"What is this?" the Elder Shroud’s voice carried heaviness that made reality itself seem to recoil.
"Who dares interfere with our operations?"
King Edmond studied the Harvester’s distinctive design with the analytical gaze of soone who had learned to identify threats by their signatures.
"Astral Forge Consortium," he said finally, his tone carrying distaste.
"We have history with them- territorial disputes, resource conflicts, the usual tedium. But if it’s only a single Stellar Genesis Embodint entity, which is what my senses indicate, then it’s nothing that should concern us too much."
His voice took on the casual confidence of soone accustod to overwhelming superiority.
"The two of us working together should be more than sufficient to handle whatever they can deploy!"
WAA!
The Elder Shroud’s form rippled with displeasure.
"I did not ally with you to participate in your personal conflicts. My agreent was for a specific operation, not involvent in your broader wars."
King Edmond’s gaze hardened, the easy charm that usually characterized his expression giving way to sothing more dangerous.
"Your support in this battle is not a request. We are bound by agreents that extend beyond your personal preferences."
The tension between them was palpable, two powers locked in a mont of mutual antagonism while greater forces converged around them!
But before their dispute could escalate further, the Harvester began emptying its contents.
Dozens of figures erged from the massive vessel, their forms blazing with the distinctive auras of Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendents.
They spread out in a coordinated patterns!
At the formation’s heart, two figures descended toward the confrontation with deliberate confidence.
The first blazed with silver radiance, her augnted form radiating the enhanced power that marked her as sothing beyond ordinary Stellar Genesis Embodint.
She moved with predatory grace, every gesture speaking of soone who had never doubted their ability!
The White Smith Star smiled as her gaze fixed on King Edmond, and the expression was sharp enough to cut space itself.
"There you are!" she called out, her voice carrying across the void with crystalline clarity. "One of the Five Kings of the Virgo Stellar Expanse, exactly where we expected to find you!"
The words struck King Edmond like physical blows.
His casual confidence evaporated, replaced by sothing approaching panic!
These weren’t random enemies who had stumbled across his operation- they had co here specifically for him!
It ant they had planned for him.
They had known his location, his timing, his presence in this region of space.
How? The question burned in his consciousness. Was there a traitor in his ranks? Had soone betrayed his movents to his enemies? What intelligence networks had he failed to account for?!
HUUM!
Beside the White Smith Star, a second figure descended with movents that carried an entirely different quality of threat.
Where she radiated enhanced power and predatory enthusiasm, he moved with the careful precision of soone who had already calculated every possible outco and found them all acceptable.
The Last Adrastia Emperor King!
Achilles studied King Edmond and the Elder Crimson Shroud with the detached interest of a naturalist observing specins.
Through countless applications of Continuum Vision, he had watched these beings across multiple tilines.
He knew their tactics, their preferences, their likely responses to various forms of pressure. Most importantly, he knew their weaknesses...the fractures in their alliance that could be exploited with the proper leverage.
His gaze shifted montarily to the world below, where desperate defenders still clung to hopes of survival.
They had no idea how valuable this world truly was, what secrets lay buried in its core that King Edmond would have eventually discovered and claid for himself.
But Achilles knew!
He had seen those futures too, watched tilines where King Edmond’s power grew beyond containnt through resources harvested from this very world.
That would not be allowed to happen.
When he spoke, his voice carried across the void with quiet authority, each word precisely chosen for maximum psychological impact.
"We are here for King Edmond alone," he said, his gaze fixed on the Elder Crimson Shroud. "We have no quarrel with you or your kind. You can avoid this conflict entirely by withdrawing now...while withdrawal remains an option."
The words were a masterpiece of manipulation, designed to exploit the existing tensions between the uneasy allies!
Beside him, the White Smith Star smiled with genuine appreciation...Achilles had briefed her on his psychological warfare tactics, and she was more than willing to play her part in the strategy he had crafted!
The effect was imdiate and devastating.
The Elder Crimson Shroud went perfectly still for several heartbeats, its massive form processing the weavings of what had been offered.
Then, without warning or ceremony....
BOOM!
It began ascending rapidly toward the upper atmosphere, its lesser Shrouds following in its wake!
"If this does not concern us," its voice echoed across skies, "then I see no reason to participate!"
...!
What!
King Edmond’s roar of rage could have shattered planets!
The obsidian particles of his Regulation of Carnage erupted around him like a living storm, reality itself bending away from his fury.
"You fucking eye!" he howled. "You swore binding oaths!"
....!
But the Elder Shroud was already beyond reach, its form disappearing towards Outer Space!
Alone now, facing enemies whose capabilities he couldn’t accurately assess, King Edmond did what ca naturally to beings of his nature...he attacked with overwhelming force and absolute prejudice.
The black moon above the world suddenly lurched into motion, its trajectory shifting toward the White Smith Star with acceleration that defied its apparent mass!
Behind it ca waves of destructive energy that would have sterilized entire stars, the full fury of the Regulation of Carnage unleashed without restraint.
The White Smith Star’s smile beca sothing beautiful and terrible as she simply vanished, her enhanced capabilities allowing her to traverse fast!
She reappeared above the retreating Crimson Shroud just entering outer space, her augnted form blazing with power as she brought both hands down in a strike designed to split the creature’s massive eye in half.
...!
The betrayal of their alliance had made it an acceptable target, and she intended to claim a prize worthy of her enhanced abilities first.
Kill one Stellar Genesis Embodint, then take care of the other.
Below, facing the approaching moon of annihilation alone, Achilles raised his hand with movents that seed almost casual.
Around him, purple-blue waves of light began to coalesce, space-ti itself responding to his will as if eager to serve.
The Regulation of Carnage pressed against his consciousness like a physical weight, its influence seeking to corrupt and consu everything it touched.
But Achilles had faced many things.
He had stared into the heart of his own potential destruction and erged stronger for it.
As the black moon approached with the inevitability of gravity itself, Achilles spoke a single word that carried with it the weight of absolute authority.
"Assimilate."
...!
The void itself seed to hold its breath, waiting to see what would happen when irresistible force t immovable object in the space between stars!
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