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Chapter 138 ~ Cornered

“My princess! We’ve lost contact with Frederich’s Squad! The east flank is exposed!”

“Tch…! Guilford, we’ll be going there now! Have Claudio and his squad take our place here!”

“Yes, my princess!”

The dark clouds that came from the eastern side of the Tokyo Settlement area and loomed over the massive battlefield where Darlton’s army and the JLFs clashed, had finally arrived on the western part of the settlement, covering the entire Tokyo Settlement in dark stormy clouds. 

A few hours after the JLF launched the attack on the southeastern side of the Tokyo Settlement and was met by Darlton’s army, another army numbering in the hundreds appeared on the west side, forcing her and her army to go and defend it. 

There was no rain yet for the moment, and the visibility was still as good as they would be during dusk and posed no problem for her and her soldiers.

“Push the attack!!! Show them that we are not ones they could mess with easily!!!”

Cornelia’s invigorating encouragement was met with a resounding affirmative from all of her subordinates as they rushed to the eastern flank of her army. 

Everything was going quite well. Unlike the southeastern front where Darlton’s army was suffering from extremely heavy pressure and was slowly being pushed back by Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords, they were able to hold their ground here. 

Guildford, two other Glaston knights, and herself were still here to defend the viceroy palace and the center of Britannia’s government and final hold on this land.

At this rate, she knew she could win in time. But she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The reason being…

Where’s that jet black knightmare…? There’s not even a report about the crimson one or Zero yet… 

In addition to holding off the Black Knights and the JLF’s troops on multiple fronts, Cornelia had been trying to ascertain all of their location. 

She and Guilford, along with her squad, had been reinforcing points where their forces were being pushed back to try and regain their position. In addition, they also came to see if the jet-black knightmare or the crimson one was present. After all, the points, where her army was broken through, had the highest chance of them being there.

“Not here too… Just where are they…?”

Cornelia looked around the battlefield as she stepped on a Gekka with her lance still pierced through its chest. 

With her, Guilford, and her squad, they were still able to completely have the upperhand against these new fifth generation knightmare frames belonging to the Japanese. Even against the Akatsuki, which seemed to be a seventh generation knightmare based on what she saw from the footage of Darlton’s army, she was still confident that she could stand her ground against them.

But against the jet-black and crimson knightmare frames that even the Lancelot couldn’t stand a chance against… It would be extremely difficult. 

That is why she wanted to quickly find them and neutralize them with numbers. 

“Guilford, have you heard reports about their positions…?”

“No. Unfortunately not, my princess…”

Just then, a blinding flash of lightning followed by a deafening crash of thunder echoed throughout the land, and the two looked up to the sky at the same time from within their knightmare frame. 

“It’s about to rain… What a day…”

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and shook her head, exhausted. 

“My princess, perhaps after this, you should-”

Another blinding flash of lightning and a crash of thunder filled the area. 

“Hm? What did you say, Guilford?”

“....What was that?”

Cornelia turned towards Guilford, who seemed to still be looking at the sky with narrowed eyes.

“What is it, Guilford?”

“No, I seemed to have been imaginin- My princess! Look to the sky!!!”

Cornelia quickly turned her attention to the sky. And there she saw, breaking through the dark storm cloud, a massive flying structure ship with two protruding front “legs” with large cannons on top of it, and various other arsenals all over its body. 

A flying fortress… no, a flying ship. But a ship unlike any other they’ve ever seen in their lives. 

This size, and the few armaments that they could see from this distance… even the Avalon, Britannia’s most advanced airship and first of its kind, couldn’t be compared with this…

“What in the world is that…?”

Just then, she saw a rocket fired from one of the sutherlands in the distance, heading towards the bottom side of the ship. 

And when it reached a distance of around a few tens of meters from the ship, the rocket impacted with a crimson wall that apparate out of thin air, and exploded. 

Soon, several more rockets followed, but no matter how much was shot at it, the result stayed the same. 

“A crimson shield… It even has such an advanced defense system.”

Guilford said in disbelief. 

For it to have such a powerful defensive system while flying at such a height… there was no hope for any land units to be able to even harm that flying ship. 

“He must be there… This must be that man’s secret weapon.”

Cornelia was assured. This must be the Black Knight’s secret weapon. And Zero, must be there.

But even if she knew that… there was nothing she could do. 

“Guilford, order the jets to sortie…”

“Yes, my princess.”

Knowing all land units would be useless in face of such monstrosity, Cornelia correctly judged that they’d need to fight it using fighter jets. 

However, just then, her eyes widened when they saw a shadow appearing from within the massive airship. 

“What is that…?”

The shadow began to grow increasingly larger, and finally, they both realized what it was.

“My princess! That’s-!”

“So it finally appears…!”

Cornelia immediately ordered all of her s quad members to gather as she watched the figure of the crimson red knightmare frame descend from the skies. 

“Open fire!!!”

Immediately, all units within her squad opened fire with their rifles and bazookas, targeting the falling crimson knightmare frame.

But something, Cornelia realized, seemed to be different as she could see the crimson knightmare clearer and clearer. 

Its right arm seemed to grow and became larger than it was before. But the most obvious change was the x-shaped device on its back. 

And in the next moment… she realized what that device was.

The moment they opened fire, and their bullets and rockets near the crimson knightmare, it evaded everything. 

The crimson knightmare dodged to the side, evading every single bullet they shot. And it continued to dodge their bullets in mid air, dancing through the hail of bullets as it continued descending. 

“That’s… a float system?!”

Cornelia couldn’t believe her eyes… She couldn’t believe that the Black Knights could possess such technology. 

The float system was an advanced technology currently being developed by Earl Lloyd Asplund. It was first installed on the prototype knightmare frame, Gawain, which belonged to her brother. And later, it was planned on being installed on the Lancelot as well. 

However… such technology was still under testing. It had not been used for actual combat purposes. 

But this agility in the sky, the ridiculous evasion it displayed in mid air… There was no doubt. This was a true float system technology, or at least, the version that the Elevens somehow managed to create. And judging by its performance right now… they’ve surpassed Britannia’s current progress with the float system.

The Guren danced through the sky as it descended at rapid speed. And when she came into range, she reached her right hand forward and opened it. 

Six cylinder-shaped devices shot out from its forearms, and crimson lightning began to crackle. 

In the next moment, Cornelia, Guilford, and every single knightmare frame in their squad were bathed in crimson red light as a deafening boom echoed. 

“What the-?!”

“What was that light?!”

“I-I can’t move!”

All of their knightmare frames shut down as red light filled their cockpit. And before they realize it, every single one of them, aside from Cornelia and Guilford, were struck down by the Flight-enabled version of the Guren named Guren Kashoushiki.

“Kuh…! You dare…?! I will not let you harm my princess!”

The moment Guilford could finally move his knightmare, he immediately aimed his rifle at the Guren just as it had just finished the last member of his princess’s elite guards, and shot. 

But to his shock, with an uncanny reaction speed, the Guren noticed his attack and jumped back, evading it, before taking to the sky once more. 

“I won’t let you run!”

He aimed his rifle up towards Guren as it flew to the air. But just as he was about to pull the trigger, a dark shadow streaked down before him. 

“What the… When did you appear…?”

Before him, the jet-black knightmare landed on the ground with his crimson swords in hand. On its back was a similar x-shaped device which he recognized as being the same float system as the one on the Guren.

His rifle split into two, and fell to the ground. 

And just as he was about to strike with his golden lance, the black knightmare rushed towards him and disappeared. 

In a blink of an eye, he noticed that his lance had been cut in two, his arms and legs had separated from his torso, and his slash harkens pierced and broken.

Dread filled his heart as he watched the figure of the black knightmare stood before her princess…

“My princess! Run!”

“Against an enemy that could take to the skies… You know it’s useless to run, my knight… But I appreciate the thought.”

Cornelia took a stance with her lance as she faced the jet-black knightmare frame that managed to take out her knight in a blink of an eye. 

She knew she could not possibly win… And she could not run. But it did not matter. 

She was Cornelia li Britannia. The Chief General of the Imperial Army, the second princess of the Holy Britannian Empire, and a knight. 

She would rather die in combat than die upon running away. 

“Come at it, ace of the Black Knights. While I might not be able to defeat you, don’t think I would run and surrender to you. I will fight to my last breath, and I will make sure to thoroughly damage your knightmare to the point of disrepair.”

The Excalibur stood in silence, unmoving. 

And just then, a familiar voice resounded from above. 

“As reckless and stubborn as ever, I see. Princess Cornelia.”

She looked up, and to her shock, another knightmare frame of black and silver with a float system slowly descended from the skies. 

“Well then… Shall we talk?”