Alaia was under Forthorthe control. Naturally, the Imperial Army had a big presence on the planet. Since a major battle had begun, a large Imperial Army force would inevitably come. Once they did, the Liberation Army would be trapped. At that point, regardless of who was winning, they would lose. Kiriha imagined that Maxfern would do something drastic before accepting defeat.
“It’s only a prediction, so I can’t make any guarantees, but I imagine he would indiscriminately bombard the entire area or self-destruct,” Kiriha explained.
Soldiers who could retreat probably would. But those who couldn’t or were too slow would be left behind, and an attack would be launched at the conference venue or nearby cities. Alternatively, the mobile weapon would self-destruct to take Koutarou down with it.
“Most attacks can probably be stopped. The Imperial Army has plenty of defenses,” Kiriha went on.
Most attacks wouldn’t be a problem. Since Kiriha figured the enemy might target the conference venue, she had put antiair defenses into position. A self-destruct shouldn’t be a serious threat either. Since there were few large unmanned craft, an explosion wouldn’t have an influence on other locations.
“But there is something we can’t block.”
“The missile on that thing’s back, huh?” Koutarou concluded.
“Yes. If that explodes, we can’t stop it,” Kiriha stated.
The missile on Acturus’s back was the real worry. Its launcher was broken, but it could still be detonated. Since Acturus was so large, it would be easy to pursue but difficult to retrieve, so it could be used to take Koutarou down with it.
“That would be horrible. He’d burn even his own allies to death!” Koutarou exclaimed.
“You will need to hold them back. If Maxfern self-destructs, he will indeed take his allies down too,” Kiriha agreed.
If the idea was to take down Koutarou with Acturus, the warhead would be detonated mid-battle, meaning that the Liberation Army would be right there. Maxfern would rather do that than have the soldiers retreat and allow Koutarou to catch Acturus. Kiriha predicted that this was how Maxfern would think.
“I’ll stop it from happening no matter what!” Koutarou had no intention of letting Maxfern detonate the warhead. He could understand Maxfern self-destructing in hopes of taking him down, but he couldn’t accept Maxfern sacrificing his own allies to do it. Koutarou was determined to stop the destruction to save both himself and any meaningless casualties.
“If it was launched, we could shoot it down, but since it’s stuck, you would need to get behind the mobile weapon and take out the warhead directly,” Kiriha explained. “If Maxfern catches on to what you’re doing, he will probably detonate it right then and there, so it’s not realistic to dispose of the warhead either.”
“Then what should I do, Kiriha-san?!”
“We want to avoid any situation where the enemy would feel suspicious or uneasy, so you need to destroy the control system in a single shot.”
It was very likely that Maxfern would trigger the warhead when he ran out of time or sensed that he was at a disadvantage. Likewise, if Koutarou tried to escape or mess with the warhead. Acturus’s computer had to be destroyed in a single shot so that it couldn’t give relay orders. Kiriha concluded this was the method with the highest chance of success.
“You make it sound so easy,” Koutarou grumbled.
“I’m sorry, Koutarou. I didn’t expect Maxfern to go so far.”
“What a pain...” Koutarou sighed.
He couldn’t even imagine how difficult this would be. Since Maxfern’s craft was spherical, the computer should be at the center. In front of it would be the generator, which was the next most important piece of hardware. In other words, Kiriha was demanding that he shoot through that. But Acturus was large and sturdy. Stopping it was one thing, but penetrating it required some serious firepower.
“There’s no need to lament, Blue Knight,” Alunaya stated. “This is our job. There is nothing you and I can’t do.”
Koutarou exhaled. “Then let’s live up to those expectations.”
“That’s the spirit!”
“Boo, don’t forget about me!” Sanae-chan complained.
“Sorry about that,” Alunaya apologized.
It would be up to Koutarou, Alunaya, and Sanae-chan. The three of them had the highest firepower when combined. If anyone was going to shoot the computer through the generator, it would be them.
Kiriha’s prediction was correct. The moment Acturus’s missile launcher had been damaged, Maxfern had decided to self-destruct depending on the situation. But with the Imperial Army reinforcements arriving in the form of unmanned craft, there was no guarantee that they could kill Koutarou and the others there, so he was thinking of using it as a last resort.
“Ralgwin-sama...”
A subordinate contacted Maxfern, who was on the bridge of a battleship. The soldiers still believed that he was Ralgwin and called him by that name.
“Imperial Army transport ships are approaching the battlefield,” the soldier reported.
“How much time do we have?”
“At their current rate, they should have ground forces deployed in two, three minutes,” the soldier answered.
“Very well. How are the Blue Knight and the others doing, Grevanas?” Maxfern ended the call with his subordinate and turned to Grevanas, who was right next to him. He was operating the computer, sending instructions to Acturus. In other words, Grevanas was the one fighting their enemy.
“Considering that they have been fighting relatively passively, they might be waiting for reinforcements,” Grevanas guessed.
The Imperial Army had already achieved their objective by rescuing Kiriha, Clan, and Ruth. The Liberation Army’s assassination had ended in failure, so it made sense to assume that the Imperial Army didn’t want to sacrifice anything else.
“So, we are the ones who must act... Now, what to do?” Maxfern pondered.
He gathered his thoughts in a short amount of time. Acturus was performing as expected. It was an even match for the Blue Knight’s side. It was more than possible to take someone down with it, be it the Blue Knight himself, the Fire Dragon Emperor, or even the psychic girl. The Fire Dragon Emperor was strong in both offense and defense, though the psychic girl didn’t have a body, so it was unclear if she could even be defeated. That meant that the Blue Knight, who was covering for the others’ weaknesses, was the prime target.
“Grevanas, focus your attacks on the Blue Knight,” Maxfern ordered.
“Without consideration for anything else?”
“That’s right. I’ll leave the time of detonation to you. Use it to kill the Blue Knight!”
“As you wish!” Grevanas nodded, bared his teeth, and smiled. Even the Blue Knight’s defenses would weaken under Acturus’s attacks. If the wide-area incineration warhead was detonated at the right moment, it could kill him. It was a worthwhile gamble.