Fourteen Against Thirty-Five
"Hmm-hmm-hmm~"
Now possessing the same security clearance as Eirin herself, Jincheon slipped back to his original post like a man with a cheat code — undetected by anyone. Of course, he could have simply spread his sensory aura to confirm the path was clear, but using her access codes was proof of her submission, and he savored the quiet superiority of it.
Between his light-foot techniques and the security system, he returned so fast that anyone watching would have sworn he'd only stepped out to use the bathroom.
Must be nice. Making the Empress of the Giranlek Empire one of your women too.
From the ready room, Heliane's telepathic transmission cut through — she was pretending to play a game on her Bio Device, but her eyes had gone ice-cold.
How about you come back without smelling like semen?
Calsira's scolding transmission followed right on its heels.
They had always known that someday Jincheon would take women beyond the two of them. But now that the day had actually arrived, the hurt settled in, and their tones turned sharp.
She's in her mid-to-late thirties, but with biotech treatments her lifespan has to be two or three hundred years at minimum. On top of that, she's a renowned fleet commander and holds the rank of Empress Dowager. Play it smart and she could make him a great noble overnight.
Meanwhile, all we have is our bodies… Even I can tell which side he'd favor.
They had half-resigned themselves to the gulf between them and Eirin. But Jincheon had long since known how they felt, and he already had a way to soothe them.
Both of you, listen carefully.
He sent the transmission to both of them at once.
From this moment on, I am the heir to Terra's forgotten ancient martial arts.
What are you talking about?
Heir to ancient martial arts?
Heliane and Calsira tilted their heads, completely lost as to what he was driving at.
It means only the two of you get to know I came from another dimension.
Why?
Why, though?
Naturally, their transmissions went only to him, so the same question arrived twice at once.
Besides the fact that it's hard for people to accept, I still can't fully trust anyone else.
O-oh. Well… I guess that makes sense.
Understood. Then we'll need to get our stories straight in detail.
At his words, the frost in both women's eyes melted, replaced by something almost giddy.
Yeah. This is the way to do it.
Heliane and Calsira had shared life and death, settled old grudges, and become as close as true sisters. Eirin had no bond with them at all. If Jincheon started pouring all his attention on her, the two of them would start feeling discarded or neglected — and that kind of resentment was the last thing he needed. He had conquered Eirin, but he still had to keep bedding her to lock the claim down properly. Built-up grievances had a way of exploding at the worst possible moment.
So he made Heliane and Calsira — his first bitches — the only ones who shared this particular secret. Hiding his martial arts entirely was impossible, so he hid the fact that he was a traveler from another dimension instead. Knowing a truth that touched the very root of his existence, and knowing it alone, would give them a quiet sense of superiority.
Hard to manage with so many eyes around right now… but once we have time, the three of us are rolling around together.
After that, he planned to take all three of them at once — caressing and being caressed — until any distance between them was gone.
Which means I have to shatter Eirin's pride with pleasure first.
He would make her understand, with her own body, that pride meant nothing in the face of ecstasy. And that among Jincheon's women, there was no higher or lower.
Once we link up with the loyalists, who knows how things will shift — but I can look for openings then.
There was something else he needed to decide as well.
Do I put down roots here… or keep wandering the stars? I need to pick a direction.
Jincheon's goal was to roam the vastness of space — to see and experience races, cultures, and planets he had never known. He only took mercenary work because travel required money. Heliane and Calsira enjoyed the journey, but they also wanted to feel themselves growing, expanding somehow. He would have to set a course for all of them.
How about this for a cover? The heir to a forgotten ancient martial art set out into the cosmos to prove that martial power still works out here.
Unnie… do you sense any sense of mission like that in Jincheon-nim's behavior?
Ah… yeah, that one's completely ridiculous.
…They're being a little harsh over there.
Eavesdropping on their telepathic chatter, Jincheon discovered just how low their evaluation of him ran. Still, watching them excitedly fuss over a cover story that suited him, he couldn't feel any of the cold resentment that had been in their eyes moments before.
They were still trading transmissions back and forth when it happened.
Wee-oo. Wee-oo. Wee-oo.
"!!"
Alarm klaxons blared without warning. Pilots who had been lounging and killing time shot to their feet.
In the Giranlek Empire, Combat Readiness Level Four meant radar had painted hostiles — prepare for immediate engagement.
A thunder of boots filled the corridors. Pilots from the ready rooms and break lounges sprinted for the hangars. Crew members heading the opposite way split left and right without colliding, flowing past each other in a practiced rush. Clear proof that every soul aboard — not just the pilots — was elite.
Jincheon's group raced to the hangar and climbed into their mechas.
Damn it! We were almost there, and now an ambush!
Heliane snarled as she powered up the Saisalas — two days from the rendezvous, and the enemy had chosen now to strike.
Moments later, radar data fed into the Rastold Silverion.
"Five cruisers. Thirty-five mechas. These aren't standard cruisers — high-speed models?"
In this universe, cruisers were the most beloved multi-role hulls afloat. Patrol cutters and corvettes handled scouting and support. Frigates and destroyers could ferry mechas and put up a fight, but they were never the main force. Battleships were powerful, but as the backbone of any fleet they cost a fortune just to move, so no one committed them lightly. Cruisers, though, adapted to almost any role, packed enough firepower to serve as a main line, and were far more agile than a battleship.
The rebels knew the Rastold Silverion was far faster than an ordinary battleship. They had sent high-speed cruisers to cut her off before she could join the loyalists.
What do we do? We're almost out of ammunition…
Calsira fretted — she knew full well they had burned most of their ordnance breaking through the last encirclement.
"Heliane."
I know. I'll give it everything I've got.
Jincheon had already decided Heliane was the key to this fight. The plasma cannon in the Saisalas's abdomen drew straight from the reactor — no ammunition required. Fire it wildly, of course, and the energy drain would leave the machine dead in the water for a while, so she would have to space her shots carefully.
When everyone had finished combat prep, the combat information center's operator addressed every pilot at once.
The operator briefed them with the enemy data Eirin had already anticipated. Naturally, the enemy mechas would fight to keep those engines intact. Which meant they had to defeat thirty-five mechas on dwindling ammunition — and still cripple the cruisers' engines.
"Damn it. I need to mount a reactor-fed built-in weapon on the Gareld, or switch to a mecha that already has one."
Running this low on ammo was rare under normal circumstances. Once they linked up with the loyalists, the shortage would vanish. But having to fight under these conditions made Jincheon grumble that he was definitely installing at least one internal weapon later.
Eirin herself underscored that the Saisalas — with its built-in weapon — held the pivotal position in this fight. Its plasma barrage might not shatter a cruiser outright, but against an engine it would more than suffice.
When the operator finished, Eirin's face appeared on every pilot's monitor.
Oh. Morale just spiked.
Through Eirin's encouragement, Jincheon felt the qi outside the mechas surge and thrash with renewed ferocity. At the very least, low morale would not be a problem.
The moment her address ended, Heliane opened a private channel to Jincheon, something odd nagging at her.
Jincheon. Did the Empress Dowager's face look a little flushed to you?
You saw it too, Unnie? For pre-battle adrenaline, her expression and color seemed… a bit off…
"Ah."
Ah?
I suddenly feel very uneasy…
The look of realization on Jincheon's face made both women tense on instinct.
"I plugged a dildo into her so my semen wouldn't leak out before I left."
What!?
Jincheon-nim! Have you completely lost your mind!?
Heliane and Calsira were speechless at the sheer audacity of it.
"So what? What matters is that we fight hard, right? She's commanding a battleship — all a captain has to do is give orders."
You absolute… haaah…
Jincheon-nim's libido is truly…
Picturing Eirin directing a battle with a dildo still buried inside her, the two women could only pray she held it together — and resolve to fight hard enough to make it worth the risk.
On the operator's command, the mechas launched and advanced in a carefully spaced formation.
"Calsira."
Yes?
"That's every round of ammunition I have."
Jincheon handed Calsira all of his remaining ammo, then tossed aside his 95mm machine gun and laser rifle. Once they joined the loyalists, they would be resupplied with better gear anyway — no point clinging to scrap.
You're going all-in on close combat, Jincheon-nim?
"Obviously. With this speed, melee alone is more than enough."
Having offloaded every last cartridge, Jincheon looked over the allied line. Aside from their own machines, eleven Orcalen Flugel held formation with lances ready. Between the long pursuit, enemy fire, and the cost of punching through the encirclement, the Imperial Guard was down to eleven mechas total. Half of those still bore raw scars where critical systems had been patched with whatever repair materials remained. Jincheon's arrival and the salvage from rebel-hired mercenaries had helped, but only so much.
Fourteen versus thirty-five.
Their machines were superior, but ammunition was critically low. The enemy fielded D- to C-class units — but fully supplied.
Another uphill fight. Which is exactly what makes it fun.
And he himself was restricted to pure close combat. The handicap only made Jincheon's smile widen.
Both sides closed in formation. The moment they entered main-battery range, the pre-charged primary guns at the Rastold Silverion's bow unleashed a colossal beam of light.
The enemy high-speed cruisers broke in different directions. One banked hard on a diagonal, and the beam skimmed its underbelly, tearing a chunk out of its shields.
Their own main guns lacked the Rastold's reach; only after closing further did the cruisers return fire.
"Evasive maneuver to starboard!"
Eirin issued the order with perfect cold clarity — even as she felt the dildo holding back the semen still inside her. The enemy, anticipating the dodge, laid down a coordinated fire net. They had used the same doctrine when the Rastold broke the previous encirclement: standard multi-on-one engagement protocol.
Crack-crack-crack—!
A main-battery-class laser slammed into the Rastold head-on, but the imperial flagship's shields absorbed it without damage.
To destroy those cruisers, we need to get closer still.
Eirin weighed her options: drive the Rastold into point-blank range and slug it out like a brawler, or hold the line and trade fire until the mecha duel was decided.
A thick, wet pulse stirred deep in her womb.
"Mmm…"
Feeling Jincheon's semen shift inside her, she chose the latter.
If it's Jincheon…
From the moment he joined them, he had pulled them out of every crisis. She would trust his strength.
"This ship will pin down the enemy fleet! Mecha corps — charge!"
"Relay charge order to the mecha corps!"
The deputy captain echoed the command, and the operator transmitted it to every pilot.
"Ah…"
The instant the charge order went out, a crimson machine rocketed to the front of the formation at terrifying speed. Knowing exactly who piloted it, Eirin felt a flush rise to her cheeks — the thought that Jincheon was protecting her warming her from the inside out.