The commander doubted his own eyes. The bombardment delivered by Ultima Units 2 and 3 was strong enough to completely erase everything visible.
When he saw countless aerial bombs falling, what he pictured in his mind was an explosion greater than anything else in the world, one whose damage scale couldn't be quantified.
That was something that inevitably had to happen. It certainly should have.
"What... what is this?"
The aerial bombs did not explode. The jet-black streamlined bodies only got buried in the ground or crushed upon impact. If one or two failed to detonate, that could be dismissed as duds. No matter how well weapons are maintained, problems are bound to occur.
But it made no sense for thousands of aerial bombs to all fail to detonate. This was something that couldn't happen without some kind of sorcery involved.
The commander's gaze naturally turned to one place. Among the countless screens of the artifact showing magnified views of the ground situation, there was one screen where an unusually brilliant flame was burning.
A blonde girl in a red cloak was holding up a match in one hand.
The small match gripped in her hand was burning like a sacred flame. It wasn't the size of flame that could burn from such a small match.
Ena Grunt raised the match burning like a torch and let out a cry. She was now using all her power to activate her witchcraft.
While the match flame burned, it suppressed the function of all firearms within a certain range. Thanks to her power, the aerial bombs failed to explode and all became duds that crashed into the ground.
"Ena!"
Lorraine called out to Ena with joy, while Martinez stared at Ena with eyes wide with amazement.
"Good heavens."
During his once blind period, Martinez had tried to kill Ena. He believed without doubt that the power she used was heretical, contrary to God's will.
But now Ena was using this power to save everyone. She had blocked a bombardment that could have caused tremendous casualties with a power that the religious order had defined as heretical.
"Ugh!"
Ena let out a groan. Her ability was to suppress firearms in the vicinity while the match flame burned, but it wasn't without limits.
The proof was that the match flame burned hotter in proportion to the firepower she had to handle. The match head, which should have been the size of a small candle flame, blazed like a torch.
Ena had to bear all that heat. Her right hand was hot. She desperately wanted to drop the match right away. But even while screaming, Ena endured and held onto the match until the end. The moment she let go, the barely suppressed bombs would explode.
Finally, when the match head burned completely black and shriveled, all the aerial bombs in the vicinity were neutralized. Though she suffered burns on the hand holding the match, considering the firepower she neutralized, it was truly a modest price.
"What is that! What the hell is that!"
The fleet commanders were horrified by the sight Ena displayed. Bombs are the most important thing in modern warfare. The destructive power generated by gunpowder was comparable to magic. It was precisely thanks to this that humanity had risen to power. Yet she had nullified it all with just lighting a match.
The history of warfare that humanity had built was being denied by a single individual.
That was exactly what witchcraft was. A craft that rejected logic, carving and sculpting the unknown.
"Change target! Everyone aim for that witch!"
"B-but because of that witch's ability, bombardment won't work!"
"Switch to armor-piercing rounds! Even if they don't explode, crush her with the mass of the shells themselves!"
Even if they didn't explode, the mass possessed by the bomb casings themselves - those streamlined metal bodies - couldn't be ignored. If they poured all of those down, even Ena would have no way to stop them.
Clank. Clank.
The escort ships' gun barrels turned toward Ena. Seeing this, Lukai shouted.
"Everyone protect her! You must protect her at all costs!"
Ena absolutely could not leave this spot. Witchcraft that could nullify baptism by fire had to be protected as the top priority here because it made the overwhelming difference in firepower meaningless.
Conversely, that also meant it was the top priority for elimination from the military's perspective.
Just as the escort ship's fangs were about to target Ena, a small sun rose behind Ena's back. It was different from Osian's solar ring. The sun was blood-red, making one's spine shiver just looking at it.
The sun's surface heated up intensely, then red beams shot toward the escort ships like from a mirror ball.
Zzzing. Bang! Babababang!
Bright red beams swept across the escort ships. Gun barrels touched by the laser melted away and the ships' outer walls glowed red hot before exploding.
Some ships tilted heavily.
"Interception from the ground!"
"What is it this time! That knight fellow is right there!"
"I-I don't know!"
Lukai was equally flustered. He thought Ena might also have the ability to redirect focused firepower back at them. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't the case.
Because of the female knight in black armor who rose up together beneath the red sun.
"Don't... touch Ena!"
Lupona roared toward the escort ships. Along with her anger-filled roar, beams shot out again from the Dark Sun.
Some escort ships deployed barriers while others that had not yet taken direct hits fired shells toward Ena.
Shriek!
What cut through the air was an armor-piercing shell that would penetrate its target. Even if explosions were suppressed, there was no stopping the mass and kinetic energy possessed by the shell itself.
Crash!
What blocked it as if protecting Ena was Martinez, surrounded by a golden halo. Gripping his brilliant quarterstaff, Martinez deflected all the armor-piercing shells aimed at Ena and blocked them using sacred arts. Ena looked at Martinez with round eyes.
"I will block the incoming shells. During that time, please prepare to keep lighting matches."
Soon Ena nodded with a determined face, discarded the burned-out match and took out a new match from the matchbox. Her hand, burned and blistered, hurt as if stabbed with needles. Then warm divine power settled on her hand, healing the wounds. Martinez had cast sacred arts on her.
"Sacred arts cast on others are crude, so complete healing is impossible. Still, the pain should be much less than before."
"This is enough. Thank you."
The relationship between those who once tried to kill each other and flee had now changed to one where they protected each other and expressed gratitude. All of this was a change that occurred after Martinez came to Tirna.
A Paladin of the 13 Sacred Orders helping a witch judged as heretical. It was chaos itself.
'It's confusing. She was once someone I hated but now I'm protecting her because what I thought was heretical power can save people.'
Even though he had already steeled his heart, his emotions inevitably became complicated but there was one thing Martinez could be certain of in this confusion where everything was complexly mixed together. That protecting her was the most righteous path.
"I will protect you. Even if my life ends, I will definitely protect you."
Ena nodded with a determined face.
"Still, don't talk about dying. Until everything ends, we all live together. That's better, isn't it?"
Martinez turned to look at Ena in surprise.
"So when this ends safely, come visit the tavern a few times. I'll treat you to a meal so delicious your eyes will pop wide open."
Ena raised the match flame while Martinez burned his divine power and took his stance.
"I'm looking forward to that."
The defensive battle was just beginning.
The baptism by fire had been halted. The three Ultima ships remained motionless in the air for a while, taking no action.
Normally they should have poured down a second bombardment, but the commander had stopped them. The reason was simple. It was obvious they would only waste meaningless bombs.
There was one reason. It was because of the witch Ena Grunt's ability.
"First ability. While the match flame burns, firearms within a certain range are restricted. Second ability. Through the match flame, she can show opponents desired illusions. These illusions possess some substance."
The data transmitted through military communications had high accuracy. In other words, what was just recited could be considered fact. What was problematic was Ena's first ability.
"Firearms prohibition. What kind of nonsense is this?"
"Why isn't a witch like that affiliated with the Tea Party?"
As long as Ena existed in Sector 44, the method of bombardment would never work. Pouring shells would only waste precious bombs.
To properly carry out baptism by fire, Ena's elimination was essential. The problem was the two beings protecting Ena.
One was a young genius of the 13 Sacred Orders. The other was a black knight of unknown identity. The power wielded by that black knight was especially similar to Osian's.
Though the output was lower than Osian's sun ring, that didn't mean it could be ignored. Two escort ships had been neutralized by her attacks.
Her excessive aggression and power could be considered a living, breathing bio-fortress. With the additional characteristic of being at least 5 times stronger than escort ships.
"Still, our firepower is overwhelmingly superior. If gunpowder won't work, use armor-piercing rounds."
Firing itself was possible. That meant Ena's ability range didn't reach the ships floating in the air.
"Open a path with armor-piercing rounds and use special ammunition. Don't spare weapons incorporating magical engineering. Use all the capsules too."
The military had prepared bombs incorporating magic for just such contingencies. They had the disadvantages of small quantities and being ridiculously expensive compared to conventional gunpowder weapons. But the versatility that could be utilized to adapt to changing situations was an advantage only magic could possess.
Grooooan.
Ultima howled. The lower part of the aircraft opened and thick, long gun barrels protruded. Ultima was not simply a bomber. Since it also had aspects of an aerial battleship, it could shell and had anti-air capabilities to counter similar ships.
"Annihilate!"
The gun barrels spat fire. Armor-piercing shells poured down cutting through the air. Even if the explosive function was gone, the kinetic energy generated by firing the armor-piercing shells themselves was enough to turn people to powder.
"Protect!"
Martinez used sacred arts and Balud deployed runic inscriptions. Edgar cast defensive magic that offset physical impacts and Mist sprayed fog.
Lorraine aimed her sniper rifle at the pouring shells and fired.
Ting! Ting!
Shooting that was nearly miraculous hit the armor-piercing shells and slightly altered their direction. That alone caused the armor-piercing shells to miss their targets and fall onto innocent ground.
"Uuuugh!"
Ena groaned in pain. Suppressing the armor-piercing shells' explosions caused the match to burn fiercely. That flame seared Ena's right hand that had just recovered. Though Ena shed tears from the pain, she gritted her teeth and endured. Burning pain was one of the greatest pains, but even so, Ena did not retreat.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Tracer rounds shot up from the ground, targeting the ships in the air. The liberation army, following Lukai's orders, had launched a coordinated counterattack.
"You bastards! This way! Over here!"
"If you're going to kill, kill us!"
The liberation army's resistance couldn't scratch even one escort ship. Knowing this, the liberation army still raised their gun barrels. It was to turn even one of the escort ships' gun ports toward them.
If that action could buy even one second of time, they were prepared to throw away their lives willingly.
Bababababang!
Explosions occurred intermittently in other sectors that Ena couldn't cover. Some escort ships had conducted bombardments.
Screams echoed everywhere, and the liberation army's signals were cut off one by one. What had happened to them could be known without seeing. Even so, the resistance from the ground did not stop. More precisely, it could not stop.
"Everyone."
Bloodshot veins appeared in Lukai's eyes. He gripped the radio in his hand as if to break it. To save people, the lives of precious comrades were extinguished one by one like candles. Knowing they would die, he had no choice but to give ruthless orders. Because this was the only way to save more people.
"I'm sorry."
[Don't say you're sorry, Captain.]
Had they heard his muttering? A response immediately came back.
[This is the result of our own choice.]
[That's right. Even if Lukai hadn't ordered it, we would have done the same thing.]
[From the moment we joined you, we had no regrets.]
There was no reproach or complaint toward him for giving unreasonable orders. What they showed was infinite trust. That fact tore Lukai's heart even more.
Because he was weak. Because he lacked power. He was failing to protect them again.
Did his best? In this situation, there was nothing he could do better than this?
His head understood but his heart couldn't accept it. It wasn't enough. His best wasn't enough. He needed power that would let no one die, the best result to protect everyone.
Flare!
Resonating with Lukai's earnest heart, flames bloomed in his chest.
It was exactly the flame of the sun ring.