Buzzsaw [End of Arc One]

“HOLD THE FORMATION! DON’T LET THEM SPLIT YOU APART!”

The sergeant’s hoarse scream was swallowed by the cries of the wounded and the thunder of magic and Peripatus fire.

Only scattered volleys of corrosive slime still rained down onto the platform.

The dense swarms of the Apocrita had long since broken apart.

Now they spread wide across the skies surrounding the great barrier.

Singe had just unleashed one last volley of arcane bolts when a loud buzzing suddenly surged up behind her.

She spun around.

An Apocrita burst from the fog directly in front of her.

Gasping, she thrust both arms forward.

Magic crackled between her fingers...

...and died instantly.

“D-damn it!”

The Manyleg shrieked as it dove, its long abdomen angled forward, its six hairy limbs spread wide to seize her.

FWOOM!

A blue beam of energy slammed into the creature from the side, tearing its body apart mid-flight.

The upper half crashed to the ground directly in front of Singe, steaming violently.

Its antennae still twitched frantically while its mandibles snapped and clicked at her.

Singe froze for a heartbeat.

In the creature’s enormous compound eyes, she saw her own reflection staring back at her dozens of times over.

Then she jerked up her boot.

“AHHHH!”

Again and again she stomped down on the elongated head until brown slime splattered across the ground and dripped from her sole.

Only then did she stop, breathing hard as she wiped trembling streaks of slime from her goggles.

“Damned… Manylegs…”

Linly rushed over and stopped beside her, panting heavily. Large sections of her uniform had already been eaten away by acid.

“That was close… you alright, Singe?”

Singe gave a brief nod.

“Yeah… you saved my butt. But my magic is parched.”

Linly nodded weakly.

“Mine too...“

Her gaze drifted over the battlefield.

Everywhere, Apocritas descended into low sweeps, snatching up wounded or exhausted soldiers before vanishing back into the clouds, their victims’ panicked screams fading into the distance.

“They’ve already switched to harvesting prey…” Singe muttered flatly.

Linly grabbed her by the arm.

“Come on. We need to regroup!”

For a moment, Singe didn’t react. She simply stared into the distance before finally pulling herself together.

Then she gave a weak nod.

The remaining defenders had regrouped directly in front of the great barrier.

Orders from the other retreating sectors echoed through the air.

“RESERVES TO THE SOUTH SIDE!”

“HEALERS TO SECTOR THREE!”

Above them, squads weaved through the swarms on their discs, fighting desperate aerial battles against an enemy that vastly outnumbered them.

Behind the great barrier, exhausted shield mages knelt with trembling arms and sweat-soaked faces, continuously feeding magic into the failing construct.

“Singe! Linly!” a familiar voice suddenly shouted.

They turned and spotted Tong reinforcing the barrier from behind.

Beside her crouched Flam, her pointed hat long gone. Her thick violet braid had partly come undone, blood running down from her forehead.

The two hurried over and knelt beside their squadmate on the opposite side of the barrier.

“I bet you’re regretting specializing in shield magic right about now,” Singe remarked dryly.

“Nice to see you’re still alive too…” Tong croaked back with a disdainful snort.

“Probably not for much longer if this keeps up,” Linly muttered.

Flam looked back and forth between them with wide eyes, horrified by the exchange.

“Y-you scouts really are… a different breed…” she managed weakly.

Then another impact made the barrier flare brightly.

BOOM!

Several Apocrita swarms circled high above the platform before diving simultaneously at isolated sections of the shield.

Always where the magic was already flickering.

Another concentrated assault.

BOOM!

A collective groan swept through the ranks of the shield units.

Green acid hissed across the barrier’s surface, slowly eating through it while the magical structure crackled and destabilized.

“Hnghgghh!” Flam forced the air from her lungs and collapsed unconscious.

Tong only cast her a sorrowful look before turning back toward Singe and Linly through gritted teeth.

“They’re focusing their attacks on the weak points…” she said darkly.

“Since when can they do that?!” Singe shouted in horror.

But before anyone could answer, another scream rang out across the battlefield.

“HEY! YOU TWO!”

The sergeant pointed directly at Singe and Linly.

“Back into formation! If you’re still able to talk, then you can still...”

An ear-splitting detonation cut her off.

The blue glow of Peripatus fire burst through the clouds once more, reflecting across the horrified faces of the soldiers.

“TAKE COVEEEEER!”

Her scream vanished beneath the thunderous impact that shook the entire base.

The great barrier imploded with a deafening crack, hurling the exhausted shield mages backward while the ground troops near the outer edge were thrown across the platform.

Singe’s vision blurred as she was hurled over the ground.

When she slowly staggered back to her feet, a shrill ringing drowned out every other sound.

Somewhere far away, she could vaguely hear the general retreat order.

“This… this is a massacre…” she muttered numbly as she stared at the unfolding chaos.

Soldiers rushed toward the interior of the base from every direction.

Panicked. Disorganized. Desperate.

The Manylegs reacted instantly.

As though they had been waiting for this exact moment, the Apocrita swarms descended on the fleeing defenders, carrying them away from the Grapevine one after another.

Those who still had enough magical energy left to fight, were surrounded by the swarms and soon dissolved beneath torrents of acid or were impaled by volleys of stingers.

Singe scanned the plaza desperately for her squad, but among the countless bodies she couldn’t find them anywhere.

“Tong… Linly…” she whispered while stumbling across the stone.

She barely even noticed the humming approaching her from behind.

By the time she looked up, she was already surrounded.

“No…”

She fell to her knees as the swarm prepared to dive.

“It’s over...“

She closed her eyes.

...

Click-clack.

The metallic sound came from far behind her, and yet somehow carried clearly across the battlefield.

“DOWN! GET FLAT, NOW!”

The deep voice tore through the wind like thunder.

Singe didn’t hesitate for even a second.

She threw herself onto the ground.

Then came the rattling.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT

The sound ripped through the air as though the sky itself had been torn apart.

In a fraction of a second, shattered wings, chunks of chitin, and trails of steaming innards rained down across the stone around Singe.

But even lying flat on the ground, a grin slowly spread across her face...

...and soon turned into laughter.

“Ha... haha... hahahaha!“

After nearly half a minute, the deafening rattling finally ceased, accompanied by the metallic clinking of empty casings scattering across the floor.

Only then did Singe dare lift her head.

Her eyes immediately searched for the source of the sound...

...and saw him.

Not far from the shattered remains of the barrier, lying flat on his stomach, a long metal braced tightly against his shoulder, mounted on two legs.

Steam rose from the muzzle.

“BARREL CHANGE!” he shouted at the slender figure crouched beside him, who flinched at the force of his command.

Tanna fumbled nervously with oversized gloves at the machine gun’s side cover, her face pale and exhausted.

“Come on already! Just like I showed you!” Hermann barked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

If she doesn’t hurry, the surprise effect is gone. There are lives at stake here…

“I-I’m trying...“

Tanna took a deep breath, brushed damp hair from her forehead, and opened the side cover.

She pulled out the glowing, steaming barrel, tossed it behind her, and shoved a fresh one into place from the stack beside her.

The moment it locked in, Hermann slammed the cover shut.

Clack.

He cast her a quick glance.

“Next time, faster if you can…” he muttered quietly, earning a shy nod in return.

Then he sighted in on the next swarm.

Instead of sustained fire, he switched to short controlled bursts, targeting the Apocrita pursuing the retreating soldiers.

BRRRT. BRRRT. BRRRT.

Within moments, the coordinated swarms were reduced to nothing more than shredded insect remains raining from the sky.

One by one, the soldiers slowly lifted their heads, staring upward in stunned disbelief, mouths hanging open.

Then they looked toward Hermann...

...and stared even harder.

“Is that… a man?” one of them blurted out.

“But… how is he doing that? Men can’t use magic!” cried another.

The swarms grew thinner and thinner.

Gradually, the surviving scout squads dared to approach the enemy again on their flight discs.

“GET OUT OF THE SKY! MOVE!” Hermann shouted at them.

At first, they only hovered there in confusion, unsure how to react.

Until another voice reached them.

“DIDN’T YOU HEAR HIM?! YOU’RE IN HIS WAY! OR DO YOU WANT TO GET SHREDDED?!”

A strange exhilaration rang through Singe’s voice as she shouted at them, her grin refusing to leave her face.

BRRRT. BRRRT. BRRRT.

She ran across the platform, spread her arms wide and tilted her head back toward the sky, letting fragments of chitin and insect gore rain down over her like the first rainfall after months of drought.

“Hahaha! Yes! Do you like that?! There is more of this coming for you! Just you wait!“

Eventually, the rattling stopped.

And with it, the droning of wings.

The remaining Manylegs retreated, just as the Grapevine broke through a final layer of clouds.

Above them stretched nothing but blue sky.

Sunlight reflected across the flying base...

...and gleamed from the black metal of the steaming weapon.