The transport crew was no doubt ecstatic to hear the message. After all, the Crown Prince of Jurai, famous throughout the galaxy, had come to rescue them. Anyone would have thought that the pirates would turn tail and run.
No, there was only one person who did not think so: Azusa himself. As if to substantiate his thoughts, the white battleship withdrawing from the scene came about and headed for Kirito.
“That doesn’t indicate surrender,” observed Azusa. “Hah, they act as if Kirito were no threat to them.”
“Young Master, the target is far enough away from the transports. Destroy it at once!”
“Don’t rush me. Look at that ship. It’s not even using the transports as a shield. Interesting… I’m curious to see who’s aboard her.”
“What?!” Jijii exclaimed.
“Using a First Generation Juraian ship in this situation will only make me a laughingstock,” declared Azusa.
“B-but…!”
Azusa backhanded Jijii as he tried to stop him, then fired transporter pods into several locations on the approaching white battleship. Immediately, the screen displayed the contact points, and he estimated one that looked favorable.
“All right, Jijii, here I go.”
“Young Master, wait! I shall go with you.”
“Hmph! Have it your way.”
Their bodies were instantly transported into the white battleship’s interior. They were in a passageway near the upper hull, where they assumed the bridge to be.
“Intruders, and yet no alarms going off,” Jijii observed. “It’s almost as if the ship’s unmanned.”
“Unmanned…? No, there’s one powerful energy source… at the center.”
“Then it may not be human. We should fight them ship to ship…”
“They challenged a Royal ship head-on,” Azusa replied. “I expected as much. That’s why I wanted to greet them. Something’s coming!”
Turtle-like guard robots, hemispheres with limbs, appeared in the passageway in front of and behind Azusa and Jijii. But this level of firepower could not stop Azusa, the next Emperor of Jurai. He did not bother to use his Master Key sword and fought them in hand-to-hand combat. A single kick destroyed several of them. Azusa seemed to be enjoying it, as if it were a game. In fact, he was enjoying it.
After defeating more than 200 guard robots, a subspace hole suddenly swished open in front of Azusa.
“Young Master, it’s a trap.”
“I know. Seeing how they went to the trouble of inviting us, we should go.”
Stepping inside without any hesitation, Azusa emerged in the middle of an enormous hall, 150 square meters in size. Artistic decorations adorned the columns and walls, making it hard to believe that they were aboard a pirate battleship. Just then, they heard the delicate melody of a neorle (a musical instrument similar to a pipe organ on Earth) being played nearby.
The person working the keyboard withdrew his fingers and stood. His fair skin, long hair, yellow eyes behind pince-nez spectacles, and outfit—similar to the dress uniform of the Galaxy Academy, the facility which gathered together the sum of cosmic knowledge—gave all the more impression of a great intelligence within.
This man, who looked in no way at all like a pirate, bowed respectfully as he spoke. “Welcome to my cathedral, Azusa-dono, Imperial Crown Prince of Jurai.”
“A welcome complete with the music of the neorle, I see. As thanks for your invitation, I shall receive your name. Answer me!”
“That would be my honor. My name is Kagato.”
Kagato. That was definitely what he said. To think that 750 years before Masaki Tenchi fought and defeated him, Kagato had met the future Emperor of Jurai in a place like this!
Cautiously eying his surroundings, Azusa inquired of Kagato, “Still, this ship seems a bit of overkill for the piracy trade.”
“All I seek is knowledge, and to liberate that knowledge for those who deserve it. This beautiful vessel Souja is a treasury of knowledge.”
“Are you saying you are not a pirate? No matter what your objective is, what you do can only be described as piracy under galactic law!”
“Based on the logic of the laws that you people use,” Kagato replied. “I operate under my own laws.”
“Even if that results in aggravated robbery?”
Kagato laughed, “Imbeciles who cannot evaluate their own competence desire knowledge and would never be able to use it all. Don’t you think that’s a terrible waste?” He adjusted his spectacles as he spoke from the stage upon which the neorle stood. “Law is that which is allowed by those who have power. So show me your laws through your power.”
“Have at you, then!” Azusa cried, leaping at him.
Unlike when he had engaged the guard robots, this time he held the handle-like Master Key in his right hand, from which a blade of light extended. He realized that this man called Kagato standing before him was not what he appeared to be. If he made the wrong choice, he would never be able to win. The experience and knowledge he had gained from training in the martial arts since coming to Jurai at age ten—as well as his own instincts—moved him to draw the energy blade.
There was a flash. But then an invisible wall generated in front of Kagato, protecting him!
“What?!” Azusa was dumbfounded. The barrier deflected his mighty sword, which was unbeatable even on Jurai!
Kagato’s eyes glowed with an uncanny light. His right arm moved.
A warning from deep inside his head raced through Azusa. Absorbing the repulsion shock into his body, he jumped back from Kagato.
“Ah,” said Kagato. “You’re quite powerful. This should be far beyond the limits of human-based bio-augmentation. And you’re able to maintain such stability while using that much power.”
Not bothering to listen to his admiring words, Azusa extended a second long sword and severed Kagato’s right arm. But it regenerated before he even knew what was happening.
“Are you even human?!”
“You’re the one who misjudged me,” returned Kagato.
Indeed, despite Azusa’s superhuman combat strength of the Juraian Imperial family, he was unable to inflict any damage in the face of Kagato’s regenerative ability. On the other hand, Azusa found himself easily knocked to the floor again and again by the powerful energy shots Kagato released. Each time, he hit the floor with a bone-rattling impact.
How could Kagato be so strong? This was because Kagato’s body was actually Ryoko’s prototype body, into which Washu, called the greatest intellect in the galaxy, had poured everything she had. Just as Azusa had sensed, he was not human at all!
Jijii flew spinning towards the wounded Azusa, calling out worried advice. “Young Master, any more of this will be dangerous. Call on Kirito-dono for assistance!”
“I don’t care if he’s not human. Using a ship’s might against flesh and blood will only bring shame upon the name of the Crown Prince!” Azusa stood, fighting back the pain. Taking assistance from his Royal Tree partner would give him superhuman power. Or, rather, he could have power equivalent to the ship itself. Incidentally, when Ayeka fought Kagato, she was constantly calling on her Royal Tree, Ryu-Oh, for assistance. Rejecting assistance was a demonstration of Azusa’s determination to defeat Kagato by his own power. He grinned, and then glared at Kagato. “Rejoice, Jijii. I finally feel like I’m on my training journey!”
He did not intend to change tactics. He would put everything he had into his sword, and then kill Kagato. He thought that was the action he would need to take as the future Emperor of Jurai. No—he thought that a truly powerful man did not need a plan. That’s right. Just like with that old bat, when I was a child…
As Azusa moved in to attack, Kagato summoned a sword from his clenched fist. The mighty Azusa and silent Kagato’s blades crossed without a sound. A moment later, there came the faint hiss of burning flesh.
“You have truly shown me the skills of the Crown Prince of Jurai,” said Kagato as Azusa went down on one knee. An incinerated slash ran from his right shoulder to his left flank, not bleeding, but hurting much more than a cut.
“Young Master!”
Azusa screamed, drowning out Jijii’s voice, but did not fall to the ground, clutching the Master Key tightly as its energy sword deactivated. Through the screaming, he asked himself why he had ever come to Jurai. He thought of his father and mother. He remembered Seto’s chuckling. He saw white hair waving in the night breeze. He saw a beautiful face in profile behind it…
In that moment, the Master Key he clutched in his hand began to glow with light! The cathedral was alight with a golden glow.
Kagato was astonished! “A warp in space?! Impossible! A pathway cannot be created within Souja’s internal barrier!”
“Young Master, hurry!”