-I'm impressed.
There are not that many beings capable of lasting against Andrew for as long as you did.
Iliana said with an approving smile.
The ladies were all relaxing in a Jacuzzi after Venra, and Andrew got scanned and spent half an hour in the tank each.
-I still lost, and by the look of things, he didn't even go all out on me.
The demoness answered, still barely believing she lost.
-Of course not.
Nairin confirmed.
-If you provoked him to go all out on you, we would not be talking right now.
She added.
-What do you mean?
Venra asked, a bit surprised by the empress's comment.
-She means that Andrew only truly goes all out in real combat or when he is angered.
When that happens, his enemies die, and he's not picky about the way of sending them into the afterlife.
Aelita explained.
-Is he really so terrifying when he gets angry?
Venra asked.
-Much more than you can comprehend, without seeing it with your own eyes.
Lan answered, shuddering at the memory of the last time the emperor went on a rampage.
-I admit that he is a powerful warrior, but aren't you exaggerating a bit?
The merchant asked.
In the end, she saw the predatory side of the human, and even if she agreed it was frightening, she could hardly believe that this human was as terrifying as his women had described him.
-Seeing is believing.
Ilia said, deciding to simply show the alien woman what it looks like when Andrew is truly angry.
-Vulcan, please display the footage of repelling boarders from the installation during the second wave of invasion, starting from the moment they attacked the Med-Bay.
The doctor said, talking to the ceiling.
Soon, a holo-screen materialized in front of the pool and displayed the footage.
Venra immediately recognized the forces attacking the installation as her sister's soldiers, and watched in disbelief as Ilia got shot in the back, right in front of the emperor, who rushed the enemies immediately after and started tearing them apart.
The more she watched, the more she realized just how lucky she was that she faced the emperor in a sparring match and not in real combat.
Her previous confidence in taking the whole station by herself evaporated as she watched the human who just defeated her simply slaughter dozens of her sister's elite boarding forces.
Additionally, she noticed that the battle droids were also making short work of the boarders, using weapons she had never seen before, which rendered their personal shields useless.
All in all, she now understood why her sisters' boarding parties failed to capture this installation, and she also made a mental note to warn her sister about targeting any of the empresses or consorts of the Lantean Emperor.
-Alright, I admit that he is truly terrifying when he is angry.
Vanra said after the footage ended.
She knew that this was not all of it, but even this short part of it was more than enough to prove that the emperor was a force to be reckoned with, and she doubted that even her sister could defeat this human when he was in such a state.
-Is this something unique to the whole human race, or is it only the emperor?
She asked curiously, as this was important information to her.
-For now, we can only confirm that Andrew enters this state, and only under specific conditions.
As for the rest of humanity, they definitely have the potential to enter this state, but we still don't know what triggers it, since the triggers seem to be different for every individual.
Iliana explained.
-However, if humanity manages to unlock this ability and fully control it.
They will become very formidable warriors.
Not that they are not deadly enough as it is.
the doctor added.
Her words left the young demoness with a lot to think about.
Venra contacted her sister the same day and reported the information she gathered, along with the fact that the human defeated her in a sparring match, and even sent a copy of the footage she was shown, which was recorded by a nano-camera she carried everywhere.
Two days later, she left the Lantean Empire, since her business was done for now and her sister recalled her.
However, they didn't have too much time to miss their new friend, as there was a lot to do and not much time to do it, making all of them extremely busy.
The first order of business was the upgrading of the recaptured territories and expanding the imperial industrial capacity at the same time.
Next in line was the expansion of the fleets, and on Andrew's orders, the replacement of all the battleships they repaired with ones of their own design.
This, however, was accelerated thanks to Undine's idea.
-Why are we towing the ships to the shipyards, instead of just placing the shipyards next to the ships?
She asked once when they were discussing this matter.
-Because we didn't think about it till now.
Andrew admitted.
The same day, he bought five of the biggest shipyards he could afford and placed them next to all the wrecks at a distance of three light-years from one another.
This ensured that the installations would have more than enough materials to build new ships for a long time.
Another matter was the diplomatic relations with the factions that sent envoys.
Even though Tarina and her team were working on this front, there were many instances where Andrew needed to join the meetings.
These and many more matters filled the emperor's and empress's days, and before anyone noticed, it was already time for Andrew to depart for the gathering.
According to the invitation, every participant could bring one battleship as their mode of transportation, and Andrew decided to take the newly built battleship of the Lantean design.
The ship itself was designed especially for this occasion as a royal battleship, and was much more luxurious that it's standard counterparts, which didn't diminish its combat performance in the slightest.
The main changes were in the interior, which contained the Emperor's chambers, which were richly decorated and furnished with the best furniture available.
Additionally, this ship was fully crewed by organic crew, with a full complement of crew droids in case some of the crew needed to be replaced.
Its complement of battle droids was supplemented by a company of Imperial Marines, responsible for the Emperor's safety.
The vessel was also equipped with additional life pods, and some of its fighters were replaced by two shuttles.
-This is more of a palace than a battleship.
Andrew commented, seeing his chambers, which simply screamed of wealth and power.
-It is possible that we might have guests on board, in which case, it is important to show them that you are not some simpleton from a backwater star nation, or they might not take you seriously.
Tarina answered with a smile.
Since she was going to accompany him, she was more than happy to see the large bedroom with a king-size bed in it.
She was even happier seeing the smaller version of a Jacuzzi installed onboard.
The only thing she was not too happy with was the fact that the ship's crew was entirely comprised of females, but at least the Marines were mostly males, so at the very least she would not need to worry about any of them.
Andrew, on the other hand, was not that happy seeing all that luxury built into his ship, but he had to agree with Tarina about the image part.
Following the instructions from the invitation, Andrew boarded the vessel a day before the Gathering and used the coordinates he received with the invitation to open a portal.