Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume20 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 6===

The Baby Magnum and the Rush fought a high speed battle in late-night Tokyo Bay against the mysterious Island Nation Object known as the Asian Monster.

Tokyo Bay was not as large a battlefield as you might think. There was a chance of being fired on from Tokyo, Chiba, or Kanagawa there, but that was all.

The terrain worked in the Princess and Oh Ho Ho’s favor.

With less available space to move in, the enemy would have trouble avoiding the simultaneous attacks from the Baby Magnum and the Rush.

However…

“Stubborn thing. We have to have hit it so many times, but it won’t sink!!”

“Oh ho ho. The Object’s primary job appears to be holding us here, so their real weapon must be-”

The two Objects took nimble evasive action the moment before a white beam split apart the dark night. The giant laser fortress gun installed at Mount Fuji’s peak was to blame. The large circle from Kantou to Chubu was within its firing range. If they took too long with the naval Object, the laser would target them out here in the open ocean.

The Princess was using special goggles that placed a burden on her pupils and irises to read the movement of her eyes with lasers, but the Baby Magnum felt so slow it was like swimming through an invisible slime. This wasn’t about whether any immediate attack could hit or whether she could avoid the enemy’s shots – she was falling behind in a more fundamental way.

Frolaytia sent a tense suggestion.

“Princess, we can use our thermobarics to create a mirage if necessary.”

“That would affect my targeting, so don’t. But if they target your ships, do it immediately.”

“Oh ho ho. I will move out ahead to keep the Island Nation’s attention on me. I can’t have them targeting the slow fleet.”

Even Oh Ho Ho was the Pilot Elite who fought as the central figure of a battalion.

The two Objects approached even closer to the Asian Monster.

They were not the only ones that could make simultaneous attacks.

In fact, the Island Nation had the greater destructive power. The Mount Fuji laser fortress gun was powerful enough to destroy an Object in a single hit.

“That thing has a lot of power, doesn’t it?”

“Could it be adding volcanic energy on top of an ordinary reactor? Oh ho ho. It might be stable now, but Mount Fuji is technically a volcano.”

“But how is it getting rid of all that heat?”

“The summit is more than 3000m up, so maybe it’s covered with a thin layer of ice or something.”

But the attack was nothing to fear when they knew what direction it would be coming from.

The fortress gun was still a fortress gun. A stationary sniper was much less of a threat.

“We sent out meteorological weapons to produce thick clouds around Mount Fuji’s summit, but it isn’t going well,” reported Lendy Farolito. “Missiles and shells are just a poor match for anti-air lasers.”

“Oh ho ho. Try not to draw so much attention they focus their fire on you. It’s best if your attacks appear ineffectual.”

The Princess sighed.

(I really want to reach land so I can support Quenser and the others.)

The Asian Monster slid gently to the right and then cut sharply back to the left.

It was a classic feint.

The Princess kept an eye on the laser fortress gun’s movements while sliding out of the way of the low-stability plasma cannon aimed her way. Then she repaid the enemy by firing a railgun counterattack a bit to its left to cut off its escape route. That stopped its movement long enough for the Rush to fire the killing blast.

The unpleasant sizzling of vaporized metal burst into the air. The Rush’s rapid-fire beam Gatling cannon had punched right through the center of the Asian Monster’s spherical main body. Tens of thousands of deadly shots formed a single thick line that tore through more and more of the Object. The mechanical wound melted with an orange glow, giving the Object an actual donut shape.

“Oh ho ho! Do you see now what I am capable of? Spectacular results like this are all the proof you need I am a true idol!!”

“You never could have done it without my support.”

“Kyah!!” shouted Lendy Farolito over the radio. “A global top idol just does things differently!!!!!”

“Stop encouraging that idiot, you stupid commander,” replied the Princess in disgust. “Sigh. This is how popularity messes with people’s heads, isn’t it?”

The Asian Monster produced a creaking sound as it tilted.

The reactor would not last like this. To avoid getting caught in the blast before it sank into the ocean, the Baby Magnum slowly backed away.

The Princess caught it at the last second.

That was the only reason she managed to send her Object sharply to the side in time.

A beam of light roared through.

One of the Baby Magnum’s seven main cannons – the leftmost one – was sliced away by the intense energy.

But that hadn’t come from the laser fortress gun atop Mount Fuji.

It had clearly been a low-stability plasma cannon blast from the Asian Monster on the ocean directly in front of her.

In fact…

“Oh ho ho. It…isn’t sinking? But I destroyed its reactor!”

“There must be more to this. It is an Island Nation model, after all!!”