It seems Kanata has breached the Bridge.
The moment I leaped onto the Bridge, I deployed a Psyche-Barrier at maximum power, deflecting the barrage of bullets.
Damn, these Bridge Crew enemies aren’t just wooden dolls. They’ve focused their fire on a single point. If this continues, the barrier won’t hold.
But I do have a countermeasure.
Even if I can’t perform the advanced Renki that Mr. Ikkaku does, I should be able to do something similar. I’ll focus my Nenshin Power on the point where their fire is concentrated, pouring in power until it’s saturated!
…Alright! My Nenshin Power is saturated! A slight spatial distortion is occurring around the focal point!
It doesn’t have the range or thickness of a Grim Reaper, but I’ve formed a Psyche-Gravity Wall. The spatial distortion deflects the bullets and reduces their power. Unless one has the skill to calculate distortions like Todd, the Psyche-Gravity Wall cannot be broken by gunfire.
And guns have a weakness. A fatal flaw: they run out of bullets!
The incoming bullets have lessened. Have they run out of bullets? I’m not so kind-hearted as to let them reload with their fingers in their mouths!
I unleash my Wolf Eye on the scattered Bridge Crew, starting with the ones I see first.
Most of the crew can’t resist, and screams and blood splash across the Bridge.
That man with the distinguished hat, using the command seat as cover to shoot – he must be the captain!
I sprint towards the command seat, elevated above the Bridge.
Two officers who tried to block me are dispatched with a single draw of the sword, cut down together.
The captain abandons his gun and cover, draws the saber at his hip, and confronts me.
“To come here to decide the victor in a magnificent fleet battle… you barbarians. Have you no pride as sailors?”
I believe boarding and capturing enemy ships is a time-honored naval tradition, wouldn’t you say? It has nothing to do with pride, though.
“Pride? What pride? Besides, why should we fight according to your rules?”
“War is a place where soldiers face each other with pride! You wouldn’t understand!”
Ridiculous. What is this old man talking about?
“Old man, are you stupid? War is where the strong win and the weak lose. That’s all there is to it.”
“You don’t even understand the meaning of pride! You thugs!”
“Whatever. Well, I admit there are only thugs in the Rose Garden. Our style is to win cunningly rather than lose honorably.”
“What’s the point of a cunning victory!”
It seems our values are irreconcilably different.
“I understand our values differ. So, is abandoning your subordinates a part of a soldier’s pride? Surrender. I don’t like needless killing.”
Rick and the others, who had carved a bloody path, were slaughtering the resisting crew members as they stormed the Bridge.
What are you doing arguing with me? If you’re the commander, you should worry about your subordinates.
“Proud Mechanist Army soldiers do not surrender! To surrender to the rebel army is a greater humiliation than death!”
“Is that so? Then, to prevent needless deaths, you must die!”
“Come at me! You rat rebels!”
He’s an old man who likes grand pronouncements like “rebel army” and “rat rebels.”
…But it seems it’s not just his pronouncements that are grand. There’s no opening in his stance. This guy really knows how to “use” himself.
“I won’t hold back! Here I go!”
I attempted a cunning low sweep, but he easily leaped over it and countered with a downward slash from above.
I parried his saber with a counter-slash and tried a kick with my left leg, but he blocked it by raising his right leg.
We exchanged blows several times, but I couldn’t break through his defense. He’s a seasoned veteran.
Among those I’ve fought before, he resembles the “Greedy” Olsen.
“You talk a big game, Kenrou!”
“You talk a big game too, old man!”
“I am not an old man! My name is Winders, “Tailwind”! It is the last name you will ever hear!”
Winders, “Tailwind”… I remember. It was in the Soldier Catalog, I believe.
“So, you’re “Tailwind.” You have good skill for someone with a dull mind. It’s a shame, you could have gone further if you weren’t an idiot…”
“Who are you calling an idiot! I graduated second in my class at the officer academy!”
Graduating second, not first, is typical of this man. He gets close, but always falls short. It’s a thousand times better than facing a perfect genius like the Commander who graduated first.
“I’m not talking about your schoolwork. How can I not call an idiot someone who engages in a pointless fight in this situation? Even if you could defeat me, it would be a pointless death!”
“A Mechanist Army soldier should consider defeat as death! A warrior should fear shame more than death.”
“Noble words.”
It’s fine if you personally have such aesthetics, but the people who are forced to die by those aesthetics have no say in the matter.
“Captain! Your spirit is admirable for a soldier, but it’s hopeless now! Let’s surrender!”
A man wearing a uniform with the same gold trim as the captain shouted. He was probably the副長 (Vice Commander) of this unit and was cornered by Rick, panting heavily.
“I do not permit surrender! Fight until you die!”
“Hey, Gold Trim! Don’t mind your insane superior; quickly surrender your subordinates! I promise they will be treated as prisoners of war according to the Palm Treaty. Surrender quickly, or you’ll all die!”
“A-all right! Everyone, drop your weapons!”
As Gold Trim called out, the resisting Bridge Crew members dropped their weapons one after another and surrendered.
“You! Are you even Mechanist Army soldiers! Know that a firing squad awaits you all!”
“Your subordinates have received your training well.”
“Silence! To start… I’ll do this!”
Winders’ left palm swirled with wind, and a fierce gale struck Gold Trim along with his thrusting fist!
This is bad! Rick, who was trying to restrain Gold Trim, will get caught in it too!
“Rick, dodge!”
The quick-witted Rick dived and evaded the gale before I even shouted, avoiding injury.
As for Gold Trim… he took a direct hit to the lower abdomen, collapsing to his knees as his entrails spilled out.
“Take that, you gutless coward!”
“…Why did you kill him? Surrender was a perfectly rational decision in this situation.”
“Is there a problem? As commanding officer, is not the right to decide the life and death of subordinates my inherent privilege?”
“Then I will exercise my right to decide life and death. You will… die here.”
“You’re the one who will die, Kenrou!”
I dodged the unleashed wind blades by leaping to the side and activated the Overdrive System.
This guy has high skill backed by experience, and unlike Olsen, his Nenshin Strength is also high. But Olsen was a tougher opponent. Olsen had cunning, and it was fully displayed in his fighting style. In contrast, Winders only knows straightforward combat and can’t do anything else. If he reveals his trump card to punish his subordinate, Olsen would never do something like that. Therefore, if I activate the Overdrive System… I can overpower him with raw strength!
“W-what is this power!!”
Winders seemed bewildered as he was pushed back by the slashes he could previously handle, but my trump card isn’t just the Overdrive System. I’ll also use Psychokinesis to seal his receiving arm and interfere. If he concentrates his Nenshin Power on his arm to resist the Psychokinesis, I’ll use Wolf Eye. If he diverts Nenshin Power to resist Wolf Eye, I’ll use Psychokinesis again, and then a series of powerful, brute-force attacks!
“T-to be on the defensive against a mere youngster like you!”
He may not be smart, but I won’t give him time to think.
Cornered, Winders has only one course of action: a close-range gale attack, risking self-injury.
“Fine! I’ll give you an arm…”
This is it! I shift gears from power-focused to technique-focused! With a precise slash, I cut off the arm generating the gale from the elbow.
“Guaaaahh! Y-you bastard!”
“…Give you what? His remaining arm!”
With a strike driven by strength and anger, I cut off his other arm as well.
“Nuaaaahhhhhhh!”
“Now you can’t even put your hands up in surrender, can you? Well, you don’t seem like you’re going to surrender anyway, so it’s not a problem.”
He still tried to kick, showing some tenacity. I also cut off his kicking leg with a slash, and then jammed the toe of my military boot into the mouth of the one-legged Winders, who was about to commit suicide. His front teeth scattered onto the floor, but I didn’t care.
“~~~~!!!”
“I won’t let you commit suicide. You’re a prisoner. Your pride as a warrior probably won’t allow it, but you will live and endure the shame of captivity. I’ll throw away the honor of a villain who killed his own men for no reason into the gutter.”
Tonkachi skillfully used his rough fingers to insert a gag, then wrapped tourniquets around his limbs.
“He’s one hell of a scumbag, one of the worst I’ve seen in years. He’s got my vote for “Best. Annoying. Guy.” this year.”
Isn’t it “Worst. Annoying. Guy.”?
“It’s because there are stubborn fanatics like this that wars never end. They’re the perfect prey for those who want to issue orders from a safe zone.”
He’s as troublesome as those research-obsessed doctors. That’s the quality of the Mechanist Army for you.
“Good work. Just being somewhat well-known isn’t enough to match Kanata anymore.”
Rasen-san patted me on the shoulder to congratulate me, but I couldn’t be happy because I felt I won with equipment rather than skill.
“It was a brute-force approach using the tactical app. As the Grim Reaper says, ‘Special Armament is also part of one’s strength.'”
“That’s true, isn’t it? True combat is about finding victory using all available resources.”
If Rasen-san says so, then it’s fine.
The enemy flagship has been secured. The routing enemy fleet is no longer a threat. The rest is just mopping up.
…A complete victory in the first engagement. A good flow.
