Vol 2 Chapter 3.2 (2/2)

I shoved Colorado inside the c.o.c.kpit, placing it under Princess Riznah’s chin. As she grabbed at her wound, I phase s.h.i.+fted through the c.o.c.kpit gla.s.s to enter inside.

“Haah... haah...” Princess Riznah hugged onto her cut arm and glared at me. Her eyes were full of hostility, but she also bore the expression of admiration.

“You could kill me from the outside, had you wanted to... why have you come inside? Are you intending to hold me prisoner? Or... perhaps?” She rolled up her body, eyeing me. She was trying to hide her body away, but her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were looking like they were about to burst out of her tight pilot suit.

“Is this your arm?” I held the dismembered arm up. It was so cleanly cut by the Sacred Sword, that a Portable Medic could reattach it right back with a quick operation. The real problem was whether or not her body could take any more operations...

I used telekinesis to gather up the splattered blood around the c.o.c.kpit, injecting it back down her wounds, so that she wouldn’t suffer from blood loss. “Use that Medic to put it back on. And, also...” I deactivated the quantized sword and used Colorado’s edge to wound my arm. Blood dripped out, combining with her blood.

With medical nanomachines in my blood, I could transfuse to anybody else. On top of that, my blood repaired the oxidization that occurred in her blood during its time splattering around the c.o.c.kpit. She could survive the surgery just fine.

“What... are you doing? Are you pitying me?”

“No, let’s call it appeas.e.m.e.nt. I might have to stay on friendly terms with the Alliance in the future.” I answered, putting the cut arm against her wound. The Portable Medic began reattaching the arm to her body.

I produced the first aid kit from below the pilot seat and handed over antibiotics and painkillers to her. She stared at me like a distrusting wild animal for a moment, but Princess Riznah soon took the medicines and swallowed them down.

“Make your return soon. We’ve run out of time. The Federation fleet will be here.”

“What about Kiske?”

“I’ll return him to you without a single scratch. It’ll be difficult to do that now.”

There really was no time. The Federation fleet was within the Critik system, and they were soon going to be in communication range with Critik-4. At that point, I could make no excuses about the happenings here.

Princess Riznah looked a little better, probably because of the painkiller. I had noticed now that her eyes were a bluish-gray.

“Why are you leaving me alive? Am I not a war criminal from your side’s perspective? And would it not come with a great reward to capture Saika and I?”

“Do I have any duty to answer that?” I shook my head. Even if I told the full truth, this girl wouldn’t understand any of it. So, I backed away. “I’ll be off, then.”

I s.h.i.+fted out of Saika to return to Dawnbringer Minor. As I made my return, Sergeant Aroha was sitting in the pilot’s seat in my place, glancing at me with crossed arms.

“Hmm? What’s happening, Sergeant?”

“Hm. Lezirth, your... clothes smell like some other woman!” She dug into my chest with her face, grumbling.

I grinned. “You also smell blood and medicine, right?”

Then, Sergeant Aroha put her arms around my waist. As she quietly pressed her body against mine, I gently combed down her hair.

“It’s my turn now, right?” Sergeant Aroha looked back at Critik-4. The spreading corruption from the center of the stadium was impossible to see from simple radar. And a camera zooming into the stadium saw... the cracks growing larger and larger.

“Yep. Anytime you want, Sergeant.”

“I really don’t want to be using the power of the Asa...”

As she grew up, she never received her family’s love and became confused by her ident.i.ty, denying her existence as an Asa. She was, however, needed to end the situation in Critik.

I held both of her hands, and Sergeant Aroha looked up.

“But... Lezirth will protect me, right?”

“That’s right, Aroha. You can do it.”

Those were the only words I could say.

I brought Dawnbringer Minor into the atmosphere of Critik-4. Behind me was Saika, attempting to teleport away with the captured cruiser.

She was still taking the cruiser after all that?! But it wasn’t the time to get caught up on that. The Hypers.p.a.ce corruption had to be taken care of before the Federation fleet’s arrival.

“Dammit! It’s always the same: a Harakal starting c.r.a.p, and a Black Sister cleaning up the mess that’s left behind! Lezirth! The start of the cataclysm! Fly me to the stadium!”

“Right!”

Thankfully, there were no more eldritch beings appearing from the cracks. Thanks to the Archdemon consuming a huge number of the Hypers.p.a.ce creatures, there weren’t too many left over. It was a good thing to remove the Archdemon after all.

[Lezirth! Are you okay?! You only have thirty seconds!]

[That’s just the time needed for the Federation fleet to get into viewing range! We’ll have a bit more time for them to detect the Hypers.p.a.ce corruption in the area! Should I try to slow the fleet down?]

“Yes, please, Luise! Just a little more time!” I shouted, standing in the middle of the stadium. Sergeant Aroha walked out of the c.o.c.kpit and into the warped world, standing on the palm of Dawnbringer Minor.

“I only did this once when I was young, so I have no idea how well this is going to work.”

She inspected the stadium-- what used to be the stadium, and raised her arms towards the cracks. And then she began singing.

It was a foreign song that I couldn’t understand.

It was a very solemn, yet beautiful song.

I couldn’t believe that she was the same girl who’d joke around most of the time. As she sung, her body began glowing as silver tattoos appeared all over her body.

The Black Sisters of Asa, they called them. Would it not have been more appropriate to call them the Silver Sisters?

With that thought, the world began changing.

--Swoooooo--!

The air resonated around us.

And suddenly, a black circle appeared on Sergeant Aroha’s hand.

It was the source of the cataclysm! Even though I had no way of knowing that, I somehow felt it to be true. The ominous feeling and power that crept out of the circle was the same as the atmosphere around the stadium.

“Kyaah!”

At that moment, Sergeant Aroha screamed in pain..

“No!” I jumped out of the c.o.c.kpit. “Are you okay?! Sergeant?!”

“Lezirth?! What about Dawnbringer Minor?”

“I can control it remotely too! That’s not important! What happened to you?!”

“...Heh heh. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, so it’s not working out so well. It’s my first time trying it with something this big, and I guess it’s too tough starting with a big one right away.”

“...What?” I was at a loss for words. “So it’s hurting you?”

“... ...That was a joke, Lezirth.”

“No, I... just don’t know how to react to such a pan-dimensional s.e.xual hara.s.sment.”

She collected herself and resumed her singing. The dark crack crept up her wrist, and climbed up her arm.

I looked at Sergeant Aroha. She was sweating profusely. She was obviously in huge pain, but she held her ground and continued her song.

[The Federation fleet arrived in the Critik system! I’m going to create an artificial storm over the area, so don’t be surprised if it gets cloudy!] Ensign Meihowa warned. As she announced, it began raining quite soon.

The Archdemon had previously flash-frozen the atmosphere around the stadium, so the area was covered with rain clouds. So the plan was to cover the planet with rain clouds to prevent visual inspections?

The black ring had almost reached Sergeant Aroha’s shoulders. She raised that arm. Her sweat was now replaced with the raindrops, but I could still see that she was in great pain.

She was definitely putting her life at risk.

Stupid...

I should have realized before with a little more thought. It wasn’t normal for a single person to stop a Hypers.p.a.ce corruption on a planet’s scale. Why did Sergeant Aroha accept such a task so quickly?

If I had realized that this task would have put her life to a test, I wouldn’t have been quick to ask her to do this in the first place. Right. Even if I knew that her life was at stake, this action could save millions of lives, so I still may have asked her to perform this. Still... I couldn’t help but feel powerless.

Sergeant Aroha gestured at me.

I approached behind her.

Her father was taken by the Asa, and she herself was appreciated by neither the Federation nor the Alliance due to her half-Asa ident.i.ty.

And she was still singing out of a sense of duty and the goodness of her heart.

I watched over her, afraid of her falling down after spending her energy.

‘I promised that I’d protect her... and I can’t do anything but watch her in silence.’

I would be glad to endure the harm in her place, but only the Black Sister of the Asa could accomplish this task.

And finally... the black ring escaped Sergeant Aroha’s hand. She stopped her singing, and slowly collapsed down. I quickly supported her in surprise, hugging her.

She had such a womanly body, and there was not a single part of her that wasn’t attractive that I could lay my hands upon. But my desires were quelled by an even stronger feeling of guilt.

“You really did your best, Sergeant.”

“Yep. I put in my hundred percent this time, Lezirth.”

Rainfall blanketed the earth. I picked the Sergeant up, and looked at the ground through the rain. The cracks around the stadium were disappearing, and the demolished city reappeared. The ruined stadium and the parking lot aside, the place was returning back to normal.

“Heh... I still got it after all this time. d.a.m.n, I’m... good...”

“Hey! Sergeant?!”

[The corruption is cleansed! You’re pus.h.i.+ng it now, Lezirth! Get back in Dawnbringer Minor!]

[Tell them Sergeant Aroha piloted it! Hurry! Fly above the atmosphere!]

Listening to Admiral Luise and Ensign Meihowa, I walked back inside the c.o.c.kpit of Dawnbringer Minor with Sergeant Aroha in my arms. She was limp without strength and nearly rested on my body.

“Are you okay, Sergeant?”

“Mmh. I’m... as fine as ever.” Sergeant Aroha resumed sitting on my knees. I had to report this situation as Sergeant Aroha having been the pilot of Dawnbringer Minor, but she was too tired for that to be convincing. How was I supposed to ride Dawnbringer Minor?

But when Sergeant Aroha took over the controls for Dawnbringer Minor... it stabilized its energy levels.

‘Huh? She’s still pretty good, even in this state!’

I had worried that the synchronization level might be low with Sergeant, but she was as good as any other high-ranking officer. In retrospect, she was an elite among elites within the Asa. Her decision making skills and abilities were way above average.

“Are you really okay, Sergeant?”

“Yeah. Phew, our vacation’s over just like that, huh?” Sergeant Aroha rested her head on me. I let her use my shoulder as her pillow and smiled.

“It was fun, though.”

“Yeah, it was.” Sergeant Aroha caressed my face gently.

I s.p.a.ced out as rainclouds dispersed. The sun was burning bright red as it sunk down the Southern horizon. Above the red sky were the Federation cruisers and destroyers entering the planet’s atmosphere. Sergeant Aroha noticed them, waving Dawnbringer Minor’s hands to signal to them.

It was... very close. If we were even slightly late, Sergeant Aroha’s ident.i.ty would have been revealed, and she might have been forced to clean corrupted planets like some vacuum cleaner. Even later, and this entire planet may have been burned down by a storm of quantum torpedoes.

I guess, even though Sergeant Aroha got extra weight on her shoulders, everything worked out pretty well.

I blankly stared at the beautiful dusk in the horizon, and nodded.

Yep, everything worked out pretty well.

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