Everyone in the room looked at each other with an amalgamation of shock and awe. Mira was the one with the least amount of surprise amongst them, as she was the first to notice that the planet itself was in fact, not a planet.

    Not only that but she also knew of Alex''s soulforge talent, but even still the fact that Brontes was a divine beast came as a huge surprise to her.

    The only other time the two of them had come across a divine beast before was the Divine white tiger back when they were weak, and were lucky enough for it to spare their lives after coming through the floodgate.

    For a moment, Alex''s mind was full of tension as he swept his gaze across the room, eyeing each person''s expression intently as he internally analysed their reactions.

    But they were all seasoned veterans, and although they were clearly shocked by this revelation, their faces only revealed that shock, and nothing else.

    But there were still some subtle glances and movements from them that sparked Alex''s interest.

    Olgierd''s eyes narrowed, and his steady composure faltered for a moment. Althea and Isla exchanged uncertain glances between each other, while Mira remained impassive, though her hands were shaking either through excitement or shock.

    Principal Farnes simply studied Alex with a mix of intrigue and concern, with his gaze peering through him like he was transparent.

    "A Divine beast?" Olgierd finally broke the tension with his low and deep voice.

    It was more of a rhetorical question, as he was more questioning the validity of it in his own mind rather than questioning if Alex was lying or not.

    "Good," Althea replied, since she was the one who took command of the Fleet''s operations. Continue your journey on empire

    "Any preliminary findings?" She asked, following up.

    The B tier hesitated for a moment, before responding.

    "Only fragments so far, but... it''s enough to confirm some of our worst fears. The Lux have been expanding their influence in the Andromeda Galaxy at an alarming rate. Entire star systems have fallen under their control, and thanks to their advanced wormhole technology, they were able to bypass conventional space travel limitations, such as distance. This fleet was just a single vanguard of theirs."

    Alex frowned, taking note of some of his words immediately.

    "If this was just their vanguard, then what does their main fleet look like?"

    "That''s the terrifying part..." The B tier reported grimly. "From what we''ve pieced together, the Lux Dominion, which is what they call themselves, has amassed a fleet so large it rivals our own. And they''re not just conquering — they''re completely subjugating any native life, turning them into slaves and resources to fuel their war efforts against the other races looking to claim a piece of the pie."

    Alex looked down at the floor in thought. The Andromeda Galaxy was already in a precarious situation, thanks to the fact that their previous owners, the Red Demons, were completely wiped out of existence. The federation had only just arrived, and barely even made their way into a star system on the very outer edges of the Galaxy, yet they had already met opposition, and a terrifyingly powerful one at that.

    Isla, who stayed silent the entire time until this point, spoke her mind.

    "So this wasn''t just an investigation into the system''s conditions like we were simply doing, but a declaration of war for anyone that wanted to come and try challenging them for dominion?"

    "And we just gave them a reason to escalate," Olgierd added, as a veteran of war he was sure of such a thing. "When they realise we were the ones who destroyed their vanguard and destroyed their wormhole, they''ll be sure to send more. A lot more."