CHAPTER 406: I HOPE! II

Achilles nodded.

"The best way to defeat stronger enemies," he said, "is infiltration that provides complete intelligence about their capabilities, understanding exactly how many adversaries require elimination, and then systematically dismantling their entire infrastructure from within."

...!

The words fell into the space between them like architectural blueprints for conquest.

Marshal Ashfall trembled as possibilities beyond his imagination crystallized into strategic reality. When he spoke again, his voice carried curiosity that transcended personal survival.

"The Taboo of Adrastia hates all living things, or so we have been taught. Is this truly accurate? What do you plan to do against the Sovereign Void Imperium? We oversee hundreds of planes of existence and worlds...there are hundreds of billions of beings who know nothing about you. Will you kill them all? Will you select targets according to some criteria? Are you truly the murderous legend we were taught to fear?"

...!

For a moment, Achilles remained silent, his enhanced consciousness evaluating the Marshal’s questions with consideration.

Then, from his back, thousands of tendrils erupted like stellar phenomena given biological form.

They moved with purposeful grace through the ship’s corridors, extending beyond the vessel’s hull to reach toward the dying crimson star where the remnants of the Five Kings’ forces lay scattered across cosmic debris.

When the tendrils touched the corpses throughout the ship, the bodies began to glow with internal fire before dissolving into streams of concentrated essence that flowed back toward Achilles’ enhanced physiology. The systematic assimilation was methodical, efficient.

"The future will be painted with the blood of those who killed and hunted generations of my family," Achilles replied as the absorption continued, his voice carrying finality that suggested no negotiation or mercy.

Ashfall’s remaining eye widened as understanding struck him with the force of revelation.

"The Grand Emperor of the Sovereign Void Imperium," he said with rueful laughter that carried notes of cosmic irony. "It is written in our core histories that he was summoned to lend assistance when hunting down the forces of the last confirmed Adrastia Taboo. Will you be seeking to topple him? You would destabilize an entire star sector. You would alert the powers that the Sovereign Void Imperium pays tribute to, and they would dispatch investigators to determine what had occurred."

His voice grew weaker as his enhanced physiology continued its systematic failure, but his words carried urgent warning that transcended personal survival.

"The moment they discover discrepancies and realize that the Taboo has resurged, you would be eliminated just like those before you."

As if responding to his deteriorating condition, one of Achilles’ stellar tendrils wrapped around the Marshal’s failing form.

The contact stabilized his existence, but both beings understood that this was not an act of mercy...it was preservation for purposes that served larger strategic objectives.

Ashfall felt the tendril’s touch and laughed with fearful understanding. "My entire existence will now be devoured by a Taboo I had only heard described in cautionary tales. This is truly not such a terrible way to end."

He turned his gaze toward Achilles with expression that mixed defiance and resignation in equal measure.

"I would wish you luck, Taboo, but you may not require it. Instead, I will wish for your downfall. Just like the other generations of Taboos, may you fail and die, just as I will soon join them in whatever comes after."

HUUM!

Achilles regarded the dying Marshal with cold calculation.

With a simple nod, he began the final phase of assimilation.

But this time, the process was deliberate in its cruelty.

Marshal Ashfall’s screams echoed through the dying ship as his enhanced physiology was systematically dissolved, his consciousness experiencing every moment of transformation from individual entity to raw material for greater purposes!

Through his agony, laughter continued to bubble up...the hysterical mirth of someone who had finally understood the joke that his existence had become.

"I hope you join me in death someday!" he managed between waves of pain that transcended physical sensation. "I hope..."

His words dissolved into gurgles as his form became liquid essence that flowed toward Achilles like crimson rivers finding their proper ocean.

Standing amidst the devastation he had authored, Achilles resembled something that belonged in the nightmares of cosmic entities...stellar tendrils erupting from his enhanced form as he systematically absorbed everything that remained of what had once been a diplomatic mission!

The sight was magnificent and terrible in equal measure, beauty and horror merged into something that redefined both concepts entirely.

Long before Ashfall’s consciousness had finally guttered out, the last two Kings of the Virgo Stellar Expanse had succumbed to injuries that transcended their ability to heal. Their enhanced forms joined the growing collection of assimilated essence that would fuel whatever came next in the grand design that stretched across spatial distances.

The Five Kings of the Virgo Stellar Expanse were no more!

The systematic consumption continued with methodical precision.

Achilles’ stellar tendrils spread outward like a cosmic web, their starlight-infused length extending across impossible distances to claim everything that remained of what had once been a thriving military installation.

Corpses dissolved into streams of concentrated essence...not just those aboard the diplomatic vessel, but every fallen being scattered across the debris fields that stretched for thousands of kilometers.

Enhanced Ethereal Physiology entities, Dharma Kings, administrative personnel, maintenance crews...all became raw material for transformation!

But it was when his tendrils reached toward the dying crimson star itself that the true scope of his capabilities became apparent.

The stellar body, already weakened by extinction fields that had compromised its nuclear stability, offered no resistance as tendrils of living starlight wrapped around its massive form.

A star...began to be devoured!

The sight was beyond description...a being small enough to stand upon planetary surfaces systematically devouring a stellar body whose mass dwarfed entire solar systems. Fusion reactions that had burned for years were absorbed, processed, integrated into biological architecture.

Vessels, debris fields...everything of biological or energetic value disappeared into the expanding network of consumption that radiated from his transformed form.

It was...dreadful!

When the process finally concluded, only two entities remained in the vast emptiness that had once housed an interstellar power...Achilles, now blazing with the absorbed essence of an entire star, and the moon-sized horror that served as his weapon.

Everything else had become history...literally consumed and transformed into power that would fuel whatever glorious ambitions lay ahead!