C17

Although UNOE had a 3 times ground troop and orbital strike advantage it still had to sacrifice entire 20 divisions in order to exterminate the Briaans ten.

Of course, out of the 20 only 15 were all KIAs while the other 5 consisted of soldiers who became cripples by losing a limb or two and they were considered the lucky ones.

Once the news came out about humanity's counterattack it caused an uproar as to the reason why UNOE disclosed it, it's because of the Intel pukes who had been in contact with the other four Xeno civilizations under the empire's thumb.

That after the pukes "accidentally leaked" top secret information with the empires recks footage tossed away all of their rationality and rebelled at the same time so according to the president's think tank humanity had bought itself entire 10 years.

As for what will happen after ten years well the Xeno flagship didn't blow itself up so the hungry big-brained people forgot what sleep and eating meant as they greedily disassembled the ship and started crazily reverse-engineering its technologies.

A fleet consisting entirely of Einherjars is already in production with the factories working 24/7 to produce their hulls, as for where did the UNOE get the materials well there's an entire graveyard of destroyed warships.

All you need to do is howl its debris to the nearest factory, melt them down, recast it and you have your brand new Einherjar hull.

The UNOE also began a full swing of conscriptions but unlike everyone expected they didn't start scrapping the barrel but on the contrary, they recalled the old dogs who couldn't take a shit by themselves.

Everyone was dumbfounded after all what could a grandpa with a stick do? He will most likely die of a heart attack before he even hits the ground.

But once the UNOE disclosed the information about gene tailoring technology which could already extend the human lifespan to 200 years and make them two times stronger and faster than Dracula.

And it was currently only available for military personnel it caused a storm people themselves started storming the nearest recruitment centers to the point that every center on Earth was fully packed.

After all who didn't want to be a superman or superwoman?

Although cybernetic augmentations were already a thing and they could extend the human lifespan by about 40 years and make a human stronger and faster based on the augmentations degree.

Such as the light ones which were heavily used in the military, especially in the marine, strike craft, and mech cores no one wanted to become a machine so the improvement the soldiers got was still nothing compared to what the gene tailoring technology could offer.

As for how the UNOE managed to master the technology so quickly? Well, there are plenty of death row prisoners in UNOE, so why not put them to good use?

Of course, the KIA list still didn't make people happy after all those dead soldiers were their husbands, wives, daughters, and sons so the president's think tank declassified all the information about Dracula.

They basically made him a hero and the UNOE needed a brand new hero now more than ever but what they didn't expect was that Dracula became almost a literal god in the netizen's eyes overnight.

But can you blame them after all the fellow is just too heaven-defying not only he is a terror in war but also a terror in science.

A lot of people had the same suspicion that he was the result of immoral experimentation so Natasha had to come out and clarify.

But as always even more wild ideas and conspiracies appeared in the netizen's brains overnight and there was nothing the UNOE could do.

Another notable thing was that UNOE started reclaiming the lost star systems behind alpha century that only had at most a squadron of Briaan frigates as a garrison force in each system.

But since they had no habitable planets only the barrens ones and gas giants the UNOE wasn't that enthusiastic about it.

The year is now 58 of the UNOE calendar and Aurora dressed in her civilian clothes, who looked no older than twenty because she already received her dose of genetic medication stood in front of Draculas statue on Earth.

The 100 meters tall statue consisted of Dracula holding the UNOEs flag which fluttered in the air with full of holes Einherjar inserted into the Xeno flagship next to him and alpha centaury prime below.

A bunch of candles and flowers were placed next to it with photos of those who died in the alpha century and letters of thanks from those who got rescued in the process.

"Pops I decided I want to join the fleet!"

Hans son who was already 14 said only to get the back of his head slapped by Hans.

"Over my dead body brat!"

Seeing her father's and brother's antics Han's daughter couldn't help but giggle.

"Dad you served on god killer what kind of person the marshal is really?"

Han's daughter asked curiously while staring at Draculas statue.

Hearing his daughter's words Hans who had lost his beer belly long ago and looked no older than twenty now couldn't help but muse over his words in his mind for a moment.

"He was a man with balls of steel"

Hans answered as he emphasized the word was causing his daughter to raise an eyebrow.

"Dad what do you mean he by was?"

Sigh*

Hearing this Hans couldn't help but sigh because although Natasha said that Dracula sustained serious injuries but his life wasn't in danger and was currently being treated by the best of the best it was already 10 years.

And no one has heard a whiff about him or seen him ever since plus he talked with the ones that retrieved his body on his way back to Earth whose lips became loose courtesy of illegally produced moonshine onboard the ship he was traveling.

"Sigh* Dont ask"

Hans once again sighed as he said only to spot Aurora from the corner of his view as he did he immediately snapped to attention.

"Mam!"

"At ease"

Aurora with an eye patch on her right eye which got replaced by a biomechanical one because a piece of bridges shrapnel had lodged itself into her eye during the battle of the alpha century who returned to her ice-berg queen long ago and became even colder said.

As she placed a bouquet of flowers next to the hundred others.

"Kid listen to your father and don't join the navy unless you want to die"

Aurora said after facing Han's son only to hear a little girl cry out excitedly.

"Mom! Mom! When I grow up ill join the fleet and beat all the bad guys just like the hero did!"

The little girl said as she jumped in place while pointing at Draculas statue.

Hearing this Aurora couldn't help but sigh.

When will this war finally end Drac? How many more do have to die in the name of peace?

Aurora asked in her mind.

...

As Reed who looked no older than 30 sat down in his chair, he couldn't help but sigh as he faced the tank with Dracula's naked body connected to a bunch of cables floating inside it.

"Maybe it's for the best that you don't wake up kid"

Reed couldn't help but say, because what he did in order to save Drac was simply too immoral and unethical even for him.

In fact, when he first saw Dracs body he thought that the grieve stricken Ares was hallucinating but upon getting urged by Ares and inspecting his vitals his worldview completely turned upside down.

Because considering the state he was in it was completely illogical for him to be still alive it was only after he watched the videos recovered from Briaans ships and Einherjars cameras that he understood.

Heck, what who is he trying to deceive he couldn't understand shit no matter how many brain cells he killed, at one moment he even started believing in gods and he was a hardcore atheist that only believed in science.

Although he used the most cutting-edge technology they still had to practically rebuild his body from scratch.

So the current Dracula was basically a biomechanical person instead of bones he had a mechanical skeleton whose ribcage was one solid plate built from Plasteel alloy which was reverse-engineered from empires wrecks.

He still had his original organs that they managed to regenerate but they couldn't keep up with his new body's demands.

So he had to install additional biomechanical heart and lung among dozens of other cybernetic implants heck he even had to install a mini cold fusion core that was also reversed engineered from Briaans wrecks inside him.

His right eye remained but the left one got replaced by a biomechanical one while his muscles, hair, skin, and blood vessels together with his genitals were made in a lab by using death roes prisoner's genetic material mixed with Briaans extracted from their corpses.

But apart from that he did his best to keep his height, shape, and everything else from his tattoos down to his last scar the same so that when he woke up he can adapt to his current existence easier.

After doing the routine checkup Reed stood up and exited only to bump into his daughter.

"Lilith"

"Dad"

Both of them just stared at each other.

"He is alive isn't he?"

Lilith asked the same question she kept asking for the past ten years and like always Reed remained silent neither denying it nor confirming it.