While Ys was busy arguing with the Aegis sentinels, the elevator doors opened, and one of the girls from Talon stepped out. "Gentlemen, please put your weapons down. The leader has requested the guest come to his office."
As soon as she said that, the Thunderblades mercs lowered their weapons, though they kept a close eye on the Aegis and Ys, ready to fire at any moment if something went wrong.
"Heh, I can go alone. We don't need those toys over there coming along," Ys said, floating toward the elevator and pointing at the Aegis Sentinels.
["Negative, we have our orders from the Emperor. We won't let a princess of another race interfere in our mission. Step aside,"] one of the Aegis Sentinels said, walking toward the elevator.
In the end, they all crammed into the elevator, still arguing with each other. The poor girl from Talon had to endure their bickering all the way to the top floor. When the doors finally opened, Ys was the first to step out, followed closely by the Aegis Sentineels.
Ys glanced around, taking in the surroundings, while the Aegis Sentinels stood still, waiting for their target to appear. It didn't take long before Talon emerged from his room.
"Welcome, my guests. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?" Talon said, spreading his arms wide. One of the Aegis Sentinels stepped forward, stopping a few meters from Talon and projecting a screen in front of him.
["Establishing contact with the Empress. Please stand by."] In a matter of seconds, Cleo appeared on the screen. Talon was stunned; he had never seen someone so beautiful, especially with such exotic white wings.
With a lustful grin, Talon gave a small bow. "Well, well, well. Who do we have here? What could such a beautiful lady want from someone like me?" Cleo's face showed clear disgust, while Ys couldn't hold back a mocking laugh.
Ignoring them both, Cleo began to speak. "Greetings, Talon, leader of the Thunderblades mercs. A few days ago, one of my agents accepted a mission from you. The one about eradicating a local bug hive."
Talon hesitated at first, not remembering any mission like that. Then it hit him, the noble with the white wings, just like the woman on the screen. A cold sweat ran down his forehead.
Stumbling over his words, he replied, "I don't recall giving out any mission like that. Are you sure it was with me, dear noble?" Now that Talon realized who he was speaking with, he became submissive. This wasn't just any noble on the screen.
If anyone could command nobles, it would be someone of a higher rank or even a direct descendant of a CEO from one of the megacorps. That was far worse than dealing with an ordinary noble.
Without losing her composure, Cleo signaled to one of the Aegis Sentinels, who brought up another screen. "So, you're saying you don't know him?" The new screen showed footage of a match between Talon and Rex, leaving Talon speechless as his mouth opened and closed without a sound.
"I already know it was you who gave that mission to my agent, a mission with a $100,000 credit reward. But that bug hive was definitely not something worth only $100,000, so I'll ask you, dear Talon, who told you to give that mission to my agent?"
Talon was already trembling in fear, but he couldn't do what he had been trying to do. "Wait, I remember now, so he was your agent, yes? I just gave him some of the missions clients send me, the ones that have good pay. Yeah, that's what I did, yes!"
"It seems you'll feign ignorance to the end, then. Let me show you something to refresh your memory." The screen that had been showing the match between Talon and Rex changed to a chat window, revealing a conversation between Talon and someone from Nexum Dynamics.
The conversation detailed a bounty for Carlos and Rex for eliminating a covert operative of the company. They were offering 1,000,000 credits for their heads. It seemed that the captain of the covert operatives had sent a recording of their fight before dying.
As soon as he saw this, Talon collapsed to his knees, his expression completely blank. "It's over, it's over, it's over," he murmured over and over.
"Well then, I'll be taking all the credits from your organization. From this day on, Thunderblades no longer exists." Since the Aegis Sentinels had arrived at the Thunderblades HQ, Cleo had been hacking their systems. It only took her a few seconds to bypass all the security and drain all the credits.
Since the Thunderblades were a military organization, their credits were typically kept at their headquarters and not spread across the galactic banks, so the risk of being caught was close to none. "Now then, Khryssari princess, I know you didn't get enough food from that meal with Rex, so you can go ahead and eat dear Talon here."
"Hah? Don't you think there's food I wouldn't want to eat?" Ys said, moving closer to the screen where Cleo was. "But well, it's true that I'm still hungry, so I won't argue with you!" She began floating toward Talon, who was still on his knees, and a moment later, she started morphing into her original Khryssari princess form, larger and taller even than Rex.
She barely had enough space in Talon's office to transform, and once the change was complete, the only sounds left were the screams of Talon and his girls as a massive shadow consumed them.
"Sigh, that girl. I told her she could only eat Talon. Well, our mission was to eradicate all of them anyway, so that's fine. Aegis Sentinels, exterminate everyone in the building and return once the task is done." With that, she ended the communication.
The Aegis Sentinels activated their plasma cannons once more and moved toward the elevator. Once inside, they split up: one disembarked on the 9th floor, another on the 5th floor, and the last on the ground floor.
When the elevator doors opened, none of the mercs in the tavern were ready for what was coming. The Aegis Sentinel stepped out and, without hesitation, aimed its cannons at the mercs and opened fire.
The plasma shots tore through the mercs quickly, though some managed to take cover in time. A few returned fire, but it was useless; all the bullets were blocked by the energy shield surrounding the Aegis unit.
Seeing the enemies taking cover, the Aegis unit deployed small drones from its back. These drones had something like a ball attached to them, and once they locked onto a target, a laser beam shot out.
Now, the mercs had nowhere to hide, and within seconds it was all over. No one was spared. It was a complete massacre, carried out by the cold, unfeeling hands of machines.
Once the task was done, the Aegis unit stood by, its plasma cannons still charged and ready to fire at any moment. As it waited, another Aegis unit emerged from the elevator, and after a few more minutes, the last one came out as well. All of them were undamaged.
The last Aegis unit to step out was covered in blood of various colors and some organic material. It looked like the mercs in their rooms had tried to fight it in melee combat, only to end up painting the unit with their blood.
After a few more minutes, Ys finally appeared. She had returned to her humanoid form and was carrying something in her arms. Since the Aegis units had orders to wait for her and bring her back once the mission was complete, they remained in the area.
As soon as they spotted her, one of the Aegis units walked toward her and said, "Khryssari princess, our Empress told us to give you a message for the Emperor: Return now and stop playing."
"Hehe, so my husband misses me already? Okay! Let's go! Lead the way, can head!" she said, floating happily toward the exit. Once everyone was out, the Aegis units recalled their jamming drones and moved toward the exit, running at incredible speed.
They took the slum route to avoid drawing too much attention and causing further problems. When they reached the city entrance, the guards let them pass without question, though a few stole glances at the Aegis unit still covered in blood. None of them dared to say anything.
Several hours later, they finally arrived at the underground city. The Aegis units went straight to the ship to resupply as their batteries were nearly depleted. Meanwhile, Ys deactivated her invisible mode and began searching for Rex, only to be stopped by Cleo.
"Where do you think you're going with an unidentified creature?" Cleo asked, eyeing the object in Ys's arms.
Ys stopped and looked down at the egg she was carrying. "Oh, this? Hehe, don't worry. I know what it is, so it's not an unidentified creature."
She then showed the egg to Cleo. "This is a..."