Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume20 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 6===

The Scarlet Princess, a 380m disguised cruiser, moved out.

Orders bordering on screams were exchanged as soldiers carrying repair materials rushed around to seal up the holes in the ship, but the damage had reached Leve 5 in four different locations and there wasn’t anything they could really do. And there were far more smaller holes. Even by the most generous estimate, the ship would be sunk in 15 minutes’ time. And they doubted the Manhattan 000 was gentlemanly enough to spare the helpless soldiers fleeing in lifeboats.

That left them with only one option.

Oh Ho Ho in the Gatling 033 was everything for Commander Lendy Farolito, but she gave a puzzled look to her fellow brain.

“You have no obligation to stick with us here.”

“Now that our Baby Magnum has been destroyed, the Rush is our greatest and only weapon left. Without it, we have no way of dealing effective damage to the Manhattan. And that would mean death for everyone in this battle.”

Frolaytia Capistrano relit her kiseru.

She may have meant this as a final smoke.

“Also, our true flagship is the one carrying Princess Staivia, so we can play the role of the privates pouring all our energy into achieving victory.”

“And your real reason?”

“The longer we keep its attention on us, the more chance someone has of collecting the Princess.”

Lendy Farolito and Frolaytia shared a smile.

War was best with a touch of personal interest mixed in.

So they both shouted their next command together.

“Charge!!”

The Manhattan did not even bother to dodge.

For one thing, its top speed was on par with other Objects, but it could not perform the nimble footwork necessary to avoid laser beams and railguns.

It tanked everything with its weight and thickness.

So it let the ship crash into it.

Frolaytia and Lendy had made the attack, but it was them who were tossed around inside their ship.

Frolaytia clenched her teeth and raised her voice after being slammed against the wall.

The ship was going to sink soon regardless, so they might as well do whatever they could in that time.

“Are we caught on its shore!? Then keep firing until we’re out of ammo. Aim for the Manhattan – where doesn’t matter. Target anything other than the cubes containing the civilians. Let’s show Melly how much ammo this ship still has in its belly. Fire!!!!!!”

They loaded more propellant than usual, so when all the ship’s guns fired simultaneously, its armor shutters bent and its bulletproof glass shattered.

The asphalt was torn up and dark soil was flung into the air.

But that was all.

The silver armor panels below that weren’t even scratched. How thick was that armor in all?

“The Capulet AI Network isn’t actually aboard the Manhattan. I don’t know where it really is, but we can cut off its commands by destroying the antenna facilities!!”

“And which ones are we supposed to destroy!? From the cellphone antenna base stations to the satellite TV antennas on house roofs, there are more than 10 million of them!!”

“Kh!!”

The Manhattan was both a weapon and a giant city. The operator looked back for her next instructions, but Frolaytia didn’t have anything for her.

The 380m Scarlet Princess broke free of gravity. The ship had run itself up onto the concrete wharf, so the Manhattan shook itself like a seesaw to fling the ship into the air. And while it looked like a cruise ship, it was actually a cruiser and had the weight to match.

There was no time to grab onto anything.

The Manhattan’s anti-air lasers and railguns struck the helpless target one after another, detonating it before it could even fall back into the ocean.