Chapter 49: About Two Thousand Mighty Men Bursting Out of Subspace

The Empire's Dark Side, a Forge World.

The steel that covers the entire planet fuses all continents into a single whole.

A massive circular furnace spanning half the planet, its orange‑red molten iron visible clearly even from space.

Countless aircraft form hundreds of near‑orbital rings encircling the whole world, and the deep space is dotted with forging star ports of all sizes.

New merchant ships continuously depart the shipyard, eventually joining the bustling trade route that links this place with the Empire.

Beside the trade route lies an even larger naval port, where a new Sword‑class escort ship can be seen slowly sailing into deep space under the Mechanical Church's grand ceremony.

As the most important production base in the entire sector, this place also gathers numerous vessels of the Imperial Navy and the Mechanical Church fleet.

The only major difference from other Forge Worlds is the garrison fleet here, exaggeratedly numerous!

Even the surface is dotted with countless massive fortresses amid endless factories, and within those forts are innumerable Guardian Sect Army troops, Star Realm Army forces, and even Asitat Zhantuan!

At this moment, beside a colossal anti‑orbit cannon that rises like a mountain range.

Looking upward along the cannon, one can see the towering structures comparable to the cannon, both resembling toys; the ships transmitting messages around the Star Language Court are already busy weaving a vast net.

The Star Realm Army members lifted their heads for a glance, boredly withdrew their gaze, and prepared to continue dealing with the unbearably terrible Mechanical Church synthetic rations before them.

In the Star Domain Court, numerous clerks clad in long robes, their faces completely hidden in the shadows of the robes, are continuously recording the interstellar communications received by the Star Language Court.

The Star Language Court is the Empire's institution for galactic communications, its main principle relying on psychics constantly transmitting various "images", completing information exchange through prophetic interpretation.

Or it can be crudely understood as…

"Dream‑towing"!

At this moment, in this heavily fortified Forge World, amid the continuous rustle of parchment as clerks' pens swiftly scrape, countless distress calls and alerts from the entire surrounding sector arise!

Even within these pleas for aid are flooded with massive despair, even collapse, full of resentment and curses.

But faced with these Empire worlds' pleas, the Star Language Court merely records in silence; the only response to these worlds is the unreturnable rustle of the pen.

Another cart piled with parchment is pushed out by two servomechs; these dense, desperate pleas are compiled by a Mechanical Monk into a volume, then tossed into a machine and casually destroyed.

Then the Mechanical Monk places the data onto a conveyor belt, watching the roll of paper bearing cold numbers being sent upward.

The data circles around and finally lands in a splendid, spacious Great Hall.

A Zhongsi Storm Soldier attached to the Judgment Court glances, too lazy to open it, and casually tosses it into a nearby gold‑crafted trash can.

Further ahead of the Zhongsi Storm Soldier, two Judges clad in Refined Power Armor hold golden cutlery, elegantly serving fresh steak.

While outsiders need only a glance to see alien or heretical creations that would be exterminated en masse by Nest Area units, these two are laden with them.

One of the Judges even has at his waist a weapon strikingly similar to the skull‑sword wielded by the Subspace blood‑letting vampire.

The others in the Great Hall dare not voice any opinion on this.

After all, as core members of the Judgment Court who can, with a single stroke, launch an entire Asitat Zhantuan on a penitential expedition, they possess absolute knowledge—and even control—over all Imperial information!

Only unlike the usual relaxed faces, this time at the massive, ornate long table, whether the Mechanical Governor, the Star Realm Army general, or even the Asitat Zhantuan commander, all fall silent along with the Judges.

The entire splendid Great Hall is filled only with the scraping sound of knives and forks across a prized porcelain from an eastern nation of Gu Terra.

Until a massive figure, with only a sliver of human skin left on its cheek, making it impossible to imagine as human, the Mechanical Governor, with his mechanical monotone Electronic Voice, slowly speaks:

"This is a prophecy spanning the galaxy; whatever the Judgment Court learns, it should be shared given the current situation."

The Mechanical Governor speaks, and the Star Realm Army general and the Asitat Zhantuan commander immediately look on.

Only the two Judges opposite do not answer immediately; instead they leisurely finish the sauce‑drenched steak before them, then raise their wine glasses and slowly take a sip.

Then the two exchange a glance; facing the leaders of this Forge World beneath their feet, still the heretical Judges specializing in Subspace, they, while wiping their hands, lazily speak without looking up:

"This prophecy offers no help or even impact on the dilemma we face."

"Probably on another battlefield of the Dark Side, a group of mortals faced the evil spirits in Subspace with flesh for two months."

"And in the end received… uh… the Divine Emperor's Blessing."

The final sentence pauses slightly, for thinking of the Divine Emperor and Terror bestowing Blessing on the same target, such words could not be uttered by any Judge.

Moreover, although the general situation was described, regarding the myriad fragmented details the Judgment Court scrambles to collect, even this heretical Judge is internally shocked by these mysterious mortals and dares not convey them to the Empire's absolute higher authorities.

Although the Empire relies entirely on 'Dream‑towing' for interstellar communications, and this is the Empire's Dark Side that has lost the Star Torch's guidance, the people here truly cannot obtain more information about Xisi.

Yet even scattered intel could overturn the entire sector's, even the whole Empire's, perception.

What is the Judgment Court's internal catchphrase?

In summary, this prophecy is merely the story of two thousand strong men bursting out of Subspace.

Only it's unclear whether the Divine Emperor intentionally protected them or something else; even with all the Judgment Court's methods, they cannot determine where the Divine Emperor sent these strong men and their exaggerated superiors.

They can only, at the end, dispatch intelligence to all Judges, urging them to monitor any strange mortals within their jurisdictions as much as possible.

But faced with this request, the Judges, besides being horrified by the terrifying news, also mutter curses about the odd demand.

It's not that strange mortals are hard to find; in the Human Empire where the mortal population is already incalculable, grabbing any strange mortal could yield hundreds of billions.

The earlier Mechanical Governor, the Star Realm Army general, and the Asitat Zhantuan commander were all stunned by the Judges' news, which was even more terrifying than the enemies they painstakingly guarded against, now emerging from within.

After dealing with these other 'colleagues' they had to cooperate with, the two Judges were about to rise and depart, when a Zhongsi Storm Soldier handed over a report.

Seeing it was again internal news, the Judge frowned:

"Didn't you say you didn't need to send it to me?"

The Zhongsi Storm Soldier respectfully presented the report:

"It's not a distress call; a Sword‑class escort ship of the Empire left Subspace and crashed onto Oumia No. 3 satellite."

Hearing it was from an outsider, the Judge finally took time to pick up the report.

A quick scan confirms it's merely a perfectly normal Sword‑class escort ship, bearing a standard Imperial Navy designation, so he casually tosses it into the trash can.

"Warship?"

"Around here, warships fall daily in droves!"

"Rather than waste time sending scouts, we should think about those fierce men in the prophecy."

"Where will this be…"