Shinji Matou at Your Service

The most straightforward approach worked.

Soon, a voice devoid of any emotion connected with the mental energy Shinji had released.

"This is Lady Windup, I hear you. You are not the master. You are—"

"I'm a friend of your master. My name is Shinji Matou, currently at the watchtower on your right side."

"Location confirmed. State the reason for the call."

"Your combat methods are inefficient. I have a way to improve them."

"Cannot understand, request a detailed explanation."

"Hard to explain. I wish to conduct a mental synchronization for direct demonstration."

"Insufficient authorization, request denied."

"Merem, request for authorization!"

"Permission granted. I also want to see how the knight plans to improve her combat efficiency."

Merem's voice chimed in. As the creator of the daemon, he had a spiritual connection with each of his familiars and sensed everything the moment Shinji contacted Lady Windup.

When the Artificial Daemon was first created, this daemon, modeled after a war angel, was his favorite. But because she was too clumsy—despite pursuing "fashion" (equipment upgrades)—her personality was awkwardly simple and boring, making her difficult to use. So, even though she was the most popular, she was often benched. If it weren't for the fact that the Forest of Einnashe was terrestrial, unsuitable for the King of the Sky, Merem wouldn't have deployed her at all.

"Understood, connecting now!"

The broken spiritual connection was restored, and various data were transmitted back and forth between the two souls using spiritual energy. The principle was similar to how magus operated their familiars, but the data volume was much larger. Among humans, perhaps only Shinji could perform such an operation. If non-humans were included, a few more could be added.

"Leave it to me. Lady Windup, relax your spirit and transmit the battlefield information you've captured to me. Follow my commands—quickly. How nice it would be to have a cockpit at this moment."

Shinji's words were casual, but Merem took them seriously.

"A cockpit..."

"Exactly! How can a giant robot not have a cockpit? Piloting large humanoid weapons is the dream of any man with a soul of steel! And this is a mecha girl—combining moe and hot-bloodedness! Plus, with manual control, you wouldn't have to worry about the Lady Windup's low intelligence."

"Good idea, tell me more."

"Ah, synchronization is complete. Wow, this OS is inefficient. No time to explain, if you get a chance, go to Japan and watch some robot anime. I recommend the Gundam series, especially the UC series. You'll understand once you see it."

"Gundam, UC, names I've never heard before—I'll remember them."

"Now, let me show you what a mecha enthusiast can do."

Both Merem and Lady Windup could sense Shinji's excitement and passion—a feeling entirely different from but no less intense than the one Ciel and Caren felt for Curry.

"Burn!'"

The light of Shinji's soul flashed continuously, his will spreading throughout Lady Windup's body.

"The multi-turret barrage network is dense, but the body's defenses don't need to be so conservative. Allow some of these enemies to get through and focus all firepower on the offense; it will be more effective."

The continuous, all-encompassing barrage suddenly stopped. The tree swarm, blocked countless times, seized the opportunity and surged forward like a tsunami.

However, in the next moment, this tsunami was shattered and scattered by an even more intense and concentrated barrage.

"Focus fire on areas human joints find hard to reach and on large targets."

The scattered tsunami remained a tsunami, though no longer a unified line, and its momentum was unchanged.

"As for these small fry intentionally let through, they can be dealt with in close combat. Isn't that what your chainsaw swords are for?"

Under Shinji's control, the two arms and four chainsaw swords spun wildly, slicing and dicing the tree swarm into pieces.

"The sensitivity is pretty high. Close combat can take on more; the speed of the drive wheels can also be increased."

Amid the storm of wood chips and blood, the gothic lolita-styled female robot dashed forward.

"Good, just like that, charge, charge, charge, charge! Crush everything in your path! Show them the difference between a specialized and mass-produced model. GOGOGO!"

"GOGOGO!"

As the synchronization deepened, Lady Windup's personality was unconsciously influenced by Shinji, becoming more ferocious.

"Careful, a giant target is approaching, breaking through the firing line."

The only one unaffected was Merem, who, having been burned once, had prepared a secret treasure to counteract mental influence.

"I know, by the way, this guy has the King of the Land's influence, doesn't it?"

The giant tree formed by the latest fusion of the tree swarm was more than 30 meters tall, making the 10-meter Lady Windup seem like an undergrown child in comparison. The barrage was still effective, but due to the size difference, it couldn't deal a fatal blow.

"I know I made a mistake, but now isn't the time to say that. Think of a solution, quickly."

Merem knew it was his fault. If he hadn't used the wrong familiar and added new concepts to the Forest of Einnashe, Lady Windup wouldn't have slowed down so much.

"I've had a solution all along. This thing may have size, but it's not overwhelmingly strong. It's actually easy to deal with! Mental skeleton framework constructed, initiate!"

The mental skeleton framework is a concept from the anime Gundam UC, where the pilot's brainwaves, or mental energy, are received and amplified. Initially used for remote control of floating weapons, it later allowed pilots to enhance control over their machines and even unlock unbelievable powers—similar to Shinji's Third Magic.

Blue light representing Shinji's soul enveloped the entire machine. Lady Windup leaped into the air, its arms spinning around to stab into the giant tree's midsection, while its legs extended forward, using the spiked drive wheels to pin down the tree.

The branches lashed, the vines entwined, the beasts attacked—all were ignored.

Even if the latter entered the fortress, they were no match for Merem, Caren, or Ciel, who could easily obliterate them.

As for the former—

"Fire! Full barrage!"

A close-range salvo shattered the branches, along with part of the giant tree's body that had been pinned down.

With a breach made, the rest was easy—artillery strikes, chainsaw slicing, sawtooth wheel tearing. In no time, the obstructing giant beast was destroyed. If Sakura or Fujino saw this, they would undoubtedly shout, "Women's self-defense!"

Indeed, Shinji had already employed martial arts during the battle.

"The greatest advantage of humanoid machines is their similarity to the human body, allowing them to utilize human combat techniques. If you can't exploit this advantage, humanoid mechas are trash—you might as well use beast-type machines!"

Under Shinji's spiritual control, he fully unleashed the legacy left by Scáthach.

Spear techniques, gun techniques, sword techniques, fist techniques, leg techniques—every martial art he had learned and those he had yet to master were used in turn. He advanced like a hot knife through butter, unstoppable.

"Isn't it just a damn tree? Watch me smash it with a Gundam!"