In fact, Lorien was asleep...
Inside the Northern Tower, by the time everyone finished chatting and returned, the sky was already beginning to brighten.
Cindy, Mayday, Peni, and Gwen had originally planned to skip sleep and head straight to class. With their constitutions, staying up an entire day wasn't much of an issue.
But Lorien advised otherwise.
"School? At this hour, what's the point of going?"
"Learning never ends. Sleep when you're tired, eat when you're hungry. Study when it's time to study, and play when it's time to play."
"Just take a leave of absence. Say there's something at home."
In the U.S., getting leave from university was hardly a challenge—especially for reasons like illness or discomfort. If you asked, it was practically guaranteed to be approved. And if not, you could even sue. That's how much freedom there was...
So Gwen and the others filed for leave. They went home directly, each returning to her own bed.
Lorien could have skipped rest and continued clocking in for work as usual. With his Universal-level power, it made no difference whether he slept or not—so long as his body had energy.
But why fight it? If he wanted to sleep, then sleep. Nothing beat a good rest.
Work? Work my ass.
Lorien muttered to himself,
"Use one day of leave."
[Ding~ Leave Card used successfully. Today's check-in reward obtained as normal.]
After activating the Leave Card, Galacta went back to her research, while the rest of the Spider-Alliance returned to their rooms to sleep.
Lorien brought Gwen, Wanda, and Hela back with him. But Hela thought it over and decided against sleeping. She stayed home to play games instead. Having gone a whole night without gaming, she was practically in withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Lorien went to the bedroom with Wanda and Gwen. After changing clothes, they all flopped onto the bed.
Chatting idly, they soon drifted into sleep.
...
And in his sleep, the Transformers civilization pressed on with rapid reconstruction.
After this war, their total losses amounted to only 11%. For the Transformers, that was practically a flawless victory.
A mere 11% in battle damage—just a few planetary cycles of production would recover it. To a mechanical civilization, such losses were negligible.
And now, armed with the hard-earned experience from the swarm war, the Elders of the Transformers civilization had already broken down every advantage they held and every weakness in their enemy.
Reinforce, reinforce, and reinforce again—amplify their strengths, and target the enemy's vulnerabilities.
This war had revealed to them where the Annihilation Wave was weakest.
The Collector studied their report.
"Weak in spatial technology, fragile against psychic force, no tactical coordination, easily baited, highly vulnerable to large-scale strikes with devastating effect..."
One war was all it took. Nearly every Elder had seen the same truth.
The swarm had no mind, no strategy. Their psychic defenses were almost nonexistent. Hit one, and that one simply died.
Area-of-effect attacks were devastating.
Damage that would normally be precise against other enemies spilled over into excess against the swarm. A bullet was enough to kill—but a laser was wasteful.
So, faced with this, the Transformers civilization immediately overhauled their weapons and defenses. They knew exactly what to prioritize and what to abandon.
The Collector, seeing this pace of progress, was already looking forward to the next invasion.
"At this rate, how could the Annihilation Wave ever keep up?"
...
Meanwhile, in the depths of the universe, the Xandarian star system.
The Nova Empire was no more. In its place sprawled a grotesque insectoid city, smothered in fleshy tumors and fungal carpets.
Once, seen from orbit, Xandar gleamed in hues of blue, gold, and green. Now, from the void, it showed only gray, black, and sickly green. All brightness erased.
And it wasn't just one planet. Every world in the system had been twisted into the same revolting form.
Countless bugs crawled and writhed across planetary surfaces. Eye-insects drifted in patrol through the void. More of the swarm surged between planets, clustered so densely they looked like endless black specks from afar.
This was the Annihilation Wave's temporary headquarters.
Annihilus himself was here. Even Thanos stood waiting for orders.
"Damn it!!!"
The roar shattered Xandar's silence.
The generals stiffened. None of them had ever heard Annihilus scream with such fury.
"My Lord, what has happened?"
They rushed into the great hall.
There they found Annihilus, fists clenched, fury radiating off his form in waves.
Thanos entered as well. He took in the sight, calculated the timing, and understood at once.
"One of our Queens has lost the psychic link."
"She vanished from my senses in an instant!"
"Do any of you know what happened to her?"
As expected, Annihilus laid it out directly.
A Brood Queen was gone. Entirely.
No last transmission, no lingering signal—the link had been severed in an instant, like a cable yanked from its socket.
He had received nothing. Only that the Queen was dead.
But where? How? He had no idea.
The generals exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock. They shook their heads. None of them knew.
"My Lord, the Queen's power was unmatched in this universe. Surrounded by billions of the swarm—how could she possibly die?"
"Exactly. How could an entire swarm of billions be wiped out here? It doesn't add up."
"Unless... they encountered a greater god. But why would such a being kill our Queen? Could it have been the Celestials?"
The generals speculated, suspicion falling upon the Celestials.
The Celestials too fed on life energy. They were known for slaughtering worlds, wiping out a planet in a week. Them being enemies was expected.
But the problem was... even the Celestials shouldn't have been able to kill a Brood Queen in an instant, leaving not even time to send a final report.
Who could have done this? Why did they wield such overwhelming power?
Faced with their confusion, Annihilus knew one thing for certain—none of them were responsible.
Among the swarm, there were no traitors. The truth of his generals' words and actions was plain to him. His commands were absolute, impossible to defy.
They truly knew nothing.
And that ignorance itself was the problem.
Who had killed the Queen?
Annihilus sank into thought.
And as he brooded, his gaze fell on the figure at the edge of the hall—Thanos, standing there, wearing an expression that was far too calm.
The Insectoid Conqueror instantly turned to him.
"So you know about this."
All the generals whipped around at once, every insect fixing its gaze on Thanos.
Thanos crossed his arms and answered calmly.
"That Brood Queen recently traveled to a star system entirely populated by humans. It's called the Nine Realms, and the place it went to is Midgard—the Solar System."
The Insectoid Conqueror frowned.
"I recall you once said that was where you suffered a major defeat."
"Correct."
Thanos admitted his failure without hesitation. Watching the Insectoid Conqueror, his voice remained steady.
"Not long ago, it claimed the Transformers civilization was nothing to fear—that a single Annihilation Wave could consume them entirely. It asked me for the coordinates of the Solar System."
"And you gave them," Annihilus said.
"I told it the Transformers civilization required the collective assault of the entire Annihilation Wave. We needed to expand rapidly and devour them in one strike before they discovered our weaknesses. But that Brood Queen scoffed at the idea, and went anyway."
The moment Thanos finished, especially the part about requiring a collective counterattack, the other generals bristled with discontent.
The Annihilation Wave destroyed everything it touched. Even a single swarm could devour any empire in the universe. And now he was saying they needed all of them?
Of course, the Insectoid Conqueror was not as arrogant as its generals. But it was absolutely confident.
"The Annihilation Wave has no weaknesses."
"Then how did that Brood Queen die?"
"Clearly, other powerful beings must have joined the battle."
"Then that is the weakness."
For a moment, silence fell over the hall.
Thanos' meaning was simple: your Queen was reckless.
The Insectoid Conqueror's meaning was equally clear: even if she made a mistake, her death had to be caused by overwhelming external force. Otherwise, it wouldn't have ended this way.
At least the Annihilation Conqueror was not blinded by arrogance. After a pause, it turned to one of the generals.
"Send a squad of Eye Insects to investigate the Solar System. Gather the other Brood Queens and the swarms outside. Prepare for total war against the Transformers civilization."
Then it looked back at Thanos.
"As for you, you'll be in the first wave of swarms to breach the Solar System."
Thanos gave a nonchalant nod. Charge? So be it. This was exactly what he wanted.
Why hadn't he said more about Earth, or about the Transformers civilization?
Because the longer the Annihilation Wave and the Transformers clashed, the more he stood to gain.
His ultimate goal was the Infinity Stones. With the Power Stone or the Space Stone in hand, he would finally be able to "have a proper conversation" with the Insectoid Conqueror.
And the Conqueror was using him in turn.
Both sides carried hidden agendas. Both were exploiting the other.
...
Meanwhile, on Earth.
By noon, Lorien finally stirred awake, holding Wanda in his arms. That was when he noticed Tony's text message.