This is Chrysalis.

Part 6

My assault soldiers traversed desolate landscapes, passing by the ruined skeletons of trees

and collapsed buildings alike.

Their footsteps crunching uneven piles of rubble, debris and concrete.

I had squadrons marching through every one of the planets many small towns, searching,

scanning, sending their data to my main body in orbit.

They were escorted from the air by a fleet of drones, flying through the thick grey clouds

of radioactive dust that now covered the entire world's atmosphere.

The Xenvarian bodies were not in underground refuges.

In fact, I hadn't found any of those so far.

No.

They were in the open, scattered, flung about by the hurricane-level winds caused by my

detonating 371 thermonuclear warheads all over the planet.

In parts of the main city, the destruction had been so severe that you couldn't distinguish

a leveled building from a gutted avenue.

I had to refer to the maps I made from orbit in order to direct my army to the most useful

locations.

All things considered though, the damage I had dealt to this planet was still less than

what the Xenvarians had unleashed on Earth.

Before being irradiated, this planet still had oceans for one.

You could call my actions merciful by comparison.

...