Word began to spread through the Interstellar Era. A "Ghost Fleet" was rising in the Dust Sector. A Viscount who had been mocked was now the most dangerous man in the quadrant.
Back at the Academy, Isabella stared at the news feed. A video showed Lin Feng standing on the bridge of a ship that shouldn't exist, surrounded by a crew of "monsters" who looked at him with absolute loyalty.
"He... he did this with a mirror?" she whispered, her face pale.
Beside her, Kaelen was shaking. He had lost his governorship, his money, and his reputation. "It's a trick! It has to be a trick!"
But it wasn't a trick. In the depths of the Dust Sector, Lin Feng held his locket. He wasn't just mirroring ships anymore. He had found a "Planet-Eater" monster in the deep void.
"Scan it," he whispered to the locket.
[Target: Abyssal World-Eater (S-Rank Monster) Detected.]
[Mirroring Initialized...]
[Warning: Soul Energy Required. Commencing Conquest of the Imperial Capital.]
Lin Feng looked at his maids—his engineers, his pilots, his warriors.
"Ladies," he said, his eyes glowing with the light of a thousand mirrored suns. "The Princess wanted an annulment because I was too weak. Let's go show her what 'weak' looks like when you multiply it by infinity."
The fleet jumped. The stars themselves seemed to tremble as ten thousand Dreadnoughts entered warp-space, led by a man who had turned a broken toy into the ultimate weapon of the universe.
The Interstellar Era was about to have a new Emperor. And he didn't need a crown—he had a mirror.
Epilogue: The New Order
The battle for the Capital was short. When Lin Feng's fleet blotted out the sun of the home world, the Emperor surrendered without a shot fired.
Isabella was brought before Lin Feng, not as a Princess, but as a petitioner. She looked at the Succubus standing at his right hand and the Orc at his left, both radiating power that dwarfed her own.
"Lin Feng," she pleaded. "I was wrong. We can still—"
"The engagement is annulled, Isabella," Lin Feng said, repeating her own words back to her. "I have a galaxy to run, a crew to protect, and an infinite number of stars to copy. You? You're just a reflection of a past I've already moved beyond."
He turned his back on her, walking toward the bridge of his flagship.
"Kara, set course for the Unexplored Regions," he commanded. "I heard there are some ancient Mecha-Gods out there. I'd like to see what happens when we have a million of those."
The Mirror Sovereign surged forward, followed by a fleet that stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. The Viscount of Dust had become the Master of Infinity.