I Only Wanted A Class In The Apocalypse

Chapter 1922: Arriving at the Hescosʼ Homeland!

”Oh, you have no idea, do you?” Olana realised then just how young and naive Hye still was regarding the deep secrets and long heritage of the universe. ”The Hescos never invite anyone to their homeland! In fact, no one in the universe even knows where their homeland is!”

Her words were bizarre, but they resonated with the empty space Hye had seen on the maps. ”Are you telling me their capital world isnʼt on any star map?”

”Itʼs not just ʼnot on the map,ʼ Hye. Itʼs not a common secret you can buy from a broker. Itʼs not a privileged high-level secret you can find in the archives of a Middle Race. It is a ghost! Some say the Toranks might have an idea, maybe the Hectors, but for someone to be invited there... Itʼs unheard of!”

Hye fell silent, staring out at the swirling colours of warp space as they entered the first gate. He had initially taken the invitation as a gesture of favour or perhaps a sign that Mothʼs influence was growing. But Olanaʼs terror suggested something far more complex.

This meeting wasnʼt just for a consultation. The Hescos were bringing him into the heart of their power because they didnʼt just want his analysis—they wanted to see if he was a variable they could control, or a threat they needed to extinguish before the Toranks did it for them.

Or perhaps it was a test to see if he was worthy of their support. The stakes of this meeting had just shifted from diplomatic to exponential in just one single leap.

”Do you know anything about that planet?” Hye asked, his voice low as he leaned against the bulkhead. He watched Olana, hoping she might have some scrap of valuable intel, a whisper of a rumour, or even an old legend about the Hescosʼ homeland.

But when she sighed and shook her head, a heavy silence filled the cabin. He knew then that he was walking into a pitch-black room with his eyes blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back.

He forced himself to mentally replay every interaction he had ever had with the Hescos. Aside from the old, bloody grievances of the apocalypse, their relationship had been warming on a daily basis. They were trade partners, allies in the brewing war against the Toranks. There was no obvious, logical reason for them to backstab him now.

”There is still more to this,” Hye murmured. He couldnʼt pinpoint the exact source of the cold, gnawing worry in his gut, but he knew he couldnʼt turn back. If he wanted to solve the mystery of the God weapon and successfully lead the upcoming expedition, he had to pass through this fire.

”You know you have a death wish, right?” Olana asked, her voice tight with exasperation. She had spent the last several days trying to talk him out of this suicidal move, even going as far as to enlist the help of his friends and his ladies.

Yet, in the end, Hye had been unmovable like a mountain. Now, their ship sat humming on the precipice, stationed just outside the star system that served as the Hescosʼ hidden sanctuary.

”The stakes of not going are far deadlier,” Hye countered, his eyes fixed on the navigational display. He was already at the top of the Toranksʼ blacklist—one of the universeʼs apex predators was actively hunting him.

It would be beyond foolish to put himself back on the blacklist of the Hescos, the undisputed masters of the universe. ”Iʼll try my best not to cause a disaster down there.”

”I hardly believe that!” Olana rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in a gesture of defeat. She knew there was no point in using words to dissuade him once his mind was set. ”Just know this: Iʼm waiting here with Lucas. We have the engines hot, and we can move to help the moment you send a signal. Any notice at all, Hye.”

”Sure,” Hye said, raising a fist in the air as a silent salute before turning to the airlock. As he prepared to board his personal small ship, he tried to shake off the lingering dread. Even if he was worried, a deeper intuition told him the danger wasnʼt necessarily related to the Hescosʼ intentions toward his person.

It had taken a full two weeks of high-speed travel and hidden jump-points to arrive at these coordinates. During the entire journey, he had obsessed over the nature of his anxiety.

When he had tried to press Moth for details, the man had been cryptic, describing the invitation as a chance and a danger in the same package. Moth had stressed their good intentions repeatedly, yet the word danger had appeared in every other sentence.

”Time for the truth,” Hye whispered. He boarded his small, sleek black scout ship and detached from the main vessel. He steered it toward the depths of the uncharted system.

[Iʼm here. Entering the system in a small black ship,] he messaged Moth.

Moth was already waiting, with many others. As Hye crossed the outer threshold of the solar system, he witnessed something that defied standard galactic logic. A thick, titanic layer of jagged rocks and planetary debris floated in the void, forming a perfect, spherical shell that completely engulfed the inner solar system.

”Thatʼs new,” Hye muttered in amusement. He had seen fortress worlds and different worlds before, but this was the first time he had encountered a naturally occurring—or perfectly mimicked—defensive shell of this scale.

”The weirdest part is my radar didnʼt catch a glimpse of any of this from the outside. All the sensors showed was emptiness and a single, lonely star. This is some high-level masking.”

[Follow my instructions to the letter, or else the layers of defensive measures will be triggered. They are tight, and they are deadly,] Moth sent back. It wasnʼt a suggestion; it was a dire warning.

Just as the message arrived, several ships shimmered into existence on Hyeʼs proximity sensors. They came from different vectors, boxing him in, their hulls dark and menacing as they closed the distance.