"Hold on a bit more!"
"This is the finale!"
"We'll be victorious once we survive through this!"
The soldiers on the wall roared in a battle frenzy as they unleashed attacks nonstop at the Centingers. Spikes from artillery strikes numbering in the thousands rammed into their defences.
The war between humans and Centingers reached its climax, becoming more and more dangerous to be a part of. None among the Centingers had reached a good enough lead to become victorious. As a result, they were getting restless.
There were only ten days left for the mating season to end. This didn't just mean the end of their battle for points, but rather, the female Centingers would no longer be in heat after these ten days.
Therefore, if they were unable to have a decisive victor, the mating season would end up in a failure. It wasn't just that. Due to the stalemate, as many male Centingers had racked up a high number of points, it would take time to tally through them all.
By the time the process was concluded, even if a winner was picked, it would be too late. What's the use in becoming a winner if they couldn't mate with the female Centingers?
As a result, the male Centingers wished to obtain a decisive clump of points that would tip the scales of victory to their side. Moreover, in their culture, tallying points only began after all the enemies had been neutralised.
Hence, they had to end this war well in advance, with enough time for the points to be tallied, the winner determined, and finally, sufficient time for the winner to mate with all the females before the mating season ended.
There were more than three hundred female Centingers. Give or take an hour to mate per female, that would still result in more than twelve days. It meant that even if they were to conclude the battle now, there wouldn't be enough time for the winner to go through all females.
The Centingers had a mating season only once a century. With a lifespan of 590 years, depending on their fertility, a Centinger could at most go through three mating seasons. This was only in the most exceptional of cases.
The majority of the female Centingers were only fertile enough for two mating seasons. Therefore, they were adamant about receiving a worthy male's seed. And if they failed to receive one, they would go ballistic.
This was why Ellora City was razed to the ground by the female Centingers. Because, when all the males were killed, it terrified them. What if no male Centinger made it out alive? Since they were all chasing after worthy targets, which were all strong enough to get them killed, a total wipeout on their side wasn't uncommon.
It had happened at Ellora City. That rustled their reverse scale. In their fear, anger, and frustration, they vented on the city.
And now, the female Centingers camping far away from the Capital City were in a similar condition. All the female Centingers part of their colony had gathered together, watching the rest of their males in action.
They were smart enough to calculate, understanding that by now, at least sixty females wouldn't have time to receive seed from the victorious male. Their screeches were thunderous, and angry, expressing their frustrations on their incapable males that hadn't killed the enemy by now.
They were itching to destroy their enemies. At least, that way, they would have enough time to collate the scores of the surviving males and complete their mating season. At least that was better than all the females ending up unmated.
Four golden chakrams flew across the skies, three of them which targeted the strongest Millinger. The last chakram targeted the severely injured Millinger that had no shell protecting its main body. This was the Millinger targeted by Inala before.
Fhoong Brimgan avoided killing the weakened Millinger and instead focused all his attention on the stronger Millinger. He wanted to kill it and ensure the weaker Millinger survived.
With that, as long as he endures for ten more days, the mating season would end. He hoped the Millingers and Centingers would retreat after that.
This was the first mating season where Millingers appeared. So, even he was unsure as to what he had to do. But after hearing from his scout reports and knowing what had happened to Ellora City, he had come up with the current plan.
Male Centingers survived amongst the groups that attacked the other cities. Only the group of male Centingers attacking Ellora City were wiped out. Hence, the female Centingers observing that group exacted revenge on Ellora City and wiped it clean.
Therefore, Fhoong Brimgan intended to spare the weaker Millinger while killing the stronger one. This way, the pressure on the Capital City would reduce while also not garnering the female Millingers' wrath.
There were eight female Millingers. It was impossible for Fhoong Brimgan to face them and survive to tell the tale. Therefore, this was the only feasible option.
'It seems that is his thought.' Inala analysed calmly as he arrived at the rooftop of the tallest building in the Capital City, standing there in his female form. He stood tall, observing the state of battle, using the memories of the female Centinger he had absorbed to conclude, 'Unfortunately, there's no way out of this situation.'
Currently, twenty percent of the females wouldn't have the time to mate with the victor before the mating season ends. Based on their psychology, the moment this percent reaches twenty-five, i.e., one-fourth of the females losing their opportunity to mate, they would revolt.
To end the battle and begin their mating process, all the female Centingers would participate and rush their enemy, razing it down to ruins as quickly as possible.
Whether or not the males survived didn't matter. The mating process wouldn't begin as long as the enemies designated as the target for the hunt remained strong. If the enemy was still alive, the females wouldn't be excited enough to mate, no matter how strong their urges were.
Therefore, even if they were to receive a male's seed, they would fail to birth their progeny. Hence, no matter what, the Ganrimb Kingdom's ruin was guaranteed.
Inala looked around and took in the sights of the Capital City, basking in its grandeur, knowing very well that in fifteen hours, it would be in ruins.
He then descended the flight of stairs and rushed through the streets, barging into a house at the corner of the city, the farthest from the battlefield. The people within had gone to a shelter. Hence, the house was empty.
He arrived at the basement and used psychokinesis to lift a door leading underground. The door's underside was covered by a layer of Prana Bomb, allowing him to control it. It led into the underground tunnel he had dug into the city from the outside.
He peeked in and stared at the group of Empyrean Zingers carrying a large canon, "Oh, it's finally ready. Great!"
He grunted and carried out the canon, becoming ready to attack, "This time, the one unleashing an artillery strike would be…"
"Me!"