16 - Correction x Apology

[Hurry up and get those rings off, Transfer Student!] Iniuria yells.

She doesn’t bother to hide her frustration as she aims at Ratio with her rifle.

“Ratio…” Regina said, her voice trembling with anxiety.

[Kill to your heart’s content,] Aloe says with a fierce smile.

Ratio’s fingers move gracefully on her Weapon Select.

The ring-shaped parts on Virtus Flos’s whole body burst open and fly off.

Iniuria and her companions laugh. In the end, they’re convinced that they have an advantage with the hostages.

Regina takes a deep breath. She wants to believe in Ratio, but what does she mean by following Iniuria’s instructions? And she wasn’t sure what she was going to do next.

Instructor Aloe Ira smiles happily. She can see a company’s new weapons, but she’s more looking forward to how she’s going to destroy the amateurs from here.

“Ornatio, activate,” Ratio said.

[Acti-vating!] Wis cried out.

The ring-shaped objects stop in mid-air, hovering perfectly still.

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[…… Huh?] Iniuria went, frowning suspiciously.

They had expected those rings to hit the ground and get covered in dirt, but for some reason, they were floating around their machine.

Inexperienced and amateur trainees couldn’t see it then.

The ring-shaped parts are not just floating still. If you look closely, you can see that they rotate at high speed.

The armor covering Virtus Flos’s smoothed and beautiful surface unfolded, revealing black slits.

Then, particles of light shoot out from them, and all of the many rings transform into lethal weapons wrapped in plasma blades.

[!?]

The Ornatios flew while leaving a trail of plasma in their wake.

In an instant, the 4 Centuria’s rifles were sliced apart and rendered useless.

[Huh?!]

The training unit’s automated controls react to excess power exploding from the damaged rifles by retreating.

[What the hell are these!?] Iniuria shouted.

Ignoring her, Ratio moved.

“Let’s go, Wis!”

[Yes, Big Sis!]

Virtus Flos ignites her calf thrusters and moves forward gracefully.

“Radius Globe, Mode, Gladius,” Ratio said.

[Acti-vating!] Wis cried.

The small, shield-shaped equipment on the arms deploy, and thin beam blades extend out from them.

[Woaahhhh…?!]

Ratio closes in on the most isolated Centuria of the 4 and swings her blade.

No matter how good the stats of your machine is, if the pilot is caught off-guard by the automatic avoidance and unable to react, it’s as good as motionless.

The blade’s beam glitters as Ratio cuts straight through the Centuria’s torso and passes it by.

Each part of the Centuria has a block-like structure, so if any sector is severely damaged, an entire “block” can be replaced.

During disconnection, a safety device activates on the affected block. The energy lines are sealed and a machine can be instantly incapacitated without the risk of causing an excess energy explosion.

[Bitch! How dare you!]

One of their own was just bisected horizontally, and the other 3 units aimed at Virtus Flos with the beam pistols from the hardened armor plates on their waists.

[As I thought, they came with these,] Ratio thinks, disappointed in the presence of sidearms.

She was hoping that they only had rifles and destroying them would disarm them quickly, but it seems that the wholesale nature of Schola Sanctus’ procurement will not allow it.

She just needed to take out the rifles. It’s only natural to equip sidearms, anyway.

The thrusters continue to fire, she leaves their range.

Even if it’s Virtus Flos, it’s risky to take a direct hit.

She was just assembled on site, so she doesn’t have combat armor yet, and the low-protection sheet armor it has now is used for operational testing purposes.

Besides, if she stays here, the incapacitated Centuria behind them will get caught up in the weapons fire.

Ratio didn’t come here for them to end up killing each other.

[Hold it right there!] Iniuria yells.

The Centurias chase after Virtus Flos, her Ornatios hovering in tow around her.

Centurias are blocky machines, and when hovering and boosting across the ground, it has to spread their legs and bend forward slightly, so the word “charge” describes it well.

On the other hand, Virtus Flos has a delicate appearance and avoids the beams aimed at her with light movements like an ice skater.

“Radius Globe, Mode, Glans.”

[Acti-vating!] Wis cried.

The blades on the Radius Globes disperse, Virtus Flos points her left arm at the Centurias.

Inside Virtus Flos, an aiming reticle appears on the wall, it locks on at a speed incomparable to the training units.

The light bullets fired before the Centurias automated avoidance programs could kick in.

[Kuuuuh…!]

“Huh?” Ratio went.

The light bullets flew toward the ground or screamed past them, the Centurias were forced to take evasive action, and Iniuria and her team started screaming.

“Isn’t this aim off?” Ratio asked.

[Probably because we’ve never used it before,] Wis said.

“I’m surprised the Gladius moved so well,” Ratio said.

[That was a bit suspicious too, wasn’t it?] Ratio said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!?” Regina cut in, stunned.

It’s hard to believe this casual conversation was happening while being pursued by armed machines.

“FCS software check,” Ratio said.

[Aye, aye,] Wis said.

“I’ll fix it while shooting,” Ratio said.

[Ayeee,] Wis says, continuing the corrections.

(You’re kidding me… in a situation like this…) Regina thought, (it’s like they’re only testing.)

Even she, who had trained as much as she could think of, could not afford to do this. Of course, conditions such as the presence or absence of support like Virtus Flos’s armaments and Wis are different, but Ratio always has time and mental focus to spare.

In addition, even if she’s dealing with a machine that is not in its best condition yet, she will just calibrate it herself.

(Could Ratio be a test pilot?) Regina thinks.

If that’s the case, that could be why she is always so relaxed and reliable.

Test pilots are required to operate their machines in harsh conditions and to solve unexpected problems and malfunctions.

If true, that would be why she isn’t panicked even now.

(… She’s so cool,) Regina thought.

She should have calmed down now, but her heart rate quickened again and her cheeks grew hot.

“Calibrated… maybe?” Ratio asked.

[I’m feeling good,] Wis said.

Even during the casual conversation, the aiming calibration continues, and she’s still shooting at the Centurias.

Regina turned her gaze around and focused on the rings that followed the unit.

(Without a propulsion device, they just rotate at high speed to follow a fast-moving unit… could it be a CFD Drive?)

CFD Drives are machines that deflect the direction of inertia using centrifugal force. If you use one of them, you can deflect it downward to generate gravitational force, or conversely, generate zero gravity, or even use it as a propulsion device.

(However, I didn’t realize they could miniaturize it to this extent,) Regina said. (Besides that, the output is enough to be used in actual combat…)

There are, of course, remote-controlled weapons.

Many of them are artillery. There are also blades included but ranged weapons are the mainstream, and they are large because they are equipped with propellers and power sources.

Therefore, the movements are rough. They need to be large to fit all that equipment, but it’s also to house the automated programs designed to control them.

Judging from the maneuver just now, Virtus Flos must have been equipped with an advanced control program.

(A new type of company… a mass of secrets. Operations that should have been secretly carried out in a place like this instead… and were being broadcast throughout all of Mixture… all for someone like me.)

Even now, Regina understands that the current situation is outrageous.

Regina is completely a victim and has done nothing wrong.

However, she is overwhelmed with guilt though she is grateful that Ratio brought out a piece of confidential information to save her.

The training units cannot be used because the control room has been occupied.

Commands from the control room have the highest priority for automated control systems. This is to stop inexperienced pilots when they lose control of themselves or their machines.

This time it was turned against her.

The only units that can operate in such a situation are the Security Department’s machines, which have an independent control system.

There are some other special machines that some students have, but as a general rule, these also have software installed that accepts commands from the control room, so in a case like this, they won’t be useful.

Virtus Flos, who was just assembled and hadn’t calibrated all its programs yet, was the only other one able to get to the scene.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said, shedding tears again.

“Regina?” Ratio asked.

It seemed that after the tears had burst earlier, they would come even easier now.

“For you to protect someone like me, I’m sorry that your machine… all these secrets were revealed… I’m sorry,” Regina said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ratio said without hesitation. “In a case like this, it would be better for you to say ‘Thank you.’,” Ratio said.

“…………Thank you,” Regina said.

“You’re welcome,” Ratio said.

On the battlefield where beams are flying in every direction, two girls smile at each other.

[Don’t get so friendly, motherfuckers…!] Iniuria screamed.

“Shut up,” Regina said.

The comm-line was still open, it’s just that Iniuria and her companions were too occupied dodging Virtus Flos’s shots to speak.

They had room to complain because Ratio’s lowered the intensity of her shooting barrage.

[Fight me fairly, damn it!] Iniuria yelled.

“All that coming from a coward?” Ratio asked.

They’d gone out of their way to procure lethal weapons from somewhere, occupied the control room, taken hostages, stole the Stella Corpuses and their weapons, used four of them for a personal grudge against Regina whose unit was unarmed, and finally stopped her unit with the control room’s Emergency Stop to guarantee she had no way of fighting back.

Such people have no right to use the phrase “fight fairly.”

“Then I’ll deal with you properly,” Ratio said, her voice becoming lower. “I’m angry, too.”

At this time, Regina was lucky to be in a place where she could not see Ratio’s face.

As evidence of that, Iniuria reeled as she saw Ratio’s expression.

“Brace yourself,” Ratio said.

Her eyes were dark and cloudy like the pitch-black void of space.