Published at 28th of October 2026 8:05 am

Chapter 2475: Suicide mission

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Somewhere within the colossal battlefield, amid the countless clashes and violent exchanges spreading across an almost unimaginable distance—

Inside a Phantom Shadow vessel—

"Gentlemen!" Theo’s calm voice rang out after he finished reviewing every important part of the plan before them, and he slowly began looking around at the gathered figures one after another. "This type of mission is exactly what this unit was formed for, the kind of mission all your training and preparation were meant to handle, and today will be your greatest test yet."

Around Theo stood roughly twenty individuals, all dressed in the familiar black attire of the Shadow Swords with obvious additional armor covering several important areas of their bodies. Yet despite standing before the First Sword himself and being only moments away from carrying out their mission, each of them stood however they found comfortable rather than assuming the usual rigid position of attention before him.

Some had their arms folded casually across their chests, others rested their chins on their hands as they thought, and so on~ Yet regardless of their different postures, all of them stared intently at the explanation of the plan before them with furrowed brows and minds working at tremendous speed, repeatedly processing what they had just heard and examining the details laid out before them.

Beside Theo and those twenty was one additional person who did not seem to belong there at all... a young man with flowing white hair and a calm expression, wearing the exact same set of black armor as the others, except several pieces were noticeably out of place and the mask was not even covering his face. One glance was enough to make it obvious that he had put the entire thing on in a hurry rather than dressing himself with the same familiarity as everyone around him.

It was Richard.

"Do you have any other questions?" Theo cast one last worried glance toward Richard before shifting his eyes toward the others gathered around him, waiting briefly for any response. "If not, head to your positions and prepare for launch."

"Yes." Half of them nodded almost immediately after hearing the order and began leaving the room, having apparently already understood everything they needed from the explanation.

The other half remained for a little longer, reviewing the explanation displayed across the glowing wall one final time and fixing the important details firmly in their minds before they too turned and left, with Richard moving along with them toward the exit.

"Richard, wait." Theo’s voice came from behind him just as he was about to leave with the others. "I want a word with you in private."

"Hmm?" Richard was surprised for a moment and turned his head slightly, then took a step to the side to allow the remaining Shadow Swords to pass him and leave without obstruction before returning to Theo once the way had cleared. "What is it, Second Brother?"

"You don’t have to do this..." Theo looked directly into Richard’s eyes as he spoke, his expression making it clear that this was not merely a casual objection or a final reminder before the mission. "It’s a suicide mission, and you know that very well."

"Everyone else is doing it..." Richard gestured toward the direction in which the Shadow Swords had just left, clearly referring to those who had been standing beside him only moments earlier and were now heading toward their own positions.

"They are Space Darkness Swords, Special Forces trained specifically in infiltration and destruction. When they were selected in the first place and all those resources were poured into their training and preparation, they already knew that most of the missions awaiting them would be suicidal and that this was exactly the kind of task they would eventually be sent to carry out." Theo explained the matter directly, then tilted his head slightly as he continued without trying to soften his next words. "And forgive me for saying this, but even if the entire Space Darkness Swords Corps were annihilated today, every last one of them, they still wouldn’t be worth a single drop of your blood."

"Heh~ You really don’t have to talk about your own followers like that." Richard sighed at Theo’s words, then gave a somewhat embarrassed laugh as though trying to lighten the increasingly heavy atmosphere between them. "Second, if you keep saying things like that, I might actually become conceited!"

"I want you to become conceited. Maybe then you’ll finally understand your own worth a little and stop treating yourself as though there’s no difference between you and everyone else." Theo stared straight into Richard’s eyes without laughing along with him. "Even during those centuries of recklessness, when you wandered everywhere while madly in love with Sirene and went wherever you pleased, you were still under our eyes one way or another, whether you paid attention to that or not. But this time, no one will be with you once the mission begins, and your chances of survival are low from the very start... and frankly, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you."

Then he added in a heavier tone, allowing the seriousness behind his words to become even clearer, "If the entire army is destroyed today, every fleet and every force we brought here, we’ll simply retreat and start over again in another Sector. Your father has never known surrender in his life, and his resources never seem to run dry no matter how badly he is cornered or how narrow the road before him becomes." Then Theo narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued staring at Richard. "But if something happens to you personally... the world will turn upside down, planets will burn and stars will fall."

"...That’s an extremely specific image." Richard began to sweat slightly as he looked at Theo, apparently finding the description far too detailed to dismiss casually.

"It’s merely a simple image of what will inevitably happen if things reach that point." Theo shook his head slowly, showing no indication that he had exaggerated anything he had just said. "If he falls today, he’ll recreate another Ancestral Continent, except this time it will happen on the scale of the entire universe rather than a single place... Even if you aren’t afraid for yourself and don’t care about the danger you’re walking into, then at least fear for the innocents who will be crushed beneath a war chariot that distinguishes neither old nor young once it begins moving."

"...." Richard continued staring at him for a moment before finally speaking. "Doesn’t the exact same thing apply to you and the rest of our brothers? Yet all of you are still here fighting despite the risks." He pointed directly at his brother as if Theo himself were the clearest example of what he meant. "You personally just came back from one of those capsules a short while ago, and judging from everything you’re doing, it’s obvious you’re going to get into one and do it again."

Then he pointed outside, toward the enormous battlefield surrounding the Phantom Shadow vessel. "Our younger brother Asir is fighting out there alongside the Soul Masters of the Burton family, and Brother Peon is responsible for every single Flood Note-4 vessel in an entire Nota squadron today. He moves all of them however he wants across the battlefield, and he’s personally riding one of them while doing it!"

"You’re different!" Theo grabbed Richard by the shoulders and shook him firmly, as though trying to force those two simple words into his head.

"That’s only in your head." Richard gently removed Theo’s hand from his shoulder without showing any annoyance, then raised his own hand and patted Theo on the shoulder instead. "I’m not going to stand around with my arms folded while everyone else is out there fighting. Since I can’t go out into space myself and fight there, and I can’t take command of the fleets either, then I’ll contribute in the way that I actually can and do it like this." Then he laughed lightly as he turned around to leave. "And don’t worry so much, I don’t want to die either. My fiancee herself is fighting out there right now, hehe."

Baf

Richard walked out and the door closed behind him, leaving Theo standing alone in the back and trembling slightly as he watched the place where his brother had disappeared.

He knew Richard well enough to understand that if he forcibly stopped his brother from doing what he wanted to do, Richard would simply find another path to participate, perhaps one that was even more dangerous than this carefully prepared mission, but at the same time, Theo was afraid of bearing the responsibility for whatever might happen if he allowed him to continue and things ended up taking the worst possible turn.

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"Whooo~" Richard lay down inside an extremely cramped space that he had practically needed to squeeze his entire body into, a narrow place resembling a capsule with barely enough room around him, then called out after releasing a long breath while staring directly at the ceiling above him, "Alright, I’m ready."

Krssh

At that moment, a barrier closed directly in front of him and blocked even his view of the ceiling, a transparent glass barrier descending so close that it nearly pressed against his nose.

Then a voice sounded from inside the capsule, delivering the mission instructions without pause, <Target: Enemy Eleventh Squadron Command Vessel. Mission: Use maximum stealth, seize control of the command center, take command of the vessel yourself, and begin attacking the remaining enemy vessels from the rear within a maximum of 30 minutes; or infiltrate the vessel, destroy the engine area and energy stores within a maximum of 17 minutes, then return to the capsule. Failure to detect either of these two outcomes within the specified time will result in you being counted among the dead, and no one will return for you.>

"Understood," Richard replied aloud from within the cramped capsule, making his acknowledgment perfectly clear.

<Preparing... Launch.>

Pooooof

Richard immediately felt his entire body accelerating at a terrifying speed, the force of the sudden launch carrying him forward as the view through the glass window rapidly changed before his eyes. Instead of the motionless ceiling he had been staring at only moments earlier, he was now looking directly at a raging space war outside.

Then, in the very next moment—Baaang—Richard felt an enormous impact shake everything around him, and after only a few more seconds passed, the glass barrier in front of him finally opened.

Richard immediately jumped out—Bang—landing inside before turning around and looking behind him at the thing that had carried him here...

The black capsule had pierced straight through the vessel’s outer armor like any other random projectile striking it amid the surrounding battle, then immediately retreated after delivering Richard inside and automatically used a certain array to seal the breach it had created, closing the gap behind it and giving him the opportunity he needed to breathe and move freely within the vessel.

Only then did Richard begin looking around him carefully, finding himself standing within perhaps the most hostile environment he could possibly have chosen to enter...

A vessel roughly the size of a Nota Supremacy, protected by dozens of layers of external defenses, containing at least a hundred thousand soldiers within it, and perhaps even a few World Cataclysms scattered here and there for healing and breathing air... and somehow, he was expected to penetrate through all of this and reach what he needed within only a few minutes.

But if he actually succeeded, neutralizing this vessel would scatter the squadron it commanded and make the rest of the vessels considerably easier to hunt down.

"Well..." Richard slowly began rubbing his hands together as he looked ahead, and green flames immediately scattered from between them like countless sparks. "The vessel isn’t going to destroy itself."

Then he pulled one hand backward, gathered himself, and drove it forward in a punch—BOOOOM—before laughing at the destruction his first move had caused. "Hehe, stealth isn’t my style."

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