With the battle having ended, all the fleets gathered around in wait for their empress's next command.
They were all circled around the mother fleet where the empress resided.
The prisoners of war and the horned ones all listened in closely as Ruby spoke up.
"My people! You have all fought well against the Kessho! We were only able to preserve thanks to all of your efforts, I, your empress promise that you will all be compensated properly for this and thank you for risking your lives in this battle."
The horned ones who listened in cheered in union whilst trying their best not to disrupt Ruby's speech.
They were filled with Joy now that the fight was finally over but unsure about what they were going to do with the tied-up prisoners.
"Beside me is the young man I'm sure you're all aware of... He was the one who defeated their King. Together we have come to an agreement."
Beside her stood Gray. His Grey hair was rather short from having been recently cut but still managing to reach and cover his ears.
He towered over Ruby even more than previously from having grown as a result of his evolution.
He had changed from the last time they had seen him, the mask which he wore on his face emphasised on it.
A white blank mask which displayed no facial features at all. It had an extra effect of making him unrecognisable.
In this case, it was obvious that it was him since he was the only male that wasn't a horned noble that could possibly be so close to the empress.
"The conclusion which we've reached is..."
Gray grabbed a tied up Kessho by the hair before raising him up. It was a Kessho Captain, he had long flowing messy brown hair and crystal crimson red eyes.
A man who appeared to be in his twenties. He had a look of regret in his face but it was far too late for it.
Gray leaned in towards his ear and whispered something in his ear.
"I heard you were found in the telecommunication room of an Airship... You were managing it on your own."
"The one who was laughing at me before, that was you wasn't it...?"
-Memory (A/N: CH 152)
"Leave... I'm done trying to seek out peace... If you don't turn back now... Then It won't just be your army... I'll personally go to your world and kill all of you."
Gray listened in through the communication device
[...Ha...HAHAHAHAHA!]
Countless laughs resounded through the microphone looking device.
[You... You're a funny one... An inferior race which can't even clear the Labyrinths to prevent it's world from being invaded dares to think they can threaten us?]
[Don't worry... We'll keep you all of you as slaves... A bug should know it's place.]
-Memory End
Gray placed the blade of his Katana on the Kessho Captain's neck.
"That was you wasn't it?" He asked once more.
"Ha..Hahaha... So what if it-"
*Slash*
The head of the Kessho slid of his head as Gray cleanly cut through it, interrupting him and preventing him from finishing.
Blood gushed out creating a pool off blood on the floor while the rested spurted in Gray and Ruby's direction.
All the blood ended up hitting a wall of paused Air however, preventing either of them from getting dirty.
[You Killed a Kessho Captain.]
[Earned 140 XP!]
Gray clapped his hands together.
"You are all free to kill all of the prisoners." He spoke in a calm tone.
They've taken from ours, so let's take everything from them."
Gray had already gathered up the few who would be able to help with managing the remaining Airships, so the rest were unneeded.
At first there was silence amongst the horned ones, but to everyone's expectations, cheered followed right after.
"LET'S KILL THEM ALL!!"
"TORTURE THOSE PILE OF SHITS!"
"THEY KILLED MY BEST FRIEND! I'LL ROAST THEM ALIVE!!"
The cheers was expected.
'I'm giving them what they want after all...' Gray thought to himself.
Ruby who had been beside him had just been silently watching. The sight of Gray killing the enemy did not bother her.
Unlike with humans, she had no attachment to this race. And even if she did, it wouldn't have changed anything.
Right now she was the empress. This decision was naturally the best for their survival.
Three different power races in a continent was too much to handle and just unnecessary.
"We've lost Two hundred and Forty two commoners, and twelve nobles." Said Charlotte as she reviewed the report.
"Those numbers are higher than I thought... How many of us are left now?"
"Whilst we have some more reinforcements back in our world... The numbers are still few. Our troop size is just barely over five hundred and we have around thirty-eight nobles remaining." Said Charlotte.
Ruby placed her hand beneath her chin, she appeared to be in deep thought.
"Five-hundred... Thirty-eight... What rank were then nobles that we lost?"
"They were mostly baron's, our stronger nobles fortunately faced no difficulties."
Ruby sighed in relief.
"Looks like it's finally over." She muttered before looking around.
The sound of cries and screams of pain resounded all around them. The horned ones were showing no mercy, killing all of the tied up prisoners as ordered.
It was all going according to Gray's plan.
"For now, I suppose we should start thinking about our next step." Said Ruby.
"Since the War is over, our best option would be to resume the Labyrinth exploration and begin conquering them."
"Hm... That sounds reasonable... What do you think Gray?" Ruby asked.
She looked around once more and then remembered.
-Memory.
"I'll be off to look for the others. I especially haven't seen Aurora and Violet or heard from them since this all began." Said Gray.
Before Ruby could respond he vanished.
-Memory End.
"Ah right... I forgot he disappeared again."
"What shall we do for now then... Your Majesty.?" Charlotte asked.
Ruby opened her mouth to respond, but then suddenly noticed something. She looked down and her face flushed red.
"For starters I'll take another shower... Then we'll make preparations for the Labyrinth exploration."
"Aren't we supposed to discuss with the leader of the human organisation running this continent before that?"
Ruby shook her head.
"No... Gray told me he's dead. Gray himself was appointed as the new leader and his sister Ria is currently the one managing things right now."
"We just need to get ready and wait. Make sure to provide the food rations to all of our people." Ruby continued.
Charlotte nodded in understanding.
"As you wish."
"Gray has truly changed... Hasn't he?" Lara asked.
She was seated on the deck beside Kylo and Lita who were gathering their energy.
The three of them were exhausted from all the fighting. The Kessho's strength and power were no joke.
"I don't blame him though... He's carrying a lot of responsibility." She added.
She knew that it must have been very stressful and a mental burden for him. It was only natural that he'd end up this way.
Lara had nothing against his decision, he was doing it to keep everyone safe.
"I'm just glad that he's alive and well..." She muttered to herself with a bright smile.
"AAAAARGH!!!"
Her smile was interrupted as the groans and screams from the Kessho's suffering echoed around them.
She covered her children's ears, and gestured at a horned one opposite to her, one that was too tired to torture the enemy, to inform her of anyone that would need to be treated and to bring them to this ship.
Even with the battle over, there were still the heavily injured that needed to be attended.
She was taking a small break, but in just a few more seconds she was going to return to healing as many as she could.
*Yawn*
Gray yawned as his body plunged down towards the ground.
He looked left and right in search of Violet and Aurora but had little to no luck. He couldn't find them.
The X-Ray was showing a lot of unnecessary things, like monsters or people in hiding who he had never met.
The longer he went without finding them, the more impatient he became.
*CRASH!*
He crashed onto a random building's rooftop and rushed over to its edge.
The building was somehow still standing and provided at decent enough perspective to scout part of the city but even that wasn't enough.
"Nothing bad happened to them... Right?" Gray asked.
His heart began beating faster and faster as he slowly grew more anxious.
He shook his head seeing how he was losing his composure. The evolution was still affecting his state of mind, he needed to calm down.
"Knowing those two, they're fine... There's no need for me to worry."
He stared straight ahead from the top of the building.
"There's a chance they could be in the underground base... There are too many people congested people there and it's too far away making it hard to spot them out with X-Ray."
"I haven't gone over there yet so it'll probably be the best spot to check right now..." Gray muttered, forcing himself to believe that all was well.
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