Arthur stood on the command deck of the Spear of Heaven, his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the holographic display before him. The nanoforge has completed its work, and his armor has been repaired. But his mind was far from the repairs. He was waiting  for the Guardian AI to finish extracting Vorsk’s memories. The Chimerian commander’s final moments had left Arthur with more questions than answers. What drove the Chimerians to wage such a relentless war against humanity? What were they truly after?

The Guardian’s voice echoed in his mind, breaking the silence.

[Memory retrieval complete, Commander. The data has been processed and organized. Would you like to review it now?]

Arthur’s jaw tightened. “Yes. Show me everything.”

The holographic display flickered, and a stream of data began to flow across the screen. At first, it was fragmented, images of battles, flashes of strategy meetings, and glimpses of Vorsk’s personal life. But soon, the Guardian began to piece together a coherent narrative, one that stretched back far beyond Vorsk’s lifetime. It was the history of the Chimerians, a history Arthur had never expected.

The Guardian AI recreated the scenes of the past from the memories of Vorsk. Although Vorsk had not been present when these events occurred, the Guardian was able to create a simulation on the basis of Vorsk’s knowledge of their past.

The screen shifted, showing a lush, vibrant world, a planet teeming with life. Towering cities of glass and metal rose into the sky, their spires glinting under the light of a binary star system. This was the Chimerian homeworld, Kryos, as it had been nearly a hundred thousand years ago. The Chimerians were a humanoid species, their smooth, hairless skin glistening under the sun. They were advanced, intelligent, and peaceful species, until the day everything changed.

The hologram zoomed in on a bustling city, its streets filled with Chimerians going about their daily lives. Suddenly, the sky above the city rippled. Space itself seemed to crack, as if a giant hand had torn through the fabric of reality. A deafening roar echoed across the planet, and the ground shook violently. The Chimerians looked up in terror as a massive figure emerged from the rift.

It was a creature from nightmares. Its body was humanoid but colossal, nearly a kilometer tall (0.62 miles). Its skin was covered with dark, iridescent black scales, shimmering with an otherworldly glow. Four powerful arms extended from its torso, each ending in clawed hands that could crush mountains. Bat-like wings, tattered and scarred, stretched out behind its back, casting an ominous shadow over the city. Its head was draconic, with glowing red eyes that burned like twin suns. 

The creature was grievously injured, its body riddled with deep gashes and scorch marks. It hovered in the air, barely able to move, its presence alone enough to send the Chimerians into a panic.

At that time the Chimerian leaders gathered in a secure bunker beneath the city. They were debating what to do. Some argued for an immediate attack, while others urged caution. In the end, curiosity and ambition won out. They decided to establish contact with the entity.

Then a group of Chimerian scientists and diplomats approached the creature. They used advanced technology to project their voices into the void, attempting to communicate. To their surprise, the entity responded. Its voice was deep and resonant, echoing in their minds rather than their ears.

“I am… wounded,” it said, its words slow and labored. “I have been fighting an enemy far beyond your comprehension. I require a place to rest… to heal. In return, I will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams.”

The Chimerian leaders were intrigued. Power. The word alone was enough to ignite their greed. They agreed to the entity’s terms, offering it sanctuary on their planet. In return, the entity provided them with a gift, its blood.

The Chimerian scientists worked tirelessly, analyzing the entity’s blood and using it to create serums. The first trials were a success. The serums enhanced the Chimerians’ physical abilities, granting them strength, speed, and endurance far beyond their natural limits. But there were… side effects.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he watched the next sequence. The Chimerians who had been injected with the serum began to exhibit violent tendencies. They became more aggressive, more ruthless. At first, the leaders dismissed these changes as minor side effects, a small price to pay for such power. They kept the truth hidden from the masses, fearing it would cause panic.

The entity, meanwhile, began to select a few chosen individuals, Chimerians who showed exceptional potential. It infused them directly with its blood, transforming them into beings of immense power. These chosen ones became the first of the Chimerian powerhouses with immense strength to level mountains with their powers, they slowly replaced the higher ups and began to take over their government.

Over the next hundred thousand years, the Chimerians expanded their reach, conquering planet after planet. Their empire grew, fueled by the entity’s blood and their insatiable hunger for power. But they were no longer the peaceful, intelligent species they had once been. They had become something else, something darker, their physiology started to change, resembling something closer to the entity.

Arthur’s fists clenched as he watched the hologram. The Chimerians’ conquests were brutal, their methods merciless. Entire civilizations were wiped out, their populations enslaved or exterminated. The entity watched from the shadows, its influence growing with each passing year.

But there was something the Chimerians didn’t know, something even the Guardian AI hadn’t uncovered from Vorsk’s memories. The entity was not just a wounded warrior seeking refuge. It was something far more sinister. It had come from outside the universe, a being of pure malice and destruction. It needed life force to heal, and it had manipulated the Chimerians into becoming its instruments of destruction.

The hologram shifted one last time, showing the entity from what Vorsk thought it looked like, a shadowy figure lurking in the depths of the Chimerian homeworld. It was unknown if its wound had healed or not, but its hunger had only grown. It fed on the life force of the conquered planets, consuming billions of lives to sustain itself. And all the while, it whispered to the Chimerians, manipulating them, controlling them.

Arthur’s breath caught in his throat. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. The Chimerians weren’t their real enemies, they were pawns. And this entity… it was the true threat.

The Guardian’s voice broke the silence. [Commander, this information is… concerning. The entity’s influence over the Chimerians is absolute. If it is not stopped, it will consume everything, the galaxy humanity resides in, and then the next.]

Arthur’s mind raced. He had to act, but how? The entity was beyond anything he had ever faced, he was as weak as an ant before it. He turned to the Guardian. “Is there any way to find its weakness we can exploit?”

[Unknown, Commander. The entity’s nature is beyond our current understanding. However, Vorsk’s memories may contain more information. I will continue to analyze the data.]

Arthur nodded, his expression grim. “Do it. And prepare to repair the Obelisk.”

As the Guardian began its work, Arthur turned to the holographic display, his eyes fixed on the image of the entity. A cold determination settled over him. He had faced impossible odds before, but this… this was different. This was a fight for the survival of everything.

And he would not lose.

…

Meanwhile, deep within the Spear of Heaven, Nakamura, Samir, Leo, and Elena continued their exploration. The corridors seemed endless, their footsteps echoing in the silence. They had encountered no more Chimerians, but the tension was palpable.

“Do you think Arthur’s okay?” Samir asked, breaking the silence.

Nakamura glanced at him, his expression unreadable. “Arthur is strong. He’ll be fine.”

Elena nodded, though her grip on her sniper rifle tightened. “We need to focus on finding a way out. We can’t help him if we’re stuck here.”

Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, but this place is a maze. We’ve been walking for hours.”

In the next moment before anyone one of them could react they were engulfed in a bluish light and they disappeared from the place.

…

A few minutes ago

Arthur stood on the command deck of the Spear of Heaven, absorbing the horrifying truth about the Chimerians and the entity that controlled them, Arthur sighed and said, “Alright let’s go back for now…Guardian teleport all of us back to the room we were in.” 

[Affirmative, Commander]

the Guardian replied.

In an instant, the command deck vanished, and he found himself standing in a dimly lit chamber, the walls etched with ancient runes. He recognized it immediately, it was the room where they had first encountered the Obelisk.

In the next moment he heard a collective gasp. Turning, he saw Nakamura, Samir, Leo, and Elena materialize in the room, their weapons drawn and their expressions a mix of confusion and relief.

“Arthur!” Leo exclaimed, lowering his rifle. “What the hell just happened? One second we’re wandering through those endless corridors, and the next we’re back here.”

Arthur’s eyes swept over his team, noting their disheveled appearances and the faint streaks of violet blood on their armor. They had clearly been through their own battles. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice calm but firm. “I was fighting the Chimerian commander. I killed him, and then… I was teleported here.”

Nakamura stepped forward, his sharp eyes scanning Arthur’s damaged armor. “You killed their commander? That explains why we didn’t run into any more of them. We thought they were regrouping, but now it makes sense, they were leaderless.”

Elena nodded, her sniper rifle slung over her shoulder. “We didn’t see any Chimerians after a certain point. It was like they just… disappeared.”

Leo crossed his arms, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Guess you took care of the rest, huh?”

Arthur didn’t respond immediately. His mind was still reeling from the revelations about the entity, but he couldn’t share that yet, not until he had a clearer plan. Instead, he nodded. “I dealt with the remaining Chimerians on the ship. They won’t be a problem anymore.”

The team exchanged glances, their relief palpable. They trusted Arthur implicitly, and if he said the Chimerians were gone, they believed him.

Arthur’s gaze slightly shifted to the center of the room, where the Obelisk still stood, its surface pulsing faintly with an otherworldly glow, he reached into his dimensional pocket the black dot on his left wrist, it was the control key of Spear of Heaven and also allowed him to store and retrieve objects in a pocket dimension. 

With a mental command, the Obelisk vanished, stored safely within the Spear of Heaven. Arthur had asked the Guardian how much space it had, and he was amazed with the answer. The pocket dimension has a space inside the size of Jupiter, which is immense and the Spear of Heaven was stored inside it.

Samir blinked in surprise. “Wait, where did it go?”

The team exchanged uneasy glances, but no one had an answer to that. Lt. Nakamura said, “We need to report this whole incident to the higher ups, it is above our pay grade.” Everyone nodded hearing that.

With the Obelisk secured, Arthur turned to his team. “We’re not done yet. There are still Chimerian elites in these ruins, and we need to clear them out. Stay sharp, they won’t go down easily.”

The team nodded, their expressions hardening.

For the next ten minutes, Arthur and his team moved through the ruins with deadly precision. The corridors were eerily silent, the only sounds the faint hum of their equipment and the occasional echo of their footsteps. But they knew better than to let their guard down. The Chimerian elites were still out there.

***

Free patreon members gets to read 2 chapters ahead!

You can join my discord channel to discuss my novel and find artwork of this novel!!

.gg/85CGnX9n

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep