- OFB4 Chapter 2: Assassination
ZAC 2101, September
| Continent of Nyx
| Thrym Highland, Republican Army Outpost
A top-secret meeting held at the Republican Army's front-line military base in the Thrym Highlands, where a turning point is about to be reached in the war that has been raging for more than two years.
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"To be able to sneak into the heart of enemy territory with only two escorts? You're even more daring than I'd heard."
Hermann held his hand out to Schwarz, who responded with a smile.
"Even if you'd refused, you would've just come to my camp, wouldn't you? I was just afraid of starting careless rumors in our armies, given the circumstances. I'm a coward, I know."
"But since you responded so quickly to my call... is it safe to assume that you have some knowledge about the situation?"
"The Eisen Dragoons, huh...? I've heard rumors of a mysterious unit wearing the same Guylos crest as our Imperial Army, but who bares their fangs against their compatriots."
"Our high-speed units encountered a person believed to be the leader of the Eisen Dragoons."
"And who is that?"
"A man named Wolff Muroa."
"Muroa!? The Ghost of Zenebas!?"
"And the one who's probably pulling the strings behind the scene is..."
"Gunther... Prozen, right?"
Schwarz sighed.
"I can't say this with any certainty. However, on the other hand, there's no one else who has the power to realize this conspiracy besides Prozen."
"The Republican Army's Intelligence Deparment is getting the same read on it. However, I can't understand why. What would Prozen have to gain by attacking both the Republic and the Empire?"
Hermann's question was valid. Prozen was already the de facto ruler of the Empire. The only position above him was that of the emperor. However, the Eisen Dragoon's moves were far from a coup d'état. Furthermore, Prozen was in a position to assassinate the current emperor, Rudolph, without needing to use a single soldier if he really wanted to do it.
"I don't know either..."
Schwarz shook his head. Even for Schwarz, who had long questioned Prozen's actions, it was beyond imagination that Prozen was the orphaned child of the king of a country that had fallen 50 years ago.
"But in any case, now that my suspicions have been confirmed, I'm not going to let that man's actions go unnoticed any longer."
"Can I assume that this meeting will be the first step towards peace between our two countries?"
Deeply nodding at Hermann's question, Schwarz returned the sentiment. But then, suddenly, they heard a blaring alarm.
An assassin was dispatched by Prozen. It was the Dark Beast King, sporting terrifying performance.
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"There's an intruder in the base! Enemy attack! Areas 2 and 6 have gone silent!"
The monitor operator shouted back to Hermann.
"This timing. What's the enemy aiming for...?"
"It's an assassin targeting Schwarz, and they were probably sent here by Prozen..."
Their predictions were correct. For Prozen, Schwarz was always in his sights, and every move he made was under constant scrutiny. Even this top-secret meeting couldn't escape his careful gaze.
- OFB4 Chapter 2: Assassination (2)
The Republican Base's Defense Forces fell prey one after another to the assassin that crept up on them without a sound.
Eisen Dragoons Belonging to the Phantom Force Johann H. Staufin An ace pilot of high-speed Zoids. Under direct orders from Prozen, he was assigned to assassinate Schwarz. |
Republican Army Land Forces 11th Independent Armored Battalion Tommy Paris A pilot who has always fought on the front lines ever since the beginning of the war. He's an expert in high-speed Zoids, including his beloved Command Wolf AC. |
Schwarz had learned of the ambitions of the former Zenebas faction. For Prozen, this was a worst case scenario. Yet at the same time, this meeting was also a chance to secretly bury Schwarz.
In order to make the most of this opportunity, Prozen prepared the best machine and best pilot. The two were state-of-the-art, a high-speed stealth Zoid piloted by Sergeant Johann H. Staufin. Staufin was one of the army's leading high-speed Zoid pilots, but had not been able to become an ace pilot simply because he was an ex-Zenebas soldier. The Zoid he was given was an old Helcat. He had managed to survive in the face of death time and time again with his meager machine, until today.
This assassination mission was given to him by Prozen himself. He was told about the dream of restoring Zenebas and given the state-of-the-art machine (not all of the old Zenebas soldiers knew about Prozen's plan at this point, of course, but they were told about it in stages to prevent secrets being leaked.)
A fight to regain the lost homeland.
"I'll have no regrets if I die here."
Staufin was approaching the base command center with a feeling of joy that made him want to shout it.
The first to notice Staufin's intrusion was Captain Tommy Paris of the base garrison. Rob Hermann's most trusted subordinate. He had been entrusted with command over the garrison in preparation for tonight's meeting. Suddenly, right in front of him, one of the allied Zoids burst into flames and collapsed. There were no enemies in sight. No radar response. Common sense dictated that he had been hit by sniper fire from a distance.
— But no, Paris's instincts were telling him that this was wrong. A tingling sensation in his skin. The enemy was close. It was the intuition that only an experienced Zoids pilot would have.
He narrowed down the radar's search range and increased its output. He also paid attention to the heat source reaction. Still no response.
Another allied machine burst into flames. This one was right next to Paris.
If the gauges didn't help, he would have to eyeball it. Paris's swiftness to switch from one situation to the next was worthy of the name of 'Ace', but the enemy he was facing was a monster beyond even the instincts and experience of a warrior.
The moment he thought something flashed in the darkness, his beloved machine was torn apart and collapsed in flames.
By the time Tommy Paris saw the enemy, its deadly Laser Claws were already approaching him.
- OFB4 Chapter 2: Assassination (3)
Hermann, in the base command center, received a series of nightmarish reports. Only five minutes had passed since the first alarm. In that time, they had lost contact with three defense platoons. Yet, the number and type of enemy was still unknown. The only sounds coming in to the command center were screams and explosions.
"What happened to Captain Paris!?"
Hermann shouted.
"There's no answer!"
The controller shouted back.
"Take Schwarz and get him out of here!"
Determined, Hermann looked at the soldiers around him.
"No."
Schwarz shook his head. It wasn't his style to sneak off and dump an assassin who was after him on other people, especially soldiers of the enemy army.
"I'll go out to intercept them as well. If they're an assassin or an Imperial Zoid, I might be able to help you."
As soon as he said this, Schwarz rushed out with his escort. There was no time to stop them.
"Damn."
Rob Hermann, piloting the new Zoid, the König Wolf, set out to intercept it himself...
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When Schwarz lanched his beloved Saber Tiger, the flames of the explosion were already close at hand. And yet, there was no enemy in sight. Even so, Schwarz fired his gatling into that empty space. Just like Paris, Schwarz also had the instincts of a warrior who had fought many battles.
A direct hit was potentially just inches away, only, it was dodged. Something had ducked the Gatling's trajectory and leapt into the air. Immediately after, the escorts on either side exploded. The had been in a Dark Horn and Lightning Saix. Two mainstay Zoids of the Guylos Empire. In a single blow, they were almost completely destroyed.
What athletic performance. What kind of destructive power was this?
The flames rising from the wreckage of the two machines shook the atmosphere. There, for an instant, the shadow of a lion Zoid appeared, and then disappeared back into the darkness.
The assassin Zoid that had buried two of the Imperial Army's mainstay Zoids in an instant. What was the identity of this formidable foe?
- OFB4 Chapter 2: Assassination (4)
"Optical paint... a stealth machine?"
Schwarz was in the camp. Optical camouflage. A technology that disguised a machine by projecting images behind it onto an energy screen in front of it, thereby hiding its appearance. It was nothing new. It had been in practical use since the days of the Helcat. However, this was different from the conventional stealth machine. Even while moving at such high speeds, the camouflage was virtually flawless. Its output and image processing speeds were off the charts.
"What the hell is that thing!?"
Hermann shouted as he caught up with the machine.
"I don't know."
There was no longer any need for them to use polite language with each other.
"But I'm sure that's the Imperial emblem. If it's an imperial machine I don't know about..."
"The Eisen Dragoons!?"
Yes. The true identity of the stealth machine was an imperial Liger Zero, secretly developed by Prozen for the Eisen Dragoons. It was the "Zero X", with the greatest traits of all of the Republic's Zero CAS units with the addition of new stealth equipment.
"If the opponent is a stealth machine, let the König take care of it."
Hermann's wolf Zoid moved out in front of Schwarz's machine. Its shining triple scopes were high-performance cameras commonly referred to as "Stealth Killers." Linked to the Sniper Rifle on its back, it boasted an astonishing hit rate with shooting, but...
The beam also destroyed the hangar door behind Schwarz's machine. The existence of the giant Zoid, the Mad Thunder, which had been under development at the time, was also exposed.
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"To your right!"
If Schwarz hadn't noticed the slight distortion in space, Hermann's machine would've been turned into scrap metal. At this close range, it was impossible to catch the X's movements in the camera's field of view. He had to keep his distance and widen his field of view.
"I'll be the bait."
The moment Schwarz stepped forward once again, the distortion in space in front of him let out a violent discharge. It was the Electron Driver, the X's most powerful weapon, an ultra-high voltage beam cannon. This beam, which displayed its greatest power at close range, easily penetrated the Zoid Core of Schwarz's machine.
Liger Zero X was a Zoid that could also manipulate electrical shocks at will. At close range, the Electron Driver, with its fearsome destructive power, shot through Schwarz's machine without mercy.
- OFB4 Chapter 2: Assassination (5)
Schwarz's machine crumpled in a heap. Judging from the degree of damage, there was probably no more than a 10% chance that the pilot could've survived. Even so, since the objective was to assassinate Schwarz, Staufin had to make sure that he finished the job. However, he was dazzled by a fascinating target that suddenly appeared before his eyes.
The God of Thunder, the Mad Thunder. A super-giant Zoid that had surpassed even the Death Saurer in combat power during the old war. In preparation for the Empire's plans to revive the Death Saurer, the Republic was trying to revive this monster. Moreover, it appeared to be on the verge of completion.
"If I destroy the Mad Thunder..."
Staufin was blinded by a greater glory. He knew that he was now standing at a crossroads in history.
Finally, the König Wolf's Sniper Rifle caught the X in the sights of its scope and opened fire.
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"I can do this!"
He was sure of it. Only, he'd forgotten something. The darkness, a speed of over 300 kilometers per hour, and a space where he could move three-dimensionally were what made the stealth function possible.
This was a cramped hangar, and moreover...
Its movements were predictable. Hermann caught a glimpse of the X vividly reflected in the König's scope.
The Sniper Rifle opened fire, a steel bullet designed to pierce the armor of medium-sized Zoids from 10 kilometers away, pierced the X's body at close range, less than 50 meters. The armor of the high-speed Zoid was hardly strong. X's body was bent like a tin can, slammed against the wall, and stopped moving.
Schwarz was rescued from the cockpit and immediately taken to the intensive care unit.
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