Yuri was somehow able to follow my instructions. However she really wasn’t able to choose a good spot to go as she escaped. She didn’t end up quite where I was hoping. But, it was sort of on the outskirts.
It was Northeast Danp Yu.
Danp Yu is adjacent to Lyonesse’s largest space port. It’s on the edge of the city, to the northeast.
I examined the radar and gritted my teeth. Why go this way, where we could get into even more trouble? There are plenty of areas around here that are barren with nothing to damage.
Before they had reached the space port I caught up to Yuri. I had been a bit frivolous with the fuel supply, this wasn’t the time to worry about gas mileage.
“Drop down! For the moment, get down!”
I gave Yuri instructions for a second time. With the two shadows on her tail and no other options but escape, Yuri dropped her nose and took off in a zig-zag pattern.
I made my strike on the shadows. If I could hit one, I’d be happy, but that wasn’t the only goal. It was mainly covering fire.
As expected, they dodged all my fire.
But it did force them to pause their concentrated attack on Yuri.
All at once she dropped her altitude like a rock.
The shadows split up to the left and right. One went to follow Yuri and the other set his sights on me. What do you know? That’s exactly what I wanted them to do.
I slowly rotated my Shooter around. At the same time I flew in an arc and lowered my altitude. Below me was an ocean of lime green. The vast expanse of the grassy plains seemed to go on forever. It looked like a giant park. Just a little way away from the highway, there should be no people around.
I unleashed a torrential attack. Blasted from my Shooter, the atmosphere was transformed into a thick wall, flying horizontally at my enemy—at least that’s what it looked like. The recoil sent my Shooter around 500 meters to the left. In front of me I could see waves heaving through the green savannah. The earth split, and I saw the brown of the raw soil break through the divided grass. Underbrush and shrubs were lifted and broke apart, fluttering in the air. It wasn’t possible to see how far the tear in the green felt-like surface below extended.
I stayed my course. With all the bravery I could muster, I didn’t waver off target. If I were to change course now, it would be easier for the shadow to counterattack. I wasn’t going to strike and run, strike and run any longer. The only problem was that somewhere in that grassy plain was Mugi. If this shadow and I start a dogfight, it would be a pretty even match. Best-case scenario is a simultaneous strike. Worst-case scenario is I lose. But then there’s Mugi. If I could add Mugi into the equation, everything changes. The odds swing drastically into our favor.
The ground grew close. I slowly steadied the nose of the flyer. The Shooter went into a sort of spiral and my eyes were spinning. Blue sky, green field, blue grass, green field… The view in front of me was different moment-to-moment. Altitude one hundred meters… eighty meters… seventy meters… Every so often I would see the shadow in my rear-view screen. He was close. If I popped the hatch, I could probably have grabbed him.
A gauge suddenly started blinking brightly. Without any warning. Sudden disorder. For a moment I thought the flyer was in full shutdown. But that wasn’t it. There was a reason for this abnormal blinking light.
It was Mugi. Mugi can control electrical and electromagnetic currents. Even from a little ways away, he has the power. Make no mistake. This abnormality was a message from Mugi.
I pulled the lever toward me.
Sudden ascend. This was my reply to Mugi’s message. The Shooter was pointed straight up. The main engine was fully opened. This G-force was going to crush me. My muscles began to tremble. My chest felt tight. Aah! My beautiful boobs would get…
My Shooter swung around. Turning on a dime, she was now facing the opposite direction. The shadow was there. He was a little blip in the center of my screen.
This shadow was shaking. More than his speed, it was hard to distinguish him from the surface of the planet he was now on. I wasn’t going to miss this.
Mugi aimed straight for the shadow and jumped from the grass. The shadow that had fallen from high in the sky had apparently been within Mugi’s range. Mugi, who had sent his message and driven me away, had attacked from below as the shadow was occupied with trying to get my Shooter.
The shadow was helpless against the unexpected attack.
Sensing imminent death, the shadow tried to escape from Mugi’s claws and fangs. I banked around and dropped my altitude.
The shadow rose unsteadily. He had none of the speed or vitality of a few moments previous.
He hobbled to right opposite me.
His image filled my targeting screen.
The shadow tore off his armor in pieces, and a faint trail of smoke lifted. An LED-designated HIT in bright letters. I pressed down on the trigger button.
Two rounds of fire blew out of my twin blasters.
The red flames slammed into the shadow. The shadow couldn’t counter. I only showed a little of what these blasters could do, but these balls of fire were more than enough.
The shadow was enveloped in flames. I don’t give light sentences. I continued to fire the blaster.
As I expected, the scene before my eyes turned a bright, pure white.
A shockwave rocked the Shooter. Then came the roar. Even through the canopy, my eardrums instantly started to ring, the explosion was so enormous. The flash was blinding. I closed my eyes. But even then, it wasn’t dark. All I saw was the red brightness emitting from the back of my eyelids. The canopy is tinted with a reflective covering, but it had absolutely no effect.
Keeping my eyes closed, I increased my altitude, again. The bright light disappeared. With a little hesitation, I slowly opened my eyes. There was the ultramarine tone of the blue sky. At first I thought the flash of the explosion still remained, but then I realized it was because my ship was pointed at the sun.
I turned the lever, spinning to go back to where the shadow had been. But where he had stood moments before there was nothing. No rubble, no fire, not even any smoke.
That was one hell of an explosion. It must have been some kind of suicide bomb planted in the armor again, and like the shopping plaza, there was no evidence anything ever existed in that spot. It’s a good thing this happened away from the city in the grasslands.
I started looking for the last shadow. He needed to be taken care of around here, too. Who knows what would happen if he was able to escape back into outer space.
I stared at the radar screen for a full four seconds.
There were two blips darting dizzyingly across the monitor. They weren’t far off. Surprisingly, they were high above ground. It seemed that Yuri was counterattacked, and she’d tried to get away by going up.
“Let’s end this here!” I spat.
I pulled the lever to me as hard as I could.
My Shooter swooped up into the air.