Chapter 151

　　They met the opposing side on a flat, open plain of barren earth. The type of terrain revealed everything for miles in all directions. The ground had some remnants of scrub trees that had stubbornly clung to life until finally succumbing to the hostile environment.

　　Argyle`s Titans flew in an arrowhead formation in a slow and leisurely fashion. They didn`t want to startle the other Titans with a sudden flight in their direction. Patrick was in the lead in Sovereign, its golden body distinctive in the midday sun.

　　Kal and Mare followed up in the rear, with Katherine flanking them.

　　It took nearly an hour of low flying to reach their destination, where the opposing Titans were waiting for them.

　　There were six in total, as disparate and unique as the Ducal Houses who Piloted them. Kal was familiar with the Titans from the briefing with Argyle.

　　The first was a hulking behemoth. Towering over the others, it reached nearly one hundred and fifty feet high. With its thick, weighty armour and impenetrable shields, it was a stalwart defender of House Sairon. It held a hammer in its hands, a dull piece of metal with a large, square head.

　　Coloured in a dark grey with bright red bands around the legs, arms and waist, its head was beastlike and resembled the bear it had been named after.

　　Ursa, the Brutality Indomitable.

　　Piloted by the granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sairon, whom Kal had never met, he only knew her from the briefings. Only forty years of age, the young woman was apparently a traveller who spent much of her time visiting planets in their sector and studying local plant life.

　　It was strange to think of an intellectual Piloting such a vicious and barbaric Titan.

　　The next Titan was from Naice, and Kal was familiar with both its Pilot and the Titan. Naice had supported Kal`s father during the Rebellion, and they had never truly recovered. Unlike Kal, Duchess Naice had avoided imprisonment for supporting Kal`s father by virtue of not having been born during the rebellion.

　　Her entire family had died in the conflict, and she had been created from the samples provided by her parents for the artificial breeding pods. The Emperor would never allow a Ducal Bloodline to become extinct.

　　Their Titan was strange. It seemed to lack any kind of armour, and its frame was thin and barren of any adornment aside from a long sash around its neck with the symbol of Sairon on it. Painted white and a vibrant purple, the Titan was unarmed.

　　What made the Titan odd wasn`t its lack of armour but its large headpiece on its head. It stretched for dozens of feet on each side, elaborate and colourful with thousands of bead-like orbs, each about a foot wide and no two similar in colour. Each glowed in the sunlight.

　　Luminous, the Incandescent Brilliance.

　　The Titan was Piloted by Duchess Naice herself, one of the only Titans amongst them to be controlled directly by the head of a Ducal House, along with Mare and Kal.

　　Despite supporting Caledon during the Rebellion, Kal had never met the Duchess directly, but he had known her parents. They were as detestable as his own father had been. He could only assume the Duchess was no different.

　　The third was recognizable to everyone. Piloted by the Earl of Praxis and owned by the House Carmicheal, it had developed a reputation for carnage and bloodshed over the past two years. Even though it was only used sparingly, the Titan had carved its way through Argyle`s armies, and only the fear of another Titan interceding had kept it in check.

　　Prometheus, The Cleansing Flame.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

　　It glowed crimson and silver in the sunlight as it stood at the forefront of the other group. It was clear that Praxis was their leader at this gathering. It its hands, the flaming whip curled on the ground at its feet, setting patches of the sparse scrub alight.

　　Samira had sent their Duchesses cousin as their Pilot, a man who had fought in the rebellion against Caledon and their aligned houses as a teenager. Over five centuries old, both Praxis and Yanis Samira had fought for the Emperor on the same side.

　　If today came to conflict, the pair would work well together.

　　Samira`s Titan was one that Kal didn`t know much about. It was another strange sight, different from most other Mobile Suits. It was as tall and bulky as Sovereign, roughly one hundred and twenty feet, and colored an ugly greenish colour.

　　Bizarrely, the Titan was a hunchback. It leaned awkwardly, with its head pushed forward by a massive hunch on its back. Black, spear-like spikes jutted out from its hump, pointing dozens of feet into the sky. There were thousands of them, making the rear of the Mech look almost like a porcupine.

　　It lacked weapons of any kind, its arms hung low by its sides.

　　Wraith, the Conjurer Recollection.

　　House Yamada had been a holdout for much of the Succession War. It had only been when Havencroft aligned with Argyle that they threw their lot in with Augustus. The reasoning was clear, as one of the strongest houses, the sheer number of concessions they wrangled out of the Prince was staggering.

　　New lands, less taxes and increased titles. If the rumours were true, Kal believed that if Augustus gained the throne, the Empire will be in harsh financial straits from the agreement with Yamada.

　　But Augustus felt it was worth it.

　　House Yamada was a military powerhouse, and their Titan followed that philosophy.

　　It was reminiscent of the Colossus, and Kal suspected that the Heavy Class was designed as a pale imitation of the Yamada Titan.

　　Six legged, it was by far the largest Mobile Suit Kal had ever seen. Its height only reached one hundred thirty feet, but it was as wide as three other Titans combined. The six legs of the Mobile Suit supported a torso that eschewed all humanoid appearance. Vaguely spiderlike, its body was festooned with every conventional firearm imaginable.

　　Rows of missile launchers, PPCs, swivelling, rapid firing lasgun turrets, focused laser batteries and even massive autocannon covered the Titan. It was more of a Mobile Weapon platform on six legs than a suit, and Kal wondered how anyone could manage to keep their sanity while fighting in it.

　　Mobile Suits were generally humanoid to make it easier for the Pilot to adapt. Having four legs instead of two was an adjustment for Kal in the Colossus, until he tricked his mind into thinking he was crawling on all fours instead of upright.

　　A young man, one of the talented generation of people in the Ducal House main family, The Yamada Pilot must be a genius to control it without falling over.

　　Gargantua, The Crusade Harmony.

　　The last Titan belonged to Castillo. As a middle power amongst the Houses, they had waited to hedge their bets before committing to one side or the other. Kal hadn`t interacted with them much, they had stayed neutral during the Rebellion.

　　Their Pilot was a great-granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess. Only fifteen years old, Kal had been shocked during the briefing to hear her age. As the youngest Titan Pilot on both sides, he expected that she would have trouble controlling it, but Argyle warned him that his spies have confirmed her talent.

　　The Titan was completely unremarkable. It appeared the same as a scout or other humanoid light class. Thin limbs with a thicker torso, it had a simple lasrifle and shield in its hands. Painted white and dark blue, the only thing that separated it from other Mobile Suits was its size. Despite its appearance, it was still a Titan and reached nearly one hundred and twenty feet high.

　　Little was known about the capabilities of the Castillo Titan, only that it was rarely used. The only hints of its unique abilities came from its name.

　　Pax, the Vehement Serenity.

　　Kal and the others landed across the plains from the other Titans. Both groups didn`t make a move, simply gauging the other reactions.

　　It was Patrick and Sovereign that made the first gesture. Stepping forward, he spoke.

　　"As agreed, we`re all here. We don`t need anyone losing their composure. I suggest both sides disembark in pairs, then we can signal the Princes to set up camp." Patrick suggested.

　　The plan was the Titans would be left Pilotless, a camp set up on both sides at an adequate distance. No one aside from the House Representatives, the Pilot and a few servants would be allowed to land on the surface.

　　With the Titan`s capability and shields, even Pilotless they would be able to protect each sides camp in the event of conflict. Prometheus, its frame like fires in the sunlight, stepped forward on the opposite side.

　　"Agreed. Although I think this is a waste of time, we`ve been ordered to make the attempt. Maia, you and Lockmere first." Praxis replied.

　　Maia, who was the Pilot of the unremarkable Pax,` immediately opened her cockpit, climbing down the retractable ladder, while on the opposite side, Declan descended from Reaper.` Standing exposed to the Terran winds, he watched the young woman across the gap between them as she stood at the feet of her Titan.

　　"Alright, next&" And surprisingly, without incident, the rest of the group descended their Titans, until thirteen Pilots stood on the Terran Soil, defenceless.