novelThe Conspiracy Bank that Motivates Human Greed >> Bombardment Battle in the Amazon District (2)
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In the modern clean wars, it was rare (in the official records at least) for infantry to shed any blood, but the people were used to the pilot Elites inside Objects being sent on fights to the death.
As soon as one boarded an Object, it was assumed one was prepared for death.
And the preparations for that were complete.
"But if they eliminated an entire unit and assassinated an Elite just as preparations to legally eliminate Princess Staivia, aren't they getting their priorities a bit backwards?"
"There are some problems you can erase and some you can't. And you know just how big Dimiksy's eraser is." Heivia used his thumb to point at his chest."In fact, my Winchell family is in the middle of some turmoil right now. Normally, they would plot some way of assassinating me while I'm wandering around in these battlefield countries. If they got their hands on a gun or bomb from an enemy nation, they could easily pull off the perfect crime. The only reason they haven't is because I'm such a big existence that they can't fully erase the problem with an eraser of their size."
From the view of the commoners down at the bottom, the nobles and royals could do whatever they wanted, but Quenser guessed they must have their own issues to deal with.
And in that case...
It was only natural that...
"The Object they secretly brought in for Princess Staivia is basically a pile of scraps. They chose it so they knew they had a target they could destroy on the first shot."
"What if the princess catches on to Dimiksy's conspiracy and refuses to board the Object?"
"If they used an Object to torture the flesh-and-blood princess to death, they would receive nothing but the animosity of the people.... But it's different if she has an Object but refuses to board it. People would assume she lost her nerve. And another thing. In our world, you are free to accept or decline a letter challenging you to a duel. But once you accept the duel, your social standing will drop like a rock if you don't show up. That might even get your right to life revoked."
In other words, Dimiksy's plan was almost complete by the time Princess Staivia was brought to the ruins of Lexpop International Airport.
At that point, the assassination could safely be carried out by having Dimiksy's side's Object sent out to use its great firepower to annihilate her according to the proper protocol.
What mattered was the official truth that Staivia's side had an Object and could therefore fight evenly with Dimiksy's side. Whether Princess Staivia was in a complete panic and could not move the Object in the ocean or not was not a problem.
"... This is insane."
"If we're going to do anything about this situation, we need to start by dealing with those anti-air weapons. If we knock out the emergency power, the defense system should stop!"
Another tiltrotor craft was shot down by a Gatling gun and crashed near Quenser and Heivia. They passed by the flaming wreckage and ran along the top of the float.
Perhaps because they had made their way onto the float, the radio jamming had weakened.
Someone must have been trying every frequency Dimiksy's group was not using because a female voice came in over Quenser's radio despite the fact that he had not tuned it to anything in particular.
"... This is... ksshh... I cannot control the float's defense system! It.... attacking.... on its own... It is... ksshh... indiscriminately... You will be shot down at this rate!!"
"Yes, yes! Your signal isn't reaching the air! Are you the rumored princess!? We've made our way onto Lexpop. We are aware that it's all over if you board that Object due to the Royal Duel. We're going to knock out the emergency power, so give us anyone information you have!!"
"I am a servant of the royal family. My name is Mikfa. Who are you!?"
"Someone from the Legitimacy Kingdom who is not tainted by Dimiksy's faction. I am Heivia Winchell. If you know how to pick up information from the rumors you hear in salons, surely you know I have nothing to gain by supporting Dimiksy Nikolaschka!"
"I see. I heard you are the eccentric boy trying his hardest to act out a Shakespearean tragedy by taking the daughter of the opposing Vanderbilt family."
"Well, right now I want to turn this into a comedy."
This was likely something Heivia would be better suited for with his knowledge of the nobles and royals at the upper levels of the Legitimacy Kingdom. There was a power balance in play that a commoner like Quenser simply did not understand.
"I brought Lady Staivia here to Lexpop for shelter, but it seems it was a trap set up by Dimiksy's faction. The power supply for the defense system is controlled by the members of Dimiksy's faction that were hiding in the float! You need to destroy it!!"
"How many men does Dimiksy have here?"
"Lady Staivia and I are the only two not from his faction."
"Well, that simplifies matters, " muttered Quenser.
As Heivia ran along the top of the float, he spoke into the radio and asked, "Where are you now?"
"I am being imprisoned near the power generation facility Dimiksy's faction holds. I attempted to remain by Lady Staivia's side, but it seems Dimiksy's faction is using that as a part of their plan."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It seems they intend to use me as a hostage in order to force Lady Staivia into the Object. And unfortunately, Lady Staivia's heart is too strongly benevolent. I am prepared to withstand torture, but Lady Staivia will not last if she is forced to watch it."
Heivia clicked his tongue.
And then he made a completely groundless promise.
"We'll be there in 10 minutes. Don't you die before then."
"I appreciate your cooperation, but please prioritize rescuing Lady Staivia and destroying the emergency power."
Heivia switched off the radio and tossed his spare handgun to Quenser.
"It's time to clean up the shit, Quenser! Let's go rescue a maid as an appetizer for the princess!!"
"A maid is a wonderful thing. We need to teach these people that our country should protect maids with everything it has!"
Dimiksy's faction seemed to be fully relying on the defense system because Quenser and Heivia ran into no interference after climbing up onto the float. Their Object would likely be attacking the float in the near future, so they must have wanted to hold it with as few men as possible to allow a speedy retreat.
They entered a terminal with all its glass shattered and ran down the stairs to reach the underground portion of the float.
"Do you think we can manage this?"
"Rescue operations aren't my specialty, but we'll just have to make do with what we have on hand!"
They must have entered an area not intended for customers to see because the overall atmosphere changed as they headed down the stairs. The walls were made of exposed metal, the passageways were narrow, and numerous pipes ran along near the ceiling. Unlike the open airport, this area felt like it was inside a tanker. Oddly enough, the inability to see anything outside made the rocking of the float feel stronger.
"Even if I know how it works, it feels wrong for something this huge to be floating."
"As long as it has air trapped inside, the size doesn't matter."
"Even so, it's like styrofoam, so is it just human nature to want to build walls?"
"If the sea was stormy, it seems a large wave would break it."
Whether it was always the case or if a mode changed when the emergency power was in use, the lighting was sparse. The only illumination came from occasional LED light bulbs, so the darkness was overwhelmingly greater than the light. As Heivia took the lead, he relied on the sensors of his assault rifle.
And after heading around a few corners, he whispered to Quenser.
"(... Shh. There's someone in front of the door around the corner. It's probably a guard. )"
"(Do you think you can take him out without making a noise?)"
"(I'll try. )"
As he spoke, Heivia pulled a large knife from his waist. He was not planning to approach silently and slit the man's throat from behind. Instead, he leaned out from the corner and forcefully threw the knife.
The knife rotated as it flew through the passageway and it smashed its way into the side of the guard's head like an axe. He collapsed to the side without even letting out a cry.
"You've used that method twice now. How about you start carrying a dedicated throwing knife?"
"The normal ones would just bounce off of a bulletproof jacket or helmet."
Heivia headed down the passageway and pulled his own knife from the collapsed soldier's head. Quenser pressed his ear up against the steel double doors, but he could not hear anything from inside.
As Heivia checked on the guard's equipment, he said, "He has a handheld device. It's showing footage from within the room."
A small window displayed video footage of the room from an upper diagonal angle. The room was cluttered like a storage room and a single chair sat in the middle. A single girl had her arms and legs bound to the chair and two men stood on either side of her.
It looked like security camera footage, but it must have been the type that recorded sound as well.
"Now then, break time is over. It's time to get back to business."
"..."
"Do you know why we removed your restraints, disinfected your wounds, and are giving you bits of free time? That ensures you will not die too easily by seeing that your mind does not grow dull. And that way your suffering can last much, much longer. So prepare yourself."
Heivia spat on the floor and said, "It looks like they're in the middle of some fun."
"But there's only one girl there. I thought they were going to torture the maid while Princess Staivia watched. Where is she? Is she in the camera's blind spot?"
"No, I'd say the reason it's being sent live across their devices is so they can show it to the princess. In that case, Staivia might have been brought elsewhere."
"The facility has been cut off from its surroundings via jamming. That means Princess Staivia must still be somewhere inside the float."
Then again, it was a stroke of good luck that Quenser and Heivia were able to view the situation inside before breaking in. They could check the arrangement of the room and the locations of the enemies.
"The inner walls are military stainless steel. It won't be hard to open a hole with some Hand Axe."
"The main problem is these. The powered suits." Heivia pointed at the screen."These two have gotten out of theirs to enjoy the torture, but this one is still in his. The powered suit won't be slowed down by the shockwave when we blow through the wall. We'll be surrounded by a storm of Morning Star grenades before we take a single step inside."
"Then we just have to pay careful attention to how we knock. More importantly, can we even take out that powered suit with our firepower?"
"I could take it out with a missile, but the maid could easily get caught in the blast."
"Don't you have something a little... gentler? Do you have anything like a grenade launcher?"
"The missile's the best thing I have. I usually use these signal markers against armored weapons. They use GPS, lasers, and ultraviolet signals to send targeting information to an Object. It's easier and more of a sure thing to just have the Object send a pinpoint strike." Heivia fished through the corpse's equipment and pulled out something they might be able to use."He's got a smoke grenade. This model has aluminum powder mixed in to take out sensors as well."
"Aluminum, hm?... Do you have a disposable heater or anything? With some iron oxide powder, I could make thermite."
"This is a broken airport float that was left to rot. It has powdered rust everywhere."
Quenser took apart the nonlethal smoke grenade and repackaged the ingredients to create an anti-armor weapon that produced heat up to 3000 degrees.
With their cards gathered, he left the double doors and attached some Hand Axe plastic explosive to the wall.
"How are things inside?"
"They're completely focused on the maid, so they haven't noticed us. They have no idea how to properly treat a beautiful woman."
"Then let's get this over with."
Quenser and Heivia moved away from the bomb they had set. Quenser placed his thumb on the radio that would send the detonation signal.
"It's time to beg for your lives, you sadists."
Part 10
Immediately after the plastic explosive on the wall detonated, fragments, dust, and a shockwave flew into the room.
The maid and the chair she was tied to fell backwards and the two soldiers on either side of her were knocked to the floor by the shockwave. The blow to their heads threw their minds into temporary disarray.
Of those in the room, only the soldier in the powered suit remained calm.
He repeatedly fired his Morning Star grenade machine gun towards the opening created in the wall. Those explosives that spread fragments of death in a radius of around 10 meters flew out into the passageway and exploded.
But Quenser and Heivia were not there.
At the same time that the wall had been blown open, they had kicked open the double doors. The roar and shockwave of the blast had masked that simple truth. Quenser threw his makeshift thermite grenade straight for the powered suit that had immediately turned its attention toward the hole in the wall. He had used adhesive tape to make it stick.
Instead of the normal orange flames, it produced a bright white flash of light as if from welding. The distinctive smell of molten metal filled the air and the surface of the powered suit's armor melted like wax.
"Gh... gyah... !?"
A cry came from the suit's speaker, but it disappeared as the speaker stopped functioning. The powered suit collapsed to the ground and its limbs attempted to move, but the melted armor was interfering with the joints. This turned its movements into something resembling a dying caterpillar. For the same reason, the man inside could not escape.
Meanwhile, Heivia mercilessly shot the two soldiers who had been knocked to the floor. One had his head crushed and the other received the rifle bullet to the center of his gut.
"How's the powered suit!? Is it down for good!?"
"It's dead all right. Even if the armor itself isn't completely gone, the high temperature will have roasted the internal circuitry and the human flesh inside."
A powered suit was a formidable enemy that could repel rifle bullets, but it was not invincible. That was why tanks and armored vehicles were still in use.
"Uuh..." groaned the enemy soldier who had been shot in the stomach.
Heivia silently held his assault rifle back up, but the man let out a frightened voice.
"Please help me. You're from the Legitimacy Kingdom too, right? I was just following orders. A soldier can't disobey his orders. I wasn't doing this because I wanted to."
In response, Heivia glanced at the fingers of the maid bound to the collapsed chair.
When he confirmed that they were colored red, he spoke with a cold expression on his face.
"If you were doing this reluctantly, she wouldn't have wounds like that."
"Wai-..."
Before the man could finish speaking, Heivia let out a short burst of gunfire. Those few shots shredded the man's stomach and spine. There was nothing that could be done to help him now, but it would still take a few minutes before he died. That was the kind of wound it was.
Heivia mercilessly spat out the words, "Eat up, sadist."
Meanwhile, Quenser righted the maid and her chair. He used a tool to cut the wires binding her arms and legs, but she shouted out before he could treat the wounds to her hands.
"Lady Staivia has been taken away by another unit! If you do not hurry, she will board the Object! If that happens, the preparations will be complete for the Royal Duel that Dimiksy's faction wants!!"
"The princess was being forced to do it for your safety, right? Now that you're free, can't she start resisting once more?"
"No, this is bad, Quenser."
Heivia tossed the handheld from the guard outside to Quenser.
The live footage of the room was now filled with static.
"The explosion we used to get in destroyed the camera. The rumored princess doesn't know her maid has been rescued. They can keep coercing her!"
That was when they felt a dull rumbling.
It was not caused by a large wave. The center of gravity of the entire giant float was clearly changing.
"... The wires connected to the Object down below are being released."
"Oh, shit. Does that mean Princess Staivia has already boarded the Object!? The Royal Duel is going to begin!!"
Part 11
Staivia sat within the cockpit of the useless first generation Object known as the Assault Signal.
It had over ten levers and hundreds of buttons. It was equipped with goggles that read the movements of one's eyes using lasers, but she had been overcome by an intense dizziness when she had tried to put them on. Someone who had not undergone any training would never be able to pilot the Object.
No...
Even if she was able to pilot it, the tremendous Gs that would produce would crush the insides of her delicate body. At any rate, the situation had been set up from the beginning so as not to give Staivia any opportunity to counterattack. The situation was the same as being stuffed inside a metal drum and used for target practice.
"The battle regulations for the Royal Duel will now be explained."
A precise female voice that almost sounded synthetic came in over the radio.
All bands were supposedly being jammed, but there seemed to be a few holes for ultrasonic waves.
"The standard regulations are the same as in the yellow manual. Area 21 of the Amazon district shall be the battle zone. To determine succession, Prince Dimiksy and Princess Staivia shall each have an Object represent them. The two Objects shall engage in battle and fight until one is unable to continue. Participation is done at one's own risk, so any injuries or deaths caused in the process are not the responsibility of the winner."
She could try to inform her maid Mikfa of this frequency. Or she could use the Object's radio to directly call for external help.
"Both forces may receive support from their own infantry and standard armored weapons. No penalties shall be made and the duel will not end until a conclusion has been reached."
"No, " muttered Staivia.
What would change if she got through to someone? What could anyone change?
Staivia had been forced to board the Assault Signal because Mikfa, the maid who had stayed with her to the end, had been used as a hostage.
But...
Would the end result have changed if that maid had not been taken hostage?
The soldiers of Dimiksy's faction would surely have forcibly dragged her along and thrown her into the Assault Signal's cockpit. No matter what she did or what happened, she would still be stuck in this dead end.
In that case...
"The duel only comes to an end once one of the Objects has been destroyed. As such, the signal known as the white flag shall have no effect."
Staivia thought as the meaningless explanations continued.
If nothing would change her fate, was it not her duty to ensure as few other people as possible got wrapped up in it? Was it not foolishness to send those who cared for her to their deaths for the sake of a meaningless and worthless battle?
Yulenzak who had once rubbed her young head was gone. The White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had been entombed in darkness.
Mikfa, the maid who had loved her to the end, had had a blade pressed against her throat.
And it all because of Staivia.
It had been that reasoning that had led to her distance herself from everything. And as a result, no one had stayed with her. Everyone around her was an enemy and even her own bodyguards had betrayed her and turned their guns on her. Even if Staivia called for help using the Object's radio, she would likely receive no response. She had cut all such connections with her own hands.
And so she did not speak.
She did not know what she could say.
The radio's microphone was right there and she knew a channel was open to reach outside, but Staivia's mouth merely flapped open and closed. She was unable to utter even a shout.
It was an unsightly result.
But this was the conclusion that awaited her due to her attempts to lessen the amount of damage as much as possible.
Staivia Nikolaschka had no choice but to view this as the best possible ending.
The best possible ending was to sit in this useless Object and be blown away by great firepower without being able to counterattack even once.
"Ahh, ahh."
Staivia leaned against the back of the cockpit chair and looked straight up. The kind of voice she could never utter in the public eye escaped her lips.
All the pretty decorations were stripped away because she knew no one could hear her.
"... I didn't want to die..."
The curtain opened on this murderous stage.
The main cannon of an Object that symbolized war would be violently aimed at a girl of only 14.
All sorts of preparations had been made to perfectly justify it.
It had been made into something no one could raise any objection against.
Part 12
The four members of Unicorn landed in Flightburg Air Force Base in the large transport helicopter. It seemed the other members who had been scattered across the Amazon district had already gathered there. Sogia could see a few figures casually salute him when they caught sight of him.
Colonel Marechiare, the man in a deep gray beret and sunglasses, spoke briefly.
"I must insist that you stay here in the base until Prince Dimiksy's Royal Duel is over. The duel itself is legal, but some very dirty methods have been used to set it up. To prevent possible interference, I prefer to keep as many elements as possible contained until everything is over."
"I'm relieved you do not intend to silence us more permanently."
"If I was planning that, you would have disappeared to the ends of the earth. Hiding in chaotic areas of conflict is your specialty after all. After heading through a few battlefields, I would have completely lost your trail."
"It's those of you on the upper levels of the military that are maintaining these assassination zones known as battlefield countries. Even if you could not get rid of them entirely, surely you could make them more compact. We are only using the system you set up."
That made Marechiare grin.
He must have felt more confident now that he was back on his home turf because he did not try to hide his true intentions.
"We maintain the things we need. But everyone wants the same thing, so there is a constant overabundance of it. It is the same as the convenience stores in cities."
"Now there's a surprise. So even a colonel uses convenience stores."
"Hmph. Going to an antique shop or a tailor does not fill your stomach."
They boarded a 4WD off-road vehicle just to cross a wide runway. Every one of the over 1000 people working at the base were on Prince Dimiksy's side and were actively committing treason, so it was quite a spectacle.
"How long are we confined here? There are around 200 of us total. It'll cost a lot to feed, clothe, and shelter us."
"We are not a commercial organization. It is not our job to worry about the money."
"Tax money doesn't come from a magical treasure chest, you know?"
"We can continue wringing it out as long as war continues. And if they refuse, they will be branded as traitors.... And not by us. By their virtuous and ignorant neighbors."
The 4WD vehicle stopped near the command facility. Marechiare led Sogia, Sanya, Mars, and Flat into the building.
Since Unicorn was wearing the same model military uniforms as Flightburg Air Force Base, it was impossible to tell at a glance which force anyone belonged to.
And then Mars asked, "... Excuse me. May I use the restroom?"
"Colonel, surely it's better than having him piss himself. But if needed, I can order him to hold it."
"You may move about freely. One of my men can show you the way if necessary."
Once Marechiare had given permission to move about, Sogia snapped his fingers.
"Sanya, check the deposits in our bank account. Flat, check whether all the Unicorn members are here or not. Once you're done, borrow a kitchen to make some food. That market junk food has numbed my tongue. Who knows what kind of meat we were eating. I might have been fed some little grey."
When he heard that, Marechiare casually pointed out, "My unit eats rations except for Fridays when we have curry."
"You can make surprisingly humane foods with a simple heater. Not when I make it, though."
After the other members left, Sogia followed Marechiare further into the facility.
After entering a private room for officers, Marechiare removed the jacket of his high-quality uniform and sank into the sofa. He pulled a nicely cooled champagne bottle and two glasses from a small refrigerator.
Sogia gave a small smile.
"Isn't it a bit early to celebrate?"
"There is no deep meaning to this. I just want a drink because I am thirsty. Plus, this is paid for by the military budget."
Sogia accepted a glass filled with a gold liquid and downed it in a single gulp. Seeing that, Marechiare gave a thin smile and slowly tipped his own glass.
"I see you still have no concept of restraint."
"I'm still not old enough to worry about my blood pressure."
Sogia placed his empty glass on the table while Marechiare spoke as if reminiscing.
"So it's been 3 years since we first joined forces. It all started when you attacked Princess Staivia's bodyguard unit in that South American desert. I had heard about your miniature thermobaric bombs, but even I was taken aback when you created a cluster bomb out of them and scattered them over the White Bears' heads."
"Well, it was a dangerous gamble on our part, too. We needed a flashy present to properly establish a connection with you. And we wanted to make doubly sure since we were up against the elite White Bears. I was a bit worried when their bodies were completely unrecoverable since that might make you doubt us."
"We were having trouble with Yulenzak and his 115th as well. I suppose you did need to go that far to truly eliminate them."
Sogia and the rest of Unicorn had been the ones to eliminate Princess Staivia's royal guard unit during a military exercise, but it had not been on the orders of Marechiare and the others supporting Prince Dimiksy.
Marechiare's group had been planning their own attack, but Unicorn had beaten them to it.
"The 202nd Mobile Support Company, " muttered Marechiare."Unicorn. The mysterious and secret unit that uses the framework of the foreign legion. Every member has undergone plastic surgery and had their fingerprints and palm prints forcibly altered by burning them and letting them heal. Rumor even has it their blood type has been changed by receiving a bone marrow transplant from someone else."
"The foreign legion system is only there to fool the Legitimacy Kingdom Lineage Department that won't shut up about bloodline and DNA. If you use that framework, you don't need to have your lineage recorded. You announce from the beginning that you have outsider blood, so you fall outside the standards, " said Sogia as he traced a finger across the scars from stiches that circled his neck.
A closer inspection showed that the color of the skin changed slightly along that line.
"Did you go that far to hide your identity in order to create these connections of yours?" asked Marechiare, sounding truly curious."The Legitimacy Kingdom, the Information Alliance, the Capitalist Corporations, and the Faith Organization. Creating connections between all of those world powers sounds nice, but the walls of religion, race, and ideology will always get in the way. By making it more ambiguous where you are from, I suppose you could make all of that more convenient."
"And?"
"I do not know exactly how far your connections spread below the surface, but they are sure to be a great asset to Prince Dimiksy, " said Marechiare while finally finishing off his glass of champagne."But we must make sure that only acts in our favor. We cannot have Prince Dimiksy growing too arrogant. We only want an influential person who is easy to manipulate."
"So you want data on our connections to set up your means of control?"
"Full comprehension of the power balance around an influential person is the foundation needed to control him through the power game. If Prince Dimiksy wishes to bring you into his system, cooperate with him. Registering a bug-filled program on the network will only bring you down with it."
"I see. That makes sense, " said Sogia with a light smile. And then he added, "But, colonel, you are mistaken about something."
"What is that?"
"It was not to construct our connections that we underwent plastic surgery, rewrote our fingerprints, palm prints, and other biometrics, changed our blood type with a bone marrow transplant, and evaded being recorded by the Lineage Department." Marechiare looked confused, but Sogia ignored him and continued."In fact, you misinterpreted the circumstances of our actions 3 years ago when we destroyed the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company that were Staivia's most trusted men. Then again, we set it up so you would misinterpret it, so I have no right to blame you there."
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't get it?"
Sogia reached out a hand and used a finger to lightly push the champagne glass on the table.
The delicate glass easily toppled and shattered with a solid sound.
Sogia continued as the disturbing noise rang out.
"The brand new 202nd Mobile Support Company first saw the light of day when the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company were destroyed. When we contacted you, you had to have hurriedly gathered information on Unicorn. And you accepted what you found. Our classification level was too high for information to be found on the military database, but Unicorn's 'evil deeds' had left their mark on plenty of civilian-run military news sites.... Not that anyone could tell when exactly those articles had been added in."
"You can't mean..."
"And the White Bears were so thoroughly annihilated that there was nothing left for a funeral. Who the corpses belonged to could not be confirmed. And due to a vaccine shortage and an outbreak of an infection disease of an older era, people were dropping like flies in that blank area in South America. There were so many corpses that they had to be burned right away or they would pile up. With all that information at hand, surely you have arrived at the answer." Sogia... no, someone using that name gave a thin smile."A unit completely disappeared and another unit that had undergone plastic surgery appeared at the exact same time. If you still haven't figured it out, you really are an idiot."
"You mean Princess Staivia's most trusted men were not killed... ? You mean Yulenzak and his royal guard unit simply changed their name to Unicorn!?"
Marechiare immediately tried to grab the telephone on the table, but Sogia stood up from the sofa and crushed the phone and Marechiare's hand under his foot.
"We learned five years ago that Prince Dimiksy was making preparations to take Princess Staivia's life using a Royal Duel. We also knew there was nothing we could do about it even though we knew. So we had to take some drastic measures. We needed to cast aside our position as the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company and take up a new position where we could deal with the situation from a different angle."
"Gah!?"
"Let me tell you one legend about the unicorn, colonel."
As Marechiare let out a short cry, Sogia pulled out his PDW with a smooth motion. It was a machinegun small enough to fit inside a business bag. He held it in one hand and aimed it at the older man's face.
"It is a beast that shows no interest in power or treasure and instead does everything it can to protect a pure maiden, you monster."
Part 13
A short burst of gunshots resounded throughout the air force base.
The base had over 1000 professional soldiers, so the difference in military might was too great for Unicorn to have any chance in a straight fight.
However...
Trained soldiers had a thoroughly ingrained habit of almost reflexively hiding behind nearby cover if they suddenly heard explosions or gunfire. This spot was also known as the primary screen. If one knew the patrol routes of the soldiers, it was a simple task to know where all of those spots inside the air force base would be.
And what if... ?
What if all of those spots known as the primary screen had been filled with bombs or other traps?
The answer was simple.
After that initial burst of gunfire, almost all of the soldiers hid themselves in foxholes that had been filled with bombs.
Sanya, Mars, Flat, and the others wandering around the air force base pressed the buttons on their radios in unison.
The second wave rang out.
It was almost humorous how those countless explosions wore down that great military force that would have been undefeatable via normal methods.
"What happened?" Sanya had once asked.
The actions leading to Princess Staivia's assassination had already begun 5 years before. The White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had tried to resist via the political power game, but Dimiksy's faction had taken the offensive more powerfully and – more importantly – more quickly than expected.
Sogia had replied, "They've really done it now. They blew away the pilot Elite of the Assault Signal in a café. It was probably done to prepare a pawn for their Royal Duel. After going this far, nothing is going to slow them down. If we could gather physical proof of this conspiracy, they wouldn't just be given a cup of sweet poison. They'd have their heads taken off in the public square."
"How much time do we have?"
"At most, 5 years. At worst, 3 years."
Sanya had sighed.
She had thought about her duties, career goals, and private goals, but then cast them all aside.
"... So what do we need to do?"
"We need to keep our focus on what will happen 5 years from now."
"It's begun, " muttered Sanya.
Mars replied, "Yeah, it has. I still can't believe my very first mission upon joining the 115th was to kill my old self! What the hell!? And everything since then has been dirty work!!"
He may have been speaking lightly, but he showed no mercy with his gun. He was firing bullet after bullet to end the lives of the soldiers who had somehow survived the second wave attack using the primary screen locations.
Unicorn was not using assault rifles; they were using extremely small PDWs that were less than 30 cm long and had a grenade launcher forcibly attached to the bottom of the barrel.
They had originally equipped themselves with those full-auto weapons that could be fired with only one hand so they could lead Princess Staivia to safety while pumping out plenty of firepower.
But now they were simply bathing in the splattered blood of their enemies.
It may have been due to the sensors, but despite being deemed a "newcomer", Mars had excellent firing accuracy. He was using a targeting correction device known as a multi-dot. The standard red point of light would appear in the center of the lens, but a blue and green dot would be added as well.
A PDW that used handgun bullets had a range of about 150 meters, but Mars could easily hit targets over 250 meters away.
At times like that, the blue dot was displayed below the center red one. If he aimed at the enemy using that light, the barrel would naturally be pointed upwards. Pulling the trigger then would send the bullet in a high-angle trajectory similar to a long throw in baseball. It could then reach farther than if fired straight.
Among the other modes it contained was one that displayed the estimated position of a moving enemy soldier. As long as one possessed the foundational physical strength needed, the device could improve one's accuracy.
It gave the same feeling often seen in FPSs where one could aim arbitrarily toward an enemy and naturally target their vitals. That might be the simplest way to imagine it.
Three years before, Mars had shouted out in a South American desert just after joining the unit.
"Ahh, ahh! What is with this unit and all its pain-in-the-ass circumstances!? I just wanted to be able to brazenly walk in and out of the royal household despite being a commoner, so why is this my very first mission!? Why do we have to fake our deaths and hide all traces of our existence!?"
"... We aren't forcing you to go along with it, " Sogia had replied as he scratched at his sandy face."To be honest, this job really isn't worth it. We have little odds of success. We have to cast aside all of our career goals to prepare for this. And even if by some miracle we defeat Dimiksy's faction, all that awaits us is a court martial and some barracks. And since we have no sponsor, we will receive next to no reward. I'd have difficulty finding anything to entice you along with. But, " Sogia had paused for a beat before calmly continuing."Even so, all the complete idiots who still want to save that girl from those pieces of trash and their lust for power are to come with me."
"Chehh... I may be going along with this, but just know that you don't play fair."
"And if you're willing to reluctantly agree to it despite saying that, then you must be quite softhearted."
Mars had clicked his tongue, averted his gaze, and scratched at his head.
He had then asked a desperate question.
"So what do we get? You said we received 'next to no' reward, right?"
"We do get something, " Sogia had immediately replied with a small smile."The pride as knights and the proof of justice.... That's all we get."
"Heh. You're just greedy. That's plenty for me."
But...
"That was fast!! Sanya, Flat, that was super fast!!"
"Having to peer through the sight like that slows you down too much, newcomer!"
Sanya and Flat were not receiving help from their sensors. Instead of peering through the sight to aim, they were aiming and firing almost completely on instinct. One did not look down to check one's hands for every chord while playing the guitar or piano. It was the same as that. Their firearms had become a part of their bodies, so they could fire accurately without having to painstakingly confirm everything visually. That was why they were so fast. As long as one allowed the recoil to escape properly, one did not need to hold the gun perfectly by the book either. Even if Mars was increasing his accuracy by following the standard methods, he could not catch up on a fundamental level.
That was the difference between someone who relied on the products of the modern clean wars and someone who had plenty of experience walking through battlefield countries around the world using dirty methods to make up for not having an Object.
"You people are monsters! It's like you have no intention of letting me catch up!"
"It's because you can't catch up that you are still a rookie! Now stay away from that wall!!"
As Mars was just about to carelessly charge forward, Sanya grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him away. In the next instant, a powered suit crashed through the wall next to where he had been. If he had continued on, he would have received a blow as bad as getting hit by a car.
Still holding Mars's collar with one hand, Sanya adjusted her hold on her PDW's grip to prepare to fire the grenade launcher. She fired accurately at the powered suit. What she fired was actually a failed design for a handheld flare meant for infantry, but it emitted enough heat that sensors would mistake it for the output of a fighter jet engine. It used sodium nitrate and a few other chemicals to create a heat source of greater than 2000 degrees for around 60 seconds. Even if it did not melt the armor of the powered suit, it was more than enough to overheat the internal circuitry. All the delicate equipment would become no more useful than a tin can.
Flat then threw an anti-personnel fragmentation grenade. The blast knocked over the unmoving powered suit. The boarding hatch was underneath, so it would need to be flipped over with a crane or something for the soldier to get out.
"How did you see that coming? There was no warning."
"If you try to detect everything with just your five senses, you'll fall victim to surprise attacks. You need to think about what you would do if you were the enemy. Do you get it now, newcomer?"
With an explosive noise, black smoke began spewing from a side passage.
Some enemy soldiers came running frantically out, but they were soon accurately shot with bullets that came flying from the same side passage.
Finally, Sogia stepped out.
"C'mon, we need to get this done quickly. If we don't do enough damage while they're still panicking from this surprise attack, this is going to get really annoying!"
After the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had become the 202nd Mobile Support Company known as Unicorn, they had carried out all sorts of horrible deeds below the surface all over the world.
They had needlessly sullied their hands and created various connections in return.
After one such job was complete, Flat had said the following to Sogia.
"We're going to hell, aren't we?"
"It may not look like it, but this is the quickest path available to us. We don't have time for anything else."
"But will Staivia's faction last long enough?"
"Her maid Mikfa is very capable. If she gives it her all, they should be able to last just long enough. But even if she does her very best, 2 years is our limit. We need to expand our network even further."
"... But while we do this, Lady Staivia is probably crying all alone."
She was not just a symbol or a name on a document to them. They knew Staivia Nikolaschka as a person.
They knew she got motion sickness and therefore did not like riding on ships or planes. They knew that no matter how bad a mood she was in, she could almost always be cheered up with some beef stroganoff.
It was because they knew those trivial bits of humanity that they could put up with it all.
And it was a disgrace for her royal guard unit if Princess Staivia shed even a single tear.
They wanted to go right that instant and beat the shit out of the bastards behind the plan to assassinate her. They wanted to crush the source of what was causing her to cry.
But they sealed up those feelings and focused on sharpening their fangs as soldiers.
"Then there is only one thing we can do, " Sogia had muttered quietly."We must risk our lives to make it up to her."
Sogia, Sanya, Mars, Flat.
Those four met up on the battlefield and headed towards their goal point while spraying bullets everywhere.
"Hey, did you three remember to destroy the armored vehicles? Oh, and the aircrafts. The powered suits aren't the height of their firepower."
"Team bravo and delta went around destroying those. They poured tons of sugar in their tanks. And as for the aircrafts... well, they spread flames through the ammunition space of the gunships waiting on the runway, and now it's like hell on earth over there. I guess you could call it a giant and deadly pinwheel firework. When one thing catches fire it catches the next thing on fire, so the whole thing is still expanding."
"Clear, clear!" shouted Mars.
"Mars, you missed one. Please do this right. Clear."
They were headed for the central control room.
Their first and final trump card for the cutting edge Object the Dimiksy faction had prepared lay there.
"What was that about Mars!? Did that newcomer do something wrong again!?"
"Can you please not start that at a time like this!?" begged Mars."Clear, clear!!"
And then Sogia casually said, "Oh, right. I forgot to ask. How did it go gathering evidence of Dimiksy's faction's treason?"
"We're turning all that evidence into a sea of flames right now."
"That's not good! If we can't prove anything, we'll just be mass murderers!!" shouted Mars.
"Give up on the court martial, newcomer. We were plenty guilty from the moment we caused an entire military unit to disappear."
As the chaos of that hellish firefight continued to create more and more chaos, Sogia reached for the large communications equipment an enemy communications soldier had been carrying.
He tapped on the microphone with a finger.
"Ahh, ahh. What? Is this thing working???"
"It'll reach to the other side of the planet. Including to that girl stuffed inside that old Object."
"Is that so?"
Sogia arbitrarily called up the frequency memory while wearing down the enemy's numbers with short bursts of gunfire. He then casually brought the microphone up to his mouth
And he spoke.
His voice reached the Assault Signal's cockpit where it floated in the ocean.
Staivia Nikolaschka's eyes opened wide.
She definitely heard it.
She heard the voice she had once innocently relied on.
She heard the words of the owner of that large hand.
"Hey, baby. How long are you going to keep crying? It's about time you smiled."
It had taken 5 years of fighting, but the miracle was complete.
In that world of rotten wars, the groundwork of great bloodshed had led to a small miracle that showed the pride of knights and the proof of justice.
Part 14
Meanwhile, the two idiots Quenser and Heivia were lying collapsed on the floor.
They had just learned the general situation thanks to the open radio exchange between Unicorn and Staivia and some additional information provided by the maid Mikfa (who it seemed had only just learned what was going on).
And after finishing her explanations, Mikfa let out a frantic voice.
"Wh-why are you suddenly lying stricken on the ground!? It is too early to be experiencing burnout!!"
"I can't believe this!!"
"We were beaten!! We were completely outdone!! Vah! There's nothing we can do!! I want to jump on them and beat the shit out of them, but I can't find fault in them after they settled everything so nicely! Okay, that was a wonderful story! Thank you very much! The more we try to cut in, the worse we look!!"
"What are we supposed to do? The more we dig, the more damage is done to us... I'm sure they would have no problem acting all cool and saying they're prepared to be court martialed!! No!! I don't want to be a jobber!!"
It seemed they had guessed fairly accurately what Unicorn's catch phrase was.
But Mikfa did not care about the pride of some pathetic idiots.
Even if the situation had changed, Princess Staivia had still been forced aboard the Assault Signal as a target.
"I-I assume Unicorn is in the central control room trying to acquire the emergency shutdown code for the Object. It is a lifeline used to prevent the pilot Elite from going on a rampage."
"And what does that leave for us!? What is Quenser the meaningless side character supposed to do!?"
"I doubt there is any assurance they will be able to acquire the emergency shutdown code and if Dimiksy's Object fires its main cannon before it can be shut down, it is all over! We need to buy time to save Lady Staivia!!"
"..."
"..."
Quenser and Heivia fell silent.
While Mikfa was panicking a good bit internally, those two idiots stood up once more.
"... We can save Princess Staivia?"
"Yes, that is what I have been saying!"
"... It couldn't happen without us?"
"We are the only ones here!!"
The two boys exchanged a glance.
And then they let out some dark laughter.
"... Heh heh heh. Hey, Heivia. How about we take it all for ourselves at the very, very end? Let's put our own wonderful story on top of theirs to make theirs completely useless."
"While we're at it, how about we carry the princess out in our arms right in front of those knights who have been working at this for 5 long years."
"We still have one important job left: Kicking those self-important Unicorn bastards right in the nuts."
"Kicking a corpse in the balls is boring. We need to make sure those heroes have tears in their eyes."
Mikfa began to seriously wonder if shooting those two in the back right there would be the best way to protect Staivia's chastity, but she had to worry about protecting the princess's life first.
Quenser and Heivia were not stupid enough to plan on simply standing in front of a cutting edge Object. They would not agree to such a proposal and they would simply end up crushed even if they did. Their enemy would have no reason to stop.
"Hey, let's start by doing something about that pain-in-the-ass jamming. Just like we already planned to. Let's cut the airport's emergency power."
"Then what?"
"We ask for help from the Legitimacy Kingdom military of course. What can we do on our own? Only an Object can stand up to an Object. So it would be fastest just to ask for help."
"If an Object would come if we called for help, Lady Staivia would not be having so much trouble in the first place!!"
"We can do it now, " immediately corrected Quenser."After all, the Royal Duel can no longer be considered fair thanks to Unicorn's rampage. We won't take sides. We will call for help for both Prince Dimiksy and Princess Staivia. Then they don't need to worry about whose side they're on. We can get help to protect both of them from Unicorn's interference."
"Only Dimiksy's faction wants this conflict over succession to result in killing. Even if someone wants Dimiksy to inherit the throne, it's only natural to want a spare in the bloodline in case of a sudden illness, accident, or assassination. In that case, a soldier would want to save both of them if the outcome of the situation is unclear."
"..."
Mikfa stared at the two of them dumbfounded.
To save one of them, the other had to be killed.
Dimiksy's faction had spent many long years manipulating information to set up that condition. Mikfa had tried to resist it all, but that line of thinking had become entrenched in her mind without her even realizing it.
Had Unicorn... no, the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company thought of that way out?
Quenser and Heivia would prepare several means of interference to buy enough time for the emergency shutdown code to be entered.
"Hey, Quenser! Where's the emergency power supply? We need to hurry up and blow it up!"
"It's a diesel engine larger than a school swimming pool! If the gas catches fire, the entire float will be split in two!!"
As they walked through the underground (or internal?) portion of the float, the two idiots moved towards the central portion of the emergency power supply. The area beyond the door was like a sauna. Countless metal boxes and pipes were crammed inside and each one had a panel and handle attached.
"... I don't like this arrangement. I doubt there are, but there had better not be any soldiers hiding in here."
"I'm more worried about traps. This steam limits our vision and all the noise masks any small sounds."
"Come to think of it, we've basically opened up the hood of a giant car engine and jumped in. This is not an environment for a human being."
They slowly and cautiously continued inside.
Quenser and Heivia read through the thick manual on the wall and operated a few handles and levers. After a hard struggle, the readings finally began to drop before their eyes.
"Oh, that's right. The guys from the naval base are up above. This will stop the defense system shooting up that Latin guy and the other honor students, right?"
"Oh, I'd completely forgotten. It makes me feel like Urashima Tarou. How much time has passed since then?"
They felt no tension over the issue because they were not entirely sure those people were even worth protecting. The situation might have been quite different had they met even a single beautiful woman on that base.
With the emergency power down, Quenser and Heivia headed for the top of the float. Since it was too dangerous for the maid Mikfa to stand on the front lines otherwise, they had made her put on one of the powered suits left by Dimiksy's faction. Quenser himself had destroyed an identical model, so they knew it was not a perfect defense. However, it did lower the odds of her being killed by a stray bullet.
"We're headed up top, but don't stand on the edge of the float. If you do fall into the ocean, don't panic and perform an emergency eject. If you pull the huge levers in the right and left wrists at the same time, you'll be ejected. If you escape before sinking 10 meters down, the water pressure won't be an issue. If you fall further than that, decompression sickness will make it dangerous."
"With this, I can fight too!" announced Mikfa.
"Fight what? Surely you don't mean the Object."
"Dragon breath has a horrible stench to it. If it so much as scratches you, the armor will melt."
They climbed up the stairs and onto the top of the float. On a ship, it would have been called the deck.
The Assault Signal that Princess Staivia was aboard had already made its way out from beneath the float. It was now heading up to the surface thanks to its giant floats. Princess Staivia had not been trained as a pilot Elite, so it was doubtful she could perform even that basic a maneuver. A program may have been sending it to a set starting point based on the rules of the Royal Duel.
The surface of the float was several kilometers across and the Object was over 50 meters across. It was a sight that threw one's sense of distance out of order. The tiltrotor crafts deployed around the area and the surface-to-air missile units that had been shooting them down a moment before all looked like toys.
"I see three large transport planes. Each one can probably hold around 100 people. Looks like more survived than didn't, don't you think? I guess those old models aren't all that useful since they're too easily tricked by chaff and flares. If this place had been equipped with the anti-air lasers Objects use, it would've all been over instantly."
"The problem is that none of them will think too much about why they survived. In fact, they'll probably hold a grudge against us."
"How can you two be so cruel?" asked Mikfa."A-and more importantly, how is Lady Staivia!?"
"More importantly? You're just as cruel as us."
"More importantly? You're just as cruel as us."
The two idiots gave that simultaneous comment, but it seemed maidens came with a function that let them shut out any inconvenient voices.
Staivia's Assault Signal had no obvious signs of damage. Unless those who had procured it for the royal family had hidden a cup of poison for suicide, Staivia would be safe within the cockpit.
But that was no relief.
Something gigantic was moving on the distant sea.
"Here it comes, Quenser. It's here!! That's an Object!!"
"Which one!? Dimiksy's? Or reinforcements from the Amazon district!?"
Those two extreme options were like a coin toss deciding life or death, but fate always had a way of sneering at those two idiots.
It might have been due to the powered suit's digital magnifying ability or it may have been due to her experience from her long years serving the Nikolaschka family. Whatever the reason, it was the maid Mikfa who answered.
"The Object has the Nikolaschka family coat of arms on it. As well as decorative ribbons to indicate the individual. The ribbons are blue and gold. That is Dimiksy's!!"
"Not good. So not good!! Is help not going to arrive in time!?"
"Dimiksy probably intercepted the request for help. He's going to be on guard for a shot from extreme long distance or a surprise attack from the bottom of the ocean. Otherwise, he wouldn't be approaching so slowly. After all, this is the main dish he's spent 5 years preparing for. He has to want to charge in and devour it."
Quenser used binoculars to get as many details about the Object as he could.
Below the spherical main body it had two long floats extending from front to back. It also had three leg-like parts extending from both the right and left.
"It primarily uses an air cushion. It can operate on both sea and land without swapping out parts. But those insect-like legs are different. Does it also use the laser method... ? No, those are..."
"What is it, Quenser?"
"The legs on either side are forced brakes. They might work like pile bunkers. It's the type to make tight turns by slightly altering the resistance between the two sides. In a close quarters fight, it can fly around like lightning."
"That seems like a needless fear since Lady Staivia cannot move at all."
"I want to give any hint I can to the Object that comes to help. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I watched on doing nothing."
Its main cannons were likely the six large cannons sticking out of the front of the spherical main body. They were bound together like a Gatling gun, but Quenser could not spot any mechanism for rotating them.
"... They're laser beams."
"Wait, wait. It has six ridiculously huge cannons strapped together? Isn't that really, really bad? How much firepower does that have?"
"No, Heivia. Do you know why the battleships from an older era lined up two or three main cannons together?"
"What? Wasn't it to double or triple their power?"
"No. They did not have the accuracy for long distance shots back then. They did it to raise their accuracy. They fired multiple shots at once, but it was a great success if even one of them hit. Which means..."
"This bastard has six cannons strapped together because he couldn't hit if he didn't?"
"The actual tech used may not be that high level. If we have a usable Object on our side, this might be over surprisingly quickly."
Dimiksy's faction had spent years preparing for this day. They had made sure Staivia could not fight back no matter what. The actual ability of the Object was of no consequence. They knew no counterattack was coming, so they might have just needed to prepare any old Object as long as its main cannon could fire.
The average construction cost of an Object was 5 billion dollars.
When maintenance and operation costs were added in, the price shot even further up.
Even if Dimiksy was a member of the royal Nikolaschka family, it had to have been difficult to prepare two of them.
"... Is that really so?" muttered the maid Mikfa.
While still peering through his binoculars, Quenser asked, "Is what really so?"
"Dimiksy is both a member of the royal Nikolaschka family and an officially registered Object pilot Elite. Although it was almost entirely to increase his authority, so he has never been sent to the front lines before.... But this is an Object created for a royal to use. Would the technology used really be so crude?"
"... Do you know what system genealogy Dimiksy uses?"
"It was a second generation Object focused on laser beams. However, this one is different. Also, I have heard some disturbing rumors concerning Dimiksy. It may have been nothing more than propaganda to increase his influence further, but..."
"?"
Quenser looked puzzled and Mikfa continued.
"It is said the cutting edge Broad Sky Saber developed for Dimiksy Nikolaschka has exceeded the boundaries of the second generation and approached the third generation."
An unpleasant pause continued for a short while.
"Heh, " laughed Heivia scornfully.
He seemed to be trying desperately to force down the fear that had welled up somewhere in his chest.
"That's probably just the special hope of the influential. It was the same in that Oceanian military nation. They went on and on about how they had developed an Object, but it was just a piece of junk that only reached generation 0. 5."
"That doesn't change the fact that we almost died."
At that point, a small electronic tone sounded from Quenser's radio.
"This is the standing defense unit of the Amazon district military. We have accepted your request for assistance. The second generation Forest Roller will be dispatched to the combat area. We wish to use the source of your transmission as a marker to distinguish friend from foe. Is that okay?"
"No! We are being targeted by an Object! An Object from the Legitimacy Kingdom. If we used such an obvious marker, Dimiksy would just blow us away!!"
"Then what should we do!?"
"We'll take care of the flesh-and-blood enemies. The Forest Roller should focus on Dimiksy! Your objective is to keep the Objects from fighting. Silence any Object that tries to resist but try not to kill the Elite! Everyone here needs to be protected. Simple, right!?"
"Understood. Give my regards to the rumored princess. We'll be putting on quite the show for her, but tell her to try not to fall in love with me. If this does get her wet, it's only the suspension bridge effect."
"I cannot ignore that vulgar comment! Does that operator want to be arrested for lese-majesty!?" shouted the maid in a shrill voice, but Quenser and Heivia were relieved that she was back to her normal self.
Yes.
They were relieved.
Even though the enemy had yet to fire. No, even though they knew there was no such thing as "going easy on you" or a "safe zone" when it came to the weapons known as Objects.
(Come to think of it, what is that thing?)
A sudden question entered Quenser's mind as he waited for the Forest Roller to arrive.
It was on the back of Dimiksy's Broad Sky Saber. A unit similar to a steel tower was attached there as if it was carrying a giant sword on its back.
(Is it a large-scale antenna for information warfare? No, it's too big for that. It has to be something important enough to risk putting its center of gravity off balance. )
It felt like a rough sweater scratching at his neck.
He converted that strange feeling that something was out of place into words.
(That isn't a steel tower attached to an Object. With that relative weight, it's more like they attached an Object to a steel tower... )
He soon found the answer to his question.
The enemy gave it to him.
A brilliant white flash of light as if from welding burst from the base of the steel tower.
Quenser quickly recalled his fear of Objects and immediately got down on the float's surface. Heivia tried to knock the maid Mikfa to the ground because she was standing there blankly, but the thick powered suit would not budge. The hard impact knocked the boy back onto the ground.
"Ow, dammit! What the hell was that!? Did Dimiksy fire something!?"
"Wait... this is odd. What is that!?" shouted Quenser as he lay dumbfounded on his back.
Something had shot at high speed through the steel tower on the back of the Broad Sky Saber. The pure white light shot up along the vertical tower and fired some mass with it. The mass was about the size of a small truck.
Quenser assumed it was a shell flying in an arc like a long throw in baseball.
But he was wrong.
"Wait, wait, wait!! What is that... ? That isn't a long throw. It shot that thing up into the sky!!"
"It resembled a container, " said Mikfa."The kind of container used in laser space elevators."
"It didn't just resemble one.... That is a space elevator!!"
Two different standards were in conflict when it came to modern space development. The mass driver that used railgun technology and laser space elevators that created a "cable of light" by firing a powerful laser beneath a container and stimulating diffuse reflections to explosively expand the air which launched the container upwards.
Quenser and the others had just witnessed a mass of cutting edge military technology of the sort innocently broadcast into people's living rooms to show the peaceful usage of space technology. In other words, it was exactly the type of thing seen on bright and cheerful news broadcasts.
"... Heivia. Do you remember when we were on the Cook Addition Islands and I was invited into that top secret facility by the designer named Claire?"
"What about it!? I don't want to remember anything about the Night Edge Platoon!!"
"When I was there, Claire said something about the third generation of Objects possibly carrying on the genes of the Tri-Core."
"The Tri-Core?" said Mikfa."I remember hearing a commentator on a talk show making fun of it because its ability to drill for and transport oil left it overbalanced."
"That's the problem with the people who didn't actually fight the thing! Do you have any idea how many times we almost died back then!?"
"And I didn't know maids watched talk shows, " said Quenser with an odd sense of fascination."The military does more than send weapons at each other. The Tri-Core built the lifeline of oil into the Object itself. It was an ambitious design that built a valuable facility into itself. To break free of the current need to protect the drilling and refinement facilities, they gave the facilities themselves the power to fight and freely move around."
Even with three Objects protecting an oil refinement facility, an enemy Object could still destroy it on a suicide mission and a stray shell could always blow it away. But if the important facility that was as delicate as an egg was given the toughness of an Object, the risk lessened.
Or at the very least, someone had forced through a large-scale public project using that thinking.
That was why the Tri-Core had been allowed three reactors. The makers had believed it would provide far more benefit than three separate Objects.
"So is Dimiksy's Broad Sky Saber similar to that?"
"Space development bases are another type of important facility that is difficult to move. A facility that provides great benefits will be a prime target. Usually, a large-scale defensive line is needed to prevent an enemy Object from attacking a space development base. Even if no one ever attacks, just sustaining that defensive line costs massive amounts of money..."
"So you're saying they can break free of that problem by turning the Object itself into a space development base? And the JPlevelMHD reactor provides the large power output needed."
It went beyond the simple battles.
This was an Object that had a source of massive amounts of money built into it.
This was the third generation.
This was a great flow that would affect everyone from the highest officer to the lowest soldier and – if viewed in a broader sense – would affect every one of the billions of people that were affected by war. When viewed that way, Dimiksy's Broad Sky Saber did indeed dig deeper into the idea of war than the second generation that focused solely on combat.
"But what did Dimiksy fire into space?" asked Mikfa.
"I dunno. Maybe the bastard chickened out and fled."
The three of them naturally looked up into the sky.
The eerily blue sky blocked their view so they could not see what was happening in space.
But...
In the next moment...
An orange light fell from the heavens and Quenser finally realized what the true value of the enemy Object was.
It happened beyond the horizon.
Due to the earth being round, Quenser and the others could not see where the beam of light landed. Or so it should have been. Nevertheless, they saw it. Something exploded beyond the horizon. The ground had been blown to pieces and rubble from the manmade structures atop the ground was blown into the air. It was all blown dozens... no, hundreds of meters into the air.
"... What?" muttered Heivia as if trying to deny the nightmare he imagined was happening dozens of kilometers away.
His voice quickly turned to a shout.
"What the hell happened!? Did the container fall back down!?"
"This isn't right. The orange beam of light isn't going away. That must be an afterimage left by the dust and moisture in the air being roasted."
As Quenser watched on dumbfounded, he heard a voice come from his radio.
It was from that same operator, but he gave a completely different impression from before.
"... Kssshhhhh. Kkkssshhhhhhhhh!! This is the standing defense unit of the Amazon district military! Calling all units!! The Forest Roller was heavily damaged on the way to the combat area. I repeat! The Forest Roller was heavily damaged!! It can no longer move!!"
"What the hell..." Heivia had his own radio, but he snatched Quenser's away."What the hell!? That was our final trump card!! What the hell happened!?"
"We do not know! From the damage report we received, it was likely hit by a laser weapon from directly above. Do you have any idea what could have done it!?"
They had of course heard nothing about a bomber flying around. Then again, the laser weapons equipped on a bomber could not damage an Object.
Which meant it had to have come from above the sky.
From space.
"... There's something there. It isn't just the Broad Sky Saber. No, some weapon that works in conjunction with it is in orbit!!"
"You mean the Broad Sky Saber's true main cannon separates off into space!?"
The idea of an Object's cannon separating from it and still being used had been around for a long time.
The cannons could be equipped onto tanks or bombers. Or they could be staked deeply into the ground around the battlefield. Then lasers or microwaves could be used to send power to the cannons so they could fire on a target from multiple directions at once.
But...
"None of the past methods worked. The radiant heat and recoil from a main cannon is enough to destroy a tank or a bomber. And if their armor is forcibly thickened, they crush themselves under their own weight. And if they are attached directly to the ground, the target can just leave the area once they notice it. But..."
"They can ignore the weight of armor in the weightlessness of space. That way they can increase the armor as much as needed. And even if the target catches on, the main cannon's range is an entire third of the planet. There's no way to escape a sword that rains down from the heavens!! This is completely insane!! What happened to the space treaties!? This violates international law! Can they really do this? This destroys the distinction between safe countries and battlefield countries!! With that one Object, they can freely choose 6 or 7 billion people to slaughter!!"
If he wanted to, Dimiksy could destroy Staivia's Assault Signal from the other side of the planet. In all likelihood, the only reason he had showed himself was because the rules of the Royal Duel required for him to be in the same combat area.
"The materials were probably launched into orbit in the name of moon development and then it was constructed up there. His main cannon is growing like a rolling snowball. Who knows how many hundreds of meters it's reached."
"But if it is set up in space, " said Mikfa inside her powered suit, "can't it be shot down with anti-ballistic missile armaments? I had heard 98% of ballistic missiles can be neutralized in this day and age using a combination of Object anti-air lasers and interception satellites."
"Did you hear that on a talk show too?" asked Heivia in annoyance."Modern ballistic missile countermeasures do not blow the weapons to pieces. They cause small but definite scratches that cause them to fall apart due to the friction of the air or atmosphere. I doubt this sky saber of unknown size can be destroyed with a simple scratch."
"But what if we prepare some large-scale firepower?" suggested the maid."We could use ballistic missiles of our own to destroy the enemy main cannon in orbit. If I recall, the original method to defend against missiles was to have the enemy ballistic missile swallowed up in the explosion of your own ballistic missile."
Her reckless idea was that they need not hesitate to use enough firepower to wipe out a large portion of the map because it was in space.
But...
"That main cannon uses Object tech. If the energy running the large-scale main cannon can also be used to run smaller anti-air lasers, it can shoot down every ballistic missile we send its way."
"Meaning?"
"The situation is hopeless!! He can wipe a location off the map as easily as a normal person can look up a delicious restaurant on their GPS!! It just takes a tap of his finger!!"
Of course, a GPS alone was unreliable against an Object that was constantly moving unpredictably at high speeds. Normally, the six cannons on the front would be used to hold the enemy Object in place. During that time, it could take aim from the orbiting cannon.
As Quenser and the others watched on with no hope, the Broad Sky Saber used the laser space elevator on its back once more.
With a bright light as if from welding, another container was taken to orbit.
"What was that!?"
"I don't know for sure, but my guess would be a giant battery filled with power from the Object's reactor. I doubt that's enough to use that main canon, so that sky saber probably also generates power via megasolar or chemical oxygen iodine!"
"You've gotta be kidding me... So what do we do? At this rate, he's gonna repeatedly slap that delicate princess's teary face with that giant, rock-hard cannon he's so proud of!!"
"Please do not say such vulgar things about Lady Staivia even as a joke!!"
"Okay, Heivia. Let's fight back before he can shoot his white stuff all over that innocent girl's hair!!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
The two idiots ignored the screaming maid and continued their conversation.
"But how? He isn't even coming this way! Staivia will be killed before we can even travel the several kilometers to him. And more importantly, I don't want to
| ← Ch. 046 | Ch. 048 → |