Itrul.
A Guardian Envoy of the Sun River Empire, ranked twelfth and one of the empire's only thirteen publicly known Peak Dark Energy Manipulators.
Having lived for tens of thousands of years and nearing the end of his lifespan, Itrul had accepted without hesitation when Commander Gloucester ordered him to go to the front lines and make one final stand alongside the fleet.
To him, since he was already nearing the end of his life, having a chance to throw caution to the wind and wreak havoc without regard for the consequences was unquestionably the ideal place to be buried. There was no better place.
Even though the Alliance fleet had been bombarding him relentlessly, Itrul was actually capable of evading the attacks and seeking opportunities to strike back. He did not need to stand there and take them head-on.
But—
He had not done so. Instead, he had pretended that he could only endure the attacks and was nearly unable to retaliate.
If there was a purpose behind this, it was to lure out the enemy's Peak Dark Energy Manipulator.
Since he had decided this would be his burial ground, Itrul naturally hoped that, in the final moments of his life, he could enjoy a peak-level battle to his heart's content.
After all—
The Alphart Civilization had once dominated the order of this universe, and as a result, no wars had broken out between Super Civilizations for over a hundred thousand years. Battles between peak-level Dark Energy Users had long become nothing more than a distant dream.
But now, all of that had become possible again.
Sure enough, just as Itrul had expected, after he deliberately held back and allowed that fleet to survive, reinforcements from the Alliance arrived.
Thrilled beyond measure, he immediately prepared for a full-scale battle.