PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

63 Chapter 63 A bleak future

(Unknown POV)

A disaster, tonight was a disaster from beginning to end, but what worries me the most is what tonight can mean for humanity, I hope I’m wrong, actually, I hope this meeting ends up refuting my doubts, but I don’t have much hope in it.

” Commander Rickson, all the officers who were called are waiting for you in the conference room. ′′

′′ Thank you, soldier, tell them that I will arrive shortly. ′′

Watching the soldier leave to deliver my message, adjust my emotions and enter the conference room, all the required officers were here, I had a lot to hear and understand about tonight so several officers ended up in the room to make their reports.

′′ Attention, Commander Rickson has arrived. ′′

Ignoring the military salutes addressed to me, I go straight to the subject that concerns us, I have no time for formalities, at least not tonight.

′′ We do not have all night ladies and gentlemen, say your part, and let’s see what we can put together from this puzzle. ′′

Immediately starting the meeting, I confirm that my fears were not unfounded, as reported by all the officers who were in command of the respective defensive walls, the attack of the beasts on each wall seemed much more coordinated than it had been in the past and as a whole all the attacks aimed at the intention of destroying our defenses on the north wall.

.....

First the attack in the south, then a pincer attack on both the left and right flanks, then they resorted to depleting our ammunition, explosives, and artillery. Only when our supplies began to run low, our men ran out, and the defense of the north wall weakened by the diversion of men to the other walls, only then did they attack the north wall.

After testing our defenses, they proceeded to use an air unit of Ripper Crows, the perfect assassins for a night attack, only a saving grace put a mighty Esper roll-on that wall slaughtering and finishing that air unit.

But the worst part came later, an assassination unit made up of humanoid creatures attacked after the air unit was exterminated, my men don’t have many details as there were few witnesses and we only have the recovered corpses as evidence. But they tell me they invited the man who destroyed the solo both the Ripper Crows and that strange assassination unit.

′′ Bring him in, I want to. . . no, I need to know what happened. ′′

′′Yes sir. ′′

The doors of the room opened to admit a man in a black robe and a strange mask covering his face, somehow it did not seem entirely disturbing, but rather gave an impression of dominance and mystery. But whatever he had to say to us was much more important than his appearance and I soon realized how right he was to think that way.

(Desmond POV)

You know a curious thing about wearing a mask?, they greatly increase your confidence when speaking in front of an audience, well that’s it or I never had stage fright, to begin with, I can’t say, I haven’t led a life that has put that particular skill to the test, even though, I am good bringing pedophiles to their coffins. . . I wonder if the mask will make me better at that.

′′ As you may have noticed, there are several irregularities in the battle that took place tonight, as one of the men who contributed most to the defense of the northern wall, we would like your opinion regarding this and regarding these new enemies to that you faced. ′′

The request made by the person who seems to be in charge snapped me out of my random thoughts and brought me back to my current situation.

′′ I will not bore you with the general details, I will go straight to the point that probably has everyone so nervous in this room; in my humble opinion, the entire attack seemed planned from start to finish by something with an intellect far higher than that of the standard mutant beast. ′′

No one seemed surprised by what I said, but they certainly seemed even more stressed than before.

′′ Would you mind elaborating? ′′

′′ I will not talk about the attack in general because I imagine you have already drawn your conclusions, so let’s talk about the two enemy attacks that almost brought down the defenses of the north wall. ′′

Everyone seemed to get serious at this point, for some reason the military was not able to gather much information about the situation of the north wall, but I suppose it was because most of the soldiers on that wall ended up dead.

′′ First the ripper ravens, the way they approached the battlefield in stealth and first assassinated the Esper who had caused the most damage to his troops denotes premeditation; these beasts took advantage of their natural advantages to form an air assault and night ambush unit. Luckily they weren’t individually powerful beasts and they weren’t large in numbers or I would have even ended up in a coffin. But that’s not even close to being the worst, the worst were those humanoid reptilian beasts, they seemed to use some kind of biological optical camouflage to get closer without being detected, then they began to assassinate the soldiers one by one in stealth. They were strong, fast, and lethal, although individually they can be easily killed with heavy weapons, the problem lies in their stealth ability, in a well-planned attack, they could without any difficulty assassinate an entire squad of Espers. If it weren’t for a coincidence where I killed one of them, it would have been too late for you to realize that something was wrong and as if that weren’t enough those things were fighting giving clear signs of combat coordination, I can’t be at all sure, but I think. . . I think they also communicated in some kind of primitive language. ′′

A deathly silence filled the room when I said my part, they all seemed to lose all the blood in them when they turned pale, but I had not finished yet, I know that it is a serious moment and everything but. . . God I’ve always wanted to say this

′′ They asked me what I think, well this is my opinion. . . Dark times are coming. ′′