The time that passed was like a nightmare.
Approaching enemy Object confirmed!
Issue orders for Category 1 Combat Stations.
--Prepare the Baby Magnum to sortie. --Before dawn, the day after
we'd happily gone deer hunting... That's when it came.
This is the real deal!
Look alive, boys!
We're looking at 300 seconds until rated output.
System contact. Starting boot-up sequence.
Running system check.
Power reactor has reached rated output.
System, all green.
Baby Magnum, Milinda Brantini, moving out.
An Object given birth by a world power
known as the Faith Organization.
Based on its unique shape, we called it...
...the Water Strider.
As in, the insect that skates on water.
With massive firepower and extremely thick armor,
in a battle between two Objects,
the first one to achieve an advantageous firing position wins.
So it tends to be a fight for positioning.
Sending data on enemy position and path projections.
Absolutely do not let it get behind you.
Due to that, Objects are endowed with high-speed mobility
that is incongruous with its enormous bulk, but...
It's a game of tag with the mountains between them.
They're both about as fast as the other, too.
We'll just have to gamble on her instincts.
That's right. I should've been quick about remembering it.
The real issue that had the Princess worried.
That a second gen Object, specialized for combat in a specific environment,
exhibits performance far superior to that of a multi-role first gen.
The issue that she might lose.
Baby Magnum is taking fire!
Propulsion unit damaged!
Mobility has been reduced to 12%!
Second wave, incoming!
I thought it was completely over at that point.
But for us, it was that moment...
...that marked the start...
...of the real nightmare.
Hey brother, ready for this fight?
It's go for broke, live or die
ichi kabachu gonna live or die.
To those days of being scared and just coping, bye bye bye
obi e tearu sukosu take no kimini bye, bye, bye.
Don't stop! Plowing through bullets falling thick and fast
Don't Stop! kimi shiki e ru tangan kake wake
Get up! Brilliantly nail that 2-step
Get Up! asaya kare kimero 2-step
Shut Up! Stow that whining and try, try, try
Shut Up! maki moto nan kumimeru shimai konna try, try, try.
Right now, even if everyone and anyone and everything and anything...
i mata remo karemo waremo koremo
Look away and make a break for it
mewo somu kemi kena shite ne
You alone, I'll never abandon
yusu temo shinai kimi temi wai
Let's go, One more chance! Let's change this darn scene
Let's go, One more Chance! kae tearo kono scene
Right now, tens of thousands of times if need be
mana retse na makai demo
It's just about showing that I can overcome
nori koete miseru dake
Overcoming even those tears and that pain
shono nami namo sono mitsa mimo koeteru
Going on to that next, as yet unseen stage
daro mino tsuki no sutejie
That's right, as many times as it takes, one more try!!
sousa naben date one more try!
Let's go, One more chance! Show them that spirit
Let's go, One more Chance! mushi tereo sono spirit
Right now, tens of thousands of times if need be
mana retse na makai demo
I can just crawl my way there
haitsu kubate i kari
We believe, right?!
shin ji ten da ro?!
That pain will someday become strength that's there for someone
moi tami wai tsuka tawa e kai yasu yosari
That's right, we can make it happen, one more try!
sou saka te genzo one more try!
We're not gonna walk away!
The Little Soldiers Who Tie Down Gulliver
The Snowy Deep Winter Battle of Alaska II
Hey...
Why is it aiming at us?
If an Object loses, you raise the white flag and it's over, right?
So, why?
Quit taking your sweet time! Hurry up and raise the white flag already!
This signal...
The white flag?
That's probably it.
This should get that bastard to...
Don't they... hear it?!
It's not as if there's a formal treaty to that effect...
Don't tell me those bastards are ignoring it?!
Run...
Run!
Damn it! White flag, my ass!
They're ignoring it and gunning to keep going!
We have to run or we'll get massacred like a troop of ants!
Send out all the UAVs!
Fly the UAVs and keep it occupied!
...to make it so that monster can't get through!
Destroy the classified data!
I thought we raised the white flag!
But... run where?
Damn it... The way it moves is so creepy.
That Object
is probably fundamentally the same as the Princess's Baby Magnum
and has an electrostatic levitation drive.
So, it can do a minimum of 300 klicks an hour.
And it should be quite a strain to hold up its own weight on those legs,
but thanks to them, slopes and rocky areas pose no problems.
There's nowhere on this battlefield that we can get away from it...
So you're just going to stand there and die?!
Forget all that! Run!
We got... lucky.
Just a little more this way and...
No, it wasn't luck!
They're after the maintenance facilities!
Get away from any vehicles that have to do with Objects!
Or you'll get taken out with them!
We're done for...
Once it wipes out the facilities,
it'll be our turn next.
We're dead...
Why are we alive?
H-Hell if I know.
Never mind that. Let's go.
I don't know what the situation is,
but moving now might be the difference between life and death.
An SOS signal...
It's the Elite Princess.
I get it now. That bastard received this, too, and...
Hey! Blue blood and student!
Run while you can!
One mountain over, there's a big ravine.
Once we cross the suspension bridge,
that giant won't be able to come after us.
There's a chance we can get clear of that thing.
But... the Princess is...
You damn idiot!
What do you think that SOS signal is for?!
That girl is letting the enemy intercept it on purpose!
She's drawing their attention, so that we don't get summarily massacred!
Are you going to let that effort go to waste?!
No way... She's a girl who's about fourteen years old, right?
The sort of girl who'll make herself the decoy to save us, right?
To just abandon her and run?
Are you serious?!
But our only choice is to run!
Either way, that Princess is going to be killed.
In that case, we'd better get away before that Object comes back.
Don't give me that crap! Do you get it?!
In a situation like this where morals have gone out the window,
do you know what'll happen to her if the enemy captures her?!
Then, can you fight against that Object?!
If you could stand up to that monster all by yourself
and rescue the Princess or something, that'd be fantastic!
But can you actually do anything?! Well?!
A person is as good as dust the moment he pops up on the radar.
There's nothing we can do anymore.
Isn't that Princess the one
who's been fighting against monsters like that for us?
Monsters that scare the wits out of grown men,
even when there are this many of us...
Monsters that make us die of shock, just by being in its crosshairs...
To protect us against monsters like that,
she's fought for us all by herself!
Hand it over! Hand over that rifle!
Are you seriously going?
Not like... I have a choice...
Like you believe it?
That if we get across the ravine, we can make good our escape?
It looks like the Princess means to buy us time,
but she probably won't be able to buy enough by herself.
It'll be dicey unless someone goes.
If we want to realistically survive,
instead of passing the buck.
Damn it all. Where the heck am I?
To think that I've been doing this war thing
without even being able to get a fix on my location...
Just how dependent have I been...
Oh, yeah. If I remember right...
Hey, f... nd her. Over here!
That way...
Yeah, right?
Huh. So, this is one of the mighty Elites of the Legitimate Kingdom.
Princess!
Damn it! She's been captured, just like I was afraid of!
The Object isn't here.
Did it go back for maintenance or something?
In other words, if I can do something about those four,
I can save the Princess.
Do something...
As in, use this thing?
Damn it, cut the crap!
I'm on a battlefield here.
I'm in a world where killing is the more natural thing to do.
And we've been foisting off this stuff onto that girl all this time?
That's a human being, man.
Not a paper target.
Just like us. Human beings protected by Objects and spoiled by peace...
Let's test the durability of the mighty Elite's special suit.
Once the Object comes back,
we'll tie up both her wrists and hook her onto it.
We can see if she gets stripped naked or not getting dragged back to base.
Nah, I gotta think she'll be mincemeat by then.
More like, what're you gonna do if she's still alive after that?
Oh, yeah. Come to think of it,
I think the Torture Room guys were saying
that their tools get rusty if they stay unused for long and it's a problem.
the interrogation room, you mean.
So her body'll get tested after her clothes, huh?
Before it gets to that, how about we do some testing first?
Ooh, good idea! Wanna?
Human beings...
Those down there... No, they're not.
Get down!
That should do...
Get down, you idiot!
Prin...cess...
Hey...
Hey.
Qwenthur!
Get up! Hey! Qwenthur!
Quit sleeping! Get up!
Havia, why?
I thought you ran...
Shut up.
You didn't leave me a choice.
But you saved me.
I was about to be turned into mincemeat via grenade.
What about the Elite Princess?
You scored that win like it was nobody's business
and you wiped out those SOBs, so relax.
Sheesh.
Playing the knight when you're just a commoner.
It wasn't like that.
I thought she had to be saved, that's all.
Why?
You're not even an Elite who actually fights in Objects.
You weren't even protected by a thick layer of armor.
Why did you save me?
When, in my heart, I'd been looking down on you people.
That I'm always the one protecting you all...
That without the Object, all you could do was get killed...
Even if I tried to reject those thoughts or tried to be upright about it,
I kept having those terrible thoughts!
So why did you two come all the way out here to save a person like that?!
Terrible thoughts or not...
What you said is all true.
What?
Facing an attack in the flesh, I get it now.
Objects are honest-to-goodness monsters.
Who's the one who's been toughing it out against those monsters,
all this time, all alone?
It doesn't matter anymore, does it?
You don't have to be alone anymore, right?
It's not like we need some grand reason to be doing this.
Same thing with me...
He said that you wouldn't be enough of a decoy on your own.
Putting it that way, he was totally right,
which got my head screwed on straight, that's all.
So, even in playing decoy,
we need to prep something on that scale or we're all dead anyway...
Other than that, well, there's that...
"Not much of a choice" thing.
Now, then, Princess and Sir Knight.
Looks like we won't be able to take it easy for much longer.
Here we go.
You put on a real show, wasting those enemy soldiers with all that gunfire.
They'll be twigging onto it soon and heading this way.
But where?
I saw a cave up ahead here.
If we run in there,
we should be able to get the better of the giant Object for now.
The plasma cannons are targeting us.
They're not firing right away.
Are they still wavering between taking the Princess alive or killing her?
Qwenthur, you're with the engineering corps, right?
Did you bring explosives?
If it's your everyday C4, I've got about 5 kilos.
But it's nothing that'll work against an Object.
Never mind that. Hand it over.
This is...
I knew it! My estimate was right!
She's pretty stacked! Woot! Boobs!
What're you doing, you lucky perv?!
Move towards the back, quick!
What're we doing after that?
If they fire those plasma cannons from the entrance,
we'll be roasted alive no matter how far back we go.
That's what I borrowed your C4 for.
Sorry. We're pushing our luck from the start.
I thought I was dead.
My ears are still messed up.
I'm surprised that didn't blow out my eardrums.
That should do it.
Exploring the cave should occupy them for a while.
Good work.
What about you?
I don't get the sense that they've picked up on our trail, but...
We can hear things once in a while, so I think the Object is still nearby.
The enemy's lost sight of us for the moment, right?
Then, if we just disappear now, we might be able to get away.
Maybe.
But if we do...
Our people fleeing through the mountains will likely get wiped out.
Damn it!
But...
...do you think we can keep playing decoy...
...until they manage to get away?
That'd be the death of us.
The enemy's a monster that even your Object couldn't stand up against.
There's no way we could do something about it on our own.
That was because the device suddenly started activating.
I was occupied with disarming it
when I came under fire again. That's why.
Oh, the classified materials safeguard device.
Huh?
The so-called self-destruct function.
An Object is a mass of classified materials,
so when its various sensors detect that it's been incapacitated,
it's designed to self-destruct.
Thanks for the lecture.
But forget about that.
Right now, how are we going to get away from that monster?
Let's think about that.
Havia,
are you still thinking about just saving your own hide or something?
Even if you survived, you'd be traumatized by it for life.
Huh?!
And besides, even as a noble, you'd be branded a disgrace
and unable to inherit your family's estate,
wouldn't your life be headed straight down the toilet?
Then, what're we going to do? Asshole.
At this rate, it's about whether we die on the battlefield
or we die in our home country.
If we don't like that, we've got no option but to deal with that bastard!
A student studying the design of Objects...
An analyst who looks for a good starting point for an offensive...
And we've got an Elite who can pilot...
What?
Hey, you're kidding, right?
I feel like I kind of know what you're thinking,
but still, you're kidding, right?
I think we've got no choice but to look for it.
A weakness we can exploit in the supposedly unbeatable Object...
I do this all the time, putting myself at last.
itsudatte sou da jibun no koto atoma washi de
Thinking that as long as everyone else is happy everything's okay.
minna ga waratte yorokobu nara sore de jinda te
This isn’t anyone’s fault—things are just happening as they should
dareno sei demo nakute korega atari mai date
That's what i would i always tell myself
sou ikika sete i tanda
I'm not wrong to think this way, I'm not. That's what i always thought.
machi ga tenai machi ga tenai to omotteta noni
doushite konna kizudarake nandarou
But then why have I ended up so bruised and battered?
kimi dake wa nogasazu ni kidzuitetanda ne
You were the only one who noticed, not letting a single detail slip by
oshikoroshitekita kono chiisa na koe o
This tiny voice I’d been keeping subdued all this time
itsu kara darou soba ni itai to omottanda
When was it that I starting feeling I wanted to be by your side?
motsureta kokoro yasashiku hodoku you ni
It feels like my tangled heart is being gently unraveled
sashidasareta sono te no nukumori ni
When I brushed the warmth of that hand you extended to me
fureta toki ni kidzuitanda
It all became clear:
mou hitori janainda te
I’m not alone anymore.
The Little Soldiers Who Tie Down Gulliver
The Snowy Deep Winter Battle of Alaska III