A surge of brilliant golden light erupted from the depths of Selene's scarlet eyes—the unmistakable manifestation of her Honkai Authority activating.
The moment the sigil of Herrscher appeared, all noise in the cosmic void vanished instantly.
In Selene's vision, the once silent, lifeless expanse of space was now vivid and resplendent, the universe unfolding before her in unparalleled clarity.
In this prismatic field of perception, the magma-churning planet beneath her appeared as though it were a slowly flickering PowerPoint slide, each beam of radiation, each molecule, atom, and even atomic nucleus it released into space—particles so infinitesimally small that not even advanced instruments could precisely detect them—were now etched perfectly into Selene's consciousness.
Observing this vast, color-saturated microscopic world was merely the beginning. Amidst the boiling sea of particles that was the cosmos, Selene meticulously scanned for any anomalies—for unique disturbances bearing the imprint of sentient interference.
Beneath the planet's crust, already stripped away by tens of kilometers of orbital bombardment, multiple layers of artificial structures remained intact.
It was abundantly clear—this world was not a naturally formed celestial body.
The massive subterranean complex, stretching so vastly that it nearly filled the entire planetary core, was not constructed in the manner of a fortress world, where underground strongholds are dug inward from the surface. Rather, it had been built outward from within.
To illustrate—this planet was akin to a chocolate truffle.
The outermost 500 kilometers of crust was merely a thin layer of frosting, the middle layer an over 100-kilometer-thick hardened shell, and at its core, an intact, preserved 'sugar center.'
This inner sanctum still contained plants, forests, mountains, minerals, oxygen, water, and all other essential elements for sustaining biological life.
It was likely that this was the planet's true form—while the outer surface, obliterated by the Imperial Navy's relentless bombardment, was merely a disguised exterior.
"Forerunners… Shield World…"
Shield World: A term used to refer to the Forerunner civilization's vast network of militarized fortress worlds, constructed at the height of their golden age.
These fortified planetary installations were often equipped with self-sustaining ecosystems and extensive fleet docking platforms, designed to repel Flood invasions and to shelter lifeforms from the cataclysmic cross-phase neutrino waves released during the activation of the Halo Array.
Yet, as history has shown—
The citadel that claims to be impenetrable will always fall.
The bastion deemed unbreakable will always be breached.
No place, no matter how secure, is ever truly safe…
"And this one… is a Shield World already infected by the Flood."
Sweeping her awareness across the entire primary structure of this unnumbered Forerunner Shield World, Selene meticulously analyzed its outer surface, upper infrastructure, and the tunnel system within its planetary shell, as well as the miniature Dyson sphere and artificial sun that provided it with internal illumination.
As for the status of other Shield Worlds, Selene could not yet determine. However, from what she could see, this one—positioned at the edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud—had undoubtedly fallen.
Within the tunnel network inside the planetary shell and across its inner surface, countless Flood forms had evaded orbital bombardment, shielded by the robust structural defenses of the shell.
"A Gravemind… a rather primitive one, but it has awakened… it is transmitting something outward..."
"So, this is their unique method of information transmission..."
Selene's focus swiftly locked onto a hazy stream of pale golden particulate fluid, which was rising through the Shield World's upper layers, piercing through the molten wasteland of the outer surface, escaping into space—
Until Selene intercepted it.
Her consciousness had already encompassed the entire Shield World, blocking all outgoing transmissions from the Gravemind, and she had already begun the process of deciphering and reconstructing its signals.
"As expected—its mind is filled with nothing but consumption, destruction… pure chaos… Awaken… Assemble… The Milky Way…"
A Gravemind is a fusion of the Flood Super Cell (FSC) and the complex nervous systems of its hosts. Possessing exceptional intelligence, a Gravemind controls its biological extensions as seamlessly as an individual commands their own limbs.
Although its transmitted messages were brief, mostly repetitive and instinctual urges for consumption, Selene had already begun piecing together the bigger picture.
"Hah. These grotesque abominations sure are picky eaters."
Now that she had gained deeper insight into the Flood's nature, Selene couldn't help but shake her head and smile.
The Flood's targets were always intelligent lifeforms—they would ferociously attack any sapient species in the Milky Way, yet for most flora and fauna, they were relatively harmless.
After all, the Flood in the Milky Way had been nearly eradicated by the Forerunners, and those that remained had long since fallen dormant, having lost their primary targets.
Moreover, the Flood had originally evolved from the corpses of the Precursors, effectively making them a bioweapon designed by the Precursors as a means of retribution against their 'ungrateful children'—the Forerunners.
Even after their extinction, the Precursors' so-called 'true inheritors' had continued to subtly influence the Flood's actions, guiding this grand trial of destruction—a test to determine whether humanity was truly worthy of inheriting their mantle.
And this is precisely where the Flood differed from a hive-minded, all-consuming swarm like the Tyranids.
Unlike the Tyranids, the Flood did not actively seek out and eliminate primitive sapient civilizations—unless they were unfortunate enough to be caught in the path of their invasion toward Forerunner territory.
Even after the galactic reset, as new intelligent species gradually emerged, the Flood would not awaken until a civilization had reached a certain threshold of development.
Thinking about it this way, it was almost embarrassing—Selene seemed even more indiscriminate than the Flood.
At the very least, the Flood only targeted advanced, thinking sapient beings.
Meanwhile, under Selene's rule, the Empire made no such distinctions—whether human or beast, whether civilized or savage, whether intelligent or not—even the minerals, plants, and animals of every world were thoroughly harvested, leaving not a single resource untouched. The Empire's philosophy was simple: absolute efficiency. Even the dust would be squeezed for oil.
It was now evident—the Imperial Navy's orbital bombardment had awakened the Flood, which had lain dormant at the farthest edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
In essence, the Empire's arrival was no different from announcing to the Flood—
"Look! Thinking, intelligent beings! Wake up, brothers! Get up! It's time to feast!"
Having fully deciphered the Gravemind's outgoing transmission, Selene marked its coordinates and then released the intercepted link between the Flood and its Gravemind.
She had no other purpose—she simply wanted to see which obscure corners of the galaxy would respond, so she could track them down and eliminate them.
What was even more intriguing was that as the pale golden particle stream surged into deep space, Selene caught a fleeting glimpse of a phantasmal, golden-hued star river flashing across the cosmic void.
"Star Roads."
Watching as the Star Roads absorbed the golden particle stream, a flicker of understanding crossed Selene's expression.
Once the Flood birthed a Gravemind, its strategic deployment was nearly instantaneous, occurring without any delay from distance.
Aside from their later ability to develop a form of telepathic communication, the only other known technology capable of enabling instantaneous interstellar transmission was the Precursors' supernatural creation—
The Star Roads.
The Star Roads were among the most common forms of Precursor relics. Seemingly inert, they stretched tens of thousands of light-years in thickness.
Through extensive military campaigns against both ancient humanity and the Flood, the Forerunners had proven that the Star Roads—apart from the Halo Array—were utterly indestructible by any known means.
An untold number of Star Roads crisscrossed the entire Milky Way, existing for billions of years without a hint of decay. Near some planets, these Star Roads even formed orbital and suborbital arcs, suggesting that they were used to connect entire star systems and even the Milky Way itself, possibly serving as a method of faster-than-light travel.
Like all Precursor artifacts, the Star Roads were not composed of local matter but of exotic materials that could only be understood through advanced neurophysics.
Thus, the Flood, having originated from the remnants of the Precursors' corpses, was naturally capable of utilizing them.
It was remarkably similar to my Honkai Spatial Network.
One required Honkai energy to activate and access.
The other required Precursor neural physics to awaken and connect.
"Good. Saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one."
Szzzt!
Standing at the landing bay's viewport, Selene extended her hand, a flicker of icy blue light flashing through her eyes.
Before the naked eye, the entire planet's surface lava instantly froze, its molten rivers solidifying under a layer of frost.
"Come."
Selene withdrew her gaze, fixating on a massive, mutated lifeform deep within the Shield World's interior, a greedy smile appearing at just the right moment on her face.
Drip—
"Your Majesty!" A steel-gray-uniformed officer stepped to the viewing port without hesitation, dropping to one knee.
"Issue the order—halt the orbital bombardment. Have the Foundry Division and Science Bureau prepare for deployment. This…" Selene raised a finger, pointing through the viewport at the scarred and battered planet, her voice brimming with excitement—"shall be the Empire's first colony in this world."
The moment her words fell, Selene's figure vanished abruptly, without a trace.
At that very moment, within the Shield World's inner surface, inside a massive Forerunner fortress, within a chamber as decayed and swollen as a festering cyst, a bloated shadow was rapidly awakening.
Plop—
In the blink of an eye, a flower of flesh and blood blossomed, its engorged, tooth-covered 'petals' slowly unfurling.
From within its mucus-drenched core, a gigantic tendril lashed through the putrid air, carving a sinister arc.
"Roar!" A deep, guttural bellow.
Had one been capable of understanding the Flood's internal communications, the rough translation of these vocalizations would have been—"Sapient intruders detected." "After a hundred thousand years of slumber, the galaxy is alive once more." "Consume them. Eradicate them." "Are they human?" "Test them—see if they are worthy of the Mantle."
Crack!
Suddenly, sensing something, the massive tendril recoiled sharply, withdrawing instantly.
The 'petals' snapped shut, and countless thick roots burst from the dark depths, layering over one another, enshrouding it completely.
Whoosh!
A sonic shockwave tore through the chamber—
Though the interior walls of the fortress remained intact, the impact was akin to a meteor crashing down, unleashing a chaotic maelstrom of force that ravaged the ground.
Boom—!
In a fraction of a second, the Forerunner fortress, which had stood for over a hundred thousand years, collapsed entirely.
Flames erupted.
The air itself seemed to freeze in terror.
Scorched rubble, unidentified metal wreckage, and disintegrating debris were sent hurtling into the air, reduced to ruin in an instant.
At the same time, a crater spanning tens of kilometers caved into the inner surface, forming a gaping abyss.
Silhouettes of Flood creatures, their bodies engulfed in fire, were instantly vaporized at the epicenter of the explosion.
Even from tens of thousands of meters away, Selene could see and hear them—
Their wretched, deformed figures, their hideous shrieks of agony, rising in a discordant, ear-piercing chorus.
Splaaash!
Across the ruined depths of the fallen fortress, the ground was strewn with contaminated pus, charred, carbonized flesh, and corroded organic remnants.
"You can't escape."
Snap!
Stepping into the circular impact crater, Selene casually snapped her fingers.
Beneath her feet, a brilliant purple-red light surged outward, rapidly expanding.
Before long, as far as the eye could see, the Shield World's inner surface began to shift and writhe, as if constructed from living tissue.
As though dissolved by potent acid, the horde of grotesque monstrosities, previously charging toward Selene under the Gravemind's command, collapsed en masse.
Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!
Putrid blood and viscous fluids splattered in all directions. There were no screams, no final resistance—their desecrated forms simply dissolved into the expanding purple-red 'spore mat.'
Selene's expression remained utterly unchanged.
A wave of pitch-black mist, devoid of any emotion, abruptly surged in her pupils. The next second, the purple-red energy field ruptured the ground.
Bang!
A bloated mass, resembling an oversized Venus flytrap fused with a grotesque tumor, was violently ejected from the Shield World's vast underground tunnels by erratic, rapidly proliferating sharp spires. It crashed heavily onto the ground from midair.
In terms of appearance, it stood approximately five to six stories tall. The part of the Gravemind that produced sound resembled a massive tentacle with a gaping maw. It was a robust, tentacled entity with a bloated neck and an indistinct head, its enormous, fang-filled mouth lined with countless slender tendrils. Strangely, it was capable of speaking in a deep, resonant voice.
"Roar!" Who are you?
"Howl!" You are not human!
As the grotesque mass of flesh and tentacles constantly shifted its speech—from Forerunner language to ancient human dialects, then to obscure, long-extinct tongues—Selene let out a soft chuckle. "It seems your diet is quite diverse."
Without hesitation, she forcibly tore through the Gravemind's mental defenses and flooded its consciousness with her own intent. For a brief moment, even its writhing tentacles froze in place.
"The legacy of the Precursors has remained vacant for far too long—what a pity."
With an instinct as primal as that of a beast, the Gravemind instantly sensed the deep malice within Selene's words… but, unfortunately, that awareness was meaningless.
Squelch!
Countless purple-red crystalline spires pierced through its massive form. And in the final moments before its consciousness was swallowed by eternal darkness, the Gravemind vaguely perceived that this "human" was an existence even colder and more arrogant than the Flood or the Precursors themselves.
"Well done—one of the earliest Graveminds. I have now obtained the coordinates of the Precursor remnants, the control of the Star Roads, the Forerunner Shield Worlds, and the Great Ark..."
"Heh... The meaning of the Mantle, the origins of the Flood, the birth of ancient humanity, the Forerunners not being its true inheritors, and the supposed inheritance of the Mantle by humanity upon passing the test?"
"The Mantle? How laughable. I am the greatest 'Mantle'!"
"As for you—born from the lingering will of the Precursors—follow your ancestors into eternal slumber. Once dead, do not crawl back out to haunt the living..."
Crack!
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