“What… should I do?”

Jin stood alone on the ground.

The first generation to receive the brainwashing-like education initiated by Orgord Earthguard.

That was Jin and his cohort.

The world should be unified under Earthguard rule, and all other races were inferior species.

That ideology had been deeply ingrained in them from childhood.

But now, that worldview was crumbling.

Sword is Japanese, yet stronger than anyone… So what does ‘inferior species’ even mean? I saw him as a friend… respected him… yet respect an inferior species?

The beliefs he had held were slowly collapsing within Jin.

Jin couldn’t move.

“Are you troubled?”

“Huh?”

A familiar voice called out to Jin.

It was the voice of his idol, the father he respected and adored.

Before his eyes stood a mech painted in the same red and black as his own.

“Have you lost sight of what justice is, Jin?”

“Father!? Why are you here?”

The one who appeared before Jin was his father, Osiris Halberd.

The ominous red-and-black mech was named Gungnir.

It had once been called the strongest in the world—Jin’s pride.

“Trouble over it, Jin. Worry and agonize until you find your answer. Don’t let someone else tell you—find it deep within yourself.”

“But… please, Father. Tell me what to do. I don’t understand anymore. Should I obey Lord Road’s orders? Or save Sword—Kenya? Which one is right…?”

“That is justice, Jin. Everyone carries their own personal sense of justice inside them. They worry, they make mistakes, they clash. Your generation was drilled from childhood that the imperial family embodies absolute justice. But one day, when you look at the world, you’ll realize that’s not true. Just as you’re doing right now. So agonize… and find it. Your justice.”

“…”

“And when you find that answer, you’ll surely be able to grip your sword once more. You’ll grow even stronger. I have high expectations for you, my son.”

Osiris passed by Jin’s side.

As if those were his final parting words.

He headed straight for the isolation tower.

“What will you do, Father?”

“What do you think? I’ll simply uphold my justice.”

…

“Haa… haa… Come on! How many more are gonna show up!?”

“We’ve already taken down at least thirty. Even in wartime, this is headquarters. They won’t go easy on us.”

Kaguya and Reina fought back-to-back, covering each other.

Their battle flowed like a dance, overwhelming the regular soldiers. Over thirty mechs already lay defeated.

Yet enemies kept surging forward one after another, blocking their advance.

“At this rate, we’re gonna rack up a hundred kills.”

“That’s not something even Kenja-kun could pull off easily.”

The isolation tower was right there in plain sight, but that final step remained out of reach.

That was when it happened.

Reina noticed.

“…No way.”

Ahead of her gaze loomed a massive floating airship.

Swarming around it were over ten thousand KOGs in flight.

And aboard that ship, of course…

“Made it just in time. Reina and Kaguya, as expected. Who would’ve thought you two would team up. Your parents’ killer, no less. Incomprehensible.”

Road Earthguard brought Valhalla into view.

His sights locked on Reina and Kaguya, and he let out a voice of disbelief.

“This is bad. Really bad.”

No time remained.

In just a few more minutes, Road would join the fray, and Reina and the others would have no chance of victory.

Witnessing that, Reina steeled her resolve.

“Kaguya, I’ll break through no matter what. Save Kenja-kun, at least.”

Those words carried her determination to throw her life away.

If she abandoned all defense, she should be able to reach the isolation tower.

Everything else—she entrusted to Kaguya. That was Reina’s heartfelt wish.

“…Got it.”

Kaguya accepted.

She had been about to make the same proposal herself.

Reina and Kaguya turned to face the same direction.

The two girls hardened their resolve for a desperate bid to save the boy.

That was when it happened.

“!!!???”

Both girls’ instincts screamed in warning.

A palpable aura of death assailed them, visions of being sliced flashing through their minds.

It felt as if a blade rested against their necks—a crystal-clear premonition of death.

“Reinaaa!!”

“I know!!”

The pair poured every ounce of focus toward the source.

They desperately suppressed their trembling bodies. An opponent radiating killing intent of this magnitude…

Even at full power, victory might be impossible. But they couldn’t stop now.

And there, they beheld a single KOG.

“No way…”

Reina knew it. Kaguya did not.

That profoundly ominous red-and-black KOG wielded a sword longer than its own frame, exuding killing intent that declared everything in sight to be within its striking range.

The man who had once clashed with Kenja in a deadly duel, ascending toward the pinnacle of martial prowess.

“Mr. Osiris…”

The once-world’s strongest.

Osiris Halberd stood there, sword in hand, piloting his beloved Gungnir.

“Reina. How does it feel? Strength on par with my prime, right? This latest prosthetic hand is incredible. Not quite fully restored, but more than operable enough.”

Osiris assumed his sword stance, gazing at Reina and the others.

“That’s right. You were here. In this imperial capital.”

“Reina, what is it? What the hell is that monster!!”

Kaguya and Reina gripped their swords, hands trembling.

They couldn’t win.

The swordsman who had once reigned at the peak made even the fully awakened Kaguya and Reina sense utter defeat.

Osiris charged straight at the pair.

The signature thrust he had unleashed at Kenja that day—a full-power lunge.

The two pressed close together, focusing everything on defense.

But that thrust…

“Why…”

It pierced straight through the Earthguard encirclement behind them.

Osiris proceeded to down Earthguard KOGs one after another.

Without taking lives, limiting destruction to the mechs alone, he carved through the Earthguard forces.

“Reina, what’s going on!? What the hell is happening!?”

“O-Osiris-san!”

Reina shouted at Osiris.

She couldn’t comprehend it at all.

Why was Osiris felling Earthguard forces left and right?

“Go. Save the one you love. I’ll hold them off here.”

“Why… why are you helping us!?”

“For my loyalty!”

With those sole words, Osiris planted himself before the horde of KOGs, his back to Reina and the others.

“L-Lord Osiris! Why!? Why betray us!?”

The Earthguard troops who witnessed it cried out one after another.

Why had Osiris—one of the Three Heroes, the mightiest general—turned against them?

“Betray? What nonsense. Now and always, my loyalty belongs to one alone. Not Earthguard. My loyalty is to my one true lord: Lord Odin.”

He assumed his stance once more.

More distinctly than before.

“Until this life ends. That is my knightly code.”

What expanded outward was a perfect sphere—his sword’s domain.

The absolute range emanated only by those who had awakened to the absolute peak, now turned upon the Earthguard forces.

The troops, overwhelmed by that pressure, fell back and questioned Osiris in trembling voices.

“Th-this domain… Lord Osiris, you don’t mean…”

“Those without resolve shall not pass.”

The knight of loyalty pressed onward.

Even after losing his lord, he upheld the code etched in his heart.