1321 Orion
With a heart full of humiliation and reluctance, Prince Merov began his journey to the secretive place where the space portal was hidden by the three candidates.
Even though they were competed against each other in almost everything, this was one thing they coopearted unanimously.
Precious treasures were burned to keep this location hidden and the information of its condition relayed to them within minutes of any changes.
Until now, there had been no emergency alerts, so Merov didn't bother checking the information about the portal.
But once inside his spaceship, he ended up opening the log.
The prince's eyebrows jumped in surprise. "Rudolph used the portal already? A few days ago? No way…"
"Unless he's beaten to the point he can't compete, that young man won't leave. But there had been no attacks on the capital before yours.
He had been attacked somewhere else and decided to leave. It's a decision that'd hurt his pride, but he must've had no choice.
But this puts everything into question. The Zions knew about your arrival in advance. Not just arrival but even your strengths and personalities. They laid down a trap for you three to bite and bite you did." The old voice was filled with equal amounts of astonishment and anger.
He liked playing others on the boards the most and hated being played by others the most.
"I'll get my revenge, Master." Merov said. "My three slave beasts were brutally killed…"
"Forget revenge, just make sure you don't get caught up in the upcoming storm." The old voice chided him. "And remember, you must destroy the space portal once you use it."
"What about Sony—"
"It doesn't matter. A rank 8 can kill you too easily. Don't risk any confrontation."
"…Fine."
Just as the spaceship approached the region where the portal was hidden, seven beams of light fell from the space, right onto the purple moon of the capital planet.
Like dust rising after a collison, sparkling light particles rose into the air. They twinkled like stars and gave off a soothing light. Similar to thick gas, they washed over the surroundings before thinning out and dispersing into the air.
It was a beautiful sight that would hook away the the hearts of steel.
Mesmerized by the sight and marvelled at the sheer power radiating out of that light, Prince Xoler and his entourage of rank 6 generals waited humbly, with hands folded in front of their chest and heads lowered in, fully showing their respects.
Out of the seven, a beam of light slowly cleared.
A six-foot tall humanoid male walked out. His pitch black skin was adorned with little twinkling stars. The man's body was of perfect proportions.
Even though he, like his fellow Veyans, walked the path of space, his physical strength could easily crush the strongest Mystic.
Against the perfectly black background, his eyes had a glowing white six-pointed star.
Even though the shape of his being resembled a human, his skin wasn't equivalent to a dark tone. It was as if the dark space filled with ocassional stars was stripped out and moulded into a figure.
As the first Veyan took the third step, the remaining beams also slowly cleared, revealing four men and two women.
Like the first warrior, they all wore an armored shirt and trousers woven out of glowing white threads—extracted from the famous star spider rumored to reside at the heart of large stars.
Their mere presence turned their surroundings into a beautiful mix of twinkling starlight and glowing white light.
Prince Xoler gulped his saliva and stepped forward. He had seen these uniforms in the Academy.
'Orion!'
The infamous special forces under the Veyan kingdom. Unlike the regular army, there were only 1,000 warriors in Orion.
Each Orion was a true genius in his academy time and could easily deal with at least six people at the same rank.
Xoler killing those three creatures each of which were individually stronger than him was a great feat. But if he applied for Orion, he wouldn't qualify.
A kingdom didn't just mean a couple of duchies.
The difference between a duchy and a kingdom was far, far higher than one could expect.
Their records were numerous. The most highlighted one in recent times was destruction of a 100 rank 7s as well as 10,000 rank 6s with a squad of just 12 members.
The quiet skeptics didn't believe it. Xoler was one of them. But his Veyan roommate showed him a few videos that shut him up.
'These guys are monsters!'
"D-Duke Xoler welcomes the squad of Or—" The former prince bowed in a respectful tone but his words were interrupted without much courtesy.
"From the Alliance?" The man standing at the forefront of the squad asked.
The space around him was fluctuating, like hot air would puslate over boiling oil.
That wasn't it, the tidbits of aura leaking out of him already caused the rank 6 military generals behind Xoler to faint.
'Rank 8! The captain is rank 8!'
Xoler could also feel the pressure but it wasn't as pronounced due to his rank 7 strength. But for a rank 6, just the leaking treasure was enough.
The closer one got to divine ranks, the more 'monstrous' they turned.
Strength increased exponentially and there's no such thing as fighting across the ranks.
Forget geniuses, even hybrids had a hard time fighting a sub-rank higher. Even the best of Orion could barely fight someone a sub-rank higher. If that enemy was as experienced, then the outcome would be 50-50.
Xoler shook his head and took a few rapid breaths. He didn't know if he could ever reach rank 8. Heck, he didn't know if he could reach mid rank 7 by the end of this century.
It's just too hard to climb ranks the higher you went. Exponentially higher.
The leader's star pupils glowed with an intense light and Xoler instantly felt the space around him tightening.
His consciousness turned blank for a moment before he found himself back in life.
"From the Alliance?" The captain asked again, his voice cold and indifferent.
"Y-Yes. They are from Pala kingdom of Genesis. E-Entry point near Centaurus duchy."
