Andromeda Galaxy, southern region. We do not know fear. Fear was an emotion that we had overcome a long time ago. In the distant past there were wars, in the distant past there was evolution, but today, there is stability. And from this stability, we have overcome our mortality. We are not Gods. We are something more, something better, something stronger. Our Emperor was the strongest of our civilization, at least that is what I thought until ’they’ fell from the sky like stars. ... My name is Faharah-Imo, my comrades in arms call me Faha. It was just another normal day in The Skaarith Empire, and just like every morning, I woke up, performed my Rituals to The Emperor, our Supreme Leader, and then went to eat. After eating, we train to improve ourselves. Our Race was genetically evolved thanks to our Emperor, and we have no weaknesses. We are strong, and everyone on this planet is under The Emperor, except for those Heretics from the northern continent. We are warriors, we are bred to kill, to wage war. All I have ever known in my life is this, and I feel no emotion other than the fervor of battle. I have served for 400 Cycles, and I am proud of my service. As I was performing my daily routine, suddenly, a deafening noise echoed throughout the surroundings. My brothers and sisters in battle began to run and scream. Quickly grabbing my gear, I ran along with them. "What’s going on?" I touched one of my comrade-in-arms’ four arms. "It’s an attack!" He shouted urgently. "Is it the bastards from the north!?" I growled as I watched my comrade-in-arms fiddle with the Skivart. "No, the attack is coming from… Above?" "… Huh?" Looking in the direction he was looking, we saw hundreds of figures falling from the sky with their bodies completely engulfed in flames. ’…What is this?’ Even with my eyes, I couldn’t see from such a great distance. Suddenly, a thunderous sound was heard, and our defenses were activated as several Energy beams flew toward the figures. As the attack hit the figures, a cloud of smoke burst from impact, but before I could understand what was happening, a roar, as if a beast was declaring its territory, was heard. "Gahhhhh." My brothers fell while holding their ears, but I continued to watch as I breathed heavily. A sensation like I had never felt before ran through my entire body. "…Is this fear?" I looked at my arms, which were shaking, and at my brothers and sisters, who were in a similar situation to me, with some even worse off than me. "Brace for Impact!" My comrade warned. As soon as his warning was given, booms echoed around us as those figures fell all over the base, and one fell right in front of us. Even though it had fallen from such a far distance, only a small crater was made. The creature was much taller than my brothers and me and wore strange armor. They only had two arms that were very different from ours and carried weapons that were very different from ours as well. My body immediately shuddered as I realized the identity of our enemies. "It’s an Akajaa! Warn everyone!" I grabbed my weapon and jumped towards it while shooting and approaching for the hand-to-hand combat that I was an expert in. My warning seemed to wake up my companions, who immediately got to work. The giant pulled something from its waist and pointed it at me. What I believed to be a weapon transformed into something larger, and I immediately sensed danger. Jumping to the left, I felt something burning past my face, and a comrade with a weapon fell behind me, but I didn’t have time to think about him because that giant was in front of me, brandishing its other tool in my direction. I tried to dodge again, but instead of it attacking as I had predicted, it kicked my face, and I flew away. In the meantime, I managed to turn my body and attack the giant who defended itself by simply raising its arm. Then, I heard the screams of my companions falling. I saw the enemy withdraw its attention from me and attack my companions with its weapon. Like an unstoppable force, it ran, crushing everyone in its path with its immense size. Everyone it ran over was turned into minced meat, and everyone who got close to it was cut or turned into nothing with the weapon in its hand. "Fkaaat!" I insulted it and growled angrily, jumping in front of it again, but I let my guard down. It wasn’t alone. Another giant, wearing armor similar to the one I was facing, appeared next to me and kicked my face once more. My world spun, and for a few seconds, I completely lost consciousness, but even in that state, I could still hear them. "Wait, Brother. Don’t kill that one yet." One of my battle brothers tried to kill the giant who’d spoken, but the projectile just bounced off its armor. For a few seconds, I saw that the armor glowed faintly like those statues in The Emperor’s room. The enemy turned to my battle brother and shot him, killing him. "…Those are not our orders, Brother. The alien scum must be killed, that is The Emperor’s will." "I know." The giant I was facing looked at me and spoke in this strange language that I had never heard before. "But look closely, Brother, don’t you see anything?" "..." The other giant looked at me. For a few seconds, I saw the eyes of its armor glow, and then it spoke in this strange language again. "… A trail." A light came out of the giant’s wrist and covered my entire body. They seemed to communicate with each other, and then they spoke again. "Yes, Commander, we will take him." "We will put him in containment." The giant I faced kicked my face once more, and my world spun again before I fell into unconsciousness. All I saw was several of these giants decimating each of my comrades in arms. ... Wearing her military uniform, Velnorah commanded the fleet that was attacking this planet after the Scanners detected a trail that led to another Galaxy. "Report," Velnorah spoke. "Yes!" One of the blonde operators stood up and said: "Just as we suspected, this entire planet is an ’experiment’ of the Upper Sectors." "Strangely advanced but very primitive technologies are all over the planet. The ’Skaarith’ Empire has an Emperor in Power who exhibits the same Energy and physiology as the Hive Mind discovered in our Galaxy." "The most likely theory is that unlike our Galaxy where the entire planet was taken over, on this planet only the leaders are the spies." "They were also responsible for infecting the entire population, huh." "Yes... An extremely disgusting virus is contaminating and giving ’strength’ to all the inhabitants of this planet. It seems that the two Emperors are playing a war game to leave the natural inhabitants of this planet in a constant state of conflict to progress them even faster." War breeds progress, it is a sad fact that is very true. "Is it possible to help these inhabitants?" Aline, who was accompanying Velnorah as a civilian, asked because she felt uncomfortable committing mass genocide. It was not in The Empire’s nature to do this, but they could not give free rein to these spies of the Upper Sector. Especially from a Faction so disgusting that it infects all its members with a virus extremely lethal to all living Beings and even the planet itself. ’... Feeling uncomfortable committing genocide? Me? A Demon from Hell where war is something normal? ... I’ve really softened, huh?’ Aline thought, slightly uncomfortable at the notion. But she did not dislike this ’sweetness’ of hers. It was just more proof that she had changed since meeting her Emperor and Husband. But don’t mistake her kindness for stupidity. She will feel a little bad, but she wouldn’t hinder The Empire’s goals because of feelings like that. "... I don’t know, Goddess Aline." The Operator spoke with a neutral expression. "All the results made by the Artificial Intelligence using the data from Goddess Ruby and Commander Velnorah identified that their genes are too mutated to help them." "If we had more data from their Ancestors, it might be possible to do something, but we don’t have that data on hand yet," Velnorah spoke as she processed various information she was receiving from the scanners and soldiers on the planet currently. The Operator nodded, and with some uncertainty, she said: "... The only solution I can think of right away is if The Emperor himself decides to intervene. He is the only one known in our data who has such proficiency in manipulating Life." Although The Empire was very powerful in several areas, there were areas in which they were still very limited, biology being one of them. Yes, they could clone living Beings, they could make these clones learn from the experience of their deaths, and they could even change someone’s Race with this technology. But... All of this depended on data. Extremely precise data. The only one who could do something like that without this data was The Emperor himself. For technology to try to do something similar to what he does, it would need thousands of years of advancement. This was in a scenario where it was possible to replicate this ability with technology. After all, there were limits to what technology could do when the subject involved a living Being... A machine that could alter the Soul, a territory that only Beings like Victor, who had Powers over the Soul, could touch... Such technology was in the Realm of Fiction. Although nothing was impossible, not for them. Perhaps it is impossible now, but who knows if it will be the same in the future. "The Emperor is busy right now, he can’t-." "I apologize for the interruption, Commander Velnorah." A soldier wearing full Imperial armor appeared, although there were some minor differences in this armor. On the chest, there was an extra space to accommodate the breasts, showing that the soldier was a battle sister. "It’s fine, Speak." Velnorah gave orders to prioritize the reports of the ’traces’, she would not reprimand her subordinate for doing her job. "We found another ’trace’." "Who was the individual now?" "Just like before, they were old figures who showed above-average strength." "They’re setting aside their product for when the Sectors open, huh," Velnorah spoke more to herself than to her subordinate. Their attitude was not unfamiliar, they were waiting for the diamond to separate itself from the trash. ’Probably all the ’trash’ would be used as food for this Faction.’ Velnorah thought. "Any sign of the World Tree on the planet?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 "...Its signature is extremely weak. It’s like it has no vitality. I’ve never seen such readings." The operator muttered at the end. "Wait a second... Weak vital signs? Show me the report." "Yes!" When a hologram screen appeared in front of Velnorah, the tall woman opened her eyes wide as she remembered seeing similar data in the past. "The planet is dying..." "Impossible, it’s still a young planet, it shouldn’t die like this..." Aline stopped talking when she saw the report. "They’re using the planet’s core as an Energy source..." "Are they stupid?" "It’s more like they don’t care..." Velnorah corrected: "Large Empires have enough resources to ’sacrifice’ some planets to replenish their resources. It’s also quite common to dedicate a planet to just one function, something like a planet solely focused on agricultural production." "This was very common in my Sector, although we would never sacrifice an entire planet. After all, we knew that as long as the planet was alive, there would always be ways to replenish resources thanks to the World Tree." "Even the other Emperors my mother faced in the past didn’t make such foolish decisions." "No wonder this planet looks so lifeless, huh," Aline spoke in contemplation as she looked at the planet through the window in front of her. "Yes, this planet is in its final days, the World Tree has no more Energy to nourish it.’ The Energy of the World Tree was not infinite, it was a symbiotic relationship. It nourished in the first few days, and the planet then gave it back and stored that Energy. By taking Energy from the core of the planet, they were literally taking Energy and not giving it back. Eventually, there would come a point where there would be nothing left. "Even if we did not kill these Beings, they would eventually die when the ’harvest’ comes. They will die with their planet," Velnorah said. "Which just proves that the Faction that is sending scouts doesn’t care at all about the logistics of things… It’s like they’re only interested in consuming, like a glutton that is always hungry." Aline said this attitude was very much reminiscent of the Demons of Gluttony. "Maybe..." Finishing her discussion with Aline, Velnorah ordered: "Dragonoids, capture all ’traces’ for study, strategically eliminate the entire population." "Operators, permission for orbital bombardment has been granted. Synchronize with the Artificial Intelligences of each soldier and bring everyone home by the end of the day." "Yes, Commander!" Velnorah stood up from her Command Chair. "What are you going to do?" "Search for the World Tree. I alone have more mobility than the Dragonoids." She informed as she continued walking while Aline followed her. "We can’t let her die, even if this planet becomes a lifeless sphere, the World Tree must remain alive." "…I see, Jeanne’s brother, huh." Aline immediately understood Velnorah’s goal. "Yes. But it’s also good to save someone from this massacre we’re wreaking… With the World Tree alive, the true inhabitants of this planet can revive once more in the future." Even if it happens naturally, the World Tree still keeps the Records of each Race it helped develop. They truly are the Soul of a planet, so it’s not impossible for a scenario in which the true inhabitants of this planet can be revived once more in the future. Normally, such a process would take thousands of years, but with Victor’s help, this process will be much faster. ’…Even Velnorah, a former Overlord and Empress, is a little bothered by this, huh…’ Aline thought. But just like Aline, these feelings wouldn’t stop Velnorah. As a former Empress, she was familiar with decisions that could make the population of an entire planet suffer. The weight of this responsibility was something a Ruler must bear. A good Ruler must never forget this feeling, or they will only become an idiot with an ego the size of a planet that believes they are above everyone and everything. Someone like Zeus. "I will be back soon." "Very well, I will take Command for now." Aline’s clothes changed from a Goddess’s dress to the outfit of a Military Commander. "Akasha, have you passed the information to The Empire yet?" "Yes, Mother. Any information about spies from the Upper Sectors is being transmitted as soon as it enters the System." "Good." .... Edited By: DaV0 2138, IsUnavailable If you want to support me so that I can pay artists to illustrate the characters in my novel, visit my pa treon: Pa treon.com/VictorWeismann More characters images in: Like it? Add to library! Don’t forget to vote to support the book if you like it.