King Harrison, captured as an information source, no longer displayed the arrogance he once had. Now, he was quietly subdued, trembling slightly, perhaps from anxiety over what was to come.

“Now, King Harrison, tell me what moves you plan to make next,” Jean demanded in a stern tone.

“I-I only did what my comrades told me to do. I don’t know much,” Harrison stammered.

“Then tell me, who commands that army preparing to attack right now? Is it one of your comrades?”

It seemed Jean was asking about the hostile faction that had been acting suspiciously from the beginning.

“Yes, once President Ranelle is successfully assassinated, the plan is to launch an attack here.”

“I see. So there must be some signal to notify them, right?” Jean continued.

“A-a signal flare. Once it’s fired, it will signal the start of a full-scale attack to wipe out the remnants of the old regime.”

“Is that so? Then you will launch that signal flare,” Jean ordered.

“W-what? Did you even hear what I said?! If the full-scale attack begins now, I’ll be caught in the middle of it too!”

“Just do it, or would you prefer to lose your head before that happens?”

“I-I understand! I’ll do as you say, just please don’t kill me!”

“Yuta, did you hear that? The enemy’s full-scale attack is about to begin. Once they see the signal, the enemies hiding among our allies will make their move too. Defeat any enemy that attacks!”

“Got it,” Yuta replied.

“Yamato, prepare for battle as well. Target the enemy’s large warships with the main cannon! All other magic machines, prepare for combat!” Jean commanded.

Threatened by Jean, King Harrison fired something into the sky. It whistled as it ascended and then burst with a loud bang, like fireworks, high above.

The signal went up, and after a moment of silence, the distant enemy forces began to move. At the same time, some of the forces pretending to be allies also started making their move, which was quickly confirmed.

“Mark those who are moving. They’re our enemies in this battle! Continue preparing the main cannon! Show them who they’ve picked a fight with!” Jean ordered.

The Yamato had three turrets, each with two cannons. They targeted the three large ride carriers, which served as the enemy’s motherships. With a deafening roar, the cannons fired. Massive beams, as thick as the bodies of magic machines, shot from the cannons, effortlessly piercing the enemy ships. The ride carriers, now penetrated, swelled briefly before exploding violently into countless fragments.

The enemy, clearly not expecting to be attacked at this moment, fell into confusion, their fear and surprise spreading quickly.

The cannons adjusted their aim to the next targets and fired a second volley, again easily destroying the enemy ships, just as they had with the first shots.

The overwhelming firepower of the Yamato clearly shook the enemy, and their coordination started to collapse. Sensing this, my magic machine squad and the Yamato launched our attack.