A hand set down a wine glass containing a trace of red liquid.
A chain reaction of explosions lit up across the planetary defense system.
A stylus fell onto a data pad, splashing a beautiful spark effect across the screen.
A head in agony was hung by iron chains, brain matter dripping down onto its original body below.
A flower bloomed in a garden as warm as spring.
In the darkness, the stars went out.
He awakened.
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…………
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[Old friend, can you embrace me?]
Surrounded by stereo speakers, Lucas clutched the beautiful gemstone ornament in his hand and stood up in shock.
[The sky has collapsed, and fire burns all I love.]
The hem of his casual clothes knocked over his wine glass. That crystal-clear artificial creation seemed almost invisible, yet beneath the ornate planetary-ring lamp floating in the center of the ceiling, its form was outlined by light and shadow, as fragile as a breeze.
Esengar reached out to catch it, placed it casually on the table, and looked in the direction his beloved child was staring.
A terrace.
[When the seawater rose above my head, struggling and crying lost their use.]
There was no physical barrier at the edge of the terrace; it faced the open sky, and below it lay the Kang family’s "fish pond."
Though called a fish pond, most of the ornamental aquatic creatures kept there could not be considered "fish" in the traditional sense. They wandered in multicolored splendor through specially formulated saltwater. Under the dim moonlight and the pouring rain, it looked as if this golden family had sliced off a small piece of the sea and kept it as a collection in their own courtyard.
[I see the light on the shore; that is our Golden Age.]
Lucas, who had just returned to the Federation, was staring at this tiny sea.
A tiny sea that was churning with waves in the long night.
"What is it?" Esengar stood beside Lucas, who was nearly as tall as he was, and frowned as he watched the pond, which was more like a small lake.
He remembered that this pond and its related facilities were built at the request of his father by his nominal "mother"—a woman who was always so gentle and composed.
Although he no longer remembered his "mother’s" face, he still recalled that when the viewing terrace above the pond was completed, his father—who still possessed much of his humanity then—and his "mother" had watched the moon for an entire night.
At that time, he was the only child in the family.
[We once laughed in the sunlight.]
"…Something is wrong with this water," Lucas said in a low voice. "It’s strange… I feel it. Something is rising… Watch out!!"
Before his voice could fade, a *thump* sounded as a powerful force surged toward the sky. Tentacles and blades burst through the water’s surface, splitting the heavens. Crimson light, sharp as a blade, exploded from the pond in a water column nearly a hundred meters high. Sheets of water and the severed limbs of beautiful ornamental creatures rained down. Blood dyed the water a murky red, and scales reflecting structural colors scattered along with fragile fragments of flesh, colliding violently with the repulsive barrier.
The latter should have been able to hold for a while, but when the water column erupted, the energy conduits beneath the Kang estate seemed to malfunction as well.
The thousand-square-meter residence naturally used the same main bus; the originally brightly lit Kang home flickered twice and plunged into darkness.
[Rising from the water, like a flock of doves and fire, our past.]
The repulsive barrier likewise flickered and shut down. Lucas roared as he pushed Esengar back, instantly raising a shimmering green one-way barrier to stand in front of him.
In an instant, the barrier seemed to grow with the wind, expanding to a diameter of about forty meters. Its blurred, invisible edges wavered like burning air, and Lucas’s brilliant short blond hair fluttered in the wind.
In this moment, Esengar seemed to see…
He saw the Evanheiler Kang of years past.
[We read old letters, watch the red in the veins. We fly like white cranes.]
—That moon-viewing night had not left much of an impression at the time. The following year, a new embryo was transplanted into a one-way opaque extracorporeal nursery pod, and his much-anticipated younger brother was born under the gaze of his relatives.
But before he could develop from a "fetus" into an "infant," their "mother" disappeared one day.
From then on, although his father and the home seemed unchanged at first glance, Esengar knew that everything had changed.
[I want to travel far away, leave the place where the wind can blow.]
Behind Lucas, the blond man’s figure swayed. From a posture of nearly falling to the ground, he returned to a standing position in an instant.
[Listen to the sound of rain hitting the eaves, the tin roof rustling under the sky.]
He cast a complex look at Lucas—if this child weren't an Omega who could be severely affected if his defenses were inadequate, Esengar wouldn't have been so worried and wouldn't have kept delaying the boy's marriage.
Letting a child choose someone he liked was better than forcing him to spend a lifetime tormenting himself and an emotionless partner for the sake of profit. The Kang family did not need a political marriage yet, and as for the future…
The future would be for Lucas to decide for himself.
Esengar tilted his head, watching rain heavier than the storm pour into the room.
Years ago, before his dying father, he had learned certain secrets.
It was on that day that he…
[Old friend, kiss me goodbye, while you still know I have love. I want to leave all this, leave our familiar past.]
Beyond the heavy rain, in front of Lucas, a pitch-black tentacle lined with suckers and fangs rose up. Amidst the drifting black mist, it opened its densely packed, bloody maws.
Amidst the massive mental pressure and dizziness, Esengar lunged forward and grabbed Lucas. The latter’s figure rippled like water and vanished in shock.
The next moment, the tentacle struck down, and the house collapsed.
Esengar stood tall and proud. With a flip of his hand, he drew an object from a ripple in the void and held it before the suddenly frozen tentacle.
It was a withered, blood-red eyeball.
If ground into powder and refined, it would be known as—"Sublimation Virus Dry Powder."
[—Because today, I burned a person to death.]
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The planetary defense system had collapsed. Susanna knew this. She was recording it all.
The stylus fell onto the data pad, splashing a beautiful spark effect across the screen—Sandro’s favorite effect.
In truth, what existed between her and Sandro was not "love" in the narrow sense. She had once had someone she liked, and he was the same—there were too many kinds of emotions in this world, yet humanity had still failed to invent a more complete vocabulary to describe the various forms of "love."
Thus, soul-deep friends were always assumed by others to be heading toward "romance," "sleeping together," or "considering a legal partnership."
Perhaps other people in such relationships would choose that path, but Susanna and Sandro never would—please, sleeping in the same bed with a friend as close as a sibling? No thank you!
Susanna closed her data pad, folding it into a rectangular solid like a small folding fan, and tucked it into a reserved slot in her armor.
Before her eyes, a planetary defense system covered in crystal clusters disintegrated.
"Our planet recovery progress has reached 22%. Reporting mission progress to 'Xihe'." As if the armor itself were the speaker, a low, synthetic female voice said, "Commander, what are your instructions regarding the next step?"
"Proceed according to the original plan." Valianna held her helmet in one hand and leaned on her "Champion" with the other. "We must first find the location of those 'Wraiths' before we can carefully arrange our tactics…
"…Wait, what is that?"
The tall warrior stared intently at the surface of the predominantly white planet before her. There was a deep rift valley there.
An ordinary person would naturally see nothing at this distance, but Valianna, as an A-rank Esper, was no ordinary person.
"…Survivors! No… they’re captives!" Valianna said in shock. "This number… Xihe, scan for an approximate count!"
"Forty-one million, one hundred and sixty thousand people," Xihe’s dull, old-fashioned synthetic voice replied immediately. "Please note: this may be a trap."
"This may be a trap," Susanna said at the same time beside her. "Look at the crisscrossing crystal pillars above… if anyone approaches, they will likely sprout dense clusters of 'Gah'."
"……"
Valianna leaned on her war-spear, her face grim as she stared at the rift.
This was a famous tourist and streamer check-in spot in the Human Alliance. It was famous because for one-third of the year, people could see tides of lava within this rift.
That brilliant, scorching, semi-fluid substance was restrained by a natural membrane above the rift. Even if it splashed upward, it could not break through the planet's surface, eventually falling back like dying little suns, casting thin flakes of sulfur-scented ash between heaven and earth.
Valianna had traveled here in the past and seen that sight with her own eyes. Even if they could not harm a high-level Esper like her, she had to admit the greatness of the universe and the wonders of nature.
But now, logic told her that the magnificent scenery would become the cause of death for forty million people.
Because… she could already feel the power beginning to surge beneath that rift. The beauty of the rising lava tide was coming. At the end of the rift, the fissures that eternally emitted thick sulfurous toxic gas and steaming heat were glowing, heralding the approach of that disaster.
To save them? Or not?
This wasn't even a choice.
Valianna lifted her helmet and put it on briskly. She grabbed "Champion" with one hand and barked an order: "Super-powered Mecha Pilot squad, follow me. Fleet, maintain planetary stability. Transfer overall command to Petty Officer Susanna. Delay the lava eruption as long as possible!"
A pale blue radiance lit up. Valianna lunged forward, turning into a streak of light that crashed into the planetary rift.
—If this planet was a complete volcano, then today…
She was going to snatch people right out of the crater!
