Heavy responsibility

Zirkon and Zalysthene quickly rushed to their personal chambers to change into something more presentable.

Questions loomed in their minds as they wondered why their father the emperor had summoned them out of the blue.

Well, they would have their answers soon enough.

Both siblings switched from their sparring outfits into purple and gold royal robes and headed for the throne room, where their father waited.

Humbly, Zirkon and Zalysthene knelt to greet their father, Emperor Zaluk Zalazar!

An insanely strong Voronoi standing at a solid height of nine feet, having dark purple skin and covered in majestic golden royal tattoos!

Emperor Zaluk wore red robes and beside him a monstrosity of a warhammer laid there.

With wise eyes, he watched the kneeling figures of his children, stroking his beard.

Social status in Voronoi was determined primarily by the color of their tattoos. Normal citizens and those at the bottom of the ladder had no tattoos.

Soldiers, middle class and regular citizens had copper tattoos. Nobility had silver tattoos and Royalty had gold tattoos.

The royal bloodline of Zalazar had led the Voronoi for thousands of years and they had everyone's respect due to their strength and tenacity.

Emperor Zaluk was perhaps one of the most feared Emperors due to his insane power and technical acumen. It was plain as day that his kids split his good genes amongst themselves, with Zalysthene taking her father's brute strength and weapon skills while Zirkon took his mental acumen and rational nature.

"Rise my children," he commanded.

Zirkon and Zalazar rose up, waiting to hear what their father had to say.

"What do you think about the impending war that looms on our horizon?" Emperor Zaluk asked his children.

"No matter how much the ants struggle, we will come out on top! Resistance is futile in the presence of brute strength!" Zalysthene declared.

A smile crept up the lips of the emperor as he observed his daughter. He then turned to Zirkon and asked, "What do you say, Zirkon?"

Zirkon's brows furrowed in thought as he pondered on how to answer.

Finally, he spoke. "It's quite inevitable, father. Our vassals and colonies have been itching to get back at us for decades. Once the century of peace comes to an end, they will attack naturally.

The possibility of us winning is very high, but there will be many casualties. Fortunately, it wouldn't affect us as much as it would affect them. After all the Voronoi population is higher than that of humans and Maviitsi combined and also close to the population of the Kobolds.

It would be our win but the only concern is the cost."

Emperor Zaluk smiled brightly at the words of his son.

His son had given a critical assessment of the situation at hand. 

They would indeed win as they were far superior to the other races but at what cost? Only time would tell.

"You have given smart answers and this shows that both of you aren't slacking off. This war will be a way to prove yourself and gain the recognition of all Voronoi. 

That is why I have decided that both of you will participate in this war. 

Both of you will be appointed as temporary generals and lead different legions to victory.

You have a week to put everything in order before you leave for war," Emperor Zaluk said.

The eyes of the two siblings widened in shock.

They were going to participate in the war?!

Lead legions??!

This was an opportunity to prove themselves!

This decision had come out as quite a shock to them though. Both siblings had expected to be deployed to fight the war but they didn't know they would be made to lead a legion of Voronoi soldiers and be temporary generals!

It meant that majority of this war was going to be ran by them.

And it was going to be a race of who's side did more damage to their enemies!

At this time, it was plain as day that this war was going to be one of their best tickets to gaining favor and succeeding the emperor.

Because it was going to be a test of both brains and brawn!

It was an unwritten rule that whoever came out on top in this would have higher chances of succeeding their father.

Both siblings clenched their fists in excitement.

"I will not fail you, father!" both of them declared and bowed again.

Emperor Zaluk nodded on his throne. "I know you won't. Zalysthene, you will be sent with the Bloodhound Legion to deal with the Kobolds.

Zirkon, you will take the Vulcan Legion and lead the charge against Earth.

General Xeca would lead the charge against the Maviitsi.

As a result of this, both of you will each lead 10,000 of Voronoi's finest warriors and have commanded over a million soldiers in this war.

You have countless fighters and low level vessels, 400 frigates, 250 heavy frigates, 100 Third class Behemoths, 30 Second class Leviathans, 5 First class Titans and 1 Star ship.

Don't let me down."

Both siblings' eyes went wide in shock after hearing the forces they would be leading.

To start with, both the Bloodhound Legion and Vulcan Legion were famous war legions known for their ruthless nature. They were the best of the best of the Voronoi army!

Just having the privilege to lead them alone was a big honor and a sign of the depth of the trust their father had in them!

Apart from that, they would have indirect command over a million soldiers due to their status as generals! They were going to strategize and lead and direct the attacks against the enemy!

And on top of that, the emperor had given them a fleet of spaceships!

Just because powers and awakening abounded didn't mean space travel and space wars were fought like that of terrestrial wars.

Space battles dealt with battle ships, heavy cannons armed with nuclear weapons, photon weapons, a horrendous arsenal of laser weapons which would all but kill any Awakened below the Ascended Realm and even Planetary and Ascended realm experts could be grievously injured by ships!

Space ships used in war were in ranks namely;

Transporter ships

Fighters

Bombers

Stealth ships

Cruisers

Corvettes

Man of War

Frigates

Heavy Frigates

Third Class Behemoths

Second Class Leviathans

Third Class Titans

Star ships

Mother ships

It was a very tall order and as one progressed from one ship class to another, its power, space, and transport increased exponentially!

Motherships were the biggest ships in the galaxy. 

They were double the size of kingdoms and countries!

A mothership could wipe a whole race out of existence!

The star ships were equivalent to huge cities!

Just having ships like this was enough to guarantee their win!

All these ships were immensely powerful and filled with millions of Voronoi soldiers. If both sibling played their cards well, they would win this war without any trouble!

Both siblings breathed deeply in excitement.

The expectations and stakes were so high!

If they screwed this up, their chance of firmly clinching the throne was over!

Failure would be unacceptable here.

How could they fail even after their father had handed 40% of Voronoi's military might to them?!

"We will not disappoint you, father!" both siblings bowed before the emperor again.

"You dare not," the Emperor growled.

He waved his trusted aide forward who came in bearing a huge silver chest. The aide bowed and placed the chest in front of the Emperor.

The aide opened the humongous chest, exposing the contents.

A humongous broadsword, five meters long with a width of fifty centimeters, a six-foot obsidian spear with a red tip and two sets of royal armor.

The emperor stood from his throne and moved to the front of his kneeling children.

He picked up the broadsword and placed it on the head of Zalysthene before handing it to her and repeated the same action with Zirkon.

"These are the weapons I ordered for you. 5 star weapons with tremendous power. Use them wisely," Emperor Zaluk commanded.

Both siblings kowtowed.

The emperor then lifted the armors out of the chest, identical black armors trimmed with purple and gold.

"This is your armor. Another 5-star artifact. Use it wisely and bring victory," the emperor said.

"Yes father!" both siblings kowtowed again.

The aide silently took away the chest and the siblings rose up with their gifts.

"You have one week to put all your affairs in order. After that, you will be leading our people to a glorious victory.

Crush the enemies!

Show no mercy!

For Voronoi!"

"For Voronoi!" both siblings echoed.

"If you dare fail me, you already know the consequences," the emperor snarled and a violent red energy ruthlessly tossed Zirkon and Zalysthene out the throne room.