The Celestine Incident: Ship One (Part 1)
WARNING: Hull breach detected.
The viewport shattered. Air howled through the breach. A violent wind tore through the cabin.
Abnormal acceleration detected. Ship is malfunctioning due to unknown causes.
Switching controls to manual mode.
Command cannot be executed!
The vessel, now free of AI control, triggered its final failsafe. A deafening siren screamed to life, bathing the corridors in pulsing crimson light.
BOOM!
My body slammed backward. The acceleration canceled gravity itself. I couldn’t even keep my balance.
“Young master!”
Sonia and Bella shouted at the same time. I reached out, but my hand only cut through empty air. I was already too late.
I had been standing too close to the viewport while dealing with the Outer God that had possessed Seti. Even a slight jolt was enough to send me tumbling out of the ship’s artificial gravity field.
“Instructor!” I yelled toward Naiere. “Please protect Seti!”
“……!”
Sonia’s figure grew smaller and smaller. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear a single word.
Vacuum environment detected.
Deploying suit helmet for protection.
I spun like a first-rate acrobat, tumbling farther and farther from Ship Four until I became just another piece of space debris.
This was bad. If the oxygen in my suit ran out or an avatar appeared, it was game over. It had been a long time since I last felt the cold touch of mortal danger.
I took slow, measured breaths and scanned my surroundings. My body, floating atop the cosmic tide, gradually began to feel a tug. That’s right—I was falling toward the parent planet.
…….
Naiere clenched his jaw, finally accepting that Idel was gone. He strode out of the captain’s quarters.
Bulkheads sealing.
There would be no returning to the captain’s quarters now. He had no way of knowing whether Idel was alive or dead. Naiere pressed a hand to his aching chest.
“I’m sorry, Gr—”
“Please call this Sonia by her name.”
“Right. Sonia.”
Only four people had made it back: Sonia, Naiere, the unconscious Seti, and Bella, her personal android.
“Commander!”
Inspectors wearing red epaulets came running.
“All students have been evacuated. What on earth is happening?”
No one, Naiere included, had an answer. Their bodies began to drift upward.
“We’re in zero gravity.”
“Looks like we’ve left the parent planet’s orbit.”
“It’s the Outer Gods. They’ve isolated us so they can cook us slowly.”
At Naiere’s words, Bella swallowed hard. She fidgeted anxiously.
“Um, Instructor? What do we do now?”
“We fight.”
“F-fight?”
Naiere scanned the surroundings. The ship was deathly silent. Abnormally so. In such silence, madness always lurked.
RRRRRRUMBLE!
The wiring that formed the ship’s skeleton twisted grotesquely, rising like snakes lifting their heads.
“They’re trying to possess the ship itself.”
Naiere quickly assessed their available combat strength. Aside from himself—a Great Omega—there were eight EX-rank inspectors who could still fight.
He pointed at Seti and issued orders.
“Split into two squads. Squad One follows me. Squad Two, guard this girl. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Shing.
Naiere drew his sword alongside four inspectors and began charging it with power.
Inky tentacles crawled along the inner hull like ivy. The world grew darker. The starship was being devoured by madness and terror.
Naiere poured stellar energy into her blade. Ether surged, unleashing a ferocious flash of light. The mass of tentacles swarming along the walls descended upon them.
Ship One. An accident occurred during the 100-meter dash test. One student collapsed right before the finish line and wouldn’t get up. Welton assumed it was something like a heart attack and felt relieved when the medics rushed in.
Even as more students began dropping one after another.
“Wh-what the—?”
The fallen students bled profusely, as if they had been shot. These were external wounds. Only then did the EX-rank inspector in charge of Ship One’s security shout.
“We’re under attack! Prepare for combat!”
At the command, the sound of swords powering up rang out everywhere. Their movements were coordinated and calm, without a trace of panic. It was as if the soldiers had anticipated this exact situation.
“Everyone, monstrous entities are attacking!”
“Evacuate to the orbital elevator immediately!”
On the railing, slender-limbed aberrations appeared and began assaulting the students. The ship descended into chaos in an instant.
The inspectors swung their blades nonstop to protect the panicked students. Welton followed the android’s instructions and calmly headed for the orbital elevator. He didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he had sensed something was off the moment he saw an EX-rank inspector aboard.
Tap.
A male student bumped Welton’s shoulder as he ran past.
“I-I don’t want to die! Move!”
“Running is prohibited! There is a risk of crushing!”
“Get out of the way!”
The boy reached the orbital elevator first. His face twisted with ecstasy—only the twist went far deeper than mere joy.
“K-krrgh…”
The student groaned. The next instant—
Splat!
The skin of his face tore sideways and ripped clean off.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
An inspector with red epaulets rushed over at the scream and swung his sword.
Thud!
A sound like snapping thread echoed.
“Are you all right? Damn, he fainted.”
Fortunately, the boy wasn’t dead. Even so, the witnesses had to endure a dizzying horror.
Welton frowned.
“……Thread?”
Thin, sharp filaments like copper wire were strewn not only across the elevator entrance but everywhere.
“Nobody move carelessly. One wrong step and you could all be badly hurt.”
This fear was on an entirely different level from before. The inspectors’ resolute faces were the students’ only comfort.
Lucardo, the centurion, shouted.
“All S-ranks, focus entirely on protecting the students! EX-ranks, split into six squads of four. Two squads secure the elevator. The remaining four squads follow me to engage the avatar!”
Even now, students continued collapsing with wet thumps.
“Avatar? Did he just say avatar?”
“Why is this happening to us!”
“Ah… aah…”
Mezlen clutched Christine’s arm with a terrified expression. As her group approached Welton, they asked,
“What the hell is going on?”
“……I don’t know either.”
“Avatars don’t just appear in places like this. The ones that show up once in a blue moon on the front lines… why are they here…”
When three elite-class students gathered, more familiar faces joined them: Matus and James.
“Fuck, what the hell is this?” Matus spat.
“Everyone calm down. Panicking won’t solve anything,” James said steadily.
“James is right. First we should clear the threads from the orbital elevator as safely as possible, descend to the surface, and call for help…”
Christine’s words suddenly cut off. The light vanished from her eyes.
“Chris?”
Mezlen shook her friend’s arm. No response. Terror flooded Mezlen’s face.
“S-stop joking. Why are you acting like this too?”
Thump.
Christine collapsed. The back of her spacesuit slowly turned crimson.
“Y-you can’t… leave yet……”
A stuttering voice came from behind them.
At the highest point of the ship, a monster with the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a woman dangled from the glass ceiling, staring down at Welton’s group. She was playing cat’s cradle with her fingers and smirking.
“My lord commanded that the boy must be found and killed……”
Her eight eyes radiated red glow. What emanated from her was pure madness. Or the presence of an Outer God.
“N-nice to meet you, everyone. I am Luzlaktia of the Copper Threads……”
“Though I am the weakest in our family… yes, I will still do my best……?”
“Ugh!”
Mental agony. Welton forced the bile rising in his throat back down. Without a constellation’s protection, merely looking at her made his head throb. He had to run. His instincts screamed it.
Welton forced his frozen legs to move.
“H-huh…? Where are you going?”
His body shuddered. The thought that he might have made the wrong choice sent a chill through every nerve.
“The elevator is… under maintenance. No entry allowed……”
The words were aimed at the students who had tried to descend first with the inspectors’ help.
The avatar who had introduced herself as Luzlaktia flexed her finger joints.
“But… I am merciful……!”
There was no doubt. She clearly intended to finish off the students who had tried to flee first.
“I will only let those who have already boarded leave……!”
The moment the spider avatar spoke—
Crash!
The ceiling she clung to shattered, and a single figure plummeted down.
“Haa… have the other ships already been finished…? I… I must work harder too……!”
In that instant—
Crunch!
The heavily suited figure twisted like a gymnast and drove a blow straight into Luzlaktia’s abdomen. In his hand gleamed a silver-charged caliper.
“Eh…?”
Luzlaktia let out a stupid sound.