Apex Star

58  Intensity

.....

A few hours passed, and Nova, together with Elizabeth, arrived at the battlefield. In front of them was a depiction of horror. There were countless corpses with missing limbs, some dead, some wished they were dead.

Clearly, the situation deteriorated to an unimaginable degree. There were probably millions of troops battling each other, with hundreds of thousands of deaths in every camp.

The two kingdoms of humans and beasts were equally matched, and it looked to be close to a deathmatch than a war.

'Is this what war looks like? I hope my Earth won't ever get into this situation. It's so gruesome and deadly, yet my instinct screams to go and start killing.' Thought Nova as he and Elizabeth made their way toward the human camp.

"Halt! Who goes there?" A soldier stopped them from advancing to the human provisory encampment.

Elizabeth didn't say anything but took out a black badge with a sword and shield.

The guard was shocked to see that badge and hurriedly approached them as he apologized.

"I regret stopping you, Duchess! Please punish me according to military rules."

"You just did your job. Keep it that way, guard." Without saying anything else, Elizabeth entered the human encampment, and Nova followed after her.

Seeing a young man in his 20s following the Duchess, the guard pretended to see nothing and didn't check for his identity.

The two arrived before a highly guarded room, and using Elizabeth's identity, they smoothly passed. In a hallway, a slightly older man made his way as he received the two.

"Duchess Elizabeth, it's great to see you again. And you, young man, must be the one who saved our princess's life. You have my deepest regret that I couldn't meet you in a better place. You can call me Albert." Said the older man as he bowed toward Nova.

Elizabeth was shocked to see the Emperor's butler and friend bowing toward Nova. He was a highly respected person in the Human Kingdom, even by the dukes and kings.

"Nice to meet you, mister Albert. There's no need for a bow, as Destiny is also important to me." Said Nova, showing a kind smile.

Albert smiled before proceeding to show the way.

"Please follow me to meet His Majesty, The Emperor."

The two followed after Albert to meet the Emperor. After walking for a few minutes, they arrived in a grand hallway where a man sat on a chair. It was a handsome middle-aged man that exuded a royal air. Clearly it was the current Emperor of the Human Kingdom, Dorian.

"Greetings, your Majesty!" Said Elizabeth bowing toward the Emperor. Nova copied her and paid his respects to Destiny's adoptive father.

"There's no need for bowing, Elizabeth." Said the Emperor in a gentle tone before looking at Nova and scanning him from top to bottom.

"So you are the guy who stole my precious daughter's heart?" Sneered the Emperor, not seeing anything extraordinary about Nova.

Nova was stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry at the Emperor's content expression.

Besides him, Elizabeth blushed, remembering the night before.

"Indeed, your Majesty, you could say Destiny and me like each other." Nova didn't evade the Emperor's gaze, which started to exude his Peak Universal Stage cultivation to pressure him.

Emperor Dorian was amazed that Nova didn't even flinch under his overwhelming pressure, even though he didn't go all out. 'Interesting.' Thought Dorian as his eyes gleamed, looking at Nova.

"You have some talent, kid. Good. As right now is not a good moment to have internal conflict, I'll let you go. Still, when we're back in the Capital, I expect you and Destiny to explain what happened." Said Emperor Dorian smiling once again.

"Let Albert show your room where you're going to stay." After finishing saying this, Dorian looked toward Elizabeth and explained the overall situation of the war.

Albert smiled and gestured at Nova to follow him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It was only ten minutes later that the two arrived in front of a simple room. "This is where you're going to stay. You can thank his Majesty later for taking special care of you. Not even Nebula Stage warriors have a room to stay. They sleep in tents with others." Said Albert to Nova, enlightening the latter.

Nova thought about the tents he saw camping around the garrison and believed that it was for destined for storing things. Not for a moment did he think it was actually for soldiers to sleep in.

"Mm, I'll thank his Majesty later for his kindness. Thank you for showing me the way, Albert."

"No problem, it's my job after all." Said Albert, smiling. "If you have any questions, you can ask me."

"In fact, I have a question. Can I participate in the war at this moment?" Said Nova, expectant.

Albert was stunned by this question, as he didn't think this young man would be so eager to go and support the kingdom so early.

"Well, of course you can. It's just...are you sure you don't want to rest for a bit after the long journey to get here?"

"It's okay, I didn't exhaust much energy on the way here. Please show me the way!" Said Nova, excited like a little kid.

Albert was speechless for a moment before showing Nova the way. In a few minutes, the two arrived at the North Gate, from where you could leave the garrison.

"Once you step outside the gate, the guards won't open the gate again until nighttime or if you're lucky enough and someone wants to exit the garrison. The two armies will usually fight until night arrives.

If you want to get war points, all you have to do is to cut the ear of the beasts you killed. War points are used to exchange different types of treasures, weapons, or pills from the Kingdom's treasury.

Please let me know if there is something you want to know before leaving." Explained Albert.

Nova was surprised at the existence of war points, but he quickly understood that a kingdom couldn't possibly be so stingy not to reward those fighting in the war against an invading kingdom.

That way no one would respond to the kingdom's call to war, even if it meant betrayal. Others would surely run with their families and even if the Beastmen Kingdom conquered the Human Kingdom, at worst, they would become enslaved, but would have their lives intact.

"No, that would be all. Once again, thank you, Albert, for everything. " Said Nova before stepping out of the gate.

Albert looked at Nova's straight back and confident steps until the gate closed. 'A future powerhouse will be born soon...'

-----

Nova walked for almost half an hour before seeing other humans, some dead, some barely alive. It was a buffer zone or a safe zone for those that wanted to treat their injuries or simply rest.

He nodded toward those looking at him, and continued to walk ahead.

"Hey, kid! Be careful there, as it won't be easy to come back alive." A somewhat older man advised Nova.

Nova looked at the man and saw that he was a Peak Evolver Stage. "Thank you for telling me. I will be careful." Nova smiled at the older man, before continuing to advance.

The old man and the others were stunned seeing Nova continuing to walk. "Old man, don't bother with him anymore.  You clearly advised him to wait and form a team to watch his back, before going solo. He just didn't want to take your advice to heart.

"Yeah, that's right. He came alone only now, so he probably has a big family behind his back. It's not easy to make the gate open before nighttime."

The other warriors commented about Nova. Only the first old man who advised Nova stayed silent.

'When he looked at me, I felt so small in those golden eyes. It was like a beast ready to hunt his prey. It felt like I disturbed his focus...?

The man didn't even know how right he was, as Nova was extremely focused right now. He was excited at the thought of having strong enemies to fight and kill. Even his Apex sent him a feedback to let him know he wasn't the only one excited.

'Let the hunt begin.' Thought Nova as his golden eyes started to glow brighter and brighter.