Finally, besides Lena, all other members on the battlefield had already perished. The Iron Curtain blazed, almost unable to stop the enemy's advance.
When the people of Saint Magnolia saw the live broadcast from the radio, their hearts all tightened.
"Are we going to die?"
"Why?"
"The previous battle reports were always victories, so how could everything collapse in a single day?"
The white-haired race hugged each other, watching in disbelief the flames coming from the Iron Curtain in the distance. The sound of artillery was very close, almost allowing them to feel the ground vibrate.
Everyone inevitably fell into deep despair.
It's over, it's over.
Everything is over.
In the General Command Headquarters, which was the magnificent palace, the Commander, the Prime Minister, and a host of high-ranking officials all showed extreme terror on their faces.
They had originally thought that if they held on for another two years, The Legion of the Empire would self-destruct. At that time, they would only need to deal with the 86 - eighty-six, and then they could enjoy the fruits of victory.
But... even now, they still couldn't understand how The Legion of the Empire had managed to break through.
Where were the 86 - eighty-six, the minefields, the Iron Curtain?
Was there nothing that could stop them?
...Just then, one of the commander's processors suddenly lit up. It was Hazawa, the Commander of the Second Corps, connecting with him.
The commander immediately walked forward excitedly and told the Commander and the Prime Minister, "Signal received, Second Corps White Wolf."
"That's great! What are you waiting for? Quickly send them to the front line! We must stop The Legion of the Empire!"
But the next second, the commander's expression suddenly changed.
He took Hazawa's signal and displayed it on the large screen in the operations room.
The figure of a young man appeared on it.
"Excuse me, everyone, my name is Hazawa. Please don't call me by my codename."
"Regarding the upcoming operational plan, I have a request."
...Hazawa's request was simple: they needed to broadcast it nationwide so that everyone would know that it wasn't drones fighting on the front lines, but living people, those called the 86 - eighty-six, who were fighting for them with their lives.
How could this be allowed?
The Commander and the Prime Minister exchanged glances immediately, but the situation was too urgent, everything was pressing, and they had no choice but to agree.
Just as the entire nation was plunged into immense panic and despair, the television signal suddenly lit up.
Every television station was broadcasting live, and the live screen showed Hazawa's slightly youthful face.
Everyone looked up blankly, not yet understanding what was happening.
"We are the ones who have always fought on the front lines to defend Saint Magnolia."
"The 86 - eighty-six are not drones; they are fragile pieces of metal that require a pilot, or rather, iron coffins with offensive capabilities."
"We are not afraid of death and sacrifice, but please remember one thing: we are human, and we have our dignity.
The only reason we fight on the front lines is to protect our country and the people we love, the people we want to protect. That is all."
"..."
At this very moment, a middle-aged white-haired woman standing on the street, watching the screen, couldn't stop her hands from trembling.
Her face was streaked with tears.
Hazawa's adoptive mother... returned to the operational map.
The Iron Curtain, also the Republic's last line of defense, a magnificent and colossal wall like a great dam, had Lena fighting in one of its corners.
Countless enemy mechs surged forward like a tide.
Yamada Masaharu felt that he might have been a little too happy just now.
Lena's single mech was simply not enough to defeat so many enemies.
Just then, the first mech appeared in the bottom right corner.
Shin's Destroyer, rushed to the battlefield.
"Good, just in time."
"I'm here too."
Immediately following was the second one.
Anju's mech.
As more people joined, all five surviving vanguard members arrived on the battlefield.
Yamada Masaharu was so excited he was almost crying.
"You there, leave this battlefield to us now. You can't handle it."
Although she felt looked down upon and initially wanted to retort, Lena ultimately agreed to the decision.
She was never a proper combat member.
Moreover, seeing the 86 - eighty-six stand here meant that Shin's operational plan had succeeded, right?
She still had very important things to do.
"I need to quickly rendezvous with Shin and the others."
Lena thought this, then withdrew from the battlefield, preparing to head to her command center.
Huh?
Yamada Masaharu paused for a moment. "You don't even know who the other person is?"
Oh, right, he suddenly remembered that these two had always communicated via the processor, and had never even seen what the other looked like.
And they were both sitting in their mech cockpits, so they couldn't see each other's faces. Their voices were somewhat distorted by electromagnetic interference.
Damn it!
It was such a pity that the two couldn't meet.
This regret was truly painful.
In this battle, without Lena's command, which meant no support skills, it relied entirely on the characters' individual mech abilities... After clearing the enemy mechs above the Iron Curtain, the Iron Curtain was finally just barely held.
And at the same time, a large wave of The Legion units was attacking... [Chapter 39: The Undead Are Calling]
The sudden appearance of the 86 - eighty-six made all the citizens of Saint Magnolia feel incredible, and their hearts were greatly shaken.
"How is this possible?
Weren't drones fighting on the front lines? How could they be living people?"
"What have we been doing all these years, sending such young children to the front lines to die?"
"Why do such cruel things?"
...Returning to the command center, Lena eagerly connected to the vanguard squadron's communication.
The battle officially began.
The battle became a massive melee between enemy and allied forces.
Many Black Sheep appeared in this battle.
The large number of enemies, coupled with the presence of the Black Sheep, caused the difficulty of the entire battle to skyrocket.
An unknown "human voice" rang out in her ears, strangely clear.
"—Mom."
Like a final breath before death, the murmured sound in her hazy consciousness sounded so hollow.
As Lena's mind went blank, the voice did not stop. The memories and emotions that should have been infused into the words vanished before the void of death, leaving only a blank, hollow voice, repeating endlessly.
"Mom. Mom. Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom..."
"Eek—!"
Yamada Masaharu's hair immediately stood on end.
Although he had experienced a Black Sheep once before, and knew that these guys were the dying obsessions of the 86 - eighty-six who had died.
But hearing it again, a chill still spread from his feet, rushing to his head.
His entire body went cold.
This string of sounds, stripped of linguistic meaning, reduced to a monotonous continuous noise, a hollow death rattle, leaving only a completely broken obsession. This voice calling for its mother was then dispersed by deafening cannon fire. But immediately, other groans of the same timbre rushed into his mind, one after another.
"Save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, save me..."
"So hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot..."
"No... no... no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..."
"Mom... Mom... Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom..."
"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't..."
"No, no... no, ah, ah, ah, ah...!"
...Should I praise Old Thief Furuhara, or should I curse him?
This guy has made the game experience to this extent. Do you know this is a strategy game?
Why make a strategy game to this extent?
It should be something done in horror games or visual novels with strong storylines, but "86 - eighty-six" has perfected every detail.
It's even starting to sting people's nerves.
Shin was already surrounded by a large number of "Black Sheep." The screams, like a raging storm, pierced his ears, causing him to narrow his eyes.
Since most of the Black Sheep were close-range hunter types, he was a step late in cutting off synchronization to deal with the continuous attacks of high-frequency blades that could easily cut through armor like water.
Countless screams, wails, moans, and calls overlapped, and at such close range, they sounded to Shin like a colossal roar powerful enough to dislodge internal organs. But only by getting this close could he clearly distinguish each sound.
Through synchronized shared hearing, Theophilus recognized one of the voices and couldn't help but groan:
"...That's Sakura... Is that Kei...?"
"Terrible...! Just now... Kei was in there too...!"
After feeling several people simultaneously gasp, the communication network instantly erupted in an uproar.
"Kei, she...? Was she taken away...?"
"Damn it... She should have been burned by Anju...!"
...When Yamada Masaharu saw Kei's name, he completely broke down.
Damn it!
Why would he see Kei here?
Old Thief Furuhara's level of inflicting pain is too cruel, isn't it?
Is this still Maeda Jun's work?
Yamada Masaharu was deeply skeptical, wondering if Gen Urobuchi had ghostwritten it, otherwise, why would it be so dark and oppressive?
In this battle of [The Undead Are Calling], several of the 86 - eighty-six who had once accompanied Yamada Masaharu, but were now dead, appeared among the Black Sheep.
They had been taken by The Legion before their brains could be destroyed, and now they had been converted into The Legion's mechs.
However, their dying obsessions still lingered.
Kei's constant lament of "I don't want to die" echoed in Yamada Masaharu's ears.
Besides her, there were also Black Dog Dia, Falcon Yuuto... these former companions, now turned enemies, agonizingly wailing.
The voices of this army of undead, lingering after death, could only find peace by being completely destroyed.
Caught in a vortex of soul-crushing wails, Shin quietly let out a sigh of pity:
"A Requiem Battle... isn't it."
An army of undead that could only find peace by being completely destroyed.
As if they all yearned to return to their rightful resting place... Every time he defeated a former 86 - eighty-six comrade, Yamada Masaharu would softly say, "Farewell."
"Farewell, Kei." The beautiful black-haired girl of the past, with a sweet smile, but killed by the Shepherd.
"Farewell, Dia." Anju's former lover, the gentle big brother, the guy who even picked up stray cats.
"Farewell..."
Losing comrades for the first time was painful, but now, losing them a second time, there was a sense of relief.
Their suffering had ended.
They could finally find complete peace... [Chapter 40: May that damned glory belong to the vanguard squadron!]
On the battlefield, the vanguard squadron and the Second Corps from the Eastern Theater, who had joined them, fought exceptionally smoothly.
They quickly suppressed The Legion below the Iron Curtain.
The Iron Curtain itself was not damaged; it was just that those guys, like spiders, climbed up, and now they had all been shot back down.
The battlefield returned to the 86 - eighty-six zone, outside the Iron Curtain.
And just then, Shin suddenly sensed something and sharply looked up.
"What's wrong, Shin?" Lena's voice came through the communicator.
Shin watched the distant horizon with extreme vigilance.
The black night pressed the entire world down into a straight line. On this side of the line, various mechs were already scrapped, lying on their sides, as everyone engaged them in fierce combat.
And just then, a red light shone from afar.
"Second Corps member under attack!"
"It's the Shepherd!"
"Sizzle..."
Soon, explosions echoed from the distant horizon, flames soared, followed by one 86 - eighty-six fighter after another being destroyed.
Explosion.
Explosion.
Explosion!
A shadow glided rapidly from afar.
"That is—"
Shin's gaze sharpened.
Brother.
Yes, in the final battle, the big BOSS they had to face was none other than the Shepherd who had previously killed Sakura, and also Shinei Nouzen's brother, Leinauzane.
However, he had been captured by The Legion of the Empire after his death, and his brain was transplanted into a mech, transforming him into his current form.
Leinauzane, as The Legion's Shepherd, commanded The Legion's robot army on the eastern front to launch a fierce attack on the 86 - eighty-six.
But his true goal was to destroy those white-skinned pigs.
The moment he saw Shin, he went completely insane.
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