novelThe Conspiracy Bank that Motivates Human Greed >> Bombardment Battle in the Amazon District (3)
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stand up to that monster!!"
"Heivia, how do you think that sky saber aims?"
"What? It's a collection of space development tech, right? Dimiksy's giant thing probably has GPS functionality. He can look down at the women's bath from above the barrier and take careful aim!"
"In that case, we can take it out with jamming."
Quenser pointed into the distance with his thumb.
He pointed at the numerous large-scale ECM devices that had been installed here and there on the float to interfere with Staivia and Mikfa's communications.
"Let's cut the power cables for the defense system and then reactivate the airport's emergency power. If we alter the direction of the ECM antennae, we should be able to interfere with his GPS!!"
Part 15
Unicorn's attack on Flightburg Air Force Base had gone well, yet Sogia grimaced.
Mars spoke within the central control room they had taken over.
"... What is it?"
They had acquired the emergency shutdown code for the Broad Sky Saber. It was a numerical string represented by 13 hexadecimal digits stored on a flash memory card about the size of an eraser. The data was stored as an image rather than simply as numbers, so it had to be displayed, read by a human, and then manually inputted into the hotline that was disconnected from the military network and connected the control room to the Object.
This was of course to ensure an analog human had to take part in the process somewhere. Otherwise, the danger arose of external interference from hacking.
The flash memory card had a lock that required the thumbprint of the authorized user and it also checked for abnormalities in the perspiration and pulse rate in the thumb. In other words, the security could not be bypassed by "borrowing" the authorized user's thumb by threatening them or knocking them out. Naturally, severing the thumb and carrying it with you was also out of the question.
But reality was very different from a rehearsed exercise carried out in a safe laboratory. It was only natural to be under extreme stress if that emergency shutdown code truly needed to be used in a situation that could alter the outcome of a war. And so the high military officials had prepared an emergency unlock method in case it falsely locked them out. However, this completely defeated the purpose of the primary security method, especially in a situation like this where Unicorn was aware of the alternate method.
That was thanks to approaching the designer known as Claire while disguised as the Night Edge Platoon.
"Dammit."
But...
They all noticed something was wrong as soon as they stuck the flash memory card into the control console and tried to read the data inside.
The data was clearly corrupted.
At the very least, it was in no condition for a human being to read it.
The flash memory card had not been physically damaged during the fighting. The box meant to protect that final trump card was not that delicate.
Which meant...
"Did Dimiksy send a dummy emergency shutdown code to Flightburg Air Force Base? Is that what happened?"
"No, they would have used it once beforehand as a test to ensure mutual trust. But the foundation of your idea is sound. Dimiksy's faction probably didn't trust those at Flightburg."
"Then what happened!?"
"They probably used a time-activated virus or something similar to make sure the data was corrupted once the day of the duel arrived."
"It doesn't matter what happened." Sogia kicked the flash memory card while it was stuck in the console, breaking it."If we can't stop the Broad Sky Saber, we can't save Staivia! Not only that, but Dimiksy will know something is wrong with Flightburg. That means we can expect a harsh counterattack!!"
That was when the earth began to tremble violently.
The Forest Roller that was displayed on the giant screen in the central control room had the red symbol for moderate damage added.
The attack had begun.
They all gulped because they knew what it meant for the trembling of that destruction to reach them several dozen kilometers away.
"Here it comes. We need to get out of here. This base is going to be blown away!!"
While sending instructions over radio to the other members of Unicorn who were still fighting in various parts of Flightburg Air Force Base, Sogia and the others fled the central control room. They needed to get as far away as possible from that base. They needed to escape an attack that was powerful enough to destroy a second generation Object.
But they did not make it in time.
They did not even manage to escape the grounds of the air force base.
The second strike fell.
The central point of Flightburg Air Force Base was dyed in orange. In the next instant, a storm of destruction raged.
The laser had not even lasted a full second.
But the intense heat it created was poured into the surface and that accumulated heat caused the air to explosively expand. This created a tremendously hot wind that reached over 100 degrees. A wall of air like that of a hurricane spread in every direction and the military facilities that had been created to withstand shell bombardments and aerial bombings were blown away.
Would it have been better to be inside a building or outside?
There was no escaping it either way.
Inside, one would be crushed by rubble. Outside, one would be struck as hard as if by large truck at full speed and all of one's clothes and skin would have been scorched. If one did not stop breathing, the insides of one's lungs would be in danger.
"God... dammit... !!"
Sogia and the others had just run out of the back entrance of the military facility and gotten down on the ground when the strike hit.
The massive scorching wind had swept over them after a few seconds.
The one piece of luck was that the laser had struck on the other side of the facility. Smashing the building killed some of the momentum of the raging wind and they were saved from the majority of the shock.
But they could not avoid the heat.
It was not enough to ignite their uniforms, but a pain still ran across them as if boiling water had been dumped on their heads.
"Gyaaaaaahhhhh!? I'm gonna die. Dammit. I'm gonna die!!"
"Bear with it!! It isn't like your entire body has been covered in white phosphorus!! Quit crying over some light burns, newcomer!!"
"S-Sanya, the fire resistance of your collection saved us. I'm almost unscathed except for the parts that were exposed."
"I have saline and coolant here. Sogia, contact the soldiers with anti-materiel rifles, machineguns, missiles, and any other heavy weapons! They should be able to use their equipment for cooling their gun barrels!!"
"Do we have time for that... ?" Sogia dragged his aching body into a standing position, sucked in some of the stingingly hot air, and shouted into his radio."All survivors, report in! Flightburg Air Force Base has lost its strategic value. All survivors are to split into small groups and leave the base. Do not all head in a single direction. Scatter in every direction. We're being targeted from above. Flee to subway tunnels and anything else you can find!!"
But he received no response.
Was he hearing that steady static because the device had been destroyed by the heat or because there was no one left to respond?
Sogia gritted his teeth, but then he finally heard someone's voice.
He thought it belonged to a survivor, but the voice betrayed his expectations.
It was a woman's voice.
"That's not the right course of action, Unicorn. This is no time to be falling back."
"... ? Claire Whist... the designer... ?"
Primarily in order to learn about the development of the highly classified Broad Sky Saber, they had approached her to create a connection with someone in the Object design business. The Cook Addition Islands near the equator had been hot, but Sogia felt the memories from that time had been enough of a scorching hell to make that heat seem like nothing.
But why was Claire contacting them now? He frowned.
"Let's go back over the situation, " she said."'He' already has the answer. Dimiksy Nikolaschka has used every method available to him in order to legally assassinate Staivia Nikolaschka and inherit the throne. And yet his first shot went to the Forest Roller and his second shot went to Flightburg Air Force Base. Why? His target is right in front of him."
"Isn't that just because he wants to kill any interference so he can take his time and enjoy it!? That's why he tried to crush us and the Object coming to help!! And he succeeded!!"
"Exactly. Even you are telling yourself the answer."
"What... ?"
As Sogia trailed off, he finally realized something.
The second generation Forest Roller was one thing. But why had he destroyed Flightburg Air Force Base?
The emergency shutdown code in the central control room had been a dummy from the beginning. There had been nothing they could do to the Broad Sky Saber even if Dimiksy had left them alone. And the flesh-and-blood humans of Unicorn had no chance of fighting back against that giant weapon. Even if they fired their rifles that were like peashooters to him, he could simply ignore them and fire on Princess Staivia.
And yet he had gone out of his way to use the Broad Sky Saber to destroy Flightburg Air Force Base.
Even though he had to be itching to get to the main dish of Princess Staivia.
"... There's something here."
"Yes, there is something there. There is something there the Broad Sky Saber wished to destroy even if it meant interrupting his otherwise perfectly progressing plan. And has that something really been destroyed? That strike from the heavens was powerful, but it was also a broad strike against the entire base. It is possible whatever it was has not been completely destroyed."
"..."
Sogia thought as he stared at the red hot ruins of the building.
The odds of success were low, but they were not nonexistent.
However, their plan had been a tightrope walk with less than a fraction of a percentage point chance of success from the beginning. They were not about to despair at low odds of success now.
"I have a message from 'him', " said Claire Whist to Unicorn."'Leave the babysitting to us, papa. You need to get to work and dig up whatever it is that guy wanted to get rid of. '"
Part 16
It was summer year-round at the Cook Addition Islands and the ocean there was blue enough to be a tourist location, but the designer Claire was leaning against a wall in an air conditioned passageway. The damage to the research facility had been completely repaired. The corner of the building in which Claire stood had drink vending machines. But it was also the corner in which the material meant to prevent signals from getting out had been removed.
She was of course holding a laptop and she was wirelessly communicating with a communications device left outside the building by the Night Edge Platoon.
The information she transmitted was sent to the Night Edge Platoon, then to a satellite, and finally to South America.
While communicating with Quenser's group and Unicorn, the woman wearing a lab coat over a swimsuit (who claimed to be a member of the genius girls of the facility) whispered to herself.
"I can't have you getting yourselves killed. If you have time to give in to this tragedy, then I need you to bring it to an end."
While sipping on a chilled carbonated beverage, she thought of what had started all this.
When the Object designer named Claire had first heard what was happening from the Night Edge Platoon (that was actually Unicorn in disguise), she had of course thought of the possibility it was a trap. After all, putting on that kind of act was Unicorn's specialty.
Prince Dimiksy was meticulously preparing a plan to assassinate Princess Staivia.
When she had been asked to help stop that, it would have been odd if she had not doubted them.
The following conversation had played out:
"If you doubt us, then use your own network to do some research. I'm sure you have a broader and more detailed network than we do. If you didn't, we wouldn't want your network."
"Hmm..."
Claire Whist gave a small sigh as she controlled an old-style game pad with both hands. The cable connected to her laptop and the screen showed a filthy middle-aged bearded man crawling out of a transport helicopter that had made an emergency landing. The mission was to travel from the spot in the middle of enemy territory where the helicopter had landed to the national border. It was a hellish marathon of about 500 kilometers.
"Do you know what kind of training is needed to develop weapons?" she asked.
"No. I'd guess you need math and physics... and maybe something in the arts for the design side of things."
"Empty sadism."
Claire swung the game pad lightly to the side.
The bearded man shot an enemy soldier, stole his off-road vehicle, and drove off.
"In the end, you can't do this job unless you view killing someone in a distant land as a great deed. Even if all you see are symbols on a military network."
"You're saying the ability to carefreely look at those symbols indicates talent as a weapons developer?"
"I don't like the word 'talent'. You only ever hear it from the losers who put no real effort into anything. They use it to express their jealousy of the winners. The only difference between the winner and the loser is their growth rate and the time they put into it."
"What you call the growth rate is what people normally call talent."
The man from the Night Edge Platoon muttered that last comment under his breath, but he likely intentionally let her read his lips.
He likely had the ability she spoke of as well, so she could not have him be jealous of her. For one thing, his ability for direct killing and trickery were likely greater than her own.
And so the woman wearing a lab coat over a swimsuit continued speaking.
"I am not creating Objects out of patriotism or benevolence. I create them because they are powerful. I create them because they are cool. That is all it takes for me to change history. I'm the kind of woman who would be boring to drink with at a bar. So don't expect to find any proper, standard, or average humanity in me. I don't care about Princess Staivia's situation. If she's afraid of dying, all I can do is tell her to get more powerful. And that can be physical power or political power."
That was the opinion of someone who had succeeded in creating something from scratch.
She was overwhelmingly correct and overwhelmingly cold.
If you put enough effort into it, you will succeed. She did not mean that as a shallow platitude. She had truly achieved that, so she could not understand the anguish of those currently struggling through it. Why can't you succeed even though you're putting so much effort into this? How long will you be stuck back at that stage? Are you even trying? She was the kind of person who could innocently ask those much too cruel questions.
"But..."
Claire Whist's tone of voice changed slightly and it broke through the iciness from before.
While an intense firefight played out on the screen, a bit of the humanity she had denied not long before entered her voice.
"You said it was the Assault Signal, right? Prince Dimiksy acquired the first generation Assault Signal as a pawn for his plan."
"Yes. The pilot Elite was assassinated while on leave in a safe country so that the Object would be removed from the battlefield."
That was an old Object.
The model fell in the middle to later end of the first generation. In addition to the standard cannons, it had been equipped with the result of an experimental project that used powerful electromagnetic waves and various wavelengths of light to destroy the devices used in the enemy's sensors. The experiment had been a failure. The idea only worked in theory and was completely worthless outside of the laboratory.
The design philosophy behind the Baby Magnum had been different, but it had inherited a few of the Assault Signal's genes in its fundamental theory. It was not as deep a connection as siblings or parent and child. At most, it was like being relatives or cousins.
The Object held many memories for Claire.
It had been the first Object she had designed.
A few technologies had been rejected by the ignorant higher ups of the military for misguided reasons, but she had added them in without recording them on the official plans. When she thought back, that had been rather reckless of her.
But...
That was not the core of what she took issue with.
It was something else. Something much more important.
"... The pilot Elite. Excelsyla was a pitiable girl." She spoke a single name."She came from a poor family. When she was scouted as an ideal candidate for an Elite, she was overjoyed that she would finally be able to help out her parents. But she made a mistake in how much of her first paycheck she sent them. She was trying to save her parents, but she ended up destroying both their sense of the value of money and their lives."
"..."
"People who are only able to wear first-class products are truly pathetic. Especially those whose outfits do not match the amount of money they make. Excelsyla fought hard to save her parents from their brand name addiction. The counseling lasted three years, but it never bore any fruits. She almost never took leave, but she had decided to do so that one time in order to finally give her parents the sweaters she had knitted herself."
It had all ended meaninglessly.
An Elite was a powerful asset for the nation, so even on leave, one would never be wandering around a city without bodyguards. For her to die in some ridiculous bombing, it was very likely there had been at least one enemy from Dimiksy's faction inside her bodyguard team.
Excelsyla's courage, dedication, benevolence, great effort, and small successes and fortunes had all been crushed underfoot for nothing more than the power lust of some sleazy man.
She had been roasted black.
All to acquire a pawn for some plan.
"Fine, " said Claire Whist quietly as she held the game pad tighter in her hands.
A creaking noise could be heard, cracks entered the plastic device, and then it broke.
With the commands suddenly having stopped, the bearded man could only sit there and be shot to death. Claire ignored him and glared at the man from the Night Edge Platoon.
"I'm surprised to find I can still make this expression, but since these feelings have welled up within me, I'll help you. Then again, you contacted me because you knew you could use the incident with Excelsyla most effectively on me, right?" But then she added, "There is a chance my anger could destroy your carefully laid plans from the inside. Do not forget that and make sure to hold my reins properly, okay?"
Dimiksy Nikolaschka might have been a truly excellent tactician.
He had expanded his wealth, power, equipment, and personnel by way of all sorts of wicked deeds.
But those wicked deeds could hurt him just as much as they helped him.
They could hurt him from a place he had no interest in.
Part 17
And the two idiots began a race against time.
After ending his conversation with the designer Claire, Quenser shouted to his partner.
"Heivia, get to the emergency power! Mikfa and I will cut the cables for the defense system!!"
"No fair!! I want to be the one working up a sweat with a maid!! I want to hear what a maid sounds like breathing heavily right next to me!!"
"So your vulgar talk has finally reached me as well... !!"
They complained, but they all knew they had no time. The enemy had already fired two shots. It was difficult to calculate out how much time they had left.
The two idiots headed off in different directions.
Heivia headed down a flight of stairs while Quenser and Mikfa ran across the top of the float.
"He can probably only shoot once every 7 minutes! But it's still astounding that he can fire a battery unit into orbit, have it decelerate, and then connect it in that time!!"
"Dimiksy cannot fire containers repeatedly like a machinegun, can he?" asked Mikfa.
"The system uses extremely high temperatures to explosively expand the air. It takes time for the rapid cooling. And once it does cool, it has to take measurements to ensure the elevator's guiderails have not been distorted.... But when you compare this to the old rockets that took days of preparation to fire, he's still shooting his load extremely prematurely!!"
"Are you enjoying this verbal sexual harassment by any chance!?"
Quenser attached bombs to the cables coiled around all over the place that were thicker than his arm. They were much too thick to cut with any kind of blade like wire cutters.
Meanwhile, Mikfa used the strength of her powered suit to rip the cables apart while watching the Broad Sky Saber with the digital magnification of the suit.
"The base of the elevator is moving. A cylindrical part is being loaded... That is probably the container!!"
"You mean that fat old man is groping at his swollen crotch!?"
"Do you want me to punch you!? And don't think I will hold back just because I am in a powered suit!!"
A separate building-like rectangular unit was equipped alongside the steel tower elevator. If one viewed the elevator like a gun, that was likely the magazine.
"Not good. Shit, is Heivia okay!?"
"He didn't just flee down below on his own, did he!?"
That was when they heard gunfire.
They were already short on time, but now some soldiers presumably from Dimiksy's faction were firing at them from behind a large passenger plane that was tilted to one side due to broken wheels.
Quenser did not hesitate to hide behind the maid (who was wearing a powered suit).
"What a pain in the ass! Why are they still alive!?"
"If they survived, they must be the unit that left with Lady Staivia. I will never forgive them!!"
The next thing Quenser knew, the maid was making a dash for the men. With his shield gone, Quenser immediately ran for cover, but he was not the only one surprised by the situation. It looked like one of the soldiers frantically tried to prepare a shoulder-fired missile, but Mikfa's amateurish and fearless dash proved successful. She got there first.
She crossed the approximately 150 meter gap at greater than a safe driving speed and used the giant hands of the powered suit to grab a panicked flesh-and-blood soldier.
"German☆suplex!!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!? That giant weight and tremendous strength turned a sport into murder!!" screamed Quenser as he watched from the side.
Whenever Quenser had heard the term "inhumane weapon of murder", he had always laughed to himself and wondered what a humane weapon of murder would be. However, this scene taught him all too well why such a term was needed. There were many ways to die, but not many would want to die by being half-crushed like an empty can.
Having charged into the center of the team of enemy soldiers, Mikfa continued her attack. Enemy Soldier 1 (who had just started to overcome his shock) was sent flying into the side of the passenger plane with a dropkick, Enemy Soldier 2 (who had panicked and was firing meaningless bullets from his submachine gun) had his upper body turned to spray with a lariat, and Enemy Soldier 3 (who had started cursing the goddess of destiny) was turned into a stain on the ground with a body press. By the end, it was impossible to tell which soldier had been which.
The scene was so horrifying it was almost humorous.
But Quenser would have preferred to see the maid's zettai ryouiki as the skirt of her maid uniform fluttered around her. The scene was humorous, but it was not cute in the slightest. And there was no hope for it at all.
Only now that she had been thoroughly dyed in red did Mikfa realize the situation she was in.
"Honestly, that was not enough to quell my anger. All of you need to hurry up and die!!"
"Um... Could you wash off all of that blood and guts before coming back over here... ?" asked Quenser.
"Why are you looking at me like I am filthy!? I will hug you!!"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!! You're all stickyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"
Despite receiving the truly rare experience of being hugged by a real maid and having his face buried in her bountiful chest, Quenser let out a cry and had real tears streaming down his face. There was nothing there but tough armor and the stench of iron. And that was probably not the armor he was smelling.
"Cough!! Cough cough!! That is too horrible to pass off as a joke!! And more importantly, we need to sever all of the power cables connecting to the defense system! Ugh... peh peh!!"
After the bloody maid finally released him, Quenser scurried off to blow away the remaining cables with bombs.
"Six minutes have passed since the last container was fired!" warned Mikfa.
"We've silenced the defense system. Now it's all up to Heivia!!"
That was when Quenser heard horrible static coming from his radio.
"Did we make it in time... ?"
"No, we need to change the direction of the antennae! Hurry up and turn them towards the Broad Sky Saber!!"
The powered suit ran. It forcibly grabbed the van-sized object that had been staked directly into the float. The suit's great strength forced the antennae to turn without their hydraulics.
In the next instant, something fell.
An orange beam of light struck a location further out in the ocean from both the floating international airport and the Assault Signal floating on the ocean next to it.
"We did it! It miss-... !!"
Mikfa did not have time to finish her exclamation of joy.
Quenser did not have time to warn her of the danger. He jumped behind a large passenger plane that was lying on the surface of the float with its main wing broken.
For a few seconds nothing happened.
And then...
There was a pure white explosion.
The giant laser beam had not lasted even a second. The tremendous amount of heat it had supplied to the ocean water had evaporated all of the nearby water. That large-scale phreatic explosion was reminiscent of the old-style rocket and space shuttle launches that Quenser had seen in recordings. A white cloud-like mass quickly spread out in every direction.
It spread for hundreds of meters and maybe even further than that.
Quenser was hiding behind a broken passenger plane, but nowhere was safe. The plane that was supposed to be acting as his shield rolled over when the white wall struck it. Quenser realized he was about to be crushed, so he frantically got up and ran back from the plane as quickly as he could.
"Damn, and after we went to the trouble of saving those tiltrotors!"
The troop transport tiltrotors flying through the sky were struck down by that mass of air. But there was nothing Quenser could do. He could only hope they made a successful emergency landing on the ocean. Even if those aboard were the disagreeable honor students, he would be left with a bad taste in his mouth if they were wiped out by something like that.
And then Quenser spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It was a powered suit rolling across the float after being ripped away from the antenna equipment.
He had no idea if his voice would make it through the storm, but he shouted anyway.
"Get out of the powered suit!! If you fall into the ocean, there's no hope for-... !!"
He trailed off. As soon as he breathed in, a burning pain filled his throat. Quenser immediately stopped breathing, but the burns were already spreading. He grasped at his throat with his hands and writhed around, but the pain would not go away.
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
He had only breathed in a small bit of the hot wind, so his throat had only been slightly burned. If it had made it to his lungs, he would have been having trouble breathing.
That was when he heard a dull reverberating noise.
The Broad Sky Saber which had been sitting still in the distance now began to move.
Dimiksy may have been mad about having his strike turned aside.
No, that was not it.
(The cannons on the front of the Object are only meant to hold an enemy in place. They may be enough to wear down the enemy's armor, but they aren't powerful enough to pierce the cockpit! That means he has no choice but to use the sky saber if he wants to kill Princess Staivia to ensure his spot on the throne!!)
In that case, he would focus on destroying the ECM equipment that was jamming him.
But even if Quenser knew that, he had no means of stopping that giant machine that could move at around 500 kph. As Quenser helplessly watched the Broad Sky Saber approach the float, the Object first used its six cannons to fire on the Assault Signal.
The maid Mikfa was about to fall from the float, but she let out a shrill voice with no concern for herself.
"Lady Staivia!!"
"You idiot! He's targeting you! If he could kill her with that, he wouldn't have bothered with that over-the-top sky saber!!"
Fragments of armor melted off from the Assault Signal and with an explosive roar that was similar to a shockwave rained down from above. Normally thinking, Quenser could not risk moving from behind the broken passenger plane.
But if he did nothing, Mikfa would be caught in the blast next to the ECM equipment.
Even if she was not blown away, armor and all, she would definitely be knocked off the float and into the ocean.
Quenser was conflicted, but then he realized he did not have time to be conflicted.
He made his decision.
(Dammit. If I'm likely to die either way, I'll choose the path I can brag about in a bar if I survive!!)
While crouching down, Quenser ran as quickly as he could through the downpour of armor fragments. When he saw a red, hot fragment fall right next to him and scatter orange sparks everywhere, he seriously thought he was going to cry. However, stopping now would not make him any safer. He continued to run towards Mikfa in her powered suit.
But he did not make it in time.
After that test shot told Dimiksy he truly could not kill Staivia with those cannons, he turned his countless cannons in a different direction. He turned them towards the ECM equipment set up on various parts of the float.
He fired on them one at a time.
The Object's cannons thoroughly melted and blew away each piece of ECM equipment. Mikfa who was nearby and even Quenser who was trying to approach her were swept away too.
They had not been hit by the shockwave.
The float had begun to rock horribly.
A tremendous vibration created an unsteadiness beneath their feet as if they were on a suspension bridge that was having its ropes cut one at a time.
Quenser shouted through the sauna-like heat loud enough that the explosive noise would not drown him out.
"Mikfa!! Use the emergency eject!! Pull the levers in the wrists simultaneously! Activate it before you fall into the ocean!!"
He received no response. He saw no sign she was trying to exit the powered suit. She was merely tossed around by the impact as she rolled toward the edge of the float. Had Quenser's voice not reached her? Had she panicked too much to carry out that simple operation? Or was she too afraid of the tremendous impacts to leave the suit?
Whatever the reason, only one path remained for her if she fell into the ocean while still inside.
Quenser used his scratched hands to struggle to his feet and began running once more.
The Broad Sky Saber may have been focusing on destroying the ECM equipment because it made no follow up attacks on the powered suit. The attacks continued on the equipment.
"Shit!!"
Quenser finally made it to the powered suit. If he carelessly approached Mikfa's giant rolling form, he could be crushed. Quenser lifted up one of the thick cables coiled around the float surface and used it to catch on and decelerate the rolling powered suit.
The bombardment from the Broad Sky Saber continued.
It was supposedly focusing its attack on the ECM equipment, but the side effects of that made great changes to the buoyancy of the float. The powered suit had supposedly been stopped, but the float tilted and it started sliding towards the ocean once more.
Quenser had no time.
As the float was rocked like a ship in a storm, he grabbed onto the armor of the powered suit.
(Shit, can you force an eject from outside!?)
The powered suit was a collection of delicate equipment and programs, so it was made to not open from the outside if it was locked from the inside. This was simply to prevent an enemy from opening it.
But there were a few exceptions.
(If the pilot has been injured too badly to operate it or has lost consciousness, the maintenance workers need a way to open it. )
While looking at his handheld device, Quenser pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive and attached it to the back of the powered suit. He attached a fuse shaped like a ballpoint pen and moved away from Mikfa as she continued to slide. Since he had no idea what state the jamming was in, Quenser chose a timed fuse rather than a wireless one.
After precisely 10 seconds, it detonated.
Just as Quenser had planned, a portion of the armor on the powered suit's back came off.
Quenser climbed back up on the suit, used both hands to grab at a lever through the armor, and used his full weight to force it back.
The lever finally pulled with the feeling of some kind of stopper coming out. The rear hatch opened and the maid Mikfa rolled out.
The tilt of the float increased even further.
The empty powered suit, Quenser, and Mikfa fell off and into the ocean. Mikfa still had no idea what was happening, so Quenser grabbed her arms and somehow managed to pull them both up to the surface with only his legs.
If he had been just a dozen or so seconds later in getting that hatch opened, Mikfa would have sunk down to the bottom of the ocean along with the powered suit. Even if she had ejected then, her breath would not have lasted until she made it to the surface and she would have fallen victim to decompression sickness if she tried to rush her ascent.
"Cough! Cough cough!!"
With their faces above the surface, Quenser and Mikfa greedily gulped in oxygen. Quenser's military uniform was bad enough, but Mikfa's maid uniform grew very heavy as it soaked up the water. Pieces of wreckage from the exterior to the ECM equipment were floating nearby, so they grabbed onto a suitcase-sized fragment as a float.
As the bandages wrapped around Mikfa's fingers grew wet with seawater, a dark red liquid seeped out.
"... Are you okay? It must be bad to be thrown into the ocean after being tortured."
"L-Lady Staivia is more important." Her voice was frail, but Mikfa was more worried about the princess still up on the cutting board than herself."The ECM equipment was destroyed! The shield protecting Lady Staivia is gone! At this rate, the sky saber will hit her with its next strike!!"
As Mikfa lamented, they saw a brilliant white flash of light and a container was fired vertically from the elevator on the back of the Broad Sky Saber.
The countdown had begun until the sky saber fired.
They had only 7 minutes.
Part 18
Sogia and the others from Unicorn ran through the remains of the 5 square kilometers of Flightburg Air Force Base that had been almost entirely destroyed. Almost all of the buildings had crumbled and it was no longer immediately obvious what each facility had been. They travelled across the rubble while keeping the layout in their heads.
The Achilles' heel to Dimiksy Nikolaschka and his Broad Sky Saber was somewhere there.
They had no idea what it was or what role it played, but there was definitely something there.
It may have seemed they had no hint whatsoever, but they had a rough guess.
"The royal Nikolaschka family was heavily involved in the construction of the Object, but what unit handled its maintenance and operation? Is there some other maintenance battalion with around 1000 members? No, that would have shown up in our information network somewhere. They can't completely hide a unit that large."
"So you're saying they took personnel and equipment directly from Flightburg?"
"If so, there should still be spare parts and maintenance information for the Broad Sky Saber here!!"
"So Dimiksy bombarded the air force base because he determined we could find a weakness from that, hm?"
Dimiksy had to have been able to make a decent guess as to where the weakness of his lay hidden.
And yet he had fired his sky saber at the runway in the very center of the base.
He may have been trying to show off his ability to blow away the entire base with just that one shot, but Sogia guessed there was some other reason behind it.
If he had fired directly at his target, there was a slight risk they could have searched that area and found a hint in some melted equipment.
Dimiksy had caused more general destruction of the base because he was afraid of that possibility.
He did not want to tell anyone what he was specifically targeting.
People who plotted out detailed conspiracies were bold yet cowardly at the same time. And so he had imagined many different possibilities and acted to crush them all ahead of time.
"Let's approach this third generation Object from both the information and material angles. We need to split up. One group will search for information from the server in the control and communications facility and the other will dig up any materials they can find in the row of giant hangers."
Sogia and Sanya went for the information while Mars and Flat went for the materials.
Both groups ran through the rubble along with the Unicorn subordinates who had survived the large-scale bombardment.
The resistance from Flightburg Air Force Base had completely stopped. It had either been wiped out by the bombardment or the destruction of the base by their supposed ally led the men to realize there was no escape for them even if they won.
Unicorn naturally intended to neutralize any soldiers that could move, but it appeared they need not continue the meaningless battle for the meantime.
The burning power had disappeared from the surrounding air, but it was still absurdly hot. It was worse than crossing a desert. An open outdoor area should never have been that hot.
Sogia drank some saline that was originally meant as a substitute for a blood transfusion. Normal water lacked electrolytes, so he would have definitely come down with heatstroke otherwise.
"Damn, this place is a sauna. I've made my way through plenty of battlefields, but it isn't normal for the act of walking to feel like it's wearing down your lifespan."
"This heat makes me want some coffee milk. And did you notice the clouds that have started to cover the sky around here? They're moving in really fast."
"Did the sudden change in temperature mess up the atmospheric pressure or something? Well, I could go for a gift from god right about now. I want something to cool everything down."
"This might be a meteorological weapon that ignores the normal weather patterns. This could be an attempt to wash away our precious hint in a concentrated downpour."
The control and communications facility was supposed to be a giant tower, but Sogia and the others only saw a flat pile of rubble spread out before their eyes. It was impossible to tell where anything had been.
"This is too much to dig up by hand. It would be faster to check for any usable heavy machinery or powered suits."
One section of the defense industry created sturdier versions of existing construction equipment such as tractors and cranes. There was more to war than just the spectacular firefights seen in movies. And even 4WD off-road vehicles often had small winches or cranes on them despite not being specialized for those uses.
"There's a tank with a blade like a bulldozer. It's probably meant for clearing anti-personnel mines."
That had been constructed based on the extremely rough idea of clearing a path through a dangerous minefield by blowing up the mines. Sanya got into the front driver's seat and Sogia sat in the commander's seat on the turret.
They managed to clear the surrounding rubble away despite some trouble due to the blade's low range of motion.
Finally, an area spewing orange sparks was uncovered.
"There we go. The main power cable is making quite the commotion."
"... Let's get this over with before it starts raining. If this area gets wet, I doubt we will be able to do anything."
After getting out of the tank and clearing some smaller rubble, they found a mass of plastic that looked like it had melted and then re-solidified. They saw a circuit board sticking out through a gap. It was unclear if the board had any power running to it, but the capacitors would have power stored for a set amount of time. Touching it still held the risk of blowing off a finger.
"I don't see how this could still run. Not to mention that every single monitor has been destroyed."
"I don't care if it's partial or corrupted data; we need to get everything out of this we can. It's the same Legitimacy Kingdom format, so it should be easier than if this was an enemy nation's system."
Sanya connected a cable from her handheld device and began extracting data, but then Sogia and the others heard the rumbling of thunder overhead.
They looked up to find the sky already covered by dark storm clouds.
It could start pouring at any moment.
"Are you done yet!?"
"This is a huge amount of information! This isn't some hard disk recorder bought at an extreme discount!!"
"If it starts to rain, an electric current on the level of a train's overhead line will be scattered all over this area. Hurry!"
"Unfortunately, my handheld device didn't come with the option that makes it work faster when you yell at it!"
That was when a Sogia felt something lukewarm land on his head.
It was the "gift from god" that he had been hoping for within that scorching hell.
And yet he grimaced and grabbed Sanya's shoulder.
"Time's up!"
"Just a bit longer!!"
"Do you want to be burned to a crisp like you're being cooked on an iron plate by someone who doesn't know what they're doing!? We're getting out of here!!"
Sogia forcibly dragged Sanya away from the remains of the server. The cable from her handheld device stretched to its limit and then popped out of the connector. They moved away as quickly as they could manage.
And in the next instant, the rain came down like someone had overturned a bucket.
A bluish-white explosion erupted with the melted remains of the server in the center.
"That was close!!"
"Oh, come on. I'm not sure I even got 1% of it!"
The area had grown dark due to the storm clouds that had appeared and Sogia could see a pale bluish-white light at the peaks of the piles of rubble.
(St. Elmo's fire... a coronal discharge. Shit. The weather worsened so quickly the entire area has begun to electrify. )
Lightning could strike at any moment, but he did not have time to be constantly worrying about the weather.
"It would have been impossible to take in all of the data from such a large server in the first place. More importantly, Sanya, can you read any of the data you did get?"
"It's mostly destroyed. I can't even open the files. It's at a level where the software doesn't even recognize it."
"Convert it to binary data and then run some recovery software to try to fill in the holes. We might at least get a broad outline of the data pattern."
Sanya did as instructed and the data was finally converted into something readable.
About half the text was corrupted, the images were in complete disarray, and the color scheme was a psychedelic mess of primary colors, but they could at least guess what kind of file it was from the portions that were just barely readable.
"This is a maintenance file for the Broad Sky Saber."
"What a shame. There had to be some schematics in that server..."
"If this is a file for maintenance rather than a schematic, it would only have data on the main Object on the land. It wouldn't need data on the main cannon unit up in orbit."
"Is this what Dimiksy wanted to eliminate?"
"I don't know. But we have no choice but to read through it."
But then Sogia's radio let out an electronic tone.
He received a transmission from Mars who had gone to look for the physical equipment.
"We found a few spares for the cannons and armor. They are parts for an Object, so even burying them under rubble wasn't enough to completely destroy them!"
"Have you found anything that could be Dimiksy's weakness?"
"Nothing yet. But we did find a sturdy container in the hangar rubble. It looks more like a gigantic mobile safe than it does a container. Flat is trying to overheat the electronic lock to get inside, but it's possible some emergency lock will activate if the security notices his attempts. Have you found any data on what might be inside!?"
Sanya shook her head.
It was not that she had not found anything special.
It was quite the opposite.
"This is a cutting edge Object that is said to be part of the third generation. Everything about it is filled with classified information and is therefore highly valuable. It could be almost anything."
"Mars, how big is the container? Let's make a list of all the parts that could fit inside."
"Um... It's a cube with about 5 meter sides. It's probably the kind of container meant to be carried on a cargo plane instead of a ship."
"5 meters. What could be in there?"
"Just a quick glance shows over 200 possibilities, " replied Sanya.
"Oh, he did it! It's open! It's open! Nice job, Flat! The contents are... the hell is this?"
"Mars, report! If you really don't know, use your handheld device's camera to send an image!"
"It's an ultraviolet signal." Mars must have grabbed some kind of equipment because a hard clanking sound could be heard over the radio."It's a powerful ultraviolet signal that uses a program to send out a blinking pattern like Morse code! My guess is it's a safety device to prevent allies from being hit by the orbital bombardment!"
Part 19
Meanwhile, Heivia Winchell was very seriously about to die in the underground portion of the float as it began to sink, but no one seemed to care.
"Cough cough!! Th-this is not what is supposed to happen to the star!! Cough, cough! Where is today's beautiful woman!?"
Heivia finally gave up on running and started swimming through the passageway that was half-filled with water as he headed for the exit. However, the float was sinking at a tremendous rate and the space filled with air was rapidly decreasing. On top of that, the water was flowing into the float through the exit, so Heivia had to fight the current the entire way. He simply was not going to reach the exit.
But the goddess of destiny did smile on him on occasion. (Even if it was a horribly cynical smile. )
With a deep rumble, cracks suddenly began running along the wall next to him. Heivia prepared himself for the flooding to grow even worse, but the situation went well beyond that.
The several kilometers long float was unable to withstand the bombardment of the Broad Sky Saber targeting the ECM equipment, so about a third of it broke off.
Heivia happened to be right along that crack, so he was tossed and spun around by large quantities of seawater. The next thing he knew, he had been dumped into the ocean outside of the float.
The third that had broken off lost its balance and headed for the ocean floor.
Heivia headed for the surface while feeling truly grateful that he was not still stuck inside the float. Due to being suddenly thrown out, he had little oxygen left in his mouth.
His head started to pound painfully due to lack of oxygen, but he somehow managed to breach the surface.
"Bhahh! What the hell!? I finally get some air and it's as hot as a sauna!!"
He flipped past all the wreckage floating in the water and approached Quenser.
"Hey, Heivia. In a bad mood? There's a maid here waiting for you."
"Thanks, knight! This is perfect timing. It's like that first salt butter ramen after returning from being stranded in a snowy mountain! Its value shoots up! And it really soothes you!!"
"... I get the feeling I am being tormented in your inappropriate imaginations."
Mikfa glared at the two idiots like she was looking at wild beasts, but the two did not attempt to argue as she was not exactly wrong. For boys of the Legitimacy Kingdom, about half of what came to mind upon hearing the word "maid" was highly inappropriate.
"Anyway, Heivia. You have a grenade launcher, right?"
"And what are you hoping to shoot it at!? It isn't going to do a thing to that third generation cutting edge weapon!"
"I don't want an explosive. When we were rescuing Mikfa, you said most of your grenades are signal markers used to pass targeting data to an Object. That's what I need. Do you have any ultraviolet markers?"
"I do, but who are you hoping to contact?"
Quenser snatched the assault rifle away from Heivia and stuck an ultraviolet marker round into the grenade launcher attached to the bottom of the barrel.
But...
"Eh, what!? A rifle is this heavy!? I can't tread water while... gbghbg!!"
"Ha ha ha!! What are you doing, Quenser? Are you trying to kill yourself!?"
"Oh, honestly!!"
The maid Mikfa had completely bristled with irritation and she frantically dived down into the ocean. She dragged up Quenser who had begun to sink and made him grab onto the piece of wreckage she had been using as a float.
"Lady Staivia's life is on the line! Leave your gags for later!!"
"Cough... H-hey, Heivia. Receiving verbal abuse from a maid is a pretty rare experience, don't you think?"
"I experienced that every day of my life back in the home country."
Heivia looked puzzled, but then he noticed something.
As Quenser leaned his upper body up on the piece of wreckage, he aimed the grenade launcher at Staivia's Assault Signal rather than the Broad Sky Saber.
"Wait, what!? Don't tell me you've gone over to Dimiksy's side after all this!"
"I haven't."
Quenser pulled the trigger and fired the ultraviolet marker. A mass about the size of a can of coffee flew through the air like a long throw in baseball before a small parachute opened.
"Hey, Heivia. Don't you think the Broad Sky Saber has a really annoying design?"
"What?"
Heivia looked confused.
Quenser removed the empty cartridge and loaded another ultraviolet marker.
"It has the main body on the surface and the main cannon up in orbit. At first glance, it really does look like a weapon with a new design. But it must suck having to send energy up into space for each shot. They could have just put a JPlevelMHD reactor directly on the orbital main cannon.... And yet Dimiksy didn't do that. Why not?"
"Well..."
Heivia thought while he watched Quenser fire another grenade into the air. This time, Quenser fired the ultraviolet marker out towards empty air rather than the Assault Signal.
"Dimiksy had this Object prepared for the Royal Duel, right? Well, the rules require him to be here. An Object in orbit would be deemed against the rules, " said Heivia.
"There is that, yes. But they also could have had the main body on the surface but given the orbital main cannon its own reactor. No rule says an Object can have only one reactor. We even fought the Tri-Core which had three. But Dimiksy didn't do that. If he only needed a few seconds between shots with that laser, he would already have defeated Princess Staivia. Hell, he could probably take over the world with something like that. So why didn't he?"
"... Are you trying to say he had a reason other than the development costs?"
"It's a simple issue." Quenser fired ultraviolet marker after ultraviolet marker as he spoke."Dimiksy has obtained the ultimate weapon. But he is afraid of the power he has created. If he put someone in the orbital sky saber to fire it for him, they could betray him. And even if he left it completely automated, it's possible someone could hack in and have it shoot Dimiksy himself. And so he did not want to create a perfect system that allowed the orbital main cannon to be fired on its own."
"So the roundabout energy transfer system is a sort of safety feature? Even if someone takes it over, he does not have to worry about it going out of control or betraying him because it does not have the energy needed to fire? Dimiksy made sure he holds the final key by providing the energy for each shot individually?"
"Dimiksy is bold yet cowardly, so he will have prepared several safety features." After placing several ultraviolet markers throughout the sky with parachutes, Quenser gave a satisfied smile."For example, an emergency targeting evasion system. I just received word from Unicorn at Flightburg Air Force Base. Dimiksy's sky saber has an isolated emergency targeting evasion system that prevents an attack on the coordinates emitting a special signal from an ultraviolet marker. Even if the sky saber has been taken over by a hacker, it supposedly cannot fire on those coordinates. That way he cannot be stabbed by his own sword even if it is stolen from him. And in case the firing cancellation process can't kick in fast enough, it automatically moves its aim to a location away from the marker."
Some static then came from Quenser's radio.
An unfamiliar deep male voice came through.
"This is Unicorn calling our beloved friend. I will transmit the ultraviolet marker signal pattern verbally. Don't input it wrong."
"I'm thankful for your help, but I'm still going to kick you in the balls later."
Quenser inputted the number he was given into his radio and the powerful ultraviolet lights floating on parachutes began blinking in a set pattern. That blinking light that human eyes could not see made its way all the way up to the weapon in orbit.
The Broad Sky Saber's camera lenses all audibly moved. It seemed to be only once those ultraviolet signals were sent out that it realized what those things floating around the area were.
"It's too late!! The emergency targeting evasion system will automatically re-input the targeting information to 'safely avoid its allies'. You scattered the seeds, so it's time your own sword stabbed you right in the ass!!"
"Wait, it isn't just avoiding us? Have you guided it so it targets the Broad Sky Saber!?"
Once Heivia finally caught on to Quenser's plan, he was dumbfounded.
But then he realized something.
"But that won't work! The Broad Sky Saber has its own ultraviolet light! No matter how many of those markers you scatter around, it will never misfire on that third generation!!"
"Not necessarily."
Quenser gave Heivia his assault rifle back and pointed toward the Broad Sky Saber with his right hand in the shape of a gun.
More specifically, he pointed toward the top of the laser space elevator tower on the back of the spherical main body.
"I said I received information from Unicorn, remember? According to the maintenance diagrams, its ultraviolet light is set at the top of that tower. Dimiksy had it hurriedly added later on to keep as few people as possible in the know about his weakness. It seems he did manage to keep it a secret, but it isn't very durable."
That was when Heivia saw it.
Vague bluish-white lights were flickering off the tips of the cannons extending from the spherical main body of the Broad Sky Saber. No, it was not just the cannons. The end of every single protrusion was glowing. And this naturally included the steel tower of the elevator.
"St. Elmo's fire. It's a type of coronal discharge created when the area is electrified. Unicorn saw this phenomenon at Flightburg Air Force Base after the bombardment from the sky saber. And just after they saw the St. Elmo's fire, lightning began striking all over the place!"
The seven minutes of preparation time before the sky saber fired were almost completely gone.
In the next moment...
With a brilliant flash of light, a bluish-white lightning strike stabbed straight into the laser space elevator tower. A great roar ripped through the air and orange sparks scattered around like a high voltage power line had been ripped apart.
Mikfa cowered down, but Quenser had a fearless grin on his face.
"The coronal discharge of St. Elmo's fire acts like a lightning rod. And what is the tallest thing on this battlefield? That should tell you where the lightning will fall!!"
And if the Broad Sky Saber's ultraviolet light stopped working even temporarily, how would the sky saber view it?
The combat area was crammed full of ultraviolet markers giving off signals telling it not to attack there.
And there was a single wide open point in the middle of it all.
The sky saber obeyed its programming and unhesitatingly fired on the Broad Sky Saber.
A great explosive noise rang out.
It seemed the Broad Sky Saber tried to take immediate evasive action, but it did not escape unscathed.
The high power laser fired by the sky saber grazed the elevator tower, twisted it, and ripped it from the Object's spherical main body. Orange light gathered in the wreckage of the tower floating in the air.
"Heivia! Dive down!!"
Quenser grabbed Mikfa's collar and forced her head underwater.
Immediately afterwards, the superheated air began to explosively expand. It happened at such high speed that walls of air that were like shockwaves scattered in every direction.
The destruction swallowed up everything within a few kilometers of the Object.
The water must have cushioned them because Quenser and the others were just barely saved from both the shockwave and scorching wind.
But the seawater had been shaken up by the explosion, so they still felt dull pain across their entire bodies like they had been stuffed into a metal drum which was beaten with a metal bat.
"Bhahh!!"
Quenser frantically brought his head above water, but the air was horribly dry. He felt like he had been thrown into a sauna and his throat stung as he breathed in.
Heivia who had also somehow survived shouted out, "What happened to the Broad Sky Saber!?"
"It should have been heavily damaged, but-... !!"
It had lost its laser space elevator, but it had not sunk.
Due to having that elevator tower attached, the Broad Sky Saber's normal center of gravity was located quite high up. Naturally, having the tower torn away would greatly change that location.
Normally, it would have easily capsized in this situation.
But the Broad Sky Saber had withstood it.
It could no longer move at high speed, but it was still just barely keeping its balance like someone on a tightrope.
And as it balanced, the Broad Sky Saber turned its six large cannons toward the Assault Signal. It fired again and again, but it could not destroy the Assault Signal since they were not main cannons.
And without the elevator, it could no longer send energy to the sky saber.
"Did... did we win?"
"Staivia did. But he can still fire on us in revenge!!"
The strike from the sky saber had caused some large waves. But it was unlikely to be enough to make the Broad Sky Saber miss. An Object was not such a simple weapon.
Its cannons aimed accurately.
The aiming lenses repeatedly zoomed in and out like the Object was glaring at Quenser and the others.
They had no hope of winning.
They did not have enough firepower to blow away an Object, so they could only wait for the attack to come.
And no matter what attack it was, the Object would blow them to pieces.
"... Did you really think I hadn't thought this through?"
But...
Quenser alone continued to smile.
It was possible even Dimiksy had lost his smile and his features were now twisted in anger.
"I didn't just interfere with the sky saber to cause some friendly fire. If I created such a tremendous result, you would mistakenly believe that was what I was after. You relaxed because you thought the attack was over. That is why you overlooked it.... You overlooked the other thing I set up. You overlooked my other reason to scatter all those ultraviolet markers."
He brought his thumb to the button on his radio.
Heivia had seen that motion many times before. It was what Quenser always did when blowing something up with Hand Axe plastic explosives.
But he had a different reason this time.
He had not set up any explosives. And his thumb was continually pressing the button in a set pattern.
And something was emitting that pattern at the same time.
The ultraviolet markers floating above the ocean. He had originally used them to send a signal to the sky saber in orbit, but Quenser continued to send out a blinking pattern even after that was over.
From the beginning, the sky saber had not been his only target.
He was using those ultraviolet markers to send a signal to some other place as well.
But where?
"We got some help from a top ranking Legitimacy Kingdom Object designer. And we have an Object she designed."
"The Assault Signal?"
"And the Assault Signal had a few pieces of technology added in that were never recorded on the official diagrams. Dimiksy's faction only checked the database, so they wouldn't have known. And one of those features can be activated at any time if it receives a specific signal."
The supposedly stationary Object.
The Assault Signal.
It was a remote control system originally meant to be used to slowly regain balance if the pilot Elite lost consciousness.
Quenser opened that point of contact and used his radio to contact a tropical island.
"Calling our beloved comrade in arms. If you want a medal, I'll give you one."
Claire Whist sat in the vending machine corner of the research facility on the Cook Additions Islands. A cable running from the laptop on the floor was connected to some giant device.
It normally sat in the corner of her room as a complexly folded piece of plastic.
The remote control system she had once created to protect the pilot Elite named Excelsyla was unfolded around her like a huge control console for a giant robot game.
Normally, the remote control method required a few dozen to over a hundred personnel to simply right the Object.
There was simply no way it could keep up with the high speed battles between Objects.
But...
In the Amazon district, the Broad Sky Saber's center of gravity had been thrown off due to the loss of its elevator tower. It could no longer move and its remaining cannons did not have the firepower to destroy the Assault Signal.
In other words...
Claire may have been an amateur at controlling an Object and she may have had to painstakingly check each command before inputing it, but she could still fire the main cannon and blow away Dimiksy Nikolaschka.
"... Excelsyla, " muttered Claire as she operated a control-column-like lever with one hand and brought her index finger to a trigger-like button.
Her expression looked somehow lonely but it also displayed a clear smile.
"Do not worry. I may not have been able to protect you, but I can at least protect your dignity."
And...
On a battlefield thousands of kilometers away, a shot that would change history was fired.
Dimiksy Nikolaschka may not have been able to comprehend what happened in that instant. Or perhaps he had but was unable to escape the danger due to the elevator tower having been destroyed.
The result was the same either way.
The Assault Signal's main cannon emitted a tremendous beam of light and explosive roar. Dimiksy had clearly made a mistake when he made sure the enemy Object was properly maintained in order to avoid any complaints about the fairness of the Royal Duel.
The right side of the unmoving third generation Object was mercilessly pierced by the beam of a low-stability plasma cannon.
The beam dug deeply into the thick armor. The internal systems must have been destroyed because the Broad Sky Saber completely lost its ability to just barely remain floating. The giant weapon tilted to the side and began sinking into the ocean.
And Quenser and the others let out a cry.
But this was not a cry of victory.
They thought they were going blind.
"Gyaaahhh!! This is the problem with having your enemy and ally be Objects!!"
"Quenseeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! If you knew our ally was going to fire, you need to stop trying to act cool and actually tell us!! Then I could have searched around for some protective glass meant for viewing melted steel!!"
Dimiksy struggled, but the ocean coolly swallowed up that giant weapon as if that power-hungry man was being dragged down into the depths of hell.
With his eyes still hurting, Quenser snapped his fingers and said, "Heh. That third generation may have been a truly powerful Object, but people seem to forget that every Object is a true monster. You can't underestimate any of them."
Just as he had finished everything off while looking cool, Mikfa chimed in.
"So how do you suggest we avoid this giant wave approaching from where he sank?"
"Waahhh!!!???"
Part 20
After Sogia heard over the radio about the destruction of the Broad Sky Saber and the result of the Royal Duel, he sat on some of the rubble that had once been Flightburg Air Force Base and put a thick cigar in his mouth.
"... It won't light. And there was fire everywhere not too long ago."
The artificial downpour was still continuing, so he was having trouble getting his lighter to light.
When Sanya saw that, she grinned and said, "Is this any time to be smoking? That hard-ass will likely be here soon. He'll definitely be able to notice if you do it right before he gets here."
"I just want one smoke before having to face him."
But Sogia's modest wish was not granted.
They heard the sound of blades beating the air. They looked up to see a large transport helicopter approaching. Sogia gave an arbitrary sign with the unlit cigar and Mars and Flat lit a smoke bomb at an area relatively free of rubble.
The large helicopter landed there.
A figure stepped off while surrounded by several bodyguards. Sogia recognized the man.
He had been their superior back when they had still been known as the 115th Private Royal Guard Company.
"What's this? The marshal of the royal guards went out of his way to see us?"
"Your face may have changed, but I see your impudence has not."
The old man known as a marshal snapped his fingers and one of his bodyguards pulled out a vacuum packed cigar, quickly lit it, and handed it to Sogia.
"Heh. You idiot. So you even remembered that."
Sogia complained, but he smoked the cigar with a satisfied expression.
The marshal said, "Dimiksy Nikolaschka is confirmed to have sunk. This will cause a great shock to his faction that is squirming under the surface. We are following that movement to arrest all of them."
"I see."
"The Broad Sky Saber's main cannon up in orbit has stopped functioning. A unit has been sent from the moon to retrieve it. They have attached an additional booster and are going to use the large mass of an asteroid that happens to be approaching to alter its orbit.... Space has no territorial rights, so other world powers could try to steal the technology otherwise."
"So you don't want a rapid change to the era due to the appearance of the third generation?... Heh. That's exactly what Claire Whist had a 'bad feeling' would happen."
"For now at least."
When Sogia heard the marshal's words, he disinterestedly asked, "So what about Dimiksy himself?"
"When the outsiders mixed into the Lineage Department were eliminated, it became clear his DNA information was fraudulent. But it is not up to a single soldier to decide whether that information should be made public. It is unclear if Dimiksy survived, but it is possible the military will decide to not rescue him and let him die."
"If that happens, he'll be known as a courageous royal who died in a Royal Duel, won't he?" Sogia breathed out a bit of smoke."Both the royal Nikolaschka family and the Legitimacy Kingdom as a whole would prefer that outcome. He was a dangerous man with questionable lineage who spread belligerent conspiracies everywhere. It wouldn't surprise me if you all wanted him purged. You were hoping we would succeed, weren't you?"
"Are you dissatisfied?"
"It doesn't matter to me.... As long as that crybaby is safe."
From the beginning, Sogia, Sanya, Mars, Flat, and the rest of Unicorn had not been trying to defeat a powerful enemy and ensure Staivia Nikolaschka became queen.
They had been trying to protect her from the problems surrounding the succession.
To keep her safe, they would have readily kept her out of the competition altogether.
If Staivia herself had truly wanted the throne, Unicorn may have even fought against Staivia.
But then...
It was because she had so little of such selfishness that Unicorn had decided to risk their lives for her in the first place.
The old man known as a marshal looked down at Sogia who sat on the rubble.
"What you all did was most likely right. At the very least, I can proudly tell you it was. But..." The old man made a clear pause."You still broke countless military regulations from the moment you faked the destruction of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company. According to Legitimacy Kingdom law, it is not a crime to kill those who have betrayed the royals. In fact, it might earn you a medal. However, your preparations were much too dirty. For that, I must go against my personal feelings and give you an impartial court martial. Your crimes will likely outweigh what you have earned by stopping the traitors."
Sogia gave a small smile while shaking his fingers slightly to knock ashes off the tip of the cigar.
"Did you really think we weren't prepared for this from the beginning?"
"I cannot avoid sending you to the detention barracks."
"What else is new? We were thrown in there all the time back when we were with the royal guards, " said Sogia casually before shouting to the others from Unicorn."Did you hear that, men? The marshal's going to show us to a hotel being paid for by the people's tax money!"
"As long as it has proper food, I don't care where I end up!"
"If you're fed luxurious food in a cell, shouldn't you start to worry? That sounds like a last meal before execution to me."
"Even if it's covered by bars, as long as it has a window, I can use pieces of our rations to lure in pigeons. I'll catch food enough for everyone."
As the members of Unicorn started making a commotion, the marshal grimaced slightly. Punishments were meaningless for those who knew no fear.
The marshal ordered his bodyguard unit to restrain Unicorn. But they did not handcuff the prisoners or even point their guns at them. A clear sense of respect floated in the air. Talk of this would likely fill bars for many weeks to come.
While sincerely hoping no idiots would try to emulate Unicorn's actions, the marshal asked, "I will hold you on my authority until the court martial. Are you sure you do not want to meet Princess Staivia before then?"
"Don't be stupid. This is the kind of situation where you have to leave without saying a word."
"I thought you would say that." A malicious smile appeared on the marshal's grim face."That is why I ordered to have Princess Staivia brought here."
"What!? Damn you, old man!!"
Sogia frantically shouted out, but it was too late.
An off-road vehicle protected by several bodyguard vehicles entered the air force base. The maid Mikfa got out first. She opened the back door and Staivia Nikolaschka stepped out. When they had last seen her, she had been smaller than her stuffed bear, but she had grown quite ladylike in the past 3 years.
Without waiting for Mikfa to hold out an umbrella, Staivia ran straight toward them.
The first thing she said was, "Hm? Hmm? Which one is Yulenzak!?"
"... Oh, right. We all got plastic surgery."
He could not disobey an order from a royal, so the man using the fake name of Sogia raised his hand.
With her target set, Staivia ran straight toward him.
They all assumed she was going to embrace him.
But Staivia used all her strength to kick Sogia (aka Yulenzak) in the crotch.
With a great noise, that large man who had fought on countless battlefields doubled over. Mars and Flat let out screams, Sanya grimaced despite being a woman, and the old man with the rank of marshal averted his gaze slightly.
As Yulenzak used all his strength to withstand the pain, he saw something unpleasant out of the corner of his eye.
The two idiots Unicorn had made excessive use of were waiting within the off-road vehicle Staivia had arrived in. They were sticking out their tongues and one of them had even warned he would kick Sogia in the balls.
(Those bastards... !!)
After completely ruining the moment, Staivia finally embraced him. He could do nothing about the intense pain swirling around within him, but he noticed that Staivia was trembling. When he realized she was crying, Yulenzak finally scratched at his head.
Those tears were not simply from all the fear of having her life targeted for so long.
Her tear glands were reacting to being reunited with the unit... no, with the comrades she had thought she had lost 3 years ago.
There was a lot Yulenzak wanted to say, but he did not have time.
Whatever their goal had been, Unicorn had constantly broken military regulations. They had to be punished.
And so Yulenzak grabbed Staivia's shoulders, pushed her away from him, kneeled down to put himself at eye level with her, and spoke the following words:
"Hey, baby. How long are you going to keep crying? It's about time you smiled.
| ← Ch. 047 | Ch. 049 → |