761 Let's Die Together

"I'm beat," Varian wiped the sweat off his forehead as his whole body ached.

For the last an hour, he had been pouring out using his plantae powers to heal the severely injured level 9s.

When Mirage Queen was about to finish them off, Varian saved them by pulling them into the celestial room.

But he wasn't able to convince Skad to get in.

'Why did he do that despite knowing nothing will change?' Varian didn't understand.

While he respected the man for his bravery, all Skad achieved with his death was buying two minutes.

If he was alive, Varian believed, Skad would've been able to inflict more damage on abyssals or save more humans.

Shaking his head, Varian held the hand of an unconscious injured old man. His hand transformed into a branch and emitted a soft green light.

When he was first taken into the ghost ship, the old man's chest was nearly cleaved and his heart was about to stop beating.

Even with Varian's potions, he barely held on. It's only thanks to Varian's constant treatment of his plantae that the old man managed to recover.

Now he's halfway through and Varian believed the old man would be able to fully heal in an hour or two, depending on whether he continued to heal him or not.

'Two it is.' Varian panted as he grew fatigued. 'I can't heal him anymore.'

Taking a final glance at the ten unconscious fighters in the room, Varian left for the command center.

"Varian." Sia greeted him with a worried expression.

At first, she wanted him to stay away from mars. It's certain that mars would undergo a bloodbath under Mirage Queen.

Sia was afraid that Varian would be devastated seeing the loss of billions of lives and blame it all on himself.

What really scared her was the possibility of Varian growing despondent.

After so much struggle and pain, Varian was finally able to smile brightly. She didn't want him to fall into depression again.

But Varian insisted. He had to witness what was about to happen.

'I can't run away, Sia. It won't solve any problems.'

So, she relented.

But still, Sia was ready to take away Varian from Mars on the slightest sign that his spirit was going to be crushed.

"Master, something is fishy," Boo reported the situation as it pointed to the hologram depicting the planet as well as a red marker pinpointing the mirage queen's location.

"After she took a trip around the mars, the mirage queen stopped moving. No massacre is taking place on the planet either."

From the main hologram, several holograms depicting the cities broke away and showed him the orderly evacuation on the ground.

Even though the citizens were pale and shaky, under the guidance of the army, they were evacuating systematically.

Varian's brows furrowed as he felt an ominous premonition.

Mirage Queen came her for the kill. She'd be more than happy to slaughter the entire population, even if it took her an hour or two.

But she's doing nothing.

"No." Varian shook his head and got that assumption out of his head. "She's doing something. We can't see it."

He quickly thought up the possible reason. "Because…if she plainly kills, many people will still escape."

As Varian thought hard, the citizens suddenly stiffened and their faces paled.

"Boo, what happened?" Varian asked with a frown.

"Just a sec, master." Boo went through several records. From the previous experience, Mirage Queen was communicating directly into their minds.

From the discussions that broke out after her words, Boo was able to grasp what she said.

"She said that they have two minutes to enjoy."

Varian's eyebrow jumped and his heart pounded against his chest. "No way. Did she find a method to kill everyone in two minutes?"

Even though he's unwilling to admit it, the answer must be yes.

But how?

Varian racked his brains as he stared at the cities. If he didn't do something, these cities brimming with people would soon become graveyards.

[01:45]

From the two minutes that the abyss queen gave, fifteen seconds were already over.

Varian's palms started to sweat as he tried to find the queen's plan.

Mass weapons of destruction were emptied. It's ruled out.

A meteor strike to wipe out the entire population was possible. However, if she tried it, Varian had the confidence in stopping her. But Varian couldn't see any weapon that could perform a meteor strike.

'Wait, why take two minutes anyway?'

Varian's frown deepened.

In his opinion, abyssals weren't the type to show mercy. Since they're taking two minutes, it means they needed two minutes even while trying their best.

'Reminds me of the explosives that have a time—wait!' Varian suddenly turned to Boo and said. "Explosion!"

"Explosion?"

"I think yes. There will be a detonation all across mars." Varian was growing more convinced of his guess.

"But abyssals didn't have any time to plant the bombs. And naturally, there are no bombs planted all across mars." Boo pointed out.

"It's true, so the explosive must be something present everywhere." Varian's eyes narrowed. "Something normally safe, but when tampered with, should become a deadly explosive."

"…power plants." Sia suddenly said. "Shadow Order has tried detonating them in the past."

"Yes!" Varian nodded. "Hack the power grid and check if something is going on."

[1:30]

Time was running out and Varian gritted his teeth.

A hologram popped up and was loaded. Soon, the situation of the power grid would be show—

"Huh?"

The hologram turned blank and Boo scowled. "Master, the network is closed off. You're right."

Varian's chest felt heavy as he swallowed his saliva in nervousness. "C-Can you stop it?"

He's glad that they found the cause. But anxious that they might not able to do anything despite their knowledge.

"Even though it's closed, all the active power plants form a network. If you can get into any active power plant, Boo can hack them and shut everything down in an instant." Boo patted its chest.

Varian tapped the hologram and zoomed onto the nearest power plant. With just a thought, the ghost ship's engine roared and it was about to race towards mars when Varian suddenly lost his footing.

A clashing sound reverberated in his mind as the ghost ship turned upside down. The space outside the ghost ship's windows was now lit by dark flames as one flame phoenix after another made their way towards the ghost ship.

"She found our location!"

Mirage Queen wasn't being idle. She used her mind sense and scanned for the slightest traces of the ghost ship.

And once she found it, she informed her fire abyss guards.

And thus, here they were.

"Boo!" Varian gripped the wall and shouted. "To the power plant!"

The ghost ship forcibly broke through the sea of fire and shot towards mars.

Mirage Queen's mental sense followed them as did the fire abyssals.

As the ghost ship reached the surface, the sky suddenly turned red.

A huge spear composed of silver metal shot at the ghost ship. When it's about to collide, the spear tip suddenly burst into flames and engulfed the ship in a sea of fire.

The ghost ship shook violently and its trajectory changed before it crashed a few miles away from the power plant.

'Master, there are some serious injuries to Boo. For some time, Boo can't take any attacks.' Boo said in a painful tone.

Varian nodded and racked his brains on what he should do when he heard a chuckle from behind.

-- -- --

The door to the spaceship opened and the fire abyssals smiled.

Finally, they're about to get rid of the boy who became a nightmare to their race.

But seeing an old man walking out of the ghost ship, the smile on their faces stiffened.

After the old man, nine more warriors that previously fought them exited the spaceship.

They still had major injuries and despite outnumbering them, the ten warriors wouldn't gain any major advantage over them.

Yet.

"We'll take care of these bitches!"

"Off you go, boy!"

"Leave this to us!"

The warriors of mars summoned their powers as they prepared for the shortest yet most important battle of their life.

Mirage Queen tried to lock onto them but Enigma waved her hand and a cloud of darkness covered her and Varian.

Due to its intrinsic nature, the dark field shielded out Mirage Queen's mental power for a few moments.

When the Mirage Queen finally managed to send her mind sense into the darkness, Varian and Enigma were long gone!

"Find them!"

Varina and Enigma rushed through the huge power plant block underground. The ghost ship on the surface vanished and turned into a transparent ring before it returned to Varian.

They reached the building they were looking for when a bright light flashed in front of them, and space distorted.

Ten men dressed in black stepped out.

Seven level 8s and two level 9s.

Varian and Enigma stiffened.

The leader of the group, a low level 9 pointed his sword at them and growled. "Let's die together."