Published at 17th of August 2019 11:47 am

Volume 22, Chapter 2: Meanwhile, Elsewhere

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Saturday, November 20

For the people on board the O-hime, it really hurt as the imperial army detected just before their descent to the surface of Alaia. Because of that, the descent that was supposed to have been done in secrecy was imperfect, and as a result, after they entered the atmosphere and slowed down, they were attacked by the army.

"Emergency alert Ho-! We've detected four fighters approaching Ho-!"

"They're fighters that scrambled from a nearby base Ho-! The other nearby bases have probably launched fighters aswell, there will be more of them soon Ho-!"

"Everyone, grab onto something! I'll be driving a little roughly!"

As Kiriha said that, she set her engines to maximum thrust and twisted the control stick to the side. If they flew in a straight path, they'd be easy pickings for the fighters. In order to avoid that, they'd need to make evasive maneuvers.

"Change the Spiritual Energy Field to combat mode! Deploy Active Distortion Field! Active the interception system, start up the jamming! Help out too, Maki-chan Ho-!"

"Okay! Greater Mirage!"

As Kiriha was performing evasive maneuvers, various defensive measures were being activated. Spiritual energy and scientific barriers, jamming to get in the way of guidance systems for any missiles, and machine guns to shoot them down. Maki also used her illusionary spells to create a fake O-hime. With this many powers, the O-hime's defenses were solid. Even against four fighters, they wouldn't go down right away.

"Sanae, I'll leave the bombardment to you!"

"Roger! Galaxy Sanae-chan Buster charged to 120%!"

"The name is different from before Ho"

"It's the same in my soul so it's fine!! Goooooooooo!!"

Along with Sanae's yell, four beams were fired from O-hime. These were beams formed from a mix of the O-hime's spiritual energy generator and Sanae's own spiritual energy. Thanks to that, the beams could be bent by Sanae's will. The beams curved and flew towards the fighters behind the O-hime.

"W-What!?"

"Impossible!?"

This surprised the fighter pilots. The beams reflected off of something was one thing, but they had never heard of beams that curved on their own. Having been caught off guard, they followed their instincts and banked to the sides to avoid the beams.

"It's okay. I won't hit you yet"

Sanae hummed as she curved the beams to chase after the fighters. The attacks moved less like beams and more like missiles, despite that, the normal means of defense against missiles didn't work. Irritated by the beams chasing after them, the pilots decided to take action.

"Kiriha, it looks they're getting irritated and are shooting"

"I got it. Keep it up like that

"Got it!"

Each of the four fighters fired two missiles each. Though as they fired them while being chased by beams, three of the missiles flew off in unrelated directions. Out of all missiles, only five chased after O-hime. However, since Sanae had warned Kiriha beforehand, she didn't panic.

"Now then, I wonder what they're using to track us"

Kiriha operated her panels and fired off flares. At the same time, she reduced the output of the thrusters and turned to the side.

"So they were guided optically after all"

The missiles ignored the flares and continued chasing after O-hime. That made Kiriha conclude that the missiles were guided using optics. As they ignored the flares they weren't using thermal guidance. Moreover, jamming was in place and if they used spiritual energy, they would have a different reaction to Sanae's beams.

"Maki, can you make it look like the ship blew up?"

"Yes, I've done things like that before"

"Then do it grandly"

"Okay, leave it to me"

"Clan-dono―"

"I know what you want to say. Just leave it to me"

"Fufu, then I'm counting on you"

O-hime fled from the missiles for a while, but in the end it was unable to shake them off and got hit.

With a loud boom the missiles exploded upon impact and destroyed O-hime's frame. This caused the generator to detonate as well, creating a very big explosion so large it could be seen from far away.

"Sanae, how's it going over there?"

"It's going good. Looks like they think they got us"

"Good"

Of course, the O-hime that exploded was a fake. After using Clan's invention to make O-hime transparent, the illusionary O-hime that had been created as a defensive measure was made to explode.

"But we'll need to get out of here fast. They'll find out soon"

They still couldn't let their guard down. The device used to make O-hime transparent was something Clan had made for herself, it wasn't built with this kind of large object in mind. That meant that the effect was temporary, and it would appear again after some time. Even if it didn't, the army would notice that there are no remains soon enough and send out pursuers again.

"Don't worry, let's hide over there for a while"

Kiriha's plan had taken that problem into account. With a confident smile she pointed at a large lake.

Strictly speaking O-hime wasn't a spaceship, but additional equipment for the haniwas. It was made to make use of the combat data the haniwas had accumulated, and it was made to allow it to traverse any place that they themselves could go. So it could of course travel through space and air, but also underground and underwater. Of course, its combat capabilities were reduced as a result of this, and they'd want to avoid fighting a craft of the same size specialized for combat. This time, their opponents were four fighters, and even more were expected to arrive, so Kiriha had chosen to escape.

"How is it going?"

As O-hime stopped moving, Elfaria who had been in the residential section up until now poked her head into the cockpit. As expected, she couldn't sit still while Theia was missing.

"How are Yurika-chan and the others?"

Nana was also next to Elfaria. She was especially worried about Yurika. Her circumstances were the same as Elfaria, and she couldn't help but worry for her pupil and friend.

"For starters, we shook off our pursuers and escaped underwater. Sadly, we haven't heard anything from Theia-dono and the others"

The original plan was to lay low in a lake after descending to the surface disguised as a shard of ice. Even if the army arrived to investigate anything they found strange, they would never imagine that the O-hime would be underwater. That should have allowed them to get in unnoticed.

While they had been detected just before their descent, the enemy still didn't that they would hide underwater. With her flexible thinking, Kiriha adapted to part of the original plan, using an illusion to fool the army and safely hiding at the bottom of the lake.

"I see... I just hope they are safe..."

Elfaria showed an expression that seemed to be a mix of both relief and disappointment. The others could sympathize with those feelings. Kiriha and the others all couldn't help but feel anxious by the fact that they couldn't contact the three.

"I just wish there was a way to confirm that all three of them are okay"

Nana looked up as she mumbled. Above her was just the ceiling, but her focus was on the lake past that, and the army beyond the lake.

"... If we use communications now, the army will find us right away"

Contacting the three wouldn't be that hard. As they knew the rough area of where Koutarou and the others had fallen, they could just use high powered radio or gravitational waves. The problem was that if they did, the army would find them. The problem at hand now was to figure out a way to communicate without being detected.

"Uhm, can I say something?"

Everyone racked their brains to come up with a solution to the problem, and after the cockpit had fallen silent for a moment, Harumi raised her hand and requested permission to speak. As she did, all eyes in the room naturally gathered on her. Normally, that would be enough to overwhelm Harumi a little, but they were in an emergency right now. Pushed forwards by her strong emotions, Harumi continued to speak.

"I can sense Satomi-kun's presence through Signaltin. I'm certain that he's safe"

Harumi was constantly connected to Signaltin through a faint flow of magical power. Because of that, she could naturally tell the state of Signaltin without having to do anything. Currently, Signaltin had used up a lot of magical power during the re-entry, but was keeping up its defense as usual. That was proof that Koutarou was alright.

"Are you sure, Harumi-san!?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Satomi-kun is safe, so the other two should be as well"

As there were no healing spells being cast, the remaining two shouldn't have any serious injuries either. As long as they weren't killed instantly, that is.

"I see... then we can rest easy for now"

Thanks to Harumi's report, Elfaria's expression eased up. Following that, the atmosphere in the cockpit eased up a little as well. While they might be powerful, they were still normal girls. Knowing that their friends were safe was a huge plus to their mood.

"Sakuraba-senpai, can't you use Satomi-kun's sword to talk to him?"

With the tension easing up, their minds began to work. Shizuka believed that they should be able to speak with Koutarou using Signaltin's magical power.

"In terms of if I can or can't, I can... but I feel like I shouldn't"

Harumi shook her head impatiently. If she could, she'd love nothing more than to speak with Koutarou. However, there was a reason for why she shouldn't.

"Why is that?"

"Shizuka, if the magical power flowing between Signaltin and here gets stronger it will reveal our positions to Darkness Rainbow. With that man involved, that possibility needs to be considered"

The man that Kiriha was referring to was Elexis. As the fighters they encountered in space were equipped with spiritual energy sensors, Elexis was most definitely involved. Which meant that chances were high that Darkness Rainbow that went missing with him were also involved.

"Aika-san, do you think Darkness Rainbow will appear above?"

"The leaders probably won't, but I think some that can detect magical power might appear"

As the magical power flowing between Harumi and Signaltin was weak, that alone wouldn't get them detected. But if that flow increased to the point where communication was possible, they would most likely get found. The same went for radio and gravitational waves.

"Should I go?"

Radio, gravitational waves and magic were all no good. In that case, all that was left was spiritual energy. Sanae believed that her astral projecting herself to go look for the three would be the fastest way.

"No, let's keep that as our last resort. Your spiritual energy is too powerful"

However, Kiriha shook her head at Sanae's suggestion. As the enemy had gotten their hands on spiritual energy sensors, if Sanae were to fly around in her astral form, there was a chance she would get detected.

"Then, what do we do, Kiriha!? We can't do anything like this!!"

"We'll start by moving away from this place underwater. We won't be able to do anything with the army so close"

Kiriha had chosen to descend by this lake because it was very large. If they moved underwater, they would be able to safely leave their landing point in secret. While she was also worried about Koutarou and the others, the first thing they had to do was to escape from the army.

On Earth, the imperial army of Forthorthe had lost to Folsaria's group. That was not just due to equipment and fighting power, but also strategically.

Bandarion's aim for dispatching the soldiers to Earth was not just to capture Elfaria, but to have her retaliate, and get the soldiers killed in the process. That would drastically reduce Elfaria's support. However, in the end there had been no casualties on either side. That proved the ability and nobility of the Elfaria faction and instead helped to raise her reputation and increase her support.

Of course, Bandarion tried to control the information regarding the entire event. But with the information being so noteworthy, it spread by word of mouth, and it was too late to get under control. Moreover, as freedom of speech was guaranteed in Forthorthe, there was a limit to how much the information shared between individuals could be controlled.

As a result, it was a complete victory for Elfaria in all meanings of the word, and Bandarion ended up being led by the nose. With this outcome, the prideful Bandarion decided to team up with Elexis. It wasn't hard to imagine that Bandarion was burning with rage deep inside. On top of that, having to pay respects to a youngster like Elexis was nothing short of pure humiliation.

That was just as Elexis had planned when he leaked the information, but he didn't know how Bandarion would react when he faced him. That was Elexis' biggest cause for concern when he had been called for a conference by Bandarion. At the same time it was also the reason for Elexis' nervousness.

"You've done well to come, Elexis-kun"

In contrast to Elexis' expectations, Bandarion welcomed him with a smile into a luxurious salon. Besides him was his aide, Granado as well. He also welcomed Elexis with a calm smile. Only Bandarion and Granado were present in the salon that would be used for the conference. Elexis figured that it was a sign that they trusted him, and that the conference would delve into complicated topics.

"I am greatly honored to have you personally welcome someone as inexperienced as me, Lord Bandarion"

Elexis bowed while still standing in the doorway. He didn't break his smile either, but on the inside he was extremely nervous. Bandarion's behavior here would greatly affect his future, so close attention would need to be paid to all things.

"I owe a debt to you. A debt for letting us know of the capabilities of the Elfaria faction right away"

"Hearing you say that makes it worth sharing the information with you"

Elexis laughed like a carefree and inexperienced young CEO, while carefully observing Bandarion's words and actions.

It seems like he has far more frightening than I thought...

At this point, Elexis had a high evaluation of Bandarion. You could even say he feared him. If Bandarion was not a fool, he had probably seen through the intentions behind Elexis' information leak. That even with the information, he still lost, so he had no choice but to cooperate with Elexis, yet knowing that, Bandarion still had a confident attitude. That meant that Bandarion had a good control over his emotions, and was capable of calculating losses and gains in a cool-headed manner.

While it's going as planned, I doubt he'll let it continue like that... who knows what'll happen if I let my guard down...

Elexis was trying to team up with Bandarion for the sake of his own goals. However, upon actually meeting Bandarion, he felt like he would be the one ending up getting used if he didn't maneuver well enough. In order to keep that from happening, Elexis braced himself once more.

"If you stand there, we won't be able to come. Come this way, Granado's gone out of his way to prepare tea too"

"Okay... then excuse me"

Heeding Bandarion's words, Elexis headed towards the seat prepared for him. The salon's thick carpet was soft, and his foot sunk in with each step.

Now then, this is where it gets hard...

However, at the moment, Elexis didn't have the room to feel the softness of the carpet. Bandarion and Granado acting so friendly was just a superficial thing. In truth, it was more like he was standing before wild beasts with their jaws primed wide open. That's why Elexis focused all of his nerves so that he wouldn't miss the slightest reaction from either of them.

While Elexis and Bandarion were having their top-level talks, the subordinates of both sides were having a business conference. Even if the top's conference was going roughly, the meaning for both sides was great. They did stuff such as establishing simple information lines, deciding on how to respond in emergencies and dealing with information and supplies that should be shared.

And having mixed in with the subordinates who were negotiating was the magical girls of Darkness Rainbow who had their own mission to attend to. Thanks to magic, they were skilled at disguises and information gathering. They constantly changed their appearance with magic and easily infiltrated places that they normally wouldn't be able to enter, and stole a great deal of information about Bandarion's side. Moreover, they could also eavesdrop, hypnotize and directly read the mind. They got in the way of the information gathering that Bandarion's side was performing without being noticed while one-sidedly returned with a great deal of information. As expected, the unknown technology known as magic gave them an overwhelming advantage.

"So, how were Bandarion and Granado?"

Maya, who had been leading Darkness Rainbow in their information gathering welcomed Elexis who had just finished his conference with a smile. She had been on a mission where she had to put her life at stake, but that couldn't be felt at all from the way she was smiling. It was as if she had just gone out to play.

"Oh, they were quite scary people. I probably would have been devoured if I let my guard down for even a moment"

"They must be quite the people if they can make you say that"

Elexis on the other hand was acting the opposite of Maya. The moment he saw her face, the exhaustion and tension he had been hiding until then appeared on the surface. Even though he had just gone to speak to two people, Elexis felt like had just run through a battlefield. Of course, this was partially because of the sense of security he felt with just the two of them inside of the waiting room that had been assigned to him.

"I should have made a deal for equal cooperation but... I feel chills down my spine when I imagine if all of you hadn't been here. I am truly lucky"

The conference between Elexis and Bandarion had ended on a peaceful note. It had been decided that both sides would work together closely in the future. He had also gotten conditions that were equal. That likely bolstered his reputation as a business man. However, Elexis wasn't being optimistic. The conference seeming peaceful, and conditions being equal was probably just on the surface. If he didn't make a move right away, he would likely end up in a horrible disadvantageous position. In that sense, having Darkness Rainbow with him was very reassuring. Not even Bandarion would have a response to magic. In fact, even now Elexis was being protected by it. So despite being inside of a building belonging to the Bandarion side, there was no fear of being eavesdropped on.

"You're putting them up on quite the pedestal"

"It's my honest impression. If you meet then, you'll understand"

"That's awfully timid. In the past you were planning on dealing with them on your own, weren't you?"

"Right now, I am really glad that never happened"

Elexis was serious, he wasn't complimenting or flattering them on purpose. Elexis seriously needed Maya and Darkness Rainbow in order to go up against Bandarion as equals. That's why Maya picked up that Bandarion must be terrifying from Elexis' appearance. And because of that, she had something to say to him.

"I wasn't quite sure before hearing your story... but, since there's no doubt I'll let you know now"

"What happened?"

Sensing the change in the air around Maya, Elexis' expression sharpened. It was the expression of the partner that Maya chose. Satisfied with that, she continued speaking.

"They're planning on wiping out the people of the Elfaria faction and take out everyone around them as well"

"What!?"

Elexis froze on the spot from surprise. He had thought of Bandarion and Granado as fearsome, but he didn't think they'd go that far.

"That possibility appeared upon seeing the data inside of the computer, and from the behavior of Bandarion's subordinates. And your impression of Bandarion and Granado removed all doubt. There's most likely no doubts"

Maya's expression was stern. She hadn't expected them to go that far either. And upon hearing Elexis' impressions, Maya determined that they most likely wouldn't hesitate.

"What a foolish thing..."

"They don't have any aesthetics. Their actions are incoherent and off balance"

Elexis and Maya didn't hesitate to use twisted means for the sake of their goals. However, there was no meaning in doing that without restriction. As Elexis took action according to his beliefs to create his ideal society, he wanted to keep civilian casualties low. Maya wanted to let the people of Folsaria to return to Forthorthe with dignity, so she didn't want them to return to a barren wasteland.

"So in the end, they're the same as Tayuma..."

"They're a little different. If anything, they're ideologists, through and through. Though letting them be is equally dangerous"

People were necessary for an ideal society and a country to return to. Because of that, they couldn't accept the way Bandarion and Granado thought. To them, evil had its own way of blooming.

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