Boom—!
A chemical fuel drum had overheated under the surrounding flames and exploded, further ravaging the wreckage of the Tactical Surface Fighters inside the hangar.
At the same time, fire trucks were driving into the base one after another to begin extinguishing the fires.
"How bad are the losses?"
"This base is almost finished. Every Tactical Surface Fighter has been destroyed beyond use, and all warships in the harbor have been crippled."
The reporting officer looked at the destroyed base with a complicated expression.
If they had been the ones trying to take this base, they would have had to pay an extremely heavy price.
And yet, under the invasion of a single enemy machine, this base had been destroyed in less than three minutes.
The special warheads it had used made the base seem like foam. Wherever even a spark touched, that area simply melted away.
For a time, the entire base looked as if it had been turned into a cheese base.
"Did every machine have to be destroyed? It would've been better to leave them behind. They could have been used as blades against the BETA."
The officer continued speaking regretfully, but after thinking of something, his face twisted slightly.
"Those idiots!"
Their country had internal collaborators as well, and they had been stupid enough to get involved, causing some losses on their side too.
When the other party attacked, they should not have come to support this base. As a result, two Tactical Surface Fighter squadrons and four surface warships had been destroyed.
At the same time, in the stratosphere above Yukon Base in Alaska, a machine had just been dropped from a bat-like aircraft.
"Sister, it looks like Yukon Base has detected us."
"Ignore them."
Cryska Barchenowa, seated in the pilot's seat, said this calmly.
Yukon Base belonged to the United Nations. It was a base provided by the UN for nations that had lost their territory, allowing them to develop and test Tactical Surface Fighters.
Because of that, Tactical Surface Fighters from countries all over the world were tested at this base.
"Sister, thirty seconds until we reach the target."
Inia looked with a trace of excitement toward an area some distance away from Yukon Base. Although it was camouflaged, from this machine's sensors, they could now see that a massive artificial facility existed there.
This was the United States' secret BETA research base. Cryska and Inia's current mission was to destroy this secret base and eliminate the BETA inside.
Two days ago, the sisters had followed him aboard an aircraft and tailed the United States transport planes, which was how they had discovered this place.
"Inia, we can still go back now. If we bring this machine back with us, then we..."
Cryska did not finish, but Inia understood what she meant.
From here, they were very close to the Soviet Union, because half of Alaska was Soviet territory, acquired from the United States at great cost.
The United Nations' Yukon Base had been built in the buffer zone between the two sides.
At those words, Inia fell silent.
So Cryska sighed. She did not need Inia to answer. Inia's expression had already told her everything.
"It isn't that I want to go back. I only want to stay by your side, Inia. So wherever you want to be, I will follow you there."
After she said that, the gloom on Inia's face faded considerably.
"Th-then... can we work for Mr. Kain?"
Inia said it in a slightly weak, timid voice.
"I said that wherever you want to be, I will follow."
"Th-then... Mr. Kain's side."
"All right."
And so, the clouds on the little face of this younger sister, who had been bought off by that man with snacks, instantly scattered.
In Cryska's view, using such things to tempt her adorable younger sister was truly despicable of him.
He had probably seen that Inia would make this choice, which was why he had trusted the sisters with this machine.
This machine was the same model as the one that had charged into Hive H20 alone yesterday. The difference was that this unit's hands no longer held a giant sword and shield. Instead, both arms had been refitted with two integrated triple pulse cannons.
In the blink of an eye—
Boom—!
Another tremendous explosion rang out. A Grappler-class BETA was pulverized along with the area it occupied, and that was the last one.
From the moment they broke in to the moment they eliminated every BETA, not even several dozen minutes had passed.
One reason was that there were far fewer BETA here, since a large portion had been taken and used at Sado Island.
Another was that the BETA had been put into a dormant state through some method, making them unmoving targets.
After rising into the air above the base, they dropped weapons called melt bombs. What they produced was not an explosion, but liquefaction.
Some materials evaporated instantly.
"Sister."
"Mm."
Inia was reminding her that machines were approaching. Cryska observed them and saw unfamiliar Tactical Surface Fighters. They belonged to the United States and were third-generation machines.
They were likely the rumored Tactical Surface Fighters with stealth capabilities.
However, that so-called stealth meant they could not be scanned by radar. It was not like the machine she was piloting, which could even achieve optical invisibility.
This Tactical Surface Fighter unit had probably been stationed near the secret base to eliminate any BETA attacking it.
Now, the question was who would eliminate whom.
Hm?
The other side was turning around to flee?
That made sense. After all, they were not in stealth mode right now. Since they knew how monstrous this machine was, how could they possibly come over to die?
Lock-on.
The two triple pulse cannons had a total of six barrels, perfectly aimed at all six enemy machines.
Bye-bye.
She pulled the trigger.
In an instant, three bursts of fire bloomed in the air. Three of the machines had barely evaded.
Then she would fire again. The pulse cannons had already recharged, and the remaining three machines were destroyed.
After dealing with them, she headed toward another location to rendezvous with him while he handled a certain situation there.
Ten minutes later, she happened to see something drop from high altitude and strike the ground ahead. Then a metal stake was driven into the earth.
This was the thing he was operating, meant to target the hydrogen bombs the United States had buried.
If Alaska was invaded by BETA, the United States planned to detonate the vast number of hydrogen bombs it had buried there, forcibly blasting Alaska away from the American continent and creating a massive strait to obstruct the BETA.
The damage caused by that would sweep across the entire world. Alaska itself, in particular, would likely have almost no survivors under that level of continental plate destruction.
The resulting tsunamis would also submerge a massive stretch of land.
Naturally, the United States kept this plan secret and would not reveal it publicly, because it would be opposed.
The thing he was now driving underground was a device used to interfere with the hydrogen bombs, preventing the United States from going insane and detonating them right now, triggering a Pacific mega-tsunami to affect Sado Island.
As for the Japanese mainland, more than half of it would also be washed clean.
Roughly ten minutes later, the bat-like aircraft hovered above them. The instant one person jumped down from it, the bat-like aircraft turned invisible.
But Cryska had the feeling that it had not gone invisible.
It had disappeared.
As if it genuinely no longer existed there.
But how could something vanish into thin air?
The man who had jumped down landed on top of this machine.
After falling from that height, he was completely unharmed, making Cryska suspect that perhaps his body had been modified into machinery.
Next, he would further destroy the United States' armed forces.
There were also certain people who had to be eliminated. Because of where they were located, it would be inconvenient to drive this machine in—places like urban districts and other densely populated areas—so he would personally leave the machine and kill those targets himself.
Cryska and Inia's mission was to take over this machine and stand by to support him at any time.
"Inia, this is your reward for completing the mission just now."
After entering, he once again took out food to tempt Inia.
"This is your share, Cryska."
Cryska accepted it in silence.
If she refused to take it, Inia would not take hers either.
After accepting it, Cryska handed it to Inia again, letting Inia hold it for her, because she needed to take her place in the empathic device.
Once again, she would have to assume an extremely indecent posture in front of him.
As for Inia, she sat in his lap.
...
Sado Island.
Yuuko Kouzuki let out a breath of relief after seeing the information that had been transmitted to her. The United States' insane plan to destroy Alaska with hydrogen bombs in order to obstruct the BETA had been sealed.
It had been sealed by Neutron Jammers.
Those devices came from Lacus Clyne's side.
Correction: the technology came from her side. The devices themselves had been manufactured on A2's side.
A2's world possessed very advanced technology in nuclear energy applications. Once it had obtained Neutron Jammer technology, it had quickly become able to manufacture them.
They had not been produced only after she proposed the Great Purge plan and informed that side.
Back when he was still with Lacus Clyne, after obtaining the Neutron Jammer technology, he had transmitted it to A2's side, and production had already begun.
These devices had also been installed on Sado Island, and they had been activated.
(End of Chapter)
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