"Ridiculous! It's ridiculous!" Mirage Queen slammed her throne as she watched the clock.
Six hours.
That was how long the ghost ship stalled her.
Reinforcements were almost about to arrive a dozen times before they were stalled at the last minute.
Clearly, she didn't know that Sovereign Irene had ordered mars' military to stall the queen's reinforcements at any cost.
In the end, the fire king next door sent help, and only then was she able to get rid of the ghost ship.
At least, temporarily since the ghost ship was behind her, but out of her range.
For Mirage Queen who was used to commanding everyone from high above, being stopped by mere pests she could command to death with a snap was beyond humiliating.
For the entire time, she was seething as she made one torture plan after another to bring the human to despair.
"I'll make you regret it."
The third day since the war began had just ended and only then did Mirage Queen barely free herself from the annoying rat.
Seeing her being escorted by the two fire awakeners, Varian let out a deep sigh.
The celestial walls dispersed and Boo quickly cleaned up the pool of blood that reached Varian's ankles.
Even though he healed himself all the time, the continuous breakdown of his body took a toll on Varian and he slowly collapsed back.
Before Sia could catch him using her powers, Boo made its entrance and caught Varian, cleaned him up, and shifted him to a comfortable bed.
Varian tried to sit but collapsed back from fatigue. Aside from the fatigue, however, he was brimming with vitality.
His eyes were shining brighter, his heartbeat grew slower but more powerful, and his presence turned solemn.
The hellish suffering bore unexpected fruit.
[Plantae Level 8: 0/25K]
If only mars wasn't under the threat of extinction, Varian would've celebrated.
"B-Bali…"
He didn't appear yet.
So, under Varian's instructions, the ghostship stubbornly followed Mirage Queen's spaceship while staying out of the range of the fire awakeners.
There's no stopping the inevitable.
— — —
Mirage Queen's spaceship reached a rather remote planetoid. Compared to the important planetoids that held millions of troops, this one housed only half a million troops from each side.
The highest commander of each side was only a peak level 7.
So, they didn't even get a chance to react when Mirage Queen reached the planetoid and unleashed her mind sense.
It swiftly covered one-tenth of the planetoid and locked onto twenty-thousand troops in levels between 4 and 6.
"Hm, that'll do." With an excited smile, Mirage Queen gave them the 'order'.
All of a sudden, the soldiers that were doing their duty properly ambushed their comrades.
"James?!"
"Stop it!"
"Mind control!"
"Find the psychic before it's too la—arghhh!"
The fights began in a couple of military bases before they started appearing in every base.
The commander of the planetoid realized what just happened and contacted his superiors.
"Level 9 or higher Psychic is atta—"
He wasn't able to finish his message before his eyes went grey.
"Level 9 Psychic? Retreat! Officer Paul, retreat no—!" Paul's superior's yells suddenly stopped as he heard a familiar sound.
The sound of flesh being torn and blood being spilled.
The commander of the base stabbed himself in the neck and died.
That seemed to set the stage for what could only be described as a massacre.
Without the abyssals even laying a finger on them, the humans started fighting other humans.
Even if she's a Sovereign, Mirage Queen wasn't capable of controlling the minds of half a million awakeners.
If it's normal people, it's not a problem, but there were at least a hundred thousand mid awakeners on the planetoid.
Even for her, it's impossible.
So, she controlled the twenty thousand she could and pushed them to fight until they died.
Then, she quickly picked new toys and kept 'playing'.
It was a tragic scene as brothers backstabbed, and friends slaughtered each other like wild animals.
Blood spilled and bodies collapsed.
Even from space, thick red dots could be seen on the planetoid.
It's only a single hour, but the planetoid had become a hell on earth.
Military bases that were once full of life reeked of blood and death.
Corpses of the brave men and women lay in their home base as they died a horrific death.
"R-Rina…"
The last man standing on the planetoid looked at the last woman as she slashed at him with a blue sword.
The sword he gifted her on their marriage a few months ago.
The wife and husband were both level 6 body awakeners who specialized in wielding sword and spear respectively.
But due to the battles they already fought until now, their chi was drained to the limit and they fought like normal mortals.
Ken gripped the spear with his bloodied hands as he lifted his heavy hands and parried the blows his wife struck to take his life.
"Rina! Wake up, Rina!"
Her sword brushed past his spear and struck his shoulder.
The woman who used to freak out and bring medicine seeing even at his slightest injury was now raising her sword to grievously injure him.
"Please! Look at me!" Ken felt strength leaving his body.
Their surroundings were littered with corpses of the people they once laughed with. The superiors, the colleagues, the newbies.
Dead.
Everyone dead.
"Rina!" Ken blocked an attack from his wife as he held himself from attacking her.
He had no confidence in knocking her out. If he attacked her and accidentally killed her, he'd hate himself for the rest of his life.
So, he prayed. He prayed for her to wake up.
Even if they had to hide in this abandoned planetoid for years, he wouldn't bat an eye.
Just…
"Please!"
His wail was ignored by her sword.
"Open your eyes!"
His spear was kicked aside.
"It's me!"
Her sword pierced his heart.
"R-Rina…"
"KEN!" The woman's cloudy eyes suddenly gained focus and she suddenly found herself stabbing her husband's heart.
His affectionate eyes conveyed his love and regret before they lost focus.
"I…I…what I have I done?" Rina's world blurred and she collapsed to her knees.
"Ken! Husband! Please wake up! No, no! This is a nightmare! Please!" Clutching her hair, Rina couldn't stop crying her heart out.
A warm liquid reached her hands and raising her head, she realized it was his blood.
The last line of defense in Rina's mind collapsed and she grabbed her husband's spear.
Without hesitation, she pierced it into her own heart and collapsed beside him.
Before her world turned dark, she held his hand tightly.
'If there's a next life, don't let me go.'
As she was about to breathe her last, her eyes turned partially cloudy as a foreign force commanded her to separate their hands.
'No!'
Rina fought even in her dying breath. She couldn't live how she wanted, but she wanted to die how she wanted.
Yet, someone didn't wish to give her even that choice.
'Arghhhh!'
Rina's dying body twitched as blood spilled out of her eyes and her body forcibly separated her hand from her husband's.
With untold regret, Rina breathed her last.
Her hand was just a single inch from her lover's.
An inch she could never cross.
