"Fuck!"
When Duanmu Huai returned to the warship, he was covered in dust and grime, his face full of irritation.
Can't win so you self-destruct? You can be this shameless?
Damn it...…where the hell did these bastards come from? If I get my hands on them...…
"Report, my lord, unidentified spacecraft detected approaching planet LV426, yoo~~"
Just as Duanmu Huai was swearing viciously, Miya's slow, drawn-out voice sounded again from the cockpit. Hearing her voice, Duanmu Huai frowned and looked toward the screen. Sure enough, on the display he saw a transparent warship quietly passing by from the side, flying toward LV426.
"Lock onto it! See where it's going!"
"Understood..."
Under Duanmu Huai's watchful gaze, the ship slowly arrived above the colonial base that had already been blasted into ruins. Then it revealed its original form and gradually descended. Soon after, Duanmu Huai saw several figures walk down—wearing armor, helmets, and hair styled like dreadlocks...…
Just as expected! These bastards are outsiders!
"Lock target, commence attack!"
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai viciously issued the order.
"Roger~~~"
When the Inquisition's warship arrived in orbit above LV426, that alien ship also noticed their presence. It immediately began to ascend, attempting to cloak itself once more. However, Duanmu Huai had already locked onto it and naturally wasn't about to let it escape so easily.
"Fire!"
"Boom boom boom!!!"
With Duanmu Huai's command, beams of light and shells blasted forth, striking the alien warship directly. Caught completely off guard, the alien vessel was clearly no match for the Inquisition. A single volley of lance fire completely shattered its shields, and the subsequent macrocannon shells effortlessly tore through its armor, leaving the ship half-destroyed.
"Enemy ship damage has exceeded forty percent...…"
Just as Miya was about to continue firing, Duanmu Huai raised a hand, signaling her to wait. At the same time, the crippled alien ship suddenly accelerated, dragging its battered hull behind it, and in the blink of an eye disappeared into the depths of space.
"Master??"
The artificial angel tilted her head in confusion, looking curiously at Duanmu Huai.
"Let the line run long to catch a big fish. Killing them here would be letting these xenos off too easily."
Duanmu Huai stared at the signal on the screen and spoke coldly. He had indeed considered boarding the enemy ship just now and hacking their systems to obtain the location of their civilization. But he abandoned that idea for a simple reason—the sheer disgust caused by these bastards who self-destruct when they can't win.
If he charged into the command deck and they decided to self-destruct again when they couldn't stop him, wouldn't he be falling into the same river twice?
He wasn't that stupid!
"Send a reconnaissance ship to tail them and locate their nest. As for this place...…"
Duanmu Huai withdrew his gaze and looked at planet LV426 before him, frowning slightly.
"It's already contaminated by xenos and has no value. In the name of the Grand Inquisitor, I issue an exterminatus order. Launch a Cyclonic Torpedo and purge it completely."
Since there were no living humans left on the planet anyway, he might as well destroy it outright and be done with it—no chance of embers reigniting when the spring wind blows.
"Okayy~~~~ Master~~~"
Soon after, as a Cyclonic Torpedo flew toward LV426, blazing and radiant holy light erupted in full, completely purifying the planet that had been tainted by xenos and monsters.
At the same time, in a fringe star region at the edge of the galaxy, a heavily damaged warship was accelerating in desperate flight.
"Beep...…beep...…beep...…"
The command deck was filled with shrill alarms and flashing crimson warning lights. Yet the alien warriors within showed no panic at all. They calmly sat at their consoles, carrying out their duties. From time to time, alien soldiers walked back and forth, quietly reporting the situation. Their movements showed not the slightest hint of disorder, as if the ship on the verge of disintegration had nothing to do with them.
After an unknown amount of time, the alarms gradually faded. Then an alien warrior approached the commander seated at the center and lowered his head.
"...…Therefore, we do not know who attacked us."
The commander's low voice carried a trace of anger. Their race was the most war-hungry species in this region of the galaxy. They had always been the ones ambushing others—never before had they been ambushed themselves. To their kind, this was an unparalleled humiliation!
"Could it have been those Prometheus?"
At this moment, another adjutant beside the commander voiced his speculation. Hearing this, the commander fell into silence.
To Duanmu Huai, the history of these races was irrelevant. As long as they weren't human, they were xenos. Either enslaved or purged. Thus, he didn't care about their past, present, or future.
But in truth, these alien warriors had their reasons for coming to LV426.
They came from a civilization known as the Yautja. This civilization was an extremely warlike race that delighted in constant battle, honing themselves through combat with other species. The Yautja had developed interstellar travel very early, and as a result they waged war across the stars, visiting many planets.
However, what disappointed the Yautja was that although they had entered the cosmos, they had not encountered any force truly capable of matching them. Some planets did possess indigenous civilizations, but most were primitive, underdeveloped societies that hadn't even begun exploring space. Such civilizations were naturally beneath the Yautja's notice.
Until one day, on a certain planet, the Yautja discovered a terrifying lifeform—one with extremely strong reproductive capabilities and terrifying lethality, able to hide silently in the darkness and launch attacks.
The Yautja called it the Xenomorph.
But the story didn't end there. On that planet, the Yautja not only discovered the terrifying biological weapon known as the Xenomorph, but also uncovered murals and records—records indicating that this creature had not arisen naturally, but had been created by a race known as the "Prometheus"!
Upon learning this, the Yautja became extraordinarily excited and exhilarated. They urgently wished to find this race called Prometheus and test their strength against them, to see who was truly superior.
Not long ago, a Yautja reconnaissance ship discovered the wreckage of a Prometheus vessel on LV426. Thus, the Yautja dispatched warriors to investigate. Unexpectedly, on that planet they encountered the human colonial fleet sent by Dardaniel.
At first, the Yautja were naturally curious and puzzled by this colonial fleet. So they adopted the simplest and most straightforward method of investigation favored by the Yautja race.
They launched an attack, to see how strong their opponents were.
And thus, Dardaniel's ships were tragically destroyed by the Yautja.
After shooting down Dardaniel's vessels, the Yautja realized that these were not the Prometheus they were seeking, but another spacefaring race. They decided to first retrieve the Prometheus relics taken by the humans, and then later seek out this civilization to evaluate its strength.
Thus, the Yautja warriors set out for the colonial base, where they encountered Xenomorphs accidentally released by the colonists, leading to a battle between the two sides.
Then Duanmu Huai arrived.
The Yautja did not believe that the warships that later attacked them had any connection to the earlier human ship. Therefore, their first conclusion was that the mysterious Prometheus race had finally revealed itself!
"We will immediately return to the homeworld and report this matter to the elders."
The commander quickly made his decision. Soon after, the battered warship accelerated once more and vanished into the dark depths of space.
And the Yautja did not notice that, within a nearby nebula behind them, an Inquisition reconnaissance ship was silently watching them...
(End of chapter)