Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume1 Chapter 3

“What do you think the coalition is for? The home country could end this infighting on its own if need be, but the higher ups want a grand image of the heroes of justice on parade. If we banned photography, the candidates desperately campaigning for the council positions back home would be upset. Councilor Flide and the others are extremely on edge.”

With a displeased expression, Froleytia spoke up, “The Council elections back in the home country are coming up soon. As I said, Councilor Flide and the others are on edge to ensure they don’t gain any kind of negative image. It’s possible they really are planning an operation to provide relief to that ignorant anti-war group.”

Froleytia glanced up toward the sun that was beginning to sink.

Inside the coalition maintenance base zone, the characteristics of the equipment varied even within the same facility depending on which force they belonged to. An Elite girl who was called the princess by others stood within a mobile portion of the base zone created from multiple large vehicles.

Multiple such facilities existed and the one the princess was currently inside was not the even larger one that contained her personal Object, the Baby Magnum. She was in a special facility located next to the one for the Object. This one was for maintaining the Elite pilot’s body.

“Tuning of the flute is complete,” she said.

“Inartistic performances like that are boring.”

“You mean the point vibrations of the dome and the sound I am creating? If I was satisfied with only that, I would feel like I was insulting orchestras.”

There was not merely a single method of regulating an Elite’s body. Nor was there merely a different format for each army or nation. The ideal method was built up for each individual Elite. For some, it was continually swimming within a large pool, aiming for the fastest time. For some, it was solving every single problem on an answer sheet similar to a college entrance exam. For some, it was playing chess against a super computer. And for some like the princess, it was to surround oneself in carefully modulated noise.

“Having the sound of my breath mixed in would have an effect on the regulation. I am using the flute because the breaths are written into the music.”

That was why the Elite girl was going through the annoying effort of speaking with her eyes while playing with her mouth. Eventually, she reached the final note and that stage of the regulation was complete. The princess removed the flute from her mouth and the paper airplane that had been kept aloft by the music slowly fell to the floor.

The princess picked up the metronome and prepared for the next song, but then she suddenly looked up. Through the clear dome, she had spotted a familiar face entering through the open entrance of the large vehicle.

(What kind of person does that brute think I am?)

She had been planning to at least wipe the mouthpiece off before handing it to him, so she was standing with a blank look and a blush on her face. However, an even greater shock ran through her soon after.

The girl was having her body regulated by the sound of the instrument, so just as a small, stupid sound escaped the flute, a deluge of strange feelings assaulted her spine.

As he tried to accurately produce the “do re mi fa sol la si do” scale, the strengths of the breaths he was using were completely wrong.

“That’s a reconnaissance unit equipped with extremely high performance high speed cameras. They analyze the minute movements of the enemy Object’s main gun and lenses and send that information to their Object to help with timing for evasion and defense. At the very least, they’ll be more help in a battle than us. Although they do tend to get targeted first due to their annoying interference.”

“I said it was nothing. …Are you mocking me?” replied the princess.

Also, Quenser was a combat engineer, so he only had explosives. The only practical weapons they had were Heivia’s rifle and handgun. When there was no real reason to fight, neither of them wanted to start a fight where they would be at a disadvantage.

“(That’s the border with the coalition territory… Was he shot from beyond it? So did someone purposefully throw a ‘pebble’ in from outside their territory?)”

“Could there be a base that has been kept completely secret so the higher ups don’t even know about it?”

“Yes. I’m finally going to get to return home! The final boss is waiting for us on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The coalition Objects are headed there at full speed, but we have to hurry there on military trucks. It’s first come first serve for the trucks with good suspension, so you should probably hurry. If you’re too slow, your back is gonna be hurting.”

“No, not that. I want to make up for what I’ve done. I brought this situation on us all, right?” Sewax’s voice held a certain impatience to it. He sounded completely different from when they had first brought him back to the base zone. “All the footage we ever get is of close-ups of two Objects fighting, so we never get to see what happens to the local people. That is why we all see war as something not worth worrying about. I came here because I could not forgive that. But I was wrong. You build up your strategies with the insight of experts and I ruined it all with my amateurish ideas. I thought eliminating those Oceanian soldiers would improve the situation for the tribes, but all I did was doom innocent people to violent deaths. And many, many more people are going to be killed! I can’t overlook that. Surely there is something I can do to make up for what I have done!!”

“We feel the more hidden base in the Tanami Desert is more suspicious than the much too obvious one in the Great Sandy Desert,” added in Heivia.

Froleytia’s last shout brought Quenser and Heivia back to their senses. Why were they getting so oddly excited while on their way to fight an Object?

“(I’m sure the Generation 0.5 would notice right away, but I doubt it would be able to pinpoint our location. The real question is whether the princess and the Information Alliance Elite will be able to get here anytime soon. The Great Sandy Desert is pretty far away.)”

She recognized the voice as belonging to the Councilor Flide.

The Councilors led the Legitimacy Kingdom and he was said to be the one who had put together the coalition force and sent them to Oceania for the sake of his election. However, that identity held another great meaning for the princess.

“As you can tell from our data, Oceania’s Object truly was in the Great Sandy Desert. The prototype reactor and the Object were both in the same facility. The Oceanians were afraid of our attack and hurriedly had the Object escape while leaving the prototype reactor behind. The real Object is still out there in the Great Sandy Desert somewhere. We must not let it escape. If we turn back for the Tanami Desert now, the Generation 0.5 Object will disappear again.” As the soldiers listened on in bewilderment, Councilor Flide continued. “Quenser and Heivia know this, but they are afraid of having to fight the Object, so they are intentionally trying to have us waste our time on the dummy facility in the Tanami Desert. They will soon be arrested, but the Generation 0.5 Object in the Great Sandy Desert comes first. Do not be deceived by Quenser and Heivia’s words.”

“Councilor Flide lead the Legitimacy Kingdom. You have no reason to do what he says.”

Quenser’s face paled when he heard that ominous transmission.

“Wait, wait, wait. What is going on!? What was that about us being confused!? How can we be confused about the Object right in front of us!?”

“Councilor Flide, hm? If I recall, he used to work in the munitions industry and holds an important position related to the Objects. He manages all of the positions related to improving the talents of our Elites.”

The two frowned while they wondered why he would be interfering.

And then they received their answer from the radio.

“You two have betrayed our expectations,” said Councilor Flide.

“?”

Quenser and Heivia exchanged a glance.

They had not expected him to contact them directly.

“This transmission is being sent only to you two who betrayed our expectations.”

“Your expectations? Did we do something that harmed your chances of getting reelected?”

“Sending this coalition force to Oceania was part of your plan, wasn’t it?” added Heivia. “Are you saying we’ll ruin people’s impressions of this war if our muddy faces are broadcast into people’s living rooms?”

“Quite the opposite. You two have done ''too'' well. If only you could have been a bit more incompetent,” replied Councilor Flide in a smooth voice. From his tone, it sounded as if he was reading from a prepared script. “Flesh and blood soldiers destroying an Object is a wonderful story that gives hope to those with none. However, the carefree residents of the safe countries are not the only ones this gives hope to. Had you realized that the guerillas and terrorists continuing reckless fights around the world have become more active recently?”

“…”

“This hell in Oceania was created by you two,” said Councilor Flide.

The two boys listened to the words of that man who was likely their enemy.

“It is true that the coalition forces – including the Legitimacy Kingdom forces – have spent the last two years doing very little, but the war should have ended a month ago when so many Objects were brought in. That was right when you were fighting that Object in Alaska. Modern wars are quite simple. The winner and loser can be easily calculated from the quality and quantity of Objects on either side. If you have one Object and your enemy has three, you decide that fighting will gain you nothing. As such, you quickly retreat to lessen the damages as much as possible. War was nicely built up so the loser would give up right away.”

That was how the war in Oceania had been supposed to turn out.

The military nation possessed a single Generation 0.5 Object while the coalition force had over 20 cutting edge Objects. Normally, the second that many Objects were spread out across the continent, Oceania would have raised the white flag. That would have brought the war to a quick end.

In fact, that was exactly what Oceania had done up until then.

All they had been able to do was just barely keep their prized Generation 0.5 hidden.

However, they had instead planned and begun to carry out a military strategy using the Generation 0.5. They had even used their prototype reactor as a trap.

“Yes, this is all thanks to the amazing results you two produced.” His tone was one of scorn. “War is no longer just about Object vs. Object. Flesh and blood humans can destroy an Object. What you two proved in Alaska is seen as hope by guerillas, terrorists, and old-style dictators. This hope has robbed them of their sole chance to raise the white flag. This has led to the war continuing on much longer than we ever expected. The benefit for my campaign has become overshadowed by the costs of the battlefield. We can’t have that. Is it really that surprising that some wish to correct this new deviation in how the world sees war?”

“So you want us to die here?”

“You specifically want us to be killed by an Object, don’t you? If the news gets out that the heroes that destroyed Objects were themselves killed by an Object, the flesh and blood troops would give up, deciding that our victories were just flukes.”

“War needs certain fundamental understandings if it is to be smartly ended in the shortest amount of time. No one wants extended conflict on the battlefield. What you two are doing will only needlessly lengthen wars and increase the numbers of the dead.” Councilor Flide's voice did not waver. “Originally, the plan was to cause a split between the forces in the coalition base and have you two get caught up in a battle between cutting edge Objects. However, it seems you have done us a favor and found the Oceanian Object on your own. We would prefer not to damage our precious Objects, so we will not stop you from having the Oceanians play the dirty role.”

On the surface, Councilor Flide’s argument may have been just.

It may indeed have been true that Quenser and Heivia had played a role in lengthening the war in Oceania. It may indeed have been best to leave all fighting in wars to Objects while leaving the flesh-and-blood soldiers and civilians to be nothing but side characters.

However…

“If you let the Oceanians kill us here, that Object will then head off and attack nearby villages. How can you be okay with that!?” shouted Quenser.

“We are tracking the Generation 0.5 with the satellite. This will be the final massacre for the Oceanians. Afterwards, we will finish it off with one of the coalition Objects.”

After hearing how readily the man said that, Quenser had the proof he needed.

The Councilor was thinking nothing of justice or peace.

“You two need to realize that you have become dangerous enough that a plan to eliminate you must be carried out even if it requires that level of sacrifice. If it is merely between Objects, war can be carried out smartly. That way, no needless harm will be done. Your hope has gotten in the way of that.”

(Yeah fucking right.)

It was true that the winner and loser were decided solely by the Objects in that kind of war. However, that did nothing to eliminate the slaughter of the rest of the soldiers. Quenser and the others had almost been slaughtered when they had lost their Object in Alaska. In the Strait of Gibraltar, all of their bases had been destroyed just because the princess had been a little late. On the battlefield, there was no kind rule that said the rest of the soldiers would be overlooked just because they had lost their Object.

Quenser summed up his thoughts on the Councilor’s argument in his next statement.

“Only someone who has never lost could make that argument.”

“You only want to protect your own interests,” said Heivia. “You just want to hold onto this world where the countries with the most Objects hold all the power. The countries without Objects and the normal soldiers being targeted by an Object all realize there is something wrong with the world. They realize that Objects are nothing but weapons used to slaughter people as efficiently as possible.”

The idea that the fight was over before it had even begun was just plain wrong.

It was living human beings that picked up their guns and fought.

No matter how puny they were, they still fought with everything they had.

It was wrong to say they had lost before the fight even began. The world was not so boring that it did not allow for coincidences and unlikely wins.

Councilor Flide was one of the people who had invested massive amounts of money in constructing Objects and made even more money from their victories in wars. His argument was merely the argument of the people like that who wished to keep their important positions in the world.

“Say what you will,” said Councilor Flide in the tone of voice of one who held many Objects in his control and felt untouchable. “Either way, you two will die there. We will monitor the Generation 0.5 as it carries out its attack and send a coalition Object to utterly destroy it. This way this war will end up being what we had originally planned. It will show a cutting edge Object conquering all that gets in our way.”

“I see. Then let’s make a bet.”

Quenser and Heivia both spoke into the radio to pick a fight with the leader of the Legitimacy Kingdom.

“If we lose to the Generation 0.5, you get what you want.”

“But if we win, it’s over for you.”

Quenser turned off the radio and clicked his tongue.

“Shit, this means we aren’t getting reinforcements! There are coalition Objects all across Oceania, and not even one of them is coming!!”

“Hey, Quenser. What about the princess?”

“She might come if we asked, but then the rest of the coalition would be her enemy. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Councilor has some kind of safety device installed to keep that from happening.”

“Then I guess we have to do this on our own!”

“Yeah, let’s make sure to survive at least long enough to get a punch in on that damn Councilor!!”

While hiding behind the building, the two checked on what they had to do.

They knew one thing for sure.

They were not obedient enough soldiers to die there like their leader wanted.

However, Quenser and Heivia were not superhuman enough to charge straight at the Object like comic book heroes.

“(I’d feel like an idiot if we got shot just trying to get near it. Heivia, let’s take a shortcut through this building to get closer to the Generation 0.5.)”

“(You can get as close as you want, but how are you going to blow it away?)”

Quenser and Heivia moved along the back wall so the Object would not see them. They finally found the back entrance and it was unlocked. In fact, the door itself had been blown away. It must have been due to the explosion within.

They entered and found a wide, open area.

They were within the Generation 0.5 Object’s maintenance facility.

Everything needed to maintain the giant Object was there, but it was all bent up. Cranes lay collapsed on the ground and meters larger than industrial refrigerators had been discolored by the intense heat. Corpses lay here and there. Lots of corpses. Around 40 people wearing military or work uniforms had been almost completely cooked.

Quenser’s feet almost stopped as he entered, but he had no choice but to head on. If he turned back there, the Generation 0.5 Object would create even more tragic corpses.

“(What are you looking around for, Quenser? Let’s go. Or are you that interested in those horrid corpses?)”

“(No, it’s just that this is the Generation 0.5’s maintenance facility, so…)”

“(So you’re looking for a spare of its main gun or something? Even if we found one, we’d need an energy source to run it with. If a convenient prototype reactor was lying around here somewhere we might manage, but…)”

“(No, I was wondering if the Object’s plans might be lying around here somewhere. We might be able to find a weakness if we had those.)”

The two split up and searched through the large maintenance facility.

When they had snuck into the enemy base in Alaska, they had found mountains of static electricity-producing turbines that had turned out to be the Water Strider’s weakness. Similarly, they might be able to find a special weakness of the Generation 0.5 from its spare parts or its plans.

“(Hey, what’s the Object doing? It didn’t go off to attack a nearby village because it lost sight of us, did it?)”

“(Of course not. I think it’s cleaning the mud off its cameras. It seems to be letting it dry and then deflecting the powdered mud away with a negative electric charge. I think it’s a similar technique to those masks that don’t let pollen near.)”

Heivia peered out through the large open shutter the Object had exited from. A cutting edge Object would have been able to find people in a building with its sensors, but the Generation 0.5 did not seem to have that functionality.

Most likely, the Oceanians had mostly wanted an Object to show off to the international community as soon as possible, and having it function well in an actual war had been a secondary priority.

“(Hey, do you think this might be what blew up?)” asked Quenser.

Heivia returned from peering outside and found Quenser pointing at some large container-like objects lining one wall of the building. The containers were connected together with thick cables.

“(What are those? Batteries?)”

“(I think they might be giant capacitors. They’re probably the external power source they used to interfere with the Generation 0.5’s reactor. They used diesel generators to gather energy, amplified it, and then sent it to the Object.)”

One of the containers had exploded from within. The blast had filled every nook and cranny of the sealed maintenance facility. The people within had had nowhere to run.

However…

“(Hey, does that mean it was this amplifier that exploded and not the Object? In that case, the Object might not actually be damaged at all!!)”

“(Come to think of it, if the blast had originated from the center of the Object, its thick armor should have been buckled outward. Well, we know it isn’t going to be easy to take it out, so let’s look for the plans in the maintenance computer.)”

“(Damn, I hope the computer wasn’t destroyed in the blast.)”

They glanced around the area, but did not see the computer at first.

However, they then noticed the large computer on a second floor passageway hugging the outside wall. To reach it, they would have to climb a flight of stairs that had been almost broken in the blast. Luckily, the computer was located in an area the Generation 0.5 could not see.

“(This LCD screen has melted. It’s useless.)”

“(Here’s a usable monitor. Hook up the cable.)”

The computer itself still seemed to be functioning and the Generation 0.5’s maintenance information appeared on the replacement monitor once they hooked it up.

Then Quenser frowned.

“(Huh? This key layout is weird. This isn’t shift?)”

“(Tch. They’re using a different OS than we use. I think this is an old Information Alliance OS.)”

Quenser had some difficulty operating the computer, but he managed well enough once he realized the major differences. The keyboard was a bit discolored from the heat, but it functioned well enough.

“(Hey, Quenser. We targeted the legs and such on the Water Strider in Alaska and the Tri-Core in Gibraltar, right? Should we try that again?)”

“(From what I can see, the Generation 0.5 uses steel wheels like a train. The structure is simple enough that there are no real weaknesses to target.)”

“(Wheels? So it doesn’t use an air cushion at all? Can that really support a giant Object? Even with giant steel wheels, wouldn’t the wheels warp or the axle break?)” asked Heivia.

“(To distribute the weight of the Generation 0.5, it has around 500 wheels. It’s like those torture chairs covered in spikes. If you calmly sit on it, your weight will be distributed enough to avoid getting skewered.)”

“(Yeah, but no one’s actually volunteered to prove that, right? I thought it was just an urban legend.)”

“(It was just an example. I’m not telling you to try it out. I have no idea what would happen to you if you did.)”

Theoretically, if they could destroy two thirds of the steel wheels, the rest of them would be crushed under its weight. However, flesh and blood soldiers could not carry that out.

“(We could probably melt the armor with a direct hit from a nuke, but we don’t have any of those handy.)”

“(Even with it only being Generation 0.5, it’s still suicide to try to take it on with a frontal assault. We need to find some kind of hole in its defenses we can attack through. Oh…?)”

Quenser’s hands suddenly stopped on the keyboard.

The screen was displaying the inner workings of the device that quickly activated the Object’s reactor using an external power supply. It was a new technique that not even the Legitimacy Kingdom military had developed before, but a proper Object kept its reactor running at all times, so it was unnecessary.

“(This is it. Using this is how the Oceanians here were killed by their moronic leader.)”

“(Hey, while its primary use is to start up the reactor with an external battery, it looks like it also emits excess energy to protect the reactor. A device to emit the energy as electrical power has been attached.)”

“(That may have been what failed. Raising the rotation speed is one thing, but it must have gotten too high to control.)”

“(Meaning?)”

“(Meaning control of the reactor may be lost again if another massive dose of electricity is sent into that plug.)”

As he spoke, Quenser moved away from the computer. He looked down from the second story passageway and at the container-shaped capacitors.

Suddenly, the wall right next to the two boys was blown away in a stream of fire.

It was likely from the Generation 0.5’s coilgun.

The holes in the wall moved from right to left…toward Quenser and Heivia. The angle the shells were coming from was odd. The Object must have slowly circled around the building as part of its warm up exercises.

“Get down, Quenser!!”

“You idiot, we’d be killed by the fragments of the wall! Jump down!!”

The two jumped over the railing and down to the first floor. The very next instant, the wall up at the second floor was blow away in a horizontal line. Sparks flew from the large computer and it exploded.

“Shit! I guess we can’t look anything else up!”

“We can only try out what we know. Let’s get those capacitors up and running!!”

However, they did not have time to do so.

With the wall completely destroyed at the second floor level, the maintenance facility itself had tilted some. However, the Generation 0.5 seemed dissatisfied with the lack of blood. It fired some more at the building.

Railguns, laser beam cannons, coilguns, and rapid fire beam cannons.

All of its various types of weapons turned the giant maintenance facility to Swiss cheese in no time at all. Quenser and Heivia were unable to move. If they lifted their heads, they would likely be blown away by a giant shell.

Luckily, they were not hit directly by any of the blasts.

However, they heard a dull roar.

The walls had been utterly destroyed and the roof no longer had much support. The giant ceiling came crumbling down, crushing what was left of the walls. It came crashing down straight for Quenser and Heivia who were inside.

“You have got to be kidding me!!”

They had no time to even think about avoiding it.

With a great roar, Quenser’s consciousness was mercilessly blown away.

Quenser seriously thought his heart had stopped, but apparently it had not.

“(Dammit. Hey, Quenser! Wake up!!)”

“(What? We weren’t crushed?)”

“(The roof was supported by multiple columns like a gym and we seem to have managed to get in one of the gaps those created.)”

The roof was cracked enough that they would be able to crawl out.

However, they were not stupid enough to exit without thinking.

At the very least, the Elite piloting the Generation 0.5 thought Quenser and Heivia were dead. As long as he thought that, he would not continue his attack. Now was their only chance to prepare for their counterattack.

“(But what exactly are we going to do? Him thinking we’re dead is great, but he’s going to head off and attack the nearby villages at this rate!!)”

“(You saw that firepower. We can’t face it head on. The only way is to destroy the reactor via that plug.)”

“(Did ''you'' see that firepower!? We won’t have time to walk up and plug in the power cable like we’re working at a power station for electric cars!! How are we supposed to get close!?)”

“(We just need to get the electricity there without getting close. C’mere.)”

Quenser stuck his head out of the cracked roof.

He could see the giant form of the Object in the dark night. Its 70 odd sub weapons were making slight movements, but it did not seem to be searching for them.

“(Is it continuing its warm up exercises before heading out to attack those villages? God dammit.)”

“(It’s possible the reactor is acting up a bit due to being powered up for the first time in 2 years. Let’s go.)”

“(Hey, you never told me what your plan is!)”

Quenser climbed up out of the cracked roof and crawled along it. He wanted to move more quickly, but that would have caused too much noise. If the Object noticed them, it was all over.

Luckily, the cameras were the Object’s only major sensors. It had poor reception of sound. The fact that the cameras numbered in the 70s was a problem, but they could escape the Elite’s notice by blending in with the darkness of the night.

Quenser eventually reached what had originally been the maintenance facility’s wall.

There, the large container-shaped capacitors were lined up. Most of them had been crushed by the roof, but a few were still functioning.

Heivia crawled up shortly thereafter and whispered to Quenser.

“(Are you seriously planning to take that cable and charge in at the Generation 0.5!? You’ll die!!)”

“(That’s not my plan. Hey, is there any water around here? Even just a storage tank or a fire hydrant would work. I just need enough water to create a pool on the ground!!)”

“(What are you talking abou-…Wait, you mean…!?)”

“(Exactly. The torn power cable connected to that plug is dragging along the ground. If we create a huge puddle of water and run the electricity through it, it’ll pass through that cable and into the Generation 0.5’s reactor!!)”

Suddenly, they heard a sound coming from the Generation 0.5’s main gun.

“It noticed us!!”

“Quenser, over there! There’s a water storage tank!!”

It must have wanted to finish them off with its main gun because the Generation 0.5 was going out of its way to turn around.

Meanwhile, Quenser stabbed an electronic fuse into some Hand Axe and threw it as hard as he could in the direction Heivia was pointing.

A rusted water storage tank lay in that direction. Instead of being located on the building’s roof, it was on top of its own steel tower.

Just as the bomb was about to strike the tank, Quenser sent the detonation signal.

With a loud roar, the tank ruptured and the steel tower itself collapsed.

However…

“It was empty!! Was that just part of the dummy facility disguise!?”

“!!”

Meanwhile, the Generation 0.5 Object had finished turning their way.

With a slight creaking noise, the main coilgun finished its last bit of careful aiming.

They were doomed.

At the same time, the steel tower struck the ground. The tower had merely been a fake to fool the satellites, but the impact of it striking the ground tore up the earth below it. Dust flew into the air and dirt flew above Quenser and Heivia’s heads.

However, that was not all.

It must have burst a water pipe buried in the ground. A pillar of water erupted from the ground. It could not have been a normal water pipe. The water erupted a few dozen meters up into the air and rained down on the entire area.

(Was that an industrial water pipeline? Did they use a machine tool that used water to cut out the parts for the Object?)

Really, Quenser did not particularly care what they had used it for.

A great amount of water rained down on the ground, connecting the cable hanging down from the Generation 0.5’s body with the large capacitors in the crushed building.

“Ruuunnnn!!” shouted Quenser as he turned from the Object and ran.

Heivia followed just behind him.

They were not fleeing from the Generation 0.5’s coilgun.

That was not something they could escape from on foot.

They were fleeing from the quickly expanding pool of water.

And then a clear path was created between the crushed building and the Generation 0.5.

Immediately afterwards, they heard a great explosive noise.

At first, Quenser thought the ground had exploded in brilliant light.

However, that was not what had happened. The massive amount of electrical power stored up in the large capacitors had spread through the pool on the ground. In an instant, it had raced 200 meters across the ground and directly to the Generation 0.5.

The target was the power cable dragging along the ground. Twenty or thirty percent of the high voltage current entered the Object and forcibly activated the laser emitters used to heat the reactor.

The main body of the Object seemed to swell from the inside.

However, Quenser did not have time to keep watching.

Heivia tackled him to the ground and covered both his eyes with his hand.

“You idiot! You’ll go blind!!”

Just before Quenser managed to grasp what Heivia meant, he heard a loud roar.

At the same time, a brilliant flash of light stabbed into his retinas despite Heivia’s hand covering his eyes. His vision and his consciousness were filled with nothing but pure white. An intense pain stabbed through his ears and into the center of his head. He then thought he felt a liquid oozing back out. He didn’t know where he was hurt, but he must have been bleeding.

He had no idea how long it took for his vision to recover.

It was possible he had lost consciousness a few times before it happened.

He was not even sure of that.

“Quenser! Open your eyes, Quenser!”

As Heivia shook him, Quenser finally opened his eyes.

He could vaguely see Heivia’s face.

“The Generation 0.5? What happened to it…?”

“Take a look,” said Heivia as he pointed with this chin.

Quenser looked over and saw the Oceanian Object ripped open from the inside. The spherical body had folded outward like a blooming flower, and its 70 odd guns were scattered about and stabbed into the ground. Due to the explosion of the reactor, the huge pool of water was gone. It had all been evaporated. The eruption of water from the ruptured industrial water pipeline had stopped. It was possible the ruptured portion had melted and sealed once more.

There was no question what had happened to the foolish leader piloting the Object.

Even if he had used an escape device, he would have been roasted in the air as he floated down in a parachute.

“It’s over.”

“Yeah. This isn’t just an issue of an Object or two. The war in Oceania is now over.”

The two sat there blankly for a bit, but they finally stood up.

Then, not one, but both of them said, “Now let’s do something about that damn Councilor.”

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