Aside from Victoria, there were already 20 captains waiting for the discussion to begin.
"Is anyone surprised that Daredevil is late?" One of the gathered personnel sneered.
"I can't believe that they allowed her to participate." Another mumbled.
Due to her short temper that had earned her the title Daredevil, most of the captains thought that Ava was only good for fighting and not for planning. That was why they found the idea of her partaking ridiculous.
However, that didn't last once they slowly began to realize that the petite woman they were looking at had vastly changed.
'Wait, this aura… is she really an Early Expert?!' The realization came down to them like a thunderbolt. It hadn't been long since Ava was stuck at Late Adept, yet after meeting Michael, she quickly shot past their expectations, reaching the next realm in a single week!
"Ava." Victoria's voice sounded in the silent room.
"First of all, congratulations on your enlightenment. Now that I have removed Oliver from his position, I find myself missing a second-in-command general. Would you consider taking the role?
"?!" The gathered captains stared at the scene with wide eyes. If the Daredevil were to become their superior, their lives would begin significantly harder!
"I am sorry, Lady Victoria, but I already have found the person I wish to follow." Ava declined with a smile.
Victoria wasn't surprised. The moment she laid her eyes on Michael and realized that he had such monstrous potential that it even surpassed Ava's, it was clear she would follow him.
Meanwhile, the captains let out a collective sigh of relief. A great crisis had been averted.
"Without further ado I will begin the briefing." Victoria gave Bryce a glance, who simply nodded in response.
"Thanks to the support of the Heavenly Pact, we will establish three defensive rings around the base. The outer ring will be placed at a radius of 5 km, the middle ring at 1 km, and, should the worst occur, the base walls will serve as our final line of defense."
Tapping on her device, she made a hologram of Triton appear.
"It is to be believed that the alien spaceships would attack in approximately two hours. Of course humanity has deployed fleets of their own with the hope of stopping them, but we should always be ready for the worst."
The hologram moved, focusing on their own base in particular. "Thanks to the anonymous message I received a week ago, we have managed to get rid of every enemy capable of opening a portal on the surface of the moon. All we have to worry about is an incoming invasion and nothing more."
A woman with grey hair and blue eyes raised her hand, requesting permission to speak. She was Amelia, one of the gathered captains.
"Do we know who this anonymous person is? From the looks of it we owe a great debt to this individual. Had it not been for their warning, we would have been caught unprepared and suffered massive losses."
"Bullshit!" Enzo, another captain, sneered. "From the way I see it, someone has played a prank and just got lucky to guess right. There is no way some random nobody could know more than the scans that the Emperor himself has given us!"
Victoria cleared her throat, causing Enzo to fall silent.
"No, we don't know their identity. And since the message had come from the upper channels, which are impossible to hack into even for the most talented hackers, we can guarantee that it wasn't just some prank played by nobody."
Her eyes bore into Enzo like a fearless lioness. "As such, be careful about the person whose actions have most likely saved your very life."
Michael wasn't surprised by Victoria's remarks yet felt touched. She didn't know that he was the one that sent the warning, yet she defended the honor of a person she didn't even know.
'This is Victoria alright.' He giggled.
Enzo misinterpreted Michael's giggle, feeling his blood boil.
"You! Now that I look at your clothes, you are a simple cadet. What are you even doing here?!"
Ava was the first one to answer, seemingly waiting for the chance to boast.
"This is Cadet Michael, who joined our force a week ago. He recently reached the Adept realm, putting him in the same role and positioning as you all. He simply hasn't received his new clothes yet."
Not missing the chance to taunt, Ava added. "So be careful how you treat your equals from now on, junior."
'Worthy of the title Daredevil.' Leo sighed inwardly. 'Despite being younger, Ava is a higher realm than Enzo, meaning he would have to speak to her with respect.'
Biting his tongue, Enzo averted his gaze. Due to the nervousness all of the captains were feeling about the incoming attack, no one noticed the fact that Ava had claimed Michael had become Adept in just a week. Had they paid more attention, they would have proclaimed him to be the biggest genius of their generation.
The rest of the meeting continued without any interruptions. Victoria assigned each captain their own role and team to command. After she was done, Bryce explained what role the Heavenly Pact will have in all of this and how they were going to support them and go on the offensive should the need arise.
Since Leo and Ava were in the same faction as Michael, the three were allowed to move together. Even better, they would be joining Victoria and Bryce into one team, becoming the most powerful offensive team in the entire base.
With the meeting over, everyone headed to their own assigned spot, awaiting the upcoming battle with anticipation.
Michael, Ava, Leo, Victoria, and Bryce were at the furthest point from the base. The plan was should aliens reach the surface of the moon. They would assault them and deal as much damage as they could before joining the other common soldiers.
"Do you think that we would be able to stop the aliens before they reach the moon?" Ava asked, balancing her one-ton hammer on her hand.
"No." Michael answered with certainty. The system wasn't going to categorize the mission as impossible if the aliens were to fail to reach them.
In the far cosmos bright explosions resonated from the battle of the alien spaceships and humanity's defenses. Sadly, since this was just a temporary settlement and not a whole planet like Uranus, the air defenses were lacking, and it showed.
"Get ready, young ones. They are coming." Bryce said coldly, every trace of amusement gone in his voice. He removed his robes, revealing a body with cybernetic replacements for his right arm and torso.
"Originally I planned to face the aliens alone. The only reason I allowed you to come with me is because I trust you won't make suicidal charges." Victoria reminded. Since she was the only one that had reached the Master realm, no one could have hoped to equal her in power.
Sadly, the moon defenses fell, allowing for the alien spaceships to enter. From now on every base stationed at Triton would be on their own. Their primary concern would be to keep their headquarters operational. Secondary was eliminating the threat on the moon as a whole.
Hundreds of pods began to fall from the sky, ejected from the nearest spaceship. Once their doors burst open, two-meter creatures with varying degrees of modification began to come out amidst the smoke.
"All of them are Higher." Victoria realized bitterly she had hoped there would be mixed-in Lower tier aliens.
The five-member squad was still observing from a safe distance, debating the most optimal way to attack.
"Michael?" Ava had the habit of stealing glances at him occasionally. She was the only one to realize that he was unmoving like a statue.
Unbeknownst to her, Michael was experiencing numerous visions of losing all of his loved ones at the hands of creatures similar to this.
'I can feel it. The soul that made me gasp when I sensed it for the first time!' His soul weapon remarked.
Indeed, unknown to him, Michael began to emit his killing aura, making the whole area drop several degrees.
Victoria shuddered, for a second it felt like her grandfather had personally come to watch her. But knowing that it was impossible, she disregarded the thought.
"Are you okay?" Ava tugged Michael's arm when she saw his gaze. At moments like this he looked like the scariest thing to exist.
"I am more than fine. Actually, I have never felt better." He flashed her a smile lacking its usual warmness.
"If you say so." She nodded, her focus going back to their approaching foes.
'You said that you love to kill, right?' Michael asked his sword.
'YES! The more lives I take, the better!' The soul weapon joyfully replied.
'I see…'
[Berserker activated]
"Then let me show you how it feels to slaughter a whole race."