"P…pull her head!"
"..."
Princess Esme could no longer even hear her own breaths; the only thing that touched her ears were voices of desperation as several themarians tried to pry her hand away from the man she was holding.
They will be dealt with with lethal but nondeadly force—that is what she said earlier. Lethal was easy enough, but in truth, she was trying to rack her brains to deal with her situation in a nondeadly manner.
And so, after thinking about it for a few seconds… she just let go of the man she was holding.
"He's free! Let's go!"
"Ignore the Rocket Princess!"
And as soon as she let him go, all the themarians that were trying to pin her in place immediately started flying away.
"..." Princess Esme could really only slightly pout as she saw everyone flying away. She then turned around to look at one of Riley's clones, only to see it shaking its head in disappointment—and as soon as she saw this, Esme quickly disappeared.
Professor Riley has taught them how to torture themarians for months—how to inflict the most pain without putting anyone's life in any peril. And so, in a way, he also taught Princess Esme how to fight with a themarian without the threat of sending them to their eternal deaths.
She knew how to disable them without actually harming them—no wonder Riley's clone was disappointed in her.
And so, without any more reservations, she rushed through the thousand of themarians that were nearing New Theran… literally.
"!!!"
The soldiers could really only widen their eyes as they felt their bodies being ripped in half almost at the same time by a hand that came out of nowhere. And before their bodies could even begin to regenerate, Esme moved in front of them… gently pushing them one by one with her palms. Well, gentle for her—but for the themarians, they felt their chests cave in as they were violently pushed straight back to Theran.
"This… looks weird, no?"
Xra's crew, who were watching from quite a distance away, could really only watch and stand on their toes and tentacles as they felt some sort of shockwave reaching them even from afar.
"I thought a battle between themarians would be more exhilarating, but it looks like they are just disappearing, appearing, and running around," the one with the many arms, Lechamp, could not help but sigh as he watched the feed.
"Trust me, Sir Lechamp," Elder Olseyir, who joined the crew as she didn't want to be in the battlezone, lightly flicked her pink robes as she stood closer to the screen,
"You do not want to be in the center of that."
"This cute Elder is right," Alindor, Xra's second-in-command, bared her golden fangs at Lechamp to shut him up,
"You will be disintegrated just by standing there. As per Olseyir's advice, I had Aella turn down the ship's scanner so we're not being warned every second, but the weight and energy the battle is producing are… beyond massive."
"Pft, I am sure I could handle it," Lechamp scoffed as he flexed his 4 arms.
"Do you want to be floated again?" Girgo stuck out her tongue, almost slapping Lechamp with it if he didn't dodge, "The only reason you are saying that is because they are fighting in space—if they fought on land… they will clear out everything."
"She is correct," Elder Olseyir nodded her head, "Each of their strikes could split a planet in half. Princess Esme, the physically strongest themarian, could destroy an entire stellar system just by clapping her hands."
"...You know I am female?" Girgo quickly closed her mouth; her large round eyes, blinking as she looked at Elder Olseyir, "Interesting, you're the very first one who got it right—my species are usually indistinguishable from others."
"Well… I've met you before," Elder Olseyir only shrugged her shoulders.
"Really? When—"
"You know how these Elders are," Alindor raised her hand, "They know everything and they are very crafty. I'm surprised two of you are even helping with the migration of the themarians, I heard you do not like them."
"I'm new, and Former Elder Tedi is retired," Elder Olseyir chuckled, adjusting her robes as she did so, "Anyway, any idea what is happening on Princess Aerith's side?"
And as soon as she asked that, everyone turned their heads toward Moira, or more specifically, at Little Riley who was resting on her shoulder.
"He…?" Little Riley, on the other hand, just calmly looked at them like he didn't want to be disturbed. But after Moira raised her shoulder, the only thing Little Riley could really do was lazily get up,
"It's been 58 seconds since the start of the battle, so she's almost done evacuating the people that need to be evacuated."
"Wait… you mean the battle is near its end already?"
"Who do you think is helping them?" Little Riley scoffed, "Boss is there…
…there is no battle in the first place."
***
"Just how many of you do I need to send to eternal death!?"
"We're the last ones, Your Highness. You're very sturdy, if you were an average themarian, you would have already died a couple of times."
Queen Adel was still chasing Aerith—near, but sadly not near enough to make herself heard. But even if she did, however, the chances of Aerith listening to her were almost close to none.
They already flew around the planet, and yet not even once was she able to speak with her due to the hundreds of clones blocking and pinning her down. The only thing she could do now was watch as more of her people flew away into the skies.
"Aerith was right," one of the clones covered her mouth again, "You really do like doing things on your own, you didn't even call for reinforcements even in the end—but then again, they are all busy with trying to destroy New Theran or trying to find the Star Obliterator that mother planted. But still…
…you chose the wrong priority. You should have truly tried talking with your daughter more and now it's too late. Like mother like daughter, I suppose—you're both bad mothers."
"A…Aerith!" Queen Adel once again roared, but the only thing she saw was Aerith's back—flying away for the final time into the expanse of space as she have successfully evacuated all that she could.
"...Get away from me!" The veins on Queen Adel's neck showed themselves as her eyes released a rage unequal to the ones she has shown before, "Die!"
She then stretched out all of her limbs, tearing out her own flesh as she blasted all the clones away—and without even giving them the chance to cling to her again, she turned the last of them into dust; the beam from her eyes, as wide as a mountain itself as she exhausted the last of her energy.
"Ha…" Queen Adel then breathed out as she closed her eyes; the ashes of everything around her, very slowly raining down and being blown away by her heavy breaths. Her hair was a complete mess; her clothes, completely tattered and exposing her skin more than it was hiding them.
"Gh…" She gasped as she looked at New Theran; her teeth, showing themselves as she growled, "Aerith—!!!"
She was going to fly away, but before she could do so, a pair of hands emerged from the ashes below. Queen Adel quickly looked down, only to see a clone already smiling at her—this clone, however, was already crumbling to its death.
But it has done its purpose.
"..." Queen Adel then quickly turned to look at the skies again, only to see New Theran no longer veiled behind it.
And just like that—it was over.
"...No," and with a whisper escaping Queen Adel's breaths; any rage, any resolution, and any life in them disappeared. Her legs just gave up as she sat at the ashes of her own doing.
Wrong. Everything wrong that could've happened, happened.
She wasn't even able to exchange fists, let alone words with her daughter for the final time—none of those happened.
She thought she could reach her, but everything was just… one big mess.
"..."
"..."
And soon, as she drowned in her own laments and regrets, a clap echoed through the air; nearing toward her by the second.
She looked, only to see another Riley walking toward her while clapping his hands.
"..."
Riley then stood in front of the kneeling queen, before turning his head up to the sky.
"Themarians are really scary."
"..." And even as Riley got near her, and even started to sit behind her on the ground, Queen Adel only looked at him.
"Did you know, I asked mother how long Theran has before it collapses on itself and kills all of you?"
"..."
"542 years, give or take. And then it will just snap instantly, none of you would even feel it," Riley then let out a small sigh as he rested his head on Queen Adel's bare shoulder,
"542 years—that is a very short time for Themarians like yourself. But for everyone else, that is more than a couple of lifetimes… a lot of time to change minds. But that's not the kind of species you are."
"..." Queen Adel only glanced at Riley, before also proceeding to rest her cheek on his head.
"But do you know, I didn't even know that Theran is dying," Riley then let out a small chuckle, "That was just like… an unexpected bonus. But then again, it was bound to happen—do you know we have this saying on Earth,
'Only diamonds can cut diamonds,'
Thermarians are the same. Only you can destroy yourselves—but not this time, though. I helped."
"...Are you here to gloat?" Queen Adel finally spoke.
"Not at all," Riley smiled, "I'm here to accompany you in your last moments. With how fast you lost almost half of your people just like that, I would assume you have no one to share this moment with."
"..."
"Well, I also wanted to see what your choice would be," Riley then gently stood up,
"I know exactly where mother planted the bomb."
"..."
"I can even escort you there if you want to…
…it's your choice."
