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Clash of Hexennacht:Volume3 Chapter 14

2017-02-22T15:36:57Z

86.52.13.23: Fixed formatting error. I based this formatting on a similar line earlier where Horinouchi also thinks in italics (line 253). I don't think she's talking out loud.

==Chapter 14: What is Important==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v03_331.png|thumb]]
''I will show you

''That it is not a lie

''Before I scatter

''Like counting numbers

Their approach did not use a simple course.

Kagami had instructed Horinouchi to not fight the air current but to use high-speed mobility.

…''That is contradictory!

Horinouchi felt it was like being told to slowly hurry, but there was a reason to do that.

“If she is using her senses to manage this airspace, then the visible flowers and invisible air are all moving according to her will.”

Meaning…

“If we take any noticeable actions, the flowers will sense it, approach, and surround us. They are just like leaves fallen into a stream. If we are a rocky area, they will unexpectedly approach and surround us.”

That reminded Horinouchi of something.

“When Aunt Lisbeth fought Fleur yesterday evening, the flower ash circled behind her spatial cut, didn’t it?”

“Right. Her flowers are not simply blowing in the wind. The environment gives them motion as ‘wind’.”

Then what were they to do?

“We will be able to see the environmental current if we pursue the flowers with our own current. The flowers cannot approach or surround something riding the same current. And if we are riding that current, we only have to let it lightly carry us onward. …Can you discern our path?”

She could.

She sent their visual information and the data from their Devices’ senses to the Horinouchi family. By the time she had made a half rotation along with Kagami, a program containing course information had been sent to her spell circle.

…''We can do this!

The air current swept everything upwards. Riding that would take them even higher than Fleur’s combined Device, but that only meant they had to charge at her from above.

“The only other thing to worry about is…”

“That sweeping attack of course, but also the flowers that Fleur automatically sends at us plus the blasts and shockwaves of the detonations that occur within the air currents.”

“That’s a lot to watch out for.”

She was calm enough to make wry comments.

This was their opponent’s environment, but they were still putting together a counterattack plan.

Horinouchi rode the air current, accelerated to surpass it, and clapped her hands.

“Kagami, I’m going to send you some power!”

Mary heard a familiar sound from the spell circle displaying the battlefield.

It was a high-pitched sound mixed in with the repeated explosions and impacts that were reminiscent of a thunderstorm.

“A shrine bell…”

Those bells were rung when praying at a Shinto shrine. And if they were sounding…

“Has Miss Horinouchi started using a barrier spell!?”

Fleur realized her opponents were not being incorporated into her environment.

…''That bell!

The flowers should have been growing on their Magino Devices by now, but they were not and the ringing of a bell shook the air instead.

“That is a barrier, Fleur. She is using a Shinto purification spell.”

“No fair, mama! I worked so hard on this!”

The enemy also began using their secondary cannons while circling rapidly through the spiraling flowers. They were not attacking her. They were piercing the surrounding flowers and air currents to intentionally trigger detonations.

Of course, Fleur’s flower air currents were constantly being created, but by reading the path near them and triggering explosions in advance, they could create safe areas. So Fleur actively sent flowers in to limit the enemies’ locations. And…

“Open the petals!”

The petals on the bottom of the giant 3 km flower also opened.

It was not quite double, but the expansion of flowers was further pressurized. If the enemy was going to ignore her environment…

“Can you survive if I blow up everything except for mama and me!?”

She spread her arms and then lifted them up.

The environment was already being constructed. So…

“Bring the front line of flowers to full bloom and lift them up!”

…''Is she detonating the entire area!?

Kagami saw the area below fill with the color of explosions.

She knew what Fleur had begun.

After confirming that the environment was replete with flowers, she had prepared enough to fill in the gaps and…

“She is detonating everything horizontally from bottom to top!”

There were already a great many flowers scattered in the air, so there would be no dodging this. Kagami and Horinouchi’s equipment was touching and riding them.

By starting a horizontal detonation from below, Fleur could leave the rest to a chain reaction that quickly filled the entire environment with explosions all the way to the top.

The best way to avoid it would be to escape the environment.

But carelessly moving outside the current would trigger explosions around them before the larger scale one arrived from below. The two of them were already riding the environment’s current to approach their enemy.

The only possible shelter was…

“Right next to the enemy! Kagami!”

The chain reaction would be set to not damage Fleur herself. So…

“So we must read the route through the environment and charge on in!”

As soon as Kagami raised her voice, it arrived.

A sweeping attack flew their way from the 6 spell circles on the top of the giant flower.

Fleur saw the emitted beam of light pass directly above the two Magino Devices.

She had meant to hit them, but they had started descending.

…''They’re coming, aren’t they!?

They had been circling somewhat upwards as they rode the current, but now they were forcibly accelerating down toward her.

They were matching their course to the environment while also making their way inwards.

They had said they would stop her, so they were on their way to do so.

If they had been all talk, they would have been swept away. But if they were charging toward her…

“Stop meddling!”

As soon as she yelled up at them, a shockwave ran through the entire space the beam had passed through.

Lightning scattered, the air could be heard splitting apart, and the two Magino Devices were struck from above.

The blue and vermilion sword and bow shook violently, but Fleur did not stop there.

She pointed down with both hands and drew a connecting circle.

“Garland.”

With that, a ring of new explosives blossomed around the giant flower Device.

It would provide a counterattack from below as the enemy was knocked down by the shockwave from above.

Once that knocked them off balance, the all-encompassing horizontal explosions would rise up and destroy them!

Then the ring of explosives reached the vermilion and blue Devices.

“It hit!”

“Horinouchi!”

Kagami decided the biggest threat was letting the explosives hit the center of their Devices from below.

In this situation, they could withstand the weight and impact of the shockwave bearing down on them from above, but that would cause the front and back to lower. An upwards hit on the center could easily break the Device in half.

They needed to ascend at full power. Then the counterattack explosions would not hit them from below and they could reduce the damage from the following all-encompassing blast by putting more distance between them and it. So…

“Ascend at full speed!”

Dikaiosyne and Akerindou were both tail heavy, so the back was lowering and the front was rising as the garland of explosives blossomed.

…''We avoided a direct hit!

Immediately, the garland blast arrived from below.

“…”

The 500-meter Magino Devices’ front ends hopped up like they had been hit by an uppercut. And…

…''Here it comes!

The rising vertical detonation approached from directly below.

The bottom of her vision grew white.

“—————”

The wind caused by the explosive blast grabbed at them and enveloped them.

Fleur saw the cascade of light rise before her eyes.

It covered everything she could see in every direction. The explosion of light seemed to have had the shape of her flower cut out of it as it blew upwards from below.

It was beautiful. It had gone well.

“Mama! Wasn’t that amazing!?”

The explosive cascade covered everything within 50 kilometers.

She had never seen anything like this either, but she still bragged about it.

“And this isn’t all.”

That was right. A new current of flowers was already fluttering up from below.

And the sky came into view. The wall of explosions rose toward the heavens, reached its peak, and vanished.

There was the sky. As the flowers on the outer edge whirled around, the final explosions reverberated as a great noise.

They echoed through the air.

“Ha ha.”

A laugh escaped. She was glad. After all…

“We won, mama.”

Nothing remained. The power she had made with her mama had kept her at Rank 1. This had ended it.

She was not afraid of Hexennacht. And yet…

“Mama.”

Why?

“Why aren’t you smiling, mama?”

A rumbling raced through the northern sky. Mary listened to it from the Spell Division building’s rooftop and saw a distant pillar of light rising toward the heavens.

…''What is that?

She recalled a similar spell being used in her world.

But it had been used to destroy the minions of the “god” along with the city they occupied and it had taken several thousand spell users to cast. Even if this world was richer and had further developed its spell-related techniques, it was unbelievable that an individual could pull off something like that.

“Incredible…”

''How would I fight something like that?'' she wondered as she saw some movement.

“Is that…?”

It was Lisbeth. She was walking down an academy path. She was headed through the courtyard for the mausoleum.

Footsteps sounded at the bottom of the night.

Lisbeth hurried along the cold floor of a quiet underground corridor.

She was so intent on taking the shortest route that her shoulder bumped into the inside wall at a curve.

“Kh…”

She groaned in her haste, but she did not care.

The spell circle next to her face was receiving updates on the Ranker Battle from U.A.H. witches.

Her pace quickly took her to the end of the corridor.

She ignored the “keep out” sign and held up her card key.

“So you only have to hold it up to the reader…”

That part alone she handled calmly and then she stepped in through the opened door.

''I would really prefer not to visit this place over and over,'' thought Lisbeth.

The hall she had visited the night before was simply dark. The light of the glowing plants had almost entirely vanished, so she had to rely on the lights illuminating the central coffin and other important points.

The flower dragon near the coffin approached when it saw her. It likely wanted to know why things had gone so dark.

…''Is Cerisier approaching her end?

She had tricked herself into thinking the woman was alive because they would occasionally contact and converse with each other. Since that woman would sometimes talk about Mitsuyo, it had felt like reminiscing between two survivors.

But that was inaccurate.

She had been meeting and speaking with regrets that had yet to fall asleep.

Once those were gone, none of it would remain anywhere.

“Mitsuyo knew.”

She had been strict but kind.

“She knew her soul would fill this world and protect so very much.”

This world. Some ancient witches had proposed the theory that the ether-based ley lines were a torrent of “power” that included the souls of the people, of nature, and even of the stars.

Shinto included the idea that the dead would protect the local people as earthly spirits.

Looking at it that way, it was obvious why Mitsuyo had sealed away her regrets and left. She had known she would protect the next generation and she had guided her heir without mistaking that girl’s nature.

But what about the others?

When Lisbeth had discovered Cerisier’s regret playing with her daughter at the Shihouin mansion like nothing had happened, she had been hesitant, but she had accepted it.

She should have scolded the woman. She should have told her to accept her slumber and to let her soul disappear.

Why had she not done so?

“Cerisier…”

Lisbeth kneeled next to the coffin.

“You can hear me, can’t you!? What are we doing!?”

She remembered what Cerisier’s regret had said when they had been reunited.

“There’s still more I have to do to protect my daughter and this world.”

To help her with the “and this world” part, they had built Shihouin Academy and decided to protect and raise the next generation of witches there.

But what about her daughter?

“Are you really ‘protecting’ Fleur right now? …Your daughter is continuing to wield that power because she doesn’t want to leave you and because she wants you to praise her!”

Fleur might lose her mother at some point. So to rid her daughter of that fear, Cerisier had told her daughter something.

…''“If you’re a good girl, we can be together forever.”

Cerisier had to understand the truth.

She had to understand what it truly meant to “be together”.

“Mitsuyo understood that.”

Even if your mother had left you and was gone, you would sometimes notice something.

You would find in yourself the power, skills, and ways of thinking that you had inherited from your mother.

That was part of a parent’s “divine protection”.

That meaning seemed to have gotten through to Mitsuyo’s daughter, Mitsuru. Her knowledge of Shinto would help there, but last night she had lacked her previous grudge over losing her mother.

She had learned to smile even at the small things.

Was that due to her interaction with the Kagami girl who claimed to have come from another world? Or had she gained that through the previous Ranker Battles?

Lisbeth did not know.

But children would grow even without their parents. On the other hand, what they had been taught would never go away. And yet…

“Your child doesn’t realize that she is ''alone'' right now!”

She yelled down at the coffin.

“Is that really the child you wanted!?”

“Mama?”

Fleur saw her mother lightly bite her lip.

…''What is it?

“Are you in pain? Did something upset you? Tell me, mama. It doesn’t matter if something bad happened. I mean, we can do all this when we work together. And…”

And…

“If I’m doing something wrong, I’ll be even more of a good girl. I’ll always, always do everything you tell me to. So…”

She trailed off there.

Suddenly, the Magino Device below her feet shook vertically. And…

“Eh…?”

The shaking continued a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time. Countless warning spell circles appeared atop the Device and around her.

Most of them appeared along the edge of one of the Devices forming the great flower.

And as those red warnings appeared, something happened to the hoe surrounded by them.

“…What!?”

With a metallic shattering sound, sparks, and ether light fragments, the hoe-shaped Device hopped straight upwards.

It had been struck. A collision of pure power had knocked a portion of the flower out of place. And…

…''A cannon blast!?

It was fired straight up from below. The hoe blade’s three leaves were pierced and deflected by the blast of light.

When the Device was broken by the ether light, the shockwave and power reinforcement divine protections caused it to scatter from above. The Giant Device came apart with a sound like dozens of glass panes shattering, and Fleur saw her enemy.

A blue sword and a vermilion bow appeared alongside her.

…''They did it!

Hunter saw two Magino Devices beyond the newly-created explosive air currents.

They were below the giant shattering flower. They were lined up in a vertical orientation to hide below the petals.

She did not even need to ask when they had done that.

“When they were knocked down before, the counterattack from below turned their front end skyward.”

“They used the recoil?” asked the Head Butler over a spell circle.

She nodded.

“Instead of resisting the upwards force of the counterattack, they let their Devices point upwards and then fired their main cannons. If they don’t reduce the recoil, that provides a short dash backwards. …And that must have brought them just below the giant Device.”

Below the flower was a safe zone, so they had fled there.

Hunter was impressed they had survived, but both Devices already had several pillars of ether smoke rising from them.

If they had not repaired the Devices even with Kagami there, they must not have had any time to spare. But…

“Don’t waste this chance!”

Horinouchi had fired.

She had used a multi-stage armored shell. She had done exactly what they had planned at their meeting.

…''That destroyed one of them at least!

That said, there was another problem they had to face. Akerindou and Dikaiosyne were currently positioned almost entirely vertically. In both cases, the entire Device acted as the barrel, so they would have to tilt the Device to aim left or right unless they were using guided shells.

But even right next to Fleur’s 2-kilometer-tall Device, the pocket created by the destroyed piece was narrow.

She considered using a guided shell, but it would be meaningless if she could not destroy the target. Besides, if the shell ricocheted up into the sky, it would give Fleur and the Headmaster quite a shock.

“Heh heh. That might not be a bad idea.”

“Head Butler! Lady Mitsuru just laughed fearlessly!”

“Is this what you call having enough confidence to scoff even at the Headmaster’s daughter!?”

“No Device can survive a close-range hit from Lady Mitsuru’s cannon!”

“Are you maids inventing aspects of Lady Mitsuru’s personality and reputation now!?”

Fleur used a spell circle to check on the damage to her Devices.

She had lost 1 of the 6 and her opponents were hiding in the pocket created by the damage. It was true Zephyr could not send the environment flowers to that location. To avoid self-destruction, the flowers were set to not reach any space that was supposed to be inside it.

Her opponents must have understood that. The sound of cannon fire echoed within Zephyr’s walls.

They had apparently taken aim at the Device on the right side of the opened pocket. After a sound of impact, the pocket-side leaf of its 3 was destroyed.

…''They’re so mean!

“Why are they trying to stop us? They don’t stand a chance against us!”

To protest, Fleur started up the device control spell circle and removed the lock. Then she moved the secondary cannons that stuck up from the Devices like towers. They were 200 meters tall. The total of 5 secondary cannons could open the muzzles on their surface and fire 64 beams of light each.

They were meant for close-range combat and for Devices that stuck to hers like these were doing.

After releasing them in order starting from the top, she used the Device’s sight devices to view the two Devices in the pocket.

…''Oh. They’re actually pretty damaged.

Then there was nothing to worry about. Those two could not stop her and her mama.

But she would not let this Device be plucked by anyone other than her and her mama. So…

“I’ll beat them down!”

The secondary cannons pointed in the correct direction launched a total of 152 guided beams toward the targets.

Horinouchi did not hesitate.

She fired three 3-arrow defense shells toward the massive downpour of light raining on them from above.

“I’m counting on you!”

She used the recoil of the shots to circle below Dikaiosyne like it was an umbrella.

Immediately afterwards, the 3-arrow expansions were pierced through with an explosive sound far above.

The remnants of the 3-arrows and the beams of light slammed into the Magino Device acting as an umbrella.

Sound sprayed out, tremors raced out, and Horinouchi could feel the hits to Dikaiosyne even as far away as she was. Dikaiosyne took a total of 82 hits. 70% of the upper armor was stripped away, 37% of the primary frame was damaged, and the aftereffects were still hitting it.

But below that rumbling, the Suzaku cried out.

“Chiiiiiiivalryyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

''What was that? Chivalry?'' she wondered, but Kagami was not here to provide a tsukkomi.

Of course she was not. After all…

“Go, Kagami!”

She had already told her she was counting on her.

“Get her!!”

Her appearance and action were instantaneous.

Fleur had just set the secondary cannons to their automatic barrage setting when someone appeared right before her.

…''Eh?

A blue and white figure stood on the Device.

It was a Holy Knight. She held a large sword and was running toward Fleur.

“Why…!?”

''My and mama’s Device are going to win. And that’s how I can make mama happy. It’s how I can be a good girl.

So why?

“Why are you interfering!?”

The flower witch fell back.

She took a step back while raising her hoe Device, but it was too late.

And so she swung her body like usual. With that movement, anyone would lose sight of her and be unable to keep up. So…

“Ha ha.”

Aware she had entered a safe zone, laughter escaped her lips.

When her opponent charged in, unable to see her, she would circle around behind the girl. And then she only had to get an attack in with her hoe and hit her with the flowers.

That had been a close one, but…

…''Mama, I did it!

Her mama would be coming to help her too, but she could handle this much on her own.

“Mama.”

Her mama was always doing something with her: fighting, creating her Device, or growing the flowers. They were always together. They were together everywhere.

Only a bad girl would just let her mama help her out.

A good girl would listen to what her mama said and do her part. She was a good girl who did not cause her mama any trouble. So just like her mama, she could do something together with her. Thus…

“I’m not a bad girl, mama.”

With that, she circled around. She circled behind the Holy Knight to get in her attack.

Except she could not.

…''Eh?

Her opponent was not in front of her. The girl was not where she should have been. Almost like…

“My-…”

“People are not fallen leaves, Fleur. Once we see it a few times and focus on it, we can copy even the most complex and intricate movements.”

A shiver ran down Fleur’s spine when she heard that voice behind her.

…''It can’t be…

“I was a bit of a late bloomer for a cherry blossom. But it is autumn, so no one will complain if the flowers have withered.”

When she looked back, she saw the Holy Knight approaching to swing an attack down from above.

…''Impossible!

She could think of no other word, but a different word escaped her mouth.

“Mama…!”

“Cerisier…!”

Lisbeth shouted in the underground hall.

The last remaining glowing plants lost their light as falling flower petals.

“Hey…!”

The witch from Europe placed her hands on the coffin and raised her voice.

“Is this the end…!?”

Kagami stopped moving.

She had come here intending to hit the girl. But…

…''Horinouchi was right.

She had said she would handle anything that Kagami was hesitant about. But…

“—————”

It was not Fleur standing before her.

It was the dress-wearing Headmaster.

She had faded enough to see the night and the cloud of flowers through her.

The Dikaiosyne that Kagami held was stopped at the woman’s left shoulder.

It had not hit her. Kagami had stopped it there.

When she remembered the coffin and glowing plants she had seen underground the night before, she had been unable to go through with the attack.

As she faced the woman who had shoved her daughter aside and spread her arms, she breathed in and spoke.

“Well done.”

Kagami did not bother with any clichéd thoughts about this being how a true parent should act.

For the first time, the woman had simply protected her daughter. Instead of helping her dodge or defend, she had simply moved to protect.

“I thank you.”

Kagami appreciated that a resident of a world she had helped create had made that decision. And…

“—————”

The Headmaster began to disappear.

Ether light scattered from her feet, hands, and sides.

She had reached her limit. The light scattered from the same locations that had been missing inside the coffin the night before.

The Headmaster looked Kagami’s way and her lips moved. She was probably trying to speak, but she no longer had enough strength to produce an audible voice. She was no more than video footage now, but she still spoke.

“I leave this to you too.”

There was no point in asking what. Kagami had been left with many things in the past.

So she nodded and the Headmaster looked behind her.

“Mama!”

The girl there was weak in the knees and she simply reached her hands out.

Fleur tried to keep her mother here.

She tried to hold her in her arms and to keep it all from leaking out.

But she could not.

Her arms swung through empty air and her hands passed through the pieces of her mother that scattered into the sky.

“Ah, ah…!”

She stretched her hands out toward the scattering light and tried to gather it all together, but it was no use. Everything strayed from what she intended and it all vanished.

Her arms only found herself to hold as she shook her head over and over.

“Mama!”

As she yelled, her mother vanished with a smile.

Her mother had smiled, but she was nowhere to be found now. Fleur looked left, right, forward, back, up, and everywhere her spell circle would show her, but she could not find her mother anywhere. She looked around and around, refusing to accept what had happened.

“No…!”

She shouted. She raised her voice toward the sky.

“Why…!? You promised…!”

Several lights appeared around her. She could no longer control the Magino Device, so the power was running out of control. But that did not matter.

“Come back…!”

She simply raised her right hand and 3 main cannon spell circles opened at once.

She could do that. She could do that and more.

But she had no one to show it off to anymore. However, she did have someone to beat down with it. So…

“I’ll be a good girl! I’ll show you I can, so come back, mama!!”

She used the 3 main cannons to sweep an attack around the top of the Zephyr for a combined total of 1080 degrees.

Fleur’s Magino Device was collapsing. The armor peeled away like falling flower petals and transformed into fragments of light.

But Horinouchi saw two movements from below the half-destroyed Dikaiosyne.

The first was the scattering armor turning into flowers.

The second was main cannon beams cutting across the sky while scattering roses. Three beams of white roses raced out and pursued the Holy Knight who had jumped down from the Device.

“Kagami!”

Kagami had avoided a direct hit, but there were also aftereffects. Her Form’s armor and the sword she had used as a shield had shattered.

Dikaiosyne could not move, so Horinouchi slid Akerindou out.

“Kagami…!”

She ran to the edge to catch up. To make it in time. She stretched out her hand, but Akerindou had no hand to grab with. She and Kagami needed it, so neither of them would let her throw it away.

The battle was not yet over. With that in mind, she reached out with her nearly bare right hand.

“…”

She grabbed Kagami and pulled her in.

Akerindou descended to better catch the falling girl.

“Going dowwwwwwn.”

When she looked back toward that voice, she saw the Suzaku clearing its throat.

“Um, was that…?”

“Horinouchi! Its owner must not question it!”

Kagami seemed to be doing well. The next thing Horinouchi knew, she was holding that girl who she could only sigh at.

…''Honestly.

“I said to leave it to me if you were going to hesitate.”

“I did not hesitate. I simply saw a certain decision.”

Kagami smiled bitterly, then breathed in and looked overhead.

“We have to stop her. But…”

All of the stripped away armor was turning into flowers. And what would that lead to?

“Does she intend to destroy everything even as she loses control!?”

“Kagami! Horinouchi!”

Hunter viewed the scene through a light-amplified telescopic spell.

The wild cloud of flowers was splitting apart and gaps were forming.

But not because it was weakening. The force with which the flowers were being ejected had grown beyond anything seen previously. They had been floating as a cloud before, but now they swirled as a violent storm.

Triple main cannon shots were continually racing out and detonating the clouds they hit. They were sometimes fired toward the Pacific and detonated the ocean along a somewhat twisted arc.

And the fleet began to move.

“All ships, approach to 50 km off Japan’s east coast! …We must move below the angle of fire!”

The deck rocked below Hunter’s feet as the acceleration lifted the bow and pulled down the stern.

…''We’re all gonna die together here.

Hunter had something to do, so she contacted the command center with a communication spell.

“Captain! And Lieutenant! If we get closer, we can get more detailed data, right!? Send that to the Horinouchi family! And to the Rank 3 at Shihouin Academy!”

Mary understood what she had to do.

…''I need to read the currents of these storm clouds!

She could freely control invisible annihilation scythes, so she could easily read currents of power. Of course, those currents grew complex with as many layers to the power as seen here. But…

“My teacher easily read and emulated the way that girl moves.”

She had suddenly done it in the middle of battle, so she was a monster. Mary was normal compared to that, but…

“All done!”

She was skilled at reading multiple layers. Her training allowed her to draw it all out as actual skill. Her teacher had seen that inside her. So…

“I need to send them this information!”

Horinouchi received simulation data of the surrounding clouds courtesy of Koutarou. She had the Suzaku eat it while she focused on firing.

But the collapsing armor was getting in the way. Even when she fired, the armor would self-destruct like sand and the force of the blow would not get through. And the chips of destroyed armor panels became flowers and rained down on them.

“Kh…!!”

Explosions fell like a waterfall and tore into Akerindou.

Kagami was next to her.

“Dikaio, can you pull yourself back up?”

The dragon child shook its head at that. Defending against the previous hits had to have taken nerves of steel, but that servant was a sturdy child despite its appearance.

…''Letting her go was the right decision.

But even as they fired and detonated the flowers to secure a safe zone…

…''How long is this going to continue!?

As she asked that, Horinouchi heard a voice in the sky.

It was Fleur. The girl was crying alone atop her collapsing Magino Device.

“Mama! Where are you!? Where did you go!? Weren’t we supposed to be together forever!? Mama! I’ll be a good girl and I won’t do anything else you need to scold me for, so come back, Mama!”

She had not done anything wrong, so why had her mother gone away?

“Was I not a good girl? Then I’ll be one! I will! I really will!”

Her mother had often told her she was a good girl and that she would get stronger.

And yet her mother had gone away.

“It was you two! It was you two that made mama go away!”

Her Magino Device’s sight devices showed her the opponents hiding in the broken parts of Zephyr.

“Give back mama!”

She controlled her Magino Device. She had power. Her mother had wanted her to be powerful. So she used that power as if grabbing the giant Device in her hand and moving it.

“Ahhhhhh!”

If she pulled it hard to the west, the enemy could not follow.

She slid the 3 km wide Device through the sky.

And she saw it. In the swirling blizzard of flowers in the eastern sky, a small bow-shaped Device floated while facing the moon. It could not keep up with her and simply aimed toward heaven.

If she destroyed that, it was over. And once it was over, it would be Hexennacht, just like she had promised with her mama.

Her mama would keep her promise, so the rest was simple. She would use the main cannon spell circle opened overhead to make a main cannon attack.

“Wait for me, mama! I’ll be there soon! I’ll keep my promise! So…!”

She fired the main cannon at full power.

This was not a sweeping attack. It was a straight line.

Horinouchi sensed danger.

…''I was too slow to respond!

No matter what happened, she had never imagined a 3 km wide Magino Device could move so suddenly.

Akerindou was exposed to their opponent while pointing straight up. In that position, it would be nearly impossible to dodge left or right. And since it was focused on firing, the thrusters were set to maintain its position, meaning it could not immediately ascend.

That left only one option.

“Kagami! I’ll endure this with multiple layers of 3-arrow barriers! But…”

Kagami’s Dikaiosyne had been almost entirely destroyed, but it was slowly falling toward the surface. So Horinouchi was going to tell her to evacuate onto that.

But a strength stopped her.

Kagami powerfully grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close.

Triple main cannon blasts were arriving from beyond Akerindou and the light was approaching head-on, but Kagami raised her eyebrows in a smile and squeezed Horinouchi’s shoulder.

“It all comes down to this.”

And…

“Horinouchi. …What form do you imagine could defeat and admonish that opponent?”

“Well…”

Just as Horinouchi wondered what this girl was talking about, the rose main cannon struck Akerindou.

“A hard hit!?”

Hunter saw a massive ether explosion inside the battlefield’s air currents.

Those were clearly the fragments of a Magino Device’s destruction. And that led to only one conclusion:

“Did they lose!?”

Dikaiosyne had sunk down out of view. It had already been destroyed. And now Akerindou and its excellent attack power had been destroyed. So…

“Damn!”

“Hunter!”

She shook when she heard the second-in-command, Song Café, suddenly shout her name.

And then warning spell circles appeared all across the deck and the other ships.

…''Huh!?

Hunter quickly looked around and saw all of the ships advancing in alert mode. That meant there was something considered dangerous at their destination. But even if Fleur’s out-of-control Device was clearly dangerous, they already had all the data on it. So…

“Hunter! Look carefully out ahead! Our control system has detected something large enough to trigger an alert!”

“Something large…!?”

“We don’t know! We can’t identify it at all! It’s a new model! And-…”

It appeared before Song Café could finish speaking.

The ether explosion smoke of Akerindou’s destruction had created a glowing cumulonimbus cloud and two wings stretched toward the night sky from within it.

The wings broke through the clouds and reached a height of more than 5 kilometers in the sky.

“…Ah?”

Dumbfounded, Hunter gasped as she ignored the surrounding sounds of waves, of the accelerating fleet, and of the wind.

…''What is that?

Everyone else on the deck was equally speechless as it tore through the cloud to move forward.

A shrine bell and a church bell could be heard ringing together as vermillion armor and a vermilion cloak came into view.

The helmet worn deep over the eyes was decorated with wings. The weapon it held was the familiar shape of Dikaiosyne except with a vermilion color and an even greater size.

[[Image:Hexennacht_v03_368-369.png|thumb]]

“A Holy Knight-type…?”

No, it had wings and it had a skirt and sleeves that the clouds trailed from.

It was over 3 kilometers tall. It looked like a divine idol and its name was given in a transmission from the Horinouchi family.

“This form was left in the records of Lady Mitsuru’s mother. She sublimated her Magino Frame to bring it to an even higher level.”

It was…

“Lady Mitsuru’s mother named it the Geo Frame!”

Koutarou saw it on the video footage.

He must have seen this once before, but he had forgotten.

“Thank you very much, milady…”

This had overwritten the erased memories of his first master.

That divine idol resembled both Kagami and Horinouchi.

The trick behind it had to be Dikaiosyne. The Magino Device had collapsed and fallen, but it had not been completely destroyed. And the giant Device’s collapse had produced a massive amount of ether.

Dikaiosyne had stored that and given it to Kagami.

The rest was Horinouchi’s job. A Shinto shrine maiden was defined by her connection to her god. The image she had wished for resembled Kagami’s Holy Knight, but that may have been due to the Halloween party the other day.

“Well done, milady!”

Horinouchi felt like she knew this.

…''No, I do know it.

She and Kagami controlled it from a deck-like platform atop the chest.

“The Geo Frame…”

She and Kagami had worked together to create this Device. The dragon child and the Suzaku both produced their own spell circle and both of them displayed the view from the giant divine idol’s eyes.

She realized their Forms had changed as well. They had feathered decorations, a cloak, sleeves, and side skirts, so it seemed a little too Western for a Shinto shrine maiden.

''But,'' she thought.

…''This is the “power” I pictured in my mind.

She did not deny that. And there was a large flower in front of them. They would reach it in another 5 seconds. So…

“Let’s do this, Kagami!”

“Yes, Horinouchi. What should we call this?”

She realized her Akerindou had inherited its name, so she had never named a weapon. So…

“I’m not sure, so I’ll leave that to you.”

“Then how about the Hyper Manko!? Attack, Ultra Manko!”

The idol stopped moving.

“Y-you idiot! You just hurt its feelings!”

“No, I believe it is only responding to your own excitement.”

''Honestly,'' she thought as she caught her breath. The idol began moving once more.

…''Ah.

The air currents triggered a chain reaction of explosions. Fleur had instructed all of the flowers to detonate in order to destroy them.

Mary saw the spell circle’s footage white out from the large scale ether explosion.

To the north, white light raced high in the sky and shimmering heat covered the surface of the night sky. The air pushed away from the northern battlefield by the explosion had reached her on a large enough scale to distort the environment.

And she could see it with the naked eye now.

She saw it far north of the destroyed buildings on the northern coast of Tokyo Bay.

“That’s it…”

The goddess idol broke through the light and smoke of the explosion and took a step forward.

It was unharmed.

…''Is that the Shinto power of purification?

She was certain that a shrine bell could be heard ringing on the battlefield every time it moved.

And the idol slowly but lightly stepped forward.

“Impossible…!”

Fleur saw an unbelievable power approaching her.

…''Impossible!

“Mama never told me about that! Don’t you think using that is rude to mama!? Don’t you think it’s unfair!?”

She slammed the flowers against it and fired volleys from her secondary cannons.

But none of it could even scratch the great sword held up as a shield.

“Mama! I’ll keep my promise!”

She cried out and swung both arms forward.

She swung a triple main cannon blast down like a sword raised overhead.

It was settled by a single attack.

The idol raised its great sword overhead and launched a counterattack.

The high speed slash struck the triple rose spears that swung down like a whip from heaven.

“We will stop you!”

Shrine and cathedral bells rang in unison as the blade sliced right through the three lines of roses.

The roses scattered and the light split. The great sword’s blade alone was more than 4 kilometers long.

That vermilion sword split the great flower.

It was split from top to bottom and the idol’s follow through motion brought the blade all the way down to the ground.

“—————”

The idol turned its back on the great flower that still floated in the sky.

It stood tall and stabbed its sword into the ground.

At that very moment, the two halves of the collapsing flower Device shifted slightly, one half up and one half down.

The self-destruction was instantaneous. Instead of exploding, everything turned to flower petals and scattered into the air.

The air shook with a wave-like sound.

The sound of rustling leaves reverberated through the sky.

Then all of the flowers burst and spread across the sky like one giant blooming flower.

From there, it all became fragments of light that decorated the air.

It had been destroyed.

At some point, the sky had gained a faint light.

The battle was over and dawn was breaking.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume3_Chapter_13|Chapter 13]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume3_Chapter_15|Chapter 15]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 8

2017-02-16T23:41:21Z

86.52.13.23: Fixed two errors.

==Chapter 8: Gatherer at the Surrounded Sea==
[[Image:Horizon5A_237.jpg|thumb]]
''You can see it in the distance

''It also exists nearby

'''Point Allocation (Like a Wave)

“They certain took a long journey. And they’ll be heading back before long.”

A voice rang out above the ocean that reflected the morning sky.

It was in the sky above a large bay.

That surrounded portion of sea had an entrance opened on the south and ships would occasionally travel in or out through it, but one structure cast a greater shadow than any other.

“The Azuchi Castle will finally be joining the invasion of Mouri.”

A woman’s voice came from the west of the bay. A giant but slender three-hull ship floated in the eastern sky there. That high-speed aerial warship bore the name Shirasagi Castle and a woman in a moon-colored summer uniform stood on the central bow with her hands on her hips and her eyes on the eastern sky.

She was viewing a large black ship with 6 hulls in the land port built on the shore.

The name Azuchi Castle was visible on the bow of the flat ship.

Then an ''insha kotob'' appeared next to the woman. It displayed a girl with her hair tied back high on her head.

“Takigawa-sama, this is Fukushima on the Azuchi Castle. We have completed the transfer of control to the Tottori Castle. We will leave port at 8 tonight and continue straight to Mouri without resupplying.”

“Shaja. Good luck. I hear the other side kept the upper hand and made a mess of the first battle in Mouri today, but we planned for that. This begins for real starting tomorrow. You’ll be there by then, won’t you?”

“Testament. We have our end-of-term exams, but we intend to rush through those tonight. In Mouri, they are working out who will be the elites of the Hashiba forces. …Or so Takenaka-sama says.”

“Take was so excited about getting into the Ten Spears, but she hasn’t changed at all. She’s still so down-to-earth and severe. Will you tell her not to get seasick? The frontline commander has to be on a ship, after all.”

“I hear it is too late for that…”

“Ha ha. She’s also inherited the name of Kuroda Kanbei, a tactician feared even by Hashiba, but she’s still a complete lost cause on that front. She should probably remake her body a little. …Anyway, it’ll be sad not to have the Azuchi Castle around anymore, but that’s just how it is. For a while, it was split apart to take the place of the devastated villages in the area, but it really shines when it’s all together. It’s a good ship.”

“Testament. I am glad to hear thee say that. And thank thee very much for accommodating us even though we will be leaving so soon.”

“Yes, yes. Hashiba was at Lake Biwa Azuchi for an interim report, right? Did you get any souvenirs, Fuku?”

“Testament. I got some Edo Bananas, including enough for the rest of the Ten Spears, but should I really have gotten so many?”

“To be honest, we’ve had way too many of them since there are almost no tourists now. The Asakusa specialty known as a Black Thunder Crackers are pretty good, but Asakusa is Musashi, right? I feel like someone would complain.”

There was movement beyond the Azuchi Castle as Takigawa spoke. The Tottori Castle, a large transport ship behind the Azuchi Castle, was beginning to move into the land port. Takigawa followed it with her eyes.

“This is really a new situation for Edo. Look, Fuku, the Ariake has removed its upper surface stealth to watch us.”

Some white cirrus clouds were visible in the northeast sky. Fukushima looked to them inside the screen.

“Takigawa-sama, thou should keep an eye on them. Kiyo-dono and I need to retrain ourselves.”

“Don’t worry,” said Takigawa as she smiled and looked to the right, which was west.

There was a black galley fleet there. It was fortifying the west side of the bay.

“We have the Houjou Association of Indian States fleet. …Because I’m supposed to be the inspector of Houjou and the rest of Kantou. So if I’m going to return to Lake Biwa Azuchi…”

She laughed and crossed her arms.

“It’ll be after the Battle of Kanagawa. …According to the Testament, that’s when Houjou rebels against me. And after that sends me back, I don’t do much more of import. After I side with Shiba at Shizugatake, I retire until I meet my end at Komaki Nagakute. So I think I should do what I can here.”

“Takigawa-sama…”

Fukushima started to say something but held her tongue. Then she put on a flat-eyebrowed expression over the ''insha kotob''.

“Kiyo-dono and I…and Wakisaka and the others too. We will visit Kantou on occasion. And with the Bunroku and Keichou Campaigns, Yukinaga-sama and Kuki-sama can visit thee too.”

“I can speak with Cookie and the others over the divine transmission. You underclassmen don’t need to worry about an upperclassman like me. Besides, I don’t really understand it all, but you all have a fair number of memories concerning Kantou, right?”

“Testament. That is a secret, so I cannot say much. …There is something that I wish we had been able to deal with while we were here, though.”

“It’s fine. P.A. Oda doesn’t question people’s pasts. That helped me out too.” Takigawa laughed. “Well, leave Kantou to me. Even if something happens, I’ll return the Shirasagi Castle to Hashiba and sink the Musashi. You lent me more than enough of a fighting force for that. Although that’s left us so busy with school events that Mr. Picky won’t shut up about it.”

“Yes, Akechi-sama does an…impressive job of carrying out his duties as Representative Committee Head despite being in Kyou…”

“Shaja. Fuku, get some sleep. You’re heading out on the first ship tonight, aren’t you? …Night is good. The moon is the symbol of P.A. Oda. It’s a source of power.”

The sun was setting in the sky. It began to grow a little yellow, but it was still bright. Takigawa took a breath as she looked to it.

“This is the sky of early summer shifting into summer.”

She looked across the orange-dyed sky and saw a bluish-black color and bright stars in the east.

And to the north, she saw some horizontal fog and some small ships in the distance.

“That would be the Oushuu merchant fleets. The Ariake has removed its upper stealth, so we can see them now. But…”

While Fukushima said that, those ships suddenly vanished.

The Ariake’s stealth barrier was back up.

They were hiding. At the same time, the second-in-command ran up the stairs leading below deck.

“Lady Takigawa! The Ariake is fully hiding itself behind its stealth barrier once more!”

Takigawa sensed definite willpower behind the Ariake’s action. She might have been imagining it, but…

…''They’ve made up their mind.

Her second-in-command held out an ''insha kotob'' that displayed a close-up image of the vanishing Ariake.

But Takigawa smiled and kept her eyes on the northeastern sky.

“They’re watching, they’re watching. They have to be watching our actions here. And the Mouri battle has to be inspiring them to action of their own. They’re probably rebuilding their motivation right about now,” she said. “It’s been a week since they got back from Novgorod and summer break is coming up soon, so they must be as busy as us working through their official events. Their elation after victory at Novgorod will be wearing off, but if they don’t act now, that power and willpower are meaningless.”

“Then, Takigawa-sama, are thou saying…?”

“Shaja.” Takigawa nodded. “They’re after Houjou and they want to leave Mouri indebted to them. So when the Azuchi leaves tonight, the Musashi will probably leave as well. For example…”

For example…

“They might fire on the Azuchi to do as much damage as they can to the supplies and troops being transported to Mouri and then they won’t attack Houjou. In doing that, they can show they have no hostility against Houjou, which will help them in the negotiations leading into the later Tensho Jingo Conflict and Siege of Odawara. But…”

“But?”

“There’s one obstacle preventing them from reaching the Tensho Jingo Conflict and the Siege of Odarawa: me.”

Takigawa smiled bitterly and thought about her Testament descriptions.

“Yes, according to the Testament, I grow restless when I hear of our master’s assassination, so Houjou attacks me and I lose the castle I’m using to manage Kantou. …That’s the local battle known as the Battle of Kanagawa.”

That carried a few difficult problems. After all…

“It’s only after our master’s death that I lose my castle and retreat from Kantou. So if Musashi manages to establish my retreat, it will raise one of the Kantou flags for our master’s assassination. But…”

“That is done by Houjou and not Musashi.”

“Right. That isn’t Musashi’s job. And Hashiba has control at the later Siege of Odawara. If Houjou carelessly drives me out, they will meet the same fate as Edo. But if Musashi does not act tonight, they will lose both the opportunity and their reputation as a nation. The other nations will think they were helpless as the Azuchi left before their eyes. Mouri would probably be the one to protest the most.” Takigawa smiled. “It’s tricky. Musashi has to get Houjou to attack us and they also want Mouri to be indebted to them. So what will they do? This can’t be fun for them. As for us…”

What would they do tonight?

…''It’s simple.

“Tonight, we need to get Houjou to say goodbye to Musashi.”

That would fully draw Houjou into their own ranks and it would let her safely negotiate her retreat from Kantou.

“Of the flags left for our master’s assassination, the most important ones for the expansion of our power is the invasion of Mouri and my retreat from Kantou. But Hashiba and I will manage that. We will at least protect our master’s assassination through summer break. And after summer break when all the necessary preparations are complete…”

Takigawa breathed in before continuing.

“We will execute our master’s Genesis Project.”

“———————”

“Listen, Fuku. You need to calmly leave for Mouri tonight. And when you see Houjou turn on Musashi, I want you to tell everyone something. Tell them that I’m working out in this remote area all on my own and that they aren’t to forget about me, okay?”

Takigawa relaxed her shoulders and looked to the Azuchi Castle.

“Can you do that?”

Masazumi stood on the lift descending the inside of the Ariake’s outer wall.

…''I need to give this some thought.

Around her, the others were recording and analyzing the scene of Edo and the movements of the other nations they had just seen. The nudist was not doing anything, but that was fine since the alternative was much more dangerous.

But Horizon asked a question.

“Masazumi-sama, what will we do when the Azuchi Castle takes action?”

“If possible, I want to send the Musashi out and fire on them.”

''The enemy is probably thinking the same thing,'' Masazumi told herself while bracing her heart and looking to the others.

She knew just who to leave this with.

“Neshinbara, put together a strategy. I want to have some definite friendship with Houjou tonight.”

“Really!?”

Neshinbara turned back and spread his arms. There were some worrying aspects to his expression, but she decided it did not really matter.

“Do it. We might have used our resistance to make a comeback and then climbed up onto the world stage, but there are some who are trying to move ever forward to pull out ahead of us. This is hardly a new thought, but the world really is a constant competition.”

She felt the inner pressure inside her growing.

…''I really might be the kind of politician that likes this kind of fighting.

But the other academies were also ''like this''.

The large nations led the world and the small nations tried to put themselves out there and to survive.

Everyone was doing what they could to not be crushed.

…''When Sanada attacked and sabotaged us before the Battle of Novgorod, they weren’t just trying to destroy the Musashi and crush us. That was their way to make their presence known to the world as a small nation.

What they did would determine the value of the small nation of Sanada and of themselves. They had made their attack with that great pressure bearing down on them and they would again in the future.

There were plenty of other nations like that. And…

“We must not forget that we are taking on a superpower that has control of the majority of the world. We’re trying to get a hit in to prevent them from simply doing whatever they want. Today will be the beginning of that.”

“Then let’s send out the Musashi! Let’s show off! And I want to move the Ariake too! We opened the bottom to send the Musashi out before, so it’d be cool to open the top this time!”

“This boy…” muttered everyone, so Masazumi nodded.

“Can we do it?”

“I’ll make sure we can.” Neshinbara crossed his arms and grinned. “I’ll put together a strategy that’s guaranteed to make Houjou our friends.”

The afternoon wind blew across an aerial fleet marked with the name Houjou.

The Houjou fleet was protecting Edo Bay, the Tottori Castle which had arrived there, and the Azuchi Castle which was about to leave.

The battleship leading the fleet was the Hachioji Castle. Someone in white stood on the black galley’s deck.

The girl wore a white track suit with the “Sagami Houjou” logo on the back. She was an automaton with dark skin and a white horn on either side of her head.

She had a view horizontally out into the sky.

As she stood motionless above the sea to guard and monitor the area, she faced northwest.

“Ujinao-sama, the Ariake’s estimated location is 120 km in that direction.”

Houjou Ujinao nodded at the words of the ninja girl Mouse at her feet. Her eyes were closed, but she turned her head to face the Mouse.

“Kotarou, now is the time to prepare the shells and the mechanical phoenix unit. …We will do exactly as Hashiba has instructed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Testament. You established a friendly relationship with Musashi at IZUMO and your childhood friend is on the Musashi…or so I hear.”

“Testament,” said Ujinao with a nod. But she then opened a sign frame to display Hashiba’s instructions. She placed her hand on it and called in more information. “But, Kotarou, positions change with time.”

“Is there anything outside of one’s position?”

“There is.”

Ujinao was very clear about that. Next, she began to walk forward. She stopped on the very edge of the bow and faced the Ariake’s distant position in the sky. And…

“But your physical location can only be decided by your position. Just because you have certain feelings does not mean you can be by someone’s side, Kotarou. And it is because it comes with a fixed physical location that we call it our ‘position’.”

“What is your relationship with that person?”

“He is my ally. …And I am his ally.”

“I-I am your ally too, Ujinao-sama!”

Kotarou’s words placed a small smile on Ujinao’s lips.

“Even if we are far apart, even if we are forever separated, and even if we are enemies.”

Listen.

“Our Houjou Association of Indian States teaches of death, rebirth, and transcendence. Everything will eventually meet destruction and it will be reborn through the process of transmigration. But to escape the suffering of that cycle is to transcend it and reach the pure land. That means life is constant suffering and you cannot escape it even in death due to transmigration.”

“That’s pretty harsh…”

“And that is why our teachings say people must reach enlightenment and transcend that cycle. But…”

But…

“What if there was someone who you could trust would forever be your ally even throughout transmigration?”

“Well…”

“What if you had someone who you could trust would remain your ally even if they are not by your side, even if you die, and even if they die?”

“That…that wouldn’t be possible. It’s nonsense.”

“It is possible. There are a few ways.” Ujinao placed her hands on the deck railing. “But in my case, it was a childhood promise.”

“Childhood…? Ujinao-sama, even your family and relatives betrayed you and turned on you while fighting over inheritance…”

“It happened in those very circumstances. And…that is why we promised to be each other’s allies ‘no matter what’. Perhaps it was a childish attempt to feel some peace and perhaps it was just something I wanted to hear myself say. And in my current position, I have you and everyone else as my allies. So…”

So…

“I am much more spoiled than I was in the past. So if he and I are still ‘allies’, then there is nothing to fear.”

Ujinao hit the “approve” mark on the sign frame.

She had authorized supplies for the armaments and she nodded with a small smile.

“Now, I wonder what the world is going to do.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
}}
</noinclude>

Clash of Hexennacht:Volume3 Chapter 13

2017-02-05T03:09:34Z

86.52.13.23: Added a missing word.

==Chapter 13: Blooming of the Flower of Illusion and Rejection==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v03_312-313.png|thumb]]
''Is what you love

''In front of you now?

The attack was sudden.

Fleur’s Magino Device had taken on a floral shape. That fortress composed of 6 Devices slowly rotated while scattering flowers into the space around it.

They were not just released horizontally; it was a complete field of air currents, so they hovered, rocked, rose, and fell.

As the giant flower continued to spin, countless flower petals flew from what had originally been the hoe blades. Those large components had cannon openings on the top and bottom and explosive flowers spilled from there like clouds of pollen.

The only sound was the roaring of the wind.

But something else happened once 2 Magino Devices approached it while avoiding the air currents.

Spell circles opened on the flower’s upper surface.

6 of them opened in a horizontal flower shape and they bore the word “fire”.

As soon as all 6 glowed, a single attack was formed.

At the center of the 6 spell circles, glowing flowers appeared higher up in the air and flew from north to south. The cannon blast of glowing flowers raced in a straight line toward the part of the sky the other 2 Devices occupied.

The beam of light shot through and swept across the night.

The 2 Devices swiftly descended and dodged the path of the light.

But the flying light still brought destruction.

At a range of 270 km and after passing over the 7th Fleet on the Pacific, the beam drew a great arc and the ocean exploded along a straight line.

Hunter saw a long, long north-to-south stretch of light along the eastern ocean.

It happened behind them while they faced the battlefield on the mainland, but…

“That wasn’t a physical shell or a created shell! I didn’t know a beam attack could fly that far!”

Based on the power of the hit, it could have gone even further. Its actual range may have been more than 500 km.

That was far shorter than the range of Hunter’s Hedgehog, but…

“There’s nothing you can do if she fires that from the absolute defense of her environment…”

''C’mon now.

“When did this turn into something from a kaiju battle?”

“And does this mean mankind couldn’t defeat the Black Witch last Hexennacht even with something like that?”

“The Headmaster might not have had this. This is the powered up version, remember?”

But then the Head Butler called in from the Horinouchi family.

“There are records of a similar attack being used back then. …But since Lady Mitsuru’s mother was even more powerful than Lady Shihouin or Lady Lisbeth, she must have had something even greater.”

That fact was what mattered here.

What could defeat something rivalling this?

…''Is what we discussed last night really going to work?

Hunter wondered what she would do if it was her, but she had to focus on the present situation.

“I doubt I’ll get an answer, but what kind of power could defeat this?”

There were of course no records of that. They had been erased by the Black Witch.

So Horinouchi and Kagami would have to figure something out. They would have to add to the previous night’s strategizing and defeat this fortress.

…''If only we still had those records.

Just as Hunter thought that, the Head Butler sent another transmission.

“The combat records for Lady Mitsuru’s mother do not remain, but we do know the name of what she did then.”

“And what is-…?”

Just as she tried to ask, a bright explosion cloud appeared in the sky.

…''Has it started to build up its environment!?

She saw a vast flower garden and cherry trees in the night sky. They were in full bloom.

Horinouchi and Akerindou were enveloped by the giant swirling blizzard of flowers.

…''A typhoon!?

The giant pink flower was sitting in the center and ether flowers were spreading in every direction – both horizontally and vertically – from there.

It all created a vortex with a vast rotation and trailing flowers that ignored the wind. Those flowers even arrived behind Horinouchi.

Information from the US military was reaching her via the Horinouchi family. The process by which Fleur’s Magino Device was constructed was displayed next to her face.

It was a single giant Device.

The engine system was focused at the center of the top and the bottom only contained the ether extraction system.

It looked like it specialized in defense and attack. The fundamental design philosophy was probably the same as European U.A.H.’s Magino Devices. But…

“What is with this expansion of the cannon portion!?”

She barely saw any of the thruster-related structures that it would need to move. Did it have a buoyancy system installed across various points and did it move by altering their balance? But in addition to that, the cannon’s shell creation system was far too large.

The entire base of the hoe’s three leaves formed the shell creation system.

The rest was only the skinny handle, so essentially 80% of the Magino Device was used to create the explosive flowers.

The design was far simpler than she had thought, but when it was this extreme, it completely restricted what tactics were available.

“Can you really focus this much on attack!?”

“Huh? I feel like I was shot down by a Device with that exact philosophy recently.”

“What a coincidence. I too had a Device with that philosophy shoot me all the way from the South Pole.”

“I-if you have something to say, come out and say it!”

“Ha ha ha. They know you will understand even if they do not. It is a sign of trust, Horinouchi.”

''Honestly,'' sulked Horinouchi as she checked on Akerindou’s summoning.

She decided to accelerate upwards and go for the first attack.

Next to her, Kagami had finished the summoning of Dikaiosyne, so…

“Here we go!”

“Roostaaaaaaaahhhhhh!”

The Suzaku shouted from her shoulder, but she decided to assume it was only saying “rooster” and ignored it. It may have been at the age where it wanted a hen, but she decided not to think about the possibility of it being female.

She simply flew onward.

Just as they had discussed, she used multi-stage armored shells. She had to get close before firing them and Fleur’s Magino Device still had to fully disseminate its flowers and establish its environment.

This was her chance.

“Akerindou, let’s go at full speed!”

Kagami casually waved from Dikaiosyne next to her. She was a little further ahead.

This was how it always went. This was a Ranker Battle and not a time to just watch the enemy. So…

“Here goes!”

She split through the wind while having Akerindou fold up and down into its acceleration form.

She continued on.

She eventually broke through the blowing wind and only heard the sound of herself tearing through the atmosphere. White water vapor trailed back from Akerindou’s leading points and corners.

…''Hurry…!

Hunter and Mary had taught them that making a quick attack was crucial against this opponent. And…

…''We have to stop the Headmaster and Fleur!

With that thought, the distance between the two sides dropped below 5 kilometers.

Their opponent was gigantic. Horinouchi had no idea how it worked, but she knew this would make it easy to target.

However, the flower at the center of it all suddenly tilted. Six spell circles opened on the top.

“Horinouchi! You’re moving too far ahead!”

Just as Kagami sent her a warning, a beam of glowing rose flowers swept across their airspace.

Mary watched the footage as Horinouchi and Kagami dodged in a very forceful fashion.

The video was only static after the wide-range vortex of flowers hit it, but she could still detect the 2 Magino Devices by setting the proper band of ether detection.

Kagami proactively dodged the beam of light released into the sky.

…''She fired her cannon!

Mary recognized this because Kagami had dodged her attacks like this inside the barrier she had created at the North Pole.

Kagami used the recoil to spin around backwards. And Horinouchi’s Akerindou was along that spinning path. So the rest was simple.

“She collides with her.”

Sure enough, a collision hit Akerindou diagonally.

Dikaiosyne knocked itself down in order to push Akerindou away.

It hit.

An intense sound shook the scene, but the footage showed the 2 Magino Devices had indeed fallen below the sweeping beam of light.

It did not hit.

However, the movement of the beam created a shockwave.

“Miss Horinouchi…!”

Mary decided not to use the girl’s true name as she watched the 2 Magino Device’s tumbling through the air.

The shockwave created by the sweeping light had struck them as a wide surface.

It was a powerful enough hit for the 500-meter Devices to lose control.

The blue and vermilion Devices were thrown several kilometers and flipped 5 times before righting themselves.

After regaining control, they found themselves in a certain position.

The giant flower was turned such that the oldest of Fleur’s Magino Devices was facing Kagami and Horinouchi.

Horinouchi was aware her pulse was racing.

…''Was that its main cannon!?

She had sensed some panic when up against Hunter and Mary or in her other Ranker Battles.

But she felt something else against this opponent.

That panic never left her.

It felt like everything was dangerous and that a single mistake would lead to absolute defeat. Also…

…''Are our attacks even getting through?

Just as she wondered that, Kagami rested her control Device on her shoulder and spoke atop Dikaiosyne.

“I see.” Her tone did not allow anyone to contradict her. “So you can take it this far if you are willing to use any means necessary.”

Was that a bad thing or not?

It was not wrong from the perspective of defeating the Black Witch. Criticizing the use of so much power was only the jealousy of the weak.

…''Then why?

Once she wondered that, she belatedly recalled where Kagami came from.

She was one of this world’s creators. The world was a story and a setting, but there had likely been some kind of ideal built into it.

In that case…

…''Yes.

Kagami must have been angry. Angry at herself.

After all, she had created this world and she had made one of its residents take things this far.

If she had stopped her sister, the Black Witch, sooner, this kind of power never would have been created.

But this much power had been created, and…

“————”

A few things seemed to link together inside Horinouchi.

So she had something to say, even if her origin was different from Kagami’s.

“Kagami.”

“Do you need something?”

“Yes, I am panicking and cautious. I am wondering what in the world is going on.”

But…

“I am not afraid of the person I must face.”

She spoke without taking her eyes off of their opponent and she did not receive an immediate response. But after the span of a few breaths, her partner spoke clearly.

“Thank you.”

But she also heard another voice.

A witch was laughing from the great flower at the center of the moonlit vortex of flowers.

“Ha ha.”

The flower witch raised her hands toward the night sky.

“That should be enough, right? No.”

''Here it comes,'' thought Horinouchi just as it and an announcement arrived.

“Bloom.”

The blowing flowers began a chain reaction detonation.

…''Wow, that’s really cruel…!

A mass of light appeared in the western sky.

It was far from small. Even from the distant ocean, the air and sky covering multiple regions of eastern Japan emitted the light of ether explosions.

There was more than one light. Countless chain reactions rotated around, raced out, and burst to form water vapor explosions, clouds, and a rotating air current that turned it all into a great vortex.

It was a giant explosive typhoon. The air struck by the blasts was electrified and lightning began to race vertically and horizontally through it. Also…

“Hunter! Can you see the expansion by eye!?”

“I can, I can! It’s really spreading!”

She stood on an aircraft carrier flight deck. She used the edge of the deck to measure by and could tell the explosive cloud was spreading along the mainland.

It was spreading surprisingly quickly. She had seen the calculations the night before, but seeing it for real was entirely different.

…''There was a movie with a scene like this, wasn’t there?

She had a feeling there were a lot of movies that did. It could be sharks, gators, snakes, cows, or anything really. This time it was flowers.

“Would you call this a Flowernado?”

“A Fleurnado! It would be a Fleurnado, Hunter!”

''Where is the captain from anyway?'' But then she heard a voice over the staticky transmission.

“Heyyy, you alive?’

“—————”

There was no response. Only static. So…

“Mankoooo.”

“I-I’m trying to dodge!!”

That exchange could not have been less surprising.

Fleur shook both hands and practically slapped the keyboard to instruct the flowers to bloom.

They did so. The front line of blooming flowers could rise, fall, or ride the rotation around as she saw fit.

Explosions danced through the sky and scattering light blew in the wind.

The wind, the air, and everything that bloomed and scattered was her power.

“Magino Device Zephyr! Let’s see how far those flowers can bloom!”

The environment had already spread its power over a 50 kilometer region.

The flowers were everywhere and they shined in the moonlight.

Everyone feared the moonlight, but she did not.

She thought it was pretty.

''After all, the flowers that mama and I made glow at night.

“This light is proof that mama is by my side!”

The flower light was everywhere now. It surrounded the heavens and earth and held the moon overhead as if to bless them in the center.

''Even that moonlight will eventually be ours.

''And then this will all be over. I’ll never again have to worry about losing mama.

''The end is within reach.

''The chain reaction of overlapping explosions is shaking my laughter. The vibration in the bottom of my lungs becomes a sound of joy in my throat.

“Ha ha…”

With each laugh, a portion of the sky detonated.

Even the air burst with that floral scent.

She could only produce laughter.

“Hey.” She turned back toward her mother and spread her arms to indicate everything. “We finally, finally have this many flowers blooming, mama! Isn’t it amazing!? It’s just like the flowers you had bloom 10 years ago! Let’s make it even better together! If we do, then you won’t lose again, right!? You won’t go away, right!?”

Yes, that was what she wanted. But…

“You fool…!”

They had so much freedom and power, but there were two things that opposed them: the 2 Magino Devices that had been swept through the current of explosions but escaped.

The girl standing on the sword Device raised her voice.

“There is something you have lost even if you wield that power! So why are you growing drunk on that power!?”

Fleur had no idea what this girl was saying.

…''I mean, mama and I are doing so well together.

''Why is she telling us to stop?

“Ha ha.”

''If we stop, we can’t win at Hexennacht.

''If you can stop us, then you might be able to win at Hexennacht. But…

“Then what are you going to do about it?”

She decided to ask.

“If you two at Rank 2 can stand up to mama and me at Rank 1, then how are you going to do it!?”

“We will stop you!”

Horinouchi heard Kagami yelling to Fleur.

“You must not use your mother’s life to grow drunk on power!”

“Yes,” agreed Horinouchi. “We will stop that power.”

She then reached a hand out toward Kagami.

She did not look toward the other girl. And with the space between their Magino Devices, there was no way her hand could reach.

But, as if calling out to Kagami, she spread her right hand and held it out as if to hold hands.

There was a great gap between them, but when she glanced to the right…

…''I knew it.

Kagami had raised her left hand in the same way. But hers was reaching out as if to reach Horinouchi.

…''Is that how she does it?

She smiled a little, but that was only due to how amusing that slight difference was. Probably. She then clenched her raised hand.

“Let’s do this.”

“Yes.”

With that, she launched Akerindou forward.

She began a charge.

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| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume3_Chapter_12|Chapter 12]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume3_Chapter_14|Chapter 14]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2B Chapter 21

2017-02-05T02:37:26Z

86.52.13.23: Added a missing word.

==Chapter 21: Helper in a Miniature Garden==
[[File:Horizon_Kimi2B_153.jpg|thumb]]
''I am normal

''Others are also normal

''That we can’t get along is abnormal

'''Point Allocation (Why that much?)

“Manager.”

It was night in a park surrounded by atrium walls and with a rectangular slice of the heavens visible overhead.

Two people were dismantling the ice cream stand at the bottom of it.

The taller of the two asked a question of the fatter of the two.

“Manager, have you made arrangements for when I quit after the summer school festival a week from now?”

“Yes, Oosuga-san, I’ve found someone to take your place, so don’t worry. The Ohiroshiki name has a lot of pull. I’ll make sure to expand the business so your efforts building up the foundation here won’t go to waste.”

“Judge,” said Oosuga with a hand on a column. He looked to the other boy with narrowed eyes. “You’re considerate, you know how to conduct yourself, and you’re a good person deep down. …If only being a lolicon didn’t negate all of that.”

“Now, now.” Ohiroshiki smiled while folding up the roof. “You never lose sight of the details, you’re generous, and you’re incredibly inclusive. …If only loving wives didn’t negate all of that.”

Silence fell between them for 3 seconds, but then Oosuga resumed speaking.

“It’s strange. …We’re so clearly the worst of enemies, but we sometimes get along like this.”

“Judge. That’s right. …Who could have predicted that our work efficiency would be greatest when a wife arrives with her little girl in tow?”

“To be honest, I started working here because the guards asked me to investigate a criminal.”

“Ho ho? Did you not notice the mirror in the locker on your first day working here?”

“Is that what that was? …Did someone leak my information?”

“Yes, Watanabe-san came by for a greeting ahead of time and said, ‘If you do anything weird, you’ll be arrested right away, so be careful. And if Oosuga-san does anything weird, please report it.’ And we certainly can’t have the heir of the Ohiroshiki family getting arrested as a lolicon. Besides, I am not a lolicon! I am a life worshiper! That’s nothing like you and your wife fetish!"

“Any man who makes excuses for his genre is destined for hell.”

“Don’t be so certain of that!” Ohiroshiki pulled in the cloth-covering for the stand’s roof. “But Watanabe-san isn’t a wife.”

“She will be if I marry her.”

“Our weird half-dragon once made a similar argument. He said, ‘Nhh, a May birthday means there’s only 1 month available for girls in the same year’ while he drew up all sorts of charts.”

“It is important to put an effort into your genre.”

“Ho ho? You’ve put an effort into yours, Oosuga-san?”

“I plan to.” Oosuga sighed. “After graduation, I will travel the mainland with Watanabe in search of a master, but after ‘about one circuit’ I think we can get married if we both agree. …What is that odd look for?”

“I just can’t figure out why you want that kind of fixed position so badly.”

“Maybe it is strange,” agreed Oosuga, but he had more to say while removing the latch on a column. “But a fixed position is something you decide on for yourself.”

“Are you saying you won’t have a fixed position even after getting married? Are you going to cheat on her?”

“That isn’t what I meant. Although it is one possible change,” said Oosuga. “For example, whenever you grow to love someone or to hate someone, the world before that and after that is different. If possible, I want that to be a good difference.”

“How were things after meeting me?”

“I’d like to think I regret that because it was a bad difference. For as we stand in the darkness betwixt these walls that veil the night sky…”

“Could you stop getting all poetic at the end like that? But…”

Ohiroshiki lowered the cloth from the roof and spread it out on the ground. When Oosuga asked if he wanted help, he shook his head. And…

“Are you saying what you hold in your heart can change the world around you?”

“Things can sometimes give us an extra push. When you buy new clothes or something else with which to express yourself, you can put on airs around town and others might treat you differently. At the very least, your point of view will change. That can be a problem when you seek objectivity, though. But…”

This time, Oosuga’s words pointed to the opposite meaning.

“If you can be changed by small changes, then enlarging yourself by gaining many of those ‘fixed positions’ you mentioned is not actually stagnation. You would instead be gaining possibilities for change.”

So…

“A variety of ‘fixed positions’ – that is, companions, roles, money, and things – do not fix yourself in place. If you think of them as your own possibilities, the ‘small changes’ you find before your eyes will become the entrances to a great number of ‘different worlds’.”

“Is Watanabe-san a ‘thing’?”

“If I thought of her as a wedge that fixes me in place, then she would be. There is no movement there, after all.”

But…

“If everything she has and everything I have can become possibilities for the other, then she is not. …If we both sense the same small changes in each other, then ''the world will change'' at twice the speed and frequency. And for that, I am willing to drink sake from the same cup as her.”

“Are you trying to get me to give a little girl sake so you can arrest me?”

Just as he said that, Ohiroshiki looked up and toward the stairway to the park.

“Oh, Tenzou-kun. What are you doing here? There are no little girls around.”

“No, um, I like busty blondes.”

The ninja raised a hand below a light and Ohiroshiki exchanged a glance with Oosuga.

“Did you hear that, Oosuga-san?”

“Being a busty blonde is not a requirement for a wife, but there are busty blonde wives. …Little girls are out of the question.”

Oosuga then spoke to the ninja.

“We might be able to be friends.”

“…”

“Why the silence?”

The ninja turned toward Ohiroshiki.

“Ohiroshiki-dono, the 1st Special Duty Officer said to contact her if you need to be arrested.”

“I-I’m innocent! I am a life worshiper! This wife-lover next to me is the problem!”

“This is not some creepy fetish. It is a hobby!”

“Ah.” Ohiroshiki turned toward Oosuga. “I thought you said you wouldn’t make excuses! You filthy person!!”

“Yeah, but Watanabe can’t take a joke.”

The ninja sighed and scratched his head, so Oosuga asked him a question while removing the eave boards that had formed the roof.

“Do you work under the Chancellor’s Officers?”

“I belong to Musashi’s Ninja Union.”

“Oh, you’re Crossunite-sensei’s son.”

“Judge. Sorry about my father.”

“No, no.” Oosuga shook his head. “When he didn’t show up for our drills the other day, I just assumed he had gotten arrested again, but I certainly never thought he had ended up in the hospital after chugging some eye drops for an illusion technique.”

“At the hospital, he was saying something about ‘I felt like I was so close to seeing something amazing, but I ended up going too far’, but…well, he is my father, so I hope you won’t fire him.”

However…

“Watanabe-dono had a message for you: ‘When you are done cleaning up, let’s grab a bite to eat at the academy’.”

“Food, hm? If Torii and the others will be there too, we’ll probably discuss the Gagaku Festival.”

“Judge. That’s what she said. Sounds like everyone is going to be busy.”

Tenzou turned to the back and port to face Okutama.

“I passed by an engine division worker from our class and she said they’re holding a karaoke party since some of our girls are going to be performing.”

''I have a decent grasp of how it sounds,'' thought Asama to calm herself.

She was studying the song Kimi had made for the 3 of them.

The music was simple enough. The lyrics were composed of some girls’ talk including all of their speech patterns, so it was obvious Kimi had written it with Asama and Mitotsudaira in mind. She probably only had to focus on singing.

Naomasa had just arrived and Asama expected her to complain that she could not use the bath today, but…

“That’s about what I expected.”

“Then did you come here because you were worried, Nao-san?”

Adele asked with a smile, but Naomasa did not respond. The look on her face only said “who knows”.

“I washed myself off over there, so I’m fine. For now, I’ll sing a song.”

From there, she began passionately singing. It was Screw Thread, the engine division’s variation of the Musashi Song.

“The uuuuuuselesssss will beeeee burrrrrned at the staaaaaake!”

''Is that really something to sing so loudly?'' wondered Asama, but she also worked to memorize the lyrics.

…''Yes.

The process she was going through now was one she was sure to go through again a few more times.

Each performer in the Gagaku Festival performed 3 songs. If this was the 1st, then there would still be 2 more.

She did not find this a daunting task. After all, she went through the same process for the Asama Shrine’s Gagaku. But there was no sheet music for Shinto Gagaku. It was all passed down orally and she would learn what “sounded good” by watching and listening to a predecessor.

There were a lot of videos and records for reference, so she had plenty of examples. Some examples were especially amazing, so she had enjoyed watching them with Kimi and the others who stopped by to help:

“Look! The worshiper from this year got so excited she started playing it with her teeth!”

“Are you really allowed to start shouting and smashing the instrument against the ground like this?”

“I have to ask: what’s with this one in Kumadori makeup and spikes on the shoulders?”

She started to realize that Shinto really took an “anything goes” stance on things, but she also thought that had helped expand the breadth and depth of her skills. By comparing the melody lines and lyrics of the song Kimi had written, she could grasp most of it. And then she turned toward Mitotsudaira.

“Mito, this part is you, right?”

“Eh? Oh, then this must be you, Tomo, and then this would be Kimi.”

Asama was so happy that they could understand each other so well.

…''I see.

It was a lot like when she spoke with Kimi or him about cooking. But she had never been able to talk like this about anything she would be doing with her friends.

The ability to do that felt like a major change, but…

…''Yes.

This was something that had not been inside her heart until recently.

''So,'' she thought. ''I need to take good care of it. This is something I’m allowed to take good care of.

A non-Shinto version of herself had been born recently and it was with her now.

Her Shinto self still remained, but this new self was also here and interacting with the others. So…

“Asama-chi, are you ready?”

She looked up when someone spoke to her unexpectedly.

Kimi saw Asama start to say something to Naomasa.

There was no intent to back off in Asama’s face. Kimi could tell it was a look of “I can do this”. But…

“Umm.”

She looked to Kimi and then some panicked words spilled from her lips.

“Kimi…and Mito. Are you two ready?”

“Naomasa was asking you.”

“Eh?” Asama looked confused, but she soon calmed her breathing. “I am ready.”

“Then so am I. Mitotsudaira?”

“I-I’ve learned my part, so I’m ready.”

“Then,” said Kimi while activating Turning Point with a step. “Asama, I’m feeling pretty fired up.”

“Oh, no,” replied Asama while opening a thermometer spell sign frame. “Kimi, I’ll stick this in your armpit to check for a fever, so please raise your arm.”

“Tomo! Tomo! You’re more panicked than you’re letting on, aren’t you!?”

“Eh? Eh?”

Asama was utterly perplexed, so Kimi snatched the sign frame from her, stuck the left end between Asama’s breasts, and stuck the right end between her own.

“Okay, time to take our temperatures. …Don’t give me that look, Mitotsudaira. I’ll take yours afterwards, so stick your butt out this way.”

“I will do nothing of the sort!!”

The result said Asama’s temperature was somewhat elevated, but some tension was a good thing for a beginner.

“Then let’s get started. Asama, give us the starting signal. …Just like always.”

“Eh? Oh, right!”

Asama turned toward the others and clapped her hands together.

“…Music!”

This was probably something like a conditioned reflex, but since Mitotsudaira was smiling bitterly next to her, it had to be the right thing to do. As the intro synth pad matched the image of the wind floating high in the sky, Kimi increased Turning Point’s volume.

It began.

When her part began, Asama did not hesitate to sing the second bar that followed Kimi’s. “It’s always so sudden with you,” she sang, and Kimi responded with “Don’t act like you aren’t capricious too.”

Kimi had said the lyrics were still tentative and the music was still rough around the edges.

But when she asked “Where are you?” and Mito sang “Now, let’s plan our date” in response, she grasped the main point. This was a song about not being alone.

“I said listen.”

That admonishment and everything else only existed because she had a friend who supported her changes, watched her, and would show her their own changes.

She had another friend like that.

“Come on, you two. I am a beginner. But I will do my best to escort you.”

Everyone was watching, so they sang in unison.

“Together with you today.”

As they sang their parts back and forth, Asama thought.

“Why are you so onboard with this?”

…''Yes, it really is simple to get onboard with this kind of thing. I’ve started doing it myself.

“Yes, yes. Is that so?”

With self-deprecation and expectation, Asama realized that she could smile bitterly and say “how strange” when she saw the constant changes to her surroundings, the world, this nation, the adults, and her friends, but within all that upheaval, she could also casually and proactively jump in and say, “Now, let’s prepare for the date.”

“Yes, where is that? I will escort you there.”

She no longer had to decide who she was. So she could sing, “Let’s enjoy this.”

“Now, I’d like one date to go.”

Always.

“C’mon. Isn’t it hard to walk this close together?”

She could always be this close to them.

“Leave it to me.”

And with that, she sang, “Now for the climax of the date.”

“The heat won’t die down.”

It really would not.

“Are you saying that again? Surely you understand by now.”

Yes, she did understand. It would always be like this.

“…Always until morning.”

Everyone sang a few more songs, but a comment from Adele had caused a problem.

“What’s your band name?”

Panicking, Asama looked down at the sign frame form and noticed the deadline was “tonight”.

Kimi and Mitotsudaira decided to spend the night at Asama’s place.

And Kimi expressed her thoughts on the matter.

“It really is going to be like this until morning, isn’t it?”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2B Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 2B Chapter 22|Chapter 22]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 5

2017-02-04T03:25:27Z

86.52.13.23: Three fixes. I am unsure if the third one was formatted like that on purpose or if I should have left it alone.

==Chapter 5: Performers of the East and West==
[[Image:Horizon5A_139.jpg|thumb]]
''What in the world

''Is happening here?

'''Point Allocation (Creation of a Container)

They were literally trampled.

Giant legs cut through the enemy troops and the wall of defense crushed the split enemy.

There was no bombardment from the sky. The ships were too afraid they would hit their own crushed forces if they attacked.

The gods of war consumed the battlefield while using their gigantic scale as a weapon. Instead of being pushed back by numbers, the heavy gods of war would cut through the enemy formation and then wait for the middle gods of war to catch up and protect them.

One of the gods of war raised his voice within that movement.

“Our battles used to belong to the knights.”

“But,” continued a female voice from the god of war in charge of cutting through next to the first. “Now the vassals work with the knights. …This is the proper form of a knight’s battle.”

“Testament,” they all agreed as they pulled back after a charge.

They raised their spears as the middle gods of war and their defense barrier moved in. And as the middle gods of war pushed the enemy along, the knights prepared their spears once more and gave a cry.

“Vive la Roi!!”

Glory to our king.

“Vive la XIV!!”

“Vive la Mouri!!”

And…

“Vive la Anne!!”

“The previous Chancellor prepared the cup of power and the new Chancellor has filled it with the wine of new tactics!”

“Now is when everything is inherited by our new Roi-Soleil and Reine-Lune!”

So…

“Testament!”

With that shout, the heavy gods of war began a new charge.

Armand spoke as he heard the sounds of impacts and shattering.

“What do you think?”

Henri answered while facing forward.

“Whatever I think, we found exactly what we predicted and so we did what we had planned. …Here they come.”

“They’re here, are they?”

“Testament. So look around us.”

Armand did so. He saw…

“Clumps of dirt and a grassy plain.”

“Yes. Now look forward.”

The middle gods of war were pushing everything forward at the moment, but…

“Are the enemy forces growing?”

“No, they aren’t.”

But…

“Did you see a single enemy on the ground on our way here?”

“…No.”

“Then the answer is simple. All of the enemy has returned to that side.”

“How? You saw how badly we were knocking them around.”

“Surely you know the answer. It happened already at Novgorod.” Henri sounded like she would really rather not be explaining this. “Bringing a Testamenta Arma into another nation. This is most likely P.A. Oda’s Crus Fortitudo – Vetus. I believe you know its effect.”

Hearing that, Armand pulled his hat low over his eyes and nodded.

His walking pace did not slow, but he did look up into the sky.

“It’s a troublesome effect. …It turns their total amount of courage into defensive power, right?”

A certain movement was occurring frequently across the battlefield.

The people who had been hit by the wall, shot, or crushed shouted at each other.

“Hey…!”

They suddenly woke up, got up, and recovered.

They gasped at their lost equipment, but the battle was still underway. And…

“We’re okay!?”

“Yeah!”

Some of them were from different nations, but even if they had no weapons, there was one thing they shared.

“Anyone with courage is given an infinite defense!”

They stood up and only chose to withdraw, but they were all confident of something.

“We carried out our attack with courage!”

“I see,” sighed Armand inside the wall. “That was why they all rushed in with no fear. Even if their equipment was smashed, they were protected by a divine protection, allowing them to escape the battlefield or make a temporary withdrawal.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Fortunately, the divine protection protecting them only works once a day.” Armand sighed as he returned his hat to normal. “Does that mean we have to win this all over again?”

“We haven’t won it the first time yet. Don’t let your guard down, Armand.”

Henri looked up.

Someone stood on the bow of the enemy galley in the sky. The tall girl wore an M.H.R.R. girls uniform like it was a cloak.

She was long-lived and wore glasses.

“Hashiba’s Ten Spears #9: Takenaka Hanbei.”

Even at a distance, she could be seen holding up a long metal rod bearing a piece of armor.

It was the right half of a breastplate. The silver panel curved forward and emitted light.

“Mlasi views courage as a virtue. It is not good at all if they can use courage as a strategy outside their borders.”

Meanwhile, they heard voices from beyond the advancing defense barrier.

They were shouts but not screams. They came from those who were waking up and getting up from the initial impact.

“Is that…?”

“People are so much trouble,” said Henri as she stopped walking. “By recovering, they are aware of their newfound strength. They should have been damaged, battered, and unable to recover from that, so now they know how strong they are.”

“How do you think it works?”

“Testament. According to the Princess, Shinto says that people’s souls are shaped like an embryo or a ''magatama''. But she speculated that it is everything people lose after birth that gives their soul a unique shape. That would mean human strength comes from…”

A ''signe cadre'' appeared. It displayed the head of a god of war automaton.

“Cutting away?” it asked.

“It’s hard to say.” The corners of Henri’s mouth rose a little and she tilted her head. “We may have been a later addition to the Princess, but I have determined we have still strengthened her.”

“Then could you put it like this? Human strength comes from the ability to accept what they have gained and lost and the ability to accurately view what shape that gives them?”

“For the time being, that is my conclusion. …Look.”

Henri quickened her pace somewhat and pointed forward while crossing the broken ground.

There was a group of charging voices there.

“Ohhhh!”

The god of war unit was moving forward. They were all producing compression heat from the thrusters on their backs.

“That looks like fun,” said Henri while looking at their noisy backs. “At Magdeburg, we lost something important, but we also learned that we had gained something. Automatons like us can only compare our present fighting force to our past fighting force, but the god of war knights are different. They are aware of their shape after what they lost and gained. And…”

And…

[[Image:Horizon5A_147.jpg|thumb]]

“The enemy also understands that on a smaller level. They have lost their equipment, but they are now aware that they are protected by the Testamenta Arma and their own courage.”

Henri looked up into the sky. The enemy was still standing on the enemy galley floating there.

“Does that Takenaka girl like the view from up there? …Or is she here as her other inherited name?”

Henri named the girl who was standing tall with the Testamenta Arma held high.

“Kuroda Kanbei. The tactician skilled enough to bring fear and caution to Hashiba!”

Takenaka stood on the tip of the galley’s bow and looked down upon the battlefield.

The wind that blew up to reach her was a fusion of the morning east wind and the battlefield’s heated wind.

That battlefield wind carried the smell of steel, the smell of oil, and a heat that even felt sweaty. Takenaka raised the Testamenta Arma staff as that wind washed over her and entered her lungs.

“…”

She fell to her knees, placed her hands on the edge of the bow, and emptied the contents of her stomach straight down instead of just into the air in general.

“Ero ero ero ero.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Waaaaah! Takenaka, are you okay!? You’re seasick against, aren’t you!? But if you’re going to vomit, try to do it on top of the enemy!”

'''Omaeda:''' “Kiyomasa, what if the enemy ends up enjoying that? There are people with bizarre interests everywhere. Isn’t that right, Mori?”

'''Mory:''' “Wh-why would you ask me that!? I-I have no interest in anyone else’s bodily fluids! If anything, I want to go through the proper process and be the one producing the fluids! Or was that not what we were talking about!?”

'''Fuwaa:''' “What is this tentacle talking about so early in the morning? And are you feeling all right, Takenaka?”

'''Kuro-Take:''' “Oh, I-I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Takenaka audibly inhaled and wiped off her mouth.

“I’m completely fine, so don’t worr- ero ero ero ero.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Waaaaah! Takenaka, this is why I asked you if you should really be eating such a big breakfast!”

“B-but my predictions said the battle was likely to continue past lunchtime, so I had to eat enough to last me- ero ero ero ero.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Takenaka! How much did you eat!?”

'''Fuwaa:''' “How will knowing that help?”

'''Omaeda:''' “And you need to calm down, Kiyomasa.”

'''Matsu:''' “Calm down.”

“Ero ero ero ero. Ugh. Ahh, everyone down there needs to get out of the way. Ero ero ero.”

'''Lily Flower:''' “Hey, Toshi, I’m kind of trying to eat right now… For that matter, why do we have to watch the invasion of Mouri when we’re over here holding Sviet Rus’s provisional border?”

'''Omaeda:''' “Yeah, sorry, sorry. But, Na-chan, we sent over our leftover supplies and money for this battle, remember? As M.H.R.R. Treasurer, I have to keep an eye on how they’re using it.”

Takenaka sighed when she heard Sassa say “what a pain”. She pushed her glasses back up in time to hear Fuwa’s voice.

'''Fuwaa:''' “Should you go get some rest?”

“No, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Um, do I have anything to drink?”

After responding to Fuwa, Takenaka got up and rummaged through her cloak.

“Oh, I do.”

She held up a bamboo bottle in both hands. It said “Commander’s Traditional Stomach Medicine – Dry” on the side.

She took five big gulps from the bottle, took a breath, and tossed the bottle back into her cloak.

“Ahhh, that stuff is so good I want to vomit some more just so I can take some more.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Takenaka…please don’t get your priorities backwards. Think how the kitchen staff must feel after making your breakfast.”

“But the breakfast was really good. But it’s my responsibility once it’s inside me, so it belongs to me… I enjoy eating it, I enjoy throwing it back up, and I enjoy drinking the medicine, so that’s three times the enjoyment. Oh, but sorry to everyone on the surface. Okay? It must’ve been a surprise to have that suddenly fall from the sky. But don’t worry. It’s the same thing you all ate this morning.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Takenaka! Takenaka! You’re not helping! Some of them started crying!!”

'''Fuwaa:''' “Kiyomasa, you remind me of a Maeda who hasn’t learned when something’s a lost cause.”

'''Omaeda:''' “Ha ha ha. You aren’t complimenting either of us with that, Michi.”

Takenaka laughed too.

But then she took another breath and looked down.

The battle was on the move. Hectically so.

She nodded a few times and suddenly placed both hands on her glasses.

She then removed them and held them away from her face.

“Ohhh, I can see it, I can see it.”

She viewed the entire battlefield through the curved glass.

“Activate tactical measurement spell: Three Thousand Worlds.”

Three thousand ''lernen figur'' opened in an instant.

They were on the bow of P.A. Oda’s galley-style ironclad ship. 30 groups of 100 ''lernen figur'' opened around Takenaka.

They each slid around her with rectangular movements.

“Prediction.”

They all lined up front to back and faced Takenaka.

“Estimation.”

They all lined up top to bottom and faced Takenaka.

“Result #1.”

The group directly in front of her lined front to back and repeatedly updated their contents for a display loop. But…

“Result #2.”

The group on her right did the same as the one in front of her. And…

“Result #3.”

The group on her left did the same as the one in front of her.

“All others work at gathering the short-term situation.”

2700 ''lernen figur'' lined up behind her like a backstage. They all displayed different parts of the battlefield.

Her comrades’ battles, movements, and situations were progressing before her eyes. Some of them were knocked down or blown away, but she smiled and grasped the staff next to her.

And she thought.

…''This is going well.

She held the Testamenta Arma named Crus Fortitudo – Vetus.

It had a useful effect.

…''Everyone under its bearer’s command will have their defensive power set to infinity just once a day when they make a courageous act.

A lot of the Testamenta Arma had defensive abilities, but this one was even more direct than the others. However…

“It only activates when the bearer displays her own courage first.”

So…

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Are you standing on the edge of the bow to display your courage? Takenaka, you’re not a small child.”

“B-but it did activate. Wait just a moment.”

She grabbed the staff and took a few steps back.

She moved toward the deck.

The Testamenta Arma immediately began to lose its light.

“See!? Did you see that!? Standing out here does take courage.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Takenaka! Takenaka! We aren’t receiving our divine protections down here! Hurry! Hurry on back! Some people are taking serious hits!!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

She moved back.

The Testamenta Arma regained its light, but it was a little weaker than before.

“What is this…?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Are you more used to the stimulus the second time?”

“Oh, I get it. And Hashiba? Where are you?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “S-sorry. I had to go in for a bit of emergency maintenance.”

“Yeah, you were preparing for all this last night, weren’t you? Thanks. Are you in the bath?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Y-yes, you could say that.”

A corridor had a window that gave a view of the color white outside.

It was a long wooden corridor and its window showed the white of snow from an elevated position.

The corridor was on the port side of an ironclad ship stopped at the provisional border between Sviet Rus and M.H.R.R.

The ghost legs walking silently along the wooden floor belonged to Maeda Toshiie. He suddenly looked back.

“What’s the matter, Mori? Do you not feel like going to the morning assembly? I understand completely. It’s a psychological burden putting up with Shibata’s nonsense every morning.”

“N-no, it isn’t that!”

Mori shook his head and opened a ''lernen figur''.

'''Mory:''' “Um, uh. Lady Hashiba!?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Wh-what is it?”

'''Mory:''' “Are you taking a bath!?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Eh? Oh, um, yes.”

Toshiie saw the tentacle deliberately slam his body against the wall again and again.

“Kwohhhhhhh! Begone! Begone, my evil thoughts! How dirty! Oh, how truly dirty!!”

The sound of the hits was disturbingly sticky, but…

“Kwohhh! Wh-why am I starting to get hard!? A-am I nothing but a dirty beast no matter how hard I try!? I-I just had a bit of a dirty thought, a-and now I’m getting all stiff just like a middle schooler!”

“Mori, can’t you just write this off as a morning thing? You did just get up, right? I think any guy would understand, so don’t worry about it.”

“N-no! I can’t lie to myself like that! I made sure to chant the heart sutra to drive out any dirty thoughts and calm down my morning hardening time! A-and yet here I am!”

“Then,” began Toshiie. “Aren’t you just making yourself feel good by banging against the wall like that?”

“D-do you take me for a pervert!? I am not the kind of tentacle that feels good banging against the wall! What an awful thing to say! Pun pun!”

“Then did you subconsciously think about someone you have feelings for?”

“Eh?”

The tentacle stopped moving but eventually started banging himself against the wall again.

“N-no! How could I imagine such lewd things about her!? I’m the worst tentacle there ever was!”

Asama noticed Naomasa walking into the Student Council Room.

The girl raised her false arm in greeting, so…

“Oh, Masa, how is the water heater for our spring doing?”

“I fixed it, Asama-chi. I was right and the frame got shifted out of place a bit during the side flip we did. I went ahead and submitted a suggestion to have a cushioning damper put into the underground district there.”

“Oh, really? Thank you very much.”

As Asama expressed her thanks, she noticed Naomasa was wearing her summer uniform pretty roughly, so she smiled a little.

“It looks like you went ahead and used the spring. Did you get the first bath?”

“Hah. We’ve got so much to do this week, so I can’t let myself get worn out on the first day. I spoke with your dad, and he gave me some sake to go with the bath.”

'''Mory:''' “I mustn’t! I mustn’t imagine her taking a b-bath! It’s wrong! I wish I had a shell I could close myself up in! …No, I mustn’t imagine these weird thiiiiiings!”

''I’ve never seen Mori before, but it’s fun to imagine the scenes he’s in,'' thought Takenaka as she gained an understanding of the battlefield.

Things were not in their favor at the moment, but…

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Can you manage, Takenaka?”

'''Kuro-Take:''' “Oh, yes, yes. Things are going well here.”

After all…

“I expect the new warriors have learned what it means to survive by now.”

This was their first battle in the invasion of Mouri, but it was also their way of training the new freshmen. However…

…''If we had only the freshmen fight, it would not end well for us.

So she had needed to prepare a mixture of experienced and new warriors, but that automatically increased the overall size of their troops.

That was dangerous when it came to training the new troops.

With so many new ones, all of their troops could crumble when faced with something unexpected.

And there had been a lot of possibility for danger this time.

Mouri had combined with Hexagone Française who were promised victory and prosperity in the future.

Plus, their previous Chancellor had left this world due to a dragon line reactor used by Hashiba.

As enemies, Hexagone Française and Mouri were not going to let their guard down and it had been obvious they would not hesitate to use new tactics.

''So,'' thought Takenaka.

“That is exactly why we must send our new warriors into that harsh battle.”

With their Testamenta Arma, they could return alive from even the harshest battle. They might not be of any use on the battlefield and they might only withdraw after getting knocked around a bit, but…

…''They will always be able to trust in their own courage.

That would have great meaning to Hashiba’s troops in the future.

Tactics and combat skills could be taught, but courage could not despite being the most important thing needed to survive on the battlefield.

…''That is why I was sent in here.

She was the bearer of the Testamenta Arma of fortitude. But…

“Wahh.”

Looking down was enough to frighten her.

She was afraid, but she was the tactician. She had long done deskwork, so she had gained the ability to cumulatively read the situation and to send out information before its recipient knew they needed it. She had wanted to continue on in the fields of economics and administration, but the academy she had long belonged to had been a problem. Her Industrial Committee had been ignored and the administration had failed.

So to admonish those at the top, she had inherited the Takenaka name.

She had performed the history recreation of Takenaka Hanbei’s hijacking of the main family.

That had showed the main family how careless they were and it had been her way of saying goodbye.

…''Before I went to join Hashiba.

She had assumed Hashiba would give her a job as a tactician, but her first request had been something else entirely.

“’I’m at the very bottom, so make me some money’, hm?”

'''Monkey Girl:''' “Eh?”

That had been exactly what she had wanted to do.

Hashiba had already given Sunomata to Shibata and she had possessed Nagahama on Lake Biwa thanks to the history recreation. According to the Testament, she turned that into a profitable commerce area.

Takenaka had done so in half a year.

She had gotten to know Shibata, Niwa, and the others then and she had reached an understanding of their wartime relationships and the situations in P.A. Oda and M.H.R.R.

They may have set her up, but…

…''It was fun.

She understood why she had not been able to act like a tactician until now and she understood why she could sympathize with Hashiba.

“Hashiba, you’re trying to keep all of the damage to the bare minimum, aren’t you? I tend to do that a lot too, but there’s one thing that is often said about me. Namely…”

Namely…

“I go for the greatest amount of damage to bring about the greatest result. Or simply put: high damage, high return.”

There was no doubt in her smile as she spoke and sent everyone their next instructions.

“So prepare yourself, okay?”

Henri saw something in the sky directly ahead.

“Are you doing this, Takenaka!?”

She had been able to predict this based on the tactics Takenaka had used in the records of past battles. But…

“You’re firing now!?”

The earth was shaken from the sky.

16 roars raced out, repeated themselves, and struck everything with great shockwaves.

But this was not targeting the defense barriers held by the middle gods of war.

“Is she targeting the heavy gods of war along with her own warriors around them!?”

Kiyomasa felt a cold sweat on her back as she crossed swords with a god of war on the battlefield.

“The freshmen intercepting the gods of war need to fall back!!”

It arrived as soon as she shouted that.

Cannon fire poured down from the ironclad ships in the sky.

Physical shells were fired in quick succession.

“…!?”

The battling gods of war first looked puzzled. ''Of course they are,'' thought Kiyomasa.

After all, the attack on the gods of war was also hitting the M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda warriors. And a lot of them were the freshmen.

This bombardment entirely ignored their presence.

It arrived all the same.

The immense power hit them.

The explosive bombardment from the sky assaulted everything equally.

The ground was blown away, people flew through the air, and the gods of war were in the center of it all.

“They’re firing on their own warriors too!?”

They raised their defenses with more anger than doubt in their voices.

They used spells to activate anti-warship defense barriers, even if they were smaller than the ones used by the middle gods of war.

The sound was more intense than solid and Kiyomasa saw the heavy gods of war enduring the shellfire from the sky.

…''Well done!

She was not talking about the heavy gods of war.

She was talking about Takenaka.

It was difficult to break through these god of war tactics with ground forces.

But it was possible with a bombardment from overhead.

So Takenaka had aimed for the moment just when their charge had ended. More than that, she had aimed for when they were distracted by the M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda warriors.

The defense barriers being used against the shellfire were automatic reactive types. They would automatically change their angle to deflect the shells most effectively.

That was only a small piece of information on their enemy.

But it could still influence their upcoming tactics. They knew a halfhearted bombardment was not going to get through to an Hexagone Française god of war unit, but…

“If they’re using automatic reactive armor, we can create an opening!”

The explosive blast arrived just as Kiyomasa said that. The shells hitting the gods of war and the ground had created a shockwave which in turn produced a racing wind.

The people near the gods of war were thrown into the air and the wind reached her like a solid wave slamming against her.

“Kh…!”

She endured the wind with her armor and bodily reinforcement spells and all sound briefly vanished from her surroundings.

A few people flew by over her head.

She could not even hear their screams.

They were those who had failed to withdraw in time and had been caught in Takenaka’s bombardment.

Of course…

…''They were ordered to withdraw.

A ''lernen figur'' floated next to her face.

It belonged to Three Thousand Worlds.

Kiyomasa looked to the ''lernen figur'' sent here by Takenaka.

Three Thousand Worlds had distributed 2700 instructions. That was enough to inform the interception unit and the other warriors around them.

But Three Thousand Worlds was more than just a spell to disseminate information. When needed, all of the ''lernen figur'' would perform joint calculations and display a solution to the user’s request.

It was a guiding hand that seamlessly displayed the method needed to survive.

The only thing like it was an automaton. The high-speed thoughts and decision-making were exactly the same, but Three Thousand Worlds did not have any of the accumulated memories or experience that an automaton did.

The emotionless 3000 provided the optimal decision.

…''That is Three Thousand Worlds.

''I can see why Lady Hashiba is in awe of her as a tactician and even studies under her,'' thought Kiyomasa.

Takenaka would use the most appropriate method but would also use any method available to her in order to achieve the maximum result.

She was the commander of this operation, so everyone had received an explanation of Three Thousand Worlds and knew it would tell them what they needed to do.

It currently displayed 3 primary plans and 1 extra plan.

The primary 3 were standard enough: intercept the heavy gods of war, deter the middle gods of war, and withdraw. But the last one…

…''As a last resort, have the ships open fire even if it means hitting our own people.

''But,'' added Kiyomasa in her heart.

Had any of the new warriors predicted that the last resort would be used first?

Kiyomasa, however, knew that Takenaka must have realized that last resort would achieve the maximum result.

So the Three Thousand Worlds disseminating that information could be seen as Takenaka’s kindness.

After all, this plan would have worked just as well without using Three Thousand Worlds.

Kiyomasa understood what Takenaka was thinking.

The new warriors who had crashed into the wall at the beginning had done so because they trusted in their courage. That was why the courage divine protection had given them infinite defense and they had escaped unharmed.

“It was reckless, but she predicted what would happen.”

Kiyomasa thought that had been an excellent decision.

With Takenaka, they could avoid personnel losses as long as they had courage.

And for the new warriors, a name inheritor like Takenaka was a good way to give them courage.

That was why they had to go on the attack here.

As a result, the front line had attacked and been crushed, but most of them had escaped unharmed.

But what about those further back who had seen the result of the initial charge and lost their nerve?

They did not have courage.

And so Takenaka had shown them kindness.

Just before the bombardment, when they would have been thinking “it can’t be”, she had used Three Thousand Worlds to send them a simple message: Prepare yourself, okay?

Those who had known what she meant would have been saved.

Those who had not would have been taken out of the fight.

It sounded cruel, but Kiyomasa knew what Takenaka was really doing here.

…''Selecting the new warriors who can survive the upcoming battles!

''Not bad,'' concluded Henri in her artificial brain.

Not only had Takenaka exposed the defense barriers being used by the heavy gods of war, but Henri understood what Takenaka’s real goal had been.

“Selecting the best of the Hashiba warriors.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Armand from atop the head of a middle god of war up ahead.

He looked back her way while crouching down and she followed while wrinkling her brow.

“I mean the battles against Mouri are a race against time for Hashiba.”

“So they don’t have time to train their new warriors?”

“No, they don’t. How many more battles do you think Hashiba has?”

“Well,” said Armand as he looked up into shell-filled sky. “First up is the Mouri Battle against us.

“The Battle of Yamazaki to defeat Akechi as vengeance for Nobunaga.

“The Houjou Battle fought in Kantou, a rarity for Hashiba.

“The Battle of Komaki and Nagakute fought against Matsudaira.

“And then the Bunroku and Keichou Campaigns meant to invade the continent. That’s quite a few, isn’t it?”

Which meant…

“Don’t they need all the new warriors they can get? Even if they find the elites, they aren’t going to last long without large numbers.”

“That does not matter. After all, Hashiba will absorb Akechi and Shibata’s forces. Akechi’s forces include a lot of civil officials and are closely connected to Shinto, so those will act as Hashiba’s negotiators. Shibata’s forces include a lot of military officers, so they will join the warriors and become Hashiba’s foundation. But Akechi and Shibata’s forces are veterans. In a way, they are the negotiators and warriors of an older age. Looking at it that way, Hashiba needs to gather the new elites of their own forces before joining with those veterans. Hashiba will have trouble if those veterans aren’t impressed and they might take issue with the defeat of Akechi and Shibata. …That is why Hashiba needs to train their new warriors. And the Mouri Battle is their last chance to do so.”

So…

“They will find the elites here. So they are first finding the ones with courage, but then they will show those courageous ones what happens when they lose sight of their orders and fail to courageously retreat. …Hashiba will save those with courage but will turn on any who are only a hindrance. It is Takenaka’s job to demonstrate that to the survivors. Because they can’t let Hashiba do that part.”

“…You make it sound like Hashiba would be able to do the same thing.”

“Testament. That is correct.” Henri was jogging by this point. “Hashiba must use any means necessary if she is to continue the history recreation and attempt to conquer the Far East.”

“She takes things way too seriously. Don’t you think, Lady Oichi?”

Shibata asked that question in the ironclad ship’s officer’s mess.

Next to him, Oichi laughed quietly as she held out a breakfast omelet with chopsticks.

She narrowed her eyes.

“Could Hashiba kill the two of us, Katsuie?”

“I doubt it.”

Shibata sighed and came back to his senses when the omelet pocked his cheek.

“Oh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

'''Fuwaa:''' “Um, is there any reason to do it for so long?”

'''Mory:''' “Do it for so long? A-a girl mustn’t say those things so carelessly! You’re too full of openings, Fuwa!”

'''Fuwaa:''' “And now a tentacle is lecturing me…”

Oichi laughed and tapped Katsuie’s right shoulder.

His right sleeve was removed, leaving the black arm exposed. There was a single white line on the shoulder continuing from under the arm to near the collarbone. Oichi looked at that and then at her own right shoulder.

Her right shoulder had a white line in the same place.

She looked at the lines on both their bodies.

“How lovely. …The two of us finally match.”

“Yeah. And it’s nice that we were both told we could head back out on the same day. So we need to celebrate today. Hashiba, you’d better win.”

And…

“Takenaka and the rest of the Ten Spears? Don’t you hold back, okay? …You’ll be Hashiba’s main fighters during my showdown with all of you.”

“Testament,” said Takenaka with a nod.

…''Historically, Takenaka Hanbei had died by this point and Hashiba’s tactician was Kuroda Kanbei.

That was part of why she had two inherited names.

The battlefield down below was hoping for the next action.

The charging heavy gods of war had been stopped by her bombardment. They were effectively using their defense barriers against the overhead bombing, but they could not continue their charge like this.

By holding the heavy gods of war in place with her ships’ guns, she could seal their movements even if the shells did not reach them.

…''But they moved around quite well.

Their charging strength had been greater than she had predicted. If they had made 2 more charges, it was possible they could have reached the main Hashiba formation.

She needed to change Three Thousand World’s settings and the databank.

But it was more than just the decision to fire the ship’s guns that had defended against the enemy charge.

“Kiyomasa, I’m impressed by how precisely you instructed them to withdraw.”

'''Kiyo-Massive:''' “Th-the battle isn’t over yet!”

“That’s true,” softly said Takenaka as she ordered further shellfire.

Hexagone Française would be dangerous if they were not held back here. She had not expected to push them back just with the initial momentum, but she was impressed that they had managed to gradually force their way through it.

But…

“This is still within my expectations.”

The battle was coming to a stop a bit east of the midpoint.

So Takenaka ordered the ships to fire.

Those on the surface no longer mattered. Pushing back the enemy gods of war with the ships’ guns was what mattered. If she could stop the heavy gods of war and drive them back…

“The middle gods of war will come out.”

That was why she had the warriors move forward.

But these were not the new ones. It was the veterans. They followed the withdrawing movements of the heavy gods of war and tried to move through the gaps in the defense barriers held by the middle gods of war.

But then the automatons fired on them.

Even that experienced group was stopped by that.

Meanwhile, the middle gods of war tried to reactivate their defense barriers. They extended them horizontally to fill in the gaps the heavy gods of war had passed through. However…

“Yes, coming to a stop and refortifying your defenses. A good decision. …For us.”

As soon as Takenaka said that, a straight line of power passed by below her.

It was a transport ship.

It was a super-high speed hammer. This transport ship strike had been used to bring down Magdeburg.

“I wanted to try it out myself.”

The attack accurately struck the center of the middle god of war unit.

The result was instantaneous.

The transport ship had flown in at an angle toward the center of the middle god of war unit holding the defense barriers.

The middle god of war there had just raised its defense barrier again in order to fill the gap a heavy god of war had returned through.

If it moved, a hole would open in the wall.

If it did not move, the transport ship collision would break through its barrier.

Takenaka’s attack forced it to make one decision or the other.

But a third option presented itself.

Just before it hit, the transport ship ruptured.

An attack had hit it in midair, causing its absolute destruction.

Kiyomasa saw what had happened in the air before her eyes.

The transport ship was approximately 300 meters long and something had pierced it from front to back.

…''No.

It had not pierced all the way through. It remained inside the ship.

She knew what had happened.

…''An ultra high-speed but non-penetrative shell!

Then the sound reached her. She heard the air tearing and splitting. A line of mist stretched from beyond the Hexagone Française middle god of war unit to the ruptured transport ship.

And that rupture soon transformed into a lightless explosion.

The internal shock tore off the ship’s outer skin like the blooming of an invisible flower.

Kiyomasa saw the inside of the splitting and scattering ship.

All of its framework, floors, and interior structures were pushed out from the center and crushed before they pushed out the ship’s hull. Some of the framework pierced the hull and continued to fly while other parts were twisted and transformed the hull.

But all of that only lasted an instant.

The torn hull split in every direction and was further torn by the weight and wind pressure within.

It scattered.

What had once been a transport ship flew across the entire area as mere fragments.

“Withdraw…!!”

Sharp-edged metal panels several meters across flew about like a blizzard and fell to the ground.

The fragments flew horizontally and swept away the people in their path, or they rolled across the ground like wheels.

Something else soon arrived: the explosive blast of the shockwave.

A chilly temperature arrived first and then an invisible wall struck everything within 300 meters.

The earth sank down, tore up, shifted, and slid around where the ship had been. The grass lifted up by that flew through the air, and…

“…!”

Nothing at all remained.

But the wind blew and Kiyomasa realized something in front of the cleared center of the grassy plain.

“What…?”

The Hexagone Française forces should have been directly ahead of her, but they were gone.

Only the empty grassy plain remained.

The enemy had left.

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| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 5A Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
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