Liquid Metal Sword
Kou and Hyoue proceeded through an unattended passageway.
The Silhouette-sized passageway seemed to not have been used for quite a long time.
The sealed area.
It was a section of certain Fortress Areas that only Development Engineers could enter.
There should be a huge device holding Asia’s fragment captive at the end of the passage.
Kou had already experienced freeing her fragments twice so far.
The two were now just before their target.
They’ve already reached a vast underground area.
And, as expected, an enemy was waiting for them.
The enemy was a Huckebein. Or rather, it was previously a Huckebein. It was the Huckebein unit that was captured and was repaired and modified using captured spare Huckebein limbs and recovered factory data. The Corvus.
Kou and Hyoue instantly recognized that the enemy machine before them was of the Huckebein line.
The enemy pilot recognized them as well.
He called Kou and Hyoue through the open channel.
Kou quickly picked up the call.
「Yo, Lanius pilot. Kou, right? Been a while.」
「So, it really is you, Bardo.」
「Is the pilot of the machine beside you Takaba?」
「Indeed. It’s me. It’s been a long time, Bardo-kun. It looks like your skills have improved.」
「I lost to that guy over there as well after all. I wanted a rematch with you too.」
Bardo made Corvus brandish its sword.
Kou’s Unit 5 tried to step up, but he was stopped by Hyoue.
「This guy has business with me. I have to answer his expectations.」
「But–!」
「I’ll be your opponent.」
Another Corvus appeared and stood in Kou’s way. A young man was serving as its pilot.
It was Bardo’s adjutant, Miles.
「I will defeat the man who defeated Captain Bardo. It’s a job well worth doing.」
「I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to lose.」
Separate one on one matches. It couldn’t be helped.
Both Kou and Hyoue also loved such matches after all.
In the end, all of those present were probably cut from the same cloth.
「Hee. You’ve become quite decent, Bardo-kun.」
「I realized something after I fought Kou. It’s the fact that swordsmanship is really useful when engaging in close quarters combat with a Silhouette.」
Bardo’s Corvus was in a chuudan-no-kamae or middle-level stance.
The Corvus had an eerie form that resembled a saw blade being forcefully attached with a sword.
Hyoue, on the other hand, was in a mugamae or no stance. His machine’s posture was natural and relaxed, with its two katanas lowered.
「I don’t hate guys who train hard.」
Hyoue engaged in combat with a smirk on his face. He now faced a mercenary who trained in swordsmanship in order to defeat him. As a swordsman himself, it was quite an honor to be so highly regarded.
「I trained under a terrifying master after all. I prepared for death lots of times. In fact, three of my fellow disciples actually died.」
Bardo declared such a thing indifferently. He must have studied under a very talented but dreadful master.
「It sounds like I’m in for a great time.」
From the looks of it, Hyoue determined that Bardo’s current skills weren’t acquired half-heartedly.
Hyoue knew that through the Fennel OS that allowed for extremely fine control and highly sensitive spatial awareness, a Silhouette is able to display a level of swordsmanship far beyond what its pilot was capable of. Kou surely knew of this fact as well.
「I’ll wipe that smirk off your face soon.」
Their previous battle ended in utter disappointment. Even if there was the difference in performance between their Silhouettes to consider, Bardo felt like he was merely toyed around with. It was akin to an adult playing around with a child.
He never forgot the sense of utter humiliation he felt that day.
After that, he worked hard and obtained the Falco in order to challenge Hyoue again. However, he was then defeated by Kou.
And now, Bardo had obtained two kinds of strengths for himself.
One was the Corvus. By fully committing himself to the Argonauts and Stones forces, he was able to acquire an incredibly high-performance machine.
The other was his current swordsmanship skills.
「Ha!」
Along with a spirited battle cry, Bardo swung his two-handed sword powerfully. The Corvus performed a downward swing even though there was still a distance between it and the Accipiter.
Hyoue’s expression turned serious. He felt killing intent. Without a moments delay, he made his machine step slightly to the side.
Within moments, a powerful sword pressure passed through the Accipiter’s previous location.
–No. It wasn’t sword pressure.
It’s because the attack that resembled sword pressure actually exploded.
「What the heck……? Flying sword slashes? This ain’t some old shounen manga. It’s that, ain’t it? Metallic hydrogen.」
「Figures you’d see through it right away. Still feels frustrating though. I won’t give you time to analyze it any further.」
Bardo muttered in frustration.
「I can also perform this kind of trick.」
The Corvus flicked its sword to the side. The sword blade actually stretched out.
「This is a liquid metal sword. The earlier attack was just me playing around. Time to get serious.」
「Playing around? What are you on about? You completely wanted to cut me in two.」
Hyoue didn’t let his guard down. He’s already managed to identify the nature of the earlier attack.
It was actually a jet of metallic hydrogen. It was akin to unleashing a high-pressure water jet with a hose. The sword unleashes a jet of metallic hydrogen and hardens it for just an instant.
Coupled with Whis, it then explodes with destructive force.
The length of the blade should also be controlled using Whis. It was a sword that induced explosions whenever it was swung. It was quite terrifying.
Moreover, Bardo was already plenty strong even without making use of such tricks.
It appeared that he was determined to do whatever it took to win. Hyoue acknowledged his opponent’s resolution.
「That’s quite good. That kind of resolve. It’s the best!」
Hyoue braced himself to take on his opponent who certainly didn’t disappoint.
On the other end of the underground space, Miles faced Kou using a joudan stance.
Unit 5’s knees were half-bent as it entered a battou (sword drawing) stance. Its katana was still inside its scabbard.
Miles felt irritated toward Bardo’s change.
To be exact, he was irked by Bardo’s sudden fascination for swordsmanship.
After losing to Takaba Hyoue and Kou, Bardo found himself a master and changed.
Miles also entered the tutelage of Bardo’s master, but he was far less enthusiastic.
They fought in wars.
In Miles’ opinion, swords and such were only a means of fighting. It was better to shoot a railgun from a long distance and win without entering the enemy’s range.
However, the situation had changed. Despite the increased mobility and defense of Silhouettes against projectiles, the effectiveness of melee weapons against high-dimensional projection armor remained the same.
Electromagnetic armor wasn’t very effective against swords either, so one could even say swords and other such weapons became even more desirable compared to before. They became a lot more useful.
Miles was a realist through and through.
So, he also switched to piloting a Corvus and engaging in melee combat. The performance of his current Silhouette was second to none.
However, he never considered mastering swordsmanship.
The joudan no kamae or upper stance. In terms of kinematics, one simply needed to bring a sword overhead and then swing down. It resulted in the fastest slash.
He’d only need to judge the timing through his intuition. Enter into the appropriate range and then swing down.
Doing so will result in him quickly killing his opponent.
The weapon his Corvus wielded was a regular greatsword. A sword with gimmicky features was difficult to use after all. The fact that making a liquid metal sword required metallic hydrogen was also a point against its favor, and Miles found it both wasteful and unintuitive.
Thus, he wanted to quickly defeat Kou and wake Bardo up from his obsessions. He entered battle with those convictions in mind.
Mile fully believed that swordsmanship was unnecessary in war.
「Let’s go.」
Miles gradually closed the distance from his opponent and planned to unleash a lightning-fast swing the moment he got into range.
「Guh–」
The detonation engine allowed for instantaneous acceleration.
Hence, Unit 5 was able to close the gap with the Corvus in one go.
Fiery sparks went up from the floor and trailed in its wake. Moreover, since Unit 5’s stance was low, it was difficult to get an effective cut in.
The match was over in an instant.
Unit 5 closed in, quickly drew its katana, and unleashed a one-handed diagonal slash from the left. The Corvus was cut from its right shoulder to its left torso.
「It can’t be……!」
「Your torso’s completely open. I’m not really obligated to tell you this, but…… it’s really disrespectful to perform an upper stance against an opponent who’s far more skilled than you.」
Kou declared indifferently.
It’s true that an upper stance would allow one to unleash a fast downward slash, and was probably the most efficient in terms of sword swings.
However, it was also quite easy to read. One had to properly compensate for the disadvantage of leaving one’s body open for a counterattack.
「You can’t fight anymore. Just stay quiet and watch from there.」
「N-No…… It’s not over yet!」
The moment he noticed the abnormality, Bardo screamed in distress.
「You idiot! Stop! Miles! Don’t you dare use that thing!」
「Hmm?」
Hyoue also noticed the abnormality and decided to observe first.
「Whatever you’re planning, I’m still going to win. Let’s go, Lanius.」
So, he still wants to fight, Kou inwardly thought.
Unit 5 sheathed its sword once more and prepared to meet the Corvus head-on.
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