Acturus coming at Koutarou was something he welcomed, since he wanted to keep casualties to a minimum. It also meant that Maxfern and Grevanas hadn’t realized that he and the others were planning to stop the detonation. But it was also dangerous. With Sanae protecting Alunaya, and Koutarou protecting her, he became the target.
“Another attack is coming! The spiritual energy is increasing!” Sanae-chan warned him.
Acturus was a machine, and unmanned at that. But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t emitting any spiritual energy. It had a spiritual energy generator, was protected by a Spiritual Energy Field, and attacked with a spiritual energy cannon. Some of its controls also used that same technology. So the spiritual energy would change the instant it attacked or defended. Sanae read those fluctuations and relayed them.
“We sure are busy!” Koutarou exclaimed.
He created a magical shield to block the mass of energy. But that wasn’t the end of it. Smoke grenades shot out from his armor and covered their surroundings in smoke just before lasers came flying and struck him. Fortunately, the smoke reduced the power of the lasers and the Garb of Lord’s distortion field was able to block them.
“They’re aiming for our weak point,” said Alunaya. “Blue Knight, they know that they can take me down in a domino effect if they take you out.”
He swung his right arm to intercept a missile that was closing in on Koutarou, causing it to go off early. The missile exploded, but being made for anti-mobile weapons, it wasn’t going to leave a scratch on the dragon. The spiritual energy cannon was necessary for that, which was why Koutarou was being targeted. In order to take down Alunaya, both Koutarou and Sanae had to go down first.
“Thank you, Alunaya-dono!”
“But what are we going to do? There is no end to this!” Alunaya responded.
They were having trouble attacking. Acturus moved fast and was hard to hit, not to mention that it had superb defense. There were no openings, as it used various weapons based on what the situation required. It was also advantageous for it that there was nobody on board, and it attacked at times that would normally be illogical. It was a powerful enemy with all the combat knowledge of both sides installed.
“If we could only stop it for a moment...” Shizuka said, watching from inside Alunaya, as Acturus’s nonstop, fluid moves caught her eye.
Living beings would temporarily stop when deciding on or reaching their destination, but Acturus never did thanks to sophisticated and dedicated AI. Koutarou and the others had no way of knowing about that, so the only thing that was certain was that they couldn’t land a big attack until Acturus halted.
“Hmm... For a moment...” Sanae stared at Acturus while releasing her aura from her palms to block the machine gun bullets. There was something on her mind. “I might be able to stop it for a moment. But I can’t say for sure...”
“That’s fine! Do it, Sanae!” Koutarou replied. “We don’t have much time!”
An attack is coming! Be careful! Sanae thought.
Oh, only now do I notice that just before moving, there is a slight sound from its thrusters. I will be able to pursue it now! thought Alunaya. He started flying acrobatically. Thanks to Sanae, he could hear the slight operation sounds of Acturus’s thrusters. Since he could hear them just before they fired, he changed direction in tandem with them. That way, he wouldn’t fall behind and could stay on Acturus’s tail.
Thanks, Sanae! Now we can fight back! Koutarou thought. Acturus was still focusing its fire on him, but he could track the attacks just like Alunaya. It might be hard for a longer period of time, but he could handle it for a short duration.
“Ehehehe,” Sanae giggled again.
“What are you going to do next, Sanae?!” Koutarou asked.
“We need to get a little closer first,” she replied.
“So you can do something if we get closer?!”
“Probably!”
“Okay!” By the time Koutarou answered, he had already jumped to the right of the direction they were heading in. In response, Acturus changed the direction it was traveling.
“That’s being reckless, Satomi-kun! You’ll get yourself killed!” Shizuka screamed.
Koutarou’s armor had flight functions as well, but he was far slower than Alunaya. The lack of thrust had already slowed him down considerably. There was no way he’d be able to escape Acturus now. It was like he had jumped into his own doom.
So that’s your plan, Blue Knight! Alunaya grinned and chased after Acturus.
The mobile weapon was headed straight for Koutarou. Since he had jumped off to the side, Acturus was flying diagonally in relation to Alunaya, showing him its flank. For that brief period, the enemy was flying slower relative to Alunaya. Using its determination to attack Koutarou, Alunaya had lured it into moving a specific way.
“Go get him, Uncle!” Sanae cheered.
“Of course!” Alunaya nodded and closed in on Acturus until he was close enough to hit it with his claws or wings.
That was the moment that Sanae-chan had been waiting for. “Listen to my soooong!!!” she loudly declared before singing the theme song of the magical girl anime that she loved. “I will beat away your boredom. When you look down, I will brighten your day. I will save you with the magic of smiles...”
The song itself didn’t really matter. The real point was that she was putting her heart into it. Her song didn’t come out as sound waves—instead, it echoed through her surroundings as aura.
At that moment, Acturus’s posture fell apart. Its boosters and thrusters malfunctioned, stalling it.
“Good job, Sanae! So that was your plan!” Koutarou cheered. The timing was perfect. It had happened right before his eyes.
“Yesterday’s tears will melt away in the morning sun. The wind will bring you happiness...” Sanae continued singing rather than answering him, but she wore a proud expression.
Maxfern and Grevanas, on the other hand, weren’t laughing.
“What is going on?!” Maxfern screamed. “Grevanas, what is happening?!”
“I do not know. There is a spiritual energy transmission malfunction! The system is rebooting?!”
Despite it not looking like anything was being done to it, Acturus was suddenly malfunctioning and its system was being rebooted. Since they couldn’t hear Sanae’s song, they were confused.
“What are you doing! Get it moving!” Maxfern ordered.
“We have another eight seconds until it finishes rebooting! At this rate—”
Sanae had been aiming for the moment Acturus launched an attack on Koutarou. The mobile weapon used all kinds of spiritual energy technology, including for communications. When the transmission’s spiritual energy had decreased, she’d hit it with a powerful aura. It had torn the transmission to pieces, causing an error in the system, which had made it reboot. It was a spiritual energy version of electronic warfare—the kind of daring move only Sanae could pull off.
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