Intergalactic conquest with an AI

The ruins of the once-great Holy City were now a battlefield of horrors.

Everywhere, the remnants of the Human Empire's soldiers convulsed, their bodies warping, twisting, breaking apart, and reforming into something monstrous. Their spines cracked and elongated, limbs stretching far too long, jagged bone protrusions bursting through their armor like spears.

Their faces… unrecognizable, twisted into grotesque masks of agony and rage. What were once men had become something else. And they would not die easily.

It took nearly twenty cultists to bring down a single one of these abominations, hacking and blasting away at flesh that refused to stay dead. The air was thick with the stench of burning metal and charred flesh, the screams of the dying mingling with the guttural roars of the void-touched.

But the worst was still to come.

At the center of the battlefield, standing amidst the burning wreckage of temples and towers, stood three towering figures. The other three generals.

Their bodies had undergone the same void-fueled transformation as Jiro, their already formidable strength now beyond human comprehension. Their forms loomed like nightmares given flesh, their presence radiating an overwhelming, malevolent energy that made the air itself feel heavy.

And together, they stood against Paladin Seris.

Her golden armor, though scorched and battered, still gleamed beneath the firelit sky. Her breath came heavy, but her stance never wavered. Her sword, glowing with a golden laser, burned with a light that seemed to push back the encroaching darkness.

Three against one.

"KYAHAHAHA! Is this all the so-called Paladins of the Lady in White can do?! How pathetic!"

The laughter of the void general echoed through the Holy City, sharp and grating, filled with mockery. His distorted form twitched with amusement, his elongated limbs flexing as he took slow, deliberate steps.

"And to think the higher-ups were actually worried about you."

Another of the twisted generals smirked, his clawed fingers trailing lazily along the rubble as he paced in a slow circle around Seris.

"Well, let's give them a little credit. Where else have you seen a mere human wielding a Tier 3 energy source?" His voice was laced with something between curiosity and disdain.

The third general, hunched and seething with raw power, let out a low, gurgling chuckle.

"Hmmm… Aren't they just full of surprises? I never imagined that the weakest, most insignificant race in the galaxy would turn out to be perfect vessels for the void." His grin stretched too wide, too unnatural. "That explains why they're useless for anything else… they were born to serve us! KYAHAHAHA!"

Seris remained silent, her sword raised, her eyes sharp and unyielding. The three abominations continued circling her, their unnatural hunger thick in the air.

And then... they pounced.

Three hulking forms lunged at once, claws like jagged blades tearing toward her.

But Seris was not so easily taken.

Her gift of precognition, though nowhere near as powerful as Lilla's, allowed her to see three seconds into the future, just enough to dodge at the last possible moment, just enough to twist and counter with precision.

One of the creatures let out a snarl as her sword carved through its side, molten-black blood sizzling against the steel. But it wasn't enough.

Their speed was overwhelming. Their strength was far beyond anything she could handle alone, and before she could reposition, a monstrous claw struck her head-on. The force shattered her helmet, fracturing her skull beneath the impact.

Seris was sent flying, slamming into a collapsed wall with a sickening crunch. Dust and debris exploded outward, burying her in a haze of broken stone.

She coughed with her lungs burning in pain. Her bones were broken, her vision swam, but through the haze, she spotted her sword that was just centimeters away.

Her fingers trembled, struggling to reach it.

{Move...}

{Move, damn it....}

But the pain was too much. Even the smallest motion sent white-hot agony through her shattered limbs.

"Fire at those creatures! Save the Paladin!" A sudden hail of laser fire streaked through the air from a squad of crusaders who had seen Seris fall and they did not hesitate to rush to help her.

Their rifles lit up the battlefield, blasts slamming into the void-infested generals. One of them snarled while raising a clawed hand to shield his face from the onslaught.

"Tsk. These damn, annoying husks."

Seris's heart pounded.

{No...no...NO! Stay away, you fools! RUN!}

She tried to warn them, tried to scream, but only a broken whisper escaped her lips. And all she could do was watch.

Watch as her crusaders... her brave, loyal warriors... were cut down in an instant. They fought with everything they had, pouring fire into the creatures, refusing to back down.... but they were not strong enough.

The void generals descended upon them like a storm, ripping through armor and tearing through flesh. One by one, the crusaders fell.

Seris couldn't move... she could only watch.

And as the last of her men let out a final dying scream, her vision blurred with rage.

"Now that the annoying husks are out of the way, we can finally finish what we started."

The void general's voice was thick with hunger, his grotesque form looming over Seris's broken body. His jagged maw unhinged unnaturally with saliva dripping from his elongated fangs as he inched closer and closer to her face.

"A Tier 3 human… it's my first time tasting one so powerful." His breath was rancid, thick with decay. "I wonder how you'll—"

The instant he came close enough, Seris moved.

With a sudden, explosive burst of strength, she snatched her sword and drove it upward, the blade piercing straight through the underside of the creature's jaw and out the top of his skull.

"KYAAAAAAAAA HAAAAA—!!"

His shriek was cut short because something else was already upon him.

A black blur slammed into the void general with the force of a meteor, sending both of them crashing into the rubble. And then the horror began.

The void general thrashed and howled, but the massive, black-furred beast atop him did not let go.

Fangs tore into his throat while his bones snapped.

The Void General's blood sprayed across the burning ruins as the beast ripped and shredded and tore... until nothing remained but a severed head, still twitching in the dirt.

"WHAT!? WHERE THE HELL DID THAT THING COME FROM?!"

The two remaining void generals barely had time to react before they were already lunging at the creature, their massive claws slashing deep into its flesh.
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The black beast didn't even flinch; instead, it fought like a demon with a feral, primal force, all snarls and rage, its silver eyes burning with savage fury.

Seris could do nothing but watch.

The fight was brutal and raw... like watching a massive, wounded wolf take on two monstrous bears.

And despite the deep, gaping wounds being carved into its flesh, the black creature kept going, kept fighting, kept tearing through them with unrelenting force.

Its growls were haunting, deep, and unnatural. The sounds of claws raking against bone, of flesh being ripped apart, of void-tainted blood splattering across the ground... it was like nothing Seris had ever seen.

For the first time since becoming a paladin… she felt fear, and finally, after what felt like an eternity, the last void general fell.

The black beast stood victorious, battered, bloodied, but unbroken.

And then… it turned its gaze to Seris.

Those silver eyes locked onto hers.

Slowly, it limped toward her, its massive form still dripping silver blood, its breath ragged, its black fur shimmering like the void itself.

Seris couldn't move. Her pink eyes widened, her hands clenched into weak fists. The beast crouched down on all fours, bringing its face close to hers.

She could feel its hot breath against her skin.

{This is it…}

Her body tensed. She closed her eyes, accepting what was to come. Any second now, its jaws would close around her throat.

But then—

A warm, rough tongue slid across her cheek.

Her breath hitched.

Again, the creature licked the blood from her face, its massive tongue dragging across her skin in slow, careful strokes. And as it continued…

It began to change; the tongue shrank, the massive, furred body shrank, and the deep snarls softened into something quieter, something… human.

Seris's eyes flew open and what she saw stole the breath from her lungs.

Gone was the towering beast.

In its place was a young boy... no older than fifteen.

His body, though lean and muscular, was human in shape. But his skin—

It was black as the void, yet shimmering like a night sky filled with countless stars. He simply knelt there before her, breathing hard, his silver eyes still locked onto hers.

Seris couldn't comprehend what he wanted.

{What… are you?}

Seris's mind hurted as she stared at the boy before her.

His silver, wolf-like eyes never wavered from hers... unblinking, unreadable, then, to her shock, he answered.

"Not a what… but a who." His voice was soft, yet unnervingly steady. "I'm Lykos."

Her breath hitched.

{You… can read my mind?}

Lykos tilted his head slightly, his long, light green hair slipping over his shoulder like silk.

"Can."

A single word. Simple. Absolute.

Seris's fingers curled weakly against the scorched ground.

{Then… why did you save me?}

For the first time, the boy blinked.

"Mmm?" He made a thoughtful sound, then shook his head. "I saved no one. I'm just waiting for you to die so I can eat you."

Seris froze.

"My mother told me not to kill humans," Lykos continued, his tone disturbingly innocent, as if reciting a childhood lesson. "But she said it's okay to consume them once they're dead."

A smile small, childlike, utterly devoid of malice curved his lips.

Seris let out a weak, shuddering breath.

{Ha… that isn't nice…}

Blood dripped from her lips as she coughed again, her body trembling.

Lykos blinked once. Twice. Then he inched closer, his expression blank.

"Mmm? It isn't?"