𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔𝟎: 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 (1)
Empress Karcon’s colony receives information from dozens of psyches and commands hundreds of battlefields simultaneously.
The Quakacor have the upper hand in military power, both past and present. Adding to that their electromagnetic pulse attacks and their children with resistance to optical weaponry, the battle is proceeding in their favor, as expected.
The Drataiden forces are responding with enhanced red lightning and numerous drone-sized fliers compared to before, but the initial surprise attack has had a large impact.
This war will end soon. As the Quakacor are affiliated with the Hive Alliance and the Drataiden are affiliated with the New Universe Civilization Union, there will definitely be external intervention.
Therefore, the goal of this war is simple: to destroy as much of the Drataiden territory as possible, and to capture their capital planet, where their leadership resides, in a short amount of time and crack open the ‘Controller’s’ brain.
If the Controller’s brain is cracked open and a link between the Drataiden and the Reptured is discovered, that fact alone would be enough to keep the mechanical forces of the Local Group of Galaxies in check.
And if there is no link between the Drataiden and the Reptured, then the Quakacor will put a definitive end to the matter by securing control of the Andromeda Galaxy.
And so the war between the Quakacor and the Drataiden continued for 39 hours.
It was not a battle fought in just one location, but a full-scale war fought throughout the Andromeda Galaxy. Thanks to this, the Quakacor were barely able to maintain control of the machinery heading to the Drataiden capital.
【The monsters are descending!】
October 9, 2621.
40 hours after the outbreak of the war, a gap appeared in the air defense network of the Drataiden capital planet. The Quakacor fleet immediately sent down legions and forced an invasion of the civilization.
➖Do you really intend to destroy our capital?! Are you not afraid of the consequences?!
➖You will be defeated again this time. Of course, from your perspective, you want to make the victors into the aggressors. . . . It’s too late. This was brought on by you from the start.
➖Evil things. . . !
➖This is war. If we had not gained the upper hand in this war, you would have attacked our capital as well. And you would have tried to kill the Master who holds all the memories of our race.
The reason Empress Karcon is safe now is simply because the Quakacor are winning.
➖How many times have you tried to kill our Master in the past? Do you remember the number?
➖Of course I remember. If that hag with the ugliest appearance in the world had been burned to death then, none of this would have happened. . . ! How regrettable!
➖335 times, to be exact!
The thoughtform showed its anger towards the Controller.
➖You have tried to kill our Master 335 times over the centuries! On the other hand, this is the first time we have ever tried to kill your Master directly!
➖It’s pointless! Intervention will come eventually! I don’t know how much effort you put into preparing for this war, but you will fail!
➖You’ve been acting like a perpetually rational and logical machine, but now that you have nowhere to run, you finally show your true colors!
➖Don’t be so sure that you’re safe even after the intervention! We will continue to hunt down the likes of you, you horrible monster-spawn! And when the opportunity arises, we will tear apart every molecule of Karcon’s body without you even knowing it!
➖Go ahead and try! You’ll be ground into dust before the intervention arrives!
The tall buildings collapsed, sending up clouds of dust. Amidst the hazy field of vision, gunshots and explosions erupted, and the screams of who knows who echoed through Meary.
Flesh rolled around and red blood flowed like a river along the streets.
Pa-Jijijiji!
Red lightning struck from the sky. Blue lightning swirled in circles from the ground. The two colored lightning bolts collided with each other, and the surviving Quakacor ground forces from within the chaos charged at the Drataiden ground forces.
They tore apart the hard armor with their claws and dismantled it with their jaws. When their claws broke, they swung their tentacles, and when their jaws fell off, they bit with their gums. When they discovered the brain inside the machine’s body, they killed it without discrimination, either by crushing it or biting it. Even when several of their legs were blown off and they were dying from serious gunshot wounds, they charged at the machines and attacked them until they died from blood loss.
Kueoooeok!
Screaming tentacles burst out from the street, slaughtering both the Drataiden forces and civilians indiscriminately. Then, the thick tentacles that emerged wrapped around the high-rise buildings like vines, tearing the steel frames apart even as their skin was peeled off.
➖Don’t stop until you reach the Controller!
【Send out the elite rioters! This civilization is ruined anyway!】
Kee-jeejeejeeeeeeng. . . !!!!
Giant gears larger than a decent-sized ship rolled out from the hazy dust and crushed the Quakacor ground forces. They crushed and tore apart the roads and buildings along with the ground forces with sheer force.
Kookwakwang!
Its power was immense. Even getting hit by a pebble that had been knocked away by the elite rioter’s gears was enough to kill. The rioters, who appeared to be rolling over the city while crushing buildings underneath them, did not stop spinning even when an electromagnetic pulse exploded right in front of them.
➖Aim for the sides!
The legion charged at the axis of rotation of the gears like a pack of dogs. They sprayed strong acid saliva, scratched with their claws, and stabbed with their tentacles, tearing at the armor by any means necessary. Then, the complex gears inside the tyrant were revealed.
Koojejejejejejejej!
The legion squeezed into the gears and died. As such suicide attacks were repeated, flesh and bone fragments got caught between the gears, causing problems with the tyrant’s operation.
The slowed-down tyrant was swarmed by more legionnaires, and eventually fell sideways, revealing the large brain it housed inside.
As several of the elite rioters began to fall, the Drataiden leadership grew anxious.
【They’re advancing recklessly. At this rate, the Controller will be compromised before the intervention arrives.】
【We have no choice. The best course of action is to report this to the New Universe Civilization Union and bring forward the intervention.】
【But that’s impossible since the communication network of the star system has already been cut off.】
【Is electronic escape to an external region possible?】
【There are no safe star systems. And haven’t I told you repeatedly that the Quakacor fleet has surrounded this star system and cut off the communication network?】
【Controller.】
【?】
【I propose self-destruction.】
【Self-destruction!? Much of our race’s data will be lost! And there will be no Drataiden left to testify to what happened here!】
【But we can prevent the information from being taken! The next Controller will be replaced by a Drataiden who survived in a different star system! Isn’t that why the self-destruction system was installed, in preparation for situations like this!?】
The Quakacor ground forces continued to advance. Now, a huge number of corpses were piled up on the dusty, ruined civilization, emphasizing the crimson color.
The cities on other continents and the Drataiden forces were defeating the Quakacor ground forces and coming to their aid. However, before the reinforcements could arrive, the Quakacors here would reach the central hub where the leadership was located.
The Drataiden ground forces and fliers densely packed around the central hub would not last much longer. Looking at the way the Quakacor ground forces were fighting so fanatically, it seemed as though they were blinded by the sole purpose of destroying the leadership, rather than the victory or defeat of the war.
If they charged in with such an inefficient troop exchange ratio, even if they won the fleet battle, they would not have enough numbers to occupy the capital planet. Then, the fleet that would rise from each continent of the planet would clean up the orbit, and the battle in the capital star system would become a Drataiden victory.
In short, the Quakacor currently fighting on the capital planet had their backs against the wall.
【The monsters also know that intervention will come! They know that, and that’s why they’re charging straight at our central hub!】
【They have no interest in occupying this star system or capturing the capital!】
The front lines shifted drastically towards the central hub where the Controller was located. As a result, even the Drataiden machines with anti-aircraft attack capabilities were being destroyed.
【Controller! There are no other options!】
【We must self-destruct!】
At that moment, the thought form cried out in waves.
➖Machines always self-destruct when they’re cornered!
And the thought form rained curses upon his most hated enemies.
➖You utterly predictable fools!
At that very moment, something like a meteor shower poured down from the sky towards the central hub.
【Look! Something else is coming down!】
【I understand. Do self-destruct.】
【Controller! I will now execute an electronic overcharge on the central hub!】
At that moment, what poured down from the sky onto the central hub were ‘High-Speed Drop Cysts’ carrying the Quakacor’s electromagnetic pulse entities.
They were extreme Drop Cysts that disregarded landing entirely and made vertical dives, burning up in the air due to friction with the atmosphere.
The Quakacor had acquired the genetic blueprint of the Drop Cyst from Jiannettera, the 21st ranked leader of the Chimeraz, and had absorbed it in their own way.
Right at this moment, for the sake of trying just once and landing just one sure hit.
【Electronic overcharge complete.】
【I will self-destruct.】
Boooom!!!
That deafening sound just now was not from a self-destruction.
In the sky above the central hub, the high-speed Drop Cysts exploded all at once, sending blue lightning bolts down to the ground.
At that moment, streaks of lightning stretched down and then disappeared,
【. . . . . .Is anyone there?】
The brains inside the machines were completely isolated.
【Lower Controllers! Respond!】
The brains that had lost their connection to the machines were nothing more than bodiless life forms.
With no eyes, ears, or limbs, only the brains remained.
What they had been seeing turned into darkness, as if the screen had turned off. The fierce noise of the war that they had been hearing turned deathly silent, to the point of feeling eerie.
It was the sensation of being all alone in the world.
Because only the brains remained.
【Self-destruction. . . . How is this. . . .】
And unbeknownst to the Controller, the legion had infiltrated the central hub.
🔷🔷🔷
The thought form, who had made contact with the Controller’s fresh brain, eavesdropped on the conversation between the Drataiden and the Reptured.
In the past, a lower Controller of the Drataiden had visited the Reptured of the Triangulum galaxy.
The leader of the Reptured was an artificial intelligence named Teptorm, who had the highest decision-making authority in the race.
➖Teptorm. The value of the Andromeda galaxy is the highest among all the galaxies in the Local Group. If such a galaxy were to be taken over by a barbaric race like the Quakacor, it would be an irreversible situation.
➖Irreversible situation? What do you mean by that?
➖The Quakacor and the collective consciousness races that follow them prefer environments with organic beings in order to reduce the labor of terraforming. The problem is that the range of species they exterminate in order to secure an environment suitable for themselves includes intelligent life forms of primitive civilizations.
➖I don’t understand why that’s a problem. Although the peace between the New Universe Civilization Union and the Hive Alliance protects weaker races, it does not protect primitive civilizations that have not even entered the space age.
➖The Quakacor and the collective consciousness races will wipe out all primitive civilizations in the Andromeda galaxy and absorb their blood and flesh.
➖Yes. I know that’s their way.
➖If we leave things as they are, there will be no future races entering the Local Group from the Andromeda galaxy. In the end, only the life-oriented collective consciousness races will remain in the Andromeda galaxy, and all other races will be eliminated.
➖. . . . The Andromeda galaxy is a fairly large galaxy, but the Quakacor is expanding their power that quickly?
➖Yes. And this will further increase the power of the Hive Alliance disproportionately, which will greatly threaten the stability of the New Universe Civilization Union. Didn’t we, the machine transcendents, choose the New Universe Civilization Union, which is somewhat superior, over a barbaric force like the Hive Alliance?
➖What do you want to ask of us?
➖The Quakacor’s expansion of power must be contained. We are arguing with the Quakacor that the Andromeda galaxy’s dominance should be divided at least half and half, so we would like the Reptured to support our argument.
➖. . . . . .
➖If a race like the Reptured were to lend their support in such a way, it would also be an opportunity for the New Universe Civilization Union and the Hive Alliance to discuss the dominance of the Andromeda galaxy again.
➖Is it really for the safe future of the machines that you seek dominance over that vast galaxy?
➖That is the biggest reason.
➖If there is another reason, what is it?
➖The Chimeraz have proven to be somewhat rational and have the ability to match it, so we acknowledge their rule over a wide area. However, the Quakacor are a collective consciousness that is inferior to the Chimeraz and much more instinctual.
What would Teptorm have thought when he said that was another reason?
➖I’m sorry, but I will let today’s request go unheard.
➖Aren’t there many reasons why the Quakacor should not be left alone? Are you really going to just sit back and watch them?
There was a gap in thinking between the Drataiden and the Reptured.
➖Lower Controller. Those emotions will lead to bad results.
➖What do you mean?
➖If you are going to transcend your consciousness vaguely, it is better to firmly choose one direction.
Up until that point, the Drataiden had not realized what the Reptured was talking about.
🔷🔷🔷
2621, October 10.
Hecartra star system, conference room in the upper ranks of colony.
This place had become a space that could only be used by races belonging to the Hive Alliance.
“Nazar discovered it early.”
The Ririm, assimilated into the Elite.
“I think it’s fortunate that we noticed it early.”
The Parahtoria, who had taken an Elite as their host.
“I was relieved that there had been peace for about three months, but what is this. . . .”
The Hyraguroa queen, speaking through an Elite.
“The Quakacor, who are loyal to the Chimeraz, would never do something like this without a good reason.”
The Crolr sovereign, Carrd, speaking through an Elite.
“I guess I know the gist of it. An old grudge between the Quakacor and the Drataiden has erupted for some reason.”
The Caycaconick chieftain, Conda, speaking through an Elite.
And there was also a new leader, shaped like a deep-sea jellyfish, 5 meters tall, with luminous tentacles and a translucent body. He did not say a word, though.
Tzzzzt. . .
The toothy door slid open to the left and right, and everyone’s attention was focused on it.
He was the leader of the Chimeraz. Rank 1 of the collective consciousness. The first ruler. And the protagonist of peace recognized by the Believers.
“Thank you for gathering here so quickly at my urgent request.”
Kreion sat down in the seat at the innermost center of the conference room.
As soon as he sat down, the Ririm asked first.
“Kreion. Are you going to mediate between them?”
“I will. That has been decided.”
“Then why did we gather?”
“Along with all of you from the Hive Alliance. . . . to discuss the punishment that will be given to the Quakacor.”
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