Venessa hated her home city. It's called Valos, the city with the most poverty even in the trashy space city cluster.
Luckily, she qualified for a scholarship in a Venus University. It wasn't the best. Not even a first-rate university. But still the best than anything her own city could offer.
Venessa took the chance and gave it her all. She graduated with above-average grades and was enlisted into the army as the lowest ranking officer.
Unlike those geniuses that would be quickly promoted due to their high grades during the military academy, she had to build all her merits on the battlefield.
After two decades of grueling handwork, she, a woman from the most backward area of the world, reached peak level the peak of level 6. It was an incredible achievement for someone from her background.
But Venessa she really wasn't much. The true geniuses in the academies reached level 6 in their final academy year.
Still, she was happy that she got somewhere in her life. She relocated to Venus and started a family there. She had a little son who just turned five this year.
Even though she couldn't spend much of her time with him due to her duty, her husband, a medical professional took care of him which she was extremely grateful for.
This year was turbulent and filled with danger, but Venessa thanked her luck for being able to weather through the war and remain alive.
But what she did not thank was her sudden redeployment to Valos. Since the troops were transferred to planetoids, and the paramilitary was given full charge, the military decided they'd need a couple of military leaders to guide the newcomers.
She was one of the few unlucky ones. She was to train and lead a company of 250 paramilitaries.
She didn't hate the job. But she did hate returning to Valos. Even though rumors and media sang the tone that Valos was reborn, she didn't believe it. She had seen that city for decades.
It remained the same.
Rotten, Corrupt, Poor, and…Disgusting.
It reminded Venessa of the filth she came from. It screamed at her about a past she abandoned and hid from everyone.
She was forced to step into the same filth and past once again. But to her utter surprise, Valos changed.
The city of depravity was now the city of beauty.
Others would describe the change to be Clean streets, high-rise buildings, beautiful gardens, and stunning architecture that wouldn't do the city justice.
But Venessa would argue it wasn't the clean streets, but the clean people that made the city pristine. The high-rise buildings weren't as important as the high self-esteem that Valosians show today. And that no amount of beautiful gardens could compare to the beautiful smiles on the people. The stunning architecture praised by the greats all over the federation was still mediocre compared to the stunning hopes parents now had for their children.
This was the Valos Venessa was faced with. It was a Valos better than her wildest dreams.
When she saw this city again after nearly a decade, she wondered if it was even Valos. She almost sent a distress signal thinking that she was caught in an illusion. Then, she spent a whole day just moving around the city without speaking a word.
Something broke in her that night as she cried herself to sleep. To this day, she couldn't fathom why she sobbed so much that her pillow was soaked wet.
'Maybe I'll find out one day,' Venessa mused as she unsheathed her sword and slashed it at the abyssal rising toward her.
The abyssal dodged her sword but couldn't dodge the aura that emanated out of her sword. As a result, his left arm was severed and went away into the dark space. Another sword slash severed his neck and ended his knife.
But before Venessa could relax, the space behind her shook slightly and she jumped to the side.
An invisible dagger passed right beside her, grazing her neck and cutting a very thin red line.
'If I survive today,' Venessa gritted her teeth and saw the telekinetic abyssal standing behind a horde of planate and beast morpher abyssals.
The two sides already clashed. The spaceships stopped in space and the troops got out to fight.
With tens of thousands of troops from either side fighting in space, it was truly a breathtaking battle in space.
The space was painted with wonderful colors as thousands of attacks exploded. They could feel the space fluctuations from a hundred miles as the high awakeners continued their destructive fight.
That sort of battle was too high for Venessa. But she had her own battle to fight.
She needed to take out these mind awakeners.
"Breakthrough! Kill the telepaths and telekinetics!" Venessa ordered her company and like a machine, they all assumed their roles and worked.
The beast awakener who could turn into a giant turtle took blocked the fierce attacks of the abyssals along with a few plantae awakeners specializing in defense.
The space and gravity awakeners tried to prevent their abyssal counterparts from messing with their team.
The elemental awakeners blasted the abyssal defenders that were in front of the telepaths and telekinetics.
The defenders managed to hold their position but the very next moment, they were hit by the human body awakeners who pierced through their formation like a hot spear and created an opening.
"Now!"
Venessa shot through the opening like a bullet and raised her sword. All the thirty level 5 telepaths would be dead in a blink—
"Stupid bitch."
Venessa's mind suddenly went blank as a strong level 7 psychic assaulted her senses. Her grip over the sword weakened and her mind began shutting down.
Someone was plotting this from the start!
"No…" Venessa struggled and barely covered her body with a layer of aura.
The telepaths she was about to kill sneered at her and their mental powers joined together to attack her.
Venessa's aura slowed down and dozens of small daggers cut through her final defense.
Thankfully, she protected her vitals with the most amount of aura. But in other places, not so much.
As a result, in just under a minute, Venessa was a bleeding mess. She lost her non-dominant arm, suffered a huge cut in the abdomen, and was bleeding heavily all over.
If there's no immediate treatment now, she would die.
"Dead bitch." Chuckling to himself, the level 7 psychic hiding in the spaceship turned to his next target.
Venessa, on the other hand, gained consciousness.
Her head was full of pain as if hot needles were piercing her ears, straight into her pain. It hurt so much that tears pooled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Her body spasmed and twitched as the pain from injuries also reached her mind.
"I…" Venessa's vision blurred and she realized she was going to die.
In front of her were abyssals that were trying to finish her off. From behind her, she could hear the panicked screams of her subordinates. Even though it's only been a few months, they really grew on her. And she on them.
Her husband's face flashed in her mind and then her little son's.
As the strength in her body slipped away, Venessa sighed in relief. She's confident in her husband. He'd take good care of her son.
As her world began to grow fully dark, the Valos city flashed in her mind once again.
The old Valos that she lived in and hated. And the new city that made her cry for reasons she couldn't fathom.
'Ah, there is still that job…'
Venessa's eyes burned with determination and her loose grip on the sword tightened. All the aura in her body exploded out and her sword made a final, graceful arc in the air.
As she closed her eyes for the last time, she saw thirty abyssal mental awakeners sliced into two.
'Ah,'
Her body grew cold but her dying heart grew warm.
'I…'
Her lips trembled, but she couldn't utter a syllable. Blood leaked from her eyes as her brain began shutting down. But in those many drops of blood was a drop of tear.
That hot drop of tear slowly slid down to her lips that were now curled upward.
Venessa was smiling.
In her last moments, she understood why she cried that day.
And it made her smile.
'Ah, I really love my city…'
