I’ve come out after sensing that something is off, only to be greeted by a battleship floating in the air.

 

“Flying a battleship above the capital is a bit too much. Calvin, an assassination should be done in a more clever way.”

 

Looking around, I see that Kukuri and his subordinates are in the middle of a fight.

 

The atmosphere in the party venue is at an all time low, and the guests are all terrified.

 

Realizing that I’ve taken a step outside, some enemy forces rush towards where I am.

 

Kukuri’s subordinates stop them in their tracks by blowing themselves away along with their enemies.

 

They have sacrificed their lives for my sake.

 

There’s nothing strange about this.

 

After all, this is part of their job.

 

Nevertheless—

 

“The dead do not betray. Rest assured, for I have confirmed that your loyalties were genuine.”

 

—It is only after their deaths that people become worthy of evaluation.

The members of my Black Ops have fulfilled their duties by sacrificing themselves.

 

As a token of my appreciation, I shall end this quickly.

 

Rosetta, who has been tailing me, comes out with Amagi following close behind her.

 

Amagi is grabbing Rosetta’s arm and convincing her to return to the venue.

 

“Let go, Amagi! Darling’s in—!”

 

“Lady Rosetta, you will only get in the way of Master. Please head back in and wait patiently.”

 

What a relief.

 

Things would’ve become very troublesome had they stayed.

 

“Both of you should hurry back in.”

 

The battleship’s anti-aircraft weapons rain down attacks on us.

 

I block the incoming lasers with my katana, but as a result, a cloud of dust rises up in the air.

 

Not good! Amagi’s dress will be ruined!

 

—Despite my initial horror, the high-performance dress that I have prepared for Amagi keeps her spotless.

 

“That designer’s not bad. I’ll have him work as my exclusive designer from now on.”

 

I grasp my katana, lower my posture, and adjust my breathing.

 

Just as I’m confirming whether or not Amagi and Rosetta have returned back in, the battleship unleashes another wave of attacks.

 

Since we’re at the Capital, it seems like they’re reluctant to use the main cannon.

However, that will be what spells their doom.

 

If they wanted to kill me, they should’ve blasted me with the main cannon from the get-go.

 

Well—even if they did, I would’ve had a countermeasure.

 

As an evil lord, I must be cautious at all times.

 

A real villain never lowers his guard.

 

I came out of the building because I was assured of my victory.

 

I’ll personally handle the enemies.

 

“My skills are far inferior to that of master’s—that said, you guys aren’t my match.”

 

This slash will contain my maximum power.

 

I’ll be pushing myself to my limits.

 

“One-Flash.”

 

I slash towards the huge object floating in the sky.

 

My favorite katana, which I have been carrying around, amplifies the power behind my slash.

 

It feels a lot more powerful than useful.

 

The battleship in the air becomes silent.

 

I free myself from the sword stance and carry the katana over my shoulder.

“The real problem is what comes after this.”

 

As it crumbles down, a huge cut is gradually made at the center of the battleship.

 

The battleship which has been floating in the air is about to crash down into the Capital, scattering debris in all directions.

 

We can expect a tremendous amount of damage.

 

I’ll be using self-defense as an excuse.

 

The ones that attacked me are at fault.

 

“What’s up with the Capital’s security?”

 

For a split second, I see the figure of an animal at the edge of my field of vision.

I turn my head to look, but there’s nothing there.

 

“Am I seeing things? Whatever. Now then, what should I do?”

 

The battleship would have killed us if I had not cut it down.

 

Since a shield can be deployed around the building, our safety is pretty much guaranteed.

 

The problem is with the surrounding area.

 

Things could get ugly really fast if the battleship crashes down.

 

I don’t want to be held responsible for this, so I want to do something about it.

 

—Precisely at that moment, a mobile knight descends from the sky.

 

It appears to have jumped down from my fleet which had been on standby near the Capital.

 

My beloved mobile knight doesn’t seem to be affected by the signal issue, probably because of the Machine Heart.

 

Sensing my crisis, it has literally flown here by itself.

 

“What a good child you are, Avid.”

 

Avid makes a landing before me.

 

Despite his large body which is 24 meters long, he doesn’t cause any tremors while doing so.

 

The interstellar Empire’s technology is amazing.

 

Avid has extended one of its hands towards me, so I use it as a foothold to jump into the cockpit.

 

I sit down inside the cockpit and grab the control stick.

 

“Avid, I’ll be troubled if that thing drops to the ground. —Show me what you can do.”

 

Avid issues a response with its engine and takes off into the sky.

 

Then, it approaches the battleship which has been collapsing and begins pushing it up from below.

 

“That’s it. Push the ship back into space!”

 

With Avid outputting more and more power, the battleship gradually stops falling and eventually starts rising.

 

It’s amazing that such a small aircraft is capable of pushing back the battleship.

“Ahahaha! This is the power that I wield!”

 

Lifeboats are being prepared on the battleship.

 

As we’re in contact with the ship, the enemies try to communicate with us.

 

“P-please help! At this rate, we’ll—”

 

What nonsense are they spouting after trying to kill me?

 

To think they’d request for my help.

 

I take off my hands from the control stick and fold them behind my head.

 

Then, I proceed to cross my legs.

 

Avid seems to be on autopilot, executing whatever is in my mind.

 

“Yup. At this rate, you guys will definitely die.”

 

“P-please! We were just following orders—”

 

“You flew a battleship over the Capital and opened fire. Even if you were to survive this ordeal, your life would be over. Those that flee would be met with terrible punishments.”

 

“W-we were following—”

 

“I don’t care. Just die.”

 

Avid picks up more speed, drawing us near the outermost barrier of the Capital planet which is made of liquid metal.

 

Naturally, as the barrier is in its liquid state, the battleship passes through it without any resistance.

 

There’s nothing but the outer space beyond the barrier.

 

“S-stoooooooooop!”

 

Avid pushes the battleship out into space, silencing the enemies’ screams.

 

Then, Avid pulls out its katana and holds it on its right hand.

 

“You want to hack them into pieces?”

 

Avid’s engine groans as if to reply.

 

I grab onto the control stick once more.

 

I like the way that Avid is behaving after acquiring the Machine Heart.

 

I don’t mind playing along with one of its whims.

 

“Very well. Show me how well you can replicate my movements!”

 

The battleship gets decapitated when I perform One-Flash using Avid.

 

I can hear disturbing noises coming from various parts of Avid’s body.

 

From that one move, Avid’s damage indicator has jumped from green to orange.

 

Thankfully, as Avid has the Machine Heart, it can self-repair its damaged parts.

 

“Not bad. With this, I can go wild.”

 

Avid issues a reply and tells me that it hadn’t rampaged enough.

 

“Don’t be impatient. There are more enemies in this vast universe than you could ever mow down. I’ll accompany you until you get tired of it.”

 

Avid calms down after hearing that.

 

The battleship in front of us has been reduced to shambles.

 

A direct blow to its engine causes the battleship to explode.

 

Countless pieces of debris shoot out into space.

 

“A bunch of idiots—Oh, but then again…”

 

I take out the alchemy box which had been hidden inside Avid.

 

Extending its arms outward, Avid collects all the garbage in space by manipulating gravity.

 

Afterwards, Avid compresses it and turns it into gold using the alchemy box.

The garbage transforms into particles which then turn into gold.

 

“It’s working without any problem.”

 

Yup, I’ll have Avid safeguard it from now on.

 

Only certain individuals are allowed to board Avid, and now that Avid has absorbed the Machine Heart, it has truly become my favorite horse.

 

—No, is it better to call it a partner? After all, Avid isn’t a horse.

 

On that note, with the battleship taken care of, I guess it’s about time that I return.

 

Calvin—you have finally shown me an opening.

 

Until today, Calvin had remained silent, yet he has finally made his move.

This is a huge opportunity for me.

 

He even dispatched a battleship to the Capital, which can be considered a big blunder on his part.

 

“I’m looking forward to how far I can corner you.”

 

◇

 

The Guide was dumbfounded after watching everything unfold.

 

“—Eh?”

 

His brain could not process what had happened.

 

It refused to do so.

 

Liam had single-handedly felled a battleship with his katana.

 

“H-how?”

 

Although the attack had not been from the main cannon, the laser beams were from the ship’s anti-aircraft weapons.

 

It was conceivable to block them with a sword.

 

What’s more, Liam had managed to strike down the aircraft.

 

The notion that a single man would be powerless before a battleship no longer stood.

 

“Has Liam grown to become an untouchable monster?”

 

The Guide fell to his knees.

 

Could he beat Liam in his current state?

 

He was so weak at the moment that the answer was clearly against his favor.

 

“What went wrong!? I demand an answer!”

 

It was then that Avid returned.

 

Amagi and the others had come out from the venue to welcome Liam.

 

Instead of greeting Rosetta, who had rushed out in a worry, Liam first greeted Amagi.

 

The Guide witnessed this and smiled.

 

“I can no longer defeat you. That said, I can still deliver a wound to your heart. I don’t care if I disappear from this world. I will gift him a wound that would never heal.”

 

He no longer wished to defeat Liam.

 

His new goal was to drag Liam into the pits of despair.

 

◇

 

The party venue was in a state of utter chaos.

 

This was unavoidable.

 

After all, the Capital had been besieged by a battleship.

 

Amagi had been so busy helping out around the venue that she hadn’t had the time to change clothes.

 

She was walking down a corridor when, all of a sudden, signs of human activity ceased.

 

Just a few moments ago, she had seen people pass by, but strangely enough, no one was around her anymore.

 

“—Is something bad happening?”

 

Amagi tried returning to where Liam was in a hurry, but a mysterious existence materialized before her.

 

“Greetings, young lady.”

 

It was a man in a tailcoat.

 

Tall and slender, the man had on a top hat that hid his eyes.

 

However, Amagi’s eyes failed to capture the man’s appearance.

 

All she could tell was that he was someone, or something, that she could not recognize.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Something shaped like a human.

 

The images reflected in Amagi’s eyes were extremely noisy and unfocused.

 

She did not have any data about this man.

 

Alarm bells were ringing inside her head, warning her that the existence in front of her was dangerous.

 

“I’m not obligated to answer a robot. Your death will make Liam suffer. That is all I need to know.”

 

The Guide took out a gun from his pocket.

 

“Now that I’m riddled with all sorts of wounds, I have no choice but to rely on this guy. I really should’ve done this from the beginning.”

 

The Guide lacked the power to directly harm her.

 

However, the pistol in his hand was powerful enough to destroy Amagi.

 

“!”

 

Amagi thought of running away, but she was rendered immobile by what appeared to be black smoke which held down her arms and legs.

 

She tried calling for help, but there was no one around, and communication had been cut off.

 

So many people were in the building, yet nobody was approaching this location.

How could this be possible?

 

Who was this man in front of her?

 

No one was there to answer her question.

The Guide smiled.

 

“What kind of expression would Liam make if I were to throw your head at him?”

 

Amagi shut her eyes, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to defeat this man that was uttering Liam’s name.

 

“Master, forgive me.”

 

With a grin on his face, the Guide pulled the trigger.