A vast layer of black, oppressive cloud covered the sky.
In an environment like this, setting off "fireworks" would only make them shine even more brilliantly.
And so, one enormous, dazzling firework after another blossomed inside the black clouds.
Countless glittering points of light, each dragging a luminous tail, burst outward in every direction.
Where those points seemed to touch the black haze, they erupted again, blooming into clusters of sparkling flame.
The spectacle was magnificent.
But it was not over.
Because the burst was omnidirectional, countless points also fell toward the ground.
An even more radiant scene was born. Beams of light poured down from the heavens in torrents, as beautiful as a rain of light.
Yet that beauty was lethally real.
It was like industrial pollution taken too far. When rain finally fell, it became acid rain.
Highly corrosive droplets splashed onto the earth, onto every substance, and ate into it.
But the corrosive power of these light-points was not something acid rain could even begin to compare to.
Their "erosion" was more terrifying than molten rain from a volcanic eruption.
On the ground, fortifications that could withstand tank armor-piercing rounds, once struck, melted as if red-hot molten iron had been poured onto plastic foam—rapidly liquefying, with parts of the material even vaporizing outright.
A colossal Machine Lifeform, thirty meters tall, like a mountain of metal, under this shower of glittering light-points, looked like a candle being doused with boiling water.
Or rather, like a clay doll left in the rain, quickly dissolving into sludge.
Even a gigantic mechanical factory the size of a town, beneath this light-rain, had its protective shell turned into something like an anthill—pocked everywhere, riddled with dense craters.
And where an even more violently blooming "firework" wave passed over it, it transformed into a massive block of cheese.
As for trees and other flammable things, the moment they were hit, they flash-ignited.
In the blink of an eye, the ground below looked like a place with only one fitting description—lava hell, steaming everywhere.
It could also be said that the earth itself had been boiled.
And now, the sky that had looked heavily overcast was clearing rapidly.
The black clouds seemed to have been vaporized.
"What kind of incendiary bomb is that?"
Stunned by what she was seeing, Tessa murmured to herself.
Earlier, when she watched the duel against that gigantic Machine Lifeform and compared the environmental destruction, she had already estimated how terrifying the firepower of the YoRHa aircraft was.
And even that level of power could not effectively break the metal shell of the giant Machine Lifeform.
If something like that existed in her world, she could not even imagine what price they would have to pay to destroy it.
Yet now, under this rain of light, it was dissolving rapidly.
How much heat would that require?
She did not believe this could be caused by conventional chemical munitions.
Could this rain of light be plasma?
If so, then that earlier "grenade" had been a plasma grenade.
And if this kind of strike were used against actual human targets, Tessa's scalp went numb.
It would be even more spine-chilling than white phosphorus and cluster munitions used in carpet-bombing.
Just imagining what it would do to a human body made nausea surge up her throat. She immediately cut off the thought.
The front was hell.
Better not open that door and punish herself by trying to peek inside.
…
Another user currently online was an ID—Dr. Kouzuki.
Yuuko Kouzuki herself was also watching this war with a grave expression, watching this special weapon under the codename "Fireworks."
This kind of ammunition would be exceptionally effective against the extraterrestrial lifeforms in her world—the BETA—whose bodies and vitality were absurdly tenacious.
Especially the Destroyer-class and the Fort-class BETA.
Those two types were the most likely to rip open humanity's defensive lines.
The Destroyer-class were the large strains that served as the vanguard of BETA swarms. They could charge forward at 170 kilometers per hour, smashing everything in their path.
And the frontal armor carapace of this type was extremely tough, able to endure large-caliber artillery strikes, while also possessing a certain degree of regenerative capability.
The hardness of its carapace was Mohs hardness 15.
And diamond was only Mohs hardness 10. For the carapace to exceed it by so many grades, the sheer durability was self-evident.
This was not something ordinary munitions could easily punch through.
If the battlefield footage she was seeing right now could be replicated in her world—if that world's "Fireworks" munitions could be mass-produced, and the underlying physics of both universes were close enough—then it would surely melt the monsters' shells with ease.
"Lord Kain really did bring over that kind of tech…"
"6O, keep running your mouth. Do you want to be decommissioned?"
A2 suddenly cut into the comms channel with a voice so murderous it made the air freeze.
What did that mean?
Her pupils constricted violently.
Yuuko shot to her feet, and then she heard static—followed by a scream.
Her attention flickered back to reality for a moment, and she saw a small silver-haired girl in front of her, trembling slightly from being startled.
"Kasumi, can you tell what I'm thinking right now?"
Yuuko asked with sudden seriousness.
The petite silver-haired girl, Kasumi Yashiro, was a product of Alternative III—someone created in an artificial womb, gifted with extrasensory perception.
After the Alternative III plan was switched to Alternative IV, before the girl was sent away, Yuuko brought her to her side to assist with Alternative IV.
"Just say it. It's fine."
So after Kasumi described what she perceived, Yuuko felt a trace of disappointment.
Kasumi could not sense the Transdimensional Channel.
However, in that moment of Yuuko's agitation, the child had still picked up fragments from Yuuko's mind, and she seemed confused, as if wondering whether Yuuko had become mentally disordered from exhaustion.
"Kasumi, from now on, keep reading my thoughts."
Yuuko decided to try anyway—to see whether she could use this child as a "bridge," whether Kasumi could also connect to the Transdimensional Channel and become a member.
After giving that instruction, Yuuko forced herself to reorganize her thoughts.
What 6O had said just now sounded like an implication that the weapon used in Operation "Fireworks" had come from Lord Kain's side.
And that Kain was, of course, the man with the ID Mr. Golden Toilet.
So technology from Mr. Golden Toilet's world could be used in A2's world?
Was it the same technology as the grenade used to blow up that large Machine Lifeform back then?
Only a few days had passed, and they were already producing it at this kind of scale.
If they brought it to her world, could they also mass-produce it that easily?
Not only that—perhaps A2's world's technology could be compatible as well.
At that thought, Yuuko's breathing rhythm changed.
This might be her world's hope.
So the next chance to "invite" a world—
She could not afford to miss it.
(End of Chapter)
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