novelFor What Purpose Should That Strength Be Used? The_Old_Glory (1)
| ← Ch.021 | Ch.023 → |
Part 1
(November 10 – Kauai – From a tide level monitoring camera)
Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, Hamazura Shiage, Misaka Mikoto, Misaka Worst, Kuroyoru Umidori, Leivinia Birdway, and Roberto Katze reached Kauai on the hovercraft Hamazura had supplied.
"It looks like the marines aren't here yet."
"Unlike with us, Olay has no reason to let them get here. They must be trying to find a way past the anti-ship missiles deployed across the islands."
"But Saronia will have already started to move. In all likelihood, a PMC unit was sent to Kauai when this began. They would have been only a single radio call away from taking action, " said Accelerator.
"Trident and Saronia do not know the exact location of Olay's daughter. They would likely find her eventually if they performed a thorough search, but they probably want any hints they can get. They probably only just now got the order now that we have actually made it here."
"That means it's just us and them for now, " said Mikoto as she brought her hand to her chin."I'd rather we found this Lindy girl before the marines arrive and make this more complicated. You know where she is, right? Where is she exactly?"
Birdway put her index finger up to her lips and said, "As I said before, Olay and Saronia do not know where Lindy is. Seeing how they are legitimately trying to crush the marine force, they are likely planning to find her by monitoring our movements.... Of course, with that many soldiers, they could always just resort to a search. In the end, this means that our movements will act as the trigger that sends them to Lindy."
"..."
"Prepare yourself before heading on. To save her, we must first bring danger to her. Act only once you have accepted that cruelty. Understand?"
Birdway looked everyone in the eye in turn, not just Mikoto.
After no one voiced any objections, she turned toward the president.
Holding the Imperial Package, Roberto responded while knowing full well that the unseen enemy was listening in.
"Lindy Blueshake is at Sunny Watcher 44-19.... The trigger has been pulled. It's time to start the firefight with that occult-supplemented PMC."
The heroes began to move.
They were moving to save Lindy Blueshake. They were moving to lure out Saronia A. Irivika.
The plan to theocratize America had begun in Hawaii and would spread to the entire United States as well as the science side as a whole if left unchecked. The final battle to decide its fate was beginning.
(Unknown Time – Unknown Location – Unknown Camera ID – From footage with altered video and audio)
Olay Blueshake wore a gaudy suit that fit her figure so well it clearly could not have been sold just anywhere and it had actually cost about the same as a midsized passenger jet. She also wore a ten-gallon hat and spurred boots that did not match the suit in the slightest. She did not wear them out of her own tastes or for any practical reason. They were purely to give a certain image to the public. The United States had always been fond of the frontier spirit. That image was a defensive measure against the common criticism those in the internet business received of being "too radical".
She was in a high class hotel room... or so it looked. It could have been somewhere completely different and merely designed to look that way. It could have been deep underground, in a military facility, on a luxurious ocean liner, or in a large airplane. The available information was so scarce that the breadth of speculation spread out infinitely.
A young male secretary poured whisky into a glass and asked her, "Is there really any need to film yourself?"
"It is important to view everything objectively. Putting myself in the finder helps remind me that I am a piece on the game board as well." Olay grabbed the glass proffered to her."Being in a safe area makes one forget fundamental facts. It makes a mere piece think she is the player.... I mustn't be so conceited. The game board that is the world is fully connected, so someone can reach any other part of it eventually if they put their mind to it. Safety is much less fuel efficient than you would think."
Despite what she said, her calm words declared that she was confident in her own safety. Someone in a truly dangerous situation would force themselves to hold an optimistic view to help keep a stable heart.
The secretary was well aware of that, but he did not point it out.
"I see you managed to fix the compatibility between the FCE and Trident's electronic camouflage."
"That camouflage is so disliked because it is so ineffective."
"What will you do with Miss Lindy?"
"I will have her brought back to me." Olay's tone stiffened there and there alone."The Blueshake media network began as a collection of information on gold veins during the old gold rush. The network was made public during my grandfather's generation, but no matter how far the types of businesses it encompasses have expanded, it must be passed down through the Blueshake bloodline."
"I doubt Saronia A. Irivika and the Trident PMC will carry this out as you asked them to."
"There is a reason they are able to think those unnecessary things and take those unnecessary actions for unnecessary gain.... That reason is leeway. Because the conquest of the Hawaiian Islands is going so well, they are able to think about more complicated and troublesome things like taking detours that open up more opportunities for them."
"And what will you do about this?"
"I will of course make sure they cannot think about those more complicated and troublesome things. I will corner them, rob them of their leeway, and make sure they can only think of the simple things. What is the most fundamental thing for a soldier to do? Isn't it to work at their job to the point that they can no longer think?" As Olay spoke, she typed on her thin, supple fingers raced across her computer's keyboard."And so I must have Miss Roseline and her marine volunteers drive Saronia and Trident into a corner."
"Will they really act based on information received from us?"
"I will not be simply giving an order. I will merely leave them with a hint. If they think they came up with the idea on their own, they will jump at the chance to carry it out."
Part 2
(November 10 – Kauai – Mountainous Area in Anahola – From an in-vehicle camera)
Hamazura Shiage, Leivinia Birdway, and Roberto Katze were driving through a mountainous area on the eastern side of Kauai. They were of course using a stolen vehicle.
Apparently, Lindy Blueshake was in an area in northern Kauai known as Napali Coast. Kamijou and the others had landed on the southeastern side of the island and the center of the island was too mountainous, so they had to circle around the island to reach Lindy. This required them to follow the coastline where Trident had their anti-ship missiles set up.
Due to that difficulty the terrain presented, Hamazura and the others had split into a few groups that were heading for Napali Coast using different routes. Hamazura's group was taking the route that headed counterclockwise around the island's circumference.
The president stared out the window and at the coast spreading out behind the mountain surface. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of mercenaries setting up various pieces of equipment.
"Even if they are overlooking us to a certain extent to find Lindy, that's only for the convenience of those at the top. If they actually spot us, a firefight will be unavoidable."
"The one piece of luck is that your aide and the marine volunteers were slowed down, " muttered Birdway in the backseat.
While driving, Hamazura frowned and said, "Don't you have that backwards? They'd clearly end up fighting Gremlin and Trident, too. If the other two sides are fighting each other, wouldn't that make things easier for us?"
"You're the one that has it backwards. They're only overlooking us because Olay and Saronia have control. If the marines made it to Kauai and chaos broke out, those bosses might lose control of their troops. Without a power working to give us uninterrupted use of the roads like this, we would be stuck in the middle of an unthinkable melee."
"Not good, " muttered Roberto. He was still staring out the window."Roseline has made her move. Boy! Stop this car now! We're about to get pushed to the side!!"
"Ahn?"
With a confused expression, Hamazura looked over in the same direction as the president... and then frantically slammed on the brakes.
The tires screeched as they scraped against the asphalt and an instant later even that noise was wiped away.
This was due to a few dozen air-to-surface missiles fired from out in the ocean.
Twenty cutting edge stealth fighters came soaring only a few dozen centimeters off the ocean surface at over 400 kph. They had likely come from Oahu. The eruption of Kilauea had supposedly made aircraft unusable, but that restriction was being circumvented by flying at extremely low altitudes.
However, it was not entirely accurate to call what they were doing "flying".
In the spot where wheels normally were, the fighters had ski-like floats forcibly attached. By sacrificing aerodynamic and stealth functionality, they could now "grasp" the ocean surface. The fighters were not merely flying just off the surface. It was more like they were being pushed forward as they floated on the surface.
Trident had built their defenses out of anti-ship missiles, so they could not deal with invaders that could move so quickly.
The fighters flew past the few anti-ship missiles that were fired and then fired deadly missiles of their own at the coast.
An orange wall appeared for about twelve kilometers across the white beach.
The wall was created from explosive flames and shockwaves.
Despite being more than five kilometers away from it, Hamazura's car skidded disconcertingly to the side.
His seatbelt must have constricted his lungs along with his ribs because Roberto Katze let out a gasp from the passenger seat.
"... Dammit Roseline!! Do you not realize I'm here!? Or do you know but you're firing anyway!?"
"This isn't over. Now that the anti-missile network has been sealed off, something else will be coming to finish this!" warned Birdway.
And that was precisely what happened.
With their initial bombing over, the stealth fighters circled around without landing. From behind them, landing ships plowed onto the beach. The ships were equipped with hydrofoils and they could move at 100 kph. The steel ships slid up onto land all at once like beached whales.
Doors on the back opened and soldiers poured out.
The soldiers were equipped differently than Trident. They used the proper equipment of that nation. A group of over 150 such soldiers invaded Kauai.
"This is finally coming to a head, " muttered Hamazura as he turned the key once more to restart the stalled car."In an uncontrollable battlefield, a three-way battle is beginning over Lindy Blueshake."
Part 3
(November 10 – Kauai – Blue Energy Gas Station – From a rearview camera in an abandoned sedan)
He had failed to escape.
Weck Lunasand was hiding at an abandoned gas station. He was breathing heavily while crouching behind one of the vending machines on one side of the building.
Only seventy centimeters away but on the other side of the vending machine, he could hear countless people passing by. He could only hear the sound of feet on white sand. If he was found, he was done for. His hand was not on his chest, but that thought made him overly conscious of his heartbeat.
The company ID hanging from his neck said he was a children's surfing instructor.
He had stuck with his professional ethics too much and had failed.
He had failed at life.
Immediately after the commotion had originally broken out, Weck had piled the children in his class into his SUV and headed for an abandoned building in Chinatown. The building held nothing more than dust and roaches, but he knew it had a civilian nuclear shelter. The room was only a few meters across, but it was enough to hide in. A highly polished resort hotel filled with expensive things was one thing, but he doubted anyone would force their way into an old, run-down building like that. All they had to do then was close the thick door and wait it out.
But then one of the children had told him one of them was missing.
"I should've just abandoned him. Dammit. Two thousand dollars a month isn't worth this."
Despite having left that safe area, he had not found the missing child.
Soldiers that glittered like CDs were all over the place with the kind of assault rifles often seen in movies that were shaped a bit like hacksaws. That had made it difficult to go anywhere. Their equipment was different from the American soldiers he saw in bars or undergoing public training. And if they were not American soldiers, who were they? About all he could figure out was that it would be bad if they spotted him. They had not found him yet, but it was only a matter of time. Every route was already blocked.
"..."
He recalled the weight in his right hand.
It was a. 38 revolver that had been in the dashboard of the sedan he had deserted in front of the gas station. However, he doubted he could accomplish anything with it. A gunshot would be like telling a pack of wild dogs where some meat was. Also, he was unsure he could hit with the first shot and he was at a gas station. He could not deny the possibility that there was enough evaporated gasoline floating around that gunfire would cause a giant explosion.
The gun was more a good luck charm than anything.
He needed it to ensure he did not panic and do something stupid.
"At any rate, I have to survive this somehow. I need to get out of here. Wait, there's gasoline here. If I put it in some kind of container and set that off, I can draw their attention elsewhere. There's nothing wrong with it if it's to save my life."
He may have been speaking out loud in order to forcibly get himself to accept what he was saying. In other words, even then, Weck Lunasand's softheartedness remained.
And a further trial remained for that softhearted man.
He heard the cry of a small boy.
Weck frowned, leaned back against the vending machine, and covered his face with his hands.
"Shit... Is that Steve... !?"
Steve was the last student that had gotten separated from the group.
Weck crawled forward along the oil-smelling concrete in order to peer out from behind the corner of the vending machine. He spotted a dozen or so men and women walking across the white beach. They were being led by four or five silver soldiers with rifles.
Amid that group was a single ten-year-old boy.
The difficulty level had just shot up.
The same question crept up in the back of his mind as back in the shelter: should I abandon him or not?
"What can I even do... ?"
His breathing grew even more erratic. He felt a great pressure in his gut. However, that pressure was not simply fear for his life. It was caused by his decision to leave another human being to die.
"That's it. I've done enough. For only $2, 000 a month, saving seven of them is commendable. I don't need to get greedy, right?"
After realizing he was saying it out loud, Weck stopped breathing for an instant.
Saying it aloud was his ritual for forcibly getting himself to accept what he was saying.
That meant he did not actually accept it.
"... I'd just get myself killed..."
After saying that one last thing that he could not accept, Weck Lunasand looked around the area.
He was at a gas station. There was tons of gasoline there. He could divide it up into small containers. The wind would carry the evaporated gasoline that was scattered about the beach. Depending on how he used it, he might be able to temporarily toy with the silver soldiers.
Just as methods started entering his mind, he heard a slight metallic noise.
One of the silver soldiers had approached without Weck noticing and he held the barrel of his rifle against the back of Weck's head.
It had been a mistake to peer out.
The situation had been worsened by the fact that he held that handgun. The soldier had no way of knowing he was only using it as a good luck charm.
"Dammit. I don't want to die... !!"
He spoke out loud, but he was not about to convince the soldier of anything.
Just as Weck Lunasand squeezed his eyes shut, he heard a loud crash.
The man holding the assault rifle had suddenly flown a few meters to the side.
For an instant, Weck thought the man had been hit by a dump truck.
Even after turning around and seeing it with his own eyes, he could not believe that the man had actually been struck by a careless kick of a slender leg.
The great crash of the silver soldier's body destroying a vending machine brought all attention on that spot. However, the one who had thrown the kick did not seem to care.
He had white hair and red eyes.
The impression he gave was more that of a beast than of a human.
"... What a fucking pain."
Two girls accompanied him. They both had the same face, but the look in their eyes was different. The middle school aged one had a proper look, but the older one had the look of a criminal on a wanted poster.
Speaking to the white figure, the middle school aged girl said, "We can start here. Once we hack into Trident's command cloud, we can destroy their defensive network of anti-ship missiles. Then naval reinforcements can be called in. I have a lot I want to say to you, so I'd rather not get bogged down here."
"I intend to repay my debt to the clones, but I have no intention of apologizing to you. You aren't conveniently forgetting that you too were one of the ones responsible for that experiment, are you?"
"I of course intend to make up for that, but it pisses me off to hear it from the poster boy of the experiment."
While creating an extremely threatening atmosphere, the two of them slowly headed for the beach. They were of course headed there to rescue the tourists being held at gunpoint.
Weck was completely taken aback and the girl with the mischievous look in her eyes winked and said, "Basically, those two tsunderes are saying everything is going to be okay."
With countless explosions, two monsters ruled the battlefield.
They were the #1 and the #3.
Those two Level 5s had singlehandedly traversed the battlefields of World War III and now a tornado of destruction surrounded them.
Part 4
(November 10 – Kauai – From a helmet camera for the command cloud)
Saronia A. Irivika was aboard a hovercraft. Lindy was conjectured to be in Napali Coast and its more inaccessible areas were difficult to reach with a normal vehicle. It was much faster to approach by sea.
Trident had been instructed by their client to put together a team to recover Lindy, but Saronia's inclusion in that team was not in line with the client's wishes.
The Trident member in charge of piloting the hovercraft spoke to Saronia.
"We will focus on stopping the other forces. Can we leave apprehending the target to you?"
"That would be for the best. With professional killers like you, a threat could end up leading to quite a bit of bloodshed."
"... Our client would kill us. Do you know who hired us?"
"Olay Blueshake. But that really does not matter, " said Saronia readily in the sea breeze. And she did not stop with just that one outrageous statement."Gremlin does not matter either. Of course, Trident does not matter. Nor does the theocratization of the United States or the collapse of the balance between the magic side and the science side. None of it matters."
"O-our conversation is being monitored by the FCE..."
"Yes, I'm sure she's listening in. But it's the same for you, isn't it? Trident has its own objective and you have your own objective. In the end, everyone decides what to give precedence based on what benefits us personally."
As she spoke, Saronia pulled a rectangular plastic pill case out of her pocket.
In the many partitioned spaces were seeds of trees.
"My country was torn apart by World War III."
"..."
"And yet there were a few countries and areas that benefitted from that war. The primary examples are Academy City and the United States. On top of that, they are remaking my country as they see fit by controlling the flow of money being sent in the name of war restorations."
"I-I had heard it was mostly construction of infrastructure..."
"Winter is coming. They have requisitioned the natural gas pipelines, claiming it is so they can repair them, but they are delaying that work for the sake of clearly unnecessary construction. They know full well that heating is a lifeline there in the winter, but they are having people swear their loyalty." A thin smile appeared on Saronia's face."We can't let them do that, now can we?"
Her tone held no thorns and it even had the kind of sweetness one used to entice the opposite sex, but the veteran Trident soldier realized he was trembling.
"That is why I will return things back to the way they should be."
She took one of the seeds from the pill case and placed it on her palm. She then rolled it around, smelled it, and bit into it with her back teeth.
With a look in her eye like she had remembered something, Saronia continued speaking.
"It is only natural for Academy City and the United States to pay up. It is only natural for that money to truly act in Russia's favor. Since they refuse to make the initial preparations, I will force them to. After all, they made so much money during that war. Having to give a little back to those they used as a stepping stone seems like an appropriate punishment to me."
Normally, Trident might have tried to stop Saronia with military force in order to protect their client's interests.
But they could not.
Despite being accustomed to creating corpses, the mercenaries were frozen in place out of fear of the strange occult and that girl who could freely wield it.
"Oh, and Olay Blueshake. I seem to recall your name being on a list of people who made all sorts of money during that war."
She had never intended to simply obey.
Magicians tended to give the one precedence over the all. That nature suddenly showed itself.
As she continued on in search of Lindy Blueshake, ferocious intent was displayed on Saronia's face.
Part 5
(November 10 – Kauai – Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #300)
Napali Coast was registered as a state park, but the areas deeper into the park could only be reached by heading along a few kilometers of saw tooth-like cliffs where no normal car could pass. A log house stood in that deep cliffy area.
Harzak Lolas, a large man who towered over two meters tall, was tending to a terraced vegetable garden he kept near the log house. It had originally been to grow food, but chaos had taken over ever since its proper owner had started growing flowers in it. Harzak was not growing food in it either. Unbefitting of his large body, he was replanting a small seedling from a planter into the garden with delicate movements of his hands.
Suddenly, the log house's door opened.
Without turning around, Harzak spoke to the girl who had to stretch up and turn the knob with both hands.
"If you aren't going swimming, you don't need to wear a swimsuit."
"It's hot. The power generators and the solar panels aren't enough to keep the air conditioner on all day. And it'll be hot tonight, so I have to save up power in the batteries. Also, I'm gonna go fishing again this evening."
That conversation was a custom of theirs, so Harzak was not actually trying to fix the girl's habit. He changed the subject and said, "Your textbooks are in the mailbox."
"You're the one that brings the mail, so you don't have to just leave it in the mailbox, Harzak."
"This is your house, Lindy. I am only here to help out. More importantly, you need to check the textbooks to make sure none are missing. I'll make that long trip as many times as it takes."
"... I don't like textbooks."
"No one likes studying."
"I'd rather listen to your stories."
"Unfortunately, those won't be of any use to you, " Harzak said as he adjusted the soil where he had just transplanted a small seedling."Will you gain the knowledge of a citizen of the United States or of a native Hawaiian? Both have value. I don't make the cut on either count. You can tell just by hearing my name. My parents did a poor job of naturalization, so I don't have a good grasp of the native language or culture. And yet I can't get used to life in modern America either."
"Mhh..." The girl named Lindy puffed out her cheeks."But I still like your stories."
Having said what she wanted to say, the girl grabbed the textbooks wrapped in plastic and headed back into the log house.
Harzak truly thought she was a good, pure girl, but that was exactly why he could not let an idiot like himself influence her too much.
He had heard that a true king still lived somewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, but he had never even seen a hint of it being true. Was this king in some unexplored land or had he blended into the cities? Harzak had lost even the slightest desire to search him out and become a member of his kingdom. He was sick of running out of strength partway up the mountain and heading back down.
After finishing his work on the garden, Harzak stood up, wiped sweat from his face with his arm, and looked up into the blue sky that was thinly covered by volcanic ash.
It was rare for the ash to make it all the way to Kauai. He started to wonder if he should cover the garden in plastic if it was going to continue for much longer.
That was when he noticed something odd.
He saw what looked like a twenty or thirty cm long dragonfly.
But that was not what it was.
It had a body made of polycarbonate and wings made of ABS resin, it moved around using a motor, and it was equipped with a transmitter and a camera, so it could hardly be called a normal dragonfly.
"... A lens... A camera..." muttered Harzak.
He then recalled why Lindy Blueshake was living in a place like that. He recalled what it was she utterly loathed. He recalled why government workers had introduced her to that "unexplored land" that lacked any and all presence by the mass media.
"Not good... Lindy, Lin—!!" Harzak started yelling as he turned back toward the log house, but a hand reached from behind him and covered his large mouth.
He had no idea when, how, or from where someone had gotten there.
Still having no idea what was going on, Harzak was pushed down to the side of the garden as if his opponent had used some kind of magic trick. Due to the glare of the sun, he could not see his attacker's face, but the silhouette was enough to tell him he held a handgun.
Harzak would be shot.
He felt a pain like his heart was bound in something like a kite string, but the sound of a gunshot never reached his ears.
He had no idea what was going on.
Bit by bit, he realized that the attacker sitting atop him was trembling, that the attacker had a transparent spear pressed up against his throat, and that the owner of the spear had approached silently from behind the attacker.
An Asian boy and girl stood there.
The boy had spiky hair and the younger girl had a nasty look in her eyes that made her incomparable to Lindy.
They started saying things in Japanese.
"You're from Trident, aren't you?" The speaker continued without waiting for the attacker to respond."Would you rather take a nitrogen spear or a fist?"
For an instant, the attacker looked down at the handgun he was pointing at Harzak and then quickly turned it toward the two Asians.
However, before he could actually use it, the girl's spear sliced off the barrel of the handgun as well as the front of his helmet. In the next instant, the boy's fist slammed into the attacker's face. The silver soldier collapsed backwards and the boy spoke to him in Japanese.
"You should thank me. I actually saved your life."
"I did most of the work. All those ones collapsed over there were my doing, " the girl said.
"Kuroyoru takes everything too seriously. If I wasn't here to stop her, she probably would have taken off all of your heads."
"Where are the others? Are we the first ones here?"
Harzak could not understand what they were saying, but four other silver soldiers lay collapsed in the direction the girl had pointed.
As Harzak lay there in shock, the boy looked over toward the ocean that was visible beyond the cliff and said something.
Harzak could not understand his words, but a strange phenomenon followed.
The phenomenon came from the right hand of the girl with the nasty look in her eyes.
The motion was similar to typing on a keyboard, but it was as fast as an electric sewing machine. The repeated sound of her fingers striking the garden's fence came together to form English words that sounded like someone accurately reading from a textbook.
"The troops Olay Blueshake hired have begun to move in order to take Lindy back. If you are the one charged with being her guardian, you should more or less understand the situation. Do not let her fall into Olay's hands. Take Lindy with you and flee!"
"Wh-what... ?"
Harzak was utterly confused, but the girl was not about to let him argue.
"Hurry! They are coming up from the ocean!! You have no time!!"
Harzak looked over and saw a large hovercraft approaching the base of the cliff that looked like a saw blade.
However, he did not have time to just leisurely watch.
A few of the silver soldiers clinging to the cliff were pointing bullpup-style assault rifles their way. As high-pitched gunshots rang out, the boy and girl lay down on the ground and Harzak frantically made his way into the log house.
"What'll we do now?" asked the girl.
"We have to at least let Lindy and her guardian escape. Then we just have to fight until we can stop Saronia."
"You certainly sound calm for someone up against assault rifles, Mr. Japanese."
"To be honest, I think I'd be too scared to do anything if they had handguns. However, this is on such a huge scale that it just doesn't seem real."
The two heard the noises of Harzak and Lindy escaping from the backdoor of the log house. After making sure those two were gone, they started to circle around to the side of the house to use it as cover.
But then the boy suddenly smelled flowers.
Immediately afterwards, the boy's left arm suddenly dropped.
It dropped straight down. Limply. The joint was still connected, but it dropped down and swayed with no strength in it. He could not bring any strength to the arm from the fingertips up to the shoulder. He felt no pain, heat, or cold. He also felt an odd numbness on the left half of his face. He was unsure what expression was displayed there.
"Gh!?"
He frantically grabbed his left arm with his right hand, but there was no response. It was apparently not something that could be simply fixed with Imagine Breaker.
"My left arm... ?"
"What? I'm not detecting any kind of chemical weapon, " said the girl while making an action with her right hand as if she were gently grasping something.
The girl must have come to the idea from the trembling of the skin on his face, but the boy was half sure it was something else.
Magic.
They were up against users of magic that had modified spells so they would work against a certain boy and make him suffer.
Still holding his unnaturally limp left arm, the boy looked back toward the cliff from around the outer wall of the log house. He spotted a familiar face among the silver soldiers.
"Saronia A. Irivika!!"
Part 6
(November 10 – Kauai – Northern Off Limits Area of Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #210)
The deeper areas of Napali Coast were made up of repeated saw tooth-like cliffs and normal cars could not traverse the dangerous paths.
But nothing was without exception.
For instance, there was such a thing as a monster truck.
In Japan, radio-controlled toys were often more well-known than the actual trucks. With four exceedingly large tires and suspension as thick as pillars, they were the ultimate off road vehicles. As the vehicle flew easily through the air while using forty-five degree slopes as jumps, it truly seemed to live up to its name as a monster.
It was of course stolen.
They had borrowed it from some tourists who had fled in the middle of a barbecue party.
"There she is!! It's the girl from the picture! Why isn't she waiting in the log house?" shouted Hamazura Shiage as he drove the stolen vehicle over a steep slope with a roar of the engine.
In the passenger seat, the president's face had paled to the point it looked like he could barf at any second. In the backseat, Birdway was arrogantly sitting with her arms crossed and without a seatbelt while experiencing the shaking of the truck defying gravity.
Despite Hamazura's complaint, finding the target so soon made things easier.
Hamazura started to bring the monster truck around toward Lindy and the large man pulling at her arm as they escaped along the dangerous path.
Suddenly, Hamazura heard a crash and his vision turned pure white.
Or rather...
"The windshield... !?"
A soft, ball-shaped projectile used for riot suppression had been fired from a grenade launcher. Instead of a piercing shock, the force of the impact had spread out across the windshield.
With his vision cut off, Hamazura immediately slammed on the brakes, but he realized an instant later that the attacker had been hoping for precisely that.
"Shit... not good! Get out, Hamazura!! Even if you speed up now, we won't make it in time!!"
Roberto Katze half-rolled out of the passenger seat and Hamazura followed suit after turning the key. First, the windshield was completely shattered by gunfire and then the scattered gunfire focused on the president and chased after them. Rolling along the sharp ups and downs atop the cliff, Roberto quickly reached cover.
In fear of accidentally shooting Lindy, the silver soldier used the stock of his bullpup-style rifle to beat down the large man with her instead of shooting him. He then grabbed the girl's arm and threw her into the backseat of the monster truck. He climbed in the driver's seat and turned the key that was still in the ignition.
Immediately afterwards, the silver soldier's body bent backwards with a crackling noise.
"That's what happens when someone has messed with the ignition and the ground, " said Hamazura as he calmly returned to the truck and opened the door."No matter how much you train, you can't win in a fight against a high-amperage, three-hundred-volt current."
Repeated primitive sounds of violence could be heard.
Once the silver soldier could truly not move, Hamazura took his handgun and assault rifle and tossed him from the driver's seat. Hamazura undid the trick he had applied to the vehicle and turned the key like he owned it.
A bit later, the president climbed into the driver's seat, turned around, and got a shocked look on his face.
"Miss Birdway! You didn't escape!?"
"There was no need, " said Birdway simply as she lightly swung about a dagger she had seemingly pulled out of thin air.
Having been thrown in next to Birdway, Lindy Blueshake was leaning away and grabbing onto the driver's seat headrest out of fear of the blade.
"U-um, Mr. President!!"
"Oh!! F-finally... Finally I meet someone who recognizes me as the president at first glance!"
"D-don't get tears in your eyes like that! U-Um... The thing is... !!"
"Huh? But I thought this girl hated the media and didn't read the newspapers or watch TV. How is she so familiar with how you look?" cut in Hamazura.
For someone reason, Roberto puffed out his chest and said, "Back when suspicions about the FCE were being investigated, Olay Blueshake got some help from a pain-in-the-ass group of lawyers and just barely managed to escape all legal responsibility, but that was when the household environment Lindy was in came to light. It was basically a crazy form of a gifted children's program. It was the kind of thing where the parent shows her love by insisting her kid lives out the ideal she sees in their head and so she puts all the blame on the kid and says the kid betrayed her when it doesn't work out exactly right. Roseline said it would be difficult to interfere and that it would have a major effect on how the news reports things about me, but I'm just too much of a dandy, so I had to help her no matter the cost. Ain't I great?"
"So this isn't the first time she's met you. Of course, she recognizes you!"
"Let me get to my point! Please!! What is going to happen to Harzak!? He's getting smaller and smaller back there!!"
"Girl, I understand how you feel, but you and I are their targets." The president grabbed her small shoulder and pushed her back into the seat."I promise I will return you to him, but right now it is safest for him if you are not with him."
"..."
Lindy Blueshake shrank down into the back seat.
She was not lost in confusion because she did not know what was going on.
She had the face of someone who was seeing the terrible situation they had seen coming.
"... Has my mom gotten this close already?"
"Yes, " the president admitted."The time to overcome her is approaching fast."
Part 7
(November 10 – Kauai – Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #300)
With his left arm unusable, Kamijou Touma hid behind the log house along with Kuroyoru Umidori. Even then, the mixed unit of Trident and Gremlin was continuing to land. The silver soldiers disembarking from the hovercraft by the cliff easily moved about in that dangerous area and aimed their bullpup-style assault rifles toward Kamijou and Kuroyoru.
Along with a loud noise, the logs making up the building were torn into by the bullets.
"That #1 is completely fucking useless! He isn't pulling any of them away from us! What the hell are we supposed to do? At this rate, they'll have circled around behind us before long!!" spat out Kuroyoru.
"A collection of ordinary firepower, hm?" Kamijou looked down at his unmoving left hand."This isn't just for me. It's a means to fight against supernatural powers in general. People like Birdway and Misaka can't be defeated with bullets, but they're still human. If bullets are flying their way, they have to use their supernatural powers to counter them. While they are being stopped by that and unable to use their powers for their full potential on something else, Saronia and the Gremlin magicians can circle around and get in a fatal attack."
"Thanks for the explanation, but that doesn't answer my damn question! Our only weapons are your right hand and my two hands. How are we supposed to get out of this!?"
"They have to be thinking that we will be afraid of the rain of bullets and avoid trying to break through the center. Of course, the magicians will be blocking any other path of escape."
"And?"
"If we do what they don't expect and do go straight through the center, we'll cut Trident and Gremlin off from each other."
"Are you fucking insane? We don't have the firepower to pull that off!!"
"Just to make sure, you're a cyborg and you can make as many nitrogen spears as you have arms, right?"
"How the hell does that help us!? You all took every single one of my extra arms back in Academy City, so I only have these two!!"
"If you don't have enough, we just need to get you more."
"... Seriously?"
"Technology is not a talent given only to certain chosen people. This is not Academy City, so we won't be able to make an arm that looks perfectly human. But if we focus only on having it function as something to produce nitrogen spears from, the materials outside Academy City might suffice."
"Keh. So what, you're thinking the more additional hands we hide around, the higher the odds of getting in a successful surprise attack?"
"Do you have data on a diagram or something? To be honest, engineering isn't exactly my forte. I'd have to leave it all to you."
"... I can manage, but what are you going to do?"
"The enemy has more than just conventional firepower." Kamijou Touma pulled out his cell phone."We need to come up with a way to deal with Saronia."
He called Leivinia Birdway.
"Birdway! Have you made any progress on analyzing the spell Saronia uses? The Leshy thing!"
"The automatic analysis done by the papyrus was completely fake. Mark and the others are gathering data while aiding the marines fighting Trident across the Hawaiian Islands, but they have not gotten any real results yet."
"Even if they were fake, can't we use the results from the papyrus?"
"?"
"We were led to that fake information by Saronia, so that means it's exactly what she wanted us to think was the case.... If I were her, I would have given the enemy fake information that would lead them away from my own weaknesses. Something like saying Imagine Breaker was a projectile weapon. We may not be able to do an in depth analysis of her psychology or anything, but can't we at least try to see what she was trying to hide with the fake information?"
With the additional arms and using the fake information from the papyrus against Saronia, that boy's cleverness had gone beyond the norm. It may have been due to his many similar past experiences.
"I see. That is a promising proposition. I'll pass the information on to my subordinates."
Kamijou hung up and then heard Kuroyoru shouting at him, urged on by the gunfire.
"Hey, hero! Quit leaving everything to others and help me take apart this generator's transformer and this hot-water heater!!"
"... You're getting your cyborg parts from there?" Kamijou said half in shock but quickly got to work.
They simply had not time for him to argue.
Part 8
(November 10 – Kauai – Northern Off Limits Area of Napali Coast – From UAV Lesser Emperor #210)
In order to protect Lindy, the monster truck roared off, leaving the large unconscious man behind.
"Hey, Mr. President. You said we need to take her somewhere safe, but where can we escape Olay's FCE!?"
"I don't know, but with this monster truck's mobility, we should head to the central mountainous area of the island! After we lose them, we can think up a way to get off the island!!"
They had no definite means of escape.
The Hawaiian Islands had emergency underground command centers in case there was a crisis on the mainland, but even those thick shelters could not be said to be absolutely safe.
A fixed facility that was already registered was of no value.
Constantly moving around and keeping their location fluid would lower the danger of attack.
Even doing that was like walking a tightrope, but with Trident and Gremlin approaching from behind, Hamazura and the others had no choice but to keep running.
Meanwhile, Roberto Katze checked the Imperial Package and let out a surprised noise.
"Wow..."
"What is it?"
"Warnings are being sent out like crazy over the marine network. Those two—you said they were Academy City Level 5s, right?—are going around neutralizing any force they come across whether it's marine or Trident."
"That would be the #1 and the #3. It's hard to believe that they're officially known as students, " said Birdway happily.
Even then, red x-marks were appearing one after another on the map. Dozens of x-marks formed two lines showing the routes they were taking.
Napali Coast was rich with untouched nature and areas too dangerous to enter with normal cars covered much of it, but the relatively gentle areas functioned as tourist sites. The two lines of x-marks were scattered about mostly on those areas where people would have been gathered.
"Those damn monsters. Are they trying to get Hollywood to make a movie about them?"
"Here one comes. Ah! The fantastic girl is passing right over us!!"
"Hah?" said Hamazura as he looked up.
At the same time, he heard a dull clunk come from the roof of the monster truck. It sounded like someone had landed on it after falling from the sky.
The roof was forced open and Mikoto's head stuck in upside down.
"Are you all okay!?"
"I thought you were going around with Accelerator and Misaka Worst, throwing the other two forces into confusion?"
"I did what needed to be done.... Is that girl Lindy-chan?"
"We were just barely managing to get away, girl."
"That's good.... Is that idiot not with you? Ugh, and I still haven't been able to give him the Cupid Arrow tag ring, " muttered Mikoto.
"Are you looking for a boy you're interested in?" asked Lindy in English.
"Bwoh!? Cough cough! That was all it took for you to figure out what I was talking about with such pinpoint accuracy!?"
"Umm... With a boy, you just need to throw your bra at him and then embrace him without your bra on while he's taken aback. After that, he'll be like a dog that was just given its food."
"Do you know what you're saying!? Please tell me you don't understand what that means!" Mikoto shouted and added under her breath, "And I'm sure someone your age doesn't even wear a bra."
"That's what the president told me when I met him before, so it has to be true."
"She's right, girl. If you want to get yourself a guy, you need to change into a skimpy swimsuit and have a beer in one hand. All you have to do then is press your chest up against him and undo your bikini. Your point will be even more obvious if you do it near a beachside motel."
"Even if you're the president, I'll still punch you!! If you try to say that's the American way, it would be an insult to the American people!!"
"Girl, you don't need to worry. When I gave money to fund the development of string bikinis, my approval rating went up a bit. The population of the United States is aging and some issues are arising with social security, so some drastic measures are needed to raise the birthrate."
"This isn't an issue with America!! There's just something wrong with guys!!"
"Roseline buried her head in her hands for some reason too. I just don't see why everyone is worrying so much over such a simple matter."
Suddenly, with the sound of a low thicket being crushed, a mass of steel headed their way. It was a khaki-colored tank with lots of phonebook-like explosive reaction armor attached. As the large mass advanced, its treads seemed to tear into the rock surface, but it was surprisingly fast. It was catching up to the monster truck at over 80 kph.
In shock, the president shouted, "That's from a Northern European company that entered the tank industry when their country wanted to be like Germany! I thought they had lost to the competition in the EU and disappeared, but it looks like they fell to this level!!"
"So it's from Trident?"
"Yes. I doubt they'll fire the main gun at us, but the light machine guns are enough of a problem!!"
"Birdway! Can't you do something with your magic!?"
"Well, I could, but at this range, I'd blow away the monster truck as well."
"Then I'll just have to do something, " said Mikoto.
She pulled her head back up followed by a loud noise. Hamazura checked in the rearview mirror and saw her land neatly on the saw-like bare rock.
Merely being able to counteract such a great speed was enough to set her apart from normal humans.
She stood directly in the path of the tank that was moving at over 80 kph. It was unclear what she had done, but the tank suddenly stopped as if it had run into an invisible wall.
"... How much of a monster is she?" muttered Hamazura in shock after the girl disappeared from view.
But the danger was not over. A new disaster showed itself.
It started with a noise.
At first it sounded like the roar of fireworks being set off and a high-pitched whistle-like noise continued on above them. The same thing happened ten to thirty times.
The president realized what it was first and his face paled.
"Brace yourself!! Here it comes!!"
Hamazura did not even have time to ask what was coming.
With an explosive noise, tens or even hundreds of thousands of blades rained down from the heavens.
They were a type of bearing cluster weapon called Cutters. The killing power of a 180 mm gun was enhanced with blades wrapped within the shell like a spring or coil. Like a box cutter, the blades were purposefully made to cut easily and countless numbers of them spread out in the shock of the explosion and rained down on the enemy.
The danger spread seventy meters out from the area of detonation.
With ten to thirty of them, the sharp metal fragments spread out over a wide area with almost no gaps. They were being fired by mass produced guns, but their trajectories were not necessarily the same. Small differences such as temperature, humidity, wind direction, and the way the gun's combustible gas escaped could change the trajectories. The fact that they were so evenly covering the area showed how skilled those firing them were.
The branches of the trees in the mountainous area were chopped off and the roof and hood of the monster truck were covered in orange sparks.
The truck's tires were torn to shreds and the giant four-wheel drive vehicle slid to the side.
"!! Trident again!?"
"No, I signed the bill that led to the adoption of those 180 mm guns. So unless they've been stolen..."
"So it's the marine volunteers!?"
They did not have time to come up with a countermeasure.
Multiple figures silently approached and simultaneously attacked the driver's side and passenger side of the half-destroyed monster truck. Without even opening the doors, Hamazura and Roberto were pulled out through the shattered windows. Another man who was peering into the backseat spotted Birdway and Lindy. Oddly, the man seemed to overlook the fact that Birdway was holding a dagger in her right hand while crossing her arms.
"Thirty-one. I have located Lindy Blueshake and will now bring her in. Prepare for the 'negotiations', " the man said into his radio.
"Wait..." gasped the president after he had fallen onto his back when dragged from the window."I... do not authorize... the use of that method. As the President... of the United States of America... I order you to..."
"What are you going on about? You've lost, " spat out the marine."Who's going to obey a president that won't do anything to protect his own country? You have a duty to at least protect the ones who voted for you. If you won't even do that, then stop calling yourself the president." The man raised his assault rifle."The job you're supposed to do has been handed over to us. If you're going to interfere with that, then there's no hope for you.... Fortunately, I never said anything about you when I reported finding Lindy Blueshake. No one will find it odd if you don't come back with us."
The marine unhesitatingly aimed at the president's face and smiled.
"Are you an idiot?"
Part 9
(November 10 – Kauai – From UAV Lesser Emperor #113)
Somewhere on the island, a gunshot rang out.
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