Chapter 674 Hidden Intentions The face of Augustus held a pained grimace every time Lamia spoke as if the action caused him great pain, this was notable because the former General had become used to pain, and so it could be imagined that carrying the remnants of Lamia inside him was truly painful. "You said the same thing about our target on the last twelve worlds and yet we found everything but what we seek, are you sure your senses are still working as they should? Or should I remind you again about the dangers we are facing and how easily we can lose our lives? I rescued your remains because you promised me results." Lamia crooned like an irritated cat. "I would have tracked her more easily, but no thanks to you eating me, you rabid animal, I had to take some time to build myself from the fragments that remained, I barely had anything to work with bitch, and only my ingenuity had truly brought us to this place after all the obstacles placed on our path. You have fucked my life enough as it is, be quiet and let me work my magic." Absomet replied distractedly, her left eye was metallic, the orbs glowing red as they rotated in their sockets scanning the area, while the right eye was still human, although not for long as the beautiful blue eyes of the girl slowly eroded, replaced by cold metal. The last of her flesh was gone, leaving a woman of metal behind, and Absomet sighed in relief, the cries of the mortal child had become a nuisance after years of listening to it. Her capabilities were not what it was before or she would have trained up the girl to be a worthy soldier, such fortitude to bear the pain of assimilation for years was rare. The least she could do was to save her genetic information inside her databases. When she returned to her previous heights, she would create a legion of soldiers using her genetic code. As payment for her sacrifice, Absomet was determined to make the girl the progenitor of her armies. Beside her Augustus's eyes sagged in sorrow, he had thought that in his life if he could only save at least one person it would count for something. He did not want to die without saving a single soul, and this final act of madness and defiance was refused to him 'The universe wants my anguish to never end. What was I thinking when I sought absolution? My suffering is just beginning.' Lamia did not care about what went on in the mind of her Host, she had felt the physiological reaction to the death of the girl, and this gave her pleasure, but it was not what she was focused on at the moment, her patience was wearing thin as the search for Rowan continued, that anomaly could be the difference between life and death, "The fragile connection with my main body is dying, and I believe we are quite a fair distance from empire-controlled Territory. I will begin rebuilding my army on this world and my Champion shall now search for the traces of Rowan if you believe he can be our salvation." "Is that wise?" Absomet said, "We are just a thousand light years away from Trion and the light of Intent can easily reach them." It would be a bad thing for Absomet if Lamia began rebuilding her armies while she was in such a fragile state, but she did not let this emotion show, even though she knew this monster could guess a portion of her thoughts already. "Unlike you, I don't need a crutch like Intent" Lamia savagely replied. Unknown to Absomet, Lamia had reached the Limits of what she could create as she was just a tiny portion of her true self, and unless she could slowly heal the damages done to her, and that would likely take millions of years, this was all she could manage, any more Abominations she created would not fall under her control making them nothing but mindless beast whose only desire was to slaughter and spread their numbers. Absomet leered at Lamia, her height was beginning to increase from the diminutive four feet seven inches of the young girl to five feet. Using Aether and pieces of exotic metals she had gathered over the years she began building herself. Absomet wanted to leave this process for later as she sought stronger metals, but if Lamia began creating more Abominations her position here would be reduced to a slave or worse, despite that she sneered, "Oh yes, I do sometimes forget you are nothing but a beast. Our cooperation is due to mutual benefits and we are not partners, do what you will but if you call the attention of the Empire on us, I shall leave you behind." Lamia chuckled and called out, "My Champion, find her!" "There is no need for that, for she is already here." One of the Desecrators whose wings were now dry enough to take flight leaped into the air accompanied by a loud blast as it beat its fifty-foot wings; it had not ascended for more than a few hundred feet before it suddenly stalled and collapsed to the ground with a loud boom. The Desecrator raised its nine heads to scream its irritation but its eyes widened as its decapitated heads simply fell with a dull thump, the eighteen eyes blinking in shock before they went still in death, a short while later those eyes exploded and the long stems of flowers and grass grew out from every opening in the skull. The massive body of the Desecrator stood still, its neck still raised, revealing neat slices where something, supposedly a sharp blade, had sliced through its neck. The wounds did not bleed but from the stump from its neck, green shoots began to arise and before long, a massive trunk holding green leaves and flowers of all colors raised from the stump, and in a blink of an eye, nine massive trees grew from the corpse of the Desecrator. The trees grew supernaturally fast until there was nothing left of the Abomination, as it had already been consumed as fuel for their growth, their strong roots that were harder than metal pierced the ground for hundreds of feet. When the trees stopped growing at fifty feet tall, their branches were already spread wide, with the beginning of fruits already growing in between the luscious leaves.