Chapter 250: Cornelius

Cornelius Se-le Clancy’s heart was pounding with excitement for the first time in a long while.

From the bridge, he watched the enemy’s main flagship rampaging on the monitor, stroking his well-groomed goatee.

“This feels like I’m dealing with the Hegemony. No, perhaps they’re even more cunning?”

Cornelius’s main fleet had been thrown into disarray by just a few ships.

They had no effective counter to the approaching main force of the Banfield family.

Even if they tried to attack from a distance, Liam’s rampage was creating gaps in their formation.

The enemy fleet was exploiting those gaps to close in.

However.

“This might have worked against a normal opponent… but we are the Three Knights of the Empire.”

As Cornelius spoke, the fleets on his flanks also began to move.

To support the main fleet, the Banfield family’s forces had spread out, but with perfect coordination, the Imperial fleets moved to prevent them from getting any closer.

They positioned themselves to intercept Tia’s and Marie’s fleets, with Liam’s group to their backs.

Cornelius slowly extended his right hand forward and spoke.

“Treat these fools who’ve jumped in themselves with care… One hundred thousand ships. Surround them with that number and burn them thoroughly. The enemy, scorched by our optical weapons, will surely cry out with lovely voices.”

Though he called Liam’s group fools, Cornelius looked like he was enjoying himself.

On Cornelius’s command, the main fleet changed its formation, completely surrounding the Argos and its escort ships and turning their bows toward them.

With the encirclement forming a sphere, the remaining three hundred thousand ships moved forward to engage the Banfield family’s main fleet.

Cornelius had chosen to trap Liam and Klaus, and then deal with the main force.

“If you’re still alive after I’ve dealt with the enemy’s main fleet, I’ll be your opponent again.”

Cornelius shifted his focus from Liam’s group to the Banfield main fleet before him.

◇

On the enemy’s right wing… Eljin, facing Tia, was slumped in his specialized seat, looking sleepy.

A simple three-dimensional display was projected before him, and he was constantly absorbed in the battlefield situation.

Though it was called simple, it was more precise and contained more information than others.

Eljin was constantly feeding his brain with information that an ordinary person couldn’t possibly grasp, using it to devise his strategies.

That was why he had noticed the abnormality of the Banfield family’s fleet.

“Just when I thought the enemy’s main fleet did something foolish, their wings moved at almost the exact same time… There’s no time lag, as if they’d planned it. They’re strong, and the master and subordinates are united in purpose… They’re likely the strongest fleet of this generation.”

Even with the caveat that it would be different if his own forces weren’t present, Eljin held the enemy in high regard.

“…But that move is useless against me.”

To save Liam and support their main fleet, Tia had changed her strategy, and Eljin’s fleet launched its attack.

Both sides were fiercely exchanging fire with optical weapons, but the enemy’s numbers were dwindling faster.

Eljin spoke to the 3D image, as if addressing Tia who couldn’t hear him.

“Your misfortune was making an enemy of us. It’s been proven that even the strongest of this generation is no match for the strongest in history.”

◇

Meanwhile, Tia was shouting on her bridge.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she processed the massive influx of information.

“What a persistent, annoying way to fight! You’re definitely a nasty piece of work! I can tell!”

She hurled insults at the enemy’s left-wing command ship, though they couldn’t hear her.

The bridge crew couldn’t bring themselves to point out that when it came to space pirates, she was far worse than just a nasty piece of work.

Her adjutant, Claudia, hurried over and handed Tia a drink.

“Lady Tia, please calm down! And here, a drink for nutritional replenishment.”

The drink Tia received was a superior beverage that could provide a full day’s worth of nutrients and calories needed by a superhuman knight in a single bottle.

However, it was foul.

Extremely foul.

Tia downed it in one gulp, returned the pack to Claudia, and wiped her mouth with her hand.

Having calmed down a little, she began to calmly analyze the enemy commander.

“…Thanks. That aside, the enemy commander is quite formidable.”

“To think the Empire has such talent hidden away.”

“The trump card for defending the capital planet… I wonder who they brought along.”

While pondering, Tia issued orders to her allies.

“Form small groups of a few dozen ships. If the enemy fleet is committed to defense, we’ll change our tactics too.”

They put shield ships at the front, with battleships and cruisers on either side… destroyers were moved to the rear, and these small groups weathered the enemy’s fierce assault while counterattacking.

A lesser fleet would have crumbled the moment the enemy started landing hits from outside their own effective range.

But the well-trained fleet of the Banfield family did not waver.

Seeing this, Tia spoke to the unseen enemy commander.

“You may be an elite force, but so are we.”

◇

DeeDee, commanding the enemy’s right wing, looked exasperated when she learned that Cornelius had surrounded the enemy flagship with a hundred thousand ships.

“The Head Knight is either ruthless or thorough… This is pretty much over, isn’t it?”

Her first battle since waking from cold sleep was about to end with the enemy commander’s near-suicidal act.

Feeling let down, DeeDee turned her attention to the fleet before her.

“And Marie still has no judgment, as usual. Because she can’t figure out which side is more advantageous, she’ll keep losing to me forever.”

DeeDee smiled faintly at her former colleague, who was likely commanding her fleet to save Liam.

“Once I capture her, I might just turn her to stone and preserve her again. I never did like her, even back then.”

Though she was already convinced of her victory, DeeDee did not attack recklessly.

She planned to act only after receiving news of Liam’s defeat.

Until then, she just needed to keep Marie away from the main force.

◇

Marie, facing DeeDee, was past her breaking point.

Beyond rage, she was now calmly focused on nothing but killing her opponent.

“That rotten woman… She’s set up a complete defensive posture just to keep me from reaching Lord Liam.”

The bridge crew turned their faces away, trying not to look at the murderous Marie.

She was a ticking time bomb, liable to go on a rampage at any moment.

However, it was her adjutant Heidy’s job to deal with Marie in such a state.

The option to flee was not afforded to him.

Trembling, he spoke to Marie.

“General Liam is in a tight spot, surrounded by a hundred thousand enemies. We have to help him, right?”

“Of course we do!”

“Eek!? B-but, with a hundred thousand ships gone from the enemy’s main fleet, isn’t that a good thing? Our main fleet has started to move, and that difference in numbers should be huge.”

Marie calmly refuted Heidy’s prediction that their main fleet could use its numerical advantage to win and reach Liam in time.

“If DeeDee is on the right wing, it wouldn’t be strange for an even stronger knight to be in the center.”

“It could be an honorary position.”

“Someone like that wouldn’t use a hundred thousand ships to surround Lord Liam.”

“That’s true.”

Marie crossed her arms and sank into thought.

(I need one move… something to create an opening. I don’t care about DeeDee right now, but I have to save Lord Liam… But with what I have, dealing with DeeDee is all I can manage.)

Marie knew that letting the current situation continue was dangerous, but she was unable to move.

◇

On the bridge of the Argos, surrounded by a hundred thousand ships, even Klaus’s expression was more bitter than usual.

Seeing this, the crew realized that even Klaus felt the danger of the situation, and panic began to set in.

The communications officers’ voices were tinged with anxiety.

“The escort ships’ defense fields are nearing their limits!”

“Argos Escort One has been hit! Damage is light, but its defense field is reaching its limit!”

“Escort Three is requesting permission to charge the enemy fleet.”

Inwardly, Klaus felt a stomachache so bad he wanted to curl up on the floor, but he endured.

“The charge is denied. Have the escort ships approach the Argos. Expand the Argos’s defense field and let them rest for a while.”

(We’re already at our limit, is he planning to secure a retreat path for our allies before we’re destroyed? No, that’s too reckless, please stop!!)

Hearing this, several bridge crew members turned around, their faces shocked.

“But that will multiply the strain on the Argos several times over!?”

That was true, but if the escort ships were destroyed, it would be a blow to morale.

Furthermore, there was a chance the Argos could withstand it.

At the same time, Klaus wanted to buy time.

“…We just need to hold out until our allies arrive. What’s the status of Lord Liam and Chen-shi’s team?”

The response from the bridge crew was poor.

“We can’t track either of their signals in this situation. However, we have confirmed that Lord Liam is safe and continuing his attack on the enemy fleet.”

Avid was attacking and destroying the enemy fleet surrounding the Argos… but even so, a single mobile knight had a tough time against a hundred thousand ships.

As the Argos expanded its defense field to protect its allied ships, Klaus checked the condition of the escorts and frowned.

(A super-dreadnought… and the Seventh Weapon’s prized defense-specialized battleship at that, is in tatters.)

If it hadn’t been the Seventh’s prized super-dreadnought, it wouldn’t have held out this long.

They were rushing emergency repairs now, but the strain on the Argos continued to grow.

“Argos’s output is nearing its limit!”

“At this rate, we can only maintain the defense field for a few more hours!”

“The enemy fleet’s attack is intensifying!”

Facing an enemy that was pressing its attack, knowing they were nearing their limit, Klaus said:

“Our allies will definitely come. We just have to hold on until then.”

(That’s all we can dooooo!!)

It was at that moment.

A communications officer’s eyes widened as he listened intently to something.

When he finished, he smiled at Klaus and shouted.

“Your Excellency Klaus was right! Our allies have arrived!”

As cries of joy erupted from the bridge crew, Klaus said with his usual expressionless face:

“…I see.”

(Huh? Wasn’t the main fleet facing the enemy’s main fleet?)

◇

A fleet that had temporarily left the battlefield… Ellen, Knight Number “3”, had circled around to the rear of the enemy fleet with fifty thousand ships.

She was commanding from the bridge, standing instead of sitting in her seat.

Before her were the hundred thousand enemy ships surrounding her master and lord, Liam.

And next to Ellen’s fleet was—

“I never thought we’d take the same action.”

—Knight Number “4”, Emma’s fleet, had also circled around to the enemy’s rear.

They hadn’t held a strategy meeting, nor had they planned this together.

The moment Liam made his reckless charge, Ellen had used her full authority to move her fleet.

Facing the enemy fleet that had surrounded her allies, Ellen declared:

“Master… We will rescue Lord Liam. Commence attack!”

Upon her command, her fleet began its attack, and at the exact same moment, Emma’s fleet also opened fire.

The enemy fleet surrounding Liam’s group was caught by surprise and was being destroyed one after another.

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