"...Alright now," Caesar said in a lower, steadier tone. "You need to calm yourself and refocus on your duties-duties that will bring you and your people even more doses of elixirs. Elixirs that will continue to increase your strength, sharpen your foundation, and ultimately help you reach the revenge you desire." He gestured toward her with two fingers.
"The elixir you receive every decade costs more than three hundred million Pearls. That single dose alone is almost equal to the entirety of what your old treasury once contained. You should be able to clearly feel what it's doing to you by now."
Renara nodded slowly.
The elixir erased the inherent limits imposed on her by the blood of the Nine-Tailed Fox-limits that were ant to permanently restrict her growth, preventing her from ever reaching a high-level Nexus State, or in so cases, blocking her path entirely.
But after several doses, she no longer felt those restraints tightening around her soul. The invisible chains had loosened. She had drawn dangerously close to becoming a high-tier Nexus State, and there was no doubt left in her mind- she could take yet another step beyond that point, advancing into a realm her ancestors had never even touched.
"...So you're telling to stay silent and obediently keep drinking elixirs," Renara said, her voice beginning low before gradually rising, "while those bastards continue living their lives in peace?"
"They're the only empire in the Pulse Star Field whose people live in true comfort and stability. They exist in the sa star field as us, yet they behave as if we don't exist at all-as if we're not holding the entire field at swordpoint!"
"Because they know we can't do anything" Caesar replied, rubbing between his brows in visible irritation.
"Without a thod that allows to gather all of them in one place and erase them with the press of a button, I will not move. That decision is final."
"But-!!" Renara shouted.
"Enough!" Caesar roared, his voice snapping like thunder.
"I understand perfectly well that the expansion of the Cradle Empire rests heavily on your shoulders. I know how much you contribute. But there are limits to how you wield that kind of authority. You cannot raise your voice at !"
Caesar waited for a mont, ensuring there would be no further outburst. When none ca, his posture eased slightly and his tone cooled.
"... Your contributions will not be wasted. Give three hundred years. Sothing will happen then-sothing decisive. After that point, we won't care nearly as much if information spreads about Nihari's location or my father's identity the way we do now. When that ti cos, you may do whatever you wish to them, and we will stand behind you. Understood?"
Renara clenched her hands tightly, her nails digging into her palms. This was not the first ti she had heard these exact words.
"Then... can you at least stop maintaining trade relations with them?" she asked through gritted teeth. "Can you stop strengthening them?!"
Caesar remained silent for several seconds before finally speaking.
"Your sister is a genius-unfortunately for us. She exploited the fact that the Twilight Spectrum Empire is the only empire in the sector that our swords have not yet reached. She was the mastermind behind establishing alliances with multiple millennial empires"
"...The Twilight Spectrum Empire told them they possess information about us -information we fear being made public. That fear is precisely why we hesitate to approach them directly. They even sent trade offers... or more accurately, offers of open extortion, wrapped in a distorted threat: accept them, or face the consequences. So we accepted." He rested both hands against his abdon. "Then they used the details of those agreents to further convince the millennial empires of their importance, reinforcing the idea that they are valuable, justified, and -most dangerously- that they truly hold critical information over us."
"Ah..."
Renara's eyes widened completely. This was the first ti she had heard any of this.
"You may have already heard rumors of this," Caesar continued. "There is a certain millennial empire that has begun clashing with us-intervening whenever we attempt to conquer specific forces within the Static Pulse Star Field, even though those forces are not officially part of it. They do so under the excuse of protecting their allies..." He tilted his head slightly. "That is their thod of asserting dominance and attempting to slow our rapid expansion. And that particular millennial empire is currently sponsoring the Twilight Spectrum Empire-supplying them with weapons, funds, and political cover, all in an effort to extract whatever information they can from them."
Renara's breathing nearly ca to a complete halt.
She could clearly see the fury hidden deep behind Caesar's calm, steady eyes. Beneath those composed features lay a volcano on the verge of eruption-an overwhelming pressure restrained only by iron discipline. He was expending every last fragnt of self-control simply to address her in such a asured, controlled tone.
The Centennial Cradle Empire -an empire that bowed to no one and feared nothing had been forced to submit and endure open extortion because of her sister. No... because of her. It was Renara herself who had leaked that information to her sister in the first place, unknowingly setting all of this into motion.
Without even realizing it, Renara lowered her head slightly, sha weighing down on her shoulders.
"I- I'm so-"
"No need." Caesar raised a single hand, stopping her words mid-breath.
"You've more than atoned for any mistake," he said, then forced a thin, clearly
artificial smile.
"What matters now is planning properly. From this point onward, that's all."
In a soft, almost fragile voice, Renara spoke again.
"What will you do about that millennial empire? You an the Seven Thrones Millennial Empire, right? They're not insignificant... not an enemy you can
simply ignore."
"And they're not so powerful that we can't stand against them either," Caesar replied, waving dismissively.
"They've crossed every boundary, and their provocations have grown frequent and blatant. Worse still, they're in discussions with other millennial empires, attempting to impose a blockade on us-under the reason that the Behemoth in Middle Sector 98 is backing both us and the Centennial Grave Empire." His expression darkened sharply, the calm cracking just enough to reveal
genuine anger.
"They're aggressively courting the Twilight Spectrum Empire, desperate to obtain the information they've claid to possess-but they will never get it. The Twilight Specters Empire isn't foolish. They know full well that leaking such information at the wrong ti would only hasten their own annihilation" "...At present, the Seven Thrones Empire is a millennial empire controlling roughly three thousand planets and around five to six hundred fleets. Tell - why should we fear them?" Caesar continued coldly.
"I, for one, will not wait until they succeed in extracting that information, nor until they manage to draw additional millennial empires to their side."
He tilted his head slightly toward Renara.
"It's good that you're here. I was planning to summon you regardless. I want
you to remain on Originus Planet for the next two weeks and attend the war
councils."
"War councils?" Renara exclaid in surprise.
"You intend to...?"
"I will issue one final warning to the Seven Thrones Millennial Empire, ordering
them to cease interfering in the star field," Caesar declared, his expression now
openly filled with anger.
"And when they refuse and I know they will then I will destroy them."
His voice hardened further.
"If the Two-Horned bastard in the neighboring sector is still alive while facing
the Millennial Holva Empire, even if he's barely so, then can't I do the sa?!"
He released a long, heavy breath and looked off to the side, speaking more to himself than to her.
"I just... We will need an imnse amount of funding to continue expanding while simultaneously attacking a millennial empire- funding that goes far beyond the two or three billion Pearls the Shadow Swords provide us with. I'm afraid I'll have to ask the Source directly."
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