Chapter 47

——Two minutes earlier.

Time rolls back to the instant Shiki and Sheena split up.

Sheena had her thrusters at maximum output to pin down Len.

(Len-san is good at hiding. He's already left the sniper position and taken cover.)

Sheena lands on the roof of the domed building—an amusement facility—where Len had been sniping.

Len is already gone; not a trace of him remains no matter where she looks.

(......He should know my position. Even so, he wouldn't dare take a shot at me.)

Sniping a fully alert Sheena is difficult. Even from a perfect position the success rate is only about 30 %. A miss gives away his location. Rather than gamble on that, hiding and applying pressure is more certain and effective.

Len's judgment is correct—assuming the opponent isn't Sheena.

"Thermal Vision."

Sheena slips on her goggles.

Thermal Vision—goggles that display temperature differences as colors. It is Sheena's tenth weapon. Put simply, hot areas appear in reds and cool areas in blues.

It can detect heat sources like body heat through smoke screens, making it invaluable in poor visibility.

Sheena scans the roof where Len had been. Orange footprints—slightly warm—remain behind.

"No doubt, Len-san's footprints."

Space Girls, being machines, run far hotter than humans. Wherever a Space Girl steps, a slight temperature rise is visible. If she flies with thrusters the footprints disappear, but landing spots retain stronger heat from friction and thruster exhaust. Thermal Vision can spot the difference. An excellent weapon, but it naturally obscures normal sight, so it can't be used while driving.

Relying on Thermal Vision, Sheena begins tracking Len, following the footprints.

The trail leads off the paved surface into an unpaved area—the activity zone called "Buggy Run".

(A lot of buggies here. But I'd never use one. The engine noise would give me away, and they're slow. Thrusters are quieter and faster.)

Tall grass and trees line the course; anywhere off the buggy track has poor visibility and is perfect for hiding. The plan must be to hide and snipe.

No. That's not it, Sheena decides.

(The dirt ground—)

Len's objective is clear.

(Mines.)

Sheena fires her handgun at the ground 30 m ahead and detonates a mine.

(The ground, always heated by the sun, is warm. But freshly dug earth is slightly cooler. Mines are useless.)

They are a poor countermeasure against the sun-scorched surface.

Other traps—tripwires in the trees, pitfalls—are all spotted and safely removed.

This map's sun is too bright; even wires and soil are hot.

"Found you."

300 m away—Sheena finally locks onto Len's back.

---

300 m away from Sheena, Len's face says, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"......What the heck! How does she know every trap's location!"

A sniper shot comes from Sheena. Len blocks it with Shield Pieces.

(That accuracy while on the run! Sniping sense that would put a sniper to shame!!)

He fires back, but Sheena dodges with ease and closes the distance.

(She can dodge a rifle at this range? Incredible evasion.)

Distance 50 m. Sheena opens up with a full-auto handgun, pressing Len hard.

(She's fast on the trigger too! I can't dodge them all!!)

Len pulls out a black attaché case.

"Trap Kit!"

The Trap Kit is a weapon that expends EN to create, inside the case, wires, remote bombs, grenades, mines, drills, and adhesive.

Len pulls out a large number of black iron spheres the size of baseballs and scatters them. Then he takes a remote from the case.

(Remote bombs. Every one of those spheres will explode the moment I press the button on this remote!!)

Sheena stops, tosses the handgun in her left hand into the air, and draws a saber terminal from her hip pouch.

"High-output mode."

She extends the saber and, in one second, slices every sphere.

The spheres explode, raising a smoke curtain between them. Len can't see Sheena, but Sheena can see Len by his body heat.

"......Proficient with the sword as well. As expected of Tsubasa's teammate."

Catching the handgun she had tossed, Sheena fires rapidly. Twelve bullets punch holes through Len.

With no right arm, Sheena still overwhelms Len.

"Yet without the railgun I cannot beat Tsubasa."

"......"

"This match is ours."

Len is eliminated.

Crimson Wings now has one member left.

(At this point I have no way to break Tsubasa-san's C:Aegis.)

The moment Shiki was lost, defeat became inevitable.

"Shiki-san......!"

No communication from Shiki. No voices from Niko or Chacha either.

In a situation like this, Chacha and the others have orders to support Shiki. Even so, the silence is eerie.

While Chacha and the others must operate, another battlefield has fallen into a breath-holding crisis.

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