223: Let it burn!

"Augus, you must maintain the main server—"

"This isn't just a fleet-wide broadcast; it's a Legion-wide broadcast. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the entire Legion, and whether they're in the same star system as us or not, they will all hear the content of this communication."

"So, whatever you do, don't let that glitch-ridden Void Wave Communicator crash."

After opening the broadcasting equipment and giving Augus his final instructions, Lagrange glanced at the live viewer count.

Four hundred and ninety thousand people—almost everyone left alive in the entire Legion had tuned in.

Good—these people hadn't lost their minds in their extreme rage.

At least they were still willing to hear him say a few words.

So, Lagrange took a deep breath, swallowed his pent-up fury into his lungs, and then—let it all pour out.

In every corner of the Legion, in the ears of every single person, that voice filled with anger and indignation rang out simultaneously—

"Soldiers of The 16th Expeditionary Legion!"

"It is I! Your General, Lagrange Koradilon!"

"I know that every one of you has seen that damned order! That utterly vile transfer order from Traitors and madmen!"

"I know what you're thinking! I feel exactly the same as you!"

Lagrange's voice suddenly rose in pitch—

He knew himself, and he knew the group of people under his command.

They were young, full of hot blood, drive, and an unyielding stubbornness.

Because of this, he could sense the anger in their hearts, their indignation, and their unquestionable loyalty to him.

"Just last month, we achieved one pyrrhic victory after another! The spirits of countless compatriots tore a bloody hole through the alien defense lines!"

"Why? What was all that sacrifice for!!!"

"You all know!"

"It was so the names on the Tower of Mourners would stop increasing in vain! It was so humanity would no longer have to cower behind cold fortifications, barely clinging to life!"

"It was to give humanity more time to wait for a future—good or bad—and for that damn hope that we don't even know exists!!!"

As he spoke, his tone shifted into a questioning one.

"But what did we get in return?"

"Not reinforcements, not supplies, and not recognition for the results we bought with our lives!"

"It’s fucking deception! It’s fucking betrayal!!!"

"Once, we were foolish enough to believe we were fighting for the same dream,"

"A dream built by you, by us, and by countless ancestors—some named, some nameless—a great ideal of human restoration!"

"For this pathetic ideal, we gave almost everything we had!"

"I’ve fucking seen Warships run out of ammo and ram directly into aliens! I’ve seen workers gamble their lives to strip engines for the fleet! I’ve even fucking seen engineers who valued their equipment more than their own lives!!!"

"They are all dead! They died in the void of space, carrying their resentment and their expectations for us, the living!"

"But what about those high-ranking officials???"

"Where were they!!! When we were fighting, when we were sacrificing ourselves, where were they!!!"

"They were fucking hiding in the rear!!! Hiding in the Tower of Mourners, a place only the dead have the right to disturb!!!"

"They have betrayed our common ideal!!!"

"They have set themselves against us!!!"

As he spoke, Lagrange didn't even notice that a slight, trembling sob had entered his voice.

"They command us! To abandon the positions we bought with blood, life, and glory, and hand them over to those filthy, ugly aliens!"

"They command us! To turn our guns around and participate in a ridiculous, pathetic, and shameful civil war! To slaughter compatriots who might also be deceived, but whose veins flow with the same human blood!"

"This is a desecration of every spirit that has died on the borders over the last millennium! It is the most total trampling of every one of our sacrifices and beliefs!!!"

"I do not accept it!!! I cannot possibly accept it!!!"

"They are not fit to be our headquarters!!!"

His words were like hammer blows, striking the hearts of the fleet's soldiers one by one.

Like a heavy forge hammer striking a red-hot iron block, they sent bright sparks flying and knocked out bits of black impurities.

After shouting out his last roar, Lagrange was panting for breath.

His volume slowly decreased, but the raspiness in his voice from the screaming made his words seem even heavier.

"We have nowhere left to retreat. Ahead are the fangs of the aliens, and behind is the dagger of the Traitor."

"What do we do?"

"I'll tell you—we only kill!!!"

"We will not yield to the aliens, and we certainly will not yield to those in power!!!"

"Remember! As soldiers of the Military Alliance, as guardians of humanity! We fight only for the purity of mankind and for the future of mankind!"

"This is not a rebellion! It is a purification!!"

"It is a purge of those who seek to kill their own kind! A correction of the Military Alliance!"

"There can only be one voice among humans! And that is unity! Unity! A united front against the outside!"

"If not—"

"Then let it burn! Until the voices of those heretics are incinerated to ash!!!"

Having finished, he immediately began strategic deployment.

"Everyone! Listen up! Guard the fruits of our labor!"

"fleets equipped with Void Bubble Engines, construct an elastic defense network along the current front line."

"I have only one requirement: do not let those damn aliens rebuild their fucking Linear Lane Nodes!"

"As for the other fleets—"

"Assemble at the star marker for Tiankan Seat V789.01!!!"

"Let's go meet those Traitors together! Let's see if, when they face us—"

"They'll be so terrified they won't be able to speak a single word!!!"

After speaking, he pulled off the broadcasting gear and looked at Augus.

"Intercept all the commands I just gave and upload them to the Legion's memorandum!"

"I want to see our fleet begin to move!"

"Yes, sir!!!"

...