Galaxy's First Ruler

HAHAHA!

None had expected a resounding burst of laughter from the Masked Menace, while Baron Sho had still to get up from his kneeled position.

Aldrich crouched down and looked at the Swordsman. Sho felt the change and raised his head to look up. As their eyes met, Aldrich's words echoed in the roofless hall.

"You talk of debt like we are still human!"

Sho's eyes shook as soon as he processed the underlined meaning of the words. On their side, Baron Edmund took a step back and looked at the Masked Menace with deep fear in his eyes. Even those who didn't understand knew that something was wrong with the situation.

Aldrich stood up, and he saw the questioning eyes of Baron Annie as she approached him. She held Sho's shoulders and urged him to stand up. Her eyes weren't as helpless as their last encounter, and Aldrich saw a trace of conviction on her face.

"I admire you, Masked Menace. I truly do. But for you to show disrespect to Sho like this is low even for your standards."

Aldrich's eyebrows raised upon hearing the remark, but Annie had yet to finish.

"Think about it! If you can prevent the Impact from happening, people will praise and pray to you as the Savior of humanity."

Aldrich's head craned up to look at the Sky. Even Sho shook his head at hearing Annie's words. It was apparent that except Aldrich and Sho all had shared the same feeling as that of Annie regarding this task.

"Savior?"

A devilish wind howled in the Hall as Aldrich continued.

"Turn the pages of history. When had a Savior experienced a good ending? Unless they get to live at the end, people don't give a fuck about any Savior."

The loud beating of many hearts accompanied the silence in the hall.

The time they had was limited. Aldrich looked at Mr. Santino and gestured to lead him to the preparation room. He would have to wear a spacesuit as how much a Dreamer would fare in space compared to normal humans had yet to be tested.

*

"Mr. Menace, are you feeling comfortable?"

Aldrich heard the voice of Mr. Santino over the radio as he took a seat within the Rocket. The team from the World Space Administration had done a good job and up to his destination, Aldrich won't have to even lift a finger.

"Yes, you may start anytime."

"Ok… Initiating engines in T minus 1 minute."

Aldrich took a deep breath and closed his eyes. To maintain the secrecy of the event taking place, they hadn't even given a name to the rocket. Even in a time of no hope, people had a habit of preparing for the future.

Through a camera placed outside the rocket, Aldrich saw the gathered-up Barons and the director of ADA in the distance. It would be a lie to say that Aldrich didn't hope for the same as them. Aldrich was lost in thoughts when the sudden announcement took him out of his reverie.

"T minus 10, 9, 8…, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. May God bless you!"

BOOOM!!!

The four boosters fired at the same time. But instead of the usual red and orange color, there was a deep blue color mixed in it. Using Mana cores propelled the Rocket with tremendous acceleration. Aldrich felt little pressure as he got buried into the chair and the words he had spoken also got buried with him.

"Fuck… the Gods."

As they saw the point of light leaving behind a trail of smoke, only a handful of people knew what was at stake.

*

6 hours later

A blue metallic spacecraft hovered in the emptiness of space. Its lifespan was only another 30 minutes. Aldrich looked at the screen and saw a big green dot approaching straight towards a small one.

31 Aroma had only him blocking its path to the earth.

Aldrich followed the procedure to come out of the rocket and stood up at the tip of the rocket's nose. In the distance, he saw a tiny ball of rock that seemed to rest motionless in the dark space.

Aldrich looked around and found the Darkness had ruled every place in the space. The distant Sun did little to wash away this Darkness. And the howls of creatures around him had become deafening.

But Aldrich knew something had cut off the source of Darkness from the dark space around him. He could feel the Mana around him holding the Darkness back from taking over everything.

'No wonder I couldn't feel Mana's presence at that place.'

There was a camera on Aldrich's helmet which transferred live feed to the launch site. Dozens of people were seeing what Aldrich saw on a big screen. Unfortunately, they couldn't feel what he had felt. The small motionless ball of rock grew bigger and bigger. By the time Aldrich could see it in its entirety, its gravity had already influenced him.

Aldrich saw the rockets' side boosters firing to balance the rocket against the asteroid's gravity. He turned around and looked at the blue planet. His mind wandered to a small shop in a small town. As he thought of the two old people, his hands reached towards his helmet and, with a jerk, pulled it out.

*

On one half of the earth's hemisphere, people were gobsmacked by the strange beautiful scene in the Night Sky. They stopped still on the road and came running out of their homes to see the incredible sight. Along with the curved one, a second moon shined right over their heads.

Though it was small and blurry, it had already roughened many breathings.

Within the observation room, all mouths gaped at seeing the camera moving unnaturally. They couldn't find a reason for the sudden movement in the camera, but they could see the vital signs of Aldrich on the screen.

"NO…"

Olivia had a hand on her mouth as she faltered back against a table. Sho looked at the flat line showing Aldrich's death and his grip on the sword loosened for the first time. Annie's eyes were red with anger and loss.

Boom!

Logan approached the screen and punched a hole in it as he shouted.

"That fucking suicidal maniac!"