I Reincarnated as the Captain of a Battleship in a Robot Anime, but at This Rate, I’m Going to Be Assassinated – Chapter 64

Chapter 64: It’s Best To Ignore the Delusional Ramblings of Those Who Talk Big, As It’s a Pain in the A*s and Only Encourages Them
  Shogo doubted his own ears upon hearing the unbelievable words.
  It was a shock that almost made him forget the purpose of destroying Babel.
  He had thought the old man was strange from the beginning. He was an old man who could only be described as insane, and Shogo understood that there was no need to take his ravings seriously. Yet, his words were speechless, and instead of anger or sadness, there was only bewilderment and an instinctive fear that refused to understand.
  
  “……I understand now.”
  
  Amidst the shaking Mirandora under attack from the pursuing forces from behind, Shogo realized.
  
  “Connect the communication to Trismegistus.”
  
  He then calmly and slowly gave instructions to Clart.
  Meanwhile, the various operators were sending attack instructions, and Kes was instructing the ship’s damage control.
  In such an atmosphere, Shogo’s actions were utterly out of place, but that was nothing new.
  Clart followed Shogo’s instructions without a doubt.
  
  “Yuuki, Franny-ojōsama. Can you hear me?”
  
  There was no reply.
  He knew that they were probably speechless too.
  So, Shogo spoke up without hesitation.
  
  “Don’t engage him.”
  
  He said as he inhaled and exhaled.
  
  “You don’t have to engage him. It’s a waste of time to deal with a guy like this.”
  
  That was the conclusion Shogo reached.
  Fauden was the enemy. He knew that from the start.
  Fauden was insane. He knew that from the start.
  Fauden was a good-for-nothing. He knew that from the start.
  But the scale of it was far beyond Shogo’s expectations……or rather, it should be said that it hit rock bottom.
  By now, the sense of greatness, or the feeling that Fauden was no ordinary man, which Shogo had felt to a certain extent, had vanished.
  
  “What’s he going to say? He’s just a man who’s not confident in what he’s done. He’s just trying to justify it with difficult words and theories, calling it management or whatever. He’s just convinced himself that he’s a pitiful tragic hero. So don’t engage him! Don’t mind him! Do what you want to do!”
  
  At the same time as Shogo shouted, the Mirandora’s rear-mounted booster was shot down by the pursuing force’s bombardment, causing a massive explosion.
  But so what? That was just an add-on. If they detached it, there would be no damage to the Mirandora’s main body. Rather, it would be enough to detach the wreckage and use it as an obstacle.
  
  “Detach the starboard booster! And the port booster is in the way too, detach it while it’s still intact and use it as a mine!”
  
  As Shogo said, they first detached the unusable starboard booster. The booster, which had been reduced to debris, showered down on the pursuing forces. However, that wasn’t enough to shake off the enemy pursuit.
  So, Shogo also detached the still-intact portside parts and dropped them as small-scale mines, using the remaining energy to ignite and detonate them.
  By firing the rear main guns at them, they caused explosions and fires, and the impact was powerful enough for mobile weapons such as Teurugia, even if it didn’t affect the battleships.
  
  “……! Captain, high heat source reaction ahead! This is……Professor Phoenix’s……!”
  
  They had not yet reached Babel’s control tower, but it was on the way there.
  What Clart detected and identified on the sensor was Phoenix’s disc-shaped warship that had appeared sometime ago.
  It began to reveal itself in space, disabling its stealth and optical camouflage.
  Looking closely, it seemed slightly larger than not only cruisers like the Mirandora but also battleships. Perhaps the disc shape created an illusion of size, unlike ordinary ships.
  
  『It has finally begun. Do not interfere.』
  
  The communication from Phoenix was one-sided.
  
  『Trismegistus……Goetia……parent and child, the same existence, yet one pursues its mission with unwavering devotion, while the other takes a detour due to doubt and fear……these Deus Ex Machina with two opposing thoughts──』
  “Shut up, be quiet, get out of the way!”
  『What──!』
  
  Shogo didn’t bother to listen to Phoenix’s rambling. If this wasn’t reality, and he was in front of the TV, he might have had the desire to know the truth that Phoenix was talking about.
  But Shogo, who had become a party involved, was already fed up. He knew that this old man had been secretly doing something for his own purposes.
  And once he knew it was something completely outrageous, he no longer needed a reason.
  He judged that allowing this crazy old man’s actions to continue, even for a minute or a second, would be detrimental to the world.
  At the same time, the most annoying thing was the old man acting like God.
  
  “Main guns, fire! Remove the obstacle in front of us!”
  『You fools……! You don’t understand the meaning of what’s happening here……!』
  “I won’t listen!”
  
  Phoenix let out a bewildered voice, but his reaction was swift. As if he had intended to do so from the beginning, the disc he was piloting began to emit an eerie glow. The outer rim, the inner ring, and the central part of the disc seemed to be increasing in brightness.
  It didn’t take long for these glows to reach their peak. Countless beams were emitted from all over the disc.
  They were not aimed at anything in particular, just countless beams scattered everywhere.
  However, their power was tremendous, easily penetrating the Mirandora’s barrier due to damage and performance degradation of the barrier unit, and several beams grazed and gouged the starboard side.
  
  “Starboard, third turret meltdown!”
  “Barrier system at its limit, it’s going to explode!”
  “Cut off the energy connection to the starboard turret! Immediately detach the added armor!”
  
  By this point, the crew understood what they had to do without Shogo giving specific instructions. The Mirandora crew’s coordination was flawless.
  They would survive and beat the annoying guys in front of them. They would use any means necessary to survive and achieve their goals.
  Until now, it had been a fight for survival. But now it was different.
  There was an annoying guy in front of them, spouting his selfish reasoning and attacking them.
  It was the same as being looked down upon. It was unforgivable.
  Moreover, the bosses of the enemy here were the root of all evil.
  Then, defeating them was the natural consequence.
  
  “There’s no way you wouldn’t interfere in this big moment. Did you think I wouldn’t anticipate it, old man!”
  
  Shogo shouted.
  The man who had been lurking in the shadows. The man who had launched surprise attacks at the most opportune moments. Shogo had already seen through his methods.
  It was a pity that he couldn’t detect the stealth, but he could still cope with this much if he considered the enemy’s movements and thoughts to some extent.
  That’s what the heavy armor was for.
  There were still additional turrets left. Although the firepower had decreased, it was still sufficient compared to the original Mirandora.
  
  “Hmph, the beam still doesn’t work, huh?”
  
  The main gun beam didn’t have much effect on the disc. He had anticipated that it would have some kind of defense, like a barrier.
  
  “Hey, we’re going to use that.”
  “We’re always ready.”
  
  Kes replied to Shogo, his voice full of excitement, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
  
  “We’re going to use the railgun! Catapult deck, open!”
  
  At Kes’s command, the Mirandora’s launch catapult was deployed.
  The Rabi Reivu squadron, which had returned to the Mirandora, had not been deployed during this chaotic battle. This was because there was a high risk of them being controlled.
  However, there was no problem if it was only for a short time. Besides, they were inside the ship.
  Inside, a Rabi Reivu carrying a giant railgun with the help of several other units. It was the sniper cannon that Percy had used, the one that had killed their comrade.
  And the railgun, which had been destroyed by Trismegistus, had been judged usable and was thus repaired.
  At the same time, this railgun was the one that had inflicted a wound on that disc in a single shot.
  
  “Energy OK!”
  “Projectile loading complete!”
  “Three units, scrum, anti-impact defense OK!”
  
  Such reports echoed through the Mirandora.
  
  “Mirandora, boost! Turn the catapult deck towards that disc. We’re going to pass right by the enemy ship, time it right!”
  
  Following Shogo’s words, the Mirandora charged forward fearlessly.
  The disc’s attacks continued in an attempt to stop it, and the pursuing forces’ attacks from behind never ceased. The Mirandora, while deploying beam smoke, deliberately chose a straight course to aim. It was better to be a moving target than to stop and become an easy one.
  And this charge of the Mirandora was incomprehensible to Phoenix.
  He was an engineer, not a soldier.
  
  “A kamikaze attack!?”
  
  Therefore, the act of a military weapon flying straight towards him, ignoring damage, looked like a suicide attack. Above all, the data so far had indicated that.
  The Mirandora crew had always resolved their biggest showdowns with a charge. So, he thought it was their standard tactic.
  His assessment was not entirely wrong. In fact, the Mirandora did practice charging.
  An easy-to-understand course. Just a slight deviation would make them miss.
  But……
  
  “Fire the railgun! And then, all main guns, fire at once!”
  
  The Mirandora’s new action was beyond his comprehension.
  He hadn’t expected them to retrieve and reuse the weapon he had created.
  The fired railgun projectile, demonstrating its tremendous penetrating power, gouged the disc.
  Just one shot. That single blow shattered the barrier covering the disc and created a new wound on it.
  However, that was just to destroy the barrier.
  This was the main event.
  
  The Mirandora began to decelerate, aligning itself with the disc.
  And then, it fired all its available turrets.
  The attack resembled a medieval naval battle. The only difference was that it was beams that were exchanged, and that it was a one-sided onslaught by the Mirandora.
  But that wasn’t all.
  The Mirandora’s barrage certainly dealt a blow to the disc, but it didn’t sink it.
  Because that was intentional.
  
  “Launch the anchor!”
  
  The Mirandora fired anchoring harpoons at the disc, which still retained its original shape. They were meant to secure the ship to places like meteorites or within the atmosphere.
  They were fired like harpoons, fixing the disc in place.
  
  『Wh, what are you doing!?』
  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to use you as a shield.”
  『A, a shield!?』
  “The weapons controlled by your machine’s abilities will kill you. Experience the intoxication of your own technology firsthand. And……this is for Percy. Savor it to the fullest.”
  
  It was Shogo’s way of getting revenge.