《Galaxy Wars: The Legacy of Light and Darkness》


 Chapter 1: Hope for Beyond the Sky

    Humans longed for something more than anything else for ages, which was flying. When humans became able to fly, they didn''t feel any happiness or pride. That was because they knew deep down their souls they achieved nothing. That longing that haunted humanity since its creation wasn''t to fly in the air, but to fly in the space, something the ancestors said it was homesick.


    There was a calling that always drove humans to break all the natural laws that tied them and soar to space. It began with some lousy tries by humans to fly by themselves, like gluing some feathers all over their bodies and fly off the top of a mountain. Humans then learned that they, themselves, couldn''t fly alone, but they could use the help of external objects to do the trick.


    Here, technology and science stepped in, as humanity entered the age of flying jets, which was followed by the space exploration age. Humans were such smart, quick learner, and very patient species, so they didn''t stop even after many setbacks until they managed to send some rockets to space.


    Humans'' success in that step was followed by an important realization that made the whole philosophy back then changed¡­ humanity wasn''t alone in this space. The discovery of many relics, evidence of multiple visits from outer space, and even receiving some random transmissions by strange languages made the man feel doubt, fear, and anticipation.


    Knowledge was always the supreme power at all times, so based on this humans started to change their strategy in dealing with space. They didn''t aim to just explore it, they aimed to invade it.


    The most prominent feature of humans was arrogance, so humans started to build academies and established many research labs that directed all their efforts towards exploring new branches of science, space science. Humans took a long time to unveil enough secrets of the universe to be able to step one step forward and entered the endless boundless theatre of the universe.


    They built space ships, discovered techniques of space hyperjump, knew how to harvest the energy of the black hole to use it as a fuel, built massive fleets, and trained huge armies just to be faced with the utter truth¡­ Humanity was nothing in the universe.


    Arrogance got smashed on the hard rock of advanced technology, larger ships, bigger cannons, and massive armies which formed of many races humans never saw before. Defeat after defeat made humans realized how small they were, so when arrogance failed, pleading did the job.


    A treaty of peace had been signed by the general leader of men on earth, leader Tohak, he was a good man in the wrong time. By this treaty, humanity officially entered the whole wide world of space, which made them feel how naive they and their ancestors were to think about invading all of this.


    The second prominent feature of humans emerged at this moment; survival. Humans started to learn, adapt, and find a place to fit in, which was admirable efforts that were faced with acceptance and rejection, cooperation and enmity, encouragement, and suppression.


    The first lesson humanity learned about this space was there was no certain order for it, some areas were ruled, while others were chaotic. Rule and order didn''t equal to a good peaceful prosperous life, as many chaotic areas were more prosperous than some rule, which made humans live the good life in some places while suffering slavery, tyranny, and poverty at others.


    On the other facet of the coin, humanity had another long troublesome journey that started since their existence; the mind, and soul; the science and religion struggle. Humans were rebellious in nature, some were, while others searched for something to fill the gap in their souls.


    So, throughout ages, humanity had passed through difficult times where science and religion battles kept going and raging, even when humans joined officially the endless space community.


    When humans joined the space civilizations, they were shocked to see the same struggle being repeated over and over again in other civilizations all over the universe. Humans weren''t alone in this universe, even in this struggle as well.


    Humans'' third greatest feature, which was curiosity, made them watch and learn as time passed by slowly. Empires had fallen while others emerged on their remains.


    Humans weren''t the only species out there watching, the whole universe was watching and learning, and they all reached the same conclusion¡­ science wasn''t able to save or build anything just like religion, no matter what kind of civilization emerged, no matter how powerful, rightful, and advanced empires were, they all lost in time and became forgotten.


    This realization made humanity, side by side with others in this universe, feel fear, doubt, and loss. When hope was lost, despair prevailed.


    Humanity, and other species in the universe, were oblivion to some simple but fundamental fact, which created all the difference regarding this issue. Philosophers weren''t unique to humans, as many were present all over the universe, so some theories were made, which shared one common statement, a statement that was long after well-known as the Ravner statement.


    Ravner statement took some time to attract the attention of everyone, but it did at the end, which by then it turned into Ravner prophecy. Humanity and other species found hope, and this prophecy started to be the highest principle at many civilizations and empires.


    "The main principle of life isn''t about religion and science; it''s about good and evil. No matter what side you belong too, good people tend to rule by justice, while evil people rule by tyranny."


    Instead of building religious temples and labs, one white and other black buildings started to appear, which took after the name of Ravner himself, the ravner of good, and the ravner of bad. The battle just turned from one field to another, but it was still the same battle, with the same losses and failures.


    In the beginning, the forces of good were even with bad, and the whole universe got divided into three big factions, the good-doers, the evildoers, and those who were in the middle. The good side was merciful and just, but they were no match for the evil side, especially when the third biggest faction of all stood silently and waited for a miracle to happen.


    Normal folks only hoped and prayed, but did nothing, which made the good side lose war after war till they became nearly extinct. On the other side, the whole universe became under the control of evil powers, who didn''t stop fighting as they turned their cannons towards each other.


    Civilizations kept destroying and empires became ruins, and more civilizations and empires began to rise up. Ravner prophecy turned into a curse, a curse that after a long time was nearly forgotten, but its effects were still there.


    Ravner wasn''t wrong, but he didn''t use the right words to describe it well. He also wasn''t qualified to speak for that situation, which was deeply rooted in this universe. Ravner wasn''t the first to notice this unique connection between the two forces, but he failed, just like the others before him, in unveiling the mystery that fogged this connection.


    Life wasn''t just about bad or good, it was way higher than that, as it was about light and dark. Light doesn''t always mean good, and so did the darkness, as everyone had it both.


    The problem wasn''t about obtaining one more than the other, the problem was which decision one would take, was it the right act to do or the wrong one? Which had the upper hand, which reigned over everyone''s actions? That was the dilemma that Ravner and his gang missed unintentionally.


    Balance controlled it all; no matter what it was, darkness and light, success and failure, life and death¡­ everything was controlled by balance. So, when the universe ushered under nearly complete darkness, the balance rule reacted.


    Light legacies began to appear once again after millions and millions of their disappearance, and with them darkness legacies also started to emerge. This was the start of a new age, where the true final confrontation war was about to begin.


    Here our story started, as heroes and villains rose and began their true path towards both sides.


    Shall you join them?

 Chapter 2: The Awakening 1

    "Move out, these boxes must reach point b in time, or else you will be punished."


    "Yes, sir."


    A tall well built young man listened to the orders as he moved rapidly after finishing loading more than 100 sealed boxes from this small space cruiser. James just started his 16 year one week ago, or so he was told.


    When he was born, his parents were one of the resisting forces that were destroyed under the mighty blade of the regime that he was now serving. He was taken, like millions others, and was raised on a small planet which acted as a raising facility for kids like him.


    He learned everything needed about life there, as no weak was allowed to live, only the strong could continue on living, and those with an outstanding strength became like kings.


    He came from that planet a few years back when his body began to grow and his muscles began to form. Since that day, he worked in this military base that served as one of many others to launch continuous attacks towards other free places in the universe.


    The empire that this planet belonged to was one of the most powerful empires in the whole universe. Many people from various races would fight to get a chance to serve under it, but not James, who kept the dream of leaving here always in his mind.


    Since he dreamed of leaving, he knew he couldn''t last alone and escape the clutches of this mighty empire easily, so he began to prepare.


    Being in a military base had given him access to many things, weapons, knowledge on war machines, medical stuff, and even how to drive a small space cruiser.


    Anything his hands could reach, he didn''t hesitate to get, so his free time wasn''t wasted like others in sightseeing and relaxing. Even when others started to date girls, he didn''t.


    James drove his floating car, known as the floater, which used the dark energy harvested from black holes to leave this facility rapidly. The whole planet was huge, but it was divided intelligently to use every speck on it for the benefit of this empire.


    The facility James just left behind was one of many that worked as a receiving point to any cargo coming from outside, and they were also the only way to send something out from this planet.


    The road that he set off on was long enough to cross the whole planet linking between many other facilities, and one of them was James'' target.


    James moved from the centre of the planet heading straight forward to the north pole, where there lay a huge facility that acted as a storage place for all the war machines big or small inside a huge series of mountains.


    The mountains were just an outer shell as all the interior of them were excavated and rebuilt using advanced technology so they could act as mere storage rooms.


    The road was long, but this wasn''t the first time James used it, in fact he was very familiar with it that he could drive blindly, so he kept driving his floater towards the destination with ease.


    The distance between the two facilities was big, but his floater was very fast, so he could reach there in less than half an hour if he was lucky.


    "Look who is here boys, it''s James the lonedriver."


    "Yes boss, he is that lonedriver."


    "Isn''t it sad how he lived, worked, and even rested alone? What do you think boys?"


    These sounds attracted James'' attention that was distracted by thinking about an issue in driving space cruisers during flying with light speed.


    James looked back over his shoulders to see three floaters exactly the same as him were catching up at rapid speed.


    James didn''t need to wait for this company to reach him to know their identities, as he knew them from their voices. They were one of the many gangs scattered on this planet.


    If there was something James learnt from the planet where he grew up at then it would be the law of gangs. Every place in this universe was controlled by gangs, but with different sizes.


    If you were strong enough, had many armies and huge fleets, then you would be the leader of a huge gang that was so powerful to call itself an empire.


    If you were just a nothing, mere worker in this shitty place, then you could gather some weaker workers and form a small gang of yours.


    The whole world was divided into three big groups, the one who led the gangs, the ones who were parts of them, and those who were mistreated by those gangs.


    James didn''t put himself into any of these three groups, as he thought of himself as an anomaly, the one who would stand alone in the middle of all this.


    "Look boss, he is ignoring us, as usual."


    That low pitched annoying sound which was one of the characteristic features of the Royan''s race echoed in James ears, but he ignored it as he kept driving his floater without decreasing his speed.


    "Yes, he is ignoring us. So, it''s our fault to be kind and come to him to warn him about his little secret and the people who discovered it."


    James felt strange, as these words aimed to arouse his curiosity, which he controlled perfectly and went on his way without pause. That distasteful noisy low pitched sound came again to reverberate in his ears:


    "So boys, tell me what do you think will happen when the higher ups hear about the presence of a worker that crossed his clearance limit and kept checking on the weapons and other war stuff we have here?"


    "They will think he is trying to do a coup against the higher ups, boss."


    "Yes, or even worse he will try to escape from here by hijacking any transportation cruisers, right boys?"


    When James heard this, his body jolted and his heartbeat began to drum like a space destroyer core hydrogilic engine. He couldn''t help himself from shouting out loud:


    "You are a bunch of liars."

 Chapter 3: The Awakening 2

    "Hahaha, did you hear that boys? He is accusing us of lying, instead of thanking us for coming to help him here."


    James took a deep long breath trying to calm himself out. It seemed he wasn''t careful enough and what he was doing in his spare time was spotted by these gangsters.


    James knew what this was heading to, as the only way for him to silence them for now was to pay them something valuable. He also knew this wouldn''t ever stop as they would harass him every now and then, so he better hurry up and finish his preparations to leave.


    He was this close to finish these preparations and be ready to escape from here, so he decided to act wisely as he said:


    "I''m grateful for your help, and I want to repay it, so can you follow me to the base and after I finish delivering this cargo we can speak freely?"


    "No, smart man, pull over here and let''s speak right now."


    The boss'' sound was the highest of them all, and James felt very annoyed by it and its owner''s attitude. James had a tight time schedule which was wasted by the delay of that cruiser arrival, but who would blame a cruiser crew?


    Of course James would be held responsible for that, not that lazy cruiser crew, so James decided to end things fast here so he could continue his journey rapidly.


    "Fine, let''s go over there away from the eyes."


    That head of the Royan gang looked towards the direction James pointed to, and he liked it. It was a huge stretch of weird shaped trees that were made of unique crystals of this planet.


    "I have no objection to that, let''s head there."


    James then moved his floater to be off the main road heading straight towards the far forest. That forest was one of the many forests that filled this planet, where he used to spend most of his time reading and learning.


    The environment there was good as there was no one to bother him, except for now. These forests were made entirely of a unique mineral that had a life of its own, so this mineral grew up to form these trees.


    That mineral was a good energy conductor, so it was harvested at first in great quantities and used to build the energy cells in the large space cruisers, before a new technology popped up and made it lose its value.


    This was a long time ago, nearly a few centuries back, but James knew this story as he was always curious to learn more. The more he learnt, the stronger he became, that was his motto.


    "Here is fine, pull over and let''s talk."


    That annoying voice erupted from the boss in an order tone. This boss didn''t need to hide it any more, as he showed his true colors finally. James complied as he stopped his floater and then descended from it.


    Once he turned, he found more than 10 Royans standing in front of him. He was alone, as he chose to work there, but others liked to have more helpers to do their jobs, and now those helpers were all part of this little gang that cornered him.


    "What do you want as a thank-you gift?"


    The leader, who was two times bigger than James and had two more arms, said with his devilish smile:


    "What I like most about you is your sharpness, you would do great if you worked under me, what do you think?"


    James shook his head as he replied calmly:


    "It''s not possible, so why don''t you just say what do you want from me?"


    James knew that this gangster here didn''t take all this effort just to recruit him, so he decided to skip this part and go for the main issue, as he was running out of time.


    "Sharp as always, and that suits me. I want something cheap from you, something that would cost you nothing at all, but you possess it alone."


    "Really? What is this cheap thing that caught the worthy eyes of Forilak?"


    "It''s that device you created and you can store things in it, it has a name right? What is it?"


    The face of James changed abruptly, as this was another secret of his to be revealed in a short period by the same Royan. James felt tense as he replied faking ignorance:


    "I don''t know what you are talking about? All I know is the space compression tech which I heard was installed in the huge space cruisers."


    Forilak didn''t seem to be offended or angered, as he expected James to reply like this, so he said:


    "Do you think I just heard some crazy unbelievable tale from one of my men and bought it? Of course I didn''t believe him at first when he told me about that strange device you have, so I followed you, and my dear James I followed you for the whole month.


    I even paid for some smugglers to give me a device that could hide my presence from anyone, and I paid an extreme price for that. But you know what, I''m not feeling any regret about doing this, in fact I wanted to celebrate with you, my friend.


    My dear James had grown up from the shitty planet he came from and become a great inventor. You should be praised, and I''m here to praise you for that. So, don''t tell me you don''t know about it, as I''m sure you have it."


    Forilak said so while he was circling around James, like a fierce beast that was eyeing its prey. James sighed in helplessness; his day was going from bad to worse.


    He didn''t have anything to fight these thieves back except to comply with their needs. James then took out a bracelet he wore on his right arm, and handed it over to Forilak who denied it while saying:


    "No, I won''t dare to take the creation you invented yourself like that."

 Chapter 4: The Awakening 3

    James didn''t understand, he decided to keep up with these guys here as he had made many models of this creation. He then asked:


    "Then what do you want?"


    Forilak came closer to him while whispering:


    "I want the blueprints of this device, my dear friend James. Give me the blueprints and we all go separate ways."


    Forilak then patted James'' cheeks strongly while laughing. He paid it hard enough to make him feel pain so he could uncover the secrets of James. Once he confirmed the intel of his follower, he then began to watch James closely day and night.


    At first he was confused about James'' behavior and thought James was obsessed with invention and reading, but soon he changed his mind. When he saw James flying a small cruiser sneakily from the big abandoned facility in the woods, he knew James was up to something.


    Although it was a retarded obsolete version compared to nowadays versions of space cruisers, but what made a normal worker learn how to fly it? The answer was simple, he was trying to escape.


    That was when Forilak decided to confront James with all what he knew, so he could pressure him to take out the blueprints of that device. In Forilak''s opinion, James was a fool, as he could simply deliver this creation for the higher ups and then got the reward he deserved.


    Instead, he was planning to escape here, throwing off all the potential that this device could bring to him. but Forilak didn''t intend to be a fool, as he would do the step that James didn''t take and acquire all the rewards that such a device would bring to him.


    This wasn''t just a normal robbery of his gang; this was a milestone moment for him, where he would take advantage of it and change his destiny forever.


    All he needed was buried deeply inside James'' brain, or maybe hidden well by James, as Forilak had searched meticulously for any clue that could lead him to these blueprints, but failed.


    James, on the other hand, was shocked by the demand of Forilak. These blueprints meant nothing for him though, but he read what this Royan intended to do, and that what made him surprised. James didn''t have any objection to that as he said calmly:


    "I will hand them over to you, and you will let me go and don''t ever harass me again?"


    Forilak''s eyes shone brightly as his guess was confirmed, so he said seriously:


    "I swear on the great Royan''s blood that I would never harass you after you leave here."


    James was surprised again, as this oath was known as the highest oath for Royans. That little thief seemed to take this task very seriously, that''s what James thought. He wasn''t complaining though, as by this oath he knew this Royan here wouldn''t bother him again.


    "Here, these are the blueprints of the device."


    James handed the papers to Forilak, who took them as he said with surprise:


    "An old fashioned way of recording things, which is the reason neither I nor my men here could ever find these blueprints anywhere."


    James looked speechlessly towards Forilak, as he knew now the strange accident that happened at his living block wasn''t a mere accident after all.


    "What? Don''t look at me like this, that fire happened accidently, and I''m glad to know you didn''t lose anything important in it."


    James just sighed as he was about to move out of here, but just as he turned around towards his floater, he found himself being surrounded by those Royans. He looked in question and blame towards Forilak who said in an innocent tone:


    "I just want you to wait until we finish assembling this device, after all you didn''t think I took all this trouble for just a bunch of old papers, which might be worthless at the end."


    James gritted his teeth as he told himself to be calm, he then said:


    "I really wouldn''t mind this, but the core of this device needs a minute hydrogilic core."


    "That''s not a problem, as the cargo you have right now has this core."


    James looked in shock to Forilak as his men started to unseal the cargo from his floater. He then said angrily:


    "How dare you?! This would put me in question and punishment."


    "A little sacrifice from you is appreciated, James, and don''t tell me you made up your device with a core you invented by yourself, right? Don''t make a big fuss over it, losing one hyrogilic cannon won''t be easily detected."


    James opened his mouth a couple of times to close them without saying anything. He watched two Royans come back carrying a big hydrogilic cannon as they put it on the ground while another one of them started to use his magic and disassembled it.


    This cannon was classified as a shoulder holder cannon which had the ability to blast a hole in the defenses of the small space fighters, but it was genuinely heavy.


    The Royan who started to work on it knew his work, as he was one of the regular maintenance technicians that were responsible for checking various war machines. In minutes, the small silver white bead-like core appeared in his hand.


    This core was so small that you could easily neglect it, but if you let it damage, then the aftermath would be huge. Filorak then gave the blueprints to Royans, who started to follow the steps in it to finally end in making one device similar to James bracelet.


    That process didn''t take half an hour, during which James was almost at his wits end. He had lost enough time to face punishment and detention due to his late arrival to the base.


    "Are you satisfied now? Can I go?"


    "It''s really marvelous, this device has 2 meters of space that I can put anything in it."


    James felt strange as he looked in doubt towards Filorak who was captivated with this device. That Royan wasn''t lying, that''s what James felt, but that also made him more confused, as his own device had a 100 meters storage area inside.


    That difference was way bigger to be neglected or considered different in talent.


    "Yes, sure, you can go now."

 Chapter 5: The Awakening 4 Last Part

    James just turned again towards his floater to stop abruptly as beads of sweat appeared over his forehead.


    "Do you know, my dear James, that weapons aren''t allowed here in the base? So I had to buy a code breaker, this code breaker, which helped my boys here to unlock the codes over all these weapons."


    Filorak was waving with a small horn-like object that was hanged over his neck at the end of a necklace. James swallowed his saliva hardly as he said with weak voice:


    "What are you doing, Filorak? You just swore an oath and I gave you what you wanted."


    "Yes, you are right my James, but you know I swore not to touch you after you leave this place, so if I killed you now, I won''t dishonor this sacred oath, right?"


    James'' face turned ashen white while retreating a couple of steps backward to fall on the ground as he stumbled over a small rock.


    "D¡­Don''t kill me, I have given what you wanted to you. Why do you have to kill me?"


    "Why? It''s simple; I just want to keep this little secret of the true inventor of this device hidden forever."


    "I¡­I can swear or do anything you want to make you feel relieved about this."


    James tried to stop the inevitable, but Forilak just replied coldly:


    "A dead man is the perfect secret keeper, kill him and let''s leave here."


    Four Royans moved at once holding small guns that had a long end like a spear and pointed them towards James who was lying on the ground frozen by fear of the rapidly approaching death.


    These guns were retrieved from the cargo on his floater, so he technically was about to die under his own weapons. James'' eyes widened in panic as these Royans got near him to stand a few meters away, pointing the tips of their guns to his chest.


    One of the guns touched his chest as its holder was so close to James, who felt like an electric impulse emanated from his chest. It wasn''t a paralyzing effect from fear, but it was something else, something he couldn''t explain or comprehend.


    It started with small fire that was ignited deeply inside his chest, which followed by a mighty eruption like a volcano. He felt like he was connected to something bigger, something wonderful, something sacred.


    He felt everything around him, the speck of dusts on the ground reverberating under the moves of these Royans, the cold feeling of the tip of a new weapon, the gust of wind, even the breathing of this mineral forest.


    Once his mind touched those trees, he felt connected to an immense network that he couldn''t reach to its end. He felt fear mixed with excitation and confidence.


    A strange feeling began to be born inside his mind, a feeling of dominance. He looked towards those Royans differently this time, he wasn''t weak and afraid, he was strong and determined. These gangsters tried to kill him, so he would return the favor and kill them all.


    "What is happening? Is this an earthquake?"


    Forilak looked around him in doubt, as he knew this planet was supported by many techs to prevent natural disasters from happening. He looked to the ground again to feel the intensity of these vibrations increasing in a rapid pace.


    "Boss, watch out."


    He was alerted by one of his men, to look on the side of his body and feel fear. The tree beside him started to move. He heard local legends about the origin of the forests here, but he never believed them.


    Just before he could react, more and more trees turned their trunks as if they were looking at those Royans, even some of the trees moved.


    "Run."


    Just as he felt this sense of danger, he decided to flee. James watched all this calmly as that strange feeling began to rise wildly without limitations.


    "You want to escape? In your dreams bastard."


    James didn''t know what was happening to him, but he knew what he could do and how to do it. he just moved his consciousness around these trees, he felt he could understand them as they could understand him, so he gave him one order.


    ''Kill them all, leave none alive.''


    Suddenly, the whole forest shook. It was like a primordial beast was awoken from its slumber at this moment. The whole planet even trembled slightly, attracting attention to this forest.


    "Stop James, I can give you whatever you need, money, I have a lot of money in my possession. Do you want to escape?


    I know a smuggler named Gotar with his cruiser now at the facility you just came from, tell him my name and tell him about the black fog and he will let you board his ship. Just bardon me, I was wrong, totally wrong, in offending you."


    James didn''t heed to any of this gangster pleading, as his mind was set only on one idea, to kill. The trees around him sent countless branches which acted like long knives that penetrated these Royans bodies without mercy.


    Everything happened fast, and it ended in a flash as it began. James felt a sudden strange weakness haunting his body, but he took it over as he walked slowly with difficulty towards that Forilak''s body.


    Once there, he took the papers of his invention from his hand, as he stored them in his device. James then recalled that necklace, so he flipped that huge body with difficulty and panting breath to grab this necklace in his hand.


    As he just did it, he froze as that Forilak wasn''t dead yet, as he said with his last dying breath:


    "Damn you weak human."


    The other hand fell with a small round object that rolled out from it, James recognized it from the first glance. It was that hydrogilic core that Forilak used to make the storage device of his.


    "Bastard, you crushed your device and destabilized the core."


    James then started to run, but he didn''t take a few steps before that core exploded. One small explosion sounded off from this far forest followed by the series of more explosions that counted nearly 100.


    The whole cargo exploded destroying a huge stretch of land with its devastating explosion.


    ''Come seek me, I will wait for you at the Rolenoxatal system.''


    A faint voice echoed in James'' mind mixed with the booming sounds of explosions before he lost his consciousness.

 Chapter 6: Searching for A Smugglers Space Cruiser

    James didn''t know how long he passed out, but once he regained his consciousness, he straightened up and looked around him in daze. The events that just happened which ended by that huge explosion was still fresh in his memory.


    He checked his body for any injuries, to find to his surprise that he had none, even his clothes were intact with no evidence of any damage to it.


    That was strange, but what made him feel weirder was his place right now, he was still in that forest, but the place he was at right now wasn''t near that explosion.


    The forests here were all the same, so he didn''t recognize his location from all those similar looking trees, but from that high towering huge base up front. He returned back to the base he set off from.


    That was unexplainable for him, just like that unique experience he just passed through. He was just trying to collect his scattered thoughts when his ears detected the high pitched war alarm that was echoing loudly in the whole base.


    It hit him hard, as this alarm must be related to the explosion that just happened. As he stood there in his location in daze, he managed to spot countless floaters moving fast from the base towards the horizon.


    ''That''s bad, my floater had a place detector. It would be so easy for them to spot my floater and track it. I would get caught and undergo trial, and trials here aren''t that pleasant of an experience at all. I have to run.''


    James began to be afraid of the dark fate that awaited him if he stayed here in this world. there was only one option left for him, he had to run. Just as he was starting to feel despair, as his plans weren''t yet complete, he recalled the words Forilak just before he was attacked by him.


    Hope ignited again inside him, so he didn''t waste any more second standing there as he moved as fast as he could towards the facility.


    He passed easily from the front door to enter the huge base which he knew each part of. if that Forilak was right, then this Gotar must be in the waiting area.


    James moved in a pace that he tried not to attract any suspicion with to finally enter the huge open banker that had many cruises in it. the crises that finished emptying its load would all move here waiting either for their money or for another cargo to be loaded on board.


    James stood there looking in daze towards this huge bunker, while his mind started to act fast. He stopped one of the workers here as he asked:


    "Have you seen Gotar?"


    "Gotar? Ah, you mean the big Gotar, yes I just saw him heading towards his cruise preparing to leave."


    James'' heart started to beat madly as he asked again:


    "Can you tell me his cruise location? I have a message to tell him from the supply facility."


    The supply facility was the one responsible for handling any incoming or outgoing cargos from this planet. Usually when this name was used it meant something important to be done, so that worker replied instantly:


    "His cruise is just at the north side from here. you just pass 20 cruisers and then turn left, where you can find him easily."


    "Thanks mate."


    James then moved towards the location that the worker had just provided him with. When he just passed the 20th cruiser, he turned right where he saw a group of cruisers landed on the ground without any order.


    James was familiar with this, as this was the usual formation rogue cruisers tend to take. Rogue space adventurers were famous for their cruelty and their dirty business, so it made sense for Gotar to be there. James blamed his nervousness as he forgot such a basic knowledge.


    The area of those rogue space adventures was always free from any workers unless necessary. So, as James moved towards that place, he started to move anything that his hand could reach to inside his storage device.


    He didn''t have only the bracelet, he also had two other bracelets, one neck collar and one belt.


    The way to the rogue area was full, like any other place in this bunker, with sealed boxes which contained various war items and rare materials, so James moved all of these huge boxes with a wave of his hand like a magician without any doubt about their value.


    Just as he reached the rogue area, he had already filled most of the space in the five storage devices that he had.


    If he knew he would move on a hurry like this, he would have made more devices and taken much more boxes, but he wasn''t that regretful as he already got so many boxes in his possession.


    "Hi, where can I find Mr. Gotar, please."


    James was still wearing the worker uniform, so those rogue space adventures didn''t dare to treat him lightly, so one of them answered:


    "What can I do for you Mr. worker?"


    Gotar was really worthy to be called the big Gotar as he was literally a giant. James felt he wasn''t a pure giant as his size was somehow smaller than the giants he met before, so James guessed Gotar might be the result of a marriage between giants and humans.


    "I want to run a rapid check over your cruiser."


    "A check? Bloody checks over and over again. fine, follow me. I hope this will be the last check before I take off."


    James followed him towards a small cruiser that had some paintings over its surface.


    Rogue space adventurers liked to add their style to the classic form of the cruisers, as this became one of their famous signatures all over the universe. Once the two reached the cruiser, James stopped Gorat with a sign of his hand as he whispered:


    "I was sent here by Forilak."


    "Forilak? That bloody cunning Royan, did he send you to pay his debt?"


    James didn''t know if this smuggler was bluffing with him or saying the truth, but he stuck with the plan as he said in a low voice:


    "He sent me to tell you this, black fog."


    Gotar faked ignorance and confusion as he asked:


    "Black fog? What is black fog?"


    James didn''t have much info about this deal between the two gangsters, but he guessed what it was, so he said:


    "He sent me to board your cruiser in return for the black fog."


    James didn''t know what black fog even meant, but he knew that black market dealers used some code names to call some important prohibited stuff, so black fog could literally mean anything, and James didn''t care about its identity as long as it gave him the ticket to escape from here.


    "Are you sure he told you so?"


    "Yes."


    "And you were sent by him under the name black fog?"


    James didn''t get the meaning behind this giant question but he replied instantly:


    "Yes, he sent me here and asked me to tell you this."


    Gotar looked for a moment towards James before saying:


    "You can be on board, but I won''t allow you to walk there with your unique uniform. You need to find some clothes for you, and I''m telling you none of my crew will help you with anything."


    James finally was relieved when he heard these words from Gotar, as he replied:


    "No problem with me."


    "Welcome on board, black fog ambassador."


    James'' relief didn''t last long, as this word was strangely familiar to his ears, but he couldn''t remember where he heard or read it. nonetheless he boarded the cruiser, as this was his only way to live.

 Chapter 7: Escaping on A Space Cruiser

    The interior of this small cruiser always had its impact on James, who found it strange to describe something this big by the word small.


    He knew the name came in comparison with the big mighty cruiser out there in space, but he didn''t accept this fact deep inside his soul. Every time he stepped into one of these small cruisers, he felt how small he was, and how huge these cruisers were.


    The model of this cruiser was the grandon 208, which was very famous for rogue space adventurers. This model was light, fast, spacious, and the most important of all¡­ cheap!


    James walked into the main hall of this cruiser, which was usually called the heart, as he found this cruiser crew standing there looking at him. They were around 10 people from different races, but none was human.


    James stood there motionless as he said nothing, his mind was chaotic right now and he felt disturbed by all the events that just happened.


    He also felt excited about his success finally in leaving this tyranny place, although he didn''t know what would happen next, but it wouldn''t be worse than his life there, or so he thought.


    "Who is that kitten, boss?"


    A harsh voice erupted suddenly to extract James from his thoughts, he turned to look back where he saw Gotar was stepping in the cruiser. Without him knowing it, half an hour just passed since he entered this cruiser.


    "He is our guest, don''t scare him boys. Now, let''s leave this shitty place fast, as I heard they will do a lockdown soon," Gotar then glanced over James for a moment before he continued, "They said there was a homicide crime and some cargo got exploded in a fight somewhere there."


    "Fight? Crime? Explosion? That seemed interesting boss," One of the crew said.


    "Ringar, stop fooling around and go to the engine room. Lotaj, go to the main deck and start this damn cruiser. It''s better to leave here now rather than never."


    "Your orders, boss."


    "I will move us now."


    Gotar looked to his trusted aides in content, then he issued some random orders for everyone else. When the heart became empty, he neared James as he said slowly:


    "I heard that Forilak got himself killed in that explosion."


    James felt his heart was about to explode, but he controlled himself as best as he could while saying:


    "May mercy be upon his soul."


    Gotar looked fixedly upon James then he said slowly:


    "Amen."


    He then moved towards the front of the cruiser, where the main controlling deck was, as he said:


    "Don''t move around until we leave here. Don''t be a trouble maker; I hate troublemakers on my ship. Maybe outside you can do whatever you wish, but here you will follow my orders to the letter."


    He then disappeared behind a narrow metal corridor, which made James breathe a long sigh of relief. James then looked for a chair to sit on it while thinking about what had just happened.


    That Gotar knew about his murder to Forilak, but he seemed not to care about it as he seemed to care about how.


    James felt some threat coming from this Gotar, so involuntarily he touched one of his storage bracelets to feel secure. He had got many treasure boxes that contained many war weapons, so he wouldn''t be under any threat inside this ship.


    Just as he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, a loud sound appeared from the rear of this cruiser, followed by a strange feeling he never had felt before. He boarded countless cruisers in that facility, but they were all on the ground.


    This was his first time flying in one of them, and he felt a strange mixed feeling of mightiness, fear and excitement overwhelming him. The experience didn''t last long, as after a couple of minutes, he felt nothing.


    That turbulence that affected the cruiser body was lost, and that loud sound of engines became very soft. The feeling of moving upright to the sky was replaced by nothing, which made James know for sure this cruiser had successfully escaped the planet gravity and entered the space.


    "Lotaj, you will maintain our current course, and let Ringar push all our engines to their maximum capabilities, we have a meeting we don''t want to be late for."


    James heard the strong voice of Gotar coming from the front of the cruiser. It seemed his guess was correct, and now they were preparing to travel at the speed of light, or even faster. What made James feel doubtful was that ''meeting'' that Gotar needed to attend this urgently.


    Before James'' mind could provide him with any answers, he heard some fuss coming from under his place. He didn''t need to guess what that place was, as it was the cruiser warehouse, which was the most place in here he was familiar with.


    Just as he was trying to listen carefully to get any clue, the crew of Gotar appeared one by one in the heart again with the company of Gotar. They all came from the warehouse direction, even Gotar.


    They didn''t come empty handed, as they dragged a person with them, one of the humans. She was a young girl that was nearly the same age as him.


    "Pretty face, awesome body¡­hmmm¡­ what a waste, this could sell at a high price at some casinos. Put her there boys and tight her well."


    Gotar said while touching the soft honey-like skin with one of his big fingers while sucking his lips in regret. He then left his men to tie this lady to one of metal chairs in this place, while he looked at James as he said:


    "Do you know guys we have completed our super big rewarding mission?"


    "Oh boss, is this true? Did we find ourselves a black fog ambassador?" one of the crew said.


    "Yes retarded, that man over there is the black fog ambassador," Gotar said while pointing over towards James.


    "But boss, the last time we got one, it turned out to be fake and got some hard words for that failure," Another one of the crew said.


    "That''s why idiot we will use the way they taught me, this girl here will do the job," Gotar said while looking at the tied girl whose eyes were fiery and burning with anger as he said, "It''s just a waste to let this chick here die like this.


    Anyway, the money we will get from this mission is worth the sacrifice, so what do you think our dear black fog ambassador?"


    James looked in stupefied way towards that girl then towards Gotar, but before he could open his mouth, Gotar said:


    "Don''t tell me you felt sympathy for that Forilak bastard before you killed him? Oh yes, I know the truth, you are that criminal who they were looking for back there, right?"


    James heartbeats became so vigorous that its beating sounds turned into war drums, his mind becoming clouded with anxiety, fear and hesitation. Gotar didn''t wait for him to reply as he added enjoying the expression on James'' face:


    "I know that the black fog ambassador word seemed vague to you, which is something understandable. Not many people in the universe still use this word, but I can help to educate you with everything, after all you are very precious to us.


    Without your help, we couldn''t get that immense wealth that''s waiting for us at the place we are heading to. To show my gratitude to you, I will tell you everything; after all you don''t have much time to live anyway, gra gra gra gra."

 Chapter 8: The Black Fog ambassadors True Identity

    These harsh words hit James and made his mind froze from panic. His inner feeling of imminent threat was very tyranny, he couldn''t fight it back.


    "Don''t look at me like this, blame your old dead friend, Forilak, to send you to me. I don''t know if you are really the black fog ambassador or nor, but either ways you are doomed.


    Your dead dear Forilak, may mercy be upon his soul, had sent you here to meet your end. It seems to me you have some sort of enmity, or why did you kill him and he was trying to kill you by sending you here? gra gra gra gra."


    Gotar laughed strangely with his hideous sound while his whole huge body started to shake. James was still frozen in his chair without knowing what he should do, should he use the weapons in the boxes and kill them all?


    But to do so, he needed first to take some boxes out and unseal them by that sneaky bastard Forilak. When he remembered that damn Royan, he hoped he wasn''t dead yet, so he would go back and kill him over and over again.


    "Can you just chill out and let''s have a civilized talk here?" James tried to stall for more time, but Gotar didn''t buy his bait.


    "Chill out? Civilized talk? Did you hear him boys, he is trying to baffle me. gra gra gra gra.


    Listen kid, either way you are going to die, so pray you are really what we are looking for, so you can have a little more time to live and we got our reward. Don''t worry, I will always remember you all the time and pray for your soul, gra gra gra gra gra."


    Just as James tried to stand up from his chair, many guns were raised in front of his face to return again very slowly while raising his two hands up in the air as he said:


    "Calm down guys, I was just trying to stand."


    "Don''t be this tense, boys, we are now travelling at light speed, so where will he escape to then? Gra gra gra gra."


    James looked at Gotar as his first strategy failed, so he used his second one, going on with whatever they wanted him to do and in return he would seek the slightest chance to rebel.


    "Can you then tell me what should I do? You mentioned some sort of test, so what is it? and who the hell is she?"


    "She? She is your test," Gotar said while winking to James whose face became very funny, "Do you think your test is to sleep with her? You are a funny little man, gra gra gra gra. I never laughed in my life like today. It seems to me this is going to be my lucky day, gra gra gra gra."


    James gritted his teeth as he asked again:


    "Can you speak seriously and tell me what this test is?"


    "Sure, black for ambassador. There is a story that''s not well known to many in the universe, an old fight between two opposing mighty forces which tried to control everything.


    One force claimed to be the righteous and it will reign over the universe with just and order, while the other claimed to be violent and will rule the universe with an iron of fist so the order can prevail.


    Two opposing forces, one vanished, nearly, and the other prevailed and continued to prosper. Have you heard ever about such a story country kid?"


    James'' mind suddenly got shaken, he knew where he heard the word ''black fog ambassador'' before, he read it in some old records. He murmured faintly with shocked expression:


    "The light seekers and the darkness believers."


    "Oh boys, did you hear that? And I took the trouble to educate you for hours and you didn''t understand a shit.


    This kid here I like, it''s unfortunate I have to deliver him to the customer," Gotar said while clapping with his big hands, "You guessed it right, the Ravner of light and the Ravner of darkness, these forces were what I was talking about."


    "Wh¡­What do these two old relics from the past want from me? Wait a minute, you said you came here to look for the black fog ambassador, so are you working with Ravner of darkness? Why would they try to kill their own kin?"


    "You, kid, have asked a very good question," Then Gotar grabbed a chair and sat in front of James, "But you just said two things wrongly, the first related to these two old forces, they aren''t relics from the past.


    They still exist to this lovely day, but ther hide themselves behind many names and masks. It''s not easy to identify the Ravner of light, but it''s quite simple to know who the Ravner of darkness is.


    Look around you and name any single empire in this universe, and they are all led by Ravner of darkness'' members."


    James had already read that before, but he read also that the Ravner of light was totally wiped out in the old universal war.


    "What is the second mistake in my words?"


    "The second mistake is the guess you made about the identity of those I work for, they aren''t the Ravner of darkness, instead, they are the opposite side."


    "Ravner of light? It''s impossible, I read they got totally wiped out a long time ago," James screamed as he started to understand everything. Those Ravner of light was searching for one of their enemy''s camps, and he got himself in this chaos without knowing that.


    "Believe it or not, this is the truth. I don''t know how they survived, but they did, and now they are looking for you buddie, so be ready to meet your creator as these folks didn''t fool around," Gotar said with a big irritating smile over his big face.


    James felt the urge to punch him in the face, but he restrained himself, it wasn''t time yet for him to move.


    "Then what has she got to do with all of it?" James pointed out towards that tied girl while asking. Gotar turned to look at her while sucking his lips again in regret.


    "Do you know what is the ritual needed for a black fog ambassador teenager like yourself to become mature?" Gotar asked with a strange vicious look in his eyes.


    James had read a lot about the old struggle that was lost in history, but he didn''t reach that far yet in knowledge, so he shook his head in response.

 Chapter 9: Killing Gotar and Saving The Girl

    "I guessed so, because if you knew, you wouldn''t have asked me. I will be kind and tell you," he then moved to get near that little girl while passing his fingers over her face, "For a young black fog ambassador to mature, he needed to feel the taste of blood and do a kill."


    James eyes shone as he jumped to say:


    "I have already done that, I killed that bastard Forilak, so you can test me now and know if I was the man you are looking for or not."


    "Forilak? That was a scum, he doesn''t count. The test isn''t that simple or low level like what you think," Gotar said while shaking his head, "This chick here is your test."


    "What?!"


    "You have to kill here and the ritual will be completed."


    James moved his eyes from this girl to Gotar then to the girl again while his mind was trying to process what he just heard.


    "What is special about this girl? Forilak was way stronger and bigger than her."


    "It''s not about size or strength, you thick head. Well, it''s mainly about strength, a special kind of strength, strength that only pure blooded Ravner of light can have," Gotar said. James didn''t need him to explain further as his mind had already jumped to a conclusion.


    "Is she one of the Ravner of light? Why would the Ravner of light sacrifice their own kin?"


    "That''s because she got the enmity from one of the higher ups in the Ravner of light, one that you shouldn''t make enemies with.


    This little girl here has the potential to be a threat to those up there, so they decided to eliminate her and whoever could pose a threat to them in doing this test. I''m not the only mercenary looking for fog of darkness guys, but I''m planning to be the first to really bring one back.


    So my lucky star, shine and kill this girl now and let''s see your real face,``Gotar said.


    James looked towards the girl with sympathy, she was just like him in this mess, but she got it harder as she was betrayed from her own kin. The ones who were supposed to protect, raise, and train her turned to be her enemies.


    James didn''t get it, he read long before that the Raven of light was a group of righteous people, who never believed in evil, how would they turn to be like that? But he didn''t think much about it, as he finally found his chance.


    "I can''t kill her with my bare hands, give me a gun and I will blast her head off."


    "Gra gra gra gra, you are a funny kid, who do you think I am? An amateur? I''m in this game even before you were born, so don''t play your silly tricks with me.


    You want a gun to start fighting us back and save your life and even save this little girl here? C''mon, you must be better than that and follow my orders."


    Gotar then issued to one of his men, who threw a long rod of metal to the ground under James feet while Gotar added:


    "Use this rod and smash her head, if one hit isn''t enough, then hit her hard again. don''t slack here kid, as the weaker you hit, the longer she will suff¡­"


    "In your F****** dreams as****!"


    Suddenly a female voice erupted loudly with a bang grabbing everyone''s attention. That girl who was tied to the chair was now free standing over the body of a dead member of Gotar''s crew.


    A long spear gun was inserted in that dead Trokan race chest while the handle was in that little girl''s hand. Her eyes were very determined, James knew that look, it was the look of someone who was ready to risk it all.


    "You sneaky bastard, how many times have I told you to keep an eye on her? Go and drag her here, don''t kill her or I will kill you myself," Gotar said with an angry voice and strangely reddened face.


    James didn''t bother with all of this, as this was the distraction he just needed for. Once that explosion happened, a muffled sound followed but now one noticed it, except that little girl whose face showed a big smile and that suicidal look on her face turned into a look full of hope.


    "You F****** bastard, do you think I will let a scum like you hold me in prison again? I will kill you all before you even lay your single filthy finger on me again," That little girl exploded in Gotar face threatening with strong words and loud voice.


    Her loud voice was enough to cover the small scratchy voices James was producing while opening that huge box which he got out from his storage bracelet.


    The place was big and James was just sitting there at the other end of this big hall, while everyone''s attention was fully focused over that little girl to form a semi-circle in a try to corner her.


    "You have no way to run, this ship is traveling at light speed. You have no exit anywhere so just accept your fate. Why the hell are you smiling like this? Have you gone mad?"


    Her smile turned gradually to be a big laugh while she pointed back towards James direction as she said:


    "I''m laughing because of this."


    Gotar and his crew turned to look at the direction that girl pointed at, to be shocked and frozen in place from what they saw.


    "Single troop Pulse Cannon with auto-detect system, multi-target locking system, target tracking system, and the most important of all the must kill system.


    This baby is here ready for you bastards," James said while a thick cylindrical short cannon stood in front of him on its one long thin stick.


    "How did you get that? You can''t bluff me, if you used it without fixing it on the ground you will be the one being blown off," Gotar said while he tried to move to a place to hide.


    He targeted a rounded pillar in the side of this hall, which wasn''t enough to protect all his body but it was better than nothing.


    "Bluffing? Let me show you who is bluffing here bastard."

 Chapter 10: Controlling The Small Space Cruiser

    "Targeting complete, do you want to attack?" a metal systematic sound emerged suddenly from the cannon while the opening of it began to change color from black to silver green.


    "Blast them all, leave none alive."


    Gotar didn''t have time to cross half the space towards his hiding place when a pulse strike hit him to blast his huge body to pieces.


    He wasn''t alone to suffer this fate, but all the rest of his crew here ended just like him. just as James was about to let down his guard, a cry of warning issued from that girl:


    "Watch out."


    She then used that spear gun to launch multiple attacks which hit nothing at all, but her lousy attack gave James time to turn over as he jumped high in the air while rotating the cannon over its stick in a fantastic acrobatic move.


    He didn''t wait for his legs to touch the ground as he worked on the canon interface diligently and finished locking up the two incomings, they were the last of Gotar crew.


    "Targets are lo¡­"


    "Just hit them.??


    He shouted while pressing on the trigger of the cannon. Pulse projectiles hit the last two crew members to blast them like their friends, leaving no living witness on this small massacre except for James and that little girl.


    James didn''t put the cannon away as he turned it towards that girl, who did the same as she pointed that spear gun towards him.


    "Are you going to shoot a little innocent girl like me and complete your ritual?" the girl said.


    "What guarantee can you give to me for not trying to kill me from the back and getting your revenge on one of the Ravner of darkness?" James said.


    "So you are really the black fog ambassador, then why didn''t you kill me back there and complete your ritual?" the girl said.


    James gritted his teeth as he had enough of this black fog thing, so he said in a serious tone:


    "Listen carefully, beautiful young woman, I only read some old records mentioning this old conflict in the base I came from, but other than this I didn''t know even you still exist.


    So, I have no relation with that black fog thing and I don''t have any relation even with you. Let''s just stop this ship and move it back to a safe place where everyone can go separate ways, what do you think?"


    James looked straight to that girl as he added:


    "If you don''t comply here, then I will have to shoot you. You have a mere spear gun and I have a cannon, so it''s pretty obvious who has the upper hand here."


    The girl seemed to be convinced by James logic, as she lowered her weapon slowly, then she said:


    "If you try to betray me, I will kill you."


    "The same goes for you too," James refused to show any sign of weakness. The girl then pointed to the cannon as she said:


    "How the hell did you get that huge cannon?"


    James looked to her as he asked:


    "Why do you always use mean words?"


    "This the way I speak, don''t you like it?"


    James didn''t know how to reply, but he wasn''t interested in this girl as he said:


    "This cannon is mine," he then touched it to disappear miraculously like it appeared. The Ravner of light girl looked stupefied to him as she muttered:


    "You are a sorcerer, so they grabbed you and thought you were the darkness apostle¡­ that explains everything then."


    James looked towards her as if he was looking to a crazy person, he then said ignoring all her wrong remarks:


    "Now, let''s go to the commanding deck, this ship is heading straight towards the meeting place with your people. If we don''t act now, we will find them welcoming us, by the way my name is James."


    "Eli."


    "Just Eli?" James asked.


    "Well, it''s Elizabeth, but I like it more as Eli."


    James looked at her for a moment before shaking his head, this girl seemed to be more childish than she looked. He then started to move towards the commanding deck while asking:


    "Tell me, Eli, have you been on a space cruiser like this before?"


    "Why don''t you ask me if I can fly this thing instead of playing with words?"


    James paused as he glanced over his shoulder towards her, he then moved as he said:


    "Fine, can you fly this cruiser?"


    "No," Eli replied with an arrogance that nearly made James stumble while walking. He gritted his teeth as he murmured:


    "Great, crazy girl that doesn''t know how to fly is now my only co-pilot."


    "What are you talking about?" Eli said while approaching him aggressively. James didn''t even bother to look at her as he said:


    "The commanding deck is behind this door, can you blast its lock with your speargun?"


    "Sure," Eli said as she raised her gun and pointed it towards the middle of this steel door that stopped in her way. James hurried to say:


    "Stop, this isn''t the lock, oh god. Ok, you even didn''t enter a cruiser like this before, look there, that concave part of the steel door? There is the lock that you need to hit."


    "Don''t shout at me, no one is allowed to shout at me or speak to me like that," Eli said with the same arrogance while she raised her spear gun towards the lock while saying, "I knew where it was, but you were impatient to interfere before I even pointed my gun towards that lock."


    "¡­" James didn''t know what to say, this girl was shameless, more shameless than him.


    "Boom."


    The sound of the spear gun attack over the lock was followed by slight damage to the body of the door. James moved rapidly as he pushed the door to slide away and clear the path to the two of them. The commanding deck of this cruiser was very familiar to James, very strange to Eli.


    There was a semi-sphere transparent doom that was made of a special type of mineral that could withstand the travel through space with some immunity against some types of cannons.


    Two comfortable chairs were behind this cruiser''s eye, with a long panel full of many keys, switches, alarms, and screens.


    The commanding deck wasn''t that big, but it had a place for a navigation unit, which was simply made of a huge screen with a smaller control panel beneath and a chair. James looked towards the general control unit as he moved to sit over one of the two chairs as he said:


    "Grab yourself a seat as we have to turn around now."

 Chapter 11: A start of A Life Long Friendship on A Space Ship

    Eli looked towards the navigation unit while asking:


    "Is it a custom type navigation unit?"


    James looked at her for a moment from his place then he replied rapidly:


    "Yes, it is. Hurry up and sit on it, as I must turn the ship now."


    James then waited for a second before his hands moved rapidly over some switches.


    He guessed before that the pilot of this cruiser had set it on automatic control before he came to die under his hands, so James first canceled this automatic control thing. Suddenly, the cruiser trembled for a moment which made Eli panic as she shouted anxiously:


    "What was that?"


    "That, sweetheart, was the transition from automatic to manual control."


    "Don''t call me this name ever again. my name is¡­"


    "Eli, I know, I know, don''t get this mad over this little thing," James said as he was clicking on some buttons in a try to make the cruiser turn around.


    They were traveling at the speed of light, he couldn''t just pull the ship over and stop it abruptly, as he might stop it in front of a fleet, or even hit a peaceful planet or another ship.


    So, he needed first to change its direction then he would figure out where he should go, but he was surprised by the model of the control system in this cruiser.


    "That''s strange, this cruiser runs by the latest advance system in the galaxy. How the hell these poor smugglers got a hand over something this sophisticated?


    It''s only made for huge spaceships, now for a small cruiser like this," James complained while he was trying to figure a way to solve this problem. That Silver Galaxy Eye system was the latest version of a long series of systems dedicated to helping the pilots in flying with their ships.


    As it was new, sophisticated, and only limited to large ships, James didn''t have any previous experience of it. all he knew was some scattered hearsay which he heard from the crews of those small space cruisers when they visited the base.


    "Is that a problem?" Eli asked after some moment of hesitation, as she knew the whole story behind all this. James was focused on trying some ordering sequence he came up with while saying:


    "It''s a big problem, as this system is made for a large crew to use it, and now we have only me. The other problem we have is the inability for me to override the direction that was decided by the automatic control, as every time I do so I get an error code."


    "I have a solution," Eli said it spontaneously while she returned to look over her screen again.


    "A solution?" James stopped what he was doing as he looked strangely towards her.


    Eli started the navigation unit as the screen in front of her began to liven up, while her two hands were moving strangely in a fact pattern over the keys and buttons that were there on the control panel. James was surprised to see this as he asked:


    "Didn''t you say you didn''t travel on a cruiser before?"


    "It''s you who assumed that I only said I don''t know how to fly a cruiser, but I have been many times on space cruises and even large ships," Eli said without even looking at James who didn''t return to the commanding unit as he asked in curiosity:


    "Then you suddenly knew how to solve a commanding problem in the Silver Galaxy Eye system?"


    Eli was hesitant for a while before she said vaguely:


    "I... just know about it. don''t you want to solve this problem or what?"


    "sigh, I want to solve it, without doubt, tell me how to solve this problem?" James said.


    "The problem originates from the coding system and the order sequence of the Silver Galaxy Eye system, as you just said, it''s made for large ships with big crews.


    So, to make this system follow your orders and change the course, you shouldn''t use the old simple way of canceling the previous destination then you steer the cruiser yourself.


    You need to replace the old coordinates with the new ones that you want the cruiser to travel to," she explained while she was looking for something over her screen.


    James looked towards her strangely as what she said was way more complicated than his knowledge of the commanding systems. He felt doubt towards her as she knew the Silver Galaxy Eye system very well.


    "Who really are you?"


    "Let''s postpone this for later, I have found a far place from here, where no one would find us easily.


    I sent the coordinates to the main control unit, you just need to approve it," Eli said while she stopped pressing over the buttons on her control unit. James was about to turn and approve these coordinates to stop suddenly in his tracks.


    "Tell me, what is this place that we are heading to exactly?"


    "It''s¡­It''s nothing, just in the middle of nowhere."


    James spotted the nervousness of her, which made him doubt her more. He returned to his control unit as he started to push some buttons while saying:


    "If it''s in the middle of nowhere, then you won''t mind if I changed the numbers a little, right?"


    "Stop!" Eli shouted as she was about to jump from her chair when James turned to look at her while saying:


    "If I was going to be part of something, then I should at least be informed by it, right?"


    Eli hesitated as she returned to her seat while saying:


    "If I told you, you will refuse to help and will dumb me anywhere."


    "sigh, so you try to trick me and force me to join, right? This isn''t a decent way to ask for someone''s help," James said while he moved his chair to be close to Eli, who was focused on the screen in front of her while he was recalling some old memories.


    "If you want help, you just need to ask me nicely," James said.


    "There is no place for nice things in this world," Eli said with a deep long tone as he was still immersed in her memories. James then moved to touch her face as her body jolted, but before she could say anything, James said first:


    "I agree with you, you should act this way with strangers. But, c''mon, we killed a smuggler crew, stole their ship, and now we are trying to run for our lives, which technically put us together for a long journey up ahead. We are now considered friends," James said with a soft tone.

 Chapter 12: Rescue Mission In Space

    "Friends? A black fog ambassador and white dawn daughter are friends?" Eli said with a big chuckle that made her even prettier. James just looked at her as he felt some sort of strange feeling towards her, a feeling he had never felt before. So, he said with a smile:


    "Yes, why not? Let''s try this out, as I''m not that ambassador anyway. What do you think?" James said.


    "Of what?"


    "Of me and you being friends?"


    Eli looked silently for a moment before she said:


    "Ok, let''s be friends, James Fog."


    "Hahaha, ok, Eli Dawn."


    They both laughed together for a while, it was a clear laugh without any dark intentions or hidden agendas of any kind.


    "Now, can you tell me where we are heading?" James asked while Eli pointed out to the controlling unit as she said:


    "First approve of the new coordinates as we don''t have enough time to chat before arriving near that dangerous meeting place."


    "Don''t worry, I have already approved of that," James said these words which made Eli feel strange and surprised.


    "Then why did you do all that?"


    "Isn''t gaining your friendship worth doing this?" James replied with a similar serious face like the one she was making, which made both of them laugh again. she then took a deep breath as she said:


    "If so, then I have enough time to tell you a story."


    "Go ahead sweetheart, I''m all yours," James said while he moved with his chair a few steps to the back to give her space. She looked at him faking anger while saying:


    "Didn''t I warn you from using this word?"


    James just raised both hands in a helpless move, which made Eli sign in helplessly as well. She then said:


    "I will tell you everything, and I hope you will agree to help me with this. We aren''t going to a far place to escape, we are going for a rescue mission."


    James looked strangely towards her, while she took another deep breath as she continued to explain:


    "I really don''t know how much you know about the old struggle of Ravners of light and darkness, but or the amount of knowledge you know about these two huge existences, so I will try to sum things up to you.


    These two huge forces didn''t vanish as you must have noticed by now, but they went into hiding as each of them took existing empires and ruling regimes as a cover to hide from the other force.


    I really don''t know the reason for that strange turn of events, but all I heard was local legends and some scattered information that had no meaning at all.


    Anyway, I came from the Ravner of light, which is the main representative of the old Ravner''s curse, the good side in it of course."


    "I don''t understand this issue here, why is it called Ravner of light instead of Ravner of good? I also read another name for it, which was the light seekers," James asked, trying to understand.


    "Well, the main title of ours is the old Ravner of good, but under it there are many groups that tried to use the Ravner principle with many differences between each other.


    So, the Ravner of light, the light seekers, the Good fighters, and other more groups are scattered all over the universe, and they are all considered under the Ravner of good banner," Eli explained.


    "That seemed complicated to me, I didn''t think there were this many groups of the losing side at all," James said.


    "No, there was no winner or loser in that old universal war, as both sides retreated at the same time. Anyway, I came from the Ravner of light group, which you can consider one of the extremists of the Ravner of good.


    They believe in absolute power as the solution to overcome the Ravner of bad forces.


    They are violent, wouldn''t hesitate to kill anyone stands in their way, even if this person was one of them¡­ just like me," Eli took a deep breath with a long moment of silence, which James respected, then she continued to say:


    "Ravner of light had an old prophecy, of a twelve mighty personnel who established the 12 shrines of powers in the ancient days. This prophecy claims that 12 persons from their descendants will rise again and regain the former glory of the long lost, forgotten 12 shrines."


    "What 12 shrines? I never heard of something like that," James commented while he was trying to dig deep into his memory.


    "It''s normal for you not to know them, as they came from really ancient times. 12 shrines were divided into 6 good and 6 evil shrines," Eli elaborated further for him to understand.


    "So, your Ravner of light is trying to kill all other shrines descendants to make only its descendant rise?" James asked casually as he guessed the whole matter.


    "No, you are mistaken, they are trying to kill all."


    "What do you mean by all? All of the descendants? What benefit will they get by doing that? Are they crazy?" James jumped to ask all these questions as he couldn''t believe in their stupidity.


    "No, they aren''t crazy, as they aren''t descendants from any of the 12 shrines," Eli said.


    "Aha, I get it now, they are wicked and evil, what Ravner of light, they must be agents of darkness concealed under the veil of light to deceive everyone."


    Eli laughed on James words, then she said:


    "Anyway, these people have a strange mysterious way to locate the descendants of the 12 shrines. They abducted me when I was young and raised as a hostage in a facility with many other girls and boys like me."


    "And now we are going to break into this facility and release all your brothers and sisters.


    I really like your spirit, but if you didn''t notice before, we have a small cruiser, which is something that couldn''t attack any planet, even small planets. You need to reconsider your plan, as it''s a suicidal one."


    Eli shook her head as she said:


    "You are mistaken, we weren''t raised on a planet, we were raised on a movable Terasoras SpaceShip."


    James'' eyes widened from fear as he muttered:


    "You are crazy Eli, no one escapes from that awful prison and tries to go back to it as you do. This bad, this is even worse than attacking a planet."

 Chapter 13: The Terasoras Space Ship

    Eli looked at him with surprise as she asked:


    "How do you know of such a hideous place?"


    "I read a lot, and the base I were at was built over an old historical main planet of an old empire, so I also read many old records," James said while leaning forward on his chair while pointing his index towards her, "Listen to me Eli, I like the friendship between us but not the degree to sacrifice myself like this.


    That place is like a heavy fortress that even a grand space destroyer couldn''t approach from it."


    Eli also leaned towards the front while mimicking his way with her index finger:


    "Listen to me James, I won''t throw my life like this, I love my life and there are a ton of things waiting for me there to experience. So, can you just shut up and listen to the rest of my words?"


    James looked silently towards her before he sat straight on his chair as he signaled for her to continue.


    "We won''t attack the famous Terasoras Space Ship, but we will target one cruiser that travels along with her."


    "What do you mean by traveling along with her?"


    "The Terasoras Space Ship doesn''t travel alone, as a ship with this size and with all the prisoners in it, will need a lot of supplies. These supplies are provided by many small ships.


    For the security of the Terasoras Space Ship, these supply ships aren''t allowed to board the main ship, so the Terasoras Space Ship had created a separate zone where any space ship can enter and leave without any hindrance. We will target this zone, as my friends are stuck there."


    James looked in doubt towards her as he asked:


    "Are you sure? I never heard of such a thing before."


    "Yes, I''m pretty sure, as I was raised there."


    James stayed silent for a moment before asking:


    "Is there a relation between the Terasoras Space Ship and the Ravner of light?"


    "Relation? Hahahaha, they are the same existence, James."


    James looked with funny expression over his face which made Eli laugh as she asked:


    "What? Did you think the Ravner of light was a good person who serves charity and does good deeds?"


    "Well, I didn''t even think they would be those famous merciless butchers of that horrible place. They are worse than I thought they would be," James said with a shocked tone, while Eli continued to laugh as she said:


    "Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, we don''t need to speak about them in detail for now, as we need to enter that zone, rescue my friends, and then escape fast to the farthest place away from their clutches."


    James took a deep breath while he tried to prepare himself for the upcoming great challenging task.


    "So, you don''t plan to just enter there and say hello, right? You must have a plan," James said.


    "Well, I know all the details about that place, but¡­"


    "But what?"


    "I''m a big failure when things reach a plan," Eli said.


    "Do you want me to draw a plan for you?"


    "For both of us, after all, we are accomplices in this, right?"


    "Sigh. Ok, can you provide me with other coordinates related to any deserted planet you know?"


    Eli looked at him in surprise while he added:


    "We need time to think of a plan and make some adjustments for this space cruiser. Don''t you think we will draw a good plan in a few hours?"


    Eli sucked her lips in regret as she muttered:


    "If it was me, I would put a plan in minutes and execute it at once."


    "Really? And what would be this genius plan of yours?" James asked with a teasing tone that Eli didn''t get as she replied honestly:


    "I will go straight there and attack the place that holds my friends and then escape right away," Eli said excitedly.


    "Then escape right away?"


    "Yes."


    "Huh, that''s not a plan, no wonder you always fail in putting plan," James said as he moved his chair back to the commanding unit while saying:


    "Give me new coordinates or I will improvise any coordinates from my mind."


    "No, wait a minute, I will send a good place location to you now."


    Eli then took few minutes before she sent the new coordinates to the general control unit where James approved on it while muttering with a sarcastic chuckle:


    "Hit them and then escape right away, what a brilliant plan, indeed a plan for death!"


    Eli glanced over James who was busy applying the new directions to the complicated system while she sighed. She knew she was a failure in making plans, or else she would have escaped like many other girls and boys in that place.


    James didn''t take long before he finished his arrangements, as he set the cruiser to land over a small place on that planet. He chose the location from the general geographical design that was formed in a hologramic view in front of him.


    James knew there was no such a thing as a database unit in small cruisers like this one, but he knew that came from that advanced system on its board, a system he had now some vague guesses about where it came from.


    "Now, we will head straight to this abandoned planet and then we will take our time in drawing out a perfect plan," James said.


    "Wouldn''t the Ravner of light suspect my escape and then search for me at the Terasoras Space Ship special zone?" Eli said with some fear in her tone. James sighed as he said:


    "Dummy girl, they never knew about this cruiser coming to them in the first place, so how will they seek you?"


    "Didn''t you say before there was a meeting between the two?" Eli asked in doubt while James explained:


    "No, you mistook my words, I meant that Gotar was going to a meeting place with the Ravner of light, and that doesn''t mean there was a meeting between the two.


    I suppose the Ravner of light had specified a location for such meetings for all the rogue adventurers and smugglers who work for them on this task. So, be calm, and don''t worry about yourself."


    Eli looked with doubt towards James, who added pointing to himself:


    "C''mon, do you think I will let myself get caught from these lunatics? Have a little faith in me here please."


    "I hope you are right. Now, what will we do?"


    Eli asked when James left his place while going back to the heart of the cruiser.


    "Come with me, I will need to hear every bit of details you know about that place."


    Eli looked to the shadow of his back for a while, before she left her chair and followed him. She still had no answer on the most important question which started all of this, was James really a black fog ambassador or not?


    Eli found James had brought a wide metallic heavy table to the center of this hall, while he grabbed two chairs, one for him and the other for her. She sat on the chair to find out this wasn''t a normal table, as it had some controlling buttons on it.


    "Now, I need you to tell me everything you can remember about that zone, starting from the geographical nature, ending with the routine of the space cruisers visiting this place and the procedures that apply to them."


    James said as he started to control some buttons in a way that made Eli feel strange and curious.


    "It seems you are very familiar with these cruisers."


    "I used to check them back at my base, plus many books I read about how to build a cruiser. Now, let''s start as I believe we have a lot of tasks to do."


    Eli had great curiosity towards James and his past life, but she started to tell him everything she knew about that place. She grew up there, so she knew very well everything there no matter how insignificant it was.


    On the other hand, James was busy transforming all her data into that small control panel he was using right now.


    This wasn''t a normal table, as it was a strategic battle table, where captains of the cruisers could use to formulate a plan of their own, no matter what the circumstances, using this strategic table was a lifesaver for many.


    This table had many functions, one of which was a hologramic making function, which was the one James was using right now.


    He kept entering the data that Eli gave him for hours, even when the cruiser general commanding unit gave him an alarm of their approach to their destination, he didn''t stop or even signal to Eli to stop.


    Just before the cruiser was about to enter that planet''s atmosphere, Eli finished saying everything she knew, while James finished making the hologram model.


    "Let''s check the landing procedure first, then we can come here to start forming our plan," James said.


    "You know, I never thought to form a plan was this hard and arduous task," Eli complained as his head was hurting her with throbbing pain.


    James didn''t say a word till they reached the commanding deck again as he sat at the general commanding unit while Eli sat on her chair on the navigation unit. She seemed to be very comfortable being in that unit. James then said while he started the scan function of this cruiser:


    "This is an information-gathering step, which is the essential step for any plan."


    "It''s still a difficult thing to do," Eli continued to complain while she squeezed her head with both hands. James looked at her in concern as he asked:


    "Are you alright?"


    "It''s just a normal headache, I never concentrated for such a long time before. I believe it will take some time and then leave," Eli replied in a slightly weak tone which made James more worried, so he asked again while moving with his chair near her:


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I''m an old friend with headaches, so don''t worry about me, I w¡­"


    Suddenly her voice began to fade gradually until she completely lost her consciousness to fall on the ground from her chair. James moved just in time to hold her, just before he could breathe a sigh of relief.


    "The strange cruiser, you need to abide by orders or you will be attacked directly. Follow us towards the designated landing point and don''t resist."


    "What the hell?! Didn''t she say it was an abandoned planet? Who the hell are they?"

 Chapter 14: Meeting The Space Rebels

    James was shocked by these sounds that came from the primary transmitter at the control unit more than Eli''s collapse, so he put her rapidly on her chair and buckled her up with the safety belts in there and then moved immediately to his chair.


    He looked through the eye of the cruiser to see three small cruisers were surrounding him from three directions, leaving only one direction for him to go.


    "I have some damage at the cruiser, so I pumped here to just fix my ship, I mean no harm as I don''t know where I''m or who you are."


    James tried to make a way for him to escape from their clutches, but his efforts were fruitless as the response came loud and clear:


    "You are not authorized to leave here, you have only one option, follow us and there you will discuss with our leader."


    James gritted his teeth as he muttered to himself:


    ''That''s the price you pay for trusting the words of a girl, you should have checked her information first, stupid James.''


    James lamented himself for this silly mistake while he moved his cruiser following the course created by his three guarding ships. The three cruisers guided him to another cruiser, which was a huge space cruiser, that could adapt to thousands or even tens of thousands of his small cruiser.


    ''What is this ship, its model seems old to me.''


    James noticed this first, but then he noticed something weirder when he followed the cruisers to land, as he didn''t land inside the main hunger of this cruiser, but he landed on the ground, a couple of miles away from this ship.


    His distance wasn''t an obstacle against his scanning sensors to scan that huge cruiser, which came with another surprise¡­ this ship wasn''t intact; instead, it was damaged and seemed to crush here at this world.


    "Leave your cruiser with your crew unarmed, or else we will open fire."


    That harsh straightforward tone came from the speakers in the deck. James didn''t have any crew members except for Eli, who was still lost in her dreams.


    "I will come out now.?????


    James then turned off the cruiser, and then headed to the outside, when he reached the heart; he found the dead bodies of those smugglers everywhere. He had neither time nor manpower to clean this mess, so he decided to leave it as it was.


    He pressed on a side red rounded button to open the back door of this cruiser. He waited for a moment then he exited the cruiser after he took the breathing serum injection from a specific place beside that button.


    As different planets had different atmospheres, there were some solutions to make all the races adapt to this problem; one of them was very commonly used especially from rogue space adventurers.


    This breathing serum acted as a mediator between James lungs and the outer atmosphere, all he needed to do was to inject it in any place of his body and the serum would move in matter of moments to cover the entire interior of his lungs.


    "We said all of your crew must come out, why only you, the captain, come out alone?"


    James was faced by three groups from each cruiser, each consisting of 5 heavily armed men. The most prominent feature of them was their costume, he recognized this metallic dark luster of these specially designed helmets that covered the faces of these men.


    These masks were another way to solve the breathing issue, but this helmet design was very famous in the entire galaxy, they were the rebels, the ones whose James'' last empire was fighting with.


    James knew their outfit perfectly as the base he worked for acted for some time as a frontline attacking base, so many prisoners were brought back from the brutal space battles into that base.


    "Do you recognize us? That''s not a surprise, as we are very famous these days," one of the masked men said, who seemed to be their leader.


    "I know you, as your fame is very widely spread around here, but I don''t know why did you stop my ship? I was just planning to land here for a moment then heading back to the space," James replied steadily as he felt some confidence after knowing their identity.


    "Oh, you seem to know us well enough to know this isn''t one of our scattered bases¡­ Who exactly are you?"


    James examined the three landed cruisers as he replied:


    "I''m nobody, and I know you only have these three cruisers on this abandoned planet, so it''s either you are waiting for someone, or running away from something.


    Either way, I don''t care about that, I hate to interfere in anyone''s business as much as I hate strangers popping their heads into mine," James spoke with a strong calm tone, as he was sure these three cruisers couldn''t pose a threat to him.


    If he knew from the start this fact, he would prefer to run away from them instead of coming here. He lacked men, as if he had more members in his crew, other than this silly girl, he would take the violent route and hit them.


    "A nobody? Huh, so what''s your name then?"


    "James."


    "Only James?"


    James paused for a moment before saying:


    "James Fog."


    "James Fog, interesting weird name, so let''s reach an agreement here, James Fog, Y¡­"


    James didn''t wait for this man to finish his words as he interrupted him by asking:


    "You didn''t tell me your name; it''s not good manners to behave like this."


    The masked man looked straight towards James, then he moved a couple of steps forward till he became directly facing James. He took a moment before saying with his strange accent:


    "Yes, it''s not good manners indeed, I like you. Maybe in another time and place we could be friends, or even rivals. Anyway, you got the land of this planet to do whatever you like in it, but the airspace is ours to control.


    If you try to fly your ship anytime, I promise you we will take you down. You can leave from here once we tell you that, and my name is Doratokal."


    That man said these words then he turned around as he headed towards one of the three cruisers. James was still standing there in his place feeling shock mixed with overwhelming fear.


    That masked person who just spoke with him wasn''t a random man in that rebel force, he was the famous Dora, the bloody princess of the rebels. He just met the second person in the rebels and spoke with her arrogantly like that.


    As she was here, that meant the rebels were preparing to do something massive here. He felt the urgent need for him to escape from here, but he just remembered the warning and threat of Dora, he couldn''t underestimate her words because of the three cruisers.


    He knew Dora always traveled in with a mighty fleet that consisted of many warships, real warships that the smallest of them was in the rank of huge cruiser like the one destroyed out there.


    James watched the three cruisers take off in the air and disappear, then he took a very long deep breath, he was just risking his life right now without even knowing it.


    ''Traveling in space is really tricky.''

 Chapter 15: Activating The Primary Cruiser Defensive System

    James then entered into his cruiser while his mind was full of more questions about the presence of rebels at this abandoned part of this universe. He went into the cruiser and he closed the door.


    The serum he took could work for one week, so he wasn''t worried about the air pollution inside the cruiser, but he was worried another uninvited guest would show up and intrude his cruiser.


    James headed straight towards the commanding unit as he found Eli was still unconscious over her chair. He looked silently towards her. He knew a lot of things, but medical knowledge was an area he knew nothing about.


    He needed some experts'' help, but he couldn''t go to those rebels and ask them for medical help. They wouldn''t agree to his demand, or maybe that crazy princess would show her true colors.


    James sighed, as he sat on his chair again while he started to search in the system about any medical knowledge. He knew this system was meant for large war cruisers with huge crews, so he found big data regarding medical issues, but he didn''t have the time nor the ability to understand them now.


    James looked with deep thinking towards Eli, he needed to find a medical unit as soon as possible. Although he knew from her looks that she wasn''t in grave danger right now, he needed to make sure there was no hidden bomb ticking inside her.


    ''There is only one place for me to go and search at, I hope the medical unit there is still functioning.''


    James looked through the eye of his cruiser towards the distance, where a mountain sized cruiser laid there on the ground.


    He knew this cruiser was a very old model, maybe a couple of centuries old, but he hoped the medical unit there would be still intact. Although the knowledge would be somehow outdated, it was better than nothing, right?


    James was worried about the safety of Eli after he left here, so he first checked the artillery system and the fight system. In general, he knew if this was the usual system of any cruiser, then he couldn''t hope for much, but this system was unique, so he put high hopes on it.


    His expectations weren''t met by a failure, as he found many automatic defensive systems that could control the artillery and cannons on this cruiser, he also found an easy way to link the already existing cannons with the system to get good defensive results.


    He didn''t have any issue with cannons, as he had many sealed boxes filled with war supplies, including and not limited to cannons. To install a cannon on a cruiser, he needed many helping hands, but in case he wanted to turn this piece of rust into a mighty fortress.


    He just needed to be sure of Eli safety during his absence, so he didn''t need to install many cannons or use all these fancy and defensive battle systems provided to him.


    He just needed to activate the simple defensive system, which used the already present scanning devices to monitor any abnormal movement near the ship, then it used this scanning system to locate these targets and direct the cannons towards them and pull the trigger.


    It was this simple, but needed some work to do. James was an expert in usual small cruisers systems, but he was facing many troubles dealing with this sophisticated advanced system.


    After so many tries and failures, he managed to connect the scanning system with the primary simple defensive system. His cruiser was now ready to be equipped with his cannons; the issue here was how many cannons he would use, and where he should put them.


    ''Let''s see if this defensive system can help me in solving this issue.''


    James started to activate the defensive system to be on, while he waited patiently for its assessment to finish, he checked the status of Eli and issued a full scan over the whole destroyed warship in front of him.


    His wait lasted for over one hour, after which a loud beep sound was issued from the control unit of the cruiser followed by a hologramic projection which showed a similar model of the small cruiser.


    In this hologramic image, the cruiser body and interior was white in color, while many dots began to appear with red color. James knew these dots were places he should install cannons over to protect the ship.


    He waited for all the dots to appear then he counted them, to find he needed to install 23 cannons to fully protect the ship.


    ''It seems it will take a while to install all this, I wonder if there is a helping protocol that can enable me to install the cannons faster.''


    James was very knowledgeable when it came to any war issues, especially if related to small cruises like this one. After some time trying with this complicated system, he managed to activate the AI guidance.


    Suddenly, the hologramic projection changed as additional dots appeared with green color. There were only five of these dots, but they were linked together with a yellow thin thread that was connected to the commanding unit.


    James guessed he could now control whatever there in these places to help him through the control unit, so he magnified the hologramic image to see the controlling deck with more clarity.


    The detailed projection of the cruiser was really impressive, as even the keys, buttons, and other things of the control unit were presented there. James managed to spot five different control buttons he needed to use, so he linked their uses with the result he wanted to reach a conclusion.


    ''So this is the case then, this system is clever as he will use the help of the self repair movable units in this cruiser to help me in installing the cannons, that''s really impressive.''


    Every cruiser, small or big, had its own repairing system, which included a repairing system which could override any system errors and do some sealing maneuvers to control any big damage.


    In return, there were also the self repair movable units, which were flying devices that were programmed to repair any small damage in the body of the cruiser.


    This defensive system planned to use these devices to help James in installing the cannons, which would be a great help indeed.


    James didn''t know how this system did it, but he guessed the system might interfere in the programming of these devices, which was a very advanced move in James opinion.

 Chapter 16: Entering The Old Damaged Huge Space Cruiser

    ''So, what remains now are the cannons.''


    James then moved after he issued the order for these self repair devices to move and aid him, he headed straight towards the heart of the cruiser. At the same time, that hologramic image kept following him floating in the air, which was something new for him as well.


    It seemed the advancement of this system made it capable of using the old known parts of this cruiser to be used in new impressive ways. James then started to control his storage bracelet, as he took out one box after another till he took out 30 boxes.


    He then held the necklace with the unsealing marvelous effect as he felt grateful for Forilak, without him he couldn''t have obtained such a gem.


    ''Let''s see what''s inside these boxes.''


    James then started to open one box after another. At first, he found a handful of boxes filled with guns, so he emptied all of them on the ground in one corner, as he might use them later when he got more crew members. From the fifth box, he started to find cannons.


    When he finished, he had 6 boxes filled with guns, and 24 boxes filled with various types of cannons. If he added the cannon he had used before, then he had now 25 ready to use cannons.


    Just as he finished, he noticed the presence of the repairing devices floating near him. There were five of them, which were similar to each other.


    They all consisted of a floating central big ball, which acted as their control unit, and many thin metallic arms that had the ability to change shape, merge together, and use different techniques to repair the cruiser.


    "C''mon, take all these cannons one by one and install them at the position marked with green color."


    James knew these devices had some level of AI, although they weren''t completely intelligent like those old antiques models of machines, but this level of AI was enough for them to receive orders and execute them.


    James watched them as they started to carry these big heavy cannons like they were carrying small children, then they scattered in different directions to complete their mission.


    James then moved back to the control deck, where the hologram began to change as it viewed the models of these devices and their performance.


    The installation of these cannons didn''t take more than three hours, but for James this was a negligent time. if he had to install them by himself, it would take more than one day to finish the task.


    ''Good, let''s see if everything is right. That distant separated part of the big old cruiser would do the job. Let''s test this system.''


    James then controlled the defensive system to lock this far part of the huge ship. It was nearly on par with his small cruiser in size, so it would be a perfect practice target for his system.


    Once locked, the system asked for permission to launch a hit towards it, which James agreed on without hesitation.


    The system then chose the most appropriate cannon to attack this target, which was one of the hydrogilic cannons. Once chosen, it was automatically controlled by the defensive system and then triggered to hit the target.


    ''Wow, it''s a direct hit even from this far distance. This system must have an advanced version of AI, or one of the old forgotten days of AI highly advanced versions. That''s reassuring; I can now leave here without any worries.''


    James then left the primary defensive system activated, and then he added himself and Eli as exemption from the radar of this system. He then checked on Eli, she was still in the same coma like before with no changes at all.


    He sighed helplessly before moving out from the cruiser. He held one of the spear guns that he stacked in his cruiser, then he moved straight forward to that old huge cruiser.


    According to some old records he read, this cruiser design belonged to an already destroyed empire that was lost in history. even James didn''t recall what that empire name was, but he remembered some of the prominent features of the cruisers at this age.


    The cruisers at this time were run by the help of an advanced AI, which worked instead of today''s systems. The difference lied in the efficiency to execute orders, as these AI of the past always made troubles, as they used to interfere with the orders given to them.


    In comparison to the systems, the latter would suggest these modifications to the captain of the cruiser, or those who had the authority, then they could decide if they would follow these adjustments or not. That was one of the main reasons which made the whole universe let down the AI help and seek for the system role.


    During the way to that huge ship, James tried to recall every detail he read in the old records back at the base regarding the technology of that past era. He sighed, as he only recalled some scattered parts of it. If he had the choice, then he would have moved all the records and books there at that base as they held valuable rare data.


    The war cruiser was really huge, as the closer he got to it, the more impression he had towards it. He felt as if he was an ant standing in front of a huge mountain. That cruiser was really big, and rusty too, but he needed to search all this from inside till he found the medical unit, which was a task he doubted to finish in a short time.


    ''I hope nothing bad happens to Eli while I''m away.''


    He muttered to himself while entering through a huge opening that was like a big knife attack on the body of this cruiser. He had guessed that this hit was the one responsible for bringing down this ship from the space, but he didn''t recognize the type of weapon used to cause such an attack.


    ''That must be an antique technology that is obsolete now.''


    He said to himself as he passed through the thick metallic outer shell of the space cruiser. He knew from his readings that any big cruiser at old times was built from a double layered outer body, as the outer part acted as armor and the inner part would act as the main body of the cruiser.


    As for the space in between them, it was filled with different types of energies that acted as a shield. Nowadays, this technique was outdated as there were more advanced technologies used in protection of these big war space cruisers.


    Although it was day time the whole world, once he entered here he felt it was so dark like a night without stars, but he was prepared as he had a helping device that he took from the cruiser. It was one of the five repairing devices as he might need to somehow cut in the body of this cruiser if his path was blocked.


    "Lights"


    James ordered the flying device beside him to activate its torch which lightened the whole place. The flying device turned in moments to be like a shiny star which radiated light to the whole area around James. James found himself in a very huge space with many rust and dirt covering everything along his eyesight.


    "Start your scanning for the interior of this ship and try to locate the medical unit."


    This flying device was still connected to the advanced system of his small cruiser, so he gave this order for the system to run a scan for the whole ship in an attempt to find the medical unit if possible.


    James knew this scan would take some time to finish, so he started to wander the place where he was at, as he tried to kill time and figure out which part of the huge old cruiser he was in right now. He didn''t move for a few minutes before he froze in his place while muttering with extreme shock:


    ''What the hell is that?''

 Chapter 17: Dora, The Bloody Princess of The Resistence

    On another side of this planet, three small cruisers landed over a remote destroyed place which once was a very prosperous advanced mighty city. The three small cruisers weren''t the only one present here, as there were also more than a dozen of them, all standing still on the ground with their engines running.


    "What took you so long?" A strong male voice came from behind some ruins attracting the attention of the incoming group of rebels that James just met.


    The leader of this small group was that ferocious girl, 18 years old, known by the name of Doratokal , shortened from her close circles to Dora, more famous with the nickname that stuck to her like a glue, the bloody princess of the rebels.


    "It''s just a few minutes Edwardo, why do you seem this nervous?"


    Edwardo was in his thirtieth, but he looked so young under the effects of some technological drugs. He was very interested in his style, as he wore a very fancy cape covering every inch of his back, shoulders, and even his head.


    "I''m not nervous, I''m only worried about you, you know how much I care about you."


    "Lies, we don''t have anything like this between us," Dora said as she stood against this man, who was surrounded by over 50 men of his own. Edwardo looked in a fake sad look while saying:


    "Don''t hurt my feelings like this, I like you."


    "And I don''t, so it''s one sided shitty love or fantasy or a lie from you. Stop fooling around and let''s start doing business," Dora said aggressively while she was also surrounded by 5 of her trusted aides.


    "You only brought 5 of your men here? Aren''t you afraid I hijacked you?"


    "Who? You? You can''t even hurt a butterfly. Stop fooling around or else you will see only my back leaving here," Dora said threatening. Edwardo kept the fooling playboy look till Dora was about to turn to leave, when he said:


    "Wait, let''s talk about business. I don''t know why you are always this tense; you can just be as nice as any girl in this whole universe."


    "If you want to still be able to play with girls after you leave here then stop irritating and wasting my time," Dora said while her eyes were locking somewhere in his body. Her vicious look made his body shiver involuntary, so he hurried to say:


    "I brought what you asked for, have you brought the price we agreed upon?"


    Dora didn''t speak as she raised her right hand high in the air. Two of her followers moved forward carrying a heavy looking metal black box which they landed between Dora and Edwardo.


    "Is this enough?" Dora said while she was playing with her small curved dagger. Edwardo''s eyes got attached to that dagger as he felt another shiver in his body. The famous bloody dagger of this crazy princess was directly in front of him.


    He knew he couldn''t underestimate this small dagger, as it only needed a whim from Dora and he found himself dead. He looked at the box while motioned to some of his men who opened it.


    Once his eyes sat on the contents of this box, he lost any feeling of fear from Dora, as he felt great happiness, the happiness of a greedy man when he got himself a fortune.


    "Ahem, tell me, are you satisfied now?"


    "Satisfied?" Edwardo looked at her like crazy as he laughed in a weird way, "I''m more than satisfied, why don''t you come to spend the night with me and this would turn to be my best night ever."


    Dora ignored his comment as she asked seriously:


    "Where is your share of the bargain?"


    "Well¡­" He then straightened up as he looked as serious as her, "You know, I thought of something, as you brought only these men of yours with you, why should I stick to this deal?"


    Dora''s features didn''t show fear or hesitation, but strangely it became more happy and relaxes as she said calmly:


    "And what would this benefit any of us? You know who I am and who I work for, so if you touched a single hair of me, then it''s your life that you are playing with here."


    "But I will get a night with you, and you know what? This is really worth the risk, especially," Edwardo then moved to stand behind his men as he continued, "When you came here without notifying anyone of your people. A sweet princess like you has many enemies in the galaxy, and no one knew about our deal here, so what would you do if you were in my place?"


    Edwardo was now standing tens of meters away from here, very close to his line of small cruisers which were ready to open fire with a flicker of his hands. In front of him, 50 armed well trained men stood between him and Dora with her little gang.


    He waited to see the look of surprise from this bloody princess, he even imagined her trying to beg him to let her leave here with her life, instead, he was only met with a mocking look, a sneer, followed by a laugh, a laugh that made his body shiver for the third time without knowing why.


    "I have to say I do totally agree with you, Edwardo."


    These words were said from her when she suddenly vanished. Edwardo looked in confidence towards the place where she was just standing as he said:


    "Do you think I came here unprepared? Unleash the electric shock wave cannons, let her weird skill of her be crippled and she would be like a lone frightened rat, hahahaha."


    His laughs were very loud and wild, as he raised his both hands like he was in a playground, not a battlefield. He looked towards the front as he knew Dora was still there listening to his threat, which wasn''t a threat as his cruisers opened their hatches and special types of cannons emerged from these openings.


    These were special ordered cannons with one specific function of their missiles, they could generate a high voltage wave of an old lost form of energy called electricity.


    This pulse wave was the only weapon he and the people he answered to found as a solution to deal with Dora. Dora wasn''t just like any other enemy he had fought before, as her superiority didn''t come from her training nor gear, not even from her huge organization that she worked for.


    Her lethal card was a gifted ability she was born with, the ability to disappear and move in shadows unseen to kill her enemies. Edwardo didn''t believe in fairy tales, but he knew Dora wasn''t one of them, she was real. He glimpsed towards the openings of these cannons which he paid a fortune to get them, and he smiled.


    He won, even if this arrogant girl thought she could take out all his small army, he wouldn''t mind paying all of them as a price to get her head, a head that was worth times over the fortune that lay in front of him now.


    "Attack that area and don''t leave an inch."


    He gave this order when he saw two of his men already drown on their blood on the ground. He didn''t see the attack of Dora, but he knew she would be paralyzed once the cannons fired.


    So, he stopped watching the battle as he watched the openings of these cannons get flashy with that silver white blue light of this rudimentary form of energy.


    "What the hell?! Sto¡­"


    He couldn''t continue his words, as these cannons changed direction in a sharp move to be directed towards the place of his men. He didn''t care about his men, he only cared about himself, as he was also targeted by the cannons he himself bought.


    He couldn''t finish his words when the cannons blasted their content all over him and his men, to scream in pain as he felt like a million needles puncturing every inch of his body.


    The pain was really horrible, but the betrayal he got from his men in the cruisers was more painful. His last moments in his life passed by while screaming without knowing the truth¡­ without knowing how he died.


    He didn''t die under the betrayal of his men, he died by the plot of Dora, as he wasn''t the smartest one here¡­ he was the foolest.

 Chapter 18: James and The Droids

    James stopped in his place without moving a muscle, as in front of him appeared a huge group of people. They were healthy individuals, wearing a strange uniform which seemed military, and were all pointing their guns towards him. their number was over 100, and he was alone.


    He had a spear gun, which seemed very advanced than the version they were holding right now, but he knew if he tried to reach his gun he would be dead long before he could even point it towards them.


    "Say the identification code, please."


    One of these men and women said that in a strange accent with some metallic echo with it. James'' mind suddenly worked fast, as he guessed already who they were. The issue now lied in this code thing, which he didn''t know.


    "I¡­I was just passing by here and I have a friend who is very sick, so I thought I might come here and look for help from the medical unit of this cruiser. Is the medical unit still functioning?"


    "Say the identification code, please, or we will shoot you down."


    James sighed, these humanoid AI remnants were really hard to deal with. He remembered many old records describing their stubborn nature, as they never bypassed their programming, which was frustrating to normal humans sometimes.


    Humanoids, or droids as some preferred to call them, weren''t unique for the human race, as there were many other races out in the universe who had similar technology, but different shapes.


    James squeezed his minds trying to remember anything useful, while doing that the humanoid spoke once again:


    "Say the identification code, please, or we will shoot you down. You count to ten, if you don''t provide the secret code of the republic of Rojedia, we will shoot you down."


    It hit James suddenly as he didn''t imagine this damaged war cruise belonged to one of the three major battling forces in the old war between the Ravners.


    It made sense to him now, as this war was over a couple of millennia ago, which consisted of the model of these humanoids. The only weird thing, though, was the model of this space cruiser, which was only a couple of centuries old.


    James didn''t have time to think about this right now, as his mind started to retrieve all the information he read about this long gone republic. The old war ended and the striving empires and republics vanished.


    Their descendant empires and republics were also lost in time, so there were many old secrets about this war and each of its fighting sides. James'' mind started to search desperately about any code to fail.


    "6¡­5¡­4¡­"


    The countdown was nearing the zero point, where he would be shot dead here. James clenched his fists, he didn''t run from that shitty planet to be killed in the middle of nowhere like this.


    He would prefer to fight and get killed rather than get slaughtered like a sheep. When his mind reached there, he suddenly felt some old echo, an echo which came from an old memory of his.


    "2..1¡­"


    "Wait¡­ wait, I know it," James rushed to say.


    "Then say it now or we will shoot you."


    "We shall rise and fight tyranny instead of waiting calmly to be killed like sheep."


    These words weren''t a code he read somewhere, they were famous words said by the last leader of that old republic. James didn''t have any time to consider if these were the right words or not, so he just spoke them spontaneously without any delay.


    "That''s the code of our supreme leader. Rejoice everyone, our new supreme leader has arrived."


    Suddenly the situation changed upside down, instead of being threatened with death, James found himself the focus of respect and veneration from everyone.


    He didn''t know what he had to say, as once these words were said from this humanoid, more voices repeated the words by those who stood beside him.


    James was about to ask for them to stop repeating these words, as they looked very funny, but he was silenced at once when he saw more of them emerging from the distance and these words started to be repeated over and over again like a magic spell, which turned in time to be more like a religious chants.


    ''What is going on?''


    James kept asking himself this even when these strange mix of droids led him deep into the ship. Everywhere he went, signs of negligence, damage, and the passage of times were evident, which made him wonder why these droids didn''t work together to repair all this.


    After half an hour of walking, he reached a very vast place that he felt it had no end at all. The grayish color of dust was the main thing he saw there, mixed with some different colors which came from more droids standing there.


    James wanted to ask questions, but these droids kept repeating the same words over and over again neglecting his questions, which made him very frustrated, but he couldn''t do anything.


    "This way, supreme leader, you can address your people from here."


    The humanoid who talked with James at the beginning said that followed by the complete silence of every droid here. James looked in doubt towards it, as he said:


    "I want first to understand everything, what is this supreme leader all about?"


    The humanoid looked towards James strangely as he said:


    "Didn''t the supreme leader tell you everything?"


    James felt danger, so his mind worked fast as he put on a reasonable answer to this tricky question.


    "The supreme leader died a long time ago, but he left his will and inheritance with it. I found this inheritance which led me here, but I don''t know anything else. So, can anyone here brief me about what is going on?"


    The humanoid exchanged looks with the other droids, who nodded their heads, so he said:


    "You have the supreme leader code, so you are his heir. It''s normal for us not to feel the passage of time, as we only can feel the passage of our energy only. I will take you to a place where you can understand everything, but first you need to say some words to the folks here."


    James knew if he continued to argue with this humanoid he wouldn''t reach a result at the end, these droids were really stubborn creatures, or machines.


    So, he took a deep breath as he calmed his mind and accepted this small thing to do. He needed to understand everything fast, so he could assess if he had gotten himself a treasure or a bomb.

 Chapter 19: Dora and Charles

    Dora stood in her place motionless watching that hateful Edwardo as his soul left his body and died calmly. She wasn''t angry about his betrayal, as she expected that.


    Dealing with those outlaws was always risky, so it would be better to assume everyone was going to stab you in the back to be able to stay alive. Dora then looked away towards those small cruisers that killed Edwardo and his men as she said loudly:


    "You can come down now."


    In moments nothing happened, but then groups of people started to leave these cruisers one after another, to stand in front of her with respect. Dora looked towards them as over 50 people stood in front of her. She then said:


    "Good work everyone, now the first step of my plan is complete, and now we can move to the second step."


    Her men didn''t make a sound when she looked up towards the sky. She took a deep breath before saying:


    "As you all know, our mortal enemy is on the move, and he is moving strongly this time. I heard some valuable intel a couple of weeks ago, that nasty organization, the dark shadow group, is planning to do something big this time, and as their loyal enemy, we have to stop them and disturb their plans."


    "May I ask, princess, why are we still at the rebels till now?"


    Dora looked towards Charles, he was the recent addition to her small secret group. Before she could speak, her most trusted aide, and the longest in following her in this group, spoke first:


    "Can''t you keep your own thoughts for yourself, Charles? This is our leader and the one we trust the most."


    Dora interfered before this small doubt turned out into a quarrel as she said:


    "No problem Anna, Charles is still our youngest one here, so it''s normal for him to ask many questions. Tell me, Charles, do you have any other questions other than this?"


    Charles was a tall youngster with a big body, but his brain was still the brain of a 14 years child. He didn''t see a lot so far in life to be wise, so he didn''t feel any offense in what he was doing like others around him who felt anger towards him. He looked straight towards Dora as he said:


    "I have another question, if you may, as I recall from the teaching I got from my master that our enemy was someone who goes by the name ''The immortal'' not this black thing group, so why are we considering this group of people also as our mortal enemies?"


    Dora smiled helplessly as this child in front of her mistook her words and added one more question. She had no much time to waste here, so she decided to reply to both questions and leave here fast.


    "Let me first answer your second question first, our mortal enemy is one and no one other than him, that immortal bastard. That cold-blooded murderer took the position of the general commander of this group early this year.


    Since he took that position, he started to work rapidly renovating that organization. He didn''t only do that, but he also took the leadership of another group, the silver arrow group. Both groups were considered before as weak groups in the Ravner of good and evil camps.


    The two groups were part of the moderate thinking direction of this struggle, they were neither extremist nor tended to violence, but after this killer led them, they changed.


    A few months ago, they started to lead a movement in each camp, spreading out one rumor of the reappearance of a new generation of the light seekers and dark believers.


    This criminal used the strong desire in many of both camps'' strongest leaders to instigate their disapproval of this rising of a new generation that would threaten their authority, so he spread another rumor, a rumor about a way to expose these young seeds and wipe them out in the shadows."


    "So, we are here to kill those sons and daughters of dawn?" Charles asked.


    "No, we are here to save them."


    Charles looked with disbelief towards Dora as he asked in doubt:


    "How come we, the black phoenix, try to save those belonging to the Ravner of good camp?"


    Anna was about to interfere and teach Charles a hard lesson, but she was stopped by one look from Dora, who then concentrated on this young man as she asked:


    "Tell me, Charles, what was the most valuable lesson your master taught you? The lesson he kept repeating over and over again while stressing on its great importance?"


    Charles seemed a bit lost as he tried to recall his master''s teaching. He had a lot of things his master stressed upon, so he didn''t know which one Dora was referring to.


    "Don''t you recall the supreme code of our group, Charles?"


    The eyes of this youngster shone brightly as he understood the point Dora was referring to. He then said the code with veneration:


    "Rain clears it all, clears the past, the loneliness, the sadness, the wounds, the pain, and the sins, but not our sins. We once lost our goal, failed our mission, and let the whole universe down.


    Our ancestors failed, but we failed so we can learn, rise again from ashes, Phoenixes we are. We are the guardians, the protectors, and the last wall standing against the apocalypse."


    The others repeated the same words with greater veneration and respect after Charles, who felt his body trembling slightly as Dora added:


    "So, we aren''t the black phoenixes, we are only the phoenixes. We added ''black'' to our name so we can meddle in the evil camp, as we have a sister branch with the name of ''light phoenixes'' which meddled in the good camp, but don''t mistake ourselves as any part of the two, as we are neither."


    Charles seemed more lost as he asked:


    "If we aren''t one of the two, then who are we?"


    "We? We are the guardians'' descendants, we are the one who stands against this dirty immortal and his long-desired apocalypse."


    Charles didn''t get it, but he knew there were many hidden deep facts behind his group. He decided to ask further, read more, and dig deeper when he finished this mission, so he abandoned asking about that point as he asked again:


    "Then why are we interfering and saving those kids? Saving them wouldn''t help our cause."


    Dora felt, like the other veterans in her group, that Charles had no idea about the cause he was talking about. Despite that, she decided not to continue elaborating further, as there was no time to teach this ignorant youngster the true secrets of their group.


    If not for his master, who was also her master, who recommended him strongly and advised her to accept him, she would have left him here and went to finish her mission, but she respected her master and trusted his judgment, which never failed.


    "Let me describe it to you this way, our mortal enemy, the one who never did something aimlessly throughout ages, is trying to force both camps to kill their offspring.


    He is spreading rumors, even took control of two groups, which is a first in his solo fight history, just to achieve this goal. Tell me, when you know all this, won''t disturbing his plans seem the appropriate action here?"


    Charles didn''t follow Dora''s words as he said in doubt and accusation:


    "So, we are just moving according to your whim and ideas, not upon a concrete intel and data."


    "Watch your tongue, Charles," Anna couldn''t take it anymore as she screamed like this at him. Charles was a youngster who had his youth fire blazing hot inside him, so he didn''t faze from her words, instead, he went on with rampage:


    "What? I didn''t say anything wrong; this princess of ours is leading us into a deadly fight with our small numbers to do a silly rescue mission without even knowing the reason for it! She is delusional, and I won''t throw my life like this without good reason. I''m off."

 Chapter 20: The Mad Immortal

    Charles was about to take one step away when he felt a burning pain suddenly on his left side of his chest. He smelled the odor of burning meat, so he looked towards his chest to find a small hole in it.


    His clothes were burned on this area, with some dark marks over its edges, from this mess in his clothes, he could see this wound which penetrated his body from the back. He was shot, shot silently without warning from behind. He turned to see Dora holding up her gun and faint smoke was rising up from its barrel.


    "W¡­Why?!"


    This was the last word he said before he dropped on the ground motionless drenched in a small pool in his blood. Dora hid her gun in his clothes before saying without any emotion:


    "This is the first time my master failed to see the truth about someone. How unfortunate, the praise my master gave to you made me feel I could get another worthy hand I could depend on, but you turned out to be this rebellious, how unfortunate."


    Dora then looked towards her men, whose faces were calm. It was an unspoken rule in their long history group; no one should leave them, if so he would be killed in cold blood. This was a safety measure against any possible future betrayal from their members.


    "Our target is a device created by this immortal, we all know about his vast knowledge and his love for technology and his obsession with making new creations. His new creation now is some lethal weapon directed at those who had any good or evil seeds.


    This device mechanism is unknown to us, but from the evidence we found back at the scene of the Goyat massacre where over ten thousand innocent kids were slain in cold blood, this device causes a state of coma to these kids.


    We don''t know yet how to antagonize its effects, but I believe if we manage to destroy it we can release these poor kids from their misery."


    Dora looked towards her men then she continued:


    "What we know for sure that the Ravner of light had complete control of the Terasoras space ship and all that''s related to it, including a special zone for external contact with the universe. At this zone, they held many innocent kids who they suspected had the seeds of good inside them.


    They did exactly what that mad man wanted, and now he is going to butcher all of them like sheep. Our target is to infiltrate this zone, search for that immortal''s men and there we will find that device and destroy it. We will also rescue all these kids from the hands of the Ravner of light and then escape from there."


    Anna spoke expressing her doubts:


    "This mission is very big for us, princess."


    "I know, so I have pushed my lazy mother of mine to send some troops to attack this zone."


    The looks of Anna changed to show a surprise, as she asked:


    "How did you manage to convince her? She is really stubborn, and if she got wind of any relation of this mission with the phoenix guardians she wouldn''t agree to help."


    Dora sighed as she looked towards the distant horizon as a faint picture of someone appeared vaguely in the distance. She took a deep breath with it that image disappeared as she said:


    "I just gave her some wrong intel about the presence of imperial troops there doing a big trial over a grand weapon. You know how she deeply hates this empire, so she won''t hesitate to send the whole fleet to attack there."


    Anna looked towards the two groups of cruisers that were there, one belonged to the rebels while the others belonged to the rogue space adventurers. She got the whole plan of her princess, who she admired a lot, then she said:


    "You plan on using all the cruisers here?"


    "Yes, we will divide into two groups; one will be led by me as we will join the main force attacking this zone, while you will be the leader of the other group. Your mission is to find those maniac''s men and destroy that weapon, while the rescue mission will be handed to my group, understand?"


    Dora didn''t just ask Anna, but all of her men. She handpicked most of them, while the rest of them were recommended by her master or friends of his. She trusted them all, as they went through hell with her in the last few years when she took the leadership of this group after her late father. Dora then said:


    "As far as I know our troops will arrive near that zone in less than half an hour, so it''s time for us to move."


    Everyone then started to say in a strong belief:


    "Rain clears it all, clears the past, the loneliness, the sadness, the wounds, the pain, and the sins, but not our sins. We once lost our goal, failed our mission, and let the whole universe down.


    Our ancestors failed, but we failed so we can learn to rise again from ashes, Phoenixes we are. We are the guardians, the protectors, and the last wall standing against the apocalypse."


    Dora then muttered to herself in a very low voice that was hardly heard from everyone around her:


    "Rain clears it all, clears the past, the loneliness, the sadness, the wounds, the pain, and the sins, but not our sins. We once lost our goal, failed our mission, and let the whole universe down.


    Our ancestors failed, but we failed so we can learn to rise again from ashes, Phoenixes we are. We are the guardians, the protectors, and the last wall standing against the apocalypse.


    Don''t let our ancestors'' mistakes cloud your judgment, your trust, and your beliefs, as one way or another I intend to end it all here, in my lifetime. I will live like a phoenix guardian, and vow not to die before I fulfill my mission."


    Her own words weren''t a surprise to her men, as she had always said this code, which seemed like an oath since her first mission ever. They knew how the shock she took by her father''s death, and so they understood her feeling and determination.


    She wasn''t saying these words to them, but to herself, as she marked her big sudden loss with this oath, which made her always remember her father and why he was killed. Dora squeezed her two fists while she muttered to herself:


    ''I swear I will kill this murderer and avenge you, father, even if it came at the expense of my life.???

 Chapter 21: Obtaining A Special Droids Forces

    James stood in front of all of those droids while his mind tried to recall some fantastic speeches he read through the old archives.


    He selected one random speech from one deceased leader who was very famous throughout the galaxy. This leader died a few centuries after the destruction of these droids civilization. So he said:


    "It has been a long time since the galaxy had heard about the words of justice, peace, prosperity, and co-existence. The galaxy had long been ruled by dark systems, the same system that tried to destroy our great nation, Rojedia.


    The passage of time over a wronged system doesn''t give it the virtue of righteousness, as wrong will always and still be wrong no matter what. I came here today to ask for your approval and assistance, I need your allegiance and help to aid me in my cause, which is yours.


    Let''s stand together and bring down these tyranny systems and give the whole galaxy the chance to choose the chance to live, and the chance for freedom."


    The whole droids around James reacted excitedly as if his words really touched a part of their lost spirits. James looked in satisfaction towards that response which he didn''t expect, but he didn''t care about, and then said to the humanoid that brought him here:


    "Can you take me now to where I can get hold over the overall situation?"


    "Sure, you remind me of the last supreme leader, he was a great person just like you. Come after me please, I will lead you to the archive and monitoring unit."


    James felt weird from these humanoid words, but he followed it nonetheless with no high hopes over this archive unit. He was now hoping to find some valuable records and info regarding these droids and their specialties.


    As far as he knew, the droids were built with each one having specific missions and certain capabilities. Although they were deadly in battles, especially in soldiers'' battles, they were abandoned and considered obsolete technology.


    James didn''t know why, but he guessed the reason might be, as he read many times, due to their personalities. But when he gave thought to this matter considering he now had this big number of them, he felt this flaw was acceptable, as he could adapt to this personality if they had great potential.


    "I appreciate your words back there, as we long lost the goal that could unit us. Thanks a lot, supreme leader, for setting up new goals for us, I promise you we won''t let you down."


    These words hit James like lightning, as he was about to recall the words he just said and understand what goals this humanoid was talking about, he reached into a very distinctive place.


    All places he saw so far in this ship were covered by dust and full of ruins, even darkness prevailed there, but that was totally different from the place James was standing at its front entrance.


    That place was in the size of his small cruiser, which was very big. The metallic luster attracted his gaze everywhere, side by side with the flashing lights of working machines which took nearly most of the space inside this room. There was no speck of dust here.


    James turned to look at the back again to confirm he wasn''t hallucinating, as this place made him feel the whole ship was intact and still running.


    "What is this place?"


    "It''s our archive place. Didn''t you ask for a place to get information from? This is the right place."


    James looked towards this humanoid as he asked with doubt:


    "If you have the ability to clean this place and keep it running like this, why then the whole ship is in this tattered state?"


    The humanoid entered into this archive while saying simply:


    "That''s because we aren''t workers, we are elite fighters. Cleaning isn''t included in our missions, but we didn''t neglect some important places, like the archive here."


    The words of this humanoid attracted James interest at once, as he asked while that humanoid was pressing some buttons:


    "Are you soldiers?"


    "Soldiers?" that humanoid said with sarcasm while he then made a big screen appear floating in the air. This was an old technology which was replaced with nowadays hologram technology. It then replied:


    "Soldiers were the lowest rank in our army system. I don''t know how the world is doing right now, but we were once considered as the most lethal weapon our nation had. We were entrusted by the mission of guarding our supreme leader, so we were the best of the best."


    James was speechless from what he heard, as his mind couldn''t believe he got himself this mighty force, yet small but lethal. Just as James was indulged into his own dreams, the sound of this humanoid came out with concern:


    "What are those intruders doing on our planet?"


    James was distracted from his thoughts to see something over this screen that attracted his attention. He muttered:


    "What is Dora doing there?"


    "Do you know her, supreme leader?"


    James looked at the humanoid while his mind worked fast. These droids were special forces, and it just described the world as theirs, so that meant only one thing.


    "Can you transmit the voice of their speech here?"


    "Yes, we have deployed many espionage portals that could blend with the environment undetected. I will turn the microphone on now."


    James didn''t hear before about something called espionage portals, but he guessed it was one of the outdated old technologies that were long forgotten. The humanoid pressed a button after which the sound of Dora appeared clearly in the archive room as if she was there with the two of them.


    "It''s just a few minutes Edwardo, why do you seem this nervous?"

 Chapter 22: James Decision

    James and that humanoid kept watching the whole event that happened at Dora''s location. After she disappeared with her crew, the humanoid said:


    "I feel that immortal is someone we should stop."


    James took a deep breath as his mind was processing what he just saw and heard. What happened to Eli wasn''t a disease, but it seemed like a side effect from that weapon.


    If so, he needed to take her and move as far away from here as possible. James believed if he went away from that weapon area of effect, Eli would get better soon.


    ''I didn''t think we would find a tyrant so early, your vision supreme leader is always right. We have to stop that mad man, the one who calls himself the immortal."


    James heard these strange words coming from that humanoid, so he regained his focus as he asked carefully:


    "What do you mean by that? What''s your name again?"


    "My code name is Ri-2147-Go-3567."


    "Don''t you have a name?" James said.


    "No, we all have codenames, not names."


    James nodded his head as he declared:


    "I don''t like that long code of yours, so you will be called Rigo from now on."


    "Rigo¡­ I like that name," The humanoid said.


    "Then tell me Rigo, what did you mean by saying those words back then?"


    "Oh, it''s nothing, I''m just following your teachings, supreme leader."


    "What teaching?" James asked with doubt, while Rigo replied simply:


    "Your speech was really inspiring, as you wanted to destroy all tyranny systems in this world. This immortal is a tyranny person, so we need to eliminate him."


    James started to feel a headache already, as he interrupted Rigo''s words:


    "That''s now what I meant back there."


    "Then what did you mean by this: Let''s stand together and bring down these tyranny systems and give the whole galaxy the chance to choose, the chance to live, and the chance for freedom?"


    James opened his mouth and closed them as he didn''t know what to say. Just as he was trying to find any suitable answer, Rigo shouted all of sudden:


    "Look, that dead man is standing."


    James turned immediately towards the screen, where he saw Charles was standing straight from the ground.


    "That''s impossible, that hit was enough to kill a giant, not just a human," James muttered with disbelief as he watched Charles standing there alive like never before.


    "You are the foolish one here, Dora kid. Did you think you can kill me, the Immortal, with just this gun? Gagagaga, that''s hilarious."


    The sound of Charles appeared clearly in the archive room, where Charles was speaking to himself like a mad man. He then added:


    "My preparations are complete. The imperial army will appear in less than one hour, where it will lay ambush to all the rebel forces. It''s time for me to eliminate this continuous headache and kill the last descendants of those nasty guardians. That''s a good reason for me to celebrate, and I intend to make the party unforgettable, gagagagaga."


    James focused his gaze upon this crazy young man, as he didn''t expect that Dora''s fated enemy was this young kid.


    "Rigo, can he find out your espionage devices?"


    "No, don''t worry supreme leader, these espionage portals are well hidden."


    "Good," James said this with a deep breath out of relief.


    "Now, I better move. I need to kill all those kids myself, although they are doomed once they get under the effect of this great creation of mine, but it always felt nice to taste their blood myself.


    This foolish girl is trying to search for that device, but she didn''t know it''s installed inside her ship. She won''t be able to find it, as the safest place is always the most exposed place, gagagagagaga."


    James was more confident about his previous decision, he needed to leave here and move away, and he needed to do this fast. Just as he was about to order Rigo to bring all the droids and start abandoning this ship, the voice of Charles echoed with a devilish laugh:


    "Even if this silly kid found it, she will destroy it. stupid foolish ignorant guardian, destroying this creation of mine won''t stop the process, instead it will fasten it.


    The only possible way to cure anyone infected by this device is to make the device work in the healing mode. Anything other than this is futile, even if some of these filthy seeds escaped, they will die eventually, gagagagaga."


    James stood there stupefied like a statue while Charles headed towards somewhere in the distance. There, he entered a huge cave, a few moments later, a small cruiser emerged from this cave.


    James'' eyes narrowed as he recognized this model of the cruiser, it belonged to the empire he used to work for. The cruiser moved rapidly to disappear in the next second from the screen. Rigo turned to look towards James as he asked with concern:


    "Why do you look so pale, supreme commander?"


    James gritted his teeth as he muttered:


    "Gather up everyone here, we have a war to attend."


    Rigo looked in doubt towards James as he asked:


    "Don''t you need to know more knowledge about our empire?"


    "I will, but not now. We have something more urgent to do. Besides, we can move all the data here into my cruiser."


    "I mean no offense, supreme leader, but your cruiser is very tiny. I doubt its system will be able to hold even tiny part of the data here," Rigo said frankly, but James wasn''t offended, as he knew he had a super advanced system in his little cruiser, so he said:


    "Just bring up the boys and prepare to move every single bit of data from here."


    Rigo seemed unconvinced as he suggested:


    "We have some bigger cruisers in the warehouse; we can operate them and join this fight with it."


    James looked at it with interest as he asked:


    "Are they still functioning?"


    "Yes, but I think the weapon system there is antique in comparison to nowadays technology."


    James smiled as he had a solution for that, he also was excited about the presence of such cruisers.


    "Leave the weapon problem for me, just try to operate everything you have. C''mon, move fast, we have no time to lose."


    "Immediately, sir."


    James watched the disappearing Rigo as his mind was thinking about another dilemma. He entered this struggle between good and evil sides without his choice, but now he decided to do that. He looked at the screen where that immortal was as he felt extreme hatred towards that immortal.


    He didn''t know why he held such hatred towards this man, but he thought it might be related to Eli''s condition. That little pure girl that was trying to save her friends, she was about to die, her friends were about to die, Dora and her team were about to die.


    James felt this all was wrong, a wrong he needed to fix. He closed his eyes as he tried to calm down his inner hatred that kept boiling in him, while muttering:


    ''What a strange hatred, I really hope it goes away after I save all those people.''

 Chapter 23: Thousands of Years Old Message

    James then started to inspect the various machines in front of him. He dealt a lot with data storage machines back at the base, as he was trying to learn any info he could get his hands on, but in front of these old tech, he felt ignorance.


    He tried to pass the time by pressing over some buttons that felt familiar, but he didn''t get the result he wanted. After quite some time, he managed to open some old records, a record which played over the same floating screen in front of James.


    An old looking man with white hair and a domineering look appeared suddenly on the screen. James didn''t notice that at first as he kept pressing some other buttons trying to get any result. The voice of this man startled James and made him stop what he was doing, as he focused entirely over this old man.


    "The universe is vast, and every day we discover many new things in it. I tend to believe that my great ancestors couldn''t imagine how difficult it is to be part of this universe.


    After all these countless years, man now still stands on the verge of complete destruction, the same situation we were at since the early days of our creation. When I said these words to my colleagues, friends, and my trusted aides they thought me crazy.


    When I changed the imperial system into a republic system they also thought I lost my mind. Maybe the immanent crisis that fell upon us that day had saved my life, temporarily. I knew who you are, that oracle had told me all about you. You are James, right?"


    Suddenly James'' body froze as his mind went blank from shock, he already guessed the identity of this man, he was the last supreme leader of Rojedia. James couldn''t help himself but ask loudly:


    "Can you see me? Did you hear my talk with Rigo just now?"


    "Of course, you will have many doubts right now, and might be also afraid. How can I tell and I''m sending you this message from a couple of millennia ago, I don''t know what the universe is like at your time, but I hope it''s not that bad¡­ yet."


    James muttered:


    "Old man, you scare me now, how did you manage to even know my name? Or even know it was me?"


    "The oracle told me a lot about you, about your name, your past life, and the circumstances that drove you to come here. She told me as well how important this moment is, not just for your life, but for all the lives in the universe.


    So, James, my son, I know you might feel great panic right now, and that''s normal. I can''t imagine what you are thinking about, but if it was me, I would be confused and afraid."


    "Yes, I''m feeling exactly like this old man," James muttered as he was trying to comprehend how a dead person over thousands of years had known about his presence here and learnt his name.


    "Listen to me very carefully, James, and try to remember each word I will say, as this message will be self erased after it ends. The oracle told me about your presence in this abandoned planet, so I ordered my finest troops to come here and wait for you.


    They are droids that I selected personally, very expert at warfare and had long experience at fighting, so they will be your best help in the upcoming war. I don''t know what you will decide about Dora, but I hope you decide to help her, if not, then I urge you to reconsider this option.


    Dora''s life is very important, as she is the key, the key to everything. Without the help of this daughter, you can''t defeat your greatest enemy and you will lose.


    She is your light in the darkness, so don''t let her die. The Immortal mustn''t have her life here, and you need to be careful of him, as he is your greatest enemy ever."


    James suddenly felt fear far greater than before when he heard these words. That nasty murdered Immortal who took a direct hit from Dora''s gun and still survived was his enemy. James tried to recall when he ever offended such a foe with no avail, just to be interrupted by the old man''s voice:


    "Don''t try thinking about the reason behind all this, as the oracle told me you will know everything soon enough, so focus on the upcoming war and try to save Dora and yourself.


    Regarding the targets of this Immortal, those poor children, you can decide for yourself if you want to save them or not. Our oracle said you are destined to be our greatest savor if you survived this ordeal, so I hope you can survive it, or everything will be lost. Take good care of yourself son, and try to stay alive."


    James watched the screen go blank as he heard a faint muffled sound coming from one of these big machines. James stood in his place motionless thinking about what just happened.


    He didn''t know if this was real or some kind of a silly joke, but why would a man leave a joke thousands of years ago for him? Why did he know his name? And how?


    Many questions began to rise in his head like stinging needles, he looked around to find an old fashioned chair so he sat over it. James held his head with both of his hands as he felt an excruciating headache in it.


    If he didn''t experience something abnormal back at the base, he would have thought this man was joking. Too much coincidences meant no coincidence at all.


    Everything was set in place on purpose, this ship was here on purpose, he came here on this planet on purpose, and his meeting with Eli then Dora was on purpose. James suddenly remembered Eli, that old man didn''t say anything about her, but he recalled that man warning.


    So, he started to recall the message over and over again, to feel some strange feeling about the last part regarding Dora.

 Chapter 24: Droids Decommission Mystery

    ''I don''t know what you will decide about Dora, but I hope you decide to help her, if not, then I urge you to reconsider this option. Dora''s life is very important, as she is the key, the key to everything. Without the help of this daughter, you can''t defeat your greatest enemy and you will lose.


    She is your light in the darkness, so don''t let her die. The Immortal mustn''t have her life here, and you need to be careful of him, as he is your greatest enemy ever,'' James muttered to himself over and over again as he felt something seemed fishy here.


    First of all, the Immortal didn''t want to kill Dora, if he wanted to do so then he could have done that easily when he was on board the cruiser with her. Besides, Dora wasn''t the one in trouble that he needed to decide to help her or not, Eli was.


    Eli was the one who was going to die, the one the Immortal was about to claim her soul and kill her, and the one he was thinking about helping her or not.


    Everything fitted strangely perfectly on Eli not Dora, but why did this old man say Dora not Eli? James felt more puzzled and that made him very furious, he hated puzzles.


    James took a deep breath as he was in front of two people he didn''t know which one of them he should choose to save. After quite some time, he said helplessly:


    "Forget it, let''s save both of them anyway."


    "Save whom exactly?"


    That sudden voice jolted James and made him nearly fall off his chair. Rigo entered the archive room as he asked with curiosity:


    "I just heard you saying you will save both of them, so who are we going to save?"


    James stood straight as he walked few steps and stood against Rigo as he asked seriously:


    "Did you know that all droids in the universe were decommissioned?"


    Rigo showed a strange expression as he replied:


    "If you want to know about our observation of the universe and its changes, then yes, we keep an eye over some things here and there."


    "I just wanted to know if you know the reason behind your decommissioning accident," James asked. Rigo seemed puzzled by this question, but before he could say anything, James added:


    "I always felt this thing was strange and without proper reason. I mean, look at you, thousands of years passed and you still as you are, while even Rojedia didn''t survive as long as you.


    You are intelligent, efficient, dependable, and nearly indestructible. What made the universe let go of you like this?"


    "Well, you can say they were afraid," Rigo said vaguely.


    "Afraid of what? Of you? I doubt you can harm your masters, right?" James didn''t intend to let it go off the hook. That old man stated clearly that he left him these droids here for him.


    He could have left him anything, weapons, wealth, and even huge fleets, but this old man seemed to know about the decommission thing of the droids. Giving him something powerful and non-existent today was greater help than anything else.


    So, James didn''t think the abandoning of the whole universe of the droids couple of hundreds of years ago was a coincidence, and he didn''t believe it had any relation to him.


    That old man mentioned an oracle, who seemed to foresee his future. Gathering everything together made him feel there was a hidden secret behind all this, and he felt the desire to know such a secret now.


    "There were rumors spreading even when the Rojedia empire was still around. Many races were afraid of our rebellion, so they organized themselves into moves that claimed for our decommission, and finally they managed to get what they wanted," Rigo said.


    "You didn''t answer my other question, Rigo."


    "Well, there is no smoke without fire, right sir?"


    James looked with more doubt towards this humanoid, then he decided to drop the subject for now. He would dig later about this when he had the chance. He then asked:


    "How many droids do we have?"


    "We have 1540 droids, sir. All of them are ready for combat."


    James didn''t know he had such a big number, at morning he was alone with him and the collapsed Eli, and now he had an army.


    "How many battleships do we have here?"


    "Well, aside from this old damaged ship, we have 50 small cruisers and one intermediate cruiser. We also have two space bombers, but as I mentioned before, our weapon system is outdated."


    James smiled as he walked outside this archive while saying:


    "I told you, leave this matter to me. you just need to take care of the date here, take everything now."


    James then stood just outside the archive, where he was surrounded with dust and ruins. He then reached out to his storage bracelet and started taking out all the boxes he had collected from the base.


    One box after another lined up in front of him. Soon, this small place turned to be full with boxes, but James wasn''t over as he touched another storage device and took the boxes out.


    Ten minutes didn''t pass when James finished taking out all the boxes, which was a magic like act for Rigo. Rigo witnessed from inside everything James did, so he was very shocked as he asked in disbelief:


    "What are these boxes? From where did they come from?"


    James looked towards Rigo who was at the door of the archive room as he said:


    "These contain advanced weapons, can your men fix them on the ships we have?"


    "Indeed," Rigo replied without hesitation.


    "How long will it take?"


    "Around 20 minutes, maybe less," Rigo replied.


    "Are you sure? I have repairing devices in my ship that took way longer than that," James tried to make sure this humanoid wasn''t exaggerating out of arrogance, but Rigo replied with disdain:


    "These are rudimentary forms, don''t compare us with them."


    Ibro smiled as he started to unseal each box while saying:


    "Bring the boys here, we still need to transport them to the ships and install them."


    "I have already informed them to come since you started to take these boxes out, they must be on their way to here."

 Chapter 25: Getting The Small Space Fleet Ready For Battle

    Just as he finished, some of those droids came. James didn''t take much time to unseal them, but when he finished he found only 50 droids standing around him. He looked in question towards Rigo who said briefly:


    "They will be enough. c''mon, move all the weapons to the warehouse and start installing them."


    In front of James, 50 droids worked in harmony to move the huge pile of weapons on the ground onto multiple floating metal plates that they took out. It was the first time for James, whose entire life was fixed on moving things in the base, to see such a thing.


    "These are the movable plates, do you think we kept ourselves here doing nothing? We searched for new tech and managed to make great breakthroughs as things that don''t even exist yet in the universe.


    Our only problem was the weapon research, as we had no ability or resources to do so," Rigo volunteered to explain about the presence of such strange things for James.


    "These movable plates are fantastic," James commented when he saw how these thin looking metal plates could withhold the weight of all these weapons.


    "They are sturdy, and can take more weight. It''s made of Rigolenium metal."


    James looked at Rigo with impressed looks as he said:


    "Never heard of it."


    "It''s a local metal that''s only found here on the planet. I believe the previous supreme leader knew about the rarity and quality of this metal, so he sent us here to wait for you."


    The words of Rigo captured James attention, as any information about the previous supreme leader was a hot topic for him, so he asked:


    "Had the previous supreme leader mentioned this metal?"


    "No, we just found it while we were discovering this planet. Even here, it was scarcely found, so we only managed to acquire small quantities of it. this metal has unique characteristics that made us call it: The magical metal."


    "Why is that?" James asked.


    "Because it can transmit, store, and even generate energy on its own. It can be shaped as very thin structures and could still keep its integrity and features.


    If we can find more mines, we could have used it to form advanced weapon systems of our own, but we searched every place on this planet all these years and only found less than a ton of it."


    "Only a ton?" James exclaimed with surprise as he added, "A ton isn''t enough to even arm a single small cruiser."


    "That''s right, so we decided to store most of it and used only a tiny amount to build flexible devices that you are seeing right now."


    "Flexible devices? What do you mean by that?" James asked while pointing towards these thin things. Rigo replied vaguely:


    "You will see for yourself later at battle, and you will get really impressed, I can promise you that."


    James kept his silence while watching these droids acting efficiently as they didn''t take long to pack all the weapons over these strange metals. They moved without stopping to disappear in the dark path of this ship.


    "Now they will install the weapons on the ships, what should we do next?"


    "Have you gotten all the data?"


    Rigo took out a small object that looked like a small stick as he said:


    "This holds all the data here, we only need to plug it into your cruiser and the system there will upload them. The size of this data is huge, I doubt your small cruiser system will be enough."


    James smiled as he received this stick as he said:


    "Let''s go to my ship. Tell the others to be ready to fly out once they finished installing the weapons. Bring 20 droids that can use the fighting simulator well."


    James then moved towards the exit, while Rigo followed him while asking:


    "What is this fighting simulator?"


    James sighed, it seemed these droids were really outdated with everything regarding weapon systems, so he explained:


    "It''s the tools to control and direct the canons."


    "Ah, I understand. In my days they were called the gun controllers," Rigo said.


    "Well, time changes, hurry and tell them," James said.


    "I already did," Rigo said.


    "Oh, this fast?" James said.


    "We have created an inner closed circuit for our communication," Rigo explained.


    "That seems nice, does this circuit have a range limit?"


    "No, it can work even between galaxies."


    James looked in doubt towards Rigo then he decided not to ask about details, as he had a hunch he wouldn''t understand a word out of it.


    "Can you install this communication circuit in my ship?"


    "You mean that little cruiser? I don''t know from where you have this confidence in it. If it was an intermediate cruiser, then I might believe you, but this?


    C''mon, this is just a tiny ship that could be blasted by the engine waves of the large cruisers," Rigo said while pointing out towards the distance where the small cruiser laid silently. James laughed as he replied:


    "Don''t underestimate her, this baby can really give you some surprises."


    "I will see," Rigo said laughing with him. The two marched towards the small cruiser at the same time a group of 20 droids of different races appeared way behind them from the shadows of the destroyed warship.


    James entered the cruiser first after waiting for those 20 droids to come here. Each droid was distinctive from the race it was from by two long shiny lines extending from the top of their heads, passing through their arms and legs.


    Each race had a different color code that held a meaning, but James didn''t know what these meanings were, and he didn''t care to ask. Once everyone followed him inside, he turned to look at them at the wide hall as he said:


    "Distribute yourselves in the cruiser, and get familiar with the canons here and engines. This cruiser had many canons, which are controlled by my cruiser system. I will release the system control over these canons, so feel free to test them here, Rigo you come with me."


    Everyone looked at each other while their minds were thinking the same idea, this was their first time to hear about a small cruiser system that could control the canons.


    Rigo just gave them a silent meaningful glance before following James towards the commanding deck, where it was surprised to see Eli, and James was right next to her. He was checking her vitals and made sure she was still alive.


    "Is she with you, supreme leader?"


    "Yes," James replied briefly while he moved towards the front commanding unit. He sat on his seat while taking out the data storage stick while saying:


    "How can I plug this stick to the system?"


    Rigo understood James'' confusion, as the tech of their old times was already forgotten. It then moved to help James linking this stick to the main system, which acknowledged the data in a short time and uploaded it with unparalleled speed.


    "What is wrong with this system? Is this a small cruiser system?"


    James enjoyed the shock lock over Rigo''s face while saying with pride:


    "Are you convinced now? Sit and let''s run the diagnostic check before we set off."


    "Affirmative."


    Rigo then sat on the second chair beside James as he started to act as a co-pilot to him. James first lifted the system control over the weapon systems then he started to run a diagnostic test over the whole ship.


    As he waited for the test to finish, his eyes were focused over the sleeping Eli, he now knew what happened to her. He sighed as he muttered very softly:


    "Don''t worry, Eli dawn, I will save you for sure."

 Chapter 26: The Fog of Dawn Flag Space Ship

    The test didn''t take over twenty minutes to finish, by then the space around the small cruiser was filled by multiple small cruisers and one intermediate cruiser.


    The only ships remaining were the two space bombers who needed more time to finish installing the canons over them. James checked the state of Eli once more, she was alive, yet her pulse was getting weaker. He returned back to his seat while saying:


    "Do you know where the Terasoras space ship special zone is?"


    Rigo looked towards him as he replied:


    "It''s quite near from here, but that place is very crowded and heavily monitored. We couldn''t approach there with our scanners before, so we don''t have any maps or info regarding there."


    James didn''t reply as he pressed some buttons before a big hologram appeared in the commanding deck, it was the map he drew before based on the info given by Eli. Rigo looked with astonishment to the hologram in front of it while James said:


    "This is the map of that zone, and as you can see this single green line is the only safe route to and from that zone. We need to take that route, all of the fleet should take it, so you have to broadcast this map or even move it manually to our fleet ships."


    "Will we all enter there? our fleet is big, so it can attract attention, in addition we have an intermediate cruiser and two space bombers.


    If they show themselves there, then we will get much attention," Rigo said after he looked for a long time studying this map. James thought for a moment about its words then he found they made quite sense, so he agreed by saying:


    "Then what do you propose?"


    "We should only infiltrate there with two more ships. Three small cruisers are common to be seen there I guess, if not then we can separate and search for the princess and that Immortal," Rigo said.


    "Fine, just move the map to the other ships then," James said.


    "I already did so, by the way sir, what is the main target of this mission?"


    James looked in doubt towards Rigo before he shook his head. These old forsaken droids were OP, and that made him quite satisfied he got a decent bunch of them.


    "Our target is to locate the princess as soon as possible and try to warn her about this trap. If the empire fleet arrives, then we will be obliged to help her escape from that fate.


    On the other hand, we have to locate the location marked in that map, there we will try and save any kid we find. Then we will withdraw," James explained while he was watching the comatosed Eli. Rigo asked:


    "Is this all? Won''t we pursue this Immortal?"


    James looked at him with disbelief, then he replied firmly:


    "Facing such a mysterious enemy will only bring destruction upon us. Let''s postpone this confrontation for due time."


    Rigo seemed not to be satisfied by such a reply, when James recalled their stubborn nature, so he rushed up to add:


    "This enemy is our fate one, but we have zero information about him. if we just pumped straight into him, we would lose.


    Our main priority is to disturb his arrangements and topple over his trap by saving the princess and those kids from his clutches. Doing so will weaken him a lot, so we need to stick to this possible target and not deviate from it."


    "Affirmative."


    James looked towards Rigo as he felt this humanoid was more troublesome that he expected, so he stressed over this by saying:


    "Make sure to relay my words to the whole fleet, I don''t want to lose anyone meaninglessly today."


    "Affirmative."


    James watched Rigo who did nothing while asking:


    "You only say affirmative but you didn''t relay my words yet."


    "I did already, don''t forget we have a closed communication circuit."


    James nodded as he totally forgot that, so he ordered:


    "Link this circuit to my cruiser then."


    "Affirmative," Rigo then pointed out his finger, which changed shape to form a long transparent line ended by a strange shaped socket. It then connected this to the main commanding unit in front of it. by the passage of one minute, it was finished, as it looked towards James and said:


    "I need to name this Ship, as this will be the main ship of the fleet. By what name should I register it in the network?"


    James thought for a moment, as he knew the importance of the main ship in any fleet, as it carried the famous old name, the flag ship.


    "Name it¡­ The fog of Dawn ship."


    "The fog of dawn¡­ I like this name."


    James didn''t explain anything to this humanoid, but this name was fated to be very famous all over the galaxy soon.


    "The space bombers are ready, sir. Should we leave now?"


    James looked at the fleet that was surrounding his ship, he then asked:


    "Can our network be active inside that zone?"


    "Yes, sir," Rigo replied.


    "Don''t forget that the zone is heavily guarded and monitored, so it''s nearly impossible to transmit anything in or out," James said stressing on the difficulty of this.


    "Don''t worry, sir, our network uses an old technology that must be long forgotten. We also made many improvements over it, so I can assure you it can work anywhere in the galaxy no matter how heavily guarded that place is," Rigo said with pride and extreme confidence.


    James looked at it silently as he knew the idea behind Rigo''s words. If this network tech is long forgotten, then the detection devices nowadays couldn''t detect it, which meant they could use it freely anywhere.


    "Then let us only go and recon the place there first. When we assess the situation better, we can make real time decisions and direct the ships here. How long will it take for the ships here to reach that zone?" James said.


    "Approximately two minutes if they used hyperjump tech," Rigo replied spontaneously.


    "They had this tech, that''s good," James said with surprise, While Rigo looked at him strangely as he commented:


    "We were the one who invented this tech."

 Chapter 27: Looking for Dora

    James just glanced at Rigo as he didn''t know such a thing. He then said:


    "Let''s go, I will handle the ship and you handle the navigation."


    "Affirmative."


    James then started the engine of this cruiser as it started to fly slowly towards the sky.


    Once they broke free from the gravity of this planet, James then added more speed towards the ship depending upon the double injection fusion system of the engine. After a few minutes, they began to get near the place of the zone.


    "Why don''t you just use the hyperjump to reach there faster?" Rigo asked with confusion.


    James was controlling the direction of the cruiser using small wheel that he gripped by both hands as he replied:


    "If you use hyperjump then we will attract unnecessary attention, I know that the ships usually reach there at normal travel speed."


    "That would take longer for ships to reach this distant place," Rigo said.


    James didn''t comment as he started to look at his destination. The special zone of the Terasoras space ship looked like a big cloud of gas and rocks that got hanged between a force field established from at least ten large cruisers.


    The scene looked majestic from far, but James was concerned about scanning for Dora''s ship. Although she boarded a normal rebel ship, there were no rebels here except for a few.


    "It seems we came to the party early," Rigo said with a laugh as there were no strange cruisers or uninvited rebel fleets out there.


    "Keep scanning the area for any rebel cruiser, we need to get in contact with that princess before everything gets messy."


    "Affirmative."


    James then continued to scan all the area around this heavily fortified zone looking for Dora''s ship. This was a tedious job as the place was crowded with cruisers from nearly everywhere in the galaxy.


    "Why are there so many cruisers coming here to this zone?" Rigo asked casually as he was searching for the princess'' cruiser.


    "I don''t know the specifics of this place, but I smell the presence of the black market here," James answered.


    "Black dealers? That means this zone is an outlaw fort," Rigo said with some interest.


    "Indeed, but this is just my hypothesis," James said.


    "I hope you are wrong," Rigo said with dejected tone that attracted James attention, who asked:


    "Why do you say that? Do you know any info about black market?"


    Black market was a secret society that James heard a lot about, but he didn''t get any reliable info anywhere even in those old records. Although many of the rogue space adventurers looked like black dealers, they didn''t openly acknowledge that.


    So he was interested in knowing more about this invisible part of the universe, especially when he was about to venture himself deeply into their business.


    "Know any info? I know a lot of info about them, actually they and I have a long history and a deep personal vendetta," Rigo said with strange hatred that James even felt in his words. James looked in question towards Rigo, who added:


    "My dear beloved empire was destroyed under their dirty hands and nasty tricks."


    James didn''t believe Rigo''s claims as he said with doubt:


    "That''s impossible, the Rojedia Empire was one of the strongest in its time, how can some outlaws break it down?"


    Rigo kept looking with a melancholic looks towards the far distant zone as he muttered:


    "You are making the same mistake we did back then."


    "What mistake?" James asked.


    "Underestimating them," Rigo then looked towards James as it added seriously, "You mustn''t underestimate the power of the black dealers, or else you will lose your life without knowing how."


    James didn''t take the words of Rigo to the heart; after all he felt the shock of losing the Rojedia Empire must have left a deep wound inside it. James kept scanning the area in silence as well as Rigo, who continued to have a dejected look.


    The trade zone of the Terasoras space ship had really hot traffic all the time. During the next hour of their observation, they spotted over ten thousands cruisers entering and exiting the zone.


    Although this number was really huge, they moved smoothly to and fro the zone, and that was due to the unique entrance system of this zone.


    To enter there, you will first be allowed to enter the outer gaseous sphere without any restraints where you will be scanned by advanced technology, if you didn''t have the entrance code then you would be shot immediately.


    The gaseous sphere was very huge, as it could accommodate hundreds of thousands of these small cruisers.


    The trick here was related to the technology used for the scanning process, which James understood perfectly from Eli. There was no technology whatsoever, but some strange space monsters that were found and raised in this spot of the universe.


    That was why the Terasoras space ship selected this place to be its base of activities, and that was the reason why it didn''t even move for centuries.


    These monsters, or foggy ghosts like Eli called them, had the ability to distinguish between the merchants who came to do business here and those trouble makers who came to cause riots.


    The trick to enter wasn''t about giving them a code, but to have clear control over your emotions and bury your intentions deeply inside you. James had no ability to do so, but he had the best counter to this, which was his droids.


    Although they had a shred of a soul, they could perfectly control their emotions. As for James, he would use the trick Eli had taught to him before¡­ he would take a sleeping drug to lose consciousness until the cruiser passed from that gaseous sphere.


    "I can''t find this silly princess anywhere, and according to Immortal''s words, the rebels and the empire fleet would arrive soon here. We need to either advance or withdraw so we don''t get into the crossfire between the two fleets by mistake," Rigo said after the passage of another half an hour.


    James was feeling the same way, but he didn''t want to withdraw as he was sure the Terasoras space ship wouldn''t stand by silently towards this conflict at its doorstep. The area would be locked down and he and his small fleet would lose the chance to enter again.


    Advancing towards the zone wasn''t a good solution in itself, as the time taken to enter and exit the zone would make him waste a huge time, which would put many variables like the withdrawal of the rebels, or the occurrence of any accident to Dora''s ship.


    James didn''t know how to choose, while Rigo interrupted his indecisive thoughts by saying:


    "I detect tiny ripples that are caused by the usage of the hyperjump technology. There are two big fleets approaching here at rapid speed, they will need 10 minutes to reach here. What are your orders, supreme leader?"


    "They are finally coming," James muttered to himself before looking towards Rigo as he ordered, "Make the fleet move and enter the gaseous sphere after us. Don''t make them pass through it fast, I need them to station themselves there."


    Rigo watched James leaving the chair as he went towards a corner where he took out a small metallic box while asking:


    "What are you doing, sir?"


    "I will inject myself with a sleeping drug, here take this shot, it''s the antidote of that sleeping drug. Use it on me once we pass safely from that gaseous sphere. Let one cruiser outside to monitor the situation, and make them look for that silly princess cruiser if possible."


    James then laid flat on the ground as he raised his sleeves and was ready to use the shot. He noticed the strange looks of Rigo, so he ordered with haste:


    "Do what I just ordered now, there is no time for you to daydream like this."


    He then injected the microfiber automatic syringe into his arm while the drug was injected directly into his veins. In matter of moments, he lost his consciousness and entered a state of deep sleep. Rigo just watched all of this silently then he muttered:


    "Crazy, we have got ourselves a crazy supreme leader!"

 Chapter 28: Alex

    In a world built of fog, dust, and clouds of gas, numerous large rocks were floating like small islands there. They were moving slowly, but with rhythm, a rhythm that was set by those who ruled this place, faint brown semi-transparent creatures.


    On these islands, groups of humans were kept there, as they strived to live by planting a certain type of seeds that grew to form long strips of weed-like plants. These seeds were the only resources available there, besides a single well that got fresh clean water in this barren lands.


    On one of those islands, a man and his wife stood inside a small cave, which acted as their home. The couple was looking at a youngster, not exceeding 17 years old, who was sleeping like a baby on the ground motionless.


    "Are you sure of this?" The wife asked with great concern while holding her husband''s arm. The couple was already old, old enough to know the truth of this cursed world they were living in, old enough to make decisions, even if they were risky and full of variables.


    "We have no other choice, Lamera. Our boy has been cursed by those nasty creatures, and I''m sure they will come to get him soon."


    The wife moved without hesitation to stand between her husband and her son as tears flew over her cheeks while begging:


    "Please don''t do this to him, we can hide him anywhere, anywhere except the abyss."


    The husband sighed in pain as he said:


    "Do you think it''s easy for me to throw my own and only son to that abyss? At least he will have a chance to live away from here."


    The wife interrupted him with a painful scream:


    "No one has ever survived that abyss¡­ No one!"


    The man sighed as he tried to convince his wife:


    "Listen to me, we didn''t go out to know for sure if those who went to the abyss survived or not, but at least there is a chance for him to survive."


    The wife didn''t speak as she glared with anger towards her husband who added:


    "Ok, it''s a slim chance, but it''s still a chance. If we let him stay here any longer, he will die for sure."


    The wife pointed her finger threatening him:


    "Don''t you dare touch my son¡­ I warn you."


    The husband looked conflicted as he tried to convince her by saying:


    "Lamera, c''mon, you know I''m telling the truth."


    The wife obviated looking at her husband as she said:


    "I don''t care about what you say or believe, I won''t throw my own son to the abyss no matter what."


    The husband stood in his place motionless without knowing what to do with his wife, while the wife didn''t budge an inch away from her son. She wasn''t denying what her husband said, but her heart couldn''t take even the idea of doing this to her own child.


    Just as the situation between the two was in this weird state, a huge screams came from far, followed by the loud shout:


    "The purge, the purge is happening."


    This shout had ended the hesitation inside the husband, as he looked with determination towards his wife, who also looked towards him in the same way.


    The purge was the known word for everyone here, as it was the sign of the beginning of a huge slaughter. Humans were raised here to act like live stocks for those creepy merciless monsters that swam around their islands all the time.


    Legends said all humans here came from a paradise like world from outside, a world free of monsters, fear, or purge. Other legends said that gods had forsaken man, and an apocalypse happened leaving only a handful of humans scattered in this hell.


    Tom knew both were right, especially when he and his wife, Lamera, had dreams that felt real from their young ages. Both carried the bloodline of nobility, or that what they decided to call it.


    Their son was special, very special as he had both bloodlines mixed in his body, so when he had this strange accident and lost his consciousness all of a sudden, Tom and Lamera knew something awful was going to happen.


    Both guessed the dark fate coming to reap their son''s life, but each acted differently in this critical moment, and no one of them knew who was right and who was wrong.


    "Don''t you da¡­"


    Just as she was trying to stall for time, he moved rapidly like lightning and punched her strongly on the back of her neck. She looked at him with wide eyes and a scary face, while both hands tried to bite on his body with no avail.


    Her body slipped despite all the effort she did to land on the ground motionless like her son. The husband looked at her for a moment before sighing, he didn''t want things to reach this far, but if he didn''t move fast he would lose his son.


    Without delay he carried his son and ran outside the cave. This cave was just beside the ridge of the small rocky island everyone was living at, and this abyss was everything else around them away from the island.


    Just as he reached there, he threw his son like throwing a forsaken sack to fall into the nearby fog and clouds of gas.


    The man looked for so long towards the spot he threw his son at, so long till his wife came from behind him weeping and wailing, today she lost her son, today she lost her soul. The husband took her into his arms as he muttered:


    "Let your fortune be better than us, Alex."

 Chapter 29: Meeting The Rebels Fleet at Last

    James elft a stinging pain in his neck that drove him awake from his deep sleep and peaceful dreams. His body jolted awake as he stood up upright in a sharp move looking with hatred around him.


    It took him sometime to realize where he was and what just happened. Rigo, who held a medical fiber syringe, stood beside him waiting for the side effects of the forced sleep drug to go away.


    "How long did I sleep? I feel like I slept for centuries already," James said while he was sensing the place of the syringe in his neck, he still felt an irritating sting in it.


    "Only ten minutes, sir."


    James looked in doubt towards Rigo, who went away to put this syringe into the dump zone. Just as James was lost in his thoughts, his eyes saw something strange, a youngster was lying beside Eli like a sleepy baby.


    "Who the hell is that? Where did he come from? How did he come here on board the ship?" James threw all these questions on Rigo''s face while pointing out towards the youngster.


    "I don''t know, he just appeared strangely in the commanding deck, '''' Rigo answered as he went back to his seat.


    "He just appeared here? how is this even possible?"


    Rigo pressed some buttons before replying to James, who followed him and sat on his seat while his eyes were looking towards this strange youngster:


    "There is an old tech in our empire that could move people between far places."


    "Are you saying he was sent by one of your tech?" James asked in doubt and disbelief, as this was the first time he heard about the existence of such ability, ability that seemed more magical to be true.


    "I don''t know, I searched him and didn''t find anything with him at all. When he woke up, we could ask him."


    James didn''t let this matter down as he asked:


    "Have you checked his state? I mean if there is a way to make him wake up now we should use it. I hate dealing with unknown people, they always bring disaster with them."


    "The medical examination that I ran with the help of the system in this cruiser diagnosed his status as in deep coma, a status similar to miss Eli''s condition," Rigo replied while he drove the cruiser passing through some clouds of bluish gas.


    "Are you saying he had the same condition as Eli? And since when has my cruiser can run medical diagnostics?"


    "He is in the same coma condition as miss Eli, which is weird in my opinion. The system in this ship is miraculous, it can do many things, but your small cruiser is holding him back."


    James kept looking towards this youngster as he snorted, he didn''t believe he had gotten himself a new one to rescue. He looked towards the front where the scene changed drastically.


    "We have arrived inside the zone safely, thanks for complimenting my ship, I really appreciate reminding me of its potential."


    Rigo didn''t get the sarcastic tone in James'' words. As the cruiser appeared in the faint green sky, James noticed the presence of a large number of cruisers coming in or leaving this zone. Everything seemed somehow chaotic, yet it was following a hidden system.


    "Run a full scan of this zone, we need to locate the place of those kids fast."


    "affirmative."


    Rigo then started to use the scanners in the small cruiser to scan every inch at this place. The zone was formed of a flat piece of land that stretched for millions of miles like a huge island.


    James didn''t know how this place was formed or what kept this land there without falling apart, but he had all the info he needed about this land from Eli''s description. He waited patiently for Rigo to end his scan, as he needed to figure out where exactly they were right now.


    "There is something here in this place that''s jamming our scan," Rigo said.


    "Do you know at least where we are?"


    Rigo pressed some buttons as a hologramic view of the whole zone appeared, it then pointed towards a place that began to flash with red light as he said:


    "We are here right now."


    Jamed observed the map again, then he said after a couple of minutes:


    "So we are basically in the outer borders of this zone. We need to cross a huge distance buddie."


    James then looked towards the front to feel stupid, as in front of him appeared a large fleet of fighters. They were much smaller than his cruiser, but he knew he couldn''t underestimate these nasty little things. Their ability to do rapid maneuvers were unparalleled in the whole galaxy.


    "We have company," Rigo said.


    "I noticed, can you try to reach them out and understand why they are blocking our way?"


    Just as rigo was about to turn the transmission on and send this message to them, he found a message sent from these fighters.


    "They sent us a message first," Rigo said.


    "Decent folks, let''s hear what they wanted to say."


    Rigo activated the message to be heard loudly in the commanding deck. A strange language appeared which James didn''t understand.


    "Use the automatic translator in the system and play it back."


    "Affirmative."


    In a few moments, the message was broadcasted with human language that James could understand easily.


    "This leader Rot, the leader of the rebels fighters. This zone is now closed under our jurisdiction, no cruiser is allowed to enter or leave here without our permission.


    Violate this lock down and we won''t hesitate to shoot you down. Please cooperate and don''t be foolish. All cruisers have to follow us towards a place where you will all land and stay there safely until everything is over. I repeat, don''t test our patience and be wise."


    Jamed looked in disbelief towards Rigo as he asked:


    "How the hell did they enter here?"


    Rigo replied simply:


    "It seems you aren''t the only one who had a back door into this zone."


    It hit him to make James realise his mistake. He was foolish to think Dora would take the same route as him. She must have found a secret way to enter here, and it seemed she did so long time ago.


    "We are delayed, way delayed, than I expected," James said while gritting his teeth out of anger. He didn''t only lose valuable time, he also missed the chance to meet Dora, and now he didn''t know where she was.


    His eyes got stuck over these small fighters as he decided to take the risk. He pressed the transmission button as he said loud and clear:


    "Hi, this is James, princess Dora''s friend. Can you please deliver the news of my arrival to her? Tell her I must see her immediately, as the secret mission she sent me for had gone south and now there is a huge threat approaching us."


    James released the button to let the message pass through. He waited for long seconds while Rigo next to him muttered:


    "As if your words will be heard by them."


    Just as Rigo finished his cold words, another message arrived at the cruiser. James pressed the button to play it rapidly as the previous voice of leader Rot appeared saying:


    "Can you please identify yourself formally? Tell your code, the mission codename, and state the brief details of the intel you have."


    Rigo looked at James who went silent for a moment as he knew if he did wrong, these fighters wouldn''t hesitate to shoot him down. After some thinking, he found a suitable answer as he rushed to record it and send it to that leader.


    "My code is the guardian of Phoenix, the mission codename is Edwardo, and the brief detail of my intel is the approach of the Rontag Empire fleet from here."

 Chapter 30: The First Space Battle for James

    "Ok, wait here for a second until we confirm with the princess."


    James leaned back on his seat as he waited patiently for the princess'' reply. He tried to use some meaningful words that would attract her attention immediately, hoping that it would succeed, and it did.


    "The guardian of phoenix, you are cleared to pass. The princess sent an urgent message telling you to move to the coordinates we will send you now."


    "Thanks leader Rot."


    James glanced briefly towards Rigo who remained silent for a moment before saying:


    "The coordinates received, based on this and the map we have, this princess is five minutes away from us."


    James took a deep breath trying to calm down his anxiety before saying:


    "Let''s move there now, we have to figure out a way to convince her with our mission. Do you have a record of that transmission we have seen?"


    "Well, we do have the transmission but it will take sometime to search for it," Rigo said after a moment of pause. James looked at it with question eyes, so he added:


    "It''s your cruiser supreme leader."


    "Its system is way above its level, so stop belittling my ship," James said, stressing on every word he said.


    "I know the system is terrific, but the ship is a wrack of garbage. Sorry supreme leader but this is a fact, this ship holds the system capabilities back so it can''t use some basic skills like data search."


    James returned to look at the world ahead of them as he muttered:


    "It''s my ship''s fault again¡­ anyway, we have this recording and that is what it matters. I hope this princess isn''t like the rumors say."


    "What rumors?" Rigo asked with curiosity while looking towards James, who replied:


    "She is called the bloody princess of the rebels for a reason, right?"


    Rigo kept his silence throughout the rest of the trip. As they passed over this world, they noticed the chaos in it.


    The appearance of the rebels here wasn''t unique, as there was another force that was fighting with them, the force of the garrison of this world. the deeper they advanced, the more battles they saw, which made James surprised to see the size of this garrison.


    He thought it would take some time for the famous brutal armies of Terasoras space ship to arrive here and cause some troubles for the rebel forces, but he was mistaken. The rebels were already having it hard here dealing with this garrison.


    "Do you want us to support those rebels?"


    James pointed out towards the far front, where they were supposed to meet with Dora. There, a huge air battle was commencing between small space cruisers and space fighters, while a higher ground battle was going heartedly between the two forces. James just glanced at this battle as he muttered:


    "No, let''s just be invisible for the time being."


    "That will be a problem, as this dora princess is engaged in a difficult situation up there."


    James looked towards the direction Rigo pointed to. There, he found five small cruisers supported by tens of fighters, and their situation was really critical.


    They were totally overwhelmed by the coordinated attacks from bigger numbers of space fighters, supported by the missiles launched from ground defenses.


    These missiles were like a headache for Dora''s small fleet, especially for those space fighters. James knew if he left the situation like this Dora wouldn''t lose her life but she would lose her ship in the process, which was something unacceptable for him.


    "Tell the boys to be ready with their cannons," James ordered.


    "Are we going to blast those small fighters?" Rigo said with excitement.


    "No, we are going to silence those ground defenders so the princess and her fleet can have a space to breath," James said while pressing on the transmission button. Rigo just glanced at him while relaying his orders to the rest of the droids on board.


    "This is the guardian of phoenix small cruiser, we will give you a small hand here and take out all those ground troops. You take the chance and clean the sky for us."


    Just as he was about to ask Rigo to advance, he received an immediate response by Dora herself.


    "Roger that, just don''t stray away."


    James felt strange as the voice of Dora seemed exhausted, that was different than what he thought.


    "Are the boys ready?" James asked.


    "Yes, they are," Rigo replied.


    "Let''s do this."


    The small cruiser was eye catchy in the sky, especially with the presence of one other small cruiser only amidst the hundred of space fighters engaging in a close brutal battle.


    "Activate the shields and all defenses," James ordered.


    "Shields activated and all defenses and offensive canons are ready," Rigo replied after pressing some buttons on his side. The cruiser then went directly inside this mess.


    James wasn''t suicidal, although he knew how strong his shields were in front of the fighters canons, he wouldn''t risk it, so he went on very high altitude from the beginning, stopped his cruiser midair, then changed the direction of it sharply to descend from high downwards.


    "Let them fire at will," James ordered as he steered the cruiser to fall sharply to the ground. Rigo felt doubt towards his supreme leader''s madness, but just before he could ask anything, James turned the descending course suddenly just after passing most of the battle.


    Through all this descent, he hit many space fighters which cracked open like eggs on a hard rock. His cruiser trembled frequently, sometimes faintly and others vigorously, but he managed to pass through.


    He turned the cruiser to fly straight above all the ground troops and defenses with literally high speed. The sounds of cannons fired from and at his cruiser fell the whole place, so he ordered Rigo:


    "Perform all-time diagnostics and run urgent repairs at any damaged places."


    "Affirmative."


    James led the cruiser in a risky way, but this was his first real battle ever. He read about countless battles and went through many strategies, old and new, to have really wide immature experience. All he lacked was to pass through real battles to solidify this experience and get it mature.

 Chapter 31: Dancing Descent Maneuver

    James moved with his cruiser with moderate speed, but that was way faster than what he wanted. The fast movement of his cruiser made it evade most of the attacks over it, but in return it missed many of its targets.


    James had to decrease the speed of the cruiser to the lowest possible without being an easy target for the ground troops or those nasty fighters.


    Although Dora was doing a great job over there, she had limited numbers of fighters, so she couldn''t manage to block them all. Without the help of the shield, the cruiser would have been shot down long ago.


    "Make the boys concentrate some fire over these fighters," James ordered while he was turning the cruiser for the third round.


    "They are pretty fast and they are hitting us from the sides, we don''t have enough cannons on the sides to block them," Rigo said.


    James knew Rigo was right about this point, as those fighters had already spotted the places of his cannons and began to adapt.


    "The longer this fight takes, the more time we lose. Tell the boys I will give them a clear shot, so they have to be ready to kill as many fighters as possible."


    Rig didn''t have a chance to ask for more details as James directed the cruiser with faster speed towards the sky. He was planning to repeat his previous tactic with some small modifications this time.


    "Are you going to do that crazy thing, sir?" Rigo asked with an anxious tone.


    "Yes, and I will be far crazier this time. Have you heard the dancing descent trick before?" James said.


    "Oh boy!" Rigo just said that while the cruiser had reached a higher altitude than before. James had a crazy smile over his face as he said:


    "As you know it, you know what you have to tell the boys then. Do it now, here we go," James said as he laughed hysterically from excitement. The dancing descent move was an old tactic used by big cruisers like his when dealing with smaller enemies like these fighters.


    Although it was a very successful tactic, the risk coming with it was very high as many cruisers were destroyed trying to pull this trick. James was crazy to try this out right here, regarding his shallow practical experience, but he had no other solution to deal with these nasty fighters.


    If he had his fleet with him, he could have destroyed the fighters in minutes, but he didn''t want to withdraw the fleet now from the outer zone, as it seemed that Immortal had planned deeper than what he revealed back at the planet.


    "Princess, let your fleet slightly away from my ship firing range please."


    James sent this short message just before he started to move his ship to the ground. Just as the cruiser was descending fast he started to move the handle to roll the cruiser around itself.


    Supported by the momentum of its descent, the cruiser added more speed to its rotation that it should be, which was one of the strengths of this move as when the cannons kept firing like now, the cruiser turned itself into a movable killing machine that showed no mercy to ally or foe.


    "Release the scanners, notify me when we are 200 meters from the ground," James said as he held the handle with both hands trying to control its growing resistance.


    The engines of the cruisers weren''t designed to supply this high force to it, and the cruiser body wasn''t meant to withstand such pressure on it. That trick put more pressure over the shields, which were relieved of most of the cannons attacking the cruiser, as the speed of its descent and rotation were really superb.


    "1500 meters to the ground," Rigo said with a slightly trembling voice.


    "Just notify me when we reach 200 meters, and notify the engine room, when I say it they must kill all the engines without exception or we all are going to die," James shouted with seriousness.


    James read before an old record regarding the steps of this tactic, which was written by an old forgotten empire that claimed the right of inventing it.


    In that record, there was a description of a slight step when done perfectly, any space ship could do this maneuver without getting hurt. James intended to use it now, but he needed his crew to coordinate with his orders perfectly in time, or else everything would be lost.


    The cruiser turned into a death reaper, as its firing cannons kept shooting without pause, killing a lot of enemies and very few unlucky allies who couldn''t run in time away from the range of this death machine.


    Descending more than one kilometers with this momentum and strange move was very tedious on the cruiser and James, and it didn''t take long before it reached the desired altitude James was waiting for.


    "200 meters reached, sir."


    James then did something crazier as he closed his eyes. He did this on a hunch, as he tried to feel the moves of the cruiser, the speed of descent, its momentum and direction.


    "Kill the engines, now," James said calmly without a speck of worry or anxiety. He was in a strange calm world, so calm that made his stretched nerves get relaxed.


    James didn''t lose his mind, or focus as he changed the direction of the cruiser using the main wheel where he used a certain angle to glide the ship like a flat rock thrown on a lake surface. This was unbelievable, as all who saw this move were sure of the crushin end of this cruiser.


    "Punch the engines with full power, all engines at the same time."


    James ordered this with his calm and closed eyes, while the cruiser was tilted to one side with its front directing to the ground. Just as Rigo relayed the message, James did something unexpected at all, he used the control unit triggering many back cannons to launch towards the ground.


    These cannons created a recoil effect over the cruiser, where its back became higher and higher, while its front became lower and lower.


    "It''s going to crash, we are going to die," Rigo said with certainty when he saw the general position of the cruiser through its scanners.


    "No we won''t."


    This time James punched the cannons again with the release of the back shields that made the back of the cruiser lighter. This second wave of shot aided by the removal of shields had pushed the cruiser over the edge of crashing, as it became vertically inverted in place with its front downward a few meters only away from the ground.


    The momentum caused by the cannons didn''t stop there, as it continued to push the back of the cruiser far towards the front, this time it made it go directly and heavily to the ground in a motion that made the front of it get elevated for tens of meters in response.


    At these specific moments the engines returned to their vitality, and started to roar using all their power to push the cruiser back to safety and move it with great difficulty towards the sky.


    "Wow, yeah, we did it, you did it, you crazy lunatic, you did it," Rigo said with screams of excitement after escaping the death jaws.

 Chapter 32: Islinda

    On a very advanced civilization that thrived for endless years, a huge city was built floating on the air with the help of advanced technology. A city was known in this civilization as the heart, as it was the first place where their ancestors lived, grouped together, and started their unyielding conquer to the universe.


    Although after all these years this civilization didn''t manage to achieve the ancestors goal, which was to dominate the whole universe without an equal, it managed to establish its reign over a huge territory that included many systems in this universe, to become the mighty Rodan empire.


    The heart city wasn''t located exactly in the heart of this planet at the beginning, but now it was floating endlessly roaming this planet, where everyone else was bowing their heads down below at the ground everywhere it went.


    Inside this city, the highest and most esteemed and holy place here was the main palace, the sky palace, where the ancestors swore their old famous oath, the Rodan''s oath, to never stop before ruling over every galaxy in the universe.


    This palace was a wonder of its own, designed by the famous architect, Mokhader, millions of years ago. Its main tower, which extended to an altitude to break the atmosphere and reach outer space, was an icon of this city and the whole civilization, so it was named after the empire that was established many years after building this palace, the Rodan tower.


    On any day, this city was bustling with activities, while the main palace was always calm and empty, but not today.


    In contrast to the usual habits here, In this particular day the whole palace was bustling with many people who traveled from far and near to attend this important ceremony, the birth of a new ruler that would take command of their space ship instead of their late wise ruler who just died a week ago.


    Anyone here wasn''t a nobody, as they were either legion commanders of mighty armies or famous leaders in many worlds under the Rodan empire. today they all came to declare their allegiance to the new ruler, and witness the moment of his ascension to their throne.


    Servants were ready for this particular day, as they had one week to prepare, so they guided all the guests in a tour around the palace and served them well, the guests went everywhere except for the Rodan tower, which was the main residency of the royal family.


    Rodan tower was a restricted area that no one except for the royal family to step on, except for this day, as they could witness the marvel of this legendary tower, as the ascension ceremony would be held at the highest place in it, the Rodan tower crown.


    "This way, ladies and gentlemen, the Rodan tower is opened."


    These voices, accompanied by a loud, yet well played, music appeared everywhere in the vicinity of the palace. The guests didn''t hesitate to follow the servants lead as they were guided towards the tower.


    The tower was very huge and complex from the inside, and even in this day no one was allowed to wander aimlessly there, so everyone just followed the servants towards the main hall.


    There were many advanced elevators that could accommodate thousands, or even tens of thousands in one ride.


    The guests moved following the servants guidance to board those elevators, which were added in later generations than the original architect age, and went immediately in nearly no time towards the crown zone.


    This way was very efficient in keeping the interior design of the tower secret, even when hundreds of thousands or even millions of people attended the throne ascension ceremony like today.


    Up there, the crown was formed like a huge crystal ball, where anyone inside could look anywhere and see the deep space, supported by advanced magnifying technology which made the view from up there very fascinating, and worthy of being called legendary.


    It didn''t take long for millions of people who came to the ceremony to reach the crown zone, which was modified by the latest space technology to be like a whole new planet.


    Everyone stood there amidst a very primitive scene, where mountains appeared everywhere on the horizon, and rich grassy lands stretched endlessly under their feet.


    This was a simulation for the ancestral world where the Rodan''s ancestors lived, and it was the holy lands of all Rodan empire citizens.


    "Welcome to all of you at our Holy lands, the ancestral lands. It''s my honor today to lead everyone here in the ascension ceremony. Let the rituals begin."


    This soft, yet audible clearly, voice came from the sky to attract everyone''s attention. Suddenly, a majestic looking mountain made out of gold, and precious ores from every corner of the empire appeared descending marvelously from the clouds.


    It appeared like its presence there was overwhelmingly more beautiful than anything else, even the deep space scenes beyond the faint cyan sky.


    "Behold the holy mountain, the ancestral holy grave where every king ruled Rodan empire was buried there since the ancient times. It''s the holy mountain in the heart of the holy lands, and it''s where our king will ascend to the top.


    Every new king must ascend alone there, to receive the blessing from our previous long chain of mighty kings, to be blessed with their wisdom, knowledge, and advises. Behold the holy mountain, as you never will see it again in your lifetime."


    This time, the mountain was closer to the ground, so everyone down there managed to spot the one who was speaking.


    He was an old man with a hunched back, standing on the outer perimeter of the mountain, wearing a long majestic cloak that was made of precious silk with many rarely seen or heard ornaments. The man stood in his place motionless holding a long thick stick that even exceeded his height.


    "Salute our late king daughter, the next king of our empire, The crown princess Islinda."


    A 15 years old female with long stature and a stunning body appeared wearing a breath holding armor. She stood on the side of the mountain, looking towards all those who came to see her ascension ceremony and her heart had no speck of joy or excitement.


    She just buried her beloved father that she didn''t live much with to rest forever beside her mother whom she never met in her life. She was raised from her youngest age to become a mighty king, as in this empire there was no place for queens except beside the throne of the kings.


    Her father planned for her to be a king, and her future husband who his father had recommended to her would turn to be her queen. She looked with steady eyes and straight face to everyone, hiding her inner conflicted, soul tearing emotions deep perfectly from anyone''s keen eyes.


    She was raised well on the hands of the finest, learnt the craft of a ruler, and trained to be a mighty warrior. She was prepared her entire life for this moment, which came early, very early than what she had expected.


    Although prepared yet not ready, that was her state of mind and soul right now.

 Chapter 33: The Throne Ascension Ceremony

    In front of Islinda, all the present knelt on the ground, including the protecting army and even her beloved uncle. Her uncle, Gronadan, was like a second father to her. Without his support and kind heart, she wouldn''t be able to stand this steady today.


    "All shall rise," She ordered with a domineering aura and confidence she faked perfectly without flaw.


    The old Shaman who was supervising this ceremony spoke again with loud voice:


    "As our rituals indicate, if there is anyone in oppression with the ascension of our crown princess to the throne, then he must step forward now or be silenced forever."


    Islinda looked towards all the present and she knew no one would step forward even if he had some issues with her being on the throne.


    Long time ago, a king was opposed by some of his old rivals as a challenger in the ascension ceremony, and after that king victory he wasn''t content with just killing his rival, so he ordered the army to go to that person''s home and set fire to everything living on that planet.


    A massacre that was long written in the annals of the Rodan empire history, although it was a big shame that many kings later spoke ill about, it was unforgettable lesson to everyone. Since that day, no one ever had the courage to go forth and challenge a new king, no matter what.


    The shaman waited for a while as the rituals indicated, then after the passage of ten minutes he declared:


    "There is no one here in opposition to your majesty, congratulations for gaining the full support of the public."


    "Long live the king."


    "Long live the king."


    "Long live the king."


    Chants echoed in the whole world with extreme excitement, an excitement that Islinda knew from the depth of her heart to be fake.


    She was still young, and technically she couldn''t hold everything now due to her young age, still the people down there appeared like fanatics who were ready to die hard for her. She sighed, as she was hoping that one day she would win their trust and heart with her deeds.


    "May my king choose a name for himself?" the shaman asked loudly to silence everyone here, while directing his question to Islinda. Choosing a name was something sacred, as no king could change it once he settled on one.


    A name was a representative of the nature of a king, benevolent kings tended to use names like the merciful, while war lovers chose names like the brutal. For her, she didn''t have time to think about her future path, so she didn''t settle on a name yet.


    Fortunately for her, as she was still young and couldn''t control everything by herself now, she could postpone this for when she reached 18 and received full authority to rule her people.


    "I choose to decide it for later," She said.


    "As your orders, your majesty. When your majesty reaches 18, you will have to decide a name by then," The shaman explained.


    "Good, let''s continue then," she ordered.


    The shaman then turned towards the present as he declared loudly:


    "Our new king will start his ascension journey, but first there is something we must do. As the age of our new king is still very young for holding the throne by himself, and by going through our old traditions, I ask the king to choose one person he knows to act as his godfather and help him in ruling the empire in his stead until he reaches the age of 18.


    This honor, which is the hardest and bitterest honor in our empire, is known by the name: the great sacrifice, as whoever holds it will lose any potential future chances to strive for the throne for his generation and two subsequent generations of his family. May your majesty declare the name of that person?"


    The great sacrifice, the noble mission, the dishonorable honor¡­ These were some of the names that were called upon that godfather person. He was sacrificing any ambition for him and his future siblings till his grandchildren.


    That wasn''t easy, as usually that godfather would be one of the closest to the new king, one of the royal family. Islinda looked towards her uncle, who nodded slowly in approval to her own silent question.


    She had long discussed this matter with him, as she was opposed to the idea of doing this, but he was encouraging her. Her uncle was an exact copy of her late father, as he was the younger twin, so she hated to see him do this dishonorable honor.


    It was dishonorable as he would be named as a king too, but without gaining the favor of the ancestors by going through the holy mountain. She sighed, as her uncle was like her late father, stubborn like a rock sometimes.


    "I choose my beloved uncle Gronadan to be my godfather," Islinda declared loudly with a sad face and dejected tone. The shaman wasn''t surprised by her choice, neither any of the presents today. It was very common for a new king to choose his uncle to be his godfather.


    "May the godfather step forward," The shaman said loudly. Gronadan stepped forward steadily with an aura of a king, he was also raised from his young days to be a king, so it was normal for him to show off this aura.


    "As you gained the honorable privilege of our new king, now I hereby declare that you will be the guardian of the empire and the tutor of our king. You will be entrusted by the empire and its affairs until the day our king reaches the age of 18.


    You won''t be able to hold the throne under any circumstances once our king ascends it, neither will your sons and their sons after them.


    You won''t be able to ascend the holy mountain, and to be announced the godfather king, you will need to choose between one of the two trials, the honorable way or the dishonorable way. Do you have any objection to that?"


    Gronadan looked with stern face towards the Shaman and the audience as he declared:


    "I have no objection to that."

 Chapter 34: The Godfather King

    As a king without ascending the holy mountain, the old ancestors decided a way to retain some honor for the godfather king, he would go out for a trial mission. Honor was everything for kings, but some kings might prefer not to have this risk especially if their health wasn''t good.


    Unlike Islinda''s late father, her uncle and her father''s twin brother were in very good health. It was well known to everyone how many illnesses that stroke her late father nearly once monthly, so it was logical for her uncle to choose the honorable way.


    "Can I have my flame of honor," Her uncle said towards the shaman without hesitation. The risk of going to a foreign trial was well known to everyone, even to Islinda, who hoped her beloved uncle wouldn''t do that step.


    She wanted to say something but her uncle glanced at her with his kind eyes which made her stop, that stubborn look she knew well as her late father always had it.


    Islinda knew how important one''s honor was here, but she missed her father very much, and now the exact copy of him was about to go out for a long time that might reach a year, and she wouldn''t be able to see her father''s face again.


    She held herself from crying and prevented her tears from flowing while she watched the shaman giving a dark orange with some faint whiteness to her uncle.


    "May the honorable ancestors be with you," The shaman said.


    "May the honorable ancestors be with you."


    "May the honorable ancestors be with you."


    "May the honorable ancestors be with you."


    The crowd down there repeated the shaman''s words fanatically, Islinda didn''t look at them as she was attracted by her uncle who said after taking a deep breath:


    "I want to say goodbye first to my new king."


    Islinda made great effort to prevent herself from crying, but she couldn''t prevent her body to tremble faintly or this single tear to drop from her eyes. The love she felt from her uncle reminded her of her father''s kind heart and love for her.


    The shaman looked towards her asking silently for advice, as this wasn''t part of the rituals. Islinda nodded her head with great difficulty, as at this moment she remembered her uncle''s two daughters near her age who were like sisters to her.


    The two of them would suffer like her from the absence of their father, so she decided to take care of them in his place till he returned safely. Gronadan walked after taking permission from the shaman with steady steps towards Islinda.


    "My little child, I will have to go away from you for a while, but I want you to be firm and strong, make your father proud," he said when he stood against her with kind, full of love eyes.


    Islinda couldn''t hold herself as he was at this moment an exact copy of her late father, so she didn''t hold herself back this time as she threw herself hugging him while crying, as she said with trembling voice:


    "I will miss you my beloved uncle, don''t worry about Reli and Fiora, I will always be with them."


    Gronadan sighed as he patted on her back while saying with soft voice:


    "I''m not worried about them, as I will take care of them myself."


    Suddenly a fire engulfed Islinda as Gronadan stepped a few steps to the back. Islinda looked in disbelief and shock towards herself, towards this fire, and towards her uncle, whose face changed strangely to become like someone else, someone vicious, hideous, and ferocious.


    "Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this?"


    The fire had no effect on Islinda, as it was the fire of the trial that her uncle should have used. It was a portal flame that could tear space and take the person somewhere else, a random far place than here.


    "Me? I''m your beloved uncle, don''t you recognize me? Ah, I see, I played the role of your supportive kind-hearted uncle for so long and I seem to play it perfectly, hahahaha."


    Islinda''s body trembled, this time not from pain or loss, but from anger, extreme hatred and anger.


    "As for why I''m doing this the answer is very simple and clear, it''s for the throne idiotic girl," this distasteful treacherous uncle said with big smile and loud laughs.


    "You will never get the throne," Islinda said with a deep tone while looking straight towards him.


    "You are mistaken, everything is set in position, I''m now acting as the godfather king, and I just used my jurisdiction to choose what you call a dishonorable way by sending you, one who lies under my authority, to the trial instead of me," he said with happy tone like a victorious conqueror who just broke into the heart of his enemy.


    "Don''t you have any honor?" she said.


    "Honor? Hahaha, no idiotic child, I''m not that stupid like you and your father. What use is this honor for? I don''t have honor, but I have ambition and a great mind to plan for that ambition for years," he said sarcastically.


    "You will never enjoy the throne, I will end the trial and come back to kill you and your entire family, I swear on my father''s grave," Islinda said ferociously.


    She was raised as untamed tiger by her late father, she wasn''t the kind to run away from trouble when facing them, she preferred to crush these troubles head on and win them.


    "You are very optimistic; do you believe I selected a random trial for you? It took me years to perfectly select one that you won''t get out of it. Go to hell and enjoy your stay there with that hateful brother of mine," this time, he spoke seriously without a shred of mockery.


    Before Islinda could say anymore, the fire burned with a sudden blaze to tear a hole in the space and push her through it.


    Once she entered there, the tear was closed spontaneously leaving a stupefied, clueless audience behind her with that snake treacherous uncle that she wanted desperately to kill.

 Chapter 35: Meeting Dora Again

    The small space cruiser just moved to the cloud levels when James turned it upside down and descended again towards the ground at high speed that freaked Rigo out.


    "Are you crazy? Are you going to do this again?"


    James waited to the moment when the cruiser was about to hit the ground and rapidly turned it straight as he ordered with amusing tone:


    "Activate the shields, all of them, do it now."


    "You are crazy, you know that?" Rigo yelled hysterically.


    "Raise the shields and then yell as much as you like," James commented without care towards Rigo''s tone. James had already succeeded in doing an old, nearly impossible maneuver that made all his body tremble out of excitement.


    "All shields are up, what do y¡­" Rigo cut his own words in disbelief, as he witnessed something that wasn''t less crazy than that descent maneuver.


    The cruiser was flying straight a few meters above the ground, and by activating its shields, the whole ground turned to be part of this cruiser.


    Now, James was moving the cruiser with a very fast speed towards any ground troops or defenses, where the shields didn''t act as they were supposed to be, a defensive tool, as they started to reap lives like any strong offensive weapon.


    Rigo looked at his crazy supreme leader without knowing what to say, James was using one old forgotten way after another, which made him wonder if this man was really young or he was sent in time from the past, the really far past.


    What Rigo didn''t know was that James had nearly memorized an entire base full of old records from many areas of the universe, and most of them were military records.


    James was a modern man with an old mind, but he wasn''t obsolete as he tried to merge what modern technology offered and what the past taught him.


    James'' new trick did a marvelous job, as the cruise was like an armored mountain that moved with unstoppable momentum clearing everything it its way. After the end of the first round, James turned the cruiser as he directed it to go back the way it came from.


    Although he managed to destroy many defenses, it wasn''t effective yet, as they were fighting the whole zone. Round after round was done repeatedly without anything there to stop the cruiser.


    James was getting used to this, as he felt he was riding a winged horse, flying with high speed, and waving his mighty broadsword to decapitate and degenerate anyone and anything that stood in his path.


    "Supreme leader, the boys back there can''t shoot the ground troops at all like this," Rigo said after a couple of rounds like these. James was immersed in doing this maneuver which he read long time ago in the old records, so he took few moments before saying:


    "Let them forget the ground troops, I will handle them all. Make them target those nasty fighters."


    "But this is supposed to be that princess job," Rigo complained.


    "Don''t argue, if I was one of these fighters, then I would have forgotten the princess for a while and focused on this life reaper cruiser. Make the boys kill those fighters or else we will be in trouble," James explained in a rush as he was trying to concentrate on what he was doing.


    Rigo understood his point, so he didn''t delay and relayed the orders to the other droids back there. In a few moments, they all left the ground cannons and used the rooftop ones, as they started to rain fire over these fighters.


    It wasn''t an easy job to shoot these fighters from the ground, especially with the high speed this cruiser was moving with, but the longer they kept firing, the more they got used to it. This battle didn''t last for over one hour when a transmission came suddenly from Dora to James.


    "Full back now, you were a great guardian of the phoenix. Follow my ship and disengage from this fight, we will handle it from here."


    James looked to the sky to find more reinforcements were coming from far. Many small fighters, which belonged to the rebels, appeared on the scanners of the cruiser.


    "It seemed the rebels weren''t just standing by after all," Rigo commented sarcastically. James looked at him without saying a word, as he was part of the empire once and he knew exactly how limited the resources of the rebels were.


    It was great for them to bring all these fighters here in this small time, which reminded James of the hideous scheme of the Immortal. That man was like a snake, when it decided to bite you then you realize you would die, no matter how hard you tried to fight it back.


    "Let''s follow her ship, you take over the wheel while I will go and check over those two," James ordered as he left his seat slowly and steadily.


    Rigo did exactly what James expected, as it raised the cruiser suddenly to hover in the sky. James steadied himself firmly as he reached the place where he kept Eli and that unknown guy sleeping on the ground.


    James didn''t intend to check them, as he was feeling some drowsiness after all the stress he just experienced. He executed two old maneuvers perfectly, and this was his first battle ever, so it was normal for his mind to feel this exhausted.


    James leaned his body over the only seat there, where Eli loved to use. He recalled her weird knowledge of navigation, which was strangely similar to his knowledge with warfare. He just closed his eyes for a minute before he heard Rigo saying out loud:


    "The princess has stopped her ship, and now I will stop ours just in front of her. Do you want me to come with you, supreme leader?"


    James opened his eyes and squeezed them with the palms of his hand while saying while yawning:


    "No, stay here and be ready for any battle."


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied.


    James felt the cruiser to land on the ground, as the bottom three landing legs supported the cruiser from a rough landing. James then moved back towards the big hall as he opened the hatch and descended to the ground.


    In front of him, he found Dora standing there waiting calmly for him. Once she saw him, she froze as she recognized him. James walked slowly towards her, as the warm wind blew his face and threw his hair all over his shoulders and face.


    Dora''s eyes were fixated over him, like a tiger eyes its prey, which made James slightly uncomfortable, but what was annoying to him wasn''t her looks, but the hot winds that made him feel more exhausted.


    "I didn''t think this mysterious guardian of the phoenix to actually turn out to be you," Dora said this while shaking her head with a soft sigh as if she was denying what she was seeing in front of her.


    "Why? Am I that ugly? I thou¡­" Just as he was about to complete his sentence, a sudden blow of extremely hot wind came to force him to stop. He wasn''t alone affected by this strange wind, but Dora as well.


    "What the hell is wrong with this wind? I feel like I''m in him¡­" James was just shouting loudly from anger when something fell heavily over his stretched arms to make him stop, and even take his body to fall violently on the ground.


    The hit was strong, but that wasn''t what worried James, as the thing that fell onto him was already blazing with strange deep orange fire. James rolled away from this fire for a couple of meters before he stood straight facing this bizarre scene.


    That wasn''t a ruined object from the ongoing battles everywhere as he suspected, that was a human engulfed totally with this weird fire that didn''t even touch that girl''s clothes. James looked deeply towards that girl to feel weirder, as he muttered in a low voice:


    "Another comatose person, great, that''s just great. My ship has turned into a mobile hospital for any comatose homeless, nameless person¡­ that''s just perfect."

 Chapter 36: Convincing Dora to Board The Cruiser

    James'' words attracted Dora''s attention, who was very surprised by the appearance of this girl with this strange fire. She got neared her as she observed the fire that kept raging around the poor sleepy girl as she muttered:


    "This fire resembles the fire of a ritual, she has either been punished or rewarded."


    "Or forsaken, banned, or escaped. I don''t know where these people come from," James muttered in nervousness.


    "Do you say you have more like her with this fire in your ship?" Dora asked with great curiosity.


    "Yes, No, no not the fire, I mean I have people who are in deep coma inside my ship," James said as he got the courage to stand near this girl with her fire. Dora looked at him while saying:


    "Interesting, the first time I met you, you were escaping, and now you are rescuing, I wonder what you will do next time we meet."


    James looked at her as he snorted, then he pointed to this girl as he said:


    "I will take her on my ship."


    "Why? Didn''t you say you have many like her? Let me have piece of the cake, I will take her into my ship," Dora said in a challenging authoritative tone, but that didn''t shake James who sent the order to Rigo inside his cruiser:


    "Move her now into my ship."


    Just as Dora was about to fight on this girl, the girl was engulfed by strange silver blue light then she vanished the same way she appeared here. Dora looked in disbelief towards James, who wasn''t feeling any less than her at this moment, but he knew that must be Rigo''s doing, and that meant it was his doing.


    So, he stood straight with pride faking his enjoyment with Dora'' reaction, which turned into a real feeling, as it wasn''t easy to impress this bloodthirsty princess.


    "Don''t stand as an idiot like that, I noticed your first reaction, you didn''t think she would disappear like this, so tell me what happened?"


    James felt what was like a hot slap over his face to make him return to reality, it was really hard to impress such a cold hearted princess. James took a deep breath as he decided to ignore more speaking about this as he said:


    "What''s really important right now is to talk about the reason I''m here for."


    Dora wasn''t taking James seriously, as she said with no interest at all:


    "Ah, I recalled your previous mysterious message, tell me from where did you know Edwardo?"


    "I didn''t," James replied spontaneously while he pointed to his cruiser as he added, "I have a very interesting recording in my ship, do you want to come on board and see it?"


    Dora looked at his in doubt before laughing over his words as she said in mockery:


    "Honestly this is the worst try I ever faced for someone attempting to get near me, I''m not that nice girl when I become alone with a man, so reconsider your offer very carefully, and stop wasting my damn time and get off my face now."


    The last part she said with a threatening tone, but it was strangely calm as she wasn''t really caring about James'' words or message at all. James expected that, so he decided to use his strongest convincing card in his deck.


    "You didn''t kill Charles."


    Dora''s face suddenly changed abruptly as James continued:


    "Aren''t you curious to know why he didn''t die?"


    "I''m more curious about how you know he isn''t dead," Dora replied with a tone that held no humor like before while looking straight into his eyes. James didn''t fret as he knew he won her interest at last, so he said calmly:


    "If you want to know the answer, then you should follow me into my cruiser."


    "Didn''t your mammy warned you about following strangers into secluded places? Go home kid, I don''t have time to play with you," Dora said as she acted against James expectations, as she turned to move away towards her cruiser. James didn''t let her move single step before whispering:


    "Charles is the Immortal you seek."


    Just as he said that name, he noticed the whole body of Dora trembled like it was hit by lightning.


    Before he could open his mouth to say anything, Dora jumped over him like a cheetah to knock him down and fix his body with her legs while pointing her gun towards his head as she said with a very deep hatred:


    "What did you just say?"


    James felt real danger coming from this fiery girl, so he rushed to say:


    "I have a recording in my ship, just enter the damn cruiser and see it by yourself."


    She didn''t move an inch for a moment before she stood straight away from his body, but she still pointed out her gun towards his head. James sighed as he moved from the ground and turned to his cruiser as he said:


    "I won''t offer you again, you either comply and live or refuse and die under the hands of your enemy."


    Dora watched him heading back to his ship for a couple of seconds before she made up her mind to follow him. she raised her left wrist to be near her mouth as she activated remote connection with her team here.


    "Stay sharp, and be ready to attack at any minute."


    "Roger that."


    This reply came from the senior officer in her team, who was Anna, one of those who witnessed the death of Charles from before. Dora then moved following James, but she didn''t put her gun away, she wasn''t yet able to trust him, or to be more clear, she wasn''t able to believe him.


    The words of James were just like tiny little annoying needles that escaped her notice and now they turned into gigantic spears that were trying to take her life away, that was in condition he wasn''t lying, and she hoped he was.


    "Welcome on my ship," James said as he sensed her following him into the heart of the cruiser.


    "Let''s skip the formalities, shall y¡­ what the hell is that?!!"

 Chapter 37: The Current Crisis of Dora and James

    Dora''s scream was sudden as it nearly freaked James out and made him turn around with the intention of entering a fight, but all what he found was one of his drones was just passing by.


    He looked towards the stupefied Dora and realised what the problem was, the appearance of the long lost drones here was a surprise for her. James knew that would be the normal reaction of anyone living in the current era if he or she laid eyes on his drones.


    That made him think of an idea, an idea of how to disguise them to look completely normal and not attract any undesired attention.


    "Don''t worry, they are working for me," he tried to soothe the awkward situation for her.


    "Working for you? Are these drones? They have long disappeared from the universe after their purge and rebellion," She said after getting hold of her emotions and shock.


    She was looking strangely towards the one who was trying to fix an error regarding one of the cannons, as some of the cannons got damaged either from the pressure of using them without any supporting systems, or those who weren''t fixed properly and got dislocated after James'' crazy maneuvers.


    "You know, you are quite interesting, you used the descent maneuver back there, right?" she pointed to him with her index as she said in a praise.


    "well, it''s called the dancing descent maneuver, and thanks for your words, shall we go to the commanding deck now to show you what you came here for?"


    James then led the way, but Dora didn''t let the topic down as she continued:


    "You use an old forsaked nearly impossible to achieve battle skill, and you are armed with drones, those fascinating deadly tools that have long been lost from our universe. Tell me, are you a time traveler? Someone who came from the past to change the future?" Dora''s tone was full of interest and amusement, which made James look sharply to her as he said with denial:


    "No, of course not, I''m today''s era boy."


    ''An interesting boy,'' Dora muttered to herself while she followed him towards the commanding deck. The cruiser was like any small cruiser she had seen, so she wasn''t feeling any strange being in the commanding deck, but she felt strange from what she found there.


    "You didn''t lie when you said your ship has become a hospital, oh boy, isn''t she one of those light seekers?"


    Dora was observing the three sleeping like babies who were positioned next to each other on the floor of the commanding deck. The deck was wide enough to contain them, but there was no place suitable to put them there, or anywhere else.


    "Yes, I hope they just wake up someday," James said while he went towards Rigo as he said:


    "Rigo, prepare the recording and play it."


    Dora just glanced at that droid who was sitting over the front seat, then she looked away towards the three in front of her as she was much interested in them.


    "Do you know what happened to them?" she asked.


    "I know what happened to one of them, the other two just pumped into me, but I guess they are the same," James replied as he walked to stand beside Dora watching Eli, Alex, and Islinda.


    "What happened to them then?" she asked with curiosity.


    "You will know soon, but long story short, your beloved friend the Immortal is the one behind all of this," James replied as he turned to point towards the center of the deck, "The recording will be played now, and you will understand everything from it."


    Dora''a attention moved towards the hologram which began to take shape rapidly revealing a screen, and her picture was there on it.


    "It''s just a few minutes Edwardo, why do you seem this nervous?


    .


    .


    .


    Even if this silly kid found it, she will destroy it. Stupid foolish ignorant guardian, destroying this creation of mine won''t stop the process, instead it will fasten it. The only possible way to cure anyone infected by this device is to make the device work in the healing mode.


    Anything other than this is futile, even if some of these filthy seeds escaped, they will die eventually, gagagagaga."


    Once the recording finished playing, James noticed how palor Dora became after watching it. He understood how gravity the shock she felt right now, but he also knew how tight their time was, so he slowly said:


    "I know it''s surprising, but consider it from the bright side, his plans got revealed in front of you now, so you can try and best him to turn the table over this man. The most important thing now is to warn your allies, and find that device in your ship, we need to eliminate this device threat."


    Dora looked at me with lost eyes and ashen white face before her voice came hoarse as she said:


    "There is nothing we can do now, it''s all gone, everything is gone."


    "What do you mean?"


    "The ship that the distasteful Immortal mentioned isn''t my ship here, it''s my main battleship in the rebel fleet, and now that fleet is already here.


    The imminent battle between the rebels and the Rontag imperial fleet must have occurred by now, or about to happen. the distance from here to there will take at least half an hour, we can''t reach them in time," She said.


    James understood what she meant, as if the war started, there was no guarantee that her ship would stay intact, and if so they would have to wait until the war ended then they could be able to reach her ship and find that device.


    If they did so, they would risk losing everyone affected by this device, which was something unacceptable by James.


    "Isn''t there a way to send a message to your space ship and make it move to here away from battle?" he asked.


    "No, this zone is special, as that external layer prevents any signal from coming in or going out. There is no way to send a signal to my ship from here," She replied dejectedly.


    "What if I can send it outside? Will it work?" James asked as he got an idea in his mind.


    Dora just looked at him for a second before saying:


    "I thought I figured out everything about you, but each time you prove me wrong. Tell me, genius, what back hand did you prepare for this?"


    She guessed vaguely what James had in his mind, as for James he felt strange about her ability to discover, or guess his secret plan. He sighed as he said:


    "The bloody princess of the rebels can''t be underestimated, yes I have a back hand left in the foggy zone, so I can transmit messages from here to them, and they can transmit it from there to your ship. The issue is, will your crew listen to your commands or the rebels orders?"


    "Don''t worry, we aren''t that regular army with strict rules, my crew is only loyal to me alone. When can you transmit this message?" She asked.


    James pointed towards Rigo as he replied:


    "He will answer your question, not me, as he will be the one who will send the message out."

 Chapter 38: Dora and James

    Dora glanced at Rigo who just replied:


    "It''s a secret of our empire, and I''m not obligated to tell you anything."


    Dora looked at James as she sneered:


    "He is funny, from where did you find this old scrap metal again?"


    Rigo didn''t react to her sarcastic comment, neither did James who knew she was underestimating his droids, but he wouldn''t.


    These droids were a strong weapon, the only disadvantage was the small numbers in his possession. If he could manufacture more, or find a way to lay his hands over much more, then he would be satisfied, very satisfied.


    "We need a message to be short, not too long, but gets to the point. It must include secret code that only your crew could decipher and follow the orders written in it," Rigo said calmly.


    "Oh he can talk properly, have you checked his inner memory circuit? I heard these things live for very long and can have many fascinating memories," Dora wasn''t ready to let this arrogant droid off the hook.


    Rigo glanced towards James who shook his head silently, he needed her to cooperate with him, or he would lose the chance to save Eli, but James was still discontent with Dora''s attitude towards his droids, so he intervened to end this state of cold war:


    "Let''s pass over small things and focus on the bigger picture please, we have lives to save here, and more to rescue out there."


    Dora and Rigo looked with disapproval on their faces to James, who continued to stress over his words:


    "I won''t tolerate any other offenses from both of you, let''s send the message and save all the people we could save and then we both go separate ways."


    Dora smiled evilly as she muttered:


    "What a shame, I started to like both of you dumb headed," she then looked towards Rigo with the same amusing look, "Send this message to my ship out there, the code of the ship is Bloody princess 0, and the frequency is AO034RE859. Write them down so you won''t forget any."


    "I never forget anything, or anyone," Rigo said calmly.


    "Neither do I, you know I''m starting to like you more, we can make a perfect couple, why don''t you leave this hopeless cruiser and come to work under me?" Dora said with a smirk over her face. Rigo ignored her as James interfered again:


    "He isn''t for sale, and we aren''t here to chitchat, if you want to have some fun, then why don''t you go out and have the fun you need with that Immortal? He seems funny to me, and nice too, you will make a perfect couple together."


    This time Dora''s face changed and that play look over her face was wiped out, instead there was a deep hatred look, a look of someone deeply immersed in vengeance. James noticed these obvious changes over her face, so he knew he hit her hard where it pained hard.


    "Listen carefully you lucky bastard, you don''t know me or know what I went through to get here, so don''t say any words like a joke, or else it would choke you to death," Dora said with threatening tone towards James, who knew he pulled a string he shouldn''t get near to, but he wasn''t regretting it.


    At least, he now was aware of how deep the hatred between this Immortal and this crazy princess was, so if he wanted to live longer he needed to get away from her, so he wouldn''t delve deeper in this conflict.


    He was only here for Eli, and once he saved her he would leave here and go to the farthest place in the galaxy where no empire or rebels or Immortal could find him.


    "We are just collaborating to beat this Immortal, then we will go separate ways, cool?" James said as he wanted to make his stand clear. His words were met by a small smile from Dora that turned into a sneer as she said:


    "Run away? No one interferes into that bastard''s business and manages to run away. Take my advice and run away now, at least he didn''t notice you yet."


    Her voice held a mix of pain, a deep pain coming from a distant memory that she tried always to suppress and forget, but she always failed.


    A memory where a little girl was crying over her father''s body that was full of blood, and the place was full of the echo of a devilish laugh, a laugh of a demon, not a human. Dora took a deep breath as she collected her scattered thoughts and said:


    "Send the message, and wait for their reply and give it to me."


    "You didn''t say the message yet," Rigo said without any emotions in his voice or over his face. Dora remembered she didn''t say the message she wanted to send, so she hurried to say:


    "A lone bird is standing over a branch waiting for his family, but a falcon was what came to him. The bird must escape inside or else fire will burn it all, him and the branch he is standing on."


    Rigo and James both looked with stupid faces to her, as she said something strange.


    "This is a coded message, just send it now and tell me the response immediately."


    Rigo started sending the message, as his looks became attracted to somewhere in the horizon. James moved near Dora as he whispered:


    "You know it''s not wise to irritate those droids, as they have a short temper and narrow mind."


    Dora looked at him strangely, as she didn''t expect he would come here to talk to her about that. James then added:


    "And I don''t know what the coded message you sent meant, but I felt you didn''t send a request to warn the rebels fleet from the incoming imperial attack."


    Dora left her eye while fixing her gaze over James, who felt awkward, so he added:


    "I mean, they are your people too, right? I heard before your mother was there, the queen of rebels, so why don''t you send a message to warn her?"


    "Are you finished?" Dora said with a serious tone.


    "Y¡­Yes," James felt more awkward, as this bloody princess seemed not to appreciate his gesture to advise her.


    "Then thanks, but I don''t need some country servant, military deserter like you to come here and tell me some lame advice that I don''t need."


    She was harsh, and cold like always, but James just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his place again, swearing not to go to help this arrogant bastard ever again.

 Chapter 39: The Lone Bird

    Moments later, Rigo regained his usual self as he looked at the two behind him while saying:


    "Message was sent successfully."


    "Let''s hope they understand what danger they are at," James commented in discontent tone that Dora neglected as she said:


    "Wait for a few minutes and they will send you a reply."


    Rigo gave her a silent glance, as he felt something was off between the two, so he turned to look to James and asked:


    "Is everything alright supreme leader?"


    "Yes, she is just a little touchy for that enemy of hers," James replied, and his words seemed to irritate Dora again who turned sharply glaring at him, but he just ignored her like she did with him.


    "Supreme leader, huh?" she sneered in a humiliating tone.


    "Yes, do you have any comments too on that?" James didn''t back down as he replied looking back to her refusing to show weakness.


    "May I suggest we all calm down, as we are allies not enemies," Rigo interfered trying to mend between the two and preventing an incoming conflict.


    "We are allies, yes, but we aren''t friends," Dora stated her position clearly.


    "The same goes for me too," James also agreed on that state of relation with her.


    "Good, I don''t need friends anyway," Dora muttered lowly to herself as if she was reminding her own soul with some old decision and a far memory.


    "Hmmm, I now understand your message, lone bird. No wonder you are lonely," James said as he understood why she called herself like that, as she was really lonely.


    "What do you mean?" Dora again said aggressively. Before James could reply, Rigo received a transmission from outside, which he announced putting an end to this growing conflict:


    "I have got a reply from your ship princess."


    "This fast?" Dora said in doubt.


    "The transmission time between here and our people out there takes hardly anytime at all," Rigo explained.


    ''It''s not the time for the message to reach my ship that''s I''m worried about, but the rapidness of their reply,'' Dora whispered that to herself, and then she said:


    "Tell me their reply."


    Her worry and change of her mood was spotted by James and Rigo, but Rigo started to say the message he received after James nodded to him motioning him to do that:


    "The Phoenix is a die-hard bird, it seeks death to be resurrected again, especially if there are many on the tree to protect or fear," Rigo then paused before adding, "this is the message I received from your ship, princess."


    James noticed how angry she became, and also some fear he felt from her, which made him wonder if this ice cold princess knew what fear even meant.


    "What does this message say?" James asked.


    Dora glanced at him for a moment in a way which made James didn''t know she was about to strike his neck or give him a hug, then she looked away and said:


    "They aren''t coming."


    James wasn''t satisfied by this short answer of her so he asked again:


    "Can you explain what happened? Aren''t they your men? Did Rigo perhaps target another ship?"


    "No, the message was sent to my ship, but¡­" Dora said and paused as she was hesitating.


    "But what?" James pressed further on this point, as he wanted to know what was going on up there. Dora turned to look at him, and this time he saw a worry sad look over her face, which was strangely alluring at this moment.


    "They aren''t alone in the ship," She again replied briefly.


    "Is it your mother, the queen?" Rigo asked.


    "No, it''s not her, it''s¡­ it''s something else," Dora again paused while explaining, which made James feel she was trying to evade even thinking about who was there. He didn''t know her well, but he knew what would put her in such a state.


    "Touchy as ever, why don''t you just say it''s the Immortal?" James expressed his thoughts calmly, but he was met by a fiery look from her, a look of anger and deep hatred.


    James knew she wasn''t feeling this way towards himself, but towards that enemy. So to avoid any more unneeded dispute at this critical moment, he added:


    "The possibility of the presence of this murderer aboard your ship is dangerous, and also it makes sense. He is there to guard against any intervention to his plans, like what we are trying to do now."


    His words managed to bring some senses back to Dora, who took a deep breath and controlled her hatred while saying:


    "You are right, he is there to prevent anyone from finding that device of his."


    "Should I send an order for our troops to head to the princess ship and capture it?" Rigo suggested.


    "No!"


    Both James and Dora replied instantly to his words, which was the first they both agreed upon since meeting each other. Rigo felt strange to their reaction, as James explained:


    "You saw what that Immortal was like, we can''t just throw our people like this, he will kill them all."


    "If he sensed danger, he won''t hesitate to destroy his device and so all of this would be for nothing," Dora said, then she looked at James as she said:


    "This is a one man job, so I will handle it."


    "I''m not sure I can agree on that," James replied as he stood to block the road of her towards the outside as he added:


    "You have a grudge against him, so I can''t guarantee you will do your job and search for the device."


    "Do you doubt my judge on things?" Dora didn''t back down an inch, instead she moved a step forward and nearly was face to face with James, who was feeling some tension but he didn''t accept to lose to her as he replied:


    "I''m worried your inner feeling would cloud your judgment."


    Dora kept silent for a moment before saying:


    "If you feel so, then come with me and help me not to be misled."

 Chapter 40: The Sirodoid Dogo

    James knew she was daring him, and he was already considering this seriously, so he replied instantly:


    "Sure, why not, a one man mission won''t differ from two then."


    Rigo jumped at this moment saying:


    "Then I will come with you."


    "No, you will stay here and do another mission," James opposed directly to his decision, as he added, "I need you to look after the ship here, start searching for the locked up children to save them."


    "Then let the troops out there help you," Rigo refused to give up, but James shook his head again refusing his suggestion as he explained:


    "Going in full force here won''t help, we will try to sneak into the ship unnoticed, so more numbers won''t do any help."


    "No, let him come," Dora suddenly said while pointing out towards Rigo, "We will enter our ship using my little cruiser, and then we will sneak our way into the depth of the ship."


    James looked strangely towards her as he asked:


    "If so, then why do we need him?"


    "It''s because we don''t know where that¡­," She paused before she regained her control over her disturbed emotions again, "that device we don''t know where it''s hidden. Bringing him with us will make things easier."


    James knew her words were logic, but he felt uncomfortable leaving the ship like this without his most reliable man, so he ordered:


    "Make five small cruisers come here immediately to guard here, and select one of the droids here who can make good calls in time of stress and let him take over this ship."


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied as he went again in his usual strange silent state. James and Dora just glanced at him waiting for him to finish his arrangements, while Dora whispered softly:


    "They are a dreadful weapon if used properly and their loyalty isn''t misplaced."


    James didn''t reply, as he knew there was a dark history behind these droids, or else why the whole universe decided suddenly to let them go and continue without their aid?


    It didn''t make sense to him, as he now knew how powerful they were, at least they were more trusted, and far reliable than any species out there in the galaxy. James didn''t care about their history, as he intended to depend entirely on them.


    He planned to save Eli, then take this pure girl and escape to the farthest point in the galaxy where they would be safe from the clutches of the empire, away from all this mess.


    He needed money and manpower to live like a king, and now he solved one of those two problems. As for the money, he would figure something out later.


    "It''s done, supreme leader," Rigo suddenly said, pushing James out of his own dreams for the future. At the same moment, another droid appeared, he wasn''t a humanoid, but rather a Sirodoid.


    Sirod was a race that resembled humans but doubt tall and size, their bodies were full of muscles that looked really intimidating, especially that one that just appeared as he had all his body covered in tattoos, weird looking tattoos with different colors and shapes. James looked at him with question as Rigo said from behind him:


    "He is Do457Go7852."


    James looked with interest towards that sirodoid and said:


    "I will call you Dogo from now on."


    "Thanks for this generosity, supreme leader, I won''t fail you in this mission."


    James knew that Sirods were famous for their rare combat abilities. James trusted Rigo''s judgment, as he really needed a war commander at this moment.


    He didn''t question this sirodoid ability to lead his ships in a war, but James hoped to avoid war as possible, as winning or losing wasn''t his main goal here, so he made this point clear by ordering:


    "Your primary goal is to protect this ship, and find other children kept hostages at the far end of this place."


    Dogo understood James'' intention, so he replied without hesitation:


    "Affirmative supreme leader, I will heed by your orders."


    "Good, Rigo handed him the map and the route to those children," James ordered.


    "What should I do with these kids, supreme leader?" Dogo asked.


    "You do nothing, after you save them you will gather with the fleet and then wait for my mark, then we all will move away from here," James planned out their future steps.


    "Are you going to escape and hide away?" Dora said sarcastically before waving with her hand, "That''s just typical of you."


    James looked with a faint smile on his face as he said:


    "What do you mean by typical of me? You know nothing about me to say that."


    "Oh, I just judged you for what I know," she said with the same irritating tone.


    "What do you know?" he said, crossing his hands over and looking with no interest at all towards her.


    "I mean for an army deserter this move isn''t surprising at all," she said with a sneer.


    "You are just simply irritating, touchy girl, but I won''t make a fuss over this. You have your own ideals to defend, and I have my life to keep. Now, are we going to do this or you are afraid and try to waste time perhaps?" James replied calmly with each word he said was like a slap over her face.


    He didn''t like arrogance, especially an arrogant girl like her. She started teasing him, but she ended up feeling unwell, so she pushed him to the side and moved out from the commanding deck as she said:


    "Follow me and don''t delay or else I will leave you behind."


    James looked back to his two aides as he ordered:


    "Wrap things here fast and then follow me."


    "Affirmative," both replied in one tone. James then moved outside the deck passing through the corridor, to reach the heart of the ship, but he didn''t manage to spot Dora, so he muttered:


    ''This crazy touchy girl is really impatient.''

 Chapter 41: Dizy

    He then hurried to exit the cruiser, to find Dora was about to enter one of her own just a couple of tens of meters away. The battle was still raging in the distance, but here it was kind of calm and secure, so James headed without any concern towards that cruiser which Dora just disappeared inside.


    In a few moments, Rigo was behind him moving in wide steps to catch up. James waited for him at the entrance to Dora''s small cruiser, which wasn''t much different than his.


    Once Rigo arrived, they both boarded the cruiser, where he found a group of twenty men and women standing there waiting for them, and Dora was on the front with a wide strange smile over her face.


    ''Women!'' James muttered helplessly, as he found himself a seat and sat on it. all eyes were focused on him, or precisely over Rigo who stood silently motionlessly behind James like a loaded weapon.


    "Let your bodyguard cool down a little, there is no enemy here," Dora said with an excited tone, as she seemed to be in a good mood.


    "Let''s move then, what are we waiting for?" James asked.


    "We will, but I''m waiting for my strongest fighter to come, you will like her, she is adorable just like you," she replied with a giggle. James sighed helplessly, as her sharp mood shifting was something.


    "Is she going to be late?" James asked with impatience, as he wanted to finish this mission fast to be able to live his life as he planned.


    "No, I''m here."


    Everyone looked straight to the entry of the cruiser, where a giant female appeared moving in a clumsy way inside. James sighed as he recalled Gotar. This girl was like Gotar, a mixed blood giant. Once this newcomer entered the heart, she pointed out to James as she asked:


    "Is he the moron you told me about?"


    James'' face didn''t change, as well Rigo, as they both got used to the aggressive way of Dora in dealing with things. A follower will always be an exact copy of the boss, so neither of them was surprised by the rude way of speech of this giant girl.


    "Dizy, there are no morons here, they are our allies," Dora said in a way that didn''t feel like she was defending James and Rigo.


    "You said there is some pig head here who is getting on your nerves and keeps annoying you, so I came to teach him a lesson," Dizy looked towards James as she directed all her words to him.


    James didn''t like this attitude, but he didn''t like the future path of this much more, so he controlled himself and said with simple tone with no emotions at all:


    "Let''s move, we have no time to waste here."


    Dora looked at him as she raised her both hands in a sign of helplessness, while Dizy moved couple of steps towards James while saying aggressively:


    "Hey stupid deserter, you keep your own funny thoughts to yourself, as our princess isn''t someone you would like to provoke."


    James totally ignored her, as he said in a decisive tone:


    "Either we take off now and act seriously about this, or else I will leave now and find another way to solve things."


    Dizy was about to continue her pointless harassment to James, but Dora stopped her as she said:


    "Enough Dizy, the little boy has learned his lesson already, let''s move and make this little ship in the air now. Dizy, did you bring it?"


    Dizy took out a long rod with a glassy ball on its middle. It looked strange, old, and powerful. James felt some kind of attraction towards it, it was like something was tempting him to grab it, but he didn''t. this peculiar feeling made him more wary towards this rod, as he asked while motioning to it:


    "What is this thing?"


    "It''s our ticket to outside of here, how did you get in here without it?" Dora said with interest.


    "Through another way," James said as he watched Dizy move away towards the upper area, where the cannon controlling unit was there. Dora felt his strange looking towards the rod, so she asked:


    "Is there something wrong?"


    James realized his reaction wasn''t quite discreet, so he replied casually:


    "It''s nothing, from where did you get this thing anyway?"


    "One of my agents helped me to purchase it, and it was really painful to do that," she said as she moved to sit opposite James.


    "Painful?!" James said with an interested look over his face, as he didn''t imagine someone so powerful and wealthy like her would feel any pain for buying something, no matter how spicy it was.


    "Don''t look at me like that, I don''t have an endless supply of wealth to spend without care, don''t forget I have a fleet to fund," Dora said in a defensive tone.


    "Fleet? That''s your mother, the queen, fleet, not yours," James commented in a try to annoy her, but he failed as she just replied calmly:


    "She is my mother and everything of hers is mine," she replied arrogantly with pride. Just as James was about to pathetically try another way to annoy her, the cruiser trembled in a sudden move that made him wary.


    "Don''t worry, country boy, this is just the effect of the rod," Dora said with an amusing tone, "Tell me how did you get here?"


    "This is secret," James replied shortly and vaguely as he didn''t feel the desire to speak now. He wasn''t feeling well, and he didn''t know why, but it was as if something was moving inside him, inside his soul.


    "C''mon, tell me your story, I love stories you know," Dora kept harassing him while she enjoyed the unwell look over his face. She mistook it as the effect of a distant memory was brought to surface under her words.


    "I''m not your dad to tell you''re a goodnight story," James replied casually as he was more concerned by the changes he was feeling inside him, so he didn''t notice the sudden change over her face when he said that.


    Dora''s face became suddenly ashen to turn rapidly into strange black from extreme hate and anger. She glared at James as she said stressing over her words:


    "Don''t ever say this again."

 Chapter 42: Strange Incident

    This time James took a note of her weird behavior, to be surprised by her looks. She was about to explode, and he felt this wasn''t a joke any more.


    One single mishap and he would enter a life and death fight with her, so he chose to remain silent. He still had his issues to figure out, so he closed his eyes involuntarily and tried to calm his worry by all means.


    Dora stood from her place and just glared at him again in a threatening manner, before she moved away with strong steps. She tried to vent her anger by stamping heavily on the ground.


    Her heart was in turmoil as she had many memories to float on her mind, many memories she tried to hide, neglect, and forget in vain. Her legs led her to the commanding deck, where things there were very quiet and strangely peaceful.


    "Are you ok?" Dizy asked while she left the rod in her hands after fixing it on a special device over the navigation unit. She then moved to sit beside Dora, who was still feeling uncomfortable.


    "It''s nothing, how is the rod doing?" Dora asked.


    "It''s perfect; we will manage to get out of here in less than ten minutes."


    Dora looked outside as she noticed the cruiser had already entered the foggy zone, the outer protective and dangerous zone. She took a deep breath as she said:


    "Return to your post and I will rest for a moment here."


    Dizy looked at her for a moment before she sighed. She patted over Dora''s shoulder while shaking her head, as she knew there was only one thing in the whole world that could change her friend''s mood like this.


    Dizy moved back to her seat in front of the rod that kept flashing with strange lights from its central crystal. Dora was immersed in her own world, as the third person here, Anna, was busy steering the cruiser to get them out from here.


    Everyone was busy doing something, so no one noticed the changes that occurred to James, who was sitting over his seat closing his eyes. No one noticed that strange halo of light that kept changing colors, except for Rigo who felt some worry over his boss.


    If anyone, especially those three in the commanding deck, noticed James at this moment, they would be shocked to see this halo, and its colors that were exactly the same as the flashes of lights coming from that rod.


    As for James, he wasn''t feeling well at first, until he closed his eyes and then he found himself walking into a strange world, discovering a marvelous place, a place he didn''t know where it was or how he entered it.


    The place was full of strange lights, which was a mix of different flashing colors that kept changing at rapid pace with no definite pattern. The lights mixed together to form a thick blanket over his eyes, that was like a fog that prevented him from seeing anything.


    James felt like he was a heavy rock and was thrown into the depth of an ocean, he couldn''t get himself free from here, or he could even swim. All he did was to let his body fall, fall like a dead person without any ability to move even his fingers.


    "Eat¡­"


    Suddenly this soft voice which was like a long sigh amidst the early hours of morning came abruptly from everywhere around him. James turned around to see who was speaking, but he couldn''t move, or he couldn''t feel his body.


    He kept falling, but this time he ignored those annoying lights and focused on listening, and this time he heard it perfectly:


    "Eat me¡­"


    James felt strange and some fear started to pile up inside him. all he thought about was how to get out from here.


    "Eat me¡­"


    The sound came again, this time it was stronger like a breeze on a hot summer clear day. James felt more urge to leave here.


    "Eat me¡­"


    This time the place ushered in a strange silence, a silence that made James'' heart palpitate rapidly; he felt he was in grave danger.


    "Eat me and gain absolute power."


    This time the whole world of lights trembled as a violent force emerged from everywhere and pushed James'' body like a feather helplessly caught in a storm of wind.


    James felt this was his last moments in life, as he kept moving from place to another with a strong momentum and huge force driving him. He screamed but no sound came from his throat, only pain, fatigue, and despair what he got in return.


    "No¡­"


    Suddenly he leapt from his seat to the air like he was pushed from the seat by a hidden force and hit the nearest wall. His sudden move came abruptly so Rigo couldn''t move in time to save him from the hit, but he could save him from the fall that followed.


    "Supreme leader, are you ok?" Rigo asked with great worry and concern while he held James in his hands as he just caught up to him before falling on the ground. James stood on his own and his body trembled slightly before he regained full focus and concentration. He looked into Rigo''s eyes and asked:


    "What happened? Where is that sound? How did you save me?"


    Rigo looked more worried as he didn''t know anything of what James just spoke of, but he replied narrating what happened:


    "You were sitting there and then closed your eyes for a moment, then a strange halo of light came out from your body. a few moments later you jumped from the seat like it was on fire and screamed, I just managed to catch you before you fell on the ground."


    James looked with doubt towards him as he asked again:


    "There was no sound at all?"


    "No, the place was quiet before you screamed," Rigo replied instantly.


    "That''s weird," James then returned to his seat, "You said there was a halo of light, was it just a single light or a group of ever-changing lights?"


    "It was a strange mix of different colors, but each time it was like one color was flashing more than the rest," Rigo replied, and his words made James'' heart fall to the ground. James hoped this was a nightmare, but from Rigo''s description, that was exactly like the world he was just in.


    ''What was that world? Who was the owner of that voice? And why was it so fixated on making me eat him? How can I eat a person?''

 Chapter 43: Running into A Heated Space War

    James was in his dilemma when the cruiser got a violent sudden tremble that awoke him from his loss. He looked towards Rigo who said:


    "I feel this isn''t a normal thing, supreme leader."


    "Me too, by the way we need to find some other name for me to be called, as I don''t like this supreme leader thing," James said as he stood from his seat and moved straight towards the commanding deck.


    He didn''t cross a couple of meters for another, more violent tremble hit the cruiser again, to make him lose balance. He controlled himself with difficulty while Rigo ran to help him stand straight.


    "This is no normal trembles Rigo, I think this is a shot effect hitting the deflective shields of this cruiser," James said as he again moved towards the commanding deck with wide strips and obvious hurry. Rigo followed him with the same pace, until they both reached the deck.


    "When did the war start?" James exclaimed loudly when he reached there, as through the eye of the commanding deck he found many huge spaceships fighting each other.


    "As I thought, we are under assault," James muttered while he moved towards the forefront, where the three girls were busy moving the small cruiser to a safe zone, but there was no safe zone at all.


    "Why are you here? go back and buckle up to your seat back there until we escape here," Dora said as she was sitting on the main seat trying to evade as much fire as possible. Another strong tremble occurred again which nearly made James fall on the ground like before, while he was saying:


    "I''m not going back and sitting there and my whole life is in the hands of someone like you."


    "Like me? what''s wrong with me? she said aggressively, but her voice was interrupted by another successful hit on the cruiser and the strong tremble that followed.


    "You are a lousy pilot, move now and leave this thing to me," James said as he took a step forward towards her seat. Dizy, who was standing behind Dora and Anna moved spontaneously to stand between him and Dora.


    "If you don''t move now, we all are going to die. You know best you can''t fly with this thing amidst this heated battle," James said, directing his speech towards Dora, as he clenched his fist and pointed it towards the outside of the ongoing battle. Dora kept her silence for a moment when Dizy said with disrespect:


    "Move your little body away from here, or else¡­"


    "Or else what?" Rigo replied this time on behalf of James. The situation was getting more tense, as Dizy was about to act against James.


    "Dizy stop, I will let him drive this cruiser," Dora firm voice came abruptly to put an end to this entire quarrel. Dizy turned sharply looking at her with doubt while Dora added:


    "You all know we don''t have our best pilot with us, so if he can really fly this thing better than I do, then it''s not a bad idea to let him take the wheel."


    Dizy sighed as Dora moved from her seat, but Anna didn''t. Dizy glared at James as she said sarcastically:


    "Show us your magic professional pilot."


    "Oh, you watch and learn from me then."


    Surprisingly, the one who moved wasn''t James, but his man, Rigo, who said those words arrogantly and moved to sit on the seat replacing Dora, who looked at James with strange looks.


    "Don''t eye me like this, I didn''t fly a cruiser in my life except for one time only," James said as he raised both hands in the air showing a helpless move.


    "If so, then why did you ask me to stop flying this cruiser?" Dora asked with a serious tone, as her eyes shone with strange light, a light of anger.


    "I can''t do it, but my man here can do it better than you," James replied casually as he didn''t care about her reaction.


    "This droid can fly the cruiser better than me?" Dora exclaimed in doubt, "Are you out of your mind? He is a droid, a helper in battles maybe, but not a space flier!"


    "Believe me, he will fly it better than you. Just watch and learn, as you might increase your abilities by a notch," James replied as he totally ignored her. He was concerning with the outside battle, so he asked motioning towards the outside:


    "What happened here? When did this battle rage up?"


    Dizy was about to reprimand him as usual, but she was stopped by a hand gesture from Dora, who explained:


    "I don''t know, I just came out from that fog and found this battle going on like this. Unfortunately, the place where we exited was in the heart of the rebel fleet, so we are in the heart of this battle."


    James looked to the distant endless space that was filled now with different types and models of spaceships.


    "That Immortal plot has started, we need to find our own ship fast and find that device before anything bad happens," James said, then he looked towards Rigo, "drive us away from here first, and start scanning the surroundings for Dora''s ship."


    "Affirmative, but what is the shape and model of that ship?" he asked.


    James turned to Dora who replied:


    "It''s a large space cruiser, with a fiery logo on its main body, the drawing of a phoenix."


    "Oh, that''s catchy, search for it Rigo, I have a feeling we will find it rapidly," James said. Dora just sighed as she knew James was trying to make fun of her, but she didn''t care. She stood on the side watching Rigo moving her little cruiser with great skill.


    She realized that James wasn''t overpraising him, Rigo was really an excellent flier. That wasn''t her own feeling alone, but the other two girls here were astonished by Rigo''s timely reactions and precise decisions.


    Since Rigo took the lead, there was not a single hit on the ship, which was an obvious evidence of his abilities.


    "How did you find that droid?" Dora couldn''t take it anymore, as her curiosity was intense, so she broke the silence by whispering to James.


    "Are you interested in him?" James asked with a sneer. Dora knew James was joking with her, but she replied nonetheless:


    "Who isn''t? Who wouldn''t want someone like him, a loyal droid that can make wise calls and drive space cruisers this good?"


    James'' smile was so wide as it even masked his own face, as he said:


    "Yes, and he is way better than that, but I can''t tell you his origins, unless¡­"

 Chapter 44: Falling in A Perfectly Executed Space Trap

    He paused intentionally, and Dora didn''t take his bait as she looked to Rigo again silently. James didn''t stop smiling for a while, as Rigo was really doing a marvelous job there.


    He felt great luck, as he was nearly the only person in the entire galaxy who owned droids, and they weren''t like any normal droids, they were war elites.


    The fight was really hot, as both sides were trying to destroy each other rapidly and swiftly, but the balance was off towards the Rontage imperial spaceships, as their numbers kept increasing by pressing minutes. That drove more worry over James, as this wasn''t boding well at all.


    "Where the hell is your ship?" James couldn''t take it anymore, so he asked directly pointing towards the hologramic scan of the nearby battlefield.


    Dora was also questioning herself the same thing, as they kept moving in the battle for half an hour now, and she couldn''t get a glimpse over her ship at all.


    "Dizy, try reaching out to them and see where they are hiding," Dora didn''t answer James'' question, instead she ordered her Dizy. Dizy moved towards the navigation unit and started sending a message to Dora''s ship. After a few moments, she replied:


    "I already sent the message and it appeared here they received it, but¡­" she paused strangely, which made Dora to ask in urgency:


    "But what?"


    "There is no indication of their reply at all," Dizy said.


    "What do you mean by that?" James asked as he turned to Dizy, "Are you sure you sent it to the right ship?"


    "Of course I did, do you think I''m an idiot like you to do such a shameful mistake?" Dizy replied intensely.


    James ignored her rude remark as he looked at Dora and asked:


    "Is there anything wrong that might happen to your ship?"


    Dora understood his meaning, so she replied instantly:


    "That''s impossible, as all on that ship are my personal trusted assets."


    "I didn''t mean that, I''m just guessing the worse," James said vaguely, but Dora got his meaning to say without hesitation:


    "That''s impossible, as my cruiser needs a lot of people to operate, or else it won''t work and would be long destroyed."


    James didn''t give up on his idea, as he felt a bad regarding this matter, so he stressed on by saying:


    "A man like that Immortal must have a group or followers, right?"


    This time, Dora didn''t need to argue with him, as she knew his thoughts were right, and that sudden transmission that appeared in the cruiser made her sure of James'' doubts.


    "To all the rebel fleet, our beloved princess Dora was held captive by the imperial fleet, and her small cruiser is now under their control.


    They are trying to reach the princess'' main battleship, so we will send you the coordinates of that small cruiser. You mustn''t let them approach the main battleship, or everything will be lost. Godspeed rebels."


    Awkward silence prevailed over the place after the transmission ended for moments, before Dizy muttered in disbelief:


    "We are doomed! They have sent our location. They must have tracked our message and pinpoint our location."


    "Fast close that transmission and stop any communication with them."


    "Move rapidly away from here, I don''t care if we got several shots, just make us move far away now."


    Dora and James voices appeared at the same moment, as Dora ordered Dizy, while James instructed Rigo.


    Both orders were executed at once, as Dizy closed the communication with Dora''s spaceship, and Rigo started to move the cruiser with the highest speed away from their place, and they got a couple of hits that made the cruiser tremble again.


    "We are being tracked by many cruisers now," Anna suddenly said, attracting everyone''s attention.


    "Can you shake them off?" Dora asked Rigo with a haste.


    "Tracking can''t be shaken except with cloaking, do you have any cloaking device here?" Rigo asked while he was moving with rapid speed as far away from here as he could.


    "Cloaking device? What does that even mean?" Dizy asked, while Dora kept silence as she didn''t know what that droid was talking about.


    "You don''t know cloaking devices? That''s strange, without this device, we can''t escape these ships, except if they give up chasing us," Rigo said, as he made a sharp turn to avoid a cannon strike that came from a star destroyer.


    Everyone here in this spot became an enemy to this small cruiser, as the imperial forces were also attacking it as it raised the flag of the rebellion.


    "No, we can''t leave here," James said out of the blue.


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied as he returned to try and evade the incoming attacks. James wasn''t stupid, he understood the hidden meaning behind Rigo''s words.


    He wouldn''t leave here before finding that device and disable it. Dora also knew what Rigo meant, and understood the reasons behind James'' response, so she suggested:


    "Let''s go back to the zone, they can''t follow us easily there."


    Dizy said:


    "It''s a good idea, let''s do it."


    Anna nodded her head in agreement, while Rigo waited for the orders of James. Dora also waited to hear his agreement, so they could escape here. instead of saying yes, James asked:


    "Tell me, is that Immortal an intelligent man?"


    Dra looked at him with loss as she replied:


    "He is the most intelligent cunning man I have ever seen."


    "Good," James then nodded while saying, "I disagree on your suggestion then."


    Dizy was the one to move towards James waving her fists in a threat while saying:


    "If you have a better idea, then say it, or else shut up."


    "Dizy, enough," Dora''s angry voice came suddenly from behind the two of them, which was a surprise, as Dizy didn''t expect her to get angry for this stranger. Dora moved step by step slowly towards James till she nearly got her face touching his, then she said:


    "Do you believe he is setting us a trap there?"


    She was gritting her teeth, as this would be the third time in a row to fall for this hideous man schemes. James didn''t flinch as he replied calmly:


    "A man that set this whole play and managed to kidnap your ship isn''t an idiot or stupid. He won''t take the effort to close all our escape routes like this and suddenly forget that zone. A trap is waiting for us there, I''m pretty sure of it."

 Chapter 45: Getting out from The Cruiser into The Space

    Dora kept standing this close to James as her anger was boiling inside her without an end. She wasn''t mad at James, but at herself, she was known as the bloody princess, the wisest princess, the strongest phoenix, but now she knew how foolish she was.


    If James didn''t warn her just now, she would have fallen like an idiot into her enemy trap, for the third time in a row.


    "Do you have a way to escape this trap?" she asked as she began to consider his opinions seriously.


    Her enemy seemed to study all her thoughts and she was naked in front of him, but he didn''t know about James. That meant if there was a way to escape this well planned trap, it lied with James.


    "Actually by being out here we have already escaped his trap, but we have to keep our lives then," James said.


    "That''s pretty the same as getting inside that zone," Dora said dejectedly. There was no way out of this, as being outside was risky as being inside that zone.


    "We are inside that Immortal''s trap from the start," James muttered, "That man isn''t easy, we need to act rashly and do something he wouldn''t expect."


    Dora''s depressed soul was ignited at once when she heard his words, as she said:


    "Tell me, what do you plan to do?"


    "Do you want me to call the fleet?" Rigo asked while he was busy evading the concentrated attacks from everywhere.


    "No, leave them for now, we will need them to move at the right moment," James said.


    "Do you have a fleet?" Dora asked with surprise, as she always thought he was a rogue space adventurer. James didn''t reply to her as he moved heading towards the heart of the ship:


    "Follow me, we need to act now."


    Dora glanced at the back of James as he disappeared from the commanding deck. She hesitated for a brief moment before she rushed after him.


    "What is your plan? Tell me."


    She called on him as she was trying to catch up. James didn''t stop when he reached the heart, as he kept moving, and he headed straight to the engine room.


    "Why are we going to the engine room?" Dora asked panting after him.


    "We aren''t heading to the engine room," he briefly replied without even turning to look at her.


    "The engine room is the only thing lying there, only if¡­" she paused as she realized suddenly what he was aiming for, "Are you sure of this?"


    James didn''t answer her until he reached his destination. the lowest point of the cruiser was the place of the engine, and also there was a small room that nobody would care about¡­ the waste room.


    James touched the sideway button to open the door to this room, to be welcomed by a trench smell. He was taken aback for a second before he firmed his resolve and moved into this room.


    Dora was behind him, as she was offended by this smell. She watched James entering without any hesitation, so she swallowed her pride as a girl and followed him.


    "Now what?" she asked as she found James standing in the middle of wasted materials of the cruiser. The place was foul and toxic, as this room contained all the wastes from the cruiser, especially from the engine.


    That meant these materials had many hazards that would injure them if they stayed here for a long time.


    "Do you have your special space suit?" James asked casually as he leaned to the ground and caught with a metallic rope made of strange metal, and then he pulled it hard.


    "Of course, I''m always wearing it all the time," She replied as she feared the worst.


    "Good, me too, I never let it be away from my body. Now, activate it," James said as he pulled the metallic rope stronger this time. A soft click sound emerged in the room, but it was like a huge explosion for Dora, who rushed to press a button over her wrist.


    She didn''t get the chance to make sure the suit was activated, as a hole was opened out of nowhere linking here with the outside space, and her body got sucked up immediately with irresistible force to be thrown in the wide space side by side with the waste.


    James'' plan was simple, but crazy. He decided to invade Dora''s cruiser, and to make his exit from the cruiser unnoticed, he had used this weird way to leave the ship.


    Just as Dora''s body was thrown into the space under the effect of the suction force, James was ready to throw that metallic rope he salvaged from the room towards her.


    She was like a drowning looking for a haystack to survive, so when the robe was thrown to her, she got it at once, and now they both were connected together.


    James was spinning like her, but he used the motion device in his suit to stabilize himself. He didn''t overdo it, as he feared to attract any unneeded attention.


    Dora was screaming inside her suit, as she didn''t feel anything around her except the distant flashes of stars kept spinning and spinning in front of her. James grabbed the rope and then pulled it suddenly in a strong move to force Dora''s body to decelerate abruptly.


    He didn''t stop in his place as he feared Dora would let the rope go, and so he moved as discreetly as he could towards her. She didn???t let go of the rope, fortunately, which made his job easier.


    Once he reached her, he hugged her body tightly and looked straight towards her eyes as he motioned her to follow him.


    Dora glared at him, if they were on the ground or inside a safe cruiser now, she wouldn''t hesitate to beat him to death right now.


    James was looking for Dora''s cruiser. It was no coincidence for their small cruiser to get marked so rapidly just after the transmission, which meant that Dora''s main cruiser was nearby.


    The only reason they couldn''t see it till now was simple, as James had already predicted this move from this sly enemy.


    The trick that Immortal did was to remove that eye-catching slogan from the surface of the ship, and he could evade any questions regarding this move by a simpler reason, to escape any focus over the princess main ship from the incoming enemies.

 Chapter 46: Entering The Large Space Cruiser

    The trick that Immortal did was to remove that eye-catching slogan from the surface of the ship, and he could evade any questions regarding this move by a simpler reason, to escape any focus over the princess main ship from the incoming enemies.


    But how would he find it now? He wasn''t worried at all, as he kept holding Dora which was still looking at him with extreme anger, if eyes could kill, then James would be burning in hell right now.


    ''C''mon my little friend, I''m counting on you now,'' James thought to himself as he was waiting. His wait didn''t last long, as the small cruiser he just got off from just took a sharp turn and moved to the opposite direction.


    The cruiser just passed nearby them, but they were lucky not to be hit by it. Dora''s anger burned much more as it began to turn into a desire for retaliation, but James wasn''t angry, instead he was excited.


    Rigo predicted what he intended to do, and that was the missing piece in his plan.


    ''Let''s hope the fish takes the bait, or all of this would be for nothing," James thought as he was turning around cautiously like he was guarding against a nearby beast.


    James and Dora were in the middle of a heated battle, but they were just like tiny specks to these huge ships and cruisers moving everywhere, but a single cruiser managed to pick James'' interest at once.


    This particular large cruiser turned from its own course to direct itself towards the direction where Dora''s small cruiser travelled through. It was the only cruiser that turned and headed in that direction.


    Just as the cruiser was turning, James knocked on Dora''s head as he motioned towards that cruiser. She was extremely furious at him right now, but when she glanced at the large cruiser she forgot this anger instantly, as this large cruiser was hers.


    She looked towards him with extreme doubt and amazement, but before she could have time to link everything together, James pressed his motion buttons to move their entangled bodies as a whole.


    The motion speed was low, but they were directly heading straight towards her cruiser, which was halfway in its sharp turn.


    James then knocked again at her head as he motioned with his hands for a question, then he motioned a movement towards the cruiser.


    His question was easily interpreted by Dora, as she motioned at once with her free hands towards one side of the cruiser. James increased the speed of his flight towards the part Dora pointed at.


    He asked her about a safe way to enter her cruiser, after all this was her cruiser. James wasn''t worried about getting discovered by Immortal''s men. The cruiser was very big and that sly man couldn''t bring a lot of his men on board, so there was a minimal chance to be discovered by them.


    James increased his speed as he motioned to Dora to use her speeders too. Dora didn''t hesitate to press her flying buttons to add more momentum to the both of them. The direction they were heading towards ironically was the same place they left the small cruiser from, the waste room.


    When they neared that place, the cruiser was about to finish its turn and was ready to speed up to catch the escaping small cruiser. It looked like a huge mountain moving with hidden strings, but James was sure this huge piece of metal was as agile as a leopard.


    There was no time to waste, so he pressed his motion buttons strongly, it was now or never. The waste room wasn''t like that at the small cruisers, as it was already huge at the size of the small cruiser.


    The opening of it was open all the time, as the waste products of this huge space cruiser were always ditched in the space behind it.


    There was no time to waste, so James directed their move towards that opening without any hesitation. The waste flow was strong, and there was a pressure difference between the two places, inside and outside, so James didn''t plan to enter smoothly there.


    The momentum gained from their flying devices was met by a strong gush of waste like a fountain, but their momentum had the upper hand. Their momentum kept declining gradually with the passing seconds, to finally stop from moving forward, which was the end of the journey to them.


    "Boom."


    That loud sound of their collision with the inner walls of the waste room came abruptly, but it was like the coolest sound ever to their ears. The cruiser started moving with accelerating speed, so the gap they couldn''t cross was eventually crossed by the help of the cruiser''s sudden move.


    James stood with difficulty from the filthy ground and his entire suit was painted in different dark gloomy colors and it smells awful. Dora wasn''t even better than him, especially she took the full throttle of the fall.


    Their stay in this huge room wasn''t safe, as the suction force from outer space was now equalized by the sudden acceleration of the cruiser, but once it stopped they would be in danger again.


    So, James didn''t wait for Dora to stand straight on her own as he started to move. If there was any place that would get any technological attention to be upgraded and modified, then it wouldn''t be this waste room, so James moved based on his memory of the room design at the small cruisers, and he guessed it right.


    The main door to this room was located at the northwest corner of this room; supposedly the opening they just came from could be considered the south.


    Dora just stood upright to find herself all alone, she turned around in distress to find James away from her going straight towards a certain direction.


    They couldn''t communicate through their suits, but she knew that he wouldn''t move this urgently unless he found their way to the inside of the cruiser, or he was running from danger. She didn''t realize that it was both, so she moved without delay to catch up with him.

 Chapter 47: Crazy Idea Turned into Mission Impossible in The Space

    James was standing in front of a small door compared to the whole room, but it was already five times as big as him. when Dora reached him, he was looking for the button needed to open it. he found it rapidly, but he didn''t rush to press it.


    Although there was no suction force from the outside space, if he opened the door like this then those inside the cruiser would feel something was off, and they might send people to check it here. So, James had a plan, which was a risky plan without doubt, but he had no other choice.


    He turned to Dora and pointed to the button then he pointed to himself then to outside, then he pointed to her and pointed to the ground under his feet. Dora understood his message, but before she even nodded her head, James moved rapidly back to outer space.


    Dora watched his back with shock, as they both risked everything to come here, and now he was going to the outside space, which was an insane rash decision in her opinion.


    James knew he had to be fast, so he didn''t even run, he jumped. He pushed his legs strongly to cross a wide area in no time with each jump. He wasn''t worried about going out, he was doubting his return journey.


    After his fourth jump, he was so close to the exit, and at this moment he stopped abruptly as he landed heavily on the ground. He glided nonetheless on the ground as he tried everything to reduce his momentum until he managed to stop a couple of meters away from the opening.


    He knew he wasn''t safe yet, as he didn''t know when this cruiser would decrease their movement speed. James hurried and chose a random piece of scrapped metal from the ground.


    It was like a replaced damaged piece of the external body of this cruiser. He then took out one cannon from his storage bracelet, although he gave all of his cannons to Rigo and other droids, he kept some to himself, few yet enough to solve his current problem.


    James didn''t do much, as that cannon had some sort of magnetic attachment. It was a way to make the cannon stabilize until the repairing droids started fixing it on the hull of the cruiser, but now Ibro used it as a must succeed step in his risky plan.


    Luckily, it was a big pulse cannon which was made for small cruisers. James knew this type of cannon by heart, so he didn''t find any difficulty in activating its self defense mode.


    This mode was a tricky one, as it activated the motion sensors in the cannon. If anything moved nearby it, it would shoot that without delay. James then kicked that plate of metal with his leg, and he appreciated doing it in space, as there was no gravity at all thus no weight of any object.


    He watched the cannon move slowly, but with increasing speed towards outside, and once it reached the opening of this room, James moved.


    His move was picked up at once by the cannon, as its muzzle opening shone with blue white color. That type of cannon needed a few seconds to charge, and these few seconds were what made James feel lucky, as he desperately needed them.


    The cannon shot, but it missed its mark, James wasn''t faster than the pulse missile launched from this cannon, but the cruiser was. The moment when the cannon released its charge, it was already outside the cruiser, so the pulse shot didn''t hit James, instead it hit the cruiser.


    Taking such a shot from this short distance to the outer body with no shields or strong defenses made the result inevitable; the cannon blasted an opening at the cruiser itself.


    During these few seconds, James didn''t stop jumping without even breath towards Dora. Once he felt the tremor that occurred due to the cannon strike, he waved his hand towards Dora motioning her to open the door.


    Opening the door was easy, as just pushing the button and the door opened smoothly, but Dora was faced by a sudden push from inside like a whiplash, and she moved back as a result away from the door.


    She wasn''t ready for that, but James was. He was already holding that metallic rope that he put into his bracelet from before. Just as Dora was pushed to the back, he didn''t jump as he leaned his body to the ground, so his body managed to evade most of the first push of this air pressure difference.


    At the same moment, he threw the metallic rope towards the front. Dora watched the rob as she already lost her balance and couldn''t control her momentum anymore.


    So she viewed this rope as her ray of hope, but she desperately watched it bypass her with small inches, which was like fate was playing with her. From her strong frustration, she screamed with silent voice, so she didn''t see where this rope ended up at.


    James didn''t aim for her from the start, as he wasn''t in a better situation than her, so he threw the rope towards the only fixed safe area in this place, which was inside this cruiser.


    As for him, he didn''t wait to watch the rope to reach his destination. He jumped directing his body towards Dora, to end up colliding violently with her. This made both of their bodies stop in place motionless for a second, as he watched her widened eyes from disbelief and loss.


    This static state didn''t last for another second, as the pushing force of her overcame the small momentum of James.


    Dora''s face showed horror when she felt her body move again towards outside, but when she looked at James '' visible eyes through his face protective mask, she didn''t find any fear or distress in his eyes, instead she felt confidence and relief.


    Before she could think of any possible logical reason that would drive him to feel like that, her body suddenly jolted by sudden traction force from behind and it stopped abruptly.


    She felt severe pain all over her body, but she didn''t care as she turned at once to see that metallic rope was tightened like a string on a bow.


    James couldn''t speak with her right now, or else he would urge her to move at once, so he only patted on her shoulder to get her attention. He then pointed towards the rope and then he started to move forward like climbing a mountain. Dora looked to him then to herself, to find the rope was surrounding her body.


    She felt she missed many things here, but she didn''t stand in her place motionless and started climbing that rope towards the inner part of the cruiser.


    James and Dora didn''t take long to pass the opened door, but when she was about to close it from the inside, James stopped her hand by holding it with his.


    She looked at him with doubt, but he pointed to the front where there was a separating segment moving slowly to seal the area here. Realization struck her like lightning as she understood everything eventually, yet late.

 Chapter 48: Getting Separated from Each Other

    Dora realized what James was afraid of. If she closed the door now, they would be locked here as prisoners, and they had done this to themselves. There were two ends of the corridor they were at, each with a separating segment that was closing and already was half closed.


    Before she could seek for his guidance, he moved. James headed straight to the farthest one from his place, and he waved his hand towards the opposite side. Dora got it, as she moved as fast as she could towards the other end.


    This segment was part of the huge cruiser, so there was part of the gravity here even after the leak with the outside gravity-zero space. This helped them in their move towards both movable gates, and they barely managed to pass these gates a hair breadth away from their complete closure. However, they were now separated.


    Dora had the advantage here, as this was her ship in the first place. She knew every inch in this ship, so she knew how she could get to James. As for James, he was alone, but he wasn''t that tense.


    He knew their intrusion was covered by the risky trick he did back there, as whoever inside this cruiser would mistaken this to be caused by the cannons. This would provide enough distraction and wouldn''t endanger them.


    He also hoped this would buy them some time, after all this segment would be isolated from the outside space, and the fact this was the trash location provided them with additional advantage, no one would care to come and check the cause of the damage here, not in the trash segment.


    The first thing Dora did was to hurry up and go through different cross roads heading straight towards James'' location.


    As for James, the first thing he did was to deactivate his suit, took out a laser gun and started to blast all the surveillance cameras in his way. He didn''t know the right direction to go, but he knew Dora would come to find him, so he was just preparing their next move.


    Things never went on as planned, this was a universal rule applied anytime, anywhere. As Dora was moving carelessly towards James, she was spotted on one of the surveillance rooms in her ship.


    This was something she didn''t put in her consideration, so when she was about to take another turn, she was faced by a closed end, an already closed separation gate. That startled her, as she didn''t know why this gate was closed.


    Generally, no separation gate should be closed at any time in the cruiser except if there was a leakage to outer space, or if there was a secret they wanted to hide. She didn''t think much as she knew another route, but as she reached there, she was shocked to find it was closed.


    ''This is no coincidence,'' she muttered to herself. She figured out the reason, but it was too late, as she never cared about cameras in her ship, who would ever care about cameras in his home? She lamented her carelessness, which would cost her and James everything.


    ''I have to drive them away from James," she thought as she recalled the map of her ship in her mind and began to locate another target. She chose the arsenal unit, which was a strategic place that her directions led to.


    To make sure they would be deceived, she walked into another direction, which totally led her away from James location, while it led to the arsenal.


    As for James, he kept moving slowly hitting all the cameras he found for some time, then he felt something was off. He didn''t doubt Dora, as she was smart enough to figure out the next thing to be done, which was coming to him.


    She was his guide here, and without her he would be lost. This wasn''t a small cruiser, but a huge cruiser that was in a size of a small town without exaggeration. Getting lost here was so easy that made him terrified of the idea alone.


    He also felt Dora wasn''t coming to him, and that might be due to dire circumstances. He hoped to be wrong, or else things would turn very complicated.


    James wasn''t aware of the general design of this cruiser, so he had to improvise. He first pictured the place of the waste room that he got into from the main body of the cruiser, then he hypothesized a route towards the main deck.


    To reach the commanding deck, he needed to move opposite to the direction of the waste room, and this was really challenging.


    He knew he would lose all his sense of direction when he delved deeper into the cruiser, which made his previous theory invalid and risky.


    He had no other option except to get a layout of this cruiser. To do so, he either needed to hack the system, and he had no ability to do it, or to kidnap someone here and try to get this info from him at any cost.


    That would be very dangerous, as he would be discovered no matter what he did. He couldn''t do any of this, and he had no solution in his mind, which made him so frustrated.


    He kept moving, as he increased the pace of his steps, to get as far away from his location as possible. He was guarding against the possibility of Dora getting captured, and so he preferred to be lost than to get caught.


    As he was moving very fast like he was running, he found something that attracted his attention and made him stop in his tracks. He leaned to the wall that was covered in strange pink color, with long white strips on it, and watched a person.


    He was the first person he met so far, but instead of running away from him, he moved closer with extreme caution, so he didn''t alert him.


    What attracted James to this person and made him try to sneak behind him was the movement of this person, he was moving slowly with caution as if he was trying to sneak his way in the ship.


    That person covered his face and his body with black colored suit, so James figured he either came from outside like he and Dora did, and that was unlikely, or he was preparing to go to space soon.


    James moved towards that person as he thought he was preparing to leave here, and that wouldn''t happen unless that person had planted explosives in that cruiser, enough to take it down, and James would never allow such a thing to happen.


    He wouldn''t risk destroying this ship like this, at least until he got his hands on that device, then he wouldn''t stop any attempt to blast this ship apart.

 Chapter 49: A Threat

    James followed that slow careful steps of that person for a couple of segments before he was sure of his previous guess, that person had put an energy bomb, a small tiny thing that you could miss easily, but it was deadly.


    James didn''t wait any longer, as he pointed his gun towards that person, and moved with audible steps towards him. James didn''t take a few steps before that person turned sharply and pointed another gun towards him, and strangely it was the same as James, a laser gun.


    "Who are you? You don''t belong here."


    James stopped as he recognized the owner of that sound. His eyes widened abruptly as his heartbeat raced with excitation, anger, and fear.


    "D-Do you know me?" the person asked with doubt.


    James gritted his teeth and unknowingly he took a step forward as he declared with extreme hatred:


    "Of course your excellency, you are the damn Immortal and I''m here to know how you will survive me."


    James moved the laser gun and pointed it towards that distasteful head, while that person seemed to panic as his body trembled obviously while yelling with his hands waving towards James:


    "No, stop, it''s not that deceitful person, look," he then pressed his head covered with that blackness causing the whole suit layering over his body to vanish, "Look, I''m not that Immortal."


    James just sneered as he wasn''t deceived by that move as he said:


    "Don''t think you can bluff me like you did with Dora, Charles. I already know that it''s you, the Immortal, and now you are going to die."


    "N-N-No, W-W-Wait, it''s really me, Charles. I was sent to meet Dora by one of her masters, but I was ambushed and taken captive by that person. Believe me I want to kill that person as much as you want, so I''m now bombing the wh¡­"


    He wasn''t destined to continue his speech, as James hit him with his gun. Charlesn''s eyes widened from terror and shock, then his body lost its strength and fell heavily on the ground.


    James didn''t stop in his place, as he moved fast and dragged the body towards the nearest chambers as he opened it and threw that body of Charles there. James then closed the door and started to search that young man''s body.


    That man was planting bombs all over the cruiser, so he must have a trigger to activate all these bombs. James didn''t search long before he found a small box with a button over its top; it had a central indentation with a small rounded red button in the middle.


    James had already seen many triggering devices like these back at the world he escaped from, so once he spotted it, he took it and put it into his storage bracelet.


    "Now your plan has failed, schemer."


    James kicked that dead body venting his anger and hatred upon it. he didn''t want to stay any longer, as the sight of this distasteful enemy was enough to make him lose his temper.


    He had far more important things to do right now. Just as he took one step towards that door, a small screen appeared out of nowhere. It was like the screen in his commanding deck, but it was smaller. He squinted his eyes as he didn''t feel any goodness coming from this screen, and his instinct was right.


    The screen flashed, and the face of a person appeared on it. It was an old lady, elegant as she was, as time passed on her but left only a soft touch of white hair and minimum shallow grooves on her smooth face.


    James knew if she hid these wrinkles and dyed her hair, no one would doubt she was this old. Strangely, though, he felt some familiarity coming from her, like he had seen her beautiful face before.


    "Daughter¡­"


    Once that lady opened up her mouth and spoke, James'' body jolted from his realization, he knew why this lady seemed familiar, and suddenly he smelt a stinking scent, a scent of a trap, and that lady was the decoy.


    "I-I have been held as a prisoner here by one of your enemies, he called himself the Immortal. He wants you to come back and surrender willingly, but don''t come my child, lea¡­"


    The mother didn''t have the chance to complete her words, as a hand appeared suddenly to hit her face like a whip and push her body away like she was nothing.


    James'' eyes widened in disbelief as his sight moved between the screen in front of him and that body lying motionless on the ground. The face, the same face of Charles, was the face that appeared on that screen.


    He had a face of a youngster, but he wasn''t showing any facial expression of a young man, he wasn''t showing any human expression at all. He was like a monster wearing human skin.


    James'' body was paralyzed from the train of thoughts he had in his mind, as this was bad, was really bad.


    "Listen well, kid, your sweet beloved mother is in my possession. I won''t say I will kill her, as such a gem of beauty is hard to come by. If you don''t surrender yourself to the commanding deck, then I will enjoy myself without stopping," his distasteful voice came from that screen, then he moved his face to nearly block the whole vision, "You have thirty minutes only, tick tock, tick tock."


    The screen vanished, but James didn''t recover his composure easily. He looked towards the body lying on the ground as he muttered:


    "Luckily I stunned him to lose his consciousness, or else I would be doomed."


    James then moved towards the real Charles and started to wake him up. When he realized he was Charles, he wasn''t sure he could kill him, or else he wouldn''t get the awkward name, the Immortal, so he chose to stun him instead.


    A lost consciousness enemy was as good as being dead, except he was sure this Immortal wouldn''t be immune to stun, and now that decision showed it value, as he needed that man to be awake.


    Back at his base, he learned a way to undo the stun effect of the guns, as accidents like launching stun hits from the guns happened frequently back then.


    The way to undo it was simple, just massage the place of cerebellum and the person would be awake. That place was located at the back of the neck.


    In moments, that dead-like body started to show signs of movement, and in less than a minute, Charles opened his eyes. Once he saw James, panicked, and tried to move away from him, to hit the weird pink-colored wall hard from his nervousness.


    "Take it easy, I mean you no harm," James tried to reassure him, but he failed, as the youngster in front of him was still looking at him in fear, so he added:


    "I know you aren''t that Immortal."


    "H-How can you t-tell?" Charles stuttered as the last memory he got in his mind was the laser gun in James hand launching a strike towards him.


    "Because, sigh, that Immortal kidnapped Dora''s mother and he broadcasted that to the whole ship," James said with a sigh, as he knew Dora wouldn''t let her mother face that shameful fate.


    "What?!" Charles'' body jolted awake as he stood on his legs in a sudden move. This time, James was startled by his move; however he was more shocked by the fear look over his face, a fear more deep than the one he just showed when he woke up.


    "What''s wrong?" James asked with doubt.

 Chapter 50: Contacting Doras Small Space Cruiser

    Charles didn''t reply fast as he was like someone who just received shocking news. James felt more unease, as Charles looked at him as he said decisively:


    "We have to save her."


    "Save who?"


    "Princess Dora, she is in grave danger," Charles replied as he began to look for his gun. James was at loss, so he asked again:


    "What happened to her? She is going to save her mother."


    "You don''t understand, do you think it was simple to capture me and to be replaced?"


    James paused as his mind got the general idea, so he expressed his thoughts:


    "Do you mean there is a mole in the close circle of Dora?"


    "No, I mean her mother is the mole," Charles was still looking for his gun, but he couldn''t find it, so he looked towards James as he asked:


    "Where is my gun?"


    James wasn''t in the mood right now to reply to him, as he was shocked by what he heard, so he tried to confirm Charles'' claims as he asked:


    "Are you sure? Her mother is an ally to the Immortal? How can this be?"


    "It''s complicated, and I don''t know the whole truth, but from what happened to me this lady who called herself Dora''s mother is a subordinate to the Immortal, not an ally, now where is my gun? I need to rush out and stop Dora from that trap."


    James didn''t believe him, so he asked seriously:


    "Do you have a proof?"


    Charles pointed to himself as he said:


    "I''m the proof, I was framed by that witch."


    James shook his head firmly as he replied:


    "Your words aren''t enough, she is her mother¡­ she can''t do it to her."


    Charles sighed as he said:


    "Believe it or not, that''s your business. Believe me mate; I don''t care about what you think. Just give me my gun and let me go to save Dora before it''s too late."


    James looked deeply towards Charles, that youngster wasn''t lying, or at least that was what he felt. James tried to weigh out things, if Charles was wrong, then he would risk facing that Immortal right now, but if he was right then he must save Dora.


    He also knew Dora was heading to a trap, but he didn''t think this trap would be set up by her mother.


    "Listen, the commanding deck has a spying device that I planted before I escaped from there. Just take this chip and put it into any secondary control unit scattered everywhere here and you can see and watch everything like you are there with them."


    Charles then took out a small thin black with yellow stripe chip and handed it over to James.


    "Now, give me my gun and get out of my way."


    James glanced at this chip and then towards Charles. That youngster was burning with fire, a fire for vengeance. James took a deep breath as he took out Charles gun from his storage device while saying:


    "Just tell me what you intend to do."


    "How did you¡­? Ah, forget it," Charles was surprised by the way James took out his gun, as he thought he was like a magician or something. He had no time to waste here, so he didn''t pursue this matter while saying:


    "Why do you want to know my plan?"


    "I might come with you," James replied casually.


    "Come with me? No thanks, I can do this alone. Just keep yourself out of trouble."


    Charles took the gun and didn''t take James'' words seriously, for him, James was a mere rogue adventurer who had some tricks and thought highly of himself. Charles moved outside the small room as he said before disappearing:


    "This place isn''t tightly secured from the Immortal''s men, Head this way and you will find a secondary control unit inside a small, well hidden corridor."


    James watched him disappear in a hurry while he stood silent at his place. He was trying to judge the info he received from Charles, as he was still hesitating regarding what he should do next.


    Regardless of anything, he needed to get a copy of this large cruiser interior design map, or else he would be still lost. He moved from that room, and headed straight towards the direction Charles gave to him.


    After walking for a few minutes, he managed to spot a small corridor that was dark from the outside. It was similar to the one Charles mentioned, so he entered it.


    Inside that corridor, the light was so dim that James hardly could see his own steps. at the end of this corridor, there was a small room with a semi-closed door, which he pushed it unintentionally while he was walking.


    Once the door fully opened, the whole room lit up suddenly with a bright flash of light that almost blinded him for a few seconds. After he got used to the light, he managed to see a control unit that was similar to his own at the small cruiser.


    ''That''s better, this secondary control unit is exactly the same as any small cruiser commanding deck.''


    James muttered to himself after he closed the door firmly and then sat over the only seat here. The room was smaller than his commanding deck, but that was only because it only contained the controlling unit only.


    James didn''t know what this secondary unit was used for, and he didn''t care right now by discovering the uses of it. The first thing he did wasn''t to look for Dora, or trying to follow Charles, or even searching for the map of this cruiser.


    James started first to contact his trusted aide, Rigo, as he sent him a message briefing about what happened here and asking for Rigo''s help.


    The search for Dora''s little cruiser wasn''t that hard, as the large cruiser was stalking it.


    After he sent the message, he then put the chip he took from Charles into the commanding unit, and then he waited patiently for the direct feedback from the commanding deck to be projected in front of him. During his wait, he started to look for the map of this cruiser, which he found smoothly.


    There was a good reason for Immortal''s men not to be here, as this was located at the other end of the commanding deck. The distance he needed to cross wasn''t small, but he didn''t want to move right away without knowing some facts and deciding what his next steps should be.


    Before the camera which Charles planted at the commanding deck started to broadcast, James received a transmission from Dora''s cruiser.


    He wasn''t so deep with technical matters, but he knew this unit had a separate space to act at, as long as those in the commanding deck didn''t catch a whim of his presence.


    Rigo has sent a simple message, which was a series of buttons and some codes he needed to perform. Rigo didn''t explain much, but James knew this long strain of orders and codes must be to ensure his safety and secure this secondary unit from the main deck eyes.


    James started to perform the log list of buttons and codes one by one in a hurry. He needed to secure himself before anything else.

 Chapter 51: The Immortal and The Traitor

    It didn''t take time for James to finish doing what Rigo told him to do. After he finished, a strange buzz sound echoed in the room coming from the control unit suddenly that startled James, but soon that sound was silenced.


    Everything returned to its original calm, which was interrupted again by the disappearance of part of the surface of that control unit.


    James looked into that small space that appeared, and he found a small red bead that he recognized from the first glance. This was a communication bead, he didn''t hesitate and put it into his ear.


    He felt a stinging pain that wasn''t so intense and after that he heard some echo in his ears. The bead worked and connected him to Rigo, who said:


    "Greetings supreme leader, can you hear me?"


    James smiled, it was really nice having capable men like Rigo under his command. People like him had the ability to ease any desperate situation.


    "I can hear you well," James replied.


    "Good, listen carefully supreme leader, I have access to the whole cruiser, and the cameras planted by that Charles are broadcasting directly to me. as far as I can see, there is something odd happening there inside the commanding deck," Rigo started to speak without stop, but James interrupted him as he rushed to ask:


    "Is it Dora? Is she alright?"


    "Don''t worry, she is still far from the commanding deck, yet she is taking a detour instead of heading straight to that deck," Rigo replied.


    "A detour? Are you sure?" James asked with doubt.


    "Yes, she is trying to collect many weapons, I think she is going to have war soon," Rigo said with a tone void of any joke.


    "Good girl," James commented.


    "Courage alone isn''t enough, I will now activate the transmission inside your bead, you will be able to see and hear whatever is happening inside that deck," Rigo said.


    "Good, just guide me to the shortest road to the main deck."


    "Affirmative."


    James didn''t stand in his place anymore, as he already figured out the general picture of everything.


    As he left the corridor, the transmission started as a small part of his eyesight became occupied by a small picture of what was happening inside the main deck, while there was a small map with flashing point and an arrow to guide him to the deck.


    The sound of a conversation sounded clearly inside his ears between two persons, a male and a female. James didn''t need to look closely to confirm the identity of the two, as one was the Charles imposter, the Immortal, and the other one was Dora''s mother, the traitor.


    "Do you think she would fall for it?" the Immortal said.


    "Sure, she is sentimental like her damn father," the traitor said.


    "I hope so, or else I have to send my men to capture her, and this will be difficult as I didn''t bring much with me," the Immortal said.


    "That''s negligence from you, why didn''t you bring many men with you?" the traitor said.


    "Don''t be pumped up like that, after all this is just a small step in our long journey," the Immortal said.


    "Say it again if you are the one taking advantage from here," the traitor said.


    "Don''t say these harsh words my love, you know how much I do care for you," the Immortal said.


    "Your love? Are you delusional? You are a selfish person who only loves himself," the traitor said with a laugh.


    "And you aren''t like me? It''s you who chose this mission a long time ago, don''t tell me you did it for love or fun," the Immortal replied with a sneer.


    "I really had fun, that man was really good, but I didn''t love him. as you said, we are the same species, only look for our own advantage," the traitor said.


    "I do, but I didn''t fall for the same depth you reached so far, at least I''m not trying to kill my little daughter," the Immortal smirked.


    "Really? Have you already forgotten about Den? Wasn''t he your son too when you murdered him?" the traitor said with a vicious sarcastic laugh.


    "I didn''t kill Den," the Immortal said calmly.


    "Yes, you didn''t kill him with your own hands, but you ordered your trusted men to kill him, deny it and I will call for Trogery and make him testify now," the traitor sneered.


    "Ok ok, you won," the Immortal said before adding, "now where is your beloved daughter? It''s hard for me to see you tied like this on this chair without having any thoughts."


    The two of them laughed evilly before the traitor say with a flirting tone:


    "C''mon, we''ve known each other for a thousand years now, haven''t you got tired of me yet?"


    "Get tired? Never, you are one of a kind darling, and don''t speak with me like this or else I won''t control myself," the Immortal said with a short laugh.


    "Fine, let''s stop playing then. We need to keep our silence until that dirty daughter of mine appears. As we agreed, her blood is mine this time," the traitor said seriously.


    "Sure, agreement is a sacred thing to me. I will honor my deal with you, don''t worry," the Immortal said.


    "I''m not worried, I''m just kindly reminding you," the traitor said before adding, "where are the two scepters?"


    "One is here with me, and the other is at your beloved daughter''s little cruiser," the immortal said.


    "Where is the scepter that you hold? Give it to me," the traitor said.


    "What? Don''t you trust me?" the Immortal said with a smile that wasn''t like a smile.


    "I trust you, but I trust myself better, get me my scepter now," the traitor sneered.


    "Ok, here it is, you still have this fiery temper of yours."


    Suddenly the Immortal disappeared from the screen then he returned carrying a familiar rod, a rod with a crystal in its middle, a rod that was strangely similar to the one inside Dora''s little cruiser. James'' mind froze for a moment when his eyes fell on that rod, as he muttered with disbelief:


    "This is the device then, and there are two not one, these two aren''t humans, they are monsters."

 Chapter 52: Racing Time to Save Dora

    "Are you satisfied now?" the Immortal asked while gesturing towards the scepter.


    "I will be when I get the two of them filled with those light seekers'' souls," the traitor replied as she was observing the scepter closely before adding:


    "Let''s return to our little play, and tell your men out there not to obstruct her. If anyone killed her, then everything here will be meaningless."


    "Sigh, I will stress over this for the one hundredth time. You shouldn''t be this stressed," the Immortal said.


    "Don''t act like you have nothing to do with it. If you don''t screw up in the first place, that phoenix guardian blood would have been inside the final scepter by now," the traitor said with a complaining tone.


    "Fine, it was just a single miscalculation, who would have thought that guardian to have another ally? Even you, his wife, didn''t know back then," the Immortal said defending himself.


    "Hmmm, never mind then, let''s focus on this mission and try not to screw things up again. Make sure your men stay out of the way, or else I would love to be repaid by one of yours," the traitor said.


    The Immortal snorted before heading outside for a moment. James was still watching all of this as his mind was processing all the info he heard.


    "Rigo, have you heard that?" he asked.


    "Yes, supreme leader," Rigo answered with a second delay.


    "Where is the scepter?" James asked.


    "It''s still in the commanding deck," Rigo said before adding, "Don''t worry leader, I''m the only one who can see and hear you."


    James was satisfied by Rigo''s response, as his humanoid was really smart to glue some clues together.


    "Good, I want you to keep a close eye on the scepter. There is a mole there at your place, and her job is to secure the scepter and bring it to here."


    James noticed from before that the traitor mother was concerned about the scepter in this cruiser, but she wasn''t worried at all regarding scepter at Dora''s little cruiser.


    That meant only one thing, she trusted that scepter to one of her trusted; which made James suspect the presence of a spy inside Dora''s small team. Regarding the current position of the scepter, either that traitor was one of the two main aides of Dora, or she would try to move the scepter out of the deck by any means.


    James also knew as long as the scepter was in that small ship, nothing would happen to it, but the moment they lost the scepter, all of them would die.


    "If you can''t protect the scepter, then take it and move outside of there at once. You can survive the space, right?" James said after giving more thoughts about the possibilities of such a complicated situation. The main target for him was to prevent the fall of the scepter into the hands of those two.


    "Affirmative, however even if I could survive in space, being alone there won''t make a difference," Rigo said as he paused.


    "Do you want to bring the boys in this mess?" James knew what his humanoid was referring to.


    "They have to do something, or else why did we bring them with us, right?" Rigo said jokingly. James knew he was telling the truth, as he also needed someone to pick him and Dora up. He will rescue her, and in doing that both needed an effective escape route.


    "I need them anyway to secure our escape route. Arrange things with them, and synchronize with me here. Once I managed to snatch that scepter and retreated with Dora, you should be ready to move as well, so we both would be picked up by our fleet in preparation to escape," James ordered.


    "What about our small cruisers inside that world?" Rigo suddenly asked what James almost forgot; he even slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. He totally forgot he left Eli and the other sleepy youngsters at his cruiser inside that world.


    "Issue an order for retreat, they must catch up with the rest of the fleet before we wrap things here," James said with a hurry.


    "And the rescue mission?" Rigo asked.


    "Abort that mission, we will rescue them by taking the two scepters from those two, by this we should be able to save everyone."


    "Good point supreme leader, I will relay the plan to them now," Rigo said.


    James then started to move as fast as possible towards the commanding deck. Although the map showed there was a small distance between his place and the deck, his flashing point didn''t nearly move a lot from its original place after all that running.


    He was frustrated by this; however he knew that was so logical. This cruiser was like a huge city, he couldn''t pass from east to west this rapid.


    "Where is Dora? What is she doing now?" he suddenly asked.


    "She had found an armory a few minutes ago, but she had some trouble opening the lock. Do you want me to help her?" Rigo asked.


    "No, try to delay her further and make her unable to open the armory," James hurried to say, "Keep also an eye over the places around her, if there is danger then unlock the armory at once and let her gain some fire power."


    "Affirmative."


    "How about our boys, have they regrouped yet?" James asked.


    "The small cruisers are on their return journey now, in less than two hours they will meet the fleet," Rigo replied instantly. James was really content with his efficiency, and he wondered what he would do if he didn''t gain this help from droids.


    That made him rethink again about the old prophecy and all that arrangements of the last supreme leader of this empire. things didn''t seem that simple as he thought, perhaps he was meant for something bigger.


    James had no mind to work his mind on this right now, so he postponed this for the future, then he began to focus more on his surroundings. He knew from the words of the Immortal and the traitor that their men here wouldn''t interfere with Dora.


    That traitor mother didn''t trust the words of the Immortal, and so did James. He wasn''t worried about Dora, as he knew she could handle herself better than him. He was worried from the confrontation she was about to have with her mother.


    Something like this was enough to break anyone, parents shouldn''t behave in such a way, however he wasn''t in a position to judge, he wanted only to save Dora from such a cruel fate.


    He sat his eyes on that scepter and began to wonder, why there were two of them instead of one? And why did that mother talk about having Dora''s blood? What did she intend to do with it?


    There were many questions lurking inside James'' head, but he had zero answer to any of them. He also doubted he would know enough answers to settle all this dilemma in his mind.


    Amidst all this, and as just he passed another long passage and turned to enter another, Rigo''s voice came abruptly cutting his line of thoughts:


    "There are some of those Immortal men approaching Dora, and from their pattern of movement I assume they are purposefully surrounding her."


    "That''s what I was worried about, how long do I need to reach her?"


    "At least half an hour,?? Rigo replied, "I could manipulate the separation doors to delay them and guide Dora away, but this won''t buy you a lot of time."


    "But it will help, just do it, and unlock the armory for her now," James nearly yelled anxiously as he tried to run faster.

 Chapter 53: I Depend on You, My Pulse Cannon

    At the same time, Dora was standing in front of the locked armory with a stern face as she began to hit the lock with her fist out of frustration. She had been held here for quite some time now without any signs of opening this lock.


    ''Stupid lock, why all my passwords don''t work? Are you trying to prevent me from saving my mother? I failed to protect my father, and I won''t repeat the mistake ever again. C''mon, open up a cold piece of metal, open up.''


    She began to hit it and scream with deep anger and burning hatred. She wanted to go directly to the commanding deck and save her mother, instead she couldn''t do that.


    She had no weapons at all, and she was all alone here. that bastard had his men securing all the roads to the deck. She tried to sneak earlier and she nearly got caught.


    So, she decided to retreat, behave logically and obtain some guns and grenades first. Then she would start hunting these men down until there was no one else except that Immortal.


    She lacked any trust of killing him, but at least she could paralyze him with her gun so she could rescue her mother and escape here safely. She didn''t forget James, the one who made her cross all that distance and achieve the impossible, but she knew she could either save one of the two, and apparently she chose her mother.


    Amidst her anger, the lock suddenly peeped and the gate moved slightly outwards before it slipped upward and disappeared. Dora looked with disbelief to the long room that appeared in front of her.


    Everything was dark inside, while she stood outside the room looking around her in doubt. She didn''t do anything to open that lock, then how the hell did it open? She turned around looking for any hidden person, but she found none.


    She sighed, no matter what the reason was she felt grateful. She entered the armory rapidly, where light appeared from nowhere once her foot touched the ground. There were a lot of weapons in front of her, lining with order in long lines that extended for hundreds of meters.


    She knew this armory was one of the main in this cruiser, and it was meant to arm a whole army with different units, so she didn''t feel any surprise by the huge number of weapons here.


    The weapons were arranged from the personal guns ending with big spaceships cannons. She knew what she needed, so she went first towards the personal guns and picked up two guns, a pulse gun and spear gun.


    She then moved towards the batteries corner and she got herself a couple of batteries for her two guns. She didn''t know how long the battle would take, but she had to be ready for anything.


    She then moved towards the grenade rack, and there she picked up three grenade belts, one for soldiers, other for defensive cannons, and the last one was with a huge destructive force that would create small holes even in this large cruiser.


    She needed that, as she planned to exit here like she entered, through a hole in the cruiser, and this time she would create the hole herself.


    Just as she was finished here, her ears picked up a slight sound coming from outside. She froze in her place, and started to focus more.


    ''There are some company coming here, I should get ready for them.''


    She knew she couldn''t hide, as the whole armory was lightened right now and she had no ability to turn off the lights. So, she decided to fight back, and she intended to do it in the most effective way.


    She ran towards the place of pulse cannons. Although these cannons were meant to be for small cruisers, they weren''t the heavy, and they could be stabilized on the ground easily without the need to fix them at all.


    She got one of the cannons and moved it as fast as she could towards a suitable place, then she activated the ground firing mode of it. A thick tripod emerged from the cannon to stabilize it on the ground, with two handles appearing from the sides and a small blue screen appearing from the top.


    She held the two handles, which were responsible for firing the cannon, and focused on the screen where she chose to select targets automatically.


    There was no friend here; all were her enemies, so she didn''t hesitate to activate that mode. All she had to do was to grip the handles tightly and let the cannons do the rest.


    Aiming, guiding pulses, determining the degree of severity of the attacks, and even using pulses as a protective shield were all done by a smart tech system implemented in that cannon.


    ''Let''s have some revenge, shall we?''


    She muttered as she focused more on the sounds coming from the outside. Whoever coming here was moving with extra care, but the whole cruiser was empty so any sound no matter how small it was, was easily heard by her.


    Just as the sounds came closer to the entrance of the armory, the lights of the whole armory shut down like a magic spell was used on them. Dora was startled as she left the handles from her surprise and turned around her with fear.


    After a few moments of loss, she heard another voice besides her heartbeats, her enemies entered the armory and they were hitting the long racks inside it.


    It hit her without any prior notice, as this sudden change had given her absolute protection, and made her enemies be disturbed. No matter who did this, it was done to help her, and she regained her focus and calm after realizing this truth.


    ''Thanks to whoever is watching over me.''


    She thought to herself, as she recalled the previous opening of the armory locks without doing anything. She began to picture another scenario where she was still trapped outside the armory without any guns or place to hide. She would be captured or killed right now under that ambush.


    She didn''t know who helped her, but this wasn''t the time for her to be distracted, so she smiled confidently as the voices of these soldiers hitting everything here was echoing louder and louder.


    ''I depend on you, my pulse cannon.''

 Chapter 54: Ten Minutes Only, No Second More

    She held the handles again, which activated the automatic shooting system of this cannon. At once, her screen flashed with surprisingly twelve dots representing twelve living targets. She didn''t expect their number to be this high, she thought they were four up to five of them.


    She felt more gratitude to whoever saved her life at this moment, and as she was feeling this positive, her cannon screamed with repetitive shots one after another targeting these enemies.


    Not all of them were on the same line of sight or aim for her, so some pulses hit the racks inside this armor causing multiple explosions that caused the armory to tremble a little, yet she didn''t let go of her handles.


    She knew as long as she held the handles, the cannon wouldn''t stop firing until all living targets were killed, so she didn''t trust those explosions and trusted the system of this cannon.


    She was lucky to judge right this time, as not all of them died under these pulses or explosions. Some were wearing guarding suits that absorbed much of the firepower of the cannon pulses. That was evident on her little screen, and before the cannon could rain fire again, she was heavily attacked as retaliation from those survivors.


    The cannon activated the defense shield pulses, which had the ability to absorb nearly fifty percent of a full pulse cannon fire, so it had no issue at all withstanding all these small weak pulses and shots from their personal guns.


    As she was secured, the cannon regained its offense and started to rain fire over their heads. This time, the number of them was shortened to less than one quarter, as there were only three of them still standing. Killing them was a breeze task for that cannon, which began to cool off after that.


    Dora looked at it and sighed, if she had the ability to keep that thing, she would be happy as it felt more secure having it alongside her, but she couldn''t. moving around with this big cannon was very tiring after all.


    She sighed as the light miraculously returned again to shine the whole place like daylight. She left the cannon and moved with wide steps towards the bodies of these fallen soldiers. Once she reached there she froze, as those weren''t the Immortal soldiers, they were part of her own force.


    ''What the hell?!!''


    She moved towards one of them to have a clear view, he was really part of her private army. Her mind began to spin creating questions without any answers. She didn''t believe it at first, so she began to roam the place checking the twelve bodies lying dead on the floor.


    ''They are all part of her squadron, what is going on here? is she..., oh no, that means everything is at risk now.''


    Her face became ashen white as she began to picture all the possible scenarios to the effects of such treason, and each one of them was extremely bad. She felt shock, sadness, and anger towards such treason, especially because she was so kind to her. How could she do something this awful to her?


    ''I have to find a way to warn them, everyone there is at risk, also James'' fleet is also at risk. I have to find a small controlling unit somewhere here and try to send a message out for them.''


    Dora was nervous, and she began to panic. This treason came at a critical time, and she could do nothing to retaliate. All she could do was damage control only. although she had many questions and doubts, she didn''t hesitate to exit the armory and head straight towards the nearest secondary control unit.


    The unit was ten minutes away from the armory, and fifteen minutes away from the main deck, creating a triangle with both of them. Dora moved with haste as she wanted to alarm everyone, however just as she passed through the passage leading to the armory, a screen popped up in front of her. It wasn''t a single screen, as all the monitoring screens here projected the same thing, the distasteful face of that Immortal.


    "Dora, why are you so late? I''m getting bored with my child, and your mother is really tempting. Look at her body, what a figure!???


    The screen then moved a little showing her mother, tied to a sofa with her body naked except from her thin slim underwear. Dora''s mind froze as she didn''t expect that Immortal to be this low.


    "See? She is really good, and I believe you have other things in your little mind to do, so I will leave you to do whatever you want and I will do whatever I desire. By the way, do you want the feed to be on? if you want to listen to your mother moans, then I won''t mind sharing the fun with you. What do you think?"


    This time Dora couldn''t control herself, she abandoned any prior plans of alarming anyone and moved straight forward towards the armory. She grabbed that big pulse cannon and moved carrying it with extreme anger and hatred towards the main deck.


    The cannon was somehow heavy, but she didn''t feel its weight amidst her stormy feelings. Every step she took was like a burning fire that ignited her more, as only one idea possessed her mind right now.


    She would blast a hole in the main cruiser''s body and let the space decide if this man was really Immortal or not.


    "Well, I will be fair to you, I will give you ten minutes, ten minutes only. if you don''t show your little self here by then, I will enjoy this feast and I will broadcast it to you so you can enjoy with me," his face then closed in to fill the whole screen with his vicious features as he threatened:


    "Ten minutes only, no second more or you know the consequences."


    The screen then shifted again towards her mother showing her alluring sexy body. Dora felt more fire inside her, as she tried to run faster. Her mind tried to warn her, this was obviously a trap, but her vengeance was stronger.


    "I won''t make you wait for long, bastard."


    Dora screamed with extreme anger as she passed through a crossing between multiple paths. She had to take the north path, but as she was about to set foot there, the door suddenly closed in a move that she didn''t expect, so she slammed the door heavily with her body to fall on the ground rolling a couple of times.


    She stood up angrily looking towards that segmental door and her mind was out of work right now, her anger was controlling every reaction from her, so she took the pulse gun, activated it tripod and launched a strike blasting the door and part of the path into shreds.


    "Nothing would stop me from getting there, do you hear me bastard? Nothing!"


    She deactivated the cannon and resumed her run towards the commanding deck.


    On the other side, James had also seen that broadcast and the threat coming from that Immortal. He gritted his teeth, as he knew that this was only a play between the traitor mother and that Immortal. He had heard every single word the two exchanged.

 Chapter 55: Capturing Dora

    This was Dora''s mother''s idea, an idea that revealed another dirty side of this woman. James felt extreme anger towards her, how could a mother do all of this to her child? Own girl? That wasn''t acceptable, however he knew Dora must be in a more desperate situation right now.


    ''Supreme leader, I tried to delay her but she blasted the segmental door,'' Rigo''s voice suddenly appeared distracting James from his conflicted thoughts.


    ''How could she be able to blast a door with a single gun?'' James wondered with doubt.


    ''She had a pulse cannon from that armory,'' Rigo simply explained.


    ''A pulse cannon...Hmmm, this girl is going crazy right now. Does she plan to blast a hole at the commanding deck?''


    James muttered as he moved with his utmost speed towards the commanding deck. He needed fifteen minutes to reach there, and Dora needed less than eight minutes.


    Seven minutes difference wasn''t big, however fatal. He wasn''t sure if the Immortal and that dirty woman would kill Dora once she reached there or not. James prayed for any miracle to happen, as he had no ability to help her right now.


    Despite his prayers, nothing happened and the clock was ticking mercilessly. Dora had already reached the long wide path leading to the commanding deck. There was no one there at the door, but she was sure there was a trap lying in wait for her.


    She was controlled by anger, however she still had some reasoning inside her, she wasn''t driven completely mad from her hatred and anger, so the first thing she did was to use her cannon.


    She got used to using it, as she activated the cannon, let it stand on its thick three sturdy tripods, aimed at the pinky door of her commanding deck and then she blasted the door.


    A hole appeared amidst a cloud of dust and wreckage, however she didn''t enter there at once as she held her cannon and aimed towards the sides of this gate. The cannon had a scanning ability which showed the presence of five hidden soldiers between her and the deck.


    This was the trap set by that bastard, that was what she thought before she held the two handles of the cannon firmly and a rain of fire fell upon those five to blast them and the places they were hiding to pieces.


    "Come out bastard, I''m here to kill you."


    Dora screamed as she got the mark of the presence of two persons inside that deck. There was no one in front of her lying in ambush, however she wasn''t sure which dot of the two at the screen belonged to her mother.


    She refrained from firing as she waited nervously for the reply of that Immortal. If she could determine the way his voice came from, she could easily determine which dot she would fire at.


    Few stressful moments passed as she noticed the movement of the two dots together, they were both heading towards the door. She tightened her grip over the handles as her heartbeats drummed loudly in her ears. The sound of her heartbeats was getting louder and louder, with each passing second she felt more annoying. Eventually she couldn??t bear to hear it, to fall on the floor closing her eyes with two men coming from behind her. They were perfectly hidden and didn''t move until she lowered her guard. Just a tiny slip of focus and she lost everything.


    Her body lay motionless as she entered into a short coma. She was stunned from behind and now she was like a cute doll, had no power to resist anymore.


    The Immortal and her mother came out of the door calmly. The presence of that cannon came as a surprise to them, but the Immortal''s arrangements bore fruit finally. Without the two sneakily hidden men of his, dealing with her would be too risky.


    "Didn''t you tell me you sent your men away from here?" the mother said in a doubtful tone.


    "Well, this proved my precautions were needed, right?" the Immortal replied with a smug smile. The mother didn''t feel good towards that, so she said:


    "Order your men to move her inside, we need to finish everything here fast."


    The Immortal seemed not to care about the doubtful tone of her as he waved his hand towards the two men while saying:


    "You heard the lady, bring this chick inside, and move that goddamn cannon away."


    The two men nodded silently as they first deactivated the cannon, moved it inside one of the side rooms, and then they returned to carry the body of comatosed Dora inside the commanding deck.


    Everything that happened here was seen partly by James, as he was less than seven minutes away from the deck. He hoped nothing bad would happen to Dora.


    The other thing he was thinking about was how to save Dora, retrieve that scepter from that dirty woman, and escape safe and sound from there. The failed plan of Dora appealed to him, especially there was a cannon lying in wait inside a close by room.


    ''Rigo, keep a close eye over the whole place around the commanding deck, see if there is any hidden ambush or traps there and inform me with anything unusual.''


    ''Affirmative.''


    James had already gotten used to Rigo''s way of speech, as this humanoid was always direct and straight in receiving orders, efficient at executing them, and decisive with no extra unnecessary talk like ''why we do this and why can''t we go there.''


    James returned to focus on two things only, running as fast as he could, and nervously watching the ongoing events inside the commanding deck.


    Inside the deck, the Immortal stood side by side with the traitor mother who was watching her own child being carried by the Immortal''s men to be placed inside the deck.


    The door was blasted already, so there was no way to close it. this didn''t bother any one of the two as they were only focusing over the sleepy body of Dora.


    "I have to admit it, your kid is really hot," the Immortal said with his disgusting lust.


    "Don''t think about it," the traitor said in a warning tone.


    "Why? Are you perhaps jealous?" the Immortal said with a playful tone as he moved closer to Dora''s sleepy body, who was now tied over a metallic chair.


    "Stay away from her," the traitor said with a more aggressive tone.


    "What? Don''t tell me you are concerned about her?" the Immortal raised his hands away from Dora''s body as he said with a sneer.


    "Don''t act like you don''t know. I need her body pure and not tarnished by anything," the traitor said waving the scepter in her hand towards him.


    "Ah sorry, it was my bad. Now, what are you going to do?" the Immortal said with a fake innocence.

 Chapter 56: The Traitor Fell for Her Own Dirty Schemes

    The traitor glared at him for a moment as if she was tired from his attitude, then she moved towards Dora''s sleepy body and pointed the scepter on her forehead as she tapped gently over her head while muttering:


    "Child of the guardians, wake up and answer the call to your soul."


    The body of her daughter shivered slightly before Dora opened her eyes slowly. She was like a sleeping beauty waking up after a long sleep and amazing dream.


    "Mother?!"


    Dora muttered with a weak voice that seemed so tiring to speak this single word. The traitor tapped again with her scepter on Dora''s forehead while saying:


    "Don''t worry my child, everything will be alright. Let your soul be free and set ablaze any darkness in the way."


    For the second time Dora''s body shivered, stronger this time. Dora took a few moments until her body calmed down again. Without the ties around her body, arms, and legs she would have fallen from the seat.


    "Mom, what is happening to me? Why do I feel the fire inside me?"


    Dora''s voice came stronger, with some pain in it while she was asking her mother. The traitor didn''t pause even for a second as she tapped the scepter again over Dora''s forehead while muttering:


    "Let the fire burn and expel all the pollutants from your body. Shine brightly and let your light enlighten my holy scepter with your light and fire."


    Dora''s body shivered again, vigorously this time. her body continued to shiver for minutes, and finally it began to convulse. White foam began to come out of her mouth with a look of terror radiating from her eyes.


    The terror and torture didn''t last for long, as a wound opened in the middle of Dora''s forehead with a long thin line of blood dissipated from that wound heading straight towards the scepter.


    The blood passed from one end of the scepter heading directly towards the crystal in the middle of it. The clear crystal began to shine with strange vibrant red light to paint the whole deck in red color like blood.


    It was like a small red sun had appeared in there, which was a sign warmly welcomed by the traitor who ignored her daughter''s screams of pain.


    "What are you doing, mom? Why are you torturing me? why are you standing beside that bastard?"


    Dora''s loud, yet full of pain and doubt voice echoed in the whole deck. Her words were met by a wave of laughter and applause from the Immortal who said to the traitor:


    "Do you want me to tell her or do you prefer to do this yourself?"


    The traitor mother looked with amusing look towards her daughter as she said:


    "My foolish daughter, do you think I was just a normal person that fell in love with your father? Your guardian of the phoenix dear father was just a target for me, a target I selected and played from the day of our first meeting till the day of his death."


    Dora''s face began to twist more with pain and shock. She was still not able to believe what she just heard from the woman in front of her, from her mother.


    "W-What did you do to my mother? Where is my mother you damn imposter? I will kill you, all of you," Dora screamed with deep pain mixed with anger.


    "Hahaha, that girl is really funny. She is thinking we replaced you, that''s hilarious," the Immortal said.


    "Don''t bother, she will die anyway in the next few minutes," the traitor said as she held the scepter high while checking the crystal with a stern look. Something seemed off here in this scepter.


    "What do you mean by that? Are you really my mother? W-What did you do? Did you kill father and now you are trying to kill me?" Dora was heading straight for mental breakdown as she screamed with manic tone and tortured features.


    "Your father? Do you think your father was an angel? Wake up foolish girl, you are a child of an eldreman and elderwoman of phoenix guardian clan and shadow ice clan.


    The two clans of your father and mother are rivals, enemies for the same purpose, to live longer and grow stronger. You are just a mere side product casted by us to serve our purposes.


    If I didn''t kill your father with the help of the Immortal here then your father would have killed me by his friend. Either way you would have ended tied up here on this cold seat waiting for death to come upon you.


    Your father or your mother won''t make any difference, as both of us aimed for your blood and soul. You were doomed the day you were born."


    The mother didn''t care about the feelings of her daughter as her mind was occupied by something else. The scepter wasn''t working as it should be, which was something weird.


    She looked towards the Immortal in doubtful eyes as she muttered:


    "A light scepter can''t reject the blood of this child, what does this mean? What have you done? I will kill you!"


    The mother was viciously threatening the Immortal, who didn''t show any expression on his face except a wide grin from ear to ear, then he laughed. His laugh was so irritating that even that traitor didn''t withstand it, as she screamed on his face:


    ??What are you laughing at? What scheme did you do, bastard?"


    The Immortal seemed to go crazy, as he didn''t stop his laughs instead he laughed more loudly and wildly. He was an exact copy of a mad man, a man who lost everything, or won it all.


    "Damn you, I will kill you."


    The traitor then waved the scepter towards the Immortal, however a weirder thing happened, the scepter didn''t follow her commands, instead it began to float like it was strung with invisible threads that manipulated it.


    "What are you doing? Do you plan to steal her away from me like you did with her father?" the traitor said with a shivering voice as she stepped a couple of steps to the back. She smelled the scent of scheme, dirty scheme that smelled bad.


    "Don''t worry my dear, everything will be over soon. All the materials needed for finalizing the two weapons are ready, and now the strongest weapon ever made in our history will be done thanks to you and your foolishness and greed."


    This voice didn''t come from the Immortal, but from one of the men who carried the body of Dora inside the deck. He was a young man with a well known face to the traitor, however Dora''s mother knew that voice didn''t belong to that youth.


    "W-What are you doing here, Ricaro?" she muttered as her body trembled faintly but visibly from shock and fear.


    She knew the identity of this man, a very dangerous man that she couldn''t imagine to face right now in this critical moment.


    "What? Is this the warm welcome I expected from you? C''mon, don''t show me this face, you should be proud. You are going to make history."


    The youth body changed drastically to show another body, a body of a warrior. He had bulging muscles, with a four meters tall body and long hair that was gathered together to form three long bundles.


    He was Ricardo, the head of the shadow ice clan. He was a man known for his cruelty and cold heart, a man who was known as the son killer as he once killed his own son to gain strength.


    His appearance here changed everything for her, as she saw her own death approaching especially when that scepter changed direction in midair and pointed now to her forehead.


    She was doomed.

 Chapter 57: Causing A hole in The Deck

    On the other hand, James was watching all this drama as he was getting closer every passing second towards the deck. He knew his mission now got complicated with the appearance of that new man, however he now had good grasp on the general situation.


    It seemed these two hideous men target from the start wasn''t Dora, instead her mother, that traitor. Inside his soul James felt some relief, as he was sure Dora''s mother wouldn''t fall easily without good fight.


    He needed her to buy him some precious seconds, so he could reach there in time. the next thing he was thinking about was how he would save Dora. She was now fixed to a metallic seat.


    That seat acted as a hindrance and a savior. James now could implement his initial plan of Dora and blow the place up. He didn''t need to worry about Dora, as she was not stable and secure at that seat.


    However what remained now was how to save them both afterwards. He was kind of certain these three enemies had ways to survive such a blow, so he could only get use of the initial chaos and confusion he would cause by his appearance.


    That would grant him a few minutes, so he needed to use these minutes the best so he could save Dora and safely escape here.


    "Rigo, be ready to pick us up."


    He had only one way to do that. If his enemies goal would be to return to here, then his goal was to escape out from the deck. He also was aiming to get the scepter which was now floating above Dora''s tied body.


    The scepter was now pointing its edge towards Dora''s mother, whose face became ashen white as she muttered in fear:


    "Why? Why are you doing this? We are on the same team!"


    "Hahaha, same team? Did you forget your origin, daughter of light? You came to us escaping from your team, as you held a grudge against them," the new man, Ricaro, said with a loud laugh. He seemed very amused with this situation.


    "But I did everything you asked from me and I paid everything dear to me to our shadow ice group," Dora''s mother didn''t lose hope as she argued back.


    "Don''t try, we already are convinced of killing you. A traitor will always be a traitor," Ricaro said with a chuckle.


    "And a comrade killer will always be a comrade killer," Dora''s mother turned sharply towards the Immortal as she screamed angrily, "Are you going to let him kill me like this? It won''t be long till he turned his blade towards you too."


    The immortal grinned as he replied:


    "No, he is only making immortal weapons from the filthy blood of the light daughters only."


    "That''s for now, but what will happen when he wants to make weapons out of the darkness blood? Would he spare you or kill you like me?" Dora''s mother''s voice became stronger and louder as she finally found her argument to bid her whole life on.


    She knew the decisive element here wasn''t Ricaro, but the Immortal. She was ready to give up anything and anyone but to keep her life. she didn''t live all this long time to be wasted in a place like this.


    "Don??t be misled by her words, she had a sweet tongue but a toxic nature. She betrayed her old group before, and will betray us later. Let''s get rid of her now," Ricaro said, trying to negate the effects of Dora''s mother words, however his words didn''t serve its purpose as they made the Immortal more doubtful.


    If he was confident in himself and knew Dora''s mother words were false, then he wouldn''t be so defensive like this. That made the Immortal more wary from his leader for the first time.


    He never thought about Ricaro to be such a man, however when his mind began to head on this path, he recalled some old events that made him more anxious. This wasn''t the first incidence for Ricaro to be suspected in killing a teammate.


    And that was a bad sign, a doubt that came in the critical moment which turned everything up. The once perfect plan now turned out to be messed up.


    The three exchanged silent glances at each other. Ricaro was thinking how he would face the two of them. He came here in preparation for a celebration to have his long awaited weapon, however things took a sharp turn now towards a direction he never imagined.


    He wasn''t ready for a war, nor prepared to fight two of the strongest fighters under him. He had no confidence in besting the two here.


    On the other hand, Dora''s mother began to see a glimpse of hope coming from far. She fell in a perfect trap of Ricardo and the Immortal, a trap that never passed her mind at all. However now she managed to insert the seeds of doubts deep into the Immortal soul.


    She knew the Immortal so well, a wicked and hideous person, but he also was very cautious and suspicious. She now managed to push that doubtful person to suspect and not trust his leader. For her that was enough, as she knew no matter what Ricaro tried to do or say, the Immortal would never trust him or help him.


    That was her perfect counter in this desperate situation.


    As for the Immortal, he knew his decision would determine everything here. He couldn''t trust Ricaro as he doubted him already. The Immortal was a sneaky bastard that usually took any slight advantage to seize more benefits for him.


    That made him suspect everyone to be like him, so he developed this habit of suspecting everyone and anything. At the same time, he knew if he teamed up with Dora''s mother he could eliminate Ricaro.


    That would serve his benefit better than ever, as Dora'' mother was weaker than him. the only variable here was who would suffer most between the two?


    To be safe, he decided to weaken Dora''s mother first, before attacking Ricaro. So he manipulated the scepter to begin absorbing the blood of Dora''s mother, who screamed suddenly from the outrageous pain.


    "Hahaha, see? He is my loyal man, he won''t betray me as I won''t betray him."


    Ricaro said that with a sneer, however all of them knew the situation was more complicated than that.


    At this critical complicated moment, a loud and massive explosion occurred suddenly by a missile launched from the pulse cannon Dora had brought here before. This time, the attack fell directly on the part separating the deck from the outside cold and deadly space.


    "Bomb."


    A loud explosion caused the whole deck to tremble then all the lights went off. The system started to fail with a wide opening appearing in this deck, an opening connecting the outside space with the deck.


    "I finally made it in time."


    James muttered as he witnessed the three enemies get sucked in a flash towards the outer space without giving them any moment to react.

 Chapter 58: Rigos Brilliant Mind

    At the same time, things didn''t look any better at the small cruiser where Rigo and Dora''s team were at right now.


    The constant attacks coming from every movable piece of metal in this space made it so hard to steer the cruiser safely. Many times the situation got really bad, and with some streaks of luck they managed to reach safety.


    This credit mostly went to the brilliant effort of Rigo, and if everyone else around him knew he did that while monitoring the huge cruiser and helping James and Dora, then they might feel stupid.


    Rigo was doing something miraculous, something that humans couldn''t do anything like it, or even near it.


    Everything was going on just fine according to plan, as Rigo used the focused attacks towards the small cruiser to direct it more closer towards the big ship.


    He wanted to be as close as possible waiting for the right moment when James would need his help.


    However as he had an extraordinary brain that was augmented by modern technology, he sensed something was off from Dora''s behavior.


    The brief moments between the killing of the Immortal men and the broadcast of the live feedback from the deck didn''t pass like that over Rigo. Rigo began to analyze everything related to that moment.


    He knew something seemed off, as the logical behavior of Dora was to head straight to the deck, however she turned sharply to take a turn away from the deck.


    After some initial analysis, Rigo concluded that she was heading straight towards the secondary commanding unit. That conclusion, coupled with the facial features of her and the analysis of her lips made him realize something.


    There was a traitor on this ship, and Dora had discovered him or her. That idea was realistic and logical as the Immortal and that traitor had planned for this very carefully.


    They wouldn''t let the scepter be here without having an eye over it. the question that raged into his mechanical mind was: how many traitors were here on this little ship?


    Logically and strategically speaking, his mind reached the conclusion of the presence of two agents working for the Immortal and the traitor separately without each one knowing the other.


    That way would add more chaos to the current situation. The next thing he thought about was the identity of these two. For him it didn''t take long to deduct the true identity of the two agents, one was Dizy and the other was Anna.


    Both were close aides to Dora, and both were now present next to him in this deck. It was normal for them to be here, and that made their betrayal more painful and hard to defend against.


    However he wasn''t like normal humans or living creatures in this universe. He was a droid, human droid designed for warfare. The issue that made him hesitate wasn''t how to eliminate both of them, but when.


    The timing was everything. If he acted now, then anyone of the two might alarm their bosses. He didn''t want to do that, so he had to wait for James to announce his presence and then he would act.


    However he feared for his move to be too late, especially as he was alone in this ship. Who knew who else was on the side of these two traitors? For Rigo it was a statistical calculation that his mind dealt with.


    And that made him more efficient in finding the right solution to this situation. He first searched for any illegal transmission going back and forth from this cruiser.


    As he anticipated, he found two illegal transmissions coming from the commanding deck. What he didn''t account for was the presence of a third transmission coming from the heart of the cruiser.


    There was a third traitor, and that traitor seemed not to belong to any of the two enemies of James. That was weird, as he couldn''t find any third enemy out there yet.


    That mysterious enemy acted as a variable he couldn''t anticipate, so he waited patiently for that enemy to show himself up.


    During his wait, the two lying in ambush traitors here didn''t have his patience. When Dora was captured, a bloody fight erupted so sudden inside the commanding deck, as the Dizy and Anna acted without any hesitation to point their guns towards Rigo.


    Both looked with surprise and shock to each other, as for the one who got threatened by their guns, he didn''t feel any surprise at all. They just moved a couple of minutes earlier than he expected.


    And that didn''t change anything at all for him. for the time being he feigned weakness and surprise as he acted the role of a shocked person brilliantly that made the two traitors exclude him from this fight.


    They thought the other traitor was the real danger here, and both were wrong. Rigo sat there calmly watching this play in front of him like a ferocious beast watching his two little adorable prey to finish their hassle before eating them both.


    The moment they excluded him from their minds was the moment their fate was doomed.


    Rigo stayed at his seat exchanging silent looks towards the two girls who were pointing to each other their guns with glaring eyes who didn''t show anything near jokes.


    They were ready to kill each other if the situation escalated to such a stage.


    "What are you two doing?"


    Rigo didn''t plan to let the two reach the logical conclusion in this situation, which was to wait for their bosses to finish their war before they decide who would take the lead and who would follow.


    After all the two were teammates in the same team for years, they were sisters before they were friends.


    Rigo would never let them unite together, so his main role now was to make this situation continue and develop towards the direction he aimed for.


    He wanted the three traitors to die right here and as soon as possible before James started his move out there.

 Chapter 59: Killing Two Birds with One Stone

    Dizy and Anna looked seriously towards Rigo silently for a few moments. He faked being afraid as he said:


    "I will do whatever you ask of me, however tell me where you want to go and I will move the ship there."


    "Go towards the large space cruiser of Dora."


    Both of them replied instantly with the same thing, which was also the same desire of Rigo. He didn''t want to show any alarming emotions, so he said:


    "That ship is trying to kill us, are you sure you want to go near it? I don''t guarantee reaching it in one piece."


    Rigo knew what the two would say, however before they say anything he added:


    "There is an illegal transmission coming from the heart of the ship. Is that person related to you two?"


    His words piqued the doubt before interest of the two ladies. Dizy, who was the most aggressive out here said:


    "What transmission? There is none except us."


    Rigo didn''t reply with words, as he controlled the navigation unit to show the info of the illegal transmissions outside the commanding deck. The two ladies looked towards the unit with great doubt, however both of them were very experienced in dealing with that unit.


    They knew there was another mole inside the cruiser, a third party that they didn''t know a thing about. So they both began to relay info to their superiors, at the same time Rigo turned the ship sharply to head straight towards the large cruiser.


    James was about to reach the location of the hidden cannon in any moment now, and that meant he would need his help soon, so soon.


    So he needed to get rid of the three traitors here, or at least they shouldn''t get in the way of saving his supreme leader.


    At this moment, the third person appeared in the large cruiser commanding deck, which was Ricaro. The third mole here belonged to Ricaro.


    With the sudden turn of events at the commanding deck of Dora''s large cruiser, the situation inside the small cruiser''s commanding deck began to become more nervous.


    Dizy, who was the one acting for Dora''s mother, was in a more disadvantageous situation regarding the number of allies, as she had none while Anna had one.


    However in reality, the addition of this one wasn''t that effective. Dizy was a giant race fighter, and that meant dealing with her would be a difficult mission.


    That was in addition to the presence of Anna''s ally away from her, and that made her situation worse and quite opposite to the situation of her superior, the Immortal.


    Rigo was keeping a keen eye over the movements of the three inside Dora''s commanding deck and here. After a few nervous minutes, Dora''s mother managed to turn the tables over Ricaro and the Immortal.


    The allies turned their weapons against each other, and their decision was similar at this moment. They would focus first in seizing the scepter in the little cruiser before settling things in the large cruiser.


    So, Dizy didn''t hesitate to press the trigger and attack Anna, who was ready for her as well as she activated the defense shield to absorb all the destructive power of this attack.


    "Don''t mess up here, this is the commanding deck. If you want all to be killed mercilessly in the space, then go ahead and blow this commanding deck into shreds and let us all die."


    His yelling came in a perfect moment where the minds'' of the two were focusing on how to kill each other with the least losses. After all, the threat of the unknown third party here was grave.


    "Don''t speak nonsense and focus on flying the ship towards the large cruiser," Dizy coldly ordered.


    "We won''t go outside, as there is an unknown enemy who wouldn''t hesitate in killing everyone here, you included," Anna said in an attempt to attract Rigo to her side.


    Anna''s position worsened, after all she just lost her aiding ally who wasn''t even known to her. So now she had to deal with this giant race natural killer and then guard against the unknown enemy.


    At the end her survival chances were the lowest out of the three, and Rigo knew this fact, however his interest wasn''t in keeping himself alive, but keeping his supreme leader''s life.


    For Rigo, blasting the ship was the most logical and easiest way to seize the scepter. At this critical nervous moment, Rigo gave the signal to James to interfere and blow the commanding deck up at the large cruiser.


    At the same time, Rigo faked fear as he yelled in a warning tone:


    "Watch out Anna, there is someone approaching the door of the commanding deck now."


    His scream came at the same time with the loud bang that happened in the other commanding deck. For the two ladies here, the sound that came in their ears was related directly to the door of this commanding deck.


    So spontaneously and without any thinking both turned their guns and directed them towards the door of the commanding deck. They didn''t relieve their fingers off the trigger except after a few moments of continuous shooting at the door.


    They stopped, as the door didn''t have any hole or damage at all. They were using personal guns, when the sound that echoed inside their ears was the sound of a cannon, which was able to blast a large whole in the body of this ship.


    At the same time, both felt severe burning pain that was followed by a numbing sensation that invaded their entire bodies. That came from the effects of a pulse gun that was in the hand of the only person they didn''t guard against, Rigo.


    The two looked in stupefied looks towards the back, as they witnessed Rigo standing up with his two arms holding guns. If they focused closely at his arms, they would be astonished to find out that his two arms transformed themselves into two pulse guns.


    However their bodies had more than half a dozen shots from Rigo. Their bodies were barely holding up at this moment.


    "I-It was you, y-you are Ricaro''s man," Dizy muttered with great difficulty, however Rigo didn''t correct her. He pressed the trigger again and his two old fashioned, yet deadly guns attacked Dizy and Anna again to put an end to their lives.


    Rigo didn''t correct her as he knew very well that the other side could hear what was going on here. This was a needed push from him to the hesitant Immortal to make him think wrongly he was Ricaro''s man.


    And this sudden attack came to confirm Ricaro''s bad intentions for him, so the three would be enemies and wouldn''t be allied together.


    As for the third mole inside the cruiser, Rigo was keeping an eye for everyone and he spotted two persons to be suspected as Ricaro''s men. It suited Ricaro, as he was a very poisonous person who always played with tricks and traps.


    So planting two people here was a move that fitted a dirty mind like his. However the scepter now was secured with Rigo, who was now totally focused over moving the ship with the highest possible speed towards the large cruiser.


    His supreme leader would need his aid soon, very soon. After that he would be free to deal with those traitors inside this little cruiser.

 Chapter 60: The Tough Situation Turned into A Desperate One

    Rigo then moved to secure the scepter. The scepter was lying on the navigation unit calmly like a piece of dead wood, however Rigo felt some weird surge of energy once he held it.


    That meant there was a hidden source of power that was way greater than his own. Rigo was a humanoid, a war made droid specific for killing and excellent at warfare.


    His energy core was something that couldn''t be taken lightly, and as far as he knew there were rare sources of energy out there in the universe that could rival his.


    His energy source could provide energy to a whole world for a century, that made him more wary of this scepter. Thinking there was another one on the other cruiser made him feel astonished.


    To make him, his Rojedia empire had spent great effort just to make him. The other droids had unique sources of energy too, however none was even half like him.


    Rigo took the scepter and put it inside the bracelet he took once before from James, then he returned to his seat as he began to continue his complicated tasks.


    At the other cruiser, the situation was now somehow stabilized. The hole that James did had sucked all the non-fixed things no matter how large they were.


    So after a few minutes, the whole commanding deck became deadly silent. Darkness invaded the deck as the lights were shocked after the explosion and went off. The main units commanding this cruiser were still functioning, or else this cruiser might have stopped moving long ago.


    James depended on this movement to add more to the chaos for his enemies. He needed to buy himself and Dora as much time as possible.


    The only problem now was about that scepter. Even with the irresistible physical suction force created by the whole and the difference in pressure between the two spaces, the scepter didn''t even budge a millimeter from its place.


    That made James more wary about it, how could he move that scepter and take it away?


    He had only one move to pull, which was to try and store that scepter inside his bracelet. Otherwise he doubted his ability to move this scepter from its place no matter what he did.


    The situation wasn''t still stable, yet he had no time to waste. James moved very carefully towards the deck, while he didn''t let loose of his cannon. He must ensure his and Dora''s safety.


    After all he was still inside the heart of the enemy''s fort.


    The more he neared the blasted door of the deck, the stronger the attracting force he was subjected to.


    His eyes were only fixated upon Dora and the scepter above her. The problem he had now was the way to her, as once he reached the blasted door he knew it.


    If he stepped one foot inside like this, he would immediately be absorbed by that opened mouth without mercy. He depended on that force to escape here, however that was his obstacle now.


    James began to scan the deck for anything that might help him. sadly, the place was nearly clear of anything that he might grab. He only had that fixed seat in the middle of the room, and the cannon he was dragging behind.


    "Rigo, can you see me?"


    Before he could do anything rash, he tried to seek any help or guidance from his man.


    "Yes, I can see you clearly supreme leader," Rigo replied as he was watching every move of James.


    "How are things in your cruiser?" James asked as he knew there was another problematic scepter out there.


    "I have secured the scepter for now. The deck is now under my control, however there are some traitors in the crew here. I can''t guarantee this situation to last," Rigo explained vaguely without getting into any details.


    "That''s expected of poisonous people like them. where are our boys?" James sighed as he didn''t stop looking for anything that might help him inside the room.


    "They are trying to exit the outer layer. I believe they might need fifteen minutes to exit and five more to reach us," Rigo replied.


    "Good, how far are you from here?" James asked.


    "Not far, a couple of minutes and I will be in front of you," Rigo replied.


    "Good, I want to ask you, is there any brilliant idea I could use to get to that seat without being flooded in the space?" James finally asked his most concerned question.


    As for Rigo, he too noticed this dilemma and his mind began to analyze things. However he couldn''t find any possible solution to James except for one.


    "You can wait for me to reach the opening and then I will try to seal it with the body of the cruiser."


    James thought of the suggestion Rigo just offered. For James, this was an acceptable solution, on one condition.


    "Can you see where those traitor men are?"


    This was the determining factor here, if the place was safe and secure then James would prefer to follow the safer plan of Rigo. If time wasn''t in his favor then he had to improvise, and he already had a crazy plan that he didn''t want to use if possible.


    After few long moments of wait, Rigo returned to James as he said:


    "Their men are a couple of minutes away from your place, and they are heavily armed."


    Jams thought for brief moments before saying:


    "That would be a close call then."


    "That''s not all," Rigo suddenly said, interrupting James'' words, "there is another person on your ship, and he is planting bombs everywhere."


    James exclaimed in surprise as he totally forgot that man. He muttered softly:


    "Charles¡­ tell me where is he now?"


    "He is a couple of minutes away from the escaping pods department."


    James didn''t know all the details about this large cruiser layout, however he perfectly knew what the escaping pods meant.


    "He is trying to abandon ship, and he wouldn''t do that except if he finished planting all the bombs he had everywhere. This ship is doomed, can you hinder him?"


    James made up his mind, and the initial crazy plan became his only plan right now. He then began to implement all the ideas that might help him in pulling out this trick successfully.


    He was about to gamble, and he had everything to lose here. The stakes were very high, however he had nothing else to do.


    If he waited for Rigo to come, then he would die and would also lose his escaping vehicle in the process. Charles wouldn''t leave the ship if he wasn''t sure he would bring it down to shreds.


    So, the possible way now was to delay Charles as long as possible to give him time to save Dora, seize the scepter, and escape from here safely before everything blew up.


    That was the only way out of here, and it was full of many variables that he had no control over.

 Chapter 61: Eat Me and I will Save Your Life

    "May I ask what do you intend to do, supreme leader?"


    Rigo felt something was off. If he was a human he would feel a bad omen at this moment, however he wasn''t. all he could feel was the strangeness of James'' words and his order.


    Rigo couldn''t disobey the order, however he tried to understand what was going on to be more prepared.


    "I''m going to save us all. Be ready to catch us soon in the space."


    James didn''t give Rigo any more time to say anything, as he bent his legs and began to move. The idea of James was very simple, as he wanted to use the cannon for his advantage.


    However it was risky, especially when he was fighting against the laws of nature, the difference of pressure. There was nothing to control that force, so he couldn''t predict if he would succeed or fail.


    "Hinder him, mover the ship here and pray for me."


    James said that and then he started to move. Strangely the first thing to move wasn''t him, but the cannon. He waved the cannon from his back to the front, so it would be pulled strongly by the forces of nature.


    Space was merciless, however the laws of nature were much more. If James missed his chance right here, he wouldn''t be able to return to the large cruiser in time to save Dora.


    He had only one shot, and he risked everything on it. just when the cannon got loose, James started to move as well. He also let himself be sucked by the traction force.


    A large cannon moved with a teenager behind it, both were suspended in zero gravity and pulled by irresistible force towards the deck breach.


    Their speed was accelerating with every passing second, however James wasn''t concerned by that. All he was focusing on was the scepter, not Dora.


    If the scepter could resist this traction force this easily, then he would aim for it as an anchor. What he missed was a force that would push him against the traction force, a force that his cannon would generate for him.


    Just as he was passing beside Dora and the scepter, he pressed the trigger of the cannon. His hands never left the handles for even a second, and thus a pulse attack was launched towards the ship body.


    This was the only variable that he was afraid of. The recoil of the cannon negated the traction force over James'' body for a couple of moments, when he used the cannon as a grounding point and jumped.


    It was a mere one eter separating him from the scepter, however he felt it was like miles. The second hole generated here added a shock wave that made the barely balanced nature inside the commanding deck more turmoil.


    Another tracking force with a different direction was generated here, which made things more complicated for James who was midway in the air towards his scepter.


    The variable he feared was worthy of his fears, as the new traction force caused a stir like storm inside the deck. The current generated from that hit James'' body and pushed him off course, he was now falling in a different direction away from the scepter.


    Just a few tens of centimetres and he would grab it. All it needed for him was a foot step and he would reach his goal, but he failed.


    He couldn''t do that here, and now his body was free moving under the effects of the turbulent forces here.


    He wasn''t even going to land outside the deck, he was heading straight towards the inside. His body would collide with the inside of the commanding deck over and over again if the current course continued.


    He knew that from first glance, but he didn''t have anything to do to stop such a fate.


    He was doomed.


    "Eat me."


    Suddenly this harsh voice came like a whisper inside his ears. It was like someone was speaking to him just over his shoulders. James didn''t have the mind or the time to think about this voice, however he knew this wasn''t the first time for him to hear such a voice.


    He once heard it when he saw the scepter inside Dora''s little cruiser.


    "Eat me and I will save you."


    The voice came again, this time with other words and an offer, and James couldn''t even think about it at this precise moment.


    If he refused he would die and nothing or no one would be able to save him. his death would be in vain, as he wouldn''t be able to save Dora, or Eli, or the other youths in his small cruiser.


    Everything was over if he died, however he didn''t know what would end up with him if he followed this mysterious voice that seemed to allure him.


    It looked like a trap, a trap he had no other choice but to embrace and hope the consequences wouldn''t be severe.


    "Eat me and I will save you."


    "How can I eat you?"


    That was an issue, as how could he eat that voice, or that scepter. James wasn''t stupid, as he was pretty sure that voice came from the scepter, so did he have to eat the scepter?


    That would be insane and unrealistic.


    "A drop of blood voluntarily offered to me and you can eat me."


    James was moving away with each passing second from the scepter, however that didn''t prevent him from replying with a sneer:


    "Who is going to eat who here? are you planning to eat me?"


    "This is the only way, a drop of blood voluntarily to eat me. eat me and save yourself, that''s the way."


    James knew he didn''t have the time to think about this, and he had no guarantee about his safety. He didn''t hesitate to take a gun from his storage bracelet and shoot his arm with it.


    He didn''t volunteer by one drop, he volunteered by a stream of blood. His blood moved like a fountain from his arm towards the scepter. Once his blood touched the scepter, the scepter vanished and miraculously James appeared in its place, just above Dora.


    Dora was still shocked from what she passed through, however the sudden appearance of James instead of the scepter made her return to reality once again as she whispered:


    "James! What are you doing here?!!"

 Chapter 62: A Desperate Speech with Dora

    She wasn''t the only one surprised here, as Rigo and James himself were feeling the same as her. James didn''t expect that would happen, and he had no possible explanation for that except for the interference of the scepter.


    However,


    Where was this scepter right now? It vanished as James appeared in its place. The other strange thing was the position of James'' body. James was floating in space, a few inches above Dora like the scepter itself.


    Something was holding James'' body from falling or moving even a finger. James could only watch Dora without the ability to touch her.


    "I- I don''t really know what happened, I was trying to save you."


    "It seems you also needed to be saved like me," Dora said with a chuckle as she felt this situation was odd and funny.


    For a moment she forgot the crisis of her mother betrayal and what she suffered on her hands, but this didn''t last for long as she was forced to remember everything again when James said without purposeful intention:


    "Yes, we both now need saving. I''m afraid that Immortal and his accomplice will come back soon with your mother."


    Her face twitches involuntarily as her soul falls into the abyss of shock and grief again. James realized what went wrong as he tried to say changing the subject:


    "I met someone who will be far more dangerous than all of those three combined together."


    Dora understood his intention, and she appreciated it but she couldn''t just wipe out the pain like wiping out her tears.


    "Who is this lucky winner of the crown of destruction and death?"


    She sarcastically said while James replied with a chuckle:


    "He is Charles, the real Charles."


    "What? Have you met him? is he still alive?" Dora rushed to ask without pause. She was surprised that Charles was alive, she thought he was dead in the hands of her mother.


    "Yes, he is alive and very well. In fact right now he is supposed to be finished bombing every corner of your cruiser and he is heading to one of the escaping pods here. I believe he will roast us alive once he leaves this cruiser."


    James said these words simply like that, however the shocked Dora still had a working mind, and her mind began to link the scattered dots in James'' words.


    "Do you have access to the surveillance cameras here?"


    James smiled as this girl was really something. Even amidst her breakdown state her mind was still working.


    "Yes, I helped Rigo to gain access onto your system and he helped me a lot in saving you."


    Dora''s eyes widened as she realized that James had a way to connect to Rigo and thus to her little cruiser.


    "Listen to me, there is a traitor inside the little cruiser. She is Anna. Tell Rigo to watch out for her."


    Once she said these words, James heard the reply from Rigo on the other side. He sighed as he didn''t know if he should feel proud of his man''s efficiency or feel worried over Dora''s feelings.


    ???What?! Have they already started moving to the other side?"


    Dora asked at once when she felt James'' hesitation. James didn''t have anything else to say except the truth, so he spoke plainly about it.


    "In fact they started from a while back and Rigo managed to kill both of them."


    "Both? Was there another traitor beside Anna?" Dora asked with disbelief.


    "In fact there are four, two is dead, Anna and Dizy. Two are still alive however Rigo has already sealed the door of the commanding deck. They couldn''t enter there yet," James replied with more details about the current situation on the other side.


    Rigo had already briefed him with all the details when Dora asked him just now. From the face of things, Dora''s cruiser was full of traitors. That wasn''t the best news for anyone to hear, but Dora had far worse events that made her feelings numb.


    She received all this news with no shock, as she already was in one right now.


    "It seems my ship is full of rats, but your man has done a brilliant job cleaning my ship," she sarcastically said.


    "A job that''s not finished yet, and our mission isn''t yet over. You need to be ready to clean your own mess yourself."


    James said that as he started to examine himself. He was held in his place with invisible ties, however when he focused more he managed to feel something.


    And echo who reverberated inside himself, deep from his soul that was repeating itself over and over again.


    "Eat me, and you will be free."


    Eat me and you will gain power."


    "Eat me and you will be invincible."


    "Eat me and you will be saved."


    "Eat me, and you will be free."


    Eat me and you will gain power."


    "Eat me and you will be invincible."


    "Eat me and you will be saved."


    The sound was the same, he recognized it at once from first glance.


    "So it went inside me," he muttered.


    "Excuse me, what?" Dora asked.


    "It???s nothing. Sit tight and I will figure something out," James said.


    "Like I have other places to go," Dora said with a sneer.


    James looked at her in a new light, this girl faked toughness all the time. however when she was cracked like the outer shell of the nut, the inside was fragile and soft.


    She was weak, weaker than any other girl he ever met, and yet she was strong, very strong. No one could keep himself sane after suffering some terrible shit like this.


    He smiled as he felt he was knowing her for the first time.


    "Why are you smiling at me?" she asked.


    "It''s nothing, give me some time and I will save you," he said.


    "Like I said, you also need to be saved. Let Rigo come and free us both," she said with a chuckle that seemed not like one.


    "That''s the plan, he is on his way here. a few minutes and he will be in front of us."


    James said these words as he closed his eyes and began to clear his mind. The first thing he did after that was to wonder to himself:


    ''What are you? What do you need? I already ate you.''


    For his surprise, the sound became cleared and louder as it replied to his thoughts like it could hear them:


    ''You only ate half of me, eat the other half and you will be elevated.''

 Chapter 63: Show Me Your Worth or I Will Destroy You

    James felt great shock when he heard those words. It was like the voice came from his mind, but he was sure it wasn''t his mind at all.


    ''Who the hell are you?''


    ''I''m just half of me, so I can''t really define who the real me is. I think I am still not fully born in this world, and you need to make me complete to know who I am.''


    James was speechless, what nonsense was this? He couldn''t understand anything but this scepter inside him was only half of the real scepter, and this was the first time the real scepter was born.


    That meant this scepter was unique, very unique, or else why three of strange, strong looking enemies fight among themselves to obtain it?


    ''What benefit does it have for me?''


    This was the main thing he wanted to know before considering completing this scepter or not. This scepter seemed pretty dangerous, either it would cause some damage to him or he would suffer the three enemies'' retaliation.


    So he needed to know if the risk was worth the effort. His body was still paralyzed motionless above Dora''s head. If he couldn''t move, then he wouldn''t be able to help himself, Dora, or that weird scepter.


    ''I want to move, but I can''t. if I can''t move, how am I supposed to get your second half?''


    ''If you move, then you will consume a lot of my energy. It''s not worth it. as for the benefit, you can say I would make you stronger.''


    His answers weren''t received well from James, who felt this scepter was bluffing. He had to move, or else waiting here was like waiting for his death inside a hot oven.


    ''Supreme leader, those three who just got blasted by your cannon are about to enter your place now. Be careful, I only need one minute and reach you.''


    Before he could say anything, Rigo''s warning came to make him return to reality. He wasn''t safe yet from the threats of those three.


    ''Change for plans, if you want me to find your second part, then you must help me escape from here,'' James thought in his mind.


    ''I''m sorry, I didn''t have any stealth function at all. You have to escape on your own.''


    ''Then I need you to attack and try to kill the incoming enemies.''


    ''I''m sorry, I don''t have any attack ability. You need to figure this out yourself.''


    James felt great rage towards this scepter, as this wasn''t the definition of strength he was expecting. James felt he was schemed and fell for the dirty joke of someone not funny at all.


    This scepter was useless, more useless than a scrap of metal in a junkyard.


    ''You know I''m regretting letting you inside my body, and I won''t let you get any close to your second half. I will order my right handed man to throw the other scepter into the space to be lost forever.''


    James vented down his anger over the scepter as he was really mad about it right now. However the voice of scepter came at once trying to change his mind:


    ''Please don''t, I promise you will get great strength out of the two of us.''


    ''That''s just rubbish talk. I won''t fail for it ever again. I will order my man to throw your brother into space.''


    James intended to throw the other scepter but not now. He still needed to move the scepters away from here to save Eli. At the same time he needed to find a way to get rid of the shameless scepter inside him.


    ''Wait, what can I do to make you believe me?''


    The scepter seemed to know the inner thoughts of James, and it knew James wasn''t bluffing here. so, it had to find a way to make him seriously consider its value and turn his mind away from throwing its other half away.


    James on the other hand didn''t have to think of an answer, as he yelled with an audible angry tone:


    "I want you to show me your worth!"


    "Excuse me?!!" Dora asked with some weirdness that James didn''t mind too. He was deep in his own mess right now.


    ''Ok, I get your point. I believe you will be satisfied with my performance. All you need to do is to tell me who your enemies are and I will handle them.''


    The tone of the scepter had strange confidence in it that made James doubt it was telling the truth. James then said to the scepter:


    ''If you fail, I will ditch your second part and you will be forever alone. I also promise to find a way to get rid of you, so don''t try to fool me. if I died, you die with me. Do you understand that?''


    ''I do, I totally understand what you mean. Please trust me and give me this chance to prove myself,'' the scepter said.


    ''Like I have even a choice to do that.''


    James was very frustrated, however he knew his options ran out and he had no other way except to accept the scepter''s offer. He hoped the scepter didn''t screw up, or else he would die alongside Dora, and everything he did so far would be lost forever.


    Just as he finished his inner quarrel with the scepter inside his mind, James felt something as he moved his eyeballs towards the opening in the deck.


    They were back, the three enemies were here. Rigo had already warned him, but as he was suspended motionless like this he had no way to escape or even defend himself.


    He had to stay at his place peacefully like Dora, watching the three enemies entering the commanding deck. They had some sort of a protective suit that helped them sustain the impossible space environment.


    However James still couldn''t understand how the three of them returned inside a very fast cruiser like this. That was unbelievable, however he wasn''t that amazed. Since he escaped from his planet, he didn''t see anything normal at all.


    "Well well well, look at what we have here. a rat had entered our home and he even dared to eat our meal. What do you think, friends? Do we help him and end his life swiftly, or do we leave him to suffer until his flame of life becomes extinguished?"

 Chapter 64: Kill Them All

    James looked at the three enemies who were now standing in the middle of the deck. They stood there motionless with their voices audible when Dora''s mother said:


    "He is insane, a child who is willing to commit suicide like this isn''t worth wasting our time. let''s just kill him and end his misery fast."


    "I can''t agree more, but we need to settle this before we kill him. let him suffer more for his foolishness and let''s now discuss our own business. Who is going to take what?" the Immortal said.


    "I will take that child''s scepter, you two will discuss the other scepter with yourselves," Ricaro said with a decisive tone.


    "No, I will take the two scepters," Dora''s mother said decisively.


    "You can''t, if you don''t negotiate terms with my disciple here, then we will kill you and each one of us will have his share. It''s a fair deal, what do you think my dear disciple?" Ricaro said while looking towards the Immortal.


    "Don''t listen to him, he will kill you at the nearest chance. Let''s kill him here and end this," Dora''s mother hurried to say.


    "Kill me? you are such a ruthless girl," Ricaro said with an amusing tone as he was enjoying this.


    "You don''t need to follow his orders, let''s kill him and divide everything between us," Dora''s mother said.


    "Everything?" the Immortal finally spoke.


    "Yes, do you think he is a poor one like us, I bet he has more artifacts than us," Dora''s mother said.


    James, on the other hand, had nothing to do or say except to watch the three of them about to fight each other. The situation was still tense, however he knew either way he and Dora would end by death.


    He held his hopes over Rigo, however at this precise moment his hopes faded away.


    The three in front of him each took out a weapon, one sword, one spear, and one stick. All weren''t simple looking weapons, as he could feel a tremor deep inside his soul when he saw them.


    ''I can''t save you for long, your escape plan can''t work either. They have rank three artifacts, which means they could shoot a large cruiser like the one we are inside from far away and destroy it.''


    Suddenly the voice of the scepter rang inside his mind. James already felt his escape plan wasn''t applicable here. forget about going away and be shot from these fearful looking weapons, the small cruiser had no chance to come near the opening without being shot with any weapon of them.


    "Are you crazy Ricaro, this ship won''t withstand the full blow of our weapons," Dora''s mother said at the same time the long sword in the hands of Ricaro began to shine faintly with blue color.


    "What are you afraid of? We can sustain ourselves in space for enough time for our battle to end and be rescued. As for the two fools here they would die. Don''t tell me you still have some feelings for your daughter," Ricaro replied instantly with a chuckle.


    This man was enjoying all of this, even the current situation where he would face two foes at the same time. He wasn''t afraid, he was anticipating this fight and the aftermath with it.


    "No, we can''t destroy this ship. We are inside a hostile territory now and in the middle of a brutal war of multiple sides. None of them is completely loyal to us, so it''s not wise for us to fight with all our might," the Immortal said, expressing his opinion.


    At the same time, there was another debate inside James'' head.


    ''You want me to tell my men to stand down and wait?'' James said.


    ''You should be. My rank isn''t any higher than those men''s artifacts. We need my brother so we can help you more. It''s a good thing they showed their weapons, however if we need to overcome this, we need four of their weapons, not three,'' the scepter said.


    ''What''s the purpose of those anyway? More weapons mean more threats, right?'' James asked with confusion, he couldn''t understand the logic of the scepter so far.


    ''This isn''t about threats, it''s about opportunity.''


    ''What opportunity?'' James asked.


    ''I and my brother need two equivalent artifacts to consume if we will be merging together to form a higher rank artifact. These four artifacts are essential for us to be upgraded, or else we will be of no use for you.''


    James stayed silent for a few moments as he was thinking about the words of the scepter. For him, he had no other option right now, as he and Dora would definitely die if he didn''t act.


    And he needed to act soon.


    "Listen to me, how far are you from the hole?" James whispered.


    "Not far, in less than twenty seconds I could be in front of you," Rigo replied as he was eager to come and save his leader.


    "Stand at your place for now, the situation here is quite serious," James whispered.


    "Is this because of these old weapons? They seemed harmless to me," Rigo said with some doubt.


    "They aren''t that simple, they are very dangerous. They could blast the whole ship from far easily and simply like that. You stand in your location and wait for my instructions," James explained slowly with a soft voice so no one could hear him.


    No one except Dora heard him, as she looked at him strangely. For her, either James was insane to speak to himself or he had a way to communicate with another one outside here.


    She hoped he would be the second one, or else both were doomed.


    "Affirmative," Rigo answered but he was still doubting the judgement of his leader. For him, these three very old weapons were like sticks hitting his steel ship, no har would happen from that.


    ''Good, you have a capable man. Now, let him throw my brother to me when I tell you,'' the scepter said.


    ''What do you mean by that?'' James instantly asked.


    ''I need my brother to merge with, and we need more weapons for the merge to be upgraded to the next level. we will wait until one more weapon appears, and then I will interfere and prevent them from getting the way of my brother.''


    James was speechless for a second, as this plan was the most horrible plan in his mind. Too many variables, and he had nothing to depend upon except a strange sound in his mind.


    Was he going crazy? That was what he was thinking about right now.


    ''You need to trust me, so I can help you and get you out of here safely,'' the scepter said, ''don''t worry, I won''t let anything bad happen to me and my brother, and for your luck you aren''t the bad thing, they are.''


    James didn''t have the luxury of options to select from out here, so he had to either submit to this crazy idea or let himself be butchered by whoever won this about to begin the fight.


    "I need you to throw the scepter from the cruiser to me, can you do that?"


    James finally chose to follow the scepter''s crazy idea. For him this was insane, and for Rigo he felt his leader had lost his mind.


    "Didn''t you just tell me not to come to the hole?" Rigo asked in a way that made James understand what was going on inside his mind.


    James didn''t feel well regarding this plan, however he had no other choice so he whispered:


    "There are things happening here, but I can''t explain it right now. You will wait for my mark and when I give the signal to you, you can come at the hole and throw the scepter to me."


    At the other side, Rigo sat on his seat motionless for a few moments. His mind was trying to find any anomaly in his leader''s mind, but he couldn''t find a flaw. James was fine, and his mind as well.


    The only variable was that strange scepter which disappeared and James replaced its position. Rigo couldn''t find any connection between all these dots, but he couldn''t let his leader die there.


    He had to help James, so he began to process the ways of accomplishing that.


    "We have a problem, to throw the scepter I need to reach the cargo door and open it. without that I couldn''t deliver the scepter to you."


    James instantly understood Rigo''s fears.


    "The two traitors at Dora''s ship?" he whispered.


    "Right, I can''t find them and I have no time to look for them. If I leave the commanding deck they will take over everything here."


    James knew what would happen in this case, he would lose his only way out ticket from here.


    The answer was simple, as he said it with his soft calm tone:


    "Rigo, kill them all and be ready to open that door and deliver the scepter to me."


    Dora''s eyes widened as she understood what would happen to her friends and crew, however her emotions right now were a mess and her mind wasn''t acting normally.


    So, she couldn''t even open her lips to oppose James'' decision. As for Rigo he simply answered:


    "Affirmative my leader."

 Chapter 65: Rigos Cunning Move

    James'' decision was harsh, he knew that, but he also knew he couldn''t waste any more time here. He had to improvise to escape this death sentence, or else everything he did would be in vain.


    He glanced at Dora, as her face showed the expression of horror. He wanted to comfort her but he didn''t. He knew there were some friends of her on that cruiser, and speaking right now might compromise his plan to his enemy.


    After all, the two remaining spies belonged to Ricaro, and so he wouldn''t risk revealing his plan to him so soon. The issue was the time when Ricaro would realize something was off at Dora''s ship.


    Ricaro was someone who was feared not by James alone but also by the Immortal and the traitor. He was someone that could laugh at your face this moment and stab your heart in the next then continue his daily routine like nothing had happened.


    Dealing with such a person would be harsh, especially his reaction couldn''t be anticipated. James feared his reaction to the killing of his men, would he realize the role of James on this? Or would he think Dora''s men did it?


    ''Tell me what ability could you use to help me here?''


    This was the only safe route for James and Dora right now, so James asked his scepter hoping to hear something good.


    ''You could have guessed it on your own, that''s disappointing.''


    The scepter reply wasn''t expected by James, as he didn''t say anything for a couple of moments before realizing his scepter was criticizing him.


    ''Does your shame have no limit? What the hell have you done to me so far so you can be disappointed? If you don''t reply directly and straight right now then I will order my man to throw your scepter in the middle of the ongoing battle!''


    James was really furios of this scepter. So far all he got from it was some promises and no more. He was now on the brink of death, so he needed that scepter to act, and this must be really useful.


    ''Ok, I will tell you although I hoped you would find it out yourself. My ability is just like the one I''m exercising on you right now,'' the scepter said.


    ''Is it a paralytic ability?'' James asked with astonishment, as this ability didn''t pass his mind even for once.


    ''Yes, but paralyzing three strong individuals like them with their strong weapons isn''t an easy feat. All I can do is to buy you some time, limited time actually,'' the scepter replied.


    ''So the problem here is about the time you can provide for me to paralyze them. how much can you hold the three of them motionless then? Please don''t tell me it''s one second or two second, or else I prefer to die here rather than humiliating myself with some useless scepter like you.''


    James got used to his scepter bad responses, so he was prepared for the worst. For him to escape, he needed to untie Dora first, then the two would move rapidly towards the hole where the small cruiser would be waiting.


    Then the two would board the cruiser, and escape rapidly away from here. so, the effect of his scepter must be enough for all of this to happen. He gave himself two minutes to do all that, and so anything lower than that would be risky.


    ''I can paralyze them for one minute, and that will be with the help of my brother.''


    James wasn''t satisfied by the response of this scepter. He needed more time, especially when considering the fact these people could chase him in this space.


    The time must be enough for the small cruiser to pull off some distance away from here. He didn''t forget how the three of them managed to return to a rapidly moving large cruiser in a matter of minutes.


    ''Didn''t you say you will absorb these weapons to merge with your brother?'' James asked as he noticed that his scepter neglected this part.


    ''Yes, but I need four weapons, not three. Absorbing three would only make us rise from grade three to grade three plus. That isn''t a big boost to our strength.''


    The scepter words were logic, but he missed the point here. James didn''t ask for them to be fully upgraded, he asked that to eliminate one source of trouble.


    ''If you can''t be fully upgraded, at least you will get some boast and those three wouldn''t be able to threaten my escaping cruiser from far.''


    ''Ok, but believe it or not, those people must have more weapons in their hands. these weapons could be weaker than the ones in their hands, but they could also threaten your cruiser nonetheless.''


    That meant everything he planned for was compromised with these three. James was realistic, he knew he couldn''t kill them. if he had the strength to do it, he wouldn''t hesitate to do so, but he knew he wasn''t a match to any of them.


    During all this, the three were still busy with their word battle. Each one of them was trying to secure his post, gain more benefits, and put the other two in a more disadvantageous position.


    All this was going smoothly and very calm until Rigo moved. As James expected, Rigo was a ruthless humanoid, or else he wouldn''t be the leader of his war elite droids.


    In less than five minutes, Rigo managed to slain many of Dora''s followers, including the two spies who belonged to Ricaro.


    Rigo was really cunning, as he changed his clothes with the clothes of Anna, so for those who died under his hand, Anna was the one who did it, not him.


    He did that to add more fuel to the fire, and luckily this changed the course of events here.


    "Are you out of your mind? Why is your spy wreaking havoc in the little cruiser? Have you already formed an alliance with that bitch? Are you crazy?!"


    Suddenly and out of nowhere the tone of Ricaro changed from the calm and steady words into this explosive and aggressive one. The other two exchanged silent glances before Dora''s mother spoke first:


    "Then I now knew who killed my spy, he was one of yours after all. I should have expected that."


    "What are you saying? My spy was killed on the hands of a stranger that wasn''t part of Dora''s crew," the Immortal said just after Dora''s mother.


    "Are you two trying to trick me? do you think I will believe this nonsense?" Ricaro yelled angrily

 Chapter 66: The Arrogant Older Scepter

    The hole wasn''t regular in shape, as it was formed by the collision between the cannon shot and the cruiser''s body, and yet it was wide enough for a hundred men to pass through it side by side.


    Or a part of a little cruiser to enter through it like what just happened right now. The appearance of this cruiser was sudden, which caused the ongoing fight in this place to stop abruptly.


    Before anyone of them got any idea about this cruiser, the door of it was opened as a man appeared there in front of everyone.


    He was Rigo, and he held the scepter in his hands. He didn''t stand there motionless, the moment he appeared was followed by the moment of him throwing out the scepter.


    He threw it towards James, who didn''t delay to issue the order to the scepter.


    "I won''t let any of you traitors get it," Ricaro yelled as he jumped to intercept the scepter.


    "This scepter is mine," the Immortal yelled back as he jumped to catch the scepter.


    "You two stay away, this is my weapon, not yours," Dora''s mother said as she directed her spear towards the two of them.


    ''Paralyze them and start merging with your brother now,'' James ordered the scepter.


    Everything happened simultaneously, and in no time all the forces here began to act. The three fighting enemies didn''t even consider the possibility of James joining this race and struggle for the scepter.


    They wouldn''t even imagine all this was his plan, and they were all just pawns in his hands.


    ''I will free you, and you have only two minutes max before the paralyze effect wears out,'' the scepter said to James as it began to move and hit the three enemies at unparalleled speed.


    A light was shot towards the three, and then all of them stopped moving. This wasn''t all, as the scepter they were trying so hard to reach changed abruptly its course as it headed straight towards them with increasing speed.


    In a flash the scepter hit them, and in the next second the scepter was gone carrying along with him the four weapons which were in their hands just now.


    They were paralyzed, disarmed, and all this happened because of another force they never thought of. Their eyes were focused now on the spot they all ignored minutes ago.


    In front of them, James was set free from his restraints, the same that was now preventing them from moving. At the same time, the scepter moved with a flash like speed towards him.


    "That''s impossible, he had the dark scepter and now he is having the light one," the Immortal suddenly muttered as he was sure of what was going to happen next.


    His mind, like the other two, had already guessed what was going on. James wasn''t a prey to the scepter effect like they all wrongly thought, the scepter was James'' toy from the start.


    Having a weapon like that wasn''t a strange thing, but having two opposing powered weapons like now was an anomaly.


    Before any of them could say anything more, the scepter hit James'' body and then it disappeared. It vanished from their sight along with their weapons, which were now acting like tonics for the two scepters.


    ''Welcome brother, it''s good to finally meet you,'' the first scepter said.


    ''Welcome? Let''s set rules before getting friendly with each other. This body is mine, and the final scepter will be also mine,'' the second scepter said with a sharp loud tone like it was shouting angrily in a fight.


    ''Listen you two, this is my body and you two are my weapons. If any of you have any second thoughts, then I will throw myself in the space and we all perish and be forgotten.''


    James didn''t like the way that second scepter talked, so he had to separate part of his attention to deal with it. He aimed for gaining strength, but having uncontrollable strength was even worse than having nothing.


    ''Since when you have a saying here?'' the second scepter arrogantly said.


    ''I''m dead serious, if you don''t comply now I will throw myself into space where no one could find me. let you two be left in oblivion for eternity,'' James ruthlessly said as he fell over Dora''s body.


    He didn''t waste time as he began to untie the restraints that cuffed Dora''s hands and feet. Dora was eyeing him with a weird look, as her mind wasn''t yet able to believe what was happening now.


    "Listen to me, if I didn''t give you the signal, I need you to leave after taking Dora."


    Jaes suddenly whispered softly. Dora understood he was speaking to his man, Rigo. She guessed that when he gave the order to kill everyone on her little cruiser.


    And yet she didn''t feel anything, not yet. This statement wasn''t directed to Rigo, so James totally ignored the confused reply from him. his focus was entirely over the two scepters inside him.


    ''Listen well big brother, he isn''t like anyone we have ever met before,'' the first scepter said.


    ''Don''t tell me that, he is just like anyone else, a weakling who can''t withstand our two powers. If he isn''t able to contain us, then he isn''t worthy to control us,'' the second scepter arrogantly said.


    James noticed the similarity of these arrogant scepter words with the words that Immortal just said. He knew he had no time to waste, as the metallic restraints of Dora were really stubborn to be opened easily as he thought.


    So he continued pulling the restraints in a try to free her hands while he said:


    ''Either way you aren''t allowed to control me, this is my body and I have the final say here.''


    ''You are dumb foolish weak creature who thinks he can control our powers without getting blown. This is out of question, and you have no control over it. The merge is already starting and then none of us will have a say to what it will yield,'' the second scepter arrogantly replied back.

 Chapter 67: James Death Part - 1

    "That''s unbelievable, I never heard of a single person who could control the two powers before," Ricaro suddenly said with a shocked tone, "You can''t be real, you are risking your life here. we need to leave, now."


    The tone of Ricaro changed from astonishment to fear, he was afraid. James didn''t bother with him as he suddenly felt some heat originating from him. He tried to locate its source, but he failed.


    ''Don''t bother, this is the merge process being born. Just sit tight and wait like us for the final result, and also pray if you have anything to pray to,'' the first scepter said to James, who was yet unaware of the scale of things he was doing here.


    He was trying to survive, but he didn''t imagine he would end up breaking all the rules and creating his own legend.


    No one here who was aware of what was going on saw a single chance for him to survive, not even Rigo. The three enemies were sure he would explode, as no one ever tried to merge the two opposing powers and survived.


    They were all ended by a huge BANG, a one that was enough to create a black hole on its own.


    Greed wasn''t new to the living sentient being here in this cosmo, in fact many tried to merge the two powers before. After so many trials, and a lot of bangs and destruction, unspoken rule was written among those who sought to harvest the two powers.


    Never merge the two powers inside your body, always aim for the kind of power that matched yours. Any deviation from this rule ended up rdangering not only your life, but everyone''s life around you as well.


    So, the three began to struggle with all their might, in a try to escape here. staying here equalled death, and so they had to leave here and find another cruiser to control and then leave here.


    Approximately half an hour would separate between the beginning of the merge and the big explosion that would follow, so they had a tight time schedule. As for the scepters, they had to forget any idea about gaining them.


    Their life was way more important than anything else right now.


    As for the scepters, the first and smaller scepter of the two hoped James would be alive at the end of this. The second and bigger scepter didn''t share this optimism like its younger brother.


    The large scepter knew what would end up after merging the two powers together, so it was pinning every hope it had over consuming its younger brother and the soul of James and end up being the sole controller of this mortal body of James.


    This was the only way it had to live, as the three enemies, the scepters had their plans as well. As for Dora, she was oblivious to all of this. For her, James was trying his best to free her, and she was trying to help him after one hand of her was freed at last.


    Rigo, on the distant small cruiser, was eyeing his leader with utmost care and regret. He knew the end result of this, however he couldn''t disobey his leader''s orders.


    He thought James intended to put the second scepter inside the body of Dora, however when the second scepter took away the four weapons he understood everything.


    However it was too late for him to act, as in a blink of an eye the second scepter went inside James body. it was over, that was what he was thinking right now.


    Inside this commanding deck of the burning large cruiser inside this part of space where a fierce brutal battle was raging without mercy, everyone had his plans about surviving this threat, all except one.


    James himself.


    James wasn''t feeling that fear or stress as the others felt, in fact once the heat emerged in him he didn''t feel anything at all. His mind was paralyzed as his whole body began to be stiff again.


    He was still helping Dora in freeing herself from the restraints, however he was doing this automatically without any sign of control over his body.


    He lost all the control over everything, at this precise delicate complicated moment, James felt like diving suddenly inside freezing waters. His body began to be numb and his mind felt like it was separating from his body.


    Or his soul began to be separated from his body. He felt like floating in space, without any restrictions of his body he felt he had no weight at all. There was nothing that made him feel a single weight, not a burden, not a responsibility, not love.


    At this moment he felt hollow, empty from inside. He was just starting to escape from his fate and begin a new life, however right now at this precise moment he felt he never had a life to begin with.


    No family to mourn him, no friends to speak about his memory,nor a girl who would weep over his departure.


    He knew he was dying, and this way of death was really bad, as he felt like a trash, nothing in this big cosmo that would disappear without leaving a trace.


    A trash like him was aiming to have a good life, how hilarious it was. That is what he thought when he remembered his dreams and goals he fought hard for.


    What dreams? All he dreamed of was to have a life, which was basically the simplest and most rudimentary right for any living being in this cosmos.


    He was fighting to be equal with the lowest rights anyone would be born with, what made him be? A trash? That was even an optimistic way to describe himself.


    Suddenly he felt anger, all that hollow and emptiness inside him began to shift towards one single point, one idea that controlled his whole soul¡­ anger.


    He was angry at everyone he met so far, every single bastard that helped to put him in this situation in the first place. He shouldn''t feel like this, no one should.


    He gazed at Dora. At this specific moment, everything around him was still, like a picture that was frozen at this single moment, however he was the only motion in it.

 Chapter 68: James Death Part - 2

    He was the variable, and all were constant. That what his death felt like, that what he believed.


    At least he would die in peace and calm with no sounds or annoyance to bother him.


    Not even the eagerness of Dora to be free. She was really something, even after her mother''s betrayal she was yet in control of herself. That was admiring, as if he was in her shoes, he would be desperate right now.


    And yet she was eager to be free and live her life, that strong desire of being alive made him wonder, why didn''t he have such a desire right now? Why was he embracing death like welcoming an old friend?


    His gaze shifted to fall upon his three enemies. their faces showed how desperate they were, like they were facing death like him, however they were fighting, fighting with all their powers against it.


    That was weird, if death was coming, why not accept it? Why this rejection? Were their lives that perfect for them to be this attached to it?


    He remembered their fight over the scepter not long ago, however right now they seemed not to be interested in that. They were trying to escape and live, escape and start over, escape and continue their lives.


    They might have life, but he didn''t. his life was empty, his soul was hollow like black hole. As he was feeling these negativity, he felt a tremor in his soul.


    That tremor was minute, but he noticed it. that tremor happened when his gaze fell upon Rigo. Rigo''s face was apparent to him clearly expressing his concerns and pain.


    Regret, frustration, pain, and loss were evident over Rigo''s face. As James started to focus on Rigo''s features, the tremor appeared once again. this time it began to appear in sequence, one after another with stable intervals and a fixed rhythm.


    It was a heartbeat, strong heartbeat that made his soul even tremble with it. Before he could even think about anything, a soft yet audible calm voice came from far, far away like it wasn''t coming from this time and place.


    "If you want, I can show you the way."


    James heard it, but he didn''t understand what it meant. He didn''t notice he wasn''t surprised from the appearance of this voice, like he knew it from before.


    In fact he was, as he heard it a lot in his dreams, long forgotten dreams of childhood were always mystery, and like each mystery they were linked to the soul and were rapidly forgotten.


    "The way to what?" he muttered with a weak tone and no will at all.


    "The way to be stronger, strong enough to gather and protect friends, this is the way you need," the sound came again softly from far, but this time it felt like it was getting closer to him.


    "What is the point? I''m all alone right now," he muttered with a weaker tone, a tone of someone who was about to die.


    "Alone? It''s just your illusions who were trying to control you. You aren''t alone, let me show you whom you will lose if you surrendered now," the voice said softly as it was getting closer and closer to him.


    James felt a ray of light coming from far, from the horizon. It was moving fast, like a lightning bolt targeting him, however something deep inside his soul reverberated with it.


    This wasn''t a threat to him, instead it was something he yearned for, or at least part of him did.


    As he was there not knowing what was happening, multiple faces began to show up one after another. The first face he saw wasn''t Rigo as he expected, instead she was Eli.


    Once her face appeared there, a big tremor occurred inside his soul. It was like his soul was refreshed upon seeing her face.


    "I''m not alone," he muttered as Rigo''s picture appeared followed by the pictures of other droids and the sleepy boys and girls inside his small cruiser. at the end of the line, the face of Dora also appeared there.


    He wasn''t alone, he was finally getting to know friends. He entered this fight and accepted this impossible task of saving everyone involuntary as he knew deep in his soul he wanted to be friends with them.


    Yes his life before was empty, however just in no time after leaving that planet he gained multiple friends.


    Friends who depended upon him, friends who needed his help. He wasn''t alone, and yet he chose to die like this, all alone.


    "What do you want me to do?" James asked with a stronger voice that emerged from his rising will to live. He suddenly became like anyone else, a soul who was eager to fight for life.


    A survivor, that what he ended up to be.


    "Hold me, and you will be above all."


    Suddenly this soft calm voice changed to a strong feminine tone that appeared loudly like thunder in his ears. A flash of light appeared out of nowhere followed by the appearance of a majestic looking metallic rod with two crystals in the middle of it.


    There was a small space left for his hand to wield this rod, which he felt they were made specifically for him.


    "Hold me and I promise you no harm will even happen to you or your friends."


    The sound came abruptly again, intimidating and yet James didn''t feel so. He felt strange intimacy and closeness with this rod, after all this was the final result of merging the two scepters together.


    This was the final rod, the final scepter, the one who was asking James to hold and lead his way towards his utmost desire¡­


    To not be alone.


    With slow motion, James moved his hand to hold that scepter. When his hand touched it, a sudden violent tremor occurred in every single part of his soul like an earthquake.


    An earthquake that was so mighty even melted his soul, to form a mighty wave that fell from that height like an avalanche to pour back into his body. a shell that was about to die right now was shocked vigorously with his soul, his new soul, his new power.


    James was reborn again, was reborn like an infant, however with a youth body and a legendary power that no one had ever seen in this cosmos.


    His path to write his own legend had just started.

 Chapter 69: Mortal Vs Three Immortals, Who Will Win?

    James stood there on top of Dora who was stunned by his sudden fall. She didn''t understand what was going on with him, unlike her mother or her two companions.


    The three trapped enemies knew what was happening. First the soul, then the body, that was what was going to happen. the soul was the first thing to shatter, as it was always a fragile thing, a known feature for mortals.


    If mortals had strong souls then they would be able to handle the strength of these artifacts, however they couldn''t. The crush of the soul meant the release of the full power stored inside these artifacts.


    Like a bomb accumulating power inside the mortal''s body, once it exploded nothing would stand in its way. The crush of the body was the sign of destruction, and immortals like those three wouldn''t be able to stand it.


    So they began to show extraordinary strength trying to overcome the binding power of that artifact. Three worked together exerting their utmost effort like nothing they had done before.


    The instinct for survival could do miracles, and right now the three managed to break free from these restraints. None of them stopped for one second to check things, not even Dora''s mother.


    She knew her daughter would perish, however she was selfish, all what she thought about was only her life. so, she joined the other two as they started to move towards the hole.


    Although the tries of mortals to ingest these artifacts weren''t rare, those who lived to narrate what they witnessed were scarce, so there was literally hardly any information regarding this critical matter.


    No one knew how long the body of mortals would last before it exploded, so they had to leave and fast or else they would perish alongside everyone else.


    They also didn''t know what scope this destruction could reach, so they had to board over a large cruiser and control its command fast so they could jump from here using light speed.


    They had seen the exit in front of their eyes, abandoning ship was the only silver lining they had, however before they could even take one step forward lightning struck everywhere inside this deck.


    Lightning came out of nowhere to strike the three immortals and stop them in their tracks. Instead of pushing outside, they were pushed back deeper inside the cruiser, breaking the internal structure of this large cruiser in their way.


    As for Dora, she was motionless right now not from shock, but fear. She managed to see everything that happened right now from her position. That wasn''t lightning, or that wasn''t the strike of lightning that hit the three immortals and sent them flying.


    She saw with her two eyes a long thin rod getting out from James'' body in a flash. She couldn''t see its details, however fear erupted inside her soul, an innate fear that she was born with, not accepted from life.


    Her own soul was fearing this rod, as the rod vanished, lightning appeared and struck the three immortals, then the rod came back again to float above James'' head with lightning arcs still dancing around it.


    "So you can summon lightning in space, that''s weird, awesome but weird."


    James suddenly said that as he straightened himself moving away from Dora''s body. He then stretched his hand to hold the rod. Once he held it, he felt the deep connection between himself and the rod.


    ''This is just an immature strike you used against them, in time you will be able to use more powerful attacks,'' the soft voice of the rod appeared inside his mind replying on his words.


    ''I still couldn''t understand what is going on right now, however I appreciate saving my life,'' James replied.


    All he knew was this rod came from the merge between the two rods from before. How did it work, and how the lightning came from he didn''t know that. He also didn''t know why he could speak to a scepter like it, and what power this rod just spoke of.


    As for these he knew he had to postpone for later, he now had reached the last step of saving Dora and himself. so, he stretched his arm towards Dora as he muttered:


    "Let''s go, it''s time to go home."


    The rod was in his other hand as Dora''s eyes were attracted to it. James noticed her look as he added:


    "Don''t be afraid, this scepter is docile."


    She couldn''t help herself from raising an eyebrow as she heard his words. What docile, this rod just kicked three immortals a** right now without breaking a sweat.


    "Trust me, there is nothing to be feared."


    He added this as he leaned to carry her from her place. she couldn''t refuse him, as humans were always emotional creatures. Although she feared that rod, she couldn''t deny the fact that James did all this just to save her. So, as a perfect human she accepted his offer of help with her heart not mind, and she was right in doing so.


    She stretched her hand to him, as he grabbed her and leaned to carry her body with one arm. She wasn''t tied anymore as she managed to free herself during all this turmoil, so her body moved smoothly with his hand.


    James had finished his task here, this cruiser was already wrecked and was burning like hell, so he didn''t wait anymore as he jumped towards the distant hole.


    The distance between him and the little cruiser wasn''t big, however he felt it was miles away. Just as he jumped, the voice of the rod came in his mind again:


    ''Just think of flying there, and you will be surprised.''


    James didn''t have time to argue with it. the artificial gravity system here in this deck was damaged already, so there was no gravity at all. Only for the presence of the ventilation system working so far, James and Dora would have died from the extreme environment of space.


    He jumped, and his body weighed nothing even when he was carrying Dora. His jump momentum couldn''t make him reach the cruiser, not even half close, so he had no other option but to follow the rod''s instructions.


    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He imagined himself carrying Dora in this destroyed part of this large cruiser, and he was flying towards his little cruiser.


    The face of Rigo was the thing he focused on, as he aimed to reach him. Rigo was still standing on the edge of the opened cargo door of the little cruiser. He was watching everything that happened since the moment he threw the scepter to James.


    And he was shocked, so shocked that even words were choked in his throat. He watched James jump in the space carrying Dora, as if he was trying to reach him.


    Just before he moved, he was stunned in his place again. his shock didn''t decrease, yet it escalated to a higher level, a degree he never felt before. Even after all these years he was paralyzed from surprise, as he never saw anything like what was happening right now in front of him.


    James was flying, flying with his body like the whole world was moving against him and he was standing steadily in his place.


    "Holy S***, we are flying!!!"


    James opened his eyes to be widened at once, as he found himself moving smoothly in space without any momentum towards Rigo. He felt like he was flying naturally, like breathing, a skill he was born to use without thinking.


    Everything must come from somewhere, that what he believed and read many times before in the old books. so, he began to look for why, and immediately he spotted the reason.


    His scepter.


    His hand holding the rod was stretched towards Rigo, and he felt he was pulled not pushed due to it. this time he was aware of what was happening, as the more he moved forwards the more tiresome he became.


    It was like he was descending a mountain using gravity, however his body was exhausted like he was climbing it instead. That was unbelievable!


    The distance between him and Rigo became shorter and shorter within seconds, as once he reached him, Rigo moved fast to grab his body like he was catching him falling from high.


    "W-Welcome back leader, are you alright?" Rigo asked as he helped James to stand on the edge of the opened door.


    James put the stunned Dora''s body on the ground as he said:


    "Let''s go inside and leave this place fast, I don''t know how long those three would need to come after us."


    "Yes, you are right," Rigo said as he moved inside the cruiser, but just as he stepped forward he turned to look deeply with real concern towards him as he asked, "are you alright?"


    James was really tired, however this wasn''t the time for questions like this. So, he briefly replied:


    "I''m good, let''s move."


    He then led the way in front of the two shocked behind him as they all entered the cruiser. Rigo closed the door as he then headed towards the commanding deck.


    The cruiser was full of the dead bodies of Dora''s men, friends she lived with, and shared extreme moments of joy and sorrow together. However right now her mind was totally paralyzed, as there was only one question that took control of her mind:


    ''What the hell just happened?''

 Chapter 70: One Snake and Two Cockroaches

    This question wasn''t only ranging like loud bells in her mind, as Rigo also had the same in his head. However this wasn''t the time nor the place to ask about these things, after all things didn''t get relaxed over yet.


    "Let''s go and leave here as soon as we can, I don''t want to battle with these guys again," James said as he went towards the commanding deck. Rigo and Dora followed his suit.


    Rigo sat over the main seat as he began to operate the cruiser to take off and leave this place. Once the cruiser shade vanished from the hole, three silhouettes appeared inside the destroyed and burning deck of the large cruiser, or what was left out of it.


    "This isn''t true, isn''t it?" Dora''s mother was the first to speak with a shaking voice.


    "I know it''s hard to accept but we saw it with our own eyes," Ricaro muttered with shock in his tone.


    "Hard to accept?!! It''s impossible to occur! Are you sure the two scepters were of two opposing forces?" the Immortal asked.


    "I''m sure, I was the one who manipulated everything and made them ready to harvest," Ricaro turned sharply as he yelled over the Immortal who took a few steps back as he said with apologizing tone:


    "I didn''t mean any disrespect to you, but if what you are saying is true then we are in front of a disaster."


    "Have you made two different scepters at the same time? weren''t both light type artifacts?" It was Dora''s mother turn to yell at the Immortal who replied instantly:


    "It wasn''t my idea, however this was the best interest for me at that time. one scepter for me, and the other for you, that was the deal."


    "Deal? I thought both were light type artifacts! What would have happened if I mistakenly got them both inside me?" she yelled angrily again.


    "This would be your fault to trespass me. it was my only insurance so you won''t double cross me," the Immortal defended back.


    "Enough, now isn''t the time for these childish quarrels! This boy is dangerous, very dangerous. His future potentials are limitless and he will endanger all of us," Ricaro shouted towards the two in front of them.


    The two looked at him at the same time. He was right, the potential of James was limitless. Letting this boy live would be their biggest mistake they had ever done.


    "I sensed that the boy didn''t understand his powers yet," Dora''s mother suddenly said.


    "I know, I also felt it too. But the artifact''s spirit will guide him. he will take longer than usual, but mark my words¡­ he will be back," Ricaro said with regretful tone before taking out a sword as he waved it to destroy part of the ruined deck while shouting angrily with bitter regret:


    "Damn you, if I knew your potential I would have killed you when I got the chance."


    "We can do it now, he is still weak and lost. We can get advantage of that," the Immortal suddenly said.


    "Weak and manipulative as usual. This might be your strongest trait, but it''s your weakest spot too. If we got near that kid again alone we would end up dying on his hands," Ricaro said with despised look to the Immortal who argued back:


    "That''s impossible, you two said you sensed his weakness. Striking the enemy when he is weak is wisdom."


    "No, it''s called suicide. As always, defensive and manipulative. The right thing to do is to go back and raise an army against him. that scepter could kill a bunch of us before its innate energy got depleted, however if we brought enough men then we could wear it down before killing the boy."


    "I don''t understand, wasn''t it supposed to be six light and six dark children in each generation? From where this monster came from?" Dora'' mother muttered as she was lost in thoughts.


    "You are right, but that was the law a long time ago before the forces got separated and turned on each other. Now in each force we can find the chosen six light and six darkness kids carrying different names and titles.


    I don''t know what happened, but this wronged situation has brought this calamity upon us," Ricaro replied.


    "If we had enough time for your plan to be completed, master, then we can have avoided that disaster," the Immortal suddenly said.


    "Plan? What plan? Even your dearest disciple and the only person who knew my plans to the heart didn''t trust me and turned your damn blade against me because of greed. We didn''t have time, we never would have ended up fixing anything.


    That kid is the punishment from forces to our greediness and selflessness. We should have changed, a long time ago," Ricaro said with mockery in his tone.


    "Then let''s change," Dora''s mother suddenly suggested.


    "Change? It''s too late for that. Even if we did, our judgment day will befall upon us no matter what," Ricaro replied with the same mockery.


    "Then what should we do master?" the Immortal asked with helplessness.


    "Now I''m your master? If we aren''t in this calamity together I would rather prefer to stick my cold blade in your heart right now and dispose of your treason," Ricaro said gritting his teeth as he pointed the blade towards the Immortal who kneeled at once as he said with regret:


    "I apologize master, I will never doubt you ever again."


    "Stand up, I won''t believe or trust you anymore. Now isn''t the time for this play, let''s go back and summon all our forces," Ricaro said as he unsheathed his sword while looking towards the spot where the little cruiser was before it disappeared.


    "Are we going to alert everyone?" Dora''s mother asked with loss. The intentions of Ricaro weren''t obvious to her, and to the Immortal.


    "No, we won''t do that. We will let them face the unknown," Ricaro said with a vicious smile, an old smile he was famous with. Ricaro returned at once to his own self, like a switch being flipped he began to think selflessly again.


    And with a cold heart and dark mind as always.


    The immortal exchanged silent glances with Dora''s mother, as Ricaro added:


    "Don''t be a fool, all we need to do is to fortify our defenses, build up our army and stay alert to that boy. Confronting him is a suicide and his oath will be crossed with any of us again.


    I can feel it, this boy won''t rest until we are all dead, and I won''t be the cannon fodder for his sacrifices. I prefer to hide and keep it low. Let the others confront him with their false information, and let their sacrifice pave the road to our survival."


    "Survival? From what you just said there is one end for us all," Dora''s mother said with bitterness and despair.


    "No, you are wrong. forces have sent that calamity upon us not to wipe us all, but to correct things. Think, we are many and divided, so this boy will end us most, leaving only one group in each force. Don''t you want to be the last living surviving force in the darkness? Or do you prefer to die for others to live?


    I''m not that noble, and I can''t stand being one. I will return and close up on myself and my forces. If you want to survive then I recommend you to follow me, or else stay outside and perish alone."


    He said that as he turned into a dark stream of light as he exited the ship. Dora''s mother and the Immortal exchanged silent glances for a moment before turning into dark and light streams as well.


    They weren''t heroic in nature, and even if they were, the temptation of death wasn''t that alluring to any of them. they decided to keep their pride away and stay with that snake in its hole in hope to survive the upcoming storm.


    Any cockroach would do that.

 Chapter 71: You Have to Let me Go

    On the board of the small cruiser, Rigo was busy controlling the ship to fly away from the burning large cruiser. This was a heated up battle, so many ships were already on fire, and one more wouldn''t attract any suspicion.


    Although they safely departed from the dangerous situation with the three immortals, they were still in danger inside this battle, so Rigo had to speak up his mind as he suggested:


    "Leader, I suggest we jump away from here, as we have a long distance separating us from our fleet."


    James wasn''t looking at him as he was gazing at the scepter in his hands. He was miraculously saved, but he had tons of questions regarding what happened there.


    Like the two beside him, he wasn''t sure of what happened except he used strange power to strike three extremely powerful enemies. He didn''t believe in fairy tales or legends, however what he just experienced had pushed him over that edge already.


    He had to reconsider all the legends that were spread all over the cosmos.


    When Rigo spoke, James was pushed away from his doubts as he decisively said:


    "I won''t let my fleet be alone in this mess, also I need to secure Eli and the others."


    His words attracted Dora from her own thoughts, as she was still trying to understand what happened back there.


    "Tell me, one second I was attacking the commanding deck, and the next I found myself cuffed to a seat inside the commanding deck with my mother plotting against me. is this what happened or my head got damaged or what?"


    James looked with compassion towards her. He knew she still was in shock, and so she wasn''t experiencing the full throttle power of the treason her mother did to her.


    Ignorance, denial, and doubt, that was what she had right now. For James he read some old books regarding post traumatic effects, signs, and symptoms so he had some clues about what she was experiencing right now and where that would end.


    "Listen, this isn''t easy but you have to believe in yourself," James said, trying to comfort her.


    "You didn''t answer my question!" Dora said, gritting her teeth as some tears began to show up in her eyes.


    "Sigh, yes that happened, your mother double crossed you for her own benefit. It''s harsh I know but you have to know the full truth and face it so you can go on with your life," James seriously said as he knew the best thing to deal with trauma wasn''t to avoid it, but to face it directly.


    "No, No, No," Dora said with a shaky tone and more tears accumulating in her eyes as they began to flow on her beautiful cheeks. She was unconsciously retreating to the back, however James didn''t let her break like this as he took the initiative and moved towards her.


    He hugged her, pulling her body softly but firmly towards him and then he closed over her with his arms like a cocoon closing over its own baby butterfly to protect.


    "Ah!!!"


    Dora suddenly screamed bitterly out of pain, she was feeling like fire was burning inside her heart. All her mind was thinking about was the moment where her own mother spoke about how she killed her father and schemed to kill her.


    The time seemed to freeze upon this moment as this dark memory kept replaying in her mind with the words of her own mother echoing inside her head like thunder in gloomy sky.


    She didn''t feel herself closing over James'' back with her arms, as she pressed him hard and her fingers were inserted strongly in his back. James felt some pain, however he knew this was the moment of her confrontation with the bitter truth.


    If she didn''t let her own feelings flood like this, she might end up screwed for the rest of her life. so, he didn''t speak and just stood there motionless for minutes as the only audible sound in the deck was the crying of her.


    Rigo glanced over the two as he sighed. In his opinion they should be leaving this place right now. He wasn''t cold hearted but he was programmed to be practical. He knew this battle was difficult to escape safely from, besides they were still in another force backyard causing trouble.


    If that force came, then things would end up being more complicated than James even thought of. So Rigo wanted to escape from here as fast as he could, however he couldn''t disobey the orders of his leader.


    They were really on the opposite side of the special zone, where their fleet was still trapped inside. Rigo sent messages stressing them to move at once from there, and they complied as they were close by leaving that zone.


    However for the two forces to meet, they had to cross the middle of this battle. What made this nearly impossible to be done without any losses was the presence of over one hundred large cruisers fighting one another in this region alone.


    That was only the count of large cruisers, as for the intermediate and smaller ones, the number might be in ten folds at the least. If the space fighters were added to the mix, then total chaos and impossible to cross net was lying there in front of them.


    So, Rigo had to come up with the second best plan as he said:


    "May I suggest waiting up here for the whole fleet to come up from that zone then we can all jump towards one location?"


    James turned his head to look at Rigo as he asked:


    "What are you afraid of?"


    "The terasoras forces to show up," Rigo instantly replied as he was ready for this question. James thought about it for a moment to find Rigo fears weren''t groundless, so he said:


    "Fine, select a safe place away from here and give the fleet the orders to jump there as well."


    "Will we jump now?" Rigo asked at once as he wanted to leave here as fast he could.


    "No, we won''t move until all the ships are out of that zone," James denied his idea again.


    Rigo sighed, he knew it would be disastrous if another force came towards them, so he began to direct the cruiser to move towards the distant spot opposite to the direction of the terasoras ship and its forces.


    After all if they came, he would jump with the ship without waiting for the orders of James. He would listen to his orders but he wouldn''t let him be this suicidal.


    So, he relayed his orders to the fleet, as if he had to sacrifice them to save James then he wouldn''t hesitate in doing so.


    At the same time, the brief conversation between the two knocked some sense finally inside Dora. She wasn''t that weak girl after all, as she experienced losing a father before and lived a harsh life impersonalizing two identities at the same time.


    So, she began to focus away from this dark memory, and her mind began to bury it away, deep away from any reach.


    She did exactly what James was afraid of, however she was the master of her own fate not him. so, when she pushed him away and broke free from his embrace, he knew she fell for that trauma, and its effect would haunt her for life.


    So he bitterly sighed.


    "It''s not the time to weep over the past, I need to move and save what''s left of my forces," she said when she noticed his full of pity and regret sigh. She then moved towards the navigation unit as she began to connect with her scattered forces here and relay her orders to them.


    "Can you send me the coordinates of your safe place?" she suddenly asked.


    Rigo looked in a warning gaze towards James, who understood his concerns, so he replied:


    "I want to remind you that we found many spies in your men."


    These words made Dora''s body tremble, as she totally forgot about the treason she had on the hands of her close up friends who she used to consider as sisters and brothers to her.


    Her own mother''s betrayal was more than enough to make her forget about this smaller treason. However after James reminded her, the eyes began to be full of tears for a moment before she wipe them with her sleeve as she said:


    "I know your concerns, and I understand them. however I can''t let the forces my father died to build be destroyed like this."


    James took a deep breath, it seemed her situation was more complicated than what he thought. After all he was a rogue person, with no one to care about. Only a handful of droids were considered his own circle of relations and he wasn''t ready to let them in danger.


    So he kind of understood her emotions right now, but he knew he also underestimated her attachment to them. He knew if he asked her to let them go, she wouldn''t agree. He also knew if he asked her to move them away from the place they were heading to, then she wouldn''t agree too.


    There was only one way out of this, and as he figured it Dora also was thinking about it at the same time as she turned to look silently towards him.


    The two eyes met for some silent moment before she said with determination:


    "You have to let me go."

 Chapter 72: James Officially Joins The Space War

    James knew she was speaking about what was best for her. She wasn''t a rogue traveler like him, instead she was a princess of the rebels.


    After what happened with her mother, James had to ask before he agreed with her:


    "Are you sure your mother won''t double cross you again?"


    The beautiful face of her changed abruptly for a moment before she could control her disturbed feelings. She took a deep breath as she replied:


    "I know it''s not guaranteed but this will be my own problem. you have done enough already, and knowing her true intentions towards me will make me more prepared for her next time she betrays me."


    James didn''t reply at once as he looked deeply in her eyes. This little girl here had her soul tainted by her own mother, which was something very harsh to be honest.


    However as she said, this wasn''t his fight anymore. From the beginning he aimed towards helping Eli and saving her life. although he got some turns by mistake, he still accomplished his goal at the end.


    "So it''s a goodbye then," he said finally as he decided to let her go. She didn''t reply in words as she moved to tightly hug him for a minute before she moved slightly away and looked deeply in his eyes.


    Then she took the initiative to kiss his lips softly as a long kiss was born at this moment. James was taken aback with this move at first, however he lost himself after deeply in her kiss.


    After all this was his first kiss ever.


    "Well, I hope to see you again, James."


    She moved away from his embrace leaving him stunned in his place not knowing what to say or do. She turned before she disappeared outside the deck as she said:


    "It was nice to know you too Rigo."


    "It seems there is no kiss for me," Rigo said with a regretful tone that made Dora chuckle.


    "There is a ship next to us, so I will use the escape pod in the back."


    Dora said before she turned to look again towards James. The first time she met him was very different from now, as she was threatening him without even putting him in the eye.


    However when she took these few steps towards the back of the ship, her heart felt some pain, like something dear to her was lost, like it was lost forever. that pain was horrible that she even ran to escape from here as fast as she could.


    She wanted to return to her old life, the bloody princess of the rebels, hoping that her old life would help her forget the future she just abandoned.


    As for James, he stood in his place motionless without knowing what to do or say. He too felt some pain in his heart, however he knew this was due to his affection towards her.


    Dora was an arrogant girl for him, a type he never thought of liking before. However when he deeply knew her, he felt how fragile and sweet she was. She wasn''t tough or arrogant, she was weak and sensitive.


    So she veiled her true self and covered it with her arrogance and toughness, and she did a marvelous job here. without truly knowing her in this crisis, he would never thought he would fall for her.


    But he did, and now he was already feeling a regret towards letting her go.


    "I know I can''t speak about love, but for your information cosmos is very big," Rigo suddenly said, attracting James out of his disturbed emotions.


    "I don''t know if I will find someone like her in this cosmos," James mattered softly like he was speaking to himself.


    "I didn''t mean that, despite the fact you will find more. What I meant is your paths will be crossed to each other once more, don''t worry about that. It''s a short goodbye and not an eternal departure," Rigo calmly said as he authorized for the escaping pod to leave.


    James felt faint tremor in the ship, which was caused by the escaping pod. He sighed, as no matter what he was feeling right now he had to live with it, there was no turning back.


    His eyesight was attracted to the space outside the cruiser for a few moments before he took a deep breath as he moved to sit beside Rigo while saying:


    "How is the situation outside?"


    Rigo just glanced at him before returning to focus over controlling the cruiser as he replied:


    "It''s quite chaotic actually. I believe the terasoras ship will arrive soon, so we need to be ready at any time to leave here."


    James pressed on the hologram of the whole scanning device of the cruiser, so a three dimensional map of this piece of space appeared. In fact the situation was more complicated than just being chaotic.


    Everywhere there were many ships fighting each other. The numbers of fighting forces were very large to the degree the whole space was about to turn from dark to the different colors of these ships, like a sea of colors.


    "It''s very difficult to cross the whole battlefield to reach the other side," James muttered as he realized what Rigo suggested before was the right decision indeed.


    Even the zone they were at right now was filled with many ships, however most of them were small cruisers like them so there was no big threat on their cruiser so far.


    "Do you want me to go back to control a cannon?" Rigo asked.


    "No, you control the ship and I will control the cannon," James replied as this was the best decision here. He was somehow expert at using cannons, not flying cruisers as good as Rigo.


    James moved from his seat as he headed towards the back of the ship. Rigo knew this was the best decision, so he said:


    "I want you to cover the surface of the cruiser, the shield strength there is weakened and the armor already received much damage."


    James just waved his hand towards him before he realized he was still holding the scepter so far. He glanced hesitantly towards the scepter, as he would use this moment of being alone to discover what mysteries this scepter held.


    He exited the commanding deck heading straight to the heart, passing by some dead bodies of Dora''s ex-team.


    He didn''t know who was innocent and who was an agent, but he was convinced he took the right decision by killing them all. Once he reached the heart, he headed to the steel stairs linking to the surface of the cruiser.


    He rapidly climbed towards the top, and once he reached there he headed directly towards a small room that was designed to control the main cannons over the surface of the cruiser.


    It was the main defensive room at any small cruiser. This room had many defensive devices to help him in defending the cruiser, like an auto detect system, guiding system, and three hundred and sixty degree visibility and mobility of the room.


    He sat on the only seat in this place, as he was sitting inside a solid concrete small dome-like place with many buttons and three handles in it.


    He knew that each handle could control a group of cannons, as for these buttons they were to help him use this room''s defensive capabilities.


    Once he sat there on the seat, the system started to kick on as the concrete dome began to show some life. in moments this dome turned into a huge screen that showed an exact image of what was going outside.


    It was an amazing feeling, like he was standing alone in the middle of the space, however he knew this was due to the advanced detection technology coupled with the latest hologramic abilities.


    The situation outside was really something different than seeing it on the hologramic screen inside the commanding deck. He felt things were worse than he thought, as everywhere there were small cruisers moving fast and hitting anything that moved.


    Rigo was right, the shield over the surface was already weak as it blocked uncountable hits already. As for the armor, James managed to spot many places with damage in it.


    If this continued, then this cruiser would be done for. So, he didn''t delay as he grabbed the middle handle with one hand, while letting the scepter fall from his other hand which grabbed another handle.


    This battle needed a full crew of the cruiser, and they wouldn''t be able to completely shield the cruiser from these attacks. James knew he couldn''t make that difference, but his mission wasn''t to win this war.


    All he needed to do was to buy as much time as possible before his fleet exited that zone safely and then they would all jump safely from here.


    He didn''t hesitate to fully activate all the defensive supporting systems in this room, any help would make a difference here. then he began to press the two handles as he officially joined this ongoing heated up space war.

 Chapter 73: The Establishment of Terases Empire

    The defensive room over the top of this cruiser controlled twenty cannons with different types. They were arranged generally to three groups, each was connected to one handle.


    If James was doing this manually, he wouldn''t be able to hit anything, however after activating the supporting systems here, all the hard work was literally done by the system.


    All he needed to do was to try and move the handles towards the general location of the cruiser he wanted to shoot down then press the trigger. The systems would do the rest starting from calculating the shot trajectory ending by firing multiple times to make sure the shields were down and the cruiser was destroyed.


    However even with all this help, James knew his main job wasn''t to shoot down cruisers, but to try and support the shield by aiming towards the incoming shots.


    This was a tricky task, yet crucial to their survival. The easiest way to do that was by destroying the attacking cruisers. However doing so would bring undesired attention towards them, so James decided not to destroy any cruiser unless there was no other option.


    So he started to fire. He sat the system on detecting the incoming cannon missiles so he could destroy them. Once he started firing at the incoming attacks, the load over the shield in this area was greatly relieved.


    "I''ve secured this side, has our fleet left the zone yet?" James asked.


    "Not yet, but they are about to leave. They need less than five minutes to get out," Rigo replied through the central communication system inside this defensive unit.


    "Good, five minutes aren''t that long. Let''s make sure we stay in one piece before they make it out," James said with a long sigh of relief. The situation in this spot of space was really complicated. The sooner they leave from here the better.


    However fate didn''t allow James'' plan to go smoothly as he desired. With the passing of the third minute, some great shadow came from far. This shadow was so heavy that it made the entire battlefield silent.


    The terasoras ship had finally made it here.


    "Sir, I believe this is the terasoras ship. They are sending a broadcast to us. Do you want me to accept it?" Rigo asked with some worry in his tone.


    "How long before our boys get out from there?" James didn''t directly reply as he asked.


    "Two minutes sir."


    "Good, accept the transmission then," James ordered before adding, "and link it to me here so I can view it as well."


    "Affirmative."


    Rigo then accepted the transmission as he also relayed it to James'' defensive unit. In front of James, the dome suddenly changed as a strange creature appeared in front of him.


    He was one of the Terases species, which were a highly intelligent and extremely violent race well known across the cosmos.


    They had huge bodies with three pairs of short and thick muscular hands. their bodies when they were standing were five times the size of humans, coupled with their bulging muscles and thick skin, they were really hard to lose foes in close combat.


    Their heads were like humans, but with parrot beaks like mouths. Their hair was usually died crimson red for males, and cyan green for females.


    The one that appeared in front of James was a female, wearing the formal uniform of the long destroyed crimson empire of the terases race. This empire was destroyed in the largest coalition war this cosmos had ever seen in its history.


    That terases female general looked with disdain as she spoke with her own language with a strong tone. Terases race was a prideful race, even when speaking to strangers they wouldn''t abandon their mother tongue language.


    "Run the translation system for me," James ordered at once. He knew Rigo could understand directly what this fierce lady was saying, so he had to say it so Rigo would activate the translator for him.


    "You are so bold to dare and trespass a territory under my jurisdiction and start fighting each other like we are never here," the translated voice came from the unit at once. James knew this general was furious, and so he had to find a way of here.


    His fleet was less than two minutes away from the zone, so James was about to make Rigo send the order of immediate hyperjump after they exit the zone, the general continued speaking:


    "As you were rude and committed this grave insult to us, I took the liberty to establish an isolation field around this whole place. now you are all trapped like rats, under my mercy. No ship will be able to leave here even using the space jump. This is the beginning of your deserved punishment."


    James narrowed his eyes once he heard these threatening words. He didn''t delay as he said at once:


    "Examine the external space, can we jump?"


    Rigo didn''t reply at once, as he began to investigate the external space around this area. Rigo wasn''t the only one doing that, literally all the ships here were doing the same thing.


    And they all reached the same conclusion¡­ the space around them was locked by a great net of energy that interfered with any space jump.


    That meant one thing, everyone here was trapped like that general described, like rats.


    "We are trapped, we can''t jump out of here," Rigo said the shocking news to James, who began to be afraid.


    He wasn''t the only one feeling so, as all those trapped here were feeling the same. Terases'' race was famous for their brutality, especially in dealing with war prisoners. The fate of anyone here was already dark and gloomy.


    "Now I believe you all sensed the majestic powerful locking field of my old empire, the empire that everyone one here is a descendant of a power that schemed to destroy it.


    And today I won''t be less generous than you were in the past. I''m trapping you here not to kill you. I know that all the higher ups of the empire and the rebels are here right now.


    Most of your star fleet is trapped here, and that only means one simple fact¡­ your homes are now left defenseless, and I intend to seize them all and merge them together, the empire and rebels to resurrect my empire once again. thanks for the gift of your stupidity and arrogance, without your help my ancestors dream couldn''t be achieved.


    Now excuse me, I have a few star systems to conquer," the lady general said with a vicious smile before ending the transmission from their side.

 Chapter 75: Running Away with Your Life

    James was shocked and stupefied with what he just heard. His mind couldn''t get it all, but he knew he was in danger and that scepter was offering help.


    Although he knew how strong that scepter was, he felt greatly threatened especially when the scepter wouldn''t be there to help him anymore.


    "Is there a way to replenish your energy?" he asked the only thing that was in his mind now. If he was to survive, then he wouldn''t do that without the aid of the scepter.


    "There are ways to replenish my energy, the fastest is to collect souls like the way I was created with," the scepter said.


    "What?! No way I can kill innocent people to replenish your energy," James decisively refused this solution, especially when there were others he could use.


    "Then you have two more ways, the longest is to let me rest inside your soul and I will replenish my energy from yours. It''s long but it''s guaranteed. The other solution is to seek for energy stones, these are rare things in this universe, and very dangerous to come by."


    James felt the last solution was the one he should focus on. He didn''t recognize these energy stones, but if the scepter said they existed, then he would search and find them.


    No matter what he had to revive his scepter, no matter what cost he had to pay for it.


    "Now go out and do your things, try to leave fast. All you need to do is to get near the net and crash into it. leave the rest to me."


    The scepter sound then faded away with the world around James. In a blink of an eye he returned to the ship where he was.


    "Are you already awake?" Rigo simply asked without turning to look at him.


    James once heard his voice and he jumped off his seat like he was electrified. This sudden move of him startled Rigo who left everything he was doing and asked with uncertainty:


    "Are you alright?"


    "Tell me, have you contacted Dora yet?" James rushed to ask as he knew his time here was limited.


    The urge and worry in his voice made Rigo feel there was a terrible thing happening, so he replied at once:


    "I have made contact with her and she is now consulting her advisors about what to do."


    "Link me to her," James said, and when Rigo looked strangely at him he added with a strict tone, "do it now!"


    "Affirmative."


    Rigo returned to his seat as he took a few moments before a hologram screen appeared in the middle of the deck. As the screen appeared, James ordered:


    "Send a word to everyone, we need to regroup as fast as we can."


    "I-Is everything ok?" Rigo asked with doubt and concern.


    "Just do it!"


    James'' behavior was odd, not only for Rigo but also for Dora who just appeared on the screen and watched his last order to Rigo.


    "Are you ok?" Dora asked with worry in her eyes. She knew James, even during their darkest moments he wasn''t like this, he wasn''t in this despair.


    "Listen to me Dora, we all are at risk of being killed here. we need to leave, and we need to leave now."


    James ignored her question as there was no time to waste. His mind was set only on one thing, to escape from here before that person was born and come to get him.


    "W- I just received Rigo''s request and I told him to wa¡­"


    James didn''t wait for her to continue her words as he shouted at her:


    "It''s either we leave now or you will die. I have a way to escape, but I need a large cruiser to do so. If you don''t want to die just listen to me and do as I say."


    The attitude of James was weird even for Rigo who glanced shortly at him. Rigo scanned James body but he found nothing wrong with him. He was perfectly fine a couple of minutes ago, which was really strange to just change abruptly like this.


    "Calm down James, you are making me nervous," Dora tried to calm him and understand more about the situation, however her approach was met by a weirder response of James as he said with strange tone:


    "Fine, I will head to the net and leave, if you want to live come to the coordinated Rigo will send to you, bye."


    He then pointed to Rigo to shut down the call. Rigo did what James ordered although he was feeling more wrong about that. James stood in his place for a few seconds before going to sit beside Rigo as he asked:


    "How long before they meet us?"


    Rigo looked again at him as he replied:


    "Five minutes, I chose a spot near the net to meet there, it''s in the middle of the distance between us."


    "Don''t waste time explaining things to me, just move this ship towards that location. Also send the coordinates to Dora as well, hopefully she knew what was best for her," James said with a cold tone that he never used before.


    "Are you ok?" Rigo asked with caution.


    "Just do as I say, why is everyone interested in hearing my reasons now? Just do the hell I say without question!!"


    Rigo had his own share of the explosive words of James, so he didn''t open his mouth again as he returned to focus on flying the cruiser. In the middle of that, he ran many tests to assess James'' condition.


    All was fine except for his mood, which indicated severe panic and great stress. Rigo hoped this was just a minor setback, as he didn''t want James to end up like this forever.


    The part of the space trapped here inside the huge net of terases race was calm, very calm. Every power was now trying to gather their forces together, so there were two huge sides in the net, with each eyeing each other and most importantly eyeing that great net.


    This wasn''t peaceful at all, it was so stressing that might drive men crazy. Rigo felt that tense in the place, so he thought that might be the reason behind James'' weird actions.


    In less than five minutes, the small cruiser they were at reached the place of meeting with the rest of the small fleet. In less than one minute, many ships began to approach here.


    Finally James'' fleet was assembled once more and they were ready to act according to his orders.


    "What do you want me to do now?" Rigo asked with caution as he didn''t want to anger his leader again.


    "Did you hear out from Dora?" he asked.


    "No, not yet," Rigo replied.


    "Hmm," James was thinking about abandoning her and running, however something inside him refused to do so before checking on her. Maybe, just maybe she was coming and got delayed.


    "Contact her again before we leave."


    He finally made up his mind to try and check on her. If she was coming then he would wait up for her, or else he would start to leave here. this place had become very dangerous for him to stay any more second in it.

 Chapter 75: Running Away with Your Life

    James was shocked and stupefied with what he just heard. His mind couldn''t get it all, but he knew he was in danger and that scepter was offering help.


    Although he knew how strong that scepter was, he felt greatly threatened especially when the scepter wouldn''t be there to help him anymore.


    "Is there a way to replenish your energy?" he asked the only thing that was in his mind now. If he was to survive, then he wouldn''t do that without the aid of the scepter.


    "There are ways to replenish my energy, the fastest is to collect souls like the way I was created with," the scepter said.


    "What?! No way I can kill innocent people to replenish your energy," James decisively refused this solution, especially when there were others he could use.


    "Then you have two more ways, the longest is to let me rest inside your soul and I will replenish my energy from yours. It''s long but it''s guaranteed. The other solution is to seek for energy stones, these are rare things in this universe, and very dangerous to come by."


    James felt the last solution was the one he should focus on. He didn''t recognize these energy stones, but if the scepter said they existed, then he would search and find them.


    No matter what he had to revive his scepter, no matter what cost he had to pay for it.


    "Now go out and do your things, try to leave fast. All you need to do is to get near the net and crash into it. leave the rest to me."


    The scepter sound then faded away with the world around James. In a blink of an eye he returned to the ship where he was.


    "Are you already awake?" Rigo simply asked without turning to look at him.


    James once heard his voice and he jumped off his seat like he was electrified. This sudden move of him startled Rigo who left everything he was doing and asked with uncertainty:


    "Are you alright?"


    "Tell me, have you contacted Dora yet?" James rushed to ask as he knew his time here was limited.


    The urge and worry in his voice made Rigo feel there was a terrible thing happening, so he replied at once:


    "I have made contact with her and she is now consulting her advisors about what to do."


    "Link me to her," James said, and when Rigo looked strangely at him he added with a strict tone, "do it now!"


    "Affirmative."


    Rigo returned to his seat as he took a few moments before a hologram screen appeared in the middle of the deck. As the screen appeared, James ordered:


    "Send a word to everyone, we need to regroup as fast as we can."


    "I-Is everything ok?" Rigo asked with doubt and concern.


    "Just do it!"


    James'' behavior was odd, not only for Rigo but also for Dora who just appeared on the screen and watched his last order to Rigo.


    "Are you ok?" Dora asked with worry in her eyes. She knew James, even during their darkest moments he wasn''t like this, he wasn''t in this despair.


    "Listen to me Dora, we all are at risk of being killed here. we need to leave, and we need to leave now."


    James ignored her question as there was no time to waste. His mind was set only on one thing, to escape from here before that person was born and come to get him.


    "W- I just received Rigo''s request and I told him to wa¡­"


    James didn''t wait for her to continue her words as he shouted at her:


    "It''s either we leave now or you will die. I have a way to escape, but I need a large cruiser to do so. If you don''t want to die just listen to me and do as I say."


    The attitude of James was weird even for Rigo who glanced shortly at him. Rigo scanned James body but he found nothing wrong with him. He was perfectly fine a couple of minutes ago, which was really strange to just change abruptly like this.


    "Calm down James, you are making me nervous," Dora tried to calm him and understand more about the situation, however her approach was met by a weirder response of James as he said with strange tone:


    "Fine, I will head to the net and leave, if you want to live come to the coordinated Rigo will send to you, bye."


    He then pointed to Rigo to shut down the call. Rigo did what James ordered although he was feeling more wrong about that. James stood in his place for a few seconds before going to sit beside Rigo as he asked:


    "How long before they meet us?"


    Rigo looked again at him as he replied:


    "Five minutes, I chose a spot near the net to meet there, it''s in the middle of the distance between us."


    "Don''t waste time explaining things to me, just move this ship towards that location. Also send the coordinates to Dora as well, hopefully she knew what was best for her," James said with a cold tone that he never used before.


    "Are you ok?" Rigo asked with caution.


    "Just do as I say, why is everyone interested in hearing my reasons now? Just do the hell I say without question!!"


    Rigo had his own share of the explosive words of James, so he didn''t open his mouth again as he returned to focus on flying the cruiser. In the middle of that, he ran many tests to assess James'' condition.


    All was fine except for his mood, which indicated severe panic and great stress. Rigo hoped this was just a minor setback, as he didn''t want James to end up like this forever.


    The part of the space trapped here inside the huge net of terases race was calm, very calm. Every power was now trying to gather their forces together, so there were two huge sides in the net, with each eyeing each other and most importantly eyeing that great net.


    This wasn''t peaceful at all, it was so stressing that might drive men crazy. Rigo felt that tense in the place, so he thought that might be the reason behind James'' weird actions.


    In less than five minutes, the small cruiser they were at reached the place of meeting with the rest of the small fleet. In less than one minute, many ships began to approach here.


    Finally James'' fleet was assembled once more and they were ready to act according to his orders.


    "What do you want me to do now?" Rigo asked with caution as he didn''t want to anger his leader again.


    "Did you hear out from Dora?" he asked.


    "No, not yet," Rigo replied.


    "Hmm," James was thinking about abandoning her and running, however something inside him refused to do so before checking on her. Maybe, just maybe she was coming and got delayed.


    "Contact her again before we leave."


    He finally made up his mind to try and check on her. If she was coming then he would wait up for her, or else he would start to leave here. this place had become very dangerous for him to stay any more second in it.

 Chapter 76: Doras Desperate State of Mind

    Rigo looked at James silently before he began to contact Dora. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn''t tell what it was. All he knew was that staying here would compromise his leader''s life, and so they had to leave, to leave fast.


    After few moments of waiting, Rigo managed to contact Dora as he looked towards James while saying:


    "She requests to speak with you."


    James took a deep breath to let his anxiety chill out for a bit before nodding to Rigo. In front of the two, a hologramic screen appeared with the face of Dora in front of them.


    "You seem in a hurry, what''s wrong? Tell me." she said once she spotted James.


    "There is no time to explain, will you come with me or not?" James spoke in the same seriousness as before but with perfect control over his anxiety this time.


    "I''m on my way, give me three minutes and my ship will be there. have you arrived yet?" she said.


    "Three minutes, hmm¡­ try to make it shorter then," James said as he looked towards Rigo, "Have you sent her the coordinates of our location?"


    "Yes," Rigo simply replied.


    "Good, I will wait for three minutes, if you don''t arrive then I will leave here," James said.


    "What, are you going to hang out like last time?" she said with faint anger in her tone.


    "Time is tight, and I have things to do and so do you. Let''s not just waste time here and let''s chat when we will be on the ship," James said before waving his hands to her, "bye, see you in minutes."


    He then gestured to Rigo who closed the connection.


    "How long?" James asked while rubbing his face with the palms of his hands.


    "Our team will arrive here in two minutes, and her fleet will be here in three," Rigo replied.


    "Fleet?!" James sat straight at once as he looked strangely towards Rigo who felt he said something wrong.


    "Y-Yes, she is bringing twenty cruisers with her," Rigo hesitantly replied.


    "Damn! What does she think of this? A field trip? A space camp? Damn! Call her again, fast!"


    "Ok, ok, give me moments," Rigo hurriedly said as he connected to Dora''s cruiser. Before he connected the two together, he sent a brief warning to Dora with these simple words:


    ''He knows and he is upset.''


    ''Thanks,'' Dora sent briefly to Rigo before the latter said:


    "She is all yours."


    Dora appeared the moment after in front of James, who was burning with anger. Once he saw her he exploded:


    "What the hell are you doing? Didn''t I tell you only one ship?"


    "Oh, these ships are just protecting me," Dora faked innocence.


    "C''mon, how will you move away and leave them? do you want me to believe that?!" James pointed out to her as he yelled.


    He was nervous, anxious, and worried. He just wanted to leave here and resume his life safely in any other place, so he was impatient and angry.


    Dora understood part of his reasons, and she admitted to herself that she tried to trick him and save as much of her loyal followers as possible, however he discovered that.


    He was angry, and she was trying to think of anything she could say or use to convince him in taking everyone with them.


    "Do you know I only have a means to save one ship, only one ship? That''s why I asked for your largest cruiser here so it can fit all my fleet."


    James'' words were sudden, honest, and direct which made Dora understand many things here. He wasn''t cold hearted, he was practical and limited by his own means.


    So, if he could save one cruiser only, then she wouldn''t need to be this fixed over saving all the fleet in this standard way. She could follow his steps and crowd all her crew inside this one large cruiser and escape all together.


    "Fine, I will make modifications now," Dora said.


    "Don''t waste time please, we are already tight on the schedule here," James insisted further on the time issue.


    "Don''t worry, I will be here in time."


    She then closed the connection and started to relay her orders. She was standing out there, in the heart of the commanding deck of her large cruiser and her mind was full of many totally distorted things.


    Just a couple of hours ago she was feeling she had the upper hand over anyone else, she was confident, but right now she knew she was overconfident.


    She was careless, careless to the degree that she couldn''t even detect spies in her own personal crew. Even her best friends were all traitors, what a great success for her, that was what she thought of while watching the dark endless space outside the cruiser.


    This wasn''t even hers to begin with, but with what happened and the absence of her mother, she received the ruling scepter to lead all the rebels and became her queen.


    A queen in the middle of a storm that was about to hurricane everyone here. she knew she wasn''t in her best shape, and the circumstances she received the flag of the rebels weren''t ideal at all.


    Besides she didn''t dream of getting the ruling role of the rebels to begin with. She always thought her destiny would be by following the footsteps of her father.


    To be a phoenix guardian again. to lead and conquer all the foes, the Immortal included.


    But now she was devastated from inside, severely hurt and deeply wounded by her mother''s betrayal, not just towards her but it also extended to her late father.


    Her mother was the one who schemed to kill her father, and kill her. What a glorious mother she had, and that was really helping as she was now hesitant about what to do.


    So she decided to escape thinking of these pains and run towards the rebel side and try to survive there.


    She was alone, a cold hearted person in the eyes of others who was really desperate to not be alone right now, with a heart full of fiery turmoils.


    She wasn''t aware of what was happening and what she should do except for one single fact, she needed to escape here safely. She needed to save as many souls as possible.


    Terases race was a well known race in old eras, famous for their brutality and aggressiveness. She knew she wouldn''t stand a chance to live here if she stayed, and with James'' offer she was able to see the faint dying ray of hope from the end of the world.


    She was ready to take this risk, but she didn''t want to be saved alone as she decided to bring everyone else with her.


    James asked for one ship, and she brought dozens with her. She had to abandon many other ships as she moved their crew inside the small fleet she had.


    She did so to avoid the unnecessary eyes of others, especially those imperial forces. When James told her about the shocking truth, she wasn''t sad instead she was more confident in her ability to save all.


    As she moved the crews of many ships into the existing dozens here, she ordered for everyone to move into the large cruiser she was boarding right now.


    The Bombardment cruiser was truly the largest cruiser in the rebel fleet without any rival. She was the pride of the rebel fleet, the ship that leaders of rebels used to use for centuries so far.


    She planned to make this ship be enough to carry everyone. Theoretically speaking that was easy, as the Bombardment cruiser could accommodate the total number of rebels here.


    The issue was in the other ships. Cruising the space with a single ship was madness, even if it was this large and mighty Bombardment cruiser. She needed to bring many fighters, some small and intermediate cruisers.


    How many could she bring to not leave anyone behind? That was a tricky question regarding there is a severely tight time limit here. she lacked advisors, as right now she was only trusting the only person in the world who wouldn''t betray her.


    It''s herself!


    "Relay my orders, only one third of our fleet will enter the Bombardment cruiser, and make everyone board these cruisers until further notice."


    She said without even turning to look towards the one who received her orders.


    "What about the large cruisers?" that person asked.


    "Ditch them all," Dora replied after a momentary pause.


    She was still imprisoned to that moment of time when she opened her eyes and saw her mother standing in front of her and was ready to kill her with her hands.


    She wasn''t yet stable, and her self control was hanging by a thread and was about to crush at any moment.


    In fact without the sudden appearance of James she would have collapsed a long time ago.


    Without James she wouldn''t be here, alive today.


    She suddenly realized she didn''t know who he was or where he came from.


    He was a nobody, a nobody that did to her more than anybody else.


    What an irony!

 Chapter 77: Reaching Bombardment Cruiser

    James was thinking about another matter while waiting for these few minutes to pass. His mind was busy about his future, where he would go now with his droids.


    Destination was important. This part of the universe was already in the pocket of this merciless terases race. That meant the one who would rise to antagonize him would reign with absolute control over this part.


    However the universe was vast, very vast for a single race to rule. The space itself was divided into known and unknown regions. The known regions were divided into space sectors, with over one hundred great sectors known to everyone.


    Each great sector is subdivided further into dozens of small sectors like the one he was at right now. Even if the terases race became cocky and controlled all this major sector, there were many other sectors for him to live at.


    The only issue was the great distance and the technical complications between the major sectors. These sectors weren''t divided according to anyone''s whim of thoughts, but based on naturally established barriers.


    Crossing these barriers was a nightmare, and that made each major sector almost enclosed upon itself.


    Not many could trespass that deadly natural barrier. That made the idea of escaping here more hard to accept, however that made this idea for him more appealing.


    If crossing these barriers was that hard, then when he succeeded in crossing them he would be safer, much safer than staying at any small sector here.


    "Our fleet has arrived," Rigo suddenly said that to interrupt James'' thoughts.


    "Oh, good," James just replied as he was still attached to this dilemma of his.


    "Do you want me to organize the plan of boarding the large cruiser with them?" Rigo carefully asked as he was still worried of James'' intense reaction.


    James turned to him as he waved his hand towards Rigo in a signal to go for it. Rigo started to organize the fleet while James returned to his previous issue.


    He heard once before about a crew of space pirates, who were very dangerous and risky to deal with, but they were the only group here he heard about their ability to cross the inter-sector barriers.


    However to contact them he needed to first assemble great firepower first, and amass huge mass of wealth as they were very expensive as a second.


    Dealing with them was like dealing with a ticking bomb, and he wasn''t that enthusiastic about dealing with them, but he had no other choice.


    If he couldn''t find any other way to escape here then he had to look for them. He sighed as his life was getting messier and harder than before.


    "Dora has arrived," Rigo suddenly said.


    "Really? How many ships does she bring with her?" James asked with a tired tone as he wasn''t that optimistic about this girl.


    "S- She brought only one cruiser," Rigo replied after a momentary pause as he rechecked again so he wouldn''t neglect any still to come from the far cruiser.


    "What? Didn''t you say she brought dozens with her?" James turned to look at him with doubt.


    "I know, but didn''t she promise to fix the situation?" Rigo replied.


    "I¡­ never mind, this girl¡­ hmmm, I didn''t expect to stick to her promise after all. Anyway, that is better, no that''s best. Contact and organize everything now, we need to enter the large cruiser."


    James was surprised by her decisive response, as he didn''t expect what she did. nonetheless he was grateful, as his plan could now be set in motion.


    It never crossed his mind ever that Dora had gathered up all her loyal followers and crowded them into this one big cruise.


    James didn''t stay in his place as he moved while saying:


    "Lead the ship away and then follow me."


    "Affirmative."


    James then hurried towards the heart of the little cruiser. He couldn''t wait to leave here as fast as possible. Rigo led the cruiser with coordination with Dora''s team to dock first inside the large cruiser.


    He was followed by others, however once the little cruiser docked successfully, Rigo relayed the new to James who didn''t wait and opened the docking door of the goods unit and moved out his small cruiser as he said:


    "Follow me rapidly."


    James just jumped from the slowly descending door to be shocked with the scene that welcomed him. everywhere he looked he spotted many people looking at him with alert and nervousness.


    He also noticed the presence of many cruisers here. this large cruiser was bigger than the one he just escaped from, but basically both were like giants to him.


    He suddenly realized what Dora did.


    ''Good move girl, at least you still have some mind and heart to lead your compass,'' James thought to himself as he just moved few steps before he heard the voice of Rigo inside his ear:


    "Supreme leader, Dora sent someone to pick you up."


    James was startled for a moment as he said back:


    "Do you know what she intended to do?"


    ??Well, I kind of guessed that," Rigo said with a tone that meant only one thing.


    "You are lying," James said with a chuckle, "anyway this isn''t my business. Stay behind and make sure all of our fleet dock in the next minute please."


    "Don''t you need me to go with you to the commanding deck?" Rigo asked after a momentary pause.


    "You are needed but after you end your task," James replied as he spotted one girl that was the only one moving towards him.


    ''What is with this girl''s weird habits?!'' James muttered to himself as the girl who was a human reached him and did a military salute, a one he used to do regularly back at the base.


    "Are you an imperial soldier?!" James immediately asked with doubt.


    "No sir, I was once one of them but old habits die hard," she replied before relaxing herself rapidly, "Sorry, I know how this salute causes problems to people."


    She was speaking freely like she knew him, but James only replied briefly:


    "It''s you who will have trouble not us. Anyway, lead me towards the commanding deck."


    "Follow me sir."


    This female soldier walked in the same old military walk of the empire, with slow and short steps, heavy and strong they used to call it.


    However for James he knew this was because soldiers like this girl had the task of carrying heavy military devices. She wasn''t a fighter, just a carrier, someone who could be disposed of easily during battles.


    He felt sorry for her, but not too sorry as she got lucky and left that doomed regimen of the empire.


    "This way sir."


    James was led towards a movable cart that accommodated only for ten people. There was none there except for the two of them. James once heard of these royal carts, or the fast express delivery inside some special cruisers.


    "This is the main flag ship of the rebel fleet then," he said while he was observing the fast moving walls around him as the cart was moving extremely fast.


    ??Yes sir, this is the Bombardment cruiser," the female soldier yelled at him as she was sitting in the back.


    "Aha," James just nodded as he really was oblivious to what that meant. The name of this ship was alien to him, so he didn''t know why this soldier was speaking with such pride.


    The journey didn''t take five minutes until he reached the commanding deck of this large cruiser. Last time he was in a large cruiser he took hours to just move from section to section, but now it only took five minutes to bring him from the rear to the front.


    "Follow me sir, through here. Lady Dora is waiting for you inside."


    James just nodded to her as he entered the large and spacious commanding deck. The deck was full of busy people, however when James stepped in he managed to spot Dora in one second.


    Every place in this cruiser was full to the prim with people except one large circled area where the most important and vitally crucial steering devices of this large ship.


    In the middle of all this empty area, there was only one person standing alone there.


    Dora was feeling lonely, but she mostly doubted everyone around her. This feeling was received instantly by James, as he understood what she was feeling right now.


    However he had no time to waste here. He needed to direct this ship and escape carrying everyone here towards safety. What would happen next was unknown, and he wasn''t stressing over this point right now for unexplainable reasons.


    "Hi there, how are you?" James greeted her first as she was just watching him crossing all those people and entering her private empty zone.


    "I''m feeling ok, thanks for asking. How are you? You seemed nervous and worried since the last time I saw you," Dora said.


    James just smiled as he said trying not to be rude:


    "I''m facing some troubles right now, so let''s just skip these details and start to work together on how to escape safely from here."


    His words didn''t affect Dora much, as she thought he was trying to cover up what he was suffering from, just like her. So she didn''t intend to press over this matter, as she was feeling the same thing as well right now.


    "Fine for me, just tell me what you need and I will do it," Dora said with a big smile that didn''t suit her lost eyes and pained face.

 Chapter 78: Doras Hesitation

    James asked first:


    "Have all my fleet boarded the cruiser?"


    "Yes, they''re all inside the Bombardment, and Rigo is coming here now with some of the sleeping people you had inside your little cruiser," she replied after checking the records on one of the screens around her.


    "Perfect, what I''m going to do now is slightly similar to what you did before," James said while winking his eye.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t get your meaning," she said with a loss.


    "Don''t worry, you will know now. Make ready for the hyperjump, we need to travel using light speed once we get out of here," James said while he was about to close up his eyes to be prepared to talk with his scepter.


    "Wait a sec, where do you want us to go?" Dora hurriedly stopped him while asking this important question.


    "Anyway that doesn''t lie under the terases emerging empire jurisdiction," James simply replied as if this was something obvious.


    "But what are the limits of this empire exactly? Do you have an answer to that?" she asked.


    "Oh, you don''t get it yet, don''t you?" James muttered before looking seriously at her, "everything inside this small sector will be under the complete control of the terases empire in a short time."


    The eyes of Dora widened as she softly gasped before saying:


    "Are you sure? My associates said they will only control the current Rontag empire plus a few of the known worlds of our resistance forces."


    The look over her face plus the way of her speech gave James the impression she wasn''t yet fully aware of the full size of the calamity happening here.


    "Oh boy!" he muttered as he was struggling inside. He didn''t expect Dora not to know the full dark picture, and to explain things in detail for her would take much more time than he currently had.


    So, he had to be brief, but again if Dora wasn''t convinced by his words, then she might choose a place not safe for him. He knew his enemy would take time to grow up and locate him, however his enemy had the advantage of being mentored.


    Unlike him, he would lose anything that made him special when the scepter went off and its energy dried up. Being alone without someone who could help and guide meant only one end for James.


    He would lose if he faced this other equal of him, so he needed to run, run as far as he could reach.


    "Listen up, I have no time to waste here, however this terases race is historically famous for their brutality and their innate love for invasion and expansion.


    They won''t settle by the parts you thought of, they would head straight towards the whole space sector, and after achieving this goal they would expand again and again until the whole major sect is under their control.


    So, we need to escape to the furthest place here, as far as possible, or else we would be all caught and killed no matter what we tried."


    Dora sensed how serious James was, and it was her turn to worry right now. She watched James close up his eyes and be detached from this world. she didn''t know what he was planning to do, but her own time was limited as well.


    The plans provided by the leading council of the rebels all stated to move in a place nearby here. their vision was logical, as they wanted to be near their old worlds and bases so they could assess the situation further.


    They were thinking they had time, supposedly the terases race would be so busy trying to reign over the new territory they had just snatched.


    So being on the borders of this new empire would be the golden opportunity to seek for any chance to topple the situation and turn the tables over these terases.


    However James just warned her from doing exactly that. She knew James wasn''t stable and calm as before, however he was reliable. He had his own vision and weird way to do things, but he was always right.


    She didn''t know what he was planning to do in order to escape here, but if the warning he just issued to her was true, then everything would be lost.


    She glanced towards the people present here as her mind wasn''t yet in a state of mind that would help her to think properly. She knew she could just order them and they would reluctantly listen to her.


    But what would happen if James was wrong? she would take the whole blame then, and that meant only one thing¡­ she would lose her position as the heir to the rebels throne.


    Tormented between her thoughts, Dora stood in her place motionless while her brain was trying to weigh the two options. She stayed there for a couple of minutes before she saw Rigo coming from far with the company of some of his trusted aides.


    They were carrying the bodies of unconscious people, Eli, Alex, and Islinda. The three were still unconscious, which was something weird but Rigo wasn''t in the mood right now to seek for answers about such issues.


    All he cared about was his supreme leader, James. Once he entered the commanding deck, he spotted James at once and then started to move with the droids around him.


    They were a mix of races, with their presence to arouse many whispers around them. droids were like a local legend, everyone heard about them but never met one in the flesh before.


    And now, in their darkest hour they saw a bunch of them carrying dead looking three bodies with no clue of what was going on.


    Rigo didn''t bother with them as he noticed James was closing up his eyes. He guessed he was talking to that scepter, the one who started all that fuss. To be honest, Rigo appreciated the scepter''s presence at first.


    The scepter managed to save James'' life in a very desperate moment, however after that James had changed. It was like he was seeing death an eye to an eye, or else what explained all this stress and hurry?


    However what possible could threaten James with such a grave degree? James wasn''t the only person here trapped in this huge net, and he wasn''t even worth mentioning by the meager power under his control.


    So there were only two possibilities, droids or scepter. Being discovered was unlikely, however even if people discovered their presence that wouldn''t put all that pressure over James'' shoulders.


    That meant only the scepter was dangerous, more dangerous than he expected. He needed to sit with James and talk with him about that thing, but time wasn''t appropriate yet.


    He passed and entered the empty area around Dora, who welcomed him by saying:


    "I see you made it here fast enough, good."


    Her tone was off as she appeared totally dejected. Rigo checked over James'' body to make sure he was alright before he asked:


    "What''s wrong?"


    "Your supposedly leader wants me to move away from here," Dora said while waving her hands.


    "That''s normal, we are escaping after all, right?" Rigo replied with a strange look over his face.


    "I know, but he wants to move far away from here, to the end of the galaxy perhaps. He doesn''t want to move nearby here," Dora said.


    "May I ask what''s the difference for you?" Rigo asked after giving the matter a thought. Dora began to explain the dilemma she was having right now. After she ended, Rigo glanced towards James before he muttered:


    "I don''t know how he knew all this info about terases race, but he is right in every word he said."


    "What? Are you sure? How do you know that? These people vanished from the records of history a long time ago. no one can predict their moves," Dora argued back.


    Rigo just smiled plainly as he replied:


    "You might be true if you were speaking about anyone else but us. We droids in the Rojedia empire had many confrontations with these brutal terases.


    I can tell you for sure what James said is just a tiny part of the fact of their nature. They are a horrible race, built on the simplest idea of enslaving other races and making them supreme.


    Inside their territories there is no sound other than them. if they sensed any resistance anywhere, they wouldn''t hesitate to blow off the whole planet and kill everyone on it.


    They are merciless, vicious, have endless greed, plus their uniquely absurd high self esteem and ego that would make them feel they are above the whole universe, and everyone else is destined to serve.


    They won''t be satisfied by what you think, and they don''t need that much time you expect to control all these territories. The best option is to run away, far away, and do this fast, very fast."


    The words of Rigo were more shocking than what James said earlier. She felt a sudden fear instead of hesitation. This race seemed far more dangerous than what people here told her.


    "But how can they control all this territory so fast? The people here believe they won''t be able to control all this area in a year''s time!" Dora said.


    "One year? They won''t take a day to control all the territory here. listen, this race had a trademark procedure to control newly conquered places. They would select randomly highly significant places, like the capital planet, or the main military base planet, and they would make from this place an example of their brutality.


    They won''t stop, even if the people there begged them for mercy, they won''t stop until every single living thing there is devastated by them. everything would be recorded and broadcasted everywhere, so if there was any intention of resisting them it would be abolished and all would kneel in front of them.


    In less than a day all your past territories would be conquered, and then they would come back here. we need to run away using that time to a place they can''t reach easily until we figure out a way," Rigo said with a strong warning tone, while stressing on every word he said.


    "Figure out what?" Dora asked with some panic in her tone.


    "Figure out a way to leave this whole great sector. This sector is doomed to fall in chaos under terases hands, and that is a fact," Rigo replied while looking deeply inside her eyes.

 Chapter 79: Trust in Yourself, and Miracles Could Happen

    Dora had to make a choice here, either to follow the already well-planned out steps of withdrawal put by her associates, or to trust James and his man right here Rigo.


    Her hesitation was easy to be noticed by Rigo who decided to push a little further upon her by saying:


    "If you can''t trust James who literally saved your life, then at least don''t trust your associates again who betrayed you and put your life at risk in the first place."


    His saying was the last punch to her standing wall defending against her approval. Rigo''s words were right, she was still suffering from the betrayal she had on the hands of her closest persons and associates. Now she was again standing in front of a choice and she was yet thinking about following her associates.


    James didn''t intend anything bad for her since day one, he always was there trying all the time to be in support.


    She took a deep breath as she made up her mind, she would follow James and leave away from here.


    "Listen up, there is a change in the flight plan of our cruiser here."


    She suddenly stepped forward a couple of steps before saying these words out loud. She managed to get all the attention on deck while she added:


    "We will follow the course that Mr. Rigo will provide to you."


    "What do you mean by that?" an old man suddenly moved from the crowd with an angry look over his face.


    "I mean what you all understood," Dora said without budging an inch to the back.


    "That''s hilarious, do you think we are ready to leave everything to these thieves?" another old looking man stepped out from the crowd as he joined the first fellow in protesting against Dora''s decision.


    "Shame on you for listening to an outsider and neglect us, your mother would be ashamed of you little one," an old looking lady with annoying arrogance said.


    Before anyone else joined the circus, Dora suddenly took out her gun as she didn''t hesitate to launch three subsequent hits towards the three of them. Her reaction was unpredictable and her moves were fast, so the three hit the floor with their bloodied bodies before they even realized they were shot.


    "Any arrogant bastard wants to test my patience again?"


    Dora suddenly yelled with a loud vicious voice that was totally different from the Dora Rigo knew and dealt with from before. At this moment he felt grateful he didn''t step on any of her nerves from before.


    "I don''t owe anyone of you a debt to come here and judge me. if you don''t want to follow my simple orders of retreat, you are welcomed to be toasted like trash and left here in this dirty filthy spot of space to rot. I''m not in need of anyone to tell me what to do, what I say must be done without a question or else you will end like these three."


    She then glanced towards everyone around here while her heart was beating fast. She wasn''t herself at this period of time, just stepping out from personal disasters one after another without a break. She could use a time out to release all this tension and these idiots just gave her the opportunity to do so.


    After nearly a heavy long minute of silence, she said without glancing towards Rigo:


    "Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. Anything happens that you don''t like just inform me, and I swear to make whoever did this regret it his whole life."


    Rigo couldn''t stand in his position and delay from responding to her words, as he moved so fast to bypass her while she whispered to him:


    "James will be in my care, don''t worry about him."


    Dora was really stressed, but she wasn''t the type to lose her sanity over some wasted reasons. She had to admit, being like this, this bad side of her personality felt really good to her. She felt like nothing in the world cared anymore and she was immune, nothing could threaten her no matter what.


    However she knew she couldn''t remain like this anymore like before. After all she was now someone with more leading responsibility in a very turmoil time.


    Rigo moved towards a section regarding the navigation control of the whole cruiser. The first thing he did was to erase all the previous data and began to look for a far place to go to.


    There were certain conditions for such a place, as it had to be out of any known existing super power in this sector. It also needed to be in a system with many inhabitable planets, abundant resources and an easy escape route if things went south there.


    Rigo wasn''t optimistic regarding Dora, he knew James was considering her as a close friend, even if he didn''t literally say it out loud. However he knew best that her position was critical and her situation was much more complicated than theirs.


    Dora had a rebellious force to organize, and those arrogant peacocks wouldn''t be satisfied without getting their wishes.


    They would push over Dora until she would move away from James and try to send her into her doom. Rigo knew he couldn''t stop this distasteful future, even if he would be pained by the loss of Dora.


    He just hoped when time came, James wouldn''t be so bitter on losing her. He sighed before he started working, and in the process he took a copy out of the system installed inside James'' small cruiser and let it replace and take full control over this large cruiser.


    This was like an insurance policy for any future misdoings any rebel leader would think of or try to pull. This was one of the main functions of Rigo, to anticipate potential threats and try to neutralize them.


    As for James, he wasn''t aware of all this as he was standing right now in a world of his own. He was like swimming in an ocean of stars, with some strange pulses that kept happening irregularly, like a heart who was about to stop.


    That freaked him out, however the voice of the scepter came to calm him:


    "Don''t worry, I''m not dying."


    James unintentionally turned around himself trying to locate the source of the sound but he couldn''t. He smiled bitterly before saying:


    "Then is it me?"


    "No, it''s just your anxiety with some senses of yours being agitated towards the about to be born rival of yours," the scepter said.


    James took a deep breath before saying:


    "I have thought about it, there is no proof that the new guy will be my nemesis, right? At least we still have nothing in common yet."


    The sound paused for a moment before it came again:


    "You have a point in regard to your ignorance to what you actually possess. But your nemesis isn''t, she will be raised from the beginning on the simple basics of the powers you both have. Don''t be mistaken, a child raised only on hatred would hardly know anything related to kindness.


    Barely she will have any goodness left in her, so give up that hope on her. She is going to be trained to be a serial killer, someone who will seek all her entire life to kill you."


    James was surprised the more the sound spoke, and his biggest surprise was about the true identity of that rival of his. It was a she not he.


    "H-How do you know all of this?" James asked, expressing his doubts.


    "It''s simple, because that girl also had an artifact like me beside her. I can sense everything about her like that artifact can do the same to you."


    That was strange to James, however he rapidly accepted this as he just passed through a lot recently.


    "Ok, I will move away from here. what do you need me to do?"


    "It''s simple, all you need to do is to take me out and put me over the navigation unit of your cruiser. the rest I will handle," the voice said.


    James felt some embarrassed before he said:


    "I just don''t know if doing this is the right thing."


    "It''s the only solution that we have right now, it''s the only way out for you, kid," the voice replied.


    "I know, but¡­ but all you say is that I lack knowing anything about my powers while my supposedly enemy has a great teacher beside her," James said while shaking his head.


    "I''m a far better teacher than that old arrogant lizard," the scepter suddenly said with faint anger in its tone.


    "Oh, I didn''t mean that, what I meant is after you are gone, I will have no one left by my side to teach me," James said.


    "If you say to yourself it''s a bit unfair then you are right, it''s a bloody damn unfair but what can you do about it? Will you just surrender to your pathetic fate and weep on the corner alone waiting for the girl to come and kill you?


    Listen I''m not risking my own life to save yours for you to throw it out like a trash like this," the voice before James heard a long sigh before the voice came again, "listen kid, neither I nor you have a saying in this.


    You were born with some freaking gift that no one ever had, and I was destined to be reborn again on the hands of an ignorant weakling like you. So tighten up and listen well to my words¡­"


    The voice took a few moments of silence before it said again with a serious strong tone:


    "Learning something can be easy if you have an assigned teacher by your side, but it''s not the only way to learn. Being gone isn''t the end of the world for you, instead it''s the beginning of a long and wonderful journey.


    So man up and don''t be like this, and be ready to look for teachers all over the universe. Even if you can''t find any, learn from your own. There is nothing out there to stand before sheer will, and with some luck miracles could happen."

 Chapter 80: Leaving This Damned Spot of Space to The Unknown

    The voice of the scepter seemed angry at the passivity of James, however James was like a newborn in this world, and he knew absolutely nothing at all.


    "May you explain some simple facts of my strength?" James asked.


    "Unfortunately you don''t have that time," the scepter voice came at once to crush all the hopes James had.


    "No, that''s not fair! I can''t accept that!" James angrily yelled back as he wasn''t accepting the passive replies of that scepter. How could he even survive without even knowing the simplest facts of his own strength?


    "We don''t have time to teach you even the basics," the scepter replied back.


    "At least explain the nature of my power!" James decisively said before threatening, "I swear if you said any more excuses I wouldn''t leave here ever even if it leads to my own death!"


    His determination was so obvious and that made that arrogant scepter hesitate in replying. The pause didn''t last for over ten seconds before the scepter finally said:


    "Fine, I will explain things briefly to you but to know more you have to seek the answers later by yourself. There are two types of strengths in this world, the light and darkness energies. They both usually are together inside everyone, but it''s always one force overwhelming the other.


    However for you the case is different, you have both energies balanced in a way that wasn''t seen before. That makes you able to use both energies, which would put you in a totally different category of your own."


    "what category?" James asked with much interest.


    "The absolute creation category," the scepter said before adding after a momentarily pause, "don''t ask further as this needs a lot of time and effort to be explained. However you must know your energy is a mix of both types, so you need to seek for two masters to teach you, one of each type of energy."


    His words were priceless for James who began to feel more regret. He should have pressed further over this scepter, and not to wait until the last minute to ask.


    However looking back again at all the events, he had no time to do such a thing. He sighed before he said:


    "Can I use my strength without your help?"


    "No, you aren''t that good to control your strength yet. You need me to help you channel and control your energy to best use it. you once used the energy subconsciously and that nearly ended up your life, so please refrain from using your energy except it was a life and death situation," the scepter replied with a warning before adding, "now let''s start destroying the net here and let your cruiser escape. There is not much time to waste."


    James felt somehow sad when he pictured the absence of the scepter, which sensed James'' sadness so it said:


    "Don''t worry, it''s just temporarily goodbye."


    James nodded his head as he whispered:


    "Yes, I promise you it will be only temporary and after a short period of time we will meet again."


    "Nice kid, now let''s start."


    James suddenly felt himself being kicked outside of that place. He opened his eyes to find the place around him feeling awkward. He couldn''t tell what was wrong here, but the tension here was high, much higher than usual.


    "You finally exited your meditation," Dora suddenly said to attract his attention.


    "Ah, so sorry to be late. Are you ready to move?" he asked.


    "Sure, your man is responsible for choosing the place we will jump to," she said as she pointed out towards the distance where Rigo was sitting there busy typing on a large keyboard.


    "Are you finished?" James yelled at him without caring about the others here. he then moved heading straight towards the navigation unit while Rigo replied:


    "Just a second and I will be ready."


    "Good," James said as he suddenly raised his arm to the air and a long scepter appeared out of nowhere in his hand. The appearance of this scepter caused a stir of whispers, as everyone was looking at James with doubt and surprise.


    Dora wasn''t an exception. She recognized the scepter as it was somehow similar to the two scepters she saw before, but there were some differences between the three.


    She was there when James miraculously absorbed the two scepters inside his body, and the presence of this third meant only one thing to her, James had merged the two somehow.


    She knew more about the light and darkness forces than James, however there was no time to ask him about anything.


    As once the scepter appeared, a change in the atmosphere here in the commanding deck began to happen. the air began to be heavier, like lead pressing over everyone.


    That slight change made those old and resourceful ones realize how special that scepter was. However no one could even open his mouth here, as everyone seemed to freeze in his place, all except James who was walking smoothly like he was taking a stroll in a park.


    James didn''t feel any change at all, for him he was walking like usual, but with time he began to notice the changes over the people here.


    They were looking at him with surprise at first, but now they were looking with fear. He even felt they were afraid of him, and that made him realize his scepter might be the reason behind all this.


    However there was no more time to waste, as once he reached Rigo he said:


    "Have you finished?"


    Rigo just looked towards him as he couldn''t also move freely right now. all he could was to nod with great difficulty showing his readiness.


    "Good," James said as he moved the scepter slowly over the navigation unit. The navigation unit of this large cruiser was formed of more than dozen small navigation units like those present at the small cruisers.


    Once the scepter became above one of those units, it shook vigorously before it freed itself from James'' grib and then it inserted itself half way down into that navigation unit.


    Before anyone could say anything, the whole cruiser trembled. That was strange, as this large cruiser had never experienced something like that.


    The Bombardment cruiser was so heavily armed with defensive shields and thick body that even focused attacks from any number of cannons wouldn''t be able to take it down easily.


    This trembling was only the beginning as there were sudden explosive sounds coming from the rear of the cruiser. It seemed the cruiser''s engines were working over their normal capacity.


    Everyone looked with some fear towards James and his scepter which glowed with strange light that began to envelop the whole navigation unit.


    ''I''m ready, grab me now,'' the sound of the scepter sounded in James'' mind. It was the signal for his escape from this place, and also it was the signal of the disappearance of the scepter.


    James sighed as he didn''t take a moment before he grabbed the scepter with both of his hands. Suddenly the scepter began to glow more and more like a pulsing heart.


    Before anyone realized it, the scepter''s glow overwhelmed everyone here and then it covered the whole area. They couldn''t see what was happening outside here, however James could.


    The glow began from the commanding deck, but it began to move rapidly to cover the whole cruiser, which turned to be like a small star in this place.


    Everyone trapped here looked with astonishment towards that shiny little star that suddenly appeared here. At the same time, the remaining terases forces were shocked by the appearance of such a star as they thought it was an attack designated towards them.


    They weren''t out of options here, as they had some large cruisers supported with intermediate and small cruisers plus many fighters. They all got the order at the same time:


    "Shoot to destroy this disturbing star."


    The attacks came so sudden from everywhere. The cruiser was suddenly more lit from the endless explosions that began to happen one after another without any break.


    For those outside the cruiser, they sensed the imminent destruction of it. they weren''t feeling anything towards this cruiser, as they thought it was just bad luck for its crew to attract all that hatred.


    However for those inside the cruiser, nothing actually happened to them. In fact, all these explosions were absorbed by the scepter in an attempt to amass a huge amount of energy to enable it to break through the net.


    The situation from outside was like the cruiser was on the verge of collapse, however James knew this was only the show from outside and not the truth. What was actually happening was the channel of all these energy via the scepter which he began to generate a mighty force behind the engines in preparation of pushing the cruiser to cross all the limits.


    James felt some doubt, would the body of this cruiser take the full throttle of this pushing force, however he had no control on what was going to happen right now. He was just watching, and throughout the process he was watching and learning as well.


    The attacks from all over the cruisers and fighters of all kinds didn''t stop to rain over the body of the large cruiser not even for a fraction of a second. After the passage of a few long minutes like this, the scepter suddenly said to James:


    ''Think of a shape of a sharp thing to tear off this net.''


    The words of the scepter were urgent and vaguely understandable to James who was trying to learn anything by observing what was going on.


    He began to picture one thing in his mind, the shape of an arrow, an arrow which just left the bow and was heading ruthlessly towards its target.

 Chapter 81: A Self Devastating Experience

    ''Good imagination,'' the scepter suddenly said when all this energy channeled through it and began to take another shape around the cruiser. In front of the keen eyes of James, the cruiser began to change shape.


    That was unbelievable! That massive cruiser began to elongate to form a massive arrow-like cruiser. This happened in the eyes of everyone here, and before anyone had the chance to even breath, that cruiser was launched like an arrow penetrating the impregnable net and broke free finally from there.


    The cruiser didn''t slow down for even a second, as that was only the beginning. Once the cruiser broke forcibly free from the net, its speed began to upgrade to reach a level not heard of. A loud explosion followed by a massive pulsatile wave erupted with the cruiser in its centre.


    The wave hit everything in its wave to sweep everything without any discrimination. The trapping net protected those inside it from damage as much as possible, however all the terases ships standing guards outside the net were all burnt down with this wave.


    Like an apocalypse, this wave moved to sweep clean anything in its way. The cruiser didn''t wait for the wave to finish before another pulsatile destructive wave erupted.


    The end of the world was on verge of happening here, as those trapped inside the net began to see death clearly eyeing them.


    What the hell had they put themselves into? That was what they were thinking of right now.


    The cruiser was about to move, when a third destructive pulsatile wave erupted. This time, it was enough to clean everything in this area, even those inside the net as well.


    ''It''s time for me to fade away, good luck James,'' the scepter said before a fourth pulsatile wave erupted accompanied by the disappearance of the cruiser from the place.


    ''Why?!! Why have you destroyed everything?!!!" James muttered with shock, fear, and guilt. All these souls were lost and sacrificed in front of his watching eyes without even able to object.


    ''That was necessary, as no witnesses must be left behind,'' the scepter said before pausing for a moment, ''this was for your own good.''


    ''My own good? You just made me start my journey with a massacre I caused. All of their blood is on my hands, you bastard!''


    All the bitterness and guilt he was feeling began to miraculously transform into rage. If the scepter was a man, James wouldn''t let anything stand in his way before he killed him.


    However even his screams of pain weren''t heard by the scepter which entered its long slumber. James'' body suddenly crashed over the ground with a flood of tears erupting from his eyes.


    What actually happened was only seen by a handful of people here, with Rigo and Dora included. For everyone else, this was caused by the scepter and James.


    Which turned James in the eyes of everyone into a merciless mass murderer. The scene of killing every single soul there was still fresh in their minds, and the picture of the scepter fading away into the body of James was the only thing they looked at.


    The scepter was James and James was the scepter. Being beside such a dangerous person was the last thing anyone here wanted to do.


    And enraging such a person was like signing a death certificate, so everyone stood silently in his or her place motionless with pale faces. They didn''t move or say anything even after the disappearance of that weird pressing force from the place.


    When the followers here were about to move towards James on the basic instinct of fear and doubt, their leaders had to step in for fear to stir the rage of such a monster.


    In front of everyone, James was someone who wouldn''t hesitate to kill tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of souls without blinking an eye. Such a man was better to be on his good side at any cost.


    Fear was overwhelming the whole cruiser, however James was only feeling his own soul being shattered under the repeated images of what the scepter just did.


    All the cruisers destroyed, all the souls who screamed before death, and all the devastation that happened there was still fresh in his mind, torturing him without stopping.


    He felt lost, he even couldn''t feel his surroundings, even when his body crashed on the floor he didn''t even feel that.


    All he could feel was absolute regret and devastating pain that he never felt before. He wasn''t a bad person to begin with, however in his quest to save his life he killed everyone else.


    That was insanely unacceptable for him. He wasn''t able to believe what the scepter had done to protect him.


    Was the scepter really protecting him? James suddenly began to question everything. When he thought about it, he found himself not knowing anything about the conflict he was thrown in the middle of it.


    All he knew was the presence of an enemy, but who was she? What power she had? Who knew, she might even be like him with no control over her power at all.


    James suddenly felt he was played, at least the scepter''s true motives behind all this weren''t clear to him and that made him suspect everything.


    James was lying on the ground like this while the cruiser was on the right track of travelling by the speed of light towards the destination Rigo had selected.


    Rigo was standing a few meters besides James, watching everything that happened with extreme shock. Even after the scepter disappeared he felt great doubt and shock.


    He didn''t expect that scepter to be such a pain, he thought it would be a good helper to James. He knew James well, James would face great difficulty crossing over this bloody obstacle the scepter put in front of him.


    Rigo began to question the true intentions of the scepter, as from his point of view it wasn''t truly helping James but in fact it was trying to hinder him.


    It looked that scepter wasn''t helping James, and if Rigo knew that from the beginning then he would have done everything in his power to prevent James from coupling with that twisted minded artifact.


    However there was no use of thinking like this now, as James was in the worst state of mind anyone would be at in his life.


    This state of mind was very dangerous, as it was the cross roads in front of anyone. Rigo was sure James'' personality would take a turn here, and the worst thing was interfering in these crucial moments wasn''t plausible at all.


    Even if Rigo carried good intentions towards James, intentions alone weren''t enough to save his supreme leader. All Rigo had right now was to pray for James to cross this setback safely without any deviation.


    After all he liked the way James was behaving up to now.


    As for Dora, she was able to vividly watch what happened outside the cruiser using the hologramic screen she was using to monitor the way James was using to escape from here.


    She had a curiosity at the beginning, but with time this desire of hers turned into fear, absolute raw fear that seeped into her soul.


    She knew James well, he was such a kind and compassionate person, not that bloodthirsty she just felt when the pulsatile waves of energy began to sweep away anything in their way.


    She didn''t need long to realize the core of the problem, the scepter. She began to feel more afraid when she recalled what she was supposed to face if James didn''t interfere to save her.


    James saved her again, but this time he paid an unforgivable price to do so. She glanced at the crushed James over the floor with tears flooding from his eyes as she suddenly felt great pain.


    It was like James wasn''t in pain, but herself. This weird connection between the two was unbelievable to her, at the same time she felt great sympathy with James.


    The tiny amount of pain and guilt she just felt for a passing moment was something unbearable. She knew James was now on the verge of losing himself, and that made her even fear and further question the true intentions of that scepter.


    Was it meant to help them? Or was it trying to destroy James? And why?


    Amidst all this, and while everyone was shocked or disturbed by his own feelings and thoughts, three subsequent screams suddenly echoed inside the commanding deck which caused everyone to cease doing anything and focused on the source of these screams.


    The direction where the screams came from was one, and the screams were very loud and very painful. The loud continuous screams attracted even James who was lost in his own despair.


    James stood up as his eyes were hardly focusing over anything; however he looked with difficulty towards the direction from where the screams came from.


    Just as he stood up, everyone in the place swallowed their saliva from fear. Rigo moved with caution to stand behind him just in case, and Dora was standing away observing everything happening with extreme worry.


    The screams came from the three sleeping bodies that Rigo brought with. They were protected by other droids who came with Rigo, and now it seemed they were regaining their consciousness.


    These loud painful screams were like a baby cry, announcing their return to life again. Just as James approached them, they began to sense his presence as they stood up one after another while looking towards him and him alone.


    It was like there was no one else in the whole world but the four of them, with James looking with devastated soul towards the three poor tortured souls who were looking towards him in loss.


    Their minds were clouded for a short period of time, where this awkward silent situation prevailed on the place. when their minds regained their clarity again, they screamed again and this time it was louder and more painful.


    They felt like someone was inserting hot needles into their flesh and brain. It was very painful and disturbing but this didn''t last for long, as suddenly their minds regained function again and their memories returned like a flood freed from a destructed dam.


    "Father, Please don''t" Alex suddenly screamed while jumping to the front like he was struggling with someone just now.


    "You damn traitor, I will never forgive you! Wait for me, I will finish this trial and come here to kill you with my hands!" Islinda screamed while waving with her closed fists like she was threatening someone.


    "James Help me!" Eli suddenly screamed with extreme shock and pain while her eyes began to show unstoppable tears.


    The three screamed subsequently like they were members of the same chorus, while the last scream of Eli had the most violent effect over the nearly hypnotized James.


    The words of Eli made his body tremble like he was just exposed to a mighty earthquake. He opened his eyes to the max as his voice came hoarse while saying:


    "Eli?!"


    Eli looked at him like a drowned person and finally found a nearby thick branch to save himself. she stopped in her place for a moment before she screamed loudly before she ran few steps and ended up jumping into James embrace while screaming:


    "James, save me please, please save me!"


    The tears flooded over James'' cheeks and that made his body tremble like never before. At the same time it seemed his devastated soul was about to be remedied by these tears. It was so miraculous as suddenly a desire for life was ignited in his ashen soul, with his about to be shattered heart to beat warmly and vigorously again.


    He was revived again, and this time he was really brought back from the bank of death as he looked with a losing face towards the shaking body of Eli in his embrace before softly muttering:


    "Eli?!!"

 Chapter 82: Dealing with The Angry and Afraid Alex and Islinda

    James patted softly and slowly over Eli''s back, as he was trying to control his messed up feelings. As for Eli, she wasn''t ready yet to let go of him, and so she kept crying like a flooded clouded sky pouring its rain down upon James'' shoulders.


    The sound of her crying was so loud that it made everyone in this deck look at the couple. Dora was standing there motionless with great pain in her chest. she didn''t know why, when Eli jumped and screamed for help, James'' body obviously subconsciously trembled.


    She felt an inexplicable desire to be in her shoes, to feel the warmth of a man''s love and affection. She needed someone like James to scream for help in her devastated moments knowing for sure he would turn up the whole world to save her.


    And the most ironic fact that she wanted that man to be James.


    "Where is this place? Where is my father and mother? Father¡­ mother¡­ Please show up yourselves!"


    The voice of Alex sounded suddenly in this nearly silent deck. Everyone looked at him as he started to look around him like a crazy person. His scream and reaction affected the nearby Islinda, as she began to observe the place she was at.


    "It''s the commanding deck of a large cruiser, are you part of the forces following my uncle? Are you the forces of my empire?"


    Her face suddenly beamed up as she hurried to say:


    "If you are my empire cruiser then listen to me, you surely know my face, don''t you? Can''t you recognize your queen? Please help me and don''t deliver me to my uncle right now, please I have to get in touch with other forces of my empire. You have to let me gather up my forces and face up that throne thief and kill him by my hands!"


    Her words carried a lot of hatred and anger, however the only response she or Alex got was silence, plus many awkward gazes.


    "Can you handle them or what?" Dora suddenly moved towards James as she patted on his shoulder. She strongly resisted the urge to hug him like Eli was currently doing, as she had her chance before when he saved her but she wasted it.


    "Let me handle them, after all I was the one who rescued them," James said as he pushed Eli slightly away from him however Eli refused to budge as she was still crying with a loud voice.


    The words between Dora and James managed to attract the attention of Alex and Islinda, as both moved in wide steps to get near him.


    "Are you the one leading this cruiser?" Islinda asked with anticipation.


    "Where are mother and father?" Alex asked.


    James looked at both of them before sighing.


    "Look, what I''m about to say may seem quite weird, but I found the two of you losing consciousness in my way and I picked you up," James said.


    "What do you mean? How come you accidently found me?" Alex furiously said.


    "That''s unbelievable! I was thrown into a trial ground where the risk of death there is quite high. What happened then? Where is my trial? Wait a moment, have you taken me away from the trial ground? How dare you!"


    Islinda was really hard to deal with, as her state of mind was already chaotic in the first place. James took a deep breath before saying:


    "In fact you two were supposed to die, but I saved your life alongside my little Eli here."


    "What madness are you talking about?" Alex said as he waved his hands towards James, "forget it, I don''t know what tricks you are trying to play here with me but I''m not the fool you think of. I will search for my parents on my own then."


    He was just about to move when Rigo pointed towards the two of them to be surrounded by James'' droids.


    "What are you doing by standing in my face? And what strange tattoos you are having, this is my first time seeing something like that!" Alex said as he was angered by the sudden appearance of these droids. For him he thought they were some kind of weird race with some bizarre tattoos.


    "Hold on, they aren''t any race, these are droids!" Islinda muttered with a gasp that made her face turn ashen white.


    "Where is exactly this trial? What time are we in? What year? Someone tell me!" she yelled with her panicked expression to everyone around her.


    James was surprised by her reaction, at the same time Dora muttered:


    "Lovely, you saved a daddy issue boy and a crazy girl. Good job James, they even didn''t thank you."


    "Sigh, what I can say? They have all the right to be this confused," James replied.


    "Oh, really?! You are even defending them? That''s more lovely," she then turned towards Alex and Islinda, "you two stop the crap you are saying since the moment you woke up. This man here is the one who fought it hard to save your witty lives, so at least you should thank him."


    "And who exactly are you? His bitch?" Islinda asked in such a vulgar way.


    "Bitch?! That''s more lovely, no I''m the owner of this cruiser and everyone here is working for me. if it was up to me, then I would prefer to dumb you in the space and let you die alone as a reply to such insults," Dora said with an arrogant tone.


    "Really? Then it''s good you don''t have a say in that, as this man here seemed more kind than you. We can insult him next year and he won''t find it disturbing, because he knew he did nothing for us. We weren''t in trouble to begin with, so no one has ever saved us," Alex replied in a more rude way than Islinda.


    Dora looked towards James in silence as she wanted to know how James would react to this. James knew that the two of them were just confused and afraid, however his patience had limits especially at this delicate moment when he just got freed from his shock.


    "Dora, do you have a prison here?" James asked with a tired tone.


    "Yes, we have a big nice prison, do you want to imprison them there?" Dora asked.


    James just looked at the couple who were shocked to hear the words of James and Dora. For the first time since their appearance here, they realized that their fate wasn''t in their hands from the beginning. Before anyone could say anything more James said out loud and clear:


    "You two have been saved by me, James, and my own forces here, the droids. Princess Dora here also helped in the process, but you two met out two generosity with mischief. I don''t want to deal with people like you anymore, so this is your last time to reconsider and rethink your choices.


    Stay in the prison for one day, and after that I will hear your final decision. In my own term, whoever I save his or her life will be indebted to me forever. if you two don''t show such gratitude, then I don''t need you anymore, and your fate will be handed over to this lovely lady, princess Dora."


    James then looked to Dora as he said:


    "Please put them both at prison and don''t let them contact anyone until tomorrow."


    Dora nodded her head as she ordered some of her new bodyguards to move the couple to their cells.


    James was sure of one thing, whoever would transfer these two would start speaking about the great war that just happened. He knew the bloody massacre he commited would make everyone afraid of angering him, and that would also be true for these two.


    At the same time he was feeling more curiosity, especially towards Islinda. He felt some strange familiarity, like the first time he met Dora.


    "Why do you look at me like this?" Dora asked as James was looking at her while thinking.


    "This Islinda, I don''t know, she gave me some feeling that is strangely similar to you," James said.


    "I know what you mean, I also had some vague feeling, she is a royal person," Dora said.


    "Don''t you have an archive for all the royal characters and important personnel in each empire?" James asked.


    "Do you really think she is royal?" Dora replied before adding, "to your information, I''m a princess with nothing as the rebels don''t have an empire to begin with. They are just a bunch of crazy greedy people who wanted to rule by themselves and not to be ruled over by others."


    James just glanced at her as he felt she wasn''t happy by the rebels at all. The moment and the situation weren''t both suitable to discuss with her further about such a matter, as he said:


    "It''s just a feeling, as her words and attitude from the early moments of her awakening made me feel something towards her. She has an important secret, and if she has a backup of an empire then we can at least find a refugee there, or what do you think?" James said.


    "Hahaha, you are really funny. After you imprisoned her you will ask for her help? You have a twisted mind or something," Dora said with a sneer.


    "Don''t rush up things, let''s first confirm her real identity and then we will discuss our options," James said while Dora left this area headed towards the intel unit where all data was stored.


    Dora knew James took the prison decision for one day as a measure to buy themselves enough time until they figure out the true identity of Islinda. She hoped she could find her true identity, as right now wandering alone in space was the last thing she would like to do.

 Chapter 83: Seeking for The Truth

    "I may need the help of your man, Rigo," Dora said as she pointed towards Rigo.


    "No problem, after all we are now heading straight to our destination and navigation can be run over by your team," James immediately agreed.


    Rigo just looked at James, as if it was up to him then he would postpone all this until they reached their destination safely. Rigo knew it was hard to change the course of the ship once it started its light speed travel, but he also knew it wasn''t totally impossible.


    So, before he left his place he checked again that the system Rigo brought from James'' little cruiser was successfully running and taking over everything here.


    He then linked the chain of highest order in the system to be James followed by himself. as for Dora or any other member of her crew they needed the approval of Rigo on every single decision out there.


    It was kind of stressful to him, but this was what he could do to secure his leader''s safety.


    "I will need the help of two of my men," Rigo said as he was already exhausted by monitoring everything running here, so he needed some help.


    "No problem, bring them with you then," Dora said as she went towards a remote corner where the library of non-significant stuff was stored there. it was the suitable place to look for the true identity of Islinda.


    They had her picture and her name, and so they could find out her true identity fast.


    However even after the passage of a whole day they couldn''t know who she truly was. All the database stored here was revised more than once by Dora''s and Rigo''s men. At the end of the day they came back towards the sitting silent James with their blank faces.


    "I presume you weren''t that lucky finding any info, right?" James welcomed the two of them with these words.


    "Perhaps if you weren''t just sitting idle here doing nothing and instead helped us then we might end up finding more useful info," Dora complained with a tiring voice.


    James just glanced at her like he wasn''t really interested with what she said. He wasn''t sitting idle, yes in the first ten or twelve hours perhaps he did that, but later on he became bored.


    He realized trying to think about what happened without gathering all the missing data wouldn''t drive him anywhere. He had to stop and postpone this ownself trial until sometime later when he had more solid data about what really happened there.


    So, he found himself a new hobby, which was to observe the camera''s live broadcast of the cell where the two he rescued were held at.


    He found it amusing at first, then he began to get bored with time until a few minutes when he got something useful.


    Islinda was a queen, or a princess at the least. She was behaving herself all the time even when she was sitting alone with this hyperactive freak called Alex.


    Alex was literally losing his mind, as all the time he kept crying for his father and mother like a little kid. He kept doing that for over twenty hours until he got tired, and during that Islinda never bothered to say a word to him.


    When he settled down, another wave of hyperactivity struck the cell, this time it was his endless speech.


    It was a surprise for James to know that he was born from the isolating zone guarding the trading place of the Terasoras ship. This meant only one thing, his parents were dead and James was the one to kill them.


    After a couple of hours, Islinda got really bored and sick from his endless speech, so they both started to quarrel. This was almost at the same time Dora and Rigo came to James.


    James was able to monitor what was happening via Rigo''s help, as the latter informed him about the little trick he did to this cruiser.


    Although James felt it wasn''t a necessary move, he didn''t object loudly at it. after all there was no wrong in the presence of a safe measure, right?


    Just before they reached him and during the obvious complaining words of Dora to him, James'' mind was focused on totally another place.


    At this precise moment, the elegant and classy Islinda was on verge of breaking down so she started to vent all her frustration upon Alex. Amidst all this she said one important info, the name of her empire.


    "Have you looked at the whole grand sector database?" James asked.


    "Sure, we did," Rigo replied, cutting the way for Dora for another assault on his leader.


    "Good, then here is a question for you: is there an empire with the name of Rodan here?" James calmly asked.


    "W-What? I never heard about such an empire before," Dora replied before feeling something was unusual, "How did you get this name?"


    "Are you sure there is no empire here by this name?" James ignored the confused words of Dora as he asked Rigo, who instantly replied:


    "Not registered in the database of the grand sector."


    "Then what about the past?" James asked as he had a crazy idea in his mind.


    "Past?!" Dora exclaimed with surprise as she began to link the dots here.


    "No, the database here had even the earliest empires'' names and brief words about their history. There is no current or past empire that goes by the name of Rodan," Rigo replied.


    "Good, then start digging at other grand sectors," James simply said.


    "Excuse me, can you at least explain how you knew such a name?" Dora asked.


    "It''s the name of Islinda''s empire, as she claims she is the queen and her uncle had taken the throne from her," James simply replied, but all he got was a doubting look from Dora, "What? Do you seriously believe I was sitting here all this time idling without doing anything at all? C''mon, I''m not that lone and sick minded person!"


    She just looked at James not knowing where she got the idea to just punch him in the face. James just ignored her as he looked at Rigo who nodded his head while saying:


    "I''m on it."


    Dora was about to go and help as well but James gestured to her to wait. She stood at her place feeling weird, as she was supposed to be in her own cruiser but somehow she was getting the feeling this was James'' cruiser.


    That was an annoying feeling that she didn''t know how to deal with. James gave her the same vibe before when they were together at her small cruiser. Back then he played her by Rigo''s card, but now she wasn''t aware of the trick James'' used to control all her cruisers.


    She had this feeling, and she was sure of what she felt, but she had no proof of it, and that made her quite mad.


    "What?!" she aggressively said.


    "Nothing, why are you so tense?" James replied as he noticed the weird attitude she had towards him.


    "Nothing, if you have nothing to say then I will excuse myself," Dora said as she moved. James just watched her leaving, as he was thinking what he did wrong to get her bad side.


    He wanted to speak with her about the problem of Alex, as he had only one idea in his mind right now, which was to kill him.


    He knew no matter how good he hid the truth from Alex, Alex would eventually know. He also didn''t want to raise a ticking bomb nearby him, if he knew that from the beginning then he would have preferred to let him die back there and not save him.


    James then glanced briefly towards the nearby Eli. She was like an angel who kept watching him without saying a word before she couldn''t take it anymore and slept.


    This wasn''t something she could be blamed for, as her mind was trying to process everything that she just experienced. For her, things happened somehow differently.


    She was just escaping from her captives and then she met James when she convinced him to help her in saving the others.


    Then everything went blank, like she entered deep sleep and then she woke up to find herself right here inside this amazingly huge cruiser and everyone here was looking at her with conflicted intentions.


    At the same time, she figured out that James managed to save her life from some maniac who was scheming to kill her. Also she knew by accident about what happened to those who lived in that trading zone, they all died.


    Either killed on the hands of that maniac, or killed on the hands of


    James, they were all now dead.


    This caused her pain, severe pain that she didn''t want to share with anyone even James. She didn''t know how to look at him anymore, was he the hero who saved her life? or the maniac who killed everyone else?

 Chapter 84: Charles Trap Fired Back at Him

    As James was worried about Alex''s reaction, he missed the nearby Eli''s stern face with that gloomy look over her face. He thought he was helping everyone by saving them, however what happened in the end proved him wrong.


    He didn''t help anyone, and what he just committed by the hands of that scepter would turn against him so soon, without even knowing it.


    It was karma, this mysterious connection between doings and destiny.


    James'' mind was busy with finding the truth about Islinda, and how he would deal with Alex''s problem, however at the same moment there was another thing going on without him knowing it.


    On the other end of the commanding deck, things were a bit messy inside the once spacious goods hunger. Different types of cruisers and fighters coupled with legions of different unit soldiers were filling this place to the brim.


    No one was vacant enough to set an eye over this place, as no one expected a sneaker to be there. a shadow of someone just flashed by passing behind the only couple of guards stationed here in a miserable attempt to control this mess.


    This person moved like he was so familiar with this place, jumping from corridor to another until he ended up in a tight room filled with monitors and devices.


    A secondary control unit was there, and he sat down on one of the seats before he entered a password to activate the unit.


    "Please say your registered name to grant you access."


    The metallic voice came suddenly which was something he anticipated. He just smiled as he said:


    "Charles."


    "Identity confirmed, you can access anything under your privilege," the sound said.


    "Which means¡­ everything," Charles said with a big evil smile over his face. He started to access the monitor cameras watching over the commanding deck. What he saw there made him question his eyes, as the situation there seemed quite unsettled.


    He could smell gun fire already in the place, as James was the unspoken ruler of the place. at the same time he listened to the words spoken softly in the small gathering of different rebel powers.


    Everyone was scheming against James and Dora. First of all they wanted the power to be in their hands, distributed equally between themselves. The presence of James wasn''t accepted by them, as they knew James wouldn''t agree on the idea of sharing power.


    Also Dora was in the same situation as James, so they had to eliminate both of them. as for Dora, she wasn''t feeling herself right now as she sensed some faint danger coming.


    She mistakenly thought the source of this danger came from James, not from her rebel forces. The mistake she started doing was to ask the aid of some rebel forces.


    That made it clear that she wasn''t on good terms with James, and that what these little snakes were waiting for. Charles was able to hear and monitor all that, however he wasn''t content with observing only them.


    He started to monitor the prison cells, where Alex and Islinda were kept. In less than half an hour, Charles managed to get a whole picture about the current situation, and from this he started to speculate the shape of the final forces that would survive this little power struggle here.


    Charles was watching all this as he knew where he would strike next.


    After bombing all the large cruisers from before and exploding it, he sought for this famous cruiser of the rebels. He intended to seize control over it however the sudden appearance of the terases race toppled his plans.


    Right now was a golden chance for him to fix everything and seize control over this cruiser. Charles had no allegiance to anyone, with no loyalty to anything, so he could do whatever he wished as long as he wouldn''t end up being dead.


    So, he sat his eyes over three targets here, Eli, Alex, and Islinda. He knew those three would be the key to change everything, provided that they would be given enough help to do what he wanted.


    Alex and Islinda were pieces of cake to him, he could communicate with them any moment he wanted and even give them support. The tricky one was Eli, but she was also the most crucial one.


    Without Eli, his little mutiny wouldn''t succeed.


    The first step he thought of was to create a diversion somehow so he could seize the chance and reach out towards Eli.


    He was sure Eli would help him, as she was now in a psychic trauma. He wanted to get advantage of this moment before her own defensive mind would interfere and reach out to a certain compromise.


    What could be a good diversion other than starting fire? For him this was the perfect job, as he was still in possession of many bombs. He just moved towards a most significant place where no one was there. it was the armory, the place where many weapons were stored.


    He couldn''t access there, and if he could he wouldn''t be this mad to set fire there. This place didn''t have only weapons, but also ammunition and explosive things like bombs at least.


    So he chose a room distanced a couple of corridors away from the armory and he then disabled the fire system there. He wanted to start a fire he could control, so he disabled the fire system in some corridors before he was satisfied.


    He left the fire systems in the armory adjacent corridors working to prevent the fire from reaching the armory.


    He was set, and so he headed back towards a secondary communication unit. He checked Eli''s situation again, she was still busy with her own misery and shock.


    As for others, nothing suspicious could be detected. To contact Eli directly he needed an inside man to do so, and this man could only be himself.


    So he went straight towards the commanding deck. He knew if he entered there he might slip the surveillance of those inside, but the closer he would get to Eli, the riskier it would be.


    So, he headed towards the transport carriage where he was taken directly towards the commanding deck with some other personnel who were bringing different reports about the situation in the cruiser.


    The presence of Charles there didn''t ring any bells, as there were different forces in this cruiser right now and no one knew the exact faces of the other forces. So, Charles managed to slip like this until he neared the commanding deck.


    Once he reached the deck, he didn''t delay to trigger the bomb he planted there beside the armory. His feet didn''t touch the ground of this deck when the explosion just happened with some minor tremors on the main hulk of the ship.


    This trembling was so slight, but it was detectable. Having such a turbulence amidst the travel wasn''t something small, and this usually indicated there was a major problem that needed to be fixed at once.


    "Status reports please," Dora suddenly yelled at her assistants, at the time everyone here was starting to panic.


    Lacking information in such a situation was disastrous, so the first thing Dora did was to look for information.


    "Reports from the cruiser''s defenses, we are good," one voice came announcing the check.


    "Status of the engines are good."


    "The life support facilities are good."


    .


    .


    .


    "The attacking cannons are good."


    "The internal pressure is stable, no breach in the ship."


    "There is a fire alarm in the section A-25 beside the armory."


    Finally one report came with the real problem here. When fire was mentioned, the havoc escalated to an unprecedented degree. Dora took a deep breath as this wasn''t the first fire situation she would face in her life.


    "How bad is it? Are there any other places with fire? Is there any other crisis here?" she moved to be near the control units where she began to give her orders and threw her questions.


    "There is no damage to the ship body so far," one voice replied.


    "There are no other fire sources in the ship," another voice said.


    "This fire is the only problem we found so far," a third said.


    "The fire systems in this section and the sections around it are disabled. I believed they were ruined by the explosion aftermath," a voice came to pinpoint the main problem.


    Dora understood what that meant. As the first procedure ever in fighting fire was to isolate the damaged sections and bury them under fire extinguishers. However she couldn''t do this right now as the fire systems were down.


    The only option was to use the manual labor to fight the fire manually, or else the fire would spread to undesired places, like the armory for instance.


    "This is bad, you should isolate the section now. what are you waiting for?!"


    Suddenly one rebel leader said in aggressive tone pointing the blame towards Dora who glanced coldly at him while replying:


    "This isn''t the time to freak out Tribli, if you have a problem with my leadership then let''s discuss it after we kill this problem."


    "The only problem here is you, your inadequate leadership will cost us our lives," another leader stepped in to stir things up.


    before Dora could open her mouth, a third, a fourth, and a fifth leaders began to declare their intentions.


    The best time to strike was the time when your enemy was at his weakest, and Dora now was vulnerable. Her mind wasn''t ready to deal with these bastards at this critical time.


    That was what these rebellious leaders wanted, and that what Charles depended upon.


    Using this chaos, Charles managed to move slowly to stand unnoticed beside Eli who wasn''t paying any attention to her surroundings at all. Once he reached there, he leaned to her and whispered:


    "It''s not easy for you to lose all your friends like that. It''s a shame your brothers and sisters died in such a horrible way. I feel sorry for them and for you."


    Once he spoke, she raised her head slowly to look at him. her eyes were red and her mind was already in more chaos than the world around her. Charles knew he got her attention, so he said:


    "If you want to get your revenge then follow me, I will help you to achieve justice."


    He said this while he stretched out his hand to her. He smiled warmly to make her trust him, and for a moment she was really going to fall for his dirty trick.


    "Oh, I can''t say I''m surprised and happy to see you alive, Charles!"


    This voice came abruptly to make Charles freeze in his place, at the same moment his stretched hand was met by another, not Eli''s hand but James.


    For Charles this was a perfect plan to turn tables over everyone, however for James this was the perfect plan to regain the lost trust of Eli and make Dora be more close to him.

 Chapter 85: Mass Murderer Is Dealing with A Psychopath

    Charles thought he was the only one watching, but his mistake came from the move Rigo did once he got connected to the navigation unit of this cruiser.


    The system he installed proved it worth when Charles tried to sneakily monitor them. Rigo received a notification from the system about unauthorized access to the cameras in the commanding deck.


    It wasn''t hard for Rigo to get a picture for the one who was trying to monitor them, and when James knew of his identity he decided to play along to see what intentions he did have.


    In fact James was surprised first when he learnt about it, and when he confirmed that by seeing the live broadcast of Charles, he became curious of how he survived so far.


    He also was more curious about what Charles needed to do. So, James decided just to keep monitoring him and granted him access to monitor them. it was weird as both were watching each other, while the hunter turned into the prey and vice versa.


    When Charles went to plant a bomb there, James ordered Rigo to send a couple of droids to that place secretly and they reactivated the system fire. So when the bomb exploded, James wasn''t worried as he had the card he could use.


    Rigo was responsible for managing this part of the operation, as the fire system was delayed for a minute before it was activated. During this minute, Rigo recorded several short clips and used them as a proof to cause panic inside the deck.


    James was sure Charles wanted panic here, but he didn''t know his target until he approached Eli. At first James thought Charles'' target would be Alex and Islinda as he was also spying on them.


    When Charles boarded the train to here and triggered the bomb, everything seemed to be pointed towards Dora.


    Luckily for James, Dora was next to him next to Eli. So when Charles skipped Dora, there was only one person left here to think about, Eli.


    And that was something James didn''t see coming, so he wanted to know why Charles wanted to speak to Eli this desperately.


    "Follow me in silence without causing a stir," James said as he took out a gun from his storage device and pointed it directly onto Charles'' chest.


    "Ok, I don''t want to lose my life like this, please be gentle," Charles said with a weird calm and funny tone like he wasn''t threatened right now by a gun.


    "Charles?!!" Dora just noticed what was happening behind her back as she recognized the face of Charles.


    "What are you doing here?" she said before she noticed the gun pointed towards Charles'' chest by James.


    "James, this is Charles. Isn''t he supposed to be a friend?" she said with growing doubt and confusion.


    "If you want answers, then follow me," James said as he pushed Charles towards a nearby hidden room inside this deck. This room was supposed to be a resting place for the queen, however Rigo found it and informed James about its presence.


    It had no value until now, as it was suitable for James to start talking privately with Charles.


    "I-I can''t leave now with all this mess," Dora muttered as she hesitated for a moment before she decided not to leave. The place was already in a mess and there were many of those who were trying to kill here.


    Everything was in chaos, but for James and Rigo everything was perfectly fine. Rigo had clear instructions to act when things got more messy, and this was in James'' best interest.


    James now had complete control over the cruiser''s system, and by eliminating the toxic head of those shitty leaders, he could rule the place without any problems.


    James led Charles towards that hidden room, and Rigo stayed there keeping an eye on the about to explode situation between Dora and the rebels leaders.


    Both sides were now starting to call their followers in masses, and for sure Dora''s numbers weren''t favorable compared with all the combined rebellious forces here.


    Rigo wasn''t standing idle as well, he contacted his men and distributed rules over them. they were now seizing the train which linked the two ends of the cruiser together.


    If these two forces wished to come here and make a difference then they would take a long time in doing that. Rigo didn''t need all that time, as the moment of his actions was drawing near.


    Amidst all this, with everything fitting in each place, one person slipped off James and Rigo''s preparations.


    Eli.


    She was the only person whose Charles words transformed her. She had deep grief and was trying to amend it, however these words were like a curse to her.


    All the anger and hatred inside her began to boil on the surface again. there was nothing she could do to control all these emotions except following their lead and giving them control.


    Doing that made her move amidst the current chaos to stand on unseen spot to eavesdrop over James and Charles, as at this moment James just finished asking Charles a question.


    "I told you, this isn''t your business. But you know I''m more interested in knowing how did you figure me out?" Charles replied with his arrogant and calm tone.


    James found it weird, as the Charles he recalled was somehow modest than the one in front of him. the old Charles was trying to help Dora and rescue her from her mother, but this Charles was somehow not caring about anyone but himself.


    "Just help me here, you escaped from the burning cruiser of Dora after you bombed her. How did you end up being here?" James asked his question again.


    "I told you, I have no mind to tell you bedtime stories," Charles said in a mean tone.


    "What do you want from Eli then? I caught you sneaking around her," James said trying to find a way to get any useful info from this strange person.


    "Eli? C''mon, don''t tell me you care about her after you killed all her friends and family," Charles said.


    "How did you know all her friends and family were killed by me?" James faked ignorance as he asked with doubt.


    "Really? Do you think I didn''t see what you did back there? honestly I didn''t know how you did it, but I can guess part or two," Charles said.


    "Part or two, that''s funny as you know nothing about me or what happened back then," James said shaking his head in disappointment.


    "C''mon, we aren''t strangers to each other man. Did you forget about me? we tried to save Dora back then, right?" Charles said these words as he was laughing, but when he tried to move from his seat James'' gun put him back again.


    "I know Charles I met before was someone kind, not this sneaky snake in front of me," James said as he pressed his gun over the place of the heart.


    "Oh, playing tough aren''t you? You too didn''t give me the vibe of a mass murderer from before, and that was a total surprise what you did to this weak little girl.


    You know, if I was her then I would have started to plan killing you. It''s a pity you are using some old time droids to safeguard you," Charles said with a short laugh as if he wasn''t worried about his life being compromised.


    His words made James understand the true intentions of Charles, he was planning to use Eli to assassinate him. This was some brilliant plan, as Eli was trusted by him. if Eli wanted to kill him, then she would have many opportunities to do so.


    James knew he couldn''t trust anyone anymore, even Eli. This snake''s words made Eli hard to be trusted again.


    James'' conclusion was on the spot, as the nearby attentively listening Eli began to have some dark thoughts. Just before her mind could plan anything, James said:


    "And you planned to do this with the use of the other two, right?"


    "If you are referring to Alex and Islinda, then yes," Charles said with a big smile over his face, "if you think you can get anything from me then you are mistaken."


    James didn''t take the words of Charles for granted. Something inside his guts kept warning him from this version of Charles, like there was some deep secret hidden behind this annoying childish face of his.


    James wasn''t out of options, as he took out a syringe with a long thin metallic needle. The syringe had a dark green fluid that was illuminating brightly. Charles looked strangely at this syringe while James said:


    "Let me introduce you to the mind breaker. According to my right man''s words, this fluid could mess up with any brain, even those who think of themselves as above others. You know what I mean, right? People like that Immortal and Dora''s mother."


    "Why are you using this hideous thing over me?" Charles said with some solid tone that came out shaky despite his efforts. He was afraid, and his over confident face turned somehow pale.


    "Well, you said I was a mass murderer, so why should I deceive myself and not behave by my nature? I presume you recognize this serum, which means I don''t need to explain anything more.


    I just need to remind you that some collateral damage might happen in the process. Sorry, it''s not my intention to harm you but¡­ you know mass murderers like me don''t give a shit about a single person''s life, right?" James said with a loud laugh that made even Eli nearby to get goosebumps.

 Chapter 86: A Great Complication

    At this moment, Eli couldn''t bear to witness anymore. She hurriedly retreated and amidst all the chaos right here she managed to slip through everyone unnoticed.


    She was in great confusion, as she hadn''t crossed her own trauma yet. The issue here was related to the fact she wasn''t even trusting the man who saved her.


    James was her savior, the one who risked everything to save her. This was a fact she was sure of from all the talks she heard so far from everyone. However he also killed her brothers and sisters.


    She had some feelings for James, pure ones, but now she couldn''t feel that way towards him. she only knew him for a very short time, not like how deep she knew the sisters and brothers she grew up with.


    Despite being raised in a harsh environment, and living in cages and fears, she still had many memories about her friends. She couldn''t just ignore or forget them simply like that.


    She was grateful and angry at the same time as James. All she could think of right now was to run, escape far from here and try to find somewhere safe to live at.


    She wanted to seclude herself from the whole world, James in particular.


    So, she had only one option left, to seek help from those who were in the same shoes as her, Alex and Islinda.


    She knew Alex was like her, impulsive and attached to the past, however Islinda was different.


    She felt how strong minded Islinda was, like a natural born leader. If she wanted to escape here then she needed Was Linda''s help for sure.


    Driven by her instinct to survive, she began to head towards the prison in this cruiser. her mind began to think about ways to free them from capture. She knew the place of the prison from Rigo and James discussions from before.


    They never suspected her, so she had a perfect chance to listen to many things, the location of the prison was one of them.


    And the place of hyperspeed escape pods was another. They were now travelling in the light speed, so not a normal escape pod was able to depart from the cruiser safely.


    She heard Rigo speaking with Dora about this thing, as they were afraid Alex and Islinda would escape from here and use one of these special pods.


    So, they had posted some security around the places of the pods.


    To overcome these security was something hard, like how she was supposed to free them from captivity. Eli felt when she freed them, they might be able to help her, or Islinda in specific.


    The only problem she was facing right now was the fact she didn''t have any combat abilities and didn''t have to fight for her life until she met James.


    Ironic, but this was the truth. so the first thing she began to seek was that armory. She listened to the stories everyone was narrating around her since she woke up.


    It seemed that armory played a good role in making James save Dora and the others. She was saved by the weapons inside the armory and she intended to get herself a nice cannon and start blasting things.


    The way to the armory was long, but she had the map inside her head. She was behind Rigo all the time so she noticed everything he was doing. At first she didn''t know what that map Rigo kept looking at every once in a while was, but after what happened from Charles she realized this was the map to the armory.


    And Rigo was just trying to keep track over things by monitoring the map. She was lucky, super lucky to manage and memorize the map to the armory and the map to the prison.


    And for her luck the two were closer to each other than the commanding deck.


    She had to run for a whole hour to get there, but once she reached the armory she could reach the prison in less than twenty minutes.


    That was the beauty in her plan, or the good luck she had.


    However her good luck was destined to end right here.


    At the same time, James was holding the syringe in hand as he was intending to use that serum to break the barriers of Charles'' mind and hear whatever he wanted to, even at the cost of Charles losing his sanity.


    "Please¡­ please wait, I will answer everything you want to ask."


    Charles tried to save his sanity by asking James to stop. He was pleading for his safety as he even sat on his knees and pleaded for mercy again.


    "Please, I didn''t mean any harm to you, please believe me."


    James looked at Charles then to the syringe in hand as he said:


    "Everything you did was to ensure me losing control over this cruiser, which is pretty close to harming me."


    "I-I know, but this wasn''t my intention at all. I just wanted to escape from the clutches of the terases by any cost. You know how brutal they were, and they won''t stop at snatching that small piece of space. Nothing will stop them from taking everything in this big sector, and you can''t refute that!"


    Charles seemed to be desperate, however James was more certain he wasn''t Charles. Charles was someone with low experience in life and wouldn''t even know the name of terases race. Dora didn''t recognize the horrors of this bloodthirsty race, not like what Charles here was knowing of.


    That meant only one simple glowing fact in front of James, who moved the syringe closer to the neck of Charles, just near those bulging veins out of fear as he said:


    "You know you can start stating your real identity."


    "M-Mu real identity?!" Charles asked with widened eyes.


    "Yes, you aren''t the same Charles I met back at Dora''s cruiser. you even not the same Charles I met at that forsaken planet before. You seem different, you are different. So, cut the crap and tell me who you really are, or else."


    James then moved the syringe to cut a small wound in the outer skin layer of Charles, whose body just trembled involuntarily out of fear. Charles seemed to be hesitant so James pressured him again:


    "You know I don''t need to waste my time with you like this. I simply can use my little serum here and your mind would be broken open for me to know anything I delight. What do you think? Will you waste my time here?"


    James was really ready to use the serum if Charles didn''t stop playing around like this. Charles seemed to realize what James intended, and he knew James wasn''t joking or trying to frighten him. James really was ready to use such a serum on him, which made his choices limited, very limited actually.


    "Ok, but can you please keep my identity safe?" Charles said with a long sigh.


    "Unfortunately I can''t promise you anything. You don''t have any privilege here," James coldly replied.


    "Oh, really? Then what if I told you to do so for Dora''s sake. I noticed how much you do care about her, right?" Charels said with a chuckle that seemed out of place.


    "What is the relation between Dora and you?" James sneered as he was sure the relation between Dora and the master of this kid was that strong. That of course if he was the real Charles, but the mysterious Charles in front of him wasn''t that person anymore.


    If Charles really knew Dora to that degree to ask for a favor on her name, then he wouldn''t try to snatch the cruiser from her hands like this.


    "What if I told you that I''m her long lost brother," Charles suddenly said with a big smile.


    "What if I told you I''m her father, that makes me your father and I have the right to screw you now, right? I''m done with this, I will use the serum to get the answers I desire," James instantly replied with anger in his voice as he was tired of this imposter fooling around.


    He didn''t like the idea that the imposter was trying to trick him even in such a situation. James was furious as this was an insult to his intelligence.


    "Wait, please I can prove it," Charles hurried to say, "here, take this and see what''s inside."


    Charles took out a small ring with one rock in the middle of it. James took the ring as he looked suspiciously at it before muttering:


    "It''s just a ring, what makes it special?"


    "It''s not just a ring, it has a magnetic memory that records a lot of things. Just give it to your droid and he will recognize it," Charles replied with haste. James just glanced with doubt towards him so he hurriedly added, "inside it you will find a meeting recorded between Dora''s mother, my mother, and my late father and my mentor and myself when I was younger.


    You will also find other recordings between me and my mentor and me with my mother. There are also many documents that prove my identity."


    James checked the ring in his hand in silence for a while. He didn''t know why this imposter was claiming something like that. Even if he proved himself to be Dora''s brother, why all this secrecy and scheme? Was this family fucked up to the bottom as each person was trying to kill the other like that?


    "Leader, it''s an emergency!" Suddenly Rigo entered the room with a worried face.

 Chapter 87: Danger in Cruiser

    "Hold on, I just was about to send for you. Take this ring for a sec," James then carelessly threw the ring towards Rigo who hurried to catch it with a surprise over his face, "even if what you are claiming is true, what you were trying to do was to harm Dora not to help her."


    Charles hesitated for a moment before he leaned towards James and whispered:


    "What if I told you there are many terases agents in this cruiser and they are about to start a riot to control the cruiser and take everyone as hostages?"


    The words were thrown like a bomb in the room where James and Rigo thunderstruck in their places horrified from what they just heard.


    "Are you sure?" James instantly asked.


    "How come you know that?" Rigo demanded.


    On the other hand, Charles knew he just used the strongest leverage he had, and also an opportunity he wasted. For him, he was neither on any side, and so he didn''t just reveal this shocking secret, he also picked sides.


    And that was something he hated himself for doing, as right now he tied his destiny with those in front of him. he sighed as he cleared up his mind and said:


    "I didn''t come here easily, so I just knew."


    "This isn''t the answer I''m waiting for," James stressed.


    "I know, but this the answer I could reveal right now," Charles said before he looked directly James in the eye, "this is all I can say, and if you want to know more then you should treat me better than that."


    James just sighed as he had no time to play around here like this. He waved the syringe in hand with a smile over his face. "You have no option here."


    "I have, as I can easily destroy my brain with my own will."


    "You can''t be this crazy," Rigo interfered.


    "If the end result is to lose my sanity, then it''s better I do it by my own hands rather than yours. However," he then chuckled as he had finally found the perfect counter over James, "if I did this you won''t get anything. So, just cherish what I just told you and show me the respect I deserve."


    "Which is?"


    Charles walked a couple of steps away from James as he headed towards the door of this room. "A partner and a friend."


    James just looked at the back of Charles as he was treading his way to the outside of the room. James was right now stressed by this weird situation, he could use the serum but he felt the threat Charles just issued was true.


    "Why should I believe you?" James stopped Charles by asking this.


    "Why don''t?" Charles turned around as he asked back.


    "As someone as sneaky as you, claiming crazy things just this and threatening to destroy his mind by his own will, how can I trust you then?"


    Charles wasn''t surprised by the doubt and aggressiveness in James'' tone, even when Rigo moved from his own to stand between him and the exit of this room.


    "I just gave you the evidence you need about my identity and also I gifted you a precious intel, why can''t you just let it go and be friends and allies with me?"


    James didn''t reply back as he just looked at him silently which made Charles sigh. "You know I never imagined you the stubborn type, but let me tell you this: you aren''t the only person with special powers in this room."


    "What?!" James exclaimed in shock.


    "I can explain, but I don''t have time to do that. And I can help you a lot in your training, but you don''t have the time to waste here. If I guessed it right, then your butler here came to tell you about a crisis, crisis made by Eli."


    Rigo''s eyes slightly widened while James said:


    "Even if what you guessed is true, this is all caused by your intervention. You initially wanted this to happen."


    "I admit that, but now I don''t want it to happen."


    "Why should I trust your words? this moment you are my friend and the next you are stabbing me in the back!"


    Charles took a deep breath as he knew it would be hard, real hard to regain James'' trust. If he knew things would end up like this, then he would take another approach.


    Initially the two had a relationship of trust, from the cruiser of Dora. If he just played his cards right then he would end up in a much better place than here.


    "I know your mind is telling you not to trust me, and I can''t blame you. Let''s see things this way, I know info that you lack, and I''m the only person here who can help you with these issues. So, let''s start our collaboration based on mutual benefit, ok?"


    Charles'' words were somehow acceptable, but James hated the idea of snake free in his own home.


    "I can live with that, on condition you will be my own prisoner," James declared his decision.


    "I can''t accept that, what benefit should I get from it then? Give me something I can live with and this transaction can be done, or else¡­"


    James interrupted him with the wave of the syringe in hand as he approached him. "You don''t have many options here."


    "As you too."


    "I have the knowledge of a breach in my cruiser, and that''s enough for me," James said as he was about to bypass Charles.


    "But you don''t know who they are and what their plans are."


    "And I assume you know all that?" James said without pausing for a second from his walk to the outside.


    "Yes, I do."


    "And you aren''t an accomplice to them, you want me to believe that!"


    "Because my artifact can help me eavesdrop people''s private talk as long as they are nearby. That was how even confined with you in this room I learnt about the presence of Eli outside it listening to our speech. I also knew what she intended to do without leaving my place here."


    James paused his walk this time, as the words of Charles held only one meaning. He was really like him, a person with special powers and with a functioning artifact. That artifact could help him read the minds of people around him, which was a scary ability to be honest.


    James also realized what Charles said about obtaining a special power was true, and he seemed to be well educated and properly instructed about these powers.


    This was something James was desperate for, which made him hesitate. He needed to know more, but he felt a great threat if he couldn''t control this hideous person behind him.


    This was a tough choice between desires and safety. Rigo read his leader''s mind, and he had a perfect solution for that.


    "If you are really sincere, then you won''t find difficulty in accepting this."


    Rigo then waved his hand as a small long wire appeared in his palm. Once Charles saw it, his eyes shone as he muttered:


    "The wire of life, how could possibly you¡­"


    Rigo interrupted him as he said, "If you have no problem then you can equip it."


    "What is this wire?" James asked as this was the first time he had seen such a thing.


    "Let me explain this for you, this is a long lost technology that your precious droids had their hands upon with some fluke. This wire could merge inside my body and get hold of something called the life line. They replace it and thus my life would be under total control of the one who owned it," Charles said while he was nearing Rigo to look closely towards the wire with much interest not fear.


    "Strange, this wire is long lost from all the records long time ago," Rigo muttered.


    "I have access to some lost knowledge, which is something I could share if you tell me your source."


    Charles pointed towards the wire, as his interest was obviously picked by this wire. James didn''t know what that wire was made of, but this simple long wire seemed to be like a treasure for Charles.


    "I can assure you, no one had this technology but us. That means if you become a good boy and don''t mess up, I might reward you by one or two oneday," Rigo said as he took the wire away before adding, '''' Now, are you ready to prove your words and show your loyalty to my leader?"


    Charles watched with regret the wire being taken away by Rigo''s hand as he took a deep breath.


    "I have to say, you have a ton of lucky friends to manage to gain these droids'' loyalty."


    James didn''t reply as he just looked at Charles waiting for his decision.


    "Ok, I agree with using the wire on me," Charles reluctantly said. He already had tied his destiny with James, so it wouldn''t be that bad to be connected deeper with him.


    "Good, stretch out your left arm please," Rigo said as Charles extended his left arm where Rigo put the wire over it.


    Once the tip of the wire touched the bare skin on Charles'' arm, it began to shine strangely with blue light before it melted down. For James who was closely watching the process, the wire melted when it touched Charles arms, however to Rigo and Charles they knew the wire was penetrating the latter''s arm and was now delving deeply into his body.


    The process wasn''t that painful by Charles, but he felt everything happening inside his body. the wire dived deeply towards his heart, where it surrounded the heart and began to shine there. Charles knew there was no way to remove it, not known to him at least, but by the order of the owner of this wire.

 Chapter 88: Binding Charles under James

    The wire was owned by Rigo, who was a follower to James, which meant the final controller of all this was James. Charles bet on his manipulative and excellent negotiation abilities to free himself in the future, a risky bet that he gambled everything upon.


    However he had to gain James'' trust now and he had to make sure he gained it for a longer period of time before he managed to obtain some of this treasure for himself.


    This was one of the rarest and most strict ways to obtain slaves, and that was just the right thing he was seeking for a long time already; the wire he wanted, desperately wanted!


    "Finished now? let''s go and save your precious hostages from the hands of those terases," Charles said after the process ended and the whole wire disappeared from the sight of James.


    James just glanced at him before he nodded his head expressing his approval. Charles walked out of this room with his head high, while Rigo approached James as he muttered:


    "I don''t trust him."


    "Even with the wire?"


    "The wire is just a safety measure, but this person is very sneaky, I don''t think he told us the whole truth."


    James sighed as he glanced at Charles back silently acknowledging the bitter truth while muttering:


    "I even doubt what he said is the truth."


    James was as suspicious of Charles as much as Rigo did, however he had to investigate the possibility of the terases race invading this place. the idea itself was threatening regardless if it was true or false; overshadowing anything else right now in front of his mind!


    James hoped it turned out to be a fabrication out of Charles'' imagination, however the confidence of the latter made him think this was part of the truth. and that put him under great pressure and made him face a dilemma; what should he do if this was proven to be right?


    Just as James was thinking about this point, Charles came out from the room. Dora knew this room from before, and she noticed the disappearance of James amidst the chaos followed by Rigo.


    Just as she was about to seek for the two, she met a familiar face who made her stun.


    "Charles?!!" she muttered with disbelief before she ran to hug him. James glanced silently towards this situation and said nothing. The words Charles claimed before were now ringing loudly in his mind.


    The hug extended for a long minute where James was feeling a bit awkward, but he never left his place. He was still eyeing Charles as a possible threat, and so he wasn''t ready to let him go off his sight right now.


    "Tell me, how did you get here?" Dora asked after she separated herself from him. she knew everything that happened in the rescue process, and she knew the role Charles played back then. James'' words were still fresh in her mind at this moment, as he well described Charles'' reaction towards the plot she fell for.


    So, she was looking at him with gratitude, a gratitude Charles knew its reason very well, and that made him more calm and confident.


    "This is something we need to discuss when we are on the move," James finally interfered in a rude way that was obviously intentional. Dora was surprised by this, and then her mind began to link the dots here.


    The three of them came out of the secret room, which meant there was something going on between them. regarding the current boiling situation, the thing that was going on between the three of them must be critical.


    "Ok, where are we heading then?" Dora decided to put aside her curiosity for now. James heaved a silent sigh of relief inside himself, as he was worried Dora would insist on knowing everything at this moment.


    Time wasn''t in his favor, and if the claims Charles said were true, then a lot of work was waiting ahead of them, with many dangers on every corner.


    James then glanced to Charles who looked at Rigo while saying:


    "We need to go to the prison at once, they will start moving from there."


    Dora moved a couple of steps to walk beside James while whispering: "Who are they?"


    "They are our enemy," James replied softly and briefly as they were still inside the crowd.


    Rigo led them towards the exit, while he gave his instructions to the other droids here to keep the situation under check. He also ordered the droids at the armory site and the goods'' dock to move towards the prison.


    He wasn''t that sure of Charles'' intel, but it was better to be careful though.


    Once they exited the deck, they started to speed up their march towards the prison.


    "Can you tell me now what is this all about?" Dora couldn''t hold herself anymore as she asked again.


    "Charles said we have been infiltrated by terases agents."


    Dora''s face started to change towards pallor before it turned in red. She looked towards Charles, saying while gritting her teeth:


    "Are you sure of this?"


    "Yes, I came with people of yours who spoke about their collaboration with the newly emerging terases empire," Charles said, revealing part of his secrets.


    Dora was angry, but James and Rigo were suspicious. Why was Charles so generous to explain all this to her? Charles was specific as he pointed out towards the traitors as part of her people.


    That topic was a sensitive one to her, James knew that, and so Rigo. Using this thing at this moment wasn''t wise, and couldn''t be explained as a brother''s worry over his sister.


    This awkward situation kept going as Dora was silenced after this short talk with Charles. Her anger was boiling up, however the other two''s suspicion was building up.


    The only one moving with calmness and even his smile would appear from time to time was Charles.


    The distance between here and the prison would take roughly an hour walk, but with their hastening steps they managed to cover it in less than forty minutes.


    During this period, Rigo kept receiving data about the real updates of the situation inside the commanding deck and about Eli.


    Eli managed to get into the armory, which was fully open during the fire accident for fear of the fire getting near it. it was Rigo''s idea to do so, as they might need to move the most explosive ammo if needed.


    And now, he was regretting this decision of his. Amidst the chaos he forgot to send someone to close the armory, so Eli didn''t find any difficulty entering it and getting herself a couple of guns and one intermediate movable cannon.


    This news was bad for everyone when they heard it, as this meant Eli wasn''t just trying to rescue the other two, she was quite dangerous herself.


    Intersecting her without any prior preparations would be a suicide. If they let her reach the prison, then she would manage to free those two.


    "There''s a question in my mind, how did you know about the plan of the terases traitors?" Dora suddenly turned to Charles and asked him this question.


    "I just told you, I overheard them," Charles briefly replied.


    "That''s not an answer, I want to know how you knew they would start their rebellion from the prison?" Dora stressed further on him. she was angry at first, but now after she somehow calmed down, she started to think rationally.


    There were some weird gaps in Charles'' story, and so she began to ask about them. James and Rigo knew these gaps from the beginning, however the wire gave them much confidence in controlling Charles.


    Any moment of betrayal, he would end up dead.


    The only possible explanation the three had in mind was Charles was actually part of this, however Charles calmly explained:


    "I planned to cause trouble and enter the commanding deck among chaos to warn you. During this I monitored everyone, and noticed the movements of those traitors.


    They were heading straight towards the prison, and that had only one explanation, right? They wouldn''t go there to surrender themselves, and there is no one imprisoned there except for the two you sent there from before."


    Ames and Rigo exchanged silent glances, as they knew this was fake.


    Charles was somehow careless, and that was normal as they already reached the prison.


    The prison was a special unit inside the cruiser, where it had special design for it. there were no corridors, and most of the walls were redesigned inside to form a big maze.


    The front of this prison had two small semi-circular pillars, each had unique defensive abilities.


    Without bypassing these two pillars, no one could step a foot inside the prison. Despite all this tight security, no one of the four felt any confidence in their ability to defend this entrance.


    As Eli had an intermediate cannon.


    The distance from the armory to the prison wasn''t long for Eli, but moving carrying two guns and one big cannon delayed her. Just as she was getting closer to the entrance of the prison, she noticed the distant shadows of the four who just arrived.


    The situation got much complicated at this moment, as she didn''t hesitate to stop moving, hold the two handles of the cannon and start using it. She directed the cannon opening towards those distant four as she didn''t wait to figure out who they were and then pressed on the handles to release the lethal shot to them.

 Chapter 89: Dora, Eli, Alex, and Islinda Vs James and Charles... Who is Going to Win?!

    Eli''s appearance wasn''t surprising for the four, as Rigo was keeping an eye over her all the time. Once she showed the earliest sign of her intentions, Rigo gave the command for his droids to move and flank her from behind.


    She was thinking she had the upper hand there, how naive she was! Just before her hands could touch the triggers, she was hit by a paralyzing ray that shot from a special old weapon of one of the droids.


    He was like Rigo, a humanoid, who began to walk rapidly towards the fallen, without the ability to move, Eli. Once there, he extended his arm to take the cannon and guns from her possession.


    The first and foremost important order he received from Rigo was to secure Eli, and make sure she wouldn''t pose any threat to herself and others.


    He gave these weapons to the droids with him, three others who came all the way from the armory.


    They were silently following Eli''s footsteps, and without her knowing that they followed her to here. Their appearance was a surprise for the poor girl who didn''t experience much in life yet.


    Just as she watched them taking away the weapons, she tried to resist them in vain. The paralysis effect sustained for a minute, which was long enough for her attackers to strip her off any blade to fight with.


    Once she regained her freedom, she didn''t stand still on the floor as she tried to move, however she was met by the view of the four people she tried to attack earlier closing up fast on her.


    One face she saw and froze her without the need of any ray, the face of James.


    Her heart was leaning towards him, after all he was all what a girl like her would dream of, but that was only limited to her emotional heart.


    For her mind, the situation was quite opposite, as she wasn''t able to forget nor forgive the crimes he did. this man who cloaked himself under an imposter veil of righteousness had the blood of her friends, brothers, and sisters staining all his fingers, hands, clothes, even his steps itself.


    Dejected, she watched the four approaching her in silence, without the ability to make a decision. It was easier for her, much easier, when she was far away from him. Standing this close to him made her resolve waver, and her raging mind settled.


    "What are you doing Eli?"


    This soft voice came smoothly from James'' lips to turn into thunder inside her ears. She even took a step backward as her body shivered, she couldn''t yet determine which one he was, a hero or a villain!


    "Is this the thanks I get for saving you?"


    James noticed her weird reaction, and he was prepared for this. He knew she was right now utterly confused, and trying to talk calmly with her wouldn''t solve the problem, it would escalate it.


    So, he tried to kill everything that could stain his picture in her mind, driving her either to fully trust him or to break down. Even breaking down was something better than keeping her mind hovering between faith and enmity.


    "You-You killed them, killed them by your hands¡­ you have the audacity to say you saved me? you killed me the moment you killed them, you monster!"


    She thrashed him with her explosive livid words which fell down upon him without a warning. James just stood his place motionless, looking with calm eyes towards her, feeling much more bad inside the more she spoke.


    But he never wavered or thought again about what he did, he had to survive and without this sacrifice, no one here would still be alive.


    "I know you have the right to be upset, but that doesn''t mean you would grab a cannon and try to kill me."


    "What if I did that? will you imprison me like you did with the other two? c''mon, put me in prison and show me your true color!"


    James gave a loud long irritated sniff followed by a sigh. He knew how painful Eli was feeling right now, but he also had no commitment to her whatsoever.


    He helped her before because he felt that was the right thing to do, she really needed his help and without him she would be dead.


    However that didn''t mean he would be conditionally attached to her, obliged to help and take her fiery mood and temper.


    "I won''t imprison you, on condition you start behaving yourself and stop acting like a spoiled girl."


    The tone and the way James said these words made Eli''s eyes widened from shock with a tinge of regret. Her heart felt pain that overcame the temper of her mind, and right now she began to understand, James was very special to her, but she wasn''t that for him.


    Pushing further would endanger the fragile picture of her in his mind, and that idea itself made her afraid. For the first time since meeting James, she felt fear, losing him was something far worse than losing everyone else.


    "If you don''t behave yourself, then I will have to take measures that might not please you. Of course I''m not threatening with prison, I''m just referring to the option of sending you away."


    "Away?!" Eli''s mind was pushed forcibly outside the struggle with her heart as she was shocked by the words of James. "Do you want to send me away?!"


    Her tone jerked like a weak last flame of the summer facing the cold stormy winds of the autumn, she was about to be extinguished, her heart and life itself at this moment.


    What she did and what James did started to circle around her like ghosts, without the ability to interfere or stop what was happening. She was mistaken, gravely mistaken, as this was what she concluded when she viewed what happened over and over again.


    She wanted to apologize, say she was sorry and regretful, she wanted to amend what she did, and try to ask for his forgiveness, but James just gave her his back as he added:


    "Just don''t forget what happened today and don''t repeat these foolish acts ever again. I trusted you before, and yet still trust you even now, so please don''t disappoint me."


    She watched the four of them moving away from her while she kept herself standing, doing nothing for a couple of moments before her body trembled. Her clear beautiful eyes turned to be full of redness all of a sudden, with few, big, drops of tears flowing off her, soaking her two porcelain-like cheeks to leave a faint, unseen trace behind them.


    Except for deep pain that she would never forget, as a great revelation presented itself to her at this moment- she loved James, love that she never experienced before and would never taste like ever again.


    As for James, he was feeling nothing at the moment. He helped her and he felt he was somehow responsible for her actions, but that was before he realized what she planned to do.


    He figured that she was thinking for her own interest, putting herself in front of his, and that wasn''t wrong, but the right thing to do.


    That made him realize he was over-caring about her for a long time and that he began to mistake what the relationship between the two was.


    It was only friendship, nothing more. If a friend wanted to be an enemy, then the least thing you could do was to push him away, at least for the old times sake you wouldn''t face him and turn him into an instant enemy.


    For old times sake, James gave the warning to Eli, hoping she would be a good girl and stop acting rash and reckless like she just did.


    Solving one problem made him focus again on the bigger one, the two kept captives inside the prison.


    The other three around James watched how he dealt firmly with Eli, and Dora was somehow feeling relieved without any obvious reasons. As for Rigo, he felt James dealt appropriately with the situation, and he also hoped for Eli to think rational and act calmer.


    The only who began to look in wary towards James was Charles, as he thought he could use this little girl in the future to play with James, but the latter had just killed all his plans simply like that.


    "Have you figured out the identity of Islinda?" James suddenly asked as they were midway towards the prison''s main gate.


    "So far we had no clue over who she is and where she came from, except for your words from before." Dora replied.


    "That''s disappointing, I hoped to know her true identity before going to speak with her," James muttered. Although he heard her before yelling the name and the status of herself, he wasn''t that sure what she revealed was the truth.


    Charles knew this was a chance for him to stir the upcoming trouble away from him. "I might know," he simply replied like this.


    "Really?!" James asked with doubt.


    "She is the princess of a famous and strong empire called Rodan."


    James just glanced shortly at him before looking away as he replied:


    "We already know that."


    Charles didn''t feel any offense. "Then you must be familiar with the exact location and the recent news coming from the empire, right?"


    The words and the playful tone of Charles made James pause, rounded to face Charles as he said:


    "Can you elaborate?"


    Charles knew this was important info, but he wanted to buy it with more area of trust with James and the others. His fate wouldn''t be settled safely without paying some price for that.

 Chapter 90: Who Is the Terases Race After?

    "The empire she came from isn''t part of this star sector, and I don''t mean the small sectors, but the grand sector," he started his talk with this simple, yet important info. Unfortunately for him, they also suspected this as well.


    "We also suspected that," James sighed, as he started to be sick of this man''s attitude.


    "So you also know what a grand sector is?" Charles chuckled, as he was sure if they knew this info, then it would be easy for them to know everything about her.


    And he was right in his guess, as the eyes of everyone were fixed on him, so he waited, and said nothing.


    "And?!" James urged him.


    "You didn''t tell me if you know or don''t know this."


    James sighed, it was tedious, dealing with this man. "We don''t, can you tell us everything you know," when Charles kept looking at him, he added, "please?"


    They had already arrived at the prison gate, where there was a small garrison made of Dora'' people. They didn''t stop there, as Dora led them into the depth of this prison, where they were keeping Islinda and Alex.


    "The grand sector is number forty three," Charles said, as he noticed the silent eyes between James and Rigo, "this sector is located near the centre of this universe, where the old sector is. The empire she came from is the one who controls all the grand sector under its reign for a long time already."


    His words were shocking, so he elaborated, "Things at old grand sectors aren''t just like our young ones here, as the rule there for a single empire to rule the whole grand sect, and it''s not weird or rare to find an empire controlling even two grand sects."


    "That''s¡­" Dora muttered with disbelief, "that''s really amazing!"


    "I know, right? These empires already had the power and influence to crush any of our young sectors, but they never bothered with us," he said.


    "Why is that?" James suddenly asked.


    "Why what?" Charles asked back.


    "Why are they not interested in us?" James explained.


    "why do I feel you aren''t that happy about this fact?" Dora was the one to answer him, not Charles.


    "It''s not about happiness, it''s just weird. they aren''t interested in us and suddenly one of their princesses came to us like this, isn''t it weird?" James spoke in a slow tone as he was also thinking to himself.


    "You won''t find it weird if you know her identity, she is the current queen of this empire, or supposedly that, until she grows older to reach the appropriate age."


    Charles words were really valuable, and as they were now so close to Islinda''s cell, Dora stopped them as she asked:


    "Do you mean she was sent to a trial or a test of some sort?"


    "Or it might be a training session," Rigo added.


    "No, it''s neither of those. she was betrayed by her uncle, as after her father died she had all the right to hold the throne, and according to my knowledge she rose the throne, and selected her uncle as her guardian."


    Charles didn''t continue, as he winked with his eye, indicating what happened later.


    "And that dirty uncle claimed the throne to himself, and sent her here to exile, right?" Dora''s tone changed, as a recent bitter memory rose to her throat like lava.


    "You are right, and she won''t be able to get her throne back unless she managed to cross all the grand sectors separating us from her empire," he said before he softly murmured, "which is practically impossible, this little girl will live her entire life cursed by this misdoing of her uncle."


    His words, though they came sincere, were highly doubted by James and Rigo. Only Dora, only her, was affected by his saying, like a spellbinding her, she started to shift all her thoughts and focused on one single idea, she had to help this poor girl!


    "So, if I ask you how to know all that, you won''t answer, right?" James asked what he wanted to know.


    "You won''t be upset if I decided to keep this to myself," Charles replied, with a smug smile over his face, which made James so irritated, but couldn''t say or do anything more.


    Not today for sure, but one day in the future he would be able to repay all this frustration to Charles, he promised himself that.


    "We are here," Dora said as she picked up the speed again, driven by the new idea that started to invade her entire soul, turning bit by bit into an idea that might transform her life, making her one of her life goals, own beliefs, or even more.


    The cell wasn''t that narrow, closed by a regular door from the outside, but everyone here knew this wasn''t just a simple door. The whole cell was designed for it to eject all its content, even humans, into the space once there was anyone trying to open it by force.


    This was somehow a good and risky security measure, indeed effective. The four looked towards the cell as James finally asked:


    "Why do those terases race want Islinda this badly?"


    "You are mistaken," Charles shook his head in a way that made everyone look at him, "they aren''t here for her."


    "For Alex? Is he someone important?!" James asked with surprise.


    "No," Charles shook his head again, "it''s not Alex."


    "Would you die if you don''t say everything at once?" Dora burst on his face, as she was greatly agitated by his manner of speech.


    "If the knowledge is worth a lot, then I should present it more diligently, right?"


    He didn''t get anyone''s approval, and he didn''t care about it.


    "So, who is our big shot, the reason all this ship''s big shots are here?" James sarcastically asked.


    "It''s a prisoner, Dora''s mother brought here before the whole war erupted," Charels replied, and then paused, as his usual, waiting for anyone to ask him about the identity of that man.


    "Are there any more prisoners here?" James ignored him as he turned to ask Dora.


    "As far I know, hmm, no," she said as she turned and was about to leave the place.


    "Why are you going?"


    "To know everything about this prisoner," she replied without even stopping.


    "C''mon, this prisoner wasn''t included in the main ship registry," Charles said, "you are wasting your time," he added, as if he wasn''t interested in that.


    As for James, once he heard these words he glanced silently at Rigo, who had already searched the prison a couple of times, and thus he nodded his head. Whoever was kept captive here, he wasn''t on the main system, which was weird.


    "Why would my mother do that?" Dora asked.


    "Why would your mother do that to you?" Charles was blunt, and his words literally crumbled all the hard work she did so far to handle herself.


    "Are you such a senseless bastard?" James rudely said as he hurried to support the shaky Dora, as she didn''t control what just happened after Charles'' words.


    "She is just fragile," he lamented with his rudeness, without caring for her. James just glances silently at him, as he was wondering with more doubt if Charles was really her brother or not, as if he was hers, then he was a psycho.


    "Just give her a break," Rigo interfered, as he, despite being a humanoid with no deep ties with Dora, felt offended by Charles'' behavior.


    "That''s her issue, not mine," he continued to be rude, "anyway, the man locked up here is very dangerous. Letting him out will lead to a more calamity that she just experienced," he finally admitted her suffering, in a way that seemed careless, without any consideration.


    James just glanced at him before he hugged, warmly hugged Dora. At this precise moment, Eli came, walking from far, passing through the guarding posts of the prison, to meet this scene in front of her.


    Watching James holding another woman in his embrace made her heart hurt, shuddered from shock and pain, while her mind kept raging about her failures, her mistakes, her wrong choices guided by emotions and false intel, and that all led to this moment.


    For James to be away from her, hugging someone other than her, that really cut her heart open, bursting like an egg crashing on the wall.


    Her presence was noticed by everyone late, but James didn''t flinch, or move away from Dora. He simply held nothing more for Eli, and he already had done her great help when he saved her life, on expense on much more innocent lives. He didn''t think he owed anything to her, if there was anyone here who would feel owed, then this should be her.


    "Welcome back, are you here to join the show?" Charles said, in a much more irritating way, with his rude behavior.


    She glanced at him for a moment before dropping him from her sight. He was the one who misled her, she knew that now, and he had done this, cold blooded, for his own sake.

 Chapter 91: The Old History of Charles

    His playful treacherous distasteful plot had made her lose the only person who cared about her entire life, and the mission of bringing him back was really hard, if not impossible.


    "Hi," she said, like she didn''t notice James eyes when she came, befalling over her.


    "What are you doing here?" James bleakley asked, as he caressed Dora''s back, trying to silently console her, while she was shivering and a muffled voice of crying was hardly heard, even from his place.


    His words made Eli hesitate, as she didn''t imagine for him to be this cold with her. She swallowed the bitterness of this cold treatment, as she believed she deserved to be treated like this, at least he didn''t ask her to leave the cruiser for good and be separated from him.


    ''At least you don''t hate me,'' she muttered to herself. "I''m trying to help," she simply replied, without showing her discomfort.


    "Good," James said, "please don''t try to do anything foolish again," he added, warningly.


    "Sure," she nodded, with a calm smile that came from her pained heart. At least he wasn''t that mad to her, and that was enough to make her feel some warmth inside.


    "Have you finished your touching reunion?" Charles'' distasteful voice came to interrupt this moment, "Let''s go and find that guy before others do, shall we?"


    "Wait a minute," Rigo stopped him from moving forward, "you didn''t tell us who is this person? And why is he that important to those terases?"


    "Why don''t you go and ask them yourself?" Charles asked back with his rudeness before adding, "Or do you prefer to let them capture him?"


    "Stop the act and tell us what you know, or my patience might run out," James coldly said, pointing to his heart in motion to remind Charles by the binding of the thread of life.


    Charles'' face changed slightly once he was reminded, as he didn''t like the idea of being under control of anyone. He smiled, in a try to wash away all his embarrassment, and said:


    "He is just an old acquaintance of your mother," he said to Dora, "as you know him as your master," his smile widened when he mentioned that.


    "What? Master Anthony is here?" Dora raised her head, soaked with silent tears that turned her eyes into two red ones, as she demanded, "how the hell he ended up being here? and what does this have any relation to the terases race?"


    Charles paused, intentionally, as he enjoyed being the centre of everything again. "That man isn''t that simple, do you know he lived through the age of the previous terases empire? witnessed its demise?" he said slowly, while watching their faces.


    "Do you mean he had something they wanted?" Dora pushed away James'' hand, gently though, as she stood straight on her own.


    "Yes, he has something very valuable, something they won''t stop before getting it," he paused again before starting to walk, "have any of you ever heard of the terases heart?"


    "You surely don''t mean that terases tyrant heart, right?"


    Rigo''s words stopped Charles again, as he turned to look at Rigo with a new look. "Interesting, never thought you will be a remnant of that old empire, that''s really surprising."


    The words of Charles meant only one thing, he knew where Rigo came from, and that was even weirder.


    "Do you know of my old empire?" Rigo asked, without even blinking.


    "Old empire?" Charles asked, as he started to get more interested, "I only heard of the Rojedia''s emperor''s old obsession, destroying the old and building a new, hmm¡­" he paused, as this time he looked towards James, whose face was riddled with surprise and shock. "It makes sense now, so is he your new emperor? The one mentioned in that prophec¡­"


    He was about to complete his words, when Rigo mercilessly activated the thread attached to Charles'' heart. That forced him to stop amidst his words, with panicked face he hurried to say:


    "Undo it, please hurry, stop it, I¡­" he felt a severe stabbing pain again, with his soul being sucked away step by step, like falling from a high mountain, watching earth coming fast to him. he grabbed his chest, just over the heart, as he continued with great difficulty, "I mean no harm to your emperor¡­ he was one of my best buddies."


    "Liar," Rigo didn''t even think to stop the thread, and no one here volunteered to stop him, "I never saw you there," he added.


    "It''s because I changed my face," Charles said with a gasping voice, while his body couldn''t take this pain anymore, falling on his knees, with his face turning pale as ice, "You know me back then by the name Frotelak."


    He said these words and fell on the ground, motionless, with his body twitching slightly from time to time. James glanced at Rigo, to find a strange look over his face, a mix between shock and horror.


    "Rigo," James awakened Rigo by his loud shout, "Do you know him?" he stressed, trying to push Rigo out of his trance.


    "Oh," Rigo said, before he noticed Charles was about to die. Hesitantly he undone the mechanism, stopping what would have killed Charles, who stayed motionless on the ground for a moment, then his body twitched as he sneezed repeatedly then coughed a mouth full of blood.


    The ground became tainted with his blood, but all he did was to roll over his back, lie there, trying to catch his breaths, enjoying this precious return to life again.


    "What was all that for?" this was the first Charles said once he regained the strength to talk, "I recall you weren''t this crazy back then."


    "How can you still be alive?" Rigo ruthlessly asked, as he wasn''t yet sure how this was even possible.


    "You lived till now, why is it surprising for me to live too?" Charles replied back, as he started to move, "no time to waste, we already spoiled a lot. I won''t be surprised if we went there and found the man was gone."


    "Who are you?" James didn''t buy this talk, as he asked, stepping his foot over Charles'' chest, preventing him from moving a muscle.


    "Rigo can tell you my story anytime later, not now," Charles hurried to say, but when James didn''t blink, he glanced to Rigo, "Tell him that I''m no danger, reassure your new emperor."


    James didn''t move, or even look at his man, as his feet kept itself heavy on Charles'' chest.


    "C''mon, tell him," Charles, with some urgency, shouted at Rigo, who was yet hesitating about what to do.


    "Let him go." it wasn''t Rigo who said this, but Dora, who gently held James hands as she added, "his life is in your hands, so there is nothing to fear for."


    Her words were true, and James knew it, but he wanted to press over this swindler and let him know how bad things might be if he decided to betray him.


    Plus, he wanted to give Rigo time, to get over this intense encounter and regain his clarity again.


    "Let him go, leader," Rigo''s voice finally came, which was the thing James was waiting for.


    James just gave Charles a last warning long glance before he left his foot and moved away. Dora offered her hand to help him stand, but he pushed her away. He was literally pissed off right now, as he revealed things he wanted to keep hidden, at least for now.


    "So, lead the way, Mr. Mysterious person."


    James'' tone wasn''t that polite as he mimicked his way of talk. Charles didn''t mind that, as he moved, silently, to the front. James looked towards Rigo, who just walked beside him, as he muttered:


    "Old story, good or bad?" he asked.


    "Bits of both, I think," Rigo vaguely replied, which made James wary toward Charles even more.


    "Dangerous?" he asked.


    "No, not for you," Rigo replied, while he muttered to himself, ''only for me."


    Charles moved in the lead, followed by the four walking side by side with each other. He was now exiled, more than before, feared, more than ever, and he didn''t mind it. all he was thinking of right now was to hurry and find that Anthony, and save him.


    "It''s right there," after ten minutes of walk, Charles said, pointing to a right branch of a forked road, there lies the deadliest cells here, where the most cruel, or far important prisoners were kept, usually they were the latter."


    Charles regained his sense of bitterness and humor, while he led them towards that road. It was colder than the rest, with few doors and few lights here. whoever built this section must have a sick mind.


    "Why is this place deadly?" Eli asked, trying to open a conversation with Dora. She didn''t like her, but as her main rival, she had to know her well, even better than knowing James.


    "Because whoever touched this door in a try to break it, would be flushed over to the space, not only him, but the entire place would be flushed, so any single mistake meant everyone''s death."

 Chapter 92: Trying to Make Eli A Spy

    Dora was whispering, like telling a scary story, and when she finished speaking, she stomped her foot heavily causing a loud bang to happen. The place was deserted, so the voice echoed loudly, adding more tension to the atmosphere.


    "See? If I step wrongly over the door, then we all will die."


    "Stop scaring the little," James said, "After all we are all in danger."


    "Why are you saying that?" Dora jokingly asked, with some upset from his interference in her little play.


    "Because we aren''t alone," Charles said, as he motioned to the front, where there was a group of ten people standing there, like guards.


    "Are they trying to¡­" Dora asked, as she took out her gun.


    She wasn''t the only one with this high reaction, as Charles and Rigo reacted even faster than her. As for James, his first reaction was to push Eli to the side, before taking out his gun as he started shooting the guards nearby without pause.


    The battle has just begun.


    Four against ten, the odds were standing with the majority, logically, but as the element of surprise was on the side of the minority, the battle started in the favor of them.


    The earliest gun shots managed to eliminate nearly half of the ten, flipping the scale fast to be a balanced battle. If not to the rapid reaction the remaining alive had, they would have lost more than that.


    But they timely reacted, guarding themselves behind the curvy nature of this place, taking it as a shield against Dora, James, Rigo, and Charles attacks.


    "We can''t stand here, we are too exposed," Charles said.


    "If we retreat, they will send for more reinforcements. We need to keep pushing them," Dora replied, refusing Charles'' suggestion.


    "Any brilliant ideas then?" Charles asked with some high tone that made Dora turn to glance angrily at him.


    "We have to push them away from their guarded places," James said, interfering to prevent any inside quarrel at this delicate time, "I want to ask about the guarding system here, if, and I''m just saying if, I used a bomb, will the defensive mechanisms here get activated?"


    ''Unfortunately yes," Dora replied.


    James sighed, as he thought of using one of the cannons inside his storage bracelets, but he couldn''t do it now.


    "I will advance, you make sure to follow my suit," Rigo suddenly said, as he didn''t wait for anyone to confirm his words. He moved, without even looking behind, with a strange high speed, towards the cowered enemies.


    He, after all, was a humanoid, someone who was built based on the most supreme conditions of a human, using all the advantages of both humans and machines, so he could use superhuman speed, or even he could take some shots from any gun directly without being fried.


    And that is what he intended to do, as he darted without thinking of his safety, aiming to cross all the distance up ahead in the shortest possible time. even his gun wasn''t used, as it might delay him, and he wasn''t intending to reach there without receiving some hits.


    When he moved, he could evade most of the attacks, as mostly they weren''t meant for him, but when he crossed half the distance towards the enemies, more shots became focused over him, and that made his mission to dodge more difficult, or even impossible.


    "Is he insane?" Dora muttered with disbelief, watching what Rigo was doing.


    "No, he is using his advantages for real, if you want my opinion then he is just bullying those stupid out there," Charles uninterestingly said, as he kept firing his gun, without any care to Rigo.


    "Stop, you might hurt him," James boldly said, as he pushed the gun in Charles'' hands.


    "Don''t touch me again like this," Charles ruthlessly said, "if it isn''t for your butler, you won''t be able to reach your stand here or even touch me."


    He was rude, however James wasn''t that weak minded person to be intrigued by this cheap trick, as he replied, "I don''t care what you think, after all I captured you sneaking amidst the commanding deck like thieves, and got you cornered in that room until my friend came and save you."


    James didn''t describe Rigo as his butler, as he was considering him as a close friend, even a brother, "For your knowledge, I intended to kill you before leaving that room, as I got sick of your lies. Without Rigo''s intervention you might have ended dead and you won''t be here chit chatting like a little kid."


    Charles looked towards James, who just looked back. Charles felt more worry towards this man, as he proved with time he wasn''t the simple minded, easy controllable person he thought to be.


    "Fine," Charles just said, putting away his gun.


    "Now what?" Dora asked to stop this untimely quarrel.


    "Let''s follow him," James said, as he started to run after Rigo''s back. Rigo had already reached the place of these enemies, and as Charles said, he was enough to kill all of them before the others reached him.


    "Good work Rigo," James said, patting his shoulder in an intentional move, which made Rigo quite surprised. He sensed something was wrong here, but he couldn''t know what it was.


    "Now let''s go ahead," Charles said, after giving Rigo a silent glance that held no meaning at all.


    "Is everything alright?" Rigo whispered to James, as they started to move after Charles.


    "He and Charles got into some fight a while ago," Dora said, and when she saw the angry look over Rigo, she added, "James was trying to protect you, as Charles kept firing even when you were blocking the way."


    Rigo moved his eyes between her and James, then to the forefront Charles.


    "Don''t bother, he is just a scum," James muttered.


    "He is always a scum," Rigo said, as if he wasn''t that surprised by that man''s reaction just now.


    "It seems you two have quite a history," Dora cautiously said, trying to peep over the truth between the two. she wasn''t alone, as James was interested as well. The difference here was James could know anytime he wanted from his man, but she couldn''t, and as a lady she had that irresistible urge to know.


    "It''s another talk for another time," Rigo simply replied, before Charles cut all this with his distasteful voice, "There is another group ahead, it seems we will have to get used to our welcoming parties."


    James didn''t speak, as he looked silently to Rigo, who kept running forward when everyone stopped. They opened fire at once, trying to kill those away from them first, learning from their previous lesson, they managed to decrease the load, and kill over half this time.


    So, Rigo''s mission was easier, as he managed to reach those remaining before they could handle their matters and arrange their line. When we hurried after him, we found, as usual, he killed all of them.


    "Perfect performance as always, why don''t you keep going ahead and let us have some rest here?"


    Charles was teasing Rigo, who just ignored him while James said:


    "If it''s bothering you this much, then you can go ahead while we rest here."


    Charles smiled silently, a smile that wasn''t a smile at all, before he started to move ahead without saying a word. Everyone then moved, and this time Dora grabbed a gun from the fallen and threw it towards Eli, who kept running at the back, keeping the pace with them.


    "Don''t be always this cute, as death won''t bother if you are like this."


    Eli grabbed the gun, with an anxious face, however she held it firmly without any hesitation or fear.


    "Oh, you didn''t drop it, I''m impressed," Dora said, faking her surprise, as she didn''t care if she had a gun or not. She just did this on a whim, without any intentions at all.


    "Thanks," Eli softly thanked her, and before Dora could reply with her high tone, she recalled she might need her help in the future. Something couldn''t be known by her, and thus Eli was in the perfect spot to help. She needed someone James wouldn''t suspect, a spy! and Eli was considered the perfect spy in her opinion.


    Recruiting a spy wasn''t easy, but she intended to do so with her. She had no other option, and she was sure Rigo and James had their own plans which she knew nothing about.


    So she smiled, warmly and with sincere this time, as she whispered:


    "Don''t thank me, we are sisters after all." Eli''s face changed slightly, and when Dora noticed that, she added at once, "after all we both were saved by him, so technically we are sisters, and I like you, you are cute."


    Her words were a random mix of any word she could think of and might please this pure girl beside her, and from the look over her face, Dora knew she succeeded. Eli was happy, and her nodding on her meaningless words just now proved she had crossed a big shot in forming a new spy, which was gaining this spy''s trust.

 Chapter 93: Killing Charles

    "Be ready, another group up ahead," Charles said before adding, "How big is this place? I thought it was small, as being a special place and that stuff."


    "It''s special, so it was built in circles rounding around each other, so it''s big, very big," Dora simply replied.


    "It''s a labyrinth then, right?" Rigo asked.


    " Some sort of, but it''s not the sort where you get lost, it was designed so any intruder would lose time before he could get in and out," she said.


    "Rigo," James simply ordered, as Rigo darted as usual towards the front. This team wasn''t luckier than the last, or the one before, and this kept going on for a while. this place was really huge, and they would take hours to just cover it.


    After the tenth team got crushed by them, James started to feel some worry, as he asked:


    "Do you recognize any of them?"


    Dora looked at the tattered bodies of them for a while, before she shook her head:


    "Sorry, not a clue."


    "That means they don''t belong to any group under you, right?" James asked again, trying to confirm something.


    "As far as I know, these clothes aren''t related to any group," Dora said, as she understood James'' meaning.


    "They could easily change clothes," Charles simply said, as he smelled James'' sniffing, doubting stench.


    "But why would they do that?" James asked, as he confronted Charles, "what group you came here with?" he directly asked.


    "I told you," Charles said, faking helplessness, "I just was eavesdropping, and couldn''t tell their identities as I didn''t see them."


    "But you saw those who came on the same cruiser as you," James wasn''t ready to let him go, "Tell me, what group they were?" he asked, with a stern face that held no room for evasion.


    "Ok," Charles sighed, "I came with the Telotanda''s one of the cruisers, a little cruiser," he said, in a helpless tone like he was doing something wrong here.


    His tone, his behavior made everyone doubt him, as they all looked towards him with questioning eyes. "Why are you giving me this glance? I''m not lying, I swear I came in this cruiser, and whoever was scheming against you, he must be one of them."


    Dora''s face didn''t flinch, however James asked;


    "Do you know this group?"


    She sighed, as she nodded before saying:


    "A trouble maker group, who dreamt long ago of leading this rebellious move and gaining an empire under their name."


    "Known troublemakers like them, that''s not a surprise what they intended to do," James muttered softly, as he decided to play along with Charles. Just as Dora was about to say something, as she looked somehow distressed, James glanced at her in a meaningful way, before he said:


    "Let''s keep going, we still have a long way ahead of us."


    Dora just nodded, as she understood what he was planning. James didn''t buy Charles'' words, as selecting an obvious target for treason was something foolish.


    Though all evidence pointed to them, based on Charles'' testimony, it wasn''t logical at all. James knew whoever was behind all this, he or she must be someone very cunning, not stupid enough to show up his face like this in public, announcing himself as a target practice for any treason.


    And whoever that force might be, it must have some arrangements with this snake up ahead. So far, James wanted to take Rigo on the side, and ask him about everything related to Charles, his history with Rigo and his old emperor.


    However Rigo just refused more than once to speak, citing the inadequacy of the place to share some critical info like this. James couldn''t do anything but to sigh, he hoped Rigo knew what he was doing.


    The path afterwards was smooth, with roughly anything to stand on their way. All the guarding teams kept checking on the way and were exterminated by the routine collaboration between Rigo and them, being Rigo the main attacker they had.


    After four more hours, they managed finally to reach the end of this strange maze, where they spotted a large space, with a beautiful bond in the middle of it with its silver white waters.


    On the sides of this place, there were many doors, lined one by one, in a strange order that added some elegance to the place, like it was part of the decoration here.


    "We are here," Dora whispered. The team then moved slowly, approaching the place, as they spotted many of their enemies, gathered around one door, trying to open it.


    There were a group of a hundred, much more than what James had in mind.


    "What should we do now?" Dora whispered, "Should we attack them?" she said.


    "No," Rigo said, " I think it''s safer to wait for them to get the prisoner and then attack them," he suggested.


    "Wrong," Charles said, "if they got their hand on him, they would kill him and get what they want, then leave here," he warned.


    "They can''t bypass us here," Rigo stubbornly said.


    "But this isn''t the only way out," Charles said, winking with his left eye.


    They understood his meaning, as when they got what they wanted, they would activate the safety function here and leave.


    "They could also activate the safety once we attack them, and so we would all be dead and they would have their target," Rigo said.


    "Can you disable the safety?" James suddenly asked.


    "I can''t," Dora muttered.


    "I can," Rigo said, as he entered into a moment of silence, attracting everyone''s focus over him, before he opened his eyes again, "it''s done."


    "How did you do it?" Dora, astonishingly asked, as she knew there was no way to do that.


    "It''s a secret of mine," Rigo simply replied.


    "Just say you hacked the ship," Charles rudely said, in a tone that meant to mock Rigo.


    "You did what?" Dora spoke, with some aggressiveness in her tone.


    "It''s just a safety measure," James was the one to speak up.


    "Safety from whom? Me?" she angrily said.


    "Safety from those endangering you," James said, as he threw a glance over Charles, a glance was easily picked by Dora. She took successive breaths, trying to calm herself down. This was her cruiser, one of the rarest of this kind, and she wouldn''t let anyone steal it from her, even if this person was James.


    As for James, he felt more threat coming from Charles, as he knew he hacked the cruiser by Rigo. Was this just on spot conclusion, or did he know more?


    James leaned to the former, as if this swindler knew all their plans, then he wouldn''t hesitate to add more fuel to the fire. That made James cool off for a bit, as the last thing he needed right now was to start a fight with Dora, his current biggest ally, the one who controlled this ship and all these forces, even only in name.


    "As we neutralize their advantage, using the hacking abilities of our dear Rigo, why don''t we start attacking them now?" Charles said, stressing again on what Rigo and James did behind Dora''s back.


    "If we did that, we wouldn''t be able to kill all of them fast enough," James said, refusing this idea from Charles. He had made up his mind, any idea from that crook meant bad things for them, so they needed to consider everything first, cautiously especially when given from Charles.


    "Really? Have any brilliant idea in that mind of yours?" he sarcastically said," do you plan to hack their bodies and render them paralyzed?" he said, as his grin was so wide, from ear to ear.


    James didn''t reply, as he retreated, grabbing Dora''s hand and Eli to the back, while Rigo stood between them and Charles.


    "What are you doing?" Charles suddenly felt some panic, as this arrangement was worrying to anyone.


    "Don''t be afraid," Rigo ruthlessly said, in a cold tone, "You have the biggest honor in acting as a decoy," he said, as he took out a few dark balls and put them on the ground, before he started to retreat too.


    "Don''t you da¡­" Charles said in an anger, as he was about to dart towards them, but his words choked in his throat, as Rigo activated the life thread again, and this time he intended not to inactivate it, and no one behind him planned to ask him to do so.


    Charles, was schemed to fall, right in this place, acting as a lowest decoy ever, to attract others by his screams. He was destined to die right here, this shameful death, without any friend or a lover, or even a comrade.


    Lived dirty, died alone, that was the simple story of this treacherous man.


    "Let''s retreat as far as possible," James said, taking the two girls away, while Rigo followed suit from far, leaving Charles twitching restlessly on the ground, screaming in agony and severe pain, doing his job as a decoy marvelously, unwillingly, without any option in it.

 Chapter 94: Getting Rid of The Terases Long-Awaited Weapon

    James, Rigo, Eli, and Dora ran, as fast as they could, away from the place where Charles were screaming. No one cared about Charles, or even stole a glance backward or even sighed or said a word while running.


    After they reached enough distance, they stopped, as they held their guns, watching and waiting for the approach of their enemy.


    Charles had played them more than once, provided false information all the time, even he lied more than once about his identity. He was such a wicked, twisted mind, distasteful person that no one would ever miss.


    Without prior agreement they were all on consent here; Charles'' death was just justified and none of them would argue on that! Besides, his death came to help them escape, so it was either his life or one of their lives!


    They watched, as the screaming agonizing wailing of his attracted the ears of any living person here, and thus shades of the enemy started to appear, coming from far, approaching her fast.


    They must be coming to check what was going on. Charles alone was enough to wake up a fleet of ancient monsters, so the numbers coming to him increased, as they had only one order to them: silence him or kill!


    James and the others looked at the enemies, as they tried to make him calm down, for fear of attracting others attention. The thought of him being a decoy never crossed their minds, until the moment they heard the shots coming from far, they never suspected this as a trap.


    The element of surprise acted perfectly in their favor, plus the timely improvisation that tricked everyone, James'' team included. James and his team waited as once enough numbers gathered around Charles, they started to attack, without any reservation at all.


    The sound of gunshots were loud, but couldn''t cover Charles'' screams except after a while, as Charles started to faint, losing his power and the will to live, entering into his slumber, an eternal one.


    He was dying, but even when James and the others managed to clear all the hostiles around him, they didn''t deactivate the thread, or ask Rigo to do so.


    Charles just did the perfect job of a decoy, attracting every single enemy in the area around him, and finally died in peace resting from his pains and agony, resting the world from his schemes and treason.


    They just glanced without sympathy towards him, as man''s deeds might doom him. when they crossed the dying Charles, they started to check the situation down there.


    The numbers of hostiles below had been halved, but it wasn''t enough to make them feel more secure and confident about beating them.


    "Now what?" Dora asked, as she looked at James, inquiring about his next step in the plan.


    "We use the cannon," James simply said, as he took out an intermediate grade cannon, and let it fall on the ground. Just as everyone thought the sounds of the shots would reverberate this place, James'' voice came loudly instead, saying:


    "Surrender now and I won''t kill you, or perish here."


    Everyone just glanced strangely at him. didn''t he just say he would use the cannon? Then why did he start using words instead of bullets? Would words kill those hostiles down there?


    James didn''t care about their expressions, as he waited for the reply from down below. His tone was decisive, with no way for any negotiations, but as usual the ones below replied, on the tongue of their leader:


    "Why should we trust you?"


    "Because I can kill you now, as I can kill you later," James replied, "So killing you isn''t a problem for me," he added.


    "You want information," that leader said, with a sigh of relief as he realized the reason James did speak first and not shoot, "good, but what after you get it? are we allowed to leave here peacefully, or you will still kill us?"


    James wanted to know many things, at least why they were here, and how did they enter. He wasn''t that trusting in the late Charles'' words, a snake would always be a snake, even if it grew to become a dragon. The only people here who would quench his curiosity would be these trapped and frightened enemies.


    "You have my word," James loudly said.


    "Your word means nothing to me," the leader instantly replied.


    James didn''t waste more time, as he feared they might be stalling for time, waiting for more reinforcement to come and pincer them, or perhaps that leader had a plan in mind.


    Simply put, James activated the cannon, selected twelve targets as a start, and then pressed the triggered handles gently. In a blink of an eye, twelve enemies were hit, to fall on the floor losing their lives.


    "Why did you attack now?" the leader panicked from this sudden attack.


    "Why not? It seems you aren''t sincere in surrendering, and thus I will kill all of you here," James simply said as he started to target another twelve enemies.


    "If you killed us, you won''t know the info you desire," the leader tried to threaten him, but just as he finished speaking, the cannon fired and twelve more were shot dead, in this brief moment he lost twenty four of his team, nearly half of what remained with him.


    "Stop, I will surrender," the leader finally realized James wasn''t fluking with him, and he could simply kill them without breaking a sweat.


    "Good, lay down your weapons and stay flat on your bellies, on the floor. Anyone who raises a finger will be shot dead by me without any warning."


    James then turned to Rigo as he nodded, in a motion for him and the others to go and cuff these enemies. Rigo moved with the two girls, while James kept himself aloof there, aiming towards everyone, and watching any sudden moves.


    But things went smoother than he expected. After all the enemies were tied up, Dora didn''t wait for him to come down as she started interrogating the leader. As James went down to her, she had shown her true vicious nature, taking out her dagger and inserted it into that leader''s thighs, twisting it mercilessly in his flesh, causing severe pain and deep wounds to him.


    As James stood by, feeling conflicted towards her methods, Rigo started to give her some pointers, which made James wonder who he was befriending, norms or monsters!


    In ten minutes, James and Eli saw how life could be brutal sometimes, but without what Dora just did, they would never know about what was happening behind their backs.


    "So the heads of your rebel groups were scheming against you and your mother from the start!" James muttered as he was shocked by this sudden twist the info gave them.


    "This is logic, as that explained why the Immortal and his master were here to kill me and my mother," she said, as everything seemed normal for her.


    "What do you intend to do now?" James asked, as he felt some craziness in her looks.


    "Nothing much," she shrugged her shoulders, "just going to kill them till the last person," she added, simply like she was telling a joke.


    "Sigh," James helplessly sighed, as he thought she had all the right to feel angry, but her revenge style wasn''t matching his nature.


    "What about the man inside?" Rigo asked, "If we let him here, then the terases'' agents might come here again. we can''t stay here guarding him," he added.


    "What if we took him with us?" Eli cautiously, with yet trembling body from what she was just now, suggested.


    "Not a good idea," James shook his head, "if Dora''s enemies saw him, they would know we have discovered their schemes, and an open war would erupt. We can''t sustain war, not with our forces scattered like this."


    "I agree with you," Dora said, nodding her head.


    "Then what should we do with him? we can''t dispatch part of us here, we need every ounce of our strength for the upcoming battle," Rigo said, expressing his discontent.


    "Let''s just ditch him," James said, as this was the only way he had in mind. "Throw him in space, in a place no one would find, and we would put an end to this threat once and for all," James added.


    "But what about him?" Eli asked with a soft shaky voice, feeling regret once everyone just looked at her.


    "He¡­" James paused before continuing, "A collateral damage we must pay."


    James then looked at Dora, Rigo, and Eli, who nodded in approval, except for Eli who just looked away, evading his eyes. She wasn''t agreeing on sacrificing a man like this, without even trying to save him, but everyone else found it futile, as him being alive carried greater risk to them, to everyone in this grand sector.


    "It''s settled," James said, as he moved heading outside this maze, "we wasted enough time here. Rigo, plant a bomb here, and let''s leave."


    Rigo did what he was asked, left a bomb here and then went following them towards the surface again. The plan was simple, after they left here safely, Rigo would return the normal security measures again, and then he would detonate the bomb, triggering the defensive mechanism, letting the whole section be thrown into space.


    Travelling in speed of light, amidst nowhere, it was literally impossible for anyone to determine the location of this part of the prison. A miracle would be needed for that, and if that happened, then it was meant for Terases'' race to rise and rule, in their infamous tyranny, the whole galaxy.

 Chapter 95: Doras Other Personality, A Lioness

    They returned again to the bifurcation where they started at. James just glanced at Rigo, nodding for him to start what they intended to do.


    Rigo then returned the security again inside, then he triggered the bomb. A slight shock happened, causing the ship to tremble slightly, but what happened next in front of their eyes made them swallow their throats from panic.


    The road they just came from was sealed, like all the walls inside collapsed upon themselves, leaving no way for anyone inside to escape or even breath. Things didn''t end here, as another tremble happened, this time it was coming a few meters away from them.


    The whole space of that section was now experiencing heavy pressure, as it was forcibly ejected from the main body of the cruiser.


    Since its first day, this cruiser never ejected from this prison, and that day was too old in time, so it took quite some time, coupled with more trembling, until this part was thrown into space, at a speed of light, without any guidance or steering, to fall into the unknown.


    "Mission accomplished, leader," Rigo said, after the segment got thrown into space.


    "Sigh," Dora sighed, "that Charles was really a masterpiece," she muttered. James just looked at her, hesitating if he needed to tell her the lies Charles said about him being her brother or not.


    "Let''s go see our two imprisoned hot-headed youths," Dora said, cutting the way on James to speak. He just shook helplessly, as even after death Charles was still messing up with him.


    What a pain to deal with such a person!


    "Don''t you think it''s unwise to leave the commanding deck alone all this time?" Rigo suddenly asked, directing his question to Dora, whose face changed.


    She, along with James, totally forgot they were still at war, troubles didn''t pass already, and leaving the most important place here unguarded like that for so long was really unwise.


    "Oh, so I will return and you three go to them and solve their problems," Dora said, however she just moved a couple of steps to find Rigo marching side by side with her.


    "I will go with her to supervise our group, we still don''t know who the culprit behind the scenes is."


    James just nodded, as he agreed with Rigo''s decision.


    "Didn''t Charles tell you all about the identity of a traitor? Didn''t you say he was a traitor?" Eli shyly asked, as she didn''t bypass the previous glitch between her and James, not yet.


    "Well," James said as Dora and Rigo vanished from his eyesight, "selecting someone already under suspicion to point out towards him, declaring he is the traitor is in itself fishy," James added without any further explanation.


    Eli just lowered her head, looked at the bare ground of this prison, without being able to understand the logic behind James'' words.


    She was yet younger than him, lived her entire life inside a cage, without any dealing with anyone else, with no life experience of any kind, so she couldn''t understand the deep life meaning hidden in James'' words.


    "Let''s go, we have two stubborn fools to convince,'' James then led the way towards the front, to stop abruptly with hesitation.


    "What''s wrong?" Eli asked.


    "I don''t remember where their cells are!"


    He said in a loss, as while coming here in a hurry, Rigo and Dora pointed towards the direction of the cells, but now he felt everything was the same.


    At the same time, Dora and Rigo were already on their way back to the commanding deck. They wasted hours away, and now Dora was anxious to return there.


    Rigo could monitor everything in the deck, plus anywhere else. He also could communicate with every droid in the ship, so his suggestion and excuse to go with her was to take her away from his leader.


    Rigo didn''t fully understand the powers James held, but he knew whatever this power was, it had a direct relation with Eli, Alex, and Islinda, or else his leader wouldn''t have been fixated on saving them, saving people he didn''t even know.


    So, the best choice for him was to move Dora away, taking the threat at deck as an excuse, to let the theatre all wide open for James to establish good relations with the three, and also further understand his powers.


    "We are here."


    Just after one hour of departing the prison, they arrived at the commanding deck, to find it in total chaos. Rigo knew this long time ago, as the explosion that happened in the prison department, followed by the sudden separation of such a big segment of the cruiser, alarmed everyone here.


    Especially the traitor.


    One of them was the agent or the agents of the Terases race. Dora didn''t put that in mind when she stepped into this mess, as her appearance caused a stir in place, adding more fuel to fire.


    "What is going on, princess?"


    "Why did we lose part of the great Bombardment cruiser?"


    "What is the meaning of your sudden disappearance and that lost piece?"


    Question after question rained down over her, without a single respond from Dora. Rigo watched, in silence and content, what was happening here, as he was hoping things would continue chaotic like this until his leader''s return.


    Dora moved calmly, in a way opposite to what Rigo expected, not affected by any of this. She kept moving forwards between the angry mob, without even glancing at any, or pausing to none.


    Once she reached the commanding units, where her main aides were, plus those left by Rigo, she turned to face everyone, silently looking at all, forcing them to quiet down and eventually be silent.


    Once things got calm, she started to speak:


    "I know you have many questions regarding what happened, so listen carefully and ask none, as many of the details will be hidden for top security purposes."


    Her words seemed very authoritative, not like the shaky one Rigo heard from before. Rigo even questioned himself, as he had the impression of her being strong, but not this strong.


    All the time she dealt like a fragile girl, leaning over James, waiting and hoping for his support, and that seemed now to be fake, totally fake.


    She was a strong willed, very resourceful girl, not needing any help, able to solve everything on her own.


    Rigo sighed, it seemed it was the right decision to come here after all.


    "We have detected a breach in the ship, from people whom I suspect to be remnants of the empire. I chased them with my own forces until they got cornered into a section in the prison, where they managed to slip by and escape by sealing it and separating it from us."


    Her words were a mix between truth and lies, in a natural and smooth way that even amazed Rigo. He looked at her, like he was eyeing a professional diplomat, with years of experience.


    Was she this monster before and he didn''t notice it? or was she faking it now? he truly didn''t know.


    "Princess," one of the present said, but Dora lifted her hand towards him, silencing him from continuing his question. "I just told y''all, I can''t disclose any more than that for security reasons."


    Her repeated statement was strict and direct and made many whispers, not in a good way for sure. Rigo glanced at her as he whispered as well:


    "This might create many enemies."


    "We already have many, no problem in adding more, if they all turned to be my enemies then it would be great."


    Rigo looked at her in surprise, as he understood her hidden meaning. When everyone is her enemy, then she would solve the problem of the traitor hidden in her allies. Smart and risky move, hardly able to succeed, unfortunately.


    "Now, let''s start arranging our forces, we need to garrison the important sections in this cruiser," Dora said, as she was preparing for the worse¡­ an all open war inside the cruiser.


    "I have a better solution," Rigo said, "I can monitor the cameras of important places, plant some garrison in places near them, just for any sudden incident."


    "That''s what I just said," Dora said in a loss.


    "No, what I mean is to decrease the numbers of garrisoned soldiers, and limit the number of the garrisons. We don''t need one garrison per place, but one garrison can monitor many places at the same time," Rigo explained.


    "Why is this?" Dora asked, as she thought Rigo had more than he just said.


    "We need to put as many soldiers as we can spare near here," he said as he looked around him before adding, "this is the most vital place in all the cruiser. controlling any other place would be just for¡­"


    "Distraction.'' She completed his sentence, as her mind jumped to the conclusion Rigo was trying to explain. She just nodded, as what Rigo said was the right decision.

 Chapter 96: I Just Want You

    "Good, let''s do it," Dora said, as she started relaying orders secretly to her soldiers, at the same time Rigo organized his droid army to work hand in hand with Dora''s men.


    In addition to what he agreed with Dora upon, he added one mission to all of them, or a warning.


    "Be wary of Dora''s men, don''t fully trust them."


    He wasn''t mistrusting Dora, as he knew even if she had her own agenda, she wouldn''t touch James and his droids. She wasn''t like her mother. What he feared was the traitor to be already inside her soldiers, or even controlling them.


    If this possibility was true, then any plan they would approve would be revealed to the enemy. Any place they would go, they would be faced with a well prepared enemy trap; making their mission nearly impossible.


    During the time Rigo and Dora were busy in their own preparations, James and Eli finally managed to find the cell where Alex and Islinda were imprisoned.


    The journey to find the cell seemed long and boring, especially when no one of the two talked. James'' mind was busy thinking of the upcoming events, how to best the traps of his enemies, and the odds of his success and Dora and Rigo''s success.


    As for Eli, she was thinking about the past events, reflecting on how she had changed; met a man and doomed him to death with cold blood. She wasn''t like this, this wasn''t her nature; and thus she was shocked and got shaken from the inside.


    They took roughly two hours to reach there, but once there, they forgot all the tension in the past couple of hours, as Eli hurried towards the cell to check on the two inside.


    They were fine, perfectly resting on each side of the cell, silently looking towards Eli without any interest, like they were used to being watched.


    "Oh, isn''t she¡­?" Ales noticed Eli, as he recognized her, even standing from his own bed to point at her. He recognized her face, and where he saw her before, but couldn''t recall her name.


    "She is Eli," Islinda replied, with no interest, as she looked away, "What are you doing here?" she asked.


    "I¡­" Eli was about to speak when James appeared in the sight of the two inside. His face, his appearance, made their faces change, turning upside down, like they just saw their strongest enemy, their nemesis.


    "Oh, why are you eyeing me like this?" James faked ignorance, as he simply asked.


    "You damn¡­" Alex was the first to jump at James, to be stopped by the bars of the prison, holding his hand a few inches away from James'' face. The anger inside Alex was nothing compared to what was already steaming inside Islinda, but the latter was experienced, very experienced, in striking deals.


    "Alex, calm down for a bit," Islinda directed her words to Alex, who turned to look at her with disbelief. Islinda knew if she wanted to have a nice negotiation, then she either had a strength or something badly wanted by James, or else she would be like a feather, had no weight and flew everywhere under the effect of any wind.


    "Just calm down, let''s listen to what he wants," she said, as her eyes were fixed over James, who was surprised with this sudden change in her attitude. James didn''t come here to negotiate without having his own offers and leverage ready for her, and this was what she failed to anticipate.


    James then watched Alex moving back, inside the cell, without making any noise anymore. It seemed during their stay here, Islinda managed to tame him, which made her quite resourceful than James'' expectations.


    "What do you want?" Islinda asked, directly, without even blinking. Her tone seemed playful, like she was having a fun game here. James just glanced at her, while Eli''s smile told a lot about how gravely mistaken Islinda was!


    "Well," James didn''t mind her tone, "I came to tell you a mix of good and bad news."


    "and you want to ask us which one we want to hear first, right?" Islinda said in her regular playing tone. "No," James shook his head, "I will ask first, whom of you wants to hear his news first?"


    James'' words astonished Islinda, as she didn''t expect him to really have any news regarding them both. She started to take him seriously. Her face was strained with her real feelings, eagerness and anger.


    James noticed her sudden change, knowing that she was just faking it a while ago. He didn''t mind it, in fact he wasn''t putting the two in his expectations at all. He just felt he had some debt to collect, some benefit he could use in the future perhaps, but surely not now.


    "You can start up with me," Alex hurriedly said, as he wanted to know what James had for him.


    Actually James had little information about him. per the talks and the ruckus he did before he was detained, James knew he was one of the people living in the protective isolating layer of that trade zone he destroyed before.


    Knowing that, he simply asked Rigo to scan for anything related to this area, any news regarding them. according to Rigo, there were some pieces of information, which couldn''t be considered a big thing back then, however now he was intending to use it as a part of his big plan.


    "Fine, we have discovered that the layer you lived at, the zone that covered that terases trading zone, had a back door. Just minutes before the whole destruction of it, a movement was noticed there, and that might mean there are some people alive," James said, expressing all the news he got.


    It wasn''t much, but the eyes of Alex started to build up tears, as he shakily said:


    "Dad and Mom are ok, I''m sure of it. they are survivors, they will fight and will struggle, they are alive."


    He then looked to James, as he expressed his thanks without even saying a word, just a nod, a single nod, before he returned to his bed.


    Islinda wasn''t a fool, it was easy to fabricate such a story, provided the listener was so desperate to hear it, and it could be impossible to prove it right now, either true or false.


    However, despite her doubts, she didn''t open up her mouth, looked in silence towards James, who looked back at her.


    "Don''t you want to hear your pieces of news?" he asked.


    "Sure, bring it on. He heard good news, so I guess the bad ones are left for me," she said, in a tone that wasn''t sad or anxious at all.


    "Fine," James said, "we managed to locate your star system," he simply said. her eyes fixed deeply over him, showing no reaction at all.


    "What system?" she asked, testing him.


    "Your empire star system," he replied, instantly without any second thoughts.


    Her mind worked, fast as it could, and in less than a moment she had gained a possible explanation to all of that.


    "So you heard me saying the name of my empire, and now you are here to use it against me?"


    Her tone wasn''t harsh or high, but her despise was obviously felt. James, on the other hand, didn''t feel offended, this was quite predictable from such an esteemed member of a royal family of a bid empire. He just smiled while saying:


    "It''s not that at all, for instance, your empire is so mighty, mighty enough to rule the whole grand star system on its own, with no rival at all." He looked at her stupefied, shocked face, "Am I correct, your highness?" his question was so thunderously raging inside her mind, like a shocking tsunami wave came abruptly, out of nowhere, and cleaned everything around her, and she included.


    "You are talking for real, not bluffing!!!" she muttered, with absolute disbelief.


    James didn''t reply except with a nod, mimicking Alex''s reply to him. He had shown her a token of what he knew, and now she had to show him a token of her readiness to do what he wanted.


    She overcame her shock in a marveling way, a way deserving of a real queen. She knew James just exposed this info, as a tiny piece of the iceberg, without any hesitation or fear for loss, so he had more valuable info in his grasp.


    Info trade was once called the most tedious trade in the world. info couldn''t be assessed fairly, or measured by anything. Its value was subjected, always, to the people involved in it, and the impact of this value on the universe, which meant everything was negotiable and had no rules at all.


    Any single piece of info might worth nothing at some point of life, but at other points, in special circumstances, like the one she found herself at, these small pieces of information might be priceless, worth even more than her entire wealth, or life itself.


    "What do you want?" this time, she asked seriously, without any playing or joking or doubting. she was willing to hear and ready to negotiate, putting many scenarios in front of her eyes; however James'' response literally paralyzed her mind, exceeding her expectations, as he simply muttered:


    "I just want you."

 Chapter 97: Is Rigo His Butler?

    The instant reply if James was weird, and it got even weirder when he added:


    "I want all of you."


    "What do you mean by all of us?" Alex asked, with some anticipation and suspicion.


    James just smiled, as he glanced at his shoulders, where Eli, shyly, was standing there, watching them, doing nothing. His sudden turn startled her, as she, nervously, moved a fantasized hair from her face.


    "I want the three of you to work under me," James explained, with short words.


    "What do you need us to do?" Alex asked, without showing any strange or doubt towards James, not like Islinda.


    "What benefit would it have for us?" Islinda asked with much aggressiveness, while thinking of how to refuse the next offer of James; she didn''t like him!


    "¡­" Eli opened her mouth, said nothing, and closed it again in obvious nervousness and hesitation, as her mind went to bad stuff; things she would never expect to be asked for or wanted to do!


    "I want all of you to work for me, as for what to do, I still haven''t decided," James vaguely said.


    "You didn''t say what we will gain from that," Islinda demanded, stressing over the point that interested her.


    "I have to tell you the bad news first, so you will know what benefit you will gain from working with me, sorry, under me," James said, correcting his intentional mistake, to show them he would be their boss, not their partner.


    "As I mentioned before, your empire already controls the whole grand sector, so being here, in this very conflicted environment, means one thing for you," he then pointed with his index finger towards her face.


    "I''m not in the grand sector of my empire?" she said, in a more confession than inquiring tone. Her face showed a plain look, as she never saw this coming!


    James just nodded, before adding his most important, key words, to gain her allegiance for him, "not only that, your empire lies in the centre of the whole universe, but your location now is in a grand sector on the outermost layers of it."


    As he predicted, her face turned upside down, ashen white for a moment then pale red in the next, expressing her stress and anxiety. Suspecting she wasn''t in her grand sector wasn''t that hard for such an intelligent girl, but what she didn''t see coming was the fact she was far, far away from her empire.


    Journey like this was very hard, full of dangers, without any guarantee of success. The problem wasn''t just the time needed to cross all such grand distance, but in the obstacles she would face, enemies of her empire she might meet, and above all, her beloved uncle''s assassins wouldn''t let her set a single foot near her empire''s grand sector that easily.


    Islinda''s eyes softened, from her despair, as she realized how deeply her uncle''s treacherous scheme had gone to. He wasn''t lying when he told her he had carefully selected a trial she couldn''t overcome.


    "Don''t worry," James decided to step in, after giving her precious minutes to consider, "if you worked under me, devoted all your efforts for me, then I promise I won''t rest until I see you to the throne, your rightful throne."


    His words were casually said, but the meaning and determination they carried were touched by her. She raised her defeated eyes, looked with her solemn face towards him.


    "I''m not good at fighting, all my entire life I was raised to be a queen, ruling queen, so I know nothing about this life, thugs life."


    Her words were direct and harsh, but James wasn''t offended as she was at least honest with him. "I know you might look at our current life to be a bad way of living, something you always despised, and you might value yourself lowly in this life.


    I want to assure you, your role here would be irreplaceable, so precious that I, and all my followers, will protect you with our lives if needed."


    She, suspiciously, looked to him, with inquiring eyes. She tried to think about his meaning, the role he pointed out in his words but she found none. So she expressed her confusion loudly by asking:


    "What is this magical role that I missed?"


    "The role to start an empire," he said, "an empire that would reign supreme on many grand sectors," he added, "with you as our brain, me as our leader, my trusted subordinates as our weapons, we would reign supreme on many grand sectors."


    He then paused, as to let them all digest his words. "And I promise you when time comes, our name will be thunderously reverberating everywhere, even when I escort you to your empire, none will dare to stand in our way, none!"


    His words, despite being so grandiose and majestic, were describing a long term plan, a plan that might take years up to a decade to be done. Isilda realized this at first glance, but she didn''t object, in fact she was appreciating James'' efforts to put such a plan in front of her.


    She knew what it meant to return to her empire, ascend her rightful throne. She knew, better than anyone, the endless times she would be faced with tough choices, death and life situations, and the despair of losing everything despite doing anything.


    At least James had provided a plan, safe and somehow applicable, without asking much for her except to use her superb talents in serving a goal that was both his and hers.


    She also felt appreciation for him, as through this mission, she wouldn''t need to abandon her training since little, but would gain a lot of real life experience, which she critically was lacking right now.


    If she had such experience, she would never have fallen into the clutches of her uncle, at least without a proper fight inside the imperial court. That made her mind, making her accept this role mentally and spiritually, and the latter held great importance in the near future of both of them.


    "I agree," she finally spoke, saying what James needed to hear. There was another reason for fixing his gaze upon her and the other two beside her. They appeared in time of great plan regarding the three immortals he fought before, and that meant they would be, in some way, related to the mysterious powers he had. They even might have other forms of this power, but didn''t discover it, not yet.


    "I''m honored to accept your services," James said, without making a big fuss over it.


    "What is my role then?" Alex asked, in an impatient tone, "would I be a fighter? A great general of your armies?"


    James just glanced at him, in a pity that he tried to hide. He came here because of Islinda, and Alex was just a collateral gain.


    "Sure," James replied without interest, "I will depend on you then in leading part of our armies," he said, and before Alex could early celebrate, "but I warn you, you need to start training first, climbing up ranks with your own efforts."


    Despite putting this hard to achieve condition, Alex just jumped out of surprise, without hiding his excitement, he yelled at James:


    "Thanks a lot, leader. I heard them calling you this, so I hope you won''t be mad at me. I won''t disappoint you, never. You won''t regret this decision, never."


    James just nodded, as he put him in no regard at all. If there is someone he dared a lot beside Islinda, Eli would be such a person.


    "As for you," he turned to look at Eli, who was so nervous right now that she even forgot to breath.


    "I want you to accompany me all the time," James vaguely said. he had some plans out for her, but as he was imagining how he would ask her about her powers, deciding to start testing the three by her, Alex said with a rude tone amidst his ecstasy:


    "Oh, you two are lovers then, that''s good, but isn''t she a little younger to be bedded?"


    His words fell like a bomb that made James'' mind even stop. He, silently, stole a glance towards Eli, to find her angelic face blush in embarrassment, that even her face was starting to boil. He sighed, without showing any reaction at all, he looked at Alex, feeling already regretful. Why didn''t he have this foul mouthed idiot killed?


    "Don''t joke about such serious things, or else others might be hurt by your jokes."


    Alex felt James reply to be awkward, so he stopped as he wondered to himself, when was he ever joking?


    "Stop joking around, let''s move out. I will take you out now, and from now on you all will listen to me or my right hand, Rigo."


    James then moved towards the side of the cell to open the bars, while Alex looked towards Islinda as he muttered:


    "Is this Rigo his butler or something?"

 Chapter 98: To Hunt A Snake Mission

    James heard him, but he didn''t show it. Alex was such a na?ve and idiot youth, with impulsive nature and a good heart. It was easier, much easier, to deal with him, as he couldn''t hide anything, even from his enemies.


    James moved at the lead, with the three of them marching behind. Islinda, who was trying to fit in her new role, hastened her steps, to catch up with James.


    "I feel you are somehow stressed and nervous," she started her new role by saying that. James just turned to glance shortly at her before he joked:


    "Make sure Alex doesn''t hear you out, or his little mind might think of something that doesn''t exist."


    Despite not to, she chuckled, as she glanced over her shoulder towards Alex. "He has a simple mind, and you didn''t reply to me. don''t you trust me?"


    "I know you can''t betray me, and yes, I have a lot of things going on in my mind right now," James sighed before replying vaguely like this.


    "Won''t you tell me about them?" she asked, in some eagerness she couldn''t control. She was raised to be a ruling queen, an imperial princess, in a mighty empire, so her nature was always eager for troubles and how to solve them. She was just raised to be such a person.


    James glanced at her for a brief moment, as he felt her honest eagerness not only to know but also to help. He knew her opinion would matter a lot, especially from someone who was raised to deal with such complicated and life threatening conditions.


    "There is a traitor, or a group of them, who works for the people who tried to kill all of you, the ones I saved you from."


    This time, her eager childish face changed, and a mix of fear''s pallor and anger''s flush fluctuated over her pretty face. She held her two small hand tightly together, while maintaining her tone while asking:


    "Who is he?"


    "We don''t know, but Dora and Rigo are ahead of us, trying to look for him or them."


    Islinda went silent for a moment, realizing how dangerous this situation could be, before asking:


    "Are you sure they are here?"


    James glanced at her silently, before saying the short story of Charles to her. Once finished, she was more confused, as what she heard didn''t confirm or reject the idea. She couldn''t take a decision, and at this moment, her life training had shown its worth right now.


    "If we don''t know the truth, then we have to act based on all the worst scenarios. Luckily we have only one bad scenario here, and thus we can act based on it."


    James looked at her, admiring her self confidence. He also thought the same, and so he sent those two ahead of him, to find the traitor.


    "Is Dora one of ours?" she suddenly asked. James didn''t reply at once, as he had some conflicted emotions regarding her, but eventually he replied, with his mind not heart:


    "She is just an ally."


    He wasn''t belittling her, but putting her in the fittest position she deserved. She wasn''t working under his command; like the rest of them now, making her be the only one alien to him. an ally was a good choice, and this reply made his mind think of another possibility; what if she didn''t become an ally? What would happen?


    And this made him think about the worst case scenario; yet again alone and silent without showing anything on the surface.


    "That means if she had a better deal, she might betray us, right?"


    James just nodded, as he had the same idea as well.


    "We need to have our own backup then, after all this ship is hers and we are a minority," she said, thinking loudly with him.


    "Don''t be worried about that," James smiled, vaguely, "the ship is ours, and my army is made up of droids," he added.


    Her beautifully small eyes got rounded when she heard his words. she didn''t expect this clumsy young arrogant man to be such resourceful. Having a droid army, taking control of the cruiser, these weren''t just flukes of luck, but planning and strategically right decisions were taken at the appropriate time.


    It seemed that Rigo was something, she muttered to herself, as she didn''t believe James would be able to pull such feats alone.


    "How well is this traitor hidden?" she asked.


    "Pretty well I guess," he said, "I don''t think we can easily find him," he added, expressing his own doubts.


    Islinda''s face beamed with trust as she announced:


    "Let me plan this operation, and I promise I will get him."


    James noticed her confidence, and he was sure she was speaking out of experience not arrogance, but he refused to put her in such a hard test from the beginning, not to depend his life on her without any previous testing.


    "Let''s be fair, you alone will take longer in doing it, so I suggest you take Rigo and let him help you," he said.


    "Sure, I need his help, and also the help of Dora. Is she really a princess?"


    Out of the blue, she asked this question, which startled James.


    "They call her a princess, but she has no land to rule, no throne she belonged to," he replied.


    "Then why is she called a princess?" she asked.


    "I don''t know," James shrugged, "you can ask her when we reach the deck," he added.


    They were now exiting from the prison, and a one hour journey to the deck was waiting for them. they moved out, while Islinda was busy thinking and formulating a plan to catch the traitor. She knew how hard it was to catch a snake, especially one decided to hide and not appear.


    Cautious traitors were the worst, as they might wait as long as it needed until they directed their attack towards you, and their attacks were fatal or at least very traumatizing.


    There was a simple, yet risky and hard to pull, plan to get such traitors. She decided to implement it, but she needed to refine the final details before offering it up to James. She intended to make this plan, this operation, as her credential helped to gain James'' trust.


    Someone as cautious as James, with mind like him, would never trust her completely, not simply like this. She didn''t want but to acquire his help, to return to her empire again, and to do that she must be trusted, highly valued, or else he wouldn''t put her priorities in his mind at all.


    She needed half an hour before she finished her plan, which she hurriedly explained to James by saying:


    "The best way to catch a snake is to feign weakness, let him come near you, confident in his ability to bite and finish you off. The moment you draw it out, the moment of its demise. We will do this, as we will feign weakness, conflict between each other, and finally when this traitor finds us weak, he will move, with absolute confidence, and then we can catch him off guard."


    James listened carefully to her, as she had a good point here, but he didn''t know how to feign this weakness. So he asked:


    "How do you plan to push him out?"


    "We will cause an internal strife between us," she said, as she smiled an innocent smile that didn''t suit what she was talking about.


    James just glanced at her, without expressing his approval. Causing an internal rift between themselves at this time would add many variables, plus they would lose everything if a single mistake was made.


    She noticed his hesitation, and she understood the reason behind it, so she added:


    "The conflict will only be for the show, but we will be truly one."


    He continued to be silent, which made her sigh. She knew what he was afraid of, so she proposed:


    "If you don''t trust her this much, then you can let Rigo be with her."


    "That''s not possible," he blurted out, "if Rigo was with her, then that genius would suspect our act," he argued.


    It was her turn to be silent, as she knew very well that he had a point here. they were dealing with a very cautious, very smart person. Any speck of suspect would arouse his vigilance, making him refrain from showing up.


    "then let one of your men be with her, undercover," she said, "we need someone beside her, someone you trust," she added, as she knew James wouldn''t consider this plan for fear of Dora.


    The worst case scenario was the move of the traitor towards her, using this faked conflict, and seducing her to join him. If that happened, then the only loser here would be James, and this would end up in a major conflict inside the cruiser, where all would lose.


    James wouldn''t surrender his life to Dora''s hands like this, so he refrained from agreeing on the plan.

 Chapter 99: Catch The Traitor Plan is in Motion

    Islinda just watched the disturbed face of James as she wondered about what he would decide next. She knew he had the right to be wary, but without risking it, they wouldn''t be able to find the traitor.


    "Let me go," she finally suggested, when her silence took longer than expected. She was thinking about how to help, but she missed a point here.


    James didn''t reply, as he just looked to her silently for a moment, before shaking his head. She didn''t feel offended, as she knew he wasn''t trusting her as much he trusted Dora. She missed this point while thinking about how to solve the traitor''s dilemma.


    "Let me go," this soft sweet shy voice came from behind, making the two turn around to see Eli, who was feeling embarrassed right now. "I can help you monitor her, and I- I won''t betray you."


    Eli was silent all this time, while her mind was trying to amend her broken and shaken soul. In fact she didn''t want to volunteer, but staying here with James was really stressful upon her.


    Every time she saw his face she would be reminded of her crime! Each time she heard his voice she would recall the voice ordering them to leave Charles behind.


    They all managed to step aside off this track; all except her! They were able to advance forward accepting the sentence of death they commenced with cold blood over a human, even if he was the worst of all humans; Eli didn''t believe he would deserve such an end, in such a way.


    So she wanted to stay away from here, until she could sort out her disturbed thoughts and amend her broken soul.


    James was hesitant for a moment before his mind started to accept her proposal. Eli was na?ve and honest, no one would suspect her, besides that small incident she did was a perfect cover up for her to join Dora''s flag.


    It was perfect, as he wasn''t trusting Dora or Islinda for a mission risky enough to kill him like this.


    "Good, I agree."


    He simply replied before continuing to walk towards the deck. They weren''t that far now from there, and once reached the deck, they noticed the stressful atmosphere, the doubtful looks, and the parties that started to take shape inside the deck.


    Whoever was that traitor, he was doing a perfect job already, plus Dora''s actions must have helped him in that. her lack of trust in others, which was a mutual feeling right now, helped him spread the seeds of chaos and rebellion inside the already rebellious, greedy people here.


    James just sighed, helplessly, from the wickedness of that traitor. He had to admit, this traitor was doing a great job already. Just as he was about to enter, he noticed the presence of a group of his droids standing with some humans.


    Their presence was somehow concealed, but he managed to spot them accidently, especially as he was sensitive to his own droids. Their presence gave him a vague idea of what Dora and Rigo was doing inside.


    ''Are they afraid that traitor might attack the deck?'' James silently wondered to himself, as he walked towards the distant Dora and Rigo.


    His presence caught their attention, but he simply gestured towards the secret room behind the commanding unit, and so the three of them moved and entered the room, shielded away from anyone''s spying eyes.


    "Are you afraid of the traitor attacking here?"


    He first asked this, as he was thinking the traitor wasn''t the dumb after all, revealing himself this easily to them.


    "We think he might instigate others to attack here and other vital places as well," Dora replied, explaining the reason behind their arrangement.


    "You have a point here," James said as he was thinking deeply about their fears, "I have a solution, a way to finally push that traitor to reveal himself," he said.


    "What solution?" Rigo asked, as he was expecting much from his leader.


    James then started to tell them everything about the plan. He put away his doubts towards Dora, who managed to feel the untrust James held towards her, and she wasn''t offended by that, despite feeling some pain nonetheless.


    "Fine plan, I approve of it," Dora said, "but we have to assume we are all alone," she added.


    "If so then we might have to kill everyone here," Rigo said, "but this would be a waste, as there are a lot of good people here who we might recruit later," he added.


    "You are right, but we have to keep that option on the table all the time," James said, "so, the small crew you two gathered will be tasked with this, if things went south they had to act and kill everyone," he ordered.


    "No problem for me," Dora said, "when will we start the plan?" she asked.


    "Now," James said, "it''s best to start now, so punch me in the face, and then I will fake tumbling outside here, and Rigo has to hurry and get me, then try to fake a nice word battle," he said.


    "My pleasure," Dora evilly smirked, before she punched him hard on the face. He didn''t have to fake falling outside, as the punch was strong enough to knock him off all the way to the outside. Once he fell on the ground in a sudden move, Rigo appeared hastily to catch him, while he looked to Dora, who just headed out of the room, and yelled:


    "Is this the way you treat your allies?"


    "Allies or not, you aren''t part of the rebellion," Dora bellowed in an arrogant tone that strangely suited her.


    "You¡­" Rigo''s voice was shaky, but James put his hand over him as he stood up straight, touched his face and felt the pain there. he cursed this Dora for her ruthlessness, if he knew she had all that anger towards him in her, he wouldn''t have suggested for her to do this.


    Rigo would be the best option then.


    "Let''s go, Rigo, this place isn''t suited for us to stay."


    "Humph," Dora harrumphed, before she yelled arrogantly, "go away and never show your dirty faces to me again. anyone not belonging to my organization has no place to stay here. once we reach our destination, we will part ways, once and for all."


    James had to admit, she had done it beautifully that he even questioned himself if she was faking it or telling the truth. he just glanced angrily at her, before he left the deck, accompanied by Rigo, Alex, Islinda, and all his droids who were staying here.


    He didn''t head directly to the goods deck, as he moved to a room nearby, and entered it.


    "Now what?" Rigo asked.


    "We wait, the traitor must make his move first," Islinda spoke up, as being the brain of this operation, she had the right to speak up.


    "Keep an eye on the commanding deck all the time," James ordered Rigo, "I don''t want any unpleasant surprises," he added.


    "Affirmative leader," Rigo simply replied, as he had full access and control over the cruiser already.


    James and the others waited silently, patiently inside the room, while Dora welcomed, in front of everyone, Eli, as she muttered in a soft, yet audible tone:


    "You did a great job, despite failing to kill him."


    "I will always work for your glory, mistress," Eli replied, while bowing in respect to Dora, who resisted the urge to smile. This little girl was always pure, but it seemed her looks deceived everyone, her included.


    This little act didn''t miss anyone''s observing eyes here, as this meant Dora''s main force was finally broken apart. It seemed Dora was a tyrant, acting for only her benefit, which was a way befitting of their queen.


    But, this also helped the traitor, who just smirked on the bad fortune and stupidity of his enemies. before finding him and eliminating his threat, they foolishly started fighting between each other.


    He felt luck was on his side, and he even pictured the moment when he took control over the whole cruiser, seizing the long awaited throne of his.


    He didn''t accept the Terases offer from nothing but ambition, which he knew couldn''t be achieved in normal ways. After all, he was just a pawn, someone dispensable to the queen, especially regarding his weak power and small army he held.


    Agreeing on Terases offer gave him space to spread his wings, and his first assignment was to get rid of Dora and her companions. At first he thought he might need a lot of time and effort in doing so, especially by the odd actions of his accomplice, Charles.


    For a moment, the traitor thought Charles had sold him out, but it seemed the latter didn''t betray him, not yet. That made him heave a sigh of relief, and with the current developments, he could hasten his plans, as the moment of killing this arrogant young inexperienced princess was getting near, faster than he dreamt of.

 Chapter 100: Locating The Traitor

    Things were getting complicated in front of the traitor, but the idea of allying himself with Dora never crossed his mind. He always thought of her as an unworthy child of a throne she never would fit for, he would.


    So, when he saw everything crumbling around her, he didn''t pursue further care, moving to seize the chance, dreaming of the moment of the crown being held on top of his head.


    He looked around him, towards his fellow accomplices and associates, feeling more safe and confident. If he couldn''t overtake this little spoiled child right now, then he didn''t deserve to claim the throne of rebels.


    And henceforth he started acting, informing all of his men about the hour of move, which he decided to be one hour later.


    He sent some men to the vital places of the cruiser. overtaking a princess couldn''t be easily done by imprisoning her, as any other force here that didn''t align itself with him could use the chance to overthrow him.


    So, he needed to take hold and control all the key places in the cruiser, and he estimated one hour for his dispatched men to reach their designated locations, and take control of everything.


    That left only one place uncontrolled, and it was the only place in his opinion to be impossible for any force to control the goods deck. The place there was a circus of its own, with much more chaos than any local capital market.


    So, he didn''t pay attention to that place, even if any force here tried to pull a trick and summon their forces, he was already controlling the moving train, and thus no troops outside his allegiance would set foot inside these trains.


    If anyone wanted reinforcements, then he had to wait for hours before they arrived here. During this period, he could easily subdue them, kill the reinforcements, and remained safe.


    Sitting on his chair, like a going to be crowned king, he enjoyed the last peaceful minutes, before he would act.


    On the other hand, Dora and the others didn''t know what was going on, but they sensed something was off. Unpleasant tense atmosphere started to spread all over the commanding deck, and Dora noticed suspicious moves, yet she couldn''t tell its source.


    She wasn''t worried about any move against vital places in her cruiser, as she and Rigo had secured these places before. She just hoped they could emerge victorious, without much losses, in troops and most importantly in the ship itself.


    On James'' side, Rigo was observing every move inside the commanding deck closely, and he didn''t take long to notice the unusual movement of a certain rebellious leader. This man was speaking with many of his underlings, as some went to speak with another leader, while others moved outside the deck, gathering more men, and started to move away from the deck.


    "I think I located the traitor," Rigo suddenly said.


    "Where? Who?" James hurriedly asked.


    "Are you sure?" Islinda asked.


    "I''m not one hundred percent sure, but," Rigo paused, as he operated something in his head, before a light was shown on the next wall. A live stream inside the commanding deck started to operate.


    "See there?" Rigo asked, as he paused the recording, zoomed in, as he pointed towards a man, a bald man, sitting amidst a group of his men, whispering like being in heated debate.


    "What about him?" Islinda asked.


    "It''s him," Rigo said, "watch his men and their actions," Rigo added, before he played the recording, and this time the screen was divided into many smaller ones. Each screen was paused on a scene, zoomed in on the scene, showing a man whispering to a group of other men. One screen showed the moves of these men outside the deck, gathering more men, and headed towards the armory and the engine decks.


    "These men were all that baldy''s men, and they all moved after he whispered to them. even part of them are heading now towards vital places of the ship. It''s him, there is no one else who has moved there but him," Rigo said, stressing over his conclusion.


    "You must know that, once we moved, and we failed, we will alert the real traitor. So, we can''t just move based on conclusions!" Islinda said, arguing with Rigo.


    "We can''t let Dora face him alone, we need at least to warn her," he stressed, while looking at James.


    Islinda also looked at him. for James, he didn''t care about Dora, but he cared about the traitor. If they didn''t root him out here, then his venom would be more toxic later on, and they wouldn''t be able to eradicate him this easily.


    "Let''s just inform her of our suspicions, but not confirm anything to her," James said, before pointing towards the group of men heading towards the vital places of the cruiser, "is it safe to let them move like this?"


    Rigo and Islinda, both looked at him with discontent eyes, as they neither approved fully of his meddled decision. James didn''t care about their reaction, as he pointed towards the screen again.


    "Don''t worry, I and Dora had already dispatched men to guard these places," Rigo said in an obvious displeased tone, as he didn''t like the current situation and decided to take an action towards it.


    "Are you sure they won''t double cross us?" James asked.


    "I''m sure, as I sent some of ours too with them," he simply added, before he sent a tip to Dora, warning her from that badly.


    Rigo knew his leader wasn''t that trusty of Dora, as she might flip the sides in one second, but from his old and long expertise, he could say these precise actions were always the instigator for any betrayal.


    Trust was always a mutual thing. You might not tell others about your own thoughts, but never shield a life and death info like this from them, or else this simple, hesitant action of yours might instigate enmity, unneeded enmity.


    So, he sent a message to her, telling her about the suspicion they had against baldy, and he also gave her many remarks and evidences, the ones they had found so far.


    He also, stepping over his authority, sent to her telling directly that these were James'' orders to him, and he wanted her to bid her time, but to be also prepared for any sudden turn of events.


    Dora received this detailed long message, and after reading it, she glanced shortly towards the baldy, as she knew who he was.


    He was once called the right hand of her mother during the old uprising against the empire. Later, he had some stuff to do, and left the position, resigning it in a good heart as she always heard.


    However right now she was sure this man had been forced away, and that was like a betrayal, a betrayal he decided to repay in time and place best suited for his desires, like now.


    She sighed, as she knew such enmity could have been evaded easily by her mother. As a betrayed one, herself, she knew how bad that man felt back then, how deeply hurt he was, and though she was sympathizing with him, she didn''t move to speak out, as it would be far dangerous to do that.


    Hatred, rooted for years, and enriched by hate over time, wasn''t that easy to be cured, not by words, not by days. This man might not be cured forever, and though she felt bad for him, she wasn''t ready to give in, not like that.


    They were enemies, and that was the end of it. No matter how she felt about his cause, even if she knew he had some just in it, she wouldn''t step down, and let him do whatever he wanted.


    She sighed, as she reviewed the evidence again. After she finished, she was sure James didn''t know about all that old history between her mother and that baldy, so he couldn''t be framing him.


    Also, he would never know how dangerous such a man was. As trusting a friend and ally, Dora sent a brief history about that baldy, correcting the danger value of him, making it clear that man was dangerous, extremely dangerous, and any peaceful solution here wouldn''t work, unfortunately.


    Rigo received the message from Dora, and he didn''t know what he should tell his leader. If he told James right here about what he did, he might get a storm of rage from him.


    He was facing this dilemma, as the message couldn''t be delayed but he had to find the perfect excuse to tell James, or else he and his little help to Dora might backfire at them both!


    "what''s wrong, Rigo?"


    Amidst his conflicted thoughts, the last person he would speak with asked him, noticing his change in behavior. Rigo glanced at Islinda who smiled back while saying:


    "Don''t worry," she whispered, "James is busy following the men that baldy sent."

 Chapter 101: James Trusting Dora

    Rigo glanced at his nearby leader, sitting there looking at the wall, where the continuous broadcast of the surveillance cameras was playing.


    "Is it about Dora?" she suddenly said, making him look, silently, with obvious discontent, to her.


    "You know, I''m not totally supporting James in his decision," Islinda continued, like Rigo was welcoming her presence and thoughts, pulling a seat and sitting over it beside him, "for me, either you trust someone completely or not. But, you have to understand, your leader is the most vulnerable person among us, the one who is experiencing all the stress and pressure," she added, while patting on Rigo''s arm, in a move that looked intimate from far, "as your role, being his most devoted and loyal vessel, you have to amend what he might break. You also have to disobey him, sometimes, and not do what he ordered you to do."


    Rigo, sitting in his place, silent without a word. He knew she was a snake, trying to instigate him to fall into her plot, dirty plot. Rigo faked an affectionate smile to her, as he whispered:


    "I have very good info, an important one, but how can I justify the means I got?"


    "By telling him the truth," she patted more warmly over his arm, "I will support you, standing in your back, and try to soothe his anger. Don''t worry, I''m sure he will understand."


    Rigo just smirked into himself. who was she thinking he was? A newbie? Someone just born in this era? He laughed shortly inside himself, as this was a funny thing he was facing.


    However she had a point, he had to tell his leader about this info.


    "Leader," Rigo said, attracting James from monitoring the wall, "I have some news from Dora."


    James'' eyes tightened, as he hurriedly asked:


    "What news?"


    "It''s an old history about a man, she suspects he is the traitor."


    James didn''t speak, as he just nodded, motioning for him to continue. "It''s the same man we already are suspecting."


    Dora was still holding his arm when he said these words, as she suddenly moved herself away, slowly, yet she seemed quite nervous. Rigo, from his close by position to her, managed to feel her change in mood, even momentarily.


    This little snake was taken aback when she met a snake king, one that bested her by limits she didn''t yet fully understand. She, silently, eyed Rigo from a different angle. Who said droids were stupid? She always heard this saying, and this was always a stigma in the long lost history of droids. The one in front of her was better than most of the well experienced men she ever met in her life.


    In fact, she felt she could easily push this stupid droid away from his place, beside his leader, to be alone with James, playing him in the way best suited to her interests.


    However, she now realized how foolish she was. She glanced at James, briefly, to find he wasn''t that mad, or satisfied. He had the impression of knowing hidden things, but he didn''t care about this, or he just didn''t want to speak with his butler in front of her.


    She sighed, she greatly underestimated the two in front of her. She first thought James had reached his place, from nowhere, by the help of Dora. Islinda had some excuse in thinking so, as Dora was the only person here with royal origin.


    However now she was trying to rethink everything she planned before, as it seemed she needed to start from scratch again.


    "what history?" James asked, without showing any anger. He wasn''t stupid, as he guessed what Rigo did. it wasn''t just a mere fluke, that Dora would speak of the same man they just suspected, mentioning her bad history with him.


    He was her, and she didn''t mention this man or this history once before, thus someone must have tipped her, and made her recall these past events.


    "This man was exiled by her mother, despite having good position before," Rigo said, while looking at his leader''s eyes. He didn''t know if James knew what he did or not, but he hoped if he did, he wouldn''t interrogate him in front of Alex and Islinda.


    "Good work,'' James suddenly muttered, patting on Rigo''s shoulder. This sudden move startled Rigo, who knew all about the reason behind the hit. He just smiled, nodded to his leader, thanking god for his mercy to grant him such a wise one.


    Islinda just eyed the two with some frustration over her face. She couldn''t believe the reaction James had, especially when his right man had disobeyed his orders. James just glanced shortly at her, before he looked back towards the live broadcast of the cameras.


    He knew she also figured what Rigo did, but he wasn''t that angry about what his right man did. After all, he hoped Rigo would always mend his mistakes, try to make his orders more favorable to his favor. He knew, after seeing the situation from a different angle now, that keeping Dora in the dark would eventually backfire on him, and he knew exactly who would leak this note to her.


    He just bypassed this problem with the help of his right handed man, and so he wasn''t angry, but grateful.


    "Tell her to be careful, and not act rashly, not yet," James said, as he was still focusing on the group heading to the vital parts of this cruiser.


    Rigo did what James asked him to do, as he was grateful, Dora was also grateful for the trust James was giving to her. She thought he might hide some info from her, or something worse.


    Despite being in her own cruiser, surrounded by her own me, she felt she was alone, even James had Rigo by his side, but she had none. The presence of James here and the help he was providing, even if it was something related to his own benefit, was appreciated by her.


    Maybe in the future, when she obtains her own army again, she would leave james'' side, or even do worse. But for now, all she needed to do was to be a good girl, listen to his words, and never arouse any suspicion around her.


    She kept glancing at that bald man, while asking herself why James didn''t come here and kill him. it was obvious, pretty obvious, that he was the traitor. Her wait didn''t last long, as all James was waiting for happened. the men that baldy sent, were all exterminated, under the careful guidance of Rigo.


    James'' droids proved their worth again, as they killed all their enemies with no casualties at all. However, from Dora''s men, nearly half were exterminated.


    James didn''t care about such losses, as he only cared about victory. As everything was settled, he looked at Islinda as he asked:


    "Shall we move now?"


    "You were worrying about those weaklings?" she said, with obvious disgust.


    "They aren''t just weaklings, if we killed their leader and they had bombs, we would have been in serious trouble now," James said, as he looked again to the screen, checking there was no hidden team anywhere, before asking:


    "Shall we move now?"


    "Sure," she said, before pointing to the screen showing the goods bay," what about those? Who will kill them?"


    "No killing," James shook his head, "they will act as prisoners, or slaves, whatever best suited our cause," he added.


    "Why not kill them? they are, after all, source of equal danger like the ones you were just wary of!"


    "You don''t get it," he said, as he pointed to the two spots on the screen, "this place is near the hyperdrive engines of this cruiser. any slight mistake there and the cruiser would be stopped, cracked open from the middle like a burst egg. As for this, it''s just a no place, a goods bay that could be isolated from the main ship at any time."


    "And sacrificed?" she asked, carefully assessing his deepest intentions.


    "Nope," he simply said, without adding another word, he looked towards Rigo, nodding his head to him. Rigo knew what to do, as the first order he gave was to Dora, informing her about the move.


    Then, he contacted his men outside the deck. The situation went smoother than anyone thought, as this baldy didn''t struggle much, especially with the sudden appearance of Dora''s men and James'' droids.


    Once they approached him, he knew he was done for, so he didn''t struggle for much, or he lost the will to fight at this moment.


    His death came swiftly, on none other than Dora, who left his body high, letting it drip a long line of blood, while waving it to anyone else.


    She knew she could only gain their trust for now, as long as they were under her control and care. Once they reached their destination, each force would seek their own path.

 Chapter 102: Doras Choice!

    She didn''t need traitors, or cold feet people to be near her. She wanted a warrior, trusted friends she could depend upon. Again, she glanced at James and Rigo, who just came into the deck after everything ended, and envied him for having such a capable and trustworthy aid.


    James walked in the deck, looking at the scared paled faces of everyone, especially those who were acquaintances with that traitor. He ignored them, as he would leave their fate into the hand of Dora.


    He walked to her, as she sat on her chair, in front of the commanding unit, with the bald head of that traitor lying next to her. The scene was quite messy and bloody, but James knew this suited this girl very well, a girl who would find home in wars rather than in peace.


    "It took you so long," Dora said, as she stood from the chair, covered in the traitor blood. "I thought you won''t come on this day."


    James just smiled, as he knew after getting rid of this traitor, Dora would reflect to her older version of herself, the rebellious one.


    "I thought it would be better if I let you take all the spotlight, after all those are all your subjects."


    Dora smiled, as she felt a great burden was lifted off her chest and heart when the traitor was killed. She knew she was not free, no threat was directed to her from her own people, and now she was seeing things in different light.


    "We are about to reach the destination your man has chosen, what do you intend to do from there?"


    Her question was direct, and somehow rude to James, who just glanced over his shoulder to Rigo and Islinda. He knew Rigo meant well when he let her into the info they had, but James was sure once the threat was gone, her personality might show a great shift, as it was happening right now.


    He also was sure this shift, if happened, would be temporary, and sooner or later she would run to him, asking for his support and help. But deep inside him he felt hurt, as he hoped she would leave everything and chose him; a childish dread of a boy who came from a military base for war orphans like him.


    "I would leave here and go on my way," James faintly smiled, "Why? Do you want to come with me?"


    Dora''s heart quivered at his question for a moment, a brief moment that was all, and then she regained her composure. She already made up her mind; choosing her mother''s heritage over this handsome young boy whom she shared with a lot. This simple decision seemed casual, but later on in the near future she would greatly regret it!


    She glanced at him with a faint smile as she replied:


    "I would go on my way too, and I hope, James, that we might not cross roads again."


    She then moved, away, towards her group of rebels, while James eyed her going away back. "She didn''t even thank you properly, great job in saving her," Islinda didn''t let this matter slip by this easily, as she muttered in a voice heard by Rigo and James.


    "How much time do we have left?" James wasn''t concerned about her remark, or the end result of everything, as he asked Rigo about the time left before reaching their destination.


    "It''s two hours," Rigo said.


    "Good, let''s be ready then," James replied, as he moved amidst his little group, heading straight away from here. Dora''s eyes were stuck over him, feeling so pained from watching him leave like this, like a stranger, like an enemy, however it seemed she didn''t realize it yet, the cold hearted genes run deeply inside her family.


    "May I ask what we are going to be ready for? Leaving here?" Alex asked, as he was the only one who couldn''t keep what was going on in front of him.


    "Yes, we are going to leave here," Islinda replied, before she glanced over James, who was now followed by Eli. She admired his state of mind, as they weren''t just going to be ready to depart, they were going to prepare for a war.


    This wasn''t her being pessimistic, but for her being realistic; she lived and trained in a much crueler world than here. She knew what it meant when close people, friends or even blood related, got in front of each other at crossroads, while their interests and their deepest soul desires drove them to kill each other.


    James wasn''t that interested in this cruiser actually, though it was a force not to be reckoned with, he knew it would attract unneeded attention. However he wasn''t sure of how Dora might proceed until they leave here.


    He knew the best chance to attack them would be when they were about to leave the cruiser, as their defenses would be lowered, and their offense would be disturbed.


    So, he needed to be ready for that. they went to the train, while James ordered Rigo:


    "Bring back them men, and make them leave some gifts inside."


    Rigo didn''t reply much, as he was feeling some responsibility and guilt towards this current risk. He thought, wrongly, Dora would appreciate the kindness and help they provided, not to turn her coat rapidly like this. He executed the orders at once, as he understood what James meant by gifts.


    They took the train, and in minutes they reached the goods bay. The place here was still as chaotic as it was. Despite this being annoying to James, he was now glad by this chaotic scene, as he could do whatever he wanted under the nose of Dora''s surveillance.


    The different rebellious forces just got the news about what happened inside the commanding deck, and it seemed not all of them received these news in celebration, as some were grieving, especially that bald man''s men.


    James wasn''t planning for a coup, as Dora had selected to be away from his side, and he wanted only to leave in peace. He hoped Dora wouldn''t be so carried away by her new, unquestionable, authority, and took a wrong turn against him.


    Time passed rapidly, as James droids appeared one after another in the place. Rigo ordered them to plant bombs in this deck, using the chaos here as a cover, and when the two hours were about to end, James led everyone to ride in their own cruisers.


    The fleet didn''t lose any ships amidst the last war, as most of the time they were hidden away from the battle. So, the scene of these cruisers being ready to depart was a scene that attracted everyone else.


    James was now in the main commanding deck of his small cruiser. although the cruiser here was smaller, much smaller than the huge cruiser of Dora, James didn''t feel any bad at all, in fact he was relieved to finally come back home to his cruiser.


    "What are we going to do now?" Islinda asked


    "We will leave, hopefully without any troubles," James said, as he stated his true own wish.


    "I think she might not let us leave peacefully," she said, as she wanted to focus again over Rigo''s mistake.


    "I don''t think so, she is grateful for James'' help," Eli finally decided to step in, as she thought Islinda was trying to frame Dora.


    "Really?" Islinda just sneered, as she knew Eli''s misunderstanding regarding this matter.


    "Stop picking girls, we are about to reach our destination," Rigo said, as the cruiser was now decelerating, and that meant once it stopped, they could ask for permission from the commanding deck to open the hatch and let them go.


    This moment was the moment of truth for them, as James hoped Dora would know best and wouldn''t make this grave mistake. He wasn''t interested in her cruiser, but if she would attack him, he would claim this cruiser from her hands.


    Islinda wanted Dora to make this mistake, as this would be her best opportunity to push this immovable mountain, Rigo, away slightly from his master.


    Eli was praying Dora wouldn''t make this mistake, or else she was sure James wouldn''t come here unprepared, and this time he would emerge victorious like any other battle he had before.


    Once the cruiser stopped, it felt like a car stopped abruptly after pushing the brakes. After the recoil of this sudden stop, James said:


    "Ask for the permission to leave."


    Rigo nodded, as he talked to the commanding deck, asking for the permission to open the hatch and let them leave.


    Dora heard that request personally, as she was hesitating between letting them go, or kill James and the others, and capture the droids for herself.


    She was still feeling envious for James to have these droids, and she wanted to have some of them too, if not all. She didn''t know how many droids James had, but from initial intel regarding this matter, he had over a thousand of them.


    A number so small to make a difference, and so suitable to form an elite force and claim the title of many leaders and advisors. She would prefer to gather loyal droids around herself, better than questionable people like now.

 Chapter 103: Leaving Dora in A Very Bad Way!

    Dora stood silent in front of the request coming to her from down below. She was yet hesitant, but suddenly, another message came in, from down below too, but this time it was from the last person she could imagine he would send her.


    "Listen to me Dora, for the old times'' sake I just want to leave in peace. But, and I swear to follow my words to the letter, if you tried anything, I won''t hesitate to attack you, crush everything you have till the last ounce of hope. Let''s leave friends with good memories than enemies with death and destruction."


    Dora''s body shivered when she read James'' message. She felt the determination in his words, the desire for the two to be friends, not enemies, but not the fear from being so.


    She suddenly recalled the moments when they were together, fighting with each other. The moments when he leaned over her, with his body fixated in the space, just to save her. She recalled everything he did to her, and in return she recalled the nothing she did back to him.


    She didn''t even hug him, or give him a sweet deep passionate kiss on the lips like the way he deserved, like a hero should have from the girl he saved.


    Rather than this, she was, just now, thinking about how to attack him, and successfully kill him and steal everything he had.


    She sighed, and for the first time for her entire life, she started to think she wasn''t that different from her own mother.


    "Clear the path and open the hatch," she said before pausing for a brief moment, as her own desire tried to take the best of her, "and let them leave in peace," she added, before sighing in relief while leaning on her seat, alone, in this huge and almost empty place of the commanding deck.


    James saw the door being opened after a warning loud siren in the deck. The opening of this door meant the connection between here and the outer space, so another sealing compartment appeared to separate them from the rest of the deck.


    ''Sigh,'' James helplessly sighed, ''I thought she might ask to come with me,'' he shook his head, in disappointment. Though she was now the queen of the rebels, the incident of that traitor along the way was a clear indicator of how lonely there she was.


    James knew her rule would be tested, frequently, and living here in a stranger sector would make things much harder for her. There would be no home to return to, no settlement to live at, except if snatched by war, and lastly she would always be threatened by others'' ambitions, others who would see her unworthy of such title.


    However he had nothing in hand to do regarding this, as she had all the right to determine her fate, even if this led to her death.


    "Sigh," he sighed, loudly, this time, "Let''s go," he ordered.


    Rigo just glanced briefly at him. He knew his leader''s mind very well, and knew what he was thinking. So, out of his responsibilities, he sent a brief message to Dora, who read in many times before deleting it.


    ''My leader is sad to see you go. I have left a tracking set inside the system of your cruiser, if one day you want to join us, just activate it and you will be able to get there.''


    Dora went silent for a while, as her eyes watched the small fleet leaving her line of sight, heading to the middle of nowhere.


    "Idiot!"


    She muttered to herself, lamenting her own pathetic mind and childish desires for leaving the one man who truly felt like the one. She glanced at the huge commanding deck in silence, before she sighed, stressfully, while muttering:


    "I hope you find this worth your sacrifice."


    James sat there inside his cruiser, the small one that he initially stole when he left his planet, and his mind was full of many ideas and thoughts, until he was disturbed by Islinda:


    "It''s a shame to leave such a beauty behind."


    James left his head slowly, as he knew this little princess was just trying to tease him.


    "Yes, that large cruiser was one of a kind," James simply replied, without showing any emotion on his face. His reply made Islinda chuckle, as she realized she was caught by him, again.


    "So, any clue about where we are heading?"


    Alex asked the most important question, which was one of the rarest moments when he was right. The discussion of their destination started just after they left the large cruiser, as Rigo and Islinda were arguing about their next destination.


    The funny thing was, they both didn''t know all the details regarding this region of space, except from some old time data Rigo managed to copy from the main system of Dora''s cruiser.


    Rigo suggested landing on an abandoned planet, like he once did with his elite squad, and bid their time there. Islinda refused this, as that would lengthen the time needed for her to return home. She selected the most occupied and important planet in this star system, the heart of an existing empire, the Wod Empire.


    "Enlighten me again, princess, why do you want us to go there?" Rigo asked, in a sarcastic tone.


    "For refugees, of course," she instantly replied, without even blinking.


    "Refugee? Really? Or you want to backstab us and try to cut a deal on our heads?" Rigo rudely said, accusing her directly.


    "H-How dare you!" she darted out after a momentary pause.


    "Stop the two of you from this childish quarrel," James finally had to step in, "we need to select a planet, not too important and not too empty," he added.


    "What for?" Islinda asked.


    "To snatch the control on that planet for our own selves," James finally expressed his thoughts, "we need to lay low, but not this low Rigo, as we need people to command, army to build, and most importantly, a network on news so we can learn how to crack through the intersector barrier, and also be alarmed before the arrival of the Terases."


    His words were logic, and the two of them didn''t find anything to argue with. James just returned his back, calmed down his mind, and closed his eyes, enjoying some rare moment of peace, while his two advisors were now arguing again, but he totally neglected them.


    He slept, amidst this noise, for hours before they awakened him, in a way that meant they already reached a conclusion.


    "Yawn, what is the planet you chose?" he asked, in a sleepy face, tone, and even semi-closing eyes.


    "It''s this planet, Olef planet," Islinda hurriedly said.


    "It''s a planet with a local weak government rule, it also lies outside the jurisdiction of the Wod empire, so we can be safe there," Rigo said, trying to state the important facts.


    "It''s also surrounded by ten planets, ruled by separate governments, and all are outside the reach of the Wod empire," Islinda added.


    James rubbed his eyes, while his mind was processing these info. It was so good to be true, so he knew there was a catch here.


    "Just tell me what is wrong here?"


    "It''s related to the place they are situated in," Islinda said, as she looked at Rigo who added, "these ten planets are located on the main, proclaimed, route of the black merchants."


    "Black merchants?" James muttered as his eyes widened. The way he left his planet was by dealing with one of those black merchants. They were vicious, violent, and lived by no code of honor.


    "Isn''t that the black market?" he asked, trying to confirm his guess.


    "Well, it''s just rumors we found," Islinda said, trying to evade answering that question, "It''s rumored one of these planets is one of the main places of the black market," Rigo said, before Islinda hurried to add, "but we chose a planet away from this rumored black market centre."


    "But they are all under the control of this black market, at least from the shadows," James said, moving from his seat, as he tried to wake himself up by slapping his face and rubbing it.


    "We think it''s unl¡­" Islinda was trying to convince him, as she and Rigo saw this planet very suitable to their future goals, but he stopped her by raising his hand, while saying:


    "You misunderstood me," he then walked to the centre of the deck, where a hologram of this star system was there. He saw the eleven planets they just talked about. Without the need of their guidance, he spotted the planet that worked as their hidden ruler, it was located exactly in the middle of the system.


    "What do you mean, supreme leader?" Rigo felt he was really unable to read James'' mind, and so was Islinda, so both of them looked silently at him, waiting for his next words.

 Chapter 104: A Start of A Crucial Plan

    "I''m not against attacking and occupying this planet, but if we are going to do something, let''s do it big," he said, while pointing towards that central planet before adding, "let''s conquer and rule this planet, and the other ten will fall in our hands without breaking a sweat."


    The three people in the deck looked at James in a shocked way. They thought he might ask to wait for a bit, as their info was lacking, but he was bold enough to go even beyond the already risky plan they had.


    "But our power now can''t overcome that planet, nevertheless defending it," Rigo said, expressing his doubts, which were everyone''s as well.


    "What is the other fleet force like?" James asked, without showing any sign of returning over his decision. He wasn''t acting suicidal, but the lesson he learnt from Dora''s accident made him quite clear on what he should do next.


    It wasn''t Dora''s fault entirely, as despite all things he did to her he was just a mere refugee, with a meager power that couldn''t even take a single large cruiser!


    He needed to be powerful, grow his own strength beyond his current limits. And to do so he had to be bold, greatly challenging the odds and taking the toughest road out there.


    He made up his mind; from now on there would be no shortcuts at all! All he needed to do was to seize any chance, no matter how impossible it seemed, and move forward; always moving forward, that would be his motto!


    "One large cruiser, twenty middle sized cruisers, plus two hundred small cruisers. That is the main fleet standing on guard of that planet," Rigo said, expressing the numbers he had from the old data.


    "So, we are dealing with a space fleet mainly, no ground troops?" James asked, as if these numbers didn''t scare him. He had a strategy in mind, as if he couldn''t beat the behemoth hord, then he should better scatter them and hunt them down one by one; hitting them where it really hurt.


    "No, only space fleet," Rigo said.


    "It''s simple then," James said, as he was smiling comfortably. Rigo scanned him, feeling he was ill or something, but he found him healthy and very fine.


    "How can we beat this massive fleet? Even if we have Dora''s fleet, the odds aren''t in our favor," Islinda said, expressing her doubts towards the plan she guessed, the one she thought James was considering.


    "No, you misunderstood me again," James said, before returning to his seat as he tried to explain things to them:


    "I know you are thinking rationally about this, numbers versus numbers, but you have to know that the fleet of the black merchants are all formed by mercenaries. They never trained together, they don''t even know each other.


    So, comparing them to us, a well trained and veteran army, can''t be done in traditional ways."


    He was speaking out of his personal experience in dealing with such black merchants and mercenaries back at the base. He knew their mindset, how they trained and even he witnessed their internal quarrels or fights with other soldiers when they did something foolish.


    They always lost! They weren''t organized, nor united as their large numbers and different forces would mistakenly delude others. He knew them and knew their numbers only work against their interest, only if things were planned out well and these plans were executed precisely and with great skills.


    "But the numbers are still worlds apart!" Islinda wasn''t convinced by his reply.


    "I know, and here comes your second mistake. Black merchant fleet isn''t situated and assembled like any regular army in one place. they are all scattered inside the planet, or any other planet. They only regroup when there is an emergency for that.


    Besides, they are mercenaries, so if there is an opportunity, a rare chance for wealth, they wouldn''t hesitate to go after it, even if that meant breaking the contract and losing the job, as long as the gains exceeded the losses," James added, while explaining his concept.


    He knew deep down his soul he couldn''t convince them with his logic, and he simply could use the order to make them follow his command; but he wanted them to believe in his call, see what he was seeing even if a glimpse of it.


    This would make a huge difference in the upcoming battle, and the battles that would erupt after.


    "Meaning that?" Rigo asked, as he, or anyone here, understood what James meant.


    "Meaning that, if we sent one small cruiser, disguised as clients wanting to buy things, and spread the word about some treasure place in planets just outside the control of the black market, then those loose mercenaries will chase after these news and try to claim the treasures to themselves," James explained further his plan.


    "So, you want us to lure them away, then attack and snatch the base?" Islinda asked, not totally convinced by this plan.


    "No," James shook his head again, "I mean if we lured them to places were we set our traps there, then we can kill them down one by one, group by group, until there are none left, then we can attack the planet and control it completely," he added, saying the full details of his plan.


    "Interesting," Rigo said, before he looked at the map. James knew what he was doing, as he was now selecting places to be used as traps. "Here, here, here, and here," he pointed to four places, where they were near from the planets, plus having an asteroid field all around. This asteroid field would act as a limitation to any movement and scanning devices might be used.


    So, they could act freely here, and in turn they could kill and run without the fear of being spotted.


    "Good choices," Islinda commended, as these spots were the best here, "who would go to act as a rumor spreading?" she asked.


    "Either me, you or Alex," James said, as he added, "we are the only normal humans here. any other droid will attract attention, and it will be enough for those mercenaries to leave anything and snatch them for a huge amount of money."


    "It''s dangerous for you to be there," Rigo said, refusing the option of sending James there.


    "I can go," Islinda volunteered, as she wanted to see things first by herself, then might draw a better plan for the future. She just hoped these planets would be so good to be used as future bridges to start going to her grand sector.


    "I can''t send you alone," James said, as he refused to send a single girl, with such an elegance and royal learning, to deal with a group of thugs. "Alex, you will go and handle things there," he added, as this was the only option left to them. He couldn''t go, as it was risky as Rigo feared, and so Alex was the one left.


    "Me?" Alex said, in a surprise tone, before he laughed, like an idiot. He was enjoying the sense of importance, but Islinda hurried to whisper to James:


    "He isn''t trusted, might ruin everything."


    James agreed, silently, with her, so he added, "and Islinda will go to help you there."


    "Me and this beauty alone in the cruiser?" Alex, with his disbelieving reaction, said, expressing the inner thoughts of his, without prior thinking.


    James just sighed, as if there was someone to be afraid of, this person would be Alex, not Islinda. Rigo then started a long, and detailed discussion with the two of them, while James kept himself away, sleeping for a while, as he was trusting his men would do it good.


    After four hours of discussion, they awakened James again, and reviewed the plan with him. James didn''t have any objection to the plan steps they arranged, as they would first start with a search mission, looking for those mercenaries positions, then try to send info, secretly, to them separately.


    All this would be done with the coordination of the main fleet here, as they would go from trap to trap and attack the mercenaries one by one. That would take longer than separating the main fleet into two or three smaller ones, but that would endanger everything if one big fish caught the bait, or more than a fish came at the same time.


    As things settled, James gave the signal for them to start. Islinda took the simple minded Alex and went into the only small cruiser here ready to be mistaken as one of the regular customers of the black merchants, the one James had taken by force when he escaped from his planet, the one they were at currently.


    So, it was James and Rigo and the other droids turn to leave, while leaving behind three droids, to act at time of need, at the engine department.


    Once ready, Islinda took the cruiser and went ahead towards the reign of these eleven planets, as everything, all the future, depended entirely on this single mission.

 Chapter 105: Killing Two Mercenary Fleets

    Islinda moved away, and James couldn''t just stay still after that. he wasn''t trusting Islinda so far, so he asked Rigo:


    "Can we trust her?"


    "No," Rigo simply replied before he pressed a button over the control unit, where a picture appeared, a live broadcast from inside his old cruiser.


    Great, great job Rig," James said, excited by the idea of monitoring Islinda all the time.


    Islinda moved into the cruiser, where she planned to see the truth of this place, assess its true potential, and then decide if this place was worth the risk or not.


    She wasn''t sure if James was monitoring her, but she was pretty sure that Rigo was doing so, as she would do the same if she was him.


    The journey to the first planet didn''t take long, as in hours they reached the outer region of the planet.


    "Moment of truth," she muttered, as if there was any tight, well organized security, then approaching the planet this close would irritate them, however nothing happened as she entered the first planet smoothly.


    This confirmed James'' guess from before, as everyone now was sure of the status of the defensive army, or mercenaries, on call status.


    "That''s a good start," Rigo muttered.


    "Let''s see what she will do inside," James wasn''t surprised by this, as he based his guess on the facts he knew back from his planet.


    Islinda once entered the planet, she scanned it, to find the planet was full of potentials, special mines, natural resources everywhere, but no one was interested in these, as this place was meant for trade, and trade only.


    The planet had three main large cities, with over a hundred small cities. she knew if those scums were anywhere, then they would be at the three main cities.


    So, she went to one of them. Each city was well designed, with many buildings rising to the sky. The level of security and organization here was literally zero, as anyone could do anything at anywhere, without being asked or questioned.


    The only thing forbidden here was fighting in cities, wanted to fight? Go out there, in the great open world, and start killing yourselves.


    James and Rigo were seeing what Islinda was receiving from her sensors, and thus they knew even inside the cities, the situation was chaotic.


    "Let''s move to the first trap," James said, as he was now sure Islinda couldn''t betray them.


    Rigo didn''t say anything as he gave the orders to the other ships in the fleet to move out, and go ahead towards the first trap. As for his cruiser, its responsibility was to stay out of this, acting as the commanding flag ship, and the one responsible for coordination between Islinda and the trapping ships.


    James stood there, away from the trap place, as he watched Islinda looking around until she found a place, where many strong looking ships were there. they were either their target or a hot shot coming here to buy important stuff, but when she noticed the place where these ships landed, she knew they were her target.


    They were landing at a bar and brothel, a place famed for those criminals, not clients.


    "Alex, listen up, it''s your turn boy to prove your worth," Islinda suddenly turned to look at Alex, who was startled by her words at first, but then he nodded. He understood her meaning, as this was what he kept telling himself all over the way to here.


    "What do you need me to do?" he asked, while looking outside the cruiser.


    "I want you to go there, and ask those two over there if the main buyer of the asymisit ore is here or not."


    Amysisit ore was the one good they decided to use to lure any mercenary out. The price of a gram of it was worth over a planet worth of money already, or even more.


    "Once you ask the question, tell them he went to the coordinates, these coordinates, provided by the secret agent, and you managed to confirm the tip. Then you turn around and come here and never ever answer their questions."


    "Ok," Alex replied, as he was readying himself like his whole life depended on this. He went outside the cruiser, headed towards two ill looking guys, with strange, messy outfits that even masked the characteristics of their species.


    Islinda knew they were part of the main gang here, as the place couldn''t have guardians when the whole city didn''t have any.


    Alex went there to the two, while feeling terrified, greatly terrified, especially when he found out these two weren''t humans, but another species he never heard of. He at once said what Islinda told him to say, and did exactly as she told him, before returning rapidly towards the cruiser.


    The two in the front, exchanged silent glances, before they hurriedly tried to capture Alex, but Islinda was faster, as she moved the cruiser closer to him, as he jumped, and then she left right away.


    This move from the two gangsters made everyone have a long sigh of relief, as this meant they had taken the bait. Islinda left right away, but she lingered for a bit, as she focused her monitors towards the place of that brother and bar.


    In minutes, all the large and strong looking cruisers moved from there, approximately twenty cruisers, heading straight out of the planet. Islinda sent a message to James, but he didn''t need that, as he already was watching her.


    "Send the message to the boys," James said, as he was now eager to see how this would end.


    Rigo already sent the message, and now there were two screens in the commanding deck, one for Islinda, and the other was for the small fleet that took off from the planet. Islinda didn''t wait for long in this city, as she moved out towards the next one, as there might be another group of ships moving from there.


    They were dealing with mercenaries, the scums of the space, so it was natural to have spies in each group. News would travel fast, and thus she needed to see if there was any large fleet moving from this planet or not.


    James and Rigo were monitoring the path from the eleven planets to the place of the trap, and so far there was no suspicious move coming from any of the eleven planets. Just as the bait was so near from the trap, another fleet kicked off from another city inside that planet.


    "Here it starts," James muttered, as he let Rigo relay info to Islinda and his boys. The second patch of cruisers wasn''t lesser than the first, around twenty ships were there.


    Forty ships, separated by quite some time, against fifty ships of his fleet, the odds were in his favour, especially with the presence of the space bombers on his side.


    The element of surprise was on his side too, but that would be for the first fleet, as the second would detect the ongoing battle, or the fight aftermath.


    However, there was a way to make sure things wouldn''t get out of their control, or to be suspected. James would send a warning broadcast to the ships of the two fleets, warning them from getting near this restricted zone, and return to the place they came from.


    Logically the mercenaries would ask for further info, like the identity of their talker, but James would act like he was stressed, trying to curse them, and then threaten them. this would make their minds fixed on not believing the warning, plus the desire to teach this force, whatever it was, a lesson.


    So, if a fight erupted, it would be logical to the second fleet, as it would also enter the fray without any suspicion.


    The first fleet bit the bait, as they entered, with much arrogance, into the field of asteroids. The outcome wasn''t surprising, but the speed of eliminating the ships, plus the surrender of around ten small cruisers and one medium sized one with their crew was a surprise.


    James'' forces didn''t have time for that, but they sent a couple of droids to control each ship. The advantage of a droid was the ability for them to survive space, so if the cruiser crew tried to play any tricks, the droids had orders to explode the ship, and thus kill everyone in it.


    The battle didn''t take more than five minutes, and the cause of the surrender of all this number came from the fact their leader''s flagship was destroyed in the first wave of attacks.


    So, they were basically jobless, and they weren''t that loyal type, which would prefer to avenge their leader, they were mercenaries, here only for money.


    So, James was excited by the acceptance of these cruisers. The presence of the previous fleet cruisers among the fleet, made it appear like the place was under those mercenaries control, and that made the incoming fleet angry and full of expectations.

 Chapter 106: Enlarging the Fleet by One Hundred Percent

    The only problem now was the presence of moles into the personnel that surrendered to them. James knew how true any mercenary was in his words, so when the second fleet battle ended, and many of the fleet surrendered to him, he gave the final order regarding the fate of the mercenaries:


    "Kill them all."


    Rigo wasn''t kind hearted, but the sacrifice of all this number of workers and soldiers wasn''t a good thing. They weren''t planning to just win a battle, they were planning to start an army.


    "Can we use other means to control them?" Rigo suggested.


    "No," James shook his head, "a scum will always be a scum. They will find a way to get away from our surveillance, selling us at the highest possible price to our deadliest enemies. I don''t want this risk, as they won''t change no matter what. Just get rid of them," he explained further, while repeating the decision he just said.


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied as he complied to his leader''s request, after all James already had a point here.


    James'' decision was final, and so Rigo relayed his orders to his small army. the droids killed every single person of those mercenaries, and this was indeed the right decision. Almost half of them worked as spies to other forces, and they intended to alarm the others once they reached a safe place.


    If James had a soft heart here, he would have lost it big. However, sometimes cruelty would be the safest answer to all troubles.


    As the massacre ended, and the ten cruisers were added to the small fleet, the other force just approached the asteroid belt. Rigo hurried to organize the fleet, and make them lay wait, while they used the newly acquired ships to be in the forefront.


    This time, they had the disguise of these ships belonging to the first force of mercenaries. As James and Rigo and Islinda expected, when the second force spotted the other force in the place, they knew the tip was right, especially when they noticed the state of fight these ships were at.


    They first tried to negotiate their way into the place, and the droids complied, after faking refusal for a while. if the enemy wanted to enter the trap and be surrounded, then it couldn''t be helped, right?


    The battle was shorter than the first. The number of ships increased by ten, and the enemy was fool enough to be surrounded. After the battle ended, there were another fifteen ships being surrendered to James'' forces, and their fate was no different than the other ones.


    After clearing the battle, James let the forces move to another place. they didn''t leave any clue behind, even the ruined ships after the battle were moved to another place, where no one could see them.


    After wrapping everything, they sent to Islinda a message to move to another planet, where she gladly complied. While the two battles were undergoing away from her, she started to gather info about this place and other planets here.


    What she found shocked her, as this place wasn''t just a random place on the route of the black trade, it was in the heart of it. a place that was so vital that if anything happened here, almost every single black trade force would come to aid this place.


    This seemed scary at first, but when she gathered more info later, she realized this place didn''t follow the rules of any force for long. The dispute for strength here was always a common thing, and what other dark trade forces interested in were the continuity of the trade, no matter who ruled, or what was happening here.


    That meant the approach they were taking right now to establish their reign over this area wouldn''t cause them any severe problems in the future. She knew some would set their gaze here and try to snatch this place from them, but it wasn''t a major problem in her estimation.


    The rate of traffic here was really enormous, and the income that any force would gain from here was unimaginable. The most shocking thing here wasn''t just the trade traffic, or the importance of this place, but the nature of trade ongoing here.


    This area was famous for the three kinds of trade, species traffic, weapon trades, and finally the ores trade. The first traffic was an awful one, but when she gathered a detailed info about the nature of the three kinds of trades, her mouth opened agape.


    The species traffic here wasn''t just based on any species, but the military ones. Ex-military species, those captured in any war, would be gathered here and fetched at high price. She knew this was great news as what James lacked was his army, and being here meant he could build a large army, as large as his pocket could reach.


    As for the weapons, she saw with her own eyes some large cruisers being offered for sale at prices that made her wonder if they were selling cabbage. The prices were down, so low that seemed suspicious, and when she investigated, she knew the reason behind it.


    All these cruisers were stolen, hijacked from their rightful owners, and that meant if they went into any known regime, they would be taken at once by force or being attacked and destroyed.


    That was a problem to most of those who came here, as having a fleet that couldn''t set sail to any known place in the galaxy with an order was a headache. But for her, she knew this was nothing. James didn''t intend to return to any known regimen here, and planned to leave the whole grand sector.


    It was good news that communications between grand sectors were extremely limited, and thus if they moved with all those stolen goods, nothing would happen to them.


    She marveled her eyes with the three large cruisers and hundreds of small and intermediate cruisers landing on the planet she just left. She knew James would seek to gather them all, regardless of anything else.


    As for ore, she wasn''t that interested in it, but ores were important in making weapons, ammo, and repairing cruisers. So, the presence of ore here was a bonus that she was glad to have.


    When she went to the next planet, she did a fast round of investigation before spotting the place of the guarding mercenaries here. she did like before, sent the naive out, Alex, to tell them about the false rumor.


    As before, the news travelled, and this time three forces left the planet in a hurry, with a time gap between each other. Islinda didn''t need to inform Rigo and James about this, as the two were closely observing the planet.


    "Tell the boys to let the newly surrendered ships in the forefront, and let''s hope more would surrender," James said, as he saw around a hundred ship of different kinds moving in three waves, each with around half an hour difference than the other.


    He knew, if he won this battle, then he had undermined at least one fourth of the guarding forces stationed here. He also knew after the end of these battles, the ships he would acquire would make his fleet be double in size at the least.


    So, he waited, patiently waited, for the news. He was sure of his boys ability to reign supreme here, but he was waiting for the spoils of war news.


    Just as he was waiting, the first battle just finished. It didn''t take five minutes to end, and literally half of the ships, around fifteen ships, surrendered.


    "They ask for your decision regarding prisoners," Rigo asked, as he was excited, as well, by the new addition to the fleet.


    "Kill them all, tell them no prisoners from now on," James said, as he was so glad by this new addition. His fleet now had gained thirty five cruisers, mostly small ones, and that made his fleet enlarged by more than fifty percent of its original power.


    The droids executed all the prisoners, and then they cleaned the battlefield in a hurry, used the newly acquired ships as bait, alongside the ships they already captured from the other forces, while they waited on the rear for the upcoming force to come.


    The second force didn''t struggle much, as nearly more than half surrendered, making James gain more that twenty five ships in one go.


    The third battle was surprising, as once the mercenary fleet noticed the large number of James'' forces, they surrendered, all surrendered without even putting a single fight with them. forty six ships were added in this round, and that exceeded the hopeful expectations of James.


    "The size of our new fleet has expanded to reach one hundred and sixty three ships, mixed of small and intermediate cruisers," Rigo finally run the numbers and said in a beaming smile and much pride, "we also gained a huge number of fighters, as it seemed these forces depended entirely on them in battle.

 Chapter 107: Bumping into Terases Race Again

    Each cruiser we got had twenty fighters installed inside a special deck in them. That means we have now over two thousand fighters, but unfortunately we have no pilots to run them."


    James'' smile was even bigger than that of Rigo, as his grin was literally from ear to ear. "Don''t worry about this now, these gains would only double or triple in the next few traps, and we could seek to make our own army later on," he said, declaring his inner thoughts and plans regarding the future.


    James didn''t know about the treasure trove in this area, as if he knew, he and Rigo wouldn''t have such a conversation at all.


    "So, we have won these fights so far," Islinda muttered when she heard the news. She didn''t stop gathering up news after each mission ended, and the more she knew about this place, the more one thing seemed incomprehensible.


    This place was literally a gold mine, whether its location, its amount of traffic, its trade specialty, all were rare and unique, but no power owned this place. that seemed weird!


    As she was already deep into the mechanics of ruling a huge empire, she knew how important this place was, and she was more sure this place might actually belong to some kind of power, a power that wanted to be hidden.


    And that was dangerous!


    The more she investigated, the more clues she found about this hidden power. The ruling government of any planet was just made of a simple group of officials, who weren''t able to run this place by themselves.


    She even went ahead and asked to meet one of them to ask about opening another trade line here, the line of stolen food. She met the official responsible for this, and all he said was to wait for a few months before getting an answer.


    That meeting made her realize something, whatever this power was, it wasn''t so near from here. that was reassuring, to some extent, as it meant they would have a time of months before any interference.


    But, she wasn''t feeling good as long as she didn''t find out what the true power behind this place was. Alex, on the side, was watching all of this, silently, without any saying. He wasn''t even able to understand what she was doing, as he thought she was only having some fun.


    Even when she requested and met that official, he thought she was trying to establish a trade, really establishing a trade!


    She never bothered to explain anything to him, and he never asked her anything, wrongly understanding the reasons for her actions. She knew he was misunderstanding things, but she didn''t correct him, never bothered to do that.


    When the notice of the end of all the current attacks had come to her, she was about to move out, heading towards another planet, when she noticed some odd thing.


    The official she met, who was supposed to be one of the main three officials on this planet, was running into some kind of normal building, with his guards waiting outside, not entering the place.


    This was weird!


    "Rigo, is there a droid here with a spying ability? Like listening to a talk inside a heavily guarded building?"


    She sent this to Rigo, as he replied:


    "All of the droids at your cruiser can do this, but why?" he asked back, as he felt something was off.


    "Later," she didn''t have time to waste, as she sent Alex immediately to fetch one of the droids. Alex chose one humanoid, and once arrived, Islinda didn''t even say anything, as she grabbed him, pointed towards that building through the big glass of the commanding deck, as she said:


    "Spy on this place, and transmit and record anything you might find."


    Just as he was about to interrupt her, she added, "I spoke with your leader and Rigo, and they have no objection to that."


    The humanoid didn''t buy her words, as he sent for permission to Rigo, who complied. Rigo also ordered him to transmit all what he sees and records to him as well.


    Rigo, with James, were feeling some awkwardness from Islinda''s sudden request. So, when she asked for a droid, Rigo activated the spying function of his, so they could hear and see everything that the droid could see and hear.


    Once reached to Islinda''s place, and she took him, by force, to monitor that building, Rigo didn''t have any objection for that. he then transmitted what this humanoid was seeing and hearing, to his leader.


    The first few words Islinda said were strange, as she mumbled for a bit about how dangerous it was, and if the time was late or not. For them, what the droid saw was just a normal building, without any special marks of it.


    "That stupid official, I''m sure he is going to speak to his master now. hey, why aren''t you broadcasting what''s happening inside? Do it now!"


    Her voice echoed in the silent commanding deck of James'' cruiser. He was feeling her anxiety, and when she mentioned the official, James felt some odd feeling, as he had some vague guess about what was going on.


    The droid then started to activate his investigation abilities, and in less than ten seconds, a detailed design of the whole building appeared in front of everyone.


    "Wow, this isn''t a building, it''s a huge spaceship!"


    The words of Islinda came from the spying droid were really on the mark, this wasn''t a building, but a huge spaceship that didn''t lose to the huge cruiser of Dora.


    The design of this cruiser wasn''t modern, and its presence deeply buried here seemed to be for a long time.


    "what is this cruiser?" James said, as he noticed the cruiser wasn''t functioning, as it was turned off, except for primitive defensive functions, to protect it from the decaying effect of the time and ground.


    "I- I don''t know the supreme leader, I think this cruiser is buried like this for a long time already."


    Rigo''s words came to add no new to the guess James had in mind. He was wondering how Islinda knew of this cruiser, when one red dot appeared, moving into the depth of this cruiser.


    "Can you recognize the pattern of this cruiser?" James asked, "Is this person going to the commanding deck?" he added, as he believed that was the case.


    "I think this model is even older than what we once had at the Rojedia empire, and he isn''t heading to the commanding deck, he is going to the communication deck," Rigo said, and when he noticed the weird look over James, he added, "back in the old days, communication deck was separate from the commanding deck."


    James nodded, as he watched the person moving in some sort of elevator.


    "Can we hack on the communication he will do, and listen to him?" James asked, as he wanted to know what was going on.


    "Sure," Rigo said, before adding, "give me a minute."


    He then went silent, without speaking a word, or even opening his eyes. He was trying to analyze the waves around this buried cruiser, using the droids at Islinda''s cruiser. The process took a few minutes actually to end, but he was finally able to hack the system of that cruiser.


    "It''s an old cruiser, older than I initially thought," he muttered, while opening his eyes and saying, "I have complete control now over that system."


    "Really?!" James doubtly asked.


    "This cruiser is very old, and its system is obsolete. I simply hacked it and gained control over everything there," he explained.


    James went silent for a moment, as he thought about how to get use of this advantage. "Can you download all the data stored inside this cruiser?" he asked, "also try to find which empire it came from," he added.


    Rigo nodded, as he started to explore the whole system, looking for any records, and luckily he found a bunch of old records that were left in the communication deck.


    He also managed to identify the name of this cruiser, and some of the weird, weak connections between this cruiser and others nearby.


    Rigo then started to explain to James what he found, but midway he stopped abruptly and didn''t continue to speak. His face told James everything, as things seemed to be off!


    "What happened?" James asked.


    "The communication is linked," Rigo said, "I will transmit the recording now," he added.


    James thought for a moment before saying, "make the droid down there broadcast the call as well."


    "Affirmative," Rigo wasn''t that trusty towards Islinda, but he had to admit, without her help they would never have found this cruiser, or even known its presence there.


    The cruiser was, so old, that it couldn''t make a huge threat to the current growing fleet of James, but the power it represented was the problem, as it was, somehow, related to an enemy they didn''t want to stir trouble with right now.


    The Terases race!

 Chapter 108: Start A Fight to Rule the Star System

    The moment Rigo gave permission to Islinda droid, the moment that official started to make the call. Islinda was startled at first, but she smelled the scent of Rigo in this process. She knew Rigo wouldn''t volunteer to give her any help or advantage, not like how he was treating Dora, so this was James'' call, and she appreciated his call.


    "zrteto epepel pwpk sa;s;d pepe¡­"


    The moment the call linked, a strange conversation with alien language appeared. James looked to Rigo as he asked:


    "What language is it?"


    "The Terases language," Rigo sighed as he ran a translation system, so the language changed to form understandable one.


    "And I welcomed her, and she asked for opening another trade business. And what do you think, sir?"


    The sound of an official came, as he was speaking, with utmost respect, to his leader.


    "We are now busy, very busy. I can''t just leave everything in hand and come to see this matter. Tell her after one year we will grant her a meeting."


    The voice of the leader came, and he seemed quite annoyed by the call of this official.


    "I''m sorry to bother you, sir, and I will do as you told me, and I hope your business will be thriving."


    "I''m not free to chat with an ignorant little being like you, I have worlds to conquer now. see you in one year¡­ Don''t bother me at any time, and inform others with that order."


    "I will, I will my lord."


    The call then ended. James glanced, silently, at Rigo as he had some thoughts in mind regarding how to solve this problem. yes, they were far away from Terases race, but they were still inside this grand sector, so no matter where they went to, they would bump into them, no matter what.


    "Tell Islinda good work, and ask her to run a diagnostic check over the whole planet, and other planets. We need to specify the presence of these buried cruisers here. plus, I want you to start a plan, to black out any incoming or ongoing communication until we take over this place."


    James knew the simple mission of taking this place had just got complicated. When he thought about it, such a place must have eyes on it, but the question still remained, was Terases'' race in control of the whole black market? Or just a tiny part of it?


    He hoped it was just a tiny part, as he didn''t want to spend the next year in actual strife and war with the whole black market. He wanted a period of peace and prosperity, building up his forces in this year, and be ready for warring with Terases race with no worries.


    War was coming, no matter what!


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied, as he did what James told him to do. He had to, bitterly, admit to himself that Islinda did a marvelous job this time.


    Islinda received Rigo''s transmission with a big wide smile over her face. She started this for her personal benefit, so any bonus coming from James was welcomed.


    She knew the importance of looking for these buried ships, and she already had a hypothesis regarding these ships'' places. Each inhabitant city on any planet here must have one ship, at the least, buried deeply into its lands.


    That would help save a lot of time for her, but she had to search the whole planet afterward, as she couldn''t neglect one ship buried here or there.


    She waited until the official left, and made sure no one was watching here, or her, then she started moving. The first thing she did was to explore and scan the whole planet she was at. She headed towards other cities in the vicinity, and through the whole way, she asked the droid to scan and search for any buried cruiser.


    She didn''t manage to find any buried ones until she reached the next city, where she found one buried cruiser there. Her assumptions continued to be proven right, as all the places she visited had only cruisers buried deeply under the cities, with no other cruisers anywhere else.


    However, she didn''t stop looking for cruisers at the whole planet, and when she finished looking at that planet, she returned to the first planet she started from, and started digging.


    With the additional mission in hand, the time she needed for arranging the next mission was longer than before, which made James take a couple hours of rest, leaving Rigo in charge of leading the operation.


    The next attack came in five hours, and Rigo didn''t wake James up, as he led the operation as James did, mimicking his actions and orders regarding prisoners and captured ships.


    This time, they managed to clear four waves of attacks, each with thirty to fifty ships, half at least surrendered to them. that added up to one hundred and eleven ships, plus one thousand and six hundred fighters.


    The amount of fighters they had now was insanely growing, without having enough pilots, this seemed like a crippled advantage. Rigo knew they would take quite some time to train these pilots, but they needed them, especially if they wanted to secure their grasp over this area.


    The battle didn''t take more than one hour to end, and after that with a couple more hours, Rigo woke James up, as there was a sort of problem that appeared.


    "What is this?" James asked, as he was trying to understand what was seeing in front of him right now.


    "The remnant forces are now united together, fully alert, and now they are patrolling the first trap site, looking for evidence," Rigo said.


    James was seeing a large army, made up of three hundred small and intermediate cruisers, plus one large cruiser. the threat came from this large cruiser, as long as it was present anywhere, in battle mode, the situation would be dangerous.


    James stood silent for a long time, observing this scene in front of him. directly fighting with such a force without good layout and strategy would be a suicide.


    He knew as well as Rigo how dangerous it was for a large cruiser to be present in a star fight, especially if there was no such an equal at the other side. He sighed, if Dora just decided to come with him, he wouldn''t be forced to do such low tricks and take such a huge risk.


    He needed to seize a large cruiser for himself soon, not only one but a huge fleet of them; and surely he would!


    "You think they have discovered our doings?" James asked.


    "This, or they learned about the rumors, so they united each other to make sure of this rumor," Rigo said, but James wasn''t convinced with what he said. He was sure they must have felt some suspicion towards what they were scheming.


    He wasn''t panicked, as his personal army was enough to deal with all the cruisers, except the large one. He had such an idea in mind, so he waited for a while, silently thinking, giving it much thought before asking:


    "This is the first site they are visiting, right?"


    "Yes, leader," Rigo replied.


    "Good," James nodded, "I want you to make a trap, plant explosives hidden deeply into many asteroids. Once the fleet appeared, and that large cruiser is quite deep into it, activate the bombs and make the asteroids explode and attack that large cruiser," he added.


    "But¡­" Rigo couldn''t see how this would work. Again he failed to read the mind of his supreme leader, making doubt himself if he really knew James better or not.


    Rigo was missing a very crucial moment; a moment when James honestly questioned himself and emerged with his new beliefs. Beliefs were such a scary existence, enough to reshape any man, forging dirt into gold and turning steel into ash!


    "Just make them use most of the explosives we had acquired from Dora''s armory. Let''s bomb the whole belt over their heads," James said.


    "What if that large cruiser survived?" Rigo asked, "Wouldn''t they ask for help?" he added.


    "From whom? If they survived, they would survive with great damage, and we could use this either to infiltrate the cruiser with an elite team of droids, or to permanently destroy it using space bombers we had," James replied, as he was excited about the fact he would destroy a large cruiser, or occupy it.


    "What about Islinda''s mission?" he asked.


    "She had roamed five planets so far, and she managed to spot one cruiser buried under the ground in each city," Rigo explained the current findings Islinda had informed him with.


    "Good," James nodded, in satisfaction, "inform her to continue looking, and stop spreading the rumor. Inform her to hurry things up, as we will move to occupy the planets once we get rid of the current hostile fleet," he added, after thinking about the next step after taking this large cruiser down.

 Chapter 109: The Big Plan of James

    If not for the presence of this large cruiser, he wouldn''t hesitate to issue the order to attack these ships directly, as he was confident in his ability to win this war, if the large cruiser was eliminated from the picture.


    "How do you plan to get rid of the fleet?" Rigo asked, once he finished relaying orders to everyone. James just smiled, silently contemplating the plan in his mind, trying to perfect it. Rigo remained silent, on the side, as he waited patiently, until James finished.


    "We will do an obvious distracting operation, followed by a tactical infiltration, then we''ll play hide and seek operation until we kill the most of their fleet, dominate their large cruiser, then we can route them up and kill or capture what''s left," James said, in a more vague tone to his speech, making Rigo unable to follow him.


    "Can you elaborate, leader?" he asked.


    James turned to look towards the holographic presentation of such a massive fleet, compared to his. Only one piece made such a difference, that large cruiser.


    All his thoughts were directed towards how to deal with this behemoth, as if he managed to slay it, things would end up being better for him.


    But this was easier said than done, so he revised the plan in his head once again before starting to explain:


    "We first will send our boys down there, to plant bombs, very carefully, after jamming any sensors around the cruisers buried at each planet. When Islinda uncovers every single cruiser buried there, and we finish planting bombs around them, we will then detonate the bombs," he said.


    Rigo thought for a moment in this part of the plan, as he muttered:


    "It''s a diversion, an obvious distraction, they won''t fall into it."


    James always knew this, and that was the reason to take all this time to formulate and revise his plan; he made it in layers. One block above the other; that was the structure of his plan.


    Even the simplest and most obvious traps would succeed if it was used properly and wisely.


    "I know," James nodded, before adding, "but I''m depending on them, but on those corrupted officials here. bombing these cruisers would make them unable to reach their masters, and so they will, in panic, order the fleet of mercenaries to come back, and protect them," James said.


    "They will think they are under attack, not being a distraction," Rigo nodded, as he got what James meant, but this wasn''t enough to calm his doubts towards the whole plan. Despite that he remained silent waiting to hear his supreme leader''s next words.


    "Nice, what''s next then is based on the reaction of these mercenaries, but I think they will comply, partly, by sending some medium and small sizes cruisers, plus many fighters, to protect the planets, and silence those officials who hired them," James said, as he pointed to circle on a part equal to a fifth of the fleet, moving them from the hologram to the place of the planets.


    James didn''t put the hypothesis of the mercenaries to fully comply with the orders of the officials; they were mercenaries not slaves! They would prefer to die than to run away from a fight, especially a fight against their pride and reputation, a fight against such a meager force like his.


    "That will reduce their forces a bit, but not too much," Rigo said.


    "Right and wrong. Before I explain further, when we detonate the bomb, we will spread out one hundred elites of our droids in space, acting like dead objects in the course of the large cruiser. Once they start opening their hatches to launch the fighters, they will silently infiltrate the cruiser," James said, finally revealing his big piece.


    "But leader," Rigo stopped him in the middle of his speech, "for one hundred to take control over the large cruiser, it''s not an easy task," he said, pointing out the hard task his droids would have to face.


    "No, I didn''t say they will take control of the cruiser," James said, despite the mere thought of controlling such a behemoth really crossed his mind, and Rigo''s words bitterly reminded him of that.


    "This cruiser must be eliminated rapidly, in the earliest possible moment," he added, and he didn''t need to elaborate further, as Rigo understood his meaning.


    Rigo thought James would try to aim and seize this cruiser, and James thought initially like this, but then he removed this idea from his mind. He was now focusing on destroying the cruiser as fast as possible, as with this single blow, the entire hostile fleet would be in disarray.


    "In addition to that, our main problem, besides this large cruiser, is the large number of fighters these mercenaries have. Each ship we took a seizure of had many fighters inside. So, by sending most of the fighters away, and destroying the big shark in the waters, we could hunt them down easily and without many losses," James finished explaining his plan, as he looked at Rigo, waiting for his opinion and pointers.


    "Good plan," Rigo nodded, "but you said a hide and seek operation, but I can''t see it in the plan," he added, in an inquiring manner.


    "Oh, I forgot this. If we started to destroy the cruiser near the planets, the dispatched ships and fighters might join the main force and regain their morale, so we need to draw the main force away, far away than here. so we will play a hide and seek little game, with some skirmishes here and there just to make the game little spicy," James said, explaining this missed part of his plan.


    "It seems quite interesting," Rigo said, "as like this we can let our boys enter, plant bombs at the engine and the energy generators, then retreat, safely exiting the ship, before detonating it," he added, while nodding his head in satisfaction.


    "That''s part of it, plus I will detonate it inside the asteroid belt," James said, "as there the movement of the hostile fleet would be limited, with chaos added to the mix, they would destroy themselves on their own," he added, with a sneer. "Now, start distributing orders, let the boys go in small teams, and start phase one of the plan," he said to Rigo, who started to relay orders to the whole fleet.


    James sat there on his seat, listening to the beautiful silence around him, it was the silence before the storm.


    Down there, Islinda had received the detailed instructions about the plan, and she had to admit to herself that it was a great plan, and great plans usually had a tendency to fail.


    She started to see the major point which might lead this whole plan to crumble. The only spot where things might go south would be when the large cruiser reacted, as its reaction if was minimal, or didn''t react at all, the plan would entirely fail.


    She started to think, on her own, alone, about how to make sure these mercenaries wouldn''t put the nearby, rumored wealth ahead of the current business deal with these officials.


    The only thing she could think of, was to instigate the wrath and doubt of those officials towards those mercenaries, as they would deal with them not out of fear, but of anger and revenge.


    To do so, there was a simple means to that, so she asked the droid next to her to relay this message to Rigo, and then to James.


    "What do you say?" James opened his semi-closed eyes, as he asked Rigo to repeat what he just said.


    "I got a transmission from Islinda, she says in it this message: to avoid the failure of the plan, and secure a strong response from the enemy, you must disguise the bombing to be caused by those mercenaries. That''s what she said."


    James didn''t say anything for a while, before nodding and smiling in content. Islinda''s opinion and advice was really superb, perfectly on the spot. He knew the only weakness in this plan was the part when his enemies would respond, and he couldn''t find anyway to force their hands.


    However, Islinda had solved this issue for him. by faking the bombing to be done by the mercenaries, they would make the officials suspect the mercenaries, with the fact the mercenaries wouldn''t respond to them, or send a mere weak force out, they would be enraged, threatening the name of their master on the line.


    Either the mercenaries would comply or try to go and teach those officials a lesson. Either way, they would send a bigger part of their fleet, acting in favor of James'' plan.


    "Good, good," James muttered, before looking to Rigo, "Make the bombing to appear the mercenaries did it, use the ships we just secured from them, and throw some killed bodies of their surrendered fleet on the sites of the explosions," he added, with a wide grin, as this time he was confident, very confident in the success of his plan.

 Chapter 110: A Great Plan Always Fails

    James'' words were perfectly and swiftly executed by Rigo, who knew this would be considered the first big battle they would really fight. The past battle could hardly be described as such, so he made sure everything would go according to the plan.


    Islinda, on the other hand, continued her expedition, looking for buried cruisers, and her mind was rethinking about any loopholes that might be missed here.


    She didn''t know all the new developments at James'' side yet, but she was already so tense. She knew her part was crucial; any single mistake and she would fail; everyone would fail.


    But the more she thought about it, the more convinced with the plan, the more fearful she became, as perfect plans always had major issues, hidden until they happened already.


    She continued her journey though, and the pattern she found never changed, as each inhabited city here had one cruiser buried underneath. That meant the number of these cruisers were really great, bigger than what she initially thought.


    She thought after a while of thinking about this matter that she might find a couple of buried cruisers on each planet, but not next to each city!


    She kept scanning without any delay until she went to the main and central planet of this place.


    Just entering into this planet made her feel some doubts, as the atmosphere itself was quite heavy. She decided not to look at cruisers at once, and took a stroll on the streets of the main city here, the capital city.


    The capital here was such a large city; the largest she ever saw on these planets. She had many high buildings, exceeding twentieth floor at least, with many buildings being established using the cloud theory; floating over artificially condensed clouds.


    The style of this capital was modern, making it worthy to be the capital of this whole sect. The streets were bustling with activity, mainly merchants and customers, like the usual finding at any city street she visited before.


    But there was a new addition this time, making her realize why she felt so tense and wary when entering this magnificent place.


    What she saw didn''t like her, as she spotted many armored patrols, going around the street, as they were looking for someone, or something. She had to know what was going on, so she entered one of the most crowded bars here.


    "Have you heard it? many mercenary forces went missing the other day," one of the sitting close to her said, to one of those sitting with him.


    "Really? They ran away? Just typical of them."


    "No, that''s not the case, one of these mercenaries sent a distress signal, warning others from a trap happening at the asteroid belt."


    "Trap? Who is crazy enough to face the two large cruisers we have guarding this place? they are insane!"


    "Yes, they are. What I heard, though, was that one cruiser went into a nearby system, hiding there, while the other led a search team, looking for those hostiles."


    "I hope they find and kill them all. That''s the reason then all these patrols are going around all the streets since morning, disturbing my clients and ruining my business!"


    Islinda''s eyes shone, as she now knew what went missing from their plans, that other large cruiser! if her guess was correct, then this cruiser went with the company of some other smaller ones, hiding away, waiting to lure them out of their hiding, and they were just walking directly into their trap!


    This wasn''t good news, this was very grave news. She needed to alarm James and Rigo, warning them that the plan had a leak, unintentional one but it was enough to devastate everything!


    Just as she was about to move, the speakers continued their chat, and their next words attracted her attention, making her refrain from leaving now.


    "I also heard about our officials asking for help from external force, and they promised to show up if things got messy here," another one suddenly said, making Islinda''s heart fall to the ground!


    "No, that''s just a rumor, an old rumor of a force behind this place, but we never saw or heard about such a force!"


    "No, I''m telling you the truth, there is a real force behind here, and they intend to send some reinforcements in a month to protect this place."


    "So, even if, miraculously, those intruders managed to best our mercenaries, they would be doomed eventually?"


    "Yes, that''s the case."


    They didn''t know what this force was, but she did! the terrifying Terases race! She also knew they were so far from here, on the other end of the galaxy, so if they decided to come and rescue her, they would take a long time; reaching even two weeks until they would come.


    "This isn''t the time to think about that," she thought to herself, trying to sort out her priorities. Islinda knew they were doomed, but not right now. so she decided to put her attention to the highest priority now; not alarming James but gathering intel!


    Knowledge was power! And just spending half an hour here made her gain all this info, such info that would change the course of the entire war and their whole plans.


    So she didn''t hurriedly leave the place, as she continued to listen to the gossip and rumors here. they had been already discovered, and now the Terases race already knew about what was happening here.


    One month, they had only one month left to strengthen their grip here and make themselves stronger. Initially they thought Terases race wouldn''t interfere except after six months, but it seemed they underestimated the importance of this place to them.


    She returned to her cruiser, and then relayed the bad news she found to James.


    James received the news with admirable calm. He was expecting something to go wrong, but truly he didn''t expect another behemoth to be lying in darkness, waiting for him to trip and then viciously attack him.


    "I really greatly underestimate you, my dear mercenaries," he laughed on this as this seemed quite amusing and challenging. Rigo was next to him, listening to all this, waiting for James to give the orders to halt the plan and wait until redrawing another one.


    James went silent for a long time, but he didn''t give the order to stop the operation.


    "We will continue as planned, but first we will take that large cruiser out, using the same tactic we intended to use against the other large one," he finally said, giving the green light to all the plans to proceed. He knew his time here got shortened, but he intended to make best use of this month, to strengthen his army.


    He was sure Terases'' race wouldn''t risk loosening their hand over the newly acquired territories, and so they would only dispatch a small number of cruisers to here. He had to match their numbers, and use the advantage of his droids to max.


    A confrontation with the Terases race was inevitable. Fighting them with a star system under his control was way much better than fighting them using these refugee fleets!


    Rigo, on the side, didn''t know what to say to his leader, but he knew this plan was a must to do, no matter how many sacrifices they would suffer here.


    "Do we proceed with the disguise plan?" he asked.


    "Sure," he said, "we must make them believe they had us tricked, so they wouldn''t suspect anything to happen to their trap, and then they might change their approach. Despite being discovered, and losing our element of surprise, at least we had gained great intel, and we mustn''t lose that advantage now."


    James point of view was correct, and Rigo couldn''t argue with that, but he had to admit to himself, the odds of their success had fallen dramatically from high percentage to a very dangerously lower one.


    However he didn''t have any better suggestion to make, so he proceeded with instructions given to all his men, and ordered Islinda to be careful while looking for those buried cruisers.


    At the same time, he sent many small fighters to look for that large cruiser in the nearby systems. Fighters were so small, hardly could be detected if they were in small numbers, and he intended to make their appearance a surprise for that large cruiser.


    The search took a whole day, while they kept their eye vigilant over the other large cruiser leading the main mercenary army, they also kept themselves hidden well not to be discovered. The plan of planting bombs went smoothly, and Islinda finished her job, and then decided to stay at the capital, trying to look for any updates.


    After one day of constant and careful search, they finally found the large cruiser, hidden three star systems away from here, hiding with a fleet of one hundred small and medium sized cruisers.


    "Let''s go and pay them a visit then," James said, "send our droids first, and when they infiltrate the cruiser, we will move to meet them," he added, before he retrieved the map of that system, looking at the spot these cruisers were hidden, and try to come up with a strategy.

 Chapter 111: Hijacking A Large Cruiser!

    He knew the battle must be swift, to not let the other force take note of their appearance, and then pincer then from behind. Suddenly an idea popped up his mind, so he said:


    "Change of plans, slightly though. When we attack that large cruiser, leave a couple of fighters here to monitor the other force. When they march to meet us, start detonating the bombs planted around the buried cruisers. Make sure the detonation occurs when these cruisers leave the star system, not before."


    Rigo understood the meaning behind this, as adding chaos to the enemy''s plan was always a good strategy. Even if they lost their surprise attack advantage, they knew the enemies'' plans, and this was the best thing to use the plan of the enemy against him.


    But the issue here was the timing, it had to be superb, not little early, not too much late.


    "How about we leave Islinda here to do this?" Rigo asked, as Islinda was now staying back at the capital city, watching over things.


    "Hmm," James just thought about it, and found it was the best idea, "fine, just tell her to move from there when we start moving, and be ready to detonate the bombs."


    Rigo sent the new assignment to Islinda, who knew the plan, and understood how important her role would be.


    Just as she was about to head back to the bar, she noticed some eyes were focused on her cruiser. she landed it in a place designated for cruisers to park here, but it seemed she either got exposed, or those were just a random type of a thief.


    She sighed, as either way she would face trouble at such a delicate timing. She didn''t want to attract anymore trouble, so she returned inside the cruiser, and took it off to another city.


    She didn''t know that these people were watching her since she entered the capital, as part of their job to search for any suspicious strangers.


    The more they followed her, the more suspicion they became, and just as she left, they were about to ask their boss to come here and break into her cruiser and search it.


    As she departed, they sent this info to their superiors. Many reports were already coming about many suspicious people, as this place, originally, was a lair of dark trade, so all of the people were suspicious.


    The report of her entered into a huge pile of reports, and luckily it got neglected by those who were observing these reports. Many of the clients here had vigilant nature, and so when they were observed, they would notice that, and in a normal way they would leave here and go for another city, or a planet, or even leave here eventually.


    So, by this accidental move, Islinda got herself out of a big trouble that might have compromised the whole operation. She was lucky, as luck always played a great role in determining the success of failure of any plan; no matter how meticulously planned or carefully executed!


    All was set, and the pieces started to move. James was with the fleet, getting the latest update on the situation inside that big cruiser.


    His men managed to infiltrate it successfully, and now they were sending updated intel to them.


    The first obvious, and weird, thing to spot was the low number of mercenaries running the cruiser. It was a large cruiser, one that needed tens of thousands to operate, but the droids only met hundreds along the way to the energy generation deck.


    "That''s suspicious," James muttered, as he didn''t think the whole big cruiser would be this empty.


    "Perhaps we killed many of their men already," Rigo said, before adding, "and Islinda told us before about these patrols, I think they have already divided their forces."


    His words were somehow logical, but James didn''t buy it. he felt there was another reason, hidden perhaps from their eyes. He sighed, tired from this hard to achieve goal, as it seemed those mercenaries weren''t that easy to deal with.


    What he knew that any large cruiser could contain a huge number of soldiers or mercenaries. Even if they sent people down there to help, this would never affect the population of this large cruiser, turning it into such a haunted state!


    "Just send some of our droids in fighters to scan the remaining systems beside us, let them search in a radius of ten system afar."


    "Affirmative."


    Rigo didn''t argue with James, as he knew his reason was too perfect to be true. He then arranged things, and he lowered the traveling speed of the fleet, so they wouldn''t run into a trap without knowing it.


    If the cruiser was empty then that meant it came here this way. That possibility made him realize he wasn''t the only one laying traps here, and his enemy was trying to hunt him the same way he was hunting them.


    And the victor would go to the most daring one!


    James had another stroke of brilliance, as an idea popped up in his mind. He remained silent, thinking over and over about this thought. The more he thought about it the more he liked it. he turned to Rigo as he said at once:


    "Make our droids make a small hall, unseen and undetected by any scanners, and send all the droids inside that large cruiser, and make them take control over it."


    Rigo just glanced silently at his leader, feeling how bold and greedy he was. He didn''t comment, either, as he also felt it was a great opportunity to gain a large cruiser out of nowhere.


    This changed everything, as they stopped travelling and he sent all the droids he could spare. Over one thousand droids moved, like dead pieces of metal in space, towards the direction of that large cruiser.


    Instead of destroying the cruiser, they were now aiming to hijack it! if not for the repeated reports coming from the inside droids about the small numbers of mercenaries here; Rigo would obviously object to such approach.


    But his one thousand droids were more than enough to secure the whole ship. A large cruiser was destined to fall in their hands, not just by mere fluke. Luck always favored the brave, also winning.


    The operation took four hours to be completed, as the number of mercenaries inside was initially low, and against their droids, they didn''t stand a chance.


    This made them gain full and absolute control over the large cruiser.


    "The large cruiser is under our full control, supreme leader!" Rigo''s tone was full of joy and pride. James could relate to that, as he was also feeling the same. But he didn''t rush to early celebrate, a hard win victory must be secured first or else bad things might happen.


    "Make then scan the data of the ship first, let''s see what we missed here."


    "Affirmative."


    It didn''t take more than one hour to unveil the mystery here. initially, the mercenaries weren''t one group, as they were three different groups, and they had three different leaders with three different opinions and plans.


    One was to go and look for them in that asteroid belt, and the other went in hiding here, away from the eyes of James, and the third cruiser leader saw it was already a lost cause; departed already from here and left the whole place.


    ''That''s relieving," James muttered when he read the documents sent by his droids. "Call back all we sent for search, make them join the others in the large cruiser, then make them attack it. don''t forget to send a signal of us falling in the trap just after we wrap that battle."


    "¡­"


    Rigo had no other opinion, as this was the best approach here. He started to organize everything, and the battle was really a one sided fight. They watched it on the holographic broadcast their droids sent, and the battle ended beautifully, with more than fifty cruisers of different sizes to join their fleet.


    James ordered all the prisoners to be executed, as always, then a signal was sent to the main fleet of mercenaries, waiting for them to take the bait.


    The message sent from Islinda told them they had already started moving towards their location, and James was getting excited about it.


    "Let Islinda detonate the bomb when ready," he said, as he was now one system away from the large cruiser, two system away from the eleven planet system.


    Things were heading beautifully, and finally according to plan.


    Just as the mercenary fleet left the system, Islinda detonated the bombs. A lot of explosions occurred in the planets, causing more chaos and spreading panic among the inhabitants.


    And it was logic for the officials to lose their calm, ordering the mercenary fleet to come back. This made the mercenaries chaotic, and they behaved like James had expected, splitting the fleet into two, with the main force, the large cruiser, to head towards theirs.

 Chapter 112: Finally Winning the War

    James had already moved from his place, to meet the rescuing fleet midway. The battle wasn''t that hard to manage, as the number of the fleet of mercenaries was already low.


    Just as he appeared with his large fleet he managed to scare them out. Many tried to run, but he was already well prepared for them, spreading out many of his ships to circle them, tightly not giving them any space to run to.


    The battle didn''t last long, as apart from some crazy maniacs who tried to attack and destroy some of his ships, they had what they deserved for sure; the rest tried to escape. They acted wisely, but in the end most of the ships surrendered, and their fleet expanded by over three hundred ships.


    This huge increase gave James the confidence to set his eyes towards the biggest threat to him now. "It''s time to get that big fish, send the boys inside that cruiser, and plant bombs there," he said to Rigo, as he decided to destroy this large cruiser and take it down!


    For him gaining one cruiser was good, and it wasn''t wise to just clash directly with that big one, as sharks might kill each other if faced in a bloody fight.


    The wisest approach here was the initial plan that he didn''t follow. He decided to plant the bombs even long before he reached there, using the dead droid plan.


    James was now planning a pincer attack amidst the confusion caused by the bombs inside the large cruiser. He and his fleet marched rapidly, towards the main battlefield, and once they reached there, the situation was already heated up.


    The fight had already started, and a huge battle between two large cruisers dominated the scene. He didn''t like it, as this way his large cruiser would get much damage already! The only weapon he had towards the large cruiser was his space bombers in his possession, which grew from only two to over twenty.


    However these space bombers were fragile, weak without any defense of any kind. That made them vulnerable, so he waited, calmly, while he joined the small fights going on between fighters and small and intermediate sized cruisers, waiting for his men to finish their task.


    "Have the men finished with their task?" he asked, while feeling more stressed the longer this fight continued. He finally got his hands over a large cruiser. this behemoth would shape the entire future of his, as everything would start from its domineering existence.


    Losing it meant losing a great edge from the start, and so he was so nervous right now.


    "Not yet, they needed more time," Rigo instantly replied, feeling how nervous his leader was.


    "Make them hurry, the war won''t wait for them to finish god dammit!"


    He was so nervous and Rigo didn''t respond. He knew how delicate and important the fight of his men inside the large cruiser was. If they were discovered earlier, then forget about destroying this large cruiser fast.


    Victory was in sight, but the young age of James and his lack of leading and battle experience overwhelmed him right now. So Rigo stepped in, covering up for his leader, not relaying anything James ordered him to say.


    After half an hour, the good news came, as they managed to successfully plant bombs inside.


    "Finally!!!" James heaved a long sigh of relief before his eyes turned cold and his expression became ruthless as he glanced over that distant behemoth attacking its own preciousness. "Detonate the bombs, let it burn!" he viciously gave the signal for Rigo to detonate it, and it was quite a spectacular scene.


    The large cruiser was actively using its large numbers of different sized cannons to attack everywhere. The moment the bombs were detonated, the ship suddenly halted, everything froze up like it entered a time point where time didn''t even pass there.


    This moment of pause was more than enough for many attacks to pass the lowered shields now and massively devastate the outer haul of the ship. The next minutes went by in strange and deep silence, with only the sound of explosions coming from the outer shell of the large cruiser echoing everywhere.


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Rumble!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    It was like the birth of a new small star in this distant forgotten place of the universe. The large cruiser had many explosions beyond count, and each one came with mighty rumbling and severe tearing of the ship from inside out.


    Like an egg hitting a rock, the large behemoth that made even James so nervous was simply devastated like that!


    The flames alone were enough to engulf many fighters and small cruisers nearby, causing them to destroy and kill every single living one inside them.


    It was such an overwhelming victory, which was ignited over the tomb of this large cruiser. "Send the bombers in," James ordered, "and make everyone guard them, it''s the last hit in this war, and let''s do it beautifully," he added, with a wide smile of content over his face.


    Rigo complied, as he organized the whole fleet to form a strong defensive net that protected the twenty space bombers on their journey. The bombers were like sacred knights, going on a sacred mission, all protected from every angle, with no single attack managed to hit them.


    It didn''t take minutes to reach the space above the large cruiser, where the gates of hell opened, and rows after rows of cruiser destroying bombs were thrown on the large cruiser, destroying what was left of life in it.


    The explosion was huge, and the destruction of this large cruiser was a rare to be seen scene. James knew the battle was over, and so the mercenaries, who tried to escape, but most of them were either shot down, or surrendered to him.


    Before he used to kill every single prisoner, just to secure himself from any treason in such a delicate time, but now he didn''t need to. He was the victor, the conqueror of this star system. If anyone wanted to double cross him he would be insane, as there was no one else there, no other power to support anyone except for James'' power.


    "Leave them alive, we might need their help later," James finally showed them some mercy, as he knew, by the total destruction and defeat of the mercenaries fleet, there was no loyalty left inside any living one of the mercenaries here.


    So, he decided to keep them, after all he was going to recruit a large number of soldiers, and to do so he needed a core to begin with.


    "Wrap things here, and let''s go back to Islinda," he said.


    "Affirmative."


    The aftermath of the battle didn''t take long to be organized, as all the remaining ships of the mercenaries ran away from this place, lamenting their bad luck in not following that leader who left earlier.


    James watched his new fleet, growing over four hundred cruisers now, with one big, whale-like large cruiser, moving amidst them all like a mighty being. He chuckled, as finally, his first step towards establishing his own force had already started.


    James sat inside the commanding deck in the large cruiser, ruled now under his control, as they approached the main planet in the centre of this area. Now, with all the mercenaries gone, he entered the planet, unhindered.


    He was now the supreme ruler of this part of space. He sat there, inside his commanding deck, observing the scene of the planet coming near to him, while imagining flashes of his rapid shifting life he recently lived.


    "It was such a nice journey, I really didn''t expect it when I planned to escape from that dirty planet!" he thought to himself, while recalling everything from beginning up till now.


    He sent a separate detachment to each planet, as they took hold of everything there, locking up officials and high leveled personnel, interrogating them for info regarding business here.


    The last planet was the crown jewel of this place, as it had ten large inhabited cities, each could marvel the largest city in any other planet.


    These cities had a very advanced style of life that was dedicated to attracting the rich customers, and other luxury lifestyle lovers.


    James took control of this planet easily, as the patrol teams made of volunteers living here had already surrendered in front of his fleet. He didn''t let the large cruiser dock on the planet, or at any other planet, as he spread them all like a huge defensive network.


    Inside the main hall of the huge palace in the capital, James sat on the throne, which he didn''t dislike, with its main body formed of a unique golden ore, with many dark red and black ores that kept flashing from time to time.


    ''I like that seat, I might even take it with me when I finally leave here,'' he said to himself, as he sat, comfortably, feeling the taste of victory at last.

 Chapter 113: A Meeting with Merchants

    In front of him, there was Rigo, Alex, Eli and Islinda, who were smiling as they watched him enjoy this rare moment of peace.


    "Tell me, is there any remaining resistance here?" he asked.


    "No, they are all either left or surrendered," Rigo replied.


    "What about the economy of this place?" he asked, "I noticed many cruisers docked here, even large cruisers," he added, as he noticed them when he descended to here.


    "This is the trade these folks are specialized at," Islinda said, as she was the only one knowing about everything here, "this part of the dark trade is very special with three main types of trade, hijacked cruisers and other type of weapons, war prisoners species traffic, and finally ores."


    James and Rigo, both, found it very interesting, while Alex thought this was all boring. As for Eli, she was in her own world. James then asked:


    "What about the rulers of this place? how much percentage of everything they gather?"


    He knew the rulers here must be living on something like taxes, and most of it would be sent to the Terases race.


    "They take thirty percent of each trade, and there are already systems facilitating all this," she said, as she grinned from ear to ear, "the better news is these officials collect these interest and send them once every single year to their superiors, and I know for sure they still didn''t send the last year revenue."


    "Really?!!" James just exclaimed, before clapping his hand, impressed by this news, "That''s simply amazing, Islinda. Rigo," he then looked towards his man, who just nodded, understanding James'' obvious desire.


    "Islinda, I want you to be the general supervisor on these trades. We need to buy cruisers, and what we are in desperate need to in addition to that would be soldiers," James said, as he was planning how to use this place for his best interest, "I want you to buy soldiers as large as possible first, and then you can buy more cruisers later. Arrange this with Rigo all the time," he added.


    "Sure, it''s easy for me," she instantly replied.


    "What about me?" Alex suddenly said, "I want to be a general," he added, "a great leader in this rebellion move," he raised his chest, proudly, while saying this.


    James, Rigo, and Islinda exchanged silent glances without saying a word. They didn''t know from where this limited minded person had gotten the idea of them being a rebellion! As for Eli, she remained silent all this time.


    they were trying to escape here at any cost, not trying to make a change!


    "Ok, go with Rigo," James said, with a helpless tone, "he will arrange your training to be a great general of the rebels," he added, holding back his laughter, as the others did.


    Alex went out with Rigo with a big smile on his face, while Islinda muttered softly to James:


    "Don''t encourage him, he is just a little boy."


    "He is the same age as me and you," James replied to her, while watching her move outside his hall, with her alluring slim body, swinging from side to side with each step on the ground. "No one is like me and you, dear," she said, while walking away, out of the hall, following the two up ahead.


    "Wait!" he suddenly called out to her, as amidst all this joyful atmosphere, one person remained silent like she was dead! "Take her with you," he said pointing out to Eli whose body shivered when she noticed his gaze and heard his words.


    The order was for Islinda, but Eli thought it was for her, so she moved out, like an idiot, towards the outside. As for Islinda, she simply watched her passing by, without even releasing a single glance over to her, before she looked at James and helplessly shook her head.


    "See you soon young king," she laughed while sarcastically waving her hand and saluting him before following the disturbed Eli.


    James just shook his head, while smiling, helplessly. "Women!" he muttered, helplessly.


    This day was very calm, not like the next day, when most of the business owners, if not all of them, from all the planets came to the palace, asking for a meeting with James.


    This was inevitable, and so he met them with Islinda, while Rigo was standing on the side, putting to note the merchants who were dealing in arms and in ex-soldiers traffic.


    As for Eli, she decided to take a corner, away from everything, as her mind couldn''t yet overcome the trauma she felt from Charles crime of murder she and others committed.


    Everything went smoothly, as James welcomed them all, and they all sat in the big hall, completely filling it. they chose one merchant, who was an old man, with long hair and hunched back, but his eyes and features were sharp and fierce. James felt like watching an old monster, not such an old man.


    "In the name of all merchants, I welcome you, our new ruler, to our humble place," that old man said, in a tone so strong, but not that respective.


    "Thanks for the welcome, after all I took here by force, not by diplomacy or support," James replied, simply showing off his might and force in front of everyone, so they wouldn''t have any second thoughts.


    "That''s a sign for your strength, my lord, and we hope we will be always in your support," the old man said, replied in a calm and steady tone. "I came here with my fellow merchants, bearing more questions in mind, hoping you would grace us with your answers upon them," he added.


    James knew they were all fearful of their trade, their business, and he just had the right answer to them.


    This was a black market zone, so any rules here would be set by the ruler of the place, which in this case would be him. he decided, after thinking so much about it, to show them his intentions in actions, so he declared:


    "I know you have doubts, and that''s normal, but as long as you follow the old rules, your assets and businesses won''t be touched."


    Once he declared this, many sighs of relief echoed in the hall, with a wave of whispers that didn''t last long, before they all stood up, bowed their heads, and said in single tone:


    "We will always be loyal to you."


    James knew this was just for show, and in real hard times they wouldn''t stand with him, and even might betray him. However, he just saw them in this light as well, he wasn''t indebted to them, and if he could get better interests, then he wouldn''t hesitate to break this word of his.


    "In addition to that, your business will be deducted only ten percent of the interest for this month only," he suddenly added, and everyone had a very cheerful look on his face.


    Before entering this meeting, he had a long discussion with Islinda and Rigo, as they all agreed to lower the interests for a month, so they could attract more merchants and more customers to here. that would give them more varieties, and at the same time they wouldn''t lose much in return.


    They needed to finish their preparations this month, before the arrival of the Terases fleet here. James and Rigo understood how important this place was in the future plans of that ambitious brutal warmongering race, so they knew the next battle wouldn''t be a simple one, and a single victory wouldn''t put an end to this race''s attacks on here.


    The solution for this would be to show off a mighty fleet, with very trained soldiers, and an endless number of cruisers and fighters to the first waves of the Terases expeditions. If they managed to pull this off, they would spare themselves the harassment of this growing empire for quite a long time, before the empire would focus all its attention on them.


    However by this time, they would be far away from here, already left this great sector.


    The merchants didn''t stay any further, as they hurried to leave here, with wide smiles over their faces. James just glanced at Rigo, who nodded and then moved to speak with some of the ex-soldiers traffickers he selected before they left here.


    When he examined the treasury the other night, he was astonished to see the huge wealth stored inside. No one, not even Islinda, thought this place would yield so much profit, and this was only one year profit.


    So, they planned to use most of it to spend on buying ex-soldiers, and many cruisers and fighters to support them, putting the first seed in forming their majestic and soon to be universe renowned fleet.


    Rigo went ahead to make a good deal with these merchants, trying to use their good mood to strike a discounted offer from them, and when he came back with a smile on his face, James knew he succeeded in his task.

 Chapter 114: Elis Decision

    "Have they agreed?" James asked, as he was eager to know the answer.


    "Sure, and they are going to hand many of what they had to us," Rigo said, "do you want to start their training or wait until we have enough?" he added.


    James didn''t want any surprises, so he replied:


    "These are ex-soldiers, they have already great experience in battle, just put them to test and distribute them to their posts."


    "I think there is a place nearby that had a zone that might fit as a training place," Islinda said, as she added, "it''s the same place you guys used as a trap."


    "The asteroid belt?" James wondered.


    "Yes, it''s," she nodded, "I heard it''s a great practice place," she added.


    James just looked at Rigo, who shrugged his shoulders while saying:


    "In theory it''s a good spot to train these guys."


    "Ok, let''s use it then," James said, before turning to Islinda and asking, "what about the weapons here? is there anything good?"


    "Do you mean by weapons, cannons and stuff?" Islinda asked in doubt.


    "Yes, I want as many high end techs as you can get," he added, before looking at Rigo, "I want all our ships to be upgraded by the latest gear. This is your responsibility."


    "I will see it through," Rigo simply replied.


    "Instead of just upgrading the fleet, why not change the ships already?" Islinda asked in discomfort.


    "No, that would cost us a lot," James refused her suggestion, "we need to spend every single coin in the right place, and if we can buy ships, then we will buy them to enlarge the fleet, not to replace it," he added.


    "Sure, sure, whatever," Islinda said, before standing up, started moving away with her stunning body. "I will go and see the merchants actions, I have some under my radar," she said.


    "Women," James muttered, helplessly, looking away from her mesmerizing back.


    Rigo just glanced at his leader, and this little beautiful viper, and said nothing. He knew his leader would be interested in women, but he hoped Islinda wouldn''t be one of them.


    "Any new from home?" James asked.


    "No, no major moves yet," Rigo replied. Though James took all the droids left with him, there were many remnants of that civilization, the spying tech these droids used before to spy on the galaxy, and now these devices were used to spy on the moves of the Terases race.


    "Any updates, make sure to inform me at once," James said, before standing up and heading towards his room. "I will rest for the whole day, and tomorrow I will check on your progress," he said.


    Rigo just nodded, as he left the throne room, heading outside to facilitate the deals he wanted.


    Islinda started to work over the assignment she took from James, thinking back to the moment when she moved leisurely, showing off her entire body to him.


    She didn''t need to look back, as this walk with such a body was enough to stun anyone. She was pretty confident in her sexuality, her ability to make him totally fall in love with her.


    The mere thought of that made her fall in laughter the entire morning. She started her next day so early as she went to check the palace they were now living in.


    The palace was such a large and magnificent building in the whole city, and since day one here she had her eyes on it. The palace reigned over a large territory, making it one of the largest estates here, if not the largest by any means.


    As she woke up early in the morning, she started examining and checking every room here. The place was really large so she decided to divide it into sections, starting with the back one, as she went to level two to check it.


    "What is this place?!!!"


    The moment she entered one of the rooms she was stunned by the scene she saw in front of her eyes. The room was a wide hall, ending up with a very large and spacious balcony overlooking a rear vast garden.


    It was so early in the morning, and the sun was still shining early here in the world. she got to move towards the balcony where the sun rays were still so immature to announce their presence to the entire universe, but for her this was enough!


    This scene was strangely identical to a scene she used to see everyday from her own balcony back at her palace at her empire. she moved, mesmerized by what she was seeing, and without knowing it she grabbed a chair and sat on it examining the scenery.


    She took hours there until the sun was midway in the sky without even noticing this. She stayed there for at least three hours without looking at anything else around her; so she didn''t notice the appearance of Eli behind her back.


    Eli hadn''t slept since last night, and this was totally apparent on her face, swollen eyes, and tired looks. She looked wracked, like she came running through the entire world to come here, passing through tough terrain and dirty weather, and maybe a couple of battlefields in the middle.


    But that was nothing compared to what was going on inside her mind!


    Eli was such a pure girl, raised her entire life on the shrine of light. She was exactly what a light girl should be, with pure soul and no record of any sin at all.


    Such a white page was tarnished by the sin of killing Charles, something she couldn''t imagine how others just passed over it like it was nothing! She stood there, motionless, behind Islinda, despising everything she represented her and James!


    She knew the reasons they used to claim Charles'' life for, but she didn''t accept them or even felt any sympathy with any of them. for her this was pure murder, the highest of sins of all!


    She couldn''t live like this, not without redemption! And every time she stayed here, beside those criminals, she couldn''t live a single moment of peace ever in her life!


    Her mind, her soul, even her beliefs all denied this! They were murderers! She just wanted to open her mouth and rant over them, calling them what they actually deserved; but she didn''t.


    She knew this would come with a hefty price, especially from someone who initially did everything to save her life. she glanced at Islinda, feeling how disgusted such a person must be, not knowing or even admiring the rare beauty of nature that presented itself clearly to both of girls.


    "Oh, how long have you been standing here?"


    Once the sun turned hot, soared to the centre of the sky, Islinda left her seat to find Eli standing like a statue behind her, so she asked, acting with much courtesy as she was in a perfect mood right now.


    She found something that reminded her of home; her own home and empire that was stolen from her by force and injustice!


    During her hours staying there, her mind and soul promised to do anything, go to any lengths just to achieve one goal; to return home.


    "I was here for hours, wanted¡­" the words choked in Eli''s throat as she hated herself for being such nice to such a murderer!


    "Wanted what?" Islinda asked with a pure smile and good intention, not knowing the deep and twisted curses Eli was calling upon her silently in her mind right now.


    "I wanted to resign, isolate myself away from these worldly matters," Eli finally said what she came here for.


    "Oh¡­ that''s surprising," Islinda was taken aback by her request, not knowing what she should say. "Have you¡­ have you told him?" she asked, referring to James by her words obviously.


    "No, not yet," Eli shook her head before adding, "I wanted to find a place to stay at first, to live and¡­ enjoy the coming days of peace and quiet."


    She wanted to say to redeem her own soul and cleanse herself from the hideous crime and grave sin they all committed, but she couldn''t say that out loud.


    She was raised to be pure and humble, not vulgar and rude! Even if she cursed them all silently inside her mind, she couldn''t open her mouth and state that out loud.


    "So, what do you want from me then?" Islinda asked, as she was confused, not feeling that she fully understood Eli''s reasons and demands. "James was the one to station you with me, so you should go and tell him."


    "Later, not now," Eli did her best to control her voice which quivered showing how much conflicted and pained she was right now. she had a tear in her eyes, so bitter and burning that she wanted to release loose, but she didn''t. "I want to go to a distant monastery, so figured out to ask your help for that," she finally stated what she wanted from her.

 Chapter 115: Elas Departure

    "You want me to look for this place for you?" Islinda asked, before sighing, "that''s ok dear, come, I was about to go down and meet the officials and merchants. Let''s first go to the archives and look for any monsatery here for you."


    Islinda then led the way and Eli followed, silently from the back, trying her best to control her emotions well and behave well.


    The archive was in the basement, beside the main vault of the palace. Islinda had once come here to check things out, and so she knew the way and perfectly led Eli there.


    The man responsible for the archives was a mix of human and elf, with long ears and human head, with a long and good body that was a mark for elves. "What can I help you today, my esteemed ladies?" he asked the moment he saw them coming in the archives, politely saluting them with a short bow.


    "We want to know if there is a monastery here, secluded and away of noise," Islinda said, as she glanced at Eli to confirm she was asking the right thing.


    Eli was nervous, quite nervous actually, so she neglected a small detail, a detail that would define her entire future later on. she nodded, affirming the words of Islinda.


    "Oh, there is such a monastery here, on the long west desert, the white sand desert. It''s called the shrine of the sun, it''s a good place, nice fellows living there. you can go easily to it by any cruiser my ladies."


    "Do you have a map?" Islinda asked instantly as she was quite busy to follow this mad girl beside her on this adventure.


    "Sure, one moment please," the man disappeared for quite some time before returning with a map, a very detailed one actually, with a mark over a place there. "Here, this mark is the place of the shrine," he said as he gave the map to Islinda.


    "thanks," she replied, politely, before turning and gave the map to Eli. As the two went outside, Islinda stressed over the point of telling James again as she said:


    "You shouldn''t leave before telling James, alright?"


    "S- Sure, I won''t leave before telling him," Eli lied, as she had the strength to face anyone, but not James.


    James had a very special place in her heart, making her unable to stand in front of him and hid her true feelings and emotions. For her she wanted just to throw herself in his embrace and cry, cry until her soul wither from pain and guilt.


    But this way wasn''t the right way to redeem herself; she had to dedicate herself to the light again. this was the way she only knew about.


    "Good, I will leave you now as I have many things in waiting," Islinda said before finally turning away, making Eli sigh a long and deep sigh of relief.


    As the two girls went different ways, the man inside the archive noticed everything that happened, hurriedly returned inside the archive, grabbed a communicating screen stored carefully under many records before pressing on a button and sending one short message.


    "I have sent you a pure white lamp, belonging to the shrine of light. Make sure to twist her well, and make her turn into a black wolf worthy of the shrine of darkness."


    Then he sent the message away, before smiling in content. This day was deemed to be a turning point in the lives of everyone, without them noticing that what simply happened here had such a devastating effect on all of their future.


    Eli didn''t inform James by her decision or even left a farewell note to him; she simply vanished and when James asked about her a couple of days later, he was shocked to learn about her bold decision.


    He didn''t comment despite ordering Rigo to dispatch secret agents to monitor that shrine. Everyone felt nothing wrong here, except James who had this strange worrying hunch about this incident.


    Despite that he was totally immersed in his own affairs, and this incident was doomed to be forgotten for such a long time, before it would return to the surface at a very decisive moment later one.


    The next day, James went on a wide check tour on all the planets. He made sure everything went according to plan. He was also quite pleased by the deals Rigo had made, as the numbers of soldiers under his command started to well up, counting tens of thousands now, enough to arm a thousand ships fleet.


    "Give the green light to Islinda, let''s amass enough ships for these boys," James didn''t delay to support them, as he wanted these soldiers to be combat ready at any time.


    "We have enough fighters for them," Rigo suggested, instead of buying ships, they use these soldiers for the large, unused fleet of fighters they had.


    "Then what about tomorrow''s batch? Next week''s batch?" James asked, "we need to be ready. Just start forming a second fleet, each one must have from five hundred to one thousand ships, led by a large cruiser," he added, drawing the general and latest warfare tactics to his own fleet.


    "Affirmative," Rigo just replied, as he had to comply with his leader''s wishes.


    The next few days proved James'' vision to be true. The number of their soldiers just kept escalating day by day, and eventually their fighters and cruisers were completely filled with soldiers, and even the newly bought one thousand cruisers were also filled partly with them.


    It was a race against time, with the trade going smoothly as they expected, with much more trade happening here than ever, benefitting from the offer James had offered to merchants here.


    That increased the total revenue of James, and also the variety of goods had increased exponentially, giving them the opportunity to choose between many races, even between some famous cruisers'' models.


    The more merchants came here, the more lively the place had become, and that made the planets look more crowded than before, and also more dangerous.


    James asked the newly recruited soldiers to be led by his droids, and start to patrol the area, inside and outside these planets. He also made many disguises as normal clients, walked into the streets, used the previous experience of Islinda to gather intel.


    Things were going smoothly, especially when he hadn''t found any source of unrest or troubles for the past two weeks.


    But after two week of reigning control over this place, and his fleet had grown to two sub fleets, each were led by a large cruiser, and a fleet of one thousand cruisers, the first major problem happened.


    James was inside the main throne hall, enjoying reading the latest reports sent from Islinda and Rigo while bathing in sunlight. A servant moved with haste, and some nervousness on his face, as he hurriedly to say:


    "My lord, there is an emergency in the back garden of the palace."


    James looked at him in a strange way, as this palace was highly secured by Rigo''s droids, and the latest spying detection tech they ever found here in black market.


    "Just tell me what''s there," he said, with no much care for the matter.


    "A strange hole appeared there, my lord, people said it was like a black hole, which would absorb everything here," he said, with a sharp trembling move of fear that didn''t escape James'' vision.


    "Oh, then led the way," James said, as he pressed some buttons on the screen he was holding in hand, as he sent a message for Rigo to come here. he exited the throne hall, passed through some long and complex corridor of the palace, ending up in the large back garden of this palace.


    Once there, James could hear the ruckus from far, as many servants were running, with pale faces and panicked looks. He walked in faster steps, running towards the direction everyone came from.


    As he reached there, he was met by a large ball of deep blue, with arcs of lightning dancing around its edges. James noticed that some servants tried to touch it, but apparently that didn''t end up well for them.


    Behind James came his personal bodyguards, ten very experienced droids, and once they reached him, they shielded him with their weapons, which was now pointed towards this strange ball.


    "Orders, my leader," one of them said, as he waited for James'' commands.


    "Hey," James didn''t reply to this droid, as he yelled at one of the freaked out servants, "did anyone try to attack it before?" he asked.


    "Yes, these servants did," the servant boy replied, as he suddenly identified James'' face, but the fear he felt was overwhelming more than his fear from James.


    "Then we have to wait," he said, ordering his men to stand back a little, as attacking this ball seemed not to be the right decision to make.


    A brief message suddenly kicked in from Islinda, as she notified him with the appearance of strange risky balls all over the planets.


    "Don''t attack the balls, just surround them and send for Rigo to deploy reinforcements," he hurriedly sent to her, as he knew she might order her own patrolling guards to attack the balls.


    He then looked at the ball in front of him, and muttered:


    "What are you exactly? And who sent you?"


    These phenomenon kept occurring at many places around the planets under James'' control. Per his orders, Rigo dispatched a good part of the fleet soldiers to surround and be ready for anything that might pop out of these balls.


    Rigo then came to James, with a serious look on his face.

 Chapter 116: A Disaster, Turning into An Opportunity

    "Do you have any clue regarding these?" James asked, hoping Rigo might have an answer to that.


    "Unfortunately not, this is my first time seeing something like this," Rigo replied.


    "That''s strange," James muttered, "maybe this is just a diversion, are the fleet main force in their positions?" he asked.


    "Yes, leader, they are ready for any invasion. I have already thought of this possibility, and acted upon it before I came here," Rigo said.


    "Good," James nodded, but just before he could say any more words, a sudden bang occurred at the ball. This bang wasn''t the only one, as many other echoes appeared after that, coming from far.


    "Watch out," Rigo said, preparing for the worse.


    And was right in his assumptions, as the worse already happened.


    "Roar!"


    Suddenly, from the ball in front of them, a huge monster came out from it. The monster was like a giant cruiser, coming to this land.


    James once saw it, his heart fell on the ground, as he knew this wasn''t good, putting in his account the presence of many other balls, with many other huge monsters like these coming.


    "Rigo, use the strongest attacks of all the droids against these monsters," James said, as he took out a large cannon from his bracelet. He had already replenished his bracelets with cannons, bombs, and even star destroyer missiles, and it seemed this was the moment to use them.


    "Affirmative," Rigo didn''t talk much, as he authorized his droids to use their deadliest forces against these monsters.


    "Send to Islinda, a crisis centre must be established, to follow up all the updates on these monsters," James said, as he didn''t wait for the monster to come completely out, and fired a huge shot against its neck.


    The shot tore part of the neck, but wasn''t enough to even cause a heavy injury to the monster, however he was just started. A second, third, fourth, and more shots came to hit the same spot and the areas adjacent to it.


    As the monster got out, it roared out of pain, as its neck now had a deep wound, like a giant axe had been shot at it.


    It was a huge monster, like a huge lizard, with long and cylindrical neck and head, and a very long and thick tail, that ended up in five separate extensions that could be used as deadly weapons.


    On its back, there was a long fin, like a fish fin, and its body had thick scales like armor, and the obvious weaknesses were at its neck and belly.


    "Hit it at the belly and neck," James said, as he didn''t stop firing, however the monster was now free. It moved its tail, raising it into the air, and James knew where it would land.


    "Watch out," he warned, as he shot the last hit from this cannon, before taking it inside his bracelet, and jumped to the back.


    ''This would be a great time for that sleepy rod to wake up,'' he muttered to himself, lamenting his laziness the past days. He had time, but he never thought of his rod for a moment, and now he truly missed it.


    Just as he jumped to the back, the tail descended with its five extensions on the exact spot it was just at. He didn''t wait for the monster to retract its tail, or for his body to stabilize, as he took out the cannon, held its two handles firmly, and even before his legs could touch the base of the cannon he shot it again.


    This time he aimed at the tail, the origin of it, as it was the only obvious weak spot here, and the hardest to get. The shot hit the monster at that spot, causing it to roar again, and its tail retracted fast, but not as fast as James'' hands, as he squeezed the triggers, releasing successful successive shots on the tail origin.


    And that caused another deep wound of that colossal being, with a huge amount of red blood oozing from it.


    Another vicious attack came, and this time the tail was accompanied by an air ball that the monster created with its mouth.


    James knew if he was hit by any of the two, he would be doomed, so he had to abandon the cannon, used it as a standing point, and jumped high up to one side, evading the incoming attacks.


    Just as the attacks hit the cannon, and the look of victory appeared on the monster''s face, James took out another cannon, while he was midair, and started shooting again, this time he aimed at the monster''s eyes.


    Just as his attacks landed, more and more cannons fired as well at the monster, making it roar and roar, attacking everywhere like mad, causing severe damage to this part of the palace, and killing many people in the process..


    But in the end it was brought to ground finally, and it roared its last breath.


    James stood beside the colossal body of this monster, panting from exhaustion and tension, and Rigo was beside him receiving news from Islinda on the other status of these monsters.


    Many places are still having severe battles, while others managed to slay the monsters, and the rest couldn''t deal with the monster, as it killed everyone.


    "It''s not good, and it''s not bad," James commented when he heard these news, "Islinda, divert all the citizens to safety," James added, "Rigo tell those who finished fighting to move to places where the monsters outbreak from our forces, and always divert this who finished from fighting to help others," he added, before pausing for a moment, looked at the ball that was still standing there, "keep part of the soldiers back, watching over these nasty balls. Who knows what else they might send to us," he added.


    Rigo just nodded, before he and Islinda started doing their job. Rigo had taken back half of the entire fleet with a large number of fighters to attack these monsters, and when the fighters joined the battle, the fight became suddenly easier.


    James moved at once to the next location of monsters, and he kept moving from one place to another, until all the monsters were killed in less than half a day.


    Despite this great victory, the losses weren''t simple as well. The number of deaths was already in thousands, and some cities had part of them being flattened to the ground, especially at places where monsters just erupted.


    "Islinda, commence a full out damage analysis, and send a word to the merchants that we will move those who lost their shops to other cities, and we will compensate them," James said, before adding, "also start a secret investigation, collect all the people''s thoughts from the streets. This kind of attack isn''t simple, and it won''t stop there."


    What made James think like that was the fact these balls were still present here.


    James didn''t return to the palace to rest, but he stood in front of the ball that was still present in his back garden, wondering what ominous thing might come from it.


    "I have good news," Islinda said, as she came from far, running towards here.


    "Please, I need to hear good news now," James said.


    "The monsters slain today are cosmetic monsters, very rare and very strong, and usually can''t be easily found in space. Now, we had over a hundred of them, and their bodies are just a golden mine to anyone, so guess what? I received many requests from merchants here and even from outside merchants, asking for rights to claim these monsters."


    James thought for what she said for a moment, and an evil smile appeared on his face, as he said:


    "Tell them we will run an auction tomorrow morning, and the highest bidder will have the right to exploit the monster."


    "Great idea," Islinda said, with a chuckle, before she returned fast to her commanding centre inside the palace, releasing the news to everyone.


    At this moment, James didn''t look in a gloomy face towards the balls, but he was looking at them as an opportunity.


    ''C''mon, send me more to kill,'' he said to himself, as he wanted to have more monsters now to kill.


    His prayers were answered the next day, when a new wave started to strike the planets under his rule. This time, neither James nor anyone of the living here were depressed by these attacks, as merchants even assigned for mercenaries to go and hunt monsters, as they were now considered as treasure troves to them.


    This strange atmosphere prevailed until the moment of the auction, where James couldn''t attend as he was busy killing more monsters. Those who came here included many new merchants, coming to this area especially to get their hands on monsters.


    James told Islinda to use anything useful to them in a way to pay the price of monsters, and that was the only way for his power to increase rapidly, within a short span of time.

 Chapter 117: Lets Invade this Kingdom

    The auction went well, extremely well actually, even amidst the very loud sounds of fighting going on between the monsters and James'' forces. This gave the merchants the impression things wouldn''t end here, and thus no one left after the auction, waiting for the next one.


    Even some of them started to group together to form their own hunting group, which was something welcomed by Islinda, in return to paying extra fees for that.


    James didn''t want to distract most of his fleet to here, as this would endanger other areas, and might be falling right into the enemy''s scheme.


    This auction had given him a lot of benefits, from three more large cruisers, and hundreds of other smaller sized cruisers, plus tens of thousands of ex-soldiers, and many highly advanced weaponry, which made his fleet grow larger in size, nearly doubled.


    His fighters count started to exceed a hundred thousand, which started to be a great force making him more safe and secure.


    However he didn''t want to loosen his grasp over the area, as he didn''t know when the Terases race might attack.


    "Leader, we have another monster attack," Rigo came into the throne hall and told James this news.


    "Oh, so they have a pattern after all," James muttered, as he had this theory from observing the previous two attacks, as they happened approximately at the same time.


    Knowing this fact, he could now use this, as a propaganda for attraction, aso he looked towards Islinda as he said:


    "I want you to spread the news, the monsters will keep attacking here once a day. Their numbers are in hundreds, and we welcome any force to share the profit with us."


    Islinda smiled, as she knew James was making the right decision here. from one side, he would decrease the load on his fleet, and from another side, he would attract more merchants, and might add some new specialities to the place, making it more profitable to him.


    "At once," she replied, as she moved and headed to the outside with her usual slow, and intentionally arousing walk, that always aroused strange deep desires for James.


    "Women," he just muttered, shaking his head, helplessly, as he knew Islinda was making this to grab his attention, making him have more desire in her, which he didn''t know the reason behind.


    For Islinda, she had long acknowledged James'' unique leadership and positive traits, which made him a very suitable match for her. As a princess rose up to be a queen, she didn''t have any shyness or self pride when things came to her interest.


    So, she decided to start arousing his attention, making him feel what type of a gem he had, hopefully he would make a move, eventually.


    "Rigo, how are things looking at the outside systems?"


    Rigo had suggested sending more ships to patrol the surrounding systems, for fear of any enemy intrusion near them without their notice.


    "Things are calm, nothing to report, yet," he said, as he had this hunch of a bad thing to happen.


    "Good, when more forces arrive here, retreat our troops, and dispatch a searching party, made of our finest espionage soldiers, and make them work under the sexy."


    He had long chosen this nickname for Islinda, a name he never used in front of her, for not making her feel any satisfaction, as she might retreat a couple of steps backward, knowing her goal had been achieved.


    He already had some desire in her, but he refrained from making a move, not yet, not until he figured out her real motive.


    Someone like her would never do something without a reason, and a benefit, and someone like him would never do a thing without understanding the reason, and the price he had to pay.


    "Sure," Rigo just smiled, as he knew his leader''s opinion regarding Islinda. He once was against her, but when he dealt with her in the last weeks, he grew an interest and respect for her unique leading abilities.


    Despite not wanting to admit it, she was the perfect match for his leader, a queen more fitting that Dora, who once thought to be the best match for James, but now he found someone much better.


    "How are the new recruits doing?" James asked again, while sitting more comfortable on his throne.


    "They are still clumsy, needing some time to adapt to our empire''s way of fighting. Speaking of this, I have something to ask you about," Rigo hesitated, as James nodded to him to speak, so he added, "I want to suggest raising the old flag of our empire once more."


    James just stayed silent, thinking about this. Of course using the name of an old empire had some benefits and disadvantages. For example, those who were allies and friends to that empire would rush to his aid and support. If their lands were breached by Terases race, or any other race, then they might even join his forces.


    But the main disadvantage was to have the old enemies of the empire to focus their eyes on them. The empire didn''t fall on its own, but through war, and that meant it had a strong enemy, stronger than it at least.


    He did want to expand the list of his allies and friends, but not on expense of increasing the list of his enemies. He already had one enemy he couldn''t deal with.


    "Let''s wait for a little while, after all we aren''t going to stay here forever," James said his decision, not to agree not to refuse, he just postponed the decision for later due time.


    "That''s wise, my leader," Rigo just nodded, without saying anymore. His old dream of resuscitating his empire was now drawing closer, so it wouldn''t matter waiting for more time, months or even years.


    He also knew James didn''t want to do that right now as their strength wasn''t yet sufficient to take multiple enemies at once, so his resolve to make the fleet more stronger burnt more fervently.


    "I will go now and oversee the training process. By the way, there is a small kingdom nearby, our scouts found it a week ago," Rigo said, talking about an old topic.


    "Oh, that Fory kingdom?" James asked, as he and Rigo had spoken about it once before.


    "Yes, it sure is. I suggest after retrieving more troops from here to invade it. it''s a kingdom reigning over three star systems, with over twenty inhabitant planets, and only a fleet of two large cruisers, and a thousand small and medium sized cruisers," Rigo said, as he wanted to invade this kingdom, expanding the reign of James'' growing territory, and train his soldiers in the process.


    "Hmm¡­" James muttered, thinking deeply about this matter. He refrained from doing this invasion, not for his good heart, or peace loving nature, but due to his lack to attack there and sustain heavy losses without endangering them.


    However after the first auction, and with the second coming at the end of this day, he knew his fleet strength had welled up to be a force that could start foreign invasions.


    "Ok, after tonight''s auction, rearrange the fleet, and go on the head of the force invading this kingdom," James said, before adding, "just make sure to be swift, only attack the forces, and anyone wanting to surrender don''t touch him. we need more blood to replenish what we might lose out there. don''t forget, we aren''t heading for a frontal attack, so use tactics and traps first, and try to reduce their forces as much as you can."


    He thought for a moment to head this expedition, but he couldn''t leave this place undefended, especially this was his base, the gold mine under his hand. He couldn''t sacrifice it for any reason no matter what.


    "I will make you satisfied with the results, leader," Rigo said before exiting the place. James just glanced at his distance back while muttering:


    "It''s a heaven and earth between watching you leave and watch that sexy leave, sigh."


    James knew there was such a risk in attacking that kingdom, but he needed to expand the reach of his territory. Gaining more planets, with much more people living normally on them was a tempting idea he couldn''t resist.


    Islinda knew about this arrangement a few hours later, when the auction finished and they gained five more large cruisers thanks to it. three came in auction, and two were gifted to them in exchange for the rights to handle dozen monsters from some merchants, who allied themselves and already gathered a decent mercenary force.


    "Are we going to invade other kingdoms now?" the moment she stepped in, she asked this question right away. James knew she was somehow angry as he didn''t enroll her in taking this decision.


    "It''s a good opportunity, putting in regard the more forces coming here," he said, trying to make her see the bright side of the matter.

 Chapter 118: Attacking the Kingdom, Winning the War

    "But you didn''t consult me first," she discontentedly said.


    "Rigo didn''t move his fleet yet, did he?" James replied back.


    "That''s not an excuse," She was still upset about it, but eventually she calmed down once she sat in front of him, "next time please consult me first," she added, trying to give herself more reasons to forgive him.


    "Sure, I can''t do a thing without your beautiful little mind here," he moved from his throne to sit on a chair beside her, while pointing to her head.


    "Oh, I only have a beautiful mind then," she teased him, returning to her old self.


    "Hahaha, c''mon, you know you have a beauty that demises the universe," he laughed shortly as he replied.


    "I didn''t see that impression in your eyes before," she said.


    "you never asked, so I never said," he teased her back, with a smile over his face.


    "Ok, we will see about that later, Mr. hard to get," she chuckled, and he also did the same, "when are Rigo setting off?" she asked.


    "After we withdraw enough soldiers from the ground, which reminds me of the auction, how did it go?"


    "Perfect, we had five more large cruisers, another one hundred thousand soldiers, and many weapons and cannons being stored now in Rigo''s possession," she said, stating what happened in detail. After she finished, he thought for a moment, before saying:


    "I will make him leave now then."


    "He already is preparing to leave now," she laughed, as the master and his butler thought alike.


    "He is eager to set off to that kingdom."


    "Bad for them," she said, "do you want me to go with him?" she added.


    "No," he shook his head, "not now, when he completely conquers the kingdom, you might go there and arrange everything," he added.


    "Oh, you are worried about me," she teased him again, returning to her old playful self. she didn''t wait for him to say a word, as she moved, faked like she was making part of her long, tight black dress straight, revealing the sexy curves of her body, before turning to say:


    "I will go and arrange some of my helpers to collect more data about this kingdom, after all it will be ours in no time."


    She then moved to the door, swaying her body intentionally, which made James sigh helpless when she finally left.


    "If she continued to play like that, I might not let her go off this easily," he smirked in an evil expression, while thinking about deep serious things.


    Rigo came to see him before he sat off eventually late at night. James knew how eager Rigo was to annex this kingdom, which was something he didn''t argue with. After all this kingdom would be a good addition to his asset.


    Rigo led the fleet away from the eleven planets, crossing around six star systems, non-inhabited by anyone, until he reached the outer region of that kingdom.


    He had already sent many scouts up ahead, to monitor the moves of the kingdom fleet. As Rigo reached that area, he met with the scouts he sent to here.


    "Rigo, we had gathered updated intel regarding the enemy," one of the droids said, "their big cruiser had appeared shortly, heading in a routine patrol around this region," that droid added.


    "Oh, the big fish already is here?" Rigo felt luck was on his side, as he now had three large cruisers aiding him in this campaign.


    "Good, let''s send our boys out, we will repeat the same old tactic we used to deal with the mercenary large cruisers," he instructed.


    "To capture or to destroy?" one droid asked.


    "To destroy, of course," Rigo replied, without any hesitation, as the large cruisers were now increasing in their fleet, making them not crave for taking the risk to annex one more.


    "Start the operation now," Rigo gave the final order, with a hologramic presentation of the large cruiser of this kingdom moving nearby them.


    Their appearance wasn''t yet detected, and so his droids managed to infiltrate the cruiser successfully, and after a few hours, they returned with the good news.


    Everything was settled, and what remained now was to start the attack. Rigo rechecked the data he had in hand, before finalizing his plans.


    "Listen well, once we bombed this cruiser, the other kingdom cruiser would know something was wrong. our mission isn''t to appear so clear in front of them, we need to hide and set traps, using any chance to destroy as many cruisers as possible. Then we will face them head on, and destroy anything else in our way.


    Any surrendering forces are welcomed to join us, but they will remain here, guarded by part of our ships. After we finish this battle, we have to divide ourselves and head straight to the planets in the star systems controlled by this kingdom.


    Our first priority is to capture all the royal family of them, and then we have to take control of everything there, crush any remaining resistance, deal with no mercy with those loyalists to the fallen kingdom," Rigo said the plan and the steps he had in mind, before pointing to the large cruiser as he muttered:


    "set fire on this one."


    Once he gave the order, a huge bombing shock wave occurred, silently at first, then the whole large cruiser shook, with its hard shell being indented in many parts, before huge pillars of fire started to emerge from many places there.


    The attack was successful, and what followed was to hunt the other smaller cruisers accompanying that huge metallic beast. The battle was a one sided fight, and after the fall of the large cruiser, many started to surrender, with no much hope to resist the three large cruisers Rigo led.


    Just as the battle finished, the fleet then moved to hide themselves, being away from any detection, waiting for their targets to come.


    It didn''t last long until the second large cruiser came here, with the company of a huge fleet beside it. Rigo knew they came prepared, but they were also angry, and anger always clouded their judgments.


    "Give the order, let the attack start," he said, as the three large cruisers appeared, each from different places, pointing out their ready to launch big cannons towards the remaining large cruiser, attacking it mercilessly, causing many places to explode with damage.


    However this wasn''t enough to take this huge beast down, and Rigo knew it. What he did was just a diversion, as the real attack came from the space bomber squad, which moved silently, undetected amongst the chaos and the fervent attacks between the four large cruisers, and thousands of small cruisers, and tens of thousands of fighters.


    Once the bombs fell on the large cruiser, it was the hit that really crushed its backbone, and the kingdom''s last standing pillar, making the whole war a lost case for the kingdom fighters, a sure win for Rigo and the others.


    "Start to chase them down," Rigo gave the final order, as by the elimination of the large cruiser, the pressure they had was removed, and now they joined the fight with smaller cruisers and fighters, attacking them like they were attacking flies.


    Everything went smooth as Rigo planned, and after a few hours, the fight already ended, with the surrender of over two hundred small and medium sized cruisers, and tens of thousands of experienced soldiers, making Rigo''s grin so wide that went from ear to ear.


    "Launch the cruisers and fighters, let''s take control of the whole three star system. Surround them from far, and don''t let a single scrap of metal pass through," he gave the final invasion order, putting an end to this campaign, with victory already grasped in his hand.


    He was talking right, as the battle was going to the end, and eventually the remaining forces either surrendered to them, absorbed into the fleet, which didn''t lose much of its forces to begin with, or they ran away, outside the reach of the current kingdom.


    What remained was for him to lead the expedition to the ground, controlling the twenty plus planets there, capturing the royal family, and seizing all the riches.


    From the general view of things, Rigo felt a great pride in his victory, and looking at all those riches he had in the large cruiser made him even giggle. The idea of coming here was his own, and so any victory and gains from here would be counted under his own accomplishments.


    "Rigo, there is someone from the captured royal family is making a ruckus down there," one of the droids came to tell him, and Rigo was in a very good mood right now, so he asked:


    "What happened?"


    "She wants to meet you."


    "Fine, bring her here," Rigo said, as he wasn''t caring about a single person in this ex-royal family.


    In a span of a few minutes, a slim long girl, approximately in her early twenties, with curly golden hair, falling on her bare shoulders, stood in front of Rigo looking at him.

 Chapter 119: I Want to Meet Your Leader, Not His Pawn!

    She shook her head in disappointment:


    "I said I want to meet the leader, not his pawn."


    "Hold your tongue, he is our leader," one of the droids, the one who brought her here, said.


    "No, he isn''t, he is a minion, just like you are," the girl stressed on her previous statement.


    Rigo heard her words, and from his own happy moments he was awaken, looked at her, before asking in some curiosity:


    "why are you saying that?"


    "Because you aren''t the leader of them, you might be the acting leader, but they all, including you, serve one person. I want to meet that person," she said, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.


    "Interesting," Rigo muttered, "may I know who you are, and why do you want to meet our leader?" he asked.


    "I''m not one of the royal family, I was just here based on an invitation from the king here, or the ex-king. Now, by your appearance and doings, my arrangements here are done, and I need to leave," she said.


    "Oh, just simply like that?" Rigo asked.


    "Yes, simple like that, in fact if I wanted to leave, no one can stop me," she said, stressing on every single word she said.


    "Ok, I don''t want any trouble," Rigo faked fear, "just we are away from the place of our leader. You can go now to a room to rest, and when we arrive there, I will take you personally to meet him," he added, while motioning towards one of the droids, who moved to say:


    "Come with me, my lady, and I will make you satisfied by the room."


    "Hmph, it''s better not to be one of those little dirty games," she harrumphed, before moving to follow the droid to the outside.


    "You, go down there, and start interrogating this girl''s true identity," Rigo said, as he was sure this girl wasn''t royal, as he was sure she wasn''t what she was calling herself to be.


    After this small interruption, he moved to observe the riches pouring in his cruiser from all others. He had sent his fleet to secure all the planets, and in return they were now coming back fully loaded with treasures, while the soldiers were still organizing the situation and controlling everything.


    "Send a word to our supreme leader, tell him about our glorious victory," Rigo said to the one responsible for the communication unit in the commanding deck here.


    James, on his side, was now busy reading through the new reports coming from the black holes inside his territory. They showed new signs of activity, as they didn''t just give out one monster daily, they started to increase the rate and the number of monsters, to be two monsters twice daily.


    This wouldn''t be disturbing if his main fleet was here, but as his fleet was now away fighting for gaining more territory to him, he couldn''t find this news as good as Islinda, sitting next to him, was eyeing them.


    "These are perfect news, why is the gloomy face then?" she asked, while moving her hand, touching the hand of his. He looked at, glanced in a way that seemed enjoying her soft touch, before he then retreated his gaze, looking again towards the new reports, with much concern in his mind.


    "These aren''t just as simple as it looks, if this continued¡­"


    "If this continued, then we would amass the most merchants here, raising the importance of this place, and finding a means to trade it with a safe path to another great sector would be much easier," she interrupted him, pressing more softly over his arm.


    He just looked at her, realizing the reason for her happy mood finally regarding these news, as they were getting her closer, much closer to her own empire.


    He just sighed, and before he could say anything, a new report came to his screen, which he opened at once, as it was from Rigo.


    The news was perfect, much more than what he initially expected; more troops, more ships secured, more riches, more planets, and more people.


    He had everything that he would need at this time, and so his face finally changed, to be much relieved and happy.


    "Ok, let''s get ready to leave," he suddenly said, startling her, "we need to go there and arrange things fast."


    She was now reading the report he handed over to her, and the more she read, the more bright her eyes would be.


    "That Rigo is really lucky," unwillingly she admitted it, as this strike wasn''t a fluke or simple at all.


    Gains mentioned above, and the report said more was still coming here, was enough to upgrade their overall strength by a whole level. she was sure this would secure their grasp here, and the dream of having such a great strength rivaling some empires wouldn''t be just a dream anymore.


    James didn''t take long until he left the base of his newly expanded territory, heading towards the kingdom which he just conquered.


    The distance between the two places wasn''t big, so in less than half a day he reached there, while leaving one of the Rigo''s droids leading the home till he returned back.


    During the journey, some strange reports started to kick in, announcing some monster appearances inside the new territory.


    "What is happening?" Islinda asked, as more reports came telling them about the increasing rate of the monsters.


    "More than twenty planets had joined us formally, and now monsters are appearing there as well, is this some sort of a curse?" he muttered, as he was trying to find common sense amongst all that.


    "A curse?" Islinda muttered, "never heard of something like that before," she added.


    "Is there any other explanation than that?" James said, in a thinking tone.


    "Away from the reason, what will we do with these monsters?" she asked, "can we sell these rights too?" she added.


    "Oh, more monsters equal more money," James nodded, "do your calls, and when we confirm the total number and places of the monsters, offer them for sale," he added.


    He paused for a moment, thinking about an opportunity, "what if I was really cursed? Any territory I have would be targeted by the monsters?"


    "What do you mean?" Islinda asked.


    "I mean, if this was the case, then we should work towards expanding our territory," he said, expressing his inner thoughts.


    "That would be challenging," she muttered, "but it will bring us more riches in no time," she nodded, agreeing on his words.


    "Good, when we reach there, I will ask Rigo to send more scouts," James said.


    "Why send scouts while we have the first best option?" she evilly smiled while adding, "we can ask merchants who come here for knowledge. Any more kingdoms around us, uncontrolled inhabitant planets, anything we can put our hands on, with people living on it."


    The eyes of James shone brightly as he nodded in agreement. "Great idea, I will let you handle it. but what about the price these merchants would ask for?" he asked.


    "Not much price, I will give them a priority when distributing the next monsters hunting grounds," she said.


    James nodded, as this would be a great idea indeed. Trying to buy their favor in exchange for common knowledge was a trade no one would sanely refuse.


    As they arrived at the kingdom planets, they found the whole fleet busy dealing with the monsters. It was a blessing these soldiers already dealt with monsters from before, and that made them quite stable and not stressed out in front of these monsters.


    On the other hand, the true inhabitants took this as a sign, a bad sign, for the punishment of heaven or gods to James and his invading army. When James heard this news, he just laughed and said nothing, as this belief made any intentions for resistance to quill down, especially when the news of slaining the monsters sent to punish the invaders spreaded among the people.


    Even heaven''s punishment couldn''t stand against these barbarians, which made the inhabitants of these planets so afraid of James'' army.


    And this helped, unintentionally, Islinda in spreading James control over everything without much resistance.


    As for Rigo, he was quite busy with the monsters that it took him a few hours until he came to see James. The uniform Rigo was wearing was now tattered, and there were signs of some wounds on his external skin.


    "Are you ok?" James asked the moment he saw him.


    "I''m fine, thanks for the worry leader," Rigo said, as he went ahead and sat beside James, who knew Rigo was really exhausted this time.


    "Fighting monsters without warning was a nightmare, huh!" James remarked, as he noted the sorry state of his best fighter.


    "It''s not the surprise alone," Rigo said, "it was also the increasing numbers of these monsters. This kingdom reigned over twenty planets, with each one fully occupied with hundreds of cities," he added with a long tiring sigh.

 Chapter 120: More Monsters equal More Money

    "It''s just for now, wait until we sell these places, and then we will turn these hell pits into gold mines," James said, trying to console Rigo.


    "I have sent my men to establish many defenses around all the places with monsters. Next time they appear, we will be able to handle them better and much easier than this time," Rigo said, explaining his plan and arrangements.


    "What do you think of invading other places?" James suddenly asked, which made Rigo pause, looking at him deeply for a few moments, before muttering:


    "You want to sell as many monsters as possible."


    "Yes, that''s quite a money trove," James said, "plus their presence would boost our strength," he added.


    "Or weakens it," Rigo corrected him, as the presence of the more foreign forces inside their territory didn''t necessarily mean it was a good thing.


    "Either ways, we would have a lot of forces that we can exploit anytime," James said, "you didn''t give me your opinion yet," he added.


    "I''m in, any war I will gladly comply raging it, just I don''t have any targets for now," Rigo said, in some regret.


    "Don''t worry, I will bring you more details soon," James said, in a way that made Rigo understand how he would get these news. "by the way, where is this girl you told me about?" he suddenly recalled that trouble maker, the one with some fog over her identity.


    "Oh, I''m keeping her inside my own cruiser," Rigo said, " I will send for someone to bring her," he added, pausing for a moment, "I think you might like her," he finally added the final thing he aimed for this meeting.


    James just side glanced at him, before just chuckling. He didn''t know why his best man was thinking like this about him, after all he didn''t touch Islinda, not yet.


    Rigo then led the way to a small cruiser, where they rode it to go to Rigo''s cruiser. along the way, James asked:


    "What do you know about this mysterious girl?"


    "Her name is Luna, and she is quite sneaky. She used the state of chaos and our invasion and claimed that she was just a guest, who came here on invitation from the past king," Rigo said.


    "And?" James asked, as Rigo paused and said nothing, "who is she really?" he added.


    "She is a slave, bought by money for the benefit of the current king," Rigo said, while winking his eyes.


    "You brought me all the way here for just a slave a defeated king bought?" James couldn''t believe this was the true reason behind it.


    "Well," Rigo seemed to be at a loss, "the exact words of that king made me sure you will be very interested in her," he added.


    "And why would I be interested in her?" James asked, stressing on this matter, "Don''t tell me she is a beauty and this nonsense," he added, warning Rigo.


    "No, not at all, though she is really a beauty," Rigo swallowed the rest of his words when he saw the anger look over his leader, "but she isn''t worth all the wealth the king paid for her just for that," he then went silent, before whispering, "she is said to have an access to a power far greater than any race can wield."


    He finally said it, and his revelation made the eyes of James widened at once. He knew what this meant, and he even held himself hardly from jumping out and shouting of triumph.


    He finally found a clue about the powers he had gained, and might also be a good lead on this.


    "Thanks, thanks a lot," he smiled and warmly said to his right handed man.


    "I told you, you will like her," Rigo teased him.


    "Oh, you are right," James just laughed, while watching the nearby large cruiser which they were heading to. He was now eager to go there, meet this girl, and understand everything about her.


    "Just a question, if she is this strong, why didn''t she leave before?" James suddenly asked.


    "I asked about it, and it turned out that a certain man was looking for kids with special powers, and he found her. She is branded with a strange tattoo, sealing her powers, and if she wasn''t obedient, the owner might torture her, or even kill her. That stupid silly king just used her for his own pleasure, and never thought about making her teach him anything," Rigo said, adding more pieces of info to the story.


    "Oh, she can teach?" James asked, with a bright smile.


    "Yes, she can. She is called one of the owls, whatever this nickname even means," Rigo said, telling the last piece of info he had.


    "We will know everything soon," James said, to reassure his unsettled soul, not Rigo''s.


    It didn''t take time for the two of them to go into the large cruiser, and head towards the room where this Luna was staying at.


    Islinda was now heading towards the planets, to organize things there, busy with many things including the dealings with the merchants, the several auctions she needed to organize, and the info gathering mission she was tasked for.


    As for James, he was now going to have the best fun time in his entire life.


    "Here is the girl that kept asking for you all day long," Rigo said, after he opened the door, letting himself enter first, before James followed him inside.


    The room was quite spacious, with a view over the stars on most parts of the wall. Amidst all this, there was a lady, fine lady, with a very slim and alluring body, with her curves really expressed tightly by her very, very tight and short dress.


    "Oh, finally I''m able to meet the leader, not the pawn," she said, giving James a warm smile, and Rigo a scolding glance.


    "I think she would make a fine couple with Islinda," James whispered softly to Rigo, who tried to control his short laugh.


    "Hi, I''m James, may I know who you are?" James started by asking, as if he knew nothing about her.


    "I''m Gedy, I''m a guest coming here under the private request of the past king," she said, leaning her body in a familiar curtsey.


    James just glanced, silently, towards Rigo without saying a thing, before he said welcoming her:


    "Oh, a guest of the last king is a guest for the current king. Come come, let''s have a seat."


    He then moved towards the distant wall, made of transparent glass showing the amazing beauty of the scene of the outside world.


    "Oh, I- I just wanted to meet you so I can ask t¡­" she was about to speak of leaving, when James just patted her shoulder, so nicely, as he grabbed her body with him to the front, watching the scene together.


    "See all these ships? They are mine, and this is only part of my own large fleet," James said pointing to each ship appearing in their vision, "this one here is my right handed man''s cruiser, and that over there is my main cruiser. I have other large cruisers as well, but I kinda feel lonely most of times, right Rigo?"


    The face of Luna changed as she looked quite paler, before she could even speak or say anything, James patted on her shoulder, grabbed a chair and sat on it, before pulling her towards him, to sit in his lap.


    She was smaller than him, appearing to be like a youngster sitting on the lap of an adult. Her face showed faint redness, but her eyes were full of fear.


    "Don''t be afraid," James touched her soft cheeks softly, "I will take a good care of you, Luna," he finally said her true name, a name that once she heard, her full body trembled, jolted away from James, before muttering in horror:


    "I''m not a sex doll to play with, I''m a very talented person, I''m not here to please you, don''t treat me ill like the last king, please, please, please," she pleaded, and her tears flew over he cheeks. James just looked at her and sighed, he knew life was full of injustice, and he wasn''t responsible to make this right.


    However, this little girl was now under his protection, so he could do whatever he wanted with her.


    "I don''t know if you will believe me or not, but I can relay perfectly to your feelings and sufferings," he said, as he adjusted his body to sit more comfortably on the seat, "you got me wrong, I don''t want you to please me, I want you to help me," he added.


    "Help you?" she muttered, with more doubt than shock.


    "Yes, don''t you teach others how to train and use their powers?" he asked, looking directly into her beautiful red eyes, as he added, "I have powers, sealed away like you, and I want to start training it so I can unseal it."

 Chapter 121: Meeting Luna and Making Islinda Jeoulous

    "You have powers?" she asked, being mesmerized out of shock, "you have powers," she muttered, "and you want me to help you train it?" she asked, trying to confirm what she understood.


    "Yes, that''s right, I want you to teach me everything you know about it, how to use it? how to train? Even the simple facts about these powers," he said, while moving from his seat, leaning on the ground beside her, while looking directly in her eyes, "I want to know this all."


    "I have one condition," she hurried to say, asking before answering anything.


    "I will set you free," James said, and his words made her eyes widened. She was really like a little girl, with her mind wide opened for him to read, "I will keep my promise as long as you keep yours," he added, stressing on this point.


    "Sure, sure, when do you want to start? Now?" she asked, with great eagerness, much more enthusiastic than James himself.


    "Oh, not here, not now, let''s wait until we go back to my home," he said, as here was still considered a war zone.


    For James, this was a win-win situation, where he wasn''t going to lose anything by setting her free. She was a beauty, but he didn''t lack any, with Islinda beside him, and Eli who was busy trying to strengthen herself, and Dora who was outside, trying to act as a rebel queen.


    "Let''s go back to my ship, we need to visit this kingdom," he said, as he moved from the seat, with Luna hand in hand with him.


    Luna seemed to be used to such treatment, as she didn''t argue with his hand holding her. As for him, he did this to give Islinda a scare. Just imagining the look on her face made him chuckle all the way to his cruiser.


    The moment he entered the commanding deck, holding Luna''s hand, the moment Islinda, who had just returned from a meeting with the local merchants and wealthy family leaders, spotted them.


    The look on her face froze, with shock at first, then with anger. She moved to the couple, glaring at Luna, who felt the amount of hate coming towards her, so she retreated a couple of steps, unintentionally, trying to escape from Islinda''s gaze.


    "Who is she?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her sweet chest.


    "She is Luna, Luna this is Islinda, I hope you two can get along smoothly together."


    She didn''t change the look over her face, neither she said anything to Luna, as she asked again, with a face so red that seemed to explode:


    "Who is she?"


    "Oh, I forgot to tell you, she is my personal trainer," he replied, acting so innocently, while trying to suppress his laugh, as hard as possible


    "Your what?" Islinda didn''t understand, but at this awkward moment, Luna interfered to say:


    "I''m the one who is going to make him stronger."


    "Really?" Islinda just glared at her, from head to toe, before returning to look at James while muttering:


    "How exactly is she going to make you stronger?"


    "I don''t know," he shrugged his shoulders, like thi wasn''t a topic related to him, "I just got her from that previous idiot king," he added, giving Luna a warm look, which made the situation more awkward.


    "Can I speak with you alone?" Islinda suddenly blurted out, asking to be alone with him.


    "Sure, let''s go to that secret room," James said, while feeling some faint danger coming from her. He followed her angry steps towards the secure, isolated, secret room in the commanding deck. The moment they were alone, she glanced longly, and silently at him, before she asked, with some bitterness in her throat:


    "Did you grab her for her looks?"


    James just sighed, before looking at her, in a compassion way. He tried to touch her face, but she shrugged his hand while looking straight to him.


    "Well, she is just here to train me," he honestly said.


    "Train you on what exactly?" she asked, with much doubt inside her tone.


    "Well, towards my special powers," he replied, before holding her body as a whole with his two hands, raising her angry, funny looking face to meet his, "do you love me?"


    The question seemed sudden, and for him he suddenly felt some rushing blood to his head. He didn''t know why he asked her this, but she was like calling for him, asking him to throw the question.


    As for her, her body froze, as she didn''t imagine he would ask that question to her, not now, not here, not like this. Without knowing what to do, she moved herself away from his hands, and ran outside the room, without even glancing back at him.


    "What a crazy little girl," he sighed, softly sighed before a smile was drawn over his face, "so you are jealous then," he then laughed at her reaction, and at his silly question.


    Of course she loved him, and he knew that.


    James then returned with a wide smile over his face. He didn''t say a word when Rigo questioned him, silently with his eyes, as he just shrugged his shoulders, with an evil smile over his face.


    "How are things going down there?" he asked, as he sat on the main seat, in front of the commanding unit.


    "The monster''s attacks were sudden, but we managed to neutralize them," Rigo replied, as he sat in front of him, while the new addition to the team, Luna, moved in a usual way to sit over his leg, leaning with her body over his chest.


    He was startled by this at first, then he saw it was a way to push Islinda further. He wanted to get her, but he was doubting her true intentions. He wanted her to return to her own empire, one day, after he established his own force, one day.


    He just hoped she didn''t become an obstacle in his path, which was now taking the shape of being a monarch in space. For him all he cared about now was to hasten his development here, using all the opportunities he could get and strengthen his position.


    So he wasn''t prepared to meet any insider quarrels, hoping only this would remain inside the harem, not affecting his future plans and grand project.


    "What about damage reports?" James asked.


    "It''s still coming," Rigo said, "but I have to say the damage is quite severe," he shook his head while stating the obvious truth.


    The damage this time was far beyond their expectations. These planets weren''t like the planets they already ruled, as they were all full of population. There was no empty place there, except for a few.


    Just fighting these monsters in the middle of this caused many damage, and the rest was caused by the inhabitants themselves. They were panicked, and didn''t know what to do, except to run for their lives.


    Chaos caused most of the damage down there, and when James saw some footage of what happened, he helplessly sighed.


    If he knew the places he would conquer would be conquered by these monsters, he would have come more prepared. At least Rigo would have dispatched troops essential for containing the situation and limiting the damage.


    "Take note that from now on, you will have two more specialized units under your command," James said, with some headache, "the first is a fighting force, special fighting force, equipped and has an experience in dealing with monsters," he said, before turning to look at the distant Islinda, who came back just now and decided to stay away, "and the second unit will be a crisis control unit. Ask Islinda to provide experts at dealing with chaotic situations, with the ability to calm people," he added, explaining the full version of his solution.


    "This sounds amazing," Luna suddenly said, as she leaned on him, with her hot breaths touching his skin, "I liked this idea, very creative and effective," she added, in a slow tone.


    James didn''t know if she was always like this, or she was trying to help him in teasing Islinda, however Islinda was now pretty pissed off. Despite that, all she did was to breath loudly, trying to vent some anger and steam off her, and James just enjoyed the sight of her childish futile resistance.


    This would all end if she just acknowledged her feelings, and opened up her mind to him. Was that so hard on her to do? That was what James thought of.


    "I''m glad you liked it," James decided to go on this play, "what about the people down there? anyone having any funny idea?" he asked Rigo again, without moving his eyes away from Luna''s.


    "They have accepted our rule already, as they thought these monsters were a punishment from their gods upon us," Rigo said, while enjoying this unspoken ongoing war between the two.


    "Really?" James asked, in interest, "and now after we killed these monsters, what do they think of us?" he added.


    "They think we are cursed, and beyond any hope of saving," Rigo replied.

 Chapter 122: You Fool!

    "Hahaha, I like these people," James just laughed, while looking finally away from the tempting face of Luna, "We need to arrange this place rapidly. Leave here part of the force, and start enforcing military recruitment over their youths. I want all the economy to be directed in making war ships, and weapons as well.


    If they can''t , then look for something they can make to sell high, and focus on that," he side glanced at the about to explode Islinda and told her these matters.


    "Yes, Sir," she said, stressing on every single letter of her words. James knew he had pushed her so far already, and yet he adjusted his body, moving his arm to circle Luna''s soft body, grabbing her softly near him. He did it while looking straight at Islinda, who just crossed her arms in front of her chest, without saying a word.


    As for Rigo, he was really having a great time enjoying this cold war, wondering who would succumb to the other first, his leader, or his leader''s girl.


    For him, this was an already settled matter, as both would end up being together, but that prevented him from enjoying the two pickering moments.


    "What about the other task I asked you for? The knowledge about other kingdoms?" he asked, and this time he was very interested in hearing her reply.


    "I have some clues regarding two to three kingdoms, but I don''t know the exact details regarding them," she said, as she had already gathered some intel from many merchants, but the knowledge wasn''t enough.


    "Do you want to know info regarding the surrounding kingdoms?" Luna suddenly interfered, "I know a lot of reliable data, as I originally was raised in a kingdom not far from here," she said, adding more fuel to the fire.


    "Really?!!" it was Islinda who exclaimed in surprise, "do you really know this info?" she added, with more aggressiveness in her tone.


    "Sure, as I said, I was raised here," Luna simply replied, acting innocent, as if she didn''t know what was already going on.


    Islinda glanced at her from top to toe, before giving James a scolding look before leaving. "Let her give you all the info you need," she simply said with a shaky tone before disappearing behind the doors of this deck.


    "I think you went far, leader," Rigo said when Islinda vanished.


    "Sigh," James just sighed, before saying, "I just want her to be honest with me, is that hard?"


    "Well," Rigo paused, didn''t know what to say, as he knew how stubborn these two might be.


    If this continued, fun might end and they would turn from lovers to enemies. He didn''t want to see that happening, so he just remained silent, while he tried to look for Islinda. In less than a minute he spotted her, sitting inside her room, looking at the view from the curvy window of her room.


    "I have some curiosity regarding what just happened," Rigo suddenly said, with his tone being overheard, strangely, at Islinda''s room, startling her. She was jolted awake from her own thoughts, while the sound of James came loud and clear:


    "What is it?"


    "Why trying to irritate her? Why not just confront her with what you have in mind?" Rigo''s voice came.


    "Sigh," James sighed again, with a long, heavy moment of silence that passes as a century over Islinda, "you know I like her. She is funny, smart, reliable, who else should I seek for as my girl? But she is stubborn, with her irritating strong personality, I know even if I told her that I want her to be with me, she wouldn''t reply back.


    She is burdened with many things, and her mind might tell her being with me is like betraying all these things, however the truth is being together is what makes us able to fulfill our duties.


    I won''t stand against her way, instead I will help her. The problem is her mind won''t accept that, and whatever I said or did she would still be far away. So, I decided to crush that arrogance of her, and make her submit, and with this she won''t regret that decision her entire life."


    The voice of James came, before it magically vanished as it appeared. Islinda stayed silent, standing near the thick fortified glass, before she leaned her head, gently touching the glass, with eyes being red, welled with tears, flowing like a thin stream of water descending the top of an icy mountain top in the early days of the spring.


    "You fool," she just muttered that, before she started crying to her heart''s content.


    James wasn''t aware of this little trick his right handed man pulled from his back. Rigo didn''t mean any harm, as he just didn''t want things to go any further than planned by his leader.


    "Now, tell me, how can we train? What''s the process then?" James asked finally what mattered most to him. as a start to this energy, he didn''t even know the simplest rules here.


    "Well," suddenly Luna''s face changed, "we need to do it in a private way," she said, with more redness over her cheeks, making her look more alluring.


    "Really?!" James got her meaning, and he didn''t expect this to be the way she could boost his strength.


    "Sure, this is my own way, as my body has a special kind of strength that augments anyone with your kind of strength. So, basically, I''m so weak myself, but I can make my man the strongest person in the universe," she blurted out, with some shyness and nervousness that James understood.


    "This might be problematic," he muttered, softly thinking about Islinda. What would she think of when she learned about this? That was what was going on inside his mind now, and Rigo on the side heaved a long and deep sigh of relief. It seemed his daring move had paid back its value sooner that he anticipated.


    "Don''t worry leader," Rigo suddenly said, "you can sort everything out first with Islinda, and then you can train with Luna," he added.


    "You make it sound this easy," James helplessly sighed, as he inwardly cursed his good and bad luck. He had now the opportunity to have two stunning girls, but he was afraid of Islinda''s behavior once she knew about this.


    "Do you love her this much?" Luna suddenly asked, with sincerity that wasn''t found except at kids.


    "It''s not that," James shook his head, struggling to define the relation between him and Islinda, "it''s just, I dunno, just want to be with her all the time, it makes me feel satisfied, and happy," he added, like someone having no clue about what he was talking about.


    His lost thoughts were, intentionally, transmitted to Islinda''s room. Hearing him speak about her in front of others, without her presence, in this way made her giggle. She didn''t know what was happening up there, but what Rigo wanted by doing this had already achieved its goal.


    "So you love her," Luna nodded, firmly with such belief in her conclusion that made James shrunk back on his seat. "I dunno," he just said, "let''s just start organizing things here, we have tons of work to do," he tried to evade the topic, as he felt unpleasant uneasiness when thinking about it.


    Per his words, Rigo went to handle his own matters. Along the way to his cruiser, he met Islinda, who just glanced at him, silently at first, before saying:


    "Thanks for what you just did now."


    She was feeling great gratitude towards him, and he, on the other hand, felt great satisfaction, as his goal was already reached.


    "Our leader might be young, but his future is limitless," Rigo said, without turning back to her, going on his way.


    "I know that, or else why would I choose him to be my man?" she muttered, in a soft voice, but Rigo managed to pick it up.


    He nodded, inwardly, agreeing on her words. His leader was someone who might be weak and small right now, but he trusted the old words of his previous supreme leader. He had undeniably extreme faith in James that he would be someone others would fear and look up to.


    Islinda didn''t go back to the main deck, as she took a small cruiser, and went down to settle and organize things on the ground.


    Everything seemed messy for a couple of days, with more monsters appearing each day, attacking the civilians, and the anti monster forces belonged to the merchants and James kept killing them.


    After three days, the citizens started to be familiar with the monster''s attacks, and they even started to build up businesses based on their presence.


    That helped in calming the situation further, making people see the golden opportunities presented to them. This wasn''t a black market place, but a regular kingdom, with armies and mercenaries, merchants and wealthy families.

 Chapter 123: Planning to Attack Five More Kingdoms

    All those started to move fast, organizing themselves together, and talked with Islinda about getting shared from this treasure trove on their lands.


    Islinda didn''t refuse them, instead she warmly welcomed them, while pointing out to them about the fact these monsters weren''t just related to here, but to everywhere James owned.


    This helped a lot in many things, gathering intel included. Despite she was mad at him at the beginning, she kept sending any info related to the outside kingdoms to James, making him feel delighted from her actions.


    In fact he didn''t know all this was due to the simple act Rigo did back then, and that simple act had really, and luckily, sat things between the two on the right track.


    James knew his true feelings towards her, and she knew how touched and attached he was to her. That untold affection she felt through his words made her more secured, and calm, even knowing there was such a bitch sitting in his lap right now.


    In the new info coming from Islinda, and matching what Luna had already told him, there were five total kingdoms in this part of space, each had the same number of planets here, all having around twenty planets.


    These kingdoms weren''t that strong, as each one had a similar fleet to the ones he previously conquered. He was still waiting for more info to come, but he was pretty confident in his guess and estimation.


    "Even if they are stronger, I can easily amass more troops and ships now; I''m not the pushover weakling I used to be," he muttered to himself while laughing at his past self when he was worrying about a single large cruiser.


    Now he was owning an entire fleet filled with these cruisers, and even now planning to invade five kingdoms with many cruisers that he combined!


    "Divide and conquer, that must be my approach here," he thought to himself when he noticed this point; if they gathered, then he wouldn''t be able to stand against their collaborated forces.


    So he had to be sly and smart, and his invading plan should revolve entirely on this.


    Despite the risk, he knew the gains would outweigh any damage whatsoever. After what he saw from the prosperity in this kingdom, the sudden wealth and bribes Islinda and Rigo had from rich families and merchants to gain access to monsters, the large number of troops joining his forces, even doubling it in less than three days, made him more eager to conquer more kingdoms.


    So, he sat his gaze upon the nearest kingdom, and sent Rigo the details to make his own preparations.


    In fact, the info he had in hand up till now was enough to set course and fight these kingdoms, but James knew about one hurdle. Once his pattern had been noticed, his intentions would be revealed, and they might set aside their own grievances, and start working together to resist him.


    He needed to disguise that, not alarming the kingdoms of the tiger eyeing them in their backyard. He sighed, as he knew Rigo, and his direct tactics. If he let Rigo loose on them, he would prefer to directly sweep them, risking the worst possible scenario to occur.


    He didn''t want that to happen, so he sent to Rigo one simple note: Take them all by surprise, destroy them all at one full sweep, or divide and conquer if you can''t attack these kingdoms in the shortest time.


    Time was of the greatest importance here. He had to stress over this point again in the message he sent when he received the notification from Islinda about Rigos''s request.


    To do that, Rigo had to ask for more ships from the black market. The business there was now thriving better than ever, so he didn''t find it hard to buy ten large cruisers, thousands of smaller ones, and recruiting half million soldiers from the kingdom captured and the black market trade channels.


    James didn''t find any reason to deny his request, sending his confirmation to Islinda, and warning to Rigo.


    These large moves had the attention of the keen eyes of the merchants everywhere, and just as Rigo was dealing with the newcomers, Islinda found herself buried under a huge number of requests to cooperate, and even some proposed to buy future monsters'' places from now on at higher prices than usual.


    She had the business woman mind, so she didn''t turn down any request, met everyone separately, and struck many deals with a lot of merchants, securing from the bonuses alone twenty more large cruisers, and thousands of smaller ones.


    This wasn''t hard to achieve, or risky to do, as the number of planets conquered at the end of this expedition would reach an astonishing number of one hundred planets, making James one of the moderate sized kingdoms in the universe.


    Large kingdoms had more than five hundred planets, and empires had thousands of them. The road was long, but she knew if anyone figured out the short history of James here, only one month, he or she would be shocked, and feel fear.


    It was their luck, James'' luck, to start his kingdom here, in a place away from the normal sights of the big fishes, or else they might decide to wipe him out, while he was still cuddling.


    Islinda kept herself busy, handling all the dealings with the merchants coming from everywhere. As one week passed by, the new fleet of James was ready to set its expedition, and Rigo was now heading to him, to tell him about the strategy he would follow.


    As for James, he was spending his time inside his large cruiser, enjoying some moments of rest. Luna was by his side, all the time caressing his face or touching his body, in a natural way, like she was used to doing it all the time.


    At first he wasn''t welcoming this, but gradually he started to be pleased, enjoying these private touches from time to time. with Islinda being away, he was able to escape from her gaze and enjoy these touches with no worries at all.


    More than once she offered him to stay at night inside his room, but he refused that. He didn''t want to touch her, not the first woman being touched by him at least. He reserved this honor for another person.


    "Rigo, what brought you here today? Is everything ready?" James welcomed Rigo, who entered to find Luan exactly sitting on top of his lower body, moving her very slowly and intimately over James'' legs and waist.


    "Ah, I came here to tell you about the last war preparations," Rigo said, with an embarrassed look over his face. He reminded himself that he needed to knock before entering on his leader''s chamber.


    "That''s great, come here and tell me," James said, as he adjusted his body, sitting straight on the relaxing seat, while holding Luna''s body with one arm of his.


    The position was awkward, and wild imagination started to be born inside Rigo''s mind. "Come, why are you standing over there?" James asked, as he got used to Luna being this close, in such awkward situations, all the day.


    "Ok," Rigo just nodded, nervously, trying to push away these thoughts, as he went and sat on a seat nearby his leader.


    "What''s the plan? Tell me," James demanded, as this was the main issue still not resolved between the two. at the last meeting a couple of days ago, Rigo proposed a plan that James denied.


    James had a strict, hard to satisfy, condition, which was to seize all these kingdoms in one full sweep.


    If Rigo had a fleet five times the size of what he already had, he could do it simply by dividing the fleet into smaller ones, each for a kingdom.


    However this couldn''t be used now, and so he had to improvise, one time after another, thinking hardly about how to meet his leader''s condition, and finally he drew a plan he was sure James would like.


    "Here, I put all the details on this screen," Rigo handed him his own screen, where there were many details, written and drawn on it.


    "Be steady please," James remarked to Luna, who was moving her body all the time, making him unable to read well. The issue wasn''t in her, but in the position he chose to put the screen at, just in the middle of her two bulging apexes in her chest.


    "Alright," she just replied, obediently, as her body movement decreased a lot, but didn''t cease to exist, trying her best to arouse every single desire in him, totally neglecting the presence and the annoyance on Rigo''s face.


    James'' mind wasn''t focusing on her anymore, as he was now immersed in the details of the plan Rigo handed to him. Rigo, on the other hand, had nothing else to do, except to stare at this awkward position, and the obvious increasing intimacy between the two in this short span of time.

 Chapter 124: How Do I Make You Come to My Room, My Dear Beloved James? (R-18)

    ''I have to warn Islinda, she isn''t the sexy one anymore,'' he thought to himself, while watching this very experienced move of Luna. He knew James might not think of sleeping with her now, but he wasn''t approving for him to be this near a couple of days ago.


    Luna noticed his glances; judging glances, but she didn''t care about them. she wanted to use her greatest asset to seize this unpolished unclaimed gem, James.


    She was speechless when she realized no girl ever tried to make him her own! Such a mighty and powerful youth with such a promising future and no girl ever tried to seduce him? even his closest assistant that arrogant Islinda?


    She smirked inwardly as she recalled this. ''It''s your fault babe for being so late and acting hard to get,'' she inwardly laughed at Islinda, imagining her expression when she knew that Luna had seized James in her room all day and night.


    She wasn''t smart, not as smart as Islinda, but she was more stunning than her. She knew how to use her body, her greatest asset, and she was very experienced. In her humble opinion; it was a crime letting such a man free without trapping him in her lap forever!


    All this was perfectly read by Rigo, who didn''t doubt his leader''s personality, but he was doubting her desires.


    Changes didn''t happen suddenly, bur gradually, and this girl seemed very good at doing that.


    ''I must alarm Islinda, she either needs to move boulder, or to find a way to keep my leader busy with another thing away from this sexy Luna!'' he thought again when he noticed her facial emotions, which would stir troubles inside any man looking at her directly and this close.


    "Great plan indeed," James suddenly said, as he was inside a world of his own just now. The plan of Rigo wasn''t simply an attack plan, as to be able to fully sweep everything, they needed to start troubles between the kingdoms first.


    So, Rigo proposed to use the old tactic they used to confuse the mercenaries, attacking small ships first of each kingdom, then using them to attack other kingdoms, making everyone raise their arms at one another.


    When war would erupt between them, and Rigo promised to do it in less than two weeks, he would move his main fleet, targeting the biggest war, cleaning out all the hostile forces, then move fast towards the next war zone.


    Like this, others wouldn''t be free to mind other foreign troubles, as they would be busy fighting their neighbours. Even if news reached their ears about what would happen at the first war zone, they all would think another kingdom did it.


    The plan was perfect, and James loved it. "Great work indeed, I know I can always depend on you," he said, praising his man, while taking the screen from the precious tight place and throwing it to Rigo, like it was nothing at all.


    Rigo hurriedly caught the screen, as he knew for sure his leader''s mind wasn''t fixed yet over the lust alluring him a couple of inches away from his eyes. "Why don''t you lead us in this battle, my leader?" Rigo suddenly suggested, and to avoid any misconception, he hurriedly added, "your leadership at the previous time we did such a plan was really inspiring," he tried to coax James with these words.


    "Oh," James said, as he never thought about it, "but I can''t do that, you know Islinda would be all alone, handling all the matters like this. No, I can''t leave her like this, plus you already know my tactics and orders, so you will do great."


    ''Isilda is already alone, my leader,'' Rigo muttered to himself, without opening his mouth to say anything, except nodding for understanding and agreement. ''I must warn her now, she only has a small window of a couple of days to act,'' Rigo decided inside his mind to do that once he exited from here.


    "I will excuse myself then," Rigo said, while returning the screen again, in a more polite way, as he gave Luna a warning serious glance, which she didn''t care about. she was aiming for the leader here, and she was this close from having him inside her net. How could she care about a minion''s opinion then?


    But she was mistaken, as this minion was about to deal a deadly blow to her, rendering all her actions useless.


    Rigo once exited from there, made his mind to send a message, a warning one full of sincere advice, to Islinda.


    Islinda was in the middle of a meeting, where there was a strong ongoing debate regarding the strange request of these merchants. They asked for exclusive rights for a limited number of monsters to unlimited amounts of time in an unlimited number of planets, as long as they were conquered by James'' forces.


    These merchants weren''t stupid, and the newly born black trade of these monsters parts were now dominating everything. It was a fast growing trade that no one had ever witnessed before, so they were trying to minimize their future losses, while paying a hefty price today.


    Islinda was trying to find a solution, so she might not lose a lot here, or end up angering these powerful merchants, when a sudden message popped up on her screen.


    ''Don''t leave James alone anymore, give him work as much as you can do. Private advice: try to get him first to your room before others would be faster than you.''


    The words of Rigo couldn''t be any more clearer than this. Her hands trembled, as she was feeling a strange mix of fear and anger right now. her sudden reaction, and the intense wild wave of emotions that erupted just now from her silenced everyone here.


    "Alright," she said, while turning sharply to face them. they thought she was pissed off, and they began to be ready for a barrage of word attacks. "I will bring our supreme king here, personally, and what he says will be done," she suddenly said, as she sent an order for a group of her guards to go and bring James here. she sent a faked distress message, where she expressed her inability to solve this current problem, with many details regarding the problem, zero clue of how to solve it.


    She wasn''t exaggerating, but she was capable of handling this matter. If not for Rigo''s message just now, and the warning he just gave to her, she wouldn''t go and ask for help.


    ''Now, what should I do to make you come to my room, my dear beloved James?'' she muttered to herself, as she sat there, motionless, waiting with the others until James'' arrival.


    James didn''t know any of this at all. While he waited inside his small cruiser, heading straight down to the main central planet here, his mind was busy with the ongoing campaign, and how Rigo would do it.


    He thought he should be with him, as Rigo asked, but when Islinda asked him for help, he was greatly pleased that he didn''t.


    He didn''t realize that all of this was connected, and his help wasn''t needed in the first place to the two of them!


    "Supreme leader James," one of the guards appointed by Rigo, shouted to announce the arrival of James, who entered the place with small, calm steady steps, with the stunning looking Luna by his side.


    "Hi Islinda, what''s going here?" he asked, once sat on the big chair, supervising the whole hall, while Luna rested on his shoulder, on a move that seemed natural and very welcomed from James.


    ''So that what you were afraid of, Rigo!'' she thought to herself, while watching her future man falling deeper and deeper into the sand pit called Luna.


    At this moment, a sense of rivalry was born, in flesh and bones, between the two girls, who just looked to each other, silently, while their eyes declared the war.


    "It''s nothing, but these merchants want a word with you," Islinda said, as she, in turn, moved to stand beside James, while resting her hand, calmly, over his shoulder.


    James felt her touch, yet didn''t react despite his inner surprise from this. He was used to Luna being bold, but never thought Islinda to be the same.


    "Supreme leader, we want to discuss something with your majesty," one of the merchants, who seemed to be their leader, stepped in and spoke, starting the discussion with James.


    "What matters is that?" James asked, while resting his back on the seat, in a more comfortable way, while holding the hands of the two beauties resting over his shoulders.


    "It''s a simple request, that we humbly aspire for your approval on it," the merchant said, trying to coax his words with James, who just nodded to make him continue, waiting to hear the core of this matter.


    "We want to buy the future rights of a certain number of monsters," he finally said.

 Chapter 125: Black Market Ambassador

    "Future rights? How can we determine the places of monsters and their appearances? What if we don''t start a new invasion, and get satisfied with what we got?" James calmly replied back, as he was thinking about this strange offer.


    The merchant was a sly old fox, who just looked at James, with a knowing look. Everyone here had already heard the news of the new expedition, and rumors even went to speak of attacking more than one kingdom.


    "It''s not a matter of certainty, of course, but we trust that your ambition isn''t limited to here," the merchant replied with his sweet words, replying to James '' trap question.


    "Hmm¡­" James nodded, as he had a moment of inspiration just now, "I can agree to that," he said, startling even Islinda who just grabbed his shoulder, trying to make him rethink again. "However, the price for these rights will be severe," he declared.


    "No matter what, we agree," the merchant had a very old experience in his business, so his keen eyes noticed the stressed reaction of Islinda, so he hurried to speak, trying to cut the route on her to change James'' mind.


    "Are you sure? Don''t you want to hear my price first?"James suddenly asked, with an evil smile over his face.


    James wasn''t that experienced like this merchant, but he had his enough experience in dealing with bad and sly people back in his camp. The life of an orphan there was really harsh; if he was soft he would be eaten alive by the hungry wolves there.


    This look, and the feeling the merchant had from James made him ask:


    "May I know the price, please?"


    "Sure," James nodded, while the firm nervous hand grip of Islinda finally relaxed. She totally forgot how sly he was, and so she started to amusedly watching his next words, and their reaction over those sly merchants.


    "As you know, each monster spawning place must be protected by forces, to be ready for any monster appearance at any time. Before we can approve, as a rising power, to your demands, you have to provide the forces needed to secure the number of these monsters in the number of one hundred planets.


    You choose how many monsters you want, then amass their protecting squadrons, then we will have the right to take them with us at the next expedition towards these planets," James said, before adding with a wider smile, "and after that, the squadrons will be responsible for securing the monster spawning for eternity, and so it would be logic to make them also take part in defending the safety of the whole regimen I''m now building."


    He finally expressed his true intentions. Islinda, and the others, felt weird when he proposed his first condition, but the next moment they understood his true intentions.


    The growing numbers of the monsters started to form a problem, an obvious problem to Rigo and his forces. James knew in the future his forces might be entirely distributed everywhere just to keep the peace.


    That would be a very desperate future he didn''t want to see! He didn''t want to spend most of his acquired wealth on amassing fleets to just lose them to secure the monster spawn places!


    He wanted to form a local guarding force protecting his growing empire, without the need to pay anything, without the need to even organize or pay them. Islinda glanced at him, shortly, while trying to hold back her laughter.


    This was the brilliant solution to all this mess! She knew how much work securing the internal safety of any kingdom was, and now he had freed all his fleet from this tedious commitment, without the need to pay or suffer any losses.


    That was an amazing deal in her opinion, and the loser side would be this man sitting against them.


    "Of course that''s the price of the right to have these places, but the price of the places itself will be a different matter," he said, while turning to look at Islinda, "dear, sorry to trouble you but if they agreed on my terms, then discuss the monetary thing related to the prices of the monsters," he said, with a wide smile over his face.


    "Sure thing, my love," Islinda suddenly replied, calling him her love, before she leaned on his face, and painted a soft kiss over his cheeks.


    This wasn''t a true kiss, but it was a precursor to it. the next moment James just glanced at her eyes, felt the warm breath of hers over his face to be aroused.


    He was already aroused by Luna''s play all the time, and this little push from someone he deeply admired for so long, made him lose control for a brief second; and this second was enough to make him squeeze her soft lips inside his and taste the sweetness of her kiss.


    "Can you come to me after you finish?" he whispered, as this soft touch had aroused his attention. Islinda just smiled, while looking at her rival, directly in the eye. ''This is how you do it, bitc*'' she thought, and her meaning was successfully delivered through her look.


    James didn''t want to leave, but he had already said his farewell order to Islinda. Any more moments here would seem awkward to him, so he moved back to his small cruiser, back to his large one.


    During the way, Luna''s mind didn''t stop thinking about her next move. She had finally managed to penetrate James'' defenses, and was about to tighten the net around him, making him taste her sweetness that he wouldn''t be satisfied after with any girl except her.


    But now, Islinda had made a single approach and crushed all hard work, threatening to take the man she wanted to seize.


    Men for her were just mere tools, only useful when being controlled. She was never ever truly under any control of man before, even her first master.


    So, she wouldn''t be satisfied with being number two in James'' life, but the issue was how to do that while the two of them were about to meet tonight? Should she go and kill her then?


    Just as her mind was full of all these disturbed thoughts, a distress call suddenly came to his large cruiser, coming from the black market planets of his.


    "Supreme leader, there is a distress message coming," one of the droids said, making James free himself from the hands of Luna, and go to receive this message.


    It was sent from the main planet of the eleven under his control. When he read it, he frowned, thinking about the meaning of this.


    The message content was simple, there was an ambassador of the black market, who asked for him. When he knew he was on an external expedition, he left, heading straight to this kingdom.


    According to the message, the ambassador just left today morning, and that meant he would need two days to reach here at least, or maybe three.


    The issue wasn''t about that, he felt some hidden forces trying to press him by that move.


    ''It seemed I got noticed sooner than I expected,'' he thought to himself, while glancing at Luan, ''my personal strength would determine everything, I need to start training.''


    He thought of taking Luna now and started training with her, but he remembered his word with Islinda. He sighed, why couldn''t he have them both at the same time then, and solve this unnecessary problem?


    James knew his main forces were now away from him at the new expedition. Recalling them back wasn''t wise, as they just sat on their journey, ready for the fight.


    Besides, even if he had all his forces by his side, that wouldn''t scare that ambassador, as he was representing far stronger and powerful forces, no doubt!


    ''I have to compromise this time,'' he muttered, as it wasn''t wise gaining more enemies, especially at this delicate stage of his young empire. bowing one''s head for now wasn''t foolishness, the fool was the one who would stand firm now, facing all this trouble while he was this weak.


    He knew, his future was destined to be boundless, but he needed time. Terasos'' race was a threat to him, and adding one or more powerful forces to his enemies'' list wasn''t smart.


    But how would he deal with this incoming threat, to show up his strength in a non-offending way?


    On his side, Luna was in her own world, thinking about how to deal with Islinda. She didn''t like the idea of being defeated in the hands of one girl, especially if she thought herself to be way higher than her in everything.


    The only weakness she got was her shallow relation with James, based on the small time she spent with him so far. If she wanted to be victorious here, she had to be far bolder than Islinda.


    Just as she was about to make a move, James turned to look at her while saying:


    "I will wait for you tomorrow."


    She received the note, and knew she had moved too late already, as the man had made up his mind. He would start with her rival, then with her, which made her, no matter what, number two in his life.

 Chapter 126: Brilliant Solution of Islinda

    "Can''t I come tonight?" she suddenly asked, going overboard with her request. James just glanced at her, before realizing, finally, the rivalry between the two girls.


    He had to admit, this was a brilliant feeling, but he had to make things clear to her, so he smiled warmly, as he caressed her cheeks:


    "I want you too as much as I want her, and sleeping with one before the other isn''t that important to me, as from this moment we all will be one big happy family."


    "Then let me be first!" she didn''t succumb to failure, not yet.


    "I can''t," he simply shook his head, "I know her far longer than you, and so she deserves this, she is first, then you," he said, in a decisive tone to end this quarrel before it started.


    She didn''t like it, but she had nothing in hand to do to change it. she knew what he said was true, Islinda knew him far longer than her. She just stayed with him this short, and she witnessed how busy he was, how many things happening, and how he handled them all with Rigo and Islinda.


    So far she did nothing, yet, of value to make her presence in his life worthy. All she offered was a promise for making him stronger, but he didn''t taste her yet, nor knew how much benefits she could offer to him.


    And so, she finally resigned this time, making him feel, mistakenly, that she accepted her fate. She would lay low, bid her time, until he realized her worth, then she swore to never let him touch Islinda ever again.


    As for James, he then restarted thinking about this dilemma, this imminent threat coming towards him in the veil of ambassador.


    "Send a message to Islinda," he suddenly said to those sitting in the communication unit, "refer to the message coming from home to here, and add this one sentence: the wolves are here!"


    "Affirmative, supreme leader."


    The soldiers started to work diligently, relaying the message to Islinda just like James told him to do. Islinda, who just finished dealing with the merchants, agreeing on everything they needed to draft on the contract they just signed, received the message, feeling somehow the distress of this situation.


    ''This doesn''t bode any good,'' she muttered, as she, like James, had understood the meaning of this move. That ambassador didn''t come with good intentions, not at all!


    So, her mind started to work, thinking about how to make this ambassador yield, and not use threatening words against them. she understood why James sent her this message, he was clueless, and thus she had to step in here.


    She had a very vast knowledge and experience dealing with different powers struggling for one fruit, so it was much suitable if she handled all this.


    Her mind was busy, while his heart was beating wildly from excitement. She knew she would go to his room tonight, and stay there the whole night, alone, together, with him.


    Her heart had this unexplained happiness, despite not feeling the warmth of any man before, but her body started to ache for one.


    Above all, she had also won him from that witch, and this alone was enough to turn her on.


    Every time she recalled the stupefied look over her face when James asked her to meet him tonight, her body quaver, and she felt some strange warmth all over her body.


    She was getting excited over winning this mere rival, despite being nobody in real life, she was a worthy opponent to her, in the fight for her man.


    And this competition didn''t end, like she wrongly assumed, it was just getting started.


    "Spread out the word, we are asking merchants to organize themselves and select specific planets to establish an open branch of the dark market here."


    Her mind suddenly reached this conclusion, amongst all the conflicted thoughts she had. She didn''t delay and gave the orders to her assistants, who started to work at once, spreading the message.


    Unlike James, who wasn''t as experienced as her, she knew the only shield she could use against this ambassador was monetary power; the power of trade!


    This place was still starting, with no established routes of trade yet, so any disputes happening here wouldn''t be part of the black market, not protected by their strict rules.


    Besides, if this place joined the black market, the bosses behind that ambassador would gain part of the cake, naturally, in one way or another. So, leaning to the violent solution wouldn''t serve their purposes, in fact it would work against them.


    Single move and she managed to secure herself and James against the incoming lethal strike. The words spread like fire, as many merchants didn''t believe themselves when they heard that.


    Most merchants here came from the shadow side of the universe, the black market. Leaving the responsibility to establish a branch of black market here wasn''t that hard to do, it was so easy.


    However, they just admired the bravery and guts of James, as joining black market meant he had to pay some taxes annually, in exchange for protection and advanced services.


    Sacrificing part of the profit seemed stupid, especially if this part was enormous, but to them James didn''t hesitate to do it.


    They didn''t know about the threat coming to James, nor did they expect this move to come from Islinda not James. They started working fast, connecting their friends, distant relations, and even bosses, telling them the good news.


    Now they could establish fixed branches of black market merchant associations here, and use this place like any other place in the black market.


    The only dispute that happened was related to the place of the planets that should be selected to be part of the black market, which wasn''t a big dispute at all.


    During all this time, James got the news from Islinda, telling him what she had done and for what. She explained in her message the great reaction from those merchants, and how this would affect the incoming visit of that ambassador.


    James read the message and marveled it. Islinda was such a brilliant little girl that he liked a lot. She was dependable, reliable, and could solve problems he couldn''t deal with.


    On the side, Luna wasn''t feeling the same, in fact she was feeling the opposite. She realized how hard this Islinda was, as she had this place in James'' life.


    Luna admitted to herself, frankly and honestly, that she wasn''t anyway smart or decisive like her, but she was manipulative and tricky. She had traits Islinda lacked, and all she needed was to find the most suitable place to put her skills into use, of course away from James'' bed.


    James stayed in his main cruiser, reading all the reports coming to him from Islinda and Rigo. Rigo''s reports were the same as usual, without any news in them worthy of his attention.


    Rigo was still travelling at speed of light towards the first target, and after he reached near the kingdom, he would start executing his plans there.


    On the other side, Islinda''s reports were kicking in, one after another. The merchants were now so much excited, and they tried to hasten up their preparations, for fear that James and Islinda might renege on their words.


    So, before nightfall, there was another meeting requested by the merchants, as they all agreed upon choosing a planet, located on the edge of this kingdom''s twenty planets, as the main base of the black market.


    The planet was huge, considered as the largest in size among the twenty planets, but they didn''t request this to be the black market new branch for its size, rather for its location.


    It was so near to the nearest black market branch, the one under James control. That would facilitate the travels between the two branches, helping this newly established one to flourish.


    James and Islinda, both without prior agreement, wanted and focused on attracting foreign merchants to here. However, to do so, they needed to lure the local merchants first.


    So, Islinda informed James with their decision and he, unwillingly, agreed. The most important thing now was to eliminate the coming threat of the black market ambassador, making it a cooperation visit, not an enmity resulting one.


    Just as night fell, James sent a message to Islinda, asking her to come to his room.


    As the leader of the newly established empire, James had the largest room in this cruiser, which wasn''t any less in size and arrangement to his royal chamber in the palace back home.


    He went up ahead, while Luna watched him leave with some regret on her face. The first time should have been with her, except for her bad luck and wrong timing to appear in this aspiring ruler''s life.


    James stayed in his room for quite some time until he heard a knock on the door.


    "Come in," he said.


    Islinda walked in, dressing in her fancy white coat, making like look like an angel.


    "Sorry to be late," she said.

 Chapter 127: A Night with Islinda (R-18)

    Islinda walked in, dressing in her fancy white coat, making her look like an angel.


    "Sorry to be late," she said.


    Her face was covered with a thin transparent veil, like a pride in her long awaited moment. James gave her a long, inspecting glance, watching her from head to bottom.


    "Come, sit here beside me," he said, inviting her to sit beside him on this long, comfy couch that he was sitting on.


    She moved in slow steps, until reaching him, sat on the couch, while her coat was still on her.


    James didn''t say anything, as he stretched his hand, uplifting the veil over her pretty face, giving himself a moment to enjoy her shyness which made her even more beautiful.


    Then he kissed her, so softly on the lips, while his hands worked smoothly to remove her coat off.


    The night ended up with the two lovers staying in each other''s arms. When the daylight kicked in, they were forced to leave, while their eyes were sending many unspoken words, and still unquenched desires of both.


    James moved, slightly jumping here and there during his happy morning, like a child coming from a long dreamt of vacation. The first thing that met him when he entered the commanding unit was the stern face of Luna, whose face told everything about how she truly was feeling right now.


    "Good morning, leader, have you slept well last night?"


    Her icy words were harsh, but James was in a very good mood today. "I dunno, you might tell tonight yourself," he said, teasing her, reminding her that tonight was their night together to play off.


    "I don''t think so," she regretfully replied, which made James look in surprise towards her, thinking she had a cold feet at the last moment. "That ambassador sent a message, and he had less than half a day to arrive here," she said, which made him realize why she said the last words.


    "We can play after meeting with him," he tried to console her.


    "Sigh, I know these meetings, this would take longer than you think," she boringly said.


    "You said you know these meetings, have you attended a meeting like this before?" James asked with some interest.


    "If you mean with the ambassador, then yes, I have met him twice," she said, "once when he came here to the previous king, and the other when I was with my previous master."


    Her words alarmed James at once, who turned to sit on his usual seat here, while she, lazily, sat over him. this time he wasn''t this shy man, so his hands moved, without hesitation, to sense special places of her, making the look on her face get softened.


    "What did these meetings were about?" he asked.


    "I don''t recall the first one so clearly, as it happened ten years ago, but the second meeting just happened one year ago," she said, while she started to feel some hotness coming all over her body, "in this meeting,that ambassador asked for the right to mine a certain ore from one of the planets that belonged to us."


    "Ores?"James was surprised to hear this, as he stopped what he was playing at, while asking: "What ores?"


    As he stopped, she finally regained her control over her body, despite feeling some numbness in some places. "I didn''t recall the name, but this ore was described as the godly ore, and the king at then asked for high price in exchange for the mining rights," she said, "the strange thing though that ambassador agreed without any objection, however the project stopped midway due to some problems on the black market side."


    Her words made the eyes of James widened, as he suddenly realized the reason for this visit of the ambassador. "Send a memo to Islinda, make her come here now!"


    His words were rapidly executed, while he returned to his seat, with his hands finding their way to Luna''s hidden treasures.


    Islinda didn''t take longer than half an hour to be here, and once arrived, she was startled by the scene that welcomed her, but she regained her composure in no time.


    "Do you know something called the godly ore?" James asked her without any hesitation, as he had been so curious about this ore.


    "Godly ore? You mean Goldy Ore?" she suddenly exclaimed out in surprise, while her face was full of shock. James nodded in satisfaction, as he was sure if there was someone to know the details of this ore, Islinda would be that person.


    "I don''t know if it''s Godly or Godly, but this ore is very precious, pretty rare, and extremely valuable," he said, as he didn''t trust the weak memory of Luna, who was now closing her eyes, enjoying the slow and rhythmic painful touches of his hands.


    "It''s the Goldy Ore, and this ore can make empires rise or fall!" she said, before she felt something was odd, away from Luna''s position and expression, "Why are you asking me about it?"


    "I think one of these planets has that ore, and that ambassador is coming here for it!"


    Once he said it, her mouth opened and didn''t close up again, except after quite some time. she was extremely shocked, as this ore was considered as an emperor making, or an emperor killing ore.


    "Are you sure about that?" she asked, with much anticipation to his answer.


    "Yeah, Luna here said this ambassador came to the king last year, asked him to dig for this mine, in exchange for a very generous price," he said, while gesturing to the about to collapse Luna on his lap. "Do you think we should ask for more price, or fight for this ore?" he asked, the main question he had in mind right now.


    "If there is such ore here, and that ambassador came to speak about it, then we can''t fight it. the forces behind that man wouldn''t tolerate our resistance, and we wouldn''t be able to resist them," she explained.


    "So we can ask for more price," he said, sighing in regret, "what is this ore used for anyway?" he casually asked.


    "It''s considered one of the highest forms of energy producers in the whole universe. Some also claim it can recharge the lost energy of special individuals, some like you perhaps, or their artifacts," she said, and the more she spoke, the more stupefied he became, until she threw the last bomb in front of his face, simply like that.


    "Did you say fix artifacts?" he asked.


    "Yes, that''s what I heard back home, but I''m not sure about it," she said, slowly stressing on her uncertainty regarding this matter, after she noticed the strange reaction of his.


    "Good, very good," he smiled, an evil smile that gave her the impression he was planning something bad, and big.


    "Don''t we have that last king in our custody?" he suddenly asked.


    "Rigo had him, in his large cruiser," she said, "do you want to interrogate him?" she asked.


    "Sure, why not?" he replied, while turning to order one of his main associates to contact Rigo now.


    "Can I talk to him?" she said, suddenly stopping his hands from moving, "I need to act once I learn the location of the mines at least. If we have this kind of wealth, then we might at least extravagant some of it and store it for ourselves," she added, trying to convince him.


    In fact she wanted to thank Rigo, and ask him for more help regarding dealing with Luna. She watched her reactions during James playing with her, and she was either exaggerating, or had a more sensitive part than her.


    She wanted to find a way to eliminate her from James'' side, or else she would feel this threat all the time. Thinking of her, and recalling Rigo''s last help, she decided to seek again the cooperation of this old enemy, a new ally for her.


    Rigo, on the other hand, was on his way to the expedition. He had his main five men under him, sitting in front of him, reading the latest report of the scouting cruisers they sent up ahead.


    "So, this is the current state of this kingdom?" Rigo asked, looking towards his first lieutenant, called Gom.


    "Yes, it''s the latest reports we just received, this kingdom is like a honeycomb, with a long and huge series of planets there, not only twenty as we previously assumed," Gom said, "these planets are connected through wrapping holes, connecting vast stretch of space together, and making this kingdom can control all this with its minimal amount of forces," he added.


    "This is quite an opportunity if used right," Rod, another lieutenant for Rigo said, "if we managed to sneak into this network of them, we can snatch many cruisers without knowing that. this would be a great chance for us," he said, while he was looking at everyone, waiting for their approval.


    "That might work," Rigo said, but first we need to scan this whole place, draw a map for it. such a huge stretch of planets, exceeding two hundred at the moment, isn''t easy to control."

 Chapter 128: The Expedition Starts

    Rigo muttered, while looking at his third lieutenant, Fom, as he said, "you will lead a brigade of our cruisers, go inside there, and start scanning the place. act as if you were a tourist, and send me all the data you collect."


    "Affirmative," Fom, who was used to speak less, act more, replied, while standing from his place, heading towards outside, to do his mission.


    "What about other kingdoms?" Rigo asked, trying to assert if there was another trap here or there.


    "They are all like what we anticipated," Gom said, "I think we should start with them until we finish drawing the map here," he said, expressing his own thoughts and ideas.


    "Good idea indeed," Rigo said, "let''s then change course, head straight for the farest kingdom from here, we will start with it," he said.


    As others left, his mind was busy thinking about his leader, and his personal affairs. He didn''t like Luna, but he knew she would be much useful to him, so he just hoped Islinda would succeed in seizing him before Luna, and be his leader''s first woman.


    That made him recall two other women lost amidst all this, Eli, the first girl James met, and rescued. The lonely thought that his leader would choose her as his first lady, but after James got himself busy, and Eli had her own doubts towards him, the gap started to appear, getting bigger and bigger until the two never met, never spoke together for such a long time.


    The second girl he thought of was Dora, that fiery little princess of the rebels. Things might get quite intense at first between the two, but he thought for a long time James would fall for her, especially she was a beauty for her own, and leading a huge army.


    However, what happened at the end made the relation between the two quite impossible, might be in the distant future, not now. However, with the forces of James getting bigger and bigger with each passing day, Rigo was now doubting that might even happen.


    He didn''t know where or what Dora was doing right now, but he was sure she wouldn''t have it so easy and successful like his leader. Leading a bunch of rebels, away from their main aim, would be dangerous, as they would shift their gazes towards her, and set her as their goal for resistance, despite not doing anything at all.


    He sighed, helplessly sighed, as he knew he had no saying in all this. He was happy for Islinda, despite the rough start between the two, he was now sure she was the best mate for his leader, especially when she was already a queen, with a huge empire to rule and inherit waiting for her back home.


    He knew the fight for her heritage wouldn''t be quite easy, especially her uncle of hers wouldn''t sit silent and wait for her return just like that. He would start changing those in powers loyal to her, with those who would be loyal to him.


    That would make the whole empire in turmoil, threatening a civil war, but at the end, Island had all the right to act and claim for her throne, and he was now supporting her claims, and was ready to fight for it.


    James'' territory would escalate to new heights, if he managed to conquer these five kingdoms as planned. The newly discovered true face of the first kingdom they visited made the dream of becoming an empire nearer, as they only needed to double this amount of planets, and they would have an empire.


    He was also concerned about the other forces in this grand sector, that terases race, known for its greed, and violence. He was sure that once they grew up to be an empire, the doors of hell would be opened upon them, but he wasn''t afraid, or had a second thought about that.


    He knew this was the destiny of any empire, to be in constant struggle with other huge and mighty forces in the grand sector. If the empire couldn''t defend herself amidst all this, it shouldn''t be called one.


    He sighed, and rested his tired head over his seat, thinking back to the glorious days of their empire, which got destroyed at the hands of many enemies, mainly under the culprit of the terases race.


    The previous days were still lively, shining in his thoughts, and he was sure James would make these days return. He was eager, missing the days of fight he once had, the sounds of great battles, the bitter taste of defeats, and the sweetest taste ever of victories.


    He still had a personal vendetta against the terases race, a vengeance he once swore to see it through, returning the debt twice to them. however, right now, he wasn''t sure he would do that, or have the chance to do it.


    James intended to go away from here, trying to help Islinda to return home. He didn''t refuse that, but he wanted to do that after completely controlling the whole grand sect, not leaving and running like cowards, not like that.


    That was the main reason he proposed to James many times to start invading other territories, as he was sure when he succeeded in doing so, and he was pretty sure about his ability to conquer these miserable kingdoms, James would change his vision of here.


    Not a place to run from, but a place to build a mighty base at.


    So, winning here was inevitable to his plans, just like any other upcoming battles he would rage, he should and must win them all, without a single loss, no matter what.


    He had to make James taste what it meant to be supreme, leading on a huge number of planets, controlling vast stretches of space, having endless armies, and having no one to stand against.


    The journey to the next kingdom didn''t take more than one day, where he first sent out his scouting cruisers, to scan the area, before he decided to go there and start the invasion as planned.


    The kingdom selected had about twenty five planets, with a mere army of two large cruisers, and thousands of smaller ones. Rigo gave his orders to attack small cruisers, snatch them, and bring them back after killing everyone on board.


    The process went smoother than they expected, and after one day of this, they retreated with their precious cargo, around one hundred small cruisers in hand with the logo of that kingdom on them.


    He didn''t waste anymore time, as he went ahead to the next kingdom, repeated the same process, and this time he snatched the cruisers using the cruisers he snatched.


    After gathering over two hundred cruisers, he issued the order to retreat, as his main goal wasn''t to annihilate the whole kingdom''s army, but to instigate their wrath to their neighbors.


    When he went to the third kingdom, he didn''t stop there, as after deploying a mix of the two snatched cruisers, he went to the next one, the fourth kingdom, and deployed the rest.


    The plan went smoother than expected, with the lack of the last kingdom, which made him frown the more intel he received from his man there.


    That kingdom didn''t have a small army, it had a very huge army, counting up to fifty large cruisers, with tens of thousands of small cruisers.


    However, this mighty army was already spread over a large stretch of area in the space, linked together by these wrap holes. Rigo thought about the best strategy to snatch them, but he couldn''t


    If he entered there, he must enter a head on battle, not just merely snatch and run, as this would alert this sleeping beast, and he wouldn''t be able to stand against it if he did that.


    So, he took the whole three days to consider his next move. Knowing the risks on stake, and the great benefits if he gained these large planets, he decided to go through with the plan he saw was suitable.


    "Let''s just finish with this first, and let the other kingdoms fight between each other."


    Rigo said to his main aides, as the news of the four kingdoms amassing their armies on the outer borders with each other had already reached him. despite deciding that, he didn''t give the order yet, until the fight already started, and continued for one day between the four kingdoms.


    "It''s now safe to move, give the order to start."


    He said, as his army started to be separated into smaller lesions, each headed straight towards one of these wrap holes.


    Despite the huge numbers of them, he already had a detailed map of these holes. The hole system was made based on the presence of alpha holes, and beta holes.


    Alpha holes were the keys, without them no beta holes would be functioning. Rigo aimed to control these alpha holes, cutting the route for the widely distributed forces of this kingdom to amass together.

 Chapter 129: Meeting Unexpected Kingdom

    His luck was great, as the number of these alpha holes weren''t that high, only twenty. He sent his armies there, so he could now control them at the same time, while preparing for the huge battle to come.


    There was the ordinary way to travel through space to come here, but that would take days, if not weeks to amass all the forces scattered everywhere.


    That wouldn''t work, and the leaders of this kingdom must be feeling quite humiliated right now with his actions, so the first and logical order to give was to force their way through his blockade, even if they sacrificed half of their fleet.


    He had to avoid the first approach, directing smashing into the blockade and doing the unexpected.


    What these leaders didn''t know was Rigo ahd already anticipated that, so he ordered his men to bomb these holes, making any cruiser passing there, small, medium, or even large one, to suffer huge damages and be destroyed.


    The network of eyes he spread gave him a clear view and updated vision over everything happening there. as he expected, the enemy started using the force to penetrate into the controlled holes, and when they did that, the losses started to well up at a frightening speed.


    The second logic order was given, retreat! Rigo knew they would do that, but it was already too late. They had already lost over two thirds of their mighty fleet, and the rest was now suffering losses as well.


    "Issue the order to follow and destroy," Rigo simply said, after one day of the start of this battle, its end was drawing near to him. He sent down his own forces that kept the holes from working, to pass through the holes, and start attacking the already injured fleet.


    In less than another day, ninety percent of that huge fleet was destroyed, and the remaining ten percent was already on the run for their lives.


    "Give the order to seize the royal family, control all the planets, and send a word back home to send new people to rule here," Rigo said, as victory was already grasped, and now the long and tiring rebuilding process had already started.


    He felt quite relieved for not having to do this tiring and boring thing on his own. Islinda had already established a system to control everything, organizing many officials to rule under their names, and thus he could simply let things here to her, without feeling any worry at all.


    The last thing to do, and that was quite important as well, was to spread the monster fighting force to these newly conquered areas.


    However, there was a problem here. The number of planets here was tenfold what they had anticipated, so he had to let part of his fleet, big part nonetheless, to stay back, spread over the huge territory, and be ready for these monsters.


    He knew James would be quite surprised and pleased when he got the news, so he made sure he sent the news to him as fast as he could. Having all these planets, with all these monsters here would increase the wealth gained from merchants, and make his strength grow more and more.


    Rigo had the realization that a fleet with over one thousand large cruisers was drawing nearer and nearer to him, just a couple more places like this, and he would see it happening for real.


    "Let''s go and pay these fighting rats a visit," he gave the order for the remaining fleet to move on. Despite not losing much in the previous fight, he had to abandon a lot of forces to guard against monsters.


    Despite having his fleet halved, he wasn''t worried, as the reports coming from the ongoing battles in the four kingdoms made him quite satisfied.


    During these days, they had already destroyed most of each other''s fleet, while he made sure to send his snatched cruisers everytime peace was about to be reached, to ignite the fire of hatred again, making everyone more fixed on fighting, nothing more.


    So, Rigo went there with the smell of victory already in his nose, thinking this would be another stroll here, then he would announce his complete victory.


    However, he was destined to be disappointed, greatly, when the recent news came into him, just a few distance away from the current ongoing battlefield.


    "So, I wasn''t the only shark eyeing these fishes then," he muttered, as the reports that lastly came spoke of the emergence of a new strength, coming on the current disputes, attacking everyone, killing them all.


    This New Force then moved at once, spreading its dominance on the four kingdoms, in a way that seemed pretty organized for a long time, not just improvised on the moment.


    Rigo gave the order to halt, while he sent more scouts and spies towards the kingdoms, to know what this new shark was.


    To his surprise, it was a nearby hidden beast, who hid itself quite well, stretching its reign over the whole territory around it, being so close to being a kingdom already.


    So, it wasn''t a simple shark, it was a whale!


    The only good news he had was the total number of these forces, they weren''t that much considering the huge stretch of space it controlled.


    "So, if we send out reinforcements, can we take it down?" Rigo muttered, but he knew this wouldn''t be easy. He had gained one victory, but lost another good piece of the cake, and despite how bitter it was, he knew he had to accept it, not be a sore loser here.


    "Send a signal to home, we want all what they can spare and buy of cruisers and armies to be sent over to us," he said, " and send more spies to this force, I need all the data about it here as fast as possible," he added, as fighting in the dark would be quite stressful.


    On the other hand, James was already in his own dilemma at the same time. knowing what that ambassador wanted, he started to feel somehow conflicted regarding it.


    He didn''t know how much of this ore he had, or how big its effects were, so he couldn''t make up his mind, when he met that ambassador here today, would he accept, stall, or refuse?


    So, he just waited, hoping for the good news to come. At this moment, he had the news Rigo sent about their victory on the new kingdom they discovered to be huger than their previous estimation just arrived.


    "Oh, we had it big this time," James just smiled, widely, as this was quite the victory and large gains to him. He knew this new territory would add more riches to his, more power, and also increase the workload over Islinda.


    "Pass this message to Islinda at once," he ordered, while Luna was now in another place, where her mind was wrapped with sweet feelings and dreams, under the effects of James'' soft touches over her body.


    So, she didn''t hear or realize what was going on. As for Islinda, she was now standing in the main palace on the main planet, meeting with merchants, and striking deals with them.


    Just as she was in the middle of that, the message suddenly came to her screen, where she just smiled, then laughed wildly when she read that.


    Since the moment she slept with James, she had changed in her personality, as she became more bold, more aggressive, more wild. Her sudden and extreme reaction was spotted by the merchants, who asked her at once:


    "Is there good news, my lady?"


    "Good news? It''s great news," she laughed again before giving the orders, "spread the word, we have already secured over two hundred more planets, and they are ready for auctions."


    Her words made the eyes of these merchants pop up from their heads, two hundred planets were a huge boost in the territory, but they weren''t thinking about that.


    They were thinking about the number of monsters they would have the chance to seize, and when they thought back to their limited number of armed forces, they knew they had more work to do, and thus they all excused one after another, heading rapidly back to inform their superiors about these great news.


    "It seems that night was a very good omen to us," she muttered, with a strange smile over her face, "so, why don''t we do it again, my dear James?" she was speaking to herself like James was there in front of her.


    The next few hours were quite busy, as all the merchants living here were stirred by this news, and they came here to strike more deals with her. She started to amass a lot of resources, war weapons, cruisers, and soldiers, in numbers and quantities she never dreamt of.


    In the middle of that, the next news to reach James was regarding that ambassador, he was already here!

 Chapter 130: Stalling for Time

    He didn''t expect him to arrive here in such a short time, he thought he would come tonight. Anyway, James gave the order to make him come to his main cruiser, while he thought about what to do with him.


    He didn''t get any answer yet from the teams that went to search for that ore. He couldn''t make up his mind, not without the necessary information, or else he might miss a great opportunity, or lose it big.


    The ambassador didn''t take longer than one hour to reach him. during this hour, the news Islinda sent about the new gains made him in a better mood. He knew, the victory Rigo had proclaimed would be greatly used well by her, as the two of them were the pillars he would never risk losing, as losing one would topple his empire''s balance, making him lose everything.


    The ambassador was led to his commanding deck, where there was a table already preparaed for their meeting, put just in front James'' seat. James didn''t send Luna away, as he wanted to send a message to the ambassador, I knew everything about your previous deals with the old king here.


    However, he stopped playing with her, as she now stood beside him, with her cheeks all rosy and eyes all sleepy. If it was up to her, she would prefer to go back to her dorms, and sleep for couple of hours, or even days there with him.


    The ambassador who entered through the door of his commanding unit was short, fat, and his steps were really slow. James just wondered how this man managed to reach him this soon, perhaps he was using a slim version of the cruiser.


    "Hello mr ambassador, I''m glad you can join us here," James said, welcoming him, warmly.


    "Thanks, but it would be nice if you stayed there at the black market," the ambassador said, expressing his complains, which James didn''t give heed to.


    When the ambassador went to sit on his designated seat, his eyes fell over Luna, and his face instantly froze for couple of moments, before regaining his usual face.


    However, he was much gloomy than before, which was something James was pleased to see.


    "How was your trip to here?" James asked.


    "It was quite hard and tiring to be honest. What are you doing here, invading other territories, may I ask?" the ambassador jumped over the curtesy and asked directly his question in a rude way.


    "Oh, I didn''t know I should answer to anyone my actions, especially you," James replied back, rudely as the ambassador''s way.


    "Really? You don''t know whom I represent?" the ambassador sneered, "if you don''t know, then I can tell you," he added, with a sarcastic smile over his face.


    "Sure, I want to know, as all I know is you are sent by the black market, which, in my opinion, is made up of forces like me. so, why not just cut the crap and say your real master''s identity?" James jumped over curtesy as well, speaking bluntly just like that.


    "Bold, and courageous, I respect that," the ambassador said, while taking out a screen of his own before adding, "however you aren''t the first, or the last to come here and cause some ruckus. All before you either yielded or were destroyed, and something is telling me you will be one of the latter," the ambassador said his threats, while pressing his thumb over the screen, to make a hologram to appear.


    James saw a group of planets, twenty each, lined together, forming a familiar scene of gathering.


    "These are the four kingdoms that you worked hard to get, they are now under our hands. you have to yield, or your army right there will be wiped out," the ambassador said, which made James quite startled. He just received the news from Rigo, and acted upon them


    Was Rigo mistaken? Never, so this ambassador was lying.


    Just before he could reply, another message came from Rigo, asking for reinforcements, anything that can be spared, and narrating the whole situation.


    When James read that, he suddenly realized what was going on here. it was a cat trying to act like it was a tiger! This would have worked pretty well in fact, however if not for Rigo''s ambitions being far bigger than his leader.


    James, however, didn''t show this up, when he passed the messaged to Islinda, giving her the order to mobilize the newly recruited forces, that he could spare, and send them fast towards Rigo.


    The distance from here to Rigo would take days, so he needed to stall for time here. after he finished, he would kill this ambassador and ditch his body in the space.


    He was, for one moment, tempted to do it now, but he refrained, as this would cause more trouble than solving problems.


    "So, what should I do to gain the approval of this force you are representing?" James said, making the ambassador quite surprised. He thought James would be stubborn, so this would the reason for the force he was representing to act on here, snatch the part of the black market he had, and the gold mine under his hand.


    "Well," the mbassador face told James he didn''t expect this reply, and this made him quite satisfied, "I will have to present this to my superiors, arrange for conditions, and return back to you," he said, as he wasn''t that ready for answering him.


    James smiled, as he simply replied:


    "Take the time you want, and during that, you will be my guest, living inside my cruiser."


    The ambassador wanted to refuse, but he couldn''t as he had seen two armed guards moving to stand on his two sides, which made him quite startled at first, before he was silenced and accepted this condition of James.


    He just didn''t understand it, as all the news coming about him told them how stubborn he was, and thus they made their entire plans based on his refusal, readying themselves to invade here at any moment.


    However, now, they had to start over, think about hard conditions to comply, and then they would have their reasons for war.


    The rules of the black market were quite severe and strict, they couldn''t just simply attack a member without proper reason. If they did so, thent he doors of hell would be opened upon them, and they would be instantly destroyed, and their belongings would be distributed over the current members of the black market.


    So, they had to treat it carefully, especially his presence here was already a mistake and a violation for these rules. for their luck, James was new here, and he didn''t know the proper rules for the black market, or else they wouldn''t have done this silly move now.


    James just watched that ambassador walk away before he hurriedly said:


    "Send this message to Rigo, at all costs you must conquer that kingdom!"


    "Affirmative."


    On another hand, Rigo was already waiting for the reply from James, and when he got it, he felt somehow skeptical and doubtful. He felt the urge in James'' words, and when he realized that, he decided to act before the reinforcmenets arrive.


    "Send my orders, all the droids would go and act on the suicidal bombing missions now! target all the large cruisers here and inside their territory."


    The suicidal bombing mission was the code name Rigo came up with to describe the tactic they frequently used recently, and was quite effective.


    It acted as part of the droids would infilitrate the large cruisers, go towards their engines, and plant extremely deadly bombs there.


    The problem was the lack of the good advanced bombs, as they were using the old antique ones they had from the days of their lost empire. however, after gaining all this wealth and the trade channels, the advanced gears were all available to them now.


    So, just planting a few bombs would be enough to render any large cruiser paralyzed, planting even more would totally destroy it.


    "Paralysis or destruction, sir?" the soldier responsible for the communication unit asked.


    "Destruction," Rigo muttered, as the days where they would hunt for cruisers by this way was already over. The orders wee given, and the responses came stated and drew a timeline course for this operation.


    They would need for one day to complete the mission. Rigo didn''t have any reason to disagree with them, so he gave them the final order, while sitting there waiting for the good news, while reading the latest reports coming from that hidden kingdom.


    That kingdom was really massive, stretched over hundreds of planets already, but was still less than five hundred by a few. After the addition of the four kingdoms to it, the number would exceed five hundred for sure.


    Rigo saw this fat sheep with a greedy eyes, and he knew gaining control over this place would be great. The only thing he, or James, knew about was the presence of a branch of the black market there, at the end of this territory.

 Chapter 131: Give Me More Time Or Die!

    So, they were technically trespassing over the black market, attacking another part of it, but they never knew the rules yet, however that wouldn''t be an excuse for them, to spare them from questioning later.


    The other thing that Rigo discovered was the presence of a huge force gathered together inside the territory of this kingdom. The number of cruisers there were in thousands, with large cruisers alone numbering in hundreds.


    That was a force not to be taken lightly, however as they were all organized in one place, it made his own task easier.


    The druids couldn''t be detected, as they were considered as mere metal scraps in the space, a common existence there. their infiltration would be easy and silent, and the presence of all these cruisers in one place made their mission much easier than before.


    They all just needed to jump from one cruiser to another, which would make their journey easier, and their target to be completed fast.


    As Rigo expected, after less than one day, all the cruisers were now filled with bombs, and were ready to be detonated. He didn''t hurry to do it, as he was waiting for the reinforcements to arrive, which would take another day to do so.


    While he was waiting there, James was fighting back in the recently conquered kingdom, trying to buy more time for Rigor to act.


    "I can''t agree on that term, who the hell do you think I am!!"


    James blurted out in pure, and sincere rage, in front of the ambassador, as the latter presented the new list of conditions to him. The list had many rude and unfair conditions, that if he was really considering cooperating with them, he would refrain from doing so.


    "I have no authority here but to deliver the list to you, you either agree or disagree on it!" the ambassador said with a very wide smile over his face. The moment he saw this list, he knew that James would refuse it, and that would be the reason for war to erupt.


    "If you have no purpose, then I would kill you and talk to those in power up there!" James suddenly threatened, with no hesitation he pointed towards the ambassador as he said to one of the two guards standing beside him:


    "Go and kill him."


    "At once," the guard replied, as this would be a really simple order to execute.


    The face of that fatty ambassador changed at once, as he finally realized he was under James'' mercy, and he wouldn''t be that stupid to insult him while he could, easily, lose his life here.


    "Wait, wait a second, I can arrange something better for you," the ambassador said, as his face oozed sweat, drenching all his fancy clothes he was wearing.


    "Good," James nodded, "you have one more day to consider, and ask your superiors to give you more powers to decide, or else your head will be the price for your constant rudeness," James added, while feeling quite relieved for buying one more day to Rigo, "take him to his cell, and watch him all the day," James ordered the two guards, changing the name of the room that ambassador staying at to be a cell.


    He wasn''t a guest, he was a prisoner, and this slight shift in wording made a large difference here.


    The ambassador saw the net being tightly wrapped around his neck, so he wanted now to leave first thing, more than anything else, from here.


    "May I stay inside my cruiser?" he asked, trying to act as humble and respective as possible, however the time for being so was long gone already.


    "Oh, your cruiser?" James faked a surprise gasp, "sorry to inform you about that, but some black merchants saw some worth in it and proclaimed it already, with all the men over it. I''m deadly sorry, but I will compensate you properly when you manage to leave here alive," James nodded with a sincere look over his face, while the face of the ambassador was pale white from fear and terror.


    The most fearful thing he knew was that his superiors might think this would be a great thing, sacrificing him, so they could use that as a reason to start war.


    He knew for sure how merciless his superiors were, and thus he decided to hide this info for them, and find any other excuse to stall for more time between the two sharks eyeing his fat peaceful fish.


    As for James, he was satisfied by this, hoping this threat would force that ambassador to find a solution to buy more time in negotiations. He didn''t know that what he just did forced the hand of that fatty and made him buy time for his own self, and also for James and Rigo.


    On other hand, Rigo waited for reinforcements to arrive, and they arrived one day later as he expected. The new large fleet was really impressive, but in front of this mysterious power, it was still not sufficient.


    "Let the fleet stand by the designated battle formation, and let''s be ready for going on way anytime soon," Rigo said, as he spent the previous night with his lieutenants drawing up battle maps one after another.


    They were ready to go to war, and so were their enemies, who had just received the new message from their ambassador. They weren''t naive, as they understood their man was lying, and that meant he was captured and being threatened to be killed.


    That alone was enough to invade James'' territory, so the order was given to their massive fleet, to go to Rigo''s fleet and destroy it first hand.


    This was the main fleet of James, and losing it would be enough blow to James. They thought Rigo wasn''t ready for them, but opposite to their expectations, he was.


    The moment their fleet started to move, heading towards Rigo, entering the area under Rigo''s protection, Rigo didn''t delay in giving the order.


    "Detonate all the bombs, and give the order to destroy everything."


    The enemy knew James'' main fleet was nearby, but they didn''t realize they made the same mistake as well. The huge fleet they amassed compromised their whole forces combined together, losing it meant losing everything.


    However this thought never crossed their minds, or thought of and rapidly neglected, as they were confident their huge fleet was invincible, especially against an unaware enemy.


    They were already on the losing foot here, as they never imagined for Rigo to be this aggressive and cautious, and even bold enough to plant bombs in the hearts of their big cruisers.


    The moment the war started, the enemy was dealt a very painful blow, as all his large cruisers, his scary ships were lost. While this happened, Rigo''s fleet jumped in, like sharks in water, hunting and killing any small and medium sized fishes, sorry cruisers.


    The battle was already one sided from the beginning, though it took roughly three days and nights, travelling across the whole mysterious kingdom''s territory to finally all ships were destroyed, or surrendered to this mighty force led by Rigo.


    The moment Rigo had assured his victory, he dispatched part of his massive fleet, to go and annex all the ruling planets in this kingdom. As his men were spreading James rule here, monsters started to spawn, and this created some chaos in the middle of the ongoing war.


    The moment the war ended, Rigo sent all his troops back to fight these loose monsters, which helped a lot in regaining peace and calm in these recently conquered places.


    As for the ruling family, they were captured, detained in his cell, to be added to his already enlarging group of kings and queens.


    Rigo gave the order to interrogate this royal family, as he was still surprised by their steal for the four kingdoms, not believing it was just a mere fluke of coincidence.


    This operation was planned a long time before, and that meant they had some spies inside their lines. That was accepted, though, as they welcomed a large number of ex-soldiers in a short time, having no time to make sure they were clean.


    As he did all that, he hurriedly sent a message to James.


    "We had absolute victory, congratulations on adding five hundred more planets to your reign, supreme leader."


    This message made James, who was extremely worried these days, playing verbal games with the ambassador, who was lying and playing the role he was ditched for. At this moment, James finally could heave a long sigh of relief, while looking towards Luna as he winked and said:


    "Let''s celebrate tonight at my place."


    Luna was already hacked by James'' hands all previous days, and her body was already eager to taste his real touches. So, the moment he said that, she excused herself to prepare, while he gave the order for the message to be relayed to Islinda, whom he didn''t see this whole time.

 Chapter 132: Winning A Great War

    Islinda, on another hand, was getting her hands busy dealing with the endless stream of merchants who just came to strike their deals with her. The two hundred planets gained by Rigo previously were almost half completed, and that made her quite anxious when receiving James'' message.


    "What?! Five hundred more planets?"


    She screamed out of shock in front of all these merchants who just looked to each other, before one of them asked with shocked tone:


    "Did you just say five hundred planets? Full of monsters?"


    The question of this merchant expressed how deep was this shock already. They had just amassed enough troops to secure many spots here, knowing this was already a golden chance for anyone to rise, and anyone to fall.


    So, these merchants didn''t delay and started fighting even among themselves to secure the mercenaries. Some merchants who were dealing with ex soldiers started transforming them into mercenaries, as their prices soared to the sky right now.


    And this news would raise that already extravagant price to another level!


    "Yes," she helplessly replied, with a weak smile of tiredness over her face, "spread the word, we have five hundred more planets to sell," she gave the orders to her trusted subordinates, who started to work at once without delay.


    The merchants had a stir, as this was a groundbreaking news for them. any merchant managed to secure a place of monsters had his own life changed dramatically, even a new type of trade had already established, the monsters'' materials trade.


    The news travelled fast, and as James was having his own fun time torturing the sexy body of Luna, other merchants were having hard time dealing with these news.


    The news traveled outside the reigns of his growing empire, reaching everywhere, attracting an endless stream of merchants to his own territory, in a grand migration move that would establish the base for his financial backbone in the near future.


    Amidst all these, one person who had known him heard the news and felt somehow deep regret for not following him.


    It was Dora, the princess of the rebels, once was, and now she was the queen of scattered tattered forces.


    As Rigo expected, these hungry wolves after losing their preys started biting inside their ownselves, in a very stupid move that expressed how shallow and pointless their cause was.


    They started attacking small forces of them, either submitting them under their wings, or totally exterminating them. their already small number just barely managed to secure their stand on a couple of planets, before they fight between each other, making these planets usher into war ruins.


    The once glorious move like the rebels ended up miserably in one corner of the galaxy without anyone knowing or hearing about them anymore. They had no cause, no enemy to fight, and thus they started fighting among themselves.


    Until the day came and the news of the mighty battle between Rigo''s forces and that nearby mighty kingdom forces reached their ears, then the news traveled fast about the riches hidden deeply in James'' territory.


    This had finally given them some light, as they still saw themselves worthy to be called rebels, fighting for justice, on the surface, while fighting for themselves in the core.


    Dora was now sitting on a small throne that she took out from her mother''s ship, the only large ship they now had.


    In front of her, many rebel forces'' remaining alive leaders stood and waited for her call.


    They all asked for one thing, raise the banner high and call for resisting James.


    Resisting the man she once loved, the man who risked his life to save hers!


    She wasn''t approving that! When she first heard about James and his consecutive victories, she was happy for him, but she never expected the day would come and her men would ask her to invade him.


    She would never agree on that, even if she had to face them off, despite never having the strength enough to do it, not on land.


    So, she was sitting now in front of those five wolves, which she names them wolf one, two, to five. For her, they were only wolves, knew only how to fight and kill, not to build and thrive!


    Or else, these three thriving planets they controlled here would be now growing in power, not like James of course, but at least have decent growth!


    However, they were all now in ruins, and she would never allow this plague to spread! Not to James!


    "We need to prepare our troops for the battle anytime, I have already prepared mine, queen," wolf one said, with much pride in his ready men.


    "Mine as well are ready, we need to spread the news fast, send out our men to every corner of that tyrant empire, and start to sprout the sacred seeds of the rebellion there," wolf two said.


    "I agree, we should start sending envoys at once, before the people there succumb to this tyrant rule," wolf three said.


    "My envoys are the best, they managed to spread the resistance seeds a long time ago, and they will be able to do that now," wolf four said.


    "We should act immediately before that tyrant sniffs any news about us," wolf five said, while the five looked towards her, waiting for her orders.


    She, on the other hand, was thinking about James. Tyrant?! No way he was a tyrant! Under his reign, a mere black market forgotten place had grown much in power that started to be eyed as one of the main thriving places in the whole grand sector!


    That was no easy feat to pull! No tyrant could do that! so, she wasn''t on the same vibe with them, instead, she was against them.


    She already acted, as she knew how greedy and selfish they were, and sent a warning message to her old friend, Rigo, asking him for help.


    Rigo''s fleet was nearby, and thus he could reach here fast, rescue her before these wolves would turn their fangs on her and tear her flesh with pleasure.


    She was sure they would have much happiness in doing so, and thus she only hoped Rigo could reach here fast enough to save her from her demise, and doomed fate.


    "Let''s wait and see first how things would end at their end," she said, trying to stall for time.


    "What end, queen?" a wolf one asked, "he had already silenced every resisting force that stood against him, he is such a tyrant that should be silenced by us!" he added, with much aggressiveness in his tone.


    "It''s our sacred mission, our sole purpose of existence," wolf three added, adding more fuel to the existing enraging fire.


    ''Yes, you only know how to destroy and ruin, not to build and live peacefully,'' she thought to herself, before finally nodding, "I want everything to be reported to me, everything," she stressed, as she knew they had already acted behind her back, and this meeting was just a mere formality of a long lost era.


    Just as she said that, many soldiers broke into the hall, while their leader, the guard of her entrusted forces, broke out at once, alarming everyone:


    "Grave news, that tyrant fleet had arrived here!"


    ''Even you!'' she muttered to herself, as this calling was only limited to these leaders'' forces. For her entrusted leader to say the same word meant he was already in their pouch.


    ''I''m all alone, sigh, I was always alone,'' she thought to herself, dejectedly sighing, as this bitter statement was the mere truth of her entire life.


    "Prepare battle formations, everyone go now," she bellowed, as she knew Rigo would never take this rebellious idea so lightly.


    As for her, she only sat there, inside the massive throne hall, all alone, marveling at the cold meaningless crown that now felt so heavy and desolate, so detached from her true soul.


    "I should have gone with you, not let you leave alone," she sighed, as she sadly muttered these words while the sounds of fighting were enraging all over the place.


    The fight was one sided, as these wolves were in fact mere sheep. Everyone was either killed or detained, while Rigo, himself, descended to the palace where she stayed, and entered the empty throne hall without any resistance.


    The moment he saw Dora, his heart was broken for her. She wasn''t the same shining star that once was, instead, she was about to turn to a black hole, die out of desperation and depression, all alone, with no one beside her, no one to love her.


    "Sigh," he sighed, helplessly and sadly, "can you come with me now?" he asked.


    "As a detained defeated rebel princess?" she asked back, with a dejected tone that broke his heart even more.


    Did she think he came here to kill and fight the rebels? She was mistaken, He came here to rescue here!

 Chapter 133: Dora

    "No, as one of my leader''s ladies, come, my lady," he said, kneeling on one knee, in an act that made her tears well up her eyes, reddened her two beatufiul gems in her head, making her look more dejected and desolate.


    ''Why did I let you go alone?'' she muttered, while standing, with no power at all, from the throne, letting the heavy cold crown she inherited from her mother to fall on the ground and then walk away.


    The moment she did that, she felt like a heavy, very heavy burden was let loose finally off her chest, and now she was living another life, her own true life.


    "Lead the way, my old friend," she muttered as she helped Rigo stand. Her friends should never bow to anyone, even to her, not anymore!


    As for Rigo, he came here without telling James anything. He knew James wouldn''t tolerate such impudence, but he didn''t want him to have any ill intentions or feelings towards Dora, especially when there were such beauties already on his side.


    So, he came here, detouring from the main fleet, coming with enough forces to burn these three planets upside down. He was astonished when he saw the reports speaking about the current lousy state of these planets, so he changed his mind.


    He only hunted the rebel forces down, while keeping the original planet''s inhabitants alive, joining their planets to James'' rule.


    As such, the planet started to spawn monsters, and his forces were kept partially here to keep order and peace. The presence of another ruler was extremely and warmly welcomed from the locals, as they already tasted the worst under the rebels'' choice and barbaric rule.


    Dora entered the main cruiser of Rigo, to exclaim in surprise to the massive fleet that he led home. Rigo said nothing, as he feared for her if she knew this was only part of the huge fleet, not the whole thing.


    Dora was asking herself, in wonder, how James and his few of followers, who left her large cruiser in small and medium sized ones, hunted down and threatened to be killed, had reached all this mightiness in this short span of time.


    She also marveled how the rebels, who once lived like true kings back in the days, had diminished to such a state.


    ''Perhaps some people were born to be leaders, not inherited it by blood like me and them,'' she sighed, as she knew this was the only possible and logical explanation here.


    "My lady, you can rest here, and you are free to come and go as much as you like," Rigo said, while he selected the most comfortable room inside his whole cruiser, James room, "this is James room," he added, trying to make her understand his meaning.


    "How can I take this? He would be enraged if he heard that!" she muttered as she shook her head, refusing this gesture from Rigo.


    "My leader had grown and matured a lot since you last saw him, he now had his own harem and he knew how to treat a woman of your caliber," Rigo said, trying to be bold in his efforts, "I''m sure you deserve a man with prosperous future like him, as he deserves someone special like you," he added, before opening the door of the room while adding, "you can stay here until we reach home, then you will stay in my leader''s palace."


    She felt his words were so direct and somehow rude, but after what she already saw, she accepted his own words, and even appreciated his warm intentions.


    "Fine," she finally made up her mind, "I will stay here then," she added, as she turned to look at him while muttering with extreme honesty, "thanks for all you have and still doing for me."


    Rigo just smiled, as he already knew what core she was made of, "you shouldn''t have let us go alone," he muttered, while going back to the commanding deck.


    She just stood there, watching the shadow of his figure, before muttering as well, "I know that already, it''s my greatest life mistake," she then entered the room, closing the door on herself, while muttering with great determination, "and I intend not to commit the same mistake ever again."


    The trip to James'' place took a couple of days after this little detour. Away from this, nothing major happened to Rigo, however James was destined to welcome another change, as another ambassador came from the black market, suddenly like that, with great warships that numbered to hundreds of large cruisers.


    He was leading an army, and suddenly that army appeared on his doorsteps without any warning at all.


    "How did this happen?" James muttered, as he asked the droid leading the defensive forces here.


    "Our detecting abilities had severely affected by the current expedition," the droid replied, in great shame, "if supreme leader wants it, then my life should be the appropriate price for this incompetence of mine," he added, while kneeling on the ground, waiting for James'' decision.


    "Stand up, I''m not a bloodthirsty ruler or something," James just said it, waving his hands towards him, to make him stand up, "just learn from this mistake and develop our surveillance abilities to max. We have many channels now, and enough wealth to support our aims. Just contact with Islands, and get things done," he added, with a greatly annoyed expression on his face.


    He wasn''t afraid of this invasion, as he had Rigo coming home, plus all the fleet parts under his disposal now was enough to defend this place for days, no matter what the invasive force tried to pull.


    "Invite that newcomer here, let''s see what he had to say, and send for Islinda, I need her to be with me now," he said, as he was sure there was a bomb waiting for him.


    Things went as he wanted, and in less than one hour, the ambassador came to stand in front of him, acting humbly as he bowed his head while saying:


    "Apologies supreme leader for intruding here without warning or prior notice, but this is an urgent matter of the balck market."


    "Anything black market wants, I will satisfy at one, just tell me what bothered you to come here, mr?" James asked, replying with kind, not very weak words of his own.


    James sat on his main throne hall, in the planet controlled by Islinda, as she was now standing on his right, while Luna stood on his right, looking more lively and hot than ever.


    "I''m sorry to disturb you again, my name in Amed. The black market supreme council had long known about your deeds, and they are quite pleased by the presents you sent to us before, and they express their thanks to you about the efforts you did to transform here to such a gold mine," Amed said, telling all the good things so far.


    James was surprised by what he heard, as he never knew about Islinda''s move to send some presents to the black market supreme council, just after the previous ambassador came here to threaten them.


    She suddenly understood they weren''t alone here, and James'' strength, despite being magnified rapidly, wasn''t enough to stand against such force, not yet.


    So, she acted, on her own, using part of the endless riches she gained from auctions, and gifted them to the black market supreme council, trying to please them.


    "That''s really nice to hear, and I didn''t imagine that to be met with such force knocking on my doors like this," James said, expressing his discontent over the huge fleet that came to support the ambassador''s visit to here.


    "It''s just a minor thing, as I was going to invade some forces nearby, I apologize if this fleet had disturbed you," Amed said, with great diplomatic skills, which made James feel the great difference between the two ambassadors.


    "Oh, if you want my help, then I can help you with that," he offered, not of kindness, but of greed.


    "That will be another matter to discuss, but we greatly appreciate that help," Amed said, before adding, "but there is a little matter that we heard, and I came here to just know the details about it," he then paused as he added, "not long time ago, you destroyed our partner in the black market territory, sir Henry''s kingdom, is that true?" he finally asked the real reason of his visit to here.


    "Sir Henry?" James asked in ignorance, that was genuine, "May I ask which territory we conquered? As per your knowledge, we conquered a lot of planets recently, but never heard of this Henry," he added.


    "It''s the five hundred planets kingdom that you just conquered, supreme leader," Ames said, with a calm face and tone, "inside our black market, there is a code that no one should trespass on others territories. I think you know the significance of that law.

 Chapter 134: Another Black Market Ambassadors Sudden Visit

    Whoever breaks the law will be severely punished, and set as an example for others to learn from," he added, with his calm tone and face.


    "But there is also a law that no one in the black market should interfere in other''s business, or that would be considered as an act of war, right?"


    Suddenly, the sexy silent, looking dumb, Luna spoke up with strong tone and domineering spirit. James was astonished by that, as he didn''t know that after sleeping with her for two consecutive nights, she had grown as well, gained more mental powers, and that was all because James was special.


    "My lady is right, there is such a rule," Amed replied, without taking any offense at all from her aggressiveness, "may I ask why my lady brought such a law now?" he added, trying to act humble as much as he could.


    "That''s because your man, Henry, had intruded into my man''s business. So, we just decided to destroy his entire kingdom, adding it to ours," she added, with her same aggressiveness.


    The face of Amed immediately changed, slightly, as this small knowledge was left unmentioned by Henry''s son, the one who asked the supreme council for justice.


    "May I have proof for that?" he asked, as this was a very important matter, lives were at stake here.


    "Sure," James finally spoke up, as he shouted to the guards on the door; "Bring the locked up ambassador here."


    The calling he just said made the face of Amed more unsightly, as if there was an ambassador of Henry locked up here, then what Luna just claimed was the truth.


    He had always heard of rumors about how Sir Henry had made his kingdom, using treachery and deceiving others using his well known ambassadors. He once met a couple of them on separate occasions, so he was now waiting for that one to come, as he might have known him.


    The moment that fat ambassador was brought here, the face of Amed turned dark. He recognized that ambassador, as he was one of the two he previously met. He turned to look at James, bowing very respectively, as he knew Sir Henry had stirred a beast he never had to come near it.


    "I''m sorry, supreme leader, I was mistaken. On behalf of the black market, I offer half of the current fleet as a compensation to yours," he pulled such a great hand, as this was the least he could do.


    The price seemed extravagant, but to his bosses, this was nothing big. He had also the liberty to act as he liked with this fleet, either attack James and kill him, or grant him the whole fleet if he wished for.


    "I''m so grateful for you, my dear friend Amed," James couldn''t decline such a fat dish presented to him, as he replied instantly, agreeing on the offer, "as a present from me, I will grant you one of the kingdoms we just conquered, with merely twenty planets there, as a gift for you," James said, as his intentions were made perfectly clear to Amed.


    Amed''s eyes shone brightly, he wasn''t greed, not stupid, as he realized what James was doing. These monsters coming to the planets he held were considered a rare treasure already, as many leaders were discussing now a way to make his rule extend, and his monsters to grow.


    They wanted to help him, so he could take them back, and now from just this simple gesture of him, James had gifted him twenty planets full of monsters.


    That was impressive, great hand indeed.


    "Thanks supreme leader for your generosity, I''m sure the supreme council wouldn''t stop at anything to help your growth and your reign to extend boundless in the cosmos."


    James smiled, as he then waved to the guards to take the fat ambassador away. That fat ambassador was living a really comfy life, as James didn''t touch him, or make him suffer.


    "May I ask about your destination with this grand fleet?" James finally asked the matter he wanted to ask about from the start. Any addition to his growing empire was welcomed, especially if it came from rulers of this part of the space.


    "There are dozens of kingdoms trying to make some stir and trouble to your south, so the council saw it was appropriate to help you exterminate them, and give them to you," he said, with an eye waiting for James'' response.


    "Hmm, dozens of kingdoms, that seems interesting," James muttered, faked thinking about it, "I will gladly accept the council gift, but I can''t just accept it for free like this. I have an image to keep you know, so I will grant the council ten percent of the conquered territory."


    "Thirty percent, that seems quite fair," Amed suddenly wore off his diplomatic coat and wore his merchant coat. The two started to openly discuss business terms, away from any coating words, until they both agreed upon twenty percent of the whole claimed territory.


    Amed was feeling ecstatic, as his superiors only dreamt of fifteen percent, and now he had twenty, plus the kingdom he just had as a gift.


    "You can discuss with my lady, Islinda, about the terms and finalize everything," James said, before adding, "and if you have a list of these impudent kingdoms, we can extend our deal to cover them as well, what do you think?"


    Amed couldn''t dream of anything better than this, so he hurriedly, without trying to hide his happiness and excitation, said:


    "I agree, on behalf of the supreme council of the black market we agree on these terms."


    Amed was already celebrating inside himself, as this deal would make his status in the council so special and ascend much heights than before.


    "Good, I''m pleased to hear that," James said, while turning to his right, "please my love, I have to trouble you with this."


    Is Linda''s face blushed when she heard that magical word, as she was first hearing it from a male, from her man. She nodded, trying to hid her flushing face, as she replied:


    "It''s nothing my¡­ my dear," she didn''t know what to call him, so she stuttered. Amed noticed that, and put a note on this. It seemed this growing man had endless luck, as his superiors can gift him with talented girls, ladies that can rival the current two without doubt in mind and beauty.


    "I will trouble you, my lady."


    "It''s nothing, please, this way," Islinda led him away from here, as she started to squeeze him for info and more deals.


    When she finished with him, Amed had the impression he wasn''t dealing with a mere woman, but a leader on par with his own leaders. He knew this girl might be hard to push away, but it was acceptable to push the other one.


    Amed then hurried back to his own fleet, and sent the news to his leaders. The response he got was quite satisfying, as he expected he was greatly rewarded and praised, plus they decided to make the move much bigger, amassing more grand fleets and sending them his way.


    They had already greedy nature, and James had depended on that. having partners was sometimes helping, especially if he knew how to satisfy them, and make them always satisfied and content.


    As for James, he was surprised by the way Luna spoke to Amed. He knew she was wild, but not wild at all, and only wild at bed only.


    "Don''t look at me like that, as I feel more urge to hunt you tonight, but I know you will be Isli," she said, as she knew James promised Islinda to sleep with her tonight.


    "Don''t feel like that, I will make it up for you tomorrow," he said, as she kissed her hot lips, making her whole body boil with his hands touching her while he carried her to sit on his lap, as usual.


    The afternoon passed like that, and James heard the news Amed sent for him, about more reinforcements, and how pleased his superiors were. He also asked for making permanent branches of his superiors here, so they can use the already huge base of merchants in this place, to strike deals.


    James, as usual, passed them all to Islinda, keeping her busy until dinner time, where he took her to his dorms in his large cruiser, as he made love with her for hours and hours non stop.


    Luna wasn''t the only one getting benefits from this, as Islinda had many personality changes, as she became sharper, more alert, and very very very patient and decisive when dealing with merchants and trade deals.


    Her leading abilities and traits had gotten a boost, making her far better than she once was.


    As for James, the next morning was doomed to be special for him. Rigo''s fleet just arrived in the early morning, and with its presence, the whole space was already looking crowded, and scary.

 Chapter 135: P- P- Please... Stay!

    Hundreds of large cruisers caused this scene, and that was enough to make anyone coming here feeling the pressure already. This wasn''t a mere black market, it was a great empire in the making!


    That made more hesitant merchants to make up their minds, adding more to the migration move of the merchants, adding more people to the immigrants, normal people even, who were aspiring to gain anything from this wealthy place here.


    Rigo just entered the main commanding deck, to find his leader sitting on his seat, as usual, and Luna was now sitting with strange pride on his lap.


    Just as Rigo entered, and James was about to welcome him, a familiar old face appeared there, walking with some shyness, and hesitation, following Rigo''s footsteps.


    "Dora?!" he muttered, softly expressing his own surprise to see her. She was the last person he thought to meet, not with Rigo. He looked at Rigo in question, while he said:


    "She sent me a distress signal, as some of her rebels planned some ruckus, and she stood firmly against them, but that threatened her, so I came to rescue her, and bring her, ahem, home."


    Rigo added some details to the main story, despite this was the truth if he was late to come and save her. James just glanced at her, examined her body to make sure she was safe.


    "I''m¡­ I''m good, thanks for caring," she replied, with some shyness and redness over her face.


    She never expected to see him with another woman, and a galaxy class as well. She suddenly got what Rigo had told her from before, that he had changed, he really changed, as James she knew wouldn''t even dare to examine her like this, even if he was worried about her.


    Despite his daring eyes, she didn''t feel any offense, after all she already prepared herself for the worst.


    "Welcome home Dora, this is your home despite now building it so far with us, but from this moment you will," James said as he looked at Rigo, who hurriedly said:


    "You order the supreme leader."


    "Appoint her as leader of a large fleet, second in command only to you," he said, before looking at her as he added, "I know how much you love leading fleets and fighting wars. In fact we will have another war now, do you want to come with me there?"


    His question startled her, and his arrangement really took her by surprise. She never thought he would be this carefree with her, with no grievances of any kind, none at all.


    She was extremely content with his arrangements, so she just smiled as she said:


    "I have no problem with that."


    "War?" Rigo asked, "is it related to that new ambassador?" he asked, as he wrongly understood the current situation.


    He was just briefed of the incoming new fleet, but he didn''t have any other data regarding that matter.


    "This is a long story, the short version is that the supreme council of the black market had already gifted us half of that mighty fleet up there. Dora, you will go with Rigo to take control over that fleet, and will follow us to the next targets," James said, explaining in brief what happened, or to be exact the end result of everything.


    Rigo wasn''t satisfied with this scarce amount of info, as he asked again:


    "What targets?"


    "We had signed a deal with them, they will support us to invade as many kingdoms around us as possible, providing us with intel and many military aid, in exchange for twenty percent utilization rights for the conquered areas," James said.


    "They are after the monsters?" Rigo asked, stating the obvious fact.


    "Yes, they are after that," Jamed confirmed his guesses.


    "That''s fair," he said, "twenty percent in exchange for all that, that''s quite fair," he added, feeling quite excited, as his supreme leader was now on a no return course towards greatness.


    He only needed time, just enough time and he would be unstoppable, not even by the Terases race, or anyone else.


    "When will we leave?" Rigo was already pumped up, as he asked with great excitement in his tone and all over his face.


    "Calm down, you just returned. Go and discuss matters with Islinda, and get the whole story from her. We are waiting for the incoming reinforcements from the black market, more grand fleets are coming to our aid in this expedition, so make sure you and Islinda buy as many war cruisers and soldiers as possible," James said, explaining what he needed him to do.


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied, before hesitating as he asked, "What about Dora?"


    "She will stay here with me," James said, "we have already a lot of things we missed, so this time will be for her," he added, before looking in apology to Luna, who expressed her anger in her own way, biting his shoulder with her lips!


    Dora noted how wild and comfortable Luna was dealing with James, and how carefree the latter was to her actions and attitude.


    ''He certainly changed a lot!'' she thought to herself, while watching Rigo and Luna leave, leaving her , alone with James.


    She stood there, uncomfortable with his daring looks to her, as she didn''t get used to him in this way before.


    "Come, sit here," he suddenly said, pointing to a seat nearby him. she, embarrassedly, and nervously, walked to sit there, while keeping her head to the ground.


    She, the bloody princess of the rebels, was now feeling so embarrassed that she couldn''t even raise her eyes to see him.


    "Tell me, how was your life after we got separated," James started by asking her this. He had long imagined her life without him, and for a period he thought she would knock on his door, asking to live with him.


    After all, he had risked a lot just to save her life, and both had gone through bad and hell together just to stay alive and escape to here! so, it was hard for him, at first, not to think about her.


    However, Isilnda did a great job, making him forget everything else but her, even Eli, who was once beside him all the time, was now somewhere back in the black market branch he first conquered, living her own life of virtue as she chose.


    "It was nice," she simply lied, saying nothing more. He wasn''t that na?ve person from before, at least he could tell if a girl, an innocent girl, was lying in front of him. "Really?" he asked, with a tone that told her he knew, he knew what she went through.


    Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and she started to hardly struggle not to cry. He looked at her with pity, as it seemed she had it hard. A girl, young and beautiful like her, being betrayed one after another, then left alone amidst those greedy wolves, that would be expected.


    He felt some regret, some responsibility, some guilt, as he left her there without even checking at her from time to time, even from far.


    Despite he had a very busy and enticing life and andventures since he reached here, he should have asked Rigo to use the system he was controlling to make sure she was ok.


    But he didn''t, and that made him feel quite responsible for the bad things she experienced. He sighed, before getting up from his seat, going to her, taking her inside his embrace, and letting her finally vent everything she tried longly to bury.


    Just being in his embrace, feeling his strong chest, hearing his heartbeat, surrounded by his arms, made her lose control, finally, over her swelled up emotions. She exploded, crying, crying and crying, until she had no strength left to cry.


    She didn''t feel James as he carried her from her seat and took her to his own room, making her cry on his chest, sleeping over his bed.


    "Why did you bring me here?" Once she took a break, she knew where she was, so she asked.


    "I just want to leave you rest here, but you were crying so I couldn''t leave," he said, before letting her body slip through his arms, falling on the bed, while he was moving away, "as you woke up, I will take my leave."


    She hurriedly, subconsciously, extended her hand and grabbed his, while stuttering:


    "P-P-Please¡­ stay."


    She had this urge to be with him, never leave him again, but she also had some pride in herself, as she didn''t want to be like this, sleeping with him in their first reunion.


    "You know, technically, you are my oldest girl I know amidst my current ladies," he said, as if he was able to read her mind out. She was about to say something, when he silenced her with a long, soft kiss that made her lose all the resistance she planned against him, and she fell deeply into him.

 Chapter 136: The Three Girls Facing off Together

    The night was special for both of them, as in the morning, she woke up, feeling strangely refreshed and energized for no specific reason. All her pain and sadness were washed away, and she was now behaving like her old, very old self, the bloody princess of the rebel, or even far better!


    What she didn''t know was this all came from James, as he was the origin of this. James had special powers inside of him, unique, so unique that he had no equal but one.


    James just woke up, and he felt more refreshed and stronger than before. A few nights ago, when he first touched Islinda, he started to feel his body being changing, and he was quite satisfied and surprised by that.


    He knew Luna would help him, but he never thought Island would do the same as well, and now it was Dora''s turn.


    That made him unable to think away from this simple idea, what if he started his own harem? Would he grow stronger then? Or not?


    He noticed Dora had already woke and left, and he didn''t chase or search for her. He knew where she would go, as her concerns would be now related to knowing her new fleet to lead, and try to have a grasp on matters there.


    He wasn''t yet worried, despite she never led such an army before, as he was sure Rigo wouldn''t let her lead the fleet alone. He would entrust to her some of his trusted and capable droids, which would aid her greatly until she got to handle things on her own.


    As James was heading towards his main commanding deck thinking about this issue, the three girls of his were now having a first off face off with each other!


    The story started when Dora left the room early in the morning. She was used to waking up so early, and doing some physical training before heading to supervise her rebels.


    Old habits couldn''t easily die! Despite the shock she had currently, she decided to go on and train. As she was running at the special area of training inside the large cruiser, she noticed the presence of Rigo, who was, strangely, looking for her.


    "Rigo, is there something wrong?" she asked.


    "I want to go with you Islinda so we can receive our own fleet," he said. Dora knew Islinda, as she was one of those who James saved early when she first met him. she sighed, softly, as the previous words Arthur said to her still rang in her mind!


    She was their oldest one, yet she was the youngest to join, the latest to be with James, making her regret every single decision she made back inside her large cruiser.


    "Sigh, fine let''s go," she sighed as she stopped her running, and went with him towards the small cruisers that were lying in the huge hunger. "How did you know I was here?" she asked.


    "I was tasked with watching everything happening back at your cruiser by the supreme leader, and from there I knew your daily routine," he replied with a warm smile.


    "You were able to monitor me inside my cruiser?" she asked with surprise, as she knew he hacked the system before, but she thought it was only simply hacking, not reaching constant monitoring to her.


    "Not only you, anyone and everywhere inside your cruiser were constantly being watched by me," he simply replied, as disclosing these now wasn''t a big issue after all.


    "Interesting," she simply replied while they went directly towards the main planet where Islinda was ruling from. "Is Islinda now the leader of this planet?" she asked, casually, as she didn''t know anything yet of James'' matters.


    "No, she is considered the general leader of everything," Rigo simply replied, before adding, "she is tasked to deal with all the merchants, diplomatic envoys, civilian requests and demands, while I''m tasked with the army, and now you are on board with me in the army."


    "What about this Luna?" she asked, with an extreme jealousy tone.


    "She is tasked for James," he shrugged his shoulders, as there was no other task for her except for this, "she has something important to give him, a healing energy or something," he hurriedly added when he noticed the glaring look in her eyes.


    "What? Is he injured?" she suddenly and hurriedly asked, with much worry about him.


    "No, he is fine, but¡­ I don''t know how to explain this, maybe my leader can do it better than me," Rigo escaped from this trap, as he didn''t know if his leader would like to share his secrets now with Dora or not.


    Dora felt his hesitation, and frankly she didn''t know if he was avoiding answering her or he really didn''t know how to express his thoughts.


    Of course she knew it was the first, as Rigo wasn''t just a simple minded droid after all!


    As they reached the planet, the small cruiser took them directly to the huge palace. Dora noticed the presence of monsters at the palace garden, and in some places along the journey.


    These monsters seemed really terrifying, and she understood now why the whole galaxy was stirred up when the news reached everywhere.


    Rigo noticed her fixed look over the nearby monster behind the palace as he smiled, said nothing, while leading her towards the main throne room.


    The palace was huge and majestic, but Dora wasn''t the type to be impressed by these things. When they reached the room of the throne, they discovered that Islinda didn''t come yet, and so Rigo took her towards the place he knew where she would be at right now.


    Rigo wasn''t simple, as he remained silent on many things happening around him, however he was always aware of these. He knew the habits of everyone related directly or indirectly to his leader, even their secrets.


    He never thought of badly using this info against anyone, but he did this as a safeguard against any future problems.


    If not in the throne room, then she would be sitting in a specific room, in the second floor of this palace, lying at the distant rear of the palace, with a very wide spacious balcony that opened up on the whole beautiful palace garden.


    Rigo didn''t know why she picked this place, however he noticed her melancholic glance whenever coming here, and always coming here alone like she was escaping from the eyes of everyone.


    Rigo didn''t know that she had a strangely exact copy of this room, with this balcony enjoying the same view back at her own palace at her empire.


    Coming here for the first time made Islinda shocked, as she couldn''t imagine such a place existed.


    From this moment onward, she stole any moment of freedom to come here and enjoy the scene.


    However, when Islinda came here in the early hours of the morning, she wasn''t alone, as Luna stalked her here, enforcing herself on her private moment.


    "You need to act with me against this new girl," she said, as she already sensed how dangerous Dora was on her plans to seize and control James.


    "Technically you are the new one, she is even older than me in knowing him," Islinda said, as she sat on her own seat facing the fascinating scene in front of her eyes.


    However, for Luna, she never cared about such things, as she hurriedly interrupted Islinda''s moment of peace, physically and verbally, as she moved to stand in front of her seat, blocking the great view with her almost naked body of hers!


    "You have to help me get rid of her!" she shouted, and at this precise moment, the door opened, and Rigo came in with Dora, who just heard this loud shout from far away!


    The three girls finally met together, and Rigo just silently excused himself, letting the three fight each other alone, and he just ran off from here.


    "Hi Islinda, it has been a long time since I last saw you," Dora said, while totally ignoring Luna.


    "Yeah, many things happened to me, and it seems much happened to you as well," Islinda said, as she turned her seat to glance at her, before pointing to a corner of the room before adding:


    "Help yourself," then she turned to glance at Luna before calmly adding, "and you too."


    Islinda inwardly sighed, as this scene reminded her of what happened between her and Eli when she first came here. she totally forgot that incident, but now with the three girls together, it seemed this place was doomed to gather James'' harem and discuss grave shocking matters.


    Dora moved, willingly, to grab a seat, but Luna just stood there motionless for a long moments, and didn''t move until Dora grabbed her seat, sat beside Islinda, totally ignoring her, before saying:


    "The scene here is really amazing."


    "It reminds of me of a distant memory," Islinda simply and softly muttered.


    "Your home?"


    "Sigh!"


    "What are you two talking about?!!" Luna finally gave in, moved to grab a seat, and then returned to sit on it, giving her back to the wide fascinating world, and facing the two directly.


    "Can''t you appreciate a good moment, a nice view?" Islinda asked, with a soft long sigh.


    "I can enjoy a bed, a man, nothing more," Luna replied with some aggressiveness.


    "Savage," Dora commented, directing the first word towards Luna since she entered here, "I don''t know what illness James had to be forced to be with someone like you," she added, with a harsh tone and daring tongue, repaying what she heard when she entered here at the first time.

 Chapter 137: Accidentally Helping An Enemy as A Mistake

    "Savage?!! Who savages your flat chest!!!"


    "Who is sick? James?"


    The two spoke at the same time, Luna with her sly tongue, and Islinda who knew Dora wouldn''t exaggerate anything.


    "Yeah, Rigo told me he had to be with her because he is sick and needed her!" Dora replied, explained what she heard from Rigo.


    "Rigo is right, he is sick of you two, so he comes to me to please him," Luna stretched out her tongue, while replying aggressively to the two of them.


    The two, in return, totally ignored her, as they turned to face each other, while Islinda said:


    "I never heard of such a thing before, he needed her to open up his energy, that''s what I know."


    "oh, so she is just a key, nothing more!"


    "Sure, or else why would he leave me and look at her?"


    "Good point, you are an equal match to me, while she isn''t even worthy of our attention."


    The two continued to throw words over Luna, who had a very thick skin, and faked ignorance, as she loudly laughed:


    "Hahaha, you two are hilarious, to think you even have a chance to compete with him, hahaha!"


    Her laughs didn''t affect their mood, or their speech, which made her add:


    "I''m the one to stay the longest with him, how come he wants to run away so badly from being with you two? hahahaha!"


    Her words this time enraged them, as they both glanced at her, while Luna added:


    "I came to ask you a hand to get rid of her, but never realized you two were together, two faces of the same coin, losers! Hahahah, I''m going off, letting you two majesties have fun together, my love is surely awake by now, alone, looking out for me to please him, bye bye losers."


    She moved, but in this moment Dora couldn''t hold anymore and stood to stop her. Dora was a strong warrior in her own regard, and Luna was¡­ well, a very soft body for her. However, she didn''t know that Luna wasn''t that weak, and she even had some powers after sleeping with James, just like Dora, and even more.


    A conflict erupted at this moment, as Dora couldn''t stand Luna''s vulgar attitude, and the response she used was her fist.


    However, Luna managed to evade her fast fist in no time, and as the two were about to keep going, using fists and kicks, even hair dragging as well, Islinda shouted, interfering between the two, stopping them both with one shout:


    "Stop it already or I swear to call James here right now!"


    Her shout and the mention of James managed to threaten the two cats, however that stopped the current physical contact, not doing a hair breadth of change in their hidden intentions.


    From now on, a triple war has announced itself in James'' harem!


    "Sit down you two, and stop acting like little kids!" Islinda added, before turning to look at the scene in front of her, with mood already tainted by their quarrel.


    "I will take my leave," Luna didn''t respond to the offer of Islinda, as she turned and left. Islinda sighed, while Dora returned to her seat, feeling extremely enraged.


    "I will give you a word of advice, take it from someone who knows about the world as much as you do," Islinda said, without turning to glance at her. "James is destined to be a great man, with a bright future, much brighter than what you even think. Such a man will always be tempted by his desires, but he will also have a mind to assess and evaluate each lady in his life, how influential she is, and if she is really important or just a liability."


    Her words stopped at here, as she didn''t intend to add more. These deep words made Dora slightly calmer, as she turned to look at her while saying:


    "James had tasked me already with leading the fleet going off to an expedition with Rigo."


    "That''s good, he is testing you, and hopefully you won''t fail it."


    Dora glanced with strange look towards her, as she asked:


    "Are you welcoming me to share him with you?"


    Islinda turned to glance at her while smiling calmly. "You aren''t even a match to me, I have already claimed the highest position in his heart and life. you just will be a much better competitor to me than this gypsy girl that befell upon us from god knows where!"


    Dora''s eyes suddenly widened, as she understood a very critical problem she missed. She came here initially to ask Islinda to assign her, which meant she was already inferior, and Islinda in front of her now was superior, much superior to her.


    She clenched her fists, as she stood up slowly, before muttering:


    "I will never resign him to anyone, not even to you."


    She then turned around and headed to the door, while Islinda relaxed her body, finally feeling much relieved as she muttered:


    "Didn''t I say you will be a better competitor than that gypsy? At least there will be an honor for me in besting you, making him mine, all mine."


    She then continued to enjoy her rare moments of peace inside this room, and her mind was feeling comfy and relaxed, satisfied by her current indisputable place in James'' life, and might be heart as well.


    As for James, he was currently inside his large cruiser, alone, wondering where Luna went to.


    As he was sitting there in daze, Luna came towards him like a rocket. She didn''t leave once she left the room, but she stood there, eavesdropping over the conversation of the other two girls inside.


    What she heard from Islinda really shook her, as she suddenly realized she was the one to be left out, not them! she was sitting all day here playing with James, but she knew, realized from the words of Islinda, that in the incoming future, she would be useless to him, and he would simply ditch her like a street gypsy, as Islinda called her!


    "Hey, didn''t find you here when I came, are you mad?" he asked once he spotted her coming towards him, as he thought she was mad from sleeping with Dora, not her.


    "May I ask you something?" she suddenly asked, out of blue for him.


    "Anything," he instantly replied.


    "What do you think I can do to be useful to you?"


    Her question startled him, and his eyes got widened at this moment.


    "Why do you ask me about this?" he asked, trying to understand what was going on here. he wasn''t stupid, he already sensed there was a bigger story behind this sudden question.


    "Nothing, I want to be more useful to you," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.


    "You already are, as you are helping my strength to grow," he simply smiled and replied to her. He wasn''t lying, he started to feel stronger, more refreshed since the moment he slept with her!


    "I know, but I want to be more useful than that," she paused, as a thought popped up in her mind, "I have the ability to sense and help in refining the god ore, do you want me to start looking and extracting it? I can also refine it, make it ready to use by you."


    She had to go all out! This was one of her secrets that she never told anyone before, not even her previous masters. She had to use this card, as she had no other talent in her life, beside her unique talents in bed.


    She recalled how James acted when he heard about the god ore, and she believed this might interest him. not much, in her opinion, but at least this effort and this task would make her not look helpless like Islinda was eyeing her.


    She was a fierce competitor, even if her other two contenders underestimated her and didn''t acknowledge her as one!


    "God or? You don''t mean¡­?" he asked as he was so shocked at this moment, even adjusting his seat over his seat to look more seriously at her.


    His sudden reaction startled her, as she never thought he would be so much interested in that. "Yes, it''s the ore that the kingdom tried to snatch from here," she confirmed his guess, and she noticed the look of joy in his eyes apparent like a huge supernova in the darkness of the universe.


    "Really? But we don''t know the place of the ore," James said, as he lacked this vital info.


    "Don''t bother, I can sense the presence of it from miles, so all I ask is to just supply me with enough workers and tools, and I promise to extract all the ores you need."


    Her words made James jolt from his seat, walk towards her, and hug her like it was the first time to see her.


    His hug this time was so different, and she finally realized the deep meaning of Islinda''s words.


    ''That b*tch!!!" she inwardly cursed, as she wasted all this time playing with James, trying to drive him into her bed, while Islinda was confidently eyeing her from far, laughing at her silly futile naive attempts!


    "You will get all the support of me as you want," he simply said as he moved away from her, before kissing her fiery tasty lips like he never did before!

 Chapter 138: Islinda Vs Luna

    He couldn''t control his happiness or excitement at this moment, so he grabbed her in his arms, carried her all the way to his room, and did a very passionate, deeply intimate, very hot session of love for a couple of hours.


    After he finished, he let her sleep inside his arms covered with a very thin, semi-transparent precious piece of silk that made her naked body look much more tempting to him right now.


    However his mind was busy thinking of this, this final dream of his to repair his precious scepter! It was time to repair his scepter, and start walking on the path he was destined to venture through!


    After an hour, he slipped from her sleepy embrace, and went outside to his commanding deck.


    "Send the word to Islinda, make her prepare a large mining group of workers, and all the advanced tools to extract and refine ores. Make her also prepare a very secretive location, with enough guards to face a whole army if needed! And let her relay to me when she is ready."


    The words were received by Islinda down below, and from the tone of them, she realized something was fishy here. she thought of sending back to ask for more info, but she had this feeling she would know everything so soon, and what she would know would really startle her.


    She started to do what he asked, and in less than a few hours, everything was ready. The empire James was now ruling was very prosperous, very strong, and very rich. Many wanted to gain the favor of James and Islinda, and anything Islinda asked for was instantly done, even with the cheapest of prices.


    She sent the news back to him, and when he read her message, he smiled in content. Luna was just walking slowly, lazily, getting into the commanding deck, headed directly to his lap, as she threw her soft flexible body over his as she said in a very sexy tone:


    "You naughty James had all this passion and kept it hidden from me? naughty, you are a naughty boy."


    And he just chuckled, while kissing her sweet lips once again.


    James just played for quite some time before he finally said:


    "I have already given Islinda the order to prepare enough support for your mission. Tell me, do you want me to tell her to send all of them to a specific planet?"


    James told her about his planning and orders for her. Once she heard all he said, she smiled, evilly, as she replied:


    "No, let me go personally to her and I will take everything and start with her planet."


    James just nodded, as he then stayed for a couple of hours with her, before she hurriedly left to go down to Islinda. She was really quite impatient, but she also felt James was different, much different with her than before, and she liked this new James.


    "I didn''t know you two had much better fun than me!" she muttered, as she realized she had more time with him, but they already had it better than her!


    She went down there, exited her small cruiser, went towards the palace where she entered the throne room of Islinda, where she was sitting there, speaking with everyone, answering their requests.


    The moment she entered the hall, Islinda''s eyes picked her at instant, however she didn''t even give her a second glance. She thought James must have sent here to ask about something, no more.


    When Luna went near her, so easily as she was already famous and well known to be one of the great leader''s harem, she said in a wide smile:


    "James sent me to receive my own men, are they ready yet?"


    "Men? What do you mean by that?" Islinda signed and stamped one document, before looking for another. She simply replied without even sending a single direct glance to her.


    "The preparations for mining, didn''t he already send you the message a couple of hours ago? hurry up and deliver them to me, I have an important and crowded schedule already!"


    This time, Islinda raised her head and gave her a very long, and deep glance. "Are you going to deliver them to whom may I ask?" Islinda asked, trying to know who would use all these preparations. "For me, of course," Luna''s swift and calm reply came with a very teasing expression over her face.


    Islinda''s face showed her extreme shock for quite few moments, before she hurriedly regained her composure. "Are you sure it''s you?" she asked.


    "Sure, it''s me, do you want me to call him for you to confirm?" Luna asked.


    "No need," Islinda briefly replied, as she knew she couldn''t be lying on something so big like this, risking getting James'' wrath. "What do you plan to do with all of these? If you don''t mind telling me?" she added, while she hurriedly sent a message to her assistant to make the secret preparations ready.


    "I don''t mind, but I should only whisper," Luna replied, as she climbed few steps separating the seat of Islinda from her, before whispering softly in her ears:


    "Thanks for your kind advice previously, as without it I would have ever stayed the loser gypsy among all of you. I will go now, and if you were so desperate to know about my secret great task, then go ahead and ask him directly, my love, kiss."


    She even kissed her cheeks, making Islinda''s face get reddened at once, returning to the back, before looking towards her in new lights.


    She greatly, gravely mistakenly underestimated her!


    Luna then moved, heading outside to receive those who would be helping her. As for Islinda, she hurriedly sent a message to James, asking about this secret, top secret mission of Luna.


    "God ore!"


    Only a simple sentence was all she got, and she at once realized what was going on here. ''So she is able to find this legendary ore? Interesting!'' she muttered to herself, as she already knew what god or was, and how important it was to any kingdom or empire.


    However what she didn''t know was its importance to James, as he was desperate, so desperate to get his hands on it so he could finally fix his scepter.


    As James stayed in his large cruiser, everyone else was quite busy, as Islinda kept her daily tasks, before she received a message from James telling her to come and stay with him tonight.


    She was already so eager to that, and after the current and highly dangerous provocation from Luna, she couldn''t be so confident from herself anymore.


    She had to leave a mark, even in his sexual life.


    As for Dora, she was quite busy receiving her new fleet, getting accustomed to her new assistants, and Rigo was always beside her, helping in everything, and that made her quite comfortable and more confident in her ability to take part in this battle and win it!


    In the middle of this, she received the recent update about what Luna did. Islinda''s message made Dora quite angry, however she also felt this was for her own good.


    If she was the only one threatening Islinda, then she would take the full toll and concentration of this hard to deal with witch! She was sure Islinda wasn''t as cute or calm or friendly as she seemed to be, but she also had to admit, she already had crossed miles ahead from here.


    And so, she decided to let this matter escalate, so Luna would be enough to disturb Islinda, taking her focus every once in a while away from her.


    So, Dora just sent a ranting message, promising she would go now to James and speak with him.


    Dora didn''t go to James, of course, and Islinda knew this act was foolish, but she didn''t send a warning to her not to do so.


    It wasn''t until night when Islinda lied , panting, after a very long and very intimate session of love with James that she learnt Dora never came, or even sent him a message!


    That made her realize the small lamps around her were trying to turn into wolves! She smirked, inwardly, as she was already a huge old alpha wolf in this pack, and she wouldn''t allow any sheep to grow fangs!


    "May I ask about helping Luna in her task?" she suddenly asked, proposing to help her.


    James just turned to give her a long glance. He sensed there was something already going on between his women, but he didn''t realize what it was, not yet!


    "You are very busy with your tasks, so absolutely not."


    "If I''m so busy, then you can send Dora to help her. Dora mentioned once she wanted to train her new fleet before going out to battle."


    This was her true aim, and James just thought about it for a moment, before saying:


    "Good idea, I will send a word to her after I reach the commanding deck."

 Chapter 139: The Expedition Starts Off

    "Now?" Islinda asked, in some urge and rush that she realized she was mistaken in it, so she hurriedly added, "stay with me, and go later to do it."


    James didn''t know what she was meaning, but he sighed, let the topic drop, and then held her body and started squeezing each single curvy part of it into his two hungry and thirsty lips.


    As they both got up and left the room of James, Islinda went straight to her palace, and issued the order to Dora to be there in assistance to Luna''s forces.


    Dora was now stationed in the commanding deck of her large cruiser when she received the message. She opened it and slowly read it a couple of times before finally smirking.


    She knew what Islinda wanted to do here, and thus she sent a word to Rigo, asking him simply about the time frame for their next expedition.


    "One day at most," that was Rigo''s short and direct reply. Her smile got bigger as she now had the right response to Islinda.


    Islinda was now sitting in her private room enjoying the amazing sunrise moments when the short reply of Dora reached her.


    "I can''t, I will have to move out in less than a day."


    Islinda squeezed the screen in her hands while she closed this short reply. She wasn''t stupid, she knew Dora was evading her trap, and that made her realize how much she was over confident in herself.


    "The problem lies in James going on with her for a long time in this expedition. I couldn''t guarantee her little dirty games there when the two of them would be all alone."


    She softly muttered while narrowing her beautiful eyes as she totally missed the mesmerizing scene in front of her right now.


    Her mind, her entire soul was busy thinking about this problem. she knew it was too late to act against this current expedition, and so she had to deal with this as a present fact, a problem she had to accept.


    "No problem, you go out there and play your little games, and this little dirty gypsy will keep herself busy in dirt and dust, while I will make James dazzled with how much riches and success I will bring to him."


    She then took a deep breath as her mind started to work hard, trying to find a way to make her goal be achievable.


    As for Luna, the moment she received all the workers and guarding troops from the hands of Islinda, she went at once to search the whole planet for this ore.


    The mission wasn''t that simple, as she had to look for the whole planet piece by piece, searching far and wide for this ore. She had an affinity with that ore, but she needed to be really close to it to feel it.


    During the next few days, she was busy looking for any signs on this planet, while Islinda was busy planning her own grand project, while Dora was getting ready to start moving to this expedition.


    She was now with James and Rigo in James'' main cruiser, as he stood in front of the huge window here, marveling at this huge fleet that appeared only this morning.


    The fleet wasn''t only a single one, as the black market ambassador said just now, many great forces in the black market were really interested in this deal, and so these seven huge fleets came out today to support James and honor the agreement.


    "Please relay my utmost gratitude to all of them, as I really appreciate their friendship tokens," James said to Amed, as he was very satisfied with this gain.


    "Now, shall we leave?" Rigo asked, as he was the most excited one here about this expedition.


    "Sure, Rigo will be the commander of my fleet, and Dora here will be his vice. If you need to organize anything then you need to speak with the two of them. I''m here just to have some fun," James said, as he didn''t want to be constantly bothered by this man or his problems and requests.


    "Sure, sure, I will contact them always," Amed said, while side glancing at the cold beauty standing beside Rigo. He didn''t know why, but he got the feeling she was already close to James.


    He sighed, as he had to hurry his superiors to find suitable girls that would rival these three James currently had and put up a decent fight against them and win them all.


    The expedition combined forces started to move out, with thousands of large cruisers making up James'' entire current main fleet, while leaving around two hundred large cruisers back home to guard the capital and all the regions under his command.


    He sent a message to Islinda and Luna telling the two about his departure. He knew he would take a long time before he would come back, as the target here was equal to a small sector in the space, and controlling this would announce the birth of a new empire no doubt!


    Hundreds of kingdoms were now under the threat of his invasion, and he trusted Rigo and Dora to put the right war plan to invade them all without many losses.


    As for his allies, each fleet of the seven wasn''t any lower than his, which made him realize he still had a long way to cover if he wanted to be much more powerful than those.


    The only consolation, the most admirable fact, was he did all this in a very short time! The secret wasn''t known to many, but everyone started to realize the presence of these special droids of many races under his command.


    Without them, without Rigo and his men, James wouldn''t be able to reach a tiny part of his success, and James himself already was aware of that!


    Amed then went out to return to his fleet, while James glanced at his two fleet leaders as he said:


    "In this expedition, try to make them do the hard work, and don''t reveal any of our secret attacking ways."


    Dora didn''t understand his meaning, while Rigo just nodded. He was planning to send his droids to hunt down many leading large cruisers, and also try to use some of the tactics used before in previous battles.


    However, after James'' instructions right now he couldn''t do that anymore. So, he just nodded, as all the plans he had in mind so far were useless, and he would start planning from scratch.


    "Just make it direct confrontations, rapid and swift. As for conquered territories, you know what to do once conquered them, right?" James added, while mentioning the importance of the rapid deploy of the monster fighting units.


    "Sure, also we will ask them to prepare their troops as well. This time they had part of the cake, so they had to be ready to take the price for it," Rigo replied, as he already intended to use part of the allied forces in subduing the monsters.


    James thought for a moment before saying:


    "If you can, when the time is ripe, propose for Amed to take the full responsibility of facing monsters in exchange for acquiring the first batch of them."


    "The whole first batch?" Dora muttered, as she realized from her short stay here how frequent the monsters here would appear, also she knew how valuable they were.


    "A wise decision indeed," Rigo replied, ignoring the immature comment of Dora, as she wasn''t here with them in any invasion before, and she didn''t know how hard it was to deploy troops after conquering the kingdom.


    "Go then and prepare well, and also explain things to Dora that she didn''t yet know."


    "Affirmative leader. Let''s go Dora," Rigo said with a nod before Dora just stole a glance at James before leaving the commanding deck. She wanted to stay here for the night, but she also knew she had many things to do now.


    She decided not to return to her cruiser, while leaving everything to her right hand man, one of the droids Rigo trusted.


    She went with Rigo to his cruiser, and started marching together, as she had many questions to ask, many things to learn, and Rigo was quite patient, and very open to answer all her questions and clear all her doubts.


    As for James, he stayed in his large cruiser watching the great map of hundreds of kingdoms stretching over the span of one and half small sectors. If he did manage to claim them all, he wouldn''t only have the area of an empire, the wealth and resources gained from this expedition alone would be many fold what he already had currently in his hand.


    He started to think like an emperor, starting a great empire here, while his eyes were still focused on two goals, one to stand against the hostile Terases empire, and the second was to help Islinda going back to her empire.

 Chapter 140: The Empire Foundation Speech

    "Should I really help her even after getting this far?" he muttered, as he now was thinking of his power to be rivaling that of the Terases empire. so, he wasn''t afraid of them.


    Plus, he was on the doorsteps of repairing his scepter, learning more about his power, and starting growing it to higher realms.


    As for Islinda, she was now an indisputable pillar of his empire, and one of his beloved ladies. He wouldn''t let go of her so easily, and sending her away to her empire wouldn''t be done without many guarantees to make her his at the end.


    Islinda was busy arranging things back at his conquered regions when she had finally found the idea to gain more of his side. She hurriedly summoned all the merchants she knew of in the region under James'' control, every single one she had ever dealt with.


    This summoning was huge, and such a meeting was done in an open place in the garden of the palace. The garden was now totally crowded by the merchants, who answered her summoning without delay, thinking it was a grand occasion to have such a summoning here.


    They all glanced at her, while she ascended a high stage, stood to face them, and finally started to speak.


    "I gathered everyone here today so I will declare an announcement," she then paused, before a huge screen started to appear on her side. This screen was something that was carried over by many regular droids and men.


    After it was fixed in place, it was lit up, and a desolate planet appeared in front of everyone''s eyes. It was like any other planet or moon in any constellation in the universe.


    "As you can see this is just a normal planet, inhabited, cold, and with no chance of living. However, there is something I wanted to show you all here today, so pay attention and look closely and attentively please," she then turned to those controlling the screen as she nodded.


    The next moment, the planet showed a group of small cruisers landing on its surface. These cruisers started to let out many workers of different races. The first thing they did was to build a colony there, with conditions able to sustain life.


    The picture broadcasted here was rushed forward, and the colony outer shape started to appear in front of everyone''s eyes. Everyone here was quite familiar with this installation, as this was one of the classic standard mining installations used to extract ores.


    After the building process ended, and the colony started to work, the workers started to dig for ores outside. The process of extracting ores was normal, went smoothly without any surprises, as they used the drilling machines used for reaching to the deep layers of ores in this planet, and then the first ore appeared.


    The moment this ore appeared, a strange thing occurred! A very familiar, very exciting fluctuation occurred, and the next moment a huge space monster appeared there, outside the colony, just next to those workers, and it started attacking and killing everyone there, before destroying the colony, and then it left the planet, vanished in the darkness of the universe.


    These scenes rendered everyone sitting here speechless! They couldn''t believe their eyes, and Islinda was quite content to see this reaction.


    "This occasion happened a week ago, and it wasn''t a single occasion, but many places had the same happening. From that moment, I ordered a series of experiments to be done, and I have finally reached these conclusions which I gathered here to share with you all."


    She was telling only half of the truth here, as this occasion was only a single one reported back by the sole survivor of this expedition, the one who was filming everything. She didn''t give heed to such an accident before, but when she was deeply in thought, looking for a spark of inspiration, her mind reminded her of this, and then she started to rapidly act.


    "I have tried one hundred times, on one hundred different planets, and found that planets with no ores had no ability to summon monsters. Only ore mines on planets or moons could summon these monsters to them.


    The next thing I found out was that anywhere in the galaxy, as long as you are registered as a member of my empire, you will be able to summon these monsters, on condition that you announce this place belongs to us. If you didn''t or did and lost it, then the monsters would cease to appear.


    So, I gathered you all here today to open an exclusive citizenship program, that would be directed to help you all work outside out known inhabited planets, work outside our current empire borders, and still harvest the goods of these monsters anywhere you like, any number of time you wish, in exchange of paying a daily fee of ores."


    She paused, before she glanced at them as she added:


    "The fees are only ores, and we won''t accept anything else. You need to know we don''t accept bulky paying, only daily payment from anyone living inside specific planets. I will spread a list later on, and will be eligible to continue their honorary citizenship running and active.


    The day you won''t pay, this privilege will be cut off, and won''t be resumed until the owner himself returned here and paid a compensation fee to us, one hundred folds of the initial price, and the daily fee will be leveled up to ten folds the last payment he was paying."


    The words of her were really arrogant, and her claims were demanding, and very expensive, however no one here ever showed a complaining expression.


    They were all shocked! Entirely shocked!


    "May I ask something?" one of the oldest and biggest merchants here said.


    "Sure, go ahead."


    "Won''t you ask for anything back from these monsters? Only the price paid for the citizenship? No limit on the number of monsters appearing on these planets?"


    "We won''t do this, only the price of citizenship is required, and of course the conditions to summon these monsters will be met by all of you. No matter how many monsters appeared in your own mining planets, you are totally free to monetize them."


    "Great hand, really such a generous and great hand!" the merchant sucked a cold breath of air as he muttered, expressing the current mood of everyone. "I want to buy citizenship for me, and my entire merchant group!" he hurriedly shouted.


    "Me too!"


    "And me!"


    "I want over a thousand citizenship!"


    More and more voices hurried to join this contest, and that reaction was expected by Islinda, who just smiled watching them fight to gain citizenship.


    "Calm down, everyone will have his turn to join us, and I will start preparing everything. In one day, a huge building will be tasked with this. So, don''t be nervous, and I will make sure to share the news to you once I have finished preparing everything."


    She wasn''t generous, she was pretty evil! She prepared already a long ore list that all contained precious and very useful ores, essential to any war industry.


    Plus, the main condition wasn''t citizenship, but to grab a planet, declare its belonging to the empire, and then guard it for them!


    Just like that she kicked a huge greedy invasion wheel, gained an enormous fortune back from it, without her empire to break a sweat or pay a penny!


    In addition to all that, she used the empire term for the first time, and she made these influential merchants accept it, not comment or show their questioning to it, and above all made them all eager to join the empire, not the opposite!


    Islinda was really a scary being when she put her mind into something, that was a fact!


    She didn''t hurry and tell James these news, as she was acting like a venomous viper, hiding herself, feigning weakness, and when her enemies would think they prevailed, she would show up and topple their doings.


    She then got herself busy in finalizing everything here, while the news spread much larger than she expected. The next day, the whole grand sector was already aware of this declaration she made, and her speech was already recorded, sent to endless places, where all were shocked by this great hand!


    And only few, selected few, saw the hidden provocation in the words of Islinda. However, despite knowing these provocations, understanding how tough and challenging the next days would be, they didn''t hurry to act against James'' growing empire.


    After all, the recent alliance with the seven big forces among the top forces in this grand sector was known to all! James wasn''t alone, and he was currently going to deepen the relationship with these dark forces without any doubt in the coming age.


    And simply like that, with that speech, the whole history of this sector and this part of space was written by James!

 Chapter 141: Islinda Strikes, and Dora Strikes Back!

    The age of this sector would be an age of mighty conflicts, raging between only two forces, James'' empire, and the Terases race empire. The ironic thing was these two superpowers didn''t emerge for longer than a few months, and they were still superpowers in the making, but who would be insane enough to stand in the face of any of the two?


    Simply like this, by this revolutionary and historical speech of Islinda, the shape and fate of this grand sector was determined, and in the future this speech would be known as the empire foundation speech by many historians and scholars.


    In response to her declaration, many groups of merchants started to flood the capital here, while all her helpers were quite busy, trying to sort out things.


    She was also busy herself, putting the last modifications on the rules, and finally teaching her workers what to do. The next morning the scene outside the huge building specialized for this was really shocking.


    The whole capital, and a stretch of area so huge around it were already full to the brim with people! Merchants were still coming here, and since yesterday, places were taken over by the great merchants, while others used this to trade and sell locations inside.


    Some tried to make some ruckus, but her guards stationed here were alert and dealt instantly with such threats.


    Things started off with a huge hype, as many were already so excited about it, while others were envious, or even doubtful.


    The first batch who got these citizenship hurried off to try the privilege out. Others were waiting for their responses, and instantly the news spread.


    Things were real, and the words Islinda said were really true! This caused more uproar, and those in doubt had already believed her words, and moved in greater amounts towards the capital.


    In mere days, the whole planet was filled with merchants, and many towns and even cities were laid out and started to be built all over the planet.


    The planet was destined to be turned to be a trade centre in this grand sector, a mighty giant indeed born from day one as huge and prosperous as that.


    Islinda just kept herself in the main palace, reviewing reports coming all the time to her. Her place was now void of merchants, but she didn''t feel sorry for that, after all the number of monsters here was enough to entice anyone to come and snatch them.


    As for the gains from the previous days of ores, they were enough to fill out an entire planet, and the good news was it was a constant flow, daily, not just one pay off!


    In a simple move, she turned all the huge merchant community to work for her, and pay everything she needed in advance, and in great quantities.


    As for other commodities, using these ores in trade caused others to be delightful. After all, these ores were now considered a hard currency, all sought out, all looked for with great interest and desire.


    Simply like this, Islinda created an echo system of trade, where she had the own monopoly of it, controlling everything while doing nothing but reap the benefits.


    This was really a master stroke of such a genius!


    News traveled fast, and soon it reached the ears of the forces travelling with James, and James himself. the moment he received the reports from Amed, as he was asking about a share of this, he just laughed.


    He knew this was a hidden, yet brilliant, move from Islinda to secure her place in his life. He just smiled all the day long, and said only pleasing words of agreement to Amed, on conditions forces must send their convoys to work by the rules.


    Amed then returned again with a request to have a discount, and James complied, with fifty percent off charges given to the top seven forces.


    Even if he had to grant them this for free, he would gladly do it! after all, many areas would fall under his reign, making his territory really vast!


    Who would be an idiot to refuse such a huge piece of the cake?


    James and his grand fleet reached the outermost areas of a collection of kingdoms. This expedition was destined to be long, attacking hundreds of small kingdoms, however he was sure if they united together, he wouldn''t be able to kill them.


    If he was alone, then he would prefer to use his own tactics, but he wasn''t. so, he decided to leave things for Rigo and Dora, who seemed quite distressed since hearing the news from the capital.


    She thought she would have a good chance with James here, but the truth proved her wrong; she couldn''t have an advance over such a genius and a mind made in a place full of treason and machinations.


    She knew Islinda did this on purpose, and she knew as well she couldn''t blame her for doing so. It was just her own advantage, the advantage that she nor Luna had!


    "Sigh, it seemed I have to ally myself with that vulgar girl," she sighed, while going ahead to the meeting with other leaders from the seven great forces to organize the attack together.


    Rigo was there, in a couple with seventeen people she didn''t know. They must have been the leaders of the seven forces, she told herself so.


    And thus by her presence, this meeting started.


    "We have two hundred and twenty small and medium sized kingdoms to attack. The large sized ones are all loyal to our different forces, and thus we can''t touch them," one of the leaders said, explaining things here.


    "The number we have in hand is quite big, considering most have only ten planets to rule at most, so we will annex thousands of planets in this expedition," another leader said, trying to coat the previous leader harsh words with some gains.


    "Thousands of worlds seem nice again after all," another leader said, trying to show Rigo and Dora how united they were, and the message reached the two perfectly.


    "Sure, it''s quite a gain, but we can gain these alone," Rigo said, while adding with a calm tone, "so, what''s the point of this whole expedition if we don''t attack large kingdoms? Those with a hundred or more worlds? after all, the more worlds, the more gain you have."


    Dora then had an idea, as she stepped in with calm tone as well, playing along Rigo''s line ot thoughts:


    "We don''t need to conquer them if they are your followers, so if they surrendered to us, we can reach a middle ground regarding more gains for you."


    Her words caused the leaders to exchange glances. They already were aware of her identity, one of the girls on the side of the owner of this great force.


    "So, we can have more planets to control you mean?" one of the leaders asked, trying to make sure of her words.


    "Without a fight, yes you can," Rigo stepped in, as he hurriedly sent a word to James, and got his approval on the increase Dora suggested. "Total of forty percent of the planets will be yours, and this will be the final offer for those allies of yours, gifted from our leader," he added, as James agreed on fifty percent on condition of not going to war.


    "Forty percent in exchange for their kingdoms, right?" the first to speak leader asked, with shimmering eyes.


    "Sure, forty percent, on condition they surrender without a single fight, put all their armies under our banner, and start working with us to subdue the monsters and secure our growing interests," Rigo replied, while relaying the exact words of James.


    As for Dora, she just smiled, as this wasn''t the true aim of the offer. Those in power would never let themselves be out of it, that was a rule of thumb she personally knew from her long experience at the rebels.


    Most of the rebels were formed by this way, and so when these seven forces ask their affiliates to surrender, they mostly would refuse, instigating these forces wrath, and making the war upon them a fact.


    Simply throw a bone and get a treasure back, that what Dora played here, and Rigo and James played along her lines perfectly.


    She just smiled evilly inwardly, watching the leaders relaying these news to their superiors, and the reply came swiftly without any delay, or further ado.


    "It''s a deal then, please prepare the papers to sign, and we will sign it today. As for the list of those joining you, our superiors are now making contact with them, and we will all hear the good news soon," the first leader, who seemed the general leader of this coalition, spoke, before adding, "and now, can we discuss the strategy to attack these weak flies here?"


    "Sure, let''s speak in detail," Rigo replied with a big smile, as he was marveling at the scheming brain of Dora, while others mistook this as a smile of happiness for concluding the deal with them.


    Greed was the most taxing sin to all races, that was a fact!

 Chapter 142: The Trick Succeeds!

    The meeting lasted for a whole day, as the leaders tried to waste time, waiting for the final reply of their superiors, and Rigo and Dora calmly and amusingly accompanied them, knowing for sure their hidden intentions.


    But, as the two expected, the leaders hadn''t received any reply at all, and that meant only one thing; defiance!


    The leaders went back to their cruisers and fleet, as long and stressful meetings occurred there. their superiors informed them of the rebellious act the kingdoms under their banner performed, as none of those underneath their reign and protection agreed on their proposal, and that made the current leaders'' superiors angry.


    They were the ones who made these kingdoms able to reach this far and strive! After all, who could be in touch with them and be threatened! Who would be protected under their umbrella and lose?!


    And now, the superiors just gave them all a direct and rude message, either know your places or we will come and show you how much worth you are! This message was delivered to all, and caused quite a stir in every single large kingdom here.


    As such, things escalated to a higher level, as when the fleet started to attack the smaller kingdoms, these large kingdoms thought they could make a surprise move and hit this fleet unaware of their attack to cause a huge damage, or even kill them all.


    However, Rigo was here!


    Rigo never lowered his guard, especially when he went with Dora to James, where Dora explained her sneaky dirty plan in much detail. The words she said made James more amazed, as he already figured out part of this trap, but not the whole lot of it!


    So, the next possible thing to consider was the upcoming clash between these seven forces and these large kingdoms, and they would be dragged along this clash as well!


    Rigo then retreated, spreading a huge detection network around the grand fleet, under the excuse of James'' empire routine battle tactic. He sent his droids to systems far from here, equipped with the latest tech, these droids were able to detect any fleet heading to the direction of their grand fleet in the range of ten star systems at least.


    As for Dora, she really impressed James. So, the latter, ahem, had rewarded her generously for the entire night inside his dorm.


    At the end of this rewarding session, Dora was really weak, her body was now fragile and lazy to even lift a finger, as for James he was so refreshed, and he started to feel much stronger after this long love session.


    For him, for all of his women, they were all oblivious to what was going on to them, but in the near future they would all realize how lucky and fortunate they all were, reaping benefits from James, whose energy was starting to be unlocked, accumulated, thanks to Luna''s sincere actions.


    The next day the battle on the first kingdom group started. As these kingdoms were really small, they planned to attack them on batches, with each ten kingdoms together.


    The war went on smoothly, and just as they were ready to take over, controlling the whole ten kingdoms'' planets, preparing for the monster invasion, Rigo received a message from his droids.


    "Grand fleets are heading to your location. One day top!"


    The message was simple, and it came from five different locations, aligning with the locations of over twenty five large kingdoms.


    So, the large fish had grouped together to attack a shark!


    Rigo didn''t hurry to make a decision, as he passed the message to Dora, who was really happy by her epic last night, her current first war victory, and now with these good news.


    The luring plan succeeded, and the alliance between these large kingdoms and the seven forces had been formally shattered.


    As for James, he simply sent the message to Amed, with a simple question: "What is going on here?"


    James didn''t know that this message had caused great chaos in his allies camp. While they were all confused, busy contacting their superiors to get a response on this situation, James gave Rigo and Dora green light to arrange their defenses, and start launching an offense.


    Any fleet would be in its weakest state when travelling in speed of light. There, all the ships would lower their shields, only the energy shields worked, where all other things except for energy surges wouldn''t affect the fleet.


    And attacks were considered part of these power surges, however the most difficult thing was to determine the set course of the travelling fleet, so you could target it!


    The moment you spot it, determine its course of flight, then you could hunt them all like sitting ducks!


    The fleet started to arrange its large cruisers, forming a huge formation that attracted the leaders'' attention. They didn''t need to call Rigo or James, as they figured out that James didn''t wait for their reply, and decided to act.


    And no one here ever blamed him for that, after all the early reports coming from their superiors'' spies inside these kingdoms gave them a large number of fleets joining together to attack them.


    This wasn''t a mere sneak attack, it was a well planned, very large attack with a fleet that could rival their combined forces with James, or even more!


    The next hours, the ships of James'' fleet continued to attack the horizon, and in these hours, the rest of the seven fleets joined him, and all opened fire continuously over the incoming fleets.


    To hit the cruisers travelling at a speed of light, you need to overcome their defensive energy shields first, then you would hunt down them one by one. This would take time, especially when you don''t know the exact location of each ship.


    However, even if they didn''t know that, the intensity of the fire power here made it clear that if the incoming fleets survived, only a tiny portion of their fleets would be alive, not intact or free of harm of course.


    The firing never ceased until one day passed, and the remaining ships arrived here. they were all fragments of the original fleet, couldn''t pose any threats with their tattered current state.


    And so, the leaders all sent requests to Rigo asking him to grant them the access and right to capture and interrogate these rebels.


    Rigo knew this wasn''t a simple request, as these leaders wanted just to understand what was going on. they had their faith and iron fist over these parts of the universe, and now these kingdoms just dared to defy their rule!


    Rigo knew James wouldn''t refuse, as this all fell into his own play perfectly well. But he replied to them that he would consult James first and then respond to them, giving them some long minutes of waiting before complying, after consulting with his leader, and they were all pleased with his approval.


    The next thing happened was a run and catch game that lasted for more days. The chase wasn''t surprisingly a one sided fight, where every single time they faced any fleet remnants, they crushed them and had their share of prisoners and cruisers.


    James wasn''t interested in any of them, as he was pleased with the success of Dora''s plan. He was very content with her little dirty play, and was very pleased that he decided to make her satisfied.


    Through these days, James made sure to reward Dora for her brilliant little trick that made them eliminate the hidden losses they were going to endure, plus securing more regions to his empire with minimal losses.


    And so, after capturing the interrogating everyone of those remaining soldiers of these big kingdoms, the picture was super clear to the seven forces, all the kingdoms planned to rebel and even dared to allied together to fight them!


    As such, this simple, mere expansion war had turned dramatically into a series of huge wars that would devastate a large number of big fish in this area of the universe.


    The deal started with some reservations, making him only take a few weak kingdoms in return for the deal with these forces. But now, it was a war for pride, as these forces were forced to fight for their own picture, discipline those rebels over their rule or else others might have second thoughts as well.


    This happening here wasn''t only limited to this place, but news would soon spread out, reaching everywhere. If the forces which were mighty and strong appeared weak, more kingdoms would break free of their grasp, making them lose much more than just face.


    So they started taking the war here much more seriously than before, and the leaders here received direct orders to be strict and violent with any rebellious forces.


    And the sole winner from all this was James, who would take all these areas, without even the need to suffer any loss at all.


    So, he was greatly pleased with Dora, and made sure she also would be much pleased than before.

 Chapter 143: Expanding the Harem

    The campaign had to keep going here, but the big kingdoms around them were a constant threat to them, so James asked to push forward over the kingdoms that already lost their fleets, and conquer them first.


    These kingdoms were a few days away from their current location, and the debate was about leaving these small flies and go hunt the big fish, risking these flies to unite together, or receive reinforcements from other kingdoms, and turn into a big thorn on their side.


    Or, they would kill their way towards the big kingdoms by sweeping all the small kingdoms on their path. After long hours of discussions, James proposed to leave behind part of the fleet, including all of their eight grand fleets gathered together to form a sweeping force over small kingdoms.


    And when they would finish from these big kingdoms, they would return to aid their fleet by attacking from behind.


    They didn''t accept that idea in the beginning, but when he proposed to make this fleet primarily from his fleet, they agreed.


    James wasn''t acting generous, but he was cautious. These large kingdoms lost huge fleets already, but there was no guarantee these were all they had! So, the upcoming battle would prove challenging, as they would lose many of their ships in the process.


    However, these small kingdoms were easy to deal with, especially when the eyes over them would be now shifted away, Rigo and Dora could use the old tactic here.


    As such, the two lovers got separated as Rigo and Dora were asked to carry on the responsibility of cleaning out the small kingdoms.


    As for James, he moved with a small part of his remaining fleet, heading with one of the seven fleets towards one direction.


    They agreed that each force would discipline and conquer one group of kingdoms, which belonged to the main force protection; my kingdoms my responsibility!


    James didn''t argue with that, instead he was excited about it. After all, when they would be dealt great losses from their own men, the superiors of their powers would be enraged, and more fleets would come here eventually, turning this into a major expedition.


    As he expected, in the following week all of the fleets here had suffered great losses due to the fierce resistance of these kingdoms. This came in surprise to most, if not all, the leaders here, and their superiors were pretty angry.


    They had raised dogs to protect them, instead they turned into wolves to kill and bite their hands first. That was something they couldn''t accept, as their ego stood in the line, claiming for revenge.


    And such accidents started to be repeated at other fleets as well. When Amed came to James asking him to make his fleet sustain much longer here, as reinforcements were in the way, James expressed his support to his allies, and he promised that his fleet would continue guarding their backs with their blood and honor.


    In fact, Rigo''s campaign with Dora wasn''t that hard at all. Their enemies were weak kingdoms, and many had no enough power to directly contend with them, even when their fleet got separated in such a way.


    In addition to that, Rigo trained Dora on the undermined tricks they used to execute, like snatching some cruisers from some kingdoms, and raiding others. That made wars erupting in this area more frequent, and no one stood in their way prepared to stop them.


    Dora marveled at these tricky tricks, and she started learning and engraving them into memory, as she would be asked to use them later on.


    As for James, he kept showing off his grim and sorry face to all leaders, expressing his deepest sympathy to them, asking them for any help he could do, and they always responded with courtesy and appreciation.


    They stayed there for three days, before the new fleet arrived just behind the fleet James left under Rigo and Dora''s lead. This fleet was much larger than the first one sent by the seven forces, and as such the expedition took a punitive route, not just invasion.


    As the news spread of their arrival, James went with the other remaining fleets here towards them, attacking small kingdoms in the process. The seven fleets were really angry, and even fighting monsters for these days didn''t decrease their anger for a little bit.


    So, they were attacking these small kingdoms with strange ferocity, making James wonder if they would leave these planets half occupied to him at least.


    When they joined Rigo and Dora, they started to turn around and move towards the new fleet. The fleets this time were led by the general commanders, those with great fame and hard temper to deal with.


    However they were all nice and smiling to James when they met him, and all dealt with Rigo and Dora in a kind way.


    This was, of course, the strict orders of their superiors, as they realized all these losses came in front of their new important ally''s eyes and ears.


    So, they started to deal more kindly and much warmly to him, as they wanted to deepen their relations with James, not weakening it.


    James understood this, of course, and he had no objection to be treated nicely. He received many gifts from the superiors of these seven forces, part of these gifts included top ranked beauties in them.


    James didn''t mind having more comfy bodies warming his bed at night, however Dora smelled danger at once, and she openly argued with James about these girls, however James just reassured her that he wouldn''t take them to heart, only the three of them were there.


    However Dora didn''t trust his words, and she asked Rigo to watch these girls for her, besides she also started visiting the commanding deck more often, and usually calling there to check on James.


    Each force granted James two super stunning beauties, and each had their own strengths in beauty, with no weaknesses at all.


    When James started to know them better, he was astonished to discover they weren''t all beauty, but they were also smart, with some leader ranks even in them.


    Dora, when learnt about the news, decided to swallow her pride and sent these to Islinda, who just replied to her with simple words:


    "Let them try."


    These words, despite being simple and didn''t reveal anything, were more than enough to strangely calm her down. Dora was surprised to discover how strong Islinda was, even small words like these made her rival trust that everything would be fine.


    Dora realized her own weakness, her soft spot, and now instead of being secure and proud of her current achievements, she realized she was now threatened by mere foreigners coming from other places, despite being the oldest to know James.


    "Screw you my mom!" she inwardly cursed, as this all was the mere crime of her mother, and the toxic legacy she left for her!


    As for James, he was busy deepening his knowledge with each girl, as he was surprised to find that each girl had her own taste, and each one had her own style, even in bed!


    The leader of this group of girls were two mesmerizing girls, each wasn''t less than the other in beauty, confidence and sexy traits as well.


    One was blond and the other was red haired, one was called Anasta and the other was called Riscka. For James they were like two little sweet birds he really desired to hold deeply; like two sweet fruits he wanted to suck and taste, enjoy alone with much pleasure and delight.


    He knew his other girls, Dora, Luna, and Islinda would be mad right now, but he was now an acting emperor. Was there an emperor without long stunning beauties of harem?


    He never heard of such a thing before! He also was raised in a harsh environment, and now it was his time to rest and enjoy, calmly tasting each beauty and experience her unique sweetness.


    As for the new girls, they acted shy at first with him in bed, but gradually they showed their wildest desires. The two in front led the others in the back, as Anasta and Liscka were the first to be touched, squeezed, stripped naked, and greatly devastated by James and his manhood.


    This stimulated the others as well, made them all remove the shyness veil over their selves, with their clothes as well, jumping in to join the fun.


    And thus, simply like that, James spent the next couple of days immersing himself in pleasure, while knowing that Dora was now feeling envy and anger at him.


    He didn''t mean to be rude or mean to her, but he just was the emperor, and he had all the right to enjoy some special treatment, especially if the treat was really tastier than anything he tasted before!


    Even Luna paled in front of some of them! which made him even more shocked indeed!

 Chapter 144: The Three Rivals Unite Together

    As James was busy with his new ladies, all his three girls were now having a meeting, as they already sensed the threat, not from this batch of girls, but from the general planning of the seven forces'' thinking.


    The meeting started, as usual, by the summoning of Islinda to each other. The other two girls complied with pleasure, as this time they had one common hard to face enemy. Things weren''t just now limited to them, but the harem expanded, and the struggle also expanded.


    They went to meet with her at her private room, where they met before and had the fight. Islinda knew best how each one of them was feeling right now; they were still rivals, but temporarily they were thinking of allying themselves to face this new invasion.


    Islinda hated to admit that even to herself, but the new girls had such a unique mix of beauty, intelligence, power, and ambition that made the three older ones face great threat and feel much hesitation.


    So she sent for them, not waiting for any more time to waste, as if there was something they could do then they would do it from now on.


    "We need to find a way and make them give up such an attitude," Dora said, with her aggressive nature.


    "We should just send them a message, leave our man alone or say bye bye to our agreements!" the impulsive and fiery tempered Luna said, as she was the most insulted one amongst the three, especially when she saw the videos of those girls.


    None of them was any lower than her in attractiveness and sexuality! Making her very angry and feeling humiliated! If she lost her place as the hottest one out of these three, what would be left over for her then?


    "Calm down kids, we aren''t the one who should worry about them, it''s quite the opposite," the calm and collected Islinda said, attracting their attention. Strangely enough, her words made them silent, but didn''t manage to expel all their worries.


    "What should we do then?" Dora asked.


    "We should prove to these girls that they come to play with the wrong girls. We should work harder, prove ourselves more, while not leaving James alone with these girls," she then sighed, as she never thought she would say these words ever in her life, "Dora, you are the one currently with him, I want you to be always by his side, and ask directly for him to sleep with you in front of these girls. If needed, just drag him to his room, or even kidnap him as a whole to your cruiser."


    Dora''s eyes shone as she liked this role and its aggressiveness. "Don''t worry big sis, I won''t let them have a single moment of peace anymore!" she promised.


    Islinda nodded, unwillingly, as she knew this was the only possible solution they could have right now. "Be ready for any rudeness from these girls, and always stay calm and collected," she added.


    "Don''t worry, I will try to be like you big sis," Dora said, with a wide grin over her face that made Islinda not believe her own words.


    The meeting ended like that, while each girl realized their competition wasn''t only between each other, but currently there were new players on the stage, and they were extremely skilled and dangerous.


    The next moment of ending this meeting, Dora left her cruiser and headed directly to James, to find him staying in his commanding deck, surrounded with all his new girls, who were trying to do anything to please him, even walking here and there with much revealing clothes, even more daring than Luna!


    "Is there any news?" James asked, while Dora didn''t speak, moved, grabbed his hand, and took him off the girl who was lying in his embrace, and a fiery kiss followed.


    The next thing happened was for her to drag him away, without saying a single word, to the small cruiser she came from, while he was extremely astonished by her deeds.


    "It''s your rebellion against them, hahaha," he laughed as he didn''t dump, knowing what happened behind his back.


    "Sure, you are such a big boy and you let yourself be toyed with these girls, who are just mere spies to the seven forces," she said, while sitting straight inside the small cruiser''s main deck, as he sat on the leading seat there, controlling the cruiser out of here.


    "Sure, you guessed it all right," he simply replied like this.


    "Then why did you let yourself be controlled by them?"


    "Don''t worry, I was just fooling around. I already gave everyone the orders to follow Rigo''s lead directly, and not tell me anything at all."


    "Rigo?!!" she exclaimed out in surprise.


    "Sure, if you just went to him instead of conspiring between the three of you, you would have known everything," he laughed on her funny and silly move that he found so amusing.


    "You are our man!" she loudly bellowed at him, putting her hands over her waste like a little kid.


    "And you are my woman, but that doesn''t mean I couldn''t have fun from time to time," he laughed while giving her a short quick glance that made her more irritated. She punched him in the back, making his laughs even louder.


    "Don''t be this mean ever again!" she retorted in anger.


    "And you should have more faith in me, plus you should have consulted Rigo before talking to the other girls."


    "They were extremely worried and anxious, curse you!"


    He wasn''t angry, instead he resumed his laughs all the way towards her large cruiser. "what do you plan to do if they tried to come here looking for me?" he asked, with a big smile over his face, as he was the only one enjoying the current situation.


    "You know what? I want to hit you badly right now!" she shouted at him, with her aggressive nature.


    "Oh, let''s go inside then and see who would beat the other," he evilly said, while making her face blush instantly. He wasn''t joking, as despite these girls being really hot and experienced, they had zero feeling for him, making him feel he was sleeping with bars of ice!


    He hurriedly landed the cruiser inside, took Dora out and headed directly towards her room, where a small wrestling match happened, and as usual he emerged victorious, while she laid helplessly, weakly, on the bed beside him!


    "Silly girl, does your mind forget how long and hard we get to know each other, sigh!" he sighed, thinking she was sleepy already, however, her brain was half awake at this moment, and a small smile of content appeared over her pretty face.


    He then went to the commanding deck, finally enjoying a moment of freedom here, and started giving a long series of orders to Rigo.


    The seven forces grew aware of what Dora did, and they didn''t feel any surprise at all. It was expected for the three girls to show extreme violent resistance, however they thought this would happen after returning to James'' imperial capital, and their forces would leave here.


    Another meeting was done between the leaders of the seven forces, and they all agreed upon giving their girls a hand here.


    After this meeting, Rigo received a request to a meeting with the commanders, where they expressed their intention to divide their forces and head towards different directions to fasten up things.


    Rigo already was aware of what Dora did, and he smiled inwardly, as he instantly agreed, and showed no argument at all.


    The planning process took place, and as he expected, they assigned Dora to a separate mission, to stay back and exterminate those small forces of the small kingdoms.


    He also agreed, with an inward sneer, as he was aware of what was going to happen next.


    When everyone went on their separate routes, everyone was astonished not to find James anywhere. After asking around, and contacting Rigo more than once, they realized he didn''t return from Dora''s cruiser.


    Just like that, they solved the problem they tried to create for Dora and the other two girls, while giving James a helping hand in making him stay away from their spies!


    They were angry, but they couldn''t say a single word, as this was already their request, their planning, and their execution, while they only got tricked by a mere mistake, per Rigo calm apologizing words!


    However, no one ever doubted that this was the real doing of Dora, and the other two girls back home.


    In fact they were all wrong, as this was the simple stroke of brilliance that Rigo suggested over his leader, and his leader willingly followed suit!


    And simply like this, the huge fleet got in each separate way, and in the following month, kingdom upon kingdom fell in their clutches, while many died, and many escaped, while the sole winner of this was James, who didn''t lose anything, and gained everything.

 Chapter 145: Starting the First Steps into Cultivation World; Turning into A Dragon!

    The diverted expedition lasted for a whole month, and during which James stayed with Dora back in her cruiser, raiding over small kingdoms, adding more territories to him one after another, plus having some fun with her.


    As for Rigo, he had joined hands with other leaders to attack those large kingdoms. Their huge number made them quite hard rock to crack, while Rigo had to sacrifice with some of his own forces in exchange of securing many victories here.


    Each kingdom fell was followed by a huge wave of monster attacks. These attacks were chaotic, causing more damage at first, but with time, his allies got to know better dealing with these monsters.


    The war continued to rage, and huge areas of space started to be added to James'' growing empire. per agreement, Rigo gave these forces their share of monsters and planets to secure, and another issue emerged.


    The ore mines!


    It was now widely known how this strategy proved its worth! Even a worthless asteroid was now worth its weight in gold if it had an ore mine inside it.


    This made everyone crave for these ores, and after consulting with James and Islinda back home, another agreement was reached.


    They could have all the mines they wanted, provided that they paid the daily fees for it!


    This deal was something the seven forces never dreamt of! They didn''t imagine James to let go of such a huge wealth easily, and without much payment except for these ores!


    Despite the ores were now expensive, the value coming from these monsters outshadowed the price, making it quite cheap in fact.


    However, for James, Islinda, and others, these ore mines were a burden! Imagine trying to branch out forces to secure these, while working hard to extract the ores from inside, while fighting off the monsters!


    If not using small cruisers to suppress these monsters alongside large numbers of ground soldiers and fighters, nothing good would come from this then, and the monsters would be lost.


    Simply like that, these leaders gained a huge piece of the cake, making them very satisfied, thinking this was thanks to the girls they sent to James, making them searching for more, wanting to drown James with these girls.


    However, James was nowhere to be seen right now, and only Rigo kept appearing in his stead. News travelled fast, and rumors of his return to his capital spread, while James was staying back at the original spot they all started from, while enjoying the soft and delicate treatment of Dora all time!


    This made him and Dora gain much benefits, that at the end of this month, Dora was much aggressive, and he formally stepped into the realm of cultivation for the first time ever!


    It happened so suddenly, where he finished one deep intimate session with Dora, leaving her as usual, unable to move a finger, lying lazily and helplessly in bed!


    Just as he was about to stand up and leave, as usual, a strange feeling suddenly hit him, making him stop his move, return to his place, sit on the bed, and forcibly closed his eyes.


    He found himself standing in the middle of a small universe, where half was light, while the other half was dark!


    He didn''t know what was going on, and before he could ask anything, the universe started to rotate around him, slowly at first, then it started to pick up speed, while small shiny stars started to coalesce, forming circular lines all the way around him.


    Everything was spinning, everything but him. suddenly in the middle of all this, his scepter reappeared again, after a long time of absence.


    "Scepter, what is going on here?" James asked, with extreme anxiety.


    However, his scepter totally ignored him, while lying calmly in his hand.


    The moment he grabbed his artifact again, a shock happened to his body, making every single spot there to ache! The pain continued for long times, exceeding hours, however when it finally subsided, James felt refreshing, like never before.


    And the next moment, he was kicked outside, opening his eyes, feeling much startled by the scene he saw in front of his eyes!


    Dora was now standing away from him, holding her weapon and wielding it in front of his face. "Dora, what are you doing sweetie?" James asked, and when he just opened his mouth and spoke, his sound seemed quite bizarre, like coming from inside a large distance, not directly speaking to her.


    "Stand away from me monster, and where did you take my James to? If you don''t bring him back, I won''t hesitate to fight you here and now!"


    Her words were severe and harsh, like speaking to an enemy not a lover. James gradually took control over his body, and when he did, that huge monster that appeared here vanished, and only James appeared again.


    "It''s you?!!" she skeptically asked, with much shock in her voice, "What happened to you?" she asked, before hurrying to throw the weapon, running towards him and hugging him hard, "you made me panic! Extremely worried!!"


    He hugged her, before glancing over the whole room in daze. The room was in a mess, where strange dark offensive fluid filled the whole floor. He himself didn''t have a clue about what happened, nor he could explain. He knew nothing, and he hoped she, instead, would explain to him!!


    "Can you tell me what happened here?" he asked, after making sure she calmed a bit.


    "A dragon, a very vicious and ferocious dragon appeared instead of you. Its huge body pushed me off the bed, and the next moment I was jolted awake, I was shocked by his brutal eyes and strange appearance. His body kept ejecting this dark fluid for non-stop, until you finally showed up and it was gone!"


    Her words made him more at daze, as he never had any memory about dragons at all. Dragons were mythical beings that he never heard existed in real life.


    "Are you sure?" he asked.


    "Pretty sure, I know what I saw, it wasn''t you, it was a dragon!"


    James looked again towards the bed, which was now crushed, leaving marks of big claws. He sighed, as he didn''t know what was happening to him!


    "Until we figure out what is happening to me, we should stay away at night, not sleep together for the upcoming days," he said, as this was the only thing in hand he could now do.


    "Sleep separate?!" she sadly asked, before nodding, "it''s for the best, but are you ok? And what is all about this dragon?" she asked.


    "I honestly don''t know," he shook his head, before adding, "I think it has some relation to that scepter, the one I used to save you, remember it?"


    "Ah, that freakishly strong artifact! Sure I recall it, is this it''s doing? You should ditch it then!"


    "I can''t," he said and didn''t say anymore. He had a relationship with the scepter, and instead of throwing it away, he should just fix it, and hear the answer directly from the scepter.


    The next day, James just closed upon himself, sitting all day on the floor, trying to revise anything related to what happened and he might read it somehow. He also tried to mimic the feeling he had, in vain.


    As he lost all hopes to find anything useful in his mind, he scanned the database of the cruiser, finding nothing useful. He then asked Islinda and Luna about it.


    Away from expressing their worry over him, he had no single useful info so far. He sighed, recalling the old words of his scepter, the words he long forgot about, lost interest to seek.


    "I had to look for a master, someone with answers to my questions," he muttered, before he finally decided to start his search for that master.


    The issue he faced was related to how and where he should start his search! Rigo had no info about what happened to him, or any useful leads about such a master.


    James thought about asking the seven forces, but he had no trust yet in them, plus what he should tell them, he was transformed into a dragon and wanted to look for anyone like that in the universe?


    He would turn himself into a laughing clown for them, he wouldn''t humiliate himself ever to them, for fear they might have second thoughts and might try to betray him.


    He sighed, he never thought looking for masters would be such a hurdle!


    "Sigh, it seems my only solution is to repair the scepter and wait for it to tell me everything then," he sighed, as he sent to Luna asking about her status in looking for the godly ore.


    She was now searching far and wide for that ore. Recently, she felt its presence in an uninhabited planet, and she didn''t hesitate to turn the whole planet upside down, looking for this ore.

 Chapter 146: Finally Gaining A Lead Over A Master

    "Soon," this was the short answer she sent to him, and despite it having no data, he was ecstatic the moment he received it.


    "Sure, soon I will heal you, and you owe me much to explain, my dear scepter," he muttered to himself, speaking to his scepter, with much determination.


    James was very busy about his own recent problem, while his three ladies were also busy, discussing and thinking about this problem as well.


    "At least he isn''t in danger," Islinda muttered, after long hours of talking and discussion.


    "He isn''t, but who knows if he will be ever in danger again," Dora said, with extreme worry, as she was the one who met the dragon face to face.


    "I understand your worries, but I can assure you, my master had also some powers, special powers, and he wasn''t ever in any danger from it," Luna said, as she was the one with the most experience here dealing with such a special situation from her previous life.


    "It''s not a guarantee, did you past master transform into a dragon as well? Was he always losing consciousness, not aware of what was happening to him?" Dora asked, with extreme aggressiveness out of her worry.


    "He wasn''t, but he was different, and our little man here might be the same," Luna defended.


    "Calm down you two parrots, we aren''t here to quarrel, but to join minds and hands together to solve this problem," Islinda said, before turning to look at Dora as she added, "in my own empire, there was a special legion, very legendary and mysterious, even I couldn''t see or know a thing about it except rumors. One of the rumors spread about them was that they had special non-human powers, something resembling what is happening to James."


    "Was there anyone with a dragon?" Dora asked, without flinching back over her worry and concerns.


    "No," Islinda shook her head.


    "Was there any rumors about spotting a dragon, in recent times or old times at your empire?" Dora added, asking again with her stern face.


    "No," Islinda sighed, "but we have stories about dragons in our long history," she added, trying to calm this explosive bomb down; after all she was the one with their man right now, and she should be able to help him, not be a liability and a burden.


    "Old myths? You aren''t serious, right? Everywhere we have these myths, and no one has ever believed them, or trace them to their origin!" Dora exploded with a mocking bitter laugh, "you weren''t there with him the moment he transformed, he never recognized me, never friendly to me, and if he didn''t come back fast, I was sure I wouldn''t be here to speak to you!" she added with her mocking bitter tone full of aggressiveness.


    "Calm down, it''s just a mere incident," Luna tried to join forces with Islinda, calming Dora down.


    "Do you think I''m worried about my life? it''s he I''m all worried about!"


    "We know, sweetie, just take deep breaths and calm down. It''s all over now, and he won''t turn into a dragon soon. We just need to understand what happened, find a way to control it," Islinda said.


    "I think I have a way for that," Luna finally said, as she didn''t want to reveal her own secret to them.


    "The scepter you mean?" Dora suddenly asked, making her eyes full round from shock. "How do you know that?!" Luna asked with disbelief.


    "Darling, it was I who was with him when he first acquired the scepter, you are just the last one to join, and acting all secretive and informative, tsk!" Dora''s tone, despite being depressed and down, was still harsh and aggressive.


    "Ok, mrs all secrets known to you, tell me what is the relation between the scepter and saving him," Luna said, in an angry challenging tone, while glancing at her rival with fiery eyes.


    "Sigh!" Islinda couldn''t do anything but sigh, in helplessness, as this meeting to save James turned miraculously into a challenging contest between them.


    As for James, he was now glancing at the new intel he had received from Rigo''s extraordinary search.


    And what he was reading currently didn''t like him at all!


    The news was related to a gossip intel regarding some old and very strong person living in this grand sector. The rumors spoke of his strength to be legendary, his life to be infinite, and his manners to be sly; he was an evil mastermind, that once helped a small empire, provided dark sorcery to it until it became so powerful and mighty; the Terases empire!


    "Tsk, so the warning I received from before was related to this master? Is he my enemy then? What a brilliant stroke of luck it is!" he complained, as he didn''t think this would be his fate, to be stuck between a dead scepter and a hostile master.


    The rumors only provided a name to him, Dartos, however he hurried to close the screen, while his eyes were stuck to the last line of words.


    "This master was said to be one of the many in the many grand sectors in our universe; however only one master per universe is allowed, or else brutal wars would erupt."


    The warning made James sigh, as he was now sure all the roads in front of him were blocked. His only hope, his real sole only hope, relied now on a gypsy girl he acquired by chance, who claims to be good to look for the godly area like she was proficient in bed.


    However, he hardly believed her claims, as even after all this time, she gained nothing, not even a speck of dust of its trail!


    "Sigh, it seems I should plan my way out of here, after all. This sector seemed to hate me, or might have a personal feud with me, dunno," he shrugged his shoulders, while resting his back on his seat inside his specially prepared room.


    This room was prepared by the orders of Dora, as she made sure to fortify it with anything she had here to make it endure James'' transformation, or at least until James regained his control again if that happened.


    As for the ongoing war, James kept receiving the latest reports and updates from the frontline, where Rigo conveyed to him more disturbing news.


    The monsters had evolved!


    Strangely enough, the newly summoned monsters after some stage here started to show much ferocious nature, larger in size, and even some places gave birth to two monsters instead of one.


    This news came days ago, but James thought they were sporadic occaustion, but when more and more reports came to him, even from the homeland, he started to take it much more seriously.


    This wasn''t a coincidence, this was a pattern, an evolution path of the monsters had been opened, for unknown reasons, like the way they appeared in the first place.


    These new monsters proved to be hard to deal with, as they needed at least triple the amount of forces to attack and secure a single spot. This just complicated the situation further, where the seven forces had to decrease their moving forward speed, asking for regroup and moving together once more.


    James also received news about these monsters coming from the newly conquered small kingdoms here. He just relayed the news to Dora, and Islinda at home, asking them two to be ready for these monsters.


    And this message, the two messages actually, just popped up at the same time, interrupting the heated debate that was about to turn into a bloodbath between the three.


    "What the hell¡­?!!" Dora suddenly stopped cursing them, and her eyes stopped over the message she received from James. Islinda also received the message, while her face showed great changes that startled Luna.


    "What happened? what''s wrong with you two?!!" she asked loudly, while waving both of her hands while speaking.


    "The monsters got evolved," Dora muttered, "this is dangerous, my men are arranged on the basis of the old pattern, this is bad, I need to go now!" she hurriedly closed the chat, before heading directly out of her private room, towards the commanding deck, to start arranging the soldiers again.


    "This is just bad! I need to go," Islinda also moved away, as she had tons of things to do. She had to go and rearrange the current garrisons, inform the merchants and mercenaries about this threat, and change the rules at the citizenship project.


    "This is a danger, but also an opportunity, let''s raise the prices for a little, adding the troops and the cruisers in items that can be exchanged, but never exceeding fifty percent."


    She started to get busy, while Dora was also busy, leaving only Luna alone, glancing at the two empty spots the two were just taking, before cursing:


    "What the f*ck is wrong with these girls! Acting so high and busy! I too have work, urgent work to do, bye ignorant arrogant hairy bastards!"

 Chapter 147: Hurriedly Returning Back Home

    Luna angrily shut down the communication screen, while pouting her lips out in anger and frustration. "Hey, everyone will work harder, double shifts from now onward, if not a single ore appeared today, I won''t give you any time to rest!" she shouted at her workers, venting all what she was feeling right now over their heads!


    The rise of the new monsters all over the empire caused quite a stir indeed. Many troubles erupted, especially at those who had small garrisons to control the monsters.


    This mess continued for a week, as many places asked for aid and reinforcements. If not for the new policy of using troops and cruisers, Islinda would have her hands tied behind her back, unable to help all these cry for help distress signals.


    As such, James suggested to come back with Dora''s fleet, after all they had already conquered every small kingdom here, secured the monsters'' invasion, and also amassed not a small number of soldiers and cruisers from these kingdoms.


    Each kingdom gave them a small number of soldiers and cruisers, but considering the huge number of these, the small fleet Dora had turned now into a huge one, with cruisers exceeding thousands, and fighters reaching millions.


    However, Islinda wasn''t in a dark situation yet to ask for them back. Despite she wanted to meet James, check on him, she knew this might endanger the entire expeditions, especially when the frontlines had severe resistance currently, and gaining any kingdom was done on expense of great sacrifices of everyone.


    James stayed for one more week back, but suddenly he received news that made him issue the instant retreat order; Luna had finally found the godly ore, and it was a huge mine that would satisfy all his needs.


    "Send a word to Rigo, we are going back home. Make him wait there and continue moving forward, and I will send reinforcements for him from our current huge fleet," he said to Dora, while having a very wide grin over his face.


    "Good news from home?" she asked, as during the past days she completely ignored him at night, only meeting him here in the commanding deck, in public.


    James knew how she was feeling, and he just sympathized with her, but he was also feeling emptiness after her staying away from him. part of his desire to offer Islinda help at first was to return home and have more fun with Luna and Islinda.


    And now he had more reasons to go back, especially when they were doing literally nothing here. Dora sent the message to Rigo, while arranging part of the grand fleet to stay back, led by one of Rigo''s droids, while sending another part to Rigo to replenish the losses he suffered so far.


    As for the rest of the fleet, which was now even triple the size of her initial fleet, returned home at the highest speed.


    They took another week to reach home, and Arthur kept checking daily on the progress of extracting the ores from the mine Luna found, while stressing over Islinda to strengthen the security there.


    These hidden moves had alerted many forces there, but due to the tight security enforced by Islinda, not a single word was leaked to anyone, making their curiosity grow even bigger.


    Even the seven forces sniffed it, as they asked Rigo for more details about it, asking if this was another treasure in the rich empire of James, they were ready to pay the suitable price for it.


    When Rigo relayed the message to James, he didn''t hurry to refuse them. After all he needed the ores to repair his scepter. He didn''t know if he would need the ores later on, or not.


    So, he told Rigo to stall them, evade answering their questions, and make them all wait until he had the picture cleared for him.


    Rigo did as he was told, and his attitude deepened the feeling of doubts for the leaders. They were sure James had laid his hands over a new treasure, so precious that he wasn''t ready yet to share it.


    If diplomacy failed, then their girls would act again, in a try to get the answers to them.


    So, they sent the girls towards Arthur''s home planet, under the excuse that they belonged to him, and they should stay where their man was.


    Rigo wasn''t stupid, but he got the confirmation from his leader regarding this point; Arthur needed to play for a little after dealing with his broken scepter issue.


    When he reached the planet, finally, he was astonished to see the huge number of cruisers coming and leaving it; it was turning fast into a real prosperous capital of a mighty empire!


    "Let''s go directly to the planet of Luna, and let the fleet here report to Islinda, letting her do whatever she wants," he hurriedly asked Dora as he was really impatient to wait for any more.


    Islinda received the news, and despite knowing his urge towards the godly ore, she had this bitterness in her, as he came after all this long absence, didn''t care to even glance at her, or even give her a hug, or a kiss, or a good passionate sleep.


    As for James, he was really focused on one thing, and nothing else; the godly ore and fixing his own scepter.


    The planet Luna had found the godly ore at wasn''t near the capital planet, making James realize how hard Luna worked to find the ore.


    The planet wasn''t inhabited one, as it was dark, icy, and empty of anything but rocks. On the surface of it, there was a huge stretch of buildings, newly established here, surrounding nearly one third of this huge planet.


    As outside it, large numbers of cruisers, large, intermediate, and small ones were stationed here, while huge numbers of fighters kept patrolling the space outside.


    A needle couldn''t bypass this tight security without being detected. "Good work, Islinda," he commended in content, as like this no news would be leaked unless he intended to.


    And he didn''t intend to publicity announce this to the whole world, as he planned to turn this godly ore into the highest quality product of his empire; being a friend and ally would grant you an access to this, being an enemy would deprive you from even sniffing a mere scent of it.


    "Take us down there," he ordered, as he was very eager to see this ore.


    Dora already spread the news of his coming to Luna, as well Islinda did the same. Luna was really ecstatic, feeling this was a great victory for her over the other girls, as she was currently the first to visit, not Islinda, even if this was only for the ore, she was the one who suggested this project, and the one who saw it happen to the end.


    She stood inside the main installment on the planet, where she waited for James to appear. In less than ten minutes, the huge noise of the large cruiser of Dora appeared nearby, announcing his arrival.


    "Come with me," James said, as he literally jumped off the deck, and went directly towards the goods bay, where it was connected by a sealed way with the installment of Luna.


    Dora just followed his suit, while the distant memories of that scary scepter were refreshed in her mind, making her doubtful if she wanted to experience such threatening moments again or not.


    However, when she reached the installment with James, found Luna standing there in a semi-transparent dress, revealing many parts of her body, arousing even the envy of her.


    She simply glanced at James, to find a wide and wild smile over his face, cursing Luna inwardly, just hoping James would turn into a dragon, and kill her!


    However, Luna just ran towards James, moving her body in a professionally intentional way to arouse his desire even more, and he initially didn''t need all this to be aroused, he was already on the verge of fixing her on the ground, and started tasting all of her sweetest desserts.


    But he controlled, with great difficulty, his desires, only holding her sweet and strangely soft body in his arms, while giving her a long and fiery kiss, before moving away as he promised:


    "You will have your own rewards later on, now where is my reward?"


    She giggled, while looking directly towards Dora, as if she was teasing her, in public, while saying:


    "This way, my love, I have prepared the finest only for you," she said, while gracefully descending from his arms, one leg at a time, taking all her time in doing that, while revealing her smooth soft sweet skin of her in the process, making James much more anxious, more determined to punish her in his own way, to properly educate her on this torturing treatment for him.


    "Lead the way then," he spoke while hardly controlling himself off her, not able to control his fingers, which started to feel the full sweet hills of her explosive body.

 Chapter 148: James is A Dragon! Again!

    "Follow me," she said with a playful laugh that turned the face of the nearby, witnessing all this, Dora to extreme red! If not for James'' presence, she wouldn''t hesitate to take out her gun, and empty its bullets into her!


    "Screw you!" she gritted her teeth, while moving in heavy angry steps towards inside, following the two lovers before they rash and did something in the open.


    Dora followed the couple moving in front of her, alone, towards a private room. When she entered the room, she was already preparing herself for the worst, however what met her startled her greatly.


    The room was just an entrance to a huge store, where it extended beyond her eyes. The whole place was full of shiny shaped ore, cut neatly in blocks, equal in size, filling the whole place around her.


    The ore was gold in color, resembling pure usual, old fashioned gold, but she knew it wasn''t. James left Luna on the side, as he went directly to inspect these ores, while Dora stood beside her, with mouth gaped and a dazed look.


    This was like entering a treasure private cellar of some emperor! James just went to the first block, touched it with his hands, trying to feel it.


    The moment he did, a strange resonance erupted inside him, while a shadow of a huge monster appeared surrounding him, startling the two girls standing nearby.


    "See? Didn''t I tell y''all about this?" Dora instantly bellowed out when she noticed the pale face of Luna. "This is what I dealt with, in flesh!" she stressed upon this point, while taking advantage of Luna''s expression.


    Luna was shocked, extremely terrified, as she didn''t know why James had such a shadow to appear when he touched the ore. She made sure to examine the ores here, and she found nothing wrong at all with them.


    However, the shadow of this brutal ferocious monster was something she wasn''t prepared for! The next moment James took off his hand, while reflecting on what he just felt.


    A roar! That what he felt inside him the moment he touched this ore, plus a strange hunger and thirst feeling that haunted him. He didn''t know why, but this wasn''t something he could understand, yet.


    "Forget it, I have to find a way to use this ore," he muttered, and then turned to face the girls, to find them both retreating in panic.


    "Wha¡­"


    He was about to ask, when he, casually and unintendedly, moved his hand to cross the edge of that ore, it was so sharp that it wounded him deeply, letting him bleed massively and so sudden over the ore.


    "Oh, this is really sharp," he muttered, while trying to pull his hand away, but he couldn''t! his hand was glued strangely to the ore, like a magnet attracting iron!


    This startled him, made him quite panic, however for the girls, what happened later mader them all freak out, run outside in panic, while screaming in fear!


    James just turned into a dragon, a real dragon the moment his blood touched the ore. The dragon looked viciously towards them, with his long hot breaths that went out of his two big nostrils forming a long thick cloud of smoke!


    They felt the urge of this monster to attack and eat each one of them, and born from the innate fear in the depth of each one''s soul, they retreated, ran in panic, and screamed for help, forgetting that this dragon was their man!


    James wasn''t aware of all this, as he was in another world. He was still seeing himself standing there, as a human, while his hand didn''t move from the ore, even for an inch, while his blood started to penetrate the ore, turning it from shining gold to dim golden red in color!


    This didn''t take longer than a few minutes to happen, and the moment the whole ore turned into golden red in color, the ore got disintegrated on its own, in front of his eyes, turning into a dust.


    What really happened was that the dragon opened its huge mouth, and swallowed the ore inside its huge belly. In front of James'' eyes, this ore block turned into dust, leaving only a pile of dust behind.


    While he was looking in daze towards that, he would suddenly get healed up, while the hunger and thirst inside his body were partly quenched.


    And a stronger desire for more erupted, controlled all his senses and even his body, making him move, like a drunk, towards the next ore.


    "Roar!"


    The dragon roared inside James'' body, while in the outside world, this mighty roar vibrated the whole installment, startling everyone inside, but not much, as they got used to hearing the roars of monsters every now and then when they appeared on a daily basis.


    The dragon, James, moved slowly, and impatiently, towards the next ore. Like before, he just passes his hand over the edge of it, creating a deep wound, letting his blood cover and infiltrate the whole ore, before finally eating it.


    It happened one time, twice, thrice, and continued to happen for hours. Each time he ate an ore, a mightier roar erupted, announcing his strength growth to the whole world.


    As for James, he was just obsessed by quenching his hunger and thirst, not thinking about anything anymore.


    The two girls went outside screaming, attracting the attention of the guards here, and the army of the cruiser of Dora. As everyone was alerted, the two girls finally were shaken off their fear state, glanced at each other, and both laughed.


    They totally forgot this dragon was their man, and this made them both feel much embarrassed, unable to look at each other directly in the eye.


    "What now?" Luna asked.


    "Dunno, might go and ask our little brain girl about what to do," Dora shrugged her shoulders, while replying, referring to Islinda as their mind girl.


    "Sure, this girl is arrogant and always acts high, but she is the one I can trust in this situation," Luna said, before glancing at the alarmed soldiers coming from the large cruiser like a flood, "you need to control your men first, or else a misfortunate event might occur¡­"


    "Roar!"


    Just as she was midway in her words, the first mighty roar of James appeared from the inside of the installment, startling the two girls, driving memories back to them.


    "Wow, he sure knows how to enjoy his time, right?" Luna tried to soothe her embarrassment by this joke, and Dora just matched her with a short nervous laugh, before heading towards her cruiser. "You go inside and call that arrogant girl, and I will calm the soldiers here," she said, as it wouldn''t be funny if these soldiers grew restless and went inside to investigate.


    Luna nodded, as she complied with Dora''s arrangement. She went inside and started to call Islinda and tell her all about what just happened.


    Just as she briefed her with the details and the recent developments, Dora appeared behind her, as she finished calming down soldiers and guards here, stressing over them not to enter inside, as their leader was doing some crazy experiments and they might trouble him in the process, making him quite angry.


    "Roar!"


    Another mighty roar occurred, and the whole large cruiser shook under the roar shock wave, with the whole planet, like a strong earthquake occurred.


    "What is this? Is this an earthquake?" Islinda asked, with a worried look over her pretty face.


    "It''s him," Dora said, as she glanced at Luna shortly, to understand she had already briefed Islinda with everything. "He is now in a dragon form, and this is one of his roars," she added.


    "Good gracious lord," Islinda muttered with much shock over her face, while she hurriedly added, "I will come to you, don''t move until I arrive."


    She then closed the call, not waiting for the two girls to comment or reply, while her face changed, to be replaced with an extreme excited expression.


    "Oh boy, oh James, you really keep surprising me! so I''m in love with a dragon, the mightiest, and noblest of all mythic creatures ever. Does this mean that other creatures are also real? The other twelve creatures are really¡­ real?" she muttered to herself, while laughing out like crazy from her extreme excitement.


    She wasn''t worried of those silly two girls with James, as these fools were afraid and worried. How could they be worried if their man had turned into a monster? a real and strong and unique monster? no harm would come to any of them, no pain, no worry, and all their lives would be lived in a happy and prosperous way!


    Unlike the other two, she was really excited and glad about this, however she faked her reaction to them, so they wouldn''t smell anything wrong, and do something before she could do it!


    At this moment, she was only thinking about her own self, and she had all the right to do so!

 Chapter 149: Two Dragons and One Bed

    It was a chance, as a mighty emperor would have a huge harem, but only one empress, right? She planned to be this queen over masses, not just one of the bystanders called harem.


    "Keep freaking out and hesitating, while letting me have all the honor, you fools, hahaha," she laughed wholeheartedly, while heading towards her small private cruiser, as she had a man to catch, a dragon to make it fall in love with her.


    James didn''t know about all that, as he kept moving, instinctively, towards each ore, touching it with his hand, while his dragon form would eat it, turning it into dust after absorbing all the energy inside.


    After quite some time, he suddenly felt the resonance of his inside scepter, like it was finally awakened! James moved his eyesight directly towards it, to see it bathed in golden light, as many of the absorbed energy passing inside his body started to circulate around it.


    James tried to prey with his consciousness, but he was blocked, gently, by a small aura that was starting to form around the scepter.


    "You need more, huh?" he muttered, before glancing at the endless amount of ores here, smirking a little as he moved towards the next ore.


    He kept absorbing the ores one after another, detached from the outside world. In hours Islinda arrived here, and the moment she did, she hurried inside the large cruiser of Dora, where she met the two freaked out girls.


    "Do you have any surveillance cameras inside?" The first thing she asked for was to witness James'' transformation by her own eyes.


    "It''s there, inside the building, but I won''t step a single foot inside while that thing¡­ that monster is still there!" Luna replied, while Islinda inwardly evilly smirked. She just glanced at Dora who shrugged her shoulders, so she said:


    "Fine, just grant me access and I will go there," she said, stretching out her hand as Luna willingly handed her the main chip controlling everything here.


    Islinda then moved towards the installment, as she directly entered the building, looked for the main CPU, and used the chip to operate it.


    Instantly she saw everything James was doing, feeling much interested in that. his figure was really scary, however the scarier he was, the much delighted she became.


    "Oh boy, never thought a day would come to fall in love with a legendary monster, hahaha."


    She wasn''t insane, or delusional, as she perfectly well knew about the value of personal strength in this world. If she was a bit stronger, her uncle wouldn''t have dared to cast her away like that. being with James wouldn''t only secure her safety, it would also guarantee a bright future.


    "With opportunities, come risks¡­ I need to be mentally prepared for the prices I and he have to pay for such strength."


    She then kept watching for a while, until she had the confidence in dealing with him in this shape. She then moved, with all the courage she could muster in her life, entering the place forbidden by others.


    James was busy consuming these ores, one by one, when she entered the room. Hundreds of ores vanished, and the place was covered with dust and blood, creating a horrifying scene coupled with that huge dragon in the front.


    She swallowed her throat as she stepped inside. The moment she did, her high heels fractionated with the floor, creating a loud audible sound that James heard from his location.


    He turned to look at her, seeing a vivid image in front of his eyes, clouded by the clouds of energy he had inside right now.


    As for her, it was a huge ferocious dragon eyes that turned to give her a scare. She thought of running, yet she controlled herself in a way deserving a praise, as she took a second step forward.


    "You need help?" her voice came hoarse, but despite that James managed to acknowledge her. "Islinda? Is this you?" he asked, and his voice came much hoarser than her, with extreme viciousness in it.


    "Yes, it''s me, can''t you see me already?" she tried to act normal, while he didn''t know what to answer. "I''m not seeing clearly right now, it''s better if you step back until I finish with this."


    "But you are a dragon right now, can''t you sense that too?" she asked.


    Her words shocked James, who didn''t realize he was at the dragon form already. He hurriedly glanced at his body, finding nothing abnormal about it, making him much more puzzled. "What''s wrong?" she asked when she noticed the puzzled look over his face.


    "I can''t see any dragon at all," he confessed.


    "Strange," she muttered while thinking back to what Dora said before regarding her accident with him, "Dora mentioned previously that when you turned to a dragon you weren''t aware of this. It might be something special or perhaps you are still too weak to manifest as a true dragon," she said.


    "You are accepting my reality quite well Islinda," he commented, as he noticed how calm and collected she was, in comparison to Dora''s previous reaction. "Where are Dora and Luna?" he asked as he was reminded by the two of them.


    "They are¡­ let''s say they can''t accept you for what you are currently; they just need time," she started putting some toxic words amidst her sentences, and he just frowned, and felt some pain in his heart for such a reaction of them.


    "Sigh, they have all the right to be so," he muttered, before adding, "however I just needed them, I feel that sleeping with you all helped me a lot in controlling this growing strength in me."


    "And I''m here for that," she chuckled, as she added, "finish what you are doing and come to me here," she then went outside, and while he continued to eat these ores, she came back dragging a small bed that was instantly unfolded into a large one. She found it in a random room, perhaps for one of the workers here.


    She didn''t mind sleeping with him on this bed, as anywhere was fine as long as she got the privilege of being the only one to stand by his side when he transformed.


    As for James, he kept eating the ores while his body accumulated energy non-stop. At some point, he couldn''t continue doing so, as the images of him jumping over Islinda, tearing all clothes off, making her moan and scream under him distracted any other desire, making him unable to continue.


    So, he just stopped, glanced back at here, finding that she was waiting at him, lazily half seated on the edge of this newly placed bed, while her naked long legs with smooth skin were moving from side to side, like a kid playing her leg in a lake.


    He couldn''t control himself anymore, as he left everything, and went straight to her. For her, a dragon was coming to her, and that made her heart shudder, but she did an amazing job controlling it. ''Calm down my little one, after all this won''t kill me, right?'' she tried to calm her disturbed fearful thoughts by these words.


    And the moment James approached her, he simply held her body in his arm, feeling her surrender and softness, making him feel ignited all over his body.


    And when he did so, a marvelous thing happened, as she felt the familiar arms of James holding her to him, felt his familiar warm breath, his strong beating heart, his chest muscles, and his strong legs curling around her own, making her feel much suppressed and oppressed, needing only to submit to him and she did.


    In fact, the moment he held her, her body changed, as his aura and energy started to enter her body, and inside their eyes, they were intimately exchanging love with much passion and desire they never felt before.


    However, for outside eyes, two dragons were mating, making the bed crushed under their intimate violent way of love, while being really scary especially with these interrupted moans and screams that started to frequently arise from Islinda, being heard to the outside world as mighty roars!


    Her roars reverberated into the whole installment, heard to Dora and Luna outside, who were extremely worried about Islinda.


    The moment they heard these roars, they exchanged worried silent glances, before Dora muttered:


    "She must be away from him, won''t get hurt, don''t worry."


    "Sure, sure, she is a big girl and can take care of herself. I just hope he didn''t exit the hall and be busy with whatever he is doing."


    The two were really worried about the person who was now having the fun time of her life with their man, without knowing it.


    Islinda kept moaning and roaring, feeling much content and pleasure currently. As she desired, she didn''t only gain his favor, she also gained a huge benefit that she would realize its importance in the near future.

 Chapter 150: Two Dragons Eating and Getting Stronger Together!

    The roars kept raging and spreading, shaking the entire installment, forcing Luna to act and order everyone to stop what they were doing, and return back to the cruisers outside the place.


    "Is he going to be alright?" Luna muttered.


    "Don''t worry about him, he once turned to a dragon and he was perfectly fine afterwards," Dora sighed as she answered her question, "the issue now lied in Islinda; she didn''t come out from inside after all this time," she added, while doubt started to rise inside herself.


    "Do you think she went inside and was hurt?" Luna asked, with her good natured intention.


    "Dunno," Dora shook her head, before muttering slowly to herself, "this is something I feel restless about, what are you doing exactly inside here, Islinda?"


    Despite feeling curious and doubtful, she didn''t harbor the intention of going inside once more. She once faced James in a dragon form, and she didn''t want to repeat such a tragedy ever again!


    As for the two lovers inside, James just finished with Islinda, moved away from her sleepy weak flexible body, while being shocked by what he saw!


    She was a dragon!


    He controlled his raged emotions, controlled his doubts and fears, reminding himself that this was the form others were seeing him at currently.


    As for the mystery of her turning into a dragon, he knew a piece or two about it; as it all related to him.


    "Will they turn into dragons as well?" he marveled at the thought, as he pictured his huge harem, flying in space, in a mighty frightening charge, without anyone to stand against them.


    "What?! Why are you looking at me like I''m a monster?" Islinda lazily turned on her back, while to James he saw her soft scales, covering her huge body and swallowed his saliva; he had to get accustomed to such a scene from now on!


    "What? Why aren''t you replying?" she mustered more energy to shout at him, a weak fragile sexy tone coming out from her savage looking face!


    "Don''t panic, alright," he started saying these words, which instead of calming her down, she had a sudden scare, instantly sitting on the bed, glancing at herself.


    "I''m fine, what''s wrong then?" she said with a soft sigh, before leaning her body against the bed, with extreme weakness haunting her; she wanted to sleep, she wanted to sleep and enjoy this love over feeling.


    "You.. are¡­ a dragon!" he finally said it, and the moment he finished, heavy silence prevailed, before she laughed, not a stressful laugh, but a laugh full of delight and excitement.


    "Really?" she raised her head weakly as she asked. "I''m now a dragon? Like you?" she asked again, as in front of her, he was also a dragon, but strangely all the fear and doubt she had once before vanished.


    "Yes, a very beautiful one," he hurried to say.


    "You are a big liar, hahaha," she laughed, and her laugh turned into a mighty roar, shaking this whole building. "But I love it, don''t worry, I love being strong myself, so thank you for granting me this long dreamt of wish of mine," she added, while finally returning to sleep, as she had more reasons to be happy and content right now.


    "Women," James just shook his head, helplessly, while muttering this. He glanced over the ores, to find the old hunger and thirst rising again inside. "Don''t worry, I will make sure to give you a nice meal, you deserve it after all," he said to his body, and partly said these to his scepter, which started to vibrate inside his body


    He didn''t know how long this scepter would need for it to be repaired again; however the mere thought of its mighty strength made him more eager to end its repair fast, not caring about the price paid to do so.


    And as such, he returned to do a spree of eating these ores, while leaving behind a long line of dust mixed with his own blood.


    After quite some time, Islinda woke up, to glance at him eating the ores away without rest. She sighed, as she glanced again at her body, seeing no change at all.


    "Marvellous! So he also sees himself like a human, while he is in a dragon form?" she muttered to herself, while shifting his gaze towards the distant ores, "should I also try these?" she thought to herself, before standing up and moving towards the nearest group of ores to her.


    James had already eaten a huge pile of ores, clearing roughly one tenth of the space inside this huge place. The moment she went to the ores, she stood there puzzled, not knowing what to do.


    So, she glanced at him, watching his actions keenly before realizing the trick. "So I have to use my blood, wounding myself by my claws?" she muttered in surprise, while then glancing at the ores in front of her as she shrugged her shoulders. "No loss in trying, right?" she commented before deciding to give these ores a try.


    The next moment she waved her hand over her other hand, and strangely enough a wound appeared there. "Fascinating," she marveled this strange thing before putting her wounded palm over the ore.


    The next thing she felt was a mighty roar vibrating inside her body, shaking her entire body and soul from the depth of both! She glanced at the ores in front of her, like seeing the most delicious thing in this world.


    The next moment she first tried the tasty energy of this ore, falling in love with it, even much more the delicious chocolate she was already addicted to.


    And then, another dragon joined in this feast, moving without any conscious to swallow the ores, in great appetite, even faster than James'' rate!


    James heard a ruckus on his side, to witness Islinda, in her dragon form, swallowing the ores in a strange way. He stopped for a second there, watching her eating in such a savage rude manner, and he couldn''t control his laughs, his roars.


    "What?!!" she simply glanced at him before returning to eat these ores, "You also look much worse than me," she teased him, and his laughs just choked in his throat, imagining himself eating ores in such a way.


    However, no matter what, he needed these ores, and now he had a strong rival! He started hurrying his pace, and a small unofficial race erupted between the two.


    "Rumble!"


    After a few more hours, this sudden shock occurred to Islinda, as her inside energy swelled up to a limit she couldn''t control while eating. So, she was forced to stop, sit on the ground, closely her eyes, while slowly channeling and taming this wild energy inside while sleeping.


    "Sigh, why do girls always have things much easier than men?" James glanced at her before sighing, as he couldn''t sleep while controlling his energy, plus he might need to waken her up, start another deep intimate love session with her for better refinement of his energy.


    He checked on his scepter, seeing it continuing to vibrate, without doing anything else. He sighed, as it seemed he needed much more energy to make this piece of metal alive again.


    And thus he continued eating all the ores he could reach here!


    He didn''t know that, but this place was connected to other stores, through small doors, and all were filled with ores, slightly weaker than these ones in energy. As he reached the end of this wearhouse, he was astonished to see these doors, leading to other places.


    "Are there other ores inside?" he muttered, before glancing at the sleeping dragon angel Islinda, and then checking over his scepter. It started to show more movements, like circling around inside his soul, but other than this, there was nothing.


    He tried to contact the scepter, even calling out for it to respond, with no result at all. "Sigh, I need more ores then," he muttered, glancing at the huge walls separating the warehouses from each other, before moving to the front. "I''m a dragon now, so my body should be sturdy enough to crack these walls, right?" he spoke to himself, trying to convince him with this twisted logic.


    And strangely enough, the moment he reached one of these walls, the wall started to crack, showing signs of breaking down. He smiled, wryly, as despite trying to convince himself with this, he didn''t really believe it until he passed through the wall, crushing a big part of it, while feeling nothing at all!


    "Interesting," he muttered, before his eyes got attracted to the huge pile of ores stored here. The next moment he jumped over them, and another feast occurred.


    As for the outside world, the moment he went through the wall, an alarming siren erupted all over the installment, startling Dora and Luna outside.


    "What''s going on?" Dora asked, with much puzzlement over her face.


    "Someone breached the next warehouse, breaking through the mighty defensive walls," Luna replied, before turning to glance at Dora, "Do you think he finished already the entire warehouse, and went to another one?" she asked, and Dora didn''t know the answer to that.

 Chapter 151: The Two Girls Joined the Fun!

    The two girls stood outside in daze, while the two dragons kept wreaking havoc inside. Hours passed by, and Islinda woke up to find the place empty and herself very hungry and thirsty.


    She had this irresistible urge to continue eating the ores here. more ores were needed for her body to solidify its current sudden transformation.


    "Did he go through that hole? Did he make it? sigh!"


    She went ahead following the long trail of dust and blood, going through the hole to find him was eating in the first third of the warehouse. The place was huge, just as vast as the one they both just cleared clean.


    "Wicked Luna, hiding all that from us? Poor for you then," she then headed towards the nearest pile of ores, and lost herself in the process.


    Both kept eating, while she was resting from time to time. her body wasn''t like James, prepared for such transformation, so she needed to take a nap every couple of hours, so her body could digest the energy well, and solidify her dragon form.


    As for James, after long hours of eating, he felt the urge to stop, and solidify his energy. He didn''t delay to grab the glutinous dragon body of islinda, to regain her human form in his hands, while he stripped her naked, pushed her to the wall, and started making long session of intimate love with her.


    For him, he had such a desire, burning like fire, quenched with nothing but her lust being ignited and her body being torn to pieces under him. during their love, the wall couldn''t hold anymore, falling on the ground, crumbling to pieces, while they crushed these pieces into dust from the vigorous moves they were doing to each other.


    And like that, another hall was formed, and another siren was launched!


    "Again!!!"


    This time the two of them couldn''t stand outside and headed directly towards the facility. Dora and Luna weren''t that stupid, and when they reached the interior of the facility, they found no trace for Islinda to be found.


    "This stupid arrogant bastard!" Dora cursed, while Luna glanced at her with much worry at her face. "Is she going to be alright?"


    Dora glanced at her and sighed. "This girl is wicked, she won''t take the risk to step inside without good cause, let''s go in and find what was going on!"


    Dora then moved, while Luna hesitated for a brief moment, as the picture of James in front of her changing into a dragon was still very fresh and scary.


    However, the words Dora said were true; Islinda wasn''t a fool and never did a thing without good reason. She mustered all her courage and followed the distant Dora inside the warhouse.


    What met them was complete vast empty space, with no single trace of James of Islinda. "There," Dora pointed towards the distant far hole, as she moved with wide steps towards the hole, even running sometimes.


    "Are you sure it''s safe?" Luna asked, while glancing around in shock and fear from all the blood covering the ground.


    "This girl will never put herself at risk without reaping benefits. Let''s go there and see."


    As they crossed the vast warehouse in few stressful minutes, and just as they passed the hole together, what welcomed them shocked them both, making everyone of the two''s hearts shudder.


    "This bastard! I knew something was off!!!" Dora just said that, before throwing behind all her doubts and fears, headed straight towards the lovers, enjoying their time to the fullest, while two huge dragons appeared making love to each other in the eyes of her.


    "Wait¡­" Luna''s shout of distress and fear didn''t manage to shook any sense back into Dora, who went straight towards the hole recently formed, grabbed the bigger dragon from the shoulder, and instantly another scene appeared in front of her eyes!


    James and Islinda were in human form, rolling on the ground right and left, while his naked body was fixed hard between her two naked legs. Her moans felt Dora''s ears to the degree she couldn''t control herself, from anger, from desire, from the willing for not giving up her man to this witch twitching like a snake under him, and then she pulled James and kissed his lips hard and deep!


    The next second, James overcame his surprise, pulled her to the ground, violently stripped her clothes off, and started hacking her!


    And simply like that, a third dragon was formed, instantly, in front of the shocked eyes of Luna, making her understand everything.


    "You m*therf*cker!!!" all her fear and doubt turned upside down into anger; extreme anger, even more than what Dora had. Without any further ado, she went to join the three, making the fun more lustful and making the place shook with the roars of fours dragons.


    After long hours, James felt his energy inside settled down, and his desire was quenched, so he retreated, glanced at the three softly lying dragons, while helplessly shaking his head.


    "I just hope this is enough for you, hungry scepter."


    He checked the scepter inside, to find it moving free in his soul. He tried to connect with it, but the moment he did the old familiar hunger and thirst erupted, while the scepter blocked his attempt like before.


    James staggered couple of steps to the back, before glancing over the newly breached third warehouse, smirking evilly and greedily before heading towards it.


    And another ore eating spree started, and he was sure this would be the last time before his own scepter would finally wake up.


    As he started absorbing energy, he felt some changes this time. he just slept with three cosmic class beauties, satisfied all their desires, and made them unable to lift a single finger behind.


    And that came with unexpected gain, as the time needed for him to absorb the ore was greatly shortened. Plus, the absorbed energy felt they were much under control, while entering a huger space than before inside his soul.


    This made him think about his old idea again; having a huge harem under his control, a huge army of dragons aiding him in all his upcoming invasions and fights.


    Such a man with such a grandiose army would never lose!


    He started working faster, cleaning out the warehouse in a very short duration. Just as the three woke up, lazily moving their bodies, while they felt extreme soft and tender everywhere, James had already cleared the third warehouse, breached the wall to enter the fourth warehouse, stimulating the alarms again.


    These sirens awakened the three faster. They just glanced at each others'' naked bodies full of many red marks, and they didn''t say a word to each other. Islinda was frustrated, as she didn''t expect these two to intrude her own privacy with James, overcoming their fears!


    "Since when these two became this daring?!!" she shook her head, while moving towards the ores here. the other two glanced, silently watching her actions, and after couple of minutes, as Islinda got obsessed again with these ores, they started to get a handle of what was going on here.


    "So this is it," Dora muttered, as she stood up, went to the farthest group of ores than Islinda, cut her hand with her claw, and then painted the ore with her blood.


    Instantly her eyes shone brightly as she was controlled by this irresistible hunger and thirst, moving fast to eat the ores without pause!


    "And now we are competing in eating some stupid rocks," Luna muttered in discontent, as she went ahead, towards one of the ores, and did the same as the two on her sides did.


    And thus, the three entered this strange trance state where they were controlled by nothing except eating these ores.


    And James was far away, busy stuffing the ores in his dragon mouth non-stop, while no idea in his mind currently but one; he needed to complete the repair of that scepter no matter what! He needed that scepter so he could have his answers!


    As for the troops of them outside, all they heard were consecutive roars that made their scalp numb! The facility shook from time to time, while the roars kept raging all the times. This made them hesitant, especially when the two girls entered the facility and never exited it.


    "We should report this back to our leader," one of the droids who were entrusted by Rigo to Islinda, and by Islinda to Luna said.


    "And tell him what?" another Droid who was entrusted by Rigo to Dora replied.


    "Things here don''t look good. Something is happening inside, should we check it before reporting it to our leader?"


    The second droid hesitated, and a mighty roar erupted accompanied by a massive shook wave made his hesitation end. "Let''s just report what happened here to Rigo, he will know what best we should do."


    The two then nodded, went back inside the large cruiser of Dora before they started relaying what was happening here to the very far Rigo.

 Chapter 152: Gaining Skills

    Rigo was far, far away from here, fighting through a very hard battle. The recent fights against the rebellious kingdoms proved to be really challenging, especially when they united together, forming grand fleets one upon another.


    Huge number of large cruisers were destroyed, with endless numbers of intermediate and smaller ones. As for fighters, they were like grains of sand, falling everywhere, making the whole space turn into a sand beach in the middle of winter; desolate, empty and chaotic.


    When he received the message, he felt astonished and confused. He knew that his leader went back in a hurry, in such a way, so he could repair his scepter.


    "Was it a side effect of this scepter?" Rigo muttered, as he was thinking about the past events when his leader used the scepter once before. James didn''t turn into any dragon at all at that time.


    "What''s wrong then?" he thought for a long time, distracted from the current hard battle, leaving the command to his trusted droids, before thinking deeply about this.


    "Hack into the system, and send me the surveillance system control."


    He simply sent this message after a long period of thinking and hesitation. He was sure, pretty sure, that his leader wasn''t in danger at any condition. He knew that because he had a health tracking device installed inside James'' body without him being aware of that!


    And that system was now telling him that James was quite healthy and fine, instead it showed a real growing in health parameters, putting on regard the poor background James came from.


    The droids stationed at James'' location hesitated, as the roars kept raging from the inside, much frequently, and sometimes they thought they heard more than one roar at the same time!


    "Let''s go, the ladies went, can''t we do the same?" one of the droids said, making the other one sigh helplessly, before both went towards the facility.


    The main CPU was outside the storage warehouse that all the ruckus came from. Just as they went there, they didn''t waste any more second, hurriedly hacked the control unit, diverted it all to Rigo''s main battleship far in the space, then hurried to retreat.


    There wasn''t a single roar, they could swear on that, as they heard a couple of mixed roars coming from the inside, making them both dead scared!


    As for Rigo, as he sat there inside his commanding deck, sitting in front of a sideway unit to use without affecting the whole battle, the control had already shifted to here, and he instantly started playing the cameras, waiting for the screen to show up.


    And the moment the cameras started running, he was greatly shocked! His men told him there was one dragon, but in front of him there were four! Four huge adult dragons eating rocks!


    "What the hell¡­?!!!" he was shocked, however he, professionally controlled his shock, moved to find a possible explanation for this. "Leader and his three women, so they are now¡­ dragons?" he had only this single possible explanation in his mind.


    "Well, I can rewind the tape and see what really happened here."


    He started rewinding the recording, and in a few minutes he hurriedly closed it, as he was in a scene where two dragons were vigorously sleeping with each other. "Damn it! I couldn''t sleep with any girl anymore after seeing this!!"


    "Stand back and just guard against any intrusion. The leader and the ladies are all fine. Don''t worry about them."


    This was the short message he decided to send to his men, to spare them seeing such a horrible scene.


    The men received the message, trusted his decision and went to secure the area. As for Rigo, he went ahead, trying to busy his mind with the ongoing war, not with the recording he just saw.


    "Sigh, what else will you surprise me with, leader," he just muttered, while helplessly shaking off his head.


    As for James and the three girls, or dragons, they were now busy eating ores like how Rigo saw them. As Islinda, Dora and Luna couldn''t control the energy well, they tend to go and sleep for a while, leaving James alone eating all these ores.


    The more he ate the godly ore, the more shiny the scepter became!


    "So you weren''t showing your full might, scepter," James muttered, while feeling astonished regarding this


    What he didn''t know was that the scepter didn''t change, he was the one to. The scepter used its own energy, burnt it to the last speck just to defend his life, but right now the scepter wasn''t doing so.


    James'' body was brimming with energy, energy that would benefit his body and scepter at the same time. plus, this energy came from nature, processes by James'' body, which also got many changes as well.


    His body was now upgrading itself, so it could sustain much more amount, much more concentration of this energy. In the meantime, when the energy got depleted, like being used by the scepter, in attack of defense, his body would absorb the universal energy, easily filling again his body.


    And so, the scepter despite hearing his calls, being able to at least reply to his questions and answer them, it didn''t. it meant for James to use this rare chance, upgrade his body fast, and to the possible maximum level he could reach.


    And this shining wasn''t the true self of the scepter, it was a simple illuminating skill he knew, just used it, burning part of James'' energy without him knowing that, to buy more time.


    James kept eating, and after long hours, he would feel the urge to go back, carry the girls in his embrace, lay softly on the ground, and have fun and make love with the three of them.


    With time, things started to be repeated regularly. After two days, the girls started to show signs of improvement, as they lasted more than before without the need to have a rest.


    After two more days, Islinda showed the first and the foremost scary ability the girls had; generating electrical current around her body, able to create a shield or a shock wave to attack others.


    Ironically enough, the first time she had this ability discovered was when she was on top of James, bouncing up and down like a professional dancer. James had a scare, she had a scare, everyone else had a scare, and eventually they placed her on the side while waiting for her to explain.


    And her body, her dragon body, covered with an electrical arc, explained to them clearly what just happened.


    "Screw you Islinda, how the hell did you have such a skill?!" Dora shouted, angrily, however the next moment James grabbed her, took her under him by gentle force, and made her forget anything related to this incident, to this world.


    The second was Dora, as she started a fire inside the warehouse, luckily she was alone eating ores when that happened. The fire extinguisher system fell upon her head, making her look like a giant moving foam, or a large cloud.


    As for the last one, Luna, she knew she would have a skill soon, so she started to act low profile. However, it happened to her when James was rubbing his body hard and fast against her back, when a wave of wind appeared surrounding her body, making everyone be pushed away, and James even hit the nearby walls.


    James moved from the ground while glancing weirdly at Luna. It wasn''t unexpected, but he felt being the last one left behind to have a skill was really bizarre.


    "So you are the only one left," Islinda said as she was feeling as much weird as James.


    "I dunno know," he simply shook his head as he didn''t know the answer of the question. He then shook off all these disturbing thoughts, and went to vent his frustration out of being left the last one over the three tasty bodies in front of him.


    The four had already gotten used to this strange phenomenon of being a dragon then transforming into a human then returning to a dragon again in no time.


    They didn''t know the reason for it, but it didn''t bother them at all, as this transformation happened without any effort or pain.


    As for the true reason for that, it was simply caused essentially as their main level of strength wasn''t that high yet, so they needed a trigger to enter the dragon form; the ores, and a trigger to exit from it; intimacy and love.


    After this long, really surprising, love session, James felt a strange urge for him to lie down, close his eyes, and meditate.


    He didn''t know what was driving him to do so until he peeped inside his soul, finding that scepter shining and moving wildly inside.


    "Finally you are a wake buddy, let''s start training then," he joyfully muttered, while going on, following his guts, sitting on the ground, closing his eyes, and starting to meditate.

 Chapter 153: Meet Stefanie (R-18)

    James didn''t know what he was doing, but he was following his guts feelings. The moment he sat and closed up his eyes, he felt his consciousness being transported into a strange tunnel, to end by himself standing in a very spacious strange room.


    The room seemed small, but when he glanced at it he felt how vast it was. It was a contradictory feeling, and he never recognized this room ever in his life.


    The entire room was built out of wood, the floor, the walls, the ceiling; even the decorations were made entirely of wood. What he also noticed was that half of the room was dark, covered with a veil of black fog masking every single detail out of his eyes, while the other was covered by white fog.


    He could see things, but couldn''t make sure of its identity or see the exact details of it; making him like he was seeing nothing at all!


    Strange, this is what he was feeling right now.


    "Quite odd, right?"


    This sudden sound startled him, giving him a scare. He turned around to see a middle aged man, walking leisurely from the point of meeting between the white and dark fog; walking like this was his home.


    "Who are you?" James asked, with a very confused face.


    "Can''t you recognize your old friend?"


    James knew the sound, but didn''t recognize the face, so he had to ask again:


    "Are you¡­ my scepter?"


    "Yes friend, thanks for repairing me by the way. I have to admit, I never thought you will do the task so fast, and in such an impressive way."


    "Impressive?!!"


    "You gained a huge amount of energy, enough even for me to construct this room of soul for you. This is considered a major feat my friend."


    The scepter, or the middle aged man, moved with silent steps, giving James the impression he was floating on earth, until he reached James. "And for doing all that on your own, without even a single guidance from the stupid guardian of this grand sector, makes me very proud of you."


    Strangely enough, the middle aged man, or the scepter, gave James a hug. James was standing stupefied in his place, not moving a muscle.


    "What''s wrong my friend?"


    "Why do I feel you are¡­ different?" James asked, as he felt the tone of his scepter seemed slightly¡­ off!


    "Oh, you can see through my disguise, that''s impressive," this time the soft chuckle that came from the scepter made James retreat couple of steps backward, while the middle aged man just snapped his fingers, and layer upon layers of fog started to dissipate, like a thick makeup powder on the face.


    And the face that appeared in front of him wasn''t the face of a man; but a woman! A very sexy and alluring woman that made him not able to think of anything else but to move and hug her¡­ at least.


    She was a tall slim mid twentieth girl, with a bulging chest and back, curved body, especially in the middle. Her face was a real stunning beauty, not lower than that of Luna. Her eyes were wide, red in color, with strange long narrowed corners, with long blonde eyelashes and very slim and well defined blonde eyebrows, matching her blond long and thick hair.


    "What? Don''t tell me you never have seen an appealing girl like me before? Don''t lie, naughty boy, I saw what you did to these three girls, hehehe."


    "You were awake already before this moment?!" James guessed it and asked at once with much doubt and some anger.


    "Sure, but I saw what you were doing, and you were having F U N so I decided not to interfere or interrupt, and watch calmly from the sides, hehehe."


    "You are such a pervert scepter, y''know!"


    "Who?! Me?!! no way, I was just watching, I didn''t ask for my share, right? Hehehe!"


    "¡­"


    He didn''t reply, as he didn''t want to reply to such a shameless pervert scepter.


    "Snap!"


    The girl then snapped her fingers, and a large bed appeared, out of nowhere, to be placed between her and him. "Tell me, what position do you want me to be at so we can start talking in a better way than this?" she crawled, literally over her bulging chests, moving from her side to his, while her tight dark blue topless dress was about to fall!


    "Hey hey, I came here to train, not to play."


    "What''s the point in training without having fun? Come, don''t be shy, I know you aren''t, bad boy! Hehehe!"


    "Sigh!"


    He sighed, as he looked away, trying to make her understand how urgent and far important for him to learn about his strength, and hear answers regarding his dragon transformation.


    "What? Does this bed not appeal to you? You like it on bare cold ground? Or hard cold walls?"


    James just turned to glance at her, with surprise and doubt. "What?! I only stole a glance of two, didn''t you already sleep with the three dragon girls above on the bare floor and smashed the bare walls?"


    She left the bed, while waving her two long smooth legs off the bed first, lifting them one after another, while the whole dress fell off her soft skin, showing even what lies between.


    "C''mon, I can summon anything, bring anything here or remove whatever you dislike. Despite this room is under your control, technically, but as the one who built it for you, I can also control it as well."


    "Oh, so I can control the room?" James'' eyes shone, and his words changed the features of the girl, who hurriedly said:


    "C''mon, why do you act this high to reach?"


    "It''s not that," he sighed, shaking his head while adding, "if not for the urge in learning about my powers, I would have preferred to teach you a hard lesson over this week''s bed and crushed it on you!"


    "Oh, ferocious, I like that! hehehe!" she laughed, her usual silly laugh, before adding:


    "So, if I teach you now, will you reward me later? Like what you did with these girls above? Make me all moan and wet, loose and soft, weak and drowsy?"


    Her tone was strangely shifting between seriousness and temptation, and James had to exert a complete hard control over himself and his body, so he wouldn''t show this sneaky rash girl what it meant to play with him like this; he was a dragon, and she was playing literally with fire.


    "It''s a deal then."


    "Good, then let''s have a handshake," she replied while moving towards him, swaying her body right and left with each step hitting the floor cross sectioning each other.


    "Gulp," James had it already out of his control, and if she pushed, just a tiny little further, his resistance and will instantly would crash.


    And she just planned to do this.


    He stretched his hand to her, but she slipped her body, avoiding his, putting the whole arm around her waist, as she touched his chest with her hands.


    And the next second she pulled his chin down to her, while whispering softly in his ear; "this is how a proper handshake should be!"


    The next thing he did was to carry her, her entire body, by both his arms, and fall with her over the bed, making it squeeze.


    However, neither of the two cared, as he pulled the dress off her long legs, and the scene he had enticed his fiery desire even more, making him jump over her, without mercy torturing each single part of her soft body.


    And her moans only filled the rooms, really shaking her entire body with each moan like it was coming from the depth of her core!


    They kept making love for hours, and when he finished, he was as usual very refreshed. He moved up, looked at her weak and drowsy state, as he shook her head. "I told you to work first and play later, sigh!"


    He then went to the room to check its content out. The strange thing was that every time he moved towards a direction, he felt like the distance between him and the things he wanted to inspect never changed!


    "What is going on here?" he had a puzzled look after trying for a couple of times and failing to reach his destination.


    "It''s the natural defensive nature of your soul room, so you won''t hurt yourself, yawn!" she yawned as she lazily stood up from her bed, took the dress thrown on one of the corners before dressing it.


    Despite being satisfied for now, she intentionally delayed her dressing, to make James more attracted to her. "Women," he sighed as he realized what she was trying to do.


    "What? Don''t I have a chance to seduce my man like the other three? At least they are with you in flesh all the time, while I''m here in soul only when you decide to visit me.

 Chapter 154: First Time in Training... Rumble!

    "What? Don''t I have a chance to seduce my man like the other three? At least they are with you in flesh all the time, while I''m here in soul only when you decide to visit me."


    He smiled. "Don''t worry, dear, I won''t forget about you ever. Plus, you are my teacher as well, so I will come here everyday for your lessons." He tried to console her, while winking his eyes.


    "Bad boy, shut up then and listen to the words of your master."


    "First master doesn''t have a name?" James asked.


    "Stefanie, you can call me that," she replied while finishing wearing the dress as she leaned on his chest as she added; "can you zip it please?"


    "Gulp!"


    James controlled his lust hardly as he zipped her dress. She then turned to face him with soft redness over her cheeks, a remnant of what just happened between them. "Now, sit on the ground and close your eyes. Do as I will tell you and be a good boy for once," she said in a playful tone that made his fire ignite further.


    He didn''t speak, retreated a couple of steps, cleared out all his desires, lust, and thoughts before sitting over the floor and closed his eyes.


    "What I''m going to tell you is the hidden secret of this world, not known by most. Only a selected handful of people knew the truth, with most knowing only part of it, and the rare part only knowing all of it."


    She started explaining by saying that, piquing his interest at once. "The world is based on balanced energies of light and darkness. However, both came from the same source, the godly source of energy, like inside the ores you ate to repair me and strengthen your energy.


    Each hundred years, equal numbers of children will be born carrying the innate talent of light and darkness. However, your case is special, as you can see here, half of your soul room is white and the other half is darkness."


    "Does this mean I''m hailing from both energies?" he asked.


    "Don''t speak, just listen and contemplate deeply at my words. leave all the questions for later. You aren''t hailed from any of them, you are much unique that that, hailing from the mother energy; the godly energy.


    However, your existence toppled the existing balance, and that made another equal of you to appear. It''s doomed that you two will fight a life and death battle, not resting until one of you is dead. Anywhere you go, that equal will follow, like iron attracted to magnet.


    So, your only option is to grow stronger. However this world lacks any prior knowledge on how to train the godly energy, so you have to lean towards one side, dark or light."


    "I will lean towards both then," he stubbornly replied, and hated being told what to do with a girl, especially one he just devastated underneath him.


    "I told you to focus and not speak!" she said while shaking her head, taking a deep breath before taking it out. "How can you combine two antagonizing energies under the same soul? Can''t do that! no one has ever done that! just listen and I will tell you how to train yourself in dark and light energy, and you simply have to choose."


    "¡­"


    He didn''t reply, but stubbornly he decided to follow his instincts, train in both! He didn''t care about her opinion, especially when he recalled her words on him; being special and not like any other.


    "To start training you need to have talent, amassed energy inside your body, and have any ranked artifact; and you have already completed the three conditions luckily.


    To train at light energy, you need to imagine a picture of yourself, all made of light. Don''t worry about the color, as your inner self will reflect the color suited for your talent. If you want to train in darkness, then imagine a dark image of you. Focus hard on the image you select and try to connect your soul to it."


    "Just like that?"


    "WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU ABOUT?!!! FOCUS!!!" her voice echoed in the whole room, and he just sneered and said nothing. At least he felt some satisfaction driving her anger to show up like this.


    ''I will imagine half light and half dark if I wanted to train in both then, like my soul room here, right?'' he thought to himself, while deciding to choose a different path than what she said to him.


    As she stopped talking, and he started to picture himself in black and white, things proved to be really challenging, harder than he expected.


    Picturing himself in this manner wasn''t hard, but trying to maintain that picture was hard. He didn''t know why, but everytime he did so, he felt some strange pressure over this fragile image, shattering it!


    What he didn''t know was that each time he did so, the whole room shook with him, synchronizing with his trials. When Stefanie noticed that, she shook her head and said nothing. She knew he wouldn''t listen to her words and advice, going by his own stubborn crazy unrealistic thought, and finally would fail.


    She didn''t speak to stop him. ''Let him fail and feel the bitterness himself,'' she thought to herself, while sitting carefree, watching the show.


    However, she underestimated his will!


    Each failure ignited the desire for achieving the goal more in him. He gritted his teeth as if he was trying to push a mountain, trying to make it move!


    Every time he made the picture, the same strange oppression rose suddenly, out of nowhere, and crashed his image.


    ''Again!'' he shouted to himself, while reforming the image one time after another. This kept going on for quite a while before he started to notice some issues here.


    "So this oppression force is coming from the soul room?" he muttered, as he sensed the direction this force was coming from. "Didn''t she say I have total control on this room? Let''s try making it stabilize then."


    The next trial he did he tried to picture himself in black and white, while controlling the room. He had no experience in doing that, but when he just thought of controlling the light and darkness there, he felt some oppression, the same his image felt, and the next moment he felt severe pain inside his body.


    However he didn''t care, as the image he pictured still endured the small pressure escaping his lousy control. He didn''t waste time, as he thought of touching this image with his soul. He felt a thin fragile wisp moving towards the image, coming from the infinite abyss in his mind.


    The wisp was moving slowly, flickering like a candle light about to be extinguished. The next moments were very stressful on him, and he didn''t know that two thin lines of blood oozed from the corners of his mouth while standing in front of Stefanie.


    "This crazy fool! Is he trying to kill himself?!!" she noticed the changes occurring to the room, however she couldn''t interfere. She felt how pressured he was, and didn''t try to distract him by any single shout or curse she was keeping for him!


    As for James, the mere moments that passed on him while watching his wisp moving in a shy way towards his picture were really stressful.


    The moment his wisp entered the image, a grand change happened.


    "Rumble!"


    This rumble didn''t occur only inside his mind, but his entire body coupled with the entire soul room rumbled violently the moment his wisp entered the image.


    "What the hell have you done?!!" she muttered while her face turned ashen white. She was connected to the room, and this rumble also vibrated her massively, to the degree she was about to leave the room, or to be expelled to be exact.


    However the next moment the rumble stopped, and the room instead of being this small and obscure, started to grow and show more details and space.


    She glanced at James, to find his body was alternating with a dragon image, a moment appearing and the next not, one black dragon and one pure golden one.


    The two images kept fluctuating like this for long minutes, before they suddenly started to merge, making her retreat a couple of steps backward with widened eyes and gaped mouth.


    Inside James'' mind things were happening like outside. His personal image started to be replaced one time with a small highly detailed image of a dark dragon, and then pure gold one, before finally returning to his image.


    This kept happening on par with the outside, until the two images merged together, inside and outside, and the next moment he felt a sudden traction irresistible force, taking his soul entirely into the image.


    And he opened his eyes!


    The whole world looked strange in his eyes, as the room seemed huger than before, at least tripled in size. Stefanie was standing ten meters away from him, and her expression made him smile.

 Chapter 155: The Birth of the Three Big James Harem Faction

    However he wasn''t interested in her right now, as what was previously a prohibited place for him, covered under a veil of white and black fog was now clearly apparent in front of him; he could even make certain of what was there hidden from him before.


    "So it''s a written mantra?" he muttered, as he moved from his place, to feel his body change. "A dragon? I can see myself now as a dragon!!" this was a great surprise for him, and instead of moving forward to check the walls, he started to check his own body, even rotating around himself, driving a smile over the stern face of Stefanie. "Sigh, an idiot will always remain an idiot if he even becomes a dragon!"


    James kept checking his new body, the one he never saw before, with a grin that never left his face for a long time. after he got satisfied, moves his tail and wings, examined his claws and scales, he turned to Stefanie as she said:


    "Finally done playing big boy?"


    "this body is really cool."


    "Spare me this nonsense, you are barely called a dragon," she commented, putting her own remarks over his small sized body.


    "Will I grow larger? That''s cool!"


    "You are hopeless!" she simply shook her head, before saying:


    "Now you have don''t something not achieved before and that would put more pressure over you. You are still weak, and the energy inside you isn''t that stable yet. You need to go out there, eat and play with your girls, solidify your energy as much as you can."


    He stopped flapping his wings trying to fly as he asked:


    "They are also dragons, does that mean they can train like me?"


    "No, they just took a portion of your energy, a small gift that''s all. They can''t be considered like you. All you need to do now is to raise your energy level and solidify it, and in turn they will also gain the same benefit."


    He nodded as he asked:


    "Should I train more?"


    "All the time, lazy boy, you need to train your inner image all the time."


    "Even if I''m sleeping?"


    "¡­"


    She preferred not to answer as the conversation already reached an unbearable level for her.


    "Should I train now?" he asked.


    "Just go out, I''m this close to killing you with my hands, OUT!"


    The next moment he was expelled, returning to his real world. there he was sitting along while the other dragons were eating at a nearby hall, causing a ruckus of roars and chaos.


    "They are really energetic," he muttered before observing his dragon body again. He marveled his body and considered it the most precious thing ever. The next moment he went towards the nearby ores, and started eating them.


    This time he kept eating for days, reaching almost to a weak point. During this time, Rigo had already secured most of the big kingdoms, leaving only a dozen of them left, and this dozen proved to be a hard rock to crack.


    They allied their forces together, in addition to that they spent most of their treasures on hiring mercenaries, causing the size of the army to reach a terrifying figure.


    As for the seven forces coalition fleets, they sustained heavy damages on the course to here, making them like a huge wounded beast, very dangerous to deal with, and they had a very dangerous situation.


    The main problem lied in their inability to even fortify the kingdoms conquered by them. The upgrade in the monsters'' strength made it hard for them to leave only a small garrison at each kingdom, so they left a huge part behind only to deal with the monsters.


    And now if they retreated, they would endanger everything they acquired so far. The portion they had from this deal made the seven forces quite greedy, not accepting the fact of losing what they gained, not resigning to retreat and let those dozen of large kingdoms without annexing.


    And they had the excuse of punishment now, and if not dealt wisely and decisively with that, they might face a huge problem with their other followers later on.


    It was such a deep mess that the only solution to it was to keep pushing forward even on the price of losing most of their fleets.


    Defeat or retreat weren''t an option here!


    "We have to fight," one of the leaders said, in the presence of other leaders and Rigo. "Other than this we will lose everything gained so far and be the laughingstock of everyone."


    "I have no objection to that, but shouldn''t we ask for more reinforcements from home?" Rigo suggested, as the intel coming about the enemy wasn''t optimistic at all.


    "We can''t send more troops here," another leader replied.


    "Sure, but we can," Rigo said, before throwing off his offer, "I can summon double the size of our large army to arrive here in a week. However your cut in these kingdoms must be decreased to half, what do you think?"


    They stuttered, surprised by his big hand. Double this fleet size meant ten thousand large cruisers, was Rigo, and James behind him, had such power already? That was fast and that was terrifying.


    "Will that be enough?" one of the leaders asked while buying some time for his and others'' superiors to give them their approval.


    "Sure, with such an amount, no army can stand against us," Rigo reassured him. "What do you say?" he asked.


    They remained silent for half an hour, then one by one announced their agreement. Rigo had already sent back home asking for reinforcements, and he planned to reduce their cut from this cake this time, making him gain much benefit for his leader.


    The response he had was that James and the three girls were still inside, and so he had to give the order himself, arranging troops and summoning more to aid this new campaign.


    He didn''t want to spend so much money in buying new cruisers and troops, but he had to. He spent roughly a day before the meeting arranging everything, and it was luckily Islinda''s last brilliant idea that made the treasure back home so full, could endure such extravagant spending.


    In return, the leaders here were very happy with such an offer. Their current situation was very complicated, and without returning with a big victory, they would face many complaining questions and might get demoted.


    Things went this way, as the growing empire of James kept expanding fast, amassing treasure in huge amounts, while Rigo kept waiting for the reinforcements to come, and James kept eating and strengthen himself with the ores and with the girls.


    After two weeks, things were wrapped at the two sides at the same time. Rigo received his reinforcements a week after asking for it, making the fight turn much brutal, and the battles started to grow easier.


    In a week they managed to control every single planet under the control of the dozen kingdoms, making this campaign end with a big pleasing victory to all partners.


    After that, Rigo separated himself from the fleet, returning home after keeping part of it enough to secure these regions. As for James and the girls, they ate up all the stored ores so far, making them stop eating, and enter into a deep love session together.


    After this long session, their energies stabilized much, and their dragon form receded to human form again. James had a clue or two about what was going on here, but he didn''t explain much to them.


    "You just got part of my strength, as my girls you should be grateful for having this blessing from me," that was the only explanation he gave to them after the persistence of the three to know what was going on.


    For them, each one was seeing this from a different view. Islinda was the one feeling contented the most, as her personal strength gained such an imaginable leap. As for Dora, she was seeing this as a way to use in battles, especially ground one, against those annoying monsters.


    Luna wasn''t that acceptable to that form, as she felt it made her alluring sexy body lose its biggest weapon, attractiveness!


    Despite the difference in their opinions, no one ever complained or praised this. Instead, they just glanced at each other, feeling more competition rising up, not only from them, but from the other girls James had under his harem.


    Those girls who came from the seven forces were such a nightmare. These girls wouldn''t stop at any lengths to reach James and try to seize him away from the three of them.


    They knew they couldn''t stop James from doing what he liked, especially if that meant for him to gain more dragon girls by his side, however they also knew they control and limit that.


    Using the godly ore was the only means they had to do this. Any girl had to swear allegiance to one of them if she wanted to stabilize her energy like they did.

 Chapter 156: Use Me!

    Or else, even by sleeping with James, they wouldn''t be able to reap the great benefits like them.


    Simply like that, a great three factions started to slowly take form inside James harem. As for James, he didn''t concern himself with any of them for now; as he had to train, train hard, train all the time, except when he wanted to sleep with any of his girls.


    "I will leave everything here to you," he said to Luna at the doorstep of Dora''s large cruiser, "keep mining this ore, and look for other places that might contain it," he added, before gently painting a soft kiss over her lips, while squeezing her soft body in his hands.


    The other two just watched with annoyed expressions on their faces, but they said nothing. "I will," Luna simply replied, and didn''t add another word. She stood in the ground watching the large cruiser take off, while she evilly smirked:


    "I won''t let any other girl have this ore without my consent, hehehe."


    As Luna was setting the preparations to cut any influence the other two girls might have in the mine, the other two girls were speaking with James about other stuff.


    "So you are saying you won''t send them back?" Dora asked, with her fiery aggressive tone.


    "Sure, why should I?"


    "Perhaps because you will infect them with your dragon uncontrolled energy!"


    "And what in that?"


    "That¡­ that will be dangerous, risky on others. Imagine if they changed to a dragon in the middle of a crowded place? What do you expect to happen then? Huh?"


    "Don''t be this pessimistic, I slept with you for such a long time and you didn''t transform except for late times."


    "Dora, he may have a point here," Islinda suddenly joined the debate, with her calm tone.


    "May?!"


    "Sure it''s a good thing to have more dragons in our empire, turning it into an empire of dragons, but did you think over the forces who sent them to spy on you? Your secret will be revealed to them, and they might have a change in wind after that."


    "I''m sure such a secret won''t be kept off their eyes, and the eyes of any other force watching us for long."


    "But you will risk exposing it so early on your own! This is stupidity!"


    "It''s my own decision, and I won''t let these girls be sent away!" he shouted back at Dora while silencing both her and Islinda. They both were trying to decrease the list of competitors, but it seemed they failed, miserably at achieving that!


    The two exchanged silent glances, as from this moment on; a huge unofficial war was born between the two, or the three girls; a war of harem factions!


    "Let''s speak about the matters of the empire," he annoyingly said, trying to change this annoying topic, shaking it off his mind, "What is the current state in the empire?" he asked the two of them.


    "Rigo has completed the war, and he is on his way home," Dora said, with a bitter angry tone.


    "He sent to me," James nodded, as he read the messages Rigo sent, and the brief report of the fight. "I want you two to work on expanding our fleet more. It''s not appropriate for our huge empire to depend on a single fleet! You will be in charge of one, and he will be in charge for another, and Islinda will be the leader of the stationed home fleet."


    The girls looked at him as they nodded. "What about the inner state of the empire?" he asked Islinda directly.


    "I have implemented the new citizenship system, and so far it gave us a lot of treasures and gains," she replied, "and the capital is now considered one of the busiest, wealthiest, and most advanced places in the whole grand sector."


    Her face was brimming with pride, after all this was all thanks to her ideas and efforts. "Good, you did great there," James said, before adding, "start arranging auctions and citizenship to the newly obtained areas in the empire. I will select a few capable girls of those sent by the seven forces, and make them come to aid you in managing the imperial affairs."


    He threw this bomb over her head making her speechless for a second, not knowing what she would say. "B-But¡­"


    "Also prepare for some to be sent to you, you two are low on manpower, and capable girls of my harem are there to be used," he said while lashing with his words over Dora''s ears, making her face turn redder from anger!


    "They can''t be trusted! They belong to the seven forces!" Dora exclaimed, while gritting over her teeth, in a try to control her anger and now explode on his face.


    "You two are really¡­ sigh! Can''t you see the bigger picture?" he was tired from their constant remarks regarding these girls. "What picture?" Islinda asked, with no interest or expectations at all for anything worthy.


    "In the near future, not only those girls, but also these seven powers supporting their backs will be added to my empire! in fact, the whole grand sector will reside under my control sooner or later. So, chill out and get over this fast, as sooner or later these girls will be officially loyal to no one but me; as in the end there will be no one else but me."


    His words were calm, yet the air around them was very domineering!


    The words of his came so sudden as no one of the two girls really expected him to say that! as they landed on the capital, James realized the true meaning of what Islinda said of this planet being the most crowded and prosperous place in the whole grand sector!


    The planet entirely had streams of small cruisers and small and large merchant caravans coming in and out constantly from it, forming some sort of traffic even a large distance away from the planet. "How did you manage to organize all this mess?" he asked with astonishment.


    "I made a separate building used to control the influx of traffic in and out the planet. The real mess is regarding the ground itself, as many wanted to come and stay; not wanting to leave or even give a definite date for its departure," she sighed, and that made James realize how hard it was on her, working alone all this time was really tiring.


    For him, she needed aid, and for her, she was seeing herself capable of running things without any help. However when she and Dora realized the about to occur futuristic war inside the harem, they both decided to use the help James would send and add these girls under their wings.


    Like this, the harem factions started to take shape, without anyone really exerting any effort!


    James kept watching the crowded scenery from the commanding deck until they landed at the back garden of the palace, where there was one monster wreaking havoc there.


    Just as he went outside the cruiser, he heard a soft, yet familiar voice echoing in his mind:


    ''Kill this monster by your hand! Use me!''


    This soft and sexy voice erupted inside his mind, making even his dull senses right now be aroused. ''Stefanie,'' he thought to himself while swallowing his dried throat when he recalled the picture of such a sexy body, swarmed underneath him with a shaky bed and loud screams.


    James stopped in a try to control himself, and doing so made the two girls stop as well, glancing towards him in question. "Sorry, I have to do something," he muttered, with a grin over his face.


    Before hearing any words from the two he turned around and headed directly away, towards the nearby monster.


    Since the upgrade of monsters'' strength, the defending garrison here was formed entirely of medium sized cruisers, and they were able to easily control the rampage of that monster, despite taking a long time in killing it.


    "Come forth, my dear beloved scepter!"


    James muttered, while raising his right hand high in the air. The next moment, a long scepter appeared, with a central crystal in his right hand, a scepter Dora didn''t see for such a long time!


    "Oh sh*t!!" she exclaimed in shock the moment she saw the scepter.


    "What? Do you recognize that in his hand?" Islinda asked, as she felt some sort of oppression the moment that scepter appeared in James'' hands.


    "Run! It''s that crazy scepter of his! Run!" Dora instantly shouted to all present around here, before she turned around and ran. She ran, everyone ran, without knowing what really was going on here; all except one; all except Islinda.


    "Show me how strong have you become, my beloved emperor," she muttered to herself, while standing motionless in place, focusing her gaze upon James.


    "What are you doing there? run!!" Dora shouted at her, yet her shouts didn''t manage to shake any sense back into Islinda''s mind.

 Chapter 157: Annoying Puzzle

    "This stupid girl, if she killed herself then this isn''t my fault!" Dora turned and left her to face her own fate, the one she selected by her own hands. as for her, she went directly towards the palace, knowing the moment James would use the scepter, a disaster would hit this whole place for sure!


    As for James, he never watched the world around him, only his eyes were fixed upon the scepter, and the monster, and nothing else.


    ''How can I use you?'' he asked.


    ''Just imagine your internal image, that black and white dragon breathing fire, and wave me towards the monster and watch.''


    The scepter said, explaining what would he have to do so he could use the scepter out of his own power. The previous, and only time he used the scepter was based on the scepter inner energy, and James didn''t know if that scepter energy was lower, equal, or higher than his own.


    And he was about to find out!


    The monster was five to six stories height, fifteen meters tall without its short thick tail that stretched for another ten meters or so. Its body was covered in thick skin, with some small extensions protruding over its body, forming small pyramid-like extensions covering its body.


    Its head was globular in shape, with two long horns protruding from the places of the ears, slit mouth, flat nose with two large nostrils only appearing instead, and five large cylindrical shaped eyes.


    The moment James moved towards it, the monster noticed him, and strangely it went towards him, running over its three back legs, while its three frontal claws were directed towards James, aiming for his head.


    "Now!" James wasn''t doubting the scepter, however he waved it sooner than he intended, as he put in mind his need to evade the incoming deadly attack of that monster.


    "Rumble!"


    Once he waved the scepter, with the mind picture of him in black and white dragon form, spitting out fire, the crystal shone brightly while the tip of the scepter shone brightly as well, with one end forming a light orb and the other end formed a black orb.


    And then the two orbs moved towards the monster, merged together just meters away from it, forming a mighty roaring explosion that encapsulated the monster fully in a black and white large crystal that shielded the monster inside.


    "Roar!"


    The monster wasn''t killed yet, as it was trying its best to attack the crystal, break it from the inside and escape. The more it roared, the more pain it appeared to be having, and the weaker it became.


    In the end, after half an hour, all the roars ceased, and the next moment the crystal retreated away, leaving a dead monster corpse with many wounds over its outer skin ¨Cit died a very brutal death!


    That was apparent to everyone.


    What others didn''t notice, and the close by Islinda noticed, was that the crystal didn''t vanish, instead it started to get smaller and smaller, before dividing itself into two orbs again, one black and other white, returning to the scepter they originated from, calmly and steadily.


    "Wow, such a nice meal indeed," James patted on his abdomen, while muttering to himself in content. The two orbs exited from the scepter, originating from his mental image, were now brimming with much energy than what he gained from eating a whole store.


    ''See? Didn''t I tell you!'' the scepter female sound appeared in his mind, bragging about what she just did to him. ''Why did that monster have such large energy?'' he asked.


    ''These aren''t just simple monsters, but special kinds of monsters, born out of the great cosmos lost energy tree, and they aren''t here on a whim, they were assigned to come here, your enemy has already moved against you.''


    James felt surprised, but he simply chuckled as he didn''t care about his enemy at all. In fact he was feeling grateful, as this enemy had gifted him such monsters, which were great help to build his current empire, and it seemed he could personally gain much benefits from them.


    ''Is there a way to increase their rank?'' he asked, with no fear, only greed.


    ''Sure, keep killing them, the more the better,'' the scepter replied and James didn''t get anything useful this time as this is what they were doing.


    ''Thanks,'' he replied, before turning to face Islinda who was glancing at the scepter in his hand with much dread expression over her face. "Don''t be afraid, it''s docile," he said, laughing as the next moment the scepter vanished. "Let''s go inside then," he said, while putting his arm around her waist, and leading her to the inside.


    "Have you eaten the monster?" she finally asked about what attracted her attention the most.


    "Well," he hesitated, not knowing if he really ate it or not, "you can consider me doing that."


    "Good," she nodded, "I also want to do the same," she added.


    He glanced at her for a long moment, before shaking his head. This wasn''t something she could easily have, as it was related to his scepter. "Sorry, I think you need much preparation first," he said.


    "You mean to have a scepter?" she asked, while motioning at the place the scepter was there minutes ago.


    "Not exactly, but you can say it''s an artifact, a high level one as well."


    "Artifacts? I had a warehouse back at my empire filled with them. If I knew their importance, I wouldn''t come here without having one at least with me," she gritted her teeth, while stressing over her words.


    James was about to say something when a long line of very beautiful girls appeared from the back door of the palace, one by one, moving in a very sexy and alluring manner, while they were wearing the best to make their tastiest candies be revealed in the most appealing way!


    "Oho, my harem has arrived!" he said, purposefully loudly, teasing Islinda who turned sharply to glare at all those girls.


    For a moment there, and as Dora jumped, out of nowhere, to stand beside her, the two of them wanted to face the girls, however James calmly pushed them to the side while walking forward to welcome the girls he once slept with, one by one, a huge, a warm sensitive touch, with a long soft kiss on the lips, necks, and bare tops of their chests.


    The two girls glared at the dozen standing in front of them, surrounding their man, shielding him, and making his eyes and desires be shifted away from the two of them.


    "Calm down, remember their reaction when they see his dragon, hehehe," Islinda evilly whispered, and Dora just got her eyes widened, before she evilly smiled back and then the two of them retreated back to the palace, leaving James busy with these dozen girls.


    "We missed you so much, I missed you so much," one of them said, as she touched his neck and softly licked his ears. The other girls surrounded him, while giving his body the softest of touches everywhere, making his manly desire be aroused, deciding to postpone everything and start with them!


    "Let''s go upstairs," he simply said, while taking the hottest four girls in his embrace, surrounding their waists with his arms, and leading the dozen fiery girls upstairs, where another storm of love exploded for hours and hours with no stop.


    Each one of them was equal to a new taste and flavor he never tasted before, making every single ride worthy. He tasted every single girl of them, but only two left him a very good impression. Strangely enough, no dragon image or shade appeared during his long love with them.


    So, when he finished, leaving behind a dozen of very devastated girls, he asked the scepter his puzzled question:


    ''Why didn''t I have any dragon transformation? Why didn''t they turn into dragons like the three girls?'' he was really puzzled and greatly annoyed by this question.


    If the new girls of his couldn''t transform for one reason or another, then he had no use for them!


    ''It''s because you only slept with them so few times. Deepen your relationship with them, and as you finish with them, why don''t you come and quench my own fire?''


    ''¡­''


    He was surprised by the last request, however as he had nothing else to do currently, he moved towards one of his suits here, sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and a hot, almost naked scepter girl appeared in front of him, moving her sleepy back over the bed, moving her two legs slowly, yet intentionally, one in, and one out, like she was riding a bike.


    "Come, come and taste my strawberries," she said, and the next moment he couldn''t hold himself anymore, tearing her body apart over the bed, filling the place with her loud moans and soft interrupted screams and gasps.

 Chapter 158: The Start of A Crime

    James had the fun he wanted, either in the real life with the girls or with the scepter inside his soul room. Things were going smoothly fine, and the three big girls, Islinda, Dora, and Luna, were doing their best to strengthen their situation inside the empire, the fleet, and inside the mining location of the godly ore.


    Luna had successfully tightened her grip over the facility; even a single message coming in or out from it through personal devices were all hacked and read by her own surveillance team.


    Dora started her own elite fleet, and she told Rigo about the recent development, and asked him to aid her in controlling the girls for fear of James.


    Rigo was loyal to James, but anything that might compromise his safety was put first beyond anything else. He had the belief that Dora''s worries were justified and backed strongly by the current events that happened in the last campaign.


    The seven forces gained a lot, but they lost a huge number of backing up kingdoms, especially those large one who they didn''t plan on sacrificing them in the first place.


    But as Rigo dug deeper for more intel, he realized that not all the seven suffered losses, five did and two didn''t, making the seven forces like a wounded beast, very dangerous to approach or stimulate.


    So, if a word about his leader''s ability to turn into dragon and turn others into dragons were leaked, then the consequences would mostly be disastrous.


    And so he decided to aid her, as he started observing the dozen girls as much as he could, also asking for Islinda''s help, and she gladly accepted and gave all the needed support.


    As for Islinda, she directly contacted the big wealthy merchants of the seven forces, and talked a little with them. in the meeting she played with the card of the newly conquered places with endless number of mines there to be controlled, and she wouldn''t give these to anyone but those whom are supporting her, especially those who has girls in James'' harem.


    The message was direct and simple, and after this meeting, and within a single day, no one had come to visit her, making her feel strange about their response; was she too vague and they were too dumb?


    The situation wasn''t like this, as there was a new development happening inside the closed doors of James'' harem in the upper layers of this palace.


    A dragon shadow appeared, so sudden and not from James only, but from one more girl as well.


    This girl was one that attracted James'' attention from the beginning. Her figure, her smooth skin, elastic and very sensitive moves of her that made her always be the final girl James would choose to play with, as she always would be the longest one to last in his hands, always being very satisfied of her.


    And when she turned into a dragon, he wasn''t surprised, but everyone else was shocked.


    "Calm down, why are you so scared?" he asked, as this time he was sane dragon, not like the one Dora first saw, one that was about to eat her alive!


    Screams were what he got, and after an hour of calming the girls down, some understood this was an opportunity, other saw this as a threat, and all knew this came from James, and he would turn them all into dragons if they kept sleeping with him.


    And thus they hurriedly relayed the news, described everything that happened here. their higher ups first had a wave of laughter, but when their spies in each force of the seven sent them the recent updates, including this hilarious message sent by the other girls, they started to have a clear vision of what was going on here!


    The force the backed the only girl to turn dragon was one of the only two with their strength being reserved. For them they had only two approaches available, like any other force like them; either support James or kill him; and waiting wasn''t an option.


    As they were the only force with a dragon lady, they sent an order for the girl to make a simple thing; prevent other girls from sleeping with James one way or another.


    The girl knew this was only the first action they would take, and later they would ask for more; even asking her to kill James. She imagined herself again with that huge strong dragon body, imagined James with huge dragon standing on her side, facing the whole world; and she knew what she had to do.


    She waited, watched and observed the reactions of each girl. As far as she knew, five of the six other forces were now weak, and so it would be wise to find a shelter in James, investing in him instead of losing everything by standing against him.


    So, the only thing that proved to be a fact was that the girl from the other strong force would act to antagonize James.


    And the first thing she would receive as order would be to get rid of the girls here and be ready to do the next task.


    She was called Anasta, such a tall and blonde girl with bright face and sharp eyes. She gave anyone looking at her a strong sense of oppression, and strangely standing even in the middle of these group of rivals, she was feeling like being finally at home.


    Anasta wasn''t a simple girl at all, as in her first meeting with James she left many marks over his body, soul, and his sensitive parts, making it so hard to forget her.


    She was wild, unshamed by anything, only thinking of her goals and how to reach them. since day one and she realized her main rivals, the three girls and that girl of the other big force.


    But actually she never put that last girl in her mind, as she knew the attitude of the force backing her up. They were arrogant, aggressive, with no care to anyone but themselves.


    They were known for their betrayals, assassinations, even breaking out an alliance and turn allies into their enemies.


    So she was pretty sure that this force would drive this girl into the abyss. However what was really a threat was the three old girls. "Old is always bored," she always said this to herself, considering her luck to be the new one in James'' life to be a blessing.


    As for the girls coming from other forces, they were the closest being to her since her birth, sharing the same attitude and personality made her see them as friends and family, not rivals and enemies.


    So, when she sent to each one to make her come and meet her inside her room, they all gladly comply and came to her. They all got the orders from their superiors to act based on the fact they would live there forever; and they didn''t know a viper was eyeing them and if not careful this forever would be so short, not more than a single day.


    "You gathered us here today, asking us to come for a reason, right?" the girls from the five weak forces came and sat inside Anasta''s room.


    "I brought you all today to warn you about something, and form an alliance between each other."


    "A warning?!"


    "An alliance?!"


    The girls were oblivious to the risk they were exposed to, and thus Anasta took the initiative to explain the current situation here. she even told them that her big force would choose to support James, in opposing to the other force who would antagonize him.


    And so, she was proposing an alliance, to work together and guard each other against this deadly viper.


    Just as she was speaking, the door of her room knocked and the sound of that girl came to say:


    "Anasta, I want to speak with you about something urgent please."


    Anasta glanced at the other girls, shushed them by placing her finger on her lips, and pointed to places where they could hide and ambush the girl coming here.


    If the girl wanted to kill everyone, she couldn''t use a weapon that could cause a loud sound, or else she would threaten to alarm everyone. So, she would enter first, act humble and friendly second, then kill third.


    And Anasta was just ready to receive her, deal with her even on her own; as her enemy wasn''t the only one who knew martial arts and deadly tricks here and there.


    Plus, she was now a dragon, something even her enemy missed to take note of!


    "Let''s see who will prevail, a viper or a dragon, hehehe," Anasta muttered to herself evilly while she opened the door to welcome her rival, Rischa.


    This confrontation came outside anyone planning, and would escalate to heights that no one would control; and like this the fourth harem faction was taking shape, and soon it would be strongly present, making it a worthy foe in the harem.

 Chapter 159: The Birth of A Fourth Dragon and Fourth Harem Faction

    Rischa entered the dorm of Anasta while she mistook the place to be empty except for the two of them. Anasta closed the door then went towards the big table in the middle of the room, sat leisurely at the chair while glancing at her enemy like she was eyeing her best friend.


    "Tell me what do you want, my dear sis?" Anasta asked, while her hand moved to touch a hidden weapon she put long time ago under the rounded surface of this marble heavy table.


    "Nothing much, tell me what was the response from your superiors?" Rischa asked as she went to sit over the seat next to Anasta, while her hand crossed, as she held tightly the long thin blade she was hiding inside her long sleeves.


    The two glanced warmly at each other, like two beloved sisters, not two enemies who were about to kill each other.


    "Nothing much, just told me to stand put and wait for their response," Anasta said, lying to her enemy, despite giving a hint on her superiors attitude.


    If they were like Rischa''s superiors, they would have given her the order to sweep everything here and kill everyone. So, from these words Rischa knew Anasta would be her enemy, and thus she put her in the list of the enemies.


    "How unfortunate then," she finally revealed her true colors, as she leaned over her while taking out her weapon. Just as she was about to slash the blade over the body of her enemy when a clang muffled voice erupted so sudden that startled her.


    "Splash!"


    The next moment, and just before she could glance down at her blade, another blade moved and insterted deeply into her chest, cleaving her heart in the center, leaving it wounded, and making the life dissipate slowly yet steadily out of her.


    "Crack!"


    She lost her balance, fell to the ground despite her effort to cling to the table. Her eyes showed how unwilling she was, but the next moment the other girls showed up, each from their hidden places.


    "Here, take this blade and insert it each in her body; one attack for each one," Anasta handed the other weapon in hand to the nearest girl as she instructed them.


    A crime should be perfect, and she wasn''t the only one against this force, but the other girls were also against Rischa force. The other girls understood what she intended by this planning of hers, and they didn''t show any dissatisfaction at all.


    As they all became partners in the same crime, and the one who led them into this, defended them and stood against the great danger was Anasta, she stood in front of her deceased rival, without any speck of sympathy.


    She saw this fate coming long time ago, and so she never cared about any rivalerity inside the forces'' girls; as she always saw them as part of her own.


    This wasn''t an underestimation of Rischa, as she knew if she was in another force, even a meager one, she would be a worthy foe!


    She wasn''t weak, but her force behind her was foolish and stupid. If she could recruit her and make her flip the sides, join her faction and be her right hand, she wouldn''t have taken the trouble to kill her and just would inform James about the stance of the seventh force.


    But she knew more about this force, they never trusted even their subjects. So, each agent must be well controlled, guarded against any temptation of other forces by using anything dear and use it against him.


    If there was none, then this agent would be exterminated, no matter how important and unique he or she was!


    Such a cruel force worthy of the name of the black crows!


    Simply like this, Anasta managed to claim the girls to her side, leaving Islinda, Dora, and Luna literally alone, on their own selves.


    "Sorry Rischa, I really liked you and thought you might pose a considerable threat to me, however your superiors doomed your life, and you only have nothing but to blame them for what you have suffered."


    Anasta said the last words to the terrified and shocked Rischa while her body lost its last strength and the life faded away from her body.


    James was at the main palace hall at this moment, revising the latest reports coming from the spies Rigo had spread with the help of Islinda since the beginning of their life here.


    The reports spoke about uneasy movements that their greatest enemy, the Terasos race, was currently doing. They didn''t stop adding more factions to them, empires, kingdoms, and even merchants and dark forces.


    However recently they started working towards their direction. There were vast distance separating the two from each other, making them secure for such a long time at least.


    However the reports he was reading now had the new intel about their invasion of a kingdom not far from here, making this as a Trojan horse, a wedge his enemies were planning to use as long range base for future invasions.


    "Sigh, it seemed I need to act more aggressive towards them."


    He muttered when he saw Islinda coming, with such a gloomy face that she rarely used. He dropped the report in the screen in his hand, waiting for her to come to him.


    And she wasn''t alone, strangely Anasta was with her, and he noticed the marks of blood over the white gown of Anasta.


    "What brought you two together?" he asked, as this alone was enough to make him feel speechless.


    "There is something bad happened," Islinda was the first to speak, before sighing with her gloomy face and looking towards Anasta.


    "Rischa''s force had decided to go against you, ordering her to kill all of us, and we fought back and killed her."


    She then stretched her hand, showing him the blade Rischa had tried to kill her with. James took the blade and noticed the engavement of the crow head over its handle. "Such a nice dagger was used to trespass over my own girls and my own interests," James muttered in a tone that made the two girls in front of him shudder.


    James wasn''t the weak ignorant young man who deserted from the military camp, running for his life from his enemies.


    His personal strength, and his empire strength made him totally another person, one that could insert fear in the hearts of others, even if they were part of his own harem.


    "Where are her body?" he asked.


    "It''s upstairs," Islinda said, before side glancing at Anasta for a moment, "I examined the scene, heard the words of the girls; what she said is really what happened."


    "Make Rigo go and check her room, hack her own device and bring me the hard evidence," he said, before throwing the dagger on the nearby wall in a very aggressive move. "Now!" he shouted, and the two girls'' jolted out of fear as they hurriedly left him alone, while giving Rigo his orders.


    Rigo heard the news, and he wasn''t surprised by them. he long anticipated this result, however what made him speechless and surprised was the reaction of the other six forces; they entrusted James and decided to strongly ally themselves with him.


    As for the last force, he knew what his leader was thinking. "It seems one of the forces will be eliminated," he muttered before sending a short message to Dora. "Go and launch a huge investigation process at the dark crows, we will have a war soon with them," he also shared the message and the story he heard from Islinda to her, in addition to the small remark that he didn''t care about, however it was had such a major impact over Dora.


    "The harem had a fourth faction, and all the girls are now under her control."


    This news were alone enough to make Dora speechless. The three never put the new girls in their eyes, however it seemed they underestimated them, doing such a grave mistake made them lose the initiative.


    And now, the three of them were left alone with no one to follow!


    "That''s ridiculous! If there is no girl to snatch, I prefer to select more and gift them to him then, and build my own faction with my two own hands!"


    Luna also received the news, however she didn''t feel such frustration as the other two. after all, no matter how many factions and girls inside each were out there, they would all have to get closer to her so they would take many benefits.


    However she also thought of the same idea Dora thought of, just like Islinda.


    And strangely, the three who were strongly opposing to have any more girls for their man, decided separately to work hard to fill his harem with more girls, and this war was just in its earliest stages yet.


    As for the next big war, James intended to make it a huge one, not just on one front, but on all fronts!

 Chapter 160: Anasta the Strategist (R-18)

    The council of war gathered up inside the palace secret room, where only James, Rigo, Islinda, Dora, and the new arrival Anasta joined the council.


    "May I ask what she is doing here?" Rigo was the one to express his doubts, and James simply replied:


    "She has a tactical mind that I liked. She will be our strategist from now on, war strategist."


    His words weren''t groundless, as he and others had reviewed the footage from the surveillance cameras, plus James heard the confessions of other girls who described what happened, and all agreed on the main role of Anasta in saving them and killing Rischa.


    So, James decided to appoint her in this vacant place, where no other girl or droid was able to occupy for so long already. He admired her mind abilities, perfectly reading the situation, anticipating what would happen, and planning a perfect counter attack where she wouldn''t even be blamed for!


    James knew everything was her planning and execution, and he wasn''t angry with her; on the contrary he was admiring her more for such a twisted meticulous mind of hers.


    "A strategist?" Rigo said, asking about this strange role he never heard of!


    "It''s someone who will be responsible for setting up plans and reading the enemy''s plans before they even leave their homes. It''s an old role mentioned at some old records I once read, and I intend to mimic them and she is the most suited person to do that."


    His words didn''t manage to explain things to Rigo, and James just helplessly sighed before gesturing to Anasta, who was also surprised by his words and his trust like others. "Can you explain to him your importance by putting the grand map of the dark crow forces and regions please?" Kames said and she just nodded.


    Instantly a huge map appeared in front of everyone, and once it did Rigo said in a complaining tone:


    "I have an exact copy of this map if that would be her role!"


    James didn''t answer his sarcastic remark, as he asked back:


    "Can you tell me what you think our enemies will do and how we should move against them?"


    Rigo glanced at him, feeling like his leader was putting his capabilities to test. "They will gather all their forces after knowing about what happened here; and I''m sure they already did. then they will move towards us to face us in a grand fight where they will try to snatch rapid victory before we can amass our forces."


    James'' face didn''t change as he nodded, motioning for him to continue. "Then we have to amass all our forces, fast, and I have already sent for all of our forces to come and gather here," he said, with much pride in his simple plan, while Dora sitting next to him nodded, expressing her approval on this genius stroke of brilliance.


    "May I hear your words?" James totally ignored the two as he glanced over to Anasta who was still surprised and feeling awkward about this situation. She had already thought about what the black crows would do, and she had a plan in her mind.


    "Ahem, first they won''t try to directly face us," she opened the words by saying this, making everyone glance at her in a weird way, while Rigo even raised an eyebrow in response to her assumptions. "May I know why?" he asked, calmly yet the vibe he gave was so heavy.


    "It''s because they don''t have the higher moral grounds here," she simply replied and Rigo seemed not to understand what she meant, in addition to Dora. Only James and Islinda understood her meaning perfectly. "Then what do you think they will do?" Rigo didn''t give up and asked.


    "They will target our allies first," she said as she started pointing towards places next to the huge territory of the black crowes. "Allies?" Rigo asked.


    "The other six forces, or to be more specific the other five forces greatly weakened by your masterpiece at the last expedition," she said, directly revealing how she understood things here.


    Rigo''s eyes shone and widened, while he remained silent this time. "Keep on," James said, with a faint smile over his face. He was pleased by his right decision and keen eye when he chose her to do this critical long forgotten rank.


    "They will try to threaten the weak forces in a try to break the grand alliance we have. In the meantime, they will wait patiently for us to attack them, then they will take such an excuse to claim the higher moral grounds and assemble their forces and allies, try to break our allied forces and start a grand war towards us."


    Her words were logical and each sentence she said gained the approval of James and Islinda, who was surprised by how well organized Anasta''s mind was. She glanced at her, knowing for sure this little girl wasn''t an easy pick at all!


    "And what do you suggest we do?" Rigo asked, feeling some logic in her realistic words.


    "We should use the forces you summoned, distribute them into seven forces, six small forces sent as a guarding garrison to each of the six forces main territories, and one huge fleet be stationed here, ready to move out at any short notice," she replied, explaining her own view over how to act here.


    "Didn''t you just say we can''t move against them?" Rigo asked with confusion.


    "We will, but after flipping the tables over them, besting them in their own game. we will use the stationed garrisons at each force as an excuse; any move towards any force will be faced instantly by the summon of our grand fleet, under the banner of the righteous act of rescuing one of our allies."


    Her words managed finally to reveal the beauty of her plan, rendering Rigo and Dora speechless, while James just clapped his hands as he patted on her back as he said:


    "Brilliant idea Anasta, you really deserve the reward I''m planning for you tonight."


    The face of her reddened, while the others understood what he meant by that. Dora glared towards this little girl feeling like glaring at a snake in human skin, hating her even more she hated Islinda. As for Islinda, she inwardly sighed; she relaxed herself and lowered her guard for a brief time and this was the result! She had now a formidable enemy she had to dread carefully and seriously, or else she would lose!


    "Now, as you can see; this is the main and critical role of a strategist in any empire or kingdom. It''s an old role, but not an obsolete one," James said before starting to relay his orders, "Rigo and Dora will be responsible for arranging the fleet in the manner Anasta just described. As for Islinda, you will be responsible for dealing and arranging things with our six allies. Inform them about the fleets sent to them, but say nothing about the plan."


    The three nodded, as they realized James was ending the meeting.


    "What about their merchants?" Islinda suddenly asked.


    "Don''t touch them," James said, before evilly smirking, "after all, all of them will belong to our empire sooner or later."


    The four in front of him smiled as they understood his set of thoughts. They all moved away after that, all except Anasta.


    He glanced at her before adjusting his seat to be more comfy. "Come here, don''t be shy," he said while patting on his lap.


    Like a docile cat, she moved towards him, raised the edge of her long dress to expose her smooth thin legs. "Like this," she said while sitting over his centre, moving her body a couple of times as if she was adjusting her posture, while putting one leg on another, both naked, both so alluring with their smoothness.


    "Oh, you come prepared, '''' he muttered before pressing a button on the arm of his seat to lock the door, soften the intensity of lights, and a smooth weak music played in the ground.


    "I was anticipating this reward, ain''t I now your strategist?" she said each word while unbuttoning his shirt, moving her long smooth end nails scratching slowly over his skin.


    And he wasn''t polite, squeezing her back and thin waist between his two hands, while stripping her from her long tight dress, exposing her figure, and his lips were moving smoothly and quietly, leaving fiery stamps over her delicate skin, arousing her more, igniting her desires to no limit!


    And then they had a very, very intimate and long love that extended for sessions upon session, taking the rest of the day with it, linking it through the whole night, and at all times shades of two dragons superimposed over their bodies from position to position; while the soft music was always interrupted by the loud screams, muffled moans, and the grunting she had at the end, while she was unable to keep up with his.

 Chapter 161: The Start of the War

    The next day they moved according to the plan put by Anasta. Islinda took the role of contacting the six powers, explaining briefly to them what was going to happen next.


    The six forces all read the situation well, and they welcomed this attitude warmly and they organized with her and Rigo everything.


    The next day Rigo dispatched a small part of the fleet while dividing them into six parts, each headed towards each force to be stationed there.


    As for Islinda, she took the toll of dealing with the merchants, as this was the time of war, and they needed a lot of war supplies, many provisions, warships, and troops.


    Things went smoothly for a week, while the black crows stayed silent in regard to this. However their patience ran out fast, as like this they were the only force to be isolated and the six forces were now enjoying the welfare of James and his wealthy strong growing empire.


    It wasn''t a secret, as if they let things go smoothly like this, James and his allies would only grow stronger while they would be weaker. They also didn''t guarantee that James wouldn''t use the economy stick to punish them, depriving their merchants from the monster regions and rights, dealing a deadly blow to their economy.


    Merchants weren''t loyal to anything except their pockets; so they knew if they had the choice between them and James, between losing and keeping their current monster rights, for sure they would choose betraying them for James.


    And they wouldn''t have anything in hand to stop them!


    So, after the week had calmly passed, they finally targeted one of the six forces; the force that Anasta belonged to!


    They planned to swiftly sweep this force''s main regions so they would deal a good blow to James, weakening him greatly at the start of the war.


    The news came fast, as Rigo first told James about this intel, before Anasta broke into the meeting hall, holding her screen in hand, with an anxious face.


    "There is a grand fleet heading towards many regions of my force, shouldn''t you know about this already by your spies?"


    She didn''t wait for herself to even reach the round table before she bellowed anxiously and angrily towards James and Rigo. Islinda and Dora both remained silent, waiting for her reaction when hearing the response of James.


    As James and them had just finished discussing this matter, and his own decision which became the final call here was totally opposite to Anasta''s expectations.


    "I know," James simply replied before glancing over the others in a meaningful way. They excused themselves, silently and calmly, as Rigo felt much gratitude for his leader to take the toll of Anasta''s wrath alone, while the two girls felt deeply regretful, as they wanted to watch the disappointed look over Anasta''s face.


    Anasta watched them leaving, silently sighing in regret and sadness. She knew James would possibly think of abandoning her force, leaving it to be ruined so he would have six weak forces instead of five and one super power.


    Currently this power was allied to him, but in the future who knew? They might have a shift in wind and be much arrogant and stubborn like the black crows, stand against him and even might try to kill him.


    She sat, on the seat next to him, with a dejected lowered head, but he patted on his lap as he adjusted his seat to turn into a sofa. "Come here, babe, let''s speak while me massaging your tense body."


    His words made it clear to her, so she had to resign to the current fact and went to sit on his lap. He put his hand inside her short dress, passing his fingers slightly over the smooth soft body like jelly, making her feel some hotness, not from anger but from his delicate spicy touches.


    "Don''t play around and just tell me directly, are you going to let my people die?"


    "Not die," he shook his head while squeezing something soft and delicate in his hand, causing her to moan shortly despite trying not to. "I will let them only be weakened a little, then we will move to aid and rescue them."


    "Ah," she moaned again, before putting her legs so close to each other while trying to change her position in his lap, but he was holding her so tight that she couldn''t move a single muscle. "At least give me a proper response for my people," she finally succumbed herself to him, not able to say a single word against her man.


    "Don''t worry, Rigo and Islinda are now working on this," he said before shutting down her mouth by sucking her both lips and tongue inside his.


    As the two had a long session of love, Islinda, Dora, and Rigo started doing their own parts in the plan.


    Islinda sent a warning message first to Anasta''s force, then Rigo sent a moving plan to them, as he sent a small rescuing team first, promising the main fleet would move in the next couple of days.


    Like this they seemed to be in a hurry to aid Anasta''s force, but what really happened was that the main fleet took longer than a couple of days; as they took a whole week until they moved from the capital.


    And the excuse? Well, they had plenty, as Rigo used one of the old tricks to hijack a group of ships from the black raven distant territories, and used these ships to attack other places of the other five forces, making the other five send for reinforcements.


    This wasn''t an easy decision to take, or that Islinda properly conveyed to the six forces. She asked them to arrange things with Rigo, to determine the place of the real attacks of the black crow. After all the black crows had one single grand fleet no more!


    So in a week, and after many attacks done by Rigo to confuse others, even attacking parts of the imperial territories, they started to move.


    During this week, James played most of the time with Anasta, who had been tamed under the soft touches and brutal love meetings she had with James.


    As for Dora, he only slept with her a couple of times, while Islinda and Luna took most of his time.


    Luna and Islinda already started looking and gathering girls loyal to them. they knew that Anasta had secured the five power girls, making her not only have the most numbers in harem, but one with the strongest back up among them!


    Luna looked for girls who looked like her, vulgar, gypsy, and sexy. As for Islinda, she had much tougher missions than Luna, as she was looking for girls smart and sexy, coming from wealthy families or giant merchants.


    This made her options much smaller than Luna, who just had a long line of girls waiting outside her mining facility; girls she handpicked first from a much larger list!


    Dora wasn''t unaware of the two efforts, but she was staying calm and collected. As once a rebel leader, she knew the best place to collect a huge number of beauties with many great traits without breaking a single drop of sweat; war!


    And ironically enough, she was just heading towards one right now!


    She was still feeling sore for James'' cold shoulder to her during the past week, however when she learnt about James being present in the expedition force, while choosing her main cruiser as his main stay; she totally lost every single speck of anger and frustration she had!


    James decided long ago to stay at Dora''s cruiser, and so he ignored her for the last few days while playing with other girls in the harem.


    As for the rest of the girls, he didn''t sleep much with them, only a couple of times only. they weren''t that bad, but they weren''t that alluring compared with Anasta, Dora, Luna, or Islinda.


    So, in the next few days they moved in space heading with their grand fleet towards the territory of Anasta''s force.


    The reports coming from the frontline kept giving them bad news all the time. lost battles, lost fleets, lost territories, plus many massacres occurring on the hands of the black crows.


    The forces of Anasta''s force couldn''t keep up with the grand fleet of the black crows, as they used a large number of mercenaries; and the main hit came from the inside, not the outside.


    As in any criminal empire, many had ambitions to reach higher places and rank. So, a rebellion occurred, not only in one place, but at many!


    Some were bought over by money, others with promises of many wealth, rich, and power after reshaping the current forces map into the new one.


    And only few, so few, moved based on deep grudges hidden inside their souls. The last faction caused a huge impact over the whole Anasta''s force, making many massacres, spreading fear and chaos in the force lines.

 Chapter 162: Anasta and Dora

    As for James this came as good news for him, as like this Anasta''s force would end up being much damaged than the other five, while he would determine the traitors inside this faction, to exterminate them later on before finally adding the whole region under his control.


    After all, he was eyeing all these places as his own, even the black crows territory.


    As they went closer to the territory of Anasta''s force, James called the four for a grand meeting. Anasta was with him, but she didn''t sleep with him except for once during her stay in the cruiser of Rigo.


    James sat inside the commanding deck of Dora''s large cruiser, while Dora sat on his lap, lying her head lazily on his chest, while her face showed a tinge of redness and her breaths were slow and deep.


    She just finished a long and very memorable love session that made her almost faint. He had to carry her towards here after helping her in dressing up with some difficulty for them both.


    Anasta''s eyes noticed this and she had some bitterness inside her throat. She wanted to be there, be his and only his woman! However she was the last to come, with no traits at all, not like Dora, not like the two others.


    While she was with Rigo, she started to deepen her relationship with him. she knew how important Rigo was for James, and how trustable his words were; plus he was the head of the military, with many connections and a lot of privilege.


    If he supported any girl it would be equal to her own backing! And it seemed he favored Dora, and she still lacked the essential information like: how the two met? How long did they know each other?


    When she managed to make Rigo talk about this, she was speechless to know that Dora was the first to know James and more shocked to know she was the last, the last one before her appearance here.


    When she heard the story about what James did to her, risking his life to save hers; she was more speechless. In her opinion, this Dora lacked any sense of judgment, or else she wouldn''t dare to let some gem like James to go away from her hands simply like that, especially after all that!


    She glanced at her deeply, seeing the real truth about her naked in front of her eyes; she was a bold impulsive idiot!


    "What are the recent intel about the current war?" James asked, as he was quite busy playing with Dora and training while playing with that lustful scepter.


    "the war is really intense, while Anasta''s forces lost more than we expected due to an internal turmoil," Rigo said, and Anasta''s face changed as she had the same response when she first heard the news from Rigo.


    "What are you saying?" James asked, as he wasn''t expecting to hear such news.


    "That was the hidden card the black crows played to hasten their invasion. Approximately over third of the whole territory is taken, and the front line is extended to cover a very large distance that would make our force be stretched thinly if we complied to their provocations."


    Rigo''s words were highly regarded for James, who completely trusted his intel. James tapped on the bare back of Dora while thinking. "What do you think we should do?" he asked Anasta who was prepared for that question.


    "I think we should remain as one group, head straight towards a place they didn''t expect."


    "Like what? Have something in mind?" he asked again.


    "Like the main territory of the black crowes!" her reply astonished him, and before he refused that on impulse, he paused, thinking more about her proposal.


    She had a crazy idea, but when he thought about it he found it quite appealing. "Do we have intel about the homelands of the black crowes?" he asked Rigo, as he was now interested in this plan.


    Nothing would force the black crows to retreat except one thing; if their home palace was in fire! Nothing would be considered worthy if they lost the base of their forces, making them a homeless group of people, rebels!


    However, there was a catch! The black crows weren''t that stupid to leave their homeland unsecured, and so James just asked about this, as without enough force to stand against their fleet then things wouldn''t be that hard at all.


    However, Rigo''s reaction made him realize things weren''t as good as he hoped; Rigo only glanced at Anasta, who took a deep breath before saying:


    "The black crows were always famous among our dark forces as being the one with the impregnable base, as they built their base inside a belt of black holes, where any single misstep would make you lose everything. So, no light space travel is accessible there, while this isn''t all."


    "What else other than hell of defensive bloody black holes?!"


    Dora woke up at this moment, or she was irritated by her words, as from the shape of it, invading this place seemed impossible for their large fleet.


    "There are a cluster of planets all equipped with towns and cities, defenses and people living there. it was rumored that they kidnap people and buy war slaves like we did, and the army stationed inside the black hole is simply massive, well prepared, and never leave the base for any reason."


    Her words painted an impossible picture for this idea to be done, and that made James realize something. "What is your secret plan then to demolish their invincible base?" he asked, as he was pretty sure that she was the one who knew all these, then she wouldn''t even think of that plan except for the presence of a suitable counter.


    Anasta sighed, before glancing over Dora as she pointed to her as she said:


    "The key lied with her."


    "Who? Me?" Dora exclaimed in surprise, as she didn''t believe Anasta, her rival, would point out to her, giving her such a high credit in such a decisive battle.


    Anasta didn''t like it either, but she couldn''t do much about this base, and the mere thought of going to intercept the unstoppable dark crow forces were just a nightmare in itself.


    So, there was no other option except for them to go and invade that base, truly threaten its safety to force the hand of the black crows higher ups, and make them recall their grand fleet back home.


    "Simply we need your rebellious expertise," Anasta said, explaining her plan next, "we will send in a selected group of soldiers, and their mission is to use the state of frustration and anger inside the planets."


    "You want me to start a rebellion?" Dora instantly sat straight like a cat someone just stumped on its tail, "Do you plan to send me in there?"


    This question wasn''t directed to Anasta but to Rigo and James. The two just glanced at Anasta silently, as the latter said:


    "I''m not saying that, I just want you to give me some golden pointers, draw up a perfect plan, and be in charge of it¡­ from here, of course."


    The words of Anasta didn''t carry any speck of peace towards Dora, who just felt much insulted from her remarks, even from just a distance, about sending her like a sack of shit over the street and walking away from her.


    Despite her reaction to James and Rigo, she was still angry! Anasta planned to be rude and instigate this impulsive nature inside Dora, or else she would better wrack up her mind seeking for a better idea.


    Dora was about to explode on her when James just patted warmly, gently restraining her. She glanced at him and was about to argue, with her fiery nature, but he simply silenced her, forcibly by a fiery kiss over her sweet lips and repulsive tongue.


    And instantly all her fire was cooled off, and the old weakness returned to haunt her, making her turn soft, and relax her body without objection inside his embrace, finally saying nothing.


    James read what Anasta was planning to do. He already had many reports about the hidden war instigating inside his harem, coming from Rigo''s agents, and he didn''t care about these skirmishes.


    However, doing this in the shade was something and doing this in front of him was another.


    He glanced silently for a heavy long silent moments towards Anasta, who had her blood freeze instantly the moment she noticed his stern look and heard his tapping finger on the glass of the table.


    He wasn''t happy about what she tried to pull! She totally ignored him, forgetting, like all others, his opinion; just like he was nothing. Instantly she lowered her head, with a gaze showing submission and regret conveyed through her eyes.


    He liked her, but this silly war between his girls should and always be confined to the walls of the harem, not leaked to the outside world no matter what!

 Chapter 163: Doras Lecture

    And at this moment he stopped looking at her, as he turned to Rigo as he said:


    "Prepare the suitable selected few of your trusted men. Dora will rest for a few hours before going up to your cruiser and train them there. set course for the base of the black crowes, we must reach there and announce our presence. This will help our insiders in their mission, and put more pressure over the local loyal forces of the black crowes."


    "Affirmative, supreme leader," Rigo''s formal reply was intentional, as he noticed what happened and he just inwardly sighed; both girls were just in injustice, twisted together to get the same man.


    And he just wanted to send Anasta a hidden message, so she would know there is a difference in being close to James, and sitting with him in a formal meeting to speak about matters of the empire.


    "Thanks for standing up for me."


    The moment the other two went out, Dora muttered to him softly while painting a soft kiss over his chest.


    "You two¡­ why can''t you just settle in nicely in my harem?" he asked while holding her face with his hand, adjusting her to be facing him, before releasing his long sigh over her face, scorching her senses and lust inside.


    "It''s¡­ it''s just we want you whole to oneself, is this a crime?" she asked, softly while her breaths fell gently over his face, making his desire be ignited much more. "Sure it''s not a crime, but you are acting naughty, and I like discipling naughty girls."


    She knew what was coming, and before preparing for it, she found herself moaning softly then loudly under his clutches. She couldn''t recall what happened perfectly, but she knew she was enjoying this punishment that was tasty and sweet despite being so savage.


    After a few hours of love, play, and rest, she moved towards the main cruiser of Rigo, with a rosy face and dreaming eyes. She knew she had a long and hard task of teaching soldiers how to be rebels.


    As James became alone, he called upon Anasta to come and see him. when she came after one hour, she was really embarrassed, or showing that face to him, making herself like someone lamenting his guilt, deeply regretting it, while evading looking directly in his eyes.


    "Don''t play this innocent in front of me, come and sit here," he pointed to the other side of the bed that stretched over a corner in the hall. It was now an essential thing to have a bed folded inside a corner here or there, as his lust currently was easily ignited, hardly controlled.


    She didn''t hesitate to move towards him with lowered head like she was a small kid doing something wrong and was heading to her master to be punished.


    As she went to him, he swiftly held her body and took her by surprise, carrying her in mid air with his slightly bulging muscles, while putting her on top of his waist, while stripping her off. "I don''t care about what you do between each other, but in front of me don''t act this reckless again."


    "I- I understand," she replied with a shy honest look over her face, making her beauty more mesmerizing to the eye. "I know, but you need to be punished," he said, before forcibly taking off everything from her body before adjusting her position to sit precisely over his, making her be locked perfectly with him.


    "Oh, if I would be punished like this each time, then I would make sure to always behave like a bad girl, oh!"


    She moaned while saying that while he evilly smiled while saying:


    "Don''t be rash before experiencing my punishment."


    Then he took him by extreme force while her moans started soft, interrupted, to grow stronger and louder, ending into a begging plea but he didn''t care about her at all, as this was his punishment and she had to tolerate it all.


    As for Dora, she went to Rigo''s cruiser where she was welcomed by a huge number of soldiers there in the main goods deck. She was surprised by all this number, and she rapidly spotted Rigo who was standing at a stage made especially for her; with a screen behind her so her words and instructions would be clearly seen and heard by everyone.


    She went with some stress over there, as she didn''t expect to give a lecture for all those soldiers. "All those? There are so many!" the moment she climbed the stairs towards Rigo she said that to him. he smiled as he corrected her:


    "What many? this is only one cruiser of the many in the fleet I chose to hear out your lecture."


    "So many?!!!" she was speechless. "But why?" she asked.


    "This is a great opportunity to learn such tactics for future battles. We might have a need for that at a critical time where there would be no room for teaching and that stuff. So I figured out to invite the entire fleet to learn from you."


    She was speechless, as his logic was flawless, she never expected it. "Just go up there and you will be fine."


    She took a deep breath as she went to the stage, on the spot light, recalling the words her mother said once to her when she was young. "To insert a rebellious act in a society you need first a weakened society with many problems and oppressed one group of people at least to use as the base of the rebellion.


    There is no purely intact society, any society is vulnerable to be infiltrated and have many riots inside provided we use the right tools, proper plan, and the appropriate psychological thinking and approach to demolish the society.


    I will teach you what tools you can use, how to select the best tool for each society, and the best way to combine more than tools to increase your gains."


    She then was instantly immersed into explaining and speaking about many tactics she knew of from her mother, her rebellious friends, and from her experience.


    Her lecture took hours, as she spoke freely about many things she didn''t think she would know, but she got them from experience and battles she had so far.


    When she finished, a whole day had passed without her knowing that. she felt tired and exhausted suddenly when she recalled what she said and all her instructions.


    "Great performance, I''m really amazed!" The first one to receive her was Rigo, who led a warm clapping salute for her. She was feeling slightly dizzy, so she asked him to go to her room, where she slept for an entire day.


    For Rigo, he kept punishing Anasta for four hours before he finally let her free. Her whole body was covered with bites and bruises of his tight hands clapping, gripping and squeezing her parts, making her ecstasy continue for long hours without a break.


    So when he stopped, she couldn''t help herself to fall asleep, losing consciousness out of extreme delight and content.


    As for him, he went to the small control unit in the hall, played the direct broadcast of Dora, and started listening to her.


    He noticed how happy and free she was when speaking with the soldiers. He came late, so he didn''t see her in the early hour, where she was slightly off and extremely nervous.


    "She was born to be a general no doubt," he remarked as he kept listening to her words and instructions, feeling how valuable they were.


    "She is good," Anasta suddenly said from behind him as she sensed her awake for over an hour now. "Yes, she is brilliant," he agreed, before turning to look at her as he added, "thanks to you."


    "What? I did nothing," she shrugged as she was standing from the bed, covering her bruised and pink skin with the sheets here and there, while moving slowly and lazily towards him.


    "You are the one who pointed out to her, without your remark we couldn''t have noticed this hidden gem, not even Dora herself would have noticed that."


    "Don''t exaggerate," she laughed shortly as she tripped on the ground, to fall towards him, falling in his embrace as he swiftly adjusted his seat to face her. "Don''t move around while you are this lazy and dizzy."


    "I just wanted to sit in your embrace, and hear this strong heart of yours, dom tick, dom tick, I like the sound it does," she said to him while resting her head over his bare chest.


    In the next minutes, she went to sleep like a little kid, while her snoring was so high that it even rivaled the words of Dora coming from the screen.


    "Sigh, even during your sleep you are still fixated to rival her, sigh!"


    He didn''t know what else to say but to shake his head helplessly while thinking how hopeless his intervention would be in such complicated matters.

 Chapter 164: Operation Dora

    James continued to watch the lecture of Dora until she ended it. He learnt a lot of good tactics to be used, and he knew this lecture would give birth to a whole new wave of soldiers, soldiers with a mindset set to topple any force no matter what.


    After she finished the lecture, she went to rest in her own room, while Rigo didn''t rest, as he started to divide the long lecture into small pieces while assigning his trusted men to select those who understood each well to be given specific tasks to do in the black crowes base.


    They had almost arrived at the outer region of the black crowes base. They only needed half a day to reach their destination, and Rigo had no much time left for any trials, so he trusted his men to select the best among all the candidates.


    When they arrived at the spot Rigo had selected, the grand fleet''s sudden appearance startled everyone there.


    "Attack them all, enforce a blockade around the whole space," James was in his commanding deck right now when he sent the order to Rigo. Dora was standing beside Rigo, as she had the task of being responsible to overrun the whole sabotage operation; which was given the code Dora.


    Dora felt astonished to call her name of the whole operation, and when Rigo told her that this was James'' orders, she felt ecstatic; knowing for the first time what Islinda was speaking about when she was talking to her at the garden palace.


    The next hours went smoothly as the whole space was locked, all the ships were detained and their crews were briefed. They needed these ships and they needed the identities of the captured crews.


    After five hours of their appearance, they sent in a large number of captured ships, filled with the soldiers responsible for the Dora operation.


    Inside the main deck inside Rigo''s cruiser, Dora sat on a large communication unit, while a large holographic image appeared in front of her eyes, showing her the current status of the invading personnel.


    She called them the seeds, as they were like the plant seeds, would enter the place smoothly like seeds enter the soil, take all the nutrition and support from the place, then nourish to form tall towering thick trees of chaos and disruption.


    The seeds of rebellions successfully entered the base, where the pictures broadcasted from their ships made the image quite clear to all; this base was really vast and filled with closely packed planets, defying the natural rules of the universe, only rotating around themselves without moving around any star.


    And there were five huge stars here in this part of space, and the five were circulating around the planets, defying all known laws of space!


    "This place¡­ it''s really weirder than I heard rumors of!" Anasta was sitting on James lap, enjoying the delicious treatment Luna once enjoyed, while commenting on the images coming from the invading forces. "Do you think they will make it? there are many security ships here, here, and here."


    James noticed the places she pointed towards, seeing a large number of ships ready to intercept the newcomers. "We can''t allow them to do that," he muttered, before pressing the communication button connecting him directly with Rigo. "Order part of the fleet to do a suicidal mission, enter into the base now and attack anything they see."


    "Affirmative, supreme leader," Rigo''s stern voice came swiftly as he relayed his orders towards the fleet commanders under him.


    In less than half an hour, a small branch of the grand fleet moved out, heading directly towards the base interior.


    James knew about this long time before they actually were seen heading towards the base, as the patrolling forces heading towards his infiltrating soldiers changed direction, headed towards the opening of the world.


    "Good timing," he muttered while patting softly on a soft part of Anasta, making her eyes soften and she bite her lower lip, trying to not let the moan get out.


    She knew if she did, James would continue further, and she was curious to see this legendary base get damaged in front of her eyes.


    "They¡­ will¡­ die¡­"


    She tried to speak, to make his attention shift away from her, but his fingers didn''t loosen up, instead they got to work more gentler, while squeezing his little projection in between his fingers.


    And this time she couldn''t help to moan out, strongly holding to his chest, burying her face into it, releasing the scream she was withholding into his embrace.


    And he just patted on her nape of neck with his other free hand, while watching calmly his forces sent to the base being slaughtered by the tight defenses stationed around the only entrance here.


    "So they are using the tactic of this small hole to their advantage, interesting," he muttered as he now had a general view of the main defensive plot of his enemies.


    Rigo and Dora also understood this point, and they knew why James asked them to sacrifice a small part of the fleet. What James didn''t know was that these ships were void of any soldiers, as Rigo transferred all the soldiers over the other ships, while remotely controlling the cruisers to enter the base opening, and even fire some cannons as well.


    That was the reason behind the meager performance of these cruisers in front of the defenses. Rigo wanted to expose the defenses, not to confront it, and he wouldn''t sacrifice any of his soldiers in such a fate to lose battle.


    As for James, he kept watching his own seeds moving into the numerous planets in the base, completely vanishing from the radar of anyone, even his surveillance.


    Only Dora had access to what they were doing right now, and soon the screen lit up with multiple small screens, showing the broadcasts coming from everyone''s camera while moving in the places they landed to.


    James was very interested, and his squeeze over the soft lump in his hand made Anasta''s face turn redder, moaning softly while trying not to moan loudly, refusing to budge an inch away from the screen.


    She also wanted to watch this interesting show.


    "Ah, you want to watch the screen, pardon me," he said, and she knew perfectly well he didn''t mean to let her go. he just adjusted her position, to sit on him like sitting on chair, but the chair didn''t have two hands working one up and one down to entice this really delicious fire inside her whole body.


    And now she couldn''t contain her moans anymore, and her sound started to connect together, forming a distinctive crescendo.


    And she didn''t move her eyes away, as possible as she could, from the screen, watching glimpses of what was going on the ground.


    The soldiers once reached the ground, they moved away, leaving behind the cruiser they used to come here by.


    Their first act was to meddle in the masses. After a few more hours, the patrol squad returned to their mission, and some came to check upon the newcomers, finding no one in waiting for them.


    James'' soldiers were long gone, and in these hours they started using the tactics Dora told them about.


    The next day nothing happened, except in the screens they kept speaking to people, moving from one place to another, spreading the seeds of hatred and rebellion among people.


    After the fifth day, Dora finally gave the final call to the main operation to start, and the beginning didn''t come from the rebels she spread in the base, but came from the outside, from the grand fleet stationed outside the base.


    To make an agent start a perfect rebel, don''t make him start the main accident himself, but make him utilize the accident best by using its effects on the community.


    Like this, no one would link between the accident and the agent, and they wouldn''t refuse him as they would if he was the one causing the accident.


    So, Rigo had the green light from James and Dora, and then he ordered his fleet to start the second phase of the Dora operation; the burn out phase!


    "Let all the damaged ships from the earlier battle into the hole, and set enough bombs there to be witnessed by everyone inside."


    Rigo''s words came to announce the start of this brutal battle. During the next hours, his grand fleet directed many wreckage of the last battle towards the hole, filling them with explosives and letting them all enter the hole together.


    "Supreme leader, we are ready," Rigo said.


    "Go and burn the whole space."


    "Do it," Rigo said after gaining confirmation of his leader. The next moment the whole screens were lit up by the flash of this nearby mighty explosion that was generated from thousands of smaller ones.


    And the aftermath of it was really horrifying! The burning wreckage moved like a meteor towards one of the planets, with enough momentum and fire to completely devastated it.

 Chapter 165: Dont Be Late Or Else You Will Miss The Prize

    This attack came suddenly without a warning, but the thing was that James and others knew this attack wouldn''t succeed¡­ alone.


    The base wasn''t only protected by this external shield, but there was another one internal, surrounding the planets inside the base. It was said, according to the words of Anasta and other gossips from James'' allies, that this shield was sturdier than the external natural one.


    However, Rigo managed to crack its secret not long ago. The shield worked by harvesting the energy from the black holes surrounding the place, and it did this on pulses, with time intervals to charge and restart the shield again.


    That was the reason they decided to use such a wide range, irregular attack over the shield. If they used the missiles, then they would all hit the shield in regular places, easy to be anticipated and defended against, however using such a huge wreckage with no rule or pattern would help in rapidly depleting the stored energy of the shield, trying to cover a wider space and making it active for longer duration.


    "Fire at will!"


    Rigo''s word came to make another attack follow the first one, and the third, and fourth, and so on. they kept throwing anything with wreckage for days, constantly consuming the shield.


    From time to time, they would support the waves by firing many missiles, however they knew the effect of cannons wasn''t that good, so it wasn''t favorable to do that.


    After days, the mighty shield finally cracked, and the whole planets underneath were threatened to be burnt down. This was so apparent to everyone living inside these worlds, and that caused massive panic in people living there.


    "We want to escape, provide exits for poor people like us!"


    "Let us go, let us out!"


    "We want fair and protection, take us away, we don''t want to be burnt alive here!"


    More and more shouts started to appear, mostly coming from the seeds of chaos James planted there. Within hours, these individuals'' shouts and claims started to turn into massive uproar, and the simple single merchants of protest turned into riots.


    The worlds under the shield were starting to burn, internally, as they were pushed far by James'' seeds of chaos.


    However, the response of the local authority came swiftly by using extreme violence against the riots. When the first man fell, James knew the time for the whole world in this base to explode on themselves, tear everything apart with their own hands was drawing near.


    And he smiled, faintly glancing at his two women, one in his hand, squeezing and gently massaging her sensitive lumps, small or big, and the other was now in Rigo''s cruiser, with her face presented on a side screen, showing to him how dedicated and concentrated she was.


    This was a very delicate moment, either she guided her men to act fast and seize the chance, creating a chain reaction that couldn''t be stopped anymore, or the fire would die down, losing its initial momentum and effects, while leaving everything in the hands of destiny.


    And destiny always favored stabilization, that was a known fact to her!


    So she started pressing over her men, making them do reckless moves, shout to gather others, attack the local forces, or even start a wider wave of riot and destruction; everything was limitless to her as long as she would reach her goal.


    And she finally managed to reach it after many setbacks and after losing many of her seeds.


    It started in a single world, a wave of protesters responded to the screams of help coming from one of Dora''s seeds. This started the first direct confrontation between the people and the local forces.


    The fight got escalated and widened, reaching places that made it hard to be controlled anymore.


    And this wasn''t the end of it, as Dora gave the order to mimic the previous experience, leading to marvelous results.


    World after world started to fall in riots, like a giant snowball being formed from a tiny one, while being unstoppable, moving towards the edge of the mountain to cause an avalanche, enough to kill everyone!


    "Boom!"


    And at this decisive moment, the shield finally broke upon itself, and all the gathered burning wreckage over these days fell inside the base.


    It was a very magnificent scene to behold, where dozens of planets were eaten away, completely destroyed by the fall of these fires. The destruction took days to end, and after a couple of days the shield was raised up again, however everyone saw what happened, and the surviving lot knew for sure about the death of those unfortunate to live in the destroyed region.


    "Fire again!"


    And Rigo took the order of James to attack once more, and the scene of the burning wreckage falling towards everyone caused those who were sticking to the last bit of sanity in them to go lunatics.


    And the real riots just started to happen right now!


    The screen broadcasted part of the real events currently occurring inside the base, but Dora knew better than anyone else how bloody and chaotic things were inside right now.


    She was at war, and they were her enemies, the enemies of her man, so she didn''t feel any sympathy towards the base as a whole, but she was feeling bad for the citizens living there, as many were innocently being kept hostage, with nothing they did to suffer all this.


    However, she also knew this was the brutality, the cruel ugly face of any war, and she had to stiffen herself up, firm her heart, so she could see such scenes and not break internally first.


    "Supreme leader, a new message came from the other frontlines," Rigo hurried to speak to James once he received this message, as he directed it to him. Anasta fought her laziness and the softness that haunted her and adjusted her position to see what was this message about.


    As she expected, and per James'' guess, this message was all about the retreat of the black crows forces from everywhere.


    The message came from Anasta''s home force, announcing the sudden retreat of the black crows from all of their territories, leaving the dirty rebels alone in face of their cannons.


    They promised once they finished with the local riots, they would move at once to help in exterminating the black crowes. James thought for a moment before writing to Rigo what he should reply to them.


    When Anasta read the message, she inwardly sighed; James wasn''t merciful and let them alone with their losses, but intended to deepen them. Rigo received the message, read it and sent it with a content smile over his face.


    James just sent them his best wishes and informed them that the moment he would take control of the whole base, and in result the whole territory of the black crowes, he would instantly start distributing the region over the present forces with him.


    So, he asked them to take their times, but not too much of it, so they would be present at the needed time.


    The message was simple, yet the stakes in it were massive. Anasta''s force intended not to come, excusing themselves with the presence of the rebels in their lands.


    James knew this, Anasta knew this, even Rigo and Dora knew this, and the response of James was directed towards stopping them from not coming, or else they would lose a very large piece of space, something they paid a hefty price to get so far.


    So, James tied up their hands, simply by this he put them on a single track, making them unable to retreat, or even delay from going to join the fight.


    He didn''t need their support, as far as he knew his plan was perfect and his attack would be pointless to resist. However, he didn''t want to be alone even in front of a dying enemy.


    Who knew what this enemy would pull in his most desperate moments? Plus his main target was to weaken the other forces, not ending up losing many of his own, biting what he couldn''t chew!


    So he decided to make them, or literally enforce them into joining the war with him or else he would have the moral right to keep the gains for himself with no one to blame but themselves, not him.


    Soon after this message, other messages came from the other five forces. They weren''t trying to avoid coming, instead they were just asking for a couple of days to repair their fleets before coming, and James also instructed Rigo to send them the same message he sent to Anasta''s forces.


    And simply like this, the allied forces with him were enforced to come, with no option but not to lose such a gain after paying such a price. This all started as they chose to ally themselves with him, and so he wouldn''t make them suffer much more, without a proper reason of course.


    For him, they were all just his subjects, yet they didn''t know that, or they didn''t announce that loud enough.

 Chapter 166: A Brutal Space Battle

    Despite they achieved their target, James kept his previous orders going, as they kept attacking the base non-stop, while the insiders kept causing ruckus.


    The wave of riots was now unstoppable! If the incoming black crows'' fleet didn''t manage to crush James'' fleet, things would go towards one bitter end; the total destruction of the whole unity of the base!


    And that was what James was aiming for! He knew the battle would be hard, especially when the allies weren''t coming so soon. So, he had to keep the fleets of the black crows on high alert, constantly irritating them, and making them all under pressure; the pressure of losing their homeland.


    So, they wouldn''t stop and arrange their lines, or when appearing they wouldn''t attack calmly. James wanted them to be nervous, highly irritated so he would end up having the upper hand all the time.


    Numbers wouldn''t matter, as he knew morale was everything. "Rigo, prepare your own men, we might need to use that old infiltrate and destroy tactic of ours."


    Rigo was startled for a brief moment before asking:


    "But the number of the enemy large cruisers is huge; I doubt destroying tens or even a hundred would make a difference."


    "So, you need to be smart and select the one hundred cruisers that would cause massive damage and paralyze the whole fleet!" James said, hunting over to what he wanted to target by this special force.


    "You mean the commanding ships?" Rigo asked, just to make sure he understood his leader right.


    "Indeed, aim for them and make sure they got eliminated at a crucial time of the battle," James added another condition, as he knew timing was very important in winning over this fight.


    "Affirmative," Rigo replied shortly before he went to prepare his men.


    According to the incoming intel, the fleet of the black crows would need roughly a couple of days more to arrive. During these two days, Rigo had deployed a large net around the whole base, so any ship would arrive amidst heavy fire.


    As they already knew the general direction the ships were coming from, James ordered Dora to take a group of the fleet, and start bombing the space, directing the missiles and cannon fires towards the directions they anticipated the enemy ships would arrive from.


    During traveling in speed of light, the defensive shields would be lowered, and with moving at such a high speed, a mere piece of wood would wound the ships easily, and might even destroy them.


    So Dora took the ships, compared the space maps of the targets the black crows were targeting and here, before arranging the ships to attack the incoming fleets.


    The attacks went astray to the distance, while many really hit innumerable incoming ships, destroying a great number of them, while the debris scattered to block the way, making any incoming fleet hit the remnants of their destroyed fleets.


    That made their losses huge, and if not for the timely intervention of their leaders, stop advancing fast, change course, and then travel again, it wouldn''t be an exaggeration for whole fleets to be lost due to this simple tactic.


    This was expected by James, Rigo, and Dora, but Dora never stopped attacking and James never asked her to stop. Even if many would change course, some idiots would keep coming through the main way.


    Plus, Rigo had adjusted and added many ships to support the attack Dora was launching, covering every new course taken by the enemy.


    As for the base, the situation inside was getting from bad to worse. The shield failed another time to defend the base, making the firing debris to fall upon many planets, killing endless lives in the process.


    James didn''t flinch as he kept his previous orders going, with no change at all. He knew if he managed to break the toxic fang of the black crows here, many things would be much easier for him.


    Besides, he would have reigned supreme over this part of the space, including the other six forces as well. Even if this wasn''t yet announced and formal, any child living here would know who the overlord of this region was.


    Two days passed like nothing, and just the last hours the stress and anxiety were really hitting the roof. James was the calmer one, moving around and giving his encouraging words.


    He knew the tension was sky high, but he as their leader, even being the most stressful one out of them here, had to show off his dominating presence, and make everyone know he trusted them, and as he did he was calm and collected.


    As such, the attack fell upon them like snow falling from the sky! The debris appeared first of a huge number of destroyed ships, followed by the arrival of the vanguard, or what remained of them.


    "Attack!"


    James was the first to shout, giving the order to start officially this fight. Per his orders, part of the fleet remained behind to keep attacking the base, adding more pressure over his enemies.


    His little trick succeeded in making many cruisers break off the line and went to attack and stop them. It seemed many soldiers had families inside the base, and some wanted to save their beloved ones, and the other part wanted to have their revenge.


    As for James and his fleet, they were anticipating this, welcoming the incoming stray cruisers, which were large in number, with endless cannon fires and missiles, making the losses of the black crows increase exponentially with each passing hour.


    It wasn''t until ten hours later when the main bulk of the fleet appeared, that the real fight started.


    And it was a brutal one!


    James was kept at the back, as being the emperor he couldn''t be killed or imprisoned, or even missing. Anything bad happened to him would render all their efforts in failure.


    He was the only person here that wasn''t allowed to directly fight!


    And after a couple of hours of constant fighting, a new development occurred! The patrolling guards inside the base decided to act, as they collected all their ships and moved in a grand formation, heading outside the base.


    They wanted to squeeze James'' fleet between the two forces of theirs!


    However there was only a simple problem there; the opening was already lit on fire!


    James didn''t stop attacking the base for even one second. He did that to put more pressure over the black crows forces, however right now things got escalated to a new height.


    "Send in everything we got, even grab the debris of their ships and send them in with explosives!"


    James'' orders were instantly executed. He knew this was a turning point in the fight. The black crows fleet had already lost many of its strong pillars, and its amount was smaller than his fleet; so it was logical for them to move this precious hidden piece this early on, trying to regain the initiative in this battle.


    However they didn''t think James would be so crazy to even evacuate many of his cruisers, and send them in towards the opening, using the main engine of the cruisers as a ticking bomb, causing massive destruction at the entrance and exit of the base.


    The base was heavily fortified, with a single entrance and also exit, making it an impregnable fortress in deep space. However, this absolute advantage had been changed to become the most bitter weakness, making the only hope for the black crows fleet to shatter in front of their eyes.


    The ships burnt, exploded starting from their engines, taking with them the many smaller ships coming from the base; creating a chain reaction.


    "Don''t stop firing, send everything, don''t stop!" James pushed further as he knew this was his winning moment, so he didn''t slack off and pressured more on his soldiers.


    More and more abandoned cruisers were thrown towards the opening, making the fiery scenery more blazing with raging fire and wild explosions.


    And just like this, the plan the black crows depended entirely upon to flip the tables was crushed this easily with the timely response of James!


    As for the burning debris, they fell directly over the protective dome, eating it away, waiting for the failure of the stored energy to sustain this shield, and then the inevitable happened.


    This time the loss in planets reached a hundred, with endless lives being lost in the process. James felt pain, but he knew this was unavoidable, and now he had to make sure this massacre wouldn''t end in vain.


    "Don''t hesitate to push forward, it''s time to crush them. press forward, everyone!"


    The words of James were directly broadcasted in the whole fleet, and next thing everyone, literally everyone; grand cruisers, large cruisers, intermediate cruisers, small cruisers, and even fighters went up ahead and engaged with the unbalanced enemy.


    Such a mighty unpredictable charge came to make the enemy fall!


    A giant force, someone who was extremely feared and respected by all, fell under the hands of James, thanks to the mere scheme of a single girl.

 Chapter 167: A Brutal and Bizare Space Battle

    The fight seemed from far away a losing battle for the black crows, but strangely they didn''t retreat, not even tried to escape.


    This strange behavior came to make everyone watching this fight be startled and amazed. James and his top commanders never thought such a dark force to have this stubborn loyalty; even when everything was lost!


    James was standing at the entrance to the protected base, glancing at the massive devastation occurring inside by his last attack through the big transparent screen covering part of the commanding deck.


    "Many were lost, and much more are being killed. Most of your cruisers are broken, and many have exploded already. Why are you persisting like this?" he muttered to himself, asking questions regarding this strange stance of his enemies.


    However he wasn''t worried at all, slightly disappointed as he wanted to have part of this large force, but now it seemed quite impossible to have a single fleet from it.


    No matter how much destruction and damage happened to this force fleet, that didn''t negate the fact that the size of this fleet was really gigantic! James had thought before that once he crushed the last act this force pulled, the other cruisers would either run away or succumb to their fate and surrender.


    But now, with this stupid and persistent struggle they were doing, he had no hope in having a single fighter, not even a large cruiser!


    Even the soldiers who he sat his eyes upon; those well trained and much experienced soldiers, would die eventually in vain! He just hoped amidst the constant pressure his forces would keep exerting on this broken fleet, some wouldn''t resist the urge to survive and a wave of surrender would happen.


    But as he watched more of the ongoing fight through the holographic screen, this hope started to fade away, making him shake his head bitterly, not knowing how to describe this foolishness or even give a reason to it!


    They were fighting viciously and crazily, losing all sanity in the middle of this heated fight; good soldiers died in this pointless struggle, and many advanced ships were destroyed pointlessly.


    For James he knew his forces were above their enemies in everything, but the enemy''s strange stance made him quite puzzled.


    As he started to closely observe their actions, a strange feeling started to swell up in his heart, a feeling of confusion; there was something else behind this fleet''s weird actions, something he didn''t know of yet!


    "What is going on with their minds?!!" he asked himself again after the passage of six hours of continuous fighting. During these short hours, his enemies lost almost half of their remaining fleet, while the remaining half wasn''t faring well.


    Most of the surviving ships had holes in their decks, and many fighters had their engines burnt down from the shards coming from each attack on their corresponding cruisers.


    This fight was going from bad to desperate, and yet no one had ever surrendered so far to him!


    "Amazing," he said as he was looking at all this with wide open eyes, "Are they aiming to annihilate every single one of them?" he muttered, while sitting on his seat, with Anasta sitting in his lap, doing nothing but breathing slowly while her face was so red out of her aroused lustful spots all over her body.


    "The¡­ thing¡­ I knew about¡­ the black¡­ crows is that¡­ they never¡­ surrender," she said while catching her breaths with difficulty, and in the half of her broken sentence she released a muffled moan that she couldn''t control.


    Her words had given him some proper explanation about this strange attitude, but he never believed this was the real motive behind this madness.


    Those who wouldn''t surrender would be either the diehard loyal troops of the black crows, and their numbers would never be in such great numbers like what this stubborn fleet was initially.


    Or they were formed of legions of those inhabitants inside the base, those prisoners by their families and loved ones. For them, right now, they had no reason at all to follow the orders of the black crows blindly and foolishly like this!


    If he was one of them, then he would instantly seek shelter at his forces, especially when it was obvious who would be the final victor, and who would end up ruling the remaining survivors inside the base!


    He glanced at her before taking a sweet soft bite of her lips, making her more drowsy, before saying:


    "I can see that clearly, in fact I didn''t expect their fierce resistance to last till the end."


    He glanced at the outside scene of destruction before glancing at the holographic presentation of the ongoing fight in this place of the space.


    "Supreme leader, there are fluctuations appearing on our deep space scanners."


    Suddenly this voice came from one of his main associates, a drone selected personally by Rigo. He didn''t think much about this, as he knew the allies who were hesitant to step in this dirty bloody fight had finally decided to come.


    "How long will they take to arrive here?" he asked, without paying much attention even to his screen, only his eyes were filled with the sweet bulging lump he depressed his face entirely in while sucking away the small pyramid in its centre.


    "Ten hours, and they seemed to come from distant places, not from around here."


    "What do you mean? From where are they coming?" he asked without much attention while his two hands were busy squeezing more of this lump, making Anasta''s moans couldn''t be held back anymore, while tears started to appear faintly in her eyes out of plausible pain she was experiencing.


    "They seemed to come from the direction of the central place of this grand sector," the droid replied while James'' ears picked his next words attentively while finally paying much attention to this incident. "They seemed to come from the Terases empire direction," the droid said, and James lost all the good mood he currently had, raised his head from Anasta''s chest while glancing over the droid.


    "Are you sure?"


    "I ran the check ten times so far, all came to confirm these news."


    James stopped talking, thinking about this sudden change in events. He raised his head to glance at the stubbornly resisting forces of the black crows. "Now I can see your doing, black crows," he muttered before he turned to glance at the droid, directing his words to the entire deck:


    "Send for Rigo and Dora, tell them about these news. Give the order to every single fighter and cruiser we have; all must push forward, all without exception."


    "Even those who are preparing to invade the base?" one of the droids asked.


    "I said ALL without exception, are you deaf?!"


    He shouted back, angrily yelling at the droid who turned around fast and returned to his work. As for the others, they did the same, while Anasta sensed the sudden change in James'' mood and his anxious behavior, so she tried to sit straight, weakly depending over her two arms but she couldn''t even raise her body an inch higher!


    He just caressed her neck and chest with his right hand, while with the left he started to manipulate the holographic image in front of him, examining the current situation of the whole fight.


    And what he saw didn''t like it!


    "So they were desperately defending this area, trying not to let our big cruisers in," he muttered to himself while squeezing more over Anasta''s lump, making her return to moan again, without any strength left in her.


    "Compare the two coordinates, and tell me they are the same," he said to the droid who spoke first about the deep space scanning results, as he pointed towards the area tightly secured by the enemy''s ships.


    "They are the same, supreme leader."


    "Great, give the order to Rigo and Dora, make all attack this area, our biggest cruisers must penetrate this tight defense, while others will escort and defend it."


    The droid was about to open his mouth to say a word, but the glance he received from Kames made him swallow what he was about to say.


    "Affirmative," was the answer he gave to James, the answer James loved to hear at this decisive moment. "I was slightly careless," he muttered to himself, as he thought victory was in his grasp, but the reality proved otherwise.


    And this wasn''t all he got from warnings.


    ''You need to stop fooling around and start training,'' the sound of his scepter appeared suddenly in his ears. ''Your rival is coming, almost a day off from here,'' and this news was added to his list of recent bad news he was receiving.


    "At least I will have fun," he smirked as he carried the about to collapse Anasta and head outside the commanding deck. "Send for Dora, make her come here urgently," he added, before vanishing inside the long corridors outside the deck.


    For him, he had a long training session awaiting for him.

 Chapter 168: Preparations for the Special Training (R-18)

    The moment he entered his dorm, he didn''t shut the door behind, as he was waiting for the coming of Dora. He put the lazy and weak Anasta on the bed, while she weakly asked, unable even to raise her head:


    "What are we doing in your dorm? Don''t we have a war to do?"


    Just as he was about to explain to her, the scepter''s voice came in his mind at this moment, cutting his words.


    ''You need to upgrade your power to the next level. This is a ritual that will need me to interfere and control at first before you get a hang of it. and we need the other girl as well; as this ceremony must be initiated with three girls.''


    ''Three girls?!'' he was astonished to ask.


    ''Sure, don''t you consider me one of your girls? That''s sad, you hurt my feelings.''


    James didn''t know what to say, as he was pretty sure this was all an act of the scepter. ''Are you sure about this ceremony?'' he asked what really matters to him.


    ''Sure, and the first step is almost done,'' the scepter playfully said.


    ''What part?''


    ''Come and I will discuss things over to you, come and don''t waste time, as we have none!''


    "Sigh," James loudly sighed before he glanced over to Anasta who was now feeling more doubt. "We have a great enemy coming towards our way," he said, trying to explain things to her.


    "I know, the Terases race, I heard everything."


    "Not them," he shook his head, before adding with a warning tone, "this enemy is far more dangerous than this good for nothing race."


    She tried to sit straight, but her strength failed her, to fall on the bed with her thick hair blown around her pretty face like flower petals! "What does this have to do with being here?" she weakly asked, giving up any effort to change her position.


    "I need to get stronger, through sleeping with you," he said, and she smiled, bitterly, as she wasn''t yet awake from the intoxicated love he gave her all over the day, and that was him only fooling around.


    Now he was talking about getting far more serious!


    "Take some rest, I will prepare myself first," he said, before going to the floor and sitting cross legged before adding: "If Dora came, make her wait for me here with you, and don''t disturb me."


    "Al- Alright!" she replied, but he didn''t hear her words as he entered the world of his own soul, stepped into the soul room to find a large bed covered with red roses, and Stefanie was lying there, dressed up in a tight red and black long cup dress that curved her entire figure out with much detailed exposition.


    "I thought of wearing black and white, but I loved the idea of the red better," she said, with her soft tone whispering in his ears, while raising her upper half while winking to him, "come here big boy, I won''t bite, you will."


    He swallowed his saliva before heading towards her. "Did you bring me here to fool around in such an hour?" he asked, while trying to control himself.


    "Don''t be rude," she said with sticking her tongue out in each word, "I called you to teach you the secret about how to unlock the special training, to be able to rise up in ranks," she added while laying back on the bed while he sat beside her, leaning on his wrist, glancing at the soft and smooth skin of her exposed over to his eyes.


    "And what is that secret?" he asked, while enjoying the delicious feast in front of him.


    "Nah, nah," she slowly and with a tempting motion of her fingers touched his lips, as if to silence him. "You aren''t here to enjoy yourself, as the secret is far away from that!"


    "Tell me then," he said as he sucked her finger inside his mouth, slowly and with his hands touching the swollen, bloody red lips of her. "Tell me your secret and I promise to make you satisfied," he promised while putting his fingers inside her mouth, as she sucked them slowly and with much lust that she even didn''t take her breath until moments later.


    "You need not to make us satisfied, you need to make me and the other two girls wasted," she said, as she pushed out his fingers away from her mouth as she took her fingers away from his. "Wasted?" he asked as he didn''t directly get her meaning.


    "Yeah, wasted like never before, like this," she then guided his wet fingers to press slightly over her neck, caress it slowly before descending over the cleavage between her two lumps hiding partially there under the dress. "Waste me like I never was before, then and only then can the training begin," she moaned softly, as his wet touches made her quite aroused.


    "Sure, I get it now, and I knew why you said I already did part of the preparations," he evilly smiled as he realized her meaning from before; he did make Anasta quite wasted, and now he had two other hot girls to make them lose their sanity and any ounce of their strength and get drown into his lust.


    "What do you intend to do? Come, tell me, I like to hear these," she demanded, while moving her body under his hands, trying to feel his firm touch more over her skin.


    "I will strip you slowly, from up, from down, and each place I free I will make it a slave to my fingers, lips, and tongue, squeezing, caressing, and carefully wetting; giving you the message session you never had in your entire life before."


    Once he finished his words, he inserted his fingers deeply in between her legs, slowly yet firmly touching the parts there, making her eyes close up, with only whiteness be seen there for a moment, sealing away all air from her chest, until he stopped, finally giving her the moment to breath, gasping for air like about to be drawn person.


    "Be ready to be wasted," he evilly smiled before starting to do what he promised her to do!


    And the next thing only her loud interrupted breaths, mixed with her muffled moans and now and then screams, were the only thing to be heard in this room for hours!

 Chapter 169: Getting Stefanie Wasted! (R-18)

    Stefanie kept twisting under the swift and soft touches of his hands, while her body was arching up and down. At first she was tolerating his touch, but later on she couldn''t handle him; tried to escape using her two hands and legs.


    But soon she was so wasted that even lifting a finger started to become impossible for her. Her cheeks were becoming redder with time, and her breathing alternated between racing at some times, while screaming, and slowing down at others while moaning.


    She was like a tigress being held captive, unable to escape despite feeling the ability to do so. She kept twitching her legs, squeezing them together against his hands, but when she did this, managing to push him away, she just asked for more.


    "Oh, quite energetic and active you are! Then let''s see what will you do after this," he smirked as he forcibly parted her locked legs away, diving his head in between, making her realize how foolish she was!


    And the next thing she knew was wave after wave of screaming and moaning like never before!


    "I think this is enough for you," he sneered while standing beside the bed, observing what he had done to her. She was so wasted that she couldn''t even open her eyes fully and glare at him, forget about speaking, even making a sound out of screaming and moaning had become impossible.


    "I will go and prepare the others, then come here and finish the job," he said with a chuckle on his face that told her how much joy he had right now seeing her like this.


    And the next moment he opened his eyes, to find Dora had already arrived, grabbed a seat from another room and sat in front of him.


    "Finally you decided to wake up," she instantly said before speaking in her bold manner, "I hate being left out in wait like this. Hurry and tell me what do you want? I left a whole battle just for you."


    He smiled and said nothing, as he stood up, glanced at Anasta who was much better than before, as she was able now to stand on her own hands and sit on the edge of the bed.


    "Are you ignoring me? does this war look like a joke to you?!" she asked with swelling anger about to explode in his face. James turned to her before he smirked, in an evil way, as he went to the table next to the bed, grabbed the screen there, played with some buttons as he said:


    "The more rude you are the better."


    Just as his comment fell, and before she could even speak a single word, a booming sound came from behind her, announcing the sudden automatic closure of the door, followed by the sound of locks being activated.


    And at this moment that angry bold tigress turned into a freaked out cat!


    "W- What are you trying to do?"


    He smiled, letting the screen intentionally fall from his hand, to shatter on the ground into million pieces, before moving slowly, and steadily, towards her.


    And she just kept retreating backwards, hitting the seat she personally brought once and almost fell to the ground. Smashed a vase with holographic flowers to the ground with its glassy table, to end up touching the wall with her back!


    "S- S- Stop, just tell me what do you want," she stuttered while she had nowhere else to run. He was acting different, and it never crossed her mind he called upon her in this hour for this!


    "I want you, only you," he said, while reaching out to her as his hands started to caress her pale face, causing her body to shiver.


    She felt like this was her first time ever, a strange feeling indeed. He didn''t care as he started, with extreme profession moves, to unlock all her military formal clothes. Like a coconut; she had a tough shell from the outside, dark and gloomy. But once it was peeled one layer after another, a pure beautiful whiteness shone in front of his face.


    She was naked, except for a few clothes that couldn''t cover even a glimpse of her sexual body. "Wait, are we going to do it here? now? we are at war, have you forgotten?" she said, trying to insert some awareness in his clouded mind; or that what she was thinking.


    For him, he was never alert like this moment. He didn''t reply, and instead of wasting his breaths over words, his lips started to paint soft yet arousing kisses over her mesmerizing body, heading from head to the waist.


    And there he stopped!


    And his pause gave her an instant scare.


    "W- W- Why did you stop?" she asked, trying to know his goal. Yet again he decided to save his breaths for her, as he leaned on the ground, and put his head exactly on her lower spot.


    And his breaths, his lips, even his saliva started to soak her, while she found for the first time in her life that standing on her soft and shaky legs right now was a very difficult hurdle!


    He didn''t undress her totally, leaving a thin filament red piece of cloth between him and her, but soon this piece started to be useless, as it was totally wasted between his moves and her moans.


    And the next moment she started to fix herself firmly to the wall behind, while holding both hands like claws over his hair.


    She was drowning and falling from the highest sky to the lowest point in the ocean of lust, with no end appearing at all, and the whole world started to be spinning around her.


    She was losing herself at a rate she never experienced before, and while she tried to collect her own thoughts, to control her own feelings and save her own body from falling; she yet reached another depth she never reached, making all her prior effort futile!


    And the next thing she did was to open those tightly closing lips, and started biting hard and slowly on them, while her body started to dance, slowly enjoying those brilliant touches of brush like James'' tongue of James.

 Chapter 170: Getting Dora, Anasta, and Stefanie Totally Wasted! (R-18)

    Then she started to moan, then to scream, and the last thing she recalled was for her body to fall on the ground, as her legs failed her, but she didn''t.


    She floated in the air, with waves of wind kept hitting her body like feathers dancing in the wind. She was experiencing an amazing thing, while each touch of the wind caused a shock wave filled with colors, like a color festival, and she was the heart of it.


    She didn''t know that the moment her legs softened, James was ready to catch her, raise her higher, while fixing her back to the wall. He stood up instead of kneeling, and started to enjoy his soft and tender meal under the symphony of screams and moans she kept releasing.


    All this happened in front of the shocked eyes of Anasta, who didn''t know what else to do but to swallow her dry throat and her body shivered when she heard each high pitched screams of Dora.


    Such a strong and bold girl turned this soft and helpless in mere minutes! that shocked her and when she glanced at the closed door and the smashed control screen she realized the fact¡­


    She would be next in line!


    James kept spoiling Dora for ten minutes, astonished at her sensitive reaction to his touches. He never imagined she would be this fragile or give him more reaction than Stefanie.


    So, when he felt she went down a road with no close return, he held her like a sleeping beauty in his arms, as he turned towards Anasta and said in a soft and innocent tone:


    "I read once that each girl has her own taste, and it seems to me now this statement was quite true," he said before starting to walk, step by step, towards her, while Dora was in another world in his hands, "be ready to get wasted!" he said, and his voice and tone, his words and behavior, his eyes and prior actions; all told her one simple fact: She would be the next one to be like Dora and she would get even more than what she had!


    He reached the bed as he laid the totally wasted Dora there, before standing in front of the stupefied and shocked Anasta as he added while touching her cheeks gently: "I wonder what will be your taste like?"


    He then paused, for a long moment there, while only glancing at her body with hungry eyes. She swallowed her throat again, not knowing why but she had some fear of this experience, and much anticipation.


    And as she was sitting there, motionless, his hands started to unbutton her dress, letting it slide over her chest and abdomen, before grabbing her hand to stand up, letting it glide over her amazingly sexy body and fall upon itself on the ground around her heels.


    And the next moment she found herself taken to the air by him, as he decided to change, taking her towards the big roundtable in the room, before laying her body there, letting her legs swing freely on the edge of the table, before grabbing the seat Dora had brought before, and put it just in between her legs.


    And he sat down, and let his head lean forward as he took the next hour sweetly torturing the two girls, one girl at a time, until they all became too drunk to even raise their heads or release a scream or even a single moan.


    And then the two kept releasing muffled tones here and there, while surrendering finally to the sense of flying in the storm of love, drowning to the bottomless ocean of lust, and James was really enjoying this delicious snack with no doubt.


    His lips were now covered in thin, transparent, honey like dots that came from the almost paralyzed body of her. He stopped, while glancing at Dora to find her in her own lost lust world, not showing any signs of awakening soon.


    "I should go inside and taste Stefanie as well, hehehe," he smirked before closing his eyes, without moving from his place, and entered his soul room.


    Stefanie was still wasted, but she seemed much better than the two girls. She had seen everything he did, and she knew why he was here, but she didn''t have the strength to move except for a few steps, walking in a very lousy way that ended up with her two legs softening and her falling, not in the ground but in James'' arms.


    "Where are you thinking you are going my little sweet scepter?" he said, in a very evil tone, while she hurried to swallow her breaths before trying to say anything.


    But he never gave her the chance, or even cared about what she wanted to say. He came here to make her more wasted, and prepare well for the next fight coming up to him.


    The three must be totally wasted; that was the plan. And now Stefanie looked quite better than the others, making him feel much guilt.


    "Just look at you, still have some bits of strength here and here," he said while holding her arms and legs with his hands, after putting her down to the bed. "Don''t worry dear, I promise you won''t be able to even open your eyes when I finish with you," he said, and she tried to gather up all her strength, raising her head slightly to stop him, but she was too late for that!


    His head had already reached her target, and the next thing she felt was the same bottomless ocean of lust and the exact vigorous storm of love that started haunting her soul and body.


    Eventually all the strength in her body dissipated away, replaced with numbness and weakness, while even moaning started to be hard for her, and eventually she ended up losing even her consciousness, entering a strange state of dreams without sleep; a dam of joy was blown away and the mighty ocean of lust and love behind it started to overdrawn her.


    And the room turned strangely under a heavy silence, with only the sound of her slow and deep breaths to be heard with some splashing sound caused by his tongue on her water shores.


    "Now you all three are ready," he said in satisfaction while glancing at the totally wasted Stefanie and then opened his eyes to glance over Anasta and Dora, before adding, "it''s almost time for me to start my real training then."

 Chapter 171: Getting Blessed by the Universe

    This training session was really unique, as it was deemed to be different from any other time he had with these girls or others. The difference came from all the vigorous and extensive preparations he made, which turned the intimate love session into an evolution; not only for him but also for the three girls.


    Even his scepter gained some of these benefits. The session lasted for ten hours, and after finishing from all the three girls, they were laid unconscious on the bed, or like Stefanie which had a halo of light surrounding the body, a golden light.


    "Just go ahead and train, your body needs to evolve," these were the words she said; one word at a time, amidst her interrupted breaths before she went to sleep, losing her consciousness like the two other girls.


    He didn''t delay as he opened his eyes, went off the bed, sat on the ground cross legged, before closing them again and picturing the dragon of two auras, one half light and the other half is darkness.


    And as he imagined this, the energy swelled up inside his body and started to move. Before he felt his energy was so thin, it was easy to move around. But now things were different.


    His energy seemed like heavy earth, moving thee seemed quite challenging; as a mortal trying to push a mountain. He didn''t yield in, kept pushing, trying his hardest, sticking to patience as he had this belief once the first tour was completed, the other rounds would be much easier.


    And he was right!


    He took roughly an hour to just finish the first round of energy, half than that to complete the second, then time kept halving down until his energy started to rotate a full circle inside his body for less than a minute!


    This created some sort of energy field around his body. He was closing his eyes, so he didn''t sense these changes, but currently he and the two girls lying motionless in bed turned into their dragon forms, before some sort of blessing started to fall on top of their heads.


    It was like the whole world was giving them a blessing for now in the form of golden light and dark ashen tiny sparkles that kept descending upon them like snow fall.


    And James had the most of this, not only because he was the alpha, the master of this strength, but also because part of this blessing descended upon his scepter, and the sleeping Stefani inside his soul room.


    These sparkles when touched their bodies, were like large droplets of water smashing the ground; breaking off into million pieces before they all being absorbed through their skin, sleeping deeply to their souls.


    These were the highest nutrition to any soul of any race no matter who he or she was in this world. so their passage just through the skin, through the muscles, through their meridians, heading towards their chest where their souls lied; had given these organs much benefits beyond their imaginations.


    Their skin changed to be thickened, like soft armor, giving them extra protection. Their muscle fibers started to be firmer, their strength soared. Their meridians which were closed ¨Cnaturally ¨Cstarted to show signs of opening and widening. While their chest started to get extra benefits, giving them the ability to extract and store more oxygen, making them able to stand and live in space without being killed for hours!


    And the most benefits went towards their souls; their dragon transformations. The soul was the root of this, and thus as everything ended up inside their souls, their transformation on the dragon level was groundbreaking.


    They started to grow bigger, with much scales, and James'' dragon even started to grow two small indentations like horns on top of his head. Their tails, their wings, and their claws started to show major advancements, turning into weapons in themselves.


    The process kept continuing on for hours, but it didn''t last more than six, and after that this phenomenon vanished, and the dragon forms disappeared, while James opened his eyes, feeling much refreshed like never before.


    And the sleepy weak girls also opened their eyes, feeling much better, without knowing the reason.


    "How much have we slept?" Dora was the first to speak, and her question held much worry. "Don''t worry," James replied, as he was quite sure if his enemy had already arrived here then he would have heard sounds of desperate fights from his cruiser.


    But the place was quiet, and that gave him some reassurance. "What just happened here?" This was Anasta, as she descended from the bed, took her cloth from the ground, while glancing at the totally wrecked room that was sealed before they slept together. The walls were breached, and the once was the door was now thrown away through the corridor to smash the next room.


    "I think we might overdid it this time?" Dora spoke with red cheeks and a shaky tone, as she followed her suit and went down the bed and started wearing her clothes which lay at the place where the walls were previously standing.


    As for James, he just stood his place motionless, feasting his eyes on their naked, piece of art bodies. The two girls noticed his gazes, but they didn''t say a word despite feeling much embarrassment of his penetrating daring hungry eyes.


    They knew they had to hurry and dress up to shut his eyes down. "Haven''t you got your enough already, naughty dragon," Anasta was the fastest as she had only one piece of short tight dress to wear, while Dora had a full set of military suit.


    "I will never get enough of you," he said, directing his words to the two. as Anasta finished and headed towards Dora to help, he caught her midway off guard, to lean her body supported with his arm, as he painted a soft kiss over her lips, before she punched him as she pushed him away and hurried to Dora''s side as she mumbled:


    "Greedy boy, haven''t you got enough for now at least? Let''s move and head towards the commanding deck."


    "I totally agree, we need to be posted on the recent developments that happened while we were¡­ here," Dora said, before stuttering midway of her words.


    The duo agreement didn''t stop James, as he moved with a sly smile over his face, making Dora retreat a couple of steps, to stop abruptly for fear of overstepping in her clothes and fall. As for Anasta, she moved to the back, putting Dora between her and him.


    He passed his arms around Dora''s waist as he softly muttered:


    "I''m just giving you two the morning greeting that you two deserved," he then followed his words with a real smooth and soft kiss over the stupefied Dora''s lips. "Who said we are morning?" Anasta decided to tease him a bit.


    "So consider it the after love treat, and let''s have one at the real morning, ok?" he teased her back, making her face blush before she mumbled:


    "We have a war, or have you forgotten?!"


    "I know," he smiled with strange confidence, "I have this feeling that this fight is going to be a big victory to us, and don''t ask me why because it''s just an unexplainable feeling," he added, while moving to the corridor as he added, "finish dressing up and follow me to the deck."


    "Screw you!" Dora angrily shouted, as she was the one who suggested going to the deck and if not for her complicated suit she would have been the first to move there!

 Chapter 172: The Enemy Has Arrived!

    James was the first to reach the deck, and the moment he reached there he noticed the strange quietness that prevailed over the entire space around his cruiser.


    "Brief me with the updates," he demanded as he sat on his seat while the two girls ran into the deck at this moment, panting with their ragged breaths.


    "The enemy is still defending relentlessly, despite having most of their forces killed. Our allies sent a word a couple of hours ago saying that they are twelve hours away."


    One of the droids who Rigo left for James replied, and James''s eyes shone brightly as he smirked:


    "These weaklings are trying to get here after the war is over and before I can take everything under my reign. Interesting," he smirked before glancing over to his side, as he asked the droid again:


    "What about the incoming enemy fleet? Have they arrived yet?"


    "They arrived a couple of hours ago but strangely they didn''t enter the battle yet. They stationed themselves at a distance, with a single large cruiser standing away from the rest, obviously acting as a decoy."


    "Is this a confirmed intel or a deducted info?"


    The droid seemed nervous by James on-spot question as he hurried to reply:


    "This is what Rigo deducted, supreme leader."


    "Good," James nodded before adding, "set course then for this cruiser, it''s our VIP guest, and we shall not let our guests wait for such a long time alone without company."


    He then turned to Dora as he ordered:


    "This fight is going to be brutal and merciless, with no place for beauties like you two. leave and join the fight here, and beware of the Terases fleet stationed nearby."


    "But¡­" Dora was about to object, but James'' stern eyes and his solemn face gave her the impression of his unacceptance to her words and objection. "Alright, we will leave now," it was Anasta not Dora who replied instead. And James just nodded.


    The two girls took half an hour to evacuate here, and then James said:


    "Go now."


    "Should we sound the alarm for war?" the droid asked while the others started to steer the cruiser towards its new course.


    "Just make everyone ready, but this fight will be done by me alone," he said, while glancing over the outer cold space as he muttered to himself, addressing Stefanie:


    "Do you know how fighting between me and that person will be done?"


    ''Just imagine the picture of yourself, your dragon self, all the time and use me always. Leave the techniques for me this time,'' she replied, in a much refreshing tone than ever; something that caught James'' attention.


    "Have you grown up and gotten stronger?"


    ''Me, you, and the two girls were the lucky ones to gain the blessing of the universe. The other harem you have, especially your precious doll, Islinda, were unfortunate to not be here at the right place and the right time.''


    "Oho, never knew you would be this jealous on me!"''


    ''Who? Me? hehehe, that''s a joke.''


    "Yeah, I thought this too, hehehe."


    He paused as he thought of the techniques Stefanie mentioned before asking:


    "When will I be able to train on the techniques of yours?"


    ''What? Missed me already playboy?!''


    "I''m speaking seriously here."


    ''So do I, hehehe.''


    "Can you answer the question without acting this lustful? Last time you were left wrecked like an old hag!"


    ''Shut up! It was just an act of me to fool you!''


    "Really? Then I look forward to the next time to see if this was an act or not, hehehe."


    ''Naughty big boy! Just focus on the task in hand please.''


    "The same for you. So, when?"


    ''When what?''


    "Just answer the question and stop your little games!"


    ''Alright, no need to shout, I hated it the worst when someone shouts at me like this! I''m a delicate little lady who gets shy from her own shadow in the mirror!''


    "Indeed, I saw this under my body all past hours. Can you answer my question shy girl?"


    ''Sigh, you can come to train after this battle. Your strength has evolved and now you can handle me.''


    "I was able to handle you a long time ago, the question is after this evolution of yours, can you handle me?"


    ''Naughty playboy! Stop teasing me! Focus on your next fight!''


    "Don''t shout, you can just scream and moan."


    ''¡­''


    "hehehe!"


    It was a fact that James was in a very good mood right now, and the fight Stefanie mentioned more than once was something he never put in the eye anymore.


    Something changed in him after this evolution, as gaining the blessing of the universe changed not only his power, but also his state of mind.


    He became more collected, less agitated, and more confident in his own strength to conquer and crush anyone!


    "Supreme leader, a transmission is coming from that ship," a droid suddenly said, attracting James from his momentarily daze. "Have we arrived there yet?" he asked.


    "No, we need ten minutes to reach there."


    "Good, show the transmission here," James pointed towards a nearby hologram, which instantly was lit up showing the face of a youth, arrogant, full of himself, with sharp eyes and fair looks. He wasn''t much older than James, only a couple of years old at most.


    "Finally we meet, my rival," the youth was the first to speak as he just saw James like he was standing in front of him.


    "Are the transmission bi-directional?" James asked in confusion, as it was supposed to be a transmission from one side, not a holographic call like this!


    "No, supreme leader, this is a transmission coming from the ship directly to us," the droid replied after moments of checking up his equipment, to make sure nothing was wrong here.


    "Don''t be surprised, as I don''t need these old tech to see and feel you. I can see you directly in front of me, with this confused little innocent face of yours. So, tell me James, do you consider surrendering yourself and dedicate your whole existence to me?"


    James'' face turned from being so confused to being so playful as he instantly replied with a loud laugh:


    "Sorry mate, I only pump soft sweet ladies with sweet breasts and soft big asses, not dudes with mustaches like you, hehehe."

 Chapter 173: Shondo

    The face of the youth changed, to show a faint hint of anger. James did this on purpose, to make sure this youth wasn''t bluffing about his ability to hear and see him perfectly. Plus, he only said the truth here.


    "You are like my master described you; a vulgar abomination created by mistake from our universe. You aren''t worthy of this power, not worthy to be part of our brotherhood, and not worthy to be even called my enemy."


    "Dude, chill it out, I have access to many cheap girls, do you want me to ask for an escort to make your blood calmer? They are nice, and they are just like you; cheap and full of shitty words, living miserably a life others are living as kings, like me."


    James sneered while saying these words, and the face of that youth suddenly turned much red, like a big ripe tomato! "I dare you to go out right now and face me in a challenge! Master will be the judge, and the winner will take it all!"


    James laughed, as he knew this was the situation long before coming here. "Tell me, what''s your name, my angry rival?"


    "You aren''t worthy to hear it!"


    "Alright, so you aren''t worthy to hear it listen up and listen well. I will come out and rip your red head off your shoulders, then I will go to the master of yours and throw your dirty head on his feet, to know he selected the wrong side, and to give him a chance to redeem himself and ask for forgiveness."


    "Stop talking nonsense, I will head out now. if you don''t come, then I will order the entire Terases fleet to smash your beloved little fleet here, and then I will exterminate everyone you ever knew or loved."


    "Good, we have something to agree on then. See you there red head, hehehe."


    The youth was so angry that James felt he didn''t shut down the transmission, he even smashed the device back at his cruiser. "Hehehe, interesting kid," he laughed, before glancing over the space out there as he muttered:


    "Do you know how I will fight him in space?"


    ''Don''t worry, your body has evolved to sustain the pressure and the coldness there.''


    "What about oxygen?"


    ''You don''t breath oxygen, James, since your body took the energy of the black and white dragon inside and you are breathing the natural energy flow of the universe. And this energy is present equally in space as it''s present here or in planets.''


    James was speechless for a few moments before shaking his head. Many things were known to him, but now was''t the time to ask for much more intel. "Go and get me a space flying suit," he ordered one of his droids.


    ''What are you doing? Don''t you trust me?'' Stefanie seemed quite hurt from his words.


    "It''s not like what you think," he replied before taking a rod from the hand of the droid before fixing it onto his neck and pressing the button. "I just want to make a nice surprise for our little angry guy," he sneered before his entire body was covered up by this latest version of the space suits.


    His body was covered entirely by elastic material that could protect him in space, while his face was covered with a strange transparent coat, directly stuck to his face, giving him oxygen through special ventilation pores.


    ''Sigh, you are a wicked playboy after all.''


    "Don''t say it like that, it hurts my feelings you know," he joked around while boarding the train taking him towards the goods bay, where he just took one fighter and went off the cruiser.


    He gave instructions for his cruiser to turn and wait for him far away. He also gave the orders for them not to engage with the enemy fighting with him under any condition, no matter what!


    And as he knew Rigo would do something behind the curtains from time to time, he made sure to contact him and stress on him to keep himself and others off this fight.


    And Rigo, unpleasantly, agreed, as he planned to interfere if things went off just like James anticipated. But after James'' direct orders, he couldn''t do this now!


    He had only to trust his supreme leader''s ability to win, and not think of anything else.


    James went off the cruiser inside the small fighter where he led it towards the front. The distance between him and the next large cruiser of his enemy seemed short, but he needed quite some time to reach there.


    And when he did, he found the youth standing over the surface of another fighter, with dark blue color, and a long flag fixed on the centre of the fighter in a very funny way.


    "Shenoda?" James read the character written on the flag to feel somehow speechless. This youth was really arrogant and reckless, showing off his name without saying it to James.


    "Who would bring a flag with his name written on it to a life and death battle?" James asked himself as he shook his head with much helplessness.


    ''Never underestimate your enemy!'' Stefanie warned, ''he is quite capable!'' she added.


    "I know, just glance at the space suit he is wearing just like me, tell me is he a fox dressed in the suit of a moron, or he is really a retard?"


    ''¡­'' Stefanie didn''t reply for a moment, then she stressed again: ''Call him whatever you wish, but don''t underestimate him.''


    "Why are you this nervous? Is he this strong?"


    ''It''s not him, it''s the artifact the dirty master gave to him.''


    James then glanced again at Shondo, to find a long sword scabbard fixed with extreme care to his waist. He first saw it as a stick, but when he focused more he knew it was a sword. "This sword?"


    ''It''s not an exaggeration to say this sword is in equal category with me, and being with such a strong and quite resourceful master for so long, I''m pretty sure he is much stronger than me right now.''


    "Give a cannon to a dummy and he will shoot himself in the foot, sigh!" James muttered before opening the hatch of his fighter preparing to go out.


    ''Just¡­''


    "I know I know, don''t underestimate my enemy, got it, chill out then and let me concentrate," he said, as he simply jumped off the inside of his fighter, to float smoothly in the space before his position controller worked in his suit, making his body stabilize over the surface of the fighter. "Show yourself now, or are you shy from meeting an old friend?"

 Chapter 174: A Fight with the Arrogant, Impulsive Shondo

    "Old friend? I will never be a friend to such an arrogant and moron! Humph!"


    Stefanie''s response surprised him, before he laughed shortly at her as he exited the hatch of the fighter. "Hurry up and appear then, we have no time for chit chat or acting angry here," he said, as he stood in the space, supported by the small place adjustments of his suit.


    "So, you are the dirty one that I shall kill?"


    The youth was so rude and arrogant that the moment James appeared, he spoke with mockery, while taking out his sword from his scabbard.


    The sword was long, curved, and shiny! The edge was sharp that if it felt upon a planet, it would cleave it into two halves.


    James didn''t reply over the words he heard directly to his mind, as he waved his hand, and the next moment his scepter appeared again in this universe.


    "Oh, so my sword said he pumped your sexy rod many times that he wasted her, it seems to me you got a second hand item here, hahahaha!"


    The youth seemed really arrogant, and his words made the blood inside James boil. "Use your weakest attack," he suddenly said, as he waved his scepter in an obvious, overacting angry move which resulted in a wave of light energy moving towards that youth.


    "Pathetic!" Shenoda simply replied, before waving his sword simply to negate the attack. "So you aren''t only using a second hand rod, but you also didn''t manage to unlock all of her abilities. What a shame! Let me show you the might of my sword then."


    The words of Shenoda fell lightly on the ears of James, who had so much experience in dealing with this kind of jerks. He had framed and got rid of many of such arrogant and impulsive personalities back at his camp base, and now these experiences seemed to be handy.


    The key wasn''t to go full out and try to crush them in one full sweep, this wouldn''t succeed at att as usually they had a trick or two under their sleeves to back their arrogance up.


    So, the best way was to fool them, making them lower their guards, then like a viper hit them stealthily and quietly, killing them with cold blood amidst the moment they wrongly thought it would be of their victory.


    "Be ready, just defend using your weakest defenses, and attack with another weak attack," James said, as he retreated to the back, while his enemy kept closing up on him.


    "Why are you running? Don''t worry, my sword still likes your sexy rod, so he promises to take care of her after your death. Die then and don''t waste my time!"


    Shondo waved his sword, and the next moment a bigger wave of dark light energy erupted, many folds greater than that of James, who feigned a look of terror, while waving his rod to form a shield that didn''t manage to hold for even a minute there.


    As the shield was broken, James took a slight hit of the attack, despite his ability to completely evade it, but he purposely took a hit there and even bleeded.


    "Tsk, your luck is good! But I promise, the next time you won''t feel anything as I will manage to properly kill you."


    Shondo then waved his sword again, while getting much closure to James, and another wave of light attack erupted towards him.


    "Are you sure this sword only uses light attacks in waves like this?" Despite the frightened look over his face, James was inwardly so calm and collected as he thought to himself, asking Stefanie.


    "He also has a sealing effect like me, and many more things but I think the limit of this arrogant master is to use only these two attacks of this arrogant sword!"


    "Hmm¡­ interesting. Then what about you? Only the wave attack and the sealing?" he asked, while waving the rod to form a defensive shield that was shattered in a minute, and again he was injured slightly.


    "I have a very interesting ability," she smirked as she then explained further in detail to him, while Shondo became really agitated by his second failure.


    "Damn you! You are like a nasty fish! I hate fishing, and hunting! Stay put, I will come to chop your head off your shoulders!"


    James tried to retreat faster, acting somehow desperate, while inwardly he calmly said:


    "Be ready to use the sealing effect when ready."


    "Aren''t you going to use your full power?" Stefanie asked, as James'' line of thoughts confused her about this. He didn''t plan to use his full power, instead he would make it as if he won Shondo by mere fluke.


    "We are hunting an arrogant cub here, but don''t forget there is a lion watching us from near distance."


    His reply gave Stefanie more light about his plan, and she didn''t object anymore. As James retreated, and Shondo hastily chased, the distance between the two got smaller and smaller, until the two were really seeing each other clearly with a few meters distance between them.


    "Die!" Shondo was furious and impatient, as he waved his sword in a stabbing motion. The sword moved towards Jim''s chest, trying to claim his heart, yet it didn''t!


    James just flipped over himself a couple of rounds, getting the sword to injure his shoulder only with a mere scratch wound. as Shondo glanced with disbelief towards his third failure in a row, the next thing he felt was the scepter heavy hit over his head as James stopped spinning suddenly and used the momentum to hit him.


    "Seal!" James softly muttered, and the next moment the whole body of Shondo was covered with a black and white layer of thin coated film that acted as a freezer, keeping Shondo in the same position, in the same expression; motionless in place.


    He was successfully sealed! But that didn''t please James as the next moment he grabbed the sword and the scabbard from the frozen Shondo, and then glanced towards the front.


    He waited!

 Chapter 175: A Clash with A Real Super Master

    James knew the master of this grand sector, this arrogant worth of nothing Shondo''s master was nearby, eyeing this confrontation. If he didn''t take the sword, he was sure that this master would sneakily retrieve it and disappear!


    He wasn''t equal to a long aged master of this hidden art, but he wanted to have a word or two with him. so, he took the sword, sheathen it, before waiting for the master to appear.


    "It''s quite impressive you can do this and wait for me like a fool waiting for his death!"


    Suddenly this voice came to startle James. He wasn''t startled by the sudden appearance of the voice from a few meters behind him, but he was started because of the identity of the voice.


    "I didn''t know the master of this sector was such a universe class beauty!" he said the moment he turned to face this stunning sexy master who was really not inferior to Anasta.


    She was tall, with a slim figure that she made sure to expose most of it with this almost naked short tight red cup dress, with her long pink hair falling smoothly and chaotically over her shoulders, covering parts of her exposed breasts.


    "And I didn''t know the glitch of our kind is such a rude person!"


    "I would be rude if I didn''t express my impression and gratitude for your fiery body!"


    "Hahaha, you are so sweet, but your sweet tongue won''t help you today. I will make sure to kill you!"


    ''She is lying, a master can never touch a disciple!'' Stefanie''s voice came in time to make James more comfy with this sexy master.


    "Why do you want to kill me? I bested your little rat here, and if I were you, I would prefer to stick myself to a strong man, a much more promising disciple."


    "Bullshit! You are an anomaly, an error that was caused by this universe by mistake; an error everyone is working so hard to make sure you won''t exist for long! Aren''t you afraid of me? aren''t you worried about your life?"


    "My life was taken the moment I saw your breathtaking beauty! I''m not worried or afraid, as one day I will make sure to conquer you, in fight and in bed!"


    Her face showed a faint redness, not out of shyness but of anger! "Nonsense! You are full of sh*t! only thinking by your stick and not your mind! Open your eyes boy, this body of mine was craved for ages by many; none managed to lay a single hand on it so far!"


    "I love being the first in everything, believe me it''s a habit of mine," he replied with a soft chuckle that made her even more furious!


    "Stop blabbering and give back my disciple!"


    "He is going to die right here right now under my hands and with this sword of yours."


    "I dare you do that!" she glared at him, with a very clear threatening tone and a strong attitude.


    "I dare you to touch me, and I promise I will make love with you in the open right here right now!"


    He didn''t continue this little talk with her, as he grabbed the sword, feeling quite the resistance coming out from it, before he took full control by both hands. "Quite aggressive you are, unlucky for you I don''t like men!" he grinned evilly as he waved it to the back, preparing to decapitate the sealed Shondo!


    "Wait! Stop!!"


    The master shouted, yet James kept the sword hanging behind his shoulders as he said: "What? Will you accept me as a disciple and a man?"


    "In your filthy dreams! You are a cursed man, and I won''t associate myself even as a master with such a doomed one!"


    "Hehehe, then say goodbye to your little weak disciple of yours here," he evilly smirked, and before the master could do anything, he descended the sword over the head of Shondo, completely severing it from his shoulders.


    He was instantly dead, and the body of the sexy master trembled. James didn''t care about her anger, despite knowing how strong she was; but all he cared about was these two pure milky white lumps that reverberated with her trembling body, like two balloons filled with milk being swayed under his gaze.


    "Sigh, why are you so stubborn and not accept me?" he sighed, regretting these pleasures to be just in sight yet far away from his reach!


    "Damn you! I would never ever succumb to you even if this came at the expense of the ruin of the entire universe! I won''t stop at anything to kill you, and if I can''t, I will pray day and night that everyone''s efforts will be rewarded and your blood will run like rivers!"


    "Oh, I like you when you are angry. Keep on, I might come and drag you to my own palace if you kept your best to seduce me like this."


    "Damn you! Give my sword back you sex lunatic!"


    "A sexy girl is calling me a sex lunatic? Sigh, what happened to this universe?!!"


    "Give me my SWORD!"


    "This one?" he gestured towards the sword as he sheathed it back as he added, "it was quite naughty, mentioning my scepter girl with foul mouth and bad words. He needs some discipline, so I intend to keep it."


    "I dare you to say it again!" the master said, in a very furious tone, while taking out her own entourage of artifacts. As James expected, this sword wasn''t the only artifact she had, or even the best!


    He noticed the presence of a spear, and this one seemed quite ferocious. He sighed, as he said loud and clear:


    "And I dare you to come and touch a single hair of mine."


    "Do you think the universe''s protection will be enough to be safe from me? mercenaries are everywhere and I can just snap my fingers and call out to an army which you won''t be able to face!"


    ''Liar! She can''t touch you except with her own disciples! No other users can touch you now!''


    "But didn''t that immortal and his two campanions fought with me?"


    ''Ah, that was a long time ago, before you turned into ¡­ this! You are now much different, and this comes with its own challenges, and privilege.''


    The words of Stefanie ¨Cagain ¨Ccame in time to make him realize he wasn''t really in any kind of danger. "Alright, then snap your fingers and let''s see," he said, before putting the sword away into his storage bracelet, before stepping forward.


    "W- What are you trying to do? And where is my sword?"


    "As we are going to wait for your army to come and kill me, then I figured to come and wait for them with you."


    "S- Stay away, don''t come near me!!"


    "Oh! Didn''t know you are this hard shell soft hearted girl! Come, don''t be shy, why step to the back? Wait for me to come to you!"


    "Damn you!" She cursed before hurrying to retreat back, but James was stubborn and controlled his suit to chase her. He knew he couldn''t outrun her, or even shorten the widening gap; but the feeling of chasing down such a figure was priceless to him!


    "Sigh, I will leave then as you want to run away this desperately from me," he suddenly paused, turned around, and started flying back towards the fighter he came in.


    "Hold on there, give back my sword now!!" she hurried to shout, and her voice reverberated strongly in his mind. He sighed, as this way of speaking with her was really weird and annoying.


    But when he turned to glance at her body, he forgot all his misery and discomfort just now. "What? Do you want to finally let yourself in my arms?" he asked with a sneer.


    "Damn you! Give me my sword and I will let you leave."


    "Let''s face it, you can''t stop me at all. So stop acting this tough and mighty and show some humbleness."


    "You¡­" her body trembled out of anger again, and a smirking evil smile appeared instantly over his face pleased by what he was seeing


    "You evil¡­ no error will bring forth any goodness! This is a fact! you damned glitch! Give me my sword now or else I will announce your present to the other sectors, and show me how you are going to live in peace ever again!"


    "Humph," James just harrumphed before turning around and flying back for real this time. He wanted her, but he knew this wasn''t the right time to claim her.


    So he should retreat, bid his time, and one day he would finally have her in his dorm; wasted and drowsy like others.

 Chapter 176: A Sudden Heat between the Two!

    However, she didn''t share him the same opinion and patience.


    "So you want to play it dirty, huh?"


    She suddenly shouted from behind, with an anger and frustration that made James feel somehow doubtful.


    "Are you sure she won''t be a problem to me?" he asked, and Stefanie instantly replied: ''Don''t worry, if she did that on her account then she would lose her power and turn into a mortal."


    "Then why do I have this feeling of worry?" he muttered while going as fast as he could towards his fighter.


    He wanted to stay away from this crazy master!


    "Run away as fast as you like, if you don''t give me my sword back right now I will make sure you will suffer enough for that!"


    Again he felt the same doubt and worry. There was no need for him to ask Stefanie, as she would reply with the same words. just as he was about to reach the fighter, a strange beam of light appeared and hit it before he even touched it.


    And the next moment a silent explosion erupted, sending him flying back from the debris expanding everywhere.


    "My suit!" he glanced at his suit to find many holes in it. "You bitch!" he cursed while glancing at her. She was standing at her place, holding a bow with a light arrow.


    "I told you, no matter where you run to, I will make you feel despair!"


    James had to treat this seriously. "Don''t you just say she can''t touch me?"


    ''Ahem, she technically didn''t touch you.''


    "But she messed with my things!"


    ''As you messed up with hers, and that doesn''t count to be a violation to the universe rules.''


    "I''m beginning to hate her and you!"


    ''Oh no, please don''t. I have a perfect solution for that, hehehe.''


    James paused, as he felt how evil the idea in her mind was just from that last mischievous laugh. "Tell me then."


    ''First I need more energy to evolve, and so I need that stupid sword for that.''


    James got his corners of the eyes twitching when hearing her words. ''Not like you think, I just want to¡­ eat it.''


    "Oh! You can eat the males of you to evolve? Wow! A spider cruel lady you are!"


    ''Hehehe, you can consider this is the easiest and most direct way to evolve.''


    "So you need my permission to do that?"


    ''I need you to stain it with your blood so I can eat it away.''


    James didn''t want to do this in front of this crazy lady, but he had no choice. "If you don''t retreat and stop your childish actions, things won''t end well for you."


    "Hahaha, for me? you must be delusional! I''m the one promising you this, dear."


    "Sigh, such a sexy body and fiery temper, sigh."


    "Give me my sword back!"


    "This one?" he took the sword out of the scabbard, yet feeling the hard resistance of the sword to be in his hands.


    "Give it to me now."


    "Or what?"


    James'' reply strangely had the tone to make her pause and feel worried. ''He can''t do anything to me, not without a bond created with him being superior to me. then why do I feel such worry?'' she thought to herself before smirking as she said:


    "Or this little fleet of yours will be killed one by one on my hands."


    This time James lost all hope of reconciliation with her. She was crazy, and she intended to kill his own and hard acquired fleet. This wasn''t acceptable under any logic.


    And simply like that she made him remove all the doubts inside, and start moving his hand over the tip of the sword.


    "What the hell¡­?" she muttered in confused tone and face, while glancing over James while injuring himself with the sword. "Are you a masochist? Sigh, I know you have something wrong in your dirty little head of yours!"


    She then pointed to his pierced suit where air was escaping from inside it forming long thin disturbed lines. "You should amend your suit first, maniac!" she sarcastically commented, while laughing at his bitter state.


    He didn''t answer her remarks, as he muttered to his scepter: ''Will you take time? I doubt she will give me a sec the moment she realizes what I''m doing here.''


    ''Just ten sec, and she won''t be able to touch you.''


    ''She will attack my fleet.''


    ''They are just pieces of metals, don''t worry. Nothing dear is there.''


    ''My girls are there!!''


    ''Oops, alright, I will try to make it shorter, hehehe.''


    He was quite positive she did this on purpose. "Girls," he shook his head while finally moving his bleeding arm away from the sword. "Just one sec, I will heal my wounds and then confront you," he said as he started to rotate around himself like an idiot.


    He was trying to buy time, yet the moment Stefanie started working on the sword, the entire body of the master jolted, got stiffened, then she roared with much pain.


    "You damn despicable thief! Are you trying to feed your ugly girl with my handsome sword! I will kill you! I will kill every single one dear to you before coming and kill you!"


    "Humph, you can''t do anything like this. If you do, you will lose your strength."


    "And you think I will sit here right handed watching my precious getting eaten by your bitch? I won''t! I will kill every single one of your dear fleet in front of your eyes! Hell I will go to your so called empire and burn it to the ground like paper burnt into ashes!"


    James felt a little hesitant, yet the agony on her face and that crazy tone in her words made him realize she will do that! ''We must handle her, better kill her!''


    ''I have the best solution, much better than what you have in mind,'' Stefanie muttered before adding, ''ten seconds from now, try to stall for time or stay calm no matter what she did. also try to get as close as you can to her.''


    ''Why?''


    ''Just do it, I have no much time to waste. If I want to eat this bastard, I have to do it now or else my little window will be gone.''


    ''Alright,'' he shrugged before starting to fly towards the crazy master. The moment he moved, the moment Stefanie started, the face of the master changed.


    "It''s your choice then, have the same agony as mine!"


    The next moment she held her bow and instead of a single arrow, there were dozens there!


    "Crazy bitch!" he cursed out loud, and this didn''t make her stop, instead she launched the attack with a vicious laugh. "Taste the same bitterness as I have," she laughed while taking another dozens of light arrows and preparing to aim at his fleet.

 Chapter 177: Enslaving A Master - Part 1 (R-18)

    James wasn''t faking it, he was really frustrated, worried, and mad. He glanced at the attack that was launched a moment ago to find the arrow heading like a meteorite towards his fleet in the far distance.


    The arrows reached their targets in the next moment, like they were launched just a few meters away from them.


    He heard nothing from his location, yet all he could see was the devastation caused to his large cruisers and other types of ships in his fleet.


    The single arrow didn''t stop at a single target, as it penetrated many ships before it finally exploded, exploding all the ships it penetrated in the process.


    And that made the losses of James escalate to a very terrifying figure he never expected. As she was ready to fire another volley of these deadly arrows, he gritted his teeth and then ran towards her.


    She just glimpsed at him while remarking; "Pathetic," before she launched the attack. Arthur paused just a couple of meters away from her while watching the arrows heading towards the fleet, destroying more of it.


    For him, and considering the large number of ships he had, these losses weren''t the thing to bother him. He knew Dora, Anasta, and Rigo weren''t near this area, as they were in the forefront leading others in the fight.


    So, he was only feeling bitter towards the future if this continued. If the plan Stefanie proposed vaguely and mysteriously about didn''t work, then he had to face this master directly in a life and death fight.


    And he was sure if things reached such a state, he would lose.


    After all, she was much stronger, more resourceful, and had much more experience in using powers than him.


    So he waited, with a glance of pity on his face, and hands trying to seal the leaks in his suit. He looked pathetic, yet she never stopped firing her arrows or even slowed her speed down.


    As ten seconds passed, she fired ten times during this period, destroying more than a couple hundreds of cruisers and fighters.


    If this continued, she alone would be able to totally annihilate his grand fleet; something not even one of the colossal forces in the universe could do to him!


    "Scary!" he muttered, feeling more dread towards her and anticipating to raise his own powers.


    Would he be like her? Strong and lethal?


    ''I''m ready, just need your blood and do as I say.''


    "Won''t you say what are you planning? Will it succeed?"


    ''Hehehe, let it be a surprise for you, and yes, it will succeed.''


    The tone of Stefanie was brimming with confidence, making James unable to rest or doubt her. He wanted to know what this little mischievous sexy scepter was up to.


    "What do you want me to do?" he asked, while not needing to think hard for his blood, as he was already bleeding inside his suit from the last attack he had when his fighter was smashed.


    He just put his fingers deeper inside the holes in his suit to touch his blood. "Blood is ready," he added, while glancing towards this crazy lady with a look devoid of any fear.


    ''Take me out the moment I tell you to,'' Stefanie just said, while he glanced over the arrows that were just launched and those which replaced them.


    And just as the arrows were about to be launched again, Stefanie''s sound came abrupt and clear, and he didn''t even need her to complete her words to take her out and point it towards the master.


    ''Take me out and put me¡­ yes, ahem, on her breast, alright!''


    James just smiled and didn''t comment. He knew she needed to touch the body of that crazy lady, and he selected this place to make her feel awkward.


    It was his own way to behave this naughty scepter.


    "What the hell?!" the moment the scepter touched the full curvy bulge over her body, the master exclaimed out loud in confusion; yet with no fear nor worry.


    However, what happened next made her entirely shocked!


    ''Now, use the blood and do as I say!'' Stefanie said while her tone seemed to be rushed. The moment she touched the body of the master, she used the sealing function and made this explosive angry master pause.


    Even the arrows she was about to release paused in place. James had the urge to touch that master, or even knock on her thick skull or touch this curvy sexy. Yet, he didn''t!


    Instead, his fingers with blood appeared like whips to touch the master''s body in different areas, following the strict words of Stefanie.


    ''A single finger on the sixth right rib, two fingers on the left shoulder, a full hand grip of this sexy right thigh¡­''


    He kept jumping from right to left, from top to bottom, and from back to front while the eyes of the master were bulging without having the ability to say a single word.


    Stefanie made sure she would be tied well and secured with all her strength. She even started eating the sword, using the energy coming from it mainly to augment and supplement her crazily depleting energy.


    However, she and him underestimated the strength of a master!


    "Do¡­ you¡­ think¡­ you¡­ enslave¡­?!!"


    These stuttered words came out of her mouth with much difficulty that made James pause momentarily, fearing she was breaking free.


    ''Don''t stop, she is resisting, yet I have her under control.''


    Stefanie''s voice, despite being nervous and shaky, it came in the precise moment to make him settle.


    His heart was calm again, while his fingers kept covering the body of the master with blood.


    However¡­


    "Crazy b*tch! Are you going to kill yourself just to kill me?!!"


    The bow and arrows which were already in the master''s grasp suddenly floated in space, like being freed, yet they were controlled by a small wisp of the master''s mind.


    So the bow turned to face her and James with a full stretch out string and dozens of arrows. This didn''t need any great mind to deduct; she wanted to act suicidal to force him stop what he was doing.

 Chapter 178: Enslaving A Master - Part 2 (R-18)

    Yet he knew if he did so, he would be doomed! The moment this crazy regained her freedom would be the day of his death, or worse!


    ''Touch the chest with both hands!'' Stefanie suddenly said, making James feel skeptical, yet he complied.


    One hand was covered with blood, and the other was supposed to hold the scepter. Now the two of them were holding the two fully rounded soft and jelly-like lumps in her chest, making the face of that master turn red instantly and her train of thoughts be interrupted.


    And at this moment the scepter suddenly stretched out, one end was fixated on the belly of the master and the other just touched the bow and arrows.


    The next moment, the bow suddenly disappeared with no notice, like it wasn''t even there from the beginning.


    This act just startled both James and the master.


    "You have such a love to eat your kin? Scary!"


    ''Don''t get on my nerves then.''


    "As if you can touch me! work first on collecting yourself instead of just laying wasted with moans and screams covering all your body!"


    ''Humph!'' Stefanie only replied by this before she shortened again while adding, ''finger on the left heel, three on the right armpit¡­''


    She continued to give instruction and James just followed them with a big smile over his face. He loved how much he made his girls always embarrassed by their weakness in front of him, by their vulnerability in front of his touches.


    Which made him glance at the about to explode of the angry lady he was touching. Just wondering about if she was stimulated by his touches now, or he would have the chance to do it later made him thrilled.


    "You are such a fine piece I would love to add to my collection."


    His words were directed to the master, and she well received them by glaring more and more towards him with her body faintly trembling.


    ''Don''t stimulate her resistance! We are almost done here, just keep touching places I''m telling you about!''


    He heard her, yet he didn''t move his free hand off the master''s rounded and bouncy back. He just wanted to have a small taste of this universe class beauty, hoping he would have the chance to fully taste her.


    Stefanie warned him too late, as the petrified lady showed more resistance. ''See? Are you happy now? couldn''t you just hold your own inside for a few minutes more? Gosh!''


    James just laughed and didn''t reply as he realized he really made the two girls angry.


    The next thing happened was the appearance of many artifacts, counted to four, at the same time. They were suspended in space, two swords, a long curved knife and a spear. They all were directed to her body and his, making his scalp numb!


    "Crazy, you are crazy!"


    ''Stop irritating her, we need to do something to distract her¡­'' Stefanie paused in the middle of her words as the next moment James jumped over the lady, removed the upper part of the suit before glancing at the reddened eyes with no fear. "I promise you won''t be disappointed."


    Then he leaned on her and kissed her, a very soft and slow kiss despite her stern features and furious glaring eyes.


    ''This might work,'' Stefanie mischievously smirked while extending again, and this time Stefanie had the luck of getting them four in one full sweep.


    ''You can let her go now, she won''t appreciate your things now,'' she said to make James move slightly away while glancing at the extremely furious master.


    Yet she was petrified and she couldn''t do a thing!


    ''Focus! All we need is just ten minutes, don''t waste time then,'' Stefanie urged him before relaying more instructions to him.


    James didn''t waste anymore time or tried any funny tricks again. his face was now exposed to the space directly, yet he wasn''t fazed or affected by it. that made the angry master realize the trick she fell to.


    But it was too late to lament on this now. After the sudden kiss, she wasn''t able to muster her courage and strength again. so, ten minutes seemed quite long, but they passed away fast like a daydream.


    "Done!" James muttered while retreating to see his ultimate piece of art; she was totally covered in a layer of his own blood! "That''s gross!" he muttered.


    ''Don''t belittle my piece of art!''


    "It''s¡­ disgusting!"


    ''Sigh! Not even a word of thanks or appreciation.''


    "Thanks, yet it''s gross."


    ''¡­''


    Stefanie sighed before she said:


    ''Let''s activate the enslavement process. Hehehe, this might hurt.''


    "Hurt me?"


    ''No, her!''


    "Oh, just don''t kill her."


    ''I won''t.''


    "and don''t touch any of her beauty."


    ''Sigh, I promise.''


    "And¡­"


    ''WHAT?!!!''


    "Nothing, was just going to ask about her clothes¡­ are they needed?"


    ''Pervert!''


    "Not me, it''s for her! What if I needed to medically aid her?"


    ''Won''t happen!''


    "Sure?"


    ''One hundred percent positive. Can you stop your nonsense and let me do my job?''


    James just shrugged. "She is all yours."


    ''Finally!!!''


    James smirked as he loved teasing Stefanie. As for the stupefied master in front of him, he didn''t care about her anymore.


    She was destined to be his, and this made him quite pleased and had many expectations for that.


    ''Start!''


    The moment Stefanie muttered these words softly, the blood stains over the master shone brightly and looked alive.


    They moved slowly, coalescing together until they finally turned into a huge cloak made entirely of his blood.


    ''Come!''


    The moment the cloak was formed, Stefanie gave this order and then the cloak started to tightly stick to the master''s body, gently pressuring her before acting violent.


    The lady vanished inside the cloak, turned into a red mummy while her body kept twitching violently like she was suffering.


    "You promised!" James shouted in anger, as he was certain something bad was happening to his expected beauty.


    ''Don''t worry, this is the process!''


    "I swear if anything happened to my girl I wouldn''t hesitate to find another sexy artifact and made her eat you up!"

 Chapter 179: Threesome - Part 1(R-18)

    ''Gulp!'' Stefanie seemed shocked, as James was really serious about his threats.


    ''Alright, I won''t hurt her anymore,'' she sighed before the cloak returned to its original gentleness and the twitches that lady had stopped.


    "You will be behaved for this mischievous act!" James promised, and Stefanie had nothing to say except to swallow her bitterness in silence.


    She had other plans for this lady, yet James seemed to be dead fixed on having her in his harem. ''Ain''t I and the others enough for him! sigh!'' she muttered to herself in an audible tone to James, who just ignored her remark.


    The cloak rolled, taking with it the body of the lady wrapped inside. In minutes the speed of its rotation was so intense that James couldn''t see anything except for a large spot of blood that kept shrinking.


    "What the hell?!!" just as the cloak reached its maximum rotation speed, it vanished! Popped in the vacant space here, not appearing anywhere! "Where is she?" he asked in much confusion.


    ''She¡­ is¡­ inside¡­''


    The words of Stefanie came interrupted with moans, making James'' eyebrows rise from surprise. "What do you mean by that? why are you speaking like that?"


    Yet his questions were met with nothing but the dead silence of the space. "Sigh, I have no near ship," he sighed before he sat crossed legged before he closed his eyes and then delved deeply inside the soul room.


    And the moment he entered it, the scene; just the scene he saw made him petrify in place as he gulped his running saliva like a wild wolf!


    In front of him, two stunning beauties were on the enormous bed in the middle of the room; one was on her back and the other was riding over!


    "Stefanie, and the new lady!" he muttered to himself while watching the master, the vulgar lady whom she just conquered and vanished to, acting so aggressive and wild.


    Stefanie lied on the bed, with her moans thundering in the entire room, mixed with her wild screams. As for the master, the lady with the fiery body was also a lady with fiery¡­ lust!


    "You dare to torment me! planned to eat me! a pathetic low level artifact like you dare to do that to me!!! I swear not to let you until you are dead under my hands!"


    The vicious and aggressive tone of the lady made James realize she wasn''t playing or fooling, or even deluded!


    She knew what she was doing and the next wild laugh she released as she planted her head deeply in between Stefanie''s legs told him a lot about her personality.


    "She is enjoying this!" he muttered before an evil smile appeared on his face, before he summoned a seat here and went to sit on it.


    "J. a. m. e. s¡­ help¡­"


    The moment she saw him she tried to scream for him to help, yet her words were interrupted by the successive breaths and moans she kept releasing while her waist and her chest were giving her fiery lustful shock-waves.


    And that fiery lady was just doing her job best with her mouth and fingers, while laughing out loud from time to time enjoying this.


    "Sit tight there, your turn will come soon!" and the moment Stefanie spoke in this weird way, she turned to glance at James as she threatened and promised.


    "Oh, it seems you need to be taught a lesson," he smirked with his tongue touching his lips, yet he didn''t move. "Keep playing with her, I''m enjoying this and she acted a little bad moments ago. she deserves some discipline," he added while leaning his back as he really enjoyed this show.


    "Humph, your turn will come to abomination!" she then returned to continue her job with Stefanie while James admitted to himself; "she is doing a much better job at wasting her than me, at least faster, hehehe!"


    She said and then returned to her job devastating Stefanie.


    James was really enjoying this, and after quite some time he couldn''t control himself anymore.


    "Time for the main wolf to step on stage," he smirked as he walked from his seat with each part of his clothes being stripped off by his own will.


    As he moved towards the bed, the aggressive master noticed him, and so she paused and turned to glance at him. "Coming to get your share, boy?"


    "Hehehe, I love this rude mouth of yours," he laughed shortly before reaching the bed to feel powerful arms holding him, trying to leave him high in the air. "Oho, you are quite strong indeed, yet you forgot one thing," a sly smile appeared on his face as his body didn''t move an inch.


    "Snap!"


    He snapped his fingers and then the next second a strange black leather chain appeared out of thin air, wrapping around the arms, legs, and even neck of the vulgar lady. "this is my world bitch, snap."


    Another snap and then her body was suspended in the air. He didn''t intend to play with her smoothly, as rude ones like her deserved more severe punishment.


    "Let me go, you coward! Let''s wrestle face to face and see if y¡­ ah!" in the middle of her storm, she moaned without being able to control herself anymore.


    James returned to sit on his seat, while he gracefully controlled her body to fly to him, with her legs being parted slowly in front of his eyes. While she started cursing him loud, he leaned his head on one hand while the other found its way in between those clothes of hers.


    And then he found a very moist and soft small rounded lump between his fingers. He just touched the moist part and then started to gently squeeze and massage it.


    And then she moaned!


    "Quite horny and sensitive you are, just my type," he slowly smiled as if he was doing nothing at all.


    "Keep your filthy¡­ ah¡­ hands off me¡­ ah!"


    "C''mon, your body craves for me already with touches of my fingers. what will happen when I hack you to pieces? Will you be disciplined?"


    "Never!"


    "We will see about this," he laughed as he continued to play and despite her efforts to not show anything; her entire reddened face and twisted bodies exposed everything.


    Not to mention those sexy and loud moans that even after she failed tried to suppress them they came out in a sexier way. "I like this rebellious nature of you, keep it then for me ignited forever, shall you?"


    "Curse you sadist!"


    "Hehehe, see who is speaking, hahaha!"

 Chapter 180: Threesome - Part 2 (R - 18)

    James continued to hack her slowly with his fingers until her whole body was already loose. She fell under his spell now, and she only craved for more despite not announcing it!


    "Let me take my revenge," suddenly this weak tone came from behind while Stephanie struggled to stand straight, supporting her body with both shaky arms on the bed, "I want to make her taste the same thing she made to me!"


    "She is all yours," he simply smirked before sending the master''s sexy body towards the bed. The next moment, Stefanie firmly tightened her grip over both of her legs before diving her head deep in between.


    And another wave of moans appeared in the room. James kept watching for a couple of minutes before feeling bored! "You aren''t doing this on passion, learn from the master," he sneered as he snapped his fingers and the next thing happened was the master became free again!


    "It''s my time, b*tch!" the moment she was freed she hurried to flip the positions and she again became on top of Stefanie. "Why? Keep her restrained for me!"


    "Consider it part of your punishment," James was much more amused by this situation as he leaned his head and watched the scene.


    The master was really skillful, and in less than a minute Stephanie entered again into a crescendo of moans and screams that were so sexy to drive James mad. "I will join in as well," he hopped from his seat and directly headed towards the bed.


    "Finally, I will have my revenge!" the master viciously screamed as she suddenly threw herself on top of him; yet he was much prepared for her.


    "This time I will win you fair and square," he sneered as he met her body midair before flipping his own smoothly behind her back, before firmly fixing her face to the ground, kneeling there with her back bent in his face.


    "You are mine," then he joined the fun officially by delving deeply in her, while Stefanie joined in. The situation between the two girls was really chaotic, with the master having the upper hand most of the time.


    Yet when it came to James, he always won both! In the end, and after much wrestling and screaming, the two girls lied helplessly on the bed, trying to catch their breaths, while Stefanie already went into deep sleep, and the master kept hissing strangely out of this intense love session.


    "I think you both need a day off, hehehe," he reopened his eyes with a wide smile of gratitude and satisfaction over his face. "Never thought this day would end in such a perfect way!" he muttered to himself before turning around.


    "Damn! That girl! She destroyed anything near me to use," he shook his head before starting to move in space using his own strength. "I can run?!" he was shocked beyond description at this moment, as he started to run freely without the restraints of gravity.


    Making him run and gaining speed with no stop! "I need to control my own velocity and direction," he muttered, trying to stop running for a while to let his body slowly lose momentum, before running again while changing his direction.


    In one hour he managed to cross a huge distance, yet he was still so far from the places of his fleet. "Sigh, why this girl was this mad?" he was frustrated, and if not for the periods of rest he had in between his runs, he would have entered his soul room and disciplined that girl once more!


    As he neared the place of his main fleet, he knew it was nearly impossible for anyone to spot him. What he didn''t know was that Rigo had a tracking device installed in anything related to him, so when he got near the fleet he spotted a small cruiser heading directly his way.


    "Could it be¡­?" he muttered to himself before the small cruiser stopped a few hundreds of meters away from him. "Yeah, that Rigo¡­ sigh," he knew what happened, yet he wasn''t angry at all.


    The doors of this cruiser opened, and then he went directly inside. The moment his feet touched the ground, he lost his balance. "Damn! This gravity! Space is really much more convenient to me!" he cursed inwardly before adjusting his body, moving carefully for a few minutes inside the cruiser before he regained his familiarity with the gravity.


    "Oh, it''s you!" Arthur muttered when he entered the main deck as he found Rigo there. "What happened out there?" he asked.


    "You gave me quite a scare, you know that?" Rigo said in such a depressed tone. "You left to fight this strange man, then you fought another lady before you went silent for a long time. Sigh, if not for the tracking device in your suit, how should I know your location and check on your safety?"


    James just patted on his head before sitting on the seat next to him. "I''m fine, and nothing bad happened to me, right?" he smiled while adding, "what about the fight?"


    "Forget about it now, can you now fly in space alone?" Rigo asked, "have you gone this powerful already?" he added, with a glimmering eye.


    "Hahaha, sure, my old friend. I can now live and stay in space without any suit. In fact, I can run in space faster than running on the ground."


    "Yes, I noticed that," Rigo shook his head, helplessly recalling the strange data he received about his sudden change in position that didn''t match any human logic!


    "Now stop acting like my mother and tell me what happened here?" James asked as they were now closer to the main fleet where he noticed the calm atmosphere around.


    "It''s nothing. The grand Terasos fleet just stopped in many locations, only sent some ships to test us before we totally crushed them. Our allies are already around the corner, and so they had no other choice but to retreat."


    "They retreated?" James was speechless. "and you let them leave simply like that?" he asked while expressing his own shock with his loud tone!


    "Surely not! We hit their fleet and then when they escaped we started attacking their travel lines. I just hope they didn''t stop midway or else their losses won''t be that great as I planned."


    "That''s my Rigo," James laughed as he was in a very good mood. "What about the girls?" he asked.


    "What about them?" Rigo asked back, while strangely eyeing James.


    "I want them sent to my main ship. You handle everything with the allies."


    Rigo glanced for a long period to James before saying:


    "Are you sure you didn''t want to attend these meetings?"


    "Between meetings and meetings, I choose my own meetings. They are much better and less boring, hehehe."


    "Sigh! You just need not to overexert yourself to death!" Rigo sighed before honestly advising him.


    "Don''t worry about your leader, I''m invincible in regard to these stuff, hehehe."


    James was really in a perfect mode, and thus he decided to continue the party with Dora and Anasta. They both had their own share not long ago, yet he had such a deep desire that was ignited, not quenched, by what he just did with the other two girls.


    "Strange, the more I do it, the more I want it. Strange," he said to himself while laughing inside about this funny problem he currently had.


    "So I need to enlarge my harem then?" he thought before hesitating for a moment. "If you find a very good-looking lady there, keep some for me."


    Rigo glanced again before sighing. "its sexy girls, my leader."


    "Hahaha, you are really such a dependable person, you know, hahaha."


    "Tsk."


    They flew directly towards James'' large cruiser, which was stationed just near the only entrance to the devastated base. "Wow, there is fire still raging inside!" James was astonished as he noticed large flames of fire rising from the inside of this conquered lair.


    "Many planets were destroyed, and their debris is now spreading chaos in the rest of the worlds inside."


    "That''s disturbing," James muttered softly before adding, "form a rescue fleet from ours and our allies. Send them inside, make them salvage any possible resources and livings."


    He then paused, before thinking about his harem again. "And¡­"


    "I will make sure you get your sexy dolls, leader," Rigo completed what James struggled to say, and that made James laugh again.


    Just as he reached his cruiser, he went directly to the train leading to the main deck. Once he reached there, he found the situation seemed quite chaotic than he expected inside the old base.


    "Such lost planets, sigh," he helplessly shook his head, yet he had to accept such cost. His victory here wasn''t an easy one, and this fight seemed quite hard from the beginning.


    "But I gained total control over this force, and the other six won''t stand a chance against me anymore," he said to himself as this was the biggest reward he gained.


    "Then it''s time for me to focus on you, Terasos empire," he changed his eyesight towards the holographic images transmitting what part of his fleet was currently doing; firing non-stop at the empty space while the missiles just traveled across the paths the Terasos fleet just escaped through.


    "One day this entire grand sector will be mine!" he smirked before leaning on his seat and feeling the increasing heat inside his body. "Where are these girls? Sigh!"


    He was frustrated and seriously decided to expand his harem. He couldn''t be satisfied with a bunch of them now, even if they were unique and stellar. He needed more, his body needed more, his dragon needed more!

 Chapter 181: You Are A Violation of the Sacred Rule of Balance (R-18)

    His wait didn''t last longer than an hour, as the two beauties entered the commanding deck with faces telling him they knew what he planned for them.


    "Come, we need to speak privately," he said, while leading the two out of the deck.


    "Speak? Hehehe, I started to like speaking with you," Anasta laughed in a playful way while leaning on him. "Tsk," while Dora just was annoyed for being here instead of being out there leading her soldiers.


    He glanced on her for a brief moment before smiling, "you should take rest from time to time."


    "We¡­" she paused with her face being reddened, "we just had this rest hours ago! we need to work!"


    "work is done already, and the war is over and we won."


    "Rigo is going to meet the leaders of the other forces, shall we not be there?"


    "No, he is more capable to do what I asked him for. Let''s celebrate, we destroyed the black crows and now we stand unchallenged in this sector."


    "You are such a ¡­ lunatic!" she just complained like a child, as they just reached his dorm. He closed the door before throwing off his clothes as he shouted out loud: "It''s party time, yahoo."


    And during the next half day the entire dorm was filled with screams and moans. Even when they slept for hours after finishing the long session, he woke up to play again with them.


    He called it the big celebration, but he had such immense power he needed to vent. Plus he felt the urgent need of his body to do that!


    "Sigh, finding others is now a must," he shook his head as he watched the two lying there with ragged breaths and red marks over sensitive places in their naked bodies.


    "They are totally wasted," he shook his head before recalling the new addition to his harem. "I should see her, she must be awake by now," he hurried to sit on the ground, close his eyes and picture his mental image before appearing inside his soul room.


    "Ah!"


    "Harder."


    "Yeah, like this."


    "More!"


    Suddenly the moment he appeared there the screams of Stefanie rained down his ears. In front of him she was laying on her belly, bending her knees while that aggressive lady sat in between her legs with her head gone!


    "Damn, you started without me?" he shouted in anger, and his voice just startled the two before they found him already on top of them.


    Here he continued doing love for hours without feeling any tired, and they also were much stronger and more experienced than Dora and Anasta.


    After roughly ten hours, the three lied on the bed; James feeling quite energetic while the two girls lied each on his side.


    Lara, the name of the master he knew from her amidst his harsh love session, was already unable to move even her eyes. He moved to touch her body while saying:


    "If you are such a nice and obedient girl, I won''t have overdone it with you."


    "You¡­ are¡­ such an animal!"


    "Hehehe, speaking of a devil, and you are what? An angel? Hehehe."


    "Tsk," she was too tired to argue, yet he was feeling much refreshed at this moment. "but you know I like you this hard and stubborn."


    "Don''t worry¡­ I won''t change."


    "Hehehe, I like that promise."


    He then waited inside for two hours before they returned to be alive again.


    "You should stop playing with me, I don''t like that!"


    He glanced over the angry Lara as he laughed while asking, "don''t like what? My love or me doing love to you?"


    "Both!"


    "Hahaha, for your information, you are now my girl, so suck it girl, hahaha."


    "Screw you!"


    "Don''t mind her, she is just jealous I reached you first," Stefanie said while pointing out her tongue.


    "Speaking of discipline, I think you still need some," Lara playfully said, in a seduction tone to Stefanie.


    "Hahaha, just stop it already, alright? I want to ask about some things first then you two go and play together behind my back."


    "Oh, you won''t join in?" Stefanie asked in some worry as she still had some pain from Lara''s harsh touches.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t eat you."


    "As if you can, humph!"


    "Order ladies, or do you want me to punish you again?"


    The two just glanced at him in a strange way before they both went silent. "Now, can you explain why Lara appeared here not in the outside world?"


    "That''s because she is like me," Stefanie answered.


    "Like you in¡­ what?"


    "She is an artifact."


    "What?!!"


    "Yes, I''m The artifact, not just any artifact," Lara said while giving Stefanie a wild glance.


    "Don''t be full of yourself, you just ate dozens of your brothers and sisters to evolve like this!"


    "Wait a minute, is she really an artifact?!" James was speechless for a moment before he stepped in to stop the two cats from scratching each other.


    "Sure, she was like me. And if I gained more artifacts like that delicious sword then I would evolve to be like her," Stefanie said, and just mentioning the sword made Lara quite furious. "You monster, how can you eat my man!"


    "Oh, so he was your man?" James said before sending a fast kiss to Stefanie as he added, "great job eating that worthless artifact. Anyway she was destined to be mine."


    "You two monsters¡­" Lara didn''t know what else to say amidst her rage. "Don''t or else this time I will be really hard on you," he warned and his tone made Lara stop and swallow all the curses and insults she was about to throw at him.


    "You are my girl, deal with it as an inescapable fact," he arrogantly said before adding, "this vulgar nature I like to crush on there, but outside that sacred place you must behave yourself, or else¡­" he stopped here, while pointing towards the giant bed nearby.


    "Now, can someone tell me how an artifact can be a master of a grand sector?" he finally asked his most annoying puzzle.


    "It''s the law," Lara simply replied with such a displeased tone, it was a low tone yet she was still angry.


    "Law of what?"


    "Of the universe, here every grand sector is ruled by a single evolved artifact. That''s the reason why she couldn''t harm you no matter what, as she was, after all, an artifact not a real human.


    She can''t absorb your energy, but she boosted it," Stefanie said while winking towards Lara whose face turned redder of frustration. "Later," she whispered while gritting her teeth, and her tone and James'' negligence just made Stefanie''s body tremble.


    "So that means each grand sector has such a beauty as you?" he turned to ask Lara who glanced strangely at him. "C''mon pervert, not all of course! Some of us are girls, but most are males. And I''m considered one of the prettiest out there," she said in an arrogant tone, while showing off her vulgar long hair over her bare shoulders and chest.


    "C''mon, we didn''t see anyone else to judge," Stefanie was such a bad girl, and that made Lara glare at her while promising to make her scream like never before.


    "So your rule is to look for people like me and nourish them. then why didn''t you come to me and help me? why did you choose that loser?"


    James wasn''t interested in what the two would do after leaving here, after all he wouldn''t live here forever.


    "You are a violation to the grand and sacred rules of the universe. An aberration that must be cleared clean, not allowed to live or even get any help."


    Her tone and attitude didn''t match her own words, as she cautiously spoke these words, fearing what he would do when hearing them. "You just told me this silly story already when we were fighting. I need more explanation, who decided this, and what rules did I break, and if I was such an abomination, then how come I was born then? How come I had all these lucky encounters and reached such a state?"


    His words weren''t rushed or anxious, said with a clear and calm tone without any anger. Lara glanced at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. "It''s¡­ these rules were set since the creation of the universe. I don''t know who did it, but as far as I know you broke the most sacred law of all."


    "Which is?"


    "The law of balance and equilibrium!" she replied before adding, "everything in the universe is built on equilibrium. Balance between even the darkest things and most pure. Without balance, life wouldn''t exist, life wouldn''t sustain, life would be extinguished."


    Her words gave him such a view on the real problem, "so you are seeing me as a threat not to you but to the entire universe and lives?" he asked, while feeling that this problem was much bigger and far riskier than what he initially thought.


    "Honestly? That''s the belief we all share."


    "All? Who is all?"

 Chapter 182: An Intense Quarrel About the Tournament

    Lara glanced at him without knowing what to say. "Everyone, literally everyone."


    "You mean people like you?" James was slightly displeased with what he was hearing. He wasn''t an error or an abomination to be killed to be corrected.


    If the universe didn''t want him, then he wouldn''t have been born from the start! That was his utmost belief and he was convinced by his logic.


    "Me, people like me, our disciples, the elders, even those secluded away old monsters. Everyone, the entire community of ours has this belief either it was darkness camp or light camp."


    James'' eyes seemed scary at this moment, and Lara and Stefanie swore they saw the shade of giant dragon eyes looking at them. "I don''t believe in this logic of yours, it''s wrong."


    "The entire universe is wrong?"


    "No, you, your community is wrong. And you, your community isn''t the universe."


    "But we are the one blessed by the universe with special powers!"


    "Being granted an ability is something totally different from being the universe representative," he said before adding in a strict tone, "No one has the right to speak about the universe except the universe itself!"


    "But we already have a council of elders who are seen as the universe speakers and judges!"


    "I don''t then admit their authority and won''t accept their judge!"


    She glanced at him and he glanced back at her. The two seemed standing at two distant ends of the same magnet!


    "Sigh, alright you don''t believe and don''t accept, but others will! Everyone else except for you will!" she decided to concede here and speak about a far important thing, "you can''t fight the entire universe, can you?"


    "So I should lay low and wait until someone comes and kill me to be all satisfied? Nonsense! Even if the whole livings came to kill me, I won''t let anyone succeed!"


    "C''mon, think calmer and be more rational!" she shouted at him with much anger and distress, "you can''t let the universe work on your own thoughts and beliefs!"


    "Yes I can, like you all are doing right now!"


    "We are different, we are a large group of many people!"


    "I don''t care, as you have the right to decide for the universe, I also retain the right to do so."


    He wasn''t stubborn, he was arrogant at this moment. Strangely his inner dragon started to fuel up his anger and made him declare bold declarations.


    "Really? Then tell me, Mr. Universe speaker, what will you do when the tournament kicks in?"


    "Tournament? What tournament?"


    Her words made his rage calm down as he didn''t know what she was talking about. "The tournament, the reason behind all these problems, don''t tell me you don''t know it!"


    Her words made this more vague than ever! "Tell me and stop acting smart," he hurried her to speak and she just sneered before saying:


    "Since the day you unlocked your ability for the first time, inside the first shrine ever in the sacred lands, a bell rang and its voice was heard by all of us. This is the sacred bell, the bell of calamity as everyone used to describe."


    "Aha, so you want to kill me for a bell?"


    "Wrong! This bell is already in our possession, in the hands of the great council I follow! This bell never rang in our history, and this is the first time ever to do so."


    "And what does this have to do with the tournament and me?"


    "You are the reason it rang, announcing the birth of the calamity child. This prophecy is so ancient and we usually learn about it when we start using our powers. You, James, is this child of calamity, the omen child that will bring death and chaos to our universe!"


    "Screw this prophecy, I don''t accept it!" he bellowed out loud before adding, "and where is the tournament from all this?"


    "It''s designed by the bell, as a grand tournament will be held to make you compete against all the fresh disciples like the kid you just killed."


    "And?" he was very impatient!


    "And this tournament will end with the birth of the child of calamity, taking hold of the authority to rule and ruin this world!"


    He strangely glanced at her before saying:


    "Let me get this straight and clear, you said this bell will arrange a tournament and I have to compete with many disciples like myself to finally select the winner, who is the child of calamity? Why the hell are you so fixed on branding me with calamity then?"


    "A foretelling means were used, and all pointed out to you as the sole winner of the tournament."


    "Really?"


    "Really!"


    "And you believed this bullshit!"


    "We all believed these sacred words!"


    "It''s bullshit!"


    "Don''t insult the elders!"


    "I will insult any damned one I like! Those bastards! They tricked you idiots!"


    "Oh, how so?"


    The conversation turned from the original calm and collected one into such an intense and aggressive loud one.


    "Because killing me won''t prevent the selection of the new child of omen of yours!"


    "No, the elders said the bell would stop all this once you are dead."


    "Did the prophecy of the bell say so?"


    "No, but¡­"


    "Do the rules of the tournament state so?"


    "No, but¡­"


    "Then you were all fooled! Damn fools!"


    "Don''t insult the elders and us!"


    "I will curse whoever I want! You fools and stupid arrogant narrow minded weaklings! The truth is in front of your eyes and you still choose to ignore it and accept being fooled! Pathetic!"


    She glanced in a strange way towards him. "What do you mean?"


    "I mean I was seen to win the tournament, and then your treacherous elders were so greedy and arrogant to accept one outside their own disciples and inner circle to win.


    So they instigated you all against me to kill me and get rid of their biggest threat! If the rules of the tournament stated that killing James would stop it then I would agree with all this SH*T!


    They wanted me dead so they can win the tournament and keep ruling the universe as they like! I''m pretty sure that the winner won''t ruin anything, but rule them all!"


    She seemed quite conflicted, yet he didn''t wait for her reply. He was pretty sure of his logic, as this was the only logic he now had. "Tell me, when will this tournament occur?" he asked, while thinking seriously of winning this thing.


    "In less than six months," she replied, "but¡­"


    "But what? Can you not admit my logic is right and yours is flawed? Can''t you see the trick you all fell for? Stupid arrogant people!"


    "Don''t¡­"


    "Don''t what?" huh? Just tell me if I''m wrong, look me in the eye and tell me in my face!"


    "Alright, you are right and you have a point here."


    "It''s not a point, it''s the truth!"


    "Don''t believe in yourself like this, you are alone and the entire universe is against you!"


    He was enraged again, even his body trembled! "Tell you what, I swear to win this tournament and be the supreme ruler of the entire universe. Then I will go to your pathetic liars and kill them all and ruin your sacred sh*tty place and show them what''s the true meaning of a calamity!"


    "Insane! You are really insane!"


    He laughed without saying anymore. He glanced silently at her while feeling much relieved to vent down his anger through his oath. "I will do this," he promised himself he would be the sole winner at this tournament.


    "Tell me, what are the rules of this tournament?"


    "The rules?"


    "Yeah, the rules, don''t you know them?"


    She glanced at him for a moment before saying, "the elders had them."


    "Really? How nice of you all to trust such wolves on your sheep! Really bravo, I can only clap on your cheeks for your shamed doings!"


    She hurried to retreat thinking he would really do that, yet he only shook his head. "Pathetic, I live in a universe filled with morons!" he cursed out loud while lamenting his own fate.


    "But no matter what you all do, I will reign supreme and win this tournament."


    "Sigh, alright, how will you do this genius?"


    "You will help me of course."


    "M- M- Me?!!" his instant and direct reply startled her to stutter, "Wait a second, I didn''t say I would help you at anything."


    "You are a sinner, and a sinner has to redeem herself."


    "Who said I''m a sinner?!"


    "I said."


    "I''m not a sinner!"


    "Yes you are."


    "A sinner of what?"


    "Being such a fool to be tricked like a little two years old kid! Even the kids these days are much smarter than you are!"


    "I- I- I don''t accept this!"


    "It''s not up to you, you are my slave now," he smirked before adding, "Your duties aren''t only to please me, it''s to make me stronger."


    "But¡­"


    "It''s final, be ready to chat with Stefanie and draw a plan for my training," he paused before adding, "if I failed, I would make sure no one would ever find you again, dying with me would be your end result. So¡­" he sneered and said no more before reopening his eyes again.


    "It seems venting down and shouting helps to cleanse my soul, sigh."

 Chapter 183: A War for Islinda!

    He glanced around to see no one there around him. "Those two¡­" he shook his head before standing up, dressing his clothes, before heading to the commanding deck with a busy mind.


    He now understood the size of danger he was facing. "Six months, that''s too soon," he shook his head, before realizing he didn''t even know what this tournament was about!


    "Would Islinda have a clue?" he thought of her, as she was the only one who came from a higher place than here. ''But she didn''t know what ability I have," soon he let down this idea.


    Asking someone about something didn''t know was stupid. He went to the deck to find no sign of the girls. "Tsk, they ran so fast, these two¡­" he sat on his seat and his mind was now more fixed on gaining more girls for his harem.


    "Is there any update?" he casually asked while closing his eyes. Many things were raging wild right now inside his head. "A strange fleet couple of hours ago, and now a huge fight is happening between us and them."


    The simple words he heard gave him a scare! Jolting his relaxed soul awake as he sharply turned to the droid and shouted:


    "What?!! Show me everything, hurry!"


    He shouted and the droid wasn''t distressed as he knew these news should make his leader nervous.


    The next thing happened was the appearance of a recording on the hologram. The pictures broadcasted there showed the appearance of a large dark hole, like a whirlpool, in a certain spot in the space nearby.


    Then a large fleet appeared! What attracted his attention was the symbol these ships had! It wasn''t anything similar to a flag he had seen or read before in the old records he read before.


    "Are they the Terasos race?" he muttered, and the droid replied: "They aren''t from any place around here."


    James squeezed his eyes as he focused on the symbol they had again on their halts. "From another grand sector?" the answer came so sudden to surprise him more.


    "That was what Rigo also thought of," the droid replied, before adding, "and when they appeared, they stayed there for an hour and sent a transmission."


    "Show it," James said, before asking, "where is Rigo?"


    "Leading the frontline, sir."


    The droid replied while he played the transmission they received.


    The moment it was played on the hologram, a face of a middle aged man appeared. He was wearing a tight military suit, with stern face and stiffen stance gave James a melancholic feeling.


    "He is a military big rank, a general perhaps," he muttered, and the next moment the man spoke, confirming his guess.


    "This general Yonan, leader of the southern fleet of the Erkansos empire. I came to get a single person and leave. Obey and live, be fools and will receive the cannons and death in return.


    This person came from outside the sector, has no family or backup. So don''t try to resist and hand Islinda over to us."


    The short broadcast was cut after that last word of that rude general. James was really enraged to the point he stood from his seat, with his aura changing like never before.


    "They want my Isli?" he muttered, "did he say she has no family? She has no backup?" he turned to his droid and asked.


    And the droid just swallowed his dried throat, as in front of him a giant head of a dragon appeared with his eyes glaring angrily at him.


    "Rigo has¡­ has contacted lady Islinda and she said¡­ she said that this empire is one of the affiliated ones to her empire''s biggest enemy."


    The droid was already on the verge of collapsing, stuttering yet managed to say what he had of info. "Ah, they want to use her against her own empire, a tool for their purposes, a hostage and a prisoner," James calmly said, yet his tone was really intimidating.


    "Who do they think themselves are?" he shouted angrily and amidst his rage he grabbed the hands of his seat, and the hands just popped up, broken under the pressure of his mighty hand.


    And this scene made everyone very frightened! They knew their emperor and leader was strong, yet not this threatening!


    "Rigo summoned the fleet and now war is raging," the droid said before hurrying to turn on the hologram again, playing what was currently happening.


    The ships of the invaders were really higher in quality than his ships. Their cannons were much stronger, and their shots could destroy a middle sized cruiser into tiny pieces!


    Jamed glanced for a few minutes at these pictures before he calmly muttered, "Lead the cruiser to the front line."


    "And the rear ships too?"


    "This ship only," he said before glancing at the broken seat and harrumphed. "Bunch of greedy bastards!" he then recalled something. "What about our new allies? Are they with us or they retreated like cowards?"


    "They¡­ they are fighting alongside us."


    "Good, at least they have some balls," he muttered before standing with his hands clasped behind his back watching the live broadcast.


    The image of the dragon didn''t vanish, instead it kept solidifying! The more he watched, the more he became enraged! "You eye my little darling? I will show you she has a backup here, so strong and arrogant that would shred you all into pieces!"


    He then sat, crossed legged, before closing his eyes. The next moment he appeared inside his soul room, with the two girls playing with each other.


    "What''s wrong?!" the moment he appeared there, the atmosphere changed and became fiery hot. The two girls stopped what they were doing instantly while Lara asked.


    "Prepare yourselves, we got a fleet to crush."


    He didn''t say more, and then he vanished, leaving behind two girls exchanging silent glances before they started taking note of what was going on outside.


    "Oh, they want one of his girls," Lara sneered, yet Stefanie muttered, "this is hilarious! Who do they think he is?" she shook her head while glacing at Lara, "I sense the aura, do you sense it too?"


    Lara went silent for a moment before her eyes shone, "yes, an elder is here! I''m pretty sure this will turn into an interesting outcome," she laughed before adding, "I want to see if he is really up to his bold words or not."


    "Tsk, he will kill anyone standing in his path."


    "Even an elder of a shrine? I doubt that!"


    "You just don''t know him."


    "Really? Wasn''t he the one stuck with me in a fight? I know him pretty well."


    "You are wrong," Stefanie said before closing her eyes and events of distant past replayed again in her mind, "for his girls this man would turn into a crazy monster already."


    "We will see."


    "Yeah, we will."


    James wasn''t aware of this minor clash between his two artifacts. The moment he opened his eyes, he checked the fight first, before asking: "Where are we now?"


    "Ten minutes and we will arrive there," the droid replied.


    "Good, when we have two minutes to arrive, stop the ship."


    He then turned to leave.


    "Where are you going, leader?"


    "To the goods deck." He simply replied before adding, "send someone after to close the door."


    He then exited from the commanding deck. He went to the train directly, and took it to the goods deck where he stood in front of the closed door of this huge place before waiting for the cruiser to stop.


    The moment the cruiser stopped, he didn''t delay and touched the red button to open the door. The siren rang announcing the opening, and the next moment his body was sucked to the outside.


    He wasn''t wearing anything but his clothes, yet his body sustained the deadly conditions in this place. He glanced at the area he appeared at before waiting for his body to stabilize itself.


    He was heading towards the direction of a grand fleet, with many fighters, small cruisers fighting everywhere. As for the large ones, the war was a long ranged firing between the two.


    He waited for a few minutes before muttering to himself: "Come out!"


    The next moment one hand held a long scepter with a jewel in its center. The other hand held a long and curved golden bow. It looked majestic with this luster over its surface and these fine engravings all over its curved body.


    "You look nice, Lara," he thought to himself.


    "Don''t flirt with me now, this fight isn''t going to be easy," she said before Stefanie stepped in to clear the doubt, "there is an elder of a shrine in the enemy ranks."


    "Oh, that''s why they acted this arrogantly and with such overconfidence?" he shook his head before thinking, "how strong is he?"


    "I think he won''t be stronger than the Immortal you once fought," Stefanie said, and this answer made Lara have some doubt. "Did you fight the shrines before?"


    "It''s a long story," he simply thought, "Stefanie can tell you about it later," he smiled as he wasn''t fazed to know the presence of one like the Immortal inside the enemy ranks.


    In fact he was excited, as this would be a good chance to test out his current strength.


    "Time to put in a good show," he held Lara and thought, "how can I use you?"


    "Just pull the string," she said.


    The moment he did so, an arrow of golden color appeared in the bow. It was one, and when he pulled the string more, it turned into a group of ten.


    "This is good," he thought before adding, "time to create some bangs." He then let the string loose, sending these arrows fast towards the distant fleet.


    "Oh, I feel slightly tired," he thought as the moment he released the arrows he felt some weakness haunting him. This was new as he never experienced such a reaction before.


    "Using me is taxing," and Lara proudly said.

 Chapter 184: Phoerinho

    James didn''t respond as he started to pull the string again. The arrows he sent were fast, yet the distance they had to cross was vast.


    As he launched the second round, he felt more weakness attacking him. "Isn''t there anything to reduce this backlash of yours? Hand me the other bow, I will use it."


    "What bow? I''m the only bow here!"


    "No, you had one bow, the one you tried to kill yourself and me with it."


    "I''m indestructible if hit with other artifacts, in fact if any artifact hit me he or she would be destroyed."


    "Alright mrs invincible, give me the other bow."


    "I told you, now bow here but me!"


    "Don''t waste your breath over her, come and teach her a lesson first to give you all her bows," Stefanie stepped in as well.


    "What the hell are you two talking about?!!" he shouted at them in his mind, "this isn''t the time for that! C''mon, hand me the other bow!"


    "No!"


    "Why don''t you turn into a dragon?"


    He paused, thinking about Stefanie''s suggestion. "Good advice," he thought while hearing a sound of growling coming from Lara.


    James didn''t delay as he closed his eyes, imagined his picture of the dragon before turning instantly into one.


    The moment he did, all the weakness and fatigue he felt before was gone! He felt as lively as ever! "Why didn''t you say that from the start? Huh?" he sneered at Lara, while holding her with his claw.


    "Ouch, you are hurting me! I''m a delicate woman, treat me nicely."


    "Do you want me to fire breath at you?"


    "You don''t know how to do that yet!"


    Her confidence told him that Stefanie must have spoken some words to her about his abilities. "But I can lick you, do you want that?" he sneered while enjoying this silence that came up after his words.


    "Good, be a good nice girl and endure," he inwardly laughed, "after all I''m thinking of coming to sleep with you ladies with this dragon of mine, hehehe."


    He then held the string, pulled it before releasing the arrows. He didn''t only get rid of the fatigue feeling, he also had his arrows'' number doubled.


    "Ouch, careful of your claws!"


    But on the other side, Lara seemed to be really in pain.


    "She is fine, she is faking it!" Stefanie said, and her words made James know she wasn''t!


    "You¡­ just wait when we return inside him, if I didn''t torture you to death¡­Ouch, careful, ouch¡­" Lara was enraged by Stefanie''s remark, yet she couldn''t continue a sentence without feeling more pain from James'' continuous string pulling and releasing.


    He didn''t stay alone for long, as after five minutes, and the destruction of hundreds of large cruisers, the main fleet of the enemy finally noticed his presence.


    "They are fast," he shook his head while glancing at the incoming cannon fires from many cruisers.


    "Use me to defend," Stefanie hurried to say, "I won''t let a scratch happen to you," she promised and the next moment he held her from the central jewel and pointed her out towards the incoming fire.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    Explosions started to rage on, yet nothing happened to James. Stefanie used a shield to surround him, and all the attacks fell without causing a single scratch on the three of them.


    "That''s nice, can you float alone?" he thought to himself.


    "Go and smash these bastards," she replied, while he let her in the space and started using his bow again.


    The first arrows he launched met the incoming fire and exploded, yet after a few minutes, the arrows managed to escape the fire and hit the distant cruisers firing at him.


    He wasn''t able to see things clearly outside the shield of Stefanie, so he didn''t notice the large number of small and medium sized cruisers that were trying to get near him.


    And the arrows he launched managed to take them off guard, destroying all before heading towards the large cruisers in the back!


    Amidst all these attacks, the shape of James appeared in front of everyone; a dragon!


    A dragon holding a strange golden bow and scepter with a shiny jewel in the center.


    James didn''t know but the elder of the shrine of light in the fleet noticed his presence a long time ago. He didn''t hurry to come out and face him.


    First he was surprised to see someone as young as him having two artifacts; both were top grade!


    Also he didn''t want to volunteer, after all he came here on a commission to safeguard the princess when they captured her.


    His contract didn''t include anything about his taking part in the fight to capture the princess, or even mentioned the presence of someone like James, a powerful young user.


    "That''s promising," he muttered as he watched what James was doing, "he could use both artifacts efficiently without being over exhausted, interesting."


    Despite the distance, the elder of the shrine of light, Phoerinho could see James and his doing through his sharp eyes.


    He was specialized in two things; using his superb eyes, and forecasting the future events.


    "I wonder if they would ask for my help," he greedily smirked as he wanted to gain more benefits from this simple campaign. "But what does a young sprout like him do here? Wasn''t everyone preparing for the tournament already?"


    This was one of the things that puzzled him, alongside with the identity of the shrine James belonged to. "A dark scepter and light bow, how can both meet without clashing together?" he muttered, but he didn''t have time to think deeply about that.


    A messenger just entered his dorm, delivering the request of the higher ups for him.


    They wanted to hire him to face this boy.


    Phoerinho if had quite some time to think deeper about this situation, he would have reached a conclusion about James'' identity.


    And he wouldn''t be so foolish to stand out and face him!


    He would have run away, far as much as he could from here. Just like the Immortal and Dora''s mother did.


    Yet he was blinded with his own greed, accepted the task without any second thoughts. All he cared and talked much about was his own demands! Which were all granted by the general himself.


    He only had to go out and kill this boy, a simple task for him, for a shrine elder like him.


    James was still attacking the cruisers, yet the moment Phoerinho stepped out of one large cruiser he sensed an old feeling.


    A feeling of imminent threat eyeing him!


    "Is that shrine elder coming here" he thought to himself while the two girls went silent for a moment before Stefanie exclaimed in surprise: "You can now sense from so much distance? That''s an improvement!"


    "Sleeping daily with you can improve me far more than that," he teased her before adding, "can you assess his strength?"


    "He is stronger than you, in the light energy of course," Lara said before adding, "so using this lewd scepter here would be the most appropriate thing to do."


    "He can''t unleash my full strength yet!" Stefanie argued, not feeling any offense of Lara''s words.


    "I will support him, don''t worry yourself."


    "Support him¡­ how?" Stefanie laughed a loud and sexy laugh that made James even pause in his own attacks. "Stop it you two, after this I swear I will discipline you till you lose your consciousness under me!"


    "She started it!"


    "She is the lewd one!"


    "Shut up and focus!!!"


    He was so enraged that if he wasn''t in such a dangerous fight already, he would prefer to go inside his soul room, dragging those two playful sexy and make sure they would be properly disciplined.


    "Can your arrows kill him?"


    "Kill? Say even scratching him will be difficult from this distance," Lara replied on his sudden question.


    "He is this strong!"


    "He isn''t, yet he has such a defensive shield that is slightly one step behind me. With it I can''t attack him, yet she can."


    "Am I not weaker than you?" Stefanie smirked.


    "Don''t play dumb! You already know the reason! You have a dark side, and he is light, so you are the perfect match for him than I!"


    "Are you a light based artifact?" James asked, as he didn''t ever think this vulgar lady in the bed, this aroused and always obsessive with Stefanie , was a light sided artifact!


    "What? Ain''t I look angelic and holy as light? Can''t you see the arrows? I''m GOLDEN!" she said and he just went silent, not knowing if he should laugh or mock her!


    "Alright, holy angelic sexy lady, can you be generous and start to be ready? Both of you?"


    "One request," Stefanie said, and he instantly guessed what she wanted!


    "The shield is off limit!" he hurried to refuse her request head on.


    "The shield is a she not he, and I don''t like eating a girl like me," Stefanie said, and before she continued, Lara stepped in, "Sure, you love ladies eating you, right sweetie?"


    "Grrr¡­" James roared and the stopped their war, loudly, before Stefanie said:


    "I want other artifacts, this man is FAT!"


    "Is he this big?" James muttered to himself.


    "Not in size, she meant he is filthy rich. Probably one of those elders with dark reputations," Lara said.


    "Edler of shrine of light with dark reputation, and an artifact of shrine of light that loved to torture girls, sigh," James muttered to himself, teasing Lara before adding, "be ready, I can feel him coming near!"

 Chapter 185: Facing Off the Light Shrine Elder

    James wasn''t exaggerating, as in the next few moments Phoerinho appeared to come, holding a large oval shaped strange shield and a long sword that looked like a spear!


    The moment he approached James he didn''t hold back, as he waved his sword trying to kill him.


    "Stefanie!" James muttered before the rod moved on her own to stand between him and the incoming attack. The next moment a shield appeared around James, preventing the attack from landing on him.


    The sword moved back to the hand of Phoerinho, who stood in his place watching the rod going back to James'' hand. "Tsk, such a gem wasted in the hands of some foolish weak kid," he then glanced at James as he added, with his voice appearing directly in James'' mind:


    "Listen kid, as long as I''m here you can''t move an inch forward. To be honest, they hired me to kill you but I like your artifacts. I want them both! In exchange I will let you leave here with your life."


    James glanced at him before deciding to answer him in actions. He tightened his grip over Stefanie as he muttered: "show me your magic once more."


    "¡­"


    Stefanie wasn''t prepared to ignite herself to use all her abilities like the first time she did when she met James. Yet, she knew if she continued to extract his energy he would be instantly weakened.


    So, she had to time her moves right, not to unleash all her abilities from the start. She had to wait, select the right time to attack, and select the right attack to use.


    "Just wave me and I will hit him," she said, and James complied.


    As he waved her, she started to elongate, covering the distance of hundreds of meters in a short time. This seemed weird, yet James had seen such a trick before.


    "Such an amateur attack won''t hit me," the voice of Phoerinho appeared in his mind as the rod easily was evaded by the elegant moves of his.


    "Stop me now!"


    Stefanie suddenly shouted and James did what she asked for. Despite him feeling how impossible to stop her, yet when he stopped his hands she stopped with him.


    Then she got elongated, and the next moment spikes started to appear from her end, hitting everywhere!


    This sudden attack came out of Phoerinho''s expectations, yet he was so much experienced as he moved his shield to stop the attack.


    "Use me," suddenly Lara said, and the next moment she went on her own to fly in front of James.


    All he needed was to just let one hand pull the string, and then let the arrows be unleashed. Lara took care of the aim, so when he let the arrows loose, they went directly towards Phoerinho.


    He was surprised to see such an attack coming at this timing, so he hurried to wave his shield, yet Stefanie bent herself, making a curvy end where many spiked started to appear.


    And this time she kept firing the spikes towards Phoerinho, targeting his back!


    One attack from from, and one from behind; while Phoerinho was pressured in between the two!


    "How is this even possible! Two opposite energies are joining together to aid you?" This attack proved to Phoerinho that James wasn''t just waving the artifacts without using their full potential; he was totally controlling them.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" his eyes shone, and his face paled! There was only one explanation for him, and this made his entire body shudder!


    "I need to leave," this was the result he reached, and to do so he had yet to stop these attacks from hitting him.


    "I have to use her then," he gritted his teeth and then his sword vanished, and instead of it a giant knife appeared.


    This knife was long and curved, with a tapering end and sharp edge. Its body was pulsating in dark red color. The moment Phoerinho took it out, James felt a surge of energy emanating from the knife, hitting Phoerinho, his two girls, and himself.


    "Stop resisting," Phoerinho thought to himself trying his best to control this rebellious knife while enduring the backlash coming from her.


    "Oh gosh, she is the queen," Lara suddenly exclaimed out in shock, while Stefanie muttered in disbelief, "no way, is this the queen? Can I hug her?"


    "Stay back," Lara shouted, as she hurried to say, "this girl is really explosive. Come here and let''s hope this crazy dude never controls her."


    Just as Phoerinho was trying to aim the knife towards Stefanie, the latter moved back, shrinking fast until she regained her original size.


    "Is she this angry all the time?"


    "Her kin is always angry!"


    "Excuse me ladies, can someone explain what the heck you two are speaking about?"


    James waited, patiently for any of the girls to speak and explain what this queen was. yet the two were immersed in their own thoughts, so he had to yell at them.


    "She is a special kind of artifact," Stefanie said, before waiting for Lara to fill in the gaps.


    "She was born from the universe itself. It was said all queens hailed from lands of disaster and slaughter. They have no mercy, show no compassion, and their mission is to kill everyone."


    "Even her master?"


    "Even her master," Lara replied before taking a deep breath, "their biggest grudge is against their masters and those who are spreading chaos and destruction all over the universe.


    Some went even to say they were the embodiment of the wrath of the universe against us. No one managed to ever tame one, and even artifacts didn''t escape their wrath."


    James understood how violent this knife was. "She looks angry, yet I don''t see what strength she had," he muttered.


    "She¡­" Lara paused before adding, "she is like you, having both light and darkness inside them."


    "Oh, really?"


    "That''s one of the reasons the elders and the high council stated that you are the messenger of destruction and death."


    "Like these queens, right?"


    "Yes."


    James just shook his head. "What''s the plan now?" he asked as he noticed that Phoerinho was very angry and impatient, finding it hard to deal with the knife even with both his hands.


    "He will try to make her clash with us first, so we need to move as far away from him now," Lara said.


    "You seem quite familiar with these queens," he muttered to her, before adding, "do you know how I can move now?"


    "You are a dragon, flip your wing and fly!" Stefanie said, as she was feeling odd staying in the corner silent watching the two flirting together in front of her!


    "We are in space."


    "Just do it!"


    James didn''t delay and started to flap his wings. The next moment he found his body moving; like really flying!


    "Amazing!'' he muttered before he thought about the ships in the distance. "What about them?"


    "Don''t worry, if this queen wasn''t controlled soon, this elder is doomed to die alongside many of the ships nearby," Lara sneered while adding, "it was his fault."


    "For taking her out?"


    "For coming here to face you, hehehe."


    "Hahaha!"


    "Really funny, can you two stop talking about things I don''t know!"


    Stefanie was angry, as she felt James getting closer to Lara, and she had this strange feeling of being threatened.


    "What? Jealous already? Don''t worry, you are his girl as you are mine, hehehe."


    Lara was speaking carefree like if the fight already ended. James understood she was speaking out of her experience, hoping she would be right.


    "You damn abomination! I won''t let you run away!" Phoerinho''s voice thundered with anger in James'' mind before starting to move forward chasing him.


    "He is coming, should I fire a couple of arrows at him?" James asked as he turned to see Phoerinho coming with much anger towards him, while facing such a hard time controlling the knife with both hands.


    "Don''t!" Lara hurried to warn him, "this can''t be done, if this crazy queen touched any of us, even our arrows, she would leave him and attack us!"


    "This is his trap then," James nodded before adding, "that''s why you asked for Stefanie to come back fast!"


    "Sure, if she stayed there, she would have fallen in that elder''s wicked trap."


    "Sigh, a light shrine elder with a wicked mind, sigh," James shook his head while continuing to flap his wings with all his might. He was moving fast, yet not enough to outrun that persistent elder.


    "Try to make him near his fleet, not yours," Lara said as she noticed James was heading closer to his fleet. "Hurry," she urged, and James changed his course of flying, taking a wide detour before heading again towards the invading fleet.


    "Try to make them fire again at you," Stefanie suddenly said, with a soft chuckle. "Oh, you are bad," James understood her meaning as he laughed before holding Lara and launching a couple of times towards the far fleet.


    "Let them attack, let them fall in the scheme of their henchman, hehehe."

 Chapter 186: Sirene

    James started to rain the hostile fleet with arrows, destroying dozens of cruisers and many fighters before they started to shoot back at him.


    At this moment, he was still chased by the grestly infuriated Phoerinho. He was still having trouble dealing with his knife, and just as he was trying to get James into his trap, shots started to fall on him from the friendly cruisers.


    "Stupid people!" he exclaimed to himself in shock while the knife took these attacks as being challaenging to her. The next moment the knife stopped resisting him for a bit, while it started launching attacks back at the fleet.


    Great slashes went towards the fleet, each was quite enough to destroy tens of large cruisers in one hit! James glanced at this scene and felt his scalp numb.


    "Quite scary your queen is," he muttered to himself while doing his best now to escape the incoming threat.


    "She is just an aggressive lady, that''s all."


    "More aggressive than you?" James inwardly laughed at Lara who just sneered and didn''t retort back.


    The chase kept going like this for a long time. During which James kept luring the enemy cruisers into attacking him, while Stefanie kept all the attacks away from him.


    "How long will this continue?" he asked while stealing a rapid glance at Phoerinho.


    "It will take longer," Lara replied, before adding, "after all you now distracted her from her master. She will take more time to screw him."


    ''Hehehe, as long as she kept crushing those arrogant bastards, I don''t mind at all!"


    He kept his tactic while Phoerinho was cornered in such a position that he couldn''t retreat and only could advance despite all the odds.


    He knew these losses would be great to his allies. Thousands of cruisers were already destroyed on the hands of his knife alone! And yet he failed to let James fall in his trap!


    "I can''t stop chasing, or he will run further away," he muttered to himself before taking the risk of holding the knife with one hand and the other held a long spear. "Let''s see if you can run away now," he sneered before throwing the spear towards the front.


    He targeted the place James was supposed to reach. The next moment James saw a long trail of light passing above his head, aiming for the spot he was heading to.


    "He seems pissed off," he wasn''t enraged or startled by this, as he laughed on the pathetic tries of Phoerinho.


    Without further ado he changed his course, heading towards the direction of the hostile fleet again before returning to his original course. Now he was flying amidst endless attacks from Phoerinho, some even tried to target him with no result.


    His speed was fast, and that made Phoerinho more enraged. "Damn you, cursed boy. Why are you so slippery like this?!!" he was now feeling more pressure coming from the knife.


    Yet he didn''t stop launching attacks towards James, hoping one of them might succeed and fall upon him.


    With time, James started to be cornered by these attacks; even some started to fall upon him. Stefanie had it hard to defend him, yet she managed to get him out of all attacks unscathed.


    "This man is really persistent," James sneered before glancing at the distant fleet. They seemed much humiliated with all their losses and even summoned more cruisers to help!


    This made his attacks easier to cause damage, and the attacks coming from the knife intensified, making their losses escalate to a new level.


    No matter what they tried, they couldn''t stop James. Even when they sent an entire fleet towards him, formed of fighters and small cruisers; he wasn''t fazed!


    He attacked, and his arrows managed to hit many of them. Yet the main damage came from the knife, and in addition to reinforcements that came towards his direction at last.


    "Rigo, he sure knows how to make an entrance," James muttered while feeling much relieved by the incoming fleet of fighters and cruisers from his side.


    The battle turned from one on one fight to a grand fleet fight. And this spot turned to be the heart of this battle; where everything would be determined here.


    James kept his initial strategy rolling, despite the fact that many of his fighters and cruisers were caught in the fire from him or the knife.


    Yet he didn''t hesitate to push forward in this plan. After all this was the only plan he got!


    "The knife is getting berserk," suddenly Lara said, while James took a rapid glance at Phoerinho, seeing him struggling harder with the knife.


    "Finally," he sighed, as Phoerinho was forced to take back his sword and try to control the knife with both hands; yet he eventually failed!


    "Damn you all," he cursed while throwing the knife away and started to head in the opposite direction; running away with his life.


    Such a wise decision was taken too late indeed!


    The knife had already sat her gaze upon him, and when he ditched her she didn''t follow his throw and went fast to attack him from the back.


    A deep wound appeared on his back, while he gushed out a mouth full of blood. He took out all his artifacts; an army of fifty artifacts appeared hovering on top of his head.


    Yet the knife proved her reputation wasn''t groundless!


    She easily shattered many of them before finally falling on the neck of Phoerinho, severing it from his shoulders, sending it rolling away in space.


    Then she paused!


    "What is this monster going to do now? Shall I retreat? Shall my fleet retreat?" James suddenly felt nervous as he thought the knife was sizing him up.


    "Don''t move an inch!" the nervous sound of Lara came to make him realize how bad his situation was; yet it was too late!


    The next moment the knife started to move, heading directly towards him.


    "Run!" she shouted, and with his all might he flapped his wing running away like Phoerinho tried to do.


    And like Phoerinho, he failed to outrun this monster!


    The knife reached him in mere moments, even before he could catch up speed. She stood motionless in front of him, blocking the path of his retreat.


    "Damn! I''m screwed!" he tightly grabbed the bow and the scepter in both hands while vigilantly watching the silent monster blocking his path.


    "Run the other way!" Lara shouted, and just as he was about to move towards a certain direction, it got blocked again with the knife!


    "Damn! It''s war then," he was ready to fight for his life here, not ready to fall this easily!


    Despite knowing how futile this was, he didn''t lose hope in escaping with his head on top of his shoulders.


    "Master, don''t you know me?"


    Suddenly this soft voice came to his mind, cutting off the nervous train of his thoughts.


    "What you just called me?" he thought to himself while glancing with surprise towards the knife.


    "Master, sigh¡­ it seems your reincarnation went astray as you feared!"


    The voice came again with such softness that could melt his heart. "Am I your master? The master of such monsters?" he muttered before realizing it wasn''t wise to insult such a merciless artifact like this!


    "Hehehe, like always you love to call me monster and I will never get tired of hearing this from you, hehehe."


    Yet the answer he got made him realize he was dealing with such a bloodthirsty artifact with a psychopathic personality!


    "I¡­ I don''t recall you at all," he honestly thought to himself before adding, "if I''m your master then come to me," he said, cautiously sizing the knife up.


    And the knife didn''t answer by words of thoughts, as she moved towards him, calmly and confidently like an obedient girl.


    And then she stood a few centimeters away from his right hand, the hand carrying Lara. "Scram, this is my favourite place you meager artifact!" and the next moment he heard another tone, a dominant and arrogant one, totally opposite to the sweetness he once heard.


    Lara didn''t dare to argue with her, as she vanished the next moment. "he is all yours," she muttered before entering again inside his soul room.


    "Master," the sweet voice appeared again which caused the hair of James to stand to no end! He held the knife gracefully in his hand, and strangely the moment he did he felt some familiarity with her.


    "Feels odd, right?" she said before adding, "I''m Sirene, and I was once one of your favorite out there. Hehehe, the other girls will go insane knowing I met you first."


    He didn''t know what to say except: "I''m James."


    "James? That''s a weird name indeed," she laughed shortly before adding with her sweet tone, "I''m pretty sure when we go inside your room, I will be sure to remind you of my great flavor and taste."


    He swallowed his throat before an explosion hit him out of the blue! The sound startled him greatly, dragging him back to the real world again!


    "Damn you! Can''t I have mere words with my beloved man?" and the response didn''t come from him, but from Sirene. "I thought of letting you go in celebration of my reunion with my love, yet here you are. Tsk," her angry tone was really different, much different than the tone she spoke with James.


    And the next moment James felt his hand move on its own while Sirene sent many slashes towards the distant fleet.


    He didn''t do anything, or he didn''t need to. Sirene did everything for him amidst her roars, screams of anger, and loud dirty curses!


    "F*ck you all! I will f*ck you''re a*ses!"


    She kept raging on them while James'' hand kept swaying right and left, sending off such a mighty barrage of attacks towards the fleet near and far.


    And suddenly the entire world turned into a world of explosions and ruins; with no ship escaping this fate no matter where it was!


    "S- Scary!" and James just realized how mighty and domineering Sirene was, "Yet you are my baby, little naughty monster, hehehe."

 Chapter 187: Balls

    Despite all her outburst attacks, the enemies were much more stubborn than James thought! "These folks¡­ do they have a suicidal wish or what?" he said to himself while watching more fleet ships coming his direction in grand appearance.


    "The entire fleet is here then," he reached this conclusion after seeing the endless ships and fighters coming this direction, "we should retreat then," he said to his girls.


    "No, let me vent out my happiness to meet you for a bit," her words were really weird! "Vent your happiness?" he said in a very puzzled tone.


    "This is what you used to describe me back in the days," her voice came softly while her angry screams ruined her sweet image again, "you always loved to say when I''m happy or sad, I will vent both on my enemies."


    "Wise words¡­" he didn''t know what to say as he paused while his arm never stopped moving.


    "Stefanie, start defending with all your might," he said, as he knew the next battle would be intense.


    "Sure," Stefanie seemed an obedient girl and just agreed without adding more words. "Tsk, these girls," he shook his head, as fear much dominated his two old girls of his new one.


    As he feared, the moment the new fleet arrived nearby, shots started to rain over him. He didn''t stand still, as he kept moving from place to another.


    Yet the density of the fire made his attempts pointless. Stefanie had the hammer hard on her, yet she didn''t fail to block any attack.


    As for Sirene, she kept attacking while crazily shouting and cursing in vulgar words. James had gone numb hearing her curses and shouts, and her attitude started to become more of a habit now.


    As for his own fleet, it seemed Rigo had sensed how much danger it was to come near him. So he ordered the fleet to stay back and use long ranged cannons only. He even prohibited the ships and fighters from crossing an imaginary line drawn from James'' position.


    And as his leader''s place kept changing all the time, he had to update the data to cope with this.


    Yet this proved worthy, as the losses in the fleet diminished to a shallow figure. Only some ships were lost during the exchange of fire from the hostile fleet, and not from the friendly fire of James and his scary knife.


    This fight continued to rage on, and despite all the invading fleet attempts to kill James; they failed even to get near him!


    Sirene''s offense was monstrous, and Stefanie''s defense was enough to keep him secured. After three hours of this stressful battle, the invading fleet seemed to realize the foolish decision of underestimating James.


    So they started to retreat, regroup at a distant point from James that seemed like a small star.


    "They ran fast, those bastards!" Sirene was still mad! Even after venting off all her steam this long, she was still mad!


    "Calm down, we will hunt them down," James just tried to cool her off, yet he didn''t know his words made her more fixed on killing them.


    "Fly to them now, we need to finish them off."


    "A danger foe is approaching?"


    "Nah, I hate to leave behind any living witnesses, that''s all."


    "¡­!!!"


    James was surprised to say anything, and yet she insisted. "Go now, or else they would run further away."


    "Alright," he said, flapping his wings and leading the entire fleet towards the front.


    Rigo thought his leader would first retreat to his cruiser before hunting them down. Yet when he saw James pressing forward, he thought his leader was still mad at these enemies for coming here asking for his girl.


    And so he didn''t delay and ordered the fleet to follow their leader''s suit.


    And as such, even when the hostile fleet retreated, they were ferociously hunted down by James and his fleet. The battle kept raging like this for an entire day, while James didn''t feel fatigue or tired at all.


    "Weird, all this time fighting and flying, yet I''m still feeling refreshed like I just woke up from my bed!"


    "That''s my charm effect, master. You loved me for that charm effect so much that you always asked me to never leave your side ever."


    The soft tone of Sirene made his heart palpitate. "Soon," he said to himself, trying to make his desire settle down for a bit.


    For now at least!


    The size of the enemy fleet had greatly diminished, yet they couldn''t run away using the hyperdrives. Everytime they create a distance, they would be followed at once with James and his fleet.


    And fire hit them all without exception, making their tries to run away fail.


    Again they ran, and again they were hunted down.


    "Finally having some balls!" Sirene said while her tone seemed quite savage than usual, "I love crushing those balls with my hands all the time!"


    And her words made James feel the pain already! "C''mon, be gentle to the balls!" he shouted to her.


    "Master, not every ball is worth my utmost devotion. You will see, with my fingers and lips, tongue and breaths; you will be satisfied more than you think. I missed you so much, and many men tried to put their filthy hands on me and failed! Only you, only master can open the lid off my jar and let the old lewd girl of me show up again."


    Her words made James''s saliva running and his body burning with desire. "Not now, soon, calm down a bit, hold yourself," he tried his best to remain calm, yet his body was already unsteady from desire.


    "Hehehe," and she only laughed, enjoying this reaction from her beloved master.


    "You bastards, come here and die! Why do you take all this time to come? Man up and gather your sh*t and don''t run!" Yet in the next moment, the rude vulgar version of her crushed everything she just built.


    "Gosh," and James just sighed, while feeling lucky for her to be this way.


    And also weird!


    As for Rigo, Dora, Anasta, and the rest of his fleet, they stood behind him a couple of miles in space, attacking from far and trying to intervene whenever a fighter or a cruiser escaped from Sirene''s brutal attacks.


    Yet this was rare.


    "The supreme leader is acting weird this day," Rigo muttered in his large cruiser with Dora and Anasta on his side.


    "I agree," Dora said.


    "He looks¡­ different," Anasta joined in, "but this really touched my heart. Having such a man that wouldn''t hesitate to do anything to protect you is such a priceless feeling," she added while chuckling.


    "I agree," Dora said.


    "You girls are lucky to have him," and Rigo just tried to make the picture of his supreme leader more prominent, "see how he kept chasing them for hours and hours without even thinking of returning back to the ship and gain some rest?"


    "That''s really a bold move from him," Dora commended.


    "A move I would love to see all the time," and Anasta joined her, "I wish I was Islinda. Have she heard the news?" she said.


    "She asked for a transmission, and I sent her one," Rigo replied, "she was first shocked by what I said, then when she saw things with her own eyes she believed what was going on."


    "Was she thinking he would dump her?" Dora commented, recalling what James did to save her back in the day. "this isn''t the first time for him to do that."


    "Agreed."


    "Really? Tell me the story," As for Anasta, she didn''t know about this history in detail, and Rigo took the chance to narrate what happened.


    "Oh, he isn''t a soft boned youth then," Anasta said in surprise and admiration.


    "Watch your words please," yet Rigo didn''t agree to let this slip of tongue slip by.


    "Sorry, I was thinking about what he will do if I was in danger as well," Anasta said, as if she was talking to herself.


    "Don''t worry, he risked all this for me even when we have known each other for hours," Dora said.


    "And in return she tried to kill him," Rigo joked, and his words made the heart of Dora shudder.


    "You tried to kill him? Have you lost your mind back then?"


    Anasta couldn''t believe Dora''s actions. "That¡­ that was a mistake I will never commit again," and Dora stuttered, lost in thoughts, before expressing her firm resolve.


    "Better for you to not do that," Anasta honestly said, "as this man won''t be free for long, and I won''t let any chance escape my grasp to get him closer to me than you," she added, while her eyes shone with admiration for what James did, and kept doing to those who thought of touching one of his girls.


    As she was already one of those girls.


    "Lucky me," she said to herself, thanking destiny to throw her in his path at the right time.

 Chapter 188: A Threatening Message

    The fight turned into a chase, and James was forced to follow his crazy knife to the end. At last all the cruisers were crushed, and nothing remained.


    "See? This is me venting out my happiness, my love," and the moment she finished all her screaming and shouting, she said in a very seductive tone, like a caring person.


    "Sigh," he just shook his head before adding, "go inside for now. I will come to you later."


    "I will wait then," she said before moving his arm to come closer to him, in a move that gave him a scare, "and I will make sure you taste something you forgot for a long time ago."


    "Ahem, sure," he tried to act cool and collected, yet his voice came out quite nervous.


    "And I will be waiting," then she finally disappeared, making him heave a sigh of relief. "Don''t be this stressed like that, I''m your first girl after all and I got your back," and Stefanie just said before vanishing as well.


    "I hope you can protect yourself," he bitterly laughed as he knew what Stefanie did when Lara came.


    "Wow, my soul room must be crowded by now," he said before muttering, "what are they doing inside?" he resisted the urge to take a fast glance at them.


    He was tired, exhausted from all this fighting and running. He just needs to go back to a regular means of travel in space; his cruiser.


    So he changed his path of flight and headed directly to the nearby fleet. Rigo moved his cruiser to meet him, and then he was finally relieved from this strenuous flight.


    And once his feet touched the ground, his dragon form changed back to human. He stood on the cold floor, feeling strange about being human once more.


    "Being a dragon was something cool after all," he shook his head before taking the train to the main deck.


    Until he reached the deck, everyone he met looked at him in such veneration. Yet he didn''t care for that. All he cared for right now was a good bath, a good bed, and good soft company.


    "Welcome back," Rigo was the first to meet him, and then Anasta ran to throw herself in his embrace. "I was deadly worried about you," she said and she meant it.


    "And me too," Dora refused to budge and said, trying to express her emotions yet paled in front of Anasta.


    "Tsk, Luna is the perfect rival for you," and in the middle of Anasta''s care and sincere words and touches, Dora inwardly cursed her.


    "How about the base? Have the rescue team finished their task?" he asked after sitting on the main seat, having Anasta replacing Luna as he played the girl.


    "They are about to finish," Dora said, trying to remind him of her existence, "I''m supposed to go and aid them," she added, before being silent. She wanted to say I was so worried about you so I didn''t go, and James just understood what she wanted to convey.


    "Good, find someone to replace you then," he smiled before adding, "the two of you will stay for me today."


    "Well," Rigo said, before adding, "Should we stay here or go back to our capital? Islinda is much worried as well."


    "Tell her the developments and set course home," James agreed on Rigo''s suggestion before adding, "also make our allies send a delegation each. I will have a grand meeting with them later."


    "Sure," Rigo and the other two girls understood what he intended to do. With the sudden appearance of those outsiders, things started to be more serious for him.


    "Let''s go," he then stood from his seat, craving for his dorm. "Wait, there is a message sent from deep space," yet Rigo stopped him in such an urgent tone, "it seems coming from outside our great sector," he added as he went to the communication unit and stood there for a couple of minutes.


    "It''s coming for¡­ you!" Rigo was surprised, as he didn''t know the name of his leader would be known far and wide outside their great sector.


    "Alright, play it then," James didn''t care about that, yet he wanted to end things here fast to sleep.


    The next moment the hologram showed a face of a youth, not too much older than James.


    Yet he looked arrogant, as if nothing in the entire world was worth his gaze!


    "I was told this transmission would arrive to you, so listen to my words well and think carefully about them; James the cursed child. You have something that belongs to me.


    Islinda hails from such a noble origin that even staying at your empire would be tarnishing to her reputation. I know you have tasted a tiny bit of my strength, and I have seen all you have got.


    I''m frankly disappointed! Your power can''t even be compared to one of my butlers! And your pathetic groupy of planets that dare to call themselves an empire is a shame to all true empires in this world.


    You are a lie, and everything you stand for is a lie. It''s best for your interest to surrender her willingly, as I will generosity grant you what you desire. Yet, if you became this arrogant child, then like your daddy I will come and discipline you by death.


    You have fourteen days to consider, and a brand new fleet will visit your home. I know where you live, and I keep eyes on you and on my beauty. If you tried to be funny and hide her, I will know.


    Think well and give your answer to my commander. It''s an honor for you to set eyes on someone like me. Scram!"


    The tone, the words, and the attitude of this youth made James forget all his exhaustion and felt greatly enraged. His dragon shadow appeared once more, and this time the dragon was furious.


    "Who the hell is this person?" James pointed at the hologram fixed on the face of that youth.


    "I don''t know," Rigo shook his head before adding, "despite his arrogance, I see we treat this very seriously."


    James agreed on Rigo''s words, yet he was really infuriated at the moment. "Damn him! Can we send a transmission back?"


    "No, we can''t!"


    Rigo swiftly replied even without thinking. He knew that youth was arrogant and rude, yet he had the backing to be so.


    His leader was still green, needing more time to grow stronger. If he let the two clash together this early, then his leader would end up dead!


    Everything would be lost!


    "I can''t permit such a thing to happen," he said to himself.


    "Rigo¡­" James was furious, yet he realized what Rigo did.


    "We really don''t have the tech or the means to do so," Rigo insisted, and honestly he wasn''t lying.


    "Tsk," James was furious before glancing at the two girls who were feeling his rage, strangely as if it was theirs. "Set course to home, everyone will come with us, everyone," James said as he put his arms around the waist of the two girls, "and send a word to Islinda, make her pay everything and amass much more fleets and soldiers."


    As he was about to leave he paused. "Make her do this in secret, send them away from our capital. And Rigo¡­" he glanced directly at his eyes, "we have spies."


    "I will do my best," Rigo lied again, as this was something no one could control!


    The number of visitors to his capital on a daily basis was enormous; impossible to monitor or control.


    If his enemies wanted to plant a spy, they could easily do that in the form of a merchant! Or much easier they could do that through buying one of the merchants off.


    James went to his dorm where he vented his anger with the ladies for many hours before finally his exhaustion beat him and he went to deep sleep.


    He was angry, and his anger made the girls really depleted after he finished with them. So they also slept long and woke up even before he did.


    Just as he opened his eyes, he was startled to stand erect with much vigilance; he wasn''t inside his dorm. He wasn''t at his cruiser! He was in a huge garden that had no end.


    "What the hell?" he was shocked to see this scene that looked entirely real to him.


    "Slap!"


    He slapped his face to wake himself up, yet he found that he wasn''t dreaming! "What is going on here?" he checked everything around him in much vigilance, yet he found nothing of danger here.


    In fact this place provided him with such tranquility he never felt before. "This is dangerous," he muttered, as this place could even cloud his own senses and judges. "Show yourself," he shouted, "no matter who you are," he muttered to himself while thinking back to how he appeared here.


    "Don''t be afraid, I mean no harm to you."

 Chapter 189: Gather Kings and Feed Them to Your Sexy Queens!

    The voice came soft and gentle, yet it made James quite nervous. He vigilantly looked around, and saw none. "Show yourself," he demanded, while trying to summon his artifacts.


    Yet none of them responded! And this fact startled him even more, making him more dreadful to this place.


    "Don''t be afraid, I mean no harm," the voice tried to reassure him, "in the dream world of the shrines, you can''t bring forth any weapons."


    The voice tried to explain things to him. "Where is this place? How did I come here?"


    "You are chosen to be here. After all, you are the destined one."


    James was puzzled and confused, afraid and skeptical towards this place and this sound. "Why don''t you show yourself then? Am I that dangerous to you?"


    "I can''t, after all I''m just a mere soul living through all the ages and waiting for this moment."


    "What moment?"


    "The moment of your appearance."


    James started to gain a clue or two from these words. "You mean my dark and light energy?"


    "Sure, you can describe it like that. Yet for me, it''s called the divine ability."


    "Divine ability?"


    "The ability to raise you to become in the ranks of gods," the voice said, before adding, "yet this isn''t a guaranteed path for you. This path is a path of challenge and it''s really hard and risky."


    "Yeah, tell me about it," he sneered, "I have already tasted the risks coming with my existence. An abomination they call me."


    "Because they are afraid and envious of you," the sound replied, "yet for me you are the most sacred being in this universe."


    "Sacred?" he laughed, bitterly, before adding, "I''m almost killed because of this."


    "No power comes without a price, no privilege is gained without risks."


    "That''s¡­ indeed correct."


    "Alright, let me say what I wanted to tell you about," the voice suddenly became serious as its tone deepened, "the sacred rituals of the universe are already starting. Soon, you will be called."


    "By those filthy shrine elders?" he shook his head before adding, "they are such liars! How can you, how can the universe stay blind about their dirty deeds?!!"


    "You got me wrong," the voice corrected, "you will be summoned by the universe itself. No one has the right to speak or decide anything for the universe''s soul."


    "Soul?!" James paused for a moment there, "you are speaking about the universe as if it was alive."


    "He is alive, and he is waiting for his guardian to take this universe and all beings inside to another level."


    James didn''t fully understand these words, so he asked:


    "Do you mean¡­ me?" he pointed to himself before adding, "I can''t even protect myself, or my women."


    He bitterly stated the harsh truth, yet it was the truth.


    "Don''t belittle yourself. You are still learning your path to the true power you can hold. You need time, that''s all."


    "And mentors as well," he added, "I have no one here to guide me."


    "No one can guide you in your path; you are unique with no equal!"


    The words of this mysterious voice made him feel proud and doubtful. "If I don''t have anyone to guide me, how am I supposed to learn and get stronger then?"


    "Your path is yours only, you are the only one in the entire universe that can teach yourself about this. Even the universe''s soul can''t! I can''t even!"


    James stood there motionless, not knowing what to say. "So I have to discover things on my own? That¡­ would take much time and effort."


    "And price, much greater than you think. Yet, this is your path, you need to be courageous and venture it to the end."


    "I need help."


    "You only need to trust yourself. If the guardian doesn''t know the path, none will know it!"


    "Sigh," he sighed, shaking his head before adding, "so I have to try and level up my power fast, without guidance or even tips, right?"


    "Indeed."


    "What about my enemies then?"


    "They will try to kill you all the time, that''s a given fact."


    He was speechless for a moment there. "Yet your strength is unique, you can''t be easily killed. In fact, without all the upcoming life and death feuds, you won''t be able to find your path."


    "But I might lose everything I have."


    "This is your path, don''t blame me for this. Any path must have its own price, so accept it."


    "Tsk," he was annoyed with this, yet he didn''t know what to say to such logic!


    "The sacred selection tournament will be held soon. It''s a great thing, and don''t worry; you will have enough time to grow," the voice paused before adding, "yet I didn''t bring you here to tell you this."


    "Then what do you want?" he coldly replied, feeling no much affection to this mysterious sound who kept telling him only bad news one after another.


    "I want to give you a tip, a thing that legends said might help the chosen one."


    "Finally," he heaved a sigh of relief, without highing up his expectations. "what is it?" he demanded.


    "It''s the queens," the voice said, before adding, "I was triggered by your acquisition of the queen. This isn''t the only queen out there."


    "I know," James'' scalp went numb the moment he was reminded of Sirene! This girl was really hard to deal with, really dangerous to get on her bad side.


    "You need to start your expedition by harvesting them all."


    "All the queens?" he jokingly said, as he already had much headache dealing with one.


    "Yes, as the kings will be gathered up by your enemies; this was the prophecy in the ancient scriptures."


    "Kings?!" he was surprised to comment.


    "Sure, anytime there are queens, kings must exist."


    "So why don''t I have kings then?"


    "You can''t," the voice decisively replied, "the kings are lethal to your energy. They will suck you dry."


    "So are the queens," he sneered before adding, "yet if I met one I will acquire him for myself then. One less weapon for my enemies, even it''s useless to me."


    "No, if you met one," the voice paused before adding, "feed it to your artifacts."


    "What?!" he was speechless there, before laughing, "do you want them to be more aggressive?"


    "Sure, this was the way the queens were born after all."


    He went to silence for a moment, as he realized what this voice was trying to say. "the more queen I have the more I will be secured?"


    "The more your victory will be secured," the voice corrected, "you need to start soon, as your enemies also know about this prophecy."


    "Tsk," he sighed, "how can I find them in all the universe?" he shook his head as he added, "if not there are a bunch of the queens already in the possession of my enemies."


    "That''s a fact indeed," and the voice agreed, "yet here I step in to help."


    "How?"


    "This place is special," the voice didn''t directly answer, "no weapons are allowed here, and there is also another rule."


    The voice went silent or a moment before adding, "I can summon anyone with a queen in his possession once a week."


    "Summon¡­ like me?" he asked, before his eyes shone brightly as he got what the voice was trying to convey. "My dragon form," he muttered, finally realizing the scheme of this voice. "You are bad, hehehe, but I like you," he laughed, and this time he wasn''t that stressed or doubtful like before.


    "Thanks master," and the answer that came made him startle again.


    "Master?"


    "Sure, I''m the servant of the queen holder master."


    "So you are a servant to all of them as well?" he referred to all those having queen artifacts.


    "No, I can only serve one master, the one."


    "Me?"


    "Yes, but you need first to collect all the queens."


    The answer cleared many things in front of his mind. "Wait a minute, you are asking me to do that so you can serve me?" he expressed his own thoughts out, waiting for an explanation. "Why should I take all the trouble for you?" he asked, as this was the logical question in his mind right now.


    "Because I''m strong," and the simple answer that came was enough for him to understand.


    "You are confident."


    "I''m underestimating myself."


    "Not overestimating it?"


    "C''mon, give me some credit master. I can already suppress those lousy artifacts, even your vulgar queen!"


    This time the sound showed another face, and James was sure the voice would be such a sexy mature lady, spoiled with lust and desire.


    "Alright, don''t get mad," he chuckled, "I only don''t know you yet."


    "Soon you will," and the voice returned to its calm state once more. "Now you have the option to summon one and taste my powers; shall you?"


    James didn''t have anything to lose. "Let''s try it out then," he sneered, as he was pretty much confident if he went one on one without any artifacts with any of those dirty bastards calling themselves elders, he would be crushing them into a pulp of meat and blood with ease.

 Chapter 190: Move The Hips!

    The next moment a portal appeared in the place. It had black center with white edges, rotating around itself at a great speed. "Who will come?" he asked, trying to know anything about his opponent.


    "This¡­ I can''t control. But don''t worry, your dragon is mighty," the soft voice chuckled, and James didn''t say anymore.


    The next minute, the portal kept spinning without showing anything else. In a moment a sudden rumble occurred, and the next a middle aged man appeared out of nowhere.


    He stood there, not knowing what was going on. He glanced around and all he could see was a youth glancing back at him fixedly like he was eyeing a prey.


    "Hey kid, do you know what this place is?"


    "Yes," James nodded, "it''s your graveyard," he added with an evil smile. The response made the man vigilant. He now knew he wasn''t in a friendly territory.


    The next moment, the man''s face changed and James knew the reason. "Don''t bother, you can''t summon your artifacts here."


    "Really? And you think you can kill me with that fragile body of yours?" the man was surprised, yet not worried. He was confident in his ability in smashing this arrogant youth and turned this place to his graveyard instead.


    "Big words, I hope you can support them," James laughed and the next moment the man started to change.


    His body started to grow bigger until he had double the size of his initial shape. "Happy and confident now? Come and let me teach you a lesson, a deadly lesson."


    "The same is for you," it was James'' turn to change. The next moment his body turned bigger, and a grand dragon appeared in front of the man''s eyes.


    James'' dragon was much bigger, with those scales and wings he looked scarier. "W- Who the hell are you?" the man stuttered while retreating a couple of steps back.


    "I''m your death messenger," James laughed while walking to that man. "Come, let me kill you," he added while heading towards the man in steady steps.


    "Go away," the man started to shout and run. James glanced at this futile attempt to run away before flapping his wings and the next second they reached the man, falling upon him like giant rock.


    "Boom!"


    The ground shook from the heavy weight of James, and the man was instantly crushed into the ground; nailed there!


    "Having trouble breathing?" James sneered, before adding, "don''t worry, soon you won''t be bothered by all these¡­ as a ghost you don''t need to breathe, hahaha."


    He was in a good mood! Just the idea of having a new queen made him excited. This man seemed to be a strong elder of a shrine, yet he was easily crushed by James like he was a child!


    "Go¡­ away!"


    The man tried his best to shout, yet his voice came muffled, interrupted with a low scream of pain. "Sorry, didn''t hear you well," James joked as the next moment he used his strong claws and grabbed the man from his neck.


    He moved away while lifting the man in the air. "Have any last words?" he said.


    "I will be avenged by my shrine. Rot in hell, bastard!"


    "Hahaha, wrong words indeed," James laughed before exerting more strength in his claws, and a pop sound emerged from the man''s neck.


    Simply like this, an elder of a shrine, a strong person died under his claws!


    "Congratulations, your first kill is now over and you gained everything that man''s soul had."


    The voice then went silent for a moment before a large number of weapons appeared in front of him. James was speechless for all these artifacts; reaching the number of twenty and exceeding it.


    Yet one of them managed to attract his attention more than the others; a dark red whip with black rod in its end.


    This one stood alone, while other artifacts seemed to be frightened of it. They all gathered up in one place, while the whip stood motionless in another.


    It stood for a few moments there before it noticed James, standing in his dragon form and beside him the dead body of her old master.


    Then she came to him.


    "Master, is that you?" the soft voice appeared in James'' mind, reminding him of the voice he heard from the previous queen.


    "Yes, it''s me," he answered, while glancing over the other artifacts. "You, come here all and don''t slack," he shouted, and those artifacts came to him obediently; not daring to speak.


    "From now on I''ll be your new master," he said, trying to act mighty and arrogant.


    "Master¡­ you seem¡­ different!" and the whip suddenly remarked.


    "I don''t have all my memories, yet¡­" he was about to continue when all of them suddenly vanished. "What? Where are they?" he hurried to ask.


    "This place is repelling artifacts like fire repelling coldness. I sent them into your soul before they got crushed here."


    The soft voice came again before adding, "now you can go back, and after a week I will summon you again for another battle," she said before adding, "and try to nourish your artifacts as much as you can."


    "I will."


    "And take care of yourself very well."


    "Don''t worry," he chuckled, and the next moment he felt himself spinning in a portal before landing heavily on the ground of his dorm.


    "I told you he is¡­" the next moment he heard this shout coming from the corridor leading to his room. Dora was there, coming with Rigo to check on him. "isn''t here¡­ where have you been? I searched all over the place for you!" and she shouted then at him!


    "I was just doing my own stuff," he lied before turning to Rigo, "where are we now?" trying to change the topic.


    His mind was still filled with many things to sort out. First he needed to enter his soul room and see the new acquisition there. He hoped to find new interesting specimens, if not then he would be settled with his two new queens.


    "They must be beauties," he said to himself.


    "We are on our way home, still needing some days to reach the capital," Rigo sensed his leader''s disturbed mind, yet he didn''t say anymore.


    "Great, I will go to meditate and train then," he said, before turning to Dora, "what will you do?"


    "Me?" she was still mad at him, not buying his silly excuse, "I will go and lead the fleet with Rigo," she said expressing her anger as she thought he wanted her to stay with him.


    Yet he didn''t.


    "Alright," he nodded before adding, "come to me when we arrive at the capital."


    "Will you stay all this time here?" she was shocked, as if she wanted to ask if he didn''t plan to invade them again, she and Anasta.


    "Sure," he smiled, calmly ignoring her hidden meaning, "I have many things I need to do and train as well," he said.


    "Do what?"


    "Training!"


    "That''s just a single thing!"


    "Yet I need to train."


    "Sigh, you are¡­" she paused, not knowing what to say to him. "forget it, I will go with Rigo and command the fleet."


    "Good luck then." He didn''t argue or stop her, as he watched the two moving out shaking their heads with puzzled expressions.


    "I need to train and amuse myself for some time," he was very eager to taste the new girls, and see if there was anymore coming with the new batch.


    "Yet that place," as he became all alone, he started to first check his room. There was nothing wrong with it. Not even a scratch!


    "How was I moved there and brought back then? How much time did I take?" he was curious about many things. "Sigh, many questions and no one around to answer," he shook his head, helplessly, before residing to drop this down.


    "That man came out of nowhere, like me as well," he thought while sitting on the bare ground, "so that means the only connection we had together was the queens," he reached this conclusion before muttering:


    "That means I''m connected to them, am I really their master? Am I their master reincarnation? And what about that prophecy? Sigh, more questions," he shook his head before closing up his eyes and entering his soul room.


    There he found a surprising scene waiting for him!


    Fourteen girl! Fourteen girls stood in two lines, dressing up in hot lingeries; short, tight, and transparent with different colors. Yet the red dominated the scene!


    In front of them, two girls stood there guiding them, like their coaches!


    "When you are on top, what will you do?"


    "Move the hips, c''mon, shake these hips fast and vigorous, make his shaft tremble and his body rumble!"


    "When you are on the belly, what will you do?"


    "Move the back, shake them hard and slow, dance like you are standing on flat ground and not kneeling on it!"


    "What the hell is going on here?!!!" and he stood simply there mesmerized; not knowing what to do!

 Chapter 191: The Sexy Arena - (R-18)

    The scene James was met with was way out of his expectations. He stood watching the normal reaction of two stunning beauties who led the others in this¡­ training!


    "Master," the two girls shouted at the same time. Both were really carved out of the goddess beauty, with one slightly shorter than the other; yet both were longer than every other girl here, and both wore transparent tight dresses reaching their knees with high heels


    Their hair, their faces, their bodies, even the way they walked and talked¡­ everything was just perfect! James didn''t know what to say, if it was up to him he wouldn''t ask and would do!


    "What the two of you are doing? And who is which?" his face exposed his aroused spirit yet his words were calm and collected.


    "I''m Sirene."


    "I''m Natalie."


    "Sirene, the knife, and Natalie, the whip?" he tried to confirm as he sensed already their auras and got some guesses.


    "Yeah," Ashley said while jumping up, with her big lumps bouncing up and down.


    "Master is right, always right," Natalie said in a calmer, much seductive way while approaching him. The way she looked at him, the places her fingers moved over slowly, and even the sound of her heels on the floor; all made James unable to hold back anymore.


    "Master, we were training for you," just as he was about to carry the two girls and start showing them the magnitude of fire they ignited inside him; Lara spoke up while moving in her usual domineering way clearing the path in front of her.


    Yet the two girls just gave her their backs and blocked the path to James.


    "Step back, sprout."


    "This stage is way above your ability, sprout."


    The two bosses said without even glancing over Lara. "What the hell?!!" and Lara just shouted out aggressively, "I was the first to sleep with him!"


    "Oh, you were the second," and Stefanie just moved to join her, "I was and still the first," she added, in such defiance, announcing her resolve to not let James for the two newcomers.


    "Oh, sprouts are trying to act wild," Sirene said as she turned to glance at the two girls. "What''s the best solution for fighting sprout rudeness, sis?" she added, directing her words to Natalie who turned as well to face the two girls, while saying:


    "We use the violent stripping tactic."


    "Oh, this will be fun," and James just snapped his fingers as a seat appeared behind him. "Go, fight and make me amused," he said while sitting on the seat, "the winning couples would be rewarded by a night, while others will come later if I had the time for that," he said, setting out the rules that popped up in his mind.


    "Oh, the sexy arena is back sis, hahaha!" and Sirene just laughed in a vulgar way, while Natalie clenched her fists together, tightly looking at the two challngers. "Two new rookies are going to be smashed by us, sis, hehehe," she laughed before adding:


    "But the sexy arena was a place for all of our sisters to battle. Last time I beat you, right?"


    "C''mon, that was after a sh*tty deal with Jenna!"


    The two seemed to recall past and ancient events related to what James said on a whim. "What are you two talking about?" he laughed while asking, "what is this sexy arena thing?" he added, trying to understand.


    "It''s the arena master who innovated a long time ago," Natalie said, in a very soft and seductive tone.


    "You had many queens and couldn''t find the suitable one to sleep with each night. So, you invented this, and this way we can form a team of two to fight against each other. The winners will have you for all the night," and Sirene said in a very excited tone.


    "And you two are so sure of winning?" Lara was really on the edge, shouting aggressively towards the two girls.


    "You.. will see babe," yet Sirene just sent her a kiss in the air while James asked: "What are the rules then? Fight to death? Or pillow fights?"


    "We tried the latter, but you soon got tired of it," Sirene said, before adding, "as for the first thing; it''s not practical. After all you were obsessed in creating more queens, not to kill us, hehehe, other than in bed of course, hehehe."


    She seemed quite energetic and excited, while Natalie added:


    "The rules are simple: the last team standing wins."


    "Standing on what?" Stefanie asked as she didn''t understand the meaning of this.


    "Your feet sweetie, your feet," and the tone and the way Sirene said these words made James realize he would definitely see something special.


    "Let''s smash their as*es, c''mon," Lara was already on fire, and the moment the two girls moved towards her, she said to Stefanie while raising her two fists in the air, preparing for a fight.


    Yet what happened next made not only her, but the entire group of sexy girls speechless! And James just laughed. "This is going to be epic!"


    The two girls let down all their clothes, exposing their fiery figure and sexual physique. They walked, one slow and heavy, showing off the curves of her body, while the other walked straight, using her heels to vibrate all her lumps in her body.


    This scene made Lara and Stefanie pause in their tracks. The moment Sirene and Natalie reached Lara and Stefanie, they started touching their bodies slowly and softly.


    Sirene stripped Lara off, while Stefanie was taken care of by Natalie. "This is really EPIC!" James just laughed in excitement while watching the girls playing with each other''s lumps, curves, and cracks with their fingers, lips, and tongues.


    "So, this is the last lady standing battle? Wow, I love it!" and after half an hour, Stefanie was the first to fall on the ground while losing herself in the moans and lust.


    When this happened, Natalie left her while moving towards Lara. "You lost, you are out," Natalie said these words in much amusement and pride, while she and Sirene took a very good care of Lara.


    Yet it took them another half an hour to make her fall! "You are a loser too," and Sirene just said this before firmly grabbing Lara''s hair and giving her a very hot and long French kiss before letting her head fall completely on the ground.


    "We are the winners, oh yea," Sirene shouted while swaying her body towards James.


    "You are mine, babe," and Natalie was already on and went faster than Sirene to jump over James, who simply snapped his fingers and the huge bed appeared under him instead of the seat.


    And the moment Sirene jumped over, she rapidly removed all his clothes, while Natalie came from the back to work her job with her mouth pretty well.


    James tasted the two, and to his surprise he felt a familiar taste in each of them. He didn''t think much about it, yet the screams, the moans, and even the call for help and stop filled the entire soul room for hours and hours.


    Finally he let them off, glanced at the new and old girls in his harem. "Come to me," like a devil seducing others, he invited and they answered.


    And the room kept shaking and raging again with screams and moans, and this time it took more than a day for him to finish.


    "Should I do this sexy arena in the real world?" he said to himself while recalling the events of this battle while sitting on his seat, Sirene on his lap, face down and back up.


    And his fingers were just moving between a small cleavage up her legs and caressing the two thin layers around it.


    And she just kept releasing muffled sounds; as she was like everyone else here; totally devastated and extremely exhausted to even shout!


    "I think the girls would mind, but¡­" he thought again about expanding his harem, "with the presence of lustful girls like Luna, I believe this contest can be done," he was so eager to try this out in his own harem in the real world.


    "After all, with rules no complaints will be heard out, right? Hehehe!" he was in a very good mood, as he vented out huge stress and deep desire.


    And without him noticing that, this long and vigorous love session had contributed a lot to his growing strength.


    "I should expect more visitors," he thought again about the threat that arrogant youngsters issue to him, "he thinks himself invincible? Humph," and James was pretty sure in one on one fight he would win.


    "I just hope you have one of the queens," he muttered before recalling the kings. "I shall turn these two into queens," he was talking about Lara and Stefanie, as both were his first ladies and foremost intimate ones to him so far.


    Even the two queens, they weren''t that sensitive to his touches like Lara and Stefanie. He knew this would change in the future, but as long as he had a way to make more queens, then he would make more of them for sure!


    "Time to go back then," he muttered before glancing over the curved perfect two small lumps in front of his face with the long slim ridge linked to the lower end of them, "but I shall play for a little here, hehehe," then his fingers went out of the deep hole they were playing in before he put his tongue instead and started licking.

 Chapter 192: Returning to The Capital

    "Are we there yet?"James asked Rigo while glancing at the speeding up space around them. They were moving fast, yet the universe was really huge.


    A week had already passed. During which James had more fun that he expected with the new girls.


    The addition of two queens acted like a boost to their lust. He felt quite satisfied with everything the two girls started doing inside his soul room.


    As for the sexy arena, it became one of his favorite moments ever!


    "We are almost there," Rigo replied while glancing around. "Haven''t they got back yet?" he asked, referring to Dora and Anasta.


    "No, they will need more hours," and James smiled proudly as he replied.


    "Sigh, we need to find you more then," Rigo laughed before adding, "I can find more if you like."


    "Sure, I agree with your vision," and James laughed with him.


    Rigo didn''t lie, as in less than a couple of hours the fleet had arrived successfully at the capital.


    "Wow, Islinda sure knows her work," and James was speechless at first when he saw all the extra structure being built around the planet. "Are these meant as stations? Is the planet this crowded?" he asked, while pointing out towards the many small rounded platforms appearing around the planet.


    "She might have an explanation for that," Rigo didn''t know what to say, yet he was pretty sure Islinda wouldn''t do anything pointless.


    She was the smartest out of all girls his leader had.


    "I know, she is more capable than others," and James just agreed with him.


    The next thing that happened was going into the planet itself. In contrast to James and Rigo''s expectations; the planet itself was extremely crowded!


    "This is a scene of what a capital of an empire should be," and Rigo praised, "it seems the planet was full so she had to adapt."


    "Nice move indeed," James agreed, "take us to the palace."


    The main ship entered the planet, guarded with a couple of other large ships to secure it. The remaining fleet stood outside the planet, waiting for further instructions.


    Rigo spoke with James about this before coming here, they had no perfect plan to their next moves. So, it was best for the fleet to be stationed nearby, until they reach a conclusion regarding the future path James would take.


    And James intended to turn his teeth towards the direction of his biggest annoying rival in this grand sector.


    He wanted this grand sector to be his in the end.


    The main palace looked slightly different than before; it became grander and more elegant. Blocks of buildings around it were removed, turned into subsidiary facilities to be used by the main palace.


    And the entire area turned to be part of the imperial palace.


    "Soon she will take the entire city!" James laughed as he was surprised by all these changes while he was away.


    "Islinda did a great job here," and Rigo stood on her side again.


    "I know," James evilly smiled before adding, "and she should be properly rewarded, but¡­" he paused, recalling the disturbing threat of that arrogant youth. "I need to ask her about some things first."


    "We also need to plan the defenses well," Rigo said.


    "We don''t need to worry too much," James smiled, as his eyes shone brightly, "I know exactly what the next move of that arrogant one is."


    "Here?" Rigo asked.


    "No, he will come here for sure, but first he has to do a decoy."


    "The Terasos race," and rigo got his meaning at last.


    "Yup, they are the wedge that will crack our forces and make us over occupied. But we will crush them before they come at us."


    "War?" Rigo was the most enthusiastic one here about going frequently to war. If it was up to him, he would take his tent and camp in the middle of wars all his entire life.


    "Sure, and if my guesses are right, we will have wars at three different fronts at the same time."


    "This¡­" Rigo''s face changed, yet James added, "don''t worry, we will figure all the needed ships and soldiers out," he then shifted his gaze towards the palace they were landing in its back garden, "after all this place is now full to the brim with treasures we accumulated all this time."


    James wasn''t the refugee who was running away from the military camp, he was now a mighty emperor. His physical strength and personal lethality were tested a second time hours ago in that strange realm.


    He crushed another master of the shrines and gainte one dagger and a lot of artifacts.


    He was sure his girls were having their fun right now; a reunion for the queens, more girls for the others to play with, and finally more artifacts to consume.


    His ladies were toxic, eating away each male artifact they find to increase their strength afterwards.


    Even him was eaten, partially and he enjoyed it in return.


    "Finally you are back."


    The moment he stepped down the cruiser, he found islinda waiting for him saying that. She wasn''t alone, as he noticed six girls standing behind her; all were stunning beauty like her.


    "I just came as fast as I can," he replied, before turning his fiery gaze towards the new girls, "who are they?"


    "These? They are my new assistants," she chuckled while adding, "they are helping me in everything related to the growing business of our empire."


    "Nice choice indeed," he said before joking, "will they help you with me as well?"


    "Perhaps," and the answer she gave made him quite enticed already. "C''mon, you came from a long ride," she paused before glancing behind James. Only Rigo was there. "Where are my lovely rivals? I mean Dora and Anasta."


    James helplessly smiled as he knew this wouldn''t end well. "They are resting."


    "Oh," and she elevated her eyebrow for a moment there, "for the next week, you are mine," she said it in a way that left no room for negotiation.


    "Sure, trouble is coming for you ladies," and he laughed, enjoying this kind of special treatment.


    As they entered the palace, they headed directly to the throne room per James'' instructions.


    Islinda didn''t know what happened inside the travel, so Rigo took the liberty to speak and tell her everything.


    "Oh, I didn''t know I was this priceless and demanded," she chuckled before adding, "I was thrown away by my uncle, betrayed by my trusted people, and now an enemy of mine wants to make me his hostage¡­ tsk," she sighed while her face showed how much annoyed she was.


    And worried!


    She was extremely worried, as if the enemy of her empire learnt about her presence, then her empire would know.


    Her uncle would know!


    "Or were they being sent here by him?" she thought to herself, not knowing what was the truth here.


    But everything led to one simple end¡­ "We need to grow stronger," James said it out loud and clear the moment he sat on his throne, "and we need to crush any resisting forces inside this grand sector, starting with the Terasos race."


    "I heard they attacked you and you exterminate them all¡­ for me?" she said, while her face showed extreme redness and her tone expressed her embarrassment.


    This touch from him, even coming from such far distance, really quivered her heart and soul.


    She didn''t imagine he would do all that for her!


    What she didn''t know, and if she did she would hit James hard, was that he didn''t do that for her; he was forced by Sirene to kill every single one of his enemies.


    "To do that, we need much more treasures," yet she added, trying to clear up her mind from any embarrassing thoughts.


    "Don''t we have many already?" James felt weird about this.


    "Sure, but this might help to create another grand fleet; no more!" she replied, stressing on her last words. Rigo had already told her briefly about James'' plans, making her think, wrongly, he was preparing for her uncle''s arrival.


    "We need three then?" Rigo asked, trying to make sure he understood her right.


    "We will need five," and the words James said made the two instantly silent. "We must prepare the largest fleet ever, something that we won''t need to take the trouble amassing again," he added, while a map of events began to shine in his mind.


    "This¡­" yet Islinda didn''t know what to say, "we don''t have the means to do that."


    "Lack of resources or connections?" he asked.


    "Both."


    "Then push forward, we gained many territories already. Sell them all and leave none for us to use."


    He then paused before adding, "after winning this war, we won''t need to rage wars inside the sector; turning it to our own farming lands. All the riches and resources here will be ours, and we will start attacking other grand sectors nearby, expanding our reach and reign."


    His words were grand, yet no one here thought lightly of them. They all knew how this man had this luck along his side, turning his bad situation into moments of glory, always.

 Chapter 193: A Stranger

    "This¡­" Islinda was skeptical before adding, "we have the means to contact many merchants, but selling this huge territory like this in a short time will have bad effects on us."


    "You mean lowering the price?" Rigo asked.


    "Sure, and this is the least of our problems," she said before adding, "the new territories hadn''t yet fully integrated under our system. Our fleet back there is still fighting a strong resistance that will take weeks to clear."


    "Tsk," James was annoyed, "we need to find more resources then," he muttered before adding, "do you have the map of the surrounding territories?"


    "One minute," Islinda then clicked on some buttons over her airborne screen before a new one appeared in front of everyone with a stap map showing the general view of the grand sector.


    "We are here," she pointed to a place far east, "and the Terases empire is there," and she pointed to a place far west.


    "We need to take all that''s between the two of us," James said, before adding, "this war starts by who will gain more territory out of this," he had thought for a couple of minutes before saying his opinion.


    "You mean we should aim for these places first?" Rigo said before adding, "I think many kingdoms and small empires lie in these places."


    "Sure, their number is great and we will need another fleet at least to support this campaign."


    "You two don''t get it," James shook his head, "this isn''t a war to fight and try out our luck, this war will determine our fate. We need to win this, we must win this no matter what."


    He paused, before glancing at the hall he was in, "even if it reached to sell everything we have, we must do it."


    "But the effects on our future path will be great!" Islinda was still bound to her economic vision.


    "You don''t get it, without winning this war, we won''t be able to have anything to regret! Living and enjoying the victory with small benefits and some losses is much better than having nothing at all after a grand defeat!"


    "Plus the Terases empire has many riches already like us," Rigo said before adding, "I always track their news, and the latest that came said they mimic our tactic in dealing with merchants."


    "Do they have monsters too?" James and Islinda were speechless by Rigo words and the two asked in the same breath.


    "No, but they started to support many trades making the place there not less than our capital."


    "We need to move fast and annex these places," James said before adding, "we can first draw a line and defend it before attacking what lies within."


    "Draw a line so early in the game?" Rigo was surprised, "shouldn''t we move more cautiously?" he added.


    "No, we need to be bold and courageous," James said before adding, "also we aren''t alone, we have six organizations that are now linked to us."


    "Why not try and annex them first?" Islinda suggested.


    "No, this won''t work," and James refused, "I don''t want to grow big by eating what''s already mine! I would lose in the end and gain nothing!"


    His words made logic and the two in front of him couldn''t refute what he just said. "So we need to prepare at least one grand fleet," James said before pausing for a moment here, "let Dora lead it!"


    "Are you sure?" Islinda asked, "she is still new here."


    "I''m sure the soldiers here knew her already after her strategy and lecture. As long as she is respected and we supported her, nothing bad will happen," James said, explaining his reasons.


    He didn''t choose her because she was his woman, he chose her as she deserved this title. Plus he trusted her.


    "And I will send some of my trusted droids to guard her," Rigo said before pausing. "there is an issue I wanted to discuss with you before but didn''t get the time."


    "Speak," and James casually said.


    "I want to start making droids again!"


    And the words Rigo said made the eyes of James go wide! "Do you know how?" he hurried to ask, "can we start making them on a large scale?"


    He suddenly realized he had such a gem and didn''t think of finding more of it! The droids were really special in his empire and fleet; totally depending on them in big operations and dark times.


    Yet their numbers were few, and that limited their use and benefits to him, in regard to the recent development and growth of his empire.


    "I can, but this will need more expenses and at least two weeks of preparations."


    "Done," James didn''t even hesitate or even thought of asking about the budget or the plans Rigo had, "Make sure this goes as top priority," he turned to Islinda as he gave her a direct order.


    "Also the secrecy¡­ make sure not a single word will come out to anyone," he added, while thinking of making this as his hidden weapon.


    "Sure," Islinda couldn''t refuse as she sighed, "but this will put more pressure on our economy."


    "No problem, this is a big war, the biggest war. If we don''t make sacrifices now, we will regret everything later."


    His words were straight and clear, so she couldn''t argue anymore. "I just hope this is worth everything we will sacrifice for."


    "It will," he said before adding, "let''s start sending the fleet to annex the nearest kingdoms," he then pointed to the area next to his empire. The screen zoomed in and many stars appeared with names and boundaries drawn to determine the present kingdoms there.


    "Over a hundred kingdoms? That''s a nice number," Rigo said.


    "Can you do it?" James asked, as he pointed to another place and that place lightened up.


    "Another hundred?" Rigo asked in confusion, "I can handle a hundred alone, but with the help of the allied forces, we can fight hundreds."


    "Speed is the main goal here," James stressed over this point as he added, "you need to make sure taking these kingdoms won''t last more than a week."


    "A¡­ A week? That''s too short!"


    "So go now and start preparing," he said before adding, "but leave the instructions on how to make droids to Islinda."


    Rigo glanced strangely at him before he sighed. "Alright, I will move out now," then he asked, "shall I take Dora with me?"


    "No, leave her here," James said before laughing, "and wait until the meeting without allies ends. We might gain more troops and fleet from them."


    "I will make sure they will participate," and Rigo promised before excusing himself.


    And finally, James and Islinda were alone once more.


    "T- Thanks," she embarrassedly said.


    "For what?"


    "For standing up for me. For killing every single one of those bastards, and leave none alive."


    He didn''t know if she really meant what she said or not; after all it wasn''t his desire to be this bloody. It was Sirene who went berserk and screamed asking to kill everyone!


    If it was up to him, he would have retreated after killing that elder!


    "Don''t mention it," he said before pointing to her to come and she sat on his lap. "You know," he said while playing in her hair, "you are a precious doll to me," and painted a soft smile over her lips, taking her breath away.


    "I- I missed you," she finally had the courage to say it.


    "Hehehe, me too," he laughed before saying, "let''s go upstairs then."


    "Yes, but¡­" she paused before adding, "Luna also missed you."


    "Oh, you and Luna seemed to get much closer than before," he smiled before laughing, "don''t worry, she will get her share of fun later."


    And she just nodded and said nothing while her face showed a tinge of redness.


    He carried her, and went upstairs to one of the big rooms in this palace, before making a sweet long and violent love with her for hours.


    He didn''t taste her for weeks now, and so when he touched her, she was so sensitive to everything he did.


    Plus he gained more power than before, so his desire was much ignited and his lust was bottomless. Even after hours, he wasn''t finished with her yet.


    Yet she was almost fainting on the large bed in the room! "Sigh, it seems I will need to look for more dolls," he laughed before recalling Luna. "I should send a message for her to come."


    He dressed up and went down to find someone and send him to fetch Luna.


    "Let''s wait for her to come then," he laughed, while amusingly recalling the happy and sweet moments he had with that sexy vulgar girl.


    Yet as he was waiting in his throne room, a strange man came from the front.


    He seemed not to be seen by any servant or anyone; as he entered through the main door under the vision of James without being asked or stopped.


    And the next strange thing he did was to head for the stairs!


    "Hey you, what are you doing here and who are you?" James shouted as he suddenly felt tense. He stood from his seat and moved fast, using his great strength and speed to reach in front of that person and cut the road on him.


    "Speak or I will mercilessly kill you!" James threatened.


    "Move or else I will mercilessly kill you!" and the man spoke, in a young tone yet it seemed domineering. He looked like someone used to order others, threat everyone; and not to be threatened.


    "Tsk," and James sneered before a fight erupted between the two on the stairs.

 Chapter 194: A Bounty Hunter

    James didn''t hold back his hands while taking out his knife. The moment the knife appeared, the man''s face changed.


    He was a youth, not much older than James, probably nineteen or twenty. As James took out his knife, he also took out his sword.


    The sword seemed quite domineering, not inferior to the knife by much. James glanced at the sword that was long with a thin blade and broad hilt and sneered.


    "You have such a nice weapon there," he said.


    "You too," and the youth said, "can we solve this without fighting then? I''m here just to deliver a message," the youth smiled, trying to retreat a step and act respectful.


    "A message can be delivered to me, either in words or in blood," yet James wouldn''t let him do anything like this. This was his place, and he was the owner of everything.


    He wouldn''t accept someone to move inside his home without being stopped!


    "This¡­ you aren''t the one meant to receive the message."


    "What do you know? It might be me and you don''t know that!"


    The youth glanced over James and the knife in his hand before saying: "My message is for a lady, not a man."


    James wasn''t sure about his guess, but his gut feeling told him it was Islinda. "Speak then and say what you want, I''m the owner of this place and you won''t step a single step forward."


    "You¡­" the youth seemed intrigued by the words of James, "you are the emperor of this lousy empire? The one who had Islinda?"


    There was no room for doubt anymore. "Sure, now tell me what you want to say," James smiled before waving his eager knife, "or else let''s compare our two weapons first."


    ''This sword¡­'' the sound of Sirene rang in his mind, ''it''s a king artifact! Be careful, they are usually very offensive.''


    ''A king artifact?'' and James'' surprise was beyond the roof, ''Wow, my luck is endless, hehehe.''


    He wanted to gain a king artifact and feed it to one of his girls. There was no doubt that Stefanie would be the most favored one to him. After all she was the oldest and she helped him many times already.


    ''Do you know the king artifacts?'' and Sirene''s question startled him. ''Sure, who doesn''t know them?'' he lied, and Sirene knew he was yet she didn''t comment.


    ''Just be careful, me alone can''t stand against its attacks,'' she warned.


    ''Stefanie perhaps?'' he asked.


    ''Alone won''t do,'' and again Sirene warned, ''this sword is really hard to deal with. It''s only weakness is the owner himself.''


    James glanced at the youth who seemed hesitant to act. ''So kill him and the king will be mine!'' he said, with much greed and anticipation.


    ''You will have a very short window to do that, as kings are always cowards. If it senses its master is dying, it won''t hesitate to abandon him and leave from this place.''


    ''Really?'' James didn''t know why but he felt these rude words insulting him. ''How can I trap it then?''


    ''Stefanie,'' Sirene said, ''she is the only one able to freeze it for a brief moment before you touch and take it inside your soul room.''


    ''And then?'' he asked.


    ''Hehehe, leave the rest to us, hehehe.''


    James didn''t know why but he already felt sympathetic for that king. ''This one is for Stefanie to eat,'' he made it clear so she or others wouldn''t pull a trick behind his back.


    ''This¡­ c''mon, give it to me,'' she hurried to say before trying to act sexy, ''didn''t I make you quite satisfied last time?''


    He inwardly laughed before saying, ''This one is for Stefanie, don''t trespass on her share.''


    ''Tsk,'' she seemed quite annoyed, as she wanted to eat this king for herself. ''Then let her come and take it instead,'' she tried to groan and act rebellious, yet James laughed as he replied:


    ''If you retreated, I won''t touch you ever again. I won''t use you, and if any chance comes, I won''t hesitate to feed you to other girls.''


    ''You¡­'' her voice was shaky, ''this isn''t fair!'' she shouted yet her tone kept shaky.


    ''Heheh, be a good girl and don''t do much trouble, ok?''


    The youth watched him for a whole minute before he started to act. It seemed he didn''t come here for good, and the sword of his flashed by James'' head, while James jumped high to evade it.


    "Rumble!"


    Yet the sword hit the stairs and a rumble occurred. James felt the entire palace shaking under this simple wave of the sword. ''Aim for the user, not the tool,'' he said, reminding himself of what he should do.


    So he took out the bow and the next moment he sent a couple of arrows to hit the youth.


    Yet the intruder was wise and retreated, using his sword to deflect all the arrows. And James pressed forward after him, releasing a rain of arrows to the youth, until both of them went outside the palace.


    This fight caused enough ruckus everywhere in the palace, and minutes didn''t pass when Islinda came down hurrying from upstairs, glancing at this fight between her man and that stranger.


    The moment she appeared from the stairs, the youth''s eyes attracted to her. "Here she is," he said before waving his sword trying to hit her.


    Yet James wasn''t standing there doing nothing!


    ''Use your deadliest attack,'' he said and the next moment a long thick arrow that looked like a spear appeared so suddenly and the next moment it appeared in front of the youth''s face.


    The youth wasn''t prepared to receive such an attack, and while he tried to move his sword to face the incoming strike; another arrow like this appeared from his flank, and another coming from the top of his head!


    James jumped high in the air before sending these arrows towards him. The youth couldn''t help but use the attack he intended for Islinda to defend himself.


    Aa gigantic crescent shaped sword strike emerged around the tip of his sword, welcoming all the incoming arrows and hitting them directly on.


    They smashed, exploding mightily while the shock wave sent the youth flying backward.


    Just as he tried to stabilize himself, he was speechless to find James turned into a dragon, descending upon his head with such a great body.


    ''Damn you!" the youth shouted and before stabilizing his body he was forced to send another attack towards James.


    Just as the sword was about to release the attack, the body of this youth was paralyzed alongside his swords!


    "Great timing Stefanie," James commended while he fell upon the stunned youth with his knife cutting his head off his shoulders with one hand, and the other was free to touch the king and send it inside his soul room.


    "Go there and eat him," he said to Stefanie who didn''t wait for his words and vanished.


    Also the other two vanished with her. "Tsk, I hope a fight wouldn''t erupt inside,'' he muttered before glancing at the body of that youth while cancelling his transformation.


    "It''s a waste," he said, while starting to check anything this youth had.


    He found a couple of storage rings that resembled his old storage devices. "Let''s see what''s inside," he muttered before wearing the five rings and checking their contents.


    There he found many ores, precious materials, strange weapons piled in hills, and one picture.


    He took that picture out to find out it was a bounty hunter request.


    "Kill this person and you will gain a hundred great kingdoms worth of your reward."


    These simple words were written under the picture of Islinda, while there was a silver key dimmed in the bottom of this paper. "When finishing the task, drop a blood of hers on the key to activate and link you to the owner to redeem your rewards," the text underlying the key said, written in very minute letters.


    "Damn! Whoever is after her is really rich," James muttered before presenting the paper to Islinda who came running to him. "Can you recognize this key?"


    He was pretty sure such a key should be famous, or else just the premise written here with no guarantee wouldn''t be enough to entice anyone to act.


    She took the paper and read what was written there. Her face turned gloomy the more she read, and when she glanced at the key, her face turned instantly red.


    "Do you recognize it?" James knew the answer, just wanted to make sure first of his guess.


    "Sure," she handed the paper to him, "this is the private key of my dear uncle."


    Her words made James recall what she once told him about her uncle. "That man? Is he after you again?"


    "Sigh," she shook her head, trying to control her raged emotions, "he must have heard the news about me appearing here and doing quite well. Tsk, my dear uncle, he should have been my guardian, yet here he is," she sighed, closing her eyes against memories of old where he was treating her nicely around her late father.


    And that last memory she recalled was his vicious face laughing at her when his scheme was finally in place.


    "Don''t worry, no one will touch you here," James promised, before thinking how to secure her.


    He wouldn''t be always stationed here to protect, so he had to find another means to do that.

 Chapter 195: Assassins

    "He is quite resourceful," she said, with much hesitation, "we have an assassination squad in our empire, very talented and can''t be rivaled by any here except perhaps you."


    Her face showed how much distressed she was!


    "Don''t worry," he said, before realizing more of him lacking good fighters. "The idea of making more droids should be pushed faster than scheduled," he added, as this was the only option he currently had to counter the risks they were facing.


    "Oh, that¡­ that seems to be a great option," she smiled finally while agreeing with his decision. "If we managed to create a special squad of them, upgrading their tech with what we currently have, I think we might be able to stop many attempts."


    She spoke lightly of this like her life wasn''t on the line. He glanced shortly in praise for her great control over her emotions. "Good, push using everything we have," he said before adding, "and I will keep your company here until we have decent numbers of them."


    "Thanks," she said in honest gratitude.


    "Don''t thank me, you are my girl y''know."


    "I know but¡­" she paused before adding, "others might have sacrificed me instead."


    "Hahaha, silly girl, I''m not that lousy and mean."


    She laughed, knowing that what he just said was correct.


    He glanced at the palace before adding, "this palace needs repair."


    "And more security," she turned to glance at the perfectly fine walls and gates, "that man managed to enter here without being asked!"


    "I watched him enter through the main door of the palace, no one seemed to see him. Like being invisible, which was¡­ odd!" James said, explaining what he had seen when he noticed the man for the first time.


    "Special ability perhaps?" she muttered, "well the droid team will solve things for us," she nodded, confirming her own belief and decided to proceed in this process.


    James left her to go and start her busy schedule day, while he went upstairs. He had unfinished things to handle; that king!


    When he entered his soul room, the scene he saw wasn''t anyway far from what he expected! Total chaos and war between everyone!


    And the man, that king, dark skinned and bald, stood in the middle tightened by chains all over his body, and even his mouth.


    "Just give up, this one is mine!" Stefanie shouted at the others while she added, "my man, your man said he is mine!"


    "Humph, we won''t let someone low as you have it, this is ours!" Sirene said, speaking on the tongue of her and Natalie, while both were fighting all the other girls in a brutal fight.


    All were for themselves here, and everyone just dreamt of eating this king alive!


    "Stop," James didn''t shout, he simply waved his hand and everyone, literally everyone froze in place. "Sigh, didn''t I warn you?" he glanced at the stupefied Sirene before walking, leisurely, as the only king here in place.


    His words were threatening, not just to Sirene but to others. Sirene glanced at him with no fear at her face, yet he knew she was terrified of what he once threatened.


    "Do you want to be thrown on the corner, not used or touched by me?" he said, while enjoying the distressed look over the two queens faces. "Sigh, I said I will give this to Stefanie, why didn''t y''all listen?"


    He kept walking slowly until he reached Stefanie, caressed her face before releasing her body and giving her a fiery kiss. "Go and claim your meal, you earned it fair and square," he said while she jumped out of joy and ran towards the king.


    Once reached there, she touched him with both hands before the man seemed to be in agony, screaming with all his might without his screams being answered by anyone.


    In minutes his body melted and his flesh withered away. nothing remained out of him except for this fluid which was absorbed by Stefanie.


    Once she took all the fluid, her body went soft and her legs couldn''t hold her anymore. She fell on the ground, yet a small mattress appeared there by the act of James to hold her body.


    "Tsk," Natalie wasn''t pleased with such an outcome, "this is¡­ total waste!"


    "I just want to have more queens," he laughed while giving her a meaningful glance. She and Sirene exchanged glances; they didn''t expect him to know such a thing.


    And now they realized all their efforts from before were meaningless. The two wanted to share this king for themselves, not allowing one more queen to be born.


    "What? Did you think I didn''t know? Hehehe, wrong move from you two, very wrong move," he laughed and the next moment he snapped his fingers before going out to the ladies around. "I will enjoy with those here and leave you two watching," he laughed while a long and vigorous love session happened between him and the girls.


    Sirene and Natalie had to watch this and do nothing. They knew they couldn''t blame anyone except the girls for not being punished with them.


    And so the two decided to teach these artifacts what it meant to defy a queen''s order, of course after waiting for him to leave.


    After hours of having fun, he opened his eyes again feeling more energized. Just as he went down the palace, he noticed many repairs there. "She is really efficient," he commented before leaving the palace and heading towards the main administrative building in the huge garden here.


    As he went there, he noticed the presence of two strangers walking leisurely in the garden like it was their own backyard.


    "Sigh, two more assassins in less than a day?" he wasn''t clueless about those two, as he already knew who they were.


    "Time to teach them a lesson," he smiled before taking out the knife and the whip.


    "Asking us out to fight, and not asking us inside to play, huh!" Sirene had such a sharp tongue, yet James laughed while saying:


    "I warned you, didn''t I?"


    "Tsk." She groaned and didn''t answer. "Are they the new kids sent for us to kill?"


    "Sure, can you do that?"


    "Of course, let''s finish here fast as we have¡­ ahem, we have to rest inside."


    James didn''t know why but he suspected something was going on inside his soul room. Despite his doubts, he didn''t think of interfering, he would love to let the girls settle on their own matters.


    The fight erupted hot from the start, while he used the knife, the whip, and the bow to kill the two after a simple fight.


    "Tsk, unlike that youth, these middle aged men aren''t that strong or rich," James complained when he didn''t find any king or queen artifacts in their possession. Even their storage rings were almost empty except for a few ores and some artifacts.


    "Take these and see who''s worthy to join and who is suited to be sacrificed," he said while taking out all these useless artifacts and sending them to the soul room.


    Then the girls all vanished returning back inside.


    "This is getting out of control now," he muttered while glancing at the two dead bodies and the devastation this small war caused to the place around.


    The garden had many holes now, and even the administrative building had some damage. Panic and confusion erupted everywhere, yet all who witnessed the fight with their own eyes became much touched with James and his hidden prowess.


    "They kept knowing her position even after changing it," he noticed this thing, and this was a mystery.


    The first assassin came to the residential palace and headed without question to the higher floors. These two were heading straight to the administrative building; totally ignoring the residential palace.


    "Is there a track on her?" That was the only possible explanation he had.


    And knowing that made him grin. "If you want to play this dirty, then I will gladly accompany you," he turned towards the administrative building where he noticed the face of Islinda rattled with worry from the third floor side window.


    He smiled before entering there and ascended the stairs. When he reached the place she was at, he found himself in a small meeting room with Dora, Luna, and Rigo.


    "You rascal, you have your girls around and forgot about your sexiest one!" the moment he entered the room Luna screamed at him while jumping to land in his arms.


    Per old habit his hands moved to touch all of her sensitive parts, making her eyes roll up, bite her lips and even moan!


    "You are the naughty one! Heard about my return and didn''t come to welcome me after all this time?" he retorted back in words and in strong touches that made her body twitch slightly under him.


    Yet he wasn''t in the mood to go deeper with her right now. "Tell me, do you have anything precious from your past life at the empire?" he said, directing his question straight to Islinda even before he sat on a seat.


    She seemed quite troubled for a moment, before saying: "I have many ornaments. But why do you ask?"


    "You wear all of them right now?" James didn''t answer her as he threw his next question.


    "Only two of them, the rest are back in the palace."


    James nodded before stretching out one hand, "give them to me then."

 Chapter 196: Tracking Codes

    Islinda looked in doubt towards him, but soon she took off a pair of earrings and a bracelet and handed them to him.


    The moment he took them he started checking them closely. "What''s wrong?" Rigo asked, while noticing the weird behavior of his leader.


    "Can you scan them for me?" he handed them to Rigo as he added, "I believe one or both has a tracking device installed somewhere."


    The moment he said those words, everyone''s face changed. It was well known what tracking devices were, and how dangerous they were.


    "Sure, I will scan them now," Rigo said as he took them and started glancing at them closely before his midhead line shone brightly with blue neon color that fell upon these ornaments.


    Everyone watched and didn''t speak, while James was much confident about his guess. "Or else they have some sort of a sorcerer with special foretelling powers," he sighed as he knew this was nearly impossible to happen.


    "Bingo," Rigo said while taking one of the two earrings, "this little one here has some tracking codings on its core."


    "Tracking coding?" Islinda asked as she took the earring and glanced closely at it. "I can''t see anything, what coding?" she asked again.


    "It''s a supreme form of tracking, using letters embedded with energy to activate them. The owner of these codings will be away and knowing where these earrings are."


    "Can he hurt her with that?" James asked.


    "No, it''s just a simple tracking function," Rigo replied.


    "It''s not that simple anymore," James said before adding, "go back to her dorm and take out everything she had from that old empire of hers."


    He then glanced at Islinda who nodded and took out a flat key and handed it to Rigo, "be quick," she said, while James added, "if you met anyone, just kill him."


    "Sure," then Rigo moved away and took around three full hours till he returned. During these hours, James played with the three girls here and enjoyed his time and they as well.


    "What did you find?" he asked once Rigo entered the room, "and what took you so long?"


    "It''s just¡­" he paused before sighing, "you really have many things from your empire."


    He directed his words to Islinda who chuckled as she said: "Sure, wasn''t I the crown princess? These are just things I casually wore back in the days!"


    "All of these¡­ forget it," Rigo shook his head before adding, "I found three more tracking codes there. I got them here," he opened his hand and a necklace, another pair of earrings, and a ring were there.


    "These¡­" the moment the five items were gathered she had some realization. "They are things given to me by my uncle, sigh, I never thought he would plan far ahead like this!"


    James glanced at her with disbelief! After all he did to her, she still kept some memories of him! "Don''t look at me like that! He gave me these while I was a young child, many years back!"


    "Even if since your birth, take all of these and get rid of them instantly!" James was strict on her, "this snake has many hidden cards and we need to limit his options."


    "Tsk, alright," she then pointed to her head as she added, "he was the one who branded my hair, do you want me to get rid of it as well?!"


    James exchanged glances with everyone; no one here knew what she meant by this. "Branded my hair! The ceremony at birth! What, no one here has such a sacred ceremony?"


    "Honestly?" James said, "no," he firmly replied as this was something he could ascertain from all his previous readings of the old history of this grand sector.


    "Sigh, it''s a ceremony where I got some of my hair to be tattooed using a certain device to give me blessings."


    James didn''t speak, he only glanced at Rigo whose middle head light shone again landing on her head and hair. "Stop, what are you doing? It''s my hair!"


    "I don''t care! You are in danger, and if I had to check you inch by inch I will!" James didn''t budge a single step to the back, while he waited for Rigo to finish his inspection.


    "They were five hairs, right?" suddenly Rigo asked and the moment he said that her face changed.


    "Tsk," James sighed before his man had his light change to be dark red. The smell of meat burning appeared suddenly in the room, which made Islinda jolt up like being stung with a snake!


    "What are you doing?!!" she shouted angrily at Rigo, who just turned off his lights and went to stand behind James, calmly like he did nothing.


    She glanced at James who said: "Is everything ok?"


    "I have burnt those hairs," Rigo said, and before Islinda exploded on his face he hurried to add, "all were branded with tracking codes!"


    The face of Islinda turned instantly red, she was angry yet she couldn''t do anything or even shout! James was right in his action, and that was something she couldn''t refute.


    "Don''t get mad at me or at Rigo, we are trying just to help," James said before he suddenly said, "but thinking that uncle of yours took all the trouble to prepare such sophisticated tracking codes from this early; I believe your father''s death isn''t an accident."


    The moment he said these words, her face turned ashen white. Her body got softer as she landed on the seat again while her mind was gathering up all the details she knew about her father''s death.


    "No way!" she muttered, "they told me he died in an accident!"


    "Do you believe these¡­ lies now?" James calmly said before adding, "taking into consideration what you knew, it''s not a far possibility your uncle was doing the same to him all these years."


    She raised her head to glance shortly at him before she recollected herself once more. "Can¡­ can we not discuss this matter now?" she said in a soft and shaky tone.


    "Sure," James nodded, before adding, "Rigo I want you to prepare a trap with Dora for anyone who will come after Islinda."


    He handed the defected ornaments to Rigo who glanced at them again before saying: "Should we take them with us towards the far distance?" he meant the mission they were going to start soon.


    "No," James shook his head before adding, "those hunters have some way to cross barriers between grand sectors with," and he paused and didn''t explain much.


    Yet everyone in the room knew what he aimed for. "Expanding the empire?" Dora asked.


    "Going to gather more fleets?" Rigo asked.


    "Having more sexy girls like me, playboy?" Luna hit his chest with both her fists, yet he felt nothing.


    "Helping me go home¡­ take revenge?" Islinda asked.


    James glanced at all of them while he admitted he was doing this to make himself stronger and find more competitors and exterminate them!


    "Yes," he faked his agreement, "I will do for all these reasons," his smile was perfect and everyone thought this one was for him and her.


    "Now," he said, "I want you two to lay down a very strong trap so anyone would go in and won''t get out."


    "This¡­" Rigo paused as he didn''t have anything in his mind right now to suggest.


    "Don''t hurry and judge, we will hasten the production of more droids," James said before adding, "you and your men will gain upgrades matching our current time and also more reinforcements."


    "Thanks my leader," Rigo smiled as he expressed his gratitude in words and in a deep bow to him.


    "Don''t thank me, you are one of my strongest weapons," James waved casually at him before adding, "what about the recruitment process? The second fleet is ready?" he directed his question to Dora who hurried to answer: "It''s still in the infant stage."


    "Infant what?" James asked before laughing.


    "It''s still too soon to complete it," Rigo said, supporting her, "we need a couple of weeks to finish this fleet."


    "Good," James nodded, "your mission in these two weeks is to hurry the production of more droids and finish the second grand fleet."


    "What about the assassins targeting big sis?" Luna asked, and Jamed glanced at her as he muttered, "Big sis?" he moved his eyes towards Islinda, "you two got too much closer while I was away."


    "Are you not satisfied with that?" Islinda replied on his smile with a smile, as both knew what was in the other''s mind.


    "No problem for me of course," he laughed while caressing Luna''s sexy body lying in his lap, "I will take care of those assassins for now."


    James then took the ornaments again from Rigo who left a squad of his special droids to guard his leader. James didn''t refuse extra help while he was waiting for more assassins to come.


    "Let''s see how you will target my girl from now on," James laughed while he played with the five ornaments he had from Islinda. "To plan from this far and execute this late¡­ that man is really dangerous!"

 Chapter 197: War Preparations

    The next month things kept heading towards war preparations. Amidst all this, James managed to kill four more elders with queens, garnishing many artifacts in the process.


    Stefanie had already turned into a queen herself, and now his soul room had many women who were enough to stir the entire universe.


    As for the assissanation attempts, he stopped them all. He and Rigo had already selected a place suited for all this fighting going on. He chose a far planet where he used it as a base for his future military operations; turning it into a strong military base.


    The production of the droids was met with many challenges. The data Rigo had was so old and the terms he used to speak about were obsolete. So, it took almost two weeks only to translate and upgrade what he knew, then everything was kicked fast on the train of production.


    And now the army of droids James had was growing exponentially every passing day in tens of thousands!


    Yet they were all regular droids, as for the elite ones the production rate was much lower; only a thousand each day!


    Despite that James wasn''t annoyed, after all his previous number of special droid army was only in thousands.


    And now he stood on the base planet, where Islinda sat in front of him with Rigo, Dora, and Luna.


    Luna played a great role in this process, as the godly ored produced by the growing mines she kept searching and discovering made the process of producing very advanced special droids possible.


    "We are now ready to set off," Rigo said, while adding, "two grand fleets are formed, and the third is now midway to be complete."


    "In a month''s time we will be able to add three grand fleets to our army," Islinda said, while adding, "despite our treasury being under immense pressure, all the merchants dealing with us are so much excited by this deal."


    "They should be," Dora said, "after all we are making sure they won''t have a single idle moment."


    "What about the intel regarding the Terases race?" James asked, while shifting the topic to the most important thing right now.


    He was ready to launch this huge offensive operation, a war that would determine his and his empire fate. During this month, more alarms came to his soul; he knew that tournament was getting closer.


    He needed to reign supreme over this grand sector before heading to the tournament. Or else, he would be fighting on two fronts; something he didn''t want to see.


    "They¡­" Rigo paused as he hesitated before adding, "something seemed fishy with their behavior."


    "Fishy?" James asked, "like what?"


    "The terases race is a very aggressive race, using force instead of words in everything. Yet the recent reports coming from our spies there told a different story," Rigo said before adding, "it seems like they have gone sane all of the sudden. They are amassing power and not invading any place around them."


    "They aren''t expanding?" Dora asked in disbelief, "they have expanded their empire to exceed ours in the past months!"


    "Yes, that''s the typical attitude of them. Yet right now they are silent," Rigo said.


    "Do you suspect they knew about our plans to hit them?" Islinda asked.


    "I don''t think so," Rigo shook his head, "if such a tip reached their ears, then they would have already started the offense on us before staying there and waiting for our fleets."


    James was silent listening to their words. Only one answer came to his mind. "Let''s assume they had external help, would that change anything in our plans?" he asked.


    And Rigo glanced at him while a picture of that arrogant youth reappeared in his mind. "You don''t think¡­ he put hands with them?" Rigo asked, and James nodded.


    "That''s the only explanation."


    "But what for?" Islinda knew what the two were talking about like Dora and Luna. "This race is quite arrogant and aggressive."


    "Either by temptation or by using stronger force," James said while adding, "we should expect a brutal fight."


    "This¡­" Dora said before laughing, "plays exactly the way I love!"


    "Don''t underestimate them," Rigo advised, while seriously adding, "such a brutal mindless race has found a mind to control their actions¡­ this is quite scary!"


    "I agree with Rigo," James said, before adding, "we should hasten our plans. The third fleet must finish this week."


    "This week¡­ that''s hard!" Islinda said.


    "But not impossible," James said before adding, "we should be ready for a full out war. Our enemy is preparing as well for us. Going there unprepared will result in risking losing most of the two grand fleets we have," he paused before adding, "borrow fleets from the six powers we have, at least this would cover most of the missing numbers."


    "I contacted them¡­" Dora seemed hesitant before adding, "they want to have a place fixed and publicly announced to share with us their fleet and treasures."


    "This¡­" Islinda paused, before Rigo said: "Fair request in my opinion."


    "We would have faced such a problem sooner or later," James said before adding, "start establishing a royal system and find a place for them to be there," he addressed Islinda who just nodded and said nothing.


    This was easier said than done! Yet the easiest step here was James; he didn''t have a family of his own to fight for their right on the throne. "I will try my best, but this will take time."


    "Let them open everything once you start," James said, before adding, "also announce such a system plan to the public. Make everyone know about them being part of our royal system from the start so they will be satisfied."


    "There is another condition," Dora said, "they want you to marry a couple of their prime keys'' daughters."


    Her face showed how much conflicted about this issue. During the past month, she and her sisters in the harem had it tough dealing with the growing sexual appetite of James.


    "Make them send whoever they have," James simply decided, "after all I needed to expand my harem for such a long time."


    He eyed the three girls whose faces showed a tinge of redness, yet they didn''t say a word. They already felt exhausted from being tortured by him. Other girls will be enough to reduce the pressure.


    "I have my own list if you want," suddenly Luna said, "they are handpicked by me."


    "I also have a list."


    "And me."


    James glanced at them in a strange way. He thought they would refuse and object fiercely to such requests of him; yet they seemed to be more accepted to what he had in mind.


    They also read his mind a long time ago, making him speechless. "Alright," he said, "send them all," he laughed while adding, "also inform Anasta, she must have her own list as well."


    "She has enough!" Dora aggressively said, while her face showed how much she regret saying these words to James.


    "Just do as I said," he simply ordered, "now go and finish everything, this war will be much harder than we initially thought."


    "What if we have interference?" Rigo asked, "shall we go all out war or retreat and regroup?"


    "Go all out," James decided without hesitation, "we need to crush any hidden resistance or sources of trouble here."


    "That''s a great plan," Dora commented in excitement.


    "Alright, go and inform me all the time about the progress of the third fleet," James said.


    "What about the droids?" Rigo said, as his leader forbad the use of droids in this war.


    "Sigh," James shook his head before adding, "form a separate fleet entirely of them. Their mission to act as a sharp weapon to cut any strong resistance anyone of you would face."


    "What about the third fleet?" Islinda said, "who will lead it?" she asked.


    "I think Rigo has many capable droids he trusted," James glanced over Rigo who nodded. "I will see what I can do."


    "Great."


    The wheel of war started to condense faster this week. The merchants kept providing more ships and soldiers, while the six forces were satisfied with the arrangement of James.


    Finally they let go of all their fleet and opened their treasuries for his needs. This made the third fleet be assembled three days earlier than expected, and even two thirds of the fourth one was almost done!


    If not for the small operations they asked for to control all the areas that were already under their protection; the fourth fleet would have been assembled already!


    As the three grand fleets were ready, James gathered everyone once more to discuss in detail the process of this wide attack.


    On the main cruiser of his, everyone sat and a grand screen hung in the air, showing a detailed map of the entire grand sector.


    One fifth was already littered in green, indicating being under their control or about to be. Two fifths were already in blue, referring to the areas controlled by the Terases race.


    "As you can see," James said while pointing to the two thirds between his empire and the Terases, we need to be bold and not move to here," he pointed to the line demarcating the Terases empire, "we need to delve deeper and hit them where it hurts."


    He pressed a button and the next thing happened was the sudden appearance of a red color in the area which was previously blue. "One fifth will be the battleground of our three fleets," he said.


    The eyes of everyone shone brightly before Rigo asked: "Won''t that stretch out our fleet? What if we met a hard rock? Who is going to help?"


    "Good question," James replied, before adding, "and that''s when the fourth grand fleet will jump in to help."

 Chapter 198: The Start of the War!

    "There we will start our assault, moving first to this area before fanning out, creating a defensive line before retreating and killing any hostile fleets coming from behind."


    He kept pointing to the map, while everyone nodded. "This will be tough," Rigo muttered.


    "That''s if not the fourth fleet kicked in from behind and kept those rear fleets busy," James said before adding, "we need to be swift, merciless and decisive. The Terasses race already conquered these areas so recently. They don''t have much support there."


    "My rebel tactic!" Dora''s eyes shone brightly as she understood what James meant by that.


    "Sure, these tactics are what will define our victory from defeat," he agreed before adding, "we need to spread out our soldiers to instigate trouble. If possible send them towards the last one fifth, make even the reinforcements busy!"


    "What if they didn''t care about all this?" Islinda suddenly asked, "after all they aren''t those hot headed ones and have no mind to think for them."


    "That''s what I''m depending upon," James evilly smiled, "I just want them to fall into debate, plus that mind knows exactly how risky it is to lose the supporting lands and fighting two wards at two fronts."


    "That if he was caring about the Terases empire," she added, "I think he isn''t!"


    "I''m with you, but if we gave him a reason to keep them, we will make him do what we want."


    "A reason?" Rigo asked.


    "Like a rumor that one like me appeared at the Terases empire," James said before adding, "such rumor will make him quite hesitant towards sacrificing the Terases empire."


    "But¡­ there is none out there but you!" Luna said, trying to keep their minds up.


    "A rumor doesn''t need a real proof dear," Dora said before laughing, "I like this plan. Hard to execute but lovable!"


    "Who will play the decoy role?" Rigo asked. "One of my droids?" he added.


    "Sure, they are the ones who can muster strength enough to cause miracles," James said before adding, "yet I preferred one of the girls to do so, but¡­" he glanced at the girls in front of him.


    "Are you worried about us, perhaps?" Luna asked while laughing in a sexy way.


    "Not only that," he shook his head, "you can''t summon your dragon strength at any time! If you can, one of you would be the best candidate to go."


    "We are still weaker than you, monster, hehehe," Luna joked while other girls didn''t speak and only shook their heads.


    "Now, it''s time for us to move," James said, "Rigo sent one of your men first on one of our fastest cruisers. Make him infiltrate this one fifth deeply and start doing some magic."


    "Hahaha, I will provide him with some toys to have more fun," Rigo liked the idea and was amused by this. "When should we move?" he asked.


    "Two days from now, but your man should move now," James instructed, "also send a legion of well trained soldiers on Dora''s techniques. Let them spread the word everywhere; let the rumor be hot before we come knocking on their doors."


    "I will," Rigo promised, "but won''t they suspect anything?" he added.


    "Well, if we put the aim of this campaign to kill that rival of mine, then no one will suspect a thing," James answered.


    "And this will also help to make that man take the bait," Islinda said before laughing, "I like this dirty plan of yours."


    "Hahaha, that''s an honor," he said before he heard a bang coming from inside the planet they were so close to its surface. "Damn! Those assassins never end!" Luna complained while everyone glanced at James who sighed.


    "Stay here, I won''t take long."


    He moved out to fight those intruders while everyone started to discuss further in detail the plan he provided.


    For him, if everything went like he said, they would have great victory and crush that Terases race fast.


    Honestly he could take a softer approach, less risky and tend to fight the Terases race fleets and destroy them slowly.


    "I can''t waste more time here, the alarms I get are increasing in frequency," he said to himself while heading towards the surface of the planet on board of a small cruiser. "Sorry guys, I have to pressure you this far," he helplessly smiled, as if he had the choice he wouldn''t select this risky plan with many variables.


    The fight didn''t take much time, and when he returned to the cruiser, he found Rigo and Dora already missing.


    "They went to arrange the matter of the spies and more issues regarding the plan," Islinda said before directly looking him in the eye: "Why are you on rush here?"


    She wasn''t narrow minded like others. For him, he considered if someone really understood him perfectly and could read out his mind then it would be her.


    "I have to finish them fast so that man won''t cause much trouble to us," he lied, and despite her knowing he was, she didn''t comment further.


    "Alright, my work is done here," she said, "let me know if you need anything more."


    "The fourth fleet is the key to our victory," he seriously said, "please finish it as fast as possible."


    "I will," she then moved outside and only Luna was there with him. "Didn''t you miss your little toy?" she seductively asked while moving slowly towards his seat, "c''mon, let''s have some fun while others work, hehehe."


    The idea seemed to arouse her a lot! The two started a long love session that didn''t fulfill James until he entered his busy soul room and started playing with the army of girls inside.


    After one day he was content, and then he opened his eyes and started looking for the arrangements Rigo, Dora, and Islinda did.


    They did brilliantly with their tasks. The fourth fleet was almost over, only needing a couple of days to be finished and then the fifth fleet would start to take shape.


    As for the droid sent to infiltrate the Terases region, he was in the way. The distance between here and there was vast, needing over a week to cross at least without any pause!


    James revised all the plans and arrangements Rigo and Dora prepared, and he approved them all. For him, everything seemed quite organized, and it was time to set the fleet of and start this war.


    "Go and always keep in touch," he said to Rigo and Dora while sitting in his own cruiser. He watched the fleets taking off, and sighed. "I came across such a giant step, and now it''s time for me to take another."


    He glanced at the planet nearby where he just killed a group of assassins who came to kill Islinda. "Tsk, they never get tired of this!" he shook his head before closing his eyes and preparing to enter his mysterious world to kill another elder and gain himself a queen and many artifacts as a bonus.


    Rigo and Dora started their journey heading to two different destinations. Per plans, they would reach there and then divide into many smaller fleets, fan out and control many key areas in that part of the grand sector.


    The first mission was to control a small sector each, using this as a firm base to amass more troops and cruisers then start to move from there towards the nearby sectors.


    "Eat them bite by bite," James said these words in the last meeting, and each of the two memorized them to the heart.


    The flight took eight days until they reached their destination. Midway they received some good news.


    First their droid sent inside the Terases empire started to gain reputation fast. His deeds were considered magical, as he used a simple trick of conquering a planet and announcing it secretly as part of James'' empire.


    Then monsters would appear out of nowhere!


    These monsters weren''t a common term for the people, so when this droid acted and killed them with the help of his supporting teams, they thought he and his men were invincible.


    He started making propaganda, declaring himself to be the selected person by the universe to end the tyranny of emperor James. For people, the only tyrant was the Terases race, yet these words traveled fast and reached many ears and places in days.


    This caused a stir, something that even exceeded James and his leaders'' expectations. According to plan, James issued an imperial edict, ordering his fleets to set off and go there to kill this imposter!


    These news traveled faster than the news of that man, adding more momentum to the droid and making his place unshakable in the eyes of many.


    He proved his strength, he challenged James, and James considered him an imminent threat! All these factors together with the news of two grand fleets setting off towards the Terases empire made everyone there believe the droid wasn''t lying.


    Then the droid received orders from James and Rigo: Hide!


    This was phase two of the plan, creating chaos inside the Terases empire by making his droid vanish from their radar. This would force them to divert more resources to find him as soon as possible, while he would pop up from time to time to remind them of his presence.


    If they found him, it would be a matter of time to know his origins. So, James, Rigo, and others reached this three phase plan; appearance, disappearance, and then frequent appearances from time to time.


    Like this they would turn the lie into a fact, and this fact would soon turn into a legend everyone would believe and hope to witness.


    As for the team that came with him, they didn''t stop releasing the news, jumping from one planet to another, from one system to another, making the deeds of the droid and his challenge fresh in the minds of everyone.


    The power of words was much stronger and deadly than the power of guns; that was a proven fact tested in this war!

 Chapter 199: The War Development

    Rigo was sitting inside his cruiser when they finally reached their destination. "Spread the word, let the fleet divide according to the plan," he said to his droids while glancing over the system up front on the hologram.


    "If we manage to control this system early on, we will be able to cause great stir in the Terases empire," he smiled while the fleet started to divide into smaller groups, each headed towards one direction fast.


    The distance between the planets in this system wasn''t much, only one day was required to jump from one end to another. The two grand fleets used in this war had their engines upgraded, making their travel speed much faster than before.


    "Report," one of the droids hurried to say, "many fleet ships are coming our way."


    "They have a fleet stationed here?" Rigo was surprised before adding, "scout them and send me a detailed report fast!"


    "Roger that," the droid was such a capable aider, and he developed Rigo''s words into steps to be executed by some ships.


    "Report," after ten minutes the droid said, "the number of enemy ships is massive, not less than ours. They are coming directly to us."


    "And we didn''t yet start our full assault," Rigo sniffed something unpleasant in this tactic, "give the orders to the fleet, all open fire and start battle formation," he ordered before adding, "send some ships to scout our rear. If the enem guessed our intentions this clear, then there is a chance they will send a detachment from behind."


    "Roger that," the droid started relaying orders while Rigo started to think deeply about this. "Send the word to the emperor, make him haste in sending the third fleet, and the fourth if possible."


    "Done!"


    The message was sent to James, and the same thing occurred to Dora who also did the same. James was in his cruiser, resting after another fight with some assassins. "They never give up, sigh," he shook his head before the two messages arrived at his place at the same time.


    "They read our intentions? Frontal direct assault and backstabbers as well? Interesting," he laughed before adding, "send the word back, we already dispatched the third fleet to the front. Send orders to the fleet to divide into two, each heading towards one grand fleet rare to aid."


    He then paused before adding, "and sent the fourth fleet right away."


    "But it''s not completed yet. It requires another week," one of the droids said.


    "Just send whoever is ready, and make them divide into two, appearing just behind the frontal assault."


    James'' eyes shone as he muttered, "trying to defend the decoy this hard? You already took the bait, hehehe."


    He was in a better mood than Rigo and Dora who had many loss reports coming from all the battlefields. The battle was intense, and each side had great losses from the start.


    Yet the headache the two had was coming from their rear! A fleet was spotted there, waiting for the chance to attack. That made the two unable to move freely and use all their forces to crush their enemies.


    "The emperor is wise," Rigo laughed before adding, "contact the third fleet, determine the time they will arrive here."


    Dora also did the same, and for their good luck the third fleet was already two days away from them. "Spread the word, one day from now we will start our full assault," Rigo and Dora both relayed the same orders to their men.


    The fight kept raging brutally while many ships and good soldiers were lost from both sides. Yet none managed to claim victory over the other until one day passed and the main fleet joined the fight on both fronts.


    The addition of such a grand number of ships made the fight lean towards Rigo and Dora. Yet they both knew this would only be temporary, as the rear fleet would start moving soon.


    "Dispatch part of the main fleet to the rear, their task is to stall for time," Rigo said, before adding, "and start hitting those bastards with our new cannons."


    The godly ores weren''t just used to fuel the engines, they also were used to upgrade the missiles and cannons. The only side effect here was the low amount of these ores in their possession, making only the main fleet in each grand fleet have these ores and upgraded cannons.


    "Fire," Dora said with a grin while the cannons roared and the enemy ship in the distance started to explode in large batches.


    "Great aim, keep firing and create a gap for us to penetrate," she ordered before adding, "what about the rear?"


    "The battle started, yet our boys are holding the line."


    "Great," she nodded in content, "and the third fleet?"


    "It''s almost here."


    "Nice," her eyes shone brightly before adding, "Relay the word, be ready for all out assault soon. Make the rear boys ready, once the third fleet arrives, they have to push forward, throwing everything they had on the enemy ships."


    "Roger, madam."


    "This war¡­ I have a very good feeling about," she laughed while she ignored the incoming loss reports which indicated that she lost almost one tenth of her fleet.


    "The third fleet arrived," the droid said.


    "Great, make full assault on all fronts," Rigo said while watching the hologram closely, "also be ready for any sudden tricks from them."


    "Roger," the droid started relaying orders while the fight suddenly intensified.


    The sudden appearance of the third fleet made the fight on the rear smoother than before. In one day they managed to destroy all the ships there, using the fact their numbers weren''t that much from the start.


    Then they started joining the main fleet in attacking the enemies.


    The fight lasted for five days, and at the end of the fifth day and after chasing the Terases fleet to the end of the system, reinforcements appeared from far away to aid the Terases fleets.


    "Report, another fleet appeared coming near here," the droid said.


    "How much time do we have?" Dora asked, "and the fourth fleet sent to here is on the way, send to them a message with our current coordinated and the new reinforcements coordinates and make them give a specific date of arrival."


    "Roger, madam," the droid kept working and relaying the orders before he added, "the enemy reinforcements will arrive in six hours, and our fleet will arrive in twelve."


    "Good," she laughed before adding, "keep the pressure boys, let''s burn them alive!"


    Rigo also gave the same order, and with the addition of half of the third fleet and his dispatched ships to guard the rear, he was able to crush any enemy ships standing in his way.


    Yet he didn''t delve deeper than the current system, as he wanted the fourth fleet to arrive just in time to surprise the enemy and finish them in one full sweep.


    Once the reinforcements arrived, the fight started to be balanced once more and the amount of losses escalated. Rigo and Dora didn''t pause or hold back, keeping the fight raged and hot until the fourth fleet arrived.


    "They are finally here," Rigo smiled before adding, "give them the orders, full attack on the rear of the current enemy fleet, let them scatter them around."


    "Relay the orders, make them attack the central spot of the enemy fleet and we also will attack the same spot. Let us meet in the middle," Dora said.


    Both had different approaches here, yet the end result was the same. The enemy fleet couldn''t handle the pressure on two fronts, especially they didn''t expect the new fleet to arrive at this time.


    Most of the fleet was either destroyed or captured, and the small rest ran with their lives far from here.


    "Good start boys, start controlling this system and send many ships to scout the systems around," Rigo said.


    "Should we focus on the back or front?" the droid asked.


    "Everywhere," the eyes of Dora shone, "target everywhere! They have amassed all the resisting armies and fleets in the zone, so it''s logical to assume these places are now defenseless."


    Dora and Rigo shared the same vision, and their assumptions were proven right later on. All the systems adjacent to the ones they easily controlled were defenseless, and that made their task to control them easier.


    In less than a week, each fleet controlled a large cluster of ten systems together, with two to three systems in the center being fully surrounded by other systems.


    "We will turn these into our bases," Rigo said before ordering, "spread the small cruisers everywhere, we welcome any resisting forces to join our fleet. Use the slogan of ending the age of tyranny to attract more to our cause."


    Dora went further by sending her specially trained soldiers to instigate protests and callings to arms to aid her fleet. The response was more stunning than Rigo''s systems, and in less than two days her fleet managed to replace the losses and also gain more!


    The two fleets kept their places recuperating while sending small detachments everywhere to control more zones. This expansion was slower, yet it was solid, and now the Terases empire had nothing in hand to do but to amass their fleets and wait for a chance to hunt down these two annoying bases.


    Yet James wasn''t staying back doing nothing!


    "The fifth fleet and the sixth fleet are ready!" Islinda came smiling as she followed what he previously told her to do, "we already sold all the slots of the future controlled regions, we only need to deliver them in a month''s time."


    "Great," James laughed, "these merchants are really stingy and greedy."


    "You mind is much dirtier than them to be honest," she laughed while recalling his past orders to her. He considered the area between his empire and his two fleets as his own, and ordered Islinda to start an auction for them.


    This auction alone could fund more than two grand fleets, but as they weren''t ready to deliver the regions yet, they had to settle with advance payments enough to form two fleets.


    "Send the two fleets outs and let them start controlling the areas beyond us," James laughed before adding, "each time we free a region, take the full payment of it. Like this we can amass four more fleets in two weeks."


    "That''s¡­ amazingly underestimating the prices these merchants paid, hehehe," she laughed as she knew the number of fleets could escalate to reach six by the end of the two weeks.


    "Let''s squeeze them dry as long as we can," he said before adding, "how about our allies and other forces applying to join us?"


    After the first two crushing defeats of the Terases empire, many local forces around the grand sector sent delegations to negotiate terms of joining hands with James.


    The example he used by what he did to the six forces made everyone envious and greedy. He aimed for that, and now it was time for him to reap the benefits of his previous wise decision.

 Chapter 200: A Complication

    "Send the word back, I want the fleets to send out scouts and start collecting intel," he said to the droid next to him before turning to Islinda, "how is the operation droid going?" he asked.


    He was talking about making an entire fleet out of droids and using them at the last moment as a trump card. Unless the enemies destroyed the droids one by one, these resilient machines wouldn''t stop fighting even when thrown in space!


    "We had a major breakthrough in the technology which made us change the current production procedures," she said before adding, "right now we can produce over a hundred thousand droid per day, not enough to arm an entire fleet except after a month ''s time."


    "One month," he thought deeply before nodding. He knew this operation was limited by the secrecy, making them unable to massively produce the droids with all their power. "Let''s keep the current production rate on," he said before adding, "also collect the needed materials for them all the time."


    "I''m already doing this, and currently our stocks are enough to sustain us for a month."


    "Not enough," he shook his head, "I want to keep producing the droids even after this war ends," he added while not explaining further.


    "Is there another war coming soon?" she asked, as she felt something was off.


    "You can say that," he smiled before caressing her face, "I missed you," he said.


    "M¡­ Me too," she suddenly felt embarrassed before adding, "your newly selected girls will arrive tomorrow, be ready for them," she hit his chest while laughing.


    "C''mon, you know I don''t need any preparations," he laughed louder than her before carrying her in his arms.


    "Let me down, I have tons of work to do!" she tried to escape his grasp yet the next hours she was helplessly lying in bed while he was devastating her in every way possible.


    After she awoke, she hit his chest a couple of times with her fists while he only laughed. She headed back to the capital while he kept himself busy hunting her assassins and observing the status of war.


    The war seemed to enter a cold state where both sides were observing each other closely. Rigo and Dora kept spreading out their control over the systems close to them, while news coming from Terases empire explained clearly how much preparations they were amassing.


    Their loss at the start was painful, and they were now crazily building up fleets and amassing soldiers from everywhere. They had the home advantage, yet most people under their rule hated them!


    Another thing James and his leaders cared for, the news regarding the decoy they planted there. "This isn''t going according to plan," James shook his head as he noticed the lack of data coming from Terases empire regarding their search for his fake rival. "We need something to kick off the still waters," he thought before he sent an order to Rigo.


    "Make him call people to our resistance," this was what he sent to Rigo, and Rigo stayed in the commanding deck for a while reading this short message over and over again.


    "Despite seeing the logic behind this order, but doing that will make us lose more troops and fleets," he sighed, while passing the message to one of his main assistants, "send this to our boy, let him make some noise," he said.


    As Rigo feared, when the droid showed himself in the public and asked people to join the sacred war against emperor James, huge lines answered his calling.


    Yet after that he disappeared, leaving behind a promise to show up at the most stressful moment, when emperor James appeared, so he could kill him!


    This was the fine touch Dora added to the scheme, and all this aimed for the Terases race and that cunning youth behind them to catch the bait.


    And they did!


    "Hahaha, I like this news the best," James was sitting in his main cruiser while reading the latest reports coming from the Terases empire. They had spread the word that decoy was considered a top asset to them and they even announced a rich reward for anyone telling them intel about their location.


    "This might be useful later on," James laughed again while closing the screen and glancing at the latest updates from the war fronts. "We are doing great on this war, but the Terases empire is acting all cautious," he shook his head as in front of him, the map he once drew to others was getting closer to be real than ever.


    "It''s time for the next fleets to join the war," he thought before sending a message to Islinda asking her about the number of grand fleets amassed till date.


    Ten days passed since she sent him the new girls, and he had to admit to himself that he enjoyed them very much. They kept his growing energy in check, making him quite pleased by them.


    "Three fleets are ready to move out," she simply sent this message to him, "plus the droid fleet is ready to deploy."


    He glanced at the war map again before making up his mind. "Prepare for all out assault, four fleets will come to your aid in one week," he sent the orders to Rigo and Dora, making the two much excited about this.


    "Prepare for an all out assault," Dora excitedly said, "we are going to break some bones boys," she laughed while glancing at the map Rigo provided to her. "This path¡­ it''s so slow," she mumbled before starting to edit the course of battle Rigo drew for her.


    Rigo wanted them to move onward and use the incoming fleets as surprise wedges behind the enemies'' lines, yet she didn''t accept that.


    "Send this back to Rigo," she ordered after finalizing her touches over the plan.


    "This¡­ is quite bold," Rigo examined the plan for an hour before muttering these words, "like a man like his girls, tsk," he shook his head, "my leader is daring and loves to take risks, and so is she."


    He turned to his men as he ordered, "send this map back to our leader, make him take a decision about it."


    "Hahaha, this girl¡­ she can''t accept safety at all!" James laughed when he saw the map and studied it. "So you want to flip turns and be the wedge while hitting them where it hurts? Seems interesting, but the risks¡­" he stopped in tracks while glancing deeply at the map.


    Dora wanted them to jump behind the already gathered three grand fleets of the enemy, and hit them on surprise. This might work, yet the risk of more reinforcements was great!


    "Send the order back, let them start this when the fleets are only one day apart from them," he couldn''t risk such a bold move without backing it up. If the enemy had reinforcements hidden anywhere, then he should be prepared to match their move with a bigger one.


    "He is playing safe," Dora wasn''t pleased much with that reply from James, "why should I wait? One week! One whole week!" she was really angered by just waiting there doing nothing. "Order everyone, we will spread our activities to more systems, let those Terases tremble in fear from us!"


    She sat over her seat while doing nothing but examining the newest reports from all fronts. Her fleet was kicking everything in its way, with no resistance whatsoever.


    During their stay there, she and Rigo managed to make people feel the difference between the brutal Terases rule and James'' rule. People started to support them, and many volunteered to join their fleets.


    As for the local merchants, Rigo was doing an excellent job compared to her. She had to go to him everytime a new group of merchants appeared knocking on her doors.


    "Gosh! How can Islinda deal with these sly people all the time!" She suddenly had a great admiration for Islinda for withstanding these people all the time. "I only dealt with a handful of hundreds and already felt exhausted!" she complained while glancing over her calendar.


    "Only one day is left, why is time moving so slow here?!!"


    She was so impatient, yet the day passed and the moment of starting their full assault was here.


    Yet a new sudden development made everything unclear for her and Rigo.


    "The riots are spreading to three systems now!"


    Islinda stood in front of James while delivering this bad news to him. Revolutions started to kick in with calls to arms to resist his tyrannic rule in many systems. He glanced at the reports and the three systems that had these riots weren''t close to each other.


    "He wants to make me busy with internal turmoil? Good," James viciously laughed before adding, "send the word to Dora, let her men scattered along the Terases empire start their mission."


    "What about these systems? They aren''t that close the capital, yet they have big part of our empire inside that triangle!" Islinda pointed out towards the map while adding, "if we let them do as they wish, we will suffer many losses."


    "How much power have they amassed so far?" James asked, before adding, "and how many fleets have we gathered?"


    "We have two grand fleets ready to set off at any moment," she finally said a piece of good news before throwing another one, "They only had three normal fleets, which I''m pretty sure they had from the Terases empire."


    "Sending fleets to my empire?" he laughed before adding, "send two fleets to crush this futile resistance, and keep them stationed here for any future problems," he said before adding, "and let''s repay the debt, spread the third fleet to many smaller ones and let them go to aid the rebellion started by Dora''s men."

 Chapter 201: Mysterious Visitor

    "Sending fleets to my empire?" he laughed before adding, "send two fleets to crush this futile resistance, and keep them stationed here for any future problems," he said before adding, "and let''s repay the debt, spread the third fleet to many smaller ones and let them go to aid the rebellion started by Dora''s men."


    His words were met with a big smile of Islinda. "Dora is going to love this," she laughed while adding, "and I like it too."


    "We should be kind and generous, not repaying the kindness is a sin, right?" he laughed before adding, ''spread the words and go to resume your hard work."


    He paused before adding, "keep me posted all the time regarding the internal turmoil, and keep yourself aware of any new ones."


    "Yes, I understand," she left the cruiser while knowing that his fears and doubts were on the spot. The enemy wouldn''t settle at just one try, they would keep attacking them until they found a crack and rapidly expanded it.


    "At least it''s a war of attrition now; the shortest breath one would lose the war," she laughed as she enjoyed this way of fighting.


    Just as James expected, once his fleets crushed the futile rebellion, more started to appear around his vast territory. What caused more damage among the rest were the ones inside the newly conquered regions, where many answered to the rebellious calling, and the fight against them was so fierce.


    Especially those who came from the base of the seventh force he destroyed.


    They held great grudges and hatred towards him.


    "Reports my emperor," a human assistant came inside the main deck running, "there is a rebellious move in the capital."


    These words made even James more furious than ever. "Where?" he demanded in a tone that made everyone in the room quite nervous.


    "Near the palace, and the whereabouts of the empress isn''t clear yet."


    "Set course to the capital," James ordered.


    "Should we move the entire fleet?" one droid asked and this question was naturally answered by his approval, yet something told him this was all a decoy.


    "This is¡­ a distraction?" he was surprised, yet since developing his powers and raising them, he started to develop a strange wisdom and a hunch.


    "Make them fake coming with us yet return here and keep an eye for this area," he said before returning to his seat glaning at the open space outside his deck. "What are you aiming for?" he muttered before adding, "send a cruiser back to bring Islinda here, and let us stay," he decided.


    "But the rebellious move," the human assistant seemed quite daring and James just realized this right now. "Who are you?" he took out his knife as he pointed it towards her, "you aren''t part of here and your words have some sort of magic to it. Who are you?"


    "Interesting," suddenly the assistant laughed, "what gave me away?" she asked without any care about the knife he held in his hand.


    ''She is dangerous,'' the sound of his knife rang in his head, confirming his earlier guess.


    "Many things," he simply replied.


    "Meaning you don''t have a clue about one thing in particular.. a hunch? That''s amazing! A magus like yourself developing such a hunch in early levels¡­ amazing!"


    "Who are you?" he asked while taking out his rod and bow.


    "Using full force? Yet what your hunch tells?" she laughed before adding in a serious tone, "you can''t touch me, right?"


    His face changed as he never met someone like her. Just now he realized something; everyone but him was stunned in place, frozen motionless without feeling anything.


    "Time witch?" he muttered.


    "It''s not time which you fool, it''s a place magus! I can freeze any place and affect anyone inside to even believe me," she laughed, before adding, "and just now one hasn''t fallen under my spell, what should I do now?"


    She paused while adding after a long heavy moment of silence, "Kill you? Or release you?"


    "I''m not that easy to fall!" he clenched the handle of the knife while the rod was flying a few inches away defending him.


    "I know, but is it of your best interest to be enemies with us?"


    "Who are you?"


    "I''m the one who once was like you," her answer was shocking, "and I succeeded in my mission."


    "Mission? Like me?" James mumbled before adding, "you mean you were also a light and darkness controller?"


    "Controller? Hahaha, that''s funny," she laughed before adding, "it''s called magus you dummy, and it''s not a light and darkness controller, it''s the natural order controller."


    "Natural order?"


    "Sure, things aren''t born white and dark, they contain both! You and I are like many others, have special gifts and special abilities," she paused before adding, "and it''s up to you now to decide where this gift and ability will serve in the future."


    "I care about my present!"


    "Lies," she laughed, "everyone cares about their future most!"


    "Well, I care right now about my present," he said before adding, "what power do you belong to? Empire? Grand sector? Shrine?"


    "What? Hahaha, do you think I serve one of those lowly powers? C''mon, I''ve just said I''m like you, or was a long time ago, so I''m considered your senior now. Can''t you tell from where I''m?" she laughed while saying these words in an amusing way.


    "From outside this universe?" he cautiously said.


    "Bingo, you guessed it right," she laughed before adding, "I think you have a great chance to win this challenge. By the way, not being special means you will win. Many of us already lost their lives in their universes," she said, in a warning tone.


    "So?" he muttered.


    "So you need to work harder and not succumb to your pointless wins here in this nowhere in the universe," she paused before adding, "your main target should be the grand universe."


    "Conquer it?"


    "Control it!" she corrected, "you must be the absolute emperor above all."


    He went to silence for a moment as he liked this vision of hers. "What''s in it for you?" he asked.


    "As I told you just now, you need to serve someone, some power. I represent a great magus academy, are you interested in joining it?"


    "Is it good or bad?" he asked.


    "There is no such a term out there," she laughed, "but to make it easier for you to understand, we are the good guys."


    "Good," he smiled before adding, "if I won this tournament, I would be the good guy then and join you."


    "Perfect," she laughed and clasped her hands in amusement, "I like you, so I will give you hints of the future fights," she added before seriously saying, "your challenge will be to control the bigger part and win, do you get it?"


    The next moment she vanished like the way she appeared here. "Emperor should we leave now?" the droid spoke continuing what he was saying before he was frozen.


    "Do you feel sick?" James suddenly asked with gazed focused upon the droid, startling him.


    "M- Me? No, I''m fine."


    "Do you feel anything wrong in your circuits?"


    "No, everything is fine," the droid said, before asking, "is something wrong my emperor?"


    "No," James returned to his seat and stored his artifacts, "everything is fine," he added. "cancel my orders and get Islinda to me," he ordered before delving deeply inside his thoughts.


    "The good guys, huh?" he muttered before laughing.


    "I can still hear you, kid!"


    The sound of that female rang in his mind startling him. He hurriedly glanced around yet saw nothing. "Are you here?" he shouted, startling everyone else.


    "Hahaha, I''m in another plane, and don''t act like this or else your men will think you are crazy!"


    "I''m already considering me one," he laughed while returning to his seat again. "Can you go away?"


    "Leave you alone?" she laughed, "c''mon, you are my future disciple and so I have to watch you clearly and closely all the time."


    "You aren''t that older than me!" he retorted back.


    "Appearances might deceive you, I''m much older than you think," she laughed before adding, "don''t worry, I won''t peep on you and your women, hehehe, despite how much I love watching these lemon scenes."


    "C''mon, be serious for a moment!"


    The droids and everyone here exchanged silent glances before hurrying to send the word to Islinda. They thought their emperor was sick, and they asked her to hurry back and see him.


    She came in a hurry to see him fine. "What''s wrong?" she asked, while directing her question not to James but to everyone else.


    "Nothing," he shrugged but the droid next to him pointed to the screen where she raised her own and saw the recording of what happened.


    She saw him speaking to no one, cursing and shouting, and even laughing. Her heart ached the moment she saw this, yet she didn''t show anything on her face. "Are you alright?" she said before closing the recording in a hurry.


    "I''m great, don''t worry about me," he replied as he pointed to her screen, "that has some good reason."


    "Which is?" she asked as she went to sit on his lap, used to this after so many intimate sessions between the two.

 Chapter 202: Another Mysterious Visit!

    James glanced at her while he tried to make her forget this incident and that video by kissing her softly.


    "Yet you didn''t tell me anything," she smiled after a long moment of kiss.


    "Well," he cleared his throat before adding, "it''s something I can''t explain or tell anyone right away."


    "A secret it is?" she laughed like a little girl before adding, "C''mon, am I not your most loved wife?"


    ''It''s a tricky question,'' he said to himself before hurriedly replying, "Sure, you are my babe, but this¡­ it has a great impact on me, you, everyone. Can''t tell, not now at least."


    "Then when?"


    "Dunno," he shrugged, "but I bet many things would happen and the time to tell you is near."


    "I''ll wait for that," she jumped off his lap before painting a soft kiss on his lips, "keep yourself healthy and sane my little loveable dragon. After all I have none in my life but you," she then left the deck while he glanced at the droid who leaked the video to her.


    "I¡­ I was just worried about you, my emperor," the droid tried to reason himself, yet James only sighed. "Continue monitoring everyth¡­ing! What the hell!!!" he was midway in his words yet he noticed that everyone was paused in his place.


    "Not again!" he groaned, before turning around to add, "didn''t you say we can speak a¡­" he paused midway when he saw that man coming towards him.


    "Who are you?!!" he was shocked, "how did you come here? And how all of these¡­"


    "Stop, I have no much time here to waste on explaining these things one by one," the man said as he stood in front of James while adding, "you have met her, don''t you?"


    "Met¡­ who?" James tried to act innocent.


    "Yes, you met her," the man said before adding, "I just came here and froze everyone. Tell me, what''s my ability?"


    "Is this some sort of a game?" James asked while glancing all around, "is she watching right now?" he whispered.


    "No I froze her too," the stranger said, "now answer my question please."


    James glanced at him for a moment before saying: "The chick was a place magician, so you should be a time manipulator or magician, right?"


    "Bingo," the man smiled before James felt part of his soul being sucked away. "What the heck are you doing?!!" he shouted before the man smiled as he moved his hand to gather all the dissipating soul parts from James.


    "I''m trying to clean you from her filthy touch," the stranger said and when he finished speaking, a ball appeared in front of the two.


    "This is my soul! She did nothing¡­ yet," James said in a rushed tone and aggressive manner.


    "She did," the stranger said in a strong tone, "and you were manipulated by her just before she met you."


    "I can''t believe that!" James said in denial.


    "C''mon," the man smiled before pointing towards the ball as he just touched it and the next moment the ball started to twitch like it was coming to life. Its surface kept changing and its color went from pure white to pitch darkness before it popped open like an egg and the most hideous monster James saw in his entire life appeared right now.


    "What is that?!!" he pointed to it as it had half body resembling an old and dying dragon and a half of scorpion-like shape. "This¡­was inside me?" he was shocked yet he tried to take out his artifacts.


    "Don''t!" the stranger warned, "I sealed the place so even if your artifacts came, they will only harm themselves not me," he added while he just waved his hand towards this hideous monster and killed it like he was stamping on a cockroach.


    "How did this thing appear inside my soul in the first place?" James was panicked when he saw a small image of him floating off his soul like a burnt dry grass in midsummer.


    "I told you," the man smiled as he waved to make everything disappear, "she did this to you."


    "How? When? Why?" James was agitated, yet the man seemed calmer than the moment he entered this place.


    "She is a place witch, belonging to the darkest academy in the entire universe," the stranger explained slowly while he moved to glance over the hologram. "Pathetic retarded tech," he muttered as if he saw something that made him feel disgusted.


    "What? She told me she was the good guy!" James ignored his attitude or remark as he asked.


    "She lied," the stranger said, "we are the good guys," he pointed to himself while moving around.


    Under the light coming from a nearby star, James managed to see clearly his face. He had dark skin with sharp looking eyes and broad chin. He seemed strong, much stronger than the chick he faced before.


    "What makes me believe what you say?" James asked.


    "What do you mean by that?" the stranger said, while pointing to the place where that strange creature just died, "I just saved your soul from continuous agony. She planted this before she met you, and now after saving your life you didn''t even thank me?" the stranger pointed to himself while showing off his anger.


    "C''mon," James said before adding, "what makes me believe it wasn''t you who did this to me!" he directly asked, accusing him instead.


    "Who? Me?!! Hahaha, that''s hilarious," the man laughed before adding, "alright, let me tell you something important, this creature is called the Stringate, a nasty monster that can kill and torture any soul; only belonging to the dark academies."


    "Like yourself," James nodded as if he was appreciating the man''s honesty.


    "Like hers!" the man corrected in a strong tone, "this creature needs time to absorb the host energy. Saw how it looked slightly similar to dragons? Noticed the wisp of soul stolen from your soul?" the stranger pointed towards the ground where the monster was killed.


    James knew all that, but he couldn''t yet believe the man. "Has she gotten to your head or still not?" the man suddenly asked and that question, the question the puzzled James all this time, made him glance weirdly at that stranger.


    "Oho, she did that, hehehe," the man laughed as he was enjoying his time, "she loves toying with her prey," he added.


    "Preys? I''m not a prey, she wanted me to join her academy," James argued.


    "Buddy, from a man to a man, don''t let a chick cloud your judgement," the man said while adding, "she hailed from the strongest dark academy ever, and she lives on eating the souls of people like you using her pets. C''mon, don''t tell me she said how she was speaking directly in your mind, did she?"


    James felt much puzzled and greatly panicked. "Tell me, forget about this light and dark bulls*t thing and just think about this; will you sit idle when your soul is tainted? Your very existence is in danger?"


    James swallowed his throat before he retreated a couple of meters to the back. "What makes you a good guy then? Huh?" he asked, aggressively doubting everyone and everything.


    "Nothing," the man smiled, "I came here to do a favor for an old friend of mine, someone that¡­ you''ll know on time," the man waved his hand like he was saying nothing important. "Just remember, if she doubted you removed the pet, she would easily plant another," he laughed before adding, "and I''m not going to stick around to babysit you, right?"


    "You didn''t answer my question!" James was fixed on him, yet the man just smiled while taking out a small pill.


    "This is a fake pill, one that will make you fake being affected by her spell all the time. The severed link between you two will be restored, and that would be enough to protect you," he threw it all of a sudden and James hurried to catch. "Just swallow it, and if you are in danger it will inform me about it and I might come to save your as*."


    The man smiled before he started to walk away. "Wait, won''t you stick around like her?"


    "Remember to swallow this pill before I vanish, or else she will regain her senses and will know you severed the link somehow and will interfere again."


    James glanced at the pill before shouting back: "Why are you in a hurry? Won''t you prove the truth of your words?"


    "I just told you, I came for the favor of a friend, and I did what I needed to do. I didn''t need to convince you, neither do I care. I have a war to attend right away, and staying here will only complicate things out there," the man said before turning and glancing at James, "I don''t know why this friend said these great words about you, for me you are worthless pathetic human being that needs nothing but a slap on the face and be a lowly soldier on the battlefield, tsk."

 Chapter 203: Who Is Right and Who Is A Liar?!!

    The man then took out a large cigar before he ignited it. The cigar started burning hot and fast, while James just glanced at it and the man in question.


    "I will leave from this lowly realm in the time this cigar needs to totally burn," the man said before turning to walk away, vanishing from the sight of James, "Believe or not, this is your dilemma, this is your life. Is this pill a savior or a trap? This is your fate to decide, not mine; neither do I care."


    The words of the man echoed in James'' mind while he glanced at the pill, this at the cigar before muttering: "Sh*t!"


    James was really in deep trouble at the moment. "Should I believe him or not?" he asked himself while not knowing what to do!


    He glanced at the cigar; half of it almost burnt down! "No time to think, and that man didn''t tell me if this pill will work instantly or would take time," he cursed while he glared at the cigar, feeling very intimidated by this small thing!


    "Sh*t!" he cursed again while he took the pill and stuffed it into his mouth, "Screw you all!" he cursed out loud while swallowing the pill and not waiting for the cigar to totally burn.


    "I swear I will live up until I take my revenge on any of you two whoever was the culprit behind that!" he shouted and promised that the moment the cigar went off, the entire room returned to its normal state.


    And the moment everyone glanced at the seat where James was there they were astonished to see him away!


    "Emperor," the droid said before adding, "are you alright?" he asked.


    "I''m fine, return to your work," James shouted back and his tone was angry and his eyes were threatening, making the droid return back to his seat and start to work, plus sending a short recording to Islinda again.


    This time Islinda received the recording while she was just at the outside door of the cruiser. "This¡­ what''s wrong with you?!" she was speechless before she sighed and decided not to take care of this strange behavior. "Just tell me if anything major happened," she sent back as she and Rigo had planted that droid next to James to keep an eye on him.


    And it seemed that the needless procedure just paid off right now.


    "Honey, why are you this mad?" the sound of the girl resounded in his ears the next moment James shouted at the droid.


    "Those fools," he was angry, so he only needed to fake a good reason, "they leaked what I do with you to my girl, making her very worried."


    "Sure, I saw that, and that fiery kiss¡­ yummy, I love that!" she said and these words just startled James, yet he didn''t show any change on his furious attitude or features.


    "Sit, and calm down yourself. Being angry is something I hated about you, about any man," she said.


    "Can you tell me your name at least?" he asked while acting like he was cooling down.


    "Oh, are you aiming higher than your reach? Hehehe," she laughed a very seductive laughter. "honey, don''t put hopes on me as I will always fail you."


    "Wow, direct and sexy, rude and impulsive; I love that!"


    "And I love watching you try and fail, hehehe," she said before adding, "c''mon, calm down, I hate seeing my disciples be angry and mad."


    James took deep breaths and he faked cooling down. He didn''t know what to do or say, or how to deal with that witch, or even the pill he took was really like what that stranger told him about.


    He knew only one thing, he was in danger! And to be safe he couldn''t run away this time.


    "I need to be stronger," he decided, while his words said out loud made the girl on the other end laugh.


    "Stronger you must be," she said before adding, "tell me, will you play with these girls to become stronger?"


    James didn''t know what to say except asking, "will you be watching."


    "Sure," and the girl instantly replied.


    "Will you join us?" he asked in a playful tone.


    "Don''t aim bigger than your d¡­ thing," she laughed, "if you tried to f*ck me, you''ll end up being f*cked!"


    James didn''t say anything except he smiled before saying, "Is there anything I could do to increase my strength?"


    "Sure, my babe needs to rest, rest and calm down your mind all the time, alright?"


    Her answer didn''t satisfy his doubt. Despite being vague and strange, not constructive or helpful, James couldn''t be sure she meant ill to him.


    Yet she wasn''t useful, and that was the thing he was quite sure of.


    "What is it?" he suddenly asked.


    "What?" she asked back with a chuckle.


    "I just want to get stronger, or this is against the policy of the academy?" he asked.


    "It''s," she said, "indeed it''s," and added to confirm his guess.


    "No tips, any cheat, anything at all?" he said.


    "Stop it," she laughed while adding, "I just told you, lay down, relax and have fun. In the end of the day, you''ll get stronger; one way or another."


    "This¡­" James didn''t know what to say or decide, "isn''t helping."


    "Hehehe, I know, but it will help clear up your mind and that way you at least will be at peace."


    "Tsk," James glanced at the hologram as he recalled the man''s words over it. "Tell me, what do you think of my empire?" he suddenly asked.


    "Your empire?" she laughed, while her tone showed some nervousness, "it''s not an insult, dear, but this empire of yours is just pathetic."


    "Is the academy that mighty?" he asked.


    "Sure, beyond what you can expect."


    James recalled the scene where that man stood and commented on the hologram. ''Why did he do that?'' he thought to himself.


    "Sorry darling, didn''t hear you clearly," and she suddenly asked, and that gave James an instant scare.


    "I was just wondering if I can see a glimpse of that glorious academy," he hurriedly said before adding, "If you may, can you broadcast a piece of the academy at the hologram?"


    "That device?" she muttered before adding, "I dunno but that thing is antique at our academy."


    "Oh," James faked his ignorance about this info, "so you can''t use it?"


    He was simply trying to test out a hunch. ''That man wasn''t easy, he didn''t do or comment on a thing without a purpose,'' James muttered to himself while believing that man''s words even more.


    "Sorry babe, what did you just say?"


    "I just lament my bad luck for having such a pathetic retarded tech," he said, trying to mimic the way and even the posture that man took when he said those words.


    And the next moment, the result just blew off his mind!


    "I''m Injie, a place witch from the prestigious Doklaf dark academy. I''m here to collect souls for the purpose of the personal gain and fulfill academy quest."


    Suddenly the tone and behavior of that witch changed, and James heard her saying these words while the last thing she said greatly shocked him.


    "And right now I have two souls in hand, one is male, and the other is the female. The female is weak, so I''m now infesting the entire population around to harvest the entire universe by the end of the tournament, with the soul of the male winner of course."


    James felt a cold shiver running down his neck at this moment, and even his feet seemed to be so light and he lost his sensation at them for a brief moment there.


    "Darling, just I feel you said something and I didn''t recall what it is," the next moment the normal witch reappeared again and James just had to smile before saying: "It''s nothing, I was just lamenting my bad luck."


    "For what, dear?" she asked with confusion.


    "For not being able to f*ck you," he smiled, bitterly smiled, while she laughed, as she totally forgot about what just happened.


    "Told you, don''t aim your thing deeper than you can reach, hehehe."


    "True," he nodded while returning to his seat. "That''s absolutely true," he now had innate fear towards the future, not knowing what he should do.


    Even his thoughts were monitored by that witch!


    "May I ask if I can go to rest?" he said, while trying to act polite.


    "Wow, you really are a fast learner," she laughed, "what? Do you think I won''t peek if you asked me nicely? I''m not that nice y''know, hehehe."


    He shook his head and said nothing. He glanced at the room, suddenly this big cruiser, this wide deck seemed so tiny and small for him.


    "I need to fly in space," he decided and the next moment he stood up as he said to his droid, "I will go for a walk."


    "Right now? Right here?" The droid was speechless.


    "What? Don''t tell me you didn''t see me fighting in the space before?" James was overly aggressive and that made the droid refrain from asking him any more. "Just open the hatch and let me out," he said while heading towards a nearby safety exit.


    "Dear, why take the trouble to go outside? It''s cold and desolate; nothing interesting is there to watch!"


    James smirked as she seemed quite distressed from him going out, "Nothing, I just want to move my muscles, won''t that be a good thing for someone like me?" he said and his words were followed by his actions.

 Chapter 204: The Weakness of the Witch

    The safety pod left the cruiser fast while he was inside watching the space circling around him until it stabilized itself. "Now, let''s have some walk," he smiled as he pressed the button and the hatch opened, with a great traction force taking his body forcibly outside.


    The next moment he pictured himself and turned into a dragon.


    "What do you think?" he asked while trying to test a theory he had.


    Yet nothing came to him at all!


    "Can you hear me?" he muttered before he sighed in relief when he didn''t hear anything back. "So space can jam the signal," he was excited to find a place where that witch wouldn''t prey on him.


    "Now, what the hell just happened?" he was finally able to think rationally about everything that he passed through. "Was I poisoned? Tricked? Or what?!!" he recalled the meeting with that stranger while feeling much odd about what just happened.


    "But he proved his words after all," he sighed when he recalled what that witch said when he used the words that master provided to him. "Yet he did that in a discrete way, tsk," he shook his head before adding, "would it kill him if he just told me everything directly?"


    James knew that man was strange and unique, yet he was now in a grave situation. "Islinda was infected and now she is going to infect everyone," that was the imminent crisis he had to solve right away. "How can I do that again?" he muttered when he recalled what the master did.


    "He waved his hands like this," James tried to mimic him, yet the next moment he felt like holding a burning aura inside his hands; was about to explode. "Damn!" he cursed while he tried to recall everything in a calmer way.


    "That master used words, posture, and movement to activate his techniques," James reached this conclusion not through what the master did to extract that parasite from his soul, but from the technique he used on the witch to force her to spill out everything.


    "So I have to mimic his posture, his movements, and also his words to the letter," James started to take the same posture that man had while recalling the words he was saying.


    "Wait a minute," James paused, "it was me who said those words!" it hit him while another realization hit him, "I need another one to perform this on him," he thought again and the more he did he became more confident to try this out.


    "But¡­" he hesitated, as if he did so while Islinda was inside the suit then she wouldn''t be severed from the spy of that witch; the witch would hear everything and figure out what he was doing.


    "I need to make her level rise up fast," he muttered, "not only her, but also the others," he thought about his long harem and sighed. "Time to go back," he moved towards the cruiser and the moment he reached there he heard the sound of the witch ranging in his mind:


    "Babe, can you not do that again? Please? I was so worried over you."


    "Me too," he lied before adding, "what happened? I shouted a lot but you never answered."


    "Dunno, maybe the distance between us is very vast so that cold and merciless space interferes with our loveable connection," she said before adding in soft cuckle, "what are you going to do now? Summon the girls and have a wild party?"


    His heart clenched as this wasn''t the first time the witch asked about his girls. "Sure, but I have a war to supervise plus my girls are weak right now," he said before heading directly towards the commanding deck.


    "Relay my orders," he instantly said, "tell Islinda to take all the girls in my palace and go to Luna. They have to start eating all the ores stored there, and make Luna leave this one single command," ha paused while the droid responsible for the communication was eagerly listening. "All the ores must be moved and stored at their current place; the supply shall never stop!"


    Everyone glanced at him in a weird way. They were in the middle of a big war right now, and many riots started to erupt across the empire and he was only caring about his girls and some ores!


    "What are you waiting for?!" James shouted angrily making everyone jolted awake. The droid hurried to relay the orders while the right man droid in the cruiser said, while watching James returning to his seat.


    "What about the riots? We have many occurring at the moment, and Islinda is the one leading the resistance."


    "Relieved."


    "What?"


    "She is relieved from that duty," James simply said.


    "And¡­ who is going to suppress the resistance?" the droid was having more doubt towards his leader.


    He had many dark thoughts about being poisoned or even replaced!


    "We will," James firmly said, "relay the orders, we will take charge of that fight!"


    The droid was surprised before he hurriedly asked: "But my leader, we are already leading the operation of the frontlines."


    "And what''s in that?" James casually asked while noticing the hesitation and puzzlement of the droid. "C''mon, I''m the general leader of this army, the emperor of the empire! Don''t tell me you think I''m that useless to lead my empire at the times of distress!!"


    The droid felt more nervous as he realized he stepped voluntarily inside a hornets nest! "I¡­ I never meant that, my supreme leader and emperor," he hurried to retreat what he just said, hoping for James to forgive and forget.


    "Never mind," and James wasn''t in the mood to care about these minute trifles, "go and do your duty, we have a lot to do," he moved his seat to face the hologram while thinking of the man who stood there a while ago.


    "Let''s show the entire universe how mighty and capable I''m," he muttered while he meant totally different meaning.


    "You are acting¡­ weird!" the witch said.


    "How?" James wasn''t fazed by her doubt, as he knew she would have much.


    "Won''t you crave for your girls?"


    "Why are you so fixated about them anyway?" he laughed before adding, "will you join us, perhaps?"


    "Stop it," she laughed while feeling more peace knowing he didn''t change, "I just want to have some fun."


    "Want some, come and join us," he laughed while using this as an excuse to make her stop harassing him.


    "No, thanks, I will have to pass on that."


    "C''mon, you are sexy and mature, or do you have a man?" he said.


    "What?" she laughed, "no, of course not, I''m a lonely proud lady," she said.


    "Wrong," he said, "you are a sexy hot lady waiting to be squeezed and moisturized, hehehe," he laughed and she just sneered without saying another word about the matter.


    "Emperor, news from the front," the droid said, "Dora''s fleet is preparing to move to attack," he added while showing the latest updates on the hologram.


    "Good," James said, "what about the pockets of resistance?" he muttered, while indirectly checking on what Islinda and others were doing right now.


    "We¡­" The droid hesitated before adding, "we still didn''t take the command over the operation from¡­" he didn''t continue when James suddenly went angry as his domineering dragon aura dissipated to cover the entire commanding deck; making everyone tremble in fear.


    "What did you just say?" James asked, and the droid just swallowed his dried up throat.


    The next moment he showed the picture of Islinda on the hologram, putting the main culprit in front of his emperor for him to save his neck.


    "James, wha¡­" she was about to speak when James gave her a very serious and threatening glance that made her heart shudder and she paused in her phrase with sweat oozing off her face.


    A very cold sweat.


    "Do¡­ As¡­ I said!" he simply said those words in a very calm way, yet they came out in a very loud and domineering tone!


    "S- S- Sure," she stuttered before nodding.


    He waved to the droid who was already petrified in his seat. "Receive the command of the operation now," he said while Islinda was still on with him.


    "Now!" he shouted at her and that jolted her body awake! She hurried to press many buttons in a very nervous way before she said: "It''s¡­ done."


    "Good," he said while he took the confirmation from his droid.


    "Do you want me to brief you ab¡­" she was midway when he gave her another warning glance, making the rest of her words suffocate inside her throat.


    "I''ll come to visit and play when I finish killing off those worthless fools," he said before simply closing the connection from a button on the side of his seat.


    Then the deck ushered under a heavy silence.


    "My emperor," the droid said after long minutes of hesitation.


    "What?" James replied in an aggressive tone.


    "Shouldn''t we move now to destroy these rebels?"


    "What are you waiting for?" James glanced at him and the droid hurried to look towards his own panel and started moving the cruiser and the small fleet alongside it towards the front. "We are on the way, emperor," he said while trying to limit his own wordings with James from now on.


    A sense of fear and danger overwhelmed him as both overwhelmed Islinda who sat back at her palace trying to catch her own breaths. "He was never in such a way before," she muttered, while recalling his scary gazes. "I should¡­ yeah, I should hurry and make everyone move with me towards Luna."


    She couldn''t dare to risk delaying, or else this new version of James was really unpredictable.

 Chapter 205: Doras Madness

    "What''s wrong with you, honey?" the witch said while James just smiled as he said: "Nothing, I''m just pissed off those weak girls around me," he then laughed before adding, "it''s your fault y''know."


    "Mine? How come?"


    "You raised my standards in women, tsk, why don''t you give up your stubbornness and be my girl!"


    "In your dreams!"


    "My dreams are lewd and witty, c''mon let''s dream together," he laughed and he only got a sneer back to his words.


    He didn''t care much about her behavior, yet he cared about distracting her off his true aim. He hoped his girls would level up fast, and then be able to withstand what he would do to them in the open space.


    "Leader, we are approaching the first resistance pocket," the droid said before adding, "Mrs. Dora wants to have a private word with you," he added in a strange expression on his face.


    "Alright, I''ll take the call in my dorm," he said before adding, "use deadly force from the start, even killing off the entire planet would do."


    "Oh," the droid was shocked by his words, "shouldn''t we try to reason with them at least?" he suggested yet the glance he received from James made him regret expressing his thoughts out loud.


    "Sure, sure, I''ll do this right away," he hurried to say as he turned to glance at his screen, without doing anything more.


    "Tsk," James shook his head before heading towards his room.


    "What the hell are you doing?!!" the moment Dora''s face appeared in front of him, she shouted angrily and with bulging neck veins.


    "What?" and he acted innocent.


    "You are trying to make them all strong? Stronger than me? What the hell are you thinking?!!"


    He was speechless there for a moment before breaking out in laughter. "It''s your fault not to be around," he smiled as he said to her, enjoying her funny expression and hot temper.


    "Tsk, I made Luna send me my share already," she said with a serious look, "I swear when I come back I''ll have another yelling at you!"


    "At bed? Wow, that''s inspiring," he laughed and the answer he got was the call to be slammed on his face.


    He smiled helplessly as he couldn''t even say what he wanted to do to his trusted women. He sighed before returning to the deck where the fight already started.


    "How is it going?" he asked.


    ""They surrendered," the droid hurried to say, "we only killed a small part of their leaders and the rest were taken in custody. Everything is calm now here."


    He seemed quite worried about James'' reaction so he added, "I sent the entire fleet to the planet, and that was enough deteretion to make everyone return to their sanity."


    "Good," James commended, "go and make sure we do the same to other pockets," he added before saying, "how about the frontlines?"


    "They are about to start advancing now," the droid said as he hurried to shift the hologram from showing off the panicked planet into the map of the ongoing war far, far away from here.


    "Good, I hope Dora will endure the pressure," he muttered while returning to sit on his seat. "How about my ladies? Have they moved to Luna''s place already?"


    "They are already there," the droid said before turning the hologram to show a scene recorded from a monitor camera. Many dragons silhouettes appeared in front of James'' eyes where they were eating endless amounts of godly ores.


    "Fantastic," he clapped his hands in excitation, "let''s see who will be strong and who will fail this," he added before waving his hand casually, "return the screen to the war out there."


    "which one?" the droid asked.


    "Rigo''s and Dora''s war," he said before adding, "how many fleets did we make so far?"


    "One more, and the second is undergoing completion soon," the droid said before adding, "Mrs. Islinda made sure to leave behind her arrangements for the dealings with merchants. Everything is going the same as if she was there."


    "She is quite capable," he muttered, "she will do a great job as empress," he knew his strongest girl was her, and the thought of being the first one infected annoyed him greatly.


    The campaign led by Dora was intense from the start. Tersos empire proved to be quite resilient, and also resourceful.


    "That damned leader of them, I want to squeeze his neck!" she angrily shouted as despite destroying her enemies and creating a large hole in their formation, she paid the hefty price of losing almost half of her fleet for that hole!


    "Lady, the reinforcements are here, waiting for your mark to appear," A droid said while she thought for a moment. "Let them come at us first," she evilly laughed before adding, "then we''ll let our boys gang bang them, hahahaha!"


    The droids and the assistants in the room glanced shortly at her before they returned to mind their own business. She became more vulgar after sleeping with James, and that was apparent in her words, even in her silly jokes.


    As for Rigo, he waited patiently while Dora did the risky suicidal move of hers. He knew the toll would be heavy, yet he was glad she managed to create sucha hole, diverting even part of the forces stationed here to go and stop her.


    "Acting rampant as my leader, tsk," he sighed while recalling the short conversation he had with Islinda hours ago. "What''s wrong with you?" he muttered, yet the reports coming from the deck showed how strange James was.


    He saw the records many times and he was quite positive his leader was fine, yet his actions were inexplicable!


    "I hope you aren''t going insane at this stage," he sighed, as he had nothing in hand to do. He waited until many ships left from the enemy side. Despite apparently not looking weak, he knew they were vulnerable.


    "Spread the word, let the hidden cavalry appear," he smiled while adding, "send the word to Dora, make her aware of our move."


    "Damn you Rigo!" As for Dora, she cursed the moment she received the news, "can''t you wait for a couple of days?!!" she shook her head before waving her hand, "spread the orders, let the hidden boys befall on the incoming reinforcements and the rear of the enemy."


    "What about us?" the droid sitting nearby asked.


    "Deploy our forces, we''ll continue our crazy assault and eat them up from inside out."


    The fight on her side was bloody and brutal, and she didn''t hold back at all even when the hidden fleets came like doomsday upon the Terases fleets.


    The war extended to cover over dozens of small sectors, and the fight stretched even to the peaceful planets.


    Many lives were lost, yet Dora never paused her crazy attacks. She was pissed off James and his sudden decision to support all the women in his harem but her!


    "Just wait, do you think I''m this useless to you?" she promised while she kept pushing the entire fleet to chase down her enemies.


    As for Rigo, the fight at his place was simpler. The sudden appearance of the fleet gave his enemies a scare, and that created enough chaos for his fleet to step in.


    And the fight started to be one sided slaughter from the early moments onward.


    As for James, he watched all this unfolding in front of his very eyes. "That girl¡­ she lost a lot already, why keep pushing this hard?" he shook his head while glancing over Rigo''s side. "Can''t she learn something or two from Rigo? He devastated his enemy with losing less than one tenth of his fleet! Not more than two thirds of it!!"


    "I think her role helped Rigo a lot," the droid said in hesitation, while he added, "without her crazy moves, Rigo would have lost more."


    "I know," James shook his head, while adding, "but this loss¡­ I''m sure if she played like Rigo and didn''t act this rash, the total toll wouldn''t escalate to such heights!"


    "She might have some plans for the new fleets," the droid suggested.


    "I bet she is," James agreed just before he felt himself being sucked away from his seat. "Wow, this fast!" he muttered while he appeared the next moment inside the strange world.


    "You''ve been so busy lately," the sound came again softly to his ears. "meeting two giants and being poisoned by one of them, that''s a lot!"


    "Wow, you know everything!" James was speechless for a moment there before hurrying to add, "do you know what''s going on?"


    "Sure," she replied, "I can tell a lot, but first let me take the annoying listening ears of that witch away off here," the voice said before James felt his body floating in the air for a moment and the next a semi-transparent body of him appeared next to him, closing his eyes and looking peaceful.


    "Wow, who is that?" he asked.


    "He is you, a clone of yours to keep that witch busy," the sound said before she added, "go and keep things normal back at the cruiser."

 Chapter 206: Many Secrets to Unfold

    James glanced at his shadow clone before stopping him. "Don''t change the plans of my current crusade out there," he said in a serious tone, "and don''t flirt with my women!"


    "C''mon, he is you, not someone else," the sound laughed before adding, "he has all your memories, wisdom, and of course arrogance."


    "I''m not arrogant!"


    "Yes, you aren''t," the sound laughed before adding, "go now, we don''t need to make that witch suspicious."


    The clone nodded to James before vanishing from the world. "Sigh, I didn''t know such a thing existed," he muttered.


    "You don''t know a lot," the voice said before adding, "for example, you don''t know about the academies outside this universe, and now you''re pumped into two at the moment."


    "Tsk, don''t tell me about it," he sighed as he went towards a pile of stones he used to sit there whenever he came here. "But at least one of us knows what''s going on here, right?" he laughed while the sound said:


    "It''s not that funny if you knew the truth."


    "Which is?" James wasn''t that shocked after hearing her words, after all he prepared himself for the worse.


    "One is from a light academy and one is from the dark academy," she said.


    "I know that already," James nodded while adding, "tell me what I don''t."


    "Like both are bad choices for you to make," she finally said something new, "the dark academy is bad, and the light one is even worse."


    "Why is that?" he muttered, "I hate the dark side, but at least isn''t the light side better?" he added.


    "You are wrong," she said, before explaining, "the light academy that reached out to you isn''t the best out there. In fact as far as my knowledge goes, this academy is infamous for their dirty acts," she then paused before adding:


    "For example it''s a wide known rule not to meddle with people like you before they finish their trials. Coming near you is considered a shame act, and even trying to recruit and force you to join one academy than the other is much worse."


    "Wow, never knew there were such rules," he exclaimed in surprise, "but as long as there are rules, there must be consequences for breaking them, right?" he asked.


    "Not really," she answered before adding, "these rules are friendly ones, with only a side effect would be the bad reputation the academy doing this would have. Of course for already infamous academies, this is considered nothing."


    "Tsk, such loose rules in a harsh world; who would listen to these anyway like this?"


    "Don''t underestimate the power of reputation," the sound replied, "besides you aren''t in any bad situation either," she added.


    "How come? I was almost killed and my own women and empire are threatened by the same fate right now," he shook his head in regret, "if only I was stronger!"


    "This isn''t considered bad, as you already know the way to unlock the cursed parasite used by that witch," the sound said before adding, "and you guessed the answer to this dilemma correctly; by getting stronger you won''t stop by anything in this universe."


    "But I''m weak!" he argued.


    "You are getting stronger everyday, and what you are doing with your harem is the best thing you can do right now."


    "I have no time to get strong enough to save everyone," he shook his head.


    "You don''t get it, don''t you?" she said in a deep tone before adding, "being victorious at the tournament is considered as saving everyone here."


    "Really?" he smirked as he didn''t believe in what she just said. "With me being harassed by two I can''t even touch?" he added.


    "Don''t worry yourself about these," she said before explaining, "the two might look scary, but when you gain the recognition of the universe and win the tournament, nothing inside this universe will hold you back anymore."


    "Meaning?" he demanded, "will I be able to remove this curse from everyone then?" he asked his most pressing issue.


    "Sure, you''ll be able to do that and much more."


    "How?" he asked, "Will I gain a new ability? Develop something to control everyone here?"


    "No, you''ll only do one simple thing," she said and paused.


    "Which is?"


    "To kill the witch."


    "What?!!!" he was shocked that he even stood up from the pile of rocks he was sitting upon. "I¡­ you can''t be serious!" he stuttered before shouting at her.


    "I''m dead serious," she added, "when time comes, you''ll know you''ll be able to do even more than that."


    He tried to calm himself and took a couple of moments to do so before returning to sit over his seat. "You are dooming me," he shook his head in disapproval to what she just said. "By the time I do that, all my women and people will be long dead."


    "Wrong," she said,  before explaining, "you won''t lose anyone."


    "How come? They are all already infected!"


    The voice sighed before saying: "She can''t reap any soul before reaping the main soul."


    The eyes of James'' shone and this time he felt little hope finally. "Do you mean¡­?" he paused as his mind was now exploding with one possibility.


    "Sure, you are free from her curse, and as long as you are like this; she won''t be able to touch a single hair of your beloved girls and people."


    "I love that plan," he finally laughed, releasing all the stress he already piled deep inside him, "I like you."


    "Hehehe, I know," and she laughed with him. "Now, as your concerns were cleared, you need to be ready to face your next opponent."


    "Wait," he stopped her, "what about that man?"


    "The one of the light academy?" she asked.


    "Sure, no one but him," he nodded, "can I kill him as well?"


    "Yup, but that one is a little sneaky," she said, "I believe he left already the universe, fearing you."


    James paused for a moment while thinking about that man again. "I also had the same belief," he nodded, "but what about that pill? I''m sure it''s not only to sever the spying link of the witch!"


    "You are right, it''s not for that," she said before adding, "it''s a simple tracking pill."


    "Tracking? Me?"


    "Yes, he wanted to know your location all the time," she replied.


    "Stragne," he muttered, "isn''t he able to find me anytime he wants?" he asked with a puzzled expression on his face.


    "Sure, provided that he is still inside the universe," she said and her words made James understand everything.


    "You don''t mean¡­ he is this coward!!" he was so surprised by this.


    "He is much more cowardly than you think he is," she laughed, "he is afraid to even touch the universe again, so he just used this pill to keep track of your location from outside."


    "What for?" James asked, "he couldn''t do this for nothing, right?"


    "He wants to know your fate first before deciding what to do," the sound said.


    "Meaning to be eaten by the witch or victorious in the tournament, right?" he bitterly smiled before adding, "why is everyone thinking so low of me? Sigh! That''s frustrating!!"


    "You are weak, and you already know it," the sound said.


    "I promise to make him disappointed," he laughed before adding, "but if I lost and turned into a meal for that witch, what is there for him to track me then?"


    "He will be able to track the witch," she said before explaining, "the witch uses a difficult technique to protect herself and stay away from any trouble. He would try his best to find her with other means and still fails. Only this way he will be one hundred percent sure of getting her."


    "Wow," James opened his mouth in disbelief, "I turned from a meal to a decoy, just amazing!"


    "Hehehe, who made you such a weak one?" she laughed while adding, "are you enough of your questions now? Shall I invite our next prey?"


    "Hehehe, sure, send him in, I have some anger inside to vent after all."


    "Hahaha, then I will choose someone stronger for you this time."


    "they are all weak, tsk," he shook his head while adding, "and they only had one queen."


    "It''s a great milestone to have one queen, y''know."


    "Tsk, but it''s taking more time," he sighed, "can''t you summon two in a row? Or one each day?"


    "My current energy can''t allow me to do that," she said in a deep sad tone, "I need more to die on your hands for me to evolve."


    This answer made James realize something. All this time he kept killing whoever she sent here, and he emptied all their stocks of artifacts and queens, yet the bodies remained here.


    And these bodies went missing every time he visited again. "Scary," he muttered to himself, "she is feeding on dead bodies, scary!"


    "Are you ready?" she asked again.


    "Sure, send it my way, and let''s grow stronger together," he laughed, as this scary girl was now on his side, so he was very excited by her scariness.

 Chapter 207: All Press Forward

    James fought and easily crushed the next opponent before returning to the deck again. When he returned, he felt his body swapping with the clone summoned by the voice.


    And the next he had was the short time memories he received when he was away. "Wow, this is simply amazing," he muttered to himself.


    "What''s amazing?" yet the distasteful voice of that witch came again knocking him back to reality. "Nothing," he answered before turning to his droid. "Show me the latest reports of the fight going on out there."


    "Which fight exactly, my emperor?" The droid was careful as James seemed out of normal these days.


    "Rigo and Dora of course," James replied, "show the reports now on the hologram.


    "Right away," the droid hurried to press several buttons before the hologram screen changed from showing the ongoing fight on the lower planet with resistance to the map of the Terases empire.


    "They went this deep?" he muttered when he noticed the expansion in fight all over the fronts. "How much losses did we have so far?" he asked.


    "According to the latest data, Dora lost more than half of her fleet already, while Rigo lost only one tenth of it."


    "Rigo is playing nice and cautious," James muttered while not commenting on Dora''s rashness. "Send the word to him, make him be bolder."


    James noticed the droid didn''t execute his words, so he gave him a stern glance and the droid hurried to do what he was asked for. The droid saw this was a wrong decision to take, yet he couldn''t dare to defy James or even negotiate with him during this weird attitude of his.


    "He asks for me to advance further and act bolder?" Rigo received the order and was speechless about it for a moment. "Call the emperor and transfer the call to my room," he said as he stepped out of the deck in hurried steps.


    He didn''t understand his emperor''s mind up till now, and this order was the last straw in his patience. "He better gives me a proper explanation," he muttered while entering his room and closing its doors.


    "What''s it?" James appeared in his room as well. When he received the call request he decided to take the call in his room.


    "May I ask what is going on here?" Rigo directly asked.


    "Nothing," James shrugged, "I just want us to press on the advantage we currently hold," he added while his tone told Rigo he was lying.


    "I''m talking about you," Rigo said before adding, "I received strange reports during the last days stating how bizzare you acted."


    "You mean what I asked Islinda to do?" James calmly said, not feeling any surprise for Islinda to speak up with him about this. After all he understood what he did looked strange and suspicious to others.


    "Sure, and that is taking the anti-rebellious operation by yourself. This¡­" Rigo paused before adding, "are you alright? In here?" he pointed to his head with the shining part in it.


    "Hahaha," James laughed before adding, "c''mon, you know me. I never do anything without proper reason."


    "I doubt that!" Rigo instantly replied.


    "Don''t worry," James tried to reassure him.


    "I''m worried, and if you don''t provide me with an answer at the moment then I''ll be more worried."


    James wanted to tell his man everything he had in mind, but he couldn''t. that witch was closely watching him, and if he did something to arouse her suspicions even more, the next visit of her wouldn''t be a pleasant one.


    "I have my own reasons," James said, while adding, "and for the current moment I can''t share them with you."


    "Why?" Rigo asked, not satisfied with this short and vague reply as an answer.


    "This¡­" James sighed before adding, "let''s say I held a deep secret that might endanger everyone if I leaked it out."


    "Secret?" Rigo wasn''t totally convinced by this, "how dangerous this secret is?" he added trying to assess this secret, if it was really there.


    "Enough to cause the destruction of everything we held dear," James answered before adding, "and there is no stopping it once it spreads to others. So, believe in me, believe in your leader and just drop this for now."


    "Tsk," Rigo knew from James'' tone that he wasn''t lying this time, which made him more worried instead. He hoped for something easy to have here, not such a dangerous secret. "It seems the words of the past leader of us weren''t groundless after all," he muttered.


    And these words made James recall the weird recording the last leader of Rigo had left to him long time ago. This message was vague in James'' mind, yet he felt the need to check it out later.


    "Go back and start working harder," James said before adding, "we need to crush this empire in less than two weeks."


    "So soon," Rigo muttered, "weren''t we supposed to have a month?" he asked in confusion.


    "As I told you," James shook his head helplessly, "there are new things developing in the backstage right now and we need to be sure we are able to handle the upcoming crisis."


    "Sigh," Rigo sighed before adding, "alright, I''ll keep the boys working their asses for you," he said before warning, "but the losses will be great."


    "No problem," James said before adding, "after all we are about to lose much more than what you think if we left this war stretched far longer than this."


    "Alright," Rigo stood up before adding, "wait for the good news then," and he closed the call before returning to his deck and spreading the new orders to everyone.


    "Press on," he simply ordered, "don''t hold back anything," he added while sitting on his seat thinking about the strange call he just had with James.


    James returned to his deck while his mind was busy thinking about what he just said to Rigo. He hoped he wouldn''t have said something to expose himself there.

 Chapter 208: A New Fleet Joins the Fight

    "Spread the words to Dora," he suddenly said, "make her press forward with all her might."


    "And the losses?" the droid had the courage finally to ask about this.


    "Deliver the newly formed fleets to them," James casually responded, "plus we will crush the rebellion here soon then divert part of the fleets over to them as well."


    The logic in his words made the droid unable to refute back. James stayed in the deck for days, while watching the ongoing brutal fight at the frontier, and the inside battle against those rebels.


    Yet after a week, everyone in his empire knew of his brutality against those opposing him. Many planets were annihilated when they refused to lay down their arms.


    Everyone thought he would lean towards a softer approach, as he was known to be soft and womanizer.


    Yet when he showed up his true colors, many started to think again about rebelling against such tyrants.


    And so the frequency of the rebellious moves started to show signs of decline at the end of the first week.


    As for the front battle, things got much complicated during that week.


    The Terases race had suffered great losses for days, on the expense of massive losses in James'' two major fleets as well.


    But starting from the fourth day onward, new fleets started to show up. These fleets were brand new, with many of them showing some advanced technologies that weren''t available before to the Terases empire.


    "I believe they had support of that man," Dora said in the group call with Rigo and James, "or else how can we explain this sudden development?"


    "I believe we should decrease our marching speed," Rigo suggested.


    "No, keep pressing forward," James refused this suggestion as he added, "we have two ready to move out fleets here, plus three fleets were already sent to you and would take less than three days to arrive. I also have things here stabilized for now, so I can just let some of the fleets here and send them back to you."


    "This¡­" Rigo hesitated, "wouldn''t that make you vulnerable?" he added.


    "No, don''t forget I still gather up arms and ships all the time. Every three days we can amass a giant fleet. Plus those droids of yours are still here gathered up and doing nothing."


    "Is this enough?" Dora asked, "will you be secured?" she added, expressing her worry about him.


    "Don''t worry, nothing can touch me right now," he confidently said as he was pretty sure that witch wouldn''t allow her investment to be killed this early and in the hands of others.


    "Alright," he said, "now go back and start hammering those aliens with all your might."


    The fight kept raging wildly on all fronts while James was only thinking about one thing; what was the aim of that man?


    And soon at the end of the week the news from Terases empire came to explain everything.


    "Emperor, the recent reports speak of extensive search about our man," the droid suddenly said as he added, "they deployed almost all of their old fleet everywhere, showing up generous rewards for anyone providing them with info about this man."


    "Wow, so they tried to stop us until they found him?" James said before laughing, "great, make our man jump from one system to another. Let them be maddened by his moves."


    The droid was speechless for a moment before adding, "is this safe? This way they might find him easier."


    "Don''t worry," James said, before adding, "just make him jump all the time and be extra careful."


    "Ok," the droid returned to deliver the orders, not only to the droid but also to Rigo.


    "He wants to keep them busy. Hmm¡­ I see," Rigo managed to read James'' thoughts just after reading the message a couple of times. "This might endanger the entire operation of that faked rival of his, but it would still buy us some valuable time."


    James wanted to make the Terases empire busy looking for his man. This way he would guarantee that the old fleets of the empire wouldn''t join the war yet.


    Despite being weaker to the new fleets coming from the outside, he knew these fleets weren''t weak compared to his own. He wanted to clear these new hostiles first before facing the rest of the fleets.


    "You know you are a good leader," the witch suddenly said after some time of silence. "I watched your moves and to be honest; I''m impressed."


    "Thanks a lot for your compliment," James tried to be courteous here, "by the way, any news about the tournament?" he asked while trying to shift the topic about the approaching tournament.


    For him, his alarming sense kept escalating in frequency during the past week, making him feel that it was almost upon him.


    "It''s still early," she muttered, "you have around one month," she added, making him be much relieved for a second there.


    "Thanks," he said before turning his full attention to clear everything inside his empire.


    The size and the frequency of the rebellious moves declined greatly these past days. He knew he couldn''t kill them all until he destroyed the Terases empire, but at least he knew there was no much danger there.


    As for the assassins sent by Islinda''s uncle, he kept killing them in the middle of clearing up the rebellion.


    The confrontations between his armies and the newly joined Terases armies proved to be difficult, yet he managed to kill them all in another week.


    It took Rigo and Dora much effort to do that, and both even lost their entire fleet once before being resupplied by the constant reinforcements sent from the capital.


    As for James, he thought of walking there himself and joining them, but he didn''t.


    "I need someone capable to guard the fort and girls," he muttered while he checked on the status of his girls from time to time.


    They were still eating non-stop, and he didn''t send anyone to stop them as he waited patiently until they would all turn to real dragons.


    Up till now, their bodies still showed that semi-transparent shadow of dragons.


    "New reports," the droid said before adding, "the droid was finally caught and he is now secured in an unknown location to us by the Tersases empire," the droid added.

 Chapter 209: Doras Card

    "Get me Rigo now," James calmly said and when Rigo appeared, he had such a look over his face.


    "Did you get the news as well?" James asked and from the silence of Rigo he knew he did. "Alright, detonate him," James simply said.


    "Now?" Rigo was surprised while the droids listening to this conversation were speechless.


    "Yes, they had already caught him and soon they will discover he isn''t a human and he is a spy sent by us. They might do something to him to turn him against us. We can''t risk that! Before they find out about the bomb planted in it, we need to trigger it first," James said and Rigo just nodded.


    Before sending out the droid, Rigo planted a bomb inside the droid body enough to take down an entire planet.


    When he told his leader about it before, James didn''t intend to detonate it until he reached the capital of the Terases empire to make sure their losses would be severe.


    But now James changed up his mind. He knew his enemies had revealed his scheme, and so it was proper to use this droid for this last service when it was possible.


    As for the rest of the droids, Rigo just explained to them briefly about everything and they all understood that logic.


    "Monitor the entire empire and look for any signs of a massive explosion," James said to the droid before adding, "the place destroyed by our droid will be the target of the four fleets about to arrive to the war."


    "Weren''t they supposed to aid Rigo and Dora?" the droid asked in confusion.


    "They have a better role to play," James sneered before adding, "they have to use the chaos and hit the enemy where he is already hurt."


    "Roger that," the droid compiled before giving out the orders and sending a copy of these to Rigo and Dora.


    The two were finally getting on the victory wind here, and their losses started to decline slowly.


    The two already had two other grand fleets supporting their advance, and the incoming reinforcements were just to fasten things up.


    "He is making brilliant decisions lately," Dora was inside her deck when she received the new orders of James. "What happened and stirred up the old monster inside him?" she muttered to herself while adding, "spread the word, we are going to keep our current progress and expect no aid for three days at least."


    She paused before adding, "and be ready to jump at anytime, we might be asked to go and support someone."


    James was watching the latest reports coming from the Terases empire. As Rigo detonated the bomb remotely, the news was supposed to reach his ears soon.


    But even after a few hours he received nothing. "What''s going on?" he asked his droid who instantly answered:


    "We kept getting reports from the empire, but none had anything related to the bombing."


    "Hmm¡­" James didn''t know what else to do but to wait. "Make the fleets ready," he said, "I believe they are trying to cover up their tracks."


    "But such explosions can''t be covered easily," the droid said.


    "Sure, but it can," James waited for more hours, and when half a day passed without any news he started to get nervous.


    "Get me Rigo," he said as he suddenly stood up, "send the call to my room."


    He went towards his room while his mind was trying to reach a solution about this. He didn''t know how they covered up such ruckus of explosion, but if he wanted to use the chaos then he had to give the order to his fleets to move soon.


    "I know you are nervous," Rigo said the moment he saw the face of his leader, "but we are using all the ways to crack the place of the location. Yet nothing appeared in front of our radar."


    "Not enough," James said before adding, "such a chance won''t present itself to us so easily again."


    "I know," Rigo said before adding, "may I ask Dora''s help?"


    "Dora?" James thought for a moment before adding, "ok, call her."


    Rigo took a couple of minutes to invite her to join the call. When she heard everything, she instantly said:


    "You don''t mean that weird explosion that nearly took the second biggest planet in there?"


    Just as she said these words, James and Rigo exchanged silent glances before James hurried to ask:


    "When did this explosion occur?"


    "How do you know that?" Rigo asked, with surprise while Dora only laughed on them both.


    "I didn''t know you two were scheming such a thing," she lied before adding, "the explosion time frame matched the time of detonating your man."


    "C''mon, I already sent the plan to you like I did with Rigo," James laughed.


    "You only sent me a tip, and didn''t meet me like now," she was stubborn and said with a strong tone.


    "How did you know that?" Rigo asked again, breaking the about to erupt clash between the couple. For him, he was much surprised by the words of Dora, as he didn''t know this info no matter how hard he tried.


    "Hahaha, I knew about it a couple of hours ago. Do you forget? I have my own rebellious men scattered along the Terases empire. Any news that you I want to know will come to me in no time."


    James smiled in content. This Dora proved herself more capable than he thought. "Perfect," he said before adding, "you two should work closer in the regard of the espionage field," he pointed towards the two.


    "We will, Rigo said while Dora just shrugged before saying, "I''ll send the coordinates to you."


    "Alright," James said before recalling something, "be ready to move out at any time."


    "Roger that," the two replied while James closed the call. When he returned to the deck, he received the coordinates sent by Dora and then he ordered:


    "Make the fleets move to that location and arrange things between them," he then paused before adding, "also add Dora''s network of spies in the intel of us."

 Chapter 210: Attacking Merchants

    "The intel?" the droid asked to confirm what he just heard.


    "Yes, the intel," James casually answered as he sat at his seat while muttering, "she has grown up already, hehehe."


    Since the unlocking of his true potential, he never stayed as much far away from women like he had this time. This made him quite sensitive, and wanted to pump any of his ladies much eagerly than anytime before.


    And so at this moment, Dora seemed quite appealing to him, arousing all his suppressed desires.


    "Nah, have to wait," he tried to control himself before adding, "I have a war to fight first."


    He tried to sound reasonable and quite normal to that witch watching his back. She had been low on his nagging radar lately, but everytime she spoke she proved to him she wasn''t that negligent to his actions.


    And so he didn''t lower his guard, not now, not against someone as cunning as her.


    "The fleets are about to arrive," the droid said after four hours of waiting.


    "Finally," James said before sitting straight with much seriousness on his face, "send me live feeds from there."


    "Roger that," the droid showed what he received from the main cruisers leading the attack over three big holographic screens.


    James started to watch closely while he said, "send the same to Rigo and Dora."


    "Done," the droid had already done this as part of the espionage protocol of the fleet.


    "Did Dora send the reports about that area yet?" James suddenly asked while he waited for the fleets to emerge from hyperspace travel.


    "Sure, I''ll send them to your screen now," the droid sent the short report to James'' personal screen that he held in both hands while reading the content.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s nice," he said as Dora explained the current situation in these simple phrases: "The place is chaotic with many fleets coming here trying to save whoever managed to run at the proper time. Some warring ships are there, but not many. The place is ideal to attack."


    Her opinion matched his and Rigo''s, so when the ships appeared out of the light speed travel, they were met with a scene resembling one word; chaos!


    Everywhere around was filled with running small cruisers, while only a handful of dozens of large cruisers appeared sporadically trying to calm down the situation and control the chaos.


    And with the sudden appearance of James'' grand fleets, everyone got panicked instantly.


    "Let them press forward," James was smiling as after an entire day of this sudden attack, the heart of the Terases empire was hit mercilessly by his fleets, creating a deep wound inside the empire.


    And to face this, the Terases empire started to deploy fleets from everywhere like they were throwing rocks from the ground.


    Yet they lacked coordination, and James didn''t want to give them time to amend this fatal weakness. So, he gave the order for the fleets to push further, even sacrificing some of their own ships to maintain the current advantageous pressure over the enemies.


    "Inform the about to arrive fleets, make them be deployed here, here, and here," James pointed on the map of the grand sector while he selected many places for the new fleets still on the road to land in.


    "Roger that."


    He selected these areas so he would deepen the gap he created in the Terases empire, plus interrupting any strong reinforcements.


    According to Rigo and Dora, these places would be the perfect places for any fleets to regroup and be formed. Hitting these places would make his vanguard fleets much secured and easier to control more areas.


    "Dora asks to move and help," the droid suddenly said, yet James decisively said: "Denied, it''s not the time for such rashness now."


    "Delivered," the droid said before turning to say again, "she asks about when?"


    "Soon," James simply replied before moving his attention towards the map of the current war. "How about the current rebellious moves here?" he suddenly asked.


    "We didn''t receive any reports for days," the droid said before adding, "and our untel gave back positive reports from everywhere. No signs of rebellion are waving in the distance."


    "Don''t be so confident," James muttered before thinking about something. "Make the boys ready, we might join the fun soon," he said and the droid just smiled as he started relaying his orders.


    James didn''t plan to jump in so early, but he wanted his grand fleets to be ready. He currently had three major fleets securing the empire. It seemed a large number of ships, but considering the massive and still growing size of his empire; this number was barely enough.


    "What''s that?" James suddenly received a strange report. "Why are these going berserk at this time?" he felt suspicious as the reports he received spoke about the monsters scattered all over his territory.


    They had undergone an upgrade, and now they had become more ferocious, bigger in size, and harder to kill.


    And of course they were causing much ruckus at the moment all over his empire.


    "Sigh," he shook his head before deciding, "this is a move from my enemy. Spread the word, one major fleet will be dispersed instantly and all the small cruisers will go and aid the habituated planets in the empire and the large cruisers will guard the systems and aid if needed."


    "Roger that," the droid said before adding, "what about the fighters? Medium sized cruiser?"


    "They will follow the same rules as the small cruisers," James said without much care, "also make one big cruiser responsible for guarding here. We don''t have many enemies left in this grand sector, but who knows!"


    "Done!"


    "Assemble all the fleets ready to move, and let them all wait for my command to move out at any moment," he suddenly said as he knew this wasn''t the end of his enemy''s retaliation.


    He already cornered his enemy, and by the arrival of the new fleets to the front battles; the enemy was already seeing its death drawing near.

 Chapter 211: Mystery Upon Mystery

    And so he was sure this monster move came from the Terases empire, and he was also certain more of such weird things would keep happening here.


    So it was better to make his fleets be ready to support any place in any given time. "This fight will turn out to be the first man falls loses," he muttered as he had this feeling this turned to be a street dog fight; a punch for a punch, and the last standing man won!


    As he responded timely to the sudden change in the monster wave attacks, another change started to appear.


    "Emperor, there are many reports saying they saw strange ships attacking the merchant caravans and disappearing fast," the droid suddenly spoke after two days of stabilizing things on the monsters'' matter.


    James was thinking about the advancement of his fleets on the three fronts. Right now the arrow he let loose was expanding at the center of the Terases empire.


    From the reaction they showed, it seemed they never saw this shot coming. That made his mood be good despite all the bad news he received about the losses caused by the monsters'' outrage.


    Yet when he stabilized the monsters'' tide, an endless stream of merchants came again trying to raise the prices for the new monsters appearing in the newly conquered regions.


    After all the newly advanced version of the cosmic monsters was something everyone was craving to get.


    Their commodities started to be the best selling materials everywhere. James started to use this opportunity and just sent his instructions to squeeze these merchants dry and get the best benefit of them.


    He even thought seriously about taking Islinda off her training and making her deal with this stressing matter.


    So when he heard about the reports of attacking merchants, he was enraged. "This man out there¡­ he is playing dirty," he muttered before he said: "Any leads on their bases?"


    "No, everytime they appeared and disappeared using hyperjump light speed. When our forces came, they would be long gone," the droid answered.


    "Hmm¡­" James thought for a moment before adding, "what about their aim?"


    "They tried to take all the cargo, if not they would make sure nothing of the cargo is left to be salvaged later," the droid replied and James just understood what was going on here.


    "Trying to hit me in the heart of my trading empire? Humph," he stood up as he added, "call Rigo and Dora, I''ll get the call in the room."


    "You should bring Islinda back," Dora was feeling odd that he kept calling her repeatedly recently to take her opinion about different matters. "I never thought she was handling such pressure alone! How did she do it and remain calm and collected?" she said to herself, feeling amazed towards Islinda.


    "This time I''m really asking for your help," he smiled and avoided her last remark before adding, "I want to know how to catch them, you have more experience in this field."


    "Oh, you mean that¡­" she understood his meaning as he was talking about her past life as a rebel princess. "Sure, there is always a simple way to catch those slippery sharks."


    "Which is?"


    "Use a small tracking device in the cargo," she said it was such an obvious thing to think about.


    "But¡­" James hesitated.


    "They will easily discover it," Rigo said before adding, "any cargo hijackers know about this simple trick and so they usually check their cargo after any theft."


    "That''s if they are really thieves," Dora said as she explained, "but from their attitude, they aren''t."


    James nodded as he said: "I also have this feeling, they came from that man as well."


    "But you need to act fast," Dora warned all of sudden and her words made James exclaim in confusion, "I''ll move at once, but why the hurry?"


    "They aren''t thieves, so with time the cargo they''ll carry would accumulate until¡­" she paused and Rigo said: "They will throw the cargo away after each theft later on."


    "Exactly," Dora nodded, before adding, "so we have a small window here. Act fast and make sure to hit them all at once, not one by one."


    "I understand," James said before closing the call with the two.


    "Spread my orders," he said the moment he returned to the deck, "all merchant caravans will be shipped by tracking devices provided by us."


    "Should we use our stocks?" the droid asked in confusion.


    "Ask Rigo," James let his body fall on the seat before adding, "he''ll tell you where to get these devices, and¡­" he paused as he stressed over this point, "do this fast and don''t waste anymore time."


    The droid became nervous all of sudden and hurriedly returned to contact Rigo and understand everything calmly from him. After that he started relaying the orders to everyone, and during the next hours all the merchants received a tiny tracking device and they used these at once.


    As Dora expected, they weren''t thieves. When the first dozen caravans were hit, the tracking devices kept working even for hours.


    "Should we attack them now?" the droid asked, but James simply waved his hand, "Not now, just track them and make sure you find their operational bases."


    James kept watching their movements, and within a day most of the ships hitting his merchants were tracked.


    "Strange, no central base? Then how did they get their intel about the merchant moves?" This was the thing puzzling him a lot. He thought they came with some advanced tech to track his merchants easily.


    But with the lack of any base, he became more puzzled!


    "Release the orders," James said, "attack everyone and make sure to get some in custody to interrogate properly," he added.


    "Roger that," the droid was already preparing many ships ready to target those cruisers. The easiest thing they could make was to detonate these devices.


    After all they weren''t such simple tracking devices, but James refused as he wanted to take all the good stolen from these merchants.

 Chapter 212: The Next Hit Is from the Capital

    As for returning them back, he wasn''t this kind to do this.


    After all he had dealt with these merchants, and they weren''t literally working for him.


    So he wasn''t much obliged in their protection. If not for the current stressing circumstances, he wouldn''t care about rapidly solving this problem and would ask the merchants to arrange their own protecting squads.


    Yet when his forces reached these invaders, they all resisted and he couldn''t get a hostage easily except after hours of fights and many killings.


    Despite managing to gain all the goods safely at the end, James wasn''t satisfied until he had the news finally of his men capturing a single cruiser as hostage.


    "Finally," he sighed, "what he did to them to make them prefer dying than to surrender?" he was speechless at that hidden foe of him. "Relay the orders, I want them squeezed and everything they know must reach me at once," he said while watching the ongoing fights as he casually said, "and kill the rest."


    "Roger that," the droid executed the orders and James just waited for the results of the interrogation.


    "Rigo and Dora were doing great," he glanced over the other two screens to see the progress of the two grand fleets in the far distance. The two were crushing their enemies and this made him be slightly relaxed.


    The tough rock the two faced was smashed a couple of days ago. The alien advanced fleet was finally destroyed, or perhaps disbanded and started to come here to cause some trouble.


    "But their travel speed can''t make them cross the grand sector from end to end in mere days," James shook his head before adding, "that means that man sent three grand fleets here to stop me, sigh," he shook his head as facing two enemies was hard.


    Especially someone who had much power and support.


    "Any news from the interrogation?" he asked after six hours of detaining those enemies.


    "Not much," the droid shook his head before adding, "they kept saying nonsense talk since they were taken."


    "Nonsense?" James suddenly was skeptical, "where are they held?" he suddenly asked.


    "Inside some ships," the droid said before adding, "the fleet is heading home to the capital as we speak."


    "Good," James smiled before adding, "make the ships carrying all who surrendered break away and disperse in different directions heading far from the empire."


    "But¡­"


    "This is a trap, just as we did to them," James said before adding, "also toss away the content you salvaged from their ship."


    "But we will lose their info like this," the droid was still late in doing the order, trying to reason with James.


    "Just do what I order, Now!" James shouted at him and the droid was instantly stupefied. He turned at once to execute the order while James muttered, "there are times to express your opinions and others that you should keep your mouth shut!"


    The droid heard his soft words and took them as a warning. James at first didn''t mind his opinions, but sometimes it became out of control when he kept asking like a child in such pressing moments.


    As James expected, in less than half a day the ships that left the fleet already all exploded. Luckily even their crew left the ships in time before the explosion.


    As for the surrendered fleet crew, they kept mumbling crazy stuff all the time and they didn''t give a single useful info to James at all.


    "Sigh, as I expected," he shook his head before adding, "from now on, no prisoners," he stressed on this point while the map showing the tracked enemies was having lesser red dots.


    "Also send the stolen goods to different sites away from the capital," he said before adding, "also select places that''s already empty and without any people living nearby."


    "Roger that," the droid just took a hot shower from Rigo when he complained to him about what James said about him.


    Rigo was furious as he shouted at his droid: "I sent you there to aid him, not to act like his boss! I swear if he called me asking for your destruction I''ll do this by my own hands!!"


    He was so furious and the droid just kept silent and nodded. He was just trying to help, and perhaps he went slightly off the limit, but he was trying to correct the weaknesses in his leader.


    "Sigh, I should remain silent from now on," the droid decided to keep his mouth shut and not speak unless he was asked.


    James didn''t know about this, but he found the peaceful droid something relaxing. That droid was getting on his nerves lately.


    "The frontline still has no changes," James thought after such a blow to his enemy''s plans, the enemy would create a diversion at the frontlines to make him distracted and evacuate the empire off their main fleets.


    But nothing happened for the next four days, which made him wonder: "Have you given up already?"


    Yet a blow was dealt to him the next day that made him speechless for a moment.


    The recent incident was already resolved, yet there was a puzzlement inside James'' mind. What he didn''t know was that this puzzlement was the aim of his enemy''s next attack!


    "Emperor, there is a strange update from the capital," the droid said before showing a report that just came from the capital.


    "The merchants are asking for justice? They have evidence on the dirty hands of the imperial family against them in recent events?" James read the report as he muttered, "wow, that''s a nice move indeed," he laughed before asking:


    "What proof do they have?"


    "They have footage and recordings of one of the main men chosen by Islinda to deal with things until she returns," the droid said before showing part of the recordings and footage on the screen.


    "Alright," James helplessly smiled, "send these to Dora and Rigo to analyze and see if there is any manipulation whatsoever," he then paused before adding, "and fetch Islinda back, it''s time for her to take over this mess."

 Chapter 213: Islinda

    "Only her or others?" the droid asked.


    "Only her," James said before adding, "and make her end this fast before returning to the training."


    "Alright," the droid then started to execute the orders without adding any more words.


    Islinda was immersed in consuming the ores when a girl entered the place and shouted by her name.


    The scene this droid female saw was weird enough to her that she had to be extra careful when Islinda turned to her in her human form.


    After all she saw what she was able to turn into.


    "What''s wrong?" Islinda asked as she was the first time seeing this female droid. "How dare you enter here without permission? Who let you inside?" the next moment Islinda turned one hundred percent against this droid, mistaking her for someone else.


    "It''s¡­" the droid stuttered before hurriedly adding, "it''s the emperor, he sent for you to do an urgent mission then return."


    "James?" Islinda muttered before adding, "do you have a way to call him?"


    "Sure, here is my personal communicator," the droid handed her screen to her and instantly she saw the face of James smiling helplessly. "Sorry to interrupt your training, but things aren''t looking that nice over here."


    "What''s wrong?" she sensed the nervousness in his tone and she realized something bad must have happened for him to change his mind and call out for her in such urgency.


    "the droid next to you has all the necessary details, she will inform you about everything."


    "Alright," Islinda closed the call before saying, "what happened?"


    She started to move out and she didn''t forget to close the door with her DNA print.


    "It''s the capital, my empress," the droid started to narrate what happened and the more she talked, the more Islinda felt enraged.


    "They dared to play with my own business? Humph, lucky for me I have everything organized and nothing shall escape my reach no matter what."


    This time she was so furious that she swore whoever had a role in that scheme would be punished personally by her. "Daring to tarnish my reputation, humph," she muttered to herself while waiting inside the large cruiser''s deck which took her directly towards the capital.


    In less than four hours she reached there. She didn''t wait for her to return as she instantly issued a statement saying that she is on her way and she will deal with this matter with much seriousness.


    As she was inside the deck, she kept revising all the secret documents and recordings of what happened after she moved away.


    "Bingo," she muttered before laughing, "do you think I won''t notice your dirty hand here? Tsk, such lousy work can''t escape my eyes!"


    She closed the recordings and documents before tapping her fingers on her screen. "How can I use this to cause the greatest damage then?" she thought and her mind wasn''t that evil but she found a nice idea.


    As she reached the capital, she didn''t delay and summoned a grand meeting with all merchants.


    The grand hall in the imperial palace was full to the brim with angry looking merchants who had their trust shattered in the empire.


    And amidst all that, she was having a short call with Rigo who confirmed to her that everything was done as she wished.


    As for James, she just asked him to watch the feedback of the meeting, and didn''t answer his worries and concerns.


    "Just don''t let me go away for so long ever again," she said these words to him before entering the hall.


    The moment she entered there, her magnified aura dissipated and everyone was attracted to her; the entire hall ushered under heavy silence all of sudden.


    "I heard about what happened, and I''m really disappointed in all of you," she sat on her seat before saying those words in the small microphones around her seat.


    "But my lady¡­" one of the merchants spoke up yet to be silenced with a signal of her hand. "Since when we mistreated you? Huh? If we wanted to steal your stuff, then we had the chance to do this a long time ago."


    Her words echoed again before she sighed, "I''m really ashamed. I always brag in front of others by you. Always speak about how much united we are, how strong are the bonds of trust we all share, but unfortunately it seems my trust and confidence were misplaced."


    "My lady, let me speak," another merchant raised his voice but she raised her hand to silence him again, denying his request.


    "I''ve heard you already," she said while pointing towards a screen next to her as she added, "just watched all your complaints and threats, accusations based on false evidence¡­ sigh, that''s disappointing to the degree it became boring."


    The screen lit up all of sudden before anyone else tried to speak. on the screen, a familiar face appeared. "This is the man you all accused of being the traitor, the one who sold you info out to the enemy, right?" she leisurely asked, and the entire hall thundered with agreement.


    "Ok, and as you can see there, a list of all the workers I left to be entrusted with dealing with you¡­" she paused while the faces of her own associates appeared one after another. "yet this one is the one to be blamed, right?"


    Again the hall thundered with agreeing nods and shouts.


    "Tell me something," she suddenly said while tapping on her forehead, "when was the last time you saw this man working here?"


    Her question landed and the bustling hall with many complaints and voices suddenly got silenced. "What? I never heard an answer yet," she said while playing with her long hair, waiting for a response.


    "Ahem," one of the merchants cleared out his throat, "I think a month ago."


    "A month?" she glanced at him before adding, "are you sure?"


    The man hesitated, yet another merchant stood up as he said, "I saw him a couple of months ago, and that was the last time for me to meet him."


    "Couple of months, has anyone seen him nearer than a month or two?" she wasn''t pressured by their gazes or angry faces.


    When no one replied to her, she snapped her fingers and  a man was dragged into the hall.

 Chapter 214: Solving the Mysteries

    "Is this your man?" she pointed towards him. The man was cuffed with thick metal rings from his neck down to his feet. His face showed how much he suffered in the past hours at the hands of the palace guards and Rigo''s guards stationed here.


    "Yes, he is," many merchants shouted at the same time.


    "Good," Islinda smiled before snapping her fingers again. "See, this man was supposed to be¡­ dead in the second upheaval of the monsters in the back of the palace couple of months ago," she said before showing a recording where a monster evolved and caused enough ruckus in the garden of the palace before James appeared, in his dragon form, and killed the monster with ease.


    "As you can see here," the screen then rewinded and paused on a single frame, "he was standing directly in front of the monster before¡­" she paused and the screen moved for one second. "Boom," she clapped her hands loud causing everyone to be jolted in fear. "He died that day."


    She then turned towards the man before adding, "can anyone tell me how on earth someone be killed like this be revived? Huh?"


    Her words made the entire hall be silenced for long minutes. "Might I ask my lady if he wasn''t that person, then who is he?" one of the merchants asked.


    "He?" she pointed to the prisoner before adding, "you can ask him yourselves, after all he is all yours," she waved her hand and the guards just tossed the man like he was nothing, falling in the middle of everyone here.


    And the next instant, everyone jumped over him and started fighting to get him.


    "Some discipline please," she suddenly shouted after a couple of minutes, "after all the emperor himself is watching you right now."


    Her words managed to drive back some logic into everyone''s head. They retreated, while only the biggest merchants stood there not releasing the man.


    "I''ll save you the trouble and tell you who he belongs to," she said before pointing to the screen again, "see for yourselves."


    The screen changed to show the shape of this man who was being tortured. "Tell us again everything," a harsh tone said while the man spat blood on the ground.


    Blue blood!


    "I''m not the man you are looking for," the man viciously laughed before adding, "I''m an agent made as a droid and was sent here by one of the strongest men in the entire universe. He wanted you dead, wanted everyone dead, and I''m just his mere tool to do so."


    The man laughed before adding, "my face was made upon a face of someone who used to work at you. As everyone had seen me before, they would believe the words said and spread by that man''s agents."


    "What about the info leaked about the merchant caravans?" the voice came again, hidden from the camera recording, "who is responsible for this? You?"


    "Me?" the man laughed before adding, "it''s three merchant groups known as the triplet who sold their services and knowledge to that man and he just handed it over to one of his fleet and let the fleet disguise itself as Terases race fleet," the man said before laughing, "pathetic, didn''t anyone notice the pattern of attacks? Not every single caravan was attacked despite the ability of the sent out fleet to do that! The caravans hit were all shared caravans with this Triplet group."


    The man laughed and the recording stopped at this moment. "See? This is all just a treason between yourselves," Islinda said before shaking off her head, "all evidence is now presented in front of you, feel free to do whatever you want with them."


    She shook her head while everyone in the hall was eyeing a group of fifty men and women with glaring eyes. "Now, about the damage you all caused to our reputation," her face changed and she wore a very serious face, "I''ll be waiting for what you decide as recompensation. If the pay doesn''t like my taste, believe me¡­"


    She paused as she stood up and the entire hall stood up with her as she walked towards her own door, "you''ll all regret making me disappointed."


    She said those threatening words before vanishing behind the door.


    And the next thing happened was for the entire hall to turn into a bloodbath fight between everyone and the group of treacherous merchants.


    Islinda had the feedback from the hall just like James. Both watched what was going on after her departure, yet no one of them proposed to stop the fight.


    "Hehehe, you are really quite capable," he laughed while she just shook her head. "This lousy tactic isn''t something to be proud to crush," she said before adding, "but this is a signal, a warning."


    "I know," he nodded before adding, "I will make sure the Terases empire is crushed sooner than planned before going on to make the entire grand sector ours."


    She laughed before saying, "this is just half the solution."


    "I know," he nodded before adding, "but we still lack the needed technology about how to jump between grand sectors."


    She paused for a moment before saying, "after you unify the grand sector, you''ll be able to have many information regarding this process."


    "I hope so," he said before adding, "go back now and continue your training."


    "Won''t tell me what is this all about?"


    "In time," he closed the call while muttering, "in time you''ll know how much I dear you."


    "Tsk, you are just a romantic man," the witch said in a sigh, "I hope you were stronger."


    "If you like romantic men, then come and get a taste of me," he laughed yet she just ignored him.


    Everytime she preyed on him, tried to say something, he would jump at her with his sexual offers, making her silenced by his persistence.


    He used this way to make sure she wouldn''t bother him a lot. He also didn''t want to speak with her, as he knew for sure how deadly she was.


    She might sense something from his words, and he didn''t want to bring more trouble to himself.


    Not when he was this weak and vulnerable.


    "Release the news," when he returned to his commanding deck, he said to his droid, "make Dora and Rigo jump to aid in the penetration operation."


    "All of their fleets will go with them?" the droid asked.


    "Sure, send everything out," James nodded while sitting on his seat. "Wanna play dirty games with me? I will make sure to burn all your chips until you have nothing but your bare hands to play."

 Chapter 215: The Final Battle Draws Near

    The words of James reached both Dora and Rigo. The first was much eager to jump with what remained of the three  fleets that were under her, yet Rigo didn''t feel the same excitement.


    "Rash and seemed on pressure," he muttered before adding, "and that strange report that my droid sent to me recently," he sat in his seat while glancing over his screen.


    Over it was simple words sent by the main droid aiding James in his large cruiser. He said in these words that he felt a strange ominous aura coming off James'' brief time ago, then it instantly vanished.


    The droid seemed to feel this was a wrong hunch of his, yet when he later spoke with many droids they shared the same experience.


    The droid stated clearly that since this aura appeared and disappeared without warning, Jammed started to act bizarre and without any possible reason to it except for this vague aura.


    "He said this is related to all of our fate, was he subjected to some unknown threats to me?" Rigo helplessly sighed in a very tired manner. "This leader of mine, he is getting more mysterious and far stronger than me."


    He turned to his aiders, "spread the word, we are going to jump in the vanguard zone and help boys there."


    "Affirmative."


    "I just hope you know what you are doing."


    The first to arrive was Dora, and the moment she did, she hurried to deploy her entire fleets towards every direction possible. This sudden appearance of her fleets unbalanced the game for the Terases race on all fronts.


    And when they tried to react, Rigo appeared next with his grander fleets and started joining the assault with all his might.


    The Terases race were on the back foot here, so they retreated. They were facing a great deal of pressure on this zone, and soon this zone expanded massively to cover a large area of their empire.


    "Spread the words, we are going to assault the front," James was watching this war happening on his holograms when he said these words.


    "Where will we attack?" the droid said.


    "There," James pointed towards two places, the same two Rigo and Dora were occupying a couple of days ago. "Let''s not give those bastards any moment of rest."


    The recent reports that came from the front stated that most of the fleets that were opposing Rigo and Dora retreated to aid in the defense in the central zone.


    For James this was the perfect response to his move, yet this helped in making another move for him. Now the front was weak, and his sudden appearance there would make everything in the hands of the Terases race crumble.


    "I can see the demise of this empire now," James laughed, "what will you do now?" he muttered while his fleet and three new fleets moved with him towards the two fronts.


    He deployed his fleets to make one to assault each side while he and the other fleet would remain behind as a deterring factor to the Terases forces.


    If any side required assistance, he would send some of his ships. The new three fleets just came swiftly in the past days as a forgiving act from the merchants over what they just committed.


    And James didn''t hesitate in accepting them all.


    He needed more power at the moment, knowing that once his dominion stretched to cover the entire grand sector, more fleets and resources would be at his disposal.


    "How long do we have to reach there?" he asked after four days of traveling at light speed and watching the ongoing fight on all fronts.


    The response action from the Terases empire, coupled with massive reinforcements that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, helped greatly in reducing the pressure over the central zone.


    Things started to stabilize there, and any gained territory wasn''t gained except with mutual exchange of losses right now.


    The numbers of the defending forces escalated to form literally the entire defenses of the empire along with its back in the shadow aider.


    "One more day," the droid said, "the new engines are kicking with their fastest speed right now, so we should reach there sooner than expected," he explained and reasoned the worry of James.


    Before leaving James asked for all the engines to be replaced with higher tech engines his imperial engineers just created. This delayed them for one day, but it was worth the waste.


    He sighed before watching the fights again. "One day isn''t that far," he muttered, "send the words to Rigo and Dora, inform them of our current course and plan of action. They should be ready to push harder the moment the defense forces on their sides would decrease."


    The news reached Dora and James, where Dora was really annoyed by the current course of the war. "Damn those terases, they decisively pulled all the forces to here," she clenched the hands of her seat while feeling more irritated about this situation.


    "New report, my lady," one of the droids said before her screen lit up with the latest news spread from James. "My love, you are really great, hehehe," she laughed before another idea popped in her mind.


    She hurriedly typed a message before shouting, "send this to Rigo and James now!"


    The droid executed the order and when the two received her message, they both laughed.


    "This Dora¡­ her twisted mind is simply priceless," James was amused by her idea, "send the word to her and Rigo, I approve this plan and let them execute it at once," he paused before adding, "change in plans, each side will have two fleets instead of one. We need to crush everything in the shortest time and push deeper fast."


    "Roger that," the droid hurried to execute these new orders while stealing a rapid glance over the message Dora sent. "Really creative," he admired the idea of Dora.


    The idea was simple, yet cunning and effective. She asked to feign weakness at her side and Rigo''s side during this day until James arrived. James had to push hard and cause enough ruckus for the Terases forces to get diverted in large numbers to stop him.


    When this happened, the hidden power of her and Rigo''s fleets would appear to crush the remaining forces there and clear a path towards the capital of the Terases empire.


    The imperial capital wasn''t near to them, but it wasn''t far either. She was confident that in less than five days they would arrive at the doorstep for the capital, preparing for the final battle.


    James'' words reached the two, and during the next day they feigned weakness and recalled many fleets back.


    They lost a lot, but this price had a prize later on worthy of this sacrifice.


    Just as James'' four fleets appeared, their appearance came like thunder in the area. The remaining defensive forces of the Terases race here were scattered and weak; mainly formed of wracked ships and hastily assembled fleets.


    So in less than a day, James and his fleets crushed these defenses, making many run far away from this region, from this doomed empire.


    "Good," James nodded before adding, "give the order, everyone push forward like a knife¡­ all head towards the imperial capital and let''s clear all hostiles along the way."


    "What about other places, my emperor?" the droid asked.


    "Kill the imperial capital and the empire will crumble. Leave those weak flies for later, focus on the main dragon," James said before adding, "what about Dora and Rigo''s fronts? Any news from there yet?"


    "Things are still the same, yet some fleets started to retreat and regroup together," the droid said.


    "Great, they have taken the bait," James laughed, "with our double swords on the nape of their necks, I believe they must be in tarry condition right now."


    He wasn''t far from truth, and during the next day many reports came in about the organized retreat from the two fronts of Dora and Rigo, while the Terases race was cautiously acting.


    "This isn''t the doing of a harch, warmorgring race like these," Rigo muttered, "send the word back to our emperor, this is the doing of that man, not them."


    James didn''t need the remark of Rigo to know this, he already figured this out since the beginning. That man was trying to take as much force from the two fronts as possible without unbalancing the delicate situation there.


    "Do as much as you''d love to, after all this is just a fake weakened state of my true armies power," James amusingly laughed as the small trick of Dora brilliantly did more than they anticipated; again.


    At the beginning of the third day, James fleets drew nearer to the imperial capital more than Dora and Rigo. The Terases empire couldn''t wait any longer, and the reports that came from the front told James about their massive withdrawal of many troops and the entire gathered forces suddenly vanished.


    "Getting restless, huh?" James sneered before adding, "how much time do they need to reach us?"


    "Six hours, my emperor," the droid responded.


    "Great," Arthur nodded, "spread the word, make the boys take the battle formation and be ready for a very fierce assault," he smiled before adding, "what about news from our capital?"


    "Two more fleets are assembled after we left, and one more is assembled by our own empire filled entirely with droids," the droid said in pride.


    "Great, send them here," James ordered, "they would reach when the final battle would kick in."


    "Roger that."

 Chapter 216: Reaching the Capital

    James wasn''t deluded with all this advancement at his enemy. He knew victory was in reach, yet it wasn''t that much secured. So he didn''t underestimate his opponent even when he pushed them to stand on their last leg like this.


    "I know you hide a fleet somewhere," he muttered while rubbing his chin, "and the best action is to save it to the last battle but¡­"


    He paused as he was sure his enemy wouldn''t think safely like this. His enemy was anticipating any sign of weakness to hit hard, and there was currently one place he could do that.


    "Give orders to Rigo and Dora," he said before adding, "at the start of our battle here, they have to act fast and show their true power."


    "Roger that," the droid started to relay orders fast and the response came swiftly from both in the matter of a combined call.


    James was too lazy to move to his dorm this time so he received the call on the deck.


    "Can''t we wait for their troops to take the bait further?" Dora asked in doubt while Rigo nodded, agreeing with her.


    "No, this is risky," James shook his head, rejecting her words.


    "On you?" Rigo asked.


    "On you two," James corrected before adding, "I believe the final fleet defending the capital wouldn''t hesitate to move and assault you two if you don''t show your true fangs."


    "Then why don''t we lure them out and hunt them here instead?" Dora asked.


    "Don''t underestimate that man," James warned before adding, "he won''t let the last chip in his hand be burnt easily."


    "Do you mean¡­?" Rigo paused.


    "More external reinforcements are on the way here. If you stayed there and waited for them to attack, you''ll both end up being killed like sitting ducks."


    They both exchanged looks through screens before they nodded. "Good, we are this close to crushing them, so don''t make a single mistake that would cost us the entire war."


    "Don''t worry," Dora nodded, "I''ll make them know the terror of my fleet once more."


    "I''ll move everything under my disposal and hit the capital as fast as I could," Rigo added.


    "Good," James was delighted of their compliance, "now when reaching the capital, you need to arrange a massive blockade there and be ready to start the fight at any time."


    "Shouldn''t we send spies in?" Dora asked.


    "Do it fast then," James nodded, "as once you started the blockade, sending anyone inside would be impossible."


    "Do you think they will assault us first?" Rigo asked.


    "No," James shook his head, "they will recall the troops attacking me trying to squeeze you in the middle."


    "This¡­" Dora paused while her face showed how hard this fight would be.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t let them escape my sight," he smiled trying to reassure both of them, "in fact we will be the one sandwitching them, not the opposite."


    He laughed and they got his main idea. "Still we will lose many fleets," Rigo sighed.


    "Losses are unavoidable in wars," James said before adding, "and we have a couple of fleets coming fast as we speak from our home."


    "They''ll need time to arrive," Dora shook her head, "they won''t make it in time."


    "They will," James said before adding in a deeper tone, "but it''s our task to make time for them to arrive."


    "Aha, prolong the actions and not hurry to start the final battle, right?" she asked with a realization.


    "Sure, plus we need to make sure the enemy is occupied by side fights instead of one main battle," James said, trying to expand their horizon upon his plan.


    "Like what?" Rigo asked.


    "Like when we got an attack from the outside we would retreat a couple of systems, drawing their forces out and expanding the fight area before hitting them hard again," he explained before summing his plan up as he added, "to eat an elephant, you need to take one small bite at a time."


    They nodded their heads in understanding. "But this will turn into an attrition war," Rigo commented.


    "It''s been like this since the start," James sighed, "just make sure once getting there you send some fleets to hide in unnoticed places. We need to reserve as many forces as possible as we have ten long days ahead of us."


    He sat in his deck waiting for the kick start of this fight. "It''s boring to wait for such an intense moment," he muttered while checking his own watch from time to time.


    "They are here," the moment his droid said this, James was jolted awake. He felt a gush of adrenaline pushing through his veins and his mind started to shine.


    "Give orders," he said in a loud tone, "let the battle start at once, no need to wait for their ships to fully assemble."


    "Roger that."


    "Send the signal to Dora and Rigo, let them both start advancing now."


    "Affirmative."


    James glanced at his hologram with anticipation. The early clashes had his side domineering obviously on the vanguard ships of his enemy.


    Yet after hours, the main body of the enemy fleets appeared all of sudden, and the fight turned intense all of sudden.


    On a side hologram, the news coming from Dora and Rigo was displayed there. James was anticipating his battle, but he was much excited about the movement of Dora and Rigo.


    Both moved fast the moment they got his orders, and for hours they fought hard those remaining fleets in the area. There were many ships still staying back, but in less than one day they managed to crush them all.


    And then they started to race time towards the Terases capital.


    As for James, he kept those forces in front of him in bait. He didn''t order for his entire forces to join the fight, and only used less than half to stop the incoming invaders.


    To those watching from far, they would mistake the fight as quite balanced. He planned this so when they retreat towards the capital, they wouldn''t doubt his inability to hit the retreating forces hard.


    "If you need to hunt a tiger, you need to be a tiger feigning weakness yourself," he smiled while he noticed the early signs of his enemy retreating on the fourth day.


    Rigo and Dora had just arrived around the capital and they were not fighting the outside defensive fleets around it.


    "Should we chase after them?" the droid asked.


    "Not now, it''s too soon," James shook his head, before adding, "they just retreated a small portion, trying to harass Rigo and Dora and test our real intentions. Don''t fall into their bait and stay on the plan."

 Chapter 217: The Enemys Deadly Trap

    As James suspected, the withdrawn fleets went directly to attack Dora and Rigo combined forces. In fact they weren''t that effective, yet they told the enemy what he needed to know.


    James was just the decoy, while the other two were the real deal. This realization made the enemy fleet do a full withdrawal after the small war of their retreat fleet.


    "Emperor, they are retreating on all fronts," the droid said, and James was smiling widely. "Relay the news to the others, and make everyone start to chase."


    James was waiting for this moment for days, and once the enemy fleets withdrew, he started to relentlessly chase them.


    However just as he was heading fast after them, a weird report came in all of sudden.


    "Emperor, they stopped."


    James instantly glanced over the hologram where he saw the general arrangements of the hostile forces along with his fleets here and at the capital.


    "They aren''t that close to the capital to stop and regroup," he muttered before suddenly a thought came to his mind. "Take us off the course now."


    "Here?" the droid seemed alarmed, "we are still way too far from them."


    "Just do it," James was suddenly anxious before adding when the fleet stopped traveling, "spread out scouts, we need to take a full scan of the area."


    "Our sensors aren''t getting anything," the droid argued as he relayed the orders to avoid the wrath of James.


    "Your sensors are wrong," James sighed, "we are already trapped."


    "Trapped?!" the droid was doubting what James said.


    "Relay the news to Rigo and Dora, the fleet defending the capital is away and it''s now trying to crush us with the other fleet."


    The words of James were strange, yet the droid relayed them nonetheless.


    "They are asking for instructions," the droid said without adding a single word of his own opinion.


    In his opinion, these were just speculations and fairy tales of his leader and emperor.


    "Tick¡­ tick¡­ tick¡­" James was tapping on the arms of his seat while thinking about the best course of action. For him, the capital must have a secret weapon hidden somewhere, making the enemy confident about leaving the capital unsecured like this.


    "Or they might be bluffing," he thought of this possibility, yet he couldn''t risk everything over this simple hypothesis.


    "Tell them to send part of the fleets towards the capital and test their defenses," he said before adding, "and the rest of the fleet will move on my mark."


    "To where?" the droid asked.


    "To here," James smiled, "if they wanted to make this the last place for me, then I shall flip the tables and make this their grave."


    "Do you know what this is all about?" Dora asked Rigo in direct call while Rigo sighed.


    "I really have no clue," Rigo said before adding, "my men there said there is no clue about what the leader suspected."


    "James can''t take the risk of calling such a decision without concrete evidence," Dora defended her man.


    "I know," Rigo nodded, "he sent scouts to scan the area, and soon we will know everything."


    "So?" Dora asked, referring to the words James she and Rigo received a couple of minutes ago.


    "We can''t leave things to chance," Rigo muttered, "at least testing the current defenses of the capital is something crucial to our war. We''ll proceed with this first step while waiting for the scout reports to come."


    "Agreed," Dora nodded before closing the call and started preparing the invasive forces of her side. Rigo also did the same, and before an hour passed a strong attacking fleet was formed of the two forces combined, and headed directly towards the capital nearby.


    The first reports coming from the scouts were shocking. A grand fleet was drawing near their place, and some scouts sent to the rear never heard from again.


    "Emperor," the droid said while feeling regret, "the scouts have returned. All the reports are forwarded to your personal screen."


    "Thanks," James started examining the reports. The more he read, the more he felt gloomy. "They are here as I feared," he sighed before adding, "give the orders to Rigo and Dora to come to our aid."


    "I''ve already forwarded a copy of the reports to both," the droid said.


    "Good," James nodded, "send out the word, we''ll break through."


    "From the rear or the side?" the droid asked.


    "No," James grinned before adding, "we''ll come from the place they least expect."


    For any trapped monster, the first direction to run to was the direction it came from, then the sides.


    Yet James didn''t select any of these. He knew his enemy wasn''t that easy, and such thoughts were surely calculated by his enemy, and his way to the rear or the sides was blocked entirely.


    If he went there, he would be risking more damage and might even fall per his enemy''s plan.


    So, he decided to go full force to the front, attacking the fleet he was fighting before.


    "We are now engaging the enemy," the droid said before adding, "more reports came, and they are all indicating the rapid movement of all fleets to crush us from behind and sides."


    James was in a dire situation, yet he wasn''t panicking. As long as he wasn''t playing in his enemy''s game he had a chance of winning. "What about Rigo and Dora?" he asked.


    "Couple of hours and their vanguard fleet would appear."


    "Good," James nodded, "keep pushing hard forward, don''t keep anything to defend the rear or sides."


    "But¡­"


    "The only way to survive is through breaking that strong line ahead of us. Other than this, we''ll lose everything here."


    "We''ll lose many of our fleet this way," the droid said while turning to relay orders.


    "Losing some and winning the war is worth the risk," James said back before muttering, "this is war, not a walk in the garden of my palace. I need to be prepared to lose even more to win."


    The droid heard him yet he didn''t open his mouth. He knew despite how cruel this might seem, this was the true dark nature of any war.


    "Good you know how life is," the droid muttered to himself while relaying James'' orders to the entire fleet and Dora and Rigo''s fleets as well.

 Chapter 218: Turning from Fleet War into Artifacts War

    James wasn''t that calm inside, yet he was trying to control himself and think of all the possibilities here. "Deviating from the plan is inevitable," he muttered before moving his gaze to somewhere else. "That report will decide everything."


    The first clash with the enemy was brutal. They were already lining up their defenses, and knowing their allies were coming to their aid had added more fuel to their engines and souls.


    Yet James never ordered anything else but keeping the entire fleet moving forwards. Crushing such a strong resistance required strong force, and he had to do this in the shortest time possible.


    He was afraid of the trapping fleets to come and hit his rear and side. From his perspective, he knew this wasn''t the final battle but it''s precursor.


    Whoever lost many of his fleets here would be at the back foot later on in the decisive battle. James kept his eyes over the sensor screens, and wasn''t satisfied until more scouts were sent around to early alarm him of the incoming fleet.


    "They are here," the droid suddenly said.


    "Who?" James asked, as he was waiting for two fleets to arrive.


    "Our enemies," the droid said before adding, "shouldn''t we divert part of the fleet to defense?"


    James gnashed his teeth. "Fine, divert one tenth of the entire fleet to intercept them," James said before adding, "and the rest stays on course. I want these bastards to be crushed sooner than planned."


    "Affirmative," the droid sensed the rage in James'' tone and so he kept his words short and started doing his work.


    The early clashes with the incoming fleet caused James severe losses. Many defensive lines were crushed instantly, and breaches occurred everywhere.


    "Damn!" he cursed before moving, heading to the outside, "Keep me posted on the enemy fleet locations."


    "Where are you going?" the droid speechlessly asked.


    "To join the war indeed," James said as if this was something obvious, "keep me posted on Rigo and Dora''s fleet location all the time. We might need to change some tactics here."


    He said while moving outside. He headed directly towards an escaping pod and went to outer space. "It''s my turn to show them the empire isn''t only defended by steel ships," he muttered before taking out his scepter and bow.


    "Joining the war?" Stefanie asked.


    "You should have done this early one," Lara complained, "this way you would have killed more of them."


    "No time for such words," James said while pulling the string, "let''s kill as many as we can now. I''ll leave defending me and this cruiser to you Stefanie," he said before speaking in his communicator, "tell me the location of those leaks."


    The droid started to give him directions, and all James did was to let the string free, releasing the arrows to go beyond his eyesight reach and then he grabbed the string again and released more arrows.


    For him, he was hitting the empty space around. Yet soon he started to receive reports from the droid. "Twenty ships were hit, sir." "Fifty ships were destroyed, my leader." "Three hundred and twenty-three ships were down so far, esteemed emperor."


    "Military bastards," James sneered when he noticed the change in tone and respect of that droid with each causality report he provided. James kept attacking blindly, only depending on the rough estimation of his droid directions.


    "Incoming," yet all of sudden many lines of lights started to appear coming from everywhere. Stefanie shouted before she floated a few meters above his head, creating a defensive shield around the entire cruiser.


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "Boom!"


    "These hits¡­" Lara muttered, "they are coming from artifacts," she added.


    "Indeed," and Stefanie hardly said while getting busy defending.


    "Scan the places these hits came from," James was slightly surprised by this, yet he sent this order to his droid and after a few minutes he received the response.


    The droid gave him directions, and James started hitting towards them at once. "Follow the arrows and tell me if they managed to clear the hostiles," he said.


    "A failure," the droid suddenly said after half a minute, "they have all hit the target but caused no damage."


    "Interesting," James smiled before adding, "it seems someone came quite prepared with kings and queens."


    "There is no other reason but this," Lara sighed, "we shouldn''t hit them from this far and waste my hits over them."


    "I know," James nodded, "send me directions of other ships," he said to his droid.


    "And those hostiles?" the droid asked.


    "Let them be for now," James sighed, while starting to target many ships, while Stefanie was quite busy defending the cruiser.


    Many ships around got hit in the crossfire from both sides, yet James didn''t even think for a single moment of changing his strategy.


    After some time, he realized Stefanie alone wasn''t enough, so he had to ask for another girl; Gorgena.


    She was a pure defensive artifact, in the shape of a huge shiny shield. Her own weakness lied in the fact she was a mere artifact, not a queen.


    "Master," the moment she was taken out, she said in a respectful and shy tone.


    "Go and help Stefanie," he said, "she is taking a strong rain from my enemies."


    "Right away," Gorgena said before flying a couple of meters above his head and shone to cover the cruiser with a golden shield.


    Her shield seemed stronger, but James knew she couldn''t be compared to his Stefanie. The fight kept raging from both sides, escalated from a fleet battle into artifacts'' battle.


    And James kept causing more damage to his enemies than his enemies did to his side.


    After five hours he finally received good news. "Esteemed emperor, the two fleets are approaching us. Only ten minutes and arrive."


    "Good," he said before adding, "how about the front fleet?"


    "They are still resisting," the droid said, "but we managed to decrease their numbers a lot. It will be enough to crush them the moment the two fleets joined us."


    "No, they won''t," James changed his mind while picturing a grand image of this fight, "let''s make this an epic battle," he sneered while sending off another wave of arrows towards the dark space.

 Chapter 219: Time for A Counter Attack

    The droid seemed to be puzzled by James'' weird answer and surprised by the sudden arrangement he had for the two fleets.


    Yet he didn''t express his doubts out loud and kept them to himself.


    James kept firing his arrows while his two girls kept defending him and the cruiser he was on top of.


    "Shouldn''t we break free first?" Gorgena asked while trying to be polite and not step beyond her boundaries.


    "I think our enemies already understood our aim," James said before sneering, "so the best thing now is to surprise them. Besides there are many queens and kings assembled here."


    "But we can''t hit them unless we get so near and divide them into smaller groups," Lara said.


    "I know," James muttered before adding, "but there is another way to do this."


    "Another way?" Stefanie asked in surprise, "I don''t think there is another artifact out there to be able to handle them."


    "Or perhaps you are thinking of taking them all out and using them at the same moment?" Lara said before adding, "in theory this seems possible but the only question here is you. Can you handle this much artifacts and queens being used at the same time?"


    James simply smiled as he only said: "You just wait and you''ll see for yourselves."


    He kept firing his arrows while he tried to instigate the deep feeling he usually had when going into his strange world. After two hours, the sound of the droid finally came to announce the arrival of the two fleets to their designated position.


    "Start the counter attack now," James said while the next moment the cruiser he was on top stopped, started to turn around.


    "We are ready to attack those chasing us," the droid said before adding, "I did the arrangements per your orders¡­ we will act as the tip of the spear to break the forces into two halves."


    The droid then paused before adding, "but I need to warn my emperor, if we fail to break through then not only our fleet will be trapped, but also Dora and Rigo''s fleets as well."


    "Don''t worry and start moving forward at your top speed," James laughed while starting to shoot his arrows everywhere, "and send me more targets¡­ I feel I''m on fire."


    "¡­"


    "I have a very good feeling about this," James laughed while he kept launching his arrows at the directions his droid provided to him.


    "Liar, you just made up this plan just now," Lara laughed while Stefanie added, "I can''t help but agree with her, hehehe."


    "C''mon, you two don''t appreciate the beauty of the timely decisions and master planning of me? This is a superb skill, and now we are heading closer to the win."


    "Or to perish," Lara sighed, "we can''t deal with those queens and kings so far."


    "Despite moving closer to them now, I feel the distance isn''t shortened at all," Gorgena said.


    "They are retreating to keep the distance fixed," Stefanie said.


    "Indeed that''s the case," James smirked, "and this would result in the end for them to be separated from each other."


    "I can see that, but can''t see how you''ll deal with them if you can''t even touch them at all!"


    James laughed and said nothing. From time to time he kept providing some directions to the droid while he kept himself busy cleaning out many targets.


    The moment they changed their direction, many ships started to come closer and try to hit their fleet. James did his best to hunt down as many ships as he could, but many of his fleet was going down with time.


    "On my mark, do a hyperjump to cross the distance separating us from the source of the distant shots coming from the direction of two hundred and zero upon three zero one," he suddenly said and his words startled everyone.


    "Now?" the droid asked just to make sure he didn''t hear a wrong decision just now.


    "Yes," James confirmed, "and give the signal to Dora and Rigo, let them get out of the hyperjump space and start attacks on both flanks."


    "Now?"


    "Yea, do as I say and stop confirming things like that!" James shouted at the droid and the latter hurried to do what he was ordered while saying:


    "Affirmative."


    It was such a bad habit for him to ask many questions and try to reason the orders he received with the status of the war. James appreciated this trait of him sometimes, but other times he just wanted to give him a punch in the face.


    The next instant the cruiser entered the hyperspace while jumping to cross a large distance in no time at all. James had already held strongly to the cruiser using another artifact, the lock girl.


    She was an umbrella with a unique ability of creating strong gravity fields. James just took her out moments before the cruiser jumped and she instantly attached his body directly with the body of the cruiser.


    "Be ready," James said.


    "For what?" the girls all asked in unison.


    "Not you," he laughed before adding, "I''ll vanish the next instant and reappear again to vanish later. Don''t be startled and keep the cruiser safe and also keep the attacks running."


    "¡­"


    The girls didn''t understand the meaning of his words but he was now using his strongest card against kings and queens.


    "If you think yourselves smart enough to gather on me like this, then I''ll feel proud to kill you easily inside my own world," he sneered the moment the cruiser appeared and the next instant his body vanished while those flying up front started to vanish one after another with no warning at all.


    "Do you know what''s going on?" Stefanie asked while Lara sighed, "I know nothing. All I can sense is that the energy he used to vanish is the same type as the energy making them vanish."


    "That means?" Gorgena asked.


    "I¡­ dunno," Lara sighed before adding, "let''s just attack everything around as he asked, or else I bet he will reprimand us for slacking when he returns."


    "I feel him quite¡­ different that when he was with us," the latest girl to appear, Sirena, said.


    "Yes, he is totally different when fighting than sleeping with us," Stefanie sighed before adding, "you should have seen him when I first met him. He was so terrified but he was so immersed in fighting that he even forgot all his fears and kept trying harder to crush his opponents."


    "You told us the story dizillion times already," Lara said to hurriedly stop her, "let''s stop chatting and go back to work. There were many ships around and they were startled by our sudden jump. Let''s kill them all."