the flames of war consume that
area as well… As much as I hate to sound disrespectful, while
Your Majesty and his castle might survive, the United
| Azura Ren |
Kingdom itself will be finished.”
A tension that was unbearable even by the standards of this
militaristic country hung in the air over the war council. At
this point, there was effectively no battleground their reserve
forces could fall back to. If they didn’t hold their position… If
they couldn’t reclaim more ground, they would have no
future.
“And there’s also the issue of the temperature dropping
due to the Eintagsfliege’s interference, which has persisted
since early spring. If we don’t deal with them by summer, the
farmlands in the south will be ruined.”
Seated on his throne at the farthest end of the room, the
king let out a small sigh.
“So our kingdom only has a month and a half left to live.
Damned Legion… Keeping those flies of theirs in the air at all
times should be putting a considerable strain on them, as
well.”
The Legion produced energy primarily through solar
power generation. As adaptable as they were, even they
would struggle to maintain a presence in the north, where
sunlight was sparse, and all the more so during the winter.
This was why they relied on geothermal power generators as
well.
And the Eintagsfliege’s wings could only carry them up to a
certain height. In order for them to cover the skies of the
southern United Kingdom, they’d have to rely on the wind
and the Zentaur’s long-distance launching capabilities. This
meant they needed a base capable of launching them, and
there was a limited number of places that could allow for that.
One such place was the Legion stronghold, which was also
responsible for producing their large reserves of geothermal
electricity.
“The Dragon Fang Mountain… We must destroy that base
at all costs. And quickly.”
“By your will, Your Majesty. We will need to slip through
| Azura Ren |
the Legion’s defenses, take control of the mountain, and halt
deployment of the Eintagsfliege. In doing so, we will also
interrupt their unit production… If we cannot accomplish
that, and also push them out of the second front, our country
has no future.”
The king nodded once and then asked:
“What of the Strike Package, Zafar?”
The crown prince, who was the overall commander of the
second front’s forces, nodded. The unit they’d been loaned
from their neighboring country would serve as the lynchpin
of the Dragon Fang Mountain capture operation. That blade
was still sharp.
“Its officers are headed to the capital in anticipation of the
operation, while their main force is currently on reserve duty.
We will have to wait for their supplies to be replenished by
the Federacy… And yet they are our decisive sword for
combating the mechanical ghosts. Putting them to use
unnecessarily would only serve to chip their blade away.”
“They can be deployed, yes?”
He was referring to both the stalwart blade loaned to them
by the Federacy and the birds of death the United Kingdom
begrudgingly took pride in. Zafar cracked a thin smile, like a
sword drawn from its sheath.
“Of course.”

“…About restocking the Juggernauts we lost during the

Revich Citadel Base operation—we should be able to get the
numbers we need on the next scheduled supply. The
Federacy’s still strugglin’ to restock and cover the losses from
the large-scale offensive, so we don’t have a surplus or
anythin’, but Colonel Wenzel managed to get what she needed
out of ’em.”
| Azura Ren |
 Though he was the oldest noncommissioned officer among
them and the captain of the Vargus-only units as well as the
Nordlicht squadron, Bernholdt was still serving as Shin’s
assistant. Several desks had been brought into the room, and
Bernholdt spoke as Shin stood in front of them.
While the Dragon Fang Mountain capture operation was
being redrafted, Lena and the rest of the officers, along with
Shin’s group of senior Processors, Bernholdt, and the
squadron commanders, had been ordered to return to the
capital. The common room of the Imperial villa that served as
their barracks doubled as the captains’ joint office.
Through the window lay a snowy landscape—an unfitting
sight given that summer was nearly upon them.
“The bigwigs’ war council should be over soon, and the
operation’ll probably start as soon as we’ve gotten our
supplies. Things are pretty tense, even this far behind the
front lines. I’m pretty sure the war situation is bad enough
that they don’t want to sit and wait for our supplies from the
Federacy to get here, though… But that said…”
Shin was the only captain in the common room; the others
were all out on their own errands. Bernholdt carried on after
looking around the room listlessly and once again confirming
only Shin was present.
“…you all right, man?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Don’t you ask me that. You’re looking a bit better now, but
back when we recaptured the citadel base and you gave us the
order to retreat? Your voice was shaking.”
Shin pursed his lips. The ruins of the Sirins lying in the
snowy field, the fact that he had to run over them, crushing
their bodies in his wake—it was like a manifestation of the
path he had taken to get to where he was today, one built
upon his sacrificed comrades’ corpses.
Back then, he’d thought:

| Azura Ren |
 Humans were all monsters.

The Eighty-Six had realized what awaited them at the end

of their long journey—their reward for their sacred “pride”—
was a mountain of laughing corpses. And yet pride was all
they had. They couldn’t change that now.
“…It won’t affect the operation.”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that, but… Wow, you’re really down in
the dumps. I can’t believe you just admitted it so easily.”
“………”
Dammit.
Bernholdt laughed at his little trick as Shin grimaced.
…This is irritating.
“Look, I’m just relieved to see you act your age for once,
y’know? Even we mercenaries were shocked when we saw
that siege route. It’s probably that much harder on you kids.”
“What about you guys?”
“Well, we Vargus are beastmen. We wouldn’t want to die
like those dolls, but it’s still better than a straw death. Oh, a
straw death is what we call dying like an old man who croaks
while sleeping in the comfort of his bed.”
“Beastmen?”
Bernholdt would call the Vargus that every now and then.
Beasts shaped like human beings… And he always said it with
a hint of pride. Bernholdt nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what they used to call people they drove out
of towns and villages. They treated them like wolves, not
people; these folks couldn’t live among humans and didn’t
deserve to be treated as such.”
“I think that’s called Salic law…? That’s a pretty old
concept.”
“If anything, I should be asking how the hell you know
about something like that… I know you’re a bookworm, but
still.”

| Azura Ren |
 “Raiden’s roots are steeped in that ‘beastman’ mentality, so
yeah, I’ve heard of it. Apparently, his ancestors hated that
ideology and moved from the Empire to the Republic.”
“Huh. So that’s why First Lieutenant Shuga’s called
Wehrwolf. If he’s from the Empire, his ancestors must have
been from one group of Vargus or another… And then they
ended up in the Republic, where they got treated like animals
in human form. Talk about rotten luck.”
“………”
The backstory behind Raiden’s Personal Name is that when
Shin first met him, he was much more savage and had a way
of snapping and attacking anyone who got in his way. It was
mostly an insult. Bernholdt didn’t seem to notice the way Shin
avoided meeting his gaze and continued:
“…Anyway. We Vargus are kind of like werewolves:
disloyal outcasts abandoned on the outskirts of the Empire.
The Empire lost nothing by leaving us to die, unlike serfs, so
they always went around recruiting us when it was time for
war and regularly sent rations to keep us obedient. A class of
vassal warriors that was granted tax exemptions and
provisions during both war and peacetime—that was us
Vargus… Though, thanks to that, the average citizens didn’t
want anything to do with us anymore.”
And so even when the Empire was overthrown and the
Federacy was established in its place, the rift between the
former Vargus and the rest of the population remained. The
Vargus had no Federacy citizenship but were residents of the
Federacy all the same. They weren’t permitted to enter officer
academies or military training schools, but these people of the
battlefield were still treated as mercenary forces.
Hence, they were beastmen. Animals that could no longer
live among humans.
“…Haven’t you ever considered uprooting that ideology?”
“Not really. We’ve been soldiers of fortune for generations.
It’s easier for us this way.”
| Azura Ren |
 Bernholdt was perfectly composed as he spoke, without
much fervor or discontent. His tone made it clear he truly
believed what he was saying.
“For centuries, we’ve done nothin’ but wage war. The thirst
for battle runs in our veins, y’see? So it makes sense we don’t
get along with the citizens, and we can’t stand living
peacefully in the city, either… In the end, wolves are wolves
till the day they die. We can’t be human, and we don’t wanna
be human to begin with.”
“………”
All we have is pride. And there’s no changing that.
Looking down at Shin, who had fallen silent, Bernholdt
smiled suddenly. He had steel-gray hair and golden eyes.
True to the man’s description of himself, he somehow
reminded Shin of an aged wolf. Callous and brutal.
“Don’t lose that cute side of yours, ya hear me? You Eighty-
Six don’t wanna end up becoming something that isn’t
human, do ya?”

“Now then, as you’re surely aware, our objective is still the

destruction of the Dragon Fang Mountain base.”
A common room was prepared in the palace to hold a war
council. Vika spoke as a holographic map of the battlefield
appeared over the chic parquet table, and several other holo-
windows were projected from mobile information terminals.
Aside from Vika and Lena, Grethe, as the Strike Package’s
commanded, was also present, as were the captains of the
Strike Package’s squadrons and the staff officers of Vika’s
regiment.
“The Strike Package’s losses during the last battle should
not put this mission in jeopardy. My regiment’s losses are
within acceptable parameters, as well.”
“Yes.”
This was without taking into account the many Sirins that
| Azura Ren |
were lost, however. The soldiers of Vika’s regiment seemed to
have been traumatized by the ordeal as much as the Eighty-
Six were. The Handlers who were emotionally attached to
their subordinates were particularly demoralized.
Vika, however, didn’t seem to pay much mind to the
soldiers’ unrest and looked almost too collected.
“The problem lies with the United Kingdom military’s main
force. Their hands are full holding the line against the
Legion’s front line. That includes supplies. We can’t expect
them to dispatch a diversionary force like last time. This
means we can’t execute the attack operation we drafted
before.”
Lena regarded his calm voice and expression with mixed
feelings. She knew he was trying to think of countermeasures,
too, and only acted this way because he knew that expressing
concern now wouldn’t do them any good. And yet despite
that, she couldn’t help but feel his reaction was unnatural. In
contrast to Lena, Grethe spoke up with a detached tone.
“No matter how we pierce the Legion’s defenses, we’d have
to cross seventy kilometers… No, now that we’ve fallen back
to the second front, it’s ninety kilometers. We’re expected to
cross that distance and suppress the Dragon Fang Mountain
base. We’ll need to think this over from scratch.”
A new holo-window opened, presenting the total number
of the Legion’s forces. The units’ icons formed a long, thick,
rectangular formation across the map. Looking up at it, Lena
winced. This was true for all their battles, but…
“We are Legion, for we are many. Those words certainly
ring true. Their forces are vast.”
The Legion didn’t get away from the last battle unscathed,
either, yet their numbers had not changed. They had
managed to replenish the forces they had lost within the short
time frame. The Weisel’s ability to mass-produce units in the
safety of the Legion’s back line was as rapid and irritating as
ever.
| Azura Ren |
 They would have to avoid trying to penetrate the Legion’s
front lines head-on. The idea was quite simply out of the
question. Any attempt to brute force their way through the
enemy’s defenses required having an army that was several
times larger than theirs.
There was the option of separating the enemy formation to
land a concentrated blow at a point where their forces were
thinner, but there were limits. The Strike Package was only
the size of a brigade, and any attempt they might make to
split up the enemy’s main force would likely fall short of
expected results.
It was then that Lena had an idea.
“What about an airdrop…?”
If the Legion could do it, why couldn’t they?
“Impossible. The Legion have Stachelschwein set up in the
United Kingdom’s territories, too. On top of that, the number
of Eintagsfliege deployed here is much denser than in the
Republic or the Federacy.”
In addition to their electromagnetic jamming, the
Eintagsfliege were also capable of taking offensive action
against aircrafts. They would swarm around a plane and fly
directly into its engine, destroying it from the inside. This
threat, coupled with the Stachelschwein and their antiair
cannons, made infiltrating the Legion’s airspace incredibly
difficult.
“Then maybe a rocket engine—”
“The United Kingdom doesn’t have any type of rocket
engine capable of supporting the advance force’s weight.”
Vika cut her off and looked up. “Colonel Wenzel. Last year,
during the Morpho subjugation operation, the Federacy used
a ground-effect winged vehicle to ferry Captain Nouzen’s
advance force. It ended up crash-landing, but would the
Federacy happen to have another one of those?”
Lena blinked in surprise at Vika’s words. It was the first
she’d heard of it. A ground-effect winged vehicle? Sailing just
| Azura Ren |
above the ground and right into Legion territory? When Shin
and his group were under Grethe’s direct command, they had
only been a squadron in terms of size.
Had Grethe, who had always seemed like a mature,
responsible adult, actually done something so reckless?
“There’s only one Nachzehrer unit… That’s the
aforementioned ground-effect winged vehicle. And it crashed
during that operation. All the prototypes and materials the
developer had were taken away and dismantled. There’s
nothing left. And even if the vehicle was still intact, we only
had the one.”
“And even it couldn’t support that much weight. You
probably didn’t have enough pilots to handle more than one
anyway.”
“I piloted it myself during that operation, but I have no
experience flying in the United Kingdom’s skies. And while
this may come across as rude, I doubt your country has any
pilots capable of flying anything that isn’t a transport plane,
either.”
“I’ll admit our fighter and bomber jets have only been
collecting dust in their hangars.”
Vika sighed, tacitly acknowledging they lacked pilots. Lena
then proceeded to ask:
“Can’t we open up an invasion route using missiles or
artillery?”
“The missiles’ guidance systems won’t operate under these
conditions, and heavy artillery doesn’t deal enough effective
damage to Dinosauria. Those things can charge straight
through Skorpion fire. That’s what they did in the large-scale
offensive.”
“……”
So raw firepower wasn’t the answer, either, though she
could’ve guessed as much. As silence settled over the room,
Lena racked her brain. Something… There had to be
something. Some way of transporting the Juggernauts or
| Azura Ren |
blasting open a route to the Dragon Fang Mountain. There
had to be…
Lena’s eyes widened in realization.
Maybe we can…
Vika keenly noticed the change in Lena’s expression.
“It seems you have something brilliant in mind, Milizé.”
“No…” Lena couldn’t honestly describe her idea as
brilliant. “But I do think it’s better than having the Strike
Package charge in as is. And what of the Sirins? I need to
know how many of them we can expect for this battle.”
Vika scoffed. His face looked slightly offended, as if she’d
asked a question with an obvious answer.
“Don’t you understand yet? Those girls are weapons. And
when it comes to war, one must favor quantity over quality.
They couldn’t really be considered state-of-the-art weaponry
if we weren’t able to mass-produce them, could they?”

The sound of military boots clicking against the floor echoed

from behind Shin. The footsteps seemed quite aggressive for
the pace they traveled at. Judging by the length of the
approaching figure’s stride, they were smaller than Shin—and
yet they were significantly heavier, as if their skeleton and
organs were completely metallic and coated with artificial
muscles and skin.
Shin could feel Rito, who was following behind him, gulp
and stagger a step back away from the figure.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Sir Reaper.”
About-facing in the parquet corridor, Shin turned to look at
the relatively tall girl. Her hair was a fiery shade of crimson,
far too red to appear natural. She wore a rouge uniform that
was unique to those girls, and she had a violet quasi-nerve
crystal embedded in her forehead.
| Azura Ren |
 She spoke with the same voice that uttered those words he
so clearly recalled.

“Come now, everyone. By all means.”

“…Ludmila.”
There was a shiver in Shin’s voice. He couldn’t contain the
chill in his heart, but the mechanical girl simply smiled at him
in response. It was a graceful smile that paid no heed to the
terror of the people standing before her—a smile made with
the exact same face he remembered.
“Yes, my unit identifier is Ludmila. I have been granted the
honor of being redeployed. You may use and discard me as
you please.”
It was the same face and expression they had witnessed get
crushed into the siege route composed of Alkonost and Sirin
remains.
“‘Use and discard’…? How can you say that with a
smile…?!” croaked Rito, aghast.
But Ludmila’s expression did not waver. She didn’t fault
him for his fear, nor did she show any remorse for her past
actions.
“It is our pleasure to serve. So please do with us what you
will.”
“………”
The Sirins were like the Legion—like the Black Sheep,
Shepherds, and Sheepdogs. They were weapons made by
assimilating the neural networks of those killed in action.
Their brain structures, combat data, and pseudo-personalities
were all safely stored in the United Kingdom, where they
could be mass-produced, just like all modern weapons.
Shin knew all this. Compared with the Ludmila they saw
die a few days ago, this Ludmila shared only the quasi-
personality, along with her combat data and likely the same

| Azura Ren |
memories from several days before the operation. In that
sense, Shin couldn’t regard the two Ludmilas as the same
person on a technical level. And yet…
I see… This is…terrifying…
He found it gruesome. Just a few days ago, this girl had
died… Her body lay broken on the battlefield. But in the next
offensive, she would be right back on the front line, fighting
as before. Looking exactly the same. With the same voice,
expression, memories, and mannerisms.
As if nothing had happened.
These girls, who were treated as disposable—much like the
Eighty-Six—kept getting back up and leaping into the fray.
What should have been a singular death was instead played
on loop for as long as necessary. Their lives were regarded as
no more than garbage. And they themselves were the ones
who harbored this mindset.
For humans, who were, on some level, perpetually fixated
on the how and why of their own deaths, this came across as
the greatest blasphemy imaginable.
Treating death as just death. Devoid of meaning. Devoid of
value.
They were confronted with the idea that there didn’t need
to be any significance or merit to it—or to the life preceding
the death, for that matter.
“…Right.”

As Lena walked down the corridor connecting the castle’s

conference room to the Imperial villa that served as their
barracks, Lerche passed her by.
“…Ah.”
“My, if it isn’t Lady Bloody Reina.”
Lena stopped in her tracks, and Lerche greeted her without
any particular emotion in her voice. The limbs she’d lost
during the last battle were intact and attached to her body,
| Azura Ren |
and there wasn’t any sign of the other injuries she’d taken
during that battle… Nor were there any marks on her neck to
prove that her severed head was the only part of her that had
survived the recent events.
Lerche pressed her right fist against the center of her chest
in the United Kingdom’s customary hand-over-heart salute.
“First Sirin Unit, Lerche, is once again fully operational, as
you can see. I intend to diligently serve as a lustrous blade for
the United Kingdom and the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package.
Please use me however you see fit.”
“I…see. That was, er…quicker than I thought it would be.”
Lena purposely left out the word repairs. Lerche simply
smiled, however, seemingly undisturbed.
“I would argue that it took longer than preferred. I can only
have all my body parts replaced in His Highness’s workshop…
The other Sirins have had their spares assembled ahead of
time in production plants and frontline bases, and they only
need to have their pseudo-personalities and latest combat
data installed prior to activation. They can be redeployed
almost immediately, even if their bodies were completely
destroyed—as in the latest battle. There are, in fact, multiple
Sirins with the same identifier and appearance deployed
concurrently across different units.”
“………”
To Lena, the idea was deeply unsettling, but Lerche
described their existence as weapons with pride in her voice.
This made it vividly clear that the United Kingdom only saw
these girls as weapon components. They were no better than
mass-produced, industrial goods.
Having spare parts and units on standby in factories and
bases was par for the course when it came to modern
weaponry. Reginleifs had a fixed number of spare units set
aside for each squadron and battalion. Shin was likely a
rather unique example, but even in the Eighty-Sixth Sector,
he had one or two spares of his personal Juggernaut,
| Azura Ren |
Undertaker, prepared.
Yet seeing that same logic apply to these girls, who so
closely resembled human beings, felt like a violation of ethics
to Lena.
“…Doesn’t it hurt?”
“What do you mean?”
Having her question replied to with so much composure
left Lena at a loss for words. Lerche was perhaps used to
seeing people react this way, because she cracked a knowing
smile and continued:
“Do you think cannon shells cry out in pain when they are
stored in a factory or warehouse? Or even in the moment
before they explode? Humans only shun the prospect of war
because theirs is not an existence purposed for combat. But
we Sirins are weapons. We are created to destroy the enemy.
Dying along with our foes is a point of pride for us. We do not
think it loathsome. If anything…”
Lerche moved her gaze toward an old, ornamental sword
displayed on the wall behind Lena.
“…that sword is far more pitiful than we could ever be. It
was made to cut down its foe and shatter in the heat of battle.
But it will never fulfill its destiny. The technological
advancements of war have rendered it obsolete, reducing it to
an ornament that must forever have its shame on display for
all to see… The same is true for you.”
Those unexpected words gave Lena pause, and all she
could do was stare back at the girl, who was slightly shorter
than her, before saying:
“Do you pity us?”
Lerche stood with her back straightened and gave a stiff,
dutiful nod.
“Indeed. Humans despise war and fear the death it breeds.
And yet you remain on the battlefield… You asked me if I
hurt, but I must direct the same question at you. Unlike us,
should you die, that is the end of your existence. There are so
| Azura Ren |
many things you wish to do that do not involve battle. Your
time in this world is meant for more than just war, yet you
squander it by fighting. Is that not a painful existence?”
“…You may be right. However…”
The answer to whether it hurt was obviously yes. If nothing
else, Lena could not claim she derived any pleasure or joy
from being on the battlefield. She could likely never throw
herself into war the way the Sirins did during the last battle,
laughing as if that cruel fate was all they ever longed for. The
truth was that she wished she didn’t have to fight at all.
However.
Her thoughts turned to Shin and the other Processors of
the Spearhead squadron she spoke to back then…
“…the Eighty-Six chose to survive on this battlefield. And I
chose to fight by their side.”
Lerche cocked her head quizzically.
“My, my… I guess it is true what they say in the streets. The
closer you get to something, the harder it is to properly see
it.”
Her green eyes reflected the sunlight with a transparency
that was different from a real human’s eye.
“What do you mean…?”
“I am of the opinion that Sir Reaper, and the rest of the
Eighty-Six, do not in fact wish to be on the battlefield.”

“…Everyone is truly brooding over this matter, are they not?”

Despite being told that mixing sugared petals and the fruit
that was served along with her tea was bad manners in the
United Kingdom, Frederica didn’t pay the warning much
heed. One older chamberlain had seemingly taken a liking to
her and would regularly place an extra-large serving of
different kinds of sugared garnishes on her small, silver plate.
Her tea was already full of flower petals, but Frederica
hadn’t touched it, instead gazing pensively into the cup as she
| Azura Ren |
spoke. Sitting opposite her, Raiden raised an eyebrow. They
were in the villa’s sunroom, but the garden was currently
surrounded with nothing but stifling, monochromatic snow.
“…Yeah. That was a blow, all right.”
He recalled the siege road they had to walk across, made of
Alkonost and Sirin wreckage, and the image it conjured up.
Rito, as well as some of the other younger Processors, seemed
to have been especially impacted by it, though they didn’t put
their feelings into words.
But the effects the traumatic event had on each of them
were readily apparent. Their reports were riddled with a
greater number of minor mistakes and typos than usual.
Many of the Processors hadn’t received even elementary
education and weren’t the best at reading and writing. Yet
even taking that into consideration, they were making far
more mistakes than was typical.
They were unable to concentrate on the work in front of
them. Their minds were elsewhere, leaving them incapable of
focusing on what their hands were doing. They weren’t
properly checking their paperwork, even when it dealt with
matters of life and death.
“You seem to be doing fine, by comparison.”
“Yeah, ’cause I wasn’t there to see it happen. I only saw it
when everything was all over.”
He hadn’t witnessed the Sirins sacrificing themselves to
form that siege route, and he didn’t have to step over their
mechanical remains to ascend. But even the other Eighty-Six
who weren’t there to see it happen—and only chanced upon
the sight while fighting off the remaining enemy forces—were
shaken by the sight.
The fact that he wasn’t as rattled probably wasn’t because
he’d only seen it after the fact.
No, it was likely…because he was the least-whittled-down
blade among them.
Up until he was twelve years of age, Raiden had been
| Azura Ren |
sheltered within the eighty-five Sectors of the Republic. And
that meant he had been subjected to far less of the Republic’s
malice, and he’d seen more human kindness than many of his
comrades.
I probably did lose a good deal in the Eighty-Sixth Sector,
but…but there are still things I haven’t lost yet.
Frederica looked up at him cautiously, as if examining
some kind of wound.
“And…what did you think when you saw them?”
“I don’t wanna end up like that.”
His response was brief, and he only realized how curt his
tone was after he’d finished speaking. He clicked his tongue
lightly, so as to not let Frederica hear it.
We’ve really got our backs against the wall. We just
haven’t noticed it until now.
Raiden looked away, unable to meet her small, bloodred
eyes. It felt like that crimson gaze could see right through
him, unrelentingly burning through every lie and bluff he
might try to come up with.
“…I know what you’re gonna say. If I feel that way, then
what should we do about it? What are we supposed to do
differently so we don’t end up like them? But I ain’t got a clue,
neither.”
The Sirins were different from the Eighty-Six. That much
was certain. But how were they different? What could the
Eighty-Six do differently that would prevent them from
becoming forgotten corpses on a pile of wreckage? That was a
question that Raiden—and likely his comrades, as well—
didn’t have the answer to.
Actually…
He curled his lips in a bitter grimace.
“I don’t wanna know is probably a more honest answer to
your question. I hate to admit it, but that’s…”
Shin had said something like that at some point.
“Don’t you want to remember?”
| Azura Ren |
 His family. His hometown. The future he had vaguely
dreamed about back then. The period of time when he was
happy.
Raiden had said no, and Shin likely felt the same way—
neither of them wanted to remember. No, to be precise, they
didn’t want to think about it at all. They didn’t want to think
about the futures they had brazenly dared to consider.
After all, an Eighty-Six had to believe that…
“…that’s not something we’re allowed to wish for.”

“Apparently, they’re going to decide the specifics of the next

operation any day now.”
They’d returned to the royal palace to wait until the
particularities of their next mission were ironed out. But ever
since their return, everyone else in the palace seemed to eye
them with cold contempt. It wasn’t really the Eighty-Six’s
fault that the United Kingdom had to fall back to its second
front, but the fact remained that they had been dispatched
and achieved nothing.
Theo was the one who spoke up, sitting in one of the rooms
in the Imperial villa that doubled as their barracks. It was
natural that the others would look down on them. Since the
Strike Package tried to avoid picking any unnecessary fights,
they mostly stayed in the villa.
They knew other people only saw them as bloodthirsty
berserkers, and ever since they chose to join the military, they
also knew they were seen primarily as weapons.
“I mean, they can’t let us Eighty-Six mooch off them
forever. The United Kingdom really is in a tight spot, after
all… But still…”
He looked up and spoke to the figure listlessly looking out
the window.
“You okay, Kurena?”
“What? I’m fine; can’t you tell?”
| Azura Ren |
 Kurena replied with a tone that was sourer than she’d
probably intended. She had been like this ever since they
retook the Revich Citadel Base… Ever since that charge, she
had been constantly on edge like an ornery, injured cat
rejecting anyone’s attempts to reach out to her.
The same went for Shin, Raiden, Anju, and Theo himself…
It went for all the Eighty-Six, really, albeit to different extents.
Kurena narrowed her golden eyes at Theo, squinting at him
harshly as if annoyed by his silence.
“We’re different from those things.”
From those unmanned-weapon processor units—the Sirins.
The Sirins who laughed with pride as they were crushed and
broken.
“We’re not the same as them. I mean, that’s obvious, right?
I don’t get why everyone’s so worked up over it. They… The
Sirins—they’re not us.”
But Theo could hear the creaking sound of her teeth
clenching behind those words. She spoke in denial, as if to
remonstrate herself.
“That mountain of corpses… Those weren’t our dead
bodies.”
“Right.”
The Sirins and the Eighty-Six were different. Those girls
who laughed at the prospect of being trampled did not
represent a future the Eighty-Six had to look forward to. She
knew that. That’s…how it should have been.
“But you know, it’s like… What makes us so different? We
Eighty-Six don’t know, and I think…that’s why we can’t deny
it. I feel the same way…”
Their deaths would come eventually. And when they did,
would the Eighty-Six be able to laugh proudly? While dying
meaningless deaths? They had been made acutely aware of
the possibility. And they didn’t have any concrete way of
denying it. That was why…
“I think we’re all just…scared.”
| Azura Ren |
 Even Shin was scared… Even Kurena, who pursed her lips
tightly and averted her gaze.

“Are you all right, Second Lieutenant Emma…? Uhhh, I

mean… Anju. You stopped again.”
Beckoned by that awkward, bashful call, Anju raised her
head from the common office’s desk. She switched off the
electronic document regarding her platoon’s armaments and
supplies and shrugged before replying.
“I kind of got that feeling already, but…”
Looking back in the direction of the voice, she was met
with the silver eyes and pearlescent hair she hadn’t quite
grown accustomed to. They belonged to the only member of
the Strike Package clad in the Republic’s Prussian-blue men’s
uniform. He was a bit shorter than Daiya was, and every time
she tried to meet his gaze, she always seemed to miss him for
a second.
“…you really aren’t fazed by this, are you, Dustin?”
He’d rushed up the siege route alongside them. Meanwhile,
Lena, Vika, and Frederica only saw it happen through the
command center’s screen, while Annette and Grethe weren’t
present at all and only heard about the battle after the fact.
None of them were of the Eighty-Six…
“It’s not like I haven’t seen mountains of corpses before,
like during the large-scale offensive. I mean, er…”
During the large-scale offensive last summer, the Republic
was hit the hardest. The entire country was consumed by the
Legion’s forces, and it was during the summer at that. The
walls and minefields they had built were surrounded by the
Legion, and the Republic had nowhere to run.
The killing machines took no prisoners and didn’t
distinguish between military personnel and civilians. They
slaughtered most of the Republic’s population of over ten
million… There wasn’t even any time to cremate their
| Azura Ren |
remains.
“It might come off as disrespectful, but I don’t understand
why you’re so disturbed by this. It was a horrible operation,
but, uh…y’know. When we saw the brain samples, there were
all those skeletons. The Sirins weren’t any worse than that, so
I honestly don’t get why you’re so bothered by it.”
Dustin’s mind wandered back to Shin’s discovery during
the Charité underground-terminal Labyrinth operation. The
samples had been extracted, like common objects, from the
heads of living people. They had been cracked open, and the
brains had been extracted and placed into cylinders without
so much as a shred of human dignity. And despite witnessing
something so horrific, Shin didn’t bat an eye. His crimson
gaze passed over the bodies without a hint of emotion, as if
they truly were just objects.
That was the coldness that made him worthy of his
moniker: Reaper. But during the most recent operation, he
was different. He watched those mechanical girls happily leap
into the abyss and form the siege route with their bodies. It
was a gruesome sight, to be sure, but it wasn’t much different
than the corpses they saw in the terminal. And yet unlike that
time, Shin showed hesitation.
“…I see. You really are different from us.”
Staring at that mountain of wreckage felt like staring into
their own futures. They rushed to their deaths, insisting their
pride spurred them to action, laughing all the while. And
though he was shocked by it, Dustin couldn’t see a reflection
of himself in that image.
Even if they were to view the same sights, Dustin and Anju
saw things differently. Even if they were on the same
battlefield, and Dustin were to willingly choose to fight in the
same place as her, an Eighty-Six and someone who wasn’t an
Eighty-Six were different. Even if they both didn’t have a
homeland or a place to return to anymore.
“…I’m sorry.” Dustin hung his head.
| Azura Ren |
 “Don’t be. You shouldn’t have to apologize for this… But…”
What she was about to ask him was a cruel question. It
would probably sound like she was blaming him as a citizen
of the Republic. And while that wasn’t her intent, Anju was
still an Eighty-Six, and Dustin was of the Republic, so it would
probably come across as an accusation.
“…Dustin, what do you suppose is the missing factor that
would have made us like you? What do we need to hold on
to…to stay normal?”
“………”
After hearing that question, Dustin looked away. It was an
honest question and likely wasn’t accusatory. But it still made
the rift between them all the more tangible. It made the
indescribable emptiness in her gaze—in her words—all too
clear.
“I think you’ve got it wrong… It’s not that I think you guys
aren’t normal or something; it’s just a difference in values.
But…”
Pausing for a moment to find the right words, Dustin spoke
again.
“…I do think the way you live right now is a kind of torture.
It’s like you’re willingly tying yourselves up.”
We are the Eighty-Six. That was how Anju would
sometimes describe herself and the others to him. They took
the name the Republic had forced on them, intending to
disparage them, and made it their own, infusing it with pride.
But from Dustin’s perspective, that name was a curse.
That pride they carried was, at the same time, a curse that
bound them like shackles. There was a paper-thin difference
between that pride and a curse. Living for the sake of
something and living to become something—it gave them a
purpose, but it was also a curse that prevented them from
being capable of living for any other reason.
Dustin believed that everyone lived bound by something to
some extent. Like one’s blood. Or one’s language, society, or
| Azura Ren |
emotions. One’s values and the past that led up to their
present. No matter how free of those things one believes they
might be, absolute freedom didn’t exist.
And yet…
“Whenever you guys call yourselves Eighty-Six, it feels to
me like you’re also saying you can’t be anything but Eighty-
Six. Like you’re saying you can’t hope to be anything other
than what you are right now…”

Svetlana Idinarohk was his father’s—the king’s—older sister

by seven years, making her Vika’s aunt. And like Vika,
Svetlana was one of the Idinarohk bloodline’s Espers—an
Amethystus of the former generation. Her reception room
had a half-circular window with a decorated frame in the
shape of a folding fan. The faint sunlight streaming in from
the frozen garden barely got through the double-layered
glass.
“I heard about what happened during your last battle, dear
Vika. Quite the awful skirmish.”
The Idinarohk bloodline ability was the augmentation of
one’s intellect and creativity. It granted one mental prowess
that seemed to ignore the logic and limitations of
contemporary technology. But for whatever reason, that
inventive ability seemed to manifest in only one person at any
given time. Whenever a new Amethystus was born, the
existing one appeared to suddenly lose their inventive ability.
As such, there was always just one single Amethystus.
Over the years, the Idinarohk Espers posited numerous
theories as to why this was, but none of them were interested
enough to delve deeper into the matter. One Amethystus
alone would cause a disturbance in the human world. If there
were two or three of them at once, the king might have had
| Azura Ren |
difficulty keeping his throne.
“I saw Stanya…His Majesty turned pale with fear. Even
though he knew he was sending you out to battle… You truly
are lacking in filial piety.”
“Oh, and you didn’t worry for me, Aunt Svetlana?”
Svetlana curled her lips into a smile. Her facial features
were smoother than one would assume from her small
physique, and she looked very much like a young girl. One
would be hard-pressed to believe she was older than the king.
“Idinarohk serpents like us are not easily slain on the
battlefield. We excavate every nook and cranny of the world
and dissect our findings. Even when ruin befalls all creation,
we venomous snakes will smirk and observe the
phenomenon. Dying before the world does would be our
greatest shame… If you were to die, I would preserve your
remains with my own two hands. Ah, should I make a hair
ornament out of your ribs?”
Vika smiled wordlessly. He was well aware that he was a
serpent who deviated from human sensibilities. But before
him was Svetlana, who was lovingly patting the head of a dog
resting atop the lap of her dress. No, not a dog’s head—a dog’s
skull.
Her villa was hidden deep in the royal palace’s garden, and
this very room contained a great many engravings that looked
like polished ivory or white coral. They were all fashioned
from birds, cats, and hounds she fancied, as well as a wet
nurse she was close to.
In exchange for their transcendent intellect, many of the
Idinarohk Espers seemed to lack something critical: their
sense of ethics and empathy. The fact that Vika had been
stripped of his succession rights to the throne wasn’t at all
unusual in the royal bloodline’s history.
What was being used as the audience chamber for the
palace right now—a large room full of butterfly wings—was
made by the first Idinarohk monarch, an Amethystus known
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as the mad king. He’d funneled the entire fortune of their
winter country into breeding thousands upon thousands of
those butterflies in one of their greenhouses, only to suddenly
kill all of them.
“By your will, Aunt Svetlana. This is why I can’t afford to
lose to the Legion at this point. I’ve come to ask for your
assistance. Please open your armory to me.”
Svetlana narrowed her eyes teasingly with a hint of
affection.
“You’re still far too immature, dear Vika.”
Vika stared plainly at her, taken aback by those words.
With that same smile on her lips, Svetlana looked up, her
eyelashes casting a heavy shadow over her violet eyes, which
were a slightly bluer shade than Vika’s.
“I know that, in your heart, you hate playing soldier…
Lerchenlied, I believe her name was? Is that golden skylark of
a girl so precious to you? That little songbird passed away so
long ago now, but her words bind you still.”
“Yes… Same as how Father is so dear to your heart, Aunt
Svetlana.”
Stanya. The king had several siblings, but the only one
allowed to refer to him by his nickname was Svetlana.
His aunt deepened her smile.
“So it seems… Very well. Do as you will and take whatever
your heart fancies. I could never bring myself to turn down a
request from my precious brother’s son, after all.”

“A grand conference?”
“Yes. The details of the operation have been decided, so we
need only turn to His Majesty, the prime minister, and the
senate for approval during that grand conference.”
Shin peered at a holographic operation map. He’d never
| Azura Ren |
seen them in the Eighty-Sixth Sector, but he eventually got
used to them during his time in the Federacy. Lena nodded as
Shin looked at the map and parroted her.
“In other words, we need to explain the details of the
operation to the United Kingdom’s VIPs. The crown prince,
who is in charge of the second front, will handle most of the
presentation, but I’ll have to answer some questions, too. I am
a commanding officer of the squadron that’ll carry out the
Dragon Fang Mountain operation, after all.”
Shin paused to think for a few moments and then said:
“The details of the second front… They’re details that
should be reserved for the commander of a corps or perhaps
even the entire army. I suppose that’s…something a
commander of a battalion has no business knowing. That’s
how I should interpret this, right?”
There was no need for him to attend, even as a formality.
“Yes… And also, the Sirins will be redeployed for this
operation, but are you all right with that? I mean… Given
what happened last time.”
“Personally, I’d prefer if they didn’t accompany the
Spearhead squadron.”
Lena jerked her head up in surprise. She didn’t find fault
with him speaking in a manner that seemed to evade the
Sirins. If anything, she’d almost expected this.
“Is their presence taxing on you?”
“No, I just can’t tell them apart from the Legion.”
The Legion used Liquid Micromachines fashioned after the
neural networks of the war dead, while the Sirins’ “brains”
were made of synthetic neurons reproduced from the brains
of those whose lives could not be saved. Both were the same
in the sense that they were still gripped by the final thoughts
of the deceased. Shin’s ability made no distinction when
perceiving them both as ghosts.
“It can get confusing, especially during a melee… I can sort
of tell the voices apart once I get used to them, though. So if
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possible, I’d rather have them in a designated company or
have them act as our squad’s scouts.”
“………”
Lena heaved an exaggerated sigh.
“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t ask you if it would
compromise the operation. I wanted to know if it bothers you.
On a personal level.”
Shin blinked a few times at her unexpected admonishment.
Even if she phrased the question like that…
“They’re the same as the Legion… I’m used to them by
now.”
Shin’s ability to hear the ghosts’ voices had a wide range to
begin with, and he was constantly hearing an overwhelming
number of Legion. A few more voices joining that cacophony
did little to change the strain it placed on him. Similar to how
people who lived by the sea eventually stopped hearing the
roaring of the waves, Shin didn’t feel like the constant voices
of the ghosts were weighing down on him too much.
Lena fell silent for a moment. It was a short, almost sulking
silence.
“You keep saying that, Shin, but…you fell asleep after the
battle in the Republic’s underground terminal. And after we
retook the base, too.”
“The Sheepdogs being deployed during the battle at the
terminal increased the volume of their voices, so that
skirmish was… I mean, it’s not like I don’t sleep at night.”
He did indeed sleep at night without issue, which was all
the more remarkable when he became tired.
“I know, but that’s not what I mean… I’m just worried
because you never tell me you’re tired at times like that.”
She then paused for a bit and leaned forward, as if using
that moment to muster her courage.
“I spoke to Lerche the other day.”
Shin’s expression hardened at the sudden mention of that
name. Lerche. She and her mechanical birds were possessed
| Azura Ren |
by the wailings of the dead. He once more recalled the
mountain of wreckage, composed of their bodies. The
laughter still echoed in his ears.
And he remembered what she’d said to him.
You get to be alive.
His pride would eventually drive him to be a part of that
mountain of corpses—and even that pride of his was
superficial for a soldier.
You can still find happiness with someone.
The change in her attitude took him by surprise. And still,
he couldn’t find it in himself to deny her words.
The truth is…
Another thought nearly surfaced in his mind, but he
suppressed it at the last moment. He wasn’t allowed to think
of those words.
If I think about it, I…
“She said you don’t really want to be on the battlefield—”
“I could say the same of you, Lena.”
He cut her off. He didn’t want to think about it. And even
more so, he didn’t want to hear Lena tell him those words. He
didn’t want her to doubt his pride. Fighting to the very end
was what it meant to be an Eighty-Six, and he hated the idea
of Lena, of all people, doubting him. And even if the Eighty-
Six came to realize how meaningless that pride was…it was all
they had.
Shin only realized after he cut her off that he didn’t really
have a follow-up, but he still took the opportunity to
continue:
“Lena… Have you ever thought I don’t want to fight
anymore…? I mean, I understand that you willingly chose to
fight, but…”
He corrected himself quickly, seeing her eyes cloud over
for a moment. Shin knew nothing about her… He had never
even made an effort to know. He’d realized this back at the
snowy cliffside fortress. What did she wish for? What did she
| Azura Ren |
fight so far for? How could she find it in herself not to give up
on humanity?
Shin wanted to know the answers to those questions even
now.
“…But still, you saw that siege route. And you saw the
Republic fall to ruin… Haven’t you ever thought I’ve had
enough? Haven’t you ever felt like you didn’t want to go on…?
How could you not…bring yourself to feel that way?”
Lena knew how vulgar and terrible people could be. She
knew all too well that the world could be a malicious place,
that the world of humankind wasn’t entirely made up of
beautiful things. Yet still, she didn’t give up on it.
“Is it because…? Hmm, well. Is it because this world has
things worth loving?”
He stopped for a moment, hesitating. He struggled to say
those words because they felt too hollow to him.
Shin knew people could be noble and kind, like the priest
who protected him and his brother in the Eighty-Sixth
Sector’s internment camp; like the captain of his first
squadron, who fought alongside him and died, leaving him
with the task of bringing all his comrades with him to their
final destination; like his friend from the special officer
academy, who fought for his sister’s well-being; like the
Federacy officers who pushed him forward, even as they were
going to be stranded in enemy territory.
Shin could only see them as exceptions to the rule, but he
knew Lena thought otherwise. Maybe it was just the
difference in how much they’d experienced of the inherent
good of humankind. Or perhaps, the paths they’d trodden to
get here and the things they saw along the way were simply
that different.
Lena blinked in surprise a few times at the sudden
questions and then leaned forward happily.
“Where did that come from all of a sudden?”
“…You were the one who started this conversation, Lena.
| Azura Ren |
You asked me if I could learn to love this world.”
“I’m sorry; I’m just a little surprised because of how
sudden this is, but…I’m glad you broached the subject.
Right…”
Lena smiled and closed her eyes.
“I think it’s not just that there are things worth loving. It’s
that there’s enough beauty in the world to outweigh the
ugliness—enough virtue to compensate for its flaws, which
allows me to love it. It’s not that I haven’t given up hope
because I haven’t seen enough cruelty. It’s just…”
Lena paused and tried find the right words.
“…I want to believe… I want to believe this world can still
become a place where people can live happy, peaceful lives.”
Those were words Shin did not expect to hear. It wasn’t
that she’d experienced more beauty in her lifetime, allowing
her to see some innate goodness in the world he couldn’t
fathom.
“You want to believe, huh…?”
…Believe in a beautiful world that was still out of sight and
out of reach.
“Yes. Because I want to be happy. I want everyone else to
be happy, too. And I don’t want to live in a world where that
can’t happen. I don’t want to live in a world where everyone
has to be subject to malice and absurdity. I hate the very
concept of such a place, and that’s why…”
A just, kind world. He thought back to the words she’d told
him once as they stood together under a starry sky on that
snowy night. She spoke of a world where good will and
kindness were rewarded, as if she was praying for it.
Her wish wasn’t for kind people to be rewarded, but for
everyone, equally, to know happiness.
“And that’s why… It’s not that I couldn’t give up. It’s that I
don’t want to give up. I don’t want to admit that the
battlefield and the way the Republic treated the Eighty-Sixth
Sector are the true faces of humankind. Nor do I want to
| Azura Ren |
accept that that can never change. Because then no one will
find happiness. I want to be happy… And I want you to be
happy, too…”
“………”
Shin couldn’t feel that way. He had no future to hope for.
He could live even without happiness to pursue. In his mind,
he fought because he wanted to show Lena the sea, but that
was probably different from her idea of happiness. He
couldn’t wish for a future or for happiness, and so he didn’t
need to have faith in this world. He had no reason to love it.
He vaguely thought he and Lena really were fundamentally
different from each other. Not necessarily in terms of their
individual experiences and the paths they had taken in life.
Their very outlooks on life and the ways they interacted with
the world were completely different. Their way of being, their
personal circumstances—their every aspect was like night and
day.
Lena had said he’d broached the subject. And perhaps he
did, in the sense that he did try to understand the other side.
But receiving the answers to his questions only served to
make the rift between them that much more obvious. They
were too far apart to truly understand each other… So far that
even if they were to reach out for each other, their hands
would never meet.
Shin had no way of knowing that Lena came to the same
conclusion after the Charité Underground Labyrinth
operation. Even if they were standing in the same place, the
rift between them remained.
Lena smiled, unaware of the turmoil in Shin’s heart. Her
smile had all the delicacy of a flower. Yes, like a silver lotus
blooming proudly even in the mud.
“I want you to be happy, too… That’s why I have to believe
in this world. That’s why I love it.”
He hoped against hope that this happiness—a joy he could
not wish for—would be granted to the world she loved…
| Azura Ren |
Lena became suspicious that something was very wrong when
the escort from Vika arrived far too early for the grand
conference, only to force Lena into another room for some
reason, where a large number of court ladies awaited her.
“Er, Vika?”
She found him in his usual United Kingdom uniform,
except this time, it had been customized for a ceremony. He
didn’t have his standard rank ribbons but wore several
medals and insignia and a grand cordon that extended
diagonally down from his shoulder. He also wore the United
Kingdom’s emblem of a unicorn instead of his lapel badge.
“This is…a conference, right?”
“That’s right.”
He nodded casually, to which Lena pressed him with tears
in her eyes.
“Then why do I have to wear this thing…?!”
She wore a dress with a sheer outer fabric embroidered
together in an elegant fashion, boasting long, extravagant,
flowing hems. The silver, transparent gauze beautifully
complemented the lapis-lazuli lining beneath it. The dress’s
cleavage and long sleeves were dotted with crystalline beads
in the pattern of a peafowl’s tail and sparkled every time she
moved.
While she found the dress elegant and beautiful, to be sure,
she had no idea why she was being forced to wear it. With all
the crystal beads, the dress weighed about as much as her
uniform. The hem of her uniform’s skirt was just as short as
this dress’s, but being in this getup still made her anxious and
restless.
But even being fidgety was a challenge in this outfit,
because the heels she was wearing were thinner and higher
than she was used to. The silken hem of her dress jingled

| Azura Ren |
audibly.
Vika gazed back at Lena with a puzzled expression.
“…I think you look very good in it. Do you have any
complaints? Oh, you must be disappointed Nouzen isn’t here
to see this. I could call him over right—”
“That’s not it! Sh-Shin has nothing to do with this! No, I
mean, why?! Why am I going to a military conference in a
dress instead of my uniform?!”
“…? It’s only natural for women to wear dresses to formal
events, even if they’re military personnel. It may be a military
conference, but my father and brother will be attending. It’s
closer to an Imperial council than a military one, frankly.”
His tone seemed to suggest he wasn’t teasing her at all. If
anything, it felt like he didn’t understand why she was asking
him this question. In other words, in the United Kingdom, a
woman’s formal attire was a dress, even if she was military
personnel. It was probably a historical custom of this country,
given that they didn’t send female soldiers to the field of
battle. They only served as high-ranking officers.
But still, attending a military conference in a frilly
dress…?
Lena was a daughter to a family of former nobles, so she
was accustomed to wearing dresses. But uniforms and dresses
were worn for different occasions and required different
emotional states. If nothing else, Lena couldn’t imagine
attending a war council in an evening gown.
“Colonel Wenzel…!”
She turned her gaze to Grethe for help, but the officer
simply shrugged, clad in a gray dress herself. She’d brought a
few dresses ahead of time, since she was due to meet with the
king. Her dress had a tall, exotic collar and a short hem that
gave off a sense of authority and a masculine silhouette.
Had Lena been told of this before they left, she would have
prepared a dress like that, too. It was handsome and
reminiscent of a uniform.
| Azura Ren |
 “When in Rome, do as the Romans do. We failed our last
operation, so we should probably avoid doing anything that
would be cause for disdain. Besides, you look cute.”
“…Oh. So in the Republic and the Federacy, women wear
uniforms as their full dress, too. That’s why you, Iida, and
Rosenfort were in uniform when you first met me, even if it
was in a military setting.”
Vika seemed to have finally realized the difference in
cultures. He nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“At the very least, we don’t wear anything but full dress
uniforms during formal events and ceremonies, Your
Highness. Though, women do wear dresses for the parties
that follow ceremonies—or for weddings.”
“I see. In that case, this dress won’t go to waste after we
went to the trouble of having it tailored… You can keep the
whole set, Milizé, so take it with you when you go back home.
I’d imagine it will prove useful until you find someone to
escort you.”
“Someone to…”
Lena turned red at his implication. Besides her parents, the
only one who would escort a woman in a dress would be…
…her boyfriend or husband.
“I—I don’t have anyone like that!”
“Hence, until you find that someone. Or rather…”
Vika seemed to eye her with a pitying gaze.
“I doubt it’s possible, but don’t tell me you’re not aware of
it yet?”
“Aware of what?!”
“I see, so you aren’t. That’s rather unfortunate… I would
even call it irritating. To think both of you are like that…”
Vika shook his head; it was a lamentation that Lena
couldn’t understand—or perhaps, she refused to understand.

Though the high officials were busy people, the continued

| Azura Ren |
existence of the United Kingdom hinged on the success of the
upcoming operation. After a long series of discussions, the
grand conference finally took a recess.
Sitting in the corner of the large conference room, Lena
sighed. Most of the officials had left the room, so there were
only a few people around. Grethe was speaking to the
attending military officers to exchange information, and Vika
left, saying he had business with his aunt.
No one seemed to wish to interact with an officer of the
Republic. It was a country on its last legs, and her unit had
also suffered a painful defeat. Lena didn’t mind not being
spoken to, though. This was a conference attended by His
Highness the King, and most of the people here were senior
officials. Though it went without saying, she was intimidated.
It was then that someone stood beside her, maintaining a
polite distance.
“Apologies, my lady. Would you grant me the honor of
exchanging words with you?”
“Yes, of course…,” Lena responded, turning around to face
the figure, only to immediately stiffen.
He wore a dark-violet uniform, with the United Kingdom’s
emblem of the unicorn in place of a rank insignia. His hair
was reddish-brown and held together with a long ribbon and
an emerald hairpin.
Lastly, he had a pair of Imperial violet eyes she’d grown
used to seeing recently.
“Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince…!”
“Yes, but please be at ease. I merely came to greet you as an
older brother and thank you for supporting Vika. I would
have liked to call the Eighty-Six’s operations commander over
as well, but unfortunately, the nature of this conference
doesn’t allow for that.”
The crown prince, Zafar, regarded her with a refined smile.
He and Vika were born from the same mother, and so the two
of them were quite similar. But in terms of height and
| Azura Ren |
shoulder width, Zafar had a physique that was more
reminiscent of an adult man’s, as well as a more composed
expression and the countenance of someone older and wiser.
“I’m sure he gives you all sorts of trouble, such as having
you attend this conference on your own… That boy has a way
of being erratic, but I do hope you can get along with him.”
His words and smile made Lena look at him with surprise.
They somehow reminded her of Rei’s expression and tone,
back when she had met him many years ago.
“Your Highness, what are your—?”
“Zafar will suffice, Colonel Milizé.”
“…Prince Zafar, what are your, um, feelings regarding
Prince Viktor?”
Within the power struggles of House Idinarohk, Vika was
part of Zafar’s faction. Vika seemed to respect and adore his
maternal brother in his own way. Lena knew that. She could
tell that much from the way Vika spoke about him. But she
couldn’t say for sure how Zafar felt about Vika.
Though it was a tradition of the United Kingdom, they still
sent a boy who was only ten years old out onto the battlefield,
where he could very well be abandoned in a time of crisis.
And that was done without restoring his right to the throne.
A part of her wondered if the royal family saw Vika—who
had developed the Sirins, weapons that were an affront to
humanity—as a capable man yet considered him detestable in
their heart of hearts.
But looking at the man standing before her, and the
expression on his face…
“He’s my precious younger brother… Though judging by
that question, I assume that as a foreigner to these lands, you
find him quite strange.”
“………”
Strange didn’t even begin to describe it.
“Hmm. The Strike Package acts in cooperation with Prince
Vika’s Sirins, so…”
| Azura Ren |
 “Aaah, that’s right. I’ve already grown used to them by now,
but… Yes, I see.”
Zafar paused for thought.
“Colonel, are you familiar with the catastrophe of
Babylon?”
Lena was bewildered by the sudden, seemingly unrelated
question, but she gave a short nod.
“…To the extent of what they teach in school, yes.”
Once, in the past, humankind built a large tower to reach
God’s seat in the heavens. This ambition incurred God’s
wrath, who then placed a curse upon humankind, forcing
them to speak in different tongues. This caused the creation
of multiple languages and became the source of human
conflict.
It was a story from the Old Testament. When the Republic
abolished the royal family three centuries ago, it also banned
religion, which served as a backing for the royal mandate. To
that end, most biblical stories weren’t often told or passed
down in the Republic. Many people in the Republic didn’t
even know the religious context of the Holy Birthday, despite
it being celebrated annually.
“In the myths that preceded the Bible, humankind built the
tower so their prayers might reach the heavens, but the gods
mistakenly thought humankind was trying to attack them and
cursed them for that reason. Even the gods struggled to reach
perfect understanding among themselves. So it was difficult
for them to understand imperfect creatures like humans.
Ironic, perhaps… But anyway…”
Zafar trailed off and looked to the sky, as if gazing at the
tower made up by people’s wishes in some faraway land.
“…in my eyes, the fact that humankind began quarreling
among themselves once they became unable to understand
one another is quite striking. It means they did not truly trust
one another when they spoke a common tongue.”
Humans had a habit of infighting, but this didn’t stem from
| Azura Ren |
an ability to speak and agree. It came from a lack of trust.
They looked upon one another and could not find something
worthy of trust.
Lena felt those words stab into her heart. Zafar likely didn’t
intend it that way. There was no way he knew of her
exchanges with Shin, since he’d never met him. But still, Lena
couldn’t help but feel like Zafar was speaking about the two of
them.
“Even if two people suddenly began conversing in different
tongues, their wishes should have been the same. If they
knew that for a fact, they would believe in each other even if
they lost the ability to communicate… And it is the same in
our case. Even if he is a cold-blooded serpent, I would return
his love so long as he loved me. I can believe in that affection,
if nothing else.”
Even if Vika was completely and utterly different from him
in every other way.
“He might not understand what makes people sad or why
they feel sorrow. But he does understand when Father and I
become sad and tries to avoid causing us grief… And that’s
enough for me. He may not live according to the same logic
and values I abide by, but he still tries to love me in his own
way… He’s my precious younger brother.”
“………”
And how had Lena acted in contrast to this?
That makes me…so sad.
Shin, and the rest of the Eighty-Six, gave up on the world,
deeming it a cruel, cold place. They cast aside their trust and
expectations of the world. They relinquished what joy they
could remember, as well as the future happiness they might
have looked forward to.
This saddened Lena. But what was even sadder was that
Shin couldn’t understand why this made her sad. Because of
the way he acted—like an innocent monster in human form—
the rift between them was as wide as ever. It pained her and
| Azura Ren |
caused her to wonder if they would ever come to an
understanding.
I want him to understand me. I wish he were more like
me…
She had unconsciously started to wish for that. She had
claimed she wanted to understand the Eighty-Six, when in
truth, she never made an effort to understand them. Even if
she couldn’t understand them, she could have tried to respect
who they were.
But instead, she simply wished for them to understand her.
One-sidedly.
You are truly arrogant.
Yes. Arrogant and haughty. Self-righteous and narrow-
minded…
“…Prince Zafar.”
She bit into her rouge-tinted lips, trying desperately to
keep her tone steady, which conversely made her voice sound
odd. Zafar graciously pretended to not notice.
“Yes?”
“If you and Prince Viktor are so different from each other,
how…do you maintain your relationship?”
“Oh, that’s quite simple. Some things I compromise on,
while others I refuse to relinquish. For some things, I defer to
him, while with others, I have him conform to my way of
thinking. We both respect each other’s boundaries until we
find a point of compromise. That’s how people normally
interact… Though, it did take us years to get here.”
“That’s… Yes, that’s right… You’re right.”
There may be a rift between them. They may see the world
in different ways. But if they tried to understand each other,
little by little, then surely, she would one day be able to stand
by his side.
And there were things she could believe in… Things she
was able to believe in even as far back as two years ago, before
they truly met face-to-face. When they were still the
| Azura Ren |
oppressor and the oppressed… When they were all too
different.
She clenched her fists tightly beneath the sleeves of her
dress.
“Thank you very much, Your Highness.”

“Usually, proper manners would dictate I escort you back to

the barracks, but unfortunately, I still have business to attend
to here. I called an escort over, so stay with them until you get
back.”
Lena’s time at the grand conference came to an end. Vika
led Lena not to the exit leading outside the palace grounds,
but rather, to a road going through the premises. It was a
small paved path between the gardens that led into the
Imperial villa the Strike Package used.
In stark contrast to the warm and bright interior of the
palace, the cold darkness of a wintry night hung over the
garden. Well aware of the biting cold, Lena stayed in the area
between the interior of the palace and the garden as she
looked around.
It was a surprisingly bright, starry night. Lena could see the
same stars she had gazed up at with Shin before the Revich
Citadel Base was captured. At the time, it seemed like Shin
wanted to tell her something but ended up falling silent. She’d
assumed he’d tell her later, but with the siege battle
happening immediately after that, they never got back to it.
What was Shin trying to tell her back then? What was he
trying to express?
…Would asking him about it now be the right thing to
do…?
Vika made a small exclamation. Lena was fixated on the
sky, but Vika noticed something on the snowy road.
Apparently, he had exceptional night vision, not unlike a cat’s.
He was a serpent that could see the world for what it was
| Azura Ren |
without relying on light.
“There he is. All right then, Milizé. Rest well tonight.”
Apparently, he had no plans of speaking to whoever came
to take her back to the villa, because he quickly turned
around and left. As he walked away, his footsteps didn’t make
a sound on the thick carpet. She could mostly tell he was gone
by the rustling of his clothes and the scent of his cologne
becoming thinner.
And immediately after Vika left, the sound of snow
crunching against light footsteps reached her ears. Even he,
with the way he didn’t usually make any sound as he walked,
couldn’t avoid it when treading over a road of brittle snow.
Lena’s expression lit up as she saw his figure growing
against the starlight reflected by the snow.
“Shin!”

“Shin!”
Shin looked up at Lena, who was beaming upon noticing
him, from within the snowy garden’s darkness. He stopped in
place.
Aaah…
He’d come to a sudden realization. What made things click
into place? Maybe the light around here felt too bright for his
eyes, since he had grown used to the darkness of night. Or
maybe it was the fact that he was seeing her in a dress and
makeup for the first time, rather than her uniform.
He couldn’t tell why himself, but it became clear all of a
sudden. She wasn’t on the battlefield or a military base, but at
a place far removed from the fires of war. She stood there not
in uniform, but in an outfit reserved for peacetime.
He was reminded of the sheer, irreparable depth and
distance of the rift between them. The worlds they saw were
different. The worlds they wished for were different. Which
meant, in other words, that the worlds they belonged in—that
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they were allowed to exist in—were also different.

Lena doesn’t need me.

The way he saw her now was how she should have been.
Lena never belonged in the chaos of the battlefield, but
rather, in a world of peace and tranquility. She deserved to
live in a world free of conflict.
The battlefield was not her world. She didn’t need to know
strife and death… The irrational absurdity of war didn’t
belong anywhere near her.
And Shin, who only knew war and its hardships, likewise
had no place beside her. All he knew was conflict, and only in
the midst of battle could he forge his own identity. Despite
resolving to fight to the very end, he couldn’t imagine what
lay beyond this seemingly endless war…
He couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of world she
desired. He wanted to show her the sea—which was to say he
could only imagine a future with her in it. But Lena didn’t
need him to in order to survive.
It was quite the opposite, actually. His presence would only
hurt her. She wanted everyone to be happy, while he couldn’t
imagine what might constitute his idea of joy. His way of
living could very well serve as a weapon to harm her.
She’d said it several times already, but Shin couldn’t even
fathom it:
That makes me…so sad.
The fact that he couldn’t wish for his own future would
only serve to hurt Lena. His failure to comprehend that
simple fact had widened the rift between them more than
anything else. He didn’t even try to understand her… He
hadn’t even come close.
She said she was saddened by him. That she was hurt. And
yet he continued to hurt her.

| Azura Ren |
 Wolves couldn’t live among humans. A monster of the
battlefield that survived by stepping over corpses—a monster
tainted by this world’s malice—couldn’t walk alongside this
symbol of purity.
The worlds they wished for, the worlds they lived in—their
very ways of being were all too different.
And so he realized an unsettling truth. They never
belonged together to begin with.

She assumed she’d be nervous, but her mental fatigue was

greater than she’d imagined. Giving a strained smile at how
stiff her body became at the prospect of him looking at her,
Lena hurried down the stone steps leading to the garden. Shin
approached her as she did, perhaps out of consideration for
her clumsy gait along the frozen road, and looked up at her.
“You came for me.”
“I did. Even if this is within the palace’s premises, it’s still
nighttime.”
Something about the detached manner he’d delivered that
answer struck her as oddly nostalgic, despite them only
having been apart for a few hours. A guard hurried over from
the palace, handing her the coat she’d apparently forgotten
inside, and she put it over her dress with Shin’s aid. She
turned around to face him. Perhaps due to the light of the
snow, his white, marble-like face felt colder and more serene
than ever.
“My apologies… I kept you waiting.”
“Not at all.”
His reply was curt. Likely concerned about Lena having to
walk along an icy road in high heels, Shin hesitated a short…
no, a long moment before gingerly offering her his arm. Lena
stiffened at the gesture for a moment… She knew lending a
hand was considered good manners for a gentleman at times
like this, but…
| Azura Ren |
 I didn’t come across as…indecent…did I…?
Lena was always a bit of a wallflower at social events like
parties. She’d hardly ever been escorted like this. But she
couldn’t deny that it was actually difficult to walk in these
heels… So she mustered her courage and accepted his
gesture.
She grabbed hold of his arm in a way that seemed almost
overly timid. She couldn’t bring herself to wrap her own arm
around his, so she simply held on to his sleeve. Once she had
done so, Shin started walking down the road with Lena by his
side. Shin was even less used to escorting women than Lena
was to being escorted by men, so their walk was as awkward
as could be.
The snow crunched under their feet as they left two sets of
footsteps in their wake. Shin seemed to be matching Lena’s
pace, because he was walking slower than usual. He usually
moved quietly without making any sound, so hearing his
footsteps sync up with her own felt satisfying in a way.
Yes, Shin was conforming to her pace.
He was always considerate of her, even without her
noticing he was doing it… Always extending a hand. While
Lena stood there, paralyzed by the rift between them…he still
spoke to her, trying to understand her, despite the distance.
And she wanted to answer those feelings.
“Shin, if I…”
Those were words she’d said many times already. From
when they were still a hundred kilometers apart, with the
Gran Mur between them. Before she knew his name and face
—or the fate of certain death that was in store for him. And
when they’d reunited, and she thought he was finally set free
from that fate.
“Once this war is over… No, even before it’s over…is there
anything you’d like to do? Anywhere you’d like to go?
Something you’d like to see?”
Shin’s expression froze. He then said, with a horribly cold,
| Azura Ren |
dismissive tone:
“This again?”
He really does hate talking about this…
Those words always sounded like blame to him. That
wasn’t her intent, of course, but they were like a repeated
condemnation. It was as if she’d told him that because he’d
given up on the world, because he couldn’t see the world the
same way she did, he saddened her.
Shin sighed and continued speaking in a detached voice.
And while that voice pushed her away, it also felt like he was
enduring an indescribable pain.
“…No, there’s nothing. As I said before, I don’t think the
world is a beautiful place.”
“Yes, I can imagine. That’s…how you see the world.”
Lena uncomfortably said the words she didn’t fully believe
until now. In this world, Shin had nothing to believe in.
Nothing to look forward to. And she couldn’t blame him for
that… As sad as it may have made her, no one could denounce
the way he felt after the life he’d lived.
He was deprived of his family, his home, and his freedom.
He was forced into a fate of certain death. He had to see the
world as ugly, as that was the only way he could avoid giving
up entirely. To him, there was no beauty to be found in life.
In Lena’s eyes, that was a bleak outlook to have… But she
couldn’t say he was wrong. If nothing else, that was just how
the world appeared to him.
For you, those scars were your pride.
Yes, scars. Lena and the Republic etched the deepest scars
imaginable into his mind. And as she wondered beneath the
citadel base’s starry sky, she couldn’t tell him to simply get rid
of those scars. She couldn’t heartlessly take that away from
him, even if the wounds caused him great pain.
For Shin, the scars were a part of who he was. Maybe it was
exactly because he’d had so much taken away from him that
those scars had more weight than Lena assumed. In which
| Azura Ren |
case, she would have to accept his scars and despair as a part
of him. There may have been a divide between them, but that
divide was part of what defined Shin as a person… And she
could not look past it.
There was something in him she could believe in.
Something she’d known ever since their time in the Eighty-
Sixth Sector—and before she met him face-to-face. It was his
strength. His pride. The childish mischievousness he
sometimes exhibited, and the times he acted his age. And the
kindness he didn’t seem to know he possessed—the other side
of his icy facade.
Lena decided to believe in that. They might not always be
able to come to an understanding, but no matter how much
distance there was between them, she would believe in that
part of him.
“And still…”

“And still…”
Shin could hardly focus on Lena’s words. He suddenly sank
into contemplation. Lena’s question had dealt him a crippling
blow, albeit inadvertently.
Is there anything you’d like to do once this war is over?
Lena had asked him this several times already, and Shin
still couldn’t muster an answer. Not because he didn’t have
one—he did—but he couldn’t bring himself to speak of it.
I want to show you the sea.
But that was a wish he’d made on his own, and he could no
longer share it with Lena. He’d realized all it would do was
hurt her. If he tried to be by her side as he was now, he would
only cause her pain. He couldn’t walk alongside her.
And that was why he couldn’t give his true answer. He
didn’t want to grab hold of the hand she was extending
toward him. Lena’s wish, her desire for everyone to achieve
happiness, was one he couldn’t grant. He would only weigh
| Azura Ren |
her down.
So I won’t wish to show you the sea. Never again.

Incidentally, both Lena and Shin were so wrapped up in their

thoughts that neither of them paid attention to their feet. And
as a direct result of that…
“…Aaah?!”
Shin snapped out of it when the silver-haired girl to his
side suddenly lurched to the ground with a hysterical screech.
“Lena?!”
The fact that he could reflexively catch her in his arms
despite being lost in thought only a moment ago was thanks
to his superhuman reflexes. But he hesitated for just a
moment. For some reason, he was terribly afraid of touching
her. And because of that, he was too late to properly support
her and caught her in an awkward, uncomfortable manner.
Fragments of transparent blue flitted at the edge of his
vision. Apparently, they’d stepped on a lump of solid ice and
slipped. For the time being, Shin asked the girl in his arms if
she was all right. The lump of ice was hard enough to not
break under their weight, and she’d stepped on it with her
high heels.

| Azura Ren |
 “Are you hurt…? Did you twist your ankle?”
“I-I’m fine. I—I think.”
Her bell-like voice was more high-pitched than usual, but
Shin didn’t realize why. He didn’t notice she’d even sounded
any different, for that matter. After all, she had already been
close to him to begin with, but now he was holding her close
to him as she was about to fall backward. In other words,
while he wasn’t quite embracing her at the moment, he did
have his arms coiled around her back and was holding her
quite tightly.
“Are you sure you’re fine? If you have a sprain, it might not
hurt until a little later… If you’re not sure, I’ll carry you back
to the barracks.”
“N-no! That’s quite all right… Shin, I…I can stand on my
own.”
Upon hearing her thin squeak of a voice, Shin finally
realized the position they were in. He became acutely aware
of just how close her violet-scented perfume felt.
“Ah, I’m sorry…!”
He hurriedly let go of her but only after unconsciously
confirming her feet were firmly planted on the ground. He
worried her thin heels would break, causing her to stagger the
moment he let go.
Lena hung her head, her face redder than he’d ever seen
before. The stiff silence lasted longer than he expected, which
made Shin progressively more concerned. Just as he started
wondering if he ought to apologize again, Lena suddenly
burst into laughter. She chuckled, her voice like the chiming
of a bell.
“I-I’m sorry… But…!”
She kept chuckling, leaning forward as if her body had
folded in half. Shin was soon unable to help himself and
asked:
“What is it?”
“Nothing, it’s just… You really are kind.”
| Azura Ren |
 Shin was perplexed by those sudden words. He couldn’t
see how anything he said or did in this conversation could
possibly be seen as kind.
“It always seems like you’re not looking at anyone, but you
never stop caring, and you never leave anyone to their fate…
And you always help me, just like this.”
“…You’re exaggerating.”
“No, I’m not. See? Even now…”

“You caught me. You were worried I’d gotten hurt. You
looked out for me.”
Lena spoke while wiping away the tears that had pooled in
her eyes from laughing too hard. He really wasn’t aware of
it… Helping others came so naturally to him that he couldn’t
even perceive it as kindness.
Yes. That’s why I can believe in you…
That’s why she could continue to wish for his happiness,
even after she came to know he himself could not.
“Shin, I want to continue our conversation from before…
I’m not trying to say I’m sad. I’m not taking back what I said
before, but I won’t speak of it anymore. I just…”
She had no intention of retracting her previous statement…
But if it made Shin look at her with that pained expression,
she wouldn’t say it again. However, she did have one other
thing she wanted to convey in the moment.
“Even if the world you see isn’t beautiful… Even if the
human world is cruel… If you can still have hope in spite of
that…”
Shin would say he could live without wanting for anything.
That he was who he was, even without a past to fall back on.
But if a day would come when he could find it in himself to
hope again…
“If you still find something you want for yourself in this
world…then I want you to know you’re allowed to wish for it.
| Azura Ren |
Even if this world seems just as cruel and heartless as ever.
We are no longer in the Eighty-Sixth Sector. Your wish could
come true. I just…want you to remember that.”
If you say you don’t need to wish for anything, that’s fine.
I really hope you do start wishing for things, but for now, it’s
fine. But I don’t want you to admonish yourself by saying
you don’t have the right to want things for yourself.
That was truly all she wanted to convey right now, but her
mouth kept going on its own, expressing a bit of her own
personal wish. Even though she didn’t know if she would be
at Shin’s side on the day he started to have hope again, she
still made an unconscious wish to be with him when he did.
“And if you don’t mind… When the time comes, please
share your wish with me.”

Shin was at a loss for words at the sight of this flowery smile.
Lena didn’t know about his wish, and that was why she could
say these words. She spoke in the same way a child might
describe their dreams for the future, and nothing else.
But…
“You’re allowed to wish for it.”
Was he really? He’d finally found something to wish for—a
reason to fight. To show her the sea. To show her things she’d
never seen before and bathe in her smile.
Was that truly something he could wish for? He hoped it
was.
He was surprised by the emotion that surged up within
him, and that’s when he knew. He wanted to have hope. If he
could be forgiven for doing so—no, even if he wouldn’t be
forgiven for it… He wanted to.
He knew it would hurt her, but he still wanted to be by her
side. He’d finally found something to fight for, and he didn’t
want to let go of it now. Even though he knew he shouldn’t
touch her, that he had to push her away, he still caught her in
| Azura Ren |
his embrace when she fell. For that one moment, he forgot
the rift between them—he forgot all his reservations—and
treated her as he always did.
His unconscious actions told the whole story. He didn’t
want to let go of her now. He still thought of himself as a
monster and knew he could only hurt her. But despite that…
No, because of that—
—he couldn’t stay as he was.
He couldn’t be with this girl who wished for the future, not
while his heart still carried this void that forbade him from
having hope. If he believed he would hurt her, then he would
have to change.
He needed to change if he wanted to fight by her side.

What did he want for himself? How could he change? Would

he truly be able to imagine the future—something he’d never
even imagined before…?

| Azura Ren |
 CHAPTER 2

LIFE’S BUT A WALKING

SHADOW

“Next up, point 183–570. Enemy estimated to be a platoon-

size group of Ameise.”
“Enemy unit confirmed by sight. One platoon of
Ameise… Including three targets.”
“Roger that. Gunslinger, opening fire.”

At the old United Kingdom border, in the Legion territories

along the southern regions of the Dragon Corpse mountain
range, preparations for the next offensive were underway.
Armored detachments composed of heavy-class Legion units
were being concentrated on the front lines, while
preparations for an airborne offensive were being made
behind them.
On the horizon between the silver skies and the blinding
| Azura Ren |
white snowscape, three Zentaurs and a platoon of Ameise
were crouched on a steep incline facing west as the snow
piled over them. Their orders were to remain on standby.
These combat machines had no concept of tedium and
remained idle—without displeasure or boredom—as they
awaited the command to attack.
It was then that the sudden clang of a high-speed, high-
density hunk of metal digging into armor rang into the air
before the sound was absorbed by the snow. One of the
Zentaurs crumpled powerlessly to the ground, having been
shot through its central kernel.
The nearby Ameise turned their composite sensors in the
direction of the Zentaur that had fallen over like a marionette
with its strings cut. And as they did, the remaining two
Zentaur units were shot down one after another. These high-
speed, armor-piercing rounds traveled at an initial velocity of
1,600 meters per second—faster than their fire could echo.
By the time those Ameise turned to acknowledge the
Zentaurs’ fate, they didn’t have so much as a spare moment to
relay news of the enemy attack to their Supreme Commander
unit. The Ameise were left utterly helpless against the volley
of 88 mm rounds fired with laser accuracy, fired as fast as
their automatic reload mechanism could operate.

“Suppression of targets and peripheral units is

complete, Sir Reaper.”
“Roger that. Kurena, change position. Your next
target is a feint. Ludmila, point 202–358. Presumed
to be an armored unit consisting primarily of Löwe.
Please confirm.”
“One moment, please. Malinovka Company, a
change in position. Move to point—”
| Azura Ren |
 As she listened to Shin’s exchange with the Malinovka
Company’s commander—the Sirin named Ludmila—Kurena
raised Gunslinger from its sniping position. She was in the
middle of a forest of black conifer trees, their tops like spears
brandished against the heavens. Like the thorns on a dragon’s
spine.
Dense snow, which had fallen off the nearby branches as
the recoil of her shots shook the air, slipped off her unit’s
fuselage. Snow wouldn’t melt in this temperature, so it
remained white and powdery. The sky above this forest in the
contested zones, which was relatively close to the Legion’s
territory, was indeed sealed off by a layer of silver. It was
likely that behind the Eintagsfliege that formed this argent
veil were their commander units, the Rabe.
And so in order to keep her silhouette hidden from them,
her Juggernaut’s armor was dyed white in camouflage paint.
Still, the moment she fired, the 88 mm turret’s thunderous
boom would expose her position. As such, before those
annoying airborne lookouts closed in on her, Kurena used the
thick branches as cover to quickly and cautiously shift
Gunslinger’s position.
Shin, who was also scouting out the contested zones, and
the Alkonosts that were in charge of confirming and
recovering their targets were also repeating a cycle of taking
cover and changing position. Their force for this series of
ambushes—which consisted of the Spearhead squadron and a
single company of Alkonosts—was relatively small, and so
they had to go about their mission while avoiding open
hostilities as much as possible.
“A job well done, Lady Gunslinger. Darya,
withdrawing.”
She’d received a transmission over the Sensory Resonance
from the Sirin in charge of scouting out ahead—Darya. She
had pink, braided hair and looked even younger than the
other Sirins, which were all made to look like young girls.
| Azura Ren |
 They’d cooperated at the Revich Citadel Base and were
working together even now that they had moved to the
reserve base. Thanks to their many repeated joint operations,
Kurena and the rest of the Processors had grown used to
working in tandem with the Sirins. The overall forces set to
participate in the Dragon Fang Mountain operation were
smaller than before, but the invasion force itself wasn’t much
different compared to the plan’s original draft.
That said, Kurena still wasn’t used to handling these girls,
who deemed themselves disposable existences.
“But truly, you would be better off leaving this duty
to us. These may be the contested zones, but we’re
still operating near Legion territories. This mission is
far too dangerous for human lives.”
“It’s not like…you can pull off the stunts I can, right?”
She’d almost called them disposable but stopped herself in
time. She didn’t want to say it. Those were the same words
the white pigs directed at the Eighty-Six. But the Sirins were
different from the Eighty-Six.
We’re not like these things. We might be similar, but we’re
not like them.
“…That might be true. We’ve specialized in melee
combat so far, so we don’t boast the same sniping
prowess you do, Lady Gunslinger. But if you would
lend us your firing data and Juggernaut so that we
may analyze your sniping techniques, we may be able
to study them accordingly. And once we gain enough
combat experience…”
Kurena pursed her lips tightly at that suggestion.
“There’s no way…”
This is all I have. This battlefield is the only place where
I’m allowed to be by Shin’s side. I’d wished he’d take me back
with him the day I fall in battle. Ever since then, Shin and I
stopped being equals. I was no longer a savior; I became
someone looking to be saved. I can’t support Shin… He won’t
| Azura Ren |
rely on me. Even now, when he’s being tormented by
something. So at the very least, this… There’s no way…
“…I’m giving this up to anyone.”

“Roger. Spearhead squadron and Malinovka company,

withdrawing from the battle area.”
Shin sighed as Lena’s order to withdraw arrived from the
reserve base’s command center. As always, the image of a
white world was projected onto his optical screen. It had been
half a month since he’d made his decision. Some part of him
couldn’t help but feel that he was running away from her. He
occupied himself single-mindedly with the preparations for
the operation, hiding in the fighting and everyday tasks that
accompanied it. All in an attempt to postpone the task he’d
realized he had to do.
He needed to do something he was incapable of doing so
far; he needed to imagine his own future.
But even though he understood this, half a month had
passed, and he still had no idea what he was actually
supposed to do. He knew he was just standing still and doing
nothing, but he couldn’t move.
He had no goal to strive for, after all. Nothing he wanted to
do. Nowhere he wanted to go to, no vision of himself he
wanted to become. Though he asked himself these questions
relentlessly, he couldn’t come up with a single answer. He
had nothing save the crippling emptiness he felt at all times.
The only thing he could truly feel was the sense of urgency
burning in his heart. The moment he’d become aware of it,
the emotions surged up, compelling him to do something.
“You’re allowed to wish for it.”
So she said. And he wanted to respond to those words. But
he came up empty…
“I have nothing, Lena.”
He’d whispered those words too softly to be picked up by
| Azura Ren |
the switched-off Para-RAID and wireless. Lena said she
wanted happiness for all. But that was…
“What should people who can’t wish for anything do…?”
What should those who can’t answer that prayer do…?

Apparently, having images of flower fields drawn over the

dining hall walls was something all of the United Kingdom’s
frontline bases had in common.
“Seriously, how do you keep coming up with these
operations?”
The reserve base at the United Kingdom’s second front line
was the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package’s current post. It was
surrounded by forests and mountains, which were nourished
by a large river. In contrast to the barren impression the
words northern land might invoke, the United Kingdom was
blessed by nature’s splendor. There were plenty of naturally
occurring ingredients to cook with.
Raiden spoke through a mouthful of fish stew, which had
been carefully simmered to bring out the full flavor of the
ingredients… It might’ve been a bit too flavorful to someone
who wasn’t used to it. Lena smiled at him.
“Back when I commanded the Brísingamen squadron and
during the large-scale offensive, I had to fight while making
use of anything I had. Though, I’ll admit this time I took a
little…well, a big chunk out of the system developer’s sleep.”
She tried not to think too much about the objects Vika sent
in addition to the items they were going to use.
Theo, fork in hand, added:
“By the way, I hear Anju and Kurena are going to be
separated from the rest of the unit during the Dragon Fang
Mountain operation. And so are the sniping and surface-
suppression forces for the other squadrons.”
“I’ll admit I can’t exactly show my worth inside the enemy
fortress,” Anju said.
| Azura Ren |
 “I’m pretty sure I can hit my marks even in cramped
places, though,” Kurena said grumpily.
Raiden sighed in exasperation.
“That’s why we’re using that skill of yours to crush the
enemy units.”
“This time, the United Kingdom can’t afford to lend us any
forces to cover for us while we charge in… Having you two
keep the enemy pinned down from the rear while we head in
will be more helpful for us than having you come with.”
After hearing those words from Shin, Kurena beamed with
pride.
“Right! Leave it to me!”
“…My goodness, girl, you are a simpleminded one…,”
Frederica remarked with a hint of exasperation. “I should
hope you do not find yourself wrapped around some vile
man’s little finger.”
“Excuse you?!”
As Kurena jumped up to her feet, knocking back her chair
with a thud, Shin, Raiden, and Theo started shuffling their
shares of the United Kingdom’s unique salted mushrooms
onto Frederica’s tray.
“Aaah! What are you all doing?!”
“You went a bit too far this time, Frederica,” Anju said
gently.
“Hmph! See that? Shin, Raiden, and Theo are on my side!”
Kurena puffed out her chest. Contrary to the childishness
of her words, that gesture accentuated her mature curves,
which prompted Frederica to growl angrily. Looking over that
exchange, Lena chuckled. The Eighty-Six had all seemed
depressed ever since the battle at the Revich base, but it
appeared they were starting to recover.
In truth, nothing had really been resolved. But they seemed
to have switched gears since coming to this frontline base—to
the battlefield. Shin and the other Processors were regaining
their cheerfulness and their combat prowess. They may have
| Azura Ren |
been youths in their mid to late teens, but they were still
Eighty-Six—warriors who had survived the Eighty-Sixth
Sector for years. Being able to quickly adjust their mindsets
was a skill they naturally had to develop.
“And it’s not just you two. The rearguard and Vanadis’s
attached unit are gonna be staying behind…”
A boisterous “You got it, Li’l Reaper!” cut Raiden off, who
turned his glance to a nearby table. Shin ignored that shout.
Lena turned her gaze to Shin, but he didn’t look back. It
occurred to her that since they came to this base, Shin hadn’t
spoken to her outside of work-related issues. He looked down
in contemplation, pretending not to notice her eyes on him.
When was the last time they had spoken? Ah, right, after
the grand conference, in that snowy, starlit garden. When for
but a moment, he’d shown her the dismissive…yet puzzled
expression of a lost child.
What was that all about…?
“Shiden’s people, huh…? I know the United Kingdom’s
main force was done in pretty badly, but will they really be
enough for defending HQ?”
“Hey, Li’l Reaper! Don’t ignore me! I know you can hear
me!”
“You don’t have to repeat yourself. I can hear you just fine.
Just sit quietly and be a good guard dog, like always.”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Ya finally admit it, huh?! Don’t ya worry. My
unit will be keeping Her Majesty here safe and sound. Unlike
you, Li’l Reaper!”
The two of them seemed to have begun some kind of lively,
pointless argument. The sight of them squabbling made a
smile play over Lena’s lips and pushed that momentary,
nagging anxiety to the back of her mind.
For a time, at least.

| Azura Ren |
The room’s primary function was an office belonging to a
member of the royal family, but it still acted as a frontline
base. As Lerche entered the chamber, which was much
drearier than any other in the palace, she found her master
was still gazing at a holographic electronic document
hovering in the air.
“Your Highness, the base is soon about to enter lights-out.
You should prepare for bed… Or rather, I believe you ought to
take a break first. I’ll pour you some tea.”
“Thank you… But before that… Hey.”
Removing the glasses he wore for desk work, her master
silently called her name.
“Lerche.”
He spoke to her with a casual tone, but Lerche pursed her
lips. Sirins weren’t equipped with any senses aside from
hearing and sight and had no functions for breathing or
digestion. But the sole exception was their ability to change
their facial expressions.
Vika stared at her with his cold, violet eyes as she stood still
in front of the office’s door. Lerche thought she could
understand why those who sought to slander this man called
him a serpent. When he looked at her like that, it felt like
something utterly inhuman had her locked in its gaze. A cold-
blooded, captivating, black serpent. The way his Imperial
violet eyes glared at her, as if seeing into her very soul, was
indeed terrifying.
“What did you tell Nouzen during the last operation?”
“…Nothing in particular.”
“You’re lying. He’s been avoiding you ever since that final
charge. And he lacks the sensitivity to be repulsed by you all
because you’re a bird of death or a mechanical doll. Which
means he’s not avoiding the Sirins; he’s avoiding you. And the
cause for that must be something you said. Am I right?”
Her expression grew strained. This was a question coming
from the man who granted her both her consciousness and
| Azura Ren |
her purpose. She had to answer. As his creation, as one who
acknowledged herself as his sword, she couldn’t allow herself
to refuse. And yet…
“Your Highness… Even I have words I wish to keep to
myself.”
I—this lone Sirin by the name of Lerche—am a failure that
could not become the girl called Lerchenlied. Even though I
am made from her remains, produced by a wish to re-create
her, I am but a useless vessel that failed to capture her
essence.
Yet despite the fact that Vika let her stay by his side as his
personal guard, she couldn’t tell him what she had told Shin.
Her proclamation that as someone who was no longer alive,
she could never achieve happiness alongside another…meant
so long as Vika was at her side, he would never find joy.
The backups of the Sirins’ neural networks and quasi-
personalities were stored in the production plant. Even if a
Sirin was destroyed in battle, they could easily be reproduced.
But that wasn’t true for Lerche. Her brain structure and
quasi-personality could not be reproduced. No backups
existed for her—the sole copy of Lerche’s mind and
personality only existed within her cranium.
Lerche…was Lerchenlied’s only vessel.
This wasn’t caused by any kind of technical limitation,
however. It was what Vika wanted. Lerchenlied willingly
surrendered her remains to him to become a Sirin, but that
was only because that was her master’s, Vika’s, wish. At the
very least, that’s what Vika believed. And so when it came to
Lerchenlied and her alone, he believed her revival should be
a onetime affair. Should Lerche break at this point, Vika
would let her soul be free.
So she couldn’t tell Vika she called herself a fake that could
not bring anyone joy when he cherished Lerchenlied so much.
Never.
Vika scoffed at her.
| Azura Ren |
 “I know that much. I never inputted a directive to always
obey my orders when I initially programmed you, you
know…? I’m asking you despite that. What did you tell him?”
He wasn’t ordering her to answer him. He was asking her
to answer.
Lerche contorted her face in anguish. All the Sirins were
given the capacity to change their facial expressions, despite
being weapons. They were given human faces, voices, eyes,
and skin. In all honesty, these features were unnecessary for
combat and only served to lower the rate of production. And
despite that, research was put forth into reproducing those
features using artificial materials.
The basis for the Sirins’ concept was a mechanical body
born of Vika’s desire as a child to create a new living vessel
for his dead mother. That idea was reinforced for battle and
simplified for mass-production purposes.
And even though they were mass-produced combat
machines… Even though they were only pale imitations of a
true human form…they were still dolls that could have
become the mother he lost or the girl he loved. They were
dolls that could have become human.
Surely, as their creator, he did not wish to see them being
sent out to battle and treated like spare parts. So how could
she refuse him, when he showed so much affection for them?
She would have to answer. Even if that answer would go on to
hurt him.
“…By your will, Your Highness.”

“I guess it makes sense that in the half month we’ve been

stationed here, we’d collect this many of ’em.”
The Eighty-Sixth Strike Package’s Reginleif maintenance
crew included a large number of Eighty-Six servicing staff.
| Azura Ren |
Sergeant Guren Akino and Corporal Touka Keisha, who were
in charge of servicing Undertaker, were two such examples.
“I mean, it’s hard ’cause the Legion don’t want us to reuse
or recycle their remains. Especially when it comes to the
combatant types like the Löwe. They fry their central
processors along with the rest of their functions to protect
confidential data. But since these things are more for
logistical support, only their central processors are wired to
fry themselves… So in theory, we should be able to cobble
something together by recycling their remains.”
The remains of countless ruined Legion units lay scattered
in an unused hangar. Guren spoke to Shin, who had shown up
for a status report, while pointing his thumb at the wreckage.
He was a tall man with reddish hair that had grown faded
from exposure to sunlight, and a pair of blue eyes that had
something of a sarcastic glint to them.
Touka was a pureblood Sapphira with flowing golden hair
who looked entirely out of place in the maintenance crew’s
brusque overalls. As she spoke, her fair, dainty features
softened into a smile.
“But on its own, it’s all technology that’s been in use since
before the war. Even the Federacy utilized it, so I suppose the
Legion don’t really care about us having it. That helps us in
operations like this, though. Saves us the hassle of having to
make them from scratch.”
Both of them were part of the maintenance crew that used
to be stationed in the same base as Shin in the Eighty-Sixth
Sector. At the time, Shin would constantly wreck his
Juggernaut, so he had to come to them for servicing quite
often. As such, they remembered Shin even years down the
line.
“But heh, to think you’d end up being captain. To think that
little squirt from back then grew up to be this guy.”
…Still, they had stood on equal footing during his first year
after being drafted. Being treated this way, as if he were a
| Azura Ren |
child, was irritating. Guren smirked at the way Shin eyed him
wordlessly. There was a hint of bitterness to his smile.
“But really, you only got bigger, didn’t you? You still break
the Reginleifs as much as you used to break the Juggernauts.
When it comes to that, you haven’t changed in the slightest.”
Shin blinked a few times at that statement.
“…I haven’t?”
He was in the same base as Guren seven years ago. Back
when he was still convinced that he was to blame for Rei
trying to kill him. And at the time, he also believed,
somewhere in his heart, that the way his comrades kept dying
and leaving him behind…was somehow his fault. The truth
was that they had constantly been dispatched to the most
dangerous battlefields.
But since then, he’d grown. His voice had changed. He’d
found a few comrades who lived through battles with him,
and he thought he’d changed in all sorts of ways. He did
believe that. But…
He hadn’t changed? Ever since those days? Really?
Guren smiled, without realizing the doubts sprouting up in
Shin.
“Yeah. You’re a good bit stronger than you were back then,
and you look more dependable… But the way you plunge into
danger is all the same. The way you fought always made me
wonder if you had a death wish or something.”

Even as he left the hangar, Shin was still weighed down by

Guren’s words. Touka, who had stood next to them, cracked a
smirk but didn’t deny what he said.
Had he really not changed? Not in the last two weeks, since
he’d realized he needed to change… But ever since the
Eighty-Sixth Sector? Really?
“Shin.”
The United Federacy base corridors were always
| Azura Ren |
complicated, as if they were fashioned after a labyrinth of
some sort. Arriving at a junction of the corridors, Shin
stopped and looked at the one who called him: Kurena.
Before even realizing who she was, Shin furrowed his
brows in puzzlement as he asked:
“…What’s with that look?”
“Huh…? Ah!”
Kurena glanced down at her outfit and suddenly turned
red. That said, Shin didn’t see what about it warranted
embarrassment. Her uniform’s jacket was off and draped over
her arm, and her blouse’s necktie was undone. Shin didn’t
personally care very much but had to ask since it was still
technically a violation of military regulations.
“This is, er, ah… It’s nothing!”
Kurena was, for some reason, very flustered about this. As
she swung her arms around in some meaningless gesture,
Shin easily realized with his kinetic vision that one of her
hands was gripping some kind of purplish-silver choker.
…Come to think of it, Kurena and Anju were scheduled to
have some support-type equipment they’d received for the
upcoming mission checked. For whatever reason, no one was
willing to explain what kind of equipment it was. Frederica,
Lena, and oddly enough, even Vika refused to speak of it in
front of him. He’d once asked Marcel about it, who simply
stiffened in silence with a very pale expression.
Somehow regaining her composure, Kurena continued
their conversation.
“Forget that. Um… Hey, Shin.”
She looked up at him with her golden eyes.
“Are you, like…panicking right now?”
“………”
Shin squinted with one of his eyes.
…Dammit. I was trying to hide it so no one…so Lena
wouldn’t notice. I didn’t want it to influence how they see me.

| Azura Ren |
Her heart heavy with concern, Kurena looked over at Shin,
who was scowling like he’d just had an open wound touched.
He’d likely made this face upon realizing that Kurena could
tell he was struggling with something. He couldn’t accept
making anyone—namely Kurena—worry about him.
He’ll always…only see me as a troublesome little sister,
won’t he?
“…Sorry. Is it bothering you?” he asked.
“No, no, it’s fine. That’s not what I meant. I just wanted to
tell you something.”
When did she realize how panicked Shin seemed to be? It
was when they came to this base in the United Kingdom,
sometime during the two weeks they’d spent training for the
upcoming attack. The heat of combat was when Kurena got to
spend the most time with Shin. That was when she was even
closer to him than Lena, and helpful to him in the one way
she alone could—as a sniper.
She could tell Shin was panicking. That he was trying go
somewhere far away, somewhere that wasn’t here. As if
something was pressing him, urging him to hurry up and go,
even though Shin himself likely didn’t know where that place
might be. And so he went nowhere. He was stuck in place,
and that lack of progress only served to heighten his panic.
Despite the fact that if he didn’t know where to go, he
wouldn’t have to go anywhere to begin with.
“Er… If it’s hard on you, you don’t have to force yourself to
change.”
For a moment, Shin’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Kurena
looked straight at him as she continued:
“Ever since we left the Eighty-Sixth Sector and came to the
Federacy, everyone’s been telling us not to be ourselves. But
we got this far by being who we are, you know? So I think it’s
fine if we stay like this.”
And upon saying that, Kurena realized: What she was
trying to say wasn’t You don’t have to change. It was Please
| Azura Ren |
don’t change. Because if they stopped being the Eighty-Six
and became something else…
You’d choose to be somewhere that isn’t the battlefield…
The only place I can be with you.
“So I think you don’t have try to change if you don’t want
to. You don’t need to make that pained expression. I think we
can just stay the way we are.”
Please don’t change. Stay the way you are. I don’t think
we can make that choice the way we are now, but I still want
our relationship to stay like this: as fellow Eighty-Six who
will fight and die together on the same battlefield.
“I don’t think you need to change.”

Shin’s expression hardened. It seemed he’d just understood

something.
“…Right. We’ve been doing just fine so far.”
Even if they someday lost all their strength and fell in
battle, they would at least know they fought to the very end.
That was their sole source of pride, and even if they became
the kind of person who could only wish for that fate, it was in
no way a mistake. Living and dying like that wasn’t something
be ashamed of.
That was how they had survived the Eighty-Sixth Sector, a
place of certain death. They’d decided to hang on to their
pride, and they didn’t want to discard it. So it wasn’t a
mistake. In no way, shape, or form was it a mistake. And yet…
“Still, it’s not that I don’t want to change. I have to. I
realized I have to wish for something. So…”
It wasn’t a mistake. They could stay the way they were, if
they wanted to live alone. Or with someone who shared their
way of life, like another Eighty-Six. But that wasn’t true if
they wanted to live alongside someone else. Because that way
of life would go on to hurt that person.
Shin looked away from those desperate, clinging golden
| Azura Ren |
eyes, knowing full well how cruel it was to do so.
“We can’t stay the way we are.”

Something was off about Shin. That’s what Lena had been
feeling over the last few days. On the surface, there weren’t
any problems to speak of. His drafting, preparation, and
reports for the upcoming operation were all in order, and he
was as calm and collected as ever.
But it felt like something was bothering him. She couldn’t
shake that feeling, nor could she figure out what the issue
was. And so Lena decided to bring it up herself.
“Do you think something’s been bothering Shin?”
“Why don’t you ask him instead?”
Looking up from her seat in her office, she found Raiden
sitting on the small, nearby sofa, holding a teacup in one hand
and regarding her with an utterly exasperated expression. As
if to say What are you asking me for?
Lena frowned at his response. Shin wouldn’t answer that
question even if she asked him, and that’s why she asked
Raiden, who was Shin’s closest friend. Maybe if Raiden was
the one bringing up the question, Shin would actually answer
it… Raiden would deny that, of course, but the thought that
Shin would tell him something he wouldn’t be willing to share
with her made her quite unhappy.
“What about you, Shiden? Did he tell you something?”
“…Your Majesty, you must be really up against a wall here.
Does it look like that Li’l Reaper and I get along well enough
to have a heart-to-heart? You know we don’t.”
True enough, whenever they met, the two of them started
arguing and bickering like little children.
“I always thought it was like they said: You have to be close
to argue with someone…”
| Azura Ren |
 “Nah, nope, no chance of that. Me and the Li’l Reaper just
straight up don’t like each other. Like a wolf and a tiger, we’re
natural enemies. We don’t get along on a genetic level, me
and him.”
“…Wolves and tigers aren’t natural enemies, and the tiger’s
gonna come out on top there. Which one of you is supposed
to be which anyway?”
Outright ignoring Raiden’s quip, Shiden stuffed another tea
cake into her mouth and munched down on it in a distinctly
noisy, impolite manner.
“But yeah, even I can tell something’s off about him. Not
like he’d talk to anyone about it. You could just order him to
do it, Your Majesty. You’re his commanding officer.”
“That’s…”
That was true. If a subordinate of hers was showing
problems that might interfere with the operation’s success, it
was her duty to either ask him about it and address the issue
or order him to resolve it on his own. And if both weren’t
possible, she would need to remove him from the operation.
“…That’s not what I mean.”
She wanted him to depend on her as a friend, not as a
commanding officer… Lena drooped her shoulders.

Still, a commanding officer had their duties to consider.

“Shin, if anything is bothering you, I’m willing to lend you
an ear.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
Lena didn’t know how to steer the conversation toward the
topic, and so she decided to just go ahead and cut to the
chase. Shin answered her question with a puzzled expression.
Frederica, who happened to be in Lena’s office at the time,
heaved an exaggerated sigh for some reason.
“You just look like you’ve been brooding over something
for a while now. I’m willing to listen if you’d like to talk about
| Azura Ren |
it, or I could increase the frequency of your regular
counseling sessions.”
“Aaah…” Shin made a pained expression for a moment.
But he soon stifled that emotion and shook his head.
“It’s a personal matter. I wouldn’t even say it’s bothering
me, per se.”
“But it’d be an issue if it ended up interfering with the
operation…”
“I believe I’ve always shut those things out during combat
operations… Or was there some kind of problem?”
Lena was at a loss for words. Truth be told, Shin’s capacity
for completing operational objectives was without fault. But
she couldn’t shake the feeling there was something forced and
fabricated about the expression he now wore on his pale,
generally stoic face. He looked the same as always, but
something was different. As if something was wavering
behind that facade, but he had to keep that bottled up in front
of Lena.
“Well, no, there weren’t any problems, but…”
She couldn’t come up with anything to refute that. And as
Lena fell silent, Shin still didn’t tell her anything. Meanwhile,
Frederica looked at the both of them wordlessly with a
dubious expression. It was then that a knock on the door
broke the awkward silence. Annette peeked into the room. To
compensate for the shortage in manpower, she and Grethe
had also arrived at the front with the rest of the Strike
Package.
“Lena, is this talk gonna take long? I need to borrow
Captain Nouzen once you’re done. You know, for that
matter.”
Lena gave a perplexed nod while Shin eyed her
questioningly. It was a matter she’d discussed with Annette
before, but it wasn’t really something they couldn’t talk about
in front of other people.
“Yes, but you can discuss it here, too.”
| Azura Ren |
 Annette cracked a smile.
“Come on. Let’s assume he has to tell me that it’s too hard
to implement during the operation. Do you want him to say
that in front of his commanding officer…? I doubt the captain
would care, and he’d probably say it anyway. But be
considerate of him.”
That was true.
“Yes, you’re right… Then go ahead, Captain. My apologies.”

Shin sighed as he left the office with Annette. It might have

only been by way of coincidence, but he was saved. When
Lena asked him if something was bothering him, he was very
much startled. He didn’t want her, of all people, to notice
something was wrong with him, but apparently, it showed on
his face regardless.
The image of her bothered expression and her concerned
silver-bell-like voice surfaced in his mind again.
“If anything is bothering you, I’m willing to lend you an
ear.”
…But I can’t tell you.
How could he tell her he could never make her wish come
true? That he wanted to change himself but didn’t know how
to go about it? That he didn’t want to be a burden to her…
That he didn’t want to hurt her again?

“That’s about it for our intentions. What’s your take on it as

the commander on the scene? Lena told me not to approve it
if you thought it would get in the way of completing the
operation.”
“I don’t think it’ll get in the way of the operation, but…”
Annette led Shin to one of the several, loud warehouses
that were filled with ammunition and energy packs prepared

| Azura Ren |
for the upcoming operation. Shin answered her question,
standing in one of the corners as he read through the
electronic document she handed him.
“A Reginleif’s combat maneuvering can damage your body
if you’re not used to it… I think it’ll be harsh on a
noncombatant such as yourself, Major Penrose.”
Annette shrugged casually.
“Even Frederica’s boarded a Reginleif before, right? If a
little kid can take it, I don’t see why I can’t.”
“…Roger. I’ll pick someone to ferry you. I recommend you
familiarize yourself with it ahead of time, Major. I can
arrange training sessions for you, too, if you want.”
“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful of you,” Annette said.
She then started teasing him a bit.
“I figured you’d hear me out, though. You always used to
give in eventually whenever I’d ask you something
ridiculous.”
She said this while knowing that Shin didn’t appear to
remember a whole lot about their past. What he did
remember seemed to be the most trivial, unimportant
memories. His responses were always either a casual I don’t
remember or a curt maybe. She’d expected the same thing
now, but Shin had fallen oddly silent.
“…Captain?”
“I wouldn’t really…”
Shin looked away, and so she couldn’t quite meet his gaze.
“…I wouldn’t really have agreed if you’d have asked me
something truly ridiculous…Rita.”
Anette’s eyes widened in surprise, but the next moment,
she lowered her brows as a wistful smile played over her lips.
“Right, I’m not just Major Penrose, am I?”
Rita. That was what Shin had always called her before he
was sent to the internment camp. Her parents were both
deceased—one had died by suicide, while the other had
perished in large-scale offensive—and she never told Lena
| Azura Ren |
about this nickname. After learning that Shin didn’t
remember her when they’d reunited, she thought no one
would ever call her by that name again.
“Did you remember anything about me?”
“Not completely. I feel like there’s more stuff I can’t
remember than stuff I can, but…”
Shin took a single, short breath.
“But the truth is, I’d never lost those memories. So I
thought I should apologize for not remembering until now.”
“That’s fine. It’s not your fault you couldn’t remember…
And if you had remembered everything, I’d have to be the one
to apologize.”
Suddenly sensing a gaze on them, they looked around only
to find Fido peeking in on them from behind the shadow of
one of the containers. Annette shooed it away with a wave of
her hand. A Scavenger couldn’t possibly have a will or
emotions of its own, but the way its large, round optical
sensors seemed to be looking at them gave the impression it
was worried about Shin. It was pretty cute.
As something of a trivial note, Fido was the same name
Shin had given his pet dog growing up. His simplistic naming
conventions hadn’t seemed to mature any.
Annette couldn’t tell exactly when he’d remembered more
about her, but he’d probably been waiting for the right
moment to mention it. Lena had been somewhat tormented
recently by the fact that Shin seemed to be brooding over
something, so maybe it was related to this change in his
mental state.
Yes, Lena. Right now, Annette wasn’t the childhood friend
of the young man standing before her…but Lena’s friend.
“Oh, and about earlier. I figured if I didn’t interfere, things
would get annoying, but don’t worry Lena too much. The fact
that you’re being weird has been weighing on her for days
now. She had to work up some courage to ask you that
question, so don’t snub her too much, okay?”
| Azura Ren |
 “………”
Annette realized, with a hint of exasperation, that his habit
of giving the silent treatment whenever things became
inconvenient for him hadn’t changed any. It’d been ten years,
and he still acted like a small child.
But that was probably because, in a way, he really was still
just a kid. Shin was an Eighty-Six who served five years on a
battlefield where he was fated to die. He shouldn’t have had a
future and didn’t need to think about what would happen
when he became an adult.
So he couldn’t become this thing he’d never even thought
about. The adults were the first to go, and so only the children
were left in the Eighty-Sixth Sector. They didn’t have parents
or teachers or older siblings to serve as an example to them.
It was then that Annette realized:
That’s…really bad.
Not knowing where you’re going. Having to live while not
even knowing what you want…
“Hey, I hope I’m just overthinking this, but… Could it be
that what’s bothering you is…”
Suddenly, the bloodred eyes before her cooled. Having
experienced this change in Shin’s attitude for the first time,
Annette swallowed nervously.
“…the Legion?”
“Yeah… Sorry. My squad’s probably going to deploy now.”
Which meant he had to go.
“Right. Take care out there.”

Even a few minutes after Shin left, Lena was still overcome by
an awkward mood. Frederica, who had kept quiet until now,
parted her lips to speak.
“…Nothing good will come from being in such a hurry, I
say.”
Turning around to face her, Lena found that Frederica’s
| Azura Ren |
bloodred eyes weren’t fixed on her, but rather, they were
tracing Shin’s movements from across the thick concrete wall.
“Shinei is not as strong as you may believe he is. Nor does
he understand himself… He is full of doubts, that one, and
has been for quite some time. And so rushing him for an
answer would only serve to further corner him…”
“………?”
Shin…wasn’t strong?
“That can’t be right…”
“Surely, you remember the moment you first met Shinei.”
Lena blinked once. The first time she met him? Next to the
Juggernaut memorial? No…
“You mean when we fought off the Morpho, right?”
“Aye. Think back to how Shinei was at that time. He was…
The way he acted then—that, too, is a part of Shinei. A side of
himself he never would have wished to show you.”
She recalled the voice she’d heard back then, on that
battlefield of lycoris flowers. The person she’d spoke to in the
past—Shin—was…
At that moment, a shrill alarm blared through the small
office.
“What is this?!” Frederica exclaimed.
“This alarm…!”
There shouldn’t have been a hunt today, but several units
were dispatched to the contested zones, creating a diversion
meant to obfuscate their plan. And the squadron that’d been
deployed was…
“They’ve been hit by a Legion counteroffensive and were
forced to retreat…!”

When Shin reached the hangar, several of the Spearhead

squadron members were already present. He followed
Kurena’s crimson hair as she rushed ahead to the standby
room and called out to Guren. The force they had on alert in
| Azura Ren |
case of emergency had already been deployed, but the
enemy’s numbers were too vast. They didn’t have enough
firepower to hold the line until their scattered allies could
retreat to safety.
“Guren, the Spearhead squadron is deploying… Are we
ready to go?”
“’Course you are. I wouldn’t be much of a maintenance
worker if poking around the Legion’s remains made me forget
about servicing the rigs, now would I?”
Turning his gaze, Shin caught a glimpse of Touka clinging
to Undertaker as she was finishing loading ammunition onto
it. Fido and the rest of the Scavengers lined up as they were
being loaded with spare energy packs, magazines, and other
armaments that were exclusively used by some of their units.
“There’s a blizzard out there… Watch yourself.”
“Right.”
Shin nodded and, as he walked off, unfurled his scarf for a
moment to attach his RAID Device. Wrapping the scarf
around his neck again, he activated the Sensory Resonance.
The Strike Package didn’t have many officers, and so staff
officers were regularly given rights to command. Shin didn’t
call out to the commander, though; he merely Resonated to
get a grasp of the situation before briefing.
The situation was pretty bad. The squadron members’
transmissions came in rapid-fire, their voices overlapping in
the confusion: Second platoon’s isolated. Out of ammo. We’ve
been run aground. Requesting rescue… Second Lieutenant
Irina Misa, KIA.
The face of that mature girl who had served as Rito’s vice
commander in the Claymore squadron surfaced in Shin’s
mind. Unlike Rito, she was docile and obedient. She was,
alongside Rito, one of Shin’s squad mates in the Eighty-Sixth
Sector before he was moved to another squadron. She had
been at Rito’s side until the large-scale offensives.
He recalled her reserved smile and the occasional
| Azura Ren |
conversations they’d had. But it was only a faint recollection,
and as his mind sharpened in preparation for battle, the
memory did little to stir up any emotion. He banished that
thought to a frozen corner of his mind.
There was no need for emotion now. His mind, whetted
like a keen blade, told him as much. As he entered the
briefing room, a voice called to him from the side.
“Shin.”
It was Lena, who was struggling to catch her breath. Her
RAID Device was attached to her neck, as expected. As their
tactical commander, she of course heard the death report.
Her silver eyes clouded over with profound grief. But in the
next moment, she’d suppressed it with her own force of will.
“We’ll begin the briefing as soon as everyone’s gathered.
It’ll be quick, so you’ll be able to set out ASAP.”
“Roger.”
He opened the door and let Lena walk in first. The
squadron members who were already there filed into the
room at once. The nervous footsteps and voices of those ones
who were late in making their way to the hangar could be
heard in the background.
Shin watched her argent hair stream past as she walked by,
and it was then that he realized: Lena was currently grieving.
Her words and attitude did nothing to show it, but that was
only because she’d suppressed her emotions as part of her
duty as a commander. But Irina’s death pained her.
And yet he couldn’t feel any sorrow. Of course, part of it
was because his mindset had switched over in preparation for
battle. The battlefield didn’t offer any respite to mourn the
death of a friend. Sorrow and grief were for when the battle
was over—otherwise, one would simply follow that dead
comrade to the grave. Shin knew that all too well from seven
years of fighting.
And yet there was more to it than that. For the Eighty-Six,
death was a way of life. An Eighty-Six dying was to be
| Azura Ren |
expected, par for the course. It was true for everyone… Even
for Shin himself. A part of him truly believed this…
Shin felt a small shiver run through his body. He could
only see himself as a monster. A monster that walked a lonely
road to the battlefield, paved by the corpses of its comrades.
Only a monster would take the death of those around it for
granted.
He thought he’d realized by now that this was no way to
live—that living as if one might die the next day, rushing
toward death, stepping over corpses, and thirsting for the
end…was no way to go through life. He thought he’d realized
he had to have hope for the future, even if he couldn’t
imagine it.
But it felt as if someone had grabbed him by the hand. As if
the moment he tried to move forward, someone had taken
hold of him so tightly that he couldn’t shake off their grip. But
when he turned around, he found himself face-to-face with
his own self—a shorter, younger Shin, from before his voice
had even cracked. It was the Shin who had just set foot in the
Eighty-Sixth Sector, when people had only started calling him
Reaper because everyone always left him behind and died.
The young Shin smiled at him. After all…
I’d be better off living as if I might die tomorrow, thinking
death is just a way of life for the Eighty-Six. I’m better off not
thinking of the future I’ll never have—or any future at all.
And you’re the same. You’re off to court death in the
Eighty-Sixth Sector, along a road paved with corpses.
A monster obsessed with death.
“………!”
He’d become aware of a lie he’d told himself, and it filled
him with dread. But even that emotion was pushed aside the
next moment, almost automatically. This was carried out by
his consciousness, which had become too used to the
battlefield and was now more mechanical than human.
The reason he couldn’t cast aside his identity as an Eighty-
| Azura Ren |
Six wasn’t because he couldn’t give up on that pride. It was
because somewhere in his heart, he still wished for that fate.
That fate of dying for certain at some point…

It was snowing when they deployed to support the retreating

unit, just like Guren had said. This blizzard had apparently
been raging since before dawn. The white veil inhibited their
optical sensors’ visibility, and their aiming systems and laser
sights weren’t faring much better. But those conditions
applied to the Legion, as well. The Spearhead squadron was
commanded by Shin, who was capable of pinpointing the
enemy’s position without relying on sight, so in a sense, they
actually had the advantage.
The mountain breeze at times blew the snowy wind down
on them in sheets, and a virgin forest of conifer trees loomed
ahead like a dark shadow in the blinding white. If they went
through that forest, the wind wouldn’t be as intense.
Shin’s Undertaker cautiously led the Spearhead squadron
through the dark, trailless road. The snow was solid in the
subzero climate and made crunching sounds as they stepped
through it. The proximity of the ghosts’ wails alerted him that
they had infiltrated the combat zone.
He checked the radar screen, which just barely managed to
pick up the blue blips of their allies, and called out.
“Rito.”
The Sensory Resonance connected. This confirmed the
person he was calling wasn’t dead or unconscious, but Rito’s
response came almost alarmingly late. As if he’d been
paralyzed with so much fear that his voice couldn’t
immediately come out.
“Cap’n.”
The tone of his voice—Shin had heard it countless times on
the battlefield already. It was the trembling voice of a person
who was stricken with fear at the sight of another’s death or
| Azura Ren |
the prospect of their own death.
“Cap’n, I…I can’t be like them. Like the Sirins. I
don’t wanna end up like that, so I…”
Shin looked up in his cockpit. Rito was still haunted by that
event. The image of those girls, who had been laughing as
they died meaningless deaths, felt like a reflection of the
Eighty-Six’s looming end. Like proof that their oath and pride
to fight to the very end was meaningless. He’d grown to doubt
the one thing he had to support who he was. “Rito, retreat…
Take everyone who’s still alive and escape the combat area.”
He’d told him coldly: You can’t fight as you are right now.
Those who had their spirits broken by the fear of death and
the madness of battle, who doubted themselves and froze up,
had no place on the battlefield. And if Rito didn’t listen to
him, he would die and get the other Processors in his
squadron caught up in it.
“…R-roger.”
“We’ve got Shiden…the Brísingamen squadron coming in
from the rear. Regroup with them for now.”
Rito somehow managed to nod in reply and had his group
fall back. Shin stepped forward as if to take their place and
switched the Sensory Resonance over to his subordinates.
“All Spearhead squadron members, we’re about to enter
combat. Judging by their positioning, we should expect a
force of Grauwolf and Stier, each of them in a group the size
of a battalion. And…”
He squinted upon hearing something: a chilling scream
that echoed in his ears like a thunderclap—like the booming
of a cannon—even at this distance. They signaled the ones
that had assimilated the neural networks of the war dead:
Black Sheep, and their advanced versions, the Sheepdogs.
And then there were the commander units of the ghostly
army, whose voices rang out even louder and clearer than the
soldier units. These were the ones that had absorbed the
brains of the dead shortly after their passing and still retained
| Azura Ren |
the intelligence, knowledge, and memories they had in life.
“…There’s a Shepherd. Likely a Dinosauria.”

The Dinosauria were steel monstrosities that boasted the

greatest firepower and armor of all the mass-produced
Legion types. Shin’s squad advanced through the snowy forest
while maintaining a gap between each unit. They aimed to
engage this powerful enemy cautiously and moved through
bumpy terrain that wouldn’t allow its large frame much
foothold or freedom of movement.
It was then that the thick snow that had piled over one of
the large rocks dotting the terrain unnaturally slipped off. A
large shadow had leaped out of the pale powder, revealing its
massive, metallic form through the curtain of white.
It had quite literally wedged itself beneath the thick snow.
Even with a height of four meters and an overall weight of
one thousand tons, its massive form still moved with the
silence unique to the Legion. It lunged toward Undertaker’s
flank as the Juggernaut led the rest of the squad.
It fell for it.
“Fire!”
All of his squad members were alerted ahead of time to its
hiding place and immediately fired at it. Shin dodged the
Dinosauria’s charge with an almost rolling motion as a
barrage of 88 mm APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized
Discarding Sabot) rounds peppered it.
Shin knew the enemy would be gunning for Undertaker
and used himself as bait to allow for this perfect counter. But
the Legion’s reaction speed allowed the Shepherd to avoid it.
Its colossal frame leaped into the air and, upon landing,
kicked up a dense mist of snow. The conifer trees that were
struck by its casual ramming snapped and fell over with
thundering noise.
The Dinosauria then turned the two heavy machine guns
| Azura Ren |
sitting atop its turret, each of them aiming at a different
target. The 155 mm cannon turret and its coaxial secondary
armaments all locked onto separate targets. The Juggernauts
dispersed, evading its lines of fire. Shin moved Undertaker
while keeping his gaze on the metal monstrosity, turning his
Juggernaut so it would be able to overtake the Dinosauria’s
blind spot per established tactics.
The way it attacked just now…
This Dinosauria seemed to act as if it knew how Shin and
his squad would move. While both nations employed Feldreß,
the design philosophy behind the Federacy’s units was
different from the United Kingdom’s. And since they operated
on different concepts, their fuselages were also designed
differently. The strategies they could adopt differed as well.
The Barushka Matushka employed a long-range, 125 mm
caliber turret and a high-fidelity weapon-control system to
down the enemy with intense firepower that was shot with
laser-sharp accuracy. The Reginleif, in contrast, specialized in
high-mobility combat. Even when deployed on the same
battlefield and terrain, the position and strategies they could
adopt were different.
And this was the United Kingdom’s battlefield. The Legion
in this region faced off and adapted countermeasures that
would be effective against Barushka Matushkas. And yet this
Dinosauria seemed to accurately read the actions and
movements of the Spearhead squadron and their Reginleifs.
Which meant…
“It’s an Eighty-Six.”
“Looks like it.”
Shin quickly replied to Raiden’s low grumble. The ones
most familiar with the Spearhead squadron’s—with the
Eighty-Six’s—tactics were other Eighty-Six. And they were the
most combat-seasoned and experienced people in the
surrounding countries who could be made into Black Sheep
and Shepherds.
| Azura Ren |
 And to top it all off…
Shin squinted. This Dinosauria, this howl…
This voice…
It was familiar. It was someone who fought at his side in
the Eighty-Sixth Sector for some brief period of time. The
final words the ghost was howling nonstop weren’t familiar in
and of themselves, so they likely didn’t die before Shin’s eyes.
But…
“Save us.”
Kaie, who had wished for something similar at some point,
was already gone. Most of the Black Sheep were now deemed
obsolete and replaced with the more efficient Sheepdogs.
Which meant Kaie, who had been made into a Black Sheep,
was now discarded. But a few others were still trapped, it
seemed. Some of those who were made into Shepherds still
remained.
I have to take them back. I promised I’d take them with
me. And I think that promise…is something I don’t need to
doubt.
“Raiden… I’ve got this one. As always, I want you to handle
the surrounding enemies and take over command as you
cover for me.”
But Raiden’s reply was tinged with doubt.
“Wait, weren’t we just covering for the others
while they retreat? We need to hold our position
until Rito’s squadron gets to safety. All we have to do
is stall this thing. We don’t have to go to the trouble
of destroying it.”
“It’s an Eighty-Six… I want to take it back.”
Raiden fell silent for a moment.
“…Roger. But don’t do anything crazy. I’ll have the
rest of the squad cover for you.”

“Once again, he seems intent on taking down a

| Azura Ren |
Dinosauria all by himself.”
Frederica whispered bitterly as she gazed at the map,
which could only show the battle between Undertaker and the
Dinosauria taking place several kilometers away in the form
of blips.
Lena looked down, sensing the fear in Frederica’s whisper.
The Legion could perform at a level that far outmatched what
humans were capable of. But even among them, the
Dinosauria was the strongest type. A Feldreß piloted by a
human couldn’t normally hope to stand a chance against it.
Shin had deemed it necessary to use melee weapons to
strike against the Dinosauria’s and the Löwe’s weak spots.
Lena didn’t intend to argue against his reasoning. Even
though she was experienced at commanding battles, she had
no experience facing the Legion head-on and no right to
doubt Shin’s choices. Not when he survived seven years of
fighting the Legion to the death.
But she couldn’t help but feel concerned. She could hear
the other Processors in his squadron shouting, “Nouzen, get
some distance from it.” “We can’t shoot at it when you’re that
close.” “We’re begging you, fall back.”
Shin didn’t respond, of course.
He was likely too focused on the battle to hear them. Just
like when he faced the Phönix in the underground terminal…
And when he risked his life fighting against the Dinosauria
possessed by the ghost of his brother, Rei.
Whenever he became like that, Lena got a bit scared. It was
like he was willingly teetering over the edge of death… And
someday, he might really fall off and never return.
“…Shin.”
He always had the strength to fight and survive. But
recently, he seemed…
“Are you really all right…?”

| Azura Ren |
The enemy’s front armor was thick enough to deflect even a
shot from its own 155 mm smoothbore gun at point-blank
range. A Reginleif’s 88 mm cannon couldn’t hope to penetrate
it. It kicked up powder snow and stomped over the cold
ground, its massive weight mowing down the trees as it
charged toward Shin.
Shin piloted Undertaker wildly to avoid it, using the
assorted rock formations and protrusions—and even the
trunks of the nearby conifer trees as footholds. As he dodged
the Reginleif’s fire, he tried to get a clear shot at the thinnest
points of its armor.
It had to have originally been an Eighty-Six. It seemed to
be forcibly rushing through the conifer forest, which would
normally be unfitting terrain for a Dinosauria, but despite
what seemed to be a careless demeanor, it picked its positions
carefully, hiding its rear-top armor from sight at all times. It
was wary of the Juggernaut’s light weight and mindful of its
established tactics of reeling itself up structures with a wire
anchor and using that elevation to shoot from above.
Defeating it would prove difficult.
Even if the areas except the frontal armor could be
penetrated by the 88 mm cannon, and the pile drivers in the
Reginleif’s legs were capable of busting through its top armor,
he still needed to be extremely fast. Fast enough to damage
anyone who wasn’t a Processor greatly accustomed to fighting
at this velocity.
But while it was a difficult battle, it was still possible for the
Reginleif to come out on top. At the very least, it was nothing
compared to when he fought his brother in that aluminum
coffin.
Its two revolving machine guns were a nuisance, since they
fired a consistent barrage of bullets. He launched HEAT
shells set with proximity fuses and successfully destroyed
them. He then carefully approached the Dinosauria and cut
down one of the legs supporting its one thousand tons of
| Azura Ren |
weight.
Somehow, he could tell its counterattack was coming. He
avoided the kick from its stake-like leg without even looking
at it. He then dodged a second and a third kick by making
small leaps, but then his right rear leg sank deep into the
frozen snow.
“Tch…!”
Undertaker stopped in place. Its leg was caught in the
snow. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. As the 155
mm turret swerved to aim at him, he activated his trapped
leg’s pile driver to forcefully eject it. The 57 mm pile driver
detonated gunpowder, jettisoning the trapped leg out of the
snow. In the meantime, he used his remaining three legs to
hop to the left, escaping the line of fire.
Then the roar of the tank turret’s fire and the shock waves
of the shell grazing against it screeched against Undertaker’s
armor. The Dinosauria’s main turret would need some time to
reload after firing, and the secondary armament to the right
of the turret couldn’t aim at him from this position. Both of its
machine guns were already destroyed.
This meant that at this moment, Shin was free to fire
without any counterattack. His sights were already set to
track his line of sight, and he placed his finger on the 88 mm
turret’s trigger—
Suddenly, there was an alert: Rear right leg pile driver
damaged.
This shrill alarm sound, intended to warn the Processor,
dragged Shin back to his senses. Shin’s eyes widened in
realization. Right now, he was once again about to become the
very image of a war machine—a death-obsessed monster.
Like a monster heading for its own death on the battlefield,
he all too easily forgot those words bidding him to return
alive…
And that moment of realization was an opening. That
alarm blaring in his ears allowed the enemy to close the
| Azura Ren |
distance to him. And the Dinosauria’s large form, which, at
that range, filled the entirety of his optical screen, swung back
and raised its leg like a weapon.
“…!”
He reflexively yanked the control stick back, forcing
Undertaker to jump away. It was too late to dodge, but this
attempt to at least minimize the incoming shock came less
from a conscious decision and more out of reflex. Both of its
legs left the ground as it leaped aside, and the next moment,
there came the quake of impact. He raised one of
Undertaker’s legs to block the blow, but the sound of it
snapping along with its wire anchor filled his ears. The
control system blared out a screeching alert.
And then Shin blacked out.

“Huh…?”
What just happened?
Lena couldn’t immediately process what she’d just seen
projected onto Vanadis’s main screen. Something she couldn’t
believe had just taken place. Something she never would have
expected, that went beyond her understanding.
Undertaker’s blip was blown back from its position, in a
different direction from where it was going a moment ago. It
moved against its Processor’s control and was tossed aside
like a piece of trash, rolling on the ground for a few moments
before stopping. It remained helpless and still on the ground,
even with the enemy bearing down on it right before its face.
Shin was just…hit by an attack…?
Wehrwolf and Laughing Fox stood in the Dinosauria’s way
as it prepared to launch another attack. They both fired at it,
drawing its attention. It was programmed to prioritize the
most threatening targets first. As they did, other Juggernauts
hurried over to Undertaker’s side.
Undertaker’s blip remained still on the radar screen. Its
| Azura Ren |
signal hadn’t faded, so it wasn’t fatally destroyed. But it
wouldn’t move. Its Para-RAID wouldn’t connect.
Marcel moaned in frustration.
“Why didn’t he…?!”
Lena felt the same way. He could have dodged that blow.
He should have dodged it. Lena knew he could, since she saw
him do so during many a training session, and in both large
and small battles. The Reginleif moved with a speed that
would damage the body of a normal pilot, but Shin operated
it with ease.
No, it went beyond what she saw he was capable of. For
five long years, he operated that metal coffin that couldn’t
even withstand machine-gun fire, and even so, he lunged into
the enemy ranks, engaging them with melee weapons without
taking a single fatal blow. For five years, he survived the
Eighty-Sixth Sector.
He would never take a direct hit from a single Legion. Even
if it was a Shepherd.
So…why?
But Lena remained stupefied for only a moment. She soon
turned to one of the control officers. The Reginleif was
equipped with multiple systems the Juggernaut—which was
supposedly a drone—didn’t have.
“How are his vitals?!”
“We’ve got a read on them. His pulse, blood pressure, and
breathing are all within permissible range. But he’s not
responding to the alerts…”
Frederica offered her own commentary, her face pale with
fear. Her crimson eyes let out a ruby glow—proof that her
ability was in operation.
“It doesn’t seem like he’s suffered any major injures. He is
only unconscious, I believe. Raiden and the others are also
calling out to him, but he is not responding.”
“Hurry up and retrieve him! Shiden, deploy the
Brísingamen squadron and cover for them!”
| Azura Ren |
Regardless of culture and country, hospital rooms always
seemed to have a sterile, white color to them. And so when
his eyes opened, he was faced with the sight of a ceiling that
registered in his foggy mind as unknown and, at the same
time, somehow familiar. As a rule, hospital facilities were
kept sanitary in order to prevent infections. For that reason,
they were made white, so filth would stand out.
Realizing he was overcome with pointless, meaningless
thoughts, Shin pushed his hands against the sheet and sat up.
Feeling the unpleasant sensation of something being stuck to
him and noticing a shadow at the edge of his field of vision,
he raised his hand to his forehead. It was met with the dry
sensation of a piece of adhesive tape, meant to hold up a
gauze. Apparently, he’d been cut above his left eye, near his
scar.
It was a scar he’d gotten during his battle with his brother.
They were deep in Legion territory at the time, without any
medical facilities in sight. His wound had been stitched closed
by an amateur’s hands, and so it left a scar.
He had fought a Dinosauria Shepherd that time, too, but…
He wasn’t distracted and didn’t look away from his massive
opponent during that battle. Shin couldn’t help but grit his
teeth in frustration. He dug his fingers into the skin of his
forehead.
That had never happened before. Not once had he ever lost
concentration because of a question weighing on his mind
and let an enemy get the better of him.
Shin could hear the sound of the hard fabric of a military
uniform stirring behind the thin curtain surrounding his
bed… Someone sitting at his bedside woke up.
“Oh? You’re finally awake?”
As soon as he heard those words, the curtain was pulled

| Azura Ren |
open casually. His eyes, which had grown used to the dimness
of the cockpit and the darkness of his closed eyelids, were
momentarily blinded by the brightness of the lamp. Shin
reflexively squinted and found himself staring into a pair of
oddly colored eyes. One of them the color of deep indigo and
the other as white as snow.
The owner of those eyes raised her hand casually and
waved at him. She had brown skin and unkempt crimson hair.
“Yo.”
“…What are you doing here?” Shin asked with one eye shut.
Shiden cackled at him, not minding his attitude.
“Who were ya expecting to find here? And heh, talk about
thankless greetings, eh, Li’l Reaper? Raiden’s handling the
reports instead of you, and Her Majesty’s cleaning up your
mess, so I came here to watch over ya… I mean, I’m the one
who pulled you outta of that battlefield, y’know?”
“………”
Looking around, he realized he was in the reserve base’s
hospital ward, in a room for lightly injured patients who
didn’t require intensive care. He’d been stripped out of his
thick armored flight suit, since it likely got in the way of his
treatment, and a spare uniform was folded on the side table.
Upon noticing the pale-blue fabric placed casually over it,
Shin moved to touch his neck. He couldn’t feel his scarf, of
course. It had been taken off when they treated him.
Shiden’s gaze fell on the scar running across his neck, but
she made no remark.
“The doctor said ya didn’t hit your head, and there’s no
signs of a concussion. But they want you to rest here for a day
or two to be on the safe side. They did sew a few stitches into
ya, after all.”
She poked her thumb in the direction of her forehead to
illustrate. Then her smile disappeared as she asked:
“Do you remember what happened?”
“More or less.”
| Azura Ren |
 He could remember it so clearly, he wished he could
forget.
“…What about the Dinosauria?”
“That’s the first thing you ask…? Well, yeah, it’s a
Shepherd. And an Eighty-Six at that… Sad to say, but it got
away. Our objective wasn’t to defeat it anyway.”
“How’s my Juggernaut?”
“Looks like they can fix it, one way or another… Though yer
mechanic… Uhhh, Guren, was it? He was screaming bloody
murder, so make sure ya pay him a visit later. He said you’re
still breaking yer rigs all the time and haven’t matured after
all.”
“Yeah…”
Jumping back killed most of the impact, but his rig still
took a direct kick from a Dinosauria. The fact that he got
away with reparable damage was a godsend.
“Makes sense he’d say that. I put him through trouble
again.”
This time, Shiden was the one to regard him with one eye
closed.
“Do you say that knowingly or what? They don’t care about
the rig being damaged; they care about you getting hurt.
Dumbass.”
Shin was carried straight to the medical center, while
Undertaker’s broken form was carried into the hangar alone.
Guren’s surprise only made sense. He saw Undertaker’s
wreckage, but Shin wasn’t there.
“…I can’t believe you’d pull that kind of stupid mistake.
Hey…”
She leaned her upper body forward on her folding chair.
Shiden looked up at him with eyes that showed no sign of
ridicule or laughter. It was the cold eyes of someone who had
survived many years in the Eighty-Sixth Sector, even if she
didn’t spend as much time there as Shin had.
“…are you really all right?”
| Azura Ren |
 “………”
Shin looked down, averting his gaze. He knew it even
without her saying anything.
He wasn’t all right.
He didn’t know what future to aspire toward or what to
wish for. For all the time he spent agonizing over it, he
couldn’t find anything to wish for. Or any way to fill that
emptiness inside him. He knew he couldn’t keep living while
rushing to his death, but he realized he was obsessing over
the death that surrounded him. He thought he was facing
death straight on, but that was just an excuse to avoid having
to wish for the future.
And now he wasn’t even able to detach himself during
battle, which he’d always been capable of until now. So far,
during combat, he was always able to let go and forget
everything, but this agony was holding him back. Right now,
he had to doubt himself. He couldn’t say there weren’t any
problems with him anymore.
“This isn’t just because of what happened in that citadel
base, is it…? That was a nasty sight, for sure. It looks like what
we might end up being. But ya shouldn’t be thinking about
that now. It’s pointless. At least for now.”
Shiden narrowed her heterochromatic eyes coldly.
“Lemme tell ya this. The way you are now, we can’t let you
be part of the attack force in the next operation, Operations
Commander. I’m gonna ask Lena to have you remain on
standby at HQ. Considerin’ your ability, you ought to be back
at the base anyway, commanding the battle from a distance…
It’s the same thing ya told Rito. If ya can’t stay focused during
battle, yer only gonna be a burden to everyone else.”
“I know,” he replied bitterly.
She was right… It really was the same thing he’d told Rito.
Shiden scoffed as she regarded Shin.
“Hmph, you really are in the dumps, aren’t ya…? You’re not
even talkin’ back to me… Anyway, take your time and rest.
| Azura Ren |
Stay here for a couple days and don’t think about any of that
shit. Also, Lena’s getting hysterical over you, so make sure ya
patch things up there… Ah—”
The sound of heels hurriedly clicking over the floor
approached them. Someone seemed to have rushed into the
room.
“Shiden! They said Shin woke up…”
Lena ran into the room, completely forgetting her officer’s
dignity and ladylike manners, and stopped dead in her tracks
upon seeing Shin. She blushed for a moment, observing him
out of his flight suit and in just his undershirt, but she shook
her head to drive those thoughts from her mind. Her silvery
eyes then moistened with tears.
“Shin… Thank goodness…”
Her gaze froze a bit before his eyes, and her delicate
features contorted painfully at the sight of the gauze and the
wound beneath it. Shin then realized she could see the scar
on his neck. His scarf had been taken off with the rest of his
flight suit, after all.
He promptly brought a hand to his neck in an attempt to
hide the scar. He didn’t tell Lena it was his brother who had
inflicted it on him and had no intention of sharing this with
her at all. To that end, he didn’t want her to see it. That
reflexive movement made her hold her breath for a moment.
Shin, who was looking down at the time, didn’t notice Lena’s
sad reaction.
“Your injuries…”
“It’s just this cut on my forehead. Nothing else.”
He could tell he had a number of other small wounds, but
he didn’t mention them. He hardly felt any pain at the
moment. They were all minor injuries, and Shin didn’t even
acknowledge them.
“You say that, but I can see the bandages… I swear… The
military doctor said you’re to rest for the next couple of days,
so return to your room and do just that.”
| Azura Ren |
 “…I’m sorry.”
“Yes, I’m afraid you won’t get away without a scolding this
time, Captain… What happened? This isn’t like you.”
“Ah, Your Majesty. I already gave him a talking-to about
that, so don’t chew him out too much.”
Shiden butted in on their exchange, but Lena ignored her.
Being looking down upon left a bad taste in Shin’s mouth, so
he rose from the bed and put on his uniform’s top.
“My mind wandered…and I lost focus. It won’t happen
again.”
“‘Lost focus’…?”
Lena hesitated for a moment but eventually decided she
needed to reprimand him as a commanding officer this time.
She raised her fair eyebrows and spoke to him with a slightly
severe gaze.
“This is because of whatever’s been bothering you lately,
isn’t it? That’s why you tripped up. Am I wrong?”
“………”
“I told you it’d be a problem if it ends up influencing the
operation. I asked you to resolve this by attending further
counseling sessions, or by consulting with me if you can’t
work this out on your own… I’ll listen to you, no matter what
you have to say. That’s my duty… And it’s what I want. You
look like something’s hounding you, like you’re being pushed
against the wall… Everyone’s worried about you. And so am
I… What’s wrong, Shin?”
As she spoke, her grimace gradually softened, and she
simply looked up at him earnestly with her argent eyes… But
Shin averted her gaze.
He couldn’t tell her he was a harmful factor to the world
she desired. That he was still headed for death instead of the
future she wished for. That he didn’t belong at her side right
now, and that even though he wanted to change this, he didn’t
know how.
He didn’t want her, of all people, to know about the
| Azura Ren |
emptiness eating away at him from the inside.
“Nothing.”
Lena grimaced anxiously.
“You can’t say that when you’re making that face. Telling
someone might make you feel better—”
“There’s nothing.”
“You’re lying… You always say that, but you weren’t fine,
were you? If you’re in pain, I wouldn’t mind lending you an
ear… No, I want you to tell me. I, um, want to support you,
and…”
Shin grew irritated at their unproductive exchange and
lashed out in a severe tone.
“There’s nothing… It has nothing to do with you, and I have
nothing to tell you.”
And only then did he realize what he had said. Lena’s large
eyes widened, seemingly frozen on him. And then they
moistened, as if a crack had run through those alabaster
depths.
“…Why do you say that?”
Her voice contained a chill he’d never heard before.
“You say there’s nothing, but it’s obvious from your face
that something’s wrong. You look like you’re in pain, like
you’re in agony, but you never say anything. Don’t you want
to talk to me…? Am I really that unreliable? Am I really not
good enough to help you? Aren’t we…?”
Tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her white
cheeks. One after another. Shin looked on with shock as her
tears flowed freely like water breaching a dam. He knew he
had to say something, but his mind was reeling, and he failed
to come up with anything.
And as Shin remained speechless, Lena’s expression
crumbled in front of him.

“Aren’t we fighting together…?”

| Azura Ren |
 Her question reverberated out like a scream. And without
waiting for an answer, Lena turned around and ran off.
“H-hey! Your Majesty… Lena!”
Shiden followed her in a flustered hurry. The sound of her
heavy military boots gradually grew distant. And yet Shin
couldn’t move. He simply remained where he was as the
sound of their footsteps left him behind.

| Azura Ren |
 * * *

How long had he stood there? As the tumult and the sound of
their steps died down, Shin eventually came to his senses.
Even if he wanted to go after her, Lena was long out of
earshot. He heaved one loud sigh and informed the doctor in
the infirmary that he was going to his room before leaving.
As soon as he left the infirmary, a voice spoke to him from
the side.
“You’re not going after her, Nouzen?”
“…You were watching?”
Vika leaned his back against the wall adjacent to the
infirmary’s sliding door and shrugged casually.
“Callous as I am, even I know to not intrude on certain
awkward situations. I can tell my words aren’t always
welcome.”
Vika then turned his gaze down the corridor, signaling the
direction Lena took off in. Shin answered after heaving a
short sigh.
“I know I need to apologize.”
He knew this was definitely his fault, but he couldn’t tell
what he did wrong. He’d lashed out at her, and that was
clearly a mistake. He’d hurt her, and that was wrong. But
what hurt Lena weren’t his insensitive words, but the
exchange right before that. And he couldn’t tell what he did
wrong there.
If he was to judge it simply from what Lena said, the
problem was in the fact that he hadn’t told her anything. But
the problems he was struggling with right now weren’t related
to Lena. He didn’t want to cause her needless concern, to be a
burden to her. He didn’t want her to know about this anguish
he was going through, which felt all the more pathetic the
more he put it into words.
| Azura Ren |
 “Apologizing when I don’t even know what I did wrong…
would just hurt her more.”
All he’d done was hurt her. Back then—and now as well.
“That makes me…so sad.”
Vika cocked his head, his fair face bereft of his usual smile.
“You’re a surprisingly cowardly one.”
His comment caught Shin completely off guard.
“Cowardly…?”
“Yes, and I don’t mean in terms of battle. If anything,
you’re fearless to the point of recklessness on that front, and
that is dangerous in its own way, I think. But anyway…”
With his back still against the wall and his arms crossed,
Vika leaned forward and regarded Shin with an upward
glance. They were roughly the same height, but Shin was just
a bit taller than Vika. Because of that slight height difference,
Vika was looking up with his Imperial violet eyes into Shin’s
bloodred ones. They were an almost artificial, monstrous
shade of purple.
“Even as a third party in this, I can tell. Something is
halting your thoughts.”
He was pretending to be deep in thought, so he wouldn’t
actually have to think.
“It’s not that you don’t know what you did wrong. You just
don’t want to think about it. You were like that concerning
your family, too, now that I think of it. It’s not that you
couldn’t remember; you just didn’t want to remember. You
didn’t want to open old wounds… You say you don’t know
what you did wrong, that you couldn’t remember. But I think
that, in fact, you don’t want to. You don’t want to hope.”
“That’s…”
Being told all this made him instinctively try to deny it. To
say he couldn’t hope for a future, that he had no future. This
was how he thought, but he’d realized the truth was that he
actually didn’t want to wish for one. He believed death was
just a way for the Eighty-Six to not hope for a future.
| Azura Ren |
 In that case, he then also had to admit that the way he felt,
that thinking he had no future, was wrong. He was about to
hope for a future and the wishes it contained…but he couldn’t
allow himself to desire them. And the moment he realized
this, Shin unconsciously covered up those feelings,
pretending nothing had happened.
But the owner of those violet eyes laughed, not missing that
flicker of emotion.
“Right, I haven’t told you yet, have I…? I knew your father.
I’ve even spoken to him. Your father, Reisha Nouzen, was a
researcher of artificial intelligence, much like Zelene. Would
you like for me to tell you of our exchange? You would do
well to hear me out, assuming it doesn’t touch upon any open
wounds.”
“………?!”
Those surprising words made Shin’s breath catch in his
throat.
“Be a good boy…Shin…”
He couldn’t recall right now. But he knew he actually did
have memories of them. His mother’s voice and the smile on
her lips. His mother, his father, his brother… All those faces
and voices. Yes, he remembered them all. And he realized, at
the same time, that he didn’t want to remember.
And it wasn’t just that remembering them would make him
loathe those memories. It was because he knew those
memories were all too similar to the things he’d wish for. It
was the kind of happiness Lena described. He realized his
memories and the happiness she spoke of were alike, and that
was why he couldn’t allow himself to remember them.
Hence, he didn’t want to think about that happiness. He
didn’t want to remember it. Because what if he remembered,
reached out for it, wished for it, only for it to once again be…?

That scared him.

| Azura Ren |
 “…That might be true.”
“You finally admit it… People your age would rather die
than let others see their weaknesses. But that only bothers
those around you. If you’re hurting, then say so. And with
regards to Milizé, I’ll just go ahead and say it since it’s
becoming too irritating to watch—but it’s the same problem
with her. You say you don’t want to be a burden to her, but
your refusal to rely on her only comes across as lack of trust,
and that causes her pain.”
The prince shrugged, unaware that what he just said both
didn’t suit his age and came across as condescending.
“You should apologize to her if you can… And this is
speaking from experience, but if there’s anything you ought to
tell her, you should say those words while you still have the
chance. Because once that chance is gone, all that’s left is
regret.”
“…You’re being awfully kind today, Serpent of Shackles.”
Shin gave a sarcastic response in an attempt to spite him,
but Vika didn’t seem to mind.
“Yes… Because of Lerche.”
Shin squinted at the sound of that name.
“That seven-year-old told you something she shouldn’t
have. So think of this as an apology. I wouldn’t normally be
this concerned about your inner turmoil, but after hearing she
helped trigger this, I couldn’t stand by and ignore it.”
And then Vika spoke, with a voice devoid of emotion, as if
gazing at something that had gone too far and was now out of
reach.
“And here you want to find happiness with someone.”
“………”
“It makes no difference to me what you really think. But if
that’s truly how you feel…”
Shin then realized that Lerche was, indeed, based off the
girl who was Vika’s milk sister. Vika never told him of her, but
Lerche shared a bit. Who was it, really, who wished to become
| Azura Ren |
happy alongside someone…?
“Even if you don’t want to wish for happiness, do you really
think not wishing for it will spare you from sorrow…? It won’t.
Whether you yearn for happiness or not, you will experience
loss, and loss hurts. It is the most unbearable pain of all.”
The Serpent Prince smiled slightly. And as he did, he
continued speaking with deep-seated, honest anger.
“And the person you long for is still alive. In which case, if
there is anything you need to tell her, I suggest you say it now.
For if you lose her…you will never be able to tell her anything
again. But I’m sure you’re painfully aware of that.”

For all of Shiden’s concerns, this was another country’s base,

one that was unfamiliar to her. The United Kingdom’s culture
was, to begin with, rather different from both the Eighty-Sixth
Sector and the Federacy, and so was the fundamental layout
of its structures. And this reserve base was built to be
intentionally confusing, so as to mislead intruders, meaning
its structure was that much harder to navigate.
Lena was wearing clumsy pumps and wasn’t any good at
running, so how far, really, could she have gone? After
searching every corner, Shiden eventually caught up to Her
Majesty, who was slumped over a desk in the corner of an
empty briefing room. Grethe was sitting next to her,
apparently surprised by her unusual demeanor. Raiden was
standing a distance that was neither too far nor too close to
Lena, apparently bothered that he was not able to break the
silence. He looked at Shiden and mouthed a question.
What happened?
Shiden replied likewise.
She had an argument with that asshole Shin.
Oh, so that’s why.
Raiden concluded their short, wordless exchange with a
weary shrug. Shiden felt similarly. It was visible with a glance
| Azura Ren |
that something was bothering Shin. He normally kept his
feelings bottled up, just like Shiden herself did, so she
sympathized with him. But lashing out at Lena, of all people?
Shin seemed composed at a glance, but the truth was that
he had a fairly short fuse. It was hard to notice this, since
whenever he didn’t like something, he’d quickly fall silent. On
top of that, he was indifferent to those he didn’t know well,
even if they directed hostility toward him.
And the fact that Shin and Lena had argued…meant he had
been unable to keep up that indifference and tone and got
mad. This probably went to show that Shin saw Lena as
someone close to him—or perhaps, someone he wanted to
become closer with.
But that aside, Her Majesty was sitting there before
Shiden’s eyes now. It was hard to tell if she even noticed
Raiden, who was hesitating to speak; Shiden, who had rushed
into the room after her; or even Grethe, who was sitting by
her side. She sat still, with her head hung. Her long, silver
hair was splayed out like a butterfly that had soaked its wings
in the rain.
“Um… Are you all right, Your Majesty?”
Her head still slumped, Lena muttered a reply, her voice
muffled.
“I’m sorry.”
“…What are you apologizing for?”
“I mean…” Lena sniffled. “A commander crying in front of
her subordinates, just because one of her soldiers turned her
down…”
Apparently, she thought it was disgraceful. Grethe, who
was sitting beside her, cracked a bitter smile.
“It almost feels like you’re blaming me here.”
Lena raised her head in surprise at that unexpected
statement.
“…How come?”
She spoke awfully casually given how straitlaced she
| Azura Ren |
usually was, but no one, Grethe included, seemed to mind.
Grethe replied, that same smile on her lips.
“A commanding officer doesn’t display emotions in front of
her subordinates. That much is certain, but the truth is, a
commanding officer is something you become when you’re
much older than you kids are. Only when you’re at an age
where you can control your emotions a bit better, to an
extent. That’s why people can expect that we won’t shout or
cry.”
One became an officer usually after completing their
higher education, meaning they would reach the lowest office
rank of second lieutenant in their twenties at the earliest.
Even then, they were treated like a greenhorn by veteran
noncommissioned officers and commanded a unit only with
the aid of these officers.
It took at least a few years, depending on one’s individual
abilities, to reach the rank of first lieutenant or captain. One
wouldn’t be promoted to the rank of field officer before their
thirties. A first lieutenant or captain in their teens was terribly
unusual, to say nothing of Lena, who was a field officer.
“The fact that you had this responsibility forced on you
when you’re still young and don’t have your emotions sorted
out yet just goes to show how messed up this whole situation
really is… It’s our fault—the adults’ fault—that we couldn’t fix
things before it came to this. So you don’t have to steel
yourself like that.”
Lena lowered her brows pathetically.
“But I’m…supposed to set an example for the Processors…”
Lena realized that, when all was said and done, this was
what she found hardest to bear. She honestly didn’t care
about her dignity as an officer, but she didn’t want the Eighty-
Six to be disillusioned with her. She didn’t want them to see
her as this…fragile princess who would burst into tears over
the slightest amount of pain.
She had shed pathetic tears several times already in front
| Azura Ren |
of Shin, and that made her even more desperate to not come
across as a crybaby princess. She wanted to show them this
wasn’t who she really was.
“They all know you’ve done well, so no one would think
badly of you over a few shed tears. If anything, they might
think you’re more endearing for it… Right?”
She turned a teasing glance at Raiden, who blatantly
ignored her. She was obviously referring to someone who
wasn’t here, but Grethe didn’t go any deeper. Lena then
answered the question.
“I had an argument with Shin.”
Saying it only saddened her again, because her eyes filled
up with tears once more.
“He looked like something had been bothering him for a
long while now. I thought he was still hung up about the last
operation, but recently, he’s been acting even stranger. So I
told him I’d lend him an ear, if he was willing to talk.”
The Bloodstained Queen then sniffled like a small child.
“But he said it was nothing. He wouldn’t tell me anything…
He won’t rely on me.”
Both Grethe and Raiden had a silent, nonverbal Oh… cross
their minds. Yes, of course Lena would be hurt by that.
Captain Nouzen really is a boy through and through…,
Grethe mused.
I ought to drag that idiot here and have him switch places
with me. Raiden’s thoughts on the matter were a bit different.
“He said he doesn’t want to talk about it with me… That he
doesn’t want to speak to me.”
“Goodness…” Even Grethe had to roll her eyes. “That’s…
Yes, I see. But I’ve already told you this before, right?
Disagreeing and arguing is natural. If you didn’t argue, I’d
have to wonder if you two were too distant. The more two
hearts clash, the closer they become. If you can fight and
make up…you might be better off doing so while this war
rages on.”
| Azura Ren |
 “She’s right, Your Majesty. You told me yourself that you
gotta be close to argue.”
“………”
But Lena didn’t think so in this case.
“…If I were Raiden…”
Lena herself was surprised at how much her voice came
across as pouty and childish.
“If I were Raiden or Theo, Shin would have spoken to me.
He’d have counted on me.”
Unlike me. Those last two words were so unsightly that she
somehow managed to bring herself to swallow them. In fact,
whenever he spoke to Raiden, Theo, Anju, Kurena, as well as
Marcel, his contemporary from the officer’s academy, Lena
found she was somehow out of place. She even felt that way
sometimes with Fido (who couldn’t speak), Vika, and Dustin.
He seemed different with them as opposed to how he
normally was when he talked to her. His expression was
different around them. He was more abrupt, noncommittal,
inattentive, and…yes, unreserved. Like he wasn’t holding
back. Like he was talking to an equal. This was the feeling
Lena got, and it frustrated her.
“Well…I dunno about that.” Raiden regarded her with a
bitter smile.
It was a surprising, odd smile that held deep regret. He
looked up at Lena with this wry, somehow bittersweet smile.
“In the end, we’re just Eighty-Six, same as him. But he’s
our Reaper… And that’s why we might be able to fight by his
side, but we can’t do anything more for him… Like you can.”

“Cap’n.”
As he headed for his room in the residential sector of the
base, Shin stopped as he found Rito waiting for him.
“I heard you got hurt… It was my fault, wasn’t it? I’m
sorry.”
| Azura Ren |
 “…No.”
Shin shook his head lightly. It wasn’t Rito’s fault. He
couldn’t blame him for his state of affairs. He was as full of
doubts and misgivings as Rito was, after all. Rito looked
straight at Shin with his large, agate eyes, their depths rife
with regret and pain.
“Cap’n. About the next operation…the Dragon Fang
Mountain attack, er…”
“…Would you rather stay behind at HQ?”
Shin finished Rito’s sentence, since he was stammering in
hesitation. It was a frightening operation, considering how
much larger the Legion’s forces were in comparison to theirs.
Even having just Rito not take part was a painful blow… But
Shin wasn’t going to force someone who didn’t want to fight
into battle. Anyone who went into battle against their will…
likely wouldn’t return.
But to Shin’s surprise, Rito shook his head firmly.
“No, it’s the other way around, Cap’n. Don’t take me off the
operation. I’ll…work this out before it’s time to deploy.”
“But…aren’t you scared?”
Wasn’t he afraid of the death that awaited him at the end of
battle…? Of the fate in store for the Eighty-Six?
“I am scared.”
Rito eventually answered, his white, pallid lips pursed. And
he said this while refusing to gloss anything up, with his gaze
still as timid as before. And yet…
“But I…I can’t run from battle, after all. I hate how
shameful that sounds.”
An Eighty-Six who chose to fight to the very end could
never accept doing something as unsightly as running away.
They could never lapse into something so deplorable.
“I don’t want to…cast away my own identity.”
Even if he still doubted what that identity was.

| Azura Ren |
 CHAPTER 3

SHOOT THE MOON

The United Kingdom’s offensive was set to begin soon. This

estimation was shared by all Legion set along the United
Kingdom’s front lines. Just as the Eintagsfliege were being
constantly deployed over the Legion’s territories to obfuscate
their movements from the human side, the United Kingdom
also kept its internal affairs and military operations hidden
from the enemy.
And yet there was an increase in communications, as well
as an increase in the volume of equipment and manpower
being shifted around and in the transfer of units. Those were
signs of an incoming attack, and they were hard to hide.
It happened on the second front, where the 1st Armored
Corps used to be stationed. The United Kingdom attempted
an offensive, but a retreat forced them back to this region,
meaning they would have to attack here once again if they
were to stand a chance. As such, the Legion increased their
watch over the area and augmented their numbers as they lay
in wait. Their intent was to crush the incoming attack just as
they had before.
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 And should the human forces not launch an attack, the
Legion would break through the Dragon Corpse mountain
range and unleash a final offensive on the United Kingdom.

The sun rose on the anti–United Kingdom front, which had

its skies closed off by a layer of silver extending from the
south. The time was what humans referred to as early dawn—
the point of time when the night was darkest. With the signs
of sunrise not yet appearing, a large force of Eintagsfliege,
made up of several hundred million butterflies, which had
retreated into the territories to recharge their batteries during
nightfall, began to move.
They crossed the skies, soaring through the Legion
territories and into the contested zones, where they would
cover up the airspace of the United Kingdom in a wide, thick
blanket of silver.
When the sun did rise, its rays reflected off their
shimmering wings, which coated the sky in an eerie shade of
crimson. It was a similar phenomenon to what was observed
in the Federacy’s western front during the large-scale
offensive more than six months ago. A bloodred dawn that
was similar to the evening glow but far more ominous.
That red shade eventually died down, and the sky soon
assumed the same melancholic gray-silver shade it’d always
had over the last few months. But then something crossed
that silver horizon. It came from the rear of the reserve base
the United Kingdom military currently occupied. Something
shot up into the sky, from beyond the serrated peaks
extending to the skies.
The Rabe governing over the skies, the Ameise on patrol,
and the Stachelschwein hiding in the territories all detected it
in their radar. The Ameise unit closest to the target took off in
the direction it presumably flew in to secure visual
information. Its antiair radar then lost its signal. It apparently
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wasn’t a flying object, not an aircraft or a missile. It was some
kind of object that moved rapidly across the ground, but it
didn’t seem to match anything in the Legion’s database.
It burst out of the conifer forest, and the Legion’s blue
optical sensor looked up at the battlefield of pale snow.
Before long, the Ameise’s composite sensor perceived it—
prompting it to freeze in place in indecision.
What the Ameise optical sensor saw rolled down the slope
at a maddening speed, billowing fire as it moved. It had a
great number of what looked like large, all-too-massive
wheels.

“Charging in. Ignition of all units confirmed.”

“Second wave, Strike Force Package fire-control
detachment. Open fire. We have to finish this
surprise attack while the enemy’s still caught off
guard. Don’t allow them to get a handle on the
situation.”
“Roger that. Fire-control detachment, open fire.
Align sights. Electromagnetic catapults, connect
capacitors. Thrones, second wave—fire!”

Deployed along the rear of the United Kingdom military’s

reserve base, here and there over the slopes of the Dragon
Corpse mountain range’s ridges, were rails. All of them were
pointing south. Electromagnetic catapults had been loaded
onto the backs of Zentaur units and were currently in
operation. Their projectiles screeched as they slid over the
rails and howled as they soared through the air. Released
from their connectors, the projectiles were fired off, drawing
arcs as they crested over the mountain.
The Zentaurs’ control centers had all been destroyed, but
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their rails currently had a large number of cords coiled
around their connectors. The wires penetrated the Zentaurs’
interiors with a sickening invasiveness reminiscent of a
parasitic plant, allowing operation of the catapults on their
backs. The other side of those wires was connected to a large
number of electric capacitors, and the fire-control
detachment’s armored command vehicle. The wires also
extended to a row of Juggernauts, which controlled the firing
sequence from their cockpits.
They couldn’t control the Zentaurs themselves, but they
could operate their electromagnetic catapults with relative
ease. The Strike Package had hunted down and gathered a
large number of ruined Zentaurs before this operation began.
Or to be exact, they gathered the electromagnetic catapults
they carried on their backs.
All in order to stage an aerial assault on a battlefield where
the Legion controlled the skies.
The catapults howled. Masses with linked weights of
several dozen tons accelerated to a velocity of thirty
kilometers per hour in the blink of an eye. These attacks came
at the cost of a reduced firing range and were done while
knowing they would likely destroy the rails, but they allowed
the Strike Package to add a great amount of weight to their
projectiles. Though they would normally be far too heavy to
fly through the air, they forcibly shook off the fetters of
gravity, screeching off the rails as they were thrown into the
open skies.
With their central processors ruined, the Zentaurs had
been reduced to harmless tools. And now they were turned
against the army they once served, launching projectiles with
all their might. Their projectiles soared over the mountains
and had their couplings undone in midair. They landed on
the southern slopes of the mountain range, where the
Legion’s defensive line was thickly concentrated.
These projectiles were pairs of steel wheels, with diameters
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of three meters. They were connected by two small cylinders,
giving them the shape of bobbins or cable reels. They flew
through the air one after another, slicing through the wind as
they fell.
The sensors built into them detected their posture and
corrected their bearings as they landed. Once they touched
down, the circular objects naturally started rolling down the
incline with the help of gravity. They accelerated, sometimes
bouncing into the air as they hit a lump of solid ice or some
other obstacle, and headed for the Legion’s defensive line set
at the foot of the southern slope.
Their IFF devices and radars activated. Of course, the only
things in sight were other wheels and the Legion. They set the
enemy force ahead of them as their targets and began their
pursuit.
The jet fuel they were equipped with ignited, granting the
wheels further propulsion in addition to gravity pulling them
down. Kicking up the snow as they rolled, or perhaps even
riding on the waves of the snow they knocked down, the
wheels became a fire-breathing avalanche of steel. They
rushed down the slope with the speed of a swooping eagle.
The speed of their descent, coupled with the velocity
afforded to them by the jet fuel, made them even faster than
the Grauwolf, the most agile of the mass-produced Legion.
They soon made contact with the Legion’s defensive line.

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 And then their proximity fuses activated. The 1.8-ton heavy
explosives contained in the cylinders detonated right in the
middle of the Legion’s defensive lines.

The sight of that explosion reached the reserve base, thanks

to a Sirin located nearby who had transmitted her visual data.
There were two varieties of these wheel-shaped, self-
propelled, self-destructing weapons, though the two weren’t
distinguished by appearance. One type scattered shrapnel
upon bursting and was meant to be used against lightly
armored targets. The other was meant for handling tanks and
units with more fortified armor and unleashed self-forging
fragments.
The shrapnel dug into the Ameise, Grauwolf, and lightly
armored Stier, mowing them down. Meanwhile, the close-
range hits from the self-forging fragments shredded the
Löwe. In terms of sheer weight, the self-destructing weapons
were no match for the Löwe, to say nothing of the Dinosauria.
But since they’d flown down the mountain and had the
propulsion of both the free fall and the jet fuel accelerating
them, they were bolstered by more velocity that translated
into even more weight. The direct hit staggered the
Dinosauria, and the blast finished it off.
Lena watched this impressive sight from a main screen
located in a control room provided to her by the reserve base.
Beneath her uniform, which was a bit baggier than usual, was
the Cicada, which shone with a pale-violet color. Slightly
dazzled by the light, she watched the results of the projectile
attack she came up with. Her thoughts harkened back to the
briefing for the Dragon Fang Mountain assault operation,
which had been set to begin with this projectile attack.

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“I will now explain the details of the Dragon Fang Mountain
assault operation.”
Not all the Processors were gathered in the room. Only the
leaders of each squadron and their lieutenants were present,
but there were still almost one hundred of them filling the
large briefing room.
“The operation’s objective is the same as last time: the
destruction of the Weisel and Admiral units within the base.
These are the top-priority objectives. In addition, you are to
capture the Supreme Commander unit residing in this base.
Its identifier: the Merciless Queen.”
Standing in front of an operation map that was projected
over the table, Lena changed the image on display as she
continued her explanation. Her gaze was fixed on Shin, who
sat in the front row. They hadn’t been able to hold a
conversation since that argument. Naturally, when it came to
the operation, they spoke when necessary but hadn’t been
able to have a natural conversation since.
They were both busy with preparations for the operation,
of course, but there was definitely some fresh distance
between them. Looking down at him from the stage, Lena
couldn’t sense any anguish from Shin, who had the same
serene, collected expression as ever. His gaze was downcast,
and he didn’t look Lena in the eye, but he didn’t seem to
waver as he read the documents in his hands.
Apparently, he’d regained the composure needed to serve
as operations commander… He’d recovered somewhat. And it
seemed he was capable of bantering with Raiden and the
others as he always did.
“The units participating in this operation will be the Strike
Package, in addition to the regiment under the command of
Prince Viktor. With these two units, we are to seize control of
the combat zone, keep it blockaded for the duration of the
operation, and maintain a safe route that will allow us to
reach and retreat from the combat zone… Unlike the
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formerly planned operation, the United Kingdom military
will not be able to provide a diversion to distract the Legion
forces from us.”
A barely audible stir passed through the Processors. The
operation was a brute force breakthrough using just the Strike
Package and a single regiment of Alkonosts. Lena could hear
someone whisper “That’s too reckless…” But among the
whispers, Shin looked up and raised his hand, signifying he
had a question.
Their gazes met. He looked up at her with his serene,
crimson eyes. She asked him in her mind, You’re all right,
aren’t you? But of course, no answer came.
“Colonel, there’s two things I’d like to confirm. First, are
we not to expect any assistance from the United Kingdom
military whatsoever? Secondly, your explanation didn’t
mention how the route will be cleared for our forces. As such,
I must ask: Who will handle that part of the operation?”
He spoke with a clear voice. These were questions meant
more to inform everyone else. Being the tactical commander
for the Strike Package, he already knew the answers to them.
“Of course, the United Kingdom is applying constant
pressure and small-scale diversions on the Legion’s front
lines. This is, after all, the United Kingdom’s war. They can’t
relieve any forces from defending their final defensive line, so
they will be keeping the Legion’s frontline forces occupied.
Next, as to your question about securing the route—”
Lena gave a small nod.
“—we’ll have another group handle that.”

“Milizé was awfully worried about you, but…you

pulled yourself together in time for the operation.”
“I couldn’t hang back and stay in HQ with the operation
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being this unstable.”
The Dragon Fang Mountain base operation’s heavy
transport vehicle was hiding in a conifer forest near the
reserve base. As he faced an information terminal and gave
the mission briefing a final read through, Shin answered
Vika’s question via the Para-RAID. He then asked:
“That other unit… Or, well, that other weapon. What was it
made for? That monster wheel thing?”
Shin’s holo-screen displayed footage from the Legion’s
front line hidden deep within the forest. All around that battle
zone, Shin could see the vivid, if somewhat absurd, sight of
the mysterious wheels called Thrones tumbling around.
“Apparently, they’re based off siege defense
weapons from the Middle Ages. My aunt—who was
the former Amethystus—came up with them, using
those weapons as the basis, and produced these as
prototypes. I don’t know what she wanted to use
them on, either. I suppose that’s just her taste and
sense of aesthetic at work.”
The idea of dropping a heavy, combustible object from atop
the walls was based off a long-held battle tactic of using
kinetic energy and firepower to bring ruin to the sieging side.
There were even cases where animals were used to afford the
weapons the capacity to move. But a guided, rocket-propelled
weapon with high-powered explosives pressed between two
wheels that were wider than a person was tall—now that was
unheard of.
“…Her taste and sense of aesthetic?”
“The Amethystus have some individual difference
in their preferred fields of study. I’m focused on AI,
and my aunt was a specialist when it came to
guidance systems… Given the Legion War, the fact
that the United Kingdom hasn’t produced anything
comparable to the Feldreß over the last two hundred
years is a bit of a sore spot for us. Of course, ethics
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have always been an issue.”
In other words, these weapons weren’t developed out of
necessity. Their developer made them simply because she
could. That was all.
“………”
Shin fell silent despite himself. He had a slight feeling that
something was off.
“We’re not in danger of stepping on any anti-tank roosters,
are we?”
“Of course not… Roosters would freeze to death in
this climate.”
“………”
“………”
The two of them said nothing, but each of them for
different reasons.
“…Do you think anti-tank dogs might be effective
against the Legion?”
Shin had to stifle a sigh at Vika’s vaguely serious whisper.
During the Revich Citadel Base incident, Frederica had
described Vika as a fool who happens to be smart, and Shin
had to agree with that phrasing.
“The Legion are polypedal weapons, so unlike
treadmill vehicles, there’s a gap between the ground
and their underbelly. So if we use a mine that can
fold up to blow off their legs, we might be able to—”
“They’d probably just jump out of the way.”
“Hmm, true.”
Vika agreed, sounding slightly disappointed. He then
seemed to suddenly raise his head.
“Maybe we can strap mines to a cheetah?”
“How’re you going to get those over here?”
“…I suppose that’s true, as well.”
Cheetahs lived on the southern continent; they were a
species that boasted the highest sprinting speed of all
mammals. Said southern continent was far outside the
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Legion’s territories, and needless to say, cheetahs didn’t
inhabit the United Kingdom. And even if they were to take
those creatures from the warm south and put them in the
frozen battlefield here, they’d simply meet the same fate a
mine rooster would.
It was a laughable idea to begin with. So laughable that
Shin didn’t even bother pointing it out, since Vika likely
suggested it while understanding full well how impossible it
was.
…Probably.

And as the two boys continued their rather inappropriate

conversation given the situation they were in, the United
Kingdom continued firing at the Legion. They were
bombarding them in preparation for their assault. They
ravaged the enemy defenses before sending in their attack
force, crushing as many enemy units as they could to prevent
the possibility of a counterattack to the best of their ability.
Once this bombardment ended, the attack force would begin
its charge. With that pressure in mind, perhaps one couldn’t
blame these young soldiers for their banter.
As they fired all the Thrones, the Zentaurs fell silent,
breaking down and billowing flames from the intense load.
But another container rolled in, and the fire-control officers
switched their command programs to ones meant to control
the contents inside it.
The Thrones’ target was the first row of the Legion’s
defensive lines, which consisted of heavily armored types
that’d been gathered to break through the United Kingdom’s
defensive lines. But the contents of that container, as well as
the control program in charge of it, were meant to strike at
another target.
While the switch to the second container took place, a
flurry of heavy artillery and mortar fire rained down on the
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enemy lines. The Thrones opened up a hole in the enemy
formation, and the concentrated fire struck the rear lines
behind it. They aimed at the defensive facilities and echelons
in the rear, up to the very limit of their firing range.
Thoroughly and carefully, the storm of bombardment
plowed an invasion route open. To buy more time for the
switchover, the United Kingdom even brought in range-
extended base-bleed missiles.
And then the switchover of the Zentaurs’ firing program
was complete. The new projectile was set on the
electromagnetic catapult, which resumed firing. Large cannon
shells howled as they were launched into the air, drawing arcs
through the sky as they joined the flurry of projectiles falling
down on the battlefield. Some of them kept soaring upward,
rushing into the silver Eintagsfliege clouds, leaving a shower
of butterfly wings as they tore through them. Others dropped
down in a diagonal trajectory as they crashed into the mass of
Legion units. And then their timed fuses activated…and burst.
155 mm shells released shock waves and shrapnel in a 45-
meter radius, but this bomb unleashed intense shock waves in
a 1,500-meter radius. A second explosion with the same
radius bloomed in the sky, burning the brittle butterflies and
cracking open a hole in the silvery veil.
A Daisy Cutter.
That was the popular name given to a bomb meant to
create destruction in an extremely large radius. It was
originally designed to be loaded onto a plane and air-dropped
on its target. For this reason, these bombs had been stored
away in the United Kingdom’s warehouses ever since the
Legion took away humankind’s air superiority. And with a
weight of nearly seven tons, it couldn’t be used by ordinary
weaponry.
But for the Zentaur’s electromagnetic catapult, which was
capable of easily launching Ameise weighing ten tons, a
seven-ton bomb was well within the realm of possibility.
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The Thrones had never been applied in a real battle, but the
Daisy Cutters were never designed to be fired from the
ground or burst in midair. Needless to say, a fire-control
system meant to enable those kinds of uses wasn’t developed
ahead of time, either. This was all hurriedly put together for
the sake of this operation.
The system developers put their hearts and souls into
writing the program, cutting into their own sleep time to
finish it. But they had to admit they weren’t good enough
when it came to actually aiming and shooting the projectiles.
To that end, they needed experienced fire-control personnel
or the aid of a gunner.
Anju was among the personnel handling that duty and was
currently adjusting the sights of the Zentaurs she was in
charge of.
“…Yeah, I can see why no one wants to wear this thing,” she
complained, pinching up the edge of the Cicada she was
currently wearing.
She was still relatively fine since she was inside Snow
Witch’s cockpit, but if this was a command center, or Vanadis,
or any other place where people could see her, she wouldn’t
be caught dead in this thing. At least, not without a coat or
some kind of sweatshirt.
Of course, she had her pilot suit placed inside her cockpit’s
equipment compartment in case she ran into combat or
became isolated in enemy territory, but that was beside the
point.
“Did Lena really wear this thing during that last
battle…? I can understand it was necessary, but…
like, I’m surprised she could pull it off.”

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 Kurena, who also served as a fire-control specialist and
wore a Cicada as well, spoke from inside Gunslinger in a
somewhat fidgety manner. Her tone made it clear she was
uncomfortably rubbing her inner thighs together in the outfit.
The two of them were among the most seasoned of the
Strike Package’s soldiers and had been in charge of fire
support during their time in the elite unit that defended the
eastern front’s first defensive line. It was only natural that out
of everyone who’d been left behind to offer artillery support
for this operation, they’d be the ones handling multiple
Zentaurs.
And to properly accomplish this task, they had to be given
Cicadas to wear. The two of them understood the reasoning
behind that, but…
“…When we get back, I’m gonna toss a snowball
right at that stupid prince’s face.”
“I hope we can at least get away with doing that much. No
matter how you look at it, this thing has to be some kind of
practical joke… Ah, Kurena, Colonel Wenzel’s transmitting
the next targets.”
Owing to their lack of hands this time around, Grethe, who
had stayed behind during the last operation, was participating
as a part of the fire-control detachment. In other words, she
was currently acting as Anju and Kurena’s direct commander.
Unlike the Eighty-Six, Grethe was an officer who had been
given proper education and training, but Anju was still
surprised by how versatile she was. She had clearly earned
her promotion to field officer despite only being in her
twenties.
“Oh, roger that… Zentaur fire-control third squad,
all hands. Adjust your sights—”
The crunching sound of approaching footsteps in the snow
reached Anju’s ears, and it was followed by a dull banging
sound. Apparently, someone had knocked on her cockpit’s
armor. Or so she thought, but then her canopy was pulled up
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from the outside.
“Anju, they said we’re expecting snow, so they sent me to
bring you extra coats…”
As he spoke, Dustin handed her a thick coat belonging to
the United Kingdom’s military and not the Federacy’s. But
halfway through his sentence, Dustin froze in place
awkwardly.
He was sent to help the fire-control team just like Anju, but
apparently, there was some leeway between cooling the
Zentaurs’ rails and exchanging the capacitors. So he used that
time to go between the rows of Juggernauts, handing out
protective clothing. And while that bit of consideration was
quite typical and kind of him…
His silver eyes widened as he looked at Anju. Or rather, at
the curvature and lines of her body, which were accentuated
by the Cicada. Anju stared back at him and froze in place. Her
alabaster face flushed a vivid shade of red, and almost
reflexively, a sound erupted from deep within her throat:
“Ee—”

Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the cold wind blowing

through the area the second Zentaur fire-control squad was
placed in.
“—eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!”
“Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…?!”
Those two shouts were swallowed by the thick snowfall,
and so no one—with the exception of the second squad’s
Processors, who had to stifle their laughter—heard them.

The final burst of large shells caused a massive flower of

flames to bloom in the sky. This last barrage crossed a
distance of forty kilometers, penetrating into the Legion’s

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territory. But the bombardment that preceded the assault
wasn’t over yet.
As if to make doubly sure their bombardment would be
successful, a group of black wings crossed over the ridges,
roaring as their jet fuel burned. Gray shadows darkened the
sky for a moment.
It was a formation of impressive size and number, made up
of both old and new bomber jets. They soared from the
United Kingdom’s runway and headed into the Legion’s
territories, while completely unmanned and operated by
autopilot. They flew into a sky where they lacked air
superiority, where the Eintagsfliege and the Stachelschwein
lay in wait.
The surviving Legion responded promptly, of course. Lock-
on alerts blared through the deserted cockpits of the bomber
jets. The Eintagsfliege swarmed the aircrafts, plunging into
their air intakes. The jets’ high-temperature engines attracted
antiair missiles, while the mechanical butterflies combusted
inside their engines. The four engines that kept the bomber
jets’ two hundred tons of weight aloft burst into flames one
after another.
And yet the jets didn’t stop. They crossed the peaks and
began a soft descent as they slanted forward, picking up
speed into what was eventually a full-speed crash. The
Eintagsfliege destroyed the engines that enabled these
massive metallic birds to shake off gravity and take to the
skies. Even with the engines destroyed, they still achieved
enough altitude and inertia to fly over the mountain peaks.
And that altitude and inertia hadn’t been undone, even
with the engines destroyed and the planes beginning to crash.
The bomber jets were still heading in the same direction they
had before—straight toward the path the attack force was set
to take.
The antiair fire continued with what bordered on frenzy,
and the aircrafts couldn’t take any evasive maneuvers and
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suffered direct hits. But it wasn’t enough to stop them. The
antiair guns didn’t have sufficient force to destroy the falling,
two-hundred-ton masses.
The antiaircraft missiles focused on the heat produced by
the engines, as was their nature and design. Their buckshots
tore into the wings and destroyed the engines, and still, the
bombers continued to plummet toward them.
The Legion somehow managed to completely destroy a few
of the planes, but even still, their fragments abided by gravity
and rained down over the territories with the same force and
inertia.
The aircrafts that still had their fuselage whole opened and
emptied out their bomb docks. They had lost their shape as
bomber jets by now and soared down like dying, bleeding
birds using the last of their strength. As they crashed, they
dropped containers full of ammunition and explosives, as
well as their surplus fuel.
Their fuselages skimmed the treetops and then bounced as
they hit the snowfield before finally toppling sideways with a
rumbling thud. As they crashed, their fragments flew through
the air, crushing any Legion that failed to escape.
Their exposed fuel caught fire, as if to represent these
aircrafts’ final scream. The entire strip of land cleared open
by the bombardment caught fire. Eventually, the Legion
would rush in to close the gap, but for now, a wall of raging
flames that trailed up to the heavens stood in their way.

Even to Lena, who drafted this entire operation, the opening

of their invasion route was a grand, vivid affair. A
transmission came in from one of the artillery squad’s
commanders. To them, this was the territory and the weapons
of their homeland. And they sacrificed them liberally, all to
open the path. The awe of that act put a shiver into the
middle-aged field officer’s voice.
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 “All firing schedules achieved. Invasion route,
clear.”
“Roger. Dragon Fang Mountain base attack unit, prepare to
sortie.”
She replied while consciously stifling all the emotion from
her voice. This plan was designed by her, and to that end, she
couldn’t let others see her tremble at the sight of it. How did
the artillery squad commander interpret her coolheaded
tone? For a moment, he held his breath and then spoke as if
overwhelmed.
“Vanadis. Are you…?”
“What is it?”
“…Er…”
The officer hesitated and then shook his head. If he didn’t
say it now, he might never have a chance to say it again. Such
was the resolve of those who live on the battlefield and face
death directly.
The Eighty-Six and the Sirins were about to fearlessly
embark on a death march. And the officer spoke to Lena, who
was about to send her subordinates on their way without so
much as a shiver in her voice, with a tone full of awe and
respect.
“Godspeed. May luck be on His Highness’s side, as
well as with you and your subordinates.”

She had lost contact with the patrolling Ameise, the

Eintagsfliege blanketing the heavens, and even the precious
Dinosauria that had been gathered in the front lines to break
through the enemy’s defensive lines. With this, she realized
the battle with the United Kingdom had begun.
White armor. A Personal Mark of a goddess leaning against
the moon. The Supreme Commander unit known as the
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Merciless Queen. To her, this bombardment—which went
beyond mere thoughtlessness and entered the realm of utter
recklessness—was well within the realm of possibility. She
didn’t foresee the means they had used, of course, but the
sheer scale of this offensive was, to an extent, predictable.
They tore open at least half their invasion route’s length
using bombardment and self-destructing weaponry and kept
it open with walls of fire. This was done to lighten the load on
the advance force. Most of the enemy’s forces remained on
the reserve defensive line, where they couldn’t offer the
advance force any support.
But if they didn’t resort to these measures, they would be
ruined. And so she knew the United Kingdom would go on
the offensive, even if it meant shedding their very lifeblood to
do it. She was convinced of that much.
At the very least, the unicorn’s royal house would surely
resort to it. Nobles and royalty were simply those kinds of
creatures. They would waste their own subjects and wealth as
if pouring water down the drain so long as it ensured their
own survival.
And that was why it didn’t matter to her anymore. It was a
trifling matter, she thought as she gently swerved her optical
sensor. Why she made the Legion didn’t matter anymore.
She was a Legion commander unit. Identifier: Mistress.
That and nothing more.

<<Mistress to all units in this echelon.>>

None of the Legion answered her call. But as their creator,

she knew none of them would fail to hear her orders or dare
disobey them.

<<Prepare to intercept the enemy. Exterminate all enemy units in

| Azura Ren |
sight.>>

The Strike Package received the order to sortie. That single

word they’d decided on ahead of time—that undecorated,
emotionless utterance—reached Shin as he waited in the
armored transport’s cabin.
Beneath his gaze was the snowy conifer forest. Beyond it,
the flames burned incessantly. The intense attack gouged into
the ground. No one moved within that route of scorched
earth, surrounded as it was on both sides by walls of flame.
The billowing black tongues of fire reached out to the
heavens, where a hole had been opened in the silver clouds of
Eintagsfliege. The blue that should have been there was dyed
a dull, dingy black, polluted by the burning of jet fuel and
metal.
And beyond the path of flames and scorched earth, Shin
could hear moans, screams, and wails of agony. The scores of
mechanical ghosts still trapped on the battlefield. It occurred
to Shin that this was very much an infernal sight. A quote
from the Divine Comedy, from the early chapters of
“Inferno,” came to mind. It was the line etched upon the gates
of Hell:

Through me is the way to the city of woe.

But even if what lay ahead was hell, or even if they didn’t
have the first clue as to where they were going…if they didn’t
move forward, they would never get anywhere.
“Let’s go.”

| Azura Ren |
Lena watched from the command room’s main screen as the
row of vehicles took off. In order to lower the chance of an
enemy counterattack, they departed as soon as the invasion
route was open and before the enemy could block it off. The
advance force hid not on the northern slope, where the
artillery formation was, but on the southern slope, in a conifer
forest near the reserve defensive line.
The formation consisted of armored transports carrying
the Strike Package’s Juggernauts and the Alkonosts under
Vika’s command, as well as the Scavengers following after
them. Even Scavengers, with their ten tons of weight, hardly
made any sound as they stepped through the snow. The snow
and the dense row of trees absorbed the sound of their diesel
engines, and the line descended the wintry slope silently.
They looked like some kind of ominous funeral procession,
or a sinister black serpent slithering downhill. With the
Processors who were in charge of long-distance fire, like
Kurena and Anju, removed from their ranks, the advance
force didn’t have their total number of active Juggernauts.
And while the Sirins were replenished, the Alkonosts lost
during the last attack could not be replaced in time, and a
fewer number of them had to be deployed. With this, the
forces dispatched to the Dragon Fang Mountain base were
fewer than expected.
“………”
Yet they did everything they could considering the
circumstances, and Lena gave them the order to sortie. With
this, she had nothing more to tell them. She detailed all the
objectives, provided all the instructions, and relayed all the
information they needed to know. Everything else was in the
hands of the commander on the scene—Shin.
Had there been any change in the situation, it would have
been different. But there wasn’t, and Lena had nothing to tell
them. And still…
Lena pursed her lips. She felt Frederica, who was gazing up
| Azura Ren |
at the screen with her arms crossed, sneak a glance in her
direction. She thought her eyes…those crimson, bloodred eyes
—just like Shin’s—were asking her something.
Are you okay with things as they are?
…Of course I’m not.
She had nothing more to tell him, but that was just as a
commander. As a person, Lena had more words to say to Shin
than she knew what to do with. She had to apologize…because
the reason they disagreed back then must have been her fault.
The truth was, she wanted to speak to him…and she feared,
just like she did when he stood before that siege path made
up of dead Alkonosts, that he might disappear if she didn’t.
She wanted to entrust him with her wish, one more time.
But a commander in the middle of a mission couldn’t display
so much weakness. Or maybe it was just her ego and dignity,
her pride as a commander who had been seasoned enough to
become known the Bloodstained Queen, Bloody Reina.
Maybe that was keeping her from expressing what she wanted
to say.
But as she hesitated, the words of that artillery commander
surfaced in her mind once again. A soldier’s belief was to say
anything they had left to say when they needed to say them.
Because there was no telling if one would have a chance to
say them after the battle ended. Even if they were to meet
again after the operation ended.
Right now, the possibility that they would never meet again
loomed before them. And if she was to fear this gap between
them and let the argument they’d had stifle her words, or
simply lose to her own pride, she would go on to regret for
the rest of her life that she didn’t speak to him when she still
had the chance.
She activated the Para-RAID. Her Resonance target was set
to one person.
“Shin.”
She could feel the presence of Shin’s eyes widening in
| Azura Ren |
surprise through the path connecting their subconscious to
the collective unconscious of humankind.
“Colonel? What’s—?”
“I’m sorry about earlier.” Lena cut him off.
She somehow felt like if she didn’t say it now, she’d never
be able to.
“I was too intrusive. I should have waited until you were
ready to talk about it yourself, but I didn’t believe you’d tell
me. And that was a mistake on my behalf, without a doubt.
I’m so, so sorry.”
“………”
“But I really do want you to tell me…and to rely on me. If
you’re in pain, I want you to say so. I want you to let me
protect you, too.”
Both on the battlefield and outside it. Just like the way you
take to the front line, and other times, try to protect me in
smaller ways.
I want to support you.
“Even if you won’t tell me now, I want you to tell me
someday… I want to be someone you can speak to. Someone
you can rely on. So…”
“It’s not that I…don’t rely on you.”
“Yes. I’m sure you didn’t do that intentionally. We just
haven’t spoken to each other enough yet.”
They hadn’t spoken enough to be able to support each
other. To believe in each other. And that’s why…
“Let’s talk. When you get back, let’s just talk. We can start
from the most trivial, silliest things. And someday, you can
tell me about your pain.”
“………”
He probably couldn’t answer that request yet. Shin fell
silent, and Lena smiled at him. The Sensory Resonance didn’t
allow one to see the other person’s expression, but it did
transmit emotions to the extent a face-to-face conversation
would.
| Azura Ren |
 Someday, he could tell her about the scars he kept hidden
deep within. And about the scar along his throat. So when the
day came that he was finally willing to speak…
“Please…tell me.”

“…So.”
An armored weapon retained its performance so long as it
didn’t operate for long, needless periods of time. This was
true of all Feldreß—and the Juggernauts. And so the armored
transports raced through the burned bottom of the valley,
with the Processors in the front cabins and the Juggernauts
locked up in the rear cargo holds.
In order to defend from a potential enemy attack, a third of
the Processors remained on standby, sitting inside their
Juggernauts’ cockpits in the cargo holds. As such, many of the
Processors were missing from the cabin. Inside, Theo fixed
his gaze on the girl sitting a distance away from him.
She wasn’t clad in the Processors’ steel-blue flight suits or
the combat uniforms of the drivers. Nor was she in the dark
violet of the United Kingdom’s uniform or the Sirins’ rouge
uniform. No, she was wearing that irritating shade of Prussian
blue. The Republic’s uniform. But her silvery hair, unlike
Lena’s, was short.
“Er, Major Penrose, was it? What are you doing here?”
“An experiment,” Annette replied curtly and concisely.
During the battle in the underground terminal, which was
located in the Republic’s secondary capital of Charité, the
Legion made an attempt to abduct and dissect her. And
during the last battle in the Revich Citadel Base, the Eighty-
Sixth Strike Package was pinpointed and attacked despite
their move there being confidential.
Where was the information leaking from? Was it the
United Kingdom, where they were deployed to, or the
Federacy? And if their communications were being tapped,
| Azura Ren |
was it via the wireless or the Sensory Resonance? They had to
find out. If they couldn’t maintain the confidentiality and
security of their transmissions, their future operations were
in danger of being compromised.
“Last time, nothing happened because I wasn’t in the
combat zone. So I’ll head out there and make my presence
known through the communication lines. If the Legion go
after me, we’ll know they’re listening in on our
transmissions.”
This would help them pinpoint where the leak was.
“So you’re setting yourself up as bait…? You’re a weirdo,
you know that?”
A Republic citizen going this far for the Eighty-Six…
Annette picked up on the sarcasm in Theo’s comment and
gave a light shrug.
“We don’t want to make the same mistake twice, right?”
said Annette. “At least, I don’t want to repeat my mistakes
more than once… So yeah, sorry, but I’ll be holding back one
of your units.”
Yuuto, who had seemingly heard their exchange, spoke up
in the mechanical, flat tone that was his trademark:
“Major Penrose, you’ll be boarding with Saki, who
was injured during the last battle. She can pilot her
unit just fine, but full-on combat is too much for her
right now. We weren’t relying on that unit to perform
in combat this time, so it’s not a problem.”
“Really, now. How considerate of you. I’m touched…,”
Annette said dryly. “Also, I’m here as insurance in case the
prince dies. All you have to do to activate the detonation
device is press a switch, but there’s a chance the detonator
might not go off due to an error. And you Eighty-Six aren’t
tech-savvy enough yet to handle the information terminal
needed to operate it, right?”
“…I guess.”
The question of who their lack of knowledge could be
| Azura Ren |
attributed to was something Theo didn’t bring up. The white
pigs of the Republic were the ones who denied them an
education, but he wasn’t going to demand a technical officer
the same age as him to take responsibility for that. Instead, he
decided to wisecrack.
“Then how about you handle my usual reports for me, too,
while you’re at it?”
“That’s your job. That’s what the army is paying you for.
Think of it as training if you have to and do it yourself,” she
retorted at him at once. “Besides, I said you’re not tech-savvy
yet. The officer in charge of your education told me you guys
pick up on stuff fast. And you’ll be in trouble if you can’t look
things up on your own when you need to, right? Don’t expect
me to be there to help you when you feel like looking up porn
on the Internet.”
Theo scoffed at her. She definitely wasn’t a feeble princess
who couldn’t do anything, though she was still different
compared with Lena. If she was this strong-willed, it only
meant they didn’t have to go out of their way to be
exceptionally cautious around her.
“I guess that’s true.”

The United Kingdom military’s preemptive bombardment

destroyed all the Legion in the blast zone, but the Legion that
were away from that area were still intact. They set out,
having received an order from their commander unit to
intercept the enemy.
The forces in the front row stood alert for combat, wary of
an enemy attack from another direction, while a reserve unit
was set aside to pursue and intercept the enemy’s advance
force. It seemed the enemy was marching through the
contested zones and territories by hiding in the forests, and so
| Azura Ren |
they avoided getting caught by the Ameise’s patrols.
But their route was easy to predict. The United Kingdom
military fired that artillery to compensate for their lacking
numbers. In which case, the advance force must have been
within the bombardment area—somewhere within that
straight line of the strip that had been torn open by the
assault.
The walls of fire produced by the large amounts of jet fuel
hadn’t been put out yet. At worst, this forest would continue
burning for days to come. And yet the Legion cut through the
flames, into the depths of the territories that hadn’t been
blocked off by the flames yet.
Like a pack of wolves pursuing a fleeing prey, they closed
in on the enemy’s advance force from all directions.

“There’s no way…”
As the Sirins were camped out on relatively high ground,
their radar was particularly reactive. And coupled with that
was Shin’s ability. Between these two information sources,
Lena already had a map drawn out in her mind as she spoke.
The Legion had the numbers and the production speed to
send this many units against the advance force. In contrast,
the United Kingdom military couldn’t send any more units to
this battlefield except for the Dragon Fang Mountain attack
force. And given the distance, even if they did send any
reinforcements, they wouldn’t make it in time.
But from the beginning, it wasn’t as if…
“…We wouldn’t predict this counterattack… Right, Vika?”

“Confirmed. They’re moving along the route you predicted,

Milizé.”
| Azura Ren |
 Vika smirked within Gadyuka’s cockpit. His unit had
already been hidden within the territories since the previous
day, and he had already Resonated with the deployed Sirins.
The United Kingdom couldn’t produce enough Alkonosts to
replace the numbers they lost, and some Sirins were left
without a unit to pilot.
And so instead of doing nothing, they were used for recon.
But of course, there weren’t enough of them to cover the
entire invasion route. A Sirin’s speed and the detection range
of their sensors made them only slightly more capable than a
human scout. To accurately observe the Legion’s advance, the
Sirins would have to be stationed along the precise route they
would take. And the projected route the Legion’s interception
force would follow didn’t deviate from Lena’s predictions in
the slightest.
Lena had correctly predicted the enemy force flocking in
from all directions on the advance force, without missing a
single unit. Vika had to marvel at how monstrous her abilities
were, though he somehow remained blind to his own
peculiarities.
“Chief Gunner, the enemy has entered the kill zone. There
isn’t a need for test shots, is there? Crush them.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
The aged chief gunner laughed from within the invasion
forces’ vehicle column. He cackled ferociously, like an old
lion. He set the advancing enemy unit as the bombardment
zone, with all his guns’ sights fixed on the incoming enemy.
This was an established artillery tactic when lying in wait:
Offensive destructive fire.
The firing data had already been gathered from a decade of
fighting. They knew the range of their cannons from dozens
of battles.
“Fire.”
“By your will. All gunports, fire!”

| Azura Ren |
A Löwe stood guard over the Ameise leading their company.
But suddenly, its optical sensor caught sight of a humanoid
silhouette. No response from the Löwe’s IFF device. The
figure was an enemy element. Judging by its shape, the Löwe
concluded it was an unarmed civilian. Minimal threat level.
The Löwe casually swerved one of its heavy machine guns
toward that target, when…
The Ameise looked up and issued a warning. But it was in
vain, as a shower of shells rained down on them at supersonic
speeds, further blotting out the sunlight. As the Löwe failed to
avoid the thick hail of steel, the last thing its optical sensor
could perceive was the unnatural sight of a girl on the
battlefield. This pink-haired girl, who had a violet crystal
imbedded into her forehead, smiled at the Löwe as its
consciousness cut out.

The row of vehicles advanced through the snowy fields. The

Dragon Corpse mountain range had never been considered
habitable land, despite belonging to the United Kingdom’s
territory. They advanced through the deep, mountain forest
without so much as an animal trail to tread on, using the
incessant snowfall and the trees to stay out of the Legion’s
sight.
A small party broke off from their main force every so
often to stealthily ensure the path ahead was clear. And so the
force of Reginleifs gradually diminished, as planned, as they
raced through the enemy’s territory.
As they finished the first day of marching, they passed
through a peculiar strip of woods. Up until now, they had
been surrounded by conifer trees, which were characteristic
| Azura Ren |
of the north. But at some point, those had disappeared.
Instead, wherever they looked, all they could see were
massive lumps of snow, with a shape that invoked the image
of large, distorted monsters.
A stir passed through the Eighty-Six, some of them within
the armored transports while others sat within the cockpits of
their Reginleifs. Someone could be heard whispering “The
hell is that…?” through the Resonance.
“Rime ice,” one of the United Kingdom’s Handlers said.
The Handler spoke with a tinge of pride, as if they were
chaperoning children who had caught sight of a strange beast
during an excursion to foreign lands.
“It happens when a thick layer of snow and frost freezes on
the trees… It’s your first time seeing this, isn’t it? You don’t
see something like this only when it’s cold or when it snows.
The conditions have to be just right for something like this to
form; otherwise it won’t happen.”
“………”
Vika, who had been listening to this conversation, added:
“…Why don’t you come visit the United Kingdom
next winter, if you get the chance? We’ll show you
how it’s not just rain or snow that can fall from the
sky, but that ice can as well. And you can see
firsthand that there are lights in the sky that aren’t
just the moon or the stars. We’ll show you a winter
that isn’t fake, like this one… A magnificent winter,
the likes of which you can only see here, in the United
Kingdom.”
Vika sounded vaguely emotional. As if thinking back to a
sight he’d once seen alongside someone. None of the Eighty-
Six, Shin included, knew who that someone was. But they
were all drawn in by that longing and listened to his words
attentively. Shin then spoke, breaking his comrades’ silence.
He’d heard of the phenomena Vika had mentioned, but he’d
never seen it himself.
| Azura Ren |
 “Diamond dust. And auroras…”
“I imagine these would be new experiences for
you… Let me tell you one thing, Eighty-Six of the
Eighty-Sixth Sector. You war dogs who know only of
the battlefield. The world is larger and wider than
what you know. You’re free to disparage it, if you so
wish… But know that you still haven’t seen nearly
enough of the world to give up on it.”

“I’ll be sending over an estimated map of the Dragon

Fang Mountain base’s interior… Refer to it as you
reconfirm your objectives.”
A holographic sub-window opened as Lena’s silver bell of a
voice reached Shin’s ears. It faintly lit up the dark cockpit,
forming a three-dimensional map made out of lines of light.
It’s deeper than I thought, Shin pondered as he eyed the
luminescent map.
The Dragon Fang Mountain base was a place constructed
by the Legion. Unlike with the battle at the Charité
Underground Labyrinth, they didn’t have any concrete maps
of the base’s interior. Infiltrating an enemy base without any
grasp of its internal structure would be far too reckless.
Especially given the invasion force’s current state, where they
had no forces to maintain their path of retreat.
And so in place of an actual map, the United Kingdom’s
military had this hurriedly made, three-dimensional map.
Using Shin’s ability to trace the movements of the voices
within the structure, they estimated the layout of the base’s
passageways and central facilities. After gathering this data,
they spent a whole night employing all of Vanadis’s
computational power to produce this map.
Shin’s perception of three-dimensional movement was
| Azura Ren |
much weaker compared with his perception of two-
dimensional movement, but the Löwe and the Dinosauria
weighed fifty tons and one hundred tons respectively, so the
base’s ground had to be solid enough to support that weight.
And since this base also generated power and produced units,
they could predict some facilities it would need to have.
With these conditions in mind, they were able to draw a
map with an estimated—if not as accurate as would be
required—layout of the base. Still, it was better than charging
in completely blind, even if not by much.
“As you can see, the interior of the base is divided
into sectors. The first one is the surface sector, which
is close to the mountain’s base and seems to house
the Weisel production unit. The second sector is
located near the dormant volcanic pipe and is
estimated to be the Admiral Power Plant unit…
Apparently, it was built there due to the location’s
proximity to a heat source, which allowed for heat
expulsion and cooling purposes. The power-
generation facility is located adjacent to the volcanic
pipe, while its control kernel is a short distance away
in an open area near the dormant volcanic crater.
Both have passageways connecting to them. And…”
Areas of the map lit up in accordance to Lena’s
explanation. She transmitted the data using the
communications network they’d established while setting up
their path of retreat. This was done using the same method
with which the Sirins that had infiltrated the Legion’s
territories transmitted their footage data six months ago.
“The third sector. A deep underground sector
that’s located adjacent to the dormant volcanic pipe.
The presumed location of the Merciless Queen.”
This sector was located at the center of the three-
dimensional model of the base. Matching her words, a small
point lit up deep underground. Though the opening in the
| Azura Ren |
mountain peak was currently blocked by chilled magma, the
space had once been a volcanic tunnel. And right next to that
area was the Merciless Queen’s sector.
“The function of this sector is unknown. We might
estimate it’s a command center for the Legion, but…
the number of actual Legion units inhabiting it is
small. Captain Nouzen’s observations state that the
Merciless Queen is the only one inside.”
Vika scoffed in an amused tone.
“I’m sure this sector has a title. Let us call it the
Throne Room, for lack of another name.” The prince
seemed to have shrugged as he said those disrespectful words
without a hint of reservation. “The division of roles hasn’t
changed since the briefing, right, Milizé? My
squadron and the Claymore squadron will handle the
Admiral control kernel and power unit respectively,
while the Thunderbolt squadron seizes the Weisel.
Nordlicht and Lycaon will ensure the combat zone is
blocked off, with help from what remains of the 1st
Armored Corps’ remaining squadrons, and the
Spearhead squadron will handle seizing the
Merciless Queen… Storming into a queen’s
bedchambers. How barbaric.”
The Strike Package’s Processors had been broken up into
four groups, with the two largest groups taking part in the
mission. Because the 2nd Armored Corps had to maintain the
escape route, their forces were greatly diminished, and so the
1st Armored Corps—which Shin’s Spearhead squadron was a
part of—had to handle both blockading the mountain’s
surrounding areas and attacking the base’s interior.
In addition, since this operation required accomplishing
several objectives at once—thereby dividing their forces into
battalions as they usually did—the force infiltrating the base
was made up of temporary divisions created by putting
Juggernauts and Alkonosts in the same squadrons.
| Azura Ren |
 “…Furthermore, the Phönix’s presence is not
confirmed as of now. But we can be certain it’s part
of the Dragon Fang Mountain’s defensive force, so in
the event that it does appear, deal with it as you did
last time.”
The Dragon Fang Mountain base was surrounded by walls
on all sides and necessitated fighting in small, cramped
quarters, making it an ideal battlefield for the Phönix. The
advance force was also essentially isolating itself by entering
the enemy base, which made it easy for the enemy army to
draw them in and wipe them out. The Legion would no doubt
send their strongest forces to eliminate them.
“However, destroying the Phönix is a low-priority
objective in this operation. Avoid engaging it unless
strictly necessary. Given the time you would need to
retreat and how long we can keep the operation area
blockaded, we only have four hours to complete this
operation… Seize the base swiftly.”
Shin narrowed his eyes bitterly as he listened to the chime
of her voice. He hadn’t apologized for their argument before.
But Lena did…despite it not being her fault. And yet he still
hadn’t. Now wasn’t the time for this conversation, of course,
but once he returned… Once the operation had ended, he
wanted to apologize. He also wanted to have that
conversation she’d mentioned.
“Roger.”

The Dragon Fang Mountain. The people of the United

Kingdom granted the largest peak in the Dragon Corpse
mountain range that name out of awe and dignity. And like
that name implied, it resembled a massive fang bared toward
the heavens. Anyone looking up at it from the foot of the
mountain would realize just how large it was. A pure-white,
acute ridgeline jutted toward the coal-gray sky.
| Azura Ren |
 A conifer forest, too thick and too dark to allow for human
entry, spanned the foot of the mountain. Ameise units
patrolled the gaps in wary vigil. It was a region far removed
from humankind’s presence, but since it was a production
base, there were Tausendfüßler constantly coming and going.
The snow was relatively thin along the path they took, which
ended in a frozen, rocky incline that had an unnatural, metal
blast door built into it.
The nearby Ameise were patrolling in a state of high alert,
sensors raised.
But in the following moment, a group of Alkonosts lunged
over their light frames and crushed them under their weight.
Using the tree trunks as a foothold, the advance force raced
through the treetops and leaped high through the opening to
the forest. Before the Ameise could counterattack or report
the enemy raid, the Legion units were shot down by gunfire
from directly above them. The stomped units were scattered
to pieces.
As the roaring of the guns still echoed around her, Lerche
exclaimed through the Resonance:
“Clear! Sir Reaper, go at once!”
Shin didn’t need to be told twice. Before the fire and smoke
of the blast could dissipate, Shin piloted Undertaker through
the opening. His optical screen displayed the defenseless
blast door.
“Vanadis!”
“Firing! T minus five seconds. Two, one… Impact!”
They’d fired off one precious missile that traveled close to
the ground. One of the Juggernauts exposed the blast door to
a sight laser, which served as the guided missile’s signal as it
flew toward the door.
And then—an explosion.
The metal door bent inward and was torn apart like
papercraft, ringing out with an explosion that echoed against
the rock surface. Sensing with his ability that several
| Azura Ren |
unfortunate Legion units had been caught up in the blast,
Shin ordered the fire suppression squad led by Raiden to fire
inside.
The most dangerous moment in an infiltration was when
they were entering the structure. They only went inside the
dark base upon confirming that the voices of the Legion lying
in wait near the entrance had died out.
Shin’s optical screen went black and switched over to
night-vision mode a moment later. The sound of the tips of
the Juggernauts’ metallic legs stepping on the rock floor
echoed heavily around them. They purged the leg gear they
had on for advancing through the snow, and even the noise of
the explosive bolts echoed deeply into the base as well.
It was a wide space. This was likely where the
Tausendfüßler carried in grounded units or wreckage. It was
a truckyard for loading and unloading newly repaired and
produced Legion units.
And covering the entirety of that room’s high ceiling were…
“All Alkonost units, load canister shells and set them to
midair-burst mode. Fire!”
The Alkonosts promptly aimed upward, and at that same
moment, a force of self-propelled mines and Grauwolf
descended on them from the air, as if to take revenge for the
fallen patrol unit. The lightweight Legion had hidden on the
gantry cranes and in the undulations of the roughly chiseled
stone walls.
But to Shin, who could detect their presence through their
constant wails, this did nothing to hide them from him. The
fired 105 mm shells met the falling Legion. The canister shells
burst, dispersing a buckshot that tore into all the self-
propelled mines in range. Their wreckage clattered down to
the ground as the surviving Grauwolf and the remaining self-
propelled mines landed on the ground.
The Juggernauts and Alkonosts dodged their fall and
spread out in all directions. At the same time, a defensive unit
| Azura Ren |
made up of a core of Löwe rushed into the room just as the
surprise attack was launched. The Juggernauts that lay in
wait engaged them, and a battle began, with 88 mm and 120
mm shells whistling through the air.
A melee suddenly broke out within this vast, dark hollow.

Sitting deep within the base, which they dug into the volcano
known to the people of the United Kingdom as the Dragon
Fang Mountain, the commander unit known as the Merciless
Queen silently whispered as she watched the transmission of
the battle in the truckyard.

<<I see. So it really is you, Vika.>>

Depicted in the coarse optical footage was a United

Kingdom military Barushka Matushka. A commander’s
model, with reinforced sensor and communication
capabilities. Emblazoned on its cockpit block was a Personal
Mark of a serpent coiled around an apple—the mark that was
confirmed to belong to the high-priority target within the
United Kingdom’s army, identifier Hveðrungr.
She recalled the small child she’d spoken to several times
over ten years ago. He was a warped boy, cursed with a
warped intellect and a twisted psyche. The prospect of going
against human reasoning and ethics didn’t faze him in the
slightest. And yet what lay in the basis of his actions was a
child’s wholehearted, devoted affection and a desire to meet
his mother once more.
This happened before the war started. It had been a
moment before she created the Legion. That child only
wanted to see his mother again, and that wish eventually gave

| Azura Ren |
birth to the Legion War. A stepping stone on the way to
human annihilation.
Goes to show how good intentions…by their very nature…
only bring about terrible conclusions.
And that was a lesson that this wise child—wise, but all too
ignorant of the ways of the world—had surely learned by now.
And…
She switched to another feed. It showed an image of a
white Feldreß, racing about as it pleased. A Feldreß with a
Personal Mark of a skeleton carrying a shovel, which was
registered in the Legion’s database as a high-priority target—
the target in question being its pilot, of course.
Despite being former military personnel, she had never set
foot on the battlefield. And to her, that Personal Mark seemed
all too ominous, as if the skeleton was symbolizing the grim
reaper itself. This enemy was seasoned and experienced
enough to brand themselves with such a symbol.
She did not know the name of this pilot, with his coloring
so characteristic of the Empire’s ruling class despite the fact
that he could in no way be descended from such nobility. And
she likely never would know.

<<Báleygr.>>

Gadyuka’s enhanced radar caught the signal of a self-

propelled mine that attempted to lunge at it from its blind
spot. It was a child-type self-propelled mine, made in a form
that was meant to stimulate the parental instincts hardwired
into the human mind, but Vika unflinchingly directed
Gadyuka to kick it away.
The self-propelled mine—clad as it was in the clothes of a

| Azura Ren |
Republic child, which were by no means fitting for the United
Kingdom’s frigid climate—was bent beyond recognition and
sent flying.
Antipersonnel self-propelled mines unleashed metallic
pellets as they exploded, but those couldn’t hope to damage a
Feldreß. As such, the only self-propelled mines in this base
were anti-tank models. Those were equipped with HEAT
warheads, but they didn’t do enough damage unless they
were detonated in close range. Because of this, self-propelled
mines didn’t pose much of a threat so long as one kept their
distance from them.
But despite already having lost the perfect position, the
child-type self-propelled mine detonated its self-destruct
device.
“…?!”
An invisible shock wave rang through the darkness. But
what spread out in the wake of that blast was not pellets or
metal jet, but an odd, glittering, silver smoke.
“Tch…”
The warhead had exploded at a close enough range that the
Gadyuka was incapable of evading it. The smoke screen was
thick enough that Vika couldn’t see his unit’s legs, and in
addition to blinding out his optical sensors, it also temporarily
scrambled his radar.
This disturbance was likely due to the plastic shards of
aluminum disposition that were hidden in the smoke and
refracted the radar waves. This self-propelled mine wasn’t an
antipersonnel or an anti-tank model. If they had to give it a
name, it would be the chaff model.
What a nuisance…
If these were to be implemented alongside the already
existing self-propelled mines—and they no doubt would be—
then one would be hard-pressed to fight off their combined
attacks unless one had the same ability as Shin.
Vika narrowed his eyes at the sound of the gravel being
| Azura Ren |
stomped on again.
It’s coming from behind me.
Looking around, he found himself surrounded on all sides
by Ameise. Once the smoke cleared and their lines of sight
were restored, Grauwolf descended as well, followed by a
large number of self-propelled mines.
I’m surrounded, am I…? Well now…
Among this group of lightweight Feldreß, which included
Juggernauts and Alkonosts, his Barushka Matushka was the
only heavyweight unit. And it was made for commander
specifications, with enhanced sensor and communication
functions. It was only natural the Legion would assume he
was the invasion force’s commander.
Or maybe they recognized the Personal Mark emblazoned
on his canopy’s armor as one that belonged to a United
Kingdom commander.
Noticing Gadyuka was surrounded, Raiden turned
Wehrwolf to face him. Vika could hear someone clicking their
tongue through the Resonance. But Chaika, Lerche’s unit,
simply remained still and seemed to stare at him. Vika used
Chaika as his attached unit’s vanguard and hadn’t ordered her
to protect him in the first place.
A smirk played over Vika’s lips. A composed, arrogant
sneer.
“Don’t underestimate me, you pieces of cannon fodder.”
The United Kingdom was different from the Federacy,
which let armored infantry escort Feldreß and handle the
lightweight Legion types like the Grauwolf, Ameise, and self-
propelled mines. There was a stark difference between the
two in terms of their technological edge and metal deposits,
and the United Kingdom’s frigid environment meant it was
difficult for reinforced infantry to perform well on the
battlefield. As such, the United Kingdom’s Feldreß needed a
function that would allow it to mop up the small, lightweight
units on its own.
| Azura Ren |
 Armament selection. Main armament: 155 mm turret. Load
canister shells. Ground attack mode. Multiple targets. A 14
mm machine gun at the front. A 7.62 mm coaxial machine
gun. Armor-piercing rounds loaded. Grenade launchers, open
all gunports. Anti-armor explosive projectiles loaded. Top
attack mode. Sights set.
All armaments, locked on.
Fire.
The Barushka Matushka boasted an amount of heavy
armaments that was unusual for a Feldreß, and so when they
all roared at once, it gave the impression that one had just
been exposed directly to the sound of a thunderclap. It had a
155 mm back-mounted gun turret, with two machine guns
attached to it. Two 40 mm grenade launchers rested on the
top of the fuselage, like dorsal fins.
Each of these armaments was locked onto a different
enemy as it fired. Projectiles and bullets whizzed all around
Gadyuka, like a balsam flower releasing its seeds. The 155 mm
canister shells, which had been set to ground attack mode,
triggered above the self-propelled mines and unleashed
countless rounds of buckshot into the air.
His two machine guns screeched like chainsaws as they
revolved, pumping dozens of armor-piercing bullets per
second into the approaching Grauwolf. The grenades roared
like mortars, each of them racing toward a different Ameise
and bursting upon contact.
By the time the fighting died down, Gadyuka stood
surrounded in an eerily silent sector of the battlefield. All of
his opponents were downed and silenced by that single
barrage. Gadyuka’s main armament, its two machine guns,
and the eight grenade launcher ports—all of them were
equipped with a lock-on feature.
These were the armaments and features afforded to a
Barushka Matushka, which allowed it to dispatch swarms of
enemies without any infantry support. Of course, this wasn’t a
| Azura Ren |
feature anyone could use with ease. Vika chose to manually
set all the targets at once by himself, as he judged it would be
faster that way. But an ordinary pilot required AI support to
actually make use of this hard-to-handle system.
And yet that was the only way the United Kingdom
survived the Legion War when their Feldreß were inferior in
performance and their forces were fewer.
“As impressive as ever, Your Highness… There was
no need for me to intervene, yet again,” Lerche said
with a smirk.
Raiden let out a surprised “Mmm,” making no attempt to
hide his astonishment.

| Azura Ren |
 “Not bad, Your Highness.”
“Usually, there would be a difference in age between an
officer and his subordinates, but I’ve been in the army since
around the same age you lot were enlisted. It wouldn’t do if I
couldn’t handle this much… I can’t inflict the terrible
dishonor and shame of losing their commander upon my
soldiers, now can I?”

The invasion force swept up the Legion that had been sent to
intercept them in the truckyard and split into four teams from
there. Each of them headed toward their respective
objectives. Vika’s Gadyuka squadron, Rito’s Claymore
squadron, and Yuuto’s Thunderbolt squadron moved to seize
the Weisel and the Admiral, in order to cease the heavy
deployment of the Eintagsfliege.
Meanwhile, the Spearhead squadron went deeper into the
base to seek out and capture the Merciless Queen. Each
detachment was accompanied by Alkonost units fitted with
self-destruct features, aimed to destroy and bring down the
base once the objectives were complete.
The truckyard had a passage that led to the area where the
Weisel was stored, and another road that led to the inactive
volcanic crater where the Admiral was. Rito’s and Vika’s
detachments split up there. Shin’s Spearhead squadron
escorted the Thunderbolt squadron down the underground
tunnel leading to the Weisel’s interior, but split up and left
the fighting to them as they headed deeper into the base in
search of the Merciless Queen.
Apparently, this hollow had existed within the Dragon
Fang Mountain since antiquity, and the Legion likely used it
as a passageway. It was a road of exposed rock, large enough
to easily allow two Dinosauria to stand side by side.
The Spearhead squadron advanced at a slower pace,
keeping up with the self-destructing Alkonosts as their heavy
| Azura Ren |
footsteps echoed all around them. Their armaments had been
removed, and they were loaded with as many explosives as
their carrying capacity would allow, and as such, their
movement speed was slower than usual. They were also
accompanied by Fido and a row of Scavengers, as well as
standard Alkonosts that both acted as scouts and staved off
any other approaching forces.
The tunnels grew deeper and darker as they advanced
farther into the depths of the earth. Shin focused his
consciousness on the Merciless Queen’s howl, which he could
make out deeper down this cave. He recalled its voice, since it
had gone to the trouble of directly appearing before them
during the conclusion of their last battle.
At this distance, he could tell, without even concentrating
too deeply on it, that the voice he’d heard back then was now
in the depths of this Dragon Fang Mountain base. The
Merciless Queen was in the so-called Throne Room.
And this struck Shin as rather baffling, since the Legion
were aware of his ability to some extent. In which case…
What’s their angle?
But at that moment, an alert blared through his cockpit.
“…?!”
He regarded the alarm with only half his attention, saving
the majority of his focus for keeping an eye on their
surroundings. His unit’s temperature rose to abnormal levels.
It had been some time since their last encounter with the
enemy, and Undertaker’s output had been lowered to cruising
speed. And still, the fuselage’s temperature was only rising.
Shin checked his unit’s gauges to figure out why and soon
came to a realization. The outer temperature was rising, and
the cooling system was struggling to keep up with it.
“…So that’s why.”
They should have considered this. The Dragon Fang
Mountain base was a geothermal power-production base for
the Legion. It continually produced enough Eintagsfliege to
| Azura Ren |
literally blanket the sky and did so in a northern region with
scant sunlight. To that end, building their power generator
inside a volcano, which produced heat energy, was more
efficient.
But the interior of the mountain was too hot for the human
body to handle. A facility made by humans would normally
take measures to regulate the temperature, but the Legion
were far more resistant to heat and had no need for such
cooling.
Shin could hear Raiden part his lips to speak. He’d likely
gotten the same alert.
“Shin. This is…”
“Yeah. We can’t stay here for long. All units, we’re making a
minor change to our plan. I don’t think we’ll be able to last
four hours in this heat.”
The cooling system was effectively screaming as it
attempted to fight against the external temperature…
Handling the operation for much longer was unlikely. And on
top of that…
“And I probably shouldn’t need to tell you this, but if we
run into magma, don’t go near it. Your rigs won’t be able to
take it… Aluminum alloy is weak to fire.”

“I see. Hence this odd formation and the width of the road.”
Vika had anticipated ambushes, but for some reason, they
were being attacked by armored divisions made up of Löwe
and Dinosauria of all things. As he faced yet another wave of
armored enemies, Vika whispered those words bitterly.
The heavyweight Legion types had thick composite armor,
which insulated them from the outside temperature. The
lightweight ones, in comparison, weren’t so resistant to the
heat. Their thin armor easily transmitted the high
temperatures into their internal mechanisms, on top of being
types that were already prone to heating up due to their
| Azura Ren |
proclivity for high-speed, high-mobility combat.
This was why they didn’t run into lightweights except for
the truckyard. And this weakness to high temperatures was
shared by the Juggernauts and Alkonosts, which were also
lightly armored and made high-mobility combat their forte.
Vika narrowed his Imperial violet eyes as he watched the
burning remains of an Alkonost that had taken a direct hit
from a HEAT. The Sirin within likely ignored the alert
because she wasn’t human, and her unit had overheated and
became incapable of moving.
The lower canopy—a feature unique to United Kingdom
Feldreß—popped open, and the Sirin plopped down from
inside it. The inside of the fuselage was likely already aflame.
The Sirin who crumpled to the ground was already so
consumed by the flames that her human form was only barely
discernible… Their uniforms weren’t equipped with fire-
proofing measures, since they weren’t expected to survive
combat. The United Kingdom hadn’t had the leisure to grant
these inhuman girls with these most basic of features for a
long time now.
“You did well, Yanina… I’m sorry.”
He sent a self-destruct order, which fried the Sirin’s
artificial brain. These girls lacked anything reminiscent of
fear and pain, but Vika’s sensibilities weren’t so skewed that
he would enjoy watching something in the shape of a human
being burned to death. And of course, if the so-called ghost
within the Sirin were to continue screaming, it would only
serve to further strain Shin, who was on the same battlefield
as them.
Apparently, during the Strike Package’s first mission, all
the Sheepdogs in the operation area activated at once, which
put such intense stress on Shin that he had passed out. Vika
had no intention of letting that happen again here.
“…I imagine the Claymore squadron is in a similar situation
while they make their way to the power generator. In terms of
| Azura Ren |
both temperature and the enemy composition. We should
probably assume these conditions apply to the entirety of the
Dragon Fang Mountain’s tunnels.”
Vika considered this likely meant the Phönix wasn’t
present in the base. It, too, was lightly armored and optimized
for high-mobility combat. Perhaps it wasn’t stationed here at
all, since this battlefield was so unsuitable for it.
But anyway—
“I don’t like being underground. Let’s finish this operation
quickly and head back.”

The tunnels seemed to twist and turn as they headed deeper

underground. Shin’s squadron eventually arrived in a large,
open area reminiscent of some kind of ancient temple. Pillars
of crumbled rock unevenly dotted the place. They had
crumbled, yes, but they were still tall enough to require one to
look up to see them. There was plenty of open space and
spots to take cover, and the area was wide and tall enough to
maneuver around while jumping. A perfect battlefield for the
Juggernauts.
But upon noticing the heat distribution, Shin narrowed his
eyes. All over this underground, temple-like space, turrets of
invisible, hot air spewed out like geysers. There was probably
a crevice somewhere nearby that connected to some heat
source farther underground. These invisible walls of
smoldering heat were spread out across this wide space like
some kind of elaborate labyrinth.
“…Touching one of those will probably overheat
our rigs and stop us from moving,” Theo said.
“Fighting here’s gonna be a headache. Let’s get out
of here.”
“I’d love to do that, but…”
An enemy unit slowly rose up from behind one of the
crumbled pillars. Shin perceived its presence with his ability
| Azura Ren |
before it appeared. It had a familiar voice. Perhaps it hadn’t
had time for repairs, because two of its machine guns and one
of its legs were missing. The same ones Shin had previously
destroyed the last time they fought…when he had been
defeated in battle.
It was the Dinosauria that got away from the Spearhead
and Brísingamen squadrons. The Shepherd that was
presumably an Eighty-Six.
“We’ve been ambushed.”
At that distance, its battle-cry-like howl rumbled in Shin’s
ears like thunder.

Shin narrowed his eyes as he listened to that voice. It was

familiar. He already remembered who this voice likely
belonged to. It was a far clearer and more accessible
recollection than those of his hometown and family, which
had sunk into the darkness of his memories.
He thought back to his first year after being drafted to the
front lines of the Eighty-Sixth Sector. He remembered the
voice of a boy he knew from that period of time, when most
Processors lost their lives.

It’s about time you think of a Personal Name, isn’t it?

How about Báleygr? It’s a god’s pseudonym. You’ve got
pretty red eyes, after all.

He had said that and smiled…and then went on to die in

his very next battle.
“Captain…”
The name Shin whispered was that of a comrade even
Raiden didn’t recognize.

| Azura Ren |
Just like Shin initially suspected, despite how wide this
pillared area was, the walls of invisible air spewed by the
geysers inhibited the Juggernauts’ mobility. Their freedom of
movement was far more restricted than the wide area
displayed on their optical screens seemed to suggest.
The randomly placed, intersecting walls of hot air didn’t
allow them to easily move around the enemy and impeded
their ability to dodge on the fly. Their 88 mm turrets were
feeble in comparison to the enemy’s, and so they had to move
around the Dinosauria and aim for its rear or top sections,
where its armor was thinnest.
But they struggled to assume the ideal positions for linked
attacks. Juggernauts that failed to jump away in time due to
the walls of heat getting in the way had its armor torn apart
by 76 mm fire from the Dinosauria’s secondary armament.
Alkonosts that failed to properly detect where the hot air
spewed lost the ability to move and was showered with
machine-gun fire.
The Dinosauria, on the other hand, moved about while
ignoring the walls of heat. Its thick armor insulated its
internal mechanisms, allowing it to freely step over the
geysers and rampage about while shrugging off the
smoldering air. It did likely take some damage from the heat,
but not enough to inhibit its movement. Its mighty 155 mm
turret meant it didn’t need the kind of mobility the
Juggernaut had to begin with. Even if the heat did become too
much for it, it only needed to stop for a while to cool itself off.
The shells it fired were hardly influenced by the heat, too.
Its APFSDS shells soared through the air, tearing through the
heat haze. Shin avoided its shot and clicked his tongue in
annoyance. It was bulky. It likely used the walls of heat to
guard itself, knowing full well they couldn’t cross through
them. It had intentionally ambushed them here with that in
mind.
It had lured the enemy into a battlefield they’d struggle the
| Azura Ren |
most in, hid behind cover, and used the terrain to gain the
upper hand. It used the Eighty-Six’s fighting style—Shin’s
fighting style.
We can’t waste our time here…
Perhaps the others could sense his impatience, because he
could feel Raiden cast a sidelong glance toward him.
“You better not be thinking of pulling a stunt like
last time.”
Fighting like before, as if casting his life away, was
something he wasn’t willing to do anymore.
“I know.”

| Azura Ren |
It moved through the white darkness, hiding in the snow. It
had predicted the advance force would be here and lay buried
in this hiding place. Its objective was to move in, cut the
enemy’s avenue of escape, and crush them.

<<Reactivating. System check.>>

<<Receiving mission data transmission from tactical data link.>>
<<Mission acknowledged. Impede the enemy’s escape route. Attack
point confirmed. Commencing mov—>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>
<<Rejected>> <<Rejected>> <<Rejected>>

<< >>

<<Confirming objective.>>
<<Confirming initial objective at time of rollout.>>

<<Initial objective: establishing supremacy over all opposing

elements.>>
<<Namely, achieving evolution that would enable victory over all
| Azura Ren |
opposing elements.>>
<<As such, this unit must not be defeated.>>

<<As such…>>
<<…all surviving enemy units must be eliminated.>>
<<Elimination of surviving enemy units recognized as high-priority
objective toward achievement of initial objective.>>

<<Reestablishing mission.>>

<<High-priority elimination target: Báleygr.>>

Shin’s eyes narrowed as the sound of a scream suddenly

pierced his consciousness. It was the indecipherable howl of a
machine, an artificial scream that formed no words. After
fighting it twice, he’d already grown familiar with its voice.
“…That’s the Phönix, ain’t it?”
“Yeah… It finally showed itself.”
Judging from the fact that the voice suddenly appeared
despite Shin not hearing it before, it had probably been in
some kind of sleep mode. Its voice didn’t come from the
Dragon Fang Mountain, but far from the back—from the rear
of the invasion route. This advance operation was a foray into
enemy territory. Lying in wait for an ambush, or perhaps
attempting to isolate the enemy by cutting off their retreat,
was an established tactic.
Lena and the staff officers, along with the headquarters of
the United Kingdom’s second front, had considered the
possibility of the Phönix joining this battle. Given the fact that
its armaments were a poor fit for fighting multiple enemies in

| Azura Ren |
an open field, if the Phönix was to be sent into the battle, it
would be inside the Dragon Fang Mountain base.
And if wasn’t sent there, it would attack the invasion route,
which doubled as their path of retreat. It seemed this latter
guess was the correct one. It was far enough for the 2nd
Armored Corps, which guarded their escape route, to prepare
to intercept it.
But just as Shin prepared to warn the other units about the
point the Phönix had appeared in, it dawned upon Shin.
No. That’s wrong.
The Phönix wasn’t heading toward any unit that was
guarding their path of escape. It was going north. Toward…
“Lena, be careful! The Phönix is heading for the command
center!”

Upon receiving his warning, Lena was overcome not with

surprise, but apprehension.
“…The Phönix is heading here, to this command center?
Why…?”
It was meaningless. Both in terms of strategy and tactics, it
made no sense. Right now, the Legion were set on defending
the Dragon Fang Mountain base and should have been
focused on repelling the invasion force. There was no need
for them to attack the United Kingdom’s reserve formation, to
say nothing of this command center. Such an act wouldn’t
help shift the tides of the battle within the territories.
The fact that they attacked the Revich Citadel Base last
time was peculiar, but this was even stranger. Back then, the
Legion had still been working in tandem with two armored
units, and the successful attack left the Strike Package
isolated in enemy territory with nowhere to run. And since
the fighting took place within the tight confines of the base,
where there was plenty of cover, the Phönix was able to
exhibit its capabilities to the fullest.
| Azura Ren |
 But this time was different. If this command center were to
fall, the Strike Package could simply regroup with some other
base. And on top of that, the Phönix was operating on its own,
without any backup, on what was probably the worst possible
terrain for a unit specialized for melee combat: an open plain.
Why, then…? No. Right now, we have to focus on
intercepting it.
“Shiden!”

“All right!”
Cyclops’s black-coated armor appeared against the snow
like a massive shadow. The enemy blip hadn’t appeared on
Cyclops’s radar, but Shiden was too experienced to not be
able to predict where an enemy would come from once she’d
received intel.
With her knowledge of the area’s topography, the way their
forces were allocated, and the enemy’s armaments, she could
predict how the Legion would move. The Legion didn’t act in
accordance to human logic, of course, but they were still
polypedal weapons traveling on land. There were limitations
to the terrain they could travel over.
Forming a kill zone over the route she predicted, Cyclops
waited with the rest of the Brísingamen squadron for their
prey to step into the trap.
“All units are in position, right? Keep your sights fixed and
remain on standby.”
The squad commanders—all women—replied to her
orders. The Brísingamen squadron was the only one in the
Strike Package whose commanders were all female. Female
soldiers had a low survival rate in the Eighty-Sixth Sector,
since their physiques were smaller and their stamina lower.
And these were five women who had survived in spite of that.
Even with builds that were smaller than the boys’, they were
by no means inferior to them in terms of skills and
| Azura Ren |
experience.
An enemy blip appeared for a second on Cyclops’s radar
screen and then disappeared. It had probably deployed its
optical camouflage. Its form was still invisible. However…
A part of the curtain of snow moved unnaturally, informing
Shiden that something was approaching her, cloaked by the
wind. Her radar also told her that a mass was moving toward
her. The data link shared this information with the other
units almost instantaneously.
“Fire!”
A barrage of 88 mm shells blasted through the kill zone—
from the ground and up to the highest recorded height the
Phönix had leaped during the last battle—forming an
inescapable net. One of the shells bent and ripped apart a
section of the snowy landscape.
The Eintagsfliege dispersed into silver shards, revealing the
form of a steel beast. It was clad in armor shaped like knives
or wings and stabbed its nimble limbs into the snow. The
squadron was already familiar with this form.
The metallic shadow wavered, perhaps not expecting to
take a hit so easily. It stumbled back and turned its body,
hoping to escape, but a second and third barrage stopped its
sluggish struggle. The canister shells fired then burst around
it, tearing away the optical camouflage coating its body.
It might be a new Legion type, and it may have been a
fierce opponent, but the squadron was facing it for the second
time. They knew how to fight it, even without any explicit
instructions. And with its camouflage stripped away, it wasn’t
so menacing when it came to a one-versus-many battle.
The Phönix tried to leap away, but a HEAT shell finally
caught up to it. The tank shell traveled at over one thousand
meters per second and, at this distance, impacted the target
almost as soon as it was fired. It was only for a split second—
at a speed that exceeded what a human’s kinetic vision could
perceive—but the shell smashed into the silver shadow, and
| Azura Ren |
the fuse triggered and burst.
Then the Phönix scattered into pieces. All too quickly and
easily.

“Radar reaction…lost. The Phönix’s destruction is

confirmed… Incredible work, Shiden.”
Lena heaved a sigh of relief, standing in the command
center a long distance away from the kill zone. Shiden, on the
other hand, wasn’t convinced. It was too quick… Too easy.
Her intuition, fostered through years of survival in the
Eighty-Sixth Sector, was telling her that something was
wrong.
This is weird. Yeah, it’s probably…
It was then that she heard Shin hold his breath, just as her
hair stood on end in realization.
“All units, stay alert! It’s not dead yet!”
“…!”
What prompted her to hop Cyclops away from its position
was her combat intuition and nothing else. Her sharpened
warrior instincts perceived something that her five senses
couldn’t; it was a reflex that moved faster than her thoughts
did in reaction to what could only be described as palpable
bloodlust.
Right before her eyes, a black unit appeared, wielding its
high-frequency chain blade. Cyclops’s armor was only barely
grazed, but the metal let out a deafening screech.
“The Phönix…!”
The blue optical sensor gazed at her mockingly. And then it
was gone. Its optical camouflage fluttered down along with
the snow and coated it yet again. But that wasn’t all.
“Shana! It’s in front of you! Blast it to… Huh?!”
She was about to instruct her subordinates to shoot at
where she predicted it would move, but she immediately
realized she was wrong. The Phönix’s silvery form appeared
| Azura Ren |
unusually far away from her. So far, in fact, that it should
have been impossible for it to get there in that short amount
of time.
Shana swallowed anxiously, turned Melusine to face it, and
then fired. The Phönix took a direct hit and dispersed, but
once again, Shiden’s radar picked up a moving object from
another direction. A consort unit moved its turret to shoot at
it but was cut down from above by a chain blade before it
could.
What in the world…?
“What is this…?!”

This unbelievable sight reached Lena and the others in the

command center.
“What manner of trickery is this…?” Frederica marveled.
“Look at that speed. Isn’t it faster than last time? Or what,
is there more than one of it now? But if that’s the case, how
are they deceiving Shin’s ability when he’s actively trying to
track the Phönix…?” Lena wondered aloud.
Grethe then spoke, and Lena could sense her leaning
forward through the Resonance.
“It’s a dummy! The one that’s attacking is the real
Phönix, and everything else is just its exterior… A
dummy made out of just its liquid armor!”
Along with that report, they received a wired transmission
of footage from the artillery formation, where Grethe was.
They had likely checked the optical footage from the
Brísingamen squadron. Lena opened up a still image of the
Phönix, taken during this battle, in one of her sub-windows.
“Check this footage, Colonel. The one that got hit
by the bombardment was just the liquid armor. The
one that actually attacked them was the real
Phönix…”
Lena’s eyes widened in realization. This one was black. The
| Azura Ren |
original color of the Phönix’s armor. It didn’t have its liquid
armor on.
“The Phönix is making it seem like it’s moving
rapidly by constantly shifting its optical camouflage
between itself and the dummy. If it can make the
liquid armor hard enough to block impacts, it can
probably move the frame itself on its own. And if it’s
just trying to fake a moving mass’s reaction, it doesn’t
really matter how large it is. In fact, the smaller it is,
the less likely it is for it to be hit by one of our shots.”
“It’s probably controlling it remotely. If it’s using radio
waves, maybe we can disrupt them…”
“Who knows? The liquid armor had transformative
properties to begin with, so maybe it’s just making
creative use of it.”
“………”
Lena bit her lip. Them knowing this much didn’t mean they
knew how to position themselves to handle the Phönix.
Between its reactions and the way it alternated between
revealing and hiding itself, it could seem as if it were in two
places at once. It drew their attention and then dispersed,
confusing them between its own reactions and the dummy’s,
making it hard to predict where it would pop up next.
Hearing about the situation, Anju and Kurena made their
way to the command center. Anju’s Snow Witch had surface-
suppression capabilities that would allow her to silence the
dummy at once, but both of them were coming from the
artillery formation located on the opposite slope. They might
not make it in time.
If only they knew its goal, they could make use of it to
narrow down the actions it might take, but…
Just as Lena bit her lip bitterly, she arrived at a realization.
Right, its goal.
Why was the Phönix attacking this command center to
begin with? Its actions made no sense on a tactical level. The
| Azura Ren |
fact that, even now, no other Legion showed up to assist it
almost seemed to prove that.
Could it be…?
“Is it…on a rampage…?”
She recalled how Rei, whose brain structure had been
trapped inside a Shepherd, fought Shin one-on-one. If his
only goal was to simply kill Shin, he would have fought him
with support from other Legion. But Rei ignored the tactically
sensible option and opted to take on Shin by himself.
Shepherds that still retained the brain structures they had
from when they were alive seemed to show this kind of
behavior on occasion. They were haunted by their lingering
obsessions to the extent that they ignored logic or reason. The
Phönix was supposedly made as a pure mechanical
intelligence since the Legion abhorred this tendency, but
machines weren’t infallible, either.
The Legion learned human weaponry and tactics and
adapted accordingly. But if the data they obtained was
mistaken, the “logical conclusion” they would derive from this
data would also be mistaken. So if the Phönix had done
something similar and studied them in the wrong way like
that…

| Azura Ren |
 “Its goal is…”
In all the battles they’d had with the Phönix so far, it had
always been fixated on Shin. Likely because it had been
ordered to capture or eliminate him.
“So that’s why it’s heading for the command center…!”
Apparently, the Legion were aware to some extent of Shin’s
ability and marked him as a high-priority target for capture or
elimination. And the Legion also knew the human side was
aware of its fixation on Shin, as he was used as bait during the
last battle.
So with that in mind, coupled with how precious Shin’s
ability was, it stood to reason that Shin would be placed, first
and foremost, in the command center, where his ability would
be put to the most use without exposing him to danger from
enemy fire or the Legion. From a purely rational standpoint,
the probability of Shin being in the command center seemed
high.
And that was why the Phönix was attacking the command
center, despite its lack of strategic significance. And if that
was true, the Phönix really wasn’t working in accordance with
the Legion’s commands.
Shin was currently in the Dragon Fang Mountain, and the
enemies within the base likely knew he was there. But for
some reason, this information hadn’t been relayed to the
Phönix. Likely since that wasn’t related to the Phönix’s initial
objective.
In which case, if it didn’t know Shin wasn’t actually here…
If it didn’t know where Shin really was…
“Colonel Wenzel. Take over command for me if anything
happens.”
“Colonel? What do you mean by—? No!”
“All control personnel, please evacuate… Brísingamen
squadron, there are multiple enemy signals, but only the true
Phönix is capable of attacking. In which case, if we narrow
down its targets, we should be able to predict its trajectory.
| Azura Ren |
And if we know where it’s coming from, we can fight back.”
Unlike normal conditions, she kept the wireless on. The
Legion didn’t understand human speech, but if they detected
a place transmitting radio waves, they would assume it
corresponded to a headquarters of some sort. And a precious,
well-protected military asset would be kept in a heavily
protected place like a headquarters, in order to economize on
defensive facilities.
Lena took a deep breath. And then she spoke in a loud,
dignified voice into the microphone. Her channel was set to
all bandwidths, in an attempt to draw out that distant beast.
“Vanadis HQ to all units!”

And indeed, an invisible something hiding in the snow took

off in a fury.

Upon hearing Lena’s voice through the Resonance and

perceiving that the Phönix had moved in response to it, Shin
froze up.
“The hell do you think you’re doing, Your
Majesty?!”
“Lena, what on earth?!”
Shiden’s and Theo’s exclamations struck Shin as awfully
distant. His thoughts were rushing in a speed that bordered
on panic.
What is she doing…? That’s crazy…!
She used herself as bait and then let the enemy know about
it…? But since she’d asked Grethe to take over for her if the
worst happened, it meant she was perfectly prepared for that
scenario.
Shin heard something creak. It was his teeth grinding
against one another.

| Azura Ren |
 She did it in the citadel base and now here, too… Why is
she always so keen on recklessly risking her life like this?!
Even though he didn’t want to lose her. Even though he
still hadn’t apologized for that argument… No, even if he had
no such regrets, he wouldn’t have wanted to lose her. It’s like
he’d been told. Even if he didn’t wish for anything, even if he
lived on the pretense that he’d given up on everything, losing
someone still hurt, in the end. Maybe being filled with regrets
and not saying anything hurt more, but loss hurt regardless.
I can’t lose her. I can’t lose Lena, not here. Even if she’s
acting of her own accord, I can’t let her die selfishly like this.
“Shiden. The enemy’s armed with melee weapons. You can
shoot it down if you know where it’s going to be, right?”
He could hear Shiden hold her breath through the
Resonance. And then she nodded firmly.
“Yeah. I’ll hit it right on the mark.”
“Please. Raiden, Theo… Sorry.”
With that, Undertaker retreated. They knew Shin long
enough that his brief statement communicated all there was
to say. He was telling them to cover for him.
“I’m counting on you guys.”
Shin closed his eyes and then gave his all to his ability. He
threw himself into the maelstrom of screams and wails
produced by the Legion. But even within that endless swirl of
agony, the commander units’ voices rang out more clearly
than the rest. And so Shin turned his consciousness to the
Phönix’s chaotic, mechanical shriek.
It may have been a commander unit, but it was ninety
kilometers away. And on top of that, there was a Shepherd a
short distance from Shin, and its thundering voice was getting
in his way. Between the voice of his past comrade and the
voices of the Sheepdogs, which now made up the majority of
the Legion’s forces, it was hard to make out the Phönix’s
voice.
But it wasn’t completely inaudible. It wasn’t ruined, nor
| Azura Ren |
was it in a state of stasis, and so Shin could hear it. Being
ghosts abandoned by their ruined homeland, the Legion
continually cried out that they wanted to move on for as long
as they stayed in this world. He could hear it in the distance.
Shin’s ability, pushed to its limits, certainly heard it. At this
distance, it was only a buzzing in his ears. A rustling in the
leaves. The sound of a drop of water freezing in the
atmosphere. But it was there. And whenever the Legion
attacked, their cries always increased in pitch, becoming
screams.
And an attack was coming. Right then. Right that second.

“Shiden!”

At his signal, Shiden jumped through the snowy field, with

the command center at her back. Cyclops’s optical sensor and
its upgraded radar still couldn’t pick up the Phönix’s presence
yet, but it was likely near her. It seemed she’d made it in time.
Between the Juggernaut and the Phönix, the Phönix was
faster. And since she had to intercept it now, Shiden was
worried she wouldn’t be quick enough to do it. But while she
couldn’t see where the Phönix was, she knew where it was.
And she knew it had a solid mass, and that it would be
destroyed if it was hit with a shell.
And so she ordered every unit under her command to
shoot covering fire. Her girls unleashed a persistent and
consistent barrage along the straight line extending from
where they engaged the Phönix last to the command center.
The Phönix was invisible, but it couldn’t afford to be exposed
to bombardment. In so doing, they prohibited the thinly
armored Phönix from taking the shortest route to the
command center.
Shiden herself took off along the shortest route she could

| Azura Ren |
the moment the bombardment started, quickly stalling the
Phönix and reaching the command center and Lena. All to
intercept the enemy and save Her Majesty, who had willingly
exposed herself to danger. And the Reaper informed her of
the exact moment the Phönix would attack, from far in the
distance.
And his warning was dead-on. It was right in front of her;
she could tell. She could almost hear the wind being cut as the
chain blade swung down. But even more important than
that…
I was faster, you piece of shit.
She pulled the trigger. Her back-mounted 88 mm
smoothbore gun roared as it fired. And while this shot was
weak when fired at long-range…it packed one hell of a punch
when fired point-blank. Racing at 1,600 meters per second,
the buckshot traveled at full speed, its force entirely
unmitigated…
…and dug into the scenery before her eyes, which
contorted and twisted eerily.

The Dinosauria was a steel monstrosity that weighed one

hundred tons and was armed with the unrivaled might of a
155 mm smoothbore gun. It was capable of dashing at a speed
that was only slightly slower than a Reginleif. Even the
Federacy’s state-of-the-art models couldn’t hope to defeat it
one-on-one. This was especially true on a blistering, volcanic
battlefield such as this, where walls of invisible heat limited
their mobility.
To make things worse, the Dinosauria rushed toward them
while employing crafty yet cautious tactics, as if it were
actually one of the Republic’s aluminum coffins. It was once
an Eighty-Six—and likely a Name Bearer, at that. It was
reading their intentions like an open book, and that, coupled
with its terrain advantage and superior machine specs, gave it
| Azura Ren |
an overwhelming tactical advantage.
But even as they fought, protecting the noncombatant
Alkonosts that were prepped for self-destruction, the
Scavengers, and the now immobile Undertaker, Raiden, and
Theo still did battle with a smile plastered on their lips. After
all…
“We can’t afford to lose this.”
“If we let it pass through now, we’d never live down the
shame.”
Sorry. I’m counting on you guys.
His voice felt somehow desperate. It was the first time
they’d heard him speak like that, for all the years they’d
known him. Shin had changed. He’d left the Eighty-Sixth
Sector and met that kindhearted Handler from the Republic.
And if he wanted to protect her, it was up to them to help
him.
At the end of the day, they were just Eighty-Six like him.
Those who fought alongside him on the same battlefields and
would likely die ahead of him. And that meant they couldn’t
save Shin, who took it upon himself to bring the deceased to
their final destination.
It was then that the cold sensation of a Sirin—cold like the
skin of a cadaver—joined the Resonance.
“If you two kind gentlemen will allow it, I, Vera,
will open a way for you. Please use it to pass
through.”

| Azura Ren |
 And as she said this, the Sirin, Vera, drove her Alkonost
forward. She ignored the heat geysers they had avoided so far
and rushed the Dinosauria, firing as she did. Her shots
bounced off its front armor, incapable of penetrating it. The
Dinosauria regarded her with a sidelong glance, not even
bothering to counterattack as it handled the Juggernauts and
the other combatant Alkonosts.
True to the Dinosauria’s judgment, Vera’s unit crumpled
from overheating. It then crawled with the last of its legs’
remaining power, toppling over the geyser’s opening and
blocking it.
Raiden and Theo could hear a giggle—the last laugh that
left her lips.
The Alkonost’s cockpit was at the center of its long legs,
below the fuselage and the turret. And its underside armor
was currently being fried by a heat that would do far, far
more than leave fatal burns on a human’s flesh.
Stifling the chills running through his body, Theo pushed
Laughing Fox’s control stick to a forward position. His
Juggernaut followed the path Vera had just taken. His unit’s
temperature rose high enough to trigger an alarm, but it
didn’t go any higher than that. The heat wall that should have
blocked his path was being blocked by Vera, after all.
The Dinosauria finally realized what had happened. It
stirred, unsure of whether to change position or shoot, during
which the fire suppression squad under Raiden’s command
rained shots on the Legion, staggering it in place.
It was too late.
“…Sorry I have to do this again.”
Theo stepped over the back of Vera’s Alkonost and jumped.
Just what was the difference between them and him? What
would he have to change? Theo didn’t know yet. But even if
he had to do something to save his friends, Theo couldn’t see
himself ever acting the way Vera just did. He couldn’t and
wouldn’t be able to do that. Theo didn’t want to die, and his
| Azura Ren |
death would probably make people sad…
That wasn’t what he wanted. And maybe that was really all
that set him apart from the girl who had just died in front of
him. For now, that was the only difference.
He fired a wire anchor into one of the stone pillars and
propelled himself upward by reeling it back. In the air, he
took aim at the Dinosauria’s top rear armor. The two machine
guns that should have been there to stop them were missing,
since Shin had previously destroyed them.
“I don’t know who you used to be…but go back to where
you belong.”
He pulled the trigger.

The rapid, high-speed shot hit the Phönix’s black armor and
tore into it.

The tank shell impacted the turret from directly above and
pierced through the Dinosauria.

<< !!!>>

Both Legion units let out an inaudible scream. One with its
nondescript, mechanical words, and another with the voice of
its past death throes. And…

The Dinosauria’s massive form crumpled down into the

hazy, rocky ground with a loud rumble.

Bits of the Phönix’s armor sprayed into the air like blood
splatter as it crashed to the ground with a somersault. It
rolled twice, thrice, and then somehow managed to hop back
to its feet. The next moment, the liquid-armor dummy self-
| Azura Ren |
destructed. The dummy put all its energy into this suicide
attack instead of moving, firing off bits of its armor in a blind
assault.
The Juggernauts reflexively pulled back, their armor pelted
by the shower of metal. It didn’t penetrate their defenses, but
it did stagger them. And in that moment, the animalistic black
shadow bolted down the snowy incline, heading south.

Sensing both the bombardment far to the north and the

battle taking place right in front of him with his ability, Shin
finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

Lena watched the Phönix run away through the command

center’s screen.
“Ugh… I’m sorry, Captain Nouzen; it got away. The Phönix
is leaving the command center’s vicinity and heading for the
Dragon Fang Mountain.”
“I’m tracking it, Colonel Milizé. It’s heading this
way, like you said… It probably assumed that if I were
there, I’d have come out by now.”
In contrast to Lena, who was grinding her teeth in
frustration, Shin reacted composedly. That was likely because
his ability was helping him follow the Phönix’s movements.
Still, his voice was so absent of emotion that it almost felt
cheeky to Lena, who had failed to finish the enemy off.
“If it’s coming after me, that makes it easier for us.
The Spearhead squadron will intercept it… How’s the
situation on your end?”
Lena pursed her lips at that question.
“Both the Brísingamen squadron and the command center
are intact… But Aide Rosenfort and Control Aide Ares were
both injured. Apparently, their lives aren’t in any danger, but
they were deemed incapable of continuing their duty as

| Azura Ren |
control personnel and were sent back.”
They were hit by a stray shot when the Phönix’s last
dummy self-destructed. They had the misfortune of being
struck by the armor bits as they were evacuating the
command center, while on the road leading to the reserve
formation emplacement. Apparently, one of the dummies had
crept close to the command center.
She could feel Shin doing his best not to click his tongue in
frustration. Frederica may have wished for it herself, but Shin
was seemingly ashamed of letting a girl who was only slightly
older than ten escort them to the battlefield.
“…Roger that.”
“Since the command center’s position was exposed, we’ll
move to Vanadis. Considering Aide Rosenfort had to retire
from the battlefield, our ability to control and observe the
battlefield has fallen somewhat, but it doesn’t impede our
ability to continue the operation.”
Having said everything she had to say as the operation’s
commander to Shin, who was the tactical commander on the
front lines, she then mentioned something else. He’d
honestly, truly, saved her. He did, but…
“Captain Nouzen, regarding how you gave Second
Lieutenant Iida firing instructions earlier… You don’t need to
do that. Don’t worry about what’s happening on this side and
focus on your battles. You don’t have to do something so
reckless.”
Shin was on the front lines, and in the middle of fighting a
Dinosauria. He’d likely left the fighting to Raiden, Theo, and
his other squad members so he could focus on providing
reconnaissance for Shiden… But still, he was right in front of
the enemy. One wrong step, and he’d have been killed.
And yet she could sense Shin tightening his lips. He
seemed oddly displeased, in an uncharacteristic show of
emotion compared with his usual, indifferent self. He then
parted his lips to speak, making no effort to hide that
| Azura Ren |
emotion.
“No.”
It was the same voice she’d heard in the Revich Citadel
Base, but this time, it felt firmer than before. Lena furrowed
her brows.
“That’s an order, Captain.”
“I refuse.”
“Shin.”
“I refuse that order. Are you even one to talk like
that, Lena?”
Lena realized that, at some point, she’d been set as the sole
target of Shin’s Resonance. And that he didn’t call her by her
rank, as was necessary in the middle of an operation…but by
her nickname.
“You were the one who ordered me to return
safely. So wait for me. We can’t complete that
objective if we don’t have anywhere to return to. So
let us return…Lena.”
And at that moment, Shin was filled with something like
indecision. Like hesitation. Like doubt… No. Pressed by an
even stronger emotion, he fell silent. And with that emotion
constricting his throat, he finally said those words, as if
painfully coughing them out.

“Please don’t leave me.”

He sounded like he was imploring her. Like a child

squatting on a mountain of corpses in the center of the
battlefield, reaching out for a hand of light he could just
barely make out. As if trying to grasp this hand that could
disappear at any given moment.
“I’ll come back, for sure. So don’t leave me behind.
Don’t tell me not to protect you when you’re in
danger… I don’t want you—you, of all people—to

| Azura Ren |
order me to abandon you.”
“Shin…”
“You’ve asked me about this a few times already…
If there’s anything I want to do once this war ends.
You told me I’m allowed to wish for things, even if I
can’t see the world as beautiful. Lena, I…”

These were the words he’d intended to say a few times

already. The wish he was able to voice in front of Eugene’s
grave. But even so, saying it now overwhelmed Shin so much
that he could feel his vision swimming.
“I want to show you the sea. I want to show you things
you’ve never seen before. Places you can’t see unless the war
ends. So when it does…if we survive, let’s see the sea
together.”
This was what he had wanted to say for the last six months.
His reason for fighting—his wish. But saying those words
now, making that wish to Lena, scared him.
Reaching out to something, wishing for it. Longing for it
from the bottom of his heart, to see it as truly precious, only
to have it mercilessly snatched away… The thought terrified
him.
He had always been afraid of having hope. Because
everything he’d ever hoped or wished for had been taken
away from him once before. He’d learned time and time again
that he could never wish for anything. And so at some point,
he gave up on wishing altogether. He’d even stopped thinking
about it.
Wanting something—wishing for something—caused
nothing but pain. The fear of forever losing something he
wanted gripped him by the throat. The terror of it clouded his
vision.
But he still didn’t want to lose her… He couldn’t stand the
idea of having Lena snatched away from him, even if it was by
| Azura Ren |
her own hands.
His fear and his selfishness were making his head spin. He
still couldn’t see the world as beautiful. He couldn’t even
begin to imagine the kind of future he wanted. He was a
monster that had stepped over the corpses of others, and
there was no changing the past.
But as utterly different as he may have been from her, and
even though he knew his presence could cause her pain, he
couldn’t help but wish for it. The one and only wish he
eventually came to desire.
So please…
“That’s the only thing I can wish for right now. I can’t see
my own future yet. But please…don’t take that away from
me.”

Those words left Lena speechless. Those were the first words
of vulnerability she had ever heard him speak. She had
always known him to be so strong. He was constantly exposed
to the ghosts’ wailings, carried all his dead comrades with him
without exception, and fought as far as he did to defeat his
brother, who was assimilated by the Legion…
She believed he was strong. But he wasn’t. Far from it, in
fact. He was a weak, cowardly…fragile person.
“Don’t leave me behind.”
She’d once used those very same words as she’d pleaded
with him right before he left on his death march. And those
were the words Shin had wanted to tell others for so long
now. To his comrades. To his brother. To all those who had
been snatched away by death. But he had entrusted himself
with the task of carrying the memories of those who died, so
he couldn’t say those words to anyone.
Even though, every step of the way, he longed to say them.
Don’t leave me behind. Don’t die and leave me all alone.
“We’re off, Major.”
| Azura Ren |
 Being able to say those words back then had likely been an
ever-so-thin thread of salvation to hold on to.
“…Of course.”
The words left her lips all too naturally. It wasn’t that he
didn’t rely on her. She’d been entrusted with his wish for a
long time now. And so she had to see it fulfilled. She was the
one who had told him he was allowed to wish for something.
She had to answer those words—those two wishes he’d
entrusted her with, despite the cruelty of the world.
“I would never leave you behind. After all, you waited for
me, even after I told you not to leave me behind.”
Voices she’d once heard and scenes she’d once seen
surfaced in her mind. The sound of him crying after gunning
down his brother’s ghost at the end of a five-year hunt. The
lost, puzzled words he had cast her way when they reunited
without recognizing each other on that field of lycoris flowers.
His face as he stood stock-still, looking upon that hill of
ruined Sirins.
She’d thought she knew him, but now he felt so…weak and
fragile, as if he might fall apart at any moment.
It wasn’t that Shin possessed the strength to survive battle.
He simply struggled with all his might to live, leaning on the
pride that allowed him to fight to very end—the only bit of
honor he had left to rely on—as his crutch. He wasn’t immune
to injury. He was simply so wounded that nothing could hurt
him anymore.
He truly had nothing left to support himself with except for
that pride.
And so she couldn’t stand the idea of hurting him again, of
being another burden that would weigh him down.
“I will never leave you behind. I’ll always be waiting. I
promise. So take me with you. Once this war is over, show me
the sea and the sights I’ll only be able to enjoy if we win.”
Because she wished to support him. She wanted him to rely
on her. She wouldn’t let him carry all his burdens alone. She
| Azura Ren |
would never die and abandon him. And that was why…
“That’s why you have to come back. At all costs. You
mustn’t leave me behind, either. You absolutely…have to
return.”
She said those words firmly and then took a breath.
“Shin.”
He likely wanted to say something. She sensed him open
his mouth to speak, then blink in surprise.
“Thank you.”
Thank you for counting on me… As unreliable as I might
be.

They had repelled the Phönix, but the Strike Package’s

command center and the defensive formation around it were
still in a state of confusion. Their defensive line had been
busted wide open. The Phönix may have been only a single
unit, but it could still throw things into extensive chaos.
The Legion would never let a chance like that pass them by.
The Supreme Commander unit still ordered the Legion
guarding the front lines to remain on alert. Keep an eye on
the United Kingdom military’s movements and stay vigilant.
But the Legion’s central processors were set to prioritize
targets that attacked them. Their Liquid Micromachine brains
were hardwired to eliminate all hostile elements. And the
bombardment the United Kingdom fired at them earlier was,
undoubtably, an attack on them. A threat.
A threat that had to be removed at all costs.
That reaction was fear. A fear borne of a certain Shepherd’s
experience, of having been fired at from a great distance by
the Legion in the Eighty-Sixth Sector. This was something the
Shepherd in question didn’t realize.
Part of the unit left the line of battle. They obeyed the
| Azura Ren |
order of their commanding Shepherd to remove the enemy
artillery. But just as they headed out, fighting suddenly broke
out in the rear, causing the back to be thrown into disarray—
in one corner of the United Kingdom’s reserve formation.
Some Feldreß sent out on patrol noticed them. These
Feldreß were a type they had never seen before on the United
Kingdom’s battlefield; they were the color of polished bone
and walked on four thin legs. They looked like skeletal
corpses prowling about in search of their lost heads.
At this point, the Shepherd didn’t even think they looked
familiar.
The group of Black Sheep and Sheepdogs led by that
Dinosauria Shepherd charged onto those Feldreß and the unit
behind them.

| Azura Ren |
 CHAPTER 4

IN HIS HEAVEN

The Merciless Queen sighed at the footage she received from

the enemy lines. One group of units acted arbitrarily, which
was brought upon by the Phönix’s rampage. What were they
thinking, ignoring orders?
She gave no orders to attack the enemy’s command center.
Destroying that would achieve nothing at this point. The
enemy had infiltrated the Dragon Fang Mountain, sending
just an advance force that was effectively isolated in the
middle of enemy territory and only good for subterfuge.
She let the advance force penetrate almost all the way to
her personal dwelling, but it was all just a setup. She had
successfully separated a detachment of elites from the United
Kingdom’s main force, effectively laying them down neatly for
slaughter. Had her troops acted as she’d ordered, they would
have been able to cut off the enemy’s avenue of escape and
crush them more effectively.
If the armored unit hadn’t acted on its own and opened a
hole in their formation, the United Kingdom military
wouldn’t have been able to act even if her troops cut off the
| Azura Ren |
advance force’s escape route. And after destroying the
advance force, the United Kingdom would’ve been out of
options.
If the United Kingdom had the population and national
power the Federacy was graced with, they would have sent a
larger force to support the advance force. But the United
Kingdom could no longer afford to do that. Even with the
existence of their country hanging in the balance, the most
they could do to help out the advance force was launch the
ammunition they had hoarded away in their warehouses and
send their half-autonomous drones on a suicide mission.
Once the advance force was destroyed, all the Legion
would have to do was wait for the Eintagsfliege to suffocate
the United Kingdom or simply send large numbers of
Dinosauria to break through the United Kingdom’s ranks with
brute force. And yet her units went ahead and did something
so unnecessary.
The Legion couldn’t disobey a Supreme Commander unit’s
orders, and the Phönix was under her command. If she was to
order it to return to her side, it would have no choice but to
oblige. But she actively chose to overlook its rampage.
Earlier, the Phönix had achieved the objective it was
designed and produced to meet. All the information they
were supposed to collect from that unit had already been
gathered. There was no more need for that “new type.” And
so she had thought it would be fine to let it do as it pleased,
one last time.
I did order it to be the strongest. To never lose in combat,
to always learn, develop, and evolve itself… Even though
that was never the Phönix’s true objective.

Michihi, who was in charge of securing the blockade outside

| Azura Ren |
the Dragon Fang Mountain base along with Bernholdt,
Resonated with Shin.
“Captain Nouzen! One enemy unit detected on the
radar… It’s the Phönix!”
“It’s coming… It should have lost its liquid armor in the
battle at the command center, but we can’t let our guard
down until we confirm that.”
After defeating the Dinosauria, the Spearhead squadron
continued their advance through the corridors leading to the
Merciless Queen’s Throne Room. The Merciless Queen still
showed no signs of fleeing. Following its cold voice to the end
of the road, Shin operated Undertaker at the head of their
column.
This corridor was once a volcanic tunnel, and its outer
circumference was roundish. During some eruption ages ago,
this tunnel had been closed shut by hardened magma. The
rocky ceiling had apparently crumbled with time, and so they
had a view of the center of the tunnel, which was dotted with
boulders as large as buildings and countless jagged cross
sections.
They traveled down the tunnel, which was built like a
spiral staircase around a massive, oddly shaped spire of rock.
The spire resembled the fossilized form of some giant,
draconic, primal beast.
There was probably a crevice that connected to the
mountain’s surface somewhere, since faint light was
streaming down on them from the top of the spire. The
temperature in this tunnel was much more manageable,
which meant cold air was probably flowing in from another
location.
“Take it out, if possible. But don’t do anything reckless. If
you think any attempts would make maintaining the blockade
difficult, let it go through.”
If they were to engage the Phönix, there was a chance they
would suffer losses or even be wiped out. And at that point,
| Azura Ren |
the troops inside the facility would be trapped without a way
back. They were in the middle of the Legion’s territory, and
there were Legion forces outside the Dragon Fang Mountain
base. Michihi likely realized this, because Shin could sense
her frown through the Resonance.
“We can do without that consideration, Captain. I
know I might look like a baby bird to you, but I’m a
Name Bearer, too…!”
“Tch! No, missy, you got that wrong!”
Bernholdt cut her off, swallowing nervously. His voice was
thick with tension.
“That fucker ain’t after us…! Captain!”
Footage data wasn’t usually shared between Juggernauts,
since the volume of data taxed the system, and they currently
needed to use a relay to maintain wireless communications
with their outside forces. But still, Shin’s ability allowed him
to hear enough of what went on outside to get a grasp on the
situation.
The Phönix had probably jumped. It leaped high, right in
front of Michihi and Bernholdt. Like a snow leopard using a
rock face as its hunting ground, it sprinted upward, its speed
unimpeded. It then jumped again but disappeared in midair.
It had likely abandoned its bestial fuselage and split itself into
the form of silvery butterflies.
Apparently, there was an entrance into the mountain near
the top…which was perhaps something they should have
guessed and expected. This base served as a supply depot for
the Eintagsfliege, which were constantly airborne. Meaning
the Legion had likely created an entrance leading out to the
sky somewhere in the name of efficiency.
“It’s presumed to be in pursuit of the Spearhead
squadron. Estimated arrival time…three hundred
seconds if it takes the shortest route!”
“…Well—”
The former report was probably right. But the latter one…
| Azura Ren |
 “—I’m not so sure about that.”
A whisper-like scream, reminiscent of the sound of
butterfly wings, gathered near them. The pitch of an almost
indiscernible, mechanical voice’s wail grew louder in his ears.
And suddenly, his radar picked up the presence of the
Phönix.
It was above the Spearhead squadron. Watching through
his unit’s optical sensor as the silver shadow plunged down
toward them with the rock face at its back, Shin confirmed
that his automatic aim’s reticle had locked onto it and pulled
the trigger.
The Phönix was greeted by the booming sound of a cannon
shot that reverberated through the closed space of the
volcanic tunnel. The HEAT missile flew forward, apparently
moments away from piercing through the silver frame.
The Phönix probably intended for this to be a surprise
attack, but that was meaningless against Shin. He was capable
of predicting where the enemy would be. And he knew the
Phönix was capable of surviving a damaged fuselage by
turning into Liquid Micromachine butterflies and switching
over to a brand-new shell. After all, the Phönix’s true form
was the Liquid Micromachines that comprised its central
processor.
To that end, it didn’t have to go through a path occupied by
the Strike Package and needlessly fight when it was already
damaged. It would be much faster for it to turn into a swarm
of butterflies, infiltrate the base through a small gap, and don
a new unit and liquid armor.
And all armored ground weapons, ever since the treadmill-
type tanks of old, had their weakest, most vulnerable point
located at the top of their turrets. And so Shin knew if it
would attack them, it would try to strike them down from
above.
The Phönix was plummeting down, and the rocket was
hurtling toward it. The Phönix then brandished its winglike
| Azura Ren |
chain blades once, stabbing them into the cliff-face. This
made it brake, and its animallike form swung like a pendulum
due to the inertia, landing with an arc against the wall.
The timed fuse on the HEAT missile detonated after a
delay. By then, the Phönix had kicked off the wall, evading
the lethal effective radius of the blast… This had happened
often enough that Shin didn’t expect to hit this unit, but its
reaction speed was still irritating.
Shin noted the liquid armor around its body seemed even
thicker than before. Apparently, the sheer amount of liquid
armor it had now was greater. Perhaps it simply wanted its
armor to be thicker, or maybe it intended to use the dummy
it’d used against Lena’s group on this battlefield, too.
Everyone in the squadron realized that the one ambushing
them was the Phönix. Just like in the Revich Citadel Base,
everyone spread out with the intent of surrounding and
overwhelming it with a barrage of gunfire. They positioned
themselves so they wouldn’t hit one another, while remaining
outside the range of the Phönix’s weapons, and prepared to
shower it with shells.
The Scavengers and self-destructing Alkonosts moved back
to a position where they wouldn’t get in the way. The sound of
someone breathing deeply echoed over the Resonance.
The Phönix began falling toward the center of their
encirclement. Even it couldn’t hope to change trajectory in
midfall, and gravity pulled it down into the open maw of the
trap below. The Eintagsfliege activated its optical camouflage,
which sparkled like powder snow, or like shards of stars, and
hid the Phönix’s silver form from both human eyesight and
the radar’s detection.
That seemed odd to Shin. What was the point of using its
optical camouflage now? Hiding itself at this juncture made
no sense. It couldn’t change its falling trajectory, so they
would aim for its landing point. What was it trying to hide,
then? Maybe it was something that would become clearer the
| Azura Ren |
longer they fought. Perhaps this something was what allowed
the Phönix to maintain the element of surprise…
It’s prepping a ranged weapon…!
“All units, take cover! It’s gonna shoot…!”
It had shown itself capable of forming ranged weapons out
of its liquid armor back in the Revich Citadel Base battle. It
was only capable of staggering a unit at best even if fired at
point-blank, but Shin still chose to err on the side of caution
and had all his units move away. But the form he’d seen in the
moment it tried to ambush them—that excessive amount of
liquid armor…
The Eintagsfliege’s optical camouflage was damaged in a
way that seemed odd to Shin. It was silently torn away, and
from the gap that formed, silver comets burst out. They were
massive projectiles, like bolts fired from a ballista, a siege
weapon used in ancient times. They were like crystalline
needles, a shower of metallic thorns that shot toward every
Feldreß in sight.

Only a small force of Legion had moved out of formation, and

their reserve formation was still in a state of confusion from
the Phönix’s attack. No, the Legion force had attacked
because their formation was confused.
That attack was, apparently, not part of the Legion’s plans,
either. One unit had apparently acted of its own accord, it
seemed. It wasn’t done in tandem with the Phönix’s raid or
with the rest of the units standing guard.
But the sheer number of Dinosauria in that unit was a pain
to deal with. The Brísingamen squadron was left behind to
guard the command center, along with the remaining fire-
control team’s Juggernauts. Lena clenched her teeth in
frustration as she took command of the situation from within
| Azura Ren |
Vanadis.
She didn’t think a heavy armored force of Dinosauria and
Löwe, which should have been preserved to break through
the United Kingdom’s defensive lines, would attack them
now. The Legion’s numbers weren’t quite as large as a full,
armored battalion, but they still streamed down the mountain
like a landslide.
They stomped their way through the patrol line, and the
enemy vanguard was already attacking the rear of the
defensive formation, where Lena was. The battlefield was in a
state of chaos, making it hard to discern between friend and
foe.
The defensive formation had been built up carefully on
heightened ground, so as to ensure the defending side would
have the advantage in a confrontation between armored
weapons. And even still, things were brutal.
Vanadis wasn’t capable of battle per se, but it could at least
fire its fixed gun. Marcel’s injuries made it so he couldn’t
handle full-on combat maneuvers, but he could use his
Feldreß’s turret. To that end, he disembarked from Vanadis
and joined his group, attacking repeatedly until the barrel
threatened to burst.
Lena gritted her teeth as the howitzer fire, shot diagonally,
was repelled by the Dinosauria’s persistent horizontal fire.
This situation…might be really bad.

“Kch…?!”
The aim of the Phönix’s projectiles wasn’t as accurate as a
tank turret firing with the assistance of a weapon-control
system, and everyone piloting a Juggernaut in the vicinity was
a skilled Name Bearer. They all reacted to the warning and
performed evasive measures, so none of their cockpits were
| Azura Ren |
hit.
But some of them took damage to their power systems,
their cannons’ barrels, or their leg parts. Others had their
armor completely bent from taking a blow from the massive
kinetic energy of the shot, which traveled faster than the
speed of sound. Some Alkonosts, which were overall less
organized and less trained than the Eighty-Six were, had their
cockpits blown clean off from a direct hit.
Undertaker was the only one who hadn’t been aimed at by
the shot. Shin was left speechless at the nightmarish sight. It
wasn’t that they weren’t wary of a potential ranged shot. This
was a closed space, but it was fairly wide, and everyone stood
outside the effective range of the attack the Phönix showed at
the Revich Citadel Base.
But the range of that attack had been temporarily extended
and granted enough force to knock a Juggernaut out of
commission…
The Phönix landed with the silent movement unique to the
Legion, shards of broken butterfly wings piling up at its feet.
The few Eintagsfliege that did survive floated around it, their
wings either unhurt or slightly charred at the rims.
The Phönix revealed itself, its black frame unevenly dotted
with flecks of silver. The thick, wing-shaped liquid armor that
coated its body was mostly gone. What little liquid armor
remained on its fuselage crackled with visible electric
currents, which made it clear that it had used electromagnetic
force to accelerate its previous shot.
Shin realized the shots it fired were made from the thick
liquid armor it wore. When an armor-piercing round was
launched, it relied on its kinetic energy to make an impact.
And while the Phönix lacked the speed a tank turret could
produce, it’d used a quasi-electromagnetic catapult to
heighten the force of the shot.
All to completely tear through their encirclement net with
a single blow.
| Azura Ren |
 The Phönix suddenly shook itself, forcing the makeshift
rails it formed from its liquid armor to fall off its animallike
body. The splashes of silver sprayed over the rock surface,
reflecting the faint sunlight. It lifted its optical sensor like an
animal raising its head and stared fixedly at Undertaker.
The sensor was a cold shade of blue and full of clear,
palpable obsession. Obsession with Undertaker…or perhaps
with Shin, who sat inside it. It was the same way it’d looked at
him when the Revich Citadel Base battle had ended. When it
had been reduced to a flurry of butterflies and stood at the
Merciless Queen’s side.
It was a gaze that seemed unfitting for a heartless killing
machine that was supposed to massacre its targets as a matter
of task, without any hint of hatred or elation.
The next moment, its black form lunged at Undertaker.
“Tch…!”
He couldn’t fight it here. One wrong move, and his shots
could end up hitting one of his comrades. Undertaker took off
down the passage, hoping to shake its pursuer off. The Phönix
took off after it. As his comrades’ units were getting farther
away, Shin turned a single glance toward Raiden’s and Theo’s
Juggernauts.
Their units’ legs were jerking with twitching motions, but
they weren’t dead. The Para-RAID was still connected to
them. He could even faintly hear someone breathe a cuss into
the Resonance.
He had to keep the Phönix occupied until they recovered
and then fight it with their help. No… It might judge them a
nuisance and turn around to finish them off while they still
couldn’t move. He couldn’t let that happen… No matter what.
“…Sorry.”
They’d likely… No, they’d definitely get mad at him for this,
or so Shin thought as he had Undertaker leap back. Raiden
and Theo and his other squad mates present, and also Anju
and Kurena, who weren’t, would be really upset.
| Azura Ren |
 And so would Lena.
“Come back. At all costs.”
Yes, I’ll come back. I have to. But you have to forgive me
for this one.
Uttering that silent prayer, Shin moved Undertaker back.
The Juggernaut’s white frame hid behind one of the rock
formations in the center of the passage, moving out of sight.
The Phönix raised its multiple chain blades in
acknowledgment, its delicate blades vibrating as they whirred
into operation.
The blades raised a keen screech reminiscent of a woman’s
scream, and the elongated weapons stabbed into the massive
rock spires standing at the Phönix’s sides. Cut and severed at
the bottom, the rock formations crumbled and collapsed. A
massive amount of rock sealed the path behind the Phönix.
As if it to say it would let no one get in their way.

It was at the bottom of the volcanic tunnel—the opening from

which the magma would rise to the surface, had it not been
clogged ages ago. Sunlight shone down from a hole in the
rock hundreds of meters above, filtered by a layer of silver
wings. But that light could do little to illuminate the large
space, which was wide enough to contain the entire Imperial
villa.
This was where the central processor of the Admiral—the
generator unit powering this production base—was placed.
Where hundreds of millions of Eintagsfliege gorged
themselves on its energy. Thin, electromagnetic-induced
charging units were stretched out across this space like
metallic tree branches. They were all coated by countless
silver butterflies, which sat upon it like foliage.
At the very back of the chamber was the control kernel of
the Admiral, sitting there like the carcass of an ancient dragon
king that had been assimilated into its very throne. It was
| Azura Ren |
being waited upon by a large number of maintenance devices,
which buzzed and whirled around it.
But right now, all this was currently burning as Vika glared
down at the chamber. The charging units, the Eintagsfliege,
the maintenance machines… They were all equally burning.
All the units in this chamber were unarmed support types,
which easily crumbled when attacked.
The silver butterflies fluttered about boisterously as their
brittle wings burned, flying off into the sky like embers but
crumbling to dust before they could get far. But the actual
Admiral was different. Perhaps owing to its massive size, its
optical sensor swerved as if struggling while the fire overtook
it, eventually focusing on Vika’s Gadyuka.
Faced with a gaze pulsating with artificial hatred, Vika
scoffed.
“…Were I that Reaper, perhaps I’d be able to know who
you once were and grieve your passing.”
But sadly, the capacity to weep for the death of a person
I’ve never met is a level of sympathy I’ve long since lost.
Watching over the scene of this cremation, Vika turned his
back to this sight with even more coldheartedness than the
Alkonosts escorting him. All their objectives in this sector
were complete. All that remained was…
“All units, the Admiral’s destruction is confirmed. All
Alkonost units are in position. We’re ready on our side. How
are things on your end?”
An immediate response arrived from Yuuto of the
Thunderbolt squadron, sent to suppress the Weisel—and Rito
of the Claymore squadron, sent to destroy the generator
facilities.
“Second Lieutenant Crow speaking. We’ve
successfully gained control of the Weisel.”
“We’re currently destroying the generator
facilities. Our Alkonosts are moving into position.”
But Shin didn’t respond. Vika furrowed his brows in
| Azura Ren |
suspicion. He then switched his Para-RAID target to the rest
of the Spearhead squadron and repeated his question.
“Nouzen? Can you hear me? Please respond; what’s your
status?”
This time, he got an immediate response. It wasn’t from
Shin, though, but from Raiden.
“Your Highness… It’s Shuga. Shin’s not here, so
I’m answering in his stead.”

“Sorry, but we still haven’t met our objective. We haven’t

found the Merciless Queen yet… And Shin’s apparently
fighting the Phönix right now.”
Raiden bitterly continued his report from within
Wehrwolf’s cockpit, which felt more cramped than before
now that its armor had been bent out of shape. The Phönix’s
projectile may have had a large mass and moved at high
speed, but it lacked the force of a tank shell. The impact
stopped Raiden’s Juggernaut from moving for a moment, but
the damage didn’t impede his ability to continue the
operation.
All the Juggernauts were still able to keep going, as were
most of the Alkonosts, with the exception of a few that were
blown away. Judging from his tone, the disgustingly wise
prince had probably grasped the situation. He asked Raiden a
question in a tense voice.
“It split you up, didn’t it?”
“Yeah. We’re searching for Shin now.”
Raiden turned his gaze to the bottom of the corridor, which
was currently partially caved in by massive rocks. There was a
bit of an opening at the top of the rock formation, so it wasn’t
completely impassible, but since it had crumbled at a mostly
perpendicular angle, the rubble was unstable, making passing
through it difficult. As such, it became an obstacle in their
path.
| Azura Ren |
 Shin and the Phönix were past this tunnel right now. They
couldn’t hear the sounds of any fighting, so both had probably
moved away already, but they saw them advance down the
corridor as they lay still earlier. The rock spires then
collapsed, leading to this situation.
Theo remained silently connected to the Para-RAID, but
Raiden could tell through the Resonance that he was beside
himself with concern. Laughing Fox’s optical sensor was
moving about nervously. The Scavengers all stood in an
orderly fashion, with the exception of Fido, which was
wobbling back and forth with concerned steps.
No.
Raiden frowned bitterly. Shin hadn’t been chased off. He
had willingly moved away from this position to face the
Phönix one-on-one… All so Raiden and the others wouldn’t
be caught up in the fight. To protect them after they were
shamefully beaten by the Phönix.
That idiot…
Raiden forcibly cheered himself up by thinking about
finding Shin and smacking him senseless. But right now, they
needed to go to his aid. The Alkonosts were currently
investigating the nearby passages in an attempt to find a way
around the rocks.
Their objective, the Merciless Queen, would likely also be
at the end of this passage. But so long as they didn’t have a
functional map, they couldn’t hope to find it.
Vika seemingly suppressed the urge to click his tongue.
“Understood. We’ll wait for as long as we can.”
They needed Shin’s ability if they were to find the
Merciless Queen, but the mission’s top priority was still the
destruction of this base.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. In operations like this one,
unpredictability is an inevitability. Racking one’s
mind over how to overcome that is a commander’s
| Azura Ren |
job. It’s nothing you need to fret over…”
“…Raiden.”
Raiden raised his head at Theo’s call.
“Down there, in the shadow by the rocks… What’s
it doing there?”
Theo spoke, gazing fixedly at where his Laughing Fox’s
optical sensor was turned. Raiden doubtfully turned his own
unit in that direction and found…
“What…?!”
…a lone Ameise unit, its armor as white as moonlight. It
stood in front of the rock wall where the corridor split.
Though it was beneath them, it gazed up at them like a queen
lording over and looking down upon her subjects. Its round,
full-moon-like optical sensor shone yellow with a coldness
that felt eerily human.
It lacked the 7.62 mm all-purpose machine gun and 14 mm
heavy machine gun the Ameise were usually equipped with. It
lacked armaments to an unacceptable extent for a frontline
unit, as if out of arrogance. And etched upon its armor was
the Personal Mark of a goddess leaning against a crescent
moon.
The Merciless Queen.
Not just Raiden and Theo, but the rest of their squad mates
and the Sirins all fell silent. The same question was on
everyone’s minds.
What…is it doing here…?
The Merciless Queen suddenly looked away and turned
around, walking off with the silent footsteps so characteristic
of the Legion… Except it also moved at the leisurely pace of a
lady enjoying a stroll, which was entirely unlike the Legion. It
strode across the stone wall, and into one of the corridors that
branched off, disappearing down the passage.
It was as if it was beckoning them to follow. Mocking them.
Raiden’s eyes widened in surprise.
How did it get here…?!
| Azura Ren |
 “Let’s go after it.”
“Raiden! But what about finding Shin?!”
“That thing’s chamber should be beyond that wall.”
Theo was astonished. They originally went down this
passage to find the Merciless Queen. Below this location was
the sector they dubbed the Throne Room, and Shin said the
Merciless Queen hadn’t escaped. Which meant even while
they were fighting the Phönix, it should have still been down
there.
But somehow, that same Merciless Queen had traversed
the rubble and was now before them. There was no real proof,
but…this was likely the best lead they had.
“The path she took is a detour!”

It’s one thing after another…

Turning off the Para-RAID for a moment, Vika finally
clicked his tongue in frustration. Fighting had broken out
around Lena’s command center and the reserve formation,
and now Shin was missing.
Lerche, who had been listening in, called out to him.
“…Your Highness… About what Sir Wehrwolf just
said.”
Vika couldn’t help but snicker at her imploring tone.
“I already told you, Lerche. I never included obeying me as
part of your initial orders. Why do you think I did that?”
He could sense her lips curling into a smile. Even without
her memories, she was as obedient and frank as Lerchenlied
ever was.
“My thanks… Your Highness, please allow me to
join the search for Sir Reaper. The more time passes
by…the more danger his body is exposed to.”
“Yes… We’re done capturing this area, so we should have
some idle troops. Take them along.”

| Azura Ren |
Shin had found himself driven into what was likely the
deepest reaches of the Dragon Fang Mountain’s rock tunnels.
It was a completely closed-off place that should have been
covered by sheer darkness. And yet this large space was
bright enough for Shin to see through it unassisted.
It was awash with dazzling red light. Shin looked around
the chamber he’d been driven into, standing in the crimson
gleam that seemed to be refracted off the rocks due to the
sheer temperature. The air itself appeared to glow red.
His Juggernaut’s optical footage automatically switched
over from night vision to standard mode. What his screen was
displaying now, however, wasn’t the actual amount of light
outside. The support computer automatically cut out the level
of light it judged would be harmful for effective piloting and
corrected the footage accordingly.
The source of that light was right below the perpendicular
rock footing Shin was standing on. A deep-red light emanated
from below, at a depth that would be fatal if one were to fall
into it.
Magma.
A crucible of radiant molten magma, which at times surged
up like glowing red waves. The magma sizzled at extremely
high temperatures, and it was in a liquid state with low
viscosity. It filled the bottom of this vast cave like some kind
of underground lake.
Even at this distance, the magma’s glowing heat caused his
unit’s temperature to spike. The tips of one of his unit’s
metallic legs kicked up a crumbling pebble, which tumbled
down the pit and into the crimson liquid’s surface. In the
blink of an eye, it caught fire and melted away.
The large cave’s canopy was spacious enough to shelter a
skyscraper. At the end of this chamber was a near-vertical
wall, which stood like a rampart, with the magma lake
forming a semicircle around its base. The upper end of that
wall connected with the dome-like ceiling of the cave. At the
| Azura Ren |
topmost section of the cave was an opening connecting to the
outside. Long ago, that hole had likely led to the volcanic
crater at the mountain’s peak.
Countless stepping stones dotted the magma lake, and Shin
and the Phönix unsteadily stood on two of them. They faced
off while standing on the widest footing in the cave, located
closest to the large stone wall. It had an oblong shape that
bore an eerie resemblance to a guillotine, with cliffs cut out
on all four sides of it. It seemed like, long ago, the top of this
section had been cut horizontally and slid off, forming an
exceptionally flat and level platform wide enough to contain a
city’s plaza.
Shin had been chased into this chamber and had to cross a
path that grew far narrower than the entrance—though still
wide enough for a Löwe to cross—that led to this guillotine-
like platform. It felt reminiscent of a staircase a condemned
criminal would climb on their way to the gallows.
The Phönix towered over Shin with its back to that road, as
if to silently profess that it would not let him escape.
“………”
At Lena’s orders, Shin had memorized the three-
dimensional map the best he could. But this passage wasn’t
registered anywhere on the map. It was made using Shin’s
ability, which only picked up the Legion’s path. Any areas the
Legion didn’t use were effectively blanks on that map.
And since this cave was outside the operation area, Shin
didn’t have any friendly forces in the vicinity. Likewise, the
Legion seldom passed through this area. Judging from the
faint multi-legged tracks and the empty container left lying in
the corner of the guillotine platform’s rim, they likely used
the magma lake as a waste-processing site.
And the Phönix had intentionally cornered Shin in this
place.
“…You must be really dead set on settling this with a duel.”
The Legion weren’t made to have any concepts of glory or
| Azura Ren |
honor, but it wasn’t impossible. Shin, at least, knew it could
happen. Two years ago, during the special reconnaissance
mission, he’d seen a Shepherd blast one of its own comrades
to pieces out of a desire to keep others from interfering with
its duel. At the time, that Dinosauria—or rather, his brother’s
ghost, which resided within it—was obsessed with killing
Shin.
And so even this Legion, which didn’t harbor any such
thoughts or any parts that stemmed from a human origin—
built to avoid the same issues as Shepherds, which could be
misled by the thoughts of the neural networks they
assimilated—acted in this way.
The Phönix stirred, its black fuselage rising up. It raised its
two front legs while its hind legs remained on the ground. At
the same time, some of the armor and frame surrounding its
front legs deployed and changed shape. Its front legs folded
up, and their surplus parts turned into extra armor that
protected its flank.
The shaft section of its front legs elongated, and the part
that corresponded to its heel stuck out. The sharp tip of the
shaft gouged into the surface of the rock. Its back and head
bent backward, but it was not standing upright. Its center of
gravity remained in the front of its form, leaving it in a
forward-bent posture reminiscent of a prowling predator.
The end result was something that resembled a small
theropod dinosaur—a Deinonychus. Its chain blades flowed
backward, forming a tail that kept it balanced and something
that was like a plume or a mane across its back. It was the
ferocious shape of a nimble, primal predator.
No… There was something about the way it stepped over
the ground on two legs, and the way its hands were too long
for a dinosaur. This was…
“It’s imitating humans…”
At first, it had been closer to an animal, but now it forcibly
took on a human form.
| Azura Ren |
 This was perhaps the correct choice for a learning, self-
evolving combat machine. When Shin fought it in the Charité
Underground Labyrinth, he defeated it by casting aside his
Juggernaut and dispatching it using his own body and
gunfire. And during the battle in the Revich Citadel Base, it
was defeated when Lerche abandoned her own unit to engage
it.
Up until now, every time the Phönix was defeated, it was at
the hands of an opponent in human form. So perhaps, it
wasn’t entirely implausible for it to assume that a bipedal
form was ideal for combat.
And in truth, it wasn’t entirely unsuitable for battle. It
might not have been as agile as an animal, but it did offer its
share of advantages. Like having two hands that allowed
humans to wield a multitude of weapons that required
precise control. Or having the greatest throwing capabilities
of all mammals.
But none those advantages suited the Phönix’s combat
style. At the end of its endless pursuit, it achieved an
evolution that did not satisfy its initial goal. Shin smirked as
he looked at it.
“Taking on a human form won’t give you the upper hand.
You’ll only end up losing your way… Just like you did when
you became obsessed with me.”
The Phönix’s objective right now was likely to single-
handedly defeat Shin. That was why it ignored tactical logic
and sought Shin out by attacking the command center. And
why it took Raiden and the others hostage instead of finishing
them off.
And why it drove Undertaker to this magma lake, where
none of its own allies could offer assistance.
All these were inefficient, illogical courses of action for a
killing machine. They were feats that were unthinkable for
the Legion, which were always fixated on eliminating the
hostile elements set before them.
| Azura Ren |
 All of that was because of the Phönix’s obsession with
killing Shin. An obsession… An attempt to append a way of
being to itself, despite not being human.
“A machine like you doesn’t need that… You’re defective.”
There was no way the Phönix could possibly understand
the mocking tone in Shin’s voice, but it still kicked against the
ground and lunged at him.

| Azura Ren |
 * * *

The fighting in the reserve formation continued. As Lena

watched through the sub-window that displayed how the
Juggernauts under her command and the United Kingdom’s
units were being pushed back and gradually worn down, her
mind suddenly fixated on a single thought.
We might die here…
She clenched her teeth, stifling that horrible notion.
Stop being so spoiled. You’re not going to die here. You
can’t die. Dying would mean leaving him behind…after he
just begged you not to do that. And you told him you
wouldn’t. Shin never abandoned me. He came back. He
overcame a fate of certain death and found me on that
battlefield of lycoris flowers. So I can’t give up here…
I might die? So what?
The vehicle was equipped with a chain gun and a 12.7 mm
heavy machine gun for self-defense purposes, but both were
out of bullets. Ameise units still hopped up in front of Bloody
Reina’s carriage, even though it had completely lost its
combat capabilities. As she saw the machine guns mounted on
their shoulders begin to rotate, Lena gave her order.
“Full speed ahead! Run them over!”
“What…?!”
“They’re just Ameise! Vanadis’s weight will knock them
aside!”
“…Yes, ma’am! Hang on tight, Your Majesty!” the driver
exclaimed, bracing himself for the worst.
While it was lightly armored compared with a tank, the
armored command vehicle was still covered in thirty tons of
metal. Its diesel engine howled viciously as it charged
forward.
Whether their targets were meant for combat or whether
| Azura Ren |
they were actually armed mattered little in the face of this
weight difference. The Ameise had already locked onto their
target and couldn’t avoid it in time. Vanadis wasn’t able to
knock them back too much due to their weight, but it still
mercilessly ran over and trampled them. Perhaps owing to an
adrenaline rush, the vivid, striking sight played out awfully
slowly in Lena’s eyes.
The world, and its people, were ugly. They were cold,
indifferent, and cruel. This quagmire of a battlefield, as vivid
as it was meaningless, was likely the truest form of the world.
And yet…
Lena’s teeth creaked as she clenched them once again.
You’ll get yourself dirty touching me.
That was what Shin had told her when they stood before
the wreckage of the Alkonosts, with a tone that sounded lost
and exhausted and with a gaze full of weary weakness. Even
though there was nothing about him that would sully her if
she was to touch him.
At that time, Shin thought himself to be tainted. That Lena
touching him would only sully her. It left her feeling the same
wound-like void she felt whenever he spoke of humankind’s
lowly vulgarity—and of the cold, emotionless nature of the
world.
She now realized the truth behind it all. Shin hated this
cold world. He hated how helplessly unsightly and ugly
humans could be.

And he hated himself, for being part of this detestable

world and for being part of the human race he loathed.

That was probably why he told her she’d dirty herself by

touching him. Why he kept his distance from her, like in that
snowy garden. Why he obstinately insisted on not relying on
her, even after claiming time and again that he didn’t mind

| Azura Ren |
doing so.
It was as if he saw himself as an ugly, despicable monster
and feared he might end up pulling Lena into the same cold,
merciless world he inhabited. In which case, if he feared
dragging her in…
She glared hard at the battlefield before her, thinking of
those who knew nothing but terrible war.
This is the merciless world you see, isn’t it? You don’t
really want to stay here, do you…?!
Shin wasn’t in front of her. All she saw was a battlefield full
of turmoil extending as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t that
he didn’t care about the future. It wasn’t that he was
incapable of wishing. It’s that he was still afraid…of being so
mercilessly stripped of wishes and hopes yet again.
He really wanted to have faith, but the cruelty of this world
had stolen his ability to dream. In which case, if the only thing
he had was the pride of fighting to the bitter end… If he didn’t
even have the strength to wish anymore… If his heart and
even his future had been whittled down by this world…
She would fight in his place.
She would fight this ugly world Shin saw—the cold world
that shackled him—so that he could see his wish fulfilled once
the war ended.
She couldn’t afford to die.
Vanadis kicked up clouds of smoke and rumbled as it
landed on something straight ahead of it—steel-colored
armor and a massive 155 mm turret.
A Dinosauria.
Vanadis’s tackle may have been able to push back a ten-ton
Ameise, but it would do nothing to faze a one-hundred-ton
steel monstrosity. No, it wouldn’t even have the time to do so.
The tank turret had Vanadis in its sights, as the dark void of
its 155 mm caliber muzzle stared straight at Lena.
Oddly enough, she felt no fear. To the contrary, she glared
straight on at the darkness that threatened to kill her.
| Azura Ren |
 I won’t die.
I can’t die.
Like hell I’ll die.
I still haven’t…
That moment, an APFSDS shell skewered the Dinosauria’s
turret. The depleted uranium round dug into the thick armor
plates with an eerie sound, which was followed by the roar of
an 88 mm cannon firing against the steel frame. The
Dinosauria instantaneously fell silent, like a man shot through
the temple. Its frozen form fell apart a moment later as it
crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut.
Huh?
Lena gazed at its massive form with astonishment. What
had just happened? The armored command vehicle’s driver
likely felt the same way. Something landed next to where
Vanadis had stopped—something with audible footsteps.
Something that wasn’t a Legion.
Vanadis’s optical sensor focused on that figure. It had white
armor, like the color of polished bone, and a body shaped like
a headless skeletal corpse. A Juggernaut. Below its canopy
was a Personal Mark of a rifle with a scope.
Gunslinger. Kurena’s personal unit.
“You still alive in there, Lena?”
Her blunt voice rang out from the wireless and the Sensory
Resonance at once. As far and long ago as the Eighty-Sixth
Sector’s battlefield felt by now, Kurena still interacted with
her in the same way. This girl was curt but full of emotion
toward her comrades.
“He asked me to look after you. If you die, I won’t
be able to look Shin in the eye…so stop pulling crazy
stunts that might get you killed.”

Granite is normally hard and fine, but prolonged exposure to

high temperatures can make it awfully brittle. It’s most
| Azura Ren |
remarkable with low rocky areas that are close to a heat
source. When stepping or landing on top of it as a footing, it
has a tendency of crumbling away.
And so little by little, Undertaker and the Phönix clashed as
their range of movement gradually diminished. The smallest
of the rock footholds dotting the area was roughly the size of
a civilian house, while the largest ones were the size of a city
sector. Their heights weren’t uniform, either, with some of
them being so low that they couldn’t descend to them, while
others towered over them like walls, being too high to hop
onto.
Both units leaped around the footholds, even relying on the
wall-like surfaces of the higher ones. A shadow of black and a
shadow of white, both of them optimized for melee combat,
clashed as each aimed to rip the life out of the other. Shin
fired a shell for what felt like the umpteenth time, but his
opponent moved so quickly, his shot greatly missed its mark
and flew away into the horizon.
“Dammit…!”
Owing to its extra armor and 88 mm gun, the Juggernaut
was significantly heavier than the Phönix, which translated to
a gap in the range each of them was capable of jumping. As
such, Undertaker was limited in the number of footholds it
could stand on, while the Phönix could freely stand atop even
the thin, cone-shaped rocks.
Shin was being toyed with.
He did have the advantage of a turret capable of long-range
fire, but the Phönix lunged and suddenly braked with speeds
that allowed it to shake off the automatic sights of the
Juggernaut. Aiming at it without any allies to assist him was
difficult.
Midjump, Shin launched an anchor into one of the walls to
change his trajectory, but the next moment, the rock the
anchor had dug into was cleaved clean off. Undertaker kicked
off from one of the lower footings that was too hot and
| Azura Ren |
smoldering for it to stand on. The Phönix darted after it in
pursuit.
“………!”
With its anchor having missed its mark, Undertaker
plummeted toward the magma lake. Shin somehow managed
to use his other anchor to reel himself up to another foothold.
As soon as he landed on it, the Phönix rushed it from a steep
angle, as if it had ignored gravity altogether.
Since it only used two legs to walk now instead of four, the
Phönix’s humanoid form looked like it wasn’t as suited for
high-speed movement. But that couldn’t be further from the
truth—it was moving even faster than before. The pointed tips
of its exposed shafts stabbed into the rock face. The ability to
ground itself more firmly allowed its actuators to efficiently
transform more of their output into propulsive force.
The Phönix propelled itself forward by kicking against its
foothold, its metal legs screeching as they rubbed against the
rocks. This form had been optimized for fighting Undertaker.
It had even forsaken its initial form to do that.
If you choose to be on the battlefield, this is how you ought
to look.
As Shin focused on this battle to the death, that
inappropriate thought crossed his mind. A being that was
made for combat ought to exist for nothing else but combat.
Those who elected to live on the battlefield were right to
reject everything but the functions needed to fight.

You say you’ll fight on, but you won’t discard your body,
which isn’t fit for battle.

It was just as Lerche had said. The Eighty-Six were

imperfect. But even so, they didn’t want to become beings
meant only for combat. That was no way to live. He believed
this now, even though he had believed the opposite in the

| Azura Ren |
past.
Back when he first took on the name Undertaker, the name
Reaper, before he met Raiden and his other comrades, before
he had friends he could fight alongside with, a part of him did
believe that not having a heart would make everything easier.
He truly believed that not having emotions would help him
live longer.
But that wasn’t true.
A slash was coming his way, and Shin wasn’t in the right
position to evade. He used his stopped blade to toss one of
the containers lying nearby into the path of the slash. The
container’s inertia pulled the Phönix’s chain blade off its
course, while Undertaker pathetically scrambled away
beneath it like some kind of injured animal.
A bit of Undertaker’s leg armor fell off as the blade
skimmed it.

You can still find happiness with someone.

Was that true? Perhaps it was. Shin still didn’t know what
he wished for—or what he should wish for. But then he
thought back to times in the past, in the barracks in the
Eighty-Sixth Sector, and the other barracks in other wards
he’d served in. He thought back to the comrades he’d lived
with briefly, before he parted ways with them because of
death or assignment changes, and the time he’d spent with
them.
He thought back to the moments when he’d laughed with
them over the dumbest, most trivial things.
Those were the times when he didn’t have to think of
battle. He’d never forgotten about it, not entirely, but he
didn’t have to think of combat. Ever since those times in the
Eighty-Sixth Sector, he had more than pride to keeping him
going. He had always wished for more than just that.

| Azura Ren |
Rito and the rest of the Claymore squadron were given orders
to aid in the search for Shin.
“Roger that. All right…”
He replied to the orders and then glanced to the side. A
group of Alkonosts had advanced this far with the Claymore
squadron. It was a suicide-bombing squad meant to bring
down the base. These Alkonosts were loaded with heavy
explosives, as much as their weight capacity would allow, and
were stripped of not just all their weaponry but even some of
their armor to do so. Other ordinarily armed Alkonosts were
set to defend them until the time came for the first group of
Alkonosts to detonate.
He spoke to the unit that served as their commander
through the Resonance.
“We got the order to go, too, er…Ludmila.”
“Yes. Do take care.”
Her response came composedly, with a hint of a smile. The
Juggernauts were retreating from her, one by one, as if trying
to flee. Sitting within his unit, Milan, which had stayed behind
as rear guard while the others moved, Rito watched her stand
there silently like a swan that understood its time to die had
come.
She had died before. And now she would die again—she
and the rest of those girls.
Suddenly, Ludmila spoke.
“Do we frighten you?”
She opened her Alkonost’s—Malinovka One’s—canopy.
Like a butterfly emerging from a pupa, the control unit
shaped like a girl plopped down into the burning womb of the
volcano.
She spread out both arms proudly. Like a martyr.
“Tell me, do we frighten you? The way we die, time and
again? Do we strike you as terrifying?”
For a moment, Rito was left speechless. He was just a boy
in his midteens, after all, and even if he knew she contained
| Azura Ren |
the vestiges of the war dead inside her, being asked such a
question by what looked like a girl who was barely older than
him hurt his pride.
But he could only nod. Because it was true, and this Sirin
already suspected as much.
“Yeah.”
He nodded in a somewhat vexed manner. Ludmila,
however, smiled like a merciful saint.
“I see… That’s good, then.”
“Huh?”
“If you find us frightening, it is because we are different
from you. Because you do not wish to become like us, who are
birds of death. If you see us and feel fear…then that is an
honor to us.”
She seemed truly relieved, from the bottom of her heart.
“Tell me. If that is the case, what do you want to become? If
you do not want to be like us, what do you wish for?”
“…I…”
Perhaps it was because he was an Eighty-Six, but the words
stopped in his throat. What were the Eighty-Six, really?
Fighting on until the very end was their pride. But if the
Eighty-Six were fated to die at some point, and the final
conclusion of it all was to be like that mountain of corpses…
Then I don’t want to die.
Yes, he didn’t want to die…but he would never become a
pig who ran from battle and survived by being sheltered by
someone. He wanted to fight until the bitter end…but he
wouldn’t be satisfied by a meaningless death. He wanted to
fight, and not die. Not meaninglessly. In other words…
“I want to live. I think I want to live…and find a purpose
for myself.”
Fighting through this battlefield of certain death was the
Eighty-Six’s pride. The thing they’d once decided for
themselves, the thing they wouldn’t relinquish even if
everything else was taken from them. The desire to live on
| Azura Ren |
proudly even in the Eighty-Sixth Sector—even in this world.
Death was not a way of life for the Eighty-Six. After all,
they were the ones who lived on, no matter how fickle or how
short a life it may be… They lived, defiantly, until the very
end.
But it felt like, at some point, Rito had forgotten that.
“We might die fighting, but we’re not fighting just to die.
All we wanted was a purpose. It might sound like self-
satisfaction, but…we want to live a life we can be satisfied
with and die in a way we can accept.”
Even if they were sure to die sooner or later, this was the
one thing they could not give up on.
“Yes.”
Ludmila eventually gave a satisfied nod. She fluttered her
eyes shut, as if to say this was the answer she wanted to hear.
“That would be for the best. You are alive, after all. You can
want something out of your life, and you have the freedom to
live in accordance to those wishes… Except—”
Except, the dead warbler said again. Like a prayer. Like an
imploration.
“—except if possible, no matter what you may gain or lose,
do not relinquish this one thing you refuse to let go of. Do not
relinquish that pride. Do not cast aside who you are. And may
you…find bliss.”
Ludmila—and the Sirins as a whole—did not have
memories of their past lives. Rito, who had only been
dispatched at their side for this brief moment, had no way of
knowing who she was in life. And even still, he got the feeling
he somehow knew what her wish was. He could tell they were
fighting for that wish.
These girls relinquished it in their past life. Or perhaps
they simply gave up on it and died with that wish unfulfilled.
And so they wished for Rito and the Eighty-Six, who were still
alive, who still hadn’t met the death that defined the Sirins’
current existence, to not lose their own wish.
| Azura Ren |
 “…Yeah.”
He gave a small nod. Rito still couldn’t come up with any
other words to answer her. And he felt like he didn’t direct
that word toward just Ludmila, but to all the other Sirins that
weren’t here, too. And to the other Eighty-Six who, unlike
him, didn’t survive the Eighty-Sixth Sector. And to Irina
who’d died shortly before. He’d directed it at them as well.
“Then do go on. And please do not forget me. Even if I will
only linger in your memory as a single bird who perished
along the way.”
“Right… But—”
Rito spoke to this bird standing before his eyes, who was as
frightening to him as she was tragic and pitiful. This exchange
probably would not exist among this girl’s memories the next
time they met. But right now, he wanted to give her his
answer.
“—I won’t forget, and I will think of you…because that’s
something I can still do.”

His Juggernaut finally found an acceptable foothold. It was a

slightly low platform, and the system was screeching
warnings alerting him to the high temperature. The Phönix,
which was looking down at Shin from the guillotine’s edge,
had almost hopped down before realizing Shin’s plan and
stopping in its tracks.
There were no stepping stones between the guillotine and
the platform Undertaker was on. The Phönix’s leaping
prowess would enable it to just barely make that jump, but it
was too far for a clean landing. And unless it leaped straight
down, it would have to jump across in an arc. In other words,
there would be a moment when it reached the top of that arc
—a moment where it would neither ascend nor descend.
The Phönix realized Shin was aiming to shoot it down in
that moment, and so it couldn’t approach him carelessly.
| Azura Ren |
Seeing that the Phönix was rapidly trying to come up with a
way to pursue him, Shin looked for a chance to retreat. He
cautiously shuffled back toward a stone wall behind him,
when one of his legs knocked a broken fragment of a rock
down into the magma. The eerie sizzling sound it produced
was hardly audible through his strained nerves.
It was simply too hot. It wasn’t quite hot enough for the
metal to become red-hot, but this foothold was far too close to
the magma. The intense, radiant heat even made the interior
of the airtight cockpit hot and suffocating.
The human body was designed to maintain a certain safe
temperature, of course, but that didn’t extend to the RAID
Device and its quasi-nerve crystal, which were in contact with
his body. The silvery, metallic ring of the RAID Device then
let out a blaring warning sound.
“………?!”
It wasn’t high in volume, but it did ring out from the back
of his neck, which prompted him to freeze up. And with that
electronic screech that alerted Shin of a malfunction in the
device, Raiden and Lena’s voices, which he’d only barely been
able to hear so far, completely disappeared.
His arm, which he had unconsciously stiffened, picked up
on that shiver and unintentionally moved Undertaker’s rear
leg. The claw tip of his leg, which was barely on the foothold,
slipped off ever so slightly.
“Shit…!”
Undertaker just narrowly lost its balance. It stumbled a bit,
and he could easily get back up… In no way did he completely
fall off or take an irrecoverable misstep. But they were
fighting above a pool of magma, and falling in meant certain
death. All of Shin’s focus had shifted to his left leg for a
moment.
The Phönix didn’t miss that chance. It moved in to attack.
It extended the chain blades on its back, using them to
hook one of the containers lying around. It then used another
| Azura Ren |
chain blade, which had been turned off, to fling the container.
It was empty, but it was still a massive, metal object, and it
was being thrown at full force. It was heavy enough to stagger
a Juggernaut if it landed a direct hit…but as an attack, it
would only be a deceptive distraction. There was no way the
Phönix was assuming Shin would fall for this and actually fire
his unit’s turret to hit such a simple target…
But the container didn’t reach Undertaker and instead
started pointlessly plummeting halfway through. Seeing this,
though, made Shin’s hair stand up on end. The container
started falling too soon… It wasn’t empty!
The container was filled with Eintagsfliege. They were
playing dead, but Shin could barely pick up the sound of their
agony. The moment he saw them, he almost reflexively had
Undertaker jump away. As he did, the Eintagsfliege’s wings
shone white as they unleashed an electrical discharge. Shin
didn’t need to look in order to realize what else was inside
that container.
The sparks of electricity lapped at the fuse located at the
bottom of the cartridge, igniting it just fast enough to burn the
gunpowder.
The tank shells within that munitions container burst.
Specifically, it seemed APFSDS rounds were being kept in
that container. They blew up only once, with the flammable
gas propelling the shells in all directions. However, APFSDS
shells relied on a massive amount of kinetic energy for their
force, which was achieved using the flammable gas gathering
within the barrel. That gas propelled the shells, granting them
the acceleration they needed to move swiftly.
These rounds didn’t have any barrel to propel them. They
burst on their own, lacking the speed and force they normally
had. The gunpowder was capable of launching piercing shells
that weighed 4.6 kilograms at 1,600 meters per second, but it
still lacked the destructive force of a heavy explosive.
And so neither the piercing shells, the shock waves, nor the
| Azura Ren |
explosion would deal any crippling damage to Undertaker,
which had hopped away. The shells only dispersed, since they
didn’t have a barrel to direct them in any particular direction.
Only a few of the shells flew in the Juggernaut’s direction.
Shin somersaulted back by using Undertaker’s rear-leg
actuators at full capacity, while also using the actuators to the
left and right to adjust his unit’s posture. He then fired an
anchor into the rock wall behind him and reeled it back to
cling to the wall vertically. The next moment, the Phönix
appeared before his very eyes, having ripped through the
smoke and fire.
“Tch.”
Shin didn’t have the leisure to collect the anchor. He
purged the wire while it was reeling him up, leaving the
anchor behind, and kicked against the wall to escape to the
only place he still could—the air. The Phönix reached the wall
a moment later, crushing the giant granite monolith to rubble
with the force of its legs, which was several times greater than
Undertaker’s, as it lunged after him.
The Phönix had likely launched itself by straining its high-
fidelity actuators beyond their normal capacity, even though
they had already been pushed to their limits. The spiky
sections of its legs both cracked, but in exchange for that
damage, it had blasted through the distance between itself
and Undertaker in a single bound and was in position to
strike it down.
It used the blast to blind Shin and utilized the barrage of
piercing shells to limit his movements. It forced him into a
position where he would have no choice but to dodge by
jumping into the air and intended to use that chance to cut
him down. It was essentially the same method Shin used in
the Charité Underground Labyrinth and the Strike Package
employed in the Revich Citadel Base.
In what could perhaps be seen as a sort of revenge, it had
driven Undertaker into the air and quickly caught up to it.
| Azura Ren |
Regardless of if it was about to shoot or slash at him, if
Undertaker was to intercept the Phönix as it had come from
behind him, it would have to turn around and face it
somehow. As the pursuer, the Phönix didn’t need to resort to
the same action. And that created a split-second difference in
when their attacks were launched.
The chain blade’s shadow descended upon Undertaker’s
cockpit. It was faster. Even if Shin was to slash at it now, it
would only end in both of them killing each other. His mind,
which was still operating with composed coolness even at a
time like this, told him as such. The cockpit would be slashed
through, and the fuselage would lose control and plummet
down into the magma.
Perhaps due to his intense concentration, time seemed to
move slower as the vibrating blade neared him. And even
with death looming just ahead, he felt strangely sober. The
odd thought crossed his mind that this, too, was proof of the
wounds to his psyche. It didn’t matter which of his friends
died; he was always capable of pushing the sorrow and anger
to deal with after the battle ended.
He always knew to cut off those emotions and maintain the
composure he needed, only grieving after the battle ended.
During battle, he sealed the anger that would cloud his
judgment and the fear that would stiffen his limbs away, since
they weren’t necessary.
He abandoned the survival instincts a living being naturally
adhered to.
He only saw his own life and the lives of others from a
detached position, with a perspective that degenerated from
being human into something that was closer to a war
machine. These were the techniques he’d built up and the
wounds he’d accumulated.
And for the first time, he recognized it as a wound. A
wound he needed to win this war, perhaps, but one day… One
day, he might reach a point where he would feel whole even
| Azura Ren |
after healing that wound.
And to that end, he would make use of his pain.
Armament selection. Leg pile drivers. Four units.
Forcefully purge piles. Detonate concurrently.
Trigger.
The four pile drivers at the tips of his Juggernaut’s legs
burst into the air—where there was nothing to stab into and
nothing to blow away. They burst with minor explosions.
These 57 mm pile drivers were designed to rip through the
top of a Dinosauria’s armor, which, despite being their
weakest point, was still relatively thick. And all four of them
burst at once.
The tungsten piles were capable of tearing through thick
armor because of the force that was granted to them by a
large amount of gunpowder. And the recoil of that same force
that afforded them such speed now pushed Undertaker
upward. All four of his unit’s legs were given upward
propulsion.
And the result of this action was akin to it suddenly finding
a foothold in midair. While in midjump, Undertaker kicked
against the air a second time and leaped farther up.
The Phönix’s chain blade cut through the empty air
beneath Undertaker’s legs. And since it no longer had any
projectile weapons, the Phönix couldn’t do the same thing
Undertaker did. Its blue optical sensor simply looked up at
Undertaker, still filled with synthetic hatred and bloodlust,
and Shin stared back into that gaze unflinchingly. He swung
his high-frequency blade downward.

The Phönix, which up until now had avoided every attack

launched by Undertaker, and indeed any other Juggernaut
and unit it had faced so far, was finally slashed through.
Its black frame was cut apart, exposing its internal
structure. Shin swung his blade again to confirm the kill,
| Azura Ren |
using the recoil to strike. Reflexively defending itself, the
Phönix swung one of its chain blades up into the second
slash’s trajectory. The two vibrating blades clashed against
each other, both of them eventually snapping off and flying
away. The recoil of that clash sent the two units farther away.
Undertaker, which had slashed from above, was sent flying
up. And the Phönix, which was on the receiving end of that
swing, was sent plummeting down.
Juggernauts couldn’t fly. They were at the mercy of the
invisible hand of gravity as everything else in nature was.
Undertaker flew up in an arc and, upon reaching the zenith of
that parabola, began falling down. They’d clashed in a bad
spot, and at this rate, Shin would fall into the magma.
Shin fired his last remaining anchor, driving it into the
center of the guillotine. Paying no heed to the engine, which
had already overheated from being exposed to the high-
temperature environment, he reeled the anchor up as fast as
he could to change the trajectory of his fall. The wire anchor
finally caught fire, after which Shin hurriedly purged it and
landed atop the guillotine.

| Azura Ren |
 “Ngh…!”
He’d fallen from a height that was beyond what the unit’s
specifications would allow. Unlike the Republic’s aluminum
coffin, the Reginleif was designed with buffering systems that
protected the pilot. But his unit’s driving system was strained
in exchange, screeching up an alert. The linear actuators had
ruptured, and the frame’s joints had been damaged. A few
armor bits fell off, bouncing against the hard rock footing.
But the Phönix, on the other hand, had no anchors. It
didn’t have the leisure to move to safety, because the time it
spent falling into the magma—in other words, its altitude—
was far shorter. It still swung its remaining chain blades
around, trying to right its posture.
It barely managed to land on the edge of the nearby stone
wall, but its spikes stabbed into it, making the wall too brittle
to withstand the shock of its landing. With its foothold
crumbling under its weight, the black form once again
wobbled and fell down into the abyss.

<<………!>>

It extended its chain blades like a human reaching out and

stabbed them into the cliff face. The vibrating blades sank into
the rock without any resistance as it fell a few more meters
down, but the Phönix stopped their vibrations and eventually
remained suspended against the rock. The rock had grown
brittle on the inside, making the metallic beast swing in
midair.
Neither its hands nor legs could reach the cliff, and so it
swung pathetically like an insect caught by a spider’s thread.
As skilled as it was in three-dimensional mobility, it wouldn’t
be able to climb up the cliff. The blade’s base gave an ominous
creaking sound. The stretched parts of its arm screamed as
the magma roared beneath it.
| Azura Ren |
 Its only way of escaping now would be to abandon this unit.
Apparently, it had come to that conclusion, since once again,
the silvery light of its Liquid Micromachines began to seep out
from the gaps in its armor.

“Die.”

Shin fixed his sights on the chain blade and mercilessly

pulled the trigger of his 88 mm turret. The turret was forced
to suddenly rotate when it was already damaged and had to
withstand the powerful recoil of the 88 mm cannon, even if it
was dampened somewhat by the recoil brake. The joint of
Undertaker’s rear left leg, which was already cracked, failed
to withstand the recoil, snapped off, and went flying. With
this, Undertaker had lost is cruising ability, but in exchange…
…the APFSDS shell fired at close range crushed the granite
bedrock and the chain blade that had stabbed into it.

<< !!!>>

The Phönix fell down, unleashing an agonized shout—at

least, that’s what it sounded like to Shin—as it plummeted
down into the red, shimmering lake of seething magma. But it
still abided by its combat instincts and struggled to survive. Its
Liquid Micromachines leaked out, trying to turn to butterflies
and take flight before they fell into the crimson lake.
But as they tried to soar away, the butterflies caught fire
one after another. With each flap of their wings, the Liquid
Micromachines only burned faster. Even without yet touching
the magma, they gave off a red glow as they combusted.
Like will-o’-the-wisps, like coquelicots scattering in the
wind, they blossomed brilliantly as they burned. And after
radiating that crimson, shining glow for a moment, the

| Azura Ren |
butterflies turned to ash and crumbled away.
Radiant heat.
Even a Löwe and a Dinosauria would not have been able to
survive these temperatures for long, to say nothing of a
Juggernaut. And the butterflies were also close to the magma,
with their thin wings acutely sensitive to rising temperatures.
If the Phönix didn’t try to escape the magma, it would have
fallen in completely. But its attempt to escape made the
butterflies’ wings catch fire.
Did the Phönix realize that its fixation on single-handedly
defeating Shin led it to willingly choosing this battlefield?
Along with its Liquid Micromachine butterflies, the
Phönix’s frame sunk into the magma. The dark-red fluid had
low viscosity and swallowed the black armor, a fate which
soon befell the metal butterflies as well.
The mechanical scream faded.
These were the final moments of the Phönix—the unit that
had single-handedly trumped and cornered the Strike
Package for several months.

To Shin, the Legion were all pitiful ghosts that begged to pass
on to the place they had been denied. That was just as true for
the Black Sheep and Shepherds, both of which assimilated
human neural networks, and the White Sheep.
The Phönix had tormented him and his comrades so much
ever since it had first joined the fray. Perhaps because of that,
Shin felt nothing in particular at watching its demise. There
wasn’t even any elation at having beat it, though Shin never
really felt anything of the sort when it came to fighting the
Legion. All he’d felt at the sight of seeing this ghost disappear
was a tinge of loneliness.
“………”
Shin heaved a single sigh as he slackened his strained
nerves and turned Undertaker around. The unit dragged its
| Azura Ren |
broken legs as it struggled forward.
He felt hot.
Shin lowered his unit’s output from combat to cruising
mode, but the unit’s temperature didn’t go any lower. Quite
the opposite, actually. The temperature gauges were
gradually rising toward their critical sections.
The cave’s temperature was too high. The source of the
heat was close, and the thick rock bed had little in way of
insulation and hardly any openings that might allow the heat
to escape into the air.
Shin wouldn’t survive for much longer here. If he didn’t get
away from this place quickly, both the unit and Shin himself
would be so crippled by the heat that they wouldn’t be able to
move anymore. And then he would certainly die. So before
that happened…
He dragged Undertaker’s legs along, which felt extremely
sluggish and annoying. Still, he somehow managed to force
his unruly Feldreß to do a one-eighty, which made the entire
battlefield come into view.
Perhaps it was the aftermath of the duel that took place
here, but at this point, it was hard to tell. And now that the
Phönix was gone, he couldn’t tell if it was done intentionally,
either. But the narrow rock road he’d crossed to reach this
cave—the sole path connecting the guillotine to the sole
entrance to this cavern—had crumbled and collapsed halfway
across.

“…Huh?”
How long did he spend gawking at the sight? This
utterance, which was neither doubt nor denial, returned Shin
to his senses. Whichever it was didn’t really matter. No matter
how he might’ve tried to explain or deny what he was seeing,
the sight before his eyes wasn’t going to become any less real.
The sole passage out of this cavern had collapsed, leaving a
| Azura Ren |
break of some ten meters. And seeing this, he came to a
conclusion: This meant…
I can’t go back…
The footing he was on may have been isolated right now,
but it was wide enough for two armored units to fight on.
There was plenty of space to break into a run, and if he were
to use a wire anchor, he’d be able to leap across the gap.
Or he would have been able to, if Undertaker was in
workable condition. But one of its legs was gone, and both of
its wire anchors were missing. Right now, Undertaker could
just barely walk by dragging its legs, so jumping a few meters
was impossible. And there were no materials or any other
tools to repair it with, either.
Shin couldn’t escape this underground cavern on his own,
and he had no means of calling for help, either. His RAID
Device malfunctioned, and so he couldn’t connect to the
Sensory Resonance. The thick rock impeded radio waves, so
the data link, radar, and wireless wouldn’t reach him, either.
Had Frederica still been with the control team, she might
have noticed his plight, but she’d been injured and taken off
the battlefield. Raiden and the others were likely looking for
him, but since they didn’t know where he was, the chances of
them finding this place in this massive underground fortress
weren’t high. And they wouldn’t be able to keep this sector
blockaded for much longer.
But there was another problem… Shin’s body likely
wouldn’t last in this environment before that time limit
elapsed.
“………”
The moment he realized there was nothing he could do, his
body went limp from exhaustion.
Ah. So this is where it ends. This…is where I die. Without
anyone to know of it. Without any way back.
Meaninglessly.
Even with that fact thrust before his eyes, Shin felt oddly
| Azura Ren |
calm. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way, but old habits died
hard. Maybe that was why. Maybe it was because of that
unique perspective on life and death the Eighty-Six had built
up over nine years in the Eighty-Sixth Sector, where certain
death was what awaited at the end of one’s military service.
Death was always present, always looming ahead. Every
single day, he knew he might not live to see the next day. So
even if he was to die today, he could accept that. There was
no need to fear it nor any reason to shun it. He did fight to the
very end, after all.
“…I’ve done enough, right?”
Uttering words no one would ever hear—the mission
recorder, which would usually record anything the Processor
said, had gone offline at some point—he opened the canopy
and stepped outside.
The Juggernaut’s system was already completely silent,
done in by the heat. It’d died at the same time as the cooling
system, so the temperature in the cockpit was approaching
dangerous levels. He knew going outside would only hasten
his demise, but somehow, the prospect of suffocating to death
in an airtight cockpit felt even worse.
He was greeted by hot wind, or rather, sizzling air
enveloping his body. The blinding light of the magma, which
wasn’t dampened by the support computer’s filter, burned
into his retinas. This was perhaps only natural. He’d seen so
many die. He’d buried so many of his comrades. And the time
finally came for him to join their ranks. For the Eighty-Six,
death was a way of life. They died too quickly, too easily, all
too obviously.
And now it was his turn. That was all. Except…
“I shouldn’t have told her.”
He whispered this softly. Even doing just that made the hot
air sting into his throat. He shouldn’t have wished for the
future. Making a wish meant losing something. That’s how
things always were, and how they always would be. He
| Azura Ren |
wished for her not to leave. He promised to come back at all
costs. But as soon as he did that, this happened.
Lena would be sad… Yes, she likely would. That’s how she
was. That was why he asked her to remember them two years
ago. And he just had to do something that was entirely unlike
him and needlessly hurt her…
Had he not been wearing his flight suit, which was made to
insulate heat, he wouldn’t be able to lean back against
Undertaker’s armor like he was doing. Shin looked up. He’d
long since lost any god he could pray to. If he used his pistol,
he’d be able to die a bit more easily compared with letting the
heat kill him, but he didn’t want to use it. It felt like a betrayal
of sorts.
A betrayal of the promise to fight on until the very last
moment. To bring those who died to the very end, to his final
destination. The promise he’d made with all the comrades he
fought with until now…and to the promise he’d made with
Lena to come back alive. Even if eventually he’d end up
breaking it either way.
“…Lena.”
If nothing else… The only bit of luck was that she wouldn’t
have to learn of how he died…
“Sorry.”
But then a white shadow appeared in front of him.
A voice of lamentation descended upon Shin. Someone’s
last words, as uttered by the Legion. The wailing of a ghost—a
copy of a brain structure, trapped within a Legion and
replaying its last moments on endless repeat.
It was a woman’s voice. The cold, detached, merciless voice
of moonlight.
Shin raised his head slowly, as if it were being pulled up by
some force. And his gaze fell on a single, old Ameise, which
had appeared before him at some point. Its armor was as
white as moonlight, with the Personal Mark of a goddess
leaning against the moon etched onto it.
| Azura Ren |
 The Merciless Queen.

“ !”
At that moment, pure, unadulterated terror—intense
enough to white out his thoughts for a moment—washed over
him. It was a fear of death.
As the Ameise were scouts meant for collecting
intelligence, they were considered one of the weakest Legion
types in terms of fighting power. But that was only from the
perspective of Feldreß like the Reginleif and the Vánagandr.
A frail human with nothing more than their four limbs
couldn’t hope to beat an Ameise. For a human, it didn’t
matter if they were faced with an Ameise or a Dinosauria.
They would still be killed in a merciless, mechanical manner.
Just like when he’d seen it at the Revich Citadel Base, the
Merciless Queen was unarmed; it lacked the all-purpose 14
mm machine guns the Ameise were normally equipped with.
But that mattered little. An Ameise’s weight and output could
easily tear a human apart with its legs.
And one such killing machine was now before his eyes.
Sooner than he could prepare himself to die. The death he
wasn’t prepared for had shown itself.
Yes. Death comes to all. Equally, mercilessly…and
suddenly.
Shin thought he would die here, dehydrating and burning
in the hot air. He was prepared to accept that death with
dignity. But now he would be denied even the short amount
of time he had left to embrace that emotion, as if something
had tried to tell him even that was too good for him.
The world was cruel, and he truly thought he had
understood this. Even now, in this final moment, that ugly
fact was thrust before his eyes.
The Scout type approached him. Shin reflexively stood up
in a movement that was dictated not by thought, but instinct.

| Azura Ren |
He took an unconscious step back, attempting to flee. His
survival instincts were telling him to escape.
I don’t want to die.
That thought suddenly and intensely crossed his mind. It
surged up in him with an almost instinctual intensity.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. Because if I die, I’d
call for her. I’d call her name in the end. And if I become a
Legion, I’d keep doing it forever, until I break.
The ability to pick up on the Legion’s—the mechanical
ghosts’ screams—was unique to Shin. No other Esper had
been discovered to possess this ability. And unlike the
Sensory Resonance, there was no artificial way of re-creating
it, either. If Shin was to die, the human side would never hear
the Legion’s screams again.
But if, by some slim chance, the sound of his screams might
reach her…
He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to make her cry.
Yes… He didn’t want her to cry. He didn’t want to make her
sad. Even if these wishes could never be granted, he didn’t
want to give up. He made a promise to return to her no
matter what. To speak with her. He hadn’t even apologized to
her yet…
So he couldn’t die here. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t
want to make her sad…
I want her to smile.
That thought surfaced in his mind, even in this unusual
situation. It fit into the void he’d felt within himself ever since
that last battle. He couldn’t stay the way he was. He had to
change. But what was he to change about himself—and how?
He’d kept asking and tormenting himself over that question.
And finally, he found the answer.
He still didn’t know who he wanted to be. He still couldn’t
picture the future he was heading toward or what joy he
should seek. But still, if nothing else…

| Azura Ren |
 He wanted to live in a way that would make Lena smile.

And if possible, he wanted to smile with her.

The Merciless Queen approached him with simple, silent

steps. Shin reflexively braced himself. Without taking his eye
off the Legion before him, he reached out and picked up the
assault rifle resting in his cockpit. He pulled the bolt with
flowing, practiced motions and loaded the first bullet. He
opened the collapsible rifle’s gunstock and pressed it against
his shoulder, annoyed by the extra procedures.
An Ameise’s armor took no damage from a 9 mm pistol’s
bullets. Its frontal armor could push back even a full-size,
7.62 mm rifle’s shots. But Shin still had some way to fight.
The enemy was close, and there was nowhere to take cover,
but he wasn’t entirely without weapons. He still had to defeat
it and survive somehow.
He had to survive and go back. He had to go back to her.
Of course, even if he was to somehow defeat and
incapacitate the Merciless Queen, he wouldn’t be any closer
to getting out of these caves, but at this point, that wasn’t on
his mind. An enemy was standing right in front of him, and he
had to defeat it. A primal emotion not unlike anger burned
within him, controlling all of his thoughts.
I won’t give up. Like hell I’m giving up here. I told her I
would return…!
The Merciless Queen approached. It was already close
enough to attack. And still, it drew even closer. As if to toy
with him. As if it had no desire to attack him. And then Shin
noticed. Its voice—a woman’s sorrowful cry—wasn’t full of
bloodlust like the Legion’s voices usually were when they
were about to attack.
…How did this Ameise appear on this rock face to begin
with?

| Azura Ren |
 It couldn’t have jumped over the collapsed area. As Shin
was looking in that direction, the Merciless Queen appeared
behind him. Which meant…
A shadow was cast over Shin’s feet. A shadow that belonged
neither to him nor the Merciless Queen. A huge, squarish,
awkward shadow…
“…!”
Just as Shin realized what it was and looked up—

“Pi!”

Shin couldn’t tell what the unarmed garbage-collection

machine was thinking. It sped through the depths of the cave,
over the uneven rock surface, and turned a corner without
reducing any of its speed. Fido threw itself upon the Merciless
Queen at a hundred kilometers per hour.
Even an Ameise couldn’t ignore an object with the same
weight as it essentially plummeting toward it with full speed.
It was flung back, the tips of its legs leaving the ground as it
awkwardly fell sideways. As the Merciless Queen sank to the
ground with a thud, Fido pressed its full weight down upon it.
Stomped on relentlessly by a weight of ten tons, the
Ameise’s white armor was bent out of shape and flew off. The
Merciless Queen lacked its shoulder-mounted machine guns
to fend off its odd attacker, and Fido was too close for it to
aim accurately even if it did have them. And yet perhaps out
of its instincts as a combat machine, the Merciless Queen
thrashed its legs in an attempt to kick Fido away…
“Fido, get out of there!”
“Shin, stay where you are and don’t move!”
Fido hopped away—far more awkwardly than a Juggernaut
would—and the next moment, the thundering sound of a gun

| Azura Ren |
echoed through the cavern. The shots were fired at close
range and hit their mark almost as soon as they were
unleashed. 40 mm machine-gun rounds and 88 mm APFSDS
shells swooped down from above, piercing into the Merciless
Queen’s legs. The shells’ fuses were set to inert and didn’t
burst upon impact. They simply sent its six legs flying with
intense kinetic energy.
Even just its legs were quite heavy and didn’t fly far enough
to put Shin, who stood nearby, in danger. Fido stood in front
of him, shielding him from the fragments and machine parts
that flew through the air.
A Juggernaut appeared in the area, its legs making a sharp,
crunching sound as it landed. There was a Personal Mark of a
laughing fox emblazoned onto its armor—it was Laughing
Fox, Theo’s unit. Raiden’s Wehrwolf soon followed suit.
“Shin, are you all right?!”
“You’re still alive, right, you asshole?!”
They appeared just as suddenly as Fido had. The tall wall
at the back of this cave had something like a ledge at its top.
In terms of height and distance, it was only a few meters away
from the guillotine. A human couldn’t hope to make that
jump, but a Reginleif in prime condition could easily handle
it.
Shin tried to answer, but his throat was too sore from the
heat. After a few dry coughs, he shook off the discomfort and
fumbled for the intercom button to respond.
“…My ears hurt.”
A Juggernaut’s turret was essentially a tank turret, after all,
and the sound of its blast numbed his ears with pain. But put
another way, if this was his first complaint, it was proof he
wasn’t hurt anywhere else. Picking up on that, Theo snickered
and then heaved a deep sigh.
“Yeah, you’re fine if you can still talk shit. That’s
good.”
His voice then tensed up.
| Azura Ren |
 “…I’m glad you’re okay.”
“………”
Shin almost replied that he was sorry but couldn’t bring
himself to say it. It was almost two years ago that they told
him to stop worrying them… To stop exposing himself to
danger. But he’d hardly abided by that agreement. He knew
it, too. And while he did feel guilty about it…apologizing with
just words didn’t feel honest. So instead, he simply asked:
“Where did you come from?”
Judging from the situation, it seemed they were chasing
the Merciless Queen.
“You probably can’t see it from down there
because of the shadow, but there’s a path above this
wall, right behind us… Can’t say I know why they
bothered digging through here.”
“Yeah…”
So that was why. After saying that, Shin was overcome by a
coughing fit. Talking made him breathe in more of the hot air.
Raiden furrowed his brows in concern.
“Don’t talk—you’ll hurt your throat. Undertaker
can’t move, right? We’ll be right over.”
“Thanks.”
“I said don’t talk. Fido, go collect Undertaker. And
about that Ameise…”
“Pi!”
Fido cut into his words with an electronic beep. Raiden
didn’t understand, naturally, but Shin explained despite his
sore throat.
“It said the other Scavengers are gonna be here soon.”
“How the hell did you get that from one beep…?
The ones that branched off in the earlier fork, right?
Roger, we’ll leave it to them—”
“Sir Reaperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
A few Alkonosts and Scavengers appeared from the
entrance to the cavern, which was on the other side of the
| Azura Ren |
collapsed path. For some reason, Chaika was also with the
group and left them by jumping across the gap.
“Are you unharmed…?! Ooh, if it isn’t Sir Werewolf
and Sir Fox!”
“…Wait, what are you doing here, Lerche?”
“I was informed by the Sirins heading this way that
the path here is connected from the Weisel’s waste
disposal site, so we regrouped through there… Oh,
but now is not the time. Kind Scavengers, please
deploy the bridges.”
Some of the Scavengers were modified for bridge building.
They were multilegged models made for river crossing. In
order to keep the Scavengers themselves lightweight, the
bridges were limited to a length of fifteen meters at most. A
heavy Feldreß like the Vánagandr couldn’t hope to cross it,
but a Juggernaut or a Scavenger could.
The bridge-model Scavengers deployed the ladders on
their backs and began crossing the linked, fifteen-meter
structures while Fido approached Undertaker. Wehrwolf
lightly jumped over the rocks. It was an oddly tranquil sight,
as it always was after battle ended.
I’m saved…
Finally realizing this, Shin collapsed from exhaustion. He
suddenly became acutely aware of the dryness in his throat
and the heat burning in his body.
“Hey!”
Wehrwolf’s optical sensor turned to face him with surprise.
Raiden tried to say something—probably to ask if he was all
right—but fell silent. He likely could tell by looking that Shin
wasn’t fine. With panic in his eyes, he turned to face Laughing
Fox.
“Theo, take Shin and head back. I’ll watch over
Fido and the Scavengers.”
“Gotcha. I’ll take half the forces, all right? First,
third, and fifth platoons, we’re gonna book it, so keep
| Azura Ren |
up with us. Shin, can you stand? Oh, sorry, guess you
can’t. Gimme a sec…”
Laughing Fox jumped across the gap and landed beside
him.

“Roger. Report back when you return to the designated

position.”
Vika nodded upon receiving confirmation of the Merciless
Queen’s retrieval and Shin’s rescue. Shin was injured, and so
Raiden was the one handling the report, but judging by his
tone, Shin was in no immediate danger of dying. Before long,
the next report arrived. The Spearhead squadron had fallen
back to the designated line… All units in the Strike Package’s
invasion force had retreated. All that remained was…
Annette spoke through the Sensory Resonance. She was
sitting in the cockpit of one of the Juggernauts. That unit
hadn’t run into any combat for the duration of the operation
and remained protected by its consort units.
“So we finally have the Merciless Queen… What do
you think we’ll get out of it? It went to the trouble of
drawing us in by leaving a message to come find it.
What’re we gonna find inside this treasure chest?”
“At worst, it was just a ploy to draw in Nouzen and me. At
best, we might find a means to ending this war… Realistically
speaking, we’d just get some information out of her.
Regardless of if she supplies it willingly or not.”
If the Merciless Queen really did assimilate the neural
network of the Legion’s developer, Major Zelene Birkenbaum,
there should have been information they could extract from
her. Gaining more data regarding the Legion’s control systems
would be a tremendous boon.
“She…? Oh, you knew the person inside it.”
“To the extent of having spoken to her a few times, that’s
all… Anyway—”
| Azura Ren |
 He opened his expanded control panel, which was
modified for his personal use, and spoke while setting several
conditions into it. He then finished inputting those settings
and continued:
“—did you finish that experiment you had to risk life and
limb for, Penrose?”
She replied with what felt like a sardonic smile.
“Why are you asking when you already know, Your
Highness? The information leak wasn’t from the
United Kingdom’s side. It wasn’t from the Para-
RAID, either.”
The fact that Annette was accompanying the attack force
hadn’t been reported to the Federacy military. The only ones
who knew Annette was here were the Strike Package and the
United Kingdom military. Shin and Vika—whose Personal
Marks were already known to the Legion—had been actively
targeted. But Annette, who had no Personal Mark, hadn’t
been attacked despite being in a conspicuous Juggernaut that
took no part in the fighting and was constantly speaking to
the others over the Sensory Resonance.
The Legion didn’t notice Annette’s existence…or perhaps,
they didn’t know she was there. In which case, the
information leak didn’t come from either the Strike Package
or the United Kingdom military. And there was no trace of
the Sensory Resonance being intercepted.
Vika continued talking undisturbed. Even this wasn’t
enough to make him feel betrayed, it seemed.
“Then it’s the Federacy?”
Annette’s smile appeared to die down, giving way to a
mixture of emotions: loathing, disdain, and other such
intense feelings.
“…There’s another country that’s well aware of my
existence.”

| Azura Ren |
After removing several levels of safety devices, the switch for
the self-destruction sequence was pressed. The order was
transmitted via relays, traveling all across the Dragon Fang
Mountain—to where the Alkonosts equipped with the
explosives were.
They were prepared for the possibility of Vika and Annette
being injured or the radio waves being cut off, with the Sirins
staying inside the Alkonosts to operate the fuses manually if
need be. Their initial programming included an order to
destroy themselves as thoroughly as possible if needed, so as
to prevent the Legion from stealing their brains. And so the
Sirins didn’t budge. They simply smiled, thinking of the
battlefield they would stand upon next time.
And upon receiving the signal, they ignited their fuses, and
the explosives detonated.

The explosion’s sound was mostly contained by the thick rock,

and so there was no deafening roar. Only a vibration one
could feel in the pit of their stomach.
The combat medic smiled, noting how they never expected
they’d have to treat heatstroke symptoms on a snowy
mountain as they instructed Shin to rest for a while. Shin,
who was lying down in the armored transport’s cabin, sat up.
They intended to destroy the base, but they didn’t have the
payload to completely level an entire mountain. And so even
with them triggering the explosion a good distance away at
their regroup point, the Dragon Fang Mountain remained
standing tall.
Still, the lamenting voices he’d heard so far were no longer
at the bottom of the earth. He heard neither the Legion’s nor
the Sirins’, which had stayed behind to trigger the explosion.
Annette and Vika, as well as Bernholdt, who handled the
blockade on the mountain, were all back already.
And once they finished storing the captured Merciless
| Azura Ren |
Queen—which was in a tightly bound, armored container that
would allow it to neither move nor transmit its position
midtransport—all that would remain was for them to retreat
to safety.
There came a knock at the transport door—as if it were one
of the palace’s rooms—which opened after a moment.
“I see you’ve taken quite a beating once again, Sir Reaper.”
“…Lerche.”
Lerche had peeked into the room, clad in the Sirins’ unique
rouge flight suit. It was similar to her regular uniform, along
with the anachronistic saber at her waist, and so it didn’t
seem too different from what she usually looked like. Her
braided blond hair and green, glassy eyes were the same as
ever, too.
At this point, both her appearance and the sound of the
dead rising from within her didn’t strike Shin as detestable
anymore.
“What?” Shin asked.
“Nothing. I merely dropped by to check on you. I simply
heard your treatment was complete and that you had been
ordered to rest.”
Both Lerche’s tone and expression denoted her odd
composure, as if she came to engage in idle chatter. But Shin
realized she must have been bothered by their exchange back
in the Revich Citadel Base in her own way. She may not have
regretted what she’d said to him, but perhaps it was still
weighing on her.
“Hearing you are unharmed is a great relief… But I must
say, the human body truly must be frail if high temperatures
are enough to render you immobile.”
“………”
Even if it was after the battle with the Phönix, his
Juggernaut couldn’t withstand that heat. Shin doubted a
human-size Sirin, with a cooling system meant only to
support its small frame, would’ve be able to function there,
| Azura Ren |
either. Noticing the way Shin was squinting at her, Lerche
smiled with a carefree expression.
“And yet somehow, frail as you are, you narrowly escaped
the jaws of death and realized you must return. Perhaps
you’ve learned to fear death… In which case, would you
entrust the war to us Sirins?”
As grave as her words were, she spoke as casually as ever.
She’d likely guessed at Shin’s answer but still wanted to hear
him confirm it. That was what her tone implied.
“Well—”
And so Shin replied composedly.
“—humans really aren’t… I’m really not a life-form made
for battle. And I never will be. But humans aren’t going to
discard their bodies. We’re imperfect and cowardly, just like
you said.”
“In that case—”
“But,” Shin interrupted, “so what? Your dignity is none of
our business. We decided fighting to the very end was our
pride, and we’re not going to give that up. I don’t want to die a
pathetic death. It doesn’t matter if my body isn’t meant to
fight or survive on this battlefield. I can’t run from this war.
And on top of all that…”
For a moment, he hesitated to finish the thought. He wasn’t
used to voicing it. Up until just recently, he’d believed he
shouldn’t have wishes…that he didn’t want to have wishes.
Someday, I want to become happy with someone.
“…I want to live alongside other people. So I can’t pick one
or the other… Because I’m…”
Unlike Lerche and the other Sirins, who’d died long ago.
Unlike his comrades, who’d died before he did and had their
ghosts taken in by the Legion.
“…I’m still alive.”
Lerche chuckled out loud at his answer.
“You wish to not give up on anything and gain more on top
of that… Such a refreshing display of greed, worthy of the
| Azura Ren |
living. Splendid,” Lerche said, stifling her laughter but with
that smile still on her lips.
She fixed her shining, emerald eyes—those glass eyes,
which were only slightly inhuman in appearance—at him.
“But I will still insist there’s no need for you to be on the
battlefield. I swear those words upon our pride and dignity,
human.”
This death bird built for battle uttered those words with a
smile. Shin simply scoffed at her playfully, knowing that day
would never come. He wouldn’t let it.
“Just try it, sword.”

Lena had been informed of the operation’s completion, but it

had all happened ninety kilometers away. She had no way of
seeing the smoke trail into the sky from the mountain’s peak,
even if the explosives were powerful enough to destroy the
whole base. Still, they weren’t capable of toppling the
mountain altogether. The blast did nothing to even visibly
shake the massive monolith.
Meaning that, from where Lena was, she couldn’t notice
any change even if she was to gaze directly at the mountain.
And so the reserve formation’s units simply waited for the
prince, who had headed into enemy territory with the birds of
death and the other comrades they had fought alongside so
far.
The silver layer coating the sky grew thinner little by little.
The Eintagsfliege were the smallest and lightest of all Legion
units, and so the amount of electricity they were capable of
retaining in their bodies was small. As the swarm of metal
butterflies ran out of energy, they began heading south, and
since none of them came back, the density of the clouds began
to thin out.
| Azura Ren |
 Like the staff officers of the United Kingdom predicted,
once the Legion lost the Dragon Fang Mountain base, the
Eintagsfliege couldn’t remain deployed in the sky. The blue
skies were, little by little, returning.
And as morning rose on the first day in months where a
clear azure sky spread above them, the Dragon Fang
Mountain attack force returned to the reserve formation.
The deep azure of a summer sky contrasted the snowy
peaks. Even in the north, the sun of early summer shone
bright, and the snow began to melt as it was suddenly exposed
to intense sunlight. Thawed snow flowed into the rivers with a
speed and intensity that made it clear their basins would
likely overflow soon.
The attack force returned, stepping over the sticky, melting
snow. Heavy transports pulled over one after another, with
the Processors getting out of the cabins, clad in their steel-
blue flight suits. Raiden approached Lena. Shin was out of
commission, so Raiden took over his authority as operations
commander of the 2nd Armored Corps. Raiden saluted and
spoke:
“Colonel Milizé, the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package has
returned.”
“Good work, First Lieutenant Shion and First Lieutenant
Shuga. And everyone else, too. Please enjoy a well-deserved
rest.”
That concluded the etiquette a superior officer was to show
her subordinates. All the Processors, Raiden included, visibly
relaxed at her words. Some of them already started
chattering, and the fire-control squad’s Processors hurried
over to join in. The reserve formation was soon full of talk
and tumult.
First Lieutenant Shion and the other Processors walked
past Raiden and left the armored transport. “We’re back,”
some said. “Good job, Colonel,” others said. They walked by,
talking among themselves.
| Azura Ren |
 And one figure, clad in the same steel-blue uniform and a
teal scarf, approached her. The tattered state of his flight suit
and scarf silently told the story of how he’d done something
unbelievably reckless yet again. Guren grimaced bitterly as
Fido lowered Undertaker, which was in a state of utter
disrepair yet again, while Touka grinned.
But still, he had returned. Just as Lena hoped he would.
And so she had to keep up her end of the bargain. Shin
walked up to her, and she greeted him. Not as a commanding
officer, but on a personal level. She smiled.
“You said you’d come back.”
Shin froze up, taken by surprise. Lena tried to smile, but
she did in fact harbor some anger. Perhaps it showed in her
expression, but she didn’t know since she couldn’t see her
own face.
“Er… I did come back, though.” Perhaps his throat was
aching, because his voice came out a bit hoarse.
And Lena knew why his throat was in pain, which only
served to anger her further.
“Raiden reported the circumstances behind the recovery of
the Merciless Queen. And the medics gave me your diagnosis.
Raiden will retain your right to command until the medics say
otherwise. Understood?”
Shin fell silent. He looked past Lena, likely scanning ahead
for Raiden. After searching for the right words—which, from
Lena’s perspective, seemed more like he was trying to find an
excuse—he eventually gave up and slumped his shoulders.
“I’m sorry.”
“You better be sorry! Why…why do you always put yourself
in so much danger…?!”
Excuses like I had to or I had no choice didn’t carry much
weight here. She told him to come back, and he told her he
would. So this meant he had an obligation to return…and
doing something that would get him killed should have been
utterly out of the question.
| Azura Ren |
 And what if he had actually died…? Feeling a surge of
emotion in her heart, Lena choked up. She somehow
managed to hold back the tears, however. When Raiden told
her of the night’s events, she had been unable to stop shaking,
even though she knew it all ended well.
“I was so, so worried… If the Merciless Queen didn’t
happen to go where you were… If they’d have rescued you
any later, you could have died…”
“………”
“You can’t do that. Never do anything that stupid, ever
again. Rely on the people around you. Don’t choose to
sacrifice yourself. Never ever make that choice again.”
“…I’m sorry.”
But then, a mischievous smile played across his lips. The
first carefree smile he showed her in a while.
“Well, it’s not like you pulled any crazy stunts yourself, did
you, Lena?”
Lena stiffened awkwardly.
“O-of course not.”
“Really, now? I suppose I’ll ask Shiden later.”
“Well, Shiden is on my side, so don’t expect any honest
answers out of her,” Lena scoffed.
Shin’s smile deepened.
“So you’re saying you did do something.”
“Huh…? Ah!” Lena realized what she’d said and clasped a
hand over her mouth.
Shin laughed out loud, his shoulders rising and falling.
“Didn’t you tell me you were waiting?”
“………”
Lena sulked at having her own words used against her.
“And you risked your life carelessly even after saying that?”
“…Jerk.”
She had no other retort. She couldn’t come up with
anything else, but she couldn’t stand saying nothing, either.
This only made Shin laugh a little bit harder. She turned
| Azura Ren |
around, sulking, and he followed her, half a step behind. Lena
then slowed down, and he stood right beside her. She looked
up at his red eyes and spoke again.
This time, the words came from the bottom of her heart,
her smile filled with genuine joy. The truth was, she always
wanted to say this. Ever since two years ago, when she told
him not to leave her behind. When she bid this boy, whose
face she did not know at the time, good-bye and sent him on
his way.
She always longed to say these words. If she’d seen him off,
she wanted to say these words when he returned. With a
smile, as they stood face-to-face.
“Welcome back.”
He smiled gently as he looked back at her with warm,
crimson eyes.
“Yeah… I’m back.”

Two years ago, they had parted ways without knowing each
other’s faces, knowing each other only by name.
Six months ago, they both spoke to each other in person
after surviving the chaos of war.
And three months ago, they reunited at their final
destination, meeting face-to-face at long last.
And now, they would finally grow closer. Even if there
were things they could neither yield nor agree on, even if they
were utterly different—they would fight to stay together, no
matter how much effort it took. Even without putting these
emotions into words, the two understood this.

| Azura Ren |
 EPILOGUE

HOME SWEET HOME

He arrived at the right address, only to find himself facing the

gate of an estate far too large to belong to a single family. The
gate solemnly demarcated the inside and outside of the
estate, its fence like a series of long spears pointing up to the
heavens.
Shin remained still before the gate, looking up at the estate.
It was the residence of the former Empire’s leading warrior
clan—the noble house of Marquis Nouzen. Even now, after
relinquishing all its territory and court ranks, House Nouzen
still possessed a private property that very much matched an
entire city district in size. It also possessed several private
businesses and retained some latent influence within the
military. It was, indeed, a noble house that was once one of
the Empire’s de facto rulers.
Here lived an old man who still held the position of the
head of that family: his grandfather.

| Azura Ren |
They’d left the base a bit over two months ago, but returning
there gave them the feeling they were truly home. Over those
two months, the season had turned to summer, and a pleasant
breeze streamed in from the open windows. The wind was
cool and smelled of greenery, having crossed through the
forest surrounding the base.
Feeling that wind blow against her, Lena turned her gaze
from the window back to her office. She heard the voices of
soldiers doing their drills, and the sound of operating
maintenance equipment and idle chatter, too, reached her
ears. The tumult of a normal, routine day in the base.
“We shouldn’t have a new mission for a while now, so you
can take your time and relax, Vika.”
Her gaze fell on Vika, who shrugged, reclining on the
lounge suite’s sofa.
“If anything, I would rather use the time to practice the
Alkonosts’ maneuvers and fine-tune them. The Federacy’s
western front is too different from the United Kingdom in
terms of topography. There’s too many unpredictable burdens
and situations for the Alkonosts to deal with here.”
Such modifications weren’t unlike the same ones the Strike
Package’s units had to go through upon being dispatched to
the United Kingdom. The Alkonosts were built to operate in
the snowy battlefields of the north, which meant they weren’t
suited to work in the Federacy’s territories. Except…
Lena’s apprehensions must have been written all over her
face, because Vika continued speaking after looking in her
direction.
“Just like in the United Kingdom, the Sirins are shut down
and stored in the hangar when they’re not training or out on
an operation. And when it comes to training, we don’t intend
to use this base’s training grounds, but one farther away from
here… We’re not going to be a burden to Nouzen, so please
don’t make that face.”
Lena couldn’t help but crack a bitter smile. Her concern
| Azura Ren |
was that obvious, it seemed.
“I appreciate the consideration, Vika.”
“Nouzen’s ability is invaluable for reconnaissance
purposes, after all. We can’t afford to put any strain on him
outside of combat, lest he break when we need him most…
Though, he doesn’t appear to mind Lerche, at the very least.”
“Yes.”
Vika was probably right; Lena’s repeated questioning of
“Are you sure?” and Lerche’s constant questioning of “You are
not pushing yourself, are you?” didn’t seem to cause any
undue strain on Shin. He even made an uncharacteristic
grumble, asking if they really distrusted him that much. Lena
only pestered him so often because she thought that reaction
of his was cute, but this, she kept to herself.
“I’m sure even the Federacy would love to control that
ability of his or mechanically replicate it somehow… I’m
willing to look into it, if you would let me.”
Vika spoke with such indifference and in a tone that was
clearly jesting, which prompted a curt response from Lena.
“No.”
“Yes, I figured as much.” The prince shrugged offhandedly,
making it clear he wasn’t offended in the slightest.
Before they left the United Kingdom, Crown Prince Zafar
gave Lena a rather long list of Things One Must Never Allow
Vika to Do. Lena sagely noted, though, that not telling Vika
about this was for the best.
After all, the list had a line written in red text on top of it
that went as follows: Vika. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you
know this by now, but you must not, under any
circumstances, do any or all the things listed here. Any of
them. With no exceptions. You’re not allowed to employ any
broad interpretations of the things written here, either.
And for some reason, Lena couldn’t help but feel that Vika
was twice as dangerous as she thought he was. To make the
list doubly important, it was signed by both the crown prince
| Azura Ren |
and the king himself. The document quite frankly terrified
Lena. Just what did this boy do other than develop the Sirins?
Her curiosity was no match for her fear, and she didn’t dare
put that question into words.
“Are you sure you’re fine with being treated as a
commissioned officer, Vika…? You’ve spent some time here
already. Does anything strike you as inconvenient? If there’s
anything you want, we could try to accommodate for it so
long as it’s within reason.”
The Federacy had successfully deployed its forces in the
United Kingdom, and so the time came for the United
Kingdom to fulfill its end of the bargain and dispatch
personnel who would serve the Strike Package. The
commander of those forces was Vika, who now served as
commanding officer of the Alkonost unit and direct
subordinate to the tactical commanding officer. He had been
integrated into the Strike Package’s chain of command as a
lieutenant colonel.
Given his rank, he was provided with a field officer’s
accommodations, which were of course far better than
anything a company officer was given. But this was by the
standards of a soldier, not a member of a royal family.
“In the United Kingdom, royalty doesn’t get any
preferential treatment when it comes to accommodations.
Well, perhaps in a military base, we do, but on the front lines,
we’re not treated any differently. I’ve no complaints in
regards to my room or my treatment. For an impromptu base,
it’s a fine place. Except…”
“Yes, what is it?”
“…it’s quite hot around here.”
Vika spoke with clear, blatant annoyance, which made
Lena’s eyes widen with amazement for a moment before she
burst out in laughter. He wasn’t wrong. He grew up in the
north, and until just a short while ago, he was on a battlefield
where the Eintagsfliege imposed a lengthened artificial
| Azura Ren |
winter. But now, Vika was thrown into the sweltering heat of
early summer and was struggling to get used to the climate.
“This is no laughing matter. Have you ever been to my
country in the dead of winter? It’s said those not native to it
describe it as a chill that freezes the very soul. Even some
natives of our country say that.”
“I’m sorry. I’d love to come visit someday, though.”
Someday, when the war ends.
“Yes, do come visit. I’m sure you’ll think fondly of this
infernal heat when you do.”
Lena smiled.
“Yes, someday.”
She then changed the subject.
“The Strike Package and the 1st Armored Corps—well,
Captain Nouzen will be taken off combat operations for a
while following this operation. We’ll be moving to the
neighboring city, both to take time off and to use their
education facilities…”
“I’ve heard. In fact, weren’t you placed on leave as of
yesterday? President Zimmerman invited them to go back, I
believe?”
“Yes. He’s the legal guardian for Shin’s group, so they’ve
returned home to him. Shin and Frederica have already gone
back… And today, Shin…”
Lena closed her eyes, a smile on her lips. Shin had always
rejected the idea thus far, but today, for the first time, he said
he might want to meet that man.
“…went to meet his grandfather. Marquis Nouzen.”

Upon entering the hall, Shin found the crest of a headless

skeleton brandishing a sword emblazoned on the wall. It was
a familiar symbol. Very familiar, in fact. Enough to make Shin
stop and look up at it without even realizing. It was identical
to his brother’s Personal Mark, which served as the basis for
| Azura Ren |
his own.
“This crest has been handed down the Nouzen line since its
conception.”
The old butler, who had been showing him around and
gone on ahead, turned back and returned with this
explanation. He was clad in an anachronistic tailcoat and a
silver monocle and stood with his back straight. This butler,
too, didn’t seem to make a sound when he walked. He simply
moved as if sliding along the floor, like a lurking shadow.
“It also appears on the cover of the picture book the master
sent to celebrate your birth as well as your elder brother’s. It
contained the exploits of your forefathers, slightly corrected
so as to make them clear for children… Your father eloped to
the Republic but still routinely sent the master letters. The
master obstinately refused to reply to any of them but did
send those picture books. He said he would have to make an
exception for auspicious events.”
“………”
“Your brother did not care for the book, but apparently, it
was your favorite… I hear that upon enlisting in the Republic,
your unit’s Personal Mark also used a skeleton motif. Did you
remember this picture book? Perhaps, you still felt attached
to it?”
“…No.”
The butler asked with a hint of hope and expectation in his
voice, but Shin simply shook his head. He didn’t remember it.
He couldn’t remember it, at least not yet. But Rei probably
did. He would always read it to him when he was younger—
this picture book Shin had loved.
Shin thought he finally knew why Rei made this emblem
his Personal Mark. At first, Shin used to think it was an act of
cynicism at his inability to die. But after reuniting and being
saved by him, he continued to think about it.
And now he knew.
Brother, there…there was never a moment when you truly
| Azura Ren |
hated me, was there?

“Do you think Shin’s already with his gramps?”

The 1st Armored Corps, and the Spearhead squadron along
with it, had been on leave since the previous day. As such,
there weren’t too many familiar faces in the base’s PX. Come
noon, the dining hall was almost deserted.
Theo was the one who had spoken up, sitting in a table by
the window, with sunlight shining in. Kurena, who sat
opposite of him, snuck a glance to the side. The Eighty-Six
had their families and hometowns stolen away by the
Republic, and many of them had no homes to return to
regardless of whether or not they were on leave. Some, like
Shin, were first-generation immigrants to the Republic and
still had some relatives, but they were the minority.
And so many of the Eighty-Six weren’t in the base now, but
they didn’t go home. Instead, they were out shopping or
having fun in the neighboring town. Raiden and Frederica
went back to Ernst’s estate, while Anju went shopping with
Dustin, who was showing her around since she wasn’t familiar
with the Federacy’s cities yet.
Kurena still said nothing. Since they’d only just returned,
the cooks put their best effort into the lunch they served, but
she didn’t touch her food. Something—thoughts of someone
who wasn’t here—was bothering her. Theo cracked a wry
smile.
“C’mon, you don’t have to make that face. They’re just
meeting each other and talking for a bit. He’ll be right back.”
That person knew Shin’s parents, though Shin himself
couldn’t remember anything. To Shin, meeting his
grandfather would only serve to remind him of the things
he’d lost. But that wasn’t true. This was a chance to take back
the things he’d lost, at least in some form. He now wanted to
reclaim those memories. And so Shin chose to meet his
| Azura Ren |
grandfather—a meeting that he’d rejected so far.
“It’s fine. He only just left. He’ll be back soon.”
“…But…”
Kurena started to say something but then fell silent. Theo
had a feeling he knew what she was trying to say, though.
Right now, he was going to return to where they were. But
that might not be the case the next day. And even if it they
didn’t go their separate ways then, it would happen someday.
The day would surely come. Their bond might not come
undone; they might not even tell each other good-bye, but the
homes they returned to—the places they chose to stay—would
eventually be different.
And had they died in the Eighty-Sixth Sector, that day
would never have to come. Their times of death may have
been different, but they would die in the same place. Death
would certainly come for all of them, equally. And so they’d
never had to think about this. They were better off not
thinking about it.
And yet they did survive. They were still alive.
“It’s true for us, too, Kurena.”
“………”
“We don’t have anything, but we still have to think about it:
What are we going to do next? …How do we want to live from
now on?”

Shin entered the parlor he was led to, and two figures who
seemed to have been waiting for him rose to their feet. One of
them was a tall old man, with black hair that had mostly
turned white. He had a pair of black, hawklike eyes. Next to
him was a kind-looking old lady who, by contrast, was quite
short and had a roundish face. Her white hair was done up
elegantly.
“You are…,” the old man, Marquis Nouzen, started to say.
There was something desperate, almost clinging to his
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question. Shin felt himself choking up a little at the tone of his
voice. How should he answer that question? Eventually, he
managed a small nod before hanging his head. Nothing else
came to mind.
The realization made Shin bite his lip. He knew it would be
this way, and still, he felt nothing. This man was supposedly
his grandfather, and yet facing him didn’t bring about so
much as a stir of emotion. They may have been blood related,
but even so, this man didn’t strike him as anything but a
stranger.
And being reminded of that fact…saddened him a little. He
felt his chest tighten.
But in contrast to Shin’s internal struggle, Marquis Nouzen
grew emotional, his eyes welling up with tears.
“You’ve certainly grown. And you do very much look like
them. You bear the visage of my son, Reisha, and the princess
of the Maika clan.”
“Your hair and physique are of the Nouzen bloodline, but
your face—it is like Yuuna’s. As is the color of your eyes,” the
old lady appended tenderly.
Shin noted the red shade of her eyes, which hid behind her
round glasses. The crimson eyes of a Pyrope. Shin had heard
that Marquis Nouzen’s spouse—Shin’s grandmother—passed
away a long time ago. And since the Empire’s nobility hated
the idea of mixing different bloodlines, she could not have
been a new wife.
Noting the confusion in Shin’s gaze, Marquis Nouzen
hummed in understanding.
“This here is Marquess Gelda Maika… Your mother’s
mother. Your maternal grandmother, as it were. I thought
that if you were to meet me, you should also meet her.”
Marquess Maika smiled and bowed her head respectfully.
Marquis Nouzen gently curled his lips upward.
“Now then, where should we begin? After all, to you, we
are just unfamiliar old people. We may be related to you by
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blood, but I’m sure there’s much you wouldn’t want to tell us.”
“For now, well, let us have tea together. Do you like
sweets? I’ve brought some jam, made of strawberries from
our greenhouse. Please take some home with you, as a gift.”
She spoke with a smile, and it took Shin a moment to
realize she was waiting for an answer. He parted his lips,
looking for the right words. They felt so distant to him that he
still had to search for what to say every time. But if he didn’t
answer, he wouldn’t be able to truly converse with them.
He may not have felt any emotion toward them yet. They
were strangers he’d only just met for the first time. And
despite that…these people knew his mother and father. They
remembered the life he had back when he was still happy.
“…I personally don’t like sweets very much. But my unit’s
mascot and my superior officer will probably be very happy to
have this… Thank you very much.”
Marquis Nouzen smiled warmly.
“Right. Then let’s begin with that… I would love to serve
you a dinner best suited to your tastes, but sadly, I don’t know
your preferences. My head chef is standing in the hall at
present, at the end of his wits. I ought to give him even the
smallest hint. You will stay for dinner, yes? If it suits you, you
may spend the night here.”
“…No.”
Shin could somehow tell that for how composed his
grandfather was when he said those words, it took the man a
great deal of courage to muster them up. And that made Shin
smile all too naturally as he shook his head.
She had lost her family in the large-scale offensive, too.
And she had no home to go back to, either, despite being on
leave. So he informed Ernst that morning that he thought to
invite her to come along when they went to bring Theo and
the others home.
He had to go to where she was—where Lena was.

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 “I’ll head back home for today… There’s someone waiting
for me.”

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 AFTERWORD

You just can’t help but love auroras!

Hello, everyone, this is Asato Asato. Well, IT’S NOT LIKE I
GOT TO SHOW THE AURORA in the United Kingdom arc.
And it takes place at a snowy battlefield, too! And I didn’t get
to show any diamond dust, either. Actually, I’ve never seen
either of them in real life myself…
In the past, they said the aurora was the shine from the
Valkyries’ armor. The Strike Package pilots Reginleifs, which
are named after a Valkyrie, so I really wanted to have them
fight under an aurora. But I couldn’t work it into the story…
Also, this is a bit of a digression, but Shin and his group’s
unit during Volumes 2 and 3 was the Nordlicht squadron,
which stands for northern lights, or aurora. I had it in mind
since way back then, and I still couldn’t get to show it. It’s so
frustrating. I’ll do it someday…!
…Or not. Snowy battlefields are too annoying…

But let’s put my whining aside. Thank you, as always! 86—

Eighty-Six, Vol. 6: Darkest Before the Dawn is here for your
reading pleasure. This volume concludes the United Kingdom
arc. I’m sorry for taking so long…!
This time as well…or rather, especially this time, Shin loses
his way in the most grandiose manner possible… Shin, you’re
supposed to be the protagonist. Could you please cut it out?
Please? (An author’s desperate attempt to pressure their

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character.)

• The gates of Hell:

• This volume features a certain passage from canto 3 of
Dante’s Divine Comedy. It’s originally transcribed from
Eriya Taniguchi’s translation of the book (published by
JICC, March 1989). I couldn’t include it directly in the
story, so please allow me to place it here.

• The Thrones:
• I know you all love panjandrums!
• Wait, you don’t know what a panjandrum is? Well, look it
up. Actually, the basis for the Thrones wasn’t the
panjandrum but, like Vika mentions in the book, a
medieval defensive weapon used during siege battles. Also,
anti-tank roosters and anti-tank dogs really were things
that had been planned to be implemented. Anyone who’s
interested in hearing more about it is welcome to look it
up.

• That entire exchange in the second half of chapter 3:

• Shin seems to have forgotten, despite all the
embarrassment it afforded him, but the Reginleif’s mission
recorder registers everything that’s said in the cockpit…
And he has a duty to submit the mission recorder’s data
along with a written report at the end of every mission…
• Rest in peace, Shin.

Lastly, some thanks.

To the editors in charge of me, Kiyose and Tsuchiya. The

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Phönix’s final form going from what it was in the end of
Volume 4 to its form here is all thanks to your feedback!
To Shirabii. Thank you for all the stunning illustrations you
contributed this time as well, along with the cover art for
Dengeki Bunko Magazine’s April issue. You gave us Shin and
Lena standing side by side, once again…!
To I-IV. I took up your suggestion, and the Reginleif pulled
off that trick! It was in a bit of a different form, but it
happened in the climactic battle at the end!
To Yoshihara. Volume 1 of the manga is approaching its
first turning point. Kaie got an extra chapter, and boy, was she
the most adorable little thing there…!
And to you readers, who took up this book. Thank you
very, very much. The story’s really taken off since Volume 4.
But now, Shin and Lena face the fact that they’ve only just
met and know so little about each other. That conflict left
them confused and worried. But in this volume, this conflict
reaches a turning point. What conclusions will they each
come to? Please join these two as they find out.
Oh, and don’t worry; the series is still going to continue. It’s
ongoing, so please stay with us. Also, Volume 7 is gonna be a
lighthearted story, so look forward to it.
Really, it is! I’m not lying!

In any case, I hope that, for even a short moment, I was

able to take you beyond the gates of hell, to the frigid plains of
inferno and the battlefields of woe. To where his doubts lead
him to embark, and where she sees him off, shivering all the
while.

Music playing while writing this afterword: “Lost One’s

Weeping” by Neru feat. Rin Kagamine

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 Thank you for buying this ebook,
published by Yen On.

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| Azura Ren |