In the star-strewn void far beyond the borders of the Buzhi Empire, the planet Irothos lay quiet. The war that swept justly across the Perseus Arm had not touched this hidden world.

A Blade Emperor walked the face of the land. Above him loomed a sky the color of fresh blood, beneath his feet stretched carpets of violet fungi. Everywhere he trod, countless insects boiled up from the earth to pay him homage.

He traversed mountains and rivers, crossed continents and oceans, inspecting every sector of the Swarm’s domain.

At the heart of these territories stood massive cocoons, mountains unto themselves. Their outer shell was a semi-transparent membrane laced with thick, pulsing veins. These vessels ceaselessly pumped vital matter, ferrying nutrients and necessary growth compounds. Giant respiratory orifices expanded and contracted, each breath drawing immense volumes of air into their slow metabolism.

The Swarm’s efficiency was beyond question; they utilized every drop of nutrition to its absolute limit, wasting not a single iota.

Through the membrane, one could discern a colossal creature developing within each cocoon. These immense beasts were the size of tall buildings, fat and bloated like colossal submarines—yet their length exceeded three kilometers. No submarine ever built could match such a scale.

Their surfaces were clad in thick, heavy chitin, armor plating their bodies. Alongside their immense forms sprouted numerous tentacles, themselves perfectly encased in the hard shell. Their eyes remained half-lidded, giving the impression that their awareness had yet to fully coalesce.

These were the first batch of Cerebrates awaiting hatching—the future right and left hands of Yang Ying’s control over the Swarm, the vital bridge linking him to the basic units. With them, the Swarm’s reproductive capacity, combat power, and overall capabilities could be unleashed to a far greater degree, proving more efficient than Yang Ying’s direct control.

Every single cocoon maintained a direct psychic link with the Blade Emperor, allowing him effortless insight into their development.

Initially, the cocoons had been filled with viscous nutrient fluid, supplying the Cerebrate embryos with massive amounts of sustenance. Now, that fluid had been almost entirely absorbed by the developing Cerebrates.

The Blade Emperor knew well this signaled the final moments of their gestation. He approached one massive cocoon, placing a hand upon its surface, feeling the pulse of the Cerebrate within. Then, with a flash, he reappeared on a nearby hillock, shouting toward the structure.

"Arise!"

CRACK!

The Cerebrate inside snapped its eyes open, bathing the interior in crimson light. With a tremendous heave, its massive body shattered the membrane above, bursting forth from the confines of the cocoon!

"Mental essence verification complete. Confirmed: existence level achieved—Tier Four. Swarm linkage transplant successful. Inheritance: an army of ten million. Cerebrate, today you are reborn."

"Yes, Great Overlord," the Cerebrate replied. When fully unfurled, its body resembled a titanic starship. In truth, it was a living vessel of war.

It could inflate and expand its volume exponentially, its largest capacity capable of housing ten million Swarm organisms and carrying them through spatial jumps.

This Cerebrate was not the first. Half a day prior, Baal, Yang Ying's foremost Cerebrate, had emerged from its chrysalis. However, Baal’s emergence occurred on the floating continent, whereas this one was the first to hatch upon Irothos.

Days later, the remaining seventy-nine Cerebrates followed suit. The Blade Emperor awakened each one, bestowing upon them their respective Swarm armies.

Thus, the initial contingent of eighty Cerebrates was fully assembled.

In the interim, a piece of news swept through the galaxy like a hurricane, captivating the attention of all four Spiral Arms.

The Fifteen-Race Alliance of the Perseus Arm had been utterly annihilated. The fleets of the True Human Empire had begun their journey home.

They left behind a Perseus Arm reduced to ruins. The fifteen powerful, advanced civilizations, along with their vassal races, had been utterly wiped out by the iron-fisted methods of the True Human Empire. Only a handful of refugees clung to life, forced to abandon their homeworlds, becoming stateless exiles drifting aimlessly through the void.

For the races of the Orion Arm, the long-awaited moment had arrived. The call to conquer the ravaged Perseus Arm had sounded, and the main forces of these various races surged like a flood toward the post-war territory.

Fifty million vessels—this was a conservative estimate. According to official communiqués from these allied races, the Garanthians, the Cycrones, and their subordinates alone had deployed a total of twenty million warships, supported by an equal number of transport ships. The rest of the allied races surely accounted for at least another twenty million warships and twenty million transports combined.

This tally only reflected official numbers. Countless private entities had also dispatched their own exploratory flotillas to the Perseus Arm. While smaller than the official colonization fleets, their sheer number added up to nearly ten million ships.

Furthermore, although the Fifteen-Race Alliance was destroyed, many high-level civilizations within the Perseus Arm had survived. Intelligence suggested these survivors had mobilized nearly all their resources, hoping to secure quick advantages by seizing salvageable assets. If fully mobilized, they were estimated to possess around two million warships.

Of course, their former highest ranking was barely in the top dozen within the Perseus Arm, and the performance of these ships lagged far behind that of the Orion Arm expeditionary force.

These warships represented merely the first wave mobilized by the various factions. If necessary, they could deploy even greater numbers and raise further armies.

Under these circumstances, even those without Tier Four precognitive abilities could foresee that a conflict rivaling the scale of the war between the True Human Empire and the Fifteen-Race Alliance was brewing in the Perseus Arm. The combined fleets involved might well approach one hundred million vessels.

In light of this, the first batch of Cerebrates finally hatched, and Yang Ying had every reason to deploy them.

On the night before deployment, under the skies of Irothos, a Blade Emperor projected a stellar map of the Perseus Arm. This map clearly highlighted hundreds of planets surrounding Irothos that the Swarm could selectively target. The range spanned four distinct stellar sectors.

"Baal, your objective is this planet. Cerebrate Veda, you proceed here. Cerebrate Nala, you..."

Through the mental link, every Cerebrate received its designated mission. Though their forms and specialized traits varied, they shared one core attribute bestowed by Yang Ying: immense bodies with expandable internal volume, sufficient to carry ten million Swarm units on interstellar journeys.

"Assignments concluded. You are to immediately gather your armies and prepare for departure. Remember: sustain yourselves through war. Seize every resource to cultivate Swarm bases and breed more armies. Once you leave Irothos, each Cerebrate will represent an entire Tribe. Go now."

The Blade Emperor waved his hand, dismissing the Cerebrates.

The Cerebrates took flight, gravity seemingly nonexistent to them. They swiftly moved to various locations across Irothos, expanding their bodies, and commanding their attendant insectoid hordes to enter them.

Since each Cerebrate was tasked with carrying ten million organisms, the sheer volume was staggering. Even with hundreds or thousands of access points opened across their bulk, it took a full day to load the entire Swarm complement.

Then, they flew into the depths of space. Their forms flashed once, and they plunged into hyperspace.

Meanwhile, following the departure of the allied fleets, the Geostar Kingdom finally launched its full-scale offensive against the Kustar Empire.

After a period of reorganization, the combined Geostar Fleet, totaling seven million vessels, set sail once more, its destination the military nexus of the Kustars in the Dida Sector: Fort Amondel.

Fort Amondel shared the same star system as Koor Star, the capital of the Dida Sector, and constituted Koor Star's most formidable defense network.

If Kustar Star was the origin point of the Kustar species and the capital of the Kustar Empire, then Koor Star served as the empire’s secondary capital, the linchpin the Kustar Empire used to dominate the entire Dida Sector.

As for Fort Amondel, it was an artificial celestial body nearly the size of the Moon, the zenith of Kustar military technology. It boasted twenty Tier Ten Fortress Cannons and one rumored Tier Eleven Fortress Cannon, granting it immense offensive power.

Moreover, its powerful energy core furnished the fortress with three layers of impenetrable defensive shields. Combined with a stationed garrison fleet of half a million, under normal circumstances, even a massive fleet numbering two million warships would stand little chance against Fort Amondel and would be forced to retreat in defeat.

Before the battle commenced, Yang Ying and the Blade Emperor received an invitation from Yafey, requesting a briefing meeting aboard the Geostar flagship. Consequently, Yang Ying and the Blade Emperor boarded the renowned flagship, the Geoyin.

It was an exceptionally beautiful vessel, approximately one kilometer long, four hundred meters wide, and two hundred meters high. From the exterior, it resembled a giant violin, its armored surface finished with a silver coating so smooth it mirrored its surroundings perfectly.

The ship was armed with six Tier Eight Uranium Cannons, twenty Tier Seven Hammer Cannons, countless others of varying tiers, and numerous deployable weapon ports, such as missile bays and space mine launchers. Its energy shields were virtually impervious to bombardment below Tier Eight. It was the finest and most advanced warship the Geostars had constructed.

Upon entering the ship’s conference room, the architectural style strongly recalled the Golden Hall. In the center of the floor was a large, circular basin housing a massive display screen, surmounted by a holographic projection panel capable of providing comprehensive, multi-directional information services.

Yafey had been waiting for some time when Yang Ying and the Blade Emperor arrived. She was currently clad in extraordinarily intricate robes, layered so densely they seemed to number in the hundreds, yet this complexity was matched by an intense artistic presence that instantly captivated the eye.

The Swarm Cerebrates have all emerged! Everyone please cast your monthly votes! With monthly support, Diamond donations will surely boost the writer’s enthusiasm tenfold!