"You're still exactly like this!"
A voice cut through the air. Giotto turned his head, realizing Toma K had appeared at the threshold at some unknown point.
While he remained in the room, Toma K had never once turned his back. He hadn't expected this grim news to force him out.
"Haven't you realized that we're far too easily manipulated by others?"
"Whether it's Alien Civilizations or Luna, we've always just drifted along the tide, never truly possessing any real strength."
"Because we're just fundamentally that ordinary."
"Give it up, Giotto. Everything you imagine is nothing but a feverish fantasy. Your Potential isn't determined by yourself, but dictated by Luna!"
Toma K spoke the cold truth.
The truth they had always implicitly understood in their silence.
They were far too ordinary, so unremarkable that they couldn't adapt to the shifts in Corporations, the changes in Star Nations, or the evolution of the entire Civilization.
For people like them, any shred of Ambition was actually a desperate pipe dream.
"Did you crawl out just to tell me this?"
"I honestly thought you would choose to come with me."
"You utterly disappoint me, little Toma."
"Don't I already know all of this? Do you think I would ever forget the crushing helplessness I felt standing beside Luna?"
What was it truly like to be standing beside Luna?
The Corporation clearly had countless operations to deal with. They hoped to handle a few, then turned around to find that Luna had already purged those countless things, and then a new myriad of problems immediately arose.
It was like the Exam time in a school was dictated by the time a Top Student finished their paper.
An Elite student finished a test paper in thirty minutes, then the Proctor announced the test was over, and then immediately handed out another test paper, for another thirty minutes, looping this process forever.
As a struggling student, the internal Despair would reach its absolute peak during such endless repetitions.
At that dark time, Giotto and Toma K gave up in pure frustration.
"But what does any of that matter?"
"At least I still have a clear direction to move in. I prove that I'm still alive, but you, apart from this rotting physical body, are already dead."
"Isn't that absolutely ridiculous?"
"Your lover was brutally slaughtered, and your first thought isn't Vengeance, but to crawl into the grave with them."
"You dream that your lover will magically forgive you. You try so hard to convince yourself that you are no match for an Alien Civilization. You treat this weakness as your Imperial Edict. But do you think your pathetic sophistry will work on others?"
"No! You can't even convince me. You try to weaponize Love, to wear down the soul of the person who loves you, just to force them to grant you absolution."
Giotto spoke through painfully gritted teeth.
Toma K charged straight at Giotto, flipping Giotto's heavy body with his head.
His entire body was violently changing color, its exterior a terrifyingly dark hue.
"What, did I finally hit a sensitive nerve?"
"See? That's you. I may be ordinary, but you're even more pathetic than I am."
"At least I still have Will, but you've lost every single idea. Look at you. You're sickening right now. If I were your lover, I'd vomit at your sight."
Giotto's words were pure venom. Toma K angrily lunged forward and started to maul Giotto.
"You shouldn't talk about her in that tone."
"She knew!"
"She knew!"
Giotto sneered, continuing to spit his mockery.
"She knew this cowardly choice of yours was right? How could you possibly know?"
"Are you making the final decisions for her now?"
"Haha, so this is what your Love is like: imposing your Will on your dead lover, falsely claiming she would think the same way."
"I see no Respect whatsoever in your heart."
The two fought like beasts, battering each other's faces until Blood covered the ground.
They held absolutely nothing back.
The brutal skirmish ground on for two agonizing hours, finally ending with Toma K's total defeat.
Because Toma K had failed to siphon enough Energy, his physical form was hollow and frail.
Staring down at Toma K, who lay broken on the deck like a slaughtered cur, Giotto felt a sudden, visceral surge of Pleasure bloom in his chest, though the sensation withered almost instantly.
He slumped against the cold bulkhead and slid down, rasping, "Do you even grasp why I still persist?"
"Perhaps it escapes you, but even when the old Federation surrendered, many souls chose to remain behind."
"My wife... she looked me in the eye and said she didn't fear Death. The Galactic Federation was her Civilization, the only one she ever knew. She chose to perish alongside it."
"She was a timid creature by nature, yet in that final heartbeat, she embraced that terrifying resolve."
"Back then, I dismissed her as insane, and even as I boarded the evacuation ship, I clung to that lie."
"But now, returning to the Federation ruins, I finally understand. She wasn't the one who was mad."
"Perhaps she never truly expected the Federation to endure, but she knew exactly what her soul required. She needed a single moment of Courage, even if the price was Extinction. It was her one chance to be brave, and she took it."
"By fleeing the Federation, she might have survived, but everything else would have been incinerated—not just the material world, but her very essence, just like us."
All Courage, all Confidence, had evaporated the moment they chose flight over the fire.
They had made the 'correct' tactical decision, but Correctness does not equate to lack of Loss, just as Death does not mean losing everything.
"I refuse to be that hollow shell of a man again, you understand?"
"Even if the path ends in my Annihilation, at least I looked it in the teeth. I stood true to myself. This is my final answer to her."
Giotto heard the fractured echoes of ancient voices resonating within his Mental Power.
[Leave! You must escape, and survive at any cost!]
[I'm not insane. I can't explain why I'm doing this, but I must. I am staying.]
[This is merely a Choice. There is no right or wrong. Do not waste your grief on my Death .]
That voice had never stopped screaming in the back of his mind.
Every present Decision was a monument built from the wreckage of the past.
Giotto accepted his own Ordinariness. He acknowledged his Incompetence. But he felt that, for once, he could strike a blow that transcended the mundane.
This singular Decision was the salvation he had been hunting for.
Toma K remained hauntingly silent.
He and Giotto had walked the same path for eons, yet this was the first time these ghosts had been invited to speak.
Usually, his own narrative had drowned out everything else.
When they first bore witness to that Alien Civilization, they both hallucinated that their lives had undergone a divine transformation.
However, upon returning to human Civilization, specifically the Rusty Star Nation, and attempting to build something real, Reality had slammed them back into the dirt.
An Ordinary man, even handed a god-tier script, cannot portray a Superhero.
A single spark cannot ignite the entire void.
In truth, back then, they still burned with Passion, slaving away for the Supernova Technology Corporation.
But then they hit the wall of Impotence. Luna's emergence forced them to confront the true meaning of the Abyss between them.
Perhaps it was the trauma of being the worst students forced to compete with the Elite of the entire class. Luna inflicted a wound of Failure that went bone-deep. Toma K was the first to admit his Ordinariness, yet his ego could never truly digest that bitter pill.
This internal Conflict drove him into a psychological dead end.
Then Love struck like lightning, becoming his sole anchor. He tried to rebuild his Self-Confidence through that bond; he clawed at it desperately.
But that was merely the final blow, stripping him of everything he had left.
He brooded, then a sudden, jagged smile broke across his face as he hauled himself up from the grime.
"Hah, a man over 150,000 years old... I didn't expect to be so damn naive."
"You're right. Let me descend into madness with you—but remember, this isn't for your sake. It's for my lover."
"I want them to pay... even if it's a total Impossibility!"
Giotto spat a curse, "You really should have left that last part out."
The two broken men traded weary smiles.
...
Luna was busy crunching Programs within the Headquarters, calculating the total Self-Destruction of the facility.
If the Virus were permitted to breach and hijack the Server, the Headquarters would hemorrhage vital Intelligence, including high-level Secret Keys. The enemy could exploit these Secret Keys to override any manual Commands; after all, digital Keys held absolute Priority over biological will.
Therefore, the total Demolition of the Headquarters was a strategic necessity.
Even though the Headquarters was a massive Sub-Planet-Class Warship, the logic remained cold and unyielding.
Once the Protocol was set, Luna abandoned the facility; she wasn't sticking around for Giotto or Toma K.
Perhaps this was the first time those two realized they were effectively Immortal, but Luna had learned this from Mingna long ago.
Before Giotto and Toma K had even risen within the Supernova Technology Corporation, they had survived countless lethally rigged encounters.
Mingna had been their silent Guardian.
She had eventually realized that Fatal Attacks simply slid off them without effect. Mingna, ignorant of the cosmic truth, didn't question it, assuming it was just another layer of high-tech Shielding.
Luna, however, knew that no faction within human Civilization possessed the Power to protect them thus; it had to be that Alien Civilization.
That Outer Intelligence had grafted something onto their very souls.
A multitude of anomalies pointed toward this single conclusion.
Luna had never breathed a word about the Alien Civilization over the years for this exact reason.
Since they couldn't die, if they chose to rot here, she would let them. They were merely Insignificant pieces on the board regardless.
A fleet of vessels was currently docked at the Headquarters Starport.
The Headquarters itself was sparsely populated, harboring roughly 2.17 million souls.
Dozens of heavy transports were more than enough to evacuate the entire complement.
Just as the engines began their ignition cycle, the two men finally arrived, dragging their feet after their prolonged confrontation.
Luna noted their battered appearance; she wasn't entirely certain what had transpired in the shadows, but she sensed a shift in their Resolve.
If those two could finally wake up from their stupor, the next phase of the Plan could proceed without friction.
After all, her entire presence here was effectively a Proxy for their own advancement.
Luna intended to flush out the Alien Civilization lurking behind them. If those two didn't evolve, they would remain nothing more than discarded Pawns.
She couldn't yet perceive the Grand Architecture of the conflict. Luna's current directive was primitive: muddy the waters.
For a fragile Civilization like humanity to survive a total War, the murkier the environment, the better. Only in the chaos could they scavenge for a narrow Gutter of Survival.
The primary issue was their total lack of Information.
Whether it was the Core Civilizations of the Milky Way, the Extra-Galactic Entities, or the High-Dimensional Civilizations, humanity was blind to them all. This was a desperate, last-ditch Gambit.
But even as a last resort, Luna would execute it with lethal precision, ensuring it was a weapon ready to be drawn.
"Everything settled?"
Luna personally met the two men at the ramp.
They gave a silent, grim nod.
Toma K looked at Luna and muttered, "My apologies. I said some incoherent things earlier."
"But it's fine now."
"A man shouldn't be a Prisoner of his own past."
Despite the words, Luna saw the heavy shadow of that very past etched into every line of Toma K's face.
"How can you call it being trapped? Your current Choice is the inevitable harvest of everything the past sowed."
With that final word, Luna turned and marched them into the Cabin.
As the heavy Hatch hissed shut and sealed, the vessel roared into the blackness, leaving nothing but a shimmering, glorious Plasma Trail in its wake.
Toma K didn't know why, but he always had this haunting sensation of being completely Seen Through.
It wasn't merely that his secrets were exposed, but rather the very gears of his Inner Workings were laid bare.
Only after they had finally separated from Luna did he lean toward Giotto, whispering, "That Luna is extremely dangerous. Her Abilities are a bit too overwhelming."
Toma K actually had far less direct contact with her than Giotto did.
He had abandoned the Headquarters much earlier, while Giotto had remained entrenched there for a time.
Giotto merely scoffed at Toma K's paranoia, "The stronger she is, the better for us, isn't it?"
"We have absolutely nothing left to lose. Even if she did approach us with some hidden Agenda, being deceived by a human Civilization is a hell of a lot better than being played by an Alien Civilization."
This cold admission suggested he had harbored suspicions about Luna's true Identity for a long time.
Perhaps it was specifically because he was so Ordinary that Giotto's focus had been locked onto Luna for such an extensive period.
He had once desperately tried to mimic Luna's management Logic, much like a Grand Steward would.
But he hadn't learned through direct instruction; instead, he simply Observed.
However, no matter how much effort he poured into it, the final Results were never the success he craved.
Toma K gave a slow nod.
"That's the Truth!"
"Perhaps I am just overthinking the Danger."
He immediately dropped the issue of Luna, instead asking Giotto, "What is our next Objective?"
"We can't just aimlessly fool around out here, you know…"
Giotto knew that all too well.
Standing in Luna's shadow, they were functionally incapable of accomplishing anything on their own.
He fell into Contemplation for a brief moment.
"Perhaps we should head directly to the Front Line to observe the War. Luna seems to possess an insane level of Confidence in our victory. It's a necessary journey, and at least there will be a Purpose for us at the front."
In the past, they were genuinely paralyzed by the fear of Death.
There isn't a single sentient Organism in this galaxy that doesn't fear Extinction. Even those lost souls driven to Suicide, or those heroic Soldiers—their bravery in the face of the Void is admirable, but it doesn't mean they don't Yearn for life.
Those two states of mind are not Contradictory.
But now, if they truly were Immortal, they could afford to be a bit more Reckless.
With that resolved, they marched toward the Cockpit.
As soon as the door hissed open, Luna waved them over.
"You've arrived at the perfect Moment. We just intercepted Intelligence from the front: the Saintees Star Nation and the Kingdom of Sky have launched a massive Offensive on the M36 Star Cluster. It appears the Ynun Star Nation is ready to go All-In."
Giotto and Toma K were struck by a wave of intense Alarm.
Those two Star Nations were in no way weaker than the Rusty Star Nation.
With three rival nations attacking simultaneously, how could they possibly Withstand the tide?
"We need to Run!" Giotto blurted out instinctively.
"We must Escape beyond the borders of this Civilization. We have the numbers and the Technology; building a new life in an unclaimed Sector would be fast."
He had stood up with such frantic Velocity that Toma K was left slightly dazed.
You weren't singing that heroic tune back at the headquarters, he thought.
Before Toma K could utter a word, Luna intervened, "There is No Need."
"The Ynun Star Nation likely bled themselves dry to buy the Loyalty of those two nations. If Ynun fails to crush us on the Main Battlefield, those two nations won't lift a finger—they might even Betray them mid-fight."
"As for the primary Front, we only need to neutralize the Virus Corporation Flaorse."
"During our last Fleet Clash, we utilized the superior Firepower of our Void-Class Warships to prevent them from deploying their Virus. This time, the enemy will be far better Prepared."
"But stay calm; as long as our Systems hold, Victory is ours."
"You two will deploy to the Front Line immediately. A sitting Rusty King and a Supernova Technology Corporation Director appearing on the Battlefield will provide a massive Morale boost to our troops."
The two hadn't even had a chance to argue before Luna had already decided their Fate.
They were long ago accustomed to this Dynamic; it was always her Will.
"No Problem!" the two replied in unison.
The second their voices faded, a blinding Beam of Light swept past their hull.
It was the Headquarters detonating behind them in a final, violent Scream.
Its terrifying Destructive Power was easily equal to a Planetary Annihilation.
With the Headquarters reduced to Stardust, Luna had already broadcast the Protocol to abandon the entire Star Nation to every corner of their territory.
Within a month, every Star City received the evacuation Directive.
The Commanders in charge of each sector were in total Disbelief, suspecting an enemy Psychological Operation.
How could such an Outrageous command even be issued?
But even so, they had no power to Resist.
Because every Star City Server began a forced Purge of the population. When the countdown hit zero, all Energy Supplies would be terminated. At that point, anyone who hadn't fled would simply be unable to Survive within the frozen hulls of the Star Cities.
However, Chaos was inevitable; things would not go smoothly.
Not with the Virus lurking in the dark.
Even among the citizens of the Star Cities, many refused to abandon their steel homes. They preferred to descend into Cryosleep, choosing an indefinite slumber over the terror of the void.
Due to these fractures in resolve, Chaos rippled across the entire Star Nation. Even those who successfully boarded the transports didn't necessarily set course for the Ynun Star Nation as commanded; instead, they veered off into the dark, attempting to desert entirely.
Such acts of defiance were erupting everywhere.
Yet, the vast majority still yielded to Luna's directives.
It wasn't that they were "Loyal Subjects," or that they actually believed in the mission. It was simply because most people were trapped by Circumstance.
To break away from the Main Fleet meant navigating the vacuum alone—a feat they had never attempted. That was an absolute Unknown. Faced with the void, the masses defaulted to Herd Mentality, clinging to the safety of the fleet.
At least if they encountered a Threat, someone might act as a shield.
Even if no one protected them, they wouldn't be the first to be Extinguished.
...
The Chaos tearing through the nation was a variable Luna had already factored into her Calculations.
To her, this was a necessary Elimination.
For a Star Nation, the raw population count was not fundamentally vital. A massive portion of the residents here were merely liberated Clones.
The reason she permitted them to board the ships and evacuate wasn't out of mercy for the individuals, but to preserve the Societal Fabric they carried.
This Society was the property of the Rusty Star Nation. By moving the people, she saved the centuries of Time it would take to reconstruct a functioning Civilization later.
She remained Indifferent.
Giotto and Toma K cared even less.
Shortly after the Headquarters was vaporized, the two departed, charting a course for the Front Line.
Meanwhile, Luna was establishing a link with the Production Lines of two Star System Void-Class Ships.
In reality, they were nowhere near a state of Overproduction.
Less than four hundred years had passed since her last War ended and her return to the Headquarters.
The manufacturing of Void-Class Ships was severely lagging behind schedule.
But it was irrelevant.
This War had only just reached its prologue. The true Carnage would only begin when the fleets of the three Star Nations reached the M36 Star Cluster, a journey that would consume several more centuries.
Mobilizing a Interstellar Fleet was no simple feat of logistics.
The other two Star Nations were not in close proximity to the M36 Cluster.
Even if the Ynun Star Nation's fleet arrived with the greatest Velocity, they would still be forced to wait for their allies before launching a coordinated Offensive.
Luna, however, was focused on one thing: how the Ynun Star Nation planned to seize the Advantage on the main battlefield.
After all, they were up against five Divines.
"Divines truly possess more Power than I initially estimated."
Luna sent an inquiry into Hyperdimensional Space.
"How many more Divines can I mobilize?"
The Hyperdimensional Space responded.
[Two]
"So few?"
Luna had intended to leverage the overwhelming Strength of the Divines to gain a decisive edge in the looming conflict.
After all, the Ynun Star Nation was merely the first Tactical Step.
She needed more Wars to temper and fortify the Rusty Star Nation.
[Currently, there are sixty-three Divines active in three-dimensional space; only two are within a viable radius.]
[The remaining 711 Divines have already ascended to Four-Dimensional Space.]
Luna was genuinely startled by this Intelligence; Ayla had actually deployed the majority of the Divines ahead of schedule.
It appeared a War was also Raging within the Fourth Dimension, and it was far more Brutal than the struggle here.
"Is there any Data from the Fourth Dimension?"
The Hyperdimensional Space Hyper God was effectively the primary Server of the nearest star system. Luna's communications with the Hyper God still suffered a Delay of several days; this was not Real-Time feedback.
Each system's Main Server, due to the constraints of Mortality Selection, possessed a specific Storage Capacity to manage and archive relevant Data.
Since the Divines entering the Fourth Dimension were still under the Hyper God's jurisdiction, it held the keys to that higher-dimensional Information.
[The Federation has initiated a full-scale Invasion into Four-Dimensional Space, committing over 40% of its total Military Assets. The Conflict there is of extreme Intensity.]
The Hyper God's data was limited, but it transmitted a fragment to Luna.
She was stunned; she had never been informed that Ayla had launched an Aggression into the Fourth Dimension.
The Intelligence contained grisly details of clashing Civilizations.
In the beginning, they had secured a Grand Victory, assuming their Dominance would be absolute. Unexpectedly, a weaker Civilization had invoked the aid of a High-Tier Four-Dimensional Civilization. That power immediately transferred Technology to the underdog, allowing them to force the Federation into a bloody Stalemate.
A significant number of Divines had already perished in this Attrition.
To date, over forty Divines had been Lost—irreplaceable Resources cultivated by the Federation over a hundred millennia.
The Federation had bled itself dry for Mortality Selection, simply to maintain the Hyperdimensional Space.
Forty Divines. Even Luna felt a pang of Distress.
The only silver lining was that the War still leaned in their favor.
The grim reality was that once the High-Tier Civilization's main Battlefleet arrived, they might fall into a fatal Disadvantage.
Luna couldn't grasp the full scope, but one detail stood out.
Ayla was in the Fourth Dimension.
She was certain it was Ayla's primary Consciousness, as Ayla would never delegate a matter of this magnitude to a Sub-Unit.
This was her fundamental Understanding of Ayla.
"If Ayla is still siphoning Troops, she believes Victory is still attainable."
"But if this Stagnates for too long, it will turn catastrophic."
"The Federation is currently in Peril."
The Danger was absolute.
The Four-Dimensional Battlefield had shackled half of the Federation's might, and the Star Nation front was no different.
Meanwhile, they still faced the looming Threat of the Flyer Civilization. Once those Flyers were fully mobilized, they would reach human Sectors in ten to fifteen thousand years.
Through a casual inquiry, Luna realized she was running out of Time.
"The two-thousand-year Strategic Plan, which I thought was aggressive, is actually far too Slow."
"This War must be terminated within a thousand years."
"Our Objectives must shift."
Luna had hoped to forge the Rusty Star Nation into an empire ruling countless systems—an independent Super-Power.
But that path was a Slug.
Her goal pivoted: could she assemble a Collective like the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant? It would be faster, but it might lack the Influence to stop the broader Star Nation War.
This was now the Supreme Decision.
"Man Proposes, God Disposes, indeed!"
Her Plans were constantly forced to mutate, a cycle that was beginning to Exhaust her.
She had to solve the immediate Violent threats while balancing the Geopolitical scales.
"The end result is still zero Leisure. I truly am my own Taskmaster."
But there was no other Path.
She was simply built that way.