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nThe small battle that took place right outside of the wormhole soon exploded into a full fledged intergalactic war, a blaze formed by an uncountable number of sparks of light created by the fighters of the two civilizations, and fueled by the reinforcements that came from both sides of the conflict.

nOn the human side, massive spatial formations were used to forcibly open a significant amount of different-looking portals. From these portals, millions of cultivators charged in like a swarm of wasps, ready to give their lives against a power of which, even now, they knew close to nothing about. At the same time, on the other side of the battle, hundreds of warships invaded the space by stepping through the newly opened wormhole. They would then release hundreds of thousands of soldiers who, clad in their spatial suits, and confident in their speed, were ready to join the fray.

nThe more time passed, the more vast the conflict became, until finally, after a few hours worth of death and destruction, some sort of balance started to form.

nWhile higher in numbers, the high immortals of the universal government could not compete with the speed of the alien warriors, but to make up for that, were the more peculiar kinds of cultivators. Amongst them, the corrupted faction, the spiritual faction, the mental factions, and many more. Beings whose main strength wasn't the destructive power of their form of cultivation, but something that went beyond the more basic qualities of a human. Things against which the aliens had no form of preparation.

nThese factions were able to use their powers against the aliens who, aside from their highly effective spatial suits and technological means, were the equivalent of human mortals, and therefore, possessed the same mind, spirit, and body of entities they would otherwise look at, as if looking at nothing.

nOne more thing that was making it possible for the universal government to stand its ground, was the presence of the children of Iewah, who one by one, would appear from out of nowhere, hidden amongst the reinforcements.

nUsually Iewah's children would not bother with the war of cultivators, and would instead spend their time preparing, or actively seeking to battle one of their siblings, but this was an exception. The scale of this battle was beyond anything that had ever been seen by humanity, and therefore, they could not miss it. With the power of their systems, and at times accompanied by their armies, they began their onslaught.

nWhat followed were twenty-four hours of essences of different nature being released within the surrounding space. Powers that before long would merge together, and form a patch of indistinguishable mana that was stirred together by the quick motion of the now tens of millions of warriors.

nAfter so much time spent fighting, the essence within the bodies of the cultivators started to run thin, just like the grey matter that fueled the aliens's ships and suits, forcing the two factions to slow their aggressive behaviour, and create rounds of fighting, and rest.

nThe worst aspect of this war, was not knowing exactly how big the enemy's army truly was. In fact, while the objective of both civilizations was the supremacy over the other, neither of the two groups were aware of how many warriors the other possessed, or for how long they could go on fighting like this. This lack of knowledge had turned this misunderstanding, into a war of attrition that lasted a whole day, and reaped millions of lives.

nAny attempt at a truce was completely broken by the opposition's argument, as for the universal government the alien were the invasors, while for the intergalactic alliance, the cultivators were the attackers who had infiltrated into their territory, destroyed their property, and killed thousands of their people in the process.

nThis war was entirely caused by Daniel's attempt at correcting the dangerous ways of the alien civilization, but unfortunately, his actions had the opposite result.

nThe mixture of essences was, along with the smaller amounts of spacetime essence produced by the collective consumption of grey matter, a big enough cosmic event to attract the surrounding dimensional destroyers. In fact, these monsters would, while the millions of warriors fought to their death, bask in the thin essence of spacetime contained within the residue of essences.

nThe reason why no one could see these monsters, was because they resided into a different part of space, a place called negative space that superimposed with the stable space. From there, they could reach any form of celestial events of proportions big enough to cause the production of spacetime essence.

nWhat was possibly even worse, was the fact that the cultivators and aliens were fighting for something that, if they didn't stop, would ultimately be destroyed. But instead, they kept receiving reinforcements, and from within their flagships or constructed bases, they allowed for the war to grow bigger and bigger.

n-----

nFive days later.

n

"We could damage one of their flagships. Just enough to allow the Shadow into their barrier, and assassinate whoever is operating those damn cannons. We lose a thousand men whenever they shot.

" Said a large middle-aged man clad in silver armor. A general of the universal government that was not too happy with how the war was going.

nAlong with around a hundred more people that wore similar armors, he stood right in the middle of the room. His back curved over a large round table, and next to nine more people who, just like him, stood around the map, seemingly in possession of a higher ranking.

n

"What is the point? Don't you see their fleet? We have destroyed at least a dozen of their ships, and yet their numbers remain consistent. If we destroy one, another takes its place.

" Said a young looking woman with a lighter version of the man's armor.

n

"Then why don't you give a suggestion?!

"

n

"And miss your worthless propositions? I'll pass.

"

n

"You!..

"

n

"ENOUGH!!

" Shouted a woman that stood in the middle, the only person clad in golden armor, and that nobody dared to bring include into their bickering.

"Do I need to remind you all that these invaders are taking out chunks of our powers?! Are you planning on making things easier for them? If you do, tell me right now so I can kill you myself.

" She said with all the authority that her role brough. She was the commander of the military, the highest person in charge within the government's army, and her position alone was at the same level as the whole senate.

nHer few words were able to quickly calm down the two generals, who looked down apologetically.

"We cannot win like this.. We have to do something.

" She then said before lowering her head and entered a pensive state.

nFor the next few minutes none of those present spoke a word. They were all aware that the reason why she was the commander was not only because of her cultivation past the two hundredth phase of high immortality, but also because of her strategic brilliance.

nThe history of the universal government was littered with military campaigns against factions which, thanks to their mysterious abilities, could pose a threat to the government's survival. However, despite the lack of knowledge on their enemies, the government had never lost. The reason for that was the existence of a specific gift.

nThis gift would appear in those who had a particularly calculative mind, and was referred to as the gift of the strategist.

nEvery single major war in which the universal government had taken part of was won thanks to the presence of a strategist. While not always able to fight in the most advantageous conditions, or against the right type of enemy, the strategist was always able to outsmart the opponent's leader, and find a way to achieve victory. She was the current strategist of the government's military.

nThe expectations for her to formulate a plan were high, and were fulfilled when she suddenly lifted her head up, slowly turned it to her right, allowing her horsetail to slip from over her shoulder to behind her back, and said,

"Go back to the encampment of the mental factions. Find the person in charge of the Masters of Psiche. Tell them that I want one of those soldiers, alive. Assign as many soldiers as necessary.

"

nThe man to whom she was talking to nodded his head in understanding, then disappeared.

nJust like ordered, the general reached the base of the mental factions, and along with a large group of warriors and one of the Masters of Psiche, departed for their hunt. About two hours later, they came back along with one of the alien soldiers, which they immediately brought back to the strategy room.

n

"Can you still control him?

" The commander asked the mental warrior, who looked at her with a pained expression which expressed how much he was struggling to maintain control. The mental warrior nodded weakly in response.

"Very well.

" She said before unsheathing her sword, and cutting both of the alien's legs clean off, causing him to fall like a bag of rocks.

n

"Make him try to escape, but stop before he does.

" She then said to the mental warrior.

nThe mental warrior followed the woman's instruction, and soon after, the warrior activated his suit and tried to disappear. Before he could, he once again lost any form of consciousness, and went back to being a puppet.

nAt first none of the generals could understand what was going on. It was only after the commander cut the alien's right arm off and made the same request, that the others finally realized.

nShe had guessed that the power that was allowing these aliens to compete with them was artificial, and that it had something to do with their suits. As a result of that guess, she started cutting the soldier piece by piece in order to understand from which part of their armor this power was coming from.

nThe soldier was cut to pieces, and after every limb was removed, he would be allowed to regain enough consciousness to escape, only to stop right before doing it. That went on until the commander cut his left arm. Once she did that, after the mental warrior allowed him to try and escape, all the alien could do was to use the muscles of his stomach to try and slither out of the room, showing that he was unable to use his suit anymore, or even move properly.

nAfter seeing what she was hoping to see, the commander finished the soldier, picked the left armor off of the floor, and dismissed the mental warrior. She then turned to look at another general, and said,

"Bring me the old mage.

" The general nodded and left the room. When he came back a few minutes later, he was in the company of the old explorer which had participated in the xeno protocol.

n

"Can you examine this for me?

" She asked, aware that he was amongst the most knowledgeable people on the matter of elemental essences.

nThe old man did not need to approach the commander to feel the materials of which the gauntlet was made of. However, what surprised him, was what he saw inside. The gauntlet contained a small circular tube, and inside it, just as big as the head of a nail, was a small piece of grey liquid. He could also see, based on the direction of the metallic threads connected to this metallic tube, how the small clump of grey liquid could be the very core of the object.

nSomething else that he noticed, was the presence of a small and separate plaque of metal present in the palm of the gauntlet. The internal part, unlike most of the soldier's armor, was connected to the tube through numerous metallic wires.

nAfter a quick explanation which left the majority of the onlookers puzzled, the commander pressed the button on the gauntlet's palm, and after a few moments, the small amount of grey matter started to accelerate into the metallic tube. Once it reached a certain speed, the hair of the commander began to rise, and be pulled in its direction.

n