Rune Troopers: Self-Defense Forces Adventure - Chapter 6: A Hymn to the Living (Part 1)

Genfur saw the moment in rapture and pain, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that he felt it. He had taken in the crystal and was losing his human form due to the dark grudge that clung to him.

The cost of activating the ‘Eye of the Storm’ was not the life of the magician, as he had heard. In fact, the cost was the magician’s ego. The transformation of existence from a human being to a non-human being was under ordinary circumstances. 

Genfur’s persistence was so great that even now, engulfed by the darkness, he still retained his ego. Supported only by a distorted desire to witness with his own eyes the end of this nation and the destruction of the foreign entity that had entered this world.

However, as if to interrupt this wish, a flash of light gushed into the sky. It was like lightning. He realized that something had happened to the meteorite. The Eye of Storm in his body told him that the meteorite was in pain.

The meteorite had been hit by ten kinetic warheads fired by the Aegis Destroyer Ship, which had given it a direct hit of kinetic energy equivalent to one gigajoule. This impact was roughly equivalent to a head-on collision with a 100-ton steel ball at the speed of sound.

The meteorite greatly reduced its speed of entry. Unable to withstand the impact, it was shattered. The huge meteorite turned into dozens of small and large meteorite bodies. However, this did not mean that the destructive power of the meteorite had been reduced to nothing. Even in its shattered state, Genfur found that it still retained enough power to bring Marysea and the other-worlders to ruin.

“Ha ha ha ha! Good! It will all turn to dust! All, all!” Genfur laughed loudly. He was so close to his wish.

There was no one who could defeat him. No one could stop that meteorite. The sense of conquest intoxicated him. His laughter, roaring through the castle, symbolized the despair of this nation.

****

“Target, crushed by impact! Disassembled into 63 individuals!”

“Did you manage to shoot it down?”

“Yes, sir! About forty percent of them will descend with destructive force into the nearest water body! There is a possibility that a significant number of them may hit the ship and land directly!”

“What about the second wave of interceptors?” Kaburaki immediately asked the Gunnery Chief. But he himself already understood that there was no way.

“No, no, no! We won’t make it in time!”

The meteorite was too close for the SM3 to fire. There was only one chance to intercept such an attack on a flying object from outside the atmosphere, no matter how hard they tried.

The radar displayed a group of micrometeorites scattering like spiders.

“We have done all we could!”

Kaburaki stared at the meteorite swarm that was about to obliterate everything. He knew intuitively the intentions of the person who carried out this attack. This meteor attack did not possess the ‘aesthetics’ of fighting to decide the winner like that enemy General.

In other words, this was a different intention. It was not only for the purpose of destroying this country…

He interrupted his thoughts in the midst of extreme tension. This was no time to be thinking about such things.

“Meteorite swarms will breach the sky over the ship in 15 minutes!”

“All hands, prepare for impact!”

Tightening the chin straps of their gray helmets, the crew prepared for the impact of the falling meteorites. However, such preparations would be meaningless if the meteorite struck directly.

A sense of helplessness, of having to leave everything to luck, gripped everyone.

****

“Did you hit the meteorite with an interceptor missile?” Kuze learned from the Aegis ship’s missile launch following the subsequent flicker of light that looked like a thunderbolt.

For a moment, he thought he saw hope, but it seemed that the number of missiles that could be launched by a single ship was not enough to go against the huge meteorite. Kato had just informed them that fragments of the broken meteorite were still descending.

“Even the… Aegis couldn’t do it!” Kuze shouted in frustration.

An angry voice rose from the distance. When he looked, he saw a group of soldiers gathered in the middle of the courtyard.

“Oh, you evil monster! Where did you come from?”

The soldiers of Marysea were trying to attack the strange black object. The black misty object was generated by an eerie-robed man who was standing near the body of an enemy General.

It was writhing and gradually growing larger and larger. It did not seem like a normal life form. Instead, it looked like – darkness.

Kuze stared at the monster.

What in the world was it? Did it have something to do with the falling meteorite?

Fifty or so Marysea soldiers slashed at the monster in unison. But before they could get any closer, they were all repelled. The captain of the Marysea soldiers was astonished.

“This is barrier magic!” 

It was at that moment, black tentacles, like the spines of sea urchins, extended out from the monster toward the Marysea soldiers. Some were pierced through the heart, others were strangled to death.

Kuze, seeing the scene, ordered angrily, “The target has been determined to be hostile. Commence fire!”

He had decided that if he did not stop that monster, the refugees would be harmed. 

In response to Kuze’s order, the SDF soldiers opened fire from the rear with Type 89 rifles, replacing the Marysea soldiers, who had been wiped out. However, the bullets only penetrated the misty black monster’s body and did not seem to inflict any wounds.

The attack was now in limbo. Kuze ordered his men to temporarily halt the attack. The SDF was not prepared for an attack against a being beyond human knowledge like that.

“Kuze-dono…” 

Kuze didn’t know how long he had been there, but Carda gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We have to leave now, or else we won’t make it in time.” To Kuze, she seemed to be smiling kindly.

“Miss Carda?” 

“That iron vehicle that flies through the air. If you escape in that, you might be saved.”

Even with the smile, she looked somewhat forlorn.

What on earth was she intending?  

Kuze was puzzled for a moment but soon realized. She was trying to save him. But why did she go to such lengths? He did not understand the reason for her favor.

Just then, Carda continued, “Thank you! But it’s all right now.”

A somewhat resigned expression took over Carda’s face. As a warrior, she was repaying him in her own way, with the utmost respect.

Kuze’s heart choked as he muttered, “An ending like this, doesn’t make sense.”

He couldn’t look her square in the face. If he was going to get himself on a helicopter and leave, then that would mean abandoning the evacuees he had done his best to protect.

It meant that they would be the only ones to escape from the destruction caused by the falling meteorite. 

Everything I had done would have been for nothing. I am not a hero after all. After all, I couldn’t protect anyone.

Kuze was so frustrated that he felt the urge to beat himself up. Then, at that moment, a voice sounded, “I’m sorry to interrupt you.”