"...This pitiful, cheap tactic is nothing more than the final resort of a dying king upon his deathbed." Caesar's arm cut through the air in a dismissive wave, his tone dripping with contempt. "Rulers who stoop to such desperate measures remind me of nothing more than a wounded cat, cornered and pressed against a wall, shrieking in futility as it struggles to rise on its trembling hind legs, puffing itself up in a laughable attempt to appear larger, stronger, more fearsome than it could ever truly be."

"But the Twilight Spectrum Empire is not us." Leonid shook his head slowly, his expression heavy with conviction. "Unlike us—who can afford to ignore the mounting losses from the endless assaults of the Planetary Emperors' Pack, because we are shielded by the immeasurable wealth of the Cradle Empire, and because each and every month we receive a flood of weapons and ships from the Young Belt—the Twilight Spectrum Empire has borne the full weight of its losses. They have bled in truth."

"...The Planetary Empress, Rinara herself, led the charge," Leonid continued, his voice hardening. "She struck countless outposts, strongholds, and planetary garrisons of their armies with her own hands. Entire planets were laid low, burned and leveled into ruin before she even considered withdrawing. The devastation was so immense that the Twilight Spectrum Empire was forced to halt its expansion altogether."

His brows drew together in a deep frown. "And even though their emperor chose to wallow in filth and play the same game —unleashing both the dreaded World Cataclysms under him, and joining the fray personally to crush the Nine Paths' remaining worlds— Rinara refused to stop them.

"...She ignored what they are doing pressed forward, hammering their armies again and again until they were left ragged, overextended, and driven back into defense."

"Rinara has nothing left to lose." Caesar's head swayed slowly as though mourning a truth already written in stone. "When she departed from me, she had already consigned herself to emptiness. She acknowledged then that no soul remained at her side, no bonds tethered her to restraint. To her, whether it meant destroying an army, or annihilating every single planet within reach, none of it carried weight. Vengeance was all she sought."

His gaze slid toward Leonid, eyes narrowing as his tone hardened to steel. "But her indifference to the cost does not erase the cost itself, does it? Whether she looks away or not, the truth stands: she has torn apart her own dominion even further."

Leonid gave a heavy, deliberate nod. "After the Twilight Spectrum Empire descended upon the planets of the Nine Paths —not to conquer, but to devastate and leave only ash— they themselves suffered ruin. Their armies were bled thin, their strength hollowed, and when the time came, they no longer had the soldiers or the resources to claim the planets they had shattered. But then, other empires stepped boldly."

He inclined his head toward the looming, frozen projection before them, where scenes hung suspended like paintings in the air. "Among those opportunists was the Pink Bull Empire, who struck with brutal precision and seized three planets in a single sweep. And thus, in barely a decade's span, the number of planets under the banner of the Nine Paths Empire plummeted—reduced to a mere twenty-three."

"En, And now this..." Caesar exhaled, a long, weary breath, his eyes fixed on the unyielding image of Rinara etched before them. "She has withdrawn the entirety of the Nine Paths Empire's forces, amassing them upon one single bastion: Planet Azakra. She has stripped the defenses of every other world under her command, abandoning them in the hope that by doing so, they will not be obliterated at the hands of the Twilight Spectrum Empire. And as though that were not enough—she parades the severed head of a planetary emperor for all to witness."

His body shifted, turning back to confront Leonid with measured intensity. "Do you truly understand what her actions declare to us all, here and now?"

"...That she has chosen war, and she no longer hesitates?" Leonid's brows knitted, his voice carrying the weight of inevitability. Indeed, there could be no other meaning. The scene itself screamed the truth louder than any words could.

"There exists," Caesar began, his voice carrying the weight of authority, "a certain unspoken code of respect, a silent yet ironclad protocol that every emperor is expected to observe when dealing with his peers. It is not written in laws, nor carved in stone, yet it is as binding as any decree."

"...For instance, when a planetary emperor personally descends to fight with his own hands, it is not seen as bravery—it is seen as humiliation, as a public confession of inadequacy. And when a planetary emperor lowers himself to strike against common ground forces, that act alone brands his name with eternal disgrace, leaving an indelible stain upon his reign and legacy."

He leaned back, his expression darkening. "...And in battles between planetary emperors, there is another code just as sacred. The victor almost always takes the defeated alive, turning him into a prisoner, not a corpse. But should death be inevitable, then the victor shoulders the responsibility of preserving the fallen's body—either to return it intact to the family, or to bury it with honor, or at the very least to cremate it."

"...Even her grandfather, even her father, after their deaths on the battlefield, their bodies were not desecrated. Their kin, at the very least, were allowed to reclaim them, to mourn them properly." Caesar's brows furrowed, his voice sharpened with disdain. "But she? She shredded her victim's body into mangled pieces, and then lifted his severed head high like a trophy? Such a crime is no mere brutality—it is an outright violation of every tenet of imperial order."

He exhaled slowly, then continued. "...In the eyes of her fellow planetary emperors, she has already discarded legitimacy. To the surrounding powers, she no longer appears as the sovereign of a dignified planetary empire, one with standing and weight among the stars. No—through her reckless, frenzied excesses, she has stripped herself of that legitimacy over and over again, until even the memory of it has been wiped clean. And so... instead of falling into the bitter path of a permissible blood clan, Rinara has chosen something far darker. She has chosen to remake herself in the image of a demonic clan."

"A demonic clan?" Leonid's voice dropped to a harsh whisper as his eyes locked on the scene, his brows drawn together in grim disbelief. The word alone was enough to send a chill into the room.

Demonic clans and powers, by their very nature, are treated as a plague upon creation itself—like a disease festering in the flesh of civilization, demanding to be cut out at the root. Whenever such powers rise, the only acceptable answer is eradication.

And if by chance they wish to survive, they can do so only by embracing corruption fully—by leaning upon their illegitimate arts, offering bribes, concessions, and gifts to the so-called righteous powers nearby.

Yet Rinara... Rinara is unlike them. She is not the ruler of a true demonic force, nor does she hold wealth or treasures to bargain with. She has nothing to trade, no leverage to offer, and no allies who would dare shield her.

Leonid turned back, his voice edged with urgency. "Then you mean... the Nine Paths Empire truly stands on the edge of peril now, Your Highness? After all this time —after halting the advance of the Twilight Spectrum Empire, after even slaying the Pink Bull Emperor himself— I thought surely the tide had begun to turn at last in their favor!"

Caesar raised his hand and dismissed the notion with a wave. "She has already signed her own death warrant," he said coldly. He gestured toward the five hall masters gathered around Rinara in the vision before them. "Look closely at their faces. You can see it in their eyes. They know exactly what they have entangled themselves in. They know the doom that has already been written for them. It is not a question of if... it is only a question of when."

His tone grew heavier, his words rolling like thunder. "Every neighboring power that encircles the Nine Paths Empire will leap upon this chance. They will unite under the banner of vengeance, claiming justice for the fallen Pink Bull Emperor as their excuse, and together they will descend upon Azakra in overwhelming force."

"...Once they have reduced everything there to ash, they will divide the spoils among themselves—splitting the remaining planets of the Nine Paths Empire as casually as one carves meat at a banquet table. And when they are done, they will not stop; they will almost certainly seize and partition the realm of the Pink Bull Empire itself as well."

He let the weight of those words hang in the air before continuing. "...This is politics, Leonid. A vile, poisoned game. Until one rises to a position of absolute and undeniable supremacy, he remains bound—shackled by politics and intrigue. Every empire, every sovereign, every so-called ally—they all think only of how to snatch what rests in another's hands. And Rinara..." his lips curled into a cold smile, "Rinara has handed them the perfect reason, wrapped like a gift, placed before them on a golden platter."

Leonid let out a long, weary breath. "Hoohh~ Then... is there truly no path left for them to survive?"

"It is already decided," Caesar replied with a slow shake of his head, his voice stripped of all mercy. "Rinara must find a protector now, if she has even a shred of sense left in her. Most likely, she will try to flee into the Savage Zafaros Galaxy, dragging her kin and the hall masters with her, seeking shelter when the invasion begins. She will leave everything else behind to burn, every soldier, every city, every dream—reduced to ash in her absence... if, that is, the Zafaros even agree to accept her at all."

Then his gaze grew sharper, almost entertained. "Or perhaps she will stay. Perhaps she will stand her ground, fighting to the last breath with nothing but rage in her heart. Watching such a spectacle would, at the very least, be... fascinating."

At last, Caesar shook his head once more, his tone dropping into something that sounded almost like pity. "What a waste."

Knock Knock

The silence shattered as a voice echoed from outside the grand chamber: "Your Highness, Planetary Empress Rinara requests an audience with you."

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