Descend, Move, Occupy
The days passed by slowly.
As the Space Station moved through the Collariverse Universe, the Crimsonbreaking Faction spent those days sightseeing the Kingdoms and various Space Stations and few Godly Space Stations near the bordering corner. Heian Ciemnosc especially sat around one of the ports' edges, watching the few Kingdoms as they went past them in a matter of minutes or seconds. Finally, the time came for the Crimsonbreaking Faction to prepare their people for this operation.
The day came, and the 81st year, 12th month, 2nd week and 4th day arrived. Heian Ciemnosc woke up in his meditation bedroom and met with his Team, including Rosina, in their shared garden, before heading to the main headquarters.
After meeting them, with the children left behind as Cara was accompanied by Riquel, who couldn’t have any more idea of what was to come, they left their villa and walked through the headquarters. Some soldier units and many auxiliary units moved with them, selected by Heian Ciemnosc to follow him.
Together, they boarded thousands of vessels to set off towards the main headquarters. The Crimsons saluted and silently greeted Heian Ciemnosc as he passed. His Team escorted him from the headquarters to the main headquarters. But even the civilians and engineering citizens in the City streets and buildings stopped to look at them.
It was a silent parade of sorts. One where Heian Ciemnosc didn’t glance at others more than necessary and simply moved forward. He wore a tremendous, serious dark outfit below his dark coat, whose shoulders pad were adorned with a gray and crimson armor pieces which intermittently changed their colors to one another.
Rosina wasn’t well known, but some people had seen her training and partaking in some missions, which gained her a little fame. Whether she was worthy of the Eternal Return Team was left to be seen.
Arriving at the main headquarters, a few million civilians were restrained by a towering railing as the vessel Heian Ciemnosc boarded descended before the main headquarters. There, Loon, the person in charge of managing the security of the whole Faction, waited for Heian Ciemnosc. Heian Ciemnosc met with him and stared at each other before simultaneously nodding.
Loon patted Heian Ciemnosc’s upper back strangely. Heian Ciemnosc felt a slight uncle/fatherly figure aura from Loon as he did. It felt strange, indeed. It was if it was the last time Loon would be able to treat Heian Ciemnosc this way. Heian Ciemnosc said nothing and let it be, who knew, who knew…
They walked into the main headquarters, followed by only his Team members. The soldier and auxiliary units remained behind, receiving the prideful eyes and praising, hot-blooded words from the civs.
“Are you sure about this number? It isn’t much. Alyona has selected another batch of equal numbers to send it to you as long as you change your mind,” Loon said, with his hand leaving Heian Ciemnosc’s back. But Heian Ciemnosc shook his head and stopped before a doorstep, saying to Loon with his darkest, calmest eyes. “I won’t need it. On the contrary, I’ll ensure there’s more upon my… ‘return’.”
“…” Loon stopped half a step ahead of Heian Ciemnosc. His slightly fat belly wobbled, but the two looked at each other before Heian Ciemnosc softly spoke, “Are you ready for the immediate future, uncle Loon?”
“Siiigh~,” Loon heavily sighed and threw his head backwards a little. He spoke after slightly shaking his head, “Things are about to change, eh? Mn. No worries left behind. You can fell reassured we’ll do our part. Work hard, Heian Ciemnosc.”
“…” Heian Ciemnosc nodded before walking past the doorstep under Loon’s eyes. There, Oscilote waited for him, who gave Loon a glance and nod before also patting Heian Ciemnosc’s back. Then, the two walked forth with Loon left behind as the rest of the Eternal Return Team continued walking behind Heian Ciemnosc.
Oscilote was silent, as he always is. Heian Ciemnosc felt at ease with the fella. Being a Perkanai didn’t mean one was as cold and impassive as their bodies, but that was just how the logistics chief of the Crimsonbreaking Faction is. Oscilote brought Heian Ciemnosc to another doorstep after a few hallways before stopping. He nodded at the black monster and received a nod in return before the latter walked away.
Once again, the Eternal Return Team walked behind Heian Ciemnosc as Oscilote was left behind. Only Rosina cutely lowered her body to respectfully greet Oscilote as she did with Loon before walking away. He gave the rosy-skinned gal a nod, making her feel tremors in her chest. She wasn’t used to being around such high-end people, after all.
On the other side of the doorstep, Heian Ciemnosc met Fonso, who would also be the person to bring him inside the central command. It wasn’t that far from the entrance, after all. Heian Ciemnosc nodded at Fonso, and the grandpa returned the gesture before gesturing to move onwards.
They were silent throughout the journey. This time, the hallways were more and much longer, but they remained quiet. Unlike with Oscilote, silence with Fonso wasn’t from one’s nature, but because there was nothing else to speak of. Fonso had already taught everything he had to offer to Heian Ciemnosc, what else could there be?
A long while later, Heian Ciemnosc stopped and looked at the central command, now filled with every single hierarchy in the Crimsonbreaking Faction except for a few notorious roles that needed to be always supervised. But even those were in the room as holograms.
“Security Elder Heian Ciemnosc, operation’s leader!”
When Heian Ciemnosc stepped into the central command, a voice near him shouted his arrival and titles, as if it was a banquet. He grinned and ignored it, but every head turned, and every neck twisted to stare at him as he did.
Fonso followed 2 meters behind, with Heian Ciemnosc’s Eternal Return Team farther behind. Heian Ciemnosc quickly found the central table, rectangular, about 13 meters long and another 3 meters wide, with a beauty full of red carmine hair waiting in her new, royalty-like uniform.
Heian Ciemnosc walked towards the central table, where only he and Alyona would stand, and even Fonso would be standing at the side, with the crowd. He was met with her black-coffee eyes dearly focusing on him and him only. Her hands behind her back, Alyona half-nodded and turned to face the table before opening the meeting, finally beginning.
“It’s been 10 years, and all of you have come to express your thoughts, ideas, and hopes even.” Alyona’s voice trailed off slightly. Her eyes narrowed a little before continuing with a tilt of her head to the right, “It’s all been helpful, but it’s time to decide. Elder Heian Ciemnosc, come forth and relay your plan with me, with us.”
Heian Ciemnosc stepped up and arrived beside Alyona, on her left. She looked up at him, nearly looking down, seeing that young boy instead of the man he is now. She revealed a smile that only lasted 3 seconds before she hid it, but her actions had already left ten thousand pairs of eyes befuddled and without hunger.
The operation’s planning began. Heian Ciemnosc wasn’t going to conceal things, or shy away from success. His overly deranged, unhinge, bold plans were clear and wide open. The hierarchy surrounding them as Heian Ciemnosc first moved his arms and fingers to aim and trace a few lines was calm.
But as he began walking back and forth, brushing behind Alyona as she let him, not growing licentious, the crowd felt their next breaths suddenly becoming a little heavier and longer. Heian Ciemnosc continued, though. His feet changed position, never remaining on the ground for a few seconds before heating new, cold spots below the table.
At times, Alyona interjected, questioned, and either gave her opinion, a few words, or nodded. As Heian Ciemnosc continued and his plans progressed, the crowd became restless. They observed, processed, watched, and understood. But they dared not take this lightly, nor speak of it directly.
When Heian Ciemnosc was in the middle of his explanation, he was questioned and inquired of his plan’s details again for reaffirmation. Alyona also spoke up more often, knitting her eyebrows as his words continued flowing smoothly. Nevertheless, each time, whenever the crowd turned to look at Fonso, he nodded.
He either had nothing to say or didn’t need to. That was his take on Heian Ciemnosc’s methods and so on.
Alyona directly joined Heian Ciemnosc, working as one mind, hivemind, together for the rest of his operation’s planning briefing. They moved back and forth across the table. Whenever their ideas clashed, they sometimes looked into each other’s eyes and communicated through them. Then, their ideals changed according to their ‘talks’, and their plans continued.
Before long, everyone went from watching Heian Ciemnosc, this promising Security Elder, become an equal with their goddess Alyona, to watching the two working together in seamless synchronization. The crowd watched for another half an hour before Heian Ciemnosc and Alyona became slower, explained less, and left the rest to the crowd’s minds and experience.
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“…” - “…” At last, Heian Ciemnosc and Alyona looked at each other. They could see the smiles in the other’s eyes. Heian Ciemnosc bit his dry, lower lip as Alyona showed a light smile again while they both leaned on the table.
“This is my operation,” Heian Ciemnosc looked at the crowd before him before turning his body towards each section of those surrounding the table. Then, under the silence of the main headquarters' central command, Heian Ciemnosc started receiving the modest applause from the crowd, followed by his Team, tutors, lovers, and wives.
‘… Mother, you too. Can’t you see?’ Heian Ciemnosc echoed those words in his mind under Sara’s gleaming, proud, cross-on-top eyes.
Under the surrounding scene of few but bright lights and an applauding crowd surrounding them, a meter beside the table, Alyona and Heian Ciemnosc’s faces rubbed each other’s. Their foreheads as one with their eyes closed, holding each other’s faces.
. . .
5 hours later, at the Space Station’s northernmost ports.
“…” Heian Ciemnosc stood with his back against the hundreds of millions of troops moving behind him. They all overcrowded the northern ports, but Heian Ciemnosc was at its centermost location. With his hands behind his back, he stood at the edge between 2 ports extending a few dozen kilometers with all sorts of spaceships docked and ready to set off.
Heian Ciemnosc’s expression was severe as he looked at the Lsefattern Kingdom. The zones where the Turtle Hiding Region was located had just passed their sight, and only a third of its sea and island-like Regions peeked from the Kingdom’s circumference on the top left hemisphere.
The Crimsonbreaking Faction had amounted 1.2 billion soldier units, and another 1.2 billion citizens. They were going all-out. If the other organizations were to know this, they would’ve begged the Heraxle Clan to put a stop to it. That was… too scary!!
Doesn’t everyone know the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s records? How many Kingdoms and Galaxies became ghost-lands where no living being wanted to show they existed? They lost their Fleets in the end, but in the end, didn’t the Crimsonbreaking Faction kill and destroy more than even peak Fourth Step organizations like the Phosphorescent Flower Sect and even the acclaimed Obscure Orb Sect?
Back then, they had a few billions as their full force. As for higher-up and upper echelons, it was rumored to be 10-20 times the amounts that any Fourth Step organization could muster. Be it from space or personally, they eviscerated many Kingdoms and Galaxies. They weren’t dependent on their Fleets to cause such destruction.
Now that the Crimsonbreaking Faction seemed to start recuperating that terrifying number, any organization from the Third Step upwards in a leading position would want to stop it. Even the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s allies would try to persuade them to stop. But, would they stop? No… would Heian Ciemnosc stop?
The soldier units behind Heian Ciemnosc were 400,000,000 soldier units and the same amount for citizens. That was enough to mobilize the entire Fleet, just to move them into the Kingdom. As Heian Ciemnosc watched the Lsefattern Kingdom with such concentration that he might even poke 2 holes through it from the intensity, his darkest eyes were serene, lifeless, and ultimately cold.
Heian Ciemnosc turned around as Sara made a hugging motion with her head leaning forth and resting atop her arms in the air in his inner universe where his nape was. Heian Ciemnosc felt her hold and that warming sensation of the realization of his life and reasoning returned. He walked to a nearby port. The soldier units and citizens followed his move after he passed them.
“Did you feel that?” - “Mn, strange.” - “It was really… something…” - “Like an expert’s sheer pressure from reaching a higher Step, but chief’s wasn’t mighty… just… natural?” Discussion sprouted across the preparing troopers, but it didn’t last long, and they focused on their tasks.
“There’s something that our superiors aren’t telling us, but… does that matter? It’s time, guys, and gals… Will you waste this chance?” - “No!!”
Step, step, step, step. Heian Ciemnosc walked to his Ornament. Since this wasn’t a usual Kingdom but a border Kingdom, nobody could even ask the entry of Low Battleships or higher spaceship pedigree into the Kingdom. Other than Cruisers, the largest spaceships were used to board as many troops as ever possible, the Space Station prepared countless large vessels with remodeled storage to hold more people.
Every troop held a piece of arsenal, ammunition, and citizen rations. Were there to be a mere, singular, tiny loss of resources, the whole army would be whipped on the back and butt cheeks for a week. Nobody wanted that, not even the cultivators who recently became inspired and ventured the body tempering path of cultivation.
Nevertheless, it had been an enough amount of time since the troops prepared. Heian Ciemnosc’s legs moved swiftly. When he arrived near his Ornament, just walking over the corner to the berth it was being polished with worship, only a few tens of thousands of soldier units and citizens remained outside spaceships, immediately walking into them in order.
“Good job, return now,” Heian Ciemnosc said as the auxiliary units maintaining his baby nodded their heads, leaving them low like a bow before rushing to another nearby spaceship. Then, a couple of shadows loomed above Heian Ciemnosc’s Ornament as he got everyone ready to set off.
Alejandro and Evans landed a few hundred meters beside Heian Ciemnosc’s Ornament. They were at the same height as other Cruisers nearby, including those from his Team’s Large Flotillas, which only Rosina didn’t lead and owned a Fighter to her name but nothing else.
A minute passed before Heian Ciemnosc’s Spirit Sense easily dove through millions of kilometers into the Lsefattern Kingdom, surrounding it with his large scope. If his Spirit Sense was the range of a Middle Galaxy in the intermediate stages of the Silhouette realm. Then, now that Heian Ciemnosc recently broke into the 7th stage, its range increased to an Upper Galaxy!
‘…’ Heian Ciemnosc became tense. He had to prepare everything accordingly. They only had one chance, and they couldn’t launch an assault unless they wanted the whole Upper Kingdom to defend against his people. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes slightly narrowed as his body leaned forwards, and then…
‘…!’
WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!! WYYUUUMP!!…
The order was given, making everyone’s emblem hot like lava as their engines immediately turned up. Battle array formations kept the entire plethora of spaceships together, including those around Heian Ciemnosc, which he united with his Incinerating Bolt battle array formation. Spaceships ascended, descended, and moved forward to separate before immediately putting those turned-up engines to full capacity.
In a matter of 2 seconds, the northern ports of the Space Station, which were overcrowded from behind with spaceships already undocked from other ports and awaiting command, separated in the space outside the Space Station’s ports. Then, all spaceships’ engines turned up, and with a full-speed-ahead march on, hundreds of thousands of spaceships and large vessels flew out.
PPFFFFFFFFTTTTDDDDDD~~~…!
The loud yet comfortable, soft crackling noise they left behind as the plethora of engines zoomed in the distance left the Space Station feeling… pleased. If they wanted to bid them farewell, especially the mentally prepared civilians in the Base, they let go of those ideas when they heard those engines in unison.
If this was a Kingdom instead of a Space Station, the notion would have caused tornadoes and environmental changes for several years. That full-speed ahead mobilization was too much even for Upper Kingdoms. Only a Supreme Kingdom or Divine Kingdom could endure such tremendous push force from Third Step spaceships.
Alyona, Hong Mei, Fonso, Oscilote, and Loon felt nostalgic as they watched this scenery they hadn’t seen for nearly a century. The situation was just as grave, so to speak. Thus, they couldn’t help feeling a burst of emotions, but they were too experienced not to handle it effortlessly.
… Heian Ciemnosc drove his Ornament at the head, mobilizing almost a million spaceships from the Space Station, which rapidly blinked in and out of plain sight when they set off. The orbiting space stations were astounded, but they received Crimsonbreaking Faction’s Security Elder, Heian Ciemnosc, aka black monster, request to allow them imminent entry to resolve a matter of vital concern for the Universal Land.
They were allowed immediate entry, of course. However, it wasn’t Heian Ciemnosc’s ‘greeting’ that made them feel the call of duty, but the final words he utilized. His method might be brusque, but it was the fact that the Crimsonbreaking Faction had come here… in the name of the Heraxle Clan!
Has the Crimsonbreaking Faction bent the knee? Have they taken a side? At last? This was the border Kingdom, not a mere place to make money and create havoc! The Crimsonbreaking Faction wouldn’t just come here from one corner of the Universitalities of Yore Universal Land to another for that, right?
VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMM~~~~~~~~!
However, this was not time to question or inquire. The space stations watched and even felt the tremors of so many spaceships moving near them. The people within them were astounded like it was the end of their lives, and nearly believed that another horrifying war like the 10 year war would occur. After all, the first to take the spearheaded invasions were these border Kingdoms.
However, the spaceships simply overflew them by. Although they surrounded the orbiting space stations, it was only to pass by. They relieved a sigh of relief and even Perkanai, Skalner, Boviela, and Colgova felt their bodies coldly sweat in relief. But then, they discerned the emblems, with some using Universal Conveyances to zoom in, and others the stations’ facilities.
“!!!” They were shocked, to say the least.
“What’s the Crimsonbreaking Faction doing here?!” - “My Lords! The infamous Crimson has come to taint the Lsefattern Kingdom?” - “No! They must be here for the situation with the Heraxle Clan’s representative.” - “Oof, they’ll receive a good one, it seems.” - “Hoh, I can’t believe it! The Crimsonbreaking Faction is here… here!”
The news traveled faster than one might think. Not only in this Existence, and not only in this Universal Land… Before anyone knew it, even the Existential Sixth Step organizations knew of the Crimsonbreaking Faction appearing in the Heraxle Clan’s border Kingdom. Let alone those who always surfed through the universal net to fin exciting news and controversial scandals.
All at once, the Crimsonbreaking Faction became a figure of military leadership for the Universitalities of Yore Universal Land. However, to the enemy, and their leaders, at that. The Crimsons became a sight worth noticing… and paying attention to. Moreover, the number of spaceships used was astronomical. They must have used their 80% if not all of their non-Region destructor spaceships, such as Low Battleships or higher.
It was apparent that the Crimsonbreaking Faction had just launched an operation. The parties responsible for staying within the Lsefattern Kingdom, foreign to the Universitalities of Yore, quickly responded and prepared to receive the sudden intermission.
The stage had just been prepared, and the curtains were undulating wobbly in the air, vulnerable to any change in the wind. But which stage was it? And… for whom? Who was spectator? And who was the mastermind behind it all?
…