Chapter 228: His Last Breath.
"I mean... it wouldn't be the first time I almost died would it?" Dina chuckled making light of what Sol had said, but he was completely serious as he summoned a kerchief in his grasp and wiped her mouth.
"Not like this; you scared me, Dina, for a moment I started thinking you wouldn't make it, and that I was the one who was responsible for doing this to you, I've seen a lot of pain, I've witnessed a lot of agony and torture, but I've never experienced that kind of fear before and never once in my life have I ever seen someone scream like that."
Dina felt Sol's hand shudder for the few seconds that he recalled what happened. "Do you honestly not remember anything that happened earlier?" He asked her sceptically, and she shook her head in the negative and held his hand.
"Nothing at all, there was a brief moment of discomfort, but that's where it stopped; I was watching the tree grow in my Soul's Garden." She responded and Sol raised his gaze and his brows at her.
"Your what?"
"It's so beautiful in there, skies blacker than the starless Origin, green grass contrasting it for as far as I can see wherever I look, golden flowers growing on from the grass, and then the tree, it's so big, and it grows so fast that I couldn't possibly understand its vastness even if I sat there all eternity, its the most beautiful thing I've seen outside of you and Ikaris." She rested her cheek in his palm and smiled gently at his touch.
"I don't know what happened, and I don't necessarily feel any stronger yet, but I'm glad you did it, I can feel you more than I ever could before, Master."
"Gosh," Sol huffed. "We truly are different; all of us." He mused, and she raised her brow at him.
"What I mean is, for Ikaris it wasn't a field that grew, it was a whole world a complete globe which the tree holds on to and wraps itself around by the roots, and reaches into a starry sky, and for me the tree isn't inside of me, not yet at least, it is still very much around us all and I am merely able to access it whenever and wherever I please."
"Well, I am a mage, you are the Godslayer, and Ikaris is Vatui, it makes sense that we would experience different forms of evolution," Dina chuckled and stood resting her hand on his arm. "See, after a few hours I'm all good to go," She chuckled at him whilst flexing her arms boastfully.
"I didn't get strong just so I could fall over every time something happens, I want to be useful to you, Master." She blushed when he gave her his full attention again.
"Dina you're a toothpick, what could you possibly do to protect me of all people?" Sol laughed when she pouted while the two of them exited the room.
***
-Three hours after Jenifer's return to the 3795th in the Emporium-
-62 days have passed on Arkadia-
-86 days have passed on earth-
"Captain Law, Ma'am." Chey's newly assigned Vice Captain stood at the door of her office inside her home and raised his hand to knock, but before he did the door slid open and she raised her head from behind her desk staring at him.
"What do you want?" Chey answered resting her pen on a scroll-tab and sighing heavily. "I told you not to disturb me unless the General lifted my suspension or my daughter woke up," She glared.
"Yes, Captain it's the latter, she is already in a debrief with the general, I was sent to inform you-" The man stood at attention and saluted but before his eyes could complete a proper blink Chey was already gone, leaving him standing there confused at the pen spinning on the table before it fell to the side. "Damn, she's faster than even my eyes." He sighed and turned.
"Just what kind of monster is that Godslayer that would cause someone like her to try and resign as soon as she returned?" He asked, running down the hallway and out of the building.
***
"...For the sake of clear transparency and clarity, I need you to repeat what happened after the communications went down." A blue-eyed man Sat across from Jenifer who had her hands bound by large cuffs that locked them all the way up to her shoulders making her incapable of moving her arms at all, there was a machine strapped to her head scanning het brainwaves, and another taped to her opened blouse above her heart.
"I have already told you three times, sir-"
"I need you to repeat it." He ordered her, and she sighed and closed her eyes.
[Do not worry, I will keep your heart and mind clear, the scans will always show that you speak the truth.] Alpha spoke in her head.
"He tried to use some weird Godslayer mind control on me, but it didn't work, I broke free of his grasp and engaged in battle, we fought-"
"-For four entire days according to the universe you were in and the information in your suit, you were fighting for four full days without a break?"
"I was fighting to survive, I fought for my life, sir, he wanted to keep me alive for questioning so he entertained the fight in an attempt to wear me down, that is the only reason I survived, the last thing I remembered was the boom of another ship behind me, I saw battle drones surround us and then he attacked again and everything else went white, the next thing I remember is the humming of the incubation chamber twenty minutes ago," Jenifer looked up at him.
"Sir, why am I being held under such tight surveillance?" She asked and the general looked at the eight officers in the room with their weapons on the ready and their mouths pointed at the ground.
"The safety of the Emporium is my first priority, ensuring that you did not come back with any foreign agents inside of you or contaminants demand strict surveillance."
"Then shouldn't I be inside of a holding cell or under a microscope?"
"I need to get to the bottom of what happened so I can pass the information on as soon as possible, that Godslayer is trouble, I can sense it in my joints that if we don't get rid of him now he will become a real problem later on" He answered her truthfully.
"Captain Law, you were there, you faced him and saw more of his power than anyone else, what is your personal assessment of the Godslayer?" He asked and Jenifer lowered her gaze as the images of everything she witnessed while under Sol's care came rushing at her.
Him being able to construct a massive resort in only a few seconds, the fact that all the damage she sustained was done by a snap of his fingers, him being able to traverse not just one, but every universe inside of his collective, and the fact that he sent an omnipresent entity back with her that was able to detect and avoid all scans.
She looked up at the general with a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek.
"With all due respect, sir, he is beyond us, approach means death, as his enemy you have a cord around your neck and a scythe at your abdomen, he is surprisingly level-headed for a Godslayer, but that makes him all the more dangerous as we have seen, he is a ruthless and wicked being with the power to act on his threats, I lost all my crew and my Vice Captain to him, but I do not hold a shred of hate, only fear, he is terrifying." She spoke half-truths, and the general nodded and made a note of her words as well.
"You are beyond lucky to be alive, suspiciously so as a matter of fact." The general picked up his scroll-tab and walked to the door. "The scanners indicate that everything you have said is the truth, therefore I have no reason to hold you here any longer, you will lose your rank of Captain, however-"
"What?" Jenifer stood abruptly and flinched when the guards in the room all raised their weapons at her. "Sir!"
"Do I need to remind you that you failed a mission, there were nearly seven thousand people in those combined six vessels that you were in charge of and you are the only one that survived, I went through the logs, you could have ordered a retreat after the first two vessels were taken out, but you failed and got them all killed, a demotion to Vice Captain is mercy, I should have you executed where you stand..." He glared at her while the guards all readied their weapons.
"All of you, stand down."
"Sir, none of us knew what kind of monster we were dealing with-"
"And that is why you are taking the fall, it was your mother's mistake sending you, but it was also thanks to her that we got a chance to witness the lengths of his power as well as his weaknesses."
"Weakness?"
"A Godslayer that doesn't seek to destroy his enemy is barely a Godslayer at all, that is merely a child chasing peace and solitude, we will go back, and we will destroy him and his entire collective, mark my words and pray for the day your colleagues are avenged Jenifer Law-"
***
Sol stood on the peak of the highest mountain on Arkadia with the howling winds brushing his cape every which way, watching the live feed through Jenifer's eyes via Alpha, for hours he stood just to be able to hear single sentences.
"The next time we return, it will be the entire fleet, I have been ordered to exterminate everything by the higher powers."
"They will die, all of them, I will spearhead the entire 3975th fleet and invade that damned sector, they want the Vatui who is with child, and they want the Godslayer dead and forgotten, I have already declared it so rest up and rest assured as we march, that creature has drawn his last breath."