Char Aznable's Golem staggered as a barrage of Phase Disruptor's antimatter bolts hammered into it, causing the venerable shields to crackle. Raking his twin particle beam cannons over the line of Dragoons, Aznable vaporized them even as his machine struggled to remain upright. Already I could see the adamantium, ceramite armor of the Golem beginning to crumple under the onslaught of antimatter bolts.

It wouldn't be long before the venerable Golem fell.

"Fall back!" I shouted. "Aznable, fall back! Tanks of the 1,087th, provide supporting fire! Destroy those Dragoons!"

The vast column of armored vehicles replied with a thundering roar of plasma fury, incinerating the golden walkers and leaving large swathes of molten craters and scorched earth in their wake. Fully half of the remaining Dragoons made use of their incredible mobility to reshuffle their lines and turned to face us, while the other half continued to harass the retreating Golem.

That was it. I was going to call down my own Titan, but I knew that even Matsukaze and his resilient ion shields wouldn't be able to withstand the sheer volume of firepower those shiny quadrupedal walkers could put out.

"Sir! Incoming!"

While the Dragoons pulled back to engage the approaching tanks, hordes of zealots swarmed around the Dragoons, selling their lives dearly to protect the much more valuable walkers. Using themselves as meatshields, the zealots howled with fanatical fury and charged toward the steel line of tanks, heedless of their lives.

I had to admire their courage..or lack of fear. Perhaps it was stupidity, or perhaps it was the effects of Kobayashi's brainwashing, but these men and women were charging armored behemoths with little more than gleaming twin blades or spears.

"My life for Restia!"

"I long for combat!"

"Thus I serve!"

"Honor guide me!"

"For Kobayashi!"

"En taro Kobayashi!"

Even when protected within the armored confines of the super-heavy Savior of Moria, I could still hear the frenzied shrieks and heretical howls of the crazed humans. They tried to hack and slash the tanks with their weapons, but their assault proved ineffective before they were fatally yanked under our unyielding tracks and crushed into a bloody pulp underneath.

But the sheer number of them..there was just too many. Even with our tremendous weight and firepower, we were finding ourselves bogged down by the enemy. Worse, the Dragoons were firing into the tanks, not caring about friendly fire and incinerating even more of their own comrades than we were with our plasma weapons. I saw a tank blow up, the heretics swarming over it screaming as they were immolated by both antimatter bolts and plasma fury of an exploding reactor.

Kobayashi's men were more than willing to sacrifice each other to achieve the total destruction of their enemy.

"Bloody hell," I muttered as I hauled myself out of the command console and into the cupola. There were a few heretics climbing over the tank, screaming obscenities as they slashed and hacked at the tank ineffectually. When they saw me emerge, they let out a cry of bloodlust and scrambled toward me. I drew my bolt pistol from its holster and took aim.

The nearest heretic's head exploded in a shower of blood and gray matter, his headless corpse flopping downward and against his comrades, who callously brushed his dead body aside in their haste to get to me. I took out another, blowing out his heart and lungs, then spun around to shoot a third pointblank in the face.

Then the rest were upon me.

"For the Emperor!" I shouted and drew my Blood Dragon Sword. Activating it by infusing my weapon with my mana, a shimmering power field crackled around the blade. I swung it, eviscerating three heretics in a single stroke, and then reversed my grip to disembowel another enemy who was deluded enough to think he could sneak up upon me.

Spinning my Blood Dragon Sword, I took off the head of another heretic.

"DIE!"

A thickset human soldier bellowed at me as he rushed at me with a broadsword, but I ducked under his swing, which went wide, before I stabbed him in the gut. Planting a foot on his sternum, I kicked him off my tank before turning around to behead his comrade. As blood sprayed the air, I used my magic to gather the blood flowing from my enemies and use it against them. Crimson spears hovered in the air, growing in size as I infused them with the blood hanging suspended in the air or flowing along the hull of my tank in rivulets, and then peppered the encroaching human soldiers, spearing them where they stood and pinning their flopping bodies to the ground.

My bolt pistol barked and another heretic dropped dead. Using my other hand, I swung my Blood Dragon Sword, discouraging another Kobayashi devotee from getting near. As he wisely retreated, he was then skewered by a blood spear that happened upon his path of escape. His comrades tried to shove past him, but they were also run through by a barrage of red spears that sprang from his blood, the leaking fluid shapeshifting and leaving his body like bullets.

"I'm leaving the Savior of Moria to you, Lieutenant Jurgen," I told my aide, and then slammed the hatch of the cupola down, sealing it. Wading through the blood and dead, I cut my way through the massed cultists..I mean, humans, and advanced toward the Dragoons. Glancing at the heavens, I shouted, "now, Matsukaze!"

An explosion resounded in the air and my Titan crashed down, leveling a huge cluster of human soldiers and flattening them under his weight and shimmering dome shield. Slicing my way through a hapless group of warriors who bowled into me, bellowing in impotent rage and zealous fury, I dashed toward Matsukaze.

"Sir! Don't be reckless!"

"Don't worry. The pilot is the true dominant force on the battlefield," I assured Daniel as I rushed past the mob of howling humans, skewering them with more blood spears from the fluids of my dead enemies and accumulating yet more ammunition for my formidable spells. On the battlefield, a vampire who could manipulate blood magic was near invincible, unless he faced a hero, or an army with long-ranged, overwhelming firepower.

Which aptly described the Dragoons.

The golden walkers were now moving up to target me with their Phase Disruptors, ignoring my tank squadrons for now. They must have identified me, or they wouldn't be so desperately bombarding me. It wasn't because I was the largest threat – my tanks were vaporizing and shelling large numbers of them even as they threw everything they had my way. It was clear they held a vendetta against me. Or they recognized the blow they would deal to my men's morale if they succeeded in taking me out, which would be worth the losses they took.

It was unfortunate, but I wasn't planning on dying at all.

Diving past the fusillade of antimatter bolts, I managed to skid right into the shimmering, protective dome-shield of my Titan. Matsukaze rose to his feet and seized me just before I could accidentally skid out of the dome-shield, and put me into his cockpit. Holographic images flickered to life inside, illuminating the darkened chamber.

"Holy Morten.." I muttered when I glanced at the minimap in one of the holographic screen. It was just flooded with red icons that marked the enemies' location. There had to be literally thousands of them. Even though we had killed so many..

My men are right. We'll run out of power and ammunition before we can wipe out the entire enemy army!

Gritting my teeth, I had Matsukaze rear up, drew his broadsword and trampled dozens of soldiers underneath his feet as I dashed forward. Swinging the katana, I cleaved scores of human soldiers into pieces and then conjured spells with their blood to deliver a barrage of crimson spears into their tightly packed ranks. Evading the Phase Disruptors of the Dragoons, I dodged their relentless barrage and closed in on them.

Still too far..

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I swung the katana and unleashed an arc wave that pulverized both human soldiers and sent two Dragoons scattering. Recognizing the threat my Titan posed, zealots began to swarm between me and my mechanized targets, trying to tarpit my Knight and lock him in combat. They were bubble-wrapping the Dragoons and selling their lives as meatshields so that the more powerful walkers could fire at vital targets unimpeded.

"My life for Restia!"

"For Kobayashi!"

"En taro Kobayashi!"

Howling stubbornly, the devout zealots hammered and scratched at my Titan, but were unable to break past the glimmering, stalwart shields that enveloped him. I merely flattened them under my mecha's Titanic Feet like roadkill, leaving a bloody trail in my wake.

But there were still so many of them, and they were literally pushing back my tanks with sheer numbers.

Just before we were about to be overrun, my vox burst to life.

"Colonel Tanaka! This is the 1st Morian Heavy Mechanized Infantry. We're here to reinforce you!"

"..huh?"

I watched dumbly as my auspexes registered multiple newcomers appearing within range. Descending from above like angels of death, dwarves clad in mechanical armor comparable to my mecha but half the size crashed down into the midst of the human infantry, trampling them underfoot with the sheer impact.

The Elementals. King Hedol and Belisarius had kept their word and constructed these mini-Titans in time. The miniature mechas were now streaming into the battlefield, using their sheer bulk to flatten and hammer hapless human soldiers into oblivion. As the zealots attempted to swarm over the Elemental wearing dwarves and drag them down under the sheer volume of attacks, the Elementals closed ranks and formed an impenetrable wall of steel.

Raising their gauntlets, they unleashed blazing gouts of promethium, dousing the screaming human soldiers with flame and setting them alight. Immolated, the human warriors flailed and crashed about, slowing being reduced into ashes and cinders. Now, their numbers worked against them, the flames spreading rapidly like wildfire and surging across the soldiers. Pressed in against each other, the vast majority were unable to escape the hellfire and were incinerated by the funnel-shaped inferno that billowed throughout their tightly clustered ranks. Even as they fought to escape, they only succeeded in getting in the way of each other.

The armored suits of Elementals formed an unbreakable line and marched onward, still spewing hot, fiery death from their gauntlets and incinerating the fleeing human soldiers. No longer hindered by the mass of bodies that pressed against them, my tanks surged forward again, unimpeded. Adding to the artificial inferno that the Elementals generated, they unleashed a barrage of plasma that disintegrated both infantry and walkers alike.

The Dragoons no longer concentrated their fury on them. Facing imminent annihilation now that their infantry meatshields were obliterated, they turned their Phase Disruptors on the newly arrived Elementals.

Unlike my larger Titan, the Elementals did not possess impenetrable armor or glimmering shields of pure force. Though nigh unvulnerable to mere blade, sword and spear, they were still susceptible to the antimatter bolts and heavy weaponry. A trio of them vanished, parts of their vaunted ceramite armor simply ceasing to exist.

However, my tanks retaliated with a barrage of plasma, disintegrating scores of the dwindling golden wallkers. Without their hordes of infantry to protect them, even the formidable Dragoons were not able to withstand the fury of my Malthas Executioner tanks.

And there was still the venerable Hellblade Savior of Moria backing them up with enormous firepower and chewing through their numbers with apocalyptic fury. Grinding hapless infantry underneath its adamantium tracks, it unleashed a thunderous roar as it vaporized another score of Dragoons and soldiers with its main cannon.

I couldn't let them have all the fun. Flooring the accelerator, I plunged into the lines of Dragoons and crushed them with Titanic Feet as well as cleaved them apart with Matsukaze's katana. Whirling around, I unleashed a crackling arc wave that stunned the mechanical wallkers. While the electric field immobilized them and blurred their sight, I seized the opportunity to trample them with my Titanic Feet or cut them apart.

"For Kobayashi!"

Montka shuffled forward in his lead Dragoon, his thin, emaciated body still encased within a cracked chassis. I snuffed him out with a single stab, the katana piercing the sarcophagus and obliterating his body in one blow. Yanking out my katana, I kicked the ruined walker away and turned to face the remaining ones.

There weren't many left.

While I advanced upon the final few Dragoons, I noted the broken, wasted corpses hanging out of wrecked chassis and ruptured sarcophagi. Inwardly, I wondered if I had actually saved those crippled warriors by liberating them from the eternal torment of having their ruined bodies imprisoned within a war machine instead of being granted a blissful death. Their loyalty to their False Emperor was certainly commendable, but I couldn't tell if it was truly loyalty from their hearts, or false fealty forged by the effects of Kobayashi's brainwashing.

A ragged cheer rose from the garrison. Captain Dante Infernius's knights had repelled the invaders there as well, and they were just in time to see us routing the army. There was still quite a lot of infantry left, but the Dragoons had been decimated. Now that I had taken out their commander..

"!"

A klaxon flashed, bathing my cockpit in red light. Swerving away, I managed to evade a lightning dragon that attempted to chew through my Titan. A second lightning dragon struck my swaying Matsukaze, but I slammed my foot down on the pedal and disappeared into the quantum dimension with phase dash.

That attack..!

I recognized that attack from anywhere. Straightening up my mecha as I emerged back into reality, I caught sight of Suzuki Shirou. He was standing in front of a new row of gleaming Dragoons, his hands on his hips.

There was something about his posture that bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Not until I realized something was missing.

Where is his spear?

As if on cue, something struck Matsukaze. A golden spear, wreathed in destructive lightning, drilled through the protective shields that embraced Matsukaze aand gouged a huge hole in the Titan. Crashing to a knee, Matsukaze trembled from the catastrophic damage.

"Critical damage. Advise: eject."

"What the fuck?!"

In just one attack, Suzuki had reduced the health of Matsukaze from nearly full to a doomed state, the once blue bars now rendered a deadly yellow and black.

Suzuki smirked as he retrieved his spear, but he wasn't done yet. He pointed it at my damaged Titan and unleashed a devastating bolt of lightning that tore through the ruined chassis, further sealing its death.

I ejected from Matsukaze before the next lightning bolt obliterated him. As I hung suspended in the air, Suzuki launched himself at me. Rearing his arm back, he thrust his spear to stab me in the heart. I drew my Blood Dragon Sword to deflect it, but he swung his spear around and struck me with such force that despite parrying it, I was flung across the air and sent crashing back down to earth. An explosion of soil and dirt engulfed me as I slammed into the ground, boring a slight crater from the tremendous impact.

If it weren't for my Redwood jacket, that landing would have shattered the bones in my body. As it was, I was only slightly bruised.

That said, even if he broke all my bones in that attack, I would simply have regenerated from that injury.

I didn't want to rely on Regeneration too much, though. While I was busily regenerating and healing my injuries, Suzuki would surely seize the chance to attack me and finish me off. I wasn't the type to take such insurmountable risks.

"Huff.."

Coughing, I staggered to my feet and wiped the trickle of blood from my mouth. Holding my Blood Dragon Sword in both hands, I glanced up and watched the strolling Suzuki, who casually twirled his spear as he grinned.

"As expected of Tanaka. You survived my first few attacks."

"What, are you resorting to sneak attacks now?" I grumbled. Suzuki sniggered.

"Well, attacking you head-on is boring. This is the third time we're fighting. You probably already know how to counter my strikes by now."

I sighed. "You give me far too much credit."

"Not at all." Suzuki's smirk grew. "You're the only one worth fighting in this godforsaken world. Other than Kobayashi himself, I mean. None of the other heroes or even any of the demons pose much of a challenge. Other than the strongest nine Demon Lords, I mean. But.." he glanced in the direction of Lilith Scarlet. "I've a feeling I'll have to get through you first if I want to fight them."

"You're not mistaken."

"Then let's settle this as quickly as possible!"

With a gleeful cry, Suzuki launched himself at me. I could barely deflect his spear thrusts and slashes in time. Forced onto the defensive, I parried, defended and blocked desperately, doing my best to avoid the lethal strikes that Suzuki was delivering with perfect precision. Lightning billowed out from him, occasionally scorching my flesh or paralyzing my limbs, but I resisted the destructive electricity as much as I could.

Fortunately, my Adaptive Mutation was kicking in and allowing me to be a bit more resistant to lightning, so as time went on, Suzuki's magic became less and less effective. Even so, I wasn't ever going to be completely immune to it.

I didn't have to be. It was enough to be able to exchange several hundred blows with him. We clashed and fought, our blades colliding and sending sparks flying across the battlefield. The impacts from our exchange were so tremendous that it actually split the earth and shattered the ground. Lightning and darkness flickered and flashed across us and we furiously engaged each other in vicious combat, striking and slashing and parrying. I attempted to bombard Suzuki with blood spears that I accumulated from the life-fluids of the dead lying in the battlefield, making use of all the blood that had been spilled here, but those spears vaporized when they came within meters of Suzuki's intense lightning. In retaliation, Suzuki tried to electrocute me with webs of lightning, but my Redwood jacket held those currents at bay, and those that trickled past its twelve layers of protection simply fizzled out thanks to my Adaptative Mutation special ability.

In the distance, I could see the indomitable wall of tanks and Elementals clashing against the formidable line of Dragoons. Even Aznable's Golem had rejoined the fray, unleashing blasts of particle beams and tearing apart the Dragoons. The humans were taking horrendous casualties, but for every dozen Dragoons or hundred infantry decimated, I was losing a valuable tank or a squad of Elementals. The enemy had numbers. We didn't.

We would never win in a war of attrition.

"Not paying attention, are you?!"

Growling, Suzuki hammered me with a swing that sent me skidding backward. Lightning scattered and danced around me, probing my defenses for a way in before dissipating harmlessly. Panting, I raised my Blood Dragon Sword.

"We can't have that," Suzuki sneered as he pointed his spear at me. "Your opponent is me. Stop worrying about your subordinates. If you want to save them, you can only do so after you've defeated me in combat."

His grin widened.

"But that's assuming you can beat me, of course."

I didn't rise to the bait. There was little point in falling for cheap provocations. Instead, I calmed myself with a deep breath and readjusted my stance.

Suzuki looked a little annoyed that I wasn't entertaining him, so he unleashed a bolt of lightning instead. I slashed it with my Blood Dragon Sword, destroying it, but it turned out to be a feint. Suzuki was diving upon me, his spear glowing with destructive electricity.

"Lightning Dragon!" he shouted gleefully.

Several lightning dragons materialized and crashed down upon my position. I tried to duck, but there were too many of them. Gritting my teeth, I called upon summons of my own.

"Guys! I'm leaving these to you!"

A dozen zombie dragons emerged into reality and roared. Black flames spewed from their jaws and consumed the lightning dragons. The golden serpentine behemoths leaped back, growling, and engaged this new threat. The two hordes of dragons slammed into each other, grappling, slashing and biting. They fought, tearing gouges across the battlefield and unleashing devastating energies of lightning and death across the ruined landscape.

"Ha ha ha ha! As expected of Tanaka! You're truly the best!"

Suzuki was actually delighted by the appearance of my zombie dragons. Guffawing, he hurled himself at me once more, his spear wreathed in lightning.

"Come! Let us slaughter each other to our hearts' content! One way or another, we're going to settle our duel today!"

A gigantic pillar of lightning descended from the heavens and crashed down on me. I clenched my teeth and gripped the hilt of my Blood Dragon Sword tightly before swinging it and unleashing a massive Shadow Lunar Fang. The black, crescent-shaped energy collided with the colossal beam of lightning and exploded in a mixture of golden and black flames.

"Huff..huff.."

"Oh, come on. You can't be tired only after twenty minutes of combat, right? We still have several hours ahead of us!"

I spun around just in time to parry his spear. But Suzuki deftly ducked under my counterattack and kicked me in the midriff, sending me flying.

Spluttering as blood dripped from my mouth, I stabbed the ground with my Blood Dragon Sword and skidded to a stop. I took a deep breath and shakily stood up, raising my weapon and pointing it at him.

"You're right," I murmured as I wiped the trickle of blood from my mouth. "It's time to finish this."

"Indeed!" Suzuki whooped as he thrust his spear forward, releasing a titanic beam of lightning. I closed my eyes briefly before I cleaved his spell apart with my Blood Dragon Sword and then retaliated with a rain of blood spears.

Chortling, Suzuki jumped back and swung his spear, emanating an arc wave of lightning that disintegrated the blood projectiles.

"More! More!" he shouted.

"Boss!" Nishida Kensuke yelled from a distance, trying to stay within safety as enormous machines of war clashed between him and Suzuki. The demonic swordsmith had followed his leader to the battlefield, but clearly didn't have any intention to fight. "Be careful! That Blood Dragon Sword isn't any normal weapon!"

"Tell me something I don't know," Suzuki snarled. "And who cares? If you're the one who made it and Tanaka's the one who's wielding it, then all the more this is a battle I must indulge myself in! Stop nagging!"

"Yes, boss. But be careful. There's more to the Blood Dragon Sword than what meets the eye. If Tanaka has truly mastered it.."

"Oh?" Suzuki raised an eyebrow. "You mean Tanaka can get even more powerful than right now? Then should we postpone this duel and wait for him to master his sword?"

I snorted. "There's no need for that."

Suzuki grinned deviously, his eyes flickering to my Blood Dragon Sword. "Heh..you sound like you've already mastered it."

"Indeed I have."

Raising my Blood Dragon Sword in my right hand and holding it parallel to the ground, I infused it with all of my mana. The steel blade turned crimson, throbbing in a terrifying manner as massive amounts of mana swirled around it. The battlefield became saturated with blood in an instant, a red mist permeating my surroundings.

Taking a deep breath, I uttered a single incantation to release the true form of my treasure weapon.

"Bankai."