Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon Vol 3 Chapter 48

What shows up

Without an invitation?

Point Allocation (Damage)

“Well, then. I didn’t expect to be on the front line the second I showed up.”

A man in an M.H.R.R. uniform brought a hand to his forehead and sighed on a vast area of land covered in the darkness of the night. He faced west and had a row of several thousand mobile sh.e.l.ls behind him. They were all armed with guns and swords and the accelerators on their shoulders and backs were already open.

A lernen figur appeared near his face. It displayed a young ghost in a red M.H.R.R. uniform. He had a small feminine ghost on his shoulder.

“Matthias, sorry about all this. After you give the command to begin, you can return to the s.h.i.+p and get some sleep.”

“Sleep,” added the small ghost.

“And yet I would go die if I was told to, just like you were.”

“Matthias, we have applied for you to be given the inherited name of Ukita Hideie. He takes part in the Battle of Sekigahara and lives the longest of all of us. Keep that in mind.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Maeda. How is Sa.s.sa?”

“He’s gone on to his next destination. Oh, and he took the edamame you left for him and asked me to pa.s.s on his thanks.”

“He can be so wonderfully das.h.i.+ng. …But anyway, I guess I should do my job as M.H.R.R. student council president.”

Matthias smiled bitterly and faced forward.

He stood in a one kilometer square area with a stepped hill to the south and a forest to the north.

To the west, an old-style aerial s.h.i.+p was placed as a barricade and students were lined in the same equipment as the ones behind him. He glanced at them in their K.P.A. Italia uniforms and mobile sh.e.l.ls.

“Maeda, are they part of your army?”

“No, they are primarily composed of the Kriegs Georgern and the Murakami clan’s warriors. The Murakami clan contains a lot of the remnants of the Kitabatake clan we crushed before, so they have a lot of swordfighters. Be careful.”

“If you tell me to be careful, I guess I’ll have to.”

Matthias sighed.

He pulled a knife from his pocket and began casually filing down his nails, but a stir ran through the enemy in front of him.

…It’s not like I’m going to attack you with this.

I am thankful you fear me though, he added while bringing up a map of the area on the lernen figur next to him.

…Looking at this, the Seto Inland Corridor is going to be difficult to attack.

He acted like it was someone else’s problem, but he was indeed leaving the entire strategy to someone else.

He was aware none of this belonged to him.

He always left everything to someone else.

I belong to someone else, thought Matthias.

But he also felt that leaving everything to others made his own life easier.

Even if a strategy failed or he made some political mistake, he was only a puppet and did not need to worry about it. People might attack him, but it did not hurt him any as long as he knew he was a puppet. On the other hand, when things went well, people would praise him, even if only for show. The trick was to pray that everything would go well but not to expect it to.

…That’s right.

He finished filing down his nails and returned the knife to his pocket. The enemy put their guard up again, but he did not care. What came next was none of his concern.

The others would be travelling down a K.P.A. Italia path named the Seto Inland Corridor. It was a long coastal path that followed the Seto Inland Sea from eastern Bizen to K.P.A. Italia’s Aki in the west.

…It’s about two hundred kilometers long. It’s almost entirely straight and most of it is flat as it’s on the coast.

As long as their supply line was not cut off, the mobile sh.e.l.l warriors could cover it in half a day.

However, the corridor was a flat area only about three to five kilometers wide and…

…Hexagone Française is directly to the north.

The flat, clear area would leave them defenseless to their enemy’s attacks. With Hexagone Française to the north, any careless evasion into that territory could set some political conflict in motion.

“And…”

Countless shadows were visible in the western sky of K.P.A. Italia.

That was K.P.A. Italia’s aerial fleet.

It was led by the Murakami clan which had started out as pirates on the Seto Inland Sea and it had received support from Tres España. They were familiar with the sky along the coast of the inland sea and they would mercilessly attack any ground forces attempting to travel along the corridor.

“They’re only at most light Dragon cla.s.s, but there are six hundred of them. They use conflagration spells to quickly burn and sink any s.h.i.+ps that attack. And for ground forces, they carpet bomb them with their cannons.”

Meanwhile, M.H.R.R.’s princ.i.p.alities were highly independent, so they had little naval or G.o.d of war power because those required large-scale factories. G.o.ds of war also required regular supplies and maintenance, so they would have trouble invading a corridor that left one exposed to constant attack. P.A. Oda was equally weak as far as G.o.ds of war were concerned, but…

“P.A. Oda and the Oda clan have lots of cool aerial s.h.i.+ps. Most notably, they have the true enemy of the Murakami Navy.”

Matthias snapped his fingers.

“The iron-clad s.h.i.+ps have been further improved after their use in the Battle of Lepanto. Even in the original history, Murakami had a lot of trouble with those.”

As if to answer him, the night sky tore open and something revealed itself. Black s.h.i.+ps measuring eight hundred meters noisily exited stealth mode. They all had cannons on both sides and the front.

“These six galley types are specialized for the inland sea. The Lepanto may have officially been a loss, but these gave the Ottomans the chance to be reborn as P.A. Oda. They are covered in the Black Metal made by BIZEN of the IZUMO brand. Your special conflagration tactics won’t work anymore.”

Matthias saw the six black s.h.i.+ps spread out in the night sky.

The s.h.i.+ps’ decks carried smaller boxy s.h.i.+ps with mechanized dolls...o...b..ard. These metal s.h.i.+ps were over twenty meters long and the automatons continually sang the word “Shaja” and played kanuns to control the s.h.i.+ps.

A new lernen figur appeared next to Matthias. It displayed the night sky. A fish demon with one of his ten bent horns broken stood on the deck of the first iron-clad s.h.i.+p. He had brown skin and he faced his enemy far in the west.

“President Matthias, I am Kuki Yos.h.i.+taka, the naval representative of P.A. Oda’s defense committee. I have brought six iron-clad s.h.i.+ps for this battle.”

“Testament. That is wonderful. Try to show off even more. I can’t help but feel delighted that I’m a puppet for people this cool.”

“In that case…”

A new lernen figur opened. It showed a humanoid demon girl. Her left eye was hidden by a cloth wrapped around her head and she bowed along with the three rifles attached to the hard point on the left side of her back.

“I am Suzuki Magoichi, the special forces representative of the defense committee. I was ordered to partic.i.p.ate in this battle as a test after transferring to P.A. Oda.”

“Are you not using the Saika name because our enemy hired a lot of warriors who were originally from the Saika Ikki?”

“I would like to live a normal life. To ensure that, I must survive the Warring States period and I want to avoid a family name that stands out too much.”

“I see,” replied Matthias as he faced forward.

…Ohh.

The enemy warriors were solidifying their ranks after seeing the iron-clad s.h.i.+ps.

…How wonderful.

Matthias thought that way because he had done nothing and yet the enemy feared him.

…Such a wonderful example of relying on others. Merely being a puppet lets me see this panic on the enemies’ faces. I’m so glad I came to the front lines!! Being a puppet is so much fun!!

But, he thought as he looked to his own fleet floating in the sky.

“Everything is perfect, but this can’t be easy, Kuki. In the history recreation, the Mlasi never invade K.P.A. Italia during this period. And if we try to attack using the Far Eastern history recreation, the aerial bombardment as we advance along the Seto Inland Corridor will make K.P.A. Italia impregnable. The only way to defeat their geographic advantage is to…”

“Testament. There is a single battle that allows P.A. Oda to send its forces to the inland sea. And it only lasts half a day.”

“Yes.” Matthias looked up at the countless small s.h.i.+ps of the Murakami Navy in the western sky. “The decisive battle with the Murakami Navy. The Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi.”

“Testament.” Kuki’s voice was quiet. “My iron-clad s.h.i.+ps will destroy the Murakami Navy in only half a day. The oceans around Osaka Bay will fall under Oda’s control. This battle was meant to lead into the battle with the Hongan-ji forces, but that was fought long ago. K.P.A. Italia has put off this recreation for fear of losing the Murakami Navy’s protection.”

So…

“We will complete the recreation and eliminate the Murakami Navy’s aerial bombardment. This will ensure the safety of the Seto Inland Corridor and allow us to reach K.P.A. Italia’s headquarters of Itsukus.h.i.+ma in only half a day.”

“And if you do not succeed? What if you lose, but ‘an interpretation’ – such as the Murakami Navy retreating – is used to represent their ‘loss’? After all, the history recreation says this is your first and last time to use those iron-clad s.h.i.+ps.”

“Testament. That is correct. To better recreate this battle, Has.h.i.+ba and the others took care of the previous preliminary battles while prepared for some losses. We will make sure to complete this somehow or another.”

“Not that,” muttered Matthias. “I’m asking what happens if you don’t complete it.”

“Testament.” Kuki seemed to have made up his mind. “Has.h.i.+ba and P.A. Oda will no longer be able to send this powerful a force to the Seto Inland Sea area, so the only possible way to fight the Murakami Navy defending the Seto Inland Corridor will be a political one. We will be unable to rely on the ground forces and a long, drawn-out war with K.P.A. Italia will be unavoidable.”

The demon commander took a breath before continuing.

“For K.P.A. Italia, this is the battle to ensure their future safety.”

“I see. …This must be tough. Sorry for asking about something so harsh.” Matthias sighed. “Please win.”

Kuki seemed confused by that request, but he finally gave a powerful nod.

“Sha-… Testament!”

Oh, how cool, thought Matthias.

“Now, then.”

He raised his right arm and faced forward.

…This is great.

Even as a puppet, this announcement was his as student council president. While reveling in the fact that this was his alone, he gave the sign to begin the conflict. He swung his right arm forward.

“Let the battle begin!!”

As soon as the fighting began, the two fleets spread out as if trying to take up the best positions.

They exchanged sh.e.l.lfire, but the Murakami Navy created a thick wall with their small s.h.i.+ps. By focusing their fire on a single enemy s.h.i.+p, they prevented the iron-clad s.h.i.+ps from advancing either as single protrusion or a large surface.

As the iron-clad s.h.i.+ps began moving forward, the Murakami Navy created a curving formation and showed their intention to pull back toward Itsukus.h.i.+ma and stop the enemy fleet. They would use the distance from M.H.R.R. to Itsukus.h.i.+ma to slowly fall back and continue firing.

This allowed the iron-clad s.h.i.+ps to make some forward progress, but their speed was controlled by the Murakami Navy. However, it was difficult for the Murakami Navy to break through their armor, so time pa.s.sed as the slow invasion continued on.

Kuki commented on the situation.

“They are trying to drag out the battle. This is meant to end in half a day, so they want us to run out of time.”

After fierce political conflict over the exact limit of that half day, K.P.A. Italia and M.H.R.R. had settled on sunset that evening at four.

M.H.R.R. had to destroy the Murakami Navy before then.

By the time the sun had risen, Kuki had made a few new calculations related to that problem. Based on the damage to their armor and the speed of their westward invasion, he made a decision.

“Let us change our formation. If we establish a rotation, we can push the Murakami Navy back by four PM and arrive within range of Itsukus.h.i.+ma. Once that happens, we can reach Itsukus.h.i.+ma quickly. Of course, the Murakami Navy will be forced to begin a real battle before that happens. The critical point for stopping us will be thirty kilometers east of Itsukus.h.i.+ma and we will arrive there at…”

He predicted the time of the decisive battle.

“Three PM. That leaves us one hour to the limit.”

He gave orders to all six s.h.i.+ps with that time as his goal.

“It can be slow, but move forward! The sooner we reach the critical point, the more time we will have to spare!”

Both fleets had decided what they needed to do and their movements were complex but orderly. Their actions were being broadcast to the academies of the different nations by the PR committees of K.P.A. Italia and Hexagone Française.

This also reached the Musas.h.i.+ as it approached Magdeburg and the M.H.R.R. Catholic warriors laying seige to that same city.

The sun had already risen.

That bright light only dimly lit a certain room.

Other than the narrow beam of light, the tatami mat room was completely dark.

It was a still place, but sudden motion came from within.

The movement was caused by the girl springing up from the white futon.

The girl was Adele.

She sat up quickly enough to send the blanket flying upwards and she sucked in a breath.

“Huh?”

She stretched her back straight up and eventually tilted her head.

“Um,” she began while looking around the room with her tilted head. “Why am I here? In fact, where is this?”

A certain word appeared in Adele’s mind.

…Did I warp!?

A warp was a powerful teleportation technique used by some of the G.o.ds during the Age of the G.o.ds. There were several different versions including the short warp, the long warp, the folding warp, the male warp, the midair warp, the meditation warp, and the yoga warp. It was full of variations.

…With all those variations, it isn’t much different from prostrations, is it?

At any rate…

“Umm…”

She did not understand her current situation. She seemed to be wearing a Far Eastern robe, but…

“Isn’t this a kid’s size?”

She understood this was a disgraceful situation.

But she could not connect the last scene in her memories to the scene before her eyes now.

She was pretty sure she had been wearing an inner suit before, but now she was wearing a robe.

…Wait… H-huh? I don’t remember being anywhere like this! And I don’t remember being dressed like this!

She looked around, but she only saw a dimly-lit room. She had apparently been sleeping in a futon laid out on the floor.

“A Far Eastern-style room?”

The door was a sliding screen and the sun came in through a paper sliding window. After seeing the brightness through that window, she brought a hand to her forehead.

…It’s morning?

She had a feeling it had been the afternoon before.

She tried to recall why she was here.

“Um, I was running along that IZUMO field with the chancellor and…”

No. That isn’t all. There was something before that too.

She worked her mind even more to recall the past.

…If I’m not mistaken…uh…Sa.s.sa Narimasa showed up.

As she tried to remember, she held her right hand forward and placed her left hand alongside it.

“Um, this one is me and this one is the chancellor. So, um…”

She needed a third hand for Narimasa. She could always have her left hand be the chancellor and herself, but she had a feeling that was a very bad idea. From an intelligence perspective.

At any rate, she could use her gaze to represent Narimasa, so she and the chancellor had…

“Um…”

The gaze representing Narimasa came in toward the left hand representing herself and hit it. And then she…

Suddenly, she swung her left hand outwards.

“Eh?”

She could not quite remember what had become of that. She only remembered a brief view of the sky before everything went black.

…Wow.

Her mind shook a bit.

Her body shook as well and she began to fall backwards. Eh? she thought as she frantically swung her hand and tore through the sliding door behind her. She could feel the clearly expensive paper between her fingers.

“Ahhhh!! And I have no moneyyyyy!!

I need to hide this, she seriously thought. Is there anything to cover it with? No, it’s paper, so if it has paste on it, I just need water. And even without that, I can use my spit. I still feel like my life is over, though.

Just as she licked her fingers, she heard footsteps walking down what seemed to be a corridor. A voice soon followed. It was Asama’s calm voice.

“Adele? Are you awake? We’ll be arriving in Magdeburg soon, so we need to examine your brain while we have the chance.”

…Oh, I get it. This is Asama-san’s shrine.

“W-wah! But now I don’t have time to hide the evidence!!”

She opened the window, thinking she could escape through it, but then she saw what sat outside.

Next to the window and below the eaves of the building was her mobile sh.e.l.l.

However, the head armor was missing.

Everything clicked into place when she saw that headless mobile sh.e.l.l.

…I…

She had been sent flying and pa.s.sed out from the attack Sa.s.sa Narimasa had used to destroy her mobile sh.e.l.l.

…And no one was left to protect the chancellor.

An even greater pang of regret stabbed from the depths of her gut and into her chest.

Her eyes settled on the headless mobile sh.e.l.l. As she looked at her incomplete armor, a cry of anger rose meaninglessly from her throat. It was in reference to both the mobile sh.e.l.l and her own skill.

“It just isn’t enough!!”

Asama stopped walking down the shrine’s corridor and broke into a run.

She needed to hurry to Adele.

The girl had been sleeping in the shrine’s medical room.

She had simply wanted to check on Adele’s condition before heading to the spring for some early morning purification.

However…

…What was that hopeless lament!? Is she having a nightmare!?

She didn’t used to be this kind of character, thought Asama. She would sometimes stare into the wall at the insufficient state of her body and finances, but she used to keep a generally positive outlook along with Mitotsudaira and the others.

But something in her brain must have been knocked loose in Narimasa’s attack.

…I have to do something!

Her shout had been all too meaningful. Who would have ever thought her flat chest would drive her insane? Before they arrived in Magdeburg, Asama needed to hit the girl’s brain with spells until the usual Adele was back.

With that shout of inadequacy ringing in her heart, Asama ran down the corridor with a robe worn over her inner suit.

“Adele! Was I right about the brain damage!? There were signs of it in the past, though!”

Asama arrived alongside the room. Adele’s room was right in front of her, so she used the corridor’s raised floor as a step and leaped.

“Asama-san!”

At the same moment, the sliding screen opened in front of her and Adele ran out. As Asama fell, Adele’s head performed a counterattack by stabbing straight up and into Asama’s chest fastener.

Both of them stopped moving.

Asama had caught Adele who was standing straight upright. Asama remained in her landing pose as several long seconds pa.s.sed. A single thought dominated her mind.

…H-how am I supposed to get her out?

Adele’s head was stuck inside her inner suit’s chest fastener from below.

Adele’s head was pus.h.i.+ng her b.r.e.a.s.t.s out and forward from within, but that tensed the cloth. Also, the pressure sent back in on Adele’s head kept it from pulling back out.

What were they to do?

This was of course a first in Asama’s life, so she had no past experience to rely on.

The other girl’s head was completely caught to the front and back, so…

“I guess it has to be up or down.”

Adele raised her right hand and gave a thumbs up. She seemed to understand, so Asama stood on her tiptoes and lifted her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as if embracing them.

“Nh…”

This unexpectedly lifted Adele’s head with them.

“Nwaaaah! Wait! A-Asama-san! M-my neck’s gonna break!”

Adele tapped out as she stood on her tiptoes and tried to endure the stretching of her neck. And she tapped on Asama’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Not only did the girl suddenly touch her, but her breath tickled.

“Eh? Ah, wait! Phah. Wait. No. I’m gonna laugh.”

Just as laughter was about to burst from Asama, Kimi arrived from the right end of the corridor.

“Asamaaa, I want to use your bath, so- What are you two doing!? Can you not get out!? Are you stuck? Oh, this is too much. And after the pressure jokes from before too. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The dancer started rolling around on the floor in laughter as soon as she arrived. Seeing that useless girl was enough to calm Asama down.

Asama made sure no one was around, opened the fastener, removed the other connector below her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and exposed her skin. Adele was finally able to remove her head as if lifting it from the surface of the water.

Asama tried not to let it bother her as she closed the front of the robe instead of replacing the fastener.

“Are you okay, Adele?”

“Well, um, uh, sound effects like ‘squish’ or ‘squash’ won’t leave my head.”

“The pressure must have damaged her brain,” said Kimi, but Asama ignored her.

To help Adele calm down, she began telling the girl what had happened while she had slept.

“Listen,” she began. She also placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Right now, the Musas.h.i.+ is being towed to Magdeburg because s.h.i.+rojiro-kun flipped the floor around with a prostration. Toori-kun fell and was abducted by the Reine des Garous, but Mito, Mary-san, and Naito will do something about tha- …Tenzou-kun is there too. You mustn’t forget him, okay? Anyway, it seems he’s alive.”

“Wow… I actually understood most of that. I think there’s something wrong with me.”

That comment surprised Asama, which made her wonder if there was something wrong with her as well. At any rate, Adele looked up at her, frowned, and tilted her head.

“Um… Is the chancellor alive?”

That was a difficult question to answer, but Kimi spoke up from where she sat on the floor.

“My foolish brother is fine. At the very least, Sa.s.sa wasn’t able to touch him since you s.h.i.+elded him. And it seems the Reine des Garous has taken a liking to him, so…”

“The real question is what M.H.R.R. will do now that they have begun a battle with K.P.A. Italia.”

“Eh?” said Adele. “Isn’t that bad? You said the Musas.h.i.+ is inside M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda has the strength to easily fight a three-front war.”

That was true. P.A. Oda was attacking K.P.A. Italia while Has.h.i.+ba faced Mouri, but P.A. Oda itself was also splitting it strength to deal with Sviet Rus and Takeda. And P.A. Oda had the national strength needed to pull that off.

…M.H.R.R. won’t be too busy to deal with us.

But despite that thought…

“It will be okay.”

She prepared to say that to put Adele at ease and that may have been a privilege of hers as someone without an official position. But just as she prepared to wipe away the girl’s concern…

“It’ll be okay!!”

Adele said it first.

After moving from the floor to the corridor’s low railing, Kimi narrowed her eyes at Adele’s words.

…Oh?

Wise Sister: “She doesn’t get all depressed when she loses. Quite a difference from a certain cowardly fallen angel I know.”

Mal-Ga: “What? I’m in the middle of an all-nighter inking this douijins.h.i.+, so provoke me and I’ll put you in as a guest character!”

Wors.h.i.+pper: “Huh? I only just woke up, but these horrible people are already filling this refres.h.i.+ng morning with chatter.”

But Kimi saw Adele grab Asama’s hand and shake it up and down.

“Contact 6th Special Duty Officer Nao-san or someone to get my mobile sh.e.l.l repaired! Now I know I can withstand a single attack from P.A. Oda’s Six Heavenly Demon Armies! So…”

“U-um, Adele?”

“Judge! What is it!?”

Asama responded to Adele’s energetic question.

“Do you have the money for those repairs?”

Kimi saw Adele’s expression vanish altogether. The girl fell limply to her knees and then onto her side.

“That was a critical hit,” said Kimi. “Her mind is in the wall now.”

“I-I don’t need your commentary! And, um, Adele?”

Asama spoke to Adele who was trembling on her side.

“I-I’m done for. M-money… Why did it have to be money? That’s the ultimate monster. Except it isn’t money that’s truly frightening. It’s the lack of money.”

“D-don’t worry, Adele! Money isn’t everything!”

“That’s right, Asama,” cut in Kimi. “You’ll always have your body.”

Adele had started looking up, but she curled up on her side again.

Adele held her knees in her arms and began singing a strange song that repeated “loo” over and over again.

“This isn’t so bad,” said Kimi. “You’ll find the money somehow and it’s always good to be motivated. After all, we’re about to be busy again.”

“With what?”

“You haven’t noticed the aroma hanging in the air? This is the scent of the food being cooked in the M.H.R.R. camps around Magdeburg.”

She smiled.

“Plus the scent of spell gunpowder.”

“Master Munes.h.i.+ge, is this…?”

Gin had been making a circuit of Okutama for her morning training with Munes.h.i.+ge, but she stopped on the front deck and pointed to the scenery visible over the barrier surrounding the deck. Munes.h.i.+ge stepped between her and the barrier as if to hide her from the scenery below.

“I see. So this is why the automatons stopped cleaning and went back inside.”

He viewed the ground where the dim light of dawn showed a fortress city far ahead.

The city was on the western bank of a winding river. From their perspective, it looked like a star-shape split down the center.

However, the shallow angle of the sun covered the distant city in a stark contrast of light and shadow. The river looked dark and the forest surrounding the city also looked dark.

The forest was covered in fog. Or so it seemed. However…

“We will be able to see it once the sun rises.”

As if to agree with Munes.h.i.+ge, the morning sun slowly changed its angle. Its gentle movement turned the dark purple sky to dark blue, blue, and then yellow.

Something was visible on the surface that seemed scorched by that color.

“That’s M.H.R.R.’s thirty thousand man siege formation around Magdeburg!!”

Camping tents, maintenance areas, food distribution centers, and tents or turf for emergency supplies filled the vast forest. The apparent fog was actually smoke from them cooking.

…And they’re almost done!

One thing was certain: the enemy could begin at any time.

From the look of their camps, their main division was about five thousand strong. They were likely the ones who would charge Magdeburg. The remaining ten thousand were meant to continue the siege and stay behind as a rear guard.

This was the perfect formation for an attack on a fortress.

Only a moment later, they took sudden action. Before Gin could see what had happened, Munes.h.i.+ge swung his arm back while still looking down. He was trying to have her step back.

“Gin!”

His hand latched onto her breast over her track suit.

…Eh?

Without thinking, she reacted to this unexpected accident.

At the same time, Munes.h.i.+ge turned around with a sharp look in his eyes.

“Please stand back!”

“Eh? Oh, r-right. Testament.”

Even as she gave the wrong response, she took a large step back. Meanwhile, something shot up from below.

It was a barrage of anti-air sh.e.l.lfire.

She saw and heard a stream of light, sound, and wind.

The light was exploding sparks and the shards of broken gravity barriers. The sound was the harmony of impacts and destruction. The sound of the sh.e.l.lfire itself arrived after the wind, but it was still powerful.

And it did not end.

“Master Munes.h.i.+ge!”

He held his right hand below his eyes without moving.

She called his name again, but he still did not move. She wondered if he could not hear her, but…

…That isn’t it!

She focused on the reverberation of sh.e.l.lfire and detected what he was watching.

She heard a roar of moving air from below. That trembling noise seemed to ripple through the air again and again, but the air was also powerfully pushed up to the Musas.h.i.+’s alt.i.tude.

This ascent of the air could only be caused by one thing.

“An aerial s.h.i.+p!?”

Gin saw it in the center of her vision.

She saw a white high-speed galley bearing the emblems of P.A. Oda and P.A.M. as well as the logos of M.H.R.R. and A.H.R.R.S. It pierced through the trembling air to rise up in front of Musas.h.i.+no and between Takao and Asakusa.

The galley fired cannons from its port and starboard sides to attack the inner sides of Asakusa and Takao.

Gin noticed its cannons used Mlasi-style homing spells. The turret-less cannons fired four divine tones in preparation and Mlasi divine messenger birds had been built into the top of the cannons.

“The Djinn Garudas have appeared! Cannon fire incoming!”

The super deformed Garudas cried as one atop the cannons.

“All s.h.i.+ps defend!! Over!”

After that s.h.i.+pwide broadcast of “Musas.h.i.+’s” voice, the torii-style emblems of gravity barriers appeared over the entirety of the different s.h.i.+ps. However, the galley had already twisted itself toward the Musas.h.i.+’s bow and forced itself into a roll. Wind wrapped around it as it rotated, but it still fired.

…Such accuracy!

They targeted the important points and seams of the s.h.i.+ps with amazing precision even for homing shots.

The gravity barriers shook and fixed in place. Meanwhile, the galley’s roll took it too far, so it corrected and rapidly turned around toward the sky in front of the Musas.h.i.+.

The belly of the white galley had already pa.s.sed by above Gin and shown its stern.

The barrage of cannon fire from the galley at such close range held the Musas.h.i.+’s gravity barriers in place and prevented new ones from being raised to block the galley’s path.

Gin then saw movement. As the galley calmly flew past the Musas.h.i.+, two people jumped down to Musas.h.i.+no’s bow.

“Those are…?”

She recognized the two-hot blooded individuals who had come from the siege army down below. The first was…

“#4 of the Six Heavenly Demon Armies, Sa.s.sa Narimasa!”

The other had demonic horns visible even as he fell.

Gin recognized him from his introduction in the Testament Union’s almanac.

“#1 of the Six Heavenly Demon Armies and vice chancellor of M.H.R.R. That demonic long lived has General Tilly of the Catholic army as a double inherited name.”

He was…

“ ‘Demon s.h.i.+bata’ s.h.i.+bata Katsuie!”