In the first eighteen minutes, the Kiryu used up all the Mother Servant Pods, Nova Gravity Bombs, flash rupture wires, back torque limiters, and prominence gull arms, leaving it with only the main Twin Nova Launcher and the proximity Servant Blades. Even for a Division 5 like Hanabi, her magic was almost tapped out by the time she’d slaughtered a few hundred Queens, and her mental fatigue was pushing against her limit. After fighting alone for so long, Kuon was in a similar condition. No matter how low he set his magic output, there was still a finite amount, and his missing arm often slowed his judgment.
Attacking tentacles while acting as bait for bullets and mantas, Kuon shouted, “En, how much longer?!”
“Three minutes, twenty-eight seconds!”
“Heh heh, so precise!”
“I am a very high-spec AI!” Since neither Kuon or Hanabi let their fatigue show, En answered cheerily, working as fast as she could. She’d identified inadequate magical compression as the cause of the activation failure. The Nürburg had substantial electronic protection, so hacking the main CPU was tricky. She was forced to enter through an external socket, secure a bypass, and inject a fake version of herself. While the security protocols were killing that, En then had to attack the main systems, wrest full admin rights, and fire the boosters to the engines running the magical compression.
It still wasn’t getting her anywhere. Tooka had seen Kuon right before passing out, so she had not permitted self-destruct. With Tooka still unconscious, she might have to resort to a final solution, but she still had one trick up her sleeve. The problem was that the kick didn’t have enough power, so she could redirect the anti-magnetic field engine’s electric away from stabilizing the Field, and in another three minutes and thirteen seconds…
Just then, the disc Jave far above them moved.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Its form changed. It shifted from a disc shape to a sort of tower, then extended downwards into a T-shape, and the extended tower part began crackling with electricity. Both Kuon and Hanabi realized that they couldn’t ditch the Nürburg to dodge this. The Heavy Magic Field could defend against any light bullets—
Craaack!
With a noise like a lightning strike, something pierced the Kiryu’s right wing, slamming into the ground below. It had penetrated the Heavy Magic Field. Buffeted by a tremendous impact and shock wave, Kuon managed to identify the attack and yell, “It’s a railgun!”
The disc Jave had turned a portion of its own flesh into a bullet and formed an electromagnetic acceleration device to launch it. The Empire had developed technology to turn magic into electricity, too, but this was the first recorded example of the Jave doing so.
If it had been just a physical bullet, the Witch Bubble could withstand it, whether it was a railgun shell or a nuke. If it was a light bullet, the Heavy Magic Field could deflect it. But they had no defense against a physical bullet charged with magic.
“They’ve adapted to the Heavy Magic Field!” Hanabi moaned, purging the damaged sectors with a shudder.
“En!” Kuon yelled.
“Two more minutes!”
The disc Jave’s tower was pulsing above them, taking aim. “Next shot’s coming! Kuon-kun!” Hanabi yelled.
“Protect the Nürburg!” He activated Tensetsu and saw the enemy attack lines. They were going to miss.
Baaaaaaam! Whoooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The railgun hit home just behind them, generating a massive shock wave. Where it hit, it left a crater so big the Nürburg could fit inside it. If that hit them head on, they were done for. The one saving grace was its low accuracy, but that was no reason to relax. The Nürburg was sitting immobile directly between the two shots. This was known as target straddling. The next strike would be a direct hit.
This technology! They really did used to be… Kuon thought, and shook away the distraction. “Senpai! I’m going to cut it down! You cover the Nürburg!”
“Go for it!”
The Kiryu took position directly above the Nürburg, and Kuon stood on top of it. Kuon had blocked several massive light bullets from the Queens, which traveled much faster than the railgun shells. But the reason a physical shell was so scary—
“Seriously…?”
The disc Jave was extending one tower after another, each one pointed directly at them.
“Shijin Reppakuzan!”
“Twin Nova Launcher!”
The moment they saw this, both abandoned their defensive stances, going on the offensive. Using nearly all their remaining magic, they managed to blow away a number of towers, but those that remained…
BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!
Kuon stopped time and looked at the bullet trajectories, but there were too many to handle. He and Hanabi estimated which bullets would most likely cause major damage if they struck the Nürburg, chose to block those trajectories, and then prayed.
Kuon released Tensetsu. Bullets like the manifestation of death itself came thundering towards them, and they turned their Blades and Servants and even their frames into shields, guarding the Nürburg.
It sounded like the world collapsing.
“…Guh!”
Their ears rang. When they opened their eyes, their vision was blurred and dust clouds filled the air. Kuon found himself on his hands and knees. He’d been thrown some distance from the Nürburg. His remaining limbs, at least, seemed to be intact.
Hanabi-senpai!
“Unh…”
He turned his head towards the voice and found Hanabi surprisingly close by. The Kiryu was filled with holes, badly damaged. It stood immobilized with its back against the rubble, its belly exposed. Only its head managed to slowly swivel, pluck Hanabi out of its embrace, and lay her down by Kuon’s side. Then it went still.
“Kiryu, thank you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Hanabi stroked its face. She was uninjured, but out of magic, and too tired to move on her own. For the moment, she was safe.
“En…are you alive? How’s the Nürburg?” Kuon asked. He feared there would be no reply.
“Thanks to the two of you, the Nürburg is not badly damaged. But…” En sounded deeply sorry. She was crying. “I’m sorry. I’ve lost my connection. I’ll have to go in again.”
“How long?”
“I’m starting over.”
In other words, another thirty-three minutes, Kuon thought. “Right.”
“Enemy forces are still gathering. The disc Jave is repairing itself, but it won’t be long before it fires again,” En said. Her voice was calm but choked with tears. She didn’t sound like an AI at all.
This is how it ends, Kuon thought. He wasn’t Suzuka Hachishiki, but it was time to go out with a bang. He looked at Hanabi lying next to him. “Senpai, will you stay with me till the end?”
“Of course I will. We’ll be together even if it kills us.”
He reached his one hand out and touched her cheek, using the last of his strength to kiss her. “I love you, Hanabi-senpai.”
She looked back at him with tears in her eyes and said, “If this is it for us, will you at least call me by my name?”
The disc Jave above them was making towers again. Jave from across the planet were gathering around them, and the disc Jave was doing everything it could to ensure the destruction of its natural predators.
In the midst of all that, Kuon said, “I love you, Hanabi.”
“I love you, too, Kuon.”
The wish Hanabi had been nursing all summer was finally granted.
She looked up. The dust clouds were thinning, and they could see the pitch-dark sky above. The disc Jave’s towers glared down at them, ready to finish them off. This was Hanabi’s last moment, and yet… Huh, she thought. That’s weird.
Only now did it strike her as odd. The damage Kuon had done was the equal of what Suzuka Hachishiki had done to the Queen Jave back in his time, but the disc Jave was repairing itself far too quickly. That Queen had taken thirteen years to recover. Thirteen years and it still hadn’t been fully restored. Was that really because of Magic Dispersal?