Fairy Blue
The moment Kou and the other two entered the range of the Ate, their Silhouettes immediately increased their advancing speed.
They jumped over a great number of Murders and accelerated all at once.
They reached supersonic speed. One wouldn’t usually expect machines advancing on the surface to reach a speed of 1300 kph.
They used the momentum of such tremendous acceleration as they unleashed slashing attacks.
Such speed could lead to damaging their own machines if they were careless. The timing and control demanded by such maneuvers was extremely severe. However, the three pulled move after move off without much difficulty.
There were only a handful of pilots who could perform such precise operations.
And the three were among such pilots.
The Accipiter closed in all at once and slashed at the right arm of the Ate that was equipped with a charged particle cannon.
However, it couldn’t cut it down in one blow. The most it could do was to crack the armor.
It took some distance and soared high up in the air.
「Kou!」
「Yes!」
Kou’s Unit 5 closed in next. It aimed precisely at the spot Hyoue’s machine attacked previously.
The destructive power brought about by the combination of servo motors and armor muscles coupled with the extreme sharpness of Kogetsu succeeded in severing the Ate’s arm. The claw arm that doubled as a charged particle cannon was blown right off.
「It’s my turn!」
The Hrafnagud dove in and aimed straight for the enemy’s head. The Ate’s head sensors were quite excellent.
Thus, Gram unleashed a crushing blow instead of a slash.
The sword emitted light and retained its sharpness. Tantalum, the metal used as the sword’s core, was one of the heaviest metals.
More than fifty armor muscles on the Hrafnagud’s back and arms were contracted to the limit and unleashed power all at once.
The Ate’s huge head that housed delicate sensors was destroyed with a single blow.
The Ate frantically swung its tail and fired its remaining charged particle cannon.
It wasn’t the three leading machines that suffered damage from the attack, but the supporting Quattro squad at the rear instead.
Several machines were caught up in the cannon’s blast and suffered heavy damage.
「Don’t let your guard down, everyone. Move further back!」
Kou bellowed a command on the comms.
The electromagnetic armor also served as a countermeasure against charged particle cannons. The plasma generated by the metallic hydrogen served such a purpose.
However, a charged particle cannon’s power was still more than ten times that of a railgun. It’s range was also quite wide.
「Quattro squad, partial withdrawal!」
The dog-eared young lady muttered a command with a mortified tone. Several allied machines were melted down by the earlier blast.
「Everyone! Switch to covering fire. Ready!」
At Nyanta’s command, everyone switched to artillery support.
If they took enough distance, the beam should get attenuated.
The only ones who were equipped with weapons that can deal damage to the Ate were Aki and Nyanta. It would be faster for Kou to cut the enemy machine down.
The Accipter, which had moved to the rear of the Ate, slashed at its weak point, but its sword got repelled.
Hyoue had already anticipated it. Accipiter tossed its wakizashi away, held its katana with both hands, and unleashed a thrust.
However, it was also repelled.
「This thing’s pretty hard!」
Hyoue did succeed in dealing damage though. The armor suffered a slight crack. An attack unleashed by a true master can make the impossible possible. That slight crack had great worth.
The Hrafnagud was flying just above. It dove down at full speed and aimed at that slight crack.
It swung Gram down coupled with the force of gravity and slammed it right on the crack.
The resulting impact almost sent Hrafnagud flying, but it clung to the two-handed sword stuck on the enemy machine’s armor and stood its ground.
「Kurt-san!」
「Shallow huh……? How hard.」
The Ate’s weak point was located on its back, near its head. Its tail was unable to reach such a spot. However, the surrounding Mantis-types aimed their railguns at Kurt’s machine.
Kurt tried to push his machine’s sword further in.
「Kurt-san! Get away from there!」
「I can’t. My sword will just turn into a regular lump of metal without Whis reinforcement. I’ll pierce right through no matter what!」
The moment more than half of Gram was pushed inside the armor plate, the Mantis-types stopped shooting.
Metallic hydrogen welled up from the Ate’s armor muscles. The Keres had gotten wary of causing an explosion.
「Kuh…… Just a bit more……」
The metallic hydrogen generation reactor was just before the tip of Hrafnagud’s sword.
「According to legend, Gram was said to be the sword of selection. No other except for the chosen one is able to draw it. But it’s the complete opposite of that right now, and it would be bad if it got pulled out instead……」
Kurt steeled his resolve and placed all of Hrafnagud’s power into pushing its sword further in. This was a feat of strength that only Hrafnagud can pull off right now.
The Mantis-types attempted to climb the Ate’s body in order to forcibly stop Kurt, but Kou and Hyoue got in their way.
「Kurt-san, that should be enough! Leave the rest to me. Make sure to get away the moment I give the signal, everyone!」
Thunderstorm 1 speedily approached while flying low. It was Blue.
「An anti-ship missile huh?!」
The Thunderstorm rushed in at supersonic speed, but rose sharply and gained altitude soon after. It was chased after by a barrage of anti-aircraft lasers and railguns.
It wasn’t able to climb beyond 2000 meters due to the artificial sun, but this was more than enough elevation. It aimed straight at the Ate and initiated a steep dive.
It fired all of its wire-guided anti-ship missiles. However, they were powerless in the face of anti-air fire from the Keres. They were shot down one after another.
Even so, Blue didn’t stop her descent.
The Ate raised its remaining left claw arm and fired at Blue. The charged particle beam scored a direct hit and the Thunderstorm exploded.
「Blue!」
Kou’s scream echoed out–
In the midst of the explosion, a beautiful and brilliant machine flew out.
The MCS inside the machine shook violently, making the seat belts press tightly onto Blue’s body.
The machine was a flight-capable Silhouette. It was the『Canary』- a high-speed flight-capable Silhouette made exclusively for Blue that can only be loaded onto Thunderstorm 1.
The Canary put up its plasma barrier, deployed its wings, and started flying freely in the sky.
「The canary has been released from its cage.」
Blue muttered.
The weapons Canary wielded with both of its arms was an anti-fortress rifle.
It was an anti-materiel rifle designed with Blue was the focus.
「This is an anti-fortress rifle jointly designed and built by the best gunsmith and the best wildcat. I wonder if you can handle it, Ate.」
Blue laughed fearlessly and took aim. The charged particle cannon cannot be fired in succession. It had very high destructive power, but it took a lot of time to recharge between shots as a consequence.
There was no need to choose where to aim.
It was decided beforehand. It even had a very visible landmark stuck onto it. It was the spot Gram was stuck on.
The weak spot that Kurt had pierced earlier. With this, the Ate’s destruction was guaranteed.
「I’m Fairy Blue. Sniping from this position should be easy for me.」
Blue muttered under her breath. It was basically self-suggestion. It was a situation where she had to rely on the automatic corrections of her MCS coupled with her own intuition.
「Now selecting ammo. The target is the hole dug up by that greatsword. Choosing an armor-piercing high-explosive shell.」
She was going to perform a snipe with a limited window of time and an unstable foothold.
「Attitude control, OK. Predicting blast radius before firing. Initiating avoidance program. No problems with anti-aircraft fire. Aligning sights.」
She confirmed her actions systematically one by one.
She had seen through it– The Fennel OS installed on her MCS had showed her precisely where to aim.
「Please get away from there, everyone!」
「All troops! Get away from the Ate as much as possible!」
At Blue’s signal, Hrafnagud flew away from the Ate’s back.
Unit 5 and Accipiter also accelerated and moved away.
The allies providing cover fire also took their distance. Kou had ordered for them to do so.
「Goodbye, Goddess of Destruction.」
Blue pulled the trigger, and the shell found its mark– The round’s penetrating power was further intensified by the kinetic energy provided by firing from above.
The recoil of the anti-fortress rifle sent Blue’s machine even higher up into the sky.
The Ate suddenly turned blazing red and swelled up from within. A huge explosion occurred soon afterward.
A gigantic mushroom cloud pierced the sky, proving that humankind was able to defeat the Goddess of Destruction using weapons designed to be wielded by humanoid machines alone.
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