City Series:Volume6d Chapter8

Chapter 8: The Ruin Rises

7/25/1943 02:03 – 05:51

Whether I can see anything

Or not

I know there is something

That I must do

Current Movements in Europe

Map bottom left box: Map of Europe

Top left dot: London

Top middle dot: Germania

Top right dot: Stalingrad

Center dot: Paris

Bottom dot: Sicily

Arrow from London to Germania: Allied Bombing Route

’43 marked the end of World War Two’s middle phase. In February ’43 on the Eastern European front, the Soviets earned a victory in German-occupied Stalingrad, giving them a foothold for retaking Kiev and Leningrad as well. In May ’43 on the North African front, the Germans surrendered after a long battle in El Alamein. This restricted Germany from the east, letting the Allies shift their focus to Western Europe.

Occupied France was the primary issue in Western Europe, but the government in exile and the Resistance worked for two years to assist the Allied landing in ‘44’s Operation Overlord.

In July ’43, the Allies landed in Sicily and Mussolini fell from power in the German ally of Italy. They surrendered in September, but the stationed German troops fiercely resisted and progress was slow.

At the time, the Allies had pushed back Germany’s outward expansion, but they had trouble with the German resistance on the European mainland. They were in fact fighting while searching for an opportunity to strike back against all of Europe.

Part 1

Hamburg was burning.

The bombers released chaff to hinder any counterattack and they focused on taking out the antiair guns and interception bases around Hamburg as they bombed a long strip through the city.

It was a big city. It was dotted with factories that produced bearings and other parts, so not even a bombing group of 1000 could destroy the entire place in a single night.

The first night was meant to clear a route for the later bombing groups to reach the city. The bombers’ payloads were mostly divine spell bombs intended to destroy the buildings on the interception bases, so they had few incendiary bombs too.

The bombs whistled down and shattered the city.

The downpour of bombs literally blasted holes in the old, stone city.

Fires burned across the city, smoke marred the sky, and sirens blared.

The entire city screamed into the sky.

Some were in a position that let them hear that scream and see the disaster.

They were on the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg base in the dark forest on the outskirts of the city. Bombs did fall on that base too, but if Hamburg was considered the star of the show, then the base was being treated like a bit part.

The aboveground portions of the base’s buildings were hammered by the bombs, but the underground portions weren’t so easily damaged.

The Geheimnis Agents had already removed all the supplies from the main facilities and temporarily placed it in the underground areas before they left to evacuate and assist the people of Hamburg.

The Hamburg base only had a small runway for emergencies, so they could not launch their interceptors. An antiair group led by Karl and his Drache Kanonen were firing from the surface and trucks were being sent out after being transported from below by elevators.

But two men faced each other at one point of the base, neither one evacuating or attacking.

They were Heiliger and Alfred.

Several armored transport trucks were lined up behind Heiliger.

Only Neue Kaiser and its broken chest armor was behind Alfred.

The base’s main gate was behind Neue Kaiser.

Heiliger stared at the white Grösse Panzer and its pilot and he spoke without forgetting about the bombs falling from the sky.

“Lieutenant, I will only say this once: clear the way. We must evacuate Hamburg’s citizens.”

Alfred said nothing. He only spread his legs a bit and stared at Heiliger.

Heiliger frowned and a bomb landed to his left. With a sound like a cracking whip, something on the ground ruptured and rubble flew into the sky.

Heiliger glanced over at it.

“Have you forgotten what we learned at-?”

“At Cologne last year?”

Alfred stared straight at Heiliger, sighed, and looked behind the other man.

A few Geheimnis Agents got out of the armored trucks lined up there. They were clearly worried about the falling bombs, but they walked in unison to gather behind Heiliger.

Alfred kept his unreadable expression, but he did glance over toward Hamburg.

The city, with its river appearing black in the night, had smoke rising from it as it burned.

“This is Cologne all over again. And from what I heard earlier, this bombing will last nearly a week.”

Someone else shouted over at Alfred, as if to drown out his voice.

“Alfred!”

It was Schweitzer. The large man parted the crowd to move out front.

His prosthetic arm moved the people in the front row and his enormous body followed.

He gave Heiliger a momentary look before stepping out in front of him too.

“Where is the Messiah!?”

“Our battle isn’t over yet. But it has shifted from the past to the present.”

Alfred did not even look at Schweitzer when he answered.

Schweitzer took a few more steps to reach Alfred’s right side and grabbed Alfred’s collar with his left hand.

He pulled him in close and started to say something with eyebrows raised.

“Forgive me,” said Alfred.

Alfred seemed to spin quickly to the left and then he swung his right fist with all his might. Schweitzer couldn’t block the blow with his left hand on Alfred’s collar, so it hit him hard.

After a pause, Schweitzer fell to his knees.

“…!”

He let go of Alfred’s collar, but his hand managed to grab the man’s shoulder instead.

Alfred brushed off that hand and looked only at Heiliger.

“What did Graham say at Cologne? It sounded to me like he said we should protect the people.”

“Lieutenant, those very people are dying in Hamburg as we speak.”

“If we rush there now, we can only save a handful of them. Is that all you can do? Is this your idea of atonement after failing to lift a finger when your own wife and daughter – two more of Germany’s people – were taken to the Heidenheim?”

“Lieutenant!”

Alfred brushed off that shout with a laugh.

“If you don’t like that idea, then how about this one? You’re treating all of us like fragile dolls as atonement for losing Graham and Rose at Cologne. You refuse to do anything that might risk injury or death in battle.”

“Do you have a problem with that!?”

That shout coincided with a bomb landing on Neue Kaiser’s left shoulder. Hot shrapnel flew out and poured down on them all like a red firework.

Alfred snatched a shard of red-hot metal out of the air as it fell in front of him.

He squeezed the smoking fragment in his hand.

“A Neue Kavalier is wasted if they cannot take any risks.”

And…

“A Neue Kavalier should protect the people and slay their enemy no matter the risk.”

“But what good are they dead? A dead man protects no one!”

Heiliger took a step forward.

Alfred spread his arms in response. The scorched and smoking piece of metal rested in his hand.

He met Heiliger’s gaze head on and spoke with absolute conviction.

“You hope this fight will kill you, don’t you?”

Then he looked to the Geheimnis Agents standing behind Heiliger.

“You’re all too afraid to fight. Is that because we’ve done nothing but chase after the Messiah? You think it takes a special chosen one to protect the world, don’t you? You think the world will end without that chosen one to protect us, don’t you?”

None of them answered. His questions were met by silence and stillness.

He ignored that and looked to the sky where the deadly rain continued to fall.

“Neue Kavaliers who don’t see death as one possible outcome deserve to be abandoned by the Messiah. We are supposed to become her power, not fear it.”

He looked back down, his blue eyes staring straight into Heiliger’s brown eyes.

He threw the piece of metal at Heiliger.

Heiliger’s Tragisch instantly moved, catching the metal in his right hand.

“Lieutenant, what do you hope to accomplish here?”

“I will destroy the enemy flagship. That should confuse their chain of command long enough for you to evacuate the people far from the city.”

“Is that your way?”

Alfred said nothing.

Heiliger looked to the metal in his hand and then sighed.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you fight?”

“Sir. Last year, it felt to me like your brother and sister were asking if any of us Neue Kavaliers really possess the strength to fight and protect the weak without letting any harm come to them.”

Heiliger looked up at the uncharacteristic formality of Alfred calling him “sir”.

Alfred smiled.

“I’m going to show the Messiah that we don’t need her to protect our country. But…”

He looked to the others.

“I also want to show her that we still want her with us to help us save the world.”

Alfred turned his back on them.

He looked up at Neue Kaiser just once and then at the large man kneeling next to him.

“Schweitzer.”

“…?”

“I will be back.”

“!”

Schweitzer tried to get up but grimaced in pain and doubled over.

Alfred began walking away and Schweitzer’s Der Held reached out toward him.

“––––––”

But it couldn’t reach.

Alfred kept walking and a few other footsteps joined him. Hearing that, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. The folded paper contained a golden ear of wheat.

“One day.”

His smile grew when he saw the wheat and he spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear.

“Once day. I swear it.”

Part 2

An aerial aircraft carrier’s bridge had gone silent.

The bridge was illuminated by the moon in the sky. Everyone there wore gray uniforms – the uniforms of the AIF.

No one said a word while their gray added another color to the pale blue moonlight and darker blue shadows.

The only noises were the blowing wind hitting the bridge and the ship’s own sounds.

Everyone’s eyes were turned the same direction: east. They looked through the blast-resistant glass surrounding the bridge to view the eastern night sky. They could no longer see the bombers in the subzero air.

Then one person on the bridge moved. The communications officer by the wall raised his head.

“The flagship is moving out front! We are changing formation!”

His voice was directed toward the captain’s seat located at the raised rear of the bridge, but the captain and aide there were joined by two others. A large man and a short woman sat on the edge of the raised platform for the captain’s chair.

They were Pale and Corelle.

Corelle sighed and clicked her tongue.

“So that flagship plans to spend the next week commanding this bombing while gathering data on air routes to Germania. I bet the Allies hope to use that to launch their ACBS.”

Once she was done talking, the flagship moved even further forward.

Then someone moved on the bridge again.

The same communications officer as before suddenly stood up with his hands against his headphones. He looked to the others and started to say something.

“––––––”

But then he turned back to his communications equipment.

“What is it?” asked the captain.

“We’re receiving a transmission using standard encryption on the AIF’s ordinary communications band.”

He fell silent for a few seconds more, but then he straightened his back and stood tall.

“It’s from the Schwarz Löwe! Hazel Mirildorf is contacting us from the Schwarz Löwe!!”

Part 3

Hazel heard Corelle’s voice from the communicator in Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit.

They held a conversation. She was using a throat microphone and headphones, so while the signal was staticky, none of the local noise got in the way. Corelle asked for her current location and time.

“I think we’re almost to the North Sea. The time is 3:17 AM. Dawn should come soon.”

“Then it will be morning bey the time you reach us, Hazel,” said Corelle through the headphones. “Can you hear me too, Berger? It’s about time for the German interceptors to pick a fight with tonight’s last bombing run. They’ll use the morning wind.”

“The wind?” asked Hazel.

“When the sun shines on the North Sea, a foggy wind sweeps in from east to west. They should use that fog for cover. Make sure you aren’t caught by them.”

Hazel nodded. Of course, Berger was the one piloting, but he hadn’t said a word this entire time.

…He must be really tired.

She knew he had another reason for his silence too. Schwarz Löwe was traveling back along the route the bombers had taken to travel north over Holland, but she was feeling more and more chilled the further they got from Germany.

…Because of the Lives.

She was certain now their bodies would not break apart. The serum would prevent that, so they could last at least a few days outside the country.

…I need to speak with so many people about so many things in that time.

“Berger. We need to reach the others.”

“We have something else to do first.”

For the first time this entire flight, his voice reached her over Schwarz Löwe’s speaking tube.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she heard him laugh weakly and raise his voice to a shout.

“Here he comes! It’s that supreme idiot!”

Part 4

The sky purpled with the approaching dawn while Neue Kaiser flew alongside Schwarz Löwe with about 200 yards between them.

A blue and red Panzer and five attack craft followed behind.

The Neue Kaiser sliced through the wind in that relative position and looked to Schwarz Löwe.

Schwarz Löwe stayed facing forward, not bothering to look Neue Kaiser’s way.

But Schwarz Löwe did ask a question.

“What do you hope to accomplish?”

“I will bring down the Allied flagship. You will lose if you do not stop me. If we can delay your side long enough, we can set up a defensive bombardment that will scatter your forces.”

“So you aren’t going to cut us down?”

“The Messiah said she would not run away. That is enough for me. I will leave her with you for now.”

Then Neue Kaiser flew out ahead.

It seemed to rocket forward through the air.

“Hazel Mirildorf! Watch and you will see the power of the knights meant to guide you!”

It flapped its wings, producing a roar of wind that struck Schwarz Löwe while it left them behind.

An Erklärung rang out.

“Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser – Ober Beweisen – Begin.”

The power to conquer, the power to defend, and the power to transform

Each is a distinct power

But the power to bind them all together

Is always found with the Emperor as the fourth agreement

Neue Kaiser began to glow. Bluish-white light surrounded its armor while it changed form.

This was its Ober Emblem.

Light surrounded its six wings and they transformed into a white dragon wings.

Schwarz Löwe followed after it in silence. It used its actions in place of words. Its broken right hand held Gelegenheit at the hip.

An Erklärung seemed to respond to that.

“The Messiah rides the winds of destiny.”

Immediately, Schwarz Löwe was carried by a gust of wind.

It soared in harmony with the wind while Neue Kaiser used its wings to break through the wind.

Schwarz Löwe’s acceleration grew and Neue Kaiser called back to it.

“Follow me!”

Part 5

Voices shouted back and forth on the AIF aircraft carrier’s bridge.

“Two crafts approaching from 30 miles away!” said the communications officer. “A German one out front and Schwarz Löwe in pursuit!”

Pale stood up and checked out the window. The flagship floating in the eastern sky was backing up toward them. Very rapidly.

An instruction came from the captain’s seat.

“Descend to 6000! The flagship will be passing through this airspace!”

Light raced out as if in response to that shout.

One of the escort ships positioned at a radius of 20 miles out had fired its long-range antiair cannon.

Pale frowned.

“That long-range one isn’t gonna hit.”

“I’m more worried about Hazel and Berger,” replied Corelle, still seated at his feet. “I need to greet them up on the deck.”

She stood up and gave Pale a “what about you?” look.

“I’ll stay here. The battle might fall apart, so we’ll send the ship to an intercept position.”

“You’re such a workaholic.”

Corelle smiled bitterly and walked toward the passageway from the bridge.

The communications officer shouted from behind her again.

“The enemy craft and the Schwarz Löwe are headed for our fleet’s defensive line!”

Part 6

<The Emperor strikes down his enemy.>

Neue Kaiser suddenly accelerated.

It was headed toward the group of interceptors up ahead.

The fat gray planes with a black line painted on the top were P-47 Thunderbolts. They were the latest model, just put into service.

There were a lot of them, but Neue Kaiser intended to break through the center.

It accelerated forward and broke the sound barrier in only a few seconds.

Water vapor exploded and a white umbrella ruptured in the purple sky as the white Grösse Panzer flew forward.

The wind roared.

Behind it, Schwarz Löwe also accelerated.

<The Messiah accompanies destiny.>

The black and white broke through the air and raced forward with only a moment’s time lag between them.

The white continued to transform in front of the black.

It was evolving.

Its Ober Emblem used the pilot’s willpower to give its body the most suitable form for the battlefield.

<The Emperor never stops.>

Its armor grew sharper and its white wings grew larger and longer.

It flew. It flapped its six metal wings, blasting the wind behind it.

It flew forward.

White vapor trailed behind the sharp points of its armor, forming clouds.

The white Grösse Panzer drew out its own path with clouds.

Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings more quickly to try and catch up.

Its armor groaned and the frame below audibly bent.

It was approaching its limit. Both of them had long since passed their intended top speed.

But the enemy was coming all the same.

Up ahead, a formation of four planes approached from the left. Their circling path would allow them to attack and immediately escape.

The bullets arrived as soon as the four started showing their bellies.

In that instant, Neue Kaiser vanished within a white shadow. Its supersonic maneuvering had changed the momentum and shape of the front shockwave and the air around it had burst.

It fully spread its wings and blew away the bursting air while raising its own voice.

“Ah.”

With that voice, it swung a giant pillar of light to either side.

The attack was made before the bullets could even arrive and it was more than 100 yards long.

It blew away the enemy bullets and the four enemy crafts that were showing their bellies as they began their turn to escape.

The Thunderbolts’ bonds crumbled and a few armor panels stripped away.

They were all slapped by supersonic air resistance and inertia.

They tumbled backwards and broke apart.

Their engines broke from their frames, their wings broke off at the base, and they simply fell apart in the sky.

Neue Kaiser swung its sword again to break through the raining components and continue forward.

“Sir Alfred!” shouted the red Grösse Panzer behind it.

“Stay back, Nein! You be my witness! Witness to the fact that I showed the Messiah the power needed to guide her!”

Neue Kaiser did not look back. Nor did Schwarz Löwe.

The wind stood in their way like a wall, but they flew through it all the same.

Several long-range antiair Drache Kanonen fired at them like pillars of light.

The beams audibly scorched the air and passed either in front of or behind them.

Nevertheless, Neue Kaiser accelerated.

Its wings responded to the speed by evolving. All so it could continue onward and bring down its enemy.

A Drache Kanone arrived on a collision course from dead ahead.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!”

The white sword sliced through it and the dragon light turned to spray.

Neue Kaiser shouted without slowing.

“Berger!”

Hundreds of white lines were drawn in the sky ahead as the enemy bullets flew in.

These weren’t from long-range weapons any longer – they were midrange divine spell bullets.

“Watch carefully!!”

Neue Kaiser flapped its wings.

With the first flap, it suddenly launched upwards.

It tilted forward in midair, placed its left hand on empty air, and then spun forward.

It performed a flip similar to a cartwheel and fully spread its six wings.

Wind erupted from the wings as the white Panzer performed its supersonic flip. Once its feet were below it again, it took a crouching landing stance. In that upright position, it flapped its wings to resume accelerating.

“––––!”

A great wind rushed out as it more ran than flew toward the incoming bullets.

Smoke burst from its overworked leg and hip thrusters. It used his still-evolving wings to glide through the sky and then twisted as if sliding to the side.

“Come!”

<The Messiah will not defile destiny.>

Schwarz Löwe roared.

Both Panzer’s flew right into the barrage.

Neue Kaiser used its legs to spin, sway, and slip past the countless destructive spears. It bent its upright body to just barely remain untouched despite its large size.

It looked like a dance.

Behind it, Schwarz Löwe focused only on the bullets arriving from head on and escaped them using its speed.

It twisted its body, swung its arms, tilted its body, and twirled.

Its armor groaned and the inertia of its spiraling movement damaged its left arm. The arm that corresponded to Berger’s prosthetic arm broke halfway up.

It used a single flap of its wings to correct its attitude.

The two Panzers used their speed to continue forward.

They passed through the barrage of bullets.

Behind them, the bullets collided with each other and exploded.

The explosions made a lot of noise, but that noise couldn’t keep up with them.

They left the wall of light behind them and raced through the sky.

They couldn’t even hear the blowing wind. Hazel simply used the radio to shout the name of what she saw in front of them.

“The flagship!”

They were less than 10 miles from it.

Neue Kaiser flapped its wings.

Schwarz Löwe’s armor creaked and groaned as it tried to catch up.

Neue Kaiser’s Ober Emblem gathered ether around its broken chest and created new armor there.

Neue Kaiser flew, accelerated, and evolved while Schwarz Löwe shouted and accelerated.

But the two Panzers were beginning to pull apart.

Little by little, Neue Kaiser was moving further out ahead.

Close-range antiair fire flew in from the flagship.

The gunfire’s control mechanism was used to predict the target’s trajectory, but the two Panzers flew too quickly for the mechanical calculations to keep up.

The antiair fire covered the stormy sky, but none of it could catch up.

The entire flagship came into view.

Left behind by Neue Kaiser, Schwarz Löwe narrowed the light in its sight devices. The view of the flagship had suddenly grown much clearer.

That was thanks to the sunlight. Dawn had arrived.

The sunlight shined bright in the sky above the flagship and shined on the six-winged machine out ahead.

Then an easterly wind blew in.

That was the morning wind. The sunlight spurred the air into motion, getting the entire sky to move as a powerful wind.

First, the wind blew in a white fog.

The damp North Sea air was shaken, producing thin clouds.

That instantly produced a wavy ocean of clouds below them, blocking their downward view.

“Berger!” shouted Hazel.

“I haven’t lost it!”

The flagship disappeared into the mist, but Neue Kaiser knew where it was. As did Schwarz Löwe.

Schwarz Löwe blasted the fog backwards and whipped up a powerful wind as it raced forward.

Ahead, Neue Kaiser glittered in the sunlight shining up through the clouds.

Its white color had changed to a faint gold.

That color came from the sunlight shining on it through the fog.

It was dyed by the foggy sunlight as it raced above the fog.

Part 7

Hazel looked out ahead by linking her Messiah eye to Schwarz Löwe’s vision.

Neue Kaiser was pulling further ahead with the sky growing blue overhead.

That blue sky sat above thick fog instead of solid ground and that fog was dyed in the color of warm sunlight.

Several waves ran through the golden fog spread out below Neue Kaiser.

Hazel confirmed it all using Schwarz Löwe’s vision.

Neue Kaiser was flying above the flat expanse of gold.

“The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north / The knight descends as a knight.”

Hazel gasped and Schwarz Löwe roared.

Her vision suddenly shot forward. She also saw Gelegenheit’s black blade sticking out in front of her vision.

The golden coloration up ahead was erased.

The fog disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

And she saw a giant metal ship below.

The white Grösse Panzer raised its sword and a white power gathered in the blade.

“Messiah and Destiny!” shouted Neue Kaiser. “We will one day be your power!”

The last-ditch antiair fire from below missed its mark.

That was when Schwarz Löwe caught up. It prepared to fight in midair, but its right leg finally succumbed to its accumulated damage and the air resistance, so it broke off at the knee and scattered parts through the sky. But Schwarz Löwe still managed to swing Gelegenheit.

Just then, Neue Kaiser looked back toward Schwarz Löwe.

Its face was now covered by armor that looked half dragon and half machine and the light of its sight devices weakened slightly.

“–––––”

Without a word, it detached its wings and left them behind.

“No!”

Hazel flinched back when she saw the six wings expanding in the center of her vision.

Gelegenheit’s attack slammed straight into the center of the wings.

The white Grösse Panzer had sacrificed its wings before flying straight down toward the flagship’s bridge.

Directly above the bridge was a blind spot for the flagship’s antiair fire, so none of the frantically fired shots could hit Neue Kaiser.

Neue Kaiser forcefully raised its sword Werkzeug.

Then a single beam of light shot up from below, piercing Neue Kaiser’s chest.

Part 8

The light came from below the flagship. It came from the one and only sub dragon cannon loaded on the AIF aircraft carrier that had descended there.

After being pierced through the chest, Neue Kaiser was briefly frozen in place, so the surrounding escort ships concentrated their antiair weaponry on it.

Neue Kaiser raised its voice just before all that firepower could reach it.

“Ah,” was all it said.

That voice produced a bright light, sent a great power racing out, and instantly obliterated the flagship bridge below it.

A deep roar shook the air, the flagship shook, and then a second roar burst into the air.

The concentrated antiair fire had hit Neue Kaiser, causing it to explode in the morning sky.

The gunfire ceased, the wind calmed, and the Grösse Panzer produced two deafening explosions in the otherwise quiet air.

Nothing remained in the sky except for the lingering noise.

The sun rising in the east shined on only one Grösse Panzer now.

The black Grösse Panzer missing its right leg and left arm was Schwarz Löwe.

It lowered its head and stayed entirely still in the chilly wind.

It hovered there all alone.

Part 9

A single low noise filled a deep cylindrical pit.

It came from the walkway at the very top of the Babel Cannon base inside Tristan.

<Lowenzahn sits in front of the base.>

She sat on the Babel Cannon’s control panel. The same control panel with the hole left by Tragisch on its left side.

She was not alone. Heiliger with his two prosthetic arms stood in front of her.

“The evacuation of Hamburg is mostly complete…but Neue Kaiser has yet to return.”

“Does Captain Hellard intend to wait forever for the lieutenant’s return to Hamburg?”

“Are you saying he is dead?” asked Heiliger, his head lowered.

“Yes, unfortunately,” replied Lowenzahn. “And he taught you so much.” She smiled and changed the subject. “Anyway, your incompetent commander failed to capture the Messiah last year and allowed her to escape this time. What’s my punishment?”

“…”

“You need to set an example. And only the second-in-command has the right to punish the commander.”

“What are you suggesting I do? I was there when you were born.”

“I have my reasons for this.” Lowenzahn got down from the control panel, her feet sounding on the floor. “Listen carefully. Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen boosts Tristan’s power.”

“–––––!?”

The hem of Heiliger’s coat swished as he turned toward her.

She did not look back his way and took a step forward.

“Connect me to the machine beyond the glass above this control panel and Neue Erde becomes a piece of Tristan and not just a piece of me. Did you know that?”

“Is that what you want as a punishment? To be made into a component for Tristan?”

She took another step. And another.

“You do know the Allies are planning to send anxiety Tons into Germany, right? What if I told you that would begin a scenario leading to the end of the world?”

“A scenario?”

She did not answer that question.

She only pulled a memo pad from her pocket.

“I have something neat to show you: the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project.”

She handed that to Heiliger and took another step.

He viewed the memo pad that had a pale gray cover.

Its edges were filthy and worn. When he opened it…

“The prophecies.”

“Yes. That contains all of my prophecies…and my corrections to them.”

“What does that matter?”

“Think about it. What if I wasn’t really the one to prophesy them? What if I just copied them from somewhere else and tried desperately to correct them as things changed?”

He frowned and viewed the memo pad again. He noticed the date on the very first page.

“1926.”

“The year my mother died. The mother who you, Graham, and Bertecht fought over before losing to my father.”

She took yet another step, arriving in front of the railing. The wind from below blew at her hair.

“My mother apparently made a promise with the four of you long ago. A promise very similar to one in the Unreif Germane.”

“…”

“She wanted you to remain true to yourselves.”

He looked up from the memo pad to view her.

She did not look back. She kept her hands on the railing.

“If you are still keeping that promise, then the world will correct itself. If you read that through to the end, you will know all too well what is about to happen to the world. And why I must be made a part of Tristan.”

“Lowenzahn.”

She looked back with confusion on her face.

He looked her in the eye.

“Are you saying these prophecies were made by…?”

“Yes, they were made by my mother.”

“By Frobel!?”

“Yes. Because I wasn’t a prophet. Because I was just an ordinary girl.”

She didn’t hesitate to respond and she leaned back against the railing.

He fell silent and she smiled at his unreadable expression.

“I told Hellard I was through lying, so I’ll tell you the truth.” She took a breath. “Before my mother died, she left all her future prophecies with me. She told me it was my duty to ensure they came true. She said that would save the world and it would ensure everyone took good care of a weak and sickly girl like me.”

“I don’t believe it…”

He rubbed his other hand through his gray hair.

“You don’t have to believe it, but Graham and Rose both knew about this.”

“…!?”

“They tried to do something to change it and failed. They fought back against destiny and failed to change anything. They fought to protect people and only ended up hurting people. …But what will you do, Heiliger?”

He did not answer her.

He remained silent.

Seeing that, she relaxed her expression. She sighed and leaned even more against the railing.

“Again, you don’t have to believe me. I know you’ll play your role either way.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“My mother said so. She said Heiliger Karlsruhe is a man who will obey the destiny assigned to him. Check those prophecies. They even predict you losing your wife and daughter.” She smiled bitterly. “She told me not to tell you about it even though I knew it was coming. She said telling you would throw destiny off track and bring ruin to us all.”

She looked away from him and faced forward to view the control panel.

She looked through the glass window installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 1 yard wide and 2 yards tall.

“My mother also prophesied that I would go in there.”

“And you want me to do it?”

She shook her head.

“No. She wasn’t that cruel to you. That’s the one thing she didn’t ask of you. …Read that memo pad, Heiliger. Then you will understand everything.”

She swayed her upper body away from the railing behind her.

She doubled over and sank down.

“Sigh.”

Then she stood back up and leaned back again.

“I’m so tired.”

She kept leaning until she started to tilt backwards.

“So tired of guiding everything toward the answers my mother gave me.”

She did not stop her tilt.

She moved past the railing, her long braided hair trailing after her.

Her body slipped fully past the railing and her legs followed her into the abyss.

“Lowenzahn!”

Heiliger reached out his hand, but she did not grab it.

She simply fell. She looked back up just once, meeting Heiliger’s gaze and smiling.

Her braid came undone and her hair spread out in the air.

The long hair slowly drew out a spiral as it spread and fell.

He grabbed the railing and started to call out to her as she fell.

But…

<Lowenzahn disappears from view.>

<Heiliger stands alone in front of the control panel.>

He raised his sweaty head.

“An Erklärung!?”

No one answered him, so he took a look around.

There was no one here. Only him.

He quickly looked down to his hand, but the memo pad Lowenzahn had given him was no longer in Tragisch’s hand.

“…”

He took a deep breath in and out. He gathered the tension in his body as he took another look around. He let out a gradual sigh, but still he saw no one.

“Lowenzahn.”

His voice was drowned out by a sudden low noise.

The deep, low noise came from the Babel Cannon base in front of him.

He reflexively jumped a step back and then saw a memo pad sitting on the control panel. It was the same one Lowenzahn had given him before.

“It can’t be…”

Sweat dripped from his brow to his chin.

He slowly looked up to the glass window above the control panel.

Through the glass, he saw thick metal and plastic pipes lined up like internal organs.

He did not see Lowenzahn there.

But he did see something odd growing from between the forest of pipes: a hand.

It was a slender feminine right hand. The full forearm and hand stuck out from the slight gap between two pipes to reach toward the glass surface. The skin was pale and glossy like waxwork.

That was Lowenzahn’s hand. When he saw it, his body crumpled below him.

“–––––!”

He had to place his hands on the control panel to stay standing. The edge of the panel dented in with a dull metallic sound and the memo pad fell to the floor, but he did not look down.

His eyes were glued to Lowenzahn’s hand held out toward the glass surface.

Something odd sat in its palm: an ear of wheat.

She held a single ear of golden wheat.

Deep sounds began to fill his surroundings, causing the wheat to vibrate slightly.

Tristan was having its power boosted.

Heiliger opened his mouth among the deep rumblings.

“I see.”

He viewed the wheat not with anger or sorrow, but with a smile.

But that smile was not just an ordinary smile. His eyebrows drooped and he hung his head while he smiled.

He repeated the same words as even more rumblings permeated his surroundings.

“I see…”

He placed his prosthetic left hand on his right shoulder, looked down, and saw the memo pad on the floor.

Tristan gave an even louder cry in front of him, but he ignored that and said one more thing no one else would ever hear.

“Must everything I love vanish before my eyes?”

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