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Long-Range Absolute Annihilator

 

Unit 5 and Bogatyri closed the distance between them. The two opposing units faced off. Unit 5 still had its sword sheathed, while Bogatyri held its Shashka in one hand. The Shashka was characterized by its short handle.

Bogatyri let the Shashka hang loosely.

Isn’t this an unstructured stance?

Kou felt a chill run down his spine. This stance, which was close to a natural posture, made it impossible to predict what kind of attack might come. The martial art that Vasa was using seemed to be one that stood in stark contrast to Iai, which emphasized katas designed for various scenarios.

Unit 5 lowered its stance, hand on the hilt. It accelerated using its thrusters, scraping against the ground, causing countless sparks to fly. A quick-draw slash. Bogatyri crossed its sword to deflect the blade and launched a counterattack.

As the Shashka swung in a sliding motion towards the right hand, Unit 5 accelerated further, switching to a body slam. Even this body slam was evaded by using the momentum to flow past. It seemed like its arm would be entangled and caught.

If it had continued charging like this, the right arm of Unit 5 would have been taken.

「If this were my real body, I would have been thrown off already.」

Bogatyri was always moving, keeping an eye on the distance. In contrast, Kou was only adjusting their relative positioning using his pivot foot.

「Is this what you call shooting with a sword? That’s quite fitting.」

Even the trajectory of their swords was significantly different. Unit 5 focused on a sweeping trajectory that combined offense and defense, mindful of a fan-shaped area.

On the other hand, the Bogatyri adapted its sword tip to follow a wedge-shaped trajectory, forming a conical range.

「Damn, this is tough.」

Vasa muttered with amusement. It had been a long time since he’d been forced into such a difficult fight. The stance with a lowered posture and an unreadable sword path. Moving while keeping a low stance using thrusters was a fighting style unique to silhouettes. It was extremely formidable.

It was difficult to parry an opponent in a low stance. The quick-draw strikes unleashed were not mere slashes done with brute force. It was like facing a whip.

Kou was also struggling with movements that applied an unknown martial art. The key seemed to be slashes that utilized wrist snaps and walking. Movements that seemed to mimic ‘the wind in the willows’. He was skilled at techniques to deflect the opponent’s sword, but his opponent seemed even more specialized in it.

There was an atmosphere around Vasa that suggested he might use a counter move like in a game. It was risky to approach recklessly, but understanding the technique of quick drawing, Kou knew that, theoretically, it was a good match-up.

His defense is based on counterattacks, huh? Then…

Unit 5 fired its thrusters at maximum power once again, only to immediately cut them off. It lunged forward, utilizing the inertia from the thruster’s acceleration while keeping a low stance. Kou had decided to close in with movements that would be impossible for a human to execute.

Vasa, confident in the timing of the slash, prepared for the draw of his blade.

At the exact moment their swords were about to cross, Unit 5 fired its thrusters once more.

「What?!」

The sword, drawn from its sheath, did not follow a typical trajectory; instead, it turned into a sharp thrust aimed directly at the Bogatyri. Even though Vasa tried to catch it with the Shashka, the thrust, enhanced by the thrusters, could not be deflected. The Shashka fulfilled its role, but the movement to catch Kou’s blade became its downfall.

With a sharp metallic clang, the Shashka shattered, and the thrust pierced through Bogatyri’s chest armor, destroying what appeared to be the nose section of the fighter unit. Vasa immediately purged the damaged armor and detached the flight unit, but it couldn’t be called a proper evasion.

「Well done.」

There was no doubt that he had been outmaneuvered. His weapon had been destroyed, and his additional armor had been stripped away. In this state, transformation was no longer possible.

He readily admitted his defeat. His opponent’s machine and its pilot were undeniably overwhelming in close combat. The way Kou had controlled the distance clearly showed his extensive combat experience.

「It’s all thanks to the quality of this sword.」

Without the blade created by Arges, it would have been impossible to achieve such a feat.

「That’s irrelevant. The strength or weakness of the weapon is no excuse. This clearly shows the need for more effective close-combat armaments.」

On the battlefield, blaming a loss on the superiority of the enemy’s weapon was unacceptable.

「Next, let’s switch to a shooting match.」

Bogatyri raised its main cannon. Unit 5 stepped back, increasing the distance while raising its newly developed battle rifle.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Unit 5 executed a wide right turn to create some distance. Because silhouettes had thrusters on their backs, moving backward was slower.

「You’re choosing to keep your distance? That’s surprising. I thought you’d close in for a swift strike.」

Vasa was caught by surprise by Kou’s decision. He had expected that, with the maneuverability of the Lanius, Kou would accelerate quickly to try to decide the battle in close combat.

「We’re having a shooting match, aren’t we?」

「You’re willing to play along? I’m delighted… Then let’s give it our all.」

The Bogatyri moved to chase Kou, holding its autocannon with both hands. The mobility of the two silhouettes wasn’t vastly different, but the Bogatyri had better acceleration thanks to its triple thrusters.

As the distance closed, the Bogatyri opened fire. Due to Kou’s evasive maneuvers, not all shots hit, but half of them scored direct hits. The electromagnetic armor activated, resulting in several explosions. The medium within the electromagnetic armor reacted, using plasma to dampen the impact.

「The projectile speed is faster than expected… And its power is strong too. What is that thing?」

Several bullet holes appeared in the Lanius C’s additional armor. Some rounds had penetrated the extra armor and reached the main armor beneath.

The autocannon equipped on the Bogatyri seemed to combine power, rapid-fire capability, and range.

「… Analysis complete. That’s a type of electrothermal-chemical gun. It fires shells ignited electrically, with the inside of the barrel coated in magnetic plasma. It uses the same design as the main cannon of the Hovertank Keifeng created by Yunlan. But as an autocannon.」

「An autocannon with that kind of technology?」

「It maintains a stable muzzle velocity and is far more power-efficient compared to a railgun. The muzzle velocity is about 2,000 m/s, comparable to a large-caliber railgun. It’s a weapon that focuses on muzzle velocity and rapid firing by keeping the caliber small.」

「We’ll have to keep more distance, then.」

「In this confined space, everywhere is within its effective range.」

「Even so…」

Unit 5 maintained a tenacious acceleration. It never stopped moving, displaying a remarkable persistence in maintaining combat speed with its thrusters.

「To think it can sustain thruster use for that long… That’s the performance of the twin reactor at work. While our acceleration might be higher, its endurance is unmatched… I want that as well.」

The twin reactor technology was introduced by Asia after the orbital elevator was liberated, so it was a technology exclusively held by Ulysses’ engineers. Unit 5 tried to put more distance between them, but even when it seemed like the Bogatyri could catch up easily, it darted around unpredictably.

「This 76mm MP autocannon is a long-range weapon. I don’t plan on losing a long-range duel.」

Vasa declared to Kou, his confidence evident in the new weapon’s capabilities.

「I wasn’t expecting otherwise!」

The MP autocannon, which excelled in every aspect thanks to its great balance, was not to be underestimated. A closer look revealed that it was equipped with a large, circular drum magazine, meaning it had a significant ammunition capacity too.

「Kou.」

「Don’t worry.」

Kou responded, continuing to move. The weapon Kou held was a large, long-barreled battle rifle.

「That weapon isn’t using electro-excited explosives, is it? The shape is different.」

A rifle using electro-excited explosives was the weapon Vasa was most wary of. It had the potential to destroy any Silhouette in a single shot. However, it also had notable drawbacks: the recoil was intense, and reloading was conspicuous. As a long-range weapon, it wasn’t suitable for close combat, where its long barrel became a liability.

「I’ve sealed that away. If the Stones got their hands on it, it’d be no joke.」

More than anything, it wasn’t a weapon to be used in confined spaces. If it hit at close range, even Unit 5 would be in danger.

「A wise decision. But no matter how large the caliber, if it’s using conventional rounds—」

The battle rifle that Unit 5 was wielding was meant for medium to long-range combat.

Kou, unusually, let out a confident smile.

「Conventional rounds, huh?」

Unit 5 pulled the trigger.

The shot hit almost instantly, and the Bogatyri’s right chest armor exploded, tearing off a large portion of the chest armor. The damage penetrated into the interior of the unit, nearly causing it to recoil from the impact.

「What… what is this?!」

Vasa quickly regained balance, but the next shot hit his leg. The armor on his left thigh shattered, causing him to stagger once more.

「What kind of rifle is that?」

「The concept behind this rifle is something like a ‘Long-Range Absolute Annihilator.’ It’s called the D-Rifle. As for how it works, well, I didn’t build it, so that’s a secret.」

Kou said with a grin, a look of satisfaction on his face. Vasa checked his unit’s damage and was stunned.

「What kind of rounds is using? This power is…」

While piloting his silhouette, Vasa quickly pulled up the images from the moments of impact. The penetrator that had emerged from the sabot casing was fluid metal itself. Instead of an arrow, it had transformed into an extremely long, spear-like shape upon impact.

Using some unknown technology the creator of this rifle had shaped metallic hydrogen into a fluid metal spear and employed a method to increase its mass, counteracting the low density of metallic hydrogen. It was unmistakably a type of round.

「It doesn’t use any electronically excited materials. It’s just a regular round.」

「Don’t lie! There’s no way that’s an ordinary round!」

Vasa retorted, getting flustered by Kou’s teasing tone.

Asia’s Aimer, sitting in Unit 5’s rear seat, gave a faint smile.

This weapon had been created by everyone to compensate for Kou’s weaknesses. And now, it was proving its effectiveness against their greatest adversary.