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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝟖: 𝐍𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 (4)
Drataiden ships, with their massive gears partially exposed, make their way toward a planet, thrusters blazing.
【In the Andromeda Galaxy, the Quakacor and Drataiden split the dominion equally.
These beings have replaced their bodies with machines, save for their brains. This demonstrates the Drataiden species’ significant progress in transcending the physical form and their inclination toward transcending machinery.
“I don’t understand that the Hive Alliance, the Quakacor rather than the Chimeraz, controls the largest galaxy in the Local Group of Galaxies.”
【The Sagittarius Dwarf is under the Hyraguroa. The Canis Major Dwarf is under the Parahtoria. The Hive Alliance controls the Sculptor Dwarf Constellation. The Chimeraz controls the Large Magellanic Cloud. How many galaxies have the Chimeraz and the Hive Alliance taken over by now?】
【The Reptured also expressed similar doubts, suspecting that humans were purposefully ceding territories to the Chimeraz. Originally, the Milky Way Galaxy belonged to humans, so why is the Chimeraz capital on Hecartra in the human galaxy? And why do humans tolerate this?】
【Humans and the Chimeraz. The two emotional species have been hostile and intensely hateful toward each other since the beginning. It’s incomprehensible that these two species would join forces.】
【The Lomro-or suffered the same fate.】
【Perhaps there are unknown connections between humans and the Chimeraz.】
As the small talk continues over the communication network, the Drataiden fleet approaches an unnamed planet.
【Axial tilt: 3. Average temperature index: 320. Gravitational pull: 16. Approximately 51 indigenous life forms. Confirmed that long-term organic activity is possible in the environment.】
The planet they approach is a desert-like wasteland with patches of sparse vegetation and a small number of life forms.
For the machine-transcendent Drataiden, the planet’s mineral reserves, energy sources, and strategic accessibility are more important than its environment.
Even so, the Drataiden fleet’s main reason for approaching this planet is to claim territory.
【A planet that meets the criteria sought by collective consciousness forces.】
The Quakacor. And the collective consciousness species that follow the Quakacor, under the Hive Alliance.
To seize a planet that would be desirable for them and make it Drataiden territory.
【Commencing planetary standardization process.】
The Drataiden fleet surrounds the planet from all directions. The gears rotating on their ships heat up to a red-hot temperature, creating their magnetic fields.
【Electron overcharge complete.】
Crackle! Bam!
Destructive electricity immediately bursts forth from the magnetic fields, striking the planet like cosmic lightning.
Rumble. . . !
Simultaneously, lightning induced by the Drataiden fleet appears all over the planet’s sky. Lightning bolts of negative charge, traveling at near-light speed, strike the planet’s ionosphere in bolts tens of kilometers in size, creating a spectacle of red light due to the oxygen in the planet’s atmosphere.
Red lightning strikes down from the sky over every continent, setting fire to plant life with cell walls. And the incessant, blazing red lightning sweeps across the desert, consuming the flora and fauna in a firestorm.
【Surface pulverization may commence.】
Even after the planet-wide lightning and firestorm, some tiny life forms tenaciously survive. Those that survived the lightning strikes, the heat of the flames, and the oxygen depletion caused by the fires were underground.
【Activating Rioters.】
【Eliminate any remaining organic life underground.】
So the Drataiden fleet, having detected signs of life, deploys massive, gear-like mechanical assault tanks to the surface.
Chug-a-chug-a-chug!!!
The rolling machines called Rioters crush the ground and hills with their physical rotational force. Meanwhile, the red lightning continues to strike, and the Rioters themselves spray flames, literally scorching the seeds of life.
【Planetary standardization complete.】
The Drataiden fleet lands on the lifeless planet en masse.
The Rioters that had been rampaging across the surface return to the fleet. Subsequently, the hybrid intelligent machines of the species’ combined minds and artificial intelligence forcefully construct various facilities on the desert.
On the flat terrain, they build power plants, warehouses, server hubs, munitions factories, military bases, shipyards, landing strips, surface-to-air defense bases, and more. And steep, rocky areas are directly blasted with large drills carried by the ships.
The resulting mines are immediately put to work by the Drataiden’s rolling machines, beginning the extraction process.
🔷🔷🔷
An era of peace led by the New Universe Civilization Union and the Hive Alliance.
Unlike in the past, there is no need to worry about being invaded by another species while developing a planet.
Therefore, the majority of the Drataiden fleet’s ships have landed on the planet, investing their substantial labor force into development.
【An approaching mass detected in deep space.】
At that moment, a small number of ships in the planet’s geostationary orbit witness tentacled objects approaching from the distant cosmos.
【Bio-oriented fleet. Lower Controller, analyze the organic form.】
【Not the Hyraguroa. Too large.】
【Not the Parahtoria. The shapes of their ships are uniformly standardized.】
【Not the Chimeraz. No known Chimeraz entities detected.】
【If not Chimeraz entities, then not the Ririm either. The Ririm only use Chimeraz vessels as hosts.】
Compared to Chimeraz vessels, these entities have many more teeth and tentacles haphazardly attached. Each vessel has a significant number of eyes, and the appearance of each vessel is quite different, giving them a very different look from Chimeraz fleets.
【Closest match. The Quakacor.】
【Attempting communication.】
The Quakacor fleet continues approaching the planet the Drataiden are developing. Meanwhile, communication is established, and the two species use human language spoken aloud as their standard.
➖We are Drataiden developers. We demand that the Quakacor fleet approaching the planet we have claimed halt its advance.
➖I am the embodiment of the master’s thoughts. The children adapting to the climate of that planet have reached out to us through our wave network, screaming in agony. So we have come in haste.
➖Screaming? What do you mean?
➖That desert planet was an area where we the Quakacor took root first. We spread organic matter throughout the arid environment, filled it with oxygen, and planted children with cell walls, like plants.
A claim.
The spark for that.
➖According to our analysis, there were no indigenous life forms on that planet that match the genetic profile of the Quakacor.
➖Do not speak as if you know all the genetic profiles of our species.
The disembodied entity continues to press.
It presses, knowing the answer.
➖Surely you didn’t wipe out the children who were spreading life on that planet?
➖. . . .
➖Our master felt the red lightning and the agonizing flames. It felt similar to the Drataiden’s ‘planetary standardization’ process. . . . So it was your people’s atrocity after all.
However, the Drataiden do not apologize.
In their eyes, the Quakacor are cunning monsters with savage, primitive, and destructive tendencies.
➖Why didn’t you inform us in advance that this planet belonged to the Quakacor when our fleet approached the planet?
➖Because they were immature children. They were children who couldn’t yet open their eyes and gaze upon the greater cosmos.
➖You should have deployed at least a small fleet to prevent this situation. This is partly our responsibility, but it is also an accident caused by your reckless development activities.
➖Not that. You wanted to counter the influence of the collective consciousness, which is expanding day by day.
The disembodied entity is convinced when it hears this from the Quakacor.
➖Quakacor. You have adapted to the new era and are doing despicable things. Ironically, your intentions are clear to us.
➖We are the dominant species in the Andromeda Galaxy. Who are these beings who do not recognize that we are the dominant species in this galaxy because they cannot adapt to the new era?
➖I’m sorry, but you are not fit to be the dominant species in this galaxy. Your hearts are too narrow to bear the weight of the Andromeda Galaxy.
➖Think as you wish. From now on, we will command as the dominant species of this galaxy.
The disembodied entity hurls an unavoidable spark.
➖Withdraw from that planet immediately and have your leadership come forward and apologize in person. If you do that, we will turn a blind eye to this atrocity.
The Drataiden had been pressuring the Quakacor over control of the Andromeda Galaxy.
If the Drataiden leadership were to apologize to the Quakacor in this situation, they would be in a difficult position and would no longer have a say in the matter of dominance over the Andromeda Galaxy.
➖. . . Despicable things. You act just as you look.
➖Coming from you, whose appearance and essence are contradictory?
➖We are a superior form of life compared to you, who drool and spit while you slaughter. Your primitive neurons wouldn’t understand, though.
➖Get out of our territory, you genocidal maniacs.
➖Wait until we have collected the remnants of indigenous life as genetic evidence.
➖Wait for you to fabricate evidence? That’s ridiculous. Withdraw immediately. I command you as the dominant species of this galaxy.
➖We cannot accept such an unjust command.
➖If you do not comply, we will exercise our rights by force.
➖If you attack us, we will naturally defend our people and territory.
➖This is your final warning. Withdraw from that planet.
➖Denied.
The Quakacor’s disembodied entity fleet swoops in before the Drataiden fleet on the planet can ascend into space.
The Drataiden fleet on this planet is entirely a development fleet, not a fleet intended for combat, so a proper fleet battle with the Quakacor does not materialize.
The disembodied entity fleet rapidly forces close-quarters combat using gravitational field control technology that has been improved since before the Le-orantarum Federation disbanded.
【They’re swarming us just as we expected.】
【Those despicable monsters were waiting for us!】
The living spaceships resembling cephalopods instantly engulf the battlefield of the fleet battle, launching indiscriminate attacks like a swarm of insects.
The larger Quakacor vessels charge directly at enemy ships, piercing their armor with their tentacles. The Drataiden development fleet responds with beams of red light from their optical weapons, but
【The optical weapons are not having an effective impact!】
【Do they have some kind of shielding under their skin. . . ?】
The Drataiden do not know, but the Quakacor were chosen by the Chimeraz to be the dominant species that would oversee the Andromeda Galaxy. As a result, they received some of the Chimeraz’s bioengineering technology after the Le-orantarum Federation disbanded.
The Drataiden’s optical weapons were no longer effective against the Quakacor. The development fleet, not originally intended for combat, had filled most of the cargo space on their ships with resources for development, so they had no room for bullets or shells and were not equipped with mass weapons.
In the end, the development fleet was quickly pushed back, allowing the Quakacor to carry out a large-scale planetary invasion.
➖These machines are the sworn enemies of the Hive Alliance! Turn them all into scrap metal!
The Quakacor ground forces, receiving the disembodied entity’s waves, pour down from the sky.
The air defense base and military base are the first to be bombed, and the mechanical ships that do not have time to take off are pierced by tentacles before they can even reach the clouds.
Then the ground forces, resembling insects, press in with their sheer numbers.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!!!
When the Drataiden’s Juggernauts charge forward, spinning, the Quakacor ground forces are crushed like meat in a grinder. However, the Quakacor’s numbers are simply too great.
【Monster bastards! I expected that ugly nature of yours to show itself soon enough!】
The Drataiden ground forces consisted mainly of spinning Juggernauts and wheeled Polytanks. When the optical weapons were no longer effective against the Quakacor, they fired rotating, disk-shaped Ronsdallite shells.
The spinning shells had such excellent killing power that a single shot could kill more than ten Quakacor, with their cutting power like a blade.
➖Even if we die, we die! Finish this quickly!
The horde covering the desolate hills like a wave continues to charge, even as they are massacred. It was a truly primitive and collective consciousness-like battle.
【Eliminate as many monsters as possible with a single attack!】
Drone-sized flying machines launched from the Drataiden’s ground carrier fly at low altitudes.
Crackle! Crackle!
Immediately afterward, red lightning strikes the ground from numerous flying machines, electrocuting the Quakacor and causing their internal blood to explosively vaporize and burst.
Then, as the horde tramples over the piles of corpses and charges forward, Ronsdallite shells rain down and red lightning strikes the horde again.
➖Gearheads who can’t even use their flying machines properly. . . ! They’ve also developed new weapons and armaments!
The Quakacor notices, thanks to their experience in frequent battles with the Drataiden.
➖A huge fleet of drone bombers! Those bastards copied the tactics of the Reptured!
The Reptured, the dominant species of the Triangulum galaxy and the most powerful machine transcendents today. They use an enormous number of drones along with their ground carrier in ground battles.
And now the Drataiden, with their similar machine transcendence, are demonstrating the same tactics on the ground as the Reptured.
That gives the disembodied entity confidence in victory.
➖As expected, machines have no creativity! Their soft brains were nothing more than atrophied internal organs!
The disembodied entity senses a hunting instinct, considering the Drataiden army here to be prey. The Quakacor had not only developed resistance to optical weapons but had also prepared their own unique new species.
There was a species that the Quakacor had created themselves, without anyone’s help.
➖Just discharge them and burn out their circuits!
Gaunt creatures that looked like they were made of bones woven together with tentacles raised their heads in unison from among the horde. They secured their bodies with five pairs of legs and acquired a wide field of vision by extending their long necks like strange giraffes.
Bzzzt!!!!
At that moment, the air around them vibrated. Along with a loud bang, blue lightning spread out in a circle in all directions. Part of the living horde was electrocuted or severely burned by the lightning.
【Organic beings. . . . . . Electromagnetic pulses. . . ?】
And the Drataiden army stops functioning all at once.
The Drataiden are trapped inside their mechanical bodies, emitting thin wisps of smoke.
Even the flying machines that were raining red lightning from the sky all fall down. The disembodied entity, who witnessed this with the eyes of the horde, further stimulated the hunting instinct of its children.
➖Disassemble their bodies and collect their brains!
Before long, the Drataiden on the planet were wiped out, and the gravitational wave signal that their development fleet sent toward the capital was consumed by the Quakacor fleet waiting on the outskirts of the star system. That concluded the battle.
The disembodied entity, having completely taken over the planet, sent waves to Empress Karcon.
➖We could not find any connection to the Reptured in the brains of the Drataiden developers. As expected, it had to be their leadership.
➖I see. . . .
➖Even so, we can now lead the horde to the Drataiden leadership and demand a public apology from them.
➖The Drataiden will not apologize. If they do, they will be in a position where they cannot compete with us for the position of dominant species.
➖So if they don’t comply with our demands, we’ll wipe them out and collect the brains of their ruling class as well. . . . It would be perfect.
➖We need a more solid justification. Something that machines don’t have, but humans and the Chimeraz do. . . . Something emotional as well. As it is, it may not be enough to inspire empathy.
➖. . ?
For a moment, the disembodied entity did not understand what the empress meant.
➖You and your children must die there.
That was what she meant.
➖I am truly sorry.
➖. . . .
➖But that much is necessary for me to be in a position to be angry with the Drataiden.
➖My master is ordering me and my children to commit suicide. . . .
The group of beings has creativity, imagination, and emotions because they are a collective consciousness, but its members obey orders absolutely, like machines.
However, they do not obey in a manner that is predetermined from the beginning, like machines. The ruler obeys the ruler out of pure instinct and understanding.
That’s why someone once said.
Collective consciousness is the most suitable way to exist in this universe.
➖It is a glorious sacrifice. . . .
The disembodied entity accepted the empress’s will.
➖I will carry with me forever all the experiences and memories you have accumulated.
➖If you remember me, if the memory of me can remain forever in your heart, master, I will die happily.
➖I will not forget you.
🔷🔷🔷
A calm blood wind blew across the surface.
A thin ring of machine wreckage and the corpses of living beings formed on the planet.
Another disembodied entity fleet waiting on the outskirts of the star system approached the desolate desert planet.
➖My new child. . . . Do you see that horrific sight?
In the collective consciousness, death was a way to bring about new birth.
➖I am heartbroken to have to give such an order. I will strive to fill the void left by the departed spirit as a newly born spirit.
➖. . . No. One of our old disembodied entities was killed by the Drataiden. You should think of it that way.
➖Yes. My master.
The Drataiden and the Quakacor.
Between the two races, hatred bred hatred.
It no longer mattered who started the hatred and this dirty mudslinging fight. Both sides had already been throwing mud at each other for a long time now.
➖We cannot coexist with machines.
That is what both sides actually think. That this fight will not end unless one side submits or goes extinct.
➖Master. The horde is assembled.