Intergalactic conquest with an AI-Chapter 425: War for the Blood. {Prologue} {2}

The mercenary’s laser sword flickered and died, its core drained. Rex’s claymore snapped in two, the molten metal flung across the battlefield.

The backlash sent both men flying, crashing into distant buildings like comets, shaking the ground with twin impacts.

"Rex! Rex, are you alright?!" Cleo’s voice came through the communicator, sharp with worry. From her vantage aboard the Cleopatra, she had watched the whole battle while simultaneously directing her forces against the siege fleet above the planet.

Rex coughed, blood flecking his lips. His body ached in ways he couldn’t describe. "Cough... I’m alive... barely. Actually, scratch that... I feel like I’ve been run over by a battleship..." He groaned and slowly sat up, surrounded by dust and twitching corpses of the infected.

"It’s hard enough fighting a Tier 6 with stable energy. But when your body keeps flipping between Tier 4 and Tier 5 every few minutes..." He let out a tired laugh.

"This is exactly why I told you not to engage alone," Cleo said with a sigh, though her voice betrayed the relief she felt. "But of course, you never listen."

"Heh. Glad you’re finally starting to realize how cool I am," Rex joked weakly, his eyes scanning the battlefield now overrun by monsters. The terrain looked like something out of a nightmare, a mix of hellfire and plague.

"What’s the status up there? Can you send the troops?" he asked while watching as enemy transport ships and several frigates began breaching the planet’s upper atmosphere.

"Fear not, Rex. There are already three fully functional teleportation rings on the surface of the planet. I’m activating them right now," Cleo’s calm voice echoed in his comms, a soothing contrast to the chaos around him.

Back aboard the Cleopatra, in a sealed and secretive chamber deep within her core systems, several of Cleo’s smaller, humanoid sub-forms worked in perfect synchronization.

The air around them shimmered with golden circuits, glowing screens, and swirling data. Her attention was split across thousands of processes, yet her voice remained steady and crystal clear in Rex’s ear.

"Now, a question," she added, as her fingers danced across a massive holographic interface. "Who would you like me to send in as reinforcements?"

Rex exhaled sharply, blinking sweat and dust from his eyes as the ground beneath him trembled. "Who do we have on standby?" he asked while tightening the strap of his armor.

The moment the words left his lips, three space rifts silently tore open around him like crimson curtains being pulled back by invisible hands.

From within stepped Little Red, followed closely by the two elite assassins of the Blood Clan. Their presence was cold, composed, and deadly, their armor still dripping with blood from the earlier confrontation.

Rex glanced at them briefly, acknowledging them with a nod, but kept his focus on Cleo’s answer.

"Current available forces," Cleo replied, now displaying glowing insignias inside Rex’s HUD, "are the Blood Legion and the 201st Legion. The Argos Legion is en route but still three to four days out. They’ve encountered spatial turbulence and had to reroute."

A small, almost boyish grin tugged at Rex’s lips. "Eh? So the bald old man’s finally coming back to the party, huh? I wonder if his heart can still handle the rush. That guy used to get emotional over every damn thing." For a second, a rare warmth flickered in his voice with a mix of nostalgia, maybe even affection.

Then he turned his gaze toward Little Red, his expression sharpening. "So, what do you think? Were those bastards stronger than us?"

"Negative," Little Red responded without hesitation, her voice flat but respectful. "According to the battle data, their power levels are nearly identical to ours. However, they do have one extra Tier 6 on their side, which slightly tips the balance."

She spoke carefully, knowing Rex didn’t appreciate being underestimated but also knowing he respected facts.

Rex nodded, processing her words. "Hmm... I can hold their leader off for a while. I’m confident in that. But if he decides to retreat and double-team one of you? That would get messy real fast."

He folded his arms, falling into a brief silence. His golden halo dimmed slightly as he entered deep thought, analyzing battle paths and countermeasures.

Just then, a small white falcon drone, sleek and shaped like a mechanical bird of prey, fluttered down and perched neatly on Rex’s head, completely unbothered by the war-torn scene.

It blinked once, then projected Cleo’s voice again, this time more focused and slightly amused.

"If that’s your concern, allow me to share something interesting. I’ve been observing him closely through multiple drones. That man, the enemy leader, values his soldiers more than I expected."

"It’s the only reason he’s been sending them down to the surface instead of keeping them aboard the fleet, where I am currently... how do I put this... absolutely thrashing them."

The falcon tilted its head with a soft mechanical chirp, while Cleo’s tone danced between factual and playfully smug.

"Mmm, that actually explains a lot," Rex muttered while narrowing his eyes as he watched the horizon. From his vantage point, he could see a steady stream of transport ships landing on the surface in the distance, kicking up dust and fire with every touchdown.

"No wonder more and more ships keep dropping in. He’s trying to keep his people close. And that must be why he’s decided to dig in instead of charging us directly."

Above the battlefield, several squadrons of enemy fighters zipped across the sky in tight formations, releasing bombs onto the swarming infected below. The sky was filled with streaks of fire, plumes of smoke, and chaotic flashes.

Suddenly, Cleo’s voice returned to his ear, this time more sharp and direct. "Would you like me to bombard them from orbit?"

Rex blinked dumbfounded since her tone was so casual, like she was offering to fetch a cup of tea. He couldn’t help but smirk.

"Wow... you say that like it’s just another Tuesday errand. You can be surprisingly nasty when you want to be, you know that?" Rex teased her while knowing full well she’d probably miss the sarcasm completely.

As expected, Cleo’s reply was dry and unamused. "I don’t understand the connection between being effective and being ’nasty.’ My proposal is simply the most logical course of action."

"If I vaporize their fleet from orbit and reposition the fortress on top of their forward base, this engagement would end in the most efficient way possible." Her voice held the faintest edge of irritation, one only Rex could pick up on after so much time together.

Rex chuckled softly. "Sure, sure. That’s what you say. But if that were really the case, you’d already be doing it. Instead, you’re still stuck up there, locked in battle with their fleet. Let me guess... they’re putting up more of a fight than you expected, huh?"

A long pause followed and this made Rex grin. "Heh. Nailed it, didn’t I?"

Cleo’s response came a moment later, defensive but honest. "It’s not that they’re powerful. It’s their numbers. The reinforcements haven’t stopped arriving. Every hour, more ships come in from all corners of the galaxy. I’m monitoring at least seventeen separate warp signatures converging from different sectors."

As she spoke, she projected a holographic map onto Rex’s HUD. It showed clusters of ships warping in from various directions, forming a slowly growing blockade around the planet.

Rex’s eyes narrowed. "Have you tried hacking into their comms? Maybe we can learn where they’re all coming from or what their main objective is."

Cleo’s voice dropped into a more frustrated tone. "Yes, I’ve been attempting to breach their communication lines. But they’re actively resisting with their jamming, encrypting, and deployed counter-AIs. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"My processing capacity is already heavily allocated to fortress management, orbital targeting, fighter coordination, logistics, power regulation, and battlefield analytics. Hacking them with precision requires more resources than I currently have free."

Despite her modest wording, Rex knew the truth. No one else in the galaxy, organic or synthetic, could do even half of what Cleo was doing right now.

She was running an entire space fortress like a one-woman army, personally aiming every turret for maximum efficiency and directing fighter squadrons as if they were extensions of her own body.

Rex smiled. "I know. I know. I’m just messing with you. Don’t worry, take your time up there. Down here, I’ve got it under control. I’ll clear out the rest of this guy’s army myself."

He stepped down beside the now-glowing teleportation rings, just as the humming pillars pulsed with golden light. From within the shimmering portals, the Aegis units of the Blood Legion and the 201st Legion began marching out heavily armed, fully armored, and burning with discipline and fury.

Rex nodded with satisfaction. "And as for those annoying Tier 6 elites? We’ve got Little Red... and the Blood Clan Elites. If it really comes down to it..." He looked skyward, his voice lowering,"...we’ve still got that thing."

As Rex and his allies coordinated below, a very different kind of scene was unfolding across the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the enemy leader, the same Tier 6 mercenary who had clashed with Rex earlier, was reclining lazily on top of a landed transport ship. His posture was casual, even relaxed, as if the entire battle was merely an inconvenience interrupting his lunch break.

In one hand, he held a silver protein bar, chewing slowly as he watched dropships descend in waves.

"Tch... always more paperwork after these things," he muttered while brushing dust off his coat and glancing toward the distant battlefield where the infected clashed against both sides.

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