[A/N: This is the 1k power stone chapter, if everything goes to plan tomorrow there will be two chapters]
'What is going on!? From where did those Gundams come from?' Graham looked with wide eyes at how six machines appeared from thin air and just…ended the Celestial Being.
But then he saw even a wilder thing! Spaceships appeared from thin air and surrounded the Celestial Being's mothership, and from their looks, they had soldiers who boarded the mobile suit carrier.
After that, the five mobile suits spread out, collected the wreckage of GN-Xs and Gundams, and were brought to the carriers, then disappeared.
The speed of those machines was utterly maddening. How can a suit move like that? It defies physics!
"...Colonel… what was that?" The newly formed UN forces' assistant captain to Kati asked with a confused look. What he just saw…
"Marcus Anaheim… of course it's him… I always thought he was strange… the sheer influence he wields in the world…
It's most likely the real faction behind all of this. They used Celestial Being to conquer the world. All three Factions are now under him; he literally rules the world now." The Tactical Forecaster finally understood the whole image.
A bit too late as well. They no longer have any means to resist.
Even if they want to try to resist now, it would make no sense. All of the elected officials are behind him, and everyone likes the Custodian.
'The future will tell.'
The woman frowned as she ordered the retreat. She will try to get…something…anything out of Marcus Anaheim once she sees him.
~~~
The spaceships carrying Celestial Being's Ptolemaios crew landed in the South Pole's base.
The crew looked at the arch and the ice walls… the cold.
'This is South Pole… the base was in South Pole?'
Sumeragi Lee Noriega realised how wild this development was. She would have never guessed where the base was.
"...Where are we? Is this some sort of icebergs? How can there be so much ice?" The CIC girls looked confused.
"...I think… this is the South Pole, Antarctica?" Feldt commented.
"Come with us." One of the guards with a strange rifle motioned for them to walk.
A considerable number of soldiers surrounded them.
The brown-haired woman sighed as she stood alongside her group and went inside the research facility.
As they heard a sound, at the corner of their sight, they saw a Black and Purple mobile suit land next to the hangar. From the looks of it, Marcus Anaheim arrived here as well.
A bit later, they were in a room that looked like it was from a history book; it was old school. Nobility, luxurious paintings, wooden furniture…
"Wow, it feels like we are in a museum of some sort." Christina looked around. Apart from the soldiers at the doors, they can walk around the spacious room.
She explored the room and saw some paintings. Among them, she saw orbital Elevators.
But then she realised that the style of these elevators was different. Are these from Marcus' world?
"What do you think happened to the Gundam Meisters?" One of the guys, and the helmsman of the mothership Ptolemaios, asked. This was Lasse Aeon.
"I have no idea. We are dealing with an empire from a different reality. I do not know their needs… they could be transferred to the other side and go through some sort of training. They are, after all, good pilots." Sumeragi replied as she looked for anything to drink.
'Damn. I expected at least something like whiskey.'
But then doors opened and a blonde strolled in.
"Oh wow. So you guys are the ones who annoy my husband. It has been a while since he was that annoyed. Last time, there were alien runes on Mars." The blonde woman commented as she checked out the crew.
"...And you…"
"Milly Anaheim." The blonde said with a smile as she got into the room. Behind her was a maid.
"See Kinue? This is the Celestial Being you wanted to meet so much."
"...Empress… I don't care anymore." The maid sighed, The Empress is still doing that to her!
"C'mon, they could satiate your thirst for curiosity." Milly teased.
"...Empress… are you perhaps…Marcus' wife?" Christina asked.
"Yep. One of his wives. My sphere of influence is Education. I govern our Empire's education systems." Milly winked while replying. It sounded weird, almost like it's not a job but a hobby, when people hold important positions, they are a bit more serious.
"...One of… so there are others…" The brown-haired CIC girl was still baffled by this news. She didn't want to believe this was possible, not in the current age they were living in!
"The bulk of them are on the other side. I am here to catch up with him. When he was conquering the world, I was still in the academy." Milly explained offhandedly as she walked in and checked them out.
"...So what will happen to us?" Sumeragi asked, and she ended up sighing, walking to the couches, and sitting down on one.
"Beats me. Marcus never fully explained; he most likely transferred you to our Empire. He might find some use there." Milly shrugged as she looked at the maid.
"Kinue, bring us some tea and snacks. It has been a while since we had guests."
"...Yes, Empress." With a small bow, the brown-haired maid left the room.
"Guests… does that imply we can leave anytime?"
"Sure. Why not? But you will die outside." Milly 'smiled' while saying that.
"We are at the South Pole. The closest human settlement is over 2000 miles north of here. Good luck getting there." The blonde explained with a bit of amusement.
"Is that so… well, do you perhaps have anything stronger than tea?" Sumeragi asked with a bit of hope.
"We don't do alcohol here." The blonde bluntly replied. She already had to deal with a pissed-off husband a couple of times when she got wasted before, so after that, not anymore.
"And now I hate your Empire even more." The brown-haired captain of Ptolemaios sighed as she was feeling even more like shit.
"..."
The Ptolemaios crew got a bit pale when they heard that. It made them worried that this could lead to something even worse for them!
"I did read your file, Leesa Kujo."
"*Groan*...Here we go again…" The Tactical Forecaster is pissed that EVERYONE knows her classified information! It's supposed to be classified!
"You and that Kati Mannequin were part of AEU. In one of the operations, you two devised a couple of strategies that led your teams into friendly fire.
That caused your boyfriend's death."
Everyone stared at the Sumeragi with wide eyes. Now it was clear why she liked her booze that much.
"What of it? Now you know why I hate all this fighting, why I was part of Celestial Being. But it was clear that it was foolish to believe that I could change anything." At that moment, the woman looked dead inside, all she wanted was to disappear at this moment.
"And that is why you should be part of the Empire. Your talents would help us expand even faster."
"...You want my tactics to kill even more people…" Sumeragi was still baffled that they wanted her even after knowing all of that…
"No, we want to conquer faster, with even more efficiency. Swift movement like your blitzkrieg in the Taklamakan Desert." Milly casually explained to her.
"..."
"Besides, if you join, we help you as well. Like giving you access to Thought Elevator. You would be able to speak with your boyfriend in the afterlife."
"!!!"
"What does that even mean!?" Sumeragi scrambled to ask.
"The technology of the precursor human race. We have access to it, we are utilising it to a considerable degree, and some of our core technologies are based on sound frequencies and consciousness elevation.
Among other things, we can elevate one's mind to the plane where the afterlife is; over there, you can speak with deceased people that are part of the Collective Unconsciousness." Milly said with a proud smirk as she revealed the empire's core 'perk': their technology is that advanced because they have access to a literal lost civilisation and the technologies they can base theirs on.
"You guys are so evil." Sumeragi sighed.
"Using Emilio to get me to join you." The woman had a grimace on her face.
"Not really." Then all of a sudden, Milly got an idea. She clapped her hands.
"I will let you live on our Earth, and then you can decide if we are evil and all that. If you think what we do is 'Evil Empire's stuff'." The blonde smirked confidently.
"...that is fine, I suppose." Sumeragi shrugged. If they are going to let her be for the time being, she could use that to disappear.
Sadly, she has no idea just how advanced surveillance is in the Holy Bizantine Empire.
"It will do, don't worry. Money, place to stay, we can cover all of that." Milly smiled, then looked at Feldt.
"And you, Feldt, can enjoy proper high school and university if you want. We don't spare any expenses to develop the younger generation."
"...I-I see…" The pinkette was a bit confused. It sounded scary even! It was out of her comfort zone. But she was curious to experience something like that.
"That does sound interesting! Is there anything else I can do?" Christina chipped in as she was curious what she could do.
"We can always use computer experts. Like Venus and Mars, terraforming operations. Or upcoming Jupiter expeditions to start building colonies there.
You can do anything in those places. Though… don't expect to get anywhere close to our military installations for obvious reasons.
Apart from that, you can do anything you want." Milly explained with a bright smile.
"...well, it does make sense."
~~~
Milly was able to deal quite easily with these guys. She had the resources to do so. At the same time, she can't easily persuade them. Something like that is only possible with Geass; Marcus insisted that they not use that power like that, especially on people they want to keep.
Something the government of this world was a fair game, since they don't need them once they've risen to power. But talented people? They want to keep them.
At some point, Feldt and Christina got closer to Milly as they got a bit friendlier, and tea with biscuits was something they wanted to try, as they were imported from their world, so in a sense, it was alien food…
But then the doors opened, and a familiar face of Wang Liu Mei popped in.
"So it is true. Damn, my future husband works fast." She commented with small awe. The Heiress strolled and waved her hand as if greeting them.
"Wang Liu Mei… so you did switch sides," Sumeragi confirmed her suspicion.
"I can't say no to the Emperor of the World who doesn't mind marrying little me." The Heiress winked while saying that.
"Y-You are going to marry Marcus!?" Christina gawked at the news.
"She proposed that herself. I, with other girls, tried to spook her, but she ended up liking it even more." Milly deadpanned that she realised that Marcus and this Heiress are 'meant' for each other.
"...Hehehe, of course I did. Especially after seeing their world! Honestly, it's the future! You should see their Orbital elevators and colonies! They are building literal fortifications above the Sun itself! The technological power of the Empire blew me away!" Wang Liu Mei gushed now that she could talk about it.
"...Wow… Now I want to see it."
Technology always fascinated Feldt and Christina, so the pair were already hooked and wanted to see it.
Though only the two guys were at the back listening closely, they wanted to know where the Gundam Meisters were.
Since they saw Marcus arrive, he should be in the base as well.
~~~~~~At the Same Time~~~~~~
"Well, well, it would seem you four got comfortable," Marcus commented as he looked at the four Gundam Meisters behind the bars. All four of them were in separate cells waiting.
"So what is going to happen to us?" Lockon asked. He was the most relaxed as he was chilling in bed with his hands behind his back.
"Honestly… I have options." One of the guards handed Marcus a foldable chair as he sat down and looked at them.
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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