(10 years later)
Over the course of 10 years, the viltrum empire continued to expand rapidly. Out of the 3,600 sectors of the universe, the viltrum empire alone controlled 200 of them.
This had led to many conflicts with difference races. The empire had major conflicts with the reach after many of the latters worlds were forcefully taken from them.
Damn near every empire, kingdom or organization that played a major role in the galaxy knew of the viltrumites and their war hungry ways.
The empires greatest enemy was, of course, the lantern corps. These police of the universe did not take well to the viltrum empire conquering planets and wiping out entire civilizations on the daily.
Every time the Guardians tried to negotiate with the viltrumites like they had done before with the reach ended with the viltrumites yelling slurs at them and another major conflict.
With no real competition to stop them, the viltrumites continued to expand rapidly. Ten years of conquest may seem long, but to these long-lived warmongers, it was barely a moment.
__________
(Jaxon POV)
I had grown. Both in strength and body. After a decade of brutal training and conditioning, I now solidly stood as one of the strongest of my age.
I was tall and built, with defined muscles. 5'11 foot, 210 pounds of muscle. And my skill had increased by leaps and bounds as well.
Years of training had given me a different vibe. The only thing keeping me sane through all of this was my mother. She had grown to truly and deeply care for me, something that would have been frowned upon by the other viltrumites if they ever came to know.
I stood as straight as an iron rod, my hands folded and obsidian eyes focused and serious.
Me and the rest of the viltrumites waited patiently in the hanger of our cruiser.
*hiss*
The massive door of the hanger opened, revealing the planet before us. A medium sized planet holding a civilization not very technologically advanced, with space travel limited to their solar system. In any other situation this would have been a stunning view.
But not this one.
I lifted of from the ship and into the vastness of space , following the other viltrumites into a formation.
Behind me was the voyager-class cruiser that I just exited, along with 3 others that looked identical to it.
30 viltrumite combatants, including me, stood in single file, waiting for our orders from our commander, who floated in front of us. He was the only adult viltrumite among us, as shown by his uniform being the only one with a loin cloth.
'Get ready! This will be our last expedition in sector 3,145. After this, we shall have fully taken control of this sector. Prepare yourself. '
I heard his command in my mind, as did all the other officers.
I tensed all the muscles in my body, preparing myself for what was about to come.
This was my first deployment. If I failed in any way, I would be dead before I could say 'viltrum'.
I crouched, then blasted of with the others, piercing through the planets atmosphere and towards my designated country.
A coat of flames formed around me, lighting up the sky for the people of the nation for a brief moment.
Before I slamed into the ground with 10 megatons of force.
*KABOOOOOM!! *
A shockwave spread through the area, wiping all life within a certain radius. Glass shattered in the nearby city and killed hundreds.
A fireball roughly 4 kilometers in diameter spread out from my position, tearing apart the mountain on which I had landed. The earth trembled and cracked. The oceans were erratic and chaotic as similarly scenes happened across the entire planet and all 30 countries.
I emerged from the rubble, my uniform frayed and burnt at the edges.
I took a deep breath, taking in the smoke and other scents. I always had a far superior array of senses than any other viltrumite, almost to the point that it was... unnatural.
I didn't have long to see the inhabitants of this world.
20 ships swarmed my location coming from all sides. The moment I came into their range, they open fired at me, giant shells and lasers bombarding the crater in which I stood.
After a solid 10 seconds of firing, the barrage came to a halt.
"D-did we get him? " One of the pilots asked hopefully.
"No."
He didn't have the time to react as I ripped through his ship, causing another explosion to paint their skies.
What followed was a massacre.
I plowed through 5 more ships, sending them crashing to the ground. The rest of the locals tried to hit me mid air with their gins, but it didn't do much other than hit one of their own ships.
I grabbed one of them and tossed him to the side, and into 2 others, their screams drowned by the explosion.
A laser hit me dead in the face and I paused for a minute, before turning towards the pilot who hit me.
"Oh shit, " Her face went pale. "No, no, no, no, no please dont–"
I zoomed in front of her craft as she tried to flee and she slammed into me.
*Boom*
I made quick work of the other, slicing punching and throwing the until they blew up.
Then, I made my way to the nearest city.
I sonic boom echoed through the desolate place as I easily passed the speed of sound
I saw the tall skyscrapers and heard the screams before I even got to the place
I passed clean through the tallest building I could see.
The destruction of my landing had caused quite a bit of damage on its own.
A sinkhole had opened up. A few structures had toppled over. Fire everywhere. It had only been minutes since my landing, hence, the evacuation wasn't nearly complete. There were still people running around, panicked, afraid and injured.
I looked at the damage I had caused, the destruction I had wrought.
Why?
Why did this have to be done? We're there not more peaceful means of subjugation? Would it not in fact, benifit us to take over the planet with a lesser amount of destruction?
Instead we had been ordered to wipe out the planets military. Millions of lives. We had even been tasked to eradicate certain regions entirely.
I felt bad for them... But I valued my life more than I did theirs.
There was no use sitting here and crying over spilled milk. Whether I felt bad doing it or not, I had to do it anyway, or it would be me instead of them.
'At least... That's what I tell myself to sleep at night. '
A section of the city opened up, and a missile rocketed out of the opening, flying straight at me.
I shook my head of distractions and met the missile head on.
From the smoke of the ensuing explosion, I rushed out and slammed into the earth below, causing a shockwave that knocked over the soldiers nervously holding their guns below me.
"Come at me! " I roared at them.
__________
(3 hours later)
In the three hours since my landing, I had caused sheer chaos.
Tens of thousands of the local military had fallen at my hand. I had ripped through 22 cities as fast as I could, making as much use of my abilities as possible so that I could just get this over with
I flew through the skies at near mach 25, completely focused on getting to the next city when suddenly.
"You bastard! "
A green energy construct in the shape of a hammer struck my back, sending me tumbling out of the air and into the forest below.
"Urgh... What the hell was that? " I clutched me back I got to my feet.
And I got my answer. Hovering in the sky was a person. He seemed to be the same race as the others of this planet except, this specific one was in a green and black suit, with green energy shimmering around him and a symbol on his chest.
'Green lantern! '
"Shit. Just my luck. "
The green lantern looked furious. Blood flowed from the edge of his lips as a roared at the top of his lungs.
"You monsters. You freaks! Why? Why?! Why have you done this?!
What did we ever do to you? We were a peaceful race! We just wished to trade and grow undisturbed.
My brother... My wife... My child... All of my friends and family dead. For what!? What sin have my people committed?!! " Grief and sorrow radiated from his voice as he cried tears of blood.
I stayed silent. I could not say anything. What would possibly justify the death of millions over billions of innocent people?
I resigned myself to the fight and prepared myself for death as a valid possibility.
And then we clashed.
I charged at my opponent, taking the initiative. But every swing of mine was met with a green barrier that I could not easier penetrate.
A huge gun materialized on top of the barrier and fired a lazer that I maneuvered past and struck at from a blind spot.
He was able to barely dodge as my hand grazed his chest and drew a line of blood.
An axe slammed into my head attempting to split me in half, but it was not strong enough to penetrate my bones.
I slammed into a hill, a trickle of blood dripping from my forehead. I had no time to rest, flying out of the hill to escape the barrage of the machine gun construct that the lantern had conjured.
But it was a trap. A green box closed around me, and chains extended from the walls, binding me.
I looked forward to see the green lantern a little distance away, his hand pointed front, the ring on his finger glowing.
I pulled with all my might, my finger digging into my palm, and the chains shattered along with the wall around me. I charged forward as a beam of energy was fired at me. At the last second, I dodged by a hairs breadth.
"Got you. "
I cocked my hand back, my hand speared and ready. At the last second he was able to erect a shield, but it was no use as my hand tore through it and sliced his arm off.
"ARGGGHHHH! "
I immediately attempted to finish him off. Only to find a green bomb thrown exactly in front of my face.
It detonated in a huge explosion that sent me flying back to he ground for a third time.
I was instantly back on my feet, scanning the skies with my super vision.
I spotted him far off in the sky fleeing, and gave chase.
Within moments, I was at his location, high up in the atmosphere of this planet. I blocked his path with a resigned expression.
"Give up. You cannot escape. "
And only now, did he get a good, close look at my face.
"You... How old are you? " He asked with a trembling voice.
"... 14." I replied after a moment.
Silence settled between us as he took a minute to process his thoughts.
"14. 14? You, you're just a child. Y-you're a child! "
I simply floated there, my fists clenched.
"Ha, haha. A kid, a fucking kid. T-this can't be real. I have to be dreaming, right? "
He cluched his head with a crazy expression.
I sighed and approached him slowly.
And he didn't react. His willpower, the source of his strength, was gone. He no longer had the mind to continue.
"Just do it. " He said.
I obliged, cocking my arm back and then plunging it through his chest, piercing his heart. His eyes widened for a moment as he took his last breath.
"Y..ou mo..nster... s. "
And then he died. I stayed still for a moment, and then got ready to depart, pulling his body off of me.
"So this is where you were. "
I turned around to find my commander approaching me. His eyes found the green lantern corpse. We both watched as the ring detached and zipped of to find a replacement.
"A green lantern on your own huh? Good. I didn't know the second one was also on this planet. "
"Second one? " I asked.
"That's right. His partner was also there, on the other side of the planet. He is dead. Come, let us depart. "
I followed him back to the ship floating in orbit.
'So both the green lanterns of this sector are dead huh. '
Once we got to the ship, 5 of us were ordered to stay back and fully bring everything under control, while me and the rest of the viltrumites go back to viltrum.
__________
I walked into the bathroom with a weary look on my face.
I was slightly bruised from the fight with the lantern, but most of my injuries had already started healing.
As I kept my hand under running water to get the blood cleaned, another sigh escaped my mouth.
"... Shit. "