There was an explosion, his hand and the giant’s blown apart from each other. It was explosive reactive armor: the force of the blast helped blunt the impact of the giant’s hand while at the same time allowing him to get some space. The idea had come to him in a rush, but it seemed to have worked.
“She’s so fast...”
Because of the giant’s appearance, he had mistakenly assumed that its movements would be like those of a statue of the guardian saint. But this was something entirely different.
Guardian saint statues made very quick individual movements, but it wasn’t possible to connect them smoothly. Each movement was sent to the tuning forks on the statue’s back via control melodies, agitating the Holy Oil within the statue and causing it to move. It was like a puppet controlled with sound instead of strings.
Movements that had been determined ahead of time could be executed readily, but once a statue had to react to a changing situation, the time it took to decide on the orders, translate them into sound, communicate them, and then for the statue to react made it a much more tenuous process.
But Hatsune’s metal giant lacked any of those flaws. Hatsune was its brain, controlling the huge body directly. Yukinari didn’t know exactly how the thing moved, but it seemed to be somehow directly related to Hatsune’s movements, like a sort of powered exoskeleton.
“That ain’t very fair!” It was huge, powerful—and yet fast. It didn’t seem to provide him any opening.
Yukinari tried to get some distance, but with its massive stride, the giant could catch him up easily. He tried to zig and zag, using nearby plants for cover, but it didn’t bother the giant. Any trees in its way it broke in half—or simply dissolved.
Yes: the giant could use Hatsune’s powers. That meant it could heal most damage that was done to it, or produce a sword or spear should the mood take it.
Maybe I could use physical reconstitution to make a pit or something? No, it’s no use.
When Angela’s missionary unit had attacked Friedland, Yukinari had found a pit trap to be useful against a statue of the guardian saint. But that had been exactly because it was no more than a puppet being controlled from afar. With Hatsune, he could dig a five-meter pit and she would probably just climb out of it. It might buy him a modicum of time... but he would have to stop moving in order to prepare it, and could well be attacked in the meantime.
What do I do, then...?
An instant’s hesitation—a catastrophic mistake. The gigantic metal hand grabbed him.
“Gaahh!”
The armor in which he had encased himself gave an ear-splitting screech; he could feel the hand pressing down even from within his suit. He thought he could hear his own bones creaking.
This was bad. If he were to be crushed, it would take a very long time to heal himself. More than enough opportunity for Hatsune to stab him through the head with the Blood Rose.
“Yuki...!” Dasa fired Red Chili, but against the metal armor the handgun meant nothing. It left a small scuff, barely. If she had been using Derrringer, which had been designed to deal with armored opponents—the statues of the guardian saint, specifically—then things might have been at least a little different. Unfortunately, Dasa had no time to go back and fetch her Derrringer from the sanctuary.
She let off six shots in the blink of an eye, an expression of despair coming over her face. She fished extra rounds out of her pocket, but it spoke to how panicked she was that she could hardly load them, instead dropping them on the ground.
“Yuki... Yuki...!”
“Get... Get away!” Yukinari shouted, but Dasa didn’t listen. Instead she ran toward the giant’s foot and flung Red Chili aside. She began beating on the foot with her fists. Obviously, she couldn’t so much as scratch the metal that way. She had gone half mad seeing Yukinari about to be killed.
“Excuse me? You’re in the way.” The giant kicked its foot in annoyance, sending Dasa flying through space.
“Dasaaaaa!”
The blow carried her several meters, until she landed among the branches of some nearby trees. She appeared to be alive—because she had been so close to the foot, it was less like being kicked and more like being thrown—but all she could do was tremble amongst the branches, unable to move.
“You need to die first,” Hatsune said. “I won’t let you die together with my dear Yuki.” Then she raised the giant’s right hand. A single strike from it would surely kill the other girl.
“Stop! Stop, Hatsune! Dasa isn’t—”
“Hush. You need only have eyes for me, sweet Yuki.” She was smiling as she spoke.
And then—
A gunshot rang out.
At the same time, sparks exploded from the giant’s shoulder.
Dasa hadn’t fired, nor had the bullet come from Red Chili.
It was a Derrringer.
And the line of fire... seemed to come from the direction of Friedland.
“It can’t be...” Immediately, Yukinari looked toward the observation platform.
His sanctuary sat in the place that was once home to the ritual, the ceremony in which living sacrifices were offered up to the erdgod. An observation platform had been built not far away so the priests could make sure everything went off smoothly. That was where the shot had come from.
He looked, his vision enhanced by his Bluesteel Blasphemer form, and he could just barely make out a familiar shape.
“Arlen?!”
He could see Fiona beside Arlen, as well. She must have been there to help him, because she appeared to be holding an extra Derrringer.
It looked like there were two more people who weren’t going to listen to what he said...
I’m not one of your believers, so I don’t have to follow your orders!
He could practically hear Arlen’s words in his ears.
Arlen couldn’t shoot nearly as well as Berta, of course. But for better or for worse, there was no missing a target this big. Arlen planted another round into the giant’s shoulder, and then Fiona handed him the second gun.