981 Kyle's Help

The war progressed in a way that no one expected.

Abyssals were much stronger than humans imagined. The humans weren't crushed like the abyssals initially hoped.

What was supposed to be a quick extermination turned into a prolonged war that stretched on for weeks.

Twelve days have passed since the war began and the future was getting clearer.

The human army continued to state that the war wasn't beyond control.

"This is like every other war so far. Only a bit bigger and longer."

"We will survive."

"Abyssals couldn't win us for centuries. Don't think they can win now."

Contrary to reality, the leaders lied and lied. But their actions proved just the opposite.

The federation had already began the program to preserve the fire of the human race.

Experts from all domains and the finest genius awakeners were picked to be the pioneers. Equipped with the latest technology and some very precious life saving treasures, several spaceships containing the survivor groups would be sent out of the solar system. If even a single group manages to find a home and continue the civilization, then it's a success.

And since they've already done what they could, the army was given the order to kill as many abyssals as they could.

There still remained hopes for victory in the army. But it usually appeared only when the soldiers were drunk or drowsy.

All the people with talent were either fighting or being trained to fight.

Surprisingly, all the planets held up so far. Even the ones that were projected to collapse quickly.

Of course, the loss of planetoids was inevitable. More than ten planetoids were gone in the past twelve days and it's considered an excellent result given the circumstances.

But things were reaching a tipping point and everyone could feel they were just a few days away from the irreversible.

— — —

The abyssals came for cluster cities once again.

The paramilitary that protected them earlier were already reduced to ashes and other than few odd soldiers here and there, the cluster cities had little defense.

The new commander of the cluster cities defense was just a level 7 who had recently come out of ruins.

He had no experience of leading a thousand people let alone protecting cities holding millions. But he's a famous genius.

On the first sign of trouble, he contacted the Head Quarters and requested for help.

The vice commanders in the meeting room, peak level 6s, looked at him with anxious expressions.

A peak level 6 like them would typically be in the middle of the command hierarchy. It's way beyond their capabilities to protect a whole city!

They had the foot soldiers, yes. Plenty of them. With the citizens volunteering, they had enough masses.

But they had no powerhouses.

"It's ridiculous. Everyone thought Neptune would fall first. But who knew it'd be cluster cities." The commander sighed and looked at the vice-commanders with a serene gaze. "Let's go."

There was an ominous premonition in the back of their minds, but the vice commanders followed him wordlessly.

The commander gathered all the soldiers, amounting to just five thousand and the volunteering and qualified citizens, amounting to fifty thousand.

With this army of fifty-five thousand, he stationed them on the city of Orion and waited for the enemy.

The troops grew restless as they whispered among themselves. Since most of them weren't properly trained soldiers, they couldn't keep their nerves. Forget them, even the trained soldiers were panicking as they stared at the commander with a lost gaze.

"Give your best." The young commander said the first word since the gathering and stared into the outer space.

A small fleet of abyssals rushed toward the cluster cities.

The abyssals were twenty thousand in number, less than half of theirs. But each soldier was at least one level higher!

What's worse was three level 8s along with a couple of level 7s that led the fleet. Even though they were just low level 8s, they're capable of crushing the entire defense army by themselves.

As the soldiers feared, the three level 8 abyssal leaders noticed them and ordered the abyssal army toward them.

In a few seconds, twenty thousand abyssals got out of the ships and jumped into the city to slaughter the defense forces.

The soldiers held their breaths and even the vice commanders felt their hearts stop.

The defense barrier that was supposed to stop them was destroyed before it could fully manifest and in the next moment, twenty thousand abyssals landed in front of the defense forces.

The abyssals stared at the humans playfully while the humans went pale and shivered.

The three level 8 abyss leaders scanned the humans for any traps and found none.  Then with a grin, they slowly raised their arms.

The tension in the air stretched to the limit as time seemed to slow down.

The moment the arm was fully raised would be the moment these abyssals would . attack

Just as the abyssals shot out from their positions, the human commander roared. "Die!"

The world shook at his words and they sky trembled. Everyone couldn't understand what's going on but a terrifying fear crept into their hearts.

The next moment, the giant city exploded.

The space was painted bluish-red and a destructive shockwave spread out from Orion and hit the other cluster cities.

They're almost knocked out of their orbits and observed a dangerous earthquake.

The dozen or so police forces present in each city that were anxiously observing the war collapsed into their seats.

The commander...sacrificed the whole city to stop the abyssals.

It was a gamble that paid off.

But to ensure its success, he couldn't evacuate the citizens lest the abyssals got suspicious. He couldn't inform his own people lest they grow restless and object to this high casualty tactic.

"Madman, he's mad to the core," Kyle stared at what remained of the city as the explosion settled down.

Millions died in that single blast. But it did save the rest of the cities. However, the abyssals wouldn't fall for the same trap twice.

'If another group of abyssals came to attack, then what?'

With that fear in his mind, Kyle returned to his lab and locked himself up.

After five days, another fleet of abyssals arrived. This time they split up and attacked.

The defense barriers lasted for a few seconds before they were cracked apart.

The citizens were defenseless lambs to the abyssal army that descended into the cities!

But before the killings began and turned the cities turned into purgatory, a few shining humanoid robots landed in front of the abyssals.

A few of them were level 8, a couple of them were level 7 and the rest were between level 3 and level 6.

"This burnt up all the savings of Shadow Order!" Kyle sighed as the battle began.

These days, Boo went around and found all the secret and hidden treasures of the Shadow Order.

Since they were destroyed so suddenly, a lot of their vaults were never discovered. After a lot of hacking and searching, Boo gathered up enough materials for Kyle's robot army.

But thankfully, the cluster cities would be safe.

…For now.