Intergalactic conquest with an AI-Chapter 331: Hive City War. {9}

The Supreme Commander locked eyes with Rex, with an unreadable expression flickering across his face. Then, without a word, he turned and ran away, moving with unnatural speed.

Rex smirked. "Oh, you think I'm just gonna let you run?" He planted his foot firmly, his muscles coiling as he prepared to launch after him.

"WAIT! DON'T CHASE HIM!" Lilla's voice exploded through his communicator, urgency crackling in every syllable. "Forget him and get over here! The Grand Elder's about to break free!"

Rex exhaled sharply, watching the Supreme Commander disappear into the distance. "Tch. Lucky bastard."

With a snap of his wings, he propelled himself into the air, a sonic boom ripping in his wake. "Alright, I'm on my way!"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lilla stole a glance at Ys. "Think you can hold him off for three or four minutes?"

Ys wiped a trickle of sweat from her brow, her breath coming in heavy pants. "Well, I—"

Before she could speak, the ground shook violently as an explosion erupted mere meters away.

The shockwave sent debris flying, a cloud of dust swallowing the battlefield. As the smoke cleared, the towering figure of the Grand Elder emerged from the smoke with his robes tattered, his body adorned with shallow cuts, yet his stance remained unshaken.

He stood amidst the remains of the thousands of Skydancers, their bodies lying motionless at his feet.

He tilted his head, with a chuckle escaping his lips. "Hohoho... It's been ages since I had such a good workout." His voice was friendly, almost playful, but his eyes burned with uncontained fury.

Then, without warning, he lunged.

Ys barely had time to react before she was forced into a brutal clash, her hands morphing into massive claws, glowing with an ominous green energy. She met the Grand Elder head-on, their blows sending shockwaves through the air.

Lilla, hovering in the distance, unleashed a barrage of silver rings of energy. While individually they lacked the power to wound him, they were relentlessly homing in on their target no matter how he dodged.

But the Grand Elder was no ordinary foe.

A Tier 4 powerhouse at the peak of his strength, refined through centuries of battle. Against Lilla, he was superior in every way. Against Ys, the gap in raw power was simply too vast since she was only a Tier 3 Middle, while Lilla was barely at Tier 3 Peak.

With a knowing smirk, the Grand Elder gripped his cane sword, pouring his full strength into a devastating strike.

Ys braced herself, but the impact was monstrous. She was sent hurtling into the ground like a meteor, the force carving out a massive crater where she landed. A thick cloud of dust billowed into the air, obscuring her from view.

The Grand Elder stroked his beard, chuckling as he waited for the dust to settle. "Hohoh, I do hope you're not too broken, little girl. It would be a shame if that was all you had."

Meanwhile, Lilla found herself surrounded. The Third Elder and hundreds of elite warriors closed in around her. Outnumbered and outmatched, she gritted her teeth.

"Well, well… Who do you think you are, striking another man's wife, slamming her into the ground, and making a mess of her hair?"

A deep, commanding voice cut through the dust cloud where Ys had crashed moments earlier. The Grand Elder shuddered, a chill crawling down his spine.

With a single powerful flap of his wings, Rex dispersed the dust in an instant, revealing himself standing there with Ys cradled in his arms and his gaze locked onto the Grand Elder.

"Hmm… So it was you." The Grand Elder's voice was eerily calm. "Where's the Supreme Commander?"

The Grand Elder swallowed hard, dread twisting his gut, but he couldn't stop himself from asking even if he feared the answer.

"Who? Ah… You mean that coward who ran away?" Rex glanced down at Ys. "Little wife, toss him that thing you're holding."

Ys blinked, only now realizing she was clutching a severed arm. "Eww! Darling, this is disgusting!" she shrieked, hurling it at the Grand Elder. He barely dodged, his face twisting in disgust.

"There's your answer," Rex said coldly. "He fled after I took that arm from him. No idea where he is now... but I'll hunt him down later. First, though… I'm going to kill you for laying a finger on my wife."

His voice dropped, becoming lethally soft. "Honey, go play with Lilla over there. She could use your help. I'll handle this one."

Gently, he set Ys down and ruffled her hair. She blushed, nodding before darting off toward Lilla.

"Hohoh! You think I'll let that bastard escape?" The Grand Elder snarled, his muscles coiling as he prepared to lunge after her, but a crushing gravitational pulse smashed him into the ground, pinning him like a bug.

"First, you hit her. Then you insult her." Rex's voice was like a whisper, yet it carried the weight of death.

"I was going to make this quick… but now? Now I'm angry. And when I'm angry…" He crouched mere centimeters from the Grand Elder's face, his eyes so cold they seemed to freeze the blood in the man's veins. "...I do very bad things."

"Mini Cleo," Rex called while extending his hand. "Bring out that corrosive substance Cleo wanted to test in combat. We've just found the perfect subject."

A dagger materialized in his grip, its blade glistening with a sinister, unknown liquid.

{There you go, Boss! Ready to record all the data!} Mini Cleo's holographic form flickered to life, perched mockingly on the Grand Elder's head.

"N-no… NO! WAIT! WE CAN MAKE A DEAL—"

His screams tore through the air.

As Rex conducted his "pain-free experiment" on the Grand Elder, Ys shifted into her true form, a colossal black serpent, her obsidian scales glistening under the battlefield's haze.

Curved horns arched from her skull, and her emerald eyes burned with eerie light as she slithered forward, arriving just in time to aid Lilla.

Lilla stood encircled by elites, her breath ragged, her laser blasts growing sporadic. But the moment Ys shadow fell over them, the tide turned.

Ys maw snapped shut, swallowing a dozen elites whole. Lilla, seizing the opportunity, leapt onto Ys head, bracing herself between the serpent's horns. With renewed vigor, she unleashed a barrage of silver lasers, carving through the remaining foes like a scythe through wheat.

Just then, the sky roared.

The Aegis Legions descended like a storm of armored soldiers propelled by jet thrusters, their landing shaking the earth. They hit the battlefield in perfect formation, shields locking, rifles charging. Now, three armies clashed in the chaos, each fighting with desperate fury.

But the Kaelzars Legions and the Khryssari were different.

The Aegis Legions were engineered for endurance, methodical, unyielding, and built for wars of attrition. The Khryssari, however, were raw, primal destruction, a race honed for short, explosive annihilation.

And together? They were unstoppable.

Like a living siege engine, their combined forces carved through enemy lines, claiming ground with terrifying efficiency. Losses were minimal. Momentum was absolute.

This wasn't a battle anymore.

It was a slaughter.

The battle outside the atmosphere had reached its brutal conclusion. The Nexum patrol fleet was nothing more than floating wreckage, its ships torn apart, drifting lifelessly in the void.

The Humans and Kaelzar drones swarmed the debris like mechanical vultures, salvaging what they could because ammunition wasn't free after all.

Meanwhile, far below, a lone transport ship hurtled toward the planet's north pole. Inside, the Supreme Commander sat hunched over, his face pale, his breaths shallow. Medics frantically worked on his severed arm, trying to stabilize him.

If he weren't a Tier 4 powerhouse, he'd already be dead from blood loss.

"Fuck!" He slammed his remaining fist against the metal wall, denting it. His voice was a mix of rage and disbelief.

"How the fuck did I end up like this?! For years... YEARS! everything was perfect! I was this close to claiming the damn planet! And then... those bastards... those invaders had to show up and ruin everything!"

His voice trailed off as a realization struck him.

{No. This wasn't their fault. If they were just mindless invaders, why were they helping that little brat?}

His bloodshot eyes widened.

"Yes… That's it… It's HER fault!" His expression twisted into something feral, a grin stretching unnaturally across his face. "That little brat… When I kill everyone here, I'll make sure to eat her. Kukuku… Yes… That'll be my reward…"

His laughter echoed through the cramped transport bay, sending a chill down the spines of the medics. But just as suddenly as it came, he straightened himself, coughing. "Ahem." His voice turned ice-cold.

"You there," he shouted at a nearby guard, who stiffened at attention.

"Sir?"

"Patch me through to the chief scientist. We have… something to discuss."

Hours Later

With the enemy fleet shattered, Cleo deployed waves of bombers and gunboats from the carriers. The final cleanup was swift and decisive, reducing the battlefield to little more than smoldering ruins.

The once-mighty armies of the Supreme Commander and the Grand Elder had been crushed. The survivors? No more than a thousand on each side, most of them surrendering rather than facing total annihilation.

The battlefield fell silent, the last echoes of gunfire swallowed by the wind. Smoke curled from scorched earth, and the stench of blood hung thick in the air.

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Rex stood atop a ruined war machine, surveying the aftermath, corpses of elites, shattered mechs, and the hollow-eyed survivors kneeling in surrender.

"Mini Cleo," he called, his voice cutting through the quiet. "Status?"

A holographic screen flickered to life beside him, displaying Mini Cleo's cute features.

{Orbital control secured. Their fleet's debris is being processed for scrap. And...}

She paused while thinning her little lips. {We've lost the Supreme Commander's transport signal. He vanished near the northern ice cap.}