Chapter 3131

The situation in the upper echelons of the Shi'ar Empire is the most complex among the three great empires. Looking solely at military power, the Empress does not hold total authority; she can mobilize about one-third of the Shi'ar Empire's forces and her personal guard, while the nobility can mobilize the other two-thirds.

From this perspective, the Empress is in a weak position, but in reality, her personal guard is composed entirely of the Raptor race. Their individual strength is formidable, and there is no unit on the surface of the capital planet that can defeat them. They are loyal only to the Empress, so her position remains relatively stable.

However, this does not mean the nobility lacks power. Because they can mobilize enough troops, the security and defense tasks for the majority of the empire's territory fall upon them, and their control over these regions is naturally very strong.

Moreover, these troops are not bound to them; there are many fence-sitters in the military, and the various factions within the military are not on good terms, each having their own interests. They cannot be mobilized just because one wants them to be.

Among these, what the nobility values most are the private armies of their respective families. This portion of the military is actually quite small; perhaps a family has only one or two main capital ships, mainly used to step forward to resolve commercial and civil disputes between local families, and also for ceremonial purposes.

These private fleets are maintained by the nobility at great expense. The warships manufactured by the Shi'ar Empire are not assembly-line products; they require many enchantment rituals to adapt to the needs of the specific race, which is quite similar to Asgardian warships.

This means the manufacturing process for the warships is longer, requires more investment, and subsequent maintenance is more troublesome, but it also means the individual warship's combat power is stronger. Having just one or two is enough to hold their own.

Therefore, Shi'ar noble families generally do not keep too many warships; having one is already considered a quite prominent and influential great noble.

Mystique has not been idle during the time she has been impersonating the Shi'ar Empress. Apart from palace intrigue and political maneuvering all day long, she has been planting mutants with shapeshifting abilities in various places, among whom the personalities split from Legion make up the main force.

The population of the Shi'ar Empire's main ethnic group is too small, so it is normal to have outsiders. The military is also basically composed of the alien races they have integrated, and having a few strange-looking ones is not eye-catching.

The five fleets that Rogue mentioned could be mobilized are actually five warships of noble private armies stolen by using these planted personnel, and they are the private armies of the top ten noble families on the capital planet.

There is never any retreat in the struggle for power.

Once these five starships are all destroyed at the same time, these five families will inevitably be defenseless, and the Empress can immediately take advantage of the situation to wipe out all the remaining defensive forces of these five families.

And once all the resources of these five families fall into the hands of the Empress, with the rise of one and the fall of another, other nobles may not dare to act, because the Empress's strength has been enhanced, and the unlucky ones are not their own families; after all, one doesn't sacrifice oneself for a friend.

And with the Empress obtaining so many resources, not to mention being able to immediately turn the tables and achieve complete centralization of power, at least she can consolidate some power to make her position more secure.

The nobility is unwilling to see such things happen.

Although this incident did not completely touch the bottom line of the nobility, and the Empress stopped while she was ahead and did not pursue the victory, if this continues, the destruction of the nobility is imminent.

Therefore, they must inevitably find a way to weaken the Empress's power.

They could confront her head-on, but the problem is, if they confront her head-on, it is a fight to the death; either the Empress wipes them all out, or they overthrow the Empress.

It is not impossible for all the nobles to join forces to overthrow the Empress, but after overthrowing the Empress, who will be the next monarch?

This is not a question that can be negotiated; in the end, the one with the biggest fist will sit in that position. But if all their strength is consumed in overthrowing the Empress, how will their own families compete for the throne afterward?

Therefore, in the process of overthrowing the Empress, the vast majority of families will definitely put in little effort, and they will never succeed. In the end, they might be slaughtered by the Empress.

The nobles know this truth, so they will not adopt this method. They prefer to achieve the goal of weakening the Empress without wasting a single soldier of their own.

Truth lies only within the range of the cannons. Without military power and without an army, power is just empty talk. To weaken the Empress, one must inevitably weaken the troops controlled by the Empress.

But one cannot go directly to the Empress and say, "Hand over your military power." Even the previous Lilandra would not have agreed, and the current one is even more difficult.

Then the best way is actually to weaken the troops themselves. One must make the Empress mobilize the troops in her hands, and to do this, one must start a war.

Actually, even so, their target might not necessarily be the New Skrull Empire. Starting a war head-on with one of the three great empires is very unwise, and there is no deep-seated hatred between these two countries, so there is no need to fight a tragic great war.

But any contradiction can be gradually intensified. The initial and most important point is the product of the Life Fusion Project that can directly destroy an entire star system.

The New Skrull Empire has obtained this product; who is the most anxious?

The Shi'ar Empire and the Skrull Empire do not have such great hatred, but the Kree Empire is different. The two sides' millennial war has left them with irreconcilable grievances.

Now that the New Skrull Empire has such a great weapon, where are they most likely to throw this thing?

The Kree Empire must inevitably think about this question. They will definitely feel nervous because of this question. Even one of the three great empires cannot bear the loss of an entire prosperous star system.

What should they do at this time?

Some people might think that the other side has a nuclear bomb while we don't, so we must strike first. But actually, this is the most stupid approach. The best way is to set up a new enemy for the other side.

Although we have old grievances, past grievances can never compare to the pressure faced now. Whether to use a nuclear bomb to avenge a thousand-year-old grudge or to resolve the current war disadvantage, I believe no one will choose wrong.

Therefore, the Kree Empire will definitely support the Shi'ar Empire and the New Skrull Empire in fighting. In this way, the New Skrull Empire has a greater probability of throwing this nuclear bomb on the head of the Shi'ar Empire, rather than on their own head.

The three great empires all have infiltration into each other, among which the Shi'ar Empire is the most severely infiltrated because their system is too traditional, the ruling class's control over the grassroots people is too weak, and the races are very mixed, so it is not too simple to infiltrate.

Once the Kree Empire pushes the waves behind the scenes, coupled with the nobility's urgent desire to weaken the Empress's strength, they will definitely take action against the New Skrull Empire.

The excuse is also ready-made: the New Skrull Empire destroyed five warships; is there any reason not to start a war?

What the mutants need to do now is actually not much: just find a way to destroy these five ships at once, without letting people discover that it was their handiwork, and at the same time, make the Shi'ar Empire and the Kree Empire think that the New Skrull Empire has already obtained the product of the Life Fusion Project.

It sounds simple, but it is a bit difficult to do. Those are five main starships with jump capabilities. If the other side can't beat them, they can still run. Emergency jumping is a matter of an instant, and even Magneto might not be able to stop it.

Once they run away, the plan will be completely ruined.

Professor X and Magneto have confidence in their own strength, but they do need insurance measures. After thinking for a while, Professor X said: "The Avengers definitely can't help, and S. H. I. E. L. D. is probably about the same, but I think we have other candidates."

Magneto looked at him and said: "You mean S. W. O. R. D.?"

He shook his head and continued: "The mutants over there have never liked us; they might not be willing to put in the effort."

"What if we give them a starship?"

"What?"

"The starship doesn't necessarily have to be completely destroyed; keeping some core components should be fine, right?" Professor X's hand gently rubbed the desktop, and he said: "China recently sent another team of engineers to the Neptune starport. What do you think they went there for?"

"Their progress is much faster than we imagined." Magneto sighed and said: "If only we could also be of one mind..."

"Alright, don't talk about this. I'll go talk to the Director of S. W. O. R. D." Professor X got up and left the office.

After a while, he came back and said: "They agreed. They requested that the starship's jump device must be preserved. It seems they have encountered a technical threshold in this regard."

"I don't think so. That group of Easterners has always been very cunning and won't reveal their true intentions to you."

"It's good that they agreed. The jump device is not important to us either. For the Andromeda Galaxy to have an industrial chain capable of independently producing ships, it is estimated that it will take another few hundred years of development."

"No rush, we still have plenty of time." Magneto meant that once the two great empires are both caught in war, no one will come to bother them.

"Indeed, the two of us have more time." Professor X smiled at Magneto, and Magneto turned his head away. Damn blue eyes.

"Apocalypse is an unstable factor." Magneto spoke again: "Once he intends to mess things up for us, variables might arise."

"Nathaniel doesn't know Apocalypse's current location either. That guy hides very well." Professor X thought and said: "I must control him before taking action... I have it."

Magneto looked at him, and Professor X said: "In Nathaniel's memory, this kind of poison he released will cause mutant abilities to go out of control 24 hours after infection."

"You mean..."

"To ensure the poisoning was truly successful, 24 hours after the poisoning, Apocalypse will definitely try to approach the Andromeda Galaxy to observe the situation here. That is a good opportunity to catch him."

"Are you still unable to detect his brainwaves?"

"He actively connected to my brainwaves before, but at that time I was worried he had some other conspiracy, so I didn't launch an attack on him. If he actively connects to my brainwaves again, I am confident I can severely damage him."

"But he wouldn't be that stupid, would he?" Magneto said.

"You overestimate him. I said, he is a person who writes his ambition on his face, too superficial, really hard to achieve great things. Otherwise, how did the two of us become the leaders of mutants, while he hides in Egypt sleeping every day? Do you think it's because he doesn't want to rule mutants?"

"Do you think he will..."

"When the time comes, find two people to disguise themselves as having out-of-control abilities and make a big scene. Once he discovers his plan has succeeded, he is very likely to connect to my brainwaves again."

"For what?"

"Of course, to mock me." Professor X's tone carried a contemptuous smile, and he said: "He has never gained any advantage in the hands of the two of us. Now that he finally has the upper hand, he will definitely use all his mocking skills, and then fiercely threaten me, thinking that I will definitely do things for him out of fear."

"Hmph." Magneto let out a cold snort and spat out a word: "Utterly stupid."