GATE: Thus The Imperium of Man Fought There

The Princess's Anxiety

-M29. 671. Falmart. Italica-

Bozes rides her horse to its utmost speed. She hurried alongside the rest of the Rose Knights to the Italica. They heard their Princess went to the Italica to conduct a recon mission to the Zalvus and Alnus; she must face bandits that besieged the city.

If the information was genuine, the bandit numbered in thousands. Furthermore, Italican's garrison armies were depleted due to the invasion of the Zalvus Hills. If the bandits manage to seize their victory, Princess Pina's fate will be unthinkable.

"We need to hurry. Princess needs us!" Bozes shouted.

The knights roared in unison. They forced their horses to move faster as a dust cloud covered their band. They went with anger and anxiety.

Anger to unleash on their enemies and anxiety to think about their lady's condition.

As they passed through the barren soil, Bozes stopped her advance. She was paralyzed, starting directly to the sky with widened eyes.

Soon, she was followed by the rest of the Rose Order. Their eyes are glued to the sky, trying to comprehend the sight before their face.

"It was joking, right?" Panace whispered, sweating as her eyes showed a sign of horror.

"I... I don't know." Bozes swallow her saliva bitterly.

The sight of Italica is drastically different than they saw years ago. Even the recent image of the city itself has not yet changed in these few years. But now, it was something akin to a marvel of engineering and bizarre architecture.

Flawless black steel covered the city, lowering to a height even higher than any building in the Sadera. It was something beyond their wildest imagination, existing only in the realm of dreams and nightmares.

Behind that wall, various building scratch the sky. They are hovering over the endless blue atmosphere.

On the top of the tallest building, a gigantic fortress floated. It blackened the sun, massive as it was, like a great beast from the stories of old.

A thing that human hands could not make.

"What...What is that?" Panace said with a trembling voice.

"... A fortress on the sky... How." Bozes could not believe her own eyes, rubbing them to ensure there was no dirt that caused any illusion to the flying fortress.

Before they could collect themselves from their shocks, an earth-shattering voice snapped them.

"Freeze!" A giant pointed its steel staff right in front of her head.

They initially did not see anything from their sight—only the sight of changed Italica, no metallic giant.

"Don't move!" Another booming voice came from their side, and another giant appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Slowly and intimidatingly, one by one, they appeared with the steel staff in hand.

Bozes loses all of her colors, trembling because of the sheer presence of the metal giants.

"Intruder detected." Another voice came to her ears.

It was an utterly different thing than the metal giants. It was a golem with unnatural proportions, having the size of three metallic giants.

Bozes tried her best not to scream as her blood ran cold. She was fully aware they could kill her and the best of the Rose Knights with ease. Yet, they did not.

"State your business, you intruder." the giant in front of her pressed, pushing his staff closer to her forehead.

Bozes tried all of her power to withstand the terror unfolding before her eyes. She can barely speak, as if her face had turned into stone.