In the Darkness…

Leslie kept maneuvering in the air—trying to locate Levi and figure out how to bring him back. But deep down, he knew there wasn’t a way to retrieve Levi—who had gone down with his aircraft.
“Captain Leslie LeClerc! You must leave the battlefield immediately! This is an order!”
The voice of Lieutenant General Montel came through the communication channel—causing Leslie to frown.
When Levi was hit, there was a moment when Leslie forgot how to fly—as if the world had flipped upside down, and everything was out of control.
The one thought that brought him back was ‘I need to protect him’.
“No, I can’t leave,” Leslie decisively refused the general’s command.
Levi had crashed west of the mine. Once K11 and St. Louis’ air forces retreated—this area would fall into the hands of the invaders. The idea of leaving Levi behind in enemy territory was unimaginable to Leslie.
“If you return, I can still save Levi. If you don’t, at most you’ll die alongside him,” a calm and confident voice interrupted, sounding composed and resolute.
“Who are you?” Leslie frowned—not one to easily trust strangers.
“Claude Sean. I won’t let the pilot of the Pristine Lady die so easily.”
“It’s you?” Leslie raised an eyebrow. Claude had given him hope, and Leslie had no choice but to bet on Claude’s ability to save Levi. “Fine, I’ll trust you this time. But if Levi…”
“If Levi dies—you won’t be the only one upset. All of Z-Zone will suffer the consequences. You have six seconds to break through the enemy’s encirclement.”
The communication cut off. Leslie took one last glance at Levi’s crash site, muttered, “Damn it—,” and then shot past enemy aircraft—breaking through their ranks at lightning speed.

In the command center—Claude glanced at his watch, his voice cold and emotionless. “Exactly six seconds to break through. Prepare the particle cannon.”
“Particle cannon?” Miller’s voice rose in alarm. “Are you planning to blow up the entire mining area?”
“There’s no time to explain.” Claude’s expression remained icy.
Just three minutes earlier—Morris had approached Claude with a casual tone “I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you.”
Claude wasn’t interested in Morris’ small talk, as he was in the middle of a battle. He tried to suppress his anxiety and focus on the Pristine Lady, but his mind kept replaying the image of Levi turning away, like a nightmare.
“The bad news is that Levi’s aircraft has been hit—he crashed in the center of the mine…” Morris hadn’t even finished speaking before Claude’s pupils constricted.
“Hey… I wasn’t done. The good news is the emergency pod activated, and you’ve got twenty minutes to save him!” Morris crossed his arms and watched as Claude violently slammed his computer aside—the crash mixing with the sounds of explosions outside.
Claude rushed out of Z-Zone, took the rapid transit tunnel, and ascended directly to the command center.
In the command room, everyone was busy recalling the fighters. Lieutenant General Montel had his eyes closed, head lowered, while Miller stood with slightly parted lips—as if still trying to accept an unbearable truth.
“What’s the situation?” Claude asked—watching the fighters return, his agitation suddenly replaced by a cold calmness.
“Levi…” Miller struggled to respond.
“Where did he crash?” Claude’s voice was steady as he questioned the communication officer, who quickly reported the coordinates.
“What’s the heat tolerance of the Blue Crisis’s emergency pods?” Claude leaned on the display screen—his eyes betraying no emotion.
“Two thousand to three thousand degrees Celsius.” Seeing Claude so composed—Miller regained his own sense of control.
“Activate the particle cannon. Target: the mine,” Claude’s voice was firm. Few noticed his trembling fingers.
While Miller and the others in the command room found this order astonishing—Lieutenant General Montel gave the command “Load the particle cannon. Target the center of the mine. Fire within one minute.”

Miller gasped, finally understanding why Claude was doing this. Since the mine was destined to fall into enemy hands, it was no longer valuable. If they wanted to save Levi, the battle had to be resolved within twenty minutes—no, even less. The only option was the particle cannon. Its maximum temperature was three thousand degrees Celsius—precisely the limit of the emergency pod. However, using the particle cannon was rare, even in wartime, as the land would be irreparably scorched, turned into a barren wasteland.
At that moment, Levi lay inside the pitch-black emergency pod, his eyes open. It reminded him of when he had gone blind once before. Although he tried to suppress his unease, telling himself he was an officer now, and even if discharged, he wouldn’t have to worry about food or shelter—deep down, he knew that being unable to pilot the Pristine Lady again was a fate worse than blindness.
“I’ve only got twenty minutes left…” Levi sighed—knowing there was no way to escape. He was going to be captured by the alien invaders.
“What will they do to me? Dissect me?” Levi shook his head. “Forget it. Maybe I should just kill myself.”
He regretted that the pod didn’t have a gun. If it did—he could at least choose to end his own life.

“Why do they call these pods ‘emergency protection for pilots’? It’s more like they’re designed to recover our corpses,” Levi sighed again. If there wasn’t a gun for him to use—at least a cigarette would have been nice. As a pilot, smoking was strictly forbidden for health reasons. But the first thing Levi wanted to do after retirement was smoke a cigarette—just like those movie stars, their fingers coolly holding one.
He had no way of knowing how much time was left. The darkness weighed heavily on him.
His thoughts began to drift. He suddenly recalled the time he snuck past Leslie’s window as a kid— looking up and feeling his heart skip a beat at the sight of Leslie’s profile. When he had offered Leslie his lunch snack—Leslie’s disdainful look still lingered in his memory.
When Leslie had been bullied by older students—Levi, foolishly, had stepped in to defend him—getting beaten so badly that even his parents couldn’t recognize him when he got home. Leslie had just walked away, backpack slung over his shoulder—as Levi endured the punches, catching a glimpse of Leslie’s indifferent back through the crowd. That’s when Levi realized that one person could give everything for another without expecting anything in return.
Just like today—his instincts had driven him to shield Leslie from that missile.
He wondered if Leslie would still act like a haughty little princess—no, a haughty little prince—and show that same cold expression towards everything Levi had done for him.
And the most frustrating part? Levi realized that he wasn’t dying for some female officer he admired, but for another… well, a guy who barely counted as a friend.
At least, as a soldier—dying for a comrade was an honor. Though in Levi’s philosophy—it was all just nonsense.

The silent pod suddenly shook violently. Levi reached out to touch the ceiling, but the heat made him instantly pull his hand back.
‘What’s going on?’
Levi—who had been calm just moments ago, suddenly became tense. Could it be that the invaders had captured the sealed pod and were trying to blast it open?
No, no, no… he’d rather suffocate to death after twenty minutes than become a research subject for those alien pigs!
What should he do? What should he do?
This was all Claude’s fault for insisting on fine-tuning the Pristine Lady! If Levi had been piloting the Pristine Lady from the start—none of this would’ve happened!
And now, Levi Van Pelt was about to kick the bucket, and he cursed that Claude would never find a better pilot than him!
Suddenly—a sharp pain pierced Levi’s heart.
A vast sea of blue surged before his eyes, overwhelming everything—just like Claude’s eyes, drowning him.
“That bastard… he’ll be in a rush to find someone else to replace me,” Levi gritted his teeth— completely unaware of the rising temperature inside the pod. In such a confined space, once the temperature exceeded 35°C—Levi would suffocate long before the oxygen ran out.
“And then… with those same eyes that looked at me… he’ll be looking at someone else,” Levi forced a bitter smile. “‘Levi, you’re one of a kind.’ Who knows—maybe in his heart, the only truly unique thing is the Pristine Lady.”
No one is irreplaceable, Levi scoffed.
“Fine, the Pristine Lady is indeed the best fighter jet I’ve ever seen. But if that guy has to find someone else to fly it—I’d rather it be Leslie.”
Like everyone else, Levi had spent his whole life in a fortress city—from elementary school to high school and then the Air Force Academy. The only chance he had to see the world outside the fortress was during flight drills.
Even then, he had never opened the cockpit. If the invaders really blew open this sealed pod, at least he’d get to breathe the air outside the fortress once.
What would that air be like? Would it carry a rough, earthy scent, like the ones described in those essays? Would it have the dampness of soil?
This is a mining area… maybe it wouldn’t smell that good. Probably dusty… maybe dry…
Levi’s thoughts wandered as his breathing grew shorter—his mind starting to blur.
This was the sign of oxygen depletion.
It’s so hot… so hot that he couldn’t think of anything anymore…
His mind sank like it was falling into the depths of a dark ocean, sinking deeper and deeper…
Soon, there was nothing.
Suddenly—the sound of the pod opening echoed above him, and bright light streamed in.
“He’s here! Quickly! Oxygen!”

Proofreader/Editor: meowrii