"Report!"

"Work Order: Complete."

"Life support systems: online."

"All engines nominal."

"Weapon systems: online."

"LMD: online."

"Gate Drive: online."

The Card King spun and hit me with a proud salute. "Admiral: All ships present and accounted for."

The other technicians saluted me back, and on the countless hologram screens around, every ship captain saluted as well. Not just to me, but to each other.

I returned the salute, and I held it for a while.

An emotion welled up inside me that I couldn't quite explain. An emotion that was a mix of fear and anxiety and pride and resolve and just a dash of madness, and I held on to that madness as it was the only thing useful to me now, and with the wild eyes of a cornered polar bear, I flung back my cloak dramatically, and I thrust out my hand.

"Super Galactic Sadomasochist Battle Fleet: Embark!"

The lights dimmed as the bridge entered operations mode. Behind us, the combined arms of my scavenged fleet and the Spacers, all in a tight formation. The sunlight shimmered across the sleek metal hulls of those things, those bulky plates of armor and the wild array of lasers and railguns atop, and within, the crew as proud and nervous and mad as I was.

The shard cannon fired the sparkling diamond cosmic shards in the pattern of a perfect circle, and the Gate laser traced it open. The portal over into a window far from here.

"Dimensional Gate activated successfully," said the tech. "T minus 60 until gate closure."

"Admiral! Drone signals are emanating from the other side."

"Battle stations!" I ordered. "Fly us through."

The red lights flicked on overhead, and I felt the rumble of the engines up through my legs and the pull of the momentum as we pushed forward, the bow of the ship dipping into the portal like dropping into the ocean, and the threshold raced across the decks and slipped right by.

I looked around nervously; all of us did. As the rest of the fleet poured in behind us and reformed into a wide battle formation

"Admiral, degenerate energy scan complete," said the signals officer. "We've pinpointed Marianna's location. She's relatively close at 160km--on screen."

The image of her ship buzzed to life on the viewport screens, and my fists clenched at the sight of her. Her ship sat there calm and eerily silent, surrounded by her drone fleet. They had coalesced again into battleships--some were repositioning to face our direction--but that swarm trick wouldn't work on us twice.

I stared breathlessly at Marianna's ship. Even with the distance, her ship was massive, just a red smear across the blackness of space, waiting and watching hungrily at our home planet, where I had been born and raised and lived, and where Jenna was now. Around the ship, more drone ships began to turn to face us.

"How much time left?" I asked.

"Estimated seven minutes until 12 hours have passed."

I had to think carefully. In the few hours that we had, we were able to pull a bullshit plan out of our asses, but could it work? It had to. There was no other option.

"Admiral, Marianna's ship is hailing us."

"On screen."

Marianna's face blinked on, a domineering smirk that covered the entire front viewports. "Back so soon, Imsi?"

"No more tricks, Marianna. If you have anything to say, say it now."

She grinned a wolf's grin. "Oh, no, Imsi. By all means, I wish you to join me here in this wonderful room of mine. It's so wide and the ceilings so tall, and it's so empty and quiet. Why don't you come over, and we can bide our time until the multiverse dies out?"

Her fleet shifted its formation to face us completely, and I felt dread and fear at the sight of it. The numbers were... uncountable. The brown tempest of the drone swarm was almost as thick with them concentrated into ships, and if they burst out into a storm again, they could surely blanket the Earth.

"Very well, Marianna," I said. "I'll be there soon, and maybe we can have a chat after."

She narrowed her eyes and grinned, and her face blinked off.

"Admiral," said a tech. "The enemy fleet is approaching."

"Enter defensive formation alpha."

"Delta-S levels are beginning to rise. Two percent and counting..."

"Fuck. Enter assault formation: spear."

"Admiral, tonnage estimation complete--on panel."

Enemy combat tonnage: 900,000,000 tons

Own combat tonnage: 3,100,000 tons

That would explain why the fleet looked bigger. She didn't even bring over the entire fleet to the Spacer world, and now the near-billion-ton tide of them raced over, every other ship bursting into clouds of drones, while the rest fired kinetic weapons at us.

The projectiles sparked off our manashields, and the struck sectors across our defensive walls glowed blue and red before blinking out.

Delta-S levels: 10%

Shield strength: 99%

The radar overlay showed a sea of red flooding toward us, and we held firm with our thin blue line. The drones had poor firefight capability, but given the numbers, it was enough to spray projectiles against our shields, tapping weakly like rainfall against a tin roof.

In turn, our fleet fired back, not even needing to aim. Like pissing in a field and hoping to get it all wet. At this point, it was less about being effective and more about making a statement.

Delta-S levels: 30%

Shield strength: 98%

I watched the storm approach on the radar, and when the brunt of it reached the halfway point between Marianna and us, the tail end was still deep behind her ship.

"Admiral, enemy combat tonnage is down 0.3%."

"We don't need to kill the swarm," I said. "But throw some nukes at it anyway."

"Launching nukes--"

The ship rumbled as the missiles shot out from our sides and rushed against that approaching wave. After a few minutes, blinding orbs of fire exploded among their number, and as mighty as those nukes were, they were quickly swallowed by the dust cloud of them.

Delta-S levels: 50%

Shield strength: 97%

"Admiral! Drone Swarm has arrived at line Gamma."

"Order to all ships: Outrun the swarm."

The bridge crew turned to me with wide eyes. They looked at each other, then at the Card King--who only stared forward in silence--and at the Gate technician--who quietly worked on his console.

"Outrun?" asked the tech. "Admiral, are you saying that--" She stopped talking when she read the wild expression across my face.

I was ferocity.

I was resolve.

She turned back around. "Relaying order."

On the radar map, my thin blue line of a fleet began to disperse, now jetting off in different directions. A person uninformed would've seen this as a broken retreat but--

Delta-S levels: 70%

Shield strength: 96%

"Admiral!" shouted the tech with a shaky voice. "Drone Swarm has arrived at line Omega."

There was no longer a need to zoom in on the image of the drone fleet. At this distance, the wall of brown stretched across the viewport windows, smothering any light beyond.

I checked the radar again. The swarm had mostly passed Marianna, and now about 80% of the entire drone fleet was a massive lake between my single blue dot and her solitary red blur.

"Confirm railgun status," I said.

One of the techs checked the console. "The Sadomasochist Railgun is at 100% efficiency. Currently loaded: Wind x10." She tilted her head. "Uh, shall I replace the ammunition with something more appropriate?"

"No. Prepare the railgun to fire on my command."

"Yes, sir."

This was the hail mary. The last gamble. If this crazy bullshit worked, we'd have a chance.

Delta-S levels: 80%

Shield strength: 95%

"A-Admiral! Delta-S levels are--"

"I know."

"Sir, the swarm is--"

"I know."

Delta-S levels: 90%

Shield strength: 94%

I gave the order. "Do it."

The Gate technician hurried in the commands. "Opening portal."

Glittering cosmic shards shot out toward the incoming swarm, and the Gate laser cut open the portal. Nothing could be seen on the other side. Only vaguely the color red.

Right on cue, the Card King thrust the ship into overdrive, and the auxiliary rockets roared with power, throwing us toward the portal, and we ripped through--

And appeared right beside Marianna's ship.

The drone storm was behind us.

But the weapon still aimed at Earth.

Delta-S levels: 95%

Shield strength: 93%

The Card King burst into laughter. "It worked!"

I shouted the order. "Eject wind from the LMD. Charge the railgun!"

"Dispersing air..."

"Railgun charging…"

Throughout the ship, the rumbling echo of one hundred gimps interlinked, moaning as the Gimp King spanked and whipped them, screeching as they fought back in an orgy of degenerate sexual energy that fueled our powerful railgun.

I thrust my hand. "Super Galactic Sadomasochist Railgun Cannon: Fire!"

The bow of the ship flashed with nuclear-tier power. The projectile shot across the 1km gap in an instant. It made contact--

And sparked inertly against Marianna's immense manashield.

Delta-S levels: 100%

The drone swarm had already turned around, and now the wave was already upon us. The stern of the ship now dipped into the sea of those drones, and they began to dig into my armor.

The long barrel of Marianna's gun shone a blinding red glow. It strengthened and pulsed and reached its climax.

But in the remnant trail of the railgun projectile was a corridor of air, of atmosphere, a simple one kilometer-long hallway that someone could yell through.

The knight stood proud at the bow of the ship, and he aimed his spear. "Be not a coward and fight me, tyrant woman!"

The shining red light continued, and Marianna's ship ignored him. But--

No. It worked. Her ship eased its face over to look at us, at him, almost imperceptibly slow--

The half-million tons struggling to turn--almost as if something fought back against the provoke spell--but it quickened. And within seconds--

"LMD," I yelled, "Stasis!"

The manashield blinked off around us, and our hull began to glow a dull blue.

Marianna's ship aimed directly at us, its maw open wide, its mouth churning light like dragon's breath. The Delta-S cannon and its world-slaying power, glowing in our faces, the power dripping from it, the instinctual fear of this danger reaching deep into my soul but only finding madness, and I laughed.

I laughed hard.

I laughed far.

And the cannon fired its massive red beam, and the light of it slammed against us, and the Stasis-enchanted hull panels shed off the light and the power, spraying threads of light behind us--

Refracting. Reflecting.

And widening the Entropy spell all across the drone swarm.

Hull Strength: 70%.

The ship roared. Lights flickered and blinked out. Panels of our armor began to ablate and peel off as plasma and sparks. The crew braced against the rumbling, roaring storm, and all I could see was red.

Hull Strength: 50%.

40%.

30%.

20%.

10%.

5%.

Hull Strength: 2%.

Delta-S levels: 0%.

We stared into the mouth of Marianna's monster ship, and it stared back, motionlessly, almost as if it were speechless.

My ship glowed hot. Parts of the ship had been melted. Guns and equipment fused to the decks. At the bow, the knight and his party unscathed.

And behind us, a sea of black. The brown hurricane of drones were now just inert piles of carbon. The far edges of the swarm remained, but already nukes were erupting among their number--my fleet had flanked them already.

"Admiral! Detecting energy weapons all across the enemy ship. On screen--"

A graphical overlay appeared over what I could see through the viewports, and it highlighted Marianna's ship weapons. There were hundreds, no, thousands. Energy weapons, kinetic artillery, missile launchers, shield projection devices.

"Evasive maneuvers," I ordered. "LMD: Full frontal manawall."

The Card King flung over the wheel right as the enemy ship fired a full broadside. The bulk of the bombardment zipped past us, but a few shells scathed the manawall and erupted with spectacular power, throwing cracks through the hull and the windows.

"Card King!" I demanded. "Don't fuck this up!"

He only laughed in return, and when the ship blasted off in a full burn, I knew his resolve. I could feel it through the incredible g-forces that yanked us around as we dodged and outran the incoming fire.

Missiles launched at us. We countered with mining lasers.

Kinetic projectiles fired at us. We dodged them.

Lasers dug into our manashields. We held firm.

In return, we fired back with our own continuous bombardment, but--

Her mana wall was too thick. Another volley of warheads slammed against her, and those blinding orbs of nuclear fission didn't even dent it.

"Analyze that shield," I ordered. "How much HP does it have left?"

"Scanning," said Cassandra over the intercom. "Analysis complete. Sharing data."

"Data received," said one of the techs. "It's... no, there's no way that could be right."

"It is indeed correct," replied Cassandra.

The ship shook with another glancing hit, and the overhead light blinked out. "Hurry up," I said. "Put it on screen."

"Yes, Admiral."

A hologram appeared beside me and presented a number.

Manawall HP: 999,999,989,740,122,000

"How much damage per second are we doing to it?"

"Admiral, we're at 130 million DPS and rising as more of the fleet are joining us."

I looked across the space around and saw the rest of our fleet in their own battles. Some fought back against pockets of drone swarms, while others challenge Marianna directly.

Nevertheless, "This'll take too long. Scan her ship for vulnerable targets. Ready the railgun cannon and arm it with dragon's blood and nullify."

The weapons tech answered. "Arming railgun... armed. Degeneracy levels are at 113%. Admiral, we need a target."

"Target her LMD."

"Acquired. Ready to fire."

"Fire."

The ship vibrated as the railgun erupted with power, and no sooner had the flash subsided did the round make contact.

And it sparked into her shield and halted. No penetration.

"How the fuck did our nullification spell not work?"

A technician zoomed in on the image, showing us that the long railgun projectile had indeed bypassed her main manawall, but another, separate shield halted it.

"Analysis complete. It's an anti-nullification shield. A nullification nullifier!"

"Fucking bullshit," I spat. "That's completely overpowered. Can't we nullify her nullification nullifier?"

"Negative, Admiral. Our nullification magic can only stack in intensity. She might've found this magic elsewhere."

"No," said another voice. It came from the hologram screen beside me--Doc Jackelope. "Redrim, this is certainly an anti-entropic stasis barrier. In essence, it is a much more complex and engineered system than our own stasis shields."

I looked across the battle. It seemed all space around was filled with flashing lights. Battleships exchanging fire, manashields blinking in and out, missiles and nukes going off, and in the distance, the dwindling drone swarm.

"It's a stalemate. Until we can pierce her shields, we're just wasting time. Is there no crazy fantasy-tech solution we can come up with?"

Doc Jackelope shook his head. "I'm sorry, Redrim. But if the nukes can't break her shell, I fear nothing can."

"In that case," I said, "maybe we should--" A mental spark shot through me as I heard a sound, a whisper, an all-encompassing voice that came and went through space beneath space.

"Allow me," the voice said. It was the Gimp King's voice. But how? No. I knew the reason why. This was sexual telepathy--the Gimp King must've attained a new level of power. "You know what we must do, Redrim."

I closed my eyes and focused my thoughts, sending my message through sadomasochist subspace. "Yes, king," I said. "Are you prepared?"

"I am," he said back.

"Very well."

I opened my eyes and rose to my feet. "Ready the railgun cannon!"

"Arming the railgun…” said the tech. "Admiral, what shall we load into it?"

"The Gimp King."

Every technician on the bridge turned to me in shock and confusion. The Card King maintained his forward stare as he sailed us through the battlefield, but I could feel his smile.

"Load the Gimp King," I said.

The weapons technician's hands hovered around the console, searching for the correct option to 'Load Gimp King,' but it wasn't there. Instead, the railgun display showed him a confirmation of a successful load, along with a 2D image of the Gimp King stuffed into the railgun projectile--with his mythic weapon pointing forward.

"R-railgun cannon loaded!"

I grinned madly. "Super Galactic Sadomasochist Railgun Cannon: I consent to this victory: Fire!"

What happened next could only be described as a religious experience tied together with innuendo. The ship roared as if it alone was a sexual beast, and our fore was lit with a golden, holy brightness that could rival the big bang, a halo of light that pulsed out in rings beyond rings interlined with runic letter and magic designs, and the force of which cast a long trail of golden light, thick and tangible and misting away, and the path of the Gimp King shot through Marianna's ship--

Eased into a turn around the curvature of the Earth--

And vanished out of sight. Perhaps forever. The Gimp King was gone, now sailing across the cosmos. Probably.

In his wake, Marianna's monster ship erupted with a trail of explosions, rocking and shattering wide swathes of her, and her manawall flickered--

And blinked out.

"Forward!" I commanded.

The Card King pushed us into a full burn.

I felt my innards rise into my chest as we dipped low to avoid another missile barrage, and I felt my core pull to the side as we took another hard turn, and when we leveled out, I saw where he intended to put us.

Right into her docking port.

It was, of course, much too small for a ship of my caliber, but we could make it fit. And we did.

By thrusting into her docking port at the brisk pace of fast as fuck, we dug the entire battleship right into her side like a leech--

And only the tip of my bow had pierced her.

The shock had thrown most of the crew around like ragdolls. Equipment ripped off the walls, windows shattered, guns peeled right off, and our already paper-thin armor crumpled against the force.

The lights began to flicker, and system consoles began to malfunction.

The ship was done for.

"Launching tethers," said the technician. He winced at the sparking console. "Hooked in."

"Airlock... prepped. We're ready to board through the frontal cargo ramps."

"Marines to the front," said the officer. "Prepare to assault."

The Card King took a deep sigh and turned to salute. "Well then, Admiral. It looks like this is the last stop."

The officers and technicians paused to salute me.

My ship sparked and rumbled and began to die out. The war outside still raged on, and here within the belly of Marianna's city-sized ship, her own forces gathered to greet us.

I grinned back and return his salute. "Well then, friends. Let's show them a good fight."

They each smiled widely back.

I billowed out my cloak and stepped into the elevator. I had an assault team to lead, and I needed to lead them to the Delta-S cannon and to Marianna. It was going to be a lot of work, but I wasn't worried. I had friends now. We were strong. Strong enough to destroy the Sword of Gods' Twilight, surely.

At this point, what could possibly go wrong?