Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Sisters at the Confrontation

When I turned around

What did I find before me?

An enemy?

Or something else?

Point Allocation (Trouble)

●

The first to notice was Kiyomasa.

She heard a sound. The continuous sound of chains reached her all the way from the turning Musashi.

…Is that…?

“The towing belts! The Musashi is adjusting the position of its ships!”

Of course, it was in the middle of a high-speed air turn. Some fleet maneuvering was to be expected.

But she recognized this sound.

She had heard the Musashi make it back at Novgorod. Fukushima had hurried down to Novgorod and into its depths because the Musashi had arrived, but also…

…She thought she needed to hurry because Sakuma-sama’s fleet had been destroyed!

She remembered how that happened all too well.

“The Musashi is going to fire its main cannon! During their 360-degree turn!!”

●

Asama hurriedly arranged the ether conduit changes. She had to secure the ether fuel needed to fire Kanesada before their air turn directed them toward the Azuchi.

…Whoa!

They had been pointed right at first, so she had plenty of time as the leftward rotation pointed them backward. But they were still making a bold move. So she wanted to take the next step from the start this time.

“Toori-kun! We could use some ether supply!”

She used a sign frame to provide real-time instructions for where on the ships the ether was needed and in what order. She used a large 360-degree sign frame, so from his point of view, it would look like numbered torii were spinning above the ships.

Horizon commented from next to him.

“This reminds me of a rhythm game. Like that one where red-faced monkeys come from behind the Azuchi and you have to shoot them with matchlock guns in time with the music.”

“Oh, you mean Taikō no Tatsujin. The protagonist was originally Nobunaga, but P.A. Oda sent a complaint saying ‘I do not do that’ and that was removed from the console port.”

“Thinking back, I wonder which of them sent that complaint.”

“”Heh heh. Sometimes a monkey and sometimes the Demon Lord of the Six Heavens. Quite a variety there, Miss Follower.”

“A-am I the only one doing any work right now!?” protested Asama. “I am, aren’t I!?”

At any rate, the conduits were ready. Hanami’s support had been optimized after doing this several times before and the removal of the base hulls meant the conduits were a lot simpler this time around.

…I really can do it in a hurry!

It would have been bad indeed if she hadn’t managed it, but the automata must have made sure things were ready for her before making the request. They likely knew how much she could manage.

●

Bell: “Eh? Eh? Asama-san is done already!?”

Musashino: “Judge. We had come up with approximately 7200 other options in case she was not fast enough, such as giving up on the attack and running away or attempting another full rotation, but we have settled on a single course of action: firing now! Over!”

Gold Mar: “You’re in luck, Seijun! They say you can fire right away!”

Vice President: “While I appreciate it, why do you make it sound like I just wanted to fire for the fun of it?”

●

Asama saw the third port and starboard ships pull back with the momentum of their rotation.

The action looked somehow forced and the sparks flying from the towing belt ejection ports meant this really was pushing the ship to its limits.

Overhead, the virtual barrel beginning at Musashino’s bridge was a little short.

That was Small Kanesada.

It began to coil even as it was being formed and it scattered light.

And up ahead, Toori was beginning to supply ether to different parts of the Musashi. He slapped his hand on the screen Asama had prepared for him.

“Ah, here! And here! There! Slide! Hey, Asama! This is pretty fun!”

His actions received grades of “fair”, “good”, and “excellent”. Sadly that part was Hanami’s doing, not mine. But he was getting a pretty good score. She imagined Kimi could get a perfect score, but…

“Asama-sama! This boy has the nerve to keep getting excellents and it looks like he will get a high score his very first time playing, but can I play it next!?”

“Umm, do you want me to ask Hanami to emulate it for you?”

The arms were already doing finger push-ups to warm up, but what if this ended up getting popular?

Anyway, the power had stabilized and the Musashi’s rotation was about to point them toward the enemy. And…

“The Azuchi is coming!”

Suzu and the others on the bridge had to be seeing this even better than her.

Asama simply completed her job and watched the rear of the barrel where the fire authorization sign frame had appeared.

Mitotsudaira snagged it with her silver chains and Kimi made a dance offering to help establish the barrel’s shape.

With that, everything was in place. That just left…

“Masazumi! Suzu-san! Kanesada is ready!”

●

“Azuchi” made a few decisions as the Musashi prepared a main cannon attack out ahead.

…Is that Small Kanesada!?

She was glad it wasn’t Large Kanesada. Well, not glad exactly. But if the Azuchi was hit by Small Kanesada’s scatter effect, the three first ships would be destroyed, but the three second ships would only suffer moderate damage due to the other ships shielding them.

If this were Large Kanesada, they would be in real trouble. The two central ships would be destroyed and the shockwave would likely do severe damage to the port and starboard ships as well.

That said, she had no intention of taking a hit. The Azuchi had made the first move here.

They had seen this as a ramming battle and lowered their bow. So…

“Apologies for the repeat material! Shaja!”

The Azuchi began a side flip.

●

The decision made by “Azuchi” was a sudden one in response to an emergency. Even inside the ship where they had a fair amount of control during gravitational cruising, most people moved to the walls or got down on the floor. And…

Azuchi: “The bottom and port thrusters will be directed downwards. Shaja.”

What would that accomplish? The starboard ones were directed toward the sky, so…

Azuchi: “We will jump over the Musashi and descend, circling in behind them. Shaja!”

●

The Azuchi jumped.

Up on its bow, Kiyomasa moved to the wall and braced herself there as she felt the jump.

…We’re really jumping!

The previous side flip maneuvers had generally been done at minimum altitude.

Any change in altitude came from the bow being pulled upwards by the stern as it rotated through the sky.

This was different.

The three rear ships rotating overhead kept their bottom thrusters pointed straight down.

That created a lifting effect for the entire Azuchi during the rotation, resulting in…

“…”

The front three ships jumped into the sky starting with their sterns. That differed from their previous side flip maneuvers.

“It’s a handspring side flip!”

Then, as the force of the rapid rotation and ascent pressed her against the bow wall…

…The Musashi’s main cannon!

Everything below her exploded.

●

Small Kanesada fired with an angle of elevation pointed a bit up toward the sky.

Kanesada fired compressed shells based on a gravity defense barrier. When fired by Small Kanesada, the compression rate was less on the front surface and that rate could be altered, allowing it to scatter at a designated distance.

The scattered shell would become a scattershot and create a wide-area impact by way of a conducting path of shockwaves.

The instantaneous effective range fanned out to a maximum width of approximately five kilometers.

The scattering covered 120 degrees and pursued the Azuchi as it jumped into the sky.

During the Azuchi’s side flip, the bottom armor of its slower second port ship strained, bent, and split.

The rising, scattering force caught on the ship’s forward motion, tearing into the armor.

And scattered it.

The armor bent, struck the air, and expanded a bit before being blown away, colliding with other pieces, and scattering sparks as it vanished into the night.

The rapid pressure change and air currents flowing into the vital space below the armor caused it to split until the split hit a weld in the frame.

The screams of straining metal filled the air.

But the flip continued.

The second port ship was forcibly pulled along by the towing belts as the Azuchi drew an arc in the sky.

The force of Small Kanesada passed through the sky, but the Azuchi was no longer there. The second port ship was leaking water and ether fuel, but the six ships flew by over the Musashi.

●

Takenaka watched the footage from the bow on a lernen figur.

She was in the first central ship’s front hall. Or rather, on the stairs leading to it. She had known the bow would be dropping for the Azuchi’s side flip maneuver, but the hall was large. So to make sure she wasn’t tossed around in that space…

“Oh, thank you, Sakon-san.”

“It was nothing. I just hope I didn’t make the area too crowded.”

Sakon had dragged Hashiba, Takenaka, and Katagiri to the port side stairs for shelter. Kasuya and Hirano were in the starboard side stairs. Yoshiaki and Wakisaka were hovering with their wings. And…

“Fukushima-san are you alright?”

“Eh? Oh, testament. I am fine.”

Fukushima stood on the floor with her legs a bit apart even though the floor had tilted to more than vertical.

Takenaka knew that was martial arts, but when had she learned to do that?

Anyway, the Ten Spears were more or less fine. Hachisuka would be safe with Genbu. So this meant…

“Once we start our descent, it’s our turn to attack!”

“Takenaka-senpai, giving commands while I’m holding you isn’t very dignified. If you want to do this, go out in the hall first.”

Yoshiaki and Wakisaka beckoned her over, but she didn’t have wings or know the right martial arts!

However, her lernen figur showed her everything the Azuchi could see.

Ahead, as their side flip rotated past the vertical point, the lernen figur showing the view of the surface directly below would show the Musashi.

“Huh?”

The lernen figur showed wispy clouds and a forest colored by the dark hues of night.

The white and black ship she should have seen was nowhere to be found. That could only mean…

…The Musashi is gone!?

Azuchi: “The Musashi is rapidly backing up! They have left cannon formation and begun to depart!”

●

Takenaka realized what had happened.

Little Kanesada had not been meant as an attack against them.

She thought she knew what Musashi must have done when firing Little Kanesada here.

…They shortened the firing time and didn’t apply recoil reduction!?

By not shifting the position of the ships or using their towing belts, they had instead let the full recoil hit them.

Of course, they would have used gravitational control within the ship to keep the crew safe, but in a way that was like them taking the force of the blast that had been fired at the Azuchi.

But doing that had given the Musashi something.

“They used Small Kanesada’s recoil to launch themselves to the west!”

Without leaving Sakon’s arms, Takenaka forcibly leaned toward the hall.

And she shouted, “Forward defenses!!!”

●

Suzu sank into the seat at the top level of the bridge.

…We did it.

That had been a gamble.

Masazumi had given the instructions up until the firing of Small Kanesada.

But Suzu had realized what the Azuchi’s initial movement meant.

“The Azuchi’s three front ships…lowered their bows.”

She had known that was the move made to challenge an opponent to a ramming battle. If they had continued forward, they would have stabbed into the Musashi instead of bouncing up off of it.

But that would also work as the first move of something else.

The lowered bow could act as the beginning of a side flip or front flip made when the Musashi fired Small Kanesada.

So Suzu had predicted that and given instructions.

…I had the recoil reduction…shifted entirely to inside the ship.

That had also meant reducing the time until they could fire Small Kanesada.

The idea was simple.

…M-my family’s bathhouse does something similar…when we’re short on time.

They would sometimes prepare for opening while filling the baths. That was usually a result of the others spending the night, but continuing to tidy up and clean while opening made the place seem more lively, so it was actually received well.

She hadn’t expected Asama and the others to finish their preparations so quickly, but it had allowed her to expand the extent of the reduction. Thanks to Asama giving Toori an ether supply bonus stage (whatever that meant), the reduction had been applied to places that normally wouldn’t receive any.

But there had been damage.

The automata gathering data from the ships were dealing with several red sign frames and the sight devices on the front of the bridge picked up some building roofs and nature district trees flying through the air.

The water in particular had accumulated in toward the bow and some pipes had burst. While moving backwards and maintaining its speed with its excess power, the Musashi was spewing white water vapor like billowing smoke.

But Suzu’s senses had located the enemy.

…The Azuchi!

Those six ships were descending in front of the Musashi. Its ultimate orientation would have its stern directed this way. Which meant they were wide open.

Vice President: “Mukai!”

The force of the Musashi’s backwards movement had already been used to bring the ships back to their normal configuration.

But they didn’t have time to direct the cannon ahead, they didn’t have time to ready it, and they didn’t have time to aim it.

However…

“They’re all…experts at making it work!”

●

“Judge!” shouted the warriors stationed around the ship and at the cannons.

“Oh, damn. I thought I was gonna die when that plastered me against the wall!”

“And now we have to start shooting? They’re overworking us through the night!”

“Right!? And I was running around at Honnouji too!”

“But,” someone said. “If they ask and we can do it, then the Far Eastern way is to go ahead and do it!”

Judge, judge, judge. They knew this line of thinking came from being the judged. They knew it wasn’t anything to be proud of. They knew it was nothing but silly narcissism. But…

“That’s why we reply with ‘judge’!”

As if in response to that, the Vice President shouted a command.

Vice President: “Fire all secondary cannons!!”

The secondary cannons opened fire as if to push the ships further back.

●

Suzu stood from her chair and hurried to the models on the lower level.

The Azuchi model was twisting out of its side flip and preparing to direct its stern toward the Musashi.

Its descent would pick up speed starting here.

The Musashi’s artillery fire would be directed ahead of it based on that prediction.

A volley was release along the path of the Azuchi’s side flip.

It was going to hit.

While making various predictions based on that assumption, she listened to a few absurd leaps of logic provided by Neshinbara over the sign frame.

…Huh?

The model diagram was displaying the estimated situation three seconds from now. But one point there differed from what she was sensing in real time.

The Azuchi.

As the massive ship rotated its stern forward as it completed its side flip, something was off about the bows of the front ships that had been directed downwards like the hands placed down during a cartwheel.

The three-second prediction showed the Azuchi twisting around on those bows to turn its stern toward the Musashi, but…

…Is this…?

As soon as Suzu realized what was happening, she released the Azuchi model and reached for the Musashi model.

“Suzu-sama!? Over!”

Even saying “judge” would have taken too long. She knew what had to be done while they still had their backwards momentum.

“Rotate around backwards!”

They needed to turn their back to the Azuchi. And they had to use full power gravitational acceleration to leave here.

Immediately. Because…

“The Azuchi is going to roll!”

●

“Musashi” confirmed it in her rotating view.

…I see.

“That must be the ‘roll’ Suzu-sama mentioned. And a roll it is. Over.”

“Yes, this was a bold move on their part.”

She knew what Sakai meant by that.

The Azuchi was a warship. And the automata and OS that controlled a warship tended to be prideful.

No, I doubt any automaton does not take pride in her work. Horizon-sama might be an exception there, but her soul is human so it doesn’t count.

At any rate, an automaton controlling a warship would obey the instructions and strategy given to her and tended to stick to the “proper way” of doing those things.

The Musashi was more flexible in that regard because of the introduction of Suzu to the bridge after learning their lesson during the Armada Battle. Without that, they would have been combining the different manuals to find the optimum solution.

She thought the Azuchi had to be the same.

A warship must not miss a chance to attack. And…

“I often hear it said that a warship must not make unsightly maneuvers. Over.”

But the Azuchi had done something different here.

It had not stopped using the three front ships as an axis of rotation.

In midair, it had stopped controlling those three front ships and let them skid forward.

With a human, that would be like losing control during a side flip and ending up in a head slide.

And after adding in a twist, it had collapsed to the side.

“That was well done,” said Sakai as the Azuchi landed in its head sliding state.

The twist to all its ships meant it was collapsed onto its side.

With down as starboard and up as port, the three front and three rear ships were stacked on their sides.

“By turning 90 degrees onto its side, the damaged rear port ship is on top and being supported by the other ships.”

That wasn’t all.

Ending the side flip midway had let them take this position faster. And by collapsing their side flip form, the nearly vertical Azuchi had gained a lot of downward momentum all at once.

Furthermore…

“On its side, the Azuchi is thinner, placing it outside our field of fire! Over.”

●

Azuchi: “The Musashi’s artillery fire has passed by our bottom hull! Shaja!”

Katagiri tensed when “Azuchi” made her report. And then…

…Hm?

Something heavy and soft was resting on his head. As he wondered what that could be…

“Hey, kid. Want to go out there and hit one of those shells? Hm?”

“Ahhhhh! Lord Shogun, I’m so sorry!”

“Stop that, Onitakemaru-san. Things are dangerous right now, so I’m looking after him.”

Meanwhile, a cold sound passed by behind him.

From the floor. The wooden tiles shook as countless tearing sounds came from beyond the ship.

Those were the shells.

The Azuchi had just ended its side flip and tilted on its side for some head sliding.

That was meant to support the rear port ship and to avoid the shells fired by the Musashi, but…

…Th-that was a close one!

Then he heard a sound like glass shattering from the port side, which was overhead.

Fukushima spoke through the shaking.

“One of the secondary cannon barrels must have broken.”

Sounds of objects tearing through the atmosphere continued to pass by, but…

“–––––”

Everyone suddenly exchanged a glance just before a lernen figur opened up next to each of them.

Azuchi: “All Musashi artillery fire has passed us by! Damage was minimal! We will now continue pursuit of the Musashi with all our ships intact! Shaja!”

●

“Musashi” confirmed the Musashi was making its turn. Suzu’s instructions were precise and the ships were moving forward even before the turn was complete. And with their power accurately directing them forward.

This was thanks to each ship’s bridge having grown accustomed to Suzu’s command. “Musashi” thought one advantage of automata, besides their high-speed decision making, was their ability to build up experience. But she noticed something since she could link the sight devices with her own senses since she was outside.

…The Azuchi has gotten about as close as we can let it.

The Musashi’s attack had assumed the Azuchi would descend with its back to them. They had determined that the moment when they began their turn with their reverse momentum intact would be best, but that didn’t mean it was the best for their enemy as well.

But there was still distance between them. If the Musashi could build up its acceleration before the Azuchi caught up, their top speed would be greater.

Just like during the Iga Crossing, the Musashi would pierce through the atmosphere and the Azuchi would make use of the slipstream, but they would still be able to reach Europe.

“ ‘Musashi’-san, how far are we?”

“If you mean to Osaka Bay of the Seto Inland Sea, we are about halfway. Over.”

“Judge.” said Sakai. And just before the Musashi completed its 180-degree turn…

“Alert upper east! Over!”

“Okutama” shouted via divine transmission just as something arrived from the eastern sky.

It came from the same direction as the Azuchi, but it wasn’t a direct attack by the Azuchi. For one thing, the warship was currently flying full speed while tilted 90 degrees, so it wouldn’t have the power leftover for artillery or defense barriers. In that case…

“Is it the M.H.R.R. drop team? Over.”

●

Hirano stood atop the 90-degree rotated bridge as she watched Schau Essen make their attack from above.

…They made it!

Schau Essen had departed when the Azuchi ended its side flip.

They had to stop the Musashi from escaping. Drawing the enemy’s attention even for a moment would mean a lot in this high-speed exchange. So when the central ship’s stern had been at an altitude of nearly 8 kilometers above ground, its swinging momentum had been used to launch twelve people.

The same ones who had jumped from the transport ship on the way here. They had been retrieved on the way back and had already left again.

Katagiri said they had been waiting in the hangar, stuffing themselves with sausage and bread, but…

“Two jumps in one night!? Did you hear that, men!? We can eat twice as much as usual tonight!”

“A toast to the Musashi, to our weight, and to the sky we fall from! That’s three toasts!!”

“Testament!!”

They had readily accepted, but they had measured themselves to make sure they met the weight criterion.

Their equipment was of course sufficient, so if they said they could do it, they were going.

That twenty had just now arrived at the Musashi.

Of course, the Musashi had excellent sensing capability. They weren’t using falling spells, but Hirano could tell they were being caught by the Musashi’s self-defense targeting spells.

But they had used their armor wings and such to adjust their fall before they reached that point.

Takenaka had decided to use the Azuchi’s pursuit to apply pressure to the Musashi until they were detected.

Threats approaching one after another without end applied more pressure than all the threats appearing at once.

So when moving in toward the enemy, they actually used descent spells and acceleration spells to draw their attention.

And as a result…

“Ah.”

Hirano saw several lights.

Seven in all. Defense barriers were blossoming and shattering in the sky above the Musashi.

Five of the twelve had been avoided. But over half of them had forced the Musashi to use some of their power.

“Great work!”

●

“Musashino” felt the weight of the data.

The captain automata received a constant stream of the data from their own ship and the other ships. They were allotted sufficient processing power and shared memory to handle it all, but that didn’t meant it wasn’t a burden.

…This is a lot!

Her thought speed rose to 80% of maximum and she used the remaining 20% for additional work and caching.

She had dealt with this same “weight” during the Armada Battle and the Battle of Mikatagahara. And now everyone had greater experience. Plus Suzu was here. So she could handle it.

“Seven defense barriers is within acceptable bounds! Over!”

Not only did the barriers eat up power, but choosing evasion for defense restricted the ship’s course. That was a problem because it was best to keep as many options open as possible.

But they had made it through the enemy attack. They still had a lead on the pursuing Azuchi.

…In that case…

The ships turned west. Now we just have to hurry to Europe, she thought just before Suzu gave a shout.

“Watch out above the bow!”

At the same time, light filled the bridge.

A defense barrier had stopped something flying in toward the front of the bow.

●

“…!? Over.”

“Musashino” sensed something like noise in her response and reaction to the sudden falling object and she personally questioned what had happened.

No, her experience and accumulated data were enough to understand.

The enemy’s second drop team had fallen from the sky ahead. And they had come from…

“Is that the transport ship they used to fly out here!?”

●

“Ha ha ha!”

The Schau Essen members laughed amid the ether light shards created when the defense barriers were struck, broken, and shattered.

They had jumped from a ship flying at an altitude of about 15 kilometers.

It was the same transport ship the Technohexen had taken flight from and that had carried Schau Essen and Altbayern earlier.

“They would never dream anyone was still aboard!!”

The ship had long since passed the maximum altitude for a transport ship and its virtual ocean ascent system had frozen over, leaving it nearly unusable.

As a ship, it was now a box that could do nothing but float. Assuming it didn’t remain frozen and fall.

There was a reason they had forcibly removed the limit restriction and sent it up that high.

“Because Takenaka-sama considered the possibility of Musashi fleeing to Europe!”

The Musashi’s sensors were precise and covered a wide area, but with a person in control, they would prioritize some areas over others.

“I expect they will be focused on the altitude containing their enemy.”

So Schau Essen and the Altbayern knights had made an attack from an altitude that would look like the ship was simply flying them out there.

That was the first group.

Meanwhile, the second group simply waited.

The transport ship had pretended to be abandoned and simply continuing to ascend with no one at the controls. That happened sometimes and the ship would eventually break apart or run out of fuel and being to fall.

By flying high enough for the ship to freeze, it could avoid being tracked thermally.

And what if the Musashi’s sensors were being focused on only certain areas to avoid extraneous information?

The Azuchi and the first group had done well to attack the Musashi from behind.

Now it was the second group’s turn.

They would perform a bombing from the front, the last place the Musashi would expect after so many attacks from behind. Furthermore…

“We have Altbayern too!”

This attack from above and below was finally the true strike on the Musashi.

●

Defense barrier light scattered from the top and bottom of the Musashi as it flew through the wind.

Aboard the acceleration ship, Masazumi looked to the port stern.

…Here they come!

The Azuchi was there. Since it was tilted on its side with its port side up and starboard side down, it was attacking from the left where its top was visible.

It tilted at Musashi’s stern, rotating to port, and…

Bell: “Masazumi! 32 seconds left!”

Masazumi appreciated that Suzu didn’t apologize.

She did what she could and, if it wasn’t enough, left it with Masazumi. So now it was Masazumi’s turn.

Vice President: “You did well, Mukai. Keep us going full speed toward Europe even after those 32 seconds are up. You have authorization to open defense barriers and use the secondary cannons, but we need to enter the Seto Inland Sea before the Azuchi does.”

Bell: “Judge!”

After her acknowledgment, Mukai had more to say.

Bell: “Good luck…everyone!”

You too, thought Masazumi, but was that a sign she was a little too excited?

…Honestly. I’m completely useless here.

The Azuchi would catch up to the Musashi. With that known for certain, she knew exactly what to do. And she knew who the stars would be from here on.

Vice President: “Attention all Chancellors Officers, this is an official request from the Musashi Ariadust Academy Student Council. Use your full strength to stop any attacks by the pursuing enemy force.”

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