“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!”The leader of the Elara shouted in anger as he walked at an increasing pace, surrounded by his family with royal guards flanking them on both sides, being very vigilant as they hurried through the underground tunnel towards the escape location.Everyone else was extremely silent, with only their steps contributing to the noise, which grew calmer and calmer the closer they got to their bunker.This corridor was created and constantly updated for more than a millennium whenever a new technology was made available to them. However, it was the first time in a few centuries that anyone other than technicians and testers had set foot in it and was actually putting it to use.“Sir, we need to hurry, as the lockdown sequence is going to take longer,” the head of royal guard security said without turning his head, focusing on the data the sensors in their vicinity showed him.“Don’t fucking rush me,” Costcka, the Elara leader, shouted back, but amidst his sho

If someone watched the situation in the solar system from above with all the Conclave fleets highlighted, they would see that a majority of them were slowing down, not going forward to complete the pincer maneuver they were initially planning at the start of the war.The only Conclave fleets that were still moving were those now trapped inside the Oort cloud, locked from attempting to enter FTL travel due to the spatial blockers preventing any and all attempts. But remaining still was not an option they could take, resulting in them moving as fast as they possibly could, trying to escape despite knowing that it was most likely going to be futile. Every few minutes, they would receive a report of another fleet experiencing a breach and boarding actions before they were left with the choices of surrendering, fighting to the end, which was an ensured loss, or just blowing themselves up, taking with them the information that the empire would access once they completed seizing the fleet.H

With the surrender agreement already signed and binding, Hogu was released to coordinate the imperial army's takeover and the securing of the planets. To do that, he started by providing the entire civilization's absolute coordinates to allow the empire to send personnel as fast as possible.“............,” Hogu watched, speechless at the massive wormhole that had opened in the orbit of his civilization's capital planet, followed by a fleet of massive ships coming through it before dispersing throughout the solar system to secure it.But that wasn’t where the empire stopped with wormholes. Hogu started receiving reports of wormholes opening inside the atmosphere of all their planets before millions upon millions of soldiers came through them, dispersing and starting to spread all over the planets. This happened moments before the civilization-wide announcement was made, and a speech that Hogu was very sure he hadn’t delivered was being broadcast by someone who looked exactly like him,

Many leaders had assumed that with increased access to mana, face-to-face meetings between civilizations would become commonplace. Previously, such gatherings were nearly impossible, requiring either years of conventional travel or the exorbitant cost of mana-fueled wormholes. They yearned for these secure meetings, fearing that their long-distance mana communication nodes could be tapped, preventing them from speaking freely. With travel now a moderate expense, they hoped for deeper conversations without the worry of eavesdroppers.However, it hadn’t panned out as they expected. Leaders soon realized that just as they had gained greater access to manastones from the Terra Empire, so too had their enemies. Leaving their secure territories to attend meetings in person meant an unacceptable risk. Who could guarantee their safety? An attack could be easily orchestrated by a rival and framed on their host. As a result, most face-to-face meetings were conducted by representatives; their de

‘What are we doing? We have an enemy we are actively at war with who is currently attacking quite a few civilizations that are losing ground with each passing minute, but you are now gathering fleets to go attack a former member who was forced to surrender?’ Bogu the Fifteenth, the leader of the Bogu civilization, asked himself as he looked at the leaders who were now discussing what to do to the Nymari and Elara civilizations, who had just withdrawn from the Conclave a few moments ago.Like a few others, he had thought Costcka’s withdrawal was just a threat—a tactic to receive counter-offers and aid against the empire's invading forces. That hope seemed to vanish the moment Costcka antagonized the Grand Xor’Vak, though Bogu thought the situation might still be salvageable if they sacrificed Costcka. However, all of those possibilities were thrown out the window when information arrived just seconds after Costcka left the meeting: the imperial vessels attacking the Elara had ceased th