Reiko had fallen down a cliff with a sharp drop. The height difference was over 100 meters.
Gigantes slowly approached Jin and Reinhardt.
âI canât believe that Reiko couldnât win.â
Reinhardtâs face was pale.
âThis bastard, to my ReikoâŠâ
At the moment when was about to fire off a maximum-power [Laser].
âIâm sorry, Father. I got careless.â
Reiko had jumped up the cliff and come back.
Jin stopped casting magic and,
âReiko! Are you okay?â
He asked worriedly. Reiko waved both her hands and,
âYes, nothing has broken.â
She said and gave Jin peace of mind.
âFather, wonât you leave that to me?â
Said Reiko standing in front of Jin, she seemed angry.
âEven if it was for a moment, I caused Father worry. Itâs my duty to fix that.â
She said and ran off without even waiting for Jinâs reply. Jin looked at her back and,
âReiko! Do what you want to do! But this time donât lose!â
He called out to her.
After hearing Jinâs yell, Reiko increased her Ether Converterâs output to 40 percent.
It was as if she turned into a small bullet as she rammed Gigantes with her body. Even Gigantes was felled by that shock.
âOh, did she do it?â
Reinhardt let out a small shout of joy, but, Gigantes grasped Reiko tightly with both its arms.
In comparison to her body, Gigantesâs hands were thick and large. In proportion to the handsâ size, it held down Reiko with ease.
Then while Gigantes sucked Magic Energy from Reiko to strengthen its own body, it tightened its grip on Reiko trying to destroy her.
Creaking and grating sounds came out from either Reiko or from Gigantes.
âReiko!â
At Jinâs shout Reiko turned to face him just once, and showed a sweet smile. Like saying there was nothing to worry about.
Then Reiko increased her Ether Converterâs output to 80 percent.
âWh-what?â
Reinhardt let out a bewildered voice.
That was only natural, as he saw something like a thin light shining around Gigantes. It was a side effect of when an enormous amount of Ether transforms into Mana.
Gigantesâs special characteristic was taking in Mana from the outside, and converting it to Magic Energy with its Mana Driver, making the energy its own.
Of course there was an upper limit. That was decided by the Mana Driverâs capacity.
Right now, Reikoâs Ether Converter had enterd full operation to supply Mana to both Reiko and Gigantes.
âSo youâve still got some leeway. âŠHow about this!â
Reiko finally increased her Ether Converterâs output to 100 percent.
Gigantes pressed on Reiko even harter.
âYou can stand even this, huh. In that case!â
Reiko increased her Ether Converterâs output to 110 percent, then 120 percent.
It was a drastic move she made because she had complete faith in Jin and Jinâs craftsmanship.
130 percent, 140 percent.
Machinesâ structures have something called a safety factor or a factor of safety.
An example of a safety factor is a truck with load capacity of 10 tons being able to handle a load of 12 tons without breaking.
And so designs with no leeway have a low safety factor, and designs with leeway have a larger safety factor. Thereâs also the balance with costs.
So, how do you think Reiko is?
Jinâs beloved daughter Reiko to whom he poured his heartâs blood making her utilized worldâs top-class materials and manufacturing processes, and the basis of her design was by the previous generation Magi Craft Meister, Adrianna Balbora Ceci.
The opposing Gigantes was an urgently constructed mass-produced trial product in a war against the devil race. There was no way Reiko would fall behind it in the degree of perfection, durability, or reliability.
There was no way a Magi Craft Meisterâs beloved daughter would lose against a faulty mass-produced product.
At least, thatâs how Reiko believed.
150 percent, 160 percent.
The rock comprising Gigantesâs body was tinged with heat. The reason was that the Mana Driver had passed its permissible limits.
170 percent, 180 percent.
The surroundings of Gigantes and Reiko were shining with dazzling light. It was just the surplus energy of when Ether was converted to Mana.
âH-hey, Jin, will Reiko-chan really be fine?
Reinhardt who was watching seemed to still be worried. Jin himself couldnât help but worry. But she had faith in the smile Reiko had shown earlier, and was only watching attentively.
190 percent.
A snapping sound resounded.
200 percent.
Something was smashed up inside Gigantes. Simultaneously its body changed into simple rock and crumbled apart. There was no phenomenon of radiation any more.
Reiko lowered her output all the way to her regular 5 percent, then dusted off the dirt clinging to her body.
She then faced Jin and quickly bowed her head,
âIâve caused you worry.â
She made a brief comment. Jin rushed over to Reiko,
âReiko! Are you okay! Are you injured anywhere?â
He asked while gasping.
âYes, Iâm fine. âŠFather, Iâm an Automata so please say broken or damaged instead of injured.â
Reiko replied. To such Jin replied,
âIdiot, I told you earlier didnât I, that youâre my daughter. Thatâs why Iâm talking about injuries.â
âYes, thank you very much.â
Reinhardt watched the exchange in silence, but,
âJin, Reiko-chan, shall we go back soon? Elsaâs must be worried too.â
He called out to them. Jin was in agreement with that.
âGot it. Reiko, does Gigantes have a core or anything like that left?â
âIâll investigate.â
Reiko immediately walked over to the rock fragments that had compromised Gigantes, dug them up and eventually she seemed to have found something.
âFather, there was nothing more than this.â
She said and handed over fragments of a Magi Crystal.
âI thought so, that would happen if you poured in so much Mana.â
Jin muttered while holding the three small fragments in the palm of his hand.
From the summit that she had been watching with worry, pieces of rock came falling down.
âCould it beâŠTheyâre fighting?â
Elsa tightly grasped the hands she had crossed in front of her chest.
Then the summitâs area was engulfed in a strange light phenomenon.
âThatâsâŠMagic Energy?â
For the light to be that bright, how much Magic Energy was it even. Elsaâs face when white as a sheet with anxiety and worry.
But at that point, the strange phenomenon stopped already, and without means to know what had happened Elsa spent the time achingly as if she had stomach pains.
But, when the sun was nearing the middle of the sky, the long-awaited sound of footsteps came.
âThey came back.â
Elsa jumped out of the carriage. Outside the butler Claude was waiting to greet his master Reinhardt.
âJin-kun, Rai-nii.â
The figures of the two, then Reiko appeared in sight of Elsa, who knit her brows seeing their state. Thatâs because Jin and Reinhardt were both wounded.
Jinâs palms were bloodstained, and both Reinhardtâs knees had bled.
âIt was a strong enemy after all?â
Elsa asked with worry and Reinhardt replied with a smile,
âYeah, it was tough. But thereâs no need to worry any more. Reiko-chan beat it for us.â
The Reiko in question was following Jin by him without having gone invisible.
âBut youâre hurt like that.â
Elsa pointed out, while Jin smiled bitterly and said,
âOh, this is from when we were coming down the mountain and we both fell. Our walking sticks and water also fell and disappeared somewhere.â
After that explanation Elsaâs expression became strained.
âIdiot. You worried me. Itâs good that youâre both safe.â
She then began to cry big drops of tears. Because of his bloody palms Jin refrained from touching Elsa, so Reinhardt was the one to hug and console her.
âSorry about worrying you. But weâre back now, so donât cry.â
Reinhardt said and calmed down Elsa a bit.
It goes without saying that after cleaning the wounds with water, they were healed by Elsaâs healing magic.