This is not the date I wanted.

Knox did not object to the young boss's order and nodded readily. To be honest, he did not want to stay in this dangerous battlefield for even a second longer.

"Ah, no, no!"

However, Ai Wulian waved her hand to correct Knox's misunderstanding.

"What I mean is that you guys take the escape pod back to Earth, and this airship will be left here and abandoned."

"what?!"

Knox almost suspected that there was something wrong with his ears.

"I cannot accept your order, sir! I don't understand why my airship must be abandoned."

Although he didn't understand why Ai Wulian would issue such an order, it didn't stop him from protesting. If he abandoned the airship here, he would not only become a commander in name only when he returned, but would also become a laughing stock among his colleagues in the entire company.

"It's simple. Because from now on, this airship is no longer yours."

Ai Wulian looked at him with a smile and handed him a document.

"Director Westcott has agreed that, in this operation, except for Sister Allen's Goetia and Artemisia's manifestation device, I have the right to arbitrarily deploy all resources used in this operation based on the on-site situation."

"..."

Looking at Westcott's signature on the document, Knox's face turned very ugly. If Knox had seen this document before, he could still argue with him, but now that the Duke faction was in decline and Westcott was in control of everything in the board of directors, in DEM, this document was as unreasonable as the imperial sword in the ancient court.

"Before coming to the command room, I had already asked the magician and other employees to evacuate. Now the only ones left on this airship are me and you guys."

Wu Lian shrugged and joked in a very relaxed tone.

"Of course, if you are the kind of tough guy who swears to live and die with your airship, Captain Knox, I won't stop you from staying. But if you are killed in the explosion, don't blame me."

explode?

Hearing the concerning words in the other party's words, Knox looked at Wu Lian in surprise, however, Wu Lian still looked at him with a smiling expression.

For a moment, a chill ran down Knox's spine, making him shiver.

At this moment, he recalled that although the new executive in front of him was always modest and friendly, some of her words and actions always gave people a creepy sense of disharmony.

This feeling is very similar to the atmosphere given off by his immediate superior, Westcott.

Now he realized what a foolish decision it was to stay in DEM.

"I see...Good luck, sir!"

After clenching his teeth and squeezing out these words, Knox turned around angrily. When the other pilots saw the commander retreat, they also quickly followed suit.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Captain Knox. Please take care of me in the future at DEM."

Ignoring Ai Wulian's words, the only thing Knox cared about now was whether there were any positions available for him to apply for in the company where Barton currently worked.

……

"OK, then next."

After everyone had evacuated, Wu Lian breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the big screen in the command room.

In the picture, Allen's Goetia was in a tough battle because of Fraxinus EX's redirection magic focus cannon.

"Ah...Sister Allen is really going to lose."

Wu Lian sighed with a bitter smile. Although the winner had not yet been decided, she was already certain that this was Allen's defeat.

As for the reason, it is actually very simple. From the attack means and combat methods of that aerial ship, Wu Lian is now very clear about who Allen is really facing.

There is absolutely no way that the person you love will lose. Throwing aside reason and logic, Ai Wulian is like a girl who is deeply in love, and she has absolute and blind confidence in Liang Yi Meng Yue's victory.

"Well, it's about time for me to do my own thing."

Wu Lian took a deep breath, suppressed her crazy emotions, and began to fiddle with the equipment in the command room. Although she couldn't control the airship as flexibly as Allen or Kannazuki, she could still set a few simple commands.

Of course, she was not helping Allen. It was obviously very tactless for her to interfere in the battle between her respected boss and her crush. And Wu Lian only received one mission at the beginning.

[——Start moving towards the target——Optical camouflage activated——Deploy the random field towards the designated target——Self-destruction device activated——Countdown begins——60——]

"Alright - mission accomplished. I have to retreat quickly too."

Stretching slowly, Ai Wulian looked at another screen - Gokawa Shido who was fighting with Hoshimiya Rokuko, and a smile of anticipation appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"Ah——I'm really looking forward to it. It would be great if this could kill you instantly, Gokawa Shidao."

That way, I can see what Meng Yue looks like after the reversal.

12 battle of cosmos (final)

==============================

After inserting the "Seal Master" into Rokuko's body, Shidou nervously observed Rokuko's reaction.

He didn't dare to relax just like that. Although he successfully used "Seal Master" on Rokuko as planned, it was actually the first time that Shidou used this angel. He learned the use of "Seal Master" completely on the spot from Rokuko's perspective, and he basically had no idea how to use it. He himself was not sure whether this would be able to unlock Rokuko's heart.

However, he did feel like he had figured something out.

"Did you make it?"

Looking at the dazed Hoshimiya Rokuko, Shidou asked with some uncertainty. Of course, there was no one here who could answer his question.

However, it is not quite right to say that it failed. After all, if Shidou's "Sealing Master" did not work, Rokuko would have launched an attack long ago when Shidou was so close.

"Forget it... Anyway, let's meet up with everyone first."

It would be impossible to come to any conclusion if he just kept struggling here, so Shidou decided to take Rokuko back to Fraxinus EX.

However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt a sense of disobedience.

"So hot……"

That's right, it's the temperature. At some point, the temperature around Shidao had become high enough to make him sweat profusely. This was the result of the random field adjustment of the "Leaf of the World Tree". At this time, the temperature around Shidao had exceeded hundreds of degrees Celsius, and the visual information received by his eyeballs seemed to be slightly distorted under the influence of the high temperature.

For some reason, this feeling reminded Shidou of a car engine that was overheating due to overspeeding.

“What on earth just happened…!?”

Suddenly, Shidao's pupils suddenly contracted, and he saw that, less than three hundred meters away from him, in the empty space, a fiery red airship suddenly appeared.

That was not the original paint color of the airship, but the change that occurred to the metal deck under ultra-high heat baking.

(escape!)

Even though he didn't understand the situation, his intuition told Shidao that he was in great crisis. Without any hesitation, he immediately took Rokuko and quickly retreated, trying to distance themselves from the airship.

However, before he could retreat a few meters, Shidou felt like he had hit an invisible wall.

Only then did he realize that he and Rokuko were trapped in a large-scale random area.

"Expand——Sandalphon (Slay the Duke)!"

Holding Rokuko's waist tightly with his left hand, Shidou held Tohka's angel high in his right hand, and slashed with the heavy sword fiercely, splitting a gap in the cage of the random area facility.

However, even though the random field did not trap Shidao, it successfully consumed Shidao's precious time to escape.

At this time, the aerial ship was still one hundred meters away from Gokawa Shidao, and there were only five seconds left for it to self-destruct.

……

The battle between Origami Tobiichi and Artemisia has entered a stalemate.

If she were to be judged solely on her level as a magus, even if equipped with the most advanced manifestation device, Origami Tobiichi's chances of winning against Artemisia would be at most 30%.

But after using the power of the elves at the same time, the situation changed. The variable light wings released by the "Angel of Extinction" not only made up for the lack of long-range firepower of "Brunhilde", but the spiritual power could also be combined with the magic power to superimpose and amplify the armed "Heroic Warriors", enhancing the sharpness and destructive power of the spear.

Therefore, Origami Tobiichi finally had the strength to fight Artemisia.

"Huh... that was a little dangerous."

Barely dodging the continuous shooting of the "Angel of Extinction" in a rather awkward posture, Artemisia distanced herself from Origami and looked at the slight charred mark on her shoulder armor, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"A mixture of spiritual power and magic power. How interesting... Well, now is not the time to play, we need to decide the winner quickly—"

Artemisia stopped mid-sentence.

The reason was simple. At that moment, she saw Goetia, the airship piloted by Alan Mathers, falling towards the earth with black smoke.

"Alan!? 'Goetia' actually lost...!?"

For the first time, Artemisia, who had always given people an unhurried look, showed a wavering expression.

Originally, Artemisia's distraction was undoubtedly a perfect opportunity for Origami Tobiichi to attack, but at this moment, her attention was also distracted by the changes on the other side.

(When did that airship approach Shidou?)

Looking at the airship that came in front of Gokawa Shidao without anyone noticing, Origami widened her eyes in disbelief.

What made her even more shaken was the huge magical power emanating from the airship, which seemed to be ready to explode at any time.

"Shidou!!"

Without hesitation, Origami increased the thrusters to their maximum power and rushed to rescue Shidou at the maximum speed.

However, Artemisia swung the laser sword, blocking Origami's way at this moment.

Origami blocked Artemisia's slash with the "Heroic Warrior" and looked at the airship that was approaching Shidou, a hint of anxiety flashing in her eyes.

"Is it okay for you not to help Eren, Artemisia?"

Artemisia remained unmoved by Origami's words and replied calmly.

"Don't make a mistake. Allen's defeat was indeed unexpected, but it is not the key to today's success or failure. Our goal today is to shoot down the elves."

"——Ku! Get out of the way!"

Seeing that the other party refused to give way, Origami couldn't help but grit his teeth in impatience.

At this moment, a “whoosh!” was heard, and the glass-colored aerial ship – Fraxinus EX – increased its power and flew over Origami and Artemisia at full speed.

"Release all the remaining 'Leaves of the World Tree'! Switch to defense mode and seal that airship! Lock all the shock waves of the explosion into the random area!"

[No, Kotori, according to the calculation, that airship will self-destruct in five seconds. Before the 'Leaf of the World Tree' completes the blockade, the airship will explode first! ! ]

"Damn it! What should I do?"

Kotori clenched her fists anxiously. If this continued, Shidou and Rokuko would surely be caught in the explosion caused by the highly compressed magic power and die.

[Kotori-chan, use the magic focus cannon to attack that airship directly. ]

Meng Yue suddenly said.

"But that won't stop the explosion!"

【Believe me! 】

"—!"

The situation now left no room for Kotori to think. Kotori could only choose to trust Mengyue and gave the order through gritted teeth.

"Target enemy aerial ship - Mistilteinn (magic focusing cannon), fire!"

The Fraxinus EX's main gun muzzle erupted with a torrent of energy that had been accumulating for a long time.

At the same time, four "Leaves of the World Tree" flew in front of the main gun of Fraxinus EX, and their random fields connected to each other, forming a giant square shield.

The next moment, the magic focusing cannon bombarded the shield formed by the "Leaves of the World Tree", but under the control of "Magic Diversion", the shield was not destroyed. Instead, it borrowed the reaction force generated by the magic focusing cannon and shortened the distance between it and the self-destructing aerial ship at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Since there was no extra magic power to generate a random field for defense, two seconds later, the "shield" hit the deck of the airship without any hindrance.

Unlike being directly hit by the magic convergence cannon, the "shield" diffused the energy of the magic convergence cannon from point to surface. The artillery fire did not penetrate the airship, but turned into thrust to push the entire airship away.

With three seconds left, Liang Yi Meng Yue pushed the airship that was about to self-destruct nearly six hundred meters away from Shidao.

Then, in this silent dark world, a bright red fireball exploded.

……

After the [Heart Lock] was unlocked, Hoshimiya Rokuko did not lose consciousness. She had a very clear understanding of the situation happening around her at that time.

However, due to the huge amount of emotions accumulated after years of blockage, Rokuko was drowned like a fierce and turbulent torrent. His brain reached its limit just by distinguishing those chaotic emotions, and he had no spare energy to respond to the outside world.

Well, the first emotion that came to mind was anger.

In terms of color, it is fiery red; in terms of taste, it is spicy; in terms of temperature, it is as hot as magma about to erupt. Regardless of the reason, Rokuko's peace was disturbed, her life was threatened, and her own will was completely ignored and the [heart lock] was forcibly unlocked. Her choice did not cause trouble to anyone, but she was treated so unfairly. Any of these reasons are sufficient to be angry.

The next feeling that occupied Rokuko's heart was fear.

If it were described in terms of color, it would be dark blue. If it were described in terms of taste, it would be fishy and astringent. If it were described in terms of temperature, it would be colder than the polar ice. Rokuko only felt that the blood in his body had stopped flowing, his limbs were paralyzed and he had lost consciousness, and every breath he took was as heavy as a block of lead.

The reason is very simple, Rokuko realized that she was facing a threat called "death". At this time, Rokuko was unable to move and could not avoid "death". She could only watch "death" approaching her.