Nine months.
It had been nine months since Morningstar personally took command of the front lines.
During this period, Morningstar had exhausted every possible tactic.
She waged guerrilla warfare, conducted sudden raids, and even occupied several city-states, but the opponent simply pulled their head in like a turtle and turned a deaf ear.
Morningstar even intentionally or unintentionally showed herself several times, but the opponent didn’t take the bait; they were simply stalling.
Morningstar understood now.
Nathanduum’s mind-control device was definitely in the core area of his territory, and he was waiting for her to walk into it.
As long as she didn’t go, he would keep stalling.
Frustrating, it was far too frustrating.
Morningstar pondered.
A frontal assault was out of the question as the losses would be too great.
A decapitation strike was also unfeasible; given the enemy’s intelligence capabilities, it would be nothing more than a suicide mission.
“Ushotan, send a telegram to Nathanduum.
Tell him I enjoyed our last meeting very much and have prepared a return banquet, inviting him to attend.
In ten Terra days, the location will be at a city-state three hundred kilometers west of the Pan-Pacific Empire’s capital.”
“Your Highness, are we going to…” Ushotan said while making a throat-slitting gesture.
“It’s a secret.” Morningstar blinked and picked up a book from the table to begin reading.
“Your Highness, the other party has replied.
He says he will attend the banquet on time that day.”
Morningstar smiled: “Alright, find a few great chefs and entertain our guest well.
We mustn’t lose face.”
Morningstar understood something; a plan had become clear.
When both sides knew each other’s secrets, one could only play an open game.
If the opponent could set a trap for her, she could set a trap for him…
“Ah, Mr.
Nathanduum is here.”
Morningstar came forward with a smile.
Ushotan had never seen the terror contained within this smile.
The aura bursting from the Primarch made this smile seem like the Grim Reaper knocking on the door.
Nathanduum was also smiling, or rather, Morningstar had never seen him without a smile.
“Your Highness has caused me quite a bit of trouble lately.
I had to work very hard to squeeze out time to see you.”
As he spoke, he naturally pulled out a chair and began to feast as if he were the master of the house.
The city-state where Morningstar and the others were located had been occupied by the Thunder Warriors’ Fourth Legion three months ago and had been serving as Morningstar’s command post ever since.
At this moment, about five hundred Thunder Warriors were stationed inside the building at the center of the city-state.
Ushotan gave Morningstar a look.
At least fifty thousand Men of Iron were lying in ambush nearby, hidden by optical cloaking across the entire twenty-kilometer area.
“Your Highness, today’s meeting was indeed beyond my expectations.
To be honest, you are being a bit impatient,” Nathanduum said as he took out a tissue and elegantly wiped the corners of his mouth.
“You really are always so confident.” Morningstar sat opposite him, staring into his eyes.
“Because I indeed have the ability to be confident.” Nathanduum shrugged.
“No, you don’t.” Morningstar’s voice suddenly rose.
“Last time we met, you said only you had the ability to save humanity.
Now I can tell you: you can’t do it.
You will never be able to do it.
My father once went to another country unarmed for peace talks just to strive for a chance at peace.
Tell me, Nathanduum, do you dare?
You don’t.
Just now, my subordinates told me there are fifty thousand Men of Iron lying in ambush.
Is it really only fifty thousand?
You say you understand the Warp and Perpetuals.
Then tell me, Nathanduum, are you really not afraid of my father?
No, you are afraid.
You’re scared to death.
Otherwise, you would have continued to stall with me.
Why risk meeting me today?”
Morningstar’s invitation to Nathanduum was only a test, and the result of the test was that Nathanduum feared the Emperor.
Nathanduum was wearing down Morningstar’s patience, but wasn’t he also wearing down the Emperor’s?
Once the Emperor’s patience ran out, he would personally strike to flatten the Pan-Pacific Empire.
If Nathanduum truly didn’t fear the Emperor, he could have continued to hide like a turtle, but he came.
Morningstar’s invitation had also given him an opportunity—an opportunity to get close to Morningstar again, to get his hands on her before the Emperor acted.
Nathanduum stopped smiling.
He stared coldly into Morningstar’s eyes like a cold-blooded snake.
Morningstar continued, “I guess you still have a ring on you.
You want to use sweet words to give the ring away again, and then have your Men of Iron attack.
In a crisis, I would risk putting on the ring you gave me, and then you could naturally brainwash me?”
“Your Highness, you are indeed very clever.” Nathanduum spoke coldly.
What Morningstar said was indeed correct; his plan for today was exactly that, and he indeed feared the Emperor.
Although he did have the means to kill a Perpetual, they wouldn’t just stand there and let him kill them.
Nathanduum was a smart man; he wouldn’t gamble with his own life.
His plan today was indeed to have Morningstar wear his specially made ring, brainwash her, and then immediately flee Terra.
But it seemed his plan had already been completely exposed.
“But Your Highness, you seem to have misunderstood something.” Nathanduum smiled again.
“Strategies must also be built on strength.
I could just launch an attack directly, knock you unconscious, and take you back to be thoroughly brainwashed.
Why go through such a long way around?”
As he spoke, Nathanduum walked to Morningstar’s side and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Your Highness’s army is surrounding us from all directions, isn’t it?
To catch the thief, first catch the king.
It’s a good plan.
But Your Highness, do you think they can defeat my army?”
Morningstar was right.
The Men of Iron that followed him today were far more than fifty thousand; there were three hundred thousand.
They were lying in ambush nearby, waiting for their master’s command to tear all enemies apart like tigers released from a cage.
Morningstar slapped Nathanduum’s hand away.
“To catch the thief, first catch the king.
How profound.
So, Mr.
Nathanduum, do you think you are the ‘thief’ or the ‘king’?”
Nathanduum suddenly felt something and looked behind him in shock.
That was the east, the direction he had come from, the capital of his empire.
Morningstar stood up and drew the two longswords at her waist.
“Then, I shall begin ‘capturing the thief’.”
This was a base-trading tactic—using Morningstar herself to trade for the capital of the Pan-Pacific Empire.
All the institutional foundations of the Pan-Pacific Empire were built on Nathanduum’s brainwashing of all his people.
It could be said that the brainwashing device was the center of the Pan-Pacific Empire, and the hub of that device was definitely in the capital.
At this moment, the armies that had been conducting guerrilla warfare all over the Pan-Pacific Empire were advancing toward the capital.
For the sake of secrecy, Morningstar hadn’t even issued the order herself but had the Emperor convey it on her behalf.
More than half of Nathanduum’s army of Men of Iron was currently three hundred kilometers away from the capital.
This was the moment when the capital’s defenses were at their weakest.
Morningstar’s only order was to destroy that brainwashing device at all costs and in the shortest time possible.
And the most difficult part of this plan was that at this moment, Morningstar and the five hundred Thunder Warriors had to face the angry army of three hundred thousand Men of Iron alone.
But Morningstar was smiling, Ushotan was smiling, and all the Thunder Warriors were smiling.
They aimed their muzzles at Nathanduum and at the enemies surging forward like a tide.
They were shouting: “Unification!
Unification!
Unification!”