149 Imperial Civil War Arc 7: Retreat

side: Crowne System (Akira, Lorenzo)

Fifteen light-years from the Lusty System, physically adjacent, the Crowne System hosted Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)'s fleet of destruction.

This was one of the systems Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) ruled as a planetary lord.

Though his primary system, Lusty, had been lost, Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) still held sway over other systems—Leonardo (Fifth Prince)'s reach had not yet extended there.

“Lock down the Dimensional Jump Gate! If they use Lusty’s hub Dimensional Jump Gate, the enemy’ll be here in half a day!”

As soon as Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) arrived in the Crowne System, he issued the order.

All that effort—only one light-year per day, a punishing pace—would be for nothing if they used the Dimensional Jump Gate.

"No, destroy the Dimensional Jump Gate physically."

Lorenzo, the planetary lord and seventh prince, flinched at my words.

For a star system, the Dimensional Jump Gate wasn’t just a transit method—it was a lifeline.

It was essential for importing goods the system couldn’t produce and exporting what it did.

In effect, the Dimensional Jump Gate system was the economic artery of the empire.

To destroy it was, for a planetary lord, akin to betraying their own people.

"Leonardo—fifth prince—has some unknown hijacking tech. If the Gate system gets taken over, this entire system could be seized in an instant.

And besides, we can rebuild it ourselves right here.

I promise we’ll resurrect it the moment this war ends."

Got it. Please make sure to get the Dimensional Jump Gate back online after the war.

I finally broke through to Lorenzo (the Seventh Prince).

I powered down the Dimensional Jump Gate and shoved the entire Dimensional Storage Vault into the control block.

The Dimensional Jump Gate in the Crowne system was physically sealed.

"Alright, now we can catch our breath. Leonardo (the Fifth Prince)'s Dimensional Radar is locked down, so they shouldn’t be tracking our movements."

"We need to report to Kyle and request reinforcements."

"I’m already in my scheduled comms sync with Kyle in the neural net—Lorenzo, you should join us and we can discuss it together."

"I’d appreciate that. Send supplies from Crowne to the fortress ship! Akira, you should rest aboard the fortress ship too."

No, I’m most at ease here—my Personal Ship. There are things I need to do for the future…

You’ll need to destroy the Dimensional Jump Gate on the other star system in your domain too…

Got it. You can do whatever you want with the Dimensional Jump Gate.

"An urgent timing report meeting needs to be held soon, so we’ll have to check with Kyle’s schedule."

"Got it. Then call me anytime, you know."

Understood.

Lorenzo, the seventh prince, straightened his posture and spoke once he’d settled on the course of action.

"Let me say it again—Akira, I’m glad you’re safe. Thank you."

No, let's wait till after we've knocked some sense into Leonardo, the Fifth Prince.

Lorenzo, the seventh prince, chuckled and replied to my argument.

Yeah... maybe I was a bit too eager.

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side: Rasty System (Leonardo)

"Damn you, Akira! You won't get off easy!"

The explosion of Akira’s parting gift detonated near the center of the fleet, vaporizing every ship within a spherical area roughly 100 km in diameter.

Debris scattered like shrapnel, and ships within a 300 km radius kept breaking apart—around sixty thousand in total.

The damage was severe, but worse still, the Dimensional Radar had been offline since earlier, and communications were down.

Both the fortress ships and the Dimensional Radars were loaned from the imperial capital.

They were meant for use against the Naihume, not for personal gain—or for rebellion.

That was just how it worked.

The restriction on the fortress ship must've been lifted before the jamming started—imperial remote control, probably from the capital.

But the Dimensional Radar was disabled during the jamming.

Meaning someone dealt with the jamming itself.

That couldn’t have been remote control, not like with the fortress ship.

Someone handled it from within the system.

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) sensed it on instinct.

"Han. Only Akira could pull something like that."

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) spat it out, face twisted like he’d bitten into something sour.

Only Akira has the clearance to disable the Dimensional Radar here.

And the disablement happened after Akira’s Personal Ship blew apart.

"So Akira’s still alive, huh?!"

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) started ranting again.

His entourage had already stepped back—reading the air like they’d seen this before.

"Your Highness! Report from the occupation fleet sent through the Hub Dimensional Jump Gate—Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince’s systems!"

"What? Speak faster!"

"Yes! The fleet’s lost in the void—apparently disoriented due to the Dimensional Jump Gate’s disappearance!"

The messenger stammers, trembling.

Leonardo (Fifth Prince)'s face turns crimson with rage.

"Lost?! Lost?! What kind of nonsense is that?!"

"Yes... The Dimensional Jump Gate appears to have been physically destroyed, not just closed."

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) freezes.

"Only someone with that kind of reckless confidence and speed... could’ve done it. Akira’s doing—using continuous Dimensional Warp!"

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) is certain.

"Damn it. He’s done it. Now the occupation of the star systems will take ten times, no—hundred times longer!"

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) ponders.

Wherever Akira and the others are, it’s somewhere in that star system.

But even the next one’s fifteen light-years away.

Leonardo (Fifth Prince)’s army has no choice but to rely on the Niahyūmu-class frigate’s dimension-jump (warp) drives for movement.

Even with that frigate-class warp capability, it takes fifteen days to reach the nearest system.

The Black Knights have individual warp drives.

But deploying them would leave Niahyūmu undefended.

“So then… we’ve just gotta figure out a way to deal with the fortress ship, huh?”