Terra Orbit—Azerof's Flagship—Captain's Chamber
Azerof slept for only two hours before rising again. As a space human, this was more than enough ti for his psychological needs.
As usual, as soon as he woke up, he injected himself with a stimulant drug, which was very common in the army. While the drug entered his vein, he consulted the interstellar news events.
Before long, the drug had taken effect, sending a deep clarity burning through Azerof's brain. He felt ready to take his al, so he rose and dismissed the artificial shades covering his windows. Azerof always enjoyed the breathtaking view of Terra after he woke up.
But the sight which awaited Azerof paralyzed him for several seconds.
He finally murmured, "What are you..."
Suddenly, he heard a knocking at his chamber door, so he strode in a foul mood to open it.
Admiral Hazh stood at attention with a serious look on his face. "Lord! We've just detected the appearance of a stellar dragon above Terra."
Azerof shouted back, "What?!"
Hazh suddenly glanced away, and Azerof realized he was still dressed in his bathrobe. The fool Hazh was embarrassed by the sight, apparently!
Azerof took a deep breath to calm down, though the stimulant in his blood made this a difficult task. Then he said, "I'm putting on my uniform. I'll be there imdiately."
Azerof closed the door, then quickly changed into his old uniform denoting his status as Grand Admiral. The proper Imperial garb which denoted him as an emperor, after all, took a full half hour to put on, and that was ti he didn't have.
***
On the command deck, all the officers were in a hurried panic. They were running around, left and right, by the ti Azerof arrived. To his supre annoyance, everyone was ignoring him, too absorbed by the situation to notice that their great emperor had arrived!
Finally, Admiral Hazh noticed Azerof's presence and barked, "Attention, everyone, for the Emperor of Humanity!"
Everyone stopped and gave a fascist salute: right arm extended, palm facing downward, and fingers together; the Imperial sign of respect.
After a mont, Azerof raised his head, as if to say, "Return to your posts!"
After everything was more in order, Azerof sat upon his golden throne. Then he looked around at the displays and said in an authoritative manner, "God damn! What happened?"
Admiral Hazh replied, "We detected an incredible source of energy coming from the planet. Then an interdinsional portal opened up, letting out a Category One Red Star Dragon!
Azerof's eyes narrowed. "Where did the energy source co from, precisely?"
One of the officers answered, "From the Warehouse "Souley," where Eternals launched their assault—"
Admiral Hazh interrupted him and said, "That makes no sense! There are no weapons in that warehouse. What, did they bring this weapon with them from outside?!"
But then Azerof realized sothing. "The Souley warehouse? The one that was created during the last chancellor's term? That warehouse was a cover for an ancient weapons research lab! That's why we stationed the Vk.6 Assault chas there in the first place! How is it possible that an Eternal was able to evade them?!"
Admiral Hazh looked completely taken aback at this. "I-I'm sorry, Lord. I had no idea of the true purpose of this warehouse. But surely, even if an Eternal was able to find an ancient weapon, there is no way he could figure out how to use it!"
At this point, Azerof realized that this scenario was partially his own fault. If he'd been more explicit about the nature of the warehouse and the capabilities of the Eternals, perhaps this wouldn't have happened. Well… there was no sense thinking about what could have happened. Now was the ti to act.
"What shall we do, Lord?" asked Hazh stiffly. His expression was one of frustration and confusion, but he was still ready to accept orders.
Azerof replied darkly, "Prepare the fleet for battle! We have no choice. We must take this creature down at once!"
Hazh's face went pale. "Lord! If we engage the fleet in a battle with a stellar dragon, it will cause unimaginable damage to the city below! Millions, or perhaps even billions, of civilians will die!"
Azerof responded calmly, "It's living in the vacuum of space and feeding off the energy of the stars. Do you seriously think we can take it down without using all our firepower? If we don't do this, then every life on Terra will surely perish. I've weighed the options, Admiral. This is the proper course of action, and you will obey ."
Hazh replied, his voice shaking, "We've been ordered by the Council to keep the damage to the city to a minimum! Lord, surely we can draw it away from the planet before we attack…"
His voice trailed off as a deadly fury entered Azerof's eyes.
"I have followed your advice of restraint until now," the emperor hissed. "That's what led us to this catastrophic situation to begin with! You will obey , or you will resign from your position!"
Azerof then pointed to the weapons officer. "Soldier, open fire on the target!"
Hazh's face had now gone calm. He seed resigned to the course of action which fate had decided. When he spoke again, his voice was perfectly civil, without a hint of emotion. "I only remind you of the consequences which the Council ntioned, Lord. Any more material damage, and it's impeachnt for you!"
Azerof angrily stood up from his golden throne and shouted, "As you wish, Admiral! Guard! Take the admiral to the brig!"
John, Azerof's bodyguard, approached Admiral Hazh without a word. He handcuffed the admiral and began to escort him to the ship's brig—then stopped dead in his tracks.
Azerof was surprised. "What's wrong, John?"
John, who was a cold and silent man, answered in a low voice, "I… This is impossible..."
Suddenly, one of the surveillance officers said, "A strong energy is emanating from the planet again! Exactly in the sa place as the first one!"
Azerof snapped, "What's going on now?"
Then Yuor, the second demigod bodyguard, entered the room and said, "Lord Azerof!"
John turned to him, his eyes bright. "Did you feel it too?"
Azerof felt his heart rate speeding up with sheer fury. Nobody was telling him what they knew, despite him being their emperor! "What the hell is going on?!"
Yuor answered, "The cosmic energy has spiked, indicating that an extrely powerful being has just appeared on Terra… a being with the power of a demigod."
"Who?!" Azerof shouted. "Which demigod has teleported onto Terra to ddle with my business?!"
"No," said John in his cold, quiet voice. "They did not teleport from sowhere else. This energy… does not belong to an enemy we already know."
He was quiet for a mont before giving seven cataclysmic words.
"A new demigod has just been born."
***
Terra—Warehouse "Souley"
Everyone in the warehouse was amazed by the trendous energy beam and the sudden appearance of the stellar dragon. Even compared to everything they'd witnessed since the beginning of the ga, the godlike beast in the sky was, without a doubt, the most incredible thing they'd ever seen!
But nobody noticed, for the first few seconds, that Apophis was beginning to change.
Yet, in front of Apophis's face, a rapid stream of ssages appeared.
System Notification : Your action has caused the death of 116,456,200,154 unard civilians. You have lost 10,000 Alignnt.
System: Level 38 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
System: Level 39 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
System: Level 40 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
System: Level 41 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
System: Level 42 achieved. Gain 5 Skill Points for the Talent Tree.
System: Your aberrant negative Alignnt has triggered a chaotic mutation.
System: Loading your new biology...
System: Loading your new biology...
System: Loading your new biology...
System: Mutation completed. You gained the race "Void Zetark"
Apophis felt an absolutely indescribable pain, far worse than his earlier mutation into a Fallen Zetark. His bones crumbled to powder, his blood boiled, his muscles tore themselves to shreds…
…And then a powerful dark energy entered him, devouring him.
Apophis sohow kept himself from screaming, but was vaguely aware that his lungs had dissolved, so he couldn't have made a sound even if he'd tried. The pain was all-encompassing, threatening to destroy Apophis's sense of self.
anwhile, Ceasar, Joker, Lucifer, Mario, and Zelda were totally absorbed by the destruction of the planet happening all around them and the stellar dragon in the sky. Apophis's transformation was fairly silent and hidden by the dark energy swirling around him, so nobody noticed.
However, Lucifer eventually pulled his attention away from the sky and said, "Get a grip, everyone! We have a mission to complete! We'll deal with this problem later. If it even is a problem for us. It sure seems like sothing for Azerof to deal with, haha!"
Then he added, "Kill the hostages! We don't need them anymore."
Zelda smiled and looked down… But her voice was puzzled as she asked, "Wait! Where's Apophis?!"
On the ground was only a puddle of water, broken glass from the sphere that had once been a [Pandemonium], and a blackened scorch mark.
Apophis was no longer there.
Suddenly, a humanoid covered in black, roiling energy had appeared in an instant next to Lotus.
"I'm here," he said. "Don't worry..."
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