Save 75 ─ Triple Combat

An armed unit broke through the wall of the sacred tree temple and came out.

It was a personal armored unit possessed only by the head or heir of Banfield Household, a custom-made one. Aster's weapons had the mechanism to receive energy from the sacred tree.

It had the requirement that its pilot needed to have an emblem, but its performance was several levels above armor of similar specifications.

The Supreme Kingdom was undefeated in defensive battles because they were confident in the capability of this type of weapon. In that same way they claimed to be undefeated in frontal battles as well, Banfield Household boasted about it since they defeated an invading fleet from the empire twenty years ago.

And then, among the armed units that Banfield Household possessed, there was an armor that only the six great nobles could wear.

It was originally given the role of standing out as a commander's ride. It was designed with the premise that it would be a member of the six great nobles who would ride it with its ability to receive abundant energy from the sacred tree.

Its figure was large and its crimson armor had a sharp design of a beautiful fire-red color, it was fifteen meters tall, it was christened Ignis, on its chest it bore the emblem of Banfield Household. It was created to stand out. It looked like it had wings on its back, but in reality they were four swords in the shape of angel wings.

Its creation was emphasizing appearance, but its performance was also extremely high.

Jude entered the cockpit and gripped the control stick with his arms wrapped in bloody bandages.

Red light dwelt within Jude's eyes.

"Sacred tree! Give me strength to burn everything to ashes! Everything. Give me everything!"

He forgot his anger and moved the machine to do nothing but destroy everything.

The emblem formed behind the armor, increasing its power output.

The output was increasing so much until it was charging every part of the armor, then Jude pulled the sword out of the armor.

The flame coiled around it. A slash flew out as he swung the sword. The flame flew in the shape of a crescent moon and destroyed the temple wall.

The temple exploded and burned.

"Burn it! burn it all! Lucy and that man too! BURN EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T RECOGNIZE MEEEEEEEEEE!"

Jude felt even more energy than usual flowing toward him from the sacred tree. His arms ached from Rudel's severed arms.

His hatred increased with every heartbeat.

"Get out of there Rudel! I will kill you in front of Lucy's eyes. I'll make her regret not choosing me─"

The guests were running out of the temple.

An airship and several armored units guarding the temple noticed the commotion and approached.

The airship and armor bore the emblem of Banfield Household. It appeared that the knight leader, who escaped from the temple, was boarding the craft.

The leading knight spoke to Jude.

"Young master Jude, stop it now! Don't destroy the temple, there was a communication from his father that the plan is already cancelled!"

Jude's mouth took on a crescent shape toward the knight, who relayed Cliff's instructions.

"Low-class scum, don't order me around!"

Jude's armor pointed with his left hand. Flame erupted from there and burned the airship in front of him.

The airship was falling. The Banfield Household armors pointed their weapons.

"Knight leader are you alright!"

"Young master Jude, what have you done?"

"Stop now!"

Jude slashed the airship and the armed units converging towards him with his sword. The severed armed units exploded.

"Stop me, I don't care about the plan anymore! I─ I just need Lucy, and even so─!"

The bloodshot red light was inside Jude's eyes, who laughed as he cried. Then Battler, tackled by the hateful Rudel, flew out of the temple.

Before boarding, Rudel left Lucy inside Rhino Magnus, a vehicle similar to an off-road military truck, in it were Erselica and the others armed and wearing fancy clothes.

"Aa~aah, now you're rampaging through everything like a madman. Although I planned to end it more peacefully."

When Rudel came out, the emblem glowing on the back of the armor lit up. Jude shouted at Rudel.

"Show yourself! Demon of the Realm!"

The red armored unit flew at Battler to stab it with his sword.

Battler dodged it and swung the battle axe he pulled out of the backpack just as the armored unit passed. The armor's shoulder was slashed.

The shoulder of the armor was cut off.

"Too shallow, huh."

Jude felt his head boiling with rage, even so, he watched Rudel's movement.

(Shit---! Damn barbarian of the kingdom! Looks like he's used to piloting these armors. But, he dodged my attack, that means he wants to avoid a power competition. ─I have the size advantage, I'll beat this battle with the difference in specs!)

The red unit was bigger than Battler.

From the appearance, it looked like it was stronger in mass and power.

"You seem to rely on the specs of your unit, but mine is custom made by Banfield Household!"

He's also not worried about running out of mana with the sacred tree's power supply.

"But what about you, even if you can receive energy from the sapling, it won't even be a fight against the sacred tree!"

Even if both parties were receiving backup from the sacred tree, the sacred tree that had supported Aster for many years and the sapling were too different in power level no matter how you looked at it.

Armed unit specifications. The divine protection of the sacred tree.

Taking all that into account, it was a difference that couldn't be overcome no matter how skilled the pilot was, that was what Jude thought.

The red armored unit swung its sword around and began to push Battler back.

The knights and soldiers of the supreme kingdom who were watching that... the airships and armed units watched without taking any action.

In their hearts, they wished Rudel would lose.

"Destroy the Kingdom's demonic armor!"

"I-is it okay for us not to help? The Acting Chairman ordered us to stop Jude-sama─"

"We couldn't get close. We just need to say that. It's a judgment based on the situation on the site!"

What a horrible group it was.

When the red armored unit swung its sword down, Battler blocked it with his battle axe. The flame curling around the sword faded and the blade glowed even brighter.

The heat increased even more, melting the battle axe as it pierced it.

"I'll split you in two!"

Jude stepped closer... but Battler stepped back.

Just as he did so.

"One blow!"

Just as it sounded, Battler was hit behind by something and pushed straight to the ground.

Jude watched whoever did it.

"What do you think you're doing, Tom?"

Tom was riding an armed unit twenty four meters long and seventeen meters tall.

Its color was gold with gray stripes down the sides.

It had the Exner Household crest on its shield and on its underside which was of a horse, was the Aster emblem.

Tom spoke in annoyance to Jude.

"What you've done is a pain in the ass for everyone, Jude! But─"

He bit his lips before replying.

"It's more unforgivable what that guy did to my older brother and the other nobles! For that reason, on behalf of the nobles of Aster! As the best pilot in all of Aster, I─ Thomas Ian Exner, request a duel for the sapling and the priestess against the Hero of the Realm!"

The surroundings began to boycott.

"That's Tom-sama of Exner Household!"

"He's so young, but at the same time he's the best pilot in the whole country, not even the knight leader of Exner Household is on his level."

"Please Tom-dono, finish that kingdom bastard off!"

Among all those voices, only one mattered to him.

His face wore a bad expression and biting his lips in frustration, he shouted out what his heart contained.

"TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"

It was Linus, his older brother.

"KILL THAT BASTARD FOR ME!"

Hearing his brother's request, Tom smiled.

"You didn't need to tell me, but it's your request, so I'll do it with pleasure."

Gier, which was the name of the armed unit Tom rode, had a long shield in his left hand and a spear that looked like a missile in his right hand.

"Come on, Hero of the Realm, let me be the one to receive the glory of restoring happiness to all the nobles you took away from them!"

The armed unit Tom used needed two pilots, one on top and one on the bottom to move smoothly.

But he was the best in the whole country, he managed to do it alone.

Tom put his foot down and Gier accelerated.

He galloped like a horse.

"Stay out of my way Tom, or I'll destroy you too!"

Jude shouted pointing his swords at Tom, but Gier was faster, the blades missed his lower half.

He watched Jude as he accelerated Gier like a locomotive.

Battler stood up, drew new axes and was ready for impact.

But Gier went around him and instead kept going straight.

Battler turned around wondering what this meant.

Tom was heading for a wall, but that didn't happen.

He pressed a button. That button caused a magic circle to manifest under his feet, the magic circle then split in two and began to rotate counterclockwise.

Gier lifted his legs and... galloped into the air.

No one could believe it, not even Jude.

"How come he can fly!"

As he galloped, Tom answered.

"The mechanism it has is that it uses a large orb as a motor. The magic power flows with a lot of energy which causes this phenomenon."

"This is the power of the best house among the six great houses! The power of Exner Household's technological advancements!"

Gier was heading straight for Battler.

Tom pressed another button and the spear parted a little, as did the magic circle under their feet, the spear spun with great force.

"Eat this, Mr. Hero! Triple throw!"

The right hand moved so fast, it created different silhouettes. As if it had two more right arms and they moved on their own.

"Take thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!"

The blows hit Battler in his chest, two of them and one in his face.

Rudel fell.

The surroundings screamed in excitement.

"That's it, Tom-sama!"

"We can win! Aster can beat that hateful knight!"

"... If he beats him, it would only be a matter of being able to take down those horned monsters and thus, we would regain our glory."

Jude was not far behind.

"Stop stealing my prey!"

Using both of his swords, he imbued them with magical power again.

Flames engulfed him and the color turned blue.

"How dare you steal her from me!"

Ignis' flaming blades struck Battler's body.

Left.

Right.

Battler used the axes to defend himself, but it was useless.

The power of an Aster Armor that was blessed with the magical power of a noble with the protection of the sacred tree was serious.

At the same time, Jude was recognized as a great noble by the tree.

That meant only one thing.

"I am worthy! I was always worthy! The crest of a great noble manifested on me is the proof of it!"

The slashes of the blades were so intense that the axes were destroyed.

Battler tried to back away to escape.

Jude at the sight of him laughed.

"Hahahaha! That's all you can do?"

"Don't make me laugh!"

Ignis flew a little and caught up to Battler.

He stabbed his swords into his arms and started beating him like he was a toy.

"That's all the great Hero of the Realm can do!!!"

"Are you watching Lucy, huh!!! This guy is the man you'd rather have than me!!! He's just a coward who can't do anything, but I can! I'm worthy! The sacred tree recognized me as a great noble so I'm worthy to be the guardian! But... you... You mocked me and I will not forgive you for that!"

The intensity of Jude's blows was increasing with vigor.

"This is the man you chose!"

Ignis removed the swords and then lifted Battler up.

He kicked him hard and now it was Tom who was hitting him.

"I won't let you be the one to defeat him!"

Tom hit Battler again not once.

"Series of consecutive blows! Sixteen throwing blows!"

The spear moved four times faster than normal and Tom swung at it as Battler was pushed back by its blows.

"Not only have you caused great discomfort to the nobles! You have sullied our name, that of my house and above all─!"

Tom bared his teeth in anger.

"You have shamed my elder brother!!! I will punish you in the name of the six great nobles!"

The nobles seeing Tom's patriotism, began to weep with joy.

"That's right, hit him hard. Make him suffer for picking fights with us."

"How is it possible that a noble from a barbarian kingdom has annoyed us so much?"

"Exner Household with this will be able to obtain the title of Acting Chairman when they defeat him!"

Linus was present when they heard that. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Tom... you're the best little brother ever."

Randolf was near him, he saw and heard Linus say that, but he didn't care.

He took a breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO FINISH HIM OFF, THOMAS!!!?"

Tom opened his eyes seeing how serious his brother was.

"Geez, it looks like he's really pissed at you."

"Anyway, let's get this over with before Jude does."

"Don't fuck with me, Tom!"

Jude approached Battler, Tom too.

A colossal clash occurred.

Battler was being pummeled from different fronts mercilessly.

Swords of fire slashing him and a spear striking his fragile parts mercilessly.

Sure victory was for Aster.

Then, Rudel spoke.

"P-Please..."

Fear showed in his tone.

"Please stop, I beg of you!"

The people who heard that pathetic tone laughed and chanted that the Kingdom barbarian fell into the despair of defeat.

But then, spoke a voice that was not Rudel's.

"How long do you plan to play, Master!!?"

Rudel replied to that voice in a panicked tone.

"I-I'm not playing, I'm really afraid!"

"Stop lying!"

Gier's spear was coming and Battler hit him hard pushing him backwards.

Then Jude, who had his swords on fire, brought them close to cleave Battler in half, but Ixion took the command from Rudel and stopped the swords with his palms.

"I looked at what you caused! Battler has scratches and bruises! They're easy to remove, but I don't like that he has damage from a very weak machine!"

Jude thought he was lying.

"You're a liar!"

Rudel showed no sign of panic at those words.

Then, he said.

"It's just... I..."

Rudel had a look of fear on his face, but that suddenly turned into a wicked grin.

"I was really enjoying myself!"

He laughed. Rudel laughed as if nothing had happened.

"It really was fun! It's funny to see the asshole faces they make when they think they can defeat me. Did they feel happy, were they celebrating? Well, too bad."

"I was just letting them have fun so that way, I could enjoy their expressions of astonishment at realizing that their happiness is taken away from them by a nobody like me."

"Do I feel bad about this? Of course not! You want to cry? You hate me for this? I really enjoyed watching hope of defeating me slip from your moron faces!"

"It's because of that stupid reasoning that Battler now needs reparations!"

Battler began to squeeze the swords hard to the point of breaking them.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll make it up to you later."

"Liar."

Rudel moved the joystick he was using as leverage and gave a hard kick to Jude who went flying backwards impacting into a building.

No one was there, so the falling rubble would only hit the armed unit.

Battler's eyes lit up much more than they were and he looked at the Aster nobles.

"It's funny how they seem to be getting animated, so I thought I'd make it more dramatic."

Rudel's voice deepened as if to tell them he was getting serious.

"I will show them once and for all, for I am the most atrocious of knights. You will never forget this day in your lives."