Killing Intent from the Void
"Feel the energy you just sensed — but with your own power this time."
"Mmm..."
"Nngh..."
Calsira and Heliane sat comfortably at the center of the formation Jincheon had drawn, eyes closed, concentrating with everything they had. Unlike Kunlo, however, they couldn't sense Qi in a single breath. They grunted and strained, burning through the hours with nothing to show for it.
Looks like Kunlo and his people are particularly sensitive to Qi, Jincheon thought.
Kunlo, who had awakened to Qi almost immediately, and Gebel, who could read the flow of energy well enough to sense danger before it arrived — both of them were Guerotol, and both shared that same easy affinity for Qi. He couldn't be certain the entire race was gifted based on just two people. But in a galaxy this vast, encountering two of them with talent for Qi was no coincidence.
"Tensing your body won't help you feel it. Exhale. Relax."
"Hooo~~"
"Haaa~~"
He kept them at it, driving them to concentrate on sensing Qi — but even after several hours, nothing came.
"That's enough for today."
Judging that any more would be pointless, Jincheon ended the session. In the Murim, where martial arts were universal, faith and trust let a student push through stubbornly. But in this world, mention martial arts and you'd get: Bro, which psych ward did you crawl out of? lmao.
These two had only just begun to grasp what martial arts even were through Jincheon. Push them too long and their focus would shatter. On top of that, battle could break out at any moment — he couldn't afford to waste more time than necessary.
"Being able to use that monstrous power is tempting, but... can we really learn to sense it like this?"
"This is normal. Even the talented take three days to a week."
"And if you don't have talent?"
"A month at minimum. Half a year at worst."
"Eek."
"But inside my formation, that timeline gets cut way down."
He said it with pride, but Calsira and Heliane looked thoroughly unconvinced. Fair enough — he'd scrawled some weird patterns on the ground and claimed it would make sensing Qi easier. Believing that was the stranger reaction.
"No need to rush. We just started. And if it really doesn't work..."
"If it doesn't?"
"I'll force it into you the hard way. It'll hurt a little, but... it's worth enduring."
At the words hurt a little, both women felt a deep, crawling unease — especially since Jincheon wouldn't meet their eyes when he said it.
"Strange, though."
"Strange?"
Heliane, stretching out a body stiffened from sitting too long, looked up at the sudden remark.
"The killing intent I've been sensing faintly from far off... it's growing. Bit by bit."
"That's impossible. Do you have any idea how far Confedon's pirates are from here?"
Heliane had lived her life on a knife's edge, where a single misstep meant total annihilation. She could sense killing intent too. But her range only extended about as far as gunfire — long-range sniping excluded. Sensing the murderous aura of enemies hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, across open space? Even with monstrous abilities, that was absurd.
"...I've got a bad feeling about this."
Even so, Jincheon's expression hardened with certainty.
"Calsira."
"What is it?"
"Can you grab more magazines for the 95mm machine gun?"
Gareld carried one fifty-round magazine on the machine gun itself, plus three more mounted on its hip.
"Hmm... I'd need to find a holder and equip it. Or strip the melee weapons and mount extra magazines instead."
"If this turns into a brawl, we'll need those melee weapons. Can't ditch them..."
Calsira tilted her head at the way Jincheon was acting — as if the enemy would arrive in greater numbers than expected.
"Is that martial arts power of yours really that incredible? Enough to sense enemies multiplying from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away?"
"It's not all-powerful. My gut's been wrong plenty of times."
"Then..."
"But killing intent? That's never failed me. Not once."
Jincheon was only human. His instincts weren't some infallible prophecy. But given how easily he made enemies, reading murderous intent was a skill he'd never gotten wrong.
"Here's the plan. When the fighting starts, Heliane and I go out and fight. Calsira — you guard our ship. We'll come back for resupply."
He also stockpiled ammunition so they could rearm at any moment. Seeing him drop the jokes and take this dead seriously, Heliane pointed out that preparing alone wouldn't solve the larger problem.
"If you're this wary, we should warn the others... ah—"
She closed her mouth the moment she realized what she was saying. Tell them the enemy was coming in greater numbers than expected? The first question would be how he knew. And the only answer — I felt the killing intent growing from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away — would earn nothing but a stream of curses from a bunch of pirates, with no good reply.
"Tch. If I'd known it would be like this, I should've charged more."
Four hundred thousand credits per person had seemed like a solid payday. Looking at the situation now, it felt like he'd undercharged.
Several more days passed before Jotala's flagship appeared, leading additional forces. A total war effort, pure and simple.
Worried about getting hit with a rear raid while the base was empty? The fortress had superior radar. If the enemy tried to loop around for a backdoor strike, they could cut the shortest path home.
Ten hours after that, Confedon's fleet began registering on Jotala's radar.
"Boss! Confedon's bastards just lit up the radar!"
"Hahaha! Finally! All ships — charge main cannon energy—!"
"Boss! Boss!!"
"What?!"
Jotala, about to issue the attack order in high spirits, snapped irritably at the operator's urgent shout.
"Enemy numbers keep growing!"
"...What?"
"They've already surpassed our count! And they're still increasing!"
"Has to be dummy data!"
Confedon was bluffing — putting on a show of force. That was Jotala's read, and she turned toward Gebel to confirm it with his extrasensory gift. Gebel, who had recovered his composure after Jincheon's departure, closed his mouth and focused on his senses.
But for the first time since gaining this ability, he felt something strange.
"Uh..."
"What is it, Gebel?"
"I... this is... I've never felt anything like this before..."
"Like what?"
A bizarre mix of dread and relief at once. As if the outcome would hinge on the decision of some transcendent being.
"I don't know... This time, even I don't know..."
Gebel, who had always given clear answers — good or bad — hung his head and answered weakly.
"Dummy data or not, I don't care! All ships, charge main cannons and hold fire until effective range!"
Fortunately, Jotala had a leader's instincts and made the right call. If she'd panicked and retreated to base, pirate morale would have shattered. Even if they somehow repelled the enemy with the fortress's help, the home base would have been left in chaos. Here, at least, defensive installations were thick on the ground, and every subordinate knew Confedon was making a last desperate stand. There was no better environment for intercepting the enemy.
"Enemy ships confirmed! Confedon's fleet and... the Crymal bastards!"
"Crymal? Why the hell are they here?!"
Crymal — a mid-tier pirate outfit roughly on par with their own. He harbored ambitions of expanding into a major pirate organization, but his habit of poking around everywhere had only planted deep suspicion among his neighbors. And now that same Crymal was showing up alongside Confedon.
"Incoming transmission!"
"Open it!"
Jotala snapped, and Confedon's face filled the main monitor.
"Confedon! You cowardly son of a bitch! You dragged Crymal into this?!"
"Krrrk! Better to hire Crymal and smash you to pieces than let you take everything from me!"
"You insane bastard! You think that guy's going to quietly play mercenary?! Within a year he'll have stripped you of every subordinate and every scrap of territory — you'll be scraping the bottom!"
"I don't care! If it means you go down, I'll take any humiliation!"
"You—!"
Jotala had never imagined he'd choose hiring Crymal for revenge over simply losing to her. Looking at those numbers, he'd clearly poured every last bit of wealth he'd accumulated into this. The sheer obsession of selling his organization's future for a shot at vengeance was enough to make even Jotala shudder.
"Boss, another transmission. It's Crymal this time."
"Connect it."
As Crymal's transmission came through, the main monitor split in half and a three-way conference began. A face of the Jul race appeared — a head like a turtle shell with four horns jutting from the back of the skull, long tentacles cascading from beneath it down past the neck, and glittering sky-blue eyes. He looked grotesque, but his voice came through at full, unfiltered high tension.
"Well, well, long time no see, Jotala! How've you been?"
"Crymal."
"Why the nasty glare? Didn't your parents teach you to get along with the neighbors?"
"We're neighbors when we stay out of each other's territory."
"Invade? We're just dropping by a friend's house. Right, Confedon?"
"..."
Confedon answered Crymal's line with silence. Honestly, he'd only hired the man because he had no other options — and he personally couldn't stand him.
"See? Confedon says so too. So how about clearing that little barrier out of our way?"
"Ha! How about you wipe that look off your face first — the one that says you're about to tear open our warehouse?"
"Tsrurrk~ Shame. And here I was, showing a neighbor some respect."
His tentacles rubbed together, producing a sickening sound. Jotala glared right back at the naked greed in Crymal's eyes, refusing to yield an inch.
"I hired the mercenaries who killed Jezer — paid a fortune for them! Every last one is an ace-class pilot in a Gareld! No matter how many of you there are, as long as those mercenaries are here, you won't win easily!"
"Krrrk! Is that so?! Then this time I should thank you, Jotala! I wanted to take revenge for Jezer with my own hands!"
She'd named her secret weapon — Jincheon's group — trying to hold her ground in the war of nerves. But all it did was stoke Confedon's thirst for vengeance even hotter.
"Tsrurrk~ If they killed Jezer, their skills must be the real deal. But unless they're one-man-army-class aces, they won't overcome a force disparity like this."
"We'll see about that. Last warning, Crymal! Interfere any further and I'll kill you too!"
"I'll remember that."
The high-strung energy drained from Crymal's voice. His eyes and tone went flat and cold as he answered, then cut the transmission. That final glimpse was almost certainly his true face.
Confedon disconnected next. Jotala immediately turned to her sensor officer.
"Enemy numbers?"
"Two-point-three times ours."
"Two-point-three times..."
Even a simple numbers gap that large was enough to make her vision go dark. And Crymal had been drilling his subordinates for years in pursuit of his ambitions — pilots at the level of a national regular army. Give him an opening to expand and he'd devour everything in short order, which was exactly why the surrounding outfits had kept him in check. Now Confedon had handed him that opening on a silver platter of revenge, and Crymal would absolutely use this as a springboard for expansion.
"Damn it. I thought Confedon had some spine — turns out he was this much of a worm..."
She'd engineered the situation to go poorly for him, sure, but she'd never imagined he'd throw in the towel this completely. Jotala bit down on her lip in frustration.
"I— I'm sorry."
This entire mess had grown out of Gebel's plan. A typical pirate boss would have been screaming by now — How are you going to take responsibility? Do something! — but she didn't.
"Forget it. I never imagined Confedon would give up this easily."
She could see it clearly: this whole disaster had only happened because Confedon had abandoned hope far sooner than expected.
"Pull the forces deployed at both ends of the encirclement into the center! All ships, open fire at three thousand distance — and the moment they close further, deploy mecha!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"What about the mercenaries?"
"They're already sitting in the center! Just tell them when to deploy their mecha and let them handle the rest!"
Jincheon's group was positioned at the heart of the formation, which meant they'd automatically be thrown into the fiercest fighting.
"Please... just show me the same skill that took down Jezer...!"
A vague instinct told Jotala that Jincheon's group held the flow of this battlefield in their hands. She desperately wanted them to prove it.