The moment the shuttle burst out of the Axian warship, everyone fell silent.
Even Apoloziro had nothing to say.
The sight before them left the entire group stunned.
For the first time, they were seeing the war with their own eyes.
The Dejteo mothership drifted across the darkness.
Its colossal hull had been torn apart in countless places.
Gigantic glowing breaches stretched across its armor like burning wounds.
Fragments continuously broke away from the main structure and disappeared into the void.
The Axian warship was not in much better condition.
Cracks spread across its outer plating.
Entire sections had been pierced open.
Thousands of laser beams crossed the battlefield without pause.
They intertwined into an immense web of light.
Every time one of the capital cannons fired, space itself seemed to split apart.
A white beam flashed through the darkness.
Moments later, an entire squadron vanished.
No wreckage.
No survivors.
Nothing.
Vinh swallowed hard.
"I never thought..."
"An alien war would look like this."
Levi kept his eyes forward.
"This isn't even the biggest battle out there."
A violent tremor shook their shuttle.
Far away, a Dejteo warship took a direct hit.
Part of its hull exploded apart.
Dozens of smaller ships immediately poured out from the wreckage like frightened insects.
"HE78."
Levi tightened his grip on the controls.
"Can you handle this?"
"I can."
HE78 answered.
"But we are being followed."
Everyone turned.
Several signals appeared on the rear scanner.
More appeared.
Then even more.
Apoloziro frowned.
"Not Dejteo."
HE78 analyzed the data.
"Axian signatures."
Levi clicked his tongue.
"They found us faster than I expected."
Behind them, several silver combat ships were rapidly closing the distance.
Meanwhile, aboard another stolen vessel, Kraith stared at a bright signal on his screen.
A grin slowly formed on his face.
"Found them."
Velkar was still struggling with the unfamiliar controls.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"We only just stole this ship."
Nyxara stood behind him.
Her eyes never left Levi's signal.
"This time..."
"I won't let him escape."
Suddenly, the darkness ahead lit up.
A massive capital cannon fired across the battlefield.
The beam passed between both groups.
Just a little closer and neither side would have survived.
Vinh's face turned pale.
"What the hell was that?!"
Levi didn't even blink.
"Welcome to space warfare."
Red lasers continued tearing across the void.
Their shuttle tilted sharply.
A beam skimmed past the hull.
BOOM!
A Dejteo fighter in the distance exploded into countless fragments.
Vinh watched the destruction.
At first he thought it was simply another ship being shot down.
Then he noticed something strange.
A second Dejteo ship appeared.
It didn't evade.
It didn't change course.
It flew straight toward the Axian warship.
BOOM!
Another explosion.
Vinh frowned.
Something wasn't right.
"Hey..."
Levi glanced sideways.
"What?"
"Do you think that's weird?"
"Weird how?"
Vinh pointed outside.
"Those ships."
"They're not dodging."
"They're acting like..."
His voice trailed off.
A memory surfaced.
The cargo bay.
The sealed containers.
The equipment Dejteo soldiers never allowed anyone to approach.
The strange mission they had been given.
Vinh's eyes widened.
"No way..."
Levi immediately noticed his expression.
"What is it?"
Vinh tightened his grip on the seat.
"Our mission wasn't infiltration."
Everyone fell silent.
"What do you mean?" Apoloziro asked.
Vinh stared at the suicidal ships racing through the battlefield.
"I think..."
"Those ships were built for suicide attacks."
"The real mission was never to sneak in."
"We were supposed to fly a bomb into the Axian warship."
Levi instantly understood.
His expression darkened.
"Damn it..."
"That sounds exactly like Dejteo."
HE78 turned toward them.
"The probability of that conclusion is very high."
"I have also detected unusual structural modifications on those vessels."
A chill ran down Vinh's spine.
If he had not escaped when he did...
He would probably have become one of those explosions.
At that moment, a familiar signal appeared on the scanner.
HE78 immediately enlarged the image.
A drifting wreck floated amidst the chaos.
Half of its hull had already been destroyed.
Vinh recognized it immediately.
The transport ship.
The same ship that had brought them into this war.
HE78 focused on the image.
"I detect an abnormal energy source."
"What kind of energy source?" Levi asked.
"It is still active."
Silence filled the cabin.
If Vinh's theory was correct...
If that ship had truly been intended for a suicide mission...
Then there was only one thing still operating inside it.
The bomb.
A bomb that had never detonated.
And now it was drifting through the largest battlefield any of them had ever seen.
"We need to get out of here."
Levi's voice was firm.
No one argued.
At this point, it no longer mattered whether the next shot came from Axians or Dejteo.
One stray blast would erase them all.
HE78 rapidly searched for a route.
Streams of data raced through his mechanical eyes.
"Safe corridor detected."
"Thirteen Axian warships."
"Seven Dejteo warships."
"A gap has opened between both firing lines."
Levi immediately pulled the controls.
The shuttle dove downward.
A red beam swept above them.
A fraction slower and they would have been vaporized.
BOOM!
A distant Dejteo cruiser exploded.
The shockwave rolled across the battlefield.
Their shuttle was thrown sideways.
Vinh nearly lost his grip.
"I hate this!"
"Adapt."
Apoloziro replied.
"I hate it even more."
Hongco stared through the viewport.
Wreckage drifted everywhere.
Destroyed fighters.
Armor fragments.
Entire cannon batteries torn from their mounts.
Everything spun endlessly through the darkness.
"Levi."
Hongco suddenly pointed ahead.
"Something's coming."
Levi followed her gaze.
A Dejteo vessel.
No.
A wreck.
It was tumbling uncontrollably through space.
And it was heading directly toward them.
"Damn it."
Levi yanked the controls.
The shuttle rolled sharply.
The wreck slid past them.
Close enough for everyone to see the scorch marks on its shattered hull.
Vinh exhaled.
"That was close."
"Not yet."
HE78 suddenly spoke.
"An Axian warship is rotating its primary cannon."
"Target lock probability: high."
Levi looked at the scanner.
A gigantic warship was turning toward the battlefield.
Massive rings of energy began glowing along its bow.
It was preparing to fire.
And their flight path was directly in front of it.
"Hold on!"
Levi shouted.
The next instant, a blinding white light appeared.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
A section of the battlefield ceased to exist.
Dozens of fighters.
Several Dejteo warships.
An entire region of combat.
Gone in a single shot.
The shockwave chased after them.
Alarms echoed through the shuttle.
"Outer armor damaged."
"Secondary thrusters unstable."
HE78 reported.
Gradually, the sounds of war began to fade.
The laser fire became less frequent.
The explosions grew distant.
Ahead of them lay only darkness.
No warships.
No wreckage.
No blazing weapons.
Only silence.
They had reached the edge of the battlefield.
Vinh looked back.
The colossal fleets had shrunk into distant points of light.
Yet even from here, explosions still flickered among them.
Like dying stars.
"Did we..."
"Actually get out?" Vinh asked.
No one answered immediately.
Levi remained focused on the instruments.
Hongco watched every direction.
Apoloziro rested a hand on his water blade.
Only after a long moment did Levi finally speak.
"At least..."
"We've left the battlefield."
Then HE78 suddenly froze.
"Connection request accepted."
Hongco blinked.
"Connection?"
The main display lit up.
A new signal had appeared.
Not Axian.
Not Dejteo.
And not present in any of HE78's databases.
The cabin fell silent.
No one said another word.
Perhaps...
They had finally arrived.