I wake up to the sterile feeling of a med pod, again. Why is it that every one of my interactions with Vixelos lands me in the infirmary? I really tried to be careful this time too.
You are just incapable of being careful. Lemon says, welcoming me back into the world.
Nice to see you are perfectly fine, Lemon. Why is it that you never seem affected by Vixelos?
You never drag me with you. Also I don't think our bond is strong enough for you to access my soul energy. Lucien’s dragon says it is possible later though.
Hmm, have you been socializing with those old geezers? Hopefully they haven't been putting weird ideas in your head.
Ha, nope just normal talks about rebellion and taking over the universe. Nothing abnormal of course. They are quite interesting, and seem quite perplexed by me.
I mentally pat her on the head and give her a few bellrubs. Well you are super special and stuff. And you have cool eyes. Though Violet’s eyes are far cuter of course.
Maka. take that back right now. My eyes are definitely prettier than Violet’s! Even Apple agrees.
Wait, uh I mean. Uh.. you weren’t supposed to hear that. I panic a bit, I always forget that she can read my mind even when I don’t intend her to.
I hear everything you know. Lemon says. Well, at least you aren’t boring to listen to. Even if you do have some strange thoughts…
I have no such strange thoughts! If you can hear me, how come I can’t hear you? It does seem strange, the bond should go both ways, right?
Well that is because I am a dragon. Far superior to a mere human, if your mind tried to comprehend mine it would simply break.
That makes sense I guess. Dragons are a lot different than humans, and all other living beings too. Plus I don’t think I want to know what sort of stuff goes on in Lemon’s mind.
Hey! What is that supposed to mean? I am perfectly normal!
At that moment a loud ‘AHEM’ comes from Lucien, who is looking into my med pod from above. He has an amused expression on his face. “Well, good to see you are alive enough to what I presume is have an argument with your dragon. There is a meeting in the conference room in an hour to go over the next steps, don’t be late. Near soul-exhaustion is not a valid excuse.” He laughs lightly. “Oh and wake up your squadmate while you are at it. She seems to insist on sleeping in.” He walks out of the room.
I sit up and look around the room for what he is talking about. Then I spot Violet, still asleep in her own med pod. Her hair is tied in a cute braid and she looks quite peaceful. She must be having a nice dream. Does Lucien want me to be killed?
I create a warm and gentle breeze with a bit of magic, trying to get her awake without ending my life. She grumbles but doesn't stir.
I sigh and reach out to shake her shoulder.
But suddenly she reaches out and grabs my hand in her own. Her hands are very warm and they grasp my own gently. “Yuko..” she mumbles just loud enough for me to hear.
“Who is Yuko?” I ask.
Her eyes open and she bolts upright. She looks right at me, and then down to her hands wrapped around mine. She considers the situation for a few seconds.
“In my defense, you grabbed my hand.”
She looks right into my eyes, then as if by magic, her entire face instantly turns bright red. Even her ears get affected. It is really damn cute. “Uhm..” she tries to speak but then gives up. She shoves me away and leaps out of the med pod and runs to the door. “This never happened.” She says before leaving in a rush.
A bit stunned, I call loudly after her. “Meeting in one hour!” I hope she heard me. I don’t think Lucien will blame me for not chasing her. He can probably understand that would be a fatal activity.
I grab a quick bite to eat and then head to the conference room for the meeting. It seems I am the last to arrive. Even Violet is sitting in one of the chairs, and quickly looks away from me when I enter. I suppose that is a problem to address another day. After all, no way I can forget how cute she was with that blush of hers.
“Maka, glad you can join us!” Tien shouts from her seat.
“And a whole one minute early too.” Lucien adds, looking at a clock. “You have improved since last time.”
I flinch at the dig, but take my seat across the table from Violet.
Bellaris stands up and moves towards the front of the table. “Alright, now that we are all here. It is time we talk about getting you kids to rank 2. It won’t be easy, as the only way to conceivably get there is to take on the Matriarch of this planet. Thus defeating the entire conquest.”
The sound of the ventilation can be heard as we go silent.
Liv breaks the silence. “I am all for fun, but us take on a Matriarch, alone?”
Bellaris bursts into laughter. “Of course not alone. This is a massive operation, have you guys not noticed the ridiculous amount of ships that were in orbit of the planet?”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Now that she mentions it, there were quite a lot of ships in orbit. I figured it was just resupply time or something. “How big of an operation are we talking about?”
She motions and a projection of Volea appears. About eighty percent of the planet is in our colors. “There are currently about one hundred thousand cadets on the planet, fighting. This is the largest rank 1 operation ever commenced. I think if you check the system display it will have more info on the situation.”
[Conquest Resumed: Reclaim Volea (80%)]
[Environment: Volcanic (Breathable, 0.1% Hum, 40°C Avg. Temp.)]
[Remaining Hives: 9,915 (All Stabilized, 9,412 Claimed)]
[Conquest Rank: 1]
[Personal Conquest Reward Quota: 12,724/4,500 Monsters Slain]
[Squad Conquest Reward Quota: 92,512/31,000 Monsters Slain]
[Total Monsters Slain in Conquest: 521,619,984]
[Total Casualties: 4,952]
“Wait, didn’t this planet have rank two enemies before?” Stephen asks after similarly reviewing it.
Gaema stands up. “It did. We have no clue why, but one week ago our forces were busy clearing rank 2 hives when they suddenly all died. Every single monster above rank 2 just dropped dead, and the queen’s rifts closed. Then the Matriarch rift was revealed and it was only just over rank 1, like normal for rank 1 conquests.”
To everyone’s surprise, Moxie speaks up. “That is fucking weird.”
“That it is, kiddo.” Tien comments. “You shoulda seen how far Gaema’s jaw dropped, it must’ve hit the core of the planet.”
I wonder if the Natures had something to do with this. I don’t know exactly what their whole schtick is, but this seems very strange indeed. But there are more important things to think about. “So, ignoring the whatever the fuck happened. What is the plan?”
Bellaris turns towards me and smiles. “Yes, let's table the mysterious phenomenon for another day. After all, you kids have some monsters to slay.” She moves the projection and focuses on the northern pole of the planet. “At the North Pole lies the Matriarch’s rift. Surrounded by Level 250 monsters. The plan is for other squadrons to clear up to the rift. Then, Asteria Squadron will spearhead seventy one other cadet squadrons into the Matriarch’s rift.”
Lucien walks up and stands beside Bellaris. “So, any questions?”
Naturally, we ask lots of questions. Most of them are technical details and whatnot. But we do learn that each Matriarch is guarded by one monster variant per rank. For rank 1, those monsters are the greatly feared Orcs.
Also the Matriarch is supposedly at level 251. Which is both good and bad news. On one hand, they can be up to twenty levels higher than the max. But on the other hand, it will be an insanely hard fight even at just 1 level above. Since the gap between level 250 and 251 is so gigantic, we are going to have a rough time.
Seems like we get to have a nice little rematch. Oh, and apparently our squadron is leading the entire operation the moment we enter the rift. I hope they aren't overestimating our abilities.
When the meeting ends I start walking back to my room to get some sleep. I am still quite tired from the soul exhaustion, plus the absolute bombshell that they just dropped didn't help.
Midway back I hear footsteps following me and I turn around to see Violet. Her hands are shaking a bit and she seems nervous about something. She freezes when I look at her. “Do you need something?”
She hesitates for a moment. I can tell something is up, which is strange since it's Violet. “Follow me.”
I don’t have to be told twice to instantly follow a cute girl to an unspecified location. We walk through the halls of the camp, the compound is a lot larger than I would’ve thought from seeing the exterior. Turns out these military folk really know how to compact things down.
We walk out of the camp and into the field. The air is a bit cooler today, and the breeze feels nice as it passes over my face. Somehow, the green area is actually fine to breathe in, so I don't even need a helmet.
Which also makes it easier to see Violet’s lovely hair as it blows in the wind. She leads us to one of the larger trees and turns around to look at me. She seems even more nervous than before. It is strange, she seems a lot different than yesterday.
“I need your help.” She says softly, barely a whisper.
“Whatever you need, I am at your service.” I respond. I hope I didn’t overdo it. She kinda gives off the air that she never asks for help. So this must be really important.
She lightly punches me in the shoulder and looks up at me. “Idiot, you are supposed to ask what I need help with before agreeing.”
“Why? I am going to agree to it anyways. Might as well skip that part. So, what are we doing?”
She sighs. “I am not good at this whole thing, am I?”
I puzzle over her words before I realize what she means. “You mean asking for help?”
The light catches her eyes and they sparkle for a moment. “Yeah that. Let me just uh, say it then.” She takes a deep breath in. “My little sister is dying. The disease is unknown, causing complete cellular degeneration. No one knows the cause, and no one knows how to cure it. Modern tech, magic, even Lucien’s abilities didn’t work.” I can guess that her sister is the ‘Yuko’ that she called out for.
I watch as a single tear wells up in her right eye, and then descends down her cheek. Just a single one manages to escape, and then she seems to steel herself somehow. Her scowl turns into a pleading look.
“I have poured over countless books. Histories. Medical texts. There has only ever been one mention of anything like her condition.” she pauses. “It was in an old elven textbook, one of the few that managed to survive the Great Shattering. It spoke of an ancient elven sickness, and the only cure is a specific elven ritual. Unfortunately, it did not include mention of how to do that ritual.”
“But, the elves are gone, right? They were all killed by their own folly in the Great Shattering.”
A fire ignites in Violet’s eyes. “You must promise never to repeat what I am about to tell you.”
I wonder what could possibly be so important that she needs me to promise, the most powerful of all pledges. But alas, I do it anyways, It is far too late to stop my curiosity now. “Of course I promise. I’ll never tell a soul.”
“Well, there used to be an elven empire. It was never just the Traver empire. Also, there is good reason to believe that they did not fall.”
I let the information wash over me. You know, normal stuff. An elven empire probably still existing, us humans not being the only ones from before that are alive still. You know, normal everyday stuff that… “What the fuck.”
She starts laughing and can't seem to control herself for several seconds. It is a nice, light laugh. I wish I could listen to it for longer. “Sorry, it is just… that is exactly what I said when I read the record theorizing it. But I think it is true, for whatever it is worth. And, I need your help to get there.”
Hmm, an intergalactic vacation with a cute girl – who is also a badass – to an elven land full of elves. What person in their right mind would refuse? “Well, I already said I am in, so let's do it.”
“But, this is like treason and stuff we are talking about.” she states.
“Yeah. And? Seems like your little sister is a bit more important than a few rules.” I smile. “Plus, with us two it should be a walk in the park, right? Especially if we can somehow rope the others into it.”
“I… do not know about that last part. First we need to get stronger. There are certainly tons of very nasty monsters between us and the location the book described. Plus I have no idea how we are going to travel across intergalactic space either.”
“Eh, who really cares about details. I am sure we will figure it out.” I have no fucking clue how we will figure it out. “Anyways, did you see something super strange yesterday?” I ask.
“No, why would you ask that? I think mine was fairly similar to your own.” She tilts her head to the side, which is ridiculously cute.
“Hmm. You just seem different, that is all.” I say.
We are so close together that it is impossible for me to dodge the punch she throws right into my gut. It knocks the air right out of my lungs. “Tsk, imbecile.”
But then, she leans in and kisses me on the cheek. The barest touch, but it was certainly there. My brain short circuits as she immediately pushes me away. I fall onto my ass and watch as she walks away very quickly.
I lay back in the grass and stare up at the lovely sky.
What the fuck just happened?
Next Chapter: Taking Command
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