Him and their stars.

Chapter 2117 The price is becoming nourishment for the nation.

"This wasn't my plan, but it's not what most people would want either." The emperor seemed to see through her thoughts and frankly admitted, "This is the choice of the times, the surging tide of history impacting the empire. It washes away the silt, but the mountains will stand even higher! The champion chosen by the gods, whom I personally bestowed, is clearly a trial given to us by the spirit of the universe! He will test the resilience of the empire's civilization, and also the magnanimity and depth of the empire's leaders!"

Brunhilde tilted her head slightly, her pretty face blushing.

She heard the difference in depth. But in reality, on that virtual timeline, they had tested every type of depth.

That's so disrespectful.

King Suruka mentally slapped himself twice, trying his best to regain his focus.

She felt once again that the person speaking to her was not the emperor, or rather, not just himself.

This time, it was no illusion. Brunhilde clearly felt as if he were conversing with the will of the entire Galactic Empire.

She raised her head, staring intently at the emperor's soul, which was composed of energy, her voice still uncompromising, as if questioning her opponent: "So, what is the price?"

"The price?" the emperor repeated the word, his laughter, which had been tinged with embarrassment, abruptly ceasing as if cut off by an invisible force.

In an instant, the entire space seemed to freeze due to the subtle shift in his emotions.

The illusory figure did not become clearer, but rather seemed like a singularity of mass, swallowing and compressing all light, sound, and even thoughts within it.

Brunhilde felt a sudden weight on his shoulder, as if a pair of hands containing the weight of stars were pressing down on him.

His voice seemed to transform into a whisper piercing through the void, echoing directly into the depths of Brunhilde's consciousness: "Breen, the star beneath your feet has been burning itself since its birth, paying the price of billions of years for a moment of light. Every breath you take is a cycle of countless lives returning to entropy. Every inch of progress in this universe is built upon the ruins of time. And our Void Crown, every one of our Dragon King thrones, devours a hundred million tons of blood every second."

Emperor Elithel stared directly at his most valued descendant, his eyes devoid of any emotion, as if the part of him that belonged to "humanity" had vanished into the depths of his soul.
“My dear great-granddaughter. How could you so naively believe that change, change itself, can transcend the mundane and require no sacrifice? To expect to reverse the course of reality without paying any price is itself a desecration of the spirit of the universe. This shouldn't be you. You've seen blood and sand, you've seen iron and fire. You shouldn't be so naive.”

Brunhilde chuckled, showing no sign of wavering: "I am the Queen of the People."

"You are not yet. Prove it to me quickly." The emperor interrupted him, but a smile returned, and the oppressive aura that had suddenly appeared dissipated, as if nothing had happened.

"I get it," Brunhilde thought. "A truly capable ruler must be schizophrenic. I must have been schizophrenic enough last time to get stabbed in the back by that heartless nemesis."

"I summoned you here, of course, in my capacity as Emperor, to tell you to prepare. This is both an obligation and a tradition. Every Emperor of the Galactic Empire, when he senses the end of his reign, is required to personally inform all the electors that they can prepare."

"Huh? I'm not the special one after all." Brunhilde was slightly disappointed: "So, you'll be visiting every elector in this kind of divine intervention."

The emperor nodded slightly, a mischievous expression on his face: "You're not even the first."

“The first one is that… that Prince Wei, right? He’s the closest.” Brunhilde laughed. “But it was also him who opened the gates of Chenxiao Castle to let my lover into the capital.”

"You actually admitted it!" The emperor nodded, with a hint of praise, perhaps thinking that this senseless shamelessness and arrogance was quite befitting of a supreme ruler.

“He didn’t open the gate. He did his best.” The emperor said, “Chenxiao Fortress is right there. Since we can’t escape, it will eventually fall.”

Brunhilde could, of course, discern seven or eight layers of meaning in the other person's words—a common trait among those in positions of power, perhaps. Naturally, considering his own guilty conscience, he refrained from saying anything further.

“But what about that girl, Philian? She hasn’t been expelled yet, has she?” Brunhilde said, crossing his hands. “To strip an elector of the throne, the Imperial Court, the Heraldry Council, and the Privy Council all need to issue impeachment documents, and if necessary, the Senate will also need to vote.”

Su Wang stated that, in any case, as the Privy Council's Minister of the Imperial Seal, she had neither attended any relevant meetings nor approved any inquiries.

That could very well be a blind spot. In any case, the Emperor of the Energy Body fell silent for a moment here, probably because he was genuinely troubled.

"I have considered that as well, but that ancient ship of the Enlightened Ones has no spatial anchor point. Even I cannot easily descend upon it. I have no idea where that ship is now."

Brunhilde had some doubts.

After breaking through Chenxiao Fortress, the next step for the Earth fleet would naturally be the Imperial Capital Sky Region. The Central Junlin Star Sector, where the Imperial Capital is located, is a densely populated and industrially developed core area of ​​the Empire, with extensive shipping routes. However, the area along the way is also heavily fortified with surveillance and outposts.

Before the Celestial Realm, the Galactic Empire was indeed out of troops to defend itself, but surely its surveillance network wouldn't have crashed.

Or perhaps the Privy Council and the Grand Marshal's Office had already received the news but hadn't informed the Emperor? Had the Emperor, now a wandering ghost without a physical body, already fulfilled the prerequisite of "sealing off the palace and isolating it from the outside world"?
Thinking of this, Brunhilde couldn't help but show a look of sympathy. She didn't even try to hide it.

The emperor, of course, noticed the other party's expression again and couldn't help but say, "I'm just busy holding down Lan Jiufeng and that little girl surnamed Mei, and also busy summoning the spirit to inform you. So I instructed the rest of you not to bother me with worldly matters."

"I'll just believe it for now," Brunhilde thought to himself.

"Besides, who said that Little Philian betrayed the Empire?"

Brunhilde paused slightly, her sympathetic gaze becoming even more pronounced, and said solemnly, "Indeed, so far, the claim that King Slein personally led the way only comes from the remnants of King Wei's forces. This is likely a collective illusion. Such cases are common when facing attacks from high-ranking psionicists."

"Actually, there are videos of it too," the emperor said with a smile.

"Electronic products are easier to counterfeit. Previous battles have confirmed that the Awakener has far more computing power than us, so it's only natural that it would try to create false reports to interfere with our decision-making."

So all the evidence might be invalid?

However, the Emperor still seemed pleased: "Very good, Brin, you now understand what political legitimacy means. Even if we take a step back, perhaps little Philian is also indirectly helping the Empire in her own way!"

“Yes, King Slein’s indirect approach to saving the country will be recorded in history books.” Although Brunhilde felt something was off, he still pinched his nose and expressed his sincere praise.

The greatest obligation of a national leader is to find ways to maintain supreme prestige. This includes the ability to make political commitments, an aloof and mysterious aura, and even the most direct form of violence.

Yes. So, if you were beaten down to the point of being nothing but a ghost, wouldn't that damage the empire's supreme authority? No wonder so many people's attitudes have changed.

“But change is a good thing, it always has been.” The emperor’s soul seemed to be able to sense the thoughts of others even better than when he was still attached to a physical body. This effect was becoming more and more like mind reading. Brunhilde felt that these words sounded familiar, and she quickly thought of someone’s “The universe has stagnated, we should make changes.”

“Yes! Brin, why wasn’t he an Imperial?” Emperor Elisher also showed a regretful expression: “Someone told me that the rebellion fifty years ago was a mistake. If the Empire had been able to muster the determination to fully mobilize at that time, the Alliance would have actually backed down. That young man should have been a pillar of the Empire.”

Yes! Why didn't the empire at that time show such determination?

Brunhilde stared at the emperor, the energy being, and felt as if she had discovered something again. She desperately hoped it wasn't just her imagination.

"So, Your Highness King Brunhilde of Suliuka, are you mentally prepared to inherit my throne? Are you mentally prepared to reshape this empire in your own way?"

This recognition came too easily, yet Brunhilde felt no pressure or burden. She knew very well that in the Galactic Empire, the throne was not truly legitimate unless won through fierce competition.

She had already gone through it once before.

"You've said that to all the electors, haven't you?"

No, this time it's just you.

Brunhilde lowered his eyelids slightly and said in a deep voice, "It's my pleasure."

"But, my dear great-granddaughter, as a pioneer about to embark on an unknown path of evolution, I must tell you that everything comes at a price." The emperor's voice remained calm, like the edge of a desolate galaxy.

He leaned forward slightly, looking directly into Brunhilde's eyes: "If all of you ultimately prove unable to bear the future of the empire, then everything you have now—your efforts, struggles, dreams, and lives—will be nothing more than nourishment."

King Suliuka's golden pupils suddenly constricted. If Emperor Elisel's eyes should have held the weight of the entire galaxy, now they seemed to contain a black hole.

She was certainly not just talking to the emperor.

"Whose nourishment?"

"Of course it belongs to the Empire, to the Tireiro people. Or is it mine?" The solemn and oppressive aura surrounding Emperor Elither vanished once more. He grinned, revealing a carefree and even somewhat heartless smile, and gave a thumbs up: "You must work hard! Brin, I have high hopes for you, so please don't fall to this state."

I feel that the nutrients you just mentioned are not limited to these.

Brunhilde was about to ask that question when the emperor suddenly seemed to sense something, his gaze returning to the porthole beside him, a playful glint in his eyes.

"Very well, Brin, this is likely the last time I will speak to you like this. May the spirit of the universe bless us so that this is not the last time." He left these words, and the mental projection quickly dissipated.

Brunhilde stared at the now empty sofa, clenched her fist slightly, then released it. The light in her eyes grew even more intense.

She sat silently at her desk for five minutes, finished a bottle of her favorite iced mead, and then took the initiative to connect to the bridge communications.

Ostana Barr's face appeared on the screen.

The chief of staff's reddish-gray eyes gleamed with an overwhelming admiration, albeit slightly exaggerated: "Your Highness is truly wise beyond compare!"

"So, what happened?" Brunhilde asked irritably.

"Bad news, big news, and news that's hard to judge—all of these came in within this one hour."

"No good news at all?"

“I am also very worried. In any case, under these circumstances, all good news must be disguised as bad news.” Ostana looked distressed, as if she were mocking her lord for being too naive.

"Where's the bad news?"

"In the original Community's distant coastal sector, our fleet was ambushed by Yang's fleet at Jiayuguan. Although the losses were not severe, we were still forced to withdraw from the Shanhai Passage. King Shazamen believes that a direct assault on the Shanhai Passage is not a wise move. We should either choose a more effective way to solve the New Shenzhou problem, or find a clearer route of advance from the Dawn Starfield. His Highness King Sorein seconded this."

Brunhilde rolled her eyes. She was surprised to find herself not at all.

With the war having progressed to this point, the Imperial leadership was fairly certain that there must be a stargate connecting the New Divine Continent to the Dawn Starfield. More than one person had even guessed that this stargate was related to the pre-war campaign against the ancient Leviathan. However, Yang Xiyi on the other side certainly knew that the Empire knew as well. Once his Earth fleet ceased operations in the New World, it would be virtually impossible for the Empire to find another exit for the stargate in the vast expanse of the Dawn Starfield.

“We can’t take Yaochi, we can’t take Xinyumen, and the entire New Divine Continent is an even tougher nut to crack,” Brunhilde said.

"That's not surprising. Narrow waterways are the toughest nuts to crack, and if you add a group of tenacious warriors, it's an even bigger nightmare for the attackers. Didn't we also fail to defeat the arrogant Palais of the Iron Army back then?" The Chief of Staff did say something fair.

"You really are a rational and objective person!" Brunhilde laughed. "But they are retreating. Not to mention the Sand King, that boy King So is only twenty years old, yet he has no youthful spirit at all."

"Another, even younger one, betrayed the country..."

"This is a rumor, a slander against Xiaofeilian by the Prince of Wei, and this is how it is being publicized."

"Isn't that a bit too direct?" The Chief of Staff was about to say that, but Brunhilde had already put on a stern face and gestured for her to continue.

"The big news is from the Femo side. The Alliance's reconnaissance fleet has opened fire on our outposts in the Gul'ai system, and the border fleet has immediately begun to retaliate. Our reinforcements are on their way to the scene, and it's confirmed that the other side is doing the same."

Very well, things have come to this point, everything is in the making for the prelude to a full-scale war. The Seventh Galactic War, which began more than half a century ago, also started in this way.

This is indeed big news. The reason it's not called "bad news" is probably because everyone was already mentally prepared for it.

After all, the alliance had already mobilized so many troops on the Fermo side, and even gained a strategic advantage for the first time since the start of the war. If they did not take any action at all, it would be difficult to explain to the various parties at home.

After all, we're already here. Who says a nation's army doesn't follow these proverbs?