"This race is becoming more and more interesting."
He crossed his arms in front of his chest to protect himself from the continuous attacks of the Moon Ōtsutsuki branch members, whose punches sent out strange shockwaves.
Drov felt as if certain points in his body were being struck, but the only effect he noticed was a slight slowing of the blood flow in his veins. Nothing more.
Even so, it made him cautious.
After his little adventure on the planet below, he had shed some of the arrogance that had been ingrained in him since childhood as a member of the superior race of the universe.
Humans, despite their fragile bodies, were dangerous creatures. One could lose their life if not careful, unlike Viltrumites, who only knew how to throw punches. Their strongest move was simply flattening their palm and attacking with speed and force to pierce or sever their opponents.
"Hm… their fighting style is completely different from those on the planet below."
After killing many of them, Drov noticed that unlike the humans on Earth who used ninjutsu and weapons in combat, the humans on the moon fought in a way closer to the Viltrumites. They relied on their fists, along with some strange techniques likely powered by chakra.
Drov threw another human corpse to the ground, its skull crushed like a watermelon. He stepped over the body and the brain matter mixed with blood, then entered the ship with a calm, indifferent expression, as if he had not just committed a massacre against the unfortunate members of the Moon Ōtsutsuki branch.
He pressed a button to open the inner door, but it seemed jammed and refused to work.
"The ship is indeed damaged," Drov sighed, then swung his fist and punched through the door as if it were cardboard.
He inserted both hands into the opening, tore the metal door apart, and entered.
The loud alarm sounds reached his ears, causing him to frown. He felt something strange about the noise, as it slightly distorted his thoughts.
"This must be the effect of that cursed poison. Whoever created it better hope I never find them…"
"I have never taken pleasure in killing anyone… but everything in this universe has exceptions, and I will make sure they become one."
Drov muttered darkly as he walked through the corridor, illuminated only by the flashing red alarm light that pulsed with each step he took.
He stopped at the entrance to the cockpit and stared at the scene before him with a grim expression.
Aside from the slaves' remains,no longer even recognizable as corpses, but mere scattered pieces torn apart by the general, who had believed they were responsible for poisoning him,there was no trace of the general's body.
Drov looked at the damaged front of the ship and muttered, placing his hand on his chin, now marked by a scar that served as a reminder never to underestimate anyone
"Judging by the situation, I can conclude that I was likely thrown out of the ship during the crash onto the moon… and then ended up falling to the planet below…"
"Perhaps the general also ended up on the planet… or rather, his corpse. I saw with my own eyes the light vanish from his pupils."
He approached the control panel,or what remained of it,and began pressing several buttons. He silenced the alarm, leaving only the red light flashing.
Then he accessed the ship's surveillance footage and calmly watched the screens displaying different sections.
He saw everything , from the moment the general boarded, to the slaves carrying supplies, to the three agents , just like him, who had completed their coming-of-age ceremony and were on their way to serve the Empire.
He saw that he was the last to board the ship. The footage continued until Drov noticed that the first to collapse was one of the three agents, followed by the general, who then began slaughtering the slaves under the assumption that they had poisoned him.
"Delusions of grandeur," Drov muttered mockingly as he watched the general tear the slaves apart.
"As expected… wherever the poison came from, it started on the planet…"
Drov was stunned by this realization.
His eyes widened in horror.
"This means that what happened to the five of us…" He didn't dare finish the sentence, but he couldn't stop the flood of thoughts rushing through his mind.
For the second time since his birth, Drov felt fear.
Not fear for the lives of his people, who might have already been wiped out… but fear for his own life, which he had nearly lost without even knowing who had taken it.
"I am now certain that the reason I survived is my superior healing factor."
He sat in the captain's chair and let out a hollow laugh that echoed throughout the ship.
If someone else had been there, they might have thought Drov had lost his mind. But that would have been a misunderstanding. His reasoning was simple.
"All that power and authority… brought down by a weapon we couldn't even see… nor identify its wielder."
"Who would have thought that the mighty Viltrumite Empire would fall so easily like this?"
According to Drov's current thoughts, he believed himself to be the sole survivor of his race, not out of arrogance, but because he assumed no one else possessed a healing ability strong enough to resist the poison as he had.
"Hm… no need to jump to conclusions. I need to return and confirm it myself," he muttered thoughtfully.
He raised his head and resumed watching the surveillance footage, which now showed the purple-skinned slave surrounded by humans who had easily captured him, then did the same with the remaining slaves on the ship.
Finally, Drov discovered the location of the general's body. He watched with a frown as the humans carried away the general's corpse along with the bodies of the three agents.
"Even if they are just corpses… they are not something those inferior humans have the right to touch."
Drov stood up and began to float.
He exited through the shattered front of the ship, then with a booming force beneath his feet, launched himself across the moon's surface, searching for traces of the humans who had taken the bodies.
But even after scanning the entire moon, he found no trace of them.
"Strange… no sign of them. Did they really descend to the planet?"
He stared at the blue planet below, his brow furrowed.