Lord of Annihilation

{WARNING! THREAT DETECTED IN VICINITY! PLEASE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!}

The AI repeated once more.

The faces of all of the soldiers inside the hanger immediately turned serious and grim. Their opponents had come earlier than expected, catching them off guard.

"Alex, Anya report to your team at Area-Z. You awakened ones will be leading the charge in the coming battle." The old commander instantly gave instructions.

Alex and Anya nodded their heads and started to rush towards the reporting area. 

"The rest of you, MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS!" the old commander thundered.

"Let's make these bastards pay for what they've done!" he roared and started to head towards the command center.

The grim expressions on the soldier's faces immediately eased. With their morale raised, they roared in response.

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

-------------

On their way to their reporting area, Anya neared Alex and held his hand.

"Don't be rash and come back safely." Her tone was serious and allowed no room to retort.

Alex, who was originally going to tease her in response, noticed the worry in her eyes. He then wore a confident expression and replied.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to lose to some random nobody. I'm very strong aren't I? There is no one who can match me right now." He gently squeezed her hand, reassuring her.

Seeing his confidence, Anya furrowed brows gradually eased. She nodded her head, before releasing her grip on his hand. Sporting a beautiful smile, she replied: "I'm relieved."

Alex on the other-hand added another sentence inside his head: 'No one, expect that 'monster'. I wonder how strong he is right now, and how he's doing.' The face of a certain person appeared within his mind.

Running across the hectic hanger, Anya suddenly pointed at the object on Alex's hand and asked: "What's that armor on your hand?"

"Oh this," Alex pointed to the black-colored Runic Armor and replied: "No idea. This was the reason I was delayed a bit. It contains some very interesting technology, so I brought it back for study."

He then proceeded to explain the events of his battle against the Formician. 

Although Alex had only attacked three times during the course of the battle, he had exhausted more than 50% of his entire soul power capacity. 

One has to remember that Alex was a Mid-Level Stage 2 being with a Rare soul type. The quality and quantity of his soul power are far-far greater than the Formician Warrior. 

Against a Formician Warrior without the Runic Armor, Alex could effortlessly crush them, expending less than 5% of his soul power in the process. In other words, he had used ten times the effort to kill the black-armored invader!

Hearing his recount, astonishment grew on Anya's face.

"Wow, warp-like tech performed by such a small suit of armor! Illya and Reyna are going to love it!" 

They then continued to chat and catch up on other things, that they hadn't talked about during their separation.

An Interstellar Class Battlecruiser, like the one Alex was currently on was very, very, large, with the total length extending to almost 1500 meters and its breadth ranging at 9000 meters! It was separated into multiple compartments each of which was specialized for a specific task, such as command, medical, living, dining, etc.

It was used for the purpose of large-scale wars and acted as a small floating fortress. It could sustain almost 10,000 people at a time and could further accommodate an extra 50,000 people. However, since most of the ship was automated, a minimum crew of 300 people could also operate the ship.

The ship contained a full, self-sustaining life cycle system and had the ability to run completely independent of outside support. It was capable of generating air, water, and even various plants for sustenance.

However, the last function wasn't usually used since it would drain a lot of energy, rendering the battle ability of the ship useless. The ship was also capable of hyperdrive. Outside of hyperdrive, the travel speed of the ship was rather slow, comparable to a regular aircraft.

This was the reason why the battlecruiser was caught off guard by the invader's attacks and was unable to immediately retreat. Entering hyperdrive would also require an enormous amount of time due to the sheer size of the ship.

Due to the large size of the ship, travel between any two points was usually facilitated by an AI-controlled flying vehicle, which had the ability to carry multiple people. 

Vehicles traveled both within the compartments and also to the other, with different models and routes existing for the purpose of the latter. The old commander had previously used such a vehicle to return to the Command Center from the Hanger.

Speaking of compartments, the Hanger section was the largest compartment on the battlecruiser. 

It occupied a whopping 60% of the available area and contained everything, from daily provisions, extra fuel cells, arms and ammunitions, single-unit spaceships, mechs, and many other items.

The Hanger section was also the place used for common military drills and the place for a sortie. In other words, it was the section that contained the most amount of people at any given time and the second most important section, just after Command.

With the AI's warning continuously sounding off, the Hanger was currently in a state of 'organized chaos'. Soldiers and engineers were running back and forth, arming themselves and making sure that everything was in working order.

It was then that Alex and Anya who had been running for a good three minutes arrived at Area-Z. They had not used their soul power while running, in order to save it for the oncoming battle.

Standing upon a large square platform right next to an exit was a group of 30 people wearing a specialized silver battle-suit buzzing with soul power. 

They were also wearing multiple strange contraptions, each of which was unique to an individual member.

The sense of fashion of these people was also bizarre, with some wearing piercings, tattoos, strange hairstyles, accessories, etc.

Unlike a group of soldiers who were orderly and disciplined, this group of people resembled thugs and bullies. Some members gathered in groups and, were chatting and giggling, while some behaved like lone wolves.

Common among all of them was the deep-seated arrogance and indifference present in their eyes, as they watched the group of freshly awakened or ordinary soldiers, go about their tasks. Faint disdain could be felt from their expressions.

However, the astonishing thing was that each member was radiating with a Stage 2 aura! 

Seeing this 'team' of awakened, whom he was supposed to be leading in today's battle, imperceptible black lines formed atop Alex's forehead.

Nearing them, he thundered: "ATTEN-HUT!" while releasing his Mid-Level Stage 2 aura in its entirety. 

Similar to a sledgehammer smashing against a rock, Alex's dense aura smashed against the minds of these people. Their expressions immediately turned grim and sweat dripped from their pale faces.

'Ugh…why am I stuck with these people.' Alex sighed within his mind. He wore an expressionless face and roared: "Gather and form into lines!" 

The group of awakened people immediately obeyed and formed five straight lines. Facing Alex's aura that was reminiscent of a blazing inferno, they dared not to disobey. 

Alex expressionlessly stared right into their eyes and spoke.

"Just because you were selected by the Alliance and are stronger than the other soldiers, doesn't make you any better or gives you the right to be arrogant. In my eyes, all you are equally worthless."

Hearing Alex's words, anger rose within the hearts of all the awakened. Their eyes also flashed with defiance. 

"Oh? You don't accept that uh?" Alex sneered before sending another wave of his dense aura. This time, the knees of the awakened weakened, dropping almost all of them to the floor.

"I don't care whether you accept it or not. All of us are here for a mission, and I'm going to be the leader of said mission." Alex's eyes flashed with ruthlessness. "Any complaints?"

Facing his threatening demeanor, none of the awakened dared to reply.

Nodding his head, having seemingly satisfied, Alex continued.

"Good. All of you have already been briefed on the mission, so I will only give the summary."

"We will go out there, kill as many as many invaders as possible, and buy the ships enough time to warm the hyperdrive cores. After the lead ships enter hyperdrive, we shall retreat to this ship and leave this place."

"This lady standing next to me will be your Vice-Leader. You will always obey my orders and in my absence hers. Any disobedience and you will be immediately killed." Murderous intent accompanied his voice.

"That's the end of the summary. Let's get moving!" 

Taking the lead, Alex immediately jumped through the exit that was positioned right next to the platform. He converged the soul power on his body, covering himself with bluish-white blazing flames. 

'I pray this will be enough to take command of them. Hopefully, everything works out and nothing goes wrong.' he sighed inwardly

With his back facing the group, a strange thought formed within Alex's mind: 'So this is how that 'monster' feels like when he talks to us, uh?'

Shaking his head to remove all unnecessary thoughts, Alex sharpened his mind. The coming battle was going to be one of attrition.

One he could not afford to lose his concentration on.

---------------

Good news! 

I've finally finished all my pending work and freed up my schedule, which means starting tomorrow...We are reverting back to our 2chaps/day release! (hooray!)

Also!!!

For every 500 powerstones, I will be releasing 2 BONUS CHAPTERS on the weekends!! So if you wanna read more, get voting!