ALL NOVEL Chapter 21
[Shut up!]
The ivory-colored armor sharply aimed its rifles at Ichika.
The girl on the dim night vision screen was staring directly at her. And at that moment when they faced each other…
Kohane couldn’t help but be startled by the sudden noise.
The hostile alarm of the armor that hadn’t gone off even when the police had blocked her earlier was blaring loudly now.
Beeep!
Beeep!
Beeep!
A monotonous mechanical warning echoing in her ears.
The cockpit lights flickered in red.
– Less than 5% effective hit chance.
– Immediate withdrawal from the combat area is recommended.
– Retreating while spreading fire is advised.
‘W-what?! Is this really a reasonable figure for my first battle in an armor?!’
Even though Kohane felt her hands and feet go cold,
she had to shoot toward the ground to advance past the girl in front of her, pulling the trigger with shaky fingers.
Ka-thunk!
As Kohane squeezed her little finger around the trigger, a massive gunshot echoed with enough recoil to shake the cockpit.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The enormous sound of the explosion lit up the darkness, flickering through the black curtain with flames.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The curtain brightened sporadically by glimpses of flame soon filled with gunpowder smoke. Yet, the silhouette of the girl barely visible through the smoke didn’t vanish.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
If a normal human were hit, their whole body would explode from the firepower.
Dozens of large-caliber bullets left a massive amount of debris, obliterating the surroundings.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Tick―
Tick―
In an instant, the armor emptied its magazine with a deflating sound and ceased firing.
Kohane frantically pressed the reload button while keeping an eye on the direction where the girl had been standing.
Gulp.
‘I-I must have taken her down, right? It would be better if she fled.’
Having unleashed her full firepower right from the start, Kohane believed her opponent must have retreated. But her hands still trembled, and her slender neck kept swallowing dryly.
An instinctual fear that if she couldn’t subdue the girl here, she would be finished. Thus, her hands clutched the triggers, turning pale but never letting go.
In case of anything.
Kohane felt pathetic, frozen like a scared little rat, even in the gigantic armor.
‘What is this mess after a mere eye contact…!’
Click!
Click!
Having completed the reload, the armor returned to its ready state, still aiming the gun forward.
[…….]
The alarm of the armor seemed to urge her to run away.
Thanks to that, she had gotten so tense that she emptied the rifle’s magazine.
Beeep!
Beeep!
Beeep!
The cockpit’s red alert continued to blink.
“…….”
That should be enough.
The armor’s alarm kept blaring, but…
If she had created this much chaos, surely, she must have fled by now.
Kohane wished desperately that it was true.
Beeep!
Beeep!
Beeep!
Contrary to Kohane’s hopes, the alarm system of the armor continued to ring.
“…….”
The dust slowly began to settle.
There was nothing in it.
With the return of silence, only the armor stood amidst the black curtain.
Beeep!
Beeep!
Beeep!
Even waiting quietly, nothing happened.
Kohane murmured softly, laden with her wishes.
“D-did I take her down?”
Having used the armor’s weapon for the first time, Kohane scanned the area with shaking hands, bursting with excitement and relief.
Zzzwrrrr!
With the sound of motors in the joints, the armor turned smoothly in place.
Kohane checked the monitor meticulously and confirmed that no one was there.
“Phew.”
A sigh of relief.
Cold sweat trickled down her forehead.
Kohane wiggled her small feet and switched the armor to standard mode.
‘I wasted a few bullets, but I can replenish them slowly with starlight…’
Although those bullets were meant to smash the Kabukicho she detested alongside her friends.
The armor had more weapons, so she should be fine.
[N-No problem! It’s just a little setback! I got this!]
“Did you shoot all of them?”
Right next to her.
Not from the armor’s camera but from beyond the wall came a voice.
The girl was right beside her.
Piercing through the darkness were green glowing eyes.
Ichika turned her face towards the side with the deployed monocle, calmly holding the uneven surface of the armor with one hand as she gazed at the cockpit.
“Eeep?!”
Kohane felt like she would’ve been completely terrified if she hadn’t been in the armor. But she couldn’t hold back the scream that erupted.
[Aaaaaaaaaaaah?!]
Kohane immediately stomped on the accelerator with both feet, instinctively activating the booster.
As the output surged suddenly, the joints of the ivory armor glowed bright red.
Heat radiated that could be felt even in the cockpit.
Steam billowed from the engine’s coolant.
Whoosh!
Brrrrrrr—
The armor’s back pack boosters ignited, spewing forth blue flames.
Kaboooooom!
With the help of the boosters mounted on the shoulders and back, the previously sluggish movements of the armor became significantly sharper.
‘It’s too close! I can’t use the rifle!’
Kohane pressed the close combat mode button on the control stick and simultaneously activated the accelerator.
With the armor slightly lifted off the ground, it dodged this way and that, trying to shake off Ichika, while deploying the blades stored in the arms.
The blades sparkled with an ivory light.
Powerful, high-energy vibrations filled the air.
Swish!
As Ichika watched the blade rushing toward her, she couldn’t help but smile contentedly.
Wasn’t fighting about exchanging projectile attacks and direct hits?
“Ha, that’s how it should’ve started.”
[Get away from me!]
A torrent of gigantic blades rushed in.
A spine-chilling heat.
Ichika twisted her body to dodge the massive blade that clumsily threatened her like a flyswatter sticking to her.
But the follow-up attacks came.
“Ooops.”
Ichika let out a sound of helplessness, lightly jumping from her stance to evade and continue watching the attacks.
Whoooosh!
Brrrrrrr—
With her red monocle leaving a long red afterimage behind.
The sight of a 10-meter-sized armor charging toward a frail girl, brandishing threatening blades.
That scene had the kind of force you’d expect from an SF horror movie.
Yet, at this moment, the relationship of the hunter and prey was reversed.
Ichika observed the approaching armor closely.
Focusing on the center of her being, she took a deep breath.
Hiss…
[Unique Skill of the Magical Girl of Freedom]
Fighting Instinct 鬪爭本能
Green energy enveloped Ichika, swirling around her and asserting dominance in the surroundings.
Inside the dark curtain, a green storm formed where the red monocle was moving toward.
She became the storm, ready to meet the armor’s onslaught.
The fragments of concrete scattered along the roadside.
The bent barricades crushed under the armor.
The potholes carved out by the stray bullets.
All these whispered pieces of information.
They were pointing toward the most optimal route to victory.
The momentum was fierce but riddled with gaps.
Among them, the key to victory was a single counterattack. It was the one moment of nimbleness that could break the threatening iron’s momentum.
Youn Nengvo.
Gentle things can conquer things that are strong.
The iron’s momentum was great.
It resembled a colossal spear.
Driven by the will of the one holding the long pike,
it was a shape of destruction plunging directly toward Ichika.
A form of destruction that could not be stopped by a human body.
With each step, the stones cracked underfoot.
The fiercely blazing knife sliced through the air.
Kaboom!
The realm barely accessible to the minuscule number of geniuses who have attained enlightenment.
It had a weight of unreasonable mass amplified by the force of straight-line moves.
‘Thus, I will simply move forward.’
In the gap of consciousness, stretched like a minute feels like a lifetime,
Ichika gently stretched both her hands, one reaching for the sky, the other for the ground.
What she drew was the Tao.
Between the sky (天) and the earth (地), humanity (人) stood.
It was the most primal manifestation of Taiji that her master had taught her.
‘Strength and gentleness coexist; the greater the strength (剛), the more vulnerable it is to underlying gentleness (柔).’
In Ichika’s consciousness with closed eyes, it was no longer the threatening iron.
It was an outdated wooden dummy used in training, unable to perform anything beyond direct attacks.
The dummy had now fully approached, charging at her.
Whhhhhh!
Shooooooo!
[This is where it ends!!]
The dummy swung its sword.
A simple sword.
A force without enlightenment.
Just before the force arrived,
the slim margin like a thread…
Ichika managed to twist and evade the sword swinging beside her.
Palm Style
Within the mysteries of Taiji, the dummy’s sword was twisted.
And with that, all the force she had deployed began to twist along with it.
The armor lost all its momentum in that taiji, unable to overcome its own force, and toppled over.
Crunch!
Screeeech!
Craaack!
The armor twisted and fell as if caught in a whirlpool.
In the gaps between the armor’s attacks,
Ichika twisted the power emanating from the armor, quickly relaying it to the joints.
One of its arms exploded.
The armor, losing balance, fell with an earth-shattering noise.
Kaboooooom!
Crackelidook!
Squish!
[Whaaa?! Are you insane?! With bare hands!?]
Thud! Thud!
Bam!
Whoooooosh—
Rolling around the ground and about to lose its posture completely,
Kohane stepped on the pedal with all her might, holding onto the wildly jerking control stick as if launching her tiny body away.
Thanks to Kohane’s desperate piloting, the armor rolled a few times on the ground before righting itself again. But the aftershock was too substantial to ignore.
[Phew, phew, ugh… My precious armor…]
Unlike its initial imposing outlook, the attack had completely rendered one arm into rags, and it was now a mess covered in dust from the floor.
The emergency lights flickered continuously, advising withdrawal, as various joints of the armor began to malfunction from Ichika’s counter.
[If this keeps up, I can’t show off the armor to my assistant… If I want my assistant to come out of there… ]
While Kohane muttered for a moment, she shook herself and growled.
[I don’t want to kill anyone, so I won’t use it, but it can’t be helped!]
“You shot bullets so well before, what are you talking about?”
Ignoring Ichika’s reply, Kohane hit the sturdy protective glass-covered switch in the center of the control stick with her fist.
Zzzip—!
Whooooosh!
Click!
The barrel that had been showcasing its presence behind the armor finally emerged, climbing onto one shoulder.
It was the trump card saved for the final artillery.
Reflecting the glow from the armor’s monocle, it exuded a threatening atmosphere in the darkness.
[Introducing the awesome armor 1’s ultimate weapon! I’m bringing out the Awesome Cannon 1!]
Kohane strained her delicate voice to deliver the warning.
[If this hits, no matter how strong a magical girl you are, you’ll be seriously done for! It would be best to move aside!]
Ichika chuckled in disbelief at her response.
“Why don’t you set up a naming factory with our leader?”
[What nonsense are you saying! Does my statement sound like a joke!?]
– Awesome Cannon 1 loaded and ready.
The mechanical voice announced that the preparations were complete.
Kohane bit her lower lip firmly.
This was all she had left.
[…Don’t regret it!]
Click!
Kaboom!
Light exploded forth and detonated right in front of her.
Flare.
Thunderous sound.
Destruction.
In the darkness filled with shadows, only light blazed forth.
And then came the rushing backlash and vibrations.
Feeling the tremors from the cannon that exploded less than fifty meters away, Kohane desperately watched the monitor for the situation.
‘Please… please!’
It was about time to stop this.
Kohane hadn’t vowed with her friends to be caught up in a place like this.
She needed to wreck that detestable Kabukicho.
She had to be recognized by the noble Magical Girl of [Start] as a proper magical girl, showing that we had been there.
The settling smoke.
Green glowing eyes.
Their eyes met.
[Aaaaaaaaah!! Please!!! Enough already!!!]
Kohane cried out as she activated all the weapons of the armor.
Tu-dududududu—
Fsssh! Fsssh!
Click- Kaboom!
Ceaseless explosions erupted.
Endless thunder roared.
But through the smoke and clouds of dust, Ichika appeared, stepping closer with each gleaming glint.
She was now right in front.
Kohane whimpered and moved the control stick, but it was pointless.
Landing lightly atop the ivory body, Ichika launched a rapid series of punches filled with green energy.
The green storm packed within her fists traced numerous trajectories, slowly grinding down the armor.
Wham!
Zzzap!
Boom!
Every time she struck, the cockpit shook, and the armor gradually crumpled.
The armor was damaged beyond functioning, unable to react anymore.
Kaboom!
Thud!
Shiver!
Vibrations.
Warning sounds.
Red screens.
Evacuation recommendation broadcasts.
Amid it all, Kohane could only scream in helplessness.
[Ugh!! S-stop!!]
Wham!
Wham!
With each punch, the armored plate buckled, feeling the impacts resonate through her body.
With the second impact, the armor groaned painfully.
[Get away from me!!]
Using its remaining hand, the armor tried to swat Ichika away.
But Ichika deftly stepped aside, preparing for one final attack as she raised one leg high.
Green power seeped through the tips of her elevated leg, and
as she brought it crashing down, thunder roared from the point of impact.
“Let’s see your face for just a moment!”
Kabooooom!
With a vertical stomp, the protective plate guarding the cockpit finally crumpled in.
Terrified, Kohane held onto the control stick.
Standing with poise was Ichika.
Finally, their eyes met.
“Eek?!”
“That’s one heck of a noggin, huh?”
Ichika chuckled at the unexpectedly petite girl in front of her and reached out, grabbing her by the collar and lifting her up.
“Let me go…! Let go of me…!”
Kohane kicked at Ichika, wearing slippers, trying to resist, but Ichika didn’t budge.
“Stay still, for heaven’s sake!”
Smack!
“……”
With a decisive smack landing on Kohane’s forehead, her kicking finally ceased, and she went limp.
Ichika, dragging the now drooping girl by the collar, calmly walked out of the curtain.
“Oh, great work on the curtain.”
In the aftermath of what had seemed like an unimaginable battle,
Ichika felt relieved that the fighting had not spilled out beyond the curtain, fearing it would disturb the innocent bystanders.
“Leader! It’s all over here!”
“……”
“Leader?”
“……”
“Busy, I guess?”
With a dragging motion,
Ichika carried the limp girl in one hand,
and headed toward the building where the leader had ordered them to go.