CH 61: Last Stand (Patreon)

Dorothy didn’t get much time to ponder on the appearance of her Star of Destiny. The moment Noah escaped the Stargate her danger senses immediately kicked in, blaring ominous alarms right into her brain, warning her of the impending danger that was about to swallow them all. 


“Noah?”


“You recognize him?” Dorothy asked in wonder while trying to hastily locate the source of danger that was making her danger senses go haywire, almost on a riot inside her mind. It was not the young child before her that he was sure of. 


Even though the amount of Dark Matter inside his body was extremely vast for his small body frame and enough to impress her, it was definitely not enough to give her this feeling of impending dread and despair that were ringing her senses in alarm. 


“Yeah. It’s the guy who punched me unconscious. Though… he definitely looked older than he is now.”


“Oh… A race that can change their age at their command? Interesting…” It wasn’t a rare occurrence in the vast Sea of Stars. 


Some races had special talents that allowed them to summon and use their future selves in battle, to express a greater self of power, and there were even races that had the innate ability to shapeshift into any form, including their younger and older selves. 


Anyway, I have now confirmed that he’s the star of destiny I have been seeking, We finally meet…


“Ahem~” Dorothy cleared her throat slightly. She may have been caught off guard by his child-like appearance at first but she knew that it was not a behavior worthy of her stature as the Emerald Queen. Now, she had to salvage her image and project a proper aura of majesty that befitted her title. 


It didn’t take long for Noah to reach them both, considering he was running at a fast pace from the very moment he shot out from the Stargate. Dorothy was already aware that something was seriously wrong but she needed to display the proper proceedings…


“Hello—” “Hi! Hello! Greetings and salutations can wait for a little later, okay!? We are on a time limit here!! Also hi, Morgiana! Good to see that you are awake and well. Now, ladies we need to leave this planet ASAP. We don’t have much time… I think?”


Arriving before them, Noah started rapid-firing answers like a machine gun, so fast and resonant were his answers that he didn’t even have time to catch his breath but his new body allowed him to convey the urgency he wanted to project to the duo. 


Dorothy was utterly confused by his demeanor but… her head throbbed in alarm once more and this time the alarms that had been ringing inside her rose several octaves, almost threatening to split her head from the inside out. The risk of death before them was simply that much overwhelming. 


“Just what the heck are you…” Morgiana began but Dorothy stopped her mid-way, her expression utterly serious and grave. The silvery-white mask shrouding her face once again manifested into existence and she immediately contacted the Legion of Pride using her interface. 


“Beam us up right now. This is urgent. I repeat, this is extremely urgent!” She wasn’t trusting Noah blindly, that would be a rookie mistake. 


No, it was her instincts that were constantly screaming at her of immediate danger that made her decide to ask to be transported. She didn’t wish to stay in this accursed place any longer. 


It would generally take around ten to twenty minutes to leave the orbit of this planet with the small ship she had used to enter the atmosphere. In the first place, it wasn’t created for space exploration anyway, so it lacked quite a bit of power to escape the gravity well. Furthermore, … she had this nagging feeling that she didn’t have the time or leisure to give the small ship a chance. 


A message immediately reached her after her report, 


｢Very well. But you know our beam isn’t as precise as the empire’s. You need to be close to your spaceship for us to have more exact coordinates.｣


“Roger. Prepare a beam for three people.”


｢Understood.｣


She nodded and looked down at the child before him, the boy referred to as Noah by her friend. Well, he was not really a child per se, but he did look like a child in his current form.


It wasn’t as if she was particularly tall herself so it was quite refreshing to not have to look up at someone when she was trying to talk to them.


His short silver hair was a mesmerizing feature and while he did look like a small brat, the expression on his face was mature and cold. He was wearing a blue suit that was a little tight but there wasn’t much to cover anyway on his skinny body. 


“My crewmate says we need to move. Do you think we have enough time?” 


Noah gave her an appreciative look, “I honestly don’t know if we do. All I know is that this planet will self-destruct and I do not want to swim in the vacuum of space.”


Dorothy nodded her head; her expression betraying nothing. She definitely didn’t miss the implication behind his words. 


He was not worried about dying even though a planetary explosion was imminent if his words were to be trusted. No, he was only worried about swimming in the vacuum of space? Either this was just an extrapolation or this boy… no, this man had clearly many tricks hidden in his bag.


As expected of the Golden Constellation, I guess.


She grinned while adjusting her helmet, “Shall we run now? We can exchange names on the way. What do you think, Morgiana?”


Morgiana was very conflicted but she knew that Dorothy was always a reliable ally. Far more reliable than Alibaba at the very least. Since it came to this, it was better to listen to her now than to regret later. The earlier shock had been worrying enough so she didn’t wish to test things out. 


My frame though…

 

Her heart ached when she thought of her ship. It was a relatively rare ship that could double as a fully functional frame. Building it had been expensive, to say the least, and they were still in debt because of her extravagance.


Catching the Forty-thieves would have made the debt go away in a flash but now… “Ugh…” just thinking about all the money she was losing and was about to lose made her physically wretch and gag. However, it was water under the bridge now. There was nothing she would be able to do about it. 


“Let’s go.” She completely ignored Noah and started her run. She still didn’t forget the sucker punch he had inflicted on her. But now wasn’t the time to confront him about it.


Since the three of them were on the same wavelength it didn’t take long for them to start running and no sooner had they made the decision, the ground started experiencing earth-shaking vibrations. The vibrations were of such magnitude that it made the previous earthquake feel like a child’s play. Things were not looking good for them. 


“Damn!” Morgiana cursed out loud as she started putting more power on her legs. She felt like running had been the norm on this planet for her; definitely not something she would be remembering fondly, that’s for sure. 


Behind them, the previously white gate was also showing signs of changes. The white light started flickering and crimson darkness started encroaching over it and swallowing the light whole.


This time it was definitely clear that something was seriously wrong with this place and they weren’t the only ones feeling the disturbance. 


The rumbling of the earth and the change in the gate were accompanied by the roars of the beasts who were also feeling their impending doom encroaching upon them in real-time.


“This… will be a little more complicated than I thought it would.” Dorothy sighed as they approached her ship. It was still hovering above in the sky and they would not be able to enter it immediately due to its altitude. The teleportation beam of the Legion of Pride wasn’t powerful enough to beam up an entire ship, no matter how small it was. 


“Well, I have two sets of news. A good and a bad.” Dorothy started, “The good news is… it will only take anywhere between one to two minutes for my crew to calibrate the teleportation beam to our coordinates. As for the bad news… well, we will have to make sure no beast gets caught in the beam otherwise it will most likely kill us all.”


“Fuck…” Morgiana sighed as she looked in the distance. “I am going to kill Alibaba if I survive this shit!”


It seemed like it was time to fight for their life once again. 

———

(AN: Heh, if this story ever gets made into a video game I believe it would be very interesting. This scene here is basically the escape mission on a timer. More seriously though, Book 1 is close to ending. Hope you enjoyed it.)