Chapter 42 - Compensation

Letting out a raging battle cry, Z'akk charged at the disoriented group of white Martians, crashing into them with the green Martian guards in tow. The battle had finally commenced and he was at the very head of it, infusing his body with inner energy and assaulting every White Martian he had passed. Each blow intended to kill as efficiently as possible.

He dove through the horde full force, ripping and tearing the fodder white Martians while still holding himself back so as to not damage the guards behind him as well. As he charged in, the whites began to focus their fire on him in an attempt to remove him before he proved to be an even greater issue. He casually dodged their attacks and rocketed to the closest clump of white Martians. Grabbing one that was in arms reach by the face and releasing a blast of surging energy, the Martian was left headless and began to liquefy before touching the ground.

Once the mass of liquid sunk into his body, he could feel the surge of essence within him. He could feel the essence of the Martian he had just killed being broken down and assimilated into his mass in an instant. The sensation was immense, even though he had felt it before, the feeling was just as intoxicating, borderline addictive.

"Oooh… This feeling… This never gets old!"

While he was standing still, reveling in the sensation filling him, the white and green Martians subsequently collided and the true battle commenced. Shouts of pain and screams of battle echoed throughout the battlefield. The bodies of white Martians littered the sands of mars, but they continued to resist with full ferocity.

Z'akk began to walk past the scattered bodies of the Martians and started absorbing them with each step. As he walked all that could be seen as the convergence of liquid following his body, sinking into his flesh. His intoxication with the sensation began to rise to an uncontrollable degree, but he composed himself and placed his focus on the battle at hand.

When he scanned the battlefield, he witnessed many different forms of combat that were foreign to him. Some of the clashes commenced in the sky as a modest majority of the Martians flew and attacked each other vigorously. Z'akk was currently enjoying himself in this small scale war, the constant deaths of the Martians empowered his very being, filling his body with an unprecedented amount of pleasure.

Explosions rang and echoed as the walls cannons fired into the distance.

"This is the best thing I have felt in AGES!! I need to check myself before I totally go out of control…"

Gore rained continually, white and green Martians were being torn apart in succession, the sand was painted red from blood, the battle still raged on seemingly as if it would never end. At this moment, in the distance, another much larger mech than the ones before was sensed stomping towards the war zone. They were still quite a distance away, the green Martians were unaware of the approaching terror.

Z'akk was instantly alerted to this new addition to the battle and abruptly broke out from his intoxicated stupor.

"What the hell is that?!"

He immediately looked up at Bey'on who was still watching from the wall.

"HEY! QUICKLY, SHOOT AT THAT BIG THING FOR ME!"

He yelled pointing at the direction he sensed the approaching menace. When Bey'on heard him telling her to shoot the dangerous weapon in her hands at something in the distance, she was confused at what he was talking about, as she could not see anything. That was soon quickly changed as the image of a mech four times the size of the three previous ones began to make its way towards the city.

She was overcome with shock as she witnessed the massive metal behemoth making its way towards them shaking the weapon in her arms.

"ARE YOU GOING TO SHOOT OR NOT?!"

His yelling snapped her out of her trance, she quickly aimed the weapon at the approaching mech and held down the trigger. Similarly like before, the weapon began to buzz and sparkle as it charged up its massive shot into a ball of energy.

"Oh yeah… Watch for the recoil!" Z'akk shouted.

Unfortunately, his warning did not reach her ears. As the weapon fired a ball of erratic purple energy towards the mech it violently threw her off the wall in the process.

"Eh, she'll be fine…"

Not acknowledging her being rag-dolled off the wall by the recoil from the weapon, he watched as the ball collided with the massive mech. The same singularity effect rippled and surged in an attempt to erase the mech from existence. But contrary to what should have happened, the singularity effect dissipated and the mech left only slightly damaged and staggered as it was surrounded by a protective field of energy.

Z'akk was shocked that the BFG didn't work as he hoped it would. He didn't think anything on this planet could withstand something that destructive head-on, but he could still see that the attack damaged the mech considerably, which could only mean one thing.

"Hmm… Taking a hit like that should have weakened it… Time for a little push!"

Making sure he wasn't being watched, Z'akk created a ball of concentrated energy the size of a marble. With the added energy that was channeled into it, the mass became something similar to that of a miniature sun. Holding it in his palm to keep the heat from escaping into the surroundings, he began making his way closer to the metal monstrosity, dispatching any Martians along the way that attacked him and absorbed them.

After killing his way to his target, Z'akk stood at the feet of the unmoving mech. Levitating to its head, he amplified his voice and bellowed.

"I'm giving you this one chance to give up!"

For a while, he received no response from the Martians inside the mech. He was growing impatient until finally, someone responded.

"You superstitious cowards, rejecting us as if we are an abomination, constantly oppressing us as if we are beneath you, your time is at an end!"

Whilst listening to the Martian talking from inside the mech, he hesitated on whether he should go through with it.

"Sigh… I'm giving you a chance to turn around, I won't give chase, just take your friends and leave."

Out of pity for the white Martians, he was willing to let them go, but they didn't seem to like that idea.

"We would rather die than spend the rest of our lives under the feet of your kind!"

After stating their resolve, the mech began to move as it's left arm was raised and changed into a cannon facing Z'akk. The cannon began to charge as the light being released from it began to increase. As they were about to fire, Z'akk spoke again.

"It's too bad that I'm not one of them."

Raising his closed fist that was holding the purple miniature sun, Z'akk opened his palm. As he did, a massive burst of heat was released into the atmosphere around him. Z'akk gently pushed the sphere towards the mech, slowly moving closer until it came in contact with the barrel of the cannon.

A flash of piercing light was released along with a burst of immense heat a few moments after the collision. Once the light dissipated, the once-massive mech that could have whipped out a large portion of the green martian forces was gone in an instant, not even the smallest trace remained of it. The once raging battle had stopped, as the burst of heat had affected the Martians below, halting the battle for a few moments.

"I'll let them deal with the rest." He muttered with a solemn expression.

After Z'akk had removed all possible threats to the integrity of the wall protecting the city, the green and white Martians had quickly recovered and resumed their battle, only this time the whites were severely outclassed due to losing the machines they were going to rely on, they quickly overtaken by the greens rather easily and were cleared out from the battlefield.

Z'akk had gone looking for Bey'on and retrieved his creation. Bey'on had bombarded him with questions on what he had done and how he had done it, demanding answer after answer, but she was only met with silence as Z'akk made his way to the council.

Within the room, the council was discussing what should be done, going back and forth on how this situation should be addressed.

"No. We can't just wipe them out!" J'ornell exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.

"An attack like that could have wiped us out if we weren't prepared. We can't risk another!" Cay'an argued.

"It pains me to say that I agree with Can'an, but she is right. We must not risk such an attack a second time." J'onn J'onzz added.

"I must agree as well." K'hymm also agreed.

"They may have attacked us, but that does not mean that we have to completely wipe them out." Dal'en countered.

J'ornell and Dal'en continued to defend the actions of the white Martians as the council was considering wiping out the white Martians entirely. Ma'alefa'ak looked at the two and questioned.

"You both have seen what they could have done. Why is it that you too are defending their actions so strongly?"

The two council members became silent as well as the rest of the council members.

"Sorry to interrupt your little argument…"

Disrupting the mood and entering the room, Z'akk walked in with Bey'on in tow, holding his creation in his left hand.

"I came here for what I was promised."

In his right hand, he held three syringes, each for the blood he was promised.

"Get to it."

As he spoke, he threw the three syringes towards Ma'alefa'ak, K'hymm, and Cay'an. Catching their respective syringes, they began to examine them.

"There's nothing wrong with them, go on, get to it."

All three council members looked at the syringes and hesitated. Soon enough, they placed the syringes on the table and Ma'alefa'ak began to speak.

"We agree that you have upheld your side of the deal Z'orr Z'akk, but we still need your services. For the time being, we don't know when this might happen again, and we could use your help."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing Ma'alefa'ak, Z'akk became agitated at the audacity coming from the Martian in front of him. Lowering his head and scratching the back of his neck, he responded.

"Listen. I only helped in the first place to get what I wanted. I have no obligation to be helping you, so just give me what I want and I'll be taking my leave."

The three seemed visually dissatisfied with his words and responded to him.

"It IS an honor for you to be requested by us, who are you to reject our kindness?" K'hym spoke with a disdainful expression.

Listening to her, Z'akk just grew tired of this entire situation, releasing a sigh, he spoke.

"Someone, who just wants to get this over with. How about I give you one last service before I get my reward?���

He looked at Bey'on and gave the weapon to her.

"Hold this."

After handing the weapon to her, Z'akk turned around, looking at J'ornell.

"Anything you want to reveal before I do?"

J'ornell gave Z'akk a look of confusion and questioned him.

"What are you speaking of?"

Z'akk simply sighed and responded.

"Have it your way…"

Flickering from his spot next to Bey'on, he appeared in front of J'ornell and grabbed him by the neck. Lifting him from the ground, Z'akk infused his hand with inner energy and snapped J'ornells neck. The council was left speechless as to what just transpired.

Tossing the now corpse of J'ornell on the council table, the body began to slowly change. The skin of the Martian became pale, and its features grew more prominent to that of a white Martian in a manner of seconds.

As the council watched the body of one of their fellow council members change into a White Martian, they shuddered at the realization. However, they were given no time to think about it.

"Huh, haven't moved like that in a while. It felt good."

Massaging his shoulders for a moment, Z'akk looked at the council.

"That is my last service to you. How would the people react if they found out that a white martian was acting as a council member, I wonder?"

Everyone within the room was silent, especially Bey'on who had once placed her trust in the integrity of the council.

"I am expecting my reward right now! Or do you require another demonstration?"

What was an obvious threat to the council had worked, Ma'alefa'ak took up the syringe and hesitantly injected it into his arm, followed by the other two members that he gave a syringe. Z'akk had also made sure to throw a glance at Dal'en.

All of the syringes were passed to Ma'alefa'ak by the others and given to Z'akk. Ma'alefa'ak began to speak in a somewhat shaky tone.

"W-we appreciate all that you have done for us…��