148 Imperial Civil War Arc 6: The Trap

side: Lorenzo

Witnessing Akira’s Personal Ship sinking, Lorenzo (the 7th Prince) was consumed by guilt.

The ratio of our forces—Lorenzo (the 7th Prince) versus Leonardo (the 7th Prince)—was 65,000 to 180,000.

Even if we counted the fortress ship’s combat power as equivalent to 5,000 ships, it was still 110,000 to 180,000.

If we couldn’t rely on Akira’s combat power, there was never any chance of victory to begin with.

No—there was no chance, which is why Akira bought us time so we could retreat.

Akira’s Personal Ship should’ve been able to escape via continuous dimensional jumps (warp).

Leonardo (the 5th Prince) was locked in a deadlock with Naihyūm, his forces depleted.

And I—blindly charged in without even checking the reconnaissance.

Who the hell would believe something so cleverly deceptive was possible?

"I’m sorry… Akira…"

With that, Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) shifted his focus.

“Retreat! Prepare dimensional jump—warp. We’re pulling out while they’re still disoriented.

Let half of them escape first. Until warp prep’s complete, our fortress fleet will hold them off with Fortress Cannons.

Right—communications jammed. Get the command scroll, send out a liaison vessel.”

Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) allowed the正规 military’s fortress ship to flee first, then initiated the retreat with his own four fortress ships forming the rearguard.

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side: Leonardo

“Got him! I killed that bastard Akira!”

Watching Akira’s Personal Ship explode, Leonardo (Fifth Prince) was ecstatic.

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) was laughing like a madman, doing some bizarre, jerky dance.

Probably what he thought was a victory dance.

For a split second, command faltered.

"Enemy fortress ship is performing dimensional jump—warping out!"

"What? Why aren’t we shooting?!"

"Um..."

Leonardo (Fifth Prince)'s aide stammered.

"Spit it out already!"

"Your Highness ordered us to destroy Akira with 180,000 ships..."

"Wait—what?!"

"Your Highness gets upset if we do anything beyond orders..."

The aide was kicked into the air by Leonardo (Fifth Prince).

"Useless trash. Fire at the enemy. It’s not exactly rocket science, is it?"

Leonardo (Fifth Prince)'s force of 170,000 launched an attack on Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s army.

One hundred thousand enemy ships had already been sunk by Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s Fortress Cannon.

The distance to the enemy was too great like this.

We’ll get hammered to death by Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s Fortress Cannon if we stay put.

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s i d e: Lorenzo

"Enemy’s movements are sluggish. Warp now—before they react!"

Under Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s command, the remaining fortress ships vanished into dimensional jump (warp).

Only Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s flagship remained.

The distance to Leonardo (Fifth Prince)'s fleet was too far.

The enemy was beyond the Railgun’s maximum range.

Maximum range of a Railgun? That’s the sweet spot—far enough to dodge, close enough to intercept.

Railguns, mass-throwing weapons, keep their initial velocity in the vacuum of space, so theoretically, their range has no limit—provided you do nothing.

But you’re not going to do nothing, so there’s a maximum range defined by the point where hitting the target becomes impossible.

That’s why Fortress Cannons, reaching at sublight speed, have a range determined by energy decay—high output means long range, allowing one-sided bombardment of the enemy.

But as long as you’re using energy for the Fortress Cannon, you can’t channel it into dimensional jumps—warping.

To keep the enemy at bay, you have to fire the Fortress Cannon, and firing it locks you out of warping during the recharging period.

So Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince, pulled back one ship at a time.

"A chance to retreat, courtesy of Akira. Can’t waste it."

Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince, didn’t hesitate—he went straight into dimension jump (warp) preparation for retreat.

Leonardo, the Fifth Prince, advanced his mixed fleet toward range.

They were now past the site where Akira’s Personal Ship had exploded—tens of thousands of ships had passed that point.

Enemy warships, likely, were starting to reach them with railgun fire.

Lorenzo ordered the fortress ship to evade while retreating, channeling energy into the dimension jump (warp) drive.

At that moment, the fortress ship was struck by a shock.

“What the hell was that?!”

“Enemy fleet—starboard side! A detachment from Niahyum!”

Seemed they’d been flanked without realizing it.

Or maybe they’d been ambushed all along.

“Don’t let Niahyum corrupt us! Destroy the core!”

Leonardo’s command flies through the air—but energy siphons from the dimensional jump (warp) drive.

Railguns from Leonardo’s (Fifth Prince) combined force slam into the fortress ship.

“Damn it. If this keeps up…”

Then—explosion at the heart of Leonardo’s (Fifth Prince) approaching fleet.

That spot—where Akira’s Personal Ship detonated.

Akira’s parting gift: an antimatter cartridge, released, triggering annihilation.

The moment the enemy walked into Akira’s trap.

Simultaneously, a railgun blast strikes the Niahyum attached to the fortress ship.

Niahyum vessel fragments.

“Dimensional jump (warp) drive—energy refill reactivated!”

“What the hell was that!?”

Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) asks, but no one knows why.

Then—communication comes through.

"Lo—renzo, you're not supposed to be the rear guard. What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?"

"Akira? You’re alive!?"

Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) is genuinely shocked.

"Yeah. I set a trap and went stealth to check things out."

"But I saw your Personal Ship explode..."

"That was a decoy. A body-switching trick."

Lorenzo looks half-dazed, but catches something off and asks.

"Huh? Wait—did communications just come back online?"

"I set up the Dimensional Communication. I didn’t expect it, but when I sent a stop command to the Dimensional Radar’s black box, the jamming stopped too."

Anyway, no time for small talk. Can you jump dimensions now?

"Got it."

"Then pull back. Regroup, reorganize—then we hit 'em back."

My Personal Ship and Lorenzo’s (the Seventh Prince’s) Fortress Ship have jumped dimensions—warping away from the Rasty System.

As long as Leonardo (the Fifth Prince) relies on the Naihoom small fleet for movement, warp distance is limited to one light-year per day.

That should give us plenty of time to regroup.

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Added clarification on railgun range.

In space, kinetic projectile weapons have no inherent range—but in this world, “range” refers to the distance at which interception or evasion is still possible.

Added and revised to clarify the previous ambiguity.