Chapter 50 - Final Chapter
~On the Sea of the Gialpha Star System Fourth Planet (Gialpha Galaxy Empire, Capital Planet)~
While Captain Shin was in Emperor Nobunaga's private room reporting the intermediate progress of the operation and future prospects, Sangou was relaxing on the capital planet's sea and absorbing seawater to replenish water, salt, and organic matter.
Well, to be honest about the replenishment, those weren't essential at all.
From Sangou's perspective, water could be infinitely produced if the Captain used water magic, so replenishment was possible anytime, anywhere, and organic matter, salt, and other things obtained from plankton and fish were likewise stored in abundant quantities in the Captain's Storage Space.
In short, what Sangou was doing was merely a task "better than doing nothing" that also served as pastime.
Also, at the same time, Sangou was continuing to eavesdrop on the Captain's conversation with Nobunaga.
Through that eavesdropping, Sangou understood that just as the father and son's conversation reached a natural pause, Mecha-Miu came to Nobunaga's private room at a perfect timing.
"Even though I didn't particularly adjust the schedule that way, do beings called 'Goddesses' naturally draw necessary occasions and times to themselves?"
It might be more peaceful if no one knew that Sangou was thinking such trivial things at this time.
Now, let's move the scene to Nobunaga's private room where the three had gathered.
Mecha-Miu, who came after being called by Nobunaga, had been steadily accumulating power since the incident with the mobile black hole was discovered.
However, "There had been achievements due to the high performance of the fleet loaned by Shin" in the time leading up to today.
Mecha-Miu had accumulated military achievements in a short period and succeeded in advancing her rank in the Imperial Military from Brigadier General to Lieutenant General.
And in the process of being recognized for those achievements, she had become a celebrity to the extent that "there was no day when she was not talked about as a famous commander within the military."
Incidentally, it was an open secret that the main reason Mecha-Miu became famous was due to her unique command style and the clothes she wore.
That aside, many soldiers who fell into dire straits had been saved, and Mecha-Miu was steadily building her position as a Goddess of Victory.
"Lieutenant General Mecha-Miu. You're late. We had already started talking."
"Imperial Majesty, I apologize. I was refueling due to running out of fuel, so I was delayed."
The apology and excuse slipped out smoothly.
However, the need for unscheduled refueling was the result of Mecha-Miu conducting annihilation actions on the battlefield without considering her remaining energy.
Being late for the appointed time for such a reason was likely nothing other than her own responsibility.
As always, her useless goddess demeanor with many careless mistakes was still alive and well.
Thus, having finished her apology and excuse, Mecha-Miu quickly turned the conversation to Shin in order to change the atmosphere from one unfavorable to her.
"So, Shin. How's it going?"
"Yeah. As a result of working hard for three years, I reduced the black hole to 75% of its original scale."
"Just being able to do that is amazing, but at this pace it won't be in time at all! What are you going to do?"
Asked, Shin roughly conveyed to Mecha-Miu the options he had previously told Nobunaga.
"The scale has gotten smaller, and if we continue the operation, even if we can't annihilate it, we can make it even smaller from here. So can't you manage the rest with goddess power?"
Shin asked, knowing it was an unreasonable request.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Calming, coaxing, acting aloof.
The only "effort" a hero could make here was that sort of thing.
"Even if we flee, it only extends the time buffer. And even in the best outcome, when the Gialpha Galaxy is annihilated, it will return to a mobile black hole of equal or greater size than the original, and the candidate galaxy for escape is ahead in the expected direction of progress. Isn't the situation too harsh?"
"Well, the situation being bad is nothing but fact."
"Moreover, if this galaxy is annihilated, my evaluation will be zero! Ze-ro! Hey. Even with Shin, Sangou-san, and Kichou-san together, is it really impossible? Can't something be done?"
From the results so far, the attack power itself was certainly enough to annihilate the target if given enough time.
In other words, it could be said that "it's just that we don't have enough time with the current method."
What should be done to make up for that insufficient time?
Rather than the extremely inefficient attacks based on guesswork done so far, it was essential to approach to a distance where attacks could be reliably landed.
In short, the current problem was that they could not accurately grasp the position of the target they wanted to annihilate.
However, it was impossible to clear that while ensuring a certain degree of safety.
"Mecha-Miu, your power increased thanks to religious facilities and the military, right? But even so. Impossible things are impossible, right? Same for me."
"Father. If we choose to flee further from the Lambda Nu Galaxy, is there any time buffer?"
"No. From there, we cannot magically transfer to the neighboring galaxy at this stage. So time will be needed to enable that transfer. During that time we won't be able to deal with the mobile black hole, so the situation will be either the same as now or worse. Considering the time factor, it will probably be the worse one."
"I see. Then, since it's Father who will risk his life, I leave the choice to you. No matter which you choose, I will act accordingly."
Nobunaga made up his mind.
This was a statement made after being able to imagine that, given Father's personality, he would likely send only those close to him away via transfer and face the final battle.
And Nobunaga himself had also decided that "he would not flee."
In Nobunaga's values, that was the proper way for the Emperor of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
"I see. Then, for the next year and a half, we'll continue the current operation—or rather, the work. And after that, we'll leave only our close ones with Delhi and take the final gamble. What will you do, Mecha-Miu?"
"To be honest, I'd like to be included in the 'family' group, but if I do that, it means I abandoned this island universe. If I evacuate everyone in a way that saves them all, it'll end with a zero evaluation, but if I abandon them, it's minus. In other words, a straight line to annihilation disposal."
"Is there no room for extenuating circumstances?"
"There is none. If I'm going to die no matter what, I'll stay here until the end. If my power increases further in the remaining year and a half, maybe something can be done."
"We can only do our best within our capabilities. Well, I'm going back to Sangou."
With that, the interim report ended, and they dispersed.
However, through this discussion, the path forward became more concrete for Nobunaga and Mecha-Miu.
"Captain. Welcome back."
"Yeah. I'm back. I've decided to grind down the mobile black hole the same as before until the last minute for the next year and a half, and then gamble on an attack from the inside."
"So it came to that after all."
"But you and Kichou don't need to go along with that. I was thinking of having you wait at Delhi's place, and if I mess up, I want you to take everyone and escape towards a safe galaxy."
"I understand the Captain's thoughts. Is that a Captain's order? Or a suggestion? Which is it? Fufufu."
Shin instinctively felt fear from Sangou's "Fufufu" like never before in his experience.
And Kichou in the bridge was silently staring at Shin.
Kichou had entered a silent protest.
Normally a carefree pet-class Super Divine Dragon, but at this moment, Kichou was openly radiating an atmosphere of absolute zero-level coldness.
"I won't make it an order. I intend to respect both Sangou's and Kichou's wishes. (I messed up my wording, didn't I)"
While conveying that he wouldn't order it, Shin inwardly reflected on his misstatement.
"Is that so? Then Sangou rejects that suggestion. An opportunity to investigate the interior of a mobile black hole. If I let this chance pass, it will never come again. It's a precious opportunity. I will accompany you."
"Master. The three of us will have a higher win rate, you know~"
"I see. Thanks. Sorry to put you through the trouble."
"That's an unspoken promise, Captain."
Shin suffered from a disease where he couldn't be satisfied unless he inserted some gag into the conversation.
And Sangou, having been with him for so long, could properly respond to that.
That overqualified organic artificial intelligence was quite meticulous.
That aside.
Sangou, who had finished fusing with the Origin of Dragon Vein over two years ago, no longer had to worry about energy supply even when the Captain was absent and Sangou was alone.
The same was true for Kichou's magic power.
The difference between Kichou and Shin was that "the amount Kichou could handle at once was considerably smaller than Shin"—a limit on the amount of magic power usable at once—and the destination of excess magic power.
Incidentally, excess magic power also occurred in Sangou, so the treatment method Mecha-Miu had applied for that point was common, but...
At the time of the fusion, Mecha-Miu's power was dwarfed and far from her original power, so not only was "attaching the Storage Space Magic skill" out of the question, but even "releasing the level cap" like Shin had been done in the past was impossible.
Therefore, she had no choice but to choose a method of cutting off her own power and fudging it with measures within the scope possible at the time.
Specifically, she connected magic power paths to Shin and herself, and basically decided to channel all excess magic into Shin's Storage Space.
Since this was a one-way measure, the limitation that "it cannot be taken out when insufficient" became a difference from Shin in terms of an upper limit on usage.
Incidentally, connecting a path to herself was an insurance for when something happened to Shin.
However, the fact that she was even thinking "in case of emergency, there's a perk!" showed she was a bit shrewd.
Well, perhaps this kind of thing is what makes a useless goddess a useless goddess.
It was like that at present, but it had been explained that "when power increases someday, I will grant the Storage Space Magic skill and also release the level cap," and everyone agreed to the measures.
Anyway, with that flow, the situation resembling a final battle gradually approached.
(Even though it should be possible to force it somehow, having to struggle for a long time... Since I first defeated the Demon Lord, this might be the first time? After this is over, I'm going to retire and take it easy!)
It was a minor detail that Hero Shin was setting up flags in vain.
With various things happening, more time passed since the interim report.
And despite the genuine time limit approaching, the situation remained within the range of prior predictions.
In short, Shin and the others continued attacking the mobile black hole according to the original plan, but in the end, the situation had not improved at all.
Of course, they had succeeded in reducing its scale, but if that was only to the extent of not being able to save the Gialpha Galaxy, then it was "not very meaningful."
Under such circumstances, when the remaining time grew short, Shin and the others were forced to move to the final stage of the operation.
Sangou was again placed on standby on the capital planet's sea.
As soon as the final preparations were complete, Sangou would plunge into the interior of the mobile black hole.
Thus, the situation had progressed to the stage where Shin would transfer his close ones to Delhi's place in advance.
"Shin. Do we really have to evacuate? Is the situation that bad?"
"I'm a Hero. I'm not going to fail that easily! It's just in case, Rouju. Think of it as part of the rear support so I can give it my all with peace of mind."
After various things, Shin succeeded in leaving everyone at the Asada Marquis estate and all volunteers at the Beta Shi Earl's estate with Delhi.
Having finished that, Shin transferred to his son's private room for a final briefing with Nobunaga.
"Are you really staying? Well, from the Emperor's standpoint, that might be correct."
"Yes. Because I trust and have faith in Father. Besides, there's no such thing as an eternal nation. I don't think it's this time, but nations collapse when they collapse."
"That's true. Then, from here on, leave it to your father."
"Yes. Good luck."
With this exchange, all advance preparations were complete.
From here, all that remained was to carry out the operation to plunge into the interior of the mobile black hole, staking everything.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Sangou, Kichou. Let's go."
"Welcome back, Captain. Do you have any forgotten items from the preparations?"
"No. I don't think so. Let's go."
"Master, let's do our best~"
Thus, Shin transferred to the space zone that had been decided in discussion with Sangou.
From that zone, Sangou would spend about thirty days advancing at maximum speed in normal navigation.
In this way, they would approach the mobile black hole, and Shin would increase the places where he could transfer using transfer magic.
"We have completed the planned voyage. No changes to the final planned zone. Captain, please perform the final transfer."
"Master. Shield deployment is complete~"
The mobile black hole they were approaching.
Its scale, due to the attacks using magic traps by Shin and Kichou, had been reduced to about 60% of its original size at this stage.
As for the operation to decompose the center with transfer traps, which was in Sangou's initial plan, speaking only from the results, "it had actually shown almost no effect."
This was simply because the number that hit was too few.
On the contrary, the absolute zero that Kichou suggested scattering continuously over a wide area could be said to have "produced better results than expected."
However, the details of those results would never be known to Sangou and the others.
"Three hundred seconds until entry. Beginning acceleration towards exit direction. After passing the escape limit point, I will reduce the fall speed as much as possible with maximum acceleration."
"Yeah. Proceed as planned. Me and Kichou will prioritize shield maintenance. If possible, we'll keep firing the area absolute zero magic."
"Yes, Master. I don't sense death, so I'm sure it will go well~"
That last remark was Kichou's caring attempt at reassurance.
In truth, Kichou's intuition was warning of a serious crisis.
However, it was also true that Kichou did not sense certain death, so it wasn't "complete false reassurance."
"I see. I hope so."
After that exchange, several minutes passed, and Sangou passed the escape limit point and began falling inside the mobile black hole.
Compared to when they had entered and escaped before, the scale of the black hole was different in a bad way.
Therefore, a tense atmosphere filled Sangou's bridge.
"Captain. There are many uncertain factors, so precise calculation is impossible. But it will likely take 'a maximum of seventy-two hours' to reach the center. At the shortest, it might be under twenty-four hours."
"I see. Buy as much time as possible. Kichou, how's the shield?"
"Yes~. Still okay for now, but soon it seems even if I put all my magic recovery limit into maintaining it, I won't be able to withstand it~"
"So that's how it is. The limit is approaching faster than I thought. If that's the case, even switching to my shield probably won't last until the center."
Upon hearing the Captain's words, Sangou began calculations with retreat in mind.
Due to the cooling effect of the magic Shin had been firing continuously since entry, the mobile black hole's scale had shrunk by about another five percent.
Taking that into account, Sangou was trying to determine the limit through recalculation.
"Captain, what will you do? If you decide to retreat, the time buffer is within fifteen minutes."
"No. At this point, I won't retreat. I'll use the last resort I have left."
At the unexpected statement, Sangou and Kichou were both astonished.
There was no such information in the prior briefing.
Therefore, Sangou asked.
"'Last resort'? Did we have such a thing? What kind of means is it?"
"A means that might make me stop being human. I won't know how it turns out unless I try it. If Sangou judges it dangerous, throw me out immediately. This is not a request, it's a Captain's order."
"Master."
Kichou, who was devoting all her energy to maintaining the shield and running out of leeway, looked at Shin with a sorrowful gaze but couldn't find the words to say.
"I cannot obey that order. Even if I throw the Captain out of the ship, certain death awaits Kichou and Sangou anyway. In that case, I will accompany you to the end. After all, we are partners."
At exactly the same time as Kichou's cry above, Sangou reflexively gave an answer to the Captain.
And at the same time, Sangou was surprised at its own answer.
The Captain's order.
For Sangou, a bio-spaceship built as a mass-production prototype for military use, that was supposed to be absolute.
Therefore, normally, all Sangou could do was submit opinions; refusal was absolutely impossible by the organic AI design specifications.
Yes, it should have been absolutely impossible.
But reality was not so.
Sangou was satisfied that it had been able to reflexively derive that answer towards the Captain.
That was because it was proof that Sangou had not a pseudo-self but had acquired a true self, and had evolved from a pseudo-lifeform with an organic AI into a fully organic lifeform.
"I see. I already thought you were the best partner. But you've surpassed that. Sangou has already transcended the existence of 'artificial intelligence.' Then let me also surpass my limits."
Shin made up his mind and released all the power he possessed.
Until now, due to lack of confidence in control, he had only used at most about twenty percent of his Hero power added upon summoning in the Orze Kingdom.
That was now all unleashed.
Of course, it wasn't without a winning chance.
Because the additional fusion of the Origin of Dragon Vein had further strengthened Shin compared to back then.
Kichou stared intently at the change in Shin as his power was released.
The effect of the increased presence from the released power could only be described as "overwhelming."
In that situation, Kichou also received the influence of the power flowing back through the magic path, which should have been impossible.
At that moment, Kichou underwent two stages of evolution.
Kichou became Super Divine Dragon III, increasing the amount of magic power that could be handled at once, and at the same time becoming able to deploy even stronger shields with the same amount of magic power.
Also, Sangou similarly received the influence of the backflowing power.
As a result, further performance improvements were achieved.
Unfortunately, it didn't reach the point of obtaining enough acceleration to escape the mobile black hole on its own, but it succeeded in nearly canceling the force pulling Sangou towards the center, drastically reducing the falling speed.
On the other hand, from Shin's body, something like a colorless heat haze—an "aura"—was spurting and rising.
Additionally, to Sangou and Kichou, his facial expression even seemed to have tightened somewhat.
Of course, that didn't make him handsome; his facial attractiveness remained average, but still.
"I've ceased to be human~!"
"Yes, yes. That's some kind of gag again, Captain."
"Well, it's true, but let me say it. That's fine, right?"
"Master, I evolved~! The shield can be maintained for a while longer~"
With all this, Sangou's overall performance improved uniformly, including observation-related parts.
Therefore, it succeeded in observing what was thought to be the central part of the mobile black hole, which had been impossible until now.
This meant that one of the prerequisites necessary to annihilate the black hole had been cleared.
"Captain. I'll put the central part of the black hole on the monitor."
"Whoa, this is unsettling. It's hard to suppress the urge to go wild. 'Rationality' feels like it could easily blow away. Oh, the monitor. Let me see."
Shin then moved his gaze to the monitor.
"What is this? It's hard to describe other than 'the space looks distorted.' But if we can pin down the location, can we blow it away with an attack?"
After muttering that, Shin took out the "True Super Holy Sword" from Storage Space and held it.
That was also preparation of the strongest equipment for the final battle.
"Oh! I can handle this now. I can tell just by holding it."
Shin, who had wanted a powerful weapon against the mobile black hole, had Sangou analyze the Holy series weapons other than the Holy Sword that he didn't normally use over the past four and a half years.
Sangou and Kichou pooled their wisdom and attempted to enhance the special abilities by rewriting the magic arrays carved inside the Holy series weapons, changing them from planar to three-dimensional layering.
In this way, they reached the concept of "creating a new, powerful Holy Sword."
As a result, the item they forcibly remodeled from the Holy Axe, which seemed unlikely to be used in the future, was that "True Super Holy Sword."
However, creating such an ultra-powerful weapon was all well and good, but unfortunately it became too powerful and even the Hero Shin could not wield it.
In the end, the precious ultra-high-performance weapon "True Super Holy Sword" became decoration in Shin's Storage Space.
Incidentally, the naming rights to the sword should have belonged to the two who created it, but they waived them.
Therefore, it was probably a minor detail that Shin named it "True Super Holy Sword" on a whim and impulse.
The complete lack of taste in naming was an even more minor detail.
Leaving such extraneous information aside, it was true that by releasing all his power, Shin had reached the realm of being able to handle the "True Super Holy Sword."
"That's good, Captain. Sangou is also glad that the thing we made wasn't wasted."
"With True Super Holy Sword in one hand and Holy Sword in the other, I can use 'Total Annihilation Slash Cross.' I'll bet on annihilating it with that."
"Master. I've never seen it, but it sounds amazing~"
Thanks to evolution, Kichou also had leeway to join the conversation.
This was also because the fall towards the center had become so gentle that it was almost stopped, so the load on the shield magic Kichou was deploying no longer increased rapidly.
"Yeah. I've only practiced the stance. Total Annihilation Slash can only be used with a Holy Sword. For the cross, two are needed, and I couldn't do it with just one."
"So such a technique existed too. How many hidden tricks does the Captain have? You really are an outrageous existence."
"Don't call me 'outrageous'! I'm a Hero, after all. I have some hidden tricks."
"That magic word has come out after a long time. That's right. The Captain is a Hero. Fine. Go ahead and do it."
Sangou said that in a somewhat fed-up tone.
But in truth, Sangou was also relieved that this situation was gradually losing its tragic atmosphere.
"Well then, with that, let's give it a shot! Oh!"
"What's wrong, Captain?"
"No, I just thought of something. Let me try that first. I'll be off."
"Yes. Have a safe trip."
Then, Shin, fully equipped with Sub-unit Armor and with shield magic at maximum, in the style of a dual-wielder with one sword in each hand, used short-range transfer and leaped outside the ship.
Ten minutes passed from then.
At that moment, the mobile black hole had ceased to exist in this universe.
Because Shin had thrown its central part into his own Storage Space!
"Ahaha. I put it in and it went in. What was all the fuss about until now!"
After returning to Sangou's interior, Shin scratched his cheek while smiling wryly at the unexpected outcome.
"Don't say 'What was all the fuss about!' Honestly, just how outrageous an existence are you! But with this, the galaxy is saved, so I suppose it's fine."
Results are what matter.
However, I won't say "the process doesn't matter."
The process is also important, and incidentally, though irrelevant here, family is important too.
"Master, I wanted to see the Total Annihilation Slash Cross~"
"Ahaha. Next time."
Shin felt like running away from Kichou's half-lidded eye atmosphere.
Since it's a dragon, the half-lidded eye was just emanating an atmosphere, though.
Anyway, the problem of the mobile black hole was safely resolved.
Therefore, Shin went to pick up the family he had left with Delhi using long-distance transfer magic.
Then, they all returned to the Asada Marquis estate.
Also, separately, he placed Sangou on standby on the capital planet's sea and went to report the results to Nobunaga.
"Father. Welcome back."
"Shin. Welcome back~"
Because Shin had sent a message in advance that he was coming by transfer magic, Nobunaga and Mecha-Miu were already drinking tea in the Emperor's private room.
"I'm back. The mobile black hole is safely taken care of. No need to worry anymore."
"I see. Thank you for your hard work. And thank you."
"Eh? Really? How on earth did you do it?"
"Hm? I just got as close to the center as possible and stored something like a super-heavy compressed material core into Storage Space?"
"Huh? How can you do that? Ah, I don't need a detailed explanation! Sorry. I don't want to hear it."
Mecha-Miu, who didn't want to get involved in trouble, misspoke for a moment but immediately retreated.
However, she was already thoroughly involved with Shin without realizing it, and wouldn't be able to escape in the future either.
In a sense, this might be a mutual relationship.
"I'd like to say 'give some reward,' but do you have any wishes, Father? Your achievements this time cannot be made public. So I think there are limits to what I can do."
"Hmm. Then let Nobuyuki have the title changed. Revoke his current clerical earl status via the conferral privilege and have him inherit the Asada Marquis title. I want to retire already. As for making it a Duke house, it's fine if Nobuyuki's daughter marries your son with your son as the son-in-law (入り婿), right? Nobuyuki's side doesn't have a son."
Shin, whose retirement had ended in a mere five months, was now determined to reclaim it.
"Then that's settled. My third son is liked by the eldest daughter there, and they get along. So it's perfect. Though he seems to be henpecked. By the way, after retiring, what will you do, Father?"
"I'll go on a journey with Sangou and Kichou. A journey aiming for a galaxy no one has ever visited. That's got dreams and romance, right?"
"Understood. But please make sure to come home frequently, okay? There are Mother and the others, Miu-san. And though I've never met her, Delhi-kun's older sister is also there. And, probably only you can handle Mecha-Miu-san (and I can only see you adding more wives and lovers in the future)."
Perhaps it was an expression of Nobunaga's kindness towards his biological father that he didn't put the last part into words after thinking it.
Thus, Hero Shin, together with Sangou and Kichou, succeeded in properly resolving one major crisis.
Beyond that, days of peace.
There is no such thing; a future of being involved in various incidents awaits.
That is probably because Shin bears the destiny of a Hero.
The Hero, endlessly unable to escape from fateful things and from being pushed around by his legal wife and other wives and mistresses.
Unless a new successor inheriting the Hero's power appears elsewhere in this world, Shin will have no peaceful days.
~FIN~
It's complete!
Thank you for reading.
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