From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 675 "Large-scale subspace fluctuations detected!"

In the newly built Dawn Community, the first batch of human residents are going through the formalities.

A little girl with a prosthetic leg was leaning on the viewing window, gazing intently at the shimmering crystal spires of the Protoss District in the distance.

Her father, a former Terran soldier who lost his right arm in a Protoss attack, silently stuffed the compensation chip back into his pocket and picked up the cultural exchange manual distributed by the community.

As dusk fell, at the border between District 7 and Dawn Community, a section of the energy barrier suddenly became transparent.

The pre-arranged cultural exchange booths were lit with soft lights, displaying paintings created by Protoss children using human paints, as well as Kedarin crystal sculptures made by human artisans.

Dorn stood in front of the orbital observation window, watching the lights of thousands of homes gradually illuminate the Earth's surface.

On the macroscopic scan chart, the red area representing the human anger index is slowly shrinking, being replaced by cautious yellow and tentative light green.

This long-standing reconciliation between the two races in Universe 18 can be considered the first step.

Of course, Dorn, who received temporary governorship from the Emperor, would not force the humans of the eighteen universes who were hostile to the Protoss to put aside their hatred. Instead, he would give those humans who were unwilling to put aside their hatred more subsidies and benefits, and then arrange for them to relocate to other universes under the Empire's control.

In Dorn's eyes, no matter which universe, his fellow human beings will always come first.

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November 15, 0050 of the Imperial Calendar, Unknown Space Region - Edge Galaxy.

In this region of space, marked on the star map as the "Eye of the Wasteland," the passage of time seems to become viscous and slow.

The thin nebula, like the last breath of a dying beast, condensed into a grayish-white mist in the vacuum.

Dozens of asteroids drift in eternal darkness, their surfaces riddled with irregular holes, like rotten wood hollowed out by some giant swarm of bees.

In the center of this desolate landscape, a rust-colored planet is slowly rotating.

Its atmosphere is so thin it's almost transparent, and the exposed metal veins on the surface crisscross like dried-up blood vessels in the faint light of the star.

There is no ocean, no clouds, only endless desert and periodically erupting plasma storms.
That was the final lament of the dying magnetic field deep within the Earth's core.

When the first crimson rift tore through the silence, more than a dozen battered Protoss ships stumbled and fell into the real universe.

Their hulls were covered with blackish-red corrosion marks, and the nerve-like bow decorations twitched spasmodically.

These Protoss ships…

Or rather, the engine nozzles of the Taldarim ships, flashing with unstable red-purple light, emitted not pure plasma, but some kind of viscous, flocculent substance.

The lead mothership suddenly trembled violently, and the Kedarin crystals embedded in its mainmast, which resembled a spine, shattered one after another.

Black and red energy surged from the cracks, condensing in the vacuum into countless faces screaming in agony.

Inside the bridge, Alarak, the Highlord of Taldarim, inserted his bone-armored hand into the control panel, crudely and directly connecting the nerve cord to the ship's systems.

"Keep jumping!" Its voice echoed throughout the fleet via the psionic network. "We must—"

Suddenly, a warning signal pierced its consciousness.

Behind the Taldarim fleet, space immediately began to warp.

First dozens, then hundreds of jump windows opened simultaneously, and the blue-white vortex that tore apart the physical universe bloomed like flowers.

The first thing to emerge was the golden bow of the Nerva Imperial-class battleship, where the imperial prayers engraved on it were lighting up one by one as psionic energy was poured in.

Immediately afterwards, more ship figures emerged from the warp portal—

The Flame Lizard Company's battle barges, their rough, volcanic-rock-like armor etched with demon-slaying oaths, the various warships of the Weeping Company, their teardrop emblems gleaming crimson under the starlight, and the numerous vessels of the Man-Eating Shark Company, their rams resembling shark teeth, adorned with armor fragments left from previous battles.
"Activate psionic shielding."

Athena's voice echoed through the bridge of the Nerva.

She stood in front of the holographic control panel, her golden armor and the victory spear floating behind her shoulders complementing each other.

At her command, a massive psionic matrix unfolded on the warship's belly, from which tens of thousands of golden runes surged forth, weaving like living things into a giant net covering the entire galaxy in the vacuum.

The Taldarim fleet immediately fell into chaos.

The mothership's engines suddenly spewed out large plumes of black viscous liquid, and the faster-than-light travel window that it was trying to activate was swallowed up by the golden runes the instant it formed.

The control system of a Taldarin frigate suddenly coiled itself around the hull in reverse, like a suicidal python constricting itself in two.

"Matrix locking complete."

At this moment, the technical officer on the bridge of the Nerva calmly reported:
"The prey is in the cage, madam."

Athena lightly traced a line on the holographic star map with her fingertip.

This elegant maneuver was instantly transformed into a devastating military order via a quantum communication network.

The combined fleet of three companies simultaneously began charging their main gun arrays, and the blue light emanating from thousands of gun muzzles formed a deathly "constellation" in the dark expanse of space.

Ri~Whoosh—Whoosh—!

When the first burst of light illuminated the entire galaxy, time seemed to stand still for a brief moment.

The straight trajectory of the electromagnetic main gun, the beam of the plasma macro cannon, the contrail of the metallic hydrogen missile, the golden lightning of the light spear array, and so on.
These destructive energies of different natures, under the coordination of Athena's psychic powers, formed a perfect harmonic resonance.

They intertwined to form a three-dimensional firepower network, with each energy trajectory precisely avoiding friendly forces while blocking all possible evasion routes for the Taldarim fleet.

The Tal'darim mothership's void shield shattered like thin ice upon contact with the first beam of light.

Alarak saw his reflection distorted and deformed in the intense light of the explosion, and the chaotic mark embedded in his chest suddenly emitted a piercing scream.

Eight purplish-black tentacles burst forth from the mark, piercing through its bone armor and embedding themselves in the control panel, transforming the entire ship into some kind of living monster.

The deck bulged with fleshy, proliferating tissue, and the gun emplacements twisted themselves into fang-like shapes.
But this anomaly was interrupted by a barrage of metallic hydrogen missiles.

Several tactical warheads simultaneously struck the mothership's spine-like mainmast, and the collision of stellar energy and chaotic psionic energy created a chain reaction.

In Alarak's eyes, it saw not the flames of the explosion, but countless wailing faces disappearing in the golden light.

Meanwhile, the surviving Tadarin ships attempted to break out in small groups, but their formation had already been anticipated.

The assault ships of the shark squadron, like sharks that have smelled blood, cut into the battlefield from the side.

Their gravity-tear beams were specifically designed to target the Protoss ships' neural cable control systems, and the Taldarim warships that were hit convulsed like beasts with their spines severed, plummeting towards the rust-colored planet.

The three Inferno Lizards, consisting of strike cruisers, formed a wedge formation, sweeping the battlefield with a continuous barrage of plasma flames.

Their shelling was terrifyingly accurate; each salvo precisely shattered the engine core of an enemy ship, causing the exploded vessels to burst into a series of blue-white death flowers in the vacuum of space.

When less than one-tenth of the Taldarim ships remained, Athena raised the Spear of Victory. Then, a golden "lightning" spanning tens of thousands of kilometers burst forth from the spear tip, piercing through the last heavy Taldarim ship and tearing apart the planet's thin atmosphere with its aftershocks.

The ionized air formed an aurora storm on the planet's surface, covering the entire continent. The wreckage of the fallen warships looked like moths drawn into a sea of ​​fire in this dazzling light.

On the observation deck of the Nerva, Athena gazed upon this destructive feast.

Behind her, a holographic tactical map displayed the final battlefield data—

[The Taldarim fleet was completely wiped out, the combined fleet suffered 0.7% damage, and a large number of Taldarim signals were detected on the planet's surface.]

As the last rays of light from the spears still lingered in the ionosphere, the bellies of numerous ships were already open like a honeycomb.

Thousands of airdrop pods roared out of the magnetic orbit, leaving scarlet trails in the planet's thin atmosphere.

"New recruits, remember this—"

The voice of Tiberius, the company commander of the Man-Eating Shark Company, boomed through the communicators of all the airdrop pods: "This is not training, it's a real trial of flesh and blood!"

His voice, accompanied by the violent tremors of the cabin, sounded like the roar of a demon.

Inside one of the drop pods, Cassius, a new recruit of the Flame Lizards, was gripping the restraint straps tightly.

Through the observation window, he saw the entire sky ablaze with an eerie purplish-red hue—

Those are traces of the Taldarim shipwreck disintegrating in the atmosphere.

Suddenly, a twisted mass of metal swept past his right side of vision. It was vaguely recognizable as a Taldarim escort ship, but now it was convulsing like a living thing, with blackish-red slime covering its surface.

"It will make contact with the ground within thirty seconds."

The cold, unresponsive voice of the stupid AI rang out.

Cassius felt the direction of gravity suddenly reverse, and the last thing he saw through the observation window was the distant wreckage of the Taldarim mothership falling—

It resembled a decapitated dragon; what gushed from the severed point was not blood, but some kind of dark substance that could writhe on its own…

...

Boom—boom—!
When the first airdrop pod crashed into the rust-colored gravel, it stirred up not dust, but a mist composed of some kind of metallic particles.

The moment the warehouse door popped open, the new recruits of the Lamenters, clad in titanium tantalum power armor, were met with a barrage of attacks.

"spread!"

The recruit captain performed a tactical roll, and the spot where he had just stood was immediately melted into a vitrified crater with a diameter of two meters.

Through the distorted air of the heatwave, he saw a dozen twisted figures crawling out of the mothership wreckage. The bone armor of these Taldarim warriors had become symbiotic with the Chaos Corruption, and their nerve cords had turned into purplish-black tentacles. With each step they took, they left behind a trail of corrosive slime that emitted blue smoke on the ground.

The roar of the bolter instantly shattered the silence of the battlefield. The Flame Lizard recruits used heavy weapons to vaporize a large number of enemies, but suddenly dozens of whip-like tentacles emerged from the steam, whipping a nearby recruit away.

The Tal'darim fleet was completely destroyed, and these Tal'darim remnants that crashed onto the planet's surface are the perfect material for the recruits of the three companies to gain practical experience.

The three company commanders were also airdropped to the surface. From Athena's perspective, the four company commanders worked together to defeat the Queen of Blades in her normal state, and the three of them were enough to deal with the High Lord of Taldarim who had been completely corrupted by Chaos.

At this moment, Tiberius, the captain of the man-eating shark company, used the Terminator armor to teleport directly to a metal mine, where the air was filled with scorching hot air mixed with the smell of sulfur.

The fissures on the planet's surface are not filled with magma, but with some kind of metallic solution, forming silvery-blue "rivers" at the bottom of the rift valleys.

"Location signals indicate that Alarak was last seen in this area."

On the display screen of the tactical helmet, the heat source signal representing the High Lord appeared and disappeared intermittently.

Tiberius's chainsaw lightning claws hummed hungrily, their teeth still adorned with bits of alien flesh left from the last battle.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble.

The "metal river" thirty meters away suddenly bulged, and a twisted figure, easily five meters tall, burst forth from the "liquid"—

Alarak's bone armor has completely merged with the Blessing of Chaos, with additional mechanical tentacles extending from its spine, and its head has transformed into a structure resembling insect mouthparts. The psionic blade in its hand, which should have been pure, is now wrapped in screaming black energy.

"For the Emperor!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Tiberius unleashed a torrent of hot air from his power pack, propelling him like a cannonball towards the enemy.

The moment the chainsaw claws collided with the Chaos Psionic Blade, the resulting shockwave vaporized all the surrounding metal sand.

Meanwhile, Gao Zan, the company commander of the 3rd Company of the Flame Lizards, is leading the new recruits through an ion storm.

Instead of raindrops, what hung from the sky were leaping arcs of electricity. Blue static sparks constantly erupted from the surface of their power armor, and the communication channels were filled with the hissing sound of electromagnetic interference.

"Maintain the triangular formation!"

Praises filled the helmets of each new recruit.

Suddenly, the scout at the front stepped on and crushed what appeared to be an ordinary rock.

The next second, the entire ground surged up as if it were alive!
Dozens of half-melted Tadarin emerged from the ground, their bodies resembling wax figures melted by high temperatures, yet still retaining their terrifying aggression.

The most terrifying thing is that the ground these monsters touch instantly turns metallic, forming sharp spikes.

Clang—Clang—!
The high-scoring parallel bolter fires in rapid succession, each shot precisely hitting the enemy's nerve cord nodes.

But what truly caused the devastating damage was the "small-caliber" plasma cannon mounted on the shoulder armor.

Inside the bridge of the Nerva, Athena's fingertips slid across the holographic tactical map, and the vital signs data of the three company commanders flickered like heartbeats.

The signal from the Crying Company Commander Forros's drop pod had just arrived at the designated coordinates. That area was exactly where the Taldarim fleet's fuel depot crashed, and now the entire valley was soaked in a strange liquid that corroded armor.

Then, her gaze shifted to the main display screen, which was transmitting real-time footage of battles across the ground.

In one scene, the new recruits of the Man-Eating Shark are using gravity hammers to slam mutated Tal'darim warriors into the metal ground, while in another scene, the medics of the Weeping Ones are using flamethrowers to "physically disinfect" the Tal'darim.

Suddenly, the lights on the entire bridge turned a dark red.

A tactical officer's voice rang out: "Large-scale subspace fluctuations detected! An energy peak has appeared in the 32-degree north latitude region of the planet!"

Athena's spear of victory flew into her hand instantly, its tip automatically pointing in the direction of the alarm.

The holographic projection showed that this was the area where Alarak and Tiberius were fighting, but the energy readings had now exceeded the instrument's measurement limit...

...

(End of this chapter)