Michael had spent nurous hours contemplating what he would do once this mont arrived. Though sadly, fulfilling the Emperor’s order was, realistically speaking, his one and only option.
No mber of humanity had ever surpassed the power the Emperor possessed. The most logical course of action was to comply with the order and hope to leave a favorable enough impression that Nicole’s father would not trouble them again.
Owen noticed the frown on Michael’s face.
"Don’t worry." The King reassured. "While you don’t have a choice, I do. My plan is to remain at the headquarters of the Sacred Order to oversee the operations of the faction."
The man was essentially saying that he would make sure that no harm would co to Nicole.
With a nod of appreciation, Michael turned to Nicole.
A few seconds passed as they stared silently at each other. Eventually it was Nicole that broke the stillness.
"Go get them."
Her lips curved into a breathtaking smile.
Not wasting ti, Michael departed. With the supposed threat coming from teors, humanity’s troops needed to board their own spaceships to et them.
As strange as it sounded, aliens rarely used teors as a form of transportation, relying on their own spacecrafts instead.
Boarding one gigantic spaceship, Michael made himself familiar with the brigade.
Unsurprisingly, most of the soldiers were either at his level or stronger than him. Lords obeying a Grandmaster was unheard of... Though with the Emperor’s order backing him up, not a single warrior dared voice their complaints.
Once the shuttle boarded the nearest teor, the fight began, with Michael being placed solely in charge.
It was... horrifying, to say the least.
Up until now humanity had fought against all kinds of alien species, each of them having distinct characteristics. This one did not appear to be an exception.
They had long bodies, twice as tall as the average man, with six limbs: two legs, four thick arms, and a sharp tail at the back. Their forms were clad in a tough exoskeleton that even experienced warriors found difficult to shatter.
But the most haunting feature of all was their heads. The backs of their skulls protruded backwards to an unnatural degree. As for the front of their faces, aside from a large maw, a single eye resided.
Regardless of an alien’s tier or how much its body changed shape, that eye always remained, and it was what made them so agonizing to face. If a human drew too close, the creature’s central eye would split open, unleashing illusions that assaulted the mind of its target.
Mind attacks were an incredibly rare way to inflict damage, and few knew how to defend against such a force. With no other option, the troops could only endure, stop trusting the senses that had begun to betray them, and fight until every last enemy was exterminated.
Gros’fag was the way these creatures were nad.
Hours bled into days, and for the first ti, Michael could think clearly, free from the headaches that had been assaulting his mind.
He, along with the troops he had led, was surrounded by death. The teor turned eerily silent.
All life had been neutralized.
"All hail Michael!"
With a powerful roar, his troops began to chant his na in honor. During the whole battle, Michael was the one and only that did not stop to rest. With the lives of so many people in his hands, he always stayed at the front line, killing every threat he saw while simultaneously barking orders to the soldiers.
Unfortunately, this teor was not the only one. Nurous more headed towards humanity’s lands.
"To arms, warriors! Let’s exterminate every single one of them!"
And so, there was a fight and blood, and more and more...
With each victory Michael achieved, his na spread through the ranks, earning him widespread praise. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was one of the key figures in halting the Gros’fag advance.
Although that success ca with a great price.
In a place where cultivation was forsaken, even the thought of sleep was a luxury. It was common to see soldiers perish, soone he had laughed with only hours prior, while his mind was under constant assault from mind attacks. Slowly, Michael’s mind began to cloud. His senses started to betray him. He caught scents that weren’t there, glimpsed shadows at the edge of his vision that vanished when he turned, and constantly heard the cries of his subordinates just monts before their deaths.
’Disregard it. Do it for them.’
These were the words that seed to be the only thing holding him together all this ti.
At the end, the forces of mankind seed to unite at the largest teor there was. Brigades coming together to form a massive army, hell-bent on pushing the Gros’fag back.
Even with their forces marching as one, it seed the victory wasn’t in sight... Until the alien leaders all froze and erupted into violent bursts.
"Glory to the Emperor!"
Joining the battle when all hope seed lost, the ruler of mankind slaughtered the most dangerous foes, securing victory for humanity once more.
With heavy steps, Michael forsook all reason and neared the man and his unfathomable aura.
He was here due to this man’s order. Yet the fact still remained. The Emperor was Nicole’s father. That technically ant the Emperor was Michael’s father-in-law.
Crazy to think about, yet an undeniable fact.
Though before Michael could speak, the Emperor did.
"Good work."
The man said in an even voice.
"Still green, but holds a lot of promise. I am sure in the future you will beco a reliable ally of mine."
Michael was rendered speechless. He had been praised by the strongest human to exist!
It was finally over! At last, he could return ho and be with Nicole for the rest of her pregnancy, exactly as it was ant to be!
"AHHHH!"
Just then other brave warriors that had dared to near the Emperor fell on their backsides, all staring at the man in horror.
"...?"
Michael raised an eyebrow. Were these people really that afraid of the Emperor? Sure, he had a formidable presence, but that wasn’t enough to warrant that kind of reaction.
Following their horrified gazes, Michael’s eyes darted to the thing that the Emperor held nonchalantly. The obvious thing that had eluded his almost fractured mind.
"..."
Muscular features with crimson eyes that lacked light and short crimson hair.
The Emperor was holding Owen’s beheaded head.
"What... is this?"
Ignoring the formalities, Michael addressed the Emperor for the first ti.
Unbothered by the lack of respect, the man glanced at the head in his grasp. Almost like he had forgotten he was even holding it.
"A taint." The Emperor answered in an eerily even voice.
"This child of mine had enough ti, yet he failed to reach sufficient power. Even with my technique, he achieved little... All things considered, it would be better to start over entirely."
Michael blinked slowly.
"And... Nicole?"
The Emperor scoffed.
"That rebellious little girl? I couldn’t care less. For now, she does the bare minimum to warrant her existence, so I don’t think much of her."
Evidently, the Emperor had misunderstood Michael’s question. What Michael had ant was, if Owen was dead, then who stood by Nicole’s side to protect her?
Didn’t that an... She was alone?
As if on cue, his communicator device lit up, a voice screaming from the other side.
"To every mber of the Sacred Order! Fall back to the main base imdiately!"
Pure terror rang through the speaker’s tone.
"An alien is approaching us... Its tier is Titan!"
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