Building Interstellar Empire With Universal Synthesis

Chapter 216: Chapter 216: Bestowals

The bloody sky of the Golden Pig Trial World finally began to fracture. The artificial crimson atmosphere shattered like brittle glass, replaced by the cool, calming blue light of the Zenith Empire’s administrative system.

​Down in the muddy, monster infested trenches,

Zenos collapsed onto his knees, his broadsword slipping from his exhausted grip. His Vanguard armor was dented, scorched, and covered in the dark, viscous blood of a dozen different illusionary beasts. His lungs burned, grasping for oxygen, but a triumphant grin stretched across his bruised face.

​[ System Alert: Trial Concluded. ]

[ Surviving Candidates: 90 ]

​A few meters away, the massive veteran beastkin, Theron, planted his heavy battleaxe into the shattered earth.

He had fought continuously for twenty four hours, acting as an unbreakable juggernaut, drawing the aggression of the highest tier guardian bosses so the younger candidates could survive.

Despite his brutal injuries, Theron stood perfectly upright, his scarred chest heaving with pride.

​Descending gracefully from the dissipating toxic mist, Captain Lizi landed softly beside them. Her elven robes were torn, and her mana reserves were completely depleted, yet her eyes shone with an undeniable brilliance.

​They had survived. Out of ten thousand elite hopefuls, they were part of the final ninety.

​High above the shattered battlefields, Emperor Neo waved his hand. The chaotic remnants of the trial world instantly froze. The remaining monsters dissolved into harmless particles of light, and the severe injuries sustained by the surviving candidates began to aggressively heal under a blanket of warm, golden cosmic mana.

​"You have all proven your absolute worth," Neo’s voice echoed from the celestial throne above, "You entered this realm as soldiers and captains. You shall leave it as Kings."

​A massive golden vortex opened beneath the feet of the ninety survivors, teleporting them directly from the ruined trial world back to the grand imperial courtyard of Zenith Prime.

​When Zenos opened his eyes, he was kneeling on the polished obsidian floor of the capital. Beside him, Theron and Lizi were in the exact same position of absolute reverence. Behind them stood millions of Vanguard soldiers, completely silent standing at perfect attention.

​Emperor Neo floated down from his high balcony, his presence radiating the suffocating, divine heat of the newly acquired Solar Saint core. He walked slowly down the line of the ninety chosen candidates. With every step he took, reality itself seemed to bow.

​"Zenos, You commanded a small fleet during the orbital siege, and today you proved you have the tactical mind and the unyielding willpower to command a planet. I hereby grant you the title of World King, sovereign over Noman Prime."

​Zenos felt his heart pound against his ribs. Noman Prime was the absolute center of the newly conquered sector.

"I will not fail you, Your Majesty. My life belongs entirely to the Zenith Empire."

​Neo nodded slightly and moved forward. "Theron. Your strength is a fortress, and your loyalty is unquestionable. You shall rule the heavily fortified forge world of Elen-Tor. I expect its weapon factories to double their production within a standard year."

​"Consider it done, Emperor," Theron rumbled, bowing his head lower.

Neo continued,

​"Lizi, You will take dominion over the shattered magical academies of Veridia. Purge the corrupt aristocrats who linger in the shadows and rebuild the institutions according to my Zenith laws."

​"By your command, Your Majesty," Lizi replied, her voice trembling with absolute devotion.

​Once every single candidate received their planetary assignment, Neo raised both of his hands.

​[ System Notification: Authority Granted. ]

[ 90 World Kings have been tethered to the Zenith Empire. ]

[ Passive Bonus Applied: +5,000 Vitality, +5,000 Strength, +15,000 cosmic Force for all active World Kings. ]

​Zenos gasped as raw, unfiltered power surged through his veins. The fatigue from the trial vanished entirely, replaced by a terrifying density of mana.

This was the absolute privilege of serving a supreme ruler. Neo was not just granting them titles; he was actively mutating their physical and magical indexes to ensure they could enforce his will without fail.

Neo then commanded,

​"Go to your worlds, Cleanse the rot. Break the chains of the remaining slaves. Establish absolute order. The Zenith Empire is expanding, and I will need your planets functioning at maximum efficiency for the war that is rapidly approaching."

​While the Zenith Empire celebrated its massive expansion, a terrifying storm was brewing deep within the sacred boundaries of the Saint Lands of Almoris.

​The Hall of Eternal Radiance, once a sanctuary of perfect silence and worship, was completely locked down. The shattered, gray ashes of the Solar Saint’s life statue remained on the floor, a brutal, undeniable reminder of their greatest failure.

​High Cardinals Ignis, Kaelen, and Valerius stood in a defensive circle around the ashes. They were not speaking. They were violently trembling.

​The heavy bronze doors of the sanctuary did not open. Instead, they melted.

​A figure composed entirely of shifting, blinding white light stepped into the hall.

The entity wore no physical armor, yet its mere presence caused the holy marble pillars of the sanctuary to crack under immense gravitational pressure. This was not a mere Saint. This was an Arbiter of the Watchers, a Type Three divine entity known only as Seraph.

​"Explain this absolute disgrace," Seraph demanded.

The voice did not travel through the air. It manifested directly inside the minds of the three High Cardinals, causing their noses to bleed instantly.

​High Cardinal Ignis dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead against the cracked floor. "Lord Seraph! The Solar Saint was dispatched to the Noman Sector to collect the seasonal slave tithes from Viscount Azekin. His life tether was violently severed just days ago. His soul was completely erased."

​"Erased? A Type Two Saint cannot be erased by backwater warlords. The cosmic index registers a massive anomaly in that sector. An unregistered entity has hijacked the Divine Sun authority."

​"We believe it is the one calling himself the Zenith Emperor. He goes by the name Neo Godson. Our intelligence network confirms he publicly executed Azekin and somehow consumed the Solar Saint during a planetary siege."

​"A mortal consuming a star. This is not a rebellion. This is a cosmic pathogen. If the Outer Rim believes they can slaughter our divinities and steal our authorities, the entire foundational hierarchy of the universe will collapse."

​"We have awakened the dormant Templar fleets, Lord Seraph!" Valerius shouted, eager to prove their competence. "We are preparing to launch a holy crusade into the Noman Sector to vaporize this Zenith Emperor and turn his worlds into glass!"

​"Your Templars are completely useless against a being who can digest a solar core. You will stand down your fleets. I will personally take command of the First Inquisitor Armada. We are not going to wage a conventional war. We are going to initiate a total sector erasure."

​Seraph raised a hand composed of pure light, and a massive holographic map of the Noman Sector appeared in the air.

​"Prepare the Divine Annihilation Cannon on the flagship. We will not give this Emperor Neo Godson a battlefield to display his stolen powers. We will simply erase his central star system while he sleeps."

​Back in the deepest, heavily fortified sanctum of Zenith Prime, Emperor Neo was not sleeping.

​He sat completely alone in the absolute darkness of his private vault. The only source of light came from his own eyes, which burned with the terrifying rings of coronal fire he had stolen from the heavens.

​[ General Index Updated ]

[ Zenith Empire Territories: 139 Worlds ]

[ Total Population: 412 Billion ]

[ Overall Military Readiness: 87% ]

​Neo swiped away the empire management screens. The administrative side of his rule was handled. Zenos, Theron, Lizi, and the other eighty seven kings would crush any internal resistance and optimize the conquered worlds. Now, his only concern was the inevitable retaliation from the heavens.

​He was incredibly greedy, but he was not arrogant. He knew the absolute rules of the cosmos better than anyone. Killing a Type Two Saint was a declaration of total war. The Watchers would not send another lone Saint to negotiate or duel. They would send an overwhelming, apocalyptic force to wipe the Zenith Empire from the galactic map.

​"Let them come," Neo whispered to the silent vault. "I need more materials anyway."

​He activated two of his unique talents simultaneously.

​[ Unique Talent: Godsmith (Legendary) ]

[ Unique Talent: The Art Of Star Creation (Divine) ]

​The dark space around him instantly transformed into a blazing cosmic forge. Neo raised his hands, drawing upon the massive reservoirs of Cosmic Force and Nether Force inside his body. He materialized the massive, broken remains of the Solar Saint’s celestial armor, which he had stored in his spatial ring during the battle.

​The golden metal of the divine armor was incredibly dense, completely resistant to standard magical flames. But Neo was not using standard fire. He channeled the Abyssal Devour skill into his forge, mixing pitch black void energy with the blinding white heat of his newly acquired sun core.

​The golden metal began to violently melt, dripping like liquid starlight onto the anvil of pure cosmic energy.

​"A standard defensive barrier will not stop a concentrated holy crusade. They will likely attempt a long range sector erasure to avoid close combat. I need an array that can completely synthesize planetary bombardments."

​He reached into his spatial storage again, pulling out the concentrated life essence he had harvested from Viscount Azekin and the millions of elite shadow beasts he had slaughtered in his past conquests. He threw the rich, dark essence into the liquid starlight.

​The mixture hissed, turning a terrifying, iridescent black.

​He was not just forging a weapon. He was forging a planetary defense grid powered by the concept of Universal Synthesis.

After all, any divine energy fired at Zenith Prime would be caught in the array, aggressively broken down, and fed directly into Neo’s personal mana reserves.

​For three uninterrupted days and nights, Neo remained locked in the sanctum. The suffocating heat of the forge would have instantly incinerated a normal Saint, but with his Infinite Void-Shield Body and Primordial Demon Physique, Neo absorbed the ambient destruction like it was natural air.

​When the forging process was finally complete, an intricately carved, pitch black orb rested silently in the palm of his hand. It looked like a miniature black hole, completely devouring all the light in the room.

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