Clockwork Planet - Volume 03 Read online

  Prologue – 06:05 – Reviver

  In conclusion.

  —The universe had gone rampant right from the beginning.

  Before we could stand by ourselves on this world, we were wailing when we were born into this world.

  We kept screaming, hollering, I’m right here, fearing the surrounding unknown and threats, dragging our weak bodies as we struggled, racking our brains as we wondered how to survive.

  Where did we come from—

  —And where will we go?

  During this process, we created God out of our fear and cowardice, crafted philosophy as a means to obtain distilled rationality, and discovered mathematics as tools for deductions.

  Tentatively, little by little, we created our own history.

  …During this process, the world ended several times.

  What was once a flat land became a sphere. Us, who were once the center of the universe, now revolve around the sun. Humans discovered the law of universal gravitation, learned how to fly in space, came up with the 5 forces that form the world, and finally, relied on logic, deduction, and the throne of the divine truth.

  We used wisdom, languages and violence, shed tears of blood, repeatedly indulged in delight, fury, sadness, and the countless numbers of annoyance, pain, and trauma—

  Again and again, we rebuilt our world.

  Again and again, we rewrote our history.

  Again and again, we extended our lifespans.

  However, everything ended in futility.

  On that day, that time, that instance, it all vanished in a fleeting bubble.

  On the day the Earth was destroyed, the world ended, and the universe ended up that way.

  And—when humanity realized the truth.

  Our footprints were all wasted. The meandering process of pain and suffering was merely a foolish misunderstanding. The understanding we worked so hard to accumulate was merely a worthless speckle.

  Humanity, on the cusp of obtaining the truth, was sent back to the primal age.

  This universe was merely a toy box to God.

  And it was proven that we are merely ignorant babies.

  However—we still had to feel doubt.

  If this world, filled with all sorts of ambiguity, uncertainty, irrationality, and paradoxes, was just for God’s amusement.

  Does this world, which we live on, really exist?

  And so, 1000 years later…

  ●

  In the sky above Grid Akihabara.

  20 airplanes glided past the sky.

  The turbines rumbled the atmosphere, the fighter jets out letting out shrill sonic booms from their springs, and they were practically steel Pretodacyls.

  They were the 7th squadron affiliated to the Tokyo ‘military’, piloting the 7th generation of fighter jets.

  —Commonly known as the Sakeshitsu Team.

  The strongest aerial fighting corps the Multiple Grid Tokyo ‘Military’ had.

  These 20 fighter jets took off from Grid Yokohama, and were headed for Akihabara.

  They had only one mission objective,

  “—Destroy the unknown massive weapon that appeared in Grid Akihabara.”

  “Eat shit and die.”

  Inside the machine that was flying through the sky at supersonic speed.

  Leading his squadron was Flight Lieutenant Sakeshitsu, and he muttered upon hearing the order that came from the transmission.

  He was suddenly woken up in the wee hours, and was ordered to be on standby for combat. He finally got the permission to launch when dawn broke—only to find that it was some unknown massive weapon.”

  “AWACS. If you’re so sleepy, how about I spank your ass with a few Attackers?”

  This man was infamous for being impatient.

  He gave his threat through the communicator in a half-joking manner, only to be met with a curt reply,

  “Do watch your language, Lieutenant, this is an official order.”

  “Shit’s supposed to come out from the ass.”

  “To repeat myself, Lieutenant, this is an official order. The 7th squadron is to quickly destroy the massive unknown weapon that appeared in Grid Akihabara, codenamed ‘Earth Spider’ for now.”

  Haa— Flight Lieutenant Sakeshitsu snorted, and guffawed.

  “Are you an idiot? No, you definitely are one. You’re actually thinking of me as one.”

  “Lieutenant.”

  “Hey, idiot, you hear me? I don’t know what that Earth Spider is, but that monster suddenly appeared in the middle of Tokyo? Did the capital guards wank enough to fall asleep or something?”

  “The capital guards were all wiped out.”

  Upon hearing the AWACS answer, Lieutenant Sakeshitsu went silent.

  Following that, visual data from the communicator was sent to all the pilots.

  The images that appeared in the sight—included a mechanical spider massive enough to trample buildings, and flames spewing everywhere in the middle of Akihabara. This caused all the pilots to groan.

  “All pilots, be warned. As you can see, this threat is real. If Grid Akihabara is destroyed, it can be said that Tokyo—or even Japan itself, will be destroyed. All hands to battle stations!”

  “…”

  “Also, Lieutenant Sakeshitsu, you are to appear in court once the operation is over. Are you looking forward to it?”

  “—Well yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

  If they could return alive, that is.

  The snide remark was about to sprout out of the throat, and Lieutenant Sakeshitsu barely managed to swallow it down.

  As the squadron leader, he could not be saying this when his subordinates could hear him through the reverberation communicator.

  Feeling extremely vexed, Lieutenant Sakeshitsu slammed his fiist onto the canopy.

  An unknown massive weapon suddenly appeared in the middle of the capital? Surely it was something to laugh about.

  Such a massive thing actually existed in the underground without anyone knowing? If he was to really think such words were convincing, he should have first blown up his head that was full of shit.

  They already knew—or at the very least, the ‘higher ups’. However, what was their reason?

  If not, why was it that they gave the unknown enemy a ‘codename’, rather than call it ‘target’, and explain the objective…!

  —It’s obvious The Lieutenant gritted his teeth, almost gnashing them to bits.

  The capital squadron assaulted it when Grid Akihabara was attacked.

  —And they failed. Was it part of the plan? Or did something go wrong? Either way…

  (Either way, we’re just cleaning up the shit from a shitting bastard here…!)

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu quietly yelled.

  It was just an intuition—yet an analysis that couldn’t be any closer to the truth.

  The capital guards were not weak soldiers, and they were not forces that were easily expendable.

  A lot of the budget and highly intensive training was splurged upon them to protect Tokyo, and they were the strongest fighting force amongst the country ‘military’.

  Now, this battalion was wiped out—as shown on the visual beforehand. There was nary a scratch on the enemy.

  (So those damned politicians got terrified and left the dirty work to the air force.)

  —Way too ridiculous.

  If that side fails, come to us—that trail of thought was not only shallow, if anyone was to really think the situation could be dealt with as it was, they would be hopeless idiots.

  The capital guards had many weapons with Resonance Cannons mounted upon them.

  The anti-land weapons, in theory the stro
ngest, could not deal a single dent on it. This showed that the enemy had defensive capabilities far beyond that, or some sort of nullifier mechanism.

  They could not tell what that was, but there was something they could conclude.

  That even if they were to expend all the Attacker guided missiles on this jet, the chances of an effective assault was basically—

  “We’re reaching our target. All hands, prepare for combat!”

  “…Understood.”

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu answered the AWACS, and let out a sigh.

  —Let’s just follow orders. It’s a soldier’s responsibility. But—

  The higher-ups announced that the enemy had an unknown number of weapons, cannons, and the range was unknown. In that case—he quickly sneered.

  He grabbed the microphone at his mouth, and informed all his forces.

  “Storm One to all units. Formation Delta—’Burst and Run’.”

  This formation was used for the worst possible scenario, to avoid all units from being caught in the enemy’s range.

  —To charge in from the maximum range possible, fire all the weapons, and run—in response to that order, the AWACS yelled.

  “Lieutenant!? You are not given that order for such an operation!! Acting on your own is—.”

  “—Operation? If ‘Shooting down this mysterious Earth Spider’ is called an operation, I’ll just give orders as to how we’re going to do it! If you want to see a show, at least shut that damn mouth up!!”

  He would at least follow the orders. That was his responsibility as a soldier. However—

  He had a duty beyond that—to avoid any senseless waste of life by avoiding useless battles of attrition.

  “You hear me? All units, obey my command. I shall bear responsibility.”

  “Lieutenant!”

  The AWACS yelled, but the subordinates ignored that, answering,

  “Storm Two here, understood. All units, Formation Delta.”

  With this command given, “understood” all the units answered, and proceeded to get into position.

  “7th squadron…! All of you…!”

  An agitated yell could be heard from the AWACS unit, but suddenly—

  The signal was cut off.

  At the same time, an explosion came from the AWACS flying above their heads.

  “Wh-what’s going on here!? Are you—”

  “Y-you got to be kidding…they blew up the AWACS!?”

  Before more of them could be rattled, at a place far to the front of Lieutenant Sakeshitsu—

  The Sonar caught a major reaction, and he clicked his tongue, growling,

  “All hands, evasive maneuvers and scatter, and escape at the maximum speed possible using your after burners—we’re in the enemy’s range!!”

  “U-understood—”

  The units could not hear their anxiety as they followed their leader’s instruction, turning back greatly.

  However, even Lieutenant Sakeshitsu himself was left rattled.

  (They blew up the AWACS first—? Those shitty bastards…)

  —The enemy shot down the AWACS that was 20,000m above the planes, beyond the range of the Attackers.

  The intent was obvious.

  It was meant to be a clear taunt to all units entering the range…

  The lieutenant withstood the tremendous G-force, and flew back with the other units, and the winds caused by the turbines—were ignited.

  “!!”

  The impact caused by the maximum speed, Mach 5 burst, created a massive pressure that practically crushed his consciousness with the pilot. And while he gritted his teeth, right in front of him was—

  A unit that completed its turn and ignited its afterburners. It got blown up.

  Having witnessed this, the elites of the 7th squadron widened their eyes.

  “Storm 3 was shot down! I repeat! Storm 3 was shot down!”

  “Wh-what happened!? What shot it—”

  Screams of agony rang through the communicator—and they were cut off. Flashes appeared in front of them.

  The squadron evaded and retreated at maximum speed, only to be shot down, and Sakeshitsu gnashed his teeth, yelling,

  —How the hell do I know, damn it!

  The attack came from beyond the maximum range of the Attacker missiles—beyond 18,000m—

  It managed to accurately shoot down the AWACS that’s 20,000m above us? And flying objects maneuvering at hyper sonic? Such a ridiculous Aerial Defense System—No, it was still impossible for a weapon with multiple functions.

  The reality remained however that Sakeshitsu’s units were being shot down one by one.

  They could not dodge, let alone shoot back, and were being plummeted—and then…

  He had a ridiculous instinct.

  “—Damn it!”

  Sakeshitsu followed his gut instinct without hesitation, forcefully removed the limit at the front of the plane, and pushed the control stick forward.

  The nose of the plane sank, and it sank straight downwards.

  He did this while removing the limiter. Normally, this was not something to be done—it was a forbidden maneuver.

  The tremendous stress from the ‘Minus G’ caused the blood to gather in the head, and his vision was dyed red for an instance.

  —That was a phenomenon known as ‘Red out’, one that would normally kill a pilot. However—

  “—…!!!”

  A tremendous impact grazed past the top of his unit immediately afterwards, proving that the ridiculous instinct was correct.

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu managed to dodge ‘some sort of an attack’ that closed in from behind.

  The moment he realized this, he adjusted the machine back to its balanced position—ignoring the shrilling agony of the intense migraine.

  “You got to be kidding! I’m flying at 5 times the speed of sound! —I can’t see anything!!”

  —He was attacked in the back while flying at Mach 5.

  An attack that ignored the distance caused by the Mach 5 relative velocity?

  —There was no doubt. It was a ‘Cannon Strike’.

  The speed and precision were abnormal, unbelievable, utterly ridiculous— it was a ‘magic bullet’.

  “Storm One to all units! Abandoned your machines and ‘bailout’—right now!!”

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu wiped into the communicator.

  The cannon shot was so fast, it was unable to distinguish a maneuver approaching Mach 5—a speed of 1650m per second.

  Against such a thing, all their units would be shot down before they escaped the range…

  “U-understood!”

  Upon affirming the responses of all the surviving forces that proceeded to bailout—

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu too pulled the lever at his feet slowly.

  “…!”

  His seat, along with the canopy, were ejected.

  —The bailout occurred in hypersonic speed flight. While he was about to pass out from the tremendous impact above the canopy, the Lieutenant gave a heinous glare to afar.

  Not at the targeted Grid Akihabara,

  —But at where the National Diet Building was at—Grid Kasumigaseki.

  “You shitty politicians! Just what exactly are you guys attacking…!”

  Just when Lieutenant Sakeshitsu howled furiously.

  —It appeared that they were all waiting for the complete annihilation of the 7th squadron.

  Numerous lights glided past the sky, striking Grid Akihabara. That sight caused the Lieutenant to sneer.

  —Ahh, now that the capital guards and the air force failed, we’ll now—as usual, those were shallow thoughts.

  Sited at the apex of Mount Fuji was the capital defense cannon—an extremely long-ranged, mass particle fixed cannon that gave a glint.

  The ‘Amano Mihashira (Heaven’s Pillar)’—the anti-air ace meant to protect the core of the Multiple Grid Tokyo.

  Upon the said, Flight Lieutenant Sakeshitsu felt extremely furious, and beyond
that—he sneered.

  “I guess those useless politicians…already came up with what they wanted to say next.”

  While descending with the opened parachute, he was almost convinced.

  —Numerous lights ripped through the sky. However, perhaps that was—

  Lieutenant Sakeshitsu too pulled the lever at his feet slowly.

  “…!”

  His seat was ejected out of the window along with the canopy.

  —It was a bailout in mid-hypersonic flight. While his consciousness was about to pass out from the intense impact from above the canopy, the Lieutenant glared heinously at a target afar.

  He was not eyeing Grid Akihabara.

  —But at where the National Diet Building was built on, Grid Kasumigaseki.

  “You politicians!! What exactly are you attacking now…!!?”

  While he was bellowing furiously,

  —It appeared that they were waiting for the entire 7th squadron to be wiped out.

  Countless flashes fizzled past the air, striking Grid Akihabara. This scene caused Lieutenant Sakeshitsu to laugh mockingly.

  —Ahh, now that the Capital’s security teams and air forces have failed, we’ll then—that was quite a shallow way of thinking.

  Those lights were from the Capital’s Defense Cannon—located at the top of Mount Fuji, a gigantic fixed artillery with massive range.

  It was the anti-air trump protecting the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’, the core of the Multiple Grid, Tokyo.

  Such a scene left Lieutenant Sakeshitsu with something beyond hatred—a sneer.

  “Those incompetent politicians…I guess they prepared their lines?”

  He had a feeling of near conviction as he descended, his parachute opened.

  —Numerous flashes skidded past the sky. However, it was likely that they—

  …

  ●

  —The dim, cramped space continued to tremor weakly.

  It was a room with a low-ceiling, extending to the sides. The walls were plastered with numerous monitors, and the scaffolding-styled floor was littered with thick glass tubes. Blueish white flashes would appear in the tubes from time to time.