155 Imperial Civil War Arc 13: Bonds

side: Leonardo

"What the hell is that thing?!"

The moment I thought I’d buried Lorenzo—the Seventh Prince—a mysterious massive warship appeared, blocked the Fortress Cannon, and within an instant obliterated our allied fortress vessel, the Niahyūmu.

Our captured unmanned fleet of 25,000 from the Rasty system was seized. Even worse, the enemy’s control had spread to our own fleet of 15,000 unmanned vessels.

Now, the only fleet we can still command is the elite fleet of 5,000.

The Niahyūmu fleet we were counting on had only about 60,000 ships left.

And even those were moving sluggish.

When attacked by the enemy-controlled unmanned ships, they’d retaliate. But if left unattacked, they just... froze into standby mode.

"Got played by that Black Knight bastard! Said they could control Nahyuum, so I let 'em in as guests—yet the control’s not even close to perfect, dammit!"

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) recalls.

The way those two rolled in.

A Personal Ship with overwhelming performance, promising control over Nahyuum—the enemy the Empire calls an irreconcilable foe.

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) had never liked Lorenzo (Seventh Prince), who ruled a neighboring star system.

That system had been one Leonardo himself had nurtured, after losing it to a conflict with a higher-ranking prince.

Now, with Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) out on a Nahyuum countermeasure mission, the timing was perfect—except the very same Nahyuum was now heading straight for Leonardo’s own system.

They’d fallen for the perfect timing—except the very Nahyuum they’d been leading were now actually dragging the fleet with them.

“Guess we were the ones being used, huh.”

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) ground his molars.

“Link the Fortress Cannon directly to the reactor—just one shot. I’m gonna blow them to hell!”

His subordinates scrambled to obey Leonardo’s command.

Soon, the Fortress Cannon was ready to fire—but it was a dangerous move, liable to detonate at any moment.

The Black Knight was engaging Akira from a different fortress ship.

“Kukuku. Lucky me. Prey’s all lined up right in my sights.”

Leonardo (Fifth Prince) aimed, then laughed as he pulled the trigger on the Fortress Cannon.

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side: Akira

The beam from the Fortress Cannon is closing in.

The Prince’s ship and the Karen’s ship can’t keep up with the erosion. Unable to avoid due to ongoing erosion.

Abandon them? I couldn’t make that call.

That’s exactly what’ll get me killed. Just like Commander Shiina said.

『Emergency evasion, dimensional warp readiness confirmed. Countdown to time limit: twenty seconds』

‘Denied! Can’t we just stow them in the Dimensional Storage Vault!?’

『Hostile vessels cannot be stored』

I panic. Already nearing evasion limits. The countdown echoes in my ears.

‘At least a shield ship!’

Deploying a vessel from the Dimensional Storage Vault as a shield? Useless. Like throwing a hot stone into water.

At that moment, a familiar voice rang out.

‘What’re you doing, big brother!’

Kae-de’s battleship warped out of the Dimensional Storage Vault, positioning itself directly in the line of fire from the Fortress Cannon.

‘…Crap!’

Miyu’s ship clung to Kae-de’s like a remora, then deployed Sayo’s vessel from the Dimensional Storage Vault.

‘Honestly, Akira. You don’t have to do everything yourself, you know.’

Sayo’s ship moved forward, deploying the Phase Transition Field to deflect the Fortress Cannon’s beam.

Next, Nahoko’s ship emerged from Miyu’s Dimensional Storage Vault.

‘You can always count on your big sister, you know?’

Nahoko’s ship unleashed a powerful jamming pulse.

The Neahyume fleet faltered—then turned on each other in confusion.

Ayame’s ship emerged from Miu’s Dimensional Storage Vault.

"Sensei said fleets can make one plus one into three… or four. What do you think we are?"

"‘‘‘‘We’re the Brush Lips Fleet (got it) (hm)’’’’"

"Even if we can’t do anything on our own, when we’re all together, we can do the same thing as Akira, right?"

My dependable comrades had come to rescue me.

"That’s right. I wasn’t alone anymore."

Ayame’s ship began high-speed maneuvering.

Trailing a red line toward Leonardo’s (Fifth Prince’s) fortress battleship, it demolished the Fortress Cannons one by one.

Finished in an instant, it returned wrapped in blue light.

Then—braking hard—it stopped dead… and began drifting through space.

"Miyo~. Come get me. I can't move anymore."

"Hmm."

Ayame's Personal Ship had a short operational window.

Seems like their Personal Ships were all just degraded versions of my heavy battleship.

Kae's ship had the Dimensional Warp Drive. No Accelerator.

Miyo's ship had the Dimensional Storage Vault. Limited capacity.

Saya's ship had the Phase Transition Field Barrier. Field size was small.

Naho's ship had electronic warfare gear. Might even be stronger than my Personal Ship?

Ayame's ship had V-MAX. Slightly slower speed, and the operational window ended faster.

"Where'd you even get that ability?"

"Kae's ship had the Dimensional Warp Drive from the start. The rest of us just got wrapped in that fusion field out of nowhere.

After the fusion ended, we were all upgraded."

Could it be... that touching me had some effect?

‘Never mind that—let’s just get to killing the enemy already!’

‘Ayame’s position is covered by Kirara. Let’s go with Formation A!’

‘‘‘‘Oooh!’’’’

It’s been ages since the Brush Lipps Fleet hit the stage.

‘Wait a second! I’m suddenly a double Kirara!’

Kaei, filling in for Kirara, yelled—but nobody paid her any mind.

To the fans, it probably didn’t matter if they weren’t watching.

Thanks for the likes and bookmarks. Made it to 7,900 pts—huge thanks to you all.

Who knew we’d surpass 1.5 million views? Can’t even tell you how happy that makes me.

Next update scheduled for Saturday.

Adjusted the number of Neahyume ships to just under 60,000. Previous count didn’t add up.