Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Ero-er on the Roof

You don’t have to look up

You don’t have to face forward

You can keep your head lowered

But why are you here?

Point Allocation (Right?)

●

“Musashi detected! It is south of the former site of Honnouji and preparing for gravitational acceleration! Shaja!”

Takenaka was atop the bridge on the Azuchi’s 1st central ship when she received that report from the Azuchi’s bridge.

“Azuchi” was here. Takenaka could have stayed in the dining hall, but she had learned how dangerous it was there with tables and chairs crashing around during any weird maneuvering. And there wasn’t much place for her ero-ing to go.

But here I can just ero into the sky, so it’s a lot easier.

However, she was not atop the bridge for fun or ero-ing. She could directly trade opinions with “Azuchi” up here and anywhere near the automaton was the center of the ship’s data.

Activating Three Thousand Worlds in the dining hall and linking it with the Azuchi’s data processing protections and spells worked quite well, but she could receive fresher data when right next to “Azuchi”.

“And if anything happens, I can directly tell ‘Azuchi’ to deal with it.”

Such as now.

The Musashi was effectively dead ahead. From her perspective, it was atop a fairly tall hill.

The moonlit colossus appeared to be looking down at them. But…

“ ‘Azuchi’-sama! We have detected an interception force on the enemy ship! An aerial force primarily made up of Technohexen is preparing to takeoff!”

●

“That’s not good.”

Yoshiaki was concerned by the enemy she saw on the Musashi through her telescope spell.

Musashi’s secondary cannons were aimed this way, but even worse were the Technohexen she could see.

They were clearly waiting for the Azuchi and prepared to intercept.

Meanwhile, the Azuchi’s Technohexen couldn’t do anything.

The Azuchi was moving too fast. If they took off now, they would either be left behind or caught in the Azuchi’s air current and carried beyond the enemy before they regained control.

…Plus, our Technohexen unit is so small.

Hashiba did have an M.H.R.R.-affiliated Technohexen unit. Some were commanded by Yoshiaki and Angie, but most were commanded by Kiyomasa. But Hashiba was M.H.R.R. and thus strict Catholics, so their Technohexen had to be “repentant Technohexen” who couldn’t behave very “witchy”.

For one, flying was a gray zone for them. Yoshiaki and Angie were mostly only allowed to fly because they had wings and it was thus unavoidable for them. The Technohexen under Kiyomasa specialized in defense and ground battles, so while they would fly to move around, they were not meant for long-distance flights.

Thus, their aerial mobile group that acted as their primary air-to-air force came down to…

“Is that them, Kime-chan?”

Men in white mobile shells were lined up alongside the Technohexen unit.

That was their small official mobile shell unit. Schau Essen acted as their air-to-surface attack unit, and…

“That’s the surface-to-air mobile shell knights. What were they called again? Oh, right: Altbayern.”

●

That’s another group you don’t see often, thought Angie.

As the Altbayern name suggested, they were knights from Bavaria in southern M.H.R.R. They had been building mobile shells capable of short range flight since before the speed boost to mobile shells.

They had originated as the Bavarians, a tribe of Germanic barbarians, but while the dragons were inheriting Germanic names, they had converted to Catholicism early to preserve their position as Germanic humans.

That was why they equipped themselves with flight capable mobile shells.

They were knights who prided themselves in the former age when they lived in a land surrounded by dragons and fought in the sky.

To Angie and Yoshiaki, it seemed likely they had shared technology with Edel Brocken at some point, but M.H.R.R. Catholic knights would never publicly admit to that. Furthermore…

“Those mobile shells have mostly been honorary equipment ever since the end of the Germanic age, but working with Hashiba and M.H.R.R. has given them another time to shine.”

That said, not many battlefields had need for surface-to-air capability. They were more useful in defense than invasion. And since Hashiba was Far Eastern, they generally surpassed their opponent when it came to aerial forces. And in short-term aerial mobility, the Technohexen had more combat experience.

So Altbayern had primarily been posted as border guards. Monitoring the higher altitudes was especially necessary on the border with Hexagone Française, so they had been scattered along that border until they were summoned here.

After all, the enemy this time was a massive aerial force: the Musashi.

The battlefield would be in the sky, but by treating the Azuchi as “the ground”, a surface-to-air force would be useful.

And even their short range flight capability would be enough during any close-range battles. But…

“Nari Nari’s in command, huh?”

●

Mitsunari was troubled as she stood on the deck before the mobile shell unit. It seemed odd for a data entity and program to be troubled, but she was currently very busy with other matters and she also had to try and grasp the human heart. It was a lot of work.

“U-um, Takenaka-sama said not to head out yet, so please remain on standby here for now, everyone!”

Sh e spread her arms as if to stop them as she spoke, but the men in white aerial mobile shells responded:

“No, Mitsunari-sama! Use us! Use us here!”

“Testament! Mitsunari-sama, we have been waiting for so long!”

“That’s right, Mitsunari-sama! Send us into the fight immediately! Send us into the sky!”

She knew what they were trying to say. Just looking at them was concerning. Because…

“Um…how about you grab a bite to eat while on standby?”

The members of Altbayern had been starving themselves to reduce their weight for greater flight efficiency.

●

Kimee: “I’m been pretending not to notice while standing next to them…but how long’s it been?”

Nari Nari Nari: “Their standby request arrived a week before the Honnouji Incident, so I assume since then. Although the more eager ones may have started before even that.”

Llaf: “What are thou talking about?”

The Boy: “In the age of the anti-dragon front, the Bavarian knights refused to let the dragons inherit the names of the Germanic tribe of Bavaria. And with some technological innovation, they built surface-to-air mobile shells capable of flight, but power sources back then were weak and, well, they had to keep the weight down, right?”

Tsurugi: “Oh, so they decided to keep their own weight down instead of doing it to the shells?”

Kiyo-Massive: “To clarify and in their defense, their land was fully surrounded by the dragons, so they were driven into a position where the options were ‘starve or be eaten by dragons’. I know someone who should know a lot about this, so I’ll ask her.”

●

Unno and the others in Sanada territory could see Honnouji rising into the western sky and producing a meteor shower.

Unno opened a telescope spell while seated on the branches of the Yamaga Shrine’s divine tree as that was the highest position around. Next to her, Mochizuki was staring into the western sky, her eyes following the oddity there. Some of the dragons like Torahide were using their wings to watch from above and others had their ears raised to listen in, but…

“Oh, whoops. I didn’t put it on silent.”

Unno’s sign frame appeared in the silent mountains and played loud music. The Terrestrial Dragons who had been intently listening all recoiled.

“Keep it down!”

“What makes you think you can destroy the mountain’s natural environment!? Aren’t you supposed to be a shrine maiden!?”

“You could at least be polite.”

“Tch.” Unno didn’t bother suppressing her tongue click. “Now I have dragons calling me impolite.”

She glanced over to where the Terrestrial Dragons were gathering around and gossiping loudly.

“Did you hear that? Unno-san doesn’t think she needs to be polite!”

“Yes, I heard! The word is she’s grumpy after not getting enough to drink at the festival last night!”

“Yeah, cause we drank it all while she was dancing!”

“So it was you!” shouted Unno.

Torahide addressed her while resting his head in his hand.

“Hey, Unno? What’s that sign frame?”

“Oh, it’s from Kiyomasa. She has a question for you all.”

“Eh!?” exclaimed the dragons, turning her way.

“For me, Unno-san!?”

“No, for me. It is from Kiyomasa-san after all.”

“Hey, wait. Check out how silently eager Torahide-san!”

Kiyomasa sure is popular, thought Unno, but that wasn’t too surprising. They had also liked Nabeshima since she used a mechanical dragon and felt like everyone’s underclassman. Asano had been pretty popular too. And the five-man Four Heavenly Kings had left a strong impression.

“”Listen. Her question is about the…flying knights of Bavaria? Do you know them?”

The dragons stuck their heads up above the forest and exchanged a glance. A few of them answered in the affirmative.

“My grandfather mentioned them. They were from when we controlled Europe. He said they were very dangerous.”

“Really?” asked Unno and another dragon nodded.

“We had them surrounded and, well, the Germanic tribes were a hunting culture, right? Well, there’s only so much hunting you can do when you’re surrounded and trapped in a small area.”

“Right, right. So our grandparents tried negotiating: ‘You’re not Germanic if you can’t hunt, so how about handing over those inherited names?’ ”

“Then those skinny guys pointed at them and shouted ‘meat!!’ ”

“Wow,” said Unno. “That’s so straightforward it’s a little disturbing.”

“They were human like you!!” the dragons shouted together, causing her to recoil this time. Then they began speaking to each other again.

“Besides, humans wear so many weird decorations that very little of them is edible, so you can’t eat them without capturing them alive and preparing them first.”

“I thought eating people was your way of showing off your dignity as rulers?” said Unno.

“When we had a hunting culture, we could just have them send offerings to the hunters. But with the later agricultural culture, my grandfather said it all came down to alcohol! Because you can’t get drunk eating people.”

The dragons raised a big barrel of alcohol they had been hiding somewhere.

“A drink to Kiyomasa-san for not forgetting about us!”

“That’s my drink!” shouted Unno.

Her anger led them to sink back into the forest and hide.

“Tch.” She clicked her tongue again. Fine, whatever, she decided, responding to the divine transmission.

“Did that help?”

●

Kiyo-Massive: “Did that explain it for you?”

AnG: “You don’t get a peek into history like that every day, do you? What do you all think?”

The Boy: “In Bavaria, the story is that a local king was asked to send his daughter as sacrifice, but the knights of a certain kingdom happened by and saved her.”

Black Wolf: “Eh!? Why? The meat explanation makes way more sense than rescuing a princess.”

Kohime: “Testament! Saving a princess happens once, but a meat recipe can be used over and over.”

Kimee: “Can someone give those perpetually starving guys some food?”

Nari Nari Nari: “Um, um, um, I already have my hands full!”

6: “Takenaka.”

AnG: “I love the way Shouroku casually asks the impossible!”

Tsurugi: “And aren’t they starving themselves right now?”

The Boy: “They go through ritual starvation during the lead up to a mission and only eat once the mission is over. It ultimately goes back to Tsirhc, but when they were being accused of being Technohexen during the age of the Technohexen hunt, they insisted they could fly because they were fasting for god. Some children who heard that started fasting, thinking it would let them fly, so people were not happy with them.”

Llaf: “So an extreme diet can be turned into a religious thing?”

Black Wolf: “It just occurred to me. We keep calling it ‘starvation’, but isn’t the proper term ‘fasting’?”

●

At any rate, controlling hungry people was no easy task.

Mitsunari opened a lernen figur and displayed the dining hall menu.

“L-look, everyone! If you get through this, you can eat all of these wonderful things!”

The white knights in front of her recoiled.

“P-please stop that, Mitsunari-sama! Are you trying to kill us!?”

“Eh? Eh? But this Shizugatake Explosive Curry is really popular.”

“Eeek! Mitsunari-sama! That menu is too dazzling for our eyes!”

AnG: “Nari Nari, was that meant as a finishing blow?”

Was that how it worked? Regardless, there was something else she could do here.

…Takenaka-sama!

The enemy was dead ahead and all that enemy had to do was intercept them. What happened later would be up to Takenaka, but…

Tsurugi: “Yoshiaki? Just for reference, what would you want from the Azuchi in your position?”

Kimee: “If I must give an official response…then to avoid an enemy counterattack, I would want us to avoid directly crossing the crater and hill at the former site of Honnouji and instead circle around from the west.”

Mitsunari understood what Yoshiaki meant.

…Charging straight in would be dangerous.

Musashi had Technohexen and flight-capable gods of war that had arrived there from different nations. There wasn’t much consistency among them, but they did have individuality and numbers. That was what was staring down the Azuchi right now.

And the Azuchi was currently preparing to charge straight toward the Musashi.

Their speed prevented them from launching their aerial forces.

But not so for the Musashi. The Musashi was stationary, so it could fire its artillery and then begin a hit-and-run aerial battle as the Azuchi approached.

…What are we going to do!?

●

Yoshiaki knew command was in Takenaka’s hands.

During the earlier meeting at the interior dock, Takenaka had said they would first approach and then pursue.

Up ahead, the Musashi was gradually beginning to look like a wall.

“Take has a tendency to change tactics on a whim, so who knows what’s going to happen, Kime-chan!”

They were already prepared to attack, but the Musashi had to be as well.

A wind blew in.

…Because we’re so close to the former site of Honnouji.

The dark crater visible out ahead earlier was now nearly directly below them.

The choice now was to either continue the charge or fly around the crater and circle behind the enemy.

Choosing the former would require a solid tackle if they received a counterattack.

The latter would mean a lower speed, but they would divert the enemy counterattack and the Azuchi’s aerial forces could attack.

“Kime-chan! Kime-chan, what do you think!?”

“Angie, weren’t you listening? I said we should fly around to avoid their counterattack. Officially, anyway,” she said. “But unofficially…well, I’ll obey Takenaka’s instructions. Because it sounds more fun.”

●

Takenaka was ero-ing.

Behind her, “Azuchi” was rubbing her back. Or really, rapidly brushing her back.

“Takenaka-sama! Takenaka-sama! Hurry! What do you command!? Shaja!”

“Wow. Not often you’re in such a rush, ‘Azuchi’.”

“I ordinarily perform a lot of fine-tuning in advance, but your presence here makes my autonomous decisions challenging! Shaja!”

AnG: “So she’s in the way?”

Kimee: “Definitely in the way.”

Tsurugi: “Now, now, you two. You shouldn’t say that. …Even if it is true.”

Kuro-Take: “W-why is everyone so mean!?”

But that was unavoidable. Up ahead, Takenaka could see the Musashi aiming its cannons this way.

She still didn’t order a change of course because she wanted the Azuchi to continue accelerating. They were currently on a collision course, but…

Kuro-Take: “What would happen if we just ran into them like this?”

Kohime: “I’d be back to normal in around 30 seconds?”

Super Justice: “Your special case isn’t exactly useful for the rest of us!”

It sounded like they were all under a fair amount of pressure. But that too was unavoidable.

“Azuchi” began some calculations, maybe to kill time while no commands were given. She produced the Azuchi and Musashi’s locations on a lernen figur and calculated different impact patterns based on the ships’ weights, air resistance, and other factors.

“Simply put, despite the Musashi’s considerable armoring, a high-speed collision from the Azuchi’s bow rams would break one of its ships in two, completely destroying it. Depending on our angle, this could destroy another ship behind the first. And the other ships would collide with each other beyond that as well.”

But…

“When the Azuchi’s front three ships were slowed by the collision, the rear three ships would collide with them. We would receive considerable damage, so I would really like to rearrange our formation, but if you continue refusing to give any kind of command, then Sakon-sama will be back to normal in around 30 seconds after the collision. Shaja.”

AnG: “Takeeeeeeee!!”

6: “I’ll haunt you.”

Oh, I think I’m putting a little too much pressure on them with my face in this paper bag.

But “Azuchi” said more while once more brushing Takenaka’s back.

“Takenaka-sama! We will enter the air currents from the former site of Honnouji in one minute and twenty seconds! Shaja!”

“Eh?”

Takenaka looked up from her ero bag to see “Azuchi” holding up a lernen figur.

They were on a collision course. But if they continued accelerating like this, they would hit but that would be at max speed and along the shortest route.

“Then use our momentum to cross through!”

“Are you sure!? Shaja!”

Takenaka knew why “Azuchi” was asking.

Her lernen figur showed an interception team on the Musashi’s port side.

If the Azuchi attempted to ram them, they would first be attacked by that team.

But Takenaka raised her voice.

“We’ll be fine!”

The Boy: “No, they will be firing their artillery! And if we hit any unknown air currents and the updraft from the hill at this speed, we won’t be able to react like we normally can!”

Katagiri was correct. Musashi knew the Azuchi’s course, so they only had to pull away while attacking from the safe zone past the air currents.

So the Azuchi’s best option was…

Tsurugi: “If you want to take a course that avoids the Musashi, then push the power system as much as you need! I’ll make it work!”

Kuro-Take: “No!”

Takenaka breathed in and yelled.

Kuro-Take: “They will fire artillery, but only the bare minimum! Their interception team – especially the Technohexen unit we can see – will not be coming! So stay on our original collision course!”

And…

Kuro-Take: “We will not destroy our front three ships when we hit! But the Musashi’s two rear ships will suffer severe damage! And let’s try to make sure a third ship is damaged as well. If they’re down to six ships just like us, then we can win this!!”

●

This is insane, thought “Azuchi”.

What does she think a flagship is? As soon as the battle began, three of the six ships would be badly damaged and the other three wouldn’t escape unharmed.

The crew would be affected by the impact and there would be damage to the equipment as well. But…

“Takenaka-sama!”

She asked a question just to be certain.

“You are convinced the Azuchi can defeat the Musashi after the collision!? Shaja!”

“Testament! On our current course, we will break through their 3rd port ship and reach their rear central ship!”

What did that mean?

“We can destroy Musashi’s academy right as the battle begins! And when the battle continues, I won’t let them fight in a way we can’t defeat!”

Takenaka pointed ahead, toward the Musashi’s port side.

“Ram them with everything you have! Whatever happens then and however it turns out, I will guide us toward victory!”

●

“Azuchi” said nothing in response to Takenaka.

Takenaka said they could win. She said she would guide them toward victory no matter what.

She said they would win no matter what happened to the Azuchi. “Azuchi” hurriedly ran a search for what that could mean.

“––––”

All of a sudden, she felt all restrictions fall away in her decisions.

A battleship was designed to fight battles, but that meant all its actions must be based on strategy. So in a withdrawal, a battleship could act as a decoy or even sacrifice itself if necessary.

But Takenaka said they would win. She must have a plan to win no matter how bad the damage was.

That showed Takenaka’s trust in the ship, in “Azuchi”, and in the automata under her command.

…In that case…

They would win.

“Azuchi” viewed that as a command from Takenaka. To increase their speed as much as possible. And to increase their ability to continue fighting, she adjusted their course to increase their penetrative power at the moment of impact and she subtly adjusted the course of the three rear ships.

“Everyone.”

She addressed everyone inside and atop the ship.

“Look out ahead. We will soon enter combat range with the Musashi. The Musashi is approximately 8 kilometers long. It is currently a trade ship equipped with a main cannon and secondary cannons, but the Azuchi has defeated it once in the past.”

So…

“I have defined this battle’s win condition as victory itself. So please make use of the Azuchi’s ships however you see fit. Continuing to fight as long as I remain on the battlefield is my pride as a battleship. I ask that you never abandon the fight.”

She had a few future concerns in mind, but she still stated her conclusion.

“Let us fight this battle, no matter what that entails. Shaja.”

●

A report from the Musashino’s bridge informed Masazumi that the Azuchi was accelerating on a collision course.

The Azuchi was crossing the Honnouji crater while taking a somewhat ascending course, so the port side and Oume blocked it from her view.

But while viewing the Azuchi’s course and acceleration intensity on her sign frame, Masazumi had a thought.

…Are they doing this while aware of our strategy!?

She couldn’t be certain, but she thought her read of the situation was correct.

While telling herself to show the utmost caution, she raised her right hand.

“Naito! The decision is in your hands!”

●

Wow, thought Naito, pursing her lips.

…Not a task I want to be in charge of!

She was honestly disturbed by the view spread out before her eyes.

The Azuchi was rapidly picking up speed as it flew across the crater where Honnouji had been.

…They’re crazy!

After all, that was a giant empty hole below them. And since the collapse was still underway, its shape was uncertain.

Aerial ships flew through the sky, of course, but with a gaping hole below and the wind blowing in there at night, the air currents could have created an air pocket.

The enemy was charging in there while accelerating and flying toward the Musashi past the hill, so…

“They’re clearly planning to ram us.”

Naruze, who had much the same expression on her face, pointed at the Azuchi in apparent enjoyment.

“Looks like they have a different win/lose line than we do.”

“Judge. Riding a warship probably gives you some wild ideas.”

Just as Naito gave that response, she raised her right hand.

…Will this work? I really don’t know.

This is about as late as I can wait, she decided while readying her broom. And she opened her mouth.

“Open fire!!”

●

Yoshiaki saw light burst from the port side of the massive ship bathing in the moonlight from the west.

“Shields!”

As soon as she shouted that word, several layers of defense barriers were launched out in front of the Azuchi. But…

…Those are the dropped versions!

Instead of fixing the defense barriers in place, these were launched under the assumption they would be influenced by the surrounding environment.

Defense barriers were normally fixed in the air, but that required either some ether to preserve their position or the invisible hand of gravitational control holding them up. Some used a position control crest carved into the armor and she had heard the Musashi’s and Azuchi’s current ones were a combination of these approaches.

But no matter how it was done, there would be feedback to the launcher once the barrier was hit.

That was of course kept to a minimum.

By using fuel to fix the barriers in place, the feedback could be reduced to essentially zero at the cost of extra fuel consumption. And the larger the barriers, the more the damage was distributed, reducing the reaction.

For the defense barriers used by the Azuchi or Musashi, when they received an impact powerful enough to cause concerning feedback, they would break on their own and a different one would be opened to replace it.

But the Azuchi was worried about even doing that.

They wanted to avoid fuel consumption and thoroughly avoid any reduction in speed.

They had chosen defense barriers that weren’t fixed in space and instead were simply launched as walls of ether.

That meant the Azuchi wanted to prioritize the charge.

Even now, the barriers launched by the Azuchi were being hit and shattered. Ether light scattered, shattering sounds and the stench of scorched metal burst into the air, and it all seemed to grab at Yoshiaki’s hair before moving on and vanishing.

The enemy artillery was hitting them.

…Can we do this!?

Dropped defense barriers had a flaw.

Because their position wasn’t controlled at all…

“Here they come!” shouted Angie.

In some cases, they would fall down as no more than walls of ether.

●

Angie heard screams coming from the deck.

Hundreds of defense barriers were being opened overhead and a few of them were falling.

…I had a feeling this would happen!

The barriers would have the Azuchi’s momentum when launched, but they would immediately hit the air and decelerate. That wasn’t a problem if they were destroyed in that time, but if not they would either be blown backwards or…

“Take shelter!!” shouted Angie, moved backwards with Schwarz Fürstin in her arms. She might have acted too late and was considering jumping from the ship, but as expected the warriors were slow to react since they weren’t used to this.

“Heyyyyy! There’re barriers falling from above! They’re gonna hit us! How are things out front!?”

“They’re falling up front too! There was a game like this, wasn’t there!”

“Oh, yeah, there was! Where you had to keep them from getting in the castle!”

“That takes me back,” they all said before noticing a barrier falling directly toward them.

“Ahhhhh!”

Angie couldn’t relate since she wasn’t familiar with the referenced game.

AnG: “Shouroku, do you know that game?”

6: “I know nothing about any game that’s score counter doesn’t go above 999.”

That’s a yes then, decided Angie, but the barriers were still falling. Mitsunari could have just vanished to escape, but she was too nice and the Altbayern had her caught.

“Mitsunari-sama! I-I wanted to eat a well done Matsusaka beef T-bone steak in onion sauce just once before I die!”

That was awfully specific, but that kind of thing helped you stay calm in the face of death. Meanwhile, Angie knew what she wanted to say.

“ ‘Azuchiiiiii’!? Are you kidding me!?”

As if in response, the light shattered overhead.

Just as the barriers were about to reach their heads, an artillery shell flew in, hitting and shattering a barrier.

Hitting and shattering two, in fact. The barriers falling toward them had instead protected them.

Azuchi: “This was all calculated at the moment of launch! None of it is wasted, so please do not move around wildly! Shaja!”

I should’ve known, thought Angie with a little smile. At the same time, one of Mitsunari’s copies pointed fore and shouted.

“Here they come!”

Angie knew what that had to mean. The aerial group – mostly Technohexen – on the Musashi’s port side had ascended as if launched.

They had chosen this moment for their counterattack.

…They waited until the last second!

At the same time, the Musashi’s secondary cannons fired light with even greater accuracy and density than before.

●

“Takenaka-sama! Shaja!”

“Azuchi” turned to her commander for orders. Which allowed her to notice something.

…Takenaka-sama!?

She saw someone leaning over the side of the roof with her hands on the edge.

The person who sat out ahead of the captain to try and see out to the front was…

“Takenaka-sama!”

“Continue full speed ahead!”

They were going to hit. “Azuchi” determined they were past the point from which evasion was possible. But if her commander was confident in their victory…

“Shaja! All ships, continue full speed ahead! We will attempt a ramming of the Musashi! Shaja!”

●

Two commands were given: brace for impact and, for those on the fore decks, take shelter behind cover or within the interior corridors.

Among all that, one person was running toward the bow.

Kiyomasa.

Just in case, she had Caledfwlch’s halves in her hands since they could function as thrusters and she also had her autonomous armor activated.

Her post was on the bow deck of the 1st central ship.

…Takenaka-sama instructed me to use Caledfwlch in an emergency!

She was surrounded by light and shattering and the way ahead was nothing but pressure and roaring noise. Even looking out ahead was painful, but…

“–––”

She used Caledfwlch in its thruster form. That way the impacts to the Azuchi would not reach her through the deck and she would more-or-less glide forward.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery light launched from the Musashi grew even denser.

In addition to concentrated fire from their secondary cannons, their flying Technohexen and other aerial forces were attacking.

●

Kiyomasa gasped at the density of the enemy attack.

…What is this?

She hadn’t expected such an intense attack from what had started out as a trade ship.

She had fought the other day at Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, but this barrage was just as, if not more, dense than then.

…And they’re controlling the density!

Instead of shooting wherever they could or just anywhere within a specific range, they were providing an even distribution. And within that, they were targeting the Azuchi’s critical points. Especially the bow and protrusions where the external sensors were concentrated.

“What a pain!”

Just as Kiyomasa said that, an explosive blast flew by her.

The shockwave formed by the artillery produced a slicing sound that sounded sticky, almost like it was happening underwater.

And there was light. In addition to the spell cannon and ether cannon blasts, the shattering defense barriers collapsed downwards in an endless downpour or cascade falling toward her.

But still she moved onward.

And just as she ducked below a defense barrier..

A light appeared before her.

…Ah.

The barrier she had ducked below was meant to “consume” that blast.

Her position meant it was on course to hit her.

“Azuchi” must have seen this attack coming. Kiyomasa had simply sped up too much.

But she herself was the most confused by the fact that she had moved too far ahead.

“…Eh?”

She hadn’t meant to. “Azuchi” wouldn’t have meant for this to happen either. The defense barrier would have been launched to a location that gave her plenty of space based on the existing information on her athletic abilities.

So how could she have gotten out ahead of it?

…Am I rushing?

As soon as that thought occurred to her, the light, which appeared to be floating upwards a bit, reached her.

It hit. The light burst. Below her.

“Huh?”

●

The artillery blast burst below Kiyomasa – essentially down at her feet.

Its horizontal position was the same as hers, but its vertical position was below her.

…Below?

The attack should have hit her head on.

Why was it below her? Before she could even ask the question, the answer came to her. A voice spoke from below her on the left.

“That was a clooooose one!”

It was Sakon. She had grabbed Kiyomasa by the collar as she ran and lifted her up.

But that wasn’t all. Someone else moved out ahead as if ducking below Kiyomasa’s feet.

A flat-tipped blade split open and absorbed the artillery blast. That was the divine weapon Ichinotani.

Its wielder ran past the lifted Kiyomasa and swiftly-running Sakon, but did not look back.

That was Fukushima.

She had supposedly been on standby with Sakon and some others, but…

“Takenaka-sama ordered us to go take a look.”

But Fukushima did not stop running. Kiyomasa thought Sakon was going to lower her, but…

“There.”

She instead placed Kiyomasa over her shoulder. And Kiyomasa heard a voice.

“Katou Kiyomasa, hm? You pushed too far ahead. Are you aware of that?”

“Oh, Kiyomasa-senpai! He’s a former shogun, but he tends to forget the ‘former’ part and gets really arrogant, but he’s all bark and no bite, so you can just ignore him.”

“Damn you! You dare say I have no bite!? Do I need to explain my political accomplishments! My policies had a lot of bite!”

Umm.

“You established shugo and jito in the provinces, right?”

“Correct! That I did!”

“But the foundations for that actually date back to before the Taira clan era, didn’t it?”

“Wow, no bite at all,” said Sakon.

“Damn you, Kiyomasa!”

Sakon slapped the helmet armor on the opposite side from Kiyomasa.

“Don’t speak that way to an upperclassman, Onitakemaru-san.”

“You both refuse to accept people’s accomplishments, is that it!?”

Kiyomasa didn’t like that assessment of her. In that case, she decided.

“Then what about establishing the Moncho-jo? That office was used to receive all lawsuits in Kamakura and it later became a non-political judiciary. That policy was ahead of its time.”

“Yes! That’s right! I established a central agency for regulating us all! Impressive, don’t you think!?”

“Takenaka-sama…”

Kuro-Take: “Oh, during Lord Yoritomo’s lifetime, that was a tattling office where people asked him to pass judgment on others. And since he established it inside his estate, people were barging into his house every single day, so he eventually moved it elsewhere.”

“Onitakemaru-san, if that’s your idea of ‘bite’, I feel kind of sorry for you.”

“Damn every last one of you!”

The damage seemed to be spreading, but Kiyomasa decided to optimistically think of this as reaching the average amount of damage.

Light continued to shine up ahead, but…

“Kiyo-dono!”

Out ahead, Fukushima swung her arms and thrust Ichinotani forward.

“This will be the last one!”

With that shout, a dazzling artillery blast launched toward the noise and pressure of the incoming barrage.

Fukushima’s Ichinotani had released the blast it had absorbed.

●

Takenaka saw Ichinotani’s attack join the explosive blasts, artillery fire, ether light, and wind.

…How about that!?

The close-range fire from the Musashi was so well aimed that the Azuchi’s sensors were having a hard time viewing anything out ahead.

Extending their sensor range outwards might make it impossible to respond to the enemy artillery fire.

So while the Azuchi could sense its surroundings, its forward-facing eyes were blocked.

But Takenaka wanted to see.

Fukushima had made a lot of forward progress in achieving that.

The Musashi putting up this much of a counterattack had been included in Three Thousand Worlds’ predictions, but she still wanted to see it for herself.

Fukushima had answered Takenaka’s hurried command by working with Sakon to assist Kiyomasa and move out ahead.

She had consumed the enemy artillery and sent it back.

Takenaka didn’t know how much use Fukushima’s single attack would be against the intensity of the enemy artillery fire and scattering ether. But…

…Fukushima-san is an expert!

During the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, she had defeated Celestial Dragon Katou Danzou. And at the Battle of Shizugatake, she had fought evenly with Vice Chancellor Shibata.

Takenaka’s command was based on the assumption that Fukushima had skills on par with those two.

“Find the gap in their barrage!”

An expert could do that. They knew how to detect any openings in an enemy’s attack and to strike there to alter the enemy’s stance.

Can she do it? wondered Takenaka as she saw an explosion out ahead.

The incoming blast and light threatening to consume her were repelled by Fukushima’s jab and blown away in a chain reaction.

It all opened up.

The space previously ruled by dazzling explosions, roaring ether, and splitting dust clouds had been parted by Fukushima’s attack, revealing…

…The night sky!

An empty black expanse lay before them.

●

“Azuchi” did not see what she should have seen.

The empty night sky sat before them.

Only the silent, cold air of the late summer night existed there.

It wasn’t there.

What they sought wasn’t there.

Then where was it?

“Look to port!!”

Still facing forward, she shouted what the ship’s sensors told her.

“The Musashi has been located to port! It is accelerating east using gravitational acceleration! Shaja!”

●

I was right, thought Takenaka.

She knew what was happening to them.

They had been evaded.

The Musashi had put on a show of counterattacking using a feint of a barrage.

And once they knew the Azuchi intended to ram them, they had used gravitational acceleration to move out while hidden behind the barrage.

They had escaped.

AnG: “What!? But their aerial forces took off!”

Kimee: “No. They only flew straight up and fired at us from there to give their barrage more height. After that, they must have landed in their original positions so they weren’t thrown from the Musashi as it escaped.”

Takenaka knew why they had felt the need to do that.

“Musashi needed to make it look like they were counterattacking.”

“Why, Takenaka-sama!? Why-”

“This is Musashi’s strategy! Showing off their primarily aerial combat units on their port side was a show of force meant to demonstrate preparations for a counterattack against our charge!”

She knew why they had done this.

“They had hoped we would slow enough that we couldn’t pass over the former site of Honnouji! And while we were circumventing it, they planned to escape to the east!”

Why would they want to do that? She knew all too well.

“According to the Testament, the Matsudaira forces wanted to hurry back to Mikawa after the Honnouji Incident to avoid attack by the Akechi forces, so they passed through the mountains of Iga. This is known as the Iga Crossing! The Iga Crossing is known as one of Matsudaira’s great crises, alongside the Battle of Mikatagahara, but Musashi is trying to do that here with us playing the Akechi role!”

Two conditions were required to establish the Iga Crossing.

“First, the Honnouji Incident must be complete.”

And second…

“While pursued by the Akechi forces, the Matsudaira forces must reach Mikawa unscathed!”

“Then, Takenaka-sama! What we need to do is…?”

“Testament!” replied Takenaka. Still facing forward atop the Azuchi’s bridge as it overshot its target, she waved her hand left, toward the eastern sky. “East! Turn toward the Musashi and pursue! If we land a single attack before the Musashi arrives in Mikawa, this will not qualify as the Iga Crossing!”

The atmosphere thickened as she spoke.

They were already leaving the air above the crater, but the collapse caused by removing Honnouji was whipping up a reverse night wind seemingly pulling them back in.

It hit them.

The Azuchi groaned.

Even from her position at the tip of the bridge roof, Takenaka could tell metal was bending and frames were straining.

The Azuchi as a whole was clearly stretched a few dozen centimeters from stem to stern.

She saw “Azuchi” open an insha kotob. It displayed authorizations from the managers of each ship and post operating bulkhead doors and releasing liquid materials to relieve the stress on the ship.

“We will pass through at full speed. Shaja.”

For an instant, Takenaka’s ears sensed no sound at all.

…Ohh.

At the same time, the wind vanished around her.

The Azuchi forced its way through the thickness and the disturbed wind interfered with the surrounding air currents.

The ship moved on. The Musashi’s stern was already visible to the left.

“After them! Once we have passed through to the south without slowing, begin pursuit of the Musashi!!”

This state would last only a few more seconds. She knew that as she gave her commands.

“Do whatever is necessary to stay with them!”

She knew what this would mean.

“This is now a pursuit!”

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