"Ah~ That's exactly what I was thinking~"
The pair of pitch-black phoenix eyes suddenly sharpened, looking down at them condescendingly.
"After all, anyone who opposes me, without exception, ends up dead in the end~ So, consider this my last act of mercy toward the losers."
"You sure talk a lot, but is your strength as sharp as your tongue?"
Without any reminder from him, Ais, Jeanne, Yamato, and Shimakaze launched a coordinated attack.
Ais cast wind magic, and with a swish, flew into the sky, diving upside down with a sword aimed at Sakura's head. Jeanne, waving her flag, charged straight at Sakura. Before they could close in, Yamato and Shimakaze unleashed a barrage of weapons from their ship girl form, bombarding Sakura with relentless firepower.
From the massive 520mm Cannon to the smallest caliber machine guns, Sakura was instantly engulfed by a storm of shells.
"What a bunch of ill-mannered savages~"
Before being engulfed by the hundreds of projectiles, Sakura leisurely tidied the hair by her temples, treating the incoming shells as if they were nothing.
Even though the power of the cannons was weakened by about a third in ship girl form, Yamato's main cannon shells still carried the destructive force of a C-rank anti-army Noble Phantasm. Seeing how effortlessly Sakura handled the situation, Ryou couldn't help but feel a sinking sensation in his heart.
The next second, she was swallowed by a sea of explosions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted rapidly around her, with flames and thick smoke engulfing her figure.
Ryou stood still, his fingers moving rapidly, casting runes that increased Jeanne and Ais' strength, speed, and stamina recovery. As the mysterious, intricately shaped runes appeared, Jeanne and Aes' attributes soared by 30%.
As they neared the explosion's epicenter, Yamato and Shimakaze's bombardment ceased in perfect synchronization.
Breaking through the thick smoke, the scene inside was revealed. As expected, despite the rain of shells, Sakura was nearly unharmed.
Before Yamato and Shimakaze stood a large, smooth, circular mirror, reflecting a silvery-white sheen in the sunlight, as if it were made of solid mercury, shielding Sakura entirely. This mysterious mercury mirror rendered their bombardment completely ineffective.
By now, Jeanne and Ais' attacks had arrived.
With the wind element boosting her speed, Ais descended from the sky at supersonic velocity, her Sword [Despair] aimed squarely at Sakura's head.
Clang!
This time, Ryou saw it clearly: a silver-white liquid metal surged up to Sakura's head, swiftly forming a shield. Ais' sword struck fiercely, sparks flying like fireworks, a high-pitched buzzing filling the air, like a drill against steel.
That's exactly what was happening. The wind element at the tip of the sword spun furiously, while the shield above Sakura's head continuously replenished itself.
Whoosh!
At that moment, a gust of wind swirled as Jeanne's flag swept heavily toward Sakura's abdomen.
Clang!
The flag, too, was blocked by Sakura's mercury shield.
"Jeanne, Ais, fall back! Yamato, Shimakaze, use armor-piercing shells!" Ryou ordered.
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
Without hesitation, the Heroic Spirits followed his orders. Jeanne and Ais swiftly retreated, but from beneath Sakura's feet, the mercury transformed into sharp arrows, shooting toward them. As they fell back, they deflected the piercing arrows one by one, their weapons moving fluidly. The mercury that hit the ground quickly crawled back to Sakura's feet as if alive.
Seeing this familiar scene, Ryou's expression grew colder.
This was a knockoff version of the Volumen Hydrargyrum: Marrow of the Moon Spirit used by a certain green-hatted director. No, in terms of strength and flexibility, Sakura's manipulation of mercury far surpassed that of a magus. At the very least, the original Volumen Hydrargyrum: Marrow of the Moon Spirit couldn't possibly withstand the saturation bombardment of a 520mm ship cannon.
Was this yet another case of the knockoff outclassing the original?
At that moment, on the distant Thames River, a faint mechanical hum echoed as the ship girls, under command, swiftly loaded armor-piercing shells into the barrels.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With a series of deep thuds, the armor-piercing shells, glowing with white light, shot out, aimed straight at Sakura. This time, Sakura couldn't care less. Her expression turned serious as she raised both hands. A thick, circular shield of mercury formed instantly before her.
The armor-piercing shells, packed with terrifying kinetic energy, slammed into the shield, drilling into it like power tools. Some shells lost momentum and fell to the ground, but more continued to pierce the shield.
Soon, the mercury shield was littered with shells, the piercing, hair-raising sound of them drilling into the metal filling the air. As the barrage intensified, Sakura visibly struggled. Ryou noticed keenly that the mercury at her feet had nearly depleted, consumed by the shield.
Seizing the moment, he grinned and struck while the iron was hot. His fingers moved rapidly in the air, drawing rune after rune. Fireballs, wind blades, and earth spikes surged toward Sakura. As if that wasn't enough, he ruthlessly redeemed a large batch of explosive potions from the system store and had Jeanne and Ais hurl them at her.
Under the sympathetic gazes of Jeanne and Ais, Sakura was once again engulfed by a series of explosions.
When the smoke cleared, Sakura's former elegance and grace were nowhere to be seen. Her once-lavish evening gown was now tattered, exposing large swaths of snow-white skin stained with black smudges, as though she had just crawled out of a garbage heap.
As for Sakura herself, a tuft of her hair had been scorched, her silver crown was missing, and one of her shoulders was bare, with blood gushing from a severed arm, as if from a running faucet. It was clear her arm had been severed—again.
The last time, Ryou had cut off her arm, and after much effort to restore it, it had now been blown off once more.
Yet, despite her pitiful state, the arrogance and confidence on her face hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"I must admit, you've done well. You've succeeded in making me angry," Sakura said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Ryousuddenly felt a chill down his spine as if he had just been targeted by a top-tier predator.
"I admit, I did underestimate you. It seems it's impossible to take you down without paying a price."
As Sakura spoke, she elegantly raised both hands behind her head.
Ryou's heart sank.
"Stop her!"
Before he could shout, Jeanne and Ais charged forward, and Yamato and Shimakaze quickly unleashed a barrage of shells toward her.
Ryou also moved swiftly, his fingers tracing primordial runes in the air, summoning a barrage of elemental attacks aimed at Sakura.
However, with her mercury barrier in place, their attacks couldn't break through immediately. They could only watch helplessly as she gracefully and seductively lifted a silver-white necklace from around her neck.
With a slow, deliberate motion, a large pendant rose from between her snow-white breasts.
Ryou stared at the pendant, not even having time to appreciate the view beside it.
The pendant was entirely silver-white, engraved with intricate patterns, but it lacked any gemstones. For the adornment of a queen, it was rather plain.
Ryou couldn't sense any magic from the pendant—no, it was as if there was nothing to sense at all.
Wait, could the pendant's true purpose be to conceal or seal something hidden within?
As if confirming his suspicion, Sakura removed the pendant and, with a snap, opened it, revealing its contents.
Inside was a gem radiating golden light. The moment the pendant opened, a dazzling brilliance burst forth, so intense that Ryou couldn't make out the shape of the gem no matter how hard he tried.
What puzzled him even more was that Sakura herself seemed on high alert, carefully extracting the gemstone as if afraid to disturb it.
When she held the gem in her hand, it wasn't just a gemstone to his senses—it was as if she were holding the sun.
Tremendous energy surged from the gem, first hitting Sakura's arm. Starting from her palm, golden glowing patterns began to spread upward along her arm, as if it were cracking like a statue.
As the energy continued to pour out, the shield that had been weakened by their attacks suddenly began to glow with golden patterns, and the dents in the shield rapidly repaired themselves, visible to the naked eye.
At the same time, Sakura's severed arm began to regenerate, bit by bit, under the influence of the immense energy.
Meanwhile, Sakura's aura continued to rise steadily. Ryou had the vague sense that her strength had already surpassed the limits of the world of Kabaneri.
Damn it! Why does something like this have to happen now!?
Isn't Berserker Mode supposed to be an exclusive privilege for protagonists?
But reality doesn't bend to his will.
The energy stabilized, and Sakura slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. Her once jet-black hair had turned radiant gold, and her eyes glowed with the same regal golden hue.
"Thank you for waiting. Now, let's begin the second round," she said with a faint smile, her confidence unmistakable, as if everything was under her control.
Ryou immediately issued a telepathic command. Yamato and Shimakaze opened fire again.
But this time, the usually unstoppable armor-piercing shells were completely ineffective against Sakura's newly reinforced shield. The shells, after expending all their kinetic energy, clinked harmlessly to the ground.
Ryou's expression turned cold, and he sent a telepathic message to Yamato.
"Yamato, if necessary, I authorize you to use the nuclear shells."
He uttered a shocking word in his message: nuclear.
Yes, the nuclear shells were Yamato's real secret weapon.
These tactical nukes, developed by the U.S. military in the 1950s and '60s, had much smaller yields than strategic nuclear bombs. The nuclear warhead equipped on the Yamato-class battleship had a yield equivalent to around 5,000 tons of TNT—enough to wipe out half of London.
"Admiral! How could you even suggest that?!"
Yamato immediately protested.
It would be a strategy of mutual destruction!
"Don't worry, this is just a precaution," Ryou reassured her.
"…Understood, Admiral…"
Yamato gritted her teeth.
Yes, it was just a precaution.
But if it came to that, Ryou would not hesitate to order Yamato to fire the nuclear shells.
To win, one must be ruthless with oneself.
Of course, before that, he would personally hold off Sakura to give Jeanne and Ais a chance to escape. Suicidal tactics were the responsibility of men.
The battle hadn't even started, yet he was already preparing for mutual destruction, showing just how much pressure Sakura was putting on him.
He used primordial runes to apply various enhancements to himself.
During this time, Sakura made no aggressive moves. She calmly watched as Ryoug continued to buff himself.
"How annoyingly composed," Ryou muttered, but his hands didn't stop moving.
Since she was being so considerate, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.
After buffing himself, Jeanne, and Ais with all the enhancement runes he knew, Ryou shamelessly redeemed a large batch of attribute-boosting potions from the system store.
This time, he was going to take a page out of a certain Overlord and have a fair PK!
"You know, men who keep women waiting aren't very popular~"
Sakura teased, clearly tired of watching him pile on buffs.
Ryou ignored her, only responding once he had fully stacked the buffs on all three of them.
"Sorry, but I already have wives. And not just one."
"Oh? Then they must have poor taste."
"Well, it's still better than being a single dog no one wants."
Before the battle had even resumed, the two were already at each other's throats, the air thick with hostility.
"Let's put aside the meaningless bickering. In the end, we'll settle this with strength."
Ryou planted his foot firmly and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Without needing orders, Ais and Jeanne moved to flank Sakura from both sides.
In an instant, the three of them formed a coordinated pincer attack.
"So, you're finally getting serious? I was starting to grow impatient~" Shingu Sakura's phoenix eyes narrowed.
In the next second, without any visible movement from her, countless slender golden-tinted mercury spikes materialized in front of her and shot toward him like a rainstorm!