Operation Jet Anna - Part 2

One old wooden-stock assault rifle with a makeshift grenade launcher attached to it, a pack of twelve 40mm grenades, and a wooden lifeboat. That was all the equipment Anna added to her kit as she and Minako dropped by the side of the Beehive.

The plan was simple now: the redhead would move the boat with a magic circle and the kitsune would protect it. Setting a full-size barrier was impossible and they had to cross too much while under fire to risk it, so she was the best option.

It was only a matter of if her talismans were more or less powerful than the battleship's cannons. It was easy to see why everyone thought this plan was too dangerous. Even the smaller of the who-knows-how-many cannons on that old-style warship would still blow the lifeboat out of existence. And it wasn’t as if Anna would tell anyone that this much wasn’t a problem for her.

If she lost the ship, and most equipment due to that, the only thing that would change would be taking way longer to reach the ship. The shrine maiden watching her do the circle with her own blood was in much more danger here. Or at least that was how Anna would think if she wasn’t sure that Minako had some game-changing trump card she was yet to show.

Luckily, hitting a speeding boat with a huge gun was as easy as sniping a fly, so it was likely that they wouldn't need to try it out. On the other hand, the enemy vessel also had machine guns, so some protection was needed either way.

And then, as long as they drew enough attention and caused enough chaos, the other allies would be able to disengage. After that, it was only a matter of asking if they would be enough to tip the balance of force.

But that was something everyone else would have to worry about since it was unlikely that either Anna or Minako would rejoin the battle after this.

“Yer shields’re ready, fox?” Anna asked while already charging the simple but powerful magic circle drawn on blood. “I’ll start this now.”

“Whenever you wish.” The ofuda-wearing kitsune pumped herself up while taking position at the bow of the ship with her rotating talismans already in place. All things considered, she was being used as their barrier in case some stray got through. And it was very likely that it would work very well, at least for the first and, maybe, the second strike.

“Then hold tight and Pray fer the best!” Anna shouted out and finished the spell on the small boat, hearing the small vessel cracking a moment before she received the whiplash from the sudden acceleration.

As it was said before, she was relying on a very simple but powerful spell. The same one normally used on magical bullets to make them faster and more powerful and one that had way too many uses, even if this one wasn’t one of them. Something very useful to increase the kinetic energy of a projectile just by charging it with spiritual energy.

Or simpler put, she had turned the wooden lifeboat into a bullet.

A bullet fast enough to cross this distance in minutes but also fast enough to smash the inquisitor on the boat’s walls. She could barely move her body like this and, if she lost focus, falling from the vessel was possible too. It even made Anna envious of the kitsune’s physical capabilities.

Minako was pretty much holding herself just by clenching very hard to her seat, which was much better than the other occupant could do. That was a spirit’s body for you. Better specs even when, in Anna’s case, the materials that built it weren’t that different.

Either way, they were gliding through the water at more than 200 km/h and making a show of such.

In a minute, they were crossing the line of cruisers trying to defeat or avoid the battleship blocking their path to the Leviathan. And another one, and the first explosion hit the water close to their position.

The black-flag ship was an older warship in looks, which meant that instead of a few big batteries, it was packed with many different-sized ones.

Most of them weren’t capable of rotating 360º like the one in something on the newer ones and none were that big, but they were many. And these 'many' were aimed at the approaching boat now that it was closing in. Not that any of the huge bullets ever managed to hit them, they mostly splashed the water without doing much.

For now, it was going as expected.

Right as she was thinking about it though, they entered the more troublesome of the ranges. And again, as expected, the smaller guns lightened up and a stream of bullets started to pepper the duo. Most bullets were ricocheting on Minako’s barrier, but some hitting other areas of the boat too.

It was enough of a miracle that none got Anna in somewhere she would take too long to heal, but somehow, the wooden boat survived the onslaught. And so, she gave the signal to her companion and they both jumped away in a hurry. This last bit ended a little more complicated than expected due to all inertia, but they both still managed to reach the next target safely.

Also, using a lifeboat as a projectile to damage a warship was way too funny.

The boat blew up on the target’s beam and the two girls started to float by the ship's side, keeping position only due to the shrine maiden’s floating spell. Without it, it was likely that they would end up crashing on the hull or being pulled by the propulsion. Or worse even, end up left behind because the damn ship was still moving.

“Are you still well, Anna, I can see…”

“Don’t bother, ‘kay? I’m fine.” The redhead with some signs of bleeding shut her worried black-haired companion and checked if the wet assault rifle was still usable. “Get me up as fast as ya can, ay? Time to get it crackin’.”

“Don’t overdo it, please. I’ll watch your back, but I can’t do much to support you.”

“I’ve no need for someone on mah’ back, y’know? Blow as much as ya can and try to not die. If all's well, we’ll be done in a giffy.”

“I don’t know about that…”

Anna smirked at the worry of the kitsune. It was fun to see Minako react to things she had no way of knowing, in special when she didn’t notice this much. It always made the inquisitor think of how useful an oracle was…

“Don’t worry and throw me up, fox.” The redhead turned her eye to the top of the ship and to the one interesting figure she could see inside it. “I’ll never lose a one-on-one, but I’ll accept a hand… I’ve the perfect plan already, so hear me out...”