Chapter 110: CH 102

Jenny’s Tachycineta made its move one step ahead of Unit 5.

The latter fell back one step, placed a hand on its katana’s hilt, and waited for a good opening.

The Armaros rushed in to attack as well.

Its speed was actually faster than the former iteration of Unit 5 that got accelerated by the detonation engine.

However, Jenny’s machine was still faster.

「Wha-!?」

「As expected of Kelly. I can keep up with an Antique Silhouette’s speed! This baby’s absolutely amazing!」

Armaros brandished its weapon and aimed at the Tachycineta.

The moment the beam of light fired from the Armaros’ weapon reached Tachycineta, the latter’s armor surface turned red hot. But Tachycineta still managed to perform an evasive maneuver and continued to advance toward Armaros.

The high-speed maneuvers of the Tachycineta prevented the Armaros’ laser weapon to melt through its armor.

「What a high-output laser gun…… That’s a weapon from the Interplanetary War era for you. But with this Tachycineta–!」

「Impossible! That shot should have thoroughly melted its armor!」

Each party was amazed at their opponent’s combat performance. However, the present-generation Silhouette was able to keep up with the Antique’s mobility and defense.

This was the ultimate speed-specialized Silhouette Kelly custom-made just for Jenny. There was nobody else who excelled in this concept as much as that man–

Jenny made the Tachycineta take out its high-frequency oscillation blade and slashed out.

「Hah. If that’s the case, then I’ll start with that blockhead over there instead.」

Paulos, who’d recognized Jenny as a strong enemy, made Armaros rush toward Unit 5 instead.

It accelerated even faster than before. The Antique Silhouette boasted improbable speed that reached supersonic level even on the ground.

「Kou-kun!」

Jenny didn’t expect the enemy to suddenly switch his target to Kou and hurriedly reversed Tachycineta’s direction.

However, although the thrust vectoring boosters of the Tachycineta’s large backpack excelled at straight-line acceleration and flight capabilities, it was relatively difficult for it to perform tight turns mid-air.

Armaros took out two sabers from its back.

The sabers were each capable of cutting through ultra-hard materials used in the Interplanetary War era.

Unit 5 lowered its center of gravity further. It positioned the scabbard on its hip parallel to the ground and entered a counter stance.

Armaros shot upward–

It rose up to a height taller than a Silhouette’s and quickly descended toward Unit 5.

A dull sound of something being severed echoed throughout the underground space.

Unit 5 took one step forward and performed a half-moon slash.

「Eh?」

The Armaros that was cut down with a kesagiri fell miserably on the ground.

Unit 5 positioned the scabbard horizontally before pulling the katana out of it. By doing so, the katana’s trajectory became fan-shaped.

At the same time, it also adjusted the angle of the scabbard mouth in order to alter the kesagiri’s path. By doing so, it managed to perform two fast and powerful upward and downward slashes consecutively in mere moments.

The Armaros practically placed itself right in front of the blade’s path and was then cut down.

「How…… How did I get cut from the shoulder down even though that thing’s sword was on its waist……?」

Paulos only managed to voice out a complaint about the unreasonableness of the slash shortly before he breathed his last.

Kou remembered an event when he was still on Earth.

He was with his friend, Takaba Hyoue’s grandson, Takaba Shuuji, who he got acquainted with through their shared interest in swordsmanship. They used to hang out a lot back then.

At this time, the two were busy playing their favorite fighting game. Suddenly, Shuuji muttered.

「Y’know, swordsmanship and fighting games are kinda similar.」

「Is that so?」

Since the other boy was older than Kou, he talked to him using formal speech.

「Look. In the game, you need to accurately anticipate your opponent’s moves, make split-second decisions, and whoever unleashes the most powerful techniques with the least openings wins, right?」

「That’s true. But there aren’t that many such convenient techniques in reality.」

「The character you’re playing is strong.」

The two were playing the remake of a game with a samurai motif. Shuuji played a dual sword-wielding stealthy swordsman while Kou was a fan of the character who uses iaijutsu. It was a peculiar game where there were more ninjas than any other type of swordsman.

「Kenjutsu emphasizes speed and minimizing gaps. Iai, on the other hand, emphasizes an accurate sense of timing and quick judgment.」

「That might be a good way to put it. I chose iai since I’m not good at judging ranges.」

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「Well, a swordmaster like my gramps doesn’t really need those tricks y’know!」

「Isn’t Hyoue-san already a 7th dan……? Hey, that strike’s too damaging! Don’t act like a hooligan!」

「How the heck did you parry that!? And isn’t that character’s crouching power slash hitbox too ridiculous!?」

「This guy’s hitboxes are a bit nonsensical after all. Just take it as a bogus anti-air move.」

Fuyuki had once talked about iai with Kou.

Iai had one process too many. That’s because it included the process of drawing a sword first before anything else. A downward or upward slash. It was disadvantageous to perform such moves from a stance where a sword was still in its sheath.

However, iai also had its advantages. Most notable was the scabbard itself. In other words, it doesn’t allow the enemy to accurately judge the range of an attack, so it wagers victory or defeat in a practitioner’s sense of timing when drawing the sword.

If you directly slashed horizontally after drawing the sword, you’d end up with a fast attack. A kesagiri was slower in comparison, but it will draw the opponent in for a decisive blow.

If one pursued speed in iai, their slashes were said to be comparable to bullets. Iai being considered a projectile is due to those who have pursued and mastered sword drawing speed to its fullest.

The trajectory of sword swings gets incorporated into both offense and defense. And that’s not limited to just iai. However, using the gimmick called the sword sheath to freely adjust the timing and trajectory of attacks was a very big advantage.

If one couldn’t defeat the opponent with one blow, one would have to rely on kenjutsu to finish the fight, but iai was a method of combat developed in times of peace after all. That’s why Kou also learned kenjutsu to make up for iai’s disadvantages.

The main focus of the martial art called iai can differ depending on which school one is a member of. One school emphasizes the speed of sword draws. One promotes mastering extreme precision when performing techniques. And one focuses on eliminating gaps as much as possible by performing the most efficient movements. There are others, of course, but Kou’s school in particular places importance on the last one mentioned.

The moves of this time’s opponent were just too amateurish. He didn’t perform any feints, didn’t employ any strategy, and ignored the concept of timing. Even a fighting game’s CPU opponent in Easy mode was probably better. There were crappy games with super-responsive and unfair CPUs, but the enemy pilot didn’t even come close.

No matter how fast the attack, if one can read the timing, dealing with it was simple.

It would be enough to perform a strong counterattack using accurate judgment.

And Kou did manage to cut the Armaros in two. Shuuji would probably laugh in amusement if he saw the enemy suffering from an unreasonable hitbox as he did.

After all, most wouldn’t expect that a downward diagonal slash from above can be performed from a position where the katana was still inside its sheath on the opponent’s waist moments before.

「It really was an instant kill.」

Jenny muttered in surprise. She had braced herself for a protracted battle with the Antique Silhouette.

「That’s because he just came at me stupidly and ended up eating a counter head-on.」

The Antique’s acceleration speed was tremendous. It might not have exactly reached the speed of sound due to the low elevation, but it still came at Kou with a speed exceeding 1000 km/h.

And because of that blazingly fast acceleration, the damage it took from the counter was equally tremendous.

「It’s kinda disappointing.」

「Uh, sorry, I suppose.」

「It’s fine. You did kill the bastard.」

The two proceeded to the deepest part of the sealed area, leaving the wreckage behind.

The wreckage of an Antique Silhouette alone would be worth a huge amount of money, but right now, rescuing Asia was their highest priority.

But a transmission suddenly came from Asia. It looks like she’d only contacted Kou.

『Kou, after you rescue me, check that Antique’s MCS. It should have a large device attached behind it. There should be a stone called Kaleidolithos inside it. Take it out and bring it with you.』

「Got it. Should we also recover the machine itself? Anyway, just wait a bit longer. I’m nearly there, Asia.」

『Un! Thank you, Kou!』

Kou and Jenny released Asia’s data fragment sealed by quantum chains through the same method they used in Fortress Area X463 and collected the remains of Armaros afterward.

「Why did the pilot die even though the MCS is intact?」

「They’re apparently made that way. Once their machines get incapacitated, they die. Maybe it’s to prevent them from being taken as a POW?」

「I see.」

If the enemy was dead, then so be it. There was no room for holding back while facing an Antique Silhouette.

Jenny carried the Antique Silhouette’s upper body along with its severed left arm while Kou carried its lower body as they made their escape.

「Attention, Metal Iris Asia Rescue Force. The operation is a success. All troops, begin withdrawal!」

Loud cheers went up from the rest of the troops.

Unit 5 was carrying the device that was attached to the enemy’s MCS in its hand.

『Thank you, Kou!』

「This is great. Now we’ve taken back two Asias.」

『Fufu. You treat us as two individuals huh. That makes me happy.』

「You’re your own person, after all, Asia.」

『Mm. Really, thank you. Oh, and about that thing Unit 5 is holding–』

Asia began explaining what the device actually was.

And its true nature was truly terrifying.

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