Lord of Annihilation

With the Formician swarm suddenly retreating after the Greater Queen's orders, the humans were finally able to catch a clear glimpse of the battlefield. 

Due to the interference caused by the Formicians, the comms used by the human soldiers only worked within a 1000m range of the battlecruiser. Not only that, due to the Greater Queens control, she had split up the human forces and created separate sectors within the battlefield.

Not only did this allow the Greater Queen to exercise greater control over the battlefield but also ensured that the humans were not overwhelmed by the Formician troops, thus making them believe that they had a chance at victory.

If not for the sudden retreat, the Formicians would have steadily whittled down the number of human soldiers, with the human commanders having no clue of what was happening.

Alas, Zaine's interference in Alex's death had interrupted the Greater Queen's schemes. She, on the other hand, had immediately sounded a temporary retreat, until she could grasp the situation.

"Th-this!" looking around, the soldiers were shocked beyond their minds.

The originally few-thousand-strong human army had unknowingly reduced by nearly half. 

Clumps of debris bounded by metallic plates and wires, containing the cold bodies of their dead comrades soundlessly floated in the darkness of space.

Space shuttles whose bodies had been battered beyond recognition, trapped their human controllers forcing them to a fiery death. The initial explosion had charred their bodies, which had then turned into frozen popsicles under the effects of space.

"Ho-how di-did we lose so many people on our side?! Weren't we killing dozens of those bastards? Weren't we WINNING?!!" a soldier grieved as he spotted the mech of one of his close comrades, lifelessly floating in the void of space.

Such scenarios were seen in multiple parts of the battlefield. These warriors, hardened by blood and metal, cried as they spotted many of their dead comrades amongst the floating rubble. 

Dying wasn't a scary thing for these men and women. But dying without even knowing how was scary.

To be given a false hope at victory, only to see the reality of the situation, dealt a serious blow to the minds of these soldiers.

It was then that multiple orb-like devices flew from out of the battlecruiser and arrived at various locations of the battlefield. They then buzzed with electricity, acting as repeaters of the comm systems.

"*Zhisst* All.. hum..an so..ldeirs…! Imm.edi..ately retr..eat..!!" with this orb boosting the signal of the battlecruiser, an call for retreat resounded within the comms of all the mechs and space shuttles.

Having received the order to retreat, the human soldiers made their way back to their respective battlecruisers with their heads hung low. It was clear that these people had lost their intent to fight. 

The thoughts of the sinister Formicians were unknown. Forcing these disheartened men to continue fighting, would be equivalent to waiting for them to be slaughtered. 

Inside the Command Center of the leading battlecruiser, the old High Commander who had sounded the order for retreat surveyed the room.

He observed the looks of shock and despair present on the faces of the various Officers and Generals and understood that they had lost all their motivation to fight.

He did not blame them and even empathized with them, for even he found no hope in continuing to fight. The Formcians were utterly sinister and ruthless, employing such schemes to crush the enemy.

The saying, 'A lion must use its full strength, even while hunting a rabbit', was executed to perfection by the Formicians.

When while facing the rabbit-like humans, they did not grow lax and used their advantage to the utmost. As a species whose sole purpose was war, such conduct was only to be expected.

Shaking his head, the old commander sighed.

'There's no point in continuing. We have completely, utterly, irredeemably lost.' 

'Although the battle hadn't lasted for more than 30 minutes, they have cut down our forward forces by almost 50%. Worst of all, if not for them suddenly retreating, this matter wouldn't be known till the end of the battle.'

It was then, that the old commander saw the Formician swarm regroup themselves before flooding in their direction once more. Their charge this time was even more ferocious than before.

Fortunately, the human soldiers in the field had already retreated into the battlecruisers and thus did not directly face this charge. 

Unfortunately, however, the Formicians would only require 5 or so minutes to reach the battlecruiser. With their cannons and plasma weaponry unusable, due to the charging of the hyperdrive core, they were simple but sitting ducks.

'The hyperdrive core will take around 5 hours to finish its prep. During this time, none of the weapons can be used. To stop it from charging, we would require another 20 minutes.'

'In other words, this is the checkmate.' He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. 

'We have been dancing in their palms this entire time.'

His fists trembled and his face scrunched with unwillingness. The colors on his aged face alternated with varying shades of red, before finally turning pale. Tears streamed from his eyes.

'Supreme General, I have failed you.' He cried in grief.

The other Officers seeing their commander's reaction finally lost their composure. Dozens of men and women cried out loud. Seeing the innumerable number of invaders charge towards them, they no longer had the will to resist.

A Commander was the spiritual pillar of the people during a battle. It was imperative that a Commander never lost his composure during a battle, for it would have adverse effects on his men.

Alas, the pillar was broken and so was the people's will.

It was then, that the air inside the Command Center suddenly stirred. Multiple bolts of energy suddenly started to flash in thin-air, sparking with great amounts of light and energy.

Miniature whirlpools drawing in the spiritual energy in the air started to form, surrounding these bots of energy. A small sphere of white-light formed at the center of this disturbance.

Drawing more and more energy, the bolts of energy grew even more chaotic as the spherical ball expanded in size. From the size of a grain of sand, it grew to form a large doorway, continuing to expand in size.

The insides of the room were immediately thrown into disarray, as the Officers were thrown out of their chairs and lost their balance facing this torrent of energy.

Thinking that this to be an attack by the Formicians all of them screamed in terror. The old commander also lost his balance, falling on his butt as his head hit the steel railing that was near him, drawing blood from his head.

'NO! I will not accept this!' he bit into his tongue, using the pain to offset the dizziness caused by the impact.

"ALL MEN DRAW YOUR WEAPONS AND SHOW THESE BASTARDS WHAT WE GOT!!" He bellowed while reaching for his own weapon.

Alas, under the disturbance caused by these sudden changes his voice was barely heard by anyone. Those who did hear his words did not possess the courage to act.

'If I'm going down, I will take at least a few of you with me!' his eyes were bloodshot, as his hands shakily clenched onto a pistol.

The disturbance finally calmed as the bolts of and whirlpools of energy finally disappeared. Appearing in their pace was a large, 2-dimensional pure-white door.

This door seemed to be both illusory and real. Curtains of flowing white light shrouded the other end of the door, teasing the observers of its secrets.

The old commander had resolved himself to face death when a tall, dark figure exited this door. This figure was 1.7m in height, with a human-shaped body. The flashing of the door blinded the commander for a second, making him unable to immediately recognize this figure.

In his distress and confusion, he pulled the trigger of the pistol. A bolt of plasma exited one end of the pistol and traveled towards this dark humanoid-figure. The bolt neared the unguarded chest of this figure when the sound of metal meeting metal was heard.

Clank!

In an instant, the bolt of plasma was cut into two.

"Whoa, old geezer! I understand you hate me but trying to kill your savior is just wrong." A young, fickle voice, seemingly in his twenties teased the old commander.

In that instant, hearing that voice, the old commander's eyes flew open.

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

Inside the Hanger Bay.

The atmosphere surrounding the soldiers was quiet and solemn. It was a quietness that was uncomfortable to remain in. 

A silence that none of the men in it dared to break. A silence within which were unspeakable amounts of grief, hopelessness, and defeat. Looking around, one could see that both man and machine were broken.

And within this crowd of depressed soldiers, was a young pale-faced man. Seated inside his Rifleman mech, the youth repeatedly gagged only to have nothing to vomit. His forehead was red-hot with fever and his body trembled with over-exhaustion.

'To think, the side effects of using [Rewind] on someone else would be this severe.' Zaine thought to himself. His body and soul quivered with pain, like no other.

Zaine felt an intense emptiness in the depths of his mind, and every single cell in his body screamed with pain. Zaine felt as if he was being juiced inside a juicer, churning and crushing every single inch of his body.

Just as Zaine felt his consciousness slipping, a voice sounded out from the outside.

"Are you the one who saved me?" Alex's voice quietly resounded next to Zaine.

Peering his eye open, Zaine looked at this visitor. Red eyes, red hair, a handsome face, he recognized the person whom he had saved from death.

When Zaine had seen Alex fighting against the swarm of Formicians, he felt that this person was similar to the Hero of Deatov. Both unafraid and willing to give their all in the face of death. A star that shone the brightest when the world was at its bleakest.

'I want to see him shine.' This was Zaine's feelings.

Following his feelings, Zaine trailed behind Alex as the latter headed deeper and deeper into the enemy line. He had seen the latter fight with unparalleled dominance and ferocity, mowing down swathes of enemies.

Seeing Alex in action, Zaine knew at that instant. This is the person who would save Mankind. This was the hero whom they could rely on.

As such, when Alex had died, Zaine unhesitantly drove the entirety of his soul to use [Rewind]. He did now know if it would work or the after-effects of this action, but Zaine did not care.

'He cannot die.' As such Zaine poured every last bit of his soul power and succeeded in saving Alex. He then somehow managed to hold onto his consciousness and returned back to the ship.

Seeing that his hero was safe, Zaine flashed a light smile, before falling back. He was utterly exhausted, had no remaining strength to sustain his consciousness.

Seeing Zaine suddenly lose consciousness, Alex was dumbfounded. Hurriedly, checking the vital of the other and making sure he was alright, he released and a sigh of relief and picked him up, intending to take him to the medbay.

Neither Alex nor the other soldiers inside the ship know that the Formicians had attacked once more. 

This time, they were holding nothing back.