Chapter 340 - Sentence [VOL 1 END]

"What the fuċk!?- Judge, the accused is clearly not in his right state of mind, I su-"

"Rejected, the court has already reached a conclusion through the accused's admission of guilt."

As Mu immediately started protesting the court's decision to condemn Dax and strip his inherent and most basic of rights as a living, intelligent being, a strained atmosphere spread throughout the courtroom as she was shut down by the Administrative AI. While the Administrative AI represented a third of the Galactic Empire, the Lazarus executive that it argued with was the cornerstone of the Empire's current technological advancement and superiority, while normal people seeing this argument might just think that it was Lazarus being greedy that wasn't all that was happening.

This was a power struggle, one which was potentially about to turn violent if a compromise couldn't be reached.

"I've long since realized that most public freedoms are dead here in the Empire, but when did this become a full on authoritarian state? My client is not in his right mind, therefore his statements can not be submitted as evidence."

"That doesn't matter, as your client already confessed to all crimes he has been accused of. I will not be repeating myself again."

Talking straight past each other again, the 'person' who looked very much like a living being and the actual person who was surrounded by a suit of highly advanced inhuman armour stared each other down for a few seconds before they both acted at the same time.

"Clear out the convicted defence attorney's, the 89th has already been cleared to use lethal force."

"Execute directive A9."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]

As the Administrative AI pulled on their enforcers, Mu spoke a single sentence which cripeled the Galactic Empire's capital. As a sudden information blackout fell over the capital like a lead blanket, its drones, warships and smart weapons immediately malfunctioned, with a few notable exceptions. The very next second, a high calibre anti material round shred straight through the Administrative AI's head, followed by a series of additional salvoes which shredded apart its entire body, reducing it to nothing but a pile of blood and bioengineered guts. Before any of the spectators were able to panic, the 89th sprang into action.

"W-what the!-"

As Ra spread her mana throughout the courtroom there was a sudden and strangely familiar interference which prevented her from attacking the members of the 89th, allowing the unit consisting entirely of qiton elders all the time they needed to commence their attack. Having been authorized to use lethal force, the members of the 89th quickly took shooting positions and opened fire, entirely ignoring the possibility of civilian casualties as they commenced concentrated fire on the pair of Lazarus executives within the packed courtroom which had now erupted entirely in chaos. Seeing her sister's attack had failed, Mu hurriedly erected a barrier around them to stop the hail of gunfire which returned, but even though she was a skilled mage with an almost unlimited mana at her disposal, there were limits to her protection.

"FUCK! Plan B!"

"Got it!"

With blood, guts and bullets whizzing by their mutual and rapidly crumbling defences, Mu and Ra both realized that things were getting out of hand, reaching to her waist, Mu pulled out a grenade which she hurriedly pulled the pin on and tossed into the open crowd of fleeing civilians, but Mu hadn't completely lost her mind as the grenade only started spewing out black smoke rather than decimating the innocent bystanders. 

While sheer panic was unfolding inside the courtroom, a single CAS-9 transport landed outside, quickly dropping off a group of soldiers in state of the art armoured vacuum suits before turning to engage police and military forces attempting to reach the courthouse on foot. 

"We're on plan b, lock down the area."

As the group of soldiers spread out through the area and set up defensive positions they were soon joined by the two Lazarus executives who were fleeing from the 89th who were hot on their tail.

"What the hell is going on here!? Where's Dax?"

"We'll talk later."

Turning around to face the 89th, Ra and Mu casually faded in behind Lux, Alice and the other front line fighters. 

Taking the initiative to gain the upper hand, Lux rapidly closed in on the qiton elders as blades made out of plasma surrounded her. Shielding herself from highly concentrated and disciplined fire, Lux easily managed to close the distance to her targets but nevertheless found it hard to actually kill them as the 89th wasn't known as an elite force without reason.

Stepping into a qiton's range, Lux drew a knife at the same time as the qiton did, but even as the qiton sacrificed their rifle to defend against a blade of plasma, Lux nevertheless found it hard to get a killing blow in on the qiton due to how tight the 89th teamwork was, trough mutual cover and continuous rotation like Dax had taught her, Lux felt like she was finally seeing those techniques true potential.

(Is it simply a matter of physiology, or perhaps there's some other unknown factor… Well, in the end, it doesn't really matter…)

"Solaris!"

"Ready!"

What Lux couldn't overcome due to years of experience or technique she would overcome with her own team's experience and advantage: magic.

"Flare!"

Creating a singularity of light which she then collapsed, Solaris showered the battlefield in high energy thermal radiation. As the flash of light disappeared it was quickly replaced with a stench of burning qiton flesh, but even as most of the 89th suffered horrible burns their combat effectiveness wasn't reduced in the slightest. Even as their composite armour melted and burned into their skin, the qiton's simply ripped the armor sections off that were inhibiting full manoeuvrability (along with the flesh that was stuck to the molten armour) and continued fighting as their burning flesh had already started healing.

"Holy shit, are they immortal or something!?"

"No, they are not, if you cut off their head or destroy their lungs or heart they'll die like any other living being, focus on the objective!"

To rescue Dax and escape from the Galactic Empire, Lux and the others had to deal with these members of the 89th first, and if that wasn't enough they needed to do so before they were overrun by reinforcements which were bearing down on them from all sides.

Time was very much of the essence, it didn't help that they had to free Dax from that sturdy pair of shackles he had been secured to the witness stand with on top of everything else. While time was about to run out, a sudden burst of hope suddenly appeared.

Behind the group of qitons fighting against Lux and her team, a single figure slowly emerged out of the black smoke. Wearing an emblemless black navy uniform along with an eyepatch, the figure was relatively unassuming, but nevertheless exuded a strong presence.

"DAX!"

As Lilly shouted out in joy, the entire battle came to a stop as both sides turned their attention towards the newcomer. Taking advantage of this momentary ŀȧpse in her opponent's awareness, Lux struck first and sent a blade of plasma flying at the nearest member of the 89th, but instead of finding its target, the blade was blocked.

"Dax, what are you doing!?"

Crushing the blade with his bȧrė hand, Dax looked a bit confused at Lux as she asked him.

"What am I doing? Exterminating enemies of the Galactic Empire of course. What else would I be doing?"

Answering as if Lux had just asked him if the sky was blue, Dax momentarily disappeared from sight, making Lux panic as she hurriedly put up her defences and just in time too.

"Guh!-"

Landing a clear punch straight in Lux's stomach, Dax sent her flying as the 89th formed up behind him, as he was handed a rifle by one of his fellow qitons, inserting a fresh magazine Dax chambered a fresh round as he took aim at the group of unlawful insurgents.

"ZU RA!"

With magic now on both sides of the fight, Lux's group immediately lost their advantage. While Dax chased after the retreating Lux he started lecturing her while repeatedly finding his way past Lux's best attempt at defences, even as Dax fought one handed, with his right hand still occupied by the rifle he had been handed just before.

"Too slow, too weak. You're following a martial art style that's made for something you're not, if you tried to find your own path this wouldn't be so boring for me."

"Is that so!? Then how abou-"

"Too predictable."

Forcefully turning Lux's lights off with a jab to the jaw, Dax mercilessly kicked the unconscious Lux in the ċhėst and sent her flying a good 10 metres before she finally landed hard on the ground, rolling a good few times before coming to a stop.

"I thought your plan was to capture me alive?"

Turning towards Lilly, Dax switched the fire select on his rifle to full auto as he squeezed the trigger while asking about her intentions.

"No need to worry about that, your head will work just fine too!"

Deflecting the incoming rounds with wind magic while continuing to send out blades of highly compressed wind blades, Lilly continued to keep her distance to Dax as he continuously attempted to close the range while avoiding her attacks.

"Why are you doing this Dax!? Snap out of it!"

Stepping in to help Lilly in dealing with Dax, Alice and Terra attempted to slow him down instead of outright kill him like Lilly. With the pair both having aptitudes for earth and metal, Alice and Terra both excelled in crowd control, but even as countless tendrils, spears and spikes made out of metal and rock attempted to lock Dax down he was bȧrėly even perturbed by the pair's interference.

"Alice, using magic like that will get you nowhere, there needs to be a clear intent to kill in your actions or it just seems like you're playing around."

Suddenly switching target from Lilly to Alice, Dax rapidly closed in on her with an eerily calm expression on his face. This made Alice freak out, panicking as she formed a spear out of the rock in front of her and shot it off towards Dax, but supplying him with ammunition after he had depleted his rifle quickly turned out to be a mistake.

"ARG!-"

"Alice!"

As Dax hit Alice with her own spear, Terra momentarily lost focus as she heard her long time friend cough up blood.

"Still so naive."

"!!!"

Realizing her mistake a second too late, Terra used some of the knowledge which had been forcefully implanted in her when she was taken captive and almost converted into an elder to create a strange offensive spell. Sending out a throwing knife made out of compressed rock, Dax was just about to dodge it when he noticed the faint purple glow it had, choosing instead to sacrifice his rifle to block it. As the throwing knife buried itself halfway in Dax's now discarded rifle, runes embedded inside activated a created a bright explosion.

"Impressive, but ultimately futile."

With Dax suddenly having closed to melee range, Terra's training took over as she made the unfortunate mistake of attempting to kick Dax's head clean off. Catching Terra's leg before it even came near his head, Dax simply pulled with his left hand at the same time as his right targeted Terra's knee with an open palm strike.

"AAAAAARRG!"

"You're torn between too many styles of combat, without proper focus or a way of combining them all they end up inhibiting you."

Chatting Terra's knee with a single strike, Dax wasn't done with her yet as he pulled Terra's broken legs before tossing her away like a ragdoll.

"Dax, stop this already. If you don't, I will put you down for good."

Stepping in between Dax and her still standing allies, Solaris spread out her wings as she filled the air with bloodlust and mana. 

"Ah, Solaris. So graceful, so proud."

Not perturbed at all by Solaris' threat, Dax cracked his neck as his own body started generating mana. In response to the clear act of aggression, Solaris let out a deep sigh as she took a moment to wonder how the Galactic Empire tamed Dax to this extent, before deciding to put him down for good. 

If anyone was going to do that, it ought to be her.

"Judgement of the blind saint."

Creating a 3 meter long golden lance which had an eerie aura around it as it was surrounded by multiple layers of transparent barriers.

If anything, the lance seemed like it was both screaming in rage and crying at the same time.

"Goodbye."

Creating a shockwave as she launched the lance, Solaris remained resolute as she said goodbye to the love of her life.

But Dax wasn't just about to die without offering any kind of resistance.

"Phalanx."

Putting up a defensive formation with an outstretched hand, Dax only succeeded in slowing down the lance, but that was all he needed. With a small hint of a smile on his face, Dax rapidly created an entirely different type of spell compared to Phalanx.

"Synthesis: Judgement of the blind saint."

Dax's ability to not only absorb but also copy others elemental magic had seen an exponential growth ever since Mu and Ra's last update, eventually reaching the frankly terrifying level he had now reached, fully able to not only absorb the trace amounts of ambient elemental mana that people around him were naturally leaking but also perfectly replicate mindlessly complex spells after only having glanced at them a single time. As the two identical spells hit each other they were annihilated in a bright flash, a flash Dax took full advantage of.

"Although you're both a potent, experienced and intelligent fighter, your overconfidence will be the death of you someday Solaris."

"GHA!-"

Coughing up a great amount of blood, the last thing Solaris saw was the bright blue sky as she was sent flying.

"... Retreat."

"... Fuck."

Both seeing where things were rapidly heading, Ra and Mu came to the very same decision at the same time, but they both greatly despised that particular option, so much so that they had neglected to talk about it with the others. In case they failed to secure Dax, Ra and Mu had made the decision for the others that it was better to leave the Galactic Empire without him. With the area outside the courthouse suddenly getting covered in a dense black smokescreen, by the time it cleared, all traces of the illegal insurgents had disappeared.

In fact, this was the last time in the Empire's history any of them would be seen.

"This is fuċkɨnġ bullshit."

As Lux's team returned to deep space, Ke who had expected Dax to return with them immediately saw red, worse still she immediately directed her rage at Mu who had explained what had happened on the ground.

"Ke, listen-"

"No, I fuċkɨnġ won't listen! I'm going down to get Dax, even if I have to go on my own!"

Showing Mu aside, Ke was determined to go rescue Dax herself, but she didn't get that far as she was suddenly blindsided by Lux who punched her from the side, sending Ke to the ground.

"What the fuċk was!-"

Outraged by Lux's actions, Ke snapped at her, but as she saw the tears which rolled down Lux's face she came to a complete stop.

"If Dax has eliminated all threats to the Galactic Empire, then the only threat which remains is Dax himself, the qiton which has been named 'the immortal' and stands at the top of the highest authority qiton clan there is. At the back of this 'immortal' is Lazarus, the sole private entity in control of the most advanced technology in the Empire. You just deal with a threat like that out in the open, in that case, what would you do?"

"... What are you talking about?"

More confused than anything else, a part of Ke kept her from realizing what Lux was saying.

She simply didn't want to admit it.

"You find what's important to this immortal-"

Her eyes long since red from crying, Lux nevertheless held herself somewhat together as she finished her sentence.

"- And then you squeeze."

Ke was finally forced to admit it, Dax had chosen to get captured so that she and the others could go free, through condemning himself he had set them all free.

-

Although illegal insurgents made an attempt to stop it, justice was eventually served correctly. The condemned criminal was trailed, charged and finally sentenced.

Guilty of crimes against the Empire, embezzlement in addition to creating a criminal syndicate, death would normally be the only thing which awaited the condemned, but he was saved by the Empire's grace. 

Even condemned by crimes against the Empire, the criminal could still be useful to the Empire and by the grace of the Empire he was allowed to live, all he needed to give up was his rights as an intelligent being, instead transforming into a tool which only existed by the grace of the Empire. To contain the criminal, a specialized prison was constructed to hold him, and there he remaines until the next time the Empire needed him. 

That time has yet to come.

---

Thanks for reading, Gamma here!~

Oh boy, this was a ride and a half, thinking back to when I started this story I have grown so much as an author, but also as a person. I want to take a second to thank each and every one of you guys and gals who made it to this point, whether it's in about 30 minutes when I'm done spell checking this chapter and finally release it or it is a few years after that. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%5Bvol-1-end%5D_51908819416045334">#%5Bvol-1-end%5D_51908819416045334</a> for visiting.

This was the first story I've ever written, and at roughly 650K words I would say that I've done a somewhat okay job. I won't ever say that this story is without flaws, or even perfect, but looking at it as the first work I've ever made I would say that I did alright. As for what is next I'm taking a break from writing, but after that break, I'm going to revive reincarnation of a shadow spectre while perhaps publishing a private project I've already started working on. Also as I've said before, I've already started on a sequel to this story, although don't expect to hear anything more about it than that before I've finished reincarnation of a shadow spectre, which definitely won't be as long as this story, but who can say?

Until I see you guys again, take care and stay healthy.

Gamma.