Interstellar Age

The Great Oni Emperor sat within the confines of his office, with his beloved aunt sitting in front of him. The two of them stared at a video which had been sent to them by the Supreme Leader of the Germanic Star-Empire. And while the Great Oni Emperor had a stern look on his face, Yumi wore an expression of astonishment as she unknowingly let her thoughts escape from her lips. 

“They told me he was dead… That he sacrificed himself for the Empire at the battle of Suebi… How is he still alive?” 

The Great Oni Emperor was not pleased with the current diplomatic crisis that existed between himself and his greatest military ally. Currently, his eldest son was being held prisoner by the Germanic Navy, an act of complete and utter humiliation to the Kondo Dynasty and the Great Oni Empire as a whole. 

And all because his beloved aunt could not control herself when around Germanic men. Thus, there was a livid tone in the man’s voice when he finally spoke his thoughts aloud. 

“This boy, is he one of yours?”

Despite the fact that the most powerful man in the Great Oni Empire was utterly furious with her, Yumi did not respond with timidity, instead she simply drank from her bottle of sake with a sultry smile on her pretty face. After doing so, she shook her head before revealing the extent of her relationship with Erich. 

“No, not really. He and I only spent one night together. But what a night it was… Oh, don’t look at me like that. He is a mutant, and the Empire was going to send him out to die without ever giving him an opportunity to become a man. I couldn’t let such a pitiful little thing go out like that! Apparently, Ryu knows about my little secret. I wonder who could have possibly told him?”

The Great Oni Emperor did not say a word. Like Yumi, he had short dark hair, matching eyes, and long horns. And he was also an incredibly attractive specimen of the Oni Race. Yet, the look on his face was one of guilt, as if he was obviously trying to flee from the responsibility of this whole debacle. 

Yumi did not seem too terribly angry, as she responded with a heavy sigh before revealing her thoughts. 

“It appears that your son takes such matters far more serious than either of us. Because he did something incredibly foolish. Even if the audio has been scrubbed, there’s no way we can prove it. And thus, we are now in an incredibly difficult position. The Crown Prince of the Empire pulled a gun on a Germanic Officer, and a war hero no less, with the intent to kill, and he did so while entirely unprovoked. 

Our allies won’t let us off easy for this one…. Dammit, it is going to take a lot of work to smooth this over with the new Supreme Leader.”

The Great Oni Emperor rolled his eyes at his aunt when he heard these words, which caused her to smack him atop his head, before scolding him for having a dirty mind. 

“I didn’t mean like that! No, Emrys is one of the few men in the Empire whose pants I can’t charm off. But, he does appear to be quite fond of little Erich…. I mean, the man has barely served five years in the Navy, and is already a CAG? No doubt this has to do with his feats at Suebi. Perhaps if I were to speak with the young commander directly, I could coerce him into taking our side on this one….”

The Great Oni Emperor merely scoffed at his beloved aunt’s remarks before expressing her true intentions aloud.

“You just want to sleep with the kid again! Admit it!”

Yumi immediately feigned offense to this remark, but she could not honestly look her nephew in the eye as she did so. Thus, she averted her gaze as she defended herself. 

“That’s not entirely true! I just think that this is our best chance of burying this whole debacle before it turns into a diplomatic crisis! Besides, I highly doubt Emrys would ever let me do anything with the boy now that he is on the fast track for a political career.”  𝐎𝔳𝗅xt.𝐜𝑶𝐌

As much as the Great Oni Empire hated to admit it, his aunt’s words made sense, and thus he sighed heavily in defeat before once more allowing the woman to do whatever she damn well pleased.

“Alright fine, but I swear to the Gods, if I come to find out that you simply used this diplomatic crisis to satisfy your urges, I swear there will be severe consequences this time around!” 

Yumi did not believe this threat for a single second, instead she hugged her nephew tightly to her bosom, as she kissed his forehead, before running off from the room, but not before leaving one last remark. 

“Thanks, Kenji-tan, you’re the best!”

Once Yumi was gone, the man’s expression turned grim, as he made a solemn vow to protect his beloved daughter from her great aunt’s perverted ways.

“No matter what the cost, I must protect Ayumi from that woman…”

—

While Yumi was being dispatched to the Thirteenth Fleet to settle this diplomatic dispute before it turned into something much larger, Erich stood outside the brig, as he watched the stunned prisoners slowly regain consciousness.

The moment the Crown Prince of the Great Oni Empire did so, he lunged forward in an attempt to harm the man who had defiled his bloodline, but was stopped by an energy barrier which targeted the man’s nerves, and flooded his body with intense pain. 

As Ryu howled in agony, Erich clicked his tongue before warning the man not to attempt something like that again. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… Yeah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That energy barrier is designed to cause immense pain to prisoners who attempt to escape, but without actually damaging the body. There is no way you are going to get that thing to short circuit. The amount of power our antimatter reactors generate is more than enough to sustain a small city, let alone a carrier like this.” 

Ryu was furious with Erich for taunting him, and after he had overcome the pain which burned throughout his body, he was quick to curse the man. 

“You fucking bastard… How dare you!”

This only caused Erich to react in confusion, as he reminisced about the past, before so many troublesome things had happened in his life. He then voiced his thoughts aloud, which only further incited rage from the Oni prisoners. 

“How dare I what? Are you referring to my friendly warning just now, or the question that seemed to have caused your brain to short circuit earlier? I mean, I will be the first to admit that I know very little about Oni society.

That is, aside from the friends I had when I was younger on the galactic network, your extensive porn industry, and, of course, the woman I met during my first day at the Naval Academy. How was I supposed to know that Kondo Yumi was your great aunt, or for that matter, a member of your people’s royalty? 

Shouldn’t you feel ashamed for trying to kill a man who was just simply asking if you knew one of his old friends?”

This question caused Ryu to gnash his teeth as he responded to Erich’s words with a vitriolic statement. 

“You barbarian! Don’t you dare call my great aunt by such a term! You are not friends! You are a defiler, one who should be executed for his crimes?” 

Even though Erich had previously admitted to the man that he had indeed slept with Yumi, he had done so secretly with telepathy. And thus, now that all eyes were on him, he was quick to deny such a thing entirely. After all, they were not alone, or at the very least, there were others who could hear his words. Thus, the words he spoke were those of complete denial. 

“I have no idea what you are talking about. Your great aunt and I met on a public transit, and we shared a few drinks together. After that, we parted ways and haven’t spoken to one another since.”

Although Erich said this out loud, he used his telepathy to silently communicate with the Crown Prince as another taunt.

“Of course, we only parted ways after we fucked like rabbits for the entire night!” 

This comment, which only Ryu had managed to hear, caused the man to lash out in anger once more, which again was caught on the security cameras. 

“Fuck you, you bastard!”

After saying this, the Oni prince lunged towards the edge of the cell once more before falling back and howling in pain. Which Erich was quick to respond to with a rather disappointed tone in his voice.

“Did I not warn you about the security measures? Anyway, enjoy your stay in the brig as the Admiralty negotiates your release…” 

After saying this, Erich left the brig and waited for this situation to clear up. Even if a brief dispute erupted between the Great Oni Empire and the Germanic Star-Empire because of his actions. There was no way to prove that he had done anything wrong. Thus, from the perspective of the entire galaxy, he was actually the victim of this whole ordeal. A sentiment which, oddly enough, Yumi shared.