Ch.224″This is tr-ue loooove.”

Finally warping out into the eighth battle zone, I quickly began scanning the surrounding fleets with my eyes.

And everyone was, how should I put it…

“Hmm, by the eighth battle, the fleet size has definitely decreased significantly.”

“There are hardly any Commanders left with small ships.”

While everyone had desperately held onto their large ships, especially battleships and aircraft carriers…

Cruisers and below? Maybe one or two per user at most?

No, even that’s generous. Of the nine people here, six had no patrol ships left at all, composing their fleets entirely of large ships.

And I was one of those six.

“…What ships do we have left now?”

“Excluding the Naranjara-class that was submerged when we entered the combat map… Hresvelgr, Kraken, three regular battle cruisers… and Overseer, for a total of seven ships!”

“Hmm.”

How did the Overseer, which was once our fleet’s largest vessel, become the smallest ship in our fleet?

Well, I suppose it’s because the Naranjara is only the size of a destroyer… no, even smaller.

Our Jessica was waving her arms wildly, trying to tell me that we still had small ships left.

“But Commander! We still have the Naranjara-class, so it’s not like we have no small ships at all!”

“…You mean the ship that consumes more fleet points than a battleship?”

“Oh.”

Even with its miniature size, consuming 50 points by itself seems a bit excessive.

Anyway, since I’ve completely run out of small ships to serve as evasion tanks…

This time I was determined to adopt a cowardly meta strategy, focusing solely on long-range sniping.

But while I was thinking this and discussing with other users in the chat about where to go and what to do…

A new fleet appeared at the rear of our formation, attempting to join the battle.

-Crackle…

-“Oh… aren’t you Icarus?”

“Ms. Arcadia, meeting three times in a row is quite the coincidence.”

-“Y-yes! What an amazing coincidence?!”

Seeing Arcadia appear for the third consecutive time, I thought the world was truly unpredictable.

But considering how the number of users gets cut in half after each round, by this point after 7 wins, the user count would naturally be much smaller…

Thinking it made sense, I nodded and welcomed her.

==========

Meanwhile, at the same time.

On the bridge of the flagship “Hood” leading Arcadia’s fleet…

-“Let’s stick together this time too. It would be better for us with our compatible composition than wandering around with people we haven’t coordinated with.”

“Eek, ah, yes! Of course!”

-“Then let’s maintain the communication channel after the battle starts like before…”

-Beep!

“…Hehe, hehehe.”

“Are you that pleased, Commander?”

Arcadia, the #1 member and president of Icarus’s fan club(?), who also served as the leader of the massive “Justice” clan.

The moment her communication with Icarus ended, she started giggling like a high school girl in love.

No, with her cheeks flushed red with excitement as she grabbed her adjutant Clione’s shoulders and shook them vigorously…

It wasn’t just “like” being in love – she was already completely head over heels.

“What should I do, what should I do?”

“Umm.”

“Not only did I get paired with Icarus three times, but he directly asked me to go with him!”

“Ugh… uuugh.”

“This is destiny! The red thread of fate ordained by heaven!”

“Ah, I understand, but please calm down a bit, Commander.”

Naturally, faced with Arcadia’s excitement, Clione was trying to calm her down while feeling like her shoulders might dislocate.

Fortunately for Clione, even though Arcadia was in love, she hadn’t evolved into a crazy woman who had lost all reason and sanity.

“Commander, the battle will begin soon. Are you going to keep acting like this then too?”

“…Huh?!”

“If this continues, you’ll only show an unseemly side to Commander Icarus whom you admire so much.”

“You’re right, Clione… I need to pull myself together.”

After patting both her soft cheeks firmly, Arcadia’s lovesick schoolgirl persona vanished.

In an instant, she showed the demeanor of a cool and composed commander ready for battle.

Seeing her commander’s single-minded devotion, Clione couldn’t help but shake her head in amazement.

‘She’s completely smitten. I guess that’s first love for you.’

Moreover, since becoming part of Icarus’s team, she had abandoned her previous attitude of minimizing losses while maximizing gains.

Claiming it was “the power of love,” she now approached battles with remarkable aggression and indomitable courage.

As Clione shook her head in disbelief,

Mahiro, the Superhuman who was also on the bridge to protect the flagship “Hood,” placed a hand on Clione’s shoulder and said:

“Don’t worry too much. Even though our Commander is blinded by love, she won’t recklessly throw us away.”

“…I wasn’t particularly worried about that.”

There was a moment of awkwardness on the bridge as Mahiro misidentified what should be concerning.

But that was only momentary.

As they watched their commander unleash an overwhelming offensive with the support fire from Icarus’s fleet, as if possessed by a fighting spirit,

Clione, Mahiro, and all of Arcadia’s Superhumans on standby could nod in agreement:

“The power of love is amazing.”

“Do you know why the power of love is strong?”

“Because it’s amazing.”

“The power of love is amazing!!”

Even though that love wasn’t directed at them but at another commander.

But what could they do? It was their beloved commander’s first love.

Since first love and pure devotion were the ultimate truth, most of the Superhumans remaining in Arcadia’s fleet nodded in support of their commander’s pure first love.

However, despite Arcadia’s hard fighting and helping secure Icarus’s 8th victory…

After the 8th battle, our Icarus was…

==========

After the battle ended, when I finally saw the combat results before my eyes.

—————————————-

<‘Ancient Empire Capital’ 8th Battle Results>

<Victory>

<Player’s Lost Ships>

<Battle Cruiser 1, Heavy Cruiser 1>

—————————————-

“Ah, no, Overseer! Oh my god!!”

“Wow… seeing the sunken battle cruiser makes me want to cry.”

I felt the back of my head throb as my blood pressure suddenly skyrocketed.

I was inconsolable, caressing the debris of the Overseer that had been destroyed and reduced to fragments.

Of course, the destruction of the Overseer and the battle cruiser wasn’t because Arcadia or anyone fighting alongside me had failed to do their job properly.

It was simply because, unlike before, the users’ brain skills had improved to the point where top rankers like Arcadia and I couldn’t overwhelm them with physical prowess alone.

“I never expected them to outflank our flanking maneuver and attack the main force.”

“Thanks to that, Hresvelgr nearly exploded and almost killed us all.”

Although the enemy fleet had also been reduced in size…

This actually made it easier for them to penetrate the early warning systems of the Kraken and light carriers, which were already stretched thin just sending out attack squadrons.

While I was holed up in the rear with other users who only had carriers and battleships left, relying on the fierce fighting of Arcadia and other allied users…

“I didn’t expect stealth destroyers to appear there and launch a barrage of heavy torpedoes in a ramming attack.”

“Exactly.”

When the enemy’s separate unit suddenly appeared with destroyers loaded with heavy torpedoes and launched a surprise attack…

A disaster occurred where my ships and those of allies in the rear were destroyed one by one.