Building Interstellar Empire With Universal Synthesis

"Father, we should surrender!" Vanitus said to Musa, looking absolutely terrified.

​Musa shoved his hand aside and growled, "Coward! I can’t believe a coward such as yourself is my son."

​Vanitus lowered his head in shame.

​Musa turned back to the crew, his voice roaring, "Remember, we won’t admit defeat! We’ll fight until our very last breath!"

​The other two commanders on their Titanic Warships exchanged a glance.

After a while, they nodded in agreement.

​"Activate the Plasma Cannons!" they commanded over the intercom.

The two other commanders’ voices barely left their throats before Neo slowly raised a single finger.

​"Cancel that order," Neo commanded softly.

​[ Activating Skill: Spatial Manipulation (C) ]

​The space around the two commanders violently folded inward.

Bang!

Their adamantite-reinforced armor offered absolutely no resistance as they were instantaneously crushed into a condensed, bloody sphere of metal and bone.

The mangled ball dropped heavily to the deck with a disgusting thud.

"....."

​The flagship’s bridge went suffocatingly quiet. And the remaining crew members froze in place, completely paralyzed by the raw terror unfolding before them.

​Neo’s eyes turned to Commander Musa next.

Buzzz!

He released his Type 5 Ascender aura, forcing the proud Federation Commander down onto one knee.

​"There are no cannons left to fire, commander. Your armada is now a floating ruin. Your mighty Federation has lost. I will give you one final opportunity: Surrender this flagship, bend your knee to the Zenith Empire, and your crew lives."

​Currently, Musa’s face was pale and covered in cold sweat. He looked at the gruesome remains of his fellow officers, and then at the god-like entity standing before him.

​But the pride of a Commander ran deep. His mind had been poisoned by decades of Federation propaganda and a deeply ingrained superiority complex.

His ego simply could not process the concept of submitting to a rogue rebel, no matter how overwhelming the power gap was.

He would rather burn in the void than become a slave.

Musa slowly pushed hismelf back to look Neo in the eye.

​"The mighty Federation will never bow to a monster like you."

Vanitus broke down,

​"Father... please! I don’t want to die! Please, just surrender!"

​Musa looked down at his cowardly son with disgust.

​"I told you Vanitus. We will not admit defeat. We will die as proud soldiers of the Federation. Not as slaves."

​In a lightning-fast motion, Musa unbuttoned the high-frequency plasma pistol from his waist.

But, he didn’t aim it at Neo. He fully understood that firing at the Dominator would be entirely useless.

​Instead, he aimed the glowing barrel directly at Vanitus’s chest.

​"Father, no—!"

​ZZZAAAP!

​The beam of superheated plasma instantaneously pierced through the young man’s heart.

Vanitus’s eyes went wide with sheer shock and absolute betrayal.

His lifeless body slumped heavily onto the cold metal deck, smoke still rising from the fatal wound.

​Screams of horror erupted from the surviving bridge crew, but Musa did not hesitate for a single microsecond. He immediately turned the weapon on himself, pressing the hot barrel tightly under his own chin.

​"Long live the Federation," Musa snarled, locking his bloodshot eyes with Neo’s calm gaze one last time.

​He pulled the trigger.

​The second blinding flash illuminated the bridge as Commander Musa’s head was completely vaporized.

His headless corpse swayed for a fraction of a second before collapsing in a heap right next to his murdered son.

​Neo stood completely calm, yet a single teardrop escaped his eye.

​He could not fathom what kind of twisted ideology could drive a father to do something so horrific to his own flesh and blood.

A brief flicker of genuine pity rose within him for young Vanitus.

He could easily use his powers to raise the boy as an undead, but he knew that would not truly bring him back to life. It was better to just let him rest.

​The remainder of the battle wrapped up swiftly after that display of madness.

​Of the original 300,000 soldiers the Federation had brought to Zenith, 250,000 survived by surrendering unconditionally. Among the 5,000 elite Beyonders, only 3,000 chose to yield. The rest who stubbornly resisted were either ruthlessly struck down or dragged away for absolute imprisonment.

​Leon and the other generals immediately took charge of the cleanup, collecting the broken dreadnoughts and hauling the massive debris fields back toward Zenith. There, the shattered hulls would be fully repaired and personally synthesized by Neo to forge even more terrifying warships.

​As for the three intact Titan-class ships, Neo ordered them to remain docked in high orbit.

It was the safest and most logical choice. After all, the planetary crust and magical infrastructure of Zenith simply would not be able to handle their colossal weight and overwhelming energy demands if they attempted a landing.

​In total, Neo now officially commanded five Titan-class warships in his armada.

It was enough to transport over two million soldiers across the stars easily.

Noir materialized from the shadows just as Neo descended onto the sweeping observation deck of the Ghost.

​Her dark angelic wings folded elegantly against her back.

The sadistic, bloodthirsty aura she had worn during the massacre was completely gone.

​She gently wrapped her arms around his broad waist from behind, resting her cheek against his dark adamantite armor.

​"Darling," Noir murmured softly, "I saw you shed a tear when that boy died at his own father’s hand. It made my cold heart ache to see you troubled. May I know... what was your father like?"

"My father?"

​ He did not brush her away. Instead, he reached up and gently placed his large hand over hers.

​"I myself dont know who he was. But All I can say he is a great man. We are separed by Infinite Dimensions, but I can feel his longing, his sorrows, his endless loved. One day, I will him and introduce you."

"I would love that, darling. But right now, I want something else. Can we do it one more time?" Noir snuggled closer to his chest and asked after blowing her intoxicating breath into his ear.

"No, not now, Noir. We have more important work to do. I don’t want to drown in the sea of lust when I have a universe to conquer."

"Ah, alright then," Noir sighed.

Zestia watched them from afar, quietly burning with jealousy.