"Great work, Dean," said Tiero with a tap on Dean's shoulder. "Though I was certain you'd be the first to finish, what happened?"
"What did I just take from that planet? What was it for?" Dean ignored Tiero's question with two questions of his own.
With a sigh, Tiero replied, "I'm just a lowly handler, Dean. We're all just following orders here. I even have no idea what it was or what it's for. One thing I learned on this job is to never ask unnecessary questions."
Dean could feel his left lower eyelid twitch because of frustration. He needed answers, and this man in front of him was not helping whatsoever.
"Why didn't we offer aid to the planet? We could've repelled the invasion with an army of Storm Ranks."
"You don't understand. Annihilith invasions don't just consist of Drones and Reaper-types, there are Devourers and Voidborn-types as well. A full army of Storm Ranks wouldn't even be enough to quell a full-scale Annihilith invasion," answered Tiero.
Devourers… Voidborns… It's been a while since I've heard these. Dean scratched the back of his head.
Devourer-type Annihiliths are the "giants" of the Annihilith species. The younger ones are mountain-sized, while the older ones are the size of a planet. They can consume other Annihiliths to regenerate and grow in size.
Voidborn-types, however, are nightmares on the battlefield. Even a Typhoon Rank at Category 1 would have trouble in exterminating one. These Annihiliths wield strange, reality-warping abilities, distorting space and time around them.
"Then why not send in the Typhoons?"
"We can't risk the valuable lives of Typhoon Ranks."
"It's a planet! With people! Since we have the power to protect and save them, why didn't we?!"
"Enough, Dean! I told you, I'm just a handler. Ask the higher-ups, not me." Tiero sighed. "Dean, I understand how you're feeling right now. But we can't do anything about it. The only ones… who truly have the power to change the world, are the strong ones."
Dean grit his teeth. His chest felt tight. His neck felt like it had thorns wrapped around it. He was very close to breaking his umbrella from his sheer grip strength.
He turned around. But just as he was about to walk away, he heard a voice coming from Tiero. "Wait. Dean."
"What?" said Dean with his back facing Tiero.
Tiero sighed once again. "...I just received a report. The planet had just collapsed. Exploded."
Upon hearing this, blood seeped out of Dean's lips, trickling down his chin. He bit his lip too hard. He recalled the young girl he met and saved.
"One more thing. I received word that you broke a rule. Not only were you seen by a native of that planet, you even interacted with them," said Tiero.
"Like I care about that." Without another word, he walked away.
Inside a facility deep beneath Umbrellas.
A man in a suit shook the hands of a scientist in a white lab coat. "Thank you for all of your contributions so far," said the man in a suit.
"Anything to eradicate the Annihiliths," replied the scientist. The scientist then pointed to the yellow spheres with green flames and lightning surrounding it. "The quality of these eggs are remarkable. We will do our best in helping these to hatch into Voidborns."
The facility was massive. In the distance was a gigantic mech. In front of the scientist and the man in a suit was a large section where the eggs were being kept. And in the far distance was a separate section where many scientists were analyzing the corpses of Annihiliths.
The man in a suit smiled. "Soon, Umbrellas will have its own Annihilith army."
At the park, Dean walked with a clouded mind. Why did the planet meet its end so suddenly? The invasion had only just begun, yet the planet met destruction so early…
His thoughts went back to that young girl. He couldn't even ask her for her name. "Damn it."
It began to rain. Dean didn't bother to use his umbrella. In fact, he was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the rain.
Inside a large ship out in space, near the same planet that had just exploded.
"Comin' through. Make way!"
An old man with a cigarette finally arrived at the "scene." It was a gruesome sight.
"Captain! You're finally here!" said one of the staff in uniform.
"What happened?" asked the captain. He was the captain of the spaceship.
"No one knows why and how he died. He was just watching the planet explode, and the next thing, his head was melting, and tentacles burst out of his body, crushing his body into… this."
Tentacles, human organs, a large pool of blood… It was a terrifying sight.
"First, I had to make the ship invisible so the Annihiliths don't attack us, now this…" The captain sighed.
"Everyone, stay calm! Please, go back to your rooms! Hey, no pictures!" shouted one of the staff.
The captain narrowed his eyes. He then nudged the arm of the person beside him. "And why is there an umbrella there?"
"It belonged to him."
Inside a boardroom in Umbrellas.
Eight people were seated on a large roundtable.
"How is the business with the HUT going? Well, I presume?" asked a beautiful green-haired woman. A snake was wrapped on her neck.
"The House of Universum Trade will be sending their big shots soon. After this matter is settled, the influence of Umbrellas will further expand across the cosmos," said a man with canine features.
One of them clapped. "Excellent work, Towser."
"Putting that aside, we need to resolve the matter with Tosla soon."
"If Wilhelm Wraithson continues to show hostility towards us, we will have to send in a Shade soon."
"Calm down, old man. That's the last thing we should do. We're here to make peace with the undead king, not make him more hostile towards us by sending a Typhoon."
"Well, if we had crushed Wilhelm in the first place, we'd have Tosla already!"
Suddenly, they were interrupted as someone entered the boardroom. "Report. A Cyclone Rank, Category 4 has suddenly fallen!"
"What?!" Everyone immediately panicked.
"The… cause of death is unknown."
"Investigate at once!"
With a nod, the person left the office.
"We can't keep losing high-ranking Visitors… Our Cyclone Ranks are decreasing every year!"
Right after Storm Rank is the Typhoon Rank. But there are actually two more ranks equal to Typhoon that Visitors can take. These are the Cyclone Rank and the Hurricane Rank.
Cyclone Rank Visitors must constantly wander the cosmos in search of Annihilith Rifts, which are very rare to find, and are tasked with destroying them. Visitors in this rank find it difficult to properly and steadily advance, since they have less opportunities to do missions and are stuck with searching and destroying rifts.
As for Hurricane Rank, their task is simple. Visitors in this rank must stay on one planet of their choosing and become that planet's protector. They stop receiving missions, but instead, their sole mission is to protect the planet they are on. This is the safest option for Visitors who have just moved on from Storm Rank and want a stable life as a Visitor.
And for Typhoon Rank, nothing changes. They keep getting missions, and continue to plunge themselves into danger and the unknown. This is the riskiest path… or rank to take, but also the most rewarding.
In other words, these three Ranks are all equal in strength, just with different names and roles.
The boardroom fell silent for a while. Everyone had too much on their plates to handle.
After a while, one of them spoke up, "What about the matter with Benedict returning to Umbrellas? Has that been settled?"
"No. It seems he is very determined to stay retired. Such a waste…"
"Indeed."
***
Although the staff already disposed of the corpse, some of the passengers were still rattled and alarmed.
"What do we do with this umbrella, captain?" asked a young man with a black umbrella in his hands.
"...Eh, you can keep it. We have no use for it." The captain lit up a cigarette. "One more incident, and I swear, this ship will be out of commission soon… Damn it."
The young man looked at the umbrella in his hands. What can I even do with this? I live on a space station, not a planet…
The man had no use for an umbrella since he had never seen rain in his entire life. Little did he know, this umbrella belonged to a powerful, now deceased Visitor!
Inside the lounge of the ship, a child was eating a chocolate bar with her mother beside her.
She ate with her right hand touching the glass window, watching the magnificent view of the stars.
Suddenly, the child's gaze landed on something.
A massive, strange shadow loomed over the stars. The shadow was "moving," and more stars were blocked by this strange shadow.
The girl kept eating her chocolate bar.
The shadow neared the moon of the planet that had exploded.
"Mommy! Mommy, look!" said the girl as she tugged on her mother's hand. "Not now, sweetie."
The shadow loomed over the moon.
After a while, the shadow disappeared, revealing the stars "it" blocked earlier.
The moon was also gone.