Author’s Side
Ethan, who had lost consciousness from severe wounds and energy depletion, opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place.
What came into his view as soon as he opened his eyes was Rapi’s usual expressionless face.
"Commander. Are you awake?"
"Rapi? How did… Ugh…!"
As he tried to sit up and assess the situation, Ethan let out a low groan from the sudden pain.
"Don’t move. I’ve just finished emergency first aid."
"…Right. I feel a lot better. Thanks."
"No. This is only first aid. You need to get back down to the Ark for proper treatment."
Rapi’s words were absolutely correct. Her care had not gone beyond emergency measures. The priority was to reach the Ark as soon as possible for real medical attention.
But the problem was there was no easy way back to the Ark.
"…It’s too far to go back the way we came."
"We can’t call in a transport—our communications are down."
"Huff… That’s not the only problem."
With a short sigh, Anis turned her head to scan the group. At a glance, the state of her teammates was dire enough that her expression darkened further.
"More than half of us are injured. Five out of six."
"That enemy was beyond anything we’ve seen. We should consider ourselves lucky no one died."
"Exactly. It’s a miracle there are no fatalities."
The creature’s intelligence far exceeded that of a normal Rapture, and its massive physique gave it inhuman strength. For such a monster not to have killed a single one of them might really be a miracle.
"Huff. What should we do? Even if it’s risky, should we light a flare?"
Such a plan would only waste more time. Rapi shook her head firmly at Anis’s suggestion.
"No. I think we should move forward."
"Move forward…?"
"There’s a large communications tower nearby. We can use a direct line to the Ark from there."
"How long will it take to get there?"
Rapi paused to think at Anis’s question, then spoke again after a moment.
"…Well. Normally it would be about two hours, but…"
"…We should be prepared for more than half a day. That means more encounters too."
Anis let out a deep sigh, clearly already seeing the hardship ahead.
"Commander, will you be all right?"
"I’ll manage. Don’t worry about me."
"Uni. Can you block sensation in the Commander’s legs?"
Hearing Ethan’s calm request, Rapi turned back to look at Uni. It seemed they wanted to shut off the feeling in his legs to ease his pain.
"Hm… Only for a little while."
"I’ll trade you. I’m used to pain."
"Bad idea. The loss of power would be too great."
With that resolute reply, Rapi stopped Mihara from going any further. Taking on another risk while already badly wounded would only make things worse.
"You can handle it. Let’s keep moving."
"Understood, Commander."
"Just hang on a bit longer."
With words of concern from the two of them, Ethan did not reply but simply nodded slightly.
"You know, we’re in for hell when we get back."
"…"
"They’ll never let this slide—you got the Commander hurt."
Thinking it over, it really was no small matter. They had gone up to the surface without reporting to command, carried out a secret operation, and now they were all wounded. There was no way this would be overlooked.
"We’ll worry about that later. Right now, communication is the priority."
"Ha… Right. Let’s focus on getting back to the Ark. Rapi, support him as we move."
"Understood."
Though the looming punishment left a knot in their stomachs, nothing could change the fact. For now, they had to think only of returning to the Ark.
And so, Ethan and his team set off on their journey, bodies battered by injury.
Under normal circumstances, they would have chatted along the way to keep morale up, but given the situation, there was no luxury for such leisure.
"What was that thing, anyway?"
In the uncomfortable silence, Anis, who had been walking in quiet thought, spoke first.
"I’ve never heard of a Rapture that could talk."
"Right? I thought it was just a strange specimen capture, but it turned out to be something completely unknown."
"Can we even be sure it was a Rapture?"
Neon voiced her curiosity bluntly. Unfortunately, no one had an easy answer to that question.
It was an existence on an entirely different level from any typical Rapture. Not only was its firepower overwhelming, but it even used tactics like a human, completely breaking the mold of known Raptures.
"…Talking isn’t the only thing that bothers me."
"You mean the Nikke with the anti-ship rifle."
"Yeah. She’s a puzzle too."
Like the Talkative, a question about the anti-ship rifle Nikke also weighed heavily on Ethan’s mind.
"And this whole operation—was it really just us?"
"…We’ll have plenty to report when we get back. And plenty to ask."
"…So we know nothing, huh?"
"Sadly."
"Ah, I’m really afraid to go back… Commander. How are you holding up?"
As she complained, Anis glanced back at Ethan from behind.
"I’m… hanging in there."
"Wouldn’t it be better to carry you?"
"No. I couldn’t respond to an ambush. Commander, please just support me."
"I said don’t worry, right? I can really keep going."
Waving her hand lightly, Ethan’s party continued moving toward the nearby communications tower.
They reached the tower without incident. As soon as they arrived, Rapi attempted to establish communication with the Ark.
"I’m going to try communicating with the Ark. Please rest a moment. Anis, Neon, can you keep watch?"
"Of course. We’ve got this."
"Yes. I’m fine."
During the communication attempt, Anis and Neon, who were less injured, took on the perimeter watch.
With confident replies, Anis and Neon rose and took up positions.
"…We lost her. Talkative."
"Yeah. Uni couldn’t do anything."
"A Rapture capture squad that didn’t capture the Rapture…"
"Are we getting scrapped?"
Uni’s face went pale at the mere thought.
"Heh heh. It depends on what Shuen thinks."
"I don’t want to be scrapped. I don’t want to be separated from Mihara."
"…Me neither."
With a wry smile, Mihara tried to reassure Uni, but the harsh reality remained.
"Commander, help us avoid disposal."
"Me?"
Ethan, taken aback by Uni’s sudden request, echoed back.
"Yeah. You’ll make sure we don’t get scrapped, right?"
"…Well, if it’s possible, I’ll try."
"Heh heh. What are you going to do to help?"
"…Honestly, I don’t know. A newly graduated Commander without any clout has almost no leverage."
Realistically, Ethan was right. A rookie Commander with no real power could at best present his case enthusiastically to headquarters. And even that was unlikely to work. As mentioned before, unless it was a special case, there was no reason to heed a newcomer. Even with his past life in the Great Federation, he was now just a Commander. There were very few things he could do.
"…Still, I’ll try my best."
In spite of everything, Ethan refused to give up on them. The reason he wanted to help—whether sheer pity or something else—was known only to him.
"Heh heh, all right. I’ll be counting on you."
"Don’t get your hopes up too high."
"Commander. Shifty is on the line."
"What? Really?"
Rapi, who had just returned, approached and said this, prompting a surprised Ethan to bolt upright.
"I gave her a brief rundown of the situation. She wants to speak with you. Go ahead and take it."
The inevitable call had come. Ethan swallowed dryly and steeled himself as Rapi passed him the comm.
"[What the hell do you think you’re doing right now!!]"
"Ugh… Shifty…"
A high-pitched shout that nearly pierced his eardrums blasted through the comm. Ethan frowned and responded.
"…I’m sorry. But we had no choice because of Shuen."
"[…Huh? You mean Shuen? Chairman Huisen?]"
There was a moment of awkward silence before Shifty seemed to piece something together.
"[…] Got it. Sounds like there’s more to this. I’ll report to Vice Commander Andersen. So, what’s your status?"
"Five casualties. I’m hurt pretty badly too."
"Ha… This is a mess. There should be a ruined runway about ten minutes away. I’ll dispatch a transport."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
"Don’t thank me yet. Steel yourself—this isn’t a small matter. I’m out."
Beep!
With the mechanical click, the call with Shifty ended. Ethan and Rapi stared at each other for a moment before carrying on.
"…Shall we move?"
"…Roger."
After a minimal amount of preparation, they resumed their march toward the runway. Just then, Ethan’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
Bzzz...!
Pulling out his phone to see what was vibrating, Ethan’s expression darkened.
"I don’t even want to look at who’s calling."
Realizing the vibration was a message from Shuen, Ethan checked the text. Silently exchanging messages with Shuen, he twisted his face into a grimace and muttered:
"Tch. Things just keep getting more complicated..."
Ethan clicked his tongue at the unending stream of misfortune.
"Wow. It’s so open out here. The surface really is amazing."
Neon looked around the wide-open landscape with childlike wonder.
But the peaceful moment was short-lived. A massive cloud of dust began to rise from the center of the plain.
"Huh? Rapi, Anis, there’s a dust cloud over there. A sandstorm in a place that isn’t a desert? The surface really is something else!"
Unlike Neon’s innocent smile, Rapi and Anis remained serious.
"Raptures."
"What?"
"About two hundred of them, I’d say."
The air grew heavy in an instant. They were already strained, with most of the Nikkes injured. Even if they engaged the Raptures, they couldn’t hold out long. It was truly an emergency.
"Formation FF. The transport will arrive soon. Let’s hold them off."
"Damn it, my luck sucks today...!"
Though Anis cursed, her hands moved quickly.
"I don’t know about you, but this is the worst surface outing ever. What do you two think?"
"We’re not dead yet. That means it’s not the worst."
"Oh, right."
"We’ll be in firing range in thirty seconds. Everyone, get ready."
The distance to the Rapture swarm shrank in moments. The Counters engaged them swiftly, but the situation worsened.
"This is going to kill us. These bastards never run out!"
"Is the transport still far off?!"
"…It’s here!"
The silhouette of a massive transport cutting through the sky came into view. At the same time, the Rapture swarm shifted into coordinated movement.
"No. The transport is in danger!"
A bad feeling proved right. The plan was to use anti-air guns to shoot down the transport in one shot.
"Ten o’clock! Enemy anti-air guns spotted! Concentrate fire! Protect the transport!"
"Damn! There are too many targets to cover!"
"Our range won’t reach them!"
They had no time. They had to protect the transport at all costs. But the Raptures’ firepower was stronger than expected.
"Chit!"
As Rapi clicked her tongue and prepared to sprint forward, the transport suddenly flashed a brilliant light. In that instant, the Rapture armed with anti-air guns was blown to bits.
"Long-range sniper…!"
"…Not bad. Pulling the shot from that distance."
"But did that transport have that kind of weapon?"
"No! Only one person could do something like that! Absolute has arrived!"
With the distinctive whir of propellers, the transport closed distance in an instant and hovered above Ethan’s group.
Thud!Thud!Thud!
A dull echo shook the ground as a thick cloud of dust swept into their view. When the dust cleared, three Nikke appeared.
"Absolute. Deployment complete."
"I almost died there."
"Wow, there are so many Raptures."
Mihara let out a small laugh at the unexpected appearance of the mysterious Nikke.
"Absolute. Elysion’s strongest squad."
"Our reinforcements are off the charts."
Perhaps because of Absolute’s intervention, Anis finally straightened up.
"153 enemy units confirmed. Formation FF. Let’s clear them quickly."
"O-of course."
"Understood."
"Encounter."
Shortly after, Absolute wiped out over a hundred Raptures in a brief span.
"…Impressive. They took them all out."
"Engagement over. You may land."
With Absolute’s overwhelming victory, the battle ended and the transport began its descent.
"Thanks. You saved our lives…"
The reply was a cold rebuff from Eunhwa.
"Don’t talk to me. I only followed orders."
Besti, looking flustered, interjected.
"E- Eunhwa. Even so, he’s the Commander…"
Anis, exasperated, raised her voice.
"Ha! Seriously, her personality is no joke."
Emma stepped in to mediate.
"Hey~ Eunhwa’s just like that. Sorry. I’ll apologize for her—our leader’s a bit rough, you know?"
Eunhwa snapped back.
"Hey, cut the crap."
Emma shrugged.
"What can I do, it’s true~"
Eunhwa clicked her tongue.
"…Tch, returning to the Ark."
And so the harrowing covert operation finally came to an end.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register