People of higher grades naturally have a suppressing effect on those of lower grades, manifested by the power of their very presence, an invisible force pushing against anyone in their vicinity. Most people tend to keep their auras in control, suppressing them for the sake of those around, but in a situation where intimidation is key, an aura is invaluable.
Sett’s instincts screamed at him to run, but his legs refused to listen, his body trembling. Around him, everyone else suffered the same effects, some even forced on their knees. Sett moved slowly, willing each foot in front of the other, towards the road that led to Trent Park. He kept an eye on the platoon on his street, painfully aware of the powerful presences in other streets.
The platoon closest to him raised their arms towards the top of the apartment block he just came from, and a green, spherical shield made of hexagons appeared. A second later, a large crimson blast of Ether smashed into the shield, the explosion causing tremors, and sending debris flying everywhere. The rain sizzled as the rampant energies clashed. Yet, the shield held, though Sett noticed some of the hexagons flickering.
When Sett first learned about auras and higher grades, he ran to uncle Tecc’s place and begged him to show his nephew his presence. Tecc had obliged, and it was that very same aura Sett recognised billowing from the top floor of the building where the blast had come from. Uncle Tecc was fighting back.
The platoon were trained soldiers, however, and they responded quickly. As soon as the attack ended, Sett could see them through the debris, aiming their rifles at his uncle’s position. A hail of verdant green energy blasts, each one smaller than Tecc’s opening attack yet fired at a faster rate, streaked upwards toward the window. The attack was devastating, causing a cloud of dust to emerge and obscure the full result. Sett’s heart thumped with fear and rage, his fist tightened hard enough to draw blood.
As the dust cleared, Sett could see the whole region peppered with holes and destruction, entire pieces of Cupric Stone walls missing. However, uncle Tecc’s window was untouched, a hazy red shield shimmering around it. The shield disappeared and the former Krakarian bombardier’s rifle peeked out of the window again, firing another blast. This one split up into multiple blasts in midair, falling down on the enemy's shield like rain. The shield held true once more, but Sett noticed a few of the soldiers staggering around, disoriented.
The soldiers returned fire, but at that point Tecc dropped something out the window and disappeared, ignoring the hail of gunfire that followed. The whole section of wall for three stories around Tecc’s apartment came crumbling down, exposing the houses behind completely. Sett could see bodies in the houses, bodies he hoped weren’t corpses. A mountain of wreckage grew on the ground below. He saw Tecc leap through a hole on the floor to the next story, ducking behind an intact wall.
The egg-shaped object Tecc dropped fell normally for a few floors, before suddenly igniting from one end. The jet readjusted the ovoid’s trajectory, steering it to face the platoon. It sped across the distance in a second, enough time for 6 of the soldiers to drop their shields and flee. The object slammed into the shield, and this time it crumpled completely. There was no powerful explosion to flaunt the weapon’s strength, but the shield’s collapse was enough. The soldiers who maintained the shield fell to the ground too, clearly hurt. They had no moment of respite, however, as another bright red blast shot out towards them, once again breaking up in midair into a dozen or so attacks. The ground shook violently as the blasts hit, the explosion causing a shockwave that knocked Sett down on his back. His ears were ringing from the aftermath, and he slowly collected his wits and looked around.
In the minute or so that this exchange took, two other platoons reached the intersections at either end of the street. They had their rifles raised at Tecc’s direction, but didn’t make any other moves. The soldiers who faced Tecc’s attack without shielding were littered across the street, more than half of them unmoving. Sett was shocked at his uncle’s display of strength. These were E grade soldiers, better armoured than even the Empire’s best.
Uncle Tecc’s might would’ve been enough for an entire platoon, maybe two. The dropship that brought them here, however, was a different beast. Sett watched with horror as a metal plate on the side of the ship opened up, revealing a sinister hole. A missile was ejected through the launch tube, initially in a straight line, but thrust vectors along its side corrected its course, turning it nearly 180 degrees towards Tecc’s position. Another red Ether blast attempted to stop it, but it was too late. The attack successfully detonated the missile before it reached its target, but it was close enough. The shockwave from the explosion sent Sett flying back, right at the feet of a platoon waiting at the intersection. Cracks spread outwards on the road from the impact spot, and Sett could see many civilians lying around unmoving. The noise shook his very being, and the cloud of debris it sent into the air obscured his vision entirely.
Sett couldn’t imagine the loss of life that occurred in just the past few minutes. An entire building full of residents, probably a 1000 people reduced to nothing. Sett stared in abject horror as the dust cleared, any smidgen of hope lost as he saw the result of the attack. An entire wing of the residential block nearly reduced to ruins, an arm of the U shaped building nearly gone, apart from a small, jagged remnant a couple of stories high, its walls scarred and cracking.
It was on top of these remains that Sett spotted his uncle, his body hanging off the edge. He didn’t move, and Sett’s rage reached a boiling point. He shot up, ready to rip the invaders limb from limb but their powerful auras kept his feet rooted in place. A surviving iota of sense prevailed, and he knew there was nothing he could do.
A squad of 4 invaders got up from the ground and immediately held their rifles up, cautiously approaching Tecc’s body. They fired a few shots, and the unmoving body found life as Tecc flung himself to the ground in evasion. He rolled towards his rifle using the momentum of his fall, and quickly fired a blast in retaliation. The assailants dispersed immediately, and Tecc charged forward.
A bright red blade made of pure energy appeared from under the barrel of his rifle, curving upwards at the muzzle. Tecc sprinted towards the nearest invader, his rifle held above his head like an axe. He sliced down in a powerful motion, the blade pausing as it slammed into the target’s neck armor, but cutting through as Tecc applied more weight. The rifle, led by its sharp sword, sliced through the man like butter, from his neck down his torso. Tecc lifted the lifeless corpse and turned to his side, using the body to block an attack. He withdrew the sword and charged towards his next victim.
Sett watched the fight in morbid awe. His uncle brutally took down one invader after another in close combat, preventing the ship from intervening lest they attack one of their own. He occasionally fired an explosive Ether blast towards one of the other platoons or surviving soldiers to keep them from intervening in his dance of bloody death. As the fourth unfortunate soul’s head separated from his body, an Ether blast appearing from behind drilled through Tecc’s leg. The man screamed and almost collapsed, but before his knee touched the floor he flung himself to the right, narrowly dodging another attack aimed for his head.
Sett realised what this was. Despair bubbled up inside him as he watched his uncle make his final stand, a desperate bid to atone for his sins. He knew he couldn’t stop him, all he could do was watch and engrave this image into his very being. Rage soared as he bore witness, reigned in by the hopeless gap in power between Sett and his enemies.
Even Sett could notice the immense power building up inside Tecc’s rifle as he stabbed the blade into the torso of the invader who injured him. The rifle trembled with the barely contained Ether circulating through it and the rage of a man giving his life to protect his loved ones. Tecc got down on one knee and targeted his rifle towards the ship in the sky, lifting the still attached soldier in the process.
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A dozen energy blasts pierced Tecc’s body, but the man didn’t flinch as the rifle glowed for a final attack. An unimaginably powerful blast of energy exploded out of the muzzle, vaporizing the stabbed soldier and continuing upwards. The shockwave destroyed the rifle it was fired from and Tecc Keidum collapsed, lifeless.
Tecc’s final goodbye impacted the ship with the force of all the pent up rage the man had accumulated over the years, resulting in an explosion that threw Sett to the ground again. He watched with tears in his eyes as the ship was lifted up by the explosion, giant plates of metal falling like rain. A giant hole emerged in the seam between the wing and the body. The ship almost lost its hover, tilting to the side and slowly descending. Sett was sure it would crash on top of him, and he welcomed death more than the despair he was feeling now. The thrusters at its back, however, blazed to life and it disappeared from view. The rain was finally allowed to fall, and it washed over him, its cold touch mirroring Sett’s emotions.
He was dragged to his feet by one of the invaders and shouted at in Universal Common but he didn’t understand a word. He was shoved towards the road to Trent Park, and he lifelessly trudged on. His mind was blank, the weight of all that happened in the past mere minutes being too heavy to bear. A thought of concern for his remaining family and friends popped up, but it was drowned out in the despair of everything. A large part of him wanted to charge at the invaders so they could put him out of his misery. Unfortunately, the rational part of his mind slowly put one foot in front of the other, taking him to Trent Park with thousands of other panicked citizens.
He gazed listlessly at the ground as he walked, any ounce of strength his body once had drained. His mind wallowed in misery and despair, though a small flame of furious vengeance held on deep inside. Sett cradled the flame, biding his time to unleash it. As he approached the boundary to Trent Park, he engraved a promise on his soul that whoever was responsible for this will be paid back in blood.
He bumped his head against someone and looked up. The man he bumped into barely reacted, but Sett noticed he’d reached the park. He was right on the edge, the park filled to its perimeter with a dense sea of terrified faces. The crowd was surrounded by platoons of armored soldiers like the ones that killed uncle Tecc, copies nearly indistinguishable from one another. They had seemingly suppressed their auras, their threatening presence indicated solely by their appearances. The sight of their shiny black visors agitated his barely suppressed rage, the Ether in his body roiling violently.
The crowd faced a massive ship, bigger than any of the vessels hovering over the town. It was parked at the opposite edge of the park, though it could've been hovering really close to the ground. Sett couldn't see too far in front of him due to the heavy rain, but the massive, black hull in the distance glared at him ominously. The same strange words in Universal Common were vaguely visible.
“Salsai Sapient Resource Corporation,” a voice next to Sett said, his voice barely audible over the din of the rain.
“What?”
“Salsai! Sapient! Resource! Corporation!” The man yelled over the roar, “That's what it says on the side! I studied Universal Common in Krakar I years ago!”
The man seemed vaguely familiar to Sett, but he couldn't recognise him. Not that he cared currently.
Sett worried for his father and brother, the Throhs, Thane, auntie Fen, the receptionist girl at Laira’s, Jon and even Jon 2, all the people he’d grown up with, loved. He wondered if this was happening planet wide, if there were similar invasions happening in Central City. Aiya and Alia, even Laira who was currently there as well.
He scanned the immediate faces around him for someone he recognised but saw no one. He pushed his way eastward, hoping that people from the commercial district might be there. He could hear the wail of a child in the distance, even through the rain. He kept going, pushing and shoving through the agitated crowd. He wasn’t the only one with the idea either, there were scores of people wading through the sea of bodies, calling out names.
Eventually, he spotted a bald head sticking well above the crowd. Thane was at the very back, possibly having just arrived. A little behind him was a weeping child all alone, possibly looking for her parents. Sett called out the blacksmith’s name and began moving towards him. Thane saw him and smiled warmly, giving Sett the first modicum of security he felt since his world turned to hell. The next moment, the voice from before resounded from the direction of the parked ship.
“Everyone! Please stop moving! I understand that you’re confused, but we need to stop moving so we can explain.”
The crowd paused for a moment, but the panic of the throng was not easily calmed, and the people started moving again.
“Stop where you are or there will be consequences. Consequences similar to what you’ve seen near the tall buildings.”
This stopped everyone dead in their tracks. Most of the population came from the residential districts and would’ve seen or heard the battle that had gone on. A dropship had disappeared, explosions shook the ground, it was unavoidable. The guards surrounding them flared their auras to the maximum, suppressing all F grades gathered there. The mention of those “consequences” enraged Sett further, and he glared in the direction of the voice, every cell in his body screaming to run up there and rip the noble bastard limb from limb. He clenched his fist till he drew blood, feeling the Ether collecting in his arms like a tempest.
The crowd had quieted down to murmurs that weren’t audible in the storm, though Sett could still hear the child’s scream. A cold wind passed by, and chilled his soaked body to his bones. A few tense minutes later, the voice continued.
“Yes. I am Baron Nosadus the Second of Krakar I. I am here to introduce our generous patreon, the esteemed Salsai Sapient Resource Corporation. They are a powerful B grade very far from here, in the heart of the Universe, and they have so graciously gifted the Krakarian Empire vast amounts of precious resources, metals, and other valuable items.”
Nosadus seemed genuinely emotional as he heaped praises on their mysterious invaders. Sett’s brows furrowed even more.
“In return, we have promised them a small number of our fine, hard working citizens in the resource planets to take with them, as they deal in the business of buying and selling, ah, sapient property. In fact, they are by far the biggest names in the business!”
Sett was speechless. He had a low opinion of the Empire to begin with, but he never thought them heartless or evil. He never expected them to sell off multiple towns worth of their own citizens as slaves. The reality of their situation still hadn’t set in, slavery was something he’d learnt about in books practiced in many parts of the universe, but the idea that he and everyone he loved were going to be slaves was too far-fetched to imagine.
This was clearly something difficult to digest for a lot of the people gathered here as well, since the crowd was completely silent at the proclamation, only the roar of the rain and the crying of the child dared seep through the air.
“You may rejoice! Your sacrifice will bring great prosperity to the Krakarian Empire and the Krakar Dynasty! You are being taken in by a pre-eminent universal faction!”
These words agitated the crowd, who began shouting despite the powerful weight of the auras of hundreds of E grades bearing down on them. Sett silently stared, his fury simmering yet waiting for a chance. He knew that even if every person here rebelled, it would be put down with a few missiles from the ships surrounding them.
Sett heard a metallic voice shout something behind him and he turned around. The weeping child, less than 4 years old, was clinging to the leg of a black armoured invader. The man’s protests fell to deaf ears as she continued screaming, so he lifted his knee and sent her flying. Her body stumbled onto the legs of Sett’s mentor, motionless.
Sett looked on in dread as Thane’s giant frame shook in fury and screamed, a guttural, furious scream that pierced Sett’s very being. Thane pounced, planting his foot down in front of the attacker in a single leap, his arm drawn back for an attack.
“Thane!” Sett screamed and held his arm out, just to watch his mentor’s body crumble to the ground lifelessly, riddled with holes.
Sett fell in a heap, his mind blank.