"A mission?"
After being lifted up by Selene's unseen force, Esdeath did not decline. Looking at the document folder floating before her, she immediately took it and began reading.
The first line that entered her eyes read:
"Report from the Ninth Legion, Legion Commander Sanguinius..."
Eh... an unfamiliar face. It seemed that during the years she had been in slumber, the Empire's military had undergone massive changes. Back then, there had only been two or three Astartes Legions, yet now they had already expanded to a Ninth Legion.
She wondered how Her Majesty had handled the Imperial Assassination Unit, the Beast Warriors, and the Special Jaegers units. For some reason, Esdeath thought of the old subordinates she had once commanded.
"Looks like there's going to be no shortage of work ahead..." Esdeath murmured.
The slumber caused by the Herrscher of Ice transformation had created a huge disconnect between Esdeath's understanding and the rapidly developing Empire. Her information was severely outdated.
The moment she awakened, she had been summoned into the Grand Imperial Palace by Selene, leaving Esdeath no time at all to familiarize herself with the current situation.
If nothing else, just the Grand Imperial Palace alone—now even larger in scale and more extravagant in its furnishings—had given Esdeath quite a workout.
Without attendants guiding the way, even if Esdeath could sense her connection with Selene and determine the general direction, unless she chose to fly or bulldoze straight through walls, she was not even sure she could find Selene in a short amount of time.
The dense clusters of palaces, the crisscrossing corridors, the dazzling gold-and-silver decor that overwhelmed the eyes, paired with the endless stream of attendants, Astartes warriors, and Royal Guards moving through them.
It gave Esdeath the feeling of walking through a labyrinthine "bustling city"... the only difference being that although this "city" was crowded and dense, it was eerily silent.
Unconsciously, Esdeath complained a little in her heart about Selene's aesthetic taste and preferences.
Of course, if Esdeath had been a modern person, she might have very naturally rattled off a whole string of fitting descriptions.
Firepower-insufficiency anxiety specialist, figure-collecting enthusiast, biggest-and-brightest fetish specialist, infrastructure-building maniac... and so on.
After all, Selene wore extravagantly terrifying ceremonial robes or battle armor year-round, built for herself a Grand Imperial Palace of unprecedented scale, and even dressed her Royal Guard in gold armor extravagant enough to be frightening.
The same went for those legions—each one looked like a god descending to the mortal world, and they made their physiques as massive as possible. Their heights were damn well either two-point-seven meters or over three meters.
Quickly shaking her head to clear away the stray thoughts, Esdeath focused and carefully examined the contents of the report.
Ninth Astartes Legion, Blood Angels, jointly reporting with the Sisters of Battle the discovery of a new life-bearing world.
Hm? What were these 'Sisters of Battle'? Another new unit? Battle... nuns... women... Hm, could this be a new force Her Majesty prepared for me?
With a hint of anticipation, Esdeath continued reading.
Ocean-dominated environment, existence of gigantic creatures, presence of human civilization... preliminary observation suggested an oceanic civilization. Along the most prosperous maritime routes, mostly sailing vessels were discovered... overall technological level presumed to be low.
Seeing this—especially the existence of gigantic creatures—immediately stirred Esdeath's hunting instincts. She almost chose it on the spot, but forcibly restrained herself and continued reading.
Turning the page.
"Report from the Thirteenth Astartes Legion, Ultramarines, Roboute..."
"Already the Thirteenth sequence? Has the Empire's military scale really grown this large..."
However, very soon, the spatial quakes described in the report—especially the images of the Eurasian Sky Disaster, leaving behind an incomparably massive scar across the Eurasian continent—entered Esdeath's field of vision.
In that instant, her mind made its decision. Raising her head, Esdeath said in a deep voice:
"Your Majesty, this subordinate chooses to act together with the Thirteenth Legion."
"Very well. Then take this," Selene said, stepping down the platform and coming before Esdeath. She extended her hand—and with a rip, a spatial transfer gate glowing with purple light opened.
A standard six-faced cube fell out from within, slowly rotating in midair and emitting purple-red motes of light.
Catching the cube with both hands, Esdeath examined it carefully. The cube was entirely metallic silver-gray. Countless cracks crisscrossed each face, dividing it into irregular segments.
The purple-red radiance seeped out from within it. Though its shape was highly irregular, it somehow appeared perfectly harmonious, without the slightest sense of discord.
In the next moment, within the silent palace, a series of ka-ka mechanical interlocking sounds rang out of thin air. Instantly, Esdeath felt a slight pain in her palm. Her keen sense of smell immediately caught a faint trace of blood in the air.
Is it absorbing my blood?
"Don't worry. This is merely the cube's owner-recognition ritual. The ritual is a bit traditional, but very effective. With this, you can contact Roboute," Selene said calmly.
"You can explore its functions yourself. All usage information has already been engraved into it by me."
Raising her head slightly, Selene spoke thoughtfully.
"Esdeath, in the five or six years you were asleep, the Empire has changed quite a lot. As for the introduction, let your old Jaegers subordinates handle it. Coincidentally, they've recently been resting in the Imperial Capital."
"Attendants will lead you there. You should properly reacquaint yourself with the Imperial Capital. Oh, right—the Beast Warriors have been arranged to the conquest front lines and are not currently in the capital."
With that said, Selene fell silent, leaning against the desk. Holding the glass cup, she lowered her gaze and gently stroked the cup's surface, the delicate and warm texture as smooth as white jade.
"I obey, Your Majesty."
Seeing this, Esdeath bent forward with a hand to her chest. Without turning around, she respectfully backed away step by step. Only after nearing the palace doors did she carefully turn around and depart.
Creaaak~
Only after Esdeath's crisp footsteps completely faded away and the palace doors were once more closed by the golden-armored Royal Guards did Selene slowly lift her head.
Without returning to her seat, she sat directly on the desk. Setting down the glass cup, Selene turned her gaze toward the proposals that Arisa had submitted together.
They requested Selene's authorization for the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs to dispatch officials to govern and receive the two worlds they had conquered.
One was a savage beast world. The other was a slave society still in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
What surprised Selene was that Arisa had applied the Decimation to the "Ghoul World".
"Tokyo Ghoul... this world was destroyed rather thoroughly," Selene murmured.
She had already read through the relevant reports. The combat command of the 'Sisters of Battle' under Arisa had been flawless, but what she had not expected was their decisiveness. Upon realizing that the extraterrestrial force was impossible to resist, a certain northern Slavic power chose mutual destruction.
With the mentality of preferring jade shattered rather than tile intact, they launched thermonuclear weapons across the globe, intending to drag all nations to death together and leave nothing behind for the invaders.
Humanity's hymn is a hymn of courage. This incident truly embodied that phrase. Even in death, they wanted to splash the enemy with blood. But Arisa was not human. From her perspective, she felt nothing.
Fortunately, Arisa had personally led the operation. Under her protection, although many key metropolitan targets were plowed over, at least the casualties of the Imperial forces that entered the world were extremely low.
However, because of this, from Arisa down to the Imperial ranks, there was a pervasive sense of having been offended—utterly furious. The enemy not only refused to surrender, but even dared to strike back at them.
As a result, during the second incursion, the Imperial forces unleashed large-scale retaliatory slaughter.
...
And after this incident, Arisa deeply felt that the 'Sisters of Battle' lacked manpower. They could only focus on dispersed attacks and were unable to use super-spacetime boarding to eliminate all enemy command centers in one sweep.
If their scale were like that of an Astartes Legion—even if only one-third as large—the situation would have been completely different.
For this reason, Arisa's final proposal was to expand the recruitment scope of the 'Sisters of Battle' to the Empire's homeland.
This... Selene would not say it was absolutely impossible, but the success rate was truly minuscule.
Letting Imperial citizens volunteer—this was not something that could be achieved even with the influence of a Mental Seal, unless Selene issued a compulsory military decree.
If this could be done in a way that made Imperial citizens genuinely and willingly participate, then it would no longer be Mental Sealing, but personality reconstruction.
These were completely different concepts.
After all, the subtle influence of a Mental Seal tended to be strongest the clearer and simpler the target setting was.
For example, without judging right or wrong, without modifying any of your values, memories, or way of life—merely guiding your consciousness toward loyalty to a certain individual.
Selene's application of the Mental Seal was precisely like this.
Broadly imprinting multiple requirements resulted in relatively poor effects, and this was also one of the reasons Selene was temporarily unwilling to include conquered worlds within the Astartes Legion recruitment scope.
After conquered worlds were incorporated into the Empire's military system and reorganized, these new military units composed of non-Imperial natives—cannon fodder, to put it bluntly—well...
It wasn't that there were no individuals who earned commendations through brave combat and were subsequently accepted into the Imperial Auxilia, but discrimination was everywhere.
To give an example, if the civilians of the Black Bullet world were directly recruited into the Empire's Astartes Legion candidate pool, do you think the legion would look favorably upon them?
One group consisted of natives born and raised under the sun-like radiance of Empress Selene. The other were residents of an otherworld conquered by the Empire.
Under the Empire's absolute imperial authority, how could a class system of citizens and slaves coexist peacefully? Mixing people of different classes would inevitably give rise to conflict.
Another point was that becoming an Astartes warrior was the dream of countless Imperial Auxilia. Letting outsiders cut in line ahead of one's own—was that acceptable? It was not.
This choice was not difficult to make. Selene would naturally favor the Imperial people closer to her.
As for why the Empire's populace appeared so loyal and obedient under Selene's rule, it was not merely the effect of the Mental Seal. It also involved the Empire's internal conditions and Selene's comprehensive measures.
The Empire's people had no alternatives. After a thousand years of rule, they had already developed ingrained habits.
When a regime has existed for only a dozen years, or if dynastic change has occurred before—perhaps from the moment you became aware, it had always ruled the world—but what about in the eyes of your parents or grandparents?
Through their accounts, or through accumulated learning as you grow older, you would know that more than ten years ago, someone else ruled us.
In historical records, dynastic change repeats like a cycle. Heroes of each era dominate for a few hundred years in turn.
Perhaps the thought of "are kings and nobles born so?" would arise. Since fortune rotates, why couldn't it be my family next year?
Although the vast majority would never put such thoughts into action, merely indulging in fantasies of ruling the world, the seeds of disloyalty had already been planted to varying degrees. The legal justification for regime change was everywhere.
As long as the central court grew incompetent or showed signs of decline, it was common for "heroes" to rise in rebellion.
But what if the Empire was the original regime, and since the time your great-great-great-grandfather could remember, historical records showed it as the only one?
Although Selene had never claimed to be a descendant of the First Emperor, she could wield Ultimate Teigu that only the imperial bloodline could activate.
In the eyes of the Empire's people, this, to some extent, continued the legitimacy of imperial rule. The millennia-old Empire persisted, maintained its governance, and continued to grow stronger—surpassing even its former peak.
Of course, Selene's transcendent dimensional military force was the real guarantee. Everything else was merely icing on the cake.
"Temporarily rejected. The recruitment scope of the 'Sisters of Battle' remains limited to the Black Bullet world. Once localization is complete, we will discuss other options."
After finishing her considerations, Selene promptly issued her decision on Arisa's proposal.
The 'Sisters of Battle' would expand their recruitment scope sooner or later—but not now.
"That being the case... One Piece, the Grand Line. Will the Ninth Legion, the Blood Angels under Sanguinius, have insufficient strength? Perhaps... have Budo's Second Legion support them—no, Budo can't spare the manpower."
After thinking it over, Selene dismissed the idea. Budo's Second Legion was under considerable pressure at the moment, independently conquering a technological world.
Although the individual combat strength of that world was far inferior to Astartes—one could say they would be crushed like chicks in close combat—they possessed aerospace warships and mecha.
"Super-spacetime boarding assaults. Seizing fleet bases before the enemy can react, capturing an intact large-scale aerospace fleet. Budo's opening move was well played."
Thinking back to Budo's surprise assault strategy when he first discovered that world a year ago, Selene chuckled softly. Indeed, when it came to getting rich overnight, building was inferior to looting.
"It's been almost a year. Budo's Second Legion should be familiar with integrated aerospace combat by now. It's time for me to reap the harvest. This world counts as a milestone victory."
"Send Liver's Third Legion to support Sanguinius. He's been resting long enough..."
...
At this very moment, on the expeditionary front of the Second Astartes Legion, the Punishers, within a certain technological universe.
Boom!Boom!