A nightmare appeared for the Barkley family.

"You think you can defeat me with a fake Avido? That's impossible!"

The black unit, with large shields floating on both shoulders, was adorned with golden decorations.

A rare large-scale unit now grasped a Barkley family mobile knight in its hand and charged towards a battleship—and pierced through it.

A friendly unit was destroyed.

Avido is safe.

With the exploding battleship as a backdrop, Avido casually let go of the wreckage of the large unit.

Dorf furrowed his brow.

"Is this the Avido they speak of?"

A unit that the new model from the First Weapons Factory couldn't handle.

And its pilot, Liam, is first-class as both a knight and a pilot.

He is one of the few pilots who can bring out Avido's performance.

Dorf gave orders within the swaying ship.

"Surround and attack!"

"N-No, sir. We can't move against our friendly units—the enemy units."

Different footage appeared before Dorf, showing a mobile knight with large scythe-like weapons in both hands destroying friendly units.

Rough movements and shouts could be heard.

"Get out of the way!"

A normal mobile knight was destroying allied units, which were treated as special units, one after another.

"Tch!"

Dorf simulated in his mind how to deal with this situation, but time was not on his side.

"Enemy units approaching!"

As the operator's desperate cry was heard, Avido, with a rough landing, slid into the flagship where Dorf was.

Part of its armor was scraped off, and air and liquid were spraying from it.

Dorf stood before the bridge and looked at Avido, who was shouldering a sword.

"Liiiaaam!!"

Then—Dorf's hatred swelled, and the surrounding destroyed battleships and mobile knights began to gather around the flagship.

They crudely attached themselves, forming a shape like the upper body of a mobile knight.

"Wh-What happened!?"

Dorf was also confused, but next to him was the guide with a bitter expression.

He gritted his teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and clutched his chest.

"—Why don't you die? Why do you—torment me so much!"

Liam's gratitude was increasing.

No, Liam was being thanked, and Liam's gratitude was amplified, inflicting intense pain on the guide.

He mustered all his strength and tried to crush Liam without regard for appearances.

As Avido moved away from the flagship, it spread its arms wide.

"You still had a trump card! —The time has finally come for me to use this!"

He looked genuinely delighted.

Dorf and the guide's voices overlapped.

"Liam, you alone—!!"

What the guide summoned in his hand was a device resembling a heart.

He pressed it against the flagship's control panel, and cords extended, encroaching upon the panel.

It became covered in veins and began to pulse.

"With this—I'll get you!!"

This was one of the ancient artifacts he had coincidentally found during his travels.

The giant mobile knight opened its mouth and roared, causing the interior of the ship to shake violently.

◇

It seems the Barkley family had prepared a secret weapon.

Using surrounding battleships and mobile knights, they created a giant mobile knight-like entity.

A ridiculously large mobile knight with only an upper body—a large target.

"I couldn't go all out last time, so I was left unsatisfied. Avido—you can show me your true strength."

As he touched the control panel, a voice could be heard.

"—Connect."

As the electronic voice briefly uttered that, a large magic circle appeared on Avido's back.

What emerged from it was a giant battleship.

No—should I call it Avido's true form?

What I'm riding now is merely the core.

There's a plan that the Seventh Weapons Factory once abandoned.

It was the answer that those who wished for mobile knights to have battleship performance arrived at.

What if we made battleships into mobile knights?

And they arrived at the fusion of unmanned battleships and mobile knights—and naturally, that plan was rejected.

Of course.

It's too wasteful.

But I am a man who loves waste.

Cords extended from the magic circle towards Avido, connecting to various parts, and energy began to flow in.

What I store using spatial magic around me isn't just weapons.

It's Avido itself.

Avido was drawn towards the battleship that appeared from the magic circle.

The battleship that appeared transformed, stored Avido in its chest, and became humanoid.

Wasteful. Overwhelmingly wasteful functionality.

"How about that! The weapons made from the blood tax squeezed from the citizens! Aren't they the height of wastefulness?"

The monster in front of me likely had an ancient artifact similar to my alchemy box as its trump card.

But it's futile.

I have always pursued power, even if it was wasteful.

As a result, I arrived at the epitome of waste—transforming a battleship into a humanoid form and obtaining a mobile knight with battleship-level performance.

The enemy is slightly larger, but that doesn't matter.

Or rather, the Seventh Weapons Factory that actually built something like this is foolish.

A battle between colossal mobile knights.

I wanted to experience this at least once!

"Avido, show them your full power!"

I gripped the controls with a playful attitude and stepped on the foot pedals, and Avido seemed to respond with a growl.

It might be the vibration of the engines or the power core, but that's just a matter of feeling.

The giant Avido's arm collided with the enemy's arm—and destroyed the enemy's arm.

"How about that? It's all custom-made from rare metals. You can't compete with a lump of substitute metal, can you!"

After destroying and tearing off one of the enemy's arms, it pulled in surrounding debris and began to regenerate.

"It has a regeneration function? —You're quite entertaining."

This is a chance to go all out.

There are things I want to try.

When Avido aimed all its cannons at the enemy, the enemy's surface was gradually shaved away.

It peeled off, flew away—and then was pulled back and regenerated.

"This won't do, huh."

As the enemy thrashed about and swung its arms, Avido's giant hand materialized a blade and cut off the arm.

Reproducing the 'One-Slash Style' is indeed impossible.

Also, regeneration is faster than being cut to pieces.

"Missiles."

As missiles were fired from various parts, the enemy was engulfed in explosions.

It's amazing that it regenerates and returns to normal even so.

"I wish it had a function to collect trash."

The chest opened, and light emanated from it.

"A main cannon with incredible power is romantic. —Don't you think so?"

As I fired the main cannon at the unresponsive enemy, the surroundings were enveloped in light.

A thick beam of light pierced the enemy, burning away even as it tried to regenerate.

The enemy extended both hands to defend, but those hands were also burned away.

"It's useless!"

As the enemy gradually lost its ability to maintain its body, I was satisfied watching it crumble into pieces.

"If I'm just going to fire the main cannon, I didn't really need a humanoid form."

It ended with me simply reconfirming the obvious.

But wasteful functions are good.

Avido enlarged a certain image.

There, the enemy's flagship appeared.

It was battered and looked like it couldn't move anymore.

"—You made me work for it."

Avido's giant hand grasped the battleship's bridge.

"Liam-sama, the enemy has begun to retreat."

Just as I was about to crush it, Tia's communication made me stop.

"In the end, it was a textbook battle."

"It's a victory befitting a king's battle."

"Flattery aside. But since it's an opportunity, let's go by the book until the end. —All forces, charge! Don't let a single ship escape."

It would be troublesome if they escaped and resisted, so I decided to crush the Barkley family as is.

However, it's a family with many relatives.

It's probably impossible to defeat them all in this battle.

—Thinking about crushing them all until the end makes me feel weary.

◇

Dorf, lying on the floor and looking up, was laughing while spitting blood from his mouth.

Blood was coming from his abdomen, and he was holding it with his own hand.

"—After all, I was right."

Dorf, who was laughing despite losing, had overheard Liam and Tia's conversation.

"Charging is nonsensical. Defensive tactics are effective only when the enemy breaks. Liam, you may have won, but you've essentially admitted your own mistake!"

He charged and lost.

Dorf was convinced of his own correctness—that he was right in the simulations during his candidate days.

As Avido's hand gripping the bridge moved, Dorf laughed while looking at the approaching ceiling.

"I wasn't wrong!"

◇

The guide was watching from space as Dorf was crushed by Avido.

He held the brim of his hat with both hands, pulled it down low, and trembled.

"How can I win? How can I defeat Liam!"

He had done everything he could.

He had even used his trump card.

Yet, none of it worked.

And then, Avido obtained the heart-shaped device floating in space.

"Oh, what's this? I'm curious. Maybe I'll show it to Brian."

Liam was in high spirits.

The Barkley family's fleet, numbering over 300,000, had been scattered by the charge of the Banfield family's fleet.

Then, they were attacked by the regular army and sank without being able to do anything.

The enemy offered to surrender—but was mercilessly shot down.

The guide reached out to the cheerful Liam.

"Liaaam!!"

Black smoke, meant to bring misfortune to Liam, extended but couldn't reach him.

He was protected by something unseen.

"Damn you. Damn you!!"

The guide searched his surroundings for anything.

The Barkley family's eldest son, who had escaped, was captured by the Banfield family's fleet.

Others were also no good.

As he gritted his teeth, the guide noticed something.

"Found him. There's still one person who can turn this situation around!"

It was someone by Liam's side.

—It was Yurishia.

"Yurishia, who vows revenge on Liam, I will give you all the power I possess!"

The guide shared his power with Yurishia.

"Drive your blade into Liam!"

◇

—Upon hearing the result of the war, Kashimiro's face was one of utter exhaustion.

"W-We lost?"

It was a complete defeat.

His son, who came to report, had a pale face.

"Dad, we have to escape immediately! The regular fleet has withdrawn, but the Banfield family's fleet is heading this way. If we don't escape quickly, we'll be killed!"

The eldest son was presented before Liam and begged for his life, but he was beheaded on the spot.

Liam is serious.

He probably has no intention of negotiating.

"Contact the capital planet. Have the Empire mediate and settle this."

He would surely lose many things, but it was better than losing everything.

That was his decision, but the communication monitor opened.

Not just one.

Several opened simultaneously.

"Wh-What!?"

What the flustered Kashimiro saw were lords from the same Imperial nobility.

But they weren't the ones he usually allied with.

A man with slicked-back white hair spoke cheerfully.

"Hello, Lord of the Pirate Nobles. How are you doing?"

A muscular man with an eyepatch spoke to Kashimiro with animosity.

"You sicced pirates on us. Kashimiro, you know what this means, right?"

Many lords—these were lords who were against Kashimiro and planned to support Liam.

Though they seemed eccentric, they were considered decent Imperial nobles.

Baron Exner was among them.

"Baron Barkley. Your associates have told us that you ordered them to attack us."

The nobles who had sided with Kashimiro were dealing with them.

But upon hearing of Liam's victory—they all switched sides.

The man with the eyepatch crossed his arms.

"It felt great to crush them!"

The white-haired man was also in high spirits.

"—By the way, how are you going to pay for this?"

As Kashimiro tried to force out a word, alarms blared throughout the mansion.

And then, a communication came from a subordinate.

"Kashimiro-sama! The Banfield family's fleet of 30,000 ships!"

Opening the window and looking up at the sky, he saw space battleships covering the sky.

They were descending one after another, and ground troops were disembarking.

The defensive systems in the territory were being destroyed one by one, and the mansion was being infiltrated by ground troops.

His son was crying.

"Dad! They're coming!!"

Kashimiro collapsed to his knees and sat on the floor.

"—Offer my head. Take it and negotiate with the head of the Banfield family."

"O-Okay, Dad."

Kashimiro's son, with trembling hands, raised a gun to shoot his father.

Just then, infantry soldiers clad in powered suits stormed in.

"Don't move! If you resist, we won't show mercy!"

The knight leading the infantry.

Upon spotting Kashimiro, he kicked away the son holding the gun.

He then proceeded to apprehend Kashimiro.

"Come!"

Roughly pulled along, Kashimiro said to the knight.

"—With the young master—no, let me negotiate with the head of the Banfield family."

Brian (T_T) "This is tough. Was there even a point in turning a giant battleship into a humanoid form? I want to ask."

Brian (・ω・) "However, this Brian doesn't dislike—battleship transformations."