I used my hand to push aside a monster that had been pierced through.
Arroganz’s chest was open. The wind outside entered the cockpit, creating a vast sensation of spaciousness. At the same time, I was full of unease since my mortal body was exposed to the outside.
I had tilted my head to the right, dodging the Black Knight’s long sword by a hair’s breadth.
That sword had aimed to pierce my head.
I would have been dead if it was aimed at my abdomen.
“*huff*──*puff*──”
With my bare eyes, I saw the Black Knight readying his sword.
Luxon explained the conditions of my armor’s exterior
[Performance has been reduced by thirty percent. The amount of burden on the pilot has increased. I advise withdrawing.]
“I never heard about Arroganz’s armor being penetrable.”
[It seems that the sword your foe carries is made of a metal peculiar to this world, ‘Admatius’. A fantasy-esque metal.]
“Says the fantasy-like lump of metal.”
It was a specially made large sword.
The Black Knight was a broken character wielding such a weapon.
“I mean, I do want to hurry and get out of here. What’s with this guy? He seems too strong.”
Luxon’s rebuttal towards my complaints hit a little too close to home.
[This is the result of not taking the life of your opponents, Master. Due to that, they’ve been driven to a situation where they won’t retreat.]
How painfully true it was.
Thereupon, the Black Knight spoke to me.
“You’re young. Too young. Are you really a knight of the kingdom?”
I wasn’t really too sure about the details regarding the Black Knight’s setting, but his rough voice sounded like he was either in the prime of his life, or past middle-aged.
“Your invasion has been leaving me no choice but to fight, don’t you think?”
“Is that so? ──It was the same back in my day. I was a youngster, resentful of the kingdom I had been born in.”
I couldn’t shift my gaze away from the Black Knight.
I tightly clutched the joysticks, tightening Arroganz’s fist while breathing in disarray from the tension.
Why did I have to fight a tough battle like this?
Normally, I would have definitely fled.
Why didn’t I run away? It would have been embarrassing if I ran away after having smugly criticized the other kids, and also because this guy didn’t seem ready to let me go.
If I turned my back, he would definitely kill me.
Furthermore, the long sword my opponent was wielding had penetrated Arroganz. It would be able to pierce Partner’s plating as well.
Livia and Anjie’s faces popped up in my mind. And what about the others? As if I knew them!
If I didn’t stop this guy here, those two would be in trouble.
Luxon spoke to me.
[I request permission to utilize my main body.]
“If you use it, you’re probably going to kill the Black Knight. I can’t let you do that.”
[I cannot understand you. Your opponent is coming!]
The Black Knight made the first move.
The charm hanging around my neck shook.
As the Black Knight swung down his big sword, his movements seemed to lack any shred of indecisiveness. He was not hesitant to kill me. When I stopped the blow with my right arm, the sword dug deeply into it.
The sound of an alert continued to blare, and when I aimed my left hand towards the Black Knight, he seemed to sense the danger, pulled out the sword, flew above me, and turned towards my back.
Turning around, I saw the Black Knight swinging his large sword with a horizontal slash.
Having closed the distance, I clashed with Black Knight, causing the large sword to wedge itself deeply into my right shoulder.
“Just how much of a difference in armor performance is there between this broken bastard and me?!”
Luxon calmly replied to my complaint.
[There’s an overwhelming difference in terms of the pilot’s skills.]
When I drove my left arm into the Black Knight and was about to release a shockwave, he violently kicked away my arm and separated from me.
Like that, we continued to struggle, confronting each other over and over again, and before long──the Black Knight, with his back to the evening sun, faced me.
The Black Knight lost his left arm and had no legs.
I was also battered up.
The Black Knight seemed weakened as well.
“──To think I’d lose to a knight of the kingdom.”
He squeezed out a voice of agony.
I was also in pain.
As the black knight charged forward, I squinted my eyes from the radiance of the evening sun. I felt that his giant sword had glistened momentarily. The nerve he had to use such an old trick! How cowardly!
Closing the distance, the Black Knight thrust his sword into Arroganz.
I immediately slipped out of Arroganz and leaped, using an anchor to hook onto the Black Knight’s armor. Though the Black Knight was surprised by my action, he smiled.
“Did you give up?!”
“Nope, I’ve won.”
The Black Knight, with his attention focused solely on me, didn’t notice Arroganz taking action.
Arroganz held the Black Knight’s armor tightly──constricting him.
“Wha?! How could you operate it?!”
Tearing off the head of his armor, I confronted the Black Knight while he was unable to move. Facing the aging man who had a large scar on his forehead, I drew out a handgun from my holster and aimed it at him
“This is the end. Surrender.”
The Black Knight glared at me. His spirit could send chills down anyone’s spine.
“I decline. Just kill me quickly! Kill this coward.”
I refused.
Luxon popped out from Arroganz and came over to my side.
[Master, we have completed gaining total control.]
I looked around, no longer hearing the sounds of battle.
The opposing fleet could no longer move. All of their armor units were also floating above the sea.
“Bravo!”
We helped stop the principality without needing to use Luxon’s main body.
[That was really troublesome.]
The Black Knight felt bitter.
“Princess──I’m sorry.”
While watching the Black Knight in that state, I noticed a ray of light being fired from one of the principality’s warships. It looked like a flare, causing me to furrow my brow.
“They really don’t know when to give up.”
◇
Garrett was laughing like a madman when seeing the Black Knight lose.
“This is the end. I’m done for.”
With the defeat of the Black Knight, a living legend, the morale of the principality’s troops sank.
They no longer had any fighting power.
The principality’s troops lost to a civilian airship holding students.
Garrett, who was more than likely going to be held responsible, took out a gun-like object from his pocket and approached a window.
The item, which could fire only a single shot, was created as a result of research conducted on the magic flute.
It could summon together monsters.
Originally, it was a tool used to gather monsters who were controlled by the magic flute, but its use was restricted since it displayed a particularly powerful effect.
“A, at this point, I must at least erase everything. I will not be labeled as incompetent by history──so I will do away with it all!”
Once he pointed it towards the air and pulled the trigger, it fired a glow akin to a flare.
The glow, which lit up the darkened sky, made a strange sound.
Monsters then appeared, as if drawn by it.
From the sky, the sea──one by one, they gathered.
“Now, monsters, erase everything!”
The ridiculously strong armor of the Black Knight had been destroyed and rendered inoperable. There was only one big, strange airship left.
An opposing airship with few cannons. Garrett thought that it would be weak against attacks of large numbers.
Panicking soldiers came and pinned down Garrett, who was roaring with laughter.
However, the number of monsters continued to increase.
◇
I watched the situation from atop of Arroganz, which was still restraining the Black Knight.
I breathed a small sigh before the sight of monsters gushing forth to no end.
Luxon, floating beside me, spoke nonchalantly.
[It’s a spectacle to see so many gathering together.]
The immobile Black Knight glared at the warship that had fired the flare.
“What a fool. Does he plan on getting rid of everything here? Hey, brat! Inform the princess. Tell her to play the magic flute. This situation is unfavorable for you people as well.”
Did he plan on letting her controlling the newly gathered monsters with the magic flute?
That was indeed an option, but if that happened, then the number of enemies we had would increase again.
Perhaps noticing my doubts, the Black Knight attempted to persuade me.
“I don’t plan on going against you at this point. Do you want both sides to be annihilated?!”
As if I could trust what he was saying!
I turned towards Luxon.
“I’m not looking for total annihilation. Luxon, how about you go to work?”
[At last, is it my turn?]
Luxon’s one red eye brightened.
Upon which, a cloud floating the sky fired successive thin rays of light, piercing through the gathering monsters and turning them into black smoke.
The Black Knight turned his head and watch that scene.
“What’s going on?!”
It seemed quite like a meteor shower.
However, the black smoke arising from the monsters’ defeat gradually obscured the beautiful scenery.
I turned to face the Black Knight.
“You guys aren’t the only ones with tricks up their sleeves. Make sure to tell that to your country once you get home.”
Thereupon, the Black Knight yelled at me.
“Are you planning to spare my head?! You──had you been going easy on us since the beginning?! Just how much of a fool do you plan on making us?!”
What would I do with an old geezer’s head?!
“As if I want your head, revolting. Though, I will accept your giant sword. After all, I don’t know what you would do if you had it.”
The Black Knight’s large sword had really been a hassle for me.
“You brat! Don’t forget that your naivety will take your life away one day! Next time, for sure──”
I smiled while watching the Black Knight’s outrage.
“I saved you out of the kindness of my heart, and yet you’re howling quite arrogantly, aren’t you? Old man, it seems you don’t know. It’s already over for you guys.”
Since the Black Knight made a facial expression indicating that he didn’t understand, I kindly and politely explained.
“You don’t get it? Sure, the opponent you all lost to was armed, but it still a civilian airship. Adding insult to injury, the ones riding it were students. When you tried to take a student hostage, the tables had turned on you instead. Do you know what that means?”
The Black Knight made a face of surprise.
“──How despicable!”
I smiled how informing him of the matter.
“Grown adults took a serious stance against some children and lost to them! Even if I’m a strong and terrific guy, that doesn’t matter. You all lost to a noble’s child from the kingdom. Do you genuinely think that there will be anything for you people in the future? Old man, you should just retire. Actually, you’ll have no choice but to retire! Your time is already over. You’ve done well up until now. How is it to lose your placement as a knight? Do tell.”
The Black Knight’s face warped into an expression of frustration.
“You, you mean to say that we’ll live while smeared with shame?! You don’t even have the kindness to let us die as knights on a battlefield, you fiend!”
I brought my face closer to the Black Knight, head-butting him, which ended up hurting. What a hard-headed person he was.
A kindness to kill? I couldn’t understand his sense of values. This opponent was quite difficult to handle.
“The losers have to obey the winners, right? Live your life while plastered with disgrace. I may be kind as a person, but I believe you’ll find me fiendish and dastardly as a knight.”
The Black Knight clenched his teeth. His hatred of me caused him to make an immense facial expression.
“I wonder how long you can keep fighting like that.”
While we were deep in talk, Luxon had finished killing the monsters, and now we were surrounded by silence. I restrained the Black Knight, headed towards Partner, and then began shifting into motion.
