The collision between Don Quixote and Alpha One caused massive damage. Both were wearing the latest high-performance steam suits and just the clash of their weapons generated more destructive power than colliding siege projectiles.

-Crack!

Just from their crossing blades, the trailer of the modified truck they were standing on crumpled. The escort vehicle, designed with additional armor to withstand bombs without damage, was dented merely from the impact of their collision.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Alpha One deflected Don Quixote's heat weapon with his chain sword. Each time, sparks flew and explosions erupted. The driver of the battle truck screamed.

"You crazy bastards! Why are you fighting here?! Everyone, help me!"

Hearing that cry, the Mining Heavy Industry gang members sprang into action.

"Hey, you bastards! Get off our truck!"

"Kill them both!"

The Mining Heavy Industry gang was known for being extremely violent even compared to other gangs. They were able to unite like this because they had created a faith centered around the heavy machinery used in mines.

It was what's known as a cargo cult, and with this intense faith, they could become fearless madmen.

As devotees of heavy machinery, they couldn't tolerate Don Quixote and Alpha One damaging the battle truck during their fight.

The battle truck, regarded as a mobile fortress, was an especially precious resource to them.

"Die, you sons of bitches!!!"

Gang members with hideous facial tattoos aimed their guns and opened fire. Sparks scattered across the suits of Don Quixote and Alpha One, who were locked in a contest of strength.

The latest steam suits couldn't be damaged by such ordinary firearms. But the Mining Heavy Industry gang members didn't stop. Like clothes getting wet in a drizzle, even suits with outstanding durability would eventually develop problems if pounded relentlessly.

Naturally, neither Don Quixote nor Alpha One planned to sit idly by.

[Annoying bugs.]

Alpha One took something from the pouch at his waist and threw it. It was a capsule. As the capsule dissolved in midair, the solidified ether water inside burst out.

With a flashing light, intense cold erupted. Ice spikes bloomed like lotus flowers, piercing through three vehicles.

"Eat this!"

From the opposite side, a vehicle modified from an excavator combined with a tractor approached. The excavator's massive arm spun with momentum and swept across the roof.

"Hup!"

Don Quixote thrust his lance, striking the joint of the excavator. The area touched by the intense heat of the heat weapon couldn't withstand it and burst with a pop. It looked as if a giant rat had instantly gnawed through it.

The excavator arm fell off, severely destabilizing the tractor. Just as the tractor driver was desperately turning the steering wheel trying to maintain control—

-Neigh!

Rocinante charged and rammed into the tractor's side. The massive tractor tilted sideways and collapsed, with gang members tumbling off in all directions.

"Well done, Rocinante!"

[Do you have the luxury to be distracted right now?]

Alpha One, having cleared out all the gang members on the other side, swung his chain sword. The chain sword aimed precisely at Don Quixote's neck. Don Quixote hurriedly raised his shield to block the chain sword.

-Kachak! A gash appeared on the round shield where the chain sword had scraped across. Don Quixote positioned himself behind the shield and thrust his spear.

It was a nimble thrust from behind the shield's cover. However, Alpha One seemed to have anticipated this, slightly turning his body to dodge the thrust.

Beyond that, he even grabbed the shaft of the spear with his arm as it glided past his armpit.

"What!"

[The heat weapon's duration isn't long. Its output has already weakened considerably.]

It was true. The heat weapon's duration wasn't long, and its firepower had diminished considerably compared to the beginning. Enough that Alpha One could confidently grip it with his arm, trusting his suit's durability.

Don Quixote tried to pull out his spear, but it wasn't easy. With a suit of higher output firmly holding it, the shaft didn't budge at all.

[Even if it weren't for the lack of output, did you not realize the vast difference in experience between us?]

Alpha One said this while raising his chain sword. As Don Quixote reflexively raised his shield to block, the trajectory of the chain sword smoothly shifted and slipped beneath the shield.

-Tuck.

Alpha One hooked the sharp link of the chain sword on the edge of the shield, then yanked it sharply. The shield was pulled away effortlessly and flew outside the truck.

Don Quixote, having lost his shield, made a dismayed expression inside his helmet.

[This is the end.]

-Keeeeng!

The chain sword spun fiercely as its output increased. High-voltage current flowed through the crossing steel teeth. Even the latest suit would be in danger before this weapon.

After all, this chain sword was designed to confront superhumans.

"Sir Don Quixote! Duck!"

Hearing the shout from behind, Don Quixote immediately ducked without question. The flying shield that followed struck Alpha One squarely in the face.

Don Quixote quickly grabbed the rebounding shield, then drove it toward Alpha One. Alpha One, caught off guard, took blows to the face and solar plexus and stepped back. The sensors in his helmet fluctuated wildly.

Of course, even while retreating, he didn't forget to swing his chain sword, cutting through the heat weapon from the middle.

[Gah! This bastard!]

Alpha One roughly discarded the severed tip of the lance and glared at David, who had interfered. David, driving a muscle car, once again raised his middle finger at Alpha One.

To be interfered with by that rat not once, but twice. Alpha One felt rage rising to the top of his head.

He took a capsule from his waist and threw it at David.

"Oh no!"

David immediately swerved the steering wheel to the side. He had painfully witnessed the power of that capsule when he saw the gang members being swept away earlier. The capsule exploded around the muscle car, which dodged like a nimble loach, releasing magic.

Light, flames, lightning, and ice exploded in succession like fireworks. David had to grip the steering wheel tightly to avoid losing control of the vehicle.

[This rat-bastard is stubbornly resilient.]

Although parts of the muscle car's exterior armor were stripped away by the magic's power, David was fine. The muscle car itself was sturdy, being what gang executives typically drove, but it was mainly due to David's exquisite driving skills.

For David, this was his first time driving such a high-end vehicle, but his skills were developing at an incredible pace in this extreme combat.

Even accounting for that, his driving skill was beyond common sense. It was because of the mana threads that David had connected to the vehicle.

Normally, these mana threads were a kind of technique used to control automatons. A technique that could be used as long as one knew how to control it properly, no matter how insignificant the amount of mana.

Mana users who enhanced themselves by enveloping their bodies with mana considered this mere struggling of the weak. There was no need to bother controlling mana and drawing it out into fine threads. That was the privilege of the strong.

David was weak. He had escaped from District 49, done all sorts of things, and did whatever it took to survive and succeed. He cherished even these techniques, regarding them as the few talents given to him.

Yes. That's how he survived in the fixer industry and even earned a title.

And now, although he had maintained his knightly duties and trained his body, what brought him to this point was that technique others looked down upon.

'It's possible.'

David felt as if information was flowing into him from the mana threads connected to the vehicle. He could clearly see the inside of the vehicle and everything about how to handle it. From the blueprint to the operating principles, and what results different adjustments would produce.

The technique he had honed since his fixer days had been further strengthened through knight training. This evolved skill was developing at a dazzling speed in the crucible of real combat.

[Annoying bastard!]

Alpha One placed his hand on his back. With a click, the suit armor on his back opened, and a black handle protruded from inside.

When he pulled it out, a shotgun emerged. A pump-action shotgun with two barrels. But such a weapon couldn't possibly be ordinary.

As David predicted, blue light began to emanate from the ends of the barrels. It was a magical engineering weapon that used ether water as energy.

Just as Alpha One was about to pull the trigger, he noticed a shadow cast over his head. Alpha One clicked his tongue and stepped back. Immediately after, Rocinante trampled the spot.

-Boom!

The massive battle truck heaved greatly under Rocinante's landing. The sturdy cargo bed sank inward.

[Captain. Are you alright? I'll come to assist.]

[No, Alpha Team should not leave position. I can handle this myself. Keep your eyes on that cowboy.]

Even amid the chaos, Alpha One didn't forget to be wary of Osian. The restraints on Osian, who had been kept in check by the soldier automatons, had been released.

Unleashed, Osian was swinging his starlight sword, completely destroying the gang vehicles that had been secretly targeting him.

[Vice-captain. Handle it.]

[Understood.]

The magician on top of the vehicle, Alpha Team's vice-captain, who had been spreading magic, focused his target on Osian. With an intense wave of mana, lightning bolts filled one side of the field of vision.

That side was taken care of. Now it was time to deal with this side.

-Neigh!

Rocinante opened its mouth wide and breathed fire.

Alpha One extended his left arm. The back of his gauntlet opened, revealing a blue magic stone inside. The magic stone glowed, spreading a bluish mana barrier.

The flames, blocked by the barrier, split left and right. When the flames subsided, Don Quixote was mounted on Rocinante.

[Do you think riding that makes any difference?]

"It doesn't change anything. What I need to do has always been one thing."

Rocinante jumped down from the truck. Don Quixote went with him. David, who had moved away, quickly approached the truck again.

David was now running alongside the right side of the truck, with Don Quixote on the left.

[No way.]

It was at this moment that Alpha One felt uneasy.

"Sir Don Quixote!"

"I know!"

David and Don Quixote almost simultaneously blew out the front wheels of the battle truck. As the wheels on both sides burst, the truck's massive body sank down. The cargo hold behind couldn't resist the inertia and lurched forward. It was like doing a handstand.

The running super-large battle truck flipped over like it was doing a forward roll. Needless to say, Alpha One, who was riding on top, was thrown off as well.

[This...!]

Even in that situation, Alpha One adjusted his posture in midair and landed safely in the wilderness. After rolling once on the ground to break his fall, Alpha One sprang up and let out a howl at the sight of David and Don Quixote moving away.

[Argh! I'll kill you!]

"I thought we'd dealt with the annoying automaton and gang, but now it's a magician."

Not just any magician, but one employed by a major corporation. One belonging to a unit that handled matters secretly rather than officially.

"To use such a high-nosed, prideful spellcaster like this. I can't even guess how much they're paying him."

It was so absurd that the knight's distinctive tone of belittling magicians came out plainly.

For a fixer, it would probably be a fortune they couldn't earn in a lifetime of hard work.

Most magicians are proud. It's only possible with talent that goes beyond manipulating mana to feeling it and arranging it according to one's will.

As a result, magicians' society is basically structured around relationships with other magicians. It was the sense of entitlement of the privileged class.

Naturally, the level of opponents a magician can be arrogant toward varies with their skill. An average magician would bow their head even at a mid-sized company.

Even so, their lofty pride is never completely bent, making them unsuitable for handling dirty work secretly like this.

Moreover, the one spewing lightning bolts toward us now was, at the very least, on par with the youngest Daver of the Blood Brotherhood.

And that's the Daver with one arm replaced by Tesla Arms.

No matter how big the corporation, having such a magician handle dirty work like this didn't make sense.

'He must have committed deeds so horrible that even fellow magicians would avoid him. Inhumane experiments, or something equivalent. The corporation must have paid bribes to get him out instead.'

Someone who should have rotted in prison for decades was released with bribes and became a corporate dog.

"In any case, it just means there's one more enemy to kill."

The Stigma War Horse accelerated, approaching the SUV the magician was riding in.

"Hey, what do we do about this?!"

"I don't know! Why are you asking me?!"

The two monitors didn't know what to do with Neo, who had stopped functioning. It was natural for them to feel dizzy, as the most important sample they had to track down had suddenly malfunctioned.

"It's an automaton. How can we fix this?"

"Damn it. I know how to handle weapons, but not automatons! Besides, this is an old, cheap model!"

"Hey. How about this? There's an old saying that hitting something broken fixes it."

"What? Are you crazy?"

"We have to try something! Otherwise, we'll be held responsible!"

"Damn it. Let's give it a shot!"

Realizing they'd be in trouble if things continued this way, one monitor approached Neo and struck its head with his hand.

-Thwack!

Neo's head fell off and rolled across the floor.

-Huh?