Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM2 Depth1

Depth 1: Countdown Zero

Part 1

The situation had changed.

With the area containing all of the missile silos collapsed, the United States of Narmeli and the Cutalularia Republic could no longer launch a ballistic missile attack at any time. There was no more reason for Mikoto’s railgun-equipped Shinshin to stay away from the Izanami and Izanagi.

So Mikoto landed on the carrier.

She didn’t have time to change out of her flight suit.

The Izanami was complete chaos inside. The dorm manager and teachers appeared to be not interfering to confusing matters further.

“The transmissions from the continent are all confused.” Kobayashi gesticulated as she explained. “Neither the States nor the Republic seem to know what’s happening. They suddenly lost the missile silos which were so crucial to their overall strategy, so now they appear to be suspecting each other and throwing accusations back and forth.”

“…”

Not even the world powers knew.

So even though this phenomenon came from this world, the people here didn’t have all the answers.

Or.

Had the accurate information been lost somewhere in the course of history?

What if that thing had been buried deep below the central mountain range and the three world powers had originally built their no man’s land to seal it in there?

But a happy age of peace had lasted too long, awareness of the threat had faded, and the information had been lost. And once the purpose of the mountain range was forgotten, they began building important facilities like the missile silos there.

Mikoto had no proof, but that was her guess as to what happened.

That thing was clearly crucial information that would influence the fate of this entire world, but even back on Earth, nuclear materials could go missing depending on the circumstances. A high level of threat did not always mean information would be preserved.

Also still wearing her flight suit, Shokuhou brushed her long blonde hair off her shoulder.

“So what exactly is that thing?”

“I can only speculate, but it seems to be 1800 meter, 750 thousand ton something,” replied Kobayashi, sounding uncertain.

No one would know what to make of that.

Her primary source of information was the EM transmissions she was intercepting from the continent, so she couldn’t answer if none of the natives knew what this was.

This was the original version of the Frozen Fossils. When even a small piece was sliced away and a cultivation was made from a single cell, it produced firepower great enough to support a world power’s entire military force.

This was the whole thing.

It was a colossal, girl-shaped something.

How much power did she have?

The countdown was still underway. When the time came, everyone aboard the Izanami and Izanagi would be returned to Earth.

But could they really leave without doing anything about that thing?

This was more than just the Empire, United States, and Republic who had ruled the continent. If Mikoto and the others left with that thing still active, only utter annihilation awaited the people of this world.

For the humans.

And for the Girlish Weapons.

Part 2

The only fighting force available to them was Camouflaged Carrier Izanami and Landing Ship Izanagi.

The remnants of the Cutalularia Republic’s invincible Offense Fleet were here too.

They were exchanging their available materials to help repair the warships.

But their preparations did nothing to make them feel better.

Not against that thing.

She was too great a mystery.

YF-22A had something to say while she waited in the maintenance hangar.

“That is the Ruler.”

“The Ruler?”

“Long ago, she ruled this planet before the humans did. But she couldn’t bear the eternal loneliness with no rivals, so she entered a deep slumber.”

She was a girl of extraordinary size and strength who far surpassed all existing military might.

Ordinarily, Mikoto might have dismissed a story like that.

But not this time.

“So the Ruler has no conception of country or military. Not even the division between army, navy, air force, and marines. She is the strongest all on her own. We are only wielding borrowed power made by stripping away her abilities one at a time and growing them.”

The girl part at the foundation of Girlish Weapons like YF-22A indicated the existence of a life form.

Yes.

This world had already possessed a method of acquiring land, sea, and air weapons in the form of tough and large biological weapons.

After fighting so many of them, Mikoto could not shut her eyes to that fact.

Mikoto left the stifling maintenance hangar and climbed to the cruise ship area.

As she was staring out at the sea through a thick bulletproof window, Shokuhou appeared.

She must have been exhausted too.

Mikoto gave her a difficult look.

“But why would she wake up now? She’s been sleeping for ages in this world, hasn’t she? It’s been so long the humans completely forgot about her and built missile silos on top of her.”

“The trigger would have to be ‘a world first’ that ‘happened recently’. …The only possibility I can think of would be the missile silos. They could have left us alone, but instead the Republic and the States launched one of the ballistic missiles that never should have been used. And that shook the Ruler as she slept directly below.”

“…”

As the Offense Fleet’s repairs continued, the entire group advanced north toward the continent.

They didn’t have much time.

Compared to fighters, warships were slow. It would take days just to reach the battlefield.

6 days remained.

If they didn’t settle things with that 1800 meter, 750 thousand ton monster, Tokiwadai would be forced to return while leaving so many civilians and Girlish Weapons in danger.

That was the same as abandoning all the people of this world to die.

If that happened, Mikoto doubted she would ever smile again. The dorm manager and the teachers hadn’t stopped the girls.

(We only have time for one more large multi-phase operation. If we choose the wrong path from the start, we’ll have a hard time recovering.)

It was evening.

Kobayashi was speaking to the people gathered in the briefing room.

She was providing a briefing.

“It took a while, but we are finally approaching the center of the continent.”

The continent was roughly shaped like a Y, so they could get quite close to the center by sea.

The States and the Republic had both left them alone as they approached the continent. But they didn’t consider that lucky. It was more disconcerting than anything. Mikoto even felt like the entire continent had already been obliterated and the less than 200 on this ship were the only humans left alive in the world.

But that wasn’t the case.

Kobayashi continued to keep their hope alive.

“I would like a small team to do a detailed scouting flight before we actually engage the Ruler in battle. The sun will set soon. Misaka-sama’s 101 Squadron will have drone pods covered in cameras and sensors attached to their fighters and covertly gather information on that thing under cover of darkness.”

“Understood.”

The equipment was borrowed from the Offense Fleet. That was one advantage of the Republic advancing its unmanned weaponry technology because they were a collection of more than 30 arms manufacturers and peoples.

The drone pod appeared to be a collection of ordinary equipment, not a girl.

“First, we need a full view of the mysterious Ruler. Then as many of her attack and movement patterns as possible. If any exist, we also want to know about her weak points.”

Time was in short supply.

But that was why they couldn’t afford to fail.

So they needed to carefully lay the groundwork with some reconnaissance first.

“The central mountains were a no man’s land filled with so many surface-to-air missiles no aircraft could get through, but now you should have no trouble flying there. The mountains were destroyed and no remnant remains of the weapons installed by the world powers.”

“Um, what are the United States and Republic military doing now?”

“Both countries are gathering their land and air forces near the center of the continent, but they are not aiming their weaponry at the Ruler. Their targeting is directed past the continental center.”

“?”

“They are using the confusion as a chance to invade each other. If they can somehow manage to stimulate that thing into walking toward the other country, they will have forced their enemy to fight against them and her at the same time. It’s a lot like using a natural disaster as part of a war plan.”

“What is wrong with them? This just isn’t the time,” complained Mikoto.

“If they don’t act now, it might take another thousand years before they can unite the continent,” said Shokuhou. “For those greedy politicians, the apocalypse is the perfect chance to incite their people into doing their will☆”

Curse that busty villain. Why is she so good at these kinds of calculations?

(They sure are acting fast. What happened to not doing anything until they were 100% certain?)

As absurd as this world could look, it was still run by humans. Reality wasn’t like fiction. Was a common global enemy or disaster not enough to stop the conflicts born of human desire?

And…

“Come to think of it, Queen. What are you planning to do this time?”

“Hm? What do you mean exactly?”

Shokuhou looked truly puzzled, so Hokaze clarified.

With a smile.

“I am asking if you will be leading from the Izanami’s CIC or if you will be joining Misaka-sama in the Shinshin.”

She froze.

Time seemed to stop.

When she saw the wicked smile on Misaka Mikoto’s lips, tears formed in Shokuhou Misaki’s eyes.

“That is an excellent question.”

“U-u-um, Misaka-san, um, wait, you know how useless I would be on the Shinshin and we need everyone where they can play to their strengths, so-”

“Get in the back of the Shinshin. I forgot how much it pissed me off for you to be sitting down there like you’re above it all. I want to see you suffer.”

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”

Mikoto grabbed the Queen by the scruff of the neck and dragged her away kicking and screaming. Grinning the entire time.

For some reason, the Shokuhou Clique made no attempt to stop her and even watched it all with big smiles.

Part 3

It was 7:30 PM.

“Ugh…”

Mikoto groaned while holding the Shinshin two seat custom’s control column.

She had taken off immediately after sunset, but that meant she had gone without dinner. Given the acrobatic flying likely to be coming up, she couldn’t fill her stomach just before heading out. If she drank something carbonated, the rapid pressure changes could even cause her stomach to rupture.

And in the rear seat, Shouhou’s head slumped down.

The dark despair in her eyes was even greater than in Mikoto’s. Her long hair was in her face, but she didn’t care.

“Why am I in here again?”

“Find something to do on your own.”

They were using the dark night for a scouting mission.

“Railgun 01 to squadron. We’re going to fly northeast toward the center of the Y-shaped continent. The no man’s land and missile silos apparently collapsed after that thing emerged, but still watch out for surviving surface-to-air missiles. Be ready to release chaff or flares at any time.”

“Teleport 02. Roger.”

“Rampage 03. Ditto.”

“Brat 04 to Railgun 01. …Are you sure you can stay balanced like that? As a fellow stealth fighter, I can barely stand to look at you.”

The Shinshin really had been heavily modified.

There was no chance of any stealth with the huge railgun and the drone pod attached, but the Ruler was a living creature that used her eye and ears. If she couldn’t use mechanical radar, then it didn’t really matter anymore.

This was mostly the work of the Kongou Airlines girl, but…

(Maybe there’s a technique to altering an existing aircraft to meet new demands. Like how the JASDF’s F-4 has so many variations due to modifications on top of modifications.)

YF-22A remained untouched, without even a skinny drone pod under her wings. Her role was to provide defense in case a battle did break out. So she was the same as always. Not fair, really.

A C-shaped bay coast came into view.

At the center of the Y-shaped continent.

But without advance information, Mikoto would have gotten lost despite being at the correct coordinates.

It was gone.

The huge mountain range she had heard so much about was missing.

An intense landslide had flowed toward the ocean and partially altered the very shape of the bay coast.

There was supposed to be a no man’s land with underground missile silos here.

There had been ultra-solid military structures that were made by humans but no one could destroy. …Mikoto couldn’t imagine where they were. The terrain itself had collapsed.

It was pitch black.

The lights of civilization were nowhere to be found on the surface. This wasn’t a case of the people intentionally hiding. Like an abandoned hospital deep in the mountains, the place was so dead it lacked any sense of life whatsoever.

“Brat 04. …I don’t think we need to worry about any surviving SAMs.”

Needless to say, that was no reason for celebration.

The four fighters crossed the coastline to reach the center of the continent.

Based on the laser range-finding of the surface performed by the drone pod hanging from Mikoto’s wing, the piles of debris were only between 300 and 500m tall.

“Izanami to fighters. I don’t believe it. The mountains were originally in the 4000m range.”

“Teleport 02. I see something even more unbelievable.”

Shirai gasped.

It was visible even from a distance.

Her.

The Ruler.

A massive hole gaped open with a radius of more than 200m.

Someone had her hands on the edge and her upper body resting against it.

She showed no sign of hostility or malice. Her unfocused-looking eyes wandered through empty space with just her upper body sticking out of the hole.

She looked just like a naked girl. Her long hair was light pink, or maybe purple? No, it may not have had an original color. Her hair glittered like the surface of a CD and it appeared to be longer than she was tall as it hung down over her large chest and hips.

But her size was anything but normal.

Even with just her upper body sticking out with her hands on the edge of the hole, she towered up more than 1000m. At this point, she had to be discussed in terms of elevation rather than height.

Wasn’t she estimated to have a height of 1800 meters and a weight of 750 thousand tons?

“Railgun 01. I have visual confirmation of the target.”

Mikoto knew it didn’t matter, but she still kept her voice low in the sealed cockpit.

This was still only a scouting mission.

She didn’t want to draw that thing’s attention any more than necessary.

“Railgun 01 to squadron. Let’s get some footage from the outter limit of visual range. That means gathering data at a radius of 18km. We can’t predict what will happen, so be prepared to escape outside that radius if she does anything at all.”

“Teleport 02. Roger that.”

Instead of carelessly flying straight toward her, Mikoto’s squadron approached the Ruler by flying around her in a large circle. Like a merry-go-round, they kept the same distance and filmed the Ruler at the center of their 360 degree circuit.

Using the drone pod hanging from the wing meant pointing the fighter’s belly toward the inside of the circle. Ordinarily, a pilot rolled in the direction they wanted to turn and then pulled the nose up in the direction, but this was the complete opposite. That made it feel kind of weird.

Had she not noticed them?

Or was she simply not interested?

The naked colossus did not turn her unfocused eyes in their direction.

But she was still terrifying.

Her presence created intense pressure.

This was probably what it felt like to fall into a cage at the zoo and find a bored lion inside.

Hostility wasn’t the problem. She was the ultimate predator. Mikoto could just tell.

“She doesn’t seem quite like the Girlish Weapons we’ve seen,” remarked Shokuhou from the rear seat.

“She has no weapons or armor. She hasn’t been altered by humans.”

She was in a pure state.

But then what exactly would she do?

If all she could do was punch, kick, and bite, then it felt like they could keep their distance and continually launch long-range missiles at her.

(I know it won’t be that easy, though.)

The giant mountain range had been reduced to this when she simply stuck her head up from the ground. 4000m mountains had been leveled and the underground missile silos and the no man’s land were just gone. The simple scope of the damage was greater than a nuclear attack.

What would happen if she began an actual attack?

Mikoto observed the naked body glowing in the moonlight.

Shokuhou tapped at the back of her seat. With obvious annoyance.

“Should we assume she’s basically a human, just bigger? That would mean her head and heart are her weak points.”

“Rampage 03. The center line of the body is standard: the top of the head, between the eyes, the throat, and the solar plexus. Beyond that, there are the eyeballs, the knees, the collarbones, and the Achilles tendons. With a man, you could also include the groin.”

…It was kind of scary how that physical fighter could rattle all that off as easily as the sa-shi-su-se-so of seasonings. What did she mean that was “standard”?

“Teleport 02. We are talking about mysterious life forms that eat petroleum to keep themselves moving. Will the usual assumptions really apply here?”

“Brat 04 to Teleport 02. I’m not going to forget you said that.”

Oh, right. Wouldn’t YF-22A know the weak points based on her own giant girl parts?

But…

“You shouldn’t even be comparing that colossal and barbaric monster to the masterpieces of technology that are Girlish Weapons! …I swear you little barbarians don’t understand anything at all. I am nothing at all like that thing, so why would you even consider asking me!?”

Apparently that angered her.

But Mikoto wasn’t quite sure why.

Not that it was worth debating here.

She wanted definite data she had gathered herself more than vague speculation.

“Railgun 01 to Izanami. We’ve gotten full 360 degree footage of the Ruler. We’ve sent the data over, so get to analyzing it with the carrier’s big computer.”

“Izanami. Roger that.”

“What should we do now? We could fight her to get more data.”

“Don’t joke. Safety comes first. You’ve finished your work, so get back to the Izanami. Good job.”

As she had expected.

Once they reached the southwest again, Mikoto and her wingmates left their clean circle to return to the ocean.

“Hm? Izanami to 101 Squadron. We’re detecting aircraft approaching from the northeast. Four readings!”

“Railgun 01. Visually confirmed. …What are those? It’s hard to be sure when they’re girls, but based on the weird front wings and the huge twin engines on their backs, it’s probably two MiG-35s and two Su-47s.”

“We haven’t seen those types before,” said Shokuhou. “That would suggest they’re from the United Sates of Narmeli.”

“Brat 04 to squadron. They also have a hidden stealth fighter. I have visual confirmation. She’s a Su-57 – a stealth fighter clearly meant to compete against my own perfection!!”

In this darkness, searching for a black aircraft by eye was difficult. They would have overlooked this without their scouting cameras.

A Su-57.

Of course, this wasn’t actually an aircraft. Mikoto herself had stopped questioning that part. This was a brown-skinned girl with long blonde hair.

(Is she of mixed race? Wasn’t that stealth fighter developed jointly with India back on our Earth?)

What she was wearing didn’t seem like clothing. Something like black plastic tape was applied complexly to her bare skin. It looked something like a strange swimsuit or like a pattern carved into her body.

The joints attached to her back connected to nearly triangular black wings and engines. Mikoto had seen a few different stealth girls already, but this one was flat even compared to those others. Flat metal panels circled around from the bottom of her wings to her belly, so she likely had missiles stored inside just like YF-22A.

These newcomers flew much more wildly than Mikoto’s squadron.

They may not have intended to hide.

The four United States fighters and one stealth fighter flew straight toward the Ruler and released small points of light. Those were air-to-air missiles.

“You idiots!!” shouted Mikoto, eyes wide, just before multiple explosions split the darkness of the night.

The missiles struck the nude colossus near the right temple.

But she wasn’t unbalanced.

She didn’t even bleed.

This wasn’t due to some kind of mysterious force field technology. Her body was simply too tough to harm her. Which was the most difficult thing for them to deal with.

The United States squadron showed no sign of panic.

After twisting around in midair, they fled due south. They even left behind thin trails of colorful smoke like this was an air show.

Heading south down the Y-shaped continent led to the Cutalularia Republic.

Had they grabbed that thing’s attention to direct her toward their enemy?

So they could force that enemy to battle both their army and the Ruler at the same time?

(I can’t believe they would do that!)

Lights flashed here and there. They were the headlights of military vehicle…girls. There were enough to look like the lights of a city. There had to be tens of thousands gathered on the national border.

So much for being as lifeless as an abandoned hospital in the mountains.

Your visual impression wasn’t reliable after all.

The situation was on the move.

“Railgun 01 to squadron. Emergency!! The Ruler is on the move. No need to stay in formation, so just get to the southwest ocean. Our quiet scouting mission is over, so get back to the Izanami immediately! Don’t collide with each other!!”

The colossal naked girl’s eyes, and only her eyes, moved.

Someone had her attention.

But who in this airspace was it!?

“…”

The naked girl didn’t take a single step.

She gathered strength in a much-too-large arm. She swung her hand horizontally with the fingers bent like hooks.

A gale roared out.

Only wind.

The Su-47, which thought she was at a safe distance, suddenly broke apart in midair. Powerful turbulence could at times destroy a 40m airplane. …But this was more than that.

“What…the hell? Did you see something flash just now!?”

An explosive boom followed.

Thick electricity scorched the darkness. It had been launched horizontally.

Mikoto gulped.

“The extreme pressure difference instantly turned the air’s moisture into a thick thundercloud. That released an ultra-high voltage current horizontally, which tore through the Su-47, causing her to rupture from within.”

1800 meters. 750 thousand tons.

Mikoto realized she had been thinking about this all wrong. She had assumed punching, kicking, and biting wouldn’t be a threat. But when a colossus like that simply swung an arm or a leg, it would surpass the average military weapon.

The remaining Su-47 and the two MiG-35s split to the sides. So at least one side or the other would escape. But that desperate resolve was shattered in an instant.

The naked girl kicked something up with a slender leg.

It was a metallic hunk of rock measuring 300m across.

When it fell back down, she kicked it forward, sharply compressing the air ahead of it.

The boulder flew like a railgun blast.

Both MiG-35s were brought down and the Su-47, which had fled in the other direction, stalled and fell toward the ocean. The air compression was so great it may have damaged the air intake or the interior of the jet engines.

Something exploded.

This time, rockets and missiles were being launched from the ground. They exploded into flames at her flank, but that was all.

Those had likely been launched in a panic.

They were too sporadic and spread out. There was no strategy behind it. The ground troops on the border were terrified.

That was clearly suicidal.

A shockwave spread out in a ring.

The colossal girl only had to jump straight up to set off alarms from all the seismographs in the vicinity.

She broke through the clouds overhead and dropped down while spread out like a skydiver.

She was going to hit the ground like that.

In this case, the immense area of the attack was far more terrifying than something with smart guidance.

“!!!?”

This wasn’t targeting Mikoto directly, but the blast was so great she nearly stalled. The wall of air her wings were slicing through had been forcibly ripped away.

The Ruler belly flopped onto the continent.

For the ground forces, it may have looked like a massive hanging ceiling.

Or maybe like a meteor strike.

An explosive blast and a shockwave spread out evenly in all 360 degrees, destroying everything in their path. The initial ground forces would have had tens of thousands of elite troops with tons of tank and armored vehicle Girlish Weapons, but they were swept away like dust by a broom.

Even in the air, Mikoto was nearly slammed down to the ground.

She didn’t even want to imagine how bad the direct shockwave was on the surface.

“Tele…02. What…do, Onee-sama!?”

There was nothing they could do.

But a question lingered in a corner of Mikoto’s mind. Something about that ordinary thought bothered her.

Yes…

(There was still another stealth fighter.)

“Where did that Su-57 fly off to!?”

Something exploded.

Far in the distance. Still lying on her belly, the naked girl had blown on something resting on her palm, sending it soaring. No, lots of somethings. And they flew over the horizon.

They were the multiple rocket launcher warheads that had been scattered around.

The brown stealth girl who had been trying to sneak away to the northeast stood out from the background. She was making an uncertain turn.

That was all Mikoto needed to see.

The Ruler wouldn’t be able to hear it, so Mikoto sent out an unencrypted transmission.

“Hey, Su-57!! Come with us if you want to live.”

“Wh-what? Who the hell are you!?”

“Your air base was just blown away along with the runway you need to land, right? So hurry!! If you keep flying around here, she’s not going to wait until you run out of fuel and crash. The Ruler will destroy you!!”

Mikoto operated her small display to mark where the two Su-47s and the two MiG-35s had crashed.

(I hope we can pick them up later.)

The Ruler.

She was far more than Mikoto had imagined.

She wouldn’t let the Girlish Weapons die in vain. There was no point in worrying about their original affiliations at this point. They needed every fighter they could get and then some if they were going to fight that thing.

“Railgun 01 to Izanami. We’re going to try to return to you, so prepare for our landing!!”

The ones who had messed with the Ruler would die first, so they might just have a chance to escape if they left her alone. Mikoto told herself that as if grasping at straws.

The Ruler stood up.

Straight up.

She really was big.

Which made sense when 1800m was around three times the height of that famous broadcast tower.

Her unfocused eyes wandered about.

She slowly turned her head and then stopped.

Their eyes met.

“!!”

Mikoto had been wrong. It didn’t matter if you messed with her or not.

It came down to whether or not you caught her interest.

It happened all of a sudden.

“Railgun 01 to squadron!! Eject your drone pods! Immediately!!”

The skinny pods attached below their wings (which were pure machinery covered in cameras, not girls) all ignited. They didn’t have to lock on in advance. After launched, they were remote-controlled to fly them back behind the fighters. They weaved sharply as they flew toward the naked girl.

This was what made them drone pods rather than scout pods.

They were loaded with explosives and could self-destruct after ramming something. At this point, they may have been more like missiles that flew complex courses and could last longer in the air than most.

Originally, they were meant to fly for more than an hour gathering data and, if a battle broke out between fighters, they would fly around to intentionally take the enemy’s lock and otherwise confuse them. And if they saw any opening whatsoever, they would ignite their solid fuel, slam into the enemy’s flank, and detonate.

They flew all around the Ruler, explosions triggering intermittently.

They bought maybe 10 seconds.

Even using all six pods, 30 seconds hadn’t been possible.

The air shook as the Ruler jumped high into the sky and dropped down from higher up than the aircraft. At about the same time, Mikoto’s squadron swiftly selected their weapons and tilted their noses up.

An explosive boom.

A shockwave.

The Ruler dropped toward them with her limbs spread out, but Mikoto managed to fire her mounted railgun first. The falling naked girl was bounced a few meters straight back up and 101 Squadron slipped through that slight gap to escape.

That was a first.

In that one moment, they had managed a win.

After floating for a few seconds, she dropped down from the empty air onto the coastline. The terrain crumbled again.

“Onee-sama, it’s…”

Shirai was speechless.

(Tch.)

The 19m railgun on the upper right had ruptured from within. That was the price of using it in ordinary atmosphere.

Mikoto had fully lost.

It hadn’t even been a real battle.

Part 4

They rushed back to the carrier like their lives depended on it.

It had been a scouting mission, so they had achieved their objective.

But they sure didn’t feel successful.

As soon as she landed, Mikoto asked a question of Awatsuki who was helping with the work.

“Where did the Ruler go!?”

“E-east. Or that’s what everyone’s saying.”

“…”

Did that mean the United States of Narmeli had lost the gamble they started?

The Ruler had begun slowly moving toward the instigators, not toward the Republic to the south. If they hadn’t tried anything, she might have stayed there in the ruined center of the continent.

It was easy to call that their just deserts, but the United States had plenty of cities full of innocent people.

Mikoto couldn’t let those people be trampled.

“First, we need to figure out what the data we gathered tells us.”

“Bleh…”

“C’mon, scheming Queen. Stop melting onto the floor and get your butt down to the CIC!”

Mikoto headed down into the carrier while dragging along exhausted Shokuhou whose hair was a complete mess. They still didn’t have time to change out of their flight suits. They passed Watanabe-sensei on the way.

A bob cut upperclassman was waiting for them.

“We have combined the data from all four fighters and begun the analysis…but we honestly don’t know much of anything.”

Shirai and Hokaze joined them too.

YF-22A was too large to fit in the CIC, but they had set up a tall LCD screen for her. The camera-equipped monitor had been in the cruise ship area and it was meant to display an avatar store clerk. When displayed at that size, she really did look like a human girl.

Kobayashi got started.

“The Ruler’s body temperature is a bit higher than a human’s and we detected carbon dioxide coming from her mouth and nose. That means she does breathe. On the other hand, we haven’t seen her blink even though she does have eyelids. It’s possible she doesn’t need to protect her eyes. Her pupils dilate and constrict, so they probably aren’t just decoys like the eye patterns on a moth’s wings.”

They had never seen a life form with sturdy eyes. They had to throw out the idea that eyeballs were always a weak point.

Kobayashi displayed a few photos and small numbers on the display.

“At first glance, the Ruler appears to have a humanoid structure. She is a girl, after all. But observing her movements, her joints don’t seem to matter. And when she bends backwards, we can’t see the position of her ribs or organs through her skin. She is too perfect. Unnaturally so.”

That made it sound like they were out of options. It had been bad enough hearing the eyes wouldn’t be a weak point, but now they couldn’t even trust in the general idea of sniping her head or heart from a distance.

“I really don’t want to think of her as a single soft mass of flesh that happens to be shaped like a girl.”

“Agreed. She has a mouth and nose, so there are likely cavities inside her body. She also shows signs of receiving information from her eyes and ears. She may also have a spine-like core that supports her body.”

On the other hand, that was all they could say.

She might have cranial nerves throughout her body. The interior of her soft-looking limbs could even contain a crab-like skeleton formed from wrapping layer after layer like a baumkuchen.

It would be nice if this meant she had a weakness unique to her strange body structure, like being weak to mold or that the smoke from a factory smokestack would make her writhe in pain.

“It didn’t make sense from the beginning.” Kobayashi resumed speaking. “Humans can only live comfortably because we are the size we are. At 1800 meters and 750 thousand tons, the pumping of her heart and veins can’t be enough to circulate her blood back up from her feet. The intense reactive force of her own footsteps should crush her organs. I just don’t see how this could work structurally.”

Mikoto had blacked out while flying her fighter. If you had an extreme amount of blood and gravity was always tugging down on it, would you be at risk of that at all times?

“Well…I agree she’s unnatural for an 1800m life form to stand upright on two legs.”

“It really is. Which tells me she is built completely differently on the inside. A girl standing dozens of meters tall walking on land without issue is a product of fantasy stories. Science tells us something so absurd could never actually exist.”

“Um, but…I’m right here and very real…”

Someone who couldn’t actually exist made a timid protest.

“Since we know we have an 1800m mass out there, we know she must have a structure that allows her to live without pain or suffering. Knowing what that is could tell us what we need to bring her down.”

Could tell.

Kobayashi herself didn’t have the answer yet. It all came down to the data from the drone pods.

And the others continued the discussion.

“Even if they were only air-to-air missiles, is it really possible to stop the blast with nothing but thick muscles? It didn’t even harm her skin.”

“I would like more details on that. If it slid across her skin and didn’t penetrate it, then we might be able to get through it if we focus our attacks there to dent it in some.”

“She might be a strange life form that eats petroleum to function, but she is still a life form, right? If we lure her out to sea and she can’t swim, couldn’t she drown?”

“Possibly, Shirai-sama, but she is 1800m tall. Her head would stick above the water unless we brought her to a very deep trench.”

They came up with several ideas, but one thing in particular had Mikoto’s attention.

She couldn’t forget the ending of that initial encounter full of failure.

“But didn’t she flinch when I shot her with the railgun?”

When she was diving from above.

Even if it had pushed her up several meters, she could have swung her long limbs to hit Mikoto and the others below her. Yet she hadn’t attacked like that or worked to recover. It had only lasted a few seconds, but she had definitely stopped there.

“Do you mean she had bigger concerns? But why would that railgun do that?”

“Onee-sama, a super weapon like that would harm anyone.”

“Even though she didn’t even glance over at all those other attacks?”

A short silence fell.

This was curious.

They may have already had the key in their hands. But if they didn’t know how to use it, it was useless to them.

“And whatever the case, we don’t have much time left.”

Kobayashi was tuned in to a civilian frequency. A United States digital TV broadcast appeared on the screen.

The staff was rushing around in the background while a female anchor read the news in a simple studio.

“The 50m object which hit the president’s residence was thought to have been a meteor, but analysis has revealed that it is made from the same ordinary materials as the continent. It was most likely a long-range projectile fired from the surface, but the government has yet to make an announcement.”

A meteor.

A piece of rock.

It was far too obvious who must have done that.

She had destroyed the center of that country without even walking all the way to their capital.

“We are currently unable to contact the president or vice president, so it is unknown who is in charge of the government.”

The United States of Narmeli was in shambles.

The Cutalularia Republic’s leaders had to be sweating right now.

Would the Ruler stop with the United States, or would she turn her attention to another country? No one knew. If she walked toward the Republic on a whim, they were doomed.

That settled it.

Tokiwadai could not return to Earth without dealing with this first.

Kobayashi held a hand to her cheek as she spoke.

“We don’t know what drives the Ruler’s actions. If we knew how she determines what targets to prioritize, we could use our wide-area radio to guide an evacuation of the United States.”

Mikoto’s intuition told her that colossus would attack anything that caught her attention in a positive or a negative way, but she couldn’t be absolutely certain. And a single misreading here would mean the deaths of millions or tens of millions of civilians.

And…

“Umm.”

The CIC received a radio transmission. It was from the Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, flagship of the Republic’s Offense Fleet.

For some reason, it was a flight attendant style woman in this world.

“United States fighters like Sukhois and MiGs keep coming from the northeast asking for help, but what should I do about those guests?”

“Stranded fighters who’ve lost their carrier or air base, huh?”

“Hey! Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Shokuhou.

“Given the situation, it’s unlikely they’re going to challenge us to a desperate showdown. What would they get from that?”

Well, there was a small concern of them acting on some weird kind of suicidal pride.

Then Carrier Charles de Gaulle spoke again.

“From what I can see with my bridge’s ultra telescope, all the pylons under their wings and fuselage are empty. They must have dropped all their missiles in the sea to show they have no intention of fighting.”

(Argh, what a waste!!)

They would have been able to land at the Sky Pirate Islands and Ports, but the Girlish Weapons working in the military wouldn’t know about those.

Mikoto leaned forward and responded.

“Carrier Charles de Gaulle, have them split up and land. If you don’t have any space left in your maintenance hangar, you can borrow some of the Izanagi’s space, so don’t worry.”

“Understood. …Okay, everyone, I will guide you in to land. The Sukhois can land on me and the MiGs can land on the Izanami☆”

This meant they would have a mixture of Girlish Weapons from the Empire, Republic, and United States.

“That was scary.”

“Right? I didn’t know what to do with all the human soldiers gone. You can’t just tell us to make our own decisions all of a sudden.”

“I’m starving.”

“Ehh!? What’s water fuel? I just have to try it☆”

Mikoto visited the maintenance hangar and found a mountain girl MiG-29 and a forest girl MiG-31 gazing into each other’s eyes and comforting each other. The way the wings on their backs swing around when they moved, was awfully dangerous.

For Girlish Weapons, the lack of a runway to land on was bad enough, but they also couldn’t stand not having a master to give them orders. And did it really not matter to them who was giving their orders? They didn’t seem to have any qualms about being sold or switching sides, which was very disconcerting. These weapons were managed a lot like shogi pieces.

Mikoto sighed too softly for anyone to notice.

(We have more of them now…but we’re only going to see more sacrifices if we don’t have an actual plan.)

Their scouting mission had been a mess.

And the real battle was coming up soon.

Part 5

Dawn arrived.

The time limit was down to 5 days.

“…”

Mikoto could tell she hadn’t slept.

Facing such a massive problem with no solution available was bad for one’s mental health. But she was too afraid of the dorm manager to not get up.

Without washing her face, she drowsily switched on the TV. She felt pathetic trying to find the world-destroying Ruler’s whereabouts from such a cheap electronic device, but she was worried about this.

The continent was roughly shaped like a Y.

The Izanami’s fleet was in the southwest sea, so if that thing moved deep into the United States – that is, if she went too far northeast – the land would be in the Izanami and Izanagi’s way. If they were too far away, a fighter wouldn’t be able to reach her before running out of fuel, much less actually battle her.

But reality far surpassed her imagination.

She had been careless.

The TV showed her something entirely unexpected.

“Here at Lake Flarkbelt, everyone is talking about the giant girl.”

Yes, there was indeed a giant naked girl there. On a national broadcast first thing in the morning. This global crisis was right out in the open. It was there for everyone to see.

The Ruler.

1800 meters and 750 thousand tons.

She was lying face down across the entire large lake, propping her self up with her elbows to arch her back. She looked something like a seal, or like she was doing a sexy photo shoot. The long, long hair clinging to her wet body reflected the morning sunlight in glittering light pinks and purples. She kicked her legs as they stuck out from the lake. Her eyes still looked unfocused. She gave no clue what she was thinking about.

The corners of Mikoto’s mouth stiffened.

What were they supposed to do about this?

(Is no one…is no one at all going to use some government conspiracy of illegal information manipulation to hide the existence of the Ruler!? Can someone please make this a national secret? Isn’t the United States of Narmeli a military superpower? Then don’t you have some kind of ultra-surveillance of the global internet that you can use to convince everyone that black is white, or some kind of social media comment blocker!?)

Apparently not.

Or if they did, it wasn’t working at the moment.

Not anymore.

One of the United States’ largest lakes was no more than a kiddie pool for this threat to all life. It was too small, so her legs stuck out.

Most likely, they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.

Not the Ruler and not the people reporting on the situation.

“A group of experts has suggested we call her Flarkie after Lake Flarkbelt, and- oh? She’s getting up. I think she’s starting to leave. Oh, no. The waves are coming this way. W-w-w-we’re shaking! Run away, cameraman!!”

The shaky footage suddenly cut out.

It didn’t seem like they had been stepped on, but the influx of water must have damaged the camera or broadcast equipment.

“We do apologize for the loss of footage there. …Let’s see, you want me to read this? We have just received word that Flarkie is moving south from Lake Flarkbelt. If you live in that area…”

In the corner of the screen, posts that viewers had sent the station’s official account on a short form social media site were scrolling by.

“Flarkie? Lmao (Kitty Kat)” “So we’re all gonna die being stepped on by a monster with a silly name? (Natalee)” “I think they’re just enjoying themselves. The station has completely given up. (Miracle Man)” “I can’t believe no one’s stopping this ridiculous broadcast. Maybe the rumors the government is as good as dead are true. (Cute Wife)”

That was an unpleasant way to get a feel for things.

Mikoto was reminded that this was well beyond just the struggle between the world powers.

This was about more than just human intentions and plans.

But…

“They said she’s moving…um, south from Lake Flarkbelt.”

She had never been inside the United States, so the location names didn’t mean much to her. She opened a paper map to check and found it looked like the Ruler was moving from the big lake in the center of the United States and back toward the center of the Y-shaped continent. No large cities were shown in between, but there could be smaller towns there that the map just wasn’t showing.

She pulled a travel magazine from the magazine rack installed in the large cabin. Research was a challenge while out at sea where her phone couldn’t get a civilian mobile signal. The cruise ship area was only meant as camouflage, so it wasn’t equipped with a civilian band satellite communication base like a large passenger plane would have to allow the passengers use of free wireless LAN.

(Let’s see. There it is. The lake is known for being the location where they discovered the petroleum lake ball which they can make fuel from. Water temperature, sunlight, water quality, nutrition, oxygen density… The cause is still unknown and being researched, but the petroleum lake ball is only found in that lake and the round algae doesn’t grow once it exits into the rivers.)

Had the Ruler been getting a meal?

She was traveling south from the United States of Narmeli in the northwest.

That meant she was approaching the range of Izanami’s fighters.

Unless someone was stupid enough to mess with her again.

“Now there’s a worry.”

Part 6

After grabbing a simple breakfast of toast and a warm vegetable salad in the restaurant they were using as a dining hall, Mikoto descended to the Izanami’s maintenance hangar.

When the United States fighters joined them, they had dropped all their missiles into the ocean to show they had no intention of fighting, but luck was on their side.

Tokiwadai had taken in a few United States Mi-26 (girl) transport helicopters who happened to be lost in the night sky. Needless to say, they had been stuck with nowhere to return to after their units had been destroyed by the Ruler.

But they were big.

Just one of those bus guide girls could carry 85 soldiers at once. (By Tokiwadai standards, that was more than an entire year of students.)

Their large 8-blade main rotor was on the center of their back and the smaller tail rotor was on their ankle. The round cargo space was split in two, attached to their side joints, and held under the arms.

“Whew, thank goodness you were here. If you will look to the right, everyone, you will see we have finally found a heliport!”

“Go to Landing Ship Izanagi’s heliport! You would dent the carrier’s landing runway! You’ll damage it!!”

Kongou understandably yelled at them, eyes wide.

These were the world’s largest helicopters with a maximum weight of well over 50 tons. And their more than 20 tons of cargo was mostly United States ammunition. Now the MiGs and Sukhois could join the fight.

In fact, a few new Girlish Weapons were gathered in a corner of the maintenance hangar and whispering to each other.

“Ehh!? Your body’s all shiny. How did that happen?”

“Heh heh. They gave me a water repellent coat.”

“The food is good too!”

“It turns out we get the princess treatment if we get exported.”

Mikoto recognized them as the (race queen) Su-47s and (miniskirt figure skater) MiG-35s who had been brought down by the Ruler. After she had moved northeast into the United States, someone from Tokiwadai must have retrieved them. A helicopter wouldn’t be able to lift them, so they must have used one of the giant hovercrafts in the landing ship.

(There were also a lot of land Girlish Weapons, but I guess there’s no way for a carrier to get at them. A shame they had to be left there.)

“…”

“…”

Also, YF-22A and the Su-57 were silently glaring at each other in the maintenance hangar. At extreme close range. Those stealth fighters of two world powers apparently saw each other as rivals.

However, Mikoto wasn’t all that interested in the Girlish Weapons (whose continued carefree attitude showed just how tough they were mentally).

(I know it was necessary, but I put the Shinshin through a lot escaping the Ruler. Is it alright? The mounted railgun even exploded from within.)

So Mikoto had intended to bow her head to Kongou Mitsuko to get the girl to fix the Shinshin. But…

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have nothing to worry about. Just leave it to me!!”

The black-haired girl held her head high with considerable confidence.

Mikoto kept to herself that she was afraid the girl would get carried away.

“Now that we have identified a problem, fixing it will be easy. The problem is the thick shockwave formed when used in ordinary atmosphere, so we only have to modify the projectile.”

“Modify how?”

“Like a rocket or missile. I’m saying we make it sharp and aerodynamic!!”

That seemed like the first thing you would want to do. Was it not that way already? These basic oversights were what made homemade solutions so terrifying. On the other hand, a dumdum or hollow point bullet with a railgun that size would be horrific in its own way.

“The mounted railgun doesn’t use rifling to rotate the projectile as it is launched, so let’s add some stabilizer fins. While we’re at it, let’s use some heat resistant paint to deal with the friction heat. This will increase the precision and the effective range, making it all the more perfect!!”

“Umm. So you only have to mess with the projectiles and you can leave the mounted railgun itself alone?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t just launch anything you want as long as the caliber is the same. Of course the barrel needs to change when the projectile changes. We have to readjust everything from the ground up. What could be more obvious?”

“…”

Resist.

Misaka Mikoto, you aren’t a child anymore, are you?

Completely oblivious, Kongou proudly pushed out her (rather large) chest.

“We are about to see a next generation Kongou Airlines air defense weapon. I call it the Mounted Railgun S!!☆”

“Now hold on. How many versions are you planning to make?”

Part 7

Night had fallen.

Before getting to bed, Shokuhou took a peek inside the CIC which had become a hangout for her clique. She frowned.

Someone who didn’t have duty at this time was seated there.

“What’s this? Researching something at this late hour?”

“Yes, Queen. I was analyzing the Ruler’s movement pattern.”

Kobayashi smiled with no hint of fatigue despite sneaking past the dorm manager and teachers to work at night.

Movement patterns were no more than a rough approximation. Not many pet owners could perfectly predict what their cat or dog would do next. It was even worse with an enemy’s actions. So did she really need to work so hard at this?

Even though spending too much time in here had brought unwarranted suspicion on her before?

“The Ruler is made from the same military cells as the Girlish Weapons, so she should eat petroleum and breathe oxygen to live.”

“Right.”

“But she doesn’t seem fixated on those things. If she was only interested in acquiring large quantities of fuel, she would be attacking the coastal petrochemical complexes and offshore oil rigs.”

“Misaka-san said she got the impression ability that the Ruler was focusing on whatever grabbed her attention, positively or negatively.”

“Yes. The question is on what basis something catches her attention.”

Kobayashi overlaid the location of witness information on the map while rapidly eliminating the many fake posts that used digitally altered photos.

“She appears to be walking arbitrarily through United States territory, but there have been surprisingly few civilian casualties.”

“After everything she’s done, you expect me to believe she’s good and sensible?”

“I think it’s simpler than that: she just isn’t interested in them. The country can no longer keep up appearances, but the Ruler is only attacking military facilities and military weapons. She hasn’t shown any interest in political or economic strongholds or in the infrastructure supporting the large cities.”

“Even though she destroyed the presidential residence almost right away?”

“The president of the United States of Narmeli is both the political leader and the commander-in-chief of their military.”

That explained it.

“The country has only collapsed because she has been attacking all the important locations of that sort for the political and military side of the country. The Ruler has only been attacking the apparent enemies, so I doubt she even intended to render that superpower nonfunctional.”

It wasn’t clear if that 1800m creature was intelligent enough to distinguish between military and civilian, but it did make sense.

She was interested in the humans and Girlish Weapons who could fight and attack.

That was her priority.

If so…

“Do those things interest her in a positive or negative way?” wondered Shokuhou.

That could greatly change their next move.

Kobayashi shrugged in her seat.

“It doesn’t look to me like she’s eliminating an enemy because she’s fearful for her life.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Shokuhou sighed.

The Ruler’s eyes were always unfocused and she never seemed interested in the outside world. That kind of apathy seemed incompatible with worry and fear.

She wouldn’t even move until something stimulated her from within.

However.

“The Ruler’s actions are based on her own interest. A positive interest.”

In a way, that led to an extremely troublesome answer.

Who was the only person who had managed a draw with the Ruler so far?

“It feels like she’s spoiling for a fight.”

Part 8

Misaka Mikoto assisted Kongou with her work late into the night.

They somehow managed to get the Mounted Railgun S installed.

And once the work was complete, something occurred to her.

YF-22A was in here.

The stealth fighter was curled up in the center of the maintenance hangar after winning the turf war and driving the Su-57 into a corner. Mikoto approached her to ask a question.

“By the way.”

“Yawwwn… What do you want?”

“You were the first one to use the Ruler name, weren’t you? The humans who ruled the continent had completely forgotten about her, so I was wondering why you alone knew about that monster.”

“Heh. Maybe this is too much for your tiny barbarian brain to grasp, but I am the YF-22A. I can just tell these things. The voice of the military cells forming this strong and beautiful body were telling me the time of awakening was nigh.”

“…Now, then.”

“Wait, wait! I’ll tell you! Stop! Don’t aim that pressure washer nozzle my way!”

YF-22A confessed after Mikoto used a water gun (powerful enough to strip the surface off of a fluorine-coated frying pan) to spray the delicate stealth surface that was more expensive than pure gold by square centimeter.

All while the brown stealth girl Su-57 gave them annoyed looks from where she was curled up in the corner.

The ultra-sensitive girl succumbed to the shower head and spoke.

“N-next-gen fighters use a military datalink – really just high-speed wireless internet – to coordinate with each other. That’s why we go through cyber defense training programs.”

“Hm? Where are you going with this?”

“Well. I may have gotten carried away with my cyber counterattack and not only obliterated all the data on our military’s central strategic computer room, but also left the isolated military datalink to reach the ordinary internet where I’m embarrassed to admit I crashed the foreign exchange and stock markets, took control of all the nuclear power plants in the Empire, hijacked the railroad control system, searched through a whole bunch of university and corporate databases, and ended up copying a bunch of classified information onto the cloud.”

Her voice had dropped to barely audible levels and she was speaking fast.

Mikoto stared into the distance.

“Should we even classify you as an aerial weapon? That seems way scarier than the flying and missile launching.”

“It was the training instructor’s fault for not setting any boundaries on how far I was supposed to go in my cyber counterattack!! So it isn’t my fault. Oh, to think the day would come when being too capable is considered a sin. Am I perhaps the most advanced sinner there is!?”

The idiot got all teary-eyed in her own self-indulgence.

Was her point that information on the Ruler had been hidden in some university or corporate document archive? It had probably been archived in some automatic process without anyone actually reading it.

What a waste.

If the information hadn’t been forgotten and the threat had been properly understood and researched, finding her weaknesses or finding a countermeasure against her may have been a simple search away.

But Mikoto couldn’t expect that here.

She would have to do it herself.

Part 9

They would only get one chance at this.

They had used up all of their days preparing.

The final day had begun.

In truth, Misaka Mikoto didn’t even know if they could win.

She was confident they had done everything they could have, but it was impossible to calculate the odds when so much about the Ruler was unknown.

She had no 100% guarantee, but she would fight anyway.

She would be involving her friends in this fight.

It was a risky gamble.

She was well aware of that.

“First she was Flarkie of Lake Flarkbelt and then she was Nachy of the Nachtvega Plains, but if Miss Narm continues south, she will cross the border into Cutalularia during the night. Will our Miss Narm remain ours, or will she become Miss Cutal? Some Narmelian experts are voicing their concerns.”

The TV news still wasn’t taking it seriously.

The general population must have figured out that they weren’t under attack. Their military and political function had been destroyed, but the people of the United States of Narmeli seemed to be worshiping her as a symbol of freedom and liberation.

Even though the Ruler had no interest in saving humans. In fact, she didn’t even notice when she crushed someone underfoot.

Perhaps this world had reached its limit and the people subconsciously hoped for destruction.

If so, then Tokiwadai’s plans might be an unwelcome favor.

Even so.

“She’s on her way. As expected, she’s walking south through the United States back toward the center of the continent. If we’re doing this, we have to do it here.”

If Tokiwadai lost, no one would be able to stop the Ruler.

She would take an interest in and attack any fighting force, human or Girlish Weapon.

What would happen if this world lost its military might and the supporting technology?

The world would probably fall into ruin.

Or more accurately, there was no non-military technology here.

She wouldn’t attack the civilians?

She was only attacking military forces and weapons for now, but she wasn’t one to resist her impulses. Once all of those things had been destroyed, she would probably start to compromise. For the people with the next greatest power or technology. And the next. And the next. And the next. As she continued compromising, the planet would end up with no one left alive.

But what did that matter?

There would be some people who saw it that way.

Let’s be blunt.

This battle was meaningless.

If Tokiwadai only wanted to return to Earth, they only needed to head out to sea and wait for the digital counter to reach zero.

But no one had protested.

Camouflaged Carrier Izanami had split once. But none of them were willing to head back with this threat intact, so they had reunified for this single purpose.

And not just Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, and the other Tokiwadai girls.

The Girlish Weapons too.

The Liheilstaut Empire’s YF-22A, the Cutalularia Republic’s Rafales and Eurofighters, and the United States of Narmeli’s Su-57 and others were working together.

They had all stood up for this meaningless battle.

Offering their lives.

They would receive no accolades for winning. They knew that, but they were doing this to ensure their familiar scenery would still be there tomorrow and the next day. And to create a future where no one’s lives were at risk.

That was reason enough.

Academy City’s #3 Railgun, Misaka Mikoto, spoke.

“Let’s get started.”

Part 10

Kobayashi Satori here.

This will be our final briefing.

Operation Giant Scramble.

Our objective is to defeat the Ruler who is threatening this entire world and to bring peace to the continent.

The operation begins today at 2000 hours.

It will take place at the former site of the continent’s central mountain range.

Due to the continuing countdown and the unpredictability of when the Ruler will walk this way again, this will obviously be the final opportunity for the Izanami and Izanagi.

Pilots, survival is not enough.

If we intend to carry the burden of this world’s fate despite no one asking it of us, then we must use this one and only opportunity to defeat the Ruler.

I will now go over a general outline of Operation Giant Scramble.

The Ruler is extremely powerful, so ordinary autocannons and missiles are not enough to harm her skin.

But she is made of the same military cells as the Girlish Weapons, so we believe she breathes oxygen and eats petroleum to function just like they do.

So no matter how powerful she might be, she can be defeated by taking one or the other from her.

She is a living being, but we must think of her more like an engine.

We can’t even guess how long she can function after refueling. Determining her fuel level through external observation would be a challenge.

But she should be constantly breathing. Just like stalling an engine, if we obstruct her air intake, she should lose her power. That option has the greatest odds of success.

Now.

Misaka-sama’s 101 Squadron and the rest of the squadrons participating in the attack will be supplied with plenty of thermobaric explosives. They are a tactical weapon adapted from a fuel-air explosive. By burning a wide area at as high a temperature as possible, they will rob that area of oxygen.

Use them to burn away all the oxygen around the Ruler.

She is 1800m tall, so “around her” covers a very large area. Thus, we recommend you directly attack her face to cover her mouth and nose with the flames and oxygen-deficient air.

Of course, one bombing will not be sufficient. Ideally, each fighter will work in unison to keep bombing her so her breathing is continually obstructed.

Even she shouldn’t last long once she is unable to breathe.

We estimate it will take 10-15 minutes for her to suffocate and cease functioning after the oxygen is taken from her. The fate of this world rests on that time.

That might not seem like much, but I am sure it will feel like the longest 15 minutes in our lives.

Good luck.

Part 11

It was 8 PM.

The moon was large that night.

More and more aircraft were launched from Camouflaged Carrier Izanami and Carrier Charles de Gaulle.

The operation had begun.

“Railgun 01 to Izanami. 101 Squadron is in the air.”

“Mama 01 to Izanami. 202 Squadron has launched. And it looks like 201 has as well.”

“Silent 01 to Izanami. Same for 401 Squadron.”

“Maid 01 to Railgun 01. 301 is, no, w-wait a minute!”

Simply reporting on the squadron launches meant a lot of voices.

“Izanami. Roger. The Rafales of 301 were the last ones, correct? Then all fighters are safely in the air. Operation Giant Scramble will now commence.”

“Mental 00. Start by flying straight to the northeast. You should find the Ruler walking through the center of the Y-shaped continent.”

This time, Shokuhou had remained aboard the Izanami.

Or more accurately, she had clung to her seat in the CIC and thrown a fit until Mikoto relented. Something about “I am never again getting in a plane that will expose me to so many g’s it squashes my boobs!” Rejecting her mission at the last second showed a remarkable lack of cooperation for a supposed psychology expert.

Mikoto glanced at her radar display.

Then she looked right and left through the canopy.

The night sky was filled with friendly aircraft.

101 Squadron: Shinshin, F-2A x2, YF-22A.

201 Squadron: F-14D x4.

202 Squadron: F-15C x4.

203 Squadron: F/A-18E x3.

204 Squadron: YF-23, F-16C x4.

200 Squadron: F-117A x3, F-35B.

301 Squadron: Rafale x5.

302 Squadron: Eurofighter x5.

303 Squadron: Gripen x3, Harrier x3.

401 Squadron: Su-57, Su-47 x2, MiG-35 x2.

402 Squadron: MiG-29 x3.

403 Squadron: MiG-31 x3.

404 Squadron: Su-37 x4.

At this point, they were more than just a formation.

They were a wing of several dozen aircraft.

Mikoto found things so much more lively than when she had first taken off in the Shinshin in such a hurry.

“Railgun 01 to squadron. Tonight we will eliminate the threat of the Ruler. Let’s return the continent to its people.”

“Teleport 02. Roger that.”

“Rampage 03. Ditto.”

“Hm? But if this is our final battle…huh?” YF-22A seemed to realize something. “Brat 04 to Railgun 01. The Empire and the States are both in shambles, but won’t that mean the entire continent goes to the Republic which just so happens to have escaped all this unscathed?”

“It does.”

Mikoto wasn’t interested in a political discussion.

“It can’t be! I, YF-22A, am a stealth fighter of the everlasting Liheilstaut Empire!!”

“Silent 01. As a Su-57, I am a stealth fighter of the glorious United States of Narmeli. Are you just going to let the Republic take the entire continent for themselves just because they didn’t do anything during this entire war?”

The Rafale maids and Eurofighter princesses of the Republic groaned and shrank down.

What good was arguing at this point?

Besides.

Mikoto sighed.

“Hey, you stupid stealths, actually think about it before you complain. The Republic invited in so many foreign corporations they’re a collection of different peoples with no real sense of patriotism or national identity.”

“Gh.”

“Mh…”

“So it won’t make all that much difference if the Empire and the United States joins those other 30+ groups.”

That was probably why the Republic hadn’t done much of note during the war. The country was split along so many lines they couldn’t reach any kind of consensus, making swift and decisive action nearly impossible.

“At the very least, this won’t lead to a tyrannical rule by Cutalularia. If they do try to keep you ‘foreign groups’ down, it’ll lead to fierce opposition from the 30 peoples and massive corporations that support them. Just shove all the annoying paperwork onto the Republic, let them take responsibility for the world, and go enjoy cooking out in your yard or something.”

“Oh, could we have them take on our debts?” All of a sudden, YF-22A’s tone brightened. “Then our mutual leader will have to pay off the super nasty defaulted national debt that was causing our Empire so much trouble.”

“Silent 01. While we’re at it, we can have the world leader take responsibility for the global environment too. Meanwhile, we can build a bunch of polluting factories to enrich ourselves.”

“Maid 03 to all! Argh, you damn stealth trash! Railgun 01, you aren’t helping our Republic at all with this!!”

Again, Mikoto wasn’t interested in discussing politics.

Ultimately, it would just mean they were the Liheilstaut Empire on the overall continent of Cutalularia. If they could win their autonomy, they could keep their borders and military, so not much would really change.

“Think of it like not being able to search out a house for yourself but instead being given a rich man’s villa or second house to live in. The Empire and the States can live it up and, if any trouble crops up in the neighborhood, they can say, ‘This is a Republic mansion. Got a problem with that?’ ”

“I see.” “I see.”

“Maid 03. I do not agree with any of this. W-we will be having a meeting about this when we get back! A meeting!!”

The silly discussion ended there.

The coastline had come into view. They were approaching the continent.

She was already visible.

The 1800m naked girl had glossy skin and long, long hair that shined light pink or purple depending on the angle it was viewed from.

“Teleport 02 to Railgun 01. I see her.”

“Izanami to all fighters. The carrier has her on early warning radar. That is undoubtedly her.”

Her.

The Ruler.

The final enemy.

Mikoto squeezed the control column tight.

“Railgun 01 to all fighters. It’s time!!”

Part 12

It had begun.

The plan was to burn away the air with thermobaric weapons to suffocate her, but if they flew straight toward her, they would be killed instantly.

The Ruler.

She was 1800 meters and 750 thousand tons.

But they weren’t safe just because they were beyond her arm’s reach. Moving a body of that size would shake the ground and stir up the air.

During the scouting mission, she had caused intense turbulence, created thunder clouds from pressure differences, dived from the sky in a belly flop, and even kicked a 300m piece of rock.

Mikoto doubted that was the extent of what she could do.

Either she was still hiding a few attacks, or she could come up with new ideas on the fly. Mikoto didn’t even want to imagine what those might be.

Whatever the case, she could easily tear apart a fighter even from a distance.

And in fact, it was the Ruler who made the first move.

She appeared to view them as an enemy.

She grabbed a random chunk out of a rubble pile and artlessly threw it into the air.

Fear froze time for Mikoto.

Each piece of rubble or stone in that was the size of a truck and there were at least more than 100 of them.

It was like a barrage balloon.

And fighters generally couldn’t move backwards. Despite the increasing risk of a head-on collision.

Mikoto shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Evasive maneuvers!!”

They couldn’t remain clumped together in formation. The Shinshin, F-2As, and YF-22A scattered apart, somehow managing to avoid the downpour of rubble and stone.

And a bit behind them…

“Tch! We’ll have to try again.”

She must have still been far enough back to avoid the downpour of rubble.

The F/A-18E short-sleeve shirt and athletic bloomers girl quickly rolled and took a sharp turn away from the Ruler.

The habit of moving toward safety made sense, but…

“Railgun 01 to Toxin 01. No, don’t let your guard down just because you’ve moved away!!”

“Whoa!?”

The F/A-18E frantically raised her nose just before an invisible blade sliced through empty air.

It came from quite far away. The giant naked girl had only slashed at the air with her nails to send a gust of wind and shockwave sweeping through the air before making the distant ocean explode.

A MiG-29 pointlessly scattered flares in a panic, but that worked against her in this case. The many fireworks-like lights dancing in the night sky must have drawn the Ruler’s attention because she reached her hand out toward them.

“Eek…”

“!!”

It happened so suddenly.

Mikoto scattered autocannon fire before those fingertips could reach. She didn’t think this would defeat her. But maybe it could draw her attention more than the flares.

The air was disturbed. Just before she could grab at the fleeing MiG-29, the Ruler twisted around and threw a horizontal flat-hand blow. With a height of 1800m, her arm had a range of 800-900m.

More than enough to reach Mikoto’s Shinshin.

“Onee-”

“Dammit!!?”

She gripped the control column with all her might.

A massive palm approached from dead ahead.

Time seemed to lose all meaning.

She may have passed out from terror for a few seconds.

And.

At first, she didn’t know what had happened.

She was still flying.

And she had a question in her head.

Did that mean…she was alive?

She had snagged a miracle with her own power, but she only stared wide-eyed.

(…? I dodged it? How!? Her aim must have been off.)

“Oh, I get it. Railgun 01 to all fighters. Focus on your speedometer. Make sure you don’t fall below Mach 1!”

“Onee-sama, we can’t fly along complex courses that fast!!”

“Just do it anyway!! She’s aiming using sonar, not radar. Like a bat or dolphin. But sonar is limited by the speed of sound, so her aim will be off for supersonic aircraft that can break the sound barrier. Getting scared and slowing down will actually let her hit you every time!”

The roars of jet engines erupted from all around.

By always flying at supersonic speeds, they could mess with the Ruler’s sonar targeting. And it didn’t matter how extraordinary her power was if her attacks couldn’t hit.

It was slight, but they finally had some hope.

At the very least, they wouldn’t be helplessly wiped out.

“Railgun 01 to all fighters. The Harriers and F-117As are most like attack aircraft, so we need to protect them most of all. And if you can’t get the speed, withdrawing is always an option!”

“Shadow 01. N-no. I’m going to bring peace to the world with the rest of you!!”

She had no real strategy or plan.

But her desperate cry strangely reinvigorated the core of Mikoto’s being.

She renewed her resolve to keep anyone from dying in this fight.

“Kh, this course will work. Teleport 02. Dropping bomb!!”

When the Ruler’s right hand rushed in, Shirai’s F-2A rolled, passed by with its belly directed toward her, and released the thermobaric explosive on its main wing.

Aiming for the center of her ample chest.

She swept her colossal arm out.

The thermobaric explosive was crushed and thrown off somewhere before it could detonate.

But then an F-117A flew over the giant girl’s head on a course perpendicular to Shirai’s. She dropped a thermobaric explosive down at a sharp angle, striking the Ruler square on the nose.

It ignited.

A massive explosion followed.

The air screamed and Mikoto’s fighter was shaken despite its distance.

The bomb produced a 300m ball of explosive fire. That was devastating when used on the surface, but for the 1800m Ruler, it only looked like a bucket placed over her head. But even so.

They had finally…

“Hit her!!”

The tides were turning.

Mikoto could sense it.

“Mental 00 to all fighters! One hit isn’t enough. You burned away the air once, but the fresh oxygen will rush in from all around. So you nee to keep it up to fully rob her of oxygen ability and suffocate her. Prioritize the larger fighters with a lot of bombs but less maneuverability and the slower attack aircraft!!”

The three MiG-31s answered this request by charging straight in.

Ordinarily, that course would put them at severe risk of being hit by the Ruler’s 800-900m arm, but not right now.

It wouldn’t last long, but she had been stopped and they had a chance to keep up the attack!!

“Uryahhh!!”

“U-um, I’ll go next. Shadow 03. Preparing to drop!!”

“Keep it up! Keep firing!!”

It all came down to this.

The thermobaric explosives burned over an incredibly wide area, but the burn time wasn’t all that long. To continue preventing her from getting a breath, they had to constantly stop more bombs to burn away the air.

“Even so…”

“Mental 00. Yes, I can only describe it as a magnificent ability.”

For a normal army, dropping one of these would be a trump card causing tremendous amounts of damage.

Yet dozens of them failed to destroy the Ruler’s body. She only turned her face away in protest, bent her hips, and tried to cover her face with her hands.

She was suffocating.

Without that, they would have been completely out of ideas. The missile silos were already gone, but ballistic missiles probably couldn’t have defeated her either.

“Maid 01 to all fighters. The Rafales will go next!!”

“404 Squadron, stay in formation and charge in!!”

Enormous explosions overlapped each other.

A thermobaric explosive was a tactical weapon that scattered a special aerosolized explosive over a wide area and ignited it to envelop the lethal area with intense heat and shockwaves. It also stole away the oxygen and rapidly changed the air pressure, which would damage a human’s internal organs. The size of the lethal area depended on the size of the bomb, but even a small one that fit on a fighter could turn a diameter of several hundred meters into hell. That meant dropping one could damage a small base or airfield enough to keep it from functioning.

And yet.

YF-22A sent over a scream of a report.

“We’ve done all this…and she can still move!?”

“Mama 01 to Railgun 01. This is a problem. We’re out of thermobaric explosives, aren’t we?”

The F-15C leggings mama sounded troubled.

And she was right.

The Ruler wouldn’t fall.

She remained upright past all the explosive flames. Mikoto could tell the giant girl was radiating a thick wall of invisible frustration.

(What do we do?)

Something wasn’t right.

She felt like one of their assumptions had been wrong.

But with their return time limit approaching fast, there wasn’t time to turn back and work out a new strategy. Giving up now would mean abandoning this entire world.

They had launched all their thermobaric explosives, so the flames would clear up eventually.

The Ruler would be free once more.

Once she took a deep breath, all of their efforts would have been for nothing.

(What do we do now!?)

Something exploded.

In an unbelievable act for a fighter pilot, Mikoto briefly shut her eyes.

She thought she was dead.

But she wasn’t.

That hadn’t been a counterattack from the restored Ruler.

“Ksh, ksshh.”

Her radio picked something up.

The signal was extremely weak, but…

“Carrier Izanami here. Cleaning up the signal.”

“Ksh, ksh. This is T-90A. I’m not sure what exactly you’re up to, but let us know what we can do.”

That wasn’t an aircraft’s numbering.

It was a tank’s.

In this world, they were probably girls too.

“We just need to keep firing thermobarics at her face, right? Hey, go wake up that TOS-1 sleeping over there. Last time, we were abandoned out here before we could show what we can do, so we’ve got tons of ammo leftover!!”

These were unfamiliar tanks and armored vehicles.

Most likely, they were United States Girlish Weapons that had been defeated by the Ruler before and never retrieved.

No.

It wasn’t just the United States ones.

“This is Destroyer Sheffield of the Cutalularia Republic Coast Guard. I’d like to defeat her before she crosses our border, but you don’t mind if we fire across the border, do you?”

“T-90A here. As a Girlish Weapon, I don’t have any political authority, but if you ask me, just start firing, you dumbass!!”

“So you got permission, mademoiselle? We’re not interested in having a Miss Cutal. Are you ready, my adorable corvettes? We’ve got ourselves a competition with Destroyer Sheffield. Use thermobaric warheads and target her face. All ships, fire!!”

The air was compressed.

The barrage of huge explosions lit up the night.

These were still thermobaric weapons, but the ones fired by ground-based weapons and ship guns were on another level.

(But their ammunition isn’t unlimited. At this rate, they’ll run out and allow her to counterattack.)

“Railgun 01 to all forces. Someone fire on the Ruler’s lower body!! From behind if possible!!”

“Hm? We have a few Uragan-1M and TOS-1 multiple rocket launchers back that way, but why?”

“She’s receiving a ferocious attack to her face, which is at the top front of her body. If we fire on her lower body from behind now, it’ll twist her around had make her trip!!”

Several deafening explosions followed.

The naked girl drew out a circle as she flipped backwards to an amusing degree. Like someone stepping on a bar of soap in the bath.

At 1800m, her center of gravity was located too high up.

She fell.

The intense quake this cause silenced the ground forces. They had their hands full keeping down and enduring the winds and shockwaves.

But the Cutalularia Republic had their naval forces.

“Destroyer Sheffield and affiliated ships,” roared Mikoto. “Roll her right on into the sea!!”

The ship guns continued to fire.

The shells flew over her in a parabolic arc and then struck the 1800m colossus with more intense blasts. Unable to get back up, the Ruler rolled to the side and picked up speed. She tumbled down a gentle slope leading to the coast.

“Are the grounds forces who fired on her from behind alright!? We didn’t blow up friendly forces just now, did we!?”

“Uragan-1M. It looks like we got lucky this time. Even I can’t believe it.”

A white wave splashed straight up.

The Ruler was now face down in the water.

“Destroyer Sheffield to all ships. Cease firing! I said stop, little girls!!”

“Okay, my adorable corvettes. Rolling her any more would flip her onto her back and ruin all our efforts.”

Silence fell.

The tension made the seconds feel like hours.

Even on the coast, the colossal naked girl looked like she simply had her face in a puddle, but she should still be able to suffocate. Mikoto cautiously circled the collapsed Ruler so that she could immediately launch an attack on the back of her head if she tried to lift it up, but…

“…?”

“Rampage 03 to Railgun 01. There’s…no reaction, is there?”

She wasn’t raising her head.

The giant naked girl remained entirely motionless with her face down in the ocean.

What was this?

What had happened?

Had she already passed out from lack of oxygen due to the attack when she was standing? If so, she would simply drown here without suffering, but…

“No,” said Mikoto.

She had noticed something around where the Ruler’s face was submerged.

More than 5 minutes had passed, but the air bubbles rising to the surface still showed no sign of abating!?

“No!! She’s breathing underwater!!”

An arm began to move.

But without the desperation of grasping at straws. The motion showed the annoyance of someone crawling out of bed in the morning.

“Teleport 02. What is happening!? Was she hiding fish gills!?”

Gills wouldn’t produce air bubbles.

She was indeed taking in air through her mouth or nose and exchanging the oxygen gas for carbon dioxide.

Which meant…

“She’s breaking down the water.”

Maybe only Mikoto could have figured it out so quickly.

Because she was a Level 5 with control over electricity.

“She’s using the seawater to procure oxygen and hydrogen for herself. She could stay submerged for years and never drown!!”

Should they have kept on firing thermobarics at her face without trying to get clever?

No.

The Ruler could compress the air with a swing of her arm and she could use the resultant pressure difference to create thick thunderclouds from the moisture in the air.

That meant it didn’t really matter if she was by the water or not. If she wanted to, she could create a cumulonimbus cloud from the moisture in the air and break that down to produce oxygen and hydrogen.

Kobayashi must have realized the same thing because she gave a shout, sounding like she was in a nightmare.

“The Ruler can’t suffocate? We moved all our pieces into position and it turns out our base assumption was wrong!?”

If so, things could hardly be worse.

The Ruler could not be defeated this way. Operation Giant Scramble’s thermobaric strategy had been fundamentally flawed.

And the return time limit was approaching. They had known all too well when they left that this was their last chance. There just wasn’t time to return to the Izanami and try again later!!

Part 13

The Ruler lazily lifted her face from the ocean.

Part 14

In an instant.

In only an instant, the entire situation had been turned on its head.

Just by getting up and standing straight, the 1800m Ruler nearly collided with an F/A-18E flying in the sky above.

Her long, long hair swept around.

She lifted one leg from the ground. She gathered momentum around her hips and swung herself around with her heel swinging horizontally around her.

She threw a roundhouse kick.

Her foot gathered all the surrounding air to transform into a colossal hammer.

“Kyah!”

“Mama 01 to Kitty 02! The air current was stripped from your main wing and you’ve stalled. First, spread your variable-sweep wing wide and then calmly reignite your engine. Hurry!!”

Their entire wing of aircraft might as well have been leaves tossed in the wind. Being hit wasn’t the only threat. They could easily crash without even being hit.

Mikoto heard a shrill whistling sound.

It came from the corner of the naked girl’s mouth.

That was a breath.

She had filled her lungs with the oxygen she had lost. She had recovered her full strength.

Which made it her turn.

“Teleport 02 to Railgun 01. What do we do?”

“…”

“Onee-sama!!”

The situation was deteriorating by the second.

They had to recover their advantage as soon as possible.

Mikoto knew that, but her brain refused to give her any ideas.

She couldn’t find a solution!!

And then…

“Hey, T-90A to all you dumbasses in the sky and sea. You should really start thinking about making a quick retreat.”

“Railgun 01. This is our last chance. We can’t run away leaving the Ruler here! I don’t want that regret weighing on my mind!!”

“Count yourself lucky you’ll be able to regret it. We can’t move from the land here, so there’s no way we can escape her.”

“!?”

Mikoto gasped.

A supersonic fighter was certainly a lot faster than a tank traveling on the ground. While the destroyers might be able to escape by heading out to sea, the tanks would be stranded on land with the Ruler. She would eventually catch up to them.

And what would happen then?

Mikoto didn’t want to think about it.

“No…this can’t be happening!!”

“Don’t sweat it… We were considered destroyed in the last battle, so the end result is the same.”

“Destroyer Sheffield to our dangerous neighbors. Don’t worry about us. We won’t leave you behind.”

“Wait…”

“Besides, we do have to buy enough time for every last one of my adorable corvettes to escape. …So let us buy you some time. You and your carrier can escape along with my adorable corvettes.”

“Don’t just change the objective like that!! We need to win and all return alive!!!” shouted Mikoto.

There was no weight behind her shout. That was only a baseless fantasy. Her words rang hollow and sounded so unrealistic.

She could sense where this was headed.

Things were trending in a bad direction.

At this rate, they would all be split up.

The tanks and other ground forces were a lost cause. Could the destroyers and corvettes escape her with their speed? For that matter, who said they were safe out at sea? The Ruler’s 1800m height meant she could just walk along the ocean bottom as long as she didn’t reach a decent-sized ocean trench. And even if her feet couldn’t reach the bottom, there was always the chance that she could swim with the crawl or the breaststroke.

That meant escaping to the Izanami or Charles de Gaulle didn’t mean much of anything.

In fact, if they directed her attention out to sea, she could sink the carrier fleet by either throwing a boulder or stirring up the sea to produce towering waves.

The operation had been a failure. From the initial planning phase. The fighters were mostly loaded with thermobaric explosives, so there was just no way they could defeat the massive Ruler with their autocannons and what few air-to-air missiles they had.

Was there nothing?

Nothing at all?

Feeling trapped in the dark, Mikoto searched desperately for a way out into the light.

And.

She remembered something she had forgotten. Wasn’t there one question they still hadn’t answered?

Mikoto raised her head to look up past the canopy.

Mounted Railgun S.

(That’s right.)

The 19m railgun mounted on the Shinshin had provided the only effective counterattack during the scouting mission.

It hadn’t harmed the Ruler.

It had been far from a decisive blow.

But why had she flinched?

It had only happened with that attack.

It didn’t make sense.

(There must be more to it. There’s something we still don’t get. I don’t know how to use it yet, but I’ve had the most important key in my hands all along!!)

Part 15

Down in Camouflaged Carrier Izanami’s CIC, Shokuhou Misaki and Kobayashi Satori gathered up all of the data they had.

The Mounted Railgun S was really and truly their last hope. But they still didn’t know how to use it properly. Why had only that one attack shown any effect in the previous battle? Something had stopped that 1800m colossus for just a few seconds. Until they understood why, there was no point in firing it essentially at random.

“Did she react to the electricity or magnetism?” suggested Shokuhou.

“The Ruler herself can create thunderclouds using extreme pressure differences. And she can acquire oxygen using electrolysis on water. She wouldn’t be afraid of a high-voltage current.”

“Could she have a weak point ability somewhere on her front?”

“It isn’t impossible, but she wasn’t harmed at all after being hit by dozens of expansive thermobaric explosions. I think we should assume not even the mounted railgun can pierce her skin.”

It was no use.

Hitting her with explosive flames and shockwaves wasn’t enough to harm her and she could simply use electrolysis to get oxygen if that was taken from her. She was too perfect. She didn’t seem to have any flaws or blind spots.

(But wait. Huh? Could it be that? Is that a loophole?)

“Kobayashi-saaan.”

Shokuhou suggested an idea.

It should have been contradictory.

But…

“We have the recon data from before, right? I’m sure you’ve analyzed it from every angle.”

“What do you want to see?”

“The area around her face. And the distribution of carbon dioxide.”

Part 16

This was their last chance.

It had been pried open by Shokuhou Misaki.

“Mental 00 to Railgun 01. Her ear! Target her ear from the side and fire your Mounted Railgun S!!”

“?”

“More specifically, you should hit her inside the ear. Can you aim that well!?”

“That is usually a weak point, but not even this huge railgun is enough to harm her skin!”

“That isn’t the point.” Shokuhou wasn’t shaken. “We weren’t wrong to view breathing as her weakness. It’s true burning the oxygen away is meaningless when she can create her own supply from the air or seawater. But what if we overly compress it and shove it inside her body?”

Shokuhou was right that a means of creating oxygen wasn’t a defense against too much oxygen. This could be a loophole. And the Ruler herself had proven all too well that simple air could be used as a weapon depending on how much was in motion.

But…

“Wait. Did you forget, Shokuhou? The Ruler can compress air to use it as a weapon!”

She used her punches and kicks to drag along the air and compress it. She could even use the extreme pressure difference to create thick thunderclouds. And from the naked girl’s perspective, this all happened at extreme close range.

“There wasn’t any carbon dioxide,” plainly stated Shokuhou. “In the recon footage, there were moments when the distribution of carbon dioxide coming from the Ruler’s mouth and nose vanished. That tells us she holds her breath when she swings her limbs, jumps, or compresses the air. Even though holding your breath while moving is usually a fairly unpleasant experience.”

“Wait, are you saying…oh!”

Mikoto caught on too.

“The Ruler can create as much oxygen as she wants using electrolysis. That’s why we can’t suffocate her.”

“But what about the opposite?” asked Shokuhou. “If we compress the air and force it inside her, it should cause a variety of problems.”

“But she might shut her mouth tight to guard against it, so we should use the ear.”

“The ear can’t cover itself. Now, I’m not actually sure if she even has a brain, but with a mouth, nose, and ears, she should have Eustachian tubes connecting to her nasal cavity to protect her ears. There is a safety valve, but it isn’t as strong as the jaw. Send air in through there and it will reach her throat. Then we can vibrate her vocal cords from the outside. If we send more air through than she can breathe, the intense vibration should tear apart her throat with her own voice!”

“!!”

They didn’t know how many organs the Ruler had, where they were located, or what function they served, but she appeared to locate the airborne fighters with something like sonar. She at least had lips, a tongue, and a throat.

They had to bet on this.

Either way, external attacks and burning away the air to suffocate her weren’t going to accomplish anything.

The only possibility they had left was the Mounted Railgun S.

And they could use her own organ to increase its destructive power.

The Shinshin made a sharp turn and flew toward the Ruler along a dangerously straight course.

To the naked girl, the Shinshin must have been like a pesky fly buzzing in front of her face.

There was no fear in her eyes.

They were empty.

The Ruler made a horizontal sweep with her fingers bent like hooks.

A gale roared out.

The ground was torn up and blown away over a 10km space and seawater began to pour in.

“Ghh!?”

(Good. That’s far better than having her hop or jump and keep me from attacking!!)

The very next moment, Mikoto’s radar died.

The Shinshin had plunged into a thick thundercloud produced by extreme pressure difference.

Even so, the enemy was right there.

Mikoto didn’t need the machine to establish a lock.

The colossal girl must have realized the Shinshin hadn’t been destroyed because she stared at it head on. Like someone reflexively reacting to an eraser flying toward their nose, she folded her arm and slowly guarded her face with her empty palm held to the side.

If Mikoto was still focused on human-based weaknesses and had aimed for the eyes or nose, her attack would have been thwarted.

“Not…ksh…the front!! Target her ear…ksh…the side!!”

(I just hope the Mounted Railgun S wasn’t damaged!!)

Mikoto rolled the Shinshin 90 degrees like turning a dial, pointing the right wing toward the heavens.

The fighter veered just above the Ruler’s left shoulder.

Then she rolled 180 degrees the other way to point the left wing straight up. But she couldn’t complete the turn like this.

She operated the thrust vectoring nozzles to their absolute limit.

The Shinshin performed an impossible action, like a leaf in the wind. Instead of passing by the Ruler’s face, it forcibly spun its nose around toward the side of her head.

If anyone saw it, they might have worried the intense wind pressure had stopped its engines.

But that wasn’t it.

A stealth fighter full of advanced technology could pull off maneuvers even greater than Pugachev’s cobra!

“Gah, gh…gh!!”

The great inertial force exceeded the flight suit’s limits. Gravity squeezed at Mikoto’s body and darkness slowly crept in from the sides of her vision.

Still, she refused to let go of the control column.

She had already switched armaments.

She focused only on the trigger.

A single color filled her view.

The Ruler.

Her left ear. She stared intently at the tunnel-like darkness of the hole there!

Bavwoom!!!

She couldn’t check to see if it had hit.

Her positioning was too much. The fighter was tossed about by the intense shockwave it created, shaking harshly up and down and preventing from getting a good view. Even with Kongou’s considerable modernizations, firing that weapon in ordinary atmosphere was just too much.

And it didn’t end with firing that.

(Not yet.)

Mikoto clung to her fading consciousness.

She recalled the sensation of the control column in her hands.

She forced her eyes back open.

(This isn’t over yet. Not until I get back to the Izanami and Izanagi!!!)

Her awareness grew.

In that moment, the Shinshin nearly stalled from the shockwave.

Still, Mikoto didn’t let go of the control column.

She directed the Shinshin from above the naked girl’s shoulder toward the back of her head. And she shoved the Shinshin into the gap there where she wouldn’t collide with the long, billowing hair.

She flew on through.

She passed the colossus by.

“Izanami to all fighters. The Ruler…is collapsing. Collapsing forward.”

Kobayashi sounded astonished.

Like she couldn’t believe in the success they had snagged.

But it was real.

Mikoto’s fighter flew in a large circle to direct its nose back toward the naked girl just in time to see her weakly falling over.

The damage may have already spread.

She fell face-first, unable to brace herself for the impact. The ground quaked and a massive cloud of dust flew high into the air.

“Railgun 01 to all fighters.”

Mikoto spoke into the radio.

She provided the necessary report.

“One down. The Ruler is down!!”

Cheers erupted.

She heard cannon fire from the land and sea, so were people shooting their weapons to celebrate?

The world had not ended today.

It had been a close thing, but the girls had saved the day.

Meanwhile.

Mikoto looked down at the naked girl who lay face down and unmoving.

That perfect life form had ruled this world before humans. But unable to bear the loneliness of living alone without a single rival, she had surrounded herself in thick ice and entered an eternal slumber.

(What did you think of the world you found, Ruler?)

Mikoto wanted to think she hadn’t been lonely at least.

Once finally freed from her lonely cage, the naked girl should have been able to compete with the people to her heart’s content.

But when she did wake, she had not worked to fit in with the people she had so longed for.

Her selfish behavior had turned her into a disaster for everyone else.

That was why she had been alone from beginning to end.

Even though the Girlish Weapons made from her cells had been able to get along with the humans.

She hadn’t been able to live that way.

It didn’t matter that she had the ultimate power. That wasn’t enough to find happiness.

“…”

Maybe it was the same for the Level 5s.

There were only seven of them in Academy City, but what did that matter?

If things had been just a little different and they had made one wrong choice, Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki could have found themselves on that same path.

Part 17

“Izanami to 101 Squadron.”

“I know. This isn’t over yet.”

“The return device’s countdown is nearly done. Hurry back to the Izanami.”

“Railgun 01 to all Girlish Weapons. Follow Carrier Charles de Gaulle’s instructions and land on her! Depending on how many she can carry, some of you may need to head to the southern Sky Pirate Port, but Charles de Gaulle will make that decision!”

“Hurry. If you don’t land on the Izanami soon enough, you will be left behind in this world!!”

“You heard her, 101 Squadron. We need to fly straight back to the Izanami! It’s time we got back to Tokiwadai Middle School. I don’t want to see any of you fall behind and end up in tears!!”

Between the Lines: Revenge of ****** Goddess ***********

She was standing in an unfamiliar place.

Misaka Mikoto took a look around.

“…Shokuhou?”

“Hey, what’s going on now?”

They were in a giant stone temple colored white with a hint of blue. It was somewhat reminiscent of ancient Greece, but it also looked like a fancy smartphone made for the wealthy.

Mikoto realized she was back in her Tokiwadai summer uniform. Even though she had been piloting a fighter just a second ago.

“Welcome to the Resurrection Sanctuary, you souls who possess special power but fell before your path was complete.”

Mikoto heard a voice.

Someone stood in the center of the temple. The order there seemed wrong, but Mikoto didn’t question it. She felt like she was in a dream.

“I am Return Goddess Disvalerine. I am the ruler of all direct connections and the one who accurately fishes up all things with a single rod and line.”

Misaka Mikoto felt some camaraderie with her.

This goddess had small boobs.

“Insolent human species, would you like to be sent to yet another world? Perhaps a post-apocalyptic zombie survival world with an ultra hard difficulty setting this time?”

“Um, sorry. I just don’t see people with a chest smaller than mine very often, so I didn’t mean anything by that warm look!!”

“Twice.”

Except for her extremely small boobs, she was an adult woman. She was slim and tall, she had pure unblemished skin, and her long silver hair was tied loosely behind her head to fall down her back. She wore a loose white garment that made her look both like a divine priestess and like a lewd dancer, but that was probably intentional. Everything about her seemed unbalanced. The combination of her flat chest and her garment’s loose neckline left her incredibly unguarded.

The jiggly #5 looked exasperated.

“Misaka-saaan, I think this self-proclaimed goddess is the host of this mystery space, so maybe don’t anger her? When someone’s insecurities are so obvious at a glance, you can use it to your advantage. Just come up with some random compliment like, ‘wow, you’ve figured out how to use your flat chest ability as a weapon’.”

“Thrice. You’re out of extra lives now, you know?”

The goddess’s smile was gone.

They had pushed it right up to the limit, so Mikoto and Shokuhou swore to themselves they wouldn’t tease her about her boobs any further.

Once Disvalerine, who appeared to be the boss of this mystery space, regained her confident smile, she spoke while teasing the decorative red, green, and blue ribbons on her pure white garment.

“Let’s get down to business. Misaka Mikoto. And Shokuhou Misaki. Did you like the Japanese camouflaged carrier, landing ship, and stealth fighter I lent you?”

“That was your doing?”

“I fished them out of one of the countless worlds out there☆”

The Return Goddess smiled with no hint of guilt.

She even stuck her tongue out a little.

Do you dislike dangerous young women with sticky fingers?

(I do dislike how she uses her cuteness as a weapon to cancel out her own crime. Especially as a fellow girl.)

“Don’t act so innocent after making such heavy use of them.”

She read Mikoto’s mind.

It was true the origins of the Izanami, Izanagi, and Shinshin had been a mystery, but apparently this goddess was responsible.

“And the return device was my own original creation. Believe it or not, I’m the type to perform beyond expectations on my summer homework☆”

“…”

“Yes. This means I was the one who sent you to that world and made sure you would return by a certain date. It was me all along.”

Why would she do that?

There was no need to ask. Most likely, the distorted situation between the three world powers and the extraordinary Ruler had been a problem, so she had wanted someone to take care of those things. And one of those problems had been an 1800m naked girl.

What had the Ruler even been anyway?

An enemy of this goddess?

A subordinate or weapon this goddess had created?

Or another goddess who had abandoned her duties?

…This made Mikoto curious as to why the Ruler and the Girlish Weapons had all been girls.

“What are you going to do with us?”

“Silence us because you don’t need us anymore?”

“Of course not. I am the Return Goddess. Unlike a certain busty she-cat I could mention, I am the master of resurrection – of returning people’s souls to their rightful place. Me? Harm or even eliminate someone? Never.”

Mikoto found that extremely hard to believe.

“Then return us to Earth,” said Mikoto, glaring at the goddess.

“Misaka Mikoto, I am currently in a very good mood. Aren’t you at all interested in a bonus stage? You too, Shokuhou Misaki.”

“A bonus…’stage’? You mean sending us somewhere else? You must be joking!”

“We don’t need the gold axe or the silver axe. We need you to cut the crap ability and return us to our original world.”

“Oh?” Return Goddess Disvalerine looked surprised. “Are you really sure that’s what you want?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“Do you really think following the rails I have set up for you and returning to your world will lead you to happiness?”

“You make it sound like unhappiness ability awaits us in our world.”

“It does,” said Disvalerine without a moment’s delay. “You’ve noticed by now, haven’t you? You are not Misaka Mikoto and you are not Shokuhou Misaki.”

Time stopped.

No.

It was Mikoto and Shokuhou’s breathing that stopped.

Noticing this, the goddess smiled bitterly and waved a hand.

“Pardon me. That was poor phrasing on my part. It would be more accurate to say you are not the Misaka Mikoto everyone knows and loves and you are not the Shokuhou Misaki everyone knows and loves.”

The goddess raised her fingers one at a time and began speaking.

Sharply.

“The Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki here know far too much about fighters and aircraft carriers.”

“Hm? Of course we do. We’re always receiving flight training at school.”

“The Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki here attend a girl’s school that teaches such things.”

“Because that’s what they teach at Academy City. I mean, the city’s a giant collection of flight schools.”

“The Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki here underwent esper power development to help them become the best fighter pilots around.”

“Because we can’t protect anyone otherwise. Everything outside the walls is at risk because of Them.”

Return Goddess Disvalerine shrugged.

Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki tilted their heads.

The goddess smiled.

“See?”

“No, I don’t see.”

“Unfortunately, you are the only two who don’t. Everyone else gets it.”

The look in the goddess’s eyes said Mikoto and Shokuhou were the odd ones out. The two humans and one goddess were supposedly the only ones here, yet she ignored the majority rule to remain in complete control. She got to say what was right and what was sensible. Or so it seemed.

“The Misaka Mikoto here and the Misaka Mikoto everyone knows and loves are the same person but from different worlds. The same goes for Shokuhou Misaki.”

“Different worlds?”

“You know, isekai. Or reincarnation.”

The Return Goddess giggled.

And that was it.

…

Huh?

Was that really the end of her explanation?

“You can’t appreciate it since you find all of that to be normal, but your native world is set on a decently hard mode. You won’t find Them in normal worlds. Even as Level 5s, it’s an open question if you can actually overcome that bullet hell shoot ‘em up.”

Come to think of it, what was it she had called herself?

The Return Goddess.

Disvalerine was only the master of returning people.

In that case…

“Wait a minute.”

“Waiting.”

She was a polite goddess at least.

Or maybe just confident in her superiority.

“I get speaking to us and taking us back after our trip to another world. That’s your right as a Return Goddess – whatever that is.”

“But why did we leave Earth and visit another world in the first place?” asked Shokuhou.

“I already explained that. Your home has quite a high death rate out of all the worlds out there. So even a Level 5 will probably find it impossible to overcome the bullet hell shoot ‘em up you find when They cover the sky.”

“…” “…”

“You have already died once. Your own lives are the proof of the impossible hell you were up against. If you return, you will only die again.”

Was she…serious?

They had somehow managed to defeat the 1800 meter and 750 thousand ton Ruler. But this was something even Misaka Mikoto would be helpless against?

Was their Earth really that dangerous a world?

“See? If you saw another Academy City, you would be shocked by how peaceful it is. With Them nowhere to be found, it would look like a world set on easy mode.”

Maybe they would have been happier not knowing this.

But the Return Goddess told them anyway.

Probably for her own purposes.

“But it’s not too late.” She smiled. “I am Return Goddess Disvalerine. I have the authority to fudge which world you are returned to.”

“Fudge?”

“Yes, that’s right. I can wield my authority much more strongly when I am returning you. Wouldn’t you like to go to a relaxing world without Them and without Academy City? A world where you can live a slow life with no death or conflict.”

“…”

“That is what I mean by a bonus stage.”

Without Them and without Academy City.

A slow life with no death or conflict.

“Now,” urged the goddess.

Return Goddess Disvalerine.

A specialist in salvaging all beings who journeyed to another world and could influence the “overall flow of events” by determining whether or not they would return.

“What do you say, Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki? Don’t you want to use this opportunity to escape a cruel fate?”

The goddess’s smile said they couldn’t find happiness otherwise.

This was their reward for saving a world. They had completed their task and arrived at the ending and it would leave a bad taste in her mouth if they were killed shortly after returning to their world, so the Return Goddess was offering to rescue them by cheating the system just a bit.

Misaka Mikoto sighed.

This was her chance to get ahead of some other Misaka Mikoto by filling a vacancy.

And maybe that was the only way to avoid death.

So she made up her mind.

“I don’t need a favor from you. Just send me back to Earth.” “I don’t need a favor from you. Just send me back to Earth.”

They spoke together.

Only after speaking did Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki exchange a glance. They hadn’t planned that.

Meanwhile, time had stopped for someone else.

Return Goddess Disvalerine kept her head tilted for quite some time.

And eventually…

She spoke.

“You will die.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“In fact, you already died once. You boarded the ultimate cutting-edge fighter that gathered up all of humanity’s greatest technology as it’s one last hope for one final battle. It was very serious and moving.”

“But our family, friends, and so many other things we want to protect are there. We’re more than willing to die if it will protect that place.”

“That makes it so much better than some safe world where we don’t know anyone,” added Shokuhou. “I can’t just abandon Dolly and my clique, can I?”

“At the very least, I think I’d go crazy in a peaceful slow life with nothing worth fighting for.”

They had seen the Ruler.

That lonely life form without a single rival had been perfect in every way, but she had chosen to self-indulgently focus only on her own wants and ultimately been brought down as a monster.

As a Level 5, Mikoto didn’t want to turn out that way.

No matter what.

“Besides, we gained plenty of experience ability in that other world,” said Shokuhou. “Maybe we could never have defeated Them while on Earth, but now that we’ve trained ourselves in another world, we might just have a chance.”

“So I want to test out my current strength back on Earth. I won’t let anyone claim my memories with YF-22A and the others are worthless.”

“Then so be it.”

She didn’t argue the point.

Return Goddess Disvalerine wasn’t very persistent. She had called it a bonus stage, hadn’t she? So from her perspective, it wasn’t a top-priority matter, an obligation, or a duty. If Mikoto and Shokuhou weren’t interested, that was fine with her.

They had rejected the final escape route she had prepared for them.

If they wanted to enjoy hell, then they could burn.

Maybe that was her reasoning.

“Oh, by the way, you two, do not get in a habit of dying. Just because your world is one of the worst ones out there is no reason to assume that dying will get you sent to a lucky pervert world populated entirely by scantly clad girls. The system is based on a complicated set of standards, so a soul that just lives an average life will not be rewarded with reincarnation into another world.”

…Was that fighter pilot life supposed to be a reward? People had been trying to kill them from beginning to end.

“What happens if we aren’t able to reincarnate?”

“Your soul gets to live blissfully in heaven forevermore.”

“Hey!” shouted Mikoto. “Then what’s even the point of having people reincarnate in other worlds after they die!? You need to apologize to all those people trying to get by with their appraisal skill, dud jobs, and whatever else!! Apologize right now!!”

“I-I get the feeling a lot more souls would find happiness if they just went straight to heaven instead of hoping for a new life with some kind of overpowered ability,” said Shokuhou.

“Oh, heaven is only for the humans who fully achieved enlightenment. Everyone else goes to hell.”

“…” “…”

“But if you full-clear all 136 hells, you might get to restart life as a gross bug or rat or something.”

Huh?

That wasn’t quite…what they had been expecting.

“Um, uhh, Disvalerine-san?”

“Th-that idea of hell is awfully Eastern for how you’re dressed. I mean, that is a very Buddhist way of thinking.”

“Of course it is. I manage a system based on the reincarnation of souls. I know people get the wrong idea from RPGs and mobile games, but it’s just silly to try and combine the idea of reincarnation with the Christian medieval European idea of souls being sorted into either heaven or hell and then just leaving them there forever. There are some exceptions, but Greek mythology and Norse mythology are also generally reincarnation free.”

Then why did she have a name spelled with the alphabet?

There had to be more than than just Eastern ideas there.

Mikoto considered pressing this further until she made the goddess cry, but…

“Reincarnation in another world is actually like a second chance for the poor losers who died and failed the exam but it would be a shame to just send them to hell. …Now, you seem to have a problem with how I run things, so if you want, I can just give up on you and send you off for a very long stay in hell. Then you can spend day in and day out being skewered in temperatures so cold your body splits from the inside while you dream of one day becoming a gross bug or rat.”

“You know what? You make some good points.”

“Yes, life is tough, isn’t it?”

“It really is.”

While Return Goddess Disvalerine stared into empty air and moved her fingers like she was operating some kind of device, Mikoto asked her a question.

It had suddenly occurred to her.

“…By the way.”

“Yes?”

“You called yourself the Return Goddess, right? Then why did you want to send us to some other world to live a slow li-”

“To get back at the goddess who single-handedly controls the journey souls take. Yes, that loathsome little busty she-cat who is so short yet has the nerve to look down on me, who is always looking at my chest and laughing or spewing nonsense like ‘At least you have your butt. There is a demand for overgrown butts like that, you know?’ If I can only prove that there is a way to save souls other than reincarnating them as an overpowered hero, I just know I can finally see that she-cat in tears.”

“…”

For once, she wasn’t smiling.

Her voice was low and flat.

Something terrifying lurked deep in her yes.

Once she noticed, she grinned.

“Just kidding☆ Hee hee. The real reason is that a different environment can change people.”

“?”

“You know. If I send Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki to another world together and trap them in a boring slow life, the fact that they share a secret they can’t tell anyone else will naturally bring them together until they become hopelessly dependent on each other and can’t help but flirt with each other☆”

Neither one spoke a word.

Shokuhou used her remote to brainwash the goddess into standing still while Mikoto blasted her away with a Railgun traveling at three times the speed of sound.

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Dengeki Island: A Girl’s Battle (Still Growing) Kamijou Touma Visits Another World Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch Crossover SS Toaru Majutsu no Index X Apocalypse Witch X Heavy Object Crossover SS I Still Want to Do a Summer Fair A Certain Collaboration Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 Kamachi Crossover Illustrations - Preface - Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Epilogue - A.E. 02 - Afterword Durarara Crossover Preface - Academy City Chapter - Ikebukuro Chapter	Next