Intergalactic conquest with an AI-Chapter 385: Ending a war to start another war. {3}

From the other two rifts, two more figures emerged, one on each side. Both had striking white hair and equally intimidating auras; their movements were smooth and calculated. Their bodies radiated pure power that made them look silent, cold, and disciplined.

One of the officers couldn't hold it in. His voice cracked as he shouted, "T-Tier 6!"

Shock spread across the plateau like a ripple through still water.

"It can't be…" another whispered, barely able to speak as sweat formed on his brow.

"So they were going easy on us all this time!?" someone else shouted in disbelief, his voice caught somewhere between rage and despair.

The northern general's hands curled into tight fists. His jaw clenched while his muscles trembled. The realization hit him like a hammer to the chest....

They had been toyed with. These beings... these monsters could have wiped Xylos off the map in mere hours if they had wanted to. Yet here they were, revealing themselves only now, after everything.

Three Tier 6s....

Even one of those legendary warriors was enough to destroy an entire city by themselves, bring it to rubble and leave no survivors. And now… there were three standing before them.

The weight of that truth pressed down on everyone present like a storm cloud, dark and suffocating. It wasn't just that they had lost... it was that they never even had a chance. The war had been decided long before the first shot was fired.

"Could they be from one of the megacorporations?" The northern general muttered to himself, his eyes narrowed as he studied the banners fluttering in the wind.

"But… I don't recognize any of those emblems... Still, those warriors... those Tier 6s... they're clearly nobles. Elite class. The best any megacorp can offer."

He clenched his jaw, now eyeing the elegant, still-empty chair.

{Wait a minute... if those Tier 6 nobles aren't sitting in that chair... then just who is it meant for?}

The thought struck him like a lightning bolt.

{A CEO? Could it be someone even higher? A Tier 7...? No… it couldn't—}

Before he could finish that terrifying thought, the ground suddenly began to tremble. The soil beneath everyone's boots shook with a deep, rumbling force, strong enough to knock cups from tables and send loose equipment clattering to the ground. The officers exchanged looks of confusion and alarm.

"An earthquake?" someone whispered.

"That's impossible… Xylos doesn't have earthquakes," another said while his eyes widened in panic. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

And then... it happened.... the sky above them cracked.

Thin, jagged lines of light like fractures in a glass dome began to spread across the heavens, glowing brighter with each second. The air rippled. The ground trembled harder.

The clouds above twisted violently, and bolts of lightning struck down in every direction, screaming like angry spirits.

The cracks widened. Time itself seemed to slow. And then it shattered.

The sky broke apart like a mirror dropped from the heavens.

From the gaping wound in space, a breathtaking sight emerged... a majestic, glowing blue planet floated in the distance, surrounded by a soft field of stars. Its moon, shining like molten silver, hovered beside it, casting pale light down onto the plateau. The battlefield had become a cathedral, and the stars were now its windows.

Then she stepped through.

A figure... no, a goddess... emerged from the rift. Towering at nearly five meters tall, she glided down as though walking on invisible threads of silk woven into the very air. With each step, the very fabric of space cracked beneath her delicate feet, unable to bear her powerful presence.

Her face was hidden behind a shimmering silver veil, but that only added to her otherworldly beauty.

Her dress flowed like liquid night, covered in constellations and trails of glowing petals that rained down with every step, vanishing as they touched the ground. Every movement she made was art... measured, graceful, and filled with unimaginable power.

And then came the pressure.

It fell like a wave across the plateau. A divine force that slammed down on the hearts and minds of all present.

Everyone... every single soul collapsed to their knees. Their bodies gave out on instinct, as though kneeling was the only acceptable response to a presence so overwhelming, so utterly sacred.

All except Cleo, Ys, and Lilla.

They remained seated, calm, and composed while being shielded by a shimmering field of crimson light generated by the nearby Blood Clan assassins, and Zynaria's protection surrounded them like an invisible fortress, holding the crushing pressure at bay.

But something strange happened to the paladins, the elite golden warriors who stood behind Cleo, still holding their banners high.

They were not crushed.

Instead, their bodies trembled, not in fear... but in joy.

Their eyes widened. Their breaths quickened. A radiant emotion lit up their faces, as if something deep inside their souls had just awakened. One of them dropped to his knees, not in pain, but in worship.

They had seen this figure before.

Not in person, but in sacred scriptures, in murals painted across temple walls, in the stories whispered by elders, and in the dreams of the faithful.

This was no ordinary being.

This was her....

The one they called the Lady in White....

The face of their religion... their divine protector.

"Mmmm~ There's indeed no danger here; you can come out now~." The Lady in White's voice rang like a song in the wind; it was soft, elegant, and layered with power. She turned her veiled face slightly toward the rift still pulsing in the sky behind her.

From within that glowing tear, another figure stepped through.

Rex emerged, tall and imposing, his form matching the divine stature of the Lady in White. In his arms, he gently carried the twins, one nestled in each. Their small hands gripped onto pieces of his armor with their eyes wide at the alien world before them.

But while the entire world around him knelt or gawked in stunned silence, Rex… felt nothing but pure, painful embarrassment.

He was not used to this sort of entrance.

{Why the hell is this necessary... this is way too much...} he thought to himself while his cheeks were burning under his helmet. At least the power armor hid his reddened ears and the way his shoulders tensed with awkwardness.

He landed just outside the transport ship where the golden paladins still stood, frozen in reverent awe. His heavy boots struck the ground with purpose, but his movements were gentle. He set the twins down carefully.

"Go rest in the transport," Rex told them softly. "I'll be back once we're done here."

The twins nodded obediently and turned toward the ship, their small feet splashing slightly in the mud as they walked back inside, guarded instantly by two of the paladins.

Rex straightened up and noticed the paladins watching him, not with curiosity, but with reverence, their expressions barely hidden behind their helmets.

He simply gave them a nod in return.

Then he began his walk toward the metallic platform, the throne of negotiations crafted by Cleo. And there she was... standing at its edge, waiting for him.

She didn't speak. She didn't need to. Her golden eyes locked onto his the moment he drew near. She stood as a queen waiting for her king... not with longing, but with certainty. Like she knew he would always come back.

"Thanks for waiting," Rex said with his voice being as low as a gentle whisper.

As he approached, his towering form shimmered, metal folded inward, and nanostructures retreated as he shrank to a more human size. The living armor collapsed smoothly into the golden circle on his back like obedient liquid, leaving him clad in a sleek, dark command suit beneath.

He reached the empty chair.

The chair that had been waiting for him since the very beginning.

He sat down...

Cleo was about to follow, turning slightly to take her own seat, when Rex reached out and gently took her arm.

Without a word, he pulled her toward him and settled her onto his lap. She didn't resist... didn't even blink. She simply gazed at him, unbothered, unreadable, her golden eyes shining like twin suns behind that elegant poker face.

She didn't speak.

But the corners of her lips curved ever so slightly, as if her mechanical heart had just skipped a beat.

"Well then, gentlemen," Rex began speaking, his voice being calm but resonant as he glanced at the assembled officers of Xylos.

"Forgive me for the delay, but as you can imagine, traveling across the galaxy without wormhole tech is... well, let's just say it's a pain in the ass." He allowed himself a faint chuckle, shifting slightly with Cleo still on his lap.

He was about to continue when—

"Wait a moment, my son."

The voice of the Lady in White, sweet yet absolute, sliced through the air like silk wrapped around a blade.

Rex stopped mid-sentence and turned toward her.

"There is someone," she continued, her veiled face now turned to the far horizon, "carrying a great deal of anger. She's coming... now."

Everyone instinctively followed her gaze to what looked like nothing but empty air in the far distance.

Then the sky tore again.

A green space rift opened... smaller than the one the Lady in White had used, yes... but the power pouring out of it was no less terrifying.

The air went thick. The very ground seemed to groan in protest beneath everyone's feet. And from within the rift… something moved.

A gargantuan creature, vaguely insectoid and covered in natural armor, began to push its way through the portal. Its limbs were clawed, its form partially obscured by layers of bio-energy.

Behind it, several other titanic beasts followed... each one monstrous, each one bearing the unmistakable aura of pure, unfettered wrath. The air vibrated with their presence, their growls deep enough to make organs tremble.