17 Initiation

Judgment must not be flawed.

Within the accelerating thoughts, Kou considers this.

The Golden attempting to strike Jin with the Spatial Cannon.

To miss the opening created by his master’s self-sacrifice—impossible.

Now comes the real challenge.

How to finish it.

A misstep in procedure will shatter Jin’s Raven for good this time.

The Spatial Cannon must not be fired.

Even if the Golden is defeated afterward, that would be defeat for Kou.

Cutting through the chest—rejected.

The chest armor is too resilient.

Even the Golden, at half its usual size, cannot bypass it.

The ether convergence taught by Jin.

Reducing it to the precision of a thread, maintaining that focus while cutting—Kou can do this.

Then, bisecting the target should be possible.

Yet the Spatial Cannon may be fired before the cut is complete.

That means the first priority must still be to dismantle one point.

A rippling slash etches into the Golden's leg.

One empirical rule Kou has discovered.

Slight difference, but this method takes longer to regenerate than a straight cut.

The Golden's stance destabilizes as its footing is compromised.

The chest faces upward, rendering the invisible Spatial Cannon ineffective—Jin's head is taken without further effort.

Even without a head, the situation remains clear.

Jin rises from the ground with a motion of the back, then thrusts the Ether Dagger upward with the remaining arm.

Kou follows suit.

Simultaneous attack from front and rear. The Golden cannot withstand it—leaps skyward, relying solely on arm strength.

Avoidance succeeds, but the exposed, glossy surface becomes the target.

'Firing at the mark.'

Yuria's sniper shot pierces through.

Amid the swirling chaos of the disk-shaped engagement, she halted her unit's feet.

Kneeling position. Firing repeatedly at the floating Golden while maintaining stability in midair.

The power was adequate—more so the rate of fire, it seemed.

Lifted upward by the gunfire before she could reach the ground, suspended like a toy.

While displaying such divine tricks, Jin and Kou had reestablished their stances once more.

Another slash at Golden, who could not gather material for regeneration.

Reduced to fragments finer than eight parts—no one here presumed it unharmed.

And above all, a clear change had occurred.

The disk-shaped units fell one after another.

Then, all communications ceased simultaneously.

Jin had briefly tensed, expecting the next move—then realized the cause immediately.

"Everyone, switch communications to standard mode."

The channel we were using was a direct hijack of an etheric signal from a super-large-scale entity.

If that channel is gone, it means the super-large-scale entity has vanished—its reactor has ceased operation.

‘Processor 2 destroyed! All processors offline. Reactor reaction has ceased… super-large-scale entity silent.’

At those words, Jin finally released the tension in his shoulders.

“Is it over…”

He had finally defeated his long-standing adversary.

Yet no particular emotion arose.

He had avenged himself.

He had believed something would change.

It did not.

It was no different from the end of any other battle.

Still, this was a conclusion, a closure.

Thus, after ten years of unresolved events, closure had been reached.

He decided to celebrate that.

Ah, but...

Only emptiness remained.

The desire for revenge had vanished completely, leaving behind nothing but an empty sensation.

"Instructor? Are you alright?"

"Not an Instructor—Captain. The unit's in bad shape... but we'll manage."

Only one spare Reactor remained.

Missing one arm, one leg, head lost. Weapons mostly worn out.

A battered state, to be sure.

Jin smiled, thinking it might take three seconds to defeat a usual worm-type unit now.

He no longer expected to fight.

Honestly, he had no intention of clinging to active duty past thirty.

Maintaining his current skill level was becoming increasingly difficult.

He had savings, too. Maybe starting something new, like Jake, wasn't a bad idea.

Fortunately, Mio hadn’t reached her rebellious phase yet. Spending more time with her now would help avoid panic when that time came.

Then there was Sharon.

He still didn’t fully know what he wanted to do about her. But he had to think about it.

He could no longer delay answering what had been left unresolved.

There were many things to consider.

Even just addressing each matter one by one would surely bring a busy, yet fulfilling life.

"Evacuate all personnel. For units unable to move—those that can, carry them."

Declining politely, saying he was fine, Jin and the others retreated along the breached corridor, heading back to the mothership.

Of the mobile units, only about half remained operational.

Seemed they had taken heavy damage during the sustained engagement with the Golden.

If even this elite unit suffered such losses, the overall casualties might be far worse.

Perhaps fifty percent—maybe even below forty.

That would mean damage on par with the previous humanoid assault.

If so, his request for discharge might not be approved anytime soon.

Jin thought that.

Emerging from among the colossal forms.

The fleet engaged outside was deserving of the phrase "riddled with wounds."

Not a single vessel remained unscathed.

Communication channels had devolved into chaos.

Even officers who would normally suppress such behavior were elated—there was nothing to be done.

‘……Ah, identification signal confirmed. This is from the Second Fleet.’

‘What is it? What now? Arriving this late?’

‘They sent reinforcements… appreciated, but too late.’

‘No, he launched an overlight assault on us. Without that, we’d have merged just in time.’

An alarm sounds.

Not now.

Since eight years ago.

Yet, the act of ignoring what had been ignored for so long could no longer be overlooked.

Why has the Second Fleet reappeared now?

Nothing particularly strange about it. If reinforcements could arrive in time, they would dispatch them.

Jin’s thoughts, however, had already leapt elsewhere.

No longer mere demonic intuition.

No basis. No proof.

Only that every point he had observed thus far now connected—coalesced.

He had seen it all.

The Second Fleet’s design became clear.

Several details remained unexplained, yet the overall picture held.

How could it be? Jin had nearly reached the answer, yet failed to recognize it.

“Mio…”

He called her name.

At once, a voice rose—confused.

‘Assault Frame unit launching from Second Fleet Defense Fleet flagship, Trishula.’

‘Hey, you realize it’s already over?’

‘! Trishula, initiating deployment! Transitioning to close-combat mode!’

‘Maximum engine output! Gay Volk advancing at full speed! Positioning ahead of the fleet!’

Only the captain of the Gay Volk had moved to action.

Even Jin could not move.

Impossible.

Unthinkable.

They had all unconditionally believed it could never happen—no matter how much they had considered the possibility.

"Trishula's reactor reaction increasing! Ether Hy Mega Cannon charging!"

"Maximum Ether Field output! Do not let it pass behind us!"

"Ether Hy Mega Cannon fired!"

A flash erupted across a battlefield that should have been over.

The sister ships, Trishula and Gay Volk.

The etheric glow connecting the two, closing in on each other in close-combat mode.

The flagship of the Second Fleet Defense Force fired upon the flagship of the Third Fleet Defense Force.

The Gay Volk deflected the torrent of ether—though not perfectly.

The battle thus far had already drained our reserves.

Soothing the reactor's complaints, combat output was secured—but not enough to deflect the main cannon of the 'Trishula,' in peak condition.

It pierced the ether field, breached the ether coating, and struck through what humans would call the elbow joint.

'Impact on Block 478! Ether Himegacannon, detached!'

The main cannon, once attached below the elbow, lost its support and slowly drifted away from the Gay Volk, carried by the shockwave.

All aboard seemed to have their souls torn out by the explosion.

"They actually did it..."

There was no way to conceal this now.

Excuses were impossible.

It was clear—malice was intended. They had fired with the intent to kill.

War.

The two characters flashed through the minds of everyone present on the battlefield.