Varian busied himself in the clean-up of Mars. So far, he stopped the reinforcements these fallen planetoids sent to the normal ones.

After relentless slaughter by Varian, the fallen planetoids realized that sending reinforcements was useless with the devil's presence.

Of course, they tried some clever tricks by sending reinforcements of five or six planetoids at once.

But every single time, Varian hunted them down before they could do much damage.

So, the fallen planetoids cooled down and stopped sending reinforcements. Instead, they started to consolidate and decided to start a large-scale war campaign instead.

But they didn't expect Varian to knock on their doorstep.

Thirty planetoids have currently fallen to the Abyssals and Varian was clear that if he didn't clean them up, they'd always be troubling the rest of the planetoids.

So, he rained down hell on these planetoids.

In the first planetoid he visited:

"Retreat! Go to the underground bunkers! Hurry!"

The sky above the Abyssal bases was covered by dark clouds. Just as the Abyssals realized what was going on, lightning bolts as thick as a bucket struck down the base and absolutely decimated the Abyssals.

It didn't matter if there were thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand Abyssals.

Everywhere a lightning bolt landed, a large explosion occurred destroying an entire mile of ground. The thunder that followed deafened the weak Abyssals to the point they bled from their ears.

While the lightning targeted the masses, Varian's psychic and telekinetic power were used together to selectively kill the strongest Abyssals.

There were only a few level 8s and mostly level 7s. But under his prowess, not a single one lasted a complete second.

Once he was done with a base, Varian teleported to the next and repeated. Even though they were already 'prepared' by raising defense, it didn't help at all.

Five minutes later, Varian left the planetoid.

When he came, human corpses filled the east. When he left, the Abyssal corpses filled the west.

Even though Varian didn't understand why the Abyssals that usually burn their enemies into ash as a warrior tradition left the human corpses as they were, he didn't think much of it.

So, when he left the planetoid, he didn't notice that the dead corpses of some humans began to shake slightly.

"Kill him even if we all have to die! Use our formations! He can't win against all of us!" The second planetoid had a snowy environment and a relentless army.

The Abyssal army was supercharged to 'destroy' this 'evil invader' and 'devil' who was against their 'survival'.

Varian had noticed this trend by now.

When pushed to the brink, Abyssals brought out all their potential and fought back at their 150%. Just like humans do.

So, the human army usually wouldn't try to push them to a corner unless they were confident of victory.

After all, a cornered enemy without anything to lose was frightening.

But Varian didn't care.

With a wave of his hands, he rained down tens of thousands of ice bullets while clapping his hands and creating shockwaves that killed any Abyssal below level 7.

The Abyssal army was pushed into the corner. And they did indeed fight back at their 150%.

But even the strongest of emotions were useless in front of absolute power.

If one slap wasn't enough, then two.

A few minutes later, Varian left the second planetoid too. When he visited, the once snow-white planetoid was painted red with frozen human blood. When he left, green was added to the canvas.

The one-sided merciless slaughter continued for most of the day. It was only possible because Varian had stamina countless times higher than any level 8 and was able to keep fighting.

If a level 8 of his strength was sent on this same operation, destroying a planetoid and half would drain the level 8.

On the other hand, Varian spent a whole day and destroyed fifteen planetoids before being forced to rest.

By the time he retired to a military camp on the only Mars' planetoid that was captured by humans, his Abyssals dead in his hands crossed a million.

The army gave Varian the highest protocol for a non-Sovereign.

In fact, when he landed in the spaceport, apart from the dozen soldiers that were supposed to receive him, there were hundreds of soldiers outside looking at him with an excited gaze.

His deeds were spreading like wildfire and Varian's fame exploded.

Neptune's wyvern slaughterer, Pluto crusher, Slaughter of a million Mars' Abyssals!

Each of these achievements was akin to a legend. But the man who achieved all of them was standing in front of them. In flesh.

For a moment, the whole spaceport erupted into cheers.

People looked for hope in times of war. And Varian was the most dazzling hope humans could ever ask for.

"Varian!"

"Varian!"

"Varian!"

The chants of his name reverberated across the planetoid.

More and more soldiers joined the crowd and soon, Varian was facing a crowd of thousands.

The event was broadcasted across the planetoids for the human army to see.

The man in focus, Varian, looked at the burning passion in the eyes of the soldiers and raised his fist.

"For survival!"

Almost immediately, the chants followed.

"For prosperity!"

"For the children of the future!"

Varian joined in the last part. "For the human race!"

Afterward, Varian entered his special quarters. Some soldiers and officers tried to approach him, but since he just came back from a fresh slaughter, the killing intent on him was too heavy.

Even though Varian was already suppressing it, it was still too much for most. After a quick fresh up, Varian went to the central command room.

The highest ranking officials were seated across a round table, discussing the latest events and brainstorming for the upcoming situation.

They were all level 9s or level 8s who were currently recuperating and decided to spend their time on this.

Since he was also recharging, Varian joined them with a smile. "I don't have much to say. But I'd like to listen to the overall condition."

The new Chief Commander, a junior of Skad, nodded lightly and gestured. The experts began to report their views.

An old woman with brown hair and pale face bur sharp eyes looked at him with a curious gaze before she began.

"Traditionally, Mercury, Venus, and Earth are the 'Inner Zone' of our military. These are the first planets to be inhabited and thus have the strongest army.

On these planets, our strength is higher than that of the Abyssals. Not high enough to kick them out, but high enough to suppress them.

With this sudden war, our advantage in the Inner Zone is cut down and now we're barely above them."

Varian nodded in understanding. There was a notion that Neptune had the strongest army since it was fighting Pluto.

But while it might be true in absolute terms, Mercury, Venus, and Earth had stronger armies relative to their Abyssal counterparts.

And this news also implied that he didn't need to enter those planets since they wouldn't be needing any help.

A short but stout old man continued. "Mars and Jupiter are the Middle Zone. They have strengths roughly the same as their counterparts."

He then gave Varian a glance. "But after a certain event recently, Mars fell behind Mirage Abyss and barely made up for the difference."

Feeling the gaze on him, Varian didn't change his expression. They were all referring to his deeds.

The old man didn't want to go deeper into that topic and resumed. "Jupiter can manage this war. The price is that it'll fall behind the Fire Abyss. Of course, that's a price we're ready to pay.

The problem came with Mars. It had a real danger of falling. Thankfully, we had the help of Shadow Guardians andyou. With half of the Abyssal occupied planetoids crushed, I think we can take it from here and create a stable status quo."

Varian nodded.

"Uranus and Neptune were always the more volatile planets. Because they're border planets, they're under high risk even though their armies are roughly as strong as their counterparts." A very old man with a wrinkled face sitting beside Varian said.

"The focus for this war was mostly on Neptune, so Uranus managed to stay afloat. But Neptune would've fallen!" The Old Man's words caused the room to fall silent.

The gazes of all the officers intensified on Varian. Their gazes contained intense emotions.

Gratitude. Pride. Joy. Relief.

But most of all, Respect.

Seeing the people who risked their lives, seeing the heroes he admired look up at him with respect, Varian felt something swell in his chest.

Was it pride? Was it joy?

He didn't know.

But he did smile back brightly. "I am doing my part. You all were fighting for us before I was even born. If there weren't men and women like you risking your lives, I wouldn't be born today."

The old men and women, the highest ranking officials, and the vastly experienced members were taken aback by his honest remarks.

Then they laughed joyously and began chatting with him in a more casual manner. Varian reciprocated their respect with respect and joy with joy.

It was a small meeting that only lasted for thirty minutes, but for Varian, it was something he'd never forget.

Saving yourself was easy. You just need to run away from the danger. But to save others, you have to run toward the danger.

As the meeting ended, the Old Man patted Varian. "Child, we can't repay you. But thank you for everything."

"Likewise."