The man laughed at Yuka's retort. "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?" he asked coldly, shifting his position but keeping the gun aimed at Yuka.
Yuka, who had been facing away, now turned around, casually responding, "If you kill me, there'll be no one left to fix your ship."
She unblocked the butler's voice, which was as noisy as ever.
The butler blared, "He has a gun! He has a gun! Master, don't be rash!"
Yuka replied, "I know."
If not for the gun, she would have taken them down one by one already. She despised firearms, a product of the technological era. In her previous life as a warrior, she preferred the sensation of fist-to-fist combat, or the skill and strength required in melee weaponry.
Remembering how satisfying it was to beat those arrogant warriors... well, she wasn't as much of a jerk anymore, at least not to the extent of mocking her defeated foes.
Dodging bullets was possible for her, but it was too troublesome and risky for the others on the ship.
Returning to the task at hand, Yuka asked the man, "You haven't answered my question. How did this happen?"
The man stared at her for a few seconds. Unable to see her expression through the helmet, he wasn't sure if she was mocking him or genuinely asking. Testing the waters, he asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"How can I fix it if you don't tell me what happened?" Yuka bluffed confidently.
The man was more forthcoming this time: "It was hit by the Alliance Army. Some mecha soldier thought he could rule the roost with his mecha, daring to take on a pirate ship alone. Must've been a university student, inexperienced and rash. My crew chopped off his head and threw him out. In space, no one can find the body. If you don't want to end up like him," he chuckled ominously, "better start fixing the ship."
Yuka just responded with an "Oh."
The man fell silent. She was definitely mocking him.
Turning back to her task, Yuka pulled out a green wire from the charred control panel and asked the butler, "Do you know how to fix this?"
The butler chirped enthusiastically, "I do! Connect the green wire to the second socket, then turn off the switch..."
Casually, Yuka connected the green wire to the first socket instead.
The butler was momentarily puzzled.
"It's fixed," Yuka said, turning back to the man.
The man, who had just taken out his opticomputer and hadn't even turned on the screen yet, looked up in surprise, "That's it?"
Yuka scoffed impatiently, "Are you doubting my skills?"
The butler was even more confused.
The man stood up, obviously doubting. Yuka stepped aside to give him space, saying, "If you don't believe me, check it yourself. Try operating it."
As the man approached the control panel, Yuka suddenly threw a powerful punch to his waist. The distinct sound of his ribs cracking was clear. He gasped in agony, coughing up blood, and slowly collapsed to the ground.
Yuka quickly disarmed him, taking his gun and pocketing it, then expertly dislocated his limbs, rendering him immobile.
"Do you have any last words?" Yuka asked the man twisted in pain.
"You... you're an S..." he managed, choking on his own blood.
Yuka rolled her eyes, relieved that the butler didn't see it or it'd comment on her lack of ladylike behavior again. "Yeah yeah yeah, and aren't you an M?... Can you say something useful?"
The man, struggling to speak, said, "You can kill me, but can you kill all the pirates?"
"Don't worry about that," Yuka replied, dislocating his jaw.
Once the man lost his ability to speak, Yuka looked regretfully at the control panel, muttering, "Why didn't it explode?"
Turning to the communicator, she checked with the butler if it was still functional. On confirming it wasn't damaged, Yuka changed her tone to one of a terrified victim and spoke into the microphone, "Please, listen, the ship is fixed, you can come back now. You have three minutes, and don't bring anything."
After shutting off the microphone, she turned to the man writhing in pain on the floor. His speech was unclear due to the blood in his mouth, "What are you planning?"
Ignoring his question, Yuka dragged him to the pilot's seat, turning it so that its back faced the entrance. She then pressed the gun to his chin and hid in the space left by the pilot's seat, waiting for the pirates to return.
The small-eyed man entered the cockpit, complaining loudly. "Dude, didn't you say we'd split the loot? Why didn't you bring anything back?"
"And what about that woman?" he asked. "You didn't kill her and throw her out, did you? What a waste, didn't even get a taste..."
Yuka, hidden and ready, motioned for silence.
The small-eyed man couldn't get an answer. Thinking his boss was in a bad mood, he didn't dare to ask more. He shrank his neck and left the cockpit, walking back into the cabin of the pirate ship, waiting for his brothers to return.
Three minutes had passed. Yuka rose from her seat and walked to the connection between the two spaceships. She pulled out the orb from her pocket and used her psychic power to transform it into a large sword.
"Make sure it doesn't turn pink," Yuka warned.
"Alright," the butler replied, sounding a bit down.
Yuka swung the sword in a full circle. The exclusive black sheen of Oniyon flashed in the air, and the connecting corridor was cut in one stroke!
The connection closed, the hatch automatically shut, and the loud noise startled the pirates inside the cabin. The small-eyed man was the first to rush out, shouting, "Is the boss okay?"
Yuka turned around.
The man saw his half-dead boss covered in blood in the pilot seat. He looked in terror at Yuka, dragging the long sword towards him, and asked with forced bravery, "What did you do? He's…"
He wanted to say that their boss, with an A+ in physical strength, could easily kill Yuka with one slap, but he suddenly realized that it was this woman who had beaten up their boss. He choked up, unable to say another word.
The other pirates arrived. They quickly pulled out guns from their waists and started shooting at Yuka.
Yuka had already squatted down a second earlier, turning her sword into a shield. Bullets sparked off the shield, leaving not a single mark.
"Typical Oniyon," Yuka exclaimed, then stood up.
The pirates, having emptied their guns, reached for spare bullets, but found only metal scraps.
"Out of bullets?" Yuka said excitedly. "Time to switch to melee weapons."
Her shield transformed into a large, spike-covered hammer with a chain at the handle.
The pirates in front retreated at the sight of her bizarre weapon.
"Don't run," Yuka coiled the chain around her fingers, lifting the hammer from the ground. She flexed her forearm, spinning the hammer at high speed in the air, leaving only a black shadow.
A whooshing sound followed. The small-eyed was struck and sent flying, the hammer's spikes piercing his body and tearing off a layer of flesh.
He screamed in agony and crashed into the pirate crowd, splattering blood on those around him.
The pirates retreated, fleeing into the cabin.
Yuka stepped on the face of the small-eyed man, grinding it into the ground until he passed out.
"I told you not to run," Yuka sighed, retracting her hammer.
The man with small eyes woke up in pain, convulsing on the ground. Yuka thought for a moment and decided not to give him a merciful shot to end his life.
"Please patiently wait for your death," she said and turned to the control panel, firing more than a dozen shots to empty the gun.
"Warning! The spaceship's self-destruct sequence has been activated. It will explode in one minute!"
Yuka whistled, "Wow, looks like I've got a talent for blowing up high-tech stuff."
The butler flickered in the air because of horror.
Yuka pulled up the barely alive man from the seat and walked to the cabin door. She swung her massive hammer, creating a huge breach in the door.
Then, she took out her Lev from the space button and threw the man onto it.
Mounting Lev, the pirate spaceship's self-destruct countdown was already down to mere seconds.
"See you in the next life," Yuka waved at the pirate ship, "Bye-bye now."
As the Lev sped through space, Yuka shook her long curly hair. The massive spaceship exploded behind her, its brilliant flames rivaling fireworks.
On the public spaceship, Toru was at a loss, staring at the suddenly severed connecting corridor. He had imagined many scenarios, but not this one.
'Are the space pirates gone? Will they come back? Is the girl still alive?' Toru, covering his head, sat down in confusion.
Suddenly, the breached cabin door shook, and a bloodied man was thrown into the cockpit. Toru screamed in fright and scrambled back, away from the nearly corpse-like body.
"Why are you running?" Yuka steadied herself at the cabin entrance, putting the Lev back into the space button.
"All settled," Yuka walked to the pilot seat, telling Toru, "Go back to the cabin. I'll fly the spaceship."
Toru blankly stared at Yuka, then averted his gaze, trying not to focus on the blood on her, and softly replied, "Okay, okay."
He walked quickly back to Cabin 3. When he returned, the noise inside ceased. The tattooed man loudly asked, "Why are you back? Are they gone?"
Toru nodded, about to speak when a strange fragrance filled the air. His vision blurred, and he collapsed next to his seat.
In his last conscious moment, Toru barely opened his eyes to see everyone in the cabin falling asleep. Unable to resist the drowsiness, he too fell asleep.
Back in the cockpit, Yuka poured the strong sleeping drug she got from Snakehead into the air circulation system. Once she was sure it had reached the cabin, she adjusted her helmet.
"Did the captain send a distress signal to the Alliance Army?" Yuka asked the butler.
She placed the orb on the control console. The butler extended an electronic hand to interface with the control system and replied to Yuka, "No, he didn't."
"Then send one to the Alliance Army," Yuka said, fiddling with her opticomputer that lacked signal and network. "Wait until we reach Capital Octoxis to send it."
The butler set an alarm and then announced, "We are arriving at Capital Octoxis in seven hours."
"Bon voyage," he added.