Galactic Star Calendar, year 3037, the middle of April.
With the Machine Race's utter departure, nothing of any disorder happened within the universe at first.
But certain threats had already begun, without sound or sign.
Within the core of one of the two hive-race nests.
None, one imagines, would have thought that in such a place, full of bugs.
One might see several interstellar warships.
And these warships were each of a different fashion; they did not look to have come from one place.
Shuttle after shuttle came down upon a flesh-colored platform within the hive-race nest.
The hatches opened, and people came down in exoskeletal single-soldier armor, with thin helms upon their heads besides, so that their breathing might be assured.
And so that they could not see one another's faces.
One of those in the single-soldier exoskeleton set foot upon the soft ground and checked a moment, as though the feel of it disgusted him.
He looked round at the others coming down from the shuttles.
He seemed to be weighing who these people might be.
Though all of them were covered, with some the covering was as good as nothing.
A giant a full three meters high, for instance: helmed and in plain exoskeletal armor though he was, the very particular build of his body made his identity easy enough to guess.
He came from the place of a race called the one-eyed giant-folk; he was an interstellar pirate king, driven out by his own race.
Killing and seizing.
In the universe of former days he had been active along the border of the Starlight Empire and the Holy Radiance Empire, and was a byword for infamy in the star regions besides.
But after the three great empires came under the Owl Dragon's control, this one-eyed giant interstellar pirate king had vanished with his fleet.
And never appeared again.
Rumor outside had it that either they had been destroyed by Owl Dragon fleets in some action, or they had been buried in some dangerous quarter of the universe.
None would have thought they would appear here.
Besides him, others could be made out as well.
Three-eyed demons, man-eating trolls…
Nearly all of them were bywords for infamy.
Very soon the whole company was gathered in a place like a palace.
These several dozen stood in the middle of the palace, looking at a great wall of flesh opposite.
The great wall of flesh began to writhe without cease.
And at the last a hideous face appeared upon it.
It was a face after the manner of an insect, but with a great many tentacles wreathed about it, giving one a feeling that made the flesh creep.
"Welcome, our faithful. Let me see which little darling has not come." A grating voice sounded.
Not a few of them shuddered; not that the voice was so terrible, but that it seemed to come out of their own heads.
"Three disobedient little children have not come. The Great Existence does not love disobedient little children. What punishment, then, shall we give these disobedient little children?" The hideous face wore a savage smile.
Out of its mouth came three balls of flesh.
Within the balls could be seen three hearts, each of a different shape.
Seeing this, everyone present, helmed and masked though they were, was ill at ease within; for they had thought of something.
"Once, when you stood in your greatest danger. I gave you my help. You all declared yourselves willing to join the Great Existence, and as the seal of the covenant. You gave up your hearts, and you received the starship technology the Great Existence bestowed. Which let you escape those disasters, and survive within this universe until now. And you promised that when the Great Existence summoned you. You would without a backward look offer up everything for the Great Existence! All of you present are obedient children. As for those bad children who have not come, they shall pay the price of their betrayal of the Great Existence."
So saying, bugs beyond number welled up round about and fell upon the hearts wrapped in flesh, and devoured those hearts utterly,
until at the last not the least part was left.
None present said a word; they knew well enough what those hearts stood for. For if the breast of every one of them here were opened.
It would be found that there was a hollow there, and within the hollow no heart, but a certain beating bug.
That was the price they had paid in their bargain with this existence.
"There. The bad children are dealt with. Now we should speak of our business. Only…" The hideous face looked round the whole palace, and said with some displeasure: "You are all of you the Great Existence's children. There is no need to go hiding and covering here. There is air enough here for you to live in, and an environment besides. So."
The hideous face roared all of a sudden: "Take off those cursed masks of yours!"
This sudden roar startled them all.
But very soon someone took off his mask, and sure enough they could breathe and live here freely.
Certain others, after some hesitation, took theirs off as well.
A light touch of the finger upon the neck, and the helm that covered the head drew back of itself, laying bare the true face beneath.
Black fur, and ears.
This was one of the beast-folk!
Had Charlotte and the rest been here, they would certainly have known this beast-woman.
The former princess of the Black Wolf tribe, called besides the Black Wolf Princess.
Ever since the Warhammer came under the control of the Owl Dragon that followed, and part of the Black Wolf tribe chose to surrender.
The Black Wolf Princess had vanished without trace, taking the remnant of her people with her.
Even Blanche, who held power in the Warhammer afterward, tried to find this Black Wolf Princess and got no clue at all.
Nearly everyone held that the former Black Wolf Princess had perhaps perished in that Warhammer campaign.
None would have thought she would appear here!
The Black Wolf Princess's face was cold and dark; her eyes began to move over those about her.
Besides those she had broadly guessed already, she saw certain others past all expectation.
Such as the Judgment Angel Queen, who by rumor had betrayed the Angel Race and joined the Demon King's faction!
And the Black Angel Marshal, who had been one of the Demon legions' marshals under the Demon King!
That hideous face now wore a smile, though to them all that smile looked exceedingly savage.
But the voice was a good deal gentler.
"This is very well. You are all followers of the Great Existence, and should naturally not cover your faces. Before, the case constrained you; now the Great Existence's power is about truly to seep through this universe. You may all stand again in the light, and with the power the Great Existence has bestowed upon you, go and take vengeance upon those enemies who brought disaster upon you!"
Hearing this, some present were glad and some were troubled.
The one-eyed giant asked aloud: "Then what are we to do?"
"That is a very good question. I need you to carry certain things back to the homes you once knew best. And cast these things into the nearest fixed star. Your task is then done, and you may go to meet the descent of the Great Existence! The Great Existence will see what you have given, and will reward you!" The hideous face's voice began to grow somewhat frenzied.
It sounded like the voice of a madman.
"What is it that we cast into the star?" The Black Wolf Princess could not keep from asking.
"That is not a question you should ask. Go and do what you should do, and you will have all that is your due." The hideous face cried it aloud.
"Go. Go and cast down the seeds of faith throughout this universe, for the descent of the Great Existence! The whole universe shall meet a new age. A beautiful age!"
At the last, those present began to turn and leave.
The Black Wolf Princess quietly followed the Judgment Angel Queen.
"Why do you follow me?" The Judgment Angel Queen turned her head and looked at the Black Wolf Princess behind her.
The Black Wolf Princess stared at the Judgment Angel Queen's face.
That face looked as though some corroding liquid had touched it; it was exceedingly hideous.
Had the Angel Race's form not been so plain to see.
She truly could not have believed that this person before her was an Angel Queen of the Angel Race, famed for the beauty of their forms!
"What made your face so? I heard once that the present Judgment Angel Queen was a cold and haughty beauty." The Black Wolf Princess stared at her as she said it.
The next second a sharp sword lay across her neck.
"I do not like others speaking of my looks. If there is a next time. Wherever it may be, I will make you pay for it!" the Judgment Angel Queen said coldly.
The Black Wolf Princess felt that there was indeed a terrible killing intent about her.
Anywhere else but here,
this woman would certainly have struck her head off without mercy.
"Very well, very well. I beg pardon for my discourtesy just now. Let us speak of business. What do you make of this task?" The Black Wolf Princess, heedless of the sword at her nose,[1] stepped forward and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.
The Judgment Angel Queen drew her sword back as well; she had no wish to stir up trouble here.
Her cold eyes stared at the other: "Since I chose in those days to join the Great Existence. Then I am willing to do anything whatever for the Great Existence. What? Do you mean to question the Great Existence?"
Here was another zealot of the faith.
"No. I was only curious." The Black Wolf Princess had guessed what she wished to know, and wasted no more words upon her.
She took her leave with a smile and a greeting.
Then took her shuttle back to her own starship.
Having returned to her ship,
she gave the bridge orders outright to sail away.
And she herself went back to the captain's quarters.
She took off her outer coat and looked in the mirror at her own hideous breast.
There could be seen a thing like a maggot, beating there, and often writhing besides.
That was the price such as they had paid.
She loathed the thing exceedingly.
But in the case she had then stood in, only by accepting that bargain could she live, and have any hope of vengeance, of winning back all that was hers.
And this Great Existence could serve besides as a springboard for her own use.
And it had gone as she reckoned before.
From this mysterious Great Existence she had got a great many technologies she could hardly have imagined.
She even held T6-grade interstellar warship technology; it was only a pity she had no industrial planet or equipment to produce it in quantity.
Yet by certain of the advanced technologies she had from above, her people had survived.
But now, the task the Great Existence had charged them with.
That left her uneasy.
She walked out of the captain's quarters and came to a secret compartment of the ship, which was also a compartment for storing munitions.
Here she saw a vast bug's egg, beating there without cease as a heart beats.
The sound of the beating could even be heard.
That sound left her ill at ease.
She had never forgotten her purpose: she was for vengeance, and she meant only to borrow the Great Existence's power.
But the other had commanded her to cast this thing into the fixed star of her own home system.
She feared it was some evil thing.
She had never once thought of destroying her own homeland, nor even the homelands of other beast-folk.
She might enslave them, she might conquer them.
All that belonged to the beast-folk's own internal struggles.
But to destroy a whole star system was a thing she could by no means accept.
After pacing here to and fro a long while,
she went back to her captain's quarters, and secretly summoned several people.
"Your Highness!" These several were the Black Wolf Princess's most absolute loyalists.
"I would send you to carry out a task. I shall arrange some small interstellar warships for you afterward; you are to follow those warships that came out with us just now. Follow them all the way. When they have returned to their several star systems, they will cast down some thing or other. You are to observe carefully what happens after that thing is cast down. Whatever happens, tell me immediately!" the Black Wolf Princess said, her face grave.
"Aye!"
These loyal subordinates set out to carry the task through.
But within herself the Black Wolf Princess was uneasy still; she was torn, and did not know what choice to make.
Time passed, little by little.
The Black Wolf Princess's fleet, after concealing itself entire and making several mass spatial jumps,
came back again to its own homeland: the Warhammer!
Hidden within the dark, the Black Wolf Princess looked upon all that was familiar before her.
The familiar star system, the familiar planets, the familiar fixed star.
Set against before, the one difference was the flourishing of this place.
Set against the days when the Black Wolf tribe ruled it, this place was now the more prosperous.
She even saw interstellar warships bearing the old Black Wolf tribe's crest sailing freely.
It was past all believing.
She had heard, it is true, that after the Owl Dragon took control of the Warhammer it had not called to account all those beast-folk races that had once stood against it.
But she had not thought these beast-folk races could actually be given important employment.
After hesitating several times,
she used her handheld terminal, shut off so long, and made contact with the one person still living to whom she was closest.
A sister of her mother's, who, having no children, had from her earliest years looked upon her as her own child.
And she held this mother in great respect.
The request for communication went out.
Time passed little by little, and the Black Wolf Princess felt a nervousness such as she had never known.
Nearly a minute went by.
The video picture appeared at last.
Opposite was that familiar image.