Tactical Retreat

Chapter 47 — Tactical Retreat.

Shortly after its arrival, Rokurome also managed to arrive at the scene, but alas, it was already too late since the dragon was now preparing its attack. Jason knew he was still quite far away from them, and wouldn't be able to reach them in time.

The second platoon had no sort of ability or way to avoid the dragon's attack. After all, they were lacking the time and the mass drivers were also unusable.

The dragon, in its colossal form, possessed hundreds of thousands of nasty eyes and hundreds of grotesque wings. The scale of its attack was now unimaginable compared to before.

Perhaps, the only path left behind for the second platoon was oblivion itself.

The pilots had regrets left, but they were glad to have defended Sidonia until their last breath. It also felt pleasant to experience using the new weapons. They were also glad to have fought alongside Jason.

With him still alive, they felt there was nothing to worry about the safety of Sidonia.

As he stared at this scene that would most likely turn into tragedy, Jason could feel the thousand eyes of the dragon looking at the second platoon with immense wrath and mockery.

At the same time, it also felt like it was directed at him.

Before he could even understand what was happening, Jason was already rushing toward the second platoon with as much speed Rokurome could muster. The ticking sound of time had already slowed down several times without stopping, Jason's vision being dyed in blood-red. His eyes were completely bloodshot, blood severely pouring out as the veins popped continuously.

Jason forced the thrusters to work beyond their limits, and he pushed his crystal core to the breaking point to provide more crimson lightning. He could feel Rokurome itself groaning and straining under the force that slowly broke its body apart.

It was not enough, so it was still not the end.

Mr. Alien released the converter storage and overrides the output limit of the thrusters. It poured every high-density particle into it, causing the thrusters to release a dense starry crimson trail that spread like wings.

Jason soon heard whistling and humming sounds descending toward the second platoon.

The dragon had finally released countless incinerating death beams.

The image of those crimson beams killing his comrades one by one… It fueled him with blazing anger.

He had to save his comrades, especially since it was his fault for letting the dragon escape from him.

They were the trustworthy comrades under his command!

And those were the comrades that also fought and trained alongside him. They also trusted and believed Jason, to the point they will stand next to him even until death.

The crimson lightning around Rokurome grew denser and denser to the point of becoming viscous. Jason could feel both the pain and anger Rokurome and him were currently experiencing. It was churning crazily, like a boiling magma from a raging volcano.

The crimson lightning reflected upon their feelings, fusing with the dense particles released from the thrusters to form a large wing that spread widely.

Jason ignored the transformation. All his attention was focused on saving his comrades.

Rokurome's speed increased by several times, and it even continued to accelerate further.

Jason could see that he was shortening the distance with each and every passing seconds, allowing him to closer see the crimson beams splitting and shaking the empty void.

After sprouting some wings, Rokurome seemed to be able to teleport, managing to soon arrive between the second platoon and the countless beams.

But he wouldn't still be able to save them all… unless he took a risk.

Jason decisively activated the TPIG System, causing him to bleed even more severely from his five apertures. His head felt like it was about to split apart from the countless data he received.

He then ordered Mr. Alien—

"Evol Reactor•Gluttony."

⟨ Gluttony Awakening… ⟩

⟨ Please finish it quickly, Host. This SIN is too dangerous . ⟩

As if something was awakening within it, the crystal core within his heart began to beat extremely violently. An unbearable pain began to spread everywhere within his body, but It also brought a malicious force along with it.

This was a hidden characteristic of the Evol(Crystal) Reactor. Deep within it, there resides a terrifying force that was born from the anomaly called Onizume.

The crystal core began to rapidly spin, forcefully devouring everything that it found delicious.

Crimson lines, began to cover Jason's body, gradually forming into a solid hideous crimson armour.

It even affected Rokurome, causing the colour of the crimson lightning that covered its whole body to become even more deeper and sinister.

Things were still controllable, for now.

Rokurome then abruptly threw the spear forward, the crimson wings behind it vanishing, no, it was moving toward the spear itself, transforming it to become a gigantic spear of light that could devour anything in sight.

As Rokurome threw the spear forward, its arms started to shatter apart, not being able to endure anymore.

Haah.. Haahh…

Jason was breathing heavily while looking at the death beams that numbered in thousands.

The spear flew toward them at the very center while clad in humongous crimson lightning. The lightning seemed to release an irresistible force towards every single death beam, causing them to converge toward it.

The lightning then swiftly devoured the energy within the beams, thereby empowering itself as it continued heading toward the dragon.

The dragon roared furiously, seeing it still couldn't defeat Jason, and was instead bounded by the pressure of the spear.

Swooosh!

The dragon was impaled by the spear, causing the upper right of its body to get incinerated into nothingness. However, it was still alive with its True Body still intact.

An imperfect foaming.

The beams that rained down suddenly vanished. All that was left was the ruined body of Rokurome and the damaged body of the Dragon-Type Gauna.

Although it was wrathful about its defeat, it chose to retreat and return to Ocarina.

The second platoon couldn't process things as it all happened too fast. They thought they would die, but it didn't happen as they expected.

But upon seeing the lonely and damaged figure of Rokurome, they realized Jason saved them.

The Hero of Sidonia managed to save them.

It was nothing but a miracle.

….

Command Bridge.

The crew inside the bridge were showing different kinds of reactions throughout the entire operation.

The situation within the asteroid was simply too bizarre.

This was also the first time they encountered something like the Dragon-Type Gauna—something that resembles a legendary creature from a fantasy story.

They were even stunned and amazed by Rokurome's transformation. It felt similar to a butterfly when it grew wings. Moreover, they realized it was similar to the strange transformation that happened in the past.

Most of all, they were glad to see the operation was successful. The Guardian Company really worked themselves very hard.

Kobayashi was worried about Jason's condition behind her mask, but felt he was alright.

"Quickly prepare the missile, we can't miss this opportunity!" she ordered sternly.

"Roger!" The assistants immediately began preparing to fire the missile to destroy the asteroid.

Meanwhile, Yuhata also began to relay the next order toward the pilots.

"Second Platoon, immediately retreat from the asteroid and meet with the First Platoon at the rendezvous point. Subsequently, I'll send over the safest retreat path, just follow it. And also, safely transport Pilot Jason and Pilot Akai toward Sidonia."

"Don't chase after the Dragon-Type Gauna, with your weaponry's current state, there's a low chance of destroying its True Body."

"Prioritize retreating as we will soon proceed to launch the missile toward the asteroid, along with the Dragon-Type Gauna."

While listening to the voice channel, Jason weakly gazed at the retreating figure of the dragon.

The next time they met, he would definitely destroy it without fail. He will no longer make any mistakes.