Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 1820: Inviting Wolves Into Home

At this moment, roughly two million federal haulers remained stationed around the Morpheus Asteroid Belt.

The fleet’s commander was a five-star general—a genetically enhanced super soldier with peak Rank Five individual combat strength.

The energy blocks, delivered by the massive convoy of haulers, lit up the once silent, pitch-black Morpheus Asteroid Belt like broad daylight.

From the center of the asteroid belt, a vast and oppressive energy fluctuation pulsed outward. Yet it remained tightly contained beneath a layer of specialized sealing runes.

Without the Magus Civilization’s knowledge, the Gallant Federation and the Amenkha Empire had already reached a covert agreement.

Only through such cooperation could an enormous stockpile of energy blocks be transported into the Morpheus Asteroid Belt without leaving a trace.

Even after activation, the resulting elemental turbulence failed to draw any attention from the Magus Civilization.

This was made possible by the sealing techniques the federation had borrowed from the Amenkha Empire.

Likewise, the Amenkha Empire’s ability to launch an expedition against the Magus Civilization depended heavily on the Gallant Federation, which bore at least sixty-five percent of the energy cost.

The Gallant Federation truly had deep pockets!

As the Federation’s haulers unloaded crates of neutral energy blocks one after another and stacked them high, the Amenkha Empire forces arriving through the long-distance passage could not hide their astonishment or greed.

At its core, the Amenkha Empire was a civilization built on self-cultivation and relentless plunder.

When it came to energy development and utilization, it was indeed less efficient than the Gallant Federation.

That was the hallmark of top-tier civilizations—superiority in overall strength did not mean dominance in every field.

At present, the three top-tier civilizations were roughly ranked in power as follows: the Amenkha Empire, followed by the Magus Civilization, and then the Gallant Federation.

Despite its comparatively weaker standing, the Gallant Federation still possessed strengths the Amenkha Empire envied.

“General Saden, is it?” The Tenth Pharaoh, who had just arrived, smiled as she looked at the middle-aged federal general before her.

“You seem rather afraid of us,” she said.

Thanks to his advanced genetic enhancements, General Saden was capable of traversing the Astral Realm even without his fleet.

His current level of augmentation represented the very peak of the Gallant Federation’s genetic engineering.

Yet even a super soldier at the peak of Rank Five could not stop the cold sweat from running down his face as he stood before the Tenth Pharaoh of the Amenkha Empire.

The natural stress reaction of a lower-ranking individual in the presence of a superior was clearly evident in this five-star general. Even so, he held himself together well.

Saden suppressed his unease as much as possible and avoided making a fool of himself in front of both the Amenkha Empire’s powerhouses and his own fleet.

“Heh, Tenth Pharaoh, you must be joking. What do I have to fear?” General Saden replied, forcing a stiff smile.

In truth, General Saden was something of a legend within the Gallant Federation.

When the federation first launched its campaign to conquer and annex the Rosen Dynasty Civilization, Saden had been nothing more than a lieutenant colonel in a small special operations fleet.

The brutality of that war allowed a capable officer like him to rise rapidly, climbing to the rank of five-star general in just tens of thousands of years.

Translated into the Magus Civilization’s power system, that was the equivalent of jumping from Rank Two to the peak of Rank Six within the same span of time.

After all, a fleet commanded by a five-star general represented the strongest force below the overlord level, with combat power comparable to a peak Rank Six being.

Sending General Saden on this mission was also a clear sign of how seriously the Gallant Federation regarded the Amenkha Empire’s forces.

If they had not been so stretched thin and wary of the Amenkha Empire, the federation might well have dispatched a marshal to handle the negotiations in person.

Saden’s strained response only made the Tenth Pharaoh’s smile broaden.

She flicked her sharp, gray nails and chuckled softly. “Relax. I won’t kill you.”

“Neither will the legions under my command harm our Gallant Federation allies. I’ll keep them under control as much as I can,” she added.

The Tenth Pharaoh was clearly different from the others of the Amenkha Empire.

Even during the earlier secret negotiations, she had been the most reasonable among them.

The other two Pharaohs, present at the talks only as projections, had left the Gallant Federation’s high command with nothing but a cold, distant impression.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of Amenkha Empire troops continued streaming in through the long-range teleportation gate, steadily pushing the seals here to their limits.

On top of that, the energy blocks supplied by the Gallant Federation were not infinite.

According to projections from the federation’s ultimate quantum computer, the Amenkha Empire’s total deployment would likely stabilize at around thirty-five million troops.

The Gallant Federation also had its guard up.

After all, bringing in too many Amenkha forces would be no different from inviting wolves into their own home.

The arrival of thirty-five million troops and only a handful of overlords was nowhere near enough to completely turn the tide of a civilizational war.

What the Gallant Federation hoped to do was shift momentum on the current frontlines as quickly as possible.

As for the long-term consequences and potential backlash that the Amenkha Empire’s involvement might bring, the federation simply could not afford to worry about that right now.

Their top priority now was simply to survive this crisis!

Under General Saden’s watchful eye, the first wave to arrive was the Amenkha Empire’s most elite regular forces, numbering about ten million.

They emerged as a terrifying horde of black-armored monsters. While humanoid in form, most were grotesque and draped in the flayed skin of other creatures.

A strong aura of death and darkness rose from their ranks, permeating the surrounding space.

Saden was a seasoned federal general who had fought on battlefields. Even so, his instincts warned him that leading his fleet against these forces would be a brutal battle, even with apocalyptic weapons at his disposal—one where his soldiers might not even leave behind bodies to bury.

The Tenth Pharaoh was not the only powerhouse the Amenkha Empire had sent.

Accompanying her were numerous generals ranging from Rank Four to Rank Six, along with Pharaohs of the same life levels.

In terms of individual strength, these Pharaohs appeared slightly stronger than the Empire’s regular soldiers, and the “bandages” wrapped around their bodies were noticeably thicker.

Saden could barely conceal his shock as the next wave began to arrive.

A dense tide of ferocious creatures poured forth from the massive teleportation gate.

It was none other than the Amenkha Empire’s infamous Monster Legion!

On average, they were even larger than Titans, with nearly all of them standing over fifteen meters tall.[1]

While the Magus Civilization relied on enslaved creatures as expendable troops, and the Gallant Federation filled its frontlines with drones, self-propelled artillery, and combat robots, the Amenkha Empire deployed its fearsome Monster Legion—a force both feared and respected across countless worlds!

And according to the agreed deployment limits, the number of Monster Legion troops pouring into the Morpheus Star Domain would exceed twenty million!

1. Author’s Note: A Rank One Titan stands at roughly ten meters. ☜