The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2792. The Assimilated Jedi Knights

As the Wheel of Fortune watched the figure swallowed by the cavity, she seemed to see herself in it...

Yes, it was in the same place, in the nest of that swarm of insects, that she was also entangled and bound by those wriggling tentacles, surrounded by dark, damp, mutated tissue, and a disgusting stench filled her nostrils.

Then... came the excruciating pain! Countless experiments, countless tortures, being dismembered and repaired countless times, each repair accompanied by deeper devastation, all sorts of disgusting and terrifying poisons were injected into the body, corroding nerves, twisting bones, and reconstructing flesh and blood.

Alexia Ashford would even hang her eyes opposite her, connecting them to the optic nerve of her brain, and then make her watch helplessly as her body was placed on an autopsy table, cut, stitched, and torn apart. She was kept conscious throughout this endless agony, unable even to close her eyes.

She revealed everything she knew, from the Galactic Empire's top secrets to the unspeakable secrets of her own life, hoping for a moment of relief. But each act of submission only resulted in even more cruel experiments...

In the end, they were discarded like trash and placed in the temple from 100,000 years ago as sacrifices. The process of being modified by the temple technology left behind by the god of destruction, Coleman-Law, was a long and terrible ordeal.

In the end, everything became blank.

But these experiences were just sealed deep in her mind. Now, seeing this similar scene, she remembered them!
Countless terrifying memories instantly flooded the Wheel of Fate's mind, almost causing her to collapse completely! She let out a sharp scream, frantically attacking everything in her sight. She wanted to tear everything in front of her to shreds, to bury those painful memories along with this abominable lair.

Seeing the Wheel of Fate completely driven mad, Darth Lilim screamed and hid to the side, not daring to face the dark alchemical beast that had gone insane.

"Waaaaaaaahh ...
Later, even Therath, the guardian of the Celestial Temple, led his men to hide in a corner of the hall, remaining on guard as the Wheel of Fate slaughtered countless insect swarms.

She slaughtered countless insects until almost all the passages and cavities around her were blocked by corpses and remains, making it impossible for any more insects to get in.

With nothing left to kill, the Wheel of Fate's chaotic, crimson vertical pupils swept across the surroundings, finally settling on the direction where Darth Lilim was hiding.

"Hiss~~~~~!!" The Wheel of Fate let out a terrifying roar and lunged towards Darth Lilim's location. Ice crystals spread wildly along its trajectory, freezing everything in its path.

Darth Lilim turned and fled without hesitation, but now the place was full of wreckage and corpses, and there was very little place for her to hide.

Even more deadly is that the speed of the Wheel of Fate is unimaginable. Each leap and attack is accompanied by sonic booms. In that instant, the figure has disappeared, leaving only a piercing explosion in the air!

Darth Lilim immediately swung her light whip to meet the attack. The lightning-streaked whip danced around her, leaving countless afterimages. The debris on the ground and the shells on the walls were all shattered into pieces.

But the Wheel of Fortune was incredibly agile, managing to evade every attack from Darth Lilim, weaving through the gaps in the light whip like a ghost.

With a whoosh, sharp claws covered in ice crystals slashed down! Darth Lilim practically tumbled away, then retaliated by unleashing an endless barrage of lightning at the Wheel of Fate. The violent lightning exploded on the frozen flesh beneath her feet, the blinding blue-white lightning spreading like a net. The Wheel of Fate, with no way to avoid it, was struck by several bolts, screaming in agony.

However, this pain reignited her ferocity. She roared, her movements becoming increasingly frenzied. With a roar, frost exploded around her, causing the temperature of the entire space to plummet. Darth Lilim was finally unable to dodge, and a single claw tore through the muscles in her waist, causing blood to splatter everywhere.

At this moment, the Temple Guardian Theras finally made his move. His massive body, like a tank, rammed into the enemy, and the huge light blade in his hand slammed down! The Wheel of Fate twisted its waist to dodge, but Theras's immense power shattered the surrounding ice, and the broken ice fragments scattered like blades.

After the ice shattered, the pale purple fleshy membrane on the ground was revealed. Seras slammed down again! This punch possessed the power to split rocks and shatter buildings; it could easily collapse a large building!

However, the elastic membrane was not broken. With the force of the punch, ripples of impact spread outwards. On this ground, the already crazed Wheel of Fate did not make any response and was directly flipped to the ground and then bounced up.

Seizing this fleeting opportunity, Darth Lilim withdrew his light whip and unleashed a terrifying bolt of lightning with the most powerful Force, blasting it all towards the Wheel of Fate, which was suspended in mid-air with nowhere to gain leverage.

The Wheel of Fate screamed and struggled amidst the lightning, but to no avail. Even after she fell to the ground, the lightning did not stop, but continued to bombard her body, scorching her scales black and cracking her tough skin to reveal the pink flesh beneath.

Her screams grew weaker and weaker until she finally collapsed to the ground, motionless. Only the slight undulation of her shoulders indicated that she was still alive.

Darth Lilim withdrew her lightning, collapsed to the ground, pulled out a syringe, and inserted it into the wound. The fluorescent liquid inside the syringe rapidly flowed into her body, and the flesh around the wound began to heal at a visible speed. But the damage she had suffered was real; she was exhausted and panted on the ground.

Seras looked at the person who had emerged from the cocoon in the center of the hall. He was still hanging in mid-air with half his head bitten by the cavity tube, motionless.

So Theras came before the Wheel of Fate, his blade of light about to strike.

"Stop... You... have no right to kill her!" Darth Lilim said weakly, raising her hand to stop him, but she was too weak to do so.

“She is indeed very powerful, but she has lost control.” As Seras said this, the light blade stabbed down directly.

Swish!
The light blade pierced directly through Darth Lilim's abdomen! In that instant, she actually stood in front of the Wheel of Fate! Not only that, she even grabbed Theras's hand, preventing him from pulling back the light blade for a moment.

This action stunned Seras. "What...what are you trying to do?!"

Darth Lilim slowly turned her head, her expression twisted and terrifying, revealing a cruel smile. "This is... Master's pet. You are not worthy to kill her..."

As she said this, the dark force emanating from her became even stronger!
“…Disgusting corruptors.” Theras cursed, but still shut down the light blade in his hand and let go.

With a thud, Darth Lilim collapsed onto Wheel of Fate, her body covered in blood.

The Wheel of Fortune slightly opened its eyes, and as it watched this scene, its originally chaotic eyes gradually became clear.

"Take them back," Seras ordered. He had already received a communication that, under the command of Severance Tann, the joint expeditionary fleet of the Kingdom of Dawn and the Protoss had broken through the defenses of the Kilik swarm and entered the atmosphere of Lago.

They slaughtered indiscriminately here and even turned on each other, but they were not disturbed by the swarm. This was partly because they killed too many swarms of insects and blocked the passage, and partly because even more swarms of insects had rushed out and surged toward the outer defenses of Lago, where they were mercilessly slaughtered by the expeditionary fleet.

Then Seras approached the person hanging in the middle and asked using psionic resonance, "Can you hear me?"

“Of course. And I must say, it was a spectacular battle.” The upper half of the person’s head was engulfed by the cavity, but his mouth and chin were outside, which did not affect his speech.

Moreover, it doesn't seem to affect his ability to see everything around him.

“Who are you?” Seras asked.

“My name is Welk, the Night Herald, and the lord of the Gorog,” the man said.

“You don’t seem worried about your situation,” Seras said coldly.

“Why should I worry? This is just pointless emotional fluctuation from you independent intelligent beings,” Wilke said calmly. “For the Swarm, any emotional fluctuation will only lead to misjudgment. Therefore, we have no emotions.”

“You don’t intend to run away either,” Seras added.

“I can no longer escape. Your strategy was very successful, bypassing my defenses and appearing on Lago without any possibility. Then you slipped past my guard and entered the core hive... Finally, your overwhelming power wiped out my Sentinel swarm,” Wilke said. “So, my only chance was for you to weaken each other through infighting. But it seems that hasn’t happened.”

As he spoke, he actually dispelled the surrounding Force barrier on his own initiative.

“It seems you’ve given up,” Seras said.

“Functional resistance is pointless; preserving some strength will help in dealing with future situations,” Wilke said.

Without further ado, Seras severed the tube covering Wilke's head with a single strike of his light blade. Wilke fell to the ground, the severed tube wriggling for a moment before detaching from his head, revealing the disfigured and bloodied upper half of his face.

It's impossible to see his true colors anymore.

Outside the hive, three Protoss carriers were slowly descending, surrounding it completely. Thousands of unmanned interceptors were relentlessly attacking from the surrounding area, slaughtering the Zerg swarms that were rushing in to reinforce from other parts of the planet.

The area was littered with the corpses of insects.

Thelas severed Wilke's limbs and took him to one of the Protoss carriers, while the other four Zealot warriors took Darth Lilim and Wheel of Fate to another carrier.

At this moment, aboard the flagship Destiny Judgment, Thranduth looked down at Severance Tann and said, "Your brilliant battle command has been very enlightening. However, those two pets you sent out are indeed time bombs. The best option is to purify them immediately."

Severance Tann said calmly, "As Darth Lilim just said, no one else is qualified to deal with the master's pets. Neither you nor I are qualified. Unless, of course, you are prepared to be enemies of the master."

“This only makes us feel that being your ally is also a dangerous thing,” Thranduil said.

“Ah…who knows…” Severance Tann gave a mysterious smile.

Thrandus didn't want to dwell on it any longer, so she said, "High Templar and bioengineer Shur' Dar will be conducting research on that prisoner."

She slowly descended from the control platform, stood beside Severance Tann, and initiated a video call.

At this moment, all that could be seen was Wilk, the captured Kirik swarm lord, being imprisoned in a laboratory within the aircraft carrier.

A Protoss High Templar, dressed in a dark robe and with a slightly hunched back, stood there, indicating that this Protoss was quite old. He was none other than Shul-Dal, a Protoss High Templar and also a bioengineer.

Severance Tann then recognized him—it was him—they had made some contact during the previous battle via communications.

She also recalled that the aircraft carrier operated by Shul-Dal launched the fewest unmanned interceptors, fewer than 800. This was because his warship was equipped with experimental facilities, and he wasn't a dedicated combat officer.

Wilke was bound by the psionic field and unable to move, but he only tried to struggle at first, and stopped struggling after realizing the difference in power.

“His body is constantly releasing swarm spores, and there are bio-electric waves vibrating around him,” Shul-Dal said. “The current intensity is still within a controllable range, ensuring he is harmless. Before I dissect him, if you have any questions, please ask.”

Severance Tann asked, "Did you lead this Imperial fleet here? And who else was with you?"

"The one commanding this fleet is Vice Admiral Benz Sims of the Galactic Empire Navy. I think he was destroyed along with his flagship in the battle just now," Wilke replied directly. "As for me, I am with Lomi Plo, accompanying the fleet on its expedition to provide navigation."

"So, you have another Dark Jedi Knight on your side?" Severance Tann asked.

"Heh... Darkness? Jedi?" Wilke chuckled sarcastically. "What a narrow definition. You independent intelligent beings only waste your power on such meaningless divisions of position. Well... you're right, besides me, there are two others. Romi Prowl—the Unseen Queen."

"Two more...?" Severance Tann frowned. (End of Chapter)