Cross Ange: The Knight of Hilda

Chapter 31: Twilight

Inch by inch, the temporal storm continued its slow advance on Misurugi. Buildings in its path crumbled before the maelstrom of space-time. And among the rubble, pieces of what had once been the citizens of Misurugi sprouted from the crumbled masonry, their flesh molded into the stone like lumps of clay. In the sky above, the battle between Embryo's drones and the joint forces of Arzenal and the Network raged on. Network Para-mail flew in and out of the swarm in a desperate attempt to keep the drones away from the three ships. Aboard the Aurora's bridge, Momoka passed out some of the rice balls she had made with head cook Linda to help the crew maintain their energy.

"Dimensional merger 83% complete," Riza announced. "Lady Salamandinay's unit has just entered the Dawn Pillar. Unit Ange is following after her."

"What about the others?" Boss asked.

"Jill has engaged Salia," Pamela answered. "Tusk is fighting Embryo, Susano'o is fighting the horned Para-mail, units Naga and Kaname against units Irma and Tanya, and units Hilda and Rosalie against Chris. Ramius and Badgiruel report 25% of their Para-mail are either destroyed or incapacitated." In the blindspots of the Aurora's CWIS, the defense team was fighting an uphill battle against the swarm that was rapidly closing in around them. Like a whirlwind of death, Vivian's boomerang arced among the drones, sending any that dodged right into the path of her assault rifle. Beneath the ventral hull, Kat provided cover fire for Kamaitachi whose Arquebus's twin falchions shredded every disk that came within reach. Overhead, Nonna and Mary positioned back to back as they fanned the swarm with both auto and cannon fire while on the bow, guided by Vulture's aim, the forward beam turret took out entire clusters with each shot.

"Damn it there's no end to these things!" Kat cursed. "They keep popping up faster than we can put them down!"

"No time to complain hon!" Jasmine replied. "We can't let any of the ships go down. We're going to need all three to take everyone home."

"Just leave it to us!" Vivian added as she caught her boomerang and launched an RPG that took out three drones at once. "You can call me the exterminator!"

Embryo wasn't sure if he should be amused or irritated. What made this ape think he could possibly challenge him? From his perch on Hysterica's shoulder, Embryo commanded his unit to pull back. As he hoped, the miserable savage took the bait and chased after him, doing little more than wasting his bullets on Hysterica's beam shield. Dark meanwhile was engaging the pilot of the prototype. The two of them had spiraled towards the ground and were now trading fire low over the remnants of the city. Ange meanwhile had escaped from Sala and had followed the DRAGON princess down to Aura's chamber. Well no matter. There was still plenty of time to collect her before the merger was complete.

"Resistance is futile," he sighed. "There's nothing you can do to keep this world from being purged."

"Just watch me!" Embryo guessed he shouldn't be surprised. Well it wasn't as if he expected an animal to have enough sense to know when they were defeated. Time to dispose of this pest. Embryo drew his beam rifle and fired at the pink Arquebus but his opponent was more skilled than he expected, weaving and darting in between his shots as he charged forward. Fine then. It would be more fun to tear him apart face to face anyway. Igniting the beam saber on Hysterica's right arm, Embryo met his opponent's charge head on, the blade of energized plasma sparking as it clashed against the specially treated shield and falchion. "Ange and I promised each other that we'd put a stop to you once and for all."

"Poor misguided fool." As if a witless beast like him had a chance with a woman as fine as his Ange. "Ange will be coming with me to the new world. And you will be nothing more than an unpleasant memory. Just like the rest of your kind."