Editing Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 20 (section)

==Chapter 20: Hunter in the Sky==
[[File:Horizon10A_p0625.jpg|thumb]]
''When near someone famous

''The best way to seem harmful

''Is to make a big fuss about it

'''Point Allocation (Physically)

●

Battles had begun across the Musashi.

Asama set up a few inspection and defense fields on Okutama’s bow deck and then cast defense and survival protections on Toori and Horizon.

“Asama, did you cast those protections on yourself too?”

“He is right, Asama-sama. This idiot can generally escape unscathed by turning it into a joke, but if something were to happen to you, your father and Naruze-sama’s incomes would never recover.”

“Am I that much of a pillar of Naruze’s sales?”

Kimi opened the site for Waterless Watermelons Booksellers, a book delivery service within the Musashi, and showed it to Asama, but she chose not to comprehend what she was seeing after noticing the series filling the top of the sales rankings bore the familiar face seen in the mirror.

That aside, she appreciated those two’s concern.

“Don’t worry. I have permanent protections superior to the ones I cast on the two of you. Because I work directly for Sakuya. Kimi has the same, except hers are through Ootsubaki instead. Mito has nearly the same settings as Toori-kun with a new update for combat use.”

Mitotsudaira had sent an inscrutable report about “running into AK for the first time in a while, but he fell”. Suzu and the automata seemed to understand what it was about, so Asama felt no need to figure it out herself.

However, something did bother her.

'''Asama:''' “This is the Battle of Yamazaki for them, isn’t it?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Beam incomiiiiiing!”

Adele’s sign frame vanished in a flash of static before reconnecting, so she must have been busy. It had sounded like she said the kind of sentence you only say once in a lifetime and it may have had something to do with the beam of light that had just raced through the sky near the outer edge of Shinagawa. How far had she been chased?

'''Novice:''' “I believe this will count as the Battle of Yamazaki. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” replied Asama. Neshinbara had nothing better to do than organize his inventory, so she didn’t feel bad asking him about this.

'''Asama:''' “For Yamazaki, wouldn’t they only need a battle between the ships?”

●

'''Unturning:''' “Continue.”

Asama nodded at Narumi’s response. It was reassuring to know someone else had the same concerns as her. Especially when that someone else was the Date Vice Chancellor.

She gathered her thoughts in her head before continuing.

'''Asama:''' “We do not accept the Genesis Project. Not the part about killing destiny and not the part about losing Nobunaga.”

The way Horizon nodded and went “I see!” was concerning, but at least she seemed to agree.

'''Asama:''' “For that, we need a fighting force, mobility, and a base of operations. The Musashi provides all three, so they should only need to destroy the Musashi, right? Then wouldn’t it be safer and more efficient for them to keep the battle between the ships?”

'''Worshiper:''' “Maybe they only did this because the Azuchi started to lose.”

'''Unturning:''' “They did initially try to use their greater speed to ram us, so sinking the Musashi does seem to be their goal. So now that they don’t have greater speed and can’t ram us, it is possible they are sending over their special duty officer equivalents to take control of the Musashi.”

'''Scarred:''' “Could it be like Tres España boarding the Musashi during the Armada Battle?”

''It’s probably something like that,'' thought Asama.

''But,'' she added just before Narumi continued.

'''Unturning:''' “The ramming attempt made it look like they wanted to settle this between the ships. But now they are attempting something else. That means they are using nonequivalent tactics in the same battle.”

…''Leave it to Narumi.

The hands applauded and Asama agreed. She repeatedly tapped the “agree” button beneath Narumi’s icon. And…

'''Asama:''' “Right. Which is weird. If they only need to settle this between the ships, they have little reason to board us. They could have rammed us instead of coming up alongside us.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “I know, right!? If there’s a point on the ship they need to reach to end the battle like during the Armada Battle, then boarding us and trying different ways of reaching that point makes sense, but the Battle of Yamazaki has nothing like that. The Iga Crossing was more that type of battle.”

That settled it. Asama realized what felt so wrong about this battle.

'''Asama:''' “Did the Hashiba forces not originally want this type of battle?”

●

Narumi rated the Asama Shrine Representative highly for reaching that viewpoint without much knowledge of tactics and strategy.

This was what the Asama Shrine Representative was trying to say.

'''Unturning:''' “Whether they ram the Musashi with their ship or they board the Musashi and take control or sabotage and then destroy it, it looks like their goal is to ''stop'' the Musashi.”

But…

'''Unturning:''' “The latter option doesn’t directly lead to destruction. That means the common point between the two tactics is not the destruction of the Musashi itself. That is only a secondary effect.”

''This is how I see it.

'''Unturning:''' “They are here to defeat us.”

●

''What does that mean?'' wondered Neshinbara as he poured a mountain of inventory from a transport cart into the disposal system at the bottom of the ship.

'''Novice:''' “That would mean Hashiba is coming to defeat us in duels, wouldn’t it?”

'''Art-Ga:''' “Pft. Do you really think they care about you?”

'''Novice:''' “Wait! Do you know who caused them major damage during a recent negotiation!? It was me!”

'''Vice President:''' “That means they only need to do ‘major damage’ to you, so can you try not to provoke them into something worse?”

'''Novice:''' “Are you saying that to me!? You can’t just say ‘you’ in a group chat and expect people to understand!”

But someone else joined the divine chat to support the others’ argument.

'''Scarred:''' “Judge. I think Lady Narumi and Lady Asama are correct.”

It was Stuart. Based on the sign frame, she had started moving from Okutama’s stern. They had received word that Katou Kiyomasa and her Caledfwlch had boarded them, so Stuart was probably on her way there.

And she posted on the divine net.

'''Scarred:''' “Back in Mito, Lady Katou Kiyomasa of the Ten Spears said that stopping our path is their path.”

She had an incredible memory. Neshinbara envied her that since he had a tendency to forget the lore he had established only thirty pages ago. But that thought was interrupted by AK dropping from the exhaust vent above, so Neshinbara had to open the bottom of the next vent to send him on down.

“Waiiiiiiiiit! My friend from the eveeeeeeent!”

“Heh heh heh heh! I hope you regret this! You are already behind the times…!”

That didn’t really mean anything, but he knew the man would understand from the vibes.

…''But Stuart-kun’s comment fits with what Asama-kun and the others said.

'''Novice:''' “Their objective is to stop us. And if they can do so directly, they will prioritize that. So is destroying the Musashi only one means of accomplishing that?”

●

''That’s a problem!'' thought Adele as she and the warriors ran along Asakusa’s outer edge.

The enemy was only about 15m behind them. That enemy was Komaoumaru, a mobile shell standing more than two meters tall.

“…!”

He occasionally fired a beam from his mouth, but he couldn’t run and aim at the same time. However, that made it hard to tell where to go to dodge, so they had no choice but to keep their distance. However…

'''Flat Vassal:''' “If they’re here to stop us, then those of us here aren’t the ones they want! So can someone please come take my place!”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Adele? After hitting the enemy so often, it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t be one of the ones they want to stop.”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Y-you’re the one who hit them! I’m just harmless ballast!”

'''Almost everyone: <Discussing>

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Ah! Ah! You’re figuring out how to make this even worse for me, aren’t you!?”

While some horrors were concocted on the divine net, another beam swept through from behind, so she ducked low to avoid it. And…

'''Scarred:''' “Understood, Lady Adele. You were a great help during the Honnouji Incident, so I will hurry to your position. You have nothing to worry about.”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Eh? No, you don’t have to do that, Mary-san! We can’t waste you on this! You’re a good person!”

'''Horizey:''' “Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh! If good people are not wanted here, that rules me out too! But it isn’t looking so good for Toori-sama and his bare dick over there.”

'''Me:''' “Huh!? Tell her she’s wrong, Adele! You think walking around with your dick out is an act of good, don’t you!?”

If anything she thought it was insane, but a beam flew in from behind and pierced the sign frame, shattering it.

“Ahhhhh! He’s so close now!”

At some point, Komaoumaru had arrived within about five meters of her.

●

''That’s not good!'' thought Adele.

Why was it bad? Because of the threat to her life of course, but also because they were circling around Asakusa’a bow and about to reach the starboard side.

There was no news of the enemy reaching the right starboard side of the port ships.

Allowing that to happen didn’t sound all that bad, but it was.

'''Bell:''' “Adele…do we need…to reposition?”

That was why. Even though she was being pursued, there was a chance the enemy would take a different path and head to the central ships. So some of the warriors on the central and port ships could be repositioned to where they expected an enemy attack to happen.

But there were also enemies elsewhere right now. Repositioning the warriors now could leave openings in other positions. So Adele’s group needed to stop the enemy here.

…''Can we do that!?

There was no way to know unless they tried. So there was no way around it. She decided to try everything she could think of.

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Date Vice Chancellor! I need some advice on how to defeat Komaoumaru!”

'''Unturning:''' “Well, first you need to equip your Unturning Centipede.”

''I don’t have one of those!

●

'''Gold Mar:''' “Narumin, I don’t think that’s what Adele was looking for. She can’t do much with that.”

'''Asama:''' “It reminds me of when cooking shows start with ‘pull out the pork you prepared earlier’.”

'''Me:''' “So what ''are'' we gonna do? Should I go help her?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “No! No nudists! I’ll figure something out!”

●

Up in the air, Urquiaga saw Adele gather her resolve.

He was in the sky closer to Murayama than Oume, engaged in an aerial battle with…

“Suzuki Magoichi!”

The demon girl flipped her body around and flew.

She didn’t have anything to act as wings. But she did have something she could use as thrusters.

Her two rifles. She stuck them in her hip stockers and…

…''She fires them as spell cannons to provide thrust!

The principle was the same as Urquiaga’s half-dragon thrusters.

And her third rifle soared through the air.

It was a crow.

The three guns together were the divine weapon known as Yatagarasu. That sounded like something Neshinbara would like, but it actually referred to the crow who had enjoyed some near-cannibalism during the yakiniku at England. ''Which means my inquisition tools have the more powerful name. Ready to give up yet?

Regardless, this opponent was Mlasi and from P.A. Oda. He could defeat her without a second thought. So he pursued her through the air, trying to capture her or strike her. But…

“She’s quick!”

“I prefer graceful!” said Magoichi with a smile. “Yata!”

Immediately, a bullet flew in. From his blind spot.

…''The flying rifle!

This was a problem. Because visibility was poor on this dark night after the moons had set. Also, her flight thruster system was apparently designed to mask any ether readings from an opponent, so she was difficult to track even for a half-dragon like him.

Simply put, he loved it. Half-dragons were hunters. If he was up against a crow who was a skilled attacker, then not only did he have to defend the Musashi, but he had to defend his own pride as a half-dragon.

“Now this is getting interesting!”

●

Magoichi had realized that battling in the air was fairly easy.

The idea had come to her during the Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi fought against K.P.A. Italia. At the time, K.P.A. Italia Vice Chancellor Tachibana Dousetsu had forced her to jump out into the sky.

And during the Keichou Campaign, sticking to firing from atop a ship had allowed the Murakami Navy to perform some absurd fleet maneuvering toward the end.

Both situations may have ended up differently if she could fly.

That was her pride talking, of course. She didn’t actually think the actions of a single special duty officer equivalent could greatly change the outcome of a major battle.

But the “what ifs” kept coming to her.

…''I can’t believe this.

This was the same as the issue of her origins.

She wished things had happened differently, but she would stick to the current way of things until she had solved the problem to an extent.

And now she was flying. She kept two Yatagarasu rifles in her hip stockers to use them as thrusters and fought with the remaining rifle. The trick this time was applying a night vision spell to Yatagarasu.

The flight was honestly nearly automatic.

She provided some guidance for the direction, but Yatagarasu was in charge of choosing a route. Because she had very little experience using Yatagarasu in this way. Yatagarasu didn’t either, so this would take time to perfect.

Meanwhile, she could fire.

That worked because the fire timing and aiming had always been determined by the cast timing and a targeting spell. Because Yatagarasu was rifles, they were eager to get shooting, so she had to make sure to periodically swap out the one being fired with one of the ones at her hips.

The summer training camp at Lake Biwa Azuchi after the Keichou Campaign had been especially bad.

To make sure she would be fine if she fell, she had jumped from a diving board at Lake Biwa that dated back to the Age of the Gods, but…

…''Yatagarasu returned me to the ground out of concern for me!

Just when she thought she had taken flight, she had flown in a sharp curve back toward the wharf, but she hadn’t been able to land properly and it hadn’t ended well. Afterwards, Yatagarasu had fled into the sky and hadn’t come back down for half a day.

That showed they weren’t communicating well. Teaching them what she wanted and then practicing her landing had taken longer than she expected.

She had thought she would be shooting in no time, but she had been wrong. In the end, she had needed to split the targeting spell between one for shooting and one for flying, with the latter instructed to fire in the opposite direction she wanted to go.

It had finally started working when the summer sun was setting noticeably sooner, but she owed a lot of thanks to her flight training with Schau Essen and Altbayern.

After that, Yatagarasu had read the wind without worrying too much about her. Her role had become to tilt her body to not get in the way of Yatagarasu’s path, which sometimes meant spinning and soaring through the air.

She fired.

The artillery fire shockwaves, the defense barriers, their shards, and the warriors’ gunfire…

“Go, Yata!”

…all flew.

She fired on the pursuing half-dragon, leaped alongside a defense barrier that appeared, placed her feet on its surface and ran to help her trajectory along, jumped out into the open air again, and swapped the firing rifle with one of the ones at her hip.

“–––––”

She engaged in an aerial battle.

●

''She’s a bird all right,'' confirmed Urquiaga.

Suzuki Magoichi wasn’t flying. She was placing herself in Yatagarasu’s output and riding its course.

Either she was lightweight or she was using a lightening support spell. Or maybe both and maybe neither.

This felt like so much trouble because he couldn’t find any opening in her spells.

This part was easy for him to understand because his flight was handled by the same system as his breathing. Narumi would be easier to understand if she did it like this, but she wasn’t easy to understand and that was what made her route worth completing. It was a hard one.

But birds were trouble. Because they were so tasty. And they relied on the wind. Instead of flapping their wings to fly, they would glide and catch the wind to rise. They only really used their wings to gain initial speed or provide a bit more when they didn’t have enough.

So maybe you could say they were tasty and reliant on the wind.

Half-dragons, however, flew using thrust. They did have wings, but they were primarily used for extra lift and for course corrections. Without continual thrust, they would fall.

…''Which makes us powerful!

And cool! That was what really mattered. Meanwhile, half-dragons had a number of opinions on birds: “That looks fun.” “They’re so fragile.” “They’re so good cooked in salt.” But that wide variety of opinions probably came from how incompatible half-dragons were with a bird’s flight system.

Birds used the wind, which made them a good match for a dragon’s flight system that created its own wind.

Whenever he used this thrust to coolly fly in a straight line, the birds would detect the wind he created and use it to avoid him.

Even if he broke the sound barrier and left the wind behind him.

…''Once they notice me, they can predict where the next wind will be and fly there.

Even flapping wings could create a fair amount of initial speed.

Even if he pursued with all his might, a single flap could evade him.

“How is that fair!?”

●

Magoichi frowned after letting Yatagarasu carry her out of the pursuing half-dragon’s way.

“Fair?”

''What isn’t fair?'' she asked while flying and shooting.

“Your heavy armor and high-speed flight are what’s unfair!”

“Those things are cool, so it doesn’t count!”

…''Ugh, why are boys like this?

She knew she shouldn’t stereotype, but she knew better than to continue that conversation.

At any rate, she fired another shot and thought to herself as she watched the sparks scatter in the distance.

…''He’s solid!

Was his armor on par with an aerial warship’s? That didn’t seem right given his size, but if he had a species-level divine protection, it would work differently from the mass produced armor with artificial shapes and structures.

That was just how he was as a living being.

''Makes sense,'' she thought. And she realized how she could deal with him. ''This is not Musashi’s 2nd Special Duty Officer I am fighting.

She was fighting a dragon attacking her as a gunner.

“So I am to hunt him.”

●

As she ran, Mitotsudaira heard a strange sound in the sky.

Her wolf ears were sharp, but they could be too sensitive during the cacophony of battle, so she would partially cancel out the noise made by artillery and explosions.

However, something loud in the sky reached her through that interference. It was…

…''Gunfire!

It was a sharp sound, but it was different from Gin’s Arcabuz Cruz. This was only the sound of a gun firing.

But the sound raced out. And continued without stopping.

“2nd Special Duty Officer!”

She could tell the paths in the sky were intersecting. Looking up, she could see something flying in arcs and the light of the 2nd Special Duty Officer’s thrusters as he pursued or withdrew from that something. There was noise too. A lot of it, so she applied a bit of noise canceling. But the 2nd Special Duty Officer could not reach his opponent.

'''Horizey:''' “Why doesn’t Urquiaga-sama carry a projectile weapon?”

…''Oh, you’re being a little harsh there, Horizon!

'''10ZO:''' “W-well, uh, there aren’t any guns that fit a half-dragon’s hand.”

'''Unturning:''' “When we visited a shop called the Armory on Tachikawa, they had a customizable gun. It was fascinating how everyone got down on the ground and shouted ‘don’t kill yourself!’ when he looked down the barrel.”

That comment, made by someone who hadn’t gotten down, was harsh too.

But the situation in the sky was looking bad.

'''Asama:''' “I know what this is. Suzuki Magoichi-san is in full hunting mode.”

Right. When Mitotsudaira had fought her mother or the Celestial Dragon, she had used both her strength as a wolf and her human combat techniques for use against animals. Magoichi was doing the same thing here.

A half-dragon was a nonhuman. But also a type of dragon.

Magoichi was keeping that in mind and using techniques meant for use against animals. And she was a special duty officer equivalent wielding a divine weapon.

However…

“––––”

Mitotsudaira ran on. The sky was the 2nd Special Duty Officer’s territory.

…''I believe in you!

●

Magoichi knew she could believe in her guns and in her skill with them.

…''Once I decide how to do this, the rest will continue as usual.

Her method was simple.

She would dedicate a second Yatagarasu rifle to attack.

Then she could use one as a decoy while going for the kill with the other.

However, Yatagarasu didn’t exactly make for attractive prey. She had to use the attack itself as a decoy.

She would attack from one direction, have him react to that, and then fire from another direction.

The half-dragon’s aerial maneuvers were simple to read. That was partially because they were composed of straight lines, but also because, as a living being, his thrusters were all on the back of his body.

When he took high-speed evasive action, he had to make full use of his back thrusters. Unless he twisted his body’s angle and wings a fair amount, that would cause him to float upwards.

That made it a lot easier for her to predict his actions. She would only need to aim above him and she could also ignore the direction her decoy shot had come from.

She was all but guaranteed a hit.

He couldn’t ignore the decoy shot either. Yatagarasu itself was predicting his course, so even the decoy shot would hit if he didn’t evade.

He also couldn’t limit his power output or use his wings to forcibly evade because that would only make him easier to hit.

This hunt would not be completed with a single devastating attack. A dragon’s tough armor required several attacks to take down. And so…

…''I appreciate his forceful course changes.

But that was the only option for someone with such a focus on acceleration. And the more he rushed, the more he would wear himself down from the stress.

Dodging her attack just once wouldn’t remove all that. But the exhaustion from that evasion would be added to the rest, making it easier and easier for her to hit him the longer this continued.

This was a hunt.

And she had been guided to a path forward. She only had to cautiously keep her distance and patiently wear him down. And then…

“Once he falls, this will be over.”

●

Narumi interpreted the trajectory she heard in the sky.

He was as awkward as ever. Because he believed it was cool to be honest to a fault.

However, ''this time'' his opponent was awkward too. She was facing him in her own way instead of switching it up on him.

Did being cool ''attract'' this kind of opponent?

But that opponent was also skilled.

She was likely being dragged along by her flying rifles, but she didn’t do anything unnecessary.

Besides, no matter how great the rifles’ recoil, using them to fly couldn’t be easy. Constant firing would overheat the barrels and then they would have to be thrown out.

So she glided.

''She’s a bird,'' Narumi quickly realized by comparing this opponent to him.

Their reliance on the wind wasn’t the only annoying aspect of birds. They were also good at using gravity.

After gaining some initial speed, they would use the lift of their wings, decide a course, and then glide in that direction.

Someone flying using only thrust would either travel straight that way or slowly fall.

But someone using the lift of wings to fly would use that lift to rise immediately after gaining their initial speed. And once that initial speed was lost, they would drop down the downwards slope of their hill-like trajectory and then use their wings for more lift.

By repeating that wave-like rising and falling pattern, the winged could gradually lower their altitude just like a bird. It didn’t take much strength and it was efficient.

But they got annoying when they went a step beyond that.

Particularly, a downwards glide at the end of the hill-like trajectory.

They could alter their trajectory with their wings, but that alteration could be strengthened by their speed.

…''So there isn’t much change on the rises, but there can be a lot on the falls.

They were like a breaking ball. Most breaking balls changed a lot more along a falling trajectory.

Birds did not fly straight and the changes to their course were not always the same. The way birds could change everything with only a slight alteration was terrible news for anyone trying to catch up to them or capture them.

And, while it wasn’t clear if this opponent had learned it herself or if it came from the rifles, she was using highly variable trajectories to travel through the sky.

“How awkward,” responded Narumi. “But will it work?”

●

Magoichi realized her speed through the sky was increasing.

Any changes to her course were stronger as she glided downwards and the momentum gained there could be applied when she ascended.

When she sent two Yatagarasu rifles out to attack, she could only take a downwards course. But that momentum became speed, allowing her to glide until the second rifle returned and she could flap again.

“Ohh.”

She flew. She drew out curves in the sky, sometimes facing the heavens, sometimes spinning, and sometimes kicking off the defense barriers produced for the ship battle.

She looked down at the Musashi from higher than the Azuchi. When she directed her feet toward the sky and descended, the half-dragon pursued.

Yatagarasu flew.

She was part of the crow’s wing. Just the one wing drew an arc in the sky, evading the dragon’s charge.

And she fired.

She was starting to learn the half-dragon’s weakness: below.

As an animal meant to charge in and devour, he had strong defenses in the direction he was headed, but his thrusters and joints were exposed on the other side. Those areas had likely been left that way because no other animal could keep up with a dragon’s speed.

Birds could read the winds, so they would avoid the dragons altogether, not getting behind them.

Fleeing was more efficient.

But Magoichi was different. Her wings had guns.

If she instructed Yatagarasu to blow him away, this bird would shoot the dragon. When the goal was to defeat everything that stood against her, a weapon that let her keep her distance as she attacked would be best.

It had always been that way. After losing everything when she was a child, the others around her had learned spells and martial arts, but she had chosen a gun.

She thought a gun was best, safest, and let her look upon the person she needed to shoot.

Because this would let her live and eventually acquire a stable life.

●

''This is a hunt,'' thought Magoichi.

She would close in on her opponent and fire. With some opponents, it would only take one shot. With others, she would injure and wear them down before granting them death.

In the desert, injuring rather than killing would be enough to bring death. Because they couldn’t make it back home while injured.

So she used to do that a lot.

“Guns will never betray me.”

When peering through the sight and squeezing the trigger, it felt like only she and her opponent existed in the world. ''Which she liked.''

It felt like the responsibility for defeating that opponent was granted to her through the line of fire.

There were battlefields everywhere in this age, so she could get by just by hunting.

But if that was all she had, she felt like she would lose everything again. So…

“All I want is stability.”

That was something she had never had.

That assurance that she could live peacefully until her death without anything being taken from her.

As she wandered in search of that, she had joined with Hashiba. She had been comfortable there and there had been a lot of battles, but since Hashiba was working with M.H.R.R., she had thought she wouldn’t be manipulated by the history recreation there.

But now Musashi was resisting the world and threatening to take that peace from her. She couldn’t stand it anymore. It never ended. No matter what she did, no matter where she went, and even if she turned the world upside down, someone always tried to take away her peace.

So. So she was ready to just forget everything.

“Please.”

She spoke alongside her attacks.

“Just give me a world where I need not hunt!”

●

Urquiaga flew forward.

He had learned some of his opponent’s patterns by watching her movements.

…''This bird is new to flying, isn’t she?

Her aim gave it away.

When the bird fired, she linked her rifle to her vision.

When she did, she used a single eye to aim instead of both.

That was probably because, even with a single eye, she could think of her field of vision as “the center”. She was an expert in that field.

But it was different for the rifle. Because they were linked, the spell was in charge of what counted as “the center”.

That created a subconscious ranking of the eyes when she fired.

A few of the attacks on Urquiaga had had slightly worse targeting.

The bird was aware of this. So to keep her “eyes” always turned his way, she had them fly along curving paths which kept him on the inside of the curve.

He was always surrounded by two curves that were sharing their view.

''In that case,'' thought Urquiaga.

“A world where you need not hunt, hm?”

He flew forward. He had something in mind, so he ignored the damage he would take and…

“There is no such thing!”

●

Magoichi realized her opponent had predicted her course. No, more than that…

…''He can predict and then follow it!?

If he thought about her firing system, he would know her vision was linked with Yatagarasu. And that that led her to surround him with so many curving paths.

But negating that encirclement wouldn’t be so easy.

She knew of two ways to do so.

One was for him to launch himself outside the encirclement. That one was relatively easy, but it would take him far away from her and he would be surrounded anew when he returned.

But the second way was difficult. Because…

“He has to charge straight into the center of the eye line created by Yatagarasu!”

●

If she was relying on either her right or left eye, he only had to fly straight down the center for an instant.

Then she would be unsure whether she should use that prioritized eye or use the other one.

The trick was to “approach” the enemy’s course, not to cross over it.

Urquiaga did so.

He took a straight line path straight for the rifle as if to stop its flight.

“All I need to do is fly straight.”

Because his opponent was using curves.

A curving path could not constantly capture him from head on, which would automatically create hesitation over which eye to prioritize.

The curving paths used to confuse him would now be used to confuse his opponent.

Of course, he would be shot if he flew straight in.

But tanking the hit and continuing on would be so cool.

“If you hesitate over which eye to use, you cannot score a clean hit!”

He flew in.

[[File:Horizon10A_p0653.jpg|thumb]]

●

The half-dragon closed in.

His approach narrowed the space they had to work with.

He hopped through the air to close in further with each of his opponent’s attacks.

Meanwhile, the bird stopped using one wing as a decoy and began using two wings to counterattack while she accelerated herself.

She dropped down. And after the occasional rise, she would fall again. Meanwhile, the bird asked a question.

“Why!?” she asked. “Why do you not fear vengeance and resistance!? Why are you only interested in hunting!?”

The dragon simply continued forward.

“I have one question!” he announced. “Do you have an elder sister!?”

●

''Huh?'' thought Magoichi.

She didn’t have one. Demons generally had a hard time bearing children. So…

“No, I don’t! What does that have to do with anything!?”

“You don’t know!?” he said. “Ask, and it shall be given you! …Did you ask for that!?”

“I did! I moved academies and fought for it!”

“I see!” shouted the enemy as he closed in. “Then I am sorry!”

She fired on him.

●

The gunfire was incoming.

In that moment, Urquiaga took a single action.

He had been in his flight position with arms held out in front, but…

“How about this!?”

He blocked the gunfire with his right arm and released just the right side of his flight position.

He pulled back his right arm, leaving only the left arm which was positioned toward the inside of the curve approaching him.

That reduced the force of the gunfire, but it broke his half-dragon position even more than that.

The sudden action caused the wind to rupture and the air deflected his right arm. That right arm acted as a thruster wing propelling him forward. Without it in its proper position, he collided with the air resistance.

But as a dragon, he was accustomed to this type of movement. He gathered strength in his left arm and right thrusters so he merely bounced up in the air.

“––––”

And the sudden change in his shape threw off the rifle.

However, his left arm remained on the inside of the curving path Yatagarasu was going to take.

It couldn’t hit him. But because that was the bird’s dominant eye, it focused on the sudden change. This threw off the crow’s movement, reflecting it. It drew out a powerful curve as if trying to escape.

It accelerated and fled deeper to the interior of the arc, but…

“You are parting from your wielder.”

The three arcs had been periodically coming and going while firing, but one had strayed from that pattern. The distant, distorted trajectory could not be immediately restored, but Magoichi returned the remaining two wings to herself and…

“Kh!”

She flew.

She soared toward the straying Yatagarasu rifle. But…

“That won’t work,” said the half-dragon. “I knew what course you would take.”

●

Urquiaga pursued her.

He had the greater acceleration. And Magoichi was currently firing her rifles like flapping wings to regroup with the distant Yatagarasu.

The greater her speed, the weaker her course curved.

…''Here!

He saw where they would clash.

It was before Magoichi would reach her rifle. She might accelerate again, but that would only ensure their clash.

So he accelerated and…

“Repent for the sin of not being an elder sister!”

He saw something as he approached.

Magoichi turned her full body toward him and accelerated the Yatagarasu rifles at her hips and tossed them into the air.

With all three rifles in the sky, Magoichi herself fell while looking to Urquiaga.

Her eyebrows were raised, but her eyes were directed straight at him as she shouted.

“Yata! Wide area attack!”

Ahead, the three wings drew out a giant black light. The virtual barrel was directed at him.

And in the instant he was diving right toward it, Magoichi spoke.

“Go, crow guide of the war god. Launch your protective bullet!”

●

A black pillar tore into the sky to the east.

The Musashi and the Azuchi both raised defense barriers to reduce the shockwave and those shattered as they achieved their goal. Meanwhile, Magoichi fell through the sky.

…''How about that?

Ultimately, the time for the hunt would not end. But this battle would mark a certain kind of ending. Because nothing would remain once this was complete.

“It’s strange.”

She was protecting the loss of everything.

She fell. And three wings descended from the sky to meet her.

That was Yatagarasu. With one role complete, they would rejoin her and continue on to the next. The Musashi’s surface would be next. Another wide area attack like this one would do considerable damage to the Musashi.

…''But from a distance, they will be able to interfere with the attack and defend against it.

That was why she had to win this duel and land on the ship.

“––––”

But in the end, she wouldn’t change.

And because she wouldn’t change, she would rely on others. There was no other option, but…

“I wanted to change, didn’t I!?”

As soon as the words left her lips, all three approaching wings were deflected outwards.

…''Huh?

What had happened? She thought the Yatagarasu rifles must have collided with each other, but…

“Why should you have to change!?”

A voice reached her from directly above, which was straight ahead of her.

It was the half-dragon.

“What!?”

Hadn’t that wide area attack hit him?

“You fool!” roared the dragon. “This is a battlefield! There are countless methods of evasion!”

●

“Well done, Urquiaga-sama. Over.”

Suzu wasn’t quite sure what “Musashino” meant by that.

“U-um? What…was that? It did hit…Urquiaga-kun, didn’t it?”

“He was in the effective range of the wide area attack. But this is a battlefield.”

Meaning…

“One of the defense barriers created in the artillery exchange between us and the Azuchi was in the way. Over.”

How did that happen?

“We know that the effective range of the artillery creates a safe zone in this airspace. The Azuchi will be aware of this as well. So while she fought, Suzuki-sama chose a circular course that kept her out of the artillery’s effective range. Whenever she was close to entering the danger zone, she would kick off a defense barrier to escape it. However, Urquiaga-sama’s interference moved her far off course. Over.”

This was plain to see in the final courses taken by the two models.

Urquiaga had guided Magoichi as she pursued her diverted wing.

…''He lured her into the danger zone.

“I have determined Urquiaga-sama was likely attempting to trap her between his own charge and our defense barrier. Suzuki-sama instead managed to escape his trap and made that attack, but they were still in the danger zone. A defense barrier launched against the Azuchi’s artillery fire defended against it.”

“Musashino” sighed and slumped her shoulders a little.

“That prematurely destroyed the defense barrier I had launched, necessitating the launch of a new barrier at the last second, so I was a bit rushed. I would appreciate advance notice the next time he attempts something like this. Over.”

●

Magoichi stretched her arms up toward the sky. To reject him. To tell him to stay away.

“Why!?”

“You still do not get it!? Hunting is a way of providing nourishment!” shouted the dragon in the moment of their clash. “Stability is something you fight to give to others! You need only look back!”

●

Magoichi gasped.

…''Could it be…?

She had lost and left behind so much in the past. So she had decided never to look back. But…

“––––”

She stopped.

It was true she had never once looked back as she continued her search for the sort of home she wanted.

Could it be that something precious had formed behind her?

…''I can’t believe it.

This was not a defeat. She had simply never looked back.

…''So are you saying I can look back?

She already had her answer.

“Ask, and it shall be given you! Your fault was in not asking for and receiving an elder sister!”

The instant she understood what he meant, his attack struck her.

●

The blow landed.

The enemy fell and her wings hurried after her.

Confident they would collect her before she reached the surface, Urquiaga spoke.

“If you had an elder sister, you would have realized the importance of looking back. …When she saw you off and welcomed you home each day.”

Musing how unlucky she had been, he smiled bitterly at his own damage and exhaustion. His right arm’s injury was particularly bad. Even if he was used to it, he had pushed himself hard on top of tanking the hit, so his primary armor had mostly stripped away and the second armor was cracked and bleeding.

…''I cannot fight on the front line like this.

But he wasn’t out of the fight either. Aware of that, he turned his back on his enemy.

“Remember this: not looking back is only cool when you know the weight of what you bear on your shoulders.”

And he raised his voice so everyone could hear.

“The enemy Suzuki Magoichi has been defeated!!”

●

“Wow, Ukky’s really into this.”

Naruze smiled bitterly at Margot’s comment.

“He is above us in the special duty officer ranks. And he did his job as the 2nd instead of using his position as an inquisitor as an excuse.”

Naruze fired and fired again on the enemy trying to land on the Musashi. A sign frame suddenly appeared by her face.

'''Unturning:''' “Thank you.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “For what?”

'''Unturning:''' “He only knew what tactics are effective against a winged opponent thanks to his combat training with you two.”

Narumi wouldn’t believe them if they tried to deny it. So instead, Margot said something else.

'''Gold Mar:''' “Will you treat us to something?”

'''Unturning:''' “I know a good kushiage place.”

''Why does she always choose places that serve alcohol?

But these conversations acted as a nice breather on the battlefield. Naruze and Naito readied their schale besen and…

“Once Ukky withdraws, it’ll be up to us to keep air superiority.”

“Judge. We need to contact Suzu and Masazumi and get someone to fill our place here.”

Meanwhile, they saw light bursting atop Murayama.

…''Was that…?

“Gin-chan and Muneo?”

The battle against Shima Sakon and Ootani Yoshitsugu had begun.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
    | [[Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 19|Chapter 19]]
    | [[Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 21|Chapter 21]]
}}
</noinclude>