Ozen declared war on Chronos.
Or rather, combat broke out without warning.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of their intentions.
Presumably, they’d only attack if they thought they had a chance. Probably.
However, in terms of sheer national power, Chronos was overwhelmingly superior.
We had lost many to the locust terrorist attacks, but even so, Latarnia and the Taikyoku Nation were on our side.
Naturally, our brother nation, the Galactic Empire, was an ally as well.
We were all battered, but combined, we still represented four major powers.
Then there was everyone’s favorite, the Ogre God Nation, joining the fray.
There was no way Ozen could win, even if they were the ones picking the fight.
But they must have had some sort of plan.
Maybe they had something they could use as leverage to negotiate an early peace.
Besides, all four of our nations were currently overflowing with murderous intent.
I could see no future for them other than being beaten to a pulp.
The weapons they showed the other day had incredible power, but they seemed to have issues with their rate of fire.
Were they leaning toward the Big-Ship Big-Gun Doctrine?
We had weapons of similar output as well.
Specifically, the ones that adapted Death Blaster technology for their main cannons.
But those were meant to be used while receiving support from humanoid fighters, drones, and missiles.
In the first place, it was only because of the Zork War that strategies emphasizing close-quarters combat had flourished; originally, the Galactic Empire focused mainly on medium-to-long range.
That was why Eddy was rated higher as a pilot than I was.
I was mediocre at long range, passable at mid-range, and a total maniac at close range.
Originally, my evaluation should have been about average.
For that reason, I wasn't heading out for the initial battle of the war.
When I whined, “I’m go-ing!” I was forced to sit in seiza and given a stern lecture.
How sad.
Instead, I watched the scene unfold in my capacity as the de facto Commander-in-Chief.
The enemy intended to invade the Former Magellan Territory.
As for the cabinet ministers and senators of the Magellan Provisional Government, they were facing a string of attacks in the Former Magellan Territory.
Molotov cocktails were thrown at their cars, their houses were set on fire, and trucks plowed into them the moment they stepped outside.
I wasn't the one carrying out assassinations.
I simply foresaw the inevitable outcome and chose not to intervene.
I had also told the Pirate Guild not to provide them with escorts.
They had hired Magellanic mercenaries regardless, but many of them were finished off by the very mercenaries they had paid.
The police in the Former Magellan Territory had been guarding them, but they quickly fled as soon as their own lives were at risk.
There was no value in risking one's life for a traitor.
If the Chronos police had arrested them, the story might have been different.
But those guys had the nerve to insist through their lawyer that they hadn't violated any Chronosian laws.
Even though that lawyer was a traitor.
Even though I had explicitly informed them that his wife and children had died in the locust terrorist attack, they didn't believe it.
Since I wasn't accepting them as refugees, even providing that information was a massive courtesy.
...How stupid. Even though the man was right there specifically to kill them.
As for that lawyer, he plowed a truck loaded with explosives into the Minister of Foreign Affairs the moment he stepped outside.
A charred corpse was recovered from the wreckage; reports said he’d been found curled up, as if shielding a photograph of his family.
It was heart-wrenching.
The Chronosians were sympathetic to him.
And so, volunteers flocked to join the Grand Duchy of Chronos Army.
While all of that was happening in the background, I watched the battle from my office with my companions.
I couldn't afford to be dressed in anything silly.
I had changed into Chronos traditional ceremonial clothing.
The ministers were also dressed in their respective designated uniforms.
We couldn't do a live broadcast, but the mass media was waiting just outside the room.
Su-san was there as well.
I was fully prepared for everyone to tease me later.
Claire explained the situation.
“The Ozen Army is attacking the Magellan Provisional Government Territory. They are indiscriminately attacking civilians, including Ozenians.”
“Are they stupid?”
Even though the invasion was justified as the protection of Ozenians, they had started a massacre that included Ozenians.
I suspected the survival of Ozen itself would be in jeopardy once the war was over.
Which meant they had no choice but to try to crush us with overwhelming military force.
“It’s almost like we're facing Zork, Proone, or the Ghouls.”
“They certainly don't listen to reason,” Melissa said, her voice full of exasperation.
“Why is it that our opponents never listen to reason?!”
“Exactly!”
Isono, who had finally become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, raised his hand.
“We’ve been hailing them through our diplomatic channels, but we’re being ignored. Latarnia and the Taikyoku Nation are being ignored as well.”
“Are they stupid?”
In that case, we didn't even know what their demands were.
If they were attacking, they must have had an objective, but they clearly had no intention of communicating it to us.
Well, whatever. We had no choice but to fight anyway.
“Raven-kun. For now, try hailing them one more time.”
“Understood.”
He called out to the enemy fleet, but was ignored again.
“I see. Begin operations using Galactic Empire Standard Defense Tactics.”
“Understood.”
Look, the only reason we’d been repeating close-quarters combat was because we were fighting Zork.
Let’s show them a normal fight for once.
We deployed mines for the defensive engagement.
These were mines that tracked targets by sensing enemy energy.
Their weakness was that they were energy-based, much like pulse grenades, so they were useless against Zork.
“Mine placement complete.”
Mines, though.
I really didn't want to use them if I could help it.
Cleaning up the debris afterward was such a pain.
“Raven-kun, once the formation is set, I’ll leave the rest to on-site judgment. I authorize the use of all weapons.”
“Understood.”
Well then, my job ended here.
I said 'all weapons,' but surely no idiot would be stupid enough to use poison gas in the vacuum of space.
We hadn't even brought any this time.
Though that would depend on how Ozen-kun decided to play this.
The formation seemed to be set already.
In a fleet battle, formation was everything.
“Fire missiles.”
Missiles first.
The enemy's main cannons struck the barriers of the Chronos fleet.
Hahaha, these have been Zork-processed.
I’m not scared at all!
Naturally, we fired back with double the volume.
Ours were capable of rapid fire, too.
The main cannons that managed to penetrate the barriers scorched the surface of our battleships.
However, the beams couldn't pierce through.
They simply ended up being diffused.
You had to use physical attacks to break Zork-processed armor.
Or melt it with even higher output.
To prevent that, our barriers were designed to bend the trajectory of the beams so they wouldn't score a direct hit.
Naturally, the enemy launched humanoid fighters while firing their missiles.
They were strange machines with six arms.
Then, the fight-loving Ogre God Nation pilots launched.
They were easy to spot since their machines had a warrior appearance.
A moment later, the Chronosian pilots launched as well.
Ours had a knightly appearance.
The design had been modified from the Galactic Empire Army’s standard machines.
It was the work of a Chronosian designer.
“Hyahhoo! It’s a brawl, a brawl!”
“We’ll protect Chronos!”
You could tell which side a pilot was on just from their dialogue.
The Ogre God Nation pilots charged straight in, while the Chronosian pilots took up positions at medium range exactly as they'd been trained.
Humanoid fighters were meant for combat against other humanoid fighters.
Normally, this was how it was supposed to be!
It was only because our opponents were Zork that we’d been doing things differently!
The humanoid fighters engaged each other.
The objective should have been... mine removal. But they were already locked in close-quarters combat with the Ogre God Nation pilots.
They had strayed from standard tactics.
Suddenly, a report came through.
“Big Brother Leo! These guys are acting weird!”
“Nothing but weird things have been happening from the start!”
“Not that! It's the pilots! Look, here's an image.”
It was the wreckage of a humanoid fighter drifting in space.
A pilot had been ejected... No way.
The pilot’s body had been almost entirely mechanized, literally integrated into the humanoid fighter itself.
“Are they out of their minds...?”
No wonder they wouldn't respond to our hails.
Perhaps the Ozenians had already been modified by someone else entirely.