Chapter 58: Dealing with those who don’t understand that this meaningless battle, which continues under a crazed ideology, should be brought to an early end
  “I feel like the upper and lower fleets are being a little too reckless, but we still haven’t confirmed Goetia, have we?”
  
  Behind the fortress base, where the engines were started and it was no longer possible to correct its course with any ordinary attack. On the b*idge of the Mirandora, which was forming a fleet, Shougo muttered while watching the footage captured by the first wave of the attack fleet.
  
  “Trismegistus’ response is stable. He’s probably still on Earth.”
  
  Kes was concentrating on information analysis, and various battle situations were being sent to him in detail.
  
  “I’m worried that I don’t know the current situation on Earth, but I can’t focus all my attention on that……”
  
  The situation where Goetia had cut off the lifelines on Earth was eerie. Of course, even if civilized society were to be severed, humans could undoubtedly survive. However, being forcibly deprived of civilization by others and forced to live like primitive people was painful.
  It’s not necessarily a bad thing to advocate for an anti-machine society and tout Gaianism and econism, but this was a bit too much.
  
  ‘It’s a cliché that excessive development of civilization pollutes the Earth’s environment, but at the same time, science that has developed should be able to suppress pollution.’
  
  However, that reasoning becomes a matter of mutual accusations.
  
  ‘I’m a man who went to school too. Thanks to the development of civilization, humans have overcome diseases and have become able to overcome injuries. Until just a while ago, childbirth was life-threatening, but now it has become possible to stabilize both mother and child to a certain extent. That should be a wonderful thing. If those benefits are lost, and only the compulsory force of nature is enforced, it will only lead to unnecessary confusion.’
  
  Moreover, it is a machine that has mastered the art of mechanical technology that is doing this.
  It is a lump of discomfort. Instead of people choosing to live naturally, programmed machines are making them do it. I think it goes against the way life is lived for a machine with overwhelming power to take power from others and force it on them.
  
  “……I don’t like it.”
  “Huh?”
  
  Kes inadvertently asked back at Shougo’s muttering.
  
  “No, this battle. We have to win, but even if we do, if we don’t do something about Goetia, I feel like Fauden’s goal will be achieved.”
  “If New Balance wins, the domination of humanity will be theirs.”
  “I wonder. Anferu and the others might believe that, but he’s a man who ruthlessly destroyed Al Minar, tried to k*ll his own daughter, and is now stopping the Earth’s activity. We may be a nuisance, but do you think a man who’s doing such things would really leave New Balance intact?”
  “……! Commander Fauden’s aims are unfathomable.”
  “There’s no need to understand him. It’s just a crazy old man acting on crazy reasoning. That’s all. I want to somehow wipe that smirk off his face…… To do that, we first have to win this battle…… But that’s not enough……”
  
  To break Fauden’s ideology. In that sense, I think Trismegistus’ growth is heading in a good direction as the first step. There was a report that he doesn’t seek to dominate humanity.
  Rather, he has no intention of doing such a troublesome thing. In other words, Trismegistus doesn’t expect that much from humanity. In a way, you could say he’s keeping an appropriate distance.
  He doesn’t expect too much, nor does he deeply despair. He seems to be coming to the conclusion that living things are like that, and that he himself is one of them.
  Active domination and management meant the same thing as being closely involved.
  
  ‘In a way…… Trismegistus’ lazy attitude is what makes him close to being a g*d, isn’t it?’
  
  However, Shougo is not familiar with religious studies. He can’t define G*d. He just vaguely thinks so.
  
  “There’s movement in the enemy fleet. It seems they’re going to push towards the upper fleet.”
  
  When Clart’s report came in, Shougo focused his attention on it.
  
  “Is it Coulson’s fleet?”
  
  Coulson had endured and endured from Al Minar until now. It seems that it’s exploding now, and it looks very powerful. It seems like they’re successfully holding back the enemy fleet with their daring attacks and solid defense.
  However, he was still uneasy about them being too reckless.
  
  “What’s the status of the fortress’s acceleration?”
  “It’s predicted to collide with the Big Cannon in about an hour. However, there’s movement in the cannon as well.”
  “That’s to be expected. It’s one of their t*ump cards. They’ll try to fire it somehow.”
  
  The fortress is also a shield for that. It’s fine if it can be destroyed by a collision without firing. Even if they do fire it, it should take time until the next shot. There’s also the danger of Goetia, but for many soldiers, the huge weapon they can see in front of them is probably the most frightening thing right now.
  If we can neutralize that, we can gain momentum.
  
  “Return Trismegistus. We’ll keep the mobile unit here in reserve. How is the flagship Grigori moving?”
  
  Grigori is the flagship of the Rebel Army, the battleship that Calamus, who commands the entire army, is on. There were also the battleships Iaon and Vasily, each with their respective representatives on board.
  The last representative, Coulson, commanded the battleship Shumeo.
  
  “I think they’ve also decided to conserve their forces.”
  “Then that’s good. Tell Captain Lopes and Captain Janet. We’ll act as a separate fleet when the Babel Cannon or Goetia appears. I’ve gotten permission from Representative Calamus as well.”
  
  Originally, this modified Mirandora is easier to move with a smaller crew.
  Besides, it was better to have a smaller fleet and unit to deal with Goetia. If the numbers increased too much, it would be terrifying if their control was seized.
  The reason why he still attached some units as a direct escort was not only to be wary of Goetia.
  
  “Keep an eye on the radar. If Phoenix’s stealth disc is lurking around, he might attack us with some other strange machine.”
  
  Phoenix, who still hadn’t shown himself, was unsettling.
  Anyway, if they interfered, there was a risk that all our plans would be disrupted. That’s why we needed at least the minimum predicted force to annihilate them.
  However, we must not move yet. We need to assess how the situation develops. In short, it’s like playing rock-paper-scissors after the opponent has shown their hand.
  Still, looking at the battle situation being monitored, the number of ships being sunk on the Rebel Army side was increasing.
  
  “It makes me feel uneasy that we’re using our allies as decoys……”
  
  Such a thought was proof that Shougo was still naive.
  
  ***
  
  Captain Huygen was in the fleet attacking the lower part of the Rebel Army’s upper and lower fleets.
  Such a large-scale fleet battle was something he hadn’t experienced much in his long military career.
  At least, since he graduated from the officer academy, he had hunted pirates and such, but there hadn’t been any large-scale battles.
  In that sense, it was exciting to be in a major decisive battle, though it was inappropriate to think so.
  At the same time, he had to try to command calmly.
  
  “The enemy’s main force is escaping upwards. If we break through the wall fleet that’s in the way and take out the commander, the battle will become much easier.”
  
  Coulson, the leader of the Rebel Army in charge of the upper fleet, was showing a powerful offensive. Overwhelmed by that momentum, the enemy fleet’s movements were sluggish. It seemed like a breakthrough would be easy if they supported them from below, but battles are not that simple.
  Actually, Huygen was struggling to attack. The enemy’s separate fleet was concentrating on defense, using anti-beam smoke like water and deploying barriers. On the other hand, they couldn’t match the number of smoke screens, and although they had barriers, they were outnumbered in terms of fleet size.
  It was a battle between the rich and the poor. They were being dragged into a war of attrition.
  
  “They’re not affiliated with Central Headquarters for nothing. It’s not just the latest equipment. Their training was also state-of-the-art, huh?”
  
  New Balance is an elite group.
  And they’re a full-fledged military organization that’s based on Earth and advances from there to various places. They’re not just idly enjoying luxury.
  Even if they’re rotten, they have the pride of being elite.
  Rather, it might have been those of us who were assigned to the frontier who were feeling frustrated.
  Huygen thought so as he watched the fleet that couldn’t break through.
  
  “But a surprise attack will be effective. It’s also true that they’re not in perfect formation. Aim for where the enemy’s ranks are thin. We’ll make a breakthrough at one point. Send the mobile unit forward too. Tell the bombers not to worry about running out of ammunition.”
  
  Huygen thought that if they charged in, it would support the whole. It would be convenient if the enemy and our forces were mixed up in a fleet battle.
  
  “Alright, call out on an open channel. There might be some in the enemy fleet gathered here whose hearts are wavering. If we can get them on our side……”
  
  Suddenly, Huygen recognized a light on the main monitor. He knew from long experience that it was the light of a beam, but the strange thing was that it wasn’t something that had been fired.
  It looked as if the beam of light was staying there. A mass of light.
  But the moment he recognized it as such, the light moved at a tremendous speed and seemed to be rushing towards the fleet on the starboard side from Huygen’s perspective.
  Immediately afterwards, several units exploded, and he could understand that it was an attack, but he couldn’t determine what kind of attack it was.
  
  “What! A sniper attack?!”
  
  But they have beam smoke and barriers. The beam should be attenuated and not cause much damage.
  However, the starboard units were actually taking damage, the explosions blew away the smoke, and they were directly hit by the enemy fleet’s attack.
  That meant annihilation.
  What was even more terrifying was that the light was coming straight towards them.
  
  “S*oot it down!”
  
  They intercepted it with missiles and machine guns, but the light seemed to burst and scatter countless beams, blowing them away.
  The light was the beam itself, and it was in the shape of a person.
  He recognized that it was a Teurugia when it appeared right in front of Huygen’s ship.
  
  “A human-shaped figure clad in beams……”
  
  The white beam burns Huygen.
  The last thing the veteran soldier, who evaporated in an instant, saw was the figure of a one-eyed giant that had shed its cloak of beams.
  
  ***
  
  The one that sank Huygen’s ship is clad in beams again.
  Beam generators are built into various parts of the white armor, and when they resonate, beams cover the entire body. It can act as a barrier and also be used for attack.
  Inadvertently, it was the same technology as the beam punch that Trismegistus had constructed.
  However, the machine has no unnecessary weapons. It only uses beams. It had that kind of simplicity.
  That’s why it was able to specialize.
  
  “Spark…… I am now light……!”
  
  Inside the machine clad in beams.
  No, it’s no longer a cockpit. It was another body that the man named Percy had been integrated into.
  Percy’s existence has become a part of the machine, and the machine functions as Percy’s giant body.
  It feels no different from moving his own body. A sense of immense power and omnipotence filled Percy’s remaining brain.
  
  “I am the light that illuminates the universe! The radiance that slays demons! Salvatore!”
  
  With a cry of joy, Percy makes his own body emit light.
  The beams he’s clad in diffuse and pierce through the enemy fleet scattered around. Some battleships weren’t sunk due to the effect of the beam smoke, but there’s nothing that can s*oot down Percy either.
  If he accelerates the machine itself as a beam bullet, there’s no machine that can stop it anymore.
  Percy had enough power to annihilate the enemy fleet just by charging.
  
  “C’mon! Come out…… you demons! Trismegistus! And another one……! Two demons! Terrifying, terrifying!”
  
  Screams echo.
  
  “Beeee! Light! Oh G*d, G*d! Give me the power to slay demons!”
  
  It was only natural that the Mirandora unit would start moving when they confirmed such a light phenomenon.