While Xi Yan closed his borders and carried out a massive infrastructure program at home, the Great Khan's Golden Holy War Khanate finally finished absorbing the territory of Minamar Specialized Industries and began the next stage of its westward campaign.
The Space Nomads swept west under the Great Khan's leadership, terrifying a vast swath of nations in the western Milky Way. The Sea of Stars at this moment was just like Earth had been back then.
The Shroud marked planets, and shipload after shipload of rotting, stinking corpses was transported to the Shroud Planet. As new Brugan Necroids arrived on occupied planets aboard colony ships, they immediately took up their posts in silence and began producing resources.
The End of the Cycle must have expended enormous power to create such a vast Necroid population. Destroying them would undoubtedly deal a tremendous blow to the Shroud.
The Heavenly People Holy Guardian Empire acknowledged this.
Bound by the laws of the universe, the Shroud could not directly interfere with reality. The End of the Cycle had to expend enormous amounts of energy to maintain spatial rifts, channel its power into the Shroud Planet, and transform those corpses into Necroid creatures.
It also had to keep whispering into the Great Khan's mind.
Hydra's mind was far too resilient. One slight lapse, and the Great Khan would break free of its control.
The nations of the Sea of Stars knew nothing of the Great Khan's actual condition. Their limited observations only allowed them to track where the Great Khan's fleets went.
The Holy World Guardians had been using the Sentinel Array within their territory to monitor the Great Khan's every move, synchronizing the data with Xi Yan in real time.
Inside the Ring World's command center, all intelligence on the Great Khan was openly