General Lina Stark sat in the seat she had been previously provided next to General Flint''s, and her sister Lana stark, the head captain of the 95th stood next to her with her hands neatly folded behind her as the two of them and everyone else in the cockpit watched Viktor with keen eyes as he floated a small distance away from the ship staring off into space, they weren''t anywhere near the explosion Ikaris had caused.


    In fact, they were several sectors away; but a universe even at a distance upied such an unfathomably massive space that they had quite clearly seen Ikaris''s power, unlike all the other times when their sensors had gone alive with warnings the readings didn''t register any Godyer activity, nor did it register and warn them of any Vatui energy readings.


    The man had his sword drawn and his eyes had dark circles beneath them as he stared at the space where the void had be bright and golden, hemented his luck, he cursed his fate; he shook with anger at everything that had happened over the course of a week.


    "What is the status of the 1789th, General?" Viktor asked from the outside, and Lina stared at the screen and hummed as she watched the dead signals.


    "Unresponsive, it is likely that the entire sector has been destroyed without a trace of life, General Flint," she answered. "Thest log was a distress call and an incoherent message pertaining to the sudden copse of the star in their system, but I doubt a star exploding could have caused that phenomenon." She borated. "It was likely the hand of a third party somece out there.


    "Of course, it was Sol Vestic again." Viktor stared matter-of-factly.


    "We don''t know that for sure-"


    "Who else could it have been but him?" Flint turned around and stared at them from the outside.


    "The sensors didn''t pick up a thing, it''s most likely that the asshole broke them, are you expecting me to believe otherwise; am I supposed to ce my bets on the possibility of another entity being able to destroy god knows how many gxies in one fell swoop just a day after we saw him do the same?" Flint asked exasperated, shing his free hand and staring at General Stark with clear and visible worry etched across his face.


    "He''s the one who did it, the same way he was able to convince that bitch that she had a chance against the Emporium again; the same way he made her abandon her post; the traitor..." General Flint made a choking gesture with his hand as veins popped up all across his body.


    "I want nothing more than to kill them, everyst one, Those Vatui scum, and those Godyer filth that think they still have any kind of im to put Great Emporium; who think their lives are anything of worth in the eyes of His Majesty!"


    "Viktor-"


    "I''ll kill everyst one of them and turn their bones into a drug, I''ve spent such a long time abstaining from it, refusing the Vatui cell imnts as well as the Godyer transfusions, but just look at the power they possess!" He grinned showing even greater signs of lunacy as he continued staring at his palm, I already took a little... He chuckled as his eyes shed crimson.


    "It''s a rush I hadn''t expected, it made me so much stronger too; imagine what I''ll be able to do after a full transfusion; imagine the powers a simple little human like myself will be able to wield after I''m fully transformed artificially!"


    "Sister..." Lana Stark stared at the General before her. "At this rate, he will be long gone within a few more days, We should report him-"


    "No, it''s fine," Lina replied, raising her hand and staring at her forearm. "I pretty much feel the same as he does, actually," She admitted, but her sister was drawing a conclusion that disagreed strongly with that sentiment since, on the one hand, the man was visually and evidently mad to the core, while her sister was as calm and still as the void they upied.


    Lina stared at the mark Sol had left, the death sentence he had promised every member of the two ships that had been actively seeking him out.


    "I want Sol Vestic dead at whatever cost, we have only six days left before he turns all his fury upon us, remember?" She turned the circr burnt crest to her sister who lowered her head and stared at the one on her own forearm with aplicated frown.


    "I never once questioned it before, but after he said he''d kill us I kind of lost my head in thought for a good few hours yesterday," Lana furrowed her brows in thought and trepidation. "Lina, isn''t it possible that we; the Emporium, went too far with the culling of their kind?" The captain asked.


    "Of course, it is; what else could have caused the rise of that monster?" Lina answered without batting an eye.


    "Without a doubt, this is a direct result of our sins against his people, I don''t even think it has that much to do with his child or the fact that his wife is the renowned War Angel; Sol Vestic has arisen as a champion amongst our enemies in a time when they were in desperate need of one, he is the answer for all the terrible things we''ve done to them."


    "However," General Lina Stark added after a brief moment of silence between her who was speaking, everyone who was listening, and Viktor who was fuming and huffing raw white matter from the opposite side of the screen. "I don''t care if I''vemitted one sin, or a thousand; I don''t care if my neck has been stiffened into steel from turning a blind eye to their suffering."


    "I couldn''t care less about the Godyer and Vatui people, not one bit, all that matters to me, sister, is you, and the Grand Empire whom we serve, that''s all there is to it," She clenched her fist.


    "I don''t want to die, so I''m going to ept the transfusions as well, it takes hours without fault or ident, I''m going to raise my battle prowess through the roof in every attempt to level the ying field against that monster."


    "Lina..."


    "Denying the augmentation is the same as epting death, he''s going toe, you can count on that with every truth to his name as the strongest; he''s gonnae and he is going to target us directly, he''s gonna hunt us down with the sole intent of killing us off; you heard him, he wants us to try running, he''s treating us like prey, well to that I say fucking hell, there''s no way I''m turning tail, General Flint is right, if we don''t stand up now there''s going to be a shift in the dynamic, we need to urge the others to get here faster.


    "There''s already ten more from the 99 and dozens from the top 500 who have joined us, we are effectively the most powerful concentration of elite Emporium soldiers within the entirety of the Grand Collective, not even Sol Vestic has the means to challenge us anymore, not with someone from the Ten here.


    "He wiped clean an entire Universe, Lana." Lina raised her head. "Has anyone from the Grand ever done anything of the sort?" She asked.


    "No, but-"


    "Underestimating him is how you''ll lose your life, sister, don''t ever let me hear such confidence in his presence again, he is the harbinger of deathe from the depths of the unknown to smite us; that is his purpose, if we don''t stand together as our ancestors did in the great war we faceplete and utter annihtion."


    "How''d I get dragged into this mess, I swear I was gonna ask toe with her if it had worked out; I don''t want to die like this either..." Sally was sweating from her analyst seat after listening through thems to the panicking Generals and the overconfident Captain. "I''m so scared I can''t even work..."


    A week prior***


    "I think Cecelia intends to betray me soon." Flint sat in Sal''s room with her sitting across hisp half naked and resting as they both sweated.


    "She''d never, sir, she''s been loyal to you almost as long as the Emporium has been the Emporium," Sal responded, shaking her head.


    "If that bitch was truly loyal then she''d have long disclosed the location of her n, I know she hid them and I know she keeps contact somehow but she''s managed to not slip up for the entire time I''ve known her, but everything''s different now." Flint raised Sal off himself and set her to sit on her bed.


    "Sol Vestic exists, it''s only a matter of time before she tries reaching out to him; she''s an opportunist, after all." He stated and the woman pulled a sheet over her exposed torso andid on her back resting her legs across hisp as he slid his hands across her leg. "You get it, right?"


    "Of course, she doesn''t have faith in the Emporium; she''d rather ally with someone she thinks has the means to destroy us," Sal smiled up at him, snaking around him and resting her cheek against his phallus with a soft smile. "She''s wrong though, there''s no power greater than the Emporium, we were able to drive them in a corner before and we''ll be able to do it again, it''s only a matter of time.


    "She doesn''t know nor does she believe ...that," the General sighed as his fifth limb was swallowed down to the base and the woman began expertly milking him of his essence like a subus. "Sally... in the case of Sol Vestic doing anything out of the ordinary, where you visibly see her conviction and loyalty wane, I want you to try and convince her to contact him."


    "Hnn?" Sally loosened her throat from around his meat and released him, staring up into his eyes with a devilish lust. "Why?" She asked, driving her tongue around the tip of his limb and causing him to shudder as she swallowed him whole again and began expertly moving her head and throat, simultaneously holding onto his hips and hugging him to prevent him from escaping her clutches.


    "If we can catch the bastard off guard there''s a chance we''ll be able to turn the whole Sol Vestic situation around before it gets anymore out of hand, do you understand?" The man asked, and Sally responded to his order by inflicting more pleasure causing a rapid and uncontrolled burst of ejaction straight down into her throat.


    "Understood, Sir," Sal took a breath spreading her mouth with her two hands and sticking her tongue out as sheid on her back. "Can you please focus on fucking me now...?"


    "Of course."


    Neither of them could have foreseen that Sol''s next big act was the destruction of a space the size of a universe, and that was exactly what happened a day after their conversation which kicked everything into high gear, an act of betrayal which led to Cecelia being free after Alpha had ryed the conversation to Sol after spying on them.