You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

Therefore, Iori ignored Athena's strange behavior and continued his studies at Chaldea. Thanks to the power of [Sky Wisdom] and his extraordinary thinking logic, he quickly gained enough knowledge and inspiration from the numerous cases in Chaldea, even exceeding the scale of the Servant universe (the scale of which is truly astonishing).

Of course, Type-Moon and Bleach have different worldviews and cannot be generalized. Iori combined Chaldea's records and Soul King's knowledge, and used his experiences in various other worlds as a source of inspiration. After exploring these things in depth, he constructed a rough outline in his mind.

It can be said that this "framework" has exceeded the original pattern of the Three Realms and is above the realm of the Spirit King. It is a miracle that only Iori could achieve.

However, to complete this largest project of his life, he would need a few essential tools, or rather, "strength".

And so he decided on the next world he wanted to go to.

……

Phew——!

Eagles soar through the scattered clouds, flying freely in the unbound sky, looking down at the boundless earth.

A proud predator, its sharp eyes can spot any moving animal in the wilderness, and its steel-hard beak and claws can easily tear through fur and tendons.

Aside from being the primate of all creatures, it has no natural enemies, coldly and proudly surveying its hunting grounds.

However, even such a high-ranking hunter has its limitations; there are still creatures it cannot hunt. Therefore, even when the three monsters entered its field of vision, the falcon simply ignored them.

"Boom boom boom——!"

The midday sun shone directly on the earth, the temperature climbed to its peak, and a muffled rumble of thunder echoed across the open plain.

Sparse weeds and scattered pebbles were crushed without discrimination, and the unstoppable wheels carved a path where there was no way forward, leaving all obstacles beneath them and overtaking them.

Gravel and dust were blown up by the strong wind pressure, tearing each other apart and turning into pure smoke and dust. On the vast and boundless wasteland, the floating silver streamlined chariot stirred up ripples of its advance.

The pulse engine, burning high-density energy, emitted a deafening roar, giving this massive metal monster an impact force no less than that of a supersonic missile. Thanks to its anti-gravity module, which can adapt to various road conditions, it can move as if it were flat ground even on a lake!

A storm—such a description is not an exaggeration.

If the physical limitations of the passengers inside were not taken into account, the performance could perhaps be further enhanced. This is also the fundamental reason why artificial intelligence technology has been developed and applied on a large scale since the advent of the space age.

However, the commander of this mission placed more trust in human judgment, so he specially arranged a sergeant in the reconnaissance formation to lead the unmanned wingman to conduct a security scan of the landing site.

【drop--

Emergency!

Enemy activity is unusual. Covert reconnaissance is complete. Order your squad to conduct a flanking fire reconnaissance mission to the following coordinates, employing Textbook Tactic 09. Coordinates: XXX, XXX, XXX

"receive."

Like an F1 racer sitting in the cockpit, the sergeant calmly accepted the order. Today's mission was simply to arrest a group of space pirates who had wandered over here. The target's supplies had been cut off a quarter of the way through the voyage. Even if some chemical energy weapons from the previous era remained, they were still pitifully weak against a regular army.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they fought bare-handed.

If it weren't for the goal of capturing them alive, the reconnaissance ship's firepower alone would have been enough to wipe them out.

Space pirates... If it's not necessary, people don't really want to exterminate these people.

Although they are called "pirates," space pirates are not raiders in the conventional sense.

In the interstellar age, all fleets must follow the "star route" for navigation, which is far more demanding than in the ancient Age of Exploration. Each supply point (satellite, planet) is fixed, and identity verification is required to obtain the corresponding services.

Those who commit murder, arson, and all sorts of evil deeds are not allowed to enter the "highway service area".

As for forcibly breaking through and entering the planet's atmosphere to plunder—does anyone really think that, with the same level of technology in the same era, a fleet could defeat a planet's defense perimeter?

If they had such incredible firepower, why would they need to be pirates...?

Numerous races inhabit the stars, and their laws, cultures, and values ​​are fundamentally incompatible. However, the "Star Path" serves as their shared lifeline, thus fostering a set of fairly universal values:

Anyone who tries to destroy the Star Path and Planetary Nodes is an enemy of all races.

Correspondingly, as long as no such serious crime is committed, each planetary node should meet the trade requirements of passing fleets.

Even those who commit crimes within their own race can still trade with other races across the galaxy, as long as they are not so notorious that they are wanted throughout the entire galaxy.

Therefore, real bandits cannot survive in this era. Instead, a group of people who are driven out of human society for various reasons or who are dissatisfied with their lives and circumstances and choose to exile themselves are replaced.

Their means of survival in the universe is not plunder, but rather trading with other races as illegal logistics providers or mining contractors.

This isn't exactly a heinous crime, but the government of the "Human Planet Nation" abhors it.

These bastards don't pay taxes!

Therefore, the regular army's attitude towards space pirates is firm and unwavering: "Never let them go," but also "Never exterminate them."

Generally speaking, even if pirates are caught, they can accept their bad luck, pay the taxes, and receive a fine of one or two times the amount. Only a small number will put up a stubborn resistance, at which point the country's regular army will send out a fleet to make an example of them.

The target of this mission is this group of ungrateful people—a massacre is out of the question, but if we really fight to the end, bloodshed is not a surprising thing.

Thinking about this, the sergeant felt a sense of boredom:

He was supposed to be on a great expedition, escorting a princess to the Promised Land like an ancient hero, but instead he's been sent to catch tax evaders...

At that moment, in the communicator...

A strong energy fluctuation has appeared to your southeast. The frequency is at the Ark level... no, not at the Ark level, the energy level is even higher!

In addition, there are many small energy reactions... This band is...

"what?!"

The sergeant couldn't believe his ears: "Ark-class or higher? Pirates?"

Are you kidding me? The flagship of his destroyer mother fleet is only a Knight-class destroyer...

[Mission Aborted! Mission Aborted!]

An anxious voice came from the communicator:

[It's the Bronze Age! There's a drifting Bronze Age fleet in this sector! We've been spotted by the vanguard!]

Phase space vibration detected... Emergency evacuation! Emergency evacuation!

"Well!"

The sergeant frowned; his excellent military skills allowed him to instantly understand what had happened.

—The Bronze Clan!

They are a highly social cosmic race, with the Hive Will controlling countless massive swarms. They have always been the mortal enemies of the Dark Iron (humans), and even conquered humanity's home planet, which they have yet to reclaim!

Although many years have passed since the real racial war, and the Federation of Human Planetary Nations has not engaged in a large-scale decisive battle with the Bronze Race, this does not mean that the two can coexist peacefully.

A war of attrition has been raging in the border region, while there are also Bronze Clan drifters within the territory. Whenever they encounter the human exploration fleet, it will be a bloody battle!

But the sergeant did not immediately return to the fleet, because he keenly realized he was in an excellent position:

There is an energy source of at least "Ark-level" in the direction he is heading. The Bronze Race is a species that wins by numbers and is highly social. Individual strength is generally very average. If there is such an abnormal existence, it is most likely the energy core, or even the location of the Hive's will!

It is said that although the Hive is as huge as an asteroid, as the "decision-making entity" at the core of the entire fleet, that is, a branch of the Hive's will, it does not have much combat power. A single Ogon (Gundam) can destroy it.

He didn't expect to be able to take down the hive with just one reconnaissance ship, but he could probably advance a little further if he could confirm the coordinates of the hive's core...

"God bless!"

With this resolve in mind, the sergeant handed over the wingman to the AI ​​for operation, alternating between the wingman and the main aircraft as cover, while simultaneously pushing the high-energy pulse engine to its maximum power.

I may die here today, but my name will be written in the most prominent place on the bridge.

The soldier's spirit was commendable, but his wish was unfortunately... or rather, fortunately, thwarted.

“Ho ho ho—!”

As the silver reconnaissance ship rolled over a hillside, the "mountain range" standing on the grassland gradually collapsed, revealing a corner of the obsidian-like insect nest inside. At the same time, what appeared before the soldiers was an indescribable and extraordinary scene.

"Roar……"

"Awoooooo!!!"

The low growls of insects echoed overhead. These enormous insects did not rely on wings, but instead flew by defying gravity and spewing plasma streams. The apex predators patrolled in groups, constantly spewing scorching flames down on the insect nest below.

[Bronze Clan]!

For ordinary people and soldiers, they were demons that only appeared in textbooks, a race that was among the most advanced in biotechnology—individuals of which could survive in outer space.

What the soldiers saw at that moment was an overwhelming Zerg army, so large that even radar could not accurately calculate it. In the star system of a weak civilization, annihilating a planet would be a very simple matter.

The scene before my eyes was like a living hell, a nightmare that had played out time and time again on planets in human kingdoms... However, compared to those weak races that had no power to resist, humans were much stronger in both size and technology.

From initially fleeing their home planet in a sorry state, to now being able to confront the Bronze Race head-on!

"What on earth is going on... are the insects attacking their own nest?"

The sergeant watched this scene from afar via radar, already in a semi-dazed state.

"I've never seen anything like it before...and there's no record of anything like it in any books..."

[There's not just a swarm of insects reacting, but also exceptionally powerful individuals... it looks like they're at war!]

Individuals? Combat?

Is it a local species?

The sergeant was surprised, but not entirely unable to understand:

The Bronze Race ascended to the stars through biotechnology, but that doesn't mean their physical bodies are the best. In fact, many species are stronger individually than them, but they can't compare in scale. The swarm is strictly speaking a "whole entity," so comparing it to those other creatures is really unfair.

Some planets also give rise to special individuals, even those capable of fighting against space fleets... but the sergeant has never seen one yet.

"Such a rare scene...it must be recorded, this is invaluable information!"

Despite the risk of exposure, the sergeant released his wingman and established an information link with the fleet, transmitting all the footage back to the superior's database for aggregation. He also ignored the retreat order received over the communicator, prepared to die there.

"What kind of creature could it be? Could it be the Silver Clan...? No, the Silver Clan can enslave the Bronze Clan, so it really is an epic-level native creature...? Wait a minute!"

Despite countless speculations, the moment the image was transmitted clearly, everyone—from the sergeants to the fleet in satellite orbit—widened their eyes in astonishment.

"Is that...a human?!"

Chapter 511 Retreat quickly, it's the big golden guy.

"Alert lifted! Gravitational parameters meet Earth-like planet criteria—"

Before the electronic voice finished playing, the red-haired female mechanic unzipped her protective suit and took a deep breath of the air mixed with the smell of the sea.

Outside the wrecked hull of the Epimetheus, azure waves gently lapped against the silvery-white sand. Mechanic Rhodes shoved a wrench into the sand: "If we had known there was a place to stay in such a remote spot, why would we have begged the Federation Army for help!"

"Yeah, those bitches—"

"Mind your manners."

Captain Reynolds, holding his belt, fastened some kind of miniature detector to it, and then directed the crew to submerge the vesicle-shaped water purification device in the sea to produce fresh water, which could also be used to extract pure water to replenish the engine's energy consumption.

"Didn't the reconnaissance team say there was no trace of the Human Federation on this planet? And no other intelligent life, just some wild animals—this place is ours!"

Just as a crew member raised his prized tequila bottle, someone pressed it down.

"We're still being hunted down."

"They even managed to shake off the Star River Federation's latest reconnaissance ships. There can't possibly be a hunter more terrifying than an AI cluster."

This person disagreed.

"It's best not to underestimate the empire."

The middle-aged man in charge of the MS unit walked out of the hangar and gave it a cold look.

After being glared at like that, the man finally put down the bottle sheepishly.

Human Federation, Star Federation, Human Planet Government, Human Empire... People use different names for their enemies, but no one finds it strange, because human society is already quite diverse.

When humanity entered the interstellar age, it began a period of rapid development, with significant leaps in both technology and civilization. They were fortunate to encounter many friendly alien races and even formed the prototype of an interstellar alliance (among the many races, humanity was considered to be relatively technologically advanced and large in scale).

Because of the ability to venture into the infinite universe, many internal conflicts on Earth quickly dissipated, or rather, people didn't have the luxury of competing with each other, and instead poured their resources and energy into space colonization, fearing that they would be left behind.

It was a golden age, everything was wonderful. Although the universe was cold, humanity felt a lot of goodwill and even believed that a perfect galaxy could be built without any conflict and united together.

But they were too young then to know that fate had already marked a price for every gift.

Among the stars are four of the most powerful races, the four civilizations besides humanity that independently ventured beyond their home planet. In terms of power and the order in which they emerged, they are:

[Golden Clan]

A god-like civilization calls out to the stars, enlightening intelligent beings and awaiting the birth of a civilization that can stand shoulder to shoulder with it. They understand the essence of the universe's operation and even possess the power to create planets and star paths.

But it is said that they have left this universe and exist only in legends; humans have never even made formal contact with them.

Silver Clan