Warbirds

Believe it or not, but in my old world, the first well-known powered flight and the very moment that humanity stepped on the moon were only sixty-six years apart. What would usually take several centuries to happen was realized in a mere six decades… however, one can argue that it was only achieved through the most bloody of means.

During those sixty-six years, the entire world was engulfed in two great wars that fed over a hundred million people into the scythe of Death and many more tragedies that caused more losses such as famine, recession, corporate and financial collapse and finally, a silent war fought not for the sake of virtues, but for the endorsement of meaningless political beliefs.

It was once said that one has to pay the equal amount of blood, sweat and tears to move onto the next part of one's journey, and in hindsight, one would usually end up believing that all of those tragedies are worth it if it will bring mankind closer to the stars and the endless expanse of the universe.

But for the people who lived back then when these advancements in technology meant that killing people has become a highly efficient thing that one must dread instead of look on as a marvel of mankind's knowledge and talents, their eyes are not at the stars and how we would one day get there… but instead, at the sky, where these flying vessels rain fire and lead on the places they used to call their home.

And regrettably, I would have to do the same thing now in this world… as much as I do not wish for it to come to this point, this is the only way.

"Why are we gathered here again?"

"I heard someone's coming to give a speech."

"Speeches again? I've had enough with our officers nagging us again and again about training."

"Let's just hope that it wouldn't be like that."

At a secluded island where Kiko's provincial flag and military colors fly high, a myriad of young men and women gathered at an open area where they conversed about what could possibly be the reason for them to be ordered to gather there.

"Do you think they'll tell us to limit our flights? Maybe someone has found out about this island and there are leaks about our technology…"

"I don't think that's the case. Even Onigashima where the submarine force's headquarters are located hasn't been discovered by anyone else. I don't think we've been detected yet."

"I see…"

Before they can deduce more things to talk about, the feedback sound of a microphone being turned on garnered their attention as they took their places in the formation.

"I-is that-!"

"I-Iwasawa-sama?!"

A surprise beyond their expectations came… their Daimyo and the Chancellor of the Alliance is personally here to give a speech, making them straighten up and devote all of their attention towards the young man who walked towards the podium.

"My precious airmen, pilots and mechanics… I am truly glad to finally see all of you after you have graduated from your respective military academies."

"""As we are, Iwasawa-sama! It is an honor to have you here."""

Giving their master an appropriate reply, the soldiers all proceeded to listen well to the true purpose of their master's visit.

"I am here to inform all of you that just like how it was for the submarine force right after they have been consolidated into a single command, your first combat mission will soon commence under my orders."

"-!"

"You will all be entering the warzone… and there, I expect nothing short of the best performance from all of you. You will be the spearhead of the offensive and a savage hawk that will constantly prey on our enemies from now on."

"…"

"I believe it is only proper to say that no number of simulations or practice flights can match up to the real fight that awaits all of you in the battlefield… there, you will be the warbirds that our enemies will dread, and your allies will look up to as angels of the skies. With this, I say to all of you, For the Peace of Kiko!"

"""For the Peace of Kiko!"""

Though not a fan of speeches, all of them had a sense of warmth in their chest after hearing their master's words… it wasn't comforting nor intimidating… it was the truth and all of them knew that their master would never discount their lives as a sacrifice for the furthering of their aims. Which is the reason why later on, their last practice flight exuded more vigor than before.

"They're all ready, my lord. You can see it with the way they fly. They have become one with their aircrafts."

"I can see that… if they can manipulate their planes in that way, they have nothing to fear anymore."

After seeing the planes landing orderly on the runways, I turned to the side and faced the highest officer of the new air force.

"Air Force Chief, hear my order!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Proceed with the mission given to you by General Shimura! By tomorrow's sunrise, I want to hear the news that all of the ports and bridges to Niijima province decimated! Cut off their retreat route and let us pour our wrath on them in this snow!"

"As you order!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Later that night, there were no alcohol to be served to the airmen… nor was there any flavorful food placed on their food trays. It was the usual cup of rice, grilled saury fish and some fermented cabbage and radish.

Though any newbie would see this as nothing but a depressing dinner, the pilots all knew what this meant and why their last meal before the flight had to be like this.

"It's time for reflection, everyone… This is our first combat flight, and we will surely not come back as we are right now after this."

The food served to soldiers, at least in Kiko's armed forces, usually reflected an impending operation. The war kitchen's chefs are aware of the psychological effect of giving flavorful and memorable food to soldiers and having them remember that night before a battle which they would later associate with what they will be facing out there. In short, it's a measure to limit the shellshock that would come later. The less they wish to remember what came before, the less they'll remember what came later.

"…You know, I joined the air force expecting to serve in the Airship regiment. I found out about the blimps and wanted to see the world from above even if it wouldn't be the same as how birds do it."

"Because hot air balloons are only carried by winds, unlike birds that can fly freely as they wish?"

"That's right… that's why I was in cloud-nine when I received my file and it said that I scored high enough in the military exams to join the new air force. I already heard rumors that powered-flight is being experimented on and soon, we would have vehicles resembling birds and dragons… but I never expected that I would one day sit and pilot one."

"The same goes for me… I was just a machine gunner in an assault airship during the Autumn offensive when I was reassigned into the air force after my captain said that having me as a gunner in the airship is a waste. He said I should dream higher and make use of my talents more for the sake of the country."

"You guys are lucky to get into the air force because of your skills and wits. I had to crawl and climb all that I can just to get here, you know?"

"Why so, Master Sergeant Okichi?"

"Well, let's just say that even with the standards for female officers, I am lagging behind and usually find myself at the bottom numbers of my batch. It seems like not having any prior workout routines before I entered the military didn't give me any favors at all."

"Oh yeah… Weren't you the recruit that came from a well-off family? You were quite the subject of conversations before when you just joined in Basic training."

"Ahaha… well, even though my parents wanted me to just continue our business, hearing stories about the war from the radio shows stirred a desire in my heart to sign up and fight the good fight too. I knew what I was getting into and even though my parents and older siblings were against it, in the end, I squirmed my way through and got to where I am today with hard work. I have nothing but pride on what I achieved."

"And rightfully so, Okichi… you earned it, and no one deserves to take that from you. Just be humble and you'll find yourself gathering the respect of everyone around you, I assure you that."

"Mm! Thank you, sir!"

"Anyways, let's finish up our meal and rest up. Once midnight comes, we should have our planes lined up on the runways already. Any laggard that sleeps in would be left out of the action, am I clear?"

"""Yes, sir!"""

Just as stated, after the two hands has lined up to number twelve at the clock face, signaling the coming of midnight, the entire island, although darkened by the thick clouds above and the misty sea around them, was abuzz with activity as air control officers scrambled in the airfield to manage the almost one hundred fighter and bomber planes that are taxiing their way to the runways.

"A bit to the side, Master Sergeant. You're clutching the control stick a bit too hard."

"S-Sorry, captain. I still have a hard time judging distances in the dark."

"Just look at the runway control officer's light stick signals for that. He's doing his all to help us here."

"Yes, sir."

The Kiko air force, made up of forty-two bomber planes and fifty-six fighter planes, lined up on the three runways where they took off and flew around the island to wait for the other planes who belongs to the same mission as they do.

"Increase engine power slowly… Don't raise the tail elevators yet."

"No need to direct everything for me, sir. I can do this."

"I was just making sure… You're still shaking a little bit, you know."

"…Stop teasing me, captain."

After an hour, all of the planes have left the island, and all headed north where their mission brings them.

"Bomber, please double-check the bomb bay. We don't want any of those bombs to get snagged once they're released."

{"Certainly, sir."}

"Gunnery sergeants, load the 30mm autocannons with incendiary shells. Our airwing was tasked with strafing three enemy camps before the bombing run."

{"Affirmative, sir. Will report back once done."}

"Navigator. Update on our bearing and position."

{"We're in line with the flight route, sir. The north star is visible now after we got past the clouds."}

"Good. Keep me and the master sergeant updated about our heading and bearing. We can't cause any delays because we missed the flight path."

{"Will do, sir."}

Unlike the passenger planes used by the Alliance leaders and the Shogun and his retinue in travelling around the country recently, which had limited capacity and speed because of its standard propeller engines, the bomber planes have four specially designed turboprop engines split into pairs from each wing, that made it carry as much as 80,000 kilograms of weight (armaments and crew included).

It was patterned by Hiroshi from the cancelled Fugaku bomber of World War 2 as well as the well-known AC-130 gunship of the US air force. By mixing the specialized designation of the Fugaku as a bomber, and the AC-130 as a gunship, although the plane became a bit bigger, it did package two kinds of work into a single kind of plane.

"Hm? Our fighter escort is rocking his wings towards us."

"He must be doing it because we're in radio silence over the sea… take charge while I'm talking to him using the short-wave radio."

"Yes, captain."

"…This is Cigar 1-1. What is the purpose of your signaling, Asatori 1-4?"

{"My radar screen is acting up, Cigar. Must be an electrical malfunction… I'm asking for advice."}

Hearing the fighter pilot's request, the captain of the airwing had to make a quick decision about what action the fighter plane should take.

Normally, a fighter plane wouldn't even need an active radar. After all, it's a fighter whose sole purpose is to either mount attacks alongside other planes or escort bomber plane formations. However, Hiroshi made the consideration to add a basic radar suite on the fighter planes after seeing that a radar set can fit on the front of the plane after he replaced the radial engine with a turboprop one, as well as the fact that by doing such a thing, it can also fill-in for the night fighting plane role in the long run.

Because of this, the question of what should be done for the fighter plane that lost its night fighting capability was a crucial one… and thankfully, the air wing leader had good judgement.

"Alright… detach from the air wing and reroute yourself to Yamashiro airfield in Yamato province. Inform them about the situation and they'll let you land and have their technicians repair the problem. Catch up to us later if possible."

{"Roger that! Catch up to you guys later!"}

As the other planes distanced themselves to give way for the rerouting fighter plane, the air wing leader and pilot of the foremost bomber plane sighed and returned to his seat at the cockpit.

"Losing his radar in the night isn't good. With tonight being a new moon, it's good cover from the ground for us, but it also means air collisions can happen."

"Exactly. That's why I decided to have him go back instead of continuing on. We've lost one warbird to a malfunction, let's pray that it will stay like that."

"I agree… We're past the sea now, Captain."

"Affirmative, Cigar 1-2 through 8, radio silence is now broken. I repeat, radio silence is now broken. I request a sitrep from everyone."

{"All lights are green, Cigar 1-1. Nothing out of normal."}

{"All crews are accounted for. We're ready to rock and roll."}

After hearing replies such as this, the air wing leader used his plane's internal comms line to talk to the navigator.

"What's our distance to the target area?"

{"About seven kilometers, sir. I've crossed it both with astral navigation and our computer maps."}

"Beautiful. Everyone, to your battle stations! Fighters, wake our guests up with an opening barrage!"

{"""Yes, sir!"""}

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was a cold and dark night at the northernmost province held by the Northern Coalition. With it being almost the climax of the winter season, the locals already expected to not see a pip of sunshine until noontime in their clocks.

"Mrgle… Zzzzz…"

"Hbbbrrrr…"

For the Coalition soldiers stationed here, except for the daily work of shoveling the snow away from the roads and bringing in firewood from the woodshed to feed into their campfires and kitchen stoves, most of them wouldn't be reprimanded for staying in bed to conserve their strength and body heat in order to lessen the cases of hypothermia in the camp.

However, tonight wouldn't be a good time to just sleep.

"Hmm? What's that noise?"

"Urgh… what the heck? Who's making that much of a racket now of all times?"

"Can someone go out and see what's going on?"

"Alright, alright… I'll do it."

One of the soldiers who has his bed nearest to the door quickly wore his thick coat and took a lit lamp before heading out to the cold and dark outdoors.

"Darn it… It's still too dark to see anything. But where's that noise coming from, then?"

It was four in the morning according to his pocket watch and normally, there aren't anything nearby that would create the weird noise that they are currently hearing. But this low-pitched noise sustained itself like a trumpet being blown endlessly.

"Wait… huh?"

*FWUING-! HRRRR!!!*

"-!!!"

It wasn't the cold surroundings that made his hairs to stand on its ends… but instead, the objects that he faintly saw to be soaring on the sky and making the loud noise that they were hearing.

"E-Everyone! Wake up! We're under attack!"

"-!!!"

"Get your guns! We can't be caught unarmed like this!"

Every Coalition soldier was roused from their sleep and without even changing out of their sleeping clothes, grabbed their guns and ran out of their cabins.

"W-What the hell are those demons!?"

"They're flying!!!"

"F-Fire! FIRE!!!"

Overwhelmed with shock from the appearance of this unknown enemy, the Coalition soldiers all took potshots towards the planes that are beginning to drone around their camp like hawks hovering over an open field of rabbit holes.

"T-The bullets are not reaching!"

"Doesn't matter! At least scare them off if our bullets are not reaching!"

"A-Alright!"

The fear of the unknown has devoured the soldiers of the camp. Although wearing thin yukatas and barefooted, none of them noticed the freezing cold as their desperation burned and adrenaline flooded their bodies.

"T-They're swooping down low!"

"Fire at them then!"

One of the planes took a sharp turn and after realigning itself with the ground, swooped downwards and was fired upon by the soldiers.

*BRRRRRRRRRRR-!!!*

"UWAH-!"

"KGAH-!"

"T-T-They're firing upon us!"

"RUN!!!"

On the very first attack itself, a dozen of soldiers was hit and died on the spot. Their bodies either had massive holes or was halved after being hit by the .50 caliber bullets from the fighter planes' primary machine guns.

"Get to cover! Get out of the open!"

*BRRRRR-!!!*

"WAGH-!"

One by one, the fighter planes swooped into a low altitude and fired upon the soldiers and wherever they were hiding.

"Kih-!"

"R-Retreat! Retreat! Go back to the main base!"

"We can't retreat! The main base has civilians!"

"Tch! Hold your ground then!"

The one who first saw the planes and called out to his comrades was almost hit by a bullet on the arm which grazed off some skin and flesh out of it. As he hid behind a wall and clutched his wound, he heard his entire unit being either decimated or having no choice but hold their ground to avoid bringing these enemies to the main base where civilians are staying at.

"T-They're retreating…"

"What?"

"Look! They're flying away!"

Before all hope was lost for them though, they noticed that the then-numerous enemies began to climb up to the sky and leave the area until none was left above their heads anymore.

"Are we safe now?"

"Darn it… What was that monster?!"

"Were those from our enemies? What kind of demon did they sold their selves to get those?"

Those who were just lightly wounded or was never injured breathed a sigh of relief… but even then, they can't really feel well when they are surrounded with their dead or dying comrades.

"...Huh?"

"What's that noise?"

"I-I-It can't be…"

Just moments after they accepted that they are now safe, a lower-pitched yet thundering noise echoed in the darkness and all color drained on everyone's faces.

"Y-You've gotta be screwing me…"

"W-What kind of enemy are we fighting against… for all of this to happen…?"

The bomber-gunship fleet circled around the camp, each of them pointing one of their sides towards the camp along with two of their 30mm autocannons.

*BYUG-! BYUG-! BYUG-!*

The loud noises of the light cannons being fired echoed before pillars of fire, shrapnel and earth began to emerge from the ground and claim scores of Coalition soldiers' lives.

And yet, none of them had either the strength or spirit to hide or run away…

They are in the presence of an unstoppable power… and by that moment, all of them accepted that this is how they will die.

That night, all thirteen outpost encampments leading to the ports and bridges towards Niijima province was decimated, leaving nothing but corpses and burning houses in its wake.

But what would perhaps be the center of attention for everyone is the fact that by daybreak, when most people would be awake and seek news around their areas, there is but one topic that went through everyone's lips.

"The Coalition's war is now lost."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"The harbor is within sight. Bombers, prepare for releasing."

{"Roger that, sir."}

All across the northern frontier where the main island meets with the freezing northern provinces, encrypted radio chatter was filled with confirmation requests from one airwing group to another, all of them are asking the same question.

{"This is Cigar 1-1, report to me, Cigar 2 through 11, are you in your drop off points now?}

{"Positive, Cigar 1-1. We are all in position. Dropping bombs as soon as all lights are reported as green, sir."}

"Clear copy, Cigars. Sending the bombing requests to HQ now…"

As the bombing air fleet's leader, the pilot of the air wing with the code name of Cigar 1 sent an encrypted morse code signal to their headquarters, signifying that they are now within the strike area and are requesting clearance to release their payloads.

"It's greenlit, sir!"

"Good! {"This is Cigar 1-1! All Cigars, you have permission to release your payload! I repeat, you have permission to release your payload! Make every bomb count!"}"

As soon as the release order was given, thousands of kilograms worth of bombs dropped from the bomber planes and onto the dark harbor areas that they are targeting.

*Shwiiiii-!!!*

The attached stabilizing fans on their rear ends spun so fast, making each bomb's descent more accurate, but also whirring so loudly that it whistled like a screeching banshee.

"Turn! Lower the engine output!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

As soon as the leading plane's bombs were released, the plane suddenly became so light that the previously labored engines finally harnessed its true power and raised the planes' speed and altitude greatly. However, as soon as it happened, each pilot skillfully manipulated their plane controls and was able to regain control of their vehicles.

"Bombers! Report on target damages!"

{"Confirming, sir… Dust cloud has been cleared. All mooring points and harbor line has been flattened! Estimated 80% total damage on the target area! Almost no damage on the enemy ships!"}

"Eighty, huh… Master Sergeant, we are making an orbit around the area. Prepare for a gunship bombing run!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Bombers, man the gunnery bay! We are turning those ships into toothpicks!"

{"Affirmative, sir! Heading to gunnery bay, now!"}

Some of the target areas had this same case wherein the harbor area wasn't sufficiently damaged to call it a success. Because of this, the specially designed 30mm autocannons was again manned and tasked with firing on the area or specific targets.

{"We're lined up enough to fire, sir!"}

"Alright. Light 'em up!"

Continuous cannon fire shot out of the gunship bomber, each of the shell found its mark on the numerous buildings of the harbor as well as the ships that eluded the bombing. With the aid of a modified fire control system from the navy, these autocannons not only assured that each shell was fired accurately, but also with still enough force once it hits the ground to be able to deal maximum damage.

{"All enemy ships have been destroyed, sir!"}

{"Vital harbor buildings have also been turned to ruin! We are clear to leave the battle area, sir!"}

"Mm! Navigator, plot our route back to base!"

{"Roger that, sir!"}

{"Cigar 1-1! Reporting RTB! Leaving the battle area!"}

{"All Cigars! Job well done! Let's all meet up at the base for a celebration!"}

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

While the Hamaki bombers and their Keima escort fighters are bombing and strafing the harbors and seaports, the lone Keima escort fighter with the code name of Asatori 1-4 that experienced an electrical malfunction in his radar console flew towards Yamashiro airfield in Yamato province.

Because it is still under construction, there was only a rudimentary asphalt runway and a few makeshift hangars around the place. Even the air traffic control tower was just a shed with a very tall transmission tower beside it.

"This is Major Kusakabe of the 2nd Escort Airwing of the Kiko Air force, requesting permission to land due to vehicle malfunction, over."

{"Clear copy, Major. Please maintain onto your holding course while we are confirming your identity with Kiko…"}

"Positive. Will do."

It has only been five months since he graduated from basic training and accepted the posting to come under the new Air Force branch. During those five months, he has trained extensively on his Keima fighter plane and gained the praise of peers and fellow pilots alike for having a level-head and keeping a wide perspective in the battlefield.

{"Major Kusakabe, you have been positively identified. You may now begin your descent course."}

"Clear copy, ATC. Please inform the airfield mechanics and technicians ahead about my vehicular issue."

And tonight, he will face probably the greatest odds that a pilot would be expected to face in such an early part of their careers.

"Oho! Here's the problem, Major."

"W-whoa… is that…"

"Yep! You burned your transistors by having the electrical alternator in your engine disconnected from the voltage regulator. It seems like the one who last looked into your plane forgot to connect it to the regulator first."

"Can it be fixed quickly? I don't want to be left out by the others, if possible."

"Don't worry, sir. I've got this! While we're tending to your plane, why don't you take a break first? We don't have much in here, but I think you'd enjoy our coffee at the mess hall."

"I'll take you up on the offer then. Take good care of my bird, alright?"

After an hour, the new transistors were placed on the radar's circuit board and Major Kusakabe boarded his plane to see the radar booting up after his plane's engine supplied it with electricity.

However, before he can thank the technicians for their help, a loud alarm horn sounded across the airfield, a sure sign of something dire that is coming for all of them.

"S-Sir! Bad news! Very bad news!"

"Calm down first, corporal! What is the alarm about!?"

"The air traffic control tower detected several unnamed aircraft heading towards the base! There are so many of them!"

"Unnamed aircraft? Those can only be the Kiko Air force! What is this hubbub for?"

"We already have the Kiko Airforce in our records, sir! These aircraft are slow, but there are so many of them that the radar monitor was filled with spots!"

"Slow… many… could it be airships!?"

After the head maintenance officer spoke that out loud, Kusakabe went into overdrive as he discarded any other thoughts other than the fulfillment of his goal.

"Corporal! Give me your radio!"

"Y-Yes, here!"

"This is Major Kusakabe of the 2nd Escort Airwing! Yamashiro ATC, I am volunteering to defend the airfield! I repeat, I am volunteering to defend the airfield, please clear the runway for me!"

"Major!"

"You don't need to do this!"

"I need to! I'm the only available plane here right now!"

Kusakabe went out of his plane to wear his pilot suit properly and turned to the others around him to make a request.

"Load up my plane with as much armaments as possible! I'm intercepting those airships before they get near!"

"Intercept?! With a Keima escort plane?! You're not flying a Makibishi interceptor! Your plane doesn't have the loadout capacity nor the speed to efficiently sweep those airships away in one flight!"

"Then get yourselves ready when I come back! Let's tear them down piece by piece!"

"You-! Kh… Kuhaha… Gahahahaha!!!"

The head maintenance officer still wanted to argue, but seeing that Kusakabe was resolute in his decision, he just gnashed his teeth and giggled before fully laughing heartily.

"Alright then! If you have a death wish, then so be it! Lads! Get your wrenches and other doo-dingers ready! We're servicing a plane that's battling out of King Yama's reach!"

"""YOOOHHH!!!"""

In not even five minutes, his plane's fuel tank was filled, his main gun was reloaded to the brim and every hardpoint of his wings was loaded with unguided rockets. His plane that was previously only loaded with enough armaments and fuel for his mission was now barely below its maximum takeoff weight.

"Alright, I'm off!"

"Give 'em hell, Major!"

"We're ready here as soon as you're back!"

With his plane engines giving out almost its whole power output, it slowly built-up speed along the runway until its wings gained lift and it took off to the slowly lightening morning sky.

"Yamashiro ATC, this is Keima Intercept 1. Can you confirm how many bogeys there are in your monitor?"

{"Keima Intercept 1, we can confirm about 40 bogeys. However, our radar can't make sense of the hodge-podge of bogeys behind that initial forty. It's either there are too many to detect, or they are all clumping together."}

"Positive copy, ATC. Be hearing from you later."

With his fixed radar, Kusakabe detected the initial line of airships ahead of him from almost beyond visual range. With this, he lowered his plane's speed to allow himself to fire more stably and conserve gas since he's already on an appropriate altitude.

"Alright… let's see what you goons have been doing with our tech…"

Below him, he can make out the silhouette of the few large airships and numerous smaller ones escorting it.

"That looks like thin metal plating over the helium tanks… they got the design close enough, but I'm pretty sure that they haven't understood its principles yet."

Breathing out his nervousness, Kusakabe plunged his control stick forward and dove straight into the main airship.

*Fwiii! Pipipipipipipi!*

As soon as the airship became clear to him, he heard the sound of bullets whirring past his plane from the three turrets above the airship that is guarding it. However, even with a heavy loadout on his plane, he skillfully dodged every trail of bullets until he's only about a hundred meters above it.

"Go!"

*Pshack-! FWOOOOSH!!!*

With a press of a button on his weapons panel, four unguided rockets on his left wing fired out and soon found their marks at the middle of the blimp.

"Come on, sweetie! Climb up back to the sky for both our sakes!"

Just as he passed the safe distance of two hundred and fifty meters, the entire airship exploded out and fell down slowly as a burning heap of metal. That one major weakness of the airship was something that the Coalition seemingly didn't see notice while simply copying their enemy's designs.

"Alright! Let's light up the others too!"

One by one, he pulled up and turned to the escort airships that desperately fired at him with their machineguns. However, he soon fired at them with his main gun that was loaded with incendiary ammunition, a death sentence to the lightly armored and smaller blimps that was soon conflagrated in flames.

"Darn… running out of gas already…"

Unlike the dedicated Interceptor plane named Makibishi(caltrop), His Keima (Knight) fighter has specifications meant more to maintain a circle of protection around bombing plane fleets and thus, wasn't made to dogfight this much and hard as he is doing right now.

Because of that, his engine guzzled up more gas just to meet his maneuvers and now, he has to come circling back to the airfield to refuel and rearm.

"The Major is approaching!"

"Prepare the fuel pumps and the speed loaders!"

"Lads! Check all the hydraulics and the engine itself! We don't have even a single second to spare here!"

After hearing from the ATC tower that their lone active plane is circling back to resupply, everyone prepared themselves to service the plane at the runway itself.

"Lift the Major out of the cockpit and rehydrate him! Don't dilly-dally on me, lads! Let's get both of them prepared to take to the air ASAP!"

After carefully being hoisted out of his plane's cockpit, Major Kusakabe was placed on a reclining chair and had his pilot suit loosened off him which exposed his torso that was slightly swollen and covered with cold sweat, a sure sign of experiencing multiple degrees of G-forces during his flight.

"Man! You really are built different, Major! You've been pulling so many maneuvers with just an escort fighter!"

"I just brought down a group of them. I still have a lot more to bring down."

"Yeah. Leave yourself and your plane to us, sir! You'll be back in the air soon!"

Just as what was said to him, about three minutes later, Major Kusakabe was hoisted back to his plane and darted towards another fleet of airships aiming its sights onto Yamato province.

"Let's go!"

Unlike before when he played it safe, Kusakabe has already weighed the capabilities of his enemies and confidently plunged towards the fleet of airships while firing at them in level altitude.

"Hahaha! Got you with your pants down now, aren't I!?"

Firing his unguided rockets, he crisscrossed through the gaps between the airships, completely bypassing the ranges of their machineguns and sometimes even making them fire against each other.

In just one pass that only took two minutes to make, the previous diving maneuvers that took an entire ten minutes to do was clearly inferior to his own style of fighting.

"Alright! I can whittle them down more with this!"

Armed with his now tried and tested fighting maneuvers, Kusakabe flew towards the next group of airships and just like before, fired another salvo of his unguided rockets towards them before dealing with the remaining ones using his main gun.

In total, he would land and takeoff from Yamashiro airfield nine times before finally dealing with the 40 airships that their radar has identified. However, on his last takeoff, he would discover what the distorted group of enemies in the radar really are about.

"What on earth is that…?"

{"What are you seeing there, Major? Talk to us!"}

A lone plane and its pilot that is already at the brink of exhaustion is now facing a monster that no one expected to be here.

"Yamashiro ATC! I will break my confidentiality order with my homeland command! Record and transmit what I am about to say to Shiratsuyu airbase as soon as possible!"

{"C-Copy that! The record is on!"}

"This is Major Kusakabe of 2nd Escort Airwing and was given the codename Asatori 1-4 during the ongoing Operation Susanoō! I am requesting all, and I mean all Airforce assets to immediately take flight and head north north-east of Yamato province! We have a concern requiring immediate intervention of all available forces! That is all!"

After hearing a beep that meant that his words have been transmitted out, Major Kusakabe heard several voices from his headphones, but decided to turn it off in order to prepare himself for what is to come.

"Oh Father in Heaven… bless Your servant as he faces the storm of fire and steel ahead of him… give mercy to I who choses to protect the innocent… and disperse with Your holiness, the evils ahead of him."

A silent prayer filled his plane's cockpit as he heaved one last breath before he faced off against this being that can only be described aptly as a monster beyond human comprehension.

"GUAAAAAAAA!!!"

For right there in front of Kusakabe and his plane… is a flying beast that oozes with the exact same putrid black liquid that came from the underworld Yomi.

"Prepare yourself, demon!!!"