City Series:Volume6D

Cover

Title Page[edit]

Right:

City Series

Panzerpolis Berlin 4 1943

Left: Welcome to the path to the past – to the festival of beginnings.

Bottom: By Kawakami Minoru

Characters[edit]

Name: Heiliger

Heiliger’s bottom text:

Tragedy

Tragedy is a qualification for strength.

Name: Lehrer

Lehrer’s bottom text:

The past leads to the future.

Central text:

Nordrich Himmer (North Sea Sky) – The Golden Morning Breeze

The North Sea’s morning breeze creates foggy clouds for a short period and those clouds are dyed a warm gold by the morning sun.

For less than half a minute, the sky looks like a heavenly field, but the real question is whether you view that sky as a battlefield or as a view of heaven.

Maschine[edit]

Bottom right text:

Knight

A Knight is a bearer of strength.

Top left text:

Explanation

1. Neue Kaiser – Probably the world’s most immature Heavy Barrel.

2. Neue Blau – Carries a rifle. Kind of skinny.

3. Neue Zinnobar – Carries a shield. A bit plump.

Landkarte[edit]

Box:

Explanation

Brown: Residential Area. Includes ordinary roads and empty lots.

Green: Green Area. European cities have a lot of forest parks and Germania has areas of green and water both inside and on the outskirts.

Blue: Water Area. Some of the surrounding rivers have been dammed to provide water for Germania.

Dark Gray: Main Roads. Most notably the autobahn.

Black: Empty Area. Holes drilled into Germania’s surface layer. Used for ventilation and for transport routes in and out.

White: Ventilation and Defense Trenches. Largescale trenches used to circulate air between underground and aboveground. Creates updrafts.

Light Gray: Airport. Mostly government controlled at this point. Either that or half-government and half-civilian controlled.

Red: Vaterland. Used to provide Germania with Phlogiston fuel.

Purple: Tristan: The Geheimnis Agency’s HQ and used to boost the Vaterlands around the world. Generates the dome.

Newspaper[edit]

Unreif Germane[edit]

1

“This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.”

In the deep darkness of the Black Forest

Born from the abyss

The wheel emerges

It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon

It reads the wind and weeps

It carries power in its hand and hesitates

2

“One day, a young man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. The young man referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.”

The one-armed youth holds the Messiah

The moonlit pair returns to the earth

The dragons gather and dance tonight

Every last thing returns home

3

“The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.”

The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes / The people move / The dragon roars

The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north

The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon

All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall

4

“A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.”

Follow the path to a familiar face

While walking side by side

Your hand and voice might reach them

But the moon sees it not

The gatherers begin their party

A wall separates the pair

As they follow the same path with the same words

5

“Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled for the first time. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.”

The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather

The bride weeps uncrowned / Her words go unsaid and he never arrives

Thus she is alone / She weeps and sleeps in this land

6

“The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace.”

7

“The Messiah wept.”

“She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts. Not even the country’s top jester could manage it. Nor could the wolves and dragons of the forest, the mountains, the rivers, or the wind.”

8

“But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.”

9

“Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.”

10

Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new

All hesitation will come to an end up ahead

Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new

Throw out all hesitation and look back

The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new

All hesitation exists to tear through that wall

“The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.”

Panzerpolis Berlin 4 1943[edit]

I keep having this dream.

It starts with the five poems and tells their story.

A different version of me plays the main role each time, but it always ends the same.

I know it always has a sad ending, but I see it through to the end each time. Because I no longer think of this as a nightmare.

I can tell by the fact that I hear a sixth poem when the dream ends.

Unlike the five that tell the story of the dream, this one imagines what comes next. It feels like someone shouting from behind a distant wall, trying to tell us something. It is a poem meant to break free of that tearful night.

That poem is what tells me this dream is not a nightmare.

Opening Quote[edit]

“Prince, what you are, you are through chance and birth; what I am, I am through my own labor. There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven.”

-Beethoven’s words upon leaving the home of his patron, Prince Lichnowsky

Prologue: The Ruin Prepares[edit]

7/23/1943 23:43 – 23:57

With a crash

I’m off to Germania!

Germania[edit]

Germania is Berlin reborn as a sturdy fortress city with a six-level structure.

The surface is the Old City Level. The greenery, historical structures, and surface military facilities remain there.

The 1st level down is the Primary Factory Level. It contains civilian production factories to meet the city’s industrial demands.

The 2nd level down is the Civilian Residential Level. Most of old Berlin’s citizens were moved here.

The 3rd level down is the Warehouse Level. Excess civilian and military products are brought here. The railroad and other transportation facilities are mostly found here, so it also acts as Germania’s connection to the outside world.

The 4th level down is the Military Factory Level. The widest and most spacious level. It also contains the central control for the ventilation equipment that sends the stale air up to the surface.

The 5th and final level down is the Government and Military Base Level. It only contains the command equipment needed to manage all the government and military bases across Germany, a minimal residential space, and a shelter for VIPs.

These underground levels and Tristan on the surface are known as Panzerpolis Germania.

Part 1[edit]

The northern stars were scattered through the sky.

Below, a shadowy forest covered the ground.

Pale scarlet lights sat on the border between heaven and earth.

Those were city lights.

A massive structure stretched skywards past those lights.

It was a cross. A giant cross that seemed to pierce the sky. It stood in the darkness found past the scarlet lights, but the white umbrella of clouds surrounding the top of the cross was visible even in that darkness.

Those clouds were suddenly blown away by a whirlwind whipped up by something within.

It came with a sound.

A high-pitched metallic sound rang from the cross and spread in every direction.

That sound reached the forest, where it was answered by the stirring of the birds.

That stirring was followed by a change in the sky near the cross.

An umbrella of faint scarlet light appeared there.

The hemisphere sat at the top of the cross like an upside-down bowl and it grew from there.

After only a moment, the umbrella had grown into a dome large enough to cover the sky. The cross and the city lights in front of it were both contained below the umbrella.

The noise from the cross stopped, but a noise came from the umbrella instead.

The blowing wind crashed into the umbrella, producing a loud noise.

The umbrella did not even budge and the low, quiet, muffled noise continued without end.

The deep noise resembled a groan of agony as it filled the surrounding forest.

The shadowy trees accepted that noise.

But there was one part of the forest that ignored the noise and the shadows.

Scarlet lights ensured the trees cast no shadows on that part of the forest.

It was a long, straight clearing that contained several railroad tracks.

The trains traveling those tracks were always producing rhythmic metallic sounds.

A train whistle sounded as a train arrived on the leftmost track.

The forest shadows were eliminated by the train’s light.

Its light and noise were directed toward the lights of the city.

The train racing through the forest was a large plain steam engine freight train. The very front was equipped with somewhat sharpened black steel and it was pulling 15 cars loaded with freight containers.

The conductor’s compartment was empty and the wreckage of armored trucks was caught around the bottom of the train. That was the result of breaking through an inspection point.

The conductorless train’s power continued to increase, adding on more speed.

Meanwhile, someone was climbing onto the roof of the very last car.

After moving from the metal ladder on the side to the roof itself, the city lights illuminated her.

The woman stood up and faced the city.

She was skinny and colored red, black, and gold.

Her coat and skirt fluttering in the wind were the red and black. Her long hair dancing in the wind was the gold.

She added a new color to the mix with the scarlet lights and black sky behind her.

That was the gray of the sword Device she had drawn in her right hand.

She walked forward with the sword hanging at her side and she viewed the city. She brushed back her golden hair and directed her eyes dead ahead. The left eye was a brown feline one and the right one was a blue human one.

She narrowed her eyes to sharpen her gaze and observe the city more carefully.

“I managed to steal this Germania-bound train after I was found in Potsdam, but I had to leave my luggage behind in the station locker.”

The locker’s small key was attached to the choker she wore around her neck.

She stared forward.

As the train drew closer, she started to get a better view of the city sitting below the glowing umbrella.

The shape of the city came into view at the end of the straight-line railroad. As did the giant cross standing beyond the city.

She looked up at that umbrella opened in the sky.

“The Panzerpolis Project turned Berlin into Germania to fight the ruin said to be arriving in August.”

She lowered her gaze and viewed the cross through the racing wind.

“That cross is the new Geheimnis Agency HQ and the generator for that dome. It is called Tristan and it is actually a massive word accelerator that provides remote pressurization for the Vaterlands built in their allied countries.”

Her gaze continued to lower until it pierced the city at the cross’s feet.

The dark city’s shape could be made out from the position of the slowly approaching scarlet lights, but that shape was unusual. There were areas where the shadows cast by the buildings were nowhere to be found.

She shut her eyes when she noticed those empty areas.

“My school and our home don’t exist anymore, do they?”

Her words were swept away by the wind and answered by a noise behind her.

It was a whistle.

“Pursuit!?”

She turned back and her feline eye spotted a light. A train’s light.

A train was racing toward her along the exact same track.

It was a military armored train painted black.

It was fast.

“It’s catching up!”

Part 2[edit]

At that speed, it would crash into her in less than thirty seconds.

The armored train’s silhouette was sharp and low. It even had what looked like a ram.

Someone was visible atop the light on the front of the train.

It was a fat elderly man. The black coat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division looked about to burst on him and he pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow.

From a distance of only about 100 yards, the smiling eyes behind his round glasses met with hers.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief Herbert Müller.”

Müller bowed like he was bending his body at the hips. But when he straightened back up, he lost his balance in the strong wind and nearly toppled backwards.

The woman cried out and nearly took a step forward on the instinctual urge to help him.

But he regained his balance at the last moment, planted his feet firmly atop the light, and held out both hands to stop her.

“Your concern is unwarranted, Hazel Mirildorf, our Messiah.”

“Is it? Then goodbye.”

She smiled and bowed before turning around and starting to run. She heard a sound behind her after a few steps.

The pursuing train had blown its whistle, but she ignored that long, high-pitched tone and pumped her arms to continue running.

…They’re planning to ram me!

She pushed through the wind to step on the rivets and gain a few more steps.

She heard a loud crash behind her and the train shook back and forth below her.

A moment later, the train shook up and down.

The pursuing train had crashed into hers.

But what she heard next was not just that. The sounds of splitting metal, tearing steel, and popping screws and rivets never seemed to end. The symphony of destruction played without rest.

Hazel continued running but looked back toward that music to see the armored train breaking through the freight container to pursue her.

“They can do that!?”

She kept running. It was a race between her legs running atop the containers and the armored train breaking through the containers.

The din of breaking metal crashed into her back.

She sprinted with her feet clanging loud against the container roofs.

She crossed the 14th, 13th, and 12th cars with the night wind fighting her the entire way.

One after another, she heard those three cars torn to pieces behind her.

She looked around her and saw the forest and ground rushing by.

Confirming that she could not jump off of the train, she ran across the 11th, 10th, and 9th cars.

The din behind her accelerated. The armored train was getting closer.

She pumped her arms harder and accelerated. She jumped from the 8th car to the 7th, whipping up the wind as she soared between them.

As soon as she was off the 8th car, its rear was tossed upwards by the armored train’s ram.

It broke down the center with the sound of shattering glass.

Hazel’s feet landed on the 7th car’s roof and she immediately resumed running.

At the same time, the 8th car’s link with the 7th was torn apart and it was thrown from the tracks.

It landed in the forest to the left.

That was so loud Hazel actually looked back in time to see the armored train’s snout covered in container wreckage.

She reached into her coat’s inner pocket to find something while running.

Her fingers touched an envelope and a plastic container similar to a pencil case. That and the Wheel of Destiny card. The case was engraved with the words “A.L.A. Case-A”.

…That’s the ampule needed to heal Berger’s Lives disease.

“He’s supposed to be in a safehouse located in the central library of Germania’s surface section.”

She left the case in her pocket.

“I left the spare in my luggage at Potsdam Station. I need to get this one to him.”

She sped up her pace, leaping to the 6th car.

“…!”

She jumped high, her skirt fluttering around her legs while she took a look around her and gripped her sword in both hands.

She saw blue Lives in the wind blowing at her hair.

She pierced them with her sword and listened to the train’s sound reaching her from the containers.

She heard the sound of the wheels, of the creaking and straining frame, and of the exterior slicing through the wind.

She also saw the containers’ Lives.

Their tempo was a quick staccato similar to the wheels on the track. Their tone color was the gray of metal and weight.

A Tuner could use their Device to access the message carried by Lives and transform the object itself.

And Hazel Mirildorf was a Tuner.

So she raised her voice, providing the Up used when tuning.

“300,000 Lives racing below my feet and 120,000 Lives traversing the sky – you are the powerful voices that carry so much weight and the charming voices that dance and play. Can you hear the voice of my Lives!?”

When she landed on the 6th car, she jabbed her toes down and twirled to the left to face backwards.

There she saw the armored train preparing to devour the 7th car.

She readied herself juts as 6 empty Phlogiston cartridges were ejected from her sword Device.

“Ah,” sang the blade as its tip aimed toward the 7th car’s container.

She performed a Tune strike.

The transformation only took an instant. She sliced through the freight container with a tense sound and its Lives were given the message provided by her Device.

The freight container’s Lives were rewritten, instantly turning it into a giant spear.

That mass of piercing force was made of steel and wind and it was at least 8 yards long.

As soon as the spear was born, it launched forward with the sound of blowing wind.

The angled armor covering the front surface of the armored train could not deflect it.

With a single sound of breaking metal, the spear broke through the black metal and used its gale-like thrust to pierced the engine.

The spear underwent a further change inside the train.

It became birds.

The Live transformation given to the wind Lives was released after a time delay.

Steel birds carrying the will of the wind took flight in search of the outside.

Unable to contain the scattering birds within it, the locomotive swelled out like a balloon.

Finally, its armor could no longer handle the inner pressure and it exploded before Hazel’s eyes.

The ultra-heavy locomotive sent the force of its explosion in every direction, leaving very little of it left afterwards.

Several hundred metal-gray birds took flight among that destruction.

The flock of birds flew into the sky, closely followed by the roar of mechanical destruction.

Only the lower chassis and the frame that had supported the upper armor remained.

Müller had been on the locomotive, but he had jumped back to the roof of the next car.

The train exited the forest.

Part 3[edit]

They entered a field with the scarlet lights of Germania shining in behind it.

Hazel kept her back on that pale light, readied her sword, and took a breath. She faced Müller.

Müller’s train had nothing to propel it anymore, so the gap between it and Hazel’s freight train started to grow.

But Hazel did not take her eyes off of him.

There was no concern on his face.

As if to answer her gaze, he raised his right hand, twisted the fingers, and snapped them.

“Next.”

A great roar descended from the sky. The scream-like roar belonged to a propulsion device tearing through the air.

…An aircraft this near the dome!?

Germania sat behind her. The light of the dome was about a mile tall, starting from an altitude of about 30 yards, and it was a solid enough barrier to withstand an aerial bombing.

And after leaving the forest, Hazel’s train was crossing the field between the forest and Germania. She was less than half a mile from the city.

An aircraft was approaching the train while so close to the dome.

“That’s crazy.”

Hazel looked up to see said craziness.

Not just one but four fighters were approaching in the night sky behind Müller where the Tuned birds still flew.

They were rapidly descending like falcons swooping down at her.

The roar reached her for just a moment.

The four fighters took a curving touch-and-go course where they immediately scattered and ascended again.

But they dropped something from their wings while sending a blast of wind down at her.

There were eight in all.

They were people. The dropping silhouettes wore the combat uniforms of Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division paratroopers and all four of their limbs were prosthetic. They held long hexagonal rods as weapons. Hazel knew who they had to be.

“Hounds!?”

“Indeed,” replied Müller. “They are a rapid response team meant to combat the Allied Heidengeist special forces.”

The Hounds had descended at the midpoint between the two trains.

The eight of them landed near simultaneously and made a gentle leap forward with their very first step.

But from there, they began to sprint. They ducked low and kicked off the ground to pick up speed.

Their running speed soon matched the velocity of Hazel’s train and then surpassed it.

She gulped.

Her instinct to get away from them made her look back over her shoulder.

She saw a city there.

Germania.

If she traveled with the wind for just a few more hundred yards, she would pass the 10-yard-wide defensive trench surrounding the city, which doubled as a ventilation band around Germania, and she would enter the city from the southeast.

But past the shimmering heat rising from that trench, she saw a hole.

The massive hole looked like a vast cliff.

The hole was about 3 miles wide. The city dropped off into a precipice there and more city could be faintly seen through the haze on the distant other side of the hole.

…Is the southeastern part of old Berlin just gone? That used to be Schöneberg.

For Germania’s layered structure, all the movable structures had been moved underground. The primarily residential 3-mile borough of Schöneberg and several other boroughs had been sent underground.

…That must be why parts of the city looked empty from a distance.

The track next to hers began to slowly descend. That one went to Germania’s 1st underground level.

Her own track would cross the hole supported by wires and pillars and reach Germania’s surface level.

Once on the elevated portion across the hole, she would have nowhere to run.

The tops of the containers would be the only space available to her.

She knew she had to hurry, so she muttered a man’s name and turned her body toward the front of the train.

Just then, she saw a metal hand circle in from behind her.

“What!?”

She rolled forward, hopped back to her feet, and looked back to see one of the Hounds had gotten on the train’s roof at some point. He had tried to grab her from behind just now.

He advanced without letting the momentum of his arm affect his balance.

Hazel moved away and then ran toward the front of the train while still looking behind her.

She checked on the enemy. She saw the armored train on the elevated railway and six Hounds chasing after her train.

…Six!?

She immediately lowered her hips.

Something grazed the top of her head. It was a metal right hand that had swooped in from behind.

Another one had arrived from behind her.

“Quit sneaking up on me!”

She hurriedly moved to the right.

Then she leaped backwards, flying past the man who had attacked her from behind, and leaped again.

The two men were already pursuing her a moment later.

They each held their hexagonal rod with the hand opposite their partner. They were ready to jab with those if she tried to jump down.

She sprinted while looking back. She kept her center of gravity low so she could attack at a moment’s notice.

…I don’t have time for this.

She wanted to deliver that envelope and ampule as soon as possible.

Her impatience shifted her focus away from her feet, so her right boot caught on a rivet in the top of the container. It shifted the angle of her heel just a bit.

The stumble wouldn’t normally have mattered, but here…

“Oh.”

The one leg crumbled below her. She staggered for a few steps, the hem of her skirt caught on the corner of a hatch on top of the container, and she fell.

At the same moment, the train arrived below the dome and entered the city.

Part 4[edit]

The train rushed out from the cliff-like edge of the inner wall and into the empty space beyond. It continued across the great hole with only the elevated track to support it. Hazel’s eyes were turned toward the back of the train. She saw it all play out from that direction.

Still fallen on the container roof, she saw Germania’s surrounding wall growing more distant.

Germania’s inner wall had been cut away like a cliff face and it was covered in cement and metal.

But the approaching enemy did not give her a chance to get a better look.

There were two of them.

She pulled her knees together to prepare for them.

…My skirt.

It was still caught in the container’s hatch.

The enemy was approaching fast, their solid footsteps sounding loud.

…I need to do something!

When looking up at them, she saw her savior illuminated by the scarlet lights in Germania’s night sky.

The metal birds flew there. Since she had Tuned the flock, they didn’t want to stray far from her and remained overhead.

“Come to me!” she shouted, swinging her Device in mere moments.

The only way to get her voice to the flying birds was to strike the wind Lives.

At the same time, the wind roared in the sky.

A shadow fell toward the roof where Hazel sat. It was dark enough to blot out Germania’s scarlet lights.

Something had appeared overhead.

The approaching men glanced up at the shadow falling toward them.

“–––––!?”

They stopped to look up at it.

An entire freight container hung in the sky above.

That was the 7th container Hazel had Tuned earlier. The Tuning had been removed, so the birds had returned to their original form.

Gravitational acceleration pulled the heavy object straight down.

In less than a second, the train car dropped between Hazel and the two men, erasing them from her view. The great pressure of the impact was enough to break through the train’s roof and the rest of the car too.

“Kyah!”

The train car below Hazel was broken in two.

She heard a chorus of breaking and bending metal as the roof below her was launched high into the air.

She clung to the roof to ensure she wasn’t stripped from it.

The front half of the car landed again.

It bounced a bit, but the wheels found the track again.

With a sound like a brass instrument being kicked over, the freight train corrected its position and resumed moving.

Moving forward.

Hazel saw the 7th car stabbing into the elevated track like a stake. It blocked the way like a gravestone and it grew smaller in her vision as the freight train left it behind.

…Now they can’t continue pursuit.

She started to work at getting her skirt untangled from the container hatch, but she was interrupted when the 7th car suddenly ruptured down the center.

“Eh?”

Hazel saw a powerful blow strike the 7th car from the other side, blasting a hole in it and knocking it away. And it didn’t stop there.

She heard a series of heavy bursting sounds that felt like they were hitting her in the gut.

This was artillery fire.

The vertical 7th car was utterly destroyed.

The wreckage was swept out of the way to reveal only a voice at first.

The voice belonged to “Standhaft” Herbert Müller.

“Next.”

After pushing away the wreckage of the 7th car, the armored truck traveled slowly but surely forward on nothing but inertia. Müller and the 6 Hounds stood atop it. As did…

“A Grösse Panzer!”

Behind Müller, the 2nd container’s roof split in half and opened to the sides.

A gray Panzer stood up from within. The long shaft it held was a single-shot 75mm Grösse Panzer anti-tank cannon measuring more than 8 yards long.

The cannon fired without warning.

A crimson bullet encased in shimmering heat flew toward Hazel who was still seated on her train’s roof.

She didn’t even have time to scream.

Accelerated by the long barrel, the bullet pierced not her but the freight train below her.

Part 5[edit]

The bullet passed through the center of the train and its shockwave caused the train’s sides to rupture outwards.

This wasn’t just the 6th car Hazel sat atop of. She gasped and looked back to see the 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st cars spewing smoke from their ruptured sides doors.

“The locomotive too!?”

Her question was immediately answered by the locomotive rupturing after its steam engine was pierced through from behind.

The explosion blew away the side of the elevated track, sending concrete rubble scattering into the abyss.

Steam smoke erupted out, creating a boiling sound and some mist. Metal shards flew through the mist.

But Hazel’s ears picked up a strange sound among the many destructive sounds.

It sounded like the strumming of a string instrument.

“It can’t be.”

She looked up while still down on the roof. She could see the pillars supporting the elevated track and the array of metal wires more than a foot thick that extended from those.

The thick wire the train had just passed by had snapped along with its support wires.

As the train continued along the track, the wires supporting that track snapped from the base one by one.

They each produced an unbearable sound in turn.

“This can’t be happening.”

Sensing danger, Hazel looked to the enemy. The armored train carrying the Grösse Panzer had finally come to a stop and the six soldiers were running toward her along the track.

She started to move in response.

“Oops.”

But her skirt was still stuck and she ended up tripping.

“Really?” she complained, tearing the hem of her skirt with her sword Device and freeing herself.

Meanwhile, the first of the six enemies caught up and leaped toward her.

Seeing him use the power of his prosthetic legs to jump high, she made a hasty retreat.

He landed in the spot she had just vacated and immediately continued forward.

Hazel threw herself toward him shoulder first.

Tearing her skirt let her move her leg out much further than before. It felt indecent to her, but it let her deliver a sword strike to the enemy right as he landed and started forward.

He must have expected her to run away because he quickly tried to use an evasion Erklärung.

<Our->

But he stopped himself.

…Eh?

He ended his rewriting of this space, which confused Hazel.

…Why? Did he give up on dodging?

But Hazel didn’t let her doubt stop her from attacking with the back of her blade.

She frowned after the blow landed and knocked him from the running train.

“Why did he stop his Erklärung?”

Then she noticed something strange about the entire battle. She realized something had been missing all this time.

…None of them have used an Erklärung.

The Panzerpolis Project was complete and Germania was the center of its Erklärung power.

“But it’s more like they’re trying to test me- !?”

All of a sudden, her vision tilted to the left.

The support wires were snapping mostly on one side, so the elevated railroad had started tilting.

The wires continued to snap as the train advanced and the remaining 5 enemies rushed toward the tilting train.

In the short time before they arrived, Hazel looked around. From atop the leftward tilting roof, the hole leading underground was to her left and the dome supported by the giant cross was to her right.

Everything was so large here.

After a brief look at the cross to her right, she looked down toward the underground levels.

Each consecutive level was about 100 yards thick and there was a 300 yard gap between each one.

The second level was a factory district covered by gray roofs. That level had holes in it as well, providing glimpses of the residential district on the third level. The wind contained a slight smoky scent.

“…”

Hazel silently looked to the shaking and snapping wires overhead.

Then she heard another artillery blast.

It was aimed at the locomotive that was coasting on inertia even after its boiler was destroyed.

The shell hit the bottom of the locomotive, toppling it to the right.

The link to the next car did not break, so the 1st container car rolled onto its side on the elevated railroad.

The rolling propagated back, taking the 2nd and 3rd cars with it.

The container below Hazel was affected too, so it tilted below her.

In that moment, Hazel saw the swaying wire overhead and made up her mind.

…There’s only one way to escape this.

She leaped.

Leftward. Off of the elevated railroad.

Part 6[edit]

“––––––!?”

The five pursuing men shouted in confusion when Hazel leaped.

But she ignored them. She twisted around, opened her left hand, and stretched it upwards while soaring through empty air.

One of the wires supporting the railroad was there. It dangled from one of the massive pillars supporting the side of Germania’s 1st level and it was 400 yards long and an inch thick.

Those thinner wires were used to support the main wires that were a few feet thick. At the moment, several of them were swaying rapidly over the 3mile hole that was once Schöneberg.

One of them was swaying like a pendulum thanks to the inertial force of its snapping tension and she managed to grab it like it was a solid branch.

Then the wire’s inertial force tugged her away.

Its pull sent her flying through the wind.

The wind shook the locker key attached to her choker, tickling her throat.

The wire swung rapidly in a somewhat elliptical path. Extrapolating out the rest of the pendulum-like path, she could tell this arc would bring her right up alongside the interior wall.

…I can either leave or go to Kreuzberg.

Kreuzberg was located east of the hole that was once Schöneberg and it had been left intact since Tempelhof Airbase was located there. Her best bet was to switch to another wire that took her there.

She squeezed the wire in her left hand.

There was nothing below her. If she fell from this long swing, she would die.

She understood that as she looked to the enemy.

Back atop the elevated railroad 200 yards away and growing, the 5 men threw out their hexagonal rods and drew the rifles on their backs. The guns were of unusually large caliber, so they likely fired nets for capturing a target.

Her wire had nearly reached a 45 degree angle on its approach toward Germania’s inner wall.

Once she reached that wall, she would only be able to move in a straight line to the side, which would make her a nice target for snipers.

Sensing an updraft as she approached that wall, Hazel searched for the next wire.

She found it.

A few dozen yards to the east, a long wire was grazing the inner wall as it swung eastward. If she jumped to that one, she could reach Kreuzberg.

But her inertia was in the wrong direction and it was a long way away. If she mistimed her jump, she would fall and die. But before that, she also had to avoid the sniper fire.

…What do I do?

Her doubts were interrupted by five gunshots from the elevated railroad.

When she saw five white nets expanding in the air out of the corner of her eye, she made up her mind.

She tensed her left arm a little and gathered the inertial force inside her.

She was nearly to the wall and the wire had grown taut. She chose that moment to let go.

She felt a floating sensation before her feet forcefully landed on the inner wall.

She stood and ran along the wall.

Her body was tilted 45 degrees, but she used the inertial force pressing her against the wall to run along the wall. She crouched low and ran like a cat. She extended her ducking body and swung her arms to accelerate.

“–––––!”

She felt a heavy sensation, like she was peeling herself from the wall to run.

She ran forward to reach the wire that was swinging toward Kreuzberg too quickly to easily see.

The nets were about to reach her from behind.

All five of them were approaching, so she swung her sword outwards with both hands.

She sliced through the nets before they could capture her and they hit the wall behind her instead.

She kept running.

The wire she wanted was approaching fast.

But the wire ended its approach toward the wall and began to move away.

Meanwhile, she was slowly slipping away from the wall. She was losing her inertial force.

She had to hurry or she would miss it and then fall.

Her refusal to let that happen pushed her feet even faster.

The time had come to use every last ounce of strength.

She planted her feet on the slight uneven parts of the wall and raced forward.

And she leaped.

She reached her hand out and her left hand’s fingers touched the bottom of the wire.

She grabbed it and it snatched her away into the empty air.

But her grip was weak. She only had it in her thumb, index finger, and middle finger.

If she didn’t hold it in her palm, the inertia of the swing would tear it from her hand.

Three fingers weren’t enough to support her weight and the wind resistance on her clothing.

She didn’t hesitate. She stuck her right hand – which still held her sword – into her coat’s inner pocket, grabbed the ampule case, the envelope, and the Wheel of Destiny card, and placed them in her mouth.

Then she inserted the blade tip in through her collar and down the arm hole toward the left hand holding the wire.

…Hurry!

The inertial weight on her fingers was growing.

She felt the panic growing with it, but her right hand moved slowly and calmly to sweep the sword outwards from within her left sleeve. With a tearing of cloth, her coat and blouse’s split left sleeve fell to her side.

Her left arm was now bare from hand to armpit.

She felt the chill of the wind on it while she looked down.

There was nothing there.

If she fell, she would die. She openly accepted that thought.

A moment later, she began to Alter. She let the convection of steam surround her while gathering all her strength in her left arm to pull herself up.

Then the air exploded at the bottom of the wire.

Two things burst from the white smoke and steam explosion.

One was a collection of falling objects: Hazel’s clothing and her sword Device.

The other was the wire continuing to swing like a pendulum. Hazel was no longer there at the bottom. Instead, a cat was clinging to it.

The cat’s left eye was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye. She wore a choker with a key attached and she held an ampule case and an envelope in her mouth.

The wire swung to the east, carrying the cat and the cat’s baggage with it.

Chapter 1: The Ruin Activates[edit]

7/24/1943 04:01 – 04:15

Reunions are a cause for joy

But

Not always

AIF Personnel[edit]

Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier)

An AIF Tuner. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist.

Dog Berger (AIF Soldier?)

M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Used to help people escape Germany, but joined the AIF in ’42. Wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit.

Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division)

Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards.

Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader)

Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger.

M. Schrier (AIF General Commander)

The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor.

Lehrer (AIF Spy)

A female spy in Borderson, Germany.

Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian)

M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. A hard puncher.

Part 1[edit]

The sun shined down through a dry easterly wind.

With the blue sky above and the red ground below, the wind arrived at some white and gray structures.

The gray was a long runway and the white were the several buildings at the end.

The wind swept across the white letters spelling out “USIF Arizona – Area 001” on the runway.

The wind crashed into a building, making its white wall creak before blowing in through the windows.

There were no lights on within the large space inside.

The wooden building was the mess hall for the AIF’s US branch. There weren’t many people inside. But the wind passed ticklishly between the few people who were there and then gently settled down.

At the same time, the clock on the north counter began to ring on the hour.

It rang four times.

The loud ringing was joined by the rustling of dry clothing.

The ten or so people in the mess hall were all wearing gray military uniforms and they were now headed toward the counter. Toward the table placed below the clock on the counter.

Their eyes all gathered on the table for a brief moment. The table was big enough for eight, but only two people sat at it. They sat on opposite sides, facing each other.

One was a large elderly man. He had short, gray hair and two prosthetic arms.

The other was a well-built middle-aged woman. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a green flight jacket.

Several cards were lined up in front of the woman.

She spoke while viewing the face up cards.

“Two weeks have passed since Hazel accepted that request from the Allies. Do you think she arrived in Germania today? To give Berger his orders from the Allies.”

The man nodded once and then raised his right arm to place it on the table.

The table creaked below the large metal prosthetic.

But he ignored that as he extended a metal finger to tap one of the lined-up cards.

It depicted a group of people in black with another person standing above them holding seven reddish-black stars.

“Corelle, what’s this card?”

“I know you know that already, Pale. It’s Noisy Card #5, the Disavatar. Those are the people above Hazel.”

Pale pulled his arm back, frowned, and crossed his arms.

Corelle hit him with more words.

“I get that the Allies want Berger’s help as a guide for their bombing of Hamburg on the 24th. After the success of Cologne, why wouldn’t they? But doesn’t it seem odd for the Allied European HQ to personally name Hazel as the one to send that dumbass his orders?”

“…”

Pale said nothing and Corelle stared at him with puzzlement in her eyes.

He kept his frown as he looked back at her with his one eye.

She shrugged.

“There’s something else I’ve found odd. Pale, ever since you returned from Borderson last year, you’ve been awfully interested in that girl.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“When you’re in your fifties, it makes you look like a pedophile.”

“Sounds like you want to die.”

“I’m only kidding. You’re supposed to laugh at women’s jokes even when they aren’t any good. It’s called being polite.” Corelle gathered up the cards on the table. “But back to Hazel and her current mission. Ever since Borderson last year, I get the feeling you and M. Schrier have been hiding something about her.”

“Me? What would I be hiding about the AIF’s best Tuner?”

His response was answered by a solid clack as Corelle tapped the deck of cards against the table to straighten them out.

The pleasant but neurotic sound repeated itself a few times as she asked a question.

“I know the Geheimnis Agency is doing everything they can to get their hands on Hazel. But she isn’t stupid. Even if they do abduct her, she’s already made up her mind about what to fight against and what to follow in this war. She’s not a little kitten who will do whatever someone tells her to do.”

“But it would invigorate them if they acquired their Messiah.”

“So you want to eliminate that possibility? What a lame excuse.”

Corelle’s expression changed from confusion to a smile.

She took a quick glance around at the soldiers looking their way.

“Everyone here has had their life saved or been rescued from a tight spot by Hazel’s Tuning on more than one mission. She’s done a bang-up job ever since she survived Cologne last year.” The smile left her face. “Why don’t you trust the woman who has done so much for the AIF, Pale? Do you have reason to think Hazel of all people would betray her beliefs and oppose us if the Geheimnis Agency got her?”

Pale said nothing, but that didn’t stop Corelle.

“I hear you and M. Schrier negotiated with the Allies to keep Hazel away from Germania, but the Allies hinted they would refuse to let us join any future operations if we didn’t send her. Why was the bet raised so high over just one Tuner?”

“Don’t believe all the silly rumors you hear.”

“Hazel is too easygoing for her own good, so it’s up to the older generation to worry for her. …She was ecstatic that she could bring Berger the serum for those Live bullets. She legitimately thinks she will simply hand that off to Berger and then be rescued by an Allied aircraft on the Swiss border.”

“…”

“I hear the Allies have already contacted Berger once and they chose a hideout in Germania for their rendezvous point. He’s expecting ‘a contact’ to arrive with his orders the day after he arrives at the hideout.”

Corelle paused there.

She looked away from Pale and at her left hand holding the cards.

“Why were the Allies so insistent on Hazel doing this? Why were you and M. Schrier so insistent on hiding her? Is this about the bombing of Hamburg? Is it to keep her out of the Geheimnis Agency’s clutches? Or-”

“I can tell you one thing.” Pale cut her off. “M. Schrier and I are not in league with the Allies here.”

“In that case,” said Corelle, pulling a card from the deck. She flipped it upside down and slammed it onto the table in front of her. “M. Schrier told me something this morning. Operation Gomorrah, the upcoming bombing of Hamburg, is an experiment for the bombing of Germania planned for August. The data acquired there will be used for the ACBS being developed by the Allies and for the new bomb being developed at Detroit.”

She viewed the card in front of her.

“With every tick of the clock, we approach the moment in August when the world’s History Lives end. He said if I have the will to fight the destiny I’ve seen in the cards, I need to join the Allied 8th Aerial Fleet as a support craft during Operation Gomorrah.”

“The will to fight?” echoed Pale.

Several other sounds filled the mess hall then.

The sounds of chairs moving and of people standing, walking, and running.

Among it all, Corelle placed the card on her hand.

She flipped it over.

A ring of people had formed around them and they groaned when they saw it.

It depicted a naked man and woman sleeping back to back on a waveless beach.

“Noisy Card #13, Laziness. It indicates stagnation and decline.”

“Are you saying that’s our fate?” asked Pale.

He was answered by some sighs in the surrounding people, but Corelle smiled a little.

“Don’t be silly, Pale. I’m the only one who flipped it over just now. This is my destiny – our destiny. But…listen, Pale. If you can turn us into a proper team, then we can change this destiny. Add your own destiny on top of this, and you can change it.” She took a breath. “Pale, tell us about this secret of yours. I want to see our destiny when it includes you.”

Pale viewed the card in front of him and Corelle continued speaking.

“If you do that, then we can create something else. Are you interested in changing our destiny?”

Without answering, Pale suddenly flipped the card upside down again.

He gave an uninterested snort, but he did flip it face up again.

The image hadn’t changed. The surrounding ring of people gasped. But…

“I knew I could count on you,” said Corelle.

The card’s image slowly changed before her eyes.

The change started at the bottom. First, the ocean vanished and a lion was drawn in its place. A hand was holding down the lion’s head. The hand belonged to a young woman and she was holding a sword in her other hand.

“Harmonic Card #5, Strength. The lion and the dragon are both symbols of the Geheimnis Agency.”

With that, Corelle stood up. Pale did the same.

An uncertain stir ran through the ring of people.

Corelle turned toward them and raised her voice.

“What are you loafing around for!? It’s time to go meet the bearer of the Wheel of Destiny!”

Part 2[edit]

Germanian nights were bright.

The lights of the underground levels joined together to shine up on the surface and the dome shined down from the sky.

The dome was formed by a giant cross.

The cross was located in northwest Germania, just to the side of Tegel Airport. The dome spread from there and it covered more than just Germania itself. It also covered the bases situated around the city and Germania’s own management bases.

It was a powerful protective umbrella.

A single pair of eyes looked up at it from the center of Germania’s 1st level.

That central area had been left intact because it included so many historical structures. The pair of eyes was located in Berlin Central University located in the very center of that central area.

A large road passed through the university’s main gate and trees were planted along the sidewalks on either side.

The owner of those eyes was crouched at the base of one of those broadleaf trees.

The large man wore a black combat coat. He was big in general, but the prosthetic arm sticking out from his right shoulder was especially noticeable. Big and blocky were the best words for him.

On the solid-looking face below his close-cropped blond hair, two blue eyes looked up into the sky.

His left hand held a thick wooden staff. It was the staff he launched from the cannon attached to his prosthetic arm.

Small maintenance tools were scattered around him like toys.

But he didn’t do anything with the staff or the tools. He simply viewed the sky.

Until a scratchy voice reached him from behind.

“Hey, Hellard. You’re wide open out here, buddy.”

Hearing his name, Hellard Schweitzer turned toward the voice.

The red gem on the earring he wore on the left ear caught the light as he turned.

A man stood within arm’s reach.

Schweitzer was crouched down, so he first saw legs wearing army pants and boots.

Then he saw a combat vest with all the pockets bulging and a hand holding a long sword.

His gaze continued up to find a slender face surrounded by long hair.

Schweitzer frowned when he saw that face.

“Do not sneak up on me, Alfred.”

His chiding received no response and Alfred pulled a small battlefield sheet from a vest pocket. He used just the one hand to unfold the green sheet on the ground next to Schweitzer and sat in it.

“I received word the Messiah has entered the library in cat form. Not long now until we move in to capture her and transfer her to Hamburg Base and the Ton lab there.”

“Yes, we can inject German Tons into her there.” Schweitzer nodded but also frowned a little. “But I never imagined Berger would be hiding out here.”

“Agreed. It sounds like it wasn’t you, me, or Marsch that the director-”

Alfred stopped himself from finishing that thought.

Schweitzer said something else instead.

“Stopping Berger is going to be a challenge. I saw the photo taken of him entering the library. He walks subtly differently now. He must have spent the last year training himself.”

“Just the last year? So have I. I’ve been training myself nonstop ever since Cologne.”

Schweitzer’s eyebrows rose a bit at the mention of Cologne.

Seeing that, Alfred smiled thinly in realization.

“I’m fine. Lady Lillie is at work searching for any remains at the Requiem’s crash site, but…I feel like the gentle greenery there this time of year may be enough to let her rest in peace.”

Alfred ended his statement by pulling something like a bookmark from his pocket.

He held it up so Schweitzer could see it was an ear of wheat held between a folded piece of paper.

The paper had a few letters written on it and a range of dates: 1942 – 1943.

“I heard this was sent as a present to the people invited to last year’s wedding.”

Schweitzer silently nodded and pulled an identical item from his pocket.

He stroked the ear of wheat with a finger.

“I saw green ears growing in the Borderson wheat fields last year. These are likely from there.”

“I don’t get Heidengeists. An ear from a field of golden wheat sounds nice, but in Europe, a land of golden wheat is reminiscent of Valhalla. It’s a bad omen,” complained Alfred, sticking the wheat back in his pocket.

Schweitzer smiled bitterly when he saw that.

“It’s just like you to question it but still carry it with you.”

“The owner’s memory Tons reside in things like this. …We need that.”

Alfred twisted around and reached his left hand out to touch the earring on Schweitzer’s left ear.

“By this point, my ring and your earring are probably soaked more with our memories than hers.” He pulled his hand back and looked to the wheat in Schweitzer’s hand. “It’s ironic, really. If their wheat is growing this well, Borderson must have plenty of food while the war rages on. But once the war ends, Germany will be in need of resources no matter who wins. Food in particular is always necessary after a war.”

“It would be ironic if Borderson’s wheat ended up saving the country.”

“Right? So are those golden fields a part of Valhalla or are they salvation in the real world?”

Alfred sighed.

He looked dejected, almost like he had just remembered something unpleasant.

“Come to think of it, I noticed another irony recently.” He crossed his arms. “About our savior, the Messiah, who arrived here tonight.”

“You mean that the Allies used her to carry their plans? That is ironic, I suppose.”

Schweitzer barely seemed to care, so Alfred lowered his voice.

“What’s with you? I’m saying the Allies have basically sent the Messiah to us.” He sighed. “And I heard we gave them data on our Wort Bombe in exchange. Is that really a good idea?”

Schweitzer did not immediately respond. First, he inserted the staff into his right hand’s cannon. And…

“Those political issues are none of our concern.”

“But did you know the Allies are using information on our auto-ramming ship leaked from Poland in order to build something they call an ACBS? We are in trouble if they load a Wort Bombe on that, Hellard.”

Schweitzer said nothing, letting Alfred’s words wash over him.

He slotted the bottom of the staff into place within his prosthetic arm and locked it with a twist. Then he locked the other end in place by tightening the screws on the ejection point sticking out from his elbow.

The sound of the metal fitting together was joined by Alfred’s sighing voice.

“Schweitzer, the scales of this war are already tilting. And I’m not just talking about the Sofort Lesers around the world finding they can’t read any History Tons past August. We’ve been forced to withdraw from the USSR and the Allies have landed in Sicily. A lot of people have already died, like in Cologne.”

“So you’re wondering why they even need to set up some trick using the Messiah?”

Alfred just about said something on reflex, but he silently nodded instead.

“Try to contain your anger,” said Schweitzer. “Development Division Chief Elrich and the rest of us are working around the clock to stabilize Tristan. The Panzerpolis Project is complete, Germania is well fortified, and the Vaterlands around the world are being boosted, so we and the military will have an easier time fighting and escaping death than previously. Also,” he added. “If we can inject German Tons inside the captured Messiah at Hamburg Base, she cannot escape us again. Then Lowenzahn will work to convince her personally. …We will do everything in our power.” Alfred did not respond. Instead, he sang a song.

The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes /The people move /The dragon roars

The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north

The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon

All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall

He sang with a gentle but lingering rhythm.

“Lowenzahn’s latest prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon. I was pretty disappointed when I first heard it.”

“Why?”

“We’re here to capture the Messiah, but that prophecy is clearly about a wind from the north. That probably means another bombing like that last one. So…our mission here isn’t protected by our commander’s prophecy. I doubt this is going to go well.”

“You worry too much. The emperor should trust in the new world, if you ask me.”

“But the emperor is a symbol of the old world. Creating a new world is the hero’s job.” He laughed quietly, folding up the sheet and standing up. “Ha ha. Oops. When did I start complaining so much?”

“Hard to say. Was it when you started working for Heiliger?”

“Don’t make fun, Hellard. That was probably part of it, but not all of it. I…” He thought for a moment and then took a much more serious tone. “I don’t think I believe in this Messiah who travels with destiny. When I saw her escape with destiny four years ago…I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eryngium eight years ago.”

Schweitzer looked up at that.

He viewed Alfred’s face. Alfred was smiling while looking up at the giant cross called Tristan. There was no mockery or irony in that smile. It was a powerful smile with eyebrows raised.

Alfred opened his lips a crack while smiling up at the cross.

“…”

But he stopped. He turned away from Schweitzer with a single footstep.

“I’m gonna take a look around the area.”

“The library hasn’t changed. You can even see the director’s repairs to the plumbing.”

“I’m just taking a look around.”

There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he walked away.

Still crouched, Schweitzer smiled too. Then he looked up toward what Alfred had been looking at.

A black cross towered into the sky there. He had been looking at it before Alfred arrived.

He brought it into the center of his vision and touched the earring on his left ear.

“To develop, to fight, to protect, and…”

He stopped talking there and suddenly stood up.

He looked back from below the broadleaf tree and found Alfred was already gone.

After one last glance up at Tristan, Schweitzer began walking as well.

He could see some armored vehicles gathering on the road beyond the main gate.

Part 3[edit]

Hazel awoke in darkness.

She was lying on her side and her right shoulder, back, and thigh felt some leather warmed by her own body heat.

She was lying naked on a sofa. The darkness remained when she opened her eyes. A blanket covered her eyes.

She sensed the warmth of someone sleeping in their clothes next to her.

After shivering from waking up, she pulled the blanket down from her face. She could see who was lying next to her face up with mouth slightly open.

“Oh, Berger. You haven’t been shaving, have you?”

She sighed and laughed quietly.

She relaxed and twisted around to nestle up against him. She felt the warmth of his body through his shirt. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and caught the scent of cheap soap.

After a moment’s hesitation, she rubbed her neck against his shoulder.

She rubbed her scent onto him.

His shirt’s fabric was rough, so it felt nice against her neck.

After enjoying that for a bit, she breathed a satisfied sigh and turned her somewhat sleepy eyes upwards.

They were in a small but tall room. It was surrounded by bookcases on all four sides and the only light came through a small hole in the ceiling. The light was the lamplight of Germania she had seen earlier.

…I must have dropped through that hole, landed on the sofa, and fallen asleep as a cat.

Berger had arrived before her and failed to notice when she dropped onto the sofa.

So she had crawled under the blanket next to him.

“And then I went to sleep.”

She smiled bitterly and lowered her gaze to find the room’s exit down by their feet. There was something odd about the area above the closed wooden door. That part of the wall was discolored.

A square about a foot across was paler than the rest, so a frame may have hung there at some point.

She didn’t know what that could be, so she only tilted her head and moved her gaze to the side.

She found Berger’s sleepy blue eyes looking at her from only a few inches away. His eyes gradually focused in on her in the dim lighting.

“…What?”

He sprang up from the sofa. Or tried to. His prosthetic hand failed to grab the soft sofa behind him and slipped, causing him to collapsed backwards.

She panicked a bit, but…

…There’s nothing I can do.

She heard a dull thud from below the sofa.

She took a look down with the blanket gathered around her hips.

“Are you okay?”

“That hurt like hell. Which means I’m not dreaming. They sent you, Hazel?”

He spoke in the same voice as always in the same irritated tone as always.

His legs were still up on the sofa, so he pulled them down and sat up on the floor.

Their eyes met with a slight height difference.

“You Altered again, didn’t you?” he muttered from the floor. “What time is it? Oh, I guess you can’t wear a watch in that form.”

He pulled out his own pocket watch, opened it, stared at it for a bit, and then showed it to Hazel.

The watch said it was 4:12 AM.

“We still have nearly an hour until the arranged time.”

“Now’s fine. You brought my orders, I hope?”

“I did.”

Hazel searched through the blanket near where she had fallen.

She found nothing. She only found the Wheel of Destiny card.

“Huh?”

“Looking for this?”

Berger pointed at a white envelope caught in his shirt’s collar.

“Y-yes, that’s it.”

She watched as he grabbed the envelope and noticed a small bitemark on the edge.

“This reeks of cat. You drooled on it while running around with it in your mouth, didn’t you? Gross.”

“Now you’re just being mean. It isn’t gross.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because last year you made me swallow yours and licked all over my body. You wouldn’t have done that if it was gross.”

Silence fell.

Berger said nothing and let nothing show on his face as he tucked the envelope into his breast pocket.

“I know this is sudden, but I think we need to talk,” he said.

“About what?”

“Early this year, I met this AIF contact who happened to be a woman. She said some nasty things about me and then mentioned some bullshit about how devoted to me you are.”

Hazel thought for a moment, directing her eyes upwards.

“Um,” she said. “I didn’t tell them anything weird. I told them we discussed our futures at Borderson and that you asked me if I trusted you before you pinned me down in bed.”

She reflexively brought her hands to her cheeks as the memory came back to her. Her cheeks felt somewhat warm to the touch.

“And I said you kissed me, touched me, licked me, and bit me. …Oh, but I didn’t even tell Corelle that you spread my legs, so don’t worry about that.”

She gave a bashful smile and viewed him through the fingers covering her cheeks. For some reason, he looked ill. In fact, he looked deathly pale. And the color didn’t return to his face as he asked a question.

“Hazel. You know exactly what you’re doing with that, don’t you?”

Something fell from Berger’s shoulder to the floor: a small hard box.

That was the ampule case Hazel had brought with the envelope. Unlike the envelope, it must have been caught inside his collar. She lowered her hand to point toward the white box.

“Your serum is in there. The one to heal your Lives disease.”

“It’s done already?”

“Yes, but they said they can’t make any again. Shortly before I came here, the Live research facility in Detroit started working with a lab in Los Alamos to develop some new weapon.”

“So the Allies don’t have time to spare for the AIF, huh?”

He opened the ampule case while she watched.

“Whoa.”

A dark liquid flowed out and wet his hand. He dropped the case on reflex and it spewed shards of glass when it hit the floor.

Pieces of the syringe were scattered among the spilled liquid.

“Hazel.”

Hazel held a hand to her mouth and gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

“I did end up in a battle on the way here…”

She wasn’t sure what more to say, so she started by working to calm herself.

…Um.

“R-right, there is a spare, so don’t worry. There is another ampule in a locker at Potsdam Station along with my luggage. You can use that.”

She showed him the locker key hanging from her choker.

He dropped his eyes to the key.

“And you expect me to go get it myself? Me, the second busiest guy in the world?”

“But we have more than an hour of extra time now, don’t we?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“How about we visit Potsdam together? I can turn into a cat, so you can carry me on your shoulder. After all, I need to get my clothes out of my luggage there.”

“Why not go on your own? While naked.”

“Maybe I should let everyone know that you’re into exhibitionism.”

He froze.

“Let’s visit Potsdam together,” she said with a smile.

He didn’t respond, so she tried something else.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Shut up.”

His eyes were on the syringe shards littering the floor, not on her. When she noticed, her shoulders tensed and she wondered what to do.

“Um,” she said.

He turned toward her and met her eyes, so she kept her voice low but serious.

“I do have one piece of unadulterated good news for you.”

“What, you mean that the Allies are developing an auto-ramming ship they call the ACBS?”

Hazel beckoned him over instead of answering.

He tilted his head, stood up, and took a step toward her.

She scooted to the side to create space on the sofa, so he sat there.

Before he could say anything, she took his right hand.

She wiped away the serum fluid remaining on his hand.

“Um, I really am sorry about the ampule.”

She softly placed his hand on her left breast.

She gained a somewhat troubled look at how his damp hand felt on her chest.

“Can you tell? Um, uh…”

“…”

“They’ve gotten a lot bigger. Twice as big in just the last year.”

Berger stared off into the distance.

“And what is the unadulterated good news you have for me, teacher?”

She put a smile back on her face to answer him.

“You like big boobs, don’t you? …Wait, what are you doing!?”

He rolled her up in the blanket and threw her out of the room.

Part 4[edit]

Something creaked like a wooden ship periodically.

That something was a giant vertical cylinder filled with white light.

Specifically, it was the column of black metal running down the center of the cylinder.

That was the word weapon barrel of the Gard-class aerial warship that had been remade into a part of Tristan.

The Lives needed to pressurize the Vaterlands through the ley lines were launched from the loading area up above the column and then accelerated through it.

The central column was the barrel and the cylinder was the exterior armor.

The column ran through the cylinder from floor to ceiling, but they were actually 4.5 miles long.

It continued well below the floor and well above the ceiling.

Several girders extended from the inside of the cylinder to the central column and people wearing lab coats or black uniforms were walking and talking along those.

The people were tiny compared to the column.

One girder was located almost at the ceiling.

It was more than 8 yards wide and two people currently stood on it. Both were old men.

One wore a lab coat and the other wore a suit. The one in a suit looked down over the girder’s railing. The hem of his suit flapped in the wind that blew up through the cylinder.

The one in a lab coat rested against the opposite railing.

“Is the view really so interesting, Witzmann? You keep looking down there.”

“No, I just like high places.”

“Silly child,” said the lab coat man with a bitter smile.

The man in a suit, Witzmann, replied with an exasperated nod. That was when a loud, deep reverberation came from the center of the cylinder.

The column had caused it.

The two men leaning against opposite girder railings turned their eyes toward the column.

Once they were both looking straight down the girder at the column, their gazes separated to view their surroundings.

The girder’s floor was about 5 yards from the ceiling.

Two things were attached to the surface of the column in that limited space.

One was a window.

It was a yard wide and two yards tall and it gave a view of some plastic pipes that shook whenever the column gave a roar.

The second was a desk-sized control panel made of a copper-colored metal located below the window.

The panel should have had a few keys and controls, but it was all shattered.

The left half had melted away and there was a fist-sized hole suggesting something had crashed into it.

“Heiliger slammed his Tragisch fist into it and used his Beweisen instead of operating it normally, didn’t he?” said Witzmann when he saw the hole. “And that gave it temporary life.”

“A life that lasts until the bearer of Tragisch dies. Its Ober Beweisen uses Tragisch as an intermediary to break its owner’s Tons down and fuse them with a machine. A variation on the Schreiben device, really.”

“I see,” said Witzmann, looking again to the hole on the left side of the control panel.

Another sound came from the column. The roar sounded somehow unstable.

“So Elrich. Be honest with me about the Tristan.”

“It is unstable. It doesn’t yet have the power needed to fully boost all of the Vaterlands around the world and let us oppose the Allies. The Panzerpolis Project is still missing something.” Elrich sounded sure of that. “The Tristan’s basic design was Marsch Gant’s idea, but he died before he could complete the final phase design. What we have her is the 5th Phase Tristan.”

“I had a feeling.” Witzmann slowly nodded his head and took a closer look at the hole in the control panel. “Heiliger seems like the sentimental type to me. Is he?”

“Definitely. Tragisch uses two Phlogiston Plattes built into it as fuel. High power ones created from Heidengeists. But those ones in his right shoulder…”

“Were made from his Heidengeist wife and daughter who were eliminated in ’37? He really is sentimental.” Witzmann smiled bitterly. “But there are a lot of things I don’t understand of late. For example, I am unsure what the Ober Beweisens of a few Eingeweide devices are. Like our commander’s Neue Erde, or the Messiah.”

“I can’t tell you about the latter, but our commander’s must be for prophesying.”

“But you haven’t seen it for yourself, have you? She always prophesies deep below the old HQ, so no one can say for sure that’s what her Ober Beweisen does.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Neue Erde was developed by Marsch Gant. Records from the time say he only told our commander what its Ober Beweisen does and the development division cannot predict what it does based on the designs left over from back then. And with the Messiah, only that girl knows what its Ober Beweisen does. Am I wrong?”

“Are you suggesting our commander may be keeping the truth from us? Aggressive as ever, I see.” Elrich snorted. “Let me guess: there’s more you don’t know. Like the meaning of the plate you took from the Karlsruhe knowledge storehouse.”

Witzmann’s head drooped forward, but after a pause, he started laughing.

“Ha ha ha. You noticed?”

“I could tell at a glance the material had changed. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t have given you permission if you’d asked.”

“I still can’t read it, but it has expanded the breadth of my predictions.” Witzmann nodded. “My biggest question is ‘why’. Take the Unreif Germane’s 6th section for example. The previous five sections carry a hint of glory while leading to ruin. Those songs were apparently prophesies about events back then, but the people began to spread them after the Messiah went to sleep at the end.”

“And the final line isn’t a record – it’s calling out to someone.”

“She could see the ruin coming after the millennium of peace and she cried herself to sleep after encountering a goodbye and a wall, so why did she sing a song of new hope in the middle of all that tragedy?”

“The thing is…” began Elrich. He groaned as he tried to figure out if he should give an answer or not.

Witzmann smiled bitterly.

“Only one person out there can answer that question. And you know who, don’t you?”

“The Sylphide. The one excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39.”

“Actually, I meant the Messiah from a thousand years ago,” said Witzmann. “You know what it means to find the Sylphide there, where it had been sealed for a thousand years, don’t you? It wasn’t being enshrined there.”

“Cryogenic storage.” Elrich nodded. “It has to be in a sealed container with conditions similar to deep sea or a vacuum, but the life of the passenger could be preserved. It would have to be set to thaw on a timer or with external controls. If the Sylphide was set to only power its self-repair function and the cryogenic storage, it could preserve the passenger for a thousand years – or even several thousand years.”

“The same conclusion I arrived at. The question is who spent a thousand years inside there.”

“A question we can never answer since the AIF stole the Sylphide.”

Both Witzmann and Elrich stopped talking there.

Instead, an emotionless voice spoke from the opposite direction of the column.

“Seeking that answer may be going a step too far.”

They both turned toward the voice where the door leading out onto the girder had opened and a man walked out.

He was tall and pencil thin and he wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat.

“Bermark Vier,” said Elrich.

Bermark stopped walking and saluted.

“I have new orders from the fräulein. I know the Messiah will be visiting soon, but she asks that you two head to the old HQ.”

“Why there? That place is nearly deserted.”

“You are being given a month of leave to help you recuperate from your hard work and prepare for the true battle to come. Unfortunately, the Allies have entered Germany, so you must remain inside the old HQ for your own safety.”

“Ha ha!” laughed Elrich. “So we’re under house arrest!”

“It would seem so. I was thinking of stopping by there soon anyway. I have a historical interest in the phase space lab built below that building. Our commander may intend to lock us in there, but that simply gives me the time I need to investigate.”

Witzmann’s comment stopped Elrich’s laughter.

Witzmann nodded when Elrich gave him a puzzled look.

“Bermark’s presence is all the answer I need. I do not blindly trust our commander. After all, she more or less gave the Allies our Wort Bombe research document in exchange for having the Messiah sent to Germania.”

But…

“I may come to trust her depending on the answer I find for my question of ‘why’.”

He stepped away from the railing and walked toward Bermark.

“What about our men?”

“She has already had Sir Heiliger arrange for replacement chiefs to the development and intelligence divisions. We are always training for such eventualities, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“I see.” Witzmann stopped next to Bermark and slapped his shoulder. “Sounds like we have a busy vacation ahead of us.”

Part 5[edit]

Hazel sat alone in the valley of bookcases with the blanket over her head.

She had emerged onto the floor here less than a minute ago.

After Berger had thrown her out into a dark space, she had realized he had no intention of opening the door behind her. She had groped around in the darkness, trying to walk until she found some stairs leading up. Soon after climbing those, she had bumped her head against the ceiling.

Holding her aching head, she had groped at the ceiling and found it moved. Pushing up had opened an exit for her.

The entrance to the stairs sat open by her feet. She sat on the edge of the stairs and peered down into the darkness where she had left Berger.

“Maybe I teased him too much.”

She pressed her knees together, held the blanket around herself, and sighed with the Wheel of Destiny in hand.

She thought back on what had just happened. She recalled Berger’s pale face when she had let him touch her chest.

Then her shoulders shook and quiet laughter left her throat.

…He’s surprisingly cute.

With that in mind, she decided to become a cat. She knew he would emerge from that darkness in a bit. If she was already a cat by then, she could ignore any complaints he made about what she had done. Because cats couldn’t speak.

She pulled the blanket over herself and gently rubbed her right eye with her right hand.

The High Organ eye’s Beweisen let her take control of other High Organ devices.

…I don’t know what its Ober Beweisen does, but I can’t help that.

She had left the country shortly after having it implanted, so she didn’t know how to use it or why it had been built. All those answers had died along with its creator – Marsch Gant.

“The only other person who might know is that Geheimnis Agency Commander.”

…She said I was a tool for them when I met her last year.

The phrase “Wheel of Destiny” stuck in her mind. That was the name of the card Corelle had given her and that she held now.

The card’s image hadn’t changed.

She still carried that destiny of ruin. She used that thought to let her pulse take over. But then…

“Eh?”

She looked up.

She had heard footsteps inside the supposedly deserted and silent library. Two sets of them.

One set came from the darkness below. They were rushed and running.

The other set came from the aisle behind her. They were calm and walking.

Since she had been letting her fear take over, she chose to first turn toward the danger behind her.

The dark blue shadow cast by a bookcase contained an even darker silhouette approaching her.

The tall, slender man carried a sword in one hand. He spoke without bothering to hide the sharp light in his eyes.

“I believe this is our first time meeting when I wasn’t Schreibened.”

He stopped about four yards in front of her.

When she met his eyes, she realized his gaze carried the red color of killer intent.

She couldn’t move.

He might just cut her down if she moved in the slightest. She simply squeezed the blanket tighter in her hands.

She heard the footsteps from below. Berger was running up the stairs.

Only after hearing those footsteps kicking off the hard stairs did she manage to get her voice out.

“The Kaiser’s pilot?” she asked, looking at the man’s sword.

“Correct. I am ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick. I am a descendant of the Maldrick family, one of the four knight families that fought for the Messiah a thousand years ago.”

His words were drowned out by a shout from the darkness below. A shout made with Berger’s familiar voice.

“Hazel, it’s a trap! Those orders were fake!!”

“Now, enough words. Now is the time for strength. You are coming with us whether you want to or not.”

Alfred grabbed her right arm through the blanket and tugged her to her feet.

Her fight and flight instincts warred with each other, causing her to hesitate and freeze up.

That was when Berger burst from the darkness below.

He poured on his full strength from the start.

Hazel saw him draw Gelegenheit at five steps down from the top of the stairs.

The dark blade trying to slice horizontally through the dimly-lit library was 3 yards long. It took a curving path, slicing through the bookcases on its way to Alfred’s hand on her arm.

Gelegenheit could sever the threads of fate. If that black blade swung through them, it wouldn’t harm Alfred’s hand or her arm, but it would rewrite reality to say her arm was not restrained.

She let it happen.

But the man holding her arm did not. He turned his eyes toward Gelegenheit’s blade.

First, she heard something like shattering glass. Then she saw a spray of darkness.

Gelegenheit’s blade had shattered.

“!?”

All Hazel had seen was Gelegenheit’s blade suddenly break as it passed through a nearby bookcase on its way to her and Alfred.

“Aerial Words?” she muttered, confused.

…That makes no sense.

“Aerial Words are more formulaic and always include the High Organ name.”

Alfred answered her with a bark of laughter.

“Ha. Did you forget what city you’re in. Thanks to the Panzerpolis Project, this city contains the world’s most advanced Eingeweide devices. You could call it a city of concept weapons.”

He pulled Hazel away and turned toward Berger.

“I’ll show you something neat. Just for fun.”

Part 6[edit]

The darkness and the bookcases vanished before Hazel’s eyes.

Instead, she saw the overhead lights illuminating a corner of the library sans bookcases.

She was surrounded by a 15 yard tiled space.

“What!?”

Further Aerial Words ignored her voice altogether.

The words came true.

She gasped as the surrounding group in black stared at her.

The gazes of those Neue Kavaliers, both young and old, carried the red Live color of curiosity and expectation.

“The part of the city you destroyed earlier has been repaired with Erklärung. We intentionally avoided using Erklärung during that battle so we could assess your strength.”

Hazel could not bring herself to speak while Alfred blandly explained.

But…

“Go to hell!”

Someone else’s words cut through her tension.

They were Berger’s Aerial Words.

He slammed a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit and swung the black blade.

Alfred frowned and spoke his own Aerial Words in disinterest.

Gelegenheit’s blade struck the library’s air and shook.

With a loud metallic noise, the blade dug into the air, scattering black sparks.

The black line lost to the Aerial Words and bent, quickly approaching the breaking point.

Berger continued swinging Gelegenheit while slamming three new Phlogiston Tanks into the back.

When his shout reached the air, the bending blade snapped back to normal, grew longer, and sent a stir through the people surrounding them.

Hazel heard Alfred click his tongue as Berger’s black blade swung between her and Alfred.

The next thing she knew, she was free of Alfred.

She spun around on the tile floor and took a single step away from Alfred in the library’s lights.

She raised the Wheel of Destiny card in her right hand.

…This feels like a scene from a school play.

Gelegenheit’s blade swung through again as if to agree with that assessment.

Berger ran up the remaining five steps while adding another Phlogiston Tank.

That meant a total of four Size Cs. The black blade grew to 16 yards.

“Hazel! Get down!”

She obeyed him.

More than crouch, she threw herself to the side.

Her hair didn’t follow quite as fast, so a few strands were cut away by Gelegenheit’s blade as it swung around just above her head.

Alfred leaped over the blade as Berger swung the blade around to Hazel’s right like he was trying to slice through the entire library.

Below the white lights, his black coat danced behind him and the black blade sliced through the ring of people surrounding them.

After a sound of paper being cut, the ring of people vanished.

So did the light.

The bookcases were back in their original well-ordered positions.

Part 7[edit]

Hazel raised her head and looked around to find the library had returned to its dark and quiet state. All the gazes gathered on her were gone. The only other people here were Berger in front of her and Alfred behind her.

Then she heard a sound like tearing cloth but repeated over and over. The bookcases had been sliced through and the top halves were sliding down.

With a creaking sound, the split wood and books slid along the cut and spilled to the floor.

With the top halves scattered across the floor, the bookcases were now a lot shorter.

The destruction did not reach the windows beyond the bookcases. The windows still showed the scarlet sky of Germania and the cityscape filled with gaps.

…There’s no one here. Like everything I was just seeing was never really there.

Hazel placed her hands on the floor and spoke, ignoring the blanket slipping from her shoulders.

“The words affect reality…”

“I don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” said Berger, standing next to her.

He pulled all the Phlogiston Tanks from Gelegenheit’s hilt, reached into his pocket for the envelope Hazel had given him, and threw it away.

“Unfortunately, the authorization seal on the orders was fake. A really well made fake.”

“How can that be!?”

“Don’t get upset, Hazel. It’s not your fault. Blame the people who gave you a fake.”

He took a look around the quiet library.

“This city is real pain in the ass. Can you place words on top of words and make it all real?”

He turned toward Alfred who stood a few yards behind Hazel.

“Yes, our words can overwrite reality. The library’s bookcases really have been removed and it really is full of Geheimnis Agency soldiers.”

Hazel realized something from that.

She viewed the silence around her.

“So this silence was created when I came up here?”

“It is a false silence created by my words. I used my earlier Erklärung to pull back the curtain and show you the truth. And his Gelegenheit only managed to cut through that top-level Erklärung.”

Berger smiled bitterly at that.

“So the question is whether I placed my words on top of yours to create a further fiction or if I cut through your words to reveal the truth, huh?” He took a breath. “Either way, we can break through it all.”

Hazel looked up at Berger.

…He said we.

There were only two people in the AIF – no, in the entire Allied forces – with a High Organ device capable of Aerializing words: Hazel and Berger.

The Allies were researching High Organs, but they had only succeeded in creating exact copies. The AIF was working on creating a remote control device based on Hazel’s ability, but they had yet to develop their own High Organ devices.

It was with that in mind that Hazel looked up at Berger and nodded.

He kept his eyes on Alfred and reached his prosthetic left hand toward her.

She reached out her own hand to take that mechanical one.

Hazel realized a bluish-white line of light had moved in between her and Berger.

…Ether!?

The line expanded vertically to surround her on all four sides. The ether line outlined a special field.

“I recognize this!”

Berger’s left hand was wrist deep in the barrier, so it was promptly severed.

Hazel suddenly found herself floating.

She was falling.

“No!”

She was falling backwards along the library’s floor.

Gravity had been redirected 90 degrees within the field. The spatial positioning in the field had been altered.

She was “falling” toward the window, taking her away from Berger.

She reached out her hand, but it wasn’t enough. She only managed to reach his severed left hand, causing it to tumble in the air.

Her fall continued.

Just before her back hit the field wall behind her, the field shattered.

Gravity immediately returned to normal, nauseating her. Her floating body fell toward the floor now.

But something caught her in midair before she could hit the floor.

…Eh? What was that?

She struggled a bit and righted herself, finding she was on top of some kind of flat surface.

She and the blanket around her were held by an enormous hand. She knew the arm’s name.

“Der Held!?”

Her shouted question was answered by movement. The arm produced a mechanical sound and her viewpoint rose.

The next thing she knew, she was draped over an enormous metal shoulder.

She grabbed at the metal shoulder and stretched out her elbows to prop herself up.

Her pulse raced and she saw the prosthetic arm’s owner was looking to Berger, not her. She recognized the square face she saw in profile.

“Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.”

“I am a captain now.”

She answered his brief correction by lowering her head with her eyebrows drooping.

But that was all. She then turned to look at Berger.

He stood about 5 yards away.

He had lost his left hand and he held Gelegenheit in his right hand.

He was looking her way even though it took his eyes off Alfred behind him. He looked expressionless, but there was great strength in his unwavering gaze.

That gaze brought her relief, so she relaxed her shoulders.

Then Schweitzer spoke.

“Berger. I’m sorry, but I will be taking the Messiah with me.” His tone was thoroughly businesslike. “I have one suggestion.”

He fell silent there and Berger did not respond.

Schweitzer took three breaths before continuing.

“Berger, would you consider joining the Geheimnis Agency? This request comes straight from our commander.”

The gasp of protest did not come from Hazel, who struggled wide-eyed on Schweitzer’s shoulder, or from Berger, who simply frowned. It came from Alfred behind Berger.

“What is the meaning of this, Hellard!?”

But Schweitzer ignored it all like he was only conveying a message.

“After all, Berger, you and the Messiah have nowhere left to run.”

He raised his left hand.

The large flesh fist held a broad strap. A large, rectangular brown leather bag dangled from that strap.

“Th-that’s the bag I left in Potsdam!”

“Yes, we had noticed you well before then. We examined the contents and found something very interesting indeed.” He shut his eyes. “A serum meant to fight the German Tons we injected Berger with.”

Part 8[edit]

“!”

Hazel swallowed her words and suddenly realized the feeling enveloping her was fear.

Schweitzer’s words continued as if to confirm that for her.

“We will take this with us to the Hamburg Base’s Ton laboratory where the Messiah is headed. My men were listening in on your conversation and they tell me this is the only surviving serum.”

And…

“The Messiah will be injected with the same German Tons in Hamburg. A single serum cannot save you both. …Do you get my meaning, Berger?”

Hazel looked to Berger.

She wanted to say something and her lips started to move.

But she couldn’t do it.

Her lips were trembling. All of her was trembling.

She couldn’t look him in the eye and lowered her gaze, but that brought the bag Schweitzer held into view. The bag she thought she had hidden in that Potsdam locker.

…I can’t believe they stole it.

All of a sudden, all her focus turned toward the Wheel of Destiny card she still held in her hand. Realizing what it meant for her to carry that destiny of ruin, tears filled her eyes.

“I’m…”

Her voice escaped her throat.

Her lips moved to form the words “I’m sorry”.

But someone forestalled her apology.

“Hazel.”

He started by calling her name.

“Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf?”

A single tear fell when she raised her head, but she did look at that young man in a black coat.

He looked a bit angry, but he was smiling. The Lives radiating from him were orange. He really was happy.

“Don’t worry, Hazel. I have just one thing to tell you: you don’t need to become a cat.”

She heard the words while viewing his Lives.

She repeated them a few times in her head and realized what they meant, so she responded.

“Okay!”

With that word, her trembling ceased.

Berger nodded and held Gelegenheit in a backhand grip.

Lowenzahn revealed herself with her words.

“Did you really think I was dumb enough to use this with you around?” Berger asked her.

He put Gelegenheit away in his coat.

And then…

That became true and some new Aerial Words followed.

With a creaking of metal and a blast of wind, the library’s window was smashed in from the outside.

Hazel wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back toward the window past the heads of the surrounding soldiers. She could see a giant white leg through it. It belonged to a Grösse Panzer wearing a Panzer Kleid.

That was Alfred’s Grösse Panzer, Neue Kaiser.

…Is he using his Aerial Words to remote control his Heavy Barrel?

The strongest Buster, Der Held, Neue Erde, and several soldiers were inside the library.

Neue Kaiser was outside the library.

…This could hardly be worse.

But when she looked back, she saw the same orange Lives coming from Berger who had his hand in his pocket. He looked entirely confident.

“So this is reality, huh?” he said, taking a look around. “I see.”

Everyone there wanted to say something to him.

Hazel saw the pressure building as they prepared to speak.

Dark red Lives – a mixture of protest, caution, and confusion – swelled out like a great wave.

Drawn by those growing Lives, Berger pulled his right hand from his pocket and slowly held it overhead.

It held a small device.

The device had a red and a blue button. His thumb was on the red one.

“Then this must be reality too.”

He pressed the button and the library exploded.

Chapter 2: The Ruin Begins[edit]

7/24/1943 05:06 – 15:10

Time knows everything

Both what I remember

And what I don’t

Geheimnis Agency Personnel[edit]

Lowenzahn Naylor (Geheimnis Agency Commander)

Sofort Leser and Geheimnis Agency Commander. Mother is Frobel. Father is Lowenheit.

Heiliger Karlsruhe (Geheimnis Agency Lieutenant Commander)

Transferred from the military in ’42, becoming the commander-in-chief. Lost his brother Graham and Sister Rose at Cologne in ’42.

Hellard Schweitzer (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Captain)

Wielder of Eingeweide arm Der Held. Went to high school with Berger. Father is Bertecht.

Bermark Vier (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division)

Automaton and wielder of Eingeweide handgun Freischütz. Schweitzer’s lieutenant.

Alfred Maldrick (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Lieutenant)

Pilot of Eingeweide Grösse Panzer Neue Kaiser and wielder of Werkzeug Rein König. Went to high school with Berger and cut down Eryngium 8 years ago.

Bermark Nein (Geheimnis Agency Army Division)

Alfred’s subordinate and a Sein Frau. Vier’s older brother. Joined with two Grösse Panzers.

Karl Schmitt (Geheimnis Agency Army Division Chief)

Joined with a large Grösse Panzer and uses a double Drache Kanone as his primary weapon.

Wife is Army Division Deputy Chief Jeanne.

Herbert Müller (Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division Chief)

A plump elderly man. Adopted Lowenzahn on Graham’s orders.

Lillie Telmetz (Geheimnis Agency Navy Division Chief)

Uses the Eingweide harp Mondnacht. Friends with Jeanne and helped Graham in the past.

Konrad Elrich (Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief)

An old scientist with a passion for research. Superior of Marsch Gant who developed Eingeweide devices.

Galue Witzmann (Geheimnis Agency Intelligence Division Chief)

A kind-looking old gentleman. But will do anything to acquire intelligence.

Part 1[edit]

Light crept into the sky as dawn approached.

That sky hung over a forest enshrouded in shadow.

The hills and mountains were all covered with green trees.

The only areas of ground devoid of trees were near the several rivers running through the lower part of the forest.

There was a single point in the forest where those rivers gathered together.

The dirt ground was exposed over a wide region there. There was a large hole in the middle of that land. The bowl-shaped hole was filled with the water flowing in from the rivers.

With a diameter of a mile and a half, it qualified as a large lake.

Something like a tower jutted up from the center of the lake.

The morning light revealed the tower to be a giant barrel.

The barrel rose from what looked like a metal island.

The barrel was jet black, as was the large metal island. Both were terribly cracked and split, revealing a metal frame that resembled ribs.

The morning sun appeared over the horizon.

Its light illuminated the tower and island from behind.

The tower’s shadow stretched westward across the water, climbed the slope that formed the edge of the hole, and reached the land beyond.

A slender woman stood at the far end of the shadow.

Her long frayed brown hair blew in the wind. She wore a Geheimnis Agency Navy Division coat, but she wore a blue dress below that.

Her left shoulder supported a harp that curved forward from there. The harp was a yard long, but it did not overbalance her.

She was motionless.

The shallow wrinkles of her face were not smiling.

The breaths leaving her mouth were made white by the early morning chill.

Her breaths formed a beat.

She let out a longer white breath to mark a change.

After a second, third, and fourth beat, the change revealed itself.

Her breathing grew subtly quicker and subtly stronger.

The individual breaths joined together to form their beat and her eyes suddenly moved.

She looked up into the sky.

The colors of night still lingered there. The morning wind blew the thin clouds from east to west, fluffing them up thicker and whiter.

A white circle floated up in the center of the morning sky. That was the morning moon.

The moon left behind traces of the early morning light as it looked down on the woman.

Sound left the harp resting on her left shoulder.

It produced sound without her needing to strum it.

A single loud, clear tone dyed the morning air.

The note raced out and the surface of the lake rippled.

Another note rang out.

Then another. And another. More and more notes played, but they were all the same note. This did not qualify as music.

Altogether…

“Ober Text: 6.4 million Tons!” shouted the woman.

She looked down at the many ripples running along the surface of the water, crashing into each other, and creating more waves. The size and intensity of the ripples was changed by the notes being played.

She watched that motion and opened her mouth to say more.

The waves grew.

The waves grew even more.

The waves swelled up like a tower. Eight waves sucked up the water from the large hole to grow tall.

The weight towers of water trapped air within them and curved up into the sky while maintaining a thickness of around a dozen yards. They reached a height of more than 300 yards with water audibly spraying from them.

And they roared.

The high-pitched cry of a wild animal erupted from the ends of the eight water currents. Animal faces had formed there. They opened mouths like protruding beaks, bared watery fangs, and grew two long horns behind their heads.

These were dragons.

The eight dragons danced wildly.

Just as it looked like the dragons were twisting around, they crashed into the edge of the large hole one after another.

They crashed into the mouth of a river flowing into the hole.

The dragons destroyed and broke the land there to fill in the river mouth.

With the sound of breaking rock, the water pressure attacks tore apart the ground and carried rock.

Roars rang out with an eight-beat tempo. They whipped up the wind, sent spray into the air, and shook the forest sky with the sounds of impact, scaring the morning forest birds into flight. The birds’ chirping protests were drowned out by bestial roars. One corner of the forest morning was ruled by those animalistic movements.

A great boulder shattered.

The large pieces rolled into the hole and fully blocked up the mouth connecting the river to the hole.

The dragons stopped there.

With those words and a note from the harp, the dragons twisted toward the woman. All eight raised their heads and looked down at her.

She looked each of the eight in the eye and without warning…

“…”

She silently held a hand out toward them.

The wind moved in response. So did the dragons. The rightmost of the eight blew out the air bubbles inside it and moved its snout toward the offered hand.

The dragon’s breath smelled like cold water.

Its beak-like mouth opened and revealed a forked tongue as big around as an arm.

The tongue moved like it had a mind of its own and licked the woman’s hand.

The tongue passed above her hand, producing some spray, and a small fish landed in her hand.

The woman looked surprised.

“Oh, dear. You need to take this one with you.”

The dragon nodded, stuck out its tongue, scooped up the fish, and brought the fish into its watery body.

Then the dragons whipped up the wind while turning toward the river.

They flew in arcs that crossed the border of the hole, diving into the river. They produced the roar of eight waterfalls and a mist flew into the air.

But that only lasted a moment.

By the time the waterfall roar was gone, so were the dragons. All that remained was the mist they had produced.

“…”

The woman sighed.

She heard a flapping sound behind her like someone was rapidly flipping through a book.

She gasped and looked back.

There was movement in the forest. Some bushes were rustling.

Part 2[edit]

“…?”

The woman frowned and adjusted the position of the harp on her left shoulder, but she didn’t speak a word.

Instead, she heard a voice from the bushes. A woman’s high-pitched voice.

“Sorry. Did I surprise you, Lillie?”

The bushes parted and a woman in a black military uniform stepped out. She brushed her brown hair back with a hand and stopped in front of the bushes.

The two women faced each other. The first to speak was the one holding the harp – Lillie.

“Jeanne? What brings you here?”

“I saw those dragons on my way to Hamburg, so I decided to have Karl stop and pay you a visit on my own. You can see his Drache Kanones above the forest there, can’t you?”

Lillie looked and sure enough. She also nodded at the mention of Hamburg.

“On your way for an audience with the Messiah I heard was captured about two hours ago? In exchange for data on our Wort Bombe.”

“Affirmative. What about you? Are you headed back to the North Sea once you finish your once-a-month cleaning here?”

Lillie thought for a moment and then nodded.

Jeanne sighed at the slight head movement.

Then she explained the meaning of her sigh.

“Lillie. Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, but you should really try to forget.”

“Could you say that if you had lost your husband?”

“Yes, I could.” Jeanne did not hesitate. “I can’t live alone, so if I lost him, I would have no choice but to find a replacement.”

“I can hear you with my new hearing devices, you know?” rumbled a mechanical voice from beyond the forest. That was Jeanne’s husband Karl.

Jeanne shrugged and stuck out her tongue a little before turning toward the forest.

“I’ll never even look at another man as long as you’re still alive.”

“I appreciate it.”

Lillie shut her eyes and placed a hand on her chin.

“I envy you, Jeanne,” she said. “But I didn’t even try to keep him – keep them – alive. I even helped them die, really. Because I knew they would die and did nothing to stop it.”

“You make it sound like his and Lady Rose’s deaths were predetermined.”

“What if they were?” asked Lillie, opening her eyes.

There was no doubt in the eyes she directed straight toward Jeanne.

“I’m sorry, Jeanne, but there is one thing I can’t tell you because of a promise I made with them. You know my Mondnacht here was made from my tears, right? When I created it, I lost the ability to ever again cry like my little sister, but…”

She took a breath.

“I made the decision because of a promise I made with them. I didn’t want to ever worry them by letting them see me cry.”

“…”

“If I keep that promise, I can’t do what you suggested. So even if this is no more than self-condemnation and even if it’s my punishment for hesitating…”

She lowered her head. She could not cry. The ability did not exist inside her.

Jeanne asked a question instead.

“Do you need something before you can let yourself give up? Have you still not found whatever it is? Even after having your dragons search the wreckage for so long?”

“I think Rose’s red gem must be somewhere. I found Silber Löwe, but nothing could be recreated from its Studio. …It was modified to work as Heiliger’s personal Panzer, wasn’t it? That wreckage really was all that remained. Only the wreckage of what had once been a dragon.”

Jeanne started to say something in response. She raised her right hand as if to pat Lillie on the shoulder despite being too far away and she opened her mouth.

“––––––”

She pressed her lips together and then bit the lower one.

She shook her head while Lillie’s downcast eyes couldn’t see. Her short hair swayed.

Then she faced forward and cleared her throat quietly. She spread her legs a bit and crossed her arms before speaking.

“Listen to us wasting the day away discussing our personal affairs. We really are getting old.”

Hearing that, Lillie raised her head and lowered her eyebrows a bit.

“Is that what it means?”

“What kind of reaction is that? You’re supposed to agree and laugh about it.”

“I’m sorry. It didn’t sound like that kind of thing.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s the spirit that counts.”

Jeanne raised her right hand to face height and pointed at Lillie.

“I’ll tell everyone you left for the North Sea.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. Protecting you has been my job since our school days. Well, that and to drag you out from behind your guardian Graham.”

“And my job was to clean up after your almost daily battles over ‘honor’ and to smooth things over with the teachers.”

“She still does that, by the way,” said the distant mechanical voice.

“Eavesdropping is the mark of a cowardly man,” replied Jeanne with a smile. Then she looked to Lillie again. “Did you visit the Village of Pardons? Then why not pay it a visit soon? Your sister visited the village a lot with Borderson’s Melda. The place is beautiful this time of year thanks to all the wheat fields around.”

“That might not last long. I hear the military is really cracking down on Heidengeists now. As an outlet for all the country’s anxieties,” said Lillie. “But maybe that’s a reason to go now. Before it’s lost.”

Jeanne nodded and turned around. She took a few steps before looking back over her shoulder.

Lillie was still standing there, so she spoke to her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to meet the Messiah?”

“I feel like I would say something nasty if I did.”

“Hm? Why’s that?”

The answer was so quiet it was nearly drowned out by the nearby river.

Lillie wrapped her arm around her harp like she was embracing it.

“If what we have now is the result of the Unreif Germane and the prophesies, then the ancient Messiah and the current one are two people I can never, ever-”

“Don’t say it.”

Cut off by Jeanne’s words, Lillie turned around.

Jeanne said nothing to the woman’s back. She only nodded and faced the forest again.

Jeanne kept a blank expression as she walked back into the bushes and the forest beyond.

Part 3[edit]

Two old men walked through a forest.

The one on the right, who was tall, skinny, and bald, spoke with his hands in his suit’s pockets.

“This feels just like a real forest, Elrich.”

The one on the left, Elrich, responded with his hands in his lab coat’s pockets.

“And whose fault is that, Witzmann? As much as it looks like a forest, this is actually that secret passageway in the old HQ. That HQ was built on top of a castle and the ether conversion device built below that castle has gone berserk, recreating tactile History Tons to show them as fake dragons and even the scenes and situations from the historical records.”

Elrich watched as Witzmann plucked a leaf from a nearby tree and held it up.

It was a bright green broadleaf. He flicked it through the air with his long finger, where it hit Elrich in the nose and spiraled down to the ground.

Witzmann wiped the sweat from his brow and touched a nearby tree.

“So you’re saying this forest is a recreation of the History Tons known to the old HQ – or the castle below it? If an ether conversion device is remaking the castle’s Tons into this…then in a way, this forest is real.”

“Correct. The castle used to extract Germany’s Tons from the ley lines and recreate dragons, but now it has gone berserk and is recreating everything related to the dragons in the Messiah’s time: the ridiculous monsters, the locations, and the time.”

“You thoroughly researched how these spaces are made back when the Geheimnis Agency was started, didn’t you?”

Elrich nodded and looked up into the sky while walking through the underbrush.

He could see the blue sky past the forest’s leaves and branches.

“That wasn’t easy. We started out on the beach back when we joined 23 years ago, didn’t we?”

“How long did it take us again? Because we don’t have any spatial conversion techniques.”

“Three weeks. We fought on the beach, in the dark, in the caves, and in the castle courtyard. …I heard it created a dark underground passageway for those Maldrick and Schweitzer kids when they joined four years ago.”

“They set a new fastest time, didn’t they? The castle’s device can only show people images with ether, so it was fairly helpless against Der Held’s ether annihilation and Maldrick’s ether destruction.”

“Now is not the time to be praising those kids. We don’t have any techniques like that, so escaping this space is going to take a lot of doing.”

With that, Elrich walked out ahead and looked back at Witzmann who wasn’t following.

“What now? If you aren’t coming, I’ll leave you behind.”

“That isn’t south. Who was it that said we might find a road or homes if we head south?”

“That was me.” Elrich clicked his tongue. “And you’re the one with the watch. Fine, which way is south?”

Elrich stopped and turned around to see Witzmann checking his pocket watch. He compared the watch to the sun in the sky and then turned his narrowed eyes toward the forest trees to his left.

“That way. Let’s hope this takes us out of the forest.”

“This really is going to take a lot of doing. The most we can do is survive until the castle stops recreating its records.”

“If only it wouldn’t recreate such a wide space for its limited records.”

They started walking again.

Their feet rustled the thick underbrush.

“This is a dense forest. I can already tell it will be sweltering once the sun is higher in the sky.”

“This is what the forests were like back when the Messiah was uniting Germany.”

“True enough.” Elrich wiped away his sweat with his lab coat’s sleeve. “The beach we saw 23 years ago was a recreation of the records of the Messiah defeating a North Sea dragon. The dragons Maldrick and Schweitzer saw in the darkness 4 years ago were a recreation of when the Duke of Saxony challenged her to clear an underground labyrinth as a test. …All German Neue Kavaliers must go through something the Messiah experienced.”

Elrich looked up as he walked. He could see bits and pieces of the sky through the branches and leaves.

Witzmann brushed aside a branch in the way and Elrich ducked below it.

They still couldn’t see anything but forest ahead of them. Only an ocean of green.

“Hey, Elrich. Can I ask you something out of the blue?”

“What is it?”

“What do you think the ruin coming in August actually is? The war is going back and forth and everyone’s anxiety continues to grow, but what could cause ruin on a global scale?”

“All I can think of is the Tristan going haywire. If all the boosted Vaterlands go nuts along with it, the effect will spread to the world’s ley lines and that would cause largescale destruction on the surface.”

“But that would only destroy the surface of the earth. That’s trivial when you look at the world as a whole. The world is going to end in some way that doesn’t even leave History Tons behind. What could even do that?”

He took a breath.

“Our intelligence network has already learned that the Allies have created a ley line reversal Tune Emblem for use against Tristan. They based it on data received from the AIF’s destruction of a Vaterland back in ’39. They plan to occupy all of the Vaterlands around the world and use the Tons they’ve prepared to send the flow of ether back toward Tristan to destroy it.”

“What Tons have they prepared?”

Witzmann parted the underbrush before answering.

“Anxiety.” He took a breath. “There’s plenty of that going around these days. …Oh, there’s a road.”

Elrich was about to say something more, but he stopped when Witzmann mentioned a road. Instead, he only repeated the word “anxiety” under his breath and turned to see what Witzmann was looking at.

The forest opened up.

A road cut by from left to right, leading up a hill slope.

The light of the sun managed to pass through the forest trees to reach them.

“I would love to find a sign. Then I could estimate when this record takes place,” said Elrich before hearing a distant animal cry.

It was an unfamiliar cry and very loud at that. No ordinary animal could make a sound so loud.

Elrich sighed.

“The old HQ’s recreations are always missing one element, aren’t they?”

“They recreate the surrounding environment and the monsters. However…”

“They do not recreate the Messiah or the Neue Kavaliers who fought them. Whoever is taken into the record has to play that role themselves.”

“That must be a dragon over there. But more than that…”

Witzmann trailed off as he crouched down.

Elrich frowned and started to ask what that was about.

But a sudden change came over his expression.

“Sword fighting?”

Witzmann nodded as several metallic crashes echoed in from the distance.

The dragon roared again in response.

“Someone is fighting the dragon.”

“I thought that part wasn’t recreated!? This is only supposed to be the dragon, the time, and the place!”

Witzmann held out a hand to silence Elrich before he slowly stood up and faced forward.

He could see the road at the end of the forest and a grassy hill.

Something climbed to the top of the hill from the other side.

The giant green shape was a beast measuring at least 50 yards long.

It spread its large wings, raised its tail, and ran atop its four legs.

“A dragon.”

But it wasn’t alone. Someone climbed the hill with the dragon.

The woman had long blonde hair and wore a white cloak. She held a sword in one hand and ran alongside the dragon. A young man wearing a contrasting black cloak ran up from behind her with a sword in his hand as well.

The young man had only one arm.

The white and black people evaded the dragon’s fangs and kept running.

Elrich blankly muttered something other than their names.

“The Messiah and the one-armed young man!?”

Part 4[edit]

A low-ceilinged room contained the murmurs of a hundred people.

This was the mess hall at the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. Most of the tables were full even though it was well into the afternoon.

None of the people in black Geheimnis Agency uniforms were up and walking around. They all remained at the tables, whispering to each other.

Empty plates sat in front of them all. They had finished their meals but not gotten up. The reason they hadn’t left could be found at the center of the mess hall. Everyone tried to feign indifference, but they were all stealing curious glances over their shoulders.

The mess hall’s center table was rectangular and seated eight. Currently, just two people were seated across from each other there: Heiliger and Hazel.

Heiliger wore a black uniform, had gray hair and a gray beard, and crossed his prosthetic arms atop the table.

Hazel wore the kind of surgical gown found at hospitals with a black Geheimnis Agency coat draped over her shoulders. The Wheel of Destiny card in the breast pocket was her only personal possession.

She had done nothing but talk without touching the meat pasta on her plate.

She gesticulated and made sure to direct her entire face upwards so she wouldn’t have to direct her eyes up at the man who was looking down at her.

She wiggled her right arm to indicate a flowing river and caught sight of something like a small brown stain on the inside of her elbow. That was a medical charm. She frowned when she saw it.

“Does that bother you, Miss Mirildorf?” asked Heiliger. “The injection of German Tons, I mean.”

Hazel quickly raised her head again.

“No,” she said, but did hang her head a little, her eyes landing on his chest. “Well, it does a little.”

“Have you been chattering away to distract yourself from that?”

His tone made it clear his question was only rhetorical. She raised her head to find him looking back at her without any shift in posture. His expression remained calm too.

…This man effectively commands the Geheimnis Agency right now.

“General Karlsruhe?”

“Yes? Shall I regale you with tales of your father as a change of pace? Just like you told me all about my daughter who happened to be a classmate of yours.”

“No…I doubt my father would want me to intrude on his past.”

“That sounds like him. Tell me, does he still raise his right hand like this when he has to think about something and finally gives an answer?”

Hazel recognized the way Heiliger twisted and raised his prosthetic right hand.

She even laughed a little and held a hand over the Wheel of Destiny card in her breast pocket.

“Thank you for your concern. I feel a lot better now that I’ve laughed some.” She kept her smile. “But should the Agency’s second in command really be showing me around the base and sharing a meal with me? You’ve more or less told me where I need to go to escape.”

“It’s perfectly fine. You are free to go wherever you like in the base and even send letters to your parents. The letters will be censored by the base’s post room I showed you earlier, of course.”

“Why are-”

Heiliger cut off her question.

“You were injected with German Tons in this base’s medical room while you slept last night.”

“So you think I can’t escape? What about the serum I brought with me?”

“You expect me to believe you would save yourself with the serum you brought for someone else? And if you did try to share it with him, its effectiveness would drop and the German Tons would be back in just a few weeks. Then you would be forced to return.”

“…”

“We have already finished examining that serum and it will be transported to the bottom level of our Germania HQ for storage by the end of the day. You have nowhere to run, so we simply expect you to make the intelligent choice.”

“And if I still try to run?”

“We will do everything we can to stop you. You are our pet cat, not a stray.”

When she grasped his meaning, Hazel’s shoulders drooped and some resignation entered her voice.

“But I think it’s wrong to give your pet an injection while she’s asleep.”

“After capturing you, we slipped a sedative into your food to help you relax. The doctor said you ate well and slept right through having your clothing changed and receiving your injection.”

This was the first she had heard of that, so she cleared her throat and straightened the position of her butt on the chair.

She wasn’t wearing anything other than her choker below the surgical gown she had worn for her examination that morning, so she felt vulnerable. She pulled the collar of the coat together.

Heiliger sighed when he saw that.

“After your examination tomorrow, you will be sent back to Germania and I can show you around Tristan. That enormous fortress will be your new home.”

That turned Hazel’s focus toward the site of the injection on her right arm.

She still felt a stiff pain when she bent the arm, proving that something critical had been done to her.

…I didn’t even know it was happening.

If she left Germany now, she would automatically Ash.

She wasn’t sure what to think about that.

…It still doesn’t seem real.

But there was one thing she could believe in.

…Berger.

She couldn’t believe it took her this long to remember.

She had gotten so worked up talking, but now her mind rapidly cooled.

“Are you not feeling well?” asked Heiliger.

“It’s not that. Um…do you know what happened to Berger after all that?”

He froze in place for a moment.

He clearly wasn’t sure why she would be asking. The Lives she saw coming from him were the yellow of confusion and had a quick staccato tempo.

But he managed to respond after taking a breath.

“You mean the one-armed young man who is always with you? The Wild Hund?” He had a troubled but somehow relieved look on his face. “What if…what if the Geheimnis Agency were to capture him? He too has been injected with German Tons, so he cannot leave the country. So our commander hopes to convince him to join us. Most likely, she will try that when he comes to rescue you.”

“Because you think I’ll join you if Berger is with you?”

“We must do whatever we can in the month until the ruin arrives in August.”

She did not see the color of falsehood in his words. He was serious.

…There is only one month until then. But on the other hand…

“Do you really think you can capture him?”

“Like I said while showing you around the base, the Allies will not help him. When he comes to rescue you, he will be on his own. But this base is defended by Neue Kaiser, Der Held, our commander’s Neue Erde, and the Fünf Leithammels leading the air force and army divisions. What can a single Wild Hund do?”

“What if I work to help him?”

“The Kaiser Schwert will try to kill you. He told me as much when he brought you in last night.”

Her heart skipped a beat and she straightened her back while looking around. She saw no sign of the young man who had grabbed her arm in the library last night. Heiliger must have realized what her action meant.

“He is in the sky right now. He said we need to be prepared to save the world on our own.” He took a breath. “He wouldn’t listen if I told him to stop, so I must ask that you do not try to escape. And…I also hope I can convince you to fight alongside us when destiny comes to rescue you.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

She was surprised at how reflexively the answer came from her.

She paused for a moment, wondering if she should say the rest.

…But…

“If I did that, he would call me spineless.”

“This divinely-named man sounds like trouble.”

“He is, but so am I. I mean, I can’t seem to figure out how to look at this from your point of view.”

She took another look around.

The men in black uniforms were all looking her way, but they would briefly look the other way when she turned toward them.

She heard a wave of surprised gasps and groans as she cast her gaze around the mess hall.

“Why am I the Messiah?” she asked.

This was one thing she didn’t understand. The question was more directed at herself than at the others here.

….Are they saying I have the ability to lead all these people?

She pulled on the coat and gripped the Wheel of Destiny card through it.

“I can’t be your puppet ruler. I’m no more than a Tuner.”

“Do you know what your Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen does?”

His question kept her from saying more.

She saw him resting his prosthetic arms on the table with the fingers intertwined.

His eyes were closed and his expression blank.

“You should still have a power you aren’t aware of. The power of your Ober Beweisen.”

“And I can become the Messiah by using that power? Are you saying the Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can save the world from the ruin the newspapers keep talking about?”

“We trust in the prophecy saying as much.”

Heiliger’s deep voice rang through the mess hall. At some point, all the other whispering had stopped.

Amid that heavy silence, a single unified movement shook the air.

Everyone in the mess hall nodded in response to Heiliger’s claim.

Hazel almost failed to regulate her breathing.

She held her right hand up to her right eye – the Messiah eye.

“In that case, I will be faced with a choice when I learn what that power is. I will have to choose between being the Messiah or being a simple AIF soldier.”

“The choice should be obvious. The Messiah will save the world, but what can a simple AIF soldier save?” asked Heiliger. “Will you choose the Allies or Germany? No, the real question is whether you will choose yourself or the world.”

They were interrupted by a pair of hands clapping twice.

That set the mess hall’s air in motion and led Hazel to turn toward it.

A skinny person stood in the mess hall’s entrance behind her.

Hazel recognized the woman in a Geheimnis Agency dress uniform.

“The Geheimnis Agency Commander.”

“Yes, the name is Lowenzahn Naylor. The prophet has come for you, Messiah Hazel Mirildorf.”

Lowenzahn’s eyebrows were angled just a smidge in anger, but there was still a smile on her lips as she beckoned Hazel over.

“Being here will only cause unnecessary anxiety. Come with me alone. I have something important to tell you. Then I will place my role on your shoulders. …So come.”

She beckoned and continued without the smile.

“Hurry.”

Part 5[edit]

A battle was underway.

Elrich muttered to himself while hearing clashing swords and a great beast’s roars.

“Why was the Messiah recreated? Has the castle’s device gone even more haywire?”

“That I can’t say. But if this was done intentionally, I can only imagine it was Bermark’s doing. Opening the underground passageway is always his job.”

“Are you saying we weren’t closed in here just to lock us away? If this was on our commander’s orders, then could this be something she wanted us to see while also preventing us from digging into any further secrets?”

“She may be testing us. If we want to learn the secrets related to the Messiah, we must first fight alongside the Messiah.”

They heard more sword fighting and Elrich changed the subject.

“Do you remember what the Unreif Germane says? When the Messiah descended to Alfheim along with the one-armed young man, she encountered a dragon and slayed it with the help of two Neue Kavaliers who came running to her aid.”

“I get what you mean. And take a look at the Messiah’s sword.”

Elrich did so. He recognized the sword the Messiah was wielding up on the hill.

“Rein König!?”

The Messiah gave a shout.

The white sword she held amplified the note and converted it into an impact of pure white light.

That was Busting. The destructive impact gave a roar as it crashed into the dragon’s right shoulder.

The dragon roared as well.

“But our Messiah is a Stimmer, isn’t she?” said Elrich.

“The past records of the Messiah say she was a Buster. It’s a question of regeneration or destruction, I suppose. Which is a big difference.” Witzmann scratched his head. “I doubt I can slay a dragon with the Messiah at my age, but I might as well give it a try.”

Witzmann kept his eyes on the hill where the Messiah and the dragon fought while he pulled a notepad and a fountain pen from his pocket.

He suddenly walked forward as if drawn toward the battle.

He kept walking while drawing a complex emblem in the notepad. He rapidly drew out several emblems, tearing out and throwing away the page each time he finished one.

The discarded pages gathered in midair and linked together when they made contact.

Around a dozen pages were attached by their top and bottom edges, creating something like a long, thin sash.

But that sash was still as light as paper, so it flew through the forest air.

A moment later, he reached his left hand behind him and grabbed the end of the paper strip. He pressed his thumb against the emblem at the very end of the strip and the entire thing stretched straight out into a solid sheet.

“Hm. It might curl too much to the upper right.”

When he swung the long sheet of paper, it easily sliced through the leaves and branches in its path.

It was a sword.

It had all happened in an instant. He spun the paper sword around and held it out in front of him. Then he used the pen in his right hand to add more writing to the surface of the paper sword. He had a smile on his lips.

Elrich jogged to catch up with him.

“I see you aren’t rusty at all. I’m less confident in your stamina, though.”

“I’m two years younger than you.”

“You should listen to any warnings your elders give you.”

Elrich pulled a single earphone out of his lab coat’s inner pocket, inserted it in his ear, and stuck the cord inside his lab coat. After doing something with his hands inside his coat, music began playing from the earphone.

“You got that working?” asked Witzmann, still drawing emblems on the paper sword.

“Japan beat me to the punch. It’s a personal Erklärung weapon that uses a different process than the Eingeweide. The Japanese call it a Rhythm. It’s apparently an ancient technology over there, but I’ve never liked how it feels. I’ve remade this one a bit, but I’m still not a fan.”

Elrich began to sing his Text.

Righteousness is worthless / Wickedness is worthless

Truth is worthless / Lies are worthless

But if you enjoy them

You can consume the world four times as quickly

He rolled up his lab coat’s sleeves and emitted a vibration from the palms of his spread hands. A 2yd diameter area around his palms shook like shimmering heat, producing sounds like tearing flesh.

“I have to admit it’s pretty nice for something thought up by Asians.”

“It lacks originality,” said Witzmann, piercing his paper sword with the tip of his pen.

Bluish-white flames erupted from the gaps between the pieces of paper forming the sword.

The different flames linked together and burned the air without burning the paper.

Swinging the sword drew out a scarlet afterimage and all the leafy branches touched by the fiery arc were reduced to ashes.

“Pretty well-made, don’t you think?”

“Pretty cliché, you mean. I think you’re the one that needs more originality.”

Elrich smiled a little and Witzmann looked back to smile as well.

The forest ended directly ahead of them and two people were fighting an intense battle against a dragon up on the hill.

The one-armed young man used his sword to battle the dragon’s claws. The Messiah girl used her Rein König to battle its fangs.

Metal clashed, dragon wings whipped up the wind, the great beast’s feet crashed against the ground, and its maw roared.

Sounds and movements intersected while the two old men viewed the Messiah.

“Her face.”

She had a unique trait. One they recognized from someone else.

They were focused on her eye color.

“Her eyes are the same color as Hazel Mirildorf’s!”

“Nothing can surprise me at this point!” shouted Elrich, running forward with his hands carrying a rhythm of crushing.

The short old man in a lab coat burst from the forest with his white coat flapping behind him.

Witzmann also raced forward with a fiery afterimage in his hands. He leaned forward and let the sword tip graze the ground as he ran.

The sword tip’s radiant heat drew out a scorched trail along the hill’s green grass.

He accelerated, whipping up the wind in his pursuit of the lab coat leading the way.

They never slowed their pace.

They ran toward the dragon they were both staring at. And toward the one-armed young man and the Messiah.

The Messiah swung Rein König. She raised her voice and a white light shot out.

She appeared oblivious to the old men’s presence as she fought.

Elrich held his fists at the ready and Witzmann bent over to swing his sword up from below.

That was when the Messiah held her sword aloft and called the name of a certain wind.

At the same time, something appeared from beyond the hill and carried the wind into the sky above.

It was blue and had a 30yd knife-like silhouette.

Elrich and Witzmann noted that silhouette as they approached the dragon.

“So everything is the same. Except that this Messiah is a Buster?”

“The past Messiah had the power to destroy and the present Messiah has the power to regenerate.” Elrich smiled with just his lips when he said “destroy”. “Why did our commander give another country data on something as destructive as the Wort Bombe? Why doesn’t the current Messiah have the power to destroy? I feel like those two questions are connected.”

They ran.

They ran in from behind the Messiah, Elrich on the left and Witzmann on the right.

“!?”

Surprise and a hint of joy appeared on the Messiah’s face as they passed by her and made their first strikes against the dragon as it prepared to slash with its claws.

Their heat and crushing were joined by a line of wind flying in from the sky.

Part 6[edit]

The slowly setting sun’s light fell on the forest and painted a mottled pattern on the unpaved road below the trees. A single set of tire tracks had been dug into a mountain road barely big enough for a car.

A wooden sign on the side of the road gave the name of this land: Borderson.

Climbing the mountain road led to a wheat field on a hill and then back into the forest.

The roar of a motorcycle shook the forest.

Berger drove his BMW 750cc with the sidecar attached.

He shifted gears with his new prosthetic left arm.

The motorcycle remained below the branches for a while, but without warning, it emerged into the open.

In that clearing, the mountain road vanished and was replaced by the entrance to a small village.

He braked by letting the motorcycle slide to the side. The tires dug into the sand and slid until it stopped, pushing the sidecar out ahead of it.

“Here I am. It’s been a full year now, hasn’t it?”

He looked ahead to the gate into the village.

The gate was formed from a wooden arch with a mossy stone wall on either side of it.

The gate was closed.

He saw two colors out in front of the gate. The gold and purple were from the same woman.

The gold was her long hair rippling gently in the wind. The purple was the uniform of an AIF company officer.

The eyes below her blonde hair were shut, but they were directed toward Berger through her tinted glasses. Her eyebrows were flat and her mouth showed no sign of a smile or protest.

She stood in front of the old, discolored gate with her arms crossed.

Her red lipsticked lips opened to speak.

“You called me here from the village’s only telephone, but I don’t recall receiving any orders from the AIF.”

“I’m not here for you as an AIF member,” said Berger atop the rumbling motorcycle. “I’m here for you as a Buster.”

“And?”

“Hazel was captured. I know she was taken to the Geheimnis Agency’s Hamburg Base. I’m about to go rescue her with Scwharz Löwe, but it’s too much for me to handle on my own. Help me, Lehrer.”

Lehrer did not bat an eye in response. She only tilted her head a bit.

“Is she really that important?”

“Do I really need to answer that?”

Their exchange of questions was followed by silence.

The only sounds were the leaves rustling in the breeze and the rumbling of the motorcycle.

A rooster crowed once from the direction of the village.

Then a solid sound joined it. The sound of feet on dirt. Lehrer had pulled herself away from the gate and started walking.

She uncrossed her arms and brushed her hair back.

The solid soles of her boots stepped on the dirt, crushed the grass, and trod on pebbles for seven steps.

At the center of the village square, she looked up into the sky with her eyes still closed.

The blue afternoon sky was found there.

It could be seen all around from between the forest and the gate. Quickly blowing clouds decorated the blue on their path from east to west.

Lehrer viewed the sun setting in the west and spoke into the sky.

“The color of the sky remains unchanged by all the wars we fight. Same for the color of the clouds and the wind.” She spread her arms. “Berger, why not live in this village with the rest of us? This village doesn’t change either. It doesn’t care what the people of this world do any more than the sky above does. If it is destroyed, it will be destroyed, but if it will live, it will remain as it is. Isn’t now the best time to cut your losses?”

“No, thanks,” said Berger. “That wouldn’t be cutting my losses – it’d be dodging responsibility. And…if my gut instinct is right, you have to go save Hazel. It’s just who you are.” He pointed at her. “In fact, you already intend to. But…you just wanted to mess with me first.”

“You sound awfully confident in your assessment. Did you think you had read my mind?”

“I know all too well what it feels like to be toyed with by a mischievous cat. It only just happened to me half a day ago.”

“I see. Then I have a question for you: what do you think you can say to get me to go with you?”

“Well…”

“I have just one hint, but it’s a big one: call my name.”

Lehrer’s tone was light and Berger nearly responded on reflex.

“…”

But he crossed his arms instead.

His expression had changed. The amusement was gone and his brow was wrinkled.

“Yes, think about it,” she said. “That is the correct starting point. You know now isn’t the time to speak without thinking, don’t you?”

“You’re right,” he said. “You’re exactly right. If my gut instinct is right, you couldn’t be more right. Doing this without thinking would be an insult to how long you’ve been waiting.”

Lehrer smiled a little.

“Yes, think about how I am here, how I can be here, and how that connects back to everything you have seen: the Berlin Conflict, the Sylphide Incident, and everything else.”

Berger didn’t even nod this time.

He leaned forward and rested his elbow on the motorcycle’s tank, as if to say he understood all that. He rested his cheek in his right hand, held his left hand to his head, and glanced over at Lehrer.

She had lowered her gaze to view him through closed eyes. She kept her hands clasped in front of her hips.

She stood there silently with the sunlight casting her shadow on the ground.

She was waiting for him to speak.

“…”

He straightened up and his lips moved to say something, but he didn’t go through with it.

He looked away from her.

His lips again tried to speak, but no voice emerged. Those words weren’t what he needed to say. This was the hesitant silence of knowing the right answer but not knowing if he should actually say it out loud.

Every time he silently said something, his options narrowed.

Finally, his gaze met hers again. When he saw her closed eyes, a flicker of anger flashed across his face.

A moment later, his lips began to speak a woman’s name.

“Haz-”

But he stopped partway through.

He looked forward and saw her smiling.

That smile got him to speak a certain Urban Name as his answer.

“Lehrer.”

He breathed a hesitant sigh toward the ground and finished his answer.

“That’s your name now.”

He stopped there and watched her with no excess intensity in his gaze.

She opened her mouth a bit and deepened her smile when she heard that name.

She showed off her white teeth and nodded.

“Yes.” Her eyes bent in a smile. “That is correct.”

She nodded again as something fell from her right eye and down her cheek.

The sparkle that caught the sun and fell to the ground was a tear.

But that was the only one.

She did not bother wiping away the wet trail it left and walked forward. Her footsteps rang loud as she approached Berger. His gaze followed her as she made the dozen or so necessary steps without any hesitation.

She stopped next to the motorcycle, removed her shaded glasses, and put them in her breast pocket.

Then he saw her open her eyes.

Her left eye was a brown feline one, but her right one was a blue human one. Both were bent in a smile.

“I will summon the guardian dragon slumbering in the mountains. And in the meantime…” She smiled. “I have something important to tell you: Hazel is no longer qualified to be the Messiah.”

“…What?”

“Everything has fallen out of sync with the previous cycles. It all began when I chose to go to sleep within the Sylphide. And it truly changed last year when Hazel chose to return to America from Cologne and begin working as a Tuner. Just like I had hoped she would.”

Tension filled Berger’s face.

“What are you talking about? What does Cologne and being a Tuner have to do with being qualified to be the Messiah?”

“I imagine the only people who know the truth are me, Pale and M. Schrier who I explained my predictions to last year, and the Geheimnis Agency’s commander. That commander is working very hard right now to not betray everyone, to not disappoint them, and to make sure the Panzerpolis Project can fulfill its true purpose. Because destiny has gone off the rails.”

She took a breath.

“All because Hazel chose the path of regeneration over the path of destruction back at Cologne.”

Chapter 3: The Ruin Runs[edit]

7/24/1943 15:42 – 17:18

The past was presented to me

And I was told to obey it

But I…

No

We…

ACBS[edit]

An automatic ramming weapon originally designed by the German military. The Germans called it an auto-ramming ship, but the Allies call it an automatic control bombing ship (ACBS).

A few variations based on the MO were produced during World War Two, but there are no records of them ever being used.

The Allies liked how the auto-ramming ship could automatically fly to its destination and eliminate any enemy crafts with its high speed and auto-interception system, but they decided to load wide-range bombs in their ACBS. That way they could efficiently destroy an entire city in a single attack instead of relying on a thousand bombers.

By ’43, the Germans had developed their small V1 auto-ramming ship, but the Allies used the information on the V0 they received through Poland to complete development of their larger ACBS and MO at about the same time.

After the war, ACBS development would shift to development of supersonic weapons such as an intercontinental ballistic variety, which changed how wars were fought.

Part 1[edit]

Hamburg Base’s rooftop terrace was already dyed orange by the setting sun.

The 15yd terrace was located 7 floors up.

Other than the central stairway, it only featured railings on the four sides.

Currently, two people stood in the sunlight there: Lowenzahn and Hazel.

Lowenzahn was leaning against the eastern railing. But instead of taking in the breathtaking view outside, she was looking back toward Hazel who stood at the stairway entrance.

The scarlet sunlight shined directly on Lowenzahn as she beckoned Hazel over.

Hazel left the stairway and stepped out onto the terrace.

It bothered her how a light westerly breeze caught the hem of her surgical gown.

Then her slippers caught on a slight dip in the floor.

“?”

Her long blonde hair swished through the orange sunlight as she looked down at her feet. The small dip casting a short shadow there was not a brick or a stone. It was a pattern.

“…?”

Her gaze ran along the rest of the floor.

…A yard-long relief?

She stood on a scene of a woman battling a water dragon in a cave’s underground lake. Her slipper had caught on a dip in the curve of the dragon’s back.

She shifted her gaze to the right.

A one-armed young man, a girl, and several knights walked through a wheat field below the cloudy sky.

She shifted her gaze up.

The Messiah girl, the one-armed young man, and two knights fought a dragon atop an open field just outside of a forest.

“The Unreif Germane.”

“This isn’t easy to maintain. It was originally in the main entrance, but we had it moved here when the place was remodeled.”

“I can imagine,” thought Hazel, approaching Lowenzahn.

She watched her step this time and stopped about two yards from Lowenzahn.

She could see all of Hamburg Base past the railing Lowenzahn leaned against. Around eight white buildings formed two rows. Running between those rows were a row of storehouses and a road large enough for transport vehicles to drive along side by side. She also saw the occasional entrance to an underground space.

The most notable feature was the 20yd-wide waterway flowing through the center of the base.

According to Heiliger, the base was primarily used by the development division and most of the buildings lined up on the east and west were research facilities, so all of the usual military facilities and hangars were located underground.

The main gate and a small runway were located past the waterway. The runway bordered the forest, which was the one side of the base without a wall. The base opened up onto a dark green expanse instead.

She also saw something familiar on the large road in front of the waterway.

The two Grösse Panzers there were colored blue and red. They stood in front of something like a giant green mountain located next to a large storehouse and they each held a weapon. The blue one a rifle and the red one a shield.

…Those are the ones I always see with the Kaiser.

Lowenzahn followed Hazel’s gaze, turning toward them.

The blue and red Grösse Panzers were sinking into the ground. An elevator was carrying them to the underground hangar.

“Skilled Neue Kavaliers from all over Germany are gathering here,” said Lowenzahn without turning back around. “Those impatient knights want an audience with you even before you arrive in Germania a few days from now.”

She finished speaking just as the elevator resurfaced empty.

Then Hazel noticed sudden movement from the mountain-like thing located next to the elevator. The green mountain was nearly as tall as a four-story building, making it taller than the large storeroom next to it.

“Is that a Grösse Panzer!?”

She realized it was in fact a giant armored warrior carrying two towers.

It stood more than 20 yards tall and Lowenzahn explained what it was.

“That is Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He lost his body during the previous world war and chose to permanently join with his Grösse Panzer as part of the Eisen Ritter Project.”

The enormous Grösse Panzer sank belowground just like the previous two had.

Lowenzahn stepped in front of Hazel as if to hide that from view.

“Now, I know this is sudden, but where should I even begin with this?” She crossed her arms and peered at Hazel’s face from below. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to force the job of Messiah onto you. You no longer have the right to refuse. You don’t have the right to choose whether you will save the world or let it be destroyed. Got that?”

Hazel nearly nodded, but stopped herself.

Something about Lowenzahn’s statement bothered her.

…I don’t have the right?

That meant she didn’t have the ability.

She thought about what ability meant in this case.

…When I said goodbye to the Sylphide, I hoped to decide how I would use this Messiah eye.

“Um, wh-what do you mean?”

Lowenzahn raised both hands and silenced Hazel with an exaggerated gesture.

“I will explain that along with the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project. You see…” She took a breath. “You lost the ability to save the world last year – on that night at Cologne.”

Part 2[edit]

Several large boxy blue shapes floated in the sky as the sun set.

Several similar shapes rested on the field below.

The shapes were all aerial ships measuring more than 100 yards long.

A flagpole bearing the Union Jack was set up alongside the gray runway crossing the center of the field.

The field was surrounded by forest. This was Bassingbourn’s secondary airfield located in southeast UK.

The setting sun shined on the sky, the ships, the field, the runway, the flag, and the forest.

All of the ships were on standby.

The crews remained in their assigned barracks and the maintenance crews surrounded the ships performing inspections.

But one ship in that vast field was very different from the rest.

The small aerial aircraft carrier was located at one corner of the field. It only carried a large two-hull transport ship and six large spare fuel tanks.

Between the tanks and the two-hull transport ship, a few dozen crewmembers sat in deep thought while directing their eyes straight head.

Their eyes were all on a very large person on the west end of the deck.

The gray-haired man with two prosthetic arms was Pale Horse. Corelle sat directly in front of him.

“And?” she asked him. “What’s this about Hazel not having the power of the Messiah?”

Pale nodded. His downturned face was unusually hard-set for him.

He glanced over at the others before answering.

“The Allies didn’t believe it, but it’s a major secret that could influence the survival of the world itself. I won’t say it again.” He took a breath. “To put it simply, a Live explosion at Germania on August 23, 1943 will turn back time by a thousand years.”

No one knew how to respond to that. A few said “huh?” before falling silent.

Pale ignored them all and continued.

“Hazel, Berger, and the Sylphide will be closely involved in that explosion, so they alone will be carried back to that point a millennium ago as the keys to reconstructing the world.”

Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale there.

“W-wait just a second. Then this Lehrer who you went to see last year…?”

“Like I said earlier, Lehrer is Hazel after using Sylphide to wake up in modern times again. She is a Buster and she used that power to save the world, but…”

“Wait another second. What are you talking about? You’re skipping way too much here.”

Pale clicked his tongue.

“This is going to get long,” he prefaced. “You know Geheimnis Agency Commander Lowenzahn Naylor, right? The issue here is the Ober Beweisen for her Neue Erde heart and the same for Hazel’s Messiah.”

Pale saw everyone frowning as he continued.

“You see, Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen has nothing to do with prophecy.”

“Huh? But she’s a Sofort Leser. How else does she prophesy?”

“I can’t tell you that. I’m sure the Geheimnis Agency has some other method. Lehrer said as much. So forget that for now.” Pale raised one sharp-nailed finger. “Neue Erde’s Ober Beweisen is a booster for a specific Live reactor. With a side effect, I might add. Connect Neue Erde to that Live reactor and Neue Erde’s owner’s lifeforce is borrowed to boost its output several times over.”

“Which Live reactor are we talking about here?”

“You’ve seen the aerial photos of that big-ass cross in Germania, haven’t you?”

No one nodded, but no one shook their heads either.

More tension filled their faces and they maintained their silence.

Pale raised a second finger as if to take advantage of that silence.

“Next. On August 23, 1943, the Allies will bomb Germania, but Germania is protected by the barrier created by Tristan. The Vaterlands around the world are a problem too, so the Allies have an idea.”

Corelle continued for him.

“Gather up all of the anxiety Lives in the world, send them back into Tristan, and have it destroy itself.”

“Exactly, Corelle. Do that and Germany as well as most of the nearby Eastern Europe countries will be so ruled by anxiety they can never again recover.”

“So Neue Erde’s owner will use its Ober Beweisen to fight back? To try and stop the world’s anxiety the Allies are forcing onto them?”

Pale kept his right hand’s two fingers raised and scratched his head with his left hand.

“Correct,” he said quietly. “The Geheimnis Agency Commander feels the need to sacrifice herself to the machine in order to save Germany from the anxiety.”

“Continue.”

“Sure,” said Pale. “But that heroic Ober Beweisen has a side effect.”

He raised a third finger.

“Neue Erde wasn’t actually made just to boost the reactor like that. That boosted power is in fact only the means necessary to extract certain Lives from the ley lines.”

“What Lives are those?”

“This world’s Spacetime Lives.”

It took everyone a few seconds to grasp what he had said.

He sighed after seeing them all nod.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard of it as an Ober Geheimnis. The basic timeline of the world exists as Lives, forming one of the basic pillars supporting the entire world. It has only been contacted a few times before. We aren’t talking about anything as insignificant as the Lives behind a land, a country, or the planet. Everything in the world is carried by the Spacetime Lives and they can be extracted through the ley lines, since those are the greatest form of Lives we can control.”

His shoulders drooped, but then he looked up to view them all and raised a fourth finger.

“But the anxiety will be even more powerful. According to Lehrer, it happens late at night on August 23, 1943, in the middle of the bombing of Germania.”

He took a breath.

“Neue Erde attempts to fight back by extracting the Spacetime Lives with its Ober Beweisen, but it loses control and the Lives pressurized within Tristan grow too powerful and they explode. Both the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives do.”

“Wait.” Corelle held out a hand to stop Pale. “That makes no sense. If the Spacetime Lives explode too…”

“Yes, the world’s timeline would be destroyed. The past and the future would both explode and disappear together. That would mean ruin. The world would be destroyed.”

“But…but we’re still here. So the timeline couldn’t have been destroyed.”

Pale raised a fifth finger in front of Corelle’s eyes with a hint of a smile on his lips.

“That’s where the Messiah comes in. I said Lehrer ended up a thousand years in the past, didn’t I? That’s because she saved the world from ruin.”

He looked up into the sky. Everyone else followed suit. The setting sun shined on a new giant aerial warship slowly traveling east. It produced a deep roar as it pushed the wind out of the way.

Someone muttered “that’s the flagship” while viewing that 300yd ship.

After waiting for the flagship to pass, they lowered their gazes. There was no longer any skepticism in their eyes.

Pale had lowered his gaze along with theirs.

He had also lowered his right hand with the five raised fingers.

“Now, then,” he said. “I’ll tell you how Lehrer saved the world. And why Hazel can’t do the same.” He pointed at his right eye with his metal finger. “The Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen grant’s its owner the ability to fully perceive Lives of even the highest level. That includes the anxiety Lives and the Spacetime Lives.”

And…

“A Buster has the power to destroy Lives. Lehrer used her Ober Beweisen to perceive the anxiety and explosion Lives and destroyed them just before Tristan detonated, but she couldn’t do it quite so cleanly.”

“So she was forced to destroy 1000 years’ worth of Spacetime Lives too?”

“I think so, yes. She and the other people at the center of the spacetime explosion were sent to the past. The Panzerpolis Project isn’t actually meant to defend Berlin. It’s a project using the Geheimnis Agency Commander and the Messiah to protect history and the world by making sure that same loop plays out every single time.” Pale nodded, straightened his back, and put on a more carefree expression. “But unlike Lehrer, our Hazel is a Tuner. That means she can’t destroy the anxiety Lives. She can’t save the world by destroying it. That was decided that night back in Cologne.”

He smiled bitterly and chuckled.

“The Geheimnis Agency Commander intends to complete the loop and avoid ruin so the world can try again. M. Schrier and I intend to save the world without relying on the loop. There must be some way of doing it.”

He looked to the others and said one last thing.

“So what will the rest of you do?”

Part 3[edit]

“And so you have strayed from the scenario that has been repeated time and again to preserve the world. You have left the looping scenario set up by the Panzerpolis Project.”

Lowenzahn stepped away from the terrace railing and walked past Hazel to the west.

Hazel was too preoccupied trying to make sense of what she had just been told.

Her Ober Beweisen was not enough to save the world. She needed the power of a Buster as well.

…So I chose the wrong kind of power?

She had made that decision during the battle at Cologne.

She had seen a school and decided she wanted to be a teacher after the war.

But…

“Unfortunately, you won’t have a chance to see the end of this war. In fact, the world itself won’t. Because…”

“The millennium’s worth of damage to the Spacetime Tons sends the world back 1000 years from August 23, 1943 to begin another loop?”

“Yes. If you do not wind up in the past, the last 1000 years of Germany’s history will be altered. The Messiah will not appear in the past. Do you get it now? You must return to the past to preserve the world. You cannot escape the Nibelung.”

The word Nibelung reminded her of the card in her coat’s breast pocket and she heard a bitter laugh from behind her.

“But maybe that’s for the best. If this war continues, Germany will lose. And the anxiety will cover the world. Doesn’t repeating the fun part time and again sound better than seeing the boring ending?”

“But…”

“There is no other way. My mother explained it all to me when I was little. Including what I must do! She told me I can preserve the world by becoming a part of an Eingeweide concept weapon! So…”

Hazel looked back, but Lowenzahn’s face was obscured by the setting sun shining in from behind her.

“So I will keep the wheel turning. For my own sake.”

Her Lives were the orange of joy.

“Messiah, let me help you with your dreams.”

“Eh?” Hazel tilted her head. “My dreams?”

“I mean this.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief on the floor. “You have dreams about an ancient army on the move while you wander through a dark forest with him, don’t you? Maybe you think of them as nightmares, but you have dreams that feel like your own memories once you grow accustomed to them, don’t you?”

“…!? How do you know about that?”

“Those dreams really are your memories. In August of 1943, you destroy Tristan at Germania, making you, the one-armed young man, and Sylphide the keys to reconstructing the world.” Lowenzahn kicked at the relief again. “So when the world was reconstructed a thousand years ago, it included some Tons from you, him, and Sylphide. That is also why your Tons include some German Ton data even though you are Heidengeists and why your Tons include your own memories from the previous loops. You see those memories as dreams.” She took a breath. “So you have those dreams even though you have already given the wrong answer to be the Messiah.”

“Th-then…!”

“Then what?”

Hazel frowned.

“Why did you capture me!? I’m not a Buster! All the Geheimnis Agency people here think I’m going to save the world. But you just said I can’t do that!”

Lowenzahn relaxed her shoulders and sighed.

“Like I said in the beginning, I know full well that you lack the ability. What I need is your Messiah eye.” She smiled bitterly and shrugged. “Getting it all the pieces to fit wasn’t easy, let me tell you. I had to give the Allies information on our Wort Bombe in exchange for you. I leaked that destructive weapon’s data as a replacement for your Busting power. They intend to load it onto an auto-ramming ship to ensure they destroy Tristan in August.”

Lowenzahn pointed toward the black cross visible in the eastern sky.

“I will borrow your Messiah eye’s power then. Our Beweisens are the same, so I can forcibly activate your Ober Beweisen. Then I use your eye to view the Spacetime Lives and make sure they remain as undamaged as possible while letting the Wort Bombe go boom and trigger Ton collapse.” Lowenzahn stared straight into Hazel’s Messiah eye. “You don’t need to do a thing. I only need to borrow your eye for a bit.”

Part 4[edit]

The sky was colored the purple of late evening.

A small field in the mountains sat below the sky as night fell.

A pile of wood sat on the field and a motorcycle with a sidecar was parked next to it.

A young man in black stood on the pile, removing the wood and tossing it away.

A woman in purple sat next to the sidecar.

She had built a stove from the discarded wood and a fire was burning inside it.

A pot of soup was simmering atop the stove.

The fire crackled inside the stove, briefly illuminating their dark surroundings.

She spoke quietly while viewing the light through her tinted glasses.

“No one knows anymore how it got started. The Panzerpolis Project wouldn’t have existed originally. But as the loops continued, it was eventually created to keep the wheel turning.”

“And your memories appear to you as dreams?”

“Yes, but the memories from my thousands of past iterations only tell me how desperate they all were. The dreams are a result of their anxious desire to not fail, to not run away, to not be hurt.” She took a breath. “I intend to create something new. I won’t give up just because I created another loop. None of my past selves could do anything about it, but destiny can be changed.”

“So unlike your past selves, you chose to sleep for a thousand years inside the Sylphide?”

“Yes.” She pulled a card from her pocket – the Hermit. “Back in my world, this was the Wheel of Destiny.”

She heard his bitter laugh from atop the pile of wood.

“Sounds like you’ve changed destiny after all,” he said. “If you failed to fix destiny in your time, what can you teach Hazel now that she’s a Tuner?”

“There is one way to do this and I have already informed M. Schrier via letter. You must stop Tristan before the bombing of Berlin. Not destroy it – stop it.”

“That’s a lot easier said than done.”

“It is what it is. And Hazel’s Beweisen can stop Neue Erde.”

“So you want her to stop the Geheimnis Agency Commander’s heart, killing her? And if the anxiety Lives are building up inside Tristan like you claim, then Germany will end up with some bad Live pollution.”

“But it’s better than another loop.”

He threw down another piece of wood. He threw down a disgusted comment along with it.

“Which is why you slept your way to the modern age, huh? You really want to get history moving again, don’t you? But you know what happens if we don’t start another loop and you get what you want, don’t you?”

“If the loops stop and Hazel does not end up in the past, the last millennium of Germany’s history will collapse from the very foundation. Because it will create a history where the Messiah does not save Germany a thousand years ago.”

“And the world will correct itself to match. Most likely, we’ll all disappear and become someone else. That’s another kind of ruin for the people in the world now.”

He threw another piece of wood.

“Are you okay with that?”

“That is how the world is meant to be.” Lehrer held her knees. “The chaos in Germany a thousand years ago was due to the anxiety that we failed to fully destroy back in ’43. I hated how everyone thanked me for eliminating that chaos a thousand years ago. Because I was only hunting down the trouble we had sown through time.” Lehrer squeezed her arms tight around her knees. “And you know what? I am destined to disappear no matter what happens.”

“…?”

“Without another loop, I will disappear along with this world. And if there is another loop…well, there is only one timeline. If everything is redone, I will be overwritten.”

“You mean Hazel will erase you by following in your footsteps?”

“Yes. In this world’s Lives, the old me will be rewritten with the new me. If Hazel creates another loop, she will overwrite and erase me. So…”

So…

“I can only exist this one time. As irresponsible as that might be.”

She lowered her head and stirred the soup with the large spoon leaning against the edge of the pot. The somewhat brown potato soup swirled inside the pot.

“What was I like last time? Let me guess: I was the second most wonderful guy in the world.”

“Why would I tell you that?” She gave a snort of laughter. “Telling you wouldn’t accomplish anything.”

“Fair enough. Oh, I finally found the secondary cockpit. Don’t move from there while I stand Schwarz Löwe up. How about you prepare your weapon and summon Sylphide? You can control that thing, right?”

“I acquired a weapon earlier and Sylphide is already flying overhead. I have it soaring autonomously outside of detection range while its self-repair function heals a thousand years’ worth of decay. But more importantly…”

Lehrer stood up.

She looked up to see Berger atop the 3yd pile of wood.

She looked between him and the pot at her feet.

“You can make it quick, but you should really eat something.”

“I’m too busy. I’m putting together a connector staff so Schwarz Löwe can wield Gelegenheit, so you just eat your portion.”

“Oh? But the old you always loved my cooking.”

“H-hold on there.” He hopped down, landed, and brushed off his black coat. “You just said you wouldn’t tell me about him, so how is this fair?”

“Women can be selfish when it suits us,” she said bluntly. “But if you insist, I can tell you more. For example, whenever the old you would kiss me, you would reach your arms around to my butt and-”

“Okay, okay! I’ll eat it! I’ll eat, so that’s enough!” He looked upset, clicked his tongue as he approached the fire, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Hazel’s a little more modest and has a bigger chest.”

“Then you had better take better care of her than me.”

Berger silently sat down and Lehrer sat to his left and looked to the fire.

“I am Lehrer, but she can stay Hazel Mirildorf.”

She picked up the plate sitting next to the stove and reached for the spoon in the pot.

“You don’t like carrots, right?”

She spooned some soup onto the plate and passed it to Berger. She expressionlessly accepted the steaming plate, checked his pocket watch with his other hand, and started eating. He ate quickly.

“Hey, Lehrer,” he said. “Is there no way to keep you from disappearing?”

“Feeling sorry for me? I appreciate it, Berger. There is one way, but it is something I couldn’t bring myself to do. Besides…”

“Besides what?”

“You have no intention of telling Hazel about this. This is something she needs to realize on her own. If she reaches that realization, I am sure she will save me and all the previous versions of me too. After all, all of the previous ones were overwritten by the next one…which is why they can only appear in our dreams.”

“C’mon, you can tell me. If only you were still Hazel. Then I could just bully it out of you.”

“I have questions of my own. Like how you realized who I really am.”

“That was easy. I’d been curious about it since last year. After all, your kiss felt and smelled just like hers. You drink milk with every meal, don’t you?”

Lehrer’s face grew a red different from the tint of the firelight.

“Berger?” She spooned soup onto her own plate with a displeased look on her face. “I have another question too.”

“Yeah?”

“Now, I’ve heard some rumors going around the AIF saying you forced yourself on that girl when she was only 15. Is that true? …What is that disgusted look supposed to mean?

“Don’t ask. That rumor has done some severe damage to my reputation.”

“I see.” Lehrer nodded and blew on her soup before taking a bite.

She sighed, satisfied with the flavor.

“Can I ask one more thing, Berger?”

“?”

“It doesn’t happen to me much anymore now that I’m in my mid-20s, but she’s still young.”

“What doesn’t happen?”

“When Werecat girls are teenagers, they have a mating season from spring to summer.”

“They…what?”

“But girls have their pride, you see. We’re not animals, so we would only let it show in front of someone we have feelings for. And when we do…well, we’re cats, so we only try to tempt them. Do you get what I mean?”

Berger ate his soup without answering.

“If that girl hasn’t done anything, it’s because she’s been working very hard to resist the urge. She has no idea what she should do and doesn’t have anyone she can confide in. Do you get it now? So…”

She took a breath.

“So if something like that does happen, try to be gentle with her.”

Berger set his plate down, paused for a few seconds, and then collapsed backwards like his strings had been cut. He twisted onto his side, turning his back to Lehrer, and flopped a few times on the summer grass.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go rescue that idiot after all,” he groaned lethargically.

Lehrer poured the rest of her soup into his ear.

Chapter 4: The Ruin Accelerates[edit]

7/24/1943 18:03 – 18:57

Oh, god. I’m just so flustered!

But, but

Um

I have to do something!

Vaterland[edit]

Top label: Connection between the Vaterlands (including Tristan) and the Ley Lines

Left label: Ley Lines

Middle label: Vaterlands

Right label: Tristan

Black arrow from Vaterlands to Ley Lines: Activates the Land / Adds German Lives / Provides Aerial Words Ability

White arrow from Ley Lines to Vaterlands: Phlogiston Extraction

Black arrow from Tristan to Vaterlands: Boosts Output / Pressurization Assistance

The Vaterlands are ley line acceleration reactors developed by the Geheimnis Agency. They activate the land around them by extracting and activating the ley lines which act as arteries for Lives. The pure ether extracted from the ley lines is also converted into Phlogiston fuel.

They were originally designed to draw out the possibilities of a land and guide the people carrying that land’s Lives, but these nationalistic ones were further designed to activate the land, provide good fortune, and extract Phlogiston.

The Vaterlands that Germany constructed in its allied countries and occupied territories during the war initially only provided their standard benefits, but they were later combined into a massive network using the ley lines and that was used to release German Lives from Berlin into the ley lines across the world. That made it possible for the German military to use Aerial Words on any battlefield controlled by a Vaterland.

In ’43, that structure was discovered by the Allies and around a dozen Vaterlands fell into Allied hands when German occupied territories were retaken.

Part 1[edit]

The concrete hangar was tall, wide, and windowless.

It was located below Hamburg Base.

The enclosed space echoed with the rumble of transport vehicles, the sparks of welding, and the scraping of automatic files.

The underground Grösse Panzer hangar had columns connecting floor to ceiling and a lot of equipment lifts on the walls.

One of the suspended platforms on the north wall was very noisy. Hanging from that raised platform was a white Grösse Panzer – the Neue Kaiser – and ten or so maintenance soldiers were working on it.

The wings had been removed from its back for maintenance.

The maintenance soldiers were in constant motion around Neue Kaiser, but someone else stood motionless nearby.

That person was Alfred. He wore a blue jumpsuit and stood next to the Grösse Panzer Werkzeug hanging from a hanger next to the suspended platform. He viewed the white sword with a blade nearly 4 yards long.

“Good,” he muttered before viewing his surroundings.

A polisher the size of a thick dictionary was attached to the bottom of the hanger. He picked up the stone and metal device in one hand and pressed the curved polishing surface against the blade.

He walked and pushed on the device to polish the blade. Sparks flew.

“It was more damaged than I thought.”

Then he walked backwards and pulled on the device to continue polishing.

Suddenly, he looked to the platform where the workers were holding a meeting on Neue Kaiser’s back. They were discussing how to adjust for a part of the plans they didn’t understand.

Alfred did not interrupt and continued polishing the sword.

Neue Kaiser’s secondary cockpit was still open.

Viewed from below, he could see a white line in the secondary cockpit’s ceiling. That was Rein König.

He looked back to the larger sword he was polishing and raised the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords.

“That Rein König is the same one the one-armed young man took from the Messiah and lent to the emperor. And then the emperor gave it to my ancestor…in response to a selfish request.”

He looked to the sword he was polishing.

“But you are only designed to look like that one.”

Sparks flew from the polisher.

“But that does not make you second best. Because I reforged you with my Busting four years ago after you were sliced through.”

He continued polishing through the sparks. The polisher caught a few times, but he pushed and pulled it through every time.

Hearing a voice calling him from the suspended platform, he looked up to see a soldier trying to work inside the secondary cockpit was pointing at Rein König.

“Lieutenant! I’m sorry, but could you please remove this? I am trying to work on the ceiling portion.”

“Remove it yourself and bring it to me.”

“B-but I can’t do that!”

“What, you aren’t interested in making light of a millennium of history? Just toss it my way if you want.”

Alfred set down the polisher and walked over. He grabbed the thruster sticking out from Neue Kaiser’s leg armor and made a light leap that carried him all the way up to the secondary cockpit entrance.

Once inside, he reached over the flustered soldier’s head and removed Rein König.

He answered the soldier’s thanks with a nod and then hopped down.

After landing, he raised Rein König toward the soldier looking down from the bottom of the secondary cockpit.

“Take good care of it.”

With that, he walked back toward the larger sword.

But he was interrupted by a voice from a speaker.

“Is Neue Kaiser doing well, Lieutenant Maldrick?”

The voice shook the underground space as a large form approached.

The giant green Grösse Panzer was in fact Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt. He kept his knee joints bent and used the plastic continuous tracks on his legs to slowly turn and walk.

Even ducking down, his head nearly hit the ceiling, so he felt like an entire building moving around.

The green giant stopped in front of Alfred.

“On your way up top, Chief?” asked Alfred.

“An entire underground hangar was cleared out for my personal use, so I am moving there. Where is your partner?”

“Our commander showed up earlier and took him away. She wants to set up an audience with the Messiah tonight and said she has a lot to tell her now.”

“The audience, huh? It’s at midnight like usual, isn’t it?”

“Is the Deputy Chief working on that too?”

“Yes, she said she was getting dressed up in preparation for the audience. What about you?”

Alfred shook his head.

“I’m sitting this one out.”

“Because Sir Heiliger is there? I hear you protested after capturing the Messiah last night.” Karl paused for a sigh that his machine body could not perform. “Try not to be so stubborn. We have more personnel and more problems than when Sir Graham was in charge, but most everyone has a high opinion of Sir Heiliger’s work here.”

“Only cause he’s kind to his men and has kept mission losses down to record lows.”

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?”

Alfred took a look around. None of the workers paid him any heed. The hangar was full of motion. He hung his head a little but raised it almost immediately afterwards.

“He sees us like a family. I bet we’re filling the hole left by the wife and child he threw out. But we’re soldiers.” Before continuing, Alfred held Rein König aloft. “We still haven’t answered the questions Sir Graham left us with. We don’t need some great Messiah and we don’t need kindness or record low losses.” He lowered his voice. “And we don’t need to do harm while trying to protect something either. We need something else.”

He lowered Rein König and let it hang at his side.

Instead, he clenched his left hand. The hand with a red ring on the middle finger.

“At this rate, we’re just going to see a second Cologne.”

“We do have intel of another major bombing in the works. Bombers are gathering at an airfield on the UK’s eastern coast. Their rumored target is either Hamburg or Berlin.”

Alfred looked up when he heard that. The green Grösse Panzer was looking down at him.

“It is possible you will end up proving the thing you can’t bring yourself to put to words here,” said its vocal device. “Proving it to us, I mean.”

Part 2[edit]

All the lights were out in a small room and the chill of the night was seeping inside.

Two people stood near the window.

The enormous one turned aside from the window was Schweitzer with Der Held removed.

The one standing next to him was Lowenzahn.

They both wore their uniforms and faced each other in the light of the cross far to the east.

Lowenzahn’s head was lowered with her forehead against Schweitzer’s chest.

She was crying.

Her shoulders shook just once and she cleared her throat quietly.

“S-sorry for paying you a surprise visit and then crying.”

“You let your guard down after capturing the Messiah, didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“But I said something awful to the Messiah today.”

“Hm? Didn’t you leave most of your responsibility as commander with her? You have no more duty or obligation to lead us. Isn’t that what you told her, as our new master?”

“You could describe it like that…but it isn’t quite accurate. I said a lot I didn’t need to.” She grabbed his left sleeve with both hands. “I get so sharp-tongued when I say things I don’t really believe.”

“You’re also quick to kick people.”

That made her laugh.

“Ha ha.”

Her laughter continued intermittently before transforming into coughing.

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” he said.

She could only answer with a weak nod.

Tears dripped down her lowered cheeks. They caught the faint glow entering through the window and fell to the floor. The frequency of the falling tears was dictated by the trembling of her shoulders and her sobbing breaths, so they were intermittent but never ending.

She cried while trying but failing to swallow her voice.

“I’m…a terrible person.”

She inhaled, pressed her face against his shoulder, and stopped talking.

Her shoulders shook and she took a few rough breaths before getting out a trembling voice.

“But…”

“Lowenzahn.”

Schweitzer’s voice was enough to stop her shaking. Her breathing remained heavy and she left her face against his shoulder.

“…What?”

“I’m sorry, but could you let go of my arm? Without Der Held…I can’t do anything for you while you cry.”

She slowly lowered her head and hesitantly let go of his arm. Then she brushed back her disheveled hair and looked at his shoulder.

His prosthetic right arm was currently detached.

“So you keep it off in your room? Do you consider it separate from yourself, even though you used a part of your body to make it?”

He shook his head.

“I choose whichever answer to that question I like at the moment.”

“Then how do you think of me at the moment?”

Her Eingeweide device was an artificial heart. It could not be removed like his arm.

He saw her arms held lightly against her chest.

“What do you think while reciting your Ober Beweisen?”

“Eh?”

“An Ober Beweisen is your own Text. Since you use your Ober Beweisen to prophesy, you should already know that an Eingeweide device is a means to draw out your own strength.”

“My Ober Beweisen, huh?”

She suddenly reached behind her head.

She undid her hair. The long braid spun apart, starting from the bottom. The wave of separation stopped once all of her hair was loose. There were tears in her closed eyes.

“I rely on you for so much. I say to you what I want to say to others. Even though that only leads to regret. And I cry without telling you why.”

“Don’t worry about it. I promised I would trust you without asking for an explanation, no matter what happened.”

She looked up at him with damp eyes and a genuine smile.

“In that case…it’s about time I stopped lying.”

She pulled a small object from her coat’s breast pocket. The faintly reflected light revealed the shape of a key. The decorative gold key was about as long as her pointer finger.

“If you ever find you must know the answer, take this key to the old HQ. There you will find the truth about my prophecies, my parents, and so much more.”

“I will keep it with me.”

“Take good care of it. I don’t need it anymore, so it wouldn’t accomplish anything for me to have it.”

He nodded and held out his hand.

She placed the key in it.

He held the key up to look at it. He nodded again when he noted the dragon emblem decorating the back end of the key. Then he placed it in his shirt’s breast pocket.

“Lowen-”

He stopped before saying “zahn”.

She had removed her scarf and started unbuttoning her coat.

She tilted her head when she noticed him staring.

“What, you don’t like where this is headed?”

She sounded more troubled by the possibility than just teasing him, so he smiled bitterly. She initially responded to that with an angry look, but then laughed quietly.

“You can make up your mind after seeing this. I’m feeling blue today, so I’m short on confidence.”

She finished unbuttoning her coat.

She also walked past him to a bed that looked entirely unused.

She sat on the bed and removed her coat. When she placed the black garment on the side table, some solid objects clanked against the wood.

“Medals and sidearms are so heavy, aren’t they?”

She held her arms around herself as if to hide her chest. She turned to face Schweitzer who sat on the windowsill, but then she looked away and began unbuttoning her shirt with her arms pressed against her sides.

Her fingers slipped twice and her expression changed ever so slightly. Her cheeks grew a shade redder each time.

But that was all. Once her hands were down at her navel, she pulled the rest of the shirt out from her pants. Its hem spread out around her hips and she finished unbuttoning it.

Nothing remained to cover the skin showing through the slight gap between the two sides of the shirt.

“I never wear a bra. None of them fit me and I’m always wearing a vest or something,” she explained with the tone and expression of someone making an excuse.

She looked him in the eye just once there.

After saying something more with the ends of her eyebrows lowered, she grabbed her shirt’s left collar with her left hand. She hesitated for a moment, blushed around the eyes, and nodded a few times as if to convince herself.

She removed just the left side.

The rustling of cloth filled the room. She slid the collar down from her left shoulder and around to her back. With her shoulder bared, her skin shined palely in the dim light.

Her chest was exposed to the air.

The right breast was made of human skin. It drew a curve in the pale light.

But the left breast was a different story.

It had been replaced with a machine. From the top to the center of her left chest, black artificial muscles took the place of her pectoral muscles and white support muscles, metal tubes, and a metal valve were contained within.

She looked up at Schweitzer.

“Does it look cheap?”

He said nothing but got down from the windowsill. He moved around to crouch in front of her.

With her seated on the bed and him crouching on the floor, their eyes were at the same level.

“Is your pulse elevated?”

“Yes.”

“Then…I will trust in that.”

She looked up when she heard that.

She used her right hand to wipe tears from her eyes.

Then she reached out and took his left hand. His flesh and blood hand.

“I see. If possible,” she said quietly. “I hope you can trust in me forever.”

Part 3[edit]

Hazel was in the base’s document/post room.

The 10yd room was crammed full of bookcases. The large door to the hallway sat open and stretchers full of small packages were being transferred between the delivery room and the hallway.

The room had four tables and Hazel was using the one directly in front of the counter to write a letter. She only wore a surgical gown, a coat, and slippers, so she stood out like a sore thumb among all the uniformed soldiers.

She had walked here after her chat with Lowenzahn on the roof and she had been sitting here ever since.

She had a stack of books on either side of her letter to help hide herself. They were all research books concerning the Messiah.

…What did the Messiah do after ending up in the past?

She had been so curious she had continued researching that without bothering to get any dinner. She had noticed one thing about the contemporary paintings and reliefs depicting the Messiah and the one-armed young man.

…That really is me, Berger, and the Sylphide.

“But almost all of the books say the Messiah was a Buster.”

She stopped writing when she heard an intermittent low noise from the hallway. Those were wheels carrying something heavy.

She had been hunched over her letter, but now she straightened up. She looked back to see several people in white coats pushing in a stretcher loaded with a waterproof wooden box. They saluted when they noticed her.

She quickly nodded back.

Joy filled their faces and Lives and they saluted again before leaving.

She blushed a bit and sighed.

…They’re so happy just having me here.

She looked down and picked up the pen to continue writing.

“Umm.”

But she stopped. She was suddenly curious about something.

…How is the Messiah described in ordinary stories, not just these academic books?

“What was her relationship with the Neue Kavaliers and the other people?”

…Was it like me and those soldiers just now?

She put down the pen and grabbed the thinnest picture book in the pile of books to her right.

It told the story of the Unreif Germaine. She opened it to find the six most common sections of the story illustrated in an old-fashioned style.

She took a breath and read the opening line.

“This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.”

She flipped through the few pages and read about the Messiah.

“The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.”

She gathered and fought alongside the Neue Kavaliers to suppress the rebellions and monsters cropping up all over the land.

Hazel stopped reading there for the time being.

…This must be what the Geheimnis Agency’s people expect from me.

With that in mind, she silently looked down at the picture book she held.

The illustration showed the Messiah battling several black dragons.

…They expect me to do this kind of thing, so their commander can’t tell them the truth about me. She can’t tell them I can’t save the world.

Lowenzahn knew what would happen in August and what ruin awaited them.

But only she and I know about that, thought Hazel.

…It’s the Geheimnis Agency and the Messiah who actually bring ruin to the world.

“And that’s what let the world survive this long.”

Hazel had taken a different path this time, but Lowenzahn was trying to correct for that.

Why was she trying to fulfill the prophecy herself instead of telling everyone the truth?

“No one on this base doubts or suspects me.”

…This is why Jeanne Schmitt kneeled before me back in ’39.

“I probably should pretend to be what I’m not since they have such faith in me.”

Her words fell to the floor and she eventually tilted her head.

“But is that really what I should do?”

She flipped through the picture book again.

A two-page illustration showed a party held below the starry night sky. The people surrounded a bonfire while they sang, dance, and ate.

At the top of the page, above the fictional night sky, the title “6th Section of the Ending God” was written large in old-fashioned language children would have a hard time understanding.

After unifying Germany, the Messiah and the knights had fulfilled their roles and returned to their homes.

But, thought Hazel, turning the page.

A dark illustration was drawn on the left page. It depicted a path leading from the party to the forest. The path vanished into the darkness and a one-armed man was walking down it with the Messiah’s sword in hand.

“The one-armed young man left a letter telling her to fight no longer and departed.”

The opposite page depicted the Messiah looking up into the blue sky and weeping. Large tears drawn in blue crayon fell from her.

“The Messiah wept.

“She was inconsolable despite the knights’ and the king’s best efforts.”

She turned another page and saw the Messiah stand before the gathered people in a wheat field that spread out around them like the ocean.

“But one morning, the Messiah stopped weeping and gathered everyone.”

The next page showed the Messiah removing a red gem pendant from her neck and placing it around the neck of the youngest Heidengeist girl among the gathered people. She said something to the girl.

“Do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.”

Hazel turned another page. She was already at the final two-page illustration.

The Messiah slept in the darkness with a blue dragon curled around her.

And outside that darkness, the one-armed young man sat with his back to her and her sword in his arms.

Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new

All hesitation will come to an end up ahead

Complete the circle or break it / If you desire something new

Throw out all hesitation and look back

The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out something new

All hesitation exists to tear through that wall

“The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed young man returned. He spent the rest of his days guarding the shrine…until one evening he breathed his final breath.”

After reading the final line, Hazel remembered something.

…The Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39!

Her heart skipped a beat as it came back to her.

Corelle had said the AIF had stolen something excavated at Alfheim.

The illustration before her showed the Messiah surrounded in darkness and protected by the blue dragon while she slept. And she had said she would awaken again in a thousand years.

“What if the darkness here is actually the ground below Alfheim?”

…Why did she think she could wake back up in modern times?

She thought about it some but shook her head.

It was too soon to reach any conclusions. It’s just a picture book, she told herself.

“Urge him on and wait / If you wish for something new / All hesitation will come to an end up ahead.”

She repeated those words and closed the book. Then she hunched over, faced her letter, and picked up the pen.

She wrote out the rest of her letter so intensely you would think she was trying to tear a hole in the table. The tapping and scraping of pen on paper surrounded her as her hand moved rapidly left to right across the paper. Finally, she signed her name.

Just as she finished, some ink flew out and formed a splotch on the letter.

She reflexively wiped it up with her left thumb, staining the finger black.

“Oops,” she said and looked around, wondering what to do. She finally gave up and wiped it off with the sleeve of her surgical gown.

Then she sighed and folded the letter. She made sure it was folded straight and then grabbed the envelope she had placed nearby.

After some hesitation, she wrote the recipient’s name on the envelope.

“Dog Berger.”

She stood up, slipped the letter in the envelope, and placed it on the table.

She had to put away her stacks of books before handing the envelope over at the counter.

She had a total of 27, so she got to work putting them back where they belonged on the shelves.

The hem of her gown and coat fluttered around her legs as she moved quickly enough to have all but one of the books returned in only 7 minutes and 32 seconds.

Moving her body helped clear her mind. There was only one thing on her mind.

…I want out of this place.

She had a single reason for that.

“There must be a way to avoid needing to tell those kind lies!”

She held the last, and biggest, book in her hands and let out a determined snort when another stretcher arrived.

It carried a large waterproof box and a large plastic wrapper.

The writing scrawled on the side of the box said “to Germania”.

The men in lab coats placed it on the counter and asked the receptionist behind the counter to seal it and prepare it for shipment before they pushed the stretcher back out. They said they had another box to bring by soon.

The elderly receptionist gave the box an annoyed look. He pulled a packing slip and pen from his vest and began writing out the necessary information. Hazel watched it all.

…Geheimnis Agency bases are always so busy.

The AIF HQ was a lot more relaxed, she thought before turning toward the items on the counter.

She recognized the thing wrapped in clear plastic next to the wooden box.

“–––––!?”

It was her own bag.

She gasped. The bag stolen from the train station locker at Potsdam had been brought here and now it was right in front of her. Since men in white coats had brought it here…

“They must have removed the serum and examined its contents.”

In that case…

…Is the serum in that box?

The box hadn’t been sealed yet and the top was sitting somewhat open.

She clutched the book tight and held the top edge against her forehead so it covered her face.

“Um.”

…This is a gamble.

She nodded.

…But if the serum is in that box…

“I need to get out of here.”

…It’s my duty to deliver that to Berger.

She nodded again, deeper this time, which filled her body with strength. She faced forward.

She walked over to the elderly receptionist holding some cloth tape behind the counter so he could seal and waterproof the box. She interrupted just as he stretched the tape out and reached his arms around the box.

“Excuse me.”

Her voice cracked a little and he turned his gaunt face toward her in surprise.

“Do you need something?”

“Um, well, could you send this letter for me?”

She held out the unsealed envelope and he quickly rolled up the tape.

He set the tape down, brushed off his vest, and politely accepted the envelope.

“To Germania? That will require domestic censorship. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, slowly reaching out her empty left hand to the lid of the wooden box.

He turned his back to place the letter in a stack indicating it needed to be inspected and censored.

Her fingers hesitated on the box in that moment.

…Should I really look inside?

Something made up her mind for her.

An alarm rang throughout the base and a voice came over the speakers.

“Alert! Night Security Team to active interception posts! An unidentified Grösse Panzer is approaching from the south!”

The phrase “unidentified Grösse Panzer” sent a tremor through her body.

The alarm continued to sound, seeming to soak into her trembling body.

She heard hurried footsteps and shouting voices from the hallway.

“Could it be?”

She reflexively lifted the lid in front of her.

She gasped when the wood creaked far louder than she had expected.

But she was through hesitating and continued lifting it. She checked inside.

Her hand was already reaching inside and pulling out what lay inside.

And…

“That’s not it.”

The box held four bottles of some kind of chemical. Even an amateur could tell this had nothing to do with her ampule.

She sighed, her shoulders drooping while the alarm drowned out all other noises.

…I was too optimistic.

She tried to force a smile, but then the wind blew in from the hallway.

“Eh?”

She looked back to see a new stretcher entering the room. This one carried a different 2ft box. That would be the other box the men in white coats had said they would bring by.

“Could it be?” she repeated, running over on reflex and yanking open the box in front of everyone.

A plastic case wrapped in a plastic bag was packed in with sawdust.

She smiled.

She reached out with her eyes on the men in white coats, the receptionist, and everyone else in the room.

“U-um, please wait for me! I swear to you I will someday – but probably soon! – come back for you as a Messiah no one can twist to their own purposes and then I will fix everything. I swear I won’t run away.”

She took a breath.

“So tell everyone to please wait for me!”

She grabbed the plastic bag, pulled out the case, and opened it with one hand.

It contained an ampule with only a small amount of its contents missing.

After confirming that, she shut the case.

She turned toward the group that was frozen in shock and she bowed.

“I’m sorry, but can you please put this back for me?”

She tossed one of them the book she held in her left hand. The man in a white coat caught the heavy book and staggered back a few steps, at which point she was already running out into the hallway.

She stuck the ampule case in her coat pocket and lightly held the card in the breast pocket.

She ran down the hall, slipping past people who turned to see what was happening.

She was now convinced that destiny could be changed.

Part 4[edit]

At half past 7PM, a bombing group centered on the US Air Force’s 8th Air Force began flying east from an airbase on the UK’s east coast.

A thousand bombers were set to spend approximately a week obliterating their target with the assistance of the newly developed radar-disruption tactic known as chaff. Operation Gomorrah had been planned using the data collected from the bombing of Cologne.

The flagship waited until the very end to take off last.

The AIF aircraft carrier was one of the flagship’s supply ships, so it too was one of the last to take off.

The carrier remained on the ground while Corelle and Pale looked up at the flagship and its escort fleet hovering in the sky overhead.

“That flagship is going to spend a full week over the North Sea commanding the bombing,” said Corelle. “And we’ll be there waiting with it the whole time.”

She glanced back at her RB-21 two-hull transport ship. It carried a single container.

“I finally get why you dragged that thing all the way here from America, Pale. We’ve only got a month until the ruin and we’ve got to attack Germania as soon as we rescue Hazel and Berger. There’s no time to return to America in between.”

“They’re all crazy if you ask me. Not one of them backed out after hearing what I said.”

“Of course they didn’t. We’re going to define our own destiny, not just accept the hand we’re dealt. No one’s forcing this on them. We’re all making our own choices and solving this together.”

She smiled and viewed the RB-21’s container. The B Number that indicated it carried a Heavy Barrel was written in thick gothic text.

She smiled again at the text that looked even darker than the dark night.

“What’s that B stand for? Barrel? Black? Or does it mean you, Berger?”

Chapter 5: The Ruin Races[edit]

7/24/1943 19:20 – 19:51

I don’t want to run away

Those words are testing me

I don’t think it was running away

That caused me to leave the preexisting path

Unreif Germane[edit]

Right bubble: Unreif Germane Structure

1st box (right to left):

Part 1 – Before

(Sections 1-5)

History before the Messiah

The world is in disarray

2nd box:

Part 2 – The Messiah

(Sections 6-26)

The Messiah appears and goes to sleep

Includes the 6 songs

3rd box:

Part 3 – The Emperor

(Sections 27-58)

The emperor’s reign and decline

Beginning of the vacancy era

4th box:

Part 4 – After

(Sections 59-68)

History after the emperor

The millennium song

A collection of stories concerning the events of the past thousand years. The apocalyptic concepts of Norse Mythology are used as a foundation to tell the story of the collapse of the old order and the rise of a new order.

The 68 sections are divided into 4 parts (some theorize the 30-odd sections of Part 3 were the original story and others theorize there was once a 5th part) and the parts tell the story of before, the Messiah’s arrival and activities, the emperor’s reign, and after.

The longest part is Part 3 related to the emperor, but the Messiah’s Part 2 is the most well known. That is mostly because the story of the Messiah, the knights, and the dragon is told as a children’s story and six of its sections have been adapted into six songs adored by bards, so when people refer to the Unreif Germane, they generally are only referring to the Messiah’s story.

But like so many other historical texts, the Unreif Germane has a complicated history and there are many different versions with differing details, so research is still ongoing.

Part 1[edit]

Hazel ran through the night as the sirens blared.

She ran westward, using a path behind the row of storehouses on the base. It was a narrow path and the sky glimpsed between the tall storehouses was colored the red of warning lights. The main road ran along the other side of the storehouses on her left and she heard vehicles roaring up and down it.

…The search has begun in earnest.

She had thrown off her slippers, so she only wore her surgical gown, coat, and choker.

Her hair was a mess as she pumped her arms and moved her legs to run.

“I never think anything through, do I!?”

…But they said a Heavy Barrel is flying here.

She needed to get somewhere she would be easily noticed and thus easily rescued.

Her plan was to head east near the main gate where a small runway bordered the forest. She would be visible from the sky there and she could always turn into a cat and escape into the forest if necessary.

…That’s the one exit from this walled base!

She remembered the terrain from her time up on the terrace. After running between three storehouses, she would arrive at a waterway. If she moved from there to the main road, crossed the bridge, and continued another half a mile, she would reach the main gate.

She ran and hurried. She wiped the sweat from her brow with her coat’s sleeve and faced forward.

The path was narrow. She was done for if they had an ambush set up, but this was far safer than using the main road.

The storehouses on either side of her contained maintenance equipment. Even at night, the ground was stained noticeably dark with oil and large tires were stacked up on either side of the path. The tire piles grew and the available width of the path shrank.

Her pounding footsteps rang in her ears and her nose only detected the scent of rubber and machine oil.

All sorts of vehicle parts and metal materials were bundled together and placed between the tires or leaned against the storehouse walls.

She checked to see if there were any Devices among them as she ran, but as expected found nothing.

She breathed a disappointed sigh and kept running with the sirens ringing in her bones. Her breathing was heavy but she wasn’t out of breath.

…My training has paid off.

She smiled bitterly at that. Then she faced forward again.

The tires stacked up on either side reached nearly as high as the storeroom roofs now. The piles of black rubber ended about 100 yards ahead, the length of another three storehouses. The backroad ended there.

She could see the waterway’s railing past the valley of tires.

…I need to turn right toward the main road and cross the bridge.

She would need to cross two small intersections between storehouses before that.

The first intersection was about 20 yards ahead.

She picked up her pace to pass through it in a hurry, but then she felt something like her right foot stepping on a stone.

“––––––!?”

Oops, she thought, but it was too late.

She had stepped on something sharp.

She felt no pain, but her second step felt like her right foot had stepped in mud.

The realization that she was bleeding nearly sapped her of her strength, but she shook her head and powered through it.

Then someone emerged onto the intersection up ahead. It was a Geheimnis Agency soldier.

He aimed his flashlight her way and slowly turned his body her way.

He hesitated once the flashlight shined directly on her, but…

“I-I found her!” he shouted.

Hazel held out her hand as if to split the flashlight beam and stopped, her right leg stumbling.

And from behind her…

“She’s over here!” shouted another voice.

She was surrounded. Her reflexes decided which way she needed to escape: up.

She would climb the tires to her right – the south. Climbing the ones to the north would only have taken her further from the road. If she could hurry up them and cross the roof to reach the bridge…

…The soldiers on the ground will have a harder time tracking my movements.

As soon as the thought occurred to her, she sank low, bent her body, and used her limbs like springs to climb up the tires.

Part 2[edit]

Hazel climbed the 10yd pile of tires without toppling them and without losing her own balance. She relied on her initial speed. She relaxed her tension, she held her breath, and she did not hesitate.

She was just two stacks away from the top level. Then she had to jump up another yard to reach the edge of the storehouse roof.

But then her right foot slipped on her blood.

The itchy pain of the wound opening shot up her leg to her spine.

“Ah.”

The tension she had relaxed to climb the tires came back as the tension used to endure the pain.

…That’s not good.

Just as she decided to relax her tension again, she recalled the year before when a dog had bitten her at AIF HQ, she had Altered, and she had climbed the outer wall of the barracks as a cat.

Comparing that to this was silly, but it still nearly made her laugh.

She worked to resist the pain, tension, and laughter while moving her arms and legs.

“…!”

She reached the top.

She took a breath, feeling the tire tower swaying beneath her feet, and then grabbed the storehouse roof at chest height and climbed up it.

The sheet iron roof provided much more solid footing.

She took another breath, stood up, and tried to walk. But the unwashed roof had sand-like filth and dried limescale on it, which got in her right foot’s wound.

She fell to her knee. She sat with her back to the main road to the south, took a breath, and looked around.

She viewed the base from a lower vantage point than the terrace. She could see two storehouses to the west, three to the east, and four to the north. A few long concrete buildings and the forest were visible past them.

Lastly, she saw more concrete buildings across the road behind her.

When she sent her gaze east along the road, she saw the waterway and its river about 100 yards away.

“I need to reach that point.”

She kept low so she wouldn’t be detected and turned the sole of her right foot skyward.

In the warning lights, she could see her toeprint highlighted by a dark wetness. The big toe was bleeding from an inch-long crescent moon gash. The blood dripped down the sole of the raised foot.

It tangled around her ankle and continued on toward her shin. The sensation sent a shudder down her back.

“It’s no use.”

She couldn’t escape outside by turning into a cat here.

She clenched her blood-wet hands a few times to refocus herself. She grabbed the bottom of her surgical gown and used her nails to tear through it.

With a ripping sound different from paper, she created herself a strip of cloth from the bottom two inches of the gown.

“If only I had a Device,” she grumbled, placing the center of the cloth on her right Achilles tendon, stretching it out, wrapping it around her big toe, and wrapping it back around her ankle. She wrapped it around her big toe again and then side to side around the center of her foot.

She used it to hold her ankle in place, not to stop the bleeding of her toe. That protected the toe and still let her walk with the rest of the foot.

With that done, she stood back up.

She looked around.

The night glowed red. The red warning lights were joined by the red Lives of impatience floating across the entire base. The red sound of the 1st alarm accelerated that impatience. The summer night breeze felt refreshingly chilly and she finally realized how heavy her breathing was.

“I need to hurry.”

She pressed her right foot’s toes against the wavy sheet of iron and climbed to the flat peak of the roof before crouching low and walking east like a cat. The bandage felt a bit ticklish on her foot, but it kept the roof’s filth out of her wound.

Once she arrived at the center of the roof, she heard a loud noise from the road to her right.

The roar of metal continued on without end.

She gasped and looked over to see a pair of towers there.

The green towers resembled smokestacks and rose past the edge of the roof.

The towers weren’t the only things rising past the roof. She saw a piece of metal resembling a 3yd-wide bowler hat and then the 15yd-wide metal chest and shoulders supporting the towers came into view.

“Is that Army Division Chief Karl Schmitt from before!?”

That enormous Heavy Barrel stood more than 20 yards tall, not including the “towers”, and it was being carried to the surface by one of the underground hangar elevators.

It was so big. Hazel stood atop a 10yd rooftop, but she only came up to his waist.

She froze for a moment when the pair of sight devices glowing on his facial structure turned her way.

Immediately afterwards, a pair of large shapes landed on opposite edges of the storehouse roof with her in the center.

8yd metal giants had alighted on the roof without even whipping up the wind.

The one to her left was blue and the one to her right was red.

“Wha-?”

She didn’t even get the full word out before swallowing it in acceptance of what had happened.

…Am I surrounded?

She calmly thought through her situation.

Karl stood motionless in front of her, his arms ready at his hips.

The Heavy Barrels to her left and right had their Ober Emblems activated and wings spread, using that lift to stand atop the roof. Even Hazel made a lot of noise walking along the iron roof, but they stood only on their right toes.

Behind her, she could hear the soldiers gathering on the backroad she had climbed from.

“I am surrounded, aren’t I?”

The Heavy Barrels to her left and right asked a question without shaking or even wavering.

“Where do you think you are going?”

Part 3[edit]

Hazel faced Karl ahead of her and considered that question.

She hung her head a bit, but she soon looked up and answered.

“To where I think I should be.” She looked to the Barrels to the left and right and brushed up her hair. “Um,” she began. “You wouldn’t believe me if I promised to return once everything is in place, would you?”

“No, unfortunately,” said the red one.

“Our master, Kaiser Schwert, ordered us to take the Messiah’s life if she were to escape,” continued the blue one.

That came as a shock to Hazel.

…So not everyone in the Geheimnis Agency agrees about me.

She made a note of that while turning her thoughts to Alfred.

Then she heard a pair of metal noises.

They came from the blue Barrel to her left readying its rifle and the red one to her right pulling out the short sword hidden within itself.

“So you are running away?” boomed Karl Schmitt’s voice in front of her.

He nodded while looking down at her.

She frowned a bit at his nod and pressed her right foot against the roof.

The cloth made a wet sound and the cold blood soaking it got on the roof.

She faced forward while standing in her own blood.

“I am not running away. And I will no longer make excuses either.”

She took a breath.

“I am simply pointing out which answer is correct.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a bullet and a short sword strike rushed in from the sides.

She leaped forward just beforehand.

She rolled herself down the sloped roof and toward Karl’s chest.

The sound of the bullet hit her along with a shockwave and Karl’s hand moved in from the right.

“–––––!”

She looked behind herself for just an instant. The red and blue were moving to launch a second attack.

But something was missing there.

…They’re always with that white Heavy Barrel! Is it here too!?

That question led to a flash of insight as she leaped from the roof just before Karl grabbed her.

She leaped out into the empty space above the road.

She floated in the air as a precursor to falling.

But Karl’s giant hand pursued her to scoop her out of the air.

She viewed his hand.

“I won’t let you catch me!”

She read the timing from the wind Lives wrapped around his metal fingers and kicked off his finger.

She used the force of his finger to launch herself toward the main gate.

She used her feline agility and the Heavy Barrel’s hand to propel herself through the night sky.

She was 20 yards up, so falling would mean death. But this was enough.

…I know it is!

She only needed to do one thing, but she didn’t have much time to do it.

She hurried. Still lying face up in the air, she breathed in to calm herself. She lay in the night sky and faced the stars and moon. She opened her mouth with her eyes on the moonlight situated at the highest point of the sky.

Her Messiah eye glowed red as she spoke the Text necessary to resolve this.

She used her Beweisen.

Part 4[edit]

It arrived suddenly.

After starting her fall, Hazel turned to view the ground 20 yards below her. That was when a dull sound like breaking rock reverberated through her body.

She thought it had to be Karl’s footstep, but while the massive Heavy Barrel was turning her way from 30 yards away, he had not taken a step yet.

The blue and red Barrels were flapping their wings and performing attitude control in the air near where Karl’s fist had missed her.

…Then what was that sound!?

She heard it again and managed to ascertain its location this time.

It came from the road she was currently falling toward.

A sound like something tearing through rock rumbled from the underground facility. She also heard the sound of heavy metal tearing and snapping as the source revealed itself.

One portion of the road broke and lifted. The pavement swelled up like someone tugging upwards on the center of a cloth.

“Come to me, Neue Kaiser!” shouted Hazel, twisting her body.

The tip of the protruding asphalt broke open and a black metal fist burst out.

The yard-wide fist was surrounded by chunks of asphalt and pieces of the underground structure as the hand opened and extended its fingers upwards. The force of the movement sent the scraps of metal and asphalt flying away.

The rumble whipped up the wind.

The open hand jutted straight up, revealing a shoulder joint covered by a Panzer Kleid.

“!”

Hazel landed on the metal palm.

The metal hand supporting her continued to move upwards in the powerful wind. The wind blew from the shoulders, face, chest, hips, legs, and toes to break through the ground and emerge onto the surface.

This was Neue Kaiser.

The sight devices in the facial structure shined bright. Its output levels remained at near overdrive. She could tell no one was piloting it.

…It’s unmanned, but its owner showed me it can be remote controlled at the library last night.

All of its thrusters were currently being used to keep it floating above the road. Its actions came from its nature as a Heavy Barrel, from its Lives and the combat records in its memory, and from the will sent out by Hazel’s Messiah eye and Hazel herself.

“Thank you,” she said atop its hand.

It answered her thanks by landing back on the ground after bursting up from the underground hangar.

With a metal crash loud enough to shake the ground, the white 11yd machine stood on the road and roared.

“––––!”

Its voice rattled the windows of the nearby buildings and caused the three Heavy Barrels about 50 yards away to back up just a bit.

Part 5[edit]

Hazel noted the lack of wings on Neue Kaiser’s back.

Meanwhile, Neue Kaiser moved its hand toward its right leg and lowered it with her on top.

…Riding it out of here would be best.

She realized Neue Kaiser had been staring straight ahead this whole time. It was looking west, toward the enemy.

“What are you-!?” she shouted but stopped midsentence.

An explosion erupted in the direction it was looking. It was a much louder version of the air explosion when a Heavy Barrel took flight.

She turned that way to find a wall rushing toward her.

That was Karl Schmitt. His Heavy Barrel was like a 20yd-tall fortress and he was using his thrusters to fly above the road toward her. His left shoulder was held out front for a shoulder charge.

He was after Neue Kaiser.

The explosive clash only took an instant. Hazel watched as Karl passed in front of her, plowing into Neue Kaiser. Their weights made a horrible metallic crash and Neue Kaiser was pushed away.

With a sound like shattering glass, the road broke into a spray of asphalt. They were headed toward the bridge and their weights would be enough to destroy it.

But Hazel caught Neue Kaiser in her gaze.

It was being pushed away by Karl’s great size, but it was still in control of itself and it had not been crushed. It held onto Karl’s left shoulder with both arms.

It had not given up, so she raised her voice.

“Neue Kaiser!”

She raised her right arm.

“Show me what you can do!”

Her request was answered before it was even complete. A second explosion of air erupted shortly before the bridge.

But this one did not come from Karl. It came from Neue Kaiser.

The two machines’ movements were evenly matched, so they poured in all of their power but remained motionless.

And it did not end there.

Wind Lives were gathering behind Neue Kaiser. It could keep going.

Seeing that, Hazel nodded with strength in her eyebrows. She swung her raised arm forward. She swung it forcibly down toward the blue and red Barrels standing on the road.

“Full power!”

Neue Kaiser answered her shout with a roar from its voice device.

All of its thrusters produced a third air explosion behind it.

Slowly but surely, it gathered acceleration and pushed Karl back.

“Mh!?”

An unthinkable voice came from Karl’s voice device.

Wind blew from his leg armor and back as well.

The wind raced down the road, rustled the leaves of the trees lining the road, and shattered the thin windows one after another.

Standing within the scattering leaves and glass shards, Hazel snapped her right fingers.

“Don’t give up!”

Neue Kaiser accelerated again, producing another air explosion to push further forward.

Karl could not stop himself from being pushed back by the overwhelming movement of the air.

Neue Kaiser accelerated with great force to keep pushing. It never came to a stop and accelerated further.

The white Heavy Barrel instantly pushed through a lot more ground. It pushed through Karl’s great size and the air resistance. It raced past Hazel and even past the hole it had created.

Sparks scattered rom Karl’s feet. He had given up on pushing back and cut his rear thrusters. He instead planted his feet on the ground to stop Neue Kaiser with this own weight and balance.

But Neue Kaiser would not stop. The Messiah eye would not allow it.

Neue Kaiser roared and lowered its hips.

At max thrust, it held Karl’s left shoulder and bent backwards.

It whipped up the wind while attempting to lift Karl.

Its roar never ceased, joining the cry of the blowing wind.

Just as the massive green Heavy Barrel attempted to lower his hips, the Neue Kaiser lifted him as if placing him on its chest.

“–––––!”

In less than a second, Neue Kaiser twisted its body and threw Karl. He was thrown 20 yards down the road where the red and blue Heavy Barrels waited.

Karl fell back-first onto the pavement, his metal crying out in protest and his limbs bouncing once while his Panzer Kleid and armor panels slid along the road due to his inertial weight. The red and blue Barrels quickly fled into the sky while Karl slid down the road and crashed into a building.

The sounds of the crumbling building rang out for a while.

All the wind blowing down the road rose skyward in search of an exit.

Hazel looked to Neue Kaiser’s back where it stood at the ready about 20 yards away.

…It’s time to leave.

She brushed back her windswept hair and prepared to speak her Aerial Words.

But she instead heard the Aerial Words of someone else’s Beweisen.

Part 6[edit]

Neue Kaiser suddenly fell to its knees. Like its power had been switched off.

The white Heavy Barrel was no longer under the Messiah’s control.

Hazel immediately realized why.

“Alfred Maldrick.”

“Do not defile my true name with your Heidengeist lips.”

A scratchy artificial voice arrived from dead ahead.

Someone stood in front of the large Heavy Barrel half buried in a building.

The slender man wore his long hair tied back and carried a white sword Device.

Alfred walked toward her. Slowly and without rushing.

Her reflexes told her to run the other way. The 10 yards between them was about the same as her distance from the bridge behind her.

…He’ll catch up if I try to run.

She cast her eyes in every other direction and saw truck lights gathering on the other side of the bridge behind her.

Soldiers wielding submachineguns and capture nets were waiting behind the storehouses and other buildings to the left and right.

And Alfred walked toward her from the front.

A few trucks drove up from the smaller roads on the left and right and quickly lined up behind him.

But he did not even look back.

Hazel saw Heiliger, Müller, Schweitzer, and Lowenzahn step out of the trucks.

She saw Lowenzahn take a step toward her with the hem of her uniform whipping in the wind. Lowenzahn’s eyes were on Alfred, not on Hazel.

“Stop, lieutenant! The Erlkönig has been sent from Germania to deal with the approaching enemy craft! Isn’t preventing the Messiah’s rescue more important than killing her!?”

“And how long will it take for the Erlkönig to arrive?” He twisted his head around to look up in the sky. “Destiny is gradually moving beyond your predictions.”

He viewed Neue Zinnober and Neue Blau hovering in the air.

They silently deactivated their Ober Emblems. Bluish-white ether light scattered from them and then they landed and kneeled behind Alfred.

The asphalt audibly broke below them, but Alfred did not rush.

He continued his leisurely pace.

“This is the perfect timing. Everyone should be realizing the truth right about now – realizing that there is something wrong with a world so weak it can be saved by a single individual.”

He opened his mouth and sang in the scratchy voice of his artificial vocal cords.

The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars

The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north

The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon

All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall

“The report from the North Sea says an Allied bombing fleet is crossing the North Sea to arrive here in Hamburg. This country will suffer a severe wound while we are preoccupied with this Messiah.” He took a breath. “What did Sir Graham want from us? Did he want us to be led astray by such…trivialities?”

With that final word, he stopped and took a fighting stance.

…Here it comes!

Hazel jumped, but a certain sound pushed her onward.

The sirens were all the proof she needed that someone was approaching the base.

She nodded at that fact, regathered her strength, and took off running. With all her might.

She trampled the glass shards and chunks of asphalt scattered across the road.

She looked back to see Alfred take his first step.

He crouched low as if bending his body in two and took a slow but powerful first step.

“Do you still claim you don’t wish to run away!? Then prove it, Messiah!”

Once his foot touched the ground again, he took his second step. With the third step, he broke into a swift run like he was trying to run up the wall. His footsteps rang loud.

…He’s going to catch up!?

Hazel swallowed the scream threatening to escape her throat.

Then her right foot’s bandage caught hard on the ground. The blood soaking it had increased its friction, making it catch on the asphalt.

Before she could even cry out, the bandage attached itself to the ground and her blood-soaked toe slipped within it.

She tripped.

To protect herself from the glass shards on the ground, she twisted around to land on her right shoulder.

“Ow.”

The pain hit her and her momentum slid her along the ground some, but she planted her hands on the ground soon enough.

She tried to stand when crimson Lives pierced her from behind.

A murderous gaze approached, carrying the Lives of killer intent.

…I need to get up.

She could tell the wound on her toe was tearing wider. As much as her mind told her to stand up, her foot felt numb.

Her body couldn’t keep up with her will.

That fact scared her and she collapsed back down before she managed to get on her feet.

She planted her hands on the ground again and reflexively looked back.

Alfred was there. He was still 10 yards away, but that distance was meaningless.

“Ah.”

A single tone rang from his voice and a Bust attack instantly filled the space between them.

White light loudly swung down toward her.

But Hazel did not shut her eyes or avert her gaze.

She simply stood up and ran, albeit while looking back.

…I won’t give up.

The sirens rang in her ears, that one thought filled her mind, and the white explosion hit her.

The road was engulfed in light.

At the same moment, something dropped from the sky.

Part 7[edit]

Something landed in front of Hazel.

It looked like a giant wall to her.

It dropped with enough force to break into the road surface but instead came to a sudden stop between her and Alfred.

His “ah” attack crashed into the wall and the light exploded.

The light shattered on the other side of the wall and the wall shook violently.

But the wall remained hovering more than a foot off the ground and did not fall.

The wall had blocked Alfred’s Bust attack.

Protected by the wall, Hazel took a few steps back. The wind vanished and a few of the light Lives produced by Alfred danced around her in long strings.

She took a few more steps back and stopped once she could see the entirety of the wall.

Everyone else was equally motionless. The surrounding soldiers and Heavy Barrels had all come to a stop.

She looked dazed.

But she had not stopped from the relief of surviving the Bust attack.

She had identified the wall as the white light faded and the warning lights and other outdoor lights shined on it.

It was a 30yd-long aerial warship resembling a blue blade.

She knew its name.

But her gaping mouth was trembling too much to move. Her eyebrows drooped and she took a breath before finally getting her voice out.

“What is happening?”

She was answered not by a voice but by the loud flapping of wings in the sky.

A line of wind passed by in the dark blue moonlit sky overhead. The wind took the form of a dark shadow. The twin-winged silhouette was a Heavy Barrel.

“Schwarz Löwe!”

Hazel’s drooping eyebrows shot up in joy and she raised her head. Tears fell from her upturned eyes.

The black Heavy Barrel vanished beyond a building at the far end of the road and she heard it land.

That was enough for her to nod. She viewed the blue craft in front of her, clenched her fists, and inhaled.

…It’s time to leave here.

A voice from behind seemed to respond to that thought. A woman’s voice.

“Yes, Hazel. Do that.”

Hearing a sound like splitting stone from the same direction, she looked back.

The blockade at the other end of the bridge had been breached.

For some reason, the trucks that had formed the blockade were missing.

And someone stood in the center of the gap where three trucks had been before.

“Lehrer.”

A woman in a purple uniform had just finished swinging a German military spear up from below.

Her eyes remained closed, but she was smiling. She swung the spear back down.

A moment later, three military trucks dropped from the sky.

“!?”

Everyone on the road ducked as the three trucks crashed down onto one of the buildings built alongside the road. A corner of the building collapsed from roof to 3rd floor like someone squishing a sponge cake below their finger. The trio of noises sounded like shattering stone.

With that as her cue, Lehrer raised her voice.

“Sylphide! Take her inside!”

Hazel turned around to see Sylphide opening the cockpit hatch on its upper surface.

The blue craft tilted toward her, telling her to climb in. However…

“Out of the way!” roared Alfred’s voice.

A loud impact followed and white light exploded on the other side of Sylphide. And not just once. A second, third, fourth, and fifth shout followed – the last one the most intense.

“Ah.”

Sylphide was blasted over Hazel’s head.

“!”

Hazel ducked down and Sylphide twisted itself around and ascended above one of the buildings. Its lower armor was cracked and broken, exposing its internal structure.

And with Sylphide moved out of the way…

“Are you running away?”

Alfred was not out of breath and stood firm in his diagonal stance.

Hazel noticed his gaze turn toward her just once before turning toward Lehrer behind her. So she shifted to the left to let him see the woman.

She looked back to see Lehrer walking this way. She tilted her head and spoke to Alfred.

“Do you think Hazel is running away here?”

“If she’s going to go on and on about not wanting to run away, the only other option is to fight.”

Instead of responding, Lehrer gathered bluish-white Lives on the blade of her raised spear. She gathered the wind Lives blowing through, called them to her, and hardened them into a blade.

Hazel gave an honest assessment of what she saw.

…The density and speed at which she gathered them is impressive.

Whether Lehrer was aware of those thoughts or not, she spoke to Hazel.

“Hazel, once you fight your true battle – not a simple skirmish like this – you will find you too can do this much. Because power is acquired through necessity.”

Lehrer threw away her glasses and opened her eyes – one blue and the other dyed red.

Hazel froze briefly when she saw those eyes.

But that was all.

…I knew it.

“You were the one who went to sleep at Alfheim in the picture book, weren’t you?”

The surrounding soldiers understood the implication.

“The Messiah!?”

Their confused shout changed the atmosphere hanging over the road. Confusion Lives raced out in every direction.

At the same time, Lehrer ran forward. She twisted her body to keep her balance while swinging her spear around and adding on more wind Lives.

Hazel also ran, like she was in sync with the woman. Her hurting right foot dragged a little, but she could still run. She had legs and they could move. And she had the willpower to move them.

So she ran. A great presence moved behind her. She knew who that was: Alfred.

“Ah.”

He released his voice just as Hazel and Lehrer passed each other.

Lehrer swung down her attack.

“Ah.”

Her loud tone crashed into Alfred’s Bust attack and tore a large hole in the road.

Part 8[edit]

The boom of an explosion and a cacophony of destruction tore up and boiled the asphalt.

A 20yd-radius hole was created and the destruction spread as it collapsed further on its own.

The ground below was hollow thanks to the underground hangars. Burning and breaking sounds combined as the buildings on the edge of the hole failed to support their own weight, collapsed from the foundation, and slid down into the pit.

Black smoke marred the sky and the Sylphide flew even higher.

The only thing on the edge of the hole was Alfred after avoiding the explosion. His two targets were nowhere to be seen.

“Did she hit my attack from above, overpower it, and tear this hole in the ground?”

He stood up, clenched his teeth, and looked back. The first thing he saw on the road were two Grösse Panzers.

“Nein! Carry Neue Kaiser belowground and have its wings installed. After that, deal with Schwarz Löwe. Can you handle that?”

“What will you be doing, Master Alfred?”

He looked to the ground.

Dark dots drew out two trails along the heated asphalt.

“Two trails of blood. One would be the Messiah’s foot wound and the other must have been from my attack on that Buster.”

There was a bit of blood on his Rein König as well.

He suddenly looked up toward the two Grösse Panzers again.

“If those two plan to run away, then I must hunt them down.”

Chapter 6: The Ruin Leaps[edit]

7/24/1943 20:18 – 22:46

U-um

Sorry

Please don’t hurt me too much

Just because this used to be your body

The Messiah and the Knights[edit]

When the Messiah unified Germany, she gathered skilled fighters and diplomats from across Germany to form a combat unit. Their primary strength came from the regional lords and mercenary warriors.

Germany did not have a king at the time, so there was no basis for a system of knights and they became knights of the Messiah instead.

The Messiah and the knights first met when she descended to Alfheim with the one-armed young man and the dragon and defeated a lesser dragon along with some warriors who happened to be in the area.

At the time, attacks by dragons and other monsters produced by Live disturbances, various types of Live diseases, and rampant anxiety had forced the regional lords to fight back against the symptoms in their territories. The knights felt the need to fight as a group but could not do so until someone arrived who would cross the regional boundaries and lead them all, so they readily named themselves the Messiah’s knights once she arrived.

Part 1[edit]

Lehrer had led Hazel to the piles of tires Hazel had climbed earlier. They sat atop two lower piles near the wall.

The larger piles hid them from the road, so no one could see them. However…

“They will know we escaped in this direction, so they will have us surrounded before long,” explained Lehrer, undoing the bandage on Hazel’s foot.

“How are we going to escape?” asked Hazel.

“We use Sylphide.”

Hazel looked up to see Sylphide could not descend thanks to the barrage of antiair gunfire.

She watched the blue shape circling in the distance.

“It’s adorable how you can see its uncertainty in how it’s flying, but can it get to us?”

“We aren’t far from the waterway. It is about 20 yards wide, so we can have Sylphide fly in at supersonic speed and stop above it. Once the shockwave blows away the enemies, we make a run for it.”

The waterway was situated lower than the ground, so the Sylphide would end up below them if it stopped there.

Hazel nodded.

“We don’t have time to get inside, so we just climb onto the roof?”

Just as she asked that, she felt a sharp pain like a needle sticking into her right foot.

“––––!”

“Don’t give me that look. I only removed the rock.”

Hazel wiped away the tears and Lehrer rubbed her head with a troubled smile.

Lehrer looked between the wound on Hazel’s foot and her spear leaning against the tires.

“Hey…could you show me your Tuning?”

Hazel said yes, reached out, and grabbed the spear. It was a German military close-range spear Device that Lehrer had stolen from the base. Its balance was completely different from the sword she was used to.

She held the somewhat heavy spear vertically with the blade pointed down and held the shaft near the base of the blade.

Then she looked to the other woman, whose heterochromatic eyes carried such a calm expression.

There was so much she wanted to say and she could even find the words right away, but she wasn’t sure where to start.

…Um.

While she thought, Lehrer smiled and spoke instead.

“Don’t worry. I used to be you, but I’m not anymore. You will become me and overwrite me. So don’t be afraid, my former self.”

“Th-then it really was Sylphide buried below Alfheim? And…”

Lehrer nodded.

“Yes, I slept for a thousand years. I actually wanted to sleep a while longer and P. Wagner was considerate of that…but I was dug up in ’39 all the same.”

“Then it’s true what the Geheimnis Agency’s commander told me?”

“Yes. I learned the truth when I was captured in Cologne in my version of ’42. And…Berger was supposed to be captured tonight.”

Hazel gasped and took a look around.

She could hear Schwarz Löwe fighting in the distance, but Lehrer shook her head.

“Don’t worry, Hazel. He will not be captured.”

“H-how can you know that?”

“You don’t know it?”

…I…

She thought for a bit and clamped her mouth shut. All she had to do was nod. And while she tried to figure out something more to say, Lehrer asked a question.

“How are your parents?”

Hazel considered who this was she was speaking to, so she looked her in the eye when she answered.

“They are doing well. Dad is the same as ever, but he’s secretly supporting the AIF. Mom doesn’t say anything about it, but um, she’s really good at making tea.” She took a breath. “Maybe I’m full of myself, but I feel like they’re mostly just worried about their daughter fighting in the war.”

“I see. I think you’re right about that.”

The sounds of antiair fire and trucks combined in the distance. Beyond that, they could hear the clanking of a metal machine, the booms of cannon fire, and the clangs of metal shells being deflected.

Schwarz Löwe was fighting.

Hazel listened to the many sounds of combat and focused on the Device in her hands. She regulated her breathing and collected the Lives within her. She found her tone, which was pure, complex, and difficult to speak.

“All you Lives within me – the single scream of the Wild Name that makes me who I am. Can you hear the voice of my Lives?”

The Lives used her voice to permeate her body. She transferred them to the Device and she shook the instrument-like weapon to set up a resonance. Then she released her voice exactly as she wanted it.

“Ah.”

Her voice gently stretched out, slowly curved, and yet seemed to always move forward.

She could feel her Lives inside the Device.

Then she shut her eyes and stabbed the blade into her own throat.

The Lives in the blade resonated with the ones in her body and the correct ones won out.

They shook, vibrated, pulsed, and thought. A sense more accurate than touch felt them moving from her throat to the rest of her body.

“…!”

After goose bumps raced across her skin, she pulled out the blade. She was dripping with sweat, but the thornlike sensation inside her was disappearing. She looked down to her foot to see it was bloody but it no longer hurt.

She wiped off the spear tip with her coat’s sleeve.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. …Are you okay? You didn’t overfocus?”

“I think I’m fine. I am tired…but I can manage one more good run.”

They both sighed and Lehrer spoke first.

“Then how about we get going? Sylphide is getting bored up there.”

“How much has it healed?”

“The decay was bad. Its self-repair has got it barely flying again, but the two upper Kunst Eyes are beyond repair and the three lower ones are only beginning to repair.” She narrowed her eyes. “But you have something else to ask, don’t you? About my relationship with him and many other things.”

“Y-yes. So how about just one for now?”

“Ask away.”

Hazel hesitated for a moment.

“How…old are you?”

“Oh? Planning to hold it over my head how much younger you are? I used to be your age too, you know?”

“I-it’s not about that. I just…”

“I’m only kidding. I am 26. I arrived in the past at 21 and only spent a year there. I woke back up in ’39, so add 4 years to get 26. If only I had slept two more years. Then my age would round down to 20.”

She smiled a little at that and Hazel had to smile too.

“So don’t worry. Even if you go through a whole loop, you can still be younger than him,” said Lehrer. “And don’t forget, Hazel. You and those around you have so many choices you can make. You always have and you always will. You are not a Panzerpolis component created solely to keep the cycle going.”

“…Right.”

“But you can only make one decision when the time comes, so consider your options and then make your own choice.”

Lehrer stood up from her pile of tires and Hazel got down from hers.

Lehrer pulled a metal tube from her pocket. It was an inch thick and about half a foot long. She held it up in her right hand like the Olympic torch and used the inner elbow and her left hand to cover her ears.

“Cover your ears. This will call it to us.”

Hazel quickly did so and Lehrer hit the switch.

With an almost silly sound, a blue ball of light was launched skyward, leaving a trail of white smoke.

“Now it should come to us.”

There was joy in Lehrer’s voice and she turned away from Hazel.

Hazel gasped when she saw her back.

There was a diagonal slash there. It started at her right shoulder and traveled down to the center of her back. Her clothing was torn, blood was leaking from it, and she was soaked a dark red down to her hips.

“Don’t let it bother you. You would be too exhausted to move if you healed me…and I was prepared to not be fighting my best with something as unfamiliar as a spear.”

“Th-there wasn’t a better weapon? I though the Messiah used a sword.”

“That’s the thing. Every time I see a sword, it reminds me that he left me a letter telling me to stop fighting and took my Rein König with him.”

Hazel lowered her eyebrows at that and chose not to say what she wanted to say.

“That’s why I want to avoid using any kind of sword,” said Lehrer as she began walking.

“Found them!” shouted some soldiers from behind them.

Those voices pushed Lehrer into a run. Hazel watched her footing as she too began to run.

Their footsteps fused into a single tempo.

Hazel noticed some heat in her Messiah eye.

…Lehrer is activating my Messiah.

After that Beweisen, Lehrer readied her spear out ahead. She spun it vertically with just her right hand in the narrow road between the piles of tires. The slow but heavy rotation sliced the wind with the blade and produced a sound of shaking air.

Another sound dropped from the sky in response: the sound of the wind, of something slicing through the air.

…Sylphide.

The roar of the wind rushed in from the north, which was to their left.

At the same time, some soldiers with their backs to the river railing up ahead raised their guns.

Lehrer thrust the spear straight ahead with just one hand.

“Ah.”

A single tone raced out toward the blue shape flying in from behind the soldiers.

Part 2[edit]

Lehrer’s Bust attack counteracted Sylphide’s shockwave and cleared a path.

With a roar, the powerful wind was split by her spear and flew to either side.

The tire stacks on the sides of the road were blown backwards like leaves in the wind.

The storehouses’ front walls were broken through and their roofs pulled away.

Bolts audibly popped off and walls noisily crumbled.

“Hurry!” shouted a voice ahead of Hazel while the wind blew her hair.

Her response was drowned out by the wind.

The road alongside the waterway was about 5 yards wide. When she emerged from behind the destroyed storehouses, she saw a collapsing bridge to her right and a road to her left. There was no sign of the enemy.

She ran.

Lehrer beckoned her over from near the railing ahead.

“I’ll be right there!” answered Hazel as she saw something in the sky that shouldn’t have been there.

A white streak of cloud floated in the night sky to the east. She hadn’t noticed that before.

The cloud instantly stretched out toward her. It was closing the distance with unbelievable speed.

Some Aerial Words shook the air.

The cloud was being drawn out by…

“Sylphide!?”

The craft resembled a black blade. Unlike Sylphide, it had no upper cockpit and thus a slimmer silhouette. Hazel recalled the name of the craft Lowenzahn had said had launched from Germania.

…The Erlkönig.

It was still a fair distance away, but it sprayed physical metal bullets toward Lehrer.

Its aim was true, so Lehrer was forced to intercept the incoming bullets with her Bust power.

The white light launched from her spear shattered the metal projectiles.

But inertia carried the fragments toward Hazel behind her.

Hazel could avoid them if she kept running and moved behind Lehrer.

But that was when Hazel realized her coat’s pocket felt unusually light.

…Eh?

A weight had vanished from the bottom right side of the coat, so she looked down.

She saw a white ampule case falling from the pocket as the coat flapped in the wind.

She reflexively caught the case out of the air.

“Hazel!” yelled Lehrer.

That shout made Hazel stop where she was and she saw the supersonic scattershot of bullet fragments flying her way. Countless powerful red Lives were about to reach her.

“!”

She couldn’t scream and she didn’t look away. She started to dodge, hoping she could somehow make it.

She moved her feet left, hoping to bring herself behind Lehrer.

Then a wall shot up to protect her.

The blue wall was Sylphide. Her eyes reflexively widened when she understood what this meant.

…You belong to Lehrer!

“Stay away!!”

Her shouted request was not obeyed. The metal scattershot crashed into Sylphide.

The metal screamed in protest. Sylphide was pierced by bullet fragments that were more like thin needles than spears. With a light sound like breaking bone, the fragments broke out the other side on either side of Hazel.

The bullets flew past her on pure inertia, like fish leaping from the water.

“Why?”

Hazel’s question was answered by some Aerial Words and then the blue craft suddenly ascended.

Erlkönig was trying to fly westward at an altitude of about 100 yards.

The blue Sylphide shot up toward the black Erlkönig and crashed into it like it was stabbing into it from below.

With a loud crash, the Sylphide’s tip pierced the Erlkönig’s belly.

The black craft stalled with its rear tilting downwards and began to fall, but the blue craft could not keep up with its momentum. The pressure on the Sylphide’s tip from the rapid forward thrust and downwards momentum was too much for its frame and it bent in half like a papercraft.

The two ships fell, twisted and tangled. They fell westward, toward the waterway past the collapsed bridge.

They soon vanished behind that bridge.

Sounds reminiscent of breaking stone and shattering glass tubes rumbled off into the distance.

“Ah…”

Hazel let out a dazed breath and looked forward to Lehrer.

Lehrer kept her back turned and raised the spear in her left hand.

Her eyes were turned toward where Sylphide had fallen, but…

“I should have known. Of course Neue Erde would send Erlkönig.”

After that resigned comment, she looked back over her shoulder to Hazel.

When their eyes met, Hazel lowered her head and squeezed the ampule case in her right hand.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it. Sylphide chose to defeat Erlkönig. And you told it to stay away because you knew you could take care of yourself, right?”

Hazel did not nod, but Lehrer said “that’s right” and sat down on the ground. Her butt touched the ground and she folded her legs underneath her with her back still to Hazel.

“It looks like I was more naïve than you.”

She collapsed. Toward Hazel.

Hazel rushed over and placed one arm around Lehrer’s back and the other under her shoulder to prop her up.

Then she looked down at the woman’s body.

A jagged piece of metal a foot long was stabbed into the left chest of her purple uniform.

Lehrer opened her mouth and blood spilled from her lipsticked lips, but she still spoke to Hazel.

“Not getting my Bust attack out quickly enough was my mistake. And Sylphide didn’t save me.”

“Stop talking!”

“Which means Sylphide decided you deserve the Messiah eye more.”

Part 3[edit]

Her voice was drowned out by two much louder sounds.

The first was a group of trucks approaching from the left.

The second was a gust of wind descending after crossing the bridge on the right.

That wind came from Schwarz Löwe.

Hazel turned to see the black Grösse Panzer landing on the other side of the bridge.

“Hazel, he is here for you.”

Lehrer smiled and pulled the metal out of her own chest. It was a foot long and it returned to bluish-white ether light and vanished after bouncing off of the pavement scarred by the shockwave.

Lehrer straightened up in Hazel’s arms and stood up.

“Go on ahead, Hazel.”

“No!”

As soon as Hazel stood up, she heard a loud, dry sound from her right cheek.

Lehrer had slapped her.

She reflexively held a hand to her cheek, more out of surprise than pain. She could feel the warmth in her cheek.

“Hazel,” said Lehrer. “Sylphide is not dumb enough to choose its own death. And I am not inexperienced enough to need your concern. Sylphide will recover and I will escape here alive. Because-”

Then Lehrer started coughing. She held a hand to her mouth and turned away from Hazel.

That brought her slashed back into view. Hazel decided to ask the question that had occurred to her while reading that picture book in the document room.

“Tell me, Lehrer! What were you about to say!?”

…Because…what?

“Why did you sleep for a thousand years to reach the present day? Was it to see Berger? Or was it to save me?”

Lehrer gasped and looked back when she heard that.

“…”

But then she smiled and shook her head. She did not say anything more.

Instead, she gave Hazel a shove toward the bridge.

“No! Wait! We can both go!” shouted Hazel just before Lehrer swung her spear between the two of them. Light trailed behind the spear.

With a roar, the road was split by a fissure 3 yards wide.

“…!”

The roar of weapons fire arrived from the sky at the same time.

Bermark Nein was pursuing Schwarz Löwe.

She heard Schwarz Löwe standing up and she heard Berger’s voice.

“Hazel! Jump!”

The sounds of Grösse Panzer movement rang loud. She looked back to see Schwarz Löwe dodging the enemy shots flying toward the bridge while flapping its wings and running her way. With arm outstretched.

He intended to scoop her up and take flight.

Schwarz Löwe’s footsteps approached and its black hand moved ever closer. She could see the shells hitting behind it.

At 3 yards away, Hazel’s body was lifted from the ground to land on Schwarz Löwe’s hand.

Its right hand snatched her away in midair.

“Lehrer!”

She felt the pressure of the accelerating metal hand holding her, but she still reached her hand out ahead.

Lehrer looked back in slight surprise on the other side of the ditch she had created.

“Jump!” shouted Hazel. “Hurry! We can both leave here!”

Hazel’s words brought some definite doubt to Lehrer’s face, but then she glanced down at the ditch she had made.

“…”

She nodded with her eyes close and then took a step toward Schwarz Löwe.

Hazel smiled and clung to Schwarz Löwe’s thumb with one arm while reaching her left hand even further out.

But…

“!?”

Lehrer turned back around on reflex. Like she had noticed something.

“Lehrer!?”

Hazel gave a panicked shout toward the woman’s back and then saw the problem.

A row of trucks was driving up from the narrow road Lehrer had turned toward.

The truck headlights were far brighter than the outdoor lights and warning lights and a silhouette could be seen highlighted by them.

That was Alfred Maldrick with Rein König held high.

He was running toward them with the clear intention of attacking Hazel in Schwarz Löwe’s hand.

Lehrer spun her spear around to block his attack.

A roar rumbled out and bright light filled Hazel’s vision.

A moment later, Schwarz Löwe dodged out of the way of the light and began its ascent.

Hazel’s hand failed to grasp anything in the light.

She shouted something, but her voice was drowned out by the Panzer’s ascent and the Busting shout coming from the surface.

Part 4[edit]

The light scattered and the pair at the center of it all finished swinging their weapons and moved away from each other, both unharmed.

Lehrer viewed the acceleration cloud left behind by Schwarz Löwe in the distant sky.

“I never imagined I would end up fighting a descendant of the Maldrick family.”

Alfred Maldrick said nothing. He just kept his distance and kept his weapon at the ready.

Lehrer took a breath, used her spear as a staff to prop herself up, and viewed Alfred.

“You really want me dead, don’t you? And after I slept for a thousand years in Sylphide to see all of you again.”

“Whoever you might be, you are currently stalling for time.”

Alfred took a step forward and she stayed put.

“I have one warning for you,” she said.

He took another step toward her.

“Next month, on August 23, the Allies will bomb Germania. When they do, they will send anxiety Lives back into Tristan, hoping to destroy it.”

Alfred lifted Rein König’s tip just a bit.

“Fight hard. And make sure to preserve the wheat fields of prosperity for future generations, you Neue Kavaliers who once fought a great calamity with me and then escaped a further calamity.”

With that, she readied her weapon again.

Alfred responded by entering a sprint. He closed the gap between them and entered striking range in no time.

He amplified his “ah” within Rein König, transforming it into a white Live light.

The light accumulated within raised Rein König’s blade, illuminating the two of them.

Lehrer took a defensive stance against the white light, but then she wobbled like something had hit her.

Something like a quiet sound of destruction followed.

She managed to remain on her feet and had some slight surprise on her face.

But she calmed her expression in no time and gave a confident nod.

Her heterochromatic eyes faced forward and viewed the attack approaching her.

As the white attack approached, she did something other than dodge.

She slowly turned her gaze to the southern sky where Schwarz Löwe was leaving.

She stopped even looking at Alfred. Her eyebrows contained only a gentle strength.

“–––––”

She removed her hands from the spear, so it lost its balance and started to fall over.

Alfred’s attack launched its destructive power a moment later.

But it was directed at the ground next to her, not at her herself.

The rubble shattered, the road split, and the glowing white slash tore a hole 5 yards across into the pavement.

The wind blew, the noise rang out, and Alfred froze just after swinging Rein König down.

He wasn’t even looking in Lehrer’s direction.

“Who asked the Kaiser Schwert to cut down an unresisting corpse?”

His question coincided with Lerher’s falling spear hitting the waterway railing about halfway up its shaft. The weight of the blade on top caused it to spin around and fall toward the water.

It produced an audible splash as Alfred looked to Lehrer standing next to the railing.

Her expression had lost its strength and she stood there like a doll with the left chest of her purple uniform stained with blood, but the same color of stain had freshly formed on her left side.

There was a small hole in the cloth there.

That was a bullet hole.

“Who interrupted our duel with a bullet?”

Alfred turned back toward the trucks shining their headlights on the two of them.

“That would be me.”

The headlights outlined a female silhouette wielding a Walther. It was Lowenzahn.

Schweitzer stood behind her.

“Why, Lowenzahn?” asked Alfred.

“You were getting a little chummy with your enemy there. This isn’t your personal battlefield, lieutenant.”

He started to say something in response but stopped himself.

Lehrer slowly and weakly sat down on the railing.

She kept her hand on the railing and her eyebrows drooped for a sleepy expression.

Alfred gave one more glance Lowenzahn’s way before turning toward Lehrer.

Three long strides were all it took to arrive within arm’s reach.

He could tell her eyes were already unfocused.

He looked expressionlessly down at her and spoke a single world.

“Sorry.”

She raised her head a bit in response. She looked up at him with the light already fading from her eyes.

Instead of looking down at her, he pulled his chin back to view her directly.

Their gazes collided head on and something seemed to click together.

After a few seconds, Lehrer’s lips formed a voice too quiet to make out.

“Hazel?”

Alfred silently stood up when the name she spoke wasn’t his.

He said nothing at all.

But Lehrer smiled while facing him.

That smile shook as her body slowly began to collapse. The right arm propping her up on the railing gave way and the rest of her sank down.

As her slender body bent, the bleeding from her chest and side increased.

But her face was still turned toward Alfred. Her face had gone pale, but she was still smiling.

“Unlike me…you asked Berger to join the AIF.”

She collapsed atop the railing. She doubled over and blood left her mouth when she exhaled.

But those bloody breaths still formed words.

“The thought never even occurred to me.”

Still smiling, she shut her eyes.

And without warning, she fell back into the waterway.

Her gentle momentum spread her arms so it looked like she was trying to embrace the sky as she fell backwards toward the water.

When her legs were about to slip off of the railing, white smoke wrapped around her falling body.

Then she Altered.

Her purple uniform swelled out and burst and a cat fell from within.

The gold-furred cat was soaked with blood as she fell into the deep waterway.

The splash was horribly small. The cat sank below the surface before bobbing back up to the surface.

The current caused the cat to slowly rotate so her tail was pointing forward.

By the time she spun back around, her blood-and-water-soaked body was already being swept away.

She no longer moved as the current took over.

Only Alfred was close enough to the railing to watch her go.

He watched until the cat disappeared below the collapsed bridge before he faced forward again.

The railing there was covered in a lot of blood.

He expressionlessly clenched both fists until they turned white.

His right hand held Rein König and his left hand’s middle finger wore a red stone ring.

No one spoke to him.

The sound of the water flowing rang much more clearly in his ears than the blaring alarms.

Part 5[edit]

A large field existed in the mountain night. It had once been covered by the forest that still surrounded it, but the trees had been cut down and cleared away. It stood atop a flat hill about 100 yards across, a few stumps remained, and an unmaintained mountain road led to it.

At one corner of the field, a large silhouette kneeled below a large tree sticking out from the forest.

A pair of wings grew from its moonlit black back. It was the Grösse Panzer named Schwarz Löwe.

Schwarz Löwe was at the very edge of the forest where it wouldn’t be noticeable from the sky at night.

Two people could be seen in the grassy area next to Schwarz Löwe. Hazel was seated atop a sundried stump, sobbing and wiping away her tears, and Berger was healing her foot.

He had concluded the cotton in the first aid kid wasn’t enough and instead wiped her foot clean with a pile towel and disinfectant. He commented on the cut to her right big toe.

“It is healing, but your tension and the freshness of the wound are the only reasons you aren’t feeling any pain. Once it dries, it will hurt every time you move your foot. …Hey, don’t get scared and pull your foot back.”

She shrugged and gave in, sticking her right foot out toward him.

He once more grabbed the bottom of her foot about halfway up and cleaned off each of her toes. There was an occasional stiff pain, telling her she had several smaller nicks on her foot too.

But beyond that, it also felt ticklish to have a cloth rubbing at her nails and toes with more strength than she could have managed. She had been crying a moment before, but now she was afraid she would start laughing.

“First you suppress tears and now you suppress laughter? It’s always something with you, isn’t it?”

“B-but…but Lehrer…”

“Come to think of it, I’ve been in this position before.”

She thought about it and quickly realized what he meant, but he gave the answer first.

“When we first met, I put some sandals on your feet. Did it tickle then too?”

“No, it didn’t back then. …I’m surprised you still remember that.”

“You remember it too.”

She nodded just once. She did indeed remember it well.

…I wonder if Lehrer remembered it?

“Um, Berger?”

“What?”

“Why did the Messiah sleep for a thousand years?”

“Why do you think?”

Before she could consider it, Berger finished cleaning off her foot.

“Your hand,” he said and she held out her right hand.

Her coat’s sleeve was rolled up to the elbow and the arm was stained red from when she had bandaged her foot. He rubbed with the towel to clean off the dried blood. It smelled of disinfectant alcohol and she felt the chill of it taking effect.

While he cleaned off her right arm in what felt a lot like a massage, she thought about his question and spoke her thoughts aloud.

“According to the Geheimnis Agency…the world continues to repeat the last thousand years and hasn’t made any progress.”

“And it sounds like keeping that loop going is your job, Hazel. According to Lehrer anyway.”

They exchanged a glance at this first exchange of information. They both looked a bit surprised.

…Did she tell him everything?

“I see.” He nodded. “Sounds like we both know Lehrer’s identity and most everything else too.”

“Yes. The only thing I don’t know is why Lehrer chose to sleep for a thousand years.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, his left hand grabbed her jaw.

“Don’t move. You have blood on your cheek.”

That was from Lehrer’s slap.

Him rubbing that dried blood off with the towel reminded her of Lehrer, which nearly made her cry again. But she couldn’t even open her mouth with his firm grip on her jaw.

He responded to her with a look of disinterest.

“So the thing that baffles you most is yourself? Join the club, Hazel.”

She gave him a puzzled look as he finished cleaning off her cheek and tossed aside the towel.

Then he grabbed both her cheeks.

“~!”

He tugged on them and they stretched surprisingly far. He even moved his hands up and down.

“So you want to know why she slept for a thousand years to wake up in our time?” He took a breath. “Remember what her Titel is, Hazel Mirildorf.”

She gasped.

…Oh.

“Isn’t that all you need? Besides, we don’t even know if she’s really dead.”

He tugged down hard on her pinched cheeks, forcing her to nod.

“I see. So my answer was good enough for you. Makes sense since I’m the second best advice-giver in the world.”

He let go and her cheeks snapped back to normal.

“Hyah!”

She held her cheeks and poked at them, feeling how heated and elastic they were. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have been stretched out permanently.

She felt a tiny prick of pain on the inside of the right elbow she had bent to touch her cheek.

She cocked an eyebrow curiously and straightened out her right arm to see the medical charm on the inside of the elbow had come off. The injection site below was a bit red and swollen from all her running around.

She noticed his eyes on that spot.

“Did you bring the ampules?”

“Yes, but only one.”

They both spoke at once after she gave that answer.

“Then you take it, Hazel.”

“So let’s each take half.”

They both felt confident in their answers, but then they noticed what the other had said.

After a moment, Berger frowned in the moonlight.

“What possessed you to give the world’s stupidest answer?” he asked.

“Because we both need to leave this country. I’m not wrong.”

“I’m the one who isn’t wrong. Do I need to strip you and make you cry again?”

“You’re welcome to try, but I warn you I will win in the end.”

She looked him dead in the eye with eyebrows raised.

He started to say something, stood up, and said something else instead.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“The effect would be greatly weakened if we only took half. Maybe we could leave, but we might end up in a coma or have half our body blown away. Why do you want to leave that badly?”

“So I can return again.” She pulled the Wheel of Destiny card from her coat pocket and showed it to him. “I don’t think Sylphide is dead, so I will leave the country and then return to Germania with Pale, Corelle, you, and the rest of the AIF.”

She thought of Lehrer and the Geheimnis Agency commander as she continued.

“I’ve made up my mind. No matter what happens, I will not let anyone go through such an unpleasant experience again.” She gave a deep nod, more to convince herself than anything. “I won’t let anyone think they have no choice but to endure it.”

She stopped there. She could see Berger tilting his head.

He sighed, looked away from her, and brushed a hand through his hair.

“There’s no convincing an idiot they’re wrong, is there?”

But he held out his right hand.

“Give me the ampule. I’ll go first and you can have the rest.”

“Are you serious?”

She was legitimately surprised by this and he gave her a cold look.

“Why do women get so suspicious when you do what they want? Would you prefer I refused?”

“S-sorry.”

She remained seated with her knees up as she pulled the ampule case from her coat pocket. He took it from her outstretched hand, opened it, and let the moonlight shine on the contents.

“Not broken this time. Good job.”

He pulled the syringe out with his right hand, removed the cover from the tip, and artlessly injected half of the contents into his neck.

He quickly pulled it out to ensure no blood flowed back into the cylinder that still contained half the serum.

“Here.”

He placed it in the ampule case and handed it back to her.

“It’s kind of creepy seeing you do what you’re told,” she said.

“Do I need to inject it into those needlessly big boobs?”

“No, thanks.”

She politely refused and then injected the ampule’s contents into her inner right elbow.

She suddenly felt a tremor running along her spine. Her body tensed for just a moment and the needle wouldn’t come out.

“–––––”

But then it came out. She frowned a bit.

“Seems like it works.” Berger wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’re both carrying only half of it in us. If we leave Germany, there will be some kind of change to our bodies.”

“But we can both leave, right?”

“We can. And then…we can give this all a lot of thought and return to Germania with the AIF.”

He sat down in the grass, placing his eyes a level below Hazel on the stump.

“Hey, Hazel. Can you do one thing for me?”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“Fix your gown.” He tugged on the bottom of the hospital gown she wore. “If you don’t hold it in the back of your knees when sitting with your knees up, people can see-”

She knew what he was getting at, so she hit him in the face with the ampule case she was holding.

Part 6[edit]

A single contrail hung in the sky above the Hamburg base. It drew a straight line to the south.

Below the cloud, lights were gathered around a waterway bisecting the base. The white lights were different from the warning lights.

They revealed the waterway to be badly damaged. The concrete sides were broken and the bottom was torn apart and spewing mud, but the water itself flowed cleanly around the wreckage.

The lights from above shined on something like a bridge. That was the border with the outside of the base. The large fenced bank at the end of the waterway was half destroyed and something like a long T-shaped bridge lay there with its bottom end soaking in the water.

That was actually the wreckage of a blue and a black aerial warship.

Both were 30 yards long and they had similar designs.

The black one spanned the waterway like a bridge and was motionless.

The blue one was stabbed into the black one’s belly.

Combat engineers moved around and shouted to each other in the light.

A large silhouette joined them in the light.

The enormous green Grösse Panzer was Karl Schmitt.

A woman climbed down from his shoulder, spoke with a nearby combat engineer, and gave Karl instructions via hand signal.

Large trucks equipped with wires and suspension equipment arrived after him and lined up alongside the waterway.

They worked with Karl to first lift the black craft.

A Grösse Panzer transportation truck arrived with additional cargo space installed and drove to the center of the light.

Everyone was on the move.

Except for the one person who remained motionless.

The woman in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Lowenzahn. There was no one in her immediate vicinity as she brushed a hand through her hair and watched the recovery of the two aerial warships.

Then someone walked up behind her.

“Hellard?”

Her eyebrows bent into a smile as she looked back to find…

“I apologize for not being who you wanted to see.”

The pencil-thin elderly man in a Geheimnis Agency uniform was Bermark Vier.

He held a hand to his chest and bowed before taking a look around. There was no one else close by.

“I sent Sir Elrich and Sir Witzmann to the old headquarters like you wanted.”

“So the usual process.” Lowenzahn breathed a sigh of relief. “They will learn the truth, but they can’t bring it back with them. They can, however, leave if they manage to survive all of the battles the Messiah fought.”

“We forced this upon them, but I imagine those eternal students appreciate a further opportunity for learning.”

“Probably so,” said Lowenzahn, turning back toward the two aerial warships. “Sending in Erlkönig may have been a mistake. I’m not cut out for this kind of work.”

“I cannot say much of anything since I did not see what happened.”

“Where is Captain Hellard? Have you seen him?”

“I did earlier. He, Sir Heiliger, and Sir Müller are preparing to evacuate Hamburg before the Allied bombers arrive. He fears a repeat of the tragedy at Cologne.”

“And the lieutenant who also witnessed Cologne is doing something else entirely.”

She pointed into the sky with her eyes still on the aerial warships.

There was a contrail there.

Bermark’s eyebrows raised slightly when he looked to the sky.

“Did he pursue the Messiah on his own?”

“Bermark, how much does your brother understand the lieutenant?” She lowered her pointing hand. “The woman named Eryngium Ilfheim said she didn’t want to run away and she was killed to protect Dog Berger, who tried to let her run away. She was 21 at the time, the same as the Messiah now. What do you make of this?”

Bermark’s answer was simple.

“I am a soulless Sein Frau, so I cannot answer that.”

“But your brother did not go with him. Your brother is superior, Bermark.”

Her words were interrupted by a loud splashing and mechanical noise.

Karl had descended into the waterway. His large silhouette moved in the lights. The combat engineers on his arms attached padded wires to Erlkönig.

Lowenzahn saw the wires supporting Erlkönig go taut.

“Bermark. Rapidly build a repair line for Erlkönig and Sylphide in Germania’s 3rd level factory district. You should be able to repair Sylphide using the parts recovered from the North Sea and the undamaged parts of this one, so do whatever it takes to have them both repaired by the 23rd.”

“Fräulein, I can understand with Erlkönig, but Sylphide might turn against us.”

“But when the Nibelung turns and Hazel Mirildorf arrives in the past, she needs more than the one-armed young man with her, doesn’t she? We must have Sylphide ready for her.” She smiled bitterly. “Hazel Mirildorf will come to Germania on the 23rd. Probably to stop the Nibelung. But I will make sure she keeps it turning. Because that is the only way to preserve this world.”

“I see. Then I will keep Sylphide deactivated and stored in the shielded isolation room on Germania’s lowest level. In that emergency isolation room that can only be reached by taking a VTOL craft down through 18 barriers.”

Karl grabbed Erlkönig’s belly and began lifting it, producing a metallic sound,

With the assistance of the wires and his colleagues, his arm slowly lifted Erlkönig. But his arm stopped shortly thereafter.

Then the people supporting Sylphide from the bottom of the waterway got to work.

The lights turned toward Sylphide. The blue craft wasn’t just bent in half – it had damage and corrosion in places. However…

“It still looks clean. Does that show how well it was cared for? This is awful, really. This is the first loop when Sylphide and the Messiah were reborn in the modern world.”

“How does it usually work?”

“In the past worlds, the Messiah disappeared somewhere along with the one-armed man. Once Sylphide’s reactor died and its self-repair function died along with it, it was buried where it rotted away. There wouldn’t have been anything to dig back up. Only some poorly-made plans left below Karlsruhe land as Ober Geheimnis.” Lowenzahn nodded and turned away from the waterway. “The world is approaching destruction. I must reveal the true meaning of the Panzerpolis Project tonight.”

“Protecting Hamburg comes first. That is always how it begins, isn’t it?”

“Yes. The bombing of Hamburg is a test for the bombing of Germania on August 23. It will also scare the military into increasing the output of the dome and further boosting the Vaterlands.”

“The only real difference from the previous loops is the Allies will be using this bombing to acquire intel on an air route to Germania they can use for their ACBS loaded with the new bomb developed on the data we gave them.”

“It will all work out if I can use my Beweisen to capture the Messiah on the 23rd and if that ACBS arrives on schedule.”

“Yes, it will all work out,” she repeated to herself before walking off.

She looked to the east where a white umbrella of light could be seen near the horizon.

“Things have changed, but tonight I will make the necessary corrections and then stop lying to everyone. Bermark, tell everyone tomorrow that the final prophecy is the 1st Section of the Moonlight. I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’m going to use you for my lies. After I enter Tristan, I imagine Captain Hellard will ask how I made my prophecies if my Ober Beweisen is used to boost Tristan.”

“What should I tell him?”

“That’s simple. Lie and tell him I can make prophecies on my own – no machines necessary.” She couldn’t look Bermark in the eye as she walked past him. “I need one other person to lie for me too. I need someone to convince the others that the destruction of the world refers to the collapse of Germany from the anxiety Tons, not to the Nibelung.”

“Would that be Sir Heiliger?”

“Yes. It would be too difficult for everyone otherwise. The more the Geheimnis Agency works to protect Germany, the harder I must work to have Tristan extract the Spacetime Tons. Meanwhile, the Allies will be sending so much anxiety our way. If we play our role, the Allies play theirs, and the Messiah plays hers, the Nibelung will continue turning. That is the natural outcome and I will respect that.” She sighed and stopped walking. “We are only trying to protect those close to us, but our presence causes the enemy to wield a great power against us. That is exactly what happened to Graham and Rose.”

She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket. The folded paper held an ear of golden wheat.

She stroked the wheat with her finger while repeating a line from the 1st Section of the Moonlight.

“A wall separates the pair, hm?”

She looked up into the sky where a white contrail cut across the dark night sky.

Part 7[edit]

The first in the forest clearing to react to the approaching threat was Schwarz Löwe.

It was kneeling and something like a pulse began to sound from its stomach.

The next reaction came before the first mechanical heartbeat was over.

A white light appeared in its sight devices.

By then, Berger had noticed something was up while Hazel threw small rocks and such at him.

“Hey, Haz- gwoh!?”

A larger rock hit him in the jaw and he nearly fell over.

Then Hazel also noticed something was odd about Schwarz Löwe, so she dropped the rock she held.

“Ah! L-look, Berger. Schwarz Löwe is doing something.”

He clearly wanted to say something to her, but they didn’t have time.

He turned toward Schwarz Löwe and directed his gaze toward the metal stomach the pulse was coming from.

“It’s reacting. The experimental Eingeweide device installed in it is reacting to its original owner’s approach.”

He was proven right when something dropped from the sky.

With a blast of wind, a deafening roar, and the color white, something was now standing on the field.

“Neue Kaiser!?”

Hazel’s words were answered by the pressurized wind of its landing racing across the field.

A white Grösse Panzer now stood on the field.

Its metal body produced a wind. That wind carried the scent of the summer grass and night dew, the chill of the night, and the smell of metal and oil.

It all raced past Hazel and hit the forest.

The trees shook, the leaves rustled, and the sleeping birds and other animals took flight, began running, and made lots of noise.

Hazel wasn’t sure how to react, so she turned toward Berger. However…

“Berger?”

He was gone. She frantically looked left and right, hoping to find him.

“Where are you looking? I’m up here.”

He was up on Schwarz Löwe’s secondary cockpit. He had just opened the hatch and he was glaring at Neue Kaiser.

She followed his gaze to view Neue Kaiser as well.

The large Grösse Panzer had six wings on its back and held a sword. It remained entirely motionless with its Panzer Kleid blowing in its own wind. The moonlight palely shined on the movable white armor installed over its armored clothing.

Someone stood on the shoulder armor.

Berger looked up at the person and asked a question.

“Why are you here, Alfred?”

“For answers. About 8 years ago and about the Messiah’s purpose.”

The wind carried his scratchy artificial voice over the long distance between them.

He slowly raised his left hand in front of his chest, placed his right hand over that, and pulled the red-stoned ring off of his left hand’s middle finger.

Then he slowly held his right hand out to the side and tossed the ring away with a flick of his wrist.

He threw it toward Hazel.

The red gleam flew in straight line and hit the edge of the stump she had been sitting on earlier. It bounced up about 2 yards with a light clink.

But it landed back down on the stump. The red gleam settled down near the very center of the tree rings.

“You too, Berger,” said Alfred.

Hazel looked to Berger.

He gave Alfred a furious look but then nodded.

He removed the red pendant from his neck, the chain making a quiet jangling.

With the pendant in his hand now, he did not hesitate to throw it toward Hazel.

She frantically held out her hands and caught it.

…So…

She wasn’t sure what to do, so she tried saying something.

“Um.”

“Don’t move.”

“Just watch.”

She was cut off by a pair of responses. After some hesitation, she sat back down on the stump. Then Berger called out to her.

“Hazel.”

“Y-yes?”

“What will you do? 8 years ago, I tried to let Eryngium run away and I lost her.”

After the shortest of moments, she shook her head.

“You should know my answer. It hasn’t changed.” She took a breath and placed a hand on her chest. “I don’t want to run away.”

“That’s what I thought.” He narrowed his eyes and then turned back toward Alfred. “Alfred, do you want to see the answer we reach?”

Alfred did not respond.

That silence bothered Hazel, so she turned to observe him.

She found him looking at her.

…Eh?

But after her reaction of surprise, he looked away.

He narrowed his eyes, turned back toward Berger, and asked a single question.

“Have you been training?”

After a pause, Berger answered the simple question.

“I have.”

“I see.”

Alfred nodded, shut his eyes, and descended toward the secondary cockpit. He intended to Schreiben into the Panzer.

Berger slipped into his own secondary cockpit and his voice reached Hazel from beyond the hatch.

“Don’t worry, Hazel Mirildorf. 8 years ago, I thought I was the best in the world at everything.”

After the span of a few breaths, Schwarz Löwe raised Gelegenheit and Neue Kaiser spread its wings and raised its sword Werkzeug.

The two Panzers stood at opposite ends of the battlefield and drew lines in the ground behind them with their weapons.

“Between these lines, the past 8 years never happened,” said Neue Kaiser.

They would not fight in a way that would cross those lines.

“Let’s get to it then,” said Schwarz Löwe.

The two of them took the first step of a full-speed sprint at the exact same moment.

Chapter 7: The Ruin Soars[edit]

7/24/1943 22:50 – 23:12

The future is supposed to be waiting for us

But we know that

To be a lie

We also know how to break through that lie

The Allied Bombing Unit[edit]

The Allied bombing of the German mainland was started on a small scale by the RAF in ’41. They did not see real success until the 1000-bomber night bombing of Cologne in ’42.

With the value of quantity proven, America sent their Eighth Air Force to the UK at the end of February of ’42, but they failed to show results due to lack of preparation and an insistence on daytime bombings. This problem continued until they sent in a lot more B-17s, strengthened the B-17s, researched close formations, and included escort craft.

The UK and US militaries began joint day-and-night bombings on June 10, 1943, and they bombed Hamburg in July over the course of a week with the US handling the daytime and the UK handling the nights.

The bombing of Berlin in August of ’43 was entirely at night, so the US was reduced to backup and the RAF handled the actual bombing. Later, starting in ’44, the US’s Eighth Air Force reorganized and took a more central role. Near the end of the war, they sent in an average of 1400 bombers and dropped more than 3000 tons of bombs on each bombing.

Part 1[edit]

Black and white powers clashed in the dark night below the pale moonlight.

The black cutting power was dodged with the speed of the racing wind.

The white crushing power was dodged with the nimbleness of the flowing wind.

A black roar was released.

A white shout was released.

The sound and the noise made the air tremble.

That trembling grew to a rumble that shook the grass, the trees, the ground, and the forest.

Part 2[edit]

The white dodged the black’s Ober Emblem attack.

But the black’s feet rode the wind forward for a second attack.

On the first step, its right foot kicked to the right, sending its body to the left. Its wings kept it moving forward all the while.

It circled around to the white’s left. Because that made it easier to swing the sword in its right hand.

On the second step, it worked to control its leftward-flowing body.

Seeing that, the white took evasive action to the right. It slid its feet over out of the black blade’s range.

The black took its third step. It used that step to stop all of its forward momentum.

It stomped the ground hard.

Its momentum tried to push it forward, but it swung its sword from the right, twisting its body around to the left on its heel. It rotated its ankle and stuck its knee out to lean into the turn.

The bent knee lowered and thus stabilized its stance.

Its ankle motor cried in protest of the inertial weight pushing past the joint’s movable range.

But that didn’t matter. With its lower body stabilized, it turned its hips to the left, leaned its upper body over, and completed its turn.

This produced a rapid slash of its sword.

It raced along a horizontal line, making a shrill sound more like a whistle than just slicing the air.

But the white backed away and dodged it.

The black blade produced a shockwave.

“!”

The white responded by throwing its left fist forward quickly enough to break the sound barrier. An explosion of water vapor surrounded the fist and then it extended its fingers to pierce straight through the shockwave launched by the black.

The air ruptured. With an atmospheric scream resembling tearing paper, the white’s hand jabbed toward its enemy which was holding its black sword in a follow-through stance. The jab was aimed for the enemy’s unguarded side.

The black immediately raised its left foot behind it.

Its body still carried the great momentum of its weight, as well as its rotational movement. By standing only on its right foot, the momentum would make it spin.

It threw a rear roundhouse kick.

A heavy crash and sparks flew. The black left leg had repelled the jabbing white hand.

The black continued its rotation and kicked off the ground to put some distance between them.

It used its wings for some shallow flight. Then it faced forward.

The white was pursuing. They were 5 yards off the ground with less than 10 yards apart. Air exploded from their backs.

“!”

Their swords clashed.

Black and white sparks flew.

Their swords were locked and pushed at each other with equal force. They both accelerated more to push back the other. The white flapped its six wings and the black made full use of its dragon-like black wings.

They both raised their voices.

They roared. Their roars instantly joined together and their power ruptured between them.

The black blade shattered and the light surrounding the white sword burst. With a sound much like shattering glass, white and black lights scattered, illuminating or darkening their surroundings before vanishing like fading fog.

They both tore deep into the grassy ground as they landed.

The instant its feet were on the ground, the white charged toward the black.

Part 3[edit]

Part 4[edit]

White and blue wind Lives collided before Hazel’s eyes as she hid behind the stump.

The battle between 10yd metal giants was too fast for her to follow with her eyes. She had to hide behind the stump and follow the battle with the wind and the Aerial Words she could hear.

The line Berger had drawn in the ground was located in front of the stump.

The wind told her of the battle being fought past that borderline. It told her the two were evenly matched.

…Berger.

This wasn’t like in ’39. He could fight on his own now.

“You’re going to settle this without my help, aren’t you?”

But she held the ring and pendant in her hands to keep the wind from blowing them away. Her hands were sweaty, but she squeezed them tight, refusing to let go.

Part 5[edit]

Neue Kaiser ran.

Gelegenheit’s blade was shattered by a Bust attack from behind.

In the scattering black light, Schwarz Löwe took evasive action. A new blade grew and sliced through the air.

Schwarz Löwe vanished within arm’s reach of Neue Kaiser. But…

Neue Kaiser moved right up alongside Schwarz Löwe.

“!?”

Schwarz Löwe cried out in surprise and Alfred’s voice shouted from Neue Kaiser’s voice device.

“You cannot escape me!”

Schwarz Löwe launched a swift attack.

Neue Kaiser dodged but did not move away.

Schwarz Löwe fell back and actually faced Neue Kaiser head on this time.

They shouted their Erklärungs.

<Destiny…>

They both paused for a moment.

They both rushed toward each other.

Schwarz Löwe took a few steps and swung Gelegenheit up from the hip.

Neue Kaiser planted one foot in front of the other and swung its sword down from above.

Both Grösse Panzer shouted as they made use of their full strength.

“Berger! Why not use your Ober Beweisen!? Or how about getting her help!?”

“You’re the one that isn’t even using his Ober Emblem!”

The rising and descending curves broke the sound barrier and drew out a cloudy trail to reach the other.

The twin trails of cloud collided just before that could happen.

The clang of metal on metal accompanied two things flying into the sky.

The first was Neue Kaiser’s Werkzeug.

The other was Schwarz Löwe’s attachment staff for Gelegenheit.

The Werkzeug spun several times through the air before stabbing back down into the field with a sound like splitting rock.

Gelegenheit clattered solidly down onto the field.

The two shifted immediately from their follow-through stances to jumping backwards. They moved about 10 yards apart and spread their wings.

They readied their now weaponless arms, opened their mouths, and roared.

The white and black wings gathered air.

The wind blew in a spiral around them and the black one raised both fists and its voice.

“Full drive – max power!”

Light began to race across Schwarz Löwe in response.

The Ober Emblem’s armor transformation filled in all the gaps.

The Ober Emblem hadn’t been fully activated, but now it was.

The wind wrapped around it as it roared.

“Activate full barrel mode! Begin full drive!”

Neue Kaiser did not activate its own Ober Emblem. It only raised one hand.

“Come.”

The white Grösse Panzer’s wings lifted as far as their movable range allowed as it beckoned.

The black one responded by charging forward.

Part 6[edit]

Schwarz Löwe had grown a small horn and it sent out its fists in straight-line attacks.

It didn’t just use its footwork to assist the alternating right and left swings. It flapped its wings to put some real weight behind the attacks while keeping the footwork light.

It unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Neue Kaiser responded with evasive action and its own metal fists.

The ultra-hard fists collided or were swept aside with elbows, scattering metallic noises and sparks into the wind.

Neue Kaiser took a single step forward to place its full strength behind its fist. Its upward-swinging elbow sliced through the air, producing a shockwave that tore a line into the ground.

Schwarz Löwe dodged the flying shockwave blade by a few feet to the left and used that time to move as far forward as it could.

Neue Kaiser swung up both its arms.

A pair of shockwave blades shot out, tearing through the ground like it was slicing through the clouds with its wings. The summer grass scattered and the dirt flew as the ground was audibly split.

Schwarz Löwe chose to break through the center.

The shockwaves broke its shoulder armor, tearing into shoulders that had become partially biological thanks to the Ober Emblem. But it leaped forward nevertheless.

It passed through the valley between the shockwaves.

It all came down to a series of instants.

Neue Kaiser used its leg thrusters to slide backwards, so Schwarz Löwe flapped its wings once to extend its leap and threw a downwards kick like it hoped to stab its leg into the ground.

Neue Kaiser slid further to dodge that kick. It aimed for the moment Schwarz Löwe landed, but Schwarz Löwe forced itself to rotate on its downwards-kicking right leg to throw a roundhouse kick with its left leg.

Its right leg groaned in protest, but the black semicircle caught Neue Kaiser who had stopped sliding to begin an attack of its own. The kick hit its right shoulder.

It didn’t do much damage, but it did bring Neue Kaiser to a full stop.

Schwarz Löwe swung down its leg and charged in.

It unleashed all the power stored in its back to not give Neue Kaiser a chance to react.

An explosion of air launched the nearly 30ton machine forward. Its raised fist and the rest of its body broke the sound barrier and continued to accelerate.

Its right first slammed into Neue Kaiser’s chest.

It produced a heavy sound of impact. The force of the blow and the impact cracked Schwarz Löwe’s right fist.

But it didn’t care.

It had seen Neue Kaiser lift off the ground a bit.

It used the acceleration from its back to throw its left fist.

That fist cracked too, but a crack formed in Neue Kaiser’s chest armor as well.

“–––––!!”

Schwarz Löwe continued punching, not hesitating to unleash a flurry of attacks.

Neue Kaiser drew out a line on the ground behind it as it was pushed back.

Schwarz Löwe pushed forward. It increased the force of the right-and-left full-body punching motion, hitting its enemy with the shockwave more than the physical blow. The ground was already tearing away and Neue Kaiser was pushed back along a ground containing nothing but dirt exposed by the shockwaves.

The sounds of mechanical movement were answered by the sounds of metallic impacts. More and more heavy attacks were sent out from below.

Just as Neue Kaiser lifted from the ground, the thick layer of hair on Schwarz Löwe’s back vanished.

They had already reached the ends of the field.

Schwarz Löwe was about to send the final attack toward airborne Neue Kaiser’s chest.

Only the primary armor remained there and Schwarz Löwe prepared to send its right fist there.

“!”

The attack sounded like a cannon blast.

The fist broke the sound barrier, a white umbrella of vapor spread out around the wrist, and the air exploded around it.

The blow landed, making a nice sound.

The chest armor worn over Neue Kaiser’s Panzer Kleid was obliterated and the primary armor below was dented in the shape of a fist.

With a loud sound like spraying water, Neue Kaiser was launched toward the sky.

But it did not end there.

Without warning, Neue Kaiser released all of the air gathered in its wings.

“You amateur!”

It instantly brought its airborne body back to the ground.

It circled in front of Schwarz Löwe which was crouched in its follow through to the upwards punch.

Neue Kaiser stood up and made a powerful flap of its wings.

It rushed forward and clashed with Schwarz Löwe, placing the black Panzer on its white shoulder.

It easily lifted it.

But that wasn’t all.

With Schwarz Löwe on its shoulder, Neue Kaiser leaped up and grabbed Schwarz Löwe’s neck.

It soared forward with its feet off the ground, its forward acceleration instead coming from its wings.

“Weren’t you supposed to be the best in the world 8 years ago!?”

Neue Kaiser used its top acceleration to slam Schwarz Löwe into the ground. With the acceleration provided by Neue Kaiser blocked by that wall of dirt, Schwarz Löwe’s metal screamed and it bounced hard.

The black Ober Emblem shattered and scattered as ether light.

Schwarz Löwe’s remaining momentum tore a rut into the ground for several yards as the Ober Emblem vanished. The black biological armor it wore was stripped away.

All that remained in the wind and moonlight was a black Grösse Panzer with smoke belching from all across its body.

Part 7[edit]

Neue Kaiser left Schwarz Löwe behind as it glided several more yards and then landed.

The line Berger had drawn on the ground was a few dozen yards ahead of it. Past that was the stump that was tilted after the wind dug up some of its roots.

Beyond the stump, a woman stood alone, her blonde hair blowing in the wind.

Neue Kaiser viewed her and then itself.

White smoke was leaking from the gap between its chest and stomach. But…

“So this is your answer.”

That was all it said because the wind blew behind it.

“!?”

It turned around to find Schwarz Löwe had gotten up and was charging forward without its Ober Emblem.

Its broken right fist flew out.

Neue Kaiser gathered its strength and intercepted the attack with its own right fist.

The fists collided and produced a sound like shattering rock. Both of them were sent flying.

They ended up about 20 yards apart, but that was nothing for a Grösse Panzer.

They stared at each other, their gazes seeming to audibly clash.

A moment later, the Panzers themselves clashed.

They threw attack after attack, broken fist colliding with steel fist, elbows flying, and jabs intersecting.

Schwarz Löwe roared.

The impacts were growing louder. They grew so frequent they melted together into a single loud noise.

All of that sound vanished without warning. They had both swung their bodies to dodge the other’s fist.

They both raised their right fist to try again. They swung their fists using the momentum of returning from their evasive action.

They raised their voices in what could have been a roar or a scream.

“–––––”

They both stepped forward, lowered their hips, and leaned forward, their fists capturing the other’s face at the point of greatest impact.

Their fists landed at the exact same moment.

The lighter Schwarz Löwe was blown backwards with a “!”.

The heavier Neue Kaiser collapsed backwards with a “!?”.

Schwarz Löwe intentionally landed on its left shoulder and rolled to protect the wings on its back.

But Neue Kaiser planted a foot behind itself and stopped its fall.

With what almost sounded like a sigh, Neue Kaiser placed its cracked right hand over its face.

Its shoulders rose and fell like it was out of breath and its eyes dropped to Schwarz Löwe lying face down.

Schwarz Löwe could still move. Its almost completely destroyed left arm and right leg were trembling.

Neue Kaiser slowly readied its fist, but then it looked down to its feet.

He stopped moving.

A woman stood down there.

Part 8[edit]

It was the Heidengeist woman.

Neue Kaiser’s gaze had dropped to where Hazel Mirildorf stood.

But it wasn’t just looking at her.

The step back it had taken had crossed the line Berger had drawn.

“–––––!”

Neue Kaiser gasped as Hazel ran between its legs.

She ran toward Schwarz Löwe attempted to get up from the ground.

Once she reached it, she turned around to face Neue Kaiser.

She spread her legs, planted them firmly on the ground, and spread her arms protectively in front of Schwarz Löwe.

She looked up at the white Grösse Panzer with angry eyebrows and tears in her eyes.

“That’s enough. You already crossed the line between the past and the present.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath. “Or do you plan on repeating the past?”

Part 9[edit]

Neue Kaiser froze in place.

Schwarz Löwe also froze halfway through getting up.

Hazel didn’t move either.

The three of them preserved their silence and stillness, but after the span of three breaths, something other than them moved: the forest.

The birds in the dark forest squawked and took flight. And not just from their immediate surroundings.

“Eh!?”

Hazel looked up into the sky where so many specks were flying around in a frenzy it looked like someone had thrown a fistful of sand. Their voices were loud, hoarse, and incessant. Birds were flying from the forest covering all the mountains surrounding them.

The flapping of their wings and the rustling of the shaken trees drowned out all other noise.

Hazel could see the Lives of fear and panic. The birds were trying to escape something.

…But what?

She saw the answer in the northern sky beyond the soaring birds.

A dark river flowed through the sky. The river was far larger than the one of birds and it stretched for far longer.

Hazel had seen this before – last year in Cologne.

When a thousand bombers flew together, they would create a single silhouette from a distance.

“The bombing of Hamburg.”

Her words seemed to push Neue Kaiser to action.

The white Grösse Panzer took solid steps past her and Schwarz Löwe. It approached its own sword stabbed into the edge of the field.

Schwarz Löwe got up as well.

Hazel turned toward it and saw it kneeling with the secondary cockpit hatch opening.

Schwarz Löwe said nothing. Neither did Neue Kaiser.

Neue Kaiser reached its sword and pulled it from the ground. Then it slowly turned around, pointed the sword toward Hazel, and spoke.

“Why do you insist you will not run away and why do you protect destiny?”

Hazel kept her protective position in front of Schwarz Löwe as she answered the question coming from beyond the blade.

“Because that is my way.”

“Even if you lack the strength to back it up? Are you okay with dying as long as you can protect someone else?”

“I have no intention of dying. But I don’t want to lose anyone else either.”

She worked to calm her breathing, lowered her head, and got the words out the best she could.

“I don’t want to lose anyone, so I will not run away and I will not let them die!”

As soon as she was finished, Neue Kaiser swung down its sword.

Part 10[edit]

The powerful sword slash did not hit Hazel. It stabbed deep into the ground next to her.

The tip split the borderline with the past that Schwarz Löwe had drawn in the ground.

“So that is the answer to 8 years ago and the purpose of the Messiah who will guide our power.”

With that, Neue Kaiser’s motors whirred as it slowly spread its wings.

The six white wings spread and fully extended themselves with a smoothness very unlike a machine.

They emitted their wind straight down.

Hazel saw the movement of the wind. She could see the air around them gradually gathering toward Neue Kaiser’s wings. The blue Lives leisurely flowed past her feet and tangled around Schwarz Löwe’s limbs as they moved toward the white Grösse Panzer.

Its wings bent as they accepted and stored the gathering air.

With a loud noise, the six wings chose not to restrict the gathering air and instead let it swell out but never escape.

The air flowed into the wings where it was compressed.

Hazel heard the cold whisper of the night air gathering and being released.

The wind blew in from the northern forest, producing rustling ripples through the trees.

The night sky was red to the north. The bombing had begun.

The wind formed from the explosions and heat was racing across the sky to reach them here.

That wind blew at Hazel’s hair and she moved against Schwarz Löwe’s left side. Her bare feet stood on the dirt as she hid behind Schwarz Löwe and viewed Neue Kaiser.

The white Grösse Panzer spread its wings and looked straight up into the sky from the center of the wind swirling through the clearing.

Hazel also looked up to see the blowing wind altering the air currents to form a spiraling updraft that the birds used to draw out a large circle.

The ring of birds left a blank hole in the sky where she saw a single light.

That was the moon. The crescent moon floated in the center of the circle of birds.

“––––––”

Just as her attention turned to the moon, a powerful wind blew in.

But this wasn’t an ordinary gust of wind blowing in from the distance. It was the intimidating wind of a powerful presence in the sky.

A white shape flew in the sky above, wrapped in wind. The white Grösse Panzer flapped its wings and produced a wind that shimmered with heat while it ascended straight toward the moon.

Hazel’s coat flapped in the wind spread out across the field.

“Berger!”

“I can hear you. I’ve got to be in the second worst shape in the world, though.”

Hazel frowned.

…It must be bad if he’s saying that.

The damage must have gone behind his broken hands. The joints and motors were probably acting up as well. However…

“Hop on, Hazel. I need your help if I’m going to keep up with him.”

Her shoulders jumped at Schwarz Löwe’s line and she started to say something.

But when her eyes met the glowing sight devices, she shut her mouth.

She nodded just once.

Strength returned to her drooping eyebrows. She could tell she probably had a funny look on her face, but she still opened her mouth and asked a question.

“Berger, what are we going to do about him?”

Schwarz Löwe’s response was simple.

“We pursue him.”

Chapter 8: The Ruin Rises[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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 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.

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!”

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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.

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…

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?”

Final Chapter: The Ruin Arrives[edit]

7/25/1943 06:00 – 06:04

For now

It appears my personal battle has begun

Several commotions were underway in the morning sky.

The Allies’ Operation Gomorrah bombing group was in disarray.

They were working to rescue the survivors from the now bridgeless and sinking flagship, but they were also working to regroup their formation with their chain of command destroyed.

One small area remained still within all that movement.

The stillness was on the deck of the AIF aircraft carrier.

It was centralized on the black Heavy Barrel kneeling on the deck with the AIF members forming a circle around it in the cold air.

That Barrel was Schwarz Löwe.

It had lost its left arm and half its right leg, leaving it nearly destroyed.

However, the hatch to the secondary cockpit on its back popped open. The air inside formed a mist when it contacted the air at this altitude, but the wind soon swept that away.

A blonde woman in a black coat emerged. That was Hazel.

She looked back inside the secondary cockpit just once before silently descending to the deck amid the chilly wind.

Her leg gave out beneath her when she landed, so Corelle ran over to help her.

“Are you okay, Hazel!?”

“I-I’m fine. But Berger needs help!”

She looked to the entrance of the secondary cockpit above her.

…He still hasn’t released his Write Bring!

He was taking too long.

She suddenly lowered her head and viewed Schwarz Löwe’s damage. It had lost so much.

Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She stood up from Corelle’s arms and took a look around. Some of the AIF crew were running over with a blanket and such, but…

“Please! Can’t someone get Berger out of there!?”

“C-calm down, Hazel!”

Corelle held her tight and Hazel tried to fight it.

But Corelle held her even tighter, keeping her from moving.

She gathered all of her strength and looked to Schwarz Löwe.

There was no light in its sight devices.

She panicked and the emotion left her as a shout.

“Berger!”

She was immediately answered by a voice from within the secondary cockpit.

“Oh, shut up.”

The quiet voice drained all the tension from her shoulders and then a dark figure emerged.

It was Berger. He had only quickly thrown on a shirt and black combat pants and he took a look around before dropping down to the deck.

He slowly looked around again and then looked to her.

Their eyes met and she immediately broke from Corelle’s arms.

“A-are you okay!?”

She ran over to him. The chilled deck felt so cold blow her bare feet, but she didn’t care.

Just before she reached him, he collapsed forward.

“–––––!!”

She reached out on reflex and caught him. He felt so terribly cold and heavy.

She sighed and then felt something warm on her face.

It was blood. Now that she was close enough, she could see several red lines running from his head to his chin.

He also felt horribly unbalanced in her arms. She tried to hold him tighter, but she couldn’t seem to find his left arm.

“It can’t be…”

She gasped and felt something below her foot. She didn’t even need to look down because her instincts told her what it was.

…Blood from his right leg.

The wind whipped at Berger’s pants, showing nothing in the right leg. The bottom of the pant leg was heavy with the blood soaking it and the wind slapped it against her leg.

A coughing breath left his mouth. Then his actual voice.

“Hazel.”

She looked him in the face when he called her name.

Only then did she realize she was crying. In her tear-blurred vision, his bloody face displayed a small smile with no tension or concern.

He viewed her face with unfocused eyes and then closed his eyes like he was smiling.

“Are you crying again, Hazel?”

Then he slowly collapsed. First his head went limp, resting on her left shoulder. Then the strength left the rest of him, so his weight bore down on her and she couldn’t support him. She fell back onto her butt.

Her legs and hips sank into the pool of blood coming from his right leg.

He said nothing, so she shouted instead.

“Berger!”

Her cry reverberated out into the sky and the answer did not come from a person.

She heard a mechanical noise as Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices lit up.

Then a low rumbling came from its belly.

Its voice device spat out a mechanical system message.

“Combat record transfer complete – sent from Neue Kaiser to Schwarz Löwe.”

Neue Kaiser had sent its combat data to Schwarz Löwe before exploding in the sky. Almost like it was leaving something for the next generation.

…Did Berger wait to leave until that transfer was complete?

As if to confirm her thought, Schwarz Löwe’s sight devices glowed brighter and it took a kneeling step forward.

But its metal body did not last. Its joints broke and it collapsed with its right arm held out.

Even as it noisily collapsed, Schwarz Löwe pointed over to a corner of the deck.

Hazel turned her teary eyes that way.

Two objects stood from the very edge of the deck like gravestones.

They were swords.

One was the sword Werkzeug that Neue Kaiser had used and the other was Rein König. They were stabbed straight down into the corner of the deck and seemed to be facing each other in the wind.

“Oh…”

Hazel nodded blankly. She nodded again with Berger in her arms.

She saw the two blades shining bright in the morning sun.

They shined with a gentle, warm light.

Closing Statements[edit]

In July of 1943, around 70% of Hamburg was destroyed in an Allied bombing, but the loss of chain of command early on prevented them from completing a test of the burning effects of their incendiary bombs.

The Allies decided to hold a midsize bombing of Germania on August 23 of the same year to prove they had Germany in checkmate. As part of this operation, they planned to send all the world’s anxiety Lives back through the ley lines and into the Vaterlands. They worked out their plans so the peak effect would occur on August 23. They also planned to launch their newly-developed ACBS to destroy Germania’s dome, but after negotiations with the AIF, who had many German members, they agreed to cancel the ACBS launch if the AIF could bring down the dome before it launched.

Meanwhile, the Geheimnis Agency revealed that their commander Lowenzahn Naylor had been installed as a mechanical component for Tristan on Heiliger’s orders.

Now, who can prevent the ultimate mistake – people or machines?

That answer will be found in Germania, the Panzerpolis version of Berlin.

7/25/2001. On the morning a girl made a fateful decision.

-Michael Schrier

Afterword[edit]

How am I already on the fourth book?

I’ve been feeling really good lately and that has a tendency of making my afterwords vulgar, but I’m a lot calmer today. Perfectly composed. Nothing to worry about. Probably. Surely. Only a little at the most. Hopefully. If we’re lucky. (Last year, I decided I would write normal afterwords after turning 25, but so much for that.)

Now that I’ve started a longer series, the feedback from readers has been a lot different and I’ve learned a lot from it. Maybe it’s because you’re seeing the characters for a longer time, but there’s more people telling me what they want to happen instead of just saying how they liked the book.

And the most common request, summed up into a single sentence, is “make Hazel an adult already”. Hmm…so are you asking me to give her a coming-of-age ceremony or have her go bungee jumping?

…Damn, I’ll have you all know I have a way dirtier mind than any of you. (But how I am I supposed to prove it?)

Anyway, Hazel and Berger have come so far. It looks like I’ll actually be able to use the entire plot I initially outlined. It really is thanks to all of your support that I was able to bring this to four books so far.

Thank you so much. The story has almost reached the conclusion, but the bombing of Hamburg shown in this one and the bombing of Berlin on August 23 really did happen. Japan joined the war in December of ’41, so that means the Allies had already arrived at Berlin only a year and a half later. A lot of help Japan was, huh?

Now it’s time for another friend email. Except I’m short on time, so it’s a chat instead.

“Hi, we’re at #4. Rejoice.”

“Wait. #4?”

“What? If you don’t explain yourself in two lines or less, you will regret it.”

“Don’t be dumb. We only just finished the fourth afterword email thing the other day, so why are we doing it again? And why in a chat?”

“The last one was censored.”

“Why? Too dirty? Did we really say anything that bad?”

“No, it wasn’t that. They kindly worded it as ‘this one lacks the usual punch’. I feel like they’ve forgotten this is supposed to be an afterword, but the point is the publisher has given us a blank check to go nuts on this one. Yodelayheehoo!”

“What’s this yodelayheehoo stuff, idiot? But fine. If you insist. …So I saw this black-haired girl the other day, okay?”

“Black hair? That must mean she was Ultra Mobile Ground Combat Magical Girl Gonzales who was Atlantis Hero #2 in a past life. She can remove her glossy black mohawk and throw it as a boomerang. So what about her? Her transformation sequence has some real oomph to it, if you ask me.”

“Why do I even try talking to you?”

“Wow, not the reaction I wanted. Are you one of those levelheaded modern men?”

“Fine, if you need a topic, here’s a multiple choice quiz on what will happen to Hazel next time:

1. Hazel is already an adult.

“Uh, oh! Looks like we’re out of space! That’s the end of this section! Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye! Yay!”

“D-dammit, man! What kind of ending is that!?”

None of that deserved a real ending. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been working on lately.

Zenon City Tokyo is publishing in the February, June, and October issues of the bimonthly MediaWorks novel magazine Dengeki hp and Image City SF is publishing in the April, August, and December issues. These are illustration focused and less serious cities, so check it out if you have some time. That’s about all I’ve been doing lately.

My background music this time was Dvorak’s From the New World. I listened to that while wondering:

“Who will end up lying the most?”

Now, then. Next up is the final Berlin novel. Let’s get this done.

February 2001. Another snowy morning.

-Kawakami Minoru

Satoyasu Page[edit]

Now her chest has grown some. That’s why I had her naked on the cover. Hazel has a lot of nude scenes…right!? Right…

-Satoyasu

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