Shifting light away from the two High Grades, Granian, and Crimson Knight, the real war between Ethisians and Granians and Cyclitharans became one-sided. The Ethisians, outnumbered, outmatched, and poorly resourced, found themselves completely vulnerable and at the non-existent mercies of their enemies, the Granians. This sudden raid, which caught them completely off guard, fell upon them so fast that many already accepted defeat and death. In fact, it had gotten so bad for them that a few soldiers were intentionally begging to be killed quicker while others did so on their own. Of course, there were those in the stubborn bunch who, instead of giving up, chose to battle to the very end and the High Grades were one of them. Two High Grades, one battling Cherry and the other battling Gravax, stood with their bodies throbbing, aching, and wounded while their opponents gleefully gloated. Lord Gravax, an experienced Eneraflux user, as well as an experienced fighter, had caused significant damage to the smaller High Grade. To his surprise, Gravax had caused more damage than he had initially expected. The Granian was impressed with his strength, so much so that he couldn’t help but gloat. "Oh wow, how fascinating," the Granian, whose body grew swole with more energy emitting from it, approached the smaller High Grade who was brought to its knees, "I didn’t think that cultivating my energy by refusing to use it completely would refine it to this extent. I had my doubts, Ethisian, I really did. But seeing you in this state brings a smile to my face." Gravax kicked the High Grade and then stepped on his chest. As he did so, he witnessed strings of Ethisian blood traveling from the larger High Grade to Cherry and spoke saying, "You High Grades were overhyped. I thought Commander would have trained you better than this. "With all this strength, a mere Blood Mutant was able to beat your comrade and this one isn’t as strong as the male...." ’There’s...a stronger one?’ "...in about three minutes, a fleet of attack ships is going to bombard this area with heavy firepower. Because I admire your strengths, I’m keeping both of you alive...well if the Blood Mutant doesn’t kill your friend first, he’ll live." Gravax, with his tail, jolted the smaller High Grade’s head towards Cherry and the larger Higher Grade. Together, he and the Ethisian watched as Cherry stretched one hand and began to drain the blood from her enemy. The sight was brutal, one that most chose not to look at. It was already bad enough that the Granian forces were destroying the Ethisians and now, to see the ones in command die at the hand of their enemies was even worse for the survivors. "Spare him," Gravax, after knocking out the smaller High Grade, approached Cherry with his hand resting on her shoulder. "This battle’s finished. We’ve already done what we came to do. And we’ve managed to do it much faster, thanks to your efforts." "Won’t leaving him alive be a problem in the future?" Cherry asked the most sensible question as she drained a little bit more blood from her enemy, rendering them completely weak and vulnerable. "Look at him," Gravax sneered mockingly "You’ve beaten him before. He’ll think twice before becoming a problem to us." After lamenting for a while, Gravax signaled for his fleet to quickly evacuate the plateau. Hurriedly, he and Cherry lifted the weakened High Grades and evacuated the premises immediately. As they ran, about fifty ships flew down from the sky. The few surviving Ethisians that were left attempted to shoot them down but it was futile. The raid was more less done, and it resulted in a complete defeat for the Ethisians. The last survivors, including those who fought to the very end, met a brutal end. Heavy blast fire from the ships rained down relentlessly. In an instant, the Bastion, a once strong, durable, and next-to-impenetrable fortress, was decimated and reduced to a pile of rubble, cinder, fire, and the bodies of burned Ethisians. The Granians observed from a distance as the Bastion got stripped of its former glory. While they smiled and cheered, their allies the Cyclitharans watched in horror at the horrific scene. Many gasped and marveled at the Granians’ cruelty. They had heard of their methods of war and combat but they had never witnessed it first hand. The spilled innocent blood burned Ethisian bodies, and crumbled Bastion made them grow weary of the Granians but not as much as the Crimson Knight did. The most frightening thing about her, according to the Cyclitharans, was the way she was able to heal, regenerate, and get back in the fight after taking heavy damage from the High Grade. Many who witnessed Cherry’s thrashing did not expect her to recover from it, let alone live. That perception suddenly changed when she revived herself and flipped the tide of the battle; a truly frightening and horrific scene. "Atris," one Cyclitharan soldier whispered into Atris’ ear as he and the others watched the Granians celebrate their victory, "was it wise siding with the Granians in this War?" "No, it wasn’t," Atris replied, "but it was necessary. They haven’t fought this War with all of their technology and yet they’ve managed to destroy this Bastion with ease. "I agree with you that it wasn’t wise siding with them but if we want to survive in this War, wouldn’t it be best to side with the ones capable of destroying you without giving it much thought?" For origınal chapters go to 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩 As the Granians celebrated, while the Cyclitharans watched in horror, Gravax shared the news of their victory while also giving an update on their other raids. Of the three fleet leaders, he was the first to complete the raid without alerting the enemy. The next fleet that attacked was the one led by the former Lord Grim, the Blood Bishop, and the fifth human, Skyler. According to the update, their raid was more brutal and bloodstained than Gravax’s...with a twist.