Outside the port district, the entire dockside bay shore had been occupied by the joint forces of the NEO Marines and the Babylon Knights.
Inside a temporary command center, several NEO Marine soldiers stood guard while three officers discussed deployments in front of a map.
Ain, who had withdrawn to the docks not long ago, sat at a square table. She had just dialed the Den Den Mushi sitting on it.
"Binz, have you figured out what's happening on Titans' end?"
Ain spoke into the receiver. The island-wide broadcast had caught the NEO Marines off guard as well.
"Yes, we've made contact."
Binz's voice came from the Den Den Mushi's mouth. As acting commander, he was currently overseeing operations aboard the Far Sight.
"Titans' Ashen will arrive in one hour and ten minutes. They're planning to physically obliterate Hachinosu..."
Binz relayed the update from Titans.
When he received their notification, the liaison from Titans seemed to be a robot. Its voice was mechanical, and it gave the time in oddly precise seconds-"4,572 seconds."
That had thrown Binz for a moment. He converted it into hours himself, rounded down to leave a margin, then passed it on to Ain.
"Things have gotten complicated..."
Ain rubbed her temples. She hadn't expected things to develop like this.
The NEO Marines had only intended to use this opportunity to expose the World Government's secret collusion with Ochoku and recruit more people from the "old Marines."
"Then what do we do? The Ashen at full firepower is even more terrifying than a Buster Call."
Binz had seen the material on the Gold City Incident too. It really was frightening.
Though both were magnetically levitated airships, the Far Sight was a conventional flying ship.
Of course, given enough time to carpet-bomb the area from the air,