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Once he assumed his angel form, Yukinari could use all the power that was within him. But the situation wasn’t so easy that he could simply walk away with the victory. He had tried to bluff the female knight, but chances were she’d seen through it.
“Now, what to do, what to do...?” Yukinari muttered behind his mask.
The angels had been created by the True Church of Harris in order to perform miracles to promote conversion; they hadn’t been intended for battle. The reason Yukinari could fight so effectively was because he consciously used the angels’ power of physical reconstitution. Though its true offensive power came not from physical reconstitution itself, but from the weapons he produced with it.
And most of those weapons—whether the .44 Magnum bullets of Durandall or the rifle rounds of Derrringer—simply weren’t able to pierce the thick armor of the statue of the guardian saint.
If Yukinari could touch the statue, he could break it down with physical reconstitution no matter how thick its armor was, but because of its ability to spew flames, he couldn’t get too close. The knights of the Missionary Order, for their part, were starting to recover from the shock of the incomprehensible weapon called a gun.
The Friedlanders were continuing their attacks with their Durandalls, but they had little practice with the weapons and even less hope of hitting moving targets; the missionaries had begun to realize that despite all the noise, casualties were relatively few.
Dasa, of course, was able to exert some control using Red Chili, with which she could accurately hit the missionaries’ legs or shoulders, but she was just one person.
Above all, the enemy were trained, professional warriors. They had been taught how to suppress their fear. They took the shields from the fallen to double their own defenses and began closing in on Friedland’s main gate.
This was more or less the way things had happened during the fight with Arlen’s unit. Dasa’s gun wasn’t capable of punching through two shields at once. And once they knew they were protected, sheer numbers did the rest.
“Didn’t you say this was going to be over soon?” the female knight who appeared to be leading them said triumphantly. “An angel you may be, but there’s only one of you; the rest are a flock of sparrows. It was madness to think you could defeat me.”
Yukinari didn’t respond, even as he dodged the massive sword that came crashing down at him. Whatever the commander felt about this, she smiled like a cat playing with a mouse and said, “Blitz them! Destroy them in a single breath!”
The missionaries had been staying on the defensive, judging Yukinari’s powers—but at the woman’s orders, they instantly went on the offensive.
A knight’s primary offensive tactic is the charge. Obviously, it works best from horseback, but they can also stab or trample the opponent to great effect. Faced with a brigade of knights executing their most cherished tactic, the Friedlanders began to panic.
Green soldiers had no hope of victory. It was one thing to fire Durandalls from a distance, but if it came to crossing swords, they would have no chance without years of experience. If things got too chaotic, it would also be difficult to keep Dasa safe. If she got caught up in melee combat, she wouldn’t be much better off than the farmers.
Perhaps the best thing Yukinari could do would be to produce a giant cannon and use it to shoot the statue of the guardian saint, as he’d done during the battle with Arlen’s forces. But unlike that time, the enemy was bearing down on him now, and Yukinari was too busy for such ploys. He could have created a cannon in five seconds, but it was time he just couldn’t find.
But then...
“Yargh!”
“T-The enemy is—hrgh?!”
The shouts came not from the front line of onrushing knights, but from the rear, where the female knight accompanied the huge wagon.
Yukinari squinted and looked in the direction of the noise. There he saw Veronika, laying waste with her halberd. When had she gotten there? Maybe she had moved in using the dust as cover when the statue fell into the hole.
“Yaaaaaaaaah!”
To attack a fully armored knight with a bladed weapon required finding the chinks in his defenses. But Veronika wasn’t concerned with killing her enemies; she spun around, using the centrifugal force of the halberd’s butt to slam into helmets and smack into knees. She clearly intended to confuse the enemy and buy her allies time. Then Yukinari, or perhaps the Friedlanders, might be able to come up with some way to change the situation.
Sweeping missionaries out of her way, Veronika closed in on the female knight.
To her surprise, though, when she stabbed at the woman’s midriff, the knight pulled out her sword and deflected the thrust.
“Hrr!”
The move was stronger than she expected, and Veronika was thrown ever so slightly off balance. In contrast, the female knight was able to assume a better fighting stance as she jumped down from the driver’s seat. With a mad smile, she shouted, “You underestimate me! I may be a young woman, but I’m commanding this army on merit!”
Veronika frowned and began to drop back. She wasn’t going to insist on defeating the woman. Yes, she had entered the enemy formation of her own free will, but the situation was exceptionally dangerous. If the missionaries were able to collect themselves, Veronika would be completely surrounded, and that would mean the end for her.
“Hah!” Still smiling, the female knight struck out with her sword again and again.
Normally, in a battle of halberd versus sword, the person with the longer reach would have the advantage. But the knight’s movements were nimble and quick, and she was deliberately getting close to Veronika, pushing her back. Most of her attacks were stabs; she would move just enough to avoid the mercenary’s ripostes and then resume her attack with vigor.
Veronika was unmistakably hard-pressed. Her wounds had only just healed, and her strength wasn’t completely recovered yet. The fact that she had been able to go toe-to-toe with the missionaries all this time was amazing, proof that she was a genius soldier. But even so—
“You decided to fight me when this was the best you could do?” the female knight crowed.
For each attack Veronika meted out, two came back. The woman had obviously been telling the truth when she said she had earned her position. She understood exactly the difference between her weapon and her opponent’s, and had chosen the best tactics to deal with it. She deflected the halberd, causing Veronika to drop it. Sensing an opportunity, she closed in, stabbed at Veronika—
But to the woman’s surprise, Veronika met the blow. In her hand, which had held her spear just seconds ago, there was a sword.
She hadn’t been forced to drop her halberd after all. She just wanted it to look like she had so she could switch weapons. Her opponent had been so confident that Veronika was unarmed; now, her attack hesitated. In that instant, Veronika closed distance and began a sword battle.
Nonetheless, the female knight continued to mock her enemy. “You are a fool!” she exclaimed as she met Veronika’s challenge. Now blade met blade in shower after shower of sparks. “You couldn’t win with a halberd—but you think you can beat me with a sword?”
It was true, Veronika was in trouble. Her weakened body could summon the strength for a stab, but lacked endurance. She was being put more and more on the defensive.
“This—is the end!” The female knight brought her blade down from above. Veronika caught the blow with her sword; the two weapons locked against each other. In this position, however, Veronika, with less physical strength, was at a disadvantage. The female knight must have known that as well, for she pressed her attack with a triumphant expression on her face.
And then—
Boom.
The woman’s body shuddered with the sudden, tremendous violence of the sound. Veronika’s sword was not just a sword. It was a Durandall. Obviously, she hadn’t been able to aim, so the bullet just flew off in a random direction. But the knight was clearly shaken by the sound of a .44 Magnum bullet being fired right next to her head. Or perhaps the noise had done something to her semicircular canals, so necessary to humans for maintaining their sense of equilibrium.
Veronika seized the opening.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
She spun, throwing her momentum into the slash. She was looking for the woman’s neck, but a hastily raised sword blocked the blow. But from her unbalanced position, she couldn’t fully resist the force of Veronika’s attack. The knight pitched forward where she stood.
“Hrrgh?!”
The sole of Veronika’s shoe caught the woman in the solar plexus. With the knight unconscious at her feet, Veronika stared at the men of the Missionary Order all around. They had been attempting to encircle her, but now they stopped. So did those attacking Yukinari, and so did the organist on the wagon.
“...Thanks,” Yukinari grunted, and then he stepped back, planting his right fist in his left palm.