Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Styx Frontline
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Two days had passed.
The war had come to a complete halt, and the city was now under the Allied Forces' management.
Colonel Kavaski, having heard the full details of the postwar situation, chose not to punish the citizens.
It had taken some convincing, but it was still an unexpected decision.
The destruction of a Drive Gate was among the gravest crimes on the Allies' books—one ranked at the very top.
Postwar circumstances or not, immediate punishment was the norm.
In that light, Colonel Kavaski's ruling was undoubtedly an act of leniency.
"Thank you, Colonel Kavaski."
I sought him out and bowed my head politely.
"I was just following protocol. No need to thank me. They've been designated as high-risk elements and will be under long-term surveillance."
"They won't cause any more trouble."
I didn't ask about the treatment of Asana faction members.
They'd all be shipped off to the front lines.
Sentenced to terms of service matching their crimes, they wouldn't shed their armorsuits until they either died or fulfilled their full sentences.
Meritorious service might shorten their stints, but with priority placement on the deadliest battlefields, their survival odds were hopeless.
"We'll have to wait for reinforcements, but I'm sorry we have to leave first."
"You've already done more than enough. Having superhuman assets tied down here is a loss for the Alliance, so depart as soon as you're ready."
Kavaski cut straight to the chase.
With the Drive Gate destroyed, no one knew when reinforcements might arrive.
Staying here offered little beyond using Merdi to keep the civilians in line.
From the civilians' perspective—who now had no one to rely on but Merdi—they were desperate for us to stay, but that was a minority view. The prevailing opinion was that we shouldn't become a burden.
'They'll come around slowly enough.' I had no intention of leaving them be.
Even under Alliance surveillance, they were still here.
Natural forced relocation would happen eventually, and I'd use that opening to recommend the Quvillion planet.
Above all, they were prime assets.
Having survived to the end on Yumaha, they possessed strong survival instincts, unity, and loyalty to Merdi.
For someone as close to Merdi as me, that meant a solid support base.
'I need to talk to Merdi about it...' But now that it was time, hesitation crept in.
Things had been too hectic since that incident to have a proper face-to-face.
Still, if it had to happen, better sooner than later.
I bid farewell to Colonel Kavaski and returned to the ship.
Preparations for departure were already complete.
The moment I arrived, Albert poked his head out.
He'd been waiting, perched at the hangar entrance.
"Finally heading out?"
"Yeah."
"I'll be in touch."
Albert grinned.
He was staying behind on Yumaha to act in Merdi's stead.
"Get some rest. I'll work you ragged later."
"Leaving me with a hundred thousand mouths to feed and telling me to rest? You're a real comedian."
"Quit whining."
I chuckled and shooed him off to get moving.
He'd handle the rest just fine.
No need for detailed instructions—he already read me like a book.
He knew exactly what I expected from him.
After seeing Albert off on the shuttle, I turned to find Merdi popping up out of nowhere.
"Whoa."
I'd sensed someone, but hadn't realized it was her, so I stepped back a couple paces—then froze when I saw her expression harden.
"...Hey?"
"Yeah, hey."
Merdi crossed her arms and returned the greeting easily enough.
She was waiting to see what I'd say.
"You said we had stuff to talk about? Not here, though. Let's move somewhere else."
"Sure." I led the way to her cabin.
She'd originally shared one with Roze.
It had the best setup—the one Roze had claimed—but thanks to extra care in the initial design, she now had her own private quarters.
"Room treating you okay?"
"It's not bad."
I glanced around the cabin.
With only the basic interior so far, it lacked any real personality.
I turned to face Merdi.
'Is this the first time we've been alone like this?'
Nearly three years had passed since we'd met.
At first, I kept my distance out of fear she'd drag me into some disaster.
Even now, outside of work, we had no real overlap, so we'd never been alone in a space like this.
Strange.
Merdi's temperament hadn't changed much.
Self-centered, arrogant, with zero approachability.
And when things didn't go her way? The temper tantrums.
Yet the old wariness was gone.
"...What?"
Had I stared too hard?
Merdi leaned back slightly, narrowing her eyes.
"Feels like the first time I'm really looking at you like this."
"Cut the crap. What was that before?"
"The kiss?"
"...Yeah, the kiss."
She flinched at the blunt term, then played it off like it was nothing.
"It was to stop the rampage, but if that's all it was, I'd be lying."
"So you're into me?"
I nodded.
In hindsight, I still wasn't sure if kissing her had been the best move in that situation.
Surely other options existed.
A little thought would have yielded gentler, more normal ways to distract her.
But that solution popping into my head first? Definitely meant I was interested in Merdi.
"How much?"
"...As a man and a woman, yeah, there's attraction."
I laid my honest feelings bare.
I didn't feel it ran deep enough to call love.
When I first landed in this world, the idea of us as a couple was unthinkable.
I was certain it would never happen.
Subtle shifts since the Terra raid had only now dawned on me as possibility.
"What about you?"
"Me...?"
Her mouth snapped shut.
She worked her lips a moment, as if struggling for words, then met my eyes directly.
She looked a little angry, for some reason.
"Not enough."
"...Huh?"
"Not enough. If you're gonna like me, like me for real. You think I'm some pushover you can come at with half-assed feelings?"
I was speechless.
This reaction was the last thing I'd expected.
"At least you're not lying. Small mercies."
"Haha..."
"Get your head straight, then come back. And no more of that shit ever again."
"The kiss?"
"Yeah, the kiss!"
Merdi ground her teeth, raised her voice once, then went quiet.
The mood lightened somehow.
As we stared at each other for a beat, Merdi spoke first.
"What about Roze?"
"...Roze?"
"You're into her too. You got the kid hooked bad—gonna pretend otherwise?"
"No, that's..."
Words failed me.
No excuse would fly.
I knew it deep down.
As I floundered, Merdi sparked blue electricity in her hand and yelled.
"Get out, you trash!"
"...Whoa!!"
That wasn't a bluff.
I threw up a barrier and leaped back as the current singed my hair.
Dodging follow-ups, I bolted out the door.
"How'd I end up with a guy like that...!"
Her growl leaked through the closing door.
*
The aliens that appeared a century ago hit humanity like a biblical plague—just as we were pioneering the vastness of space.
All our resources poured into holding them back, stalling expansion to a crawl.
Some even claimed we never should have left Earth.
A hundred years on, humanity had evolved.
We accepted the aliens as our fated foe and fought to overcome.
Lately, real hope glimmered on the horizon.
But just as we dared envision a brighter future, a new crisis plunged the Alliance into chaos.
Beyond shock.
An invasion route from the Alliance rear—the sector we'd deemed safe—delivered crushing psychological blow.
"What a mess."
How long had we been stuck on Yumaha? The mood had flipped completely.
Impossible to adjust.
Four star systems had already fallen to the aliens, they said.
The Alliance was trying hard to clamp down info, but good luck with that.
Silver lining: the three main fleets—scraped together from the Alliance's full might—were mobilizing early to contain the outbreak.
"My retirement plans..."
Darmosa looked utterly wrecked when we met again.
He'd just stabilized the fourth defense line around the Triple Link region and was planning to return to HQ. The timing made the shock hit harder.
"It's okay, Darmosa. Major General Revel will handle it."
"Tana..."
Darmosa gazed at her with misty eyes.
But as he seemed to pull himself together a bit, Tana shoved work his way.
"Buck up and knock this out first. Approvals are piling up."
"...Ugh!" Even in Darmosa's presence, Tana nailed her elite secretary face.
Still, the coaxing tone was new.
'Or maybe she's just gotten used to handling him...?'
I watched from the front as Darmosa tackled his workload with Tana's help.
According to her, my arrival had snapped him out of it.
Before I got there, it was dire.
"Thanks for coming. Dragged you here mid-vacation after that mess—sorry for killing your downtime."
"No worries. I was planning to drop by anyway."
Seeing Darmosa like this, I was glad I'd come at Tana's request.
Mental states could crumble anytime.
"Oh, you're here."
Finishing up, Darmosa sipped the tea Tana had poured and turned to me.
"What's with the face, bro?"
"Don't ask. I'm losing my mind."
He clutched his head again.
"Don't stress too much. The new front might not be that big a deal."
"Hope so..."
"So why'd you call me?"
"Oh, right—haven't gotten to that."
He straightened up and handed me some documents.
Appointment papers, formal authorization for independent unit ops, that sort.
"Take these. We should've done a proper ceremony, but with everything... skipped it."
"Saved me the hassle."
"Heard about Yumaha. Blew my mind. If not for this, I'd have backed you proper. Sorry."
We bantered back and forth.
Then he got to the point.
"Head to the rear front."
"...Me?"
"Yeah. Naming it Styx Front after the initial invasion site."
"Sounds like that river in hell."
"That's part of it."
Ominous name.
Sure, layers to it, but it'd feel like a death sentence to the troops shipping out.
"Name aside, why the sudden call?"
Truth be told, I'd planned to suggest it myself.
New front.
Remote rear sector, far from the main war—likely no other superhumans operating there.
After all the invisible friction on ops, it sounded smoother.
Plus, with my plans keyed to events a year out from canon, no complex math needed.
'Holding the new front firm changes a lot.'
Styx was the next key hub after Triple Link.
Minimizing damage there preserved Alliance strength for the long game.
"I've been thinking... the Alliance needs a hotshot face right now."
"Public opinion?"
"Yeah. Everyone's panicking way too much. Idiot media's churning out doomsday novels, buying their own hype."
Darmosa gnashed his teeth.
From his spot, he'd want to steamroll the lot.
Not helping—just hindering.
His biggest internal enemy had always shaken his resolve.