“And then you thoroughly change them from within.”
“…Ghhh!”
Enju screamed.
The right hand inside her elbow instantly robbed it of all moisture so it dried out like a mummy.
A Bioroid had a demonic body and human techniques. But even if that gave her an advantage against an angel like Ange or humans like FeTUS, she had no such advantage against a demon like Lucia.
“…I see. Thanks for the lesson.”
But the same was true of a demon against a Bioroid.
“I’ll have to try that out myself. Like this?”
The girl drew a golden circle with her left hand. That was a FeTUS technique, so Lucia should not have needed to worry about it. However…
“Gh…!”
His knees unexpectedly gave out.
He had not been attacked, but he collapsed on the spot and his arms pulled out of Enju.
“Impossible… Lilith Ether?”
The magic circle did not produce a sound or image. It could only be described as a “presence” and it forcibly stopped his attack. It also caused his hips to collapse out from under him.
He fell to his knees.
“That’s right. Your mother commands you to do nothing more.”
“Kh… Curse that old hag. Has she hit menopause? She has no patience whatsoever.”
Lucia could not do anything as the girl mocked him with pigeon-like laughter.
The very life that constructed him as a demon had submitted to that “presence”.
Just like a trained dog.
A thread from her left hand bound the boy and she tugged with her mummified right arm that she could somehow still move.
“Gwah!”
Ange was captured by that right thread. Pulling the angel’s body over turned her into a deadly weapon spewing demon-roasting flames.
“Again, thanks for the lesson. Now get lost along with my dregs here.”
Enju used both her hands to keep her two enemies bound as she kicked them out the cargo entrance.
With threads wrapped around them, Ange and Lucia could not avoid crashing into the ground.
But only if they remained bound.
“Oh…thanks.”
“Wah, wah, wah, wah.”
Just before they fell, the golden threads came undone and they were grabbed by something nearby.
Enju looked puzzled. She had not ordered the restraints to stop and it should have been impossible for those two to break the threads.
Realizing that only a FeTUS human could have done this, she could guess what had arrived down below.
A rising helicopter had arrived alongside the airplane.
It was an AH-1Z Viper. She had used it as a distraction and left it at the school, but
it must have been made into a Springloaded again because it was matching the transport plane’s speed even while facing the plane.
Ange and Lucia hung from the wings.
Machina stood in the cockpit with had the glass removed.
“I am detecting a more than 99% match with Jiyuuni-san. And yet I have also deemed her to be a demon.”
“That was my toy…”
Enju pouted her lips. The control system had been entirely hijacked and the helicopter’s “owner” had been overwritten.
“If you are the same as Jiyuuni-san, I doubt there is any convincing you…but I will give you one warning. Disarm yourself and prepare to land in the next 5 seconds.”
The Witch’s voice remained entirely calm.
The demon girl shrugged, but Machina still calmly counted down from 5. The helicopter was far louder than her quiet voice.
The sound of the rotors…
“I have concluded you have no intention of heeding my warning.”
…and the roar of the engine both drowned out her voice.
“Hwah!”
“Hwah!”
Ange and Lucia both screamed when the countdown ended. They were holding onto the helicopter’s wings and the objects attached to them had started to move.
“I will shoot you down.”
Those attached objects were 16 missiles.
“Eh? Wait just a-…”
Enju panicked because she had not expected such an extreme measure, but Machina did not hesitate.
“Hellfire.”
Every last one of the air-to-surface missiles was fired at close-range against an unarmed transport plane. The blast nearly sent Lucia and Ange flying.
“You…are completely insane!”
Enju must not have expected such a powerful attack because she shouted in anger while protecting the plane with a shield formed from golden threads.
But her face was soon dyed in the colors of further panic.
Machina held a small revolver in her hand. If that was all, it would have been like a peashooter against the shield that had stopped the missiles.
But the Springloaded helicopter’s parts had gathered around the barrel like living creatures.
The barrel grew thicker and longer, until it looked as brutal as an anti-tank rifle.
To the shield, the difference between an armor-piercing round and a revolver round was like the difference between a peashooter and a BB.
The problem was the fact that it had also swallowed up the battery that supplied power for an entire helicopter.
“Forming magnetic field. Magnetic flux density restrictor setup complete. Beginning Lorentz processing…positive.”
The battery must have been sucked dry in an instant because it fell away from the long cannon just as Machina mercilessly aimed it at the transport plane.
“Sublight railgun, ready to fire.”
“Ibekusa…”
“…Are you angry?”
Ange knew nothing of science, but she realized what was about to happen and covered her ears just like Machina.
“Fire.”
With a dull sound like the air itself exploding, the transport plane tilted far to the side.
“Kwaaah!”
The revolver bullet was fired at near light speed. Enju had known it was coming, so she gave up on protecting the plane and concentrated the entire shield down to the size of her palm.
The length of the barrel made it easy to predict the ballistic path. By catching the bullet on the concentrated golden thread shield, it did not break through, but her small body was sent flying.
Without even a second’s hesitation, Machina cocked the long cannon’s hammer.
She loaded the next bullet and aimed at the transport plane’s cargo bay.
She mercilessly fired a second and third shot top keep Enju pinned down, and…
“Shoot it down.”
She gave a command to the Springloaded helicopter.
The Gatling gun that had attacked Saya, a powerless normal person, produced a great roar like it finally had a chance to fulfill its proper role. The three barrels rotated while firing armor-piercing rounds that hit the transport plane from nose to tail.
Enju was too busy protecting herself to stop it.
The fuel tank must have been hit because the rear of the plane noisily burst into flames. The plane rapidly lost propulsion.
“Capture complete…positive.”
The Springloaded helicopter’s landing skids grew outwards like living things. They struck the transport plane like a scorpion capturing its prey and supplied the lift needed to avoid a crash.
At the same time, the revolver railgun finished firing all 6 of its bullets. Machina stopped firing, and…
“I will repeat my warning: Disarm yourself and surrender.”
Her tone remained plain.
Ange and Lucia were already regaining their strength and the plane’s engine had stopped. It was impossible to fight or flee. However…
“Hee hee.”
Enju was unharmed. Or rather, her hole-filled body and mummified right arm had easily regenerated. And she cutely stuck out her tongue.
Ange could not believe her own face could look so hateful.
Then she heard a sound like chains being pulled out.
Machina had opened a hole in the cockpit and pulled out the entire Gatling gun attached directly below. The magazine rattled from the several hundred shots still remaining.
At the same time, she reached a hand behind her.
“I will shoot you down again.”
Golden threads wrapped around and pulled off the helicopter’s rotor.