"Approaching the target, ETA twenty minutes." Kass's voice boomed over the radio.
Instead of waiting for Avalina's recovery before attacking Nirvana, Ashton moved forward with the plan as soon as the majority of Giholan forces arrived to assist him.
Thanks to their transport ships, an army of roughly three thousand soldiers were headed to attack Nirvana.
'It would have been an overkill if I attacked them alone,' He thought, 'But now... it's going to be a massacre.'
[Honestly speaking, I lowkey feel bad for them. They unknowingly made an enemy out of the worst person they possibly could. Well, no point crying over spilt milk.]
Oddly enough, Astaroth's words gave a sense of comfort to Ashton. Even though he was dead set on taking revenge, he often found himself second-guessing whether or not it was correct to make the innocent pay for the mistakes of a few.
However, such thoughts would only occupy his mind briefly before being thrown away. The topic of their innocence would come after their defeat, not before.
'For their sake, I hope they'd surrender.'
Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. The soaring ships came to a screeching halt. They hadn't reached the target; Ashton was sure of that much. So why did Kass stop them?
"Captain, I might need some assistance here," Kass reported through the comms.
"I'll be right there," Ashton replied before heading to the cockpit.
As soon as he stepped into the glass dome, everything became clear. A massive gaseous crown surrounded their target city. Similarly, every central town and district had been covered with Corpsification gas as a security measure.
"Huh, these fuckers..." Ashton couldn't help but smile, "Looks like I'll have to personally take care of them after all."
Ashton called the rest of the ships awaiting his orders at different places around Nirvana with a sinister expression. Their plans had been altered a teensy bit.
"Dock the ships in the atmosphere, and do not make contact with the black smoke." He calmly spoke through the radio, "I repeat, do not make contact with the smoke. If you're feeling itchy to do something, feel free to bombard the cities from above."
A moment later, all twenty ships' pilots followed his instructions. As much as the inhumans* wanted to take revenge on the undead for experimenting on them, there wasn't anything they could have done.
Ashton was well aware of how they felt and had special instructions for them.
"Oi, Alina and the rest of the inhumans, prepare your weapons," Ashton mumbled as soon as he got back, "You'll back me up."
To say the Inhumans were confused would be an understatement. Perhaps Ashton didn't know they do not possess resistance against corpsification gas like him?
However, instead of conveying their thoughts, they immediately readied themselves along with Vimur and the rest of Ashton's crew. While they won't be entering the gaseous dome, they'll play a crucial role.
"I'm confident they'll run out of there once they realise their godly dome will lead them to doom. That's where all of you come in," Ashton smirked, "It'll be your job to kill anyone escaping."
***
"Ha! As expected, those fools can't even touch us now!" One of the undead generals exclaimed.
It had been a while since the undead had forgotten the taste of fear. But once they heard about the ships rapidly approaching, they got to experience it again.
Until the final moment, they weren't sure whether the corpsification gas could scare the enemies, but after observing the enemy movements, they could finally eliminate their anxieties.
The President was present there as well. Sadly, none of his children stood by his side to reassure him. Some had left to explore space, while those who stayed behind had no interest in the war.
Thankfully, the plan was working, or else it would have been the end of Nirvana. While they were busy celebrating, they received a disturbing transmission.
It was a voice they hadn't heard before, and the President's intuition was screaming at him... the battle had just begun.
"Death... is a wonderful thing, don't you think?" The man spoke as he casually walked through the smoke.
Without sparing a second, the undead lit up the man from both sides. From cannons to missiles to even plasma weapons, the undead threw everything they could to stop the man from getting closer.
Huge dust clouds shrouded the man, but the undead kept firing at his silhouette. Fear ran rampant among the soldiers.
The President was stunned into silence. Only the undead could breathe and survive in the gas. But why did one of their own betray them? That wasn't the only question in his head.
Despite his best efforts, the President couldn't find a way to explain the absurd power the man before them was displaying. Undead or not, how could someone possibly attain such strength?
"It all... makes sense now." The President mumbled, "He's the one. It wasn't an army that took down Phantom. It wasn't an organisation that destroyed our facilities... It was him..."
Fighting the mysterious man was of no use. They had to flee now! He immediately issued the order, and countless people tried to escape the dome. Only to find inhumans standing outside, ready to hunt them down like chickens.
The undead had no escape, just like the man had sworn after destroying Tartarus. The Reaper was onto them to collect the debt of their crimes.
As if the situation wasn't dire enough before, things took a turn for the worse. Something weird happened when the undead stopped firing on Ashton, and the dust clouds settled down.
"How is this possible!?" The President mumbled in disbelief.
Although he had expected the attack not to work against the man, he didn't expect him to be completely unscathed. But an even stranger thing was... the man wasn't alone anymore.
Over a thousand creatures materialised out of thin air, standing behind the man like his loyal subjects.
"It's time..." The man mumbled, and the shadowy figures charged at the undead, killing hundreds in mere seconds.
*-*-*
Nomenclature update.
Ricochet and other space humans will be called 'Metahumans', and humans who gained their powers through experimentation in Nirvana (Like Alina and Jay) will collectively be called 'Inhumans'.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om