No matter how carefully you plan sothing, the mont you implent it, the unpredictable always happens, usually in response to the other side's actions.
The sa was true when Dreznor launched his fleets. While they succeeded in disabling the mana-powered long-distance communication nodes for more than half of them, a few of them managed to send out SOS signals before being neutralized.
"Keep it quiet for now and gather as much intel as possible. We can't afford the embarrassnt of losing control of a star system without even mounting a defense," was the general sentint shared among the leaders of the civilizations that received the distress ssages. Their imdiate strategy was to contain the situation, keep the takeover hidden, and buy ti to figure out a solution.
Each governnt believed it had been targeted alone and that it was either a coup or pirates, unaware that many others were suffering the sa fate. Dreznor had wisely focused his initial attacks on the lower-ranked Conclave civilizations, starting from the fifty-first-ranked. These nations lacked the technology and the mana stones required to open wormholes, making them easy targets. Yet they were close enough in rank to other civilizations that losing territory would risk demotion in the Conclave's hierarchy, which would lead to a loss of resources and make it difficult for them to deal with their neighbours, who might use this to their benefit.
And so, within less than two weeks, Dreznor's forces had taken control of twenty planets. Ironically, the leaders of those fallen systems helped conceal the Empire's growing presence, hoping to quietly rebuild their strength and strike back only after wormhole lanes and VR infrastructure had expanded far enough to allow for a counterattack, without alerting others to their weakness.
With each planet his forces conquered, Dreznor repeated the sa process he had carried out on Zypharion: arrest the corrupt and publicly deliver justice, liberate and rehabilitate slaves while providing them reparations, restructure the governnt, and begin local recruitnt and training of new soldiers. A small contingent remained on each secured planet to oversee these efforts while the bulk of the military advanced to the next target.
Because they were targeting impoverished territories with limited armant and poor infrastructure, battles rarely lasted long. This created a positive feedback loop; more liberated individuals ant more recruits, which in turn enabled the mobilization of the previously idle ships that had been underutilized due to the small number of soldiers at the campaign's outset. By the sixth month, all of the ships provided by the emperor were fully staffed, and Dreznor's army had grown to over one hundred million strong.
From the beginning, Dreznor had known there would be no further weapons shipnts from the Empire, only mana stones. So he had made an early strategic decision to capitalize on the wormhole ships. Once they delivered their fleets, the ships were repurposed to exploit each planet's unique natural resources, creating a highly efficient interplanetary vertical integration system.
Using the ship blueprints the Empire had provided, he quickly established large-scale manufacturing across the newly conquered worlds. Thanks to this supply chain, a significant number of new warships were constructed in a short ti and imdiately deployed into the growing conflict, just as the last of the Imperial-provided ships reached full capacity.
……………..
{Chatter about you has finally started trickling into the VR,} Little Protagonist reported, relaying the summary Nyx had sent her. {But it's still minimal. Most are speculating whether it's the work of a single force or just a string of coincidences.}
"It's been a full year since the campaign began, and it's still only being treated as rumor?" Dreznor asked, visibly surprised that their operations hadn't yet beco a mainstream topic.
{Since you're striking across different civilizations, and in most cases successfully disabling the mana-powered long-distance communication nodes before they can send reports,} she began, {and considering those governnts are actively covering up the incidents to protect their reputations, most of the public and even many in the governnts only know about the planets directly under their authority. Those planets either sent an SOS or missed their scheduled check-ins. And even then, missed reports from lower-ranked systems aren't seen as unusual due to their chronic mana stone shortages…}
She continued, listing out the systemic weaknesses and bureaucratic blind spots that had allowed Dreznor's campaign to remain hidden despite having taken over more than forty-five star systems.
"We need to pick up the pace," Dreznor said thoughtfully. "At this rate, we'll need to control at least two hundred star systems before we can go public and force the Conclave to acknowledge us."
He knew that, by now, the territory under his command was already large enough to rank him among the bottom thirty-five civilizations on the Conclave's official hierarchy list, not particularly high, considering there were over a hundred recognized powers, but still astonishing given that he had achieved it in a single year and under complete secrecy.
{Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,} Little Protagonist reminded him, her tone calm, encouraging patience.
…………………
As Dreznor spoke with Little Protagonist and she continued her report, neither of them, nor the systems monitoring the VR feeds, realized that a critical eting was taking place, far beyond their spheres of surveillance.
"How many of you have lost contact with a star system or received an SOS signal from a planet under attack?"
The holographic image of Grand Xor'Vak lood over those in the call as his voice echoed cold and unforgiving, sending an involuntary shiver through nearly everyone seeing it.
Few understood why the leader of the Conclave's most powerful civilization, whose own territory, and even that of his vassals, remained untouched, was this enraged. But one by one, hands began to rise.
The leaders of the affected civilizations lifted their hands without hesitation or sha. They held their heads high, projecting composure as was expected of sovereign leaders. They had lost control of systems, yes, but dignity, never.
Thirty-four.
Thirty-four hands raised. Thirty-four holographic feeds confird their silent defeats, feeds made possible by the mana-powered long-distance communication nodes they could now maintain for a long period without worry, thanks to the recent influx of mana stones.
The Grand Xor'Vak's eyes narrowed.
"So this has been happening in your territories, and you thought it trivial enough not to inform the Conclave governnt? You even tried to hide it?"
There was no mistaking the fury behind his words now. It was quite obvious as he made no attempt to hide it. The leaders stiffened under his gaze, despite it being through a hologram. None dared believe his anger stemd from concern for their well-being or lost territory. No, this was sothing else entirely. And the fact that they couldn't yet grasp the reason made it all the more terrifying.
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