Quenser is saved from Nutley by the civilian girl he had earlier prevented Charlotte from shooting. He and Charlotte get separated from the others as Nutley pursues them. As the battle between the Baby Magnum and the Wing Balancer continues, Froleytia receives a message from an unknown source.
After Charlotte is injured by Nutley throwing a rock at them, Quenser helps her up and the two reach one of the mine's workspaces. Once there Quenser uses Hand Axe and the mine's diamonds to kill Nutley.
Quenser and Charlotte exit the mines to see the Baby Magnum struggling againts the Wing Balancer. Ultimately, Quenser figures out a weakness in its segmented air cushion engine and uses the IR jammer of Charlotte's rifle to trip the Object, immobilizing it and allowing Milinda to finish the battle. The Indigo Plasma arrives and reveals its true intentions by destroying the mine, but the civilians had already evacuated following Froleytia's instructions.
Quenser, Heivia, Myonri and Charlotte discuss the fact that they are going to have to fight fellow members of the Legitimacy Kingdom. During the conversation Heivia mentions Flide had escaped from prison, though all of his assets had been frozen and he has lost his rank of councilor. Quenser helps Charlotte reach her helicopter, and she reveals to being a fan of his exploits and her belief of him not being related to "that matter". She also allows him to keep the diamonds he picked up from the mine, claiming she has no choice since she doesn't have any jurisdiction over civilians and battlefield students.
Charlotte reports to someone, presumably her superior, that Quenser Barbotage is in the clear, and that the 37th's victories are not due to the List's scenarios but due to their efforts. After asking if she's going to stay with the 37th, she's told she will continue to pursue the List and that they have intel regarding the fugitive Flide.
Monica's scenes in this episode are anime original.
The scene with the 37th receiving a message from the civilians in the mine was something only mentioned in the novels.[2]
In the novel, the mining powered suit doesn't have wheels to move using the mine's rails. Additionally, when Nutley throws the rock at Quenser and Charlotte, the rock doesn't fragment and injures Charlotte's leg like in the anime. Instead, the rock grazes and breaks her arm, and she sprains her leg when she falls to the ground.[3]
In the novel, Nutley does get one more attack in while Quenser is finishing his improvised bomb, hurting Quenser with the fragments of a smashed device. Furthermore, the novel also mentions oil and blood pouring out of the holes made by the diamonds on the powered suit.[3]
In the novel, by the time Quenser and Charlotte exit the mine Milinda had managed to take out one of the Wing Balancer's four "wings", affecting its balance. Also, Quenser is not saved from the Wing Balancer firing on him by Heivia and Myonri uploading the sabotage program, but by Milinda putting the Baby Magnum in the way to act as a shield.[2]
In the novel, there are a few differences with how Quenser uses the IR jammer, first trying to use the rifle's IR targeting assistance, only to find out it's too weak to affect the Wing Balancer's sensors. The IR jammer's beams are also described as invisible to the human eye.[2]
In the anime, Heivia mentions Flide has escaped prison. Additionally, Charlotte's praise of Quenser and suggestion of the possiblity of him being awarded a medal for his actions is changed to her mentioning she's confident he's unrelated to "that matter", and refusing to elaborate further when Quenser asks what she means.[4]
In the novel, Monica wasn't sent back home, as the next chapter mentions the CS TV crew and Monica got stuck travelling with the 37th after the Kamchatka mission since the unit was immediately redeployed, and they couldn't leave until the next operation againts the 24th ended so they could return to the home country using cargo planes.[5][6]
The entire scene with Charlotte reporting to someone that Quenser is in the clear and her receiving new instructions is anime original.
