Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 9===

While Quenser was looking around the abandoned building for a usable emergency staircase, the small delta-winged fighter passed by above him in an instant.

The fighter flew in through a window that was missing its glass, through the fourth floor portion of the atrium, and out the other side.

Immediately afterwards, the shockwave of supersonic speeds knocked Quenser over three meters through the air. The pain shooting from his ears and deep into his head was worse than the pain of landing back on the ground. Quenser almost cried out in pain, but he did not have time.

Outside.

At the very top of the mountain of rubble blocking the Baby Magnum’s path.

Something was floating a mere 2 meters above it. No, it was falling. The object was a giant capsule about 3 meters long and made of black, shining steel. If what Burning Alpha had said was true…

(That’s a 500 kilo bomb!?)

With that realization, Quenser forced his body up even as it rolled across the floor and then leaped into the staircase leading to the abandoned building’s basement.

Immediately afterwards, there was a brilliant flash of light and all noise disappeared.

A tremendous blast of wind rushed through aboveground. Even after fleeing to the basement, Quenser’s body was knocked a few meters by the shockwave. However, that was better than the alternative. A great amount of rubble poured down from the floor above and landed in the spot he had been in a split second before.

He could not even hear a ringing in his ears.

Quenser placed a hand against the wall, walked along the rubble, and climbed up to the surface through a hole in the ceiling that had already been there due to deterioration. He left the building through a nearby back entrance.

“Dammit. Was that pilot trying to kill me!?”

The mountain of rubble had been piled up almost 10 meters high, but it had been blown away without a trace. Baby Magnum could freely move once more. However, the surrounding buildings had begun to collapse due to the blast. The princess’s Object moved before the rubble could block her path once more.

“I am going to fire a low-stability plasma cannon, so get down, Quenser!!” said the Princess over the radio.

In order to avoid putting herself in the sights of the enemy and to gain a straight line-of-sight path to the enemy, she moved the Baby Magnum in a giant circle with the high power railgun 3000 meters away at the center.

It took about 5 seconds to reach the giant bypass.

Three of the princess’s 7 main cannons had been destroyed in the battle with the Break Carrier. She moved the remaining 4 main cannon arms to accurately aim.

At that moment, a chill ran down Quenser’s back.

Something wasn’t adding up.

The Break Carrier’s main cannon was indeed powerful. That had been proven when it had destroyed a cutting edge Object in one shot at a distance of 500 kilometers when the target had been moving at high speed. It was quite a threat even while not installed on an Object.

However…

(Can a cannon with that much power really be fixed to the ground?)

Objects were equipped with over 100 weapons both large and small. The ones used in Antarctica or on the Iguazu district coast had been the smaller models of railguns. And yet they were still large enough to require anchors over 10 meters long to be stabbed into the ground.

So how long an anchor would be required for a main cannon of monstrous size that fired at Mach 25 and could destroy an Object in a single shot? And could they even get something like that?

(Don’t tell me…)

Quenser’s head was still swimming a bit thanks to the shockwave of that 500 kilo bomb, but the fear welling up within him forced in some clarity.

(Don’t tell me…this is a trap!)

Quenser moved his aching body and looked in the direction of the princess’s Object.

At that point, Quenser had already abandoned the possibility that the Mass Driver conglomerate had a mysterious second Object. If they did, they would not use the Break Carrier’s high power railgun like that. It would be more effective to install it on the other Object.

That meant the Mass Driver conglomerate did not have an Object.

But something had supplied that massive power in Antarctica and the Iguazu district coast.

When it came down to it, the source of that power was quite simple.

(A prototype reactor!!)

Quenser gritted his teeth and grabbed his radio.

A prototype reactor was created to ensure the JPlevelMHD reactor that was the heart of an Object was constructed properly. Most likely, the dozen or so meter prototype reactor had been placed aboard a submarine or something and had been supplying power to the railguns with power cables stretching up from the sea.

“Baby Magnum…”

And…

The enemy’s intention here…

Was to force the high power railgun to move despite the fact that they could not fire it…

To draw the princess out to the easiest point to destroy the high power railgun from.

[[Image:HO v02 339.jpg|thumb]]

And the most efficient way to use that treasured prototype reactor of theirs was…

“The enemy railgun is a trap!! A prototype reactor is likely hidden underground!! They’re going to intentionally make it go critical to blow away the Object!!”

On the other end of the transmission, the princess froze up as she operated the Baby Magnum.

However, she had no time.

If the reverse Y-shaped propulsion device had been at 100% and she could use the static electricity and lasers to their fullest, she might have been able to avoid it.

However, that was not the case.

A giant explosion erupted below the princess’s Object.