Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 4===

"You really have it tough, having to work even at this late hour."

"Although I'm not sure what's going on... Please be careful, all of you."

Father and Mother were worriedly seeing us off at the entryway. Night had fallen in this area with more stars shining in the sky than in Tokyo.

"Yes, Father and Mother. We will set off now."

Mitsuki nodded with a tense expression, turned around, and left. The rest of us also say goodbye and exited the house.

We had been notified just now that the helicopter had arrived in the nearby park. Leaving Kili in this town, we were setting off to take down the juvenile Kraken.

We were supposed to hide Kili in a NIFL base but considering past precedent, it was impossible to trust NIFL. Since they might attempt to execute Kili, our only choice was to shore up defenses over here instead.

"So, Tia-san, Lisa-san and Firill-san—the rest will be up to you now."

Mitsuki stopped in front of the house next door and spoke to the trio.

Tia was in charge of restraining Vritra whose objective was still unknown. Lisa and Firill were in charge of guarding and monitoring Kili.

Dividing our forces was admittedly disadvantageous, but there was no other choice considering the possibility that Kili might be attacked. That being said, Mitsuki was probably more wary of Vritra than NIFL's interference. I also felt a sense of danger that she must not be left to roam free.

Silent during dinner, Vritra currently had her head lowered while staying at our side.

"Just leave Vritra to Tia!"

Perhaps sensing my unease, Tia spoke cheerfully and accepted her mission.

Then after examining Vritra's reaction briefly, she drew near my face and said:

"...As soon as Vritra makes any sign of generating dark matter, Tia will steal it right away. Tia will definitely succeed like Yggdrasil."

Tia whispered an additional explanation.

"We will take care and not allow Kili-san to act recklessly."

"Even if someone attacks, we'll defeat them."

Lisa and Firill replied to Mitsuki, but as soon as Mitsuki left, they immediately waved to me.

"Mononobe Yuu... I entrust Mitsuki-san in your care."

"Mononobe-kun... You must watch Mitsuki carefully and prevent her from pushing herself too far."

Having known Mitsuki for so long, the two girls seemed to have reached the same conclusions as me that Mitsuki was currently very unstable.

"—Leave it to me. I will protect Mitsuki for sure."

I had already resolved myself to do that, so I nodded firmly.

Starting three years ago—No, even before that... Ever since Mitsuki lost her parents, left all alone, I had decided to protect her.

No matter what kind of sacrifice, even if it meant losing precious memories, I had always upheld that determination of mine.

By this point, that way of living was not going to falter.

"Yuu."

I heard someone call to me. I looked up to see Kili gazing down from the second floor window.

"Will you sincerely protect me this time?"

Kili asked me as though testing my reaction.

During the Hraesvelgr battle, I had failed to protect her. Had Kili's dragon mark been suitable for Hraesvelgr, she would have turned into a dragon at the time.

"Yeah, I definitely will."

I was not going to repeat the same failure. With this determination, I nodded and promised her.

"...I believe you."

Kili's expression showed faint joy while she waved goodbye to me.

Just as she withdrew back into the room, I looked at Vritra.

"Vritra, right now... Are you pleased?"

My question caused Vritra's shoulders to shake once.

She gradually looked up. Her facial expression—was blank. No emotions surfaced.

My back kept breaking out in cold sweat. My body was instinctively reacting warily against what could not be understood.

"I don't know your objective, but... Even if the current situation is in your favor, I don't think you're someone who could feel joy from the bottom of your heart when sacrificing your daughter—sacrificing Kili."

"...Wherefore?"

Vritra asked me expressionlessly.

"Because after spending a whole day with you, I believe we might be able to understand each other. Iris definitely hopes you could understand and respect humans."

I glanced at Iris who was listening to the conversation from the side.

"Vritra-chan..."

Iris looked at Vritra with an uneasy expression.

"..."

Vritra silently avoided her gaze.

"Nii-san, Iris-san, time to go."

Mitsuki hurried us. Before setting off, I added one final thing.

"Let's go for ice cream again after we return."

"—"

She did not answer.

However, I believed this one-sided promise would be upheld for sure. Then I turned around and departed with my back to the dragon girl.



Pushing through the crowd of onlookers who had gathered around the park, we boarded the helicopter and were taken to a NIFL staging area.

It was very noisy with many soldiers walking around. Dressed in school uniform, we looked especially conspicuous, but the soldiers did not stare at us. Not only that, they were overtly shifting their gazes away, pretending not to see us.

They most likely could tell we were Ds. I had forgotten because everyone I was in contact with recently were understanding of Ds, but this was actually people's typical reaction to Ds. It was very hard not to feel fear towards beings possessing superhuman powers.

Not bringing Kili along was the correct decision after all.

"...Onii-chan."

Ren tugged my clothing uneasily.

"It's okay, don't mind them."

"...Mm."

I held Ren's hand and smiled at her. Slightly reassured, she nodded in response.

"Mononobe... Everyone feels so nervous."

Iris could feel the tension in the air and whispered to me.

"Because they just fought the juvenile Kraken and were routed. I guess they suffered quite heavy losses."

I lowered my voice to prevent the soldiers in charge of leading us from overhearing.

"I'm not too clear on what happened two years ago, but nothing works on the Kraken unless we rely on Mitsuki's antimatter, right? It seems too reckless of them to fight using NIFL alone, or perhaps... There was some reason why they originally thought they could win?"

Listening to Iris' conversation with me, Ariella cocked her head incredulously.

"...We won't know until we hear the detailed report. However, it's also possible that this Kraken is different from the ones two years ago."

I offered my opinion and Ariella nodded "that's true too."

Mitsuki did not join our conversation. With a solemn demeanor, she walked silently. She had been like that the whole time since boarding the helicopter.

As much as I wanted to talk to Mitsuki, before I could think of an appropriate topic, we were taken to a room in a building. It was a small conference room. In front of a monitor installed straight ahead, Shinomiya-sensei was waiting for us with a serious expression.

"Good work getting here. Then I'll start the explanation of the current situation."

After we sat down on the front row, Shinomiya-sensei dispensed with pleasantries and began to explain to us.

"Asgard has named the Kraken's juvenile form 'Kraken Zwei,' which we will use henceforth. The target is currently heading to Nanato City where you were staying, moving in the mountains at a speed of four kilometers per hour."

"Four kilometers per hours is quite slow. That's about the same as our normal walking speed."

Ariella remarked in surprise.

"That stems from Kraken Zwei's size. Perhaps because it's newly born, the target is very tiny."

After saying that, Shinomiya-sensei showed a video on the monitor. A silver object could be seen in the middle of a crater gouged out of the ground. The object was an elongated oval with silver threads spreading from its base in a radial pattern.

"This is Kraken Zwei's appearance. Although the body length is less than two meters, the silver threads can attack up to dozens of meters in range. Furthermore, the main body seems impervious to all attacks, wrapped in the cocoon of silver threads."

Looking at he Kraken shown on the monitor, Mitsuki spoke up:

"The original Kraken had tentacles of mithril. Assuming this Kraken Zwei inherited that trait, I expect the threads to be extremely fine strands of mithril."

"—I hold the same opinion. Furthermore, it is already confirmed that Kraken Zwei can likewise fire antimatter like the original."

Shinomiya-sensei supported Mitsuki's view and displayed a new photo on the monitor. The photo showed part of the silver strands from the cocoon opening up, during the very moment when a blinding flash was released.

"Its defenses are partially lowered when firing antimatter... This is the same as the original too. I expect they have already attempted to seize that opening to attack?"

"They did, but reportedly failed. The target is extremely observant, capable of reacting to any attack with precision no matter what."

Shinomiya-sensei continued in a grave tone of voice after replying:

"Hence, the most effective method is to use antimatter to destroy everything outright along with the mithril shield."

"Yes."

Mitsuki nodded deeply in agreement. At this moment, Iris raised her hand.

"Umm... Won't my Catastrophe work?"

"Indeed, Catastrophe is a powerful means of attack but the weathering of mithril is extremely time consuming. Just as we used mithril to resist Basilisk's attacks, the chances of the beam getting blocked are very high."

Iris went "Oh I see..." and put her hand down after listening to Shinomiya-sensei's answer. Iris evidently wanted to use her power to ease Mitsuki's burden.

"Since methods are limited, the operation is exceedingly simple. You will approach the target while NIFL draws its attention using unmanned drones. Mononobe Mitsuki will fire antimatter projectiles while I hope the rest of you will provide support."

Shinomiya-sensei outlined the plan concisely. Indeed, there was nothing simpler than this operation.

"In more concrete terms, what does support mean we have to do?"

Ariella raised a question and Shinomiya-sensei answered in a serious tone of voice:

"Do everything you can to adapt to the changing situation. Your mithril shields should be able to defend against attacks from the silver threads made of the same material. Mononobe Yuu's antigravity is the only means to defend against antimatter attacks. Iris Freyja's Catastrophe should be able to pin down the enemy even if it is blocked. Ren Miyazawa's massive dark matter generating capacity should help in breaking out of emergencies."

Shinomiya-sensei looked at each of our faces in sequence while directing the operation.

"—Any other questions? If not, the operation will begin right away. I hope the battle can be settled while the target is on the mountain."

I looked over the members of the group. No one seemed to have any objections.

—Was it okay to leave things to Mitsuki like this?

Although this sense of unease occupied my heart, I could not reject the current plan on grounds of emotions without providing an alternative solution.

"Then let the operation begin."

"—Yes ma'am!"

In any case, I'll protect Mitsuki from the side—Making that decision, I nodded in response to Shinomiya-sensei's command.