[“The morning air is nice… but nothing beats the smell of napalm after school!”]
[“H-Huh?!”]
[“Welp. That’s game.”]
The 155mm howitzer fired. Incendiary shells rained down. The enemy was burned to death.
Match 2: Over.
Time elapsed: 16 seconds.
Shōko’s machine: Destroyed.
Pilot: Deceased.
[“Hmm… So that’s the infamous ‘Great Offensive’ that wiped out hordes of medium and small monsters.”]
Sure, hiding could prevent sniping. If you could see the sniper, just stay out of their line of fire.
But the Mikage’s attacks weren’t just snipes. It had area-of-effect bombardment too.
(If you can’t defend against an attack that incinerates everything in sight, you’re just gonna get roasted. What a nasty way to fight. Then again, it’s highly effective against monsters, so complaining is kinda unfair.)
[“Hmm… Large monsters might survive, but the Kusanagi-type definitely can’t. At this point, we just have to admit—she can’t beat him solo.”]
As a pilot of the star-of-the-battlefield Kusanagi, it stung to admit—but the difference in ability was too stark. (Still, I wanna find at least one area where she’s superior.)
Rumors said he was weak in close combat, but would he even let her get that close?
[“…Wanna go again?”]
(Yes! At least one more match. Good.)
[“You’re on! But I need to prepare—just wait a sec!”]
[“Got it.”]
[“Hah… She’s so energetic.”]
[“Nana!”]
[“Yeah, yeah.”]
This wasn’t someone else’s problem—she’d help as much as needed.
“If possible, I’d like you to find weaknesses for when it’s my turn… but that’s probably asking too much, huh?”
I just hope we can get some good data… or something.
3
[Boom.]
[Huh!?]
The third match—over.
Time elapsed: 28 seconds.
Isotani Unit: Destroyed.
Pilot: Deceased.
[…Ugh! This is way too unfair!]
Isotani’s voice echoed through the simulator.
“And that makes three losses in a row.”
This was the third match. By now, Isotani had long since abandoned any restraint or consideration toward Keita. Even after he had stopped attacking at the 10-second mark and even revealed his position, asking for further handicaps would have wounded her pride as a pilot. No additional handicaps were given.
That said, the battlefield was set to a 500-meter radius, with conditions adjusted to urban combat. They even tweaked the starting positions to add more cover. The result? Her head got blown off the moment she peeked over a building—not even 30 seconds in.
“Your detection ranges are just on different levels. And for a machine that massive to make such precise movements…? No openings at all.”
Urban combat is surprisingly difficult for pilots controlling machines over six meters tall.
Even the Kusanagi-type, designed to mimic human movement, struggles with it—let alone the Mikage-type, which has a humanoid upper body and a four-legged beast-like lower half (beast? Well, whatever). From a fairness standpoint, this setup was horribly unbalanced, but for identifying weaknesses, it was useful. And most importantly, the opponent had agreed to it, so there were no issues. The result? An instant kill.
[What the hell is this!?]
The enemy was a long-range sniper. If she could force a mid-range engagement, she stood a chance.
That was the whole point of this scenario—yet she got spotted and sniped before she could even react. At this point, anyone would complain, not just Isotani Shoko.
There were several reasons, but the biggest one was what Nana had mentioned earlier: the sheer gap in detection capabilities.
The Mikage-type was a long-range sniper unit, designed to operate solo—meaning its detection capabilities were far superior to the Kusanagi-type, which relied on support units like the Yatsufusa-type or conventional weapon squads for reconnaissance.
And on top of that, Keita’s prototype unit had grown beyond expectations—even the engineers at Mogami Heavy Industries hadn’t anticipated this level of performance after taking down so many monsters.
So the gap in machine performance had already widened to a point where Shoko—who hadn’t even seen her first battle yet—stood no chance.
And that’s before factoring in Keita’s own growth.
Of course there’d be a difference in detection speed.
But there was another reason:
The Mikage-type wasn’t nearly as hindered by urban combat as Shoko and Nana had assumed.
As mentioned earlier, piloting a giant machine in a city is extremely taxing. You have to avoid destroying buildings, navigate around streetlights, trees, power lines—everything.
Sure, some might argue: “If it’s come to urban combat, civilians are already gone! Who cares about collateral damage?” Rebuilding is important, but winning—no, surviving—comes first. Some pilots even prioritize destroying buildings or power lines just to clear their line of fire.
(If he’d done that, things would’ve been easier.)
If he’d brute-forced his way through, she could’ve predicted his path, set traps, or even shot him when he jumped for detection.
That’s why Nana had thought: “At mid-range—where the Kusanagi-type excels—it at least wouldn’t be a one-sided slaughter.”
But Keita was on a whole different level.
Having realized he could release mana from his back and legs, he moved in ways that defied understanding—tiny, rapid jumps, adjusting mid-air with mana-propelled bursts, all while scanning for his target. The moment he spotted Isotani’s unit—bang.
[…What is this? This isn’t how a machine’s supposed to move!]
Shoko’s reaction upon seeing the replay was justified. Nana felt the same.
But if an enemy could move like that, they had no choice but to adapt.
After all, small monsters in urban battles were already known for their erratic movements.
If a machine could do it, why not a monster? In an environment where a single mistake meant death, there was no room for carelessness.
“At least we got some good data out of this. Let’s focus on that.”
[…Yeah.]
No doubt, the Mikage-type’s urban combat data was incredibly valuable—
not just for the 6th and 8th Divisions, but even the 1st and 2nd would kill for it.
This alone was worth over 300,000 credits.
“True. We can’t counter it now, but someday, we will.”
[That’s the only way to stay sane at this point.]
“Now, about the next match… I think we should keep the same setup.”
[…Why?]
“The Mikage-type is a long-range sniper. That means it should struggle in close-quarters urban combat where angles are limited. So the idea that ‘if we spot them first, we can strike back’ isn’t wrong.”
[I guess you’re right.]
“So next time, let’s try hiding behind cover and waiting.”
[Oh, I get it. The reason I got spotted was because I was trying to find him. It’s not just the machine’s specs—his real combat experience makes him way better at this than me.]
“Exactly.”
[It’s frustrating, but I’ll admit there’s a skill gap. So instead of searching for him, I should let him move first and spot me. That’s the plan?]
“Yes. That’s far more reliable than leaving it to luck.”
If you don’t move, you won’t be found. Of course, hiding carries the risk of being discovered and sniped. But with such a glaring skill difference, you have to take risks to even stand a chance.
In cases like this, Nana believed not moving was the gamble.
And she had another reason for thinking this way:
(He’s soft on Isotani Shoko. If he realizes what she’s trying to do, he’ll always play along.)
Their past conversations and this mock battle had confirmed it.
Shoko would probably yell: “Stop reading into things!” But since it was true, why not use it?
That said, if he decided to ignore collateral damage and just napalm everything, hiding would be pointless.
So with incendiary rounds banned, the fourth match began. The result?
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
[Hm? Oh, going for that, huh? Fine. Bring it.]
[Found you! You can’t dodge in that position! Eat 40mm cannon fire!]
(Yes!)
[Too naive.]
[Huh?]
“Wait, what?”
Fourth match—over.
Time elapsed: 89 seconds.
Isotani Unit: Destroyed.
Pilot: Deceased.
“A shield that can tank 40mm rounds head-on?! And he blocked with one hand while firing back with the other!? How is that even possible!?”
[What kind of power is that?! This is beyond unfair!]
“Seriously…”
Of course, Nana and Shoko didn’t have a problem with him using a shield. The Mikage-type’s humanoid upper half was designed for that.
Therefore, both of them understand and accept the use of the shield.
Therefore, the issue they’re concerned about isn’t the mere use of a shield. It’s the shield’s inherent capabilities—and the fact that while using it, their opponent was able to wield a weapon just like theirs and counterattack.
First, the shield. Its size—large enough to cover the upper body—combined with its ability to completely block 40mm autocannon fire already raises eyebrows. While strange, it’s not entirely impossible.
Even Nana, who isn’t a materials expert, could roughly deduce the shield’s composition despite only seeing it for a few seconds.
(Probably processed armor from a large monster.)
Normally, large-scale materials would only remain as unrecognizable wreckage after artillery strikes, making it impossible to find anything usable for a shield. Even if such material were found, all of it would be allocated for research purposes—never reaching students like Keita or a non-conglomerate-affiliated company like Mogami Heavy Industries.
At least, that’s how it used to be.
TLNOTE:
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