Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 25 - Chapter 2

Miscalculation

Monday, December 6th

While the group decided it would be best for Harumi to annul the contract with Signaltin, Harumi herself had yet to even open her eyes. With no other choice, Koutarou and the others reluctantly let her be for the time being and tried to make progress on their original objective: going into space after DKI.

“Hey, Sanae-chan,” Yurika said with a degree of curiosity.

“What?”

“What kind of a place is a space station?”

“Hmm... What kind of a place is it?” Sanae rubbed her chin, turning to Koutarou.

“Don’t look at me,” he said, shaking his head.

With the Reborn Forthorthian Army gaining control of the airspace around the spaceport and the military satellites in orbit, Koutarou and the others were safely able to enter space. Now they were waiting at the local space station for Theia’s personal battleship, Blue Knight, to arrive before proceeding further.

“It’s times like this you should turn to Kiriha,” he offered.

“To put it simply,” Kiriha interjected when she heard her name, “it’s like a spaceship that doesn’t move. In this station’s case, it’s like a very large spaceship being used as a port.”

“A port? Even though there’s a spaceport down below?” Yurika asked.

“Yes. There are still plenty of ships that can’t descend to the spaceport. In fact, you could think of this space station and the spaceport below as a single port.”

“Oh, I kinda get it!” Sanae chimed in. “It’s like a meeting place!”

“That’s right,” replied Kiriha.

Forthorthian space stations were like spaceports, just in space instead of grounded on a particular planet. They were something like a meeting place or a transfer gate between ships going to and from the surface, and spaceships coming and going from other planets. As far as design was concerned, most ships had to sacrifice size and transport capacity for the ability to function in the atmosphere and travel down to the surface. So larger transport and passenger ships that couldn’t make that tradeoff had to unload cargo and drop off passengers at the station, where they would then be able to take smaller ships to the planet below. Things were more efficient that way, and in that sense, the station was like a door separating space and the surface.

“Ruth, when is Blue Knight arriving?” Theia asked.

“I just confirmed the ETA, and it’s currently four hours away.”

Being a massive vessel over a kilometer long, Theia’s Blue Knight wasn’t a very stealthy ship. That’s why Koutarou and the others had left it behind when descending to Alaia. Specifically, they’d hidden it in the ring surrounding Alaia. Not unlike the rings of Saturn, Alaia’s consisted of countless asteroids, making things within it hard to detect among all the debris. And it was an effective tactic. Despite Blue Knight’s size, it had gone undiscovered by the Imperial Army the entire time they were on Alaia. Currently, it was meeting up with an allied fleet outside of the ring, and from there it would head to the station where Koutarou and the others were waiting.

“So we can take it easy until then, right?” Yurika asked.

“Don’t go too far though. While this area is under our control, it’s still dangerous. And even if that weren’t the case, you’re still a danger to yourself,” Koutarou warned.

“What are you saying?!”

“You’d definitely get lost in a place this big.”

“Ugh...”

“Regardless of what you’re doing, make sure you stay with Aika-san or Landlord-san.”

To accommodate spaceships the size of Blue Knight, the station itself was extremely large. It was over ten kilometers from edge to edge, making it one of the largest structures in Forthorthe. It was quite reasonable for Koutarou to worry about Yurika getting lost. And since there was no way to guarantee that the entire station was safe, their best bet was waiting out the remaining four hours somewhere they knew was secure.

To that end, Koutarou and the others were all currently in their hotel room aboard the space station. Since it functioned very similarly to an airport on Earth and people were constantly waiting for connecting flights, the station included facilities like hotels where passengers could get some rest in the meantime. Koutarou and company had gotten a room at one such establishment, but since they had more than ten people in their party, they had to use one of the larger rooms there. And yet despite how big the room was, they were all gathered around the sofa and table. Perhaps it was habit from living in room 106, but it just didn’t feel right to sit far apart from each other.

“Room service,” an unfamiliar voice called from the other side of the door.

“Coming!” Shizuka called back as she ran to answer it.

As leaving the room could be dangerous—including the risk of certain parties getting lost—the group had decided to hang out in the room. Instead of going out, they just had room service deliver whatever they needed.

“Oh? Isn’t this alcohol? I’m sorry, but we didn’t order this.”

“I’m terribly sorry. I’ll reconfirm the order and come right back.”

“Thank you.”

After dealing with the mistaken room service waiter with a polite smile, Shizuka quickly went back over to the others, but her smile was gone. She now had a serious look on her face.

“Kiriha-san, could that be what you were talking about a moment ago?”

“Indeed. Prepare yourselves, everyone. It’s very likely that an attack is imminent.”

They had less than two hours now before Blue Knight was scheduled to arrive. It seemed foolish to assume that room service they hadn’t ordered was just a coincidental mistake with that kind of timing. They wanted to be prepared for anything, especially if it might be an attack, so Koutarou and the others readied their weapons and waited.

“It’s quiet. Sanae, can you tell what’s going on?” Koutarou asked after a few moments of silence.

“Hmm, I can sense people moving, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone thinking bad thoughts.”

“We can’t sense anything either, ho!”

“But if DKI is supplying the military with equipment, we won’t be able to tell until they get close, ho!”

One minute, two minutes... Time slowly passed, but the enemy wasn’t attacking. Three minutes, four minutes... The clock continued to tick, but all was silent in the hotel.

“Were we mistaken?” Yurika asked.

Unable to stand the tension, Yurika was all too eager to jump to a conclusion. She was trying to relieve her anxiety by telling herself that an attack wasn’t really coming. Unlike Yurika, however, Maki was completely calm.

“Yurika, it’s standard procedure to launch an ambush when the enemy has their guard lowered. If they’re coming, it’ll be soon.”

“Please don’t say something that scary, Maki-chan.”

Scary or not, Maki was right. It all started ten minutes after the room service came.

Booooom!

The entire room suddenly shook with the sound of a loud explosion. It was enough to make the girls scream, but thanks to their experience and preparedness, they quickly recovered and took action. Danger was just around the corner.

“Ruth, what’s the situation?!”

Theia gripped the large rifle she’d prepare beforehand as she approached the door. The explosion was loud enough that it sounded like it had come from nearby.

“The surveillance camera in the VIP room has blacked out! The hidden camera in the hallway has spotted a suspicious group trying to break into the VIP room!”

Just as Theia made it to the door, Ruth had already located where the explosion had occurred. She sent a hologram of the camera feed to Theia’s bracelet. Black and white smoke was pouring from the hotel’s heavily guarded VIP room into the hallway. A dozen or so men wearing full-body suits made from a smooth material were entering the room one after another. Yet strangely enough, as they moved in, the people inside the room disappeared.

“No reaction on the optical sensor, ho!”

“No reaction on the spiritual energy sensor either, ho!”

“There are slight traces of mana. Yurika-chan, Maki-san, please investigate that more thoroughly!” Nana called to the other magical girls.

This level of technology was clearly above that of the Imperial Army. It was either DKI or, more likely, a military unit receiving support from them.

“A small force with equipment made by DKI. Magic is being used, but Darkness Rainbow is not present. In this situation, escape route C3 is most appropriate.”

After examining the information at hand, Kiriha quickly settled on a plan. She had actually anticipated all of this beforehand, which is why illusions that could move independently had been left in the VIP room while Koutarou and the others were actually all in a different room. They’d used illusion magic to alter their appearances, disguising themselves as a group of senior citizens on a leisurely vacation. And that was what the room service waiter had seen from the door earlier.

“Kiriha-san, wouldn’t it be better to just stay here?”

Although Kiriha’s suggestion was to escape, Koutarou objected. The enemy had attacked the VIP room, meaning that they still didn’t know where Koutarou and the others really were. Right now, it seemed to him like a better idea to stay put than to risk getting attacked while making a move.

“I’m suspicious that the room service waiter came when he did. They must have picked out specific rooms they found suspicious, which is why the waiter came by here too. And now that they know we aren’t in the VIP room, they’ll likely hit the other rooms to be sure. At this rate, we’ll be cornered!”

If the room service waiter was an enemy scout, they must have managed to narrow down Koutarou and the other’s possible location to a finite area. As the hotel had several dozen large rooms for big parties, they probably hadn’t gone door to door to check every single one.

“But Kiriha, if the explosion in the VIP room was to flush us out, won’t they be expecting us?”

Theia, who was observing the situation outside the door, pointed out a problem with Kiriha’s plan. Kiriha was a strategic genius, but Theia had wits to match hers when it came to small-scale battles.

“That’s why I picked escape route C3.”

As Kiriha answered, she sent detailed information on the route to Theia’s bracelet. Glancing over it, Theia smiled wryly.

“...Seems I was preaching to the choir. Then follow me, men! The enemy will soon be upon us!”

Now thinking it was their best option, Theia was on board with Kiriha’s escape plan and quickly took action.

“You’re in the back, idiot!” Koutarou called to the all-too-eager Theia.

“Who are you calling an idiot, huh?!” she roared back.

“The idiot that needs to protect Elle and Sakuraba-senpai!”

“You could have just said that from the start, jeez...”

Normally Koutarou and the others wouldn’t be so worked up in a situation like this, but right now they had also had to worry about Elfaria, who couldn’t fight, and Harumi, who was still unconscious. With two major liabilities, everyone was feeling a little extra on edge.

As Theia had pointed out, the explosion in the VIP room was most likely to flush their group out. That would in turn mean that the enemy force had plenty of troops patrolling the hotel, and the entrance would be heavily guarded. Anticipating that much, Kiriha’s escape plan involved them getting to the roof. From the floor they were on, it would be faster to go up than down. Also, the higher up they went, the less likely they were to run into enemy troops since they were probably concentrated near the entrance of the building. But most of all, avoiding people and conflict would mean avoiding getting innocent hotel guests involved. Most of them were quickly heading downstairs to evacuate, so shortly after leaving the room and heading up, Koutarou and the others didn’t see any other guests around.

“What do we do once we get to the roof, Kiriha-san?” Koutarou asked as he swung Saguratin. When he did, the blade of spiritual energy it released sent the two Imperial Army soldiers down the hallway flying.

“Because we need to carry Harumi, escaping in a vehicle is preferable. Since Clan-dono’s Cradle is on standby above, we’ll take that,” explained Kiriha.

“Yeah, we can’t run around the station pushing this,” added Sanae.

With Forthorthe’s technology, it would be possible for them to jump from the roof, but running around the station with the stretcher carrying both Harumi and Signaltin was a bit of an issue. Thanks to the gravity controls, the stretcher floated in the air and moved on its own as long as someone was guiding it. In fact, it was far faster than Yurika doing her best attempt at running. The real problem was its size. It stood out a lot, and it would be difficult to handle in narrow alleyways as they escaped. Avoiding that situation altogether certainly seemed like the best option.

Pew!

“You really do think of everything, Kiriha!”

Even as she twisted her head to dodge a bullet, Sanae was admiring Kiriha. Not only had she sensed the danger of the VIP room, but she had thought out ways to escape ahead of time. Sanae didn’t like thinking in the first place, so she was especially grateful to have Kiriha with them right now.

“Unlike you, it’s the only thing I’m good at. But now, it’s my turn to rely on your powers.”

“What do you mean?”

“They know we’ll try to escape in a vehicle. They should be able to figure out at least that much just from Elfaria being with us.”

If it wasn’t for Harumi, Kiriha might have tried to outwit the enemy by escaping on foot. But since moving Harumi that way would be too problematic, she had no choice but to try and make it to the Cradle from the roof.

“So there’s a lot of soldiers, huh?”

Clang! Bang!

“Don’t worry, Kiriha,” Theia announced. “I’m good at forcing our way through.”

“Heh, I’m expecting a lot from you.”

Beneath her calm exterior, Kiriha had felt a little anxious about her escape plan. But after seeing Theia’s smiling face through the puff of smoke from her rifle, she started to feel like everything would work out just fine.

In order to get to the roof, the group would need to use either the elevator, the normal stairs, or the emergency stairs. Naturally, the elevator was out of the question. That meant they had to take one of the staircases, but their design made them optimal for ambushes. It was an incredibly dangerous proposition.

“According to Sanae-chan, there’s one on the other side of the wall here, and one more over here.”

However, Koutarou and the others thankfully had Sanae with them. They had her leave her body to peek through the walls to check the other side for ambushes so they could avoid them altogether. That’s what they were doing right now. Sanae-chan was scouting out the enemy positions and conveying the information to Sanae-san, who then relayed it to the group.

“It’s show time for the genius magical girl,” Theia said with a smirk.

Yurika half groaned, half whined. She knew what she was being asked to do. Once Sanae had pinpointed the enemy, it was Yurika’s turn to step in. And each time she did, tears welled in her eyes.

“P-Paralyzing Mist...”

“Don’t cry now,” said Koutarou.

“But... But...”

Within a confined space like a building, attacks that took a continuous toll on their victims like poison or acid were incredibly powerful. They also had the added advantage of being effective over an area, meaning she didn’t have to know the enemy’s exact location to target them. But most importantly, they were the specialty of the magical girl of love and courage, Rainbow Yurika. And just like that, two more soldiers were knocked out by Yurika’s poison gas. It was a splendid maneuver. They managed safe passage with zero casualties, but Yurika still couldn’t be happy about it.

“This is wrong. This is so completely wrong.”

“But it’s really helping us out,” Koutarou offered.

“Aaauuuuugh...”

“But it looks like this is as far as we can rely on Yurika,” Theia commented.

With Yurika eliminating the enemy, Sanae-chan came back through the wall.

“Theia’s right. There’s a bunch of soldiers waiting for us in the hall up ahead. They’re wearing things that look like gas masks, so Yurika’s signature attack probably won’t work again.”

While scouting ahead, Sanae-chan had spotted twenty soldiers waiting for them just before the emergency stairs leading to the roof. They were far more heavily armed than the ones they’d come across so far.

“Sanae, what kind of weapons and equipment do they have?”

“Um, a lot of strange weapons like big guns on tripods and metal balls floating in the air. And they’re wearing armor that looks hard to move around in.”

“As I suspected...”

Kiriha’s expression grew stern. She’d anticipated heavily armed forces had been positioned to keep them from getting outside, but this was more serious than what she’d expected.

“Gas masks and heavy armor implies they know about our abilities. They’re fully countering Yurika’s specialty.”

“Kiriha-san, it’s not my specialty!”

A gas mask to protect against the poison gas, and full armor to protect against the acid. It was pretty clear they’d taken specific precautions against Koutarou and the others. If they went in thinking it would go the same as it usually did, they’d likely pay for it dearly.

“Hey, Kiriha-san, if Uncle and I just open up a hole in the wall, we wouldn’t have to fight, would we?”

It was foolish to fight an opponent that clearly had the upper hand, so Shizuka’s idea was to use Alunaya’s power to bust through the hotel wall and make it to the Cradle from there. Kiriha, however, shook her head at the idea.

“If we do that, the enemy would learn our exact location, and they might even follow us.”

Koutarou and the others were relatively safe because they were still within the Reborn Forthorthian Army’s sphere of influence, meaning there was a finite limit to the Imperial Army forces in the area. And as long as they didn’t know precisely where Koutarou and the others were, it would be impossible to focus their troops in a targeted attack. They needed to keep a low profile, and blowing a hole in the outer wall of the hotel would just announce their location and dramatically increase the odds of being attacked directly.

“Rats. I guess we really will just have to defeat them and get to the roof as quickly as possible...” Shizuka sighed.

While she was strong, Shizuka was still a normal girl at heart. She couldn’t help but shying away from this kind of fighting. Conversely, however, Theia was chomping at the bit.

“There’s no need to worry. Like I said before, I’m good at forcing my way through! Leave it to me! Besides, Koutarou is here too!”

“We’ll manage somehow, so don’t worry, Landlord-san.”

“Thanks, guys.”

Shizuka wasn’t the only one who was feeling uneasy. Since most of the girls had no military training, Theia and Koutarou’s leadership was a much needed bolster to their morale. It gave them all the courage to step into the clutches of the enemy without fear in their hearts.

What they needed to be most wary of as they entered combat in the hallway was soldiers calling for reinforcements or otherwise accidentally alerting other groups of soldiers that there was a fight going on. Accordingly, the first thing they did was jam communications and cloak themselves.

“Here we go, Pardomshiha!” Clan rallied.

“Yes! Commencing jamming on all bands of gravitational wave communication!”

Ruth was broadcasting a jamming signal using the communication wave that Clan had analyzed beforehand as reference. With that, communications for the forces in question were shut down, and other forces would get dummy transmissions. While they would eventually notice, it was more than enough to buy some time.

“Maki-chan, let’s do our part too!”

“I’ll follow your lead, so you start!”

“Sanctuary! Modifier: Effective Area, Large!”

With the ward raised by the magical girls, sounds, and vibrations, as well heat and electromagnetic waves wouldn’t leak to the outside. Now all the Imperial Army soldiers could do was try and defeat Koutarou and the others with their own power.

“Theia, we’re going in!” Koutarou called.

“Leave support to me! You just focus on what’s in front of you!”

With Elfaria and Harumi at the back, they couldn’t let the Imperial Army get any closer. To that end, Koutarou, who had the best defenses, would close in on the enemy and keep them from advancing. The plan was for the other girls to defeat one soldier each as he held them back.

“Alert message: The enemy forces are showing signs of attacking. Deploying GoL’s active distortion field,” the AI in his armor warned.

“I’m counting on you. You’re all I’ve got for defense this time.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

With Harumi out of commission, Koutarou was only using Saguratin. Thanks to Sanae’s influence, it was unrivalled in strength against spirits, not to mention the flesh and bone of humans. Even though he was one sword down, it was by no means inferior to Signaltin. With his armor, including additional defensive support from GoL, Koutarou was still well equipped for combat.

“You should be relying on me, not your armor!” Theia shouted.

“Me too, me too!” Sanae chirped.

“All right, let’s do this!” Shizuka rallied after them.

The three girls followed Koutarou. They would be responsible for dealing with the enemy. Or, more specifically, protecting Koutarou as he took the lead. The first to fire was, as expected, trigger-happy Theia.

“Don’t think you can defeat me just because I’m not wearing my dress!”

Theia wasn’t currently wearing her combat dress. Because it increased her mobility and firepower, it wasn’t suited for use in the narrow confines of the hotel. Even the comparably lightweight Command Green would get in the way of the other girls. Instead, she was relying exclusively on her gun. She was using a light and compact assault rifle chosen for its handling, and she would be making up for its lack of accuracy with pure skill.

Ratatat! Ratatat!

Theia fired in bursts of three, specifically aiming for the hotel light fixtures. Defenseless and immobile as they were, they didn’t stand a chance against Theia’s sharpshooting.

“Wahahaha, you can’t use night vision when you’re wearing those gas masks!”

“O-Oh no! Get the lights!”

With all of the lights destroyed, the hall went dark. The soldiers protecting the emergency stairs to the roof were confounded, but it had no effect on Koutarou and the others thanks to Sanae, who was transmitting her spirit sight to them.

“Super Sanae-chaaan! Paranormal Activity!”

While the soldiers were scrambling in the sudden darkness, Sanae launched her attack. The vast amounts of spiritual energy overflowing from her body assaulted the barrier generator set up behind the soldiers. It began rattling and shaking enough that screws and bolts began falling off of it on their own. If the soldiers had seen it, they might have panicked at the eerie sight.

“Landlord-san!”

“Yeah!”

As the Imperial Army soldiers were carrying lights, the hallway was soon lit up again. But by that time, Koutarou had already made it halfway to them. Following close behind him was Shizuka.

“Fire! Open fire! Don’t let them get closer!” the enemy captain ordered sharply.

Pew! Pew, pew, pew!

The dozen or so soldiers hurriedly aimed their laser rifles, and shot after shot rained down on Koutarou and the others. After closing in on them, Koutarou would normally swiftly defeat the soldiers before him, but not this time.

“Alert message: Heavy load on the distortion field. The strategy algorithm recommends an immediate retreat.”

“That won’t do. Just try to hang—”

Ratatatatatatata!

That was when a heavy machine gun locked on to Koutarou and unloaded a whole new hail of fire on him. If it had just been the machine gun, dodging wouldn’t have been that hard. However, while simultaneously trying to avoid the lasers, he couldn’t afford to concentrate on just the bullets.

“Critical alert: The distortion field will collapse in three seconds.”

“It’s that bad?!”

“Recommend activating emergency protocol. An immediate withdrawal from the combat area is required.”

“Tch!”

The hail of bullets pushed the barrier created by Koutarou’s armor to its absolute limits. The whole thing was about to collapse. Even for a heavy machine gun, it was unthinkable.

Now you’ve done it, Elexis!

When faced with a heavy load of lasers, it was impossible to dodge all of them. Some of them were inevitably going to hit. That’s why slipping in a heavy machine gun even when Koutarou used his spirit sight—or rather, because he was using his spirit sight—left him unable to dodge the bullets. It was a method of attack that had been devised knowing Koutarou’s equipment, abilities, and his way of thinking.

To top it all off, the ammunition for the machine gun in question had been enchanted. When showered with overly powerful bullets, the barrier created by Koutarou’s armor couldn’t protect against them all, despite being reinforced by GoL. First the gas masks and armor, and now this. Everything about the way these soldiers attacked and moved had been specifically planned to handle Koutarou and his allies. There was no way that DKI wasn’t involved.

And not having Sakuraba-senpai here is making this harder than I thought it would be!

In an indoor battle against humans, Saguratin was a worthy match for Signaltin, but at a certain point, it wasn’t just about the sword. The magic of Signaltin was that it was a weapon used by two people.

Since both Koutarou and Harumi controlled Signaltin, when he wasn’t using it to attack, she could cast spells with its reserve strength. It was like it was operating at maximum efficiency at all times. In that sense, it was probably even stronger than when Alaia had wielded it herself, because she likely wouldn’t have been able to control it as deftly as two people could at once.

If Harumi had been there with Signaltin, the heavy machine gun probably wouldn’t have been any real threat. She could have used defensive spells to protect against it, used illusion magic to throw off its aim, or even used an offensive spell to put it out of commission. Koutarou wasn’t just down a sword. He was down a magician. That was how big of a difference not having Signaltin made.

Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!

Koutarou’s barrier finally failed, and bullets began pounding his armor. Round after round dented the suit, which began to crack in places. Even with GoL, considering the force behind the bullets, it was only a matter of time before the armor completely buckled.

“Activate emergency protocol!”

“Limiter released. Generator output at 120 percent. Center of gravity has been changed. Energy distribution has been altered. Automatic evasion priority has been changed. Forced heat exhaust system activated.”

“Please let this be enough!”

Pushing his armor to reckless limits, Koutarou’s movements became extremely fast. With that, he was able to escape the spray of bullets from the heavy machine gun, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He still had over a dozen laser rifles aimed at him.

Pew! Pew, pew, pew!

“Something like this!”

“Driving devices one and two on upper left arm, and driving device two on lumbar vertebrae damaged. Circuits have been bypassed. Reactivation in process.”

Koutarou was right in front of the Imperial Army soldiers now. If he charged in, the risk of friendly fire might make it harder for them to attack, but based on the damage report from his armor’s AI, it was probably too much to hope for.

Ratatatatatatata!

Although he’d shaken off a round of fire from the machine gun, it was already firing again. If the bullets caught up to him this time, there would be nothing he could do but retreat. Unfortunately, with his movements slowed by his now damaged armor, the volley of bullets began slamming into GoL.

“Left arm of GoL has ceased functioning. Seizing energy supply. Redirecting... Close combat attack power has dropped by 20 percent.”

“Even that wasn’t enough?!”

Not even channeling all of the energy normally used for offense into defense was enough to block the enchanted bullets from the machine gun. Several parts of GoL had already been destroyed, and it was rapidly losing power.

“Agh...”

A bullet pierced his damaged blue armor and injured Koutarou’s left arm. It wasn’t all that serious, but it was clear it wouldn’t be the last hit he was going to take. The pain had only distracted him for a split second, but a new volley of bullets was now closing in on him.

“Don’t... worry...”

Suddenly, a pure white light appeared before Koutarou. It transformed into a glowing shield and blocked the bullets from reaching him.

“Sakuraba-senpai?!”

Koutarou knew immediately where that light had come from. It was Signaltin and Harumi on the stretcher in the back. They were easily powerful enough to reach him from this distance. There was no mistaking that the power that had protected Koutarou since even before he ever held Signaltin was protecting him even now.

Ratatatatatatata!

However, it was much weaker than normal. As if it represented the weakened Harumi, the white light was faint. Because of that, the shield only held out against the bullets for a few seconds.

“Everyone, take care of Koutarou!” Shizuka shouted.

However, those precious few seconds the shield had bought changed Koutarou’s fate. Shizuka used that time to transform into her half-dragon, half-human form, and she now leaped to his defense.

Pwooooosh!

She opened her mouth wide and spewed flames across the hall. She was prioritizing area over power with this particular attack, so it didn’t do much harm to the armored soldiers. But even so, it was only natural to flinch when doused in fire, and the flames temporarily obscured the soldiers’ vision. It was enough that their attacks stopped for the moment.

“Intelligent Illusion!”

“Greater Force Field!”

The magicians used that opening to make their moves. Maki cast an illusionary spell that created several fake Koutarous, while Yurika cast a spell to protect him.

“Sanae-chan God Arrow!”

Sanae joined in after them. With a rarely seen serious expression on her face, she fired an arrow made of spiritual energy. Normally it would split into several arrows to attack multiple enemies, but this time it remained intact and headed for a single target. It was going after the heavy machine gun that was hard targeting Koutarou.

“You dare to harm my knight?!”

“I won’t let you kill Master!”

“What a troublesome knight you are!”

Theia, Ruth, and Clan then joined in to attack the other soldiers. With the enemy’s large barrier generator destroyed, the girls took their targets out one after another.

“Koutarou, fall back now, ho!”

“Big brother, we want you to protect Ane-san and Elle-chama in our stead, ho!”

“Y-Yeah, thanks...”

Things didn’t seem so bad now. Because the troops had been focused on Koutarou, the girls saw an opening and took advantage of it. Koutarou had accomplished his original goal. The only real miscalculation was that he had taken too much damage in the process. And with that, Koutarou retreated and left the rest to the girls and the haniwas. He knew that continuing to fight with the heavy damage he’d taken to GoL and his armor would only put his allies at risk.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Koutarou.”

“Layous-sama, are you hurt anywhere?”

Kiriha and Elfaria welcomed Koutarou back. They were both visibly concerned. Kiriha even had tears in her eyes. It was obvious he’d given them quite a scare, and the same was likely true for the other girls.

“I’m fine. This is nothing. If anything, the problem is that I just got in the way.”

Koutarou showed off his injured left arm with a wry smile. It wasn’t a serious injury. Koutarou was honestly more shocked at his performance during the fight. He’d thought he’d be able to handle it without Harumi, but reality was harsh, and he’d learned a painful lesson. In the end, Harumi had still even had to use her power to save him. Because of that, Koutarou was unable to take his eyes off the stretcher where Harumi was still sleeping.

“I think that problem lies with all of us. None of us imagined what it would really take to close the hole left by Sakuraba-san,” offered Nana, who was with the others on the rear lines.

The way Nana saw it, everyone had failed in a way. The girls were all still holding Koutarou to his usual performance in combat, so they’d held off on coming to his aid. With Harumi unable to fight, they knew they needed to change their priorities, but just like Koutarou, they had only thought of it as being one ally down. No one had really considered how losing Harumi would affect the dynamics of the way Koutarou fought. Their perfect teamwork had been disrupted.

“Moreover, the Imperial Army was focusing explicitly on you. You may not have noticed in the heat of the moment,” Kiriha added.

Elfaria, Nana, and Kiriha had had a full view of the battle from where they were waiting in the back. They of course saw the mistake in underestimating the loss of Harumi, but they also realized partway through the fight that the soldiers were outright ignoring Theia, Shizuka, and Sanae. Both factors were what had driven Koutarou into such a dangerous position.

“They were focusing fire on me?”

“Yes. Vandarion considers you more of a nuisance than you may realize. He probably thinks the tables will turn for him if he kills you.”

Kiriha believed the lasers and heavy machine gun were measures taken against Koutarou specifically. As lasers were weaponized light, they connected with their target almost instantaneously. By grouping several of them together, it would be easy enough to pin Koutarou down. That way, even if he dodged the lasers, the heavy machine gun would be able to finish him off as the bullets caught up. Combined with countermeasures against Yurika, it was a simple, yet effective and thoughtful plan. Even more so without Harumi on their side. It was really very poor timing for Koutarou and the others.

“That said, the plan wasn’t formulated to do anything other than that. If it didn’t work out of the gate, they’d just be normal troops with slightly better equipment, which would mean...”

“Kiriha, Koutarou! We’ve cleaned up over here! Let’s get to the roof before more show up!”

“...that would happen.”

By the time Koutarou had talked through what had happened with Kiriha and the others on the rear lines, the fight was over. While the soldiers had been given the equipment they needed to kill Koutarou, they didn’t have the power to defeat his allies—especially not with the girls angry that Koutarou had been wounded. The Imperial Army soldiers never stood a chance.