With the Awestrider crippled, the party are unable to retreat. They prepare to make a stand. Meanwhile, Maou's lasers tear through the 1st Armoured Division's Asahi tanks, and he doesn't even seem to notice the one shot out of the Asahis' barrage that manages to graze Meiko's armour. Véný asks Poll where they can repair, and the latter informs her of an abandoned facility that used to be used for indoor combat training which has appropriate facilities. Unfortunately for the party, it is located to the Northeast; on the other side of the 1st Armoured Division. The party resolve to break through. Maou finishes his strafing run on the Asahis and flies Southwest, circling around for another pass. Hoshimoto-san breaks formation to chase after him, although he is far too fast to be caught. The two forces meet in the centre of the battlefield, and although both sides take casualties, the remaining Asahis begin to break off parts of the party's mecha, including one of the legs of Mari's Stabber I. Fortunately for the party, Maou is not quite done with his systematic genocide of unnamed characters, and returns for another run, leaving only a couple enemy units. The Awestrider finally manages to drag itself into combat range (although the tanks driving at full speed towards her certainly helped as well), and with her long-range support and the flanking skills of the party's melee specialists, the remaining Asahis are quickly taken down. Hoshimoto-san finally realises her loss and turns to retreat, but Andris in his Recha is not inclined to let her. Running after her, he becomes thus the third party member to lose a leg when Maou fires a deliberate railgun round, breaking it off. As Maou and Hoshimoto-san both escape in opposite directions, the party is left to ponder their relationship that would lead to such behaviour. The party ruminate on their Pyrrhic victory, and begin the long march to the mentioned facility. When they arrive, the hangar is empty as foreseen, and the party decide to hole up for however long it takes to get the mecha in battle condition again. They thus begin to come up with a plan for the next month...
