Captain Kirono and the two remaining El Eins units deftly evaded the twelve Phantoms' onslaught, taking minimal damage. Despite four Phantoms attacking each El Eins from all angles, not a single critical hit landed.
"Fine, my turn," Axel muttered.
Midair, he adjusted the Growsaver's posture, extended the Beam Gatling's barrel, and aimed at the El Eins units distracted by the Phantoms. His finger rested on the trigger for mere seconds, but it was enough. The two El Eins units, overly focused on the Phantoms, lost their lower halves to the barrage and plummeted to the ground.
"Two down, three total," Axel said.
He prepared to unleash an all-range attack with all twelve Phantoms—four from Kirono's unit and eight from the downed El Eins—when Echidna's voice crackled over the comms.
"Captain, my apologies. W1 and W2 failed to contain the Garlion squad. Two are heading your way."
As she spoke, two Garlions charged, deploying Sonic Breakers—energy fields derived from T-Dot Arrays—from their shoulders, shielding Kirono's El Eins. Whether due to Axel's bad luck or the Garlion pilots' skill, the Sonic Breakers repelled every Phantom targeting the El Eins. The T-Link System relayed damage reports: the Phantoms had sustained varying degrees of harm from the energy fields.
"Forcing them to move's too risky," Axel decided, guiding the damaged Phantoms to a soft landing. With supplies tight, he couldn't afford to lose repairable assets.
"Sixteen Phantoms left," he noted.
The Garlion pilots seemed more skilled than the El Eins pilots, save for Kirono. "Don't underestimate the Growsaver," Axel said. "Accelerate, Focus, Direct Hit!"
Using all his available Spirit Commands except Effort, he folded the Beam Gatling's barrel, maxed Chronos's boosters, and activated the Adaman Halberd, channeling slime from the spatial storage. As the two Garlions and Kirono's El Eins closed in, Axel raised the Halberd. The slime morphed into a scythe worthy of the name "Death Scythe" just before he swung.
"Gah!" A scream echoed through the contact circuit as the Halberd bisected a Garlion—not head-on to spare the pilot, but from right shoulder to hip.
"Take this!" Axel followed up, shifting the Halberd to slime mode for an all-range attack. The scythe dissolved into five whip-like tendrils, severing the second Garlion's limbs and head. It crashed to the ground, pilot silenced.
"Next!" Axel turned to disable Kirono's El Eins, raising the Halberd again, but the T-Link System sensed something.
"Telekinetic Field, full power!"
A screeching gash rang out as something grazed the field. The monitor showed Kirono's El Eins, Neo Plasma Cutter raised, poised to slash upward.
"Tch!" Axel jetted right with Chronos's boosters, dodging the Cutter. He reshaped the Halberd into five whips to strike, but Kirono, as if anticipating it, retreated, keeping his distance.
An El Eins with close-range weapons? Axel had assumed they lacked melee armaments, but given the original timeline's modular weapon systems, it wasn't surprising. Kirono's skill suggested a veteran, not someone unprepared for close combat.
"Not bad," Kirono's voice came over the comms, laced with respect but fierce determination. "Worthy of special ops."
"You too," Axel replied. "Dodging the Adaman Halberd like that caught me off guard."
"Adaman Halberd? That weird melee weapon?"
"Weird's a bit harsh. It's built with tech from the Grungust Type-3's Zankantou, courtesy of Tesla Labs."
"Tesla Labs, huh? That explains the unfamiliar gear."
"We've got a tech sharing deal with them," Axel said, referring to Lemon's work on Lykeios, a simplified Aguieus. Wonder how that's going.
He extended the Linear Railgun's barrel from Chronos. "Think I'll let you shoot that thing?" Kirono taunted.
"We'll see. Phantoms!" Axel launched twelve of his sixteen remaining Phantoms, holding four in reserve. Kirono, ever sharp, minimized damage with evasive maneuvers while keeping Axel in his sights.
"Can you dodge this?" Axel muttered, aiming not the Railgun but the Gun Rapier from Chronos's weapon rack. Beams lanced out, chipping Kirono's armor, though he avoided direct hits.
"Here's the real one," Axel said, firing the Linear Railgun. Its low hum belied its power as the electromagnetic round streaked—not at Kirono's El Eins, but at a Gespenst Mk-II Echidna was engaging.
The round shattered the Gespenst's lower half, sending it crashing. Axel fired again, targeting another. "Tch, that's your target?!" Kirono shouted. "Falcon Squad, watch out! They're aiming for you!"
Too late—only two Gespenst Mk-IIs remained, and Echidna's Landgriez, with Linear Cannon and W-Unit Neo Plasma Cutters, quickly disabled them.
"Faking an attack on me to cover your allies," Kirono said. "Clever."
"Flattered," Axel replied. "Just you and two Garlions left. Ready to surrender?"
The W-Units, despite letting two Garlions slip, had disabled one of the remaining three. Echidna outpaced them, but the Garlions' air-combat design was a factor. The last two were no match for Echidna and the W-Units.
"We won't lose to lackeys of that corrupt commander!" Kirono roared, his voice raw with conviction.
Axel dodged a barrage of G-Revolver rounds, leveraging the Growsaver's mobility. "Guess we'll make you listen," he said.
He recalled the twelve Phantoms, positioning them behind the Growsaver, and launched the reserved four, enabling a sixteen-Phantom assault. Folding the Railgun's barrel for high-speed movement and locking the Halberd in scythe mode, he was ready.
"Kirono, this was a good fight," Axel said. "It's been a while since I faced a pilot of your caliber. But it's time to end this."
"If I survive, I'll surrender," Kirono replied.
"Don't forget that promise. Accelerate, Focus, Direct Hit," Axel muttered under his breath, activating his final Spirit Commands.
"Here I come!"
"Bring it!" Kirono shot back.
Using Accelerate and Chronos's boosters, Axel charged at breakneck speed. Kirono countered with a Neo Plasma Cutter in his right hand and a G-Revolver in his left, firing Twin Beam Cannons from both shoulders. Axel rolled the Growsaver to dodge, closing the gap.
At arm's reach, he raised the Halberd, but Focus triggered a warning. He jetted under the El Eins as a G-Railgun round pierced where he'd been. How'd he fire that with both hands full? Axel didn't know but had dodged in time.
Exploiting Kirono's missed strike, Axel aimed to sever the El Eins's lower half with the Halberd but only caught its right leg. Kirono used the momentum to swing the Neo Plasma Cutter.
"Telekinetic Field, full power!"
A grating scrape sounded, but the field held. Kirono's attack stalled him momentarily.
"Phantoms!" Axel shouted. The sixteen Phantoms fired lasers, converging on the El Eins's lower half. Simultaneously, the Halberd shifted to whip mode for a close-range all-range attack.
"Sink!"
The mercury-like whips slashed through the El Eins's arms and head. Glancing at Echidna, Axel saw her disable the final Garlion.
The clash lasted seconds but felt eternal. Catching the falling El Eins, Axel opened the comms. "Kirono, keep your promise."
"…Understood," Kirono replied, his voice resigned.