I knew he'd not send anything anymore after this last one. Of course I knew he was enraged, and I hoped my attitude helped in flaring up the flames in his heart.
If so, then he'd come all the way to me. And I hoped he'd bring all of his friends down as well.
When I arrived back at the central zone of the capital, that Hescos dude didn't message me even once. I knew he was watching my every move, but it didn't seem that exciting to let him off the hook this easily.
Little provocation was needed to get the expected results sometimes.
When I arrived there, the scene that welcomed me was epic!
Grand number of forces took their places in the capital, filling all the defences, towers, and even homes there and extending beyond the reach of my eyes.
Many were normal soldiers, but there were lots of machines and big gun weapons as well. The count of these big weapons was so high to count, and I felt pride in the work of those from the research department.
I saw many chariots waiting for me over the sky of the capital. And the moment I arrived, they all moved towards my direction.
[I'm now preparing myself to invade our worlds] as I waited for them to arrive, I sent this message to Wryly and the Hescos dude standing beside him.
[I dare you to try it!]
[What? Will you tell me that I'll die? Old tricks don't work well on me, hahahaha!]
I closed the chat as I knew he was going to send curses and threats, all empty and useless. I knew he must be watching my every move. But it felt great teasing him like that.
Besides, it wasn't easy to shake the resolve of a general from such a mighty race. It was given how strong and solid his mental power was.
Trying to force someone like him to do something foolish, impulsive, and rash wasn't going to work this smoothly. So more provocation was needed, and I might even consider sharing stories with him about how my forces were crushing and killing his people.
I doubted he would stay his hand away if I told him such things, right?
"You finally decided to come!" The jumper was still rude and arrogant as always. But right now it wasn't the right time to discipline this rogue dude.
I waited for hundreds of faces to arrive. The atmosphere grew far more seriously heavy. Most of these generals were Hectors, and they were familiar with how scary Hescos were.
I knew news about going all out to invade other worlds spread in the ranks of my fighters. It was good, as it would break the ice of their fear towards such a race and further prepare them mentally for the upcoming challenge.
"I believe you all know why I gathered all of you here, right?" I moved my eyes among them, wondering after the end of all this how many of these faces would still be present around me.
Some would perish, few would rise to fame, and many would stay at their places. Rare people like the jumper and spearhead would find themselves demoted if they performed badly.
"Cut the chase and tell us everything in a whole," the jumper was the only jerk here, courageous enough to speak to me like this.
"Fine! We are going against the mighty Hescos, the number one elites of our universe," I ignored the jumper's attitude, and started explaining, "this may look like suicidal mission, but it took me many years to prepare for this."
"Years?" Many came from the second Earth world and they were familiar with the time difference already. They lived for a long time, but in their eyes months only passed and not many years as I said.
I ignored the ones who exclaimed in surprise and doubt, pointed towards the great number of mechanic armies wielded with my human modified top guns and said:
"Using these useless looking weapons is crucial. These are deadly, and many are built to target Hescos."
"Lord, by all respect, I have to say that taking a bite from these scary folks will end up all dead!" one of the Hector generals finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Yes lord, why should we bother stirring the hornet nest? We have this peaceful and nice world to control and conquer. Why take the risk of doing such a thing?"
"If lord wants, I'll go. But first I need to understand."
More spoke about their opinions, and they were all respectful in their words.
Of course after all this time working for me, they realised what type of lord I was.
I might have gained their allegiance by force before, by crushing their forces and taking control of their lands. I might have even forced them to sign loyalty contracts using my techniques.
But after meddling with my issues for a long time, they came to a realisation that it wasn't that bad to serve me. I wasn't a weak or low ambitious lord. I wasn't weak or content with what I gained so far.
And above all, I had an endless stream of forces lining up and ready to serve me with their lives. This wasn't something anyone could easily acquire.
Even if I was a human, in their eyes I was a tyrant and scary lord without doubt.
And from what they said, they only asked to understand the reasons behind this. They were scared, and they should be. It was normal to fear the number one race in the entire universe.
But at least none of them asked to be relieved from this expedition. They got the balls to stay, and I respected that.
"If we don't do it now, then our future is gloomy and dark," I paused, moving my eyes around before adding, "you all know that Hescos are scary. But few of you know the reason behind this."
"Because of their formidable suits and scary cultivation bases, right?" Legend said it as if this was a given fact.
And I noticed many nodding in agreement, an act that enticed me to shake my head in response.
"That's not true. If they fought against Toranks for example, they'd end up losing in terms of individual strength," I didn't give any room for anyone to object as I added, "I'm a friend of Toranks and an enemy of Hescos, so I'm the best to decide who is stronger than whom."
I wasn't totally sure about it. After all, I didn't see the real Toranks fighting Hescos by my eyes. But from the information I gathered, and the few million prisoners I was gifted, I knew that Toranks were stronger without doubt than Hescos.
If not, then why would Hescos lean to such dirty tricks, using the number of worlds conquered by them to snatch the first race rank in the universe?
If they were confident in their abilities, why didn't they just go and challenge the Toranks head on? They didn't do it, and Toranks were dying to do such a thing but it seemed Hescos were avoiding their provocations.
That only meant one thing; Hescos weren't that stronger than Toranks. But it also meant another thing.
"But we aren't Toranks," one of the Hector generals said, "we aren't even close."
That was indeed the only flaw in my logic and way of thinking in any watcher's eyes. And thanks to that flaw, I was very confident in my chances to win this entire crazy war.
If my generals saw this flaw, then I safely would assume that Hescos also saw it. Even if they acted this harsh towards my threat, bringing more worlds into the apocalypse trial and turning it into a scorching land challenge, they didn't think I was truly that threatening to them.
They only did so thanks to the news that Silverlining jerk spread over to them. They wanted to crush me and send a message over to the entire universe, or more precisely a warning.
They didn't want others to repeat the same craziness I was doing. If not for that, if not for their desire to make an example out of me, I doubted they'd even bother about me at all.
Their lack of understanding of my real power was enough to raise my chances of success by a large margin, even doubling it.
"We aren't Toranks," I slowly nodded, "but don't make the mistake of underestimating us. We are far more dangerous than Toranks."
My words might not give any of them any sense of confidence at all. But when they'd start invading and seeing the mighty Hescos getting crushed under their armies, they'd remember these words and believe in them.
"Right now all you need to do is to arrange yourselves into two groups. Each will be divided further into twenty-two groups. Each group will head towards one world."