Intergalactic conquest with an AI-Chapter 386: Ending a war to start another war. {4}

All of Xylos's officers could do nothing but stare in horror, realizing their previous fear had only scratched the surface of what true power looked like.

"Mom!?"

Ys's voice broke the tension like shattering glass.

She stood up abruptly, panic wide in her bright eyes, her composure instantly slipping.

Her body trembled... not in fear, but in alarm. Her voice cracked as she spoke again, softer this time.

"…Why is she here…?"

The Lady in White turned slightly, her tone still serene. "She is very upset, it seems."

Rex raised a brow beneath his helmet. "Ys's mother…?" He looked at Ys, then the rift, then back at the Lady in White. "This isn't about Xylos, is it?"

"No," she replied softly. "This is about me, it seems."

Rex's mind sharpened instantly, his hand reflexively wrapping around Cleo's waist. "You?"

"Yes," said the Lady, her voice was still calm but edged with intrigue. "It seems someone believes Im dangerous, you see～"

Ys's butterfly-like wings suddenly burst open from her back, glowing with a faint green light.

With just a few strong flaps, she shot up into the sky like a beam of light and flew straight toward the enormous green space rift high above the plateau where her mother, the Hive Mind Queen, had just arrived.

"Mom! What are you doing here!?" Ys shouted; her voice was full of frustration and panic.

She stopped just outside the edge of the space rift, flapping her wings to stay in place in the air. "This planet already belongs to me! I claimed it first! So don't even think about consuming it! I'm already sharing it with others!"

Her finger pointed accusingly toward the enormous, armored figure at the center of the rift, Xytrallia, the Hive Mind Queen herself.

The room beyond the rift was so massive that its size made even large cities look small. And there, Xytrallia sat like a mountain of power, her body covered in layers of organic armor, glowing with pulsing veins of green bio-energy.

Xytrallia's many eyes glowing emerald green slowly turned to focus on Ys, her daughter. Then, without a word, she shifted her gaze to the Lady in White, who stood calmly in the sky, as if the terrifying presence in front didn't affect her at all.

The tension in the air grew heavy as Xytrallia opened her massive, insect-like mouth. From within it, an emerald sphere emerged; it was perfectly round and glowing with energy.

The sphere floated silently out from the space rift and hovered in the air above the others, casting a green light over everyone. Then, slowly, the rift behind it began to shrink and close.

Everyone from Xylos, the generals, the officers, and even the battle-hardened soldiers couldn't help but stare at the glowing sphere in awe and fear. No one blinked. No one spoke. They could feel the power inside it… something ancient, something dangerous.

Suddenly, cracks began to spread across the surface of the emerald sphere. A soft humming noise filled the air as glowing lines formed across its surface like spiderwebs of light. And then the sphere broke open.

From within stepped a mysterious figure. It was a woman, or at least something that looked mostly like one. Her skin was pitch black, like the endless void of space, but it shimmered faintly with starlight as if tiny constellations were embedded in her body.

Two sharp, curved horns rose from her head, and in the center of her forehead sat a green crystal that pulsed with an eerie glow.

Although her shape was humanoid, it was obvious to everyone that she wasn't human. She turned her head slowly, her glowing green eyes scanning the area.

She looked first at Ys, then at Cleo, Lilla, the generals, the paladins… and finally, her eyes rested on Rex. She stared at him for a few seconds longer than anyone else.

Then, at last, she turned her eyes toward the Lady in White.

Her voice didn't come through sound but directly into the Lady in White's mind, telepathic and calm, yet filled with a warning.

"Why are you here?" she asked. "You know this breaks the old laws. Your actions are a violation of the ancient rules."

The Lady in White raised her head slowly; her voice sounded sweet and calm, almost like a lullaby, yet there was a sharp edge beneath it. "Mmm? And since when do guardians get to question me?" she replied with a smile, "Whether I act or not is none of your concern, little guardian."

A tense silence fell over the plateau. The Hive Queen's green glow pulsed slightly. Then, she let out a long, deep sigh that vibrated through the air.

"Your mere presence is a danger, even if you mean no harm," Xytrallia said firmly.

"There are still other Titan Beasts sleeping in this sector, ones far older than either of us. This land belongs to one of them. If your power stirs him from his rest, you will not be able to stop him… not in your current state."

The Lady in White's smile faded only slightly, but she did not respond immediately. A Hive Mind like Xytrallia could see it clearly: what stood here now was just an astral projection, a fragment of the true being that dwelled elsewhere, far beyond their reach.

And yet, even this projection held enough power to make entire armies kneel without lifting a finger.

"So what if I'm not strong enough to fight that beast?" the Lady in White replied, her telepathic voice proud and unwavering. "I have a big sister over there who is. If anything goes wrong, she'll handle it."

Her tone carried a sense of certainty, even defiance. Though her voice echoed only in the minds of those attuned to it, the strength behind her words rippled through the astral plane like a wave of thunder.

Xytrallia let out another long, weary sigh, her psychic presence shifting with unease."Yes… your sister could fight any Titan Beast in this entire galactic sector," she admitted. "But have you considered what the cost would be?"

She paused, then continued in a more somber tone.

"All the life forms caught between such titanic powers… cities, civilizations, entire ecosystems… gone in a flash. I don't know exactly how strong you are right now… but I do know this, if things turn chaotic, you won't be able to protect your son."

Those words struck like daggers.

For the Lady in White, an ancient being who had walked across galaxies and shaped stars with her will, there were few things in existence that could stir emotion within her. But this… this was one of them.

In a mere instant, the sky above Xylos fractured.

Cracks... thin as hairlines but stretching for kilometers spread out across the heavens like shattered glass. Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of silver-lit rifts tore open the fabric of space itself.

From within these rifts, enormous silver hands began to emerge, each one larger than a dreadnought-class battleship, armored in plates that shimmered with divine light. The air around the planet vibrated with divine pressure.

"Are you threatening me?" the Lady in White's voice boomed through the astral link, her presence now fully awakened and growing stronger by the second.

Her aura slammed outward like a cosmic wave. Across multiple worlds nearby, entire populations collapsed to their knees, Tier 4s were crushed unconscious, Tier 5s were paralyzed, and even the Tier 6 elites guarding Rex's team trembled beneath the divine pressure, sweat pouring from their faces as they struggled to stand.

But Xytrallia did not flinch. Her mind remained calm, though the green vortex of energy around her began to grow in intensity, forming a protective cocoon of bio-psionic force.

"I am not threatening you," she replied quietly. "I couldn't threaten you. I am just a simple guardian… one that cares deeply for her daughter and someone else important to me."

She looked briefly at Rex.

"And your presence here, in this unstable state, puts them in danger. Especially now that… you're infected."

The last word rang out like the toll of a dark bell, and the entire field of tension rippled again. That word carried weight... Infected... It wasn't thrown lightly, and it hinted at something far more sinister.

The energy between them spiked again. Space twisted. Planets on the edge of nearby systems began to flicker in and out of view as the two cosmic forces nearly collided. freewebnσvel.cѳm

And then suddenly everything stopped.

A small, strange creature appeared between them.

It was a stick insect. Thin, delicate, no bigger than a human hand. It stood upright on two hind legs, holding a green leaf above its head as if it were a flag of peace. It glowed faintly with soft, colorful energy that seemed to calm the violent currents around it.

A wave of tranquility spread outward.

In a single moment, both the Lady in White and Xytrallia felt their power suppressed, not by force, but by harmony. The surging stellar energies were sealed away gently, like flames being extinguished under the rain.

A voice, soft and gentle like the breeze in an ancient forest, spoke directly into their minds.

"Both of you… please, calm down."

The scent of moss, trees, and blooming flowers filled the air. The tension in the atmosphere vanished like mist under sunlight.

"Sister," the voice continued, "the guardian is right. You should not be here, not like this. Even if I can defeat the Titan Beast that sleeps beneath this planet… many innocent lives would be lost. Entire worlds would suffer. Even I would be gravely wounded by such a battle. So please… let's not go down this path."

The Lady in White, for all her divine power, slowly looked at the tiny stick insect with a complicated expression, one that mixed pride, annoyance, and affection.

Xytrallia, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes, recognizing the third presence.

It was her. The Eldest Sister. The one older than even the Lady in White. The one who had long withdrawn from the affairs of the stars, choosing to live in harmony with life itself.