Far away in the Acherialis Continent, in a large and expansive base on the very edge of the sea, hundreds of damaged aircrafts returned to the Acherialis Continent in the dark of night.

RUMBLE…

The world shook as the sheer speed at which they coursed through the heavens generated tremendous pressures and wind currents which blew over land. The indomitable military base at the edge of the Serapic Seas remained unmoved by the intense pressures, welcoming the departed warriors as their aircrafts slowly and gently landed in its lit runways, before eventually coming to a stall.

VMMM

One by one, the various tekvores emerged from the aircrafts.

Their bodies were wounded while their constitutions were overheated.

They were exhausted beyond all measures.

From within the domineering, gray-scale military base, many lesser tekvores emerged, immediately tending to the myriad variety of aircrafts of their superiors, transporting them away.

They were distinctly different from the greater tekvores who had returned from war.

Their bodies were surprisingly human with minimal technological integration.

Some had one cybernetic eye while the other was still their original, human eye.

Others had some metal plating sticking out of their flesh, at most.

They expressed deference to their superiors, perhaps the only thing that united all of them in the diversity of their bare bodies.

The returning tekvores were clearly exhausted and in dire need of recuperation and healing.

“No one will tend to themselves until we have reckoned with this failure.”

The electronically distorted voice of the silver tekvore was unyieldingly firm.

His silver cybernetic eyes swept all of them with a menacing intensity.

“Not unless you have the courage to fight me for it.”

The other tekvores shirked with fear, before relenting.

They followed him with reluctance as he led them deeper into the military base.

One that was infested with technological systems in every inch across its entire space.

The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were lined with glowing circuit streak as energy and information surged through the entire structure, powering its many functions, including but not limited to surveillance, defense, offense, and other functions that were vital to maintaining their territory and military power.

STEP

They arrived before a mighty set of automatic doors that lit up upon their arrival.

VMMM

A sensor above the doors directed a sweeping scan of their bodies, before lighting up green.

“Technocultivation signatures verified. Access granted.”

The doors promptly opened, revealing a large chamber with a myriad of pods that opened themselves up to the tekvores.

They each silently took their places in the pods, lying down in their mechanical pods, as the glass doors closed, while a wire emerged from the pod, connecting to a port at the back of their necks.

VMMM…!

Their pupils dilated as a flux of information surged across their cyborg nervous systems and into their brains, the only organ that wasn’t mechanized in part or in whole.

Instantly, the vision before them in their minds shifted.

Their consciousness was drawn to a digital conference that was entirely virtual, comprised of pure information.

They found themselves in the conference room of the Imperial Tekvorian Federation.

A giant round table featuring almost eighty members.

Eighty elite tekvores.

Each of them is different from the others as each other.

A myriad of different technological paradigms, systems, and philosophies manifested in the form of highly cyborg entities, their bare bodies proudly showing off the depth of technology integrated within their beings.

The seating arrangement betrayed the absence of a hierarchy.

And yet, it was clear that some tekvores were regarded more than the others.

One tekvore’s body was stunningly transparent.

As though her entire body was made of glass.

Of a crystal.

Her brain could be seen in the center of her transparent skull, connected to all manners of circuitry of information.

Circuits of power ran across her bare body, connecting to a tiny black dot suspended at the very center of her energy core.

A black hole.

One of the most powerful energy systems to have ever been conceived of and developed in the Imperial Tekvorian Federation, of her own brainchild, that functioned by absorbing Hawking Radiation radiated by a black hole to power all other technological systems across her entire body.

Because singularities had infinite density, they occupied zero volume, and thus the energy system had virtually infinite volumetric efficiency in its energy output, giving her greater room for other technological systems without compromising an astronomical amount of energy that essentially emerged from thin air.

She regarded the silver tekvore with an intense expression.

“You have failed, Argenton”

Her voice was reverberative.

The silver tekvore sharpened his eyes.

Any other day, he would have gladly pushed back against his rival, and yet, today, he didn’t have the standing to do so.

The operation that he was informally in charge of had clearly failed in both objectives.

“You have failed to retrieve the Plasmantor from the hands of the indigenous of the Lost Continent,” she continued with a chilling tone. “You have failed to conquer or destroy those who captured him and his quaint craft, the Sleek. You have also failed with the death of Fissionaut

The air grew heavy as the other gathered elite tekvores glared at the nineteen of their peers that were also subject to the same reproach.

Argenton simply closed his eyes, heaving a deep breath.

“You are correct, Transentia.”

His tone contained a hint of acceptance.

“However…” he opened his eyes, directing a sweeping gaze across his peers.

“They were far stronger than we had expected.”

He opened his silver cybernetic, directing a heavy, piercing gaze upon the transparent tekvore.

“They were able to fight us.”

His silver cybernetic eyes sharpened.

“They were able to fight me.”

A wave of shock spread through the gathered tekvores as they beheld Argenton with a stunned expression.

“That’s impossible.”

A tekvore with a liquid exterior remarked with an intense, flowing voice. “How can one tiny measly nation, the only technologically advanced civilization on the continent, possibly defend against a whopping twenty Ascendent Tekvores? It’s impossible, I say!”

–