NOVEL NEXT Chapter 984: Feared by Allies
"I'm pretty sure I would have attacked the towers and destroyed them the moment I realized what they were being used for, but why are you still connected to the VR?" Seraphina asked. It had been hours since the war started, but she still maintained communication with some people of her faction who remained behind, continuing their presence in their home civilization.
More than half of them had already moved to the empire, with the empire being generous enough to create a super-large space station to replicate a semblance of their home life for those who chose to follow her, though it wasn't like they had any choice in the first place, since they were now thrown out of the center circle of power the moment she was ordered to surrender during the fight with the Emperor.
"The towers have been destroyed, but the VR is still being sustained in some way, which I'm also curious about because I don't think these devices have enough long-distance communication capabilities, nor the power to reach the servers in the empire," Horkan, one of her most loyal followers still in the Conclave, answered while kneeling.
"Do you have an answer?" Seraphina asked, looking at the watch on her hand.
{The empire is actively keeping the communication by using micro wormholes opened in these locations, shortening the distances and allowing it to remain online,} an AI answered her question. Still, from the look and reaction of those around her, it didn't take her long to realize that she was the only one who had heard the answer due to her clearance level, one that those beside her didn't have.
"They seem to have found a solution for it," Seraphina said without giving any additional explanation, which everyone understood, and they didn't ask any more questions.
"Have they informed you of anything about their plan, and do we have a part we need to partake in?" Horkan asked, curious, because at the moment, he could feel the Xor'vack grand elder's eyes on them, ready to deal with them the moment they showed any hint of trying to help the empire.
He had felt this increase in attention from the grand elder start a few months ago, but it was minimal to the point they considered it just him increasing scrutiny to remind them that he still had his eyes on them.
"Not really. I was just informed to be on standby in case the situation needs me, but at the moment I have the freedom to do anything I want while being given updates on the ongoing situation," Seraphina said, her hand tapping on her chin, showing the surprise she was feeling.
"I thought they would have made you make a move the moment they realized the attacks were happening, to act as a distraction," Horkan said, as he, too, was surprised by how the empire was still handling the situation on its own.
He had expected the empire to immediately put them to use, as that was how any other civilization would have acted had they had an Xor'Vak faction under their control. After all, they were extremely powerful and could be quite effective during wars.
The empire had spent quite a lot as an investment in strengthening not only Seraphina but also all of her faction members who were now living with her in the empire. Everyone knew that it was not due to the Emperor's generosity but to sharpen them as a weapon for when he needed them. But despite such a situation happening, it looked like the empire had deemed what looked to be an improbable situation to be something they could still handle without involving them at all.
"How are they dealing with the situation?" Horkan asked when Seraphina didn't say anything in response to his previous words.
Seraphina tilted her head at the question, spending a few seconds in silence before her face was replaced by a look of realization as she said, "Ah, you don't have access to this. That's why you are wondering things like that." She then materialized a screen and made it visible to the others before turning to Horkan for him to watch what was on it.
"What is th....." Just as he was about to ask what the different video feeds were, he finally realized that they were streams of different imperial citizens from different battlefields across the Conclave.
Some showed them in different civilizations' ships, attacking and destroying them. Some were floating in space, fighting planetary defense forces, and some were on the planets fighting with the forces that were fighting back.
He didn't even know how to express what his brain was experiencing at the moment, but his body made that decision for him. While on his knees, his hand that was being used as a support gave up, sending his face to the ground.
Seraphina didn't show any surprise at this happening, as it was something she had gotten used to, which, for her, thankfully happened when she was alone, or else it would have been quite a disgrace if her subordinates had seen her.
As the reigning and strongest race in the Conclave, they had participated in hundreds, if not thousands, of wars across their history, but never in their history had they been outnumbered by what looked to be a stronger foe and thought of using their normal citizens as fighters, and not only that, but turning it into entertainment for those who didn't join to watch and enjoy.
His mind was having trouble reconciling what he was seeing with the actual horrors of the wars he had either participated in or seen. The contrast to what the empire was currently doing, and that too against the entire Conclave, while only having two star systems under their name and not showing any sign of losing their strong ground, rather, it looked like they were thriving in this atmosphere, was stark.
Although it was not the first time the empire had broadcasted the wars it participated in, the information was not widely spread, since it was overshadowed by larger things that happened after those wars, making it be considered like a footnote, and the videos about it were just archival footage.
After a few seconds passed while he was down, he finally had the mental clarity to raise himself and apologize for the unsightly behavior he had shown. In his mind, the feeling he had for the empire had shifted from a mutual, neutral-leaning-towards-positive feeling for a small but powerful race that was planning to use them, to now feeling fear at the change in their behavior when they were at peace versus when they were at war.
It was like two different civilizations. He could swear he had seen the imperial citizens being very sympathetic and leading the online movement to abolish slavery when Dreznor's post was all everyone could talk about, which had made him consider them to be weak due to being driven by emotions. But now, the same civilization that had shown that level of sympathy was celebrating, enjoying, and even participating in delivering violence against Conclave forces, making the contrast impossible to ignore. None of them seemed to show fear of being outnumbered, but rather enjoyed it since everyone had the opportunity to have more forces to fight against to their satisfaction.