Determination

"I order you to destroy the Plague!"

Darth Sidious's voice was as grim, terrifying, and twisted as ever, planting dreadful fear in Nute Gunray's heart and forcing him to stagger back again and again.

Yet for some reason, another figure kept surfacing in Nute Gunray's mind now—darker, more terrifying, and...

Closer!

To Nute Gunray, if Darth Sidious was a dreadful spider that had spread its web across the entire Milky Way Galaxy, then Darth Malthael was a silent cheetah.

And that cheetah had already come up behind him!!

Darth Malthael's powerful, dark figure began to overlap with Tang Xiao's ever-gentle smile.

He began recalling every pleasant conversation he had ever had with Tang Xiao: negotiating cooperation on Dawn Star Planet, raising their glasses together to celebrate independence on Geonosis, deciding great matters together in the parliament on Raxus Sub-planet...

Without realizing it, in those beautiful memories, Tang Xiao's modest face had been replaced by Darth Malthael's grim and terrifying visage.

The feeling sent a chill down his spine...

He had long since come up behind me, and for the foreseeable future, he would continue to stand behind me.

He'll kill me! He can do it at any time!!

All along, Nute Gunray had seen Tang Xiao as a young man with a good temper, a fine ally who had even stood firmly on the Trade Federation's side on many occasions.

People like that were hardly rare for an organization as enormous as the Trade Federation. But as Dawn Star Planet gradually developed, Nute Gunray discovered that although what Tang Xiao possessed could not compare to the Trade Federation, it was indeed enough to let him speak with Nute Gunray as an equal.

A complete military-industrial system, the ability to independently design and manufacture large warships—many such things were beyond even