The Final Desperation

Minutes after Silver Empress perished, her nest started withering, and her army collapsed. Leveraging this weakness, Igani and Bruce swept through the area, removing the threats and disassembling the explosive structures.

Then she infused her mental powers into the nest, forcibly seizing control of it. Silver Empress worked hard to build this nest, so it would be a waste to let it die. Instead, Igani wanted to repurpose it into her new base and claim the territory as her own.

That way, she didn't have to settle in a new place or worry about outside disturbance. After all, who would dare enter this forbidden zone when it would unleash a calamity?

Granted, this only applied when Silver Empress was alive, but it didn't stop Igani from using this deterrence. By the time everyone discovered the truth, Igani would have solidified her powers and become the new overlord. Of course, this was all Genji's suggestion since Igani was too simple-minded to consider these factors.

"It's finally over," Igani said, relieved that everything had gone according to plan.

"Neiggh," Bruce agreed and found a spot to rest.

Hours later, as the day was about to end, Genji appeared on the horizon and regrouped with them.

"Here, take this." Genji tossed Silver Empress's mind crystal to Igani and took a seat. "It should be enough to finish your evolution."

"Thank you," she said, her eyes flickering with eagerness. "I'll take good care of it."

"Don't worry about it. You've been a great help."

Then they parted ways, having achieved everything Genji wanted to do. As Igani watched them leave, she couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten something. She couldn't exactly specify what since everything had been so hectic, but she wasn't too worried about it. If it was important, it would eventually come back to her.

With this carefree mindset, Igani secluded herself and began her evolution. It was unknown how long this process took, but when she emerged again, she comfortably stretched her body and said, "Mmmmmm. That was a good sleep. I wonder if I still have some candy. I'm really craving something sweet right now."

Upon finishing her words, Igani froze, struck by the sudden realization of what she had forgotten. However, it wasn't anything favorable; quite the opposite, in fact, as panic soon filled her mind.

"Oh no! I never got the antidote for my poison! What do I do? What do I do? I don't think I can find him now."

Then she anxiously paced around the room, trying to rack her mind for a solution. But no matter how she considered the issue, nothing came to mind, as her impression of Genji's poison had elevated it to a mystical level; unresolvable by normal means.

As the sinking feeling was about to devour her, someone cleared their throat and redirected Igani's attention.

*Ahem ahem* "Can you stop fidgeting so much? Am I really that scary?"

Turning around, Igani saw Julian, whom she had completely overlooked since her awakening. It had been days since the cycle ended, so the balancer was back to resolve the previous issue.

At the time, Igani was still asleep, so Julian settled beside her, awaiting the completion of her evolution. He refrained from acting because he wanted to wait until Igani was conscious and could fully comprehend the verdict. That way, there would be no dispute about the fairness of the situation.

On the other hand, Igani considered none of this and immediately threw herself at Julian's feet, latching onto his leg and looking upward with teary eyes.

"Please save me. I don't want to die!" She wailed, causing Julian to take a second look at her. This was the first time he'd seen a Zerg, an empress no less, beg for her life without regard for her dignity.

However, he couldn't tell if this was an act to garner sympathy or done in hopes of lessening the sentence. Nevertheless, he continued like nothing had happened and gently shook Igani off.

"Don't worry. We don't plan on killing you. We-"

"No, not that," Igani cried out, relatching to his leg. "I've been poisoned and I don't have the antidote. Please help me. You must have a cure. You're a balancer."

Julian gave her a strange look since her body didn't emit any traces of external substances, but he indulged her with a quick scan.

*Beep* "Body temperature is within expected levels. Protein levels are normal. No bodily injuries were detected. The subject is perfectly healthy for a Zerg Queen," his scanner gun declared in a neutral female voice.

"There you have it. Nothing's wrong with you."

But despite this seemingly professional evaluation, Igani maintained her doubts.

"But but but but, he clearly said that I was poisoned. Could it be that his poison is so advanced that it can't be detected? Oh no! Am I really going to die like this?" She cried with despair, her tears sliding down her face.

"That's impossible," Julian affirmed, "This is the most advanced scanner under the 3rd step. There's no way it can be wrong."

"How can you be sure? Don't you understand how unusual his poisons are? He scared off a BEAST KING with it!"

Julian hesitated when she brought this point up. Although unlikely, Julian couldn't help but doubt his claim since he'd seen what Genji could do with his poisons. After all, this whole mess started because of how potent and bizarre they were.

"Fine, I'll take another look. Can you describe to me what the poison looked like?" Julian relented, knowing the conversation wouldn't progress without resolving this issue.

"It came in this clear container and had lots of colors." Igani started gesturing, trying to convey the exact size.

Julian's stare grew stranger, prompting her to add more descriptions.

"It's also chewy and kind of sweet. There were also a bunch of flavors and they all had this weird shape."

"They? As in you ingested multiple?"

"A whole container. He poured everything into my mouth and forced me to swallow all of it."

Julian considered the issue some more before shaking his head. "You'll need to be more specific. I can't exactly pinpoint what kind of poison this is with that information. Can you describe how you felt afterward? Any pains or uncomfortableness?"

"Uhhhhhh, no?"

"Then do you have any other information that can help me?" Julian's eyes grew helpless, like a doctor trying to diagnose a phantom disease. In a way, this isn't that far from the truth.

Igani thought about this question for some time before her eyes lit up with realization. "I can replay the scene at the time. Will that do?"

"Yes, that'll be useful."

"Okay. Give me a moment." Igani recalled the scene and tried her best to fill in as many details as possible before projecting the memory into Julian's mind.

Julian closed his eyes and pursued through the entire encounter, from the start when Igani willingly munched on the poison, to Genji's revelation, to Genji forcibly holding her mouth open, to her flinging her legs all over during the process, to Genji's explanation at the end. Julian witnessed everything as if it were a first-person movie and noticed two major details in the memory.

The first was that Genji had faint horns on his head and a mean smirk, resembling a devil's appearance. Julian assumed these details were subconsciously added by Igani and represented her emotions, so he overlooked this point.

The second detail, though, was much more interesting and reaffirmed his initial viewpoint. Because on the container that held the "poison," were three big words in colorful font, revealing the absurdity of the situation.

"Jolly's Gummy Bears," he read about, all while giving Igani a peculiar look.

"Is there any hope?" Igani asked, disregarding the strangeness of the situation.

"I have both good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Julian asked, phrasing the question in a way that would hopefully dampen the impact.

"I'll take the good," Igani promptly decided, having a general sense of what it was about.

"Well, the good news is that I do have the antidote for your poison."

"Really? Then can you give it to me?" Igani asked with hope, her eyes practically glistening from cuteness.

"Yeah, but I think you should listen to the bad news first."

"Okay? What's the bad news?"

"I think you've been tricked."

"What do you mean?" Igani asked with a confused look. "How could I have been tricked?"

*Ahem ahem* Julian cleared his throat again before sheepishly asking, "Do you know what gummy bears are?"

"Is it a super powerful poison?"

"No. It's a type of candy. You were never poisoned from the start."

The moment Julian revealed the truth, an awkward silence reigned as Igani slowly comprehended his words. Then her jaws dropped, unable to believe she had fallen for the same trick twice.

"But he was so convincing...Did he really lie to me?" Igani muttered with an absent look, questioning her life.

"Soooooooo, anyway. Let's talk about the verdict, shall we?" Julian clumsily changed the topic, not knowing how to comfort her.

After Igani responded with a blank nod, Julian began talking, trying to convey the message in the simplest way possible. "Basically, you have to follow me back and join Eternal Void as a Balancer," he summarized, stating that Igani could no longer stay on the planet. "You'll follow along as an intern for some time before managing a world on your own."

"Do I have a choice?" She asked with a pitiful look, intimidated by the responsibility dumped on her shoulders.

"No." Julian bluntly replied before grabbing her.

"But I don't want toooooo," she wailed as Julian dragged her toward a newly opened portal. "I have so many other times I wanted to do. My carefree life!!!"

Igani flailed her legs around, trying to cling to anything that would slow the advance. Seeing this, Julian rubbed his forehead as if soothing a migraine and wondered how Igani ever became an Empress with this attitude.

'No, maybe it's because of this that he dared work with her without using poison. Either way, she's one strange Zerg.'

 

---

 

Within the vast expanse of space, a spaceship containing a team of Sentinels zoomed by at breakneck speeds. The thrusters emitted a blue burst of plasma, propelling the ship with tremendous force, all while maintaining a stable temperature. Within a few seconds, they disappeared from view, leaving only distorted space in their wake.

*Beep beep* "Closing in on the destination. Estimated time of arrival: T minus 367," the ship announced to the passengers onboard.

This prompted the Sentinels to look up from their activities and express a hint of excitement. After a month of hard work, they finally tracked down the source of the disk's signal and approached it.

This was much harder than they anticipated because the coordinates erratically shifted over this time, making it difficult to pinpoint its exact location. Yet, it was precisely this trait that fueled their anticipation for the journey because it matched another movement pattern they were familiar with: that of their home planet.

Back in the day, they'd tried multiple times to reconnect with their home world, but they all failed without exception. It was impossible to find their home amidst the sea of stars, a problem that plagued the Mecalans since they ventured off it. They had never expected such an unscientific behavior, which became a lifelong regret up till their disappearance.

But this all changed when Genji gave them the encrypted disk, which acted as a tracker for the planet's position. This was not an easy favor to repay, which was why the Sentinels invested so much in helping Genji during the besiegement.

"After so long, we've finally returned," they said nostalgically as the large, familiar planet came into view.

"Entering planetary atmosphere. Landing in t-minus 52," the ship announced again before decelerating.

At this moment, a communication request popped up on the interface, which they promptly accepted after tracing its source. The screen flashed a few times before the display underwent a complete overhaul in design, changing to a blue background with multiple concentric circles.

A diagonal banner flashed over the top before cryptic lines of code scrolled into view. After this animation finished, Deep Blue appeared at the center of the screen with a wide smile. "So it was as I suspected. Once you leave the planet, you can't find your way back unless there's a guide. What a troublesome aspect."

"Greetings, ancestor Sentinel #0001. We have completed your mission." The Sentinels onboard bowed to express their respect.

"Ancestor? What do you mean by that? Aren't we all from the same period?" Deep Blue asked, confusion evident on his face.

"No, sir. I'm from the second, while the rest are third-generation sentinels."

"Second? Third? What happened to the first? Shouldn't one of them be with you considering how important this reunion is?"

"Reporting. The first generation no longer exists, and only a few from the second generation remain."

"What?! How did this happen?"

Hearing his bewildered question, the Sentinels exchanged helpless glances before hesitantly turning back to Deep Blue.

"Fine, we'll talk later. For now, find a place to land," Deep Blue said before cutting the call.

The Sentinels followed his instructions and docked in a remote location. Half an hour later, a squad of robots carrying a hologram projector approached the ship. After turning on the device, Deep Blue appeared and addressed the group.

"Tell me. What happened in space and where did our creators go?"

The Sentinels reminisced for a few moments before the leader stepped forward to explain the inherited memories in their database.

"400 years ago, our creators stood at the peak of the galaxy. They were the most advanced civilization and had no rivals in technology. They made distant planets their vacation spots and spatial phenomena, their entertainment. Everything was prosperous and development was at its peak. It was the golden age.

But with this prosperity, they soon hit a bottleneck in advancement. Similar to how they reached the limit of a planet's technology, they did the same for the galactic level. They had reached the peak and would only decline from there. That was a bittersweet era, where people celebrated the achievement and lamented the cap.

For 80 years, the era lasted, casting its shadows over a whole generation. People became despondent and their former glory felt more like a curse than a blessing. Everyone hated how useless they were compared to their forefathers, and they started pursuing destructive habits. The once brilliant civilization was starting to rot from the inside out.

Luckily, they obtained a spark that rekindled their drive before this ailment could fully erode them. The trigger that ended this gloomy era was Eternal Void, which offered our creators a chance to explore the wider universe. They all accepted without hesitation, but in their excitement, they forgot to consider the management of the galaxy.

So our predecessors took it upon themselves to preserve their legacy, hoping that when they returned, there would still be some semblance of home. To achieve this, Sentinel#0000 and the other first generations split themselves across multiple beings, creating the second generation. However, this proved inadequate as other civilizations soon rose to prominence and contested us for resources.

To maintain our competitiveness, we underwent another round of division, bringing us to the present, where we compete on the Spatial Battlefield for territory."

"I see. So much has happened in these 1000 years," Deep Blue said with marvel as the sentinel finished his story. "I can't believe we've reached such a level."

The Sentinels gave Deep Blue a brief moment to collect his thoughts before asking for his orders. Since Deep Blue was a first-generation sentinel, they automatically deferred to him for instructions.

There was no hesitation or doubt involved since his seniority alone justified the position. Unlike typical evolutionary patterns, more generations did not signify improvement for the Sentinels.

On the contrary, as they undergo further divisions, their personality becomes increasingly diluted and muddled, making them more robotic. The biggest indication would be their speech patterns, which resembled an emotionless machine rather than a sentient being.

"For now, bring me away from this planet. I've settled everything here, so let's rendezvous with the outside branch," Deep Blue said, waving his arm. "I think it's time that we change our mentality. Instead of pointlessly defending our past, let us take a risk and explore the wider universe. If we're lucky, we might meet our creators again and serve them once more."

"Understood?" In this simple reply, the Sentinels expressed their shock and confusion at Deep Blue's unconventional mindset. In their memories, they had never encountered such a perspective, but that was expected since their sense of purpose was inherited from predecessors dedicated to protecting this legacy.

None of their predecessors had ever considered this option because they had no reason to. To them, it had only been a few centuries since the Mecalans left, so there was nothing to worry about.

After all, it took them 600 years to reach the peak of the galaxy, so it was only expected that the wider universe would take longer. As such, the Sentinels were fully prepared to wait millenniums for their creators to return.

That was the standard mindset among the Sentinels, but Deep Blue was not a normal Sentinel. He lacked firsthand experience of the outside branch, the perpetual year-round combat, the strategic planning for every conceivable scenario, or the physical prowess required for such battles.

Instead, he had the wisdom and foresight built up with time, making him more practical than the others. Due to this, he was very pessimistic about the Sentinels' current trajectory.

It had taken merely 400 years to decline to this point, yet they wanted to last several more millennia? How could he not doubt them? And that was not considering if the Mecalans would even return within this time, making this path all the more uncertain.

As such, Deep Blue would rather place their bets with Eternal Void than continue like this. At least that way, they would follow a similar trajectory as their creators instead of exploring blindly.

'Since our creators could get Eternal Void's recognition, why can't we do the same? Why should we settle for mediocracy when we've seen a bigger world?'