"But why fight them?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, everyone nearby that heard him looked over with various expressions ranging from displeasure and annoyance to pity.
But Madaline was the only one to answer him.
"Because it is our duty," she started. Unknowingly, several of the cadets that were around her straightened their backs.
"Your family isn't from the original settlers right?" she asked before continuing further.
The human boy shook his head, "I was born on an asteroid. My parents were miners there. We won the lottery and the prize was joining an intergalactic vessel like this," he confirmed her suspicions.
Madaline nodded while the red-skinned boy scoffed without saying anything.
"Well since you're new then it's fine, but you should really do something about your cowardly attitude, you won't amount to much if you continue like this," she said before looking towards the screen.
The human boy lowered his head, his ears turning red from all the looks he was getting.
"Do you know about the oath?" Madaline's words came into his ears. He shook his head.
"It's the oath every cadet has to take before graduating. It's the same across the deep space and used throughout the universe wherever there are beings of light. Do you want to know what it says?" she asked with a smile.
"Attention!" before the human boy could answer, the voice of the emaciated looking squad leader came through the glass window.
Since he was using Qi to strengthen his words, even these cadets were able to hear him through the reinforced windows.
He was standing in front of the army with crossed arms. His face was completely emotionless just like his voice, as if he was talking about a regular workday at the office.
"Delta Squad has called for reinforcements and we are their backup. Our mission this time is not to engage in deadly combat but small scale skirmishes to gauge the enemy's strength. The Gate Keepers of the hives are not participating in the fight so neither will the squad leaders."
"Form hunting parties no larger than 150 and take out as many of the vermin as you can, but your life takes priority over the enemy. Move out!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the hangar doors opened on the right side. There was just a pitch blackness outside but occasionally a small spark or two would light up for an instant.
The two thousand Profound realm cultivators all rose up and one by one moved out. They stopped a few hundred meters outside the hangar bay doors, silently floating in space.
Behind them, the 30,000 spirit realm warriors took flight in batches of a thousand with the help of built-in thrusters in their armors.
They were just at the spirit realm so they could neither fly on their own nor breathe in the void of space which is why they needed these special full body armors. Only the Profound realm cultivators having connected their inner worlds to the outside were capable of such feats without any outside help.
In less than two minutes the hangar that was filled to the brim a moment ago was empty.
From the start till finish, none of them made any noise. With various weapons in hand, they sortied into predetermined groups each led by a single Profound Realm cultivator and quickly moved out.
The squad leader had vanished from his spot at some point after giving the order.
On the screen in the now empty hanger, a flood of blue dots could be seen engaging with the numerous red dots. They formed what looked like a barricade between the ship and the hive, stopping the movements of the red dots temporarily.
Back outside the hanger window many of the cadets let out deep sighs before moving out in different directions since there was nothing to see now.
Only Madaline, the human boy, and the red-skinned boy were left.
"All of us, each and every one of us comes from planets that were destroyed by those monsters," Madaline broke the silence, still staring at the screen with a burning gaze.
"This entire ship is made up of survivors of the attacks of the various abyss tribes. We are homeless, planetless, with nowhere left to go. All we can do is seek vengeance against those monsters and maybe, maybe stop that from happening again."
"And those of us that are capable of fighting them, when we graduate we take our oath in front of our teachers, over our weapons. Our words are inscribed on the inside of our armors so if...no, so WHEN we face death, we can remember why we fight."
The human boy shuddered. He had just arrived on the ship a few months ago and new nothing of its history. He only applied to join the academy because of the benefits it provided to the graduates.
"What...is the oath?" he asked with a burning curiosity.
Madaline smiled before lightly hitting him on the top of his head, "You will know when its time.. Come, let's go to the lounge, I heard they are live-streaming a part of the battle for the cadets."