Star Fortress was not a city on a planet, but a transit station and shipyard floating in the void. Every inch of space was precious. It had none of the streets or sewage systems a normal city should possess, only temporary streets and a sewage recycling system made of steel and concrete.
The path Maximus took had been abandoned for years. Residents' wastewater from many core districts was also discharged here, and the filth was enough to make anyone's scalp crawl, including the criminals following him. Quite a few of them had come from slums like this—Maximus ignored the criminals' demands and continued toward the battlefield. Seeing that Maximus had no intention of responding, the last few criminals exchanged glances, took the riot batons from the prison armory, and turned to leave.
Maximus did not try to stop them.
Everyone else thought he knew where he was going, but in truth, he was merely following the guidance from his dreams. He had no idea what he was looking for, yet his intuition told him that whatever he found could save Attilan. That alone was enough to drive him onward. No matter what, he believed himself to be the King of Attilan. His kind yet foolish brother had allowed Attilan to fall into its current state.
"I must save them." Where no one could see him, Maximus turned and spoke to the wall beside him. Astonishingly, the wall serving as the temporary city sewage system was lined with sculptures of furious human faces, and Maximus was speaking to one of them. "Even if those foolish commoners see me as a traitor, I am still the King of Attilan. Their lives belong to me, not those human invaders. I am the King of Attilan, do you hear me? Those gunshots ring out