Shane Freak
patreon
Chapter 919: The Grand Debut of the Space Overlord (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2024-01-22 07:54:23 +0000 UTCIn DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List
XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX
On the main star of the Kree Empire in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a mechanized, towering, blue city reached into the sky. The lower atmosphere and greater gravity made everything here appear larger and more steadfast.
In the heart of the blue city, there stood a towering high tower that pierced the clouds. Above this high tower, a spherical energy core continuously emitted thunderbolts, piercing through thick layers of clouds, allowing the star's radiance to cascade down into the city.
Beneath the core, there was a smaller sphere known to the Kree as the "Wisdom Palace," or more officially, the "Supreme Intelligence."
Initially created by the Kree with the hope of crafting Space Cubes to counter the Skrulls' world-building plan, Supreme Intelligence developed its own thoughts over time. It deemed the Cubes too dangerous and refused to create them for the Kree.
Due to the significant investment in creating Supreme Intelligence, the Kree of that time did not have the option to destroy this intelligent being with its own thoughts. Instead, they allowed it to persist, and over many years of evolution, Supreme Intelligence served the Kree Empire with its wisdom, gaining a following of believers.
Eventually, Supreme Intelligence's influence grew to the point where it replaced the Kree government and became the supreme ruler of the Kree Empire.
Over the past millennium, the Kree Empire had experienced rapid growth, rising from one of the youngest interstellar civilizations to being one of the two great Empires. This was closely intertwined with the wisdom of Supreme Intelligence.
Supreme Intelligence typically manifested as a giant green face surrounded by numerous tentacles. At times, it would appear as an orange dragon or a green octopus.
Its abilities were vast, including but not limited to the use of the green tentacles on its head to communicate with every Kree, understanding their thoughts and actions in real-time. It also maintained real-time connections with every Kree ship to ensure they remained under control.
Within the Kree Empire, Supreme Intelligence held absolute authority, and all decisions had to pass through its judgment, which was no exception in this case.
The attack by a Skrull Empire spaceship on the first starport of the Kree Empire and the resulting assessment of gains and losses were clear to Supreme Intelligence.
In its view, the first starport itself held little value, and it did not even dispatch a fleet to inspect the crash site. They could create countless starports more advanced than the first one at any time. The focus was on the incident itself.
Supreme Intelligence was not concerned about a decrease in morale within the Kree Empire due to its life form. It was more focused on whether this was a conspiracy or if the Skrull Empire had further actions planned.
It issued a revenge warning to test if the Skrull Empire was prepared in advance or if there was a larger conspiracy behind this event.
However, at this moment, the Skrull Empire transmitted a message, requesting negotiations with the Kree Empire and explaining the misunderstanding. This made Supreme Intelligence even more suspicious of their motives.
Supreme Intelligence knew that this was not a conspiracy it had arranged, so the Skrull Empire's weak response appeared highly suspicious.
Both sides found themselves in a situation akin to a dark forest. Each believed the other was conspiring, and their reactions were influenced by this belief. However, their reactions also seemed abnormal to the other side, further confirming the suspicion of conspiracy.
In summary, both sides believed the other was conspiring, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of suspicion.
In this situation, neither side had a strong desire to go to war because both suspected the other had set traps. Stalemate was not an option, and ultimately, the breakthrough came through negotiations.
Skrull officials needed to appease their public opinion, and Supreme Intelligence sought to break the deadlock. Thus, they gradually began discussions on negotiation matters.
Since negotiations were inevitable, many formalities could be skipped. However, one matter was of great importance: the negotiation location.
Supreme Intelligence was aware of the bargaining tactics and the reasons for "paying up after the goods are delivered." It initially proposed setting the negotiation location in the core star sector of the Great Magellanic Nebula, allowing only the negotiators to enter and prohibiting any weapons on their visiting vessels.
The Skrull side naturally could not agree to this proposal and offered a relatively absurd condition. Supreme Intelligence rejected it as well, leading to a protracted stalemate.
Finally, the decision was made to hold the negotiations on Spider Nebula, a planet not far from the accident site. While this planet fell within the jurisdiction of the Kree Empire, it was also the first line of defense on the edge of the star sector. This made it secure for both sides, with the Kree Empire not having to worry about Skrulls using deception to threaten their main star, and the Skrulls not having to fear encirclement.
Additionally, the fleets of the third major Space Empire, Xea Empire, would serve as witnesses to prevent any subterfuge by either party. Furthermore, only one main fleet from each side would be allowed, and no massive armies would encroach on the negotiation site.
As the most dangerous military conflict in nearly a thousand years and the largest-scale skirmish since the end of the millennium war between the two nations, the negotiation had to be conducted at the highest level.
Ultimately, the Skrull Empire sent their Supreme Colonial Commander, while the Kree Empire was represented by Supreme Intelligence, achieving a level of dialogue that was almost unprecedented.
Of course, they were not the only ones present. Many generals and other military officers also attended, although they could not gather in one place due to the negotiations' sensitivity.
Considering the security issue, neither side trusted one another to handle security, so they entrusted Xea Empire as a neutral third party.
Both the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire provided compensation, and Xea Empire was responsible for setting up the negotiation location, as well as arranging defense lines. Naturally, they also had to consider the possibility of subterfuge by Xea Empire.
As a result, God-King Thor, residing in Asgard, received an invitation. Besides him, some civilizations just below the three major Empires also received invitations, with the hope that they would send witnesses to ensure the negotiations' safety.
After all, while it might be possible to buy one civilization, it was not feasible to buy hundreds or thousands of them, each with their own unique interests. This made multiple witnesses the safest option.
Asgard naturally sent Loki, who was known for his cunning. However, this choice actually eased the concerns of the three major Empires. Loki was merely a trickster and not exceptionally powerful.
If Thor and Odin had come together, they would have had to consider whether they might be outmatched, as a single Asgardian, let alone two God-Kings, could be a formidable force. With the three major Empires bringing so few representatives, they might not have been able to contend.
On the day of the negotiations, Spider Nebula was bustling with activity. Although the nebula was vast and dotted with numerous stars, the arrival of many prominent civilizations in their spaceships created a crowded atmosphere.
In the negotiation base just set up on the planet's surface, Loki received a glass of water from a servant, smiled, nodded, and then gazed out of the window.
Within the negotiation hall, a massive observation window provided a view of a radiant star with clear patterns visible on its surface.
However, this enormous observation window was not for sightseeing. Suddenly, a green beam of light appeared in the empty space outside, followed by an incredibly massive green face that slowly opened its eyes.
"Supreme Intelligence..." Loki murmured softly, then spoke in a voice that no one else could hear, "Quite ugly, isn't it?"
After the arrival of Supreme Intelligence, Skrull commanders and generals entered the room. They stood in front of the observation window, in front of representatives from numerous civilizations, and began negotiations with Supreme Intelligence.
"Your Excellency Supreme Intelligence, I am the Supreme Colonial Commander of the Skrull Empire. Many days ago, a tragedy occurred on the border of the Kree Empire that none of us wished to witness..."
Both sides began with lengthy formalities. Just as Loki was starting to feel a bit weary of listening, the Skrull commander finally got to the point. He said, "What Your Excellency may not know is that many years ago, before the new Skrull Empire was established, and while our fleet was still in transit, a shameful thief stole one of our main ships. To prevent us from taking extreme measures, he took hostages, including valuable scientists from the Skrull Empire..."
"They ended up stranded on Earth, and Asgard's All-Father Odin graciously took them in," he continued, turning his head to look at someone who resembled Loki. Loki nodded in agreement, signaling that what he was saying was true.
"This spaceship was never removed from the Skrull Empire's armory, so when it crashed, we received the final message transmitted by the spaceship's black box..."
"The recording shows that the group that had been held hostage attempted to seize the spaceship to return to the Skrull Empire. However, the individual who had been hidden by the original thief inside the spaceship continually disrupted their efforts. Eventually, the spaceship's control systems were damaged, leading to its unfortunate crash near the first starport..."
"We regret the losses suffered by the Kree Empire's starport, but this was, in fact, an extremely coincidental accident..."
Following this, the Skrull Empire's commander played a recording. After a cacophony of noise, a voice could be heard, "Stop him! Stop him quickly! He's trying to sabotage the spaceship's propulsion system..."
"Report! Warp engine failure! Propulsion system locked..."
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Spatial stabilization system and control lost! Warning..."
After a chaotic cacophony, a violent explosion followed, and then silence.
Supreme Intelligence remained silent for a long time before speaking again, "The friendship between the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire has spanned countless millennia and has always been deeply rooted. None of us wish for such an event to occur. However, now that this tragedy has taken place, I must provide an explanation to the Kree people..."
Upon hearing these words, the Skrull Empire's officers visibly relaxed because they knew it was time to negotiate.
For the Skrull Empire, this situation was not entirely unfavorable. When this news reached their civilization, it was met with nationwide celebrations. After all, it had made their greatest adversary look so bad. Strategically speaking, this was a very successful covert operation.
So, they were willing to pay a certain price for this boost in morale. After all, the public wasn't particularly interested in negotiations, but trading some concessions for improved morale and public support was worth it.
Just as Supreme Intelligence was about to speak again, Loki squinted his eyes and smirked, because he saw a black hole suddenly appear in front of the star behind Supreme Intelligence.
It was as if a hole had been burned into the star, and all the light around the black hole vanished. It was a black hole within the double star system of Spider Nebula.
However, Loki already knew the peculiar nature of this black hole. It wasn't a black hole that had evolved from a star but rather a mysterious "dormant black hole." It emitted no radiation and was completely silent, like a dark, lightless blade held by an assassin.
The next moment, the assassin swung the blade, and the star's radiance paused for a moment. Then, it erupted even more intensely when it blinked back to life.
The explosion of this star almost instantly destroyed the entire planet, but it did not harm the negotiation base.
Xea Empire's technology and science were far advanced compared to the Sulphur Dwarves, and their secure base could withstand a star explosion.
However, the truly deadly element was the black hole within the double star system.
This black hole, with a mass sixteen times that of the Sun, was a silent killer in space. It emitted no radiation, had a small volume, and civilizations that came here hardly paid it any attention.
But the explosion of a dormant black hole was more special than a star explosion. When a black hole exploded, it emitted massive jets outward. If a star's explosion was akin to an area-of-effect spell, then a black hole's explosion was like a sniper shot.
After its formation, the black hole continuously evaporated over time, and as it grew smaller, its radiation output increased. Advanced civilizations were wary of these elderly black holes because there was a high chance that when their lifespan reached its end, they would emit high-energy radiation and particle streams.
If the black hole had a smaller mass, it might only destroy one or two spaceships. However, if a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy fully erupted, even civilizations on the level of the three major Empires could potentially be wiped out.
However, the dormant black hole, which hardly emitted any radiation, was almost invisible to Xea Empire and any other civilizations.
But when a powerful entity that carried the weight of the stars unleashed its full power and ignited the remaining life of the black hole, the explosion's intensity far exceeded anyone's imagination.
The natural force was almost unstoppable, and the radiant outburst from the black hole in the double star system penetrated Supreme Intelligence's projected image, like a high-speed spinning sniper bullet, piercing through the entire secure base.
In an instant, everything on a straight line, including planets, spaceships, and life, disappeared, leaving only an empty, dark void.
Such a powerful burst of radiation disrupted Supreme Intelligence's projected image. The giant green face displayed an expression of fear, blinked a few times, and then disappeared.
Before disappearing, the last words it heard were a declaration that echoed throughout the nebula:
"Conquest, victory, and glory belong to Thanos. Amen!"
At the same time, Thanos wondered, "Why doesn't this wall have a door?"
[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]
XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX
Next Chapter>>Chapter 920: The Promising Future of Purple Sweet Potato Essence (Part 1)
