Before stepping into the interstellar age, it was not uncommon for civilizations to remain divided internally on their planets. In fact, this was the norm.
Due to long-standing conflicts and contradictions accumulated over time, the various factions and nations on these planets were often unable to unite against a common enemy.
Although the higher-ups of the Steel Legion explicitly stated that their Imperium did not welcome the Drukhari's so-called "hedonistic excess," there were obvious loopholes in their words. They might not welcome them, but they did not represent the entire Terra.
As for the remnants of the Astra Militarum led by High Marshal Helbrecht and Chief Commissar Severina, they were still military forces, how could they possibly have any real say?
To put it bluntly: At present, the Steel Legion could barely even protect themselves.
Those factions unwilling to stand with them against xenos invaders had their own calculations. They had neither the obligation nor the ability to intervene.
With the threat of invasions from the Hrud Collective and the Kroot Mercenaries, the leadership of the Steel Legion had to tread carefully with every step. As for the Drukhari, one of the most powerful civilizations known in the known galaxy, if they were completely forced into opposition...
For Terra, it would be a disaster beyond resistance.
Lelith, having been the Drukhari Queen for millennia, possessed intelligence no less than anyone else. Naturally, she knew exactly what that meant. It was just that she still harbored some concern for the existence of Inquisitor Greyfax, so she acted a bit more restrained than in the original lore.
After the Torture-class Raider conducted a thorough analysis of Terra's civilization history, Lelith cautiously selected a small, densely populated hive city to resurrect elite Drukhari such as Drazhar and other warriors. What she hadn't expected, however, was, once the faith in Drukhari power began to spread within that small hive, the appeal of extended life, diverse abilities, powerful control of warp energy, and boundless freedom... Old-school propaganda around "devotion" produced results far beyond her expectations.
She even began to suspect... Had she accidentally spread some sort of Drukhari gene-infecting agent in that hive? Otherwise, how could the belief spread faster than a plague?
Aboard the Grand Bastion, docked in the southern void, High Marshal Helbrecht looked at the requisition form handed to him by Chief Commissar Severina, his previously stern expression now full of confusion. He had just finished discussing the Drukhari situation with higher-ups. Then he turned around and saw a massive requisition request, labeled as "diplomatic expenses."
"A hundred million Throne Gelt? Diplomatic expenses? Who did you entertain?"
"Yesterday at 6:06 Imperial Standard, shortly after I left Solenfar Outpost, the Steel Legion's treasury account, without any human input, had one hundred million withdrawn. The transfer note? 'Dimensional Demon God'..." Severina explained helplessly where the money had gone.
After the withdrawal early that morning, tech-priests quickly discovered the abnormal transaction and traced the account, reviewing the owner's information.
To top it off, there was no attempt to conceal where the money had gone.
"So you're saying this Dimensional Demon God… created Imperial IDs and credit accounts for himself and his group of envoys, and all their spending came out of that money?"
Helbrecht scratched his head through his military cap, incredulous.
Taking his envoys shopping, buying ceremonial garments and accessories, visiting cultural sites, riding ground transports, observing orbital platforms... What kind of proper dimensional entity did that?
"Affirmative, sir," Severina nodded.
"In a sense, the other party... is actually quite respectful of Imperial protocol."
Helbrecht shoved the requisition form into the file folder. Never mind the massive help she had given the Steel Legion before. Since the guest had come, they ought to show proper hospitality. Even if that hundred million merely earned a bit of goodwill from the Dimensional Demon God toward Terra and themselves, it was absolutely worth it.
No amount of money could buy that.
Besides, advance teams from the Hrud and Kroot had already arrived. The full invasion likely wasn't far off.
Terra's monetary system would inevitably collapse during wartime, by then, this money would probably be nothing more than meaningless numbers.
No big deal, no big deal!
"There's one more thing."
Seeing that Helbrecht had put away the requisition form, Severina let out a slight breath of relief and continued with the next issue.
"Are we still going ahead with the plan for the Steel Legion to hold a joint exercise with the Chapter Master?"
"Hmm... continue! Hasn't Saint Celestine been nagging to meet that Dimensional Lord? Let her go and have more contact with him. That's not a bad thing."
The day after the Steel Legion completed their graduation exercise, a massive fleet from the Hrud Collective and Kroot Mercenaries suddenly crossed a super-large webway portal, appearing just outside the Sol System. They immediately began deploying numerous smaller vessels through smaller portals to launch an attack on Terra.
Just as Kei had seen in the future through Lelith's visions, all the nations on Terra were instantly plunged into war.
At the same time, Lelith, who had disappeared for three days, appeared once again after upgrading to an enhanced wraithbone body and installing a Warp Aperture. Using the Torture-class Raider to locate Kyganil, she immediately found Kei.
A faint psychic glow appeared in her eyes.
After attempting multiple times and still being unable to read Kei's data, Lelith forced a stiff smile and opened her mouth again, "What you said earlier, about helping me upgrade my wraithbone body again, was that real?"
"Of course it was." Kei, seeing Lelith's stiff expression, curled his lips into a teasing smile.
His eyes narrowed slightly, quickly scanning her soul matrix and gaining a clear view of all the things she'd done over the past few days. And then he saw her long-held plan: To transform him into a Drukhari, and make him her personal foot massage and spa assistant... For a moment, he didn't even know how to respond.
"You're the Drukhari Queen for god's sake... Why are you so old-fashioned?"
"So how do I upgrade? Where do I go?" Lelith cast a sidelong glance at Jain Zar.
As a Phoenix Lord, she had high-level access to the Black Library, making it difficult to extract data from her, but Kyganil didn't have that restriction. She had already obtained some of Kei's recent movements and powers through Kyganil.
Kei glanced at Lelith's personal data panel.
The Labyrinthian Circuit instantly began analyzing her current enhanced wraithbone body.
(Labyrinthian Circuit activated. Advanced material definition and concept rewriting enabled. Target identified: humanoid lifeform possessing Aeldari gene-coding and triple Drukhari enhancement genes. Equipped internally with Warp Aperture. Core computation speed: 40-frequency. Additional features: Aeldari gene strikes, mid-level concept rewriter.)
(Aeldari genes: perfect compatibility with original Galactic Force genes and highly compatible with wraithbone body genes. Drukhari enhancement genes: highly compatible with reality-manipulation genes. Please select upgrade direction.)
"Which aspect do you want to enhance: Anti-Warp? Soul Shards? Or Reality-Manipulation?"
Kei raised an eyebrow when he saw that Lelith's Warp Aperture had a 40-frequency computational speed. He silently marveled, Cegorach really must be desperate to test my limits!
That kind of starting point was ten times stronger than most Drukhari Archons. Aside from lacking a built-in reality-rending capability, this was probably already Cegorach's technical ceiling. The only mystery: If the webway didn't collapse, where did Cegorach get his hands on Warp Particles?
Lelith hesitated for a moment and didn't choose reality-manipulation genes. It was only after equipping the Warp Aperture and gaining control over warp energy within a certain range that she came to truly understand how terrifying this power was.
Compared to the long growth curve of reality-manipulation genes, she wanted revenge, as soon as possible!
"Smart choice." Kei lifted an eyebrow, then issued commands to the Labyrinthian Circuit. He inserted into Lelith's Warp Aperture a perfectly fused gene sequence, a combination he'd simulated in his spare time, fusing Aeldari genes with the original Galactic Force genes. Through her nearly overflowing wraithbone body energy and the Warp Aperture inside her, she would be able to fully integrate the new genes in at most one day, and gain Anti-Warp powers.
At that point, she'd even be able to take it a step further and upgrade her Warp Aperture itself.
Just as he finished loading the new gene data into Lelith's aperture, a powerful, carefully hidden reality-distortion suddenly appeared directly above his head.
"Heh~ Coming for me?"
He chuckled and looked up at the sky. The rıghtful source is noⅴelfire.net
A giant webway net infused with conceptual force suddenly swallowed him and everyone nearby.
Story completed at Chapter 298!