<<Vast Plains>>

From the ground could be seen three black hulls in the sky, all three casting shadows several kilometers wide as they streaked across the skies of the Vast Plains, making sure not to rise too high in the sky.

The ships were equipped enough to resist random weather changes they would encounter on their journey, but the higher they rose, the higher the intensity of those weather changes, and there was a limit to what the ships could take.

These three ships were a show of how seriously Origin treated this rescue mission.

Crescent was the second on the list of important facilities to the military on planet Kirshoff, just behind Origin.

They had deployed 3 .... ships and six thousand soldiers to handle the rescue of Crescent before it was overrun by the beasts.

Upon reaching the Vast Plains, the soldiers were all assembled before the cargo door at the rear of the ship, waiting for the ship to reach the drop zone.

On one of those ships was Kieran and his team — Derrick and Richard.

Kieran looked around the soldiers arranged in a neat sectioned position in front of him, and his eyes caught Derrick’s, garnering a nod from him, which he returned.

His eyes also locked onto a recruit with scarlet hair, an unmistakable feature of the Scarlet family, Richard.

Each one of them were at the back of a different section of the soldiers.

Richard was lost in thought when he sensed someone’s gaze and looked towards Kieran, his face welling with anger, before he snorted and looked away.

’He really is more than that, I guess.’

Kieran looked away, his eyes landing on the backs of the soldiers in front of him.

He only knew Richard in a bad light, and that hadn’t changed, not after what he had been subjected to at his hands.

But he had always seen him as something more like a walking ball of fiery anger, pride, and every negative feature that made him hate him.

He had always been so spontaneous, doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted with his father as the mayor of their city. He had never seen him act with restraint, and that image had stuck, burnt into his brain and memories.

But ever since getting into the camp, he had seen a side of him that he had never seen before, one he didn’t realize could even exist within a person like Richard.

A side of him that knew reason and restraint.

He saw it when they first met in the changing room back before their first combat training class with August.

And he had seen it every single time they met, and Richard had ignored him despite the sour expression that never failed to appear each time.

He was of noble birth after all, and even with his terrible qualities, he definitely had something to show for it, things that couldn’t be taken away from him by attribute of his upbringing.

Kieran was coming to realize that, and he was coming to see that there was a small chance that with this part of him that showed some sense of reasoning, they could come to a common ground to protect their own interests by working together as intended by the camp, and specifically their Instructor.

To be frank, Kieran’s hate for Richard had reduced.

No. It was more accurate to say that the importance he placed on that hate had reduced.

He still hated his guts, but back then, Richard was the only target of the spiral of emotions that had overwhelmed him at the death of his parents.

But a year had passed since then. He had gotten more than enough time to think things through and see them clearly.

Richard was not responsible for what had befallen him, nor should he be the target of his immense hate.

He had made up his mind long ago to find who was behind it, and they would bear the weight of his wrath when that time came, but as a consequence of that, he no longer looked at Richard with that much urgency.

He still thought he was a piece of shit human being and wanted to beat the living daylights out of him just to even the scores, but he could now put that desire aside and was willing to see reason where there had been none.

He hoped it was the same with Richard,

’But even if it isn’t, he has no choice.’

Kieran’s eyes gleamed when a voice funneled through the speakers in the room, pulling him away from his thoughts.

"We have reached the drop zone. Get ready, touch down in a minute."

The voice notified them, and a serious, bloody atmosphere took reign. Each man tossing away their stray thoughts and focusing on the mission ahead of them.

Kieran glanced at the gun, hoisted on his waist, and tightened the strap, holding his scythe to his back.

A minute later, the cargo door opened, falling into a walkway that led to the ground.

Following the footsteps of the soldiers, the three companies emerged from the ships. A total of six thousand soldiers armed and were ready to march.

The drop zone had been stationed not too far from the camp, and they had to approach the camp on feet, partially due to the interference with their communication and scanning functions of the ships’ systems and their gadgets.

Placing his feet onto the luscious green grass of the Vast Plains, Kieran frowned as the wind brushed against his face, whipping his hair to the side, carrying with it a faint smell of iron and ash.

Looking into the distance, he could see a part of the sky, darkened like a storm was about to descend, leaving the covered expanse in a state of perpetual darkness.

"The dome has fallen!!!"

"The objective of the mission has changed!"

The commander of the mission stepped out of one of the ships, addressing the three companies.

’Dome?’

Kieran looked back into the distance, puzzled by what he meant.

"Crescent could already be gone, and we might already be too late, but there might still be some survivors who are stuck unable to break away."

"Each section is equipped with a device strong enough to break the interference and search for life signals."

"Remember, this is now a search and rescue mission. Don’t stray far from your company and section."

The commander said, watching them march away from the ships.

In one fluid movement, Kieran changed position, taking Derrick along to Richard’s section. It was better if they were together, after all.

While they were preparing, things were going downhill over at Crescent

"How’s the third wall holding?"

"We need more troops!!"

"Hold it!"

"Yes s–"

The exchange between the commander and soldier was drowned in the explosive sounds and tremors of the battlefield around them.

Dust and soot spewed up in the air around them, completing the wrecked look of the surroundings, like an elemental hurricane had just struck — one of the most feared disasters on the planet.

But what had befallen them was perhaps much worse.

Destruction was perhaps admirable in the hands of nature, but it was more fearful in the hands of intelligent minds, beings that seemed to have been engineered specifically for that cause.

Fuelled even more by their rage and thirst for vengeance, the beasts on the planet were on a quest to tear the camp apart and rid their planet of the influence of the humans.

"How did it get to this?!"

Harken, the commander of Crescent, wondered how things had gone wrong.

He had made the best decision to sever and abandon the useless assets to the camp and take everyone that could be considered valuable and beneficial to the camp if they happened to survive this calamity.

Unfortunately, he had been too greedy, reducing the troops at the wall till they were spread far and wide in between.

The recruits he had left to die and stall for time couldn’t even be considered. Most of them wouldn’t even survive a strike from the surging wave of beasts that would have rushed at them.

Still, he had expected the wall to last longer, long enough for the instructors and troops he had assigned to clear their escape path to be done.

Crescent had a simple structure. One main wall, surrounding the camp like a ring, and two smaller ones sectioning the camp, placed towards the backside of the camp.

"I have to leave here!"

Harken’s eyes flashed, throwing a soldier next to him forward into the incoming attack.

He was loyal to the military and believed that he had made the best decision to preserve what would remain useful to them, but above all else, he saw himself as the most useful.

Hence, he did anything and everything to stay alive, even if it meant sacrificing some of those he had deemed useful.

It was nothing compared to what he had done anyway. His previous decision and effectively sacrificed the future of the Crescent camp