Speed Is King

"Ancient Gartod!" Hani Lin shouted at the all-powerful Ancient level warrior standing next to her. She was about to urge him to do something, when she noticed beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Her expression turned grim and she immediately shut her mouth.

Ancient Gartod was battling another Ancient!

Once warriors entered Ancient level, their souls would be able to leave their bodies. Many Ancients prefer to attack via soul attack because it allowed them to kill the enemy commander without even having to move a single finger.

An enemy Ancient must have sought to do that to them, and Ancient Gartod had no choice but to let his soul leave his body as well to defend against their soul attacks!

"So that's why the Southern Glory idiots dare to open fire on a Linhasan Battalion. An Ancient level powerhouse is backing them!" Hegemon Hani Lin thought to herself.

"And if they dare to attack us, then it must mean that they have Primals backing them. Or else it would be pure suicide. Still, Primal or no Primal, you've completely stirred the hornets' nest. Reinforcements would have been sent by now and-"

"You must be thinking that reinforcements must be on their way, aren't you, little Hegemon? Hahahahahahahahaha! Let me tell you, they aren't! The moment you exited warp travel, you've entered my trap! In the minds of your superiors, you are all stuck in warp! They have no idea that you're here at all! Hahahahahaha!!" A wild cackling voice sounded loudly.

It was extremely powerful and Hani Lin could clearly sense that the owner of the voice was in Ancient level too!

Hani Lin whirled her head around to check on Ancient Gartod and saw that he was still in battle.

"They have two ancients!" Hegemon Hani Lin thought in horror. "And if that other ancient comes for me as well… I am as good as dead!"

"Oh don't worry, I won't attack you with my soul. Yet. My partner's soul attacks are extremely overbearing and have wide areas of effect. I don't want to risk getting injured.

Don't worry, little Hegemon, you still have a few more minutes to live! That's how long more your weak ass Ancient has to live! Hahahahaahah" the wild voice cackled again.

Hegemon Hani Lin did not hesitate. She immediately crushed a little token and as soon as she did that, a little blue cocoon of space energy formed around her entire battlecruiser.

And with a loud whoosh! They disappeared.

"HUH!? What happened? Where did they go? And… big bro? Where are you? Big bro! … BIG BRO! WAKE UP! OH MY GOD! BIG BROOOOO!!!" The wild cackling voice screamed loudly in panic and in anguish.

However, only silence greeted him.

The opening salvo of the massive galactic battle that would eventually take place had finally been fired. Its first casualty - An Ancient Level powerhouse.

Back on Planet Earth somewhere deep in the Amazon Forest, a massive shimmer of space energy appeared and ripped out every single thing within its area.

Whoosh!

And was replaced by a huge and battered Linhasan Battlecruiser.

BOOMM!!!

The ginormous Linhasan Battlecruiser hit the ground from mere centimeters up with a world-shaking BOOM!

Its crew immediately swarmed out of the Battlecruiser and initiated their emergency repair protocol.

Hegemon Hani Lin stood on the bridge to supervise the entire process and to bark out instructions once in a while.

And of course, to watch over Ancient Gartod who was consuming the soul of the other Ancient who had so boldly attacked him earlier. The soul had finally materialized and Hegemon Hani Lin could see it very clearly.

Contorted face silently screaming in agony and indignation, hands and feet flying all over the place as it struggled to escape from Ancient Gartod's body.

"Perfect timing, Hani. I owe you this time." Ancient Gartod chuckled with a very, very happy smile.

For Ancients, nothing was more nutritious and beneficial for their growth than the souls of other Ancients. But of course, the souls of other Ancients were… hard to come by. Ancients stood near the very apex of all living beings in the known universe, and they were highly reclusive.

Those that were not, usually had powerful Star Systems behind them that made it so difficult for them to be captured and eaten.

And so for Ancient Gartod, even if the mission ended right there and then, it would already be the highlight of his countless years as an Ancient.

He estimated that he had cut short his journey towards the peak of Ancient level by a full 5%!

In the grand scheme of how long Ancients live and how slowly their souls grow, a 5% growth would usually take anywhere between 100 years to a thousand years. It was a jaw-dropping, eye-popping kind of incredible!

"Yes, you owe me a Primal-constructed escape mechanism." Hegemon Hani Lin chuckled. "If you remember, it was a gift from Primal Blue after I accidentally came across a Lightning Spirit and gave it to him."

"Oh I remember. I remember feeling jealous at that time. Thank goodness I didn't steal it from you as I had intended to. It would have been useless for both of us had it been in my storage instead of yours. It would have ended up as a massive gift to these darned Kirilians. But now, I got the gift instead! Hahaha!" Ancient Gartod was in an excellent mood!

In his mind, it was the most perfect use of such a powerful Primal Constructed Escape Token! If it was any stronger than Ancient, the trapped soul would not be transported along with the battlecruiser. Any weaker, and it would have left much the token's power untapped.

It was perfect!

The loss of the entire battalion irked him not one bit. Spacecrafts and weak Kings and Emperors could easily be replaced. And as it were, even with the loss of the thousands of soldiers, with Hegemon Hani Lin and himself still around, they still had 99% of their strength.

In fact, after consuming the enemy Ancient's soul, they would very well be at 104% strength compared to previously!

They could still complete the mission without the battalion!

"Make sure you give me something good as well." Hegemon Hani Lin smiled and continued to oversee their emergency repairs.

As soon as they were complete, she would have to proceed with the mission, and look for this "Elliot" boy!