Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Excited One at the Boarding Spot

When something is enjoyable without a purpose

It is even more enjoyable with a purpose

A purposeful life

Is still a life without its purpose

Point Allocation (So Say I)

●

Yoshiaki heard the signal gun from her position above the Azuchi’s 2nd port ship.

Light flashed as the Azuchi fired its four main cannons.

The Azuchi’s 2nd central ship was currently being launched backwards.

This was happening at about the same speed as its forward momentum. Yoshiaki couldn’t say what was happening inside the ship.

But while it was pulled back by the towing belts on either side, its horizontal position remained stable.

…Fortunate they were out in front of us.

The Azuchi had used its gravitational cruising and the towing belts to perform a back dash.

That had dodged back out of the way of the enemy’s artillery while firing on the enemy out front.

“The Sakuma Fleet is packed in tight. And they opened their defense barriers when they fired, so they should have lost sight of us for a split second.”

So…

“The Azuchi can fire on them as much as it wants. They’ll probably start by tearing down the front of her fleet.”

That was when light shined bright out front.

The Azuchi’s main cannons had crashed into the Sakuma Fleet’s vanguard ships.

It was a direct hit.

●

Sakuma’s vanguard was formed from lines of two ships each. She received word that the first two ships were destroyed, that the two behind those were hit, and so on.

She had already told 7 lines – 14 ships – to retreat. That just left doing it.

“Rear lines, back up and ascend! The Azuchi is coming!”

The Azuchi had backed up along with its port and starboard ships. She could see that from the ether readings, so…

“Here it comes! The Azuchi has stopped backing up!”

This was crazy. The Azuchi’s interior would have floated up and back after being shaken forward and now everything would be thrown aft while in near-zero-g.

But she knew who to blame for this. Yes, it had to be her.

“This is your high damage, high return! Isn’t it, Takenaka! Are you ero-ing in there!?”

●

Takenaka had swapped to a fresh paper bag.

All of the dining hall’s tables and chairs – and her too – were floating. The Azuchi’s rapid forward and then backward movement had achieved inertial equilibrium, placing everything in zero-g.

The floating sensation felt a lot like falling from a great height and she wanted to enjoy the weightlessness, but she had to resist. I can’t let myself ero out of simple curiosity. After all, she was busy commanding the ship right now.

“Ero ero ero ero.”

“Takenaka-senpai! What are your instructions!?”

Whoops. I ended up ero-ing out of simple curiosity after all. Huh, looks like the ero just floats there.

She closed the paper bag with a smile and tossed it to Katagiri. He just barely dodged it, so it kept on floating until it hit the ceiling. And…

“The Azuchi’s reversal is complete! Shaja!”

The table Takenaka sat at clattered against the others before they all hit the floor. Katagiri fell too and bounced. Takenaka felt much better after emptying her stomach, so she gave her next command.

“All ships, full speed ahead!”

●

Sakuma heard a sound.

It was the sound of all impurities in the air being purified just before gravitational acceleration. The sound of every little thing being tuned was actually quite pleasant, but it could only mean bad news reaching her in the darkness now.

And the cannon fire had stopped.

The Azuchi was coming. They must have stopped their attack so they could redirect that power to their gravitational cruising. So…

“Can we see them!?”

The Azuchi had lights on its outer edges, which revealed just how large it was, but those were currently extinguished. However…

“There we go, there we go, there we go! The moonlight and snow is giving them away.”’

She could see it. She could now see the great form that had been hidden by the artillery light. It was far off in the sky, but it was clearly something other than an island. And…

…They’re coming.

Light scattered behind the Azuchi. Some of it was ether light, but not all. During the startup phase of gravitational acceleration, its power compressed the air, causing the moisture to freeze into an ice fog.

The rest would happen in an instant.

“Rear lines, ascend! Full speed ahead!”

Her entire fleet would move forward. The front lines would remain at their current altitude, but the rear lines would ascend to both secure an angle of fire and to rise up like a wall to block the Azuchi’s side flip.

Her fleet had just one task: stop the Azuchi again.

●

Sakuma concluded she had won the previous round.

The Azuchi had attempted to use their gravitational acceleration, but they had been forced to fall back. She had lured them in and they had decided they could not force their way through.

So she would do the same here.

They had fallen back so they could redo their approach run.

…Which means I need to move forward too.

She had data on the Azuchi’s side flip maneuver, but she couldn’t rely on that anymore. She had stopped it just now, so they would go for something even crazier next.

“Sakuma-sama! Could the Azuchi attempt something other than a side flip!?”

“Hey, hey, hey! That would mean they’re running away! The Battle of Shizugatake is supposed to be all about them ‘surpassing’ us, so they can’t run from that challenge!”

Running away would be the smart thing to do. But…

“They’ve been handed the world power of P.A. Oda and the future world power of Hashiba as ‘insurance’ for the world, so they can’t just run away. They’re the world’s insurance now and no one’s going to trust an unreliable insurance.”

That settled it. This was a childish competition.

“We both know the rules. We decided on them earlier. We’re here to tell them that isn’t possible. So now it’s time for them to show us they can surpass the Shibata Team with their side flip!”

Yes. The Azuchi wasn’t just trying to get past them.

…They want to jump straight past Shiba-chan’s formation to get behind them.

Immediately following that thought, it arrived.

The Azuchi.

No, it had already been there, but it now looked much larger. Its powerful acceleration was headed directly this way, but…

“Stop that ship, everyone!”

●

Niwa saw Sakuma move forward.

“Is she preventing the Azuchi from adjusting its approach!?”

The others seated nearby shouted in what could have been surprise or fear.

“I’m glad we’re not on the Sakuma Team.”

“The Hashiba Team has the Azuchi, but I heard they had to play with dragons and gods of war during the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle.”

“Yeah, and the Shibata Team has to spar with that demon. Not to mention Oichi-sama.”

Everyone looked to Niwa.

“We’re so glad we’re on the Niwa Team!”

“The dance and music training can be tough at times, but Niwa-sama goes furry at other times!”

“And there are times when I wonder if she’s really the type for the animal ears look.”

“That it’s a stretch is what makes it so great!”

They didn’t view this quite the way Niwa would have liked, but then a hand went up.

“Is Retreating Sakuma really allowed to move forward?”

“Oh, now there’s a good question. I think the issue here is the Azuchi’s approach distance. The Azuchi just backed way up. What do you think happens to their jump now that they have that longer approach?”

Everyone exchanged a glance at her question. Eventually, she received a hesitant response.

“They can make a longer jump?”

“Shaja. Exactly. Most likely, the Azuchi wants to do more than just jump over the Sakuma Fleet. They also want to clear us, Shibata-san, and the rest of the formation.”

To help explain, she opened an insha kotob and displayed a diagram of the Azuchi.

During the Azuchi’s side flip in Kantou, they had landed while turned 180 degrees from their initial orientation. That meant they were facing whoever they had jumped over.

“If they do the same here, they will end up behind us to the north. That gives them a number of advantages, but it also puts the Shibata Team between the Sakuma Fleet and the Azuchi. That makes direct artillery fire much more difficult for Sakuma. But not so for the Azuchi.”

So…

“The Sakuma Fleet has to prevent them from achieving such a long approach. With a shorter approach, the Azuchi still might manage their side flip, but they won’t clear the Shibata Team. And in that case, the Azuchi has to decide whether they will face the Sakuma Fleet or the Shibata Team when they land. A difficult question for them.”

Sakuma was moving forward.

“This is proactive defense. You eliminate your opponent’s advantages to ensure a safe retreat, don’t you, Sakuma-san?”

●

“Sakuma stood at the front of the bridge. She wished she could be on one of the front ships to better see her opponent, but her subordinates would never allow that.

…But seeing your opponent’s actions for yourself can make all the difference.

Fortunately, this opponent was especially large. She could see all of its actions quite clearly.

And the Azuchi was coming. Its course was angled a bit downwards in preparation for the flip. So she knew what to do.

“Vanguard 1st line! Abandon ship while flying full speed ahead!”

“Are you going to ram them!?”

“Almost there. They’re almost there. If the Azuchi gets past there, we can’t stop them!”

She would crush them before the game of chicken could even begin. She had been prepared to sacrifice the two ships on the first line anyway, so she would use them to prevent the Azuchi from raising its bow before the flip.

If the Azuchi flew over those ships, it could no longer pull off its flip. And if it tried to continue flying upwards, Sakuma had her rear lines rising into the sky.

But if the Azuchi kept its bow down to fly below the two ships, it would collide with the rest of Sakuma’s ships as they pursued.

So she knew exactly what to say.

“Good, good, good! Don’t any of you run away!”

“Sakuma-sama! That’s where you’re supposed to tell us to abandon ship while you go down with the ship as captain!”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how to fly the ship!”

“What kind of captain are you!” they shouted, laughing. But…

“Sakuma-sama! Is the Azuchi going to hit us!?”

“They have their port and starboard ships with them! They can probably adjust the length of the towing belts, but that means the central ships are trapped between those ships and can’t escape!”

“Is that why you had us block their path down and ahead?”

“You bet.” Sakuma nodded, looked to the others, and gave them a toothy grin. “Don’t you want to see what a head-on collision with the Azuchi looks like!?”

“Shaja!”

They didn’t hesitate to respond. They oriented their seats forward and adjusted their seatbelts. And then they all spoke together.

“A head-on collision sounds great! Especially as part of the Sakuma Team!”

“Can I take a selfie with the Azuchi ramming us in the background!? My parents keep asking me what my job is like!”

“Go for it.”

The girl who coordinated things on the bridge bowed toward Sakuma.

“Throwing yourself at your problems is indeed the usual choice for students, Sakuma-sama.”

“Shaja,” was all Sakuma could say.

“The front two vanguard ships are moving out!”

She could see the acceleration light out ahead.

“Sakuma-sama!”

Light scattered and fell from either side of the two ships. That was the crew abandoning ship. She could hear their voices.

“See you later! The rest is in your hands, Sakuma-sama!”

“Go join Shiba-chan as soon as you can!”

It all came down to what happened next. Everyone knew it. So…

“Rear ships, stop your ascent! Brace for impact and fly full speed ahead!”

As soon as she gave the order, she saw one of the answers.

The Azuchi maneuvered in response to the flying vanguard ships. It chose to…

“Fly over them!?”

●

A group was watching the Azuchi and the Sakuma Fleet’s actions from afar.

They were the P.A. Oda forces waiting at Lake Biwa Azuchi.

As an expert at fleet battles, Kuki had helped arrange the Azuchi’s rapid departure. He had managed the Lake Biwa port and given advice for preparing the Azuchi.

So while he prepared for his return to base, he opened an insha kotob and joined his subordinates in viewing the battle status reports coming in from the Niwa Team.

But his first thought upon seeing the battlefield was unrelated to the battle itself.

…It looks cold there.

He had actually been invited to join the Azuchi as a temporary commander, but he was glad he had declined. He hated the cold.

…As an aquatic demon, I prefer to stay far away from Hokuriku.

Because he would freeze. Sviet Rus had a lot of demons and a fair number of his distant relatives lived there, but all the aquatics said the heating costs were ridiculous.

The Azuchi was currently invading the sky there, but…

“They made it over the ships!?”

“Hm. What’s going on here?”

At the supply station hastily built for the workers helping prepare for the Azuchi’s departure, Konishi turned toward Kuki after cooking up some takoyaki.

“Want some?”

“That feels a bit like cannibalism.”

“Then what do you normally eat? Worms? Wheat gluten?”

“Must you be so rude!?”

“Then answer my question.”

“Testament,” he replied, opening a diagram of the Azuchi and the Sakuma Fleet. “The Azuchi’s 1st central ship’s ascending course just cleared the two ships the Sakuma Fleet sent out ahead. But now the Azuchi has no choice but to hit the Sakuma Fleet a bit further back.”

The 1st central ship flying above those two ships to avoid them had been a mistake.

…If only they could have moved to the sides.

But the Azuchi couldn’t do that thanks to the towing belts. Those belts could be removed, but then they couldn’t link the ships’ movements to make their side flip. So…

“They have no choice but to go for the collision!”

“Can’t they keep going up?”

“Sakuma-kun already deployed her fleet upwards.”

“Then how about down?”

“It’s too late to do that. They haven’t even started lowering their bow. They could try to force it, but they couldn’t get a low enough angle. They would only manage a shallow dip before hitting the Sakuma Fleet.”

“Then they can just accelerate into the collision. Even if it’s shallow, they win if they get in below those ships, right?”

“They aren’t all that far up. Their 1st central ship’s bow would crash into the ground.”

“Kuki-kun. Whose side are you on?”

“Hashiba-kun’s of course.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Konishi. “Anyway, you should probably ride non-warships from time to time.”

While everyone responded to Konishi’s comment with puzzlement, the communications committee member receiving data from Niwa raised her voice.

“The Azuchi’s 1st central ship is angling forward! And accelerating! They intend to slip below the Sakuma Fleet!”

●

“So after passing above our front two ships, they’re forcibly accelerating downwards to slip below us!?”

Sakuma drew out the Azuchi’s intended path on both diagrams. On the sideview diagram, the Azuchi’s 1st central ship could be seen passing below her fleet. But…

…That won’t work!

She had sent her vanguard ships out ahead because she had predicted this. She had forced the Azuchi’s course upwards so it couldn’t dip down here. Seeing that her prediction had been correct, she knew she had been right to send those vanguard ships out.

But the Azuchi was still redirecting its course downwards and preparing to charge in.

“But they don’t have the angle or the distance they need!”

While the Azuchi’s central ships drew out a parabolic course, they needed to hurry downwards or be rammed by Sakuma’s fleet. But trying to rush it by accelerating from the rear would crash them into the ground just like striking a chisel or nail.

So how did they intend to get below her fleet from here? She could only think of one possibility.

“The towing belts!?”

●

Sakuma hurriedly checked the diagram of the battle status.

She needed to focus on the relative positions of the Azuchi’s port and starboard ships compared to its central ships. When she analyzed their relative altitudes and horizontal positions…

…I was right!

The towing belts themselves couldn’t be seen at night, but they would be connecting the ships together. So…

“Only the two central ships need to slip below us! After they descend rapidly, the towing belts will forcibly pull up on them to adjust their course and keep them from hitting the ground while they pass below us at an accelerated speed!”

The Azuchi’s port and starboard ships had already moved out ahead. They had joined the central ships in flying above Sakuma’s vanguard ships, but they had continued to ascend afterwards.

They were in position to support the central ships from above. So…

“All ships, descend immediately!” yelled Sakuma, just as the Azuchi arrived.

The Azuchi’s central ships were on a descending course and their gravitational thrusters were releasing ether light.

Their sharp angle should have sent them crashing into the ground, but Sakuma shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Down!”

The predictive calculations drawn out on her diagram said her fleet still had a chance if they descended right away. Her ships were in the perfect position to collide with the bridge of the Azuchi’s 1st central ship.

That collision would be unavoidable. If the Azuchi tried to descend any further, they really would hit the ground. So…

“Hit them to stop them! Don’t expect the ground to do our job for us!”

Sakuma decided she needed to descend.

She didn’t know if they would actually make it or not, but if the enemy was going for it, she couldn’t just sit and watch. Part of her wondered if this could be a feint, but…

“Watch this, everyone!”

She activated the virtual oceans upside down. Her fleet dropped straight down.

“We’ll block the Azuchi’s path!”

●

Takenaka braced for impact on the dining room table which was now angled like a downwards slope.

She had a lernen figur open in front of her. It showed footage from outside, but it gave her a horizontal view instead of straight out from the bow.

That kept the Sakuma Fleet in the center of the screen. And…

…Here they come!

They were descending toward the accelerating Azuchi. It was a 3D game of chicken.

The screen showed he the entire Sakuma Fleet had increased its downward speed.

Below the night sky, the entire two-by-two line of ships had white ice fog spraying from the sides.

They had flipped their virtual oceans upside down. That propelled them downwards with considerable speed. So…

“Everyone, get ready!” shouted Takenaka.

And…

“Ero.”

●

Katagiri saw Takenaka stick her face in the paper bag from his position crawling below the sharply-slanted table.

…Umm. We kind of need more to go off of than just “get ready”.

Yet Takenaka was otherwise occupied and couldn’t say anything more.

The chef in the kitchen waved the bundle knives he was holding to ensure they didn’t fly off and hurt someone. The side to side wave might as well have said, “That isn’t happening”.

…Yeah.

So Katagiri took a breath and raised his voice.

“Everyone, brace for impact!!”

●

Sakuma heard the navigator girl raise her voice.

“The Azuchi is rotating its port and starboard thrusters! It’s turned them backwards for reverse thrust!”

They had used that to stop earlier, but they couldn’t do that this time. They had too much momentum. So…

“Are they going to reduce their downward momentum!?”

That meant they were just barely keeping that under control. But…

“Observations of the Azuchi have revealed something unusual! They have disconnected some of their towing belts!”

Everyone on the bridge voiced their confusion over that.

“Huh?”

Everyone shared Sakuma’s reaction: That’s crazy.

Disconnecting the towing belts made it impossible for the Azuchi to pull off their side flip maneuver. Which meant…

…Have they given up on it!? No!

“Wait, wait, wait! Which ‘some’! Which towing belts have they disconnected!?”

No, she could see that for herself. There was one oddity in the Azuchi’s motion.

Straight ahead, the massive Azuchi’s 1st central ship had descended like it had dropped down a shallow waterfall. But…

“Sakuma-sama! The central towing belts connecting the two central ships have been disconnected! And the rear ship is accelerating forward on an ascending course!”

What would happen then?

She input the rear ship’s movement and the towing belt disconnection on her diagram to find out.

The answer was right there in front of her.

…They really are crazy!

The Azuchi’s 1st central ship angled down as if pitching forward and the 2nd central ship crashed into the bottom of its stern.

●

Niwa saw something absurd.

Thinking back, this had all begun when the Azuchi’s 1st ship had moved to fly over the Sakuma Fleet’s vanguard ships.

While the 1st ship angled forward on its way back down, the 2nd ship had remained horizontal.

She had thought it would be following the 1st ship’s lead after observing its timing, but…

…No way.

Several layers of defense barriers were opened on the bottom of the 1st ship’s stern and the 2nd ship’s bow. Instead of being spatially fixed, the barriers were all fixed to the ships.

It was a rear-end collision.

What would that do? Just as the forward-pitching 1st ship was pointing down and blasting its gravitational thrusters in reverse, it was struck upwards from behind. So…

“The 1st ship flips forward while shooting up a bit!”

That was exactly what happened.

The towing belts only held it in place from the sides. The massive ship’s 1st central ship flipped as it flew, like a toy suspended by strings on either side. It flipped forward and above the Sakuma Fleet.

●

“Pushed by a tugboat and pulled by the towing belts. Those are transport ship techniques. The Azuchi’s done its research. Surprising for a warship.”

I wonder how nice the Azuchi’s repairs were, thought Konishi while viewing the diagram.

Of the damage the Azuchi took entering Kantou, the aft acceleration system had been repaired by Ikeda Terumasa, the current owner of the Shirasagi Castle. Ikeda was busy repairing the destroyed Shirasagi Castle and he had Osakabe-hime, the Shirasagi Castle’s OS, with him.

The Azuchi had been constructed at about the same time as the Shirasagi Castle. The Shirasagi Castle had been meant for Hashiba and their attack on Mouri, but the Shirasagi Castle’s construction had been delayed by trouble getting the acceleration system working.

The Azuchi had resolved that problem by deciding to use Musashi-based large-ship gravitational thrusters.

Ultimately, the Shirasagi Castle’s acceleration system had been completed by placing a much larger burden on the OS. It had been given to Takigawa since only a veteran could make proper use of it, but…

…After those repairs, the Azuchi must include a combination of Shirasagi Castle tech and its own tech, which is bound to have boosted its power.

Konishi had ridden that ship here.

“Now what will they do?”

She could only guess about that, but…

“This is pretty crazy even given the boosted power and whatever the Tsurugi Shrine is doing. I mean, their 1st central ship is flipping above the Sakuma Fleet.”

The diagram showed the Azuchi’s front ship had hopped up above the Sakuma Fleet. And it had performed a vertical half-rotation.

“They’re accelerating backwards while flipped upside down above the Sakuma Fleet. You know what that means, don’t you, Kuki-kun?”

“A privet?”

“That’s right. The famous Sviet Rus privet. The perfect greeting for the Shibata Team who attacked Hokuriku.”

Konishi voiced what she imagined was about to happen.

“The Azuchi had been studying Musashi and the situation in Kantou. They needed to so you can’t say you’re glad you aren’t with them, Kuki-kun.”

●

Sakuma always “read” the battlefield.

She would read her opponent’s next move, the move after that, and the move after that.

This “reading” was the most important thing when entrusted with the rear guard and retreating from the enemy. But…

…Really, really, really? Now this is a pain!

If she “read” wrong, she was toast. She had read them at Novgorod, but they had still literally flown over her head there. And now…

…They’re doing the same thing!

Her opponent had done it again. Yes, this opponent had outdone her again.

They must have polished their skills in Kantou and probably during summer break too. But who was this opponent exactly?

“ ‘Azuchi’!? And Takenaka too!?”

●

“Azuchi” confirmed the 1st central ship was following the appropriate course, even if its maneuver was unstable.

She was currently standing on a ship flipped upside down and flying backwards.

Everything flowed by in reverse, but this was the result of extensive simulation.

“After the Musashi made a fool of me and I was unable to fight back, did you really think I would spend all summer break at the Lake Biwa Azuchi doing nothing at all? Shaja.”

She called Takenaka.

“May I proceed?”

She asked for permission with the utmost automaton courtesy.

“Not even Musashi has demonstrated this sort of all-out attack. May I use it against our own people? Shaja.”

She directed her gaze toward the lernen figur she had raised up. It depicted a girl in the dining hall.

“Takenaka-sama.”

Takenaka had her face inside a paper bag.

“Takenaka-samaaaaa!!”

On the screen, Katagiri dove into view in a sliding pose. He came to a screeching halt and turned toward “Azuchi”.

“Oh, ‘Azuchi’-san! Um, the thing is! Takenaka-senpai is, uh, indisposed.”

The dining hall shook, bouncing Katagiri up and flinging him off screen. Even the table Takenaka sat on flew to the right.

…Hm, a manmade and a natural disaster simultaneously.

That thought entered her mind just before she saw someone else on the screen: the kitchen’s chef. He and the part-time cooks were using knives to spell out letters.

“O – K – A – Y.”

“Th-the command center’s leader is currently unavailable, so I have instead received a decision from the highest-ranked person currently available in the command center!”

“Azuchi” hurriedly sent out the instructions.

“2nd central ship! Use the reaction to dive below the Sakuma Fleet! Shaja!”

●

“Sakuma-sama! The Azuchi’s 2nd central ship is diving below us!”

“The Azuchi’s 2nd port and starboard ships are advancing with synchronized movements! They aren’t stopping!”

The collision and the stability provided by the port and starboard ships had allowed the 2nd central ship to dive below Sakuma’s fleet.

The Azuchi was above them, below them, and on either side of them.

The Azuchi’s ships had her long line of ships surrounded.

“Their 1st central ship is above us! Their 2nd central ship is below us! And their port and starboard ships are passing us by on port and starboard respectively!”

The Azuchi covered all four sides, passing them by like a moving tunnel.

…Are they going hit us with a crossfire!?

Sakuma asked herself what she should do.

…Honestly!

This was why she couldn’t get enough of retreating. Because the decision always came down to her.

Of course it did. A poor decision would get her side obliterated. If the enemy reached the main fleet behind her, it would shame her as the rear guard.

No one wanted to make the call.

But I’m different, thought Sakuma. Which was what allowed everyone else to think they were different too.

Yes, they’re all willing to follow me because they know they can trust me to make the call.

If she told them to go, they would go. If she told them to wait, they would wait. If she told them to die, they would die.

So she made the call. She knew exactly what to say here.

She knew this was most likely her first time saying this since receiving her inherited name, but she said it anyway.

“All ships, scatter! Get out of here!!”

●

Immediately after it all, “Azuchi” swung her right hand. She only had to give a short command.

“All ships, fire. Shaja.”

The Azuchi’s six ships unleashed a barrage of artillery.

They formed a perfect crossfire from the top, bottom, left, and right of the enemy fleet.

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