Chapter Twenty-One: A New Storm

A few minutes after Tassadar's departure, the Spear of Adun led the expeditionary legion into the star system.

"Executor Korvudar, the sensors have not detected any signs of life. The Fang King may have already escaped," reported the operator of the Spear of Adun to the fleet's commander.

"As expected. After all these years, his escape skills must have improved greatly," Korvudar nodded knowingly. The Fang King's successful evasion was no surprise to him, but he was far more interested in Tassadar's account of the Fang King's use of the artifact.

"Deploy our detectors to study the residual energies in this sector closely. Perhaps we can catch the Fang King's trail," Korvudar ordered. Several detectors flew out from the Spear of Adun, beginning their analysis of the energies throughout the star system.

After several hours of investigation, a phase technician reported to Korvudar, "Executor, our analysis of the battlefield's residual energy has uncovered an unusual force. Combined with Executor Tassadar's description, it is highly likely to be the power of the artifact. It appears that when he fled, the wormhole he created briefly collided with Tassadar's planet-shattering shot, causing some energy to disperse. I believe the empire's engineers can quickly upgrade our detectors based on these energy fluctuations. Next time the Fang King dares to use the artifact within our detection range, we will find him swiftly."

Korvudar nodded. The Fang King had already escaped, and the planet was destroyed; remaining here was pointless. Leaving a detector to maintain surveillance and retrieving the remnants from the previous battle, the Spear of Adun led the fleet out of the star system.

Upon receiving the Spear of Adun's report, the members of the Council of Light and Shadow could only shake their heads. The Fang King was far too cunning; capturing him would be an almost impossible task.

At this moment, a Khalai elder voiced an opinion: perhaps they could develop a long-range warship capable of striking as soon as the Fang King's presence was detected. This would prevent the fleet from falling into the Fang King's traps and eliminate the risk of him slipping away.

After thorough discussion of various proposals, the Council of Light and Shadow approved the development of such a weapon. Thus, after being dormant for thousands of years, the Imperial Weapons Research Division began designing new armaments. For many years, they had been maintaining and upgrading the equipment of the Protoss Empire, but it had been a long time since they last devised a new weapon.

In the year 4900 of the Khala Calendar, the engineers of the Protoss Empire developed a new long-range warship. The vessel was crescent-shaped and became known as the Storm Battleship. This innovative warship used an overcharged kinetic matrix to amass extremely potent and unstable energy. These energies converged within the hull, fusing into a sphere of highly charged particles, which was then launched at distant targets. The Storm Battleship could fire this sphere into subspace, achieving both faster-than-light travel and ultra-long-range strikes. Tests showed its range exceeded even the ship’s sensor limits, capable of crossing star systems to hit targets. Upon impact, the massive particle sphere triggered explosions rivaling the main cannon of a carrier, able to annihilate enemies with the element of surprise.

However, due to the overwhelming power of the Storm Battleship, even with the technology of the Protoss Empire, pilots were required to wear thick protective armor to shield themselves from the destructive energies saturating the ship’s interior. Since the weapon was powered by a kinetic matrix and unsuitable for installation on other ships, the engineers abandoned the idea of equipping it on the Spear of Adun.

While the Protoss Empire was developing new weapons, the Skrull Empire encountered a new civilization in Pegasus. This civilization had already established its own empire. After deciphering each other's languages, the Skrull Empire and the so-called Avebon Empire established friendly communications. Influenced by the Protoss Empire, the Skrull Empire had always advocated peaceful coexistence when facing unknown civilizations. But what they did not know was that the psionic temple organizations present in both empires had already initiated exchanges long before, benefiting from telepathic communication. Both sides had already agreed to a mutual defense pact.

As the Skrull Empire and Avebon Empire discussed development, they encountered a bizarre civilization. This civilization, upon encountering their ships, not only failed to open communications but immediately launched an attack. After losing several research vessels, the Skrull Empire and Avebon Empire had no choice but to warn the unknown civilization: further attacks on research ships would be considered an act of war. Unexpectedly, after issuing this warning, the unknown civilization responded with an all-out offensive.

The Skrull Empire allied with the Avebon Empire, forming a military coalition to counter this unknown empire. Since the enemy remained unresponsive, the Skrull Empire found it difficult to ascertain their sphere of influence. After engagements began, the Skrull Empire was astonished by the technological level of the unknown empire. Although their ships appeared to be nothing but heaps of scrap metal, they were unexpectedly robust, able to withstand the main cannons without shields.

Their tactics were even stranger. The junk ships always tried to close in. Due to the Skrull commander's negligence, the unknown empire's vessels approached Skrull ships, and then a shocking spectacle unfolded: several tentacles extended from the ships, penetrating shields and armor alike. Some ships struck in the reactor suffered massive explosions, while more were hit by tentacles, allowing countless unknown beings to board Skrull warships and initiate brutal boarding actions.

Caught entirely unprepared, the Skrull forces suffered heavy losses. The soldiers on board could barely resist the unknown intruders. Fortunately, only a few ships were captured. The Skrull commander decisively withdrew from the battlefield; the fleet was too close, and the seized ships could only be abandoned for now.

After the first defeat of the Skrull joint fleet, the Skrull Empire quickly adjusted its tactics, seeking to leverage its long-range advantage against these strange ships. Thus, the two sides entered a prolonged confrontation.

The Protoss Empire had long since noticed the conflict between the three empires. The aggressor was a peculiar civilization. According to Protoss engineers, this civilization possessed only a single consciousness, with all subordinate entities merely extensions of that primary mind. The Protoss Empire had tried to send envoys to communicate, but the civilization was extremely xenophobic and violent. When the Templar sensed deep malice emanating from the primary mind, the Protoss abandoned all attempts at contact, naming the civilization the Slaughter Swarm.

Though the Slaughter Swarm was exceedingly brutal, it was in the Protoss view merely a unique primitive civilization. According to the laws of Daou, the Protoss Empire could not intervene in conflicts between primitive civilizations unless genocide was involved. Thus, during the war among the three empires, the Protoss only dispatched detectors for remote surveillance.

Despite these restrictions, many within the Protoss Empire suspected the Slaughter Swarm was another of the Fang King's experiments, possibly another test subject. But since there was no direct evidence that the Slaughter Swarm was under the influence of the Dark Side, the Protoss could only closely monitor the conflict.

While the Skrull coalition was desperately resisting the Slaughter Swarm's assault, they received information from a frontline military base: several fleets of the unknown empire were heading toward a Skrull colony. This colony was a crucial transportation hub. If the unknown empire captured it, the frontline would lose support and the rear would be endangered. To defend this location, the coalition fleet abandoned their frontline engagements, concentrated their forces, and prepared for a decisive battle with the unknown empire's fleets.

"General, unknown spatial signals detected. Alpha fleet is here," the detector operator reported, having picked up signals from the unknown empire's vessels. Since the enemy's name remained unknown, the Skrull Empire simply named it Alpha.

"All hands, prepare to fire the instant those wretched things appear. For the Empire!" With the general’s command, all gun turrets turned toward the incoming Alpha ships.

As soon as the Alpha ships emerged from the jump point, they were met with a barrage of firepower. Under the coalition fleet’s onslaught, all invading enemy fleets were destroyed one by one. Yet the fleet commander felt uneasy. Though the attackers were numerous, they lacked the strength to truly oppose the coalition fleet. If the enemy’s main force was not present, where had it gone?

The commander broke into a cold sweat, urgently contacting the upper echelons of the Skrull Empire and the Avebon Empire. The Skrull Empire was safe and detected no enemy fleets, but contact with the Avebon Empire’s military leadership was lost.

His ominous premonition soon proved true. Hours later, catastrophic news spread throughout the coalition fleet: the capital of the Avebon Empire had been successfully raided by the Slaughter Swarm. Everyone on the planet had been devoured and assimilated by the Swarm, and the remaining colonies were under assault by Alpha fleets—facing imminent annihilation.

The coalition fleet immediately moved to support the surviving colonies, finally wresting a few from the jaws of the Swarm. The Avebon Empire was reduced to little more than a name. The news shocked the Protoss Empire; they had not expected the Avebon Empire’s capital to be destroyed in mere hours. Now, whether to intervene in the war became the new topic of debate for the Council of Light and Shadow.