Evolve (3)
Before I knew it, I was trembling. Licorice furrowed her brow.
"Why are you shaking so much? I just asked if we could talk for a moment—if someone saw, they'd think I was threatening you."
"I just suddenly felt a chill. I'm all right now."
"You should just rest—... Never mind. Who could ever make you give up your stubbornness?"
Licorice looked like she wanted to tell me to rest immediately and shove me into my room. But she only sighed quietly. She knew that even if she told me, I wouldn't listen.
I made an awkward smile. Honestly, as Nadia had said, I wanted to rest just for today. My body really wasn't in good shape.
Even if resting wouldn't make anything worse, that didn't apply to my current state. Still, I hoped to get away from the Albatross.
'I need time to gather my thoughts.'
If I stayed inside the ship, I'd inevitably run into Celestia. My mind was already a mess with everything that had happened. I wanted to put off defining my relationship with Celestia as much as I could.
Celestia wasn't included in the team heading for the open-pit mine. She was a key figure, so should stay somewhere safe, but more importantly, there was no one to care for the injured.
Even with the Beta series around, they were more suited to combat than nursing. Besides, the remaining Beta units needed repairs too.
Celestia might have insisted on coming with me, but that was unlikely. She was thoroughly responsible. I was exploiting her sense of duty as a means of escape.
"So, what's up?"
"I want to hear your honest thoughts. Let's talk as we walk."
Licorice pulled me along. I'd noticed this before—why did everyone always have to grab my hand or arm? I could walk just fine on my own.
But I couldn't shake her off, so I obediently followed Licorice. She opened her mouth while controlling a Beta series unit with one hand.
"What do you think we should do?"
I could think of several things she might be referring to, so I just waited in silence for her next words.
"As you know, the plan's gone off the rails—a big one."
"Because of the warp gate, right?"
"Yeah, there are other problems, but that's the biggest."
Licorice made no attempt to hide her irritation. I understood her perfectly. The distances between terraformed planets were simply too far to bridge with ordinary thrusters.
No matter how powerful, a propulsion engine couldn't exceed the speed of light. That's why we had warp gates, facilities that folded space so you could cross instantly.
Even ships equipped with built-in warp functionality generally used warp gates unless on special operations. Using a facility saved more energy than solo warping.
Even ships that could warp solo were using the gate. Without that capability, what could anyone do? The warp gate was an absolute necessity.
The Albatross we possessed currently lacked that feature. It wasn't "unfinished"—as a prototype, the function simply didn't exist.
The Albatross Mark 2 under development would have that installed, but ours, as the first of its line, had no such facility. Thus, we couldn't even think about retrofitting it.
So, we'd planned to escape from Titan and return to Earth via the warp gate. We believed there'd be forces stationed on the gate, able to hold out behind energy fields strong enough to weather even hundreds of nuclear missiles.
But that hope had been completely shattered.
"If there's no warp gate, we'll get cornered. If the Earth government's been pushed all the way to the Moon, not even holding Mars, then this whole region is crawling with hostile forces. Wherever we go, there's a high risk of being attacked and sunk."
"Even if not, we'll die of thirst before long."
"Right. Albatross can navigate space, but it lacks crucial stasis equipment. It's fundamentally incomplete, missing a lot of what's needed for long-term travel. Even the engines alone aren't enough—we'd never last a year if we stalled. In fact, not even a year—lasting six months would be a miracle."
"Even with that main engine we just acquired and install?"
"Yeah. That's my conclusion after factoring everything in."
Licorice sighed. We paused our conversation as we reached the cargo bay. We needed to board the vehicle with the Beta series units sent to mine at the open-pit site.
Clunk. The vehicle door closed behind us as we boarded last. The driver was Kanna, who signaled she was about to depart. I signaled back my understanding and the vehicle started moving.
The extra container attached for hauling byproducts rattled, then gradually steadied as the hastily converted armored vehicle began crossing the snowy plain toward the mine.
According to the scan, it would take about ten minutes to reach the pit. With the bulky robots sitting by our side, Licorice and I continued our conversation.
"There's nothing we can do about the warp gate, right? I heard repairs take forever if one breaks."
Given our situation, repairs weren't even an option. Even if we somehow seized the warp gate, neither we nor other forces would let it be for long.
"There's something called a portable warp gate. It's designed for ships that can't solo-warp. It can't handle as much mass as a regular gate, but for Albatross and Gryphon, it should suffice."
I thought the situation hopeless, but Licorice's unexpected suggestion made my eyes light up.
"That's great. Where is it?"
"We have to request one."
"... Request? From where?"
Who could we possibly request equipment from? Did Licorice have some secret route I didn't know about?
"Myosotis."
"... Pardon?"
I thought I'd misheard and gave Licorice a puzzled look, but she nodded.
"I'm suggesting a support request. Did I say something strange?"
"No, it's not that... Are you sure Myosotis is out there?"
"Maybe 70:30."
"'Seven' meaning it probably exists?"
"Yup."
Even discounting Licorice's typical optimism, a 70% chance was high. Thirty wasn't low either, but she clearly leaned toward confidence.
I looked at her, clearly not understanding her reasoning. She elaborated.
"Myosotis changed its business after its downfall. Instead of terraforming, they delved into military technology. Myosotis is probably much stronger militarily than you think."
Strong. The thought gave me comfort—yet there was a tinge of bitterness as well. That change meant they never wanted to collapse helplessly again.
"Stronger than that fleet the Earth government sent?"
"In total war potential, yes."
Myosotis was more than just a company, but to rival the government's dispatched fleet was impressive. Maintaining military power at that scale consumed astronomical credits.
"There's a reason Celestia has such faith in them."
"She raised their power herself, so of course it's special to her trust. Oh, and just so you know, that 'total power' isn't here. It'd be hard to hide a huge fleet, so they probably sent in only the best elite units. If something goes wrong, they'd rescue Celestia alone and retreat to Earth."
Licorice explained that the 30% chance Myosotis wasn't there didn't mean they never existed—it meant they could have been wiped out.
"Anyway, I think Myosotis is hiding at a very high level of optical camouflage, waiting for Celestia's signal, even amidst all this chaos."
"A communication, huh... That means we have our job cut out for us."
Satellite jamming had to be pierced at least once using our array antenna, which kept missing a proper chance for upgrade due to constant emergencies.
"With what we have now, it's impossible. If we were still in town, maybe..."
"That's why we'll use the reactor chamber. And I don't just mean powering things with it."
"... Don't tell me, the Purification Protocol?"
A sudden suspicion filled me and I asked hesitantly—Licorice grinned.
"Been hanging around me so long, I see you're catching on, huh?"
"That's not something to talk about lightly."
I knew that Kanna and her team intended to overload the reactor chamber to send energy remotely so they could trigger the Purification Protocol.
At first, I'd thought it was only natural to activate protocols step by step. We'd been the ones to trigger the Security Protocol, after all.
But I'd then heard that Europa had been completely vaporized by the Purification Protocol. I also remembered Celestia's passing remark: "The Purification Protocol isn't for survivors."
Putting the two together, I realized activating the Purification Protocol sleeping on Titan could wipe out the entire moon before we even escaped.
I didn't like it. That was my honest feeling.
"I know what you're worried about. So am I. But let's look at things calmly. What options do we really have?"
"..."
"We desperately need backup. We have to mine our own resources because there's nowhere left to get supplies."
"..."
"Going to another military base is meaningless now. The Albatross is barely under our control, our best asset, and the gear those guys brought last time tells me all the other Titan bases have probably already been plundered."
Licorice frankly admitted that once repairs on the Albatross and Gryphon finished, she'd still check the other bases—but she didn't expect much, since the pureblood supremacists had likely already redeployed their forces.
Unlike during the Keter base incident, she reasoned they'd have built a tight communications net by now, ready to starve us out.
"This can't go on. The pureblood supremacists suffered heavy losses from the nukes too, but they can recover from those. For us, a single loss is near-irreversible."
Hence her conclusion: to go ahead and activate the Purification Protocol, even risking the moon's obliteration like Europa.
'The plan... break the satellite jamming with the Purification Protocol...'
A headache set in. Was it that I was too easily swayed, or that I'd finally faced a reality I'd tried to ignore? After hearing Licorice's argument, I had to admit she was right.
I sighed and rubbed my face with my hand.
"... That's why you asked me personally? So that when you propose this in the meeting, you'll have my backing?"
"Correct. I could force it through alone, but it's always better to have someone with you."
Licorice put on her usual confident face, but beneath that, her hand quietly squeezed mine.
'Well, look at that.'
Watching her act so unsure, so unlike herself, made it impossible to refuse. Not that I'd really been planning to argue.
"All right, all right. I wasn't planning to oppose you anyway—I'll support your proposal."
"Good. As you should."
Licorice turned her head with a little huff. She probably thought she was hiding her expression, but from this close, it was obvious. Her lips were curled in a grin.
Clank. The armored car bounced violently, as if it had gone over a big rock.
- We'll be arriving soon.
Kanna's voice echoed in the cargo bay. I glanced up at the speaker on the ceiling, then toward the driver's seat.
Kanna was alone up front. I felt a bit guilty. Licorice and I had been talking the whole way, leaving her all alone. I knew she wouldn't be offended by something like this, but I couldn't help but feel bad.
As we neared the target coordinates, the vehicle gradually slowed and Licorice and I started getting ready to disembark.
"Licorice, to activate the Purification Protocol, we need to know the reactor chamber locations. Besides the one in the Archive, do you know any others?"
Originally, the plan was to overload the Archive's furnace for supplemental energy, use the override codes from the Archive to open an exit, and escape Titan after triggering the Protocol.
But now, the order of operations had changed. It was clear our current forces weren't enough to defeat the entrenched pureblood supremacists on Titan.
To move to the next phase, I needed certainty—certainty that Myosotis was somewhere in Titan's orbit. To contact them, we first needed to break the jamming. For that, the Purification Protocol had to happen first.
Licorice smirked confidently.
"Of course. I know the location of every reactor chamber on Titan. So get better quick, all right?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
"And Hyun-woo, you said you awakened your supernatural power, right? Did you get named as well? I'm only asking because we're alone."
A sharp question, but one I knew I'd be asked sooner or later. Supernatural powers appeared among the budding-type mutants. If I'd gotten a supernatural power, that meant some connection to that line.
It would make things difficult if my name had indeed been engraved.
I answered confidently.
"I stopped the naming process. I'll explain later."
"All right, I'll wait."
We donned our respirators, then opened the rear door of the armored car. Whoosh. Cold, frozen wind blew in through the gap.
***
200 kilometers from ground zero.
Emergency-landing ships dotted the landscape.
Some had their armored bows stripped away, bare skeletons exposed. Others lay on their sides, propulsion shot. Another few were torn in half, their crews barely escaping instant death.
The aftermath of fierce battle. It showed not victory, but defeat. There were so many wrecks that counting those intact would have been much faster than counting the ruined.
They only survived because they were warships—if not, the Maker-devoured nuke would have vaporized more than half in the explosion.
If the Maker hadn't suppressed the first blast, even these would not have been saved. Cystus had managed to buy time for retreat as well.
'... Damn it.'
Cystus clenched his teeth, looking at his right arm, burnt and oozing despite his black smoke shield. The heat that had pierced through had seared his flesh.
The pain hadn't eased even after all kinds of analgesics. He injected himself again and swept his gaze over the surroundings.
Corpses of his kin lay everywhere. Equipment from the military base had taken such damage that much of it couldn't be used right away.
Of course, dying here just meant shedding flesh—there would be another life waiting. Equipment could simply be replaced. But Cystus could not quell his rage.
It was the realization that they'd been tricked by a heretic who rejected the grace of the Holy Tree, and failed to finish him off, that tormented him.
The boy who was almost dead suddenly stopped, about to have a name engraved on his shoulder. When Hyun-woo refused that name—became a heretic—Cystus should have killed him by any means necessary.
Even then, Cystus had known he had to act. But he hadn't dared approach, not knowing exactly which kind of supernatural power Hyun-woo had gained.
At first, he thought maybe Hyun-woo had failed to gain one after refusing the name. But even if he had, he'd have no control yet, so Cystus could have killed him then.
The sudden explosion of a Reformist ship inside the Maker made Cystus think Hyun-woo's first power was psychokinesis—and that awkward wave of his hand proved he had little control.
Cystus was confident he could finish him off. For a moment. Then he saw it—Hyun-woo's eyes, a blue ring inside the black.
The effect of inner energy activating—clearly, the power of Blue Eye.
'... It wasn't just one.'
Cystus realized he sensed not just one supernatural power from Hyun-woo, but more.
His guard had shot straight up, and when Hyun-woo suddenly attacked, Cystus had overreacted. Had he known it was just a flashbang, he could've killed Hyun-woo without trouble.
'No one has ever possessed two or more supernatural powers.'
The pureblood supremacists had performed endless experiments to receive more and greater grace. From the ignorant outside, it must have looked like massacre.
But the results were nil. After countless trials, the conclusion was that a human could receive only one supernatural power.
The Doubling Project was finally abandoned—it was judged a waste of resources.
But, unexpectedly, they found what they'd sought all along: the test subject Lobelia managed, who awakened multiple supernatural powers at once.
'Not just double. Maybe even triple.'
One power was psychokinesis, another was Blue Eye's potential, and the other was unknown. Even without Blue Eye, due to Lobelia's experiment, the original body was already close to superhuman.
Now, with Blue Eye's power added, he might be a true superhuman, not a half measure. If not now, he'd soon reach that state.
If he reported this to headquarters, they'd burn with excitement, sending more support to Titan to capture Hyun-woo. After that, eliminating the remaining "impurities" would be easy.
But his pride wouldn't allow it.
He'd never failed before. This Titan operation had also seemed easy.
Look at him now. Not only was he not finishing in record time—he was being dragged along and on the verge of failure.
The Maker, their greatest asset, had been annihilated in a nuclear strike. Because it happened from inside, its shell offered no extra defense.
'The Maker was developing too much self-awareness and would have needed to be scrapped soon anyway. But to lose it like this...'
If you fall behind, you're left behind. Cystus knew this. He had nowhere left to retreat. He hoped the cliff he stood on wasn't deep—but knew it was deeper than any other.
This had to end, by his own hand.
"... Move the schedule up. Use all the first root's power obtained last time on my equipment."
"... You mean accelerate its completion?"
"Yes."
"But we used a lot of power making the bud already. If we extract more—"
The warning member's head suddenly burst open with a splat, with no warning. Black smoke, fired too fast to be seen, pulverized his head.
The decapitated body spurted blood, then dropped. The other pureblood supremacists flinched in terror.
"I said use it all. The root's power is important, but it's better spent than kept and having the plan fail. Finish my armaments as fast as you can. I will accept no further objections."
Cystus spoke in a chilly monotone, masking his lack of emotion.
"Tell the brothers remaining at the military base to gather all supply materials and brace for an incursion. The enemy can't resupply, so they'll surely target the facilities."
"Yes, sir."
"We'll head to the Archive, establish a base there, and block all exits from Titan. No one leaves this moon. The Holy Tree will feed on Titan."
"Yes, sir!"
The pureblood supremacists scrambled to patch up their battered battalions. No one spoke anymore—only the ominous clatter of metal filled the air.
Cystus felt eyes upon him and looked up. Far above, a colossal being gazed down. Just from that gaze, he felt overwhelming pressure.
'... I must prove my worth.'
Suddenly, he realized the words he'd always used for others had come back to haunt him. Yet all he could do was steel himself to finish the job next time—without fail.
No more failure would be tolerated. Not by himself, but by the being he worshipped as a god.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Cystus is in his last leg.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】