After launching, a transmission came in.
Oh, Suematsu-san. That's unusual.
"Your Majesty the King. How about this bonsai?"
Right, right. This bonsai.
Suematsu-san gave it to me, yeah.
Well, this time it's filling in as a pinch hitter for Himorogi-chan.
Ha ha ha!
By the way, what kind of tree is it?
"Well, by divine revelation, I fashioned a bonsai from the pruned branches of Himorogi-sama."
"Eh...? Himorogi-chan?"
"Yes, an oracle descended saying she wished to be together with Your Majesty. Ha ha ha!"
O-oh.
But it should be safer than Fairy's weird drugs.
Those were officially banned, after all.
Right, Zashiki-warashi?
I pulled up the monitor from storage and clapped my hands together vigorously in worship.
I get told a lot about proper bowing and all that, but I don't think the gods expect that much from foolish humans.
If you're a Shinto Priest, sure, that's one thing.
But a god who finds fault and rains down divine punishment just because someone who genuinely holds reverence got the etiquette slightly wrong—that's just a thug.
Getting furious over a crooked rank insignia or the wrong angle on a salute—that's officer academy instructor territory.
Officer academy can't be helped. It's that kind of place.
Even the students are salaried military personnel, after all.
Well, whatever.
Himorogi-chan wouldn't go out of her way to smite me.
Tossed around by the great flow... yeah... like a sea roach on a seawall, just carried away by the big Wave.
I am Kawagon, the Great Ape who doesn't defy fate.
I just need to think about potatoes.
Anyway, really sortieing now.
A lot of non-humanoid fighters were launching too.
The fleet side was the Multinational Force.
The Galactic Empire held the rear.
Chronos and Taikyoku Nation's fleets were positioned with murderous intent running high.
In the mysterious zone, there was something massive... but it didn't show up on sensors.
"Use illumination!"
I had illumination flares fired, knowing it would reveal our position to the enemy.
What was there... was a monster with something like a centipede attached to a giant human face.
And it was planet-sized.
"...Alright, withdraw."
Withdraw it was.
That thing was Fleet Battle scale!
Fighting the Zork Mother with Humanoid Fighters had been an irregularity to begin with.
We only did it because the Galactic Empire's survival was at stake.
There was no benefit to doing it this time.
Our mission was probably escorting the multinational fleet.
"Alright, everyone. It's a military operation until you get back home~. Don't get hurt."
I called out to everyone.
"Don't say things that kill the tension!"
Eddy yelled at me.
My shoulders relaxed and I went slack.
For now, we'd observe the situation.
No response from the enemy.
Given the enemy's size, it was probably like a fly buzzing around to them.
Would the fleet form up and attack, I wondered.
Let's see how far we could get.
It was bigger than Rosaria's Planet-class, after all.
Ah, I see.
That's why multiple Planet-class fortresses had been needed for defense...
Wait, hold on.
That didn't add up.
Up until now, we'd thought the Planet-class Mobile Fortresses were our Great Wall.
But actually, maybe we were the horseback nomads...
"Wait! Cease attack!"
I screamed.
"What's wrong, Leo!"
"That thing is a defense mechanism! Planet-class Mobile Fortresses are necessary! Just run! If we can recon it, we've achieved seventy percent of our objective!"
Me, panicking like crazy.
My comrades sensed that and decided to retreat.
But there were guys who didn't believe me.
Parcion-kun, part of Magellan, and Ozen-chan.
Meanwhile, Repsitore Nation was incredibly smart.
They noticed something was off with me before anyone else, and were the first to start fleeing.
Seriously, Lepsitol-kun was excellent!
Their evaluation in my mind was skyrocketing!
The three absorbed nations began their charge in defiance of orders.
They were nations that had been destroyed because of the Corpse Eaters.
I couldn't blame them for having high murderous intent, but...
Please, just listen to your superior officer!
I had no choice but to leave them behind.
Parcion-kun launched missiles.
Magellan-kun had been quiet lately, so I'd let my guard down.
Ozen followed suit.
They charged with Chronos's newest warships.
Firing the Main Cannon.
"You idiots, stop!"
I screamed.
Other senior officers also repeatedly ordered them to cease.
But what came back was a voice filled with rage.
It was Magellan's fleet commander.
"Shut up, King of Chronos! A bastard like you wouldn't understand! The parents, children, brothers and sisters of subordinates who died in vain... the people are saying 'Take revenge!'"
Agh, damn it!
They'd been planning this the whole time!
They'd been planning a suicide mission for revenge this whole time!
"You bastard, don't screw with me! Don't drag your subordinates into your suicide!"
"It's the consensus of the fleet! Those who opposed have already been disembarked!"
"If you stay alive, I'll give you a chance for revenge!"
Then, a sorrowful voice came back.
"King of Chronos. You don't understand the misery of a soldier who couldn't protect his homeland... We... are already tired of living."
"Don't screw with me!"
There was no way I wouldn't understand.
Same went for the guys from the officer academy.
There were many who had lost a lot of people in their homelands.
It was just that the part within my view looked glamorous.
Behind our Path of Supremacy, mountains of corpses had piled up.
I knew that!
"Record our deaths. Use it for the next battle."
"So stop dying in vain!"
"You understand the enemy's overwhelming power. But what about the people? They probably think they can win easily as long as King of Chronos is here. We must deny that!"
That was probably correct in everything except the means.
...But it was a bad match for my ability.
And my ability... probably had no effect on those who wished for death.
And the commander ordered:
"Salute the great leader, King of Chronos!"
"You idiot, bastard!"
The fleet charged in.
And then the attack came.
Something was released from the Corpse Eaters' chest.
It was the debris from a battle that had once taken place here.
Fired at an incredible speed.
It was a giant Railgun.
But who does that with something this huge! Normally!
It was truly an instant.
The mutinous fleet evaporated.
And it was flying toward us.
In the next moment, my unit and one other glowed.
Himorogi-chan's bonsai glowed too.
"Your Majesty! Put your shield to full power!"
Before I knew it, Leonidas-kun was hovering right nearby.
His ESP was a death-loop RTA.
In other words, he must have already died many times over.
Probably extinction-level damage!
This was seriously bad!
I steeled myself and poured all energy into the shield.
But there was no way I could fully absorb a monster-class attack like this.
Deflecting it at an angle while dodging was the best I could manage.
The angle was pure instinct!
"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
Leonidas-kun was also deflecting the attack from the opposite side of me.
It was a moment that felt like eternity.
The machine was grinding and groaning.
As a result, the attack was deflected.
Cost me my arm along with the shield, though!
Leonidas-kun's unit was also half-destroyed.
But even doing all that, we couldn't escape damage.
The attack gouged into the Latania Nation's fleet.
"Part of the Latarnia Ship fleet is heavily damaged! Providing medical assistance!"
"Hurry! Everyone who's intact, flee at full speed!"
The fleet fled at full speed.
We wrapped anchor cables around them and towed them out just like that.
And so, while we achieved the minimum operational objectives, the result was a total beatdown.
No, it was impossible from the start. The size difference was too extreme!
And every relevant party had completely misunderstood the purpose of the operation!
We needed a weapon.
A weapon that could destroy that thing in a single strike.
Just figuring that out was a significant battle result.
......Also, I'd like Kill Night-chan, please.
A replacement unit wouldn't cut it.