บท 55: Judgement

The metallic-scaled general leaned in close to his comms, whispering urgently to the other generals. "Now's our chance, while it's unsuspecting," he hissed, his voice low but intense. "This thing has to die here and now, before it drains our territory dry."

There were murmurs of agreement crackling through the comms. The generals nodded, grimly determined, their minds uniting on a single goal: the destruction of this powerful entity, no matter the risks.

"Listen to me!" the pink-skinned general, Sinith, interrupted, her tone edged with worry as her gaze flickered across her screens. "Don't do anything reckless. He hasn't attacked us, and he could have. Let's think this through and see if we can reach an agreement, for all our sakes."

The metallic-scaled general scoffed, shaking his head. "Sinith, your vision is too narrow. Even if he leaves now, who's to say he won't come back, hungrier and stronger?" His sharp eyes glinted, a spark of cunning gleaming in their depths. "This is our chance. Don't let it slip away."

Another voice cut in, rumbling like stones grinding together. A rock-like alien general crossed his thick arms, casting a disdainful look at Sinith. "And think of what we could gain if we capture it. Imagine the kind of power that flows through a creature like this," he added, his mouth twisting into a crooked smirk.

The metallic-scaled general's grin widened as he watched the others nod, their greedy ambitions taking over. "Exactly," he continued, savoring the thought. "This isn't just a threat; it's an opportunity. We extract that power, make it ours."

Around him, the generals murmured in approval, envisioning the might they could harness.

General Sinith's face tightened in frustration. "Damn it, will you guys listen—!"

The words lingered in the minds of the generals, chilling them to their cores. Carter's ominous warning hung in the air like a leaden weight, every syllable ringing with an authority that defied resistance. In the cockpit, no one dared to move—except for the metallic-scaled general. Panic sparked in his eyes, replacing the grin with a flicker of desperation.

"This thing… this thing is beyond reason," he muttered, a growing urgency in his voice as he activated his comm. "All fleets, initiate attack sequence! Prepare hyper-cosmic beams and target the entity immediately!"

A wave of commands flashed across the screens as the other generals scrambled to follow orders, their faces contorted with a mixture of fear and reckless bravado. General Sinith's face went pale, her voice lost as the decision was made before she could stop it. She watched helplessly as the dozens of ships in the fleet aligned their weapons, aimed directly at the figure floating beyond their hull.

In unison, hundreds of hyper-cosmic beams ignited, blazing through space in a dazzling display of destructive power. The beams tore through the void, converging on Carter in a blinding assault of light and energy. For fifteen long seconds, space was alive with crackling bursts of cosmic power, the energy surging outward, almost over shadowing the nearby stars in its intensity.

The generals stared at the screens, their mouths open in twisted satisfaction. The metallic-scaled general clenched his fists triumphantly. "Yes! This… this should be enough to obliterate him!"

The relentless barrage continued, and as the beams finally ceased, the residual energy slowly faded, leaving only the quiet hum of the ships' systems and the lingering, acrid taste of victory on the generals' lips. A tense silence fell over the cockpit as they waited for the visuals to update, each alien anticipating the remnants of a scorched void where their pursuer once floated.

But as the residual glare lifted, the figure was still there, untouched. Carter hadn't moved an inch, his form hovering exactly as before. The silence grew deafening as the disbelief set in. Then, a single, piercing eye opened on the right side of his darkened face—a golden iris that shone with a cold, predatory intensity, locking onto the ships before him.

In a voice as frigid as the space surrounding them, he spoke, his words laced with quiet malice. "I've gotten my answer"