Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The scattered steel plating, even after being detached from the hull, remained under Kait's control.

Light projectiles continued to be fired in rapid succession, but they had no effect on the ship's body. Kait let out a wry smile, thinking Gilbert must be enjoying himself, and waited for Emotion's report.

The steel plating shimred fantastically, illuminated by the light projectiles. Just as Kait wondered if the enemy would start noticing sothing strange, a display appeared in place of a report.

'Captain, sorry to keep you waiting. There's no Earthling presence on the ships outlined in red. They're present on the blue ones. Please be careful.'

"Understood. Then let's begin the counterattack."

The ship Gilbert had flown out from was indeed blue. Kait had no doubts about Emotion's support and confidently aid at the ships outlined in red.

First, the two ships at the very front.

"Go, Worker Bees."

He channeled power into the steel plating. Speed is power. From below to above, he adjusted the angle so as not to hit any ships carrying Earthlings, and launched them.

—It looked more like beams of lightning than bullets.

Countless steel plates flew in straight lines. Imbued with Kait's psychic power, they crashed into, interfered with, and finally pierced through the enemy ships' barriers.

So steel plates were shattered by the barriers, but more surged toward the enemy ships. Even if individual ones were deflected by the armor, the relentless swarm of steel plates quickly stripped away the exterior.

Once one pierced the armor, there was no stopping them. Countless Worker Bees rampaged inside the ship, each bursting outward.

They must have destroyed the engine section—an enemy ship began to self-destruct from within, glowing brightly for a mont in an explosion. First the left, then the right.

"While I'm at it, I think I'll take so of those tough-looking fragnts."

He wedged fragnts that could substitute for destroyed steel plates between intact ones and drew them in. Once he channeled power into them, they instantly beca the next Worker Bees.

'...Reusing is important, right?'

The assault craft Gilbert was on had increased the density of its light projectiles compared to before. But Kait paid it no mind and continued searching for his next target.

Almost simultaneously, the enemy ships returned fire. Perhaps in a panic, they seed ready to take Gilbert down with them.

"Shall we try this next?"

He joined steel plates together to form two fists.

He instructed them to move to both sides of a ship that had no Earthlings onboard and open the fists.

The steel plates forming the fists scattered. If one could see the shape of power, it would have been clear that the plates concentrated at the fingertips of the open hands.

A giant hand ford from a force field reached out to grab the enemy ship. The interference from the barrier was much stronger than before, and the bombardnt focused on the fingertips, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop it.

Kait grabbed the enemy ship firmly with both hands and shook it like making a cocktail. Apparently, the ship didn't have a defense system designed for being shaken from the inside, and the counterattack soon ceased.

He then slamd it down onto a nearby enemy ship. Two more were sunk.

"Now then, how many ships are left without Earthlings onboard?"

'There are sixteen without, seventeen with.'

Let's wrap this up quickly. Just as he thought that, a panicked communication ca through. A pale-faced Divin appeared on the screen.

'What are you thinking!? Don't you realize there are hostages!?'

"It's fine. I'm only targeting ships without Earthlings."

Kait calmly dismissed the threat from the unnad Divin.

***

"What is that? That's an Earth ship!?"

Pikrashkaa felt an indescribable unease but suppressed it as weakness and gave the order to attack. After choosing to side with Gilbert, she knew no excuse would be accepted.

Fragnts torn from the hull beca weapons and sank allied ships. Based on what she had confird while hiding on Earth, she could say for certain that such weapons didn't exist there. That ant the armant ca from the Federation. Still, even so—that fighting style was just like...

"No way... No way..."

At the edge of the screen, communication between a forcibly connected ally ship and the enemy ship was playing.

He clearly stated he was targeting ships without hostages. In other words, he already knew which ones had Earthlings. It wasn't a bluff. The four ships that were sunk definitely had no Earthlings onboard.

"Hey, secure a retreat route imdiately!"

"What are you saying, Pikrashkaa!?"

"I don't want to believe it... but that might be Di-Kigaia Zarmos."

"That's insane!? Are you saying Terapolapaneshio is onboard!?"

"Then what other explanation is there!? Those fragnts—the material is Earth-made!"

Earth alloys alone couldn't possibly damage Divin ships, no matter how many shots were fired. The barriers too—clearly, that ship had so other power added to it. Sothing even their technology couldn't analyze.

In Pikrashkaa's knowledge, even among Federation technology, there was only one weapon that ignored the laws of physics.

The full military might of a star cluster hostile to the Federation. A single unit that annihilated it all. During their ti in the Federation, of course, Divin had tried to incorporate Terapolapaneshio's power. After repeated failures and concluding it couldn't be replicated, they were exiled from the Federation.

"...Pikrashkaa."

"What is it?"

With a heavy tone, her fellow crewmate in charge of navigation called out.

Suppressing her anxiety, she asked back. The reply was the worst-case scenario she could imagine.

"No good. Federation ships are surrounding us. Escape is impossible."

"No way!"

Everything defied expectations. A surge of intense fear rose again, wondering if they had made so fatal miscalculation. Then, the screen shifted.

"...No way. Earthlings have that kind of power?"

***

'Kait, Third-Class Citizen (Enec Lagif). It seems a considerable number of Earthlings are being held captive.'

"Ritimiele!"

Just after he sank his seventh ship, a communication ca from an allied ship.

The ship that had tried to threaten him had just gone silent. They'd been yelling about killing hostages until the end—Divin must not be very smart.

If they killed the hostages, there'd be no reason for Kait to choose targets. And if he didn't stop, the hostages would be aningless. Hesitating and showing an opening was far more dangerous for both him and the hostages.

'The encirclent is complete. We won't let them escape. Let us help rescue the hostages.'

"That would be great."

'We can't let you shoulder all the burden alone, Kait. Now, watch the power of our ship.'

If the Divin ships couldn't escape anymore, there was no reason to refuse help.

Almost at the sa ti he nodded, sothing like a bright red cot slamd into an enemy ship from the upper right. It shattered the barrier and outer hull, embedding deeply.

There was no sound, but Kait and Emotion could only watch in stunned silence. From the point of impact, sothing like foam erged and sealed the gaps.

'Assault Craft Aganrange. Leave the hostages to us, Third-Class Citizen Kait. Please handle the remaining ships.'

"Understood. Then I guess I'll go all out."

Reliable. Allies really are reliable.

Smiling, Kait rose from his seat. In this state of exhilaration, he felt like he could do anything. He was sure of it.

'Captain, what are you doing!?'

"I'm going to control the Worker Bees directly from outside. Emotion, I'll need your support."

He perford a short-range teleport to the pedestal outside the ship.

His feet landed on the pedestal as if being drawn to it, and he felt no fear at all standing in space with his bare body.

'Captain!'

"It's fine, Emotion. As long as Queen Bee and I are together, everything within the reach of this 'power' is under my law!"

The purple lightning running through his hair intensified, and Kait's body was enveloped in a pale green light. Everything except the steel plates forming the pedestal detached from the ship, revealing Queen Bee's main body.

He leaned forward, aiming at the enemy flagship.

"Charge, Queen Bee!"

'Kyurukyurukyuruu! Ugh, I don't care what happens anymoreee!'

It's not every day you make a machine intelligence scream.

The steel plates gathered at the front of the ship ford a shape like a wall or a spear.

***

"Was that up to expectations, Rebecca, Alisa? And the other two."

"K-Kait...?"

"Sorry for the rough ride. That was a good old-fashioned ram attack."

Stepping down from Queen Bee's pedestal, which had pierced the flagship's bridge, he reached out to Rebecca and her sister. Their parents—no, the two behind them—were just extras.

The two girls timidly reached out and touched Kait's hand. Just before that, he teleported all four into Queen Bee.

Because there had been gunfire. The beam vanished upon touching Kait's barrier. Beam guns, huh. As a classic sci-fi lover, it stirred sothing in him, but unfortunately, now wasn't the ti.

"So, the only hostages on this ship were those four... or not. No way I can fit everyone into Queen Bee."

He wanted to blast everything away on impulse, but things didn't go that smoothly.

As he sighed, a familiar Divin spoke with a trembling voice.

"What are you? You're an Earthling, so why—"

"Ah, right. Not many in the Federation can handle this, huh?"

"Don't be ridiculous! You've got Terapolapaneshio inside, don't you? How did you win them over in such a short ti!?"

"Huh? Ah... yeah. I don't see the point in answering that."

Apparently, the Divin in front of him couldn't accept that Kait was using psychic power. Thinking he had won over Terapolapaneshio seed more plausible.

But the fact that such a conclusion ca out ant they still looked down on Earthlings. If that was the case, Kait saw no reason to continue the conversation.

"Well, I'd recomnd you surrender soon. Send your surrender notice to Ritimiele. She's on that ship called Aganrange over there."

"Ritimiele... even dragged out the Vice Representative of the Absolute Fortress Zodogia? Just what does Earth have that's so important!"

So Ritimiele was the Vice Representative. Kait had only thought of her as a kind person, but apparently she held a significant position.

Including the realization that Kait had gotten lucky in many ways, he decided to briefly share the fact that had triggered this streak of fortune.

"Maybe it was the jellyfish."

"What? What do you—"

From that reaction, it was unclear whether they knew about jellyfish. But it didn't matter. He returned to the pedestal and ripped the hull apart. With a whoosh, air escaped forcefully.

Ignoring the chaos likely unfolding inside the ship, he directed Queen Bee at the next target.

Gilbert fired another light bullet from behind, undeterred, but Kait ignored it.

"Hmm... maybe that rock will do."

Drawn by Earth's gravity, he set his sights on a giant rock crossing the battlefield. It was about half the height of the Divin's ship. Even a rock this size would be shaved down and burned up upon atmospheric entry—nature was truly remarkable.

He had the Worker Bees latch onto the giant rock to stop its montum. After adjusting its position so it would co overhead, Kait applied pressure from the outside using psychic power.

Wrapping it in steel plates, he began compressing the massive boulder, which was several dozen ters in size.

Purple lightning danced from his hair, crackling like electricity. It took more effort than expected.

With no room to escape, the compressed rock shrank as its density increased.

Smaller and smaller, it beca tightly encased in the surrounding steel plates, and even after it was hidden from view, he continued compressing it to the extre.

Once it was compressed to a satisfactory size, he shaped the surrounding steel plates into a cylindrical form. It beca an improvised cannon, with the compressed rock as its warhead.

He wanted to aim at the flagship, but he couldn't—there were Earthlings being held hostage aboard. So he targeted the largest ship that didn't have Earthlings on it.

"Apply rotation. Accelerate. Accelerate. Accelerate... Fire."

The warhead, compressed to its limit, spun like a bullet and pierced through the barrier and armor as if nothing stood in its way, bursting through the ship diagonally.

Whether due to its high-speed rotation or the effect of psychic power, the warhead caused far more destruction than its appearance suggested. The torn-apart ship soon crumpled from within and sank with a thunderous crash.

'Surrender... I surrender. Please, just spare my life. I'm begging you.'

As Kait turned his gaze to the next giant rock to load the next round—

A faint, despairing voice reached him from the flagship.