10 The Eve of the Final Battle 3

The Third Fleet decided to ally with the Terminans.

Apparently, the condition proposed by Seventh—acknowledging their settlement—had proven decisive.

More than anything else, the fact that intelligent life existed beyond themselves in this vast cosmos.

That the entity in question was friendly toward them.

Perhaps this was the reason they chose to overlook certain difficulties.

The final decisive factor was an unexpected, yet in a way understandable, image.

It showed Sharon caressing Tikhi, a member of the Terminan people, with wax applied to her cheek.

Watching this gentle exchange, the majority concluded that firing weapons at one another would be foolish if cooperation was possible.

Still, opposition remained.

Especially strong was the backlash from families of Defense Force soldiers who had died during the invasion eight years prior.

In response, Seventh offered an apology in advance.

The invasion stemming from the misunderstanding eight years prior. Condolences for the lives lost.

Now, again, the sorrow of losing one's own child to the Second Fleet.

Please, lend your strength.

This, too, was apparently a significant cultural shock.

While struggling to find a rebuttal, the executive government had already decided to proceed with speed prioritization.

A matter that would flare up again later, but for now, procedurally, everything was cleared.

‘Ah. I don’t really know much, but isn’t it a matter of signing a treaty?’

‘...You know a lot. It seems they’re planning a grand signing ceremony, including the other fleets. A schedule adjustment request will come soon.’

‘Ah. I’m just here to lie down, after all… it doesn’t matter when.’

I’d suspected as much. Sevens, too, appears to be following the known ASID Queen ecology familiar to the fleet.

In essence, they are sleeping.

Awakening only when visitors arrive.

During all other time—focused on creating new individuals.

‘With the Hugre, they consume a planet, absorb its power. I cannot do that. I draw souls from the planet’s circulating ether to forge new ones.’

‘If you say it doesn’t matter when, I’ll pass that along.’

‘Ah. Helpful. Repeated visits—quite taxing. Even knowing the structure of rule, speaking with a feeble ether-holder strains the nerves.’

‘Is that so?’

Jin did not expect such a phrase to come from a mechanical being. He looked up, startled.

‘You haven’t noticed, have you? The ether of those we call royalty suffocates the surroundings just by existing.’

‘Now that you mention it…’

There were moments, fighting Queen-type entities, when a pressure-like sensation was felt.

Initially thought to be battlefield tension—perhaps that was what Seventh was referring to now.

‘Only those with sufficient ether can endure… generally, those skilled in combat tend to possess stronger ether.’

‘So, those who haven’t engaged in battle are weaker in ether?’

‘Exactly. Can’t afford to knock them out accidentally. Consciously suppressing it is no small burden.’

Jin learned another thing about them, silently.

…After this battle ends, perhaps he could write a book about the Terminans.

‘Ah. Regarding our destination…’

‘Our homeworld. The issue, though, is time.’

The journey to the homeworld—the third planet of the Sol system, humanity’s origin—lay ahead, spanning 150 years.

Considering the advancements made in Overlight technology during that time, the actual arrival window would be approximately one to two months.

Not an impossible journey.

The issue lies in how far ahead the Harold Fleet has progressed.

The worst-case scenario is that the Laitera Project is completed before the Third Fleet and the Terminans reach their destination.

A proposal had been made to form a fleet centered on Nail-class destroyers, prioritizing speed—but this would leave the fleet significantly outmatched in combat capability.

The Harold Fleet is estimated to be composed of roughly thirty percent of the Second Fleet's forces.

Given that Longinus-class vessels are among them, Nail-class ships would be no match.

‘Ah. Regarding that matter… we may be able to assist.’

"Is that so...? I asked Edelweiss, and she said something like, 'Regretfully, we cannot assist. To travel long distances via our Overlight, we require a counterpart. We lack the ability to traverse uninhabited planets without one.'"

Saying it in imitation of her tone, Sevens laughed, amused.

'Ah. You've grown quite close, haven't you?'

'...Well, he's the number one fan of Mio, after all. I don't think he's a bad sort.'

Even though, by number of times they've fought to kill, he's the one who's clashed with Jin the most, this relationship still strikes Jin as peculiar.

Yet aside from that, they actually get along remarkably well.

Perhaps because they're both masters of exceptional combat techniques.

On occasion, a tactical discussion would begin unexpectedly, and before they knew it, a scene had formed—Terminans warriors and Defense Force pilots gathered together, engaged in what resembled a study session.

After that, it seemed the pilots began speaking with the Terminans people a little more often.

“Edelweiss is correct. But the child does not know.”

“…Doesn’t know?”

“Those coordinates you mentioned—the planet’s position… when compared to the relative distance from here, they match the location of the signal I observed previously, exactly.”

“What are you talking about?”

No—Jin reconsidered.

Command his own neurons to remember.

He had heard it before. Yes. That.

“The end that is coming…?”

“Yes. Exactly. That signal was observed at your homeworld 150 years ago.”

“No—wait. At that time, we didn’t possess any significant combat strength.”

Records indicate our primary force at the time was the Acid Frame, constructed from captured ASID units.

Reactor output was one Lammy. Or rather, the Lammy unit was defined based on that reactor’s output.

There are no records of combat with an enemy feared by the Terminus people. No means of resistance exists.

Saying this, Jin felt a dissonance in his own words.

Yet records of the Queen Type do exist.

It was defeated. The Mother Unit was seized. A journey into the cosmos began.

Its existence is certain.

"No… there was a Type 1… I heard it was developed on the homeworld."

The earliest Assault Frame. Type 1 Harmonious.

At that point, the foundational structure leading to the current Raven was already complete.

And that same frame repelled the End, whatever it was…?

Something felt wrong. Whether humanity at that time could have defeated both the Queen Type and such an enemy simultaneously was doubtful.

Or perhaps the enemy they believed to be the Queen Type was, in fact, the End itself.

‘Ah. A story from a distant star. I cannot say for certain. But there remains a distinctive etheric waveform there… I might be able to send someone there.’

Only the one-way aspect was mentioned, yet the news was monumental regardless.

‘So… we can go straight to the homeworld from here?’

‘Ah. That is correct… then we could certainly arrive ahead of them?’

‘Ah. Yes! Yes! We can do it. There’s no doubt—we’ll reach them first!’

There is a vast difference between being pursued from behind and holding a position in anticipation.

‘Sevens. Apologies, but I must take this information back. Can I borrow Edelweiss as well?’

‘Of course. The girl seems to enjoy spending time with you all. Just don’t spoil her too much.’

‘Thank you. Then!’

Watching Jin leave, Sevens murmurs softly.

"One hundred and fifty years ago. Once before that, six hundred years prior. And once, by the first ancestor. Finally, the people from the planet where the End has descended have reached us."

Gazing upward at the distant stars, he intones.

"So long as my life endures, it shall not move. Yet among the nine oaths, only we, the Terminus, remember the original prayer. Can we truly prevail?"

A battle occurred even in the time of the first ancestor.

The first of Terminus, and the first of the other eight clans. They clashed with the power to end the world—supposedly sealed away.

Yet the backlash still lives, faintly, among the distant stars.

All eight former clans have fallen, corrupted into beasts known as Hugres.

Since cooperation with the Hugres is unthinkable, this time, the burden falls solely upon the people of Terminus.

"To entrust this to my child... it is galling..."

Yet the situation does not grow worse.

The people of a distant star are now joining hands with us.

The end of their world appearing as a sign of something.

‘Fufu… if I meet that child, perhaps I’ll consult this fortune-telling nonsense.’

A single pleasure emerges, and Seventh lets out a voice like a smile.

To make that imagination real, time is now the most crucial element.

To increase accuracy, Seventh begins extending their senses toward the distant star.