With Hotaru having proposed to Alcyone on her birthday, the betrothed-couple's romance had reached new heights. Though Hotaru had initially only taken a day off from school, Alcyone hadn't let him out of the house for a week. On his extended vacation, they had spent every waking moment together, with Alcyone even having taken a break from tending to her gardens.

They would start their mornings with breakfast in bed, before heading over to the gymnasium. With Hotaru having given her a new sword to make up for the one she lost; Alcyone was eager to test it out. Though they had fenced before with practice swords, practicing with real weapons was far more taxing and challenging. Not wanting to break Alcyone's sword again with Steel Strength, Hotaru opted to face her with his dual rapiers, so he didn't have to use magic.

After working up a sweat, they would lay in the courtyard under the shade of one of the leafy trees with hanging vines, enjoying the sounds of nature around them. The rustling of the trees in the wind and the sound of the artificial pond's fountain created a peaceful ambiance, even if the maids could be often heard goofing off. Though it was technically still winter time, the birds were already singing and calling for mates for themselves. One pair of love birds was even building a nest in the tree above them, provoking Alcyone to get rather amorous.

They would interrupt their relaxation for a quick lunch, after which they practiced their ballroom dancing. Though Hotaru still had plenty to learn, he had improved significantly since they started a few months ago. As they danced, Alcyone would often talk about her ideas for their wedding. She mentioned having a ball during the reception and about using the cloth she received from Lantis to make a wedding dress. She also asked Hotaru when the wedding should be, to which he replied he would prefer to have it when Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu come back.

Though not awfully enthusiastic about having her old foes attend her wedding, she also didn't disprove of the idea. While there was the chance of getting called an old lady during her own wedding, getting to rub the best day of her life in the Magic Knights' face made it worth it. When Hotaru asked who her maids of honor would be, Alcyone had been confused as to what he referred to. After Hotaru explained more about the wedding culture from his previous world, Alcyone had been intrigued, though wanted to keep some Cephiroan traditions.

During their week off, Alcyone would often take care of Hotaru's duties in protecting villages. Although he was the stronger of the two, Alcyone's teleportation and long-range spells allowed her to do in two minutes what would take Hotaru an hour. Though Hotaru did enjoy the help, by the time the week was over, he was happy to be able to get out of the house again. Returning to school, Caldina had been extremely mad at him for skipping school for a whole week, and had a stack of homework waiting for him.

Despite the cold reception from Caldina, it wasn't all bad news for him. After what had amounted to four and a half months of studying, Caldina had handed Hotaru a large, written test. Though ten pages long, written in Cephiroan, and full of trick questions, Hotaru managed to finish it in under four hours. While his final score didn't quite reach full marks, Caldina had deemed it acceptable, announcing Hotaru's graduation the next day in front of the class. Being applauded by his classmates somehow made his third time graduating first grade worse than the second.

While leaving school behind for the (hopefully) last time felt like the last hurdle on his way to live a quiet life, it came with a caveat. His days usually followed the standard routine of lazing around, training, and playing video games, as well as the occasional monster extermination. He also spent more time with Alcyone and the maids, which came with many benefits. But slowly, as weeks went by, Alcyone's excitedness about her future wedding started infecting the maids as well. Although the wedding wouldn't be for another half a year or longer, the trio were discussing and planning things with Alcyone.

Not wanting to ignore Hotaru's opinion on any of the wedding decisions, Alcyone would ask him questions regarding his preferences. Though compromising and reasoning with Alcyone was easy, it started getting to a point where she would interrupt him every ten minutes. Sometimes he would try to hide in the almost maze-like guest house to get some time alone, but Envix was too familiar with the building from using it as her hideout.

Hotaru was about to start planning another outing with the boys, when a loud voice similar to a jet-engine rocked the mansion. Rushing out of the main building, Alcyone and Hotaru looked up in the sky, seeing a Autozamian vehicle circling in the air above them. The green and silver vehicle looked like an armored truck with a wedge-shaped front and triangular wings, and blue windshields. Built on its wings, back, and where the wheels would have been, were square emitters that roared like rockets.

Apparently looking for a place to land, the vehicle eventually positioned its emitters downwards and weakened the output, making it significantly quieter. Hovering over to the mansion and remaining airborne over the patio above the stables, its side door slid open. Jumping down from the vehicle were two familiar faces, Eagle Vision and Geo Metro.

Before Hotaru could greet the two, Alcyone yelled out angrily, "Can you PLEASE turn that thing off! You are scaring away the birds! They just laid eggs!"

Surprised by her aggression, Geo bowed respectfully, "Sorry but we can't find a place to land on this mountain!"

"Go a bit higher!" Hotaru yelled over the courtyard. "There is a platform with a small building up that way! Just don't break anything."

"Got it!" Geo yelled back, slapping the side of the van. "Zazu! Take the hover-van up higher! We will climb over to you."

Without an audible response, the hover-van took off and flew behind the main building where the hot spring was. The three maids, who had been doing laundry at the scullery, watched curiously as their guests descended from the patio to the courtyard.

"That's Commander Eagle of Autozam!" Livina gasped, leaning over the railing. "He looks even younger than I thought…"

"Handsome too," Envix said, before stroking her chin. "I wonder if he would allow me to drive that metal thingy?"

"I highly doubt that," Integra scoffed, before asking Livina. "…Who is that taller man with him?"

"I don't know," Livina shrugged. "Looks important, but not quite like a celebrity."

Coming down to greet them, Hotaru noticed some changes in appearance between the two military officers. Geo was wearing a formal military uniform with a few medals, plaques, and chevrons, that covered his body from neck to ankles. On his feet he had his usual heavy metal boots. Eagle on the other hand was looking a lot more casual than the last time they spoke. While he still wore his large golden pauldron that showed his rank, he had taken off his white cloak and long green robe. In their place he had his black shirt and pants, and a green, short sleeved uniform. But perhaps the most striking difference to the two of them, were the lack of mechanical headbands and gauntlets.

"It's been a while," Hotaru greeted the fellow commander. "What brings you here?"

"We decided to come and find a new healer," Eagle explained. "Isetta has been doing a good job, but she started getting homesick. After finding one, we decided to come and pay you two a visit."

"He was quite insistent on it," Geo admitted, while looking around. "Fancy place you got here. It is amazing how quickly your planet has recovered in such a short time."

"You'd be surprised how much near-extinction motivates one to work," Hotaru chuckled. "Speaking of recovery, how's your health, Eagle?"

Taken aback by the question, Eagle looked conflicted about the topic, "It's… debatable. At first, I started needing healing more and more often, but then Isetta suggested I stop wearing mental energy transmitters. Right now, I am back to needing healing every five days or so, so we will see. How is your research doing, Alcyone?"

Before Hotaru could raise an eyebrow, Alcyone answered, "Not great but some progress has been made. The data you left me with about your illness has not been that useful due several translation errors."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Hotaru interrupted. "What research?"

Seeing he was confused, Eagle explained to him, "Oh, while you were unconscious after your battle with Debonair, Lady Alcyone asked me if she could try and find a cure to my condition. Apparently, the automatic translator struggled with the Cephiroan tongue more than I thought…"

"I know the feeling…" Hotaru said quietly. "I take it that was your main reason for paying us a visit?"

As Geo looked a bit guilty, Eagle smiled widely, "Not quite. You see, we were hoping you would come with us, Commander Hotaru."

"Come where?" he raised an eyebrow. "To the research center?"

"No, to Autozam," Eagle smiled, causing both Hotaru's and Alcyone's to widen. "I talked to the Autozam high council about you after they read our report. They said they'd be interested in meeting you to develop diplomatic relations between our countries and discussing magic battery production."

"I see…" Hotaru stroked his chin, "but wh—"

Just as he was about to ask why they were asking him specifically; Hotaru had an idea.

"…when are we leaving and how long do you think this trip will last?" Hotaru asked with a steady smile.

Surprised by his willingness, Eagle answered, "Well… we can leave as soon as you are done packing. As for how long… it takes about a week onboard NSX to travel between Autozam and Cephiro, so it all depends how long you decide to stay."

"Well, I already have a change of clothes in my gauntlets, so let's go then."

"But Hotaru! You can't leave!" Alcyone stopped him. "You have your job at protecting the villages and I need your help planning the wedding."

"Oooh~?" Geo leaned in curiously. "You two are getting married? I thought you were already a couple."

"Engaged, actually," Hotaru corrected him before turning to Alcyone. "Honey, the wedding won't be for another half a year or so and I will be back in less than a month. You get your half of the preparations done, I will do my half when I get back. As for work… I could ask Clef to take care of it. I think he as the Master Mage would understand how important keeping good diplomatic relations with Autozam has to be—"

"No need to rub it in!" Alcyone said coldly, snatching away Hotaru's mobile computer. "I guess this is better than to let the big wigs of Autozam think we are ignoring them. But before you leave, wait here for a moment."

Using her levitation spell, Alcyone flew over to her alchemy tower. In the meantime, Hotaru summoned his notebook. If he were to leave Alcyone all alone with his computer, he needed to make sure she could use his mobile computer and the code he had made for it. He had already written the Cephiroan names of each village next to the Autozamian characters, but he needed to double check the spelling. By the time he finished, Alcyone returned to them, holding a small bottle of yellow tablets towards Eagle.

"Here you go, take one of these per day before bed. I cannot guarantee they will work, but testing these will help me in further experiments." Alcyone instructed him, without letting go of the bottle, staring at Eagle intently. "In any case, you will only get more when Hotaru is back safe and sound."

Seeing the raven-haired woman stare at him intimidatingly, Eagle's smile started getting more nervous, "Very well."

Kissing Alcyone good bye, Hotaru grabbed Geo and Eagle, before flying up to where the hover-van was. Once inside, they were surprised to find the van empty, but quickly discovered Zazu taking a dip in the hot spring, earning him the ire of Geo. As the driver was getting dried up, Hotaru leaned back and relaxed, smiling confidently.

A minimum of two weeks free of any wedding planning! With any luck they will have either finished or gotten bored of planning and calmed down. …Feels a bit bad to leave Alcyone behind like this, but someone needs to look after the villages, plus I've always wanted to see what Autozam is like. Next time I am taking her with me, though I'm not sure how she would adapt to a hyper futuristic world…

"Something on your mind?" Eagle asked, seeing Hotaru deep in thought.

"Hmm? Oh… not much, just… Wondering why you aren't inviting Lantis over as well?" Hotaru asked, seeing that the van was empty aside from them.

Eagle stared at him quietly for a moment, before smiling, "I figured I would visit him for a bit longer when we come back. Let it be a surprise."

"Naruhodo," Hotaru smiled, relaxing on the plush seat, until his eyes widened. "You're not trying to kidnap me, are you? Because let me tell you, I can survive in the vacuum of space."

Maybe not for too long but I swear I will take them all down! These guys even had the nerve to come and pick me up in a van!

"That is quite interesting, but what gave you that idea?" Eagle tilted his head, giving an awkward smile. "Don't worry, you will be home safe and sound without any need for ransom."

"Then why choose me to be the diplomatic representative?" Hotaru asked, as Geo and Zazu got back in the van.

"You were the one to come up with the idea of developing the magical battery in the first place, and sold me on the idea. I figured you could convince the big wigs of Autozam to fund the research, development, and manufacturing of them in mass scale and convince the public of the changes to come," Eagle pointed out in a friendly manner. "As for diplomatic reasons, you were the one who managed to orchestrate the resistance against Debonair. Since Cephiro doesn't seem to have a centralized government, we decided you would be the best pick."

Thinking about it, while Hotaru did feel Clef would be the better one for the job, he couldn't exactly fault them for thinking this.

"Well, they did ask me to be their king at one point…" Hotaru thought out loud.

"What?" Geo turned around in shock.

"Nothing."

With Zazu putting pedal to the metal, it didn't take long for the hover-van to fly up into the skies, where the NSX was waiting. Although Hotaru had seen the spaceship a few times before and even grown larger than it, its sheer scale was still breath-taking. As the van flew above it, it felt like they could have used the grooves between its armored plating as highways.

Parking inside the hangar of the command tower, the head officers of the battleship gave him a tour of the place. Although Hotaru had never been inside the ship before, he was getting a massive déjà vu with each room they explored. As the ship's engine started whirring and NSX began moving, the tour continued with hardly any turbulence.

In addition to the rooms he had seen before, there were plenty of other locations one would expect from a flying military complex. A shooting range with plenty of target practice options as well as a selection of firearms. Massive repair bay for fixing robots as well as testing and developing new weapons. A large gym with tons of equipment and even an obstacle course. Recreational room filled with all sorts of game courts and video-game setups. Compared to his own space flight, Hotaru knew this would be far from an endurance test.

Looking around the place, Hotaru noticed something, "How come there is so little staff around? Shouldn't a ship this big have a huge crew?"

"Well, we're not exactly on a military mission right now," Geo pointed out, walking in front of Hotaru. "For the sake of energy efficiency, it is cheaper to travel with a smaller crew and only a handful of the O-series mechs. Even half of the weapons have been taken off-line to lighten the load."

"I take it the other half couldn't be removed?" Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, all weapons on NSX can be removed aside from the Ragna Cannon," Zazu corrected him. "We keep the remaining weapons on incase of space pirates."

"Makes sense…" Hotaru nodded, before his eyes widened. "…There are space pirates?"

"Yes," Eagle nodded carefreely. "Space is an ungovernable void. All countries with access to space travel have pirates, and they often mingle with one another. But they never attack large military ships like this, as the risk is too high."

"Oh… that's a shame," Hotaru frowned, having looked forward to a battle. "So where are the barracks and the mess hall? I would like to know where I'm supposed to eat and sleep."

"We do not have those here," Geo informed him. "Due to space voyages taking a very long time and the pilots needing their privacy, we have a residential area. Of course, this level of accommodation does require everyone to keep their own quarters clean and in order. Each house is meant to accommodate four people, but since we are traveling light, everyone now has their own private quarters. As you are a high-ranking guest, yours will be next to ours."

Although surprised by the rather ample and lavish accommodations for army men, Hotaru was quite happy about the surprise. While he hadn't exactly expected to share a bunk bed with a guard or a soldier, knowing he would have privacy made him feel at ease.

Once at the residential district, Hotaru was faced with a large row of purple, cylindrical houses that reached from floor to ceiling. Looking at the structures, Hotaru figured the houses were support frames for NSX, which were converted into housing to maximize space usage. Being escorted to his cylinder, he was surprised by how much greenery there was outside it.

The space inside the cylinder was large and futuristic, divided only by walls with no doors in sight. The walls were green metal and the floor looked like brass, with the roof made out of large panels that projected light evenly throughout the apartment. There were modern-style kitchen and sitting areas, a round table, and several countertops. Many surfaces had monitors on them and there were stairs leading upstairs.

Huh… Nicer than my apartment back in the sanctuary. I wonder if they have TV reception this far out?

As he was about to turn around and thank the officers, Geo handed him two items. One of them was a metallic headband and belt with two wires connecting them, whichhe was used to seeing Autozam people wearing. The other was a cell phone sized box with several buttons.

"These are standard issue items for all traveling aboard NSX," Geo explained in an officer-like manner. "The mental energy compiler will allow you to use devices on board the ship and on Autozam. The transceiver can be used to contact others on the ship via secure lines and to keep a recording of your time on board the ship."

"Is it common to keep an audio log?" Hotaru asked, looking at the transceiver in his hand.

"It helps to keep track of time," Zazu answered, holding his arms behind his head. "Days really start to blend in together when you travel in space. We tried simulating a day night cycle with the lights, but that was unfair for the guys doing the nightshift."

With all the questions answered, Hotaru was left alone to get situated with his abode. First, he did his usual routine after booking into a hotel room. Mess up the bed, figure out how the shower works, test out the entertainment options, and check out the minibar. Instead of a phone for room service, there was a computer where one could order food to be delivered during meal times. The menu was in the Autozamian writing system, but to Hotaru's fortune, there was a translation for Cephiroan. Though as Alcyone had said, it wasn't perfect, and some of the ingredients Hotaru couldn't recognize even with the translation.

His first day aboard the NSX was spent mostly in his quarters, as he had desired privacy back home. Able to lay back and relax without anyone bothering him or worry about his mobile computer going off, Hotaru was lulled to sleep by the hum of the engines. He was woken up during dinner by an automated service droid that brought him a pre-heated packaged meal. While eating, Hotaru got familiarized with Autozamian current comings and goings, and popular culture, by channel surfing.

Television on Autozam was quite similar to what Hotaru remembered it being during the 90s. Music videos, commercials, talk shows, sitcoms, action movies, and the same news that repeated over and over. While there were some news and reports about the energy crisis and systematic blackouts to conserve energy, there were no mentions of the magic batteries. Considering the finished batteries had been on Autozam for several months and the high council wanting to discuss about them, this seemed odd. But as the late-night programs started along with a few debauched and ultra-violent animes, Hotaru decided to worry about this later.

While watching TV, Hotaru also tested out the computers, seeing what he could do with them. Aside from a few basic programs, log books, editing software, and office software, there were a few brainteaser and stress-relief games. After hours of searching, Hotaru was confident that Autozam didn't have its own version of the internet, or at least the NSX didn't.

The next day, so as not to grow completely rusty in his quarters, Hotaru headed to the shooting range. Ever since seeing the area yesterday, he had been looking forward to testing out some futuristic Autozamian arms. Hotaru had never held, much less fired a gun in his previous life, making him excited to get to try them out. It took some time to convince the person in charge of the arsenal to lend Hotaru a few weapons to try out. As long as he returned the guns and only pointed them towards the range, he was free to use any weapon that solely relied on mental energy.

The first one was a blocky energy blaster with a square muzzle, which despite its short length, was best fired with both hands due to its weight. Its blue beams left glowing scorch marks on the targets, as it blasted through them. Hotaru tried showing off by dual wielding the blasters with Steel Strength, but soon realized they couldn't be recharged without a free hand. Next was an even shorter gun with a blocky b-shaped body and a muzzle that looked like a 6-pin power connector. Like a shotgun, it fired a burst of smaller, white energy beams that still managed to fill a target full of holes seventy yards away. What excited Hotaru the most about the weapon was its rapid-fire capabilities. The next and last weapon was a larger and longer, scoped rifle. Its shots took a while to charge up, but in return it fired a much more intense blue beam, and required much more durable targets.

Having fired the guns to his heart's content, Hotaru decided it was time to get some actual exercise. Heading over to the gym, he had decided to make as much use of all the gym equipment the ship had while he was still on board. While he did have a gymnasium back at home, it wasn't like it was equipped for barbells or exercise machines.

Arriving on the scene, Hotaru could see a bunch of soldiers training all around the gym, as well as a small crowd gathered around the barbells. Getting closer, he could see Geo in the middle of the crowd, doing bench presses, with what looked like four pairs of the heaviest bumper plates available.

"Forty-four, forty-five, forty-six…" One of the soldiers standing next to him counted.

"Come on Geo! Six more for the NSX record!" another soldier hyped him up.

Hotaru could see that Geo was fully focused on his reps, up until he faced in his direction.

"Ooh! Hotaru, welcome," Geo greeted him, putting down the barbell on the rack.

"NOO!" The soldiers yelled out, one of them kneeling dramatically. "He threw the record!"

Despite the protests of the soldiers, Geo just smiled at him, "After you shut yourself in your quarters, I thought you wouldn't come out till we landed. How are you doing and what brings you here?"

Seeing the crowd around them staring at the two-meter-tall giants, Hotaru couldn't help but grin. While he wasn't exactly sure if they were just impressed with his height or if they had been present during the battle against Debonair, he knew he had toshow off.

"Same as you, trying to keep in shape while we travel," Hotaru answered casually. "You mind if I go next?"

"Knock yourself out," Geo said, getting out of the way.

Grabbing a paper towel, Hotaru wiped the bench clean, before putting his hands on his hips, inspecting the area, "Give me a second, I need to make some room. This rack is in the way."

Seeing Hotaru reaching for the horizontal rack of barbell weights, the soldiers were about to help him move it. But before they could get closer their jaws dropped as Hotaru picked up the nearly full rack of bumper plates like a bag of potato chips. They watched as their diplomatic guest moved the rack gently away, before moving over to the barbell. With far greater effort, Hotaru lifted two sets of bumper plates off the metal beam. By his estimation, each one weighed around thirty kilos, leaving him impressed by Geo's lifting strength.

As the soldiers looked on confused, Hotaru started lifting what was essentially half of Geo's load. While they didn't seem that impressed, Hotaru was shocked by how easily he lifted the barbell, even without his magic. After finishing the reps and putting on more weight, Geo walked over to him.

"Not using your magic on this one?" Geo asked, hoping to clarify the situation to the soldiers.

"Eh, as far as I know, my spells multiply my strength and so on," Hotaru grunted, putting down the barbell. "Meaning if I get stronger without them, I will be much stronger with them."

"Well, you still have a long way to go then," Geo chuckled. "The army's weight lifting champion can bench press twice as much as I can."

"That is impressive," Hotaru admitted, rolling his shoulders. "But this isn't the type of workout I usually do back at home."

"Oh? Then what's closer to your specialty then?" Geo raised an eyebrow.

Getting up, Hotaru pointed towards the obstacle course, "That. Up for a race?"

Without hesitation, both of them walked over to the starting point of the six-step obstacle course. Getting a mark from one of the soldiers, the two men rushed towards the first obstacle, which was a rope-ladder made with rubber tires. The single-rope ladders swayed from side to side as they climbed them, testing their balance, grip strength, and climbing technique. While Geo skillfully climbed up one step at a time, Hotaru simply reached for the connection points between the tires, lifting himself up with minimal help from his feet.

Once at the top, Hotaru was faced with four rods hanging from rafters up above. Each rod had a different handle at the bottom: a hoop, a handle bar, a ball, and a triangle. Jumping onto the hoop one, Hotaru had expected the rod to swing, but in addition to this, it rotated sideways, throwing him off balance. Catching up, Geo, who was experienced with the course, quickly swung from the hoop to the bar and then to the ball. Getting his orientation right, Hotaru followed suit, managing to catch up to the second-in-command at the end.

Next obstacle was a swinging rope, which led straight into a curving cargo net. The net led all the way down to the ground, expecting the course takers to climb its underside. Without hesitation, Geo quickly swung forward with the rope, catching the top of the net and starting to climb down. Hotaru followed suit, but instead of the top, he aimed for as close to the bottom as possible, reaching the ground faster.

"Hay, that's cheating!" Geo called him out, jumping down himself.

"Work smarter not harder!" Hotaru laughed, rushing ahead.

The next obstacle was simpler than the previous ones, as it was a row of walls and chest high bars. Pushing himself over the walls and ducking below the bars, Hotaru quickly made his way though this section. Taking his opponent's advice, Geo pushed himself on top of the first wall, before striding over the remaining obstacles. Seeing him quickly catching up, Hotaru followed suit all the way to the next obstacle.

Next up was a deep, long and winding pit, filled with spongy looking cubes. On the sides of the pit, there were slanted blocks and steps at regular intervals, replaced by curving ramps at the curves. Being first to reach it, Hotaru started leaping from one slated step to another, as this was faster than going through the moat of cubes. In addition, Geo, who was following right behind him, was forced to stay behind and match his pace or fall in. But just as Hotaru made it to the first curve, he accidentally jumped to the side out of habit, when there was no opposite foothold. Falling into the black foam cubes, Geo passed him while laughing. Not one to pride himself with sportsman-like behavior, Hotaru reached up, grabbing Geo's ankle, pulling him in as well.

In the cubes, the two grown men breaststroked their way to the final obstacle, which was a pair of salmon ladders with twenty rungs. Grabbing metal bars from a rack next to them, Geo and Hotaru began scaling with explosive pull-ups. While Geo was taking the ladder slow and steady, Hotaru was pulling himself up several rungs at a time. For several months now, he had done daily pull-ups from tree branches and hanging abdominal crunches, making it easy to get up. However, as he had no experience with salmon ladder, he tried doing it in as few hops as possible.

Seeing Hotaru scaling the ladder at cracked speed, Geo tried to hurry it up too. Jumping two rungs up, he quickly pulled himself up once more, but missed one of the hooks. He let out a loud yell as he fell, startling Hotaru, causing him to also miss his mark. As they both struck the firm yet soft mattress-like floor, they caught their breaths while looking up at the finish-line.

"Tell me… did you use magic at any point?" Geo panted.

"Nah… no point in doing that. We both know… I would win if I did that," Hotaru admitted, slightly regretting not cheating. "Rematch tomorrow?"

Laughing with a deep voice, Geo smiled, "You're on!"

As the two of them laughed, the soldiers watched from afar, astonished by what they had seen.

"I-I don't think officers should show such childish behavior…"

For the rest of the trip, Hotaru and Geo would compete on the obstacle course daily. After familiarizing himself with the course, Hotaru quickly adapted to taking the lead, only being slowed down on the final hurdle. As for Geo, seeing Hotaru leave him in the dust motivated him to train more in order to catch up. By the end of the week, the final score was three points for Hotaru and two for Geo. When not competing with Geo, Hotaru would spend his time in the gym training in his usual manner. Though when trying to train his wind cutter, Geo had asked him not to do it, as the ship's atmospheric pressure sensors were sending error messages.

Outside of these get-togethers, Hotaru would find himself struggling with things to do on his own. With most onboard activities already explored, he decided to spend time with the other officers. He would play strategy games with Eagle and get acquainted with Autozamian liquors with Zazu. He would also help Eagle's new healer, Laurel, to get used with Autozamian technology. However, not all of his time could be spent with others, and when lying in bed in his quarters, Hotaru couldn't help but miss Alcyone.

As the NSX arrived in Autozam's orbit, Hotaru was adamant about taking his fiancée with him next time.

Seeing the planet below, Hotaru was taken aback by its sheer majesty and terror. The planet was carved almost completely hollow, with its crust as thin as the peel of an apple. Monolithic and pointy crystal mountains jutted out from the crystal core of the planet, piercing past the crust. At first it seemed like the crystals were pillars holding up the crust of the planet. But when one looked closer, it became clear that the crystals were more akin to daggers stabbing right through its many holes. Aside from the glowing crystals, the entire planet was almost dark.

Looking up into the distance, Hotaru could spot a ball of light that may have been Autozam's sun, but it was considerably smaller than Earth's or Cephiro's. Staying closer to the planet, Hotaru could see a large structure floating in the thermosphere, looking like a spiky space station.

Despite the geographically unnerving side of the planet, there was also grandeur to it. Though small compared to the crystals, there were several megastructures on the planet's surface that were visible from space. Every last square kilometer was covered in buildings with multistoried roads between them. Differently colored sections of the planet glimmered like the LEDs of the most complex circuit board ever created.

Landing to an area lit up by red lights, the NSX moored into a large yet narrow, chasm-like dockyard, between the inner walls of a massive hexagonal building. A large, silvery docking-bridge extended from the side of the NSX, up to the flat roof of the building surrounding it. Lifted up by the long, angled up automatic walkway, Hotaru and the NSX's officers were transported into the dark outside world, lit up by light pollution. On the vast, almost plateau-like roof of the military complex, Hotaru could hear the echo of large spacecrafts and mechs taking off from time to time. At the other end of a red and wide carpet, a large crowd of people were awaiting them.

Having expected a news group or a swarm of reporters, Hotaru was both disappointed and apprehensive about being greeted by purely military personnel. There were dozens of soldiers armed with energy blasters lined up in neat rows as well as tall men in black suits, wearing dark red visors and ear pieces. To greet them directly, there were several high-ranking officers with highly decorated uniforms who's armored, star-shaped pauldrons made Eagle's look subtle in comparison. Among them, stood out two men.

First and younger of the two was a Caucasian man dressed in a low cut white suit, black undershirt, matching full length pants, and golden mechanical accessories. The suit's shoulders had golden squares that wrapped around them, with four colored circles inside them: red, yellow, green, and blue. He wore golden mechanical gauntlets that were significantly slimmer than the one Eagle had worn in the past. His boots and headband followed similar design cues, being golden but slimmer than those of Geo's or Eagle's. Unlike with everyone else, the man's mechanical accessories weren't connected by wires.

Appearance wise, the man seemed to be in his early forties, with a slightly wrinkled face, yet his hair was already white. His hair was medium length with mutton chops that connected his hair to his beard and eventually mustache, all of which were neatly combed and trimmed. He had a friendly and warm face, and gray eyes.

The other, older and taller man had darker skin, wore a highly decorated green military uniform with plenty of medals, and a matching military cap. He seemed to be in his mid-fifties, and as tall as Hotaru. His right arm was equipped with a bulky mechanical gauntlet, and his left arm seemed entirely mechanical and even buffer. His large metal shoes, thick belt, and both arms were connected via thick cables, yet he wore no headband. The man had no moustache or beard, but his short grayish hair was curly and trimmed into sharp stripes. His brown eyes and wide mouth looked incredibly stern and vigilant, yet respectful.

As Hotaru's group approached them, taller of the men yelled for attention, causing everyone, including Eagle to stand up straight. The leaner and younger of the two men then stepped forward. Smiling warmly and fatherly, the white-haired man extended his hand generously, prompting Hotaru to shake it. There was a slight clinking of metal, as their gauntlets rubbed against one another.

"Good morning. I am Diamante Vision, the President of Autozam," the man spoke in a cheerful tone. "I take it that you are the Commander Hotaru my son told me about?"

"Yes, but these days people call me Hotaru the Hero," Hotaru corrected the brightly dressed gentleman.

"And indeed, they should," the president nodded, before suddenly hugging Hotaru.

Hotaru jolted all of a sudden, as the man who came up to his sternum embraced him tightly. At first, he wondered if this was an Autozamian tradition, but then noticed that Eagle, the other officers, and even the secret service members were just as shocked. As Hotaru was about to lift a finger to ask a question, Diamante pulled away from him before looking up at him sternly.

"From what I've understood, it was thanks to your actions that my son is still alive today," Diamante stated earnestly. "So, to me, you will always be a hero."

Feeling quite flattered, Hotaru tried to stay humble, "I am honored, but it was in everyone's best interests. Though I would feel more comfortable if you just called me Hotaru, Mr. President."

"In that case you may call me Diamante," the old man smiled before introducing the others. "These here are our admirals and this fine man here is Marshal Magnum Polaris."

"It is an honor to meet you, Commander Hotaru," the dark-skinned marshal tipped his hat to him, his voice deep and gravely. "On the behalf of Autozam's military forces, I will say we are all quite excited to have a man like you as our guest. We have heard a lot of things about you."

Seeing the Magnum offer his three-fingered, robotic hand to him, Hotaru shook hands with his left. Locking eyes with the marshal, Hotaru could feel his grip all of a sudden get much stronger, prompting him to activate Tungsten Defense. There was creaking of metal, as the three claw-like fingers bent slightly out of shape around his fist.

"You are as tough as they say you are," Magnum smiled while complimenting him.

"Yes, but keeping up peace is even tougher," Hotaru smiled back, pulling out of Magnum's grip, "so let's try to get along."

"Now, now, Magnum, you don't have to show off like that," Diamante scolded him good naturedly before turning towards the younger men. "Come along boys, I will offer you a ride to our next destination."

Swallowing nervously, Zazu asked, "Us too…?"

"You heard the Commander-in-Chief!" Magnum sounded off strictly, causing Geo and Zazu to straighten up. "Move it!"

In an orderly fashion, Diamante, Hotaru, Magnum, Eagle, Geo, and Zazu entered a long and wide hovering vehicle. Overall, it resembled a white limousine with a purple roof and golden trims, but a much sleeker design. Once inside, Hotaru could see more men in black suits waiting for them inside, and noticed how thick the walls of the limousine were. Getting onto their seats, Hotaru sat at the back of the vehicle, with Geo and Eagle on his sides. President Diamante sat with his back against the drivers, facing directly towards Hotaru, with Magnum next to him. As the vehicle took off, it did so quickly, yet Hotaru could feel no turbulence or even a shake of inertia.

"So, I assume you have already been briefed on why we invited you to Autozam, Hotaru?" Diamante asked him, crossing his legs and fingers casually.

"Eagle explained it quite clearly over our journey," Hotaru answered. "My task is to iron out the details with the high council in terms of exporting and importing Cephiroan materials. Then to convince the biggest corporations to provide more funding and production facilities. Finally, I am to announce the magical batteries to the public and sway them to the idea of gradual shift from human battery program to magic battery production."

Nodding along with Hotaru's answer, Diamante smiled, "That is very much it. Except for one tiny detail. The major corporations are already lining up for funding and producing the batteries. What they need you to do is decide who gets to produce them."

"Me?" Hotaru raised his eyebrow. "Shouldn't you have asked Zazu, Presea, and Sierra for that? They were the ones who built the magic batteries."

"According to Autozam's laws of property rights," one of the secret service members answered, "as the one to come up with the concept of magic battery, the intellectual rights of the invention belong to you. That means the sharing of: manufacturing rights, distribution rights, application rights, and royalties, are yours to decide."

"Royalties…" Hotaru repeated under his breath, ¥$ marks flashing before his eyes. "…I'll make sure to handle it in a way that benefits all the parties involved."

"I am glad to hear that," Diamante smirked, before asking. "Now, are there any places you would like to visit before we head over to the parliament building?"

Thinking about the question, Hotaru remembered all the things he had seen on TV on NSX. There were virtual reality movie theaters, amusement parks, hover vehicle races, and all-you-can-eat buffets. Not to mention music and art shops, where one could convert mental energy into various types of mediums.

"There are plenty of places I would like to visit," Hotaru admitted, stroking his chin, "however I would rather get things done with the bigwigs. That way we can enjoy some time off before the public announcement. Helps me get to know the people and the planet better."

Seeing Magnum nod at the suggestion, Diamante smiled relievedly, "It is refreshing to have such forethoughtful youth in this day and age. Oh… my mistake, I forgot Cephiroans' can vary greatly in appearance from their age."

Smirking slightly, Hotaru chuckled, "Oh, I am not that old, only 55 years."

"Doesn't that still make you the secondoldest here?" Zazu asked, earning a glare from Marshal Magnum.

"Commander Hotaru actually looked even younger than I did, not too long ago," Eagle pointed out, before turning towards the secret service members. "Make sure to keep an eye on him, otherwise you might not recognize him the next time you see him."

"Oh, don't worry, I left my fake beard back on Cephiro," Hotaru chuckled, leaving the others confused.

Flying across Autozam, Hotaru was kept busy by innumerous discussions between the President, Marshal, and the Autozamian trio. Despite this, he did manage to enjoy the view from inside the limousine, taking in the endless dark skyline. Hundreds of cylindrical skyscrapers, each several kilometers tall and lit up by thousands of indoor lights, covered the landscapes like forests. The areas where there were no skyscrapers were dominated by less tall, but much wider domes. Between the sky scrapers, there were long bridges, on top of which moved both people and vehicles. Even the space between the towers was taken up by traffic, as hover vehicles moved in order in several layers. Far in the distance, Hotaru could see the tips of the monolithic crystal spires, which were slightly obscured by clouds.

Despite all the people in motion, Hotaru couldn't spot a single traffic jam in sight. While most of the buildings were dark in color, the vehicles and people were colorfully painted and dressed. The fashions of the everyday citizens varied greatly, from robes similar to those worn by Eagle, formal suits, or even full-on punk outfits.

After three hours of driving, they finally reached Autozam's parliament building. It was a monolithic skyscraper, hexagonal at base, and boxy at the top. Bridges from surrounding skyscrapers connected with the parliament building from all sides, and green upwards pulsing neon lights lit its angles. Driving the limousine to the bottom of the building, they parked it in a massive car park that took up several of the bottom floors. After several security checks at the car park, the elevators, the upper floors, and finally at the doors of the parliament hall, they finally made it inside.

Despite the giant building, the parliament hall itself wasn't too massive. It was grandiose with its tall and imposing podiums and the elevated platforms leading up to them. The round floor was a single giant monitor and the dome-shaped ceiling consisted of several curved monitors. The mauve walls were lit up by vertical light fixtures, illuminating the room with UV light, which caused the lime-green gems on Hotaru's outfit to glow neon green. And yet, there were only a handful of people present. The total number of people present was only in two digits, and not all of them seemed like politicians.

Without wasting time, Diamante escorted Hotaru over to a dome-shaped podium, which then hovered up into the air. Getting up to eye-level with the members of the high council, Hotaru could barely make out the details of each member, as they were obscured by the lighting. Having heard from Diamante this was to protect their identities, Hotaru pushed aside the council's lack of transparency and steadied himself.

"Commander Hotaru of Cephiro," the council member standing on the tallest podium spoke out, "we are glad for you to have made your way here on such a short notice. I assume you've been briefed on the topics we must go through?"

"Incessantly," Hotaru declared with a smile. "Does the council have any proposition they wish to bring about, or shall I just lay down the brass tacks?"

"Please, do go on right ahead," another council member spoke out. "We are interested in hearing what sort of propositions you have, Commander Hotaru."

Despite the slightly sarcastic tone, Hotaru remained smiling, "I have seen enough of your planet and its culture to see that your energy crisis is not called that due to exaggeration. As things stand right now, Cephiro holds the reins for Autozam's best solution for its energy crisis and future energy production developments."

"That is an exaggeration," one of the council members spoke up. "Our scientists have been developing new methods of harnessing energy from sources outside our planet. The only problem right now is the immense upfront cost of producing such means during an energy crisis."

"We have considered concentrating all our efforts into building a solar generator around the nearest viable star," the head of the council spoke out again. "However, it would take over fifty years and require two thirds of Autozam's population being shoved into pods… While there might never be enough magic batteries to power all of the planet, they will certainly help with supplementing our current energy infrastructure."

Not caring for the interruptions, Hotaru continued smiling, "Which leads us to the main topic. As things stand right now, the people of Cephiro are willing to part with the materials required to produce the batteries. However, we do deserve a fair amount of compensation in return for our natural resources."

"And what is there to prevent us from simply taking the said resources?" another, deeper voice spoke out among the council. "Cephiro has so far stayed untouched due to the power of its Pillar. Now that you no longer have one, a full-scale invasion would be a simple matter."

"Nani!?" Hotaru could hear Eagle yell from down below.

In addition to Eagle, the suggestion caused a lot of disapproving murmur in the parliament hall. Reading the atmosphere, Hotaru figured that only one or two people were actually seriously considering this option. While scaring them all off would be a simple matter to him, he figured it was best not to show his hand so early.

"Because a war would be a huuuge waste of resources," Hotaru pointed out, spreading his arms as an emphasis. "You may have us beat in terms of space warfare, but to take over a planet, you need to establish a base on the ground. And in terms of fighting on the planet's surface, I can guarantee to you that you are outmatched. In the end you would be exerting more energy than you would be gaining by fighting against the natives. So how about we play nice and just work together?"

After a moment of silence, the deep voice spoke out again, "Well rationalized. How much do you require per ton? Would ten million Autozyen in credits be enough?"

"That sounds like a lot…" Hotaru spoke under his breath, before thinking about it. "…Unfortunately, the people of Cephiro have no use for credits or credit systems. We use gold coins and I doubt you could mint our currency in large enough quantities. So, in exchange for the crystals and metals required for making the batteries, I would request for assistance in rebuilding Cephiro."

For the next half an hour or so, the council and Hotaru planned for an agreement on how to improve Cephiro's renewal. This included mass produced chains, screws, nuts, bolts, sewing needles, glass ware, windows, and waste management. While Hotaru wasn't willing to let Autozam's technology obsession run rampant in Cephiro, he couldn't turn down the offer to get help for the people. Remembering the school Caldina had founded, Hotaru requested the council to send teachers. He also requested Autozam to monitor the space between it and Cephiro, to warn them of potential attacks from space pirates.

Once the meeting was over, Hotaru had no patience to wait for his podium to descend, and instead flew down on his own. Grinning victoriously after having successfully scared half the onlookers by walking over the side, Hotaru was going to walk over to Eagle and his father. But before he got to them, four figures approached him, all dressed up in white suits and golden accouterments, similar to Diamante's. Each of the suits and even their golden accessories were different and personalized, to a point that they hardly could be considered uniforms. One of them was a young woman with medium length deep-blue hair, and a golden headset on the left side of her face. Another was a tall, redheaded man with a stern face and a sharply angled moustache. Third was a shorter, blonde man with a friendly, shaved, and laid back face. The last one was an older man with a wrinkled face, slightly darker skin, and black hair in a tall, backwards swept hairstyle.

"Can I help you good sirs?" Hotaru asked, standing up straight and proud.

"Yes, let me introduce myself, my name is—" the young woman spoke out.

"My name is Calera Omega!" The tallest of them spoke out over them. "I am the president of the O-group and would like to…!"

Stepping in front of him, the blonde man grabbed hold of Hotaru's hand and shook it, "Pinto Alfa! At your service, my good man! Loved how you handled the high-on-their-own-fumes council!"

Shaking his hand, Hotaru was still reeling back from the excessive forwardness of these people. From experiences in his previous life, he could already tell these people were extremely wealthy, busy, and competitive.

So, these are the presidents of the major corporations who want to buy my ideas…

"How about letting the young man have a moment to breathe?" Diamante spoke out. "You three should remember that Grifo Iso himself is taking notes on how you behave."

The three people who had already partially introduced themselves, turned around to look at the man with black hair. Instead of charging in to greet Hotaru, he wassitting back and waving smugly at the three tycoons. Though Hotaru couldn't tell who this so-called Grifo was, he could tell the tycoons were nervous around him.

Clearing his throat, Hotaru drew their attention back to him, "Quite so…. I will hear you all out one at a time! I believe the young lady here was the first to approach me."

Shooing away the two men, the blue-haired woman placed her hand on her chest and bowed respectfully, "As I was trying to say, my name is Holden Zeta, the head of the Z-group. We are the foremost trailblazers of Autozam's technological development, manufacturing, and service automation. We would love to produce your magic batteries in mass quantities and develop products independent of the mental energy grid. Maybe we could discuss about this over a dinner reservation in Autozam's finest restaurant?"

As the head of the Z-group bowed, Hotaru could see her flashing her cleavage at him, as well as wink at him teasingly. While Holden was quite beautiful and her offers were tempting after a week in space, Hotaru quelled his cravings. Afterall, he needed to hear them all out first.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Zeta, I hope to take you up on that offer later," Hotaru smiled gently, before turning to the next person. "Mr. Omega, I assume your O-group is the one employed by the military?"

Giving a proud smirk, the tall red-headed man nodded, "That would be correct. The O-group is Autozamian military's go-to manufacturer and weapons developer, as well as the forerunner in medical and cybernetics technology. I believe you've seen our mechs?"

"Yes, I've shot a few of your weapons too," Hotaru nodded. "What would you like to have the batteries for?"

"To protect our soldiers," Calera crossed his arms. "I heard that you found a way to treat Commander Eagle's mental atrophy disorder. Did you know that military personnel are the ones most like to suffer from MAD? With the magic batteries, the exertion placed upon our soldiers would be reduced significantly, and save many lives."

"Highly counter productive endeavor if one wishes to spare lives," the blonde man behind him mused, causing Calera to sneer at him.

Quelling his anger, Calera cleared his throat, "Unlike some nitwits in the council, the O-group is not interested in conquest or waging war. We believe that a good offense is the best defense against outside threats. I understand this might be difficult for you to believe, after the council gave Commander Eagle permission to invade your country. But the O-group does not condone usage of weapons and military for invasions, but for keeping peace and protecting people."

"I am… quite familiar with such trains of thought," Hotaru admitted, before raising his eyebrow, "but what sort of 'peacekeeping' was the Ragna Cannon intended for?"

In response to the question, Calera grew pale, before glaring in the direction of Eagle's group, "That was not one of our weapons…"

Hearing Zazu whistling nervously in the distance, Hotaru rolled his eyes, "I'll take your word for it… And who were you again?"

Before the blonde man he had shook hands with could try to reign in his dropped jaw, Diamante spoke up, "This man is Pinto Alfa. The latest CEO of the A-group and the current head of the Alfa family. The A-group is the foremost producer of raw materials, their refinement, and recycling on Autozam. It is no exaggeration that most buildings here were made with metals mined by his family's company. He is an old friend of mine and much like you, a hero to the people of Cephiro."

Chuckling and giving a smile, Pinto stroked the back of his head, "You praise me too much, Diamante. I'm just a man who was lucky enough to be adopted to the Alfa family and has done what's necessary to keep A-group running."

"Adopted?" Hotaru's ears perked up on instinct. "Were you also an orphan?"

"Well, I was orphaned. I lost my parents when I was five and the previous head of the family adopted me. It happened so long ago, I don't expect any pity from it," Pinto held his head proudly. "All I want is to keep my father's company afloat, no matter the cost."

"Always acting so humble," Holden chuckled impishly. "Don't let him fool you, Hotaru. This man has not come up with any new innovations since Zero Emission Excavation."

Before Hotaru could ask what that was, Mashal Magnum spoke up, "Listen up Holden, just because you are too young to remember when our skies were filled with smog, doesn't make Zero Emission Excavation any less important."

Though mentions of this reminded Hotaru of something, he couldn't help but turn towards Pinto again, "I take it you have some innovative ideas in mind for the magic batteries then?"

Happy not to have been brushed to the sidelines again, Pinto nodded before smiling widely, "That's right! With the help of your magic batteries, A-group will be able to produce ever more raw materials, without the need for harming our atmosphere!"

Having heard everyone's pitches, Hotaru took them into consideration, before turning towards the last person dressed in white. The slightly wrinkled yet remarkably handsome dark-haired man had been sitting back, looking at them through his glasses. Seeing Hotaru stare at him, he finally walked over with a confident stride.

"And what group do you represent, Mr. Grifo?" Hotaru asked, looking down at the almost Elvis-like man. "And what do you want to do with the batteries?"

"Do not worry, I am not here to coax your invention from you," Grifo answered, extending his hand. "Grifo Iso, head of Autozam's Global News Network! I am here to make sure everything is in order once you decide to make information on the magic batteries available to the public!"

"OH! You are this planet's media mogul," Hotaru nodded along while shaking his hand, before pulling Grifo close, and whispering. "If you ever do another fifteen-minute-long commercial break in the middle of Super Soldier Shuichiro, you will be tomorrow's news."

Without letting his smile crack, Grifo mused, "I will make sure to let my board of advertisement know of your feedback."

Letting go of Grifo, Hotaru turned his attention back to Pinto, Calera, and Holden. Keeping his hands in his pockets, he looked down at the three tycoons, trying to figure out who to choose as his business partner. Though morally speaking there was a clear winner among the three, Hotaru didn't see them fit for the task of distributing the batteries to the wider audience. Figuring all three of them would get their hands on the batteries overtime, he decided to make the most of this opportunity.

"Alright, here's what we are going to do," Hotaru started out, talking like a mogul himself. "We are going to have a little auction right here and now. Each of you give me solid numbers on how much you are willing to pay me and the trio who helped create the magic batteries. Both up front, and in royalties. But before that, we need to agree on a method of payment. Any ideas as to how to make your wealth worth something on Cephiro?"

"We could integrate Autozam's global credit system on Cephiro," Calera pointed out. "That way it would be easier for both worlds to trade in goods and services."

"Yes, it would definitely be more convenient to use credit bands instead of something as old fashioned as gold coins," Holden pointed out.

Stroking his chin, Hotaru considered the offer, before musing, "I think it'd be better if we stick to the gold coins. They might be inconvenient, but that is also a blessing."

"How so?" Pinto tilted his head curiously.

"The more convenient it becomes to pay for your shopping, the more willing people are to spend large quantities of money," Hotaru pointed out. "This means vendors have more freedom to jack-up the prices, which in turn leads to more money circulating overall. You may be willing to pay double for your groceries, if necessary, but are you willing to carry around twice as many gold coins?"

"So, gold coins prevent inflation…" Diamante stroked his chin with a serious expression. "Never thought of it like that... I guess our society would no longer be willing to go back to physical currency?"

For the next few minutes, other ideas for converting Autozyen to Cephiroan standard gold coins were considered. This included buying gold and minting it, but this would have counted as counterfeiting, even if the coins would be fully identical. The idea of the payments being made in the form of goods was shut down, when Holden pointed out just how many starships they would have to give to Hotaru.

With no one else having any suggestions, Hotaru asked, "President Vision, I take it Autozam has its own banking system. You mind having your secret service guys open up accounts in the names of myself, Presea, and Sierra? That way we can always spend the money on this planet."

"Hay! What about me?!" Zazu yelled out in objection.

Smacking him on the head slightly, Geo pointed out, "You already have an account."

With everything set, Hotaru smiled and stared at his bidders, "Alright, let's start this auction at forty million Autozyen and one percent in royalties!"

Despite the (what Hotaru assumed to be) high starting bid, the price quickly went up, as Pinto, Calera, and Holden outbid each other without stopping. The bidding war at first hovered in hundreds of millions, until Holden eventually racked it up to billions. In terms of royalties, no one dared to venture far beyond five perfect. Eventually, Holden won the bidding war with 4 billion upfront and 5,6% in royalties. However, as Hotaru had played his cards right, none of the bidders actually knew what they had been bidding for. While the three tycoons had looked at him murderously, none of them dared to object with his methods, with both the president and marshal present. So as not to leave the pretty billionaire with a sour taste in her mouth, what Hotaru sold to Holden were the manufacturing rights.

On the next round of bidding, the auctioning was considerably more tranquil, as the item in question was the development rights. At first Pinto had been bidding all he could, but then Calera and Holden struck a deal, outbidding him together. In the final round of the auction, the tables were turned on Hotaru, as Holden and Pinto struck a deal early on, getting the distribution rights for a steal.

Overall, the total amount of money Hotaru managed to gather was around seven billion Autozyen. When divided among four people, Hotaru knew it would be easily two billion each when the royalties started rolling in. Hotaru was on cloud nine about the fortune he had made and was planning on buying a skyscraper all for himself. However, he soon found out that Autozyen was more akin to the Japanese yen than dollars or euros. With a single Cephiroan gold coin being what he assumed to be equivalent to 1000 yen on Cephiro, this meant they all had essentially made a couple of million.

The setback of being downgraded from a billionaire to a millionaire, inevitably rubbed Hotaru the wrong way. But nevertheless, he and his friends were still incredibly wealthy, at least on Autozam.

With the auction over, Grifo asked Hotaru if he was willing to address the public about the magic batteries next. However, after everything that had already gone down that day, he had refused, saying he would need time to relax. To patch things up with her and to congratulate her on winning most of the rights on magic batteries, Hotaru took up Holden Zeta on her earlier offer. On Hotaru's request, Diamante had allowed him to go with her without the secret service, but he already knew they would be trailing them.

Instead of a limousine, Holden's vehicle of choice was a blue two-seater sports model speeder. While Holden had asked the paladin if he was okay with a woman driver, Hotaru had just shrugged and said all his driving instructors were women. Apparently having taken this as a challenge, Holden had zigzagged over the skylines at top speed, making even Hotaru's most foolhardy stunts seem tame. The young tycoon complimented Hotaru on how calm he was as a passenger, seeing how relaxed he was. Behind his poker face however, Hotaru had kept Silver Speed activated, so as to have time to react in case they were about to crash.

As promised, Holden took Hotaru to the finest restaurant she knew, at the top of a massive skyscraper. It was a round penthouse that extended over the walls of the skyscraper, with its tall walls and roof made mostly out of glass. The wheel-shaped and dimly lit restaurant had its seating areas situated at the outer-rim; the ones closest to the windows having a floor view to the world below. The kitchens were situated at the center, and while Hotaru couldn't see them, he could hear the sound sizzling and smell delicious aromas wafting from its direction.

"Ms. Holden, so good to see you," a waiter greeted her in a friendly manner. "Your usual table?"

"Yes please, but make it for two, Hans," Holden smiled, before leading Hotaru along.

Sitting down on a table on-looking a long and colorful avenue down below, Hotaru couldn't help but spot more than a few Z-group logos in the distance. Though he had heard of Holden Zeta being a big name on Autozam, it was only now that the true scale of it all was starting to dawn on Hotaru.

"Apologies for dragging you along so unexpectedly," Holden smiled playfully. "Had I been better prepared for tonight; I would have worn a dress instead of a suit."

"It is fine, leaves me with something to look forward to next time," Hotaru smirked, before taking a sip of water. "So, tell me more about yourself. I am curious what the life of Autozam's foremost business woman is like."

Tilting her head to the side, Holden chuckled, "There isn't much to tell, really. I am just a simple heiress to a company started by my grandmother, which I've successfully expanded into a conglomerate. I take my meetings mostly remotely while traveling or during down time: otherwise, I wouldn't have any. I try to keep up with the latest trends or start them myself if I can. Some people say I drive a top-of-the-line speeder for the rush of it or advertisement, but really, it is just the only way for me to get everywhere on time."

"Getting around can be a hassle," Hotaru nodded understandably. "If I got paid in kilometers traveled, I'd probably be richer than you. Though that would include the trip between Cephiro and Autozam."

Letting an amused chuckle, Holden reversed the question, "So, how about your life, Commander Hotaru? I've heard interesting rumors about you. Did you really save the entire universe?"

"Hmmm… I guess you could say that, but I would still claim that it is an exaggeration," Hotaru spoke frankly. "Also, just between you and me, I am not really a commander. I just called myself that when I first met Commander Eagle and no one bothered telling him."

"Bwa-ahahahahaa!" Holden laughed in a rather deep voice, before calming down. "…Excuse me. What is it that they call you back on Cephiro then?"

"Hero, but before that I was just a bodyguard," Hotaru shrugged, before chortling at himself. "Helped save the world, almost doomed it, saved the universe, received a mansion, and then started a business. It's been a wild year."

"Impressive," Holden smiled, leaning forward while resting her cheek on her hand. "I thought Cephiroans took ages to get things done since you live such a long time. A Cephiroan mansion must be an enchanting sight. Tell me, does anyone live with you, Mr. Hero?"

Recognizing the look in Holden's eyes, Hotaru smiled longingly, "Three trouble-making maids, two horses, and my fiancée."

Without even looking at her directly, Hotaru could see Holden's expression dull slightly, as a wave of disappointment rolled over her. Looking at her body language, Hotaru could tell her poker face was doing a fine job hiding her disappointment, as she tried staying professional.

"I see…" Holden closed her eyes, pushing some thoughts to the back of her head, "is she beautiful?"

"…The most gorgeous woman I've met," Hotaru answered honestly. "Incredibly long, perfectly dark hair, pale skin that shines in moonlight, tall, slender, yet curvy body, and eyes… very similar to yours, actually."

"Naruhodo…" Holden smiled, listening to him. "I heard Cephiroan women were beautiful, but I never imagined it would be to that extent. But I suppose it makes sense, since they can change their appearance on will."

"It is an unfair advantage, yes," Hotaru nodded, eliciting another chuckle from Holden.

As the waiter came along to hand over the menus, Holden took her time to recompose herself, as they both went through their options. Having had time to think, she ordered a pasta dish with Fahrenese duck meat. Hotaru in turn ordered a sandwich with a variety of hot meats, cheese, and drenched in sauce, as well as a selection of different kinds of shellfish. After the waiter came to take their orders, Hotaru could spot in the corner of his eye two other patrons, who stole glances in their direction. While it was possible for these to just be fans of Holden, Hotaru marked them down as Diamante's secret service members.

As they waited for their food, Holden asked bluntly, "So tell me, did you tell me about your fiancée only now just to get a free meal, or was I not coming onto you strongly enough?"

"You made your intentions quite clear, and I am happy to pay you back once my account is open," Hotaru smiled, before looking her in the eyes more seriously. "Though the real reason was to test your integrity, before I get down to business with you."

"Integrity?" Holden raised a curious eyebrow,before understanding what he meant. "You were trying to see if I would keep pushing after finding out?"

"Correct. You see, I have a few ideas in mind that might eclipse the magic batteries in the amount of revenue they generate," Hotaru explained unblinkingly. "We're talking multi-media franchises that can reshape the very pop cultural foundations of Autozam for generations to come. We're talking movies, video games, tv-series, toys, theme-parks, etc. And for that I need a trustworthy business partner."

"I'm listening," Holden leaned in closer, before asking. "…What is a theme-park?"

Hearing the question, Hotaru couldn't help but grin on the inside.

I'm going to be RICH!

While enjoying a delicious meal, Hotaru shared several of his ideas with Holden. Some of them she was doubtful of, but after listening to Hotaru's plans, she started seeing the merit. Using knowledge of his previous life, Hotaru told Holden his versions of the greatest pop-culture success stories in history. While she wanted to try and implement them all at once, Hotaru suggested being patient and doing them one at a time. For if she were to implement too many of his plagiarized ideas, they would inevitably create competition for each other.

In addition to this, Hotaru told Holden about theme-parks, and explained to her how one could be built on Cephiro. An amusement park and fantasy land, built directly on an actual fantasy world, would surely draw tourists by the millions from nearby countries. However, this would be a project for later, if Hotaru's ideas would start generating the hundreds of billions of Autozyen promised.

After finishing their meal, ordering desserts, and even drinks, they headed back to Holden's speeder.

"I must say you have quite the appetite, Hotaru," Holden complimented him, her cheeks flushed from drinks.

"I'd say we're about even," Hotaru hiccupped slightly, "when comparing sizes… Are you sure you are okay to drive?"

"Nah… I will put it on autopilot," Holden said, sitting down on the driver's seat. "Any place you want to visit before I take you to the hotel Diamante reserved for you?"

"I think it might be best if I just get some rest and…" Hotaru muttered, while sitting down on the passenger side, before pausing for a moment. "Actually, there is something I would like to get Alcyone as a present that you might be able to help me with."

"Oh? Is it something incredibly expensive?" Holden asked curiously.

"No, but I think it would be best to have a woman's opinion on this."

The next day Hotaru woke up in his hotel room with a slight hangover, to a sound he had not heard for almost a year; an alarm clock. After getting up for a drink of water and calling for room service, Hotaru almost tripped over a gift bag lying on the ground. Picking it off the ground, he quickly remembered where he had gotten it from and took a quick inventory of his shopping.

Black, red, white, pink… all accounted for. Don't see the blue one anywhere… that's a good sign.

Finished with a greasy breakfast with plenty of juice, Hotaru went downstairs to the hotel lobby to contact Eagle and the others. About half an hour later, his hangover had passed and his ride had arrived. After a quick sweep of the place, the secret service allowed Hotaru to enter the familiar white limousine. Although today would be the day he would make his speech to the public about the magic batteries, there was one visit he first needed to make.

By Hotaru's request yesterday, Diamante had arranged a tour for him at one of the human-battery power plants. The large, dome-shaped building was like a combination of a power plant and a hospital, with medical personnel walking back and forth. Instead of operation rooms and patient quarters, the plant was full of small rooms with anywhere from two to four capsules each. Each capsule was dark blue in color with a green, curved, glass door with a silver frame, showing the person inside, hooked up to multiple cables and hoses.

By his request, the group headed to the capsule of the power plant's first human battery. He was a gray-haired man in his forties, who seemed slightly atrophied from spending years inside the capsule. With a latest model magic battery being hooked up on his stead, the man was set free from his restraints. It took about half an hour for the man to finally fully wake up, at which point he was briefed on his current situation. Once he was ready, the man was given clothes, a cane, and escorted over to where Hotaru and Diamante were waiting.

"Welcome to the world of tomorrow," Hotaru chuckled under his breath, before standing up. "Hello there, I am Hotaru of Cephiro. Nice to meet you Mr. Smile Ciwei."

"It is good to meet you too," the man shook his hand, trembling slightly. "I hear that my current freedom is thanks to you. Is it true that others might be able to return to the waking world soon thanks to your batteries?"

"It will take quite a few years to get enough batteries for that," Hotaru admitted regretfully. "However, with your help, we might be able to speed up the process quite a bit."

Looking at him surprised, Smile sat down on a chair, "What can I do to help?"

Sitting down on a chair opposite to him, Hotaru asked, "I just need you to answer a few questions. How would youdescribeyour coma while inside the capsule?"

After interviewing Smile, Hotaru had next requested to be put inside a capsule himself, for a few hours. As his stay would only be temporary, he would only be hooked up to the energy extractor. But before he could be interred in the capsule, a few medical readings would have to be taken first as well as a few tests.

"Alright Mr. Hotaru," a doctor in a white lab coat addressed him. "Before we can hook you up, we need to measure your mental energy production levels. With this electrode fitted headband we can measure the safe amount of mental energy we can extract from you. This machine will then let us know how much energy you can produce while still being placed into a coma."

"Simple enough…" Hotaru looked up at the doctor, as he fixed the headband on him. "Do I need to do anything?"

"Just lightly focus your mental… or magical energy into the headband," the doctor instructed, while shaking his head. "Still trying to understand that magic is real…"

Ignoring the doctor's comment so as not to reveal his past, Hotaru closed his eyes and focused his magic around his head. As soon as his lime-green aura started flaring out, there was loud beeping from the machine.

BOOM*

Hearing the explosion, Eagle, Geo, and a couple of secret service members all rushed into the examination room, fearing a terrorist attack or sabotage. The room was filled with black, acrid smoke, and it took a while for them to fan it away.

"Wh-What's going on!?" Eagle coughed along with the others. "Is everyone okay?"

Sitting on opposite sides of a small table, Hotaru and the doctor looked at each other with black soot on their faces. A smoking mental energy analyzer was situated between them, still slightly on fire.

Looking at the Autozamians, Hotaru stated dryly, "I highly recommend you never try to hook up Cephiroans into your power grid. It can't take it."

It had been a rather peaceful and uneventful day for most of the people of Autozam so far. People were heading to work, practice, and school as per usual, whether by air, public transport, or automated walkways. Though the people's moods were all over the place depending on their personal lives, they all had one thing to look forward to. No matter the quadrant on the planet, no systematic blackouts had been scheduled for today, meaning they could go about their days uninterrupted. Or so they thought.

An echoing four tone jingle carried across the planet, halting everyone in their tracks. Though it was used rarely, nearly 99% of the planet's citizens recognized the chime of planetary public service announcement.

Whether the monitors of their computers at work, TVs at home, or holographic projections of all sizes on the streets, the flag of Autozam was shown everywhere. Soon the image of the spiked planet faded, and was replaced by a tall, brunette, young man standing behind an average sized podium. Though seeing someone who they didn't recognize on the planetary public service channel was unnerving, it was his ostentatious outfit and lime-green eyes that made them all a bit wary.

"Hello~ people of Autozam!" Hotaru greeted them all with his arms spread. "I hope you are all able to get comfortable for a moment, for I bare good news! My name is Hotaru and I come from the planet of Cephiro."

Hearing the stranger mention the name of the fabled planet, where people supposedly used magic and lived with monsters, caused everyone to whisper. Some claimed bogus at the idea that this man was from a planet that didn't even exist. Others were curious as to what was to follow and what good news he had for them. Those who had been following underground news reels a few months back, remembered rumors of Autozam trying to invade Cephiro.

"Some of your troops came to visit my world about a year ago! It was a rough start but we eventually got into an understanding, and thanks to you helping us out, we have decided to aid you in return!" Hotaru smiled widely, embellishing the truth as much as he deemed necessary. "As I've been told, your planet has been struggling with an energy shortage for several decades now. But now, with the combined efforts of our blacksmiths, enchanters, and mages, as well as your scientists, engineers, and manufacturers, we have developed a new source of mental energy!"

"The rumors were true!" gossipers exclaimed.

"Mages?" the skeptics repeated, shaking their heads in disbelief.

"A new source of mental energy?" the masses gasped.

Holding up a burgundy metal sphere with golden bands on its x, y, and z axis, and round cyan crystals at their crossings, Hotaru presented the magic battery to the cameras.

"This is the mark twelve magic battery!" Hotaru exclaimed with a proud smile. "It is a magic item that produces magical energy at the same rate as a novice level mage. While this may not seem like much, when converted into mental energy, it is equivalent to two human—"

Before Hotaru could continue, President Diamante rushed over next to him, pausing his speech. Leaning over Hotaru's ear, he whispered something that the audience couldn't hear, but some could notice Hotaru's eye twitching quickly. After a little bit of back and forth, Diamante eventually took his leave, leaving Hotaru in the spotlight.

Clearing his throat slightly, Hotaru continued, "It is equivalent to two coma restrained energy producers. In addition, the magic battery does not lose charge over time, allowing it to generate magical energy at a steady pace indefinitely!"

As the crowds gasped in amazement and rolled their eyes skeptically, Hotaru couldn't help but sweat nervously on the inside.

That was way too close! Why did no one tell me that "human battery" is a derogatory term until now!

"Now!" he continued his speech. "While producing magic batteries isn't exactly too costly, it is still a delicate and complex process. But, according to the estimates of the good people of Z-group, it will only take two years to fully automate their construction. Until then, only around fifty units can be produced per month. It will be a slow burn, but eventually these batteries will constitute a large section of Autozam's energy grid!"

Following the flow of social media, Grifo Iso, who stayed off the camera, informed Hotaru, "A lot of people are showing concern about the feasibility of the invention are being skeptical about it actually working."

Hearing this, Hotaru put down the battery onto a pedestal next to him, before gripping the podium, "Now, I know what you are all thinking. Even if this battery does work, how does it help Autozam in its current predicament? Well while it won't revolutionize mental energy technology overnight, it has already created a brand-new opportunity!"

Seeing the self-proclaimed Cephiroan spread his arms and smile like a used hover-bike dealer, the viewing audience were slightly taken aback. But before they could question his methods, Hotaru started putting up a sales pitch.

"You've all wanted to get your loved ones back from their energy production comas, and now it is your chance!" Hotaru pointed at the camera. "With the addition of the magic batteries already connected, the power-grid can be more flexible with its hu— coma restrained energy producers! Instead of permanently placing people into comas, we have developed a new program for any willing participant to spend one week in a coma, and get compensated for it!"

At this point in time, nearly every single Autozamian was clued to their screens. Whether it was the announcer's boldness or insanity, everyone was taken aback by his lack of tact about the sensitive topic. However, what he was proposing was too enticing to ignore. To see their relatives, to earn money in these trying times, to contribute to fighting back the energy shortage.

"If I have learnt something during my time on Autozam, it is that life can get very busy here!" Hotaru shook his head while smiling, before starting to talk like a professional commercial reader. "You ever feel like you don't have enough time to rest? No time or money for a vacation, or a moment of silence? Well, as the already awakened long-time coma restrained energy producer Smile Ciwei can attest; the time spent in a mental energy extractor is the most peaceful they can imagine! And, with the help of A-group, O-group, Z-group, and your very own government, now you get paid for it as well!"

Many employees of the said groups wondered if their superiors really had agreed to this deal, or if there was some kind of catch to it. However, those close to those in the know, soon found out the legitimacy of this claim.

"For the one week spent in the energy extraction coma, each person signed up will earn 75000 Autozyen! From what I've heard, that is triple the weekly minimum wage!" Hotaru exclaimed enthusiastically. "So, if you need money, rest, or just peace and quiet, sign up now! For when the magic batteries start getting more common, there will be less and less openings! Simply send a formal request to the high council to be included into the project!"

After finishing talking, President Vision walked over to Hotaru again, taking the podium and addressing his people, "This has been a government approved Planetary Public Service Announcement. And, for the first time in many decades, the future of Autozam is looking bright."

Without holding for applause, the feed to the recording studio was cut. Although many of the social media moderators were still following the public's reaction with a rather sour note, most of the people were quite elated. In addition to Hotaru, Grifo, and Diamante, the three heads of NSX and the tycoons of the three major groups were present. Everyone was taking their time shaking hands with Hotaru, congratulating him on a successful speech.

"This will truly improve upon Autozam's productivity," Pinto thanked Hotaru while shaking his hand. "I can't remember when Autozam last had a surplus of energy."

"Normally I wouldn't approve of paying people to just sleep," Holden admitted, "but if it gives us enough power to continue magic battery production without delays, I'm all up for it."

"It will surely pay itself back," Calera smiled confidently. "Especially if we just have to pay 75000 Autozyen per person."

"Well try not to seem too happy about it," Hotaru warned them. "Otherwise, they will get suspicious about it. I hope you can take it from here so that I can go home soon."

"Actually Hotaru," Eagle spoke up, getting closer to him. "I spoke up with Marshal Magnum. There is one more thing we would like you to do before you leave."

Raising an eyebrow warily, Hotaru asked, "What would that be?"

Being driven back to the military complex Hotaru had first arrived at, Diamante Vision, Pinto Alfa, Calera Omega, and Holden Zeta, all stepped out of the president's limousine. Despite being told about Hotaru's next assignment, the tycoons couldn't believe their ears, and even now they couldn't believe their eyes.

Above them, a truly gargantuan spaceship was hovering in the lower atmosphere. It was so massive that six space-ships the size of NSX could dock in its many repair bays. The white middle section of the ship had dozens of platforms on its sides, akin to runways of aircraft carriers. The top of the middle section was covered in radar dishes, hangar bay doors, and command bridges. The gray back of the ship flared out wider, into an angular, boxy shape, with three massive open hangars on each side. At the very back of the ship and the bottom, there were several arrays of thrusters and emitters. There were four, uneven pentagon shaped wings on each side of the ship, with gargantuan, yellow, armored up gravity stabilizers.

The top, bottom, and walls or the middle and back section of the ship were covered in thousands of weapon placements. Multi-barreled turrets, adjustable missile batteries, sky-scraper-sized cannons, omni-directional laser domes, etc. made the ship look almost like a hedgehog. At the front of the ship, there were two, several kilometers long, golden, conical spikes that almost looked like drills. Sixteen smaller drills had been placed along the middle and back of the ship, angled so that every direction had at least two pointing towards it.

"This idea is sheer madness…" Holden spoke out loud, looking up into the sky. "They really want Hotaru to fight the Grand Lancer?"

"I guess they want to either show off or test out our greatest weapons platform," Pinto stated, though greatly amused. "What do you think, Calera? Your group made the damn thing."

"Honestly, I am looking forward to seeing what my grandfather's brainchild can do," Calera chuckled, staring up into the sky. "Though… I am worried if Commander Hotaru can take on the Grand Lancer."

Thinking about it and looking at the ship, Diamante eventually tilted its head, "If you asked me if a single man could take on a battleship, I would say no. But considering what we just saw, I am not too sure..."

"Mr. President!" a deep voice yelled out from behind them.

Turning around, the quartet could see Marshal Magnum Polaris running towards them,alongwith a platoon of soldiers. As he got closer, he looked to be sweating nervously, until eventually stopping a reasonable distance away from the four people in white.

"Where… is… Commander Hotaru?" Magnum breathed deeply. "Eagle told me he accepted the invitation."

"He should be here shortly," Holden answered, holding back a chuckle. "He just had something to take care of first. Apparently, he didn't take too kindly to people calling him a pretender,"

Spotting something in the distance, Pinto pointed towards it, "There he comes now!"

Instead of a ship, the crowd of soldiers below gasped in amazement as Hotaru came flying on his own, in a horizontal flying pose. This amazement turned to shock, as they realized Hotaru was much further away than what would expect to be able to see a human being. As he slowed down and oriented himself upright, the soldiers present yelled out in fright as Hotaru towered over the largest O-series mechs around. Staring down at the people at his feet, Hotaru seemed quite pleased with himself.

"No wonder he had such a big ego about himself," Holden giggled in a quiet voice.

"You haven't seen nothing yet," Marshal Magnum chuckled nervously, before taking a sterner tone of voice. "What in blazes have you been doing Hotaru! Have you been scaring the locals like a damn kaiju!?"

Thinking about the question, Hotaru eventually answered with a booming voice, "If they were scared of me that was entirely their own decision. All I did was present as undeniable evidence as possible that Cephiro and magic are real."

Seeing the Marshal facepalm with his robotic arm, Hotaru gazed up into the sky, "So, is that the Grand Lancer Eagle told me about? Quite impressive… why didn't you bring that along when trying to invade Cephiro?"

To make sure Hotaru heard him, Calera adjusted the settings on one of his golden gloves and spoke to a built-in microphone. As he answered, his voice echoed from the Grand Lancer itself.

"This hovering weapons platform was created for the very purpose of protecting Autozam by the O-group. When it was designed, my grandfather slipped in intentional built-in flaws. While it has unrivaled firepower and defenses, it is not suited for interplanetary travel, due to insufficient fuel, food, and water storage capacity. It needs all of Autozam to sustain itself."

"That is one clever grandpa…" Hotaru nodded with his arms crossed.

Reaching over to grab hold of Calera's arm, Marshal Magnum leaned in to speak in the microphone, "Unfortunately, in the past fifty years that Grand Lancer has been active, Autozam has not been invaded once. While as a Marshal I should be happy about this, it means we have never been able to test the battleship in actual combat. We have kept upgrading it with the latest weapons and technology, sure, but we would appreciate it if you could put it through the wringer."

Having been itching for a fight all week, Hotaru raised his thumb, "Gotcha!"

Without giving a further warning, Hotaru unfolded his Double Armor from his gauntlets, letting his body be covered in gold, silver, and lime-green orbs. Though not even batting an eye himself, the three tycoons and President Diamante all gasped in amazement. Despite his immense size, the double armor encased him in mere moments, leaving the giant even more intimidating. Reaching for his chest orb, Hotaru pulled out his Titan Slicer, almost knocking the spectators over with wind as he swung it to the side.

The spectators though were knocked over, as Hotaru took off like a rocket, with no time for acceleration. In but thirty seconds, Hotaru reached and flew higher than the Grand Lancer, ripping through the atmosphere. Despite his immense size, the Grand Lancer was still much larger than himself, like comparing Alcyone to their mansion. Raising his enormous sword and swinging it down, Hotaru launched a flawless, over-sized wind cutter that rocked the skies above like a thunderstorm. While the attack came at a speed imperceptible to the human eye, the Grand Lancer shields activated in time.

The white blade of wind was countered by an equally as bright strand of light slightly above the Grand Lancer. Despite the attack being blocked, the echoes of the wind cutter could be heard for hundreds of miles away. Raising an annoyed yet impressed eyebrow, Hotaru remembered hearing about something like this from Hikaru.

So, this is the Auto Shield they developed against me? It is as annoying as I thought it would be. What was it… I think it was bad against repeated attacks?

While Hotaru was thinking, the Grand Lancer had time to aim its many weapons towards him. A barrage of energy blasts, missiles, lasers, and plasma bolts sprayed towards him like concentrated rain. With not a single one of the thousands of attacks missing him, the series of blasts and explosions actually pushed him backwards.

However, after putting down the red-eyed mask of his helmet, the Escudo plated and Tungsten Defended warrior barely felt the attacks. The Grand Lancer's lasers had stung as they struck his eyes unobscured, but his heat resistance was high enough to protect his retinas. Getting over the dark spots in his vision, Hotaru quickly swerved to the left and flew to the other side of the eighteen-kilometer spaceship. Once behind it, Hotaru spread his arms and legs, while flying close to the ship's surface.

"Neptunium Barrage!"

Dropping his own bombardment of nuclear energy blasts on the ship, Hotaru could see its auto shield flashing over and over again. Despite feeling the rocking of the nuclear explosions himself, the ship's shields didn't seem to even register his attacks. Just as he was about to test if Uranium Cannon would get through the shields, Hotaru saw the many, smaller golden drills of the ship open up. The sixteen drills each split into four sections, revealing them to be mostly hollow. The insides of the drills were filled with blue glowing rectangles, spheres, and triangles, some of which spun on top of huge platforms.

Before Hotaru had time to figure out what this was all about, a veritable storm of energy beams fired from all the split open drills. Thousands of blue, giant, spiraling energy beams homed in on him from all the drills, charging at him like a school of herring. At first instinct, Hotaru tried flying away from them, but the beams quickly corrected themselves, following after him.

"You fired the OMEGA CYCLONE!?" Holden yelled out at the Marshal. "Any way you look at this, this is an overkill!"

"My grandfather didn't develop that weapon for it to be used to obliterate a single person!" Calera yelled out, appalled.

"You say that, but this might be the only way to make this a fair fight," Magnum stated firmly.

As the swarm of lightning-fast beams gained up on him, Hotaru braced everything into his defenses. An invisible barrier formed around Hotaru, blocking the first hundred or so beams, each capable of tearing apart the force field of an O-series mech. But as the barrier shattered, the remaining ten thousand or so beams struck him in quick succession, each one exploding with immense heat and blinding flashes. Although the individual beams weren't as powerful as the Ragna Cannon, their combined power far eclipsed it by several magnitudes. The people down below held their breath, as Hotaru was shot down and slammed into the ground.

The grounds of the military complex shook as the kaiju-sized warrior fell on the metal reinforced ground, creating a massive crater. Many of the onlookers held their breaths, with the three tycoons rushing in to see if their golden goose was alive. But as they got closer, small bits of debris were kicked up, as the giant warrior stood up with inhuman speed and effortlessness.

With his mind still a bit hazy, Hotaru stroked his horned helmet, "Unngh… Gonna feel that tomorrow. Probably shouldn't take off Tungsten Defense… Alright, time for Easy Mode."

Disregarding the pain, Hotaru looked up at the Grand Lancer, swapping Titanium Power for Tungsten Defense, before shrinking back down to his regular size. As the crowds got closer, expecting the fight to be over, they were shocked to see another gold and silver giant appear before them. While it was smaller, its wings and in-human proportions made it just as stunning as the previous. Looking closer to it, they could tell that the four-eyed giant was mechanical in nature.

Staring at the regal and ostentatious looking mech, Pinto yelled, "W-Where did that robot come from!?"

"That is a Mashin," Magnum informed him, having finally caught up. "Cephiroan giant robots that are like living beings made purely out of magic. Commander Eagle saw quite a few of them during his time in Cephiro. I suggest we take up some distance."

Despite the Marshal's warnings, Holden stayed put, watching as Hotaru was absorbed in the magical mech's back. Although this mech was much smaller than the giant form Hotaru had fought in earlier, she almost instinctively knew what was going to happen next. At first the Mashin took off flying, rising to the height of a couple hundred meters, before eclipsing the skies above them. Though the battleship had taken up most of the skies, the soles of Mazdakin's feet were now covering up the horizon.

"Round two," Hotaru cracked his knuckles. "

Swapping over to Titanium Power's flight from Mazdakin's own, Hotaru flew over to the Grand Lancer, and above it. Although the battleship was still much larger than the Mashin, the difference was night and day compared to the previous. Instead of looking like a wasp buzzing around a car, Hotaru now looked like a driver about to take his vehicle for a spin.

Before the giant mech could take its first move, the Grand Lancer fired its Omega Cyclone once more. The hail of the energy beams encircled Mazdakin, attacking from every angle imaginable like a cloud of smoke. But as the beams struck, they couldn't get past Hotaru's Mashin-powered-up barrier. Seeing the smaller drills couldn't get past the defenses, the Grand Lancer's crew backed off quickly, before activating the two big ones in the front.

As the two several kilometer long drills split open, they first split into four sections each, before spreading out to the sides, pointing in eight different directions. Two swirls of blue energy spun around the centers of the drills, before combining together into a sideways eight-shape, after a larger swirl formed around it. The tips of the sections folded inward, creating a concave structure around the mass of collecting energy.

Seeing the drills spread open, Calera yelled into his glove's microphone, "Stop this this instant! You are not allowed to use the Molecule Decimator! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

Before Calera could get a response, he could feed a crush crip on his left arm, as Magnum wrapped his robotic fingers around it. Forcing the arms dealer's hand away from his mouth, Magnum spoke into the microphone himself.

"Ignore that order! Fire when ready!" the marshal commanded, ignoring Calera's hysteric protests.

Having heard the warnings through the Grand Lancer's loudspeakers, Hotaru knew he couldn't waste time. As much as he wanted to test out his limits, even he wasn't going to risk getting hit by something called Molecule Decimator. Flying on the opposite side of the battleship, he spread Mazdakin's arms, legs, tail, and wings out.

"Neptunium Barrage!"

Once more a payload of energy blasts rained on top of the Grand Lancer, but this time each lime-green ball was dozens of times larger. The several kiloton explosions rocked the battleship's Auto Shields, while their explosions could be heard all the way in the residential districts in the distance. Even the tycoons on the ground watched in horror, as mushroom clouds started sprouting from top of the Grand Lancer.

So as not to nuke the battleship itself, Hotaru kept a close eye on the ship's Auto Shield. As soon as the white light countering the series of blasts faded and the series of shield generators started popping like popcorn, Hotaru stopped firing. Reaching for the shoulder and chest orbs of his Mashin, Hotaru pulled out his giant golden blade and Titan Slicer. Holding the highway-sized swords to his sides, he took up distance from the Grand Lancer, flying two miles above the ship.

"Let's start off small," Hotaru chuckled before swinging both swords at once. "Dark X!"

Swinging his largest swords in crisscrossing angles, two massive, pitch-black wind cutters drew a massive black X. The dark double wind cutter quickly descended and struck the center mass of Grand Lancer's main hull. Expecting the ship to withstand the attack, Hotaru's eyes widened as the four-way wind cutter sliced cleanly through its reinforced, dozens of feet thick metal hull. Shearing its way through the Grand Lancer, the Dark X continued its path, striking the ground below.

The spectators below yelled out in terror, as the black attack sliced into the planet's surface, carving a deep X on the military base's grounds. Though the attack had missed the tycoons and President Diamante, who had been in one of the attack's negative spaces, they weren't safe yet. Though several kilometers above them, they could already tell that the remnants of the sliced up Grand Lancer were falling right on top of them.

"EVERYONE GET INSIDE!" The marshal commanded, rushing over to tear open the lid of a bunker.

Realizing the error of his actions, Hotaru quickly dove down and under the falling rubble. Throwing all caution to the wind, he picked up the largest falling pieces one by one, quickly carrying them to the ground. Although his movements were faster than the falling of the ships, he was able to use Silver Speed and Steel Strength to nullify their inertia. Folding Mazdakin's wings, he reduced the drag in the air, but was still kicking up hurricane level winds with his back-and-forth motions. He had no idea what sort of G-forces the crew of the battleship was experiencing inside, but it was a better alternative to the chunks of the ship hitting the ground.

Having evacuated into a bunker, the tycoons, president, and marshal all watched this insanity unfolding. While Hotaru had saved them from what could have been equivalent to an asteroid impact, his actions had caused another disaster. The smaller pieces of debris from Grand Lancer were being flung all over the military complex, eventually taking out the camera they used to observe the outside. It wasn't until they heard Hotaru's voice echo from outside, that they dared to come out.

"HOLDEN! DIAMANTE! CALERA! IS ANYONE STILL ALIVE!?"

Crawling out from underneath the reinforced lid of the bunker, Magnum spoke out, "We're here!"

Having exited Mazdakin to search for others, Hotaru had kept Titanium Power up for his voice to reach everyone. Despite towering over all the survivors, Hotaru still looked small compared to the large chunks of spaceship around them. The entire military complex looked like a battlefield that had been hit by a hurricane, with hundreds of pieces of debris embedded in the metal ground. The X shaped crater in the middle of it all, was full of loose pieces from the Grand Lancer, and the cost of the damages was incalculable.

"Oh no…" Calera groaned in desperation, holding the sides of his head. "I'm so glad my grandfather isn't alive to see this… he would pop a blood vessel."

"Either that or be excited for the opportunity to rebuild and replace…" Pinto stated, looking around for recyclable material.

Seeing Hotaru shrink down to normal size, Holden approached him with her hands on her hips, "I can't say that I'm not impressed, but you do realize what a blow to Z-group's reputation it will be if the public finds out you did all this. I hope you are proud."

"I will be once I get out of jail…" Hotaru grimaced, his head held low.

"No need for that…" Diamante spoke up, approaching Hotaru. "This was a calculated risk taken by the military and the responsibility will be carried by them. Isn't that right, Mashal Magnum?"

Hearing the president's unusually strict tone of voice, Magnum nodded sheepishly, "Yes… Mr. President."

On the other side of the planet, at the top of the parliament skyscraper, the high council had gathered. Standing on their tall podiums and obscured by the UV light, they viewed the floor-wide monitor below them. Being able to look down upon their issues from such great heights was supposed to give them a sense of superiority and confidence. But what they had just witnessed made them feel like they were balancing over the world's tallest stack of porcelain plates.

"This is… beyond anything we could have expected," the head of the council admitted.

"How could our strongest weapon have been destroyed so quickly!?" a female council member yelled out.

"It was old, and meant for taking down enemy fleets," a deep-voiced council member spoke up. "Not… natural disasters or demigods."

"Demigod or not, we must hold Commander Hotaru responsible for the destruction he has caused!" a fuming council member demanded, striking their fist against their podium.

"How? Do we even have a cell that could hold Commander Hotaru?" another female voice asked. "We antagonize him now and he might destroy the planet's core by accident!"

"Order in the house!" the head of the council struck their cudgel, silencing others. "…Commander Eagle, it seems your initial report was no exaggeration."

Standing down atop the floor monitor, Eagle nodded respectfully, before looking up, "I am glad that the high council finally sees things my way."

"What is it that you recommend we do next?" the deep voiced council member asked.

Looking up at them all, Eagle spoke out firmly, "Prepare for battle."

Hearing those three words, the parliament hall erupted in objections and murmurs. While they knew they had to do something to ensure their safety from the foreign commander, fighting them directly was something none of them wanted.

"Have you lost your mind, Commander Eagle!?" the second female voice asked. "We just lost our most powerful weapon!"

"To attack him right now would be suicide, that I do not argue. But to prepare in case he was to turn on us, may be our only chance of survival," Eagle answered calculatedly.

"But from what we have heard from eavesdropping on his conversations, he seems to be just a level-headed, righteous, soon-to-be married man," the head of the council pointed out. "Wasn't it your idea to attach a listening device to the home-system you gifted him, so that we could form a psychological analysis of him?"

"That is true…" Eagle admitted begrudgingly, his voice turned more serious. "But we cannot let our guard down! You have all now met Commander Hotaru and spoken with him, and as you can tell, he is a well-mannered yet crafty businessman. But, I would like to remind you all, that Commander Hotaru is as cunning as he is powerful. And just as sadistic."

Pushing a button on a remote controller, the many monitors on the domical roof started playing scenes of a past battle. A humongous gold and silver mech, dominating a nightmarish monster, and doing so with apparent glee. The very topography around them was being changed with each of the giant robot's movements. Though the council members knew this monster was intent on erasing all life in the universe, to see Hotaru toy with them like this was twice as unnerving.

Having made his point, Eagle spoke out again, "I do not believe that we should actively try to harm Commander Hotaru. It would just put us in danger. Neither do I believe he is planning on being a threat to us; his actions have shown that much. However, even if there is only a one percent chance he might attack us in the future, we should be prepared."

"And how do you propose we do that, Commander Eagle?" The head of the council asked.

"The only way to truly combat an empowered Mashin like Commander Hotaru's…" Eagle stated, before pointing his remote down at the ground, "is with another empowered Mashin."

Before the council's eyes, the floor monitor underneath them changed from the view of the military complex, to a laboratory of some sort. The location was unknown to them, but guaranteed to be underground with no windows in sight anywhere. It took some time, but eventually the high council members realized the true scale of the facility. Walkways large enough for hover vehicles to drive on them, zigzagged around and above humongous cylinders filled with liquid. The cylinders were color coded red, blue, and green, and each held the remnants of vicious and mechanical-looking, humanoid creatures. Although torn up and badly damaged, there were signs of repairs and healing, as black struts and what looked like veins were growing between the pieces.

"These are the remnants of the three Mashins that the monster, Debonair created. Our scientists have been working on rebuilding them for eight months now," Eagle explained. "With any luck, we will rebuild them stronger than before, using every method at our disposal."

"But will that really be enough?" the first female council member asked. "The combined might of the four nations wasn't enough to defeat Debonair, and Hotaru violated her by himself!"

"Which is exactly why I have requested for help outside our nation," Eagle answered with a smile. "It took the combined efforts of Autozam and three nations to battle Debonair, and it takes nothing less to take on Commander Hotaru."

After his public announcement and wrecking of Autozam's main military complex, the news on all of Autozam's channels and papers were somehow tied to Hotaru. News about loud explosions, powerful winds, and the disappearance of Grand Lancer, had threatened to eclipse the news about the Magic batteries, until they had been censored by the government. To make things up for the mess he had made, Hotaru had stuck around to help clean up the military base.

Afterwards, he and Holden had gone out for a night on the town, allowing Hotaru to experience more of what Autozam had to offer. Together they went to a virtual reality movie theater to watch a historic drama, from what Hotaru guessed to be the Victorian era of Autozam. The day after that they visited arcades, laser tag mazes, and amusement parks, some of which Holden hadn't gone to for many years. By Hotaru's request they also visited a music shop, where Hotaru did his best to reinvent heavy metal, by focusing his mental energy. The results were mixed as Hotaru had never studied music much, but he seemed to garner some young fans with the loud and violent noises he was making.

Though he had planned on returning home after a couple of days on Autozam, Hotaru ended up spending a whole week on the futuristic planet. But after visiting a night club on his own for a few drinks and getting a glimpse of Autozamian exotic dancers, his thoughts shifted to Alcyone, whowas waiting for him back home. Once he had told Eagle he was ready to return to Cephiro, it had taken a couple of days for them to get the NSX prepared.

Having spent nine crazy days on Autozam in total, the return trip to Cephiro on board the NSX turned out as the longest week in Hotaru's life. With next to nothing new left to do on board and the yearning to see Alcyone again, Hotaru thought he was going to go crazy. But after marathoning most of Zazu's video games, the NSX finally reached Cephiro's orbit. Not having patience to wait till the ship landed, Hotaru flew off on his own in Mazdakin.

Returning home, it was day time, and the country house with its many mismatched sections seemed intact. Many of Alcyone's gardens had grown up nicely, with the potato, herb, and spice fields ready for a harvest. Unsummoning Mazdakin, Hotaru floated over to the main-building's second floor door, before hearing chirping of baby birds in a tree behind him. Seeing the nest, Hotaru took this as a sign of things to come,smiled happily, and opened the door.

"Honey I'm home!" Hotaru said cheerfully in English, waiting for an answer. "…Anybody home?"

Putting down the bag of souvenirs he had bought, Hotaru looked around the house, trying to hear any movement. Making his way to the game room, he saw that one of the lights on the main control panel of the alarm system was blinking. While it would usually have been followed by an alarm, the alarm would stop after two minutes of ringing.

"I guess she must have gone to save the village… AH—!" Hotaru shrieked, as Alcyone teleported right in front of him.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!" Alcyone yelled, pouncing on him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

With his heart still beating a hundred times per second, Hotaru wrapped his arms around the raven-haired sorceress. After over three weeks abroad, holding Alcyone against him filled Hotaru with a sense of warmth and relief. Though he hadn't had to worry over Alcyone's safety while being away, it was great to know for sure she was okay. However, he soon realized that Alcyone was taking their reunion much more solemnly than he was.

"How dare you keep me waiting like that…" Alcyone teared up, lightly kicking his shins while hanging onto him.

"Sorry… It was a long journey and a lot of things had to be taken care of," Hotaru apologized, earning another kick from Alcyone.

Unwrapping her arms and getting back down, Alcyone looked at him sternly with her indigo eyes, "Don't try to lie to me! I know you spent most of your time just fooling around!"

Grabbing hold of and taking off her forehead gem, Alcyone showed it to Hotaru. As he looked into it, he saw images of him and Holden spending time together in weird and funny ways. As the images passed by, Hotaru's expression froze, as he hoped Alcyone hadn't seen all of hisactivities. Although nothing major had happened between the two of them, there were a few things Hotaru wanted to stay in Autozam.

"H-How long have you been spying on me with this?" Hotaru asked, sweating nervously.

"Hmmm… I think it was ever since you convinced Caldina not to kill you…" Alcyone thought back, before blinking. "I know I should have told you earlier… But still! Who is that woman and why were you spending so much time with her!"

"Calm down," Hotaru said calmly, holding onto Alcyone's shoulders. "She is Holden Zeta, a tycoon who I struck some business deals with and who showed me around Autozam. If you've been keeping an eye on us this entire time, you should know we're just friends."

"Well… Ihaven't," Alcyone admitted begrudgingly. "Because of the distance between the worlds, I was only able to get pictures like these instead of actual live feed. …Do you promise that you're just friends?"

"I promise," Hotaru said in a heartfelt tone, beforehugging her again. "I even told her that I was engaged. Speaking of, how are the wedding plans coming along?"

"Whatwedding plans?" Alcyone rolled her eyes annoyedly. "With you gone, I have only been able to think of when the next monster attack comes. Plus it felt pointless to make decisions without you being present…"

Understanding the true depths of his selfishness, Hotaru frowned ashamedly, "…I'm sorry I spent so much time goofing off on Autozam and left everything for you to take care of. But if it is any consolation to you, I brought you something."

Blushing slightly, Alcyone smiled, "Oh? What did you bring me? Autozamian seeds?"

"I figured it would be best if you chose those yourself next time we visit the place," Hotaru winked, picking up a plastic bag off the ground. "TheseI picked out for you."

Opening the bag, Alcyone raised an eyebrow, "Eagle's notes on the effectiveness of my medicine?"

"Below those…"

Moving a green notebook aside, Alcyone saw some kind of fabric underneath it. Reaching in, she pulled out a set of black, strapped, stringy, and lacey articles of clothing. As she finally realized what they were meant for, Alcyone's face flushed crimson red.

"H-Hotaru… what are these?"

"I… don't remember the Autozamian term for them," Hotaru admitted, before wrapping his arm around her, "but on Earth, we call them lingerie."

"They…. they certainly are exotic…" Alcyone blushed sheepishly, as she dug deeper into the bag, seeing Hotaru had bought several sets. "Black, red, white… Why did you buy apinkone?"

"Oh that…" Hotaru scratched his head, before remembering, "they had a buy three get one free deal. I figured we could either use it as a spare or give it as a gift to Caldina."

"Hmm… No, I think I will just dye it purple," Alcyone thought about it. "Not sure why you didn't buy a blue one instead. Did you get anything for yourself?"

"…The last blue one was bought before I could get to it," Hotaru answered, before registering Alcyone's last question. "And I got myself… a couple of things."

Up on the NSX, Geo and Zazu were performing a sweep of the cylindrical house next to theirs. While they had asked Hotaru to clean up after himself, the house was hardly up to military standards. There were magazines around the place, trays from dinner deliveries and unwashed coffee cups on tables and counters.

"Well, look on the bright side," Geo said, picking up the trash off the tables, "at least he didn't leave crumbs on the floor."

"He could have at least made the bed…" Zazu sighed, grabbing the sheets, before noticing something. "Hmmm? Hey Geo, I found Hotaru's transceiver."

"Really? He was supposed to return that before leaving," Geo sighed, walking to the bedroom.

Inspecting the transceiver, Zazu noticed, "Look, it has a few entries in it."

Clicking the playback button, Hotaru's voice came through the device, "Commander's log, day one. We have just left Autozam and to my personal chagrin, I realize only now that I left my boxers at a Fahrenese dry cleaners. It seems I will need to embark on this journey commando."

"BAHAHAHAHAHA!" Geo cackled with Zazu, slapping his knee. "Okay… play another one."

"Commander's log, day three. There seems to have been a very tough piece of vegetable in my stir-fry today. On another note, it seems that I have lost the battery cover for my transceiver."

Turning the transceiver around, Zazu and Geo could see that the battery cover was indeed missing, causing them to laugh out loud again.

"Commander's log, day nine. The service droid forgot to bring me a drink today, so I snatched a bottle from Zazu's quarters. I will replace the contents with some toilet cleaner and mouthwash I found in the bathroom. I wonder if he will notice the difference?"

"Oi! Is that why my Grinnallian bottle was empty!?" Zazu asked angrily.

"Hahahahah!" Geo laughed happily, before pausing. "Wait… did he say day nine?"

Playing the next recording, the voice sounded much more serious, "Commander's log, day thirteen. A calamity has struck NSX 2.0. Due to a navigational error, we have found ourselves trapped in the pull of a black hole. The ship has kept itselffrom drifting deeper in by keeping the engines on full, but we don't know how long this will last."

Blinking confused and frightened, Zazu asked, "Wait… 2.0? What?"

"Commander's log, day twenty-four. The engines and the ship have been able to hold out regardless of the tug of war with the black hole. Unfortunately, our food supplies seem to be running low, and in another week or so, our fuel supplies will be no more."

With a cold sweat running down his neck, Geo picked up the transceiver from Zazu. As the message ended, they stared at the transceiver with pale faces, before he clicked on the last recording.

"Commander's log, day thirty-one. It is a miracle! Just as we thought I would never again see my old friend, salvation arrived. A delivery boy from the Fahrenese dry cleaners found us on our last day of food and fuel, bringing with him my lost boxers. At least now I can meet my end with dignity…"

As the final recording came to an end, Zazu asked Geo with bated breath, "…When was this recorded?"

Looking through the dates on the logs, Geo facepalmed, "…The day we left Cephiro. That guy really got us there!"

As they were laughing, a soldier entered the house, "Second-in-command Geo Metro! We have urgent news!"

Quelling his laughter, Geo asked, "What is it soldier?"

"Several mental energy weapons have gone missing from the ship's arsenal! And one of our mental energy compilers is unaccounted for!"

While at first the news was harrowing, Geo quickly realized what was going on, "…That bastard robbed us!"

Author's Afterword: Apologies for the delays with this one. I have not been in the best of writing conditions these past weeks, and this was one mammoth of a chapter. I knew that making a chapter about visiting another planet would be a long one, but this one broke all my previous records!

While I do not feel like this chapter came out quite as high quality as my other ones, I can kind of pin that on the subject matter. This chapter was mainly focused on being a more light-hearted road trip, with a ton of new characters and foreshadowing. As such the stakes weren't that high to begin with.

I also kept many of the descriptions of this chapter on the lighter side, since I had a lot of unknown things to flesh out. Aside from a couple flashbacks and a view from space, we have very little information on Autozam. While it was fun fleshing out the futuristic and automated planet, it was also extremely taxing.

As always, reviews, questions, and critiques are welcome! Let me know what you thought of the chapter! I would like to thank Antoinette Veronica and Cartoonguy133 (who turned out to be our anonymous Guest) for the reviews on the last chapter!

Remember, even if you leave a review on an older chapter, I will always be grateful and make sure to mention you in the next chapter!

The link to my Deviantart page is available in my profile bio.