1427 Satellite Galaxies

The reunion with his wives, which Varian envisioned to be sweet, ended up him getting lectured for three full hours.

"What? That woman is totally suspicious!"

"You trust a fortune teller in this day and age? Seriously!"

"Cryptic words? Bah! Those are copy-paste lines every fortune teller uses!"

Enigma and Sarah took turns, blasting him one after another. Apparently, Sia wanted to come out and give him an earful too.

But they strictly agreed to not transform as long as they're here. So, Varian was able to save a bit of his mind.

…Or not.

"Brother-in-law! How can you be so stupid?! Even children know not to trust these fortune tellers!"

When even the usually meek Sonya joined, Varian sighed in despair.

'A mysterious powerhouse who does some odd job. But he or she will utter some crytpic words. If you believe them, they'll help you.

Isn't this what happens everytime?

I mean, I was right in everything except the last. That bitch was a mysterious powerhouse and she does an odd job. She also uttered strange words. But she just wants to kill me.

I guess…I'm 90% correct in this situation.'

Thankfully, he didn't say what he was thinking out aloud.

'They might beat me up. Yep, yep.'

So, the man lowered his head and accepted his mistake.

*** *** *** ***

Miss Calamity looked at the man facing her with a hint of irritation.

Like Zahara Onyx under Princess Eshala, he's the best non-divine subordinate under the 7th Prince.

Hector Russ.

"Can't we fight another day?"

Miss Calamity grumbled, even though the aura around her was already soaring.

In the seemingly endless dark space, it's like a huge green flame stretching for millions of miles.

Even though she didn't show her full power, what she displayed could already kill most rank 9s.

Even though a peak rank 9 and a beginner rank 9 were technically in the same rank. The difference between them was so vast that you'd find less power difference between a rank 1 and rank 8.

Miss Calamity might not be the strongest among all peak rank 9s. That echelon was composed of old kings and warriors who got stuck in the rank and stayed in it for long, long years.

But she'd definitely in the second echelon—a rising genius who's going to hit divine rank but until reaching that next boundary, she wouldn't be as strong as these old monsters.

So, fighting Miss Calamity was a dangerous task in itself. But the man didn't shy away from it.

"If you give up this satellite galaxy, forget fighting another day, we don't have to fight at all." Hector said with a bright smile.

Miss Calamity's expression crumbled. "You arrogant worm."

Something unusual was happening in the Empire.

The intelligence was still unclear about the exact plans but the vague information recieved so far indicated movement of arms. Fortunately, it's not big enough to indicate the start of an all out war. But it's definitely not small enough for a typical ambush.

'At least a kingdom level operation.'

But why?

No, the better question would be, 'What actually are they trying to do? Is this army for some other secret ops?'

Miss Calamity didn't know.

But what she did know was that if the Jai Empire's forces occupied the satellite galaxy adjacent to the milkyway, they'd have one more outpost to launch attacks into the territory of the Alliance.

Even though the scale was cosmic, it's not unlike the old days when a critical region of your kingdom got captured by a hostile kingdom. It gives them tremendous strategic advantage.

Long ago, the Alliance made a mistake of not fighting the Empire's forces with enough resolve.

There were many satellite galaxies between Milkyway and Andromeda. But only a few of them were suitable for raising prosperous civilizations, meaning they had ample natural resources.

So, when Jai Empire attacked the barren satellite galaxies, the Alliance fought a bit but then gave up without trying their best.

In their own words, recorded for all progeny to see:

'What are we losing by giving the Jai barren land? Nothing. In fact, we're winning. They'll now have to station troops in that barren land, our neighboring land, to hold onto it.

But we? We can attack it whenever their forces are not enough. This is not a loss, it's a strategic victory.'

A very big blunder.

Instead of just holding onto the region, Jai Empire used them as launch pads to attack the Milkyway.

The fight which happened in the vast empty space and satellite galaxies between Milkyway and Andromeda until then now had one more region.

Milkyway galaxy itself.

With war happening in the hinterland, the dynamics of the war slowly shifted in the favor of the Jais.

It's been a long, long time since then. But to this day, the Alliance still hadn't been able to get back the lost satellite galaxies.

And that's why, Miss Calamity, like any other responsible powerhouse didn't even think of 'surrendering' the satellite galaxy.

She had already reached that region to meet Varian when this bastard attacked the border. So, she had to rush back.

Thankfully, there were teleportation treasures specifically for these types of border regions. So, she was able to confront him before anything happened.

But she couldn't help but worry about Varian's condition.

Her clone died unexpectedly. She didn't even know what happened as her connection with it was cut off early on.

There's very little chance that he survived.

Duke Kriad would know the answer. And she'd force it out of his mouth by hook or crook.

With those chaotic thoughts in mind, Miss Calamity started a battle with Hector Russ.

The battle continued for three full days.

It shouldn't have taken that long but at some point, a bunch of other peak rank 9s under the 7th Prince also joined, dragging the war.

A few of them died but most of them survived and returned.

After the battle ended, Miss Calamity learned about his survival and rushed to the capital.

Hector Russ and his subordinates attacking her felt less like an attempt to kill and more like a...distraction from something greater.

But in her hurry, she pushed back the hint of unease in her mind.

She'd come to regret it.