n

n

nI’ve come out after sensing that something is off, only to be greeted by a battleship floating in the air.

n“Flying a battleship above the capital is a bit too much. Calvin, an assassination should be done in a more clever way.”

nLooking around, I see that Kukuri and his subordinates are in the middle of a fight.

nThe atmosphere in the party venue is at an all time low, and the guests are all terrified.

nRealizing that I’ve taken a step outside, some enemy forces rush towards where I am.

nKukuri’s subordinates stop them in their tracks by blowing themselves away along with their enemies.

nThey have sacrificed their lives for my sake.

nThere’s nothing strange about this.

nAfter all, this is part of their job.

nNevertheless—

n“The dead do not betray. Rest assured, for I have confirmed that your loyalties were genuine.”

n—It is only after their deaths that people become worthy of evaluation.

nThe members of my Black Ops have fulfilled their duties by sacrificing themselves.

nAs a token of my appreciation, I shall end this quickly.

nRosetta, who has been tailing me, comes out with Amagi following close behind her.

nAmagi is grabbing Rosetta’s arm and convincing her to return to the venue.

n“Let go, Amagi! Darling’s in—!”

n“Lady Rosetta, you will only get in the way of Master. Please head back in and wait patiently.”

nWhat a relief.

nThings would’ve become very troublesome had they stayed.

n“Both of you should hurry back in.”

nThe battleship’s anti-aircraft weapons rain down attacks on us.

nI block the incoming lasers with my katana, but as a result, a cloud of dust rises up in the air.

nNot good! Amagi’s dress will be ruined!

n—Despite my initial horror, the high-performance dress that I have prepared for Amagi keeps her spotless.

n“That designer’s not bad. I’ll have him work as my exclusive designer from now on.”

nI grasp my katana, lower my posture, and adjust my breathing.

nJust as I’m confirming whether or not Amagi and Rosetta have returned back in, the battleship unleashes another wave of attacks.

nSince we’re at the Capital, it seems like they’re reluctant to use the main cannon.

nHowever, that will be what spells their doom.

nIf they wanted to kill me, they should’ve blasted me with the main cannon from the get-go.

nWell—even if they did, I would’ve had a countermeasure.

nAs an evil lord, I must be cautious at all times.

nA real villain never lowers his guard.

nI came out of the building because I was assured of my victory.

nI’ll personally handle the enemies.

n“My skills are far inferior to that of master’s—that said, you guys aren’t my match.”

nThis slash will contain my maximum power.

nI’ll be pushing myself to my limits.

n“One-Flash.”

nI slash towards the huge object floating in the sky.

nMy favorite katana, which I have been carrying around, amplifies the power behind my slash.

nIt feels a lot more powerful than useful.

nThe battleship in the air becomes silent.

nI free myself from the sword stance and carry the katana over my shoulder.

n“The real problem is what comes after this.”

nAs it crumbles down, a huge cut is gradually made at the center of the battleship.

nThe battleship which has been floating in the air is about to crash down into the Capital, scattering debris in all directions.

nWe can expect a tremendous amount of damage.

nI’ll be using self-defense as an excuse.

nThe ones that attacked me are at fault.

n“What’s up with the Capital’s security?”

nFor a split second, I see the figure of an animal at the edge of my field of vision.

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n

nI turn my head to look, but there’s nothing there.

n“Am I seeing things? Whatever. Now then, what should I do?”

nThe battleship would have killed us if I had not cut it down.

nSince a shield can be deployed around the building, our safety is pretty much guaranteed.

nThe problem is with the surrounding area.

nThings could get ugly really fast if the battleship crashes down.

nI don’t want to be held responsible for this, so I want to do something about it.

n—Precisely at that moment, a mobile knight descends from the sky.

nIt appears to have jumped down from my fleet which had been on standby near the Capital.

nMy beloved mobile knight doesn’t seem to be affected by the signal issue, probably because of the Machine Heart.

nSensing my crisis, it has literally flown here by itself.

n“What a good child you are, Avid.”

nAvid makes a landing before me.

nDespite his large body which is 24 meters long, he doesn’t cause any tremors while doing so.

nThe interstellar Empire’s technology is amazing.

nAvid has extended one of its hands towards me, so I use it as a foothold to jump into the cockpit.

nI sit down inside the cockpit and grab the control stick.

n“Avid, I’ll be troubled if that thing drops to the ground. —Show me what you can do.”

nAvid issues a response with its engine and takes off into the sky.

nThen, it approaches the battleship which has been collapsing and begins pushing it up from below.

n“That’s it. Push the ship back into space!”

nWith Avid outputting more and more power, the battleship gradually stops falling and eventually starts rising.

nIt’s amazing that such a small aircraft is capable of pushing back the battleship.

n“Ahahaha! This is the power that I wield!”

nLifeboats are being prepared on the battleship.

nAs we’re in contact with the ship, the enemies try to communicate with us.

n“P-please help! At this rate, we’ll—”

nWhat nonsense are they spouting after trying to kill me?

nTo think they’d request for my help.

nI take off my hands from the control stick and fold them behind my head.

nThen, I proceed to cross my legs.

nAvid seems to be on autopilot, executing whatever is in my mind.

n“Yup. At this rate, you guys will definitely die.”

n“P-please! We were just following orders—”

n“You flew a battleship over the Capital and opened fire. Even if you were to survive this ordeal, your life would be over. Those that flee would be met with terrible punishments.”

n“W-we were following—”

n“I don’t care. Just die.”

nAvid picks up more speed, drawing us near the outermost barrier of the Capital planet which is made of liquid metal.

nNaturally, as the barrier is in its liquid state, the battleship passes through it without any resistance.

nThere’s nothing but the outer space beyond the barrier.

n“S-stoooooooooop!”

nAvid pushes the battleship out into space, silencing the enemies’ screams.

nThen, Avid pulls out its katana and holds it on its right hand.

n“You want to hack them into pieces?”

nAvid’s engine groans as if to reply.

nI grab onto the control stick once more.

nI like the way that Avid is behaving after acquiring the Machine Heart.

nI don’t mind playing along with one of its whims.

n“Very well. Show me how well you can replicate my movements!”

nThe battleship gets decapitated when I perform One-Flash using Avid.

nI can hear disturbing noises coming from various parts of Avid’s body.

nFrom that one move, Avid’s damage indicator has jumped from green to orange.

nThankfully, as Avid has the Machine Heart, it can self-repair its damaged parts.

n“Not bad. With this, I can go wild.”

nAvid issues a reply and tells me that it hadn’t rampaged enough.

n“Don’t be impatient. There are more enemies in this vast universe than you could ever mow down. I’ll accompany you until you get tired of it.”

nAvid calms down after hearing that.

nThe battleship in front of us has been reduced to shambles.

nA direct blow to its engine causes the battleship to explode.

nCountless pieces of debris shoot out into space.

n“A bunch of idiots—Oh, but then again…”

nI take out the alchemy box which had been hidden inside Avid.

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n

nExtending its arms outward, Avid collects all the garbage in space by manipulating gravity.

nAfterwards, Avid compresses it and turns it into gold using the alchemy box.

nThe garbage transforms into particles which then turn into gold.

n“It’s working without any problem.”

nYup, I’ll have Avid safeguard it from now on.

nOnly certain individuals are allowed to board Avid, and now that Avid has absorbed the Machine Heart, it has truly become my favorite horse.

n—No, is it better to call it a partner? After all, Avid isn’t a horse.

nOn that note, with the battleship taken care of, I guess it’s about time that I return.

nCalvin—you have finally shown me an opening.

nUntil today, Calvin had remained silent, yet he has finally made his move.

nThis is a huge opportunity for me.

nHe even dispatched a battleship to the Capital, which can be considered a big blunder on his part.

n“I’m looking forward to how far I can corner you.”

n◇

nThe Guide was dumbfounded after watching everything unfold.

n“—Eh?”

nHis brain could not process what had happened.

nIt refused to do so.

nLiam had single-handedly felled a battleship with his katana.

n“H-how?”

nAlthough the attack had not been from the main cannon, the laser beams were from the ship’s anti-aircraft weapons.

nIt was conceivable to block them with a sword.

nWhat’s more, Liam had managed to strike down the aircraft.

nThe notion that a single man would be powerless before a battleship no longer stood.

n“Has Liam grown to become an untouchable monster?”

nThe Guide fell to his knees.

nCould he beat Liam in his current state?

nHe was so weak at the moment that the answer was clearly against his favor.

n“What went wrong!? I demand an answer!”

nIt was then that Avid returned.

nAmagi and the others had come out from the venue to welcome Liam.

nInstead of greeting Rosetta, who had rushed out in a worry, Liam first greeted Amagi.

nThe Guide witnessed this and smiled.

n“I can no longer defeat you. That said, I can still deliver a wound to your heart. I don’t care if I disappear from this world. I will gift him a wound that would never heal.”

nHe no longer wished to defeat Liam.

nHis new goal was to drag Liam into the pits of despair.

n◇

nThe party venue was in a state of utter chaos.

nThis was unavoidable.

nAfter all, the Capital had been besieged by a battleship.

nAmagi had been so busy helping out around the venue that she hadn’t had the time to change clothes.

nShe was walking down a corridor when, all of a sudden, signs of human activity ceased.

nJust a few moments ago, she had seen people pass by, but strangely enough, no one was around her anymore.

n“—Is something bad happening?”

nAmagi tried returning to where Liam was in a hurry, but a mysterious existence materialized before her.

n“Greetings, young lady.”

nIt was a man in a tailcoat.

nTall and slender, the man had on a top hat that hid his eyes.

nHowever, Amagi’s eyes failed to capture the man’s appearance.

nAll she could tell was that he was someone, or something, that she could not recognize.

n“Who are you?”

nSomething shaped like a human.

nThe images reflected in Amagi’s eyes were extremely noisy and unfocused.

nShe did not have any data about this man.

nAlarm bells were ringing inside her head, warning her that the existence in front of her was dangerous.

n“I’m not obligated to answer a robot. Your death will make Liam suffer. That is all I need to know.”

nThe Guide took out a gun from his pocket.

n“Now that I’m riddled with all sorts of wounds, I have no choice but to rely on this guy. I really should’ve done this from the beginning.”

nThe Guide lacked the power to directly harm her.

nHowever, the pistol in his hand was powerful enough to destroy Amagi.

n“!”

nAmagi thought of running away, but she was rendered immobile by what appeared to be black smoke which held down her arms and legs.

nShe tried calling for help, but there was no one around, and communication had been cut off.

nSo many people were in the building, yet nobody was approaching this location.

nHow could this be possible?

nWho was this man in front of her?

nNo one was there to answer her question.

nThe Guide smiled.

n“What kind of expression would Liam make if I were to throw your head at him?”

nAmagi shut her eyes, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to defeat this man that was uttering Liam’s name.

n“Master, forgive me.”

nWith a grin on his face, the Guide pulled the trigger.

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