The Shi'ar Empire tried desperately to hide Gladiator's departure.
It failed.
The mont Gladiator appeared on the battlefield fighting for the Kryptonian Empire, the entire universe understood what had happened.
The legendary enforcer of the Shi'ar Empire had abandoned them and joined the mysterious Kryptonian Empire.
And honestly?
A lot of people had been waiting for exactly this opportunity.
The Shi'ar Empire constantly preached about maintaining peace while forcefully intervening in conflicts across the galaxy. The only reason their victims had swallowed their anger all these years was because Gladiator existed.
Nobody wanted to fight him.
But now?
Now Gladiator was gone.
Which ant old grudges suddenly ca due.
Almost overnight, the Shi'ar Empire was hit by coordinated assaults from every direction. Outer territories fell under attack simultaneously, suffering catastrophic losses.
Leading the charge was Thanos's Black Order, accompanied by the Chitauri and a swarm of allied factions.
They had been eyeing the Shi'ar Empire for a long ti already. If Gladiator had not repeatedly beaten Thanos into retreat in the past, the Mad Titan's "population control" crusade would have reached Shi'ar territory ages ago.
But things were different now.
Without Gladiator, the Shi'ar Empire no longer possessed anyone capable of stopping him.
So naturally, Thanos wasted no ti bringing his philosophy to them.
For Lilandra, the experience was a nightmare.
As one of the universe's three great empires, the Shi'ar had always stood above everyone else. That superiority had bred arrogance deep into Shi'ar culture.
Now that arrogance was being shattered.
The Shi'ar military itself was still powerful. Their empire had never relied solely on Gladiator.
But when the wall starts collapsing, everyone rushes in to kick it down faster.
The Shi'ar suddenly found enemies on all sides at once. Their military strength was impressive, but not enough to hold back the entire galaxy simultaneously.
And hovering around the edges like vultures were the Ravagers.
Any Shi'ar planet that fell imdiately attracted swarms of scavengers stripping it clean.
In the end, the Shi'ar Empire had no choice but to contact the Kryptonian Empire for help.
More specifically, they wanted Gladiator.
They hoped that after all his years with the Shi'ar, he might still help them survive this crisis.
The only reason things were not even worse was because the Skrull Empire and Kree Empire were too busy tearing each other apart to interfere. Otherwise, they absolutely would have joined the attack as well.
Gladiator hesitated after receiving the request.
His identity had changed.
He was now a Royal Knight and Supre Commander of the Imperial Guard, effectively equal in status to Esdeath herself.
If he participated in the Shi'ar war, outside observers would almost certainly assu the Kryptonian Empire had ford an alliance with the Shi'ar.
The problem was that Drex Valen clearly had no interest in such matters, and Gladiator did not dare make decisions on his own.
So he sought Drex's permission.
Drex refused imdiately.
At worst, the Shi'ar Empire would suffer severe damage. It was nowhere near total collapse. And even if it did fall apart completely, that outco would only benefit the Kryptonian Empire.
Gladiator ultimately declined the Shi'ar plea for aid.
To be fair, he did not owe the Shi'ar Empire anything anymore. The value of everything they had given him was nowhere close to what he himself had earned for them through war and conquest.
Then the Kryptonian Empire unveiled a brand-new military force.
And the universe was stunned.
The fact that these Kryptonians could transform into gigantic monsters was shocking enough.
But what truly horrified everyone was how absurdly powerful those creatures were.
Energy weapons barely scratched them. In return, the monsters could smash apart armored vehicles and war machines with casual swings of axes and hamrs.
They possessed trendous strength, terrifying durability, and, sohow, incredible agility despite their size.
On top of that, they could unleash devastating heat waves and fire thermal beams directly from their mouths.
They called themselves the Kryptonian Empire's super soldier corps.
The Burning Legion.
Unlike the Gray Knights or Black Knights of the Cosmic Knight Legions, the Burning Legion was built on an entirely different technological foundation.
Even more alarming were the Kryptonians within the Burning Legion who never transford at all.
Those individuals were even stronger than the transford super soldiers.
They referred to themselves as Super Kryptonians.
Unlike ordinary Kryptonians who required biochemical enhancent procedures, these Super Kryptonians were naturally powerful from birth and possessed multiple superhuman abilities.
Fortunately for the rest of the universe, the concept was not entirely unfamiliar.
The Skrull Empire already distinguished between ordinary Skrulls and Super Skrulls, so most civilizations accepted the idea quickly enough.
Still, the appearance of the Burning Legion revealed sothing deeply unsettling.
The Kryptonian Empire possessed fully mature super-soldier technology.
And the soldiers they produced were monstrously effective.
Entire armies were being slaughtered by single units.
"A loss of over thirty thousand Hulk soldiers?"
Drex paused after hearing the report.
What kind of situation could kill that many Hulks?
Even ordinary Red Hulks should not have died in such numbers.
Unless Carol Danvers had shown up again.
"One civilization resisted fiercely," the Black Queen explained. "They activated a planet-killer cannon and destroyed several worlds where the Burning Legion had deployed. The Hulk soldiers stationed there were unable to evacuate in ti."
A planet-killer cannon.
The ultimate deterrent wielded by advanced civilizations against weaker powers.
Very few lifeforms in the universe could survive direct exposure to such a weapon.
Anyone capable of tanking it was usually at Skyfather level or beyond.
Even Thanos preferred to run when facing a planet-killer cannon.
If not for the weapon's massive size and slow preparation ti, he probably would have been killed by one already.
That was also why the Black Order operated without a howorld. They remained aboard Sanctuary II specifically to avoid being erased by a surprise planetary strike.
"That's a pretty heavy loss."
Drex shook his head, though he did not seem overly concerned.
Dead Hulk soldiers were replaceable.
The Kryptonian Empire possessed cloning technology obtained from the Kree, and every abducted subject already had their genetic information extracted and archived.
New Hulk soldiers could be grown whenever necessary.
The Kryptonians accompanying them, however, suffered no casualties.
Their Kryptonian power armor was not decorative.
Even planet-killer cannons could not damage it.
Drex had even considered upgrading them to neutron-star armor once they fully awakened their biofields.
At that point, they truly would beco indestructible.
As for the civilization that had inflicted such losses on the Kryptonian Empire…
It was eventually crushed beneath the combined assault of the Burning Legion and the Cosmic Knight Legions.
The Cosmic Knights were the truly terrifying ones.
Even planet-killer cannons caused them minimal casualties. The adamantium covering their armor was simply too durable. Even Carol Danvers could not smash through it.
After the conquest, Drex declared that he would pardon the civilization's cri of causing such heavy losses.
In exchange, every surviving mber of that civilization beca a slave.
So would also serve as experintal material for the Imperial Research Institute.
Afterward, Drex used the Rainbow Bridge to travel to the dwarf realm of Nidavellir.
At this point in ti, Nidavellir had not yet suffered Thanos's invasion.
The dwarf race still thrived there.
The realm remained vibrant and full of life.
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