Gunshots echoed ceaselessly across the sea, ringing in my ears.
Buoyed by Hina's performance, Gehenna had seized the advantage and was now relentlessly pressing Trinity, refusing to let go of their momentum.
Saori and Azusa were doing their best, but it was painfully clear that the two of them were no match for Hina.
Saori's strengths lie in close-quarters combat, but that advantage fades against physical monsters like Tsurugi or myself. In this case, with the distance favoring Hina, she couldn't even utilize that strength.
Azusa's talents shine brightest when she has time to set up a favorable environment, but this was not that kind of battlefield.
If you were to ask me if the two of them could take on Gehenna's strongest with their skills alone, I would have no choice but to say no.
[As a fierce battle unfolds between the snipers on both sides, the distance between the two fleets has shrunk considerably! It seems it won't be long before we see strategies involving infiltrating the enemy camp, but the question is whether the balance of the battlefield can be maintained until then!]
It was a difficult question. I doubted the balance could be maintained unless Hina ran out of ammunition, but since she essentially had an unlimited supply, relying on such a fluke was impossible.
Moreover, in this unbalanced situation, crossing the hundred-plus meters between the ships on nothing but a thick chain… was, to put it simply, insane.
Gehenna's forces were far better preserved, meaning the wall of fire Tsurugi would have to break through was excessively solid.
And if you asked me if any other student could break through it, I would say it was absolutely impossible. If I had to pick someone, maybe Mine, at best.
But they couldn't just cower in the face of this disadvantage. If they didn't want to be picked off one by one by the enemy snipers, they had to raise their heads.
That was the only way to protect their own snipers. Trinity was caught in a checkmate; they needed a breakthrough. A breakthrough that could turn this situation around.
It was only natural, of course, that there was only one person in the Trinity camp who could provide that. The only one who could rally the crushed forces of Trinity was a student of equal stature, a worthy rival who could match her presence.
Only Kenzaki Tsurugi.
And Tsurugi had finally made her decision.
[Aah…! Is Trinity finally making a move to breach Gehenna's formation? But the distance between the two ships is still quite far! And yet, the new president of Trinity's Justice Task Force, who has been showcasing a brilliant record, has finally approached the chain… and thrown herself onto it!]
To hope that the die Tsurugi had cast would save Trinity was to ignore the equally high probability that they would sink along with that hope. But Tsurugi had never disappointed me before, so I decided to believe in her.
Hina's machine gun turned toward Tsurugi. The remaining Gehenna students also aimed their guns at her on the chain.
Thanks to one of Gehenna's snipers being eliminated earlier, balancing the numbers, at least there wouldn't be a sniper obstructing her path. I suppose that was something to be thankful for…
Wait a minute. Iori, why are you suddenly jumping out of the crow's nest?! I mean, there's no rule that says a sniper can't leave their post during a match, but…!
Wings spread wide behind her, Hina's machine gun roared to life. The concentrated fire of the Gehenna students followed. A rain of bullets, all aimed at a single person, poured down.
And Tsurugi took it all. Shielding her face with her arms, she charged on, a runaway locomotive on a chain. She swayed, but she did not fall. As the audience gasped at the astounding sight, a single gunshot stopped Tsurugi's charge in its tracks.
It was Haruna's shot. It seemed less like Hiyori had been completely outmatched and more like Iori's sudden departure had created an opening, allowing Haruna to land a clean hit.
With only about five meters left to the Gehenna ship, Tsurugi, who had been breaking through the wall of fire, staggered heavily from the sniper shot. I could vaguely see her future.
The moment she lost her balance on that chain, the outcome of this match was all but decid—
[Whoaaaaaa?! Amazing! Just when we thought it was all over, the president of the Justice Task Force overcomes the crisis with a spirited cry and sets foot in Gehenna's territory!]
…or so I thought.
But even with this, it was hard to say the tide had turned. Tsurugi was now isolated on the Gehenna ship, and Trinity's forces had taken too much damage to support her. The only one who had preserved her strength was, as expected, Mine.
A grotesque smile spread across her lips, and a chilling sound began to escape her. Just as Tsurugi, ignoring Hina, was about to charge the other students on the ship, Iori, who had gracefully dropped from the mast, landed in front of her and kindly fed a bullet into her stomach.
"..."
Tsurugi's body flinched from the impact, and she lowered her head, a sight captured by the broadcast camera.
Just as I swallowed, wondering if the unthinkable had happened, Tsurugi's expression morphed into something beyond grotesque and…
"Khahahahahahaha… DIE!!!"
A moment later, Iori, tragically transformed into something resembling a crumpled can, collapsed onto the deck. Honestly, I felt a little bad for her. Iori was just doing her best… it was a shame that, as always, her luck had run out today.
As Tsurugi's rampage began, drawing the attention of the Gehenna students, Azusa and Saori took the lead in a charge toward the Gehenna ship. The Arius students formed the main force, pushing toward the enemy vessel.
Having concluded that they could win if they induced a melee, Trinity had no choice but to charge desperately. Hina, reading their intention, turned her attention to stopping the full-scale brawl from breaking out.
[Aah! After the first attempt miraculously succeeded, the Trinity camp has begun its own infiltration attempt! The Gehenna Prefect Team leader is doing her best to stop them, but it seems even she can't help but be distracted by her allies being swept away behind her by the president of the Justice Task Force!]
Hina did her best to stop the two of them, but while they were no match for her, Azusa and Saori were formidable in their own right. Saori, showing her grit by grabbing the chain even as she slipped, was the first to make it across, followed by Azusa.
However, the subsequent infiltration by the Arius students felt overly rushed, swept up in the moment.
Tsurugi had the durability to break through Gehenna's all-out assault, and Saori and Azusa, while a bit shaky, had the minimum skill required to break through Hina's barrage if she was alone.
By the time Saori and Azusa had engaged Hina, the explicit suppressing fire had all but vanished.
And yet, when Hina occasionally sent short bursts of fire toward the Arius students, they were taken down helplessly, sent off to greet the fishes in the sea. It gave me a headache just watching.
…If you're going to do that, just stay back and provide support. Why attempt the impossible and incur losses? Even Mine was still holding her ground with her shield up, not yet having crossed.
Thankfully, they didn't keep repeating the same mistake, but the forces they had already lost would not return. All it did was make my stomach churn.
[Separate from the chaotic situation below, it seems the battle of wits between the snipers has been more or less decided!]
At some point, Makoto, who must have taken a direct hit to the head, was shown sprawled gracelessly inside the crow's nest, her hat knocked off.
In the first place, it was hard to imagine Hasumi losing to Makoto in a head-to-head fight. Though, you couldn't just dismiss her performance in the sniping competition as a fluke.
The battle between Haruna and Hiyori was still ongoing, but with Hasumi's hands now free, if you were to ask if Haruna could gain the upper hand against the two of them… I was decidedly skeptical.
The situation on the decks was still in Gehenna's favor, but in the sniper battle, Trinity's victory was all but confirmed.
The match continued, and soon the distance between the two ships was less than 30 meters. It was from this point that the Arius students began to actively charge the enemy line, successfully reaching the other ship without major losses. Mine also made her presence known, running across the chain, leaping high, and slamming her shield down on the Gehenna ship.
Seeing this, one might think Trinity had won. But unfortunately, the situation was not entirely favorable. First and foremost, Saori and Azusa were no match for Hina.
Though Saori excelled in close combat, her opponent, Hina, was skilled enough to hold her own even against Tsurugi. However, it wasn't enough. It was purely because Hina was just too strong.
I marveled every time I saw it—where did such toughness come from in that small body? With a fluid motion, she swung her machine gun like a club to push back the advancing Saori, then seamlessly transitioned into a volley of fire that took Azusa out of the fight. Saori, left alone, did her best, but she couldn't avoid being pushed back.
From my assessment, Hina's current combat power was definitively superior to mine at the time I fought Arius Squad. And while Saori and Azusa had grown stronger since then, Hina was a wall they realistically could not overcome.
The role of facing her was passed to Mine, who had crossed the chain, but Hina, who had been on a one-sided offensive until now, had more than enough stamina to deal with her.
This was partly because Haruna was doing an incredible job of defending against Hiyori's supporting sniper fire.
Tsurugi, who I had expected to hold Hina off, was steadily reducing Gehenna's numbers. This seemed to be a chillingly cold strategy: delegate the task of fighting Hina to the next strongest fighter, make up for the number of retirements Hina had caused, and even get ahead.
Boom!! KABOOM!!
As the distance shrank, grenades and flashbangs began to fly, and the battle descended into a deeper quagmire. Thanks to Tsurugi's rampage, a significant number of Gehenna's forces were being incapacitated, but even that was barely enough to break even with the number of students Hina had taken down.
As the end of the match drew near, not many were left standing. While Hiyori and Hasumi, having decisively dealt with Haruna, did their best to take down one more person, Iori, who had somehow recovered, fired at Mine's back, breaking the balance.
[Aah, this is a situation where it wouldn't be strange for either side to win! The time is approaching to see just how effective Trinity's valiant struggle has been, pushing back from a disadvantageous start to this point!]
Ignoring the announcer's hype, I quickly scanned the remaining forces of each academy. Seeing our students on deck beginning to recover one by one, it seemed our victory would have been certain with just a few more minutes…
[Yes, the match has ended! The winner will be decided based on the number of surviving members! The winner of the Naval Mock Battle, which will determine the final victor of this summer festival, is—]
…But it seemed that, most unfortunately, time was not on our side.
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