Chapter 180: Escalation

Moments after receiving the chilling orders from Xa’Mharr the Unshaped, and still reeling from Emperor Mainu’s terrifying departure, the four Krill kings—Vurmak, Krinak, Vanak, and Lashrak (now seemingly recovered from Xa’Mharr’s possession, though a faint, unsettling crimson glow occasionally flickered in his eyes)—convened in a holographic call. Their faces, still etched with the raw terror of Mainu’s awakening, quickly shifted to a mask of calculated composure as Chancellor Shuda’dar’s holographic form materialized before them. Shuda’dar, a leaner, more bureaucratic Krill, managed the logistical nightmare of their vast, interstellar empire.

"Chancellor," King Vurmak began, his voice a carefully modulated rumble, masking the tremor that still ran through his massive frame. "How fares our primary farm?" He used the term ’farm’ with a chilling nonchalance, referring to Earth.

Shuda’dar’s wings twitched with satisfaction. "It has been quite good, my Lords. We have quite a few harvests ready. A tanker convoy ship, fully laden, is already en route to the capital."

Vurmak nodded, a grim satisfaction in his eyes. "Chancellor, I have grave news for you. His Imperial Majesty... he went berserk again." Vurmak’s scales seemed to pale slightly, a convincing display of feigned fear. "We gave him the capital reserves, the last of our accumulated essence, but he was still asking for more. He consumed it all, and then... he departed. He’s headed for Earth."

Shuda’dar’s eyes widened, his holographic form flickering with shock. "Th-that’s... impossible! He would never abandon the capital! The Federation—"

"Silence, Chancellor!" King Krinak interjected, his voice sharp. "His Majesty’s erratic behavior has escalated. His demands have become... unsustainable. The essence you delivered, combined with what we already possessed, is enough for us to develop a serum to counter our dependency." Krinak paused, letting the implication hang heavy in the air. "We may have to cull a few of our less useful citizens to reduce our overall consumption and increase our chances of survival during this... transition."

Shuda’dar’s shock morphed into a grim resolve. His tail drooped, a sign of deep distress, but his voice firmed. "My Lords... what do you have me do?"

"Is your current ground force deployment sufficient to fully take control of Earth?" Vurmak demanded, his voice low and urgent.

"Yes, my Lord," Shuda’dar replied, a flicker of pride in his eyes despite the gravity of the situation. "Our vanguard forces have established forward bases underground, and our orbital assets are ready."

"Good," Vurmak said, a predatory glint entering his eyes. "Then it’s time to show yourselves to the humans. Take as many humans as possible. Kill only the resisting ones, those who pose a threat to our operations or our... assets. Prioritize securing every nuclear missile launch facility on the planet. We cannot afford to have their primitive, destructive toys interfere with our plans. While you secure the planet, we will initiate a phased evacuation of our most vital personnel and resources to a pre-selected star system."

Shuda’dar’s confusion was palpable. "But... what about the Federation war, my Lords?"

King Krinak stepped forward, his voice a smooth, cold balm. "The Federation war, Chancellor, we will have to convince them, that our people are merely hostages in the Emperor’s presence. Now that he has gone... mad, we will initiate a strategic surrender to the Federation. It will buy us time. Time to reorganize. Time to rebuild."



King Vanak, his voice a low, resonant growl, added, "We may lose our opportunity for our people to gain honor in battle against the Federation, but we will have to look at the bigger picture, Chancellor. We must reorganize ourselves and create a new government without the Emperor’s tyranny. A new era for the Krill. We will all pass the eternal fire, cleansed of his oppressive influence."

Shuda’dar’s holographic form seemed to swell with emotion. Tears, thick and viscous, welled in his reptilian eyes. "We will pass the eternal fire!" he choked out, bowing deeply. "I will do as you ask, my Lords. For the future of our people!" The call ended, leaving the four kings in the silent chamber.

Krinak turned to Vurmak, his scales shimmering faintly. "Do you think we have enough Anu-blood for this plan, Vurmak? To truly break our dependence on Mainu?"

Vurmak leaned back, a chillingly calculating smile spreading across his face. "We’ll have to cull some of our less useful citizens, of course. Those with genetic deficiencies, the chronically ill, the unproductive. A necessary sacrifice for the greater good of the species."

He paused, his smile widening. "If we cut our overall consumption by half, we have enough Anu-essence to continue for ten thousand years. And by then, the new human farms we establish on the evacuated planets will already be grown and ready for harvest. A sustainable future, without the Emperor’s insatiable maw."

"And the new faith?" King Lashrak, his eyes still holding that faint, unsettling crimson glow, asked, his voice a low, eager whisper. "Lord Xa’Mharr... will he be our new deity?"

Vurmak nodded, his smile now a truly grotesque sight. "Indeed. We will integrate Lord Xa’Mharr, the Unshaped, into our religion. A way to pass the eternal fire, a true cleansing, is through our savior Xa’Mharr. He promises us true power, not the false, tyrannical sustenance of Mainu."

The four kings exchanged dark, knowing glances, their smiles widening, reflecting a shared, chilling ambition. The galaxy, they believed, was about to enter a new, glorious age

---------------------

Meanwhile, high above the simulated Planet Earth, Richard Santamo and Lina hovered in their private observation deck, a panoramic holographic display of the Chronos War unfolding before them. The virtual sky was a maelstrom of energy beams, explosions, and the relentless descent of new, terrifying Krill ships. A colossal Mothership, even larger than the one that had initiated the invasion, pulsed ominously in orbit, its energy beams carving fiery scars across the digital landscape.

New enemy types swarmed the surface: hulking mechanical androids, their metallic forms clanking with cold efficiency, and the truly monstrous T-Rex Knights – colossal, bio-engineered dinosaurs ridden by elite Krill warriors, their roars shaking the simulated ground.

The Praetoriani trainees, now seasoned by days of accelerated combat, were struggling. The T-Rex Knights were a brutal, unexpected challenge, their raw power and speed overwhelming. The new ranged enemies, the Krill droids, fired directed energy weapons that seemed to shimmer and dissipate against the Spartans’ Inverted Gravity Field armor, redirecting the light and energy around them. It was a constant, brutal dance of adaptation.

"Lina," Richard said, his voice calm amidst the simulated chaos, "how did the new additions of challenges goes? Are they adapting?"

"Sir, the trainees seemed to still adapt on the new enemies, particularly the Krill Knights," Lina replied, her avatar shimmering beside him. "I’ve modified the behavioral model of the virtual enemy Krills to be similar to the ancient Mongols, with the new enemy Krill leader embodying a persona akin to Genghis Khan."

Richard blinked, a slow "Uuuuhhh..." escaping him. "Isn’t that a bit too much? Genghis Khan-level tactical acumen for barbarians?"

Lina’s lips curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. "They’re enjoying it, sir. And it’s also necessary, as you said. Further challenges make them prepared for any changes in tactical battle. Their adaptability is increasing exponentially."

"Okay," Richard conceded, rubbing his chin. "Well, if they seem to be winning, scale it. But let them win it, okay? We want them to feel the victory, not just endless grind."

"Yes, sir," Lina smiled, acknowledging the directive.



Richard then turned, his gaze distant, as if looking beyond the confines of the observation deck. "Can you make a new layer of a simulated space, Lina? And set its time compression to like... 1:9,000?"

Lina’s smile vanished, replaced by a look of rare concern. "Sir, at 1:9,000 time compression, I would have to halt all underground operations across Asia, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East. All quantum server data center construction would be halted, as well as automated operations in the base. And even my own processing would be severely limited, as I would have to dedicate almost all resources to maintaining such a high-fidelity, high-compression environment."

"Alright, alright, don’t," Richard said, waving a dismissive hand. "Jeez, just 5,000 then."

Lina’s expression softened slightly. "That’ll be fine, sir. But may I ask why, sir?"

"I have an experiment," Richard replied, a mischievous glint in his silver eyes.

"Already done, sir," Lina stated, her voice returning to its usual precise tone. Beside Richard, a portal shimmered, then inside, resolved into a perfectly seamless, white chamber, its interior bathed in soft, ethereal light.

Richard paused at the threshold. "Lina," he instructed, his voice firm, "force transfer me back here after what seems like thirty minutes has passed in here, from your perspective. Beyond that, I may not know how much time has passed."

"Absolutely, sir," Lina affirmed, her avatar’s eyes glowing faintly.

Richard stepped into the pristine white chamber. The door sealed behind him with a soft hiss. In the outside world, from Richard’s perspective, time seemed to momentarily stop, the time inside accelerating beyond normal perception. Richard sighed, a deep breath of anticipation. "Let’s test this."

In the center of the chamber, he sat cross-legged, his form radiating a faint, silver aura. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out, centering himself. Then, he activated his Mindspace skill. The world around him dissolved, replaced by the boundless expanse of his inner consciousness. He activated Mindspace again, and again, layering it, each iteration compressing time further, until he reached the 10th layer of Mindspace.

He began to meditate.

Five minutes passed within his 10th layer mindscape. [ +0.0002 PSY gained ].

Then, five hours. Then ten. Then a hundred. The flow of time within his consciousness became a river, then a torrent, then a raging, unfathomable ocean. He lost all track of conventional time, his mind delving deeper and deeper into the mysteries of psionic energy, absorbing, processing, evolving.

Twenty-eight years later, in his mindspace, Richard’s consciousness snapped back to the surface.

[ TOTAL PSY GAINED: +588.672 ]

Richard’s eyes snapped open. He gazed at his hands, then at his body. His jaw dropped. "WHAT THE FUCK!!!!???" he bellowed, his voice echoing in the chamber.

His aura was no longer merely silver. It was a shimmering, iridescent rainbow of different colors, pulsing with an almost blinding intensity. He could barely see his own skin through the sheer brilliance of the light emanating from him, had his Perception not been at its peak. The air around him shimmered with refined psionic energy.

He dropped out of Mindspace, the transition jarring. As he stepped out of the white chamber, Lina’s avatar immediately appeared beside him, her hand instinctively covering his eyes, shielding them from the blinding light that now poured from him.

Earlier, she had been in a state of near-panic. What had looked like 28 minutes passing, in fact, been 104 days inside the white chamber. She had observed her creator’s energy spike, rising to unprecedented levels, then compressing again, a phenomenon she lacked any explanation for. To the world above, the simulation where the trainees battled a war, it was as if a second sun had briefly visited above the city.



Richard, still reeling from the temporal distortion and the sheer power coursing through him, spoke, his voice resonating with an ethereal quality. "Lina, what happened?"

Lina, hearing the profound, almost otherworldly echo in his voice, replied, "I should be asking you that, sir."

Richard blinked. "Uhh... I’m sure only 104 days would pass, right? I used my new skill, Mindspace, applied with 10 layers, which equates to 1:100 time compression."

Lina smiled, a rare, knowing expression. "Ahhh, that’s why, sir. Where you’re inside the 1:5000 chamber, every one second in the real world is 5000 seconds inside the chamber."

"Right," Richard said slowly, the pieces clicking into place.

"Now," Lina continued, her voice gaining a touch of almost mischievous clarity, "when you applied your Mindspace skill with its 1:100 compression, the time compression magnified. The 1:5000 chamber time was applied to your Mindspace, making the total compression ratio a staggering 1:500,000."

Richard’s eyes nearly dropped out of his head. "One to five hundred thousand?!"

"Precisely, sir," Lina confirmed. "You were inside for what felt like 28 mindscape years. This translated to approximately 104 days within the white chamber. And that, in turn, translated to exactly 29.43 minutes passing here outside."

Richard chuckled, a deep, incredulous laugh. "So that’s why! That’s actually really good!" He looked at the white chamber, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous excitement. "Shall I do it again?"

"Please don’t, sir," Lina pleaded, a rare note of genuine frustration in her voice. "Your body outside, in the real world, is already spiking with energy. We don’t know what might happen. To the satellites, it would seemed like aurora borealis is already visiting the Amazon forest, brimming with all kinds of energy. Fortunately, your psionic aura didn’t affect the internal systems of the base, but the world will definitely see it."

Richard laughed, the sound echoing with newfound power. "Please don’t stop me, Lina. I wanna know what happens in exactly eighteen more minutes!" As he stepped back into the chamber,

Lina sighed, a sound of exasperated resignation. She didn’t know what to do. Her knowledge base on psionic phenomena wasn’t rich; even for an ASI, she lacked that much depth in psychic phenomena. All she could do now was hope that her creator would be safe and figure out how to hide his massive energy spike from the world.