In a Material World within one of the universes...
A planet hung in space.
Across its surface, there were no forests or fields, only steel fortresses joined one to the next, and military encampments stretching beyond sight.
Countless legions were stationed there, their banners rising like a forest.
In low orbit, an enormous ring-shaped space station turned slowly.
It was formed from countless connected alchemical platforms, shipyards, warehouses, teleportation arrays, living quarters, and more. Runes flowed across it like stars in a galaxy. At every moment, legions teleported in or out through the ring.
Light flashed without cease, day and night.
The planet had been turned entirely into a fortress and military base.
Its name was Helios.
In Ancient Dragon Language, the name carried meanings of sun, sacredness, and heart.
But in the records of the Sacred Aura Empire, the planet had another, more direct name.
Expeditionary Heart.
Helios Star, the Expeditionary Heart, was the supreme command center of every legion in the Great Expedition.
All vital communications and strategic deployments across Sacred Aura's expeditionary worlds passed through it. Every order and battle report converged here before being sent onward, and the distribution of supplies was coordinated here as well.
Its supreme commander was Sacred Aura's Iron Prince, its Iron Regent.
Sorog Ignas.
In fact, Iron Dragon Sorog had proposed the plan to transform Helios Star in the year 1200 of the imperial calendar, as the Great Expedition advanced.
By then, the expedition had already lasted two hundred years.
The number of worlds under the empire's command kept growing, and its united imperial alliance kept expanding. The Aura Legion had spread out, making its command structure increasingly complex. An order from the top often had to pass through many worlds before reaching those below, wasting far too much time.
Iron