Chapter 1094: Replicating the Tartarus Incident

Fengqi Star Alliance core star region, Supreme Council Meeting Hall.

Speaker Ravenna sat upright in the main seat, looking around at the councilors, the high-level officials of the Military Committee, and the representatives of various departments present.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today, we have gathered here to discuss a more... peculiar development."

Ravenna signaled for Deputy Minister Aorusike to speak.

Aorusike stood up and pulled up a new set of holographic images: a familiar frontier planet, Tartarus-IV.

"The Intelligence Department has been analyzing all anomaly reports from every theater of war. Most reports are bad news: more worlds fallen, more fleets lost, more Guardian Legions annihilated. But there is one report... that is completely different."

The image switched, displaying a set of energy readings.

"Tartarus-IV, located on the edge of the Seventh Star Sector, is currently occupied by the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance. According to intelligence at the time, the garrison there put up a stubborn resistance but was ultimately overwhelmed. After the occupation, Xiuluo Holy forces began searching the Fengqi facilities on the planet, looking for technical resources and intelligence."

Aorusike zoomed in on a peak in the energy readings.

"But Tartarus-IV erupted with an abnormally intense energy fluctuation.

The intensity reached... planetary level.

More importantly, this energy fluctuation does not match the technical signatures of any known Xiuluo Holy or Fengqi technology."

The meeting hall fell silent, with everyone waiting for what would come next.

"When our final message was transmitted back, we received fragmented information. Key terms included: 'Primarch injured', 'Reality Anomaly', 'emergency evacuation'."

Aorusike paused for a moment, letting these words sink in.

"'Primarch injured.' As far as we know, this is the most powerful existence in the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance's war machine: their Primarch.

In all previous conflicts, there has been no report indicating that a Primarch has ever sustained substantial injury.

They are nearly invincible, capable of crushing our entire army in head-on combat."

A general from the Military Committee leaned forward.

"Are you sure? Not a misreading? Not propaganda?"

"We have verified the intelligence sources. Including energy reading analysis and communication signal analysis."

Speaker Ravenna spoke up.

"Casualties? If it was a planetary-level energy release, the Xiuluo Holy forces should have suffered heavy losses."

"That is precisely the strangest part."

Aorusike pulled up more data.

"The energy burst was highly concentrated, causing almost no large-scale damage to the surrounding environment. It was more like a... highly targeted attack. And according to the energy signature analysis, this attack did not come from any conventional weapon system. It came from Tartarus-IV itself, from the planet's core."

Chairman Valken suddenly interjected.

"Have the historical archives of Tartarus-IV been reviewed? Is there anything special about that planet?"

Aorusike replied.

"They have been reviewed. Tartarus-IV was incorporated into the Star Alliance territory three hundred years ago, and subsequent modifications made it a weapons research site. Official records show no special facilities or history. But..."

Aorusike pulled up a file marked "Top Secret".

"But one report mentioned that this planet was undergoing research on extracting energy from the planetary core."

Aorusike looked at everyone present.

Whispers erupted in the meeting hall.

Councilors exchanged glances, military officials took quick notes, and scientist representatives began pulling up data for verification.

Speaker Ravenna tapped the table to restore order.

"So, Deputy Minister Aorusike, what is your conclusion? Is this merely an accidental event, or..."

"This is the first time our military has caused injury to a Primarch of the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance in a direct confrontation.

Although the process is unknown, and although it may be purely coincidental, the fact remains: some kind of Fengqi power injured a Primarch. This means they are not invincible, and it means there is a possibility of opposing them."

Chairman Valken stood up and spoke.

"This changes everything. For the past six months, we have been retreating steadily in the Southern Star Sector, not because we are not powerful enough, but because the enemy has weapons we cannot counter—those Primarchs.

Conventional tactics are ineffective against them; concentrated fire is dodged or withstood by them; and decapitation strikes are out of the question, because they themselves are the deadliest existences on the battlefield."

Valken pulled up a tactical simulation.

"But if we can find a way to replicate the Tartarus-IV incident... if we can master this ability to injure a Primarch..."

A councilor from the Interior Committee asked cautiously: "Chairman Valken, are you suggesting we research this... energy phenomenon? But we know nothing about it. It could be extremely dangerous, it could be uncontrollable, it could..."

Valken retorted.

"Could what? More dangerous than losing the entire Southern Star Sector? More dangerous than sitting by and watching the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance continue to expand and eventually threaten the Core Worlds?

Councilor, we are already losing this war. Conventional means are ineffective, and conventional thinking will only lead to more failure. We need new ideas, new weapons, new... hope."

Speaker Ravenna signaled for Valken to sit down, then looked at the representative from the Academy of Sciences.

"Doctor Suolun, what is your take? Analyzing from a scientific perspective, what is the nature of the energy burst on Tartarus-IV?"

Doctor Suolun stood up and pulled up a set of complex charts.

"Speaker, colleagues, I led my team in an analysis for 25 standard hours and found that the energy signature does not conform to any known physical model.

It is a... form of energy we cannot classify. The closest description is: 'Reality Structural Stress Release'."

"'Reality Structural Stress Release'?"

A councilor repeated.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that this energy does not seem to act upon matter itself, but upon... the fundamental framework of matter's existence. Imagine a taut canvas with a pattern painted on it. Conventional energy is splashing paint on the canvas or poking a hole in it. But this energy... is pulling at the fibers of the canvas itself, changing how the canvas is woven. The pattern is thus distorted, torn, or... changed.

In the case of Tartarus-IV, this energy burst seems to have briefly distorted the local reality structure. We do not know exactly how it injured the Primarch, but this is the most reasonable speculation."

Suolun paused for a moment and added.

"There is one more thing: energy readings indicate that in the core area of the burst, a brief 'Mirror Rift' phenomenon occurred—multiple similar but not identical energy fluctuations were detected at the same spatial coordinates. It was as if... reality briefly split into several similar but not identical versions."