Nothing at All Part 2
「T-This is bad–」
In an instant, both of Yoshikawa’s Accipiter’s arms were cut off, and he immediately decided to run away to the open sea in order to escape.
Lanius was a short-range model after all. Yoshikawa believed that it wasn’t capable of extended flight, unlike his machine.
Unit 5 quickly went after it. Kou received a transmission from Aimer.
「Kou, can you hear me?」
「Master!」
Kou was shocked after hearing an unexpected voice from the comms.
He quickly recognized that it was Master because Aimer was displaying a mature-looking smile that one wouldn’t expect from her.
「I’ll send you a nautical chart of the area. Let’s settle things with that fellow in this position. I’m sure you’ll be able to easily lead him there.」
A nautical chart of the open sea area around the orbital elevator was displayed on screen.
The bright red point was probably the coordinates that Master was referring to.
「What’s in that place anyway?」
「Nothing at all. So, just settle everything there.」
「Nothing huh……?」
「It’s an absolutely desolate spot in the open sea. You don’t even need to personally finish that fellow off. Do you really think he’s worth it at this point in time? Let’s make him face the same situation he put you through on your first day in the Nemesis system. Isn’t that more than enough?」
Master should be enraged as well due to Yoshikawa attempting to hurt Aimer who she has watched over for more than a thousand years as well as his repeated cruel treatment towards Kou.
After that incident, she was so angry that Nyanta had to desperately pacify her.
However, the way she was acting now was just too calm and indifferent. It was like she was a whole different person. Aimer should have tried her hardest to pacify Master as well.
「Alright, I understand.」
Kou understood what Master was getting at. Kou accepted Master’s consideration and chased after the damaged Accipiter in order to lead it to the designated coordinates.
Astraea’s recon drone closely followed after Kou.
Aki, Nyanta, and Blue watched over the events with concern.
The Accipiter finally passed through the large hole in the Fortress Area shelter that was created by the Gracious Queen and quickly headed for the open sea. However, the Lanius was able to keep up with it perfectly.
Hence, it couldn’t afford to slow down at all. Even so, Yoshikawa was still forced to decelerate significantly.
「How the heck are you able to keep up with me?! That’s just a damn Lanius! It’s freaking weird! Ain’t that thing designed as a short-range assault-type combat unit?!」
Yoshikawa, who wasn’t aware of the existence of the Assault Flight type configuration, screamed in panic.
The Lanius C-type was equipped with two flight binders that were made with the help of Misumaru Heavy Industries founder and aircraft specialist Kinukawa Eiji based on the feedback results of the Accipiter.
It boasted flight capability that wouldn’t lose out at all to the Accipiter.
「No, it shouldn’t be able to keep up a sustained flight for long. On the other hand, my machine is a pure flight type in addition to being equipped with a metallic hydrogen generation reactor.」
Yoshikawa thought that he could still get away once the Lanius uses up enough fuel. However, the Lanius still stuck to it like glue.
「How can you even keep up?!」
Yoshikawa could no longer suppress his agitation. After all, there was nothing but open sea all around him.
「Here, huh?」
Kou had confirmed that they’ve already entered the target coordinates.
He settled everything in an instant. Lanius performed a full-speed maneuver and quickly closed the gap. It quickly grabbed one of the Accipiter’s shoulders and held it firmly from behind.
「Hiiii!」
It then brandished its katana without delay. The Lanius pierced the Accipiter’s reactor with pinpoint precision.
The Accipiter’s head jerked for a bit and drooped down with a thud. It had completely lost power. Only the MCS remained functioning due to the power supplied by its spare battery.
「P-Please! I’m really sorry! Please don’t kill me, Kou!」
Yoshikawa began unabashedly begging for his life. He did so even if he knew it was probably futile. However–
「Sure.」
「Eh?」
「Once I let go of the Accipiter, we’ll have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore. Don’t ever appear before me or Metal Iris again.」
「A-Alright! I promise! So, please–!」
Kou didn’t even bother to respond. It was all over.
Unit 5 let go of the Accipiter.
The Accipiter gradually disappeared as if being devoured by the sea.
Yoshikawa panicked for a moment but soon calmed down. The moment he reaches the seabed, he’d immediately send out a distress signal and walk to safety. He believed that he should still be able to manage such a thing even with just the spare battery.
Fearsome-looking sharks were swimming in the surrounding waters. So, he couldn’t afford to leave his sinking Silhouette. Besides, he’d most likely drown the moment he opens the hatch of the MCS. Yoshikawa inwardly praised himself for remaining calm even in such an emergency.
He quickly lost sight of the Lanius that was hovering above him.
Kou expressionlessly saw off the Accipiter as it gradually fell to the bottom of the sea.
「This should be enough, Kou. This officially marks the end of your ill-fated relationship with that person.」
「Is there a chance of him getting rescued?」
「That, I don’t know. Indeed, this is quite similar to him pushing out of the rescue plane and leaving you in the ruins back then. If, for some reason, he happens to encounter an oddity like me down there and finds a way to move about somehow, then perhaps he’d be able to survive. I really do not care if such a person lives or dies. If he gets out right away and swims to safety, maybe he’d get rescued.」
Even if Yoshikawa gets out of the sinking Silhouette right away, there was only open water all around him. In order to reach safety, he’d have to swim several hundred kilometers.
「So, there’s really nothing here, huh?」
「Indeed. Absolutely nothing. This place, here. It’s technically similar to those ruins you found yourself in back then.」
「I see. –Thank you, Master.」
Kou reminisced about the time he first embarked on a journey with Master.
He met a precious Familiar who stayed by his side when he faced a Mantis-type for the first time, when he fought an Enyo, all the way until they managed to reach Astraea.
「Who knows? Perhaps this might serve as an impetus for him to reflect and turn his life around. Just like you, eh?」
「That’s fine as well. But if he still doesn’t learn, then I’ll definitely finish him off if we encounter him again. I’d heard that cats are pretty vindictive, but you’re really kind Master.」
「I’m a Familiar after all, and not really a cat. I’m also satisfied with this.」
After Master displayed a peaceful smile, she returned control of Aimer’s body to her.
Aimer also displayed a cheerful smile. She was happy that Kou didn’t spill any unnecessary blood for her sake.
Kou also felt that he’d finally been freed from a heavy burden and headed back to Astraea.
「As expected of Master.」
Blue exclaimed in admiration.
She was currently looking at the results of the analysis of the sea area that was sent to Kou by Asia.
「There’s really nothing there.」
「Yes, truly. Master handled that very nicely nyaa. That place is empty as heck.」
Nyanta had known Master for quite some time. She was a Familiar who she really respected. And once again, this matter proved that her respect was well-earned.
「Indeed. How impressive. Truly an empty and desolate area.」
Aki, who just returned to the combat command center, also expressed her admiration.
「There’s more than one way to kill a person. Familiars can’t even perceive his existence even if he calls for help. And humans and Therianthropes rarely board submarines. Just how many kilometers is that place to the nearest landmass?」
「There’s no need to tell Kou the truth about that area nyaa. That’s in order to prevent him from shouldering any extra worries. That was really an excellent way of handling things nyaa. But I don’t really think Kou will mind that much even if he does learn the truth.」
Blue and Nyanta were both satisfied with how things turned out.
The smiling Aki brought the matter to a close.
「That area is where the largest and deepest ocean trench on Planet Asia is located. It’s more than ten thousand meters from the seabed. That man wouldn’t be able to move freely and just continue to sink deeper and deeper. He wouldn’t be able to escape from the trench due to the powerful ocean currents. And even, by some fluke, he does manage to escape from there, countless barracudas and whitetip sharks are lurking all over those waters. Before long, the water pressure will no longer allow the MCS hatch to open. Even though the MCS battery will last for a month at most, he’d still be unable to survive. Death by drowning? Being crushed by the pressure? Suffocation? Him going mad is also very much a possibility.」
「Truly a sure-fire kill. There’s nothing there huh? Kou did really well in surviving in a place similar to that.」
「It no longer matters now. With this, Kou can finally bid goodbye to that ill-fated relationship and leave the perpetrator in a veritable empty void.」
「Master is a cat among cats nyaa.」
As expected, cats were genuinely vindictive.
Comment (0)