Turning Point (29)
"Gasp...! Huff...!"
Nadia, who had been crushed under the growing pressure as Lobelia approached right up to her face, exhaled all the breath she'd been suppressing the moment Lobelia disappeared.
"What kind of woman is she...?!"
Panting heavily, Nadia could endure it no longer and collapsed on the spot. It was amazing she'd made it this far on such shaky legs.
Multipurpose Unit 1 and Multipurpose Unit 2 were not in a normal state either. When the red code was inscribed in the air, a temporary short must have occurred; they kept blinking their visual sensors, unable to comprehend the situation.
Nadia was frustrated. It wasn't as if she hadn't resolved herself, but the fact that she couldn't even resist properly made her grit her teeth.
"Huu..."
I let out a long breath to release the tension rising in my body. I was full of irritation at not having gotten the answer I wanted, yet mixed in was relief that we'd made it through unharmed. My emotions were tangled.
'She was a monster.'
The strength she possessed, contrary to her appearance, was like a wall. A massive barrier I could never hope to overcome, no matter how much I wanted to surpass it.
"... What are you doing? Let's go. They're coming, aren't they?"
Licorice staggered as she stood up. Her body temperature had not gone down. Since she'd faced Lobelia, the rate of increase had slowed, but it was still climbing.
It would have been no surprise if she lost consciousness. In fact, it would have been normal. Licorice was not in a state to support her own body. She endured it by injecting herself with stimulants, forcibly keeping herself conscious so she could move her body.
And yet, she was talking. Telling us not to just stand there blankly. I started to call out to her but stopped myself. I didn't ask her why she hadn't attacked Lobelia, or why she only listened in silence.
So I didn't ask. Rather, I couldn't. Why did she hide her condition, what was she thinking, did she really know a way to solve the problem?
The reason I held back was because I was certain. If we couldn't give the monster what she wanted, I was sure the entire situation would be blown apart. So I hadn't acted recklessly. If things fell apart now, it would all be for nothing.
I hoped Licorice had a different certainty than me. Not merely fixating on defense, but a conviction that she could overcome this.
I only thought that for a moment. I changed my mind. She wasn't in a normal state to begin with. I shouldn't rely on her—I should make her rely on me.
Contrary to Licorice's expectations, Lobelia didn't seem interested in taking over her body. If she'd wanted, she could've done it anytime.
'Why is that?'
Is it because she knows about the restraint device? Or did she never intend to in the first place? Or could it be that the true purpose of the restraint device was different from what I understood?
I kept clenching and unclenching my fist, suddenly very aware of the device. Licorice once told me that sometimes you need to dream impossible dreams, especially when it concerned Lobelia.
Perhaps Licorice was...
"Let's go."
I forcibly ignored the thought that flickered through my mind as I passed what had once been Licorice's cradle. Just as she'd said, there was something else we needed to prioritize now.
"Nadia, let's move."
"Y-yeah! I'm coming! These two suddenly started gawking at things...!"
As Nadia passed where Lobelia had just been, she pulled along Multipurpose Unit 1 and Multipurpose Unit 2, who had been distracted by the strange devices scattered around.
We passed through the cradle and ran in a straight line to the central control room. Nothing blocked our way anymore. Every door was wide open, as if saying we should have an easy time going through.
Before long, we arrived at the entrance to the control room.
In front of the control room, there were completed barricades as well as partially set-up ones. Inside, everyone from the Myosotis group and others were spread out, desperately working to seize control of the system.
- Numerous attack craft launched from the pureblood supremacist fleet! We'll counter with armed drones!
"Focus on evasion rather than engagement! We need more ti—Hyun-woo! Nadia!"
Celestia, who'd been shouting into her communicator, responded as urgently as we rushed in. She quickly scanned us, and her eyes went wide when she saw Licorice. It was clear just by looking that Licorice was in bad shape.
Celestia didn't say anything, but asked many things with her eyes. What happened? But she decided finding a way to address the imminent threat was more important for now.
Licorice asked immediately.
"How much of the Archive's main system have you secured?"
"About sixty percent. The system is so vast, it's taking longer than expected to gain control."
Despite everyone except the three of us working on the Archive directly, progress was slow. Normally, the soldiers would've been used as sentries, but now, as if every pair of hands was needed, they were all stationed in front of the panels.
"At this rate, it'll take dozens of minutes more."
"That's too slow. There are pureblood supremacists swarming above us. If we take that long, we'll be dead already."
Licorice closed her eyes, calculated something in her head, and then opened them.
"Move aside. Those who are armed shouldn't hang around here. There's other work for you—block the enemy from sending in more reinforcements."
"Yes! Moving out right away!"
Canna answered energetically. She made moves to lead her team, Eric included. I wondered what would happen to the defense here if even Eric left, but apparently, I was meant to stay.
Licorice took a seat in front of a large panel. When she hovered her hand in the air, a countless number of holographic monitors emerged. Each one represented a log of the Archive's main system detecting, guiding, rejecting, or stopping any changes.
Maybe it was the stimulants, but Licorice's eyes scanned all the logs much faster than usual. As the log messages scrolled by, the main system control percentage climbed. The speed had definitely improved, but it was still too slow for her liking.
"Nadia, take your station. I need your help."
"... Ah, okay!"
Nadia's reply came a beat late. Her eyes were wide as saucers. She looked shocked. I was not much different. After all, this was the first time Licorice had ever called her by name.
No matter how many times we told her Nadia's name, she always called her Woof-woof, so hearing her suddenly say the name was oddly shocking.
Nadia was only confused by the alien system for a moment; she quickly picked up on how to use it and became solid support for Licorice. The logs started disappearing even faster, and system control accelerated.
That was when it happened. A Myosotis engineer shouted urgently.
"They're latching onto the Archive's outer wall!"
"...!"
My head snapped around at his outcry. The engineer shared the footage captured by the external camera. A hovering holographic screen appeared, showing swarms of pureblood supremacist troops sticking to the Archive like insects.
There were stolen military vehicles from the military base, heavily armed pureblood supremacists, and armed drones flying about frantically. If Canna saw this, she would be fuming at how all of that should have been ours.
KWAANG! KWAANG—!
A violent explosion erupted. The firepower unleashed by a group equipped with military gear and technology was anything but light. As weapons focused on destruction unleashed their power, it felt as if the Archive itself might shake.
I knew their attacks could not easily penetrate, but my mind would not calm itself. The thought that the wall could be breached at any moment filled my head.
"External wall damage increasing!"
"What are the turrets doing?! They came from above; why aren't they intercepting them?!"
"They can't! The defense system shut down while we were taking over the main system!"
"Switch priorities!"
Shouts verging on screams erupted everywhere. It was not that no one had combat experience, but the overwhelming numbers of the enemy were flustering them.
My nerves were on edge. I'd just stood in the way of Lobelia, perhaps the single most dangerous being. The heightened senses from that encounter refused to subside.
"Don't panic. This is a no-robot zone, remember? There's a reason we all came down in person. Just watch—a lot of them will shut down soon."
Celestia remained calm. People belatedly recalled that fact, and soon it became reality.
A red spark, as if lightning erupted from the ground, surged as external stimuli hit. Armored vehicles moving across the ground and low-flying assault shuttles began to emit ominous smoke.
Black smoke made long tails behind them. Some couldn't withstand the damage and exploded, while others lost power completely and their passenger troops scrambled out in a panic.
Those stuck to the Archive's outer wall were no exception. As if suddenly struck dead, some lost their footing and collapsed. Military vehicles, now inert, tumbled down, dragging several pureblood supremacists with them. They never got back up.
Those at low height survived, but had they been higher, the result would have been the same. Driven by the knowledge that we were here, the enemy had charged in recklessly. For us, that was a blessing in disguise.
With Licorice's system control—now at seventy-eight percent, thanks to Nadia's help—she spoke up.
"We've regained defensive system control. Activating now. But... the program won't boot perfectly at first, so someone has to set manual guidelines. Anyone available, come here."
"I'll do it!"
I was the only one with any hands to spare. Rather than waste others' time, it made sense for me to move.
I ran to the panel linked to the turrets. I placed my hand on the crystalline dome that rose from the floor right on cue.
It wasn't a traditional control stick, but it wasn't hard to use, so after a few movements I got the feel for it.
I lined up enemies in my crosshair. The turrets saw the same thing I did. They were intricate machines with built-in lances. A blue light began to rapidly gather at their sharp muzzles.
When the entire lance was shrouded in energy, I issued the fire command. Condensed energy became a blade and shot forth.
A blue line sliced through the air. The enemies at the end of it evaporated in its wake. As enemies vanished in chunks, cheers erupted inside the control room—for a moment.
It was only for a moment, because even more enemies were closing in.
This was a last stand.
We had to escape this damned Titan and reach Earth, while the pureblood supremacist group clearly had no intention of ever letting us go, having labeled us heretics.
Even if we escaped, the enemy would suffer little loss. The payoff hardly justified the massive force they were expending.
'Does it bother them that much that I'm a heretic?' That was probably what I'd thought before meeting Lobelia.
But I went further, speculating on why they were so persistent. In effect, the pureblood supremacist group was nothing but Lobelia's puppets.
According to Lobelia, I had been made from the relics of the Pilgrims' leader. The Pilgrims had been openly hostile toward the pureblood supremacists, even going beyond that to seal away the being they called Mother.
That hostility must go both ways. The two factions could not coexist in the same space. Only one side could be annihilated before the war would end—just like the desperate struggle we were fighting now.
'If there's a reason they must target me...'
It would be to recover the relic that made me and to deal with the changed Sprout. The pureblood supremacists were created by Lobelia, but I found it hard to see this as one of her plots. If she'd wanted that, her objective would already have been achieved.
This was more like her letting the leash slip loose for a moment. For her, the dire circumstances now unfolding were no more than a play staged for her amusement.
'Damn it.'
I couldn't bring myself to fully deny it. I repeated aiming and firing. As I shot down every enemy in sight, eventually the system fully awoke.
After that, I no longer needed to aim myself. The turrets began automatically tracking and firing at everything designated as the enemy.
"Defense system fully activated! Plasma turrets are now automatically intercepting targets!"
As the Archive's defense system began functioning in earnest, the pureblood supremacist fleet could no longer draw any closer. Yet they did not retreat.
The engagement entered a temporary lull. Albatross and Griffin barely managed to catch their breath. Repair drones rushed out to frantically repair the damaged outer armor.
It didn't last long. The pureblood supremacist fleet began circling the Archive from beyond effective range. Ready to pounce as soon as there was an opening, they rekindled their earlier momentum.
Then they poured in. An even larger force than before. Realizing they couldn't use complicated machines while the red spark persisted, they stuffed soldiers into assault containers and fired them directly.
Hundreds, at least. Although many burned up and crashed as the blue line passed, the interception rate of the Archive's plasma turrets was plummeting fast. Cooling couldn't keep up with overheating.
"Activate additional defense systems!"
"Impossible! The system isn't responding!"
In the end, the assault containers deployed, sticking to the Archive's outer wall. The red spark flashed over them, but unlike before, none of them fell.
Those numbers gradually increased, and the Archive's wall damage climbed ever higher. The thick composite special armor still held, but at this rate, it would inevitably be breached with time.
Now the equipment used by the pureblood supremacists was no ordinary weaponry. Beams of light reminiscent of those from the Blue Crystal ran across their equipment, sending out overwhelming energy-based firepower.
It was proof that while we searched for a way to escape Titan, the pureblood supremacists had not been idle. They had manufactured equipment by methods unknown to us—equipment that was effective against the Archive's armor. For us, it was disastrous.
Amidst all that, I slowly spoke up.
"Let them in."
"Sorry?"
"Open the doors on purpose. No, open all the external gates. Let as many of them in as possible."
"B-but if we do that...!"
The man was so flustered he couldn't finish his sentence. I understood how he felt, but I didn't change my mind.
"We know what's in here. They don't. What we've been up against is nothing. Only a tiny part of the stasis chamber system has been damaged."
If the walls were going to be breached anyway, it was far better to open the gates and steer them in the direction we wanted. Not to mention, we needed a clear escape route for ourselves.
"Let's make this place a living hell."
"... Initiating spatial encryption barrier release and stasis chamber system shutdown."
Soon, the seals on all of the Archive's Stasis Storage facilities were released. From the isolation sector, to the restricted sector, even the prohibited sector.
All the obstacles that had tripped us up so far would now, at last, become the walls protecting us.