Chapter 90: The Peerless Within Range

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

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Why are

You there?

Why are

You doing that?

Point Allocation (Recovery)

Sparks scattered on the battlefield to show off the countless high speed actions.

In the northeastern side of Novgorod’s city, three forms accelerated their exchange while jumping to and running along the roads, rooftops, and gate walls.

One of those supporting this speed, Gin, knew how dangerous this battlefield was. It was pa.s.sing the limits of her momentum.

Physical strength was not enough. Muneshige seemed to have realized that too. As he caught Oichi’s attacks and sent out his own blade, he positioned himself so as to cover for Gin.

She started to wonder if she was a burden on him, but then she threw out that thought.

If she was dragging him down, there was no point in fighting as a team.

Muneshige trusted her. He trusted that his wife understood what it meant to fight as a team. And it did not mean to decide she was useless and leave.

…That’s right.

She had to move, think, and make herself useful.

So she pursued Oichi’s swords on the gate wall and rooftops.

Oichi procured all of her weapons on site. As she spun herself around, she would pick them up and attack with them.

The way to defeat her was to keep her away from the ground. Gin and Muneshige took up positions to effectively toss Oichi between them before driving her to the wall and having her jump up on top of it.

Gin knew her speed could not keep up, but there was enough she could do.

Instead of simply placing Oichi between herself and Muneshige, she only had to pursue Oichi from below.

When the woman ran, she had to stay right behind her to keep her moving. And while Gin pushed at her from below, Muneshige used Racing Toes to restrict Oichi’s movements from the left and right.

While driving Oichi upwards like that, Gin now landed on a row of rooftops.

Oichi tried to escape beyond the roofs, but Muneshige circled to the other side to stop her.

They still did not understand the ability of Kamenuki, the spear he had received from Sakai, but its piercing a.s.sistance power had been useful in stopping Oichi’s movements.

Muneshige weaved the spear tip between Oichi’s blades and toward her body.

The blade flew straight and on target, so…

“Hee…!!”

Oichi released what might have been a laugh or a cry and then she swung her body around to dodge.

That was when Gin caught up and made consecutive attacks with her twin swords.

Her arm’s swords were surrounded in the ether of a divine protection.

But harming Oichi with this would be difficult.

When these had been hit by Lype Katathlipse, they had been worn down and lost most of their blades. Similarly, a Testamenta Arma like Caput Fides would have a higher level of ether divine protection.

Even when Oichi was wounded, it always slowly closed as if being sewn up.

That meant Muneshige’s Kamenuki would have to finish this.

But they say a husband’s accomplishments are built on the a.s.sistance of his wife, thought Gin.

So she pursued Oichi.

On the gate wall, she targeted the body parts that were slightly slower when the woman moved: the ankles, the knees, and the wrists.

But the enemy spun her body around, leaped, and threw sword strikes with each hand. Predicting consecutive attacks during a rotation was not easy. And Oichi did not just swing the weapons around; she came at Gin from different angles.

…And she sometimes uses her elbows and wrists for a proper slash!

These sword strikes were more than just fast; they contained the strength of the woman’s rotation and swinging upper body.

She had cut down so many demons, and…

“This must be how she did it!”

She used her entire body to attack and she would even let her stance collapse when needed.

The way she wept, laughed, and nearly collapsed forward as she moved was all to shift her center of gravity for easier control of her wildly moving body and to make sure she could not be stopped.

If an upright human collided with her, Oichi would have more momentum and she would push right on through. It was simple, but leaning forward extended the reach of her arms and augmented the inertial power of her weapons. Once she built up the momentum of her rotation like this, there was no stopping her.

This was not a human technique. Blocking this with a sword meant to deal with humans would only break the sword.

But Gin blocked Oichi’s high speed rotation attacks with her swords and false arms.

She deflected them and swept them away.

Far Eastern sword techniques were made to use human strength to cut away any power and cut through even a demon. Because bows and swords were weapons made to exorcise and destroy demons, they were offered to the G.o.ds.

The daughter of the Lightning Cutter could not give in to a demon disguising herself as a human. So…

“…Ha.”

When she cooled her heart and began to deal with the situation, why was it she found a smile on her lips?

For the first time in a long while, Gin decided not to think too much about it.

She would simply force the enemy into the air and do what damage she could.

Muneshige would do the rest. So…

“————”

She did not call out to him or signal him in any way.

She knew he would do his part, so she did hers.

The structure was simple.

Gin pursued Oichi across the roofs. The road was on the left. Muneshige was on the right.

Occasionally, Oichi would make a feint, pretending to be descending to the road, but Gin ignored all of those. She trusted that this enemy was entirely focused on slicing through others and chose to overlook any action that would not allow her to do that.

She simply pursued.

The enemy was using two demon swords. They were thick, but they were also long and could possibly even reach Muneshige where he ran to the right.

Then Oichi attacked.

From Gin’s perspective, she rotated from the left to the right. This was an attack on Gin that also kept Muneshige away.

Oichi’s movements were rhythmic. Her hair swayed and she controlled her entire body so she could send out a series of slashes at any moment.

“…!!”

Gin predicted it. She recognized the timing of the swaying hair and the view of the angles around Oichi’s collarbones. There was a slight margin of error, but there was a high probability that…

…A series of slashes is coming…

And they did.

After one and then two sways, a left backhand horizontal slash dropped diagonally from the left to the right. Following that, Oichi continued spinning and made a right horizontal slash that also came from the left to the right.

Gin had predicted the timing of the two attacks, so she moved forward.

She decided to remain turned a bit the left, so…

…I will not hesitate!

Gin leaped forward.

She thrust her left sword forward, targeting the right of Oichi’s stomach.

Oichi sped up. She sank down by lowering her upper body in the center of her rotation.

With that, she circled to the right side of Gin’s swords. And with a compact rotation, she would make a counterattack on Gin’s right blade.

So Gin crouched down as well. While stepping forward, she moved the dodged left blade forward.

Both of the twin swords were pa.s.sing by on Oichi’s right side.

They would not hit, but by thrusting them forward, Oichi could not escape to the left from Gin’s perspective.

Oichi was sure to send the blade her way after another rotation, so Gin only had to dodge that, move forward, and send her right sword in from the outside.

But Gin saw Oichi’s body tilt even further than expected.

On the right from Gin’s perspective, that body tilted outwards as if making a side step.

“Hee…!”

There was a gap between the thrusting left sword and Oichi’s body.

A blade arrived through there. It launched up toward Gin like unexpected spray from a wave.

Even though Oichi was still rotating her body, this attack came from almost directly below the gap between Gin’s left sword and Oichi’s body. Instead of swinging it around, she used a proper snap of the wrist.

This was not the action of someone who had predicted Gin would move forward.

She had forcibly responded after the fact.

Oichi’s blade was scooped upwards and flew up to split Gin’s jaw.

This was a counterattack against someone moving forward, so…

“…”

Gin removed her left false arm.

She twisted her body to the right.

Oichi’s blade pa.s.sed between the false arm and her shoulder.

Oichi circled far to the right while continuing to swing the blade upwards.

So Gin swung her right blade.

The right false arm had pulled at her and affected her balance, but she supported herself by placing her right knee on the roof. And she swung her other blade to lop Oichi’s legs off at the base.

“—————”

But Oichi disappeared.

No, Gin saw something up above.

Oichi had jumped. After rotating her entire body, she had jumped straight up, which should have been impossible.

…Did she let the upwards swinging sword pull her up!?

Oichi spun through the air with incredible speed.

Before she could begin falling, she focused on Gin who was crouched low and swinging a blade inwards.

“…”

Oichi’s left sword flew in a backhand swing from a bit to the left.

The sword strike from the sky targeted Gin’s face.

It came at the perfect counterattack timing, so Gin could not dodge it. And so she made up her mind.

She removed her right arm that had missed its target.

She released it.

The right arm flew off and her body grew lighter. So she bent backwards and Oichi’s blade swept through the air right in front of her eyes.

Oichi landed while swinging the previous right sword.

Without erasing the momentum of swinging her now-detached right arm, she let her body flow to the left while still leaning back.

And that brought her left shoulder to…

“Reconnect.”

The left false arm she had detached earlier.

It connected and she used the left twin sword as a counterattack against Oichi’s right sword.

The sword shattered, but that was okay. Gin then opened her hand.

…One!!

And she forcibly caught Oichi’s blade with the false arm.

The giant arm could function as a shield, but the large sword blade tore halfway through it.

Steel flew with the sound of scattering metal. But…

…I stopped it!!

Oichi’s right blade was not moving. And so Oichi let go of it. She placed her right hand on the sword in her left arm and started swinging it around with both arms. However…

“Arcabuz Cruz.”

Even with the left arm’s forearm destroyed, it could still summon one of those.

So Gin summoned it nearby and aimed it at Oichi. The woman was grabbing her left sword with both hands and beginning to spin herself around again.

Firing would hit her.

…Of course, blowing her away here won’t kill her.

However, keeping her from moving for even a split second would allow Muneshige to attack.

So Gin fired while raising her voice.

“Master Muneshige!!”

Muneshige responded to Gin.

As soon as Arcabuz Cruz’s attack hit, he would supply the finishing blow to Oichi. That would end this.

So he kicked off the roof with Racing Toes and leaped straight toward Oichi.

This would defat her.

Or it should have. But reality proved otherwise.

Arcabuz Cruz’s sh.e.l.l pa.s.sed over Oichi’s head.

Oichi had been spinning around and unable to dodge, but she had suddenly sunk down.

…Is that…!?

Muneshige saw a light. A feather-decorated halo glowed above Oichi’s head. It was Caput Fides. That light appeared when Oichi was repairing herself, but…

“Hee…ha…!”

Muneshige realized how Oichi had lowered her stance.

She had used her left sword to chop off her own left leg.

Oichi’s sword had no divine protections, so a wound from it would be immediately repaired by Caput Fides. So…

…She cut it off herself!?

There was no use in questioning it. Her left leg was indeed severed above the knee.

And as Oichi collapsed down, she spun around.

“…!”

As her sword shot up, Arcabuz Cruz’s sh.e.l.l grazed it and sparks flew.

But it did not hit her herself.

“Ha…!”

With a loud laugh, her knee was absorbed back into place. The blood formed sticky threads, her leg was reattached, and she stood up.

But she did not just stand. She pa.s.sed her left sword to her empty right hand and grabbed something else with her left hand.

“Gin’s twin sword!”

She tore it from the abandoned right false arm’s grasp, but she did not use it to attack Muneshige as he rushed in.

She took a large leap away from Gin who had just fired Arcabuz Cruz.

“Hee…!!”

And she threw it.

Gin could not move easily with her false arm shattered and she needed to load a new sh.e.l.l before firing Arcabuz Cruz again.

So she removed her arm again and took an evasive stance.

Then another blade took flight.

It was a second attack.

Oichi had thrown the sword in her other arm toward Gin.

Gin was in no position to dodge this one too.

Muneshige realized Oichi had two reasons to target Gin even if it meant abandoning all of her weapons.

The first was to make him hesitate. And the second…

“More weapons…!?”

He was answered by a powerful impact erupting behind Oichi.

An explosion had occurred on the street behind her. The deafening shockwave was not due to a spell or a ship firing on the city. It was due to Gin’s Arcabuz Cruz sh.e.l.l.

After chopping off her own leg, Oichi had used the same blade to deflect that sh.e.l.l.

And it had been redirected toward the street where she had been fighting earlier. Combined corpse warriors were literally scattered all over the street. When the sh.e.l.l hit, everything there was blasted upwards.

“Ha…!!”

Oichi spun around on the roof all on her own. Everything on the road erupted up into the air behind her. There were clumps of dirt and pieces of corpses, but there were also long swords, spears, and axes.

The many weapons danced through the air as if to greet Oichi.

Her wailing was no longer lacking in weapons. So…

“————”

Muneshige looked to Gin as the long sword flew her way.

If he ran toward her, he could probably save her. But he leaped toward Oichi instead.

He could not go to her.

His acceleration spell, Racing Toes, could kick off the dust floating in the air and leap over to her, but doing so would damage his leg and prevent him from continuing the fight against Oichi.

And that may have been why Gin looked to him and smiled.

She understood. She had left everything to him.

And she accepted what that implied. That was their relationship, so Muneshige made up his mind.

He would save her. That was what it meant to him that she had left this with him.

He looked to her. He twisted his body, prepared to kick off the empty air, and held Kamenuki toward Gin to reduce the air resistance.

…If…

If the premonition inside him proved accurate…

“This should work!”

It can’t be, thought Gin.

She was certainly happy that Muneshige had chosen her, but she knew that was the wrong decision. Looking away from one’s opponent on the battlefield was highly disrespectful. And if he kicked off the air using Racing Toes…

…He will destroy his leg just like before!

She could not believe he would make such a stupid decision.

But she heard a solid sound and then he flew toward her.

And Oichi’s blade flew toward her as well.

His leg has to have been broken again, thought Gin. But…

“…”

She tried to embrace him as he approached. She would have to scold him later and she was sure to feel a variety of emotions, but now she needed to embrace him as his wife. Except…

…My arms.

She had no arms. And that must have been why he said what he did.

“It’s okay, Gin.”

Then he embraced her.

She wanted to ask how this could possibly be okay, but no voice left her lips. She simply trembled and…

“Eh…?”

Something unexpected happened. After jumping over to her and picking her up, he moved a few steps.

He was walking. And…

“Now, then.”

He lowered her to the roof where her abandoned right arm had fallen. Oichi had stolen and thrown its sword, but…

“Excuse me.”

He kicked the corner of the false arm to stand it up and he placed it alongside her as if to hide her.

His leg should have been destroyed, but he was moving like normal and doing everything as he always had. What did this mean?

“Master Muneshige…?”

“Oh, sorry. I haven’t finished the task you left with me, have I?”

“Oh, right. …Judge.”

What was she supposed to say? While she tried to choose between “good luck” or “go get her”, he turned his back but still spoke to her.

“Gin. You are, without a doubt, my G.o.ddess of victory.”

Saying that with his back turned was beyond cheating. But before she could blush, he left.

He was off to finish the task she had left with him.

Oichi grabbed one of the weapons flying up into the air. Her right hand held a forward curving sword. She held the hilt, felt the weight on her wrist, and spun her body around. She reached her left hand skyward and toward another falling weapon.

It was an axe. She grabbed for its grip, and…

“…?”

The axe moved away. The metal grip that was polished after much use moved away from her hand all on its own.

She did not understand, but she had already given up on the axe. There were other weapons. As they flew into the air and fell back down, there were dozens she could reach just by lightly spinning her body and taking a few steps.

Including those that had fallen on the rooftops, there were nearly 100.

So she reached out her left hand and spun around as if letting rain pour down on her.

Then she heard a jumping sound. It was behind her. In the direction she was spinning toward, a dry metallic sound rang out.

“…!?”

All of the weapons moved away from her.

The dozens of weapons all left through the air while scattering metallic noises and sparks.

There was more. The ones that had fallen on the rooftops hopped away with more metallic clangs.

One by one, they all flew a decent distance away. It was almost like someone was testing some new power. Like they were gradually grasping how to use some great power.

Then Oichi saw the final weapon hop through the air.

“Hee…”

She did not know what it meant.

This was simply beyond her understanding.

Gin saw what was happening.

…Master Muneshige.

She saw him fly through the sky and deflect all of the weapons. While he was using Racing Toes, he also used…

“Is that…?”

Kamenuki.

Kamenuki’s tip was aimed toward the weapons Oichi had sent flying. Whenever Muneshige took aim with his stance…

“—————”

He jumped. But he did not simply leap forward. If anything, it looked like…

“Kamenuki is pulling him…?”

With that question, Gin understood. Kamenuki’s true power was not piercing a.s.sistance.

“Does it try to shorten the distance to its target!?”

As the night sky rang with cannon fire, someone could be heard stepping on gravel.

It happened on the rear of Okutama, Musashi’s rear central ship. Specifically, it was at Sakai’s home on the starboard side. The yard was occasionally illuminated by the glow of the cannon fire and alarms and explosions shook the air, but still he spoke.

“It would seem Muneshige-kun has caught on.”

“Judge,” agreed “Musashi” who was sitting on the veranda and managing a sign frame.

She was monitoring Kamenuki’s output.

“It is a weapon, but its ability has more to do with movement than anything. It is a very strange spear. Over.”

“That’s right.” Sakai exhaled smoke from his pipe. “When researching how to augment its piercing power, I managed to get as far as locking onto a target. I figured if I could have it thrust forward on its own, it would make a nice spear for beginners. I wasn’t really all that good at using a spear. I’d always left that to Da-chan, you see. But things have changed now that I have to deal with Innocentius, right?”

“Please do not ask that in the present tense. Over.”

“Sorry.”

Sakai smiled bitterly and “Musashi” sighed quietly.

“You added in a gravitational control spell so it would automatically and rapidly thrust toward the target, so you ended up creating an auto-thrusting spear that provides powerful mobility, didn’t you? Over.”

“But it’d be way too expensive to use it like a projectile. Especially when they might dodge it. So I made it so it only activates when someone’s holding it. Also, it reacts to its wielder’s desire to ‘reach’ the target. But the weird thing is…”

Sakai smiled bitterly again.

“I was trying to make the target lock precise, so it ended up unable to lock onto something as large as a human body when it’s moving around. It can only lock onto something the size of a sword or the firewood from the other day. So on the battlefield, it works by a.s.sisting your jump toward your opponent’s weapon. It’s a bit of a failure in that way, but that makes it a good match for me.”

Sakai nodded and placed a hand on his chin.

“Now, I hope the Peerless in the West can put up a nice fight.”

The battle came down to an instant.

Oichi sensed the enemy was behind her, so she made a backhand blow as if moving her hand behind her.

She looked back and her body followed with a rapid rotation.

But in that instant, she made another movement as well.

As she swung her right arm in a backhand blow, she moved her left hand behind her and toward it.

“Ha…”

Her left hand grabbed the hilt.

As soon as she took it, she accelerated her body and swung the blade toward the front of her body.

That meant she had perfectly slashed behind her from the right to the left.

She doubted she would hit the enemy behind her without actually aiming, but it would have held him off. So she tried to move forward.

She tried to abandon the weapon and leap forward toward the road.

She tried to move to the road where the lost weapons were.

But she recognized something beyond the long sword she had swung around herself with her left hand.

“Ah…!!”

It was the enemy. Just as she prepared to let go of the sword, the enemy placed the tip of his spear on its tip and took a stance meant to stop the blade.

And as soon as they faced each other on the roof, Oichi kicked up and to the right on the bottom of the sword guard without letting go of it.

The sword sliced through the air as it rose over her head on the right.

She decided to begin a new rotation to slam the thick blade into the enemy before her. To do that, she spun herself around for the rotating motion she needed.

“———!?”

However, the enemy was no longer in front of her.

But she knew where he was. She could sense his presence in the wind to her right.

He had swung himself around to the right to keep his spear tip on the sword as it began to spin.

He had locked onto her and would not let her go. With the spear tip as the focal point, he used his acceleration spell to keep up with her rotation.

They spun. Both she and her enemy spun.

“…Here I go!!”

As soon as he said that, Oichi was accelerated.

The enemy spun her sword around with even greater force than her own rotation speed.

He could only accelerate her like this with an overwhelming difference in speed, so she tried to raise her own speed.

“…!!”

But she failed.

Oichi’s rotation was destroyed by a slight disturbance.

It was a slight deviation caused by chopping off her own leg earlier.

Her left leg had been repaired by the Testamenta Arma, but in the time between the leg being severed and repaired, it had not experienced the same things as the right leg.

Despite being part of the same body, the left leg had slightly less weariness from movement and it lacked some slight experience in the footholds around here and in the enemy. Conversely, the right leg had not shared the tension of being severed and the relief that came after.

It was such a tiny disturbance that it might as well have not existed at all.

But for an expert like Oichi, it had a devastating effect on her movements.

The slight disturbance was affected and amplified by the enemy’s acceleration.

“—————”

She tried to forcibly increase her speed and crush that disturbance.

But while her decision did speed up her rotation, she was still only being swung around by the enemy.

“…!”

By the time she realized she could not suppress it, it was too late.

She understood that, but she still let go of the hilt with her right hand and sought the enemy. She tried to grab and grasp him by swinging her hand out at the forefront of her speed.

“Hyah…!”

An attack was inserted into the acceleration and it definitely hit Oichi, knocking her up into the air.

She lost a body part.

Gin watched the woman standing on the roof.

It was Oichi.

She got up and stood tall. Standing in front of her, Muneshige put Kamenuki’s blade away and placed the spear on his back, but she only stood there watching him.

He picked up what had fallen to the rooftop and held it out to her in both hands.

“This is the same thing that happened to Lord Katsuie.”

“Right. …Thank you.”

Oichi accepted it with a smile and held it in her left arm.

It was her own right arm.

That was when a deeply-colored spray burst from her right shoulder. But…

“Hee hee.”

She embraced the arm and spun around as if propelled by her own blood.

“I’m so glad.”

With that, she lowered her head. As if bowing, she leaned forward, hung her head, and hid her expression behind her dangling hair.

“Now I’m the same as Katsuie.”

She laughed again.

“—————”

With another instantaneous burst of b.l.o.o.d.y spray, she disappeared.

There was no point in wondering where to. Muneshige bowed toward the empty air and spoke.

“I hope you can remain so close to Lord Katsuie.”

That was goodbye. So Gin sighed and got up. She properly attached her unharmed right arm and approached him.

“Master Muneshige.”

“Judge. What is it?”

There was a lot she wanted to say. Before, she had thought he had given up on everything to leap to her side.

…But I suppose I was just thinking too much of myself there.

And as she thought that and prepared to speak…

“Gin.”

He spoke instead.

“I leaped over to you first of all earlier, but please make no mistake: I would have done that even without Kamenuki.”

Because…

“As long as I have you, I can make a comeback as many times as it takes.”

“…Please do not think of me as a healer. I am the daughter of a warrior family. I am an attacker.”

“I know that.”

“No, you do not. Besides, what was with that half-hearted resolution?”

“Not to worry. I will only ever be desperate enough to chop off both arms that one time.”

“I’m certainly not letting that happen a second or third time.”

Gin felt herself blushing as she looked to Muneshige.

“Don’t you have something to say?”

“Judge. …Amore.”

“Don’t you say it 5 times.” She cut him off. “Say it quietly and just once. …This is the battlefield, after all.”

“The flow of the battlefield has changed.”

In the sky off the southern end of Novgorod, Naito and Naruze worked with Cavendish’s ship to fire on Shibata’s fleet. The Technohexen were also sending footage of the southern region to the Musashi.

Currently, Shibata’s fleet was sticking to its position in the south and not moving in to land. Asama had put together the information from Futayo and the Tachibana Couple to inform them what was going on with Shibata’s group.

“The ninja was feeling himself down below, so Mitotsudaira kicked him over to sever Shibata’s right arm. Futayo lost and partially severed his left arm. And the Tachibana Couple severed Oichi’s right arm with the power of love. What the h.e.l.l is this?”

“I’m not sure where Asama-chi is going with this, but I guess the words themselves are easy enough to understand…”

But even if Oichi had fallen back, Shibata was still inside the city of Novgorod and commanding the attack. Toshiie and Narimasa were holding the western and southern ends of the city, so Shibata’s forces had the overall advantage.

“The number of combined corpse warriors is really dwindling now. And Maeda Toshiie’s Kaga Millionen Geist can recruit more warriors as long as he has the money.”

“Hey! Latecomer Technohexen!!”

“What is it, ancient Technohexen?”

Below the sail of Cavendish’s ship, O’Malley shouted up at them while holding the spell ship’s wheel.

“Shibata’s fleet is doing something new! This means-…”

An image of a mermaid appeared. She displayed the locations of Novgorod and the surrounding fleets on a sign frame.

“Currently, P.A. Oda is focused on firing on the Sviet Rus fleets beyond Novgorod.”

“Why?”

“To prepare to withdraw and to keep Sviet Rus’s fleets where they are. When they do retreat, they aren’t going to let Sviet Rus pursue them. They’re clearing setting this up that way. But,” said Cavendish. “P.A. Oda is settling into three different actions on Novgorod as well. The first is the Kaga Milionen-…pff. S-sorry, I haven’t trained enough to say that without laughing.”

Novice: “But it’s so cool! You’re missing out if you hesitate! Say it with me: Kaga Millionen Geist!”

Hori-ko: “Are you planning to make steamed buns? Anyway, explain this, mermaid.”

“Testament. Um, the Kaga-…pff. M-Maeda’s forces, Sa.s.sa Narimasa, and the other P.A. Oda warriors are holding the area from southern to central Novgorod. They have begun to engage the Sviet Rus a.s.sault unit – which includes your Chancellor – as they head northeast toward the city hall.”

“Mitotsudaira, Mary, Urquiaga, and Narumi should have regrouped with them, right?”

Naruze seemed to be speaking to herself as she flew forward. Naito followed. The two of them listened to the mermaid speak while they watched Shibata’s fleet entering a defensive formation a few kilometers ahead.

“The second action is the continual growth of Maeda’s forces. They hold the east of the city and the hill on the east. The rest of Sviet Rus’s a.s.sault units and the Musashi G.o.d of war are being held there, so Sviet Rus’s main forces can’t move on.”

Naruze frowned as the mermaid continued.

“And the third action is in northwest Novgorod. The combined corpse warriors have gathered there, but they are being breached.”

“Breached? By a small group?”

“Based on the information we received from Musashi, it is f.u.kushima Masanori and Katou Kiyomasa of Hashiba’s Ten Spears. At this rate, they will arrive at Novgorod’s city hall before anyone else. And,” said Cavendish. “Presently, your Chancellor and his group will be unable to withdraw, even if they do get to the city hall.”

On the battlefield, two gazes raced northward in the northwest part of Novgorod.

To reach the city hall, f.u.kushima Masanori cut through and dodged the combined corpse warriors while Katou Kiyomasa broke them and charged onwards.

Kiyomasa took the lead atop the wall following the road and f.u.kushima followed behind her. The enemy would occasionally jump in front of or next to them from the road, but Kiyomasa did not care. She would accelerate Caledfwlch and slam into them to scatter the enemy like a snowplow and continue forward.

Their path might be unsteady and the road might cut to the side or come to an end, but…

“…!”

For Kiyomasa, Caledfwlch’s rear thrusters guaranteed that she would be carried forward.

For f.u.kushima, the Headfirst Fall acceleration spell kept her flying forward.

The two of them simply hurried and ran, but then f.u.kushima called out from behind.

“Kiyo-dono! Isn’t it about time we changed places!?”

“No. We are almost to the city hall, so I will take us there.”

Kiyomasa hit a leaping enemy by practically throwing the right Caledfwlch at them.

Rather than slicing through them, she added a twist to smash the enemy to pieces. Without pausing her running feet for an instant, she continued forward.

“You are the better fighter than me. That is why you inherited the name of f.u.kushima. …My duty is get you to the city hall with as little exhaustion and injury as possible.”

And…

“Our duty is to carry out Hashiba-sama’s wishes by destroying the ruins of the Divinely Ordained Prayer Academy below Novgorod’s city hall. You must also take care of the Prince of Orange, so you have to avoid wearing yourself out.”

“I am in thy debt.”

“Please don’t say that. …We all form a single team. Because we believe in the Genesis Project and wish to direct this world toward safety.”

With that, Kiyomasa looked up.

“I see it!”

There was a roundabout in front of the city hall for allowing carriages through, but now it was full of combined corpses.

“Then this is my position!”

Kiyomasa frowned and leaped.

“Kiyo-dono!” called out f.u.kushima while left behind.

“I will deal with them, Nori-san. You continue on in. We will meet again up top afterwards.”

Hearing that, f.u.kushima inhaled a little and then raised her eyebrows.

“Thou can count on me!”

They both landed simultaneously. But Kiyomasa headed for the enemy while f.u.kushima jumped over them and ran toward the city hall. She plunged into the darkness there that felt like a gaping maw.

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