Published at 17th of August 2019 9:37 am

Volume 21, Chapter 7: From the World of Stars

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 1

Friday, November 19

Two days after departing from the ring around Alaia. Koutarou and the others were approaching the defense system set up around the planet. If they got past his, all that was left was the re-entry. However, there were two barriers in the way. The laser cannons set up as countermeasures for the ice and the air defense system set up by the army.

The laser cannons were practically no problem whatsoever. As they identified targets approaching Alaia with radar, objects below a certain size wouldn't get targeted. They had made preparations for that.

However, the anti air defense system was a different matter. They had camouflaged all of the surface to make it look like a lump of ice, and normally there wouldn't be any problems. As the system was set up to cover a wide area, it would be difficult to detect a single small, camouflaged ship. The primary objective of the anti air defense system was to deal with the space battleships and the fleets that followed, smaller ships that got through could be dealt with later. They didn't need the accuracy to detect a small camouflaged ship, and it would be unrealistic to be that accurate. That said, they couldn't relax. Obviously, patrol ships were about, and if the air system has been updated and they've moved places, they might pass close by one and get detected. As a result, even though they knew they would probably be fine, they had to spend some time uneasy.

“We're less than 3,000 kilometers away”

Peeking at her bracelet, Clan reported the situation to Koutarou and the others who were drinking their tea. Hearing that, Koutarou rested his hand on the table and looked up.

“Even if you say that, it doesn't really click”

“Geez... uhm, in another ten minutes we'll be re-entering the atmosphere”

”That's awfully fast”

“This is the result of having been accelerated by the gravitational pull of Alaia ever since we separated from the Hazy Moon. Everything will proceed in an instant from here on”

“I kinda understand the reason why people never mention distances in sci-fi movies”

“Yes. When moving in space, time is easier to understand than distance”

Fortunately, this anxious time wouldn't last for much longer. Realizing that, Koutarou flashed a smile. Clan felt roughly the same way, and was smiling as well, but her expression was somewhat stiff. Confused by that, Koutarou asked her why.

“What's wrong?”

”I was just thinking about what will happen next...”

Clan had a bitter smile. The scientist within her couldn't accept what would happen next.

“Is there something about what happens next?”

”The method of re-entry is different from the usual one”

”How is it different?”

”Normally, we'd burn up on this kind course”

”What!?”

After entering orbit a normal spaceship would descend slowly to the surface as if they were surfing on the atmosphere. Doing that, the speed and altitude would slowly drop, protecting the hull from the high temperature when entering the atmosphere.

However, O-hime, concealing itself as a lump of ice wasn't using that method. Though the conditions for re-entry are similar, it's angle was steep and its speed fast. If they continued on their current path, Koutarou and the others would burn up as they flew across the skies of Alaia as a shooting star.

“Glasses, you mean it's like on anime where they go 'Don't be reckless, the friction in the atmosphere will burn you up!'!?”

Sanae who was clinging onto Koutarou's back and listening to Clan leaned forward in surprise.

“That's the one”

In reality, the heat created from air being compressed was far greater than the heat born from friction, but since there was no point in mentioning that now, Clan omitted it.

“That's bad! Let's run away, Koutarou! At this rate, you'll burn up while calling out the name of your beloved, being me!!”

Sanae shook Koutarou from behind. Thanks to anime, Sanae had an abundance of knowledge of what happened on failed re-entries.

“C-Calm down, S-Sanae!”

“How could I calm doooown!! Nooooooo, we'll turn into staaaars!!”

“It's okay, Sanae-chan. Uncle will do his best to keep that from happening”

“Eh? R-Really?”

---”Indeed. I will slow us down and block the heat. It wouldn't be funny if the Fire Dragon Emperor burned up after all”

It was Alunaya's job to solve the problems during re-entry. He would erect a sturdy barrier and block the speed while at the same time shaping the barrier in a way that would decelerate the ship. If that wasn't enough, he'd use magic to directly decelerate it. One could say it was a feat possible only for the emperor of the fire dragons.

“My weight will increase so I don't really want too, but I definitely don't want to die”

”... Monster Uncle, how much will Shizuka weigh?”

---”... It's not like I'm transforming, so I don't think she'll even get past 200 kilos”

“So Shizuka will accept that”

---”Indeed. There's no worries as she won't be meeting any acquaintances for a while anyways”

”Relying on magic huh... I see, so that's why you're sulking”

”I can't accept something as ridiculous as this...”

Putting it poorly, they were forcibly using magic to make up for the sloppy re-entry. To Clan who was a disciple of science, it was a method she couldn't accept.

“Let's just say that we're keeping your technology for later, Clan-dono”

“Yeah. Besides, if Clan-san wasn't here, we wouldn't have made it this far this easily”

“Haah... you two are the only ones who would say that, Kii, Harumi”

”You're just a stubborn and eccentric scientist”

“Bertorion!!”

With some dyspathy mixed in, as the group got closer to the goal, they felt worse and worse. Their space cruise was reaching its end.

“Emergency alert Ho-! Detecting active radar!”

“The enemy is approaching Ho-! There forces are four space fighters!”

However, the coup d'etat army wouldn't allow them to descend to Alaia that easily. By chance or by inevitability, the enemy was approaching O-hime.

“What!?”

Hearing the haniwas alert, Theia stood up and ran towards the cockpit. Koutarou and the others followed suit. An enemy encounter just as they were about to attempt re-entry was very bad news.

Koutarou and the others were perplexed by the enemy's sudden appearance, but so were the pilots of the four fighters. They were surprised that they had come across their enemies.

“Captain, how could this new radar detect the enemy's position?”

“I don't know. It was announced as DKI's new model, but... I can't believe this performance”

”Resolution wise, there are more digits than the ones we used to have”

”When did they develop something like this...? It's not been that long since DKI entered the weapon's business...”

The imperial space fighters that they used originally came equipped with a multisensor that used gravitational waves and radio. The multisensor was used for missions other than just combat, so it had more functions than just tracking the enemy in front of them. However, that was just a device to examine their surroundings. Yet the new model multisensor that was installed just today had detected an enemy with their power off and hiding from several dozen kilometers away. Normally that would be unthinkable. The new multisensor had an unbelievably good performance.

“And why did we know that an unidentified ship was passing through this region?”

“Maybe it's some other new technology, or maybe it was a spy or something...”

Their other doubt was that they were passing by near their enemies. The new multi sensors true performance was a military secret so they hadn't been told, but the display showed an area of about 100 kilometers in diameter. This was an awfully large area, but that was just the senses of someone living on the surface of a planet. In space 100 kilometers wasn't all that much. That could be easily understood as there's roughly 380,000 kilometers between the Earth and the Moon. The distance between Alaia and its ring was roughly the same, so detecting the enemy with even a high performing multisensor would be next to impossible. If they didn't know the route the enemy was coming from to begin with, it would have been impossible, and even if they knew it would be difficult.

“Whatever the case, it's technology that the military would desperately want”

”Now that you mention it, the fleet that went to capture Her Majesty Elfaria returned empty handed”

“That was probably what get them motivated”

The reason they had been able to detect Koutarou and the others was because DKI, or more accurately, Elexis, had gotten his hands on spiritual energy technology and magic.

The multisensor was given the ability to detect spiritual energy and was able to detect the aura of their enemies. Moreover, since this was in space with no other living thing around, it was possible to detect spiritual energy from a much farther distance.

Moreover, Darkness Rainbow used magic to forecast the route. As there were several routes that had a high probability, a squadron of fighters was set out for each of them, all equipped with the new multisensor. Koutarou and the others had ended caught up in one of those webs.

“But I can't imagine they'd offer all of this free of charge. This is on the level of top-secret, or maybe even more than that”

”I see, DKI would earn more from a prolonged fight with the Elfaria faction after all. Then there's the chance that the technology will leak. Normally you'd try to sell a model with less performance”

”Then Captain, does that mean that they've made a deal worth even more than that?”

“Yeah... there doesn't seem to be any doubts, something's going on up at the top”

And these events planted seeds of doubt in the minds of the pilots. The military on Alaia were under Lord Bandarion's and Director-General Granado's control, but the majority of the people stationed there were locals. So while they obeyed orders from their superiors, they began wondering if it was all a mistake somewhere deep down inside. Those feelings were as water and nourishment, slowly making those seeds of doubt bloom.

Part 2

The fighter pilots were misfortunate to not know that they were going up against empress Elfaria and princess Theiamillis themselves. They had only been given the order to attack the unidentified ship trying to enter the atmosphere, and they followed procedures as usual. While they had their doubts, they didn't have any conviction yet. They didn't have any reasons to stop the attack as of yet.

“Your Highness, the coup d'état army fighters are jamming the communications! We don't have access to any communications outwards apart from laser communication!”

The first thing the fighters did was to jam communications. This prevented the use of guided weapons and prevented any calls for backup. As Forthorthe's guided weaponry had tremendous accuracy and speed, jamming was indispensable.

“Curse you, Bandarion..”

Theia was standing by the two layers of doors leading outside, the airlock, and when she heard Ruth's report an angered expression appeared on her face.

“What is it?”

“He is planning on using those unknowing soldiers as sacrifices to lower mine and mother's support!! That's why they jammed us right from the beginning!!”

Jamming was usually after missiles had been launched or messages that might be interpreted as calls for reinforcements had been sent. If not, one would end up jamming any potential surrender messages as well. Since the jamming had gone on straight away, the pilots had been ordered to destroy them right away. That's why Theia believed that Lord Bandarion had made the pilots attack knowing that Theia and the others were here.

With them being jammed, Theia and the others had no choice but to counterattack them as they had already begun re-entry. But if they counterattacked, that would bring about another problem. As the fighters were also being pulled in by gravity, if the pilots were knocked unconscious or their engines were stopped, they would get pulled in by the planet's gravity and die as they entered the atmosphere. Even worse, many of the pilots were locals. Which meant that Lord Bandarion's goal was to either have the pilots kill Elfaria and Theia here, or if that didn't work, at least lower the support of Elfaria and Theia by saying that they had killed local soldiers. If these four fighters were destroyed, Lord Bandarion would surely hold a grand funeral and show how violent Elfaria was.

“Then what do we do?”

“We'll destroy their sensors. Without them, they have no way of fighting”

With jamming, radio and gravitational waves were unusable. That's why there was a need to use optical cameras or thermal sensors, means that are difficult to interfere with, to lock onto the target. The multisensor consisted of many devices mounted on the upper part of the airframe. If they could destroy that, the fighters would only have spare sensors used in case of emergency left, making any further fighting difficult.

“So blind them, huh”

”Yes. But brace yourself. If we damage the airframe itself too much then there's nothing more we can do”

“Let's do it”

“... I'm sorry, Koutarou”

Theia instinctively apologized. Aiming for just the sensors in a high speed space battle was difficult. It only increased the danger, which she felt sorry for.

“Don't worry, I'm good at that kind of thing”

However, Koutarou nonchalantly smiled. Seeing his expression, Theia remembered who Koutarou was. While that was unnecessary for Theia herself, it was necessary for the situation.

“That's right, you're the Blue Knight... Please, my knight”

”As you wish, My Princess”

In the current age, the Blue Knight was respected as the model image of knights, partially because he hadn't killed any enemies intentionally. In other words, this kind of danger was a daily occurrence.

Part 3

As O-hime was re-entering the atmosphere, O-hime and Shizuka couldn't move. So those who could move freely in space would go outside the ship to counterattack the fighters. Those members consisted of Koutarou and Theia, who normally used equipment for space use, Sanae-chan in her spiritual form and Yurika who was forced to wear an improved model of PAF.

“Noooooo!! I don't want to go into space without a spacesuit!!”

“You're already outside, just give it up”

”You are wearing a spacesuit, you just can't see it. Just believe in Glasses”

“You're acting like it's none of your business!!”

”Ruth, how many minutes do we have left!?”

”Roughly three minutes. Please keep the time left to return to O-hime in mind!”

Koutarou and the other three would leave the ship and protect O-hime from the fighters. As they were already entering the atmosphere, the temperature was starting to rise and there was little time remaining. As Koutarou and the others would get pulled by the gravity as well, if they got too far away from O-hime they wouldn't be able to return, regardless of time. It was a problematic situation to fight in, but they didn't have the time to worry about that. It couldn't be helped that Yurika was crying.

“Yurika, is it really impossible? We brought you with us because magic might be involved, but we could take Aika-san with us instead”

”Uuuh...”

Based on the haniwas detection, it was almost certain that the enemy was using spiritual energy technology. That meant that Elexis was involved, which also meant that magic might be a possibility as well. That was the reason Koutarou had forcibly brought Yurika with him, he wasn't trying to be mean.

“I'll do it! That's my job!”

After Koutarou's words, Yurika's cries coming from the communicator stopped. He couldn't see her face, but Koutarou knew the kind of expression Yurika showed at a time like that.

“I'm counting on you”

”Yes!”

”Alright... men, begin combat!”

Waiting for Yurika to calm down, Theia shouted out her order, and Koutarou and the others took action. The fighters were now in front of them.

“Sanae!”

“Okay!! Special attack, Galaxy Sanae-channel!!”

The first one to make a move was Sanae. Using her spiritual powers, she connected everyone's minds. This allowed them to communicate without any communicators. Space was wide, and with the jamming in place, they could only communicate in close range. Before their individual battles began they would need to secure a means to communicate.

“And the enemies are over here!”

Sanae had one more important job. That was to use her spiritual powers to track the enemy and ally positions, and let Koutarou and the others know. With that, Koutarou and the others were able to fight without radars and sensors.

“Double Cast – Lightning Reflex, Keen Sense – Modifier – Multiple Target!”

There was one more important problem to be resolved in a space battle. Battles took place at long range, and the speeds were high. So excellent kinetic vision, reflexes and accurate movements were required. As they could only aim by relying on the sensor, they especially needed that. In order to compensate for that, Yurika's magic was needed.

“Then we're off. Theia, I'm counting on you to cover me”

”Got it, fight to your heart's content! Then let's go!”

With Sanae's and Yurika's assistance, Koutarou and Theia flew off. As there was no atmospheric resistance in space, they moved quicker than normal, at a speed equal to the fighters.

“Captain, enemy units approaching! Radar is showing four, but only two on the optics... no, three? Anyways, they are very small targets!”

The coup d'état army noticed Koutarou and the others approaching. As they had a radar using spiritual energy technology, they could detect the enemy even during the jamming.

“I've confirmed it here too!! … Are the enemy mobile infantry!?”

However, when they confirmed their appearances, they were overcome with surprise. In the current age of Forthorthe, mechanical armored clothes were considered outdated. They were still used to examine places that couldn't be left to machines and when withdrawing from battles, but in other cases, robots of the same size were stronger. That's why it was simply unthinkable for mechanical armor clothes to compare to fighters.

“Are these guys insane!?”

Of course, the fighter pilots questioned their enemies sanity. As it was dark, they couldn't make out their enemies faces, but they couldn't help but want to take a look.

“Captain, they might actually be sane! They're as mobile as we are. While the weaponry of one of them is unknown, the other one seems to have a large-caliber gun for armored targets!”

“I see, so they're riding on a flying cannon huh...”

But as they gathered information on Koutarou and the others, the surprise began changing direction. While small, they had the mobility and attack power of a fighter. It seemed their defense was less in return, but as they were small they were hard to hit, meaning that their actions weren't as reckless as they first seemed. Moreover, being separated from the army, the Elfaria faction would likely weaponize and use everything, but in that sense it wasn't that strange.

“Now isn't the time to be impressed, assume that they're riding fighters and respond to that!”

”Roger that!”

While the fighter pilots were going up against outdated technology, they weren't letting their guard down, and followed procedures to attack. First off was firing missiles from long range.

“All units, spread out after firing missiles. And then individually attack those the ones that weren't defeated by the missiles! I will go on to attack the enemy spaceship!”

The captain's plan of attack focused on certainty over all. First they would attack the mobile infantrymen, Koutarou and Theia, with missiles. If that didn't defeat them, three of the fighters would challenge them to a dogfight. During that time, the captain would attack the enemy's small spaceship, the O-hime. As it wouldn't be that hard to destroy a spaceship in re-entry, he left the majority of the forces to deal with Koutarou and Theia.

---It's not just the multisensor either, these missiles are strange too. Why can they be guided under jamming? And why were they given to us?

The four fighters fired off two missiles each, for a total of eight, all guided using spiritual energy. While the captain didn't know the truth behind them, he knew that they weren't normal. And his doubts for the mission began to grow.

“Koutarou, focus the active barrier to your front and push through the missiles! Don't worry, I will deal with any dangerous missiles!”

“Alright, I'll leave it to you!”

In response to the fired missiles, the strategy Koutarou and Theia chose was to push through the front. Koutarou and Theia were small targets to shoot down with missiles and the relative speed was fast. There was almost no worries of a direct hit, but if they exploded close by, there was a chance of taking damage. So Theia would destroy missiles that could be a threat. It wasn't just because the two loved going straight forward.

“Yurika, Sanae, one of the fighters is headed your way!”

”I'll do my best!”

”Koutarou, it looks like the missile is chasing after auras! I'll try blocking it!”

They had another means of dealing with the missiles. As they were guided using spiritual energy, Sanae could use her spiritual powers to get in the way of the guidance.

“Number one, the super galactic idol, Higashihongan Sanae will sing for your sake!”

What Sanae started was to sing in the middle of space. The song was from an anime she loved, and as she began singing, she literally poured her soul into it.

“So~ mu~ch happe~ns everyda~y♪ Smile~, there are da~ys tha~t are clou~dy as well♪”

It was the theme song of Sanae's beloved anime, Magical Girl Love Love Heart. While her singing was far from any good, spiritual waves spread through space.

“At time~s like tha~t, ca~ll for me~♪ I will deliver Love! Love! Hea~rt magic to~ you~♪”

As she put a lot more soul into it than she needed, her singing voice was surprising persuasive and powerful, despite her ability. And as if their hearts were charmed by the song, the missiles lost sight of Koutarou and Theia. The enemy's radar temporarily seized to function due to the Sanae's high amounts of spiritual energy.

“Good job, Sanae!”

Theia listened to Sanae's singing voice that was still continuing as she squeezed the trigger on her equipped weapons. The combat dress she was equipped with was Star Purple. It was equipment intended for use in space and came equipped with various energy weaponry, starting with lasers.

“Keep it up you two!”

Theia fired off her laser and shot down three missiles in succession. Koutarou's barrier pushed aside the debris left behind by the missiles as he charged forwards. Even as she sang, Koutarou could still tell where the enemy was thanks to Sanae. The enemy on the other hand couldn't use their radar because of Sanae's song, so Koutarou could attack them without worrying about a counterattack. Koutarou came swinging at the fighter right in front of him.

“Sakuraba-senpai, I'm counting on you!”

”Yes! Shine, Signaltin!”

“Uoooooooo!!”

As he passed the fighter, Koutarou swung Signaltin. As the relative speed was fast, the blow had more power than usual.

Covered in powerful magical power, Signaltin's blade shone silver as it easily broke through the enemy's barrier.

“Theia!”

“Leave it to me!”

That was when Theia, coming in slightly later repeatedly fired her beam cannon and destroyed the multisensor installed on the upper part of the fighter's frame. With that, having lost its eyes and ears, the fighter turned around and left the region. Without giving chase, Koutarou and Theia headed for another enemy.

“Number Two has been damaged during the radar whiteout and is leaving the combat region”

”Damnit, is this the enemy's doing!? But at this range!!”

As the fighter's AI reported on an update in the battle, the captain fired the remaining two missiles at O-hime. The radar was still rebooting, but he was now close enough to guide the missile using optics. As the enemy couldn't move because of the re-entry process, that should be enough to destroy it.

“What!?”

However, that was when something unexpected happened again. Just before the missiles hit, the enemy disguised as a lump of ice disappeared like smoke. Because of that, the missiles exploded in empty space and shattered one of the nearby ice lumps.

“Ah, he fell for the fake”

”That was some smart thinking for you”

“Kiriha-san taught me about it”

“What, now I feel like it was waste to feel any kind of admiration”

This was because of Yurika's spell. She prepared a fake O-hime with the same size shape and heat, while making the real one look like an actual lump of ice. The captain had fired his missiles at the fake.

“Damnit, I was tricked! But it's not over yet!”

With the radar restarted, the captain got a lock on O-hime's position. He was out of missiles, but he still had his beam cannon. Not giving up, the captain charged towards the O-hime to destroy it.

“It's coming to attack again!”

“Stop panicking and protect the ship!”

”Y-Yes!”

With the captain locking onto the O-hime with the optics, there was no more point in Sanae's singing. So Sanae and Yurika would work together to protect O-hime. Using her spiritual powers, Sanae pulled out lumps of ice to use as a shield, while Yurika created an energy shield with magic.

“Eei, one after another!”

The captain rapidly fired his beam cannon as he passed by the O-hime. However, the beams were all stopped by the lumps of ice and the magical shield and didn't reach O-hime. But it wasn't like the beams were ineffective as they shattered the lumps of ice and the magical shield blinked and disappeared. Feeling a good response from his attack, the captain turned his fighter around to go for another attack.

“Theia, I can handle this! You go over there!”

”Sorry, I'll leave it to you!”

By that time, Koutarou and Theia had destroyed the weapons and sensors on the second fighter. With only one fighter left, it could be dealt with by one of them. And since Theia had more mobility and a longer range, she was more suited to be sent to help Yurika and Sanae.

“That's a good decision, but I'm faster!”

However, before Theia could arrive to back them up, the captain had turned his fighter around and was starting his second attack run. Theia had her laser bombardment but because she was too far away, it didn't work well to restrain the fighter as it rapidly fired its beams again.

“Kyaaaa, it's coming again!!”

“It's not the same as beforeeee!!”

Yurika cast her defensive spell again, and Sanae gathered more lumps of ice, but this time she used them differently. She read the captain's intentions of attack and threw the lumps of ice in the line of fire.

“You can do that!?”

Surprised by an impossible counterattack, the captain decided to focus his attack on the lumps of ice. If he evaded, Theia would make it back before the next attack. So he would rather shatter the lumps of ice and attack the O-hime one more time before Theia arrives. However, that idea backfired.

“Oh no!?”

While the beam cannon had shattered the lumps of ice, it didn't cause an explosion like missiles, and as a result, the lumps of ice shattered into smaller ice shards, and the fighter flew into the shards at full speed.

Part 4

The captain of the fighter squadron had only been unconscious for a few seconds. The loud alarm and shaking from the fighter crashing into ice shards quickly woke him up.

“J-Just what...”

Having just come to, his mind was still muddled. The alarm was noisy and the airframe was shaking, and red light was coming in from outside. But as he was still waking up, he believed he should resolve the reason for the alarm blaring for the time being.

“... What an awful state...”

The captain shook his head and confirmed the state of his fighter according to the trained in procedures as he tried to clear up his mind. The space distortion field was defective, half of the posture control thrusters were no longer functioning, the temperature of the airframe was rising, he would need to adjust the angle of re-entry. Even limiting the problems to the major ones, that many abnormalities were being reported. Pretty much every abnormality a pilot wouldn't want to encounter in flight had occurred.

“... That's right, I was on a mission, attacking a suspicious ship...”

As he was going through the procedures as usual, he began understanding the situation he was in.

During a mission where he was attacking a suspicious ship suspected to be part of the Elfaria faction he had misjudged the situation and charged into shards of ice. The results of that was the current situation. He had lost control of his ship and was headed straight into the atmosphere. The shaking and light was because of that.

“... It looks like this is it...”

He was on a multipurpose ship that was used for all kinds of missions, and it was capable of re-entry, but that was just when entering at the correct angle and speed.

But now those conditions were not satisfied. The speed was practically no problem, but the angle and posture were hopeless. He was upside down and entering at an acute angle. He of course tried to escape his predicament, but with roughly half of the posture control thrusters not functioning, he found himself unable to change posture. Even if he wanted to use the distortion field to protect himself against the heat, it had run into an error while it was rebooting and was stuck in a loop of rebooting itself. While the fighter hadn't been destroyed, the damage taken from the ice shards was far from small.

That's why the captain realized he was about to die. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find any way to survive. He would surely burn up together with his fighter.

“... Faluna, Eswiz, I'm sorry for not returning home”

Having made his resolve, the captain said his farewells to his wife and child. The truth was that he was unbearably scared, and he wanted to scream out that he didn't want to die. However, the cockpit's flight recorder would record his final moments which would surely be shown to his wife and child. When he thought of that, he held back his fear and spoke to those he would leave behind. If he were to cry out in terror, his words of farewell wouldn't reach them. The captain somehow managed to contain his feelings that were on the verge of exploding and left his final message to his wife and child.

“But I am someone who has sworn loyalty to the royal family. So this might be for the better for the empress' sake. I don't know who is onboard that ship, but based on how they fight, it must be someone important”

And in order to convince himself, he told himself that this was fine. It was a mysterious mission from the start. The multisensor and missiles, the enemy's strength and equipment and even their means of attack were all strange. From all of that, one could easily imagine that someone important on the Elfaria faction was onboard the ship. And that person surviving would surely help empress Elfaria. He was a Alaian local so while he obeyed his orders there were still parts that he couldn't accept. In that meaning, this end wasn't all that bad. He wouldn't have to do any harm to Elfaria and the Mastir family. As he thought like that, he was somewhat able to accept dying.

“No, that's not true!”

That was when a voice came from his communicator. That surprised the captain a great deal. In his current situation, communication shouldn't be possible. Yet that voice was awfully clear. At first he thought it was an auditory hallucination.

“Regardless of who mother and I are, we wouldn't want our citizens to die!”

”A contact communication!? That voice couldn't be―”

“You won't die! You will survive and return to your family! And you will live your life out to its fullest!”

“―Princess!? Princess Theiamillis!?”

As the captain realized who the voice belonged to, his fighter began changing inclination. As it did, he could see the glimpse of a person through the canopy on his cockpit. The owner of the voice was holding onto his fighter and trying to correct his posture.

“Yes! You can rest easy, just endure it for a while longer!”

”Stop it, Your Highness! If you do that, you will die!”

And when he realized, he worried for the life of Her Highness, for the life of Theia. He hadn't given up his loyalties to the Mastir family. Capabilities of the combat dress that Theia was wearing aside, it wasn't equipped for atmospheric re-entry. The captain could tell just by looking at her. At this rate even if she were to save the captain's fighter, she would burn up instead. That was something that the captain couldn't accept.

“I won't die! I'm a proud descendant of the Mastir family! I'm not weak enough to lose my life over something like this!”

”But!!”

”Silence! Even if it's as you say, I won't abandon anyone! If I did, there wouldn't be any point in returning to this country!!”

”... Your Highness... you... really are...”

Theia didn't listen to what the captain had to say as she used Star Purple's large thrusters to adjust the fighter's posture. Just like the fighter, Theia's combat dress was giving out various warnings. There was little propellant left, the barrier against high temperatures was on the brink of collapsing, her falling speed was too great and she wouldn't be able to return to O-hime. But even then, Theia continued pushing the fighter. Because protecting her citizens was her conviction as a princess.

“You don't have to worry about me, you just live! As long as you are a subject of Mastir, you have to be happy!!”

”Your Highness!! Your Highness!!”

Thanks to Theia's efforts, several of the alarms on the fighter stopped. That meant that the posture and angle were now at acceptable levels. Having confirmed that, the captain hurriedly called out to Theia.

“Your Highness, the posture and angle are back to normal! Hurry up and withdraw”

However, before he could finish his sentence, he could see Theia lose to the pressure of the atmosphere and get thrown away. Seeing that happen before his very eyes, the captain let out a scream.

“Your highneeesss!!”

But no matter how loudly he yelled, there was no response from Theia. But her expression as they parted was something that reached the captain's very core.

“YOUR HIGHNEEESS!!”

Theia was smiling. She looked very glad. Even as she was exposed to the intense heat and pressure of the atmospheric re-entry, she didn't look like she regretted her decisions in the slightest. It was a very refreshing smile, and the captain would never forget it for the rest of his life.

Part 5

Theia had said to that captain that she would be fine, but she didn't actually have any plans to survive. She had no choice but to say that in the situation.

“... How troubling, at this rate I really will die...”

Theia felt like she had done something stupid, but it wasn't something she regretted. As member of the royal family of Forthorthe, she simply couldn't stand by idly as a citizen died before her eyes.

“... About another 20 or 30 seconds I guess...”

Theia had used up almost all of her propellant to change the fighter's posture and inclination. So she released Star Purple which was now nothing more than a lump of metals and used it as a shield to protect her from the heat of re-entry. However, Star Purple couldn't withstand that heat and began breaking down starting from its weakest points. There was not much time left. If Star Purple broke, all that was left to protect Theia was the barrier that was on the verge of collapse. She would surely burn up in an instant.

“So I'll go out like a shooting star huh... an unexpectedly romantic end”

There was countless variations to how one could die. In Theia's mind, going out like a shooting star really stimulated the romanticist within her, and it was an especially beautiful end. Moreover, the view was good. Alaia extending before her eyes was covered in a beautiful blue glow. Being all out of options, Theia stared at the planet and waited for the time to come.

Thud.

“Ow!?”

That was when Theia felt a big impact on the back of her head. At first she thought her barrier might have collapsed, but that wasn't the case.

“What are you acting cool for on your own...”

”Koutarou!?”

Before she knew it, Koutarou was beside her. She suspected that he might be an illusion, but she quickly realized that it wasn't the case. The back of Theia's head was still throbbing in pain after all.

“What are you doing!? Are you trying to kill yourself!?”

“That's my line. Just what are you doing?”

”Protecting the citizens is the duty of the royal family!”

”Then you don't mind do you?”

”Hm?”

”Protecting the royal family is the duty of the knights”

Koutarou embraced Theia as he spoke. The next moment, Star Purple that was shielding the two broke, and the heat that it had been blocking assaulted them at full force. However, the two didn't burn up. The barrier on Koutarou's armor blocked the heat. Thanks to GOL, Koutarou's armor could put up two types of barriers. A barrier that protected him from all around, and another, more sturdy barrier that protected him from a certain direction. These two types of barriers just barely protected the two.

“I mind”

Theia embraced Koutarou back and frowned a little. Theia was greatly dissatisfied with what Koutarou had to say.

“What?”

“Why won't you say it's because I'm important to you!?”

“Of course a knight would value his princess”

”Kuh, are you saying that, despite knowing what I mean!?”

Theia pushed away from Koutarou a little and glared at him with puffed up cheeks. Her expression was far different from the princess-like one from just a moment ago, and she looked more like a sulking child. Seeing that, Koutarou started laughing.

“It's a little bit of punishment”

“Stupid, why would you be so mean at an important moment like this! It's our final goodbye!!”

The atmosphere isn't so easy that it can be breached with just GOL's barriers. In fact, Koutarou's barriers were reaching their limit and were starting to sound off warnings. That's why Theia believed the two of them would die like this.

“It's not really the end after all”

”Eh”?

Theia's eyes opened wide and she lost all momentum upon hearing Koutarou's words.

“I've brought Yurika with me”

Koutarou indicated overhead as he held Theia, still overcome by blank surprise. As Theia looked up, she saw something strange flying there.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa, Noooooooooooooo!! I'm burning, I'm burning uuuup!!”

That strange thing being Yurika straddled on a broom. She cried out as the heat hit her defensive spell while at the same time flying towards Koutarou and Theia. Her voice couldn't be heard, but Theia could tell what Yurika was saying just by looking at her expression.

“Let Yurika in”

”As you wish, My Lord”

The armor's AI opened a hole in the upper part of the barrier for just a moment as Yurika removed her spell and entered. And just as she arrived, Yurika began complaining to Koutarou.

“W-W-What is with this hellish place, Satomi-san!?”

”We covered it in physics the other day. It's the upper layer of the atmosphere”

“You're lying, this is the first time I've heard of it! I'll die, I'll die, I'm dying!!”

“We're all working together to keep that from happening”

“I see, so that's what you meant”

Theia now understood Koutarou's intentions. Koutarou's armor alone wouldn't be enough to pass through the atmosphere. But it might be possible if Yurika's spell was included. And if the two bought enough time, the barrier of Theia's combat dress would recover, letting her help out as well. The truth was that the ideal would be to add in Sanae's spiritual powers as well, but she was required to help move O-hime, so she wasn't available. But with the three of them, the chance for survival was not all that small.

“But Koutarou. There's one big problem”

”A big problem? What are you talking about? Is there a problem with the dress?”

”I'm still sulking”

Theia puffed up her cheeks again. Seeing her expression, Koutarou gave up and smiled wryly. He was no match against Theia when she was like this. Besides, there was no guarantee that they would survive even with the three of them working together.

“... Theia, you're important to me, that's why I came to save you”

”I see, then it can't be helped. I'll let you save me”

”Stupid”

“Fufufu”

Theia happily smiled and embraced Koutarou who was looking away in embarrassment. With that, there were no problems left. All that was left was for the three of them to give it their all so they could return alive.

“Noooooooooooooooo~!”

And as they trailed a long blue tail and Yurika's long scream, they screamed through the skies of Alaia like a meteor.

Part 6

On the night a lone glowing blue shooting star appeared on the sky. A young boy living on Alaia received a letter. It was from his friends that he hadn't seen in awhile.

“Uhm... 'I am riding on a spaceship, everyone is okay'”

The boy laid on his bed and began reading the letter from his friends. Both the writer and the reader were young children. As a result, the content was monotonous and direct to the point, and partly because of the faltering voice reading it out, it sounded horribly tedious. But having received a letter from his friends he hadn't seen in awhile, the boy was happy.

“'We met the Blue Knight and a state secret was flying'... the Blue Knight?”

As he read the letter, the boy came across a couple of interesting words. It was the name that no boy or girl on Forthorthe could ignore. It was the name of the legendary hero they would see on TV shows or hear about in the fairy tales.

“'There is a video of the Blue Knight in the letter, please look at it. From Bobban Giun'... is this the video?”

The boy shook the envelope upside down and a small plastic piece came falling out. It was a commonly used media for recordings, and in it was a lot of footage named 'Blue Knight found'.

“'Show it to everyone else and they will be happy' … hmm, I don't get it. Anyways maybe I should look?”

After surprising the boy, the footage was uploaded to the network connecting all of Forthorthe. They didn't know what kind of outcome that would have. All the boy that had recorded the footage and the boy that uploaded it were thinking about was that everyone would rejoice.

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