Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!

"Do you have a plan?" I turned to Cassandra, staring directly into her eyes.

Her gaze didn’t waver under my scrutiny, her resolution unwavering. "I do," she answered seriously.

I paused for a moment, weighing my options. In the end, I decided to trust her words.

"Alright, tell us your—"

But just as I was mid-sentence, the entire cockpit’s lights dimmed, and an image suddenly appeared on the bridge’s main display visor. All three of us instinctively turned toward it, our faces filled with shock and wonder.

On the screen was a man, seemingly in his forties, dressed in gaudy attire that screamed overcompensation. His outfit—a royal blue coat adorned with golden tassels, white pants, and high-cut synthetic fiber boots—would’ve looked regal if not for the excessive embellishments, making it more ostentatious than honorable.

He had a sharp face, golden eyes thin like an eagle’s, and thick, wavy, shoulder-length golden hair framing his features. His thick lips were pursed into a deep frown as he rested his cheek against his fist, looking either bored or disappointed.

A moment later, I realized what had happened—this bastard hacked into our communications and forced a video call on us!

{Cassandra... Hand over the key.}

His voice carried a commanding tone, brooking no argument. But beyond his arrogance, what truly unsettled me was—how did he know we had the key already?!

I turned to Cassandra, only to find her face cramping, cold sweat trickling down her temple. Her expression was bitter, tinged with fear, as her lips parted.

"F-Father..."

"..."

It clicked instantly. The man staring at us through the screen was Cassandra’s father, King Meyers.

Back in the game, his name had been mentioned, but his face was never revealed. No wonder I hadn’t recognized him immediately!

That means the call is coming from the Eclipse Sovereign. It’s no wonder they easily bypassed the Range Falcon’s security firewalls.

Well, I wasn’t about to just sit back and take a hit while down. I busied myself, raising the system’s security by a notch as the two continued talking.

"Father, please stop this!" Cassandra pleaded, her face turning solemn. "I know you only want my life! Please don’t drag these people into it!"

Her words might’ve worked—if the man on the other end had a heart. But he didn’t even flinch.

{They already know too much to be left alive.} He muttered flatly. {It is your fault for involving them in this. That is why they’ll die.}

Cassandra bit her lips until they bled, her anguish raw and deep. She must have hoped—deep down—that her father wasn’t truly behind the threats to her life.

But now, hearing it from his own lips, her last shred of hope shattered.

I could only imagine the pain she felt, realizing that her own family wanted her dead...

"Hey, baldie."

A confrontational voice cut through the tension, sending a chill down not just my spine, but likely everyone else’s too.

I quickly turned to the source—of course, none other than Eva!

"No matter how much of a wig you don, your bald spot’s obvious." She continued, her tone dripping with venom. "And what now? It’s Casey’s fault we’ll die, you say? Hah! Stop acting like your words are final, or they’ll come back to bite your ugly ass later."

"E-Eva, calm down..." I tried to intervene from the side, only to receive a sharp glare in return.

With a disgusted expression, she emphasized, "I AM calm." Before turning back to dissing the King of an entire Solar System.

"As you guessed, Casey got the Key. She earned it with her own strength—and a little help from us. Unlike you, useless asshole, sitting on your throne and letting your stinky balls grow gigantic from being unused!"

{Pfft!}

A barely suppressed snort echoed from beyond the video feed, though whoever "slipped up" wasn’t visible on screen. The only one we could see was King Meyers—who now wore an even colder, more stoic expression than before.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Eva scoffed, throwing salt on the wound. "Anyway, your reign is over. Now that Casey has the Key, you’re nothing but history."

Silence followed—a heavy, suffocating silence. I couldn’t tell what was running through the king’s head, but I had a feeling we wouldn’t like the answer.

{...So this is your choice, my idiotic daughter.}

His words were eerily calm, but the smoldering rage beneath his tone was unmistakable.

{Since you refuse to give me the key peacefully, then all I need to do is take it by force.}

With that, the transmission cut off.

"Hah! Who’re you scaring, baldie?!" Eva growled back, even though the connection was already gone.

I let out a sigh of relief as I finished reinforcing the firewalls just before the call ended. With this, we should be safe from other hackers for a good while. I wiped the sweat from my forehead—both from exertion and from enduring Eva’s relentless provocation.

Of course, after all that taunting, the next event to happen was painfully obvious.

"Cassandra. You still think your plan can save us from here?" I asked, just to confirm—picking up our interrupted discussion.

She was still staring at the blank screen before slowly closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. After steadying herself, she turned back to me with renewed determination.

"...Even after that, my plan shouldn’t be affected." She explained, then turned to the only other person in the cockpit. "And Eva... Thanks."

"Humph!"

Eva simply swung her head away with a huff before plopping back into her usual seat—navigation support. Cassandra watched her reaction with a faint smile before shaking it off, her expression hardening.

"My plan is simple. All we have to do is..."

I listened carefully as she laid it out—and after considering the risks, I nodded.

Her plan, while not without danger, just might be our ticket out of here!

---

We didn’t have much time on our hands.

After just a minute of discussion, the three of us were already back in our seats. And as if waiting for this, the sirens blared again, sending out another round of warnings.

"Alert! Multiple missiles, lasers, and other projectiles inbound!" Eva shouted, relaying the readings.

Of course, since we were deep inside the Kariki System, those attacks shouldn’t be able to reach us.

Still, we could visually confirm the entire system—the cavernous walls surrounding us—shaking under the simultaneous barrage coming from literally all directions imaginable.

"Fuck! If we miss the timing, we’re dead!" I grumbled as I floored the pedals, pushing the Range Falcon forward—heading out.

Right. Instead of staying here and hiding, the plan was for us to move first and foremost!

The vibrations caused by the endless barrage were actually reaching our ship, making it tremble. Right now, it was like a calm magnitude-3 earthquake, but the closer we got to the exit, the stronger the shaking became.

It was a relief that the main path ahead was mostly a straight shot. We could push past 1,000 m/s without issue, reaching the "entrance" in just a few minutes.

"We’re near the edge!" Eva announced, tracking the star map and radar. "10 seconds before exit!"

"Cassandra!"

That was her signal.

The next moment, she gripped the key in her hand tightly before plunging it into the space before her. Slowly, she twisted the key clockwise, causing the void of space before her to ripple, opening another purple rift—this time, right at the Northern Face’s entrance.

As we neared it, the "fireworks" ahead of the rift welcomed us. Missiles—having already obliterated the entire first level of the Kariki System—were now reaching our position.

"Eva!"

"On it!"

As planned, Eva took over the weapon systems. Of course, she couldn’t go fully manual, as she didn’t have enough "hands" to handle all the turrets at once. With Percy’s support, she quickly shot down the incoming missiles, preventing them from reaching us.

The intensity of the attack was beyond crazy. If we let up for even a second, dozens of missiles would tear us apart instantly!

Thankfully, the laser-based weapons—along with any other straight-line projectiles—couldn’t reach us. The rift Cassandra opened acted as a shield, absorbing those attacks and sending them straight into the parallel universe ahead.

This was the longest 10 seconds I had felt in my life.

"Three seconds!" I shouted, counting down. "Two...! One...! Brace for impact!"

Right then, the Range Falcon jumped straight into the rift. It felt like we had slammed a car into a tree—all three of us lurched forward from the sudden deceleration. The seatbelts dug deep into our bodies, holding us in place... but bruises were definitely a given.

Without a moment’s delay, the electrical systems flickered—again, returning to a universe without Dark Energy. One of our two engines failed, leaving us with half the usual output. But thankfully, the ship didn’t stop completely.

"Status report!" I ordered while checking the sensors myself.

"Energy systems are down by 70%! Weapons are overheated but still operational!" Eva echoed.

"T-The ship’s barriers are untouched! We took no damage from the attacks!" Cassandra confirmed.

After making sure everything was still functional, I let out a breath of relief. "Good! Then, as planned, we’re heading to the Calumet Star System!"

It stung to leave without getting what we came for... but it’s not like anyone else could take it, either.

The egg should be safe in the 100th level of the Kariki System—at least, until the next "war" starts.

"Keep watch over the radars and sensors," I reminded the girls. "We don’t know what’s lurking in this parallel universe."

Although we were finally out of immediate danger, now came the next challenge—traversing the unknown.

We still had to make sure we were clear of the enemy’s encirclement before returning to our universe. Until then, survival was all that mattered.