758 Did I do my best?
"Skyla, we need to go!" A middle-aged man said with a grim expression.
Skyla, his pregnant wife, bit her lip as she stared at the photo in the living room.
A photo depicting her and her father, the high general of Mars, Skad.
"I want to stay." She said, closing her eyes.
"Are you crazy?! Our child is about to be born! Don't even think about it!" The middle-aged man yelled as his face turned red in anger.
Skyla flinched. This was the first time her husband yelled at her. She could understand why.
But.
Since they were being evacuated, it meant that the abyssal army would descend on mars.
"If the army really comes, I want to fight. I don't want to run away."
"Not happening. I can go join the fight, but the mother of my child, you are going to mercury." The man held her in a princess carry and walked out of their villa.
Skyla was grateful for her husband's love and sad that she was running away from the battlefield.
She was breaking her father's teachings.
<Skad's zeroth rule>
'Remember, child. One man can't win a war. One man can't change the world. One man can't defeat an evil.
But one man can turn the tide. One man can start a change. One man can become the hope against evil.'
[Please follow the rules and evacuate. This is a disaster-level emergency.] The district bot announced.
People were lining up in the streets as they entered one of the hundreds of spaceships.
Unlike the usual times, these spaceships landed wherever they found space. Sometimes, they even cleared up the existing vehicles and landed there.
"Move! Move!"
"Don't delay anyone!"
"Don't waste time! Sit or get out!"
The mini-bots in the shape of a sphere with angel wings managed the crowd.
"Arghh! If I'm going to die, I'll take down others with me!"
A man in the queue went nuts and raised his aura to attack others.
Before he could do anything, a killing intent locked onto him, and a mental attack knocked him out.
"Throw him away. Get it going! Hurry up!"
The old man sitting near the spaceship said slowly, but his voice sounded in everyone's minds.
The crowd froze all of a sudden. Soon, she was seated in one of the special compartments. The spaceship would take off in an hour.
Skyla bit her lip as she looked at the sky outside the window with a worried gaze.
Skyla hoped her child would experience childhood on this beautiful red planet. So, she clung to her father's words and hoped that mars would be saved.
But now, she was only hoping her father would be safe.
'Please. I beg you, father. If a Sovereign doesn't appear, there's no use in you fighting the Mirage Queen. Don't be reckless.'
She prayed desperately.
— — —
Blood burst in space as the greatest warriors of mars fell one by one.
Lightning snakes danced as fire phoenixes screeched.
Under the attacks of Mirage Queen, no one knew when their ally would become their enemy nor did they know when they'd be pulled into an illusion or attacked by a vicious mental force.
Even though they tried their best, they were no match for her.
They were grateful that they could fight a bit longer thanks to Varian. But even then, they're at their limits.
"For Mars!" Skad raised his hand and uttered a battle cry.
His voice, imbued with aura, spread across space as it shook the heart and souls of the thirteen surviving warriors.
Even the two officers under the queen's control were shaken for a moment.
"For Mars!"
The eleven warriors yelled as they fought against the two level 9 fire abyssals and two of their own comrades.
One of their comrades quickly fell, only to be replaced by one of their own allies.
A woman fighting a fire abyssal suddenly froze as she's pulled into an illusion and was easily burnt by a firestorm.
A man who's about to deliver a killing blow to the fire abyssal suddenly dropped his sword and clutched his head. He too met the same fate.
Skad and a few members continued to attack the spaceship.
Their attacks landed without fail and compared to the beginning, there were more cracks on the vessel.
But it's still nothing significant. However, using their attacks, they did stop her from leaving.
Not anymore.
"Give up! It's over!" Mirage Queen's bone-chilling voice reached everyone.
Skad raised his bloodied hands as he looked behind him.
The two fire abyssals were recuperating from their injuries.
His eight comrades fainted or were immobilized from injuries and his two comrades were about to kill them under the queen's control.
It was then that a field of darkness covered the ten members. When Skad's senses barely reached their positions, they were gone.
Skad didn't panic. It's undoubtedly Varian who took them away.
At first, he wanted to kill the fire abyssals and let the ghost ship clash with the mirage queen's ship to stall time. But Mirage Queen was well aware of his plan and ensured the fire abyssals' safety.
So, he could only attack the ship himself to stall her.
But with his comrades gone, he'd be the only one facing the queen's attacks. He wasn't sure if he could resist her for more than a minute.
"General Skad, get in!" His comm let out a message. It was Varian.
Skad could also feel the presence of a ghost ship right behind him.
"The battle is over. We did our best. Now, it's time to leave."
Skad just needed to enter the ghost ship.
Yes. They did their best. By now, at least 50% of Mars' population would've been transferred. All the defense material was also shifted to safe positions.
He just needed to leave.
But Skad didn't enter the ghost ship.
A terrifying pain assaulted his mind as the mirage queen began to slowly kill him.
Varian seemed to realize his situation seeing his frown and said. "Even if you fight, it'll make no difference."
Skad gritted his teeth and finally shook his head. He uttered the second rule he followed in his life.
<You don't have to be the strongest, the fastest, or the smartest. You just have to be there when you're needed the most.>
Skad gripped his sword. "Varian, we need to stall her as long as we can."
Chi accumulated in Skad's arms and his sword began to glow.
His mind was crumbling under the mirage queen's attack. But as if on instinct, Skad kept channeling the chi.
Blood began to spill out of his eyes and mouth as he forcibly kept his body under his control.
His lips curled into a smile as he shot towards the spaceship.
"Even if it's small, every one of us can make a difference."
Skad's body emitted a bright orange light as he poured his all into his final fight.
In the ghost ship, Varian gritted his teeth as he watched Skad's final battle.
The strongest man on mars burnt his heart and soul as he fought the mirage queen for two minutes and three seconds before he died from exhaustion.
Before he died, he mouthed something through his bloodied mouth.
Varian's body trembled as he understood Skad's final words.
"Did I do my best?"
Skad's body turned into particles of light and dispersed into the universe.
On this day, the high general of Mars, sacrificed himself despite knowing his death wouldn't make any difference.
'Yes, you did your best. So, please rest in peace now.'
Varian closed his eyes in pain.
It's over now.
After a while, Mirage queen's ship reached mars.
