Chapter 111: Over the Long Journey
When Lin Yuan came down from the control cabin, everyone looked at him in fascination as if there was something drawn on his face. Lin Yuan scratched his head, walked up to his dad in some confusion, and asked in a low voice, "Dad… what is it?"
Ling Yu raised the corners of his lips ever so slightly, reached out and patted his son on the shoulder, and said, "You did very well. You blew everyone’s expectations out of the water."
Lin Yuan was stunned. He didn’t know much about S-Class mechs, so he didn’t realize the significance of achieving a 300% match between him and the Nine-Tailed Fox— such powerful mental power and perfect coordination between the left and right hemisphere of the brain was unprecedented in the history of the Empire. It was the first time the matching of an S-Class mecha reached the max score of 300%, it could practically be written into the Mech Association's record book.
Lin Yuan didn't know that he had already turned into a real little monster in everyone's eyes.
The appreciating gaze his dad bestowed upon him lightened his mood, he couldn’t help but smile and say, “Dad, I named the Nine-Tailed Fox Kitsune (灵狐- Líng Hú). ‘Líng' (灵) and ‘Líng' (陵) use the same tone, it’s just like I gave him a matching last name."
Ling Yu was a bit touched by this and lightly stroked his son's head, saying: "Even though you and Kitsune have perfectly matched, there are still so many aspects of the mech system you don’t know. Take some time out of your day to come to me, I’ll teach you myself."
Lin Yuan said with no holdings bared: "Okay!"
Dave finally picked his jaw up from the floor, swallowed, and took out a ring encrusted with orange gemstones. He walked up to Lin Yuan and said with a relaxed laugh: "Well color me surprised! You can pilot the Nine-Tailed Fox by yourself. I would have never expected this! You really are a son of Ling Yu! On that note, the Nine-Tailed Fox is yours for the keeping from now on. This is its space button. Remember to put it in!"
"Thank you Uncle!" Lin Yuan took the space button from Dave and said to the mech in front of him: "Kitsune, come into the space button now!"
The orange mech blinked, a listless voice simultaneously resounded across everyone’s ears in the room, "Understood, Master."
Then, the towering orange mecha shrunk down into an orange beam of light and entered the ring space button in Lin Yuan's palm.
Everyone turned around and returned to the base lounge. On the way back, Berg suddenly caught onto Ling Yu and spoke in a hushed tone: “I didn’t expect Xiao Yuan’s mental threshold to be so high. It seems that your and Rosen’s talent for piloting mechs was passed down onto him.
Ling Yu was also very pleased with his son’s performance. He smiled and said, “Xiao Yuan’s ability also came as a complete shock to me. However, it’s actually a good thing that he can have the Nine-Tailed Fox to himself. I was worried that he and Caesar would have diverging rifts form in their cooperation. Xiao Yuan piloting the Nine-Tailed Fox on his own would be safer."
Berg nodded, "That’s right, after all, the thoughts and reasonings of two people would never be able to reach complete unification. Any divergence at a critical moment would be fatal. Naturally, it’s better when you can pilot by yourself… but if Xiao Yuan completes this arduous task alone, the risk will be great.” Berg paused and looked back at Ling Yu, “He’s your son. You’re sending him off to face danger, are you not troubled by this?"
Ling Yu was silent for a moment, he glanced at the young man walking up ahead, and smiled ever so slightly: "I believe he will not let us down."
Lin Yuan, who was walking up ahead with Caesar, wasn’t aware of what his Dad and Berg had stopped up over there to discuss. He had just gotten his hands on the Nine-Tailed Fox, Lin Yuan had been admirably fondling and fiddling with the space button in his hand, thrumming with constant excitement.
When the two returned to the lounge, the space button on Caesar's wrist suddenly lit up and the joyful sound of White Feather's voice came at the same time in his ears: "Hey, hey! Mr. Fox next door! Hello, it’s oh so nice to meet you! The name is White Feather, the mech of Prince Caesar. My master and your master are a couple. We’ll certainly be seeing a lot of each other in the future, so let’s get to know each other a bit first, okay?"
Kitsune said, "Oh, my name is Kitsune."
Little White Feather had evidently been restraining itself. There were so many people on the scene, it was embarrassed to give its hellos to the fox. Now, only the two masters and their two mechs were left in the room. Naturally, it needed to flatter its way into friendship with this new friend and gain a good relationship, paving the road to happiness for the two masters.
White Feather continued: "You’re an SS-Class mech. You can just hear the sheer awesomeness! The color of your body is also very beautiful, especially when the nine of your tails are unfurled, it’s just simply breath-taking!"
According to human beings, it is easier to give a good impression to the other party by giving an abundance of kind words upon the first meeting?
White Feather pulled up a list of complimentary words from its intelligence center and praised each and every aspect of the fox. Unfortunately, the nine-tailed fox was languorous and wasn’t fond of speaking. Only after White Feather had been spluttering out words non-stop until it ran dry did Kitsune ask: "Are you finished?"
White Feather: "Finished!"
Kitsune yawned, "Oh, I’ll just be heading off to bed then."
White Feather: "…………"
Predecessor Suzaku had always preemptively shut itself down, there was never an opportunity to chat it up. Now the fox is in play. It thought it could be friends with it and chat away every day to relieve its boredom. The masters stay with one another in love and harmony, their mechs should also joyously join hands, shouldn’t they?
But why does the fox actually want to sleep?!
What good does sleep do for a mech? They never get tired!
The fox soon thereafter went into hibernation mode and White Feather was hung outside to dry, heavily depressed. With being wronged so, it sniveled to Caesar with a small voice: "Master, this fox refuses to acknowledge me. Does it hate me just as Predecessor Suzaku does?"
Caesar: "… "
This here is a “talk-your-head-off” mech that lowers its master's IQ through the power of speaking. Caesar has already grown a tolerance towards it after all these years.
Fearing that White Feather would start blubbering out words without an end in sight, Caesar rushed to soothe it: "It’s not that Kitsune doesn’t want to talk to you, it’s just that the two of you don’t know each other very well right now. It doesn’t know what to talk to you about."
White Feather suddenly saw the light, "Oh! Then I will try looking for it every day to chat with it, we’ll get to know each other then, right?"
"…" Caesar wiped a sympathetic tear for Kitsune, pretending to say in all seriousness: "That’s right."
But in his heart, he couldn’t help but think: Sicing White Feather to eat up the fox’s time would finally let him have a little bit of peace and quiet as its master.
Since then, White Feather has diligently and enthusiastically came up to his new little mech friend Nine-Tailed Fox every single day, searching up all kinds of topics and even pulled up various videos to watch together.
The determination and adaptability of the Nine-Tailed Fox was unexpectedly hardy, even beyond White Feather's imagination!
Predecessor Suzaku would choose to shut itself down when it could no longer stand it, but the Nine-Tailed Fox could actually yawn without a care in the world and lazily catch some shut-eye in the space button under the bombardment of White Feather's meaningless blabber all day long!
It fully regarded White Feather's chatterings as "the most splendid lullaby."
***
At 7 o’clock that evening, the Imperial Ministry finally announced to the public the news that the next commander of the Glory Legion was to be Lieutenant General Kerriman. At the same time, Kerriman has been promoted to the rank of s Generalissimo, who can wear the insignia belonging to the Commander of the Glory Legion and the four-star epaulettes.
The brand new high-ranking general's uniform has long been completed. Kerriman put on the uniform and looked at himself in the mirror, standing tall and proud—
Going from an ordinary Beta soldier to the adjutant of the Dark Night Legion, to the current commander of the Glory Legion, a general of the Empire… For more than twenty years, trekking up the mountainous path tightly interwoven with thistles and thorns, even though there was blood that stained his hands, in comparison to the end result of him making his way to the top, those twists and turns he encountered justified the means.
—It is he, the one who triumphs that gets to wear the crown and he is without a doubt, the ultimate winner.
Kerriman never regretted the choices he had made. If he hadn't chosen Auguste as his ultimate benefactor, he would have been eternally damned to be a poor, little adjutant of the Dark Night Legion, hidden behind Ling Yu’s shadow. With his family background and identity as a Beta, there wasn’t any way for him to shine amongst his peers in the military.
Finding a proper and powerful backer to help him climb to the top of the ranks was his best choice.
But ever so often, a sense of uneasiness weighs upon him…
The scene of Ling Yu taking the water bottle from his hand and drinking it without the slightest hesitation has been haunting his dreams through the years. That Omega general had not the slightest hint of mistrust in the dark, clear pools of his eyes. After drinking it, he had turned around and said to him: Thanks.
Even later on, when he was court-martialed and separated from the military and sentenced to life imprisonment, the man's back was still held straight and his jet-black eyes were still just as bright as ever.
Ling Yu's eyes had been buried in the bottom of his heart like a pair of fine needles, pricking him every so often.
To the extent that for that afternoon when he saw a person sharing a not entirely dissimilar figure to Ling Yu at the space station, he came into contact with those black eyes and could have almost believed that he had met the reincarnation of Ling Yu.
Kerriman frowned and dispersed the muddled confusion from his mind. Taking care to put on his cap, he straightened the collar of his uniform and gave a smile to the mirror.
His subordinates were waiting just outside the door. Seeing him coming out, they immediately gave a respectful salute: "General, the Change of Command Ceremony will be starting soon!"
Kerriman nodded and said with a grin: "Let's go."
***
In a group escorted by the soldiers of the Personal Guard Battalion, Lieutenant General Kerriman finally came to the central command hall of the Glory Legion’s Mothership.
The Glory Mothership was built more than 20 years ago. Its whole body was pitch black. With the passing of time, the outer metal layer of the mothership has long since lost its originally bright sheen, even some battle scars were left on parts of the hull, showcasing its once glorious history.
The golden sunflower emblem on the mothership symbolized the Glory Legion and filled the people of the Empire with faith and struck fear in the hearts of the Federation’s forces! Crimson rings of light emitting from the indicator lights through the body of the mothership pierced the night sky like a sharp sword, casting a light that illuminated the entirety of the night sky!
In the command hall, which can accommodate tens of thousands of persons, the senior officers of the ten divisions that made up the Glory Legion were all collected together. The tall men were dressed in the same stiff black uniforms, giving the scene an air of solemnity and respect.
A red carpet was rolled over on the bridge and there were ceremonial bands on both sides. It can be seen that the Imperial Ministry’s Change of Command Ceremony was right to the book.
Kerriman and several others of his entourage tread with deliberate, controlled steps across the bridge and came to a high platform where the Glory Legion’s emblem was placed in the centermost point of the mothership. Originally, according to the Change of Command Ceremony, the former legion commander should personally hand over the legion commander's seal that represented the position of office to him. However, since the former legion commander had "died", this time, the handover was left to a delegate sent by the military.
After reading aloud the official document appointing Kerriman as the commander of the Glory Legion, the Change of Command Ceremony began. The ceremonial orchestra played galvanizing tunes familiar to the people of the Empire. Kerriman took a step forward and placed the commander’s seal and personal communicator onto the ornate tray. Under the red velvet backdrop and the illumination of the lights, it gave off a soft glow.
The meek military delegate off to the side picked up the tray and turned to pass it onto Kerriman.
Just as Kerriman was about to reach out to take it, the military delegate holding the tray suddenly said: "General Kerriman, congratulations."
…such a familiar voice?
Kerrimen was taken aback and raised his head in shock only to be met with a pair of clear, jet-black eyes.
Those eyes once looked at him and said, Kerriman, your talents shouldn't be overlooked, how about coming to my side and being my adjutant?
Those eyes once looked at him in full confidence as he said, thank you.
Those eyes had appeared in his mind countless times, costing him countless nights of sleep.
…it's Ling Yu.
The commander of the Dark Night Legion, the only Omega general in the history of the Empire, and his ex-superior— Ling Yu!
The gleam in his eyes still shone the same, his figure was the same, even after so many years had gone by, he hadn't so much as aged, his grace and elegance stood the test of time!
Kerriman's back suddenly stiffened, his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost! He harshly pinched the palm of his hand, trying to free himself from this horrible illusion. However, that cold and indifferent gaze followed him like a shadow, leaving him with nowhere to hide…
Hadn’t Ling Yu died? How is he here now?
Is he having a nightmare? But why does this nightmare feel so real?
The entire hall of the Glory Mothership was as still as a tomb, the sound of a pin falling to the floor could be heard.
Those jet-black eyes still insipidly stared at him, saying with deliberate pauses: "General, hurry up and take it, congratulations on becoming the eighth commander of the Glory Legion. The spirit of the dearly departed Marshal must be so proud of you."
Kerriman: "…"
That voice he knew so well was clearly magnified in his ear, echoing in the deafening silence of the mothership’s command hall, rattling his eardrums.
It felt as if Kerriman had been dipped in a vat of ice, all of his blood froze, his throat closed up under Ling Yu’s undisturbed gaze as he found himself unable to choke out a single word.
—This former superior of his, the man who was separated from the military because of his setup and was soon thereafter buried alive in the cosmic ruins, appeared in front of him alive and well and said to him: Congratulations.
Like a frigid pail of water being thrust at his face, as if he were given a resounding slap to the face, his heart packed to the brim with joy, his hopes and desires to celebrate finally reaching the top was nevertheless squashed as Ling Yu kicked him back down to the foot of the mountain……
Ling Yu’s heart hardened, always so unyielding, such a merciless existence.
In the crowd of people, Rosen watched as Kerriman's body stiffened from head to toe, and thought somewhat helplessly— this Omega of his is really something else. He actually arrested the delegate sent by the military ahead of time. Thinking of it this way… Should he say he’s resourceful or should he say he is just too diabolical?
What’s the difference between personally handing him this seal when he’s at his peak and just straight up slapping him in the face?
The stalemate between the two caused a wave of bafflement to wash over the many officers in the hall waiting for the Change of Command Ceremony, but there were some older officers with some seniority to their name who had been with Rosen for more than 20 years. With a simple look, they recognized the one their Marshal held near and dear to his heart for so many years— Ling Yu!
Several people looked at each other, in both shock and pleasant surprise!
General Ling Yu didn't die after all and he made an in-person appearance today. Could this mean the Marshal was still alive as well?
In the midst of the suffocating silence, on the other side of the bridge, a composed and familiar voice ultimately made itself known.
"Kerriman, since you don’t dare to take it, the ceremony ends here."
Everyone looked back to the origin of the voice and saw a man dressed in an all-black military uniform, standing tall and straight, with five glistening gold stars on his shoulders. He was merely standing in place but still carried the kind of unwavering grandeur of a king making a come-back that gave birth to fear in the hearts of men.
"…Marshal?"
"It's the Marshal!"
"The Marshal is not dead! By God, the Marshal really isn’t dead…"
Some old-timers already had tears ready to fall from their eyes the moment they saw Rosen appear, even the faces of the young officers were a mix of joy and surprise.
Rosen stood calmly at the end of the bridge, looking at Kerriman from afar as if the one he was gazing at was detestable scum-of-the-earth.
Three seconds later, Rosen finally raised his hand and spoke with deftness and simplicity, "Seize him!"
Under Rosen’s command, the Dark Night Legion’s elite forces who had followed him in immediately spilled forth and subdued Kerriman and all his followers. The decisive actions and the swiftness of their skills were like the gales of a hurricane blowing before his very eyes!
After the commotion of struggle and resistance, there was silence in the hall. Except for Kerriman’s faithful supporters, the rest of the officers of the Glory Legion each had their faces filled with zeal.
Kerriman looked at Rosen, then at Ling Yu, before finally lowering his head, his face becoming a deathly grey.
Rosen walked across the bridge with slow, controlled steps, directly ignoring Kerriman, and walked in front of Ling Yu, meeting his gaze with repose.
The corner of Ling Yu's mouth slightly perked up and he presented the tray in his hands to Rosen. Rosen shared the smile and accepted his seal and communicator from his Omega. He turned to face all the officers of the Glory Legion, with a still expression, he said: "I'm back."