The Foreigner on the Periphery

The man, Asif-26,188,280, had once used the name William Evans on Earth.

He didn't operate under that alias for long. Just as he was getting used to Earth, the dimension he had been dispatched to, he received an immediate reassignment order.

At first, he suspected a disciplinary transfer. His initial operation on Earth had been a failure: a mission to guard the New York jump Terminal and stop an escaped prisoner named Asif-666.

The man felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about it.

'That was a disaster no one could have predicted.'

Despite the prisoners' desperate defense, the escapee blasted transcendent spells one after another before vanishing from Earth. It was a terrifying display of power that shocked even him, someone who had known Asif-666 back in Ashtal.

The world the man relocated to was a neighboring realm adjacent to Dimension #00-001, home to the Committee Headquarters.

The place was swarming with other prisoners who had been working elsewhere. They had all just arrived, bewildered by their sudden reassignment orders.

What they were supposed to do here was...

An army.

He hadn't misheard. The escapee had supposedly organized an army to oppose the Committee.

The Committee hadn't gathered the prisoners here for some standard, localized mopping-up operation.

This was war.

'An escaped prisoner starting a war! Asif-666... just what in the world were you?'

This occurred right after Minjun hijacked 157 battleships from the order's headquarters. He was giving the order's bishops time to learn how to pilot them while waiting for the Mana Crystal production line to finish.

The Committee used that opening to gather prisoners from across the dimensions.

'If things go south, we're all going to die for nothing!'

It was unknown what kind of miracle Asif-666 had pulled off.

But it was certain the Committee considered him a massive threat.

This meant the risks were far greater than in any operation he had experienced before.

'I thought I'd be freed if I just quietly saved up my severance pay, but now there's this crisis!'

At this rate, he was going to lose his head before he could regain his freedom and memories.

The Committee promised an astronomical reward, as if trying to placate the prisoners. But the man once called William Evans had no intention of risking his life here.

This wasn't his war.

'I'll just pretend to fight. There are tons of other prisoners gathered here besides me, anyway. It seems they've even drafted the criminals who just started their penal labor...'

Looking at the first-year prisoners, someone suddenly came to mind.

A sinner he had met on Earth. A certain dragon who had willingly reduced himself to this miserable state. His motive for the crime was the absurd desire to become a prisoner so he could receive a new body.

'That dragon might even be mixed in with this crowd. Was his name Leo?'

Being in this situation made him realize just how foolish a choice the dragon he had monitored on Earth had made.

In the end, prisoners were nothing more than disposable pawns.

'Just what kind of crime did I commit before losing my memories to end up like this? Damn it.'

It was useless to feel regret when he couldn't even remember. Genuine repentance or reflection was impossible.

Could this truly be called a punishment? Perhaps this labor was closer to revenge than a penalty. Just what did I do to get on the Committee's bad side?

The man's thoughts went round and round, eventually leading to a resolution.

'I'll just run away enough to keep myself from dying.'

While he and the vast majority of the other prisoners spent their time harboring similar thoughts...

The time finally came.

Eighty-five older-model Motherships hiding in a corner of space began to move, and he and the other prisoners sat at the controls of small fighters, waiting to launch.

The man reaffirmed his resolve once more.

'Don't overdo it. Just stay safe...'

At that moment, he felt a crack form in something thick piled up inside him. His vision spun, and dizziness washed over him.

And unexpectedly, he found the answer to the question he had asked himself just a little while ago.

Just what had he done to receive such a punishment?

'I...!'

The man saw memories spreading like paint bleeding on paper.

He didn't know it, but this was only possible because the Committee intended it.

Before his arrest, the man had belonged to an anti-Committee terrorist group. The leader of that organization was an elf named Sirkiz. He had been inspired by Sirkiz's ideology.

'Ah, Sirkiz!'

Her appeals had moved everyone's hearts.

Her cry that they must not submit to the Committee's economic domination using Talents as a tool.

After learning that the Committee stood above the dragons who exploited the people, he had followed Sirkiz across the dimensions, spreading her ideology.

It was only natural that Sirkiz and her followers became wanted fugitives. He had volunteered to act as a decoy to help her escape, leading to his own arrest.

'Yes, that was it. I respected Sirkiz, worshipped her... loved her.'

After losing his memories and becoming a prisoner, he had heard rumors about Sirkiz.

Gossip floating among the dragons suggested that Sirkiz might currently be trapped on Earth "against her will."

Even though he couldn't remember anything, that rumor had left a powerful impression in his mind.

'Maybe the reason I volunteered for the Earth dispatch in the first place was...'

The moment his thoughts reached that point.

An agony that felt like his skull was cracking and his brain was boiling tore through him. The memories the man had briefly recovered began to change shape and attack his mind. His past reminiscences twisted, and his perception of the present was painted over.

Sitting in the fighter, he felt a vicious rage. It was an uncontrollable fury. He glared at the enemy forces displayed on his radar.

One hundred and fifty-eight Space Motherships.

They belonged to the Committee. The man's mortal enemies. The foes he had to destroy.

Distorted memories shook his mind. If that fleet were left alone, the Committee would invade our land. Then they would put collars on my comrades and work them as slaves, brutally murder our children, and turn our home into a dead land where not a single blade of grass could grow.

Furthermore, our leader, Sirkiz, would certainly be subjected to unspeakable horrors to make an example of her.

'I must stop them!'

I must sacrifice this body to repel them.

Otherwise, the only fate left for us is a miserable life of slavery.

Considering he had already been captured long ago and was currently being worked as a slave, it was an illogical and irrational impulse.

But he could no longer pull his ears away from that voice. He couldn't think of anything else.

Only the obsession to kill and wipe them out.

"Kill! Kill them all!"

Sitting in the cockpit, Asif-26,188,280 roared in fury.

'Even if I have to sacrifice my life!'

He had something precious to protect, even if it meant going that far.

—Launch!

The fighter the man piloted shot forward into the darkness like an arrow.

And an intense light blanketed space.

*

On the large screen, the prisoners' lives faded away in vain.

As the order's attacks grew fiercer, a few fighters twisted their trajectories, but their overall direction barely changed. It was a mad dash toward the single ship they had marked as their target from the start.

Such movements made it easy for the gunnery officers to predict their paths.

Fire rained down and fighters exploded, sending waves of heat and flame rippling in all directions.

The sinners were dying in real time.

'Sinners?'

Dell chewed on the word she had just thought of.

'The Committee branded them as sinners, but...'

Whose standard was that sin based on? Was the judgment absolute and just?

There must be criminals among them whose deeds would provoke the wrath of heaven. For example, like the dictator in the dimension where Dell served her sentence... there might be atrocious monsters mixed in who had slaughtered and starved hundreds of millions of people.

But Dell knew. Not everyone the Committee punished was a monster like that.

'Some of those people became prisoners simply for defying the Committee. Even them, to be killed so cruelly!'

The order's Photon Cannons poured down on them. The fighters piloted by the prisoners abandoned anything resembling a formation and charged individually. They literally fired missiles without a second's rest; some ships eventually ran completely out of ammo.

Even those fighters didn't follow common sense. They weren't retreating. Meaning, they hadn't given up the fight to return to their Motherships.

Instead, they maintained their course and pushed forward. They accelerated as if they had no intention of calculating their remaining power. Dell's face contorted.

"No!"

The fighters began crashing into the armor of the order's Mothership like falling meteors.

Circular shockwaves constantly bloomed across the shields of the battleship enduring the suicide attacks. Other Motherships nearby provided support, but they couldn't stop the tide of enemies charging in with complete disregard for defense.

That was when the enemy Motherships waiting in the rear made their move.

Five of the battleships hiding behind the barrage created by the fighters began to charge at full speed.

Four of them sailed in a formation that shielded the top, bottom, left, and right of the fifth ship in the center. Then, the movements of the fighters that had already densely covered the battlefield shifted as well.

The fighters, which had focused solely on attacking up until now, wrapped around the Motherships' trajectory to guard them. They turned themselves into literal shields, taking the hits meant for the battleships and exploding.

As the fighters were shot down one by one, the order's Photon Cannons eventually reached the enemy battleships. Concentrated fire rained down on the five ships sprinting madly forward. In the end, one of them vanished in a burst of flame. One by one, the battleships were smashed apart, but the charge didn't stop.

Finally, the last remaining battleship closed in like a deep thrust. The targeted order Mothership already had its shields torn to shreds from the endless battering it had taken. Pouring out all its power with no thought for the aftermath, the speed and mass of the enemy Mothership swelled endlessly.

The moment the two Motherships finally collided.

—!

A blinding hole was punched into the darkness.

Amidst the scattering of intense flashes and fireballs, the order's Mothership vaporized along with the enemy battleship's self-destruction.

Watching the debris spread with incandescent light, Dell murmured in devastation.

"This makes no sense..."

The enemy's movements struck Dell just as shockingly as the death of their allies.

To destroy a single order Mothership, the enemy side had expended countless small fighters and five Motherships.

She didn't think the order would lose this battle. They had a numerical advantage to begin with, and their Motherships' performance was vastly superior.

Even so, the enemy would try to whittle down their forces, fully prepared for annihilation.

"No matter if they're prisoners, forcing them to commit suicide should be impossible."

Asiph-1 answered in a sharp tone.

"It's possible if it's only for a limited time. Just like when they previously forced Endelion's children to cross dimensions."

If one weighed the depth of terror, that act was virtually the same as bracing for death.

Asiph-1 linked minds with the officers of the other Motherships to command the fleet like a single organism. The enemy's strategy was now clear, and in response, Asiph-1 tightened their formation to make it easier to protect the specific Motherships being targeted.

Meanwhile, Dell's mind drifted somewhere between anger, despair, and sheer emptiness.

'Mother.'

Two days ago, she had asked Minjun a question.

Whether there truly was no chance of salvation for her kin.

If someone sincerely begged for forgiveness, was there any possibility they might be spared from a wretched punishment?

Just as the primordial race was precious to Minjun, Endelion was precious to her.

However, the way things were unfolding made it absolutely impossible for her to harbor any optimism.

'Mother, just how many more sins do you intend to commit?'

Just then, an icy voice rang out from behind her.

"Find it."

Asiph-1 and Dell quickly whipped their heads around.

"Father!"

"Cain!"

Minjun had returned to the bridge.

Seeing him, Dell's body instinctively stiffened.

'The stench of blood?!'

Unlike her, who felt an inexplicable sense of repulsion, Asiph-1 shuddered for a different reason.

The body of his creator—who had summoned all the dragons collected within the ship—was boiling over with an intense life force unlike anything he had ever seen.

Because he was momentarily distracted by it, his response was slightly delayed.

"Yes? Apologies. What do you mean by find it?"

Minjun had already grasped the situation.

He didn't even get angry over the fact that they had lost a ship while he was away; he immediately focused on what needed to be done.

"The tool they're using to control the prisoners was made by mimicking your ability."

The technology to erase memories and plant suggestions was something the Committee had obtained from their experience capturing Asiph-1.

"A simple suggestion to prevent escapes is one thing, but to push them to suicide, the source of the power has to be nearby. It's the same for you, isn't it?"

It was true.

For Asiph-1's brainwashing to manifest at its strongest, the target had to be within his cognitive range.

'A tool that manipulates free will must possess free will itself. That's a fact we discovered long ago.'

Minjun looked at Asiph-1 and spoke.

"The Committee is likely keeping an ability user who's an inferior version of you."

It could be just one, or it could be several.

Minjun recalled the day he was restrained by them and had his memories deleted. They had probably hidden that person out of his sight back then.

"But when I tapped into their minds a moment ago, there was no trace of..."

Mid-sentence, Asiph-1 closed his eyes and concentrated his mind again, as if realizing something.

He didn't search the small fighters swarming around them, but rather the eighty Motherships still holding the rear. He sent his mental waves further out to sweep the area.

A moment later.

"...I found it!"

The instant Asiph-1 opened his eyes and called out the coordinates.

Flash!

Minjun's figure vanished from the command room.

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