09

That was when Ashley at last performed an attack the enemy pilot didn't see coming. After spinning away from another burst, he brought his lance around again and utilized a little known feature about the weapon. Specifically, he triggered the rocket motor at the lance head's base and launched it, sending it straight into the Panther II's torso, its heavy armor little more than paper against the lance's rocket assisted penetration power, all the way to the cockpit. The momentum drove the now dead European knightmare back and through the side of a rather decrepit building. Even if the pilot somehow survived the lance strike, Ashley doubted he or she would be getting up any time soon.

"Twelve." Ashley let out as he threw away the handle. He then promptly swung his assault rifle back, where he fired a few rounds into the bazooka another Panther II was aiming at his side. The resulting explosion destroyed the entire frame, as well as a fair section of the surrounding area. "Thirteen. Come on, is this the best you kraut bastards can…"

"Auriga One, behind you!" 1st Lieutenant Rene Laurent's voice called out over the radio in warning, interrupting him. Both he and 1st Lieutenant Jan Manes were both engaging targets at that point, but the former just managed to catch sight of another enemy bearing down on his commander.

The warning came soon enough. A sudden burst of fire came no more than two seconds after, causing Ashley to reverse his Gloucester around a building corner. He then deployed his factsphere again for a brief scan, smirking at what he found. "Oh? Looks like I finally have a challenge…"

At first glance, it looked like another Panther II was attacking him, but certain details dispelled that image, namely the long, curved spikes on each shoulder, the more narrowed head with horn-like fin attached and the shield assembly on its left arm. It was from these details that Ashley identified the unit as a Panther III, the European equivalent to the Gloucester meant for aces and/or commander types. Though it wasn't the most advanced knightmare frame in the EU arsenal, it was certainly a switch from the Panther IIs he had been massacring to this point.

With that, Ashley brought his Gloucester out from cover, firing his machine gun as he went. True to its reputation, the Panther III was quick to keep up, moving almost as fast despite its bulk, forcing Ashley to duck underneath its own stream of fire as he passed. He fired another grenade in an attempt to take out its assault rifle, but the Panther III deflected the explosive with its shield and continued to fire. As a result, one of the bullets clipped Ashley's own rifle, rendering it useless, to which the captain threw it to the side and drew his MVS, both turning crimson upon activation.

At last being able to fight in his favorite form, Ashley licked his lips in anticipation. "Now let's see if you can really keep up," he glowered as he put his knightmare to full speed, banking from either side of the street as the Panther III continued to pour fire from its rifle. Putting all power to his landspinners, Ashley again focused on moving from one side of the street to the other in rapid succession, forcing the enemy knightmare to reverse, also swaying back and forth as it went. If nothing else, the continuous stream of bullets was doing wonders to the surrounding streets and buildings, but like many other things Ashley could care less about that. Using the superior mobility of his Gloucester, he eventually closed the distance and slashed the barrel of the rifle away. In spite of that triumph, the enemy devicer was just as quick to discard the remnants, draw his machine's oversized battle sword from the aforementioned shield and parry the intended killing blow.

The dance continued for that much longer, with both knightmares exchanging sword blow for sword blow as they sped down the streets. Eventually however, the Britannian ace again closed the distance and executed a slashing attack that cleaved a large piece of the Panther III's shield. He then spun around to impale, but the European knightmare countered by firing its slash harkens, to which Ashley was forced deflect with the flats of his blades. The cyclopean unit used that opening to make a counterslash, but Ashley dodged that attack as well, parrying the metal cleaver and then knocking it away entirely. Then with certain flourish, he brought both blades down to impale.

However, the European pilot wasn't done yet. Seeing the singular angle of Ashley's attack, the Panther III banked to the left, allowing the Britannian unit to force all of its momentum toward where it had been standing before. This allowed the Panther III to circle around toward the exposed cockpit block, where it immediately moved to cut into.

Like hell! Ashley just managed to think before instinct kicked in. Putting his Gloucester into a crouch to evade the attack, the ace then went into a full ninety degree spin, sweeping his right sword through the Panther III's torso, bifurcating it. Both halves then fell back as the cockpit pod ejected, flying off some distance away.

"Fourteen," Ashley grunted just as Rene and Jan's knightmares came speeding up to his own.

"You alright Auriga One?" Jan inquired as both Gloucesters came to a halt.

Before Ashley could reply, he felt a 'pinging' noise ring through his cockpit block, which was soon followed in rapid succession. Looking over to his side monitor, he immediately identified the origin: the Panther III pilot, now having abandoned his own cockpit pod, was shooting at him with a service pistol!

At that, Ashley burst out laughing. "So you want to die that badly huh!?" he bellowed as he turned the Gloucester around and went into a charge, MVS aimed high. He was just able to savor the white-faced terror of the European pilot before he brought down his sword to strike.