Lord of Annihilation

Nearly 30 minutes passed before Rosa followed by the clothed woman left the room. Her face contained some traces of panic, as she warily gazed at the group of soldiers.

Hartman shot her a look and turned to face Rosa.

"What did she say?"

"The Commander wants to abandon this ship and retreat. She was on her way to the escape station when that bastard jumped her." An obvious unlike was felt in Rosa's voice. 

"What a detestable scum!" she spat loudly.

The other squad members nodded their heads in response to her words.

"Seems like they have chosen to retreat. Makes sense." Hartman thought for a second before nodding his head.

He then turned to the group and spoke: "We'll get to the escape station and abandon this ship. Stayin any loner is just suicide."

He then faced the woman and asked: "Can ya walk?" 

The woman faintly nodded her head. 

"Follow us and keep up." He concluded. Turning around he started to follow the signs to the nearest escape station.

The trip to the escape station was uneventful. Apart from the obvious rocking of the ship that slowed them down, they did not encounter any troubles."

The escape station was a hemispherical room, with a dozen escape capsules embedded into the walls. Upon setting a target destination on the monitor that was adjacent to the capsule, one could enter the capsule and launch off the vessel.

The escape capsules mainly acted as cryogenic pods, which would freeze a person and place them in cryogenic suspension. 

Using an escape capsule in space, meant one would float about in infinite darkness in the absence of a planet nearby. By placing a person in cryogenic suspension, it was akin to placing one in deep sleep. This would minimize the energy required to maintain their bodies and prolong their period of rescue.

Unfortunately, more often than not, being stranded in deep space inside a cryogenic pod was akin to never being saved. It was very tedious and expensive to fund a rescue operation. 

If you aren't a VIP or were part of a crew that occupied a VIP, then your chances of being saved were close to null.

"Thank God, we have enough pods!" Zaine voiced out his happiness. 

"Set the destination to the nearest battlecruiser and get in. We have no time to waste." Hartman instructed.

The other followed his commands and performed the required actions before getting into their respective pods. Zaine helped Felix get into his pod and inputted his target destination.

One by one, the capsules shot out of the room.

Hartman waited till everyone else was done before walking towards the remaining capsule. 

"thank you." A quiet voice whispered as he was about to get into his capsule. Just as he turned his head, the capsule of the woman shot out into space.

Sighing to himself, Hartman got into his capsule and lied down. Lying inside the capsule, Hartman felt his muscles involuntarily relax.

'What a fu*kin day!' he thought to himself, as the capsule shot into space.

--------------

Zaine could see the scene of the battlecruiser be bombarded by attacks from the Formicians through the small window that was present in front of him.

'Phew. Captain safely got out!' he sighed in relief, as he noticed a final capsule shoot out of the vessel.

His face then turned grim as he spotted the Formicians tear apart the hull of the ship and enter it. The golden mechs entered first followed by the boats.

Having gained a moment of respite, Zaine started to consider some things that he hadn't thought of earlier.

'Why did the invaders attack us so suddenly? And how did they suddenly get so strong?'

'What are those gold mechs? How did they develop it without the relevant technology?'

'The last time we fought against them, the invaders were not able to effectively fight in space. They sustained most of their losses while fighting us in space. The only reason we were able to maintain the frontline was due to their deficiency in this aspect.' 

'Actually, now that I think about it. Why did they suddenly bunker down for the last two months? Was it because of these mechs? How long were they developing it for?'

'Is the mechs the only thing they developed during this period? Or did they make something else?'

Zaine's mind was flooded with questions. Most of which he found no answer for.

'Can we even win against these guys?' His thoughts turned pessimistic. 

'No! That person is still there!' he shook his head and recalled a certain youth.

With deep black hair, abyss-like eyes, an indifferent face, that figure continuously swung his scythe amidst a group of terrifying alien bugs. Surrounded on all sides, he never showed a trace of fear and indifferently faced his opponents without backing down.

Zaine could not estimate the number of times he had re-watched that video circulated by the Alliance. As a youth of similar age, Zaine would feel his blood boil when watching that fight.

He was called the Hero of Deatov. The Strongest Awakened.

The Black Death, Lucius!

'As long as that person is alive, humanity will never lose!' Zaine's eyes glowed with revere.

After mankind's horrible loss against the Formicians, in a bid to elevate the morale of the soldiers and the citizens, the Alliance circulated the videos of the Battle at Deatov and the battles of the other Frontier Planets. 

Videos of interviews with the survivor and participants of these battles were also made and released, encouraging the citizens to never lose hope or give up.

These battles of the Frontier were decent enough, they did not have quite the impact as the Battle of Deatov. Other battles consisted of soldiers hunkering down in bunkers and shouting against the enemies, while large, heavy mechs fought in the front.

The Battle of Deatov, however, was different. 

It showcased a single man fighting against an endless horde of enemies. Surrounded on all sides, he never lost hope and continued to persevere. That finale against the Peak-Level Stage 1 Leader Bug, with its flashy visuals and their inhuman speeds, served as the 'cherry on top'.

No matter the age of the viewer, watching it made one's blood boil with excitement. It made them burn with excitement and fighting spirit! 

Making use of this opportunity, the Alliance spread rumors and the like, to exaggerate Lucius' strength and deeds, further increasing his prestige and reputation with the common people.

Lucius was one of the main reasons, why youths like Zaine, fresh from military school joined the frontlines.

Of course, some doubted the veracity of his deeds. They questioned on why he did not participate in the battle against the invaders. Or why he never appeared on broadcast.

There was also no shortage of haters and naysayers discrediting the videos and calling them fake or calling out on the ridiculousness of the rumors. 

However, with the personal intervention of the Alliance, these matters were quickly quelled. With reasons such as 'secret missions' and 'closed training', they glided over the matter of his absence. 

Of course, it would only work so far. With time, the matter of Lucius forsaking Mankind would sooner or later be revealed.

Currently, the Alliance was pouring all its resources to nurture another person like Lucius. A person with absolute strength that could turn around a hopeless situation. Of course, whether this matter stands to succeed still remains unknown.

'I hope I can meet him one day.' Zaine sincerely wished to meet his hero. 

Shaking his head to rid himself of such fantasies, he then observed the invaders seriously. 

'The way those mechs move, it's so smooth and fluid! It's almost as if they are sentient.' Zaine analyzed.

Usually, when a person controlled a mech, there existed a certain degree of unnaturalness and delay between their thoughts and the movements of the mech. This would be seen in the movements of their machines during a battle and is often used as a flaw by their opponents.

Of course, there existed an exception for all things. Some pilots with an unnatural amount of talent could control the mechs like their own bodies.

'Either those things, really are alive or the invaders have hundreds of Ace-Tier pilots.' Zaine did not know how close to the truth he was.

'Anyways, I've almost arrived at the destination. Looks like the others made it without incident to..' just as Zaine was about to sigh in relief.

BOOM!

A bolt of energy struck the capsule of 'Four-Eyes', whose pod was moving just in front of Zaine. Without any suspense, the capsule exploded.

"NOOO!!!" Zaine screamed.

Through the small glass window, multiple flashes of condensed energy could be seen flying about. At the corner of the window, a group of golden-colored mechs could be seen approaching. Most of the mechs carried varying levels of injuries, and the boat leading them was largely damaged. 

『Found you, bastards! You shall pay for killing my brethren!』 a voice directly resounded within Zaine's mind.

A certain Formician wearing black-colored armor with golden patterns had arrived.