“So we can turn in our mission already?”

That was Scarlett’s reaction when Jean came back across the portal to Earth and informed her of all that has unfolded. 

When Jean was wreaking havoc in the Roman Empire, Scarlett wasn’t slacking off either. With an iron fist and a proper attitude, she ravaged through any opposition on Earth. No conspirators or rebels could handle the full might of a Voyager. 

Jean was finally able to transfer out of Decimus’s body and back into her own, and she had admit it felt good to be in a skin that wasn’t constantly decomposing and in need of renewal. 

Delta reported in on the progress the Wardens and the Purifiers have made during Jean’s time of absence. 

Everyday, across the Solar System, millions of automated Warden SCVs and Purifier probes moved from planet to planet, stripping them off their minerals and turning those resources into precious Warden and Purifier units.  

Within the month, the Purifier unit count doubled and the Warden unit count tripled. For the moment, Jean found herself with 700,000 Swordguards, 15,000 Cruiseguards, and 40 Capitalguards. 

The Wardens were expanded to 55 B-1s, 15 B-2s, 3,500 F-1s, and 300,000 Warden Striders of all three types. 

This meant throughout the mission, Jean not only didn't lose any units. She gained some. 

Sure, Earth took a heavy toll. Many of the established governments were toppled. Its infrastructures and natural resources were exhausted. The Romans didn't kill too many people, but the consequences resulting for their invasion could bring Earth decades back. 

That didn't matter to Jean. She was sent to protect Earth from interdimensional threats. Now, the threat on the other side of the portal was neutralized. It wasn’t her fault if the locals die from starvation or famine. 

But instead of summoning the Artificial Intelligence of the City of the Voyagers, explain to it the complications with the Alphians, and then turn in the mission and get out of here, Jean had something else in mind. 

After recalling all the Wardens and Purifiers across the galaxy and returning them back into her watch, Jean brought Scarlett back in the Roman Empire.

Or at least the world that used to be the Roman Empire. 

Right now, it belonged to the Alphians. 

Scarlett frowned as she exited the portal and saw lines and lines of Alphians marching across. The sound of their metal limbs clashing on the ground formed an oddly pleasant symphony. 

She could sense a distinct level of threat from these Alphians. A few squads of them, she could handle, but if legions and legions of Alphians happened to be crashing down on her, then the table would’ve been turned. Her CAS of 570 mostly relied on her telekinesis, but a brute force attack could never be as effective as a simple swipe of the Power of Death. Sooner or later, her strength would be exhausted by sheer numbers.

To Scarlett’s reassurance, the Alphians did nothing as the two Voyagers passed. The two women made their way straight into the Alphian vessel in Rome without raising their blades even once.  

Alpha-Sierra placed his Alphian flagship in the city of Rome. As Jean walked by, she could see corpses everywhere. Unlike the rural towns that were seized in their sleep, Rome did put up a fight. 10,000 Romans in the Rome Defense Corps fought tooth and nail to keep this city outside of Alphian reach. In the end, their valor was impressive. Their goal, on the other hand, was lost. 

Unsurprisingly, none of the human bodies along the way had their heads left. Alphians moved across the city, harvesting the brains they needed like farmers harvesting crops from their fields. 

Scarlett voiced her concerns to Jean as she watched an Alphian chopping off a head and tossing it into a transport vehicle with a dozen others. 

“From what you told me, these Alphians have no emotions. Thus, they have no loyalty. They have turned from the Aggressors to the Protectors with a single defeat. How easy will it be for them to turn back to the Aggressor’s side again? If we allow them to grow and they become our enemies...”

“They may have no loyalty, but they do have an instinct for survival, and as of the moment, joining with the Protector Corps is the best chance of survival.” 

Jean replied quietly. That was something she has placed some thought in. 

“But surely, you have received the information from the watches.” Scarlett frowned as she tapped her Voyager watch. “Things are not going well for the Corps. The Protectors have even offered a bounty to anyone who can provide information on the Aggressors. It almost feels like they’re getting desperate. If things are going all according to the plan, no one would rely on bounties to put out the rebellion.” 

Relying on bounties meant potentially being lead into circles by those blinded by greed who simply wanted a cut of the reward. If the Protectors had better ways to hunt down the Aggressors, they would never do that. 

Yet Jean had something else in mind. 

“Actually, I don’t believe such is the case. The Protectors appear weak. Yes. But they are too weak.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Scarlett? What have the Aggressors really accomplished? Have they wiped out a Protector legion? Have they invaded the Core Realms? What have they really done to make the Protectors so frightened?” She flicked her fingered. “During my times infiltrating here, I met a Roman Legatus who had some very interesting guesses on what the Protectors are doing. When I wiped out his people, I adsorbed his soul separately and got access to his ideas. Combining everything, I have a hypothesis.”

“And what was that?”

“The Protectors are pretending to be weak.”

“What?” Scarlett snapped around to Jean. Those words stopped her in the track. “But...why would they do that? They have maintained absolute dominance across the Infinite Realms! Any type of transgression would result in their immediate punishment! Why would they let the flames of rebellion burn on purpose? It will only make them look weak!”

“I don’t know.” Jean shrugged. “I don’t have adequate information. Perhaps the Aggressors are truly powerful. Perhaps the Protectors are facing threats we don’t know about. But as of the moment, I suggest we stick to the Corps.” 

Scarlett nodded slowly. 

Finally, after a brief stop, the two found themselves facing Alpha-Sierra. 

The situation was a lot different than when Jean first met the Alphian leader. Back then, Alpha-Sierra was alone, Jean was in the body of a Roman warlord, and she could end him with the snap of a finger. Now, Jean was the blonde woman again, and Alpha-Sierra had dozens of Alphians units around the meeting room. It took one glance from Scarlett to know they were far from standardized. 

“Ahhh...so this is your true form.” Alpha-Sierra tilted his head. “And I am assuming you want me to call you something other than Legatus Decimus?”

“Let me introduce myself again.” Jean did a slight bow. “My name is Jean Turner. I am a member of the 43rd Voyager Legion of the Voyager Corps. This is Voyager Scarlett of the same division.” 

“I have heard about the fierceness of the Voyager Corps.” Alpha-Sierra gave a light praise, but he quickly returned to the topic. “Voyager, are you ready to summon the Protectors?”

He really wanted to give himself and his people a layer of cover from the Protectors, and to do that, he needed Jean to explain to her superiors his contribution against the Aggressors. At this point, if Jean suddenly decided to back out, he would be in a difficult spot. Sure, he could try to talk to the Protectors himself, but who was to say he wouldn’t be eradicated on the spot before he could even speak?

“I am, but I have something else in mind.” Jean turned to her allies. “What do you think about taking out an Aggressor?” 

---

“This is crazy. The Aggressor will kill us all.” 

Scarlett said. 

The two Voyagers were standing in the field. All around them, legions of Alphians stood still. Their enemy didn't intimidate them at all. 

With what they were about to do, Alpha-Sierra had no intention of putting everything he has achieved on the line. The battlefield was never going to be Rome, nor was it going to be at any major conquered city. Alpha-Sierra instead selected an empty field halfway across the planet. Unless the battle ended with the planet in pieces, the Alphians residing over this world would be fine. 

As the only person who could really feel fear, Scarlett had no idea why she agreed with Jean’s plan. If she didn't, she would be back in the safety of the City of the Voyagers already, not standing out here, waiting for an enemy they had little chance of defeating. 

“But it must be done.” Jean answered quietly. Neither her mask nor Scarlett’s was up. “With all the chaos going around the Infinite Realms, if we want to go above and beyond the basics, we need to gather intel, especially on our ultimate enemy. Without intel, whatever we have in mind will be rootless plants. An opportunity like this where all the odds are with us is one we cannot be missed.” 

“You always know what must be done.” Scarlett sighed. “I just hope time will prove you right.” 

“It will.” Jean suddenly grinned. “Plus, the Protectors will reward us greatly if we hand them the head of an Aggressor on a silver platter.” 

“I still feel like we should warn the Protectors and simply collect the bounty.” Scarlett was less sure. “It’s safer.”

But Jean was being strangely, almost uncharacterstically, greedy.

“We are Voyagers, Scarlett, our whole existence is based on life or death gambles. Caution brings us nowhere.” 

Scarlett nodded, as if she was finally convinced. 

The entire time, they two conversed with words out in the open, rather than with the watches. Of course, they might have just refused to type the things in, or...

A distance away, Alpha-Sierra walked out of a tent. He moved to beside the two Voyagers. The three stood in a line quietly before Alpha-Sierra started. 

“It has been done. I told the Aggressor we have taken over the Roman Empire. We still hope to side with them, but our dimensional drives have been destroyed beyond repair during our clash with the Shaku Riders. We need assistance if we are to move out.”

He paused. 

“The Aggressor is coming here right now.” 

Jean nodded. “Shouldn’t you retreat?”

She and Scarlett had no intention of retreating, but Jean always thought Alpha-Sierra was more of a commander than a combatant. 

Alpha-Sierra shock his head. He tapped the crest on his chest, and a large gun popped up from the energy case strapped on his back. Jean could sense the volatile energy linked to the case. She turned away in silence. 

The space above the tent started cracking. Under the vigilant eyes of all the Alphians present, a figure in blue suddenly blinked in existence. 

The Aggressor had his mask off. He was a man in his fifties. Jean could see distinctly his grey hair amd blue eyes. A frown popped up when he saw the battle-ready Alphians, but when his eyes lingered on the two figures in black, it was obvious what was going on. 

Compared to the possibility that the two Voyagers were here to offer him his loyalty and Alpha-Sierra just forgot to mention it, the Aggressor would rather turn to the other option. 

The Alphians have been turned. 

The Aggressor didn't bother with words. All he did was cover his face with a blue mask. 

The next second, countless blasts covered him, but none of the observers thought that was all it took. 

“All units, focus fire on target! Alphriders and Alphighters, commence your attack.” 

From behind the phalanxes of standard Alphian units, two types of brand new units approached. A swarm of Alphighters, 500 in numbers, dove down on the Aggressor. But they weren’t the champanions of the day. That title would belong to the Alphriders.

Alphriders were giant humaniod goliaths. Just like the Alphighters, these 30 meter tall assault striders were piloted by a single Alphian inside. They were designed to break through enemy strongholds. They had enough missiles, blasters of all caliber, and other armaments to take down an army. Energy shields did the best they could to keep these giant target practices in one piece. 

And now, 20 of them were charging at the Aggressor. 

In the middle of all the blasts, the Aggressor leaped into the air. A giant flaming sword was in his grasp. He landed in the middle of one of the Alphian lines and rose quite the hell. 

A single swing sent a wave of flames to one side. Every Alphian that came in contact with the flames had their metal armors and fleshy brains melted almost simultaneously. 

An Alphian was ran through at the chest by the man’s sword, but that’s wasn’t over. A wave of fire exploded from the tip of the sword and burnt its way through the Alphian lines, penetrating 17 standard Alphian units, melting the energy barrier and then the leg of an Alpharider and knocking it over, before finally succumbing.  

Piu piu piu...

The Alphighters fired into their own lines without hesitance. Friendly fire was acceptable. 500 Alphighers were divided into ten rows and each took turn dive bombing. Unfortunately, all the Alphian fighters achieved was clear up all the friendly units around the Aggressor. They themselves were quickly rewarded by the Aggressor with fire blasts to the face that travelled with a speed beyond tracking.

Within the first ten seconds of contact, hundreds of Alphians have fallen victim.  

Suddenly, the Aggressor dashed to the side, but his efforts were in vein. Twenty missiles have already locked onto him, and that evasive dash only gave him an extra second before the inevitable collision. 

When the smoke cleared, it was obvious the missiles did as little as the other Alphian weapons, but the Aggressor suddenly sensed something. Something much more serious than all the lasers and missiles. He turned around and placed his sword before him. 

A wave of screeches exploded out of nowhere as an endless ocean of howling wraiths washed over the blue armored figure. 

The Sea of Souls. 12 billion souls, quickly transformed into wraiths by the only Reapress in the field. Jean purchased three of them at the City of the Voyagers. She used one to eradicated 20,000 Romans in just seconds. Now, she was using the second one on the Aggressor.

Jean didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. She has been preparing for this ever since the Aggressor came in. Her power has grown dramatically since back on Earth. For something like this, she could deploy the wraiths in half the time than before. The Alphians were merely here to buy time. 

The wraiths came pouring down like a waterfall of death, but the Aggressor held his ground. Hundreds of thousands of wraiths were evaporated every second at his hand. The faint, dying scream of souls as their last mark in this cruel world was wiped out drove many Alphians on the side to the ground, but if it had some effect on the Aggressor, he didn't show it. 

As the wraiths at the center were obliterated, more and more of their kind moved in from around the sword. They rained down on the Aggressor, and before long, a mountain of wraiths piled onto the Aggressor, completely covering him from the outside world. 

12 billion souls. That was enough to populate a planet. And now, all that power was brought down onto the Aggressor. 

“That wasn’t so hard.” Scarlett commented, pleasantly surprised.

Jean didn't answer. Instead, she waved her hand and deployed more Power of Death across the wraiths to enforce them, but that was a futile act. 

One moment, there was only infinite darkness, but then, a spark ignited in the ball of black and grey. Before Jean knew it, an explosion of flames washed over the billions of wraiths. Under the power of the Aggressor, supernatural beings capable of devouring entire armies looked like defenseless children. 

Now, watching ten billion souls getting burnt alive at the same time, Jean truly understood why at the highest level, numbers no longer mattered. 

The strike brought the Aggressor’s attention to Jean the Voyager. He reached his hand forward. Jean stood there cautiously for a couple of seconds, waiting for some fireballs to come down from the sky and smite her to the ground, but there was nothing. 

And then she sensed it. 

A spark of flame appeared inside her body and started spreading with astonishing speed. Jean immediately collapsed as her intestines boiled. She mobilized all her Power of Death to surpress that spark. The ultimate power in the Infinite Realms has never failed her before, and this time, it was the same. 

She would live, but the fact that her insides has been turned into a battlefield meant she was practically defenseless. Using the opportunity, the Aggressor reached forward again. This time, he went for the front, with a thousand fireballs dropping down from the sky onto the blonde Voyager. 

Thankfully, Jean wasn’t alone.  

Scarlett looked up into the air and rose a psychic barrier. Thousands of fireballs hit the barrier before exploding into a temperature so high just the shockwave could melt armies of Alphians. Fortunately, both Jean and Scarlett lived. 

On the side, Alpha-Sierra unloaded five concentrated shots at the man. The Aggressor rose his sword to deflect them, but this time, he was caught by surprise. 

The five blasts weren’t going for himself. Instead, they reached five spots around the Aggressor before going off at the same time. There weren’t explosions or shrapnels. There was only five Gravitational Fields generated all around the Aggressor, pulling him toward five distinct directions and threatening to tear him to pieces.

The Aggressor was caught by surprise. He slashed his sword at one of the Gravitational Fields, but there was nothing for his sword to cut through. Instead, a whirlpool formed in space and sucked his sword in place. 

His arms and his legs were tamed in the same fashion. 

All around, Alphians kept on raining down ammunition on the Aggressor. Scarlett formed a psychic blade and kept on jabbing at the Aggressor’s armor. 

For a moment, it seemed like the Aggressor was doomed. 

Jean stood back up. Her body was practically crippled, but the strength of a Reapress didn't rely on her body, and her soul was as good as ever. Forming all the Power of Death she had into a psychic blade, she was ready to deliver the killing blow.

At his last moments, the Aggressor did something really weird. He didn't try to break out or try to go for any one of the trio and take him/her down to hell with him. Instead, he broke free with his left arm and reached out and grabbed onto an ordinary, standard Alphian unit with an invisible force.

The unit emptied five blasts into his chest armor before the Aggressor effortlessly grabbed onto his neck. Thousands of blasts rained over him, but the Aggressor ignored all of them. 

Ever since he came down, his plan was to eradicate the ambushes. As of now, that seemed impossible, which meant it was time for Plan B. But in order for that to work, he needed to make sure of something first. 

He flipped his face mask up and looked into the blank eyes of that Alphian. 

The next second, an invisible wave of psychic energy infiltrated the Alphian’s brain and exposed to the Aggressor all that he saw. 

Including the conversation between the two Voyagers that the Alphian’s sensors happened to pick up. 

A smile climbed its way onto the Aggressor’s face. So, this entire thing was the plot of two greedy Voyagers...it was good to know. 

When the Aggressor got the call, he did what every self-preserving individual at his stage would do: he sent out an avatar instead of going into the world himself. This way, even if there was a full legion of Protectors on the other side, his true self would be just fine. This was precisely why Jean and the Alphians could exchange punches with the Aggressor and even potentially kill him. If it was a real Aggressor here, they would be demolished in one hit. 

The Alphian fires kept on coming down. One high caliber round destroyed the captured Alphian before bouncing off the Aggressor’s armor. A dozen other Gravitational Fields were fired at all around the avatar, holding him in place.  

Jean was finally ready with her psychic blades. She held her right hand into a fist before delivering the killing blow. 

The blade pierced the avatar’s chest, spreading the Power of Death all across his body. At the last moments of his life, the avatar turned to the Voyagers. 

“You underestimate your power, hounds of the Protectors...I am merely an avatar, and my purpose has been served.” The man turned to Jean and Scarlett. This was the first time he spoke ever since his descension. “Now, your greed and your foolishness will cost you everything you have ever fought for.”