57. The Starship Malta Ascends
The Nova Emperor’s fingertips brushed across the control panel. Billions of battle logs, trophies of conquest, and blueprints of fleets scrolled before his eyes.
He skimmed through the flashing records until he paused on a single icon—like an old photograph tucked away in a drawer.
It was the Memory Archive. He opened a stored catalog message.
“The magic tribe of Velia is gone.
Your magic is gone too, Aria.”
The Emperor’s voice sliced through the silence of the void.
At the same moment, what streamed down from Aria’s eyes was not tears, but the light of a star.
Slowly, she removed the Peral Aurilis from around her own neck and placed it around the neck of her newborn son.
“Leon… my love… Leon… I will love you forever.”
On the Peral were ancient hieroglyphs—the motto of House Velia.
The Nova Emperor ran his fingers across the Aurilis that hung from his own neck.
“Mother…”
Aria’s body ignited like a flame and melted into melark solution.
“Love is memory… Leon, as long as someone remembers you, love never ends. That means I’m not dying… Leon… Leon, you are my star. And the star’s memory will last forever.”
Aria’s voice rose from within the molten melark.
The black fluid began to take shape—forming a sword: a sharp blade, a finely carved hilt, mystic hieroglyphs slowly surfacing from its depths.
“The Sword—the Star’s Memory! My mother!”
He touched his mother’s holographic image on the panel and pressed his lips to the Aurilis.
The Nova Emperor remembered his childhood as Leon— the time he was nearly killed by a servant who wore a lip piercing, the unjust death of his father, Sebastian Benhar, the miracle of saving General Liberius aboard the slave ship,
and the prophecy of the seer Cassandra.
The fate of light and shadow crossed within his chest like a blade.
In truth, the reason he denied the magic tribes… was because of his mother.
He wanted to deny her, deny her people, deny any connection between them.
But to deny something—to keep denying it—was, paradoxically, to crave it with all one’s being.
Now, he no longer needed to crave his mother or her tribe.
For Leon—Nova himself—had become both his mother and her tribe.
The Nova Emperor released the royal security barrier on the hologram panel.
Multi-layered security codes, biometric scans, and a signature bound to the imperial bloodline activated in sequence.
A secret channel opened—one directly linked to the Malta’s navigation system.
“Navigation system override: Nova Emperor.
Destination—Cosmic Cliff. Black Hole: Nemesis Rift.”
With the command, the Malta’s 3D star map flared crimson, etched the coordinates like a wound burning across the cosmos.
That place was both the gate of death and the door to a new universe.
The Altima mines were there—along with Suri and Sabi’s father, Maru’s father, and countless exiles cast out from the Galactic Empire.
The Nova Emperor set the Malta’s course toward the Cosmic Cliff.
The Cosmic Cliff lay at the mouth of a black hole known as the Nemesis Rift.
The Oracle fleet was already arrayed there, in full formation.
There was no possible way for the Malta to reach the black hole without piercing through the Oracle line.
“If we can’t find an entry route, the Malta will be annihilated by the Oracle before we even reach the Cliff—before we can counterattack.”
Sansuna found herself unable to choose.
The tactical screen of the Malta was flooded with constellations and tangled lines of flight paths.
Then, from a corner of the bridge where he’d been snacking on crumbs, Maru suddenly stood up.
In his hand was an old map—the very one he had discovered long ago at the Cartoon Research Institute.
“Ta-da! You guys remember this, right?”
He looked expectantly, waiting for praise.
“That map? I’d completely forgotten about it… Wow, Maru, your brain really starts working only when your mouth’s full. You’re a living fossil of archaeology.”
Sabi teased, reaching to snatch the map, but it was useless.
“…This one, yes, the map I analyzed completely—the one drawn with natural ink. The red stars made from coral and pearls, the blue stars from turquoise and leaves, the yellow ones from pyrite and saffron… And the lines were painted with glue, vinegar, and gold, silver, and copper dust. But could this really help us now?”
Sabi had already put on her glasses.
“You said it marked planetary distances and specific star coordinates, right? You really bragged about that one…”
Maru tore a tiny corner of the map and popped it into his mouth.
“Are you insane? What kind of pig eats an ancient artifact?!”
Sabi exploded.
“Goldfish brain, I swear. As someone who’s graded your tests, I’m qualified to say that.”
Ms.Goli joined in, mocking him.
“Teach… you’re more like dinosaur brain, you know that? But you realize dinosaurs went extinct, and goldfish didn’t?”
Maru stuck out his tongue.
“Hey, Bread-Maru. You wanna get smacked with my Genius Hammer?”
“Heh—funny, coming from someone who can’t even stand up to Yuki. You save all your authority for me, dictator of double standards!”
Maru pouted as Ms.Goli spun the hammer in her hand.
“Enough, all of you. We’re about to go to war with the Oracle, and this is what you’re doing?”
Suri snapped, glaring. Meanwhile, Maru placed the old map onto the holo-lens scanner.
Instantly, a constellation pattern was projected in 3D, overlaying the tactical display.
Suri, Sabi, Marblem, and Ms.Goli’s eyes widened.
“…This route—wait, this route overlaps part of the Oracle’s approach corridor? Unbelievable… that’s insane.”
Suri could hardly believe it.
“Part of it? No, no—try perfectly identical! You guys called me Bread-Maru, huh? You’ll regret it! This is an ancient navigation chart! It marks a safe corridor through gravitational distortion and radiation zones—completely invisible to the Oracle! If we follow this route, we’ve got a chance. We go first… then close the gate behind us! Ha-ha-ha!”
Maru’s chest swelled with pride, his head bobbing like a broken toy.
“But how did you even figure that out? You don’t just turn smart overnight… Sure, some experts say people get a brief flash of genius before they die, but still…”
Sabi shook her head in disbelief.
“Hey, you guys… I’ve been pretending to be an idiot the whole time. You think you know me? You don’t know anything.”
Maru puffed himself up proudly.
“Why on earth would you pretend to be an idiot, though? Of all things?”
Marblem chuckled.
“Enough. We don’t have time for this. Let’s hear the theory of our newly revealed genius fool.”
Ms.Goli quickly pulled the group back on track.
Maru pointed at a specific star on the map—one painted with ink made from gold, silver, copper dust, glue, and vinegar.
The holo-lens reacted, lighting up part of the route in a bright crimson glow.
[To be continued…]
Starting November 2023, The Korea Daily is excited to publish the fantasy novel series “Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years” on our website. This new captivating series follows a trio of young adventurers on their quest to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, including the Maya and Inca. In an exciting development, Netflix is currently adapting the novel’s storyline into a film.
The ‘Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years’ is the latest novel authored by Jeeyoon Ha, who created the “Pangaea series.” Ha’s debut novel, “The Pangaea: Finding Xibalba,” was selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2022 as part of their initiative to support the global export of fantasy literature.
*Mark Oh translated the Korean novel into English.
