Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth2 (section)

===Part 5===

The Cutalularia Republic’s invincible Offense Fleet.

Even though the Izanami was camouflaged, it probably couldn’t sneak past that fleet by pretending to be a cruise ship. After its skirmishes with the world powers, they would have aerial photos of the ship’s appearance and they had probably recorded the acoustic signature of its propellers.

Mikoto clenched her teeth.

(All the more reason I wish we hadn’t immediately given ourselves away with that SOS. We completely wasted the benefits of the camouflage. If we had known we would be up against every world power here, we could have made more use of it even if we would be found out eventually.)

Shipboard aircraft and warships. Mikoto and Shokuhou would have to deal with enemies in the air and sea if they were to protect the Izanami and Izanagi.

“So much for hiding out. Misaka-san, prepare the Shinshin. This is all meaningless if the Izanami is destroyed.”

“I hate to interrupt your motivation, Shokuhou, but what will you do? Are you going to ride the fighter in your swimsuit or summer uniform?”

“I will be wearing a flight suit, obviously. I just need to go buy one from one of the arms dealers real quick!!”

That was the obvious answer.

Or it would be on Earth.

“I doubt they sell flight suits for humans in a world that uses Girlish Weapons. Did you forget that the Izanami and Shinshin are the products of some world other than ours or this one?”

“…”

Trembling, Shokuhou gave her the puppy dog eyes.

With tears forming in the corners of those eyes.

(Ugh, what a pain. I should really just abandon her here to-)

“Wait, Misaka-san! I’ll do anything, so please anything but riding the fighter without any protection at all!!”

Shokuhou grabbed at Mikoto, crying for real now. The #5 must have finally remembered that there was someone her tearful “feel sorry for me” beam didn’t work on.

Not wanting to deal with someone clinging to her in the already hot tropical climate, Mikoto made an alternative suggestion.

“…I do have a spare flight suit.”



…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………



“I-it’s so tight!! Ugh, I can barely breathe. Is this some kind of prank, Misaka-saaan!?”

“Huh? That’s weird. My legs and butt fit in it just fine.”

“I was talking about my boobs.”

Anyway, it was time to take off.

Mikoto wanted to get in the air as soon as possible.

Adeleden Sky Pirate Port would accept anyone from anywhere, but the festivities proved that the Republic was still influential there. The people here were practically throwing a parade for the returning Offense Fleet, so if those cheerful partiers discovered Mikoto and Shokuhou were about to go battle that fleet, they might block the runway.

The Shinshin raced down the long, long runway and the aircraft left the ground. The landing gear were stored within the fuselage.

“Shokuhou, if you have nothing better to do, monitor the radar.”

“Based on the size of the readings, the Offense Fleet appears to contain one nuclear-powered carrier, one large repair ship, five cruisers, eight destroyers, and three other small ships. Maybe tankers?”

“So it really is a big fleet.”

“To be clear, that is only what I can see on radar. Given the size of the repair ship, it probably also works as a submarine supply carrier.”

So was the fleet spread out below the surface of the water too?

And even the relatively small destroyers would be a major boss battle for a single fighter.

How much could they even accomplish with the weapons aboard the Shinshin?

“How far is the Offense Fleet from the Izanami and Izanagi?”

“They’re facing each other down from about 300km apart in the western ocean. But the Izanami is being pushed back. If they move any further east, they will probably be spotted by the mainland’s radar ability and interceptors could be sent out.”

Mikoto doubted the fighter’s radar was enough to tell all that over such a wide area. Shokuhou was apparently intercepting the encrypted transmissions being sent through the air.

“That’s pretty close. Not enough to directly use quick-firing guns or anti-ship missiles, but well within range of carrier aircraft.”

The Offense Fleet had been quick to react.

The Shinshin had excellent stealth, but it had a 19m railgun forcibly attached. It would be fully visible on enemy radar.

“There they are.”

“Yes, they have fighters up already.”

The enemy had sent out canard delta wing Rafales (maids whose wings spread outwards from their hips down in a way that looked like a long skirt when they held their legs together) and Eurofighters (storybook princesses whose dresses were formed in the same way).

Mikoto still couldn’t see the Offense Fleet itself. Given the location of the cluster of dots on the radar, it was probably more than 50km away. The fighters had likely been sent in to shoot down the Shinshin before it reached the fleet.

They couldn’t afford to waste time on a small number of fighters.

A full-sized nuclear-powered carrier would be loaded with dozens of them. More and more would be launched if nothing was done. And they didn’t have time to battle all of those fighters.

So…

“We’ve gotta attack the carrier before it can launch all its fighters!!”

“Anything other than an electromagnetic catapult needs to charge after each launch, but even then, it’s going to be a race against time.”

Ordinarily, there wasn’t much chance of a single fighter sinking a fully-equipped warship. It simply wouldn’t have enough firepower. The warships would be equipped with long-range anti-air missiles and several (girl) fighters were already in the air, so even approaching the fleet was going to be a challenge.

But things were different here.

Mikoto had the railgun she had used to shoot down a ballistic missile in space.

It was meant to be fired in ultra-high altitude to intercept a ballistic missile with perfect accuracy.

Based on what she had seen before, its range probably reached several hundred kilometers.

So if she ascended far enough that the horizon wouldn’t be in the way and fired it down towards the fleet, she could strike the central carrier from outside the range of the Aegis ship’s anti-air missiles. The projectile would be moving much too fast for the close-in defense Gatling guns to shoot it down.

Even on a sunny day, the air wasn’t perfectly transparent. The naked eye could only see about 20km.

Mikoto still couldn’t see the giant girl warship, but that may have been for the best.

She wouldn’t hesitate.

“Targeting the Offense Fleet flagship – the nuclear-powered carrier.”

She locked on by radar and fired the mounted railgun toward the side of the carrier.

“Fire!!”

Something exploded close by.

“Wha-!!?”

The Shinshin shook hard. Something seemed off about Mikoto’s vision and she realized the fighter had stalled. She immediately yanked on the control column to raise the nose and zip just off the ocean surface. If she hadn’t, the sharp nose would have plunged into the sea and the fighter would have been smashed to pieces.

Shokuhou struggled to breathe in the rear seat.

“Cough. Was that a shockwave? …Yes, a shockwave. You were so high up there was barely any air last time, but in normal atmosphere it compressed the air only for it to burst right in front of us!!”

Fortunately, the railgun barrel itself hadn’t been blown away.

“Misaka-san, a Rafale is coming. It has another two behind it! Get out of their way!!”

“(Come to think of it, what can this out-of-shape girl even accomplish onboard a fighter? It just kind of happened, but what was I thinking letting that dead weight on the Shinshin? She isn’t good for anything other than sex appeal.)”

“Please stop staring into the middle distance! You’re holding the control column, so you need to face reality!!”

As the Shinshin skimmed across the ocean surface, its nose suddenly pointed straight up.

By grabbing at the air with the entire aircraft, it rapidly braked and the Rafales approaching from behind overshot it.

That was Pugachev’s cobra.

And the Shinshin was capable of locking onto multiple targets at once.

(Oops. Wait. I need to save the missiles for attacking the ships.)

Mikoto was calm enough to consider such things.

She fired the autocannon from behind, the light of the tracer rounds pursuing a Rafale until she tore through the left leg half of the delta wing.

The Rafale fell into the ocean.

“One got away. But pursuing the carrier comes first!! …? Shokuhou, why are you so quiet all of a sudden?”

“Ugh, blehh.”

Even a specialized flight suit only made sure you didn’t pass out. It didn’t reduce the strain to nothing.

“M-Misaka-san, are you a massless hologram who isn’t bound by gravity?”

“All that excess fat at your chest and butt are increasing your inertial damage multiplier. Besides, you’re the one who told me to shake them. Oh, a Eurofighter is coming from the right, so this is going to get rough. About three times more than before.”

“…”

“Hm? Hey, wait, Shokuhou! Get your hand off of that ejection lever!!”

The lever clunked as it moved, but the ejection device did not activate. If Mikoto wasn’t using her control over electricity to control every last wire inside the Shinshin, this would all have ended with her ally’s betrayal.

Shokuhou’s head slumped to the side in the rear seat.

“Wh-why did I ever get in this deathtrap?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time?”

Ignoring the Queen now that she had stopped resisting, Mikoto juked sharply to the sides to confuse the Eurofighter approaching from behind. When the Eurofighter failed to keep up with the weaving turns and her course diverged from the Shinshin’s, Mikoto began a sharp counterattack.

This time, Mikoto swiftly got on the enemy’s tail.

The autocannon tore up the princess’s storybook dress, partially undressing her, and sent her down into the ocean. Maybe it was the speed and maybe it was the angle, but the 20m girl bounced off the water a few times and passed right by the Izanami.

Mikoto’s Shinshin flew above the familiar Izanami at full speed.

“…”

(The Izanami and Izanagi are still fine. I swear I’ll keep them that way!!)

A loud missile lock alert sounded.

The lock came from the Offense Fleet up ahead.

This wasn’t like with a fighter. The radar screen was filled with dots. That meant 20-30 anti-air missiles had been launched at once. It was basically a small fireworks show at this point.

But the ones fired from out ahead weren’t anything to fear.

They would pass each other by in an instant.

Mikoto swung the Shinshin around and actually approached the enemy Rafale pursuing from behind. The IFF safety would prevent the anti-air missiles from detonating near friendly aircraft, so they passed on by despite recognizing the Shinshin.

Mikoto shot down the Rafale maid with her autocannon and then approached the Offense Fleet while skimming just off the water’s surface.

She could see them with the naked eye now.

Several 200m girls were floating on their backs as if doing the backstroke.

The joints and thick metal arms attached to their backs had to be hidden below the water, so their weapons were lined up along the bridge, vertical missile launchers, and other equipment spread out past their arms to give them a ship-like silhouette.

Mikoto flew past the destroyer in the lead and sharply avoided a cruiser to continue on in. The cruiser launched anti-air missiles and rockets as she passed by, but couldn’t hit the Shinshin.

Another warship girl lamented nearby. She was a supply ship – aka, a navy paradise loaded with hens that laid eggs daily, milk, and other foods.



“Ahh, I’m so unlucky. I can’t even fight, but they still send me to the front line? They must hate me. Oh, and now the enemy has a lock on me…”

“Ehhh!? Why would they be going after you!? Protect her! Protect her our favorite depressed girl! If all our food is sunk, fleet morale will drop to the ocean floor with her!!”



The view changed with dizzying speed. Not even Mikoto could keep track of it all as she held the control column.

She only had so many missiles.

She was around 300m from the largest ship: the nuclear-powered carrier. Sinking just that one would be a challenge.

But without taking out the carrier, the sky would be filled with dozens of fighters.

A wall towered up like a cliff face.

That was the carrier’s bow. Or in this case, the top of a backstroke girl’s giant head.

The Shinshin was approaching the giant body from a diagonal angle. On either side, something like a flat carrier deck floated in the water, but Mikoto needed to prioritize something else.

(The landing runways can wait. I need to take out the launching catapult!!)

“Air-to-air missiles can’t blast a hole in that thick carrier!!” warned Shokuhou.

“I just have to keep the fighters from launching!!”

Mikoto pulled up a bit to fly directly above the carrier girl. She selected an air-to-air missile. The carrier appeared to use a bit of an older style system than the Izanami, but Mikoto still managed to spot the catapult. Instead of launching the missile, it felt like placing it in the air.

On a carrier’s deck, even a 5mm screw could lead to a major accident. When launching a 15-20 ton mass at more than 250 km/h, any mistake could cause a disaster on the deck from the kinetic energy alone.

Mikoto forcibly placed a few air-to-air missiles on the flat deck.

As soon as the Shinshin had passed by, the missiles exploded behind her.

“Eek, I’m falling!”

“Oh, no, no! I need something to grab onto! Noooo!”

The Rafales (maids that formed a delta wing when they held their legs together) waiting their turn on the deck were overpowered by the blast and the tilting of the carrier, so they slid off the port side and into the sea.

Mikoto doubted a surface explosion alone would sink the carrier itself, but the area around the catapult was now littered with small fragments and garbage. No matter how many dozens of fighters were waiting inside the carrier, they could no longer take off.

“I just hope they don’t have any VTOL craft.”

“Even if they do, they can’t take off so easily with all that chaos and the fire fighting team rushing around.”

But it wasn’t over yet.

The carrier could no longer attack, but the rest of the Offense Fleet was still there.

After the Shinshin left the Offense Fleet, Mikoto made a large U-turn to face the fleet again.

“What now?” asked Shokuhou.

“Our priority is the remaining Rafales and Eurofighters. There aren’t many, but there are enough to defeat us.”

“The destroyers and cruisers seem like a threat to the Izanami and Izanagi to me.”

“But between sea and air, air wins.”

Something flew in from the east.

Two (non-girl) F-2As were rapidly approaching just off the ocean surface.

Piloted by Shirai and Hokaze.

The Japanese-made F-2A had originally been developed to protect the sky and sea. That made it perfect for attacking ships. It could even directly attack an enemy ship from a distance of 150km.

A single Shinshin could only do so much with its autocannon and missiles. And the mounted railgun was useless in the ordinary atmosphere.

There was only one way to win this.

To clean up the sky before the enemy fighters could interrupt the F-2As.



Instead of approaching the Offense Fleet, the F-2As launched air-to-ship missiles to target the destroyers and cruisers from quite far away.



The enemy appeared to notice the missiles skimming just above the ocean surface, but their close-in defense Gatling guns didn’t seem capable of shooting them down.

The missiles pierced into the ships and exploded. Even the carrier took more damage.

Mikoto switched on her radio.

“Railgun 01 to Teleport 02. You don’t have to sink them all. Once you’ve reduced their numbers enough, ask for their surrender. There should also be plenty of submarines below the surface, so keep your guard up even if they appear to raise the white flag. Always keep a lock on the carrier flagship.”

“But, Misaka-saaan. There are still a few Rafales and Eurofighters left.”

“Have you considered their fuel and flight range? Their carrier is partially in flames, so they have no runway to land on even if they win. If the Izanami offers to let them land there, they should do what they’re told.”

It looked like they had protected the Izanami and Izanagi.

Mikoto sighed softly.

“Railgun 01 to Teleport 02. I’m leaving. Don’t try to follow me.”

“Onee-sama!”

“If the United States and Republic join forces, they can launch a nuclear warhead at any time. Their primary focus is the Shinshin. If I land on the Izanami, they’ll attack us all at once with a ballistic missile. No matter where on the planet we are. So this is the only-”

“Izanami to all fighters. …No, wait, Railgun 01. Something isn’t right.”

“?”

Mikoto was puzzled, but then she heard a voice from a different angle.

From Shokuhou Misaki.

“What…is that? Misaka-san, something like a long horizontal wall is approaching from the north.”

“Uh. Railgun 01 to Izanami and Izanagi!! Attention, everyone! Grab onto something! There’s a big wave incoming. All crew on the carrier deck needs to get inside and shut the waterproof doors!! The wave is more than 10m, so anyone on the deck will be swept overboard!!”

“The continent’s central mountain range…is gone?” said Kobayashi from the Izanami. “All the missile silos have been destroyed. From below. And something…something enormous is crawling out!!”

Was that what had caused the wave?

But what could eliminate missile silos designed to withstand a nuclear attack along with the mountain range around them?

And what did it mean…

…that something enormous…

…was crawling out!?