Chapter 286 - Crippling Hesitance (Part Two)

I grinned. "Alright, Aliens are coming to invade us. And just one of them is strong enough to take down any nonmilitary personnel. Though I doubt anybody in the army would stand a chance against their infantry or rather the black ones either. However, that's just the soldiers. The real ones, the purple ones are very strong. You know how strong the headmaster is right? Well, imagine you're fighting him on his prime."

I actually planned on telling him most of the stuff. Earth wasn't ready and that was clear. If the general people knew about this, things would just get ugly. But if the army knew everything and tried to suppress the information and also prepare, things would at least be not so ugly. And maybe we'd even have a shot. 

"I'd rather not imagine something like that. I once saw that monster fighting eight years ago, I still can't forget the destruction he caused." He cleared his throat. "Go on."

That monster?

The headmaster might have been a playboy and strong too, but he never really seemed like the destructive type. 

Everyone had their perspectives, I guess. 

Oh well. 

"They can open gates to earth and come from that. I'd say in a week's worth of time, another commander and some soldiers would come. Though you won't have to worry about that."

I wasn't absolutely sure about that, but I had a feeling they'd be here sooner rather than later. And they'd be here for me. 

"And why is that?"

"I'll deal with it." After all, they'd come for me. "But the thing you'll have to worry about is the invasion. Imagine what would happen if an army of their commanders and those black soldiers come through? I don't think we'd survive."

I could take out one, maybe two, or even three if I was lucky. But what about an army?

What then?

"How big are we talking about?"

"I'm not sure. But just three or four purple ones would bring our ruin."

The general's face visibly paled. The man had a very macho face and yet, he looked scared. "But what could be their objective?" He gritted his teeth.

"…" I remained quiet. 'They were doing this for fun'- I could never say that. 

Actually, this almost felt comical. Destroying worlds, killing people for fun?

Wasn't that the same thing we'd been doing for years?

For generations?

I guess it was irony. 

"And how do you plan on stopping the one coming next?"

"Simple." I made a fist. "I'll obliterate it." 

I had a beef to settle with those things. 

"Though an army of them… that doesn't bode well for the world." He scratched his head. "But that's all the info you got? Any ways we could prevent this anything-"

"Right now, I don't know. Until one of those things comes back and I extract some information, we can only play the waiting game."

And hope the thing attacks me when I'm alone. Because I wanted to crush the damn thing. 

Just thinking about them made my blood boil. Just thinking about the stuff, they did- I grinded my teeth. 

A few moments later uncle came over and slapped me on the back. "Relax."

Sometimes I wondered if he actually knew that it hurt a lot!

"Oh, so your family is there too." The general still had a deadpan face. Though his eyes were slightly afraid." He cleared his throat. "Alright, thank you for your time, and have a great day."

Wow, did not expect that. 

"Thank you as well general."

We both nodded and the call ended. 

"Alright, I shall take my leave as well, may thou fair well!" The lieutenant gave me a salute and almost sang his words.

"You too, and thanks. Couldn't have done it without you."

He smiled and vanished. The guy really tried till the end. 

And now, I wanted to run away too, but Uncle was grabbing me quite firmly. "I blow up a town or two just because they get on my nerves and you can't get over some kids' lives, you'll never even remember about? Where the hell did all that resolve of yours go?"

"Sorry, not like you. I'd rather not kill. And that resolve was reserved for people like Hyora, not innocent kids." 

"Then let's go get some criminal douchebags."

"Can we drop this?"

I thought killing just required some resolve. As long as I had something I wanted to protect, I could kill- that was my reasoning. 

But after actually killing a person, after actually killing Hyora, I didn't want to do it again. 

And especially not children. 

It was odd. 

I did want to kill those aliens but that was because I knew they weren't human. 

Maybe I was being hypocritic but- I didn't want to kill people. I- I couldn't bear that again. 

No, I didn't want to bear that again. Maybe if push comes to shove, I'd do it, but still-

Uncle sighed. "Well, I tried." He raised his hands and went back in, while mom and grandma came this way. 

"You aren't leaving before breakfast. Sit down and we have to talk about the aliens and all that too." Now, mom grabbed me and dragged me inside. 

So far, great start to the day!

***

"Now," Mom looked at all of us as we started breakfast. 

Surprisingly, everything was vegan. Not a trace of meat. 

"I'd like to continue from where we left off yesterday," Grandma cleared her throat. "How do we get there?" Of course, she was staring at me and Aria. 

"We don't have any ways yet," I said. "Even if we could capture one of their commanders and use his portal, it wouldn't work without their DNA. At least that's what the headmaster told me."

Aria just kept quiet. 

And even if we could go to their world, then what?

"Then we chop up some of them and use those chopped pieces as a coating and go through!" Uncle said, laughing slightly. 

"We're not barbarians!" Mom sighed in disgust. 

We were still eating people!

He did have a point though. After all, we needed their DNA, and wouldn't just bathing in their blood be enough or something?

I didn't know. But it didn't hurt to try. 

Oh wait, it did. 

Anyway. "But let's say we get to their planet which is traveling at 40% the speed of light. Then what? I'm sure they've already thought of these kinds of scenarios. I'm sure they have planetary protection and all that." Or at least that was my best guess. After all, this was a very advanced civilization we were talking about. 

"Hmm, but still-" Grandma paused. "We could nuke them from within but- that way we'd have to sacrifice whoever would do the nuking."

Did this woman even understand what I was trying to say?

Just how badly did she want to blow up a planet?

I could see where uncle got his destructive urges from. 

Sigh. 

We kept on eating, without actually saying much.

"They'll target me next." Near the end, I brought out a bit of courage. "Since I defeated one of their commanders, they'll come targeting me this time."

Though mom and dad had troubled looks both uncle and Grandma were smiling a lot more than usual. Like mother like son, I guess. 

They were hoping to fight this thing, or rather crush it, there was no doubt about that. 

"Then we better prepare ourselves," Dad said.

Everyone nodded along. 

They weren't even remotely concerned about their chance of winning.

"What if-" I didn't look at them. "What if I fail and- what if they target you next? Should I- I-" I couldn't bring myself to say it. I couldn't say it. 

They didn't either. 

No one said anything. 

I guess they were leaving the decision up to me. 

My family was very forceful when it came to family matters. They were way too protective. 

And yet, they were for once, actually giving me the right to choose. 

The rest of the meal went quietly. 

My voice was stuck. It didn't come out. 

I couldn't say it.