Chapter 1292: The Mean Eggs

"Just seventy-six more cadets, Host!" D-29 announced, keeping a running tally like an overly enthusiastic referee.

"Right... just seventy-six more..."

Luca craned his neck and scanned the massive mob below for more cadets assigned to Battalion 10.

Admittedly, that had become considerably harder now that the Training Hall looked less like an embarkation area and more like an all-out battlefield. With senior cadets deliberately blocking paths and taking down competitors, the less combat-oriented freshmen were having an especially difficult time getting anywhere near their assigned battleships.

Fortunately, Luca had one useful advantage.

He enhanced his vision and focused on the terminals flashing throughout the crowd.

Thanks to the Academy-imposed restrictions, private mode had apparently been disabled. That meant Luca could clearly see the glowing battalion assignments displayed on nearby terminals.

"Also, Host!" D-29 added triumphantly. "The mean eggs from Battalion 3 still haven’t managed to enter their battleship because of the spiritual barrier you placed over the door!"

Luca nodded seriously.

Good.

"And just as you expected, they tried to commandeer the other ships, but so far, none of their attempts have succeeded!"

Right.

There was that too.

See, after everyone recovered from the initial shock of Luca quite literally delivering his battalion members straight to Battleship 10 using D-29’s distance estimates, several seniors had essentially decided that boarding their own ships wasn’t enough.

They wanted to thin out the competition before anyone even left the Academy.

And while the newly appointed Cadet Battalion Commander understood that, regardless of his personal feelings, it was still a logical strategy that actual enemy forces might use during a real operation...

That didn’t mean Luca had to stand there and let them bully his classmates!

Especially when Luca’s control had improved considerably since his time on Tesseris, when he’d constantly felt as though his very existence was already a hidden attack on everyone around him..

So rather than waste time fighting those seniors individually, Luca simply sealed their respective battleships behind dense spiritual barriers.

Problem solved!

Now, instead of focusing entirely on taking out the other cadets, they’d have to worry about what was happening to their own spacecraft!

Meanwhile, the rest of his guildmates, despite technically belonging to competing battalions now, were making quick work of any seniors who tried to interfere with their own members.

They definitely weren’t teammates at the moment.

But there seemed to be an unspoken agreement among the freshmen, and not just Luca’s friends, that they had much bigger problems to deal with first than each other.

Even the Azren twins and Dominic Vantari appeared to share the sentiment, largely leaving their fellow batchmates alone while focusing their efforts on the admittedly rude seniors who’d started this whole mess.

From where Luca hovered above the crowd, he could even see Princess Kira expressing herself in an especially lively manner.

Very, very lively.

Considering how miserable she’d been earlier about being separated from her Bunbun, at least she finally had an opportunity to fight to her heart’s content!

Then again, sending Princess Kira ahead to clear a path made perfect sense.

Battalion 9, under Kyle’s command, had two immediate problems. They needed to protect their battleship from the increasingly desperate seniors who couldn’t get through Luca’s barriers, while also buying enough time for their Logistics cadets to complete the embarkation procedures.

Because admittedly, expecting freshmen to prepare a battleship as quickly as the seniors was a little unfair.

Mechas were one thing.

Battleships?

Unless someone’s family happened to own one, most first-years wouldn’t have nearly as much practical experience operating a battleship! So even if everyone had to go through the certified captains and designated invigilators, the seniors would likely be able to complete the process much faster.

As for Luca’s husband, Xavier had taken a somewhat different approach.

Rather than simply gathering whoever was closest, he was prioritizing the people he considered operationally critical.

It helped that Xavier had once gone through the Academy roster while searching for a certain Star Mall vendor, which meant the Imperial Crown Prince already had a surprisingly solid mental list of cadets whose specialties could expedite his battalion’s departure.

But perhaps the greatest advantage of growing up surrounded by military and political leaders was that Xavier knew exactly how to delegate.

And exploit every useful advantage available to him.

Which apparently included putting Oliver Mylor on defense outside Battleship 8 while Xavier and Ada worked on deciphering whatever additional instructions and intelligence they’d received inside.

To most people, including several instructors staring at the observation monitors, the decision made absolutely no sense.

Why would anyone put a mechanic outside to defend a battleship?

Well.

There were actually two and a half very specific reasons.

The first became obvious when Ollie walked into Battleship 8 completely empty-handed...

Then came back out armed to the teeth.

"..."

Apparently, the ship’s provided supplies included several heavy weapons.

And Oliver Mylor had absolutely no reservations about using them.

The blonde planted himself outside the entrance behind another spiritual barrier, personally opening it only after confirming that the approaching cadet was truly a member of Battalion 8.

Everyone else?

They could kindly stay the hell away!

The second reason was considerably less violent.

Ollie’s face was simply too recognizable.

Between his reputation as a licensed mechanic, his connection to DG, and the sheer number of people who might someday want a mecha commission or business deal from him, quite a few cadets suddenly found themselves reconsidering whether inconveniencing Oliver Mylor was really worth it.

Especially after the blonde loudly reminded everyone within hearing distance that he possessed an extremely good memory.

Several people immediately changed direction, choosing to redirect their efforts somewhere they assumed would come with fewer future consequences.

As for the remaining half-reason?

That one couldn’t exactly be announced publicly.

Ollie had spent a considerable amount of time learning how to properly handle his bloodline ability, and considering everything, he’d done remarkably well.

Still, with no way of telling how long they’d be traveling while under the constant scrutiny of those cameras, he might as well expend some spiritual energy now and reduce the chances of accidentally sparking out later.

So really, Xavier was simply being practical.

Why waste a perfectly good warm-up when they had a long journey ahead?

__

However, to the people allowed to watch the exercise, none of what had happened, what was currently happening, or what might happen next made any sense at all!

It had been close to half an hour since the heir to House Kyros first pulled that ridiculous stunt, yet many of the gathered instructors, administrators, and exercise marshals could still vividly remember the sight of Luca scattering all those spiritual tendrils across the Training Hall.

It was almost as though each one had a mind of its own, weaving through the chaos while hunting down cadets belonging specifically to Battalion 10!

And according to reports coming in from those on the ground, the spiritual energy radiating from Luca was unlike anything many of them had ever encountered before.

Then there was the control required to actually do all of that!

Those who hadn’t personally witnessed Luca manipulate countless materials during his mecha licensure examination or seen the sheer amount of spiritual energy he’d unleashed during the Annual Expo parade, could hardly be blamed for finding the sight horrifying.

Under normal circumstances, someone releasing that many spiritual tendrils across a crowded Training Hall would’ve been considered impossible. But since they were apparently just as real as the rapidly vanishing hairlines of several instructors, the people who hadn’t seen Luca in action before could only interpret such a ridiculous display as some kind of full-blown attack!

Those who had seen him before, however, had an entirely different reason to be alarmed.

Because Luca wasn’t manipulating mecha materials or other inanimate objects this time.

He was handling actual human beings.

Living, breathing cadets!

And somehow, he’d been precise enough to pick specific people out of a chaotic crowd, lift them without hurting them, and even toss some right over the Training Hall walls to be caught by other cadets like a bunch of random flying balls!

"..."

Yes.

And if that imagery didn’t make much sense, then that was probably the most accurate description possible, because even now, none of their brains seemed capable of properly processing what their eyes had just witnessed.

As if that hadn’t already been absurd enough, Luca had then gone several steps further by erecting spiritual barriers to lock the offending seniors out of their own battleships.

Actual battleships!

Not some tiny personal hovercraft or even an ordinary mecha, but enormous military vessels that should’ve required an equally ridiculous amount of spiritual energy to cover.

Yet Luca wasn’t even standing beside them!

He was still hovering over the Training Hall, casually fishing out his remaining battalion members while maintaining barriers over several vessels from a distance.

Just what kind of monster was the heir to the Kyros Duchy?!

Well.

If the administrators and instructors of the Royal Military Academy actually had a good answer to that question, would they really have needed to pass around a ventilator every so often when their dear students hadn’t even managed to leave the Academy grounds yet?