Sequoia

"This was exhausting…" Sovereign Irene winced in pain.

On several occasions, the vines hit her. She used her gravity powers to try and negate the attack, but some of them still made contact with her.

"Thankfully, I have you." She touched the damp armor and sighed in relief.

It played a big role in the battle and if not for it, Irene would've been heavily injured.

"Cough. Cough." She covered her mouth and coughed out blood.

She was still injured though.

Her white armor was stained in red as blood continued to spill out of her body.

Irene channeled her gravity power and redirected the gravity of the blood, stopping the bleeding.

"Now I can finally rest…" She stretched her arms and caught the glimpse of her storage ring.

"F..ine." With a bad premonition,? she checked her customized storage ring and picked her comm.

The latest message was from 10 minutes ago by a level 9 planetoid commander.

{Sovereign Irene, In XA-97 planetoid, there is a bunch of Sequoia!}

"Fuck!"

Irene cursed and channeled the gravity power. As she was about to accelerate herself towards the planetoid, her innards roiled and she felt like someone knocked her out of breath.

"Cough. Cough."

Spitting out blood, her complexion was pale as her armor's original color.

It hurt.

But more than the physical pain, the words she were about to utter caused her to clench her fists and close her eyes.

"Minimize the losses."

{…Yes. I'll do my best to get only two thousand level 6 casualties.}

The reply wasn't blaming or accusing. It was simply one of acceptance.

Perhaps, even the commander didn't expect her to come ahead and help.

There was always the option of reinforcements in the Inner planets, but here?

The reinforcements were stretched and they had issues like random level 9 Abyssals attacking.

Irene Nial summoned her space shuttle and without delay rested in the healing pod.

Despair Queen left not because she was too injured, but because she was too tired.

"I'm sorry…" As her mind hovered between dream and reality, a little boy's face surfaced in her mind.

"Mom. Mom." Little Vicky called out in fear.

"Vicky!" Irene yelled and looked around for him.

"I…." In her fit of anxiety, she destroyed the healing pod and dented the reinforced room walls.

The floor had puddles of precious healing liquid that could cause any high awakeners to fight, yet Irene Nial couldn't even pay attention to what she had done.

Her memories flashed and she saw a little boy waving at her with a cheerful smile.

"Mom! Are you a Sovereign?"

"Yes, sweetheart."

"Then I'll also be one."

"Why?"

"Because dad isn't. So, when you go outside, he can't accompany you. I don't want you to be lonely, mom."

Her husband laughed it off, but she felt his pain.

He was only a level 7, yet they married against all expectations. The stronger she grew, the more ridicule he drew.

They said she should pick a better husband. Or at least pick a couple of them.

Irene didn't. She wasn't Vianne.

He was the one who supported her through thick and thin. He was her pillar of support.

And she only wanted to be with him.

Despite being having one husband, her responsibilities made it impossible for them to spend time in peace. In the end, even natural pregnancy was a problem because she couldn't afford to be weak for a couple of months.

When they finally had Vicky late in their lives, she was already a Sovereign. Her happiness was immeasurable and she was filled with energy everyday.

But soon, Pluto war happened. Her decision to support military drew mixed opinions, but she did what she thought was right.

Neptune was saved from being the second pluto. But Uranus paid the price.

Everyone expected Abyssals to retaliate.

But...no one expected how much they're willing to pay. When they realized, it was already too late.

The first casualty of the revenge was her husband. He was trying to protect Vicky. The second was little Vicky himself.

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Not just that, the Nial family—children and grandchildren of her sisters and brothers also suffered heavy losses.

"I'm sorry." Irene closed her eyes and whimpered. Her shoulders shook and she covered her face.

For a moment, she allowed herself to be weak.

"Haaa~" After wiping away the tears, she put on an indifferent expression and commanded her space shuttle.

She couldn't show weakness to others.

"Go to where we last left off."

{Yes, Sovereign Irene.}

The space shuttle travelled away from the planetoids and towards an area very close to the Abyss.

This was a special region with asteroids.

There were many, many asteroids varying from the size of a basketball to being 1/25th of moon.

Irene looked at the asteroids and spread her gravity sense. She could feel the changes in hundreds of miles easily.

"Proceed at regular speed." She instructed and the space shuttle continued to move past the asteroids at a high speed.

"Sequoia…Sequoia…where are you?" Irene muttered as her eyes flashed with killing intent.

Those plants were only recently introduced. They didn't cause much damage to level 8s, but they killed too many level 6s.

After her investigation, Irene concluded that they weren't brought from Despair Abyss.

They were being grown somewhere here!

After a few days of searching, she found a couple of them.

"Stop!" She suddenly yelled and her figure disappeared from the ship. In the next moment, she appeared on a huge asteroid that could hold fifty football fields.

In the cracks of the asteroid, she found a green plant with a big mouth.

Pa!

With a clench of her fist, the gravity in the plant's body parts twisted.

"Kee—" It couldn't even scream before it turned into a paste.

Irene spread her gravity sense and was about to leave.

"Huh?" But she felt a trace of prana left in the air.

No. They didn't leave any traces any other time. Why now?

Despite her doubts, she boarded her spaceship and followed the traces.

Unexpectedly, she found twenty Sequoia one by one.

The one she found at the beginning was the weakest. The farther, she went, the stronger the Sequoia became.

Irene lost herself in the process.

"Level 5."

"Level 6."

"Level 7."

"Haa~ The strongest Sequoia so far, level 8!"

If she could kill off all level 8 Sequoia, then there wouldn't be such level 6 casualties anymore.

As Irene's lips curled up in anticipation, an unexpected warning came.

{Sovereign Irene, this is a danger zone.}

"W..What?" She felt the surroundings and her eyes widened in surprise.

They were only a couple of minutes away from the Abyss.

There was Abyss patrol going to and fro. The only reason she wasn't caught was that her space shuttle—it was one of the finest in the federation.

Irene felt the traces of Sequoia and her gaze fell on a group of asteroids.

They were all connected to each other and formed various patterns. She could sense rich prana coming from a few asteroids.

If she destroyed them…

"Go back." Irene sighed deeply.

The prana traces were so obvious. This was 99% a trap.

Her life was no longer hers to risk, she needed to live for everyone who's under her protection.

Calling teams wasn't on her agenda either. They'd be found out by the Abyssals and a battle would ensue.

No matter how many 'teams' she brought, there was no chance they had any chance fighting right in front of the Abyss.

Perhaps if she sneaked in alone, perhaps.

Irene shook her head and slipped into another healing pod.

For now, let me rest.