04

Knowing better than to ponder the matter in a middle of a battle, he toggled the main communication channel. "Burais move against their flanks. Four Holy Swords on me. We're going cut through them directly."

"What about the airship?" Tohdoh heard someone ask. It might have been Asahina again, but Tohdoh didn't bother to find out.

"We have nothing to fight it with and it doesn't seem to be interested in us anyway," Tohdoh answered. "Just concentrate on the knightmares."

He waited only a moment for the confirmations of the orders, as well as the other four Gekkas to form around him in a V formation. Katen yaibatous and seidotou brandished, they charged straight into the fold, banking and weaving to avoid enemy assault rifle fire and slash harkens while the Burais added their own fire into the mix.

As he hurtled towards the formation, Tohdoh dropped his crosshairs over the first one he spotted, which was a Gloucester. Judging by the blue tint on its shoulder pauldrons it was likely one of the infamous Glaston Knights, who had only recently transferred to Area 11. Immediately it charged at him as well, lance poised to impale, but Tohdoh attacked first by firing a barrage from his arm cannon. The Gloucester was quick to raise its lance and use it as a shield against the bullets, and Tohdoh responded by moving to slash it through the middle. However, he only manage to cut the lance in half at the pole, forcing the Gloucester to abandon it; but at the same time, this left him open for a follow up attack from Senba, who quickly dispatched the enemy knightmare.

To an outside spectator, the five Gekkas' attack could be best described as quick, efficient and extremely overpowering. Chiba and Asahina both struck against a trio of Sutherlands, cutting apart all three with straight on passes, while Urabe managed to cut off a Gloucester's lance arm, then twist around to finish it off with his arm cannon. Tohdoh himself launched the slash harken from his seidotou again and impaled a Glasgow through the chest, then using a technique he had watched Suzaku Kururugi utilize with the Lancelot, he swung the Glasgow out and used it as a flail, slamming it against three other knightmare frames and taking them all out of the battle before retracting the harken.

Tohdoh then spotted another Glaston Knight affiliated Gloucester approach to his right, lance brandished and ready to pierce the Gekka at its side. He jumped to the side to avoid the charge, then bringing about the seidotou and slash the lance straight on. Seeing its main weapon now useless, the Gloucester abandoned its lance and then reached back, drawing a Maser Vibration Sword from its back. Tohdoh wondered just how a fifth generation knightmare frame could use that weapon, since it was claimed that the MVS was a "lost" sixth generation technology recently brought back into use through the Lancelot. Once more however he didn't have time to ponder it, as he was forced to bring the seidotou up to parry the first slash from the Gloucester.

A series of slashes and parries soon followed between the two knightmares. However, despite the Glaston's skill, it was quite apparent that Tohdoh was the superior swordsman, as he made several cuts against the Gloucester's dark purple armor, although the enemy unit managed to keep the Japanese warrior from taking any crucial areas. It was until Tohdoh cut into the shoulder of the Gloucester, the part where the cape was attached to, thus creating a nice sized gash into both the pauldron and the cape itself, did the enemy pilot become truly serious. The Gloucester leaped back and drew its second MVS, as if anticipating Tohdoh's charge.

However, not wanting to have a drawn out duel here and now, much less against an unworthy opponent, Tohdoh fired off the chest mounted slash harken once more. The harken decapitated the Gloucester, and with that Tohdoh sprayed it with the arm cannon, knocking away both of its swords and forcing it to lean forward. Going in for the kill, he made the Gekka speed toward the now headless Gloucester and used its blindness to close in and slash its torso with his seidotou. The resulting explosion was nothing short of spectacular.

Several more destroyed knightmare frames later, Tohdoh allowed himself to look up for the briefest of moments just to see what the airship was doing now. It seemed to have completed its evacuation, as it was now moving away from the building. Once more, it didn't bother to aid the Britannian ground forces with its own firepower, instead leaving the field of battle at high speed.

That's it then. We've won, Tohdoh thought, as he noticed that and the fact that the remaining Britannian knightmares had been cornered around the entrance doors of the bureau, completely surrounded on all sides by Burais, whose pilots were waiting for the final order. Among them was one remaining Gloucester, its left arm missing while its right still clutched onto its lance.

Switching his radio to broadband, Tohdoh moved his Gekka to a clearing along with the Four Holy Swords and gave the ultimatum. "To all Britannians, this is Lieutenant Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh of the Order of the Black Knights. In a few short minutes, you will be the last of your kind to stand on Japanese soil. Your forces have been decimated and your leaders have abandoned you. If you surrender, I guarantee you will be treated as prisoners of war according to the Tibet Convention."

Though not the most convincing surrender message Tohdoh could think of, but it seemed to be enough to sink in. At the very least no more shots were being fired, with the only movement being made by the Britannians was one of the Sutherlands deploying its factsphere sensor. At the same time however, an uncomfortable calm had settled over the field as the Britannians contemplated surrender or fighting to the end.

"No more of you have to die today." Tohdoh added on. Which was precisely when it all began.

Without any warning whatsoever, the ground began to rumble uncontrollably and very violently. Such that the Britannians and Black Knights turned about to locate the cause.

"An earthquake? Now!?" Senba spoke up in the confusion.

"Whatever it is it's a big one!" Asahina added, having just looked over his sensors.

And along with the rumbling came a static filled command from the Black Knights' home base at Ashford Academy. "…All rema-knightmare fr-all back-abort-ission! Repe-sion!"

Tohdoh switched his radio to the same frequency. "Tohdoh to command, what the hell is going on!?"

"Colo-situation cri-cal! All units-fall…!"

"Say again command!" Tohdoh yelled out over the radio, trying his best to ungarble the message.

"Colonel, the quakes are getting worse!" Chiba yelled out to confirm what Tohdoh was feeling underneath him.

"Just how is this possible…!?" Tohdoh yelled outloud. It couldn't have been a natural quake, not now anyway. It had all but struck just as the Black Knights were on the verge of victory. As though the Britannians...

The realization hit Tohdoh all at once, resulting in his eyes widening in horror. God help us, they've actually done it…!