5.15

The soldiers removed the mech shields from each of the Willisantoan cadets. Then, all of the cadets, including Danny, were forced onto the Kendosian airship.

"Welcome aboard." Captain Topaz greeted his new captives. He was the Kendosian captain of the 'Hero Corps'.

"Captain. The Lion Corps sent a message. They said that if we don't release their men back to them, then they will attack us." A soldier rushed up and reported.

"Attack us? Let them. I've been waiting for a good fight." Topaz ordered. "Have everyone prepare for battle. We will initiate an attack sequence within ten minutes even if the other party has not."

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Chad asked angrily.

"Relax. I only brought you all here to play a little game." Topaz smiled. Then he threw a laser gun to the ground and said, "I'll let one of you six go. However, that one must kill the other five before I let them leave."

Chad and the others looked at each other. They couldn't believe Topaz's ultimatum. Wasn't this supposed to be a competition? Why was he going this far?

"You'll have 2 minutes to think it over. Whoever grabs the gun first and kills the other five will be able to leave alive. If no one picks up the gun within two minutes, then all of you will die."

Danny rushed to pick up the gun once Topaz finished talking. Then he turned around and pointed it at the others.

"What are you doing Danny?" Chad asked in shock and looked at Danny in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Chad. I want to live." Danny replied. His hand was trembling because of his injuries, but his eyes showed his resolve to murder them all.

"So you're going to kill all of us? Do you really think that they'll let you go if you kill us?" Benji roared angrily at Danny. "You said it yourself. Don't you remember your words? 'It's all for the empire's glory and honor.' I really regret that I didn't see your true face before. Everything you did was for you and you alone."

Topaz watched with interest. They had all began arguing so quickly, so he thought they might say something fun for him to hear. He had his men continue the live broadcast and let it go to the Willisantoan network too. He wanted to show both nations how the supposedly great Willisantoan cadets fought and argued amongst themselves. This was a little bonus for the Kendosian Empire.

"I wanted to do all of that for the Willisantoan Empire. But what's the point of glory and honor if I'm dead? What's wrong with me wanting to survive? To live? Besides, they'll kill us all anyways if we don't do it. When you're dead, what does it matter if they were the ones who killed you or me?" Danny knew that the Hero Corps' captain might not stay true to his word. He didn't care. There was still that small hope that he could survive. He wasn't going to throw his life away in case Topaz really meant what he said.

"Danny. This is the most hypocritical thing you've said in your life. You've really gone above and beyond to show me how shameless you truly are. You've even exceeded what I thought was possible." Qiao Chen said calmly and coldly.

Danny turned the gun to Qiao Chen and said, "Do you know how much I hate you? Why do you get such a happy childhood? Why do you get a happy family and I don't? Why do you have all the rich and upper-class friends when I couldn't? I'm better than you in every way. My abilities are far superior to yours too! Why? Why did you get General Au Luo's personal training? How can someone as useless as you get his attention?"

"My happy family? My excellent friends? Weren't you the one who stole them all? You framed me over and over again until everything I once had all became yours. If anyone should hate anybody, then it should be me. I'm the one who hates you the most." Qiao Chen methodically replied.

Chad and Benji looked guilty once they heard Qiao Chen's words.

"Yeah I target you. Yeah I framed you over and over again. But hoe can you jump up and try to compete against me when I'm so much stronger than you?" Danny laughed crazily. "Even if I won't live past today, it's okay. I'll die happy knowing that I was the one who personally killed you."

The airship shook violently. It was very sudden and no one was able to stand properly. They all took several steps to stabilize themselves.

"What's going on?" Topaz asked loudly.

A soldier rushed in from the outer hallway in a panic. He quickly reported, "Captain. The Lion Corps ships are already here and they've initiated an attack."

"What did you say? How could they be here so quickly? What about our other ships that are hiding nearby?" Topaz asked with shock.

"They all failed to stop the Lion Corps from advancing, but have surrounded them."

"Go to the command center immediately. Since those lions dared to come into our siege range, then we'll let them have a taste of our capabilities." Topaz was about to go to the command center, but stopped suddenly and added, "Take them as hostages. If the Lion Corps doesn't care about their lives, then we'll just use them as shileds."

Qiao Chen and the rest were all taken to the command center. Topaz had the operators send a video call request to the Lion Corps' airship.

The call connected and Au Luo's figure was stood on screen in the Lion Corps' mother ship command room.

Topaz said, "Your cadets are all here. I'll be using them as meat shield. The more you fire the faster they die."

"It is their honor to live and die for the glory of our empire." Au Luo replied emotionlessly.

"Hmph. Well we've brought the best of the best in our Kendosian Empire here today. Even if the rest of your military forces are on their way, it's far too late. The Lion Corps will die today." Topaz said confidently and proudly.

"There's no need for any other forces to come here. They're already attacking the Kendosian Empire as we speak. I wonder how long the Kendosian Empire can survive since the best of the best in their entire empire is here instead. I'm looking forward to seeing the results very soon." Au Luo replied emotionlessly.

"Impossible! That's impossible!" Topaz exclaimed loudly. He didn't believe Au Luo, but he still loudly commanded, "Contact the capital immediately!"

"We're unable to contact the capital planet!" The contact operator said in a panic. "We can't get in touch with the defensive planets either!"

"Contact the other planets. Contact any planet you can!" Topaz ordered again. His impatience showed that he had already partly believed Au Luo's words.

Everyone on the Kendosian airship busily worked to contact their nation. Qiao Chen glanced at Au Luo on the screen. Then he raised his right hand and launched a beam at Topaz. Topaz was facing away and kept his attention on Au Luo and the command center, so he didn't see it coming.

Topaz suffered a direct hit and blood splattered from his mouth. He turned around looked incredulously at Qiao Chen. Then he fell to the floor. The command room immediately fell into disarray as they panicked. Some soldier wanted to attack Qiao Chen, but he quickly shot out some more beams and killed them off.

Chad, Benji, and Danny watched wide-eyed at Qiao Chen using his abilities without the use of a mechanical shield. They were still stunned as Qiao Chen quickly and methodically took out the enemy in the command room. Bodies violently hit the floor one after the other.

Even Dick, the one who had been so close to Qiao Chen for so long, was shocked. No one knew that Qiao Chen was actually a AA ranked ability holder. There were only three people in the entire empire who were ranked at AA. General Au Luo, who was watching on the screen, was one of them. They quickly came to the realization that Qiao Chen was the fourth person in their empire who held a AA rank.

Qiao Chen systematically and rapidly attacked with his abilities. Soon he was able to reach the command module. He punched the buttons and commands in until he locked the command room from the outside- effectively stopping anyone from entering.

Soon, the only people who were able to stand were only Qiao Chen and the rest of the Willisantoan cadets.

"Qiao An…." Au Luo started. However, before he could continue, Qiao Chen sharply cut off communications.

Qiao Chen used the command module and started up several operations. Then he opened the emergency escape hatch. The door on the left side of the command room opened. He irately told the others, who were standing behind him, "You go first."

Everyone finally recovered from the shock and realization that Qiao Chen was a AA ranked ability holder. Dick offered, "Let's go together. It's too dangerous for you to stay here alone."

"I still have something I need to do. If I leave now, then I would have been captured and brought here for nothing. You should go now." Qiao Chen bluntly replied without pausing from the command module.

"But…" Dick was still worried about Qiao Chen staying here alone.

"Hurry up. You'll only interfere if you stay." Qiao Chen commanded.

"Okay, but you must be careful." Dick relented. He was still very worried about Qiao Chen's wellbeing, but still followed Qiao Chen's command. He walked to the emergency hatch.

"Qiao An… Uh.. Please be safe." Chad said. He looked at Qiao Chen with a complex expression and then followed Dick to the emergency hatch.

Soon, only Danny was standing there. He watched Qiao Chen's back in a in an almost stupor. He had experienced too many things too quickly. He didn't even know how to feel once he found out that Qiao Chen was a AA rank ability holder.

"If you don't leave now, then I'll have to knock you out like everyone else here." Qiao Chen said irritably without looking back.

Danny looked at the emergency hatch. His intuition told him that he wouldn't live a good live even if he survived this whole ordeal. He had always believed that there was hope for anything as long as he was strong enough. However, he still had hope for the future. He wasn't the type to give up his life without even trying. He gritted his teeth and quickly entered the emergency hatch. He ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

Qiao Chen started up all the operations and prepared everything he could. Then he started his system up and connected it to the console. Everything in the command room moved began to move automatically.

The Kendosian mother ship fired a series of devastating attacks, but it wasn't at the Lion Corps ships. The attack was aimed at the rest of the Kendosian warships. The other ships panicked, but didn't know if they could attack their own commander.

Qiao Chen closed his eyes and endured the discomfort in his body. It increased and increased as he continued to control and operate so many consoles in the command room all at the same time. The system was increasing its operating speed to catch up, and Qiao Chen felt a nearly unbearable painful and numbing sensation. However, Qiao Chen was able to persevere and continued to operate the command room. It looked like he was venting his emotions or something as he did it.

Qiao Chen emptied out the ammo on the airship. Then he initiated the airship's self destruct sequence. Any soldiers left on the command ship began to run to the nearest emergency hatch.

...

The command room's door was forcibly opened from outside. Au Luo and his men were waiting outside.  They looked in and saw a room filled with bodies littering the floor. Qiao Chen was the only exception as he stood at the main console, and all the consoles were running operations by themselves. Everyone, including Au Luo, was shocked at what they were witnessing. The command room required numerous people to run its operations, but Qiao Chen was doing it all on his own.

"Qiao An." Au Luo called out and walked to Qiao Chen.

Qiao Chen turned slowly when he heard his name. He had already turned somewhat absentminded, so he didn't respond. He squinted and tried to focus his vision until he saw the vague figure of Au Luo. "Au Luo…" Qiao Chen said weakly.

Qiao Chen fainted, and Au Luo immediately caught him in his arms. The consoles and screens all came to a screeching halt.

The system was connected to Qiao Chen's soul. He excessively used the system and pushed past the boundaries that he was capable of handling, so his soul and physical body suffered. His current condition was unable to support the use of the system, so it automatically shut down and rebooted into repair mode. Then the system forcibly put Qiao Chen into 'sleep mode', so it could continue repairing.

When Qiao Chen woke up, ten days had passed. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Au Luo sitting by the bed. He asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Ten days." Au Luo replied. Then he reached out and checked Qiao Chen's temperature. Qiao Chen was burning hot when he had fainted. They did everything they could to try and cool him down, but nothing worked. Luckily, it seemed that his body was able to recover by itself. The temperature gradually dropped as the days progressed.

"So long?" Qiao Chen thought that he would have been asleep for a couple days or so. He didn't expect to be in a coma for ten days. It looked like he couldn't use the system as he pleased, especially when he was angry. He could greatly injure his body, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Au Luo asked with a deadpan expression.

"Yes." Qiao Chen nodded enthusiastically and replied. "I did it all on purpose."

Qiao Chen did remember Au Luo's repeated warnings to focus on his own safety. However, Au Luo's warnings were too different from his usual character. He kept insisting that Qiao Chen wouldn't need to care about winning or losing. He also told Qiao Chen that his future military achievements or development wasn't dependant on this supposedly extremely important competition. Au Luo was a very serious person. His work ethic was immaculate. His words had long told Qiao Chen that everything wasn't as it seemed.

Qiao Chen deduced that the competition probably wasn't a real contest. He figured that the Kendosian Empire probably had other purposed for the competition. After he thought about it further, he realized that designated area was probably a key point in the Kendosian's ambush plan.

The Kendosians true plan was to kill off the stronger Willisantoan cadets before they even reached the fort. They wanted humiliate and bully them to prove to the two nations that the Kendosian cadets were far superior to the Willisantoan ones. After killing them off, the Kendosians wanted to take the other, weaker group as hostages.

However, Qiao Chen and his group did not enter the fort. Furthermore, they even went over to save the other Willisantoan cadets and even embarrassed their Kendosians cadets in the process. The Kendosian Hero fleet angrily rushed forward and stopped Qiao Chen and his group and then kidnapped them all aboard.

Au Luo had long known the Kendosia Empire's intentions. If they didn't, then why else would they have mobilized the rest of the military forces to attack the nation? However, they decided not to reveal the truth to the competition's participants that they were only bait for the Kendosians.

Anyone would be angry to be tricked into acting as bait, so of course Qiao Chen was upset. He intentionally surpassed his capabilities when he was using the system so that he would faint for a few days. Au Luo would definitely be distressed.

Au Luo was really, really distressed. His heart was tearing itself up when he saw Qiao Chen faint. Pain and fear grew and grew as he watched all the doctors attempt to and unsuccessfully wake Qiao Chen up. These past ten days were the roughest days in his entire life. He knew that Qiao Chen would be upset when he found out about being bait, but he never expected Qiao Chen to work himself into such a horrible state because of it.

"I transferred you out of the special operations team. You will be working as my assistant, and be a regular civilian, from now on. You don't have to fight in the field anymore." Au Luo said.

"For what? Haven't I made great contributions to the nation? Why am I being demoted instead of promoted?" Qiao Chen questioned stubbornly.

"Because you didn't pass the test." Au Luo replied. He grabbed Qiao Chen's hands as they angrily waved around and held onto them. "Your first test after joining the special operations team was to act as bait. It was a test to see if you could follow orders with unconditional obedience and loyalty. You didn't follow the command."

"Where did I not follow commands?" Qiao Chen asked angrily. He had boarded the enemy's airship and gained control of the command room even though he was 'just' the decoy.

"You went against me by hurting yourself. That means that you didn't absolutely obey." Au Luo explained.

"I did not." Qiao Chen immediately denied like he hadn't just confessed to doing everything on purpose just minutes before.

"You just said that you did."

"I did not." Qiao Chen denied stubbornly.

"It doesn't matter even if you don't admit it. I've already completed the job transfer paperwork for you."

"I'm a AA ranked ability holder. I'm way too overqualified to be a civil servant. Furthermore, if I were to be a civil servant, why would I go and be your assistant? I want to work in a different department." Qiao Chen protested loudly as he sat up.

"You have no choice." Au Luo replied and then shut Qiao Chen up with a kiss.

——

Qiao chen really did work as a civil servant. He became Au Luo's assistant, but would occasionally join in battle when Au Luo had to personally go into battle. Basically, Qiao Chen would go wherever Au Luo went. Furthermore, he was bent over every piece of furniture and corner or wall or floor in the office as they did this and that. Qiao Chen knew very early on that it would be like this. That's why he didn't really want to be Au Luo's assistant. His body wouldn't survive for long since they did uniform play all day long.

——-

Danny's photos of him as he pointed the laser gun at Qiao Chen were seen throughout the entire interplanetary network. There were even short clips of the entire showdown. The clips weren't very long, but they were all the important parts of their conversation. Danny's words and unreasonable logic infuriated the people. This was on top of him abandoning his own teammates during the competition. Everyone demanded severe penalties for Danny's actions and words.

Danny survived just as he wished. However, his following days made him wish he had died. He was guilty of treason and sent to planet Monster Isle's penitentiary center. They stripped him of his abilities and he suffered various tortures every day of his sentence.

In this endless torment, Danny realized that the only thing worse than death was to wish to die but not being able to.

Qiao Chen dragged his feet and refused to marry Au Luo. Au Luo finally couldn't take it anymore and took Qiao Chen away to elope instead of having a big ceremony.

The biggest lesson Qiao Chen learned in this life was that he had two choices, either fight hard and resist until the very end or accept everything obediently. However, he quickly learned that acting like a brat to a perverted dom like Au Luo had terrible but exciting consequences.