"Nuclear warheads?"
Takao froze at Kain's answer.
If they really were nuclear warheads, she could not guarantee that her Klein Field would withstand them.
The Klein Field was generated by Wave-Force Armor. It formed an energy circuit resembling a Klein bottle, a geometric structure with only one continuous surface, no interior or exterior, and no enclosed volume. This allowed the field to convert incoming energy through virtually any process.
It sounded like an absolute defense, but if too much energy was poured into it, the Klein bottle would burst and the barrier would collapse.
Humans in her world had used nuclear weapons during their war against the Fleet of Fog. They had even managed to damage Fog warships with them. However, that had required multiple direct hits, along with a moment of carelessness from the Fog vessel, and the ship they sank had not been a destroyer-class vessel.
Human nuclear weapons also came in different yields. If a sufficiently powerful warhead detonated at close range, even a heavy cruiser or battleship might not survive.
After that incident, the Fleet of Fog had never allowed human missiles or torpedoes to get close. They intercepted every one of them.
So, what were the nuclear weapons of this world like?
They might be even more powerful. If so, Takao genuinely did not know whether her defenses could withstand them.
Still, there was something she was curious about. How had Kain identified the nuclear warheads among so many torpedoes?
"Compare the changes in their speed with those of the surrounding torpedoes. Combined with several other factors, you can determine that some of these torpedoes are different. The most obvious difference is their weight, which means they're carrying significantly different warheads."
There he went again, reading her thoughts by intruding into her Mental Model and answering the question in her mind.
It did not particularly bother her this time. She had not been thinking about anything embarrassing.
His answer, however, made Takao's mouth fall open in disbelief.
"Y-You figured that out just by analyzing the data I showed you?"
The torpedoes' data was constantly changing. He would have needed to memorize every fluctuation, compare them all, and isolate the discrepancies.
That level of computational ability should have been impossible for a human.
Which one of them was supposed to be the Mental Model here?
"Besides the changing data, you also need to observe the formation of the torpedo swarm. You'll notice that the torpedoes carrying nuclear warheads are being screened by the others. The rest are decoys."
He continued his explanation, moving into the tactical side of the analysis.
Was he teaching her?
Even if Takao had independently calculated that there was something unusual about those warheads, she might not have noticed that the other torpedoes were deliberately shielding them.
Just then, a piercing shriek tore through the air overhead.
Something flew past so quickly that Takao had no time to react.
It seemed to be artillery fire from the island. The projectile plunged into the stretch of ocean where the enemy submarines she had identified were located.
Hm?
Takao detected an enormous energy reaction.
A colossal white mushroom cloud erupted from beneath the surface and expanded into the sky.
That had almost certainly been one of the enemy's nuclear warheads detonating.
Which meant the man beside her had been right.
The enemy really did possess nuclear weapons.
If he became her captain and they worked together, would that not make them the most powerful team of all?
No, "worked together" did not sound quite right.
Would "combine" be more appropriate?
Combining with him...
Takao's imagination immediately began racing in a very questionable direction.
"Heh-heh-heh..."
The next instant, she hurriedly sucked back the drool that had nearly escaped her mouth and glanced at Kain.
He was not looking at her.
That meant he had not read what she had just been thinking.
That had been close. He had almost seen something truly embarrassing.
"You're going to activate that thing?"
Takao frowned slightly as Kain approached the strange construct she had detected earlier.
Its exterior appeared to be covered in armor, but the substance was actually more like a layer of biological tissue. It resembled metal, yet was clearly not metal.
If he intended to pilot that thing, then he obviously did not have complete confidence in her abilities.
"I'll definitely pierce that thing this time!"
Takao anxiously pointed at the enormous disc in the sky, nearly ten kilometers across, which was already about to break through the middle layer of the atmosphere.
At the same time, her Super-Graviton Cannon began charging again.
This time, she would fire it at full power. She intended to overload the weapon, even if the cannon destroyed itself in the process.
"I know. But there will be far more interference from this point onward. Focus your processing power on firing the Super-Graviton Cannon and using your Erosion Torpedoes to eliminate the fragments after Junius Seven breaks apart. I'll handle everything else."
With that answer, Kain entered the special machine he had brought with him this time, EVA Unit-01 Beta.
He had transferred it over from Kouzuki Yuuko's world, where it had originally been left to mine G-Elements.
There were two reasons he had not taken it to the Warhammer universe.
First, he was constantly traveling from place to place and could not remain in one location long enough to mine and refine ore.
Second, G-Elements were abnormally scarce in the Warhammer universe, almost as though vast quantities of them had already been consumed long ago.
In the end, he had sent the unit back to Yuuko's world to continue mining.
Hm?
The instant the machine activated, Kain sensed an enormous number of electronic components rapidly approaching.
It seemed the Earth Alliance truly no longer cared about concealing its intentions. They had openly launched a massive barrage of missiles.
At the same time, countless tiny lights could be seen falling faster than the enormous glowing disc in the sky.
They were clearly the numerous warheads mounted on Junius Seven, now being launched toward the surface.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked.
Target locked...!
...
What kind of mobile suit was that?
Rau Le Creuset leaned forward, staring at the machine rising from the deck of the unusual warship.
The energy barrier displayed by that vessel had already made his expression turn grave. Now, the appearance of this machine made him even more uneasy.
The footage had been captured from too great a distance to make out its finer details, but the way it flew differed from any form of flight he recognized. It had no visible jet engines and appeared to be using some kind of antigravity system.
No, that was not right.
The air behind its back seemed faintly distorted. It was generating thrust by ejecting something at extremely high speed.
More importantly, the machine did not appear to be carrying any weapons.
Without warning, it stopped ascending.
Its chest armor opened, revealing what appeared to be a crystalline sphere.
Was that its weapon?
Then the machine began to undergo a disturbing transformation.
Its chest swelled outward, much like a person's rib cage expanding while taking a deep breath.
Its split mouth also seemed to twitch.
It looked as though the machine were smiling.
A chill ran down Le Creuset's spine.
It was almost as if the machine itself were alive.
In the next instant, the crystalline sphere erupted with light.
More than a hundred white beams burst from the sphere, dividing the night sky as they raced toward the heavens. Hundreds of brilliant points flashed across the massive falling disc.
The beams did not vanish after the initial attack.
They continued firing and swept across the sky, causing countless more points of light to flicker into existence.
Finally, the beams stopped moving upward and swung almost horizontally toward the dense barrage of missiles launched by the Earth Alliance's surface fleet.
In an instant, more than a thousand missiles were intercepted.
A thousand explosions blossomed like fireworks across the night sky.
(End of Chapter)
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