(Deep Space, aboard the Cult craft, Leo’s POV)
Nemo shrank behind him into a dull, dark planet, as his transport ship slipped into deep space, the engines humming in a low steady rhythm as the stars stretched into thin silver threads beyond the cockpit glass.
Leo sat alone with his back half slouched in the passenger chair, the cabin around him lit only by the cold light of the main console, as a layered holographic interface unfolded in front of him, each window neatly tagged in Chaosbringer’s precise, helpful handwriting.
[Updated Regional Target Proposal after Nemo conquest—
Current Kill Count: 432,000,000 / 2,000,000,000]
His eyes lingered on the numbers for a breath, as he inhaled once and then pushed the emotion aside, because thinking about the scale of it now was only ever going to slow him down.
"Two billion," he murmured, almost casually. "One point five six eight left."
He reminded himself, as with a steady tap, he opened the first tab.
*Tap*
A cluster of planets appeared before him in a three dimensional grid, all within a certain radius of Nemo and marked with floating labels.
[Effix]
[Galmeron]
[Mitiva]
[Vesk Prime]
[Omega]
[Ilyon Reach]
[Voros Gate]
[Sereth Belt]
Chaosbringer had done the broad work already.
All of these planets were high militarization zones.
However, what remained for him still was filtering out which planets suited his campaign requirements the best, as he did not have time to visit them all.
"First filter," Leo muttered quietly, his voice calm as his gaze sharpened.
"Military to civilian ratio...."
He muttered, as he input the filter in the data slate and opened the output for planet Effix first.
[Total Population: 1.8 billion]
[Active Soldiers: 210 million]
[Ratio: roughly 1 soldier to 7 civilians]
The data showed, as his jaw tensed for a moment as he studied the numbers.
"Those are too many civilians for my liking," he muttered, as his finger hovered over the dismiss icon.
He needed planets that were almost pure steel.
Soldiers, not families.
Bases, not cities.
"Normal worlds usually have nine, ten, thirteen civilians to every soldier," he mused, as the projection slowly spun in front of him.
"If I start burning those, the collateral will be disgusting, and the yield too low for the stain it leaves."
He concluded, as sticking to his morals he discarded Effix as a viable option.
*Beep*
[Effix – Discarded]
The screen showed, as he opened Galmeron next.
[Total Population: 2.3 billion]
[Active Soldiers: 260 million]
[Ratio: roughly 1 to 8.8]
"Better," he muttered, "but still not good enough."
He said, as he pushed Galmeron aside as well.
*Beep*
[Galmeron – Discarded]
Next, he opened Mitiva.
[Total Population: 580 million]
[Active Soldiers: 420 million]
[Ratio: roughly 3 soldiers to 1 civilian]
Leo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Much better."
He noted, as he marked it with a faint mental tick but did not commit yet.
"This is just step one," he reminded himself.
"I want worlds where the uniformed outnumber the helpless. But that can’t be my only criteria."
He said, as he repeated the process with the others.
Vesk Prime:
[Soldiers: 310 million | Civilians: 110 million]
"Okay ratio. Keep."
Omega:
[Soldiers: 790 million | Civilians: 280 million]
"On the lower side of my ideal range, but still workable. Maybe."
Ilyon Reach:
[Soldiers: 970 million | Civilians: 95 million]
"Strong ratio. Excellent."
Voros Gate:
[Soldiers: 160 million | Civilians: 1.2 billion]
"Trash. Next."
Sereth Belt:
[Soldiers: 620 million | Civilians: 540 million]
"Maybe...."
He mused, as for now he decided to keep the ones with higher soldier density and fewer mouths.
Which reduced his initial list to just Mitiva, Vesk Prime, Omega, Ilyon Reach and Sereth for the second round.
"Next," he muttered, as he flipped open the leadership panels, "it is important to see who is sitting on these planets."
Because while it was one thing to drown a world in blood.
It was another to waste precious hours crossing blades with multiple Monarchs when his goal was numbers, not duels.
He opened Mitiva.
[Leadership Summary]
[Planetary Commander: 1 High Monarch]
[Sub leadership: Transcendents and below]
Leo tilted his head slightly.
"Good. A single Monarch I can probably take down by myself...."
He said, before moving on to Vesk Prime.
[Leadership Summary]
[Permanent Monarch Garrison: 2]
[One stationed in orbit, one groundbound, minimal transfer cycle.]
Leo’s lips thinned.
"Two Monarchs on a fortress world."
He did not fear the fight.
He simply disliked the trade.
"Too much time wasted on too few bodies. I am not here to duel vanity projects."
*Beep*
[Vesk Prime – Discarded]
Omega.
[Leadership Summary]
[Permanent Monarch Garrison: 1]
[Sub Leadership: Transcendents and below]
Ilyon Reach.
[Leadership Summary]
[Permanent Monarch Garrison: 1]
[Sub Leadership: Transcendents and below]
Sereth Belt.
[Leadership Summary]
[Permanent Monarch Garrison: 2]
[Sub Leadership: A junior Monarch subservient to a senior one]
The report said, as his eyes immediately turned flat reading those words.
"Out."
He said, as he closed it without even blinking.
As that choice now reduced his initial viable choices down to just three candidates.
Mitiva, Omega and Ilyon Reach.
"Third filter," he reminded himself, shifting to the tactical overlays. "Total soldier count means nothing if they are scattered like seeds across an entire crust."
He opened the layout for Mitiva.
Dozens of red dots appeared first.
Then hundreds.
Then the map zoomed out and revealed that the forces were spread across fourteen major landmasses, each cluster separated by vast oceans and harsh terrain.
Leo watched the pattern for a few seconds, then clicked his tongue in mild frustration.
"This is annoying. Too much running. Too many dead hours between waves."
He needed planets where the armies were folded together like stacked meat, not scattered like crumbs across a kitchen floor.
And hence, he pushed Mitiva into the doubtful column for now, as Omega’s overlay opened next.
*Shine*
*Spin*
The entire planet revolved slowly as a glowing equatorial band lit up around its middle, marked with a chain of mega bases and interlocking fortresses that ran almost seamlessly from one side of the globe to the other, leaving the poles almost empty.
Leo’s eyes warmed a fraction.
"Now that," he thought, "is efficient."
If he controlled the band, he controlled the world.
If he crushed the band, he crushed almost every soldier that mattered.
Which was why he decided to keep it, and moved on to Ilyon Reach next, which turned out to have three super dense continental clusters, all within a few hundred kilometers of one another, with the rest of the surface mainly mining towns and low priority zones.
"Not as perfect as a single line," he muttered, "but close enough. Once I break the main triangle, the rest will crumble."
He assessed, as he left Ilyon on the list, and reluctantly drifted his gaze back to Mitiva.
"Too much travel, too much spread," he decided finally. "I want four to five hundred million kills per planet within thirty hours, not a scavenger hunt."
*Beep*
[Mitiva – Discarded]
As at that point he was left with only two viable choices in Omega and Ilyon Reach.
However, even then he did additional checks on those planets, such as the nearest reinforcement centre to those planets, and their distance from Nemo.
As it was not worth it for him to travel to those planets if he could not get at least 32 hours to wreak havoc on them.
Or, if it was more than 48 hours away from Nemo.
As after checking everything, he instructed the pilot to charter a course for Omega first and Ilyon Reach next, as hopefully, if he maximised his kills on both those planets, he could hopefully complete his goal of reaching 2 billion kills within the next 7 days.