Jue Di went on. "Right now it's hard to say. What we can say is the aliens fear our Discipline. We must also acknowledge the strength of our destructive technology. Bastion ships, for instance, can cause real havoc. More specifics will only be made clear when war breaks out. What we do know is that old shyster was right. This is the worst danger humanity has ever faced. Come back to Skyfire. Now that we know she can find you at any time, you're safest with me. Focus on cultivation, then once you and your girl have broken through you can at least flee if an alien as strong as her comes for you."
"Yeah."
After speaking with his father Lan Jue felt crestfallen. Not for the dangers to his own life, but because of these aliens' apparent ability to be everywhere. With the Princesses capabilities and ability to hide in plain sight, infiltrating humanity's cities was as easy as a wink.
One could only imagine what a creature as strong as the Princess could do in the heart of a metropolitan area. Her kind were even more frightening than the alien planets themselves. At least you knew they were coming. Even humanity's strongest couldn't compare.
A cold light flit through Lan Jue's eyes, mingling with stoic determination. Waiting around wasn't going to save them from extinction. They had to bring the fight to the enemy, make the alien planets the battlefield at not human civilization. When he returned to the Avenue he would prepare for another scouting mission, maybe thin their numbers a little more.
Star Division left Lyr once recovery efforts were fully under way, and returned to Skyfire. All three alliances had redoubled their war preparations after news from Lyr broke. The West paused in their constant campaign to cause trouble. They joined the efforts of the North and East, carefully searching outlying planets for signs of a progenitor's presence. Special attention was paid to especially fertile worlds.
ζ
Tragic news awaited Lan Jue and Star Division when they got back to the Avenue!
One of the North's planets – an administrative planet on the borders, full of life – had been attacked. Just as on Lyr the aliens had appeared without warning, attacking with even more ferocity than the ocean planet had suffered. Surveys of the destruction showed that at least three progenitors had fed on it.
By the time the nearest fleet arrived the planet was a rotten purple globe. The creatures had bled it dry, and the progenitors were nowhere to be seen. All that remained was a broken husk of a world where once life had flourished. The death toll was expected to be over fifty million. Nearly every living thing had been wiped out. The whole world was a necropolis.
It was only the third time aliens had appeared on human occupied land. Taihua had been the first, and thankfully few had died. This was thanks to its low population, as well as Lan Jue and the Wine Master's quick response. Lyr had suffered and many had died, but at least the planet survived.
But this time, in only two days a beautiful world had been laid to waste. Fifty million lives, snuffed out.
The news sent a shudder through the spine of every breathing human. The North held an emergency senate meeting and declared war against the three alien planets. Demonstrations were held all throughout Northern space while the call went out for soldiers to go on alert. A draft was implemented as well. In an impressive show of force the first, third, sixth, eleventh and thirteenth fleet were dispatched to escort the Tyrannosaurus-class Bastion ship to the Shattered Starfields.
Clearly the alien menace had provoked humanity's mightiest Alliance.
Meanwhile the North asked the East to send out the scouting party they'd used before as support in their sweep of the Starfields. Already they were moving the Arachnid- and Heron-class Bastions to the border in preparation. The remaining bastions were sent to the bigger planets most vulnerable to alien attack, with their crew on full alert.
At last, after great suffering, war had come to the human worlds.
ζ
"Ahhh!" A woman desperately clutched her child, trying to shield it. The purple blade-like edge that pierced her chest, running her and the child through, was unmoved. Two exsanguinated fell lifelessly to the ground.
The horrifying images flashed before them as a holograph. The Skyfire councilmembers clenched their fists as they looked on.
The North had shared the recordings with them, images from the planet they'd lost.
Tragedy couldn't describe what had happened. It was a slaughter. Not just humans, but every animal and plant was gone, given no quarter. They were like a plague of locusts, devouring everything.
The image frozen in that terrifying moment.
The Wine Master's drawn, angry face turned to the others.
"You see it, what happened to the North's citizens. You've witnessed their savagery. Even before all-out war their monstrousness is clear. On a day they turned this beautiful planet into a graveyard. If not for the arrival of military vessels, there likely wouldn't have been a planet to return to. Ten percent of human somehow lived, twenty percent of fauna. Fifty percent of all plants were destroyed. If not for the quick reaction of the Northern army, those progenitors would have devoured every life.
"Judging by the speed with which they took the world, if something isn't done all human planets will be striped of life in a year's time, and most of that time would just be traveling from one place to the other."
Everyone surrounding the table knew how terrifying the creatures were. After the auction, Skyfire Avenue especially understood the worth of their vital crystals, but these bloody images reminded them of what they were up against.
"I'll go and help the North scout out the enemy," Lan Jue said to the Wine Master. He was, after all, the chairman of the Avenue's council.
The Wine Master's brows furrowed. "Their sudden appearance, and the force with which they struck, suggests this was a premeditated effort to strike our scouting capabilities. I'll go with you, and we'll leave Star Division here to help the military prepare. I recommend we all brace ourselves, war will soon come to the East. These planets' teleportation capabilities are to be feared."