Skkrrr!!
A very long katana severed the golden arm at its base.
✦ ✦ ✦
Through the gap in the cloth of the simple tentlike shelter, they saw the majestic scene unfolding outside.
The Asian woman swinging around a katana two meters long was certainly remarkable, but the golden arm being torn clean through in a single attack was far more shocking.
The golden arm’s length exceeded one hundred meters. Its thickness, too, was similarly massive. No matter how sharp the two-meter katana’s blade was, it was a matter of simple thickness—it could never have cut through such a thing.
And yet…
“It’s essentially the same logic as cutting open a plastic bag.”
They could hear a woman’s voice from the card communicator stuck to the wall.
“After making a small wound to the target, you leave it up to the target to tear open a hole on its own. Legends from all over the world, past and present, depict people splitting open evil dragons and the like that are clearly too big for their swords—this is an essential property for those stories.”
A black-clothed nun aimed an old-fashioned light source—an oil lantern, maybe—onto the baffled Academy City man’s body. A circular flashlight-like light crawled over him. He thought she was checking him for injuries, but something wasn’t right. Even after the circle of light left part of his skin, the surface of his body glowed faintly.
As though supporting his body from the outside.
“Whether you wish to survive or to confront a powerful enemy, we must first create an environment in which you can move your body to your satisfaction.”
As he was cared for, the Academy City man remembered what the snowfield outside the shelter was like.
Thinking about where the still-usable tanks and powered suits had been left, as accurately as he could.
In moments, his sortie preparations would be complete.
And this time, his enemy would not be the Russian forces.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, two swords chopped through a giant golden arm that had sprouted from the ground.
The first was a sword of light, extending from a fragment of the British sword, the Curtana Second. The second was a French sword, the Durandal.
Wielding them were representatives of each nation: the second princess, Carissa, and the Femme Fatale. The wounds they had sustained while facing the archangel Misha Kreutzev hadn’t healed, but sharpness of their motions hadn’t waned.
“First an angel, now symbols of the right arm? He really has a thing for telesma, doesn’t he?” Carissa waggled her sword, seeming bored. “Move the mobile fortress Glastonbury from point B to point C. And perform a check on it. Can’t have it malfunctioning on us now, so.”
“…If you could disable the Glastonbury’s altitude limiter, you could probably board Fiamma’s temple fairly quickly.”
The Femme Fatale was looking up overhead. There—over ten thousand meters in the sky—a fortress referred to as the Star of Bethlehem was still raising its altitude.
“We wouldn’t be struggling if it was that simple. The Glastonbury was developed as a mobile fortress for suppressing land territory, you know. It didn’t really have high-altitude aerial combat in mind.”
Carissa turned back toward the Glastonbury.
Remaining turned around, she muttered.
“…Still, the Star of Bethlehem, eh? I’m surprised the Russian and Roman Churches disclosed the information for it.”
“They were being used, just like us. I suppose it simply means they aren’t so irredeemable that they’d serve a plan like this in silence.”
Shoo, shoo. Lightly spinning her sword with only her wrist, the Femme Fatale thought deeply.
…Come to think of it, I believe my younger sister’s independent nation was around here somewhere.
After randomly punctuating her thoughts with a hum, she continued. If I indebt myself to her now, it may benefit France down the line.
Wait a minute, Sis. Could one of Europe’s representative countries not try to pluck from a small nation? It’s puerile.
Oh, Eliza? I do believe it’s good manners to at least knock first.
You’re in range of my bombardment spell, you know.
I do believe that if you were that talented, the French government wouldn’t have let you depart.
We were planning on making that location into an anti-Fiamma battlefield, so my troops have planted all sorts of dangerous things there. In the end, Fiamma invaded before we could use them and stole Sasha Kreutzev in the process. In any case, if it’s that location alone, the bombardment spell will reach.
Do you mean to indebt me to you?
I should think a smaller nation plucking from one of Europe’s representative countries is the more natural course, wouldn’t you?
Crackle-crackle. Sparks flew between the sisters.
And Carissa seemed to have gotten a communication as well. However, hers wasn’t a magical one. The second princess had reacted to a beep, taking out a radio hidden in her chest.
The Femme Fatale looked at Carissa like she was wearing a vulgar swimsuit. “…I keep saying this, over and over and over, but do you really need to keep things in there?”
“Quit your prattling. What are you, my mother? …Unfortunately, my dress doesn’t have any sort of pockets. And between this and putting them in my panties, I actually think I’m being rather sensible here, so.”
Carissa, having pulled out her radio, seemed to be in contact with London.
“I see, I see. Right. Then to bring down the Star of Bethlehem, we’ll need to provide technology and information from the English Puritan Church as well.”
She nodded to herself several times.
“Then tell the leader of the Puritans this. If you don’t give them the necessary information at once, the Royals’ second princess, Carissa, military might of the nation, will shove this Curtana so far up your ass—”
After saying what she needed to, Carissa turned off the radio.
“…You heard it. Looks like they’re working on pulling it down, but it also looks like the damage will get worse if we just wait around.”
“Then there’s only one thing to do.”
Spitting the words out, the two once again readied their legendary-class swords.
Several golden arms appeared from the ground, surrounding them.
Entrusting their backs to each other, they spoke:
“Even without actually going inside the Star of Bethlehem, there are ways to keep Fiamma from getting what he wants, so.”
“…Destroying every last one of the golden arms appearing on the surface, in other words.”
Several slashes struck out, and in the blink of an eye, the encirclement collapsed.
The men of the Knights, as well as Necessarius and the French sorcerers, followed after them.
Their invasion had begun.