In the outer orbit of Earth, within the vastness of space, Miketsu found herself at a disadvantage during the long-range exchange with the Purification Fleet. Realizing her side’s weakness in distance combat, she resolutely chose to charge the enemy formation to launch a counterattack. After breaking through the fleet's outer defenses, Miketsu finally plunged into the heart of the ship array.
A giant light blade, over seventy meters long, cleaved through the darkness. A massive hundred-meter vessel was sliced clean in half, subsequently vanishing into a series of violent explosions. Without a moment's pause, Miketsu dragged her impossibly large blade of light toward the next target. With incredibly nimble maneuvers, she evaded the barrages she had already foreseen. She flew alongside a second warship; with a single sweep, the vessel was severed in a flash of golden light. Miketsu didn't even look back as she charged the next ship, the series of explosions behind her erupting in brilliant flames that silhouetted her figure.
As the war reached this stage, casualties finally appeared. To everyone's surprise, the side taking losses was the Purification Fleet, which had previously held the upper hand. This was an outcome the Lunarian commanders absolutely could not accept.
"Bang!"
Inside the flagship, the Sage stared at the flames of the exploding warships on the screen and slammed his fist onto the table. His eyes brimmed with fury, and his uncontrollable emotions caused his entire body to tremble slightly.
"All ships of the Second, Third, and Fourth Squadrons, hear my command! Adjust priority targets! Fire all batteries! Shoot down that audacious, impure god who dared to break in!"
With a wide sweep of his arm, the Sage, acting as fleet commander, issued orders to the entire family fleet. His command quickly reached every vessel. In an instant, all ships surrounding Miketsu shifted their priority targets, training every weapon on their hulls toward her before firing simultaneously.
Suddenly, the crisis causality Miketsu sensed increased tenfold! Before her, the red Crisis Lines of danger almost completely filled her vision, leaving her nowhere to run.
"Heh... quite the spectacle..." Miketsu chuckled softly, her expression calm. She then drew the Blade of the Three Realms from her waist, manifesting its Demonic Blade Mode in a burst of radiance. Gripping the broad demonic blade in a reverse hold, she funneled a massive amount of energy into it. Once converted into demonic power, the energy erupted as a storm of demonic energy.
"Wind Feather Burst!"
Powerful high-pressure air currents provided a forceful thrust, causing Miketsu’s speed to surge several times over in an instant. With this heightened velocity, the number of barrages she could evade increased significantly, and the crisis causality she sensed dropped by more than half.
Relying on her powerful jet propulsion and crisis precognition, Miketsu twisted and turned amidst the siege of over a hundred warships, maneuvering with absolute freedom. Her red and white figure streaked through the sky-filling curtain of beam cannons and missiles.
Even though the fleet possessed excellent fire-control radar and a vast number of weapons, it was difficult to pose a threat to a girl barely 1.5 meters tall who could move at hypersonic speeds with such flexibility. Furthermore, with Miketsu able to read the future through causality, hitting her was nearly impossible.
While the Purification Fleet's dense offensive couldn't hit Miketsu, it did restrict her offensive movements. Facing the endless attacks coming from all directions and sensing the numerous missiles clinging to her tail, Miketsu suddenly had a new idea.
Locking onto a specific ship, Miketsu charged toward it, with countless shells and missiles trailing closely behind her. She flew to the side of the warship and performed a sharp, high-angle turn. The missiles following her couldn't match her turning radius; they swung out in a wide arc and slammed directly into the ship's shields. As the shields were shattered, the numerous shells that had been aimed at Miketsu but missed struck the vessel instead. After enduring a round of friendly fire, the ship exploded in the vacuum of space.
Illuminated by the fire of the explosion, Miketsu immediately flew toward the next victim. She used her mobility to circle the ships, guiding the endless barrages and fire aimed at her to miss and slam into the allied vessels, destroying them.
In this manner, Miketsu wove through the fleet, redirecting their own attacks back at them. After a bout of devastating friendly fire, numerous ships were destroyed in bursts of explosive flame.
In a short time, the number of ships lost to friendly fire far exceeded those Miketsu had cut down herself. Battle reports poured into the flagship like a flurry of snowflakes.
"Report! The Silent Moon has been destroyed by accidental fire!"
"Report! The Pastoral Moon has been destroyed by accidental fire!"
"Report! The First Quarter Moon has been hit and has lost combat capability!"
...
Inside the flagship, the Sage’s face twitched as he listened to the string of friendly fire reports. His wide eyes seemed unable to believe the reality before him. Such overwhelming firepower had not only failed to defeat the intruder but had caused massive collateral damage.
Although the Lunar Capital's fleet was powerful, this was actually their first large-scale combat mission. They had run countless simulations and calculations, but this specific scenario had never appeared in any of them.
"Cease all-battery fire! Do not fire until you can absolutely confirm there will be no friendly fire!" With another sweep of his arm, the Sage roared his command. His order rippled through the fleet, and Miketsu felt the crisis causality around her diminish significantly.
"Oh? It dropped so much all at once. In that case..." Seeing the barrage attacking her significantly decrease, Miketsu smiled softly. She raised her giant light blade and charged forward again. With a single swing, another ship was sliced in two. Without the suppression of full-output barrages, Miketsu could happily go back to slicing ships... though...
She couldn't help but feel that her efficiency in slicing ships was actually slower than letting them hit each other.
...
On the space station, Kou defended against the now-weakened barrage while watching the series of explosions in the chaotic fleet in the distance with his divine sight. His expression was incredibly complex.
Although he had heard Tsuruha say that the current Miketsu was far stronger than before, he hadn't taken it to heart. In his view, given Miketsu's divine office and position in the divine genealogy, there had to be a limit to her strength. Kou had prepared himself to protect her with all his might if she ever fell into a crisis like the one a century ago. But looking at it now... perhaps such a crisis would never come again.
She didn't need anyone's protection to begin with...
Recalling the incredibly gentle smile of the Inari Okami he once knew, and her personality that loved all things and wouldn't even kill a single insect, Kou couldn't help but sigh.
"As I thought... you two are completely different beings..."
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