Legacy of the Void Fleet

"Heh... looks like I was an ant to those truly powerful beings who could crush me the moment they wanted to. It’s just that, to those I knew, I was still useful. But to these humans... I am not. Instead, like my former enemies, I am simply one to be crushed... and forgotten."

He chuckled internally as he looked at the calm human, who still gave him the feeling of looking down upon him.

A feeling he disliked with all his heart.

Yet one he was helpless to change.

After a brief silence, he finally spoke.

"Tell me... why? Why attack us? Because we chased your envoy fleet that approached us? Was that reason enough for this? Huh? Tell me, human leader!!"

Do my empire need a reason to attack this republic? Mav asked back. "It is our choice whether we attack you or not. And do we need to have a reason for it?"

"Heh." Vael chuckled upon hearing this. "No reason, you say, human? Everything has its reason, no matter how big or how small they are..."

"That is true," Mav admitted immediately afterwards. "But you tell me, Illyarin leader, why should I tell you? A person whose life I’m about to forfeit?"

"You..." Hearing that, Vael became flustered and even fearful, but he quickly calmed himself, saying, "I know I’m to die, but my death isn’t something you can take."

He evilly chuckled internally and continued to feign panic and fearfulness on his face.

"Huff... huff..." Vael took a deep breath. "So what? My life might be in your hands, but what of it? Huh? I believe I have more importance alive than dead! You tell me what I want to know, and in exchange I’ll tell you something you might be interested in."

He said while gritting his teeth, appearing completely unwilling, yet his desire to live prevailed enough to make him say those words.

Mav too went along with his act, as he knew the motive of this person from once glance, but he didn’t expose him and instead let him stay delusional about reality.

Mainly because there might be something the Shadow Forces hadn’t detected yet. After all, the Shadow Forces were a newly formed unit, their age not even crossing half a year.

So what they could gather was not absolute, as they couldn’t reach the peak level in every place and know everything completely.

So Mav was interested in what this Vallrian Grand Admiral could tell him. Of course, he knew the person was acting and could lie, but he could always force his mouth open later and ask the real things. But for now, the act must go on.

"Deal," Mav said.

He thought through all of this in merely a second, no longer than that, while Vael grew happy instantly, not knowing what thoughts this human held, nor that his act had already been exposed and that his fate soon would not be good, nor would he achieve what he believed he could, as things were already in motion and he was completely unaware.

"Then tell me, human. Why did you really attack us? It shouldn’t be just because we chased your envoy fleet? Because we had every right to do that. They came within our territory unannounced, and thus we retaliated."

He asked and even perfectly explained if that was indeed the case, trying to place himself on the psychological high ground and buy more time.

At the same time, he cautiously began programming and initiating the self-destruct sequence of the fortress as those few dozen ships neared it, trying to appear mostly focused on what he was saying while doing his best to ensure these actions didn’t come to light before the right moment.

"Huh... you really got the guts to say that. I’ll give you that, Illyarin leader. But you know it, and I know it. We had all the permission to enter your territory, granted from your own embassy situated in the White Snow Kingdom, your own subordinate kingdom and a Tier-2 power."

"This is something you should be well aware of, yet you chose to ignore it. And even now, you have no intention of accepting that fact. Instead, you try to appear as the side holding the higher psychological standing in this matter, when clearly you’re the one standing at the very bottom."

Mav berated him without beating around the bush at all.

Making Vael, who had been pretending the entire time, actually break into a sweat.

His lie was caught just like that and dissected piece by piece until it blackened his own face.

But he tried to speak something to save his face. Even at death’s door, he still wanted to preserve his dignity no matter what.

But he was silenced by Mav, who continued speaking without stopping, leaving Vael no choice but to swallow his own words back.

"But that matter is something different. We would not have made such an offense if that was the case, and instead would have had your president come out, bow, apologize, and we’d have been on our way."

This was a complete lie Mav was speaking.

"What made us attack you, and practically begin a racial war against all the races belonging to the Bright Moon Republic, is the mass slaughter you all conducted. Specifically, your race, Illyarin leader."

"Killing almost a billion innocent human souls. And for what? To please your father, that Star Empire, which is almost at its own deathbed while provoking an enemy it should never have."

"This was the nail in the coffin for your race... and your republic."

"W-what do you mean by nail in the coffin for my race and republic?"

Vael ignored everything else Mav had said. Immediately after hearing the human’s last words, he caught the hidden meaning behind them, one that terrified even his soul. He didn’t want to believe it, or rather, he wanted to know whether he had heard and understood it wrongly.

"What else could it mean? Complete annihilation of the Bright Moon Republic and all the races housed within it."

"At least those who supported the annihilation and killing of humans, and those with connections to the Star Empire, all will be dealt with just as you are being dealt with. Just like the people of this star system that you call Orental, others will face the same annihilation, leaving nothing of them alive or existing within the galaxy."

"After we’ve dealt with you, we will move towards the Tatooin Star System and the others, repeating the same thing until, once again, nothing is left."

Mav spoke without putting much thought into his words or letting out any emotion other than cold killing intent and a promise that he would do exactly what he had said.

Making Vael believe every single word at once. He trembled, once again lost his footing, and fell.

"T-this... this is madness!" Vael shouted.

After he calmed down slightly, he even forgot about the plan he had been carrying out. Shuddering, filled with anger, horror, and countless other emotions, he spoke as faint images of destruction, the death of his race, and the fall of his republic appeared before his eyes.

He saw star system after star system being visited by this fleet.

Force after force on the republic’s side being dealt with by a power they simply couldn’t put up a fight against.

What remained were the unprotected habitable planets and the trillions living upon them, bombarded by those strange missiles as the planets’ atmospheres were painted red.

He then saw people clutching their throats, coughing violently, while others rolled across the ground, slowly melting beneath the crimson rain before disappearing from where they lay.

That was followed by space cities and sky cities crashing down upon the land, burying the last remnants of their civilization’s heritage beneath them.

The horrifying images made him tremble even more.

Not even once did he feel that this was something that could be stopped.

Instead, it all felt frighteningly likely to happen.

"D-do you... you human... have any idea? Any idea what you’re trying to do?" he shouted.

"For the sake of a mere billion humans, you’re trying to kill hundreds... no, thousands upon thousands of trillions of people who live within the Moon Republic!"

"Oh? So humans are nothing? Their deaths are a common thing and not something that matters, but if they are of a different race, then things become entirely different?" Mav mocked, looking at Vael with narrowed eyes.

The gaze alone made Vael shiver.

He couldn’t even meet Mav’s eyes, overcome by an unknown fear.

"Do you know what I am?" Mav asked coldly. "I am a human. And all humans across the galaxy and the universe share the same race. No matter how far apart we live, we still belong to one race."

And you killed them without a reason, for nothing more than your own enjoyment. That is not something my human race will tolerate."