With Avid's charge, the Hegemony's military formation began to crumble.

However, looking at the whole picture, this was only happening in a small area.

There was no way a force of thirty thousand could win by charging into an army of over six hundred thousand.

The Hegemony's target was, ultimately, the hundred-thousand-strong Imperial Army—and Klaus, who was waiting in the rear on the planet Augur.

Yes, the Hegemony's target was Klaus.

Not Calvin, not Liam, but Klaus.

Why?

It was because the knight named Klaus was exceptionally competent.

Defeating Klaus would surely spread one's name far and wide.

It was like being promoted from a local celebrity to a national one.

And the Hegemony's army believed that if Klaus were lost, the Imperial Army would suffer a great loss in terms of personnel.

A knight like Klaus, who could command a fleet of millions and achieve victory, was precious.

He was an irreplaceable asset.

But—when they heard that the ones charging were the Banfield family's fleet, commanded by that very same Klaus, even the Hegemony was bewildered.

Izel, on the bridge, was shocked by Klaus's charge.

"To challenge my six hundred thousand with a mere thirty thousand ships. I thought he was a wise general, but it seems he's more of a fierce warrior, is he?"

His eyes gleamed, and he couldn't help but be intrigued by this knight named Klaus.

In response to the Hegemony's army, which had declared it would tear them apart and charged, Klaus had come out to meet them himself.

More than anything—

"That attitude of his, using even his own lord as a pawn to seize victory—I like it! He's a knight too good for the Empire, no—a general!"

—Izel wanted Klaus for himself, desperately.

In the first place, he didn't like that despite defeating the United Kingdom, Klaus was treated as Liam's knight—in other words, a mere vassal. The strong deserve a status befitting their strength.

That was Izel's personal theory.

One of his subordinates reported to Izel.

"About his lord, Count Banfield, he's leading the charge in his mobile knight and inflicting immense damage on our forces."

"He's a bit lacking compared to Lord Klaus, but the enemy is a splendid knight nonetheless. A worthy opponent for our army! I, too, shall etch the name of the Banfield family into my heart."

His assessment of Liam stopped at him being a strong knight.

However, one unexpected report after another came flying in.

"Lord Izel! One of the Twelve Heavenly Generals under your direct command, Lord Hajiteme, has been killed in action!"

"What did you say?"

The Twelve Heavenly Generals were knights that Izel had gathered.

They were fierce warriors who had galloped across battlefields together.

They formed the core of Izel's army and were first-class knights who had slaughtered many enemies. They were equipped with the latest state-of-the-art mobile knights produced by the Hegemony and were not the sort to be easily defeated.

Izel's lips curled into a smile.

"Who defeated him?"

"It was Liam Sera Banfield!"

Those around Izel exchanged glances—and then smiled.

"He's strong."
"A knight too good to remain a mere count."
"If I were younger, I'd go take him down myself."

The group was excited by the appearance of a strong warrior.

Izel spread his arms wide.

"A truly formidable foe! I shall face him myself!"

At the supreme commander's unexpected declaration to sortie, one might have thought the bridge crew would try to stop him—but instead, they erupted in cheers.

"Lord Izel is sortieing!"
"The Hegemony's strongest warrior is taking the field!"
"Notify the entire army!"

The Hegemony's army was fired up.

Avid, displayed on the monitor, was destroying the Hegemony's mobile knights one after another.

◇

As I raced around the battlefield in Avid, I noticed something.

"The Hegemony's army is strange."

Even in the Empire, they were treated like the Kamakura samurai or the Shimazu clan, and I was now realizing why.

Avid grabbed an enemy mobile knight with its left hand, crushed it, and threw it.

In response, enemies swarmed in one after another.

Even as I sliced them apart with my blade and destroyed them, they still kept swarming.

Even when I showed them the overwhelming difference in performance, the Hegemony's mobile knights kept coming.

I kicked an approaching mobile knight as if to stomp on its head, then shot out its cockpit. Behind Avid, several magic circles floated, their muzzles aimed at the enemy.

Enemies were constantly being destroyed and exploding around Avid, yet they still swarmed.

Pirates would have fled long ago.

"Is it because they're aware of their numerical advantage? Even so, do these guys feel no fear?"

I bisected an approaching mobile knight with my laser blade and left the area.

Having shaken off the enemy units chasing the large-sized Avid, I decided to use my trump card.

"I can't be bothered with you small fry forever. Avid—Connect!"

"Connect."

Avid's eyes glowed, and a giant magic circle appeared behind it.

The giant battleship that emerged from it was Avid's true body.

Enemies swarmed Avid as it merged with the giant battleship, but the battleship's numerous weapons intercepted them.

The giant battleship transformed into a humanoid shape.

This was the trump card I used to annihilate the Berkley Family.

"Blow them all away."

The giant battleship became humanoid and began attacking from all parts of its body, causing the surrounding mobile knights and enemy battleships to explode one after another.

I had it hold a blade in its giant arm and cut down an approaching enemy ship.

The Hegemony's attacks concentrated on Avid, but it was, in essence, a lump of rare metals.

Its armor, made of rare metals from games—adamantite and orichalcum—could not be easily pierced.

The chest armor opened, and energy began to accumulate there.

"Sweep them away."

Just as I commanded, Avid fired its main cannon from its chest, moving it as if sweeping with a broom. The beam of light moved as if to brush away the enemy, destroying even those far away.

An overwhelming difference in performance.

This is what it means to be strong.

"You guys were never my opponents to begin with!"

As I was laughing maniacally in the cockpit, a mobile knight charged through the barrage of attacks Avid was unleashing from its entire body.

A single unit, dodging optical weapons like beams and lasers, as well as missiles.

Its insane trajectory left a trail of light, drawing a line.

While I was thinking that the line was so complex it looked like it would get tangled, the enemy had already closed in on Avid.

The rapidly approaching mobile knight announced itself over an open channel.

"I am Izel, Crown Prince of the Gudwar Hegemony! I challenge you, Count Liam Sera Banfield, to a duel!"

Faced with Izel, who had just announced his name, I couldn't—I couldn't think of this as a golden opportunity. It was too unnatural.

The Crown Prince is appearing before me? My plan was to charge the enemy commander's position and win the war by taking down the general.

And yet, the one who attacked is the Crown Prince? The enemy's supreme commander.

Furthermore, for a supreme commander to challenge someone to a duel is so absurd it's almost a joke.

"A duel with me? Don't get cocky."

Inwardly, I was becoming frightened by the enemy's sheer stupidity.

Can't you even gauge the difference in our strength? Are you perhaps a Crown Prince in name only? Or are you actually a body double?

I never imagined an enemy for whom common sense was so utterly useless.

"You want me to show you my power? Very well."

Izel's mobile knight was holding a lance.

A sharp, conical weapon.

He swung it to the side and struck a pose.

"You are worthy of facing my full power! This is my—"

"Shut up."

Avid fired beams and missiles at Izel, causing an explosion.

Announcing your name on the battlefield? What kind of naive fool are you?

Yeah, the Hegemony is hopeless after all.

As I was having that thought, Izel's mobile knight emerged from the explosion.

But its size was strange.

It was bigger than before.

"To interrupt a man's speech, what a petty fellow you are."

"Huh?"

Izel's mobile knight had changed its form. Unlike its previous humanoid shape, it now had six arms on its back.

In addition to growing larger, Izel, now possessing a total of eight arms, aimed a spear at Avid.

In its eight arms, it held various weapons besides the spear.

"The King of the Hegemony is the strongest. And Crown Prince is a title bestowed only upon a warrior worthy of taking that throne."

I was wondering what he was going to say, and he started proclaiming he was the strongest.

"That's only within the Hegemony, right? The strongest is the One-Flash Style—my master, Master Yasushi."

"I have heard rumors of the One-Flash Style. If you claim to be of that school—then prove it here and now!"

Izel's mobile knight moved around at an even greater speed than before.

The gigantic Avid couldn't keep up.

As if chasing a pesky fly, Avid attacked—but none of its attacks hit Izel's mobile knight.

"This guy!"

"Fuhahaha! My beloved machine is the strongest!"

Each of the eight weapons Izel held unleashed a powerful attack. When thrown, the spear rotated, increasing its piercing power, and directly penetrated Avid's armor.

"Impossible!"

Avid's armor is made of rare metals.

Piercing it was unthinkable.

A ring-like weapon held by another arm, when thrown, multiplied into hundreds and attacked.

It was carving up Avid's armor.

The turrets and missile launchers installed in various places—the lenses that fired optical weapons—were crushed.

Alarms blared inside the cockpit.

"The weapons my beloved machine wields are all ancient weapons. And my machine itself is likewise a mobile knight built with the advanced technology of the ancients."

The mobile knight Izel piloted was a mass of ancient technology, impossible to manufacture in the present day.

◇

The Guide was ecstatic.

"An ancient weapon that cannot be built with modern technology—how truly wonderful. There's no doubt it possesses performance superior to Avid!"

Avid was an outrageous humanoid weapon, but the mobile knight Izel piloted was even more so.

It possessed performance superior to Avid.

Gudwar, watching the battle beside the Guide, was wriggling his octopus-like legs.

"This is the machine I prepared for Izel. After all, Izel is the greatest masterpiece I have ever created."

The greatest masterpiece.

How many battles had been necessary to create Izel? For Izel alone, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of millions of people had been sacrificed.

The environment to create Izel.

The environment to raise Izel.

The battlefields and worthy rivals prepared for Izel.

Many lives had been sacrificed for that purpose.

However, Izel was a true warrior who had fought through the life-or-death battlefields prepared by Gudwar. Among them were other warriors who had been provided with similarly dangerous battlefields, only to perish.

Gudwar was excited.

"When this battle is over, I will make Izel my pawn. My very first pawn."

Gudwar's favorite warrior, whom he had raised.

Izel was his finished product.

It was only natural that he was strong.

The Guide's mouth curved into a crescent moon as he laughed, and he even began to applaud.

The sight of Avid being torn to shreds was unbearably delightful to him.

"Excellllent! It seems this is finally the end for Liam!"

Gudwar praised Liam.

"He wasn't a bad warrior himself. A great warrior who contributed to the finishing touches of Izel's completion."

That was an evaluation of him being a bonus to Izel. A being who had lived his life until now for Izel's sake—that was how Gudwar perceived him.

The Guide couldn't stop laughing.

"How do you like that, Liam! Your opponent is a true powerhouse, a complete ancient weapon! You and Avid are no match for him!"

On the battlefield watched by the Guide and Gudwar, Avid was being torn to shreds.

◇

Unrest was spreading throughout the Banfield family's fleet.

"Avid's damage has exceeded thirty percent!"
"Red alert confirmed!"
"We can't inflict any damage on the enemy mobile knight!"

On the bridge, even Klaus was shaken by the sight of Liam and Avid, who had never lost before, struggling.

However, it would be a huge problem if Liam's proxy were to be shaken at a time like this.

"Calm down! We will head to retrieve Lord Liam immediately. After that, we will act as the rearguard and have Lord Liam withdraw."

Klaus immediately thought to have Liam retreat from the battlefield, but he wasn't saying this out of loyalty alone.

If Liam were to die at this stage, problems would erupt one after another in various places.

Starting with the Banfield family's succession problem, and the factional dispute between Cleo and Calvin.

If Liam died, the Empire would be thrown into chaos because of it.

Incidentally, it would be chaotic even if he lived.

(As long as Lord Liam survives, the Banfield family will not waver.)

The Banfield family's fleet still remained.

There were also knights more capable than Klaus, so there were no problems in terms of personnel.

As long as the head of the family, Liam, survived, to put it bluntly, everyone else was replaceable.

However, only Liam was irreplaceable.

"Call Lord Liam. Tell him to escape immediately—"

Just then, they picked up Liam's voice.

It was on an open channel, directed at Izel.

"—You've really done it now, you small fry. If you're going to get that cocky, I'll get serious with you."

"W-What!? Lord Liam! You mustn't! Please escape immediately!"

Knowing that Liam intended to continue fighting, Klaus also panicked.

Unaware of Klaus's feelings, Liam declared to Izel.

"I was thinking of capturing you and handing you over to the Empire—but I'm going to kill you right here."

At that declaration, Izel also seemed to get fired up.

"I'm delighted, Banfield! You're the first one to see my true power and still show such an attitude!"

And so, the second round between Liam and Izel began.

WAKAGI-CHAN ( ゜д゜) "...I think losing Klaus-san would be a bigger blow to the organization."

BRIAN (´；ω；｀) "It's painful to see Lord Liam and my fellow stomachache-sufferer in a pinch."

WAKAGI-CHAN ( ゜∀゜) "It's the job of the afterword idol, Sapling-chan, to do promotions even in a pinch! [The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs, Volume 6] is on sale now! If you're aiming for the limited edition e-book, BOOK☆WALKER is recommended. They're also having a sale on volumes 1-5 on BOOK☆WALKER, so if you're thinking of completing the set, please take a look."

BRIAN (´；ω；｀) (...Even though Lord Liam is in a pinch, this plant won't stop its promotions. It's painful.)