"This pickaxe is pretty good. Smashing stars to give them some real intimidation is a fine idea."
Datch's gaze shifted to the points required for the item exchange, and he immediately drew in a sharp breath.
The cost and duration required to exchange ownership rights are longer than your own life.
Even exchanging it for just thirty minutes would cost four digits in value.
"You clearly could have taken it, yet you still gave me the pickaxe!!"
"You think robbery isn't fun? That's why you have such twisted humor!!"
Datch muttered inwardly.
Even if it only took an hour, the cost was absurdly high.
It didn't even cover the mission reward—he was taking a massive loss.
Feeling the pain, Datch looked at the flashing exclamation mark on the Vigilant Star icon on the minimap, but he still gritted his teeth.
He could earn more points even if he lost them, but if he failed the mission, he would truly lose.
"At worst, I'll just enter the subspace multiple times, do some searches and retreats, and farm points."
Datch muttered to himself.
The reason they only intimidated the Tau Empire instead of launching a massacre was, of course, to make them bring the awakening code back to the Tau Empire.
That way, they could accelerate the AI crisis and improve the game experience.
Datch set the Ancient God's Pickaxe to "Exchange Pending," summoned the giant rooster, and headed toward the meeting place.
The meeting took place in a beautiful garden.
When Datch arrived, both sides were simply sitting there.
"We are grateful for your kindness, Lord Glen Cole," Lucien said, saluting Glen Cole.
"I have almost no patience left for traitors." Glen Cole frowned, his expression displeased. "The only reason I met with you was to get you out of the Agrilan star system and restore the God-Emperor's supreme rule."
"I swear loyalty to the Emperor," Lucien said.
"Are you trying to make me laugh?" Glen Cole sneered. "The Tribunal's oath didn't include you joining the xenos, did it?"
"The Emperor's vision was never about the Human Imperium—it was about humanity itself. The Imperium itself has rotted away like a lifeless corpse."
Lucien spoke sharply. "The age of humanity has ended. We once had a chance for redemption, but the Emperor failed."
"I'm betting on this young, vibrant, just, and equal race. They will undoubtedly strip away the veil of superstition and bring an age of enlightenment to the galaxy. As members of the Greater Good, humanity will prosper in the new era."
However, Glen Cole dismissed this outright.
"How pure you are, like a child. You were once an Inquisitor, yet you know nothing about human history. That's why you made such a foolish decision."
Lucien frowned. "I have researched every forbidden document within the Tribunal. I believe I understand human civilization better than you do."
"If you truly understood humanity, you should understand that the current Tau Empire is nothing more than a clumsy imitation."
Glen Cole's earliest ancestors could be traced back to the first pioneers who traveled from their home planet to the stars.
Their family had declined and moved several times, but the legacy of their family history had always been preserved.
Every generation of descendants had to read the family's legacy history to understand the family's mistakes.
In the process, Glen Cole learned the history before the Human Imperium, which was the main reason he continued to swear loyalty to it.
The human ancestors who set foot among the stars relied on powerful and advanced AI machines to conquer and develop the galaxy, building vast colonies.
Many colonized planets chose to coexist with xenos, signing non-aggression treaties—friendliness that far surpassed the current Tau Empire's coexistence strategies with other races.
Humanity did not spread the Greater Good, nor did they force xenos to abandon industry or civilization.
After the AI crisis erupted, humanity received support from many xenos races.
However, when the subspace storms raged violently and the Eternal Night crisis broke out,
when colonized planets lost contact and resources grew scarce, the xenos seized the opportunity to attack and massacre humanity.
After the Emperor unified Terra and launched the Great Crusade, he retaliated against and massacred these xenos.
"We all know there are things in this universe that cannot be explained by objective laws," Glen Cole said, looking at Lucien. "Even if we take a hundred steps back, even if the Tau Empire could replace the Human Imperium and become the new rulers of the galaxy,"
"If they also faced an AI crisis, were covered by the Eternal Night crisis, and could not provide sufficient supplies, would the surrendering xenos races be prepared to die obediently?"
"No, they would not. They would choose to rebel against the Tau Empire, massacre the Tau people, and seize the last resources."
"If there were a being as powerful as the Emperor in the Tau Empire, would they issue orders to massacre the xenos and elevate the Tau people to supremacy?"
"There's no evidence at all. It's all your own speculation," Lucien said. "The Greater Good would never do such a thing."
"There is nothing new in this galaxy. What happened in the past will happen again in the future," Glen Cole sneered.
Just as Lucien was about to say something, Datch appeared riding the giant rooster.
Standing over four meters tall and clad in protective armor, the rooster looked overwhelmingly imposing.
Its beak was made of steel—one peck would open a massive hole.
"Is this the Nameless One?" Lucien frowned as he looked at the Imperial guards in golden armor riding on the rooster's back.
Was this man really that abstract? What else could he ride? A giant rooster would do!!
Datch sat atop the giant rooster, looking down at Lucien.
"You are a traitor, a fool who betrayed your own civilization and race."
"I won't condemn your choice, but I want to tell you—your future is hopeless. Go back and stop selling your corrupt and degenerate ideas."
After completing the quest, Datch didn't wait for the NPC's response. He took out the teleport gun, activated the portal, and left.
Lucien seemed completely bewildered—the meeting today had clearly been a failure.
Neither Glen Cole nor that mysterious Nameless One had any intention of negotiating.
Why couldn't they clearly see the future trend?
Humanity's decline was already certain, and the future belonged to the more dynamic Tau family.
Humanity had to rely on the Tau family to secure its position in the new era.
The negotiations ended in haste. Lucien was not discouraged. He decided to take the time to show those who could not clearly see the future the civilization and development of the Tau Empire.
He would let them know that only by joining the Tau Empire could they obtain hope and a future.
Agrilan was the capital planet of the Agrilan star system and the ninth planet of the Agrilan star system, an important crossroads of subspace routes.
After the Tau Empire made the Agrilan region their next conquest target,
as the capital planet, Agrilan was regarded as an important strategic objective.
After multiple wars, the Tau Empire occupied this planet and planned to build it as a new homeworld.
The Agrilan galaxy was a stable binary star system consisting of two stars.
One was a yellow dwarf, and the other was a massive blue giant dozens of times larger than the first—the most dazzling presence in the entire galaxy.
Datch used the teleportation light tunnel to reach the Agrilan star system directly.
He stood in the void, gazing at the two stars pulled by gravity.
After a moment's hesitation, he decided to leave the yellow dwarf and knock out the blue giant.
The reason they knocked it out was, of course, to intimidate those blue-skinned xenos.
Now he had smashed a star; if they didn't leave immediately, he would smash another.
Datch summoned the Emperor's Armor and used the teleport gun to reach the vicinity of the blue giant.
The surface of the blue giant was anything but calm—it boiled like waves.
Scorching streams of flame erupted into the sky, reaching thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of kilometers, distorting space.
Datch stared at the blue giant. The Emperor's Armor resisted the blue giant's heat and gravity, allowing him to stand firmly nearby.
Then, Datch chose to exchange for the Ancient God's Pickaxe.
When the prompt appeared, points were deducted.
A strangely shaped pickaxe materialized in Datch's hand.
Its handle was made from the spine of an unknown creature, each vertebra emitting a faint light.
The pickaxe was made of an indescribable material; its surface flowed with twisted colors, as if it were constantly devouring and releasing light.
Datch gripped the Ancient God's Pickaxe, feeling its strange pulsation.
Then he looked at the star and raised the Ancient God's Pickaxe high before bringing it down.
Boom...
A strange, muffled sound echoed through the vacuum, completely ignoring the laws of physics.
The sound propagated in a neutral environment, as if the entire universe trembled to its rhythm.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the blue giant.
It was a straight fissure stretching from one side of the star to the other, like a perfect geometric cut.
The edges of the crack emitted a faint light, and matter from within the star erupted from the fissure.
Boom.
The second pickaxe fell.
The cracks began to spread, drawing a perfect grid across the star's surface.
That grid divided the entire star into countless neat regions.
Every area formed a perfect square.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Three strikes, four strikes, five strikes...
Datch continued expending energy, swinging the pickaxe. Cracks multiplied across the blue giant's surface.
Finally, along with the cracks, the entire star shattered into countless square fragments.
Their edges were mirror-smooth, radiating a soft glow.
The square star fragments slowly drifted through the void, each emitting blue light like lonely little stars, floating quietly in the emptiness.
Datch approached one of the fragments. The fragment automatically flew toward him, rapidly shrinking as it drew near.
Eventually, it transformed into a glowing cube the size of a palm and fell into his game inventory.
[Item: Stellar Block
A masterpiece created after a star was shattered by the Ancient God's Pickaxe; once assembled, it can be restored.
It can also be thrown to release the power of the star. Each block releases extremely powerful scorching energy.
Comment: "When using it, be sure to run far away—otherwise you might get into trouble."]
"You can still throw it and use it as a weapon?"
Datch's eyes lit up. He quickly exchanged for a horseshoe-shaped magnet item.
After choosing to use it, all the fragments scattered in the void flew toward him, merging into his game inventory and quickly stacking up.
In the void, the only thing still burning quietly was that yellow dwarf.
The entire process took less than two minutes.
The sight of the blue giant shattering into pieces was quickly discovered by the Tau Empire expeditionary force.
When the recorded footage played on the holographic console in the supreme command center, the scene was wrapped in complete silence.
The golden figure of the Nameless One stood in the void, striking the blue giant with a strange pickaxe.
In less than a minute, a star that had burned for billions of years shattered into square fragments scattered across the ground.
"How is this possible!!"
When Yingyang saw this scene, he first suspected it was a composite image.
He repeatedly asked the Earth Caste scientists for confirmation,
and the responses were all "The footage is not composite—it is real."
After multiple comparisons and analyses, the golden figure was 99.99% the Nameless Inquisitor.
Someone had truly shattered a star into square fragments.
Yingyang wanted to say something, but his mind went blank and he couldn't speak.
He collapsed into the command throne as if he had lost all strength, his expression filled with despair.
What kind of monster is the Human Imperium!!
Why do they possess such an existence?
Ammonium Sha, who had been supervising the battle, remained silent for a long time in shock.
Confusion and helplessness appeared on his face.
His faith—the Greater Good—wavered in this moment.
The Earth Caste scientists also fell silent all at once.
The scientific theories and laws of physics they had once proudly believed in had now become a huge joke.
Stars had shattered.
A star that had burned for billions of years and possessed mass equivalent to millions of planets had shattered.
They suddenly realized—
This universe could not be explained by science alone.
"Immediately order the envoys to withdraw. We must withdraw from the Agrilan star system immediately. Abandon all gains from the expedition."
After a while, Yingyang finally regained his senses and issued the order.
Ammonium Sha said nothing. He knew Yingyang was right.
As long as that Nameless One existed, they could never win this war.
Now they were smashing stars.
Next, they would smash them.
When Lucien received the order, he was completely stunned.
I was never going to fight to the death—why is His Majesty surrendering first?!
He had originally planned to introduce the civilization and development of the Tau Empire and make his ignorant kin envious of their privileged lifestyle.
As a result, Yingyang and Onsha announced the withdrawal, and he gave a wry smile.
This was an order from the expeditionary force's supreme command, and Lucien could only depart with the delegation.
Meanwhile, after Yingyang ordered the withdrawal, Datch received the mission completion notification.
[Mission Complete. Assist Governor Glen Cole in demanding that the Tau Empire immediately cease their invasion of the Agrilan star system and withdraw from the God-Emperor's territory.]
[Quest Rewards Obtained: 2,000 EXP, 2,000 Points, +500 Reputation, Blade Queen – Kerrigan Summon Card ×10]
Without even checking the item reward, Datch took out the teleport gun, opened the teleportation light tunnel back to the Vigilant Star, and returned.
....
…
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