Chapter 51

After wiping out Reiwa's Number One, I first opened sniper fire on every team visible on radar.

The shots were blocked. That was fine. The goal wasn't to kill them, but to bait them. With this, none of the three teams could ignore me. They couldn't leave a sniper capable of precision shots running free.

They must also realize... that the prodigy Shinkai Tsubasa is still in the game.

Before facing her, they would want to whittle down as many extraneous players as possible—naturally, the same goes for me. I want every obstacle gone before I duel Tsubasa-san.

(The beasts are drawn to the bait named "me.")

Before the three teams converged, I scattered the smoke grenades I'd collected and began filling the factory with white smoke.

Once each team had surrounded me and the haze had saturated the factory interior, I irritated all three teams again with radar sniping. In response the three teams either charged in or began probing the interior.

"W-what is this!?"

My aim was a free-for-all brawl.

(I may be the target, but in this endgame no one can ignore the other teams. Their attention will naturally be split, and the focus on lone me will slacken. On top of that, this smoke will overload their processing power.)

While I'm at it, the smoke cuts any line of sight to me, dropping my tension to zero.

Faced with this situation, they have two broad choices: "retreat" or "charge."

(If they try to escape the chaos, I'll just shoot them in the back. If they come charging in, I'll trade shots and pick them off one by one. Though, I doubt a sniper like me would normally be kept at a distance.)

The team that had smashed in through the windows went outside to avoid the brawl. Meanwhile, the two teams that entered from the east and west entrances ignored the white smoke and concentrated fire on me in the center—radar sniping.

But the moment they aim for me in the center, their bullets inevitably stretch toward the opposite entrance. Standard radar can't read stance, so if I go prone the shots will rarely hit. The handful of rounds that do come can be handled by the remaining Shield Pieces. Most bullets miss and travel on toward the teams at each entrance.

(It's a bonus if stray rounds hit the enemy team on the diagonal. That's the kind of trajectory they have—both sides.)

One icon apiece vanished from the teams at the entrances. I fired three G-AGE shots into each of the broken teams. The eastern team was wiped out by that alone; one on the western side was downed, and the last survivor I finished off with simultaneous assault-rifle and Bullet Piece fire.

(It's hard to counter G-AGE in a chaotic battlefield, isn't it?)

Six down. Three remain.

"......I won't let you escape."

The team that had fled through the windows was pulling away from the factory.

At the same moment, the seventh zone shrink appeared.

"How unlucky......"

The final safety zone designated was—the forest. The escaping team was now heading straight for it.

I boosted with thrusters, slipped outside in a flash, flew up onto the factory roof with thrusters again, and tracked the earlier team's icons through my sniper-rifle scope.

They had probably started moving in the jeep they'd used to reach this area. I lined up a shot on the vehicle's side-mounted fuel tank.

"It's summer, after all... I'd love to see some fireworks...!"

—Bang.

The laser round pierced the fuel tank and detonated it. Two of the three were blown away in the blast; the last one writhed, having lost his lower body.

I put a rifle round through the back of the final survivor's head.

"Not a millimeter off."

All twelve eliminated—

The shipyard was completely cleared.

Two Space Girls remained in this Rank Match.

Without question, it's me and Tsubasa-san.

The final battleground will be the forest. There, one versus one, it will end.

I picked up a bike and headed for the forest.

From paved road to grassland, then from grassland to the hill bordering the forest. I climbed the hill with thrusters and hid behind a large boulder.

(How bold of her...)

Tsubasa-san stood stock-still in the center of the shallow lake facing me. Anyone coming from the shipyard would inevitably arrive here first—so she must be watching this direction. I'm sure she's deliberately not pinging radar.

I could circle all the way behind her, but there's no time. I'll snipe from here.

(No matter if she figures out my position; Tsubasa-san has no long range anyway...)

I stood openly atop the hill and began sniping.

A head-on snipe. Naturally, Tsubasa-san reacted and guarded with the large shield—Aegis.

From the second shot onward she began evading. She's not the type to waste shield durability.

(Distance: about 1,200 m. Outside assault-rifle range... in that case)

I keep sniping. Shoot, then shoot again right away.

I'm not aiming for Tsubasa-san, but for Aegis. Tsubasa-san can't fully dodge with her Aegis, and it takes hits.

(The farther a brainwave-controlled weapon is from its user, the harder it is to control, especially anything in a blind spot. Aim for the shield she can't see well and that's far from her. However, even if it's a blind spot, the Aegis directly behind her is no good—Tsubasa-san is extremely vigilant toward her rear and keeps that shield on high alert. Aim for the Aegis diagonally behind her—)

More sniper rounds strike the Aegis.

A simple countermeasure: Tsubasa-san gathers her shields within her line of sight, up front, and pulls them in as close as possible.

(She's not de-materializing the shields to conserve EN, I suppose.)

Just summoning or dismissing weapons consumes EN, after all.

(Aegis is a fairly heavy type among brainwave weapons. Giving all five shields reflexes equal to her own is impossible. The absolute limit for precise control is three at most. Aim for the two with thinner neural links—they're easy to spot. Like arms trembling while holding something heavy, the shields quiver ever so slightly—)

I target the shield showing the faintest, tiniest waver, and repeat my shots. The rounds land on the shield in rapid succession.

"Break."

I succeed in destroying one of the Aegis shields with sniper fire. Four remain.

"Still..."

Now that I think about it, why is she standing in such an obvious spot? It's also inexplicable that she's silently letting this play out.

(I've got a bad feeling...)

That's when I notice—flames rising from the forest.

"Damn it...!"

One by one the trees ringing the lake begin to burn.

(She used molotovs—or the laser shots from her shields—to set the forest ablaze! To create a wall of fire...!!)

She accepted my sniping up to now to buy time for the flames to spread. She didn't dismiss the shields to keep me focused on sniping!

(Still, it's possible this very hill I'm on will be picked in the next zone shrink.)

My hill, Tsubasa-san's lake, or the forest—any of them could be chosen for the final zone. If the hill or the forest is picked, this wall of fire would end up tormenting Tsubasa-san instead.

(She could end up imprisoned in her own cage of flame... and yet)

Yet Tsubasa-san is smiling.

"...A face that says she's absolutely certain the gods will choose her..."

The seventh zone shrink ends, and the next zone is shown.

My hill fell outside the safety zone; the lake and the blazing forest encircling it were chosen.

A plan that factors her own good fortune—something I could never imitate.

"Nice. It's getting hot...!"

A prize worthy of closing this festival.

I take back what I said earlier. To dance the finale with a powerhouse like you—today's me is lucky.

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