Chapter 547: Uninvited Guest

Reva, Lyra, Iria, Viola, and Requiem were already waiting for them on the sprawling observation deck overlooking the private docks. Lyra sat on a metal shipping crate while folding a thick slice of synthesized meat into a flatbread, chewing enthusiastically as she watched the men approach.

Reva crossed her arms and looked directly at Xavier. "We saw the massive explosion from the restaurant window. What exactly just happened out there?"

"A galactic empress showed up in a giant metal dragon and vaporized Kylus's entire dreadnought because it was a potential threat to her," Xavier explained casually as he walked up to the railing. "She gave him an astronomical fortune as compensation, but he is still grieving over his custom captain's chair."

Kylus let out a miserable groan and buried his face in his hands, completely ignoring the fact that he was now wealthy enough to buy a moon.

"She also brought her golden platform right up to our windshield before leaving," Xavier added with a smirk. "I didn't even do anything and she fell for my handsome face. Dammit, I should have gone after her and asked for her comms number."

"You already said this a while ago, and my response will be the same." Rin rolled his eyes as he rested his hand on his sword hilt. "She was looking at the black covenant jacket you are wearing since it's supposed to be incredibly rare and dangerous, and it caught her attention."

"Whatever her reason was, we are leaving before she decides to blow up this station too," Xavier said as he turned his attention toward his newly upgraded ship resting in the dock.

The engineering team Angel had contracted from Earth had completely transformed the Helion Forge A-92 Strider before departing the sector entirely. The ancient relic was now a massive, heavily armored dreadnought painted entirely in gunmetal black. It bristled with concealed artillery cannons, reinforced plating, and high-output thruster banks built specifically for deep-space combat and galactic conquest.

"Angel's contacts did a perfect job," Xavier said as he took a step toward the boarding ramp. "We are boarding right now, and we are setting a direct course for the Tartarus Sector."

He walked toward the open airlock of the Strider, but a set of footsteps suddenly echoed against the metal grating of the dock.

Empress Xalvoria walked directly past Xavier with her obsidian knight trailing right behind her. She did not even look at the crew as she strolled casually up the loading ramp of the Strider and stepped right into the main corridor of the warship.

"So it is here," Xalvoria said while looking at the interior bulkheads.

Rin instantly drew his twin swords, the metallic ring of steel echoing across the dock. Reva's fangs elongated as her crimson eyes flared with absolute shock, and the rest of the crew froze in complete disbelief.

Reva, Lyra, Rin, and Viola were all elite fighters with highly evolved senses, yet absolutely none of them had heard the Empress approach, nor had they sensed her overwhelming presence until she was already standing on the ramp of their ship.

Xavier, however, was entirely unbothered by the sudden intrusion. He was simply standing at the base of the ramp, blatantly checking out the Empress's ass as she walked away from him.

Rin shifted his weight to lunge forward, but Xavier immediately snapped out of his distraction and raised his hand. Without saying a word, Xavier shot Rin a sharp glare and made a firm, downward gesture with his palm, ordering his crew to back down.

He pointed at Rin's swords and then at the deck, silently commanding him to sheathe the weapons before the obsidian knight decided to turn them all into space dust.

Xavier gestured to his chest, indicating he would handle this alone, and slowly walked up the ramp to follow the uninvited guests into the dark corridors of the dreadnought.

He disappeared into the ship, but Reva and Lyra immediately exchanged a defiant look. Lyra took one last massive bite of her meat-stuffed flatbread, and the two women silently crept up the ramp right behind him, completely ignoring his orders to stay back.

Inside the Helion Forge A-92 Strider, Empress Xalvoria was walking through the main passages as though she were entirely blind to her surroundings, yet driven by an invisible tether. She didn't look at the newly installed weapon racks or the reinforced bulkheads. She simply walked straight forward, taking a sudden left turn down an auxiliary corridor, followed by a sharp right into the crew decks.

Xavier trailed a few paces behind the towering obsidian knight, watching the Empress navigate a ship she had never been on. At the end of a long hallway, Xalvoria suddenly stopped. She slowly turned her head and glanced back over her shoulder, her terrifying crimson eyes locking directly onto Xavier for a fleeting second. She didn't utter a single syllable. She just held his gaze, turned back around, and continued walking toward the captain's wing.

She finally reached the heavy reinforced door at the very end of the corridor that was Xavier's personal quarters. The motion sensors chimed, and the metal door hissed open to reveal the dimly lit room.

Xalvoria stepped inside, her crimson-and-gold mantle brushing against the doorframe, and walked straight past his bed and his personal terminal. She stopped dead in her tracks in the far corner of the room, her eyes completely fixated on a small, makeshift altar resting on a table.

Sitting perfectly in the center of the altar was a jagged, seemingly unremarkable piece of stone. However, in the dim light of the cabin, intricate veins of pale gold could be seen running deep through its rough surface. It was a fragment of the Goddess Astrea.

The stone was faintly emitting a rhythmic, warm glow that pulsed outward, beating in perfect synchronization with Xavier's own heartbeat as he stepped into the doorway behind her.

The Empress stared down at the breathing, pulsing fragment of the exiled high deity, as the entire room fell into a suffocating silence.