The firmament seemed to be torn open as the silhouettes of steel behemoths emerged; when the fleet had fully deployed into battle formation, even Jarilo-VI's terminator line was rewritten into a jagged shape.
Under the crushing pull of the fleet's gravitational fields, the atmosphere churned into vortex clouds hundreds of kilometers across. The gun-muzzle bore measured 4,396mm in diameter.
A single shot would be enough to obliterate nearly the whole of Belobog; for now it was merely charging up as a warning.
"Never thought a little planet in such a remote star region could be hiding this kind of mineral."
Aboard one warship, a team leader in a black suit, peering through a pair of sleek, sci-fi-style holographic glasses, could see the images relayed back by the probe they had released.
Crystal-clear ore, its amber-hued reflections mirroring the radiance of Preservation.
"This kind of mineral ought to be offered to the great Amber King—build the wall! Build the wall!"
"Letting these natives use it is such a waste!"
The employees of the Market Development Department, especially Oswaldo's trusted confidants, were for the most part fanatical believers in Preservation—a department where expansionists gathered.
"A weak civilization that doesn't even have any air-defense capability—is it worth mobilizing such a force?"
"Shh! You dare question the boss's orders? Don't you want your year-end bonus?"
The employees discussed in low voices.
In the core cabin of the Amber Guardian, a P43-grade manager steadied his breathing rhythm and bowed respectfully toward the figure standing by the porthole:
"Boss, the liquidation procedure is ready, and the gravitational anchors have been deployed. Shall we lock onto the continental shelf? Please issue your command."
Oswaldo's fingertip traced across the porthole as he gazed at the sharply defined dividing line on the planet's surface, and without turning his head he said:
"The repayment term that Jarilo-VI's debtors agreed upon with the IPC's investors back then was 280 years; the debt has now been overdue for 440 years past the performance deadline."
Given Oswaldo's character and way of doing things, he had absolutely no need of a reason to use force against a planet being developed—but with a glaringly obvious reason sitting right here, he didn't mind making use of it.
"Send them the ultimatum."
Oswaldo casually straightened his cuffs:
"The IPC is most merciful—we'll give them one standard hour. Pay off the principal and interest, and we can still become intimate business partners. Otherwise, we will begin compulsory enforcement immediately."
A faint, mocking curve surfaced at the corner of Oswaldo's mouth.
This civilization's entire monetary economy added together wasn't even worth a fraction of the late fees generated by their overdue debt.
Of course, they would certainly not strike at the planet itself.
The compulsory enforcement process would even avoid harming this civilization—even the most insignificant individual within it. How could one destroy the IPC's assets?
In the future Jarilo-VI civilization, every city would be a precision mining instrument, every newborn an auto-compounding living bond; what flowed in their veins would be not blood, but credits yet to be cashed in—why would anyone harm them?
The reason for deploying the gravitational anchors was to show off the IPC's fist, so that certain foolish people in Belobog would not harbor any illusions.
And while at it, dig up some Geomarrow from the mineral-rich areas and haul it back.
This was the response to their challenge against the IPC's authority!
"Yes, sir!"
The P43-grade manager bowed and nodded.
However, he had a question: this planet's local civilization still relied on paper-based office work and had no network at all—how were they supposed to deliver the ultimatum?
A trifling question like this absolutely could not be put to the boss.
Interstellar Standard Time read 14:22, but Jarilo-VI's local time was evening.
Yet the magnificent sunset had thrown all the citizens into panic, for the IPC's warships had actually used projection to display Jarilo-VI's debt particulars and amount across the sky.
"What? A debt?"
"So many zeroes? Just how much is that?"
"What do we do? Why do we owe so much money? Why is there text appearing in the sky?"
Riots and panic began to break out within the city of Belobog. Big Seele and Gepard led the Silver Mane Iron Guards to maintain order, while Bronya took charge of soothing the populace and offered explanations according to Caelus's wishes.
The power the IPC displayed, the resplendent aurora blanketing the firmament—all of it was beyond Bronya's comprehension, making her feel all the more keenly the helplessness and smallness of Jarilo-VI...
Fortunately, the person she relied on and depended upon most was right by her side.
Caelus had saved Belobog; she trusted him unconditionally.
"Bronie, I'm leaving it to you."
Caelus tilted his head toward the debt particulars and arrears amount projected across the firmament, signaling to Miss Haxxor Bunny.
"Righto~!"
Miss Haxxor Bunny rubbed her hands eagerly: "Perfect—I can use them to test out the new hacking program I just wrote."
She couldn't wait to open Aether Editing.
For Miss Haxxor Bunny, who craved the thrill of adventure, the IPC delivering itself to her doorstep right as she'd mastered her skills could only be described as someone handing her a pillow just when she was getting drowsy.
The IPC's fleet was, of course, also equipped with personnel for cyber offense and defense.
But compared to Miss Haxxor Bunny—a hacker-type talent Duck-Duck who had absorbed the experience packs handed down by Silver Wolf and Screwllum—they were clearly no match.
"Our network's been hacked!"
"The enemy has a super-hacker!"
"Activate the third-layer firewall... No good, it's been breached!"
"How is this possible?"
Amid the alarmed cries of the IPC's network personnel, the text the starships projected onto the firmament changed—into the ultimatum Caelus was sending to Oswaldo.
It listed the relevant financial legal clauses and gave the IPC half an hour to complete compensation, or else forcible measures would be taken.
The reason it was half an hour was that half an hour had already passed since the IPC issued its statement, leaving half an hour remaining.
The projection couldn't be cut off.
In the satellite feed, the figure standing on the palace balcony—the Nameless that Bryce had mentioned, the gray-haired young man named Caelus—was leisurely gazing up at the warships in the heavens, and even pushed up his sunglasses under Oswaldo's stare.
"Oozing with overbearing bravado—courting death!"
Faced with his fleet right up in their faces, they still dared to provoke him in such a manner.
"Boss! Shall we make our move?"
Oswaldo raised a hand and chuckled with narrowed eyes:
"No rush. Let's toy with him a bit."
With an hour to spare, they might as well first turn the area around Belobog upside down—conveniently, they'd just detected a rich Geomarrow deposit near the city.
"Activate the gravita—— Hm!?"
His words came to an abrupt halt. In the footage captured by the satellite, a graceful, willowy beauty in a black dress had suddenly appeared, and beside her stood a puppet girl wearing a beret.
Oswaldo froze, his brows knitting tightly.
His subordinates looked up in puzzlement; at first their gazes were drawn by the stunning beauty in the black dress, their expressions going blank for an instant.
Then one of them noticed the puppet girl, and his dazed expression suddenly turned bewildered, before his eyes abruptly went wide.
"That's——!"
...
Five minutes earlier.
"Take a few steps!"
Caelus leaned in at the astronomical telescope, squinting one eye while observing the fleet with the other.
"Walk it out with a roaring, tiger-like vigor."
"Walk it out with a roaring, tiger-like vigor."
In the little garden on the balcony, Stelle parroted with a cheeky grin, striding out her flawless jade-white long legs as if marching in a goose-step, with March 7th following along behind her.
"Walk it out covering a thousand miles a day."
Stelle swung her arms in big, sweeping motions like a grade-schooler playing a game, palms held straight up.
"Walk it out like stepping into another lifetime."
March 7th started imitating Stelle, leaving Topaz inside the room with a face full of speechless exasperation.
"What kind of abstract art are you two up to this time?"
A familiar, haughty voice abruptly rang out, making Caelus lift his eyes from the telescope. He saw a little Herta puppet with both hands on its hips, daintily and proudly stepping out from a floating magic mirror.
"Madam Herta!"
Inside the room, Topaz shot to her feet.
Caelus had actually really summoned Madam Herta!?
Hearing the call, Herta shot Topaz a glance—didn't recognize her, no need to bother.
"You wouldn't get it. This is called paying homage."
Caelus examined the magic mirror curiously, then lowered his gaze to the akimbo Herta:
"How come it's a puppet that came? Where's your main body?"
"I suspect you racked your brains just to lay eyes on my fish-sinking, goose-landing, flower-fair main body—but I have no proof."
Herta puffed out her practically curveless chest and snorted.
"What's there to look at on a flat, padded old she-ghost."
Topaz, who as an IPC cadre had intended to walk over and greet Madam Herta with proper courtesy, found her steps freezing mid-air the moment she heard Caelus's words.
Holy crap!
Bro, is that how you talk to Madam Herta?
"Are you angling to see Diamond again?"
Herta pulled a hammer out from under her skirt.
"Quit interrupting. Is your main body coming or not? If not, I'm calling Ruan Mei."
Caelus took out his phone, making as if to contact her.
"Hey! What's the rush? Are you really so impatient to see my main body?"
Herta hurriedly grabbed Caelus's arm.
Herta understood that 'being able to influence an Aeon' was just a gimmick, but Caelus had guaranteed the thing was countless times more interesting than the Universal Synthesizer, and could help her the way the Steamed Cake had—so Herta had made up her mind to come.
Caelus was worth a trip in person by her main body.
"It'll be here any moment."
The words had barely fallen when the luster in the amethyst eyes of the Herta puppet dissipated.
Ripples spread across the surface of the magic mirror, and a tall, slender beauty in a black dress, crowned with a pointed witch's hat, emerged from within and stepped out.
"Coach, I want to learn magic!"
Stelle and March 7th came running over.
"This is science, science! You just don't understand the formulas, that's all."
Herta waved her staff and put away the magic mirror.
"Wow, is this Madam Herta's main body? So pretty!"
March 7th exclaimed in amazement.
"Hmph hmph~ Be grateful. In the entire universe, anyone who gets to have an audience with my main body is blessed by three lifetimes of fortune."
Narcissistically, Herta swept up her tea-brown locks with a fair hand, then spread out her slender, scallion-white fingers toward Caelus.
"Where's that super-interesting thing you mentioned? Give it to me."
"Right here."
Caelus pinched two earrings glittering like blazing-gold pearls between his fingers, but didn't place them in The Herta's palm.
"Don't be hasty."
As The Herta reached out to take them, he even dodged backward, and asked with a grin:
"I'm in the middle of collecting a debt from the IPC—do you want to get in on it?"
"Huh?"
The words left even The Herta momentarily stunned: "Collecting a debt from the IPC?"
"Here's how it is!"
Chattering away and gesticulating with righteous indignation, March 7th recounted the IPC's unreasonable, thuggish debt-collecting behavior and Caelus's countermeasure of giving them a taste of their own medicine.
After listening, The Herta fell silent for a second, then gave a 'tsk':
"Another boring chore. I'll have the IPC withdraw at once and write off Jarilo-VI's debt—that'll do, right?"
Herta and the IPC were partners with deeply intertwined interests yet equal power.
The IPC provided infrastructure and financial support, while Herta contributed research achievements; the two sides formed a dynamic equilibrium through their mutual maneuvering.
The IPC leveraged Herta's research capability to reinforce its technological monopoly, while remaining wary of her status as an Emanator of Erudition and her technological might.
Herta, for her part, avoided directly challenging the IPC's financial hegemony, focusing on academic exploration.
When necessary, Herta could resolve conflicts through technological countermeasures or high-level maneuvering—just as when Asta's Family tried to seize power, Herta directly intervened to shelter Asta and forced the IPC's upper echelons to compromise, which goes to show her deterrent power over the IPC.
"No good. We haven't gotten our maintenance fee back yet."
Caelus shook his head.
"Even if I help you, there's no way the IPC would pay you compensation of that amount... Do you really mean to go head-to-head with the IPC?"
The Herta's brows twitched.
The IPC would surely give her face and smooth things over, but to turn around and demand payment—she might be able to claw back some compensation, yet the amount Caelus was demanding... unless she backed Caelus with all her strength.
But she still needed the IPC to handle many odd matters, and didn't want to fall out with it.
"Relax, I won't put you in a difficult spot."
"What Bronita does has nothing to do with you, Herta."
Caelus placed one earring into Herta's hand and tossed the other to Miss Haxxor Bunny.
Not knowing the earrings' effect, Herta examined hers and asked curiously:
"Bronita? Who's that?"
"?"
Knowing what the earrings did, Haxxor Bunny craned her neck, eyes wide, and slowly pointed at herself, putting out a question mark.
Fuse with this narcissistic old woman?
What kind of interstellar joke is this!?
"A new Genius."
Caelus winked at Haxxor Bunny. Bronie canceled Auto-Battle, took back control of her body, and reminded Haxxor Bunny through the mental channel.
Fusing with a Genius offered a way to indirectly acquire vast amounts of knowledge, growing rapidly to the point where she could construct and reconstruct a starship.
[That's right!]
Upon hearing this, Miss Haxxor Bunny instantly set aside her disdain for the narcissistic old woman.
In fact, that wasn't all—once the Silver Wing got hold of the Herrscher of Reason's Core, by then she could just construct a star-destroyer directly in the Honkai Impact 3rd world!
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