Chapter 774: The Black Market Battle (Part 1)

That dark, sunless period was a pain that would forever remain in Megatron's heart, one he still could not forget to this day.

As a Leader with a resilient will, Megatron buried this dark past deep within his memories; it was also the reverse scale he least wanted anyone to touch.

The reason Megatron hated his teacher, The Fallen, so intensely—even going so far as to join forces with his enemy, Sentinel Prime, just to kill The Fallen—

was because, during the millions of years he had commanded the Decepticon Legion, he had long ago discovered a pair of hands hidden in the darkness, constantly influencing him and thereby controlling his fate and that of the entire planet Cybertron.

According to his uninterrupted investigation over millions of years, Megatron finally found those hands behind the scenes: it was his teacher, The Fallen.

Whenever he thought about how the shadow of The Fallen appeared behind many of the hardships he had experienced in the past, this hatred continued to stimulate Megatron.

It is easy to imagine the anger and murderous intent in Megatron's heart when, a year ago, while he was hiding on the seabed in feigned death according to his previous agreement with Sentinel Prime, waiting for Sentinel Prime and the Autobots to kill The Fallen, he was spied upon by an inconspicuous Decepticon under his command who discovered his deepest secret.

"Starscream..."

He commanded with a voice that made no attempt to hide his murderous intent: "Send out your soldiers and bring Frenzy's head to me!"

Megatron did not fully believe Starscream's claims; he did not know much about Jetfire, though he had heard Shockwave mention him in the past, considering him half a friend and student.

However, he knew his confidant very well; during the era of the Council of Ancients, Shockwave had once been one of the most famous Scientists and scholars on the planet Cybertron.

At that time, because he was filled with indignation toward the corrupt rule of the nobles, Shockwave repeatedly criticized the Council of Ancients, causing quite a bit of trouble for that group of corrupt nobles.

The Council of Ancients' patience was very limited; after being publicly criticized by Shockwave repeatedly, they first tried to recruit him.

After failing, they flew into a rage and kicked Shockwave out of the Academy of Sciences, and shortly thereafter, they sent troops to forcibly close the 【Zhelasasi Higher Technical Academy】 that Shockwave had established in his teacher's name, under the pretext of illegally spreading dangerous knowledge.

Seeing that Shockwave still would not submit, the Council of Ancients finally ran out of patience; after the Chairman signed a secret draft specifically targeting him, Shockwave was arrested on the charge of "secretly restarting the cruel experiments from the period when the Quintessons colonized Cybertron," and was subsequently sent to Aosigu Prison, which the nobles used specifically for torturing political prisoners.

During his imprisonment in Aosigu Prison, Shockwave was subjected to cruel torture by many Council members whom he had previously criticized by name.

He was subjected to the "Five Tortures," having his hands and legs severed, and even that wise, intelligent, and kind Brain was coldly cut out and placed in a nutrient tank.

The nobles constantly tortured him, using the cruelest methods to try to make him collapse completely, because in the eyes of those corrupt nobles, there was no revenge more satisfying than this complete destruction of an enemy's mind.

And as for the final result, they failed, and they also succeeded.

During those years of imprisonment and torture, Shockwave always maintained his viewpoint: the corruption of the Council of Ancients and the bottomless oppression of the populace by those nobles would eventually lead to them being overthrown by the awakened masses, just as the Quintesson colonizers their ancestors had overthrown.

But the nobles' repeated cruel abuse of Shockwave's body and mind eventually twisted his personality and thoughts.

Shockwave no longer pinned his hopes on using peaceful means to change the corrupt Council of Ancients; he thus transformed from a Scientist and scholar into a Warrior and fanatic who possessed absolute rationality and fought for his firm beliefs.

After suffering more than two years of torture while imprisoned in Aosigu Prison, and facing the protest and parades launched by Cybertron's academic and scientific circles to rescue Shockwave,

the Council of Ancients finally made a compromise; they truly had no way to execute Shockwave, this renowned scholar and Scientist of Cybertron, as casually as they would a slave.

After being released from prison, the drastically changed Shockwave never again mentioned opposing the Council of Ancients, causing some friends and students who had originally admired and trusted him deeply to distance themselves from him in disappointment.

It was at that time that Jetfire chose to leave Cybertron; unable to see any hope for the future of this planet, he embarked on a journey to find the unknown.

But what he did not know was that the Shockwave of that time had already begun to make contact with Megatron—who, under the support of Sentinel Prime, had been promoted from a lowly gladiator slave to a soldier and was ambitiously preparing to seize military and political power on Cybertron—and they eventually recognized and supported each other, leading the Decepticon Legion to where it was today.

Therefore, although Starscream mentioned Jetfire, Megatron, who did not yet know if it was true or false, was not prepared to take action against him for the time being, out of respect for Shockwave, who had been loyal to him for millions of years.

As for Onslaught, Megatron simply did not believe this guy had the guts to rebel against him.

This Commander of the Combaticons under the Decepticon Legion could also be considered an elder in the Decepticon faction.

It was a pity that the guy was a perfectionist who advocated for intellectual competition and tactical planning, and was not too keen on combat.

If Onslaught could be like Shockwave, he wouldn't even need to be proficient in scientific research; as long as he could focus on commanding from his post, Megatron wouldn't mind giving him more power and trust.

It just so happened that the guy's personality had serious flaws; he was overly arrogant and would often fall into a state of anger, rage, or even depression because of the failure of the military operations he commanded.

At the beginning of the formation of the Decepticon Legion, the Combaticons were once one of the main combat forces under Megatron.

But under Onslaught's command, their presence became lower and lower, until after the Replica Legion and the Giant Combiner appeared, the Combaticons had completely lost their status in the Decepticon Legion.

Onslaught might dare to harbor anger and hostility toward Megatron behind his back, but he did not believe this guy dared to openly betray him.

Starscream lowered his head, looking exceptionally respectful.

"My master, everything will be as you wish. However, Frenzy's strength is not bad, and he has several good Warriors under his command; I need a little time to prepare!"

Megatron's voice was full of impatience, "How long will it take?"

"About ten Earth days!"

Although he was not clear about what Starscream was plotting behind his back, Megatron could barely accept this amount of time.

He immediately snorted coldly, "Fine, I will give you this time to prepare. Ten days later, bring Frenzy's head to see me!"

"Yes, master!"

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