"Reports are all clear. No traces of activity found." The soldier reported after a salute.
"Keep watch. Notify me on the first major skirmish. A minute of negligence and lives are lost." Anna ordered.
"Yes, Sir." The assistant saluted and left the room.
Anna's green combat uniform was in sharp contrast to her usual maid clothing. Her nonchalance as a maid disappeared and was replaced by a serious commanding aura.
Due to emergencies, she was called back to frontlines and was stationed on one of the fiercest planetoids.
Unlike Rena planetoid that Varian and others visited back then, this planetoid was far larger—almost the size of moon.
The average levels of the soldiers on this planetoid was level 6. The Abyssals as well as humans heavily invested in this planetoid.
The supreme commanders of both sides were level 9.
Due to a certain someone, Anna was forced to take up this role.
"Miss…" Anna's cold demeanor melted as a worrying expression appeared over his face.
After Varian's 'death', Sarah completely shut herself off. She no longer smiled or talked.
Heck, except for practice, she wasn't willing to come out of her room. Despite acting like that, Anna's keen space sense noticed Sarah suddenly crying in the middle of practice.
It was just that…Sarah was so deeply involved in practice that even she didn't notice the tears rolling down her cheeks.
'If you don't see my corpse, don't believe I'm dead.' Anna recalled his words and wished they were true.
But Varian had literally nothing to back up that claim.
He was certainly a genius, but when even level 9s could die, being a genius didn't make one immune from death.
Anna was tempted to console Sarah and reveal his words multiple times. But she refrained.
Instead of giving her false hope which would ultimately shatter and break her down even more, it was better for Sarah to deal with her feelings.
Anna's heart ached at the pain the little girl had to go through, but she steeled herself.
'Miss…I'm sorry, but you have to grow up. In this fragile world of ours, lives are easily lost. Now you lost him, maybe you'll lose me tomorrow. The best we can do is to live bravely and do our best. I hope you can realize and accept it.'
The realization was bound to be painful. Anna knew for certain that if she kept watching Sarah in this pain, she wouldn't be able to bear it.
Even if it was false, she'd reveal Varian's words to her.
That's why, Anna accepted this sudden duty due to Evander's request.
Anna's figure disappeared and she appeared above the planetoid. Her space sense locked onto a fast approaching Abyss space ship.
In a moment, there level 8s and one level 9 dashed out of the space ship.
Anna checked her comm and realized that the reinforcements would be there in a minute.
"Haa~" Taking a deep breath, Anna channeled her space power.
At the same time, the commander of the planetoid, a level 9 also shot into the air.
His huge fire wings pushed him right beside the intruding level 9 who flapped his ice wings and they both glared at Anna.
"For one minute." Anna sighed and her figure disappeared. Her mind thought back to the incident that led to tall this.
*** *** ***
Shortly after Varian's incident, Bali announced he was going into a retreat. Naturally, everyone opposed.
Bali was a dual awakener and a peak level 9 in both paths. What the hell would he achieve by retreat?
Besides, as the captain of 6th Shura squad, they simply can't let him leave.
Short breaks were fine, but long breaks for seclusion? No way!
Bali said it's important. His strength was likely going to improve.
Despite that, everyone disagreed. Except Evander.
He convinced the senior military leaders and made a plan to make up for Bali's absence.
One of the requirements was Anna.
*** *** ***
Boom!
Kacha!
The space was torn apart and the air howled as it was sucked into the gap. The two level 9 Abyssals clutched their stomachs with a fierce expression.
Even though they tried to dodge, the space blast was too quick and too lethal.
"Hmph!" The Abyssals flapped their wings, causing winds of fire and ice to blow as they shot towards Anna.
"Cough. Cough." Anna wiped the blood at the corner of lips. Her pale face showed no expression as she condensed a sword out of space power.
'The longer I fight, the more disadvantageous I'll be.' Anna frowned, but she couldn't not fight.
Or these two level 9s would decimate the human side.
'Not only that,' Anna looked at the two level 8s in the distance with killing intent. She tried to kill them, but with these two level 9s, she couldn't concentrate.
She did manage to hold them from going down on the human army, but she wouldn't be able to do that for long.
'Where the fuck are reinforcements?'
"Incoming." Followed by a loud announcement, a huge black bird shot towards the level 9s.
"Screech!" With a loud roar, the lion head opened its mouth to bite off the Fire Abyssal while the Griffin's paws smashed at the Water Abyssal.
"This old man will take care of you pests."
"That's my place."
Two more voices came as Richard and Eve Xander appeared in front of the Abyssals.
Boom!
Boom!
Richard's mental power knocked out his opponent while Eve transformed into a flame phoenix and slapped off his pick.
"Sigh…" Anna sighed and joined the fight.
The sky continued to shake as each attack reverberated across thousands of miles.
The level 8s on either bases locked onto each other.
On multiple locations, skirmishes stared as either Abyssals or Humans initiated attacks.
The six awakeners fought in a remote area to avoid collateral.
With the addition of reinforcements, the tempo of battle was gradually balanced.
Boom!
Boom!
After an hour of intense fight, everything settled.
Anna was back in her command room, except this time, there were three old men in addition.