CHAPTER 420: PLANS! II

The words settled into the stellar chamber like atmospheric pressure from a collapsing star.

|But with you. With me. With the Sea of Thalassara, there’s a good percentage of possibility. It’s why I chose you for this exchange and never once reached out to them. One of the goals of the Outsiders is to locate and take me...the only remaining Cosmic Singularity of these Star Seas.|

...!

Achilles nodded slowly, his stellar consciousness processing the magnitude of what had been revealed.

"Okay. We know all of this. How do we approach it?"

Ethemia’s response carried measured wisdom.

|Your father was able to forge an empire before ultimately, the Infinite Radiance Sovereignty and the Void Dominion Empire made their move. They only act if you cross a certain threshold. Maybe they hold some sentimentality for their original victim. Maybe there are other measures in place...anything involving Outsiders is difficult to see through even for cosmic consciousness.|

Her voice took on instructional undertones.

|What you can do now is conquer and devour. You’ll have lesser forces that remember your father move against you, but the stronger entities won’t act yet. The biggest goal is for you to Assimilate as much of the unique wonders of the Star Seas as possible. Stellar Bodies, Black Holes, cosmic phenomena...|

The tactical framework she outlined carried possibilities that made his enhanced consciousness burn with anticipation.

Not cautious expansion or careful diplomacy, and instead systematic consumption of cosmic forces.

|You’ll be able to entirely ignore the Realms of power that others recognize. Even now, you can likely challenge those two stages above Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendence. The combination of your enhanced genetics, the Cosmic Singularity fragment you’ve assimilated, and the resources available through the Sea of Thalassara grant you advantages other lifeforms simply cannot compare to.|

...!

Achilles’ eyes pulsed as he listened!

But then her voice shifted to address considerations of...other nature.

|And lastly, you need to spread your Lineage. Your progeny will be filled with potential as you need to spread your genome through many other species. I know this is sensitive due to your current human nature, and I understand your connection to Rose Adrian. Talk to her. Let her know of the chaos all around.|

...!

|And then ultimately, there’s yourself. You have your own walls and ideals...you need to not look at the act of spreading progeny as something requiring the emotion of love. You’re simply passing and extending your genome from one species to another. A single Adrastia Emperor King caused Outsiders to plot and plan. If you can succeed in making a dozen? A hundred? Would Outsiders even stand a chance?|

BOOM!

The strategic logic was undeniable, brilliant in its simplicity and terrifying in its implications.

Numbers as protection against systematic elimination. Genetic diversity as insurance against concentrated persecution!

But the human part of his consciousness...the part that remembered holding Rose’s hand in a hospital room, feeling Arya’s arms wrap around his waist with absolute trust...recoiled from cold calculation that would treat procreation as merely another tactical resource.

Sun’s golden radiance flickered with understanding mixed with concern as he observed Achilles processing the revelations.

The cosmic history was complete.

The strategic framework had been established.

The enemies were identified, the tactical objectives clarified.

But the most difficult battle still lay ahead.

Not against external enemies whose power operated on cosmic scales, and instead against internal constraints that defined what it meant to remain fundamentally human while wielding forces that transcended individual existence!

"I’ll take all this under consideration," he said calmly, his voice carrying across the stellar chamber with measured authority. "I need some time to think first."

The Cosmic Singularity pulsed with understanding.

|Acknowledged. With your new nature having assimilated a Singularity, we can communicate across any distance. When you’re ready to make a move, you can test your new power on enemies at higher levels in the Sovereign Void Imperium. I will pinpoint all those who aided in pursuing your Father.|

The offer carried promise! Direct intelligence about specific targets, guidance that would allow him to strike with surgical precision rather than blind fury.

Achilles nodded his agreement. "Understood."

HUUM!

Powerful waves of space wrapped around his stellar form like cosmic currents recognizing their master.

His appearance began shifting...the stellar purple-gold skin fading back to human fairness, the radiant wings dissolving into memory, the nine halos that had marked him as a cosmic phenomenon simply ceasing to exist.

Within moments, he stood as he had before the assimilation....dark gold-purple hair catching light naturally, fair skin unmarked by cosmic transformation, every trace of his stellar nature concealed beneath familiar humanity.

He disappeared from the chamber with the casual precision of folded space.

Achilles reappeared in the Sea of Thalassara floating in outer space, the stellar waters welcoming him.

Around him, the expanding dominion of aquatic empire stretched toward distant stars while his biological weapons maintained their patient vigil.

Rose looked over with a smile that carried warmth beyond any stellar phenomenon, but her expression shifted as she caught sight of his serious demeanor. She turned toward where Arya was enthusiastically talking to other Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendents.

"Continue, sweetheart, I’ll be back." Rose called out.

Arya waved her small hand without looking back, completely absorbed in her impromptu lecture of how the Void-Born Thalassarian Sovereigns appeared.

Rose moved toward Achilles with the fluid grace. When she reached him, her emerald eyes searched his face with focused attention.

"What’s wrong?" she asked softly.

Achilles wrapped both of them in spatial light that bent reality around their forms like protective armor. In the next instant, they ceased to exist in the stellar waters and materialized somewhere entirely different.

The hospital room was achingly familiar...white walls that seemed to glow with their own inner light, medical equipment that hummed with quiet efficiency, a bed positioned near windows that looked out over the sprawling metropolis of Neon far below.

But this wasn’t the same room where Rose had fought for her life against poison from an Evolutius Beast. This was located on one of the highest floors of a building in the Adrastia Continent, inside the colony city that had become the heart of their expanding civilization.

Rose looked around with a smile that mixed nostalgia with appreciation for the deliberate recreation of such a significant place in their shared history.

"I’m going to share some information with you," Achilles said, his voice carrying love mixed with apologetic necessity. "It’s a lot to process in the span of seconds."

He reached out with gentle precision, his finger touching Rose’s forehead.

The information transfer was instantaneous but carefully filtered.

Everything he’d learned about the Cosmic Singularity, the true origins of his persecution, the cosmic scope of enemies arrayed against their family...all of it flowed into her consciousness while he meticulously excluded any deadly knowledge of names that couldn’t be safely spoken aloud.

Rose’s reaction was immediate and profound!

Her emerald eyes widened as understanding crashed through her awareness like gravitational waves from colliding stars.

And initially...she was quiet.

Silent!

Her hands found his face, emerald fire dancing around her fingers as she traced features that now carried entirely new significance.

And still, she didn’t say anything!

Achilles looked at her and sighed as he uttered out.

"Say something. Anything."

...!