Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume20 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 2===

It was 4 in the morning at Tokyo Bay.

The time had come to end the world war.

Quenser Barbotage and the rest of Together By Chance’s final target was history’s largest Object, the Manhattan 000. If they could get through this, Quenser could shut off the only breaker for the massive Capulet AI Network that was trying to break free of the four world powers paradigm and rule the world with only the Information Alliance.

They could no longer use their armored truck now that it had fallen into the underground space that was in truth a human factory used to support the Island Nation’s population. Quenser and the others climbed back to the surface where they stole a civilian vehicle and drove back to Ichigaya. The fire must have never reached the ammo dump, so they took military vehicles from the garrison and returned to Tokyo Bay with that. They had 8-wheeled armored trucks, rocket launcher vehicles, and even actual tanks, but it all felt so inadequate.

At 20km long, the Manhattan 000 was absurd even for an Object. Was there any amount of gear that would make them feel safe against that?

“The Anastasia Processor,” muttered Wraith Martini Vermouthspray aboard the military truck she rode with the taciturn young man.

They drove toward the ocean.

However, Quenser’s group aboard an 8-wheeled armored truck was not taking the ordinary road back east along the Sobu-Chuo Line to reach Ariake or Odaiba. The Manhattan 000 was positioned at the southern entrance to Tokyo Bay, which meant it was near Kanagawa, at the Tokyo Bay exit of the Uraga Channel. Needless to say, heading out onto the open ocean would just get them blasted. They would leave those forceful tactics to the Baby Magnum and the Rush while they circled around to the rear.

“We’re already in Yokohama,” said Heivia from the same armored truck’s roof. “Damn Island Nation isn’t even putting up a resistance anymore.”

“Yeah, all the bridges and overpasses are still up. Maybe they realized this isn’t their fight anymore. They’d need a death wish to attack us over the Manhattan.”

Quenser’s group followed the Keihin-Tohoku Line south and then hid among the buildings to reach Yokosuka. Driving the armored truck full speed from Tokyo, it took 30 or 40 minutes. Mariydi and the other pilots had taken out the port when they attacked, but that didn’t mean there was no usable equipment or facilities there.

They entered the off limits area of the Port of Yokosuka, a shared government and civilian port.

Heivia whistled when he checked inside.

“This hangar was entirely untouched. They’ve got patrol boats, amphibious coastal mine layers, and air cushion landing craft.”

“We’ll be fighting at sea, so let’s pull out everything that might be usable. If you can’t find anything, use your head. If you can’t think up anything, then we’ll be stuck swimming through the cold February ocean the old fashioned way. Hurry!”

The Manhattan 000 was not just a massive barricade.

It was equipped with a wide variety of weaponry and was heavily fortified with sensors and radars, so they had to assume its eyes and ears were better than theirs. Myonri let out a small cry as she messed with the radar aboard an air cushion landing craft. Someone must have pointed out the Manhattan 000 might detect her signal.

Without panicking or making a fuss, Quenser brought his radio to his mouth.

He had never expected to make it the whole way unnoticed. They had only wanted to reduce the risk of being fired on during their approach as much as possible. Getting this close to the Uraga Channel without the skyscrapers around them being vaporized meant a lot.

So now he sent a transmission straight to #29 of the genius girl project.

“Melly.”

“Yes? 115.”

She was back to her usual way of talking.

There was a clear difference between the announcement she had made to Frolaytia and Lendy and when she was speaking with Quenser. Maybe this was how she sounded when not reading off a prepared script.

“I want to confirm one thing before we start. What happens to the people of Manhattan? They won’t be thrown into the ocean to drown if we sink that, will they?”

“Those ordinary people couldn’t endure the g-forces of Object movement. 502. So during combat, they are preserved inside transparent cubes. They can float around frozen inside there for three years after being thrown out into the ocean.”

“I see,” said Quenser. He had ice in his voice. “Without them as hostages, you’ve thrown out your last hope. We won’t hesitate now.”

The potatoes boarded patrol boats and amphibious armored trucks and set out into the sea.

The Manhattan 000’s first shot arrived at the same moment.

The Port of Yokosuka was reduced to charred earth instantly.

The electromagnetically-launched reactor cannon launched JPlevelMHD reactors as disposable tools and detonated them at the center of the attack area to create a massive crater. The location Quenser and the others had just vacated had been flattened, buildings and all, and a large chunk was taken out of the ground, allowing seawater to rush in.

A gust of wind slapped Quenser in the cheek. It had carried some water with it. That one blast stirred up the atmosphere, creating a sudden storm.

Heivia took a look around.

“So where are we?”

“At the Uraga Channel’s exit. Although we’re closer to Sagami Bay than Tokyo Bay.”

They didn’t have time to look back.

Its attacks could fall on the ocean as well. If they didn’t split up in a hurry, they could all be wiped out with a single attack.

“To honor your courage, I’ll open up one of Manhattan’s aquariums for you. 515. You’ll be stripped bare and submerged in a gelatin pool that gives you the oxygen and nutrients you need to survive while people gawk at you like some kind of endangered species.”

She made it sound so simple, but that told Quenser she really intended to do it.

An age where a single person could rule the entire world like this would mean a society where no one could question them no matter how grotesque they were.

The world would be remade to satisfy an individual’s interests.

So Quenser gave a warning.

“Melly.”

“And if you do die, I can sterilize your body and stuff a drying agent up your nose inside an oxygen-free space. When the human body’s moisture falls below 50%, the putrefying bacteria can’t function, so you will be forever preserved. 169. I’ll open a museum for you. And each and every one of you will be accurately labeled as too stupid to live. Your shame will be displayed there for all eternity.”

“That bad joke will come back to haunt you. Have you never heard of the brazen bull? The man who proudly presented his new execution device to his leader became its first victim when he was thrown inside and the fire was lit below it. The same will happen to you.”

In the pouring rain, Quenser and Heivia were both aboard an air cushion landing craft designed to carry a tank. Myonri and Azureyfear were with them.

“No, why do I always get stuck with them!? Wait, please wait! I want to board that patrol boat! Please don’t leave me with them!!”

“Myonri, we need to have a chat later.”

Quenser made a mental note of that.

Meanwhile, a very different hell was playing out on the boat.

“My brother☆”

“Gyahhh!?”

“Catherine Barbotage and I got separated at some point, but the way she honestly expressed her feelings convinced me a brother and sister need so much more physical intimacy than we have enjoyed. We need to flirt while we fight like those two do! And no time like the present to start!!”

“Please realize there’s something severely wrong with anything that combines flirting with fighting!!!!!!”

Heivia pushed his annoying sister’s face away with one hand while yelling at her. Quenser didn’t care all that much, but he was mildly curious how Azureyfear was doing so well. Hadn’t Sladder Honeysuckle shot her back in the Tunguska District?

“I’m down with picking a fight with that thing, but how are we gonna do this, Quenser!? For that matter, how many reactors does the Manhattan even have? It launches the damn things like disposable shells. I’d find it hard to believe it just has one of them installed at the very center like an Island Nation hinomaru bento!!”

They were about 10km away. That might seem like a lot when thinking in terms of foot travel, but for the 20km Manhattan, that was only half its own length. Just one step to either side and it could crush them.

The lighthouse wharf, the yacht harbor, and all the other life-sized obstacles sticking out into the ocean from the Manhattan looked like the small teeth on an electric saw’s chain.

“That thing can make full use of its 20km length, right? It must be full to bursting with energy on the inside. That’s a strength and a weakness both. We should be able to do a lot of damage if we blow up the reactor itself, the pipes or cables used to transfer the energy, or the various safety devices.”

The ocean itself shook as the Manhattan 000 turned.

It turned to face them like someone swatting at a fly.

An actual attack would be coming next.

Except they had a more imminent threat to worry about.

“Eh?”

Myonri looked so far up she strained her neck.

She was looking up at a 30m tall wall. The Manhattan had created the large wave just by shaking itself like a surfboard.

Heivia shouted into his radio.

“Angle yourselves toward the wave!! Pulling back out of fear will get you capsized!!”

That was correct in theory, but how many of the boats could actually make use of the advice? Quenser and Heivia’s air cushion landing craft managed to pass through the tunnel-like wave before it crashed down (it helped that the air cushion meant it was not in direct contact with the water), but…

“Kh!!”

“Stop! Do you want to die!?”

Quenser reached for the edge of the boat, but Azureyfear forcibly stopped him.

A nearby patrol boat, which was supposedly designed for ocean use, was smashed to pieces and swallowed up by the dark ocean. The Manhattan was attacking them using the waves. So many soldiers hoping to end the world war had to have been aboard that boat, but there was nothing anyone could do for them.

This wasn’t over yet.

The Manhattan 000 hadn’t even fired on them yet.

“Eek, eek!”

Not even the high-speed Simple Is Best had affected its surroundings this much. Myonri clung to the wall to avoid being flung out into the rising and falling ocean and she tearfully shouted for assistance.

“Baby Magnum!! Princess!! Please come here!! We’ve already engaged the Manhattan 000 in-”

There was no response.

In fact, Myonri never finished her sentence.

Why wasn’t the Manhattan 000 firing on them when it should have been able to at any time? She had belatedly realized the only possible reason.

A bright light shined in the distance.

The shockwave slapped them in the face a moment later.

But they weren’t about to complain about the pain. When someone’s life was spared, it meant someone else’s life was being targeted. That coldhearted rule of fighting on the losing side bared its fangs here.

They heard a shouted report over the radio.

“I-it’s been destroyed… The Baby Magnum has been destroyed!”

It only took one shot.

Everything the Manhattan 000 did was over the top.