Chapter 998: Prophecy

On the Dark Side of the Moon, after sending off the uninvited guest, Starscream was unceremoniously "invited" by Blitzwing to Megatron.

"I heard Lockdown has arrived?"

Still in that same Incubation Room, Megatron's only remaining head sat within the Life Support Device, his cold gaze falling upon Starscream as he asked quite bluntly.

"Yes, my liege!"

Starscream bowed respectfully to the side, as if he were his most devout slave.

Unfortunately, this display could not deceive Megatron at all.

"Hmph, put away that disgusting act of yours."

Regarding this superficial show of respect from Starscream, Megatron now found it truly nauseating.

Even though Starscream's current "respect" was something he had personally trained him to show.

And for a very long time, Megatron had actually enjoyed this superficial flattery from Starscream.

With his wicked personality, what he had enjoyed most back then was watching day after day as Starscream, despite being clearly dissatisfied and even wishing he could kill him immediately, was forced to kneel and flatter him in that awkward manner.

It was just that, as satisfying as it was back then, it was just as unbearable for Megatron now.

For no other reason than that Megatron had been under Starscream's thumb for over a year now.

Although through a faked-death tactic, Megatron had successfully used the Autobots to trap and kill that "mentor" who had treated him like a doll to be manipulated at will—The Fallen.

But now, he was still suffering because of that faked-death tactic, a desperate gamble.

Everything, everything stemmed from a prophecy.

A prophecy concerning The Fallen!

As one of the thirteen original ancestors of Cybertron, The Fallen's betrayal of his brothers and sisters in the past had led to the tragic deaths of his lover and many of his brothers.

Because of this past, after his fall, The Fallen began to fear the revenge of the thirteen ancestors immensely, especially worrying about Alpha Trion, one of his former brothers, who had made a prophecy about him.

"You shall surely die at the hands of a descendant."

This descendant likely referred to the Cybertronians.

More accurately, it was the Prime Dynasty among the Cybertronians.

In the ancient legends of the Primus Clan, they were the very first living beings created by the thirteen ancestors, the descendants of the ancestor Prima.

The Fallen was cruel and bloodthirsty, but he also feared death.

The reason he had chosen and begun to groom Megatron back then was because he had seen Sentinel Prime upon returning to the planet Cybertron.

In that Prime, The Fallen had seen a familiar shadow.

Having been hunted by the remaining thirteen ancestors at the time and left with wounds that were difficult to heal, The Fallen, under the shadow of Alpha Trion's prophecy, did not even have the courage to face Sentinel Prime, who was at his peak at the time, in person.

So he chose Megatron, using the most brutal training methods to cultivate him into a powerful Warrior.

And for his student, The Fallen left only one command.

"Kill Sentinel Prime, destroy him and the Prime Dynasty!"

It could be said that it was precisely because of this command from The Fallen that the later Megatron and the Cybertronian Civil War came to be, and it also created many of the tragedies of today!

Out of wariness toward The Fallen, for a very long time, Megatron had been forced to follow the trajectory of fate designed for him, diligently completing the Task given to him by The Fallen.

Countless years later, when Megatron, having won the civil war, thought that The Fallen, who had not appeared for a long time, had long since died in the pursuit of the other ancestors.

He had come to a life-bearing planet called Earth in a corner of the universe while tracing the footsteps of the long-lost Cybertronian Relics, the AllSpark.

And when he found the AllSpark, he also discovered that someone had left a coordinate within the AllSpark, pointing directly to a location on the Moon.

Curiously following that coordinate to the destination, this tyrant, who was at the height of his arrogance, discovered with horror that his teacher who had disappeared for millions of years—The Fallen—was sleeping quietly there.

In an instant, Megatron understood many things.

He also realized that he, who had thought he had achieved victory, was still proceeding according to the fate designed for him by The Fallen.

He was still a toy in the hands of his teacher, The Fallen.

Anger and resentment ultimately led Megatron to choose to take a desperate risk.

He told part of his plan to his confidants Soundwave and Shockwave, and then used some means to attract Starscream and Sentinel Prime, who already harbored malice toward him.

Because Megatron knew that whether it was Starscream or Sentinel Prime, if given the chance, they would certainly not pass up the opportunity to kill him.

So before the plan began, Megatron left himself several contingencies: his loyal confidants Soundwave and Shockwave, and Barricade, who wavered back and forth between Starscream and himself.

Soundwave and Shockwave did not know Megatron's entire plan, but he had revealed everything they needed to know before the plan.

As for Barricade, he was indeed quite convinced by some of Starscream's philosophies, but Megatron knew even better that the other party was convinced by absolute power; that double agent was still very useful to Megatron.

According to Megatron's plan from a hundred years ago, his teacher The Fallen would be accidentally awakened by Starscream or Sentinel Prime, whom he had deliberately lured over, after the Autobots arrived on Earth.

And after The Fallen woke up, he himself would still be in a state of faked death from severe injuries, and even if he were accidentally awakened early, he would not have the strength to participate in the struggle between The Fallen and the Autobots.

Just as his teacher understood him immensely, Megatron also understood his teacher very well.

The battles with the other ancestors in the past had caused The Fallen to suffer wounds that were difficult to heal.

The Fallen feared the prophecy and therefore was unwilling to fight Sentinel Prime.

And he, Megatron, was determined to create this opportunity for his former teacher, forcing him to face Sentinel Prime.

Originally in his plan, one of either The Fallen or Sentinel Prime was supposed to die at the hands of the other.

And the other, having been severely wounded, would then die at his own hands.

It was just that even he himself had not expected that the final outcome would be that all three, including himself, would fall at the hands of the Autobots' new Leader, Optimus Prime.

The Fallen and Sentinel Prime died, and even Megatron himself was left with only a head.

And the contingencies he had prepared in advance also had problems of their own.

Soundwave, his confidant who was supposed to protect him during his faked death, ended up dying tragically at the hands of his former subordinate Frenzy due to Starscream's instigation.

Shockwave, who should have already arrived on Earth, had to delay his arrival because he discovered a colonization fleet of the Quintessons in the universe.

And the two waves of subordinates sent by Shockwave to guard him in advance, the Triple Changer Astrotrain, also died at the hands of Frenzy; although Blitzwing did not die, he was no match for Starscream.

In the end, despite all his calculations, Megatron had not expected that it would all be for nothing.

He was now humiliated to have fallen into the hands of Starscream, forced to let him manipulate him at will.