‘The Goddess's grace will save us all.’
Celia recalled the past, back when she was still an ordinary human mage.
Karmi—the homeland known by that name—was later established as the Holy Kingdom by the Goddess's followers during the era of the Terra Hegemony War.
To seize Terra, many deities had gathered there. Hestia's Goddess of Light Association also existed there, and naturally, they became a group of loyal servants, devoted to the power the Goddess bestowed and the miracles she manifested.
To resist and survive, she worked for the Holy Kingdom, fighting against the Great Devourer that had begun to multiply in the north.
Consequently, she was called an “evil witch” by some, and even faced assassination attempts.
Even so, the Holy Kingdom quickly reorganized its structure and established a well-defined system.
Under the divine protection of the deities and the management of capable servants, they built massive high walls and fought tenaciously against the Great Devourer.
Ironically, at the time, Hestia had considered Celia a highly useful servant, even wanting to bestow more power upon her and take her in as a trusted confidante.
Yet even then, Celia fundamentally doubted the Goddess, so their relationship never progressed any further.
“Do you know how much I regretted that? Instead of dying in defeat to those monsters, you appeared fused with them to annihilate my servants. How do you think I felt watching that?”
Celia shuddered at Hestia directly bringing up the past and bit her lip. “...That is precisely the problem. Has your way of doing things from then until now not just been a continuous repetition of failure?”
The sting of being betrayed by Hestia's Apostle, Marianne, still pricked her clearly to this day.
Thinking back to that time, one could see how ridiculous and amusing it was that the two of them were now facing each other as a Central Officer and a Legion Commander of the Great Devourer.
“You are artfully dodging the point. Defeat is something we have all experienced.”
Hestia pointed out that Celia herself had also been absorbed by the colony after being defeated.
Celia was temporarily at a loss for words.
In fact, all the self-awareness currently assimilated by the hive mind, except for the Queens who were born and raised within it from the very beginning, had been absorbed after defeat.
This included Celia herself, who was the first to join, and even Hestia, who had once been a Goddess.
Ultimately, defeat was equivalent to having the audacity to oppose the colony and proving that one possessed the qualification and ability to do so.
If they had not fiercely resisted the colony and instead surrendered meekly, Elise would never have allowed such mediocre beings to assimilate with it.
“But are you satisfied with just this? Being recognized by the Queens and assimilating with the colony. The very power that defeated us has now become our own. However, we must also continuously evolve. Otherwise, no one knows when they might be discarded.”
Hestia warned Celia that even though she was symbolically the first Legion Commander, she must never rest easy.
In truth, the authority and trust Elise bestowed upon Celia stemmed entirely from the abilities and results she had demonstrated since joining the colony.
No matter how long they spent together, Elise basically never developed affection or attachment to others.
For the Queens, who started as completely blank slates, what mattered most was the prosperity of the colony engraved in their instincts, as well as their attachment and loyalty to Lin Miao—the true master who had a profound influence on them—which grew alongside their self-awareness.
‘I cannot deny it.’
Celia, harboring a primal fear of Elise, gritted her teeth.
At first glance, the Queens of the colony, including Elise, sometimes seemed like innocent children.
However, this innocence was by no means always positive.
Celia recalled repeatedly that even though Elise had shared trials and tribulations with her for so long, if the calculations showed she was no longer necessary, Elise would purge her without even blinking.
Of course, if Lin Miao intervened, the outcome would be different. But at the very least, Celia could not be certain if that great lord, whose existence was difficult for even her to fathom, would protect her.
“A definite answer... is no.”
Having listened to the entire conversation between Hestia and Celia through the screen, Lin Miao murmured to himself with an interested expression.
Hestia was, after all, a Goddess.
Although she had joined the hive mind later and held a vague position like Central Officer with various restrictions, she still strove to secure her own place and standing within the colony through the best actions she could perform.
As an established force, Celia was instinctively wary of this, but Hestia's logic was not wrong.
In the end, everything boiled down to one point.
“Prove it for the sake of the colony.”
Elise grinned, declaring it as a matter of course.
Who was right would not be proven by ten sentences or a groundless mindset, but by results.
For the Great Devourer, whose very foundation was having "no foundation," what was needed was not grand processes and procedures.
No matter the method, as long as it produced results, it was enough.
Just as Celia had expected, Elise did not give her extra points simply because she was her first Legion Commander and loyal confidante.
For the Queens of the colony, developing affection over time did not exist.
This might seem harsh, but it was precisely the core reason why the colony could continue to move forward and never stagnate.
Evolution must continue.
If necessary, they would not hesitate to discard everything old. Both Elise and Kerrigan had modified their own bodies for the sake of evolution.
Celia shared these facts with her closest companion, Lisette. “...So I must achieve even greater merits in this war.”
Lisette advised, “Overexerting yourself might not be a good thing.”
Celia nodded. “I know. It will only end up making me busier.”
To continue implementing her beliefs, Celia had to maintain her voice within the colony.
And to do that, she needed corresponding achievements.
To gain achievements, the best opportunity was undoubtedly war.
She instinctively felt that she had to show she had not stagnated and was still growing in this war.
When an already hardworking person put in even more effort, results would naturally follow.
◆◆◆
“An unprecedented force?”
Lin Miao uttered this casually because the screen before him showed a massive amount of forces taking off from the nests, assembling within the orbits of various planets.
He had long known the numbers were vast.
What amazed him was the sheer grandeur of the main force, which included the colossal Abyssal Palace.
According to the plan, they would deploy a massive portion of their main force using coordinates obtained beforehand to attack the Empyrean Council, which was composed of deities.
The objective was the same as when they had spared no effort to destroy the Goddess of Light Association.
That is, to destroy and occupy planets one by one, expanding their occupied territory, repelling the exhausted enemies after a war of attrition, and then taking over their lands.
Disrupting coordinates to interfere with warps was a technology possessed by all higher civilizations. However, doing so year-round to guard against an enemy whose time and place of attack were unknown would consume too many resources, resulting in more loss than gain.
In other words, unless detected in advance, a surprise airstrike was destined to succeed.
Although most campaigns would not easily opt for such tactics due to the potential side effects and expansion of the front lines, what if a race was genetically designed for war from its very inception?
“If they lose a high-tier territory right from the start, they will fall into chaos. Even if we only destroy key facilities, it will be difficult for the enemy to counterattack.”
Hestia suggested that if they actively utilized the Abyssal Palace to strike down the planets one by one, the enemy would not be able to resist effectively.
Unlike her past self, who had no interest in war, the current Hestia was racking her brain on how to win the war and was thoroughly enjoying it.
Unlike the past when it was difficult to profit from war, the current structure allowed them to reap greater rewards the more they fought, making the difference immense.
“The Empyrean Council is a place composed of deities of different Divine Statuses. If we attack and capture the territories of weaker deities first, we can secure stronger outposts.”
Celia proposed an opinion slightly different from Hestia's.
She advocated that while balancing offense and defense, they should nest the occupied lands and use them as outposts.
Her rationale was that territories ruled by deities with lower Divine Statuses and weaker strength were easier to attack.
“A promising proposal.”
Reclining in her terrarium nest, Elise began to ponder.
She mobilized the vast knowledge and experience accumulated in the colony, along with her computational power capable of processing all of it at ultra-high speed.
Calculating various possibilities, she made the most logical judgment based on the results.
“Do both.”
“?!”
The calculated result was somewhat shocking.
Even Hestia and Celia, who had been the most active in offering opinions, widened their eyes in surprise.
“The Abyssal Palace and the main force will paralyze the enemy planet's troops, defenses, and major facilities related to world observation.”
Elise did not issue such an order without basis.
She followed a complex way of thinking and calculation within the colony that perhaps only she herself could comprehend.
“Afterward, the follow-up units will nest the occupied lands and build them into outposts.”
Therefore, those who could not disobey the order had to take action immediately.
Sigh.
Celia reviewed the plan and sighed softly.
Although she could not fully understand it, Elise was likely already calculating in her mind who was superior and more useful.
Celia's role was the stabilization of occupied lands and the construction of outposts.
This was similar to the role Celia had always undertaken.
At that moment, Meliodas quietly approached Celia. “The place we are about to attack is the core territory of a relatively advanced civilization. When establishing outposts on the defeated enemy planets, there will be a large number of captives.”
Having joined as a Legion Commander, Meliodas's body was no longer covered by the Holy Light Winged Armor created by the sacred civilization's holy engineering technology. Instead, he was covered like armor by symbiotic carapace ants reinforced with a magic heart and reinforcement stones.
Meliodas continued, “Thanks to you, the colony avoided indiscriminate massacres and scorched-earth policies. My homeland, as well as the people I was supposed to protect, were saved because of this.”
“This was only possible because it is beneficial to the colony.”
Although Celia felt uncomfortable with his status as Hestia's confidant, Meliodas had held a favorable impression of Celia from the very beginning.
For anyone who understood the history and development of the colony would know that her influence was by no means small.
Turning around, Meliodas, who wore helmet-like armor, whispered in a self-deprecating voice, “That is precisely the ability of a Legion Commander. To balance both sides as much as possible. I fear that in the future, for her and for the colony, I will wield not a sword of protection, but a sword of slaughter.”
Hearing his words as he walked away, Celia stared blankly at his retreating back.
“Please do your best. I am sorry for making you bear the sins in my stead.”
For her, what she carried now was no longer just her own beliefs.
“Warp, begin!”
At Elise's command, thousands of monsters, including those of the Abyssal Palace, deployed their warp fields simultaneously and attempted to warp.
The space nest Abyssal Palace, 400 Chronos, 1,200 Hive Motherships, and 3,600 Brood Lords.
Along with the countless troops riding within them.
The massive legion of monsters warped simultaneously, abruptly appearing in the orbit of a planet that was panicked by this unprecedented warp attempt.
“I see them!”
“You seem very excited.”
Riding aboard the Abyssal Palace, Kerrigan was excited for another war that had finally arrived.
Hestia looked at Kerrigan and grinned like she was looking at a naive child, though she herself was not much better.
Because this was her first time using the Abyssal Palace in actual combat, and since the Abyssal Palace was now like her own body, she felt equally excited.
Hestia was now focused solely on killing more enemies and establishing military merits to prove herself.
It had not taken long for this noble, proud Goddess to turn into a war maniac even worse than the God of War.
“...Heh.”
Observing all of this through the hive mind, Elise's lips curled up slightly.
Now, the colony had grown to the point where it could collide head-on with a planet and utterly destroy it.
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