Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Horizon:Volume 5B Chapter 41

2017-07-11T01:21:03Z

68.109.59.107: /* Chapter 41: Roarer of the Hunting Ground */

==Chapter 41: Roarer of the Hunting Ground==
[[Image:Horizon5B_431.jpg|thumb]]
''If the memories sometimes return

''While away from the battlefield

''Just how far away are you?

'''Point Allocation (However Far It Feels To You)

It all came down to the moment before landing.

Torahide further twisted his body and built up his rotational force. In doing so…

…''I increase the force of the impact when I hit!

For that, he twisted his body and aimed to land.

He dropped down to slam into the ship belly-first.

“…Perfect!”

He was confident his rotation and the landing would match up perfectly.

And just then, there was movement below him. Something flew out below his falling throat.

It was Musashi’s Vice Chancellor.

She ran quickly in from the side and raised something below his throat.

It was a spear.

Musashi’s Vice Chancellor balanced it perfectly and placed her hands on it twice and then thrice to make sure it was solidly in place.

“Okay, Tonbo Spare, when I say ‘go’, extend with your extension device.”

“Understood.”

Musashi’s Vice Chancellor instantly jumped back by about 100 meters. And as soon as she landed…

“Go!”

“Extending.”

Everyone on the Musashi watched as the giant dragon bent backwards in the instant of landing instead of placing his forelegs on the ground to avoid the impact. But he failed to do so in time, the extending spear stabbed into his reverse scales, he bent back further, and his tail end smashed through two levels of the surface.

Far above Musashino, Horizon looked down from Tama while Asama supported her shoulders. She used a pause in the Song of Passage to turn toward Asama.

“What was that? I feel like a lot happened at once.”

“I-I’m not sure…”

But across on Murayama, Kimi was beginning their second time through the Song of Passage while dancing with Toori.

Asama knew what they were going to use that for.

“They’re supplying the people below with ether, Horizon!”

Torahide swung his foreleg.

With no sensation in his fingers, he could not grab the spear piercing his throat. So he used his great strength to scrape his arm along and force the spear out.

“Kwoh…!”

He flung the spear away. Or he meant to. However, he did not have a grip on the spear, so when he brushed it aside, it simply fell.

The blood erupted from his split throat. It was hot, but he could feel it dripping from his throat to his belly.

''That’s the second time they’ve injured me there,'' he thought.

That was when he noticed something standing on the falling spear.

…''That is…!

“The Peerless in the West!”

“I am currently the unaffiliated Tachibana Muneshige.”

He kicked the airborne Tonbo Spare.

He instantly moved in front of the dragon’s chest, spun around in midair, and did something.

“I see.”

He stood nearly perpendicularly on the edge of Torahide’s arched chest.

Muneshige breathed a mental sigh of admiration.

This was not his first time fighting a dragon. During his time in the New World, he had fought wild dragons a few times. However…

…''While they were dragons, they were only about 30m.

The small size of their opponents had indicated what little progress they had made in developing the land.

This dragon was different. And he realized something while facing a dragon at this level.

Everything about them was on a larger scale. Yes, for example…

…''Just looking at their external armor shows that most everything, from the structure to the maintenance, is on the level of a dragon.

Each individual scale of armor was made of a dense material, but it grew badly weathered and dirty.

Even if the front was well taken care of, the sides and back were the same as natural objects like stones or trees.

The dragon’s eyes could not see there, just like a human would not look between their fingernails.

“So if you try to set foot on one, you can do so almost anywhere.”

Then the dragon’s arm arrived. But Muneshige ran along the dragon’s chest.

He left the reverse scales, but he immediately returned and raised Kamenuki.

But not to pierce the dragon. Torahide’s reverse scales already had a deep wound. Plunging Kamenuki into that wound would be relatively meaningless. He needed to use Kamenuki as a pointer, and…

“Gin! Over here.”

“Judge.”

The response arrived without delay.

It came from the air behind him.

Gin was there, pursuing him with Racing Words. So he spread his arms.

Gin twisted her body so her butt was pointed down and she plunged downwards while face-up.

The instant Muneshige caught her, Gin looked up with a combat expression.

Something there was targeting the dragon’s reverse scales.

“Pierce him…Arcabuz, Cuatro.”

She could still only summon one of Cuatro Cruz.

But combined with the two Arcabuz Cruzes, she fired thrice from close range and sent projectiles accurately into the dragon’s wound.

They were steel shells. And the one from Cuatro Cruz was meant for use against castles.

The dragon’s body was not as powerful as a castle, so his entire body shook violently from the throat.

Behind his forelegs, his back shook on either side and his body arched backwards.

The former Peerless in the West stood on his chest and held his wife in his arms.

“—————”

He suddenly jumped down from that chest. The dragon had opened his mouth.

“…!”

The great dragon swung his injured arms around, scratched at his chest, and tried to brush off his unseen enemy.

The former Peerless in the West had already jumped toward the ground and the cross cannons had been transferred back into their dual pitch space.

“Damn you…!”

The dragon bent backwards and arched his chest.

He spread his arms and bent so far back his head was looking backwards.

Then the giant dragon roared, even as blood flowed from his chest and stained his entire body.

“Ohh…!”

Everyone heard the dragon’s roar stretch out long and narrow.

It was loud, but the volume gradually grew even further.

He was not howling into the distance. He was simply crying out in a defenseless pose, so everyone fired weapons or spells while question marks formed in their heads.

Then the giant dragon’s entire body glowed with a dull light.

“His thrusters are going to blow!!”

After gathering ether with his roar, he would release the shockwave around him.

The dragon’s extended roar and the light simmering from his body told them something.

“This is gonna be the biggest one yet…!”

The dragon’s decision was obvious to everyone.

A straight-line dragon cannon might be blocked by the defense barriers opened by Musashino’s bridge.

But if he released a thruster explosion from close-range…

“He’ll destroy the already-damaged surface area and the underground area below…!”

When one of the gunners shouted that, everyone else responded.

“That sounds like one of the Secretary’s ideas!”

“Judge! One of those ideas that everyone has but no one ever goes through with!”

“Okay, Secretary! Give us a countermeasure!”

As the dragon’s roar rang loudly, something responded to their voices.

A sign frame appeared in front of them and it showed the Secretary pushing up his glasses.

“Leave it to me. I’m already putting something together.”

Everyone gave a serious nod, and then…

“He actually answered us…!?”

'''Me:''' “Hey, Neshinbara, could you settle this sooner rather than later?”

'''Hori-ko:''' “Yes. Sooner would be great.”

'''Novice:''' “Yes, I know what you’re trying to say: I still haven’t returned your knight and samurai, have I?”

'''Righteousness:''' “More importantly, here it comes! My auditory devices are starting to crackle! …It’s approaching the usual pattern when he releases his thruster explosion!”

Torahide looked up to the moons and opened every thruster on his body.

There was no stopping it now. From there, he only had to close his mouth, shut the solid sealing membrane in his throat, and let the dragon cannon circulate through his body instead of leave his mouth.

''The moonlight feels nice,'' thought the dragon.

The injury to the reverse scales at the top of his chest was deep. The shells had entered deep inside.

But his dragon healing ability had chosen to heal him along with the shells.

The masses of metal remained inside him as the blood began to clot and close the wound.

The shells did not matter. When a dragon’s blood contacted the air, it would grow hot enough to melt and absorb any foreign objects. That defense mechanism “preyed on” germs and pathogens, but it could also affect any shells and blades that entered his body.

In a few hours, the shells would take the place of the iron he had lost in his blood.

The moonlight accelerated the process.

One of the moons, the closer-in one, was said to be made of Orei Metallo, making it a mass of ether. When it reflected the light of the sun on the other side of the planet, it poured the power of ether down on the night.

That was why moonlit nights were a time for nonhumans. Torahide found it pleasant as he closed his throat.

Then his moonward gaze saw something.

It was round.

It was humanoid, but it was round, attached to a chain, and clearly being swung vertically.

“Ahyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

The mobile shell swung straight down and collided with the reverse scale wound.

'''Hori-ko:''' “I’ve been wondering. Is there any real reason for Adele-sama to be inside there?”

'''Asama:''' “…Ballast?”

'''Me:''' “Honestly, I think Adele might actually like doing that.”

'''Aasma:''' “I had the more normal answer this time, right!? Right!?”

'''Righteousness:''' “Why do you upperclassmen have such childish arguments…?”

In the instant the falling mobile shell hit him, Torahide tensed his body.

And he realized he was unharmed.

The mobile shell had targeted his wound, but the blood had already clotted and was now as solid as armor.

That was not going to be broken by the mobile shell hammer.

He could convert the force of the impact into his roar and throw that power into the thruster explosion.

That settled it.

He could not destroy Musashino’s bridge, but he could tear away a large chunk of the ship and blow away the surrounding people.

So he did so.

He raised his voice as the impact hit him.

But that voice did not power the thruster explosion.

It was a cry of pain.

The dragon’s agony reverberated above Musashino.

One man saw the cause from Musashino’s bridge.

“Splendid.”

In the captain’s seat, Suzu turned back toward that voice and then she smiled.

“Vice Principal…Yoshinao…?”

“Judge. …I apologize about before. I will watch calmly this time.”

A large sign frame was open at the front of the bridge. It displayed a single moment: Adele’s mobile shell raising a weapon in its right arm.

It was a vassal’s long spear.

The spear had a beast emblem on it and it had been stored in the mobile shell’s tail stabilizer, but…

“Did she wait until the very last second to grab it so that the dragon would not see it?”

Yoshinao looked to his wife who gasped alongside him. He took her hand and spoke.

“It seems she has yet to master its use, but someday, surely.”

After all…

“The beast has left the kingdom of protection and entered the field of aggression.”

Adele’s body was covered in a dull sweat.

…''W-wow…

She had once fought a much smaller dragon than this. Back then, she had not used her mobile shell, so she had charged in without it and created a starting point for the others.

Looking back, she was amazed by her own courage.

After all, she was much safer now inside the mobile shell, but…

…''The pressure is intense!

She was not laying the groundwork for or assisting an attack.

She had to do real damage as the main attacker.

If she missed, the entire strategy would fall apart.

She could not let that happen. So it was intense.

“Kh.”

Her right arm shook from the tension.

Her right hand controlled the mobile shell’s right arm, which drove the 3m spear into the dragon’s throat.

This was not just a clash.

The mobile shell’s wrist slid back to the elbow.

Igniting the spell gunpowder there would create a simple pile bunker.

She had used this countless times in training and practice, but this was her first time doing so in actual combat.

She did it. But…

“O-outside…”

The footage sent in by her mobile shell’s sight devices only showed her the color black.

The nighttime brightness amplification was activated, but the dragon was probably just too close.

…''What happened?

As soon as she wondered that, Raging Beast was tugged from behind.

The mobile shell rose quite quickly as Mitotsudaira’s silver chains pulled it.

And Adele saw the result of her action straight ahead, which was really down below.

The dragon’s chest had been badly broken.

Immediately afterwards, the dragon made a great noise.

It was not the thruster explosion. The enemy had great power built up, but that power burst from his entire body.

“He self-destructed,” muttered Mitotsudaira on the nighttime street.

She was in a student dorm district near the bow. That put her approximately 70m away from Torahide.

She faced forward while quickly pulling Adele back so the mobile shell slid along Musashino’s main road.

The dragon was there.

But even if he was shaking, he did not move any more than that. He simply spurted blood from his entire body while looking like he was trying to eat the moon.

…''A great roar leading into a thruster explosion.

That was one of a dragon’s greatest techniques and it meant to release his power from his entire body.

It could be seen as the greatest form of presenting his awe. But…

“What if he felt uneasy just before releasing his pride?”

That unease did not have to be felt in his heart.

A dragon would respond to a threat as an animal. So…

“Gin’s shells wouldn’t have been absorbed by his body yet. So even if he closed the wound and solidified his defense…”

Mitotsudaira swung both arms to rapidly pull in her silver chains.

“The mobile shell’s spear damaged the wound. The spear pushed the shells further inside his body and the mobile shell’s collision smashed through the reverse scale armor to open the wound.”

As a result, his reverse scale weak point had been fully destroyed and the spear and shells had pierced into him.

The dragon’s body had reacted to those two results in one way.

Regardless of the dragon’s will, his body had rejected it.

…''That’s right.

No matter what the dragon wanted, if he left his weak point destroyed and the foreign objects inside him, his body would react. His entire body would avoid the enemy’s attack and close in on itself so no further foreign objects could be driven inside him.

The dragon’s body would instinctually close all sensory organs and thrusters.

But Torahide was in the middle of carrying out a thruster explosion.

What would happen if the dragon tried to breathe out from his entire body just as his instincts tried to close everything up?

The answer was right there.

All of the dragon’s thrusters had blown themselves up and blood flowed from his entire body.

He stood up, but he was unsteady and his raised arms slowly lowered.

There was light in his eyes, but…

“Gah…”

His own attack power must have scorched him deep in his throat.

''But,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

“A name inheritor isn’t going to end it there, are they?”

Horizon listened to Mitotsudaira’s words.

“Horizon? …You asked when is the right time to live and to die, didn’t you?”

“—————”

“Unfortunately, I cannot answer that as I am still on the path of life that ends in death. In all likelihood, most everyone is the same,” she said. “But I think it is best to live and arrive at that end with no regrets.”

“Mitotsudaira-sama.”

“What is it?”

Horizon asked a question of the silver wolf who stood so far below.

“Do you know how to do that? …To have no regrets?”

“No.”

She received a short but definite rejection.

And the wolf said more as if to make up for that.

“But…my mother apparently tried to live on her own, grew bored, and decided it would be better to die.”

So…

“Being with someone else might create regrets. But the more people there are, perhaps the regrets can be divided among them and the enjoyable things can be shared among them.”

Mitotsudaira had a sudden thought.

…''It might be good to visit home every once in a while.

Of course, her parents had friends and plenty of people they worked with.

It was wrong to think they might be lonely because it was only the two of them.

“Yes, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s only the two of us here. …Eh? People walk through here? What do we do if someone shows up? O-oh, come on. Why would you say something so indecent? You know imagining it is only going to get me more excited. Also, there is no need to worry about that. I mean, you’re the only one with your clothes off right now. …Hee hee. You say you can’t hide with your back against the wall like this? …But I believe you were the one trembling with loneliness? A wolf isn’t about to leave someone like that to his loneliness.”

''The moon is out, so my mother is probably in top form,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

And…

…''I’m no different.

She faced forward.

Between her and the dragon, Mary looked back her way.

Mary smiled, nodded, and waved.

The scary part was how she had not moved at all since the battle began.

…''She has guts…

The Secretary had ordered her to stand there as bait, but the 1st Special Duty Officer had to be hidden and waiting somewhere nearby.

He was hidden to make Mary’s role as bait more effective, but…

'''Gold Mar:''' “I’ve been seeing some threads on the divine network titled ‘That Ninja Ran Away’.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Huh? I started the first one, but it looks like they’re already on thread #127.”

'''10ZO:''' “I-it’s not true! It’s not true at all! And one of you started this!?”

Mary could not hear them, but she seemed happy just being with the 1st Special Duty Officer.

But while they were unharmed, the enemy was still there.

The dragon was injured and he had broken his body. It would take too long for his healing ability to mend his body.

While giving him time to listen and respond to their words, she looked up at the dragon.

He looked black with the moon behind him and his bestial shape was revealed by the light reflecting off of his steaming blood.

She could faintly see his bloodstained dragon eye in the moonlight.

Because it was night, she could tell the pupil formed a black circle beyond that color. He was leaning a bit to the left and viewing her with his left eye.

Mitotsudaira pulled the four silver chains back and made an announcement.

“Withdraw. Sanada’s Chancellor and Musashi are on friendly terms.”

'''Tonbokiri:''' “We had him forcibly sent away on charges of molestation earlier. Does that count as friendly?”

'''Gold Mar:''' “That happens a lot among friends.”

''Yes, it does,'' agreed Mitotsudaira before something else occurred to her.

…''This dragon’s attack isn’t a response to sending away their Chancellor, is it?

''No. It wouldn’t be that. Probably.

But Mitotsudaira cleared her throat and took a combat stance.

“What will you do?”

Her question was answered from an elevated position.

“Humans would look down on dragons? Telling me to withdraw is an insult to all dragons.”

“No,” said Mitotsudaira. “My king shall conquer the Far East. …He will be equal to the dragons. And I am his knight.”

Torahide released a short breath.

…''Was that a laugh?

She did not know what it meant. Was he mocking her? Agreeing with her? She had not encountered enough dragons to interpret their expressions of emotion. But there was one thing she understood.

“Here I go.”

They were challengers.

Mitotsudaira set herself running.

She instantly passed Mary and filled the gap between herself and the dragon.

On the way, the English princess handed her something.

“Take this.”

It was one of the Excaliburs. The wolf held that definite power in her hand. From there, she launched herself forward and leaped into empty air.

There was nothing there. She was too far away to reach the dragon. But there was a foothold there.

“Silver chain!”

She had a silver chain bounce sharply off the ground and swung up the tight arm on the end. She used that toss to increase her altitude by 17 meters.

But that was still not enough if she was to confront this standing dragon on equal ground.

…''I need another 30 meters…!

So she sent out two other silver chains.

The silver chains weaved together like a ladder, but with unpredictable movements, and she launched herself up between them and flew up into the sky.

As she picked up speed, the rapid ascent pushed at her stomach. And…

…''Here it comes…!

The dragon launched an attack.

He used his left hand. He was already leaning somewhat forward and to the left, so he struck with the left.

And the high-speed trio of claws broke through a water vapor explosion as he swung his arm.

The strike was difficult to see and the noise did not reach her since it broke the sound barrier. Plus…

“The severed claws are recovering, aren’t they!?”

Torahide used his entire body to strike.

The prized claws of his left hand were still severed.

But the nerves and blood vessels that passed through those claws had been sealed up and the fist was not bleeding. The sensation of the claws was somewhat filled with heat, but otherwise fine.

He could use his claws once more. Torahide rejoiced when he confirmed that in the moonlight.

He had made his attack in time.

…''That’s right!

He had failed in his own thruster explosion earlier.

But there were no thrusters in his fingers.

And his first injury had been the severed claws of his left arm.

After detecting the injury, he had not forced it to strike and had instead kept the elbow bent and the hand protected.

He had known he would need his strength at some point.

He smiled bitterly in his heart as he wondered why dragons had such a tendency to plan for the future. But this was good enough for him.

After all, he was an animal, but…

“I am a member of Sanada…!”

“Ohh…!”

Torahide thought about his former self.

He thought about eight hundred years ago and four hundred years ago.

During the history recreation of the Germanic migration, their forces had grown, they had swept across the Harmonic World’s Europe, and they had continued from there.

Of course, there had been more than just dragons. They had their origins in Northern and Eastern Europe, but there had been humans and other nonhumans too and they had mixed together a lot more in the early days.

He had destroyed and devoured as much as he had wanted, but the next thing he knew…

…''The others were gone.

Among the dragons, the peaceful faction had broken away. Among the human and other nonhumans, most had found a land to settle down in during the migration and they had left.

Those who had remained had grown more radical and continued fighting, but they had ultimately ended up in Sicily.

…''And four hundred years ago, we were defeated and retreated.

The humans had formed a Testament Cross-Borders Unit and opposed them. The weather had also begun to change, creating a disadvantageous time for the dragons.

When they had ultimately lost and obeyed the course of history, he had wondered something: ''Have I only been following the course of history?

Had his elation, joy, and conversations with his companions been no more than a part of predetermined history? So once that enjoyable time was over, would everything simply follow the course of history as before?

Torahide recalled his memories as a dragon and his roar changed.

“…Eight hundred years ago…!”

Where was that world full of his companions?

What were his companions doing after they had parted ways?

Where had the small humans and other nonhumans gone?

He did not know.

He did not know, but as a long-lived and intelligent dragon, he had to bear it all and could never forget. And if they were to become more than a mere Terrestrial Dragon’s memories and be placed on equal footing with the world…

…''I must be one who moves history…!

He had to be equal.

And if he was fond of this world, he could be with it.

And if he was not fond of this world, he could change it or stray from it and be alone.

Was that decision no more than the selfishness of a single animal?

Or was it the decision of someone who was equal to this world where he had spent time with and spoken with his friends?

It made a major difference when he viewed it in terms of his own existence.

That was what it meant to face history.

That was what it meant to bear everything he had enjoyed and face it all on equal footing.

They had lost and fled, but the time spent with his companions…

…''It was real!

''Yes,'' thought Torahide.

''I must be a fool,'' he also thought. ''I have been so focused on the freedom I had eight hundred years ago that I was restricting myself in the present.

But…

“Humans…!”

He had not felt this excited in a long time. He spoke to the knight who was spinning around in the air and preparing to do battle with him.

…''This takes me back.

It had been a group much like this that defeated them four hundred years before.

He raised his voice while thinking about that.

“I am a dragon! But I am a dragon who has inherited a name which places me on the same level as this world! So if you wish to rule this world…”

He struck.

“Start by overcoming its scout!”

Mitotsudaira saw the enemy’s attack arriving from dead ahead.

She only had an instant to move, but the enemy’s attack was massive.

If she did not dodge enough, she would be swallowed up by the shockwave produced by that supersonic arm.

However, if she evaded too far, she would put Mary and the others in danger.

…''In that case…

Mitotsudaira kicked off of the silver chain for a burst of speed.

She finally went in to finish this.

Torahide made his strike.

His left hand’s claws pierced the night air.

“…Kah!!”

He definitely felt the hit land.

There was a weight there.

This was not like before. His claws were sensitive from the pain, so he could sense the weight of his enemy’s body.

…''I did it!

He swung those claws and roared.

Eight hundred years ago, their king and the others had been defeated by humans. Four hundred years ago, they had been defeated and forced into retreat.

They had surrendered their world, even if that only meant Europe.

And now he was faced by a knight who said her king would conquer the Far East.

Humans always spoke of the world when opposing dragons.

''As it should be,'' thought Torahide while continuing to swing his left claws.

The tips of his fingers tore at the air and audibly split the atmosphere.

He struck.

A moment later, wind exploded along the line through which his arm had passed.

His claws were enveloped by a shockwave. The great noise passed through the sky and reverberated across the Musashi.

The echoing sound of impact had likely reached Sanada.

He had torn through his enemy.

As soon as his claws had pierced her, the weight caught on his hand had vanished.

The enemy was gone from the sky in front of him. That meant she had either been knocked away or torn to pieces before he could see her.

“Ohh…!”

Torahide roared.

…''I defeated my first enemy here!

This was enemy territory. Next up was the English princes who was standing there as bait. Then came Musashino’s bridge.

And he pulled back his left arm which was extended forward.

But it was not just his left claws that he used to strike the English princess in front of him.

Feeling had already returned to his right claws as well. So he used both forelegs and his entire body.

He would make full use of his great form to crush the enemy. So he leaned back, and…

“—————?”

Torahide felt an odd weight on his left hand.

That was the one he was pulling back.

There was a strong pulling sensation like it was caught on something. However…

…''There’s nothing there?

There was no evident weight on the three claws and fingers of his left foreleg. But…

…''There isn’t any blood either!?

What did that mean?

What had happened to the pieces of the struck enemy? Where had the obvious blood, flesh, and bone fragments gone? And what was this weight he felt as he pulled the hand back?

“Over there!?”

He saw a figure in the night sky ahead and a bit to the left.

They were soaring rapidly toward him.

“Musashi’s knight…!”

The enemy was unharmed.

Mitotsudaira sliced through the air and made a midair charge with Excalibur at the ready.

There was a path in the air below her feet.

Musashino had released a few towing belts and created horizontal paths from them.

The silver wolf hit those paths and leaped between them as she accelerated.

She thought to herself while making several bursts of acceleration and racing forward.

…''Honestly.

She lightly clenched her back teeth while forming the words in her mouth.

…''I’m barely scraping by with every last bit of this!

Yoshiyasu watched the wolf’s charge while Righteousness rapidly cooled.

…''I’m impressed she would choose a method like that!

Yoshiyasu was not talking about the wolf’s attack.

She meant the evasion.

When faced with a decision about how to avoid Torahide’s claws, the Mito Lord had chosen a wide evasion.

She had likely decided she needed to keep her distance to avoid the shockwave. But…

“That is not enough to defeat Torahide.”

With the shockwave, she could still easily be blown away and removed from the battlefield.

So the Mito Lord had responded to the enemy’s strike with a method available only to her: the chains.

While moving far out of the way of the dragon’s claws, she had attached the silver chains to those claws. And those chains had been shaped like her own body.

Attaching the chains had swung her around from the dragon’s fist.

She had flown in a wide arc to starboard as she flew out and around the dragon’s left claws.

That position placed her in the dragon’s blind spot due to his claws and arm.

From there, she only had to adjust the length of the chains while they carried her through that safe zone.

…''She intentionally let the dragon’s high-speed strike swing her around and toss her into the distance.

From Yoshiyasu’s perspective, the Mito Lord was swinging around the dragon’s left hand and had flown about 200m. And…

“When the dragon quickly pulled his arm back, she was pulled along with it, accelerating her toward him. She released the chains at the same time as the towing belt platforms appeared underfoot.”

The rest was simple.

She charged forward with the ultra-high speed built up by the dragon swinging her around and pulling her forward.

Plus…

“She’s increasing the force her charge using the ether support from her king and the others…!”

Mitotsudaira thought, ''I am not alone as I race through the sky.

Power was reaching her. It was quite a lot of power and it was coming from the sky above.

“Tama and Murayama. It’s coming from my king, Kimi, Asama, and Horizon…”

The ether supply lines bundled together and enveloped her charging body.

Light resided in Excalibur and purification entered it.

This purification power-up would allow nothing to get in the way of the blade’s power. Several ''torii''-style sign frames appeared ahead of her and eliminated anything that might interfere with her flight.

And a few sign frames appeared. The first was from Asama:

“Your acceleration will reach its peak just before you hit the dragon. Please keep going and strike him!”

“Judge,” she replied as the sign frame showed Horizon standing in front of Asama and raising her right thumb.

Similarly, the next sign frame over showed her king beckoning her.

''Eh?'' she thought as his sign frame gradually moved further and further out ahead of her.

“Okayyy, good girl. Come, come.”

“I am not a dog…!!”

With that, the knight accelerated and passed through her king’s sign frame.

“I will hunt down my prey…!”

Her king nodded and spoke.

“Go get him.”

So she did so.

“Judge.”

She ran.

The distance quickly shrank and there were only about 30 meters left.

At the same time, Torahide took action in front of her.

He bent back and opened his mouth.

He was firing a dragon cannon.

He could not have accumulated a full charge of ether inside his body, but…

“…This is a dragon’s pride, isn’t it!?”

''But,'' she thought.

“A wolf’s pride takes precedence in the moonlight!”

[[Image:Horizon5B_466-467.jpg|thumb]]
The silver wolf first launched four attacks.

The charging wolf sent her chains out in four directions.

Their paths were more like ricochets than curves as they bounced off the surface and toward Torahide’s throat.

She targeted the reverse scales.

But the dragon did not care.

No matter what attack reached him, he was not going to stop the roaring in his throat and the way he opened his maw caused light to gather deep in that throat.

A moment later, four silver chains struck the dragon’s reverse scales.

Something shaped like giant blades stabbed sharply into him.

They were Torahide’s severed claws.

It would not have been so bad had they been foreign objects.

The dragon’s entire body was in the process of healing. His blood would digest all foreign objects and act as a catalyst for the restoration of his flesh, blood, and armor.

But his claws had been shoved into him instead.

A dragon’s claws were made of almost the same material as the external armor. Thus, they would not be digested or dissolved while repairing his body and they simply made their presence known in his reverse scales.

“—————!”

The dragon bent back even further.

But he endured. And he tried to bend his serpentine body forward to launch his dragon cannon.

In that instant, the wolf collided with the base of his throat.

The silver wolf struck with Excalibur while using an acceleration spell and gaining extra inertial weight thanks to a divine protection.

Suzu held her teacup and sensed the dragon’s entire body lift up.

Standing next to her, “Musashino” nodded once and spoke.

“Well done. Using the ether supply from Toori-sama and the divine protection from Asama-sama, Mitotsudaira-sama was virtually given additional collision power equal to 1/300th that of the entire Musashi. Normally, when creating the shell for firing the Kanesada main cannon-…”

“ ‘Musashino’…-san! H-here it comes!”

Suzu continued to monitor the enemy.

He had been hit by Mitotsudaira’s attack, but his head collapsed forward.

“I have determined he is targeting this bridge. Over.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Eh? How? Are you sure he isn’t going to cry out in pain or blow himself up again after taking that much damage?”

'''Uqui:''' “I cannot know for sure, but he most likely sealed his throat in advance.”

The half-dragon explained what that meant.

'''Uqui:''' “If he is simply hit by an attack, the damage will break the seal. But if he predicts it in advance, the seal will be released naturally and the dragon cannon will be fired. That is a method of ensuring a final attack even if he dies or passes out.”

'''Four-Eyes:''' “That is useful information… Oh, where’s it going to hit?”

'''Novice:''' “Heh. Right here! Got a problem with that!?”

Suzu wondered if that was really the place for a “heh” of laughter, but the dragon had definitely released a beam of light.

It was a dragon cannon.

Light scattered through the sky.

It scattered between the dragon and Musashino’s bridge.

The dragon cannon flew in a straight line, but…

“Defense barriers, hm?”

Torahide watched as shards of light danced like a blizzard.

Some of them were the shards of the several layers of defense barriers that were instantly shattered and others were scattered pieces of his dragon cannon.

His final attack had been blocked.

…''Well done.

“They measured my attacks during the battle. And they made adjustments so they could open just enough defense barriers to stop it, didn’t they?”

He looked across the scene overhead.

There were seven ships there and an automaton stood on the edge of each one.

Those were the captain automatons of each ship.

They had probably measured his attacks while Musashi’s shrine maiden had gathered that data and managed the ether supply. He was certain they had used the Musashi Chancellor’s ether supply spell to control Musashi’s own ether supply management.

He should have caught on when the silver wolf had used that to accelerate.

He should have realized they were not fighting individually.

…''I see.

He was a Terrestrial Dragon and a Lindwurm. His 120m body was too much for humans to handle.

But the Musashi was…

“Quasi-Bahamut-class. …I suppose that was too much for a single Terrestrial Dragon to handle.”

With that, his back exploded.

Blood splattered into the sky behind the dragon as if he had grown new wings.

It was a red blossom.

The silver wolf’s impact had permeated all the way through him and left from his back. His body was built to withstand the shaking he himself produced, but the damage that broke through that passed through his flesh and bones.

The connection between his shoulders and back split apart and the armor connections at the base of his wings were blown away.

The parts that moved his secondary and primary armor had evolved from muscles, but they now swelled out and burst.

And not just in one or two places. Blood intermittently erupted from points all across the back of his body.

However, this did not propel him forward.

At this point, the dragon could only collapse backwards.

He collapsed face-up. As if to expose his belly to the two moons in the sky, the giant dragon named Torahide collapsed as proof that his battle had ended.

But there was something to catch him there.

“—————!?”

Ivy.

Gentle stalks of ether grew from Musashino’s surface. They made wavelike motions as they enveloped and held the collapsing dragon.

Someone had been watching the dragon’s defeat the entire time.

This manifestation of healing came from a spirit spell used by the English princess.

Torahide remembered something as he collapsed into and was caught by a massive amount of recovery spells.

“English princess, this spell…”

“Judge. It is a dryad recovery spell passed down by my mother’s family. In England, it is passed down as a Celtic method, but the spell was originally used by any European dryad.”

But…

“My mother’s ancestors, the great dryad spirits, originally lived in Europe, but during your great migration, they moved to Europe to save the Celtic people. At the time, England had the geological features of the ocean bed’s bedrock, so it was difficult to grow trees there and my ancestor’s power was needed.”

Torahide gasped.

As the ivy surrounded him, he watched leaves spread from it while a portion took a forest-like shape.

…''Ohh.

He recalled a former time. He recalled the healing ceremony his companions had used on him in between battles.

The dryads back then had not used a spell as large as this. They had used small spells that could only heal one of his claws.

He had laughed and told them it was no use, but he had still let them do it as they conversed in the night.

Then the English princess spoke gently to him.

“Of the dragons spoken of in England, the most important are the flying serpentine dragons known as Lindwurms. You helped my ancestors cross over to England and you visited out of concern a few times afterwards. …In England, the shape of the Lindwurm is often spoken of, but legends of your defeat or existence are rare. In fact…”

In fact…

“One ancient noble family still uses your form on their coat of arms. …You are a Lindwurm, a descendant of England’s guardian dragons. I may not know what occurred in the past, but please allow this descendant of England to ask this just once more.”

“What is that?”

“Judge,” said the English princess, but he could only hear it through the forest of ether by this point.

It was a deep forest.

It was unlike the dark forests of Northern and Eastern Europe, but he knew he had once seen this forest in those small forms.

…''Ohh.

Now that he had inherited a name and faced the world on equal footing, everyone from back then had to be standing behind him.

And this resident of the new world asked her question.

“If you will calm down, I will remove Excalibur.”

But…

“If you will not calm down, Excalibur will be removed.”

So…

“Now,” she said. “Which will it be?”

Torahide smiled in his heart.

On the edge of his memories, the past aligned with the present.

He recalled those former times.

During the great invasion eight hundred years ago, they had fought on the front line and been injured on a daily basis.

They had often returned with the enemy’s weapons and fragments thereof piercing their bodies. The humans and spirits had been worried for the dragons, despite how small they were.

They had said the same thing back then. Even when he had told them the blades piercing him would be absorbed with time, they had stood before him and spoken without fear.

…''If I will calm down, hm?

That was asking too much.

A dragon’s instincts made them react sensitively to injuries. Every single time, they would pull out the sword, his body would react to the pain, and he would say, “See? What did I tell you?”

''But,'' thought Torahide.

''Has nothing changed even now?

So he gave his consent while admitting defeat.

And a thought occurred to that dragon.

He was old, but he had not declined.

…''It’s just…

''I used to be younger,'' he thought as he closed his eyes.

The dragon shut his eyes while remembering long distant times and his companions from those times.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5B Chapter 40|Chapter 40]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5B Chapter 42|Chapter 42]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 25

2017-05-29T22:32:04Z

68.109.59.107: /* Chapter 25: Right Holder in the Heavens */

==Chapter 25: Right Holder in the Heavens==
[[Image:Horizon5A_651.jpg|thumb]]
''What was everything looking at?

''Where was everything looking to?

''Will that be the deciding factor?

'''Point Allocation (Conclusion)

Takigawa looked down at the glowing sky.

…''The Musashi is leaving!?

A diagram appeared on the ''insha kotob'' displayed on the ceiling of the seemingly empty bridge. It showed a line drawing of the Ariake with the Musashi leaving it from the bottom.

That was how the Ariake opened up from below.

The Musashi could leave the Ariake from the bottom or the top, but the top was under attack at the moment. And by leaving from the bottom as before, they could use the Ariake as a shield, making it safer.

''But,'' thought Takigawa. ''Why would the Musashi leave now?

“Takigawa-sama! The last time the Musashi was ejected from the bottom, it took about a minute for it to shift into gravitational cruising!”

“And what happens if they do that here?”

“Shaja! The Ariake is currently pointed toward…”

They had been estimating the Ariake’s position inside its stealth barrier based on the reactions to their shellfire. It had turned, so now its bow faced to the southwest. And something flew far in the distance in that direction.

“…the Azuchi! If they use their gravitational cruising, the Musashi will reach the Azuchi approximately 17 minutes after passing through Houjou territory!”

And a tremendous movement of wind occurred below.

Takigawa knew what was happening and the divine transmission report confirmed it.

“The Musashi has appeared from the bottom of the Ariake! The bottom of the hull has been visually confirmed! It is making a rapid descent!”

Takigawa made her decision based on that voice.

“Shirasagi, maintain ship attitude while moving to the front of the Ariake! Accompanying ships, circle behind the Musashi!”

It was possible the Musashi was preparing to fire its main cannon the instant it appeared, so she would take a higher position and destroy the Musashi’s bow with shellfire. If the Musashi used the Ariake as an umbrella, the Ariake would also get in the way of its own main cannon.

…''We’ll be safe if we take a higher position!

“Fire as soon as you are in position! Concentrate fire on the Musashi’s bow and make sure they can’t use their gravitational cruising!”

As the Musashi descended, Suzu controlled the fall from the bridge.

Their current plan required close cooperation with the Ariake. But…

'''Bell:''' “A-are you…sure y-you want…m-me in control?”

'''Ariake:''' “Excuse me, Mukai-sama of Musashi. This is ‘Ariake’. For the past few days, I have copied over the 3D models you have created, and you made me, the Ariake, look very cute. …And that is a statistical evaluation, not a personal emotion. Automatons have no emotions. Based on that, I have determined it would be safest for you to take primary control of our joint effort while ‘Musashi’ and I provide support. Over.”

'''Musashi:''' “As this ship’s overall captain, I agree. Over.”

''Does that mean they do want it? It does, doesn’t it? I hope it does,'' thought Suzu as she sweated nervously and got to work. She expanded the models of the Ariake and the Musashi to make them a little bigger.

“Then…here goes…?”

While the Shirasagi Castle moved to the sky in front of the Ariake, Takigawa saw the Musashi’s silhouette appear down below.

When it appeared from the stealth barrier, the cross section was filled with ether light. It looked the same as an object being ejected from a phase space.

And at the moment, the Musashi was tilted somewhat as it fell. The stern had fallen lower than the rest and it was moving back a bit as it fell.

But this was not an uncontrolled fall. When expanding the gravitational cruising system, a backwards descent brought wind in from behind to rapidly expand the wings and other parts.

Takigawa had a thought as she watched the Musashi’s diagonal fall.

…''That’s convenient.

The accompanying ships were currently circling behind the Musashi. A collision with the slanted ship would mean a diagonal hit to the upper surface.

So that left only one thing:

“Secure a line of fire while taking the Ariake into consideration! Accompanying ships, begin accelerating once you’re in position!”

Just as she swung her arm and gave her orders, color blossomed in the distant darkness of the northeastern sky.

That color was red.

“The 1st and 2nd accompanying ships were hit!!”

Before she could wonder what this was about, 2 more fiery explosions erupted in the northeastern sky.

The brief flash of light illuminated the enemy’s method enough for a ninja like Takigawa to see.

“Did they have the Ariake’s transport ships ram our ships!?”

Takigawa realized why the Ariake had put up its stealth barrier. It had not been to hide itself.

…''It was to hide the acceleration meant to ram us with the transport ships!

That meant the enemy had predicted she would send those ships behind them.

The rumble of the explosions reached her from the distant sky.

She heard the long, low noise of 2 more accompanying ships taken out by transport ship collisions.

Just as Takigawa realized the enemy had predicted her strategy…

“Enemy craft incoming!! It’s a Satomi god of war! The Righteousness!!”

It only took an instant.

The god of war targeted the port ship as it moved into position alongside the central one.

The god of war’s high-speed charge caught them by surprise, so they did not have time to fire their secondary cannons. Or more accurately, it had flown right up from behind the port ship’s bridge, taking advantage of that bridge’s blind spot there.

Even if the sensors picked it up, their response was delayed by the lack of visual confirmation. So as they watched…

“Port ship, defend your bridge!”

Their defense barriers would stop this. After all…

“It’s using close-range attack equipment!”

Yoshiyasu did not hesitate.

…''One strike!

The Shirasagi Castle’s port ship flew on its side. Yoshiyasu bet everything on the instant she passed by just below its bridge.

She was so focused her speed seemed to drop and she saw ether fog between herself and the bridge.

That would become a defense barrier.

If she had time, her best bet would be to destroy the barrier and cling to the bridge.

But she did not have time. Her speed would take her by too fast. Approaching the bridge with this speed would only slam her against the bridge and the defense barriers surrounding it.

“In that case…”

Yoshiyasu swung her sword in a horizontal slash.

She extended her arm and wrist to their limit and moved with extremely high speed before the defense barrier could take form.

“…!”

If the barrier hit her, it would take off her arm. But the blade sliced horizontally through the wind and her arm was stable.

She had only one more thing to do.

She threw the sword she held.

She pushed on the hilt with her fingers as if tossing it toward the port ship’s bridge.

“Go!!”

It went.

Takigawa and the others saw the blue-hilted sword stab into the bridge of the port ship which was trying to rejoin them.

The bridge was wider than the god of war’s sword was long, so even the steel-slicing sword’s guard slammed into the bridge.

“Port ship!”

As Takigawa called out to it, the port ship shuddered and all light vanished from around the bridge.

It was a direct hit.

The reddish emergency lights activated later, but it was too late. The entire port ship wobbled on its main axis. It could fly, but the bridge’s control system had to be mostly unusable.

Until the bridge could recover, each section of the port ship would have to operate independently.

“That’s like flying blind and deaf!”

The Satomi god of war had already passed by and began to descend in a parabolic arc.

It was clearly moving away from them and regrouping with the accelerating Musashi.

…''Not bad.

''I can’t let it end like this,'' thought Takigawa.

The accompanying ships had been held off.

The port ship had lost its command ability and Takigawa’s own central ship had been hit on the port side.

Fortunately, the starboard ship was unharmed. So…

“Port ship! If you can hear this divine transmission, focus your fire downward! Only think about cutting off the Musashi’s route!”

“Shaja!”

She received a staticky but definite response.

The cannons were still functional, even if they had no targeting support from command.

“Port ship here! We will continue firing all shells straight down!”

That was good enough. That just left the other two ships to fire on the Musashi from behind the invisible umbrella of the Ariake.

''But,'' suddenly thought Takigawa. ''Isn’t this odd?

“…?”

Something bothered her.

Takigawa questioned it.

Why had the Satomi god of war attacked the port ship just now?

…''No, I can explain that from a tactical standpoint.

It was to prevent the Shirasagi from pursuing the Musashi when it accelerated after the Azuchi Castle.

The central ship had already been damaged, so if the port ship lost its command ability, only the starboard ship could pursue.

The Musashi’s acceleration would be more than enough to lose the starboard ship. After all, most of the Shirasagi Castle’s thrust was in the central ship.

…''No, that isn’t it.

It did not fit.

If the only goal was to keep the Shirasagi Castle from pursuing them, the damage to the central ship had already accomplished that. Both the port and starboard ships lacked the thrust of the central ship.

So why had the enemy attacked the port ship?

“To keep us here…?”

It was true they would have to cover for the port ship that had lost its command ability. That made it difficult for the central and starboard ships to leave this airspace.

They could not move.

But that was what bothered her.

The Shirasagi Castle could no longer pursue the Musashi. So why would they feel the need to keep them here?

…''Don’t tell me…!

“Central ship, port ship, fire horizontally toward the Ariake! …A transport ship is coming from the Ariake’s outer edge!!”

A ship belonging to the Ariake drew a straight, high-speed line.

To increase its ramming power, damaged armor panels from the upper surface had been piled up on the flat ship’s front end.

But its flight had been predicted.

The Shirasagi Castle’s main cannons all fired at once.

“…!!”

The flat ship’s port bilge was destroyed.

The ship was moving fast and the impact easily knocked it off course.

The transport ship hopped up to port and the flat ship’s uniquely structured bow rose up in the air. The bow was quickly lifted up as if to show off the bottom of the hull, but it still moved forward.

“Fire…!”

The order was given on the Shirasagi Castle and the transport ship was torn to pieces while still standing upright.

It was destroyed.

The metal ship was rendered entirely unrecognizable.

It fell. The ropes holding on the stacked materials came undone and the three-dimensional objects were tossed out into the sky.

From there, it could only fall. It would probably explode and be utterly obliterated on the way down.

It was not even worth watching the rest.

But at that point, the residents of the Shirasagi Castle looked down.

They saw a giant box there.

The Ariake had removed its stealth barrier.

But that was not all.

The Ariake had changed form.

The damaged and broken upper armor had folded up and spread to either side like wings, exposing the interior.

The top had opened.

…''What are they doing!?

Takigawa looked down inside the Ariake.

She saw a metal box that seemed to continue forever.

But why had they removed the stealth and opened the top now?

“They must have already released the Musashi from the bottom…”

That thought reminded her of the term “diversion”. By exposing the defenseless interior, were they trying to redirect the Shirasagi Castle’s attacks toward the Musashi? Or were they revealing their physical form to hide the Musashi below them?

But Takigawa realized something else: she could see the Musashi.

“…Huh?”

That was strange.

The Musashi was currently falling diagonally below the Ariake in preparation for gravitational acceleration.

In that case, why could she see it?

…''Is the bottom hatch still open!?

The Musashi dock inside the Ariake still had its bottom open.

That revealed the Musashi below. And the Musashi had its stern tilted downward.

What did this layout mean?

Takigawa finally grasped the whole picture.

The Musashi was not preparing to accelerate. And the Ariake had no intention of protecting the Musashi. The Musashi was merely aiming her way while the Shirasagi Castle was held in place.

“Take evasive action!! The Musashi is going to fire its main cannon through the Ariake!!”

On the bridge in front of Musashi Ariadust Academy, Masazumi stood on the greatly slanted wooden floor and looked at something.

The central ships were positioned slightly lower and the 6 port and starboard ships used their gravitational control to create the great virtual cannon barrel that passed below the bridge shape of Musashino’s bridge. That grand form was nearly complete.

The sign frame next to her showed “Musashi” drawing a large and small sword from the air atop the bridge-shaped ship’s bridge.

Of the 2 swords, she raised the short sword in front of her face.

“Musashi Small Kanesada…main barrel creation complete. Over.”

The barrel was supported by the thrusters opened on the inner sides of the ships. It extended out in front of the tilted Musashi. And on the other side from the one displaying “Musashi”, a sign frame appeared to display “Ariake”. Her slender face nodded.

“The Ariake will now descend. Over.”

While combined with Righteousness, Yoshiyasu saw the movement west of Edo in the sky above the Musashino.

A sword was being drawn toward the night sky.

The Ariake descended so that the diagonal Musashi pierced through it.

…''It’s downright gigantic!

Due to descending with her speed intact, Yoshiyasu was currently a dozen or so kilometers away from the battle. But she could clearly see the 8 white ships draw their sword.

They moved.

First, the long bows of 1st ships Asakusa and Shinagawa protruded from the portion of the dock where the 3rd port and starboard ships should have been.

Next, Musashino appeared from the central dock it was meant for while Small Kanesada’s barrel rose diagonally overhead.

With the roar of the night sky being pierced, the two giant ships crossed paths.

The cannon barrel was pointed toward 3 white warships.

That was the Shirasagi Castle.

The Musashi was pointed straight toward those ships which were spewing flames and erupting with explosions.

But Yoshiyasu could tell the Shirasagi Castle had not given up on the battle.

“Are they going to fight back!?”

Thanks to the port ship, the Shirasagi Castle could not move. They could always surrender, but Takigawa chose not to.

She targeted their enemy from dead ahead.

Yoshiyasu could see the central and starboard ship angling down the barrels that had fired horizontally to destroy the transport ship.

The Shirasagi Castle’s cannons targeted a certain point to strike back against the Musashi: Musashi’s bridge.

Which had greater control: the large ship or the damaged ship?

They had both drawn their weapons and they were swinging them to see who could reach the other sooner.

But…

…''The Shirasagi Castle has the advantage!

Yoshiyasu’s reasoning was immediately proven correct.

The Shirasagi Castle had been pointed horizontally, but it rotated down toward the Musashi all at once.

“They rotated the entire ship!”

Instead of altering the angle of the cannons like normal, they spun the entire ship.

And that high-speed rotation accelerated the sweeping motion of their main cannons.

The enemy was going to target Musashino’s bridge before the Musashi could control its tilt.

The 2 colossal ships were being commanded by Suzu on Musashino’s bridge.

She touched the 2 models she had made somewhat larger.

“Slowly, slowly…but quickly…”

'''Novice:''' “Ohh! That’s Mukai-kun for you! When it comes to detailed movements of giant structures, you need someone with your delicate hands! In other words-…”

'''Bell:''' “P-please be…quiet…”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “I couldn’t agree more.”

'''Novice:''' “Dammit! What did I even doooo!?”

'''Four Eyes:''' “They’re saying you’re loud and annoying.”

Suzu smiled a bit at that exchange while feeling the models in her hands moving toward completion. ''I can do this,'' she awkwardly thought, but something else had her attention more.

The Shirasagi Castle existed in front of the Musashi as a model and it had finished aiming its main cannons toward the Musashi.

…''Make it in time!

Then the model Shirasagi Castle shook.

It had fired toward the Musashi.

''This will hit,'' thought Takigawa.

''Please hit,'' she also thought.

Musashi’s Kanesada main cannon was its greatest means of attack, but it had a flaw.

This was only her prediction, but…

“You can’t put up enough defense barriers, can you!?”

That proved accurate.

They were needed to power the Kanesada as it fired and to preserve the barrel. The data from when it had been fired at Novgorod supported that.

The cannons roared. It was a volley of the Shirasagi Castle’s main cannons. The shells were already flying toward their targeted location. There was just a delay before the sound arrived.

''I’m really focused,'' thought Takigawa. She also raised her right hand and prepared to give the evacuation order.

These shells would shatter Musashino’s bridge, but the Shirasagi Castle was near its limit too. So…

“Prepare to withdra-…”

But she trailed off.

She was watching the Shirasagi Castle’s volley. The ceiling ''insha kotob'' used red lines to display their trajectories over the actual footage. But…

“They missed…!?”

They had veered to the right. Some of the shells scraped at the Ariake’s interior and scattered into the sky, but most of them also missed the Ariake and scattered into the night sky.

…''Wait…

''What does this mean?'' wondered Takigawa, eyes wide.

But the answer reached her as a sound.

It came from the starboard side of the ship, which pointed down. The ship was standing up on its nose more than lying on its side and she heard a sound from down below.

It was an explosion. And it was the largescale blast of some large structure.

She realized what was causing the reverberation.

“The transport ship we shot down earlier!?”

It had exploded below the Shirasagi Castle and shaken their long-range shots.

Suzu breathed into her lungs.

…''It…made it!

As the transport ship had fallen, its inertia had taken it below the Shirasagi Castle.

It was lucky the materials on the bow had acted as a weight. Without that, it would have stalled before arriving below the Shirasagi Castle.

[[Image:Horizon5A_671.jpg|thumb]]

The explosion had been triggered remotely. It was a lot like the tactic Tres España had used against them in the Armada Battle. If it hit, that was great. But if not, it could rob the enemy of a chance to fire.

Naomasa had been in charge of the remote-control detonation, so…

'''Bell:''' “P-perfect…timing.”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Only because Asama-chi used that spell system to calculate its falling trajectory. It wouldn’t have gone that well if it was just me.”

'''Hori-ko:''' “It would seem we should always turn to Asama-sama when we need someone to sink a ship.”

'''Asama:''' “Th-that isn’t what she meant, Horizon!”

But the explosion had “hit”.

The shockwave shook the air for a dozen or so kilometers. At close range, the powerful pressure could send someone flying. Even though it had been falling, the shockwave from a few kilometers away had still reached and shaken the Shirasagi Castle.

The enemy had fired on them.

But they had not been hit. Well, the Ariake had been hit some, but…

“This will…work.”

Suzu had the Musashi perfectly in position, so she nodded and spoke.

“Do it…Masazu…mi…!”

Masazumi brushed back her rain-wet hair, spread that hand, and thrust it forward.

In the sky straight ahead, she saw the Shirasagi Castle firing its secondary cannons before it could aim its main cannons again.

The shells scraped through the surrounding air and some of them hit the Ariake’s interior.

But Masazumi ignored those as she raised her voice.

“Small Kanesada…fire!!”

This produced a blast of pressure.

Kanesada’s shell was a compressed form of the gravitational defense barriers. In Small Kanesada’s case, the compression was set somewhat weaker and the shell would scatter at a designated distance.

The resultant scatter shot provided an impact across a surface.

First, the shockwave tore through the air and burst at a point about 3km in front of the Musashi and Ariake. It then spread out in a fan-shape to impact the air as a surface with a diameter of about 5km.

Its target was the Shirasagi Castle.

That 3-hull ship was long front to back and it was currently tilted on its side. It used that orientation to point the bottom of its hull toward the Musashi to ride the impact.

It pulled it off in time.

But only the central and starboard ships did. Having lost its command ability, the port ship initially floated up a bit as if being gently scooped up, but it was soon hit hard.

The result was plain as day.

When the shockwave hit, the entire ship was destroyed.

The armor panels dug into the frame and were bent until the entire ship was crushed in.

The internal frame jutted out from the between the armor panels and the foundation of the bridge bent from the powerful impact.

The great sword previously stabbed into the bridge had its hilt destroyed as it rose up and bisected the bottom of the bridge.

The central and starboard ships were the same.

The keel running down the center of the hull was lifted up and dented in enough to reveal its shape. As it was pushed up, the frame on either side jutted out from the port and starboard sides of the deck.

The ship grew narrower like it was being squeezed and the reinforcing frames on either side used their superior strength to punch through the Shirasagi Castle like skewers.

The destruction produced sounds of creaking and breaking metal.

And it did not end there.

The thrusters were a problem. After the sudden impact, the main thrusters of the acceleration system flashed with light as if coughing from insufficient power. Soon thereafter, they were taken out by the shockwave.

A destructive wind passed from the thrusters into the ship, destroying the thrusters and then causing primarily the stern to burst.

The explosion pushed the ships forward and the impact to the bottom of the hull helped them along. They seemed to slip free of a crushing hand as the wave of destruction tilted them backwards and broke them.

The hulls did not split. The Shirasagi simply broke starting from the back of the bridge’s base.

The port ship had already lost power, so it took relatively little damage overall. By the time the shockwave had passed, the next wave of destruction reached the 3 ships.

The passage of the largescale impact had created a massive vacuum.

A 5km hole was created in the sky.

And the 3 powerless ships fell right into it.

There was no sound. The only thing there was ether light smoke.

As the 3 ships fell into the emptiness as if tumbling from a waterfall, something assaulted them.

Air rushed into the vacuum.

As it worked to fill the vacuum from all directions, the air grabbed at the ships within and slammed against each other. Wind collided with wind, created a great roar, and formed a 5km field of fog as the cold and warm air of different altitudes mixed together.

Within it all, the Shirasagi was pummeled by the air and lost all control.

The 3 ships collided.

The starboard ship’s bow stabbed into the central ship’s stern, the central ship was swung around from the push on its rear, and the port ship was hit by the central ship’s tackle.

The compressed port ship could not endure the blow.

Spell gunpowder and shell loading mechanisms were destroyed in the armory at the center of the bow, triggering an explosion.

The ship blew up.

That second impact hit the central ship as a counterattack and deepened the bend of that ship.

The central ship’s hull split and the damage did not stop there. Having the starboard ship piercing and pushing on it from behind did not help.

The central ship ruptured, starting from the rear of the bridge.

The central ship’s bow collided with the right side of the starboard ship’s stern, knocking them away from each other.

Then the rain fell.

Everyone was still moving with creaking and roaring noises, but the rain produced by the collision of air fell across the vast area of sky.

The Shirasagi was soaked and washed by the downpour, but the only one that could remain airborne was the transformed and badly bent starboard ship.

The Shirasagi Castle was sinking.

Utter chaos filled the central ship’s bridge.

Alarms rang and emergency light ''insha kotobs'' flashed in and out while Takigawa quickly ordered everyone to abandon ship.

…''They really did it this time!

She clenched her teeth and stared into the sky. The Musashi was already located above them as it left the Ariake.

How much different would she have felt if she could look down at it? But she now had to look up into the heavens to see it.

It almost felt like they were entirely ignoring her.

''Dammit,'' thought Takigawa.

“Since when?”

Since when had they planned out this victory?

“Since when…!?”

She recalled the enemy’s movements atop the Ariake.

The general unit had continued to observe the Shirasagi Castle without fleeing even with the shellfire hitting all around them.

It had looked like Musashi’s main force was wasting time with silly things, but they had not withdrawn and they had responded with perfect coordination.

Maintaining morale on the battlefield was difficult like that. Shibata, Takigawa, and others like them could only accomplish that once they put everyone at ease by standing out front as the main players of the historical battles.

The enemy’s general unit had not been under anyone’s protection and they had been acting on their own discretion.

“That would mean…”

Takigawa felt a sudden chill.

Without even realizing it, was Musashi building up a system different from the one that ran the modern battlefield?

Instead of having the main players lead the battlefield and adapt their strategies on the fly like P.A. Oda did…

…''Their system has the normal people spontaneously support the battlefield…

“————”

''Impossible,'' thought Takigawa.

War was frightening and loathsome. It brought loss and destruction while leaving nothing behind.

You wielded power to avoid the loss of defeat by defeating your opponent and forcing the loss onto them.

What other option was there?

But based on the enemy’s actions…

“Dammit…!”

She did not understand.

What was the difference between P.A. Oda and them? She could sense something there, but she could not figure out what.

Was this a job for one of P.A. Oda’s best ninjas?

She clenched her teeth, inhaled, and stared at the Musashi where it flew high in the sky.

The Shirasagi exploded. She felt the impact through the floor and heard the voices of the others urging her to evacuate.

“Musashi…! If you are something new and incomprehensible, then we will test you using the good, old ways! Do everything you can to make sure you don’t lose anything. The trends created by those efforts,” she roared, “are the qualifications of a victor! We will see whether or not you have those!”

Masazumi saw a large vermilion flower blossom far below.

…''So the world is going to move somewhat.

This was not just about Kantou and the nearby regions. The sinking of the Shirasagi Castle would have great meaning for Mouri as well. The Shirasagi Castle was originally a Setouchi castle, so it could have rushed over to assist Hashiba.

After going this far, Musashi could definitely claim Mouri owed them a debt of gratitude.

In Kantou and the nearby regions, P.A. Oda’s powerful observer was gone.

“That eliminates a major enemy power in the fight to liberate Edo.”

'''Marube-ya:''' “But, Masazumi, you destroyed the Ariake way too much. Compare the Shirasagi Castle’s construction costs to the Ariake’s repair costs, and the loss isn’t much different.”

'''Vice President:''' “Yeah, the Ariake is pretty big… But looking at the political meaning and the future favors we can ask for, we’ll more than make up for that cost.”

“That’s true,” said the merchant, so she was probably already at work on it.

Then something warm was draped over her head.

She looked back to find the crossdresser.

“This is the summer uniform I was wearing before crossdressing. …You’re gonna catch cold.”

“If it wasn’t for the weird pillow, I’d probably accept it…”

“You’d prefer the pants?”

“I said I don’t want it, idiot.”

''But,'' thought Masazumi. Before, he had placed a wig on her backwards to hide her face. Compared to that, her situation really had changed a lot.

Then Asama walked over.

“Toori-kun, you’re wet from the rain too. Here’s a towel. You too, Horizon, Mito, and Kimi. And I’ll wash your clothes, Toori-kun, but you left some other clothes at my place when you stripped them off the other day, so you go warm up in the men’s spring, put those on, and head back home.”

“Eh? I can’t keep these shrine maiden clothes?”

“Of course not,” sighed Asama before the Aoi sister called her over so they could towel off Horizon’s hair together. Horizon herself did not think too much about what it meant to be wet.

“I am an automaton, so I cannot catch cold…”

“Heh heh. But it will damage your hair and skin. And this isn’t normal rain. It’s the Ariake’s circulatory water, so it has filtering herbs inside. Let it dry like this, and it’ll leave some things behind.”

“I see,” nodded Horizon before letting them dry her off as they pleased.

“And now it’s all over for the time being.”

“Aeh? Whaddya mean ‘for the time being’, Seijun? You mean there’s gonna be more see-through clothing?”

“Huh?”

Masazumi looked down at her clothes and realized the water had left her summer uniform shirt see-through.

“Owah!” she shouted as she quickly covered herself with the idiot’s shirt.

“You were facing away from us, so it wasn’t really a problem,” said Mitotsudaira.

“Still…”

Masazumi cleared her throat once as Mitotsudaira took a towel from Asama and handed it to her.

“Umm, anyway, Aoi, about your question. I say ‘for the time being’ because we’re sure to be holding some negotiations via divine transmission soon. And about something rather troublesome for us.”

Once she said that, a large sign frame opened above the Musashi which had returned to its horizontal orientation.

The sign frame displayed “Ariake” who gave a quick bow before starting.

“Musashi Ariadust Academy Vice President Honda Masazumi-sama. …A divine transmission has arrived for you.”

''Here it is,'' thought Masazumi. She was ready for this, so she responded.

“Put it through.”

“Judge.” “Ariake” nodded. “Then I shall do so. …It is from M.H.R.R. Vice President Hashiba Toukichirou-sama.”

In the southern Houjou land of southern Kantou, a giant ship traveled toward Mouri.

The 6-ship formation was the Azuchi Castle. Even at night, the black and red painted ship did not hide itself and simply used buffering spells to erase the rumbling of the air caused by its passage.

Someone in the circular bridge of the rear central ship had been tracking Takigawa’s wellbeing this entire time.

It was Fukushima Masanori.

The bridge was staffed primarily by her upperclassmen who explained a great many things to her while she contacted the Hashiba forces stationed at Edo and arranged to have them raise the alert level in the Edo region and to send out rescue teams for the fallen Shirasagi Castle and accompanying ships.

“Have the accompanying ships activate their noncombatant signal lights and hang white cloths from the larger cannons. And then…”

While she gave instructions, the upperclassman in charge of the divine transmissions tapped her shoulder.

She looked back, bowed quickly, and took a ''lernen figur'' from the bitterly smiling upperclassman.

“Eh!? From Hashiba-sama!?”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “It’s an emergency! Since this is guaranteed to influence the attack on Mouri, we have to demonstrate to the other nations that we can restrain the Musashi here.”

“Thou mean…”Fukushima briefly fell speechless.

'''Llaf:''' “The world is moving in a big way… And the Ten Spears will have to get to work on our main task. But if Hashiba-sama is going to negotiate…”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “?”

After a moment of hesitation, Fukushima explained.

'''Llaf:''' “Hashiba-sama has trouble adlibbing.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 24|Chapter 24]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 26|Chapter 26]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 20

2017-05-28T00:41:14Z

68.109.59.107:

==Chapter 20: Converter on the Stagnant Stage==
[[Image:Horizon5A_541.jpg|thumb]]
''Strangely enough

''My emotions

''Are always triggered by you

'''Point Allocation (Ohhh…)

Tenzou quickly got back up.

…''U-umm, what was that!?

He remembered trying to run and getting caught in something. But it had tangled around his body and fallen down with him.

He had reflexively grabbed whatever it was in his arms so it would not be damaged when he fell on top of it, but…

“…”

He looked down. There he saw giant breasts.

They were covered by a white and blue track suit. That had been put on in a hurry, so there probably was no bra below it. But how much devotion did it take to reach this point where they did not lose their shape even when lying down? He also saw blonde hair.

To sum up, it was Mary.

Her hair was a mess and she looked up at him with her eyebrows lowered in a smile. Tears spilled down either side of her face.

“—————”

Without warning, she clung to him from below.

…''Why!? Yes, more, more!!

The question he should be asking and his honest desire mixed together in his head, but something definitely seemed off.

…''Is this a hallucination I’m seeing on the verge of death!?

No. It was not.

After all, these giant breasts were real. The texture of the hair, the body heat, and the scent were all real. They were real boobs. This was booby reality.

But something was not right.

The stagnation was still in effect. When he tried to hug her back, his arms were slow and he found himself entirely at her mercy. But even Mary’s hair showed no sign of the stagnation as it moved.

“Master Tenzou?”

He heard her voice by his cheek. And…

“It’s my turn to return the favor.”

Just as he saw her blue eyes, she lowered the scarf over his mouth and placed her lips on his.

'''Girls:''' “Oh.”

'''<Confirmation: Naito-sama has begun recording.>

'''<Confirmation: Naruze-sama has created a dedicated folder named “Usable Images (13)”>

'''Marube-ya:''' “Eh!? What!? What’s happening!? I can’t see from down here!”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Yeah, you’re really missing out…”

'''Marube-ya:''' “Oh, damn it all to hell!”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Why are you taking this so seriously…?”

Unno slowed her dance without meaning to and found her voice escaping her mouth.

“Oh.”

But a lot about this made no sense.

Why was the English princess there?

Why was the English princess not affected by her spell?

Why was the English Princess kissing?

She only knew what was happening before her eyes.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

Unno threw a fan sword with as much strength as she could muster without breaking her dance.

But as the fan sword flew…

“…What!?”

Color instantly blossomed between her and the kissing couple.

The fan sword was broken by the counterattack and the fan spread open and scattered.

As the ninja held the English princess, a fan scattered like an opened umbrella.

And Unno saw the ninja holding something in his right hand while holding the English princess in his left.

…''The English princess’s Ex. Collbrande!

But hadn’t the ninja been at the bottom of the “water” until now?

For some reason, his current movements, and even the movements of his scarf, were no different from when he was in the open air.

He stood up, placed the princess on the floor, and nodded once.

“I’m off then.”

“Get going then.”

Unno felt a tingling shudder from that exchange, but was that a sign she was immature? In the distance, the Musashi firing squad and other normal units were opening sign frames and furiously typing up posts for the divine network, so could she assume Musashi felt the same way she did? But…

“Are you coming?”

The ninja moved toward her in lieu of answering.

''He’s fast,'' thought Unno, but she could not stop her dance. Kakei and Mochizuki were fighting to support her. So…

“How about you join the dance…!”

“Hey.”

Asama realized the crossdresser was looking her way. She was fairly certain she knew what he wanted to say.

“You want to know why Mary and Tenzou-kun can move, don’t you?”

“Yeah. What was that? Does it not work on the English? Or does kissing give you some kind of power?”

“That’s kind of close, but I can’t really tell you.”

Most of the girls seemed to know what she meant because they all nodded and said, “I see.”

…''That’s right.

She would have to get Horizon to explain it to him later, but Kimi would probably work as well. What mattered was…

…''Love.

“The Yamaga spell used by that ninja over there is a manifestation of Yomi. Do you know what Yomi is?”

“Yeah,” said the crossdresser. “That’s where tentacles come from. I’ve played enough porn games to know that.”

“Oh, Mori! Why the sudden sneeze? You okay? It’s still pretty cold, so you should probably keep wearing your cold weather clothes. It would be good for the morals around here too!”

As soon as Mori entered the dining hall, he sneezed and spewed slime, but Toshiie readily spoke to him despite the surrounding panic. The cheerful tentacle wiped up the floor with the wooden box of tissues he carried with him.

“Eh? D-don’t worry, Master Toshiie! I-I think someone must be talking about me. That happens sometimes, doesn’t it!?”

“Huh? Who would talk about you?”

“O-oh, c’mon, Mater Sassa. I-I hope it was, um, her… Ahh, now I’m imagining it again! Curse my imagination!”

Mori began slamming himself against the wall like a thick whip, but he soon stopped.

“Kh, i-it’s no good! This only applies the perfect stimulation to the underside and just gets me harder! I-I’m such an inconvenient creature…!”

Fuwa sipped at a teacup and lifted up a spice bottle with her other hand.

“Would rubbing salt on you help?”

“N-no, that would only improve blood flow and make me full-time strong! When I tried it one time, I went all ‘kuwawa’ and couldn’t get myself to settle down, so I had to roll around in the snow outside to cool off! Lady Fuwa, you need to learn more about tentacles so you can have a more intimate understanding of us!”

“I’ll pass on that intimate understanding.”

“Wh-what a mean upperclassman! Just so you know, someone out there is speaking kindly about tentacles right now!”

“So what’s this about the home of tentacles?”

“That’s not what this is about… Well, I was already thinking I should cut out that sort of material when testing games for you. But anyway, Yomi is the realm of the dead, but it originally referred to an underground spring.”

“Like an underground lake? There are a lot of those in Europe.”

Asama nodded at Adele’s comment from Raging Beast.

“Yes, a seemingly bottomless spring located underground. Anyone who dived into it was dragged down by the chill of the water and couldn’t swim back up, and those who died there were preserved just as they were when they died at the bottom… It’s said that concept may have led people to refer to the afterlife as Yomi. And it seems this spell from Sanada’s Yamaga Shrine uses that Yomi.”

The part of Shinto mythology that placed the most focus on Yomi was the birth of the gods.

…''Izanagi went to Yomi to bring back his dead wife Izanami. But…

“Izanami was dead and rotted. He was told not to look back as he returned and, if he did not look back, Izanami’s impurities would be cleansed by the purification rules, but he gave into temptation, looked back, saw his wife’s transformed appearance, and fled.”

“What happened to the wife?”

“Heh heh. You want to know? Well, you see? She chased after him with an army of the dead and-…”

Kimi imagined the scene as she explained it, so she fainted and collapsed in an S-shape on the floor. For some reason, the term “self-sufficiency” came to mind, but that was not entirely inaccurate. Regardless…

“The dead rot away, but while contained in that spring, they appear the same as in life when pulled back up. The ancient people probably thought the cold water was purifying them when they were pulled up from the realm of the dead. But when you compare that to the legend, one property of Yomi becomes apparent.”

Asama had a sign frame open by her hands.

It was addressed to Mary. It was different from the one sent to Tenzou and she had not known if Mary would see it, but she had sent it as support all the same. It provided the following explanation:

“The living should be unable to visit or return from Yomi. It is a stagnant land from which there is no escape. So why was Izanagi able to visit it and return? That would be…”

That would be…

“Because Yomi is ruled by emotion.”

Mary held the sign frame from Asama to her chest.

She opened her mouth and released…

“Ahh.”

A sigh. A heated one of happiness.

…''Lady Asama was exactly right.

She had studied up on Shinto since coming to Musashi. To make a hidden contract to match Tenzou, she had gotten him and Asama to teach her about Shinto mythology.

And one of the stories that had interested her was near the end of the birth of the gods: the return from Yomi when Izanagi and Izanami were parted.

…''Why?

The world had a lot of legends in which people had once been able to move between the realm of the dead and the realm of the living. There were also a lot of legends in which that path was sealed in a conflict between the gods.

But the Far Eastern legend was a little different.

A husband went to find his wife.

Mary found this strange. And when learning about it the previous night while sitting across a writing desk from Tenzou in their small room, she had asked him a question.

“Had no god travelled between the realms of the living and the dead before that?”

He had not known the answer, so she had asked Asama via divine transmission.

“There was a god who acted as a guard, but the rules generally said you couldn’t return once you went there.”

In that case, the living and the dead lived in worlds governed by different rules.

The path to Yomi was the one-way path of the dead sinking to the bottom. The living could not visit and return.

Then why had Izanagi been able to do so?

''Is there some kind of condition?'' wondered Mary. ''Was there some kind of condition for visiting and returning, and Izanagi naturally had whatever it was?'' For example…

…''Bringing along a spirit that lets you breathe underwater?

As a spirit-user, her thoughts naturally turned in that direction. But Asama had not rejected the idea. According to her…

“In ancient times, the gods and the spirits were often seen as one and the same, so in the legendary age, I think the gods may have naturally carried spirits with them in addition to using spells.”

''In that case,'' thought Mary. ''What kind of spirits live in Yomi?

She had initially considered water. And when faced with a spell that created a manifestation of Yomi, she had used the same spirit spell that allowed her to breathe underwater, but she had started drowning.

That was not it.

Yomi was a place of stagnation and sinking made of something other than water.

Mary brought a hand to her mouth as she considered the answer.

“Could Yomi be where the spirits of sadness live after they sink down?”

When spirit-user Mary realized it was not “water”, she came to understand something: death.

When she had begun drowning for the first time in her life, it was fear that filled her heart. But it was not just a confused feeling or the fear that her own life would be ended.

…''I’ll be separated from…Master Tenzou…

They would be separated and they could never meet, talk to, or touch each other again.

The word “sad” came to mind.

And then she realized the “water” that had driven her to this state might be made of that.

Spirits resided in all things, even emotions. So Mary saw that sensation. And…

“Judge.”

It made sense when she thought about it. Death was always accompanied by sadness and Yomi was where death gathered.

''In that case,'' thought Mary. ''What can break through that sadness?

And the answer reached her before she even thought about it.

He protected her using Excalibur. Even though he would be targeted next and he had no way of knowing if she was still alive.

He had promised that he would protect her from anything. But separate from that promise, Mary felt something when she saw it for herself.

…''Master Tenzou.

She did not want to be parted from him for as long as she lived. She wanted to see him, speak with him, and be with him on a daily basis. She knew what it was that made her feel that way. So…

…This ''is the answer.

As a spirit-user, Mary summoned that spirit within herself. She used a spirit spell to solidify what was originally only a fleeting existence.

It was what brought sadness and could resist sadness.

She could move.

Had Izanagi been the same inside Yomi? But as Mary moved and tried to give him that spirit, they ran into each other.

“Hee hee.”

''It’s just like the first time Master Tenzou showed me his face,'' she thought, which amplified the spirit.

So she kissed him to send him the spirit born from her feelings.

“Lady Asama. …I had a thought earlier.”

“What was it?”

“When Izanagi saw his wife’s transformed appearance, he fled. But why was he able to escape then?”

After escaping, Izanagi had sealed the entrance to Yomi with a large stone and then argued with Izanami.

“In the Kojiki, Izanami said she would take 1000 lives a day, so Izanagi said he would produce 1500 lives a day and they parted ways. But…”

But…

“In the Nihon Shoki, they made their respective positions clear and found reconciliation. And when Izanagi heard the words of the goddess who witnessed that, he praised her words and left. It isn’t clear what that goddess said and that remains a sort of mystery, but her name is apparently Kukurihime.”

That was the other god of the Yamaga Shrine.

“Kukuri means to tie together. And that act of tying two things together refers to reconciliation and marriage. Now, Lady Asama, here is my thought: Izanagi was able to move through the stagnation and he fled through the stagnation on the way back. And Izanami pursued him. So…”

She smiled a little.

'''Scarred:''' “I don’t think they ever abandoned their love for each other.”

''I need to end this quickly,'' Tenzou swore to himself as he raced forward.

He would hurry back and bring Mary to rejoin the others.

…''And I need to keep Mary-dono from unwittingly saying something dangerous!

If the battle continued for too long, the others could gather together and begin a sign frame conversation. As the 1st Special Duty Officer, he had already checked Musashi’s divine network. For some reason, “that ninja” was at the top of the most searched list, so this was dangerous enough already.

But blades danced before his eyes.

It was Unno Rokurou.

Based on what he had seen of her at IZUMO…

“Is this your normal fighting style!?”

“Don’t be dumb! This is still a dance! I just happen to be holding swords.”

''Judge,'' he thought as he sent his own sword out toward Unno.

He could not stand still. He had to constantly take the initiative and attack. If he did not…

…''I will be swallowed up by the dance!

Unno held a fan sword in each hand, but she was not gripping them and swinging them around. She used the rotation of the opened fans to provide the speed of her slashes and she adjusted how she held them in her fingers to direct them in the direction she wanted.

She used two at once not because she was predicting the gaps in his defenses and attacking then, but because the rotation of the fans made her attack automatically. The dangerous part was how she would sometimes pull back the hand operating the fan to shift the timing of the attack. But…

“This is nothing compared to fighting Lord Shibata…!”

He said that nice and loud to distract his enemy.

He was questioning her skill, but…

“Huh? Why are you comparing me to someone else? I’m a woman and he’s a demonic man. Why are men always in such a rush to compare people?”

…''N-now she’s lecturing me!?

Tenzou did not let it get to him. To prevent her from using her fan swords, he primarily used jabs and short slashes that targeted her wrists. And to further distract her…

“Indeed! I love comparing people! I mean, you’re neither busty nor blonde!!”

He ended up criticizing her body, which she could not change. So…

“Oh, shut up. You can go after someone’s looks to her face?”

…''Th-this isn’t working!

“And do you actually think that’s funny or something?”

“N-not really.”

“Then why say it? Did you think ''I'' would like it?”

He felt like her attacks were pushing Excalibur back. In fact…

'''Me:''' “Is it just me or is she doing a great job of distracting you?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Eh? I thought he had started hitting on her.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “If that’s his idea of hitting on her, then I feel ''really'' sorry for her. He’s not just a waste of time; he’s a waste of existence.”

'''Asama:''' “Oops, that was close. I almost sent that one to Mary.”

“Nooooo!”

Tenzou changed tack.

…''I’ll go in low!

Ninjas excelled at aiming for the legs. But…

“Right back at you.”

She too was a ninja.

Fan and sword clashed low to the floor and sparks flew.

…''Kh…!

Her swords were speeding up. When she blocked his blade, she did not fight it and transformed the impact into an attack of her own.

He felt like his attacks were being returned with twice the strength. But…

“Ohh…!”

He had a target in mind.

…''The thatch reed ring!

Ether formed a ring of thatch reeds and a mirror behind Unno. That was the source of the “water” covering the Ariake.

If he destroyed that, she would lose Yomi and the “water” would disappear. But…

“Isn’t your sword a little too focused on defense?”

She was pushing him back. And…

“You’re after the gate to Yomi behind me, aren’t you?”

She had seen through it.

Unno looked at the ninja’s face.

She could not see it.

This was more than just the brim of his hat. It was probably a spell or an optical ninja divine protection. Instead, there was an expression display on the front of the hat, but it was currently set to be expressionless.

So as she sent out slash after slash to drive him back, Unno asked a question.

“You think only Excalibur can destroy that gate, don’t you?”

The ninja said nothing and held Excalibur close to deflect the fan sword aiming for his legs.

That was fine with her. She simply asked her questions.

“When Excalibur blocked the sword I threw earlier, it wasn’t affected by the ‘water’. I imagine a divine weapon must have some powerful divine protections.”

The ninja still did not answer, so…

“How about it?”

“N-n-n-n-no, I-I wasn’t th-thinking that at all.”

He was too obvious.

''But,'' she thought while speeding up her swords. She no longer spun her entire body around. She simply swayed left and right and used the motion to send the fans rhythmically back and forth. And as she did so…

“…How about it!?”

Sparks scattered to the left and right.

''I’ll attack him as much as it takes,'' thought Unno.

She moved forward to distance the ninja from the gate to Yomi.

“Oh.”

She also pushed on the ninja to distance him from something else.

To their right and a bit to the north, the other Excalibur had fallen to the Ariake’s armor.

The Excalibur the ninja currently held was freed from Yomi. That would be thanks to the spirit given to him by the English princess.

The power of Yomi did not work on him. So to prevent him from gaining or swapping out weapons, she needed to keep him away from that other sword. Even if Excalibur did decide on its own to fly toward him, she could deal with it as long as she kept it in her field of vision. And she could use the ninja as a shield to deter the princess waiting further back.

Unno pushed forward.

She worked to push him back. She swung her weapons left and right with large, speedy movements and then she closed the fans she held.

“Here goes.”

She gripped the thick bundles of blades in her hands and increased her attack speed.

More and more sparks scattered and the ninja kept low.

The dancer bent her body like a snake as she attacked.

The closed blades were like fangs as they brought destruction to the ninja from above and below or left and right.

The metallic sounds rang loud and the steel sparks scattered through the air.

The ninja kept up with the rapid exchange, but he was pushed back.

His feet scraped along the floor as he moved back, but…

“Kh…”

He held his blade diagonally and attacked again and again to push back at the left and right slashes.

But the dancer laughed in response.

“Ha ha…!”

The ninja was almost down on his knees now and the corners of the dancer’s mouth rose. She swayed to the left and right.

“Your head is mine!”

She launched an attack toward his face and the ninja blocked it.

Sparks flew and the impact shook only the ninja.

But what happened next was different from before. Before, the fan slash had been deflected at the moment of impact and that had kept the dance going. But this time…

“I won’t let go.”

The blade had previously used the bounce-back as a part of its rhythm, but now it was held against Excalibur by the ninja’s shoulder.

The dance had stopped. Or so it seemed. However…

“This one was the primary attack. …See?”

The dancer sent the other fan toward the ninja. He was holding the left blade with his right shoulder, so he could not avoid the slash from the right blade.

Tenzou made a split-second decision.

He was holding the enemy’s left blade between his right shoulder and Excalibur. That was how he had defended against that left blade, but…

…''I can’t move to the right!

And another blade was swinging in from the left.

The blade drew a diagonal curve, so he could not duck down to dodge it.

''In that case,'' he decided.

…''It’s a gamble!

With that, he took action.

Unno saw the ninja abandon something.

He let go of Excalibur.

He removed both his hands from it.

“…Toh.”

And instead of standing up, he slid backwards.

He moved away. And that left…

“Damn you…!”

Unno’s slash should have hit Tenzou from his left, but it would instead strike Excalibur.

But she dealt with Excalibur appropriately. The sword had been released into the air, but striking it between her two swords could do great damage to those swords.

So Unno pulled back the left sword which had been pressed against Excalibur.

Only the right sword struck Excalibur and it flew far off to the left and away from the battlefield.

Unno then gathered her hands together, lined up both fan swords, whirled her body around, and looked to Tenzou.

There he was.

The ninja was running toward the Excalibur that had fallen to the deck after blocking the earlier attack meant for the English princess.

“Kh…!”

Unno spun around and began the dance needed for her next attack.

Meanwhile, the ninja slid over and scooped up the other Excalibur.

At that very moment, Unno realized light was scattering behind her.

A metallic sound and sparks scattered there, leading to a certain result.

A light sliced horizontally through the center of the ether thatch reeds and the Yomi gate she had created.

“What…!?”

Unno looked back in time to see the destruction of the Yomi gate.

…''How!?

She had eliminated one of the dangerous Excaliburs from the battlefield and the ninja held the other one.

The only external attack so far had been the Technohexen cannon fire, but…

…''The stagnation makes that useless!

But then another possibility occurred to her.

“You, ninja!”

Unno shouted at the Musashi ninja holding Excalibur out toward her.

“Was that a diversion!?”

And she heard a sound behind her. She heard something metal rolling far to the northeast, which was behind her and to the right.

She knew what had fallen in that distant location.

…''The previous Excalibur!

She had knocked it far to her left, but now it was far to her right.

What did that mean?

To find out, she turned to the southwest, which was to her left.

The god of war sniper unit and Musashi’s main group were there. Someone there had knocked back the Excalibur she had eliminated from the battlefield. And who of Musashi’s main group could fire so accurately?

“The two Technohexen!!”

As soon as she said that, an impact struck her right wrist.

It was a sniper shot.

…''Was that…?

The Technohexen sniper fire that had once hit Yuri had shattered her fan sword as a warning.

[[Image:Horizon5A_567.jpg|thumb]]
Naito had placed her ''schale besen'' across the idiot and Horizon’s heads and fixed it in place.

…''That was close…

Tenzou’s idea was simple enough.

…''Excalibur is surrounded by the spirits that negate Yomi, so I’ll throw it outside of Yomi’s effects and you shoot it back in to slice apart the thatch reed Yomi gate.

It was simple enough to say.

But this was on the battlefield, with no practice, and with almost no advance warning.

If Kimi had not noticed what Tenzou was doing, they never would have made it in time.

Kimi herself was speaking with the Chancellor.

“Heh heh. How about that, foolish brother? It turned out just like I said it would, didn’t it?”

“That was amazing, sis. That ninja woman’s dance went just like you said it would.”

“Judge. If her dance had really been an old Yamaga Shrine dance, I wouldn’t have been able to see through it like that. But she must have become a Yamaga shrine maiden later in life, so she must not have fully mastered the Yamaga dance. …And that means she remade some of the most important pieces into the more modern style she was used to.”

So…

“At the most crucial points, her normal pattern shows through. And since those are the modern patterns, I know them as well as she does. The way she swayed back and forth is the same as my summit dance.”

Even then, it was quite something to predict the movements of the dancer’s opponent instead of just the dancer herself.

…''Ugh.

Naito groaned in her heart. ''Everyone in our class is at such a bizarrely high level.

…''Of course, I’m an Edel Brocken tester, a Special Duty Officer, and the top of the delivery business.

But even then she did not feel near the “top”, so there was definitely something wrong with this class.

And just as she started to wonder if she was using that to compromise in her desire for advancement…

“Gold Mar, I don’t really understand, but that was pretty amazing. How’d you do it?”

“Eh? Well, um, I just made a spur of the moment decision.”

“It’s fine, Margot.” Naruze walked up in her Weiss Hexen outfit. “Only you could’ve done that.”

“No, no. That only worked thanks to the guideline you drew, Ga-chan.”

“Then.” She smiled. “''We''’re amazing.”

Naito briefly thought about what that meant. And…

…''I see.

Naito tilted her head and brought her cheek to Naruze’s. Then she pushed her cheek out of the way to…

“Thanks.”

She pecked at Naruze’s lips for a kiss.

Tenzou slowly circled in front of Mary and deterred Unno with Excalibur.

Defeating Unno was his top priority here, but…

“Not bad.”

He kept his guard up

She had stopped her dance and lowered her hips a bit. She turned her body to face south, probably with Naito’s sniping in mind.

But she did not immediately flee.

…''Perhaps because she intends to keep my focus here.

She would also be keeping the attention of Naito’s sniping, Excalibur, Asama, and the others assisting him.

Unno was sticking around to demonstrate that she could still use the Yomi gate spell if she needed to. If she fled, she would put her companions in danger.

“Such excellent teamwork.”

They had defeated her technique, but the situation that caused was still troublesome.

…''She intends to singlehandedly hold back a large group.

That was the original job of a ninja. So…

“I suppose I should hope that the rest of your team is defeated.”

''Narumi-dono and Futayo-dono’s results will decide this one,'' thought Tenzou as he deepened his defensive stance toward Unno.

At that very moment, an explosion erupted on the west end of the Ariake.

Sanada’s Mochizuki had thrown an explosive at Narumi.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 19|Chapter 19]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 21|Chapter 21]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 19

2017-05-26T22:16:52Z

68.109.59.107:

==Chapter 19: Wall Builder in a Clogged Place==
[[Image:Horizon5A_523.jpg|thumb]]
''What is surprising when it catches you

''And also surprising when you escape it?

'''Point Allocation (Unexpectedness)

Unno knew she held a fleeting control of the battlefield.

She was being fired on, but the bullets could not reach her. Even the shellfire from the sky was weaker near her.

There was no need to ask why.

The power of Yomi was in effect.

It had originally been a local divine spell of the Yamaga Shrine. The spell produced the “water” in which the dead sank to be preserved, and it was used to celebrate their ancestors.

Long ago, the local leader had likely used it to preserve the bodies of their ancestors so that he could act on their god’s behalf and so his power could be passed down to his descendants.

She had altered it by activating it through her dance.

She had created a ''spreading preservation''. It created stagnation and sinking. Anyone nearby who sank into this “water” would slowly enter a state similar to hibernation and their body would ultimately shut down, leading to death.

But the most important aspect was not the deadly close range effect.

It was the long range effect that caused all movements to waver.

That prevented the firing squad from attacking her.

They could fire, but their bullets would not fly right.

And it had to be causing some slight trouble for the enemy fighters.

Of course, Kakei was using his movements to prevent the enemy from targeting her and Mochizuki was doing the same using her explosions and smoke.

Kakei was not registered with Yamaga, so the process for excluding him from Yamaga’s effects was a bit troublesome. However, Unno had had her restrictions removed this year, so that was less of a burden now.

She only had to give him a temporary registration, and…

“I guess I need to focus on my own work.”

As she danced, Unno raised her fan swords.

12 meters in front of her, Musashi’s 1st Special Duty Officer and his aide were collapsed and sinking.

They had come to a stop. They appeared to be dead, but at this rate, they would remain alive.

“Killing them or doing something with their bodies would probably help with Sanada’s reputation.”

Asama saw the idiot walk up to her and point toward Tenzou.

''What is this about?'' she wondered as the crossdresser frowned and spoke.

“Hey, hey, Asama. Aren’t Tenzou and Mary in trouble?”

“I think Tenzou-kun did something to help Mary. And Tenzou-kun…should be fine.”

“Really?” he asked.

…''I guess he can’t help but be worried about what worries him.

''This really isn’t the time,'' she thought, but since he had shown how he felt and had come to her for help, she decided to show him the answer.

“Here. Look.”

She showed him a sign frame.

It contained just a few words:

'''10ZO:''' “I am okay.”

The crossdresser looked at that, looked at Asama, and then looked at Horizon, Mito, his sister, and the others.

“If he’s trying to keep it short, did he really need to spell out ‘OK’ as ‘okay’?.”

“N-now, now. Tenzou-kun is doing his best to get through this. And I’m doing what I can to analyze that spell, so we’ll manage.”

“Um, but, Asama-chi.”

Naito pointed at the scene and Naruze continued for her.

“That dancer ninja is planning to throw her fan sword at Tenzou while he can’t move.”

“Oh, then maybe it’s not okay at all.”

“Asama-sama, I admire how quickly you gave up,” commented Horizon.

“W-well, it’s just that fan swords are outside of my area of expertise!”

“Can’t be helped then,” said the crossdresser. “We’ll just have to cheer him on from here!”

“If we do that, she’ll figure out Tenzou-kun can move! Let’s trust in Tenzou-kun!”

“Uqui, do you trust Tenzou?”

“…Sorry, I was watching Narumi.”

“Wow,” said the girls and Asama heard Naomasa sigh.

“If only Tenzou had come to the engine division. We would’ve squeezed a lot of work out of him…”

“That’s not very nice, 6th Special Duty Officer,” pointed out Adele.

“W-wait.” Mitotsudaira spread her arms to scold the others. “Mary is there! So it’ll be okay.”

They all exchanged a glance and smiled.

“Oh, yeah!! Mary’s there!”

While still collapsed and holding his breath, Tenzou heard his awful classmates’ distant conversation through the vibrations in the floor.

…''Those people…

But they had settled on complimenting Mary, so he considered giving them a pass this time.

As he had informed Asama, he was alive and not stagnated.

He had detected Unno’s spell and used a countermeasure. An incredibly simple one.

…''I held my breath and kept any of it from escaping!

He had a dark sign frame displayed on the bottom of his hat’s brim. It displayed Asama’s instructions for the standard countermeasure for mysterious phenomena and spells.

'''Asama:''' “Please hold your breath to prevent the ‘''ki''’ from getting inside you. This is not evil energy, but holding your breath with the intention to keep it out will prevent the ether ‘''ki''’ from entering your body and will prevent the enemy’s spell’s effects from activating within you. What I’m saying is…”

From there, she began with a long explanation which caused the initial important bit to scroll off the screen, so he was glad he had checked it right away. ''Towards the end, she was saying something about the Shinto legend of Yamato Takeru crossdressing, so Asama-dono must be quite the Shinto nerd.

But the enemy’s spell was still an unknown.

Based on the sensation that had grabbed his foot, he knew Unno’s spell had something to do with water. So when he had charged in, he had intended to overcome it with an underwater movement ninja technique.

Mary could contact water spirits, so he had figured she would be fine even if it was virtual water. However…

…''I never thought she would sink.

His heart did not protest that it was impossible. It was an undeniable fact that Mary was drowning. He could only blame it on his mistaken decision. So he had sent her everything he had and “dived down” using pure martial arts.

He had no way of knowing if Mary was conscious.

He was waiting for a divine transmission from Asama, but it would be best not to assume Mary could fight.

After all, this “water” was dangerous.

After sinking into it, he found it to be cold but pleasant.

The chill seemed to cleanse and pass through his body as it soaked him from top to bottom.

But he soon realized that this chill was dangerous.

The chill focused on the important parts of his body: the ankles, the wrists, the armpits, the waist, and the neck. He also found himself growing horribly tired.

The chill appeared where his heartbeat could be best heard. His pulse was there. So…

…''This “water” detects movements and sounds and then brings stagnation.

Holding his breath and hiding his pulse were standard ninja stealth techniques.

'''Asama:''' “Oh, the way you ‘stop moving’ for your stealth techniques is derived from Shinto methods of stopping your ‘''ki''’. By not moving and keeping the location’s ether from entering your body, you might as well not exist there. A single reverse search will find you right away if you do that, but those spells didn’t exist in the past, so assassins could apparently get all the critical hits they wanted.”

''You sure do enjoy explaining things!'' he thought, but the situation was getting pretty bad.

Unno began swinging her fan swords more strongly as she danced.

She was targeting him. And she likely intended to throw a fan sword to slash at him from a distance.

This was not good.

His body was quite heavy while sunk to the bottom of the stagnation. It was more like being at the bottom of a mud pit instead of water.

Of course, he could move from here.

But he would only manage a few steps from his initial velocity. Any more and the “water” resistance would sap him of all speed.

If that happened, it was all over. So…

'''Novice:''' “You have to get close to the enemy! This is a standard scene in ninja stories: the battle between the ninja playing dead until the enemy gets close and the enemy trying to figure out if the ninja is dead!”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Which one generally wins?”

…''Did you have to ask that so bluntly, Naomasa-dono!?

'''Me:''' “C’mon, don’t be silly. Tenzou’s not like a manga MC. …If anything, he’s a background character, so there’s no way he can win if we look at this in manga terms.”

''If I get out of this alive, I am scolding him so hard.

But in cases like this…

'''Uqui:''' “The normal course of action would be to attack Mary, not Tenzou.”

That was true.

If Unno attacked Mary, she could simultaneously see if he would react to Mary and if Mary could move.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “But why not the other way around? Do you not think it would move Mary’s heart if the ninja got stabbed? Actually, that doesn’t seem very realistic. Yeah, I guess that’s just not how it works.”

…''Don’t answer your own question like that!

This was not good. The enemy had not even done anything yet, but he was about to make a mental fumble with his tsukkomi skill and say something out loud.

But then Unno took action. As she danced, she swung her entire body, and…

“—————”

She threw the fan sword.

And just before she did, a cannon blast rang out.

It came from the main Musashi group that was otherwise busy saying silly things.

A shell was launched using a spell’s repelling acceleration and it noisily tore through the sky.

A voice accompanied the great roar.

“Herrlich…!”

It was Naito.

The Schwarz Hexen used the seated crossdresser’s shoulder as a support and fired a roll of coins toward Unno.

The roll of coins trailed the ether acceleration light and targeted Unno’s follow-through after throwing the fan sword.

Before Unno could correct her posture, it arrived right in front of her.

“————!”

And it exploded.

Naito saw the coin roll bullet explode and send its 100 guided bullets toward Unno. But…

“They’re sinking…!?”

Those bullets had the divine protection of Techno Magie. They would normally weaken and break through an enemy’s defense spell or barrier, but these clearly slowed down and sank.

They were obstructed.

…''That spell sure is powerful…!

She was briefly reminded of Tres España’s Testamenta Arma: Crus Temperantia – Novum. That had divided the power of any ability by the number of times it had been used, but this was like a version of that which only affected a smaller area and was limited to speed.

Naito decided it would be a good idea to research a way to shoot through this kind of spell.

“Ga-chan…!”

“I’m already firing, Margot.”

She looked behind her where, hiding behind the idiot, Naruze was supporting a ''schale besen'' on his head.

But that Weiss Hexen partner’s eyes were not directed Naito’s way.

She was looking into the sky.

In the night sky, the enemy’s shellfire was being fired by the Shirasagi Castle’s 1st unit that flew in a wide circle overhead. But something flew up toward it.

It was Naruze’s guided bullets.

Naito’s shots had been a distraction to hide these 4 shots behind her.

…''Nai-chan’s really are most powerful when fired horizontally.

But in that case, they would sink and might not reach the enemy.

However, the shots were a sure thing if they dropped from directly above the enemy’s head.

So while Unno was distracted by Naito’s shots…

“If you’re all about sinking, how about some guided bullets from directly overhead, Far Eastern shaman?”

The 4 high-speed coin bullets soared high into the heavens but made a sharp curve to drop straight down.

The 4 coins dropped down toward Unno and her thrown fan sword.

They were right on target.

Tenzou watched Naruze’s bullets from below his hat’s brim.

…''Will this work!?

After flying high, 2 of the coins dropped toward Unno, 1 dropped toward the thrown fan sword, and 1 was clearly dropping between his legs. It was going to just barely miss his crotch.

Was she telling him not to move? Or was she telling him ''to'' move?

However, the enemy was targeting Mary. If Naruze’s bullet did not knock down the fan sword, he would have to make a choice:

Save Mary, or not save Mary.

If he saved Mary, Unno would realize he could move.

…''And I would sink and lose my speed.

''That’s fine with me,'' he thought. ''But,'' he also thought. Because…

…''Mary-dono might be delighted by that, but she would not want it!

As soon as he realized that, Tenzou heard something.

He heard the 4 high-speed guided bullets falling from the sky.

“————”

But he did not hear them hit.

He only heard 4 dull and muffled sounds.

Naruze’s guided bullets had been caught in the “water” spread out overhead.

…''It doesn’t take the fall speed into account!?

Naruze frowned at the result.

“What is that? I thought it was like water or mud, but is it a space of pure ‘stagnation’!?”

The sinking and the brief floating did not come from anything based on water.

…''She’s transforming stagnation into something like water, isn’t she!?

''This is bad,'' thought Naruze as she saw scattering light.

Above and in front of the stagnation dance, Naruze and Margot’s coin bullets were slowly falling while reflecting the colors of the surrounding shellfire and explosions.

And Unno stood beyond the coins that fell as gently as scattering leaves.

She shifted from her follow-through to her dance and she looked toward the Technohexen.

She was smiling. And they could read her lips.

“Thanks for the money offering.”

As a dancer, did everyone on the outside count as part of the audience? In that case…

“Mary!”

The thrown fan sword reached Mary.

A solid sound rang out and sparks flew.

And Tenzou definitely heard two steel sounds rolling along the solid floor.

…''Did it work!?

He looked over the best he could without moving his eyes and found Mary was not moving.

That meant nothing had happened to her.

The object that had taken the fan sword on her behalf stopped rolling and produced a quiet metallic sound.

It was Excalibur.

It was the half he had wielded. Holding onto it had paid off.

He had used his breathing to time when the fan sword would arrive and then pressed the pommel against the slanted floor to raise the sword. He had thought using only the edge of the pommel to lift Excalibur via leverage would be difficult, but…

…''The stagnation has Excalibur in its grasp, but it doesn’t seem to have sealed off the sword’s will.

Excalibur could not float like normal, but it had stood up to protect Mary.

This was the result.

He had lost his weapon, but that was fine.

Like this, the enemy would be unable to tell whether Excalibur had acted on its own to protect Mary of if he had had a hand in it.

And this meant Unno would not target Mary again.

'''Me:''' “Tenzou? Was that you, Tenzou? Or did the sword move on its own? Which was it? Tenzou isn’t answering. Should I call his number?”

…''Don’t do anything so dangerous!

Then someone else’s words reached his sign frame.

'''Asama:''' “Wh-what are you saying, Toori-kun? Stop that. It’s dangerous!”

''Yes. Yes, yes. It’s dangerous!

'''Asama:''' “Besides, it was Tenzou-kun’s love that saved Mary! His love! Excalibur stood up when it sensed his loving desire to protect Mar-…wow, so much passion! I said it myself, but I can feel the passion burning!”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “No, um, what are you joking around for, Tomo? You can’t get all heated up over this. That was the 1st Special Duty Officer’s loving resolve to protect Mary even if it put him in dang-…sweet That’s super sweet! I never knew we had anything so sweet in our class!”

''The girls really are sensitive to this kind of joke,'' he thought.

Meanwhile, Unno began to throw something from beyond the falling coins and scattering ether light.

It was a 2nd fan sword.

Based on the movements of her dance, he predicted it was headed straight for him. That was exactly what he wanted. So just as she started to throw it…

…''Kh.

''I have to go for it,'' he told himself. He got up, he faced the enemy, and…

“————”

He went for it.

Tenzou got up and faced the enemy.

He entered a high-speed dash from the very first step.

But his body was heavy.

…''I’m being dragged down…!?

The power of stagnation pulled down and clung to his body as he tried to move forward. But…

“Kh…!”

He used all his might to pour acceleration into his body.

And just as he somehow managed to reach something like his normal speed…

“Kyah!”

He heard a cry and something white appeared in front of him.

…''What!?

Just as he questioned it, he tripped and dove face-first into it.

He had stumbled and failed right on the starting line.

Unno saw it play out just before she threw her fan.

…''So the ninja really could move!

She felt it was wrong of her to feel so happy the enemy had survived just because he was a fellow ninja. But for that very reason…

“I won’t hold back!”

It did not matter that the enemy had tripped.

She fully pulled back the fan sword in preparation to throw it. But at that very moment, she realized why the ninja had tripped so suddenly.

…''The English princess!?

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 15

2017-05-25T04:24:23Z

68.109.59.107: /* Chapter 15: Pursued Idiot on the Stage */

==Chapter 15: Pursued Idiot on the Stage==
[[Image:Horizon5A_417.jpg|thumb]]
''You’re chased

''You’re pursued

''It never ends

'''Point Allocation (Requires Effort)

The Ariake was hit by a circling bombardment far too exacting and fast to simply call it a pincer attack.

Because the defense barriers were following a pattern, it took longer to respond. Also…

“The Shirasagi Castle is breaking its pattern…!”

The previous well-ordered movements were gone.

The attacks seemed almost random, but they still targeted specific spots atop the Ariake. The 2 ships generally circled around above the Ariake, and…

“Don’t get caught between them! Then you can’t escape!”

They would cross over, pursue each other, and look out to each other as they circled and kept their distance.

All the while, the delayed defense barriers were shattered and the upper armor scattered fragments.

The destruction was so unilateral because the god of war sniper unit had withdrawn.

There was currently no one to fire into the sky.

“Horizon!”

Mitotsudaira used her silver chains to grab an armor panel from a materials storage zone and held it up to protect them.

“Can’t you use Lype Katathlipse?”

“She can’t!” shouted Neshinbara as he ran among the landing shells. “Its effective range is 3km! If it doesn’t move closer, we can’t hit the whole Shirasagi Castle! They know that and Ariadust-kun hasn’t practiced firing on a moving target anyway!”

“That is true. I have not grown obsessed with target practice the way Asama-sama has.”

“No, um, I haven’t, uh…”

“Now, now,” said Horizon despite the line of shells landing behind her. “Besides, it is all for naught if I miss. The Muneshige Cannon is the Muneshige Cannon because it is so easily blocked. But if it misses entirely, that would be my mistake instead.”

“Master Muneshige! Master Muneshige!”

Then a crossdresser walked over.

“Hey, hey, hey. Wait, all of you. ‘Ariake’ said to evacuate, so aren’t we gonna do that?”

“Oh, that’s right. I just got distracted because someone was saying things about-…”

Asama trailed off.

Everyone watched as a line of crashing shells approached from behind the crossdresser.

And seeing that…

“You idiot! Behind you! Behind you!”

The idiot tilted his head when everyone yelled at him.

“Huh? I’m not imperial boy, so I don’t have a see-through little girl following me around.”

The idiot laughed as he ran and the shellfire fragments changed course to show they were definitely tracking him. The shellfire had been wandering randomly before, but now it pursued him, which meant it was on a direct course for the rest of them. So first of all, Horizon spoke.

“Toori-sama.”

“Eh? Horizon!? What is it!? Feeling lonely!?”

Horizon began to sweat as if she was restraining herself in some way and she turned back toward the others.

“Um, everyone, I really want to shoot this boy with Maska Orge right now, but should I? You options are ‘yes’ and ‘of course’.”

“Those are the same thing!”

Mitotsudaira snatched up Horizon with a silver chain and set off running. Next, everyone else screamed and ran across the rooftop. First, Asama turned toward Mitotsudaira.

“Nice one, Mito! So where should we evacuate to!?”

“Ehh!? I-I don’t know! This is only my second time up here!”

“Oh, I know! There’s a duct over here!”

With that, Neshinbara rolled into the duct hole to escape all on his own.

Naruze’s eyebrows rose.

“What a coward! …So what’s this, Tenzou? Are you carrying Mary in the hopes I’ll draw you?”

“N-no, I-I…!”

“Hee hee. It might be an emergency, but I’m sure Lady Naruze can manage. We’re probably not looking our best, but please do.”

“You’re incredible, Ma-yan…” said Naito as Muneshige looked to Gin.

“Gin, if you are having any difficulty, just tell me.”

“I am.”

She answered in record time.

“You are?”

“I am.”

“Then if you’ll excuse me.”

Muneshige lightly scooped up Gin. And then…

“…We’ll be going on ahead!”

'''Girls:''' “Ohh…”

Muneshige ran out ahead and led the way for the others. Gin observed their surroundings from his arms and sent Asama data on the Shirasagi Castle’s movements and the pursuing line of shellfire.

And they heard the idiot shouting from far behind them.

“Hey, hey, wait! Why are you all running from me!?”

They all looked back and saw the shellfire catching up. And that meant it was getting closer to the idiot. They all poured even more energy into their dash, but Naruze spoke up while making her sketch.

“Stay away from us! Get any closer and I’ll shoot!”

“Kiyonari, should she really say to that to him?”

“It might seem strange, but this much is normal.”

“Is this any time to be calmly introducing her to the Musashi rules!?” shouted Mitotsudaira.

“You leave me no choice!”

One of them waved both arms to create a space for herself.

It was Kimi. She opened the front of her white track suit and pointed back behind her brother.

“Foolish brother! Could you look behind you for just a moment!?”

“Eh? What is it, sis!?”

The idiot looked back to the right, but since they had all just made a left turn, he was looking to the outside corner. The line of shellfire was on the inside corner.

“Hey, wait! There’s nothing there, sis!”

“Kimi! Kimi! Please just tell Toori-kun the truth! Horizon can’t hold back much longer, so she’s sweating like crazy!”

“Very well.” Kimi turned a full-faced smile toward her brother. “Heh heh. …You fell for it, foolish brother! We’re all playing tag! Boobs tag! We’re playing boobs tag! And since I was ‘it’ last, um, a flat chest! Yes, you’re ‘it’ until you manage to grope a flat chest!”

“I know you like causing trouble, but you don’t have to lie to him now of all times!”

“Mito! Mito! Let Toori-kun grope you to get the shells to pursue you instead! Horizon can’t hold back much longer, so she’s sweating like crazy!”

“J-just so you know, I’m inside Raging Beast, so you can’t grope me! I’m safe!”

'''Bell:''' “Th-then m-me…?”

When they heard Suzu’s comment, they all looked to Mitotsudaira.

“…Mito, you heard Suzu-san, didn’t you?”

“Heh heh. Even Suzu is willing to do what it takes.”

“Yes,” added Naruze. “I’m technically part of that caste, but after hearing what Suzu said, I think you should handle this, Mitotsudaira.”

“What are any of you talking about!? Why are we even playing by boobs tag rules!?”

“And why’re all of you running away from meeeeee!?”

Just as the idiot said that, the shellfire sped up and the color gold scattered through the sky.

The end of the idiot’s wig had been hit.

“Eh?”

He finally noticed and actually looked behind him. And…

“Ohwaaaahhh!!”

He ran full speed toward the others who briefly flinched back, but…

“Waaahhh!”

They dashed across the Ariake.

“Takigawa-sama! The 2nd unit says they have spotted Musashi’s Chancellor!”

“He’s on top of the Ariake, isn’t he?”

“Shaja!” confirmed the divine transmission navigator’s voice in the seemingly empty bridge. “He is apparently crossdressing to escape our notice! Further information should arrive soon!”

“I see… A disguise that doesn’t rely on spells, hm? It’s true the disguises these days are instantly noticeable because they use spells for everything.”

Takigawa nodded a few times.

“But ninjas like us are experts at disguise. He may be an entertainer, but he picked a fight with the wrong people. …You have permission to fire so he doesn’t get hooked on this. If we do defeat Musashi’s Chancellor it will help with this battle and greatly reduce the burden on P.A. Oda.”

So…

“If you can finish him off, don’t just make him dance.”

Naito thought to herself as everyone screamed and ran.

…''I’m such a good sport.

She had no real reason to run along with the others. After all, she had wings. But if it came down to it…

…''I want to save anyone who can’t escape in time.

But at the moment, the idiot had just realized the truth behind him.

“Ohhhhh! Hey! Listen, everyone! Please do something about this!”

“Ah ha ha ha! Margot, look, look! He’s really panicking!”

“Ga-chan, you’re so full of energy tonight.”

But it was true the crossdresser was in considerable trouble. So Kimi looked back his way while maintaining a slight lead.

“Listen, foolish brother! The enemy is firing at you because you’re Musashi’s Chancellor and Student Council President!”

“Oh, is that why!? So they saw through my crossdressing? Nooo!”

“H-Horizon-sama… Should I cut him?” asked Futayo.
“Toori-kun! Toori-kun! Please stop provoking us! Now two people are sweating like crazy because they can’t hold back much longer!”

“Listen!” said Kimi. “Listen, foolish brother! There is one way of changing this situation!”

“There is, Kimi-chan?”

[[Image:Horizon5A_427.jpg|thumb]]

“Judge! Foolish brother! They figured out who you are because they saw through your crossdressing! So you need to move in a more feminine way, as if saying, ‘I’m a girl, not the Chancellor’!”

The idiot wiggled back and forth in an over-exaggerated girly run.

“Noooooo! Namako can’t go oooooon!”

Piloting and fire control data were passed back and forth within the Shirasagi Castle’s bridge.

“Takigawa-sama! The 2nd unit is shouting ‘unforgivable’!!”

“Tell them not to get distracted!”

“Shaja!” replied the unseen ninja as the cannon blasts pursued the idiot down below.

“Noooooo!”

Naito watched the idiot twist his legs inward as he ran from the pursuing shellfire.

…''He really is an entertainer…

It was impressive. And when she thought about it, Musashi did tend to select an incompetent Chancellor and President, but…

…''That’s not required by law and there’s no real reason it has to be an entertainer.

But when she imagined it, the answer was obvious.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Compare an obedient kind of incompetence to this idiot and it’s obvious which one is more harmful to Musashi.”

'''Asama:''' “W-wait, Naruze. Let’s not say anything mean. Toori-kun supplies ether for our spells and he doesn’t do all that stuff on the battlefield because he wants-…”

'''Me:''' “Oh, no! All this running has caused my dummy boobs (XXL size) to slip out of place! Asama! You got some tape or something!?”

'''Asama:''' “He is doing it because he wants to, isn’t he!? Isn’t he!? …Oh, and I don’t have any tape, but I do have a fixation spell meant to hold cargo in place. Use that instead.”

'''Girls:''' “She’s hopeless…”

But after fixing his boobs, the idiot added a running skip to his step to jiggle the dummies.

“Sis! Sis! Like this!? Like this!?”

“Heh heh heh! Foolish brother! Excellent job! You look cute. Nice! Nice one!”

“Ah, Mito too!? Restrain yourself! Restrain yourself!”

The idiot and his sister laughed together.

''They really are amazing,'' thought Naito. ''In any other nation, this level of inappropriate behavior would probably get you executed,'' she added. But then the idiot looked behind him again.

“Oh!? Waaaaaahhh!”

The shellfire pursuing him quickly sped up.

The enemy probably could not restrain themselves any longer.

And in that instant…

…''Judge!

Naito raised her broom and fired a shot.

It was a coin signal round with an optical coloration spell added in. Instead of targeting the enemy, she was sending a signal.

“Masa-yan! Start shooting!!”

“Leave it to us!”

Naomasa and the rest of the god of war sniper unit targeted the Shirasagi Castle’s 2nd unit.

The Shirasagi Castle’s port and starboard ships were flying around the Ariake and firing on the idiot, so now was the time to return fire. After all…

…''By guiding the idiot, we’ve gathered the enemy shellfire into a single line!

The scary part was how it really looked like they were only shouting and running away from their ally. The dangerous part was how the idiot was entirely unaware he was the bait.

'''Novice:''' “The more natural the bait, the easier the enemy falls for it!!”

What kind of academy would use their Chancellor and President as bait?

…''This kind, I suppose.

She wanted to deny the reality before her eyes, but she could not.

Everyone was turning a corner as they ran around the center of the Ariake. The Shirasagi Castle’s 2nd unit was aiming for the idiot, so from a corner of the Ariake…

“It looks like they’re distracted…!”

Of course, the enemy was not stupid. The secondary cannons were firing toward the god of war sniper unit even though the main cannons were busy chasing the idiot. But…

“The Ariake will provide defense barriers! Over.”

“Ariake” specifically chose not to defend the line of fire pursuing the idiot. She ignored that, despite the armor the shellfire was tearing up, and she sent the defense barriers Naomasa’s way instead.

That allowed the gods of war to target the Shirasagi Castle’s port and starboard ships from behind the barriers.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Asama-chi…!”

'''Asama:''' “I’ve already sent it to all of your people, Masa! I added the feedback you gave me into the targeting spell you’re using! Although I was in a hurry, so it’s exclusively tuned for the Shirasagi Castle.”

The surrounding gods of war nodded wordlessly. Sign frames with the Asama Shrine logo appeared in front of their sight devices and they already said “lock acquired”.

So Naomasa raised her voice as a response to Asama.

“And…kaboom!!”

She fired.

“What did I just say!?”

Takigawa shouted in the Shirasagi Castle’s bridge.

“Take evasive action, 2nd unit! Hard to starboard!”

The divine transmission carried her voice as-is.

When she looked out into the sky from the bridge, she could see 2 white forms beyond the Ariake.

Those were the Shirasagi Castle’s port and starboard ships. Both of them were hurriedly taking evasive action away from the Ariake. They had done so before her command reached them, so they must have sensed the danger and responded on their own.

…''They can dodge the enemy’s shells!

The Shirasagi Castle was a high-speed ship. However, the distribution of thrust could be changed to match the situation, so it could make high-mobility maneuvers if need be.

The 2 ships of the 2nd unit were doing exactly that. They had been maneuvering at standard speed, but they had forcibly changed direction, causing white fog to trail behind them.

A great mass could be heard colliding with the wind. For just a moment, the wind blew through the night sky like a thin, white wall.

And the white mist exploded again beyond the Ariake.

The port and starboard ships had reached their evasive trajectories.

“Shaja!” someone yelled on the bridge, but Takigawa saw something else.

The port and starboard ships were covered in fog beyond the Ariake, but the port one, which was located closer to them, had a color to it.

That color was vermilion.

The color was wrapped in light and surrounded by black smoke.

“They were too late…!?”

An explosion erupted below the bridge on the port side of the port ship.

“Yes…!”

Ujinao smiled bitterly when Kotarou raised a celebratory cheer within the Houjou fleet.

Kotarou quickly placed a hand over her mouth when she realized what she had said.

“I-I was not referring to the damage to the Shirasagi Castle. U-um, just now on the TV ''tokusatsu'' drama Fierce Monk Shugenger, they defeated the enemy imperial court monster.”

“Oh, is that so? You have that much focus to spare in the middle of battle, Kotarou?” Ujinao turned to face the northeastern sky. “Musashi outdid the Shirasagi Castle by using one group just to take aim instead of having them all fire. That probably improved the Ariake’s morale. The Shirasagi Castle will have to move their 2nd unit further out and their firing rate will fall by about 37%. …But in reality, the Ariake is in a far worse position here.”

“Really?”

“Testament. The enemy has more cannons than them and guiding the shellfire with their Chancellor has left their upper armor badly damaged. Our Descending Light Bombs and the later attacks have reached the tertiary armor in places, so this will likely be determined by how well they can defend using the classified sector below the armor. Do you know what method the Ariake should use here?”

“They should-…”

“Ascend.”

“No fair saying it before I can!” shouted Kotarou, but Ujinao gave her a smile and continued speaking.

“Have you forgotten, Kotarou? With the Musashi inside, the Ariake cannot ascend any further.”

“Oh! That’s right! In that case, the Ariake should definitely-…”

“Use their stealth to hide and then either move or turn. By using the stealth to hide the locations of the damage to their upper armor, they can move and prevent any attacks from piercing their armor except for by coincidence.”

“No fair again!” shouted Kotarou, but Ujinao gave her another smile.

“Yes, I do not play fair.”

“That’s not an excuse or an explanation, Ujinao-sama…” said Kotarou. “But even if they try to use their stealth now…Takigawa-sama will have a way of preventing that, won’t she?”

“Kotarou, that is the question I wanted answered.”

Just as Kotarou said “testament”, 1 of the 4 ships accompanying the Shirasagi Castle’s central ship flew over the Ariake and joined the port and starboard ships.

It seemed to be supporting the damaged port ship, but…

“That is not why it is there. While it is providing support, it is also preventing the Ariake from using its stealth. Please watch,” said Kotarou. “For Takigawa-sama, this may be a chance to readjust the makeup of her ships, but this will be a crucial battle for those on the Ariake.”

The shellfire continued.

But now the downpour of metal only came from the Shirasagi Castle’s 1st unit.

The rain did not end, but it was weaker.

'''Novice:''' “Normally, I would want to activate the stealth and make our next move now. But…”

'''Tonbokiri:''' “That would not be possible, would it?”

Futayo lightly spread her arms while positioning herself in front of Horizon.

She was viewing 3 people in front of her.

“Some enemies jumped down from that ship that flew over just now.”

She asked them a question.

“Who are you?”

“Testament,” said the tall and skinny one.

He bit off a piece of the fuse wrapped around his wrist and lit the piece in his mouth.

“Sanada Academy. …Unneeded #10, Kakei Juuzou.”

“The same,” said a woman with a fan-shaped sword in each hand. The kabuki makeup around her eyes grew more relaxed. “#7. …Unno Rokurou.”

Next was the person standing next to Unno who removed their white hooded cloak.

“#9. …Mochizuki Yukitada.”

She was a maid automaton wearing a Far Eastern summer uniform.

Kakei spoke on behalf of the 3.

“Unno and I haven’t been here since IZUMO. Today, well, we’re here for a bit of revenge. For our Isa.”

Horizon performed a quick-draw with Maska Orge.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 14|Chapter 14]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
}}
</noinclude>