Editing Tytania:Volume 1 Chapter 8 (section)

=== IV ===
For the living, nothing was over yet.

Duke Idris Tytania rushed to Doctor Lee’s small fleet, briefly bringing them in range of his main cannons. But Doctor Lee, with astonishing speed, slipped through the Tytania’s semi-encirclement manoeuvre and fled. In case he survived, he was supposed to meet with the ''Honest Old Man'' on planet Bargash, so there was no need to ''rendez-vous'' with them, he simply fled. In the midst of this earnest but somewhat ridiculous chase, news of Count Arses’ death reached Idris’ flagship.

Humiliation sent shivers down Idris’ spine. He was not as tolerant of defeat as Ariabert. For him it was something to ridicule or overcome, not something he could live with.

He ordered the end of this ridiculous chase and a return to the Celestial City, but as he gave the order, his blood was boiling within his heart.

“I shall not forget this, Fan Hyulick. I’ll concede you this victory. But in the next act, you shall be the loser.”

Fan Hyulick wasn’t a particularly forgetful young man, but he wasn’t in a position to understand the extent of Idris’ ire. After transforming Count Arses Tytania and his ship to interstellar matter, the ''Honest Old Man'' set course for planet Bargash.

Miranda slapped Fan Hyulick on the shoulder and shoved a can of beer in his hand. She didn’t say a word. But it was clear that she was offering the drink for remembrance rather than for celebration.

A few more beer cans flew through the air, and Mahdi, Walenkov, and Pagès busily caught them. As he caught glimpses of their voices, Fan Hyulick felt a sense of complete detachment from his victory.

“I don’t mind coexisting with Tytania, but they don’t seem to be of that opinion anymore. This time, maybe it is our turn to be hated.”

Fan Hyulick knew that Arses’ end was only the beginning for him.

“I’ll fight with my life on the line to save those suffering under Tytania’s yoke.”

Had he said that aloud, Fan Hyulick would have likely earned a spot in the “Complete Collection of Biographies of Great Figures for Boys and Girls”. But he didn’t. He didn’t even think it in his heart. He felt exhausted and, at times like this, wanted to sleep beside a girl who would tell him, “I love you”. He could probably fall asleep like that. Even if he had the whole bed for himself. And when he would wake up, the endless battle with Tytania would have begun.

Well, that was fine. If he were going to fight, he might as well fight against the strongest. It wasn’t as much his aesthetic as his character that made Fan Hyulick think that way. Those who knew him as an ordinary man of 25 would never have imagined this.

Even if Fan Hyulick possessed the qualities of a good conformist citizen, these qualities had been completely consumed upon returning from the Tytanian prison camp and his enlistment in Euria’s City Fleet. Just as one’s true nature is revealed when the surface is gone, Fan Hyulick didn’t transform but returned to his real self. But regardless of whether Fan Hyulick awoke or not, Tytania would undoubtedly regard him as an enemy who could not be spared and would seek to eliminate him.

“Tytania’s enemy, Fan Hyulick!”

Well, what a rise for a mediocre merchant ship clerk.

Roughly running a hand through his carrot-coloured hair, Fan Hyulick tilted his beer can in his other hand. He felt like he ended up on a beltway that was moving too fast, and it looked like he could no longer turn back.

The news of Count Arses’ death reached the Celestial City around the same time it reached Duke Idris. Two dukes were conversing in the Four Dukes’ observation room.

“It looks like the Fan Hyulick has managed to break through Lord Idris’ trap,” said Ariabert Tytania, turning a thoughtful gaze towards his cousin. “Lord Jouslain, you must have predicted this, didn’t you? You haven’t shown a single sign of surprise.”

“No, I haven’t at all.”

Jouslain’s reply was brief. Talking about predictions and expectations would only remind him of his fruitless conversations with Clanner Ajman. Of course, Ajman wasn’t Ajman. That was precisely all the more why he wanted to avoid such conversations. He deliberately changed the subject.

“Lord Idris must be quite frustrated.”

“He obviously is. He’s not the type who would laugh after a defeat.”

Ariabert’s voice was devoid of sarcasm as he made a calm and factual observation.

“He will likely try to crush Fan Hyulick at least partly out of his personal feelings. Lord Idris isn’t incompetent by any means. Fan Hyulick may have survived, but the universe will become smaller for him.”

Nodding at Ariabert, Jouslain pondered. It would be a shame to let Idris kill Fan Hyulick. That thought briefly crossed his mind. A man who can defeat Ariabert and outmanoeuvre Idris might very well, as the Clanner had said, become a formidable adversary for Tytania.

Did he wish for Tytania’s destruction? This question came with an immediate negative answer. That’s not right. He didn’t wish for Tytania’s destruction. He knew. He knew Tytania would be destroyed.

“In my ears, the lament of the vanquished.” Would these words not come back to ultimately haunt Tytania herself? Tytania’s current prosperity was due to its continuous victories. Defeat only meant destruction. If survival of the fittest were the only law in human society, then in that sense did Tytania represent humanity, and it was then inevitable and justified that Tytania be defeated by a stronger foe.

But for Jouslain, fighting an enemy for the survival of Tytania was also inevitable and justified. As he contemplated the enemy he had yet to face, Jouslain felt as if he were catching a glimpse of the abyss of space and time.

… In the year 446 SY, the “Age of Tytania” continued, and many couldn’t even begin to imagine it coming to an end.