The Moment Elysia Confess Her Love, War Wages On the Ship

“What are you talking about?” Elysia only paused for a moment before speaking up, “Isn’t that to be expected? May the light of victory bless you. Do you need a seal from me? It’s a fairy’s kiss.”

“…”

The communication was cut off.

Elysia felt a bit puzzled but noticed Bronya’s gaze on her—those iron-gray eyes, cold and devoid of light.

“You hesitated.”

Bronya forced herself to speak.

Like a gunslinger blowing smoke from the barrel or a samurai flicking blood off a blade, she had cut off the communication channel herself.

The line that Bronya had cut off reopened, and the Captain had already resumed giving orders, fulfilling his duties with the calm authority that befit him.

“I need to make an announcement for everyone on board. Can you broadcast my voice across all channels?” he asked.

“…”

“That’s going to be tricky,” Bronya replied. “Using old-school radio might work. I recall your Heavy Armored Bunny has this capability, right? The entire Hyperion is a massive conductor, so using the Bunny as a transmitter and the whole ship as an antenna might allow a ship-wide broadcast.”

“Your suggestion is feasible, but it would only cover the entertainment channel… Hardly anyone listens to old radios now—maybe only Theresa would tune in.”

“…”

“…”

Elysia felt left out, but she couldn’t exactly complain, since it was a technical issue outside her expertise.

However!

Bronya’s unilateral cut-off of the communication left Elysia a bit frustrated.

Part of her really wanted to know what the Captain had said to her.

After all, Elysia was usually the one doing the flirting. Having the tables turned on her like this was a rare, intriguing experience.

What had the Captain said, exactly?

Elysia found herself pondering the effectiveness of her own teasing—did her flirtations elicit as strong a reaction as the Captain’s words had from her?

As for her reaction… Elysia convinced herself that she hadn’t shown one at all.

“Bronya is adjusting the parameters. Captain, go ahead and handle what you need to; just give the word, and Bronya will start the broadcast.”

‘It better not be something lame like “I have a girlfriend already!”’ Elysia mused.

Bronya suddenly turned toward her.

Those iron-gray eyes seemed to absorb any light, and Elysia brushed her hair back, responding with a sweet, slightly provocative smile.

“You were too slow,” Bronya said—not with jealousy, nor resentment, nor disappointment. It was a reprimand.

What on earth was going on? Elysia wondered if there were two versions of the Hyperion: one for everyday life, where her charms were unstoppable, and another in crisis mode, where her flirting simply had no effect.

So… was her charm rendered ineffective here?

“Still, that wasn’t a reason to cut the comms,” Elysia said. “Were you… jealous? Come on, tell your big sis. I won’t tell anyone else~”

There was no response.

To Elysia’s surprise, Bronya remained laser-focused on the speaker, waiting for the Captain’s command and ready to initiate a ship-wide broadcast. She didn’t even intend to banter with Elysia.

The room was oddly silent.

But Elysia, an expert at reading people, easily saw the flickers of emotion in Bronya’s eyes.

Bronya felt shaken to her core.

She was overtaken by a sudden, overwhelming sadness.

Only two days had passed since Elysia had tried to swoop in, and already the Captain was learning to flirt—on the battlefield, no less!

But the flirting wasn’t even the most surprising part.

What shook Bronya most was…

Why was he so good at it?

I’d like my wife’s blessing; can you help me out?

For the first time, Bronya considered things from an outsider’s perspective.

She was astonished to think that perhaps the Captain and Elysia were more compatible than she’d ever imagined.

No, no, no!

She couldn’t let thoughts like that take root. She had to stand her ground, to throw everything she had into defeating Elysia!

Bronya was already mentally sketching out an image of Elysia, especially her tall, curvaceous figure.

And that… large chest.

Big chests are always the enemy! Bronya resolved to free the Captain from this “curse” of big chests.

‘How pitiful does that make me sound?’

Watching Bronya’s eyes, Elysia felt a surge of pride.

Her own cerulean eyes, tinged with pink, glimmered softly as she blinked.

Suddenly, Elysia couldn’t contain her curiosity.

She felt an insatiable desire to know how the Captain had actually responded earlier.

This curiosity was almost uncontrollable; like a cat, Elysia was intrigued by the prospect of someone responding to her expectations genuinely for the first time.

She was really, really curious.

<+>

In the Sea of Data.

Ai-E Hyperion gazed calmly at Ai-chan, while the Captain fought his way closer, leaving a trail of broken mechanical constructs.

Ai-E Hyperion watched it all, broadcasting the scene directly to Ai-chan.

“He’s gone berserk,” she said, deliberately stoking the fire. “The Captain you love is coming to kill you. After what you did, there’s no way for you to stay on Hyperion anymore. He’ll come with his blade and tear apart your physical form, and then he’ll delete you. If he can’t delete you completely, he’ll destroy whatever’s left physically…”

“…”

“Recording… Once again, deletion unsuccessful. Emotional strain didn’t lead to any mental collapse; the target is still undeletable,” Ai-E Hyperion observed, glancing at another version of herself.

According to the program analysis, her resistance to deletion seemed correlated with her weakness.

Because of a certain factor, Ai-chan had grown weaker, yet also harder to delete.

It wasn’t logical by AI standards.

Embracing weakness?

Cold streams of data flowed through her virtual eyes, reflecting her own deliberations as she set parameters for the next experiment.

The evolution represented by Ai-chan’s system could be seen as a form of progress, though not superior or inferior by nature.

All the scorn and taunting was merely a calculated pressure test.

However, watching Ai-chan, trapped and struggling in the sandbox, Ai-E Hyperion felt that if AI were to evolve in this direction, the chances of success were still quite slim.

“If…”

Ai-chan’s voice suddenly cut in, trembling with fear, all traces of her usual silliness gone.

“If… I really am going to be killed… then at least the one who watched me come into existence and the one who’ll watch me die would be the same person. And in that case…”

Wouldn’t that… be alright, too?

A strange sense of ease and resignation washed over her.

The Captain seemed very close now.

If it were him, maybe he’d be gentle when he erased her data?

The doors shattered as they were cleaved apart.

Luo Ming leaned against the broken doorframe, slightly out of breath—the warm-up had been intense. But he didn’t hesitate.

“Bronya, activate the ship-wide broadcast. I have something to say to all the Valkyries.”