15 Victory

Feeling a hand smash into my chest, I let out a grunt as I was thrown back, feet digging into the ground to catch myself. Even from my distance a few miles away I could clearly see Thragg clutching his face in pain, steam coming off the red, blistering skin surrounding his eyes.

'Finally.'

Fighting Thragg had not been easy.

He was every bit as strong and as fast as me, but he was also incredibly skilled, more so than myself. It was not too surprising when one thought about it logically, he had been alive for millennia, honing his skills to be the strongest of his race. Unlike Kryptonians, Viltrumies didn't get stronger simply by being exposed to a yellow sun. They needed to work their ass off much as a normal human did.

As a result, where he'd been training for millennia, I had only been training for less than two decades. That was a big difference in knowledge and experience, it would be fair to say he had forgotten more things than I knew.

When coming here I knew I needed to end the fight in a way that would ensure minimal damage to myself. One way was to rob Thragg of his sight as I had now. Another was to simply gather more yellow sun but even then, the disparity in skill and experience between us meant that it wasn't a simple matter of being slightly faster or stronger. If I had gone down that route, I would have needed to ensure the difference between us physically was overwhelming.

But I had succeeded in robbing Thragg of his sight.

Now to rob him of another sense.

"Activate the Trojan Horse, make it low." For a moment there was nothing and then a dull frequency fell across the planet. Those Viltrumites still fighting against my fleet suddenly were unable to do anything. One of their fatal weaknesses being exploited by my fleet.

Thragg was no different.

Floating forwards, unbothered by the frequency of sound, I came to a stop before Thragg who had started clutching at his ears instead. His eyes were wide open, eyelids melted off his face. His eyes themselves were completely gone just leaving a black hole in its place.

"I know you can hear me, Thragg," I said, landing on the ground. "This frequency, it's low enough to not kill you, but it's still excruciatingly painful, isn't it? You see, this could have all been avoided if you weren't such a power-hungry fool. Why would I ever work with a man such as yourself? A man who betrayed his people?"

Not the complete truth really. Yes Thragg would be a valuable ally, he was powerful and he had experience with ruling whereas I didn't. But the fact was like I said, he had betrayed his people. It would be even more foolish to let such a person live, especially when he may very well betray me in the future.

Actually, that was more likely to be a certainty.

If he was anything like his character in the Invincible Universe then Thragg could not be trusted. A useful ally he may be in the short term, but in the long term, he was just another threat. And having the Viltrumite people under my rule was a far more useful tool than what use I could get out of Thragg before he inevitably betrayed me.

"Your rule ends here," I told him and Thragg swung his arm around wildly. It was accurate, a credit to Thragg's training that even without his sight and the blinding pain he was experiencing that he was able to accurately find my position.

However, I was prepared, my left hand raising and blocking the strike while I shifted my footing to better absorb and disperse the force behind it. Even then, the ground for miles to my right ruptured and broke apart. But I remained firm, a confident smirk upon my face as I pushed his hand away and slammed a fist of my own into his face.

The ground around us cratered further from the shockwave, Thragg rag-dolled across the land before skidding to a stop, body digging up a deep trench. I followed after, bursting through the air and diving down landing in a crouch above his downed body.

"I shall return to Argall's heir to the throne of Viltrum as was your duty. He shall rule as Emperor with autonomy. A vassal of my wider empire." Eyes glowing I smiled triumphantly. "Such a shame you won't see it come to see your people flourish." And then I unleashed my heat vision to its full extent.

-X- Line Break -X-

"Your intentions are to place Argall's heir upon the throne?" General Kregg answered the newly returned Conquest by his side who I knew to know by the strongest warrior in Viltrum. Nolan might be a close second but I can't be sure, what I can be sure of though, is Thragg is dead.

A minor threat he might be in comparison to what the future holds for me. But he was still a threat all the same and so long as I can help it, I will eliminate all threats in my way. It just so happened that Thragg posed more use to me dead than alive.

"That is the case, yes," I replied, reclining upon the Grand Regents chair. By right, the Emperor's Throne of Viltrum was mine, I was a conqueror after all. But antagonising the Viltrumites would not be a good idea. Especially when my rule over them and the Vrangs isn't completely secure.

Besides it was more symbolic than anything, arguably the Grand Regents chair was, well more grandiose than the Emperors, no doubt Thragg's doing.

"You are descendants of Krypton, my home. As the last living son of Krypton," I wasn't but they didn't need to know that. "I am its sole authority. By right you are mine to rule not because I am the last son of Krypton but also through the right of conquest. However, I have ambitions to recreate the Age of Expansion."

Those words earned shared glances from both Kregg and Conquest. They had been present when Viltrum had attempted the same only to end in failure at the hands of the Green Lantern Corps. The Universe had arguably grown far more complicated since then, the powers of the galactic empires expanding rapidly, so much so that the Green Lanterns were now stretched thin.

Powerful and vast empires like the Kree possessed numbers and fleets of a size that entire detachments of Green Lanterns had to be sent to stop them. But in doing so, left other sectors exposed and vulnerable.

The Green Lanterns could no longer contain the expansions of large empires like the Kree and Skrulls. They could simply stop the expansions of smaller empires like there's.

"As the ruler of this new Kryptonian Empire, I cannot oversee each of my territories individually. Therefore Viltrum and those planets gifted to you through merit and hardship shall be overseen by the Emperor of Viltrum, Nolan. You will be vassals, ruling with autonomy yet still answerable to me, as part of my wider empire."

Vassals, a common staple of an empire.

Nolan did seem like a reasonable man in the comics despite his earlier, questionable actions. Having him be the first of my many vassals would be a smart move to make. The main concern was making one of my vassals too powerful. I'd have to watch their lines of successions and make sure to keep an eye on what each successor has a claim to.

Though I did hope and aim to have many of my vassals be like the Vrangs and Viltrumites, the might makes right type. It did open up the possibility of betrayal should they encounter a foe stronger than me. But in turn, that simply required me to continue getting much stronger.

'Something to think upon in the future.'

"Viltrum will be ruled by the new Emperor, Nolan," Conquest murmured, looking to me with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. "We will have autonomy, but still be part of your empire. Our armies responding to your commands?"

"Yes." I nodded. "If I go to war against an enemy, I expect Viltrum to provide its full support. And say if, Viltrum found a target to go to war against, so long as I had prior knowledge of it, I would provide my full support. But I would still hold the right to stop your attempts at war should they be detrimental to any current pre-existing war efforts of my own or in other areas."

General Kregg chuckled. "This is more of an alliance and trade agreement. We help defend your empire and aid you in war. You do the same for us but also hold the right to veto any plans should they be detrimental to the wider empire as a whole. Am I correct?"

"That is correct," I answered with a smile, pleased to see that he had gotten what I was aiming for. Viltrum would be a symbol of what could happen if the residents of my empire worked hard and did as they were told. They could flourish, rapidly expand their borders and grow more powerful than they could have ever imagined. It in turn would result in the rest of my empire flourishing, other vassals doing the same in hopes of replicating and surpassing the success of Viltrum.

"I, of course, would require a little more aid in these earlier stages from Viltrum. For example, I would like an honour guard of Viltrumites to accompany me. As more races join us, I will change the members of my guard, returning some of your strongest warriors back to Viltrum. It will be a symbol of great honour, my honour guard will represent some of the strongest warriors and therefore, entering its ranks will become much more difficult as time progresses." Here my gaze turned to Conquest. "And I would also require your aid especially in my earlier campaigns."

Conquest was now the strongest warrior in Viltrum, having him by my side would be a showcase that Viltrum is truly allied with me. For appearance sake, things like these needed to be done, it would definitely quieten the whispers of rebellion amongst the Vrangs.

"This is all assuming that we agree to your terms." It was an unexpected response from General Kregg and it caught me off guard. As a result, I wasn't quite able to keep my calm facade up, my eyes burning brightly as my grip upon the armrest became crushing.

"You seem to be suffering from the delusion that you have a choice." I snarled out, rising to my feet. "You will not find a more generous offer than the one I am giving you. Do not be stupid enough to throw it away for pride because I will treat you in the same fashion as I do the Vrangs. And unlike them, you don't have the numbers to sustain your race if I decide to use you in the same fashion."

A threat of extinction.

Hardly the smartest of moves and I had to take a calming breath as I slowly sat back down. There was no taking back what I had said so I had to continue from here, not exactly ideal.

'Being snubbed in such a fashion was surprising.' Loosening my grip and allowing my heat vision to subside, I looked towards General Kregg and Conquest, both of who had risen to their feet in response to my own sudden actions. "That irked me." I did not apologise, that was a sign of weakness. "But my words still stand. I have offered you generous terms, but do not mistake it for anything other than an ultimatum. I would have given you time to think over my words but now I demand your answer."

Looking at them, I glared down at them. "Right here and now, choose," I told them firmly. "Do you and your people flourish? Or do you chose extinction?"