Now that they were flying instead of slowly ascending while destroying OrgoCorp ships, it barely took Apex a few seconds to reach the hull of the mothership and pierce through it with ease. Immediately, they were ambushed by multiple infantry units—organics with mechanical enhancements—of which they made short work and quickly approached the bridge, finally encountering the commander of this fleet, the Harbinger.
The defensive infantry forces seemed to keep coming endlessly as Apex finally reached the bridge, with tentacles emerging from their back and stabbing any biomechanical creature that dared to get close or attack them.
It was at this point that their consciousnesses separated.
[Mind taking care of the rabble?] Alex asked Gwen. [I want to talk to this guy.]
[Letting me do the fun stuff, while you do the boring talks? Count me in!]
Apex suddenly split into two different entities, with the slender feminine figure leaping up and throwing a roundhouse kick that smashed through multiple infantry units, while the remaining figure became shorter, closer to six feet from the previous eight, and gained a humanoid figure, turning into a man with black hair and emerald green eyes wearing a formal suit.
Even the Octopus seemed taken aback by the sudden change, expressing its thoughts by shaking its bulbous head.
"Harbinger," Alex smiled. "You've been causing quite a bit of trouble for me the past few days."
"Who are you?" An emotionless, mechanical voice came from a speaker placed under the bulbous head, at what was supposed to be the neck connecting its body and head.
"Apex," he said with a polite smile. "I'm here for information."
The creature took a few minutes to respond. "We have no information related to you."
"Oh, you'll come to realize that your information is going to be invaluable for me," he said. "Tell me, have you seen any clones of your big boss? I'm talking about the High Evolutionary."
"What?"
"I don't have the patience for this." Alex shook his head and waved his hand, shooting a mass of black at the octopus. As a command-type creature, its agility could only allow it to barely raise one of its free arms in defense, only to see it getting wrapped up within a black material that quickly started spreading along its body. A panicked screech was emitted from the speaker before Alex directly devoured the creature, obtaining all of its memories.
A faint frown crept up on his face as he processed the memories.
'Not a single trace of another variant of him… Are they hiding? Such a varied army wouldn't make sense otherwise. There are too many inconsistencies in what Ayesha and the Sovereign know about him… Maybe this whole High Evolutionary plot was part of another Guardians movie, or even a standalone show.'
Getting the memories of the High Commander of this fleet, who was commanding the entire planet's battle, gave Alex a clear picture of everything, including where the forces had been deployed and what hidden plans they were going to execute to strike a blow on the Sovereign's defense line.
'No information regarding any Infinity Stones on him either… This High Sovereign is a cautious one.'
While he was mildly disappointed, Alex didn't let that get to him and turned to look at the carnage that Gwen had left behind as she went deeper into the ship. Half of the bridge was left with large gashes from her claws and holes made from the tentacles that came out of her back, with bodies of the biomechanical infantry units littering the floor.
'Note to self, rein in the bloodthirst when in the True Merge state with hosts. It clearly has aftereffects. I believe that the nervous system bond is also partly responsible for this particular issue.'
Alex quickly made his way through the trail of bodies left behind by Gwen and caught up with her.
"Hey, come on, we have things to do."
"A bit longer," she said, punching one of her opponents with a discharge of her bioelectricity that made it fly back and explode with lightning, taking five of its brethren with it. "I've barely warmed up."
"You'll have enough to do later," Alex said, immediately approaching her and wrapping his arm around her waist, and pulling her back.
"Come on!" She shouted, waving her arms and legs at him as he ripped her out of her monstrous, suited form, revealing her actual self, which was almost a foot shorter than him. She was dressed in the black-themed Ghost Spider outfit, without the hood, such that her childish expression was clearly visible to both Alex and the enemies alike.
The infantry units were taken aback for a moment at the scene as a man came up and ripped out someone who seemed like a petulant child from the large monster that was slaughtering them all moments ago.
"I have four similar ships to take care of," Alex said, ignoring Gwen's protests. "And we have an entire planet-wide battlefield to clean up within the span of the next hour."
With that, Alex merged with Gwen, directly entering the True Merge state to calm her down.
"As for you guys…" Apex looked at the infantry units that had started shooting at them, not even tickling the Cosmic Physique that was powerful enough to punch through planets with their bullets.
Shaking their head, Apex brought both hands together as a blue glow appeared between them. For once, calling upon the true potential of ‹Lightning Divinity› that went beyond just relying on the clouds and focused inwardly to produce lightning.
"This consumes a lot more stamina and energy than it's worth, but we are on a time crunch."
The demonic-sounding voice, along with the gathering of the threatening arcs of lightning compressed between the monstrous creature's palms, clearly made their opponents panic as they tried every single means to interrupt or stop Apex, but it was useless. Within a few seconds, the compressed orb of lightning had grown to a blinding level of brightness. Suddenly, the white light transformed into searing crimson and exploded, rapidly spreading through the entire ship and further ahead.
In the distance, the commander of the Sovereign's defense line on Zephyros was enjoying a rare moment of respite as the offensive of the OrgoCorp ships suddenly weakened when the monstrous entity called Apex—as told to him by their Leader—entered the command mothership. At this moment, a flash of red at the edge of his screen caught his attention, and he changed the remote vision to focus on the source. An audible gasp left his mouth as he looked at the scene with wide eyes.
"How long has it been since he entered the ship?" He mumbled.
"Five minutes and twenty-seven seconds," a mechanical voice responded from his terminal.
The red flash of light had come from the very mothership that Apex had entered. At the moment, bright arcs of crimson lightning were exploding out of its hull, destroying everything in its vicinity and leaving massive holes all over. From the surface, the scene looked like something directly out of purgatory, with the crimson lightning exploding out of that ship and spreading out, directly vaporizing most of the ships that appeared in its path. Even the specialized weapons like the orbs that Apex had previously destroyed were unable to handle the explosive discharge and malfunctioned due to an overload.
Within a minute, the thrusters of the thousands-of-miles-long mothership failed as it started descending toward the surface in pieces, threatening to destroy everything around it.
"START EVACUATION PROCEDURES! NOW!" The man suddenly screamed, his voice causing the cockpit to rumble and disturb the ones directly adjacent to him. The commanders inhabiting those virtual cockpits were just as flabbergasted at the situation as he was. Despite their real selves being in the augmented reality chambers on another planet entirely, such a scene was enough to shake anyone.
That wasn't all, however. They were still tracking Apex, and they realized that it didn't seem to have been finished after destroying the main command ship and was seen flying toward one of the three secondary defense lines. Within an hour, the news about the three secondary defense lines, commanded by the three direct subordinate commanders of the Harbinger, was all brought under control as similar explosions of crimson lightning destroyed the command ships, killing the commanders.
"To think…" The commander felt a sense of disbelief when he saw the feed of the final ship being destroyed. "This was the first time one of the High Commanders took action. If not today, then within the week, we would have lost Zephyros entirely. Where did the High Priestess find someone like this?"
Still, the disbelief lasted barely a few seconds before the commander quickly started barking orders to his subordinates. Without the command ships, the deployed battalions and fighters were like headless flies, but they still needed to be taken care of in a methodical manner. Even with the commanders dead, the Sovereign's side was at a significant numerical disadvantage due to their forces being stretched thin across four different planets. While the attack on Zephyros was the most intense one, the three other battlefields were still occupying three-quarters of the Sovereign's fleets.
***
In the palace of the Sovereign's ruler, the High Priestess, Ayesha, had a worried expression on her face, biting her lower lip as she looked at the scene in front of her. As the High Priestess, her garbs used to be made of pure gold that blended with her skin tone, but her current outfit had a significant tonal change from before. Instead of the crown that generally covered both her hair and the sides of her face completely, she had a simpler tiara of gold that allowed her hair to flow freely along her shoulders down to the middle of her back. The black choker over her golden skin shone especially brightly, featuring a horizontal gold streak and a gold gem at its center. Below that, she had a skin-tight black one-piece tube top that went from just above her chest down to the middle of her thighs, fully revealing her arms and shoulders along with a modest cleavage, and accentuating her legs with black stilettos on them. Less queen, she currently looked more like a stripper with a tiara on her head, but that was by design. Unless she was giving somebody an audience, that was the state of dress of the High Priestess of the Sovereign. Or Queenie, as Alex liked to call her.
Adam Warlock was lying horizontally in a medical pod that had its top open, with Ayesha's palm pressed on his forehead. She could feel multiple black tendrils extending out from her palm and into his head. Unlike a few weeks ago, he no longer looked anywhere close to the dried-up husk that he had been when he'd had his vitality sucked away when forcefully overusing the Soul Stone to beat Jane.
[Last chance, Queenie. We could turn him into Adele Warlock, and she could eventually become ten times the person that he currently is.]
"God's sake, Master, no!" Ayesha said, rolling her eyes as her current address for Alex naturally flowed out of her mouth. "I will not be able to accept forcefully changing the gender of my son without his consent."
[I'm kidding. We're almost done. There's no need to be worried any longer.]
She nodded wordlessly, her fingers slightly tightening over Adam's forehead. Anxiously looking at her son's peaceful face, she felt the tendrils extending out of her palm stirring and saw his eyes shoot wide open, startling her as he took a loud breath and sat up, making her step back with a slight wobble—she wasn't completely used to the heels yet. Though the wobble reminded her of something else.
"Master, my clothes!" She whispered in a panic. "I can't let my son see me in this state."
[Don't worry, he will understand. You have now found a master whom you actually enjoy serving. He will understand, don't worry.]
"W-what?" She trembled. "Not like this…"
[You're my good Queenie, right? A little embarrassment every once in a while that puts you in your place is also important.]
She bit her lower lip hesitantly and ultimately lowered her head, looking at the skin-tight dress that hugged her skin to the extent that the outline of her breasts and even her naval was perfectly visible through it.
Adam sat up and looked around with a slightly confused expression, and Ayesha's embarrassment faded away for a moment as she looked at her son, who no longer seemed to have the dumb look that he used to.
"Adam," she said with a whisper, slowly approaching her son. "How do you feel?" Her tone had both anticipation and fear mixed in, unsure if Adam was truly healed or not.
"Mother," the man turned his head and looked at his mother. "I feel good…" He furrowed his brow. "Your clothing? Why do you wear that?"
"It's…fine," she shook her head as her cheeks turned a darker shade of gold. "Forget about that. Do you feel weak anywhere? Any pains?"
"No, none of that," he shook his head. "You taught me to take pride in gold, Mother, so why? Why do you wear black?"
[Tell him the truth. I have no intention of collaring him like I did with you, but he is a useful tool. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not plan to appear on more than one battlefield at once.]
"It's…" Ayesha hesitated. "It is the will of my master."
"Master?" Adam frowned. "What do you mean by master? Has the creator decided to take a more hands-on role with the Sovereign?"
"The creator… he has abandoned us, my son," she said with a weak sigh. "The High Evolutionary has declared war against the Sovereign. The one who healed you is my master."
Adam fell silent for a few seconds. "I don't understand, Mother. Without the creator, why would you willingly subordinate yourself to someone else?"
"Why else?" She smiled sadly. "For you, my son. Do you have the memory of what happened before you fell unconscious?"
"That stone…I went too far and brought myself to the brink of death."
"To heal you required nothing short of a miracle, son," she said. "Do not worry about me. But you are needed on the battlefield."
"Against the creator himself?" Adam said with some apprehension. "Can we win? I suggest that you move to a secure planet as soon as possible."
"We can win, son," she said. "You don't need to worry about me. My master will protect me. Spend some time relaxing and go through the information about our current situation. I will call a meeting of the higher-ups to discuss our future plans in two hours. I want you to be there as well."
Adam Warlock nodded with a serious expression as Ayesha retreated and left him alone. She quickly went through a common area and into a corridor before entering her private quarters.
The moment the door closed behind her, she immediately clutched her chest and leaned against it, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
"To think you made me show this side of myself to my son…" She mumbled, sliding down and sitting on the floor. She pulled her legs close and wrapped her arms around them. "He's smarter now."
[Of course, any stagnation in his mental development due to his premature release has been fixed. He just needs a few hours to acclimate himself.]
"Thank you, Master," she said. "From the bottom of my heart. It's difficult to say that I didn't have any reservations, but now that he is healed… I am truly grateful to you and am willing to give you everything I have."
[Everything you have already belongs to me, Queenie. Stand up, I will be training your throat for the next two hours.]
She sighed and nodded, "Yes, Master."
Standing up, she approached the massive window wall that overlooked her capital. Gold was the theme as far as the eye could see: buildings, vehicles, citizens, everything and everyone. Beyond gold, there were barely any other colors to speak of. Not a single hint of green was seen anywhere on the horizon. It wasn't that there weren't any trees, but they were in specialized biomes that were spread across the capital. After all, as creatures modeled after humans, the sovereign still required oxygen to survive and had all the same organs.
Ayesha stood before her window and paused, processing a view that she had never truly become desensitized to.
[Not here, Queenie. You know where I want you.]
"I understand, Master," she nodded with a blush on her face as her head stayed down. She slowly made her way to a circular outline and stood in the center. Moments later, the outline on the floor glowed, and a faint force field shimmered into existence around her. She stayed upright with her hands on her sides as the floor stirred and started rising. A circular opening also appeared in the ceiling as she rose up, eventually disappearing behind the ceiling as the circular opening closed, leaving a faint depression on the floor from the location where the platform had risen up.
The elevator continued moving higher for a few seconds as Ayesha took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They opened again when she felt the elevator stop completely. The area she had appeared in was small, barely five square meters in its entirety, but what was special about it was that the entire room was covered in a dome of glass. No matter which direction Ayesha turned, she would only see the different parts of the capital. This was the highest point of the palace, a spire at the top enveloped by a glass dome that gave a bird's-eye view of the capital. A place only accessible by the highest authority of the Sovereign.
The original purpose was merely to serve as a place for the ruler to see what they had achieved, to take a moment of respite to truly admire and take pride in what they had done. This was Ayesha's favorite spot for as long as she could remember, having always taken the time to come here every single day, even if it was for a few minutes.
Of course, the moment Alex found out about it, he had immediately fallen in love with this spot and decided to make something similar on every single one of Gaia's planets when he finally established the Apex Empire. But for now, this spot had been repurposed for a different purpose.
***
Ayesha sighed, taking a moment to turn her head and look around her at her city, taking in the sight of everything that she was fighting to protect, even at this very moment. Alex didn't disturb her, letting her work at her own pace as she finally knelt in the center of the platform.
[How did I teach you?]
Wordlessly, she took off her heels, neatly placing them beside her before sitting on the floor with her feet flat against the floor, her toes pointing outward and placed her palms on her thighs. She kept her back straight and looked straight ahead at the sky, only to stiffen the moment she noticed a flying vehicle reaching as high up as her position, and couldn't calm down until it disappeared from her vision.
[It's invisible from the outside, you know that, right?]
"I do, Master," she nodded. "But my body reacts that way instinctively. For one to see their leader in such a state…"
[Man, if I were into hardcore exhibitionism, I would have ruined you… Hands behind your back.]
Ayesha didn't know what he meant by exhibitionism, but the amused tone told her that he had no plans to partake in that activity, allowing her to put it in the back of her mind as she obeyed his order and put her hands behind her back, holding them together. She felt leather belts extend out of the back of her collar as they wrapped around her arms, forcing a faint groan out of her mouth. The belts tightly restrained her arms together behind her back, forcing her elbows and wrists to stick together and making her push her chest out to accommodate the position.
At the same time, she felt the short dress she wore morph into a black harness that worked to further accentuate her chest, with a strap going between her legs.
'At least my vagina is covered with this harness, unlike that damn dress…' An ironic thought appeared in her mind, invoking a helplessly confused feeling within her.
[Tell me, do you feel more emotional recently?]
"I do, Master," she nodded. "Every passing day, these are the things I do that make me more conscious of how my subjects would perceive me."
[That's good. Try to go against your instinct to suppress your emotions, okay? Express yourself freely when it's just us. Even if you one day decide to curse me out, the punishment will come with a reward. After all, I want you to be more emotional.]
"We are generically engineered to keep our emotions in control, Master," Ayesha said. "I don't think I will ever be able to do that."
[I know. That's why I'm also slowly modifying your body on a biological level.]
Ayesha's eyes widened at his words, but just as she opened her mouth to respond, she let out a weak squeal and shook, leaning forward a little. Looking down, she saw that two strings had emerged from her collar and were wrapped around her nipples, squeezing the dark gold nubs on her chest.
[How else am I supposed to develop your erogenous zones without biological modification? I don't know what kind of moron that High Evolutionary is to have considered your race complete after actively suppressing not only your emotions, but also your ability to feel pleasure. It's no wonder you don't bother with the natural birthing process.]
Alex left the part about that being the reason he abandoned them to himself. There was no reason to pointlessly hurt Ayesha's feelings.
"Our creator built the Sovereign to serve him. Unstable emotional outbursts like the ones Adam used to have weren't the best for servants. As for pleasure… with a superior alternative to procreation, there was no need to create any incentives to help promote reproduction. To him, these things were redundant inefficiencies."
[I know, you've told me this before. It's why he's a fucking moron. What's the point of life with suppressed emotions? Anyway, start sucking. Make sure to use your tongue. I will gauge your performance.]
Ayesha noticed a string emerging from her collar and extending into a thin pole that planted itself on the floor just between her legs. It rose up to her face and formed a phallus on the top that was pointing at her face. Barely five inches in length, it was still a monumental size for Ayesha, who had such a bad gag reflex that she couldn't even swallow anything without thoroughly chewing it—since their sustenance consisted of monthly nutrient infusions, the Sovereign had no concept of eating food. Such nuances, when it came to robots, were something Alex would consider to be positive, but for actual life, it was downright inefficient and induced stagnation.
That didn't mean he didn't understand the High Evolutionary's perspective. All he needed was for a race of interstellar creatures to serve him and his means. He didn't need them progressing. If anything, he had made sure that they would never grow beyond his control, always relying on him and his technology.
The string on her collar connecting to the pole in front of her shortened, forcing Ayesha to lean forward and take the tip of the phallus into her mouth. The string stopped shortening, but Ayesha continued moving forward, taking the whole thing into her mouth such that her nose touched a flat plate on the top of the pole. However, within a second, she coughed and jerked her head back, only to get caught by the string, unable to completely free her lips from the phallus.
[Easy, no need to go too fast. Let's first get back to your record of five seconds. By the end of today's session, I want you to be able to hold it for ten seconds. Then we will increase the size by another inch.]
Unable to release the phallus from her mouth, she groaned in response while recovering. A few seconds later, she tried again and pushed herself forward, taking the whole thing in again, but slowly. This time, she lasted a lot longer, a whole three seconds before being forced to retreat in a cough as the string connecting her collar and the pole was pulled taut. She closed her eyes and tried again, failing just after three seconds.
[Keep your eyes open, Queenie. If I didn't want you to enjoy the view in front of you while training, I would have simply blindfolded you.]
"Uu…" she expressed her resistance with a groan while keeping her lips wrapped around the tip of the cock as she recovered.
[The point of this exercise is to humiliate you as well as train your throat. The intense emotions that are triggered when you imagine your subjects looking at their queen being trained to be the perfect whore are what I want to see in you.]
His mere words made her tremble as she groaned at him again. A deep flush of shame covered her face as she trembled.
[There it is. You're wet, did you know that? I told you, if I were a hardcore exhibitionist, I could completely break you.]
Not wanting to confirm her master's words, she whimpered with embarrassment and moved forward once again, making sure to keep her eyes open. This time, whether because of the embarrassment or something else, she was able to keep the phallus down for a while, five seconds before the gag reflex kicked in, forcing her to recoil.
[Good work, Queenie. Let's take it a step further now.]
Ayesha felt a prominent tug on her collar and lowered her eyes, only to see the string that had connected her collar to the pole having transformed into a spring that was pulled taut, putting pressure on her to pull her head forward.
[Every time you retreat is going to be a chore from now on. I want to see you keep this inside your throat without the slightest hindrance by the end of the week. At that point, I will replace your usual sleep gag with this one.]
"Uu~" Even if she was aware of the slow progression of her training, the knowledge that she would have to sleep with this gag inside her mouth instead of the current two-inch one made her tremble.
Apex didn't respond to her as she once again took the phallus into her mouth. Her progress seemed to regress as she pulled back after only four seconds, but that was expected. Having a limit didn't mean that she would always be able to push herself to it. This time, though, due to the spring, she didn't pull all the way back to the tip of the phallus and only pulled back halfway, keeping the rest of it in. The spring was doing its job perfectly, making it significantly difficult for her to completely recoil after gagging.
Minutes passed as she continued training, constantly pushing her limits further as the spring made it much more difficult for her to feel any semblance of control over her situation. She was completely and utterly helpless in front of her master's implements and could only let go of any desire for control over her own body, submitting to him.
As Ayesha's training continued on the top spire of the palace, her personal quarters found a guest arriving in them. Apex—or specifically, Gwen.
***
Half an hour still remained until Ayesha had to be at the meeting when she returned to the room. Just as the elevator descended into the room, letting her see the inside, she stiffened.
"Master…" She whispered, noticing the blonde woman occupying her couch and looking at her inquisitively.
[She isn't an assassin. As much as her outfit may suggest otherwise. She is our helper and the one whom I brought in to help take care of the issue with Zephyros.]
The tension in Ayesha's already stiff shoulders lessened slightly, calming her down.
"You must be the High Priestess of the Sovereign, the one Apex loves to refer to as his little Queenie," Gwen said with a smile the moment the elevator's force field shimmered out of existence from around Ayesha, immediately making the golden woman stiffen.
"I—it seems so…" She said, clearing her throat. "I am the High Priestess. Nice to meet you…"
"Gwen. Gwen Stacy. If you want to give me a title, call me Ghost Spider," she said.
"Gwen Stacy," Ayesha nodded. "How are things at Zephyros? I haven't yet had the chance to get the report from my commanders due to… circumstances."
[You don't need to be shy about telling her that I was training your little throat to be able to take a cock. She already knows the things I do with the women I'm around.]
Ayesha didn't respond to Alex, mostly because it would require her to respond verbally in front of Gwen. No matter how obedient and servile she acted in front of Alex, she was, ultimately, the highest authority of an intergalactic empire and possessed a sense of deep-rooted pride. Unfortunately, that pride was almost entirely based on the perception that her people had of her, which Alex took full advantage of. Her training included regular illusory role-play scenarios of her being paraded like a slave amidst her subjects, every single one of which left her overwhelmed and lost as she came to understand just how fragile her prestige and pride were. There had only been two such role-play scenarios for the time being, but they had already gotten her much more obedient and submissive to Alex.
"I know Apex was training you in his own way," Gwen said bluntly. "I want you to know that you can talk to me if he ever takes things too far. There are times he loses himself in the novelty and enjoyment and needs to be grounded. As long as you can get a message to me, I'll help out under such circumstances."
"Seriously, Gwen, what kind of a sex-crazed monster do you take me for?" Alex abruptly appeared beside her with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
"One who can't help but get his tentacles on any woman he finds remotely hot," she said. "Worst of all, instead of going the one-and-done route, you stick yourself to that woman semi-permanently and make her submit to you in body and soul through the use of your hypnotic pleasure techniques that turn them into borderline addicts. Need I continue?" She took an audible breath after unloading on Alex.
"Everything I do is consensual," he said immediately. "I may not verbalize it sometimes, but I can easily tell what a woman truly wants better than even her. I have never seen any woman feel regret after an experience with me."
"That's because they can't remember half of it," she said. "And subconscious consent doesn't count."
"It has to count for something if it shows on your face and body…"
Alex and Gwen's banter completely overshadowed Ayesha. Then again, she was in no state to pay attention to their words and had her eye glued to Alex's face. This was the face of the person who had become her master for over two weeks now. She had spent every second of every day feeling his presence somewhere on or inside her without ever seeing the man. Even her dreams consisted of that face most of the time—after starting her sexual training, she'd grown to have regular wet dreams, at least once every two days. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't been able to see his face beyond the first time that he'd hypnotized her for interrogation and put the permanent collar on her neck.
"Umm…" Ayesha tried to get their attention. "I-I don't really mind, Miss Gwen."
"Honestly, I can never win with you," Gwen scowled before turning to Ayesha with a polite smile. "Don't worry about us, we're just messing around. As for Zephyros, we took care of it. The Harbinger is dead, as are the foremost commanders of that thing's fleet. When I left, your people were doing a good job, slowly cleaning up the remaining fleet."
"Just like that?" Ayesha asked.
"Just like that," Alex nodded.
"Tell me something, though," Gwen said. "Is there any benefit to prolonging this conflict?"
"None that I know of," Ayesha shook her head. "Master might have certain thoughts, however. His strategy has been one to defend and prolong things."
"What's the deal?" Gwen asked. "Are you baiting him or something?"
"Something like that," Alex said. "You realized that I didn't use my Infinity Stones, right? That's because I don't want to startle the guy and make him retreat. As long as we slowly increase the battle power of the Sovereign, we will be able to eventually push him into going all out. I'm hoping that going all out would mean utilizing a few Infinity Stones in the conflict, at which point I can act and get all of his stones in one fell swoop."
"Sounds simple enough," Gwen nodded. "But the lives lost…"
"That's the best part. Tell her, Ayesha," Alex said with a smug smile.
Ayesha gave him a slightly confused look, not used to the way he was behaving right now. "We do not fight our wars in the traditional manner," she said. "Our soldiers remotely pilot ships and mechanized units. The only citizens on the four planets are the miners and industrialists who are responsible for securing the necessary resources to help us prolong the war. For the Sovereign, war casualties are almost non-existent."
Gwen was left blinking in surprise at the revelation. "That's…awesome. So to your people, war is literally like a video game. Can I play?"
"War is no game, Miss Gwen," Ayesha said. "While this protects our soldiers and pilots from death, what they are fighting for is our safety. If they lose the so-called game, that is one less ship in our fleet. One less defender. And once the defense lines across the four planets are breached, we will be helpless even after evacuating everyone to Sovereign Prime. That is when the war will reach our citizens. So please, do not take this situation lightly."
"Ayesha," Alex stepped forward and wrapped his arm around the woman. "My Gwennie here understands very well what's at stake here. She was trying to keep the mood light by being a little playful. The scenario that you described will never come to fruition. I can guarantee you that."
"A-apologies, Miss Gwen," Ayesha said, suppressing her instinct to throw Alex's arm away and call her guards to execute him. After all, she had only become used to being subservient to the voice in her collar. With the man behind that voice suddenly appearing and acting familiar, she was naturally startled and unable to completely come to terms with the situation.
"No, it's fine," Gwen shook her head. "You are correct. I was being childish. Apex tells me that you have an important meeting to attend regarding the attack on Zephyros. Now that you know the inside situation, you can go in there with all the information you need."
"You should join me."
"No," Gwen shook her head. "I am only here to meet you. Outwardly, the one who killed the Harbinger and the other commanders of the battle was Apex. And it should stay that way. I don't want to waste my time in a long meeting when I could instead have fun with this insolent master of yours."
Gwen's suggestive glance toward Alex told Ayesha exactly what kind of fun she meant.
"We'll use this as a way to introduce the Apex Empire to your people, Ayesha," Alex said. "You can go on ahead. I'll brief you about my plan on the way."
"Okay," Ayesha, almost relieved, stepped forward, freeing herself from Alex's arm. "Please make yourself comfortable, Miss Gwen. I shall return as soon as possible."
"Take your time," Gwen said, looking at Ayesha's departing back and waving casually. "So? Golden skin, huh? Do you have something specific for the color?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know. Me, another me, Jane, Sue, Yelena, and now someone whose entire skin is golden along with her hair. I'm seeing a pattern."
"There's another pattern," Alex said. "Natasha, Wanda—if we're working on my instinctive response—a Mary Jane Watson, your Mary Jane Watson, etc. My type is women. Period. Am I biased toward Gwen Stacy? A little. But that comes from Spider-Man's influence on me. I've devoured quite a few of those guys, and half of them hated themselves for letting you die."
Gwen clicked her tongue and sat back down on the couch. "I couldn't help but notice that you haven't completely eaten that Queenie of yours yet."
"What angle are you fishing for now?"
"Nothing," she said casually, looking at her well-manicured nails. "Taking things slow with her, are we?"
"Her entire race was genetically engineered to not actually enjoy anything remotely sexual."
"Not what I asked."
"Yes, I'm taking things slow. What are you getting at?"
"Oh, nothing," she said with a mock casualness to her tone. "Just wondering why you haven't directly manipulated her biology to turn her into a slut for your cock."
"Where's the fun in that?" Alex asked. "The journey to the point of fucking her is the best part."
"Aha!" She exclaimed. "So you admit that taking things slow has its merit. Maintaining a sense of novelty in a relationship is very important."
"What are you… Is this about anal? We've been together for four years now, Gwen. You don't deny an experience for the sake of novelty for four years."
"I'm not denying it, I'm just waiting for the right moment," she said.
"I already agreed that I won't force you," Alex said with a sigh. "No need to analyze me and find more parallels."
"I just wanted to prove to you that my thoughts are also valid," she said smugly.
"Come here, you little…" Alex grabbed her arm and threw her on Ayesha's bed, eliciting a loud squeal from her as she felt her outfit disappearing before she even hit the bed.
***
As Ayesha walked out of the bedroom, her revealing top and black heels naturally shifted into a regal gown that went all the way down to the floor, with its bottom trailing behind her, though under the gown, she could feel her heels squirming as they grew even higher, essentially forcing her to walk on her toes with minimal support as the strings wrapped around her ankles extended higher and went up to the middle of her thighs. Over the dress, gold plating emerged, giving it a more metallic look, in accordance with the Sovereign's standards. The bust section rose higher as the neck piece formed into a thick gold chainmail with flat supports on the two sides, almost like a posture collar. Finally, a pair of gloves formed on her arms, with matching gold braces for her forearms and upper arms.
From the exotic stripper covered in golden paint from before, Ayesha looked nothing less than the queen of an empire. Of course, underneath the regal attire and crown she wore, the uncomfortably tall heels alongside the absence of underwear ensured that she remained aware of the reality of her situation.
"How do you wish to convey the narrative, Master?" Ayesha asked as the stirring under her clothes continued, only to feel a small egg-shaped object nestle itself between her legs.
[Tell them that you have received support from the Apex Empire, which sent one of their generals to help take care of the dangers posed by OrgoCorp and the High Evolutionary. In exchange, the Sovereign will regularly send the people with death penalties and life imprisonment to the Apex Empire's side. For now, we will limit things to this. Once the conflict grows a bit, I'm also planning to introduce my Artificial Intelligence to your planet. That will mark the day that the Sovereign becomes a subordinate force of the Apex Empire.]
"An Artificial Intelligence?" She paused, not because of his words but because of the wobble in her step that forced her to stop to regain her balance. "I'm not sure if that is a very good idea, Master."
[Why do you think so?]
"A few years ago, the Kree Empire had an incident where their highest authority, a general artificial intelligence, was destroyed. For countless years prior, they had been reliant on artificial intelligence for everything from basic assistance to progressive decisions. Without it, their entire race fell into disarray, allowing entities like Ronan the Accuser to wreak havoc across the warfronts without any supervision. It took a long time before they stabilized themselves and forged non-aggression pacts once the governments stabilized."
[Is that so? That makes sense. Their Supreme Intelligence, or whatever, was the thing keeping up the war against the Nova and Skrulls. Without it, peace was the natural conclusion.]
"Correct," she nodded. "I am unsure what impact implementing such a system for the Sovereign will have."
"I'm not replacing you with Gaia, Ayesha. You will still be the supreme authority of the planet and can even override Gaia. I will only ever be the one with authority over you, no one else. The reason that I'm doing this is that I'm what people refer to as a control freak. I want absolute control over my subjects, and Gaia is the perfect medium for that."
She seemed a little hesitant, but ultimately didn't voice her complaints, accepting his explanation regarding the artificial intelligence.
[That's my good Queenie, here's a little reward for you.]
Suddenly, the egg-shaped object nestled between her legs started vibrating, making her stiffen, and forcing a cute yelp through her lips before she pressed them together.
[How does it feel?]
Her legs were weak and slightly wobbly as she took a deep breath, calming herself down before speaking. "It's uncomfortable…"
[Tell me, how so? Does it feel like a cramp?]
Ayesha could feel her clothes putting some pressure on her abdomen, and felt like a hand was massaging her pelvis, calming her frayed nerves.
"Like a weak one… But there's also something else…a feeling like there's a pit in my stomach spreading warmth through my body."
[I want you to attend the meeting like this. Will you be able to?]
"I think so… It's not unbearable."
[That's my good Queenie, go on. Time to face the music. I'll be there to help you at any time.]
With difficulty, Ayesha wobbled over to the elevator, which led her to the main hall of the palace. She had to cross the entire hall in those heels with a constant buzzing between her legs that sent unfamiliar sensations across her body. Behind her throne was a set of doors that led to a restricted room. Only military personnel with the ranks of commander and above had access to it, aside from the Queen herself. It was the war room, a place rarely utilized by the Sovereign.
Standing before the doors, she took a deep breath to stabilize herself and move her mind away from the thoughts of everything going on under her robes before pushing open the door.
"High Priestess," the commanders respectfully saluted the moment she entered the room, every single one of them standing up in her presence.
"At ease," she said, steadily walking toward the seat at the head. "Give me a brief of the situation."
Just as she sat down, her back involuntarily straightened, and she tightened her core. Sitting down had inadvertently pushed the buzzer between her legs deeper, enhancing the stimulation further. Still, she was able to maintain her composure.
"Our previous estimates were that we would get into a losing battle of attrition against the Harbinger's fleet, which would lead to us losing Zephyros before the end of the week," The commander for Zephyros' fleet spoke. "But with the anomaly, as you communicated, to be this Apex creature, has directly brought down not only the Harbinger, but also the three subcommanders along with their ships. The ones that could retreat have now retreated, leaving the smaller ships without the capabilities to escape the atmosphere of Zephyros. The battlefield cleanup should be finished within the week, completely eradicating all traces of the enemy fleet."
"High Priestess, if I may," the commander of Auraxis' fleet spoke up. "I must ask the source of this anomaly that was more monster than living being…Almost like a god. I've seen the footage of that crimson thunder, and even godly Asgardians like Thor don't have that kind of capability."
"All in good time," she said. "Within the week, I want Zephyros secured, okay? We will be activating the planetary shield for Zephyros as well."
"High Priestess, I must object," the commander of Orivon's fleet said. "Our energy reserves are far from enough to maintain two planetary shields for too long. Even Sovereign Prime can only last another month at most. With another planet added to the mix…"
"I understand your concerns, but the energy issue has also been resolved," she said.
"Does it have to do with the source of this Apex creature?" The commander of Chryseon's fleet spoke.
"It does," Ayesha said. "He comes from a force from another galaxy. The Apex Empire."
[Nice. With the minimal communication between different galaxies, a force from another galaxy sounds like a perfect deterrent…]
She didn't say anything, but a faint curve appeared on the side of her lip. "They are planning to expand into our sector and wish to set up a cooperative relationship with a local force. I have been in contact with them for a long time, but with the High Evolutionary's decision to discard us, I had to rely on them."
"What are their conditions?" The fifth commander, seated right beside Ayesha, spoke. She was Seraphina. Serving as the commander of the most elite fleet of the empire that had the sole purpose of defending Sovereign Prime, she was also Ayesha's second-in-command, dealing with many things in the absence of the High Priestess.
"For now, nothing unacceptable. They want our prisoners. Whether for generic research or other reasons. I don't know."
"Has that been agreed upon?"
"No," Ayesha said. "The appearance of Apex was a so-called gesture of goodwill."
"Do you think they will threaten us if we do not accept their conditions?" She asked Ayesha. "You are the only one who has had any contact with them."
"Apex being deployed to the battlefield was both an expression of goodwill and a threat. If we dare to take advantage of them, nothing stops them from sending that creature to Sovereign Prime once the shields run out—if the shields can hold it off in the first place."
[My own slave is referring to me as if I'm an animal. How depressing… It's fine, though. I will make sure to train you thoroughly tonight and let you understand just how much of an animal I am.]
Ayesha's lower lip tightened, pressing into a thin line as Seraphina spoke. "Are you willing to hand over our people to an external entity, High Priestess?"
"The worst that can happen is that they decipher the genetic code of the people we send," Ayesha said with a grave tone, only for Seraphina to nod in agreement.
"That will allow them to optimize birth and a person's traits like us… But that should take hundreds of years without our technology. Even if they decipher our methods, reproducing our technology should take them centuries, if not more. This all comes while working under the assumption that they don't already have that technology or something better."
"The reality is that we don't have a choice," Ayesha said. "The High Evolutionary has three more commanders to send along with fleets just as deadly—that's not even counting his elite fleet. Without support from the Apex Empire, our demise is set in stone. This is our only option for survival."
***
With a few words from Ayesha, the future of the Sovereign was unchangeably altered. But considering the current situation of the empire, their future already held destruction. There was no possible way for them to hold off the High Evolutionary's forces by themselves, leaving them with no option other than to subjugate themselves to another similarly powerful force. Against someone like the High Evolutionary, they had no other way. To ally with the Kree would be meaningless, and the Nova Empire was already destroyed and was under the control of the High Evolutionary.
Once the meeting concluded, everyone respectfully retreated to deal with their respective tasks, leaving Ayesha alone in the room with her thoughts.
"Master?" She called out.
[What?]
"Can you tell me what you will be doing with our prisoners? With your capabilities, I doubt you need any of the Sovereign's genetic templates or technology."
[If you know, I'm not sure how it will weigh on your conscience.]
"As the person responsible for my subjects, I should know, no matter how uncomfortable it makes me."
[I'll kill the males directly and devour their biomass. As compared to humans, the people of your race have almost ten times the base Bioenergy within them. As for the women… They will be moved to the farm.]
"Farm?" Ayesha asked with a tightened expression.
[One of the planets under my control, Codename Earth B—Unofficially called the Farm Earth. That planet has a location called the Gaia Penitentiary. It holds two kinds of people: prisoners and voluntary members.]
"Voluntary members in a penitentiary?"
[The purpose of the Gaia Penitentiary is to serve as a generator of sorts. A place that constantly produces Bioenergy for me. It holds exclusively women, because the methods that I use to sustainably produce Bioenergy include intense sexual stimulation. It is extracted through the breasts in the form of milk. The prisoners are naturally treated as such and spend their time within their cells, only let out for their daily exercise, while the rest of their days include intense sexual stimulation, feeding, and milk extraction. The voluntary ones have a lot more leeway. To them, it's more like a resort that will cater to their needs and preferences. After they sign a contract to stay there for one year, they get to either live the life of a prisoner, or just enjoy their days getting massages, lazing around, and occasionally getting fucked senseless by machines as they get milked.]
"Why would anyone choose the former voluntarily?"
[The world has a substantial number of women with such fetishes. I merely made a place that would cater to those fetishes.]
"So that's the fate that awaits the women I send over to the Apex Empire? Being milked of their life essence for the rest of their lives…"
[A lot more than the rest of their lives. Your people have a similar lifespan to humans, right? The lives of the prisoners will be prolonged significantly. With the right cost-to-benefit ratio, I can increase their lifespan to a minimum of a thousand years before their souls start to deteriorate. Beyond that, the cost to prolong the life of a single person won't be worth what I can get. Aside from them, some can awaken Qi and significantly strengthen their souls, allowing me to prolong their lives to ten thousand years at least safely. Though the caveat for that is that they must awaken Qi within fifty years from birth; beyond that, their soul would have weakened enough that their maximum possible lifespan would go down to a few thousand years at most.]
"Heh… To think they get to be nigh-immortal, yet also condemned to such a life of suffering."
[Don't be jealous. You actually do get to be immortal. Without any asterisks. And I also plan to sell a life-prolonging formula eventually. I'll sell it in the Sovereign as well.]
"Do you not feel that this is very dystopian?" She asked. "A regime with such policies… There have been countless dictators in the history of the galaxy, but none of them were able to build lasting legacies."
[True answer? That's because they died. They couldn't be immortal. That's also the reason entities like Thanos, or Odin, with far longer lifespans than the average terrestrial lifeform, are considered nigh-godlike not only in our galaxy, but the wider universe as well. Hell, Asgard's history is the perfect example of this. Odin started out as a conqueror, ruling with an iron fist, and spread his influence and hegemony across the nine realms. That doesn't come without a dictatorial system. He grew old and got bored with the wars, that's why he settled down on Asgard and had another kid or two.]
"I was not aware of that…"
[Asgard's history has long been buried far lower than what a small-scale galactic empire like yours could dig up. But that doesn't mean I'm completely discrediting your words. If you think my methods are dystopian, I'm open to listening. What else would you suggest I do? Bioenergy is my bottom line. If your solution can maintain it and even enhance it, I'm all ears.]
"It doesn't have to be an exclusive thing, does it?" Ayesha said. "To treat death-row prisoners like that and also cater to women with certain fetishes works, but this feels limiting. Could you tell me how this harvesting works? Can you simply induce lactation with a drug and suck milk, or are there more things to consider?"
[I work with specialized food instead of drugs. Gaia handles the quantities and intake catered to every single person individually to optimize everyone's production and physical condition. As for the process of production, there are multiple factors to it beyond just the physical condition. I've observed that the rush of hormones experienced by the body during an orgasm significantly enhances the amount of Bioenergy that I get from a session.]
"So it boils down to physical condition and sexual stimulation, am I correct?"
[Those are the primary factors, yes.]
"Then I suggest that you open this to the general public as well. I have done some research on the way human relationships work. You can target single mothers specifically with this, providing them a sort of welfare system that allows them to do the equivalent of selling their breast milk to the government for a sustainable price. Once that system stabilizes, you can reduce the exclusivity and allow married women to get the same welfare benefits for the same treatment. Once the general public accepts that system as the norm, you can roll out a drug that allows women who aren't mothers to produce breast milk as well. This would directly increase your sample size from at most ten or twenty thousand in a single facility to millions. You could even piggyback on this and provide incentives for mothers specifically, promoting birth and increasing your population. With your capabilities, this shouldn't take more than a decade to implement."
[That's a very nice idea, Ayesha. Thank you. I was previously limiting myself to this kind of controlled environment because many things required me to be a little hands-on initially. But now, with Gaia's update, this can not only be implemented, but it can easily be automated. Good work. What reward would you like?]
"…If possible, could I reduce the transfer of prisoners to only the ones on death row?" She asked hesitantly. "I'm not sure how I'd sleep if I found out that I sent a pickpocket who deserved a single night in jail to his death…"
[Fine. Since you care so much about your people, it would be dumb of me to make you actively work against their prosperity. It's all mine, after all.]
"Thank you, master," she smiled widely. "I actually had another longer-term plan for that planet, which would require quite a bit of initial investment, but would significantly pay off in the future. We could terraform the planet and spread a genetic alteration medium through the air that would make the females more susceptible to natural lactation while also enhancing their reproductive capabilities. Over a decade or two of consistent modifications, the women on that planet would become the most optimal producers of Bioenergy for you, with high sensitivity and milk production capabilities. The terraforming would also allow us to increase the land area and handle a significantly larger population."
[Ayesha. You may not realize this, but you have just as much potential of being diabolical as I do. Your plan would literally turn Earth B into a farm planet. With the humans being raised as cattle who are solely used to breed and produce Bioenergy.]
"On a galactic scale, such a thing is not too shocking. To terraform a planet to allow efficient farming and cattle rearing is nothing new. Of course, doing it for the purpose of doing the same for sentient life certainly violates countless galactic laws."
[Who would even enforce such a galactic law? A universal version of the United Nations?]
"I don't know what that is, but these laws are usually enforced by a specialized fleet of the Einherjar. They serve as representatives of Asgard in our galaxy and many others."
[Huh, you learn something new every day. But I'm sure Asgard has its own shit to deal with, considering the multiple variants of Thor, Loki, Odin, and the like. Their internal strife won't leave them with any time to inspect us. By the time things settle down for them, my empire will be untouchable even by them.]
With Ayesha's main goal of reducing the number of prisoners sent over achieved, she casually continued discussing things with Alex, providing her valuable input without giving any new ideas. Even then, he couldn't help but appreciate her different viewpoint compared to every one of his other hosts. Even ones like Gwen, who had experience with the multiverse, didn't truly work on galactic scales, which made Ayesha's input far more valuable for Alex's current situation and future plans. Hearing her input and words, Alex felt a twinge of regret about his past actions, where he chose to bond with Jane instead of taking Hela, who would have given him far more valuable insights into setting up the Apex Empire.
***
At the end of the day, the Sovereign had won their first solid victory over the High Evolutionary. But the war was far from over. Not even six hours after the Harbinger's destruction, the remaining three fleets of OrgoCorp took action. But instead of the Harbinger's head-on assault from before, the three fleets spread their attacks across all four sister planets, dividing their forces to take advantage of their greater numbers. Not only that, the command motherships holding the commanders stayed in space, without any signs of them getting closer to the surface.
Ayesha hadn't even had the time to go back to her chambers and had to join the emergency meeting just as their reconnaissance measures detected the approaching fleets.
"We were expecting a swift retaliation, but not that all of their deployable fleets would be mobilized," Seraphina said. "As per our scans, they are taking precautionary measures against Apex after seeing its capabilities. The command ships are still in space, and their attack range is going to be far greater than before, encompassing all four planets. In this state, I don't think we can hold on for longer than a few days without a miracle supporting us." She turned to Ayesha with a somber expression. "It's all on you, High Priestess. Will the Apex Empire help us?"
"They will," she nodded. "It will be the same as before; they will eliminate the commanders of all three fleets alongside the other higher-ups. The remnants will be left to us to take care of."
"Will it be possible?" Seraphina asked. "That creature from before seemed limited to the planet. We are sure that they plan to leave the command motherships in space, far away from the planets."
"Since they said they can take care of it, let us trust them. There is little else we can do with our limited firepower against the highest command ships," Ayesha said. "Instead, taking this moment, let us discuss the battle plan to hold off the fleets while keeping our casualties to a minimum if the enemy tries something like orbital bombardment. If need be, we can recall everyone deployed on the four planets as a means of precaution."
Due to the time crunch, the discussion was concluded within a few more minutes as the room was quickly emptied, leaving only Seraphina and Ayesha.
"High Priestess," Seraphina spoke.
"What is it?"
"I don't know if I should say this, but I have concerns…"
"About the Apex Empire?"
"Yes. I don't think that they have our best interests at heart with this support."
"I'm aware of that, Seraphina. Their ultimate goal is likely to absorb the Sovereign into their regime and utilize our planet cluster as their operational hub to expand their influence into the wider galaxy. The annexation of the Sovereign is a foregone conclusion."
"Then why?"
"What choice do we have?" Ayesha asked. "It's either annexation or destruction. Adam is strong, I agree, but he lacks the might to protect us against the High Evolutionary. In the first place, his powers were given by the High Evolutionary, which means he has plenty of failsafes to take care of Adam. Nova has already become a shell of its former self since Irani Rael's disappearance, the Kree are still recovering, and the Skrull have no real power left to support us against the High Evolutionary. This is our only chance of survival, Seraphina."
After Ayesha's long, downright disheartening speech, Seraphina was left trembling, unable to refute a single word.
"Go, they need you out there. Once we get through this, we will try to come up with a way to maintain autonomy and keep our regime intact when the Apex Empire comes."
With a bow, Seraphina left the room, leaving Ayesha alone with her thoughts.
[He's getting desperate.]
And the true face of the Apex Empire.
"Can the larger ships be taken care of?"
[Something I'm curious about… Don't you guys know how to use nuclear bombs? Fission, fusion… Those ships are fortified, I agree, but a few well-placed nukes should easily be able to take care of them.]
"If only things were that simple," Ayesha sighed. "The High Evolutionary has always maintained strict control over our technological level. Any development of such weapons was completely banned and outlawed for our empire. If we had nuclear weapons, those ships wouldn't even be able to come down to the stratosphere before being destroyed."
[Well, that's a good thing for me, at least. Because now, I get to take advantage of your weakness and use this situation as an excuse to take over everything.]
"I meant what I said, master… I would like for the sovereign to maintain a level of autonomy."
[Are you trying to rebel against your master, Ayesha?] Alex's voice in her head turned deeper, intimidating. Ayesha felt her clothes tighten around her body, digging into her skin and making it harder for her to breathe. Not only that, the pill-shaped object between her legs directly slipped inside her, going deep enough to make her feel it pressing against her cervix.
"N-no…" She gasped, feeling an intensely painful sensation assault her core as the device started vibrating again. She bent over, letting out a pained moan as her hands pressed against her stomach. "P-please…"
[You would do well to keep in mind that whatever you are on the outside, in front of me, you are nothing more than a slave. I will not indulge you for no benefit to myself, understood?]
"I-I understand…" she nodded with a gasp as her clothes immediately loosened, letting her breathe as the vibrations died down, but the device stayed in place, glued to her cervix.
[That's not to say I will never agree to something you ask of me. But do not take my indulgence for granted.]
"Then… Then why did you agree to let me reduce the prisoners?" Ayesha asked, gasping.
[Because I felt like it. I thought the way you tried your best to maintain that stoic expression while being stimulated was cute. That's why I indulged you. Yes, your suggestions were also a factor, but it boils down to my whims, Ayesha. That's the kind of person I am. We are not in a transactional relationship. You are mine. I will pamper and cherish you if I feel like it, and I will torture and degrade you if I feel like it. I appreciate your insights and smarts, yes, but only when they come in the form of requests and suggestions, not declarations. That tone from just now, forget about it completely.]
"I understand, master…" Ayesha bit her lower lip and clenched her fists. "I will keep it in mind."
[Good Queenie. Since you so obediently accepted my words, I will give you a little reward.]
Ayesha stiffened, fully expecting a reward of a sexual nature, but instead, her outfit spread and quickly enveloped her entire body. Before she could even say anything, her vision turned dark. Just as she was about to panic, her vision returned, but she was in a completely different location. On the side, she could see Zephyros, with its planetary shield already active, while in front, two behemoths in the name of motherships were hovering menacingly, releasing hundreds of smaller units that spread out and aimed to move toward the two planets. Not seeing the third ship, she understood that they had jointly encircled the Sovereign's planets in a triangular formation.
"W-what are we doing?" She asked, too stunned to notice how she was even surviving in the vacuum of space, let alone hearing her own voice.
[We are watching a miracle, what else? Did you think I'd shove a tentacle inside you when something as basic as a vibrator hurts you worse than a period cramp?]
"…Will you be using the Infinity Stones, master?"
[Not yet. If he realizes that I can freely utilize them to destroy his ships, he will run away. The chance that he acts upon his greed to get the stones, no matter what, is lower. While arrogant with a god-complex, he is also cautious.]
"But—"
[Shh, the show is starting.]
With his words, Ayesha saw an arc of lightning appear on the surface of one of the ships. Considering the distance and scale of the ship, the single arc of lightning was thicker than even the most powerful lightning strike in the history of the Sovereign. Within seconds, more identical arcs appeared on the ship's surface as the shuttles and smaller ships ceased departing from the hangars. As the lightning intensified further, Ayesha was reminded of the scene of countless bolts of lightning escaping the Harbinger's ship.
Seconds passed, and the lightning only intensified further, visibly causing smoke to erupt from multiple parts of the ship. Soon, Ayesha felt even her hair stand on end, as if she was being charged by static electricity. At the same time, a blinding glow of blue erupted through the ship that she was looking at, forcing her to turn her eyes away as lightning exploded out of the ship, reaching tens of thousands of miles all around. Ultimately, all that remained was the debris of the ship, left for the Sovereign's people to take care of.
Ayesha's eyes instinctively moved to the other ship and saw the same crackles appear on its surface.
[Couldn't wait any longer, huh? Congratulations, Ayesha. This war is going to be over today itself.]
"What?" She wasn't confused for long as a massive blue portal appeared in front of her, from it emerged the High Evolutionary's mothership itself. The main fleet of OrgoCorp had suddenly appeared in the Sovereign's solar system, without them having the slightest idea.
[I finally get to wield all six Infinity Stones.]
***
For once, Alex left Gwen to her devices, letting her take care of the remaining two command ships at her own pace. After destroying the command ships, she would be free to fly around space and provide support to the Sovereign's fleet in holding off OrgoCorp's assault. Adam was also a part of those efforts, providing some much-needed support to the Sovereign's side in destroying certain high-priority targets like bombers that could cause problems for the surface of the planets.
When the High Evolutionary's main ship arrived, Akex wrapped around Ayesha, enveloping her within his Apex form that looked almost identical to Gwen's two-meter-tall form without the hood and a ponytail of luscious gold hair coming out from the back of her head.
[Enjoy the first-person show of me manhandling your creator like the little bitch that he is.]
Ayesha was too stunned by the situation to say anything as Alex shot through space at a breakneck speed. Within seconds, he was in front of the behemoth of a ship that was as big as a large mountain, and punched through its hull.
Alarms immediately started blaring as Alex entered the ship in the most violent way possible and started running through the corridors, tearing down every wall that he encountered. With the ability to create a physique with Cosmic Strength, Ayesha being with him or not didn't matter. He could still punch through planets with ease. The main reason that he brought her along was to fuck with the High Evolutionary.
It took him a few minutes of tearing through the ship and ripping apart every crew member that he encountered before he finally reached the bridge.
The moment he broke through the door, hundreds of weapons started shooting at him. Guns, energy weapons, sonic weapons, and even some extreme temperature weapons that set him on fire or froze him.
"Good attempt, but useless," Alex said with a light laugh, looking completely unaffected by the attacks as he raised his arms and multiple tentacles shot out, skewering through every single person who had shot at him.
Suddenly, the only people left on the bridge were the High Evolutionary and his trembling second in command, who had been holding a weapon up but hadn't shot it.
"Who are you?!" A dark-skinned humanoid, with a face that seemed to be sewn over a mechanical skull, screamed at Alex.
"Geez, bud," Alex casually created a seat for himself, leading to a slightly comical scene of a two and a half meter tall monster sitting down with one leg crossed over the other. "Why are you so agitated? Such intense anger is unhealthy for the heart."
"The High Evolutionary would like to know—"
"Shut the fuck up!" The man screamed as a purple light emerged from his head. In an instant, the second-in-command was splattered on the wall, without any identifying features, as his organs all exploded out along with the blood in his body.
"Huh, mental instability," Alex said as one of his white eyes raised in curiosity. "Have you never experienced a setback in your entire life?"
"Die, die, die! I'll fucking kill you!"
This time, the purple glow didn't telekinetically affect Alex; instead, it spread through the High Evolutionary's surroundings, making a wave of purple pass through the surroundings. Alex observed the badly stitched face of the man peel away, revealing the metallic endoskeleton under it with two glowing red eyes. What truly caught his attention were the four glowing stones embedded in a semicircular pattern within his face.
"Ain't that a surprise. You've kept your Infinity Stones close to the chest," Alex said. "How about this. Give them to me, and I'll let you live. Isn't that a magnanimous offer?"
With a blue glow, the man disappeared from his position and appeared behind Alex. Reality itself warped as his palm made contact with the black body of the Symbiote, ignoring the sheer difference in physical stats. Immediately, Alex felt an encroachment not only on his mind but also on his soul as the High Evolutionary went all out, utilizing the individual authorities of all four stones in his possession.
"Bad move, trying to affect my soul, old man," Alex said with a light laugh as he started countering with the authorities that he held. Enormous amounts of Bioenergy were suddenly burned away from his reserves to mitigate the backlash of using the Infinity Stones as he activated the Power Stone in conjunction with his other stones, supercharging their authorities and ripping through the High Evolutionary's offense like paper.
While the Power Stone itself was immensely powerful, when paired with any of the other stones, it could empower them even further, almost supercharging their individual authorities. Let alone the singular fragments that the High Evolutionary possessed, even a complete Infinity Stone wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Alex's fragmented stones once they were powered by the fragmented Power Stone. No matter how much authority the High Evolutionary channeled through the stones, going as far as to destroy parts of his own body, it was useless.
Alex casually swatted his arm away and turned around to face the metal-faced man with a menacing look. In his defense, in the monstrous Apex form, his stoic face was pretty menacing in itself.
"Ahh!" The High Evolutionary screamed loudly, releasing almost everything he had to resist Alex's stones, going so far as to start vaporizing his limbs into dust, but all it achieved was a pretty aurora of multiple colors emerging from him that were casually blocked by the faint glow that was emitted from Alex's form.
"I think I prefer the Wundagore variant that created Wanda and Pietro," Alex said. "This one is a bit crazy for me to feel any sort of enjoyment. Wasted potential."
Alex raised his hand and grabbed the man's head with a crushing grip. Alex picked him up by the head, ignoring the flailing arms, and growled.
Suddenly, the glows erupting from him vanished completely, and his body went limp before Alex tossed him to the side.
"Haha. Finally!" Alex shouted, spreading his arms as multiple differently colored arcs of energy coursed through his body. After all, this was the single largest amount of Infinity Stone fragments he had received aside from when he took them from Ultron.
«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)› ‹Mind (10%)› ‹Soul (7.5%)› ‹Reality (7.5%)› ‹Power (2.5%)› ‹Space (2.5%)›
The stones naturally entered his soul, settling at its core, either merging with their respective counterparts or taking up a whole new spot like the Space Stone, taking its place beside the Time Stone. Alex didn't let the stones stop there and modified their positions. Right now, they were simply in a straight line representing their individualistic usability, but now that he had all six, he modified their formation and placed them all in an equidistant fashion such that every single stone was at an equal distance from every other stone.
Naturally, something like this couldn't exist in a regular two or three-dimensional space. To achieve something like that required a five-dimensional shape to hold all six stones in the appropriate orientation. That required a warping of the fundamental rules of reality, which could only be achieved by all six stones acting together.
Soon, the six stones came together in an incomprehensible shape within Alex's soul that seemed to be constantly shifting yet also not. The sheer nature of a five-dimensional figure wasn't something easily comprehended, and Alex had no intention of diving deep into it right now.
He turned his attention back to the moaning mechanical man that was slumped against the wall. The loss of his Infinity Stones hadn't completely killed him, but it had brought him damn close to death.
"Ayesha," Alex said. "I shall let you do the honors of killing this deranged creator of yours."
The large figure of Apex split apart in the chest as a gold-skinned woman stepped out hesitantly while looking at the downed form of her creator with a sense of disbelief and even slight guilt.
"Y-you…" The High Evolutionary didn't have a face to express any emotions, but his voice was shocked aplenty after seeing Ayesha emerge from inside the monster.
"Of course, her," Alex said. "I like to believe that I'm a far more powerful and gracious master for her as compared to you. Not only am I letting her kill the man who tried to take away everything she has, but I am also saving her planets. If it wasn't for her submitting to my rule, why would I bother even thinking about helping her empire against you? I couldn't care less about the billions of lives on these planets. Let them die for all I care."
"I created you… You cannot defy me," he said with a hoarse voice filled with wrath.
"You created me, so I will grant you a painless death, High Evolutionary," Ayesha said, steeling her expression. A knife appeared in her hand out of nowhere, and she stabbed it into the mechanical head of the High Evolutionary.
"Attagirl," Alex praised her. "You did such a good job. I was expecting more from him, though, you know? I thought he would be more of a monologuing villain who was dead set in his ways, but he just started attacking me like a mad dog. Pity."
Noticing Ayesha's slightly trembling shoulders as she pulled back the knife, Alex didn't continue and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her.
"Come on, it's time to go home. I'll take care of the attacking ships as well."
With his words, the suit split open once again, and he pulled Ayesha inside, nestling her in his warm embrace.
***
Alex brought Ayesha directly back to her bedroom as the trembling woman weakly lowered herself to the bed, supporting herself with her hand as she sat down.
"It's over…" She whispered.
[Unless there's another big-bad behind him. Pretty much.] Alex said, merging into her. [How do you feel?]
"I–I don't know," she mumbled. "Exhilarating?"
He observed her teary eyes and erratic breaths silently, concluding that she was definitely not exhilarated.
[I think overwhelmed is a better word. He was your creator. To kill an entity equivalent to a god of your race—]
"Some creator…" she said, losing all her strength and falling on her back as Alex quickly retracted her crown, letting her hair spread around on the bed. "It's finally over, isn't it?"
[It sure is. I believe celebrations are in order, don't you think?]
"After what you've done for me, Master~" Ayesha's voice had an unusual sultry edge to it. "I will do everything in my power to please you tonight~"
[Yeah? Even expose yourself to your people?]
Ayesha immediately stiffened at his words, making him laugh out loud.
[Don't worry, I'm too possessive to dive into hardcore exhibitionism. Using the risk factor as a turn-on is as far as I'll go.]
"Uh…" Ayesha was left speechless at the words, unsure how she should respond.
[Tell me, how would you like for me to take your training to the next level?]
"Next…level?"
[Don't play dumb. I'm talking about sex. I think it's high time I started training your useless pussy into a proper erogenous zone.]
"U-useless?" She sounded affronted.
[What else? You can neither give birth nor feel pleasure. You have a solid reproductive system, but it is essentially useless.]
"There have been cases of natural births in the past…" Ayesha tried to defend herself.
[When was the last one?]
"…"
[I'll refresh your memory. The last recorded case of a natural birth was fifty years ago. The mother died, and the infant that came out was deformed, serving as the final nail in the coffin of natural births, outright outlawing them on this planet. Your reproductive system is already broken and useless.]
"Please stop calling me useless…" Ayesha seemed on the verge of tears for a whole other reason. "It's not my fault, is it?"
[All right, all right, I was being harsh. How about I show you a nice view?]
"From my spot?" She asked.
[You know it.]
"Do I need to…" She trailed off, blushing a little, turning to the window to observe the faint silhouette of a massive ship far in the distance.
[That is not a question, my Queenie. You should understand your duties without me having to outline them regularly.]
"Understood, master…" Ayesha nodded, taking a deep breath as she sat up. Aside from her crown, which had been removed, the rest of her outfit remained, including the gold-plated gown that was regularly worn when she addressed her subjects and the extra accessory, namely, the uncomfortably high heels.
Without much hesitation, she started ridding herself of the intricate outfit, one piece at a time.
Soon, without a scrap of clothing on her body, Ayesha walked over to her private elevator and stepped inside. Within seconds, she found herself at the highest point of her castle and the city in general. Looking up at the sky gave her a far clearer picture of the conflicts that were still raging in the skies above.
"Shouldn't the Sovereign's fleets be retreating?" She asked, seeing no signs of the conflict slowing down. If anything, it seemed to be getting even more intense.
[Why would they retreat when their command ship is telling them to give it everything they've got, even use kamikaze tactics…]
"M-master…" Ayesha seemed flabbergasted. "T-those are billions of entities… if they don't retreat, we won't be able to hold them off."
[Do you really think that, Ayesha?] Alex asked, an amused edge to his tone.
"…Even so," she said with some hesitation. "Wouldn't coercing them to surrender prove more useful, master? Every single member of OrgoCorp's fleet is a genetically enhanced individual. It is a waste to just kill them all."
[Getting soft on me now? Has the Sovereign never brought ruin to any civilizations? Brought forth genocide on a planetary scale…]
"N-never," Ayesha said, shaking a little.
[I guess this can be another kind of first experience for you.]
"Do you truly not wish to integrate them into the Apex Empire, master?" Ayesha asked as her body instinctively took action. Bending her knees, she knelt in the center of the observation deck, her feet parallel to the ground as she spread her knees apart and put her palms on her thighs, facing upward. The entire process was followed without minimal thoughts from her, as if it were already ingrained into her muscle memory.
[Those are broken life forms, Ayesha. Contrary as it may seem, the Sovereign is the final step in the direction of manipulating with true lives that the High Evolutionary went. Beyond your race, the path he took was destined for failure.]
"What does that mean?" She asked, frowning.
[It means that once a species loses the ability to reproduce naturally, whether it be through sexual or asexual means, they are no longer considered as true life in the grand scheme of the universe. After the Sovereign's creation, his research direction simply deviated from the creation of true life.]
"But… what even constitutes true life?" Ayesha asked. "Why does it matter if a species can reproduce or not? As long as they possess the technology to gestate new members, it shouldn't matter."
[You don't understand. When reproduction becomes completely mechanical—done through the direct modification of genes instead of a natural process, we are essentially creating clones. And clones possess incomplete souls.]
"I don't follow…" Ayesha seemed wholly engrossed in the conversation at the moment, not even noticing that multiple airborne vehicles had passed by her tower. Where once, she would have flinched and instinctively covered herself, at the moment, she didn't even notice anything.
[For a technological civilization like yours, the soul is a difficult concept to accept, I know. But it is as real as you can imagine. You can give a person an identical brain and memories through a clone, but they will never be the same person without the soul also transferring over to the new body. Those with incomplete souls will always have limited potential in their lives. Their emotions dulled. Their lives monotonous. They can be smarter, possess greater IQ, or whatever else. But ultimately, their capabilities will be limited by the fact that they don't possess the spark of imagination or inspiration that comprises true life.]
"But—"
[We've gone completely off topic.] Alex interrupted her. [Point is. These creatures will give me no benefit. Their only future is death and devouring to bolster my Bioenergy reserves.]
"It just feels…" Ayesha trailed off. "Needlessly cruel."
[Maybe. But you can look at things from this perspective. If I didn't help you, would they have hesitated before annihilating your planets and civilization?]
"No…" Her response came without hesitation.
[At least you are self-aware. Now, I'll show you some nice fireworks.]
As much of a waste as it was, Alex wanted to play with the Space Stone for a bit. For that, he covered the dome surrounding Ayesha with a minute amount of its authority and projected the view from outer space into the dome. Since it was a simple application—merely sending an image across space—the cost to offset the backlash was almost negligible, ten units of Bioenergy per second.
While it sounded like a lot, it wasn't, considering that his farm had grown to give him roughly a hundred thousand units of Bioenergy every day.
The view suddenly changing to outer space made Ayesha freeze in her place as she tensed instinctively. As a massive explosion blasted a bright light through the dome, she was forced to turn and look at the sheer devastation around her as countless ships were being destroyed every second due to the confrontation between the Sovereign and OrgoCorp's fleets.
"Are we…"
[Just a projected image. I was planning on showing you a nice fireworks show before you started talking to me about showing mercy. While I'm not doing that, I won't make you watch this wanton destruction if you don't want to. Your choice.]
"I…" Ayesha observed the immense devastation around her, feeling uncomfortable despite the years of experience she had commanding interstellar wars. "I would like to return, master… While I don't have any issues with this, to derive enjoyment from seeing this… That's not me."
[Understandable.] Alex agreed as the entire scene was wiped away by a faint blue glow of the Space Stone as if it was an illusion in the first place. [Since you don't want to watch the conclusion of this war, I think we can play with sensory deprivation today.]
Before any words could escape the woman, a blindfold appeared over her eyes, followed by a ball gag and a pair of headphones over her ears. Robbed of her speech, hearing, and sight, she immediately tensed up, moaning through her gag as her fingers twitched. She barely held herself back from trying to yank away the items.
[That's my cute Queenie. I love it when you act so obedient and suppress your pride.]
"Mmf…" She groaned, unconsciously tilting her head a little. She was still tense, waiting for Alex to act, but seconds passed, and nothing happened. Even the voice in her head had stopped responding. "Mftr…" She called out helplessly, feeling tense for an entirely different reason. Her hands were still free to remove the bindings, but she knew better.
Suddenly, she felt something slightly soft, yet firm, race along her skin and flinched. After a few seconds, she realized that it was some kind of rope that was slowly wrapping around her.
"Mafter…" She called out again, only to be met with silence once again as the ropes continued snaking along her skin, intent on restraining her.
I blame Yelena for making me so fond of sensory deprivation stuff and playing an invisible ghost…