Chapter 12: As Cold as Ice

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

A week has passed since that interesting cuddling session, and things have been fairly smooth back in the main ship, along with the rest of the fleet.

Just as expected, Carmesi had a blast in her first session training the troops. Sure, I had to intervene on several occasions as the woman seemed to take her role a little too strongly, being quite relentless and merciless with the early routine she wanted to put the backbone of our force through, but the young woman still put her mind and body into making sure that she trained more by example rather than through mere orders.

It was motivating to see their own commanding officer training with them, copying their tasks, and I noticed that this would easily improve their devotion and loyalty to the queen herself. In fact, there was little reason to doubt that in these men and women's minds that their leader wasn't giving out high positions without being completely certain of their effectiveness. Because, while I would have been a more calming option compared to Carmie's more ruthless attitude during training, it was still true that we were in a state of total warfare. Harsh training, if carefully contained to not become deadlier than a normal battle, was good training. The kind that would save lives.

And while the Fire Crest happily enjoyed a job she initially thought akin to babysitting a bunch of grown-up and armed children, I took this opportunity to handle both the small Narakhan tribe and the Intelligence Service.

Starting with Alwin, I found the Hawk Prime to be quick in providing us with information he couldn't initially offer during the introduction meeting. Data that broadened our access to the Imperial communication array and allowed us to hack into the weaker spots within the system. We were going to know through this situation if any nearby fleet had caught onto us. At the moment, the predicament didn't seem to hold with the current circumstances much to my relief.

Still, any new information was to be relayed to his group so they could process it with any other information and connections they were aware of. Any further discoveries were to be announced through an emergency message specifically sent to me. As expected, his organization was neatly administered, with a degree of professionalism that was unique to the important role they had been working on for years now.

Finally it was the turn of the Narakhans... and I was surprised by how peaceful they were being. Only two out of the fairly small group decided to join the group Carmesi was training, with the rest studying books and using magic I would have never expected to see being used in front of me in a non-lethal way.

Chaos was… a complicated element to truly accept as a part of this fleet's life now. I was hesitant in approaching the group as they were trying to use this magic to create living constructs. Small ones right now, but from what Muraty mentioned when I asked about this specific 'summoning spell', they could actually do bigger things with proper time, concentration and energy to support the greater beings.

Despite my first impression about this specific branch of this dimension's magic, I had to say that this was actually… not as bad as I thought it to be. While I hadn't seen Narakhans use magic, I had thought until that moment that this magic itself was toxic enough to consume the owner's mind and therefore make them unable to use effectively during a fight.

My knowledge over this matter increased as I tentatively tried exploring the culture behind it by asking simple questions to the elder heading this small tribe. Muraty was awfully happy to part with many lengthy answers to my queries, but I figured out his main purpose stemmed from the fact he was really thankful that his entire tribe had been freed from the painful influence imposed by the emperor.

Either that, or because he was legitimately interested in exploring the possibility of a new kingdom after the end of the Empire where Primes and Narakhans could live together in relative peace. By the end of the day, the only major differences I could pick up from the two cultures were their oddly similar religions, and their attachment to Order and Chaos.

Where the legacy of Prism saw the Dragon Gods as the rightful deities in their Pantheon and Order as the greatest cornerstone of their people, Narakhans were monotheistic. Their belief centered around a single deity, the Goddess of Chaos herself, Tiamat. Not much was known about the divine being beyond the fact that she existed and that she was known to take champions to rule the former homeplanet of the Narakhans many centuries ago. Kings, Emperors- but all those were keen to remain in control of a single planet instead of starting a full-fledged invasion of other places like the current ruler was still doing.

And while it seemed assured that all Narakhans were on the same boat about this matter, the truth was actually the opposite. Not many were that trustworthy of the Emperor's faith in the original traditions, especially since there were rumors of Tiamat herself dismissing the autocrat as the rightful champion of Chaos.

The conversation would then take a little detour as we shifted onto something directed at me more than the Narakhans. Something that seemed to gain the attention of most of the tribe from the very first question.

“Do you think that… Humans are creatures of Order or Chaos, good Sir Theo?"

The answer to that question proved to be as difficult to properly condense in a few words as it was for anyone listening to the conversation to understand. I remained with the whole stance that 'Humans were between both extremes rather than being completely endeared to one side', mostly because that was how humanity tended to be.

Chaos and Order were both equally dispensed to each human being, some preferring one side to the other, but most just sitting in the middle and accepting the status quo as much as possible. This just seemed to further confuse most of the tribe as the perspective of a race capable of keeping such a degree of balance between the two sides that were known to be really difficult to mix properly and by many.

But I was surprised when Muraty didn't press for more answers on the matter, seemingly accepting what I was saying as I replied to one last question before letting me be. He asked me if Humans had a God or multiple ones at that and… I could only answer that 'not all humans had the same gods' which could mean a lot, but one single message stood out. Our 'pantheon' wasn't defined because we really didn't have as much significant divine involvement as the Narakhans and Primes had in their vast history.

Once we were done with that brief stop as the main purpose of scavenging enough resources to survive beyond a full month was completed, the fleet resumed its rush through the galaxy to try and find another Crest. I was sure that we were going to find one eventually, at least in less than a month with how steadily we were going and the current situation we were in. If it wasn't Ice or Water, we were to at least expect either Wisdom or Courage as possible alternatives since those were fit opposites of the Love Crest which Grace represented.

Still, not much happened during the week. I was spared by other bizarre visions that tended to leave me close to death's doorstep, leaving me to focus mostly on studying the new information we could get out of the Empire's official communication system. There was a lot to discuss at times regarding the way some of the fleets were moving, and I noticed after just two days of focusing on the matter that things weren't as calm as I prayed those to be.

Minos hadn't relented, at least not in the indirect way he was aiming to deal with us. While none of the fleets at his disposal were aggressively searching for us, he had disposed of all ships in a way that rendered very troublesome the more time we wasted in searching that quadrant. The net was starting to tighten up, and I knew that after some more time had passed, getting through it without a direct confrontation was going to be immensely problematic.

Nonetheless, hopes were high and we had already made plans to check on a limited number of planets as quickly as possible before moving out of the encroaching perimeter created by the Imperial Fleets. We had to find either Ice and Water to say that this delay was worth all the uneasiness and stress the search was causing us because we were not trying to leave already.

By the end of the week-long lack of progress, something seemed to happen as Carmesi was found glaring at a specific planet.

It was during morning time, and I was asked by Archie to check on the Fox Prime since she had yet to leave her room and she wasn't answering his calls to come to the kitchen so they could have breakfast as usual. He confirmed that her vitals were fine, but that the heat of the room had increased for some unknown reasons.

I was the one that walked to check and see what was going on. Applying a degree of Fire Magic over my body to better handle the surprisingly hot temperature that was originating from Carmie's crests. The young woman had yet to switch out of her sleepwear, her attention completely aimed at the celestial body that was currently displayed by her room's massive window.

I approached her, recognizing the planet as one of the few ones left before we had to leave this section of the galaxy. From what I could remember during the general study we had over the small list we were following, this planet was made by 79% Ocean and an impressive amount of small islands all over its surface. It would have been the ideal place where to make a planetary resort but… at the same time, I believe the fauna within the ocean made it particularly difficult to explore and enjoy thoroughly.

Nonetheless, I stopped beside the young woman and gave her a serious look. “Do you need to be pulled aside right now?"

…

“I… I now see what you meant with 'aggressive pull'."

My suspicions were confirmed with that comment. So either Water or Ice was hiding within that tropical world. It was highly-possible that it was Water but… I doubted things were just going to be that easy. It was one of the planets already checked by the Empire, so it felt just odd that someone was living there.

Despite that, I focused for now on Carmesi since the woman was forcibly glaring at someplace she had never visited, and yet was giving her this much of a furious stance to it.

I sighed. “From a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you want that entire planet destroyed?"

…

“Eleven."

Shaking my head, I grabbed her closest arm and started to pull her away from the window. She didn't put much resistance, but her annoyance remained even as I made sure her line of sight was no longer aimed at the origin of her current frustrations.

“Do you need something? Water, chocolate milk?"

“Breakfast. And a glass of water," Carmie replied curtly, surprising me with the fact she was making an effort to hold back the illogical anger that was dripping from each word leaving her mouth. I nodded, taking her to the kitchen while asking Archie to go for a deeper scan of the very nice-looking orb that had caused the mostly neutral Crest to react this intensely.

Once we were finally there in the kitchen, enjoying breakfast together with the others just like usual, I took notice of the fact that the woman's anger seemed to dilute and then disappear the more she was away from seeing the planet itself. It was an interesting phenomenon that I hadn't predicted and… I worried about this actually ending up happening with Gracie. The girl was calm, particularly diligent and in love with books. I felt numerous chills at just thinking about it.

I would check on the Nanozell spirit responsible for pretty much the complete working of the starship

Eventually Archie decided to give me the result of the scan, and…

“I think there is more than just a Crest on that planet."

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The planet was inhabited by a non-negligible amount of Primes. I was shocked when I learned of this through Archie's data, but it was Adela that was the one most floored by the news as she had been fairly convinced that the enclaves of surviving Primes had been a lot smaller than the one we had just found. Not only did this lift our hopes even more about the chances of finding larger communities that could have survived and prospered after Prism's fall, but it promised that the people there knew how to fight if they had a Crest among them.

It was decided that only our ship would land and check with the locals since we received a message allowing only our group to land on the planet. The elder, even though not old enough to remember Prism itself, seemed to have a greater understanding of the authority the current Queen had and was quick to agree to a meeting to establish relations with our group.

There was no mention of the Crest in the message, but I figured that a possible reason why he was keeping quiet about them was tied to the chances of offering them as bargaining chips in case this was needed. But I could be looking too deep into it, and decided to leave Adela to take on the lead in this diplomatic exchange. With Carmesi remaining on the ship to not cause any incidents with the unknown Crest, it was only me, Addie, and Gracie on the landing ground when we all left the large starship.

Just like Archie had mentioned, the settlement we were landing near had some advanced equipment that I couldn't help but notice when we were given a clear sight over the large town that had been built near to a pearly beach. Large poles extended in several sections of the harmonious mix of modern-looking buildings that ended up reaching three floors at best were meant to be all part of a single device that was meant to shield the city's presence from any scans available to the Imperial fleets.

We were greeted by a couple of guards by the closest entrance. These Primes were armored with light plates of reinforced metal, but their clothes were fairly civilian-looking, with half-sleeved dark-gray shirts and knee-long black pants and light-brown boots. Two of these disciplined soldiers took us to the building where their leader was supposed to be living in. The place was modest, and looked as comfortable and humble as the rest of the houses, except it reached for a fourth floor that, from the distance, looked to be an office room.

Once we were inside the building, the guards took us through the staircase that directly had us reach where the big office we had seen from afar was. The room was pleasant-looking, with nothing that stemmed too much into an intellectually-charged setting compared to other places I had visited years ago.

It was there that we found a big Shark Prime in charge of everything. The old man had graying dark shoulder-length hair, a beard that reached down to the middle of his chest. His 'skin' was a light-blue, which matched with the similarly shaded eyes, with some sections by his front a pristine white. He was wearing a light-green robe, gray boots and some armor behind this first layer of clothes. He stood up, kneeling formally towards us.

“Greetings, Queen Adela," The elder replied with a calm and kind voice. “My name is Ruan, and I'm the leader of our growing community. I wasn't expecting this pleasant visit. I assume you are here for… him."

I frowned. “Him?"

It was in that moment that Ruan noticed me, eyes widening for noticing the 'bizarre being' standing beside his Queen. Noticing a lack of major response to his surprised mannerism, Roan returned to the main situation, trying to bring the reunion to a quick end for some mysterious reason.

“I believe the old timer is talking about me," A new voice introduced himself in the room, urging all of us to stare at him.

Silver-hair that was a shade slightly lighter than his pure white fur. A strange, yellow star-like object was plastered on his forehead, contrasting with his blue eyes. He wore a sleeveless blue robe that parted just enough to show his black pants and shoes. His appearance seemed to have been styled in a way that his muscles were in full display for girls to take notice of those all the time they looked at him.

Of course, both the Queen and Love Crest didn't react to this, trying to understand what the chief had been talking about, and prompting the chirpy individual to speak up again as he noticed that he was being ignored.

“Ladies, there is no need to be shy-"

“Is that so? Then please, explain to me why shoulder"

“Pulsar."

“What?" I inquired with a frown.

“I'm Pulsar."

…

“Oh, that's your name, but why didn't you say that early on."

“And kill the mood? Not having any of that!"

Was there a mood to begin with beyond the cringefest unraveling in front of us? I doubted this guy even knew what a mood was but… yeah.

“Pulsar here is a… powerful youth. He had just struck adulthood and he is already on his way to become chief of the guards."

“Damn right-"

“And why is this important?" Adela questioned with a front. “And why are you allowing someone that is your subordinate to behave so cheekily and disruptive?"

“Now, Now, lady-"

“Your highness or Queen Adela," The Coyote Prime firmly interrupted. “Don't think for a moment that I will grant you informality because you are trying to appear dazzling and flirtatious. My patience will not extend at that."

...That was pretty fierce. I felt rather surprised and felt fairly sure it was tied to the fact she didn't want to accept the advances of someone other than me. Especially after we have consolidated our relationship properly.

“Queen, your highness. Not gonna lie, but I hardly see how those titles really matter- your family was unable to prevent the fall of our glorious homeland," Pulsar said nonchalantly. “And here you are, trying to make us join your failing crusade when the truth is clear to everyone's eyes. Your cause, albeit just, isn't worth fighting for. We have been born, lived and grown accustomed to this planet. It's our home, our heaven away from the war you have waged against an invincible enemy."

“He is not invincible," Adela interjected. “Just very difficult to beat."

“Oh, and where is the difference in that?" The Hamster Prime inquired sassily, once again making my temper only rise at how infuriating he was getting. “You mean to tell me that you believe in the chances that a monster of that caliber can be beaten?"

“Yes."

…

“Hahaha~! What a comedian, lady!" The Hamster Prime remarked with an arrogant smile, finally giving a shake of head at that. “The Emperor killed some of the Gods. I don't think it's possible."

“The Crests would be able to do the trick," I muttered calmly. “But I suppose, you should know some more about this yourself, Ice Crest."

…

“And you are smart… actually what are you? Never saw someone like you before."

“I'm the rare cookie of the bunch. But still, the thing is that right now there isn't even much of a choice for you to follow."

The elder's eyes narrowed at me. “We will not accept threats."

“And yet the Empire is currently making its way towards your planet. Even if you try to use your camouflaging shield, the presence of visible ships will still attract attention to your planet," I continued with a serious voice. “Nobody here is trying to threaten anyone. In fact, this effort of trying to bring the Crest together is the only way to beat the Empire once and for all."

“And you think that will make us submit? You hardly seem to matter that much to begin with."

I frowned, knowing that if I shoved too hard I was going to ruin our chances of recruiting Pulsar. A prick he might be, he didn't seem arrogant or a full-fledged jerk on a closer inspection. So, instead of trying to win him through diplomatic means, I realized I had to take a more rooted solution here.

“I'm fairly strong, and I'm willing to show you," I remarked. “But still, how about we make a deal? Something to settle what is going on between our factions?"

I believe I heard Adela facepalm hard when she heard what was going on, and what kind of plans I had in store for that very moment. It took ten minutes to set up the proper scenario for that unplanned fight. We were both without weapons since this was going to be a bare-handed fight.

The loud cheering mostly aimed at the champion that was supposed to prove that he was much stronger than me slowly grated on my nerves. The only saving grace being that the rest of the entourage that came with me was quick to offer their own cheering, giving me further reason to put an end to this as quickly as possible.

The area that was chosen for the brawl, a massive empty podium meant to host numerous matches at once would be used to host this competition. Pulsar looked incredibly certain of his victory. Size-wise, he was bigger, his muscles made him stronger and faster compared to me. I wasn't exactly planning to joke around as I knew the last thing I needed was to give a reason to the two of us to be in serious need of being hospitalized. Now that we had found Ice, I wasn't planning to allow this to go through without showing some display of my might.

Because my might wasn't born just by physical prowess… no, there was a brain and tactical planning behind it. As he rushed towards me, looking ready to put an end to this shameful thing people thought was a serious fight, he tried to deal a devastating blow by slamming a powerful punch onto my stomach. At least, that was his plan if I hadn't taken the time to predict his pace, and plan out an adequate reaction. His fist met air as I dodged to the right, putting myself close enough to deliver a careful combo I wasn't sure was going to work. It all depended on whether Primes suffered concussions as easily as humans usually did.

The first hit of the combo was a jab that soared and slammed onto his chin. The reasoning behind such a simple blow wasn't the purpose of inflicting damage to my opponent. No, my intentions were invisible to the normal eyes of spectators, and many of them had expected for Pulsar to easily recover from that 'wimpy strike'. Sadly for them, that proved to not be the case.

My current foe flinched and paused, his eyes slightly unfocused as he failed to register as I had yet to stop in my counter. My left hand, now closed in a tight fist, moved from its initial position, beside my hip, upward onto his lower jaw. The strike struck the silver-haired young man, his posture suddenly growing less tense as his mind continued to lose its grasp over the situation.

Finally, the last hit. A kick on his cheek. Pulsar's legs were shivering at the absurd lack of focus he had over his actions and thoughts. He didn't have much time to think beyond the fact that something was wrong before falling backwards in a sudden state of unconsciousness.

The modest 'thud' that signaled the end of the brief fight ended up drawing pure confusion out of most of the spectators as they silently digested the short spectacle I gave them to try and understand.

“I took him out by simulating a concussion."

...

“How did you… do this?"

I stared at the elder with a surprised look, but it faded before the shock the old man was trying to push back. If I had to be honest, I bet nobody knew this was possible, and I had to thank a couple of Manga for having taught me about this interesting method for beating opponents of that size or more.

“The initial jab, the one that slammed into his chin, was meant to simulate the effects of a concussion. That's why he stammered a little after that hit. It isn't a sure guarantee, which is why I followed it up with an uppercut that, if not heightening the jab's aftermath, created the effect itself in a cruder manner."

“What about… the kick?" The elder continued to ask, and I sighed.

“The kick was to ultimately beat him. He was holding himself up through a concussion and, despite the fact I had hit him already, those strikes weren't meant to inflict any damage. The kick was meant to use strength to defeat him."

“You never used it against Carmesi," Adela pointed out and I nodded in her direction.

“That's because Carmie is faster and doesn't have the same bulky frame as Pulsar."

Adela nodded, looking convinced about what I had just said and… Grace hummed quietly before smiling at me as she noticed my gaze was aimed at her for a little while. With the battle over, and the community won over, the next steps proved to be incredibly crucial. The settlement had numerous civilian ships that were meant to house living units. So, trying to get everything packed and be settled became the next step. Even as many people didn't want to leave the planet, it was clear that remaining now would only hurt them in the long run. The Elder was quick to connect dots really quickly when I gave him a stellar map that showed what the Empire was plotting to do in this area.

In a single day, the number of ships that were part of our fleet doubled in its number, but only a few were specialized in any form of warfare. 

Pulsar was then taken to our ship considering his status as a Crest. There were some brief clashes with the elder on the matter, but he had to concede when the promise of offering more in need of more cold cash. I expected to be spared from any bizarre problem after what happened today and… I was proven wrong as I paused while studying on some books by the living room when a wobbly-walking Pulsar, showing a determined grin, stared at me challengingly and showed that he was up for Round 2.

“I want to fight again!"

Goddammit! I want to rest for once…

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Ice Crest Get!

Pulsar joins the Gang and next chapter will detail his first steps as part of the growing crew.