[Time: Equivalent to 11:00 PM] [Location: Granian Military Grounds] The sound of heavy machinery being worked on, dismantled, or repaired; the sound of weaponry being tested on, and the smell of blood, guts, and sweat, added to the wails of the wounded scared the Granians who were standing outside the Military fences as they watched their soldiers wallow in defeat and shame. The real war had begun and those who took part in it were badly defeated. Just as the Ethisians had said among themselves, the Granians were beaten horribly and lost a lot of their soldiers. Those who survived managed to walk away with either a lost limb or a permanently unavailable organ. A handful escaped with their bodies intact and lives still in their possession but still, it took a mental toll on them since they hadn’t lost like that in a while. To make matters worse, the higher-ups had an even harder mental toll with the defeat. Lord Grania took out his frustration on Lord Grim, One Horn, Huntress, and the Council, and in the process, they too took it out on those who were under them in terms of ranks. Lord Grim took his frustration out on Lily and Chris and in return, they tried to take it out on the Mutants and Skyler even though they were in no way involved with the War. The rest of the evening and later on wee hours of the night were just repetitive sessions of higher ranking Granians taking out their frustration on others instead of coming up with a solution to their loss. After a few hours passed, tensions between the Granians loosened momentarily which warranted a meeting between the higher-ups and the Granian soldiers. In total, over five hundred thousand soldiers, both veterans and recruits, were gathered for a ’meeting of sorts’ which was designed for them to assess and come up with a new strategy. Running the meeting was Grand Master, the Granian who was in charge of Planetary Invasions and War strategies against different species. Accompanying him were Grim, Huntress, One Horn, and a few other Granians who were recently selected to lead. Aside from that, Anya, Jim, and Skyler opted to attend and see for themselves how Granians conducted themselves in such events. Jim had a similar experience with the Humans whenever they were defeated with the most recent event being the abductions from the Granians. Skyler and Anya, on the other hand, had no experience of that sort of life whatsoever and they only wanted to be a part of it simply because they were bored. Besides, their quarters were closed for Lord Grim ordered that they’d attend the meeting. "Granians," hunching with his hands spread apart on the wide lectern. Hanging his head, the Granian’s black horns shone with the bright lights bouncing off his black-scaled body. Angrily, he looked at the multitude gathered and began the meeting saying, "This day marks the day when we, the Granians, lost three major colonies to our enemies the Ethisians. Little did we know that their scheme of taking small colonies in the Outer Ring was just a...distraction from their real plot. Most of you present are not aware but the Ethisians used those Outer Ring colonial raids as a distraction to secretly evade into three of our major colonies in the Middle Ring. The three colonies are our trade and military supply chains. Now that they’re gone, our resources have been cut off by over sixty percent...." An uproar emerged with the Granian soldiers panicking and hyperventilating about their situation. Having their resources cut by over fifty percent meant that they were now more vulnerable to attacks than ever. They feared that if the Ethisians were to attack now, it would most certainly be a clean victory for them and a tremendous loss for the Granians, perhaps their enslavement or even worse, their extinction. "What shall you have us do, Lord Grim?" "What about our other colonies? Are they going to help?" "We have millions of soldiers dispersed throughout the Akrina Galaxy? Can we count on them to come to our aid?" "What about these damned Mutants? How come they haven’t been a part of the real War?" The soldiers looked at Anya and Jim and began taking out their frustration on them. They were the reason Grand Master and Grim had dispersed for many years and they were supposed to be the hope and salvation for the entire Granian Race. Angered by this, Lord Grim slammed his fist on the lectern which resonated a massive boom across the meeting room. Instantly, the Granians present went silent, afraid to further kindle Lord Grim’s rage. "Enough, Granians," he muttered, and seeing that his anger was going to halt most of the meeting, Grand Master chose to take over the meeting on his behalf. "You all have valid questions and it is of utmost importance that I answer all of them," he replied. "our soldiers disposed of in different parts of the Galaxy have been held down by the Ethisians. As we speak, their planets are surrounded by fleets of Ethisian ships and the ships of the Ethisian allies. To quickly interrupt those with this question, no our allies are not willing to help for they do not wish to be involved in fear that they too could end up becoming Ethisian enemies. "For a full week, we are going into a state of emergency. All soldiers are required to go through intense training and in the meantime, the process of clone-making will double. The clones will become our decoys while we retrieve our colonies. Once complete, we will deal with the Ethisians keeping our colonial brothers and sisters trapped." "That information will be disclosed later," Grand Master replied as he took a look at Anya and Jim. Disappointed, he sighed heavily and continued, having wished for the soldiers to take a look at the one known as Ace. "I do bring good news, however. Unlike us, the Ethisians do not have complete control and compliance with their Mutants. The Ethisian Mutants have still refused to participate in this war so we still have a fighting chance. In addition, our Mutants keep growing stronger with each battle as you see behind you...." A collection of images taken on the icy planet. Those images included horrific images of slaughtered, punctured, and decapitated Ethisian bodies with pools of blood and forests of Blood Spikes scattered everywhere. Scared but slightly relieved, the Granians felt a little more hopeful about the whole ordeal. Now they knew that the Mutants were capable of doing such, which meant that with time, they could kill so many more which would most certainly ensure their victory. ’These idiots don’t know Ace’s the one responsible for that,’ Anya cursed, annoyed with how much Grand Master was "praising" her, Jim, and Cherry. She already accepted that Ace was and would always be stronger than all of them so she did not even bother training nor growing stronger to live up to the Granian standards. ’Would have been better for us to just leave and let Ace fight the entire War himself. This is such bullsh...’ "You’re self-dialoging again, aren’t you?" Jim noticed the scowl growing on his colleague’s face so he chose to entertain himself with it. "What’s making you so angry?" "The usual." Anya’s blatant and dry answers were amusing to Jim, especially when she was in one of her moods. "You mean Ace, right?" he asked and she nodded. Crossing his hands, Jim initiated a conversation with Anya. "I was like you once. The boy unintentionally turned me into this and I hated him for it with a passion. I hunted the boy down for many days and when I finally found him...well let’s just say I was now brought into this entire mess." "What’s your point, Jim?" "Instead of hating the boy for turning you yet he had no choice, why don’t you use his current strength as a catalyst to push you to grow stronger as well?" he asked, which got him a scowl as a response. "I’m just making a point, Anya. When I met Ace, he wasn’t as ambitious and self-driven as he is right now to grow stronger. He was a...." "Extremely weak," Skyler added. "That’s what kind of kept us alive in that Military base. I was weak, he was weak. We both got picked on for that so seeing him becoming this strong drives me to grow stronger too." "She gets it," Jim smiled, but Anya remained not amused. *Ahem* "Hating him did not change anything at all so instead, I chose to let his strength push me to rival his. You should do the same thing. Trust me, we’ll need each other when we meet the other Mutants." A moment of silence occurred with Anya trying to process what Jim said to her. It didn’t make any sense to her, neither did it help stroke her ego but it was something worth thinking about. The one thing she and Ace could agree on was their hate for the Granians and like him, she too was only interested in growing strong enough to kill them one day but that didn’t help soothe the fact that she despised him mainly for turning her into an abomination. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖•𝗇𝗲𝘁 Jim’s form of ’conversation’ may have not eased Anya’s anger but it certainly gave her something to think about during the meeting which continued until the late hours of the night. ’Will any of us be strong enough to fight the Ethisian Mutants though?’