975 The Pledge

The Undead on Pluto were less than three thousand. Most of Pluto's army was destroyed in the previous war and the rest were transferred to the Neptune planetoids.

Varian did a blood bath on a number of Neptune planetoids and created a situation where humans occupied disproportionately more planetoids than abyssals.

The abyssals had to move more forces to the remaining planetoids they had power over or risk getting cleansed out. So, they did and it left Pluto with a very small army.

After the Undead Sovereign woke up a few days ago, he managed to convert ten thousand abyssal corpses from the previous war into Undead. There's no more

death strand to squander. He did it with the whip of death strand in his own body.

But that's his limit. If he wished for the Undead to cross ten thousand, these Undead would have to go to humans and infect them. The infection in the previous war was supported by death strands. Now, it had no support.

So, the infection rate would obviously be low. But the Sovereign Undead didn't fret over it.

With the resources that the Emperor provided, abyssals would soon slaughter plenty of humans and there was bound to be a sizable Undead army from that huge number.

And more importantly, he himself was now a step above the peak of level 9.  he was confident of reaching the Sovereign state soon. Then it'd be game over.

The endgame was this:

With the huge power-ups brought by the resources provided by the Emperor, the abyssal army would crush the human army.

But the human sovereigns would remain unaffected. As long as they remained, the conquest would be incomplete.

The abyssals could wait for the reinforcements from their Emperor but they'd appear only a month later.

If they wanted to prove their capability, they'd have to finish off humans before that.

That's where he came in.

As long as he regained his Sovereign power, the Undead was confident in eliminating the Human Sovereigns one by one.

It's a grand plan with the ultimate prize.

The first phase of this plan was naturally reaching Neptune and slaughtering humans to his heart's content while he grew stronger amidst all that death.

Since humanity was caught off guard by the sudden war and a puzzlingly strong abyssal army, they couldn't send anyone to stop him and his Undead army from reaching Neptune.

…Or that's what should've happened.

There was a small group of human soldiers resting on the asteroids, waiting for their arrival.

The Undead Sovereign glanced at his soldiers. They're newly 'born' and weak. Most of them were level 7. He had only 500 level 8s and 30 level 9s. Still, it's better compared to the human composition of 180 level 8s and 20 level 9s.

…A lot better.

And the trump card of his army was none other than himself.

'Humans really don't know their limits. Are they delusional enough to think this puny army can stop my army? And stop me? The great me?!' The Undead's eyes flashed with thick killing intent and he waved his hand.

The Undead army took the order and like a flood breaking the dam, they reached the human force.

"Oh fuck! I'm going to die!"

"We can't win! It's useless!"

"Even if we die, we can't stop them!"

Facing the enemy force ten times larger than them, some of the younger ones got cold feet.

The commander advancing to the enemy at full speed stopped and said with her back facing them. "We'll all die. But our deaths won't be useless. If General Skad had that thought, Mars would've long been gone."

Her words sparked a fire in their frozen heart. The fear in their hearts remained, but courage returned. And it grew larger than the fear.

"Remember, a peak level 9, the general of Mars army, sacrificed his life to stop the Mirage Queen for two minutes. Puny two minutes. But those two minutes saved his planet and a billion lives." The commander's voice was soft without any commanding tone.

It was as if a grandma was narrating a tale in the evening. The tale of a legendary hero that killed the dragon and saved the princess.

But the reality is that most of them saw the hero on the news and a couple of them even met him in person. He was a living until just a few months ago!

So the impact of General Skad's story was deep and struck them like a sledgehammer.

When they signed up for this job, they knew they might die one day. Not always in a glorious battle but also in a silent corner at the edge of the solar system, fighting an unwinnable battle.

No, not all battles were meant to be won. Some were meant to be fought despite the loss.

"For the Human Race!"

"For my motherland!"

"For the teacher that supported me!"

"For the brother-in-arms that died protecting me!"

"For my love!"

"For my children!"

"For home!"

"For freedom!"

The soldiers shouted what they were going to die for. And jumped into the battlefield.

It was a gloomy, dark space that even sunlight couldn't reach. Now, with each elemental attack, the darkness was painted in a multitude of colors.

But the strongest color was red and purple. The blood of the fighters.

Right from the first clash, the Undead overwhelmed the humans. It was like a bike colliding with a truck. They had no chance at all. But all they wished to achieve at the expense of their lives was to hold back the Undead just a bit.

Until maybe other reinforcements could arrive.

Until maybe someone could do something.

Perhaps their sacrifices wouldn't mean anything and the abyssals would succeed in their nefarious plan.

But maybe, just maybe…a miracle could happen.

And perhaps their sacrifice would hold humanity safe until that miracle.

With hope as their only fuel, the three hundred strong men and women fought against three thousand undead.

The elderly commander didn't care about her shrinking vitality and used all her strength against the Sovereign Undead.

He was much stronger than her. But he wasn't willing to take heavy injuries. So, when faced with this crazed woman that didn't care about her condition, even he had to slow down.

As the battle progressed, the asteroids continued to explode and the space was dyed in beautiful colors.

Every minute, the reinforcements shrunk.

But they kept fighting.

And waited for a miracle.