Chapter 10: Here, Boy. Go Fetch.

To get into the best possible condition, I performed a few short hops, followed by five seconds of spinning my baton to center my focus.

I closed my eyes and meditated for ten seconds. This had been my pre-battle routine since my days on active duty as a Phantasm Girl, and I hadn't missed it once.

"Alright. Let's do this."

I tapped the pommel of my Phantom Sword, and a connection cable deployed from the base. Without hesitation, I jammed it into the base of my left arm—my dominant hand—right where a human's vein would be, and established the energy link. God, that hurts every single time...

"OYS, Mode: Azure."

I leapt five meters into the air, literally kicking off the empty space beneath my feet. Defying the laws of physics, I propelled myself horizontally toward the center of the enemy formation.

"Inhale... exhale..."

I spat out my cigarette butt and dropped into a combat stance. Total elapsed time: roughly half a second.

"Maximum output. Togetsu Style, 15th Day: Swirling Moon."

As if gravity had ceased to exist, I flipped my body upside down. From a mid-air backflip, I extended the Phantom Sword's blade to its limit and swung it in a perfect, full-moon arc. With a sizzle, I sliced through the falling cigarette and slaughtered every one of the very, very unlucky automatons within a ten-meter radius.

"That’s... about sixty down."

The survivors realized something was wrong and swarmed me all at once. I precisely sniped several of their cores before they could reach me, then escaped back into the air just as we were about to collide.

Looking down, I saw several automatons that had lost sight of their target slam into their comrades. A billiard-style pile-up broke out, causing significant collateral damage.

But the Imperial Army wasn't done yet. They targeted me with optical lasers while I was suspended in the air, a position where movement should have been difficult.

"Mode: Jet. Black Hole: Pull."

The moment I spoke, the space behind me warped, collapsing into a sphere the size of a marble. It absorbed the incoming "sure-hit" lasers, neutralizing them before dissipating into mist.

"Huh? Yeah, I hear you. I’m sending it back now. Black Hole: Repel."

Using the full force of the absorbed energy, I unleashed a laser blast of equal power back into the densest part of the enemy crowd. The pillar of light swept across the field, vaporizing dozens of units over the course of five seconds.

"Haha!"

I kicked off the air again, descending to the ground with a speed born from the sum of my jumping power and gravity. I used "Black Hole" to maintain my momentum without slowing down, pulling myself into a low-altitude flight path. I carved through everything in a straight line at terminal velocity, leaving destruction in my wake.

Standing in my way was a Rhino unit, known for its reinforced chassis.

"Togetsu Style, 27th Day: Antipolar Phantom Moon."

I traced a crescent shape in the air, then struck with its twin—a lower-crescent moon—perfectly mirrored as if reflected on the surface of water.

The first strike focused all the energy on a single point to pierce the heavy armor. In the few seconds it took for the unit to attempt repairs, the second strike—a thrust from below—gouged out the core by tracing the hollow I had created.

"Here! Have a hug from your buddy! You wouldn't want to dodge a gift given with so much love, would you?!"

I put everything I had into a kick against the Rhino’s collapsing frame, pouring in maximum energy. The automatons that had been using the Rhino as cover were suddenly crushed by their own shield, spraying oil everywhere. An instant later, it triggered a massive explosion that took out a huge chunk of the remaining force.

"Ah, my bad, my bad. I just couldn't help myself."

The one responsible for the fire was currently tossing a plastic lighter in one hand, a mangled cigarette in the other, wearing a mischievous smirk.

"Twenty-seven left. Can I handle this?"

To prepare for any anomalies, I had expanded my logic circuits to a dual-layer setup. I had managed to push my luck and install two extra electronic crystals, but the strain on my control was reaching its limit.

"Damn, it really hurts that the cooling coat wasn't ready in time."

I had brought a prototype, but the effects only last about ten seconds, so I wanted to save it for my final big move.

I parried and sliced through the units charging at me randomly, waiting to see how the enemy would react.

"Dammit! I worked so hard to keep this a secret until now! All that effort, gone down the drain!"

A machine that looked significantly different from the others pushed through the survivors.

"Oh? I take it you’re the boss of this little hill?"

"I will be eventually. For now, I'm stuck taking orders from that bastard Burnatville. I’m going to kill them someday... but first, I’m going to kill you."

An Avatar, just like Burnatville? This might be a bit of a pain.

"I don't know what kind of cowardly tricks you used, but I’m not weak enough to lose to the likes of you."

"I took this place down with my own strength, fair and square. If your brain is too small to understand that, why don't you turn around and go fetch a bone?"