by Takehaya
“She’s right, Koutarou. You should do it while her wounds are still shallow.”
“It’s because you bullied her, Satomi-san. There aren’t many girls that can handle being bullied as well as I do.”
“Don’t try to put all of this on me! You’re the ones who dealt the finishing blow! Besides, just look at her! We’re well past the point of persuasion!”
“Muahahahaha! You Neanderthals! I won’t even give you the time to realize your sins! You can regret ever going up against me once your bodies have been vaporized!”
The girl who had lost herself in anger glared at Koutarou and the others while laughing loudly. It was clear to everyone in the room that she couldn’t be talked down now.
“Blue Knight! Activate the Anti-Personnel Weapons System!”
As the girl continued laughing maniacally, she shouted into the bracelet on her right wrist.
“As you wish, my princess.”
And strangely enough, the gem on the bracelet lit up and responded to her.
“Hey, what’s that girl doing?”
“Who knows...? She’s gotten so worked up that she’s talking to her bracelet. She’s kinda scary.”
As Koutarou and Sanae looked on in confusion, two small black disks about twenty centimeters in diameter appeared one after the other above the girl’s shoulders. They were pitch-black, and oddly enough, had no thickness to them.
“Select your weaponry.”
“Anti-Personnel Pulse Laser! Sonic Impact Cannon! Fill them with holes and pulverize them!”
“As you wish, my princess.”
After the girl shouted out her orders, something metallic could be seen inside the black disks. Even though the disks had no apparent depth, the metallic objects inside of them looked very real. It was almost as if the black disks were some sort of window.
“What the heck is that...?”
As Koutarou started to think that the metallic objects looked like muzzles, they turned and pointed at him. A bluish white light began glowing in the hole of the left object. At the same time, the right one started emitting a low-pitched sound that made the room shake.
“Hmm, I’m getting a bad feeling about this...”
Koutarou was beginning to sense danger from the disks, but as he wasn’t sure what to do. He readied himself for anything for the time being.
“Emergency alert, ho! Those things we can see from the black holes are probably weapons! Ho!”
“Energy reaction, ho! The object on the left side is most likely an energy weapon, and the object on the right side is probably a shockwave cannon, ho! They will attack within a few seconds! Ho!”
“Get down, Koutarou! She’s shooting!” Kiriha desperately called out to Koutarou.
“Huh?!”
“It’s too late now! Eliminate them, Blue Knight!”
“As you wish, my princess.”
The girl gave her bracelet the order to fire as she leered at the panicking Koutarou.
“Koutarou!”
“Oof!”
In that moment, Koutarou fell down onto the tatami mat. Sanae had tackled him and forcibly pulled him down.
And not a moment later, several blue beams passed through the spot where Koutarou had just been standing. Immediately after that, a white ball passed by as if chasing the blue beams.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The blue beam passed right by Yurika’s ear, singing a few strands of her hair. As she ducked in surprise, the white ball came next. It directly hit the broom she was holding, then exploded with a loud bang. The sound came with a powerful shockwave that assaulted the already off-balance Yurika.
“Why is it always meeeee?!”
Yurika tried her best to prevent it, but there was nothing she could do as she was sent rolling across the tatami mats yet again.
“Bwah!”
She rolled until she hit the wall, no longer conscious or moving.
“Th-That was close! Those were weapons?!”
It wasn’t until Koutarou saw what happened to Yurika that he realized the extent of the danger he was in. As it set in on him, a chill ran down his spine. Koutarou had no idea what weapons this girl was using, but after taking one look at Yurika, he could at least imagine what would happen if he took a direct hit.
“Are you okay, Koutarou?! Get up right now! The next one’s coming!”
“Y-Yeah!”
“Tch, looks like one of them has good intuition,” the girl spat hatefully. She then turned to look at the fallen Koutarou. As she did, the visible muzzles pointed right at him. “But in this small room, the next one won’t miss! Blue Knight, continue firing in synchronous mode!”
“As you wish, my princess.”
“Don’t be like that, shorty!”
“Neanderthal! First you insult my chest, now my height?!”
“You big idiot!”
“Grrrrr! And you dare to call me an idiot?!”
“Of course, you hyper-sensitive, breastless weirdo!”
As Koutarou said that, the girl’s weapons appeared to be preparing to fire again as the blue light and loud sound activated once more.
“Koutarou, stop bickering with her and hurry up!”
“Waaaaah! Oh crap!”
Koutarou was still in the middle of getting up. Sanae was helping him out, but it didn’t look like he would make it in time before the next attack.
“Ahahahaha! You’re too slow! It’s already over! You can regret the crime of making a fool of me after you’ve been turned to ashes!”
“Karama, Korama! Spiritual energy field to maximum output!”
“Got it! Ho!”
“Understood! Ho!”
As the haniwas responded in their silly, squeaking voices, they quickly stepped between Koutarou and the girl.
“But we’ll lose in terms of power, ho! We’re not good at dealing with physical attacks, ho!”
“I just need you to endure one attack! Block it somehow!”
“Got it!”
And then the blue beam and white ball struck them.
In that moment, Koutarou and the others were enveloped by a spherical, yellow film of light. It was a shield generated by the two haniwas. There was an explosion as the blue beam came into contact with the shield of light. It dispersed the beam, but shattered the shield like glass. The haniwas’ shield was only able to block the blue beam, the Pulse Laser. As a result, the white ball that came shortly after flew unobstructed, straight towards Koutarou.
“Waaaaah! This time it’s all over!”
“Special Attack: Sanae-chan Bomber!”
However, just before the ball could connect with Koutarou, Sanae blocked it by throwing a cushion using her poltergeist powers. The ball and cushion collided mid-air, and the explosive shockwave scattered cotton all over the room.
“Aaaaahhh!”
“Ugh!”
“Ho!”
“Ho, ho!”
Other than Sanae, everyone else was thrown up against the wall because of the shockwave. It was enough to make the wooden foundation of Corona House creak and shake.
“Is everyone okay?! You’re not dead, are you?!”
“I’m neither! I’m fine for now, but I won’t be for long!”
Koutarou shook his head, stood up, and grabbed the baseball bat that was leaning against the wall next to him.
“What are you going to do?!”
“The only way to survive is to strike before she can recover!”
The girl in question had also lost her balance from the shockwave. The cushion Sanae threw had triggered the impact much closer to her than she had expected.
“Tch, like I’ll let you hit me with something like that! Blue Knight, change the Sonic Impact Cannon to the Ion Blaster! This room is too small!”
Noticing Koutarou approaching with a bat in hand, the girl ordered her bracelet to change weapons.
“As you wish, my princess.”
“You’re too slow!”
However, Koutarou swun
g his bat down as hard as he could before she could finish switching weapons. His target was the Pulse Laser peeking out from the disk above her right shoulder.
“It’s no use, Neanderthal!”
However, the bat didn’t reach the laser. Just before it hit the barrel, the bat crashed into something he couldn’t see and bounced off.
“What?!”
“You thought you were the only one with a barrier? How foolish!”
The girl stood up with a smile brimming with confidence. She was surrounded by a network of interlocking, transparent hexagons. Just like the shield of light the haniwas had used before, it was a wall that blocked attacks.
“Not good, ho! Her barrier is on a completely different level! Ho!”
“It’s a repulsion barrier, ho! It’s far superior to ours against anything but spiritual energy! Ho!”
“Just who is this girl?!”
Kiriha was aghast by the overwhelming difference in power. Their attacks barely had an effect, and they couldn’t even fully protect themselves against their opponent’s attacks.
“Damn it! What’s with that hard shell? Unless we smash that open, we’re not going to get anywhere!”
“Enough, Koutarou! There’s no way to break that!”
“What? Is that true?!”
“It’s true, Neanderthal! The difference in power between us is like that of heaven and earth! The likes of you can’t so much as lay a finger on me!”
The girl paused her attack to boast. After everything that had been said about her chest, she was extraordinarily happy about this development.
“...I’m not so sure about that.”
Sanae floated up to the cocky girl and poked the tip of her nose.
“Wh-What?! Wh-What did you just do?!”
The girl’s face scrunched up as Sanae suddenly appeared directly in front of her.
“What? I was just poking you. You’re overreacting.”
Sanae had easily passed through the barrier the girl had been so proud of. Even the most advanced barrier was powerless against a ghost.
“Good job, Sanae! Now restrain her!”
“Okay, okay. You sure are bossy...”
Taking advantage of the blonde girl’s surprise, Sanae moved in for the kill. Using her Poltergeist powers, she grabbed ahold of the edges of the girl’s skirt.
“What are you doing?!”
“Who knows what would happen if I let someone like you be! So take this! Special Attack: Sanae-chan Tulip!”
Quick to action, Sanae lifted up the edges of the girl’s skirt.
“Uwaah! Wh-What?!”
“Just relax.”
Sanae flipped the girl’s skirt all the way up and wrapped it around her head. With her underwear now exposed, the girl did look like a tulip, just as Sanae had promised.
“Stop it, you ruffian! I can’t see a thing!”
“No way. If I stop, you’ll just continue attacking.”
The girl struggled to break free from her tulip form, but Sanae’s power was too strong. She was stuck.
“Kiriha-san.”
“What is it, Koutarou?”
“I know my life is on the line, but she just looks like an idiot right now.”
“Agreed. To think I’d see a bear here...”
Tulip struggled, but made no progress. Just looking at her was enough to induce laughter. Moreover, emblazoned on the girl’s panties was an adorable bear.
“If you give up, I’ll let you go.”
“Don’t make a fool of me! There is no way a princess of the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire would lower her head to primitive barbarians!”
“Then we’ll just leave you like this.”
“Grrr, you’re just a Neanderthal!”
The back and forth between Sanae and the girl was proceeding in Sanae’s favor. Seeing that, Koutarou let out a small sigh of relief.
“It looks like we’ll finally be able to catch our breath for a moment.”
“Well, about time, I’d say.”
Kiriha smiled a little. Despite their hopes, however, the commotion wouldn’t end that easily.
“Fine! If you want to play that way, I have plans of my own!”
“What? You’re still going to do something?”
“Blue Knight! Change battle mode to final attack mode! Fire a limited Genesis Buster! Reduce the area around me to photons!”
“Authentication is required for activation of final attack mode and use of the Genesis Buster.”
“My name is Theiamillis Gre Mastir Sagurada von Forthorthe!”
“Authentication complete. Identity of Princess Theiamillis confirmed. Order accepted. As you wish, my princess.”
Unlike before, the girl gave a complicated order. Hearing it gave Koutarou a bad feeling again.
“...What are you planning on doing?”
“Don’t ask such foolish things, Neanderthal. I’m attacking, of course.”
Tulip responded full of confidence once more. She was probably smiling, but Koutarou still couldn’t see her face.
“Attacking?”
Despite what she said, nothing seemed to be happening inside the room. The black holes floating near her remained motionless.
“But nothing’s happening...”
“Heh heh... Hahahahaha! This is why you’re Neanderthals! Don’t assume that what you see here is all there is!” Tulip shook with laughter.
“Emergency alert! A super-high energy reaction detected! Fifty meters above us! Ho!”
“What?!”
Hearing Karama’s warning, Kiriha leaped over to the window and threw it open so she could lean out and look up. Koutarou followed suit.
“So that’s it!”
“What the heck is that...?”
In the sky above Corona House was a black hole similar to the ones floating above the girl’s shoulders. Even though it was a starry night, the part of the sky it covered was completely dark. A large cylindrical object peeked out of the hole.
“Confirmed the generation of antimatter, ho! Its mass is rapidly increasing, ho!”
“Antimatter?! What is its mass?!”
“It’s currently at fifty-eight grams, ho! And still increasing! Ho!”
“Is that an antimatter cannon? Preposterous! Do you know what that kind of thing can do?!”
Kiriha turned to Tulip and shouted at her. The fact that the normally calm Kiriha was acting this way was proof alone of how serious the situation was.
“Of course I know! It means you Neanderthals will be reduced to photons!”
Tulip laughed at the panicking Kiriha.
“Hey, Koutarou, what’s antimatter?”
“Don’t ask me. That’s Mackenzie’s field of expertise.”
Koutarou and Sanae couldn’t keep up with the conversation, so they casually tilted their heads in anticipation of an explanation.
“To put it simply, antimatter is like a superpowered nuclear weapon!”
Strictly speaking, the nuclear fission used by nuclear weapons was completely different from antimatter. However, they both released energy on an atomic level, so it was an appropriate comparison for the two who didn’t understand at all.
“N-Nuclear?!”
“You mean that kind of nuclear?! Like what you see in movies and anime? Where terrible things happen if they explode?!”
Thanks to that, Koutarou and Sanae finally understood the situation and started panicking too.
“L-Let’s run away, Koutarou! The mushroom’s going to explode!”
“Y-Yeah.”
“It’s no use! The antimatter has already exceeded one hundred grams. No matter how far you go, you’ll never be able to outrun it! Too bad for you!”
“...So it’s all over.”
Kiriha sighed and her shoulders slumped. She clearly understood the power of that much antimatter.
“Don’t give up! Do something, Kiriha!”
“Wh-What do we do?! What should I do?!”
Having grasped the p
ower of the weapon, Koutarou and Sanae ran around in a panic.
“Your petty tricks won’t work on this weapon! This will be my victory!”
In contrast, Tulip was ecstatic. Releasing all of her resentment, she laughed loudly. Because of that, it looked like even the bear on her exposed panties was smiling to Koutarou.
“There’s no longer anything we can do. Just give up, Koutarou, Sanae.”
“Noooooooo! I don’t want to dieeeee!”
“You’re already dead! Nuclear, antimatter, or whatever won’t hurt you!”
“Oh yeah, you’re right.”
The truth was that normal weapons wouldn’t work on Sanae, being a ghost. Being reminded of that, she was able to calm down again.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Hearing that from you strangely pisses me off!”
“It’s a perk of being a ghost.”
Sanae turned to Koutarou and made a triumphant peace sign.
“You can’t be so sure when it comes to antimatter. With this much mass, it could be so powerful that it might distort space itself. Even a ghost might not survive,” Kiriha explained.
“Did you hear that, Sanae? Even ghosts can die!”
“Don’t rejoice in that, idiot!”
As Koutarou and the others fell into pandemonium, Tulip’s bracelet coldly reported the countdown to their demise.
“The generation of antimatter is complete.”
“Excellent! Start the firing procedure! Don’t forget to pick me up as you fire!”
“As you wish. Initiating firing procedure.”
“Waaaaah, it’s firing! It’s coming!”
“Noooooooo! I don’t want to die young!”
“An unexpected end for the surface invasion. Then again, I doubt there will be much of Japan left to invade after this...”
The girl laughed. Koutarou was restless. Sanae was clinging to him. Kiriha had a distant look in her eyes. And Yurika was still unconscious. As the five of them each reacted in their own way, the time finally came.
“The antimatter has finished loading. Safety device released. Awaiting order to fire, my princess.”
“Heh heh heh! And with this, it’s over! Genesis Buster, fi—”
However, as the girl was about to give the order, another voice rang out in the room, interrupting her.
“Please wait, Your Highness!”