Vol 4 Chapter 94 (1/2)

Chapter 94: Fox of the Sun Shower

Drops fall from the clear sky

The fox says goodbye

Into the joyous sound of the rain

Point Allocation (Happiness)

“Komahime…”

A naorod where the Mogami fleet moved in to drive back shi+bata’s fleet It caae fans She pressed a closed fan against her forehead and shut her eyes

“…It was the promise, wasn’t it?”

She added a “yes” as the wind of Novgorod’s fall washed over her

It was a thick wind It reflected off the ground and whipped her hair around

“It was because we promised to protect Oushuu and Sviet Rus that you chose suicide, wasn’t it?”

So…

“Koirl, so fulfill that promise …Your mother will not run away I atch over you to the end”

Koe as the ether fuel overheated and ignited

The ether fuel pipes burst more due to power system malfunctions than the vere with light

Similar ruptures and tremors occurred in the corridors and lower floors and those countless noises reached the bridge

But Koe; she had ordered the rest of the Jurakudai’s crew to evacuate

They had all begun sending out the escape shi+ps to reach shi+bata’s fleet, so as flae, the only words were spoken by her and her divine transmission insha kotob

The second-in-command’s voice-only transmission reached her from one of the escape shi+ps

“Acting Captain! Everyone is accounted for We are currently approaching shi+bata’s fleet while sending out a request to join them!”

“Shaja …If Novgorod falls and explodes, it will affect the position of shi+bata’s fleet too If I fully open Jurakudai’s defense barrier and divert the gravitational cruising power to the exterior, I can slow its fall and delay its destruction So…”

So…

“Please take Hidetsugu-sama somewhere safe!”

“Shaja…! But Acting Captain, what about you?”

“I’u-sama, after all”

Just a few minutes before, she would have been too embarrassed to say that, but now she could use it as a proper reason

“I ahost I can’t die, so I’ll be fine And second-in-command?”

“What is it?”

“I’m sure Niwa-sawiththe shi+p, even if I as”

The second-in-coently responded to that

“Oh, you’re not there yet Your piloting is still pretty rough …There’s still a lot we have to teach you”

“Shaja I look forward to it”

With that answer, Koht, This is for the best

She could see the state of the shi+p on an insha kotob that kept flickering in and out The Jurakudai had already taken dae from the after effects of the Musashi+’s attack and noas recklessly trying to support the Novgorod as it fell

“You can do it”

Komahime spoke to the shi+p as she operated the various power conduits When one had stopped due to a collapse, malfunction, or excessive power, she rerouted the power around it to keep it distributed across the shi+p A shi+p as large as the Jurakudai had countless power conduits as well as secondary ones for use in eencies, so she displayed them all on an insha kotob

“You can do it…!”

It got through A few areas were unusable now, but about 70 of the prie, she could see the defense barrier’s ht And in the sky…

“Wah”

Several giant pieces of rubble fell to the deck They produced so loud a sound she wanted to cover her ears When Novgorod’s falling speed had lowered, pieces of its outer hull had fallen away

But its fall had definitely slowed

The i inside the Jurakudai All readings from the rear port side vanished from the insha kotob That meant the port side thrusters had been taken out

…So there’s no escape now

And so sheshe could

“The only other thing I need to do is…”

The ether fuel supply was still being limited She wanted to use up all of the fuel in these few

In that case, she thought as she ran to the captain’s spot in the rear of the bridge while protectively raising a hand and dodging so There were soencies When the divine transe’s insha kotob were cut off, these could directly control the shi+p via physical means

The gauges wereThe support insha kotob had also opened This ork, she told herself

After double-checking how to do it, Korabbed the slide switch handles and pushed them to the back, one at a time

Once this was done, the shi+p could support Novgorod even more powerfully than before So…

“I need to do it right…”

She knew the Jurakudai could not fully support the falling city and she was certain that she would disappear in the explosion when the Jurakudai crashed along with Novgorod But…

“All that ets away safely …I’m too afraid to check”

She had her suspicions that Hidetsugu’s failure to wake had nothing to do with his regret It was because the Seiryu was stealing away the ether for him

But if he woke up now that he was freed from the Seiryu…

“He’ll suddenly find out that he’s ret came from my desire to be with him…”

What would he think of that? She knew this was hardly the time to think about that, but…

…He’s already been evacuated

He had seemed to sleep more peacefully now that he was freed from the Seiryu and she had seen the second-in-co him out as they evacuated

She was the only one here now So…

“I need to do this properly”

She would support Novgorod as long as possible and root for those trying to evacuate She knew that was soht now, but…

…It’s hot?

A sudden wave of heat pressed against her back, so she turned around to check

The door into the bridge had grown red with heat

“…!?”

The explosion of heat from a flashover blew her backwards and fried the interior of the bridge

Flames erupted from the Jurakudai

In the sky north of Novgorod, shi+genaga used her right ar froht fire covering the upper levels of the Jurakudai

The ether fuel had overheated and it had exploded from the fried and broken power conduits

She could guess that Ko to use all of the Jurakudai’s power She could also guess why the opposite had happened:

…Was it the rubble froe to the shi+p!?

The Jurakudai’s defense barriers and buffering spells could cover a 7 kilo used to cover the bottoravitational cruising was being passed through a buffering spell to divert it from the thrusters to the defense barrier

The Jurakudai itself was currently a giant box of ether fuel and it could not defend itself or ravitational control balance points that stuck out above and below it via the buffering spells

Even if soiant pieces of rubble were falling and it was groaning under the strain of the gravitational balance After another screaht of the upper deck

“…Komahime!”

Flames erupted from the bottom of the Jurakudai as well

Komahime immediately came to

She had been slaainst the wall and could say she had been knocked out, but…

…I’host

The effects of a concussion would only be reproduced when she was hit by a weapon with that kind of divine protection applied There were ether flames here now, but…

“When I hit the wall, I was just so surprised that I didn’t knohat to do”

She left the wall and placed her right hand in front of her From that position, she lifted her knees and stood up

“Ah…”

As she stood in front of the controls, her left hip was cruht surrounded that area and the lines of her hip disappeared

She had either been burned by the flames or melted by the overheated ether fuel She touched it and could feel the skin and the bone within She host

Can this be healed? she wondered before se with no divine protection could destroy a ghost if it was powerful enough to destroy the ether orod, she would never survive

Why aht as she reached for the controls in front of her

Her left arone

Noticing that, she glanced to the floor, but it was nowhere to be found

She placed her other hand on the control panel to support herself The ceiling structure collapsed like a pillar on the back right end of the bridge, but she only needed the manual controls

“Move…”

She still had to move 2 of the 5 power conduit levers, so…

“…Nn”

Even as her body fell apart, she used her reht arm to push one of them forward

It was hard She was only using one arardless, she ed to push it all the way back and then reached for the other one

She would be done once she did this, so…

“Nn…!”

She pushed it back At first, she felt so back, but…

…I got it!

It was all the way back She heard theinto place

That was all 5 The conduits were fully open now

“I did it”

She breathed out and straightened up, but then she noticed so

The 2nd control lever had moved back to the front

…You’re kidding

The manual controls were one-way and received no feedback

“Then were the controls bent when a piece of the ceiling fell…?”

The 2nd control lever’s lock would not engage and it had fallen back down That just ain and hold it in place by hand That meant she could not leave this spot, but…

“…!”

Koht hand and pushed it However…

…It won’t go in!?

She heard the shi+p creaking and new ether light sprayed fro

The bridge itself bent and the control panel continued to change shape So the 2nd lever met some resistance as it slid and would not move She tried a few more times, but it would not move past that point

“…!”

Komahime used her entire body to push at the control lever She produced a solid metallic sound, but it only bounced back She did not have the sa of the shi+p

And when she looked out the , the light in the sky was gone

The defense barrier opened to support Novgorod was disappearing like a hole had opened in it

Rubble fell through that gap and she heard the ru down on the air

At this rate, the Jurakudai would be unable to support Novgorod and would fall with it

“No…”

She tried slaainst the lever, but it was no use

“No…”

Why was she crying? She raised a leg and tried kicking the lever, but that did not work either She grabbed a thin piece of the ceiling that had fallen nearby and swung it at the lever

“Kh”

But with abroke free of her fingers and flew into the air

Her hand hurt and she sie

“Kh…”

When she took a breath, even more tears spilled froe cru collapsed and a cascade of ether spray forlow of that light

“…I won’t give up on our promise”

So she opened an insha kotob It was for controlling the shi+p The entire Jurakudai was highlighted either in the red indicating danger or the black indicating an unresponsive area And the black was growing But the central control syste So…

“If I can’t release all the power to the defense barrier, I can set the shi+p’s gravitational control to maximum acceleration”

The bare ravity and she would crash the Jurakudai into Novgorod

The iatemomentum than a shi+p with no power

Of course, doing that would destroy the Jurakudai with its own acceleration and gravitational control pressure And that would be the end of Komahime as well But…

“I made a promise So, c’mon”

I kind of sounded like Shakenobe-san there, she thought with a smile

But she had sworn long ago to preserve peace between Oushuu and Sviet Rus, and…

“Right”

She had also proo to some distant place with the person she loved, and live there with him forevermore

She had failed to keep that last promise, but perhaps that was because it had been too convenient a promise for her

If she died, she had thought it would indirectly count for Hidetsugu’s suicide as well That hy she had killed herself, but she had not expected hi

But as a ghost, he would be free if he was released froo elsewhere

If her disappearance would give hiful

She concluded that she had successfully protected someone other than herself here

“So let’s do that”

She placed a hand on the insha kotob She set the Jurakudai’s half-gravitational cruising to full speed and she raised the shi+p’s angle so it would ascend

“…Good”

She stared straight ahead and saw the bottoorod She prepared to press the confirmation button on the insha kotob But…

“Mogami Komahime!!”

A sudden divine transe

Konized the voice but had never met its owner

…Musashi+’s Vice President?

Why was she sending an open divine transmission to PA Oda’s Jurakudai? But before she could think on that question, the arriving voice pierced her body

“Mogami Komahi on behalf of the Musashi+ Chancellor and Student Council President!”

And…

“Musashi+ will now take action to ensure we don’t lose you”

“That’s e’ll do”

North of Novgorod, the Sviet Rus fleet was descending iant city shi+pat the saorod

An idiot in a sue at the back of Okutama

The idiot had a silver wolf in front of him, a silver-haired automaton at his side, and a spell control shrine ht…

“Neshi+nbara, what happens next in your dream scenario?”

“It’s simple The Musashi+’s orod’s power system That rids it of the elements that would detonate when it crashes”

“Based on the range I was told earlier, that should work just fine,” said Tenzou on the left as he had Mary used a telescope spell to e

“Okay, then that’s e’ll do”

“Hey, Mogami…um…”

Koasped at the boy’s voice she heard

…So they don’t lose me…?

That’s iht But…

“Hey, Umahime”

“It’s Komahime!!”

“Sure So we’re about to help you energize or whatever, but we need a bit of ti do we need, Seijun? 2 ! Make it 1! …Oh, sorry, ‘Musashi+’ U-um, 1 minute 17 seconds? That’ll work? You can cut it down that far? Okay, U”

“Huh?”

“No, not ‘huh’,” he said with a laugh “Hold on for 1 minute and 17 seconds before you fall We’ll save you, so you do your best to make sure you can be rescued Y’see, we’re like so a major battle We’re bunnies”

For some reason, it sounded like someone hit someone, but Komahime had a major concern

“It’s no use! The machine here won’t move!”

“Ugh… Oell, get it to move?”

“Why was that a question? …And I can’t just get it to move It isn’t possible…”

“Is it broken?”

This tiirl’s voice The voice sounded calm but also contained a hint of a worried eht Komahime as she looked to the control panel

The control panel was not broken It was only bent which kept the control lever fro So…

“It isn’t broken It just isn’t …or can’t move…”

“Then there is nothing to worry about” Some relief entered the voice “If it is not broken, then it can beas there is a hand toas they are, you can rab so else instead”

“Who are you?”

“A café eambles”

Komahime did not understand that, but…

…I see

Her right hand was unharmed, so she moved it She opened an insha kotob, looked back over the power system since it could apparently still control divine transmissions, and set it to the full power available in this situation

It was not as much as before, but the defense barrier returned outside However…

“…”

It groaned as a great pressure reached it from above

Novgorod’s fall was speeding up

But she had to support it with the Jurakudai, so…

“I’ll do it”

She held her right sleeve in her mouth and pulled it back She rolled the sleeve up to her shoulder and once2nd control lever

When she pulled it back and then pushed forward, she felt the et past this, it’ll work

She calculated how long until Novgorod’s fall after the power adjustments fro the results to Musashi+

“The poill fail within 42 seconds …If I don’t get the Jurakudai’s full power running by then, Novgorod will fall And if it begins to fall in 42 seconds…”

“Don’t worry If we can save you, then you can do it”

She did not knohat hewould be okay So…

“Kh…!”

She gathered strength in her right arm and pushed at the control lever

The divine transan to transform

It all began with “Musashi+” spreading her are where she could look out upon everything

“This new equip, but…”

She dreo black-sheathed swords fro sword Ether light sprayed out as she pulled them out and she fixed the scabbards in the air

Sakai spoke as he sat on the bridge roof next to her and puffed at his pipe

“ ‘Musashi+’-san, you’re actually really into this, aren’t you?”

“What aerial shi+p would not want to use her new equipment? Over,” said “Musashi+” “Now, everyone aboard the Musashi+ At the request of the Musashi+ King, the Musashi+ Viceroy, and the Musashi+ Vicereine, Musashi+ will use its main cannon to re; it is an official firing This action has the approval of the Novgorod Mayoress and Sviet Rus Chancellor n the aforeotiations have already been settled, so I will now re safety Everyone, prepare the Aerial City-class Gravitational Cannon ACC-GC0021 Kanesada This tie Kanesada Over”

“Musashi+” then slowly drew the tords fro scabbards

And with that the Musashi+ opened up

It was entering ravitational cruising form

The transfors opening

But even more opened Before, they had pries of the Musashi+’s shi+ps, but now…

“Do it just like before, but all of the!!”

On the orders of the engine division chief, wings opened on the inner edges as well And…

“Send ascension coonna support the 2 center shi+ps with only the outer shi+ps!!”

“Musashi+” could tell her gaze was lowering

When preparing for gravitational cruising, the virtual ocean along the outer hull would vanish To make up for the lost buoyancy, they would accelerate forward and use that powerful forward ” But the thrusters were not active at the

As soon as she felt a little lightweight due to the falling n frames appeared around her

“Asakusa and shi+nagawa have finished preparing their outer gravitational cruising thrusters for horizontal firing! Over!”

“Same for Tama and Murayama! Over!”

“Same for Takao and Oume! Over!”

“Same for Musashi+no and Okutama! Over!”

“Judge” “Musashi+” nodded and continued slowly drawing the swords “All shi+ps, lock yourselves in firing position Over”

Light exploded outwards froh 3rd port and starboard shi+ps

That was the acceleration light of gravitational cruising, but it was not exploding backwards to push them forwards

It was exploding doards

All of the thrusters along the outer hull were aimed down

“Well done Over”

The power used to propel the sent down to propel them upwards

shi+genaga viewed the sight from the deck of the transport shi+p as it returned to her flagshi+p

The shi+ps on the Musashi+’s port and starboard sides were producing an expansive light and wavering down from the outer hulls

She understood the idea Before, the Msuashi+’s gravitational thrusters would have been fixed in the backwards-facing position, but now…

“Did they use the re to make them movable!?”

Her very question was its own answer Once the outer thrusters moved out into the open, they rotated and pointed doards to support the shi+ps

The doards acceleration on the outer edges was also transferred to the inner edges using buffering spells Light gradually wrapped around the bottom of Musashi+’s port and starboard shi+ps

…It’s like they’re cruising on a sea of light

But two of the shi+ps received none of the acceleration light: the central two Their freefall state was not supported by the gravitational acceleration light Instead, the towing belts let out a roan as they connected those two to the other shi+ps

shi+genaga did not have to wonder why they would do that With so like a metallic scream, the central shi+ps shook in the air while supported by the towing belts

The lights visible on the inner edges of the port and starboard shi+ps were probably sparks caused fro belt connections On occasion, the vertical stretching of the towing belts stripped soht sky

What were they hoping to accomplish with this?

But as shi+genaga watched, the central shi+ps’ descent slowed

They were probably supported by the shi+ps to their left and right

As her body floated up and everything seemed to be scooped back up by the wind, “Musashi+” slowly finished drawing the tords

At the sa fro the central shi+ps

But Musashi+no and Okutaht, so they were bent in a shallow U shape To fix that distortion, “Musashi+” raised the long Kanesada sword in front of her eyes

As she did, light wrapped around the straight sword-shaped ram on Musashi+no’s bow

That light extended forward in a longer version of the saht also raced fro the two central shi+ps And that second light tied itself to the stern with a bow

Meanwhile…

“So, ‘Musashi+’-san, is your weight okay?”

“First ht? Over”

“Well, I ht And you fell a little just now”

“That was not falling It was descending And it was Musashi+no and Okuta to do with me Over”

Musashi+no: “Principal Sakai, could you please avoid provoking the overall captain? Over”

Okutareed… And, yes, we are very heavy, aren’t we…? Over”

They develop nicely once their thought experience accuht “Musashi+”

“Now …We only need to open the barrel The virtual barrel Opening main barrel Over”

With that, “Musashi+” moved

She slowly pointed the long sword forward

She aiorod

But it was not just the sword tip that pointed in that direction

“Musashi+ Large Kanesada…main barrel open Over”

It began below the Musashi+no’s bridge A barrel made of ether extended to the front and back froe It was a tay rotation barrel with a defense barrier built in

The giant barrel loudly turned on its axis and the two pieces fit together front to back like they were constructing a great tower And…

“Asakusa, shi+nagawa, Ta main barrel service Over”

“Musashi+no and Okuta main barrel service Over”

The thrusters on the inner sides of the port and starboard shi+ps faced inwards Those on the central shi+ps pointed upwards and they forht which supported the barrel