Tale of Discovery

Chapter 296: A Little Overwhelming

I let go of AI's body, to which she responds by floating away from me to a short distance away.

Along with that, she briefly stares at me before her eyes suddenly snap as she shifts her focus over to the flying ship.

Curious about her reaction, I focus on the ship as well, only to realize that five individuals have moved over to the center of the room they're in for some reason.

Using Clairvoyance, I check the inside of the ship out and cognize that the room they're in is the control room.

Sitting on what seems to be the commander's seat, is a man with a bushy brown beard whose eyes are covered by a tall hat.

If there is anything that stands out a lot about him, it would the military uniform he is wearing.

My observations don't last for long, as an interesting event takes place at where the five individuals, who just so happen to be females equipped with Combat Realizer Units, have grouped up.

Waves of energy flow through what seem to be conductors present within the ship's metallic floors and gather at where the five girls are.

"They're planning to fight us head-on," I say in a voice loud enough for AI to hear properly.

"Understood," she responds in a much quieter voice that I can hear clearly anyway.

At this moment, a loud sound reverberates within my ears as the previously unperceivable ship becomes completely visible, revealing its huge body.

Unfortunately, before I can admire it in any way, the ship, which is mainly red begins to let out a series of loud noises as numerous sections begin to move.

Following this, five blurs escape from different parts of the ship and ascend to the sky.

"Father," AI suddenly calls out, "Requesting permission to commence with battle."

"Granted," I say, perplexed over why she would even such a permission in the first place, considering the situation

---3rd POV---

Floating high up in the sky, a woman with black hair reaching to her hips gazes down at the target that she has been tasked with taking down.

"Control, beginning the operation," she mutters in a serious tone before reaching her left hand out to a small white device attached to her hip and takes it off in one swift motion.

Then, she raises the device before pressing a round button on the device which results in it mechanically changing form to a fancy pistol.

Adopting a serious expression, the woman focuses her sight on Victor who has moved away from the ship.

"Now!" she suddenly exclaims before leaning her body forward and dashing right toward Victor at a remarkable speed.

A few seconds later, the woman finds herself only a few meters away from reaching her target, only to suddenly realize that something is off.

Alas, before she can make heads and tails of the situation, Victor swiftly slashes his palm across the air, resulting in multiple beams of light that appear to converge into one escape from the tip of his fingers and swiftly slash through her body without any resistance.

Following this, the woman, who has now gotten diced in half horizontally has an expression of pure horror on her face as her body splits into two halves and begins falling into the sea right below.

---1st POV---

It worked, huh? Using Holy Slash and having the numerous lines form into one through Light Manipulation somehow resulted in the speed of the attack to increase.

Looking down at the deceased woman as she falls, various thoughts run through my mind, but, in the end, I conclude that there is no point in holding back now.

After all I doubt any of these fellows will make it out of this alive.

At this moment, I feel a sudden chill down my spine as an odd sensation spreads within my body.

I find my sight slowly turning over to AI who is currently standing right in front of the flying ship with her arms extended in front of her.

Curious about what she is up to, I watch with intrigue as a rather absurd amount of energy begins to swirl around her delicate-looking arms, to the point that the energy seeps out of her body, revealing its purplish color with small golden sparks appearing amidst it.

If one didn't know any better, it would appear as if she were some magician playing with some pretty-looking mist.

However

Shaking my gaze off of the mesmerizing sight, I begin to use my senses once again, intending to pinpoint the location of the other four girls who just so happen to be remaining still in the air for some reason.

How odd. Did they finally learn to not just recklessly rush at me?

Just as this thought began cementing itself in the back of my mind, another series of mechanical noises reverberate all over the place as the girls, who, despite being rather far away, move away even further.

Yeah, looks like the enemy is about to finally release some sort of attack.

Now then, what do I do?

Casting a glance at AI, my eyes widen slightly at the sight of her hair floating up and her white eyes seemingly glowing as the energy around her arms has become even more potent.

"AI," I call out while checking the ship's state out, "It would be fine for me to get close to you, right?"

"Affirmative," a soft voice resounds within my head while her lips remain unmoving.

Having made sure that there won't be any issues with me closing in on her at such a time, I appear right behind AI and prepare for any potential attacks from the ship and the girls.

Moments pass by, and numerous, what seems to be artillery weaponry, poke their heads out of the vessel's body, pointing in all directions.

Following that, a loud roaring noise resounds as the artillery cannons let out bright pink beams of energy all around it.

A few seconds later, the energy beams make a sudden turn and begin moving toward us with their speed increasing at an astonishing rate.

Unfazed, I hastily move closer to AI before placing all of my focus into forming a barrier around us using Vector Manipulation.

The next moment, all seven of the energy beams contact the barrier I set up at an indistinguishable instant.

Unexpectedly, I feel a sudden prick in my head, as if a needle has been poked through my brain, but the feeling goes away the next second as all the energy beams simply 'vanish' into thin air for a split-second, before reappearing and moving toward different parts of the ship in accordance with my will.

However, unlike what I expected, an energy barrier appears out of nowhere and blocks the beams, albeit partially, as the beams still manage to break through and damage the ship anyway.

At this moment, AI suddenly lets out a cute "ey!" before the energy condensed around her arms starts to get wild and shortly after, bursts forth.

And so, I watch from behind AI as the chaotic energy briskly travels through the air and directly slams into the front of the ship, following which, it suddenly disappears.

"AI?" I dubiously mutter after a few seconds of seeing nothing happened, only to be startled by a sudden loud bang and numerous cries of agony.

Interested to know what's going on, I prepare to use Clairvoyance to check inside the ship, but before I can do so, violet-colored cracks appear all over the ship as it begins to slowly break down.

Along with this sight, the cries inside the ship begin to gradually get louder and all the more desperate, so I quickly check it out and find a rather familiar sight.

First and foremost, the man wearing the military uniform is currently on the ground, wallowing in agony as his whole body gets burned with fiery flames.

Next to him, there is yet another man who I had not noticed earlier, but I assume he is the second individual with a pitch-black 'soul', judging from how he is going through a similar process to the one in the military uniform.

Moving on, the rest of those present, which mostly happen to be men aged in their mid-twenties, are crying in despair as well with their palms pressed against their faces and covering their eyes, from which eerie-looking smoke appears to be escaping from.

"This..." I subconsciously mutter. I am not quite sure about the damage done to the ship but am fairly certain that what's happening to the men is practically Divine Retribution.

"Hey, AI, is th-" I say as I shift my focus over to the petite girl, only to find her with a dazed expression on her face as her body wobbles, seemingly threatening to fall at any given moment.

Knowing that something is not right, I quickly close whatever distance is left between us and scoop her into my arms.

"AI?" I question, concerned about the state she is in.

{It's fine, Father.}

Irene? What's going on?

{AI has simply used energy beyond what she should be able to output due to unknown reasons, therefore she is in this state now.}

For how long will she remain like this? Is she even conscious?

{Affirmative. Unable to provide specific details of her state due to a lack of data. Current analysis results: Cognitional Confusion.}

Alright then, as long as she will be fine Hah~ And I told her to place her safety before everything else

{According to a self-performed analysis on AI's part, the method utilized was one that guaranteed maximum safety and efficiency in regard to the objective.}

Before I can make any rebuttals in my head for her statement, the now-horribly damaged flying ship lets out a series of disturbing noises before breaking down into huge chunks of metal as the wiring inside it gets unconcealed along with numerous parts where energy begins to exude from.

Not even five seconds later, one of the chunks of metal glows explodes and releases fiery flames that instantly burn down a few of the falling men to ashes.

Just like so, I remain in the air, holding the weakened AI as I witness the different sections of the ship explode one after another as they fall into the sea below, inevitably finishing off all those who were alive.

After a minute or so, I shake off my sight from the ship's debris and begin to look for the four remaining girls.

Shortly, I locate all four, who are at different altitudes in the sky with horror-stricken looks on their faces.

Gleaming, I access my database one last time and create a relatively normal steel lance and hold it telekinetically before locking my sight onto the nearest enemy.

Obviously seeing this, the one who I have targeted lets out a small cry as she hastily reaches for something attached to her back, alas, before she can even make use of it, I utilize the full potential of Flight and appear right in front of her.

"One," I say while grinning as I swiftly plunge the tip of the spear into her chest with just enough force for it to pierce right through to the other side.

Ignoring the pained expression on her face, I proceed to shift AI's position over so that I am carrying her with my left arm before reaching my right arm to grab the lance.

"Two," I say as I look over at the next closest enemy, with intention of hurling the lance in front of me at her.

As if realizing my intentions, the brown-haired girl's eyes in the distance widen as she pulls a small odd-looking gray pistol.

Shaking my head, I put all my strength into swinging the lance in my hand and letting go once I feel like the trajectory has aligned with my target.

Following this, the heavily injured girl gets hurled right in the direction I intended her to.

As a response to this, the targeted girl lets out a shriek as she points the pistol at her ally's body and pulls the trigger.

The next thing I know, a much weaker version of the beam launched by the ship escapes from the pistol and strikes the hurled girl.

This results in the amazing sight of the injured girl's body to pretty much 'explode' into chunks of flesh. Not only that, but the lance inside her breaks into three pieces.

Unfortunately for the girl, the momentum of a few objects remains even if changed a little, of which one is a broken piece of the lance that spins through the air and penetrates her face.

And so, with two of the girls down, I focus on the remaining two, who have conveniently gotten within close vicinity of one another, be it out of fear or for some plan they might have.

Well then, I suppose I should end this now.

Just like that, I use Teleportation to appear right behind one of the two girls and use Organic Constructs to morph my right arm into a long black blade and immediately slice through her back.

To my surprise, I seem to have diced through a sensitive spot of her Realizer too, resulting in an abrupt explosion in my face, to which I react by swiftly dashing back and using Vector Manipulation to block the shock-wave.

Releasing a small sigh, I glimpse at AI's face, only to find her staring at me with her entrancing white eyes.

"Are you okay?" I ask in a low tone while keeping a part of my focus on the only enemy left, who is gawking at me with an expression that's most likely a combination of both fear and resignation.

"Stay close to Father," AI mutters in an odd voice that seems to carry a dozen emotions at once.

Having said that, she raises her left arm and tightly clutches onto my shirt while not breaking her sight off my face even for a moment.

Finding her current state adorable, I try my best to shake thoughts of spoiling her off and focus on the last remaining enemy properly.

To my pleasant surprise, the girl is now holding a pistol in her hand and is pointing it at a head her own head.

"Forgive me," she utters in a broken tone to seemingly no one in particular as she pulls the trigger using her trembling finger and blows her head off.