Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Attackers and Defenders in Formation

If the enemy is there

It would be a crime not to question them

If you question the enemy

It would be wrong not to battle them

Point Allocation (Victory and Loss)

●

Ookubo had moved from Okutama’s bow deck to the tip of the prow.

The Chancellor’s group was on the bow deck. She wanted no part of that. Or rather, it was her job to have a grasp of the Musashi’s overall situation.

And when it came to the Chancellor himself…

…The people with him are enough.

The same was true now.

Wise Sister: “Oh? Asama, someone is falling this way. Around three, I think.”

Asama: “Eh? Oh, sorry. I’m busy rerouting the ether conduits and can’t focus on anything else. Could you ask ‘Okutama’ for help instead?”

Horizey: “Judge. Then I will aim for the moment they land and have my arms provide some unbeatable air defense.”

Me: “What are you basing that on? Oh, but, Asama. I know you’re busy, but I would like to see you shoot off a few quick ones.”

Asama: “Oh, Toori-kun. If you insist.”

●

“Gwahhhhhh! Wh-what the hell!? I was just sniped from Musashi’s 3rd central ship!?”

“What is that!? She just took out three of us with her back turned!”

“No, wait! Wait! Not until we’ve begun our desce- gwahhhhhhh!”

●

Gold Mar: “Did Asama-chi just shoot to the top of the hit ranking?”

Art-Ga: “Hold on! There’s a prize for winning that! I refuse to lose!”

Asama: “Hm? What’s that, Toori-kun? Can I hit them before they jump? Yes, my arrows can reach that far.”

Horizey: “Asama-sama! Absentmindedly wiping them all out while focused on your work is completely unprecedented!”

●

Ookubo had never before seen the alert displayed in one corner of the sky: “Want to pass through airspace? Good luck.”

…Well, that should keep us safe until they make it here along the ship’s surface.

That said, there was some movement in a few places. The first landing point was at Oume’s stern. The enemy had moved from there nearly to the central outer wing and met up with some more there. There were now a few different groups on the Musashi.

Led by the Ten Spears.

The optical observation had shown Fukushima Masanori, Katou Kiyomasa, and Kasuya Takenori.

The enemy had also landed on Murayama. That had happened toward the bow and they were moving along the ship instead of holding that position.

“I notice they aren’t going belowdecks or targeting Murayama or Oume’s bridge.”

Were they targeting the central ships because they understood the Musashi’s eight ship structure? Of course, even if they did break through the armor panels and defense barriers filling the holes left by the base hulls and then headed belowdecks, they would find themselves trapped.

Repair materials had been used to divide the belowdecks into individual blocks to trap the enemy there. If necessary, those blocks could be purged individually. In some areas, water or the powdered coagulant used in repairs could be used to bury the enemy.

I guess belowdecks would be more dangerous, concluded Ookubo just as three defense barriers vanished from Oume’s surface area.

The enemy warriors attempting to cross over them were swallowed up.

●

“Ahhhhhhhh! We fell into a small block and then they dumped unsold doujin books on our heads!”

“W-what is this in ours!? Is this a Hashiba-sama and Nobunaga-sama book!? No, I can’t help but read it!”

“Our block is a vertical corridor leading outside and there’s water running through iiiiiiiit!”

●

Novice: “Ha ha ha! Be buried in my unsold inventory and become hooked on my books! Yes, it’s a good thing I had so much leftover! It was all to help Musashi! No, this isn’t cope! Stop saying that!”

Flat Vassal: “Won’t this just make a lot more people hate the Secretary’s books and never want to read one again?”

Tama: “We are intercepting the enemy’s divine transmissions, but why are they sending out a flood of orders for Naruze-sama’s doujinshis translated into their own languages? Over.”

●

At any rate, the interior blocks were purged and dumped.

Ookubo sighed as the report came in and the upper defense barriers were reactivated.

…That should be enough to deal with the ordinary warriors.

The biggest threat was Katou Kiyomasa’s Caledfwlch, but according to “Musashi”…

“The ship structure is not so simple, so we can stop that with defense barriers or internal buffering protections before the ship is sliced through. The problem is if she targets anything important that has a fairly standardized structure like the Musashino’s bridge. Over.”

So Ookubo had been focused on Katou Kiyomasa’s actions, but the word was she had gone to secure the central corridor of Oume’s stern. But if that failed, Oume needed to be on alert.

Oume: “W-wait a second, special duty officers! Please stop her before she does anything! Over.”

Yeah, I can understand panicking like that. Ookubo felt only sympathy.

Also, the enemy was learning. They likely wouldn’t cross over the holes left by the base hulls again. Or if they did, they would use some special method.

The Musashi side would similarly rework their counterattacks. The first thing to do was seal off areas other than the base hull holes – in other words, the surface corridors – and use that to strike back. When the enemy ran down the pathways, there could be an ambush waiting for them at the end of the street. Combine that with a barricade and it would work even better.

They had materials to work with and they could produce defense barriers.

“Only their people at special duty officer level or higher will be able to break through.”

But just as she said that, something occurred to her.

…Are they only sending people?

●

Ookubo sensed danger in her question.

She hadn’t wondered that because it was a problem. She sensed danger in the fact that it had only happened to occur to her

That meant she was overlooking something.

…If they aren’t only sending people, could they be sending something nonhuman?

No, she thought. They’ve already sent their nonhuman unit. But…

“––––––”

She recalled the Asama Shrine Representative’s earlier sniping.

The Azuchi and the Musashi were exchanging artillery fire in something like a close-range fistfight.

But if the Asama Shrine Representative’s arrows could get through…

…Small flying objects can reach us!

Yes. The warriors to port were already using guns to keep the enemy from landing. That meant a firefight between the Musashi’s port side and the Azuchi, but what if the Azuchi had someone on the level of the Asama Shrine Representative?

“No, no one’s that bad.”

She had to make that joke, but it didn’t need to be quite that long range.

“Like a name inheritor sniper. They must have one of those.”

That sniper would likely have been sent out as a show of force against the port side warriors. Their sniping would hold those warriors in check, showing them any careless actions would get them shot. But the battle had advanced a stage or two since the beginning. The sniper would also have shifted to their own next phase. Which would mean…

…With their personnel in place, the sniper will begin targeting our VIPs!

Ookubo immediately raised her voice. Who was in the most conspicuous and unguarded position?

Nagaya-Stable: “Vice President! You’re being targeted!”

She checked her sign frame to see a single light scattering across the live footage taken from the different information terminals across the Musashi.

A flying object burst on the bridge leading to the academy.

●

The attack demonstrated great power.

An acceleration spell had been used to increase its speed at time of launch to avoid detection by Musashi, but that had quickly run out, allowing it to fly toward its target as a simple ballistic object.

Its target was the Vice President on the bridge to Musashi Ariadust Academy.

The distance was approximately three kilometers. The wind was strong and the ships were moving toward and away from each other, but there was a pattern to it. All the sniper needed to do was read that pattern. And once the projectile struck its target, the sniper only needed to activate the spell contained within.

So she read the wind.

To help with that, she had been sniping the Musashi’s port side to support her allies there, but instead of shooting people, she had been shooting the walls and floors they were using as shields to intentionally make noise.

Her aim was good. Once she had a grasp of the wind between the ships, she only had to get the Azuchi to use that as a basis to predict how the wind would behave between here and the Musashi.

She got that help.

So the rest was easy. With one of the Azuchi’s bridge automata acting as her spotter, she just had to say two simple words.

“Go, Yatagarasu.”

●

Suzuki Magoichi’s eyes followed the path of her launched bullet.

Her demon blood thrived at night. And her bullet did reach its destination. It struck the bridge leading to Musashi’s academy and exploded.

It hit. It hurt. But not to the Musashi Vice President.

“Their 2nd Special Duty Officer!”

Beyond the scattering light, a half-dragon held up his left arm.

His armor had blocked the anti-personnel bullet.

●

Masazumi had no idea what had happened. She remembered first receiving a sign frame from Ookubo.

“Oh, has she already finished the work I gave her? That’s Ookubo for you.”

But then something had rushed in, light had scattered, some blew in, and Urquiaga was there.

That wasn’t the most descriptive explanation, but logically what she sensed was what mattered here. Or maybe not.

“What is this about, Urquiaga!?” she asked.

The half-dragon replied with his eyes still up toward the Azuchi.

“Well, Narumi was looking up at the Azuchi when she said, ‘You’re really stuck in a rut, aren’t you?’

“So I thought, ‘Yes, I have only been reviewing ones with a school setting lately, haven’t I?’ ”

Vice President: “Hey, Date Vice Chancellor. You might want to restrict the divine net access at your home.”

Unturning: “If I tell him to stop, he’ll only do it in secret, so it’s better that he does it where I can see him. Then I don’t have to go try to find him at meal time.”

“That’s right, Masazumi! Completing them while she watches is the best! Nothing beats the thrill when the character is a little like her!”

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

But she did understand what had happened to her.

“A sniper?”

“Judge, a skilled one. She’s over there.”

She looked up, but she couldn’t see that far without half-dragon eyesight. But Urquiaga spread his wings a little and smiled.

“That’s Suzuki Magoichi. She’s special duty officer class. Which means this is a job for me.”

●

Konishi saw Suzuki Magoichi fire a shot from the Yatagarasu she launched into the sky behind her.

...That took a fair amount of preparation.

She had followed it with her eyes.

Not the path of the bullets. Those she knew were being blocked.

The Azuchi was gliding through the sky up on its side like a towering wall and Magoichi stood on the edge of the damaged bottom of the rear port ship. From there, she could see everything.

Her eyes had been on the Musashi this entire time.

“You seem awfully attached to the Musashi.”

Konishi called out to her. Magoichi turned her sharp gaze this way and walked toward the bow, but…

“I am simply upset with my lack of judgment, or maybe you could call it a lack of luck.”

After a sigh, her gaze relaxed. She again turned to look at the Musashi, but…

“When I moved to P.A. Oda before, I traveled on the Musashi since the movement of a name inheritor will stick out and my fighting style has given me a lot of enemies. I was told to be careful.”

Konishi knew what that was like. But now wasn’t the time for that.

But she did shudder from the sounds of artillery coming from below.

“So what happened on the Musashi?”

“Testament. I saw and heard a lot there and I interfered in a fair amount of it, but they paid me back for it and it was a lively place.”

I can imagine, thought Konishi. She more or less knew what Magoichi was trying to say.

She had moved from Musashi to Hashiba herself.

She knew her inherited name would be executed during the cleanup after Sekigahara. But she had still wanted an inherited name for the rights it brought and to gain a Konishi name after her father.

Best of all, it meant being greedy. She should be proud of that as a merchant. So she had decided staying on the Musashi would be dangerous. At the time, Musashi was still obeying the Testament Union, so a forced death had been possible.

Moving to Hashiba had been easy with her father’s help.

She had left Musashi thinking she might be able to handle her death with an interpretation if she made a name for herself with Hashiba and proved herself to be useful. When she left, she had looked to the Musashi with the vague idea that it might be her enemy one day.

“But what about now?

Musashi had still been “powerless” back then.

Magoichi answered that question while walking quickly with her back turned.

“I continue to overturn that idea because I want to end it here.”

“Yeah,” agreed Konishi.

Suzuki Magoichi.

Her move to Hashiba had probably been a pragmatic one just like Konishi’s.

She had wanted the stability of joining the stronger side.

She came from a desert people in the Middle East.

●

…It never seems to end.

Magoichi had decided to go to the Musashi.

To fight.

She had boarded the Azuchi with the intention of helping with the Battle of Yamazaki.

But she had noticed the feelings of those around her. Particularly the Ten Spears and their teams.

…It’s all for this battle.

She thought she knew why the Ten Spears were so intent on resisting Musashi. They had said nothing about it as they waited the past few years simply gaining trust through their accomplishments.

Unlike Magoichi.

They were fighting for the future they wanted. The Genesis Project might erase all connections and wipe the slate clean, but that would protect the future from “ending”.

She was different.

She hadn’t wanted to be dragged into all the fighting and political strife in the desert, so she fought for a stable place for herself.

Of course, being a name inheritor meant she knew when she could stop fighting. Her origins among the desert people meant nothing in the face of the lax Far Eastern systems.

But something had happened when she was young.

“The Testament.”

When someone was no longer needed for the history recreation, the academy her parents belonged to had chosen to abandon them. The people who had expected to get out of it with a simple interpretation had then pressured the decision-makers, including her parents.

Her parents had apparently been merchants, but they ended up living in the local king’s residence and, in accordance with the class system used for the history recreation, they had their social status stripped from them.

Magoichi had still had a future, so her parents had arranged for her to keep her position and their caravan was left with her.

But then their nation had disappeared, so she had taken up a gun and begun to resist.

Her opponent was P.A. Oda.

But her emotionally-driven resistance didn’t accomplish much.

The lack of water, food, money, and anyone to rely on had worn at her.

On several occasions, she had been too tired to go on in the hot desert and hid in the shade for two or three days straight. Thinking back, that had taught her how to be patient as a sniper.

So when she had inherited her name and could end her emotionally-driven resistance, she had known what she wanted.

“I want stability.”

Even just a room she could sleep in instead wandering all the time would be appreciated. And if she could get that for life, she would appreciate it all the more.

She wanted to stay the same. She longed for stability deep inside herself.

So at the time, Musashi hadn’t been an option. Even if Matsudaira would eventually rule the Far East, Matsudaira Motonobu was trapped in Mikawa and worked closely with P.A. Oda. If he tried to take over the world, she was certain the European nations would move to crush Musashi.

That meant Hashiba. Their cooperation with M.H.R.R. made it all the better. Even after Hashiba’s history recreation ended, the stability of M.H.R.R. would remain.

They would lose the Thirty Years’ War, but based on Hashiba’s actions, she concluded some form of interpretation would be used to get around that.

…So they will be stable.

But she had been wrong.

Musashi, which had always obeyed the Testament Union, had suddenly fought back at Mikawa.

She had once visited there and thought it was a lively place that had seemed so peaceful because they were obedient, but now they had resisted.

“If they had stayed put, they probably would have had stability, if not freedom.”

But they had desired freedom and they wanted stability on top of that.

They had resisted.

What about her?

“What about this?”

She was now facing the greatest form of stability.

She didn’t mean the stable life she was promised as part of Hashiba.

“The Genesis Project.”

Everything would be forgotten and then begin anew.

Her origins would, her revenge would, and the stability she had gained by admitting the meaningless of everything she had done would.

That lively place that had seemed to reject her would be eliminated by the Genesis Project.

It was the stability of promised nothingness.

From there, would she be accepted as something other than herself? Or…

“Time to go.”

She had permission, so she looked to the others from her sniping spot and waved.

If they won, all of them would be forgotten, but they all waved back and pointed out ahead.

They all did the same thing. And just as she knew their destination was the Musashi…

“Go, Yatagarasu.”

She leaped out into the sky thick with artillery fire and ether light.

●

Adele gasped when she heard that Suzuki Magoichi had entered the battlefield.

…That rifle user!?

Adele had met her during the start of their second year. She had seemed somehow cold and like she never forgot to keep her distance.

They had already known then that she would be joining P.A. Oda and, during the Gagaku Festival, the 1st Special Duty Officer had troubled her by doing some really cringey performance next to her in an attempt to not to stand out while investigating her.

She came from the desert of the Middle East, so she had to be a hard worker.

Adele wondered what someone like that would think about this battle.

“Oh,” she said, noticing the nearby warriors looking up into the sky and making space. “M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda have so many people who agree with the Genesis Project because a lot of them had tough lives due to the Thirty Years’ War intensifying or due to living in the Middle East. I bet that’s it.”

The Testament Union did place restrictions on the Musashi, but they could fly through the sky. The enclosed space did lead to some cannibalism among the residents, but in a way they all shared a spirit of resistance against the outside world.

But very few places on the mainland had anywhere to run.

“So there must be some tough times.”

A large figure had walked up next to her, so Adele patted him on the hip and nodded.

Who is this again? she wondered, but she had seen him once before. So…

“Don’t you agree…Komaoumaru-san?”

She froze after speaking the name aloud.

After a few motionless seconds with her hand patting his hip did she finally take a look around.

They all already had their backs turned and had moved about thirty meters away.

…That was fast!

Me: “Hey, hey, Adele. Who’s that big guy next to you?”

She took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“We’re under attaaaaaack!!”

●

What a pain! thought Yoshiyasu.

She launched in Righteousness. At the same time, she saw light burst from Oume’s surface and sweep along a horizontal line. Komaoumaru had launched an ether cannon from his mouth.

She was concerned about that, but the vassal would handle it. Yoshiyasu instead saw this as an opening.

A definite “power” had appeared on the Musashi. That meant the enemy saw this as the time to attack.

So she would launch a counterattack. After leaping through the safe zones from the enemy artillery that Musashi had sent her way, she flew up into the sky. That all took a bit over three seconds. Her wings sliced through the wind as she spun around and spread her body out above the Azuchi’s port side.

The enemy hadn’t manged to react. Because after seeing Komaoumaru’s attack, they had decided now was the time to get more aggressive.

This would work. Yoshiyasu soared over the enemy’s head, raised her sword, and swung her legs to keep her balance. And then…

“…!”

She reflexively turned toward the light she saw. She twirled in midair and shifted herself two body widths’ to the side.

Immediately, a pillar of light pierced through the position she had vacated.

…A dragon cannon!

She already knew what had happened. But knowing who her enemy was seemed important, so she looked down. A large object had dropped into the air from the Azuchi’s stern.

It was eighty meters long and its two forelegs were shaped like wings.

“Mechanical Dragon Unambitious!?”

●

Yoshiyasu saw the mechanical dragon named Unambitious there.

The Azuchi’s bottom hull must have had a dock for receiving transport ships and such. The mechanical dragon dropped from there was a size smaller than the aerial ships meant to use that dock.

Since the mechanical dragon had managed to fire its dragon cannon at Yoshiyasu in the sky above so soon after dropping down, she could guess its smaller size gave it the clearance necessary to be pointed upwards from the start. But…

…What?

The mechanical dragon wasn’t falling. It was just there.

It had dropped into the open air and fired a dragon cannon, but it remained just below the dock entrance.

Then it took a slow step. It placed its feet on the Azuchi’s bottom hull, but instead of crawling up, it accelerated shoulder-first as if launching its full body toward her.

Yoshiyasu made a split second decision in response.

She didn’t let the enemy’s ascent or speed daunt her. She spread her wings and flew straight toward it.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

●

Their clash was instantaneous.

While piloting Unambitious, Nabeshima realized just how wide her field of view was.

She was nervous. Her pulse was racing. Nevertheless, she was viewing a wider area than just what lay dead ahead.

…What?

When she leaned her body, the pressure-based control system felt just right.

She knew how Unambitious would behave when she moved.

She didn’t just understand it; she knew it. She knew it so well that if someone asked her about its movement, she could answer without even thinking.

She didn’t have the tension of dealing with something unfamiliar that came with a mere understanding.

She knew it as well as her own body, so she closed her eyes once.

“Yes, even this field of vision is small.”

Why was that? Because she “knew” it. Thanks to all the training she did in Sanada.

She wasn’t at all worried about piloting. Because the mechanical dragon’s actions were her own.

“I’m just a little scared.”

With those words, she relaxed. And opened her eyes.

…Ohh.

Her view was far wider than before. The Azuchi’s bottom hull spread out below her like a metal wall and she was looking up at the night sky above that. Being able to feel the chill of the air as a color felt like a luxury to her.

The enemy was coming. From straight ahead. So she shot forward. Like never before, she was going to…

…Run.

She wasn’t accelerating. She was running.

Unambitious was a mechanical dragon. As a machine, its acceleration required using the thrusters, operating its legs to “run”, or both at once.

But running was different.

She combined Unambitious’s actions as a dragon and as a machine with her own movements to use the thrusters, the legs, and the ferocity of a beast in order to run.

She ran.

She didn’t understand how to run.

But she knew that if she ran, it would run. So that settled it. She simply ran forward and…

“Satomi Yoshiyasu! I haven’t forgotten what happened during the Keichou Campaign!”

●

She shot forward. The 80m mechanical dragon moved out and ran with a burst of acceleration.

Nabeshima realized Righteousness was soaring in while crouched low.

…You idiot!

There was barely any space between the ship’s bottom hull and Unambitious.

But the mechanical dragon’s belly contained a significant portion of its power system and circulatory system. Since it was designed for aerial battles, that belly was armored, but its structure required a lot of critical components to be contained there.

Was Righteousness targeting that?

So Nabeshima kept her stance low. She pushed her body forward and spread the forelegs to rearrange the shoulder joints and lower her field of vision.

There was no slipping below her now. Trying to force it would only get Righteousness caught between her and the Azuchi. That would end it.

So she would end it. Their clash only lasted an instant. The two sides simply passed each other by.

Righteousness had been tilted forward as if lying down, but…

“…!”

The bottom of her body bounced up from below.

Righteousness was eaten. She acted as the upper jaw and the Azuchi’s bottom hull acted as the lower jaw with the canine god of war as the prey. An odd feeling remained in the solar plexus area of her belly armor.

The chewed-up Righteousness was there.

“Milady! Behind you!”

…I’m aware!

She knew what she would find past her: the crushed Righteousness.

And when she checked with her bottom sight devices, she saw something there.

She saw wreckage. Righteousness’s blue armor had been crushed vertically and embedded in the Azuchi’s bottom hull.

However, that was the weapon deployment backpack. And the blue thing sticking out if was…

…A scabbard!?

Righteousness wasn’t there. Crushed in its place was a scabbard.

That god of war’s main weapon was a sword. The large scabbard that held and the connector that kept it on the god of war’s back were broken and stabbed into the Azuchi’s bottom hull.

But this was odd.

The blue component’s damage looked mostly crushed, so even if that had been a ploy to buy time before Righteousness was destroyed, there weren’t enough parts there.

As Nabeshima tried to figure out what this meant, she noticed something.

“The Azuchi’s dock entrance!”

The horizontal line of an opening was closed now, but it would have just barely still been open when she passed through.

So the answer was clear. Righteousness had only been making a show of targeting her.

“Milady!”

Still looking back, she saw the closed dock entrance shake, split, and burst upwards.

An internal blast struck the entire entrance a few times from within. The joint bent and the bow side connector tore off and flew upwards, but…

Azuchi: “Unambitious! Are you outside!? Over.”

4=5: “Not to worry! We have left and are approaching the enemy! Sorry about that!”

She knew what the Four Heavenly Kings of Ryuuzouji meant.

…Damn!

Azuchi: “I do not mind! As long as the dock was sealed and Unambitious left, there is no problem. For refueling during the battle, please use the rear central ship’s deck! Shaja!”

During this exchange, the shaking stopped and ether light smoke left the gaps between the dock entrance and the surrounding armor. Several lernen figurs displaying warnings or activating buffering spells also appeared.

While passing by, Righteousness must have dropped an impact spell inside the dock entrance.

“Satomi Yoshiyasu!”

No, Nabeshima’s anger was directed at herself.

She had thought she could handle it. She and Unambitious were perfectly linked and everything was precisely in place. But her lack of combat experience had made the difference. When they passed by, she should have made sure she destroyed Righteousness instead of continuing on past.

“Azuchi” had provided some assistance. She didn’t know what exactly that meant, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t noticed it.

In that case…

“…!”

She stepped to the left on the vertical surface of the bottom hull. Light rushed in from the sky behind her.

That was Righteousness.

The dog-faced god of war slashed its long sword through the position she had just vacated, but instead of landing, it kicked off the hull armor with its right heel.

Sparks flew from the kick that propelled the god of war back into flight and Nabeshima didn’t even look up as she pursued.

“You aren’t getting away!”

This time, she poured all her power into accelerating into the sky.

●

Narumi heard something speeding through an arc in the sky as well as sparking impacts.

A few different sounds joined together. When she linked Unturning Centipede’s sensory system to the Musashi, she could tell that the Hashiba mechanical dragon and Righteousness were battling and that he was battling one of the enemy special duty officer equivalents.

…After flying off without a word, you had better win.

She was on Takao’s stern, but the place was honestly shorthanded. There weren’t many enemies, but it still needed defending since they didn’t know what the Azuchi would do.

Looking at it now, she could tell the Azuchi rolling onto its side had been a decent invention. That allowed the Azuchi to send all of its forces onto one side of the Musashi.

Based on the reports coming in, the Musashi’s port side was taking hits. It had all been stopped by the armor and the defense barriers were being replaced, but this was still wearing them down.

However, that couldn’t be helped. With the Azuchi’s ships stacked vertically, the Musashi’s third port ship was going to take the brunt of the attack.

The port ships were currently focused on defense barriers while the central and starboard ships used their wider angle of fire to launch artillery at the Azuchi.

The Azuchi was receiving fire across all of its ships, but they only had to place defense barriers on the upper surface that was directed toward the Musashi, so their per-section reactions were quick.

At the same time, the bottom hull of their rear port ship, which acted as the ceiling, had been broken and the bottom dock opening of the front port ship had been destroyed by Satomi Yoshiyasu.

The Azuchi had taken more damage, but it was a warship. They would know how to manage damage and, based on the movements of the crew, it was the Musashi that was under attack.

If their special duty officer equivalents were allowed to act freely, they could sink at least one of the Musashi’s ships.

…It’s all about numbers right now.

They hadn’t reached a stalemate yet. The scary part was how things were still only heating up.

Tachibana Wife: “Tachibana Gin here. I have clashed with the enemy’s lead group on Murayama’s port side.”

One of the enemy units was moving fast.

…Which one is that?

Tachibana Gin answered Narumi’s question before she could check.

Tachibana Wife: “They are led by Ten Spears Aide Shima Sakon and Ootani Yoshitsugu.”

●

Oh? thought Mitotsudaira.

She had gone to defend Murayama thanks to her king’s words and Masazumi’s request. She had heard a lot of the enemy had boarded Oume as a bridgehead, so…

…I assumed the Ten Spears would be there.

The enemy units were using a few camouflage spells. The Musashi’s local divine protections set strict limits on such things, making it nearly impossible for intruders to fully disappear, but a concealment protection could make them look like someone else.

According to Asama…

“They can hide their power output but not increase it, so you generally want to look for a low but unstable power reading or an unusually static one.”

And so the special duty teams were out eliminating any readings like that. Narumi was stationed aft since they didn’t know what the Azuchi would do. Mary and Tenzou were sent as reinforcements to Oume. Naito and Naruze were already part of the firing team on Oume’s stern, so they stayed there. And as Mitotsudaira arrived late…

…I will run a straight line from Murayama to Oume and support the others.

That meant she would be diving into the battle and attacking the enemy from the side.

She already had her silver chains out. Now she just had to use the readings coming from Suzu to pass below the artillery fire crisscrossing in the sky, accelerate, and…

“…!?”

An emergency warning appeared right by her face.

●

For Mitotsudaira, it came out of nowhere.

She was on Murayama’s surface. On one of the flat, glowing defense barriers crossing a hole left by a base hull.

A sudden scent reached her from the light glowing up from below.

…Who is that!?

Only an enemy would bother to hide their presence here and now.

…Well, I could see the 1st Special Duty Officer doing it. Or my king as a prank.

The more she thought about it, the more candidates came to mind, so she stopped thinking. If it was the former, she would only have to apologize to Mary. And the latter couldn’t be since she had just left him. So…

“There!”

She sent out a silver chain, producing a loud metallic clang.

A figure emerged beyond the flying sparks.

She recognized him. She had met him only about a month before. It was…

“Ankokuji Ekei!?”

“Testament!” The man in a Far Eastern uniform modified to look like a monk outfit formed a series of letters with his body. “Ankoku-G! A! K!”

Once he was done posing, he pointed at her.

“Ha ha ha ha! You never imagined I would immediately join Hashiba after our last meeting, did you!? And now I will use my dark power to plunge Musashi into a great panic!”

“Judge,” said Mitotsudaira, raising her right hand and lowering it again. The defense barrier below AK vanished.

“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

After AK’s falling speed carried him away, the defense barrier reappeared. She raised her hand again in thanks and took off running.

“O-okay, next I need to get to Oume!”

Artillery fire and light scattered through the sky and the sparks of battle scattered across the ship.

The fighters were beginning to gather.

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