Near the Banfield capital planet.

A report reached Cleo, who was commanding from a fortress-class vessel, that Cozmo had been captured.

"A pirate is a pirate, after all."

Cozmo's capture itself was trivial, but the real problem was that Liam had seized the supply base.

While there were several other supply bases, that one had been the collection point for all the supplies being transported to them.

If Liam held that location, the entire army would be in jeopardy.

Cleo made a quick decision.

"It can't be helped. It's time to play our trump card. If Liam is in the rear, Avid won't be showing up here."

At that, a military officer by his side showed his disapproval of Cleo's decision.

"Your Highness, that thing is essentially a disposable weapon. It was designed for only a single use of its spatial magic, and transporting it incurs enormous costs."

"What of it?"

"—Even if we win by using it, we'll be in the same situation as if we'd suffered heavy losses. What could we possibly report to His Majesty the Emperor?"

Unlike the Griffin, the Empire had no facilities to operate it.

The reason they hadn't prepared a maintenance environment was that they had no intention of operating it within the military in the future.

It could only be used once, and using it was the same as taking massive damage.

Cleo would have preferred not to use it on anyone but Liam, but with his rear threatened, he had no time to be picky.

"A weapon that isn't used is meaningless. Besides, it seems the enemy has played their trump card as well."

The allied fleet he had sent to charge was attacked by what appeared to be a strategic weapon.

Several massive beams were fired, shattering their formation and leaving them in tatters.

The officer pondered for a few seconds before nodding.

"I will hurry the preparations for the super-large mobile knight's launch."

"You should have said so from the start. If we don't win, there's no future for us anyway."

Cleo, with his arms crossed, acted arrogantly toward those around him.

It was as if he were emulating Liam's behavior.

His behavior alone was growing closer to that of the person he hated and desperately wanted to surpass.

◇

Meanwhile, the Guide was clinging to the fake Griffin.

He was on the blade antenna on the head of the launched fake, intending to aid the punitive force.

"Just a little more! Just a little more and I can destroy Liam's capital planet! Then his family will be lost, and his heart will be deeply wounded again—Ugh, why does my stomach hurt?"

He felt a nasty pain in his stomach, but right now, Liam's family was the priority.

He was furious that Liam was for some reason occupying a supply base in the rear, so he decided he should just target his family—Rosetta and Edward.

"Liam is more important than the pain right now. If I can get my hands on Liam's capital planet, we should be able to win this war."

The Guide loved war, but he had never been concerned with winning or losing before.

However, he understood that capturing Liam's capital planet would turn the tide.

Indeed, Liam's capital planet was likely packed with supplies.

There should be enough for Cleo's fleet to catch its breath.

And if they learned their capital planet had fallen into enemy hands—it wouldn't be surprising if the House of Banfield collapsed.

Black smoke spewed from the Guide's body, enveloping the fake.

"First, Klaus—I'll take you down!"

Klaus, who was protecting Liam's capital planet from a massive fleet of millions of ships—he was the head knight of the House of Banfield, and now the pinnacle of its military.

If such a man were to be defeated and the capital planet lost—the House of Banfield would likely never recover.

"If only you didn't exist! And then there's Yasushi. If that bastard hadn't trained Liam, none of this would have happened. I'll kill him for sure, too!"

He knew Yasushi's whereabouts, but since he was on Liam's capital planet, he couldn't get to him.

The Guide absorbed the negative emotions swirling on the battlefield.

He even took in the grudges of the fallen soldiers, his power swelling to near its peak.

"I'm overflowing with power!"

The fake's twin eyes glowed, and just as it was about to fire its main cannon—Liam's capital planet began to intensify its golden radiance.

"Wh-What!?"

What the Guide saw within the light was—unmistakably, the Griffin.

He began to tremble uncontrollably with fear.

"Liam's back!? That's impossible. He's supposed to be at the supply base!"

Clinging to the blade antenna, the Guide shook his head, trying to dispel his fear.

Looking at the Griffin, it certainly resembled Liam's, but there were differences in the details.

Most notably, the number "Two" was written on its shoulder.

"Fuhaha. Trying to scare me, are you? A secret weapon prepared for today? But if Liam isn't piloting it, there's no problem—huh?"

As the Guide, who had panicked at the appearance of a mass-produced Griffin, regained his composure, he noticed something strange.

Golden particles overflowing from the capital planet were flowing into the mass-produced Griffin.

"Just imitating Liam won't be enough to beat me now! Go! Defeat it and destroy Liam's capital planet!"

The fake that the Guide clung to approached the mass-produced model.

As the two colossal machines closed to combat range—Fuuka's voice was heard.

"Big one spotted! If I take this thing down, Master and my senior brother will have to praise me, right?"

The one piloting it was a swordsman of the One-Flash School.

The Guide had a bad feeling.

"One of the brats Yasushi raised!?"

In the past, the Guide at his peak had been defeated by Liam.

He had been weaker than he was now, and while the army he led was elite, it was small in number.

On top of that, it was a mass-produced Avid and Griffin.

And now, it was being piloted by Fuuka, who was likely stronger than Liam had been back then.

The fake fired its main cannon, and with the Guide's assistance, the beam was unleashed with several times its normal output.

Fuuka's mass-produced model met it with its own main cannon.

When the two beams collided, they struggled to push each other back.

"I can't lose. I can't lose here!"

As the Guide sent even more negative emotions into the fake, its output increased further, and the mass-produced model began to be pushed back.

"I'll crush you just like this!"

◇

Fuuka was breaking out in a cold sweat inside the cockpit.

"Damn it! Why am I losing to a fake? Is this thing defective?"

The mass-produced model had been hastily constructed at the Seventh Weapons Factory.

Having been told this, Fuuka imagined that the Seventh Weapons Factory had cut corners.

"It's not like this is a sword fight, so I could just run away, but—if I retreat here..."

He looked back, and there was Liam's capital planet.

Protected by numerous fortresses, it was still fighting the enemy.

"If I run now, I can't protect Master or Yasuyuki. I won't be able to keep my promise to my senior brother, and that idiot Rinho will laugh at me."

Fuuka, having given himself reasons not to retreat, gripped the control stick tightly.

"If it comes down to it, can this thing at least serve as a shield? —But I hate the idea of dying here as a swordsman. I wouldn't be able to face my master."

He considered using the mass-produced model as a shield to protect the planet, but he hated the thought of a One-Flash School swordsman dying on a battlefield like this.

"If I'm going to die—I'd prefer it to be in a real duel against a fellow disciple."

I can't lose to another school.

But I want a life-or-death match.

As a result, a real duel between fellow disciples was the ideal for Fuuka right now.

Fuuka let go of the control stick for a moment and stretched.

"My senior brother told me it was okay to wreck it. I'm going to push it to the limit, so keep up!"

As the mass-produced model roared, the main cannon's muzzle reached its limit and exploded.

However, Fuuka didn't eject and instead used the mass-produced model as a shield.

"Hold on, you piece of junk!"

He crossed its arms to block the fake's main cannon, protecting the capital planet from a direct hit.

The mass-produced model's armor, made of rare metals, reached its limit and began to melt.

Explosions erupted all over, and the alarms wouldn't stop blaring.

However, the enemy had also reached its limit.

Perhaps as a price for firing the main cannon with more power than intended, fires had started inside it.

Due to its massive size, the damage looked minor, but the enemy also seemed to be at its limit.

"Looks like I win this endurance contest."

Stomping on the foot pedal, Fuuka charged the mass-produced model forward and closed in on the enemy.

Then, it formed knife-hands with both arms and pierced the fake.

Both were in tatters, but Fuuka wasn't finished yet.

"It's not over yet!"

He accelerated the mass-produced model and headed toward the enemy fleet.

His destination was a part of the main force led by Cleo.

Still, being a regular army, their reaction wasn't bad, though they were likely confused.

They immediately changed formation and began attacking the mass-produced model.

Fuuka had the mass-produced model's knife-hands—emit beams, creating giant blades.

They were thousands of kilometers long.

While tearing the fake apart, Fuuka unleashed slashes at the surrounding fleet.

"If I'm going to break it anyway, I might as well go on a rampage in your midst!"

The mass-produced model rampaged as it fell apart.

The surrounding ships were swallowed by the giant humanoid weapon's blades and destroyed.

And when it reached its limit, from the cockpit in the mass-produced model's head—Fuuka's Amaryllis was launched.

It was equipped with an escape function.

"So this is as far as it goes."

Just as he was about to make a quick getaway, mobile knights launched from enemy ships appeared.

There were several hundred of them, and their numbers were still increasing.

The mobile knight that looked like a commander's unit had a different color scheme from the surrounding mass-produced units.

It seemed to be a custom model.

"Don't think you can escape!"

Facing them, Fuuka's lips curled into a smile.

"Guess I'll play around a little longer."

Amaryllis took a sword in each hand, adopting a dual-wielding stance—and the surrounding mobile knights began to explode one after another.

◇

The Guide, adrift in space, was hugging his knees and crying.

"Yasushi—of all things, preparing mass-produced versions of Liam's machine... I'll never forgive you for this."

He watched the sight of Fuuka's white Avid—Amaryllis—fighting in the distance.

Approaching mobile knights were destroyed, and the bombardment from battleships was completely blocked by Amaryllis's energy field.

At times, it even cleaved battleships in two, and despite fighting alone, it seemed to be doing so with ease.

The Guide had another bad feeling and looked at the scenes from other battlefields.

"There should have been other disciples of the One-Flash School. Where are they and what are they doing—Huh!?"

He reached out his hand and projected scenes from other battlefields around him, and an unbelievable sight unfolded.

There was no major movement on the planet Marie was defending, but the problem was the planet Tia had been protecting.

A mass-produced model with the number "Three" written on it had easily defeated the fake that Hampson had launched.

"Th-This one is—Liam's disciple!?"

◇

Meanwhile.

Hampson was dumbfounded by the sight before him.

"A single lord mass-produced that ridiculous weapon? What is Banfield thinking!?"

A super-large mobile knight.

Hampson could appreciate the romance of it, but from his position as a lord, Liam not only possessed but had even mass-produced a weapon that he thought, "I would never adopt this."

It was a decision Hampson couldn't comprehend, but what surprised him even more was its strength.

The fake's design had been revised based on data from the Seventh Weapons Factory's Griffin.

Even though it was superior in performance, the fake he had prepared was easily destroyed by the mass-produced model before him.

The enemy pilot's image was displayed on the bridge's giant monitor.

"I never thought you would have prepared the same weapon."

The other party seemed surprised as well, but Hampson was surprised yet again.

"Ellen Tyler? Banfield's disciple!?"

The red-haired female knight on the monitor narrowed her eyes as if displeased at being called by name.

"—I have some unfortunate news for you, but I shall tell you."

Hearing the words "unfortunate news," Hampson forced himself not to make a bitter face.

He had to maintain a composed demeanor, or his subordinates would become anxious.

—It was a bit late after being so surprised, but showing an even more pathetic attitude now would further lower morale.

"Is this unfortunate news about you hitting our supply base? But that wasn't our only one. Our army can still fight."

It was a statement that mixed truth with lies.

They had built several supply bases, but the one Liam had struck was the one where supplies meant for the others had been stockpiled.

It was clear that their supplies would eventually run out in enemy territory.

However, Ellen smiled and said something different from what Hampson expected.

"Number Four is probably crushing them as we speak, but this is about something else. —This is a message from my master, Liam Sera Banfield. 'Annihilate the enemy.'"

Destroy the punitive force that has invaded the territory—Liam's decision not to accept surrender was conveyed.

But Hampson still had some composure.

"Just as aggressive as the files said. But the Empire will send reinforcements soon. A mountain of supplies will arrive, and we will be victorious. You'll be the ones begging for your lives."

He believed that once the Empire learned of the situation, reinforcements would come.

Ellen's smile remained as she narrowed her eyes, mocking Hampson.

"That's impossible. The Hegemony Kingdom has begun an invasion at the border. The Unified Government and the Allied Kingdom are also on the move. Even for the Empire, they won't be able to dispatch a relief fleet immediately."

Hampson's eyes widened.

"The Hegemony Kingdom? They were supposed to have submitted to the Empire!"

He had expected the Unified Government and the Allied Kingdom to make a move.

Hampson had also thought that if the Empire fell into turmoil, they would take advantage of the opportunity to invade.

But the Hegemony Kingdom was different.

The current Empire had not anticipated an invasion from the Hegemony Kingdom.

"They are of a nature to follow the strong. The one they submitted to wasn't the Empire, but my master. That's all."

As the bridge crew was in an uproar, another person appeared on the giant monitor.

It was Tia, one eye wide open.

She seemed to have a lot of pent-up frustration and apparently had something to say to Hampson.

"A pleasure to meet you, Marquis Hampson."

"Christiana."

"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble, but it seems our turn has finally come."

Tia's expression became blank as she addressed Hampson.

"—From now on, it's hunting time. Do your best to run around and entertain us."

When the communication cut off, Hampson slammed his fist on the armrest.