Horizon:Volume 8C Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Sacred Beasts of Two Directions

Is that the preparation?

Or is it the result?

Point Allocation (Vibes)

Suzu heard some loud noises while part of the group charged toward the imperial palace.

The noises came from beyond the transport ship behind them and were even louder than the earlier ones.

…That’s Byakko attacking!

And it wasn’t stopping. The god of war was using its attacks to push straight forward. It hadn’t made any rushes like this before, but Suzu knew why it could now.

“Suzu-san, what’s that I hear coming from Masa’s battle?”

“That’s the ground…being torn up…and stomping feet!”

Byakko was using the broken ground from the previous fighting. Its footwork had torn up the pavement and now it hooked its feet on the surviving pavement to strengthen its steps. To contrast how Suzaku used the acceleration of its flight devices, Byakko used the resistance of the ground.

Byakko made sure its footing enhanced its attacks and it kept going.

Suzaku could have done the same of course, but their power and weight were too different.

Still, Suzu could hear the sounds of Suzaku blocking Byakko’s attacks. It used its midsized wrenches as shields and used quick bursts of its flight devices to dodge and parry.

But it was falling back all the while. Worse, it was being driven straight back.

Byakko was in control of the direction Suzaku went. If Suzaku tried to escape to the sides, a giant fist would attack there and prevent the lateral movement.

Naomasa could use martial arts too, but she was not a puncher. If it came down to one-on-one fisticuffs, Byakko had the advantage.

Suzu listened to it all play out as sounds and she soon noticed another problem facing them.

Valdes and his group had moved aside, but the enemy’s main northern group had arrived at the imperial palace entrance up ahead.

And in the lead was…

“Takakane-dono!?”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Futayo. Takakane readied his long bat.

“As always, I’m the cornerstone of our defense! Now, come at me!”

A pair stepped forward in response.

“Let’s do this, Mary-dono!”

“Judge, we can take care of this!”

Urquiaga and Narumi followed.

“We can deal with the surrounding area. Narumi, you go for the big one.”

“Deal.”

Narumi changed course and moved out ahead. Instead of the imperial palace’s entrance, she veered left, giving the baseball players a wide berth. She flew past them to reach…

…Their main group!

Juana held Akedia Katathlipse and led a unit running this way. And…

“–––––”

Suzu heard a loud crash from behind.

Byakko had landed a powerful attack on Suzaku.

Fusae pushed forward.

She struck Suzaku and pushed it ahead of her. She wasn’t doing this just because.

…That wall!

The transport ship sat ahead. Its rear thrusters were dead, but that meant the giant torii-style piece of art was no more than a wall. If she could push Suzaku against that wall, she would win.

That would prevent Suzaku from falling back any further.

That would prevent Suzaku from activating the Swamp behind it.

So she pushed. She kept in close to avoid giving her opponent a chance to escape. She kept up a barrage of blows that would have left the average god of war out of breath, but it was easy for Byakko. The attacks were not uniform – she mixed in twists and hooks to break through her opponent’s reactions.

“Get…over there!”

She had Suzaku right where she wanted it. Of course, part of her felt it had been too easy. Which suggested her opponent was plotting something.

So she would crush that opponent.

She would use so much power any tricks would be a waste of time.

…How will you respond to that?

She prepared to throw the last punch to bring Suzaku to the wall.

That was when Suzaku did something.

The vermilion god of war moved back itself, slamming its back into the wall.

Fusae sensed a trap in Suzaku’s action.

There had to be something there. How could there not? When an opponent broke the implicit “rules” established for a battle, they were plotting something.

So she simply had to pour in as much power as possible. In addition to the final blow of her combination play, she used…

“Roar Deterioration – right shoulder only!”

The right ultra-vibration destruction cannon activated while closed. All of the vibration traveled to Byakko’s right fist. Byakko’s action briefly shook from the great burden, but not enough to matter.

Byakko threw a punch that would destroy whatever it touched.

And Suzaku responded.

It moved forward. After moving back, it immediately swung itself toward Byakko.

…You’re going for it!?

Fusae realized that had been a trick. Suzaku’s action had been goading her into attacking. By moving back, it had put her on guard and convinced her to use Roar Deterioration as she punched.

She considered what would happen if this Roar Deterioration punch was defeated.

…I can use my other arm or move out of the way!

She immediately thought up a few ideas and her body knew how to utilize them, so she kept going.

“Make that punch, Byakko!”

The punch landed. The giant white and black right hand shuddered some as it flew, but it received the feedback of a hit right away. She had aimed for Suzaku’s left arm. If she aimed for the front of the shoulder from the outside, it was very difficult to avoid.

So that was what she had done.

The attack hit.

At the very same moment, Suzaku purged its left arm.

…Old Man Taizou is not going to be happy with me.

He was bound to yell at Naomasa for destroying a newly-made part.

But it had been necessary here. Because…

…This’ll carry me to victory!

Releasing Suzaku’s left arm at the shoulder was only meant to be done after it took damage.

She could have purged it the instant the ultra-vibration destruction punch landed.

Or if she had dodged before even that, she wouldn’t have had to get rid of the arm at all.

But she did it beforehand. She sacrificed the arm before the attack even hit. And…

“Feast on that!”

The enemy’s right fist bit into the falling left arm.

With a sound more like tearing than smashing, Suzaku’s left arm instantly turned to dust.

Every bit of it was smashed to pieces. But Naomasa used that moment. When she purged the arm, something had fallen from its slack fingers.

A midsized wrench.

Naomasa looked to the enemy – at the right arm devouring her left arm.

…It stopped!!

Byakko stopped moving when it used Roar Deterioration. But what happened when the weapon was used to power a punch? Naomasa had known Byakko briefly stopped when its special weapon activated, but its arm would still be bent and provide a solid defense then.

So she didn’t aim for that moment.

If she was going to attack, it had to be when the arm was outstretched. So if she was going lure in the enemy…

“It had to be the moment of the ultra-vibration punch. You freeze again when that power propagates to the fist!”

The pause was only for the briefest of moments, but that was all anyone at their level needed.

It was bad manners, but Naomasa had Suzaku swing up its left knee. It struck the falling wrench with its thigh, knocking the wrench upwards with its powerful leg.

And knocking it right into the elbow joint of Byakko’s right arm.

The wrench caught on some metal, but it worked it loudly scraped its way inside. Then the metal protrusion pierced out the other side.

“How about that!?”

Byakko’s arm rattled. When it tried to pull back that arm after the punch, the elbow refused to bend.

The rest was simple enough. While the wrench bent and finally snapped from the attempt to bend the elbow…

“Suzaku!”

Suzaku grabbed Byakko’s right arm from above while it tried to pull back with its shoulder.

That worked as the start of an unbalancing move, so that’s what Naomasa did. Suzaku placed its fingers in the seam of Byakko’s right forearm armor and pulled. Byakko raised its left hand, so Naomasa went right ahead with…

…A throw!

Using the right arm as an axis, Naomasa unbalanced and threw Byakko outwards.

Naomasa did all this for what came next.

Byakko was twisting around to try and land on its back.

Naomasa made a further attack then.

She used the Swamp. That was Suzaku’s power as a Sacred Beast. The power could launch Suzaku forward. What happened if she used that against collapsing Byakko when Suzaku had specialized flight devices installed?

…Won’t it result in a high-speed body slam?

It would be more like a tackle, which was a lot less cool, but she couldn’t help that. Suzaku was missing an arm too and her opponent couldn’t dodge while in midair.

Now was her only chance. So she had Suzaku make a quick dash as if throwing itself forward.

“Suzaku, give me your Swamp acceleration!”

It happened as soon as she asked for it.

Sacred Beast sign frames appeared all around Suzaku. And…

…Ohh.

She saw light behind her. A phase space opened like a circular window, revealing lake scenery reflected in the water’s surface. Suzaku’s acceleration came from falling into that, but…

“Go!” she shouted just before seeing motion.

Byakko’s rotation speed suddenly increased while it collapsed as if rolling in the air.

…Huh?

It shouldn’t have been possible, but Byakko landed in a crouch before Suzaku could reach it. As it stood up, it raised its left arm toward Suzaku. Only then did Naomasa understand what the enemy had done.

…That arm!

Fusae’s decision had been a tightrope walk.

As soon as she could no longer use Byakko’s right arm, she had remembered the throw she had nearly fallen for earlier. She was in trouble if that happened again without the use of Byakko’s right arm. And if she thought something would be a threat, she knew this opponent would do exactly that.

So she had prepared for it. She had Byakko raise its left arm to resist if its right arm was grabbed.

But not to punch. The point was to swing the elbow back with all of Byakko’s might.

…If she hits me on the inside, I can resist with my momentum. And if she hits me from the outside…

She could accelerate the throw’s rotation.

Her adlibbed action worked like a charm. Her opponent’s special move was the Swamp acceleration and she knew that would mean a full-body tackle. So she knew what she had to do in response.

“Roar Deterioration – left shoulder only!”

She didn’t send the vibration into a punch this time. She launched it from the shoulder cannon.

If the enemy was going to charge at her…

“I just have to…strike back!”

Naomasa moved on reflex.

The acceleration at her back was pushing her forward. Part of her wanted to stop that, but she also had to worry about the enemy cannon blast in front of her.

She didn’t know what to do. What could she do in this situation?

Only one possibility came to mind: the right arm.

If Suzaku was going to slam into the enemy, this was her only way to resist.

“Use your right arm, Suzaku!”

To resist and break through, Naomasa had Suzaku spread its fingers and slam its right hand into Byakko’s cannon blast. She opened her mouth and opened up the flight devices too.

“Pour the acceleration into your arm!!”

Something exploded.

Fusae was a ghost, but she had a data link to Byakko’s control system. The collision here was powerful enough to sever that link.

With a deafening crash, Byakko was launched down the main street. The female god of war was large even for a heavy god of war, but it still bounced off its left shoulder and rolled a few times. Fusae had never crashed this badly even in training.

But Byakko tore up the ground and its right shoulder collided with one of the ancient buildings on the east side of the main street. Only then did it stop with a metallic groan.

“Ugh, that took out the left one.”

She could tell without looking.

The left shoulder cannon’s base had been smashed up and the upper armor was missing. Even the vibration device was gone, but…

…Was it shot through?

The shoulder was torn through, front to back, where the device had been. That was from the power that had launched Byakko and a secondary explosion caused by the vibration blast rupturing.

But what had caused the attack that destroyed the very base of Byakko’s shoulder?

Fusae looked to the opponent responsible.

Jizuri Suzaku. That Sacred Beast had purged its left arm and had its right arm raised.

It had crashed into the wall behind it with so much force its back seemed embedded.

It had been launched backwards and stopped when it again hit the stern of the transport ship.

Suzaku’s right hand was missing past the wrist.

But Fusae saw a collection of light around Suzaku.

Those were Sacred Beast sign frames. They bore Suzaku’s symbol and danced around the vermillion god of war.

Fusae knew what that was.

…That program sent the Swamp power into its frame just like Byakko does with Roar Deterioration.

That had to be what the previous attack was. At the 6th Special Duty Officer’s request, Suzaku had performed its own propagation attack.

Had it received the program from Byakko when Byakko used the attack? Either way, the Swamp power had been launched from Suzaku’s right arm and both gods of war were damaged.

Fusae looked to the 6th Special Duty Officer seated on Suzaku’s shoulder.

“So does this count as a draw?” she asked.

“You can claim the win. I had no idea what was going on at the end there.”

“Neither did I. What are these things?” Fusae voiced a thought that occurred to her. “These two may not be enemies. If anything, I think they’re beasts of the same pack. After all, it seems Byakko decided to teach Suzaku some new tricks.”

“Then I’ll have to apologize for sponging off of you.”

“I suppose so,” said Fusae, smiling bitterly. Byakko could still move. Suzaku could probably at least still walk.

…Retreat it is.

She would only be in the way if she joined the main force. She sent out an extraction request and announced the results of her battle via divine transmission.

“Enemy threat eliminated south of palace. Taka, this is in your hands now.”

“And I thought I had left this in your hands!”

Takakane had already begun his battle. His opponents were the English Princess and Musashi’s ninja. He barely knew anything about either. He had only seen them destroying the San Martin flagship at the end of the Armada battle.

They had launched a powerful blast from Ex. Collbrande, which they both wielded now.

Takakane specialized in defense, but he didn’t think he could stop something like that. But at the same time…

“Not bad at all, English Princess!”

“Judge! Thank you very much!”

Responds with a smile, huh? But the princess handled her sword well. Instead of raising the blade and letting it guide her, she made sure to guide it. When she jabbed, she jabbed straight.

She seemed to have faith in the sword.

She started holding it straight out or raised high. Her stance was so perfect it almost looked like she was training, but…

…That’s a royal’s sword!

Our Chancellor could never do this, he thought, but that probably came down to personality. Regardless, the sounds of the sword strikes came surprisingly quick.

“Captain Takakane!”

The flurry of attacks was so fast even those accustomed to battle were worried about him.

It made sense. Of all sword techniques, the direct attacks from overhead or straight ahead were the fastest. When starting with the blade low, it had to be turned to one side of the body or the other, but these attacks didn’t require that.

Starting from overhead increased the force of the strike. Jabbing straight out maximized speed. And a midlevel attack was more balanced. By using those three options as a base and weaving them together smoothly, she could keep the attacks coming at an impressive rate.

And she added footwork into the mix. Since all of her attacks came from the center, she determined direction of attack with her feet. That meant her spine was always kept straight.

It was a form of courtesy.

She treated the sword with respect, she never viewed her opponent from an angle, and she honored the battle itself.

Where had she learned to swordfight like that?

…No, I know the answer.

Sorry, thought Takakane.

I suppose we were part of the reason you had to learn to do this.

He remembered seeing it in the news. The history recreation leading up to the Armada battle had required a recreation of Bloody Mary.

And that meant the killing of the 300.

Takakane remembered it still.

The news had said Mary’s name inheritor had killed the rebels one by one. People throughout town had whispered that England must have concluded they had no way of backing out of the Armada battle. The Tres Españan officers had agreed with that analysis.

Some had felt Mary’s actions had gone too far, but most had called it “courageous” since the Testament was on their side in this case. They had even suggested rescuing her and letting her transfer to their academy.

Takakane remembered discussing that over drinks.

And as a result…

…I’m really sorry.

I know it’s far too late now, but none of it felt real back then. We were so busy worrying about Tres España’s future and you were all the way across the ocean – or the sky really. We thought it was a political issue and, to be frank, we thought it was England’s problem.

Sure, some of us suggested letting you transfer in, but none of us actually did anything about it. Because it’s not in the Testament and any wrong move could have triggered the Armada battle early.

We glorified you as the English Princess who took our side and we all figured you really would be executed when the Armada battle came around.

Probably the only person who thought of you as an actual person was the Chancellor. Because…

…He sent out the Grande y Felicísima Armada without needing your execution first.

Musashi had taken her side too.

She hadn’t been executed yet when the Armada battle began. The process had begun, but it still wasn’t complete.

Musashi had been the first to act. They had sent a separate group to stop her execution. They had done so by officially challenging England to some duels, but their main force had continued on to the Armada battle without waiting for the result.

Thanks to that, the English Princess had been saved.

Tres España could have stopped Musashi there. They could have pointed out that the execution was incomplete and insist no major international events could proceed before it was complete. Juana had been with the Grande y Felicísima Armada, so they even had a negotiator on hand.

But the Chancellor had let the battle commence.

Letting the Armada battle begin without the execution had to have influenced England’s Fairy Queen who had implicitly allowed it as well.

Because with the Armada battle complete, the only reason left to insist on the execution was personal feelings.

As a combat-focused Vice Chancellor, Takakane didn’t know how much of that they had worked to achieve together and how much had simply worked out that way.

But he knew the Chancellor had gone along with it. That had come as a shock to Juana who had failed to notice his earlier actions.

Now that I think about it, the Chancellor made her cry back then, thought Takakane. But at the same time…

“It was a great decision!”

The current duel was the result.

That’s a nice sword.

That sword and your scars are enough to tell me what happened with the 300.

We helped make it happen, but that’s still a nice sword.

Fortunately, there was no grudge in her sword. Its movements did not complain about needing to kill him or needing to carry out justice.

Grudges defiled swords.

But this princess had none of that. She must have had plenty of regrets, but she had gone through with it anyway. And the ones she cut down must have been thankful for her sword and her attitude.

All her straightforward attacks were honestly a lot of fun to block.

Would she be willing to join us for a 1000-ball fungo session? Her precision would make for some damn useful practice.

But there was a problem. Someone else was doing his best to attack him from behind.

“Hey, over here! I’m over here! Hey, hey, hey! Can’t you see me!? Oh, caught you looking! So you can hear me! C’mon, focus on me!”

Since when are ninjas so loud and annoying?

Tenzou chose to play a diversionary role for Mary.

His motto was “the best diversions are the most annoying”. So this is me making a diversion. I’m not this annoying normally. I swear.

Art-Ga: “Wow, the most annoying guy ever is begging for attention.”

Gold Mar: “This is the sad fate of a failed attempt at popularity.”

Unturning: “Reminds me of the people jumping around behind a reporter.”

…Narumi-dono’s description was especially apt, but I thought she was busy fighting the enemy’s main force!?

He wasn’t happy about it, but he had to admit that Takakane’s defense was captivatingly impressive.

After all, he was blocking Mary’s attacks while also blocking Tenzou’s from behind.

Tenzou and Mitotsudaira had once attacked Shibata Katsuie at Novgorod. The situation had been similar to this, but while Shibata had used his own attacks to stay in control of the battle, Takakane was letting them take control but responding perfectly.

The man left no openings. Which made sense when he was matching his actions to theirs. If they tried to slip into an opening, he would simply respond to that attack. And…

“Hey, Tenzou!” said Toori. “We’re stuck back here cause of you!”

“It’s not my fault!”

Well, it’s everyone’s fault, so I guess I’m part of that.

The main Musashi group was 100m away from the imperial palace’s entrance. Mitsuhide had given them 42 minutes, but…

“We only have about 12 minutes left!”

The imperial palace was more than a kilometer north to south and more than 500m east to west. It was surrounded by a hardened bamboo wall standing around 12m tall and a one-way shield spell made to look like bamboo blinds was placed over the top to keep gods of war from seeing over the wall.

However, the inside was mostly taken up by a park. Further in, there was a four-building structure and an underground facility.

The surface buildings were known as the inner palace and the underground facility was known as the greater palace. The inner palace was guarded by automatons and even Azuma had barely ever been inside it.

They wanted at least 5 minutes to get inside there and travel through it. Which meant…

…We have 7 more minutes.

But the enemy’s defenses were clever. First, the baseball team led by Takakane had lined up in several layers of horizontal lines to stand in their way. It was similar to a Tercio, but sparser and more intersecting.

Tenzou had thought breaking through would be easy, but…

…That formation is designed to devour attackers.

When an attacker moved out ahead to clear the way, the baseball players let them through the first line.

Then they worked to stop the others following after the attacker.

They let the strongest enemy through and stopped the rest.

In baseball terms, it was like giving a strong batter an intentional walk and getting their outs from the later batters.

The strategy was proving to be trouble.

The Musashi attackers did not expect to be let through like that. And those following assumed the attacker had cleared the way, so they didn’t expect to be stopped.

Then when the attackers and other capable fighters moved to put a stop to that strategy, the enemy defenders responded and split them up. Meanwhile, the enemy’s attackers moved in and attacked the followers they had lured in.

The combination of delays and infiltration was a challenge to deal with.

And it all came down to their focus on defense.

…Well done!

The enemy didn’t need to win this. They only had to buy enough time. They also never got complacent and were always working to ensure their defense had the advantage.

Tenzou knew this was a problem and he was working to think up a solution when a sign frame appeared next to him.

Horizey: “What should we do? Shall I fire a Logismoi Oplo?”

Asama sensed everyone’s eyes on her. She knew they were all asking her to dissuade Horizon.

“Um, Horizon? If you fire it now, you will hit our people too.”

“Not a problem. If I use Maska Orge, it will only cause great pain and make them rethink some of their poorer decisions. Or should I harass everyone in the area using the pride or vainglory ones?”

“Well, um, Kyou is actually a heavily populated area.”

Horizon opened a sign frame, accessed the Kyou town hall site, checked the population number, checked the local specialties and famous locations, and…

…Oh, she’s interested in Kinkakuji.

Did she like gaudy things, or was it just something she recognized? But after closing the sign frame, Horizon raised and clenched her right fist.

“Curse those Tres Españan devils! They’re using Kyou’s population as a human shield!”

“Yes, yes. Not shooting is the correct choice, Horizon.”

Everyone repeatedly pressed the “applause button” on the divine network. Ohh, that’s a lot of praise. But…

“So what do we do? We can’t get through like this.”

“Should we call Flatty? She could smash the place up with her god of war,” he suggested.

“Keep in mind they have a Logismoi Oplo too,” said Neshinbara. “Do you want another contest between Akedia and Lype? And at this distance, a god of war would make a good artillery target. She could act as a diversion though.”

“In that case,” said Naito, looking up. “How about we thin them out with some sniping?”

“From above, it would be too obvious where you’re aiming. Their formation shifts so organically because their managers are keeping watch and giving instructions along with their coach. If they responded to your sniping with those same organic movements, they would fill in any space we might be able to pass through.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

“At this point, we have to rely on the ace up our sleeve.”

In other words…

“We fulfill our win condition.”

Narumi was battling the enemy’s main force led by Juana and Flores.

She wasn’t using Unturning Centipede since it was being repaired and because she had replacement parts for her combat prosthetics. Instead, she was summoning multiple mandible swords, linking them together, and swinging them like a whip.

She hadn’t accomplished much with that so far, but she couldn’t help that.

That was because the enemy primarily used long range attacks. They kept their distance and, when she rushed them, they would focus on defense and fire on her.

Each group would defend and act as decoys, knowing their teammates would attack. That meant they never actively went on the offensive, but they couldn’t be ignored either.

…What a pain.

Narumi’s chains of mandible swords had reached a dozen meters long. That was heavy for her prosthetic limbs, but they let her hold one enemy group at bay while attacking a different group. She needed that since she couldn’t block the closest group’s shots when she was attacking. She was starting to get the hang of it, so she thought she could finish this up before long. But…

“Oh?”

She heard a war cry from the south. It came from the guards’ lieutenant.

“Charge!”

The guards had been defending Musashi’s main group, but now they were going in for an attack.

However, the enemy had to be packed in tight around them. They wouldn’t be able to break through. And the enemy would pack in even more tightly around them and the palace’s entrance when they noticed it.

…What are they hoping to accomplish?

Narumi wondered if this was a leadup to using a Logismoi Oplo after all.

But then she saw a puzzling movement. Juana reacted to this charge by taking a few steps back.

…Is she not going to fight back if this is leading to a Logismoi Oplo?

Only a Logismoi Oplo could directly fight a Logismoi Oplo, so why would Juana fall back?

Puzzled, Narumi heard sounds of clashing metal. Musashi’s main group was charging.

Fusae watched it happen from atop the transport ship.

The Musashi group took an arrowhead formation in front of the imperial palace. Takakane and the baseball team packed together at the tip of that arrowhead to block and crush the charging enemy.

They were packed in quite densely. Both in the front and back.

…That’s a pretty solid formation.

If Musashi charged into that, they would only be further worn down. The leading group would be let through and the rest would be attacked. That split and crush tactic used the opposite shape and concept of the Tercio. You placed your enemy into a mold, made them feel like they were defending themselves, and wore them down.

This was the same. The lieutenant of the Musashi warriors led the charge and he ended up moving too far out.

He would soon be eliminated and focus would shift to those following him.

Or that was the plan.

Fusae watched as Musashi’s lieutenant took a certain action. Immediately after being let past the first line, he threw himself to the ground and shouted.

“The path is clear!”

Takakane saw the result while battling the English Princess.

Over at their main force, the Tres Españan warriors were packed together into a sea of people. Several people at the leading edge were blasted into the air.

They were not Musashi’s attackers. They were…

“Our people!?”

His confusion was answered by an incoming attack.

It came from the English Princess. She had a smile on her sweaty face.

“Distractions can be dangerous.”

Immediately, a second blast came from the enemy’s leading edge.

It was a simultaneous pair of artillery blasts.

The Technohexen were firing their quasi-anti-ship cannons horizontally as if they were anti-personnel weapons.

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