We launched simultaneous attacks on the Katsuyama bases.
Unlike a nation, a corporation has no territory; capturing their headquarters wouldn't achieve much on its own. Instead, we targeted their military installations to strip them of their fighting force.
Our group was tasked with crushing the Cobra-kai Ninja base... Honestly, everything about this setup felt incredibly sketchy.
Whatever.
The Cobra-kai base was housed in a high-rise. Apparently, it was crawling with ninjas. The sign out front read "Kickboxing Gym." Of course, "kickboxing" was just the closest translation; it wasn't the sport as we know it. For some reason, there was an armadillo painted on the wall. Why an armadillo? Shouldn’t it have been a cobra?!
If I spent all day playing the straight man to their absurdity, the sun would go down. I gave the signal to Rikochi, who had boarded her combat-model Humanoid Heavy Machinery.
"Rikochi, you take point for the opening salvo. I’m going to scale the building."
"Haaai!"
Next, I addressed the anti-government army.
"Whatever you do, do not get out of your machines. As long as you stay inside, you won’t die."
For some reason, the students all gulped in unison.
"Alright, alright, let's do this," Rikochi chirped.
She fired a rocket launcher. At the same time, I began scaling the exterior of the building in my own Humanoid Heavy Machinery.
Up I went. My role was simple: capture anyone trying to flee via helicopter. Once I reached the roof, I settled in to wait.
I looked down from my vantage point. Below, the students were clashing with the ninja squads and combat units.
As for Rikochi? She was swinging her Urumi around with a low hum. Anyone who stepped into her reach was immediately finished. The enemies were scrambling to stay as far away from her as possible. That was practically cheating.
I had trained these students to the point where they could pass the Galactic Empire’s licensing exams for combat vehicles and Humanoid Heavy Machinery. I’d even put them through simulators against Zorks—though they’d been wiped out every single time.
To be fair, they were playing a lower difficulty than the one we used. It was roughly the equivalent of surviving for five minutes in Inferno Mode. In short, they had the combat prowess of veteran soldiers.
According to Tatiana, "It’s like the battlefield where the old me bit it." Surviving for five minutes in that kind of environment was actually quite impressive.
Armed soldiers rolled out in vehicles equipped with machine guns while the ninja squads launched their assault, but the students remained calm. To be honest, this was a cakewalk compared to facing a swarm of Zorks. In a real fight against Zorks, you’d be annihilated before you even realized what was happening.
I’d equipped the students with pulse rifles. They were the easiest weapons to handle and maintain. To avoid any political headaches, I’d stayed away from Latarnian-made gear and opted for Chronos models instead. Since we were technically at war with Latarnia, it felt like the safer bet.
Lepsitol-made? Not a chance. Their government didn't even set minimum quality standards; corporations just built whatever they wanted. There was no way I was trusting my life to something that sketchy. That's the problem with corporate dictatorships—the weaknesses eventually start to show. It might be different if there were actual, healthy competition, but when companies solve their problems with ninjas and Yakuza, all sense of trust goes out the window. Their spec sheets were almost certainly full of lies.
The students were peppered with machine-gun fire from armored vehicles, but the armor on a Humanoid Heavy Machinery wasn't something to be scoffed at. Those bullets weren't going to penetrate.
Suddenly, a tank rolled out of the building. They were getting desperate. It was likely an unmanned unit. I figured I should probably lend a hand.
I deployed the rifle slung across my back. An anti-materiel rifle. Taking careful aim, I fired from my perch. The tank erupted in a massive explosion.
The ninja squads began to retreat. It made sense; if their opponent were Latarnia, they might have fought to the death, but there was no reason to throw their lives away against an anti-government student group.
I spotted an unmanned transport aircraft approaching. I set aside the anti-materiel rifle and switched to my pulse rifle. My shots hit home, and the craft went into a tailspin before crashing.
Hah, did they really think I’d let them evacuate?
Finally, the head of the Katsuyama Military Department emerged—one of several executives in charge.
"Okay, let's play nice and stay quiet," I said, leveling my pulse rifle at him. "It won't be worth the hospital bill if you get hurt."
"Taking me prisoner won't stop this war!" he barked.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say."
He was right; one man wouldn't stop it. But all we had to do was capture the key executives and let Mike & Hammer absorb them. If we swallowed Katsuyama and became the top-ranked conglomerate, even the Lepsitol government wouldn't be able to ignore us. Then we could transition to a democracy and settle things with Latarnia.
It would be fine. Latarnia didn't actually have the bandwidth to turn all of Lepsitol into slaves or toys. As long as the hostages were released with minimal bloodshed, apologies were made, reparations paid, and the perpetrators handed over, they’d be satisfied. Sure, the titans of the financial world would be wiped out, but that was a small price to pay.
The executive and I stared each other down. If I were just some new recruit, I might have been intimidated by his aura. But I was the Grand Duke of Chronos. My status far outweighed that of some corporate security chief.
"You traitor! Kill him!"
The ninjas lunged at me. They fired rocket launchers, but I shot the projectiles out of the air. Like I said, those things were way too slow to hit me. Next, they tried throwing bombs, but they didn't have a hope of scratching anti-Zork armor.
"You want to keep going?" I asked.
The ninjas looked at each other, then promptly dropped their weapons. They’d seen enough.
"W-Why youuuuuuu!" the executive screamed.
"N-No way, boss," one of the ninjas muttered. "We can't beat that thing."
I grabbed the executive by the collar and hoisted him up like a sack of grain. Target secured. I handed him over to the Mike & Hammer ninjas, and that was that. The anti-government army didn't exactly have the facilities for high-profile prisoners.
"Alright, time to head home."
I opened a comms channel. "Claire, I’ve taken my base."
"We're almost done here too. Hey! Cut it out! No hitting! You can't kill them!"
It sounded like Claire’s group had successfully toppled their target as well. However, the students there seemed to be lacking in restraint; they were currently lynching the captured executives.
In the background, I could hear shouts of "Don't you look down on us national university students!" and "You rejected my application?! I'm gonna kill you!"
Yikes. It was a total madhouse.
"Don't let them kill anyone," I warned.
"I'll stop them even if I have to knock them out myself!"
Melissa was cackling in the background, so I figured they were managing.
"Don't kill 'em yet! Gyahahaha!"
Wait, that’s actually terrifying. What was happening over there?!
"Hey! The firecrackers... Ah!" I heard Claire’s panicked voice.
A series of pops echoed through the comms, followed by a man’s blood-curdling scream.
"Ah! Stop kicking him! Melissa, help me stop them!"
"Su~re."
Yeah. A total hellscape. They really should have stopped at using the guys as dart targets.
And so, Katsuyama lost its military capability. A separate unit detained the Katsuyama Clan and seized the majority of their outstanding shares.
Though, looking back, what we did was essentially grand larceny.