Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

Utagai Karuta stood on the edge of the floating general airport’s artificial land. The dark ocean was only a step away. He was soaked from the artificial rain and he heard most of the diversion team’s transmissions coming from the Crystal Blossom at his chest.

“Ha ha! C’mon, don’t chicken out just cause your barriers don’t work!! We’re nowhere near the end here – we’ve gotta keep these anti-air lasers occupied for several more hours. If you don’t learn how to do it right early, you’ll burn through your stamina and have trouble keeping it up later!”

“Tch, we really are too far away for sniping. Maybe the oil fire is causing weird updrafts and messing with the heat distribution. A-anyway, let’s play a game of chicken. Whoever draws the laser in closest before dodging wins. Let’s show off our skills to the middle schoolers!”

“Wait, can you please take this seriously, you stupid upperclassmen!? Um, um, uh, what is that energy drink you’re chugging!? Isn’t that one triple concentrated!? Oh, god, why couldn’t you be more like Karuta-senpai!?”

“What? Since when do you use his given name, little kitten?”

“Bfff!? I-It doesn’t mean anything! You’re imagining things! Um, um, uh, stop asking questions and let it slide!!”

“…”

“Sacri-sama,” said a voice from behind Karuta.

“They’re still numb to the fear,” he said without turning around. “Our success taught them the wrong lesson.”

Sending out Crystal Blossom transmissions while flying through the night sky was risky in and of itself. Not even stealth fighters could avoid those green lasers and a single hit would vaporize Yamane or Natlena. And yet.

“Although they do appear to have calmed down some since they are no longer insisting on charging at Second Grimnoah with us.”

The boy shook his head while looking up into the rainy sky where the green beams of anti-air lasers kept flashing like lightning.

Karuta had tried to go save Marika, Gekiha, and the others even if it meant abandoning his post. He had nothing but thanks for Natlena for chasing after him and for his many other friends who had supported her. He was so happy it brought tears to his eyes, so he doubted he would ever forget it.

They had taught this filthy avenger that it could be meaningful to make a direct attack at times.

These emotions were delightful.

These emotions were wonderful.

These emotions felt really good.

“But we can’t let the emotion take control, Aine. That would be taking it too far.”

“If you say so.”

He could tell without looking back that the inhuman crystal girl was tilting her head with a blank expression.

She would not understand justice.

A single mistake would cost any one of his friends their life, so allowing emotion to cloud his judgment would only lead to endless regret.

He could not forget.

No matter how valiant and reliable a Crystal Magician Yamane Deiri might look like now, he had panicked and tried to flee the hotel when they first encountered the decoy Threats at the Crystal Beach. And when they had fought the decoy Threats in the C World dome, he had been so desperate to prove that Crystal Magic worked on the Threat that he had gotten himself nearly deadly injured.

Pretty words meant nothing to the force tasked with defending the world. The way Deiri had acted before was much more correct for a high schooler. Karuta could not misjudge the others’ limits. They were human beings, so they would feel fear and they had a limit. If he pushed them too far, they would fail.

(I’m forcing them to carry an endless burden here. I need to figure out how to ensure they don’t do anything reckless.)

The boy wielding artificial magic stood on the artificial float in the artificial rain and turned back toward Aine.

How could he repay his new friends? The answer was obvious: achieve his goal as quickly as possible to shorten how long they had to play the dangerous decoy role. That was the best way of keeping them alive.

He had to defeat the Sparkle and rescue Marika’s group.

“Time to go, Aine.”

“Yes.” The rain was pouring down on Aine too, but she stood tall without even brushing aside the wet hair plastered to her cheek. “How shall we do it this time? Shall I carry you on my back or in my arms?”

“Whichever way is easier for you.”

He answered half in exasperation, but then she gently nestled up against his chest.

Their faint warmth mixed together, but then her slender hand pushed on the center of his chest and he fell from the float and toward the dark ocean.

However, the loud splash never came.

Since contact with Marika’s group had been lost, they knew there was some kind of trap along the route those three had taken. So instead, Aine grabbed his body while falling with him and flew rapidly just above the dark sea.

She used the Crystal Magic preset of flight.

“This is the most stable method. What was it called again? Oh, right. A princess carry.”

“Oh, I see…”

The raindrops hurt as they hit his cheek. It felt like having pebbles thrown at him. That may have been a unique risk for him since his barrier was imperfect.

(It would be a pain if this triggered a regeneration.)

The regeneration would usually be enough to recover from a single instance of a powerful force as long it did not hit his vitals. It was a thinly-spread and lengthy barrage that presented problems. The regeneration would heal any wound in 30 seconds, but that also meant even the slightest scratch required 30 seconds away from harm because another hit would shatter the healing crystal and tear the wound open wider. And that would never return to normal. If they were slammed with something like a sandstorm, there would be no avoiding it and it could easily tear him apart.

“I have no means of attacking with you in my arms, so I would like for you to handle fighting back against the enemy. Is that acceptable, Sacri-sama?”

“Thanks for leaving me a chance to look cool, Aine!!”

Crystal Magicians ruled the sky with speed and mobility greater than a fighter craft, so 30km was nothing. They did not need a gyro or compass to determine the direction since they only had to fly toward the light.

The dark sky and sea were defiled in one direction by an orange glow that almost looked like a sunset. That was due to the oil fire where the crude oil had leaked out into the ocean. Second Grimnoah awaited them on that burning night sea.

The Threat took action before the giant ship even came into view.

Shapes similar to water striders the size of cars appeared to be sliding across the ocean surface made rough by the artificial rainstorm. The water striders clustered together to block Aine and Karuta’s path, so Karuta pulled a modified military flashlight from his uniform. It was as hard and heavy as a police baton, but he doubted he could smash through the real Threat with no more than a blunt weapon.

He switched it on and sent out a shower-like conical laser.

When the powerful IR hit its glass eyes(?), one of the water striders lost control. It failed to judge the distance from its neighbor and collided with it, producing a sound of bending metal.

There was no fear on Aine’s face.

She continued flying about 50cm above the water to weave in the gap between enemies.

They did not have time to celebrate their survival.

The ocean directly below glowed faintly green and that glow was catching up with them as they flew at supersonic speed.

“Aine, watch out!!”

“Did you think I was not already observing my surroundings?”

With the puny mass of carbon in her arms, the crystal girl swerved in an S-shape as a deterrent.

That was when a mass of green light burst through the ocean surface as it flew straight up. It was not alone. More and more colored pillars of water rose into the air like an inverted sweep of machinegun fire pursuing Aine and Karuta.

“A jellyfish!?” Karuta’s eyes widened. “What kind of tactics did that weapon evolve for!?”

“I have heard of landmines that are launched into the air, but that is unusual for a sea mine.”

They must have been attached to the ocean floor until now because something like broken chains trailed after them.

It was close – paper thin even – but Karuta and Aine’s reaction speed was slightly faster. The sea mines reacted by leaping into the air one after another, but those two were never hit from below.

However, they could not rejoice.

They heard a sound like an aluminum can being crushed below a car’s tire. One of the water striders trying to pursue from behind was hit from below by one of their own jellyfish mines, launching it into the air. The jellyfish must have been the more destructive of the two because the water strider’s legs were torn off and its black armor shattered and flew away while the whole thing twirled through the air.

“''Oh, no.''”

Karuta vision grew scattered.

He felt like he was going to hyperventilate and pass out if he did not consciously regulate his breathing.

He had only seen the decoy Threats from the Crystal Beach do it, but those training weapons would have been modeled after the real Threat’s structure and abilities.

That led to a single conclusion.

He did not want to admit it. He really, really did not want to, but if he refused to admit when things were taking a turn for the worse, he could not recover from that. He had to avoid sitting idly by and allowing the rolling snowball to grow out of control.

He bit his lip and forced his mind toward the view up ahead.

He focused on it.

The Threat grew by devouring their fallen brethren.

“''Oh, no''!!”

There was no turning back the hands of the clock. Jellyfish tentacles thinner than hairs tangled around the wreckage in midair and the dome-like jellyfish moved up onto the water strider’s back. The countless tentacles tangled together to form thick legs to replace the ones that had been torn away.

The massive sea mine could now move freely across the surface of the water, so it began to pursue Karuta and Aine from behind. Aine expressionlessly swerved side to side at supersonic speed, but she could not escape the guided weapon. It gradually closed in on them.

“Sacri-sama.”

“It’s no use!! Is the jellyfish in control now? The IR isn’t affecting it, so it must not be using optical lenses! The jellyfish must locate its prey with ultrasound or microwaves!!”

“We will suffer critical damage if it catches up. Requesting an effective countermeasure.”

“I’m trying!!”

He twisted around in her princess carry to change targets.

The IR blinding worked fine on the unaltered water striders.

Aine used one of their thin legs as a landmark to perform a hairpin turn at more than four times the speed of a sports aircraft. Karuta focused on his modified military flashlight while she did so. On the way past the water strider, he shined the powerful IR on its lenses to trigger a malfunction.

The ordinary(?) water strider crashed into the approaching guided weapon, causing a large explosion. Instead of orange flames from normal powder or fuel, it was a bluish-white electric explosion similar to welding or lightning.

“What custom version are they making now!?”

“None, it would seem. Those two appear to have been utterly obliterated.”

And they could not afford to be preoccupied with an enemy they had already defeated. Aine was still flying faster than a fighter craft less than a meter above the ocean’s surface. And to reiterate, 30km was nothing to a Crystal Magician.

The ocean was no longer pitch black.

At some point, their surroundings had grown orange. They were out at sea, yet a crimson fire was burning all around them. That sticky light came from the oil fire started when the crude oil on the ocean’s surface had ignited. There were no stars to be seen. The view above reflected the orange light, so the black up there was smoke, not the dark night sky.

Aine would have charged straight on in if it was only her, but because she was carrying Karuta in her arms, she crossed the burning ocean by weaving through the gaps that had ended up with less crude oil.

She spoke with a voice even more coldly inhuman than a car navigation system.

“Visual confirmation of the Second Grimnoah academy ship.”

“Kh.”

“If we can see it, then we are in the optical weapon’s line of fire. Watch out for the anti-air lasers.”

He could see a faint glow up above the giant ship’s roof.

That green light was the capacitors extending back on either side of the lion that ruled the skies. Light was gathering within those parts that resembled a flying fish’s pectoral fins and the lion opened its jaws. The green light glared down at them from deep within its throat.

The fearsome attack tore through the air, but Aine did not flip around to try to escape it. She only shifted about 70cm to the right to avoid the brutal green laser with as little movement as possible before crashing through one of the ship’s more than a thousand windows.

The countless Threats of various sizes crawling along the ship’s exterior like armor were thrown away from where she hit.