Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront

「Asia! What’s going on!?」

Kou screamed in agitation inside his MCS.

He had heard the entirety of Aimer, Astraea, and Master’s exchange.

「Using the Familiar’s lives as a sacrifice, the performance of weapons gets drastically boosted.  Why does such a system even exist?!」

Aimer should find the Familiars sacrificing themselves for her even more painful than the possibility of her losing her own life.

Kou understood her feelings all too well that it hurts.  Familiars were individuals with their own lives and wills.  They absolutely weren’t weapons.

However, the new system was akin to a vicious curse rather than a blessing.

『I’ve already told you before, Kou. You really can’t place your trust in that fellow.  It’s just like the original myth. The name of the OS he provided was taken from the gift the mythical Prometheus had given to humankind. Humans, who have learned the knowledge of fire, used it to melt iron, made weapons, and began to kill one another.』

「If something like this becomes more widespread, the Familiars are really going to be treated as weapons……」

『That won’t happen. One of the triggers for it is a strong bond between people and Familiars. It cannot be activated if the Familiars do not feel a particularly strong bond with a human. It also cannot be activated unless the machines they are piloting are nearing their last legs. I’d rather like to think of this as that fellow’s gift to the Familiars so they’d have a means to honor their bonds even when they are close to death.』

Asia replied to Kou powerlessly.  She knew more about Familiars than anyone else. After all, she was their creator.

「Kh……」

「Kou, it really can’t be helped. Even I will probably be able to activate that system. Or rather, I think I’ve already been given access to it.」

Voy barged into the transmission in order to calm the agitated Kou down.  He was neither angry nor sad about what happened. He simply accepted everything.

「Voy! You absolutely can’t activate that system, alright?」

「C’mon, don’t be unreasonable, Kou. Of course, I’d activate it when needed. After all, I’m Voy y’know. That’s my answer.」

Voy had affirmed his conviction.  He truly thought that Chick and Tuck activating the Spirit Link System was only natural.   If possible, he was even willing to exchange places with the two.

From three minutes, they were able to have their ship last a full ten minutes.  That was more than enough time to shoot down a whole host of enemy machines.

「You said it’s already been installed in every MCS last time.」

『Yes. I did say that. Every gift that Prometheus has given (Fennel) is a bearer of flames.  Every functional MCS in the entire Nemesis warfront had already been installed with a Spirit Link System. It’s a gift with tremendous benefits, but also equally tremendous costs.』

「Aimer……」

Kou thought of the young girl who was fighting alone far away from them.  He truly resented his current helpless self.

All the air defense cruisers have already been sunk.

The escort destroyers also sank to the bottom of the sea one after another until only two remained.

A hail of anti-ship missiles rained down on Astraea.

Astraea had endured the relentless attacks well, but it would get dangerous even for a ship like her if she continues to take on such powerful attacks directly.

「I will protect Aimer.」

Ponko participated in the battle as the ship’s gunner.

To her, the enemy planes were only vile pests that were intent on causing harm to a young child.

「S-Stop! How are these laser shots so accurate? M-My plane can’t take anymore!」

The pilot of one Coulson screamed in despair.  He ended up taking direct hits from all laser rays fired at him, even though he normally would be able to avoid them.

Ponko made full use of Astraea’s laser cannons and continuously bathed enemy planes with destructive heat rays.   There was a limit to defending against high-output laser cannons with electromagnetic armor.  The spot constantly irradiated by the laser cannons finally melted up, and the Coulson exploded into a fiery ball.

However, Ponko ended up focusing on the Coulson too much.

One large missile managed to directly hit Astraea.  Ponko tried to shoot it down, but it was already too late.

The hull of the ship greatly shook.

「What?! How powerful……」

『So, they’ve even brought out large bombers. That was an anti-ship ballistic missile. It would be hard to intercept those.』

It had a diameter of 1.5 meters.  And this large missile had a total height of over ten meters.  Its maximum flying speed can reach Mach 15.  Even with Astraea’s excellent anti-air defenses, intercepting something like this was exceedingly difficult.

「Bombers. Edge Swift corps, prioritize bringing down the bombers.  No, wait. If that’s the enemy’s aim in the first place…… Command rescinded. Continue engaging the fighters in combat. Have a few units engage the bombers. Intercept the anti-ship missiles using the anti-air guns.」

The main purpose of interceptors was to engage and take bombers down.  However, Aimer had predicted that the bombers were just being used as decoys.

Several Edge Swifts climbed upward in order to intercept the bombers while the rest continued engaging the fighters in aerial combat.

The bombers fired large anti-ship ballistic missiles.  They held destructive power that was prohibited to be used on Fortress Areas.

However, Astraea wasn’t a Fortress Area.  That’s why their use against the ship was permitted.

『Regular anti-ship missiles are also incoming. They are wire-guided. They are being reinforced by Whis through the wire, increasing their penetration power.』

「Aimer, the wire-guided missiles reinforced by Whis are really dangerous. They also have a range of about thirty kilometers.」

「I know. The wire-guided missiles are the true threats. Hurry and intercept the wire-guided anti-ship missiles.」

The large anti-ship ballistic missiles possessed more explosive power, but the ones that will inflict true decisive blows will be the wire-guided anti-ship missiles with significantly increased armor penetration power through the use of Whis.

Once their armor gets pierced once, the enemies will take full advantage of that weak spot to bring them down.

「They’re using them at this time.」

『It seems they deployed the bombers due to the decrease in the number of our air defense escorts and interceptors.』

The most essential characteristics of anti-ship missiles were penetrating power and explosive strength.  On 21st century Earth, they were deployed on the premise of aiming at the more vulnerable parts of an aircraft carrier’s hull which had thinner armor than other combat ships.

However, space warships that were capable of navigating in space and withstanding the punishment of cosmic dust and meteors were heavily armored all over.  Ways for anti-ship weapons to more easily penetrate the armor of current-era ships were constantly being researched.

Since the only escort ships remaining were two destroyers, there were many defensive blind spots.  Hence, the enemies switched from swarming the fleet with a large number of formations to directly attacking Astraea herself.

「Hurry and analyze the wire-guided anti-ship missile they used earlier.   Pay attention to intercepting anti-ship ballistic missiles.  The interception of wire-guided missiles has the highest priority.」

『Understood.』

「If we can hold out for another hour…… I’m sure Fortress Area P336 will be able to fully take advantage of the situation.  We have to endure for at least that long.」

However, Aimer’s prediction ended up being off, but in a good way.

Five minutes after she’d made that assumption, a transmission came from Barry.

「Aimer-chan! We’ve fully secured air superiority.  The ground troops have also safely been deployed!」

Barry and the others must have made quite an effort.  Both Aimer and Astraea were surprised at how fast their allies had accomplished such a feat.

「You’ve done well, Commander Barry.」

「That’s my line. Hurry up and dive into the water already! Get away from there! You can’t take on thousands of enemy planes on your own!」

There were also quite a number of Edge Swifts that had already been shot down. The number of enemy planes was just that overwhelming.  High performance alone couldn’t bridge such a gap in numbers.

Currently, there were a total of 130 Edge Swifts in active combat. However, there was no doubt that the number would decrease over time.

And there was also no doubt that the number of enemy planes currently assailing them was more than 2000.

「Not yet. If we dive and make our escape now, the enemy aircraft will just switch targets to Fortress Area P336 again, and you’ll lose air superiority.  That’s probably also one of the enemy’s aims.」

The enemy commander was not incompetent in the least. They had sent out enough forces to be able to securely take down Astraea.  However, if Astraea escapes, they will just use those forces to finally bring down Fortress Area P336 instead.

「But-!」

「We can still hold on for a little bit more.」

「Aaargh! Screw this! We’re heading straight for you. Just hold on, Aimer-chan!」

「I already told you earlier. You’ll just be in the way. And you won’t make it in time anyway. If you have that kind of leeway, then please turn your focus on protecting Fortress Area P336.」

Aimer had cut off the transmission.  Just like Barry said, if they dived into the water now, they will probably be able to successfully escape.  However, that’s just playing into the enemy commander’s hands.  They will just use their overwhelming numbers to take air superiority over Fortress Area P336 once more.

That’s why Aimer, Astraea, and the rest still had to hold their ground.

「We can still fight.」

Aimer didn’t give up and continued to command the remaining Edge Swift fighters in the air.

However, the enemies weren’t idle either.

「An anti-aircraft battery has been destroyed.  There are only four batteries left.」

The Familiars gave out reports in succession.

Then, they suffered another powerful impact.  The MCS-type pilothouse that was supposedly strong against such impacts still shook greatly.

「The port side has suffered partial damage!」

「Confirming the extent of damage suffered. The flooding is minimal. Bringing down partition walls in the relevant sections.  Hurry and perform damage control!」

Aimer confirmed the situation of the damaged section and gave a rapid set of instructions.

The exceedingly tough armor of the Interplanetary War-era spaceship had finally gotten penetrated.

「Roger! Switching to waterproofing operations!」

「This is the Quattro Silhouette work squad. We will now begin emergency repairs!」

Aimer had already prepared for the possibility of Astraea’s hull getting damaged and had taken appropriate measures.

「Detected multiple enemy transformable Silhouettes! They’ve made it onto the upper deck!」

A rabbit-type Familiar screamed in warning.

「Switching to internal broadcast.  All hands, prepare to repel enemy boarding action.  Familiars, be prepared to evacuate using the submersible escape craft at any moment. Therianthropes, please.  Protect them.」

「Roger that!」

Eira, the rabbit-eared Therianthrope girl, smiled and saluted Aimer through the comms.

She was the leader of Astraea’s few maintenance crew members. Aimer couldn’t thank her enough.  She could have played an active part in the front line given her achievement of successfully taking down an enemy Antique Silhouette with her Epona, but she chose to get assigned to Astraea instead.

Eira’s Epona and the worker-type Quattro Silhouettes behind her were each equipped with kodachi-type Silhouette-use blades.

The blades possessed excellent sharpness.  They were mass-produced versions of the arc blade made by Arges.  The Therianthropes treated receiving them as a great honor.

However, it was a fact that the Quattros were disadvantaged when it comes to fighting within the narrow confines of a ship.

「The transformable Silhouettes have boarded the upper deck. There are more than twenty units.」

On the deck, the enemy Silhouettes had proceeded with their plan of destroying the deck elevators.

「How long will the elevators last?」

『An hour at most. Perhaps even sooner.』

「So, it’s no longer possible to dive underwater. Understood.」

Aimer continued to operate her terminal.

「Edge Swift corps, return destination switched to Fortress Area P336. Promptly retreat after thirty minutes.  All hands, prepare to abandon ship after thirty minutes as well.」

『Aimer, I will eject your MCS at the same time.』

「Rejected, Astraea.」

Many Familiars had already been sacrificed all for her sake. She no longer had any intention of surviving.

That’s even if her death will go against the Familiar’s wishes.

『A ship captain dying in the line of duty is prohibited. Even on 21st-century Earth, a captain is no longer obligated to be the last one to get off a ship in case of emergency.』

「I personally choose to fight until the end. So, it’s not dying in the line of duty.」

『I will not acknowledge such sophistry. Neither the Familiars nor the Therianthropes will evacuate without you evacuating as well. Are you going to make the Familiars and Therianthropes accompany you to die just for the sake of your petty self-satisfaction?』

Astraea didn’t mince her words.

Her words had deeply affected Aimer who no longer had any will to live.

「Emergency transmission from the surveillance aircraft! Unidentified units are fast approaching us from 6 o’clock. They’re coming from the direction of the sea! Machine cross-referencing complete. No data is available! They appear to be flying at a speed of Mach 4!」

The rabbit-type Familiar broke into the two’s conversation.

There were only a limited number of fighters in Asia that can achieve speeds of Mach 4 or higher.  The Tachycineta was the only machine on their side capable of reaching that kind of speed.  They haven’t confirmed any enemy units capable of the same.

『The six o’clock direction? They’re from a continent completely opposite of the Stones’. What’s going on?』

Astraea was puzzled about the sudden appearance of unknown aircraft.  The 6 o’clock direction meant that they came from the other side of the ocean.  That direction led to the Pyrochlore continent, which was completely opposite the location of the Stone’s main base.  It should be thousands of kilometers away.

「Even more enemies have appeared? Aimer, hurry up and escape.」

「If they really are enemies, then we have to try to hold out even more.」

Master began to persuade Aimer to escape.  However, the young girl vehemently refused.  If the incoming unknown machines were enemies, then Fortress Area P336 will get attacked from the side unless Astraea manages to get their attention.

However, the next report of a Familiar was given in a hopeful tone.

「Friendly signals detected! They’re allies! Initial estimates place their number at about 100 units!」