Published at 17th of August 2019 11:50 am

Volume 22, Chapter 6: Bitter Enemies in the Same Boat

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Wednesday, November 24

It seemed that the trailer carrying the disassembled new weapons was passing through the region where Koutarou and the others were as they headed towards a large city. As the Elfaria faction had a military base in that city, it was believed that the aim was to launch a surprise attack on that.

"Why don't they just directly bomb it from the air?"

"It's too close to the urban area. An attack from bombers or battleships would cause a lot of civilian casualties if they didn't announce it beforehand"

"So if they announce it beforehand the people at the base would have time to prepare. But that said, if they didn't announce it, the public opinion would inevitably oppose it"

"That's right. Also, if there are civilian casualties, that would mean that there was an attack on the urban area, which is a violation of the galactic treaty's codes of conduct"

"So they'll lose their ability to claim that they are in the right"

"If a little more time passed and they gained complete control of the media they might bomb without any hesitation, but that's not realistic right now"

"I see, so that's why they'll attack with the newly developed mobile weapons"

Koutarou and the others were travelling with the squad that would attack the trailer. The attack would be performed by a force gathered from the area. As their path was the same for some of the way, they ended up travelling together.

"Which means that you were doing some sketchy stuff in the past"

"What sketchy stuff?"

"You tried to blow up Corona House with the Blue Knight when we just met, remember?"

"You also shot Maki-chan with a laser cannon~"

"Shh, shh! Shut up, that was just youthful folly!"

Koutarou and the others were using a transport truck to move around. While it was a truck, it was different from that of one from Earth, it had no tires and instead it floated through the air. Because of that, there was practically no sound when it was running and it didn't get in the way of discussions inside the truck.

"You better thank Ruth-san for stopping you"

"I already have! Now let's stop talking about when I was stupid!"

"Ahahaha... by the way, when are we getting to everyone else?"

"Hm? Uhm, the distance is about twice of that that we walked across the forest, but I doubt it will take more than two hours"

The distance was about 200 kilometers, roughly twice the distance they walked through the forest. If the truck they were on moved at full speed, they would arrive within the hour. However, since they didn't want to stand out, they were travelling at the same speed as commercial vehicles, so two hours was the estimated time it would take.

"So twice of that would only take two hours... now I feel kind of sad"

"That's just how it is. Her Majesty Alaia's travel would be over in an instant with vehicles of this age"

"The concept of travel has changed after all"

The planet Alaia was still under continued development, and its population wasn't all that much. Because of that, there was desolate wilderness and vast forest between the towns. The truck Koutarou and the others were in was practically sliding over a thin road between the towns. Compared to the forest, the time it would take wasn't all that long, and it was very calm. It was only natural for Yurika to feel sad.

After travelling for roughly an hour, the truck carrying the three of them stopped by the side of the road. There was a fork in the road here. It was here that Koutarou and the others would part with the soldiers from the Elfaria faction.

"Everyone, return safely..."

Theia stepped outside the car and saw the truck carrying the soldiers off. The truth was that she wanted to go with them and fight. But she had reasons not to. Not being able to win by individual combat was what war was.

"... Koutarou. Would Her Majesty Alaia worry at times like these too?"

How did the legendary empress overcome that impatient desire. There was someone next to Theia that had the answer to that.

"You already know the answer to that, don't you?"

"I want to hear it from your mouth. From your mouth as you've actually seen and heard her"

"... In battle, soldiers die. The people suffer. If Mafxern wanted to establish a good government, Her Majesty Alaia's desire for justice might just be self-righteousness. Thinking like that, she considered not raising any soldiers"

Koutarou could clearly remember the night of the harvest festival 2,000 years ago. Alaia wanted to give up on the subjugation of Maxfern for the sake of the citizens. To her, Maxfern was clearly an enemy. He had killed her parents and was trying to take over the country. But even then, she believed that it might be best for the citizens not to fight Maxfern.

"But in the end, she decided to fight. She understood that the citizens wouldn't be happy if she left Maxfern alone"

The meaning of someone who loves peace like Alaia to decide to go to war was heavy. Maxfern needed to be slain even if that meant forcing hardship onto the citizens for a while. Because Maxfern wasn't intending on creating a good government.

"Thanks to that, we have the current Forthorthe. This country's long history and traditions are thanks to Her Majesty deciding to fight back then"

"Hmm... I see"

It was something she already knew. But hearing it from Koutarou, she was able to renew her feelings. It was hard to imagine that Bandarion would establish a good government after going this far. They were in a situation where they had to fight.

"... Soldiers fighting alongside me... I wish you good luck..."

Even then, her feeling of impatience didn't go away. If it did, it would be the start of a tyrant. That's why Theia would fight even with these complex emotions, believing that the results would lead to a bright future.

Koutarou and the others had temporarily stop to allow for the scout to go up ahead. As they were away from their many allies, they needed to stay on guard. Because of that, Koutarou and the others didn't start moving until a few minutes after the soldiers attacking the trailer had left.

While a scout had been sent up ahead, they were already in Pardomshiha territory, so chances of a sudden attack wasn't all that high. The chances of the enemy having any information that Theia was here was also low. It was something done just in case. Because of that, their travel was quiet as always.

However, that silence was broken by the soldier driving the truck.

"Your Highness, the scout has detected flying object approaching at high speeds! It's coming from our 11:30 direction!"

The soldier's voice was full of tension. As this was a mission regarding a princess, he took someone approaching far more seriously.

"What kind of object!? An enemy!?"

"I don't know! There's no mistaking there being a flying object, but the sensors can't distinguish it! It could just be a big bird, or it could be a small stealth craft, anyways it's not a normal weapon!"

The scout that had been sent up ahead sent a warning. The sensors of the small car the scout was in had detected a flying object approaching. However, the target was small, and he was unable to get a detailed analysis. At best, he could use the data he had to determine that it was larger than a meter, but smaller than two.

"Koutarou!"

"... From this feeling, it's probably a human! I can sense willpower!"

Though there was still some distance between them, Koutarou could sense that the approaching object was human. He had spiritual powers that he got from Sanae, and those powers let Koutarou sense the aura of the flying object.

"Is it an enemy!?"

"I can't tell. There's precaution and haste... but no clear hostility. It might be a scout from their side"

Koutarou couldn't distinguish if the approaching human was friend or foe. If it was someone that had been given an order to attack, he should be able to sense those intentions. However, there was no trace of that. In that regard, it was more likely to assume that it was a scout, rather than someone flying without an objective.

"... No, this is an enemy"

However, Koutarou's guess was swiftly shot down by Yurika's words.

"Darkness Rainbow is coming!"

Yurika could sense magical power from the approaching object. As Koutarou said that it was a human, that meant it must be a magical girl from Darkness Rainbow. And if that was the case, Yurika would have to fight. Yurika's current expression, shine in her eyes and the condition of her voice were all that of a magical girl of love and courage.

"Please stop the truck!"

"What are you going to do!?"

"I'll intercept her! Based on the situation, they know our position!"

Yurika believed that the enemy already knew their rough position. She didn't know if that was because of simple information gathering or because of forecasting magic, but there was a high chance that magic was being used to fly towards them because their location was already known. It was hard to imagine that they were just flying around all over the place in hopes of finding leverage that can be used against Bandarion.

"Okay, stop the truck!"

"As you wish, My Princess!"

"I'm going!"

As the truck stopped, Yurika dashed out immediately. Her movements were so fast it was hard to imagine it was Yurika.

"Yurika, wait! Don't go alone!"

Koutarou quickly jumped out of the truck and chased after Yurika.

Geez, when it comes to magic, Yurika is always like this!

While Yurika was acting correctly as a magical girl, as a girl, she was incorrect. That's why Koutarou drew the two swords hanging off his waist in order to resolve the problem driving her to fight.

"Blast Fireball - Modifier - High Concentration"

By the Koutarou readied his swords Yurika was already in the middle of an incantation. She was casting an exploding fireball spell. This time she compressed its to its limit and turned it into a highly destructive attack spell. As this extremely hot fireball had quite the explosive force behind it, there was no need to score a direct hit. It was an effective spell against someone flying at high speeds.

"How does it look!?"

Finally, somewhat after the other two, came Theia. She had been delayed because she was attaching the weaponry to her Combat Dress. Her equipment this time was almost the exact same as Assault Red.

"We should be able to see her very soon. She'll come out from the curve up ahead"

Koutarou held his two swords, Theia pointed her large cannon forwards and Yurika's incantation was finished, and her spell was ready to fire. They had finished preparing for interception before the enemy arrived.

"Here she comes!"

Just after Koutarou raised his voice, someone appeared out of the trees about 200 meters in front of them. As expected, it was a magical girl.

"Rainbow!! I finally found you!!"

"Crimson-san!?"

The magical girl's identity was Dark Crimson. She had peculiar clothes colored dark red and flaming red hair. It was the crimson magician who had the highest attack power of all of Darkness Rainbow.

"Her, huh! No wonder she's coming from the front!"

"The most problematic ones here!"

As her specialty was simply attack magic, allowing her to get the first attack would cause serious damage. That's why Koutarou and the others decided to attack right away. They had to defeat her before she began her incantation.

"Wait, I have no intentions of fighting!! There's something I want to tell you!!"

However, Crimson did something surprising. The girl who claimed fighting was everything announced that she had no intentions of fighting, and threw away her cane. She then defensively approached with her hands in the air. She showed no signs of starting any incantations.

"Yurika, how does it look?"

"It doesn't look like she's intending to use magic..."

"She doesn't have any hostility now either. I don't know her real intentions, but it seems true that she has no intention to fight"

Koutarou confirmed that Crimson still wasn't showing any hostility, and returned his two swords to their sheaths. Theia followed Koutarou's judgment and lowered her weapons as well. Yurika continued pointing her cane towards Crimson for a while, but as Crimson showed no intentions of attacking, she eventually lowered her cane.

"You sure are suspicious, Rainbow!"

"I just can't imagine a reason for you not to fight"

"Well of course!"

With a wry smile, Crimson landed before Koutarou and the others. She still seemed to have no intentions of fighting and her hands were empty. Her cane was lying dozens of meters behind her.

"That's just how important this is!!"

Crimson began her explanation as she arrived. She didn't have much time. She always seemed to be enjoying herself, but now she seemed to be in a rush.

"Your friends are about to fall into a trap!! You should call them back right now!!"

"What!?"

Koutarou's eyes shot open wide in surprise. That was because, these weren't words an enemy would normally speak. Especially not someone who considered fighting everything.

"What do you mean!?"

Yurika's voice was stern. Like Koutarou, she was skeptic to Crimson's words.

"The imperial army aren't carrying mobile weapons, but a virus weapon! Bandarion is planning on having your allies destroy that!"

That was the reason Crimson was here. She had searched for Koutarou and the others in order to stop Bandarion's plans.

"You're being played by false information! The Elfaria faction will spread the virus weapon on their own, destroy the base and take down everyone in the surrounding area as well!"

Bandarion's plan was very systematic. When Alaia was first being developed there were a lot of anti-government forces with bases set up all over. They weren't in use any more, but when explored, weapons from that time would sometimes be discovered. One of the weapons discovered was a virus weapon. That was where Bandarion's plan began forming. In reality, there was no virus weapon discovered, as it was something Bandarion had brought in himself. Next he would give the order to 'dispose of the virus weapon discovered in a facility that can do so'. As they wouldn't want it stolen, they wouldn't report on the route they would use or the time schedule, as it would obviously be treated as confidential information. Using that, he then had information leaked that mobile weapons were being transported over multiple channels. He also imported a new mobile weapon to Alaia to give credibility to the information. However, what was in reality being transported was the virus weapon. As they had been transporting mobile weapons until arriving at Alaia, it would be difficult to see through the trap.

Getting ambushed by mobile weapons would be a problem, and attacking disassembled weapons being transported made a handy target. If left be, the Elfaria faction would end up attacking the trailer carrying the virus weapon and spreading it across the planet with their own hands. It was clear what would happen to the nearby bases and the neighbouring regions.

"Of course, Bandarion will twist the truth to shift the public opinion in his favor!! The media will coincidentally be on place to take pictures!! This matter will reduce the Elfaria faction's a lot!!"

He would have the media report on the matter, and then thoroughly criticize them. The Elfaria faction will attack the trailer carrying a virus weapon meant to be disposed, and spreading it. They might have at least have some morals, but in the end the Elfaria faction was simply a terrorist faction. Criticizing them like that after causing so many casualties, nothing the Elfaria faction could say would work. 'This isn't terrorism, it's just a simple miss', who would follow an empress like that.

The Bandarion side was expecting Elfaria's next move. But before she could put that in motion, or maybe even after, this plan would greatly reduce her support. Since it wouldn't hurt even if the Elfaria faction didn't fall for the plan, there was no need to hesitate by putting it into action.

"... I understand what you're saying, but we can't just accept that at face value"

Yurika felt like Crimson was making sense. She couldn't deny the possibility that it was true. But even then, she couldn't believe it right away. Crimson was an enemy who travelled down a different path.

"I know that! That's why I came here!"

Crimson understood the circumstances regarding that as well. If their positions were reversed, she would obviously be suspicious. That's why Crimson earnestly tried to appeal to them.

"Think about it!! If I lose all enemies to fight, I would be troubled!!"

Crimson had come because she would be the most persuasive. To Crimson fighting was everything. Looking at that from the other side, she was the kind of person who would least want her enemies to be killed by plans or virus weapons.

It's her real intentions... she's not lying...

While he wasn't on Sanae's level, Koutarou could use his powers to read the feelings of others. His power told him that this girl wasn't lying. Since she hadn't use any magic apart from flying, she wasn't fooling them through that either. Even without that, Koutarou believed that she was telling the truth.

"... I'll believe you. But, why is Elexis trying to stop it?"

But even then, Koutarou couldn't take the last step. That was because he didn't understand Elexis' intentions. While Crimson wasn't lying, Elexis had been the one that sent her. Since he was on Bandarion's side, it would be unnatural for him to take any actions that would help the Elfaria faction.

"Neither he nor any of us are trying to call ourselves good people! But even then, we wouldn't use any means necessary!"

Just like how Crimson wouldn't want to lose opponents worth fighting, Elexis had his circumstances for not wanting to cause a lot of casualties.

Elexis wanted to overthrow Elfaria because in his mind, Elfaria wouldn't create his ideal society. Elexis was someone who wanted to improve the world, and he had contributed a lot to society. Joining Bandarion's side was just a means to that end, it wasn't his goal. He had the ambition to eventually replace Bandarion and revolutionize Forthorthe.

As Elexis believed in that, he didn't want civilians to be sacrificed for no reason. Humans were necessary in his ideal society. In the sense of a businessman, it would be foolish to reduce the number of customers.

Elexis believed that sacrifice was necessary to change the world, and he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice people if it really was necessary. But the sacrifices in this plan was not necessary. While it would be effective, but it was far too short-sighted and the cost was too high. Elexis hated the chaotic use of power. He wouldn't mind if it was for order, but he couldn't forgive it if it was for chaos.

"... Now that you mention it, he's got a strangely strong sense of obligation..."

Hearing Crimson's words, Koutarou remember what Elexis had done. When he had been fighting against Koutarou and the others, he had tried to limit the sacrifices as much as possible. He had also upheld his promise of giving Koutarou clothes, which he made in the middle of a battle. From that, Koutarou figured that while Elexis was evil, he had his own rules that he was following. Thinking about it that way, it wouldn't be too strange for Elexis to reveal this matter to Koutarou and the others.

"Besides, if Bandarion comes out victorious now, we'll have a bunch of troubles too. Because Elexis still hasn't finished putting himself in a seat of power, our plan of returning to this country as his cooperators will fall apart"

By cooperating with Bandarion, Elexis was planning on increasing his own influence. But if the outcome was determined here, Bandarion wouldn't need Elexis' cooperation. That meant that Elexis' chances of obtaining authority would diminish, and at the same time it meant that there was a much lower chance of the magical kingdom of Folsaria to return to the new Forthorthe as its partner. In short, this was an important moment where Elexis and Darkness Rainbow might lose their position. It was inevitable for them to request the cooperation of Koutarou and the others.

"What do you think, Koutarou?"

"... Let's believe her"

"Are you sure?"

"I think we can believe in that resolute side she's showed from time to time"

Ultimately, Koutarou decided to believe Crimson. Considering how they had behaved up until now, the chances of this being a trap was low. The risk was too high to ignore her warning, only for it to turn out to be true. They could believe her, and they couldn't afford not to. That was Koutarou's conclusion.

"If you say so, then I'll believe her too"

"I'm not satisfied, but I will do so too"

"That helps! Without your cooperation we have no way of stopping the Elfaria faction!!"

Crimson felt relief upon hearing Koutarou's answer. Her final reason for coming was that just spreading information wouldn't be enough to stop the Elfaria faction. In order to stop them, the information needed to reach someone in a relatively high position, and have that person give orders. In other words, they had no choice but to get into contact with Koutarou and the others who would believe them and who had a high status.

Being cautious of the imperial faction, and in order to stop the planned surprise attack, the Elfaria faction was going to make the first move and launch their own surprise attack. In order to keep the opponent from noticing that, they operated under radio silence. Because of that, even if they were called for, there was a chance they wouldn't notice, and as Theia was required to persuade them, they couldn't carelessly broadcast a signal as the enemy would find her location.

So instead, Koutarou and the others decided to chase after the Elfaria faction's strike force. But because of the low amount of time, they couldn't use the truck they had been using up until now. Instead, they used their own powers to fly. Those powers being the armor, the Combat Dress and a magical broom. They moved quickly and since they didn't need to worry about their magical power being detected this time, they could go at full speed while concealing themselves with magic. Thanks to that, they looked like they would make it in time before the attack was launched.

"If we for some reason don't make it there before it's time... it'll end up being a big bet, but I am thinking of broadcasting a ceasefire over the entire region"

"If that happens, I'll protect you. So don't worry"

"That's my line. Don't slow me down"

"Okay, okay, as you wish"

Theia and Koutarou were joking around as usual, but contrary to the contents, their expressions were anything but cheerful. If anything, they were words to calm each other down.

"What kind of relation are those two in? They don't look like just master and servant"

Crimson looked at the two in confusion. She already had knowledge on how the class system worked in Forthorthe. But she couldn't feel any traces of that system from the two in front of her. She couldn't help but feel confused, and decided to ask Yurika about it, despite them strictly speaking being enemies.

"... They were on bad terms at first. Then a lot of things happened and they started getting along, after that Satomi-san became her vassal"

Knowing that Crimson was an enemy, she carefully chose her words as she explained Koutarou's and Theia's relationship to her.

"So they're still dragging along those feelings from when they were enemies"

"I think so"

"... Is Maki like that too?"

"Ah..."

That was where Yurika realized Crimson's real intentions.

Crimson-san is worrying about Maki-chan...

It was because Crimson worried about Maki that she was interested in Koutarou's and Theia's relationship. Had Maki been released from the shackles known as Darkness Rainbow, or were they still holding her down. Even now that they were enemies, Crimson still cared for Maki.

"... Uhm, she's fine. There's no one among us that would criticize Maki-chan's past. To begin with, everyone were enemies at first"

"I see..."

Crimson showed a small smile. Her smile looked so happy that Yurika momentarily forgot that the girl in front of her was an evil magical girl.

"But I'm sure Maki is still stuck on it"

"Yes. Maki-chan sometimes seems to worry about nobody pressing her about her crimes"

"Even though that's not necessary"

"Maki-chan is serious after all"

"If only that man would forcibly make Maki his woman everyone would be much simpler"

"That wouldn't be a fundamental solution"

"... For now I'll settle for Maki being with a group of friends that would say that"

"Crimson-san, you..."

It was extremely rare for Dark Crimson, who was even called an ogre within Darkness Rainbow, to show an expression a normal girl would have. That's why Yurika could feel how much Maki meant to Crimson, and at the same time she felt sad that even then, she didn't choose Maki.

"... We're almost there"

However, Crimson's expression suddenly returned to normal.

"Eh?"

"Look, reinforcements are here"

Crimson pointed behind them. As the surprised Yurika turned that way, she saw five girls in colorful outfits, and a man slightly older than the girls, flying towards them at high speeds. Yurika recognized that group.

"Satomi-san! It's Darkness Rainbow!"

"I know. But I can't sense any hostility"

"The way they're flying doesn't make it look like they're preparing to attack either. At least for now"

Because of their previous experiences, Koutarou and the others instinctively got more defensive.

"You don't have to worry, they're allies"

"I do understand that in my head"

Koutarou and the others understood that Crimson was right. However, they couldn't help but ready their weapons. If this was a trap, Theia's life was in danger.

"We have no intentions of fighting you right now, Koutarou-kun!"

Sensing the atmosphere around Koutarou and the others, once he was close enough, Elexis approached the group with empty hands raised up in the air. The mechanical armored clothes he was wearing came equipped with a lot of weapons, but they were all pointed upwards. Elexis was showing that he had no hostile intentions.

"He's right. Without you we can't convince the Elfaria faction to stop their attack"

Besides Elexis was Maya, shrugging her shoulders, her expression made it clear that she felt dissatisfied. It was a sign that she'd never want to team up like this if it wasn't for the current situation.

"I know! I'm just puzzled by the sudden situation"

Koutarou finally let go of the handles of his swords. Theia and Yurika followed suit. They were still on guard, but the three of them understood that they shouldn't be fighting the group now.

"... What a strange development"

Koutarou mumbled between his sighs. In response Elexis nodded in approval.

"I feel the same way. I didn't expect that Bandarion would go this far"

Elexis and the others were puzzled by the situation as well. He wanted to cooperate with the army to end the imperial reign and use the influence he gained by doing so to create a new political system, and seize control of it, so that he could create his ideal world. But with Bandarion going this far, the military would gain complete control of the new political system. Moreover, there was a high chance that it would be a reign of terror. In that case, even if Elexis gained control, he wouldn't be able to create his ideal world.

"Wasn't it just that you poked Max― no, Bandarion, too much?"

"Poke? What do you mean?"

"That by skillfully selling yourself in, you made him feel a sense of danger"

"I see, so that's why he would forcibly try to reach a conclusion. That's certainly within the realm of possibilities"

Elexis was aware of what Koutarou was pointing out, so he nodded understandingly. Maya had felt the same way, but her reaction was the opposite.

"El, you're too efficient. You should be a little bit more adult"

"Okay, okay, I'll be careful. You mean to be more mindful when I create an atmosphere, right?"

"... Geez... men really are..:"

Maya's and Elexis' back and forth seemed reminiscent of Koutarou's and the girls. If that was an act it was quite impressive, and Koutarou was starting to trust them, in a roundabout way. At least this time.

"But Koutarou-kun, when it comes to making him feel a sense of danger, you and I are equally punishable"

"... That might be true"

Koutarou honestly agreed. He and the other girls had very one-sidedly dealt with the soldiers that had been sent to attack them. So it wouldn't be strange for them to get a sense of danger. So it might not just be Elexis' fault, but Koutarou's and the others too.

"But with this, you understand too, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The reason why I believe Her Majesty Elfaria's reign won't work"

Elfaria's reign couldn't prevent the military from becoming arrogant. As a result, they even took to such reckless acts such as using a virus weapon. The royal families of Forthorthe had protected the country for a long time, but even then they couldn't suppress karma built up over that long period of time. Elexis believed that the system of rule should be reformed from scratch.

"... I understand, but I can't agree"

Koutarou understood what Elexis was thinking, he even thought he had a point too. However, it was a difficult topic when it came to accepting that or not. Elexis interpreted it as the age having continued for over 2,000 years was too long, but Koutarou interpreted it as there being a reason for why it had lasted for so long. Koutarou thought that the national traits and the climate worked well together. That's why he believed there was a point in reforming, but not that there was a need to end the imperial rule.

"That's enough for now, Koutarou-kun"

Changing someone's opinion was hard. The first step was getting them to listen. As a businessman, Elexis understood that very well. There was also no time to convince Koutarou right now.

"Hey, young master, sorry for interrupting your conversation, but shouldn't we, like, start preparing?"

That was when Dark Orange flew up in front of Koutarou and Elexis. Like Elexis, she was worrying about the time. But as expected of Dark Orange who loved cute things. Her tone and gestures were all strangely cute, and didn't convey any sense of seriousness.

"You're right, let's"

"... You're being called young master?"

"She won't change it no matter how many times I ask"

"While reluctant, I understand how you feel"

"Hahaha"

Elexis laughed cheerfully as he signaled Darkness Rainbow with his hand. They readied their canes, but that wasn't to attack Koutarou and the others. The magical power was directed at themselves.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"It would be very problematic if it's revealed that we are ourselves. So we'll be going disguised"

Elexis put on the helmet that came with his armored clothes. His and Koutarou's armors had similar functions. And by putting on the helmet, the armored clothes changed into combat mode and transmitted energy to the combat equipment.

"A disguise?"

"Yes. Today, we are―"

That was when Darkness Rainbow was covered in white smoke. The disguising spell had activated.

"― the Satomi band of knights!"

By the time the smoke cleared, the girls of Darkness Rainbow had changed appearances. They had transformed into Kiriha and the others who weren't around. Moreover Elexis' armored clothes had changed into a standard imperial army armor. That meant that Elexis and Darkness Rainbow had not come here, to this place, today. They would be acting as people under the Elfaria faction.

Satomi and the other two, plus the eight from the fake Satomi band of knights, managed to catch up to the Elfaria faction's strike force just before the scheduled time of attack. As they were hiding in the woods, waiting for the trailer in question to pass through the road they were watching, they couldn't directly see them. But as the cleverly camouflaged communications antenna was standing in its planned location, there was no doubt they were there.

"... Geez, looks like we made it. The forecast of the trailer getting attacked just wouldn't go away, so I couldn't help but feel nervous"

Green, disguised as Clan, let out a sigh of relief as they discovered the antenna. As she had the ability of future forecast, she knew several of the possible outcomes. Because of that, the sense of danger she felt was a lot more grounded in reality than the others"

"Princess, shouldn't you contact them?"

"I was just thinking of doing that"

Urged on by Dark Orange disguised as Sanae, Theia ordered her Combat Dress to communicate with the strike force. At first, Orange and Theia had been hostile towards one another. That was due to their fighting back in Folsaria. However, their common goal had resolved the hostility. They both knew that now wasn't the time to argue about personal issues.

"This is Theiamillis! Can you hear me?"

"Your Highness!? Why are you here!?"

The voice of the man serving as the strike force commander came responding through the communications device. Theia was using laser for communications, simply put it was like using a landline telephone, only the landline is replaced by light. As laser communication was a simple form of communication that required direct contact between speakers, it wasn't suitable for communication with places out of line of sight or places far away, nor was it good at transmitting images. Instead it came with the superb characteristics of having little of risk of being jammed or intercepted. As they could see the communications antenna, this was the safest and most reliable form of communication.

"Don't worry about me!! More importantly, cease your attack right away!! This is one of Bandarion's traps!! The trailer is carrying mobile weapons, but a virus weapon!!"

"What!?"

Theia didn't say a lot, but it was enough for the commander to understand the situation. The commander was a quick-witted man, suited for his post.

"... Hey, let all the men know that the attack is being cancelled! Don't shoot, no matter what!"

Not even putting Theia on hold, the commander quickly gave out orders to his subordinates. While it was disrespectful, it was preferable considering the situation.

"Did we make it?"

"Please rest easy, Your Highness. There is still five minutes left before the attack, so there won't be any attacks made by mistake"

".. .I see... that's good..."

Theia let out a big sigh of relief as her tension eased. As expected, having the lives of a lot people was tense, and the relief from it was deep. However, it was not over yet. The Elfaria faction strike force needed to retreat without being spotted by the imperial army. Having recollected herself, Theia called out to the commander again.

"Anyways, we will head over there―"

Theia was planning on supporting the strike force on their retreat, when Green raised her voice.

"Wait a moment! This is strange!"

Surprised by her sudden loud voice, Yellow, disguised as Harumi, furrowed her brows.

"Kyaa!? ...Wait, what happened?"

"The forecast of the trailer being attacked isn't disappearing!"

Green's future forecast became clearer the more realistic they got. At the same time, as the probability of the future happening dropped, the future got hazier, until it could no longer be seen. In other words, the moment the commander gave the order, the future of the trailer exploding should have disappeared. Yet, Green could still see it.

"Maybe the trailer's driver will end up in an accident and charge into the area where the Elfaria faction is and ending up forcing their hand, or something?"

Blue, disguised as Ruth, spoke her own interpretation. Blue rarely spoke, but when she did, she did so after thinking things through. Considering the situation, it wasn't an impossible interpretation. However, Green shook her head.

"Even after a ceasefire has been given, the probability has barely dropped at all!! So that can't be the reason!!"

If the trailer would explode because of an accident, there would be futures of the accident happening, and the accident not happening, and the moment the order of a ceasefire came, the future should get a lot hazier. However, that hadn't happened, which meant that the explosion wouldn't be by accident.

The explosion won't be by accident, it will happen as it was meant to. And since there has been a ceasefire ordered, it's not attack from the Elfaria faction. Which means... I see!!

That was when Purple's brain reached the answer to the forecast not changing. Just like Kiriha, whom Purple was disguised as, she was calm and smart.

"They're like us! There's some Bandarion soldiers disguised as the Elfaria faction planning on attacking the trailer!"

Bandarion wanted to be certain that his trap succeeded. However, there was a slight concern. They needed to take utmost care as they transported the virus weapon. The container was of course sturdy, and the vessel containing the virus itself was well made too. That's why there was still a chance that the virus wouldn't be spread even after an attack.

What if the engine was destroyed and the trailer was stopped on the road?

What if the container broke, but the vessel remained intact?

In order to eliminate those uncertain aspects, Bandarion had soldiers infiltrate the Elfaria faction, to ensure the attack went as he had planned. They would know what kind of attack would destroy the vessel after all.

"So that's it!! Green, where are Bandarion's followers!?"

When it came down to it, Theia's mind worked quickly. Having quickly realized the situation, Theia increased the output of the Combat Dress' generator.

"They're probably by the woods over there! In the ten o'clock direction of the communications antenna!"

"Let's go, Koutarou, Yurika!"

"Got it!"

"O-Okay!"

"And just in case, set the equipment for space use! We're dealing with a virus after all!"

Their only lead was Green's future forecast. It was a very ambiguous lead, but all they could do was believe in her and act on it. If Bandarion really had men infiltrating the strike force, the outcome would be catastrophic. Koutarou and the others could only wish that Green's forecast was wrong. At the same time, they wished her forecast was accurate and that there were enemies where she had directed them. The most frightening scenario would be if Bandarion's soldiers really were here, but the location wasn't were Green foresaw. With those complex feelings in mind, Koutarou and the others flew through the sky at full speed to where Green had pointed them.

"El, we should go too!"

"Yes! In these situations the more hands and eyes the better!"

Elexis, Maya and the six Darkness Rainbow leaders chased after Koutarou and the others. In order to accomplish their own goals, they couldn't allow Bandarion's reckless actions.

A detailed strategy had been set up beforehand in regards to the trailer attack. Because of that, the soldiers had been placed in according to the region's geographical features. According to the strategy documents, there shouldn't be any Elfaria faction soldiers where Green had pointed them to. In other words, if there happened to be Elfaria faction soldiers where there should be none, it meant they were Bandarion's disguised soldiers. And they were objects of immediate elimination.

"Theia, I found them!"

"Are you certain!?"

"Probably! I'll send you the data right now!"

Koutarou could sense the presence of people with his spiritual powers. As human intellect was high, humans had an aura distinctively different from other animals. And those distinct auras could be sensed coming from within the woods. Koutarou used his armor's sensors to get a rough scan of the area, and sent the data to Theia's Combat Dress.

"These are the coordinates, huh... hm, I've got a hit on my sensors too! There's no doubt!"

Using the data Koutarou sent as her basis, Theia pointed her Combat Dress' sensors in the direction where the enemy was believed to be. The sensors responded with people being present. As Theia's Combat Dress was fully intended for use in combat, its sensors were somewhat better performing than those in Koutarou's armor.

"Satomi-san! The trailer is coming!"

As Koutarou and the others discovered Bandarion's ambush, the large trailer appeared on the road. As they could see from above, the trailer was still far, but at this rate, it would be here soon enough. They had to get the ambushers away from the trailer.

"Theia, have the Elfaria faction soldiers stop the trailer! We'll go eliminate the disguised soldiers!"

Koutarou made a swift judgment and left the contacting to Theia while he charged towards the area the soldiers were believed to be.

"I'm counting on you! I'll get there too as soon as I can!"

As Theia needed to contact the strike forces, she would end up following after Koutarou somewhat later. That meant it would be more dangerous for him, but there was no need to worry. There were some who were following after him already.

"We will go back up Koutarou-kun!"

"Everyone, be careful not to go too far and expose yourselves! I'm talking about you, Crimson!"

"I get it, Maya!"

Elexis, Maya and the six from Darkness Rainbow were following behind Koutarou. With those eight backing Koutarou up there was no need for Theia to worry. She had physically experienced how strong they were. Meanwhile, Yurika decided to act alone.

"Satomi-san, Theia-chan, I will head to the trailer. We wouldn't want something unexpected to happen"

The strike force was already headed to the trailer, but as this was Bandarion's trap, there was no telling what could happen. As a precaution, sending Yurika, who could adapt to most situations, was the best choice. Koutarou agreed with Yurika's idea.

"We're counting on you!"

"Yes!"

Yurika parted with Koutarou and turned in a large arc and flew towards the trailer. After seeing her off, Koutarou put his hands on the two swords hanging off his waist. That was just about when Elexis caught up to him.

"I'll help you out, Koutarou-kun"

Elexis had a cheerful smile as he readied the rifle in his hands. He was planning on backing Koutarou up with that.

"I'll honestly thank you this time"

"I might not look it, but I am good at shooting. Leave it to me"

"... I'm counting on you"

"You won't regret it. This time"

After finishing their preparations they caught a glimpse of the Elfaria faction soldiers in the woods. These were of course fakes. They were Bandarion's soldiers who had imitated the strike force's armor and markings.

"I understand how you fight! So be as extreme as always!"

"You leave that to me! You just don't be too accurate! It's a bad habit of yours!"

In front of Koutarou were fake "allies", and he alongside him were "fake" allies fighting with him. It was a strange battlefield were neither were real, but it was without a doubt the truth that he was now working together with Elexis and the others whom he had always been fighting against. He was well aware that it was only temporary, but Koutarou was honestly pleased.

There was basically no difference between how the imperial army and how the Elfaria faction looked. As they were all originally imperial soldiers, they had the same equipment. If there was a difference it was the markings on armor and equipment each unit had. Because of that, it was easy to pretend to be someone else, and all that really had to be done was change the markings. It was a situation that was easy to make use of.

While both couldn't tell one another apart, there was a clear cut reason for why these weren't Elfaria faction soldiers. That was the mobile weapons protecting the soldiers.

"They have mobile weapons!! Elexis, do you know anything about them!?"

If they flew towards them, they'd be easy targets. So Koutarou descended to the surface and charged the imperial army unit consisting of several dozen members. As he did, and the distance to the imperial army shortened, he could see not just the soldiers, but small mobile weapons that had been deployed. This was Koutarou's first time seeing them, so he asked for Elexis' advice.

"Of course I know. That's our product"

Elexis sniped the imperial army's communications antenna while casually answering. That came as a surprise to Koutarou.

"It's your company's!?"

"That's right. It's a frame we began delivering last month"

On the side of the mobile weapons was the mark of Elexis' company, DKI. These mobile weapons was the latest model of Dragon Knight Industries.

"Do they have some kind of weak point!?"

Koutarou was confident that he could win against normal mobile weapons, but hearing that they were from DKI, he started feeling uneasy. Elexis' mobile weapons had put him through a lot of trouble.

"None. Since they were made using data gained from fighting against you. While they don't have any core technology in them, they haven't been made haphazardly"

The new model mobile weapons made by DKI weren't all that difference when comparing them to the design and role of the old models the imperial army had been using. They still had a design and role somewhere between a fighter and a tank. While it might look like nothing had changed, that wasn't the case at all. The big changes were all on the inside.

These new weapons had been made using the data gained from battles against Koutarou and the others, and from the technology that had been used back then. While they didn't have any special technology such as magic or spiritual energy, they included quite a few technologies designed to defeat Koutarou. As a result, their performance was greatly improved and were clearly distinct from the older models.

"They're not as strong as the combined force of Warlord II and the Motor Knights, but you'll end up eating dirt if you take them for your average mobile weapon"

"You make it sound easy..."

"Ah! They did have one weak point, Koutarou-kun!"

"What, tell me now!"

"The running cost of lone units is poor. It's better to deploy lots of them to reduce the operating cost. Like this"

"That's not a weak point!!"

With the communications antenna destroyed, one of the mobile weapons noticed Koutarou's and the others approaching. Without missing a beat, all mobile weapons moved at once. Their numbers totalled eight. Since they'd be attacking in cooperation, they made a frightening enemy. What's worse, they had data on Koutarou and the others so it was clear they would make forced attacks from the start.

"Detected high energy signatures! Laser cannons will be fired in unison!"

The armor's AI gave out a warning. Having confirmed Koutarou's appearance and assumed him to be a treat, the mobile weapons showed signs of a synchronous attack. In order to defeat Koutarou, who was moving at high speeds, in a single strike, they were going to perform a simultaneous attack the weapon of choice being the fastest of them all, the laser. That was something that Elexis in his Warlord II and the accompanying Motor Knights were good at.

"You're always making such troublesome stuff!"

"Ahaha, quite the masterpiece from myself!"

"Now's not the time to laugh!"

"I know. Orange, Green, please do it"

"Leave it to me, young master!"

"... Geez, at least prepare an emergency stop command..."

Orange and Green began their incantations.

"Twinkle Star Burst!"

The spell that Orange cast created a glittering material that altered the air and diffused light. It was a flashy spell that Orange loved to use, but it also served to rapidly weakened lasers.

"Perfect Illusion - Modifier - Area Effect - Large!"

With a frown, Green activated an illusion spell that covered a wide area. Green was skilled at information manipulating spells, which included illusions. With her skills, she could create illusions that even fooled machines. Right now, she had used those illusions to shift Koutarou and others several meters away.

"Warning, laser cannon attack beginning!"

Immediately after the AI's warning, the eight mobile weapon's lasers fired at almost the exact same time. The laser instantly hit its target without sound. That target was of course Koutarou, who was deemed to be the most dangerous.

"The distortion field has been hit, energy loss is medium"

Fortunately, Koutarou himself didn't take any damage. Orange's spell had greatly reduced the potency of the lasers, and Green's spell had messed with the aim, leaving Koutarou largely unscathed. If the eight shots had all hit the same spot, Koutarou would have defeated immediately, but at most only one of the stray lasers struck the barrier.

"That was close..."

That said, Koutarou didn't feel good knowing he was being targeted by something that could take him out in a single hit, so he increased his speed even more. He needed to shorten the distance as quickly as possible and seal off the synchronous attack.

"I'm coming with you, Koutarou"

Crimson followed after Koutarou. As she did, she smiled with Shizuka's face. As their way of fighting and atmosphere was similar, Koutarou couldn't help but feel that the smile looked natural. The smile also made him think of wanting to meet his companions far away.

"Let's go, Crimson!"

"I'll protect you because Maki's a friend!"

It wouldn't be until much later that Koutarou realized that Crimson had said 'because Maki's a friend'. Was that simply referring to him, or was it referring to herself as well. That difference held a great meaning. Koutarou regretted missing that.

As Koutarou and the others began fighting with the concealed Bandarion soldiers, Yurika had almost reached the trailer. It was hers and the strike force's job to keep the trailer from moving towards Koutarou and the others any further.

"... So trailers were this big..."

Yurika was somewhat puzzled when faced with the trailer. It was far bigger than she had imagined upon hearing the word.

That was because to Yurika, and to people from Earth, the trailer was to her more like a cargo train. That impression was especially strong as it had no tires and floated above the road instead. If one were to compare to an Earth trailer, they would find that it was at least three times as long and wide.

Thinking about it calmly, it was only natural for the trailer to be large. While they may have been disassembled, it was supposed to be secretly transporting large mobile weapons, so it would need to be large itself. Moreover, large trailers were a necessity for Alaia that was still under development.

"... We won't be able to stop it easily... but if we use a lot of firepower, the virus' vessel might be destroyed..."

As it was a large trailer, some weak attacks wouldn't do much to slow it down. Using enough force to stop the trailer ran the risk of destroying the vessel for virus being contained within. That's why, before she attacked, there was something she had to do.

I remember Satomi-san that nothing good will come from putting off things that have to be done!

Yurika quickly decided on what she needed to do and operated her bracelet to contact the commander from the Elfaria faction.

"What might it be, Yurika-dono?"

Yurika's position was a knight of the Satomi band of knights who were under direct command of Theia. Because of that, the commander spoke formally to her, as he would a knight.

"I will move over to the trailer and determine where the virus weapon is! Until then, please refrain from using any large-scale attacks!"

At the present moment they didn't know where, or how many of the virus weapon there was. If they had to attack the trailer to stop it, they needed to confirm the situation inside the container.

"We will send several over as well! It is dangerous to go alone!"

"Please do! We have to stop this no matter what!"

Normally, Yurika would have refused help. Fighting alone would reduce the number of casualties after all. However, this time, that wasn't the case. If they didn't find the virus weapon, there would be a large amount of casualties. Yurika searching on her own was not a smart decision.

"Here I go! After I've gotten on, I'll secure the area, please follow after me from where I got on!"

"Of course! Best of luck to you!"

"Thank you!"

After that short report, Yurika took the lead and flew towards the trailer on her broom. The soldiers watched on, and began speaking about her.

"That's a rather cute Sir Knight... but she is very courageous"

"She was modest to boot. She spoke politely, and even said thanks at the end"

"As expected of Princess Theia's band of knights, I guess?"

"We're Princess Theia's and Empress Elfaria's military forces too! We can't lose to them!"

Yurika's back was very small. But it was overflowing with seven colors of love and courage. Guided by the light of that shining rainbow, the soldiers advanced with force.

As they were pretending to be part of the Satomi band of knights, Elexis and the others would need to fight following their policies. In other words, fighting while limiting the casualties as much as possible, that policy was something they inherited from Theia, who inherited from the royal families. While they were the young CEO of an evil massive corporation, and evil magical girls, it seemed like they would have a hard time with that, but that wasn't actually the case.

"Couldn't you guys work as Rainbow Heart as well!?"

Looking at Crimson skillfully dispatching of the imperial army soldiers without killing them, Koutarou felt surprise. In response, Crimson grinned as she punched the next soldier.

"Just mowing down the enemy isn't enough for an organization planning on overthrowing the government. Have you ever heard of an evil organization that only assassinates?"

Darkness Rainbow mostly used magic to construct plots to move the world. In fact, using direct force happened less often. That said, Crimson was awkward when it came to that, so her allies had often ended up making tools and weapons to keep her from killing the enemy. That was precisely what the glove she was using was. It had been enchanted to knock out anyone punched with it.

"So in purely numerical terms, you guys use more violence, but in terms of ratios, Yurika and the others are more violent"

"Well, keeping us under control is your job, so that's only natural. Ironic isn't it"

"If you guys would just stop, Yurika and the others wouldn't have to use violence either"

"Sadly, I want the opposite! Like this!"

After eliminating the soldiers before her, Crimson held her cane in both hands. As she did, a brightly burning fireball was launched. Her next target was the mobile weapons that were bombarding them from the rear. She was allowed to blow them away to her heart's content.

"Well, that helps now!"

"That's ironic too!"

As if chasing after Crimson's fireball, Koutarou charged. In his case, GOL was blocking the soldiers from getting closer to him, so he could focus on the mobile weapons. He came swinging at the mobile weapon hit by the fireball and whose barrier was under heavy load.

"What!?"

However, Signaltin was suddenly caught by a glowing, cylindrical shaped something that had suddenly appeared in front of the mobile weapon. As Koutarou was surprised by that, he was fired at with a beam cannon intended for close quarters use.

"Kuh!?"

Koutarou twisted his body back on reflex. Thanks to Sanae's spiritual powers, the speed at which signals from his brain moved had increased, and his movements barely allowed him to avoid a direct hit. But it was still an undeniable truth that he had gotten hit by a beam cannon at close range. The attack stripped GOL's barrier of most of its energy. At the same time, the glowing something had been thrust forward, but as Koutarou was cautious of any further attacks, he dodged it.

"That was close! Elexis, what is this!?"

"It was made to block your sword, it's a thin and narrow, concentrated distortion field. It's like a knife used for both attack and defense in close combat"

Energy was stronger when gathered in a small area. In that case, by making the barrier smaller, Koutarou's sword, Signaltin, though Elexis didn't know its name, could be blocked as well. That had been the thought process behind the creation of this glowing pole.

This was a weapon that would be impossible for normal humans to use. The glowing pole, or the knife, had a short reach, so blocking a sword was difficult. Moreover, because of its small size it was lighter, making it difficult to fully kill the impact from the sword. It was feat made possible only through the eight mobile weapons observing Koutarou, calculating the optimal place of defense and using their full power to maintain the knife's location.

"I call it the Field Knife. It's a superb creation if you ask me. It surprised you right?"

"I was! But tell me that kind of earlier!"

While Koutarou and Elexis were joking around, they busily moved their bodies. Koutarou dodged the enemy attacks while firing a lightning spell from his sword. Meanwhile Elexis use his rifle to accurately snipe at mobile weapons so they wouldn't get too close to Koutarou. The two fought like veteran heroes.

El seems to be having fun...

The two's coordination deserved a special mention. The two moved as if they had fought together for years, and the way they joked around only strengthened that impression. In reality they were finding each others openings and covering them, but even then Elexis seemed to be having fun in Maya's eyes. And that put in her a bad mood. The feelings Elexis was directing towards Koutarou was a kind he had never directed towards her.

"Sorry, sorry, but that doesn't work against your second sword, so I figured there was no need to tell you"

"Like I said!"

Koutarou had one sword in each hand. In his right hand was Alaia's Signaltin and in his left was Theia's Saguratin. When attacking the mobile weapons this time, he swung his left sword instead.

"Tell me that earlier!"

The physical Saguratin's blade was stopped by the distortion field, but the blade of spiritual energy created from it was not. The spiritual energy blade passed through the knife and hit the mobile weapon directly.

The attack cut up the mobile weapon and caused heavy damage. Explosions occurred one after another on the inside and it became incapacitated before long. Looking on, the results were exactly what Elexis had foreseen.

"... As expected, that's what happens with these specs"

Magic could be stopped to some extent by scientific means, but it couldn't block spiritual energy at all. Spiritual energy technology or magic was required to block that, but production of either was poor, moreover Elexis wanted to keep those a secret as a card to play against Bandarion. Because of that, this outcome was inevitable. He was happy that Koutarou could defeat the enemies, but he wasn't happy seeing his own creations lose. Elexis was feeling both happy and disappointed.

"... El, if you space out, your lover will go off on his own"

"You're right, oh no!"

Having stopped to think, Maya admonished Elexis and he hurriedly moved to supporting Koutarou again. Koutarou had already begun moving towards the second mobile weapon. It would be dangerous to leave him be.

Men really are...!

Maya had been as sarcastic as she could, yet Elexis had left without noticing. With her running in circles being added on, her mood was on a steady decline.

"Stop playing around, and get to work!"

"Sorry, but it's all okay now"

The battle in the woods was progressing in Koutarou's and the others advantage. Koutarou and Elexis, and Darkness Rainbow's teamwork was strong, and the enemy numbers gradually decreased. However, that was when an unexpected tidbit of information arrived

"Koutarou, this is bad! Yurika is having a tough time!"

"What!?"

Theia who arrived late came bearing information that Yurika was in danger. As Theia had been delayed giving out orders and sending information, she had a better grasp of the overall situation than Koutarou and the others.

"What kind of tough time!?"

"It seems like there were enemies hiding over there too! And large ones at that!"

The Elfaria faction strike force and Yurika who were headed towards the trailer found themselves struggling after an unexpected ambush. The soldiers tagging along transmitted the information to the rear guard, which was how Theia got her hand on it.

"Elexis, I'll leave this to you!"

"I guess it can't be helped, go on ahead!"

"Grab on, Koutarou!"

Koutarou and Theia made a quick decision. As Koutarou put his hand on Theia's Combat Dress, the powerful thruster installed on it spat out fires and the two flew up into the sky in no time at all. They drew a wide arc, as if they were a missile, and flew towards the trailer where Yurika was.

What welcomed Yurika as she approached the trailer was a lot of defensive weapons. While it may have been disguised as a civilian vehicle, it was most definitely still a military one. It had heavy machine guns, small missiles and other weapons used for defensive purposes. As there was some distance, none of the attacks hit, but that might not be the case should she continue approaching. Yurika wasn't foolish enough to continue a charge like that.

"Multiple Energy Bolt - Target Option - Auto Homing!"

Using Theia's normal methods as reference, Yurika cast an attack spell to destroy the weapons before she got shot. Yurika's spell created many balls of energy that fired at their targets, and they travelled as if they were guided missiles towards the weapons.

However, Yurika's spell dispersed before it reached the trailer.

"A barrier!?"

The trailer was equipped with a barrier.

"It's impossible for me to break through that barrier!! What should I do!?"

Yurika's spells could easily break through a military grade barrier for personal use. However, the barrier a military vehicle of this size came equipped with had a generator on a completely different league, and breaking through it with Yurika's magic would be next to impossible. The Elfaria faction's soldiers had large anti-vehicle weapons, so those could be used to break through the barrier. However, if they were too powerful, the cargo on the trailer would get damaged as well. Struggling to come up with a solution, Yurika distanced herself from the trailer. If she recklessly charged in, she'd be nothing but a target.

"... In that case, I'll have to make a daring move!"

Yurika stopped to think for a moment, but she hadn't forgotten that a swift decision would need to be made. Quickly reaching a solution, Yurika contacted the commander once more.

"Sorry, where is the barrier generation device on that trailer!?"

"It's the dome on the rear of the body!"

"I got it!"

"What are you planning to do!?"

"I have a plan! Please continue forwards as you are!"

Yurika turned her broom around and headed towards the trailer again, beginning an incantation.

"Recall - Precast - Teleport!"

High-ranking magicians like Yurika would cast spells that would take too long to cast, or expended large amounts of magical power, ahead of time, and maintain them in an idle state. The spell Yurika had activated was one of those spells, the spell of teleportation. As using it for even short distances put the user under a lot of burden, it was one of the most common spells to maintain in an idle state.

Blue magical power concentrated on a point on the broom, before covering all of Yurika's body.

"Goooooo!!"

The vast amounts of magical power around Yurika warped space, turning into a space-time hole. The next moment, Yurika disappeared like fog, and at the same time she appeared at the rear of the trailer, landing on top of the roof. Yurika had successfully teleported.

"If I can only destroy this!"

At the same time as Yurika landed, her broom turned into a magical cane. Holding that in both hands she pointed the tip at the dome-formed device. That was the barrier generation device.

"Terrible Thunder Lance - Modifier - Empower!"

Standing on top of the trailer meant that neither machine guns or missiles could attack right away. The safety measures needed to be deactivated, and the weapons manually controlled. During that opening, Yurika cast a potent spell. It was an offensive spell that created a powerful electric bolt.

"Eeeeeeeiiii!!"

The powerful lightning shook the atmosphere with a loud boom and it easily pierced the trailer's armor, frying all of the circuits within. With that, the barrier generation device seized to function, and the barrier protecting the trailer vanished. The attack caused the components to explode, but there was no large-scale destruction like one would expect from explosions. That was precisely the result Yurika had aimed for.

"Huah!?"

Moreover, Yurika found herself unexpectedly lucky. After running through the barrier generation device, it ran through the trailer's electrical system. Thanks to that, the trailer lost its power and its buoyancy disappeared, making it fall some dozen centimeters to the ground.

"Kyaaaaa!?"

The intense impact made Yurika cling onto the barrier generation device she had just destroyed. After scraping along the road for a while, the trailer finally came to a stop.

"... D-Did it stop?"

Yurika opened one of her tightly closed eyes and confirmed her surroundings. The trailer had stopped in the middle of the road and smoke was rising from various parts of the body. However, it didn't seem to have taken a lot of damage. That was because the trailer had been designed not to take a lot of damage, even if it lost power while running.

"That's right, I have to hurry!"

Yurika didn't know the real reason for why the trailer had stopped. It might have been completely destroyed, or its safeties might just have been tripped by the high voltage, and it could start up again, sooner or later. There was a lot of things to do before that.

"Commander-san, please come right away! It's safe now!"

"Well done, Yurika-dono! We'll be there in just a moment!"

Yurika contacted her allies with her bracelet and used magic to destroy the machine guns and missile launchers. Once that was over, she hurriedly headed towards the trailer's rear hatch. There, she was able to group up with the strike force.

"Please wait a moment, I'll cut it open right away!"

One of the military engineers approached the hatch with a blowtorch, reading cut off the lock to the hatch.

As the blowtorch spewed out extremely high temperature plasma, the metallic lock of the trailer was cut open before their very eyes. It didn't take more than ten seconds to cut off half of the lock. At this rate the hatch would be opened. And that was when the hatch was swung open from the inside.

The engineer cutting the lock was blown away and flew towards Yurika.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Yurika ended up being pushed down by the engineer and she landed on her butt. The engineer's eyes were spinning, but fortunately, neither Yurika nor the engineer were hurt. Relieved by that, Yurika looked up to figure out what had happened.

"Eh...?"

Before Yurika's eyes, giant legs appeared. As she looked up further, she saw a stocky giant in thick armor.

Unlike poison, a virus would self-replicate once it had infected someone. That's why a large amount wasn't necessary when used in an attack. That's why Bandarion had shoved a several meters tall giant into the open space, in the case that the trailer was attacked before reaching the designated location, or other various troubles.

"This is... the first giant!"

Yurika had seen the giant before. Not directly, but she had seen it on documented footage. It was the large mobile weapon that Elexis had used when he first appeared as Ruth's fiancé.

Elexis had used multiple giant robots to attack, but there were many secrets regarding the Warlord series, and it hadn't been supplied to the imperial army. However, the first giant that had been used already had a product model and was being sold. Like the mobile weapons that Koutarou and the others were fighting in the woods, this giant didn't have magic or spiritual energy technology, it had a great deal more power than the imperial army's standard equipment. It was a very dangerous machine.

"Commander-san, fall back right away!"

"But, leaving Yurika-dono on your own―"

"This isn't an opponent that will go so easy on you!"

Yurika's intuition told her that if it was just this giant on its own, she should be able to win on her own. If there were two, she would still win with the soldiers' backup. Three would put them on an even stage, while four and beyond would leave them at a disadvantage. In total there were six giants. There was only one in front of Yurika, but the other five were getting up from the trailer.

"Retreat right now, and call for Theia-chan and Satomi-san!! We need their help!!"

Yurika quickly began incanting a defensive spell. If they fought them straight on, Yurika and the soldiers would be destroyed in an instant. All she could do now was to have the soldiers retreat and call for Koutarou and Theia while she protected them.

Flying up into the sky, Theia and Koutarou could see Yurika struggling. She was over a kilometer away, but their computers enlarged the image and displayed her appearance.

Yurika was covered in scratches and dirt, and was desperately fighting. She used defensive spells and illusions to hold off the attacks of six giants all on her own. The shine in her eyes and her determined expression made a clear distinction from her usual self.

"Yurika is getting beat up! Theia!"

"I know, cover your ears!"

"Don't hit the trailer!"

"Who do you think you're talking to!!"

Theia repeatedly fired the large anti-material cannons above her shoulders. The shells flew faster than the eye could see and assaulted the giant about to attack Yurika. The shells didn't on impact, and instead destroyed the barrier and crushed the giant's left arm.

"Theia, can you follow after me!?"

With Theia's attack, the giants, or more accurately their pilots, directed their hostility towards Koutarou and Theia. To Koutarou, the hostility looked like lines of spiritual energy, and avoiding those would allow them to dodge the attacks. However, Theia couldn't do that. Her following after Koutarou would allow her to dodge the attacks as well.

"Like I said, who do you think you're talking to!?"

Theia easily followed after Koutarou's complex movements. Thanks to that, the two of them dodged all enemy fire. The only exception was guided missiles, but Theia shot down them with her beam rifle as she dodged the other attacks.

"... To my beloved princess"

The words that slipped out of Koutarou's mouth was how he really felt. That was just how splendid Theia's moves were. Theia's athletic ability, kinetic vision and reflexes were all beyond excellent. Moving like that while accurately shooting at the same time was something only she could do.

"This isn't all I've got!!"

"Hey, don't get too full of yourself, that's dangerous!"

Eventually, Theia's and Koutarou's movements started to fall out of synch. By doing that, Theia created openings to attack and back up Yurika. But at the same time, it increased the risk that the enemy might be able to hit her. This caused Koutarou to worry.

"You only feel like it's dangerous because you can only see spiritual energy! Regardless of their intentions to attack, they can't attack at tactically impossible timings!"

However, Koutarou's worry was for naught. Theia's announcement came from the fact that her battle sensor had analyzed the giants' attack pattern, and she accurately avoided the attacks while going on a counteroffensive. Koutarou had nothing he could say as a comeback.

"... As you wish, My Princess"

Koutarou gave up on objecting and continued to avoid attacks so he could be used as a reference for Theia. Satisfied with that, the edges of Theia's lips lifted up into a smile.

"Fufu, that's more like it, my knight"

With Theia starting to attack back, the giants attack became less frequent. Thanks to that, Koutarou and Theia stopped wasting time with dodging and gained a few hundred meters in a short amount of time.

"Are you okay, Yurika!?"

Koutarou landed down on the ground and slid across it for a while using his posture control booster to end up in front of Yurika to protect her.

"You did good, Yurika!"

Theia's voice came through Yurika's bracelet. She had stayed in the air to make full use of the mobility of her Combat Dress.

"S-Satomi-san! Theia-chan!"

Theia's attacks had benefited Yurika as well. Having taken an attack, the giants had no choice but to attack Koutarou and Theia as well. Thanks to that, the attacks on Yurika eased up, and Yurika was able to come back from a dangerous spot.

"I'm okay, somehow! But I am so glad you came, I was almost at my limit..."

Yurika had injuries all over. Not only had she used up a lot of magical power with her teleport, but she had also continuously protected the retreating soldiers from the attacks of six giants. She had wounds all over her body and her exhaustion made her steps sway.

"It's okay now. Just leave the rest to me and Theia... is what I would like to say, but there's something you have to do too"

"The virus weapon?"

"That's right! You enter the trailer and find the weapon while we are dealing with the giants!"

Thanks to Yurika's efforts, the soldiers had safely escaped. With no need to protect them any more, Koutarou and Theia should be able to handle the six giants. While the two were fighting, Yurika could move over to their main objective, to found the virus weapon. Looking at Yurika's state, this was the most effective way to split up their roles.

"Okay, please start right away!"

Yurika nodded powerfully and her tired body readied her cane again. She would now need to break through the openings that Koutarou and Theia will open and get past the giants.

"Here I come!"

The first to move was, as expected, Theia. She fired several heat smoke grenades into the area surrounding the giants from the cannons above her shoulders. That caused high temperature smoke to wrap around the giants and deprive them of their vision. With the high temperature, the heat sensors wouldn't work. That was more than enough to conceal a person.

"Here we go, Yurika!"

"Yes!"

Koutarou took the lead and began running. As his armor was starting up its jamming, the giants couldn't tell that Koutarou was approaching.

One in the center, three to the right and two to the left. So the best would be to pass through the left side of the middle one...

As the giants were mobile weapons with pilots inside, their auras could be seen through the smoke. The loud operating sounds and footsteps also let him know of their position.

"This should be enough of a handicap!"

As Koutarou passed through the gaps of two giants, he cut the giants legs. Since the giants themselves had no aura, he couldn't accurately tell their precise location, and couldn't cause a lot of damage. However, the two giants ended up having to drag their legs.

"No, this is what you call a handicap!!"

The sound data of the giants approaching taken by Koutarou's armor was shared with Theia who was flying in the air. Her Combat Dress' fire control system analyzed that data to create holographic models and projected them into Theia's vision. Now she too could see the giants.

Using that data for reference, Theia fired cannon shell after cannon shell. She aimed for places where the pilots sitting in the center of the giants wouldn't get hit. As a result, shells rained down on the shoulders and arms.

"Alright, we're past!"

"We did it!!"

While the giants were being stalled by Theia's bombardment, Koutarou and Yurika safely made it past them. Fortunately, they weren't attacked by the giants, and their defensive spell and barrier protected them from the heat of the smoke.

"Go, Yurika! Don't worry about your back, I'll protect you!"

Koutarou stopped after getting past the giants, while Yurika continued running. They each had different roles in this.

"Yes!!"

Yurika ran at full speed as she was told. Her role was to enter the trailer and find the virus weapon. Koutarou's and Theia's roles were to stall the giants here. Each of them fulfilling their roles was the condition for victory.

"... It's our turn now, Theia"

"No, it's my turn. You're only helping"

"So you really are angry"

"Of course!! Who wouldn't when your citizens and country is threatened by a virus!!"

"I agree. As if I'd let Bandarion get his way!"

Yurika was convinced that she wouldn't get attacked from behind. Because behind her was Forthorthe's strongest princess and the legendary knight that had been revived after an eternity. That's why Yurika didn't show any concern whatsoever to her back.

When the smoke cleared, what greeted the pilots of the giants was a golden flag in the sky, drawn by lasers. The crest on that flag was a gorgeous and beautiful flower in full bloom. The pilots knew very well who that flag represented.

"It's Princess Theiamillis..."

"So the rumors of her going to the front on her own were true..."

The royal families had protected Forthorthe for over 2,000 years. So the meaning behind one of their combat flags being raised was deep. It meant surrender or lose, and the eyes of the golden haired girl, who had created the flag, were saying the same thing.

"C-Calm down! Even if the royal family is undefeated, Her Majesty Elfaria has committed crimes and will have her royal rights stripped! It's not like we're facing real royalty!"

The squad captain called out to his subordinates over the communicator and gave them words of encouragement. It was clear that he himself didn't believe in them. His voice was trembling, and he was still referring to Elfaria as Her Majesty. He was simply repeating his façade, and couldn't even fool himself.

"Besides, the battle has already begun! It's too late to beg for forgiveness now!"

But even then, the squad captain pointed his large beam shotgun towards Princess Theiamillis. However, that was not because of courage, but because he had already attacked royalty and he was now feeling cornered. The pilots didn't have to option to surrender.

"Follow the captain! Before we're all killed!"

"UooooOoooo!!"

The five subordinates followed after their advancing captain. They all knew that the girl before them was not just lovely, but a natural born beast. If they stood by idly, they would be devoured.

"... Even raising my flag only bought a few seconds, huh"

Princess Theiamillis readied her weapons with a fearless smile. Despite facing six giants, her confidence remained unwavering, in contrast to the pilots in the giants.

"Yurika got inside the trailer, that's more than enough, right?"

The knight guarding the princess readied a sword in each hand. He was wearing a powered armor, but it couldn't compete with the giants. Normally, they weren't opponents that should be feared, but the appearance of Princess Theiamillis, and the coloring of the knight's armor made the pilots feel a vague anxiety. The next moment, that anxiety became reality.

"Go, Koutarou!"

"As you wish, My Princess!"

The knight charged as he got backup by the princess. The missiles fired by the princess kicked up a cloud of dirt, and the knight pushed through the cloud and his dazzling sword approached. To counter that, the squad captain leading his charge pointed his beam shotgun at the knight. He was planning on shooting the knight point blank when the sword was repelled by the barrier.

"I-Impossible!?"

However, betraying the squad captain's expectations, the knight's right sword easily cut through the barrier. As there was a vast difference in the output from the generators that the armor and the giant had, this was an impossible outcome. Next up, the knight swung his left sword, opening a wide tear in the giant's thick armor.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaa, don't come any closer!!"

Thrown into a panic by these attacks, the squad captain simply fired his beam shotgun off repeatedly. Yet the knight easily dodged the scattered beams fired from the shotgun.

"I can't hit!! I can't hit him!!"

As the shotgun fired scattered beams, it should be able to hit even fast moving targets. Despite that, the knight didn't get hit. This was in part to the knight reading ahead and dodging, but also because he was at such close range that his sword could reach, so the beams didn't have enough time to scatter.

"C-Captain!?"

"Don't just stand there and look, you fire too!"

"Understood!"

Seeing the captain struggling to hit the knight, the other giants fired as one. But the knight being too close to their ally, only few shots hit the knight. As they were firing scattered beams, only having a few hit wouldn't cause that much damage, and the barrier from the knight's armor blocked them all.

"They seem to be in a fluster"

"There's six of them, so if they used them well they could defeat us..."

Of course, the knight didn't continue to just take the attacks. In the brief stops between his dodges he teamed up with the princess to attack the giants weak spots, their legs. Because of that, the giants became visibly slower.

"It's not like there are six of Elexis. And they're seeing us for the first time"

"So they're dealing with unfamiliar enemies while unable to make full use of their units, huh"

While things were becoming one-sided, it wasn't that the giants were weak. Nor was the knight and princess too strong. The problem was that they were fighting against unknown enemies in crafts they hadn't mastered, and worst of all, they felt immense pressure from fight against royalty.

"Hey, Theia, I said don't get reckless!"

"It's okay. This way―"

The princess who was supporting the knight from the rear was all of a sudden really close. She pointed the large piledriver attached to her left arm at the giant right in front of her.

"― they'll panic even more!"

The hammerhead sent flying by a loud explosion easily blew off the giant's head. With the head blown off, the pilot inside of the giant could see the princess with his very own eyes.

That's Her Highness, that's without a doubt Princess Theiamillis...!

Bathed in sunlight, the sight of Princess Theiamillis, equipped with a piledriver that was spewing out steam, evoked a somewhat divine feeling. She soon activated her boosters and vanished, but the pilot that had seen her was overcome with a sense that there was no way they could win, and began feeling regret.

"Uwaaaaaaa!! Uwaa-aaaaaaaaahhhh!!"

Eventually that confusion and regret spread through the entire squad. With that, both the offense and defence of the giants greatly fell, and the knight and princess gained the upper hand. While the princess had been a reckless, the overall outcome was in fact safer. The pilots had been completely overwhelmed.

Just after Koutarou's and Theia's battle against the giants had begun, Yurika successfully entered the trailer's cargo compartment from the hatch at the rear. The insides of the cargo compartment of a trailer in Forthorthe was at least three times larger in every dimension than when compared to that of one from Earth.

"... The virus' containment vessel... the containment vessel..."

Yurika began exploring the cargo compartment. Immediately after entering were six metal fixtures where Yurika believed that the giants had been lying down. Believing that entering and leaving the trailer from that position would be more convenient, Yurika headed deeper into the cargo compartment.

"... This probably isn't it... it should be something more sturdy... besides, it doesn't have any 'Danger!' markings..."

Several large boxes were lined up deeper inside the cargo compartment. However, none of them looked to be that sturdy. Not even Yurika, with her lack of knowledge, believed that a virus would be kept in a wooden or plastic container. She peeked inside of them just in case, but as expected they were just food or other general merchandise, in other words, normal supplies.

"Ah, t-this is!?"

However, as Yurika was looking through the boxes of supplies, she discovered a large white box that had almost been hidden by the other boxes. The overall appearance of that box was completely different from the other boxes. It was made completely out of metal, and sounds of machinery came from it. It also had several red and yellow marks that really stuck out.

"This is it! It has to be this box!"

The marks on the box looked familiar to Yurika. It was a Forthorthe warning mark, and she had come across several times inside of Theia's Blue Knight. It was the kind of 'Danger!' mark that she was looking for.

"I should open it up... right after, just in case..."

Yurika pointed the tip of her cane at the box. She didn't know what was going on inside of the box, so she was going to use a spell to find out.

"Clairvoyance!"

Yurika cast a spell to let her see through things. That allowed her vision to pierce the thick box and see what lay within.

"Could this black stuff be the virus weapon!?"

Inside the box was a metallic pedestal, and affixed to it was a cylindrical, transparent case. The pedestal looked sturdy and some shaking or impacts wouldn't make the case fall. In fact, the case still looked unharmed, and within it was a black liquid, and for each step a giant on the outside took, the liquid shook. From the way it moved, it looked like it was very stick.

"It looks muddled and yucky... but, I should be able to open the box. I don't have any time so I have to be bold!"

After looking inside the box and confirming that it was safe, Yurika put her hand on the grip attached to the box and pulled it down.

The side with the grip attached served as the boxes door, and the hinges on the side creaked a little as it opened. As the door opened, large amounts of cold air came spewing out. The mechanical sounds were to create this cold air. The box functioned as a refrigerator.

"... There's no doubt, this is it..."

Yurika felt something very ominous when she saw the black liquid within the case with her own eyes, instead of using magic. That made her sense that this was definitely the virus weapon.

"T-That's right, I have to― eh, huh?"

Just when Yurika was about to activate her communications device to report that she had found the virus weapon, she noticed something strange attached to the cylindrical case containing it. It was a metallic box, and on the surface were characters being displayed. Those characters changed as time passed.

"What is this..."

Perplexed, Yurika pushed her bracelet closer to the case and activated the translation device instead of the communications device. A weak laser fired out from the bracelet, and read the characters on the surface of the box, rewriting them into characters she could understand.

"59, 58, 57, 56... some kind of numbers?"

What was being displayed on the surface of the box was numbers counting down. Not understanding what that meant, Yurika tilted her head in confusion. However, the shape of the box made her associate it with a certain thing. This certain thing would sometimes appear in the anime and manga she looked at.

"T-This couldn't be... could it!?"

Yurika felt like this association was correct. And if it really was, things would be really bad. That's why this time she did activate her communications device, and purposefully chose not to encrypt her message as she sent it over all frequencies.

"I found the virus weapon!! But there's a bomb attached to it!! It will explode in less than a minute!!"

The displayed numbers were a countdown.

The small box was a bomb.

The virus weapon packed into the trailer had been set up to explode and spread once the time was right.

Bandarion had schemed to use the virus weapon to corner the Elfaria faction. However, the utmost care was necessary. If the virus wasn't spread at the correct place at the correct time, Bandarion would be the one who would be cornered.

The first question was if the Elfaria faction would show up to blow up the containment vessel. That problem was resolved with a fake Elfaria faction squad. If the fake squad destroyed the trailer, the virus would definitely be spread.

However, that alone wasn't enough for Bandarion, and he prepared another safety precaution. His worries weren't just the one point above. If the information that the trailer was transporting a virus leaked, the Elfaria faction might try to stop it. Depending on the circumstances, the fake squad might be defeated. And even if information wasn't leaked, the fake squad might be detected. In other to resolve those kinds of problems, a bomb was set on the virus' containment vessel.

The bomb had a very elaborate make, and based on the situation, two different types of explosions were possible. The first was a small explosion intended to spread the virus. The other was a large explosion to destroy all evidence in the case that the virus weapon was taken away. The latter half didn't guarantee that the virus would be completely destroyed, but the evidence of the virus being transported would be destroyed.

The countdown was currently working its way down for the former explosion. It would be made to look like Koutarou's and the others' attack had destroyed the containment vessel. Even if some were to see the explosion, they would soon die from the virus. With the Elfaria faction having an inferior force, they wouldn't be able to secure the area after the virus had been spread, allowing Bandarion's side to cover up the evidence at their leisure.

Hearing Yurika's report, Theia quickly fired off a flare and shouted into her communications device.

"Everyone hearing this message, regardless of side are to withdraw immediately! Get as far away from the trailer as you can! If possible, head in the direction of the wind!"

The communications device delivered Theia's words across all frequency bands. The flare and her words shared the same meaning. With a bomb attached to the virus, there was no longer any more time to fight. The Elfaria faction obeyed Theia and began an immediate retreat. However, as expected, the imperial army on Bandarion's side didn't move.

"A virus weapon!?"

"And a time bomb!?"

"W-What do we do, captain!"

They had heard Yurika's and Theia's words as well. However, they couldn't just believe them right away. The fake squad in the forest had been told that the Elfaria faction were carrying mobile weapons on the trailer. The giants on the trailer were only being moved to the front lines. Neither of them ever imagined a virus weapon being transported on the trailer. They knew they had to escape right away if Theia and Yurika were speaking the truth. However, if it was a lie to confuse them, and they believed it, they would be responsible for a massive blunder. They would receive an intense scolding and punishment. The imperial army couldn't move.

"Driver, can you hear me!?"

The only one calm was the captain of the six giants. He quickly activated his communications device and called for the trailer's driver.

"Y-Yes!"

"Confirm it with the cameras of the cargo compartment!! Can you see something like it!?"

"Wait a moment... I can see it! A refrigerated container with warning markings over it, with its door open and a girl looking inside!"

The camera feed was sent to the giants' cockpits. On it they could see a girl, Yurika, staring into an open container.

"Damnit!"

The squad captain pulled on his emergency lever to blow away the cockpit's hatch, and hurriedly jumped out of his unit, before running towards the trailer without a weapon in hand.

"Captain, where are you going!?"

"You guys fall back! I will confirm the truth!"

The captain's actions were due to his sense of duty. Theia's and Yurika's words were most likely the truth, but he couldn't just withdraw like that without any evidence. He needed to confirm the existence of both the virus weapon and the bomb.

"Understood, Captain!"

"Send out the retreat signal! And use all frequency bands to keep civilians and allies from approaching!"

The squad of giants broke off from combat and began retreating in an orderly fashion. The units that had taken a lot of damage were abandoned and only the pilot transferred over to an ally unit. From their appearance it seemed clear that they were seriously retreating.

"Theia, we're going too!"

"Yurika, wait there! We'll come to you!"

With the imperial army retreating, Koutarou and Theia could move freely. The two turned their backs on the giants and headed towards the trailer's cargo compartment. As the two reached the hatch, Yurika appeared from inside. She was carrying the containment vessel, but her steps were wavering due to its weight.

"Miss, give that over here!"

"T-Thank you very much!"

Noticing that Yurika was having trouble, the squad captain received the containment vessel from her. Upon receiving it, his expression turned grim.

A case containing something virus-like, with a bomb attached to it... they were correct!! Which means that we were just some sacrificial pawns from the very beginning!!

While it wasn't certain if it was a real virus or not. However, with it being placed within the trailer it was clear that Theia and Yurika weren't lying. Thanks to that, the captain lost all intentions of fighting. Being treated as a sacrifical pawn, he was deprived of his will to fight. Instead, anger at the upper brass of the military flared up.

"How does it look!?"

"Your Highness, there's only 30 seconds left on the countdown!"

The captain obediently reported to Theia, as if he was an Elfaria faction soldier. The anger he felt towards the military was what drove him to do so.

"Can't you defuse it!?"

"There's no time for that! If we had found it five minutes earlier..."

The bomb attached to the containment vessel wasn't anything special. With enough time, even the captain could defuse it. However, 30 seconds was not enough time. Defusing it was impossible.

"Can't we just remove the bomb and throw it away?"

"If we try to force it off, it will explode! It will only speed up the time we have left before it explodes"

"Which means we only have one option"

Listening to the discussion, Koutarou opened the front of his armor and quickly stepped out.

"What are you going to do, Koutarou!?"

"Let's gather all explosives we can find to make the explosion bigger. We'll burn up the virus with that"

"... I see, it'll be a wager, but that's all we can do in this situation"

Koutarou's idea was to burn up the virus. If they just waited for the bomb to go off, they'd be facing a disaster. If they didn't have the time to defuse it or throw it into space, the only option they had was to make the explosion as big as possible to incinerate the virus. By exploding the armor's generator and having the ammunition explode as well would rise the temperature at the time of explosion. But even doing all of that, there was no guarantee that the virus would be completely burned up. It was a wager with very poor odds.

"Then let's―"

"... Please wait. I'll do something about it!"

However, as they were about to execute their plan, Yurika stopped Koutarou and the others. A strong determination resided within her eyes. Having been cornered, she had returned to her magical girl self.

"Can you do it, Yurika!?"

"There's no guarantee, but I think it will be better than just making the explosion bigger!"

"Then we'll leave it to you! Show us what you can do, Yurika!"

Upon looking at Yurika, Theia made her decision right away. She could entrust it to Yurika the way she was. Theia knew that very well.

"Yes!"

Yurika nodded firmly and held her cane in both hands. There was little time left. She had to start right away.

"Everyone, just in case, get around be and put up your barriers. Even if I fail, that might still work"

There was a mere ten seconds left. There would be no do-overs. This was their first and final move. However, Yurika wasn't losing her nerve. With eyes and voice full of determination, she began her incantation.

"Perfect Force Field - Modifier - Maximize"

For some reason, Yurika was casting a defensive spell. Moreover, she poured all of her remaining magical power into it. What was even more perplexing was that the spell was cast on the containment vessel that had been left on the ground.

"You're planning to contain the explosion with that spell!? But even then―"

"No! The real battle starts here!"

Yurika interrupted Theia and brandished her cane.

"Field - Close!!"

Yurika's spell wasn't over yet. The defensive spell Yurika had cast created a globe stretched over ten meters in diameter with the containment vessel at the center. With Yurika's follow-up incantation, that field began shrinking. Ten meters turned to eight, eventually reaching six. It's size rapidly began shrinking.

"Yurika, it's exploding!"

"Gooooooooo!!"

The bomb attached to the containment vessel exploded as Yurika's defensive spell reached a diameter of two meters. The explosion occurred within that small space, and it glowed like a small sun. Even then, Yurika didn't stop shrinking her field, and its diameter was reduced even more.

"I see, Yurika, so that's what you were thinking!!"

That was where realized what Yurika was doing. First off, Yurika created a large globe-shaped defensive spell, and closed in a large amount of air. Next she compressed the air as much as she could, and the globe was now less than 1 meter in diameter. The explosion occurred in that small space. The scale of the explosion was far from large, but due to the compression, the pressure and temperature greatly increased. In other words, Yurika made use of the compression and the explosion to create situation like the nightmare she had experienced during the re-entry into the atmosphere.

"Naaaaaaaah, Aaaaaah, Waaaaaaah!!"

Of course, that put a great deal of strain on the defensive spell, and the load on Yurika drastically increased. In fact, the defensive spell covering the compressed air was blinking and looked like it would disappear at any moment.

"Signaltin, give Yurika your power!!"

The one to save Yurika from the danger was Koutarou. He pulled out Signaltin's vast magical power and poured it into Yurika. The moment Signaltin's white magical power touched Yurika, it turned yellow and the light of the defensive spell increased.

"How about thiiiiisss!!"

While borrowing Koutarou's help, Yurika mustered the last of her powers to compress the space even further. The space had now been compressed into a spherical space just a few centimeters in diameter. With the fragments of the containment vessel still inside, the actual available space was even less. In that tiny amount of space was enough area to fill a globe ten meters in diameter, and the explosive force of an explosion. With that, the pressure and temperature generated inside had far exceeded that of an atmospheric re-entry, for just a short amount of time. And in that harsh, hellish environment, there was no way for the virus to survive.

By the time it was all over, Yurika had lost consciousness while stilling gripping onto her cane. She had given it her all until the very end, and literally run out of strength. The reason why she hadn't let go of her cane despite that was surely because she was a magical girl of love and courage.

"... You did good, Yurika"

Koutarou held up Yurika and put her on his back. When Koutarou held onto her, all tension left Yurika's body and she simply leaned over his back. Even though she was unconscious, she looked surprisingly a lot like she usually did when she was lazily lying around.

"It looks like the virus was completely incinerated... Well done, Yurika"

In the direction Yurika's cane was pointed was nothing but ash and a melted containment vessel. Regardless of what was inside, it had all been burnt up. That much was clear to anyone.

"Make sure you thank her properly when she wakes up"

"I know. Don't lump me in with you"

The atmosphere between Koutarou and Theia eased up quite a bit. They had only just escaped a deadly situation, so it was only to be expected. The captain who was with them felt the same, and he was lying down with his limbs stretched out a bit further away from the others.

"... Phew, looks like it all ended safely"

That was when a voice came from above Koutarou.

"Elexis, huh"

When he looked up, he saw Elexis, Maya and six magical girls. With Elexis at the lead, they landed one after another in front of Koutarou and the others. They looked tired, but all eight were safe.

"Now then, Koutarou-kun, I believe we have a mutual problem"

"I know. Whether to settle things with us or not, right?"

With the Bandarion's virus weapon incident settled, Koutarou's and Elexis' groups would return to their normal relationship. That relationship being enemies, and if they faced one another they had to fight.

"Honestly, us fighting here wouldn't be good. There's too many eyes on us"

Elexis shrugged as he spoke in an easygoing manner. The captain was still plopped down a bit off, and Bandarion most likely had some intentionally placed journalists recording them. Moreover, the army likely had some satellites pointed at them. If they were to carelessly fight here, Bandarion would find out that Elexis was involved, and their position would worsen. As Signaltin couldn't dispel their disguises, it was a deadly weapon to them right now.

"... And we have fewer numbers"

The problem for Koutarou and the others were simply that they lacked forces. With Yurika unconscious, it would be a two vs eight.If they fought, Koutarou and Theia would certainly lose. While they might be able to take two down with them each, that was their limit.

"So as a proposal... why don't we just get along for today? To avoid ruining each others' future"

Elexis suggested that they avoided fighting. Both of them had reasons to not fight. If they got stubborn and fought anyways, the future for both sides would be ruined. It would be a meaningless fight for both sides.

"What do we do, Theia?"

"Hmm..."

Hearing Elexis' proposal, wrinkles appeared on Theia's forehead. With her personality, she didn't like avoiding a fight. She believed that royalty should break through the front.

"Princess, you should decide to get along with us fast. Crim-chan is just oozing to get into a fight"

"How rude, I can think about the future too"

However, Orange's and Crimson's words made Theia calm down. Fighting was easy, but thinking about the future, in other words, the country and its citizens, fighting here was foolish. Even the legendary Princess Alaia threw away her pride for the sake of her country and its people, and had tried to stop the fighting.

"I got it. I'll accept those conditions"

"Thank you, Your Highness"

Maya flashed a smile full of meaning. If she were to be honest, she wanted to fight. But she had accepted it. Her wish to let the people of Folsaria return to Forthorthe was similar to Theia's feelings. The meaning behind Maya's smile was very similar to something like sympathy for Theia.

"But tomorrow, we'll be back to enemies. We'll definitely defeat you!"

"Just the way we want it. And we will definitely win"

Theia and Maya had fearless smiles as they stared at each other. The two felt the same way even here. Elexis who looked at the two let out chuckle and whispered to Koutarou.

"... It looks like we're both having a hard time thanks to women"

"... Looks like it"

Elexis was without a doubt an enemy, they usually never saw eye to eye on something, and had been through a lot thanks to one another. However, Koutarou forgot that and nodded. He truly felt that way thanks to having overcome a danger so great he forgot about fighting for a while.

"I can hear you! You insubordinate fool!"

"El!! What is that supposed to mean!?"

They both had sharp ears, and they got angry the same way. Koutarou and Elexis looked at each other and smiled wryly, before slumping their shoulders and sighing at the same time.

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