Chapter 11: The Divine Mist Heist (Part 1)

May 21, noon, the Star and Moon Joint Commanderies.

A shipment of Hades's Divine Mist from a secret storage site beneath the Strait of Malacca had arrived safely in the Star and Moon Joint Commanderies, and loading was underway. The docks were tightly sealed off. The local garrison and troops directly under HL had both assigned large numbers of men to guard duty, and those were just the forces securing the landward side.

With the Dragon Commandery having recently entered a state of war, HL's Asian forces were under immense pressure and could not spare enough combat troops for the sea crossing. Tiandu had therefore dispatched a fleet directly from the Western Pacific Sea Fortress to transport the mist this time.

The fortress had sent six armored shuttle vessels in all. Their black hulls bore a diamond-shaped emblem encircled by two stellar orbits. This insignia represented the empire's strongest military force and was not generally displayed on conventional combat units.

From captains to sailors, every man was a seasoned fighter, and there were over thirty cyborg soldiers among them. The vessels had tough hulls and powerful guns, and their onboard weapons used astonishingly advanced technology. With that equipment, these six armored shuttle vessels could head north and conquer Sakura Prefecture within twenty hours.

A formation like this, one main vessel and five escorts, was the highest level of escort deployment. It had been used once when Blood Owl was sent to prison, but that fleet had belonged to HL's Asian headquarters. Its combat strength was in an entirely different league from that of this royal fleet.

As always, one of the Ten Celestial Guards would have overall responsibility for escorting the mist.

The so-called Ten Celestial Guards were, in effect, the ten greatest fighters in the empire, personally selected by the emperor. Loyal and powerful. Any ability user serving the empire who met those two requirements was eligible to become a Celestial Guard.

But since they were called the Ten Celestial Guards, rather than the Hundred or the Thousand, there could naturally be only ten of them. So, with loyalty a prerequisite, only the strongest of the strong could claim one of those places.

Whether a lowly new recruit in HL's own forces, a local army recruit, or one of those private bodyguards to the imperial kin known as knights, anyone with a chance of using martial prowess to rise above the political status of a mere member of the masses had the same career pinnacle in the Ten Celestial Guards. Of course, most new recruits in the imperial forces had no idea the Ten Celestial Guards even existed. Commoners and ability users lived in worlds that never intersected. Whether you pursued a civil or military career, you had to keep climbing to see the sights hidden from those at the bottom.

The Ten Celestial Guards had existed ever since the era of imperial unification. They were the final line of defense, the symbol of supreme military might. Their membership might change, but throughout their history, not one had ever been an ability user below Fierce rank. In other words, they stood indisputably at the very summit of this planet's ability users.

In theory, Tiandu was a city that could never fall. But if it really did fall, the empire would still have the Ten Celestial Guards. As long as those ten remained, however badly they were outnumbered, however dire the circumstances, the emperor could remain undefeated unless the planet itself was destroyed.

In the human world, the more significant a thing or a person, the more valuable it naturally becomes.

As you might imagine, the Ten Celestial Guards were treated extremely well. They could live almost as freely as the imperial kin, doing whatever they pleased. Exploiting the common people was fine, of course, since the common people couldn't do anything to you. But it was best not to get into any serious disputes with your fellow members of the upper class, the rich and powerful, or your good days wouldn't last long.

Once they fell out with the empire, people as powerful as the Ten Celestial Guards were certain to be thrown into Tidal Prison. In fact, a former Celestial Guard was imprisoned there at this very moment. But that's a story for later, so we'll leave it for now.

For now, let's return to this transport operation. The Celestial Guard in charge was named Tosaka Shigeichi, forty years old, a Fierce-rank ability user. He had once accidentally killed a classmate in middle school. The police had tried and failed to arrest him, with many officers injured in the attempt. …

Tosaka was later captured by HL, but he wasn't sent to a juvenile detention center or anything of the sort. The law was only a tool, after all. Whether to use it, and how, was entirely in the hands of those on high. As long as you had outstanding talent and could be of use to the empire, they couldn't care less which lowborn nobody you had killed, or how many petty policemen you had injured while resisting arrest.

The strong enjoyed privileges denied to the weak, while the weak didn't even have the right to choose how they died. The weak lived without meaning and were forgotten when they died. Their lives went out like spent lamps, their names absent from history. That was the iron rule.

Like Sorcerer, Tosaka had been arrested at fourteen or fifteen because of his extraordinary talent, but he had taken a different path. He joined HL and swore to serve the empire. After more than twenty years of struggle, he had climbed to the top.

The Tosaka of today was a veteran of countless battles, a powerful man who had long since earned the right to look down on everyone. He was a member of the Ten Celestial Guards, after all, wielding influence far and wide and regarding every rival with disdain. To Tosaka, this transport assignment was making a fuss over nothing. With a distinguished Celestial Guard like himself guarding the convoy, who would have the sheer bloody nerve to rob it?

There was, however, someone who thought otherwise…

Time Attendant had brought Francis to the island a day early. Since that morning, they had been sitting in a teahouse close to the security cordon, asking for so many refills that the owner was ready to come over and hit them.

…

The weather was fine that day, with excellent visibility at sea. The overland transport had gone very smoothly, and they expected to put out to sea ahead of schedule.

Tosaka had short hair and stubble that gave him a wistful air. With a cigarette between his lips, he squatted on a bollard by the dock, enjoying the sea breeze. His HL lieutenant general's uniform jacket hung open over his shoulders; underneath, he wore an undershirt and knee-length shorts. He looked exactly like a warlord who had started out as a bandit chief.

“Sir, we've got practically all the mist aboard. We should be able to begin departure preparations in about half an hour,” the captain of the main vessel reported from behind Tosaka.

Tosaka let out a long breath. “Colonel, it looks like I was wrong this time.”

The captain was taken aback by this baffling reply. “Sir, what do you mean?”

Tosaka stood, jumped to the ground, and tossed away his cigarette butt. “Take your men aboard. All of them. Protect the mist. Leave things on land to HL's men and the local troops. From this moment on, you have full command. Whatever happens next, protecting the mist and completing the mission take absolute priority.”

The colonel stood blankly for five or six seconds, still unable to react. His brain had probably short-circuited.

“That's an order,” Tosaka said. “Carry it out immediately.”

Only then did the man hastily reply, “Y-yes, sir!” He saluted and hurried away.

Tosaka sighed and spoke to the empty patch of ground beside him. “All right, we both know you've been spotted.”

The concrete before him turned semisolid and slowly bulged upward, gradually forming a life-size human sculpture. The gray stone man spoke. “You detected me even though I was approaching through the ground? Judging by that uniform, you must be the highest-ranking officer here. Could you be…”

“A Celestial Guard,” Tosaka finished, giving the title resounding emphasis. Then he continued, “Stealing the mist isn't a one-man job. There must be more of you. And any organization after the mist is bound to be something out of the ordinary. I don't think I'll have time for command duties now.” He casually flung aside the uniform draped over his shoulders. “Wiping you all out will take time and effort too.”