Still, We Press On (10)

“What... is that?”

Merry murmured, looking utterly disbelieving.

They had reached a place southeast of the old Shibuya Ward. The group stood frozen at the edge of a high cliff overlooking the ruined city, their eyes fixed on the unreal sight unfolding before them.

Merry and Yuki knew what they were looking at, of course, but even Alice and the others—who had never seen one before—stared in shock. They recognized it, too.

“Why is that... here?”

Just as Kagami had predicted, the source of the explosions was attacking the Beastfangs hiding in the ruined city. No—capturing them. It fired enormous blasts, much like magic bullets, from an opening in one arm, weakening its targets before shooting net-like things from the same arm and capturing them one after another.

It was clad in a massive suit of black steel armor, probably five meters tall. It moved on two legs with heavy steps, but when it needed to move quickly, blue light burst from its back, letting it dart around with agility that seemed impossible for something so heavy. Its sharp gaze glowed gold.

Its appearance was identical to Messiah, the massive ancient weapon of annihilation that had once attacked Salmaria, the fortress city in Earthclear. It might not have been as large as the Messiah that attacked Salmaria, but with more than a dozen black machines of the same shape standing before them, the group couldn’t help holding their breath.

“That look... I’ve seen it somewhere before. Messi... what was it called?”

“Yes, the weapon Estella used when she exploited the Demon King-sama... It resembles Messiah. What... what in the world are those, Kagami-dono?”...