Chapter 127 – Understood — I Shall Take It On!

Arden, Riese, and the Rude Custom: Ribast -- the three machines advanced, cutting through smoke and static. Ahead of them drifted the flames and lingering smoke from the impact of Merry's earlier full missile barrage.

"...There's heavy noise on the sensors. They must have scattered wide-area chaff or jamming."

Ethan murmured. The main monitor's sensitivity dropped sharply, making it increasingly difficult to pin down the enemy machines' exact coordinates.

"Here it comes -- all units, brace!"

Grain's warning rang out -- and it was in that very instant.

Tearing through the smoke screen, a massive dark-gray hulk came charging in from far off, carrying tremendous mass and thrust.

"--! I see you. An attack that straightforward won't land on me!"

Arden fired its thrusters instantly and dodged to the side of the oncoming mass. This time, Letaria had caught the approaching attack's telltale motion clearly.

The dark-gray machine -- Adelina's heavily armored Radure -- tore straight through the center of the three machines at tremendous speed, and as it passed, it fanned out a huge spread of micro-missiles from its back containers. Then, tracing a wide arc, it snapped into a turn and came bearing down again at hyper-speed.

"Come on now... what reckless piloting. Same breed as our own young lady, is she?"

Grain said over the comm, half-laughing wryly, even as he broke into evasive maneuvers.

"What is that supposed to mean?! My movements are far more magnificent and elegant!"

Letaria raised her voice in protest, while she and Ethan both dodged the swarm of missiles by a hair's breadth.

Circling around and passing directly overhead of the three machines once more, Adelina's Radure sprayed fire from the large Photon Machine Gun in its hand -- the surrounding space filled with countless rounds of light.

"Not just fast, but cluttered up with all sorts of troublesome hardware too... wouldn't it be better if I took her on?"

Letaria proposed this, dodging the machine gun's streaks of light with minimal movement.

"No... the sniper hanging back is overwhelmingly more troublesome. If he keeps interfering from long range, we won't be able to function. Letaria, you take down that sniper. Go avenge Merry."

Grain immediately designated the priority target.

"Very well. Understood -- I shall take it on!"

Letaria headed straight for the area where Ranses's machine was.

"I'll take that big lump on. I'll draw her in and pin her down."

Ethan cut in over the comm.

"...You say you'll draw her in, but can you actually manage it, Ethan?"

Grain asked -- not because he doubted Ethan's skill. It was because, while the Rude Custom Ethan piloted had improved specs across the board, it was nowhere near capable of matching the abnormal mobility and thrust that specialized Radure boasted.

"Well, it's all in how you do it."

Ethan said this quietly, and in the same motion, snapped the sights of the large railgun mounted on his shoulder onto target and fired.

A railgun shot that predicted exactly where Adelina would move next. The solid round, fired at hyper-velocity, gouged deep into the curved chest armor of the Radure as it came charging in at full speed, scattering sparks.

"...Understood. I'll take the leader's machine -- Priscilla."

Grain wheeled his machine around and accelerated Riese toward the sector of space where Priscilla was likely to be closing in from.

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"I got hit! But it's nothing serious yet!"

Adelina, bracing against the shock of her gouged armor, called out over the comm, her voice still bright with bravado.

"Until I get there, please don't push yourself -- keep it to containment only."

Priscilla gave the calm order, then went on to check the situation with Ranses, the sniper.

"Lieutenant Ranses, how are things on your end?"

"Thanks to the chaff I scattered, they shouldn't be able to pin down my exact position... but there's one machine coming straight at me. Ridiculous speed. Every bit as fast as Adelina's machine, easy."

Ranses answered even as he fired off an immediate shot at the closing shadow.

--A high-output photon round tore through the void. But the shadow evaded it without the slightest difficulty.

He'd missed. No -- she'd read it. So this was Arden, the mecha of the so-called "Rampaging Lady" he'd heard about.

And in the next instant, small on Ranses's main monitor -- Arden's shape came into view. Gold lines gleamed across its deep indigo armor.

"Frantic close-quarters scrambling isn't really my thing... but we're well past the range where Lieutenant Priscilla's cover can reach in time. Guess I'll just have to brace myself and do it."

Ranses purged the heavy, oversized containers on both shoulders. Once his bulk had slimmed down enough to secure some mobility, he leveled the slender Photon Rifle in his hand back into a straight, ready stance.