Smoke still rose from the shattered ruins as we made our escape.
The palace, once a monument of pride, now lay broken and battered behind us—but we had paid dearly for our victory.
We moved quickly, weaving through a maze of fallen pillars and shattered walls. Debris rained down from the ceilings, fires raged unchecked, and the entire skyline was a nightmare of burning towers and screaming alarms. Sirens wailed like dying beasts, and the distant hum of incoming enemy crafts rumbled through the ash-choked sky.
"Move! Don't stop!" I barked, voice hoarse with exhaustion.
Laser bolts sliced past us, burning holes into the broken stone. Every second, death brushed by our shoulders.
One of my best men—Lup—staggered, blood blossoming from a wound in his side. He gritted his teeth, trying to keep up.
"Lup, stay with me!" I yelled.
He nodded, stubborn, and kept running—until a blast from a fighter overhead struck nearby. The shockwave hurled Lup off his feet, slamming him against a crumbling pillar.
"No!" I shouted, rushing back—but it was too late.
His body was broken. His eyes, once so full of fire, stared sightlessly at the inferno above.
A punch to the gut. I felt it deep in my soul.But there was no time to grieve.
"Fall back! Fall back!" I commanded, rallying the surviving soldiers.
We pushed through the smoke and fire, hearts pounding, chased by gunfire and death itself.
Meanwhile, high above in the royal evacuation ship, the King lay slumped in a medical chair, blood pooling beneath him.
The strike I had landed earlier had torn through his ceremonial armor, leaving a deep, ugly gash along his side. His breathing was ragged, every inhale a struggle.
Royal medics worked feverishly, sealing the wound with regenerative foam and applying shock-stabilizers to keep his heart beating.
The ship was eerily quiet except for the low hum of engines and the beeping of life support monitors.
Despite the agony, the King forced himself upright, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His vision swam, but he waved off the medics who tried to restrain him.
He staggered toward the central comms panel, gripping it like a lifeline.
Across the fleet—across every screen in every household—he appeared.
Battered. Bloodied. Broken.Yet unbowed.
His people gasped when they saw him, many bursting into tears at the sight of their leader standing even after such a devastating attack.
He spoke, voice strained but unyielding:
"I bleed for you," he said, a grim smile on his torn lips."But I will never kneel."
"They want to shatter our spirit. They want us to break. But I will rise. And with me, so will all of you. We will wage war not because we have no choice—but because we believe our future deserves to exist."
"There is no room for two species on that planet. Only one will remain. And it will be us!"
The people watching roared in defiance and grief, banging weapons against walls, lifting torches high into the darkened skies.
The King collapsed back into the medic chair, finally letting the exhaustion take him—but his people's hearts burned brighter than ever.
Back on the ground, I and my surviving operatives reached the shadow of the woods where extraction ships waited.
As I climbed aboard, my hands still slick with Lup's blood, I caught the broadcast replay on the dropship's screens.
I saw their faces—the King's family—Roota, Suru, and Sonpy—watching in silent horror.Saw the families of other soldiers, twisted with agony, watching footage of their loved ones tortured by our forces.
Their eyes were a storm of hatred, betrayal, and despair.
And for the first time in a long time, a hollow pit opened up inside me.
A part of me wanted to feel satisfaction. To savor their pain as they had once savored ours.Another part—the part I thought long dead—felt something dangerously close to regret.
I clenched my fists, knuckles white.
No.
There was no room for softness anymore.Only war.
Only annihilation.
Lup's death would not be in vain.
"Let them grieve," I muttered under my breath, watching the King's wounded but unyielding face on the screen."It will make their fall all the sweeter."
And with that final thought, I ordered the ships to rise into the stormy heavens.
War was now inevitable.And it would be a war like no other.