Shane hovered midair, and the biting wind swept the chill of the high altitude across his cheeks.
In his usually calm and waveless eyes, complex emotions surged at that moment.
There was the obscurity of sealed memories being touched, and even a hint of bewilderment that he himself could not quite distinguish.
He did not immediately answer Diana's question, only slowly lowering his head as his gaze crossed the thin cloud layer and landed on the continuous urban outlines below.
The afternoon in Salem City was exceptionally peaceful, and the sunlight spilled over the roofs like melted gold foil.
On the streets, vintage-style vehicles shuttled smoothly, kicking up fine dust that quickly dissipated.
Yet in Shane's eyes, another scene from the past quietly emerged.
Those planets burned by the flames of war, the scorched smell lingering in the air, and the endless crying and roaring in his ears instantly broke through the sealed barriers.
This formed a glaring contrast with the tranquility before him.
Shane's fingertips curled unconsciously, his knuckles turning slightly pale, and his chest felt as if it were blocked by something, dull and suffocating.
Teacher Prince.
After a long while, Shane slowly spoke.
He turned his face slightly, his gaze falling back onto Diana with a trace of unperceived hesitation in his tone.
Do you know about the coming-of-age ceremony on Viltrum?
Diana was stunned and instinctively shook her head.
She knew of coming-of-age rituals in many civilizations across the universe, whether they were solemn blessings or harsh trials, but she had never heard related rumors about Viltrum.
She could sense that heavy weight from Shane's tone and instinctively held her breath, her gaze locking tightly onto his figure.
In Viltrum, seventeen is the legal age of adulthood, but only those who pass the Coming-of-Age Assessment are truly considered recognized warriors and possess the qualification to gain a foothold on the planet.
Shane's gaze became vacant, as if he once again saw that planet long torn apart by war and hegemony.
But you would never imagine that the so-called coming-of-age ceremony was never any ritual symbolizing growth, but a naked massacre.
He slowly raised his right hand, his palm facing the sunlight overhead, and the golden light leaked through the gaps between his fingers, casting mottled light and shadow upon his face.
The instructors would throw us youths who were about to come of age directly onto a planet that they had just targeted and not yet fully conquered, and the indigenous people on that planet—regardless of age or gender—all became our trial targets.
Shane's voice was exceptionally calm without the slightest undulation, as if he were recounting a trivial matter that had nothing to do with himself.
Yet this calmness made Diana's heart sink abruptly, and a chill climbed slowly along her spine, instantly sweeping through her entire body.
She instinctively clenched her fists.
No rules, no bottom line, and similarly no pity to speak of.
Shane withdrew his gaze, his tone still flat, yet carrying a suffocating cruelty.
There is only one requirement for the assessment—survive, and slaughter all indigenous people defined as resisters.
Resisters?
Diana's voice uncontrollably turned hoarse.
She stared dead at Shane, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Those unarmed civilians, those elderly people and children who had no ability to resist at all—in your eyes, they count as resisters too?
In the eyes of Viltrumites, as long as there are surviving indigenous people who have not completely bowed down and surrendered, giving up the thought of resistance, they are all resisters.
The corners of Shane's mouth twitched, seeming to mock.
It is a simple and bloody logic, and moreover, Viltrum itself was in the middle of an internal war back then whose duration nobody knew, and the nerves of some people had already grown even more crazy than in the past.
Luo Star was the most special and cruel trial ground in Shane's cohort.
No one would question this choice, because the one who incorporated Luo Star into the assessment standards was none other than the Viltrum upper echelons, whose desire for conquest had been thoroughly ignited by the tenacious resistance of that planet's indigenous people.
The volume of Luo Star was fully three times that of Earth, and the indigenous people had multiplied and lived on this planet for thousands of years.
Their technological level was roughly equivalent to Earth's twentieth century, lacking interstellar travel capabilities, with heavy weapons being few and far between.
Yet completely different from the 20th-century Earth, Luo Star's prevailing cultural core was engraved with perseverance toward their homeland and zero tolerance for invasion.
When the vanguard troops of the Viltrumites first set foot on this planet and attempted to force them to surrender with military might, over eighty percent of Luo Star's indigenous people did not choose to retreat.
A trace of complex emotion flashed through Shane's eyes.
The army picked up crude firearms and constructed defense lines at the edges of various cities; ordinary citizens wielded cold weapons passed down by their ancestors, using their flesh and blood to build fragile yet resilient lines of defense, fighting desperately against the invaders who possessed overwhelming strength.
This resistance, stubborn to the point of being obstinate, completely enraged the Viltrumites.
In their eyes, the indigenous people of such a primitive and backward planet should have bowed down in submission like ants.
Resistance was a flagrant desecration of Viltrum's majesty.
It even birthed a strong obsession to completely tame this planet and trample it underfoot.
Thus, the war of conquest for Luo Star was directly designated as one of Viltrum's coming-of-age assessments.
And the squad Shane belonged to was the team participating in this cruel assessment.
The squad had a total of ten members; apart from Shane, the rest were youths who had just turned seventeen, led by two experienced Viltrum instructors whose hands were stained with blood.
He hovered in front of Diana, slowly recounting this memory that he had previously guarded against with strict secrecy.
Teacher Prince, there were a full four billion people on Luo Star.
Diana's breathing grew increasingly rapid and her chest heaved violently. She could even vividly imagine that scene—cruel to the point of outrage—based on Shane's description.
How insignificant and helpless a group of unarmed civilians was before Viltrumites possessing heaven-destroying and earth-shattering power.
Their resistance was like striking a stone with an egg, and every charge meant the withering of life.
No... this is impossible...
Diana instinctively stepped back a few meters.
She had seen the cruelty of war, witnessed the bloodiness of slaughter, and even personally executed quite a few heinous villains.
Yet she had never imagined that there would be a civilization treating the slaughter of a whole planet's life as a coming-of-age trial for youths.
This cold, inhumane rule completely subverted her cognition.
Silence lingered between the two for a long time, so long that even the high-altitude wind seemed to grow quiet.
Diana slowly raised her head, looking at Shane with a complex gaze. In those eyes were shock, pity, disbelief, and a trace of imperceptible scrutiny.
After a long while, she finally spoke again, her voice carrying unsuppressible trembling.
On Luo Star, during that massacre of the indigenous people, what... were you thinking in your heart?
Hearing this question, the corners of Shane's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile carrying obvious fatigue.
At that time, I only felt that in nearly ten years, there was no more suitable opportunity than this to allow me to escape from Viltrum.
He paused, his gaze drifting into the distance once more, as if he saw again the smoke of gunpowder permeating the battlefield of Luo Star, seeing himself suspended in midair at the time, looking down at those people who still pointed their weapons at him as the massacre neared its end.
In my heart back then, there was only tension over whether I could successfully escape, and an urgent anticipation for freedom—aside from that, there was no spare room left in my heart to think about redundant matters.
Boom—
This sentence exploded in Diana's mind like a bolt of thunder.
Her mind and soul shook violently, and she lost her composure entirely. Her originally straight spine shook uncontrollably, the color on her face instantly fading until it turned incomparably pale.
More than half of Diana's face was shrouded in shadow against the sunlight, leaving only a pair of pupils churning with incredulous emotions.
Shane did not miss her loss of composure. He quietly looked at Diana with a trace of unperceived probing.
Teacher Prince?
Diana did not respond, merely maintaining that rigid posture.
A moment later, she slowly lowered her head, her vacant gaze landing on the city below, and an extremely unnatural sense of detachment emanated from her entire body.
That aura was like an invisible barrier, instantly cutting off all connection between her and Shane.
Between the two of them, a thick and insurmountable wall had suddenly been placed.
Shane looked at her appearance, his lips moving. He originally wanted to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.
Silence spread between the two once again, and time passed second by second.
Shane sighed softly and stopped lingering.
Glancing one last time at Diana, who still maintained her rigid posture, he turned and flew straight toward the distant horizon, quickly disappearing into the cloud layer.
Only Diana was left standing alone in place for a long time.
And above Salem City behind them, that golden tower-like structure constructed by magic was slowly becoming transparent, eventually fading its form completely.
The figure of Doctor Fate stood in the center within the tower, quietly watching the direction of Shane's departure through the invisible magical barrier.
His gaze beneath the golden helmet was complex and hard to decipher, carrying doubt and a trace of unperceived pity.
God Nabu...
He spoke slowly, his voice low and hoarse.
Slaughter was not his original intention; is such a person truly beyond redemption?
Before you continue