"We helped you!"
"We killed Shadow Orders'! Dammit!"
Shua! Shua!
Pleadings were met with attacks.
Protests and requests fell on deaf ears. Age didn't matter. Merits weren't cared for.
In a few minutes, the army machine butchered every low and mid awakened. The kill count was in thousands.
As the corpses or what was left of them laid across the secret realm, the realm itself reeked of blood and flesh. But more than those, it reeked of desolation and despair.
The high awakeners that were holding out so that their pupils, juniors, children, and grandchildren could escape had tears in their eyes.
These men and women that braved their lives and marched straight into the abyss many times collapsed on the ground and wailed like children.
"…W-Why?" The old woman held her grandkid, to be precise, what remained of him, a burnt head that still managed to show his fear before death.
"Why…" She felt a lump in her throat and her vision turned blurry. It was like someone knocked the breath out of her chest.
She prayed to the heavens for it to be her nightmare. Because this couldn't be true. Yet, the rough touch of his burnt skin, the pungent smell of burnt flesh told her that none of it was fake.
She looked at the man who fought her and hugged her grandson's head. "T-This kid lost his parents to Shadow Order. So, I joined the Guardians to avenge him."
With each word, tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped on her grandson's burnt face, as if trying to soothe his burn.
"I only attacked Order. This…This little fellow wanted to join the army and serve his race. So why?" Her eyes turned red as she curled up and wailed.
"Why do you have to kill him? He has no blood on his hands. He's just…just living here. He has no one but me." She demanded an answer.
The officer gritted his teeth and turned his gaze away. He was reminded of his own granddaughter.
Personally, he believed that Shadow Guardians were loyal to the human race and were allies of the army.
If today didn't happen, perhaps the lady's grandson would be studying with his granddaughter, pursuing his dream of serving his people.
Yet, he erased that future with his own hands. Killed an innocent in the name of justice.
'I'm sorry.' The officer clenched his fists but didn't say it out loud.
If he was in charge of this, he would've tried to persuade the higher-ups. But the one leading this mission…no one in the federation could persuade him.
"Maybe this is karma. I supported killing Enigma." The old woman started to laugh bleakly. "But isn't it a bit too fast?"
She raised her head and looked at the officer. "Send me to accompany him."
The officer sighed deeply and condensed a fire lotus.
It took the same mana as every other fire lotus he condensed so far, but for some reason, it was incredibly exhausting.
It wasn't a body or mind fatigue, but it's as if…it's as if his soul was suddenly sucked dry.
'May you both rest in peace.' He prayed and shot her down.
The old woman hugged her grandson's head and faced the fire.
Without any defense, her clothes and skin started to burn. Then her blood and flesh.
The searing pain didn't make her scream.
No.
The officer still heard her wails. The physical pain meant nothing to her. Her heart was still weeping the loss of her only relative.
Even when the fire burnt her bones to ashes, he seemed to hear her sobs.
He clutched his chest and felt like he just killed his own conscience. She was a casualty. As the strategists called it, a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.
He knew it from the beginning. From a rational perspective, it was the right thing to do.
Yet, he also knew that this murder would haunt him more than any other.
"Arghhh! Die! Die!"
The officer raised his head and saw a man lost in a rage attacking a soldier.
The man's left arm, leg, and even half of his torso were frozen. With each move he had, they broke apart from his body like glass breaking.
Yet, he continued to fight.
"Die! You ungrateful bitches!" The man continued his offensive even as his body began to break down.
"D-Die!" His leg was completely gone.
"D…D-Die!" His arm broke away.
"…e!" His heart broke apart and he collapsed on the ground.
The officer spread his fire sense and saw similar situations were occurring across the secret realm.
Barring a few, most of the soldiers had uncomfortable expressions on their faces.
They didn't train for this. They were supposed to kill abyssals. Not their own people. Especially not the people who supported them many times.
Every officer here experienced it one time or another while serving on planetoids.
During emergency situations, there'd always be some special adventurers willing to join the army and support them.
These special adventures, unlike normal adventurers, wouldn't have records of raiding dungeons or doing tasks.
For any sufficiently high-ranking officer, it was blatantly obvious that they were from Shadow Guardians.
It was an unwritten agreement. A silent approval. A manifestation of loyalty and patriotism.
And today,
"Arghh! I saved your life, Mr.Zep, in the hosk's crisis and this is how you repay me and my people?" The last standing Shadow Guardian roared.
By this point, everyone else regardless of their level was gone.
Officer Zep gritted his teeth. The sword under his grip trembled fiercely and before he knew it, the blade cut into his palm and blood flowed down the cold metal and dripped at the feet of the man below.
"Do it yourself." Officer Zep closed his eyes and said.
"Haha! How about you fuck yourself?" The man laughed in disdain and spread his arms.
"Come kill me. I know you're following orders, but fuck you and whoever's commanding you."
Kacha!
A fist broke through the man's head and exploded it like a watermelon.
"I don't like being disrespected." Sovereign Julius shrugged nonchalantly.
The moment he made his entrance, everyone on the scene froze. Their backs stiffened involuntarily and they almost stopped breathing.
"Did anyone escape?" He asked Officer Zep.
"No, sir. We kil—neutralized everyone in the secret realm." He replied.
"This realm is the last one." Julius nodded with a thin smile. "I'm positive we have killed at least a dozen or more aliens.
He glanced at the bloodstained soldiers and clapped. "Congratulations, officers, you have done a great service and once again, saved your motherland."
The soldiers stiffly saluted him.
"Some guardians are still alive…they're on other planets, planetoids, but without their base, they'll be killed sooner or later. But on earth, there are no more shadow guardians." Sovereign Julius declared and his eyes narrowed. "Except two."
His figure disappeared the next moment and he appeared in front of the horrified Rudolf and Xia.
"Sover—"
"Sir, I—!"
They couldn't even finish their sentences before their heads were blasted to pieces.
Neither Rudolf's physical defense nor Xia's lightning defense offers any help.
Julius smiled in satisfaction and ordered.. "Broadcast this on all platforms."