3178 Chapter "Romantic" Wedding Season (62)

The political situation at the upper echelons of the Shi'ar Empire was the most complex among the Three Great Empires, looking solely at military authority, the Queen did not control all the military power. She could mobilize about a third of the Shi'ar Empire's forces and her personal guard, while the nobles could mobilize the other two-thirds.

In this respect, the Queen seemed to be at a disadvantage, but in reality, her personal guard consisted entirely of the Ferocious Feather Tribe, whose individual strength was incredibly formidable. None of the forces on the surface of the Capital Star could match them, and they were loyal only to the Queen, thus her position was relatively stable.

However, this did not mean that the nobles were powerless. Because they could mobilize enough troops, they were responsible for the defense and security of most of the Empire's territories, naturally giving them strong control over those regions.

Moreover, these forces were not bound to them permanently. There were many opportunists within the army, and the various military factions were not so harmonious, with each having their own interests, making them not so easily mobilized.

Among these, the nobles placed great value on their respective family's private military forces. This part of the military was actually quite small, possibly consisting of only one or two main battleships per family, primarily used for dealing with local family commercial and civil disputes and also serving as ceremonial vessels.

These private military fleets were maintained by the nobles at great expense. The battleships made by the Shi'ar Empire were not mass-produced items but required many enchantment rituals to be suited to their race, similar to the battleships of Asgard.

This meant that the manufacturing process for each battleship was longer, required more investment, and maintenance was more troublesome, but it also meant that each battleship was more powerful, with just one or two being able to operate independently.

Thus, the noble families of the Shi'ar Empire generally did not maintain many battleships, having one was already considered a sign of significant status among the great nobles.

Mystique, having become the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire, also had not been idle during this period. Besides being constantly involved in palace and political intrigues, she placed Mutants with shapeshifting abilities in various positions, with the Legion being the main force among those she deployed.

The Shi'ar Empire had a small main racial population, so the presence of aliens was quite normal. The army also consisted mainly of these integrated aliens. Having a few odd aliens was not conspicuous.

The capability to mobilize five fleets, as described by Rakshasa Woman, was actually through these planted individuals stealing five noble private military battleships, belonging to the top ten noble families of the Capital Star.

There's never a step back in the struggle for power.

Once these five starships were destroyed simultaneously, these five families would be inevitably vulnerable. The Queen could immediately take advantage of this emptiness and annihilate the remaining defensive forces of these five families.

Once all the resources of these five families fell into the Queen's hands, this would strengthen her power while the other nobles might not dare to act, since the Queen's power had increased, and it was not their families that were unlucky, "better him than me" as the saying goes.

With so many resources in hand, the Queen wouldn't be able to overturn everything immediately to achieve complete centralized control, but she could at least consolidate some power and stabilize her position.

The nobles did not want to see such events happen.

Although this situation did not completely touch the nobles' bottom line, and the Queen stopped while she was ahead, not pushing her advantage, if things continued this way, the nobles' downfall was imminent.

Thus, they had to find a way to weaken the Queen's power.

They could opt for direct confrontation, but if it came to an all-out confrontation, it would be a fight to the death, either the Queen would annihilate them, or they would overthrow the Queen.

All the nobles uniting was not incapable of overthrowing the Queen, but who would be the next ruler after her overthrow?

This wasn't a matter that could be negotiated, ultimately, the one with the most power would take the throne, but if all their strength was spent on overthrowing the Queen, how could their own families then contend for the throne?

Thus, in the process of overthrowing the Queen, the vast majority of families would definitely contribute little real effort, making success impossible, and they might end up being brutally decimated by the Queen.

The nobles understood this, so they wouldn't adopt such a method. They preferred to weaken the Queen without expending their own soldiers, achieving their goal without starting a fight.

Truth only exists within the range of artillery's reach; without military power, authority is just empty talk. To weaken the Queen, it was essential to weaken the forces under her control.

But they couldn't simply approach the Queen and say, "Hand over your military authority." Even Lilandra wouldn't have agreed, much less the current ruler.

Instead, the best approach was to weaken the military forces themselves. To make the Queen dispatch her troops, they would need to instigate a war.

Even so, their target might not necessarily be the New Skrull Empire. It was extremely unwise to go head-to-head with one of the Three Great Empires, and there were no deep-seated feuds necessary to justify a devastating war between these two nations.

But any conflict could be progressively exacerbated. The most critical point initially was the product of the Life Fusion Plan, which could destroy an entire star system.

When the New Skrull Empire obtained this entity, who would be most anxious?

The Shi'ar Empire and the Skrull Empire didn't have such profound enmity, but the Kree Empire did. Their millennia-long war had resulted in irreconcilable grievances.

Now that the New Skrull Empire possessed such a powerful weapon, where would they most likely deploy it?

The Kree Empire had to consider this problem. They would feel a sense of urgency, as even one of the Three Great Empires couldn't afford to lose an entire prosperous star system.

What would they do at this time?

Some might think, "The enemy has nuclear weapons, and we don't, so we must strike first," but actually, this was the most foolish approach. The best method was to make the enemy focus on a new adversary.

Although we have old grievances, the pressure we face now far outweighs past feuds. Rather than using a nuclear bomb for vengeance that dates back hundreds of years, resolving the current wartime disadvantage is undoubtedly the wiser choice. I believe no one would make the wrong choice.

Therefore, the Kree Empire will definitely support the Shi'ar Empire and New Skrull Empire in going to war. This will increase the likelihood that the New Skrull Empire will drop the nuclear bomb on the Shi'ar Empire instead of on themselves.

There is infiltration among the Three Great Empires, and the Shi'ar Empire is the most severely infiltrated because their system is overly traditional. The ruling class has weak control over the lower populace, and the race is mixed, making infiltration rather simple.

Once the Kree Empire backs this situation, coupled with the nobles' urgent desire to weaken the Queen's power, they will definitely take action against the New Skrull Empire.

The reason is ready-made: the New Skrull Empire destroyed five battleships. What other reason is needed not to go to war?

The Mutant's job now is simple: to find a way to destroy these five ships at once, ensuring no one discovers it was their doing, while making both the Shi'ar and Kree Empires believe that the New Skrull Empire has already obtained the outcome of the Life Fusion Plan.

Though it sounds simple, it's rather difficult in practice. These are five main starships, capable of jumping; if beaten, they can still run. Emergency jumping is a momentary matter, even Magneto might not be able to stop it.

Once they run, the plan is entirely ruined.

Professor X and Magneto are confident in their abilities, but they indeed need backup measures. After some thought, Professor X said, "The Avengers definitely won't be of help now, and S.H.I.E.L.D. probably won't either, but I think we have other options."

Magneto looked at him and said, "Are you talking about SWORD?"

Professor X shook his head and continued, "The Mutants over there have never been fond of us; they may not be willing to exert themselves."

"What if we give them a starship?"

"What?"

"The starship doesn't need to be completely destroyed; preserving some core components should be possible, right?" Professor X stroked the tabletop gently and said, "China recently sent another engineering team to Star Port in Neptune, what do you think they are doing there?"

"Their progress is much faster than we imagined," sighed Magneto. "If only we could be united as one..."

"Enough of that, I'll go talk to the Chief of the Spear Bureau." Professor X stood up and left the office.

After a while, he returned and said, "They've agreed, but they insist on preserving the starship's jump device; it seems they've hit a technical barrier in that area."

"I don't think so; the people from the East are always cunning and won't reveal their true intentions to you."

"As long as they've agreed, the jump device isn't important to us. The Andromeda Galaxy won't have an industrial chain capable of independently producing starships for a few more hundred years."

"No rush, we have plenty of time," suggested Magneto, implying that once both empires were embroiled in war, no one would bother them anymore.

"Indeed, we now have even more time," said Professor X with a smile at Magneto, who turned away, those damn blue eyes.

"Apocalypse is an unstable factor," Magneto spoke again. "If he decides to mess with us, it could cause variability."

"Nathaniel doesn't even know Apocalypse's current whereabouts; the guy has hidden himself well," thought out loud X. "I must control him before making a move… That's it."

Magneto looked at him, and Professor X said, "According to Nathaniel's memories, the poison he deployed causes Mutants' abilities to go haywire within 24 hours after infection."

"You mean…"

"To verify that the poisoning was indeed successful, 24 hours after the poisoning, Apocalypse will definitely try to get close to the Andromeda Star System to monitor the situation. It's a perfect opportunity to catch him."

"You still can't detect his brainwaves?"

"He had voluntarily connected to my brainwaves before, but at that time, I was worried he had other schemes, so I didn't attack him. If he connects to my brainwaves again, I'm confident I could severely harm him."

"But he wouldn't be so foolish, would he?" said Magneto.

"You think too highly of him. I've said it before; he's someone whose ambitions are blatantly obvious, too superficial to achieve anything great. Otherwise, why do you think, despite us two becoming leaders of Mutants, he wastes his days sleeping in Egypt? Do you think he doesn't want to rule the Mutants?"

"Do you think he will…"

"Wait for the right time, find two people to act as if their powers are out of control, stir up a big scene. Once he discovers his plan succeeded, he will most likely connect to my brainwaves again."

"For what?"

"To mock me, of course," said Professor X, a tone of disdain in his laugh. "He's never had the upper hand over us; now that he finally does, he'll surely indulge in mocking to the fullest before he threatens me, thinking that I will, out of fear, willingly serve him."

"Hmph," Magneto snorted coldly, spitting out a word, "Foolish beyond measure."