T-Type identified! It's a behemoth!
A division-class demon beast!
What?
Division-class?!
Stephan, run a message to Jantunen!
B-But...
That's an order.
Hurry!
Yes, sir!
My apologies to everybody else. You drew the short straw.
We can't let his mom cry when she finds out her only son's dead, after all.
All units, begin spell bombardment!
Aim for the head and the legs!
Kuchl!
Steude!
Damn it!
We're making you pay a price before you get through, monster!
Take this!
The students of the Laihiala Academy of Knight Runners
Chapter 2:
were exposed to the danger of the horde of demon beasts.
But they were rescued by Ernesti and the Silhouette Knights,
and the damage was minimal.
Get the wounded loaded into the carriages first!
I need a stretcher over here!
Hey, there's no light!
Looks like it's okay for now.
Thank you, Ernie.
And you too, Kid and Addy.
I-It must've been really hard for you, Big Sis.
Shouldn't you rest for a bit?
I'm fine.
Because...
You make me feel so much better!
As long as you're around, Ernie, I can keep fighting!
Big Sis, Ernie's mine!
You're always with him, right, Addy?!
Let me borrow him for once.
No!
Student Council President, I need to speak with you.
Cloquet Forest was said to be relatively safe.
So why the sudden army of demon beasts?
It didn't seem like something random to me.
Isn't it possible that they were driven here by some greater power?
Is that true?
We believe the behemoth will pass through Cloquet Forest,
and head straight for the kingdom's capital!
Even if we were to bring together all the Silhouette Knights of Jantunen,
there are still less than 100 of us.
Can we stand against a division-class demon beast?
The students from Laihiala are having a training exercise in Cloquet Forest right now!
What?
Gather up all the surrounding Knight Runners in the vicinity.
As soon as the first group's ready to go, we leave.
I'll take command myself.
Yes, sir!
Please make it in time.
What if the demon beasts that attacked us were, for example,
fleeing from something?
Fleeing? From what?
From something much stronger and bigger.
Everyone, stay calm and head toward the carriages!
Head to the north!
Hurry, but don't panic!
It'll be fine!
We'll use the Silhouette Knights to distract the behemoth.
Helvi, help me!
Edgar, do you know what you're saying?
That's a division-class demon beast!
We'll delay him until the younger kids can finish their evacuation!
We are knights!
We can't run without doing something!
So we have to fight.
All units, draw your rods!
Fire!
Don't push! Take turns!
Please stay safe out there.
Look at this big lug! He can't even touch us!
Over here, slowpoke!
Division-class, my ass!
I'll take it out myself!
Wait, D! He's my prey!
Dietrich! Gephardt!
Don't get cocky!
It stopped?
Dietrich, where are you going?
Ernie, hurry!
Right!
Ernie?
Go on without me!
Move! Move!
I can't help it!
If I'd stayed there, I just would've been killed!
I chose to survive!
A knight shouldn't let himself die for nothing!
I just took the best option out of all the horrible ones!
I didn't... just leave them all to die.
I finally found you.
I'll come straight out and ask.
You ran away, didn't you?
Damn it!
That's right!
What's wrong with that?
One more person there wouldn't have changed a thing!
So isn't it smarter to choose the path where you survive?
Good.
I think I can take the Guair from you without hesitation, then.
Please make yourself as comfortable as you can.
I can't toss you out into the forest.
Now then...
Oh, I know.
I can't control a Silhouette Knight the normal way right now.
I don't have nearly enough time to do the job right,
but I have to make this a success.
Now then, time to show what I can do as a programmer!
Initiating pattern analysis.
Identifying similar spells.
Physical enhancement.
Movement control.
Position mapping.
Modularizing and linking.
Output control.
And the input and output power of the Ether Reactor.
Ernesti eschewed all physical control methods,
instead attempting to control the Silhouette Knight
by using his Gunlike Rod to directly input the scripts.
No one else had attempted anything even close in the history of Silhouette Knights.
Converting the spell parameters of myself and the Silhouette Knight,
and initiating input-output control with default values!
Conversion complete.
Activating engine!
Adjusting output control variables.
Feeding back movement disparities.
Initiating optimization!
Modify, modify, modify...
A robot!
I'm piloting a robot right now!
I wonder if Ernie's okay?
He was gone before we could even try to stop him.
Hey, do you think...
He stole a Silhouette Knight and went to attack it?
No way.
Even he wouldn't...
It's possible.
Damn it!
Helvi!
Its breath attack!
Take this!
I can't get away?!
Dietrich?! You're back?!
There you are! There you are!
I found you!
Wow, even your face is tough, huh?
But how about this?
Helvi, can you move?
A little.
But I can barely stand.
I'm sorry, D!
Hang in there for a while!
So this is a behemoth!
This is a demon beast!
This is Silhouette Knight combat!
Here I come!
Wow! This is amazing!
Almost its entire body is covered in a hard shell!
Invincible armor!
It's pointless to try cutting it!
Even magic doesn't work!
Then it's time to apply the first lesson of destroying huge weapons!
Wow, that barely even scratched it!
Is it hard all the way through, maybe?
In Ernie's new world,
creatures who possessed catalyst crystals
and could use magic of their own were called demon beasts.
The most powerful magic a behemoth had was the enhancement magic that supported its huge frame.
So this is going to be a battle of attrition, huh?
What are you—
I'm in the middle of a fight right now.
Please be quiet!
I can't use this anymore, huh?
Now then...
Hey, why are you throwing your weapon again?
Over there!
Use that weapon!
Thank you!
Now I can fight for a little longer.
But I'm down to less than 20% mana.
What?
I tried to conserve as much mana as I could,
but there's a limit.
But if I'm going to run away,
I need to at least take out a leg or something,
or I won't look cool!
Two student practice units have been recovered!
The remaining unit is still in combat!
Behemoth sighted!
Spread out!
What? Since when do Silhouette Knights move like that?!
Kaldatoahs! Reinforcements!
The Guardian Knights are here!
That's a little sooner than anticipated!
Crimson knight, great job hanging in there!
All units, draw rods!
Fire!
Got 'im!
How do you like that, monster?
It's not going to go down so easily, is it?
Prepare the hard cluster bunkers!
Charge!
No! Get out of there!
It's no good... No good, no good...
We're doomed!
We're going to die! We're going to die!
Unforgivable.
The only thing that's allowed to destroy a robot...
...is another robot!
What are you doing?
Stop it! You're crazy!
Looks like your enhancement magic is running out.
All squads, surround it again!
Begin the attack once more!
Now, let's finish this!
What's going on?
The whole machine is starting to creak.
I see.
So this is what they call metal fatigue.
Looks like the Guair is at its limit.
I wouldn't mind going down with my robot,
but there are still more things I can do!
Take over the controls for me!
You pilot the Guair!
I can't! It's impossible!
I don't care if it's impossible.
Do it if you don't want to die, okay?
The crimson one's Knight Runner!
What is he going to do?
Get ready!
Air Bullet!
Now!
Jump backwards!
If you're still alive...
Checkmate.
The lightning fired directly into the behemoth's eye traveled along its optic nerve
and struck its brain stem.
With the brain that formed the core of its biological activity destroyed,
even a division-class demon beast was doomed.
And then, with the enhancement magic that supported it gone,
it was crushed under its own weight.
Damage report!
I want a report from each company!
Anybody who can move, begin recovery of the behemoth's heart!
Forgive me, Dietrich.
I thought you ran away, but I was wrong.
You died to save us.
I thought I was a goner.
What's wrong, everyone?
I told you so! Ernie stole a Silhouette Knight!
If anything, I feel sorry for Dietrich right now.
Hey, Ernie, if you couldn't get inside that Silhouette Knight,
what were you going to do?
I would've run away with all of you, I think.
Looking back, it was a really big gamble.
I guess you're aware of that.
From now on, I need a mech that I can move the way I want,
so that this doesn't happen again.
You're still going to do that?
I'm just getting started!
I'm going to make a Silhouette Knight of my very own!
Twelve years old?
A child defeated a division-class demon beast?
Yes, sir!
Announcing this would affect the knights' morale,
so we've kept it a secret.
Ernesti Echevalier...
Lauri's grandson, perhaps?
Indeed.
A power that is too great can bring about destruction.
It's a dangerous thing.
I suppose I must meet this child.
Next time: "Scrap & Build."
Chapter 3:
Developing a new mech is calling me!