[Warning: a powerful energy signature has been detected approximately twenty kilometers from our current position. According to initial readings, the wave belongs to a Tier Five planetary champion.]

The young AI's voice rang sharply across the fortress communication lines, filling every corridor with a sense of dread.

"A Tier Five? That cannot be right…" Cleo muttered in disbelief. "Even a planetary champion of that level should never be able to shake the fortress like this. And certainly not force that monstrosity back... the same monstrosity that endured planetary bombardments without slowing down."

For a brief moment, silence reigned. Cleo's eyes narrowed as the realization struck her, and with a flick of her hand she summoned another holo-screen. The translucent blue light shimmered before her, displaying the record of her body's sudden destruction.

She compared the energy outburst that tore her apart with the newly detected readings. The resemblance was undeniable. A faint smile curved her lips, followed by a low chuckle.

"Young one," Cleo said, her tone steady despite the tension, "reroute half of the fortress's defensive energy into the engines. We must be ready to leave at a moment's notice."

As she moved swiftly between screens, giving command after command, Yssera stood at the far end of the chamber. Her gaze was fixed not on the controls or the defenses, but on the battlefield beyond the window.

Her expression was difficult to read, but her eyes trembled with something she could not suppress.

Yssera was Khryssari royalty, a princess of a race that had cultivated the heights of mental prowess. Her mind, sharpened beyond the limits of most mortals, allowed her to perceive what others could not. And what she saw out there was no ordinary apparition.

The black giant that assaulted the fortress radiated evil and ruin, a towering shadow that sought only to destroy. But opposite it, cutting through the mist like dawn's first light, she saw a colossal humanoid form wrought entirely of white-silver brilliance.

Hovering above his head lingered the faint, ghostly image of a vast silver planet, moving with him as though bound to his very being. To anyone else, it would appear as nothing more than a shimmering giant of light. Yet to her sharpened vision, the truth of that planet's presence was unmistakable.

Meanwhile, Rex pressed forward, his steps thunderous, every motion radiating waves of pure silver energy. The light pouring from him was a flood, dissolving the abominations spawned from the black mist into nothingness.

His focus was unshakable, his will bent toward the thread of connection he shared with Cleo. It was this link that guided him, this bond that pulled him through the suffocating dark.

Then, a flicker of recognition stirred in his chest. A familiar presence brushed against his senses. He turned his golden-silver gaze toward a ridge of shattered stone. There, clustered together, stood Valxir and his men. They stared at the silver giant with expressions caught between awe and horror.

"What in the name of the stars is that thing!?" Volkong shouted, his stance becoming defensive, his voice betraying the tremor in his heart. The others mirrored his readiness, weapons clutched tight.

"Boss! That cursed bug lured us straight into our graves!" Zorbag yelled, his body tense, torn between the instinct to fight and the impulse to flee.

Zanar, however, moved without hesitation and planted himself firmly before Valxir. His posture was rigid and protective, ready to give his life so that his lord might escape.

But all such thoughts of action withered the instant the silver giant's gaze fell upon them. That stare alone pressed upon them like the weight of an entire mountain range, crushing their breath, silencing their courage. They dared not move, dared not speak; their bodies trembled as if before a god.

Inside Rex's mind, a cheerful, sing-song voice broke through the heavy silence.

"Daaaarrrlliiinnggg～," chimed the plump little firefly, its telepathic tone sweet and mischievous.

The silver giant slowly turned his gaze away from Valxir and his men. Instead, his eyes fell upon the tiny, plump bug buzzing weakly in front of him.

"Mmm? Ys… is that you…?" Rex's voice rumbled telepathically, soft yet resonant, echoing like distant thunder in Yssera's mind.

"I knew it was you～," Yssera replied, her tone teasing despite her form. "After all, even if you became a god, you'd still be marked by me～." The little fat firefly struggled not to flee from the being of overwhelming power staring her down.

"So, what are you doing here… and in that form?" Rex asked while tilting his massive silver head slightly; his aura flickered like a star about to erupt.

"Oh, I'm still tied to Cleo, so this is what I got stuck with. Ah! That reminds me! You should hurry." Yssera bobbed in the air, her little wings buzzing in a flurry.

"There's a massive giant getting bigger and nastier by the second, and it's giving Cleo a very hard time. Oh, and my mother wanted me to tell you something: three Queens will be arriving soon. And, uh… one of them will definitely kill everyone here without even asking questions."

"…Ys, your family is really outrageous. I've yet to meet a single one of you that's normal." Rex sighed, then shifted his gaze toward Valxir and his men still frozen in awe and fear. "And what about those?"

"Oh, them? We were cooperating to find you. Who would've guessed you'd be the one to find us first～?" Yssera wiggled awkwardly in midair, trying her best at puppy eyes.

It might have worked if she weren't currently a fat glowing firefly. "Anyway, I promised them that if they helped me, I'd let them escape this world. You wouldn't want me to look like a liar, right?"

Rex let out a long breath, his colossal chest pulsing with silver light. "Sigh… fine, you win. Now guide me to Cleo. I don't have much time in this form, and I have no idea what side effects I'll face burning through this much energy as a freshly baked Tier Five."

With that, the silver titan began striding forward, each step leaving ripples of annihilation in the mist as Yssera fluttered along to guide him.

Meanwhile, far beyond this world, billions of light-years away, the vast Khryssari fleet of the Three Queens had finally gathered.

The sight alone was enough to be described as a galactic apocalypse. Entire constellations dimmed under the shadow of their swarm. Even with just three Queens, their hive could strip an entire galaxy bare, devouring it until nothing remained but silence.

And yet, they never did. Their hunger was selective. Instead of consuming everything, they merely captured young, fertile worlds brimming with organic resources… only to abandon them later.

But those abandoned planets never recovered. By the time the Khryssari were finished, all that was left was a dead husk, a desert where no life could thrive again.

It was this act of merciless waste, more than their conquests, that drove the other races of the galaxy to resist them at all costs.

"Mother, we... the twelve champions of your swarm... salute you."

All of Xytrallia's sons knelt before her… all except one.

Lykos.

For reasons no one understood, he was her favorite. The other champions whispered about it in resentment, but none dared speak aloud. Their hatred festered, sharpened by humiliation, because Lykos had already beaten them all.

Not one by one, but all at once. He broke their pride and their bones and would've taken their lives too if Xytrallia herself hadn't intervened.

And worst of all? She hadn't punished him.

Now, that same Lykos lay sprawled in a corner of her throne room, curled in his massive wolf form, snoring softly without a care in the world.

"Mm. Very well," Xytrallia's voice rolled through the chamber, each syllable resonating with power. "Return to your hive-ships and await further orders."

She flicked her hand dismissively, and the champions departed in silence, their resentment hidden behind bowed heads.

When the chamber was empty, Xytrallia's tone changed. It softened.

"Lykos…" she called, almost in a whisper.

The great wolf's ears twitched. He opened his eyes slowly, golden irises gleaming, and lifted his head toward her.

"Come here, my little one."

Xytrallia sat upon the claw of her colossal true body, appearing now in her humanoid form. She patted the massive chitinous limb beside her, and Lykos obeyed. As he padded closer, his monstrous body shrank and shifted.

Muscles collapsed inward, fur dissolved, and bones reshaped. By the time he reached her, he was no more than a boy of five years old that looked exactly like a human child, save for his wolf-like ears and the soft tail swaying behind him.

He was naked, but before he could fidget with the shame of it, Xytrallia reached out. And with a brush of her fingers across his chest, living organic matter flowed over his skin, weaving into simple clothes that pulsed faintly with her essence.

"Silly child," she teased him while tapping the tip of his nose. "When will you learn to make clothes for yourself?"

"But that's too cumbersome! I'm always in my other form. Why would I even need clothes, Mother?" Lykos protested while squirming in her embrace. He kicked lightly, trying to wriggle free, but after a moment he went still. Escape was impossible.

Xytrallia only laughed softly, the sound more tender than anyone in the swarm would ever believe. She lifted a comb crafted from one of the rarest metals in the galaxy, so priceless that entire empires would bleed for even a sliver of it, and she was using it to run it slowly through his hair.

If outsiders saw such a treasure reduced to a mother's grooming tool, they'd die of envy and madness alike.

"Well," she said at last, "this time you will wear them, my silly little child."

Her words carried an odd weight.

"Because I think it is time for you to meet your father."