The inside of the Lion Rabbit ship was in an uproar. Rabbits were scurrying all over the bridge, some tripping and rolling on the floor.

“This is bad! This is bad-usa!”

“The outcome didn’t match the prediction?”

“Awawa, calm down and eat a carrot-usa.”

“I brought donuts too. We have chocolate and cream as well.”

Some rabbits were trying to calm down by sitting in a circle and crunching on carrot sticks. Rabbits love to huddle together in a big group.

The sight of the rabbits gathering to eat was adorable, with one blue-haired girl mixed in, saying, “Prefer donuts-usa”, while the rabbits clung to her.

The rabbits were in complete chaos, like a wolf had entered their nest, but there were still some who remained calm.

It was Tete who calmed the commotion, gently tapping on the monitor with its soft, fluffy paws. Tete, the rabbit who gets things done when necessary. That’s Tete, the admiral.

“Calm down-usa! With Tete’s brilliant negotiation skills, I’ll make the enemy surrender, so just wait a little-usa yo. If we don’t stop the Demon Ship, we’ll be in big trouble-usa yo. Doesn’t look like it is going to work, so I’m going to fire the Lion Rabbit Cannon—ACHOO!” (Tete)

The admiral rabbit, trying to fire the main cannon amidst the confusion with its brilliant negotiation skills, sneezed when its nose was tickled by the pompom on the end of a rabbit teaser toy. The rabbit holding the teaser raised its voice proudly in its stead.

“Be serious-usa. Commander, the result didn’t match the prediction-usa yo.”

Out of the five rabbits, only one was taking things seriously. That one rabbit looked up at Mira, who had stopped the Psycho Cracking. As expected, even Mira wore a serious expression and spoke in a stern tone.

“We predicted just one remaining squadron. To think they had a dimensional submergence Demon Ship, Forneus, hidden… It appears that this was a garrison capable of fabricating false information.” (Mira)

The Demon Ship itself wasn’t the biggest issue. The real problem was that it had a captain—someone at the level of a staff officer. This was a whole different league from the enemies they have faced so far. It was uncertain whether even Pla-san could win this one.

“So, the prediction engine of the Earth Library has finally been proven wrong. This encounter won’t end with just a mid-level difficulty. The original plan was to defeat the squadron and use it to train Pla-san…” (Mira)

She took out a carrot stick from Tete’s pocket and munched on it as she pondered…the difference in battle power between the current Player and the enemies.

“U-Um, is my Stepbrother in any danger?” (Nono)

The girl asked, her face tense with worry. 

Mira swallowed the last of the carrot stick. Tete cried with teary eyes. 

Mira was impressed by how, despite everything, this girl still loved Lanpeach Kouza as part of her family.

“…No problems at all. Pla-san’s abilities have been rigorously trained in a harsh Spartan environment, so the odds of winning are as high as a leading batter’s average. Plus, we’ve got Agent Michibiki and the Rabbit Squad with us.” (Mira)

Mira lied through her teeth with a gentle smile that endeared her to others.

“I-I see. Yeah, that’s right. My Stepbrother is out there being strangled by vines right now, but he’s safe, right?” (Nono)

The girl heaved a sigh of relief, her chest relaxing. It seems that she mistook a struggling army soldier for Pla-san thanks to the Causality Sunglasses. The poor man, tangled in tentacles and shouting “I give up, I give up” had a comical style that resembled Pla-san’s, so perhaps it wasn’t far off.

Also, there wasn’t much time to dwell on such things.

“Can’t be helped. Capturing Forneus and wiping out the enemy forces will yield a ton of rewards. I have complete faith in Pla-san. As much as I believe the sun will rise from the north tomorrow. This is going to be a huge profit.” (Mira)

“Commander, your eyes look like gold coin bags-usa?”

A rabbit looked up at Mira with a sidelong glance and a suspicious expression. It was quite hurtful to be doubted, as she was always worried about Pla-san’s well-being. In fact, Pla-san was as important to her as carrot sticks.

“It’s just your imagination. I have such high hopes that I even plan on stepping in myself if Pla-san loses… Besides, the battlefield seems to be heating up nicely now.” (Mira)

“Ahhh! M-My academy!” (Nono)

“Oh… Went through all that effort to transfer, and yet, all gone to waste.” (Dry)

Seeing the state of the ground displayed in front of them, Nono clasped her cheeks in despair, while Dry commented in her usual dry tone.

The reason for Nono’s screams and Dry’s sigh was that the academy on the ground had been pushed aside by the rising earth. No, it wasn’t the earth…it was a massive barrier stretching over kilometers, opening outward. All the buildings, including the gymnasium, shifted and rolled away, turning into piles of debris.

“Commander, the enemy base’s barrier is opening-usa. All the obstacles above have been pulverized-usa ne.”

“So many buildings were destroyed-usa yo.”

“What a waste-usa ne~”

The operator rabbits looked at the collapsing academy with pity, as the ground forces hurriedly withdrew from the battlefield. It was the moment when rebuilding the academy became impossible.

“Well, at least the obstacles are out of the way now. Time to play our trump card. Deploy the Gunrabbi Squad.” (Mira)

“Roger that. Gunrabbi Squad, deploy. Target the underground area and eliminate Forneus and any other obstructing forces.”

Following Mira’s instructions, the operator rabbits relayed the orders, and the monitor displayed the pilots of the Gunrabbi Squad, dressed in adorable, fluffy rabbit pilot suits. They twitched their noses, ready for battle.

“This system uses the seventh generation player system in the Gunrabbi prototypes. We only have ten units, so if you break one, there’ll be no snacks for a while.” (Mira)

“Gasp! No way! We won’t let them be destroyed-usa. With the anti-demon boss system, we won’t lose-usa yo!”

The pilot rabbit beamed with a confident thumbs-up. If it were a human, this would be a death flag, but since it’s a rabbit, it probably isn’t.

“Then, Tagyo Squad, Magyo Squad, commence deployment!”

The Gunrabbis began to move at the command of the operator rabbit, and launched from the hatch.

◇◇

“Tagyo Squad, all units deployed-usa!”

“Magyo Squad, likewise deployed-usa!”

The Gunrabbis exuded a sense of cuteness with their rounded, sloped shoulders. They stood 2.5 meters tall, slim humanoid robots equipped with thrusters on various parts of their bodies and wing binder-type boosters on their backs. Their weapons included the Rabbi Rapier, which doubled as a magic staff, and a kite shield capable of deploying a powerful spirit barrier. Their armor was thin, but the spirit barrier made up for it with its strength.

Each Gunrabbi was powered by an engine made entirely of spirit crystals, outputting far more energy than even the spirit armor of the ground units. With an attack power of over 400 and equivalent defense.

The leader of the Magyo Squad, Maa, gripped the lever and soared through the air, gazing at the ground displayed on the full monitor.

“Engine output is stable. It’s amazing that it’s all made of spirit crystals-usa ne.”

The rabbit lightly fired the rear thrusters, adjusting the angle, and stuck out its tongue a bit at the specs. Since it is a rabbit, the tongue being out added to its cuteness.

“Are all units following-usa?”

Maa tilted its head in confusion after glancing at the radar. There should be five units in the Magyo Squad, but one was missing.

“Muu is here~”

“Meme is following-usa.”

“Momo is behind us, I think.”

“…Mimi is missing-usa ne?”

Seeing the subordinates displayed on the monitor, Maa twitched its nose, clearly displeased, and its whiskers wiggled.

“Sorry! Mimi is adding extra parts, so I’ll be there later. Munya, munya.” (Mimi)

“You plan on slacking off-usa ne! You’ll face a court-martial and a pay cut later-usa! You’re always oversleeping—”

Just as it was about to get angry, the cockpit’s alarm blared, and Maa quickly shifted its gaze back to the ground. There were numerous enemy signals from the open barrier.

“They’ve come to intercept us-usa! Heh, I’ll show them the difference between the new and old Gunrabbis. All units, begin the attack!”

“Roger-usa! Witness the power of Muu, the rabbit who was once called the Carrot Field Rabbit-usa!”

“Let’s do this-usa!”

“Commencing attack~”

The Gunrabbis, who were gliding through the sky, each drew the Rabbi Rapiers attached to their waists.

“The enemy is Harkein soldiers! No need to hold back-usa!”

Harkein soldiers came into view, clad in twisted, jet-black demon armor that resembled distorted creatures, aiming their magical staves at them.

Maa gripped the lever tightly and pulled the trigger with its thumb.

[Light Tainted by Darkness]

[Elemental Beam]

A black light shot towards Maa, but a beam fired from the Rabbi Rapier intercepted it, neutralizing both energies, and causing sparks to fly in the air. However, the Elemental Beam did not lose its power and continued to head towards the soldier unlike the enemy’s magic.

“!!!”

It must have been unexpected. The soldier’s eyes widened in surprise as he spun to avoid the beam, but Maa didn’t miss the opportunity and pulled the trigger again.

A beam of light shot from the rapier, piercing the soldier who had dodged to the predicted spot, creating a hole in his torso. The soldier scattered blood as he fell back to the ground.

“Just as planned-usa! All that sneaking around to extract Boss’s spirit stones was worth it-usa ne.”

Maa fired up its rear thrusters, accelerating even more, and circled around the enemy soldiers while continuously firing the Elemental Beam. 

The enemies retaliated with their own beams, but Maa easily avoided them by skillfully maneuvering with its thrusters, and delivering counterattacks.

The Gunrabbis were overwhelmingly superior in both firepower and mobility, and the other rabbits from Maa’s squad were gaining the upper hand in the battle as well.

“Usaaa!”

Blocking a beam, Muu accelerated and pierced a soldier with its rapier, taking him down. Meme briefly fired its leg thrusters, shifting its unit to avoid an attack, and shot down an enemy with a retaliatory beam. Momo weaved through the air, left and right, confusing the enemy, giving the Tagyo Squad the perfect opportunity to strike.

The Gunrabbi squads eliminated the enemy without suffering any casualties.

“Not bad! It seems you’ve gotten stronger over these 1,200 years!”

A soldier wearing different demon armor than the others, seemingly the captain, rose with a twisted smile from behind the Harkein soldiers.

“But now, the real battle begins! Show them the true strength of Harkein!”

“Yes, sir! Understood!”

[Demonization]

Following the captain’s command, a black aura began to emanate from the soldiers, filling the space around them. Twisted horns grew from their heads, and bat-like wings sprouted from their backs. Their mana surged, and even someone dull could sense their combat strength multiplying several times over, but…

“But unlike the past, we now have the Boss System-usa yo! This system was created by analyzing Boss’s power! Prepare to witness its might-usa!”

Maa shouted as if expecting this and pressed a button on its device.

A machine installed only on Maa’s Gunrabbi activated. The wings of the Wing Binder split apart, scattering Element Powder into the air.

[Element Powder Control!]

The area was consumed by the Element Powder, and the soldiers who had transformed began to revert back to their human forms.

“What?! Anti-demon equipment?!”

“Fufufufu, exactly-usa! Without the ability to transform, your demon armor is nothing more than a slightly improved spirit armor-usa yo! We’ve won!”

Maa sniffed confidently and pointed a V-sign towards the shocked captain.

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