The debris of the "Sargasso Void" was still being hauled into the yawning docking bays of the Steel Reef when the long-range sensors picked up a signature that didn't belong to a pirate or a miner. It was a shuttle, sleek and obnoxious, draped in the shimmering gold-leaf finish of the Royal Household.
"Lord Captain," Vanya's voice crackled over the ship-wide comms, sounding more annoyed than worried. "A diplomatic vessel is requesting permission to land. They are broadcasting an 'Imperial Mercy' frequency."
Lin Feng sat in his command chair, watching the telemetry. "Imperial Mercy? They think they're doing me a favor by showing up?"
"It's the Princess's personal seal," Lilith purred, appearing from the shadows of the bridge. Her wings were no longer bound; they draped elegantly behind her like a royal cloak. "Shall I prepare a 'warm' welcome? My girls have been itching to test the new gravity-traps."
"No," Lin Feng said, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Let them land. I want to see what Isabella's desperation looks like in person."
The Royal Messenger
The hangar bay of the Steel Reef was no longer a silent tomb. It hummed with the sound of automated drones and the heavy footsteps of Orc laborers. In the center of the bay stood Duke Maros, a man whose family had built their fortune on the backs of the poor, now looking at the "beast-kin" guards with visible disgust.
"Where is the boy?" Maros demanded as the airlock opened. "I have a royal decree for the Viscount of Volaris."
The crowd of Orc and Succubus guards parted. Lin Feng walked forward, not in the frayed cadet uniform he had worn at the Academy, but in a tailored coat of deep obsidian silk, the Mirror Locket resting openly against his chest.
"You're standing in my home, Maros," Lin Feng said, his voice flat. "State your business and leave. The air here is too clean for your breath."
The Duke turned purple. "Insolence! I am here on behalf of Princess Isabella. She has... reflected on your recent 'luck.' She is willing to overlook your rebellion and the destruction of the Tax Ministry. In her great mercy, she will reinstate your engagement and allow you to serve as her Royal Consort."
A silence fell over the hangar. Then, from the rafters, Lilith let out a sharp, mocking laugh.
"Consort?" Lin Feng tilted his head. "And the price?"
"The secret of your 'illusion' fleet," Maros said, his eyes darting toward the massive Mirror Sovereign docked nearby. "And the blueprints for this station. The Empire needs this technology to secure the borders. It is a Royal Command."
The Potato Peeler of Justice
Lin Feng didn't yell. He didn't even look angry. He simply looked at Kara, who was standing nearby holding a hydraulic wrench the size of a human torso.
"Kara," Lin Feng said. "The Duke seems to think my crew are 'beasts' and my home is a gift for the Princess. What do we do with uninvited guests who don't know their place?"
Kara grinned, showing rows of sharp, white teeth. "Usually, we vent 'em into the vacuum, Boss. But since he's a 'noble,' maybe he needs to learn a trade?"
"A trade. I like that," Lin Feng nodded. He turned to the trembling Duke. "Maros, I have a thousand refugees who need to be fed. My kitchen staff is currently overworked preparing for the next fleet expansion. You wanted to 'serve' House Volaris? You can start by peeling space-potatoes."
"You... you wouldn't dare!" Maros shrieked, reaching for a concealed comm-link.
Before he could touch it, two Orc guards grabbed him by the elbows, lifting his feet off the floor.
"Take him to the galley," Lin Feng commanded. "If he misses a single potato, he doesn't get dinner. And send a message back to his shuttle. Tell Isabella that if she wants my technology, she can come and scan it herself—from the business end of my railguns."
The Shadow of the Inquisitor
As the screaming Duke was dragged toward the kitchens, Lilith stepped close to Lin Feng. Her playful demeanor had vanished.
"You know she won't take that sitting down, Master," she whispered. "Isabella is a creature of pride. But she isn't the danger. Kaelen has been seen at the High Inquisitor's palace. They are talking about 'Forbidden Void Tech.'"
Lin Feng looked at the Mirror Locket. It was vibrating again, a low-frequency hum that resonated with the data he had taken from the NIHIL mecha in the graveyard.
"Let them talk," Lin Feng said. "They still think this is a game of politics and bloodlines. They haven't realized yet that the rules of the galaxy changed the moment I arrived."
He turned back toward the bridge, his mind already calculating the next move. "Vanya! Status on the Star-Iron shipment from the Mining Guild?"
"The first freighters are arriving, Lord Captain," the Ice Elf replied. "But they are being shadowed by 'unmarked' stealth ships."
Lin Feng's eyes glowed with a faint violet light. "Perfect. I was worried we wouldn't have enough 'Soul Energy' for the next expansion. Tell the fleet to prepare for a 'live-fire' demonstration."
The Viscount of Dust was no longer just defending. He was starting to hunt.
Chapter 9: The World-Eater
The "unmarked" stealth ships didn't stay hidden for long. As the Mining Guild freighters—massive, lumbering hulks filled with raw ore—approached the Steel Reef's gravity well, the void behind them seemed to bleed.
"Three... no, six signatures," Vanya reported, her voice as cold as the ice she was named for. "They aren't Imperial. These are 'Void-Wraiths,' the elite mercenaries of the High Inquisitor. They aren't here to talk, Lord Captain. They've already locked their phase-missiles on our mining ships."
"They want to starve us out before we can process the ore," Lin Feng mused, watching the tactical display. "But they've made one fatal mistake."
"What's that, Boss?" Kara asked, her hand already hovering over the launch button for her new mecha.
"They think they're the only monsters in this sector."
The Shadow from the Deep
Just as the mercenaries prepared to fire, the local space began to groan. A massive, localized warp-rift opened—not with the clean blue light of a ship's engine, but with a sickening, oily purple tear in reality.
Out of the rift slid a nightmare. It was a World-Eater Worm, a biological disaster three hundred kilometers long, covered in plates of chitin that could deflect battleship-grade lasers. Its mouth was a swirling vortex of teeth capable of grinding moons into dust.
"An Abyssal Behemoth!" Lilith hissed, her wings flaring. "The Inquisitor must have lured it here with a beacon! They want the monster to do their dirty work!"
The mercenary ships quickly darted behind the beast, using its massive bulk as a shield. They planned to let the worm destroy the Steel Reef, then scavenge the remains.
"Lord Captain, we should retreat into the station's inner ring!" Vanya urged. "The station's shields won't hold against a direct ramming from a creature of that mass!"
"Retreat?" Lin Feng stood up, the Mirror Locket erupting with a blinding, violet light. "This isn't a disaster, Vanya. It's a delivery."
The Mirror of the Beast
Lin Feng stepped toward the massive observation window, his hand outstretched toward the approaching monster.
"Locket! Level 3 Sync!" he roared. "Don't just scan the metal—scan the life! Bio-Organic Refraction!"
[Target: Abyssal World-Eater (S-Rank) Detected.]
[DNA Chain Sequenced... 100%]
[Warning: Massive Soul Energy Drain. Converting Mining Ore to Energy...]
[Mirroring Initialized!]
The raw Star-Iron inside the Mining Guild's freighters began to vanish, converted into pure energy by the Locket's power. In the void between the Steel Reef and the monster, space began to ripple and fold.
To the horror of the mercenaries, ten identical ripples appeared.
Suddenly, the original World-Eater wasn't alone. Ten "Mirror-Behemoths"—perfect copies made of a strange, translucent silver-chitin—materialized out of thin air. They didn't have the hunger of the original; they had the cold, tactical mind of Lin Feng.
"Eat," Lin Feng commanded.
The ten Mirror-Behemoths lunged. The original worm, confused and outnumbered, tried to roar, but it was instantly swarmed by its own likenesses. They tore into the original beast with coordinated precision, their silver teeth glowing with energy.
The Mercenaries' End
The Void-Wraith mercenaries tried to warp away, but the space was already too cluttered with the massive bodies of the behemoths. One mercenary cruiser was swallowed whole by a Mirror-Worm; another was crushed like a soda can by a silver tail-fin.
Within minutes, the original World-Eater was nothing but a floating cloud of bio-matter, and the "unbeatable" mercenary fleet had been erased from existence.
"Lord Captain..." Vanya whispered, staring at the ten silver monsters now orbiting their station like loyal guard dogs. "You've turned a galactic extinction event into... a pet."
"Not pets, Vanya," Lin Feng said, his breathing heavy from the drain. "The Mirror-Behemoths are now our primary heavy-defense layer. And tell Kara to start harvesting the original worm's remains. I want those chitin plates integrated into our mecha armor. We're moving beyond steel."
The Message Received
Back at the Imperial Capital, in a dark chamber lit only by flickering candles, the High Inquisitor watched the final static-filled recording of the battle. Beside him, Kaelen was trembling so hard his wine glass shattered on the floor.
"He copied a World-Eater?" the Inquisitor's voice was a rasping shadow. "That locket isn't an artifact. It's a god-key."
"What do we do?" Kaelen stammered. "He's coming for us, isn't he?"
The Inquisitor looked at a map of the galaxy. "He won't come for us yet. He doesn't have the political standing. But there is a Gala coming up—the Centennial Auction. He will be there to buy back his family's pride. That is where we trap the mirror."
Lin Feng, millions of light-years away, felt a chill. He looked at the Locket. "They're planning a party," he told Lilith. "Go find my best suit. We're going to give the Empire a night they'll never forget."