Hazy Star Field, Gothic Star Field.

At this time, this is a raging borderland, an army of Dawnbreakers from across the galaxy, ruthlessly and cautiously ravaging the hundreds of worlds in the sector until they are all planted under the banner of the Empire of Humanity.

Never since the Second Randan War, about twelve Terra standard years ago, had the Terra regime had not had such a large-scale military expansion in the Hazy Star Field, after all, it was still a war zone in a sense, and its value was not unique in itself, and it was not worth drawing military forces from its already strained military forces.

Therefore, although this administrative division called [Gothic Star District] has been named in the documents of the War Council of Holy Terra more than twenty years ago, until now, this area still does not belong to the Empire, and the hordes of alien realms, wandering pirates, and independent casting worlds like Goth, Mezoa, and Depanks are the actual masters here.

The situation did not improve until the eighty-seventh year after the Great Expedition began, the tenth year after the reuniting of the Legion of the Daybreakers and their genetic protogens: through some unknowable means, the genetic protogens of the Second Legion of Astarte, the queen of the Far Eastern Frontier, Morgan, led a powerful expeditionary fleet under her command, suddenly appeared on the borders of the Chaos Realm in the Gothic Star Sector.

According to the Daybreaker himself, the expeditionary fleet was originally intended to reclaim the Triple Star Sector in the eastern galactic direction, but while on a subspace voyage, they were struck by an abrupt subspace storm.

Although the Spider Empress, a top-level psyker, personally soothed the storm without causing much damage, the expeditionary fleet still deviated from its original goal: they arrived in the Gothic Star Zone, which is half a galaxy away from the Far Eastern Frontier.

Fair and reasonable.

The Imperial Governors and Mortal Generals who stayed in the Celestial Domain near the Gothic Star Zone, after listening to the Gene Prototype's personal explanations and seeing with their own eyes the Spider Queen's vast army composed of hundreds of capital ships, 10,000 Daybreakers, hundreds of thousands of Reza's cathars, two Titan legions and affiliated knight families, and at least five million elite mortal auxiliaries, expressed their belief in the Gene Queen's plight and were willing to do everything for the supply of the Avalon Expeditionary Fleet.

The Lord of the Far Eastern Frontier was touched by the generosity of these Imperial officials, so he made a solemn oath on the spot: in order to repay the profound righteousness of these Imperial Rim Worlds, the Expeditionary Fleet of the Dawnbreaker Legion will change its goal and take it as its mission to recover the chaotic Gothic Star Sector, exterminate all the alien realms and pirate fleets, and eliminate the serious security risks that these Imperial Worlds located on the edge of the Gothic Star Sector have been facing.

As soon as these words came out, the applause thundered.

At the same time, Morgan's words also have a rather obvious hint: she is not interested in the land and resources of the Gothic Star Sector, and after she recovers the Star Sector, how the ruling power here should be divided depends on the meaning of Holy Terra and the Imperial Governors who supply the Dawnbreaker Legion.

Such wise words naturally made the local imperial rulers have no complaints, but in just two or three months, supplies from dozens of imperial galaxies around the Gothic star region have come one after another, and the Spider Empress is also quite generous: according to the amount of supplies, although the imperial governors who provided the supplies did not send a single soldier, they were still waved by her, and became the heroes of the military medals in the Gothic reconquest operation, as well as the [acting governors] who recovered the world one by one.

Anyway, Morgan really has no interest in these worlds: even if her Avalonian Federation tries to develop for another hundred years, it will not be able to extend the tentacles of power here, so it is better to be a favor in the gray area and benefit her own legion.

The Spider Empress herself, on the other hand, cares about another treasure in the Gothic Zone, a treasure that has not yet been detected by the Human Empire: that is, the six Blackstone Fortresses hidden in the Zone.

She was here for them, but finding the treasures among the stars was no easy task, and in order to successfully activate these ancient military marvels, the Spider Queen would need to find the starters for the six Blackstone Fortresses first.

From the Tuchucha engine, she learned that there were two initiators: two ancient xenomorph artifacts known as the Dark Hand and the Eye of the Night, with extraordinary powers in the subspace, also hidden somewhere in the Gothic Star Zone.

And in the first moment of hearing the news, Morgan only sighed softly.

Hand of Darkness, Eye of the Night......

Finally, she finally met a guy who didn't know how to name her anymore: the Queen of Genes had to wonder if the ancient aliens who named the two alien artifacts were in the adolescence of their race.

After feeling emotional, the Spider Empress casually made this plan: with the help of a subspace storm that may or may not exist, the Dawnbreaker Legion came to the Misty Star Field for a more plausible reason, and took the opportunity to launch a rather ruthless all-out offensive against the entire Gothic Star Sector.

Except for a few casting worlds that have long been in contact with the Human Empire, all the forces in the Gothic Star Region have been on the list of this purge, anyway, as the former frontier territory of the Randan Empire, there is no [Human World] here that meets the standards of the Empire.

In this way, the armies of the Daybreakers sowed destruction from galaxy to system, slaughtering countless alien realms and wandering pirates, their territories were washed away to reward the Imperial powers for their supplies, their souls were codified, the Spider Queen's spiritual reserves were richened, and even their memories were imprisoned: because Morgan needed the memories of these natives to help her find the location of the alien artifacts and the Blackstone Fortress.

Relying on the help of the Tuchucha engine, the Dawnbreaker expeditionary fleet was so swift in its actions and tactics so fierce that even the native forces in the Gothic Star Sector were easily split and wiped out in batches before they could unite, and Morgan's flagship was even able to ignore all obstacles in the physical universe and subspace and appear directly on the home planet of the Alien Realm: with this move, the most powerful resistors were all reduced to dust in front of the Iron Rider of the Dawnbreaker before they even had time to exert half of their strength.

The Spider Empress, who witnessed all these victories, was lamented by the power and horror of the Tuchucha engine, and she knew that the existence of this subspace artifact was enough to make any naval battle mode a joke, and the naval battle with the participation of the Tuchucha engine would no longer be a war, but a massacre on a relatively large scale: because in the eyes of the owner of the Tuchucha engine, the subspace would no longer be a place of blessing and misfortune, and there would be no barrier to the real universe.

Morgan knew this, she always knew this: after the Osiris expedition and in the years before the Gothic expedition, the Lord of the Second Legion relied on the strength of the Tuchucha engine to completely eliminate the instability in the Avalon Federation, and continued to recruit troops, stabilizing the number of the Dawnbreaker Legion at more than 25,000 men, creating an iron barrel of the Far Eastern frontier, before daring to lead his army to the Hazy Star Domain for this expedition.

What's more, when she first arrived in the Hazy Star Field, she heard the name of the Far Eastern Frontier from some local traders: thanks to the unremitting efforts of Morgan's propaganda department, the prosperity and stability of the Far Eastern Frontier had spread throughout the empire, and with it a large number of immigrants and trade, which had brought countless benefits to Avalon.

At the same time, because there is a five-hundred-hundred-world around him that is too [Jewel in front], Avalon, who is a little low-key in promoting these fields, has not actually caused more suspicion and backlash within the empire: compared to Otlama, whose power has been expanding all the way to the Maelstrom region, Morgan's country, which is still silently cultivated at the edge of the galaxy, is undoubtedly a [good child] in the eyes of some Terra bigwigs.

While this result of both benefits and no relative costs may sound incredible, Gilliman is so good to use, and his broad back not only drags up Otlama, but also takes away the part of the Far Eastern frontier that belongs to it: Morgan has always been generous in this respect.

But even so, Avalon's prosperity could not completely soothe the strange anger in the Genotype's heart: especially when she thought that an artifact like the Tuchucha Engine would not be in her hands for more than a few years, and would soon be sent to the Emperor along with the other artifacts.

into the hands of the Emperor......

Morgan frowned.

Compared to that, she would rather have these powerful beings...... was destroyed.

“……”

Fingers protected by silver-white metal tapped softly on the throne, making a pleasant jingle of bells, but with a chilling danger.

"You seem a little unhappy, Morgan?"

【…… No, not really. 】

Morgan retorted flatly, then opened his eyes to the massive orb floating at the edge of her throne, at the creature that had not cast a shadow.

In the entire Dawnbreaker Legion, I am afraid that only the Tuchucha engine, who still does not fully understand human etiquette, dares to speak so bluntly to the genetic prototype.

"Don't lie to me, Morgan, like I've never cheated on you."

In the communication of the soul, the Tuchucha engine is unyielding: it seems to have been born with an aggressive arrogance, yielding only briefly in the face of the most terrible threats, and for several years with Morgan it has always played the role of some kind of blunt spokesperson or something.

"I could feel that, for a split second, you seemed to have a hostility against me, a hostility that was enough to make me fearful, to be destroyed: What the hell are you thinking, Morgan?"

The Spider Empress was silent for a moment, she didn't choose to continue to hide.

[I'm just...... Some dissatisfaction. 】

"Dissatisfied? Because I'm going to leave you soon? ”

[After witnessing your power, anyone will have greedy thoughts, Tuchucha, especially the thought that I am going to give you and the heart of the plague to my father, which is especially unbearable for me. 】

"Are you strained with your genetically paternal individual, Morgan?"

[The possibility of becoming an enemy cannot be ruled out.] 】

“……”

"You humans are so funny."

After receiving the answer, the Tuchucha engine fell silent for a moment, and then it emitted a sound that resembled laughter, but sounded too much metallic, and this noise lasted for a few seconds before it continued to speak to Morgan as an ancient witness.

"Obviously your forces are so weak that you don't even really rule the dry land under your feet: but at this time, you, as the top ruling class, are already worried about the possibility of internal struggle between each other?"

[Do you think this is strange?] 】

"No, not unusual: but I can tell you that a race that is obsessed with internal strife will not be able to stand on the throne of the galaxy for long, and no matter how prosperous they may seem, it only takes an uncontrolled all-out civil war to destroy their empire like a flood that will break through the fragile banks of a river."

"In cases like this, there is more than one of my knowledge reserves."

[It does sound like a wise saying.] 】

The Spider Empress responded casually to Tuchucha's words, and did not have much to continue chatting, in the past few years of getting along, she had already passed countless side knocks, satisfying all her desire to learn about Tuchucha's engine, and the rest of the questions were not answered by Tuchucha himself.

Thinking of this, the Lord of the Second Legion couldn't help but snort lightly, and turned his head to look at the burning universe outside the porthole: at the foot of the [Dawning Goddess], there was a strange world sunk in the flames of war, and hundreds of warships of the Dawnbreaker Legion surrounded it, like hungry wolves tearing at a dying old cow.

[How many are these?] 】

Morgan asked herself as if she were talking to herself, and her question was answered: Virgo, with the datapad in hand, slowly stepped out of the shadows behind the throne, glanced at the Tuchucha engine in surprise, and began to report.

"This is the twenty-sixth alien realm that we have exterminated in the Gothic Star Zone, Mother, in the five standard months of recovery of the Ethera Planet, your fleet has wiped out more than 90% of the resistance in the Goth Star Zone, and the average safety factor of this sector is now even higher than that of most Imperial regions."

[I don't care about that, Aniah, what I care about is another thing: if there is anything I want in this world, I've searched the entire star sector to find one, and my luck is too bad. 】

The Spider Empress muttered to herself, a treasure box floating on her left hand, and the contents of the object were shrouded in a black-blue light, emitting an infinite amount of subspace energy: it was the hand of darkness.

On the side, Virgo saluted slowly.

"Rest assured, Mother: we have distributed the possible characteristics of the Eye of the Night to all Daybreakers involved in the battle through the characteristics of the Dark Hand, and they will never let it slip out of your hands, even if they turn the entire alien world upside down."

Morgan nodded, a hint of pride crossed her mind: I don't know when the Spider Queen began to find that her army of dawnbreakers seemed to have grown into an army that was strong enough for her to [let go].

The careful and cautious work of yesteryear has yielded wonderful results: now, the Spider Empress doesn't have to take matters into her own hands for enemies that aren't tricky, and the Dawnbreakers, who have learned her tactical style by ear, can now take care of everything on their own.

All it takes is Morgan's instructions to bring out a torrent of steel that will destroy any opponent for their queen: such a scene can even feel addictive.

Before you know it, Morgan is obsessed with it: when dealing with opponents who are not too strong, the Queen of Genes will not intervene herself, she will simply give an order, and then sit back and watch the activation of the legion and the destruction of the world.

Just as she was in front of her: because of one of her commands, a word, or even a soft hum of affirmation, an entire world and kingdom could only be helplessly plunged into the flames of destruction.

Morgan curled the corners of his lips.

This scene always makes her feel refreshed, and it works better than any decompression behavior.

The Spider Queen's eyes narrowed, she watched with satisfaction the annihilation of the world beneath her feet, feeling the new power surging in the sea of souls: judging by the countless alien souls and the few Dawnbreaker souls, it was another great victory that could not be faulted, but with the slightest regret.

In the sea of souls, Morgan stretched out her tentacles of will, and from the endless greed and darkness, swept all souls into her pocket: alien souls were casually thrown into mature mills, while the souls of the Dawnbreakers were temporarily asleep, resting in the safest place in the hearts of the original genomes.

In the sea of souls, Morgan stretched out her tentacles of will, and from the endless greed and darkness, swept all souls into her pocket: alien souls were casually thrown into mature mills, while the souls of the Dawnbreakers were temporarily asleep, resting in the safest place in the hearts of the original genomes.

"You seem happy again?"

Beside Morgan, the Tuchucha engine made another sound, and the genogen didn't immediately pay attention to the strange creation, she methodically harvested all her souls before turning her head to look at the Tuchucha engine again.

[What about the Plague Heart?] Is it still silent? 】

"Yes, it doesn't want to communicate with you: I'm not sure if it's fear or something else, after all, for us, your presence is in some sense a natural enemy, but it could also be an ally."

Tuchucha's words made the Genoplasm frown: for the past few years, although this subspace artifact has been able to answer all questions, it has only maintained a kind of silence, or obvious avoidance, on these questions about the nature and connotation of Morgan.

At first, the Spider Empress was very unhappy about this, but soon, in the face of the power of the Tuchucha engine and the genuine fear of the emperor's strength, calmness took over Morgan's heart and eliminated her anger.

Her attention began to be taken away by another wave: it was a ship that was rushing from the surface of the planet to the flagship at the fastest speed, and on that ship, a majestic subspace aura that Morgan felt familiar and excited was exactly the same as the one in her hand.

So, the Queen of Genes laughed.

Sure enough, after a while, Lana's excited footsteps rang out in the hallway, and as he pleaded for an audience, he pushed open the door, and the figure of the chief old guard was also in full view of the original genome.

As one of the first Dawnbreaker warriors to begin to undergo the transformation of the [Path to Nirvana], the current Rana has changed significantly compared to a few years ago: his body has become more burly, and even has some momentum of re-development, and his combat record has become more and more brilliant unconsciously, and he can overpower most of the company commanders within the legion with an absolute advantage, and completely secure the position of the chief Praetorian guard of the original body.

As a warrior who is not a veteran of the Dawnbreaker Legion, Rana is now strong enough to defeat any of his fighting brothers except Bayar, and even those veterans who have fought for a century more than him can resist his increasingly terrifying power and ever-refining martial arts.

All of this was seen by the original genogen, and it became the biggest motivation for her to continue to promote her transformation surgery: to this day, most of the Daybreaker Company Commanders have completed one to three transformation steps under Morgan's own operation, while Rana and Bayard have completed five, and their changes are also the most terrifying.

Even with Morgan's conservative mentality, she could be sure that after personally performing the second transformation of all the Daybreaker Company Commanders, the surgical procedures she had accumulated and strengthened should be able to be widely disseminated among the Second Legion.

This time, of course, she had to pay special attention to the secrecy of the operation: if she had taught her dear Otlama blood relative a trick and a half, then only the Emperor would know that Killeman would turn his head and pull out something shocking in his next meeting with Morgan.

She didn't want to face hundreds of thousands of empowered Ultramarines, as well as the words in Killiman's mouth, "It's all your credit, my reliable Morgan. 】

Thinking of this, the corners of the Spider Empress's mouth couldn't help but smile a little self-deprecatingly, and she slowly reached out and took the Eye of the Night from the respectful Lana's hand: during this time, the Chief Old Guard's strange gaze was on Tuchucha's body, but it was not strong.

The Spider Empress never concealed Tuchucha's existence from the upper echelons of the Legion: after rounds of psychic testing, as well as intentional or unintentional investigations, Morgan could at least guarantee that the company commanders who had mastered the main company were already her loyal followers, and their loyalty was enough to guarantee the concealment of secrets.

Of course, there is no reverence for the Lord of Humanity in the Legion of the Dawnbreaker, but this reverence is often mixed with reverence for the Genetic Prototype: instead of suppressing the worship of the Emperor by her descendants, Morgan deliberately overlaps the image of her and the Emperor in the hearts of the Dawnbreakers, which does not cause objection either among the Terra Veterans or the Avalonian New Blood.

Of course, with Morgan getting along with the Legion of the Daybreakers, and the Emperor's shadow fading from the Far Eastern Frontier, one day, the idol that fused Morgan with the Lord of Humanity will completely transform into the Spider Empress herself: when the last Terra veteran can't see half of the Emperor's breath from his unchanging reverence, the Lord of the Second Legion will be able to take control of her Legion and do anything.

This change is destined to be long, but it is also gentle and quiet, and it will not allow the already sparsely staffed Dawnbreaker Legion to suffer from violent internal conflicts: Morgan is determined to do this, and her progress is extremely smooth.

Thinking of this, the Spider Empress's mood became brighter and brighter, and after the chief old guard slowly retreated, in front of the Tuchucha engine and the Virgo, Morgan placed the two alien artifacts side by side, feeling the power of their mutual attraction to each other.

Then, she looked at Tuchucha.

[You're ready, now it's time for you to fulfill your promise: you said that when I put two ancient xenomorphs side by side, you'll feel where those Blackstone Fortresses are.] 】

"Yes, because I have a distant but not alien relationship with them, I was able to do that: in fact, I now know where they are."

The Tuchucha engine's voice remained unhurried, speaking on a channel that only Morgan could hear, a mixed stream of energy that traveled from its core all the way to the Spider Queen's mind, eventually forming several galaxies in the Gothic sector.

"They're right there."

[Separate hiding? 】

"Because each Blackstone Fortress is slightly different: they're like brothers in a big family, and you can think of them as you and your genetic relatives, you belong to the same paternal line, and you share the name of the protogen, which is similar in some physical data, but other than that, each of you has something different."

[Understandable.] 】

[So, these Blackstone Fortresses also have a father who created them? 】

"Yes, but it can't bother you anymore, and you need to worry about the races that were once called the Dead, who still exist in some form in the galaxy and who consider Blackstone Fortress to be their asset."

Do you mean they're going to send troops to stop me? 】

"No, in their opinion, these terrible weapons in your hands may be an excellent insurance measure, and they believe that you will not be able to exert more power."

[How do you know the thoughts and logic of those space necromancy, have you been in contact with them for tens of millions of years?] 】

"No, no: but considering that the thinking of this race has come to a complete standstill tens of millions of years ago, I think my understanding of them is not outdated."

【……】

[Reasonable.] 】

"So, do you have any questions?"

[The last one.] 】

Morgan leaned back on the throne, her gaze at the Tuchucha engine was mixed with a hint of cunning and distrust.

[Based on your knowledge and perspective, which of these Blackstone Fortresses should I go to get first: You said that there are certain differences between them, so the difficulty of recovering them should also be different.] 】

"Now that you have the Dark Hand and the Eye of the Night, you can theoretically strengthen and drive them, but this use is extremely unstable, and if you want to have a more stable cooperation with them, I suggest you find these two first."

The two coordinates were sent to the Spider Queen's mind by Tuchucha.

"You can choose both: they are more milder in consciousness and are easily persuaded by you?"

【…… Persuade? 】

"Yes, Blackstone Fortress has a certain will, and your existence may not be liked by them: while you can still force them, Blackstone Fortress that is forced to fight for you will even seek to self-destruct, and once they take the initiative to fight for you......"

"You will be invincible, Morgan."

——————

Holy Terra, the Royal Palace.

"The expeditionary fleet of the Dawnbreaker Legion suddenly appeared in the hazy star field, led by the gene prototype himself, and is carrying out a recovery operation against the Gothic star sector, which is currently progressing very well, and the Gothic star sector has been largely recovered."

Theoretically, a message like this would not even qualify for entry on the Palm Seal's desk, but when Machado ordered his subordinates to raise the importance of the Second Legion, news about Morgan was always on his desk.

The Palm Sealer glanced at the message, mentally searching for Morgan's possible connection to the Gothic Sector, and quickly frowned at it and looked at his squire.

"What does the War Council think about this?"

The squire replied without the slightest hesitation.

"The Council believes that this is a hidden overture by the Dawnbreaker Legion to Holy Terra, who have long been campaigning on the Far Eastern Frontier to expand their domination and lack of contributions to Terra, so the Lord of the Second Legion took this opportunity to take the initiative to reclaim a large area of the star field that she was destined to be unable to manage, so as to fulfill her responsibility as a genetic protogen, and show her submission and humility to Terra."

“……”

"Is this their idea, or is it their decision?"

"It's a decision."

“…… Let's go down. ”

The Palm Seal laughed, he waved his hand slowly, and sighed in his heart: the Emperor's daughter was even more dishonest than he thought, and before he knew it, she had actually begun to spy on the rights and interests of the Holy Terra, and then thought of the sporadic reports from all over the empire about a group of mysterious Astarte warriors, which made Machado sigh.

The world said that the Lord of Maculag was ambitious, but how did they know that compared to the gloom and mind of the Lord of the Second Legion, Killiman was much more reassuring to Machado, and he was even always worried that the Lord of Maculag would be led astray by his sister, just as he had feared that Johnson would be led astray.

But for some reason, the Lord of Humanity never seemed to be concerned about this: the Emperor's rudeness, disregard, and strange trust in matters concerning Morgan made it impossible for Machado to grasp his brain circuits after following him for countless years.

But no matter what......

The Palm Printmaker rubbed his temples.

Anyway, one of his most important tasks now is to tell the human lord who is far away about Morgan's movements: no matter what the Spider Empress is doing, he will not believe that it is a coincidence, and Divine Terra must have a way to deal with it.

Machado must be treated with the utmost vigilance and care: just as he did when he faced the Lord of Humanity.

After all, through a few revelations from the Lord of Humanity, Machado already knew ......

Morgan was never loyal.

So, she is most like an emperor.

In this regard, even Johnson, Horus or St. Giles are hard to match.

(End of chapter)