Chapter Sixty-Eight: Massacre

The entire infiltration team and the two princesses both made it to the evac shuttle; however, they weren't without injury. Eleonora's throat had a giant bruise on it after being choked by Zaiga; however, she didn't have the worst injury on the evac shuttle. Ren, who had been beaten to the point of being barely conscious, was currently receiving emergency treatment from Silili. He was struggling to breathe, and his heartbeat was weakening.

"Will he be okay?" Serenity asked Silili.

"I don't know...I'm not a doctor. I'm doing the best I can, but if we don't get to the ship as fast as possible, his condition can worsen." Silili said.

Serenity, seeing this, had a tear go down her cheek. In one move, she went up to the ship's cockpit and told the pilot to radio in the main ship.

*On the Main Ship*

"Rumia, we have a call from the evac ship." one of the bridge hands said.

"Put it through." Rumia said.

As soon as the communication channel opened, Rumia asked "Liliana, what's wrong?"

"We have an emergency medical situation. Have the trauma team at the ready."

Rumia got worried after hearing that "Who's hurt?"

That's when she heard Serenity's voice "It's Ren...he's hurt bad."

Rumia closed her hands into a fist in anger. She ordered the trauma team to be ready for when Ren and the others got there. She then took a deep breath and gave out an order, "Patch me through to the assault team's main channel."

*In Lucilia's knight*

"Attention Assault Team" 

"Rumia?" Lucilia said after hearing the call.

"The rescue mission was a success; however, we have wounded. According to the report, Eleonora sustained minor injuries, but Ren has sustained severe and possibly life-threatening injuries. The assault team is to report back to the ship as quickly as possible."

Tears started to form in Lucilia's eyes "Ren..." however her sadness quickly formed into an entirely new emotion, one of anger.

"YOU BASTARDS!"

Lucilia's world suddenly went from full of color to nothing but red. She was angry; she tuned out the world, and now was solely focused on one thing.

Revenge.

*Scarlets Knight*

"Ren, you promised me..." Scarlet said gripping her seat. She was shocked to hear the news of his injury. She couldn't imagine him being hurt; no, it wasn't as if she couldn't, but she didn't want to. The man she loved was now fighting for his life, and she wasn't there to protect him.

Her eyes then focused on the enemy ship before she said "It was your fault..."

Like Lucilia, she now wanted one thing.

*Lily's Knight*

"Ren?" Unlike Scarlet and Lucilia, who were now even further angered because of Ren's injury, Lily started to break down, crying. She wanted nothing more than to be by his side right now. She couldn't imagine just losing him after finally telling him how she felt. She wanted nothing more than to go back to the ship and be next to Ren, but she realized that she had to focus on the battle; that was her role here; she had to keep watching the enemy with her sniper rifle.

"Ren...just hang on...I'll be by your side soon."

Lucilia and Scarlet both charged directly forward in the enemy's line of fire, dodging each of their attacks and unleashing their weapons on every enemy they saw. Dozens of enemy mechs were laid to waste almost in an instant; Lily was even taking part in this as she was sniping enemies mercilessly.

Each of them worked through their emotions in the battle, taking out their anger and their pain on the enemy mechs and when they finally created a large enough gap in the enemy forces, Lucilia ordered her entire assault team to attack the ship directly, unleashing all that they had at the ship and causing explosions to happen on the ship.

*On the Rebel Ship*

Zaiga was running to the escape pods located on the ship, along with a few of his guards. Once he arrived at the escape pods, he saw Taichi in one of them, sitting there like his life was just saved, but Zaiga had some other ideas.

Zaiga picked up Taichi by his collar and started to carry him out of the escape pod.

"Z-Zaiga what are you doing?" Taichi said in a panic.

"Getting rid of the dead weight." Zaiga said before he threw Taichi out of the escape pods and closed the doors on him.

Taichi banged on the doors, and even minutes after hearing the escape pod leave, he realized that his life...was over.

Soon, the entire ship exploded, leaving no survivors on the ship.

That was when Lucilia ordered her assault team to wipe out the remaining enemy forces, which they did without question. It was a massacre.

At the end of the battle, Lucilia's forces didn't sustain a single casualty; the rebels, however, were nearly completely wiped out. Only those few who made it into the escape pods survived.

*Back on Lucilia's ship*

Most of the assault team hurried to the trauma center of the ship, where they saw Eleonora, now wearing a neck brace, sitting up being checked for any other injuries, but next to her was Ren, who had several people checking on his injuries.

Lucilia ran up to one of the doctors and asked her "What are his injuries?"

The doctor sighed before explaining to her "We're still looking at everything extensively; what I can tell you is that he suffered major trauma to his chest and head. Definitely a concussion, but he'll be alright now that he's made it here. Luckily, the evac ship arrived on time. You and the others can visit him in a few hours after we're done here."

Lucilia gave one more look at Ren, who was still knocked out on the hospital bed, before closing her eyes and saying "Make sure you take good care of him."

The doctor nodded "Of course, princess."

Lucilia and the others all spread throughout the ship, and she headed right for the bridge, where she was greeted by Rumia.

Rumia bowed upon seeing Lucilia enter the room.

"Rumia, have you contacted Tsukiko about the mission being a success?" Lucilia asked.

"No princess; she figured she should learn from someone she knows." Rumia replied.

Lucilia nodded her head before beginning contact with Tsukiko.

Soon, Tsukiko's face appeared on a holographic screen.

"Lucilia?" Tsukiko asked.

"Hello Tsukiko, I have an update about your daughters." Lucilia said trying to keep herself together.

Ren's condition was running through her mind; it was almost all she could focus on, but she knew that she had to take care of her other duties first.

"Are they okay?" Tsukiko asked.

"Yes, your daughters are in perfect health and safe aboard my ship." Lucilia said.

Tsukiko almost started crying on sight "Thank goodness..."

"Where should we meet to send them back home?" Lucilia asked.

Tsukiko seemingly started to press something, and Lucilia noticed coordinates appearing on her screen.

"Right here, it's safe, and I'll be there with my most trusted guards." Tsukiko said.

"Alright, I'll see you there." Lucilia said.

"Thank you, Lucilia...thank you." Tsukiko said before logging off of the call.

Lucilia left the bridge and walked over to the hospital room, and she noticed almost everyone watching over Ren as the doctors kept checking on him.

She saw Scarlet and Lily and walked over to them.

"Any update?" Lucilia asked in a concerning voice.

"They found some internal bleeding in his chest. They are going to have to operate soon..." Scarlet said with a mix of sadness and anger in her eyes.

Lucilia clenched her hands after hearing this news "Once again...I failed." she thought to herself. She always considered she had one job: to protect Ren, and yet once again he was hurt. She started to question just how she could keep him safe.

That was when Eleonora, who had just gotten out of the hospital room, grabbed onto her shoulder and barely managed to speak with her bruised throat.

"He saved us...from them..."

Lucilia had a small smile appear on her face "Of course he did...thats Ren for you..."

Everyone watched Ren for as long as they could before the surgery began. Once the doctors began the surgery, Lucilia went back up to the bridge and ordered them to now head to the coordinates that Tsukiko had given them.

Afterwards, Lucilia went over to the room that Rin and Rei were staying in; they had just taken a shower and put on some fresh clothes that Mae had supplied them.

"Uhm...who are you?" Rei asked.

"My name is Lucilia, but officially my name is Lucilia Aria Caelum, a princess of the planet Volaria." Lucilia said as she bowed graciously in front of them.

"Another princess?" Rei asked, looking at Rin.

"Yes, your mother and I have met on several other occasions, and she asked me and my crew to rescue you two. We'll be heading over to a safe point she gave us soon." Lucilia explained.

"Wait...what about that guy? The one who was hurt while saving us?" Rin asked.

"That was Ren. He's my fiance, and currently he's in surgery." Lucilia said with a hint of sadness.

Rin looked over at Rei before saying to Lucilia "We hope he recovers quick; we have to thank him after all."

Lucilia smiled "I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Is there anything else you'd like?"

Both Rei and Rin said they were fine and Lucilia left them to their own devices while explaining they can wander around the ship pretty much as they please.

It was shortly afterwards that Lucilia received a call from Rumia.

"Lucilia, Ren's surgery has begun."

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