Toaru Majutsu no Index

Volume 20, Prologue: A Sky that Stinks of Gunpowder. Shooting_Game.

And so World War III began.

October 19th would remain in people’s minds as the day of fate for a long time to come.

No matter how simply it was stated or how clearly God’s Right Seat had been pulling the strings from behind the scenes for their own ends, a war was not so easy to stop once it had begun.

Academy City’s last line of defense lay in the air above the Sea of Japan. If their enemy nation of Russia broke through that line with assault landing crafts or strategic bombers, the small island nation would be turned into a sea of fire and blood.

That was how everyone thought it would end up.

Even if Academy City held scientific technology 20 or 30 years ahead of the rest of the world, it was still just a city that had about 2.3 million residents most of whom were children. On the other hand, Russia was a large nation and it was one of the world’s 3 greatest military powers along with America and China. Even though Academy City had the upper hand when it came to technology, they would likely be destroyed fairly quickly if Russia overwhelmed them with sheer numbers.

However...

It was currently October 30th.

Despite being with Russia, the side that should have had the overwhelming advantage, Ekalielya A. Pronskaya, a female Russian Air Force pilot, was aware of sweat spreading below her gloves that were gripping the stick. The sweat was not from excitement. It was clearly a cold sweat.

She operated a cutting edge craft that used a canard wing for maximum maneuverability and that was considered easily capable of dealing with an American stealth fighter in a dogfight. Despite having come with a few dozen other identical crafts, Ekalielya was beginning to seriously regret entering that airspace.

War was waged at the convenience of the tops of the military and the politicians.

The soldiers on the battlefield could do nothing about it.

Occasionally, you had to be prepared to shoot down someone you would rather not.

Especially in wars that occurred as suddenly as that one, whatever the reason for the attack was, striking first left one with a sense of guilt.

However, that was not why she regretted it.

Ekalielya simply thought she was going to die with the way the battle was going.

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“What are those?” said one of her fellow pilots over the radio.

The other pilot did not use the military abbreviated codes and sounded like a frightened child.

“Are our enemies here really fighters!? Those things are just too huge!!”

Their enemies were called HsF-00s. They were Academy City supersonic fighters. Because they used the frame of the HsB-02 supersonic bombers, the fighters were almost 80 meters long. They were currently sweeping over the Sea of Japan at a tremendous speed of over 7000 kph.

Fighters were usually only about 15-20 meters long and their speed was usually about 2500 kph. The Academy City weapons were odd both in their size and their speed. The bigger something was and the faster it moved, the more inertia it held. Normally, a craft like those would break apart if it made the same sharp turns a smaller fighter made. And even if it didn’t, the intense pressure would crush the pilot’s organs.

“(...Hard Science, hm?)” Ekalielya muttered under her breath in annoyance.

Apparently, the “Hs” initials given to Academy City’s weapons referred to the fact that they swept away all sorts of mystical darkness with the power of science.

“What a fucking joke. The power of science? If anyone’s stepping into the realm of the occult, it’s them!!”

There were only 10 of them.

Only ten HsF-00s were deployed over the entire Sea of Japan.

With their overwhelming speed of over 7000 kph and their overwhelming range with the weaponry installed, a single HsF-00 could maintain air superiority over a huge area.

With the HsF-00s as the main line and a number of smaller crafts (Smaller relative to the HsF-00s. They were about the same size as the Sukhoi that Ekalielya was in.) flying around the area as well, the Academy City forces were overwhelming the Russian Air Force. The reinforced glass canopies of the smaller crafts were completely black, so it was unclear whether anyone was onboard piloting them.

“Did you know that Academy City doesn’t even have an army? Right now, we’re dealing with a group called Anti-Skill that’s basically like a police force,” said a fellow pilot.

“Are you trying to say they don’t have the ability to attack? How are those things defensive weapons!? When you’re making stealth fighters that can fly to the other side of the world without resupplying, you’re clearly developing them to invade!!”

“Did you hear their official response to the proclamation of war? They said there is no need for them to enter into the killing, but they don’t believe it’s right to sit by watching when they possess the power needed to stop the war and the tragedy. But they’re clearly intending to start killing!!”

They doubted the HsF-00s and smaller crafts were the full extent of the enemy forces.

And the weapons being used for the defensive line could easily be used for invasion.

It was unclear who was actually cornered.

Ekalielya had a strange but strong feeling that Russian cities would be turned to seas of flames the instant she gave up mentally.

That irrational feeling caused the flames of anger to burn within her as one of the HsF-00s moved in front of her.

The true battle began.

Since their enemies could travel at more than 3 times their speed, Ekalielya and her fellow pilots had no way of pursuing the enemy. Not only could they not get behind the enemy in order to get a safe lock on them, they couldn’t even get close enough to be in range. Their enemies could travel at 7000 kph. Just by going all out for a short time, they could easily move 100 km away and then head back.

(They can’t be using a normal amount of fuel.)

Ekalielya knew she was outmatched, but as a professional soldier, she desperately searched for a way out.

(In other words, their flight time must be incredibly short in exchange for their incredible speed. We might have a chance of victory if we drag this out.)

But then an enemy communication came in completely ignoring the encryption.

“If you’re thinking of going into a marathon battle, think again. My craft uses the frictional heat on the armor surface as energy. In other words, it gets more efficient the faster it goes. That can reduce its consumption of fuel by up to 90%.”

“!?”

“Don’t think you can deal with the smaller ones this way either. ...I mean, c’mon. Our weapons were designed to specialize in interception. Of course we have ways of ensuring long flight times.”

As she heard those words, Ekalielya saw something odd in the corner of her vision. One of the smaller crafts let loose a missile without igniting it and another of the same crafts flew by and caught the missile in a joint in its wing. It had resupplied.

They started passing metal boxes filled with machine gun ammunition, as well. As they flew past each other in something similar to aerial acrobatics, a tentacle-like tube stretched out from one and it refueled. The entire process looked something like juggling and Ekalielya would never have thought it possible in a high-speed flight.

By preparing a special midair refueling craft, they didn’t have to return to base.

And by constructing a resupply network continuing through the sky from the base to the battlefield, they could stay in the air longer and head to farther distances than normally would be possible.

(Kh...!! Then we just have to cut off that supply route!!)

Ekalielya adjusted her grip on the stick, but she had no idea what to do specifically.

The smaller crafts were clearly turning at inhuman angles, but the 80 meter HsF-00s moved oddly, too.

There were irregular maneuvers that could be taken with a normal fighter in order to fool the eyes of one’s enemy. There was the Split S, the barrel roll, and the Pugachev’s Cobra that originated in Russia. Those techniques instantly reversed a disadvantageous situation where the enemy was on your tail, but pilots on the battlefields actually rather disliked those special maneuvers.

Swinging the aircraft around in an irregular special maneuver brought on powerful inertial G’s which made the pilot’s body suffer. If you made a showy maneuver that blurred ones vision while there was a lack of blood to the brain lessening your decision making ability, the enemy could easily get away before you could fire even if you did manage to get behind them.

And yet the HsF-00s did not even always point their noses forward. They could move straight forward while the entire craft was angled at 90 degrees and they could spin around at high speed like a top. Even the very first assumptions did not fit them and it made one wonder how they managed to maintain their form as aircrafts. It was amazing that they did not come to pieces and that the pilot inside was still alive.

And their attacks were accurate.

Their missiles took turns many times sharper then the Russian ones while continuing to chase their target. Their machine gun bullets tore through the Russian main wings in a straight line. And on top of it all, they also used something that looked like a laser. Ekalielya’s comrades were shot down one after another by those attacks that they had no idea how to evade.

And on top of even that...

“Oh, hey, can you hear me? This is Kameyama Ryuuta of the Academy City Air Defense Force. While I’m part of Anti-Skill and therefore a schoolteacher and you’re a professional soldier, you don’t need to feel bad about not being able to get a lock on me. I actually wanted to be an air defense pilot, but there were some issues relating to the position within Academy City, so I got my teaching license just so I would have the proper position to get the job.”

The enemy sounded completely carefree in his transmission.

“Now that I’ve introduce myself, let’s get down to the issue at hand. It seems all of you are fine since the missiles were set to detonate at a distance. We were trying to get creative in order to make sure everyone could escape with their parachutes.”

“!! Are you mocking us...!?”

Forgetting that her radio encryption had been easily cracked, Ekalielya yelled back in anger. However the man on the other end remained oddly silent for a bit before continuing.

“Dammit, a female pilot. I’d heard people with smaller frames were quite useful due to bringing on less inertia, but...damn. Now I have to try even harder not to kill you.”

He seemed to be saying he could easily kill her at any time if he wanted to.

It was a stereotypical way of mocking the weak.

He was using strange technology and looking down on anyone who didn’t understand it like they were cavemen. His gentlemanly way of acting made the contempt stand out even more.

However, Ekalielya could not overcome the gap in ability between his craft and hers no matter how angry she got.

As if she were chasing after a modern jet fighter with the Wright brothers’ plane, she simply could not reach Academy City’s HsF-00s.

“You fucking giant flies! I hope the inertial G’s crush you!! How can you carry out maneuvers like that without killing yourself!?”

“We didn’t really do much. Basically, the human body cannot withstand a dogfight at above a certain speed. That makes things simple. If you can strengthen the body, then you can fly larger and faster fighters.”

“...?”

“Our bodies have been frozen at minus 70 degrees. The functions of each organ are carried out by a life support system and the brain’s decision making functionality is set to be the only thing operating. And with a portion of the calculations left to the machine, the weak electrical signals read from the scalp are used to operate the fighter. ...See? That makes the body ‘harder’ allowing us to exceed the old limits set by inertia. According to the people on the medical side of things, the partial freezing tech needed to maintain thoughts while freezing the body was a little tricky.”

A shudder traveled across Ekalielya’s body.

She had a feeling she had just caught a glimpse of the fundamental difference between him and her.

“Now then. Let’s end these boring explanations and get to the real issue at hand.”

As soon as he said that, the HsF-00’s silhouette changed.

Areas on the top of the giant main wings detached like small birds and were blown backwards. It happened in about 10 places. The small objects seemed to be attached with some kind of thin wire or something and they flew around like independent sports kites.

“Those are laser units for attacking an enemy from multiple angles at once,” said Kameyama, the enemy pilot, as the HsF-00 spun around and the small weapons flew around like morning stars.

His words were oozing with an obvious sense of leeway and contempt.

“You can’t escape from something moving at the speed of light. Prepare yourself, young lady, because I’m going to gently shoot you down.”