Chapter 73 - Trial by Fire

The vast expanse of deep space stretches infinitely, a boundless ocean of darkness speckled with distant, glimmering stars. The cold is palpable, a quiet, creeping chill that seeps through the ship’s reinforced walls. The sun is barely more than a pale ember, swallowed by the cosmic abyss.

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I release myself into the weightlessness of space travel. Instantly, my body lifts, drifting into the air with a slow, deliberate tilt. There’s an odd sensation—my limbs feel impossibly light, yet a creeping unease coils in my chest, as if I’m in a never-ending fall. The lack of gravity is exhilarating, but it also sends a shiver of panic through me.

This is only my second time in deep space, the first being my journey aboard the space bus from Earth to Xyraxis. Back then, the experience had been fleeting—seatbelts locked tight, the journey through the void lasting mere minutes before the artificial gravity of Xyraxis took over. There had been no time to savor the sheer vastness of space, no opportunity to feel its strange, weightless embrace.

But now? Now, I am truly immersed in it. I can stretch my arms and spin freely, unshackled by gravity. This is what I imagined space travel would be like—liberating, infinite, surreal.

Nearby, Agent Feena secures her long pink hair into a ponytail, tying it with a practiced ease to keep it from floating wildly. With a small smile, she plucks two extra hair ties from her wrist and hands them to Myrrh.

“Here, take these.”

“Thanks, Agent Feena,” Myrrh replies, her lips curving into a soft smile as she gathers her vibrant blonde-green hair and twists it into twintails. The delicate movement of her hands seems almost slow, deliberate, as if every action in zero gravity requires extra care.

Agent Feena drifts toward the front of the cabin, a confident glimmer in her eyes. Turning to face us, she clasps her hands together and gestures beyond the ship’s viewing panel.

“Welcome to the asteroid belt of our solar system,” she announces. “We’re currently floating between Mars and Jupiter. The Void Box is approximately three thousand kilometers ahead, but at our current speed, we’ll reach it in about fifteen minutes. In the meantime, feel free to relax. There’s a coffee machine and a cookie baker to the right if you need a snack. And if you start feeling motion sickness, the lavatory is on the left.”

I nod, still adjusting to the disorienting thrill of weightlessness. “Got it.”

I suddenly realize that my body has flipped upside down, my legs loosely crossed in an awkward, floating Indian-sitting position. The disorienting sensation makes my stomach churn, and before I can even attempt to fix it, I catch Agent Feena’s bemused stare. Her sharp green eyes narrow slightly, her expression hovering between amusement and mild exasperation.

Feeling a rush of embarrassment, I decide to "swim" my way back into a proper position. I move my arms and legs, attempting to paddle through the air like I would in water, but instead of steadying myself, I end up flailing uselessly, spinning ever so slightly. My movements only worsen the situation, making me feel like a helpless, upturned turtle.

“Help!” I yelp, my voice carrying an edge of desperation.

“You doofus,” Myrrh groans with a sigh. With a swift push off her chair, she glides through the air effortlessly, reaching out her hand toward me. “Here!”

Her fingers are just out of reach, hovering in front of me like salvation. I stretch my arm as far as I can, but the zero gravity betrays me. Before her hand gets close enough, one of her twintails drifts toward me first, its green strands floating like a delicate ribbon caught in a slow current.

Without thinking, I grab onto it.

“Ow! My scalp!” Myrrh yelps in pain as my sudden tug pulls her closer.

“S-Sorry!” I stammer, letting go as quickly as I grabbed it. I finally manage to clasp her hand properly, and with Myrrh’s careful guidance, she pulls me toward the nearest surface and stabilizes me back near my chair.

Agent Feena crosses her arms, watching the scene unfold with an amused smirk. She places a hand on her hip and then turns her gaze to Myrrh. “That was smooth, Miss Alicent. You seem to handle zero gravity flawlessly. Impressive.”

Myrrh beams, her usual confident smile returning. “My mom and dad used to go on space probe explorations around Saturn’s rings as a field trip, so this isn’t my first rodeo.”

“Perhaps you can teach Zaft here how to navigate through zero gravity,” Agent Feena mused, arms still crossed as she watched me struggle to maintain my balance.

“Will do. I can’t just leave this donkey behind, can I?” Myrrh said with a sigh, her lips curving into a smile laced with second-hand embarrassment.

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Agent Feena’s smirk sharpened as she tilted her head ever so slightly. “He’s your boyfriend, after all.”

Both Myrrh and I stiffened instantly, our faces heating up as if we had been thrown into the sun. Myrrh shot me a glare, her lips forming a tight, zigzagged frown—a clear sign of frustration mixed with something else. We both knew Agent Feena had been teasing us since the day we met, and by now, we had learned that retorting only fueled her amusement. Still, what surprised me the most was Myrrh’s lack of an immediate, loud denial.

Before I could dwell on it any further, a sudden shift in the atmosphere made my skin prickle. The ship’s red warning lights flared to life, casting the cabin in an ominous crimson glow. A shrill beeping sound followed, breaking the lighthearted mood in an instant.

Agent Feena spun on her heel, her playful smirk vanishing as she turned toward our pilot, Agent Steve. “What’s the situation?”

Agent Steve’s fingers flew across the control panel, his brow furrowed in concentration. “A Cosmic Beast has been detected in the asteroid belt. According to our cosmic radar, it’s a swarm-type.”

“A swarm-type…?” I muttered, the term unfamiliar yet unsettling.

Agent Feena glanced over her shoulder at me, her expression shifting into one of mild realization. “Oh, right. Cosmic Beast classifications are second-year curriculum.” She turned fully, planting her hands on her hips as she explained. “Swarm-type Cosmic Beasts are creatures capable of multiplying themselves into smaller, autonomous minions. We call the lesser creatures ‘drones,’ while the main entity controlling them is known as the ‘queen’ or ‘broodmother.’”

“Like bees,” Myrrh remarked, her voice calm but thoughtful.

“Exactly,” Agent Feena nodded in agreement before turning her attention to the cockpit. A confident smirk played on her lips as she addressed our pilot. “This will be a good trial by fire for our interns. Let’s go get ’em.”

“Roger that, captain,” Agent Steve replied, offering a crisp salute before gripping the controls.

The moment he engaged the thrusters, our ship surged forward at a breakneck pace, slicing through the void like a comet. Yet, despite the incredible speed, I felt nothing—no lurch, no pressure, no turbulence. It was eerily smooth, like cruising down a perfectly paved highway in a high-end luxury car. The only true indicator of our rapid movement was the shifting asteroid field visible through the windscreen, the floating rocks streaking past us like silent sentinels of the cosmos.

“Oh, before I forget,” Agent Feena said, reaching into a compartment and pulling out a sleek blue device resembling a futuristic phone case. She handed it to Myrrh. “This is the Titanium Shielding Utility Nexus. Install it on your morpher, and your Frame Unit will get an extra layer of protection.”

“Got it,” Myrrh said with a nod, slipping her morpher into the case. It snapped into place seamlessly, fitting like it was custom-made for her.

Then, Agent Feena turned to me. She held up her own morpher—a sleek, white-and-pink device that now sported the same blue shielding. “Zaft,” she said, her gaze steady. “Since Steve’s handling the ship, I’ll be counting on your support. Register me through your WEEB.”

I nodded and brought my smartwatch close to her morpher. The device chimed, and a bright blue holographic notification flickered to life between us.

[WAIFU Link Initialized]

[Rebooting Weaponry Enhanced Engineering Bios]

[WAIFU: Feena Arcaliburn Registered]

As the system finalized the link, Agent Feena suddenly leaned in, her face hovering just inches from mine. Her sharp pink eyes glimmered with something unreadable—half-mischief, half-seriousness.

“Oh, and Zaft?” she whispered, her voice dipping into something almost conspiratorial. “If you ever activate the Weapons of Mass Destruction series, don’t hesitate to equip it for me, okay?”

My stomach tensed. “A-are you sure?” I forced a smile, unsure whether she was joking or not.

Agent Feena’s smirk widened. “Actually, I take that back.” She tapped my chest lightly with a finger before winking. “Just let me borrow one of your weapons instead. Preferrably one awesome big sword.”

“Okey-dokey,” I said, still unsure if I should be concerned or relieved.

“You’re the best!” she cheered before reaching out and pinching my cheek with playful roughness. “Don’t go getting yourself killed, though. If you ever feel weird, feel free to deactivate the WEEB.” She finally released me, then turned toward Myrrh. “Alright, let’s get to the launch pods.”

“Roger!” Myrrh nodded sharply.

Without another word, the two WAIFUs floated effortlessly toward the central steel door. The pressurized locks hissed open, and with a final glance back, they disappeared into the corridor.

I exhaled, turning back to the windscreen just as we finally made visual contact with the Cosmic Beast.

A massive, grotesque squid-like creature loomed in the distance, its dark, pulsating body casting a nightmarish silhouette against the scattered asteroid field. Its gaping maw stretched open, revealing rows of jagged, spiky teeth—but what sent an eerie chill down my spine was the enormous singular eye sitting in the center of its mouth, unblinking, cold, and hungry.

Around it, eight smaller squids drifted like bodyguards, their tentacles undulating in slow, ominous movements. I couldn’t fully gauge their size from this distance, but the way they dwarfed some of the nearby asteroids told me all I needed to know.

“We have confirmed visual on the Cosmic Beast. WAIFUs, you are ready to launch,” Agent Steve’s voice crackled through the P.A. system, calm yet firm.

A brief silence followed—one heavy with anticipation. Then, through the radio, Agent Feena’s voice rang out, now laced with a synthetic resonance.

“Feena Arcaliburn, launching!”

Right on cue, Myrrh’s voice followed, carrying the same digitized undertone.

“Myrrh Alicent, launching!”

The ship shuddered slightly as two pods detached from the launch bay, streaking into the void like a pair of guided missiles. Their sleek, metallic forms gleamed under the faint glow of distant stars as they hurtled toward their destination. For a moment, they were nothing more than silver comets against the endless black.

Then, just as they reached the 300-meter mark, the radio burst to life once more—this time with overlapping voices, their tones charged with power.

“Frame Unit, Awaken!”

A pulse of energy rippled through space. The pods burst open, their outer shells shedding like discarded armor. From within, two humanoid mechs emerged—majestic, powerful, and primed for battle.

The real fight was about to begin.