86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 11: Dies Passionis

THE CAUTION DRONES

“Dammit…!”

“Fenrir Twenty-Eight, fall back,” Shin said. “The rest of the Vánagandrs, too. You have too many blind spots, so if you stay in a battlefield where you can’t tell civilians apart from self-propelled mines—”

“Don’t be stupid, Strike Package man!”
the Vánagandr pilot snapped back at him.
“You Eighty-Six, you might be trained for handling the Legion, but don’t push yourselves and fall back! You might be used to death, but you’re not trained to protect lives! Especially not when you have to see hundreds of people burning alive!”

“…”

A cannon roared. The now seven-legged Vánagandr fired a 120 mm shell that gouged a Dinosauria’s flank, stalling it. It likely noticed it was locked on to by the Vánagandr, but it still persistently blew fire at the civilians.

These Shepherds clearly prioritized slaughtering the Republic civilians over their targeting or being wary of the Vánagandrs and Reginleifs. Dinosauria were the strongest of all polypedal tanks and were certainly built to oppose targets of the same class as themselves. Normally, handling Reginleifs and Vánagandrs would be their top priority. But instead, they chased down humans, which were like flies to them.

The Legion’s tactics always mechanically eliminated the enemy’s
units, starting with ones that had the highest threat level. But what they were doing now was an illogical subversion of their tactics.

So naturally, this coupled with the Legion being on level ground meant the Reginleifs eliminated the force of Dinosauria much faster than usual. The Shepherds’ central processors turned to silvery butterflies that flew off into the night sky. Like the dead peacefully ascending to the afterlife now that they had no more regrets left.

Frederica once said that the Legion didn’t toy with their human victims. And indeed, they never should have done so. But…

“You’ll go that far…?!” said Shin.

They were willing to become mechanical ghosts and then even ignore the Legion’s own logic.

Shin gritted his teeth tightly. He knew this would eventually happen. Ever since the large-scale offensive, and even as far back as the Eighty-Sixth Sector. He knew this would happen, and this was why he didn’t choose revenge.

Even without the Eighty-Six trying to get back at the Republic, the Legion would someday inevitably destroy it. He knew they didn’t need to stoop to dirtying their own hands to do it… He even said so to Lena once, with a cruel smile.

—Would you be able to keep fighting after we’re gone?

—You wouldn’t…

He’d mocked the Republic’s people, who wouldn’t fight to protect themselves. Like unsightly living things.

But that didn’t mean…this gruesome sight was what he, what they all wished for back then.

The Reginleif’s 88 mm cannon and the Vánagandr’s 120 mm cannon downed the Dinosauria. These were the strongest of all mass-produced Legion types, but since they prioritized butchering the Republic civilians, hunting them down was easy for the experienced Eighty-Six and Federacy soldiers.

But each time they destroyed a Dinosauria, butterflies would flutter
away. The Legion’s Liquid Micromachine central processors transformed to these butterflies, which dispersed and escaped. This was the immortalization of the Legion, first observed in the Phönix and later seen in the Noctiluca and the Halcyon.

Cheating death through a feat tantamount to melting one’s brain and storing it away in countless small bottles was a terrible act no sane mind could withstand. It stood as proof of the madness gripping these once-human Shepherds.

Shuddering in fear of what had become of their former comrades, the Eighty-Six looked up at the flock of butterflies in silence.

“All units—what are you doing?! Don’t let them get away!” their Queen scolded them.

At her admonishment, the Reginleif artillery prepared to fire incendiary rounds. But…

“Colonel, it’s no good. They’re using human shields!”

“Kuh…”

…the Dinosauria were in the middle of the crowd, and they couldn’t afford to fire incendiary rounds in that situation. The Shepherds relishing in slaughter escaped composedly, casting a final glance at the Reginleifs and their Queen, who was gritting her teeth.

Rito tried to impact “Aldrecht” using all four of his 57 mm anti-armor pile drivers, but with how the Dinosauria throttled him about, he ended up hitting the wrong spot, and the sturdy Legion survived.

He shook Rito off, knocking his unit down. When he hopped back up, he began fighting in reckless abandon. He fired 88 mm cannon shells repeatedly, destroying “Aldrecht’s” leg joints and blowing off his two revolving machine guns. He destroyed his optical sensor with machine-gun fire and coiled his wire anchor around his main turret, getting in the way of its movements.

Reeling the wire back, Rito once again clung to the top of the turret. But even now, “Aldrecht” remained adamant, aiming not at Milan but at the surrounding Republic civilians. He shot them dead, swept them
through with his turret, firing his armaments savagely even with his legs broken and optical sensor blinded.

It was so excessive that Rito had to switch on the external speaker and repeatedly shout until his throat was hoarse, ordering the civilians to run because they were in the way.

At the end of a long struggle, he finally fixed his main gun against the scarred top of the turret and fired.

“Haah, haah, haah, haah…”

He hopped off the burning, smoking Dinosauria, catching his labored breath as he landed on the flagstones crushed by their death match. Aldrecht was destroyed, but his Liquid Micromachines did not escape as argent butterflies.

The moment the butterflies formed, they were caught by the flickering flames’ lapping tongues and burned away. They couldn’t escape.

It was because the projectile Rito fired at him was an 88 mm HEAT shell. High-temperature and high-velocity metal jet blew up inside “Aldrecht’s” armor, burning him to a crisp.

“Lieutenant…”

Shin had told him he had a wife and daughter. Rito told him the details of Aldrecht’s final moments after the United Kingdom operation, since Shin said he wanted to know his final moments, too. And after that, Shin shared what he knew.

About how he’d come to the Eighty-Sixth Sector to protect his wife and daughter himself but failed, left behind by their passing.

Aldrecht was actually an Alba, so his daughter likely had silver hair or eyes.

…Was that why? It probably was. It must have been.

A young Alba woman who had sunk to the ground shivering near Milan finally looked up. She had silver hair and eyes—one of the Republic citizens Rito loathed so much.

At the very end, “Aldrecht” had tried to crush this young woman, but he couldn’t do it. He’d swung his leg up but froze and couldn’t swing it down. And that opening was what let Rito cling to him.

She looked up at Milan, shaking, as the red light of the flames
emerging from “Aldrecht” lit up half of her face. Still unable to get up, she managed to say: