Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume20 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 11===

A distinctive delta wing fighter cut across Tokyo Bay late at night. That was Burning Alpha’s S/G-31. The enemy Object was still functional and the anti-air laser continued to fire from Mount Fuji’s peak, but the ace pilots’ dance continued unabated.

The fighter flew above the Baby Magnum and radioed a report and a suggestion to the Pilot Elite.

“Burning Alpha to naval team. We liquefied all of Haneda’s runways, so nothing is getting off the ground there. We’re switching our objective to supporting you.”

“Burning Alpha, the Asian Monster is using EM-based wireless power transfer. Do you have any ideas how we can prevent that!?”

“This’ll be the easiest commendation I’ve ever earned.”

The delta wing fighter reduced altitude and flew between the Baby Magnum and the Rush at supersonic speed while dropping something. What looked like glittering confetti was the chaff normally used as a missile countermeasure.

The metal foil spread through the air would scatter the EM waves used for radar.

However…

“Th-the output levels we’re talking about are on another level entirely! Oh ho ho. I doubt that can block energy on the level of a power plant!!”

“I wasn’t expecting it to. This is the Age of Objects, isn’t it? You two aim your main cannons at the ocean. Fire on the surface and you’ll create pillars of chaff-filled seawater!!”

The Princess’s low-stability plasma cannon and Oh Ho Ho’s rapid-fire beam Gatling cannon produced deafening booms.

The instant their shots contacted the dark ocean surface, they produced a loud sizzling sound. But that was not just a steam explosion from the seawater. It included a lot of the chaff Burning Alpha had distributed beforehand.

It all transformed into a hot spray.

That coated the Asian Monster’s surface, making it shine like a mirror’s silver coating.

And what happened next?

“Oh?”

The Asian Monster’s fierce movements clearly slowed. The wireless power coming from the mountaintop could be blocked if its EM receptors were given a metal coating not even a millimeter thick.

“But this won’t stop it for long. This is far from a perfect solution. Young lady, does it have any other weaknesses!? Or is the wireless power all we’ve got!?”

“U-um, Quenser said it uses something called human body communication. The ocean surface itself is used to send it electrical signals to remotely control it.”

Lendy Farolito cut in, pounding excitedly on something. Maybe a combat information center console and maybe a whiteboard.

“Then move your Objects around to stir up the seawater!! Make a circle with a diameter of greater than 100m and you can win!! This part is crucial!!!!!!”

They complied on reflex.

The Baby Magnum and the Rush repeatedly swapped positions. It looked like they were ballroom dancing, but their naval floats were rotating the seawater like a washing machine.

Sending a faint electric current through the water meant there would be some magnetism there too. And it was a known fact that rotating a fluid containing a magnetic field would generate electricity. For example, it was theorized the earth’s geomagnetic field was produced by the planet’s own rotation turning the magma deep below the surface and its own core into a massive generator.

This was the same.

They already had the information they needed. The Asian Monster communicated with electric signals passed through the ocean just like similar signals passed through the human body. Changing the direction of the existing electricity and giving it a rotation would create a new electromagnetic field.

And as weak as that might be, it would still interfere with the electrical signals.

The Asian Monster stopped moving altogether.

The error lasted less than a second.

But Burning Alpha’s delta wing fighter passed right by the colossal weapon in that moment. The laser fortress gun atop Mount Fuji was still active. It might try to shoot down the interfering aircraft now that the situation had changed.

In fact, Burning Alpha had goaded it into doing just that.

“Go to hell smeared in your own shit, you freak.”

After that rude declaration of victory, the enormous laser fortress gun’s thoughtless shot missed the fighter and pierced the Asian Monster.