CHAPTER 256: CHAPTER 256

---3rd Person POV, Dahl Headquarters---

As CEO Stanton Dahl reviewed his company’s Q3 earnings report, a pleased smile formed on his face. Exceeding their forecasted earnings by a staggering twenty-seven percent, he decided to treat himself to a seven-course meal for lunch. Closing the manila folder before him, Dahl rose from his seat to grab his coat. Just as he was about to head for the door, his secretary buzzed him over the intercom.

"The Director of Research and Development is here to see you, Mr. Dahl. He does not have an appointment, but he says it is urgent.", the secretary informed him. "Do you want him sent away, or shall I let him in?"

’Damn it, Andrews. You know I hate it when people drop in unannounced.’, Dahl thought with irritation. "Let him in..."

Since his lunch would have to wait a bit longer, Dahl decided to pour himself a glass of wine to tide himself over. Walking over to his wet bar, he opened the wine fridge and grabbed one of his preferred bottles. As he popped the cork out, the director burst into the room.

"Sir, we have a major problem! We have lost access to the...", Director Jasper Andrews said, picking up on his employer’s annoyed demeanor. "My... My apologies, Mr. Dahl. I know you hate unexpected visits, but this is an emergency."

"Proceed.", Dahl answered, pouring himself a tall glass. "You were saying something about losing access? To what exactly?"

"At 0200 hours, we lost access to the Pharos network, sir. Our engineers and scientists have been working tirelessly to restore our access, but so far, there has been no progress.", Andrews informed him, sticking to the facts.

While their competitors struggled to gain a foothold in new markets, Dahl was thriving. Not beholden to the expensive Interstellar Gates fees, their prices remained low while everyone else’s incrementally increased. As the competition steadily priced themselves out of markets, their business plan was simple: keep things priced low and let business continue to roll in.

"We knew those sentient machines would eventually notice our use of their technology.", Dahl remarked, unfazed by this news. "Plans were already in the works to usurp control of the network from them. Advancing the timeline will be challenging but achievable. I will have my secretary reach out to our contacts within the Imperium of Man to have them address it."

"Sir... It was not the machines who booted us out.", Andrews remarked, positioning himself so he could bolt for the exit. "Victor von Stark is the one who revoked our access. He sent over a pile of dead mercenaries and an unknown device before doing so."

Slamming the wine bottle down on the granite countertop, the CEO slowly turned his gaze back toward Andrews. When their eyes met, his intense rage hit the scientist like a ton of bricks.

"Repeat that one more time.", Dahl said, making sure he was not mishearing things.

"Victor von Stark... He somehow revoked our access to the Pharos network.", Andrews repeated. "Our best men are working to resolve this problem, but so far- "

Still holding onto the bottle of wine, Dahl threw it at Andrews as hard as he could. Diving out of the way, Andrews attempted to flee but was quickly pinned down by the CEO.

"All of you are fucking useless!", Dahl seethed, grabbing Andrews by the throat. "Despite employing the top engineers and scientists in our region, this one man consistently outperforms us. He is from a backwater nation that is stuck in the Stone Ages compared to us. Why the hell are you incompetent fools unable to compete with him!?"

"I... I do not know... Mr. Dahl.", Andrews answered, his vision beginning to darken. "He... he booted us... from the Caspiel Empire. Related to their... First Emperor!"

Releasing Andrews, Dahl ordered him to repeat what he just said.

"The bodies he sent us... Those men were deployed in the Caspiel Empire.", Andrews said, gulping down air. "We recovered all the footage from their body cameras. It turns out he is the descendant of their founder, Klordius Aremus. He took the imperial throne by force and has installed himself as the galactic nation’s emperor."

"MOTHERFUCKER!!", Dahl howled, bashing Andrews’ face in with his fists. "Our negotiators spent years building a rapport with that stupid bitch. We were just weeks away from signing a large mercenary contract to help capture the region. Everything would have eventually been a company asset, but now it is all gone! DAMN YOU, STARK!!"

Wailing on his employee until his anger subsided, Dahl picked himself up off the floor and walked back over to the wet bar. Using the sink to wash his hands and face, he looked at himself in the mirror with annoyance.

’Well, this suit is fucking ruined.’, he thought, walking over to his desk phone. "Stacy, send in a cleanup crew to remove Andrews’ corpse and clean the carpet. Also, get me another suit."

"Right away, Mr. Dahl.", his secretary Stacy replied.

Savoring the wine he previously poured, he leaned against his desk and silently waited for his employees to arrive.

---Thirty Minutes Later, Dahl Underground Warehouse---

Personally leading a detachment of armed guards down to the Pharos unit, Dahl gathered everyone’s attention for a moment. Informing the various teams that Doctor Andrews no longer worked for the company, he asked for a status update from his right-hand man.

"It... It appears Stark somehow removed the Pharos unit from the network. We are working on reestablishing a connection, but... we have made no progress.", Doctor Stephen Cowl said, knowing that failure would mean death for everyone present and their families. "We are slowly learning the quantum-based coding language used by the sentient machines. At the earliest, it will be six months or more before we can fix this."

"You have exactly two weeks to fix this mess. Failure to do so will result in your unfortunate terminations.", Dahl spoke, sending the group into full-blown panic. "Where are the items Stark sent us? I want to look at this unknown device."

"Right over there, sir...", Cowl gulped, shakily pointing toward a gigantic machine.

As he did not frequently visit the warehouse, Dahl had mistakenly believed it was a support pillar at first. Taking a better look at it now, it reminded him of an old cooling tower for a nuclear reactor from humanity’s distant past. Uncertain whether it was radioactive or not, he hesitantly asked for details while ensuring his personal shield was turned on.

"We know less about it than the Pharos. When we tried to analyze it with our scanners, the equipment detected nothing for some reason.", Cowl answered, scratching the back of his head. "If you are concerned about radiation, Hazmat already cleared it with their Geiger counter."

"Hmm... I see.", Dahl replied, letting his curiosity get the better of him.

Cautiously approaching the strange device, Dahl wanted to figure out what it was and why Stark sent it to them. Sensing no danger initially, when he got within fifteen feet of it, a pale green light radiated out from the internals as the ground violently began to shake. Turning to flee, a prerecorded video message projected out from a hidden camera.

"Greetings, Dahl Corporation. My name is Victor von Stark, the man whom you have been butting heads with for a while now.", Victor said with an aloof expression. "There is much I would like to say, but my time today is rather short. This little gift of mine is your repayment for the Artemis Space Station incident and attempting to take the Caspiel Empire from me. It saddens me that a great deal of innocent people are about to die, but you chose your side when you joined Dahl. For those of you who survive this... I look forward to killing you again soon."

Crossing the point of no return, the Imperial nuclear reactor began releasing ungodly amounts of radiation. As flesh began to liquefy, the people cried out in agony while Dahl glowered at Victor’s image.

"STARK!!", Dahl roared as the reactor exploded.

(AN: If you will recall, Victor stowed the Conqueror’s failing nuclear reactor in his inventory during his fight with Khârn the Betrayer. That is where this nuclear reactor came from.)

---Victor POV, Palace Clinic---

Watching Dahl HQ disappear in a brilliant burst of light, a satisfied smile formed on my face. I was certain that this strike had severely weakened the company, and I would deal with what remained when I visited the region. Sifting through Dahl’s network, I tried to find a way to contact Angel.

’Thank you, incompetent engineers. If you had not foolishly plugged your computers into the Pharos, breaching the network would have been much more difficult.’, I thought, stumbling upon Dahl’s financial accounts. ’Hehe, time to drain their funds and bankrupt them!’

Going to move the funds around, Alicia and her colleagues began stirring in their beds.

"Ugh... My fucking head...", Kilia Jech moaned, slowly sitting up. "What happened?"

"Oh, you don’t remember?", Tohru questioned, tilting her head curiously. "You passed out when that giant bug popped out of the creepy guy’s skin. We brought you here so you could recover in peace."

Recalling everything now, they hurriedly leaned over their beds as a wave of nausea hit them. Firmly smacking Tohru’s butt, I asked her to choose her words more carefully in the future.

"Everyone, calm down. Bohgan was killed and replaced several weeks ago. Since then, you have not been subjected to anything.", I reassured them. "I resurrected Bohgan so you can get your revenge. He is chained up and awaiting you in the dungeon."

"So... We were not violated by an insectoid?", Kila Kushan questioned, sighing with relief. "Thank fucking goodness. I was seriously considering shooting myself to escape the unbearable humiliation."

"You and me both...", Beatrice Kushan agreed.

Giving them some nausea medicine, Olivia suggested they get some more rest. Agreeing to her request, they laid back down and thanked us for watching over them. Departing from the room, we returned to the throne room to prepare for another long day of discussions.