"Since we are heading toward a battlefield where I have a more than 99% chance of being killed. I'll like to hear more about this 'wipe out all this army as a bonus' you were talking about." I asked Ygdar. We were currently flying toward Purple Comet and had a bit of time to make a plan so that I won't be killed.

“My previous plan was mostly to run away and since you need me to weaken the space-time fabric, I need to change my plan. Can you tell me what will happen when I weakened it enough? So that I can prepare ahead.” I continued. Not that I don’t like surprises, but when they can cost my life I prefer to do without them.

[ Nothing much, I’ll tear open the space-time fabric for us to pass through while shielding us from the void. Your enemies may fall with us in the Void, but they just cease to exist since they won’t be protected. As for the other, they’ll be just beside the breach when it opens and closes, which won’t do them good. ] he explained to me, making it sound easy.

“...Okay… I’ve got a multitude of questions, but for now, I restrain myself to the ones that seem important right now. How will you protect us from the Void?” I first asked. Tearing the space-time tissue aside, surviving what comes after does seem challenging.

[ The Void is the gap between dimensions, it’s absolutely empty, made of nothingness. The concept of time and space doesn't exist inside, it’s impossible for us to exist in the Void. It’s like a drawing trying to escape the paper on which he’s drawn. But the solution is quite simple, we just need to tear off a little piece of the paper and use it as a vessel to travel to another dimension.] he made it sound easy again. But I have to confess his explication was easy to understand.

"Okay! Has this theory ever been tested?"

[Once, but never in this universe,] he responded.

“Good enough!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t ask for more, the theory has been verified yet I will still be the first. I didn’t ask more questions or to be more accurate, I didn’t have the time since Purple Comet had already been in range.

While I was docking sparkle2 they finally completed their work and locked the system. I could see the data have a slight peak on my monitor indicating that the anti-warp field was activated. You may think that the anti-warp field will make it harder to tear the space-time fabric but on the contrary, it makes it easier. The anti-warp field working principle is to harden the space-time fabric making it difficult to warp, since the fabric is hardened it’s become less flexible, and forcefully distorting it will be damaging.

>> Captain, we’re receiving a transmission from the armada.

“Really? Put them on hold.” I said, leaving sparkle2’s cockpit. While I was taking off my armor and putting back my exoskeleton, I added "and don't forget the hold music!"

As for why I was changing my armor for my exoskeleton when the battle will begin soon? Simple, the Purple Comet has a grade 5 armor if something manages to pierce it, then my bionic armor wouldn't be enough to protect me. So I may as well make myself comfortable.

>> Captain, doing this will definitely make them angry.

“That's the point! Didn’t you listen to my conversation with Ygdar?” I retorted.

>> Who is Ygdar? No entities in the database respond to this designation.

“Wait, you didn’t hear Ygdar speaking? I must have looked strange talking to myself.” I muttered.

>> Worry not Captain, I’m accustomed to Captain's uniqueness.

Ouch, these words hurt. She was such a sweet AI before, but lately, she has become colder. She’s talking more harshly with me lately, is this puberty? My little Lybra is finally reaching puberty? They’re growing too quickly-

>> Captain if you have finished changing, please head to the cockpit. They are charging their weapons.

“Right,” I quickly finished changing and ran there. “If they’re already warming up we should too, charge God Hammer.”

I positioned myself at the center of the room, readying myself. This will probably be my last performance, gotta give my all! I feel like a star streamer, my audience is in trillions after all. This is going to be fun!

“Open transmission,” I commanded Lybra, preparing my cheekiest smile.

Many screens appeared showing various species, Centor, Korca, Xyjuni, Tremain… I must confess I was a little speechless, making all these people join forces should have been impossible. And that's without even talking about the Order of Scalex, allying with biological entities should be against their core program. Yet these tin cans did, they even let them enter their territory.

“HELLO~ GALAXY~! Known by all! Hated by half! This is your favorite! The Azure Witch!” I exclaimed like I was talking to my fans. Though even if they weren’t, they were stickier than stalkers.

They were left speechless by my antics, giving them no time to recover I pursued. “Today seems to be a special day! Look at how many of you came just for me! Centor and Xyjuni are hand in hand! Who would have believed even the Order of Scalex would join the party!” Behind every sentence were insults.

Grandior the admiral of Centor was the first to burst. He was a soldier through and through, his golden skin accentuating his stern expressions. “You bitch! How dare you! You vile fiend, today will be the last! I will kill you and restore Centor's honor!”

“Honor you said?” I was smiling but my eyes weren’t. As I released my bloodlust their faces paled, and even Grandior began to have cold sweat. “Honor, what a fancy word you're using here. What is the honor in exterminating planets that didn’t even know your existence? Where was your honor when you blow up Faltra1 because you were losing ground? Killing millions of innocent civilians is honorable? Or maybe you think that since they weren’t citizens of Centor that was acceptable? Then what about Kronor?” I didn’t give him any respite.

“You think you still have honor admiral? Your just a murderer hiding behind your title.” Grandior face hardened thinking he had found a weakness in my word but I didn’t let him use it. “I know what you think ‘You’re a murderer too’, yes I am! You already had spread my wanted poster and I have never hidden it. But I always stayed true to my principles, could you say the same for you? Greed has always been your motivation, today isn’t different.”

I looked at each of them and concluded. “Honor? This fight has nothing of it! Look at yourself! The proud Centor! The dreadful Order of Scalex! The prolific Korca! The impassive Xyjuni! Billions to fight against one, is this something to be proud of?” the iciness of my voice had reached absolute zero.

I could see some crew members shake in their pants. No good, no good, I shouldn’t scare them too much. I suppressed my bloodlust like it never was here and made another cheeky smile.

“But I agree with you, today will be our final battle, will you kill me or will you be annihilated? Today I’ll become a myth, my name will resound in all the universe. Lybra playlist 4, I let you make the mix. This is our last dance, give me your all!” I exclaimed.

The music started with perfect timing, just when thousands of missiles were in sight. These fuckers didn’t even wait until the end of the communication before firing. Too bad for them, I’m prepared too. When they were near enough, Lybra fired God Hammer. A strong gravitational wave was produced, and all the missiles exploded, but it didn’t stop there. The wave pursued and reached CRT1, fracturing the planet.

God Hammer was a grade 5.5 weapon developed by myself. The principle was simple, a gravitational wave distorting the space-time fabric. Destroying matter and bending energy rays, he could be used as both a shield and weapon.

“It’s show time~!” I said while most of the screens turned off.

But one remained on, it was the screen of a young commander. Kaylor, commander of Centor, was the living proof that not everyone here wanted to fight me. Unfortunately for him, he was forced to come and fight.

“Commander we should cut the communication too.” said one of his crew members.

“Just cut our side, she could let slip information. Moreover, while we hear music that means she’s alive.” He responded and his screen turned off too. Too bad I won’t let slip anything, I’ll only transmit music.

I sat in my seat and took control of my ship. Using the disturbance created by God Hammer I warped out of range of a missile salvo. Normally warping in an anti-warp zone should be almost impossible, but thanks to God Hammer I could manage this feat. Unfortunately, while I could warp in the zone I couldn’t warp out.

“Lybra fire God Hammer irregularly, I want to turn this stellar system into a messy swamp. We won't last long under their fire, we must blur their sights." I ordered.

While I was speaking hundreds of lasers were locked on Purple Comet. I couldn’t have evaded them so I took their hit with my shield. I fired my lasers too, thirty grade 4 lasers fired at random. There were so many ships that I didn’t even have to aim, twenty-eight found their mark. This firepower was more than enough to destroy most of their ships, so twenty-seven were blown. But that was insignificant for their number.

Projectiles and lasers were raining on Purple Comet, If it was any other ship it would already be turned into scrap iron. I was avoiding most of them, but I couldn’t escape everything, Scalex marksmanships were just godlike. If it wasn’t because of friendly fire, they would fire even more. Their goal was to wear me down with their number and finish me when I would be exhausted.

Of course, I wouldn’t let them do that, I needed to tear the space-time fabric and this kind of fight wouldn’t be enough. We needed to fire grade 5 weapons at each other for that, but for now, I played their game because I needed time for Lybra and the God Hammer.

And so for a long and boring time, I was taking hits while trying to evade most of them. However, slowly but surely, Lybra was turning the space in the stellar system into a maze, even the star had taken a strange shape and was erupting in an extremely powerful stellar storm. The armada must have thought I was up to something, but they only tried to contain me in the center of the system. Probably believed that as long as I was unable to leave the system, it will be their victory.

>> Captain, we’re ready.

“Splendid! This should have been enough warm-up, let’s speed up! Disables limiters and arm the cannons, it's time for firework!” I answered. Finally, we can really play.

With what Lybra had done, aiming at me was becoming difficult, but I didn't have the same troubles, I didn't even need to aim. No matter where I fired, I was certain to touch someone with how many they were. With that, I fired my first projectile of the battle, a grade 5 missile: BI-5. The missile should have flown straight, but with the distorted space he was flying erratically before exploding between Scalex's and Korca's ships.

The first explosion destroyed hundreds of spaceships and the debris of the explosion encompassed tens of thousands of ships. But that was only the first stage of the explosion, soon all the debris converged in one point and produced a second explosion a thousand times more powerful.

This was the start of what would soon be called hell, the explosion startled some of them. But they quickly responded as I fired more BI-5. The Order of Scalex was the quickest, as you could expect from the AIs, and fired their TX-12.

A blue gas rapidly expanded, and within, terribly powerful electromagnetic waves generated lightning larger than ten kilometers.

Following them, more and more spaceships fired their own grade 5 weapons, they didn't give a damn about friendly fire anymore. Red, blue, green, all the colors of the light spectrum flashed one after the other, spreading destruction and desolation in their path. The space inside the stellar system was twisted more and more. It was turning into something akin to a kaleidoscope, front and back could be connected and it was impossible to predict where you’ll be hit.

Impossible for everyone but me, that is. Of course, I couldn't avoid all the damage. But I could avoid the deadliest by trusting my instincts. I fired some prototypes of my new weapon the BT-5, something similar to a space shredder. Combining them with the BI-5, God Hammer, and all my other weapons everything in my path was turned to dust.

My sensors finally began to find something strange, the space was reacting weirdly like it was reaching its limits. These idiots were so concentrated on restraining and killing me that they didn’t even notice what I was doing, nor that they were helping me. Couldn’t really blame them for not noticing, until five seconds ago, the space limits were just theoretical. If you weren’t looking for it, this small fluctuation would be overlooked.

Unknowingly, they were digging their graves, and their death was imminent. One spaceship, however, was slowly retreating, it was the ship of commander Kaylor.

*** Kaylor's pov ***

A little back in time, before the Azure Witch, fired her grade 5 missiles. Our ship was in the middle of the formation, it was a destroyer-class ship. It was not the worst kind, but for this kind of battle, we weren’t different from cannon fodder. What's worse, my crew was mostly composed of newbies freshly out of the military school, dreaming about achievements.

But that wasn’t on my mind at that time, something else was bothering me. A strange impression of wrongness, that I was missing something. It began when we started the battle but didn’t leave me, no, actually, it was growing.

“There's something wrong.” I finally said out loud.

“What is it, Commander?” asked my second in command, Drea.

“I don’t know, I think my subconscious has found something, but I can’t put the finger on it…” I looked at the communications officer, Rabrez. “Replay what the Azure Witch said.”

The video of the transmission began to play on the screen <<HELLO~ GALAXY~! Know by->>

“No, no, pass this part. Repeat her sentence at the end, after she calmed down.” I specified.

“Shouldn’t we examine what she said when she was angry? It's more probable she let something slip at this time,” asked Drea.

“No, she wouldn't make this mistake and her AI would have filtered it. No, what we are searching for, is a clue she would have purposely said.” I explained.

“Why would she do that?” Drea was perplexed, she couldn't comprehend why she would voluntarily expose her plan. But that was really something that the Azure Witch could do.

Rabrez speeded up the video until we reached the interesting part. <<But I agree with you, today will be our final battle, will you kill me or will you be annihilated? Today I’ll become a myth, my name will resound in all the universe. Lybra playlist 4, I let you make the mix. This is our last dance, give me your all! >>

“There! she said ‘final battle’, why would she say that? It will be her final battle if she died but if she doesn't?” yelled Rabrez. Like me, he found this part odd.

“Maybe she wants to retire?” suggested Drea. She’s really a rookie to say something like that. What did the headquarter think when they give me these people? More than half of my crew are newbies yet they send us here!

“She? Never! On one hand, no one would let her alone, they would track her down to the end of the universe. And on the other, this crazy girl would never stop just like that, not until she died. I just can’t see her disappear like… oh! OH! FUCK!” I patiently explained before something clicked in my mind.

“Commander?” Drea called me, my sudden interruption had surprised her.

“She said she would become a myth! She prepares something bad, something really bad!” As if to accentuate my words a huge explosion happened, the Azure Witch had just fired a grade 5 missile. Once someone starts there would be a second, then a third, and the battlefield quickly degenerated.

“I don’t like what is happening. Step back, we stay back and we move away from the front.” I began to give my orders when Rabrez called out to me.

“Commander! The music has changed!” he urged.

“Yes, I can hear, the battle is accelerating and the music too. What's the problem?” I retorted we don't have time for guesswork.

“But there are false notes in the music, you wouldn’t find out if you didn’t listen attentively. If you use the music note that should be played instead and put them together. They form a sentence: ’For you, I will open Pandora’.” he responded.

Here was the last piece of the puzzle. My blood froze, and I felt chills right down to my bones. Yes, today was truly the last, the universe that we know will end today. I only hope that as few civilians as possible will be dragged into this mess. Tomorrow won’t be a good day, but right now what it means is that… She has nothing to lose. Or to be more accurate she cut her last tie with the world.

“We’re leaving! Right now!” I immediately ordered a retreat.

“Commander? Why do you mean, leave? We can’t leave! This is desertion!” Drea argued. That's why I hate when rookies are in command, and this little girl is my second…

“Do you know what is Pandora?” I asked, but she shook her head. “Did you never ask yourself, why would they all ally against the Azure Witch? From what you know she would be nowhere enough to make the Order of Scalex join us. Pandora is one of the many reasons, some people think it’s a myth, but she just confessed it’s real. If she opened Pandora, staying here to fight has lost its meaning, because Centor may fall before we could go back.” She was taken aback by my brusque explanation.

“But that's not all! She has cut all her ties to the universe. She has nothing to lose and she came here knowing it was a trap. Do you think she wants to commit suicide? This girl isn’t that simple! We need to leave immediately!” I continued. Drea was visibly shaken and backed down.

“B-but commander even if we want to leave we are locked here too.” She said hesitantly.

“Fuck! I forgot the constraining field. Rabrez! Send a message to the admiral's ship.” I quickly commanded. That's why I hate fighting the witch, fighting her never brings anything good. Every time I face her, I curse my ancestors. It’s because of them that this demon was released into the universe if only they didn’t-

“Commander, our radio has been destroyed by a virus. But numbers are flashing on the screen, it seems to be coordinated. They are pointing to one of the pylons from the constraining field.” Rabrez interrupted my thinking.

What does she want… ah! “This crazy psycho… she’s buying our silence in exchange for a way out.” I blurted out.

“You won’t accept, commander!” Drea intervened.

“Of course, I accept. Go to the coordinates we’re leaving!” I retorted, urging our navigator.

Drea like some members of the crew looked at me with disbelief. They looked at me the same way that if I’ve told them to kill their own mother. Making a deal with an enemy is a dishonor and for their young little minds, honor was everything.

Fucking Centor's indoctrination. I didn’t have a choice if I didn’t convince them quickly, we would either all die before or after their mutiny.

“Listen, lieutenant Drea, what did she just give to us?” I asked, loud enough so everyone could hear.

“An escape route?” she responded unsurely.

“Exactly! She had an escape route, but didn’t use it! Why? You may think that she’s bluffing, but I can assure you that she isn't. Now let me ask, why would you give away your escape route?” I continued.

“Why would I give away my escape route? Maybe because I have other ways to leave or...” she hesitated.

I indicated her to pursue her thinking and she finished. “Or I don’t need to escape.”

“See, even you come to the same conclusion. She doesn’t need to flee, but we need to and urgently. And for all of you, it’s may seem like we are accepting her deal, but we don’t have a choice. She busted our communicator and we need to transmit the information about Pandora at all cost.” I said. Of course, my priority was leaving this system in one piece with all my crew members safe, Pandora could wait. Well, to be exact I would never be able to transmit the information about Pandora fast enough so I may as well give up on it.

All of them quickly resumed their work and redoubled their efforts. We were heading towards the pylon while skirting the blasts of grade 5 weapons.

“But commander, they are millions of ships. Do you really think she can destroy the whole armada?” she inquired, she was losing her composure.

“Yes, she could. We are talking about the Azure Witch, the sole Calamity-class criminal in the universe. Most information about her is confidential, so you won’t know, but this girl is incredibly dangerous. Her smile haunts the nightmare of many, it's said that the cheekier her smile is the more in trouble we are.” I tried to explain without divulging confidential information.

“Then I hope she loses her smile.” she sighed.

“NEVER!” I screamed so loud that everyone looked at me but I didn't care.

“Listen carefully, lieutenant Drea. If you ever face her and she’s stopped smiling, kill yourself. you commit suicide immediately, don’t miss a second! I only saw her lose her smile once. If her smile haunts nightmares, it's the bloody eyes that have driven many to death, not even God can save you.” I said gripping her shoulders. I don't know what I looked like, but I frightened Drea quite a lot.

“What?! If I’ll d-die ever way I m-may as well fight to d-death.”

“There are things scarier than death and the Azure Witch is-” my words were interrupted.

We were shot by a nearby armada’s ship, fortunately, it was blocked by our shield. But other ships began to target us too, every one of them was Centor’s ships.

“Why are they targeting us?” asked Drea, panicked.

“I don't know, maybe they don't like us getting away from the battlefield? Maybe we should send them a message again to explain ourselves. Oh, I forgot, our communicator is dead!” responded Rabrez with sarcasm.

“Rabrez calms down, it’s not the time for infighting. We can’t communicate and we’re disobeying the order and leaving the battlefield. For them, we are at best, deserters and at worst, the Azure Witch fleeing. Either way, they want to kill us, and we can’t defend ourselves or we’ll become traitors. We can only hope our shield will resist until we reach the pylon.” I said grinding my teeth.

“C-commander! The admiral’s ship is targeting us with its main gun.” Yelled suddenly our sonar technician.

“Motherfucker Grandior!” I cursed. I Knew what this son of a bitch was saying even without our communicator, this fucker was most certainly branding us as traitors and making a countdown.

When I sighted the warhead, I was certain we were dead, but it never attained us. It was shot down with flawless precision by an unexpected laser. Soon, all impact of projectiles ceased, they were all shot down before they could reach us by more lasers. Their origin was unmistakably the center of the battlefield, the Azure Witch.

I didn’t miss this chance and made our navigator rush toward the pylon. The pylon flashed purple and opened a gap in the constraining field, big enough for our ship. We passed through and it closed just behind us, now out of danger, I could finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Why did she help us?” Drea looked at me. She didn't know what to think anymore and her mind was a mess.

“The Azure Witch is the worst enemy you could ever have but also the best ally. And contrary to what said the higher-ups, she’s not evil. as to why she helped us? there could be many reasons, but I think it's mostly because she wanted to.” I answered.

"Because she wanted to?" she repeated.

"Yes, the Azure Witch is just that kind of person. Doing whatever she wants without a care in the world." I confirmed.

*** Kaylor's pov end ***

Kaylor’s ship passed the constraining field and I closed it behind him. My sensors were going crazy, the time was coming. Grandior was the first to re-establish the communication, as you could expect he was furious.

“You fucking bitch! How dare you interrupt us! You vile fiend, it’s the last time you dirtying Centor ‘s honor.” he insulted me. You would expect more composure from an admiral, but Grandior was this kind of person.

“What is your problem admiral? Disappointed that you couldn't execute your comrade?” I asked with a mischievous smile.

“Comrade? They are deserters! I will have those traitors executed once back home!” he retorted furiously.

“They just heard the omen and wisely choose to leave. Why a dead man like you is angry about the living?” I responded. He wanted to insult me but was interrupted by R3X, admiral of the Order of Scalex.

“What are you trying to do?” the voice was devoid of emotion, but the question asked betrayed his anxiety.

“What are you talking about? I’m only responsible for 20% of the disturbance, it’s your whole armada that produces the most of them.” I said with an innocent smile.

“Stop this stupid joke. You aren’t producing them, but you’re preventing the dissipation of the energy. You’re making the space-time fabric vibrate! Are you trying to destroy the universe?” he accused.

“So, you found out what I was doing, really quick but still too late. As for the universe don’t worry, your constraining field and the anti-warp zone will help me keep everything under control.” I confessed. But I must also concede that I've no idea of what would be the consequences of damaging the space-time fabric. Let's cross our fingers.

“You think we’ll play your game? We've already ordered to stop firing grade 5 weapons, you won’t be able to do what you were planning!” as R3X said, the whole armada stopped firing them. That was clearly a good choice but.

“Didn’t you listen? I told you, it’s too late." I repeated myself, then I requested Ygdar. "Ygdar if you could.”

[ With pleasure, ] he confirmed. A powerful wave of energy left my body, spreading through the entirety of my ship. It was a little ticklish, but not uncomfortable.

Green lights flashed and enveloped Purple Comet. A deep low sound resounded, it was propagated directly in the space-time fabric. It sounded like the universe was whining, rips appeared in the space, as black as a black hole. Everyone was terrified, an incommensurable fear, like engraved in their very soul, has taken them.

I was the only one different, I didn’t feel any fear. Hearing the universe tearing, only a deep feeling of serenity came over me. Purple Comet was now covered in green and the light was expanding into the space around us.

A couple of ships tried to stop us, but without effect. Their projectiles and lasers either disappeared in the rips or passed through my ship like a hologram. The rips kept growing, ripping bigger gaps in the space-time fabric. The closer ships began to be attracted by them and disintegrate into nothingness in contact with them.

“What are you doing?” Grandior yelled.

“You know, I’ve always been a very resentful person. And today, fate seems really playful. Admiral Grandior, do you remember how everything began?” I retorted with a satisfied smile.

Understanding flashed in his eyes, he immediately ordered a retreat. But like I’ve said, it was too late. The pull of every rip was becoming stronger and stronger, and soon every single thing in the system was attracted. All except my Purple Comet, it was like observing a storm behind a robust window. You could see what was happening outside, but you couldn't feel the wind or the rain.

“It's been more than a hundred tritiums, I think it's time to settle our accounts and your turn to be the collateral damages. May you find peace in the fact that we finally ended our everlasting conflict. Though, it's my win” I ended the transmission with a smirk.

Like all the other ships, Purple Comet fell in the gap, but unlike them my entry into the Void was smooth and Purple Comet didn’t vanish. Behind me, the only thing left from Carmin4 was a constraining field, and within, a gigantic black hole.