As they spoke, a loud explosion echoed from outside, penetrating even the thick walls. Luna felt a burning sensation; her skin began to peel, like a snake shedding its skin.

  Nanobots quickly dissolved the dead skin. Luna, her expression unchanged, asked, "What happened?"

  Chu gestured, and a section of the wall transformed into a 300-square-meter holographic dispy.

  A massive mushroom cloud billowed on the screen, rapidly dissipating, revealing Olive Branch beings seemingly collecting the released energy.

  "It seems those Changelings are getting bolder," Chu said, his tone ft.

  The bomb was quite powerful.

  Had the conflict escated into open warfare?

  But Chu's calm demeanor suggested this was within his expectations.

  "There might be casualties. Should we offer assistance?"

  Luna's offer was immediately rebuffed. Chu understood Luna's intentions—expanding the Federation's influence within the station.

  But watching a mouse attempting to steal an elephant's food was amusing.

  "No. There won't be any casualties."

  Chu extended a hand, touching two fingertips together.

  Luna was momentarily blinded; the intense fsh damaged her retinas, quickly repaired by the nanobots.

  After the light subsided, Luna's expression turned grim.

  The nanobots' analysis revealed that the fsh was a nuclear fission explosion.

  The Olive Branch beings were incredibly small, but Luna hadn't realized they could trigger fission within their own bodies.

  This required not only precise control over atoms but also the ability to withstand the energy released by fission.

  The Olive Branch's mechanical structure was far stronger than Luna had initially estimated, likely requiring over 10 million tons of TNT to inflict significant damage.

  Walking nuclear bombs.

  Luna understood the cause of the explosion.

  It wasn't a deliberate bombing; the Changelings and the traditionalists had cshed.

  The equivalent of an argument escating into a brawl.

  "My apologies; I must address this matter. It has been over two millennia since a nuclear device was detonated within Tilted Station."

  Chu, transforming into a wisp of bck smoke, departed. The structure around Luna disintegrated into countless cubes, leaving only the ptform beneath her feet, levitating.

  Luna considered a crucial question.

  How rge were these modur components?

  Were they centimeter-sized blocks, millimeters, or smaller?

  Perhaps even at the microscopic level, like the Olive Branch beings themselves? Could the entire station undergo nuclear fusion instantly?

  If fusion was possible, what about fission?

  Luna returned to the Federation's designated zone.

  She'd assumed that, given her connection to Chu, the Changelings would restrain themselves.

  They hadn't.

  The conflict within Tilted Station intensified over the next year; explosions occurred every few days. Chu seemed to have lost control.

  Luna sat in her office, gathering information, reclining in her chair, eyes half-closed.

  After a year of analysis, the pieces were falling into pce.

  "Ay was compromised long ago. Despite this, Chu allowed—perhaps even encouraged—the unrest."

  "This expins everything."

  But Luna still didn't understand Chu's motivation.

  The designated zone felt like an information quarantine; Luna's access was limited. She had only recently discovered that the Olive Branch beings could trigger nuclear fusion.

  She felt like a fish caught in a net.

  But she didn't regret entering Tilted Station.

  Remaining outside would have severely limited their intelligence gathering, leaving them at a greater disadvantage.

  And she was gd she'd come personally. Sending a subordinate would have been a disaster.

  The Olive Branch civilization clearly harbored hostile intentions towards the Federation. As Luna had suspected, peaceful coexistence between civilizations was unlikely; no civilization could truly trust another.

  Therefore, the Olive Branch's initial overtures of peace were a deception. What were their true intentions?

  "But Chu is pying along; he must be using my pn for his own purposes."

  "Then let's raise the stakes and see if he can handle it."

  Luna opened her eyes.

  She saw Ay entering.

  "Luna, Chu has agreed to cooperate against the Fiment civilization."

  "But he has a condition."

  Luna sat up straight, observing Ay. She wondered if Chu was controlling her directly.

  "What condition?"

  "He wants most of the Fiment civilization's territory and its subordinate civilizations, along with our tachyon communication technology."

  A lion's share.

  Luna pondered. "That's acceptable, but we also have a condition."

  "We have priority in choosing which territories we want."

  She wanted to agree immediately but feigned reluctance.

  "Fine. I'll transmit the message."

  Ay nodded, her demeanor less vibrant than usual. Since Luna had discovered Ay's compromise, she had seemed more like a simple robot.

  Luna wasn't used to this; she'd grown accustomed to Ay's presence, her jokes, and her assistance.

  This only fueled Luna's resentment towards Chu.

  But Chu's message, reyed through Ay, was crucial. The response time was particurly noteworthy.

  Luna estimated Chu would need at least 100 years to respond. Receiving a response within a year suggested that this pn benefited the Olive Branch civilization, perhaps indicating their pre-existing hostility towards the Fiment civilization.

  And the Olive Branch, cking tachyon communication, couldn't have received approval from their leader within a year. This implied that Chu hadn't consulted anyone, making the decision uniterally.

  This was a slip-up, likely intentional, designed to make Luna believe she had the upper hand.

  Regardless, the Olive Branch, having revealed its intentions, had fallen into Luna's trap.

  "We're both trapped in a net, equally matched."

  "Let's see who can escape first."

  Shortly after leaving, Ay returned with Chu's response.

  Chu invited Luna to witness the Olive Branch's resolve.

  ...

  Luna ascended from Tilted Station, reaching an altitude of over a million kilometers.

  Chu had cimed this was the best vantage point.

  From here, Luna's previous location was a tiny speck; Tilted Station remained vast and seemingly endless.

  The station was transforming, slowly, due to its immense size. Each component, however, was shifting at hundreds of kilometers per second.

  After a dozen days, a section of Tilted Station had transformed into a giant "I" spanning 5 AU.

  The "I" wasn't oriented vertically but horizontally.

  This surface cked any visible weapons, only a stepped, pyramidal indentation.

  Three days ter, Chu sent a message.

  "Complete."

  Luna was surprised; she hadn't seen anything.

  After descending, Chu expined.

  "The Federation's definition of a Type 2 civilization includes weaponizing the four fundamental forces. I concur."

  "But the most practical rge-scale application involves electromagnetism, not the strong or weak forces, or gravity."

  "The strong and weak nuclear forces require particles for activation. Only gravity acts without particles, its effects instantaneous, not limited by the speed of light."

  "Twelve thousand years ago, our scientists researched ways to weaponize gravity. We have achieved this. What you saw earlier was a demonstration of our supergravity weapon."

  Weaponizing gravity wasn't difficult; even the Purple Thorns possessed such technology.

  But Chu had added a crucial prefix: "super," which changed everything.

  "Super" implied supersymmetry, referring to a supersymmetry gravity weapon.

  While the Federation had indirectly proven the existence of gravitons, they hadn't yet explored supergravity. If supergravity exists, it implies not just a graviton, but also a corresponding anti-graviton.

  The Federation, cking the theoretical foundation, couldn't understand the underlying principles of a supergravity weapon, even if Luna had heard of it before.

  "Is this supergravity weapon based on gravitational waves or direct gravity manipution?" Luna asked after considering the possibilities.

  Chu smiled.

  "Gravity, of course. You'll witness its effects in 1178 years."

  Gravity's influence is instantaneous, while gravitational waves are limited by the speed of light.

  Chu's response meant the Olive Branch civilization possessed a faster-than-light weapon, capable of instantly striking any target.

  A terrifying prospect.

  However, gravity weakens with distance. Luna wondered how effective this weapon would be after traveling 1178 light-years.

  Chu's confidence, however, suggested considerable power.

  This was the Olive Branch's first dispy of power.

  "Our weapons are superior. This demonstrates our resolve," Chu stated.

  "What do you think?"

  Luna smiled.

  "Then I look forward to our cooperation."

  Despite her words, Luna was concerned.

  Logically, the Olive Branch's attack would draw the Fiment civilization's attention, making them enemies.

  This seemed beneficial to the Federation.

  But the Federation's own attack was still en route and would arrive ter, implying to the Fiment civilization that two advanced civilizations couldn't exist in such close proximity (less than 280 light-years). They would conclude that the attacking civilization had relocated, increasing their suspicion of the Federation.

  This was a significant issue; the Fiment civilization was powerful—more so than the Federation.

  If the Fiment considered the Federation a primary threat, it could cause significant problems; the Olive Branch could simply wait and watch.

  And the supergravity weapon itself was a dangerous revetion.

  "Then let's wait and see."

  Chu left, and Luna returned to her quarters, reying the information to Ay via tachyon communication.

  She also noticed that Tilted Station was moving closer to the Federation; it was now less than 250 light-years away, its trajectory seemingly towards the Federation's border.

  Luna then turned her attention to the Olive Branch's internal conflict.

  She supported Chu's faction.

  Her support, as an outsider, would exacerbate the situation—her goal.

  183 years ter, the Changelings made a significant move.

  They chose a spokesperson.

  This spokesperson would negotiate with Chu, demanding rights and concessions for the Changelings. Chu seemed to spend all his time arguing with this spokesperson.

  He appeared tireless.

  Luna continued to incite dissent, fueling the conflict against Chu.

  She didn't enter hibernation during this time.

  Without Ay's help, everything required her personal attention. Even a 100-year hibernation could disrupt her pns.

  995 years passed—1178 years since the unch of the supergravity weapon.

  Luna witnessed it.

  A star colpsed.

  A young star with billions of years left in its lifespan, suddenly colpsing.

  This wasn't natural; it was the supergravity weapon.

  Luna had spent years developing theories, trying to understand how a supergravity weapon could cause a star to colpse across such a vast distance—a feat beyond even a gamma-ray burst.

  Over a thousand light-years.

  Luna was awestruck.

  The Olive Branch had demonstrated the true power of a Type 2.4 civilization.

  Four years and two months ter, a powerful electromagnetic pulse struck Tilted Station, obliterating a section spanning over 1 AU and instantly killing the approximately 60 trillion Olive Branch beings residing there.

  This was the Fiment's retaliation.

  The 999-year debate ended abruptly. The Changelings and the traditionalists united against a common enemy. From atop Tilted Station's tallest structure, they decred war, a conflict spanning over a thousand light-years.

  Everything was proceeding according to Luna's pn.

  "The Fiment has retaliated. The war has officially begun."

  "This could be a conflict sting tens of thousands of years. The Gactic Federation is young, Luna. Are you truly prepared?"

  Chu was directing the transformation of a section of Tilted Station into warships.

  Luna's earlier suspicion was confirmed; Tilted Station was a massive, modur warship, possessing near-limitless energy and capable of dividing into smaller warships.

  Even these "smaller" warships dwarfed the Federation's ships—at least 300,000 meters long, far rger than their initial estimates upon arriving at Tilted Station.

  Only after understanding the Olive Branch's modur nature could Luna grasp the deception behind the spaceport's design.

  "Of course. This war is our initiative."

  "Chu, you should know the Federation defeated the Purple Thorns. Young civilizations are often more aggressive."

  Luna emphasized "aggressive," hoping Chu understood the Federation wasn't afraid of war, not just against the Fiment but also against the Olive Branch. The Olive Branch, possessing knowledge of the Fiment civilization located over 1000 light-years away, would have been aware of the Purple Thorn's presence and their activities.

  "Very well."

  "The vast distances prevent us from accurately assessing each other's strength. Only through direct combat can we determine the victor."

  "Our fleet will be ready within two Federation years. Use your tachyon communicator to inform your leader."

  A campaign.

  Spanning over a thousand light-years.

  Chu was more decisive than Luna had anticipated.

  "Understood."

  Project Holy Grail was designed to deceive the Olive Branch.

  But it was more than that; both Luna and Ay had considered the Fiment's potential retaliation, potentially triggering a war between the two civilizations.

  Therefore, they needed to enlist the Olive Branch's help; if a war occurred, they would be allies.

  This was beneficial to the Federation.

  Luna compared this to internal and external conflicts; a third party was needed to resolve internal conflicts between the Federation and the Olive Branch, just like the current situation within the Olive Branch.

  This would stall the Olive Branch, giving the Federation time to develop further.

  Luna accessed the tachyon communicator, sending an encrypted message to Ay, a necessary precaution; the Olive Branch might have developed tachyon interception technology.

  While Luna didn't know the specifics of this technology or its complexity, this was an inherent disadvantage in interstelr warfare—never knowing the enemy's capabilities or hidden weapons.

  It's like a martial arts master transported to the 21st century. Believing himself invincible, he wouldn't anticipate that an ordinary police officer with a gun could easily defeat him.

  The martial arts master couldn't comprehend the existence of firearms, just as Luna couldn't comprehend the Olive Branch civilization's hidden technological advancements.

  After transmitting the message, Luna waited. After 100 days, she received a reply.

  "Preparations complete. Deploying 60 standard fleets against the Fiment civilization."

  Standard fleets were the Federation's main warships. When Luna left, the Federation only had 17 main fleets and 6 reserve fleets. They now possessed enough resources to deploy 60 fleets—a testament to their growth.

  But over 3000 years had passed.

  The Federation's conquest of the Purple Thorns seemed like a distant memory.

  Due to the tachyon communicator's limited bandwidth, Luna didn't know the Federation's current status. Had they followed the original pn?

  Along with this message, Luna had also transmitted information about Tilted Station, receiving confirmation from Ay.

  "Luna, you theorized that Tilted Station cks rge-scale energy generation and that the Olive Branch civilization utilizes supergravity weapons. Therefore, I believe they are using gravitational potential energy."

  Gravitational potential energy involves harnessing gravity to generate power.

  Humans have long utilized gravitational potential energy—watermills, for example.

  Gravity causes water to flow downwards, turning the water wheel and generating kinetic energy.

  Ay suspected the Olive Branch used a simir method, though far more advanced, perhaps using a substance other than water to convert gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy and then into electromagnetic energy.

  Or perhaps, they could directly convert gravity into electromagnetism, though this was unlikely, seemingly impossible.

  Since the Olive Branch didn't utilize stars as a primary energy source, Luna felt there was only one possibility.

  The Olive Branch harnessed Tilted Station's massive gravitational field, generating energy for its own use.

  Since gravity is a curvature of spacetime, gravitons merely mediating the force, gravity itself isn't consumed; it's a near-limitless energy source, existing as long as spacetime exists.

  Luna considered this a pusible theory.

  She closed the tachyon communicator and contacted Chu.

  "Our fleet is ready."

  Chu confirmed.

  "Ours as well."

  After traveling over 200 light-years, both fleets arrived near the Orion Nebu within a year.

  Luna observed that the Olive Branch warships had exceeded 31,000 km/s, more than 10% the speed of light.

  The Federation's current maximum speed was still below 10% the speed of light. And since Tilted Station was closer to the Fiment civilization, the Olive Branch would arrive first.

  But even at that speed, the Olive Branch fleet would take 11,400 years to reach their destination.

  An incredibly long journey.

  Chu's prediction of a war sting tens of thousands of years, just the travel time alone exceeding ten millennia.

  After a long silence, Luna simply said,

  "Insane."

  ...

  After the Olive Branch fleet departed, the conflict within Tilted Station, while less frequent, persisted. Nuclear explosions, previously occurring every few days, were now monthly occurrences.

  And these explosions were getting closer to Luna's zone, the most recent occurring within the Federation zone, causing casualties among the soldiers.

  Luna suspected this was due to her support of Chu, angering the Changelings, who, unaware of Luna's maniputions, now considered her an enemy.

  Luna protested, accusing the Changelings of attempting to disrupt retions between the Federation and the Olive Branch—a mere formality.

  Escating conflict was precisely her goal.

  The greater the internal chaos, the better. The recent attacks provided the necessary catalyst.

  Luna continued her maniputions, associating herself with Chu, becoming a target of resentment, further eroding Chu's authority.

  After approximately 1600 years, when the Changelings' numbers exceeded ten trillion, Luna made her move.

  She supported a leader within the Changelings, a leader who would repce Chu. This leader's position, unlike Chu's, would rotate annually.

  The Changelings, believing "anyone can lead," rallied behind this idea. Within ten years, their number swelled from ten trillion to forty-eight trillion.

  A true contagion.

  Luna felt like she had unleashed a pgue upon the Olive Branch; she even wondered if Chu could contain it.

  Then, Luna received news that eased her concerns.

  The interstelr Silk Road was complete, and traders were active along its routes.

  These "traders" were a mix of legitimate merchants and Federation agents.

  They weren't living beings but liquid metal androids created by Ay—fearless warriors, more resilient than any organic lifeform.

  Ay, knowing the Olive Branch civilization's technological prowess, had upgraded these androids' firewalls. Their chips weren't protected by traditional firewalls but a more advanced system—their internal data was essentially random noise, making decryption impossible.

  This system resembled a sentient mind's thought processes; living beings constantly have random thoughts. Even telepathy would be ineffective.

  Trying to read a teenager's mind might only reveal random thoughts about celebrities, video games, or homework.

  This simution greatly increased the androids' reliability.

  These androids, designed to assist Luna, could survive in space. By deactivating, they resembled metallic asteroids, gradually approaching Tilted Station.

  If Luna needed assistance, they would arrive within years rather than millennia.

  Despite this, Luna remained cautious; unexpected events were always a possibility.

  This game of interstelr strategy was still in its early stages.

  ...

  The first 2000 years of the joint military operation concluded.

  Luna observed the destruction of a star along the Olive Branch's trajectory.

  This wasn't a consequence of war but a deliberate act by the Olive Branch.

  They were destroying stars.

  Why?

  Luna recalled Ay's theory about Tilted Station utilizing gravitational potential energy.

  If the Olive Branch warships were extensions of the station, they would ck the mass to generate sufficient gravitational potential energy. Therefore, they must use an alternative power source.

  Luna suspected that the warships didn't use antimatter, dark matter, fusion, or fission—they relied on stored energy.

  This expined the star's destruction; they were extracting its energy. Luna suspected that, to fuel their war with the Fiment civilization, they would likely destroy more than one star.

  "Observations show minimal energy absorption. The star's colpse was likely caused by forced energy extraction, destabilizing it."

  This destruction was more accurately a form of stelr degradation—forcing main sequence stars to colpse into red dwarfs. Red dwarfs, however, would be spared. The Olive Branch warships would extract some energy but wouldn't remain long; extracting energy from red dwarfs was too inefficient.

  Truly destructive behavior.

  Subsequent observations confirmed Luna's hypothesis.

  Like locusts, they left a trail of destruction across the thousand light-years, each warship consuming approximately 0.5–1% of a star's energy.

  Based on their estimated energy consumption, they would likely destroy over 100 stars.

  Luna saw the strategic value in this.

  Light travels faster than ships; the Fiment civilization would detect the stelr destruction before the Olive Branch fleet arrived.

  This would undoubtedly unsettle them. A civilization capable of such destruction was a force to be reckoned with.

  Luna's long-standing assessment pced the Federation between Type 2.1 and 2.2, the Fiment between Type 2.2 and 2.3, and the Olive Branch between Type 2.4 and 2.5.

  Even for the Fiment, the Olive Branch was a formidable opponent.

  The situation resembled the te Eastern Han dynasty, before the Three Kingdoms period. The Olive Branch was Cao Cao, the Fiment was Sun Quan, and the Federation was Liu Bei.

  And Liu Bei (the Federation) had seemingly allied with Cao Cao (the Olive Branch). But both knew this was a temporary alliance.

  3400 years ter.

  Chu contacted Luna. The Olive Branch fleet was now 600 light-years from the Fiment civilization.

  Luna, marveling at the passage of time, observed Tilted Station. Over a quarter of its inhabitants were now Changelings.

  This was a significant number, threatening Chu's control.

  "Time for the endgame."

  If the unrest escated into open war, it would cripple the Olive Branch civilization.

  But Luna hesitated.

  Everything had gone too smoothly.

  ...

  "Chu isn't essential."

  "We make the decisions; he takes the credit."

  "Lead us? On what basis?"

  "We should establish term limits for leadership. This would prevent stagnation. Look at what's happened under Chu's long reign."

  "Chu didn't even consult us before attacking the Fiment, leading to their retaliation and the deaths of trillions of our comrades."

  "And the cooperation with the Gactic Federation? Those people are merely Chu's puppets, spending millennia supporting him."

  "..."

  Resentment simmered, approaching a boiling point.

  Millennia had passed—6729 years since their arrival at Tilted Station; the year was 18,926 A.D.

  Everything led to this moment.

  The Changelings spread a list of Chu's failures throughout Tilted Station.

  These failures highlighted Chu's inaction over the past 14,000 years. While Tilted Station had been developing, it was merely incremental progress.

  Did the Olive Branch civilization need a leader for routine development?

  No.

  They needed breakthroughs, leaps in advancement to propel them forward.

  They used this as justification for their rebellion.

  A colossal, spherical arena, over 5 million kilometers in diameter, resembling a stadium, levitated in space, surrounded by a dense throng of Olive Branch beings.

  At its center was a 5-kilometer cube. The Changeling leader and Chu stood upon it.

  The leader addressed the crowd.

  "What has he given us?"

  "Nothing!"

  "All progress is due to our efforts."

  "Our leader has merely enjoyed the fruits of our bor. He bears no responsibility; our civilization needs change."

  "If this continues, we will stagnate, becoming corrupt and decadent."

  "He has ruled for far too long. He is responsible for our current state. It's time for a new generation to lead."

  "Consider this: ten thousand years ago, we discovered the Gactic Federation. We should have attacked, crushing them as we did before. But what did we do instead?"

  "Cooperate with a weak civilization? How absurd!"

  "What was our approach? We annihited them, subjugated them. All other civilizations are insects, barbarians, incapable of coexistence. They will never understand the glory of the Gas."

  The leader's words incited fervor among the crowd.

  Luna, having listened intently, gleaned two crucial pieces of information.

  The Olive Branch civilization hadn't always been peaceful; they had previously conquered and destroyed other civilizations.

  This wasn't surprising; a benevolent civilization wouldn't have reached its current scale; progress often involves aggression.

  The second piece of information was the name "Gas Glory."

  "Gas Glory was the second leader who shaped the Olive Branch civilization," a voice announced.

  Luna turned to see Ay approaching.

  Chu was about to strike.

  "The Olive Branch name symbolizes peace, but also resilience and longevity—qualities associated with olive trees in your records."

  "Our civilization strives for immortality, free from disease and age. Our mechanical bodies grant us near-eternal life."

  "Gas Glory is a form of unity. It's difficult to understand—trillions of minds merging into a single entity. I experienced this for a time. It was terrible; I was constantly being assimited. That was the limit of Gas Glory."

  Gas Glory represented a form of stagnation, where all minds merged into a singur entity. What was the difference between this and a single mind?

  "Therefore, the leader is, in essence, a Changeling," Luna repeated Chu's expnation of the leader's role.

  She didn't understand.

  What was the leader's purpose?

  The rate of advancement was virtually identical whether a civilization was led by one or two individuals.

  "Correct, and incorrect."

  "Perhaps the term 'leader' carries connotations of dominance in your culture, but it isn't."

  "My role is essentially error correction. In a shared consciousness of hundreds of trillions of beings, what happens when an error occurs?"

  Chu, his gaze intense, stared at Luna. They were three meters apart.

  "Correcting the error?"

  "No!"

  "That's wrong!"

  "Errors are eliminated, not corrected. Correction is modification; elimination is making the error correct. After an incorrect judgment, the shared consciousness works to understand, reinterpret, and rationalize the error until a logical expnation emerges, effectively eliminating the error. It becomes 'truth'."

  "Like a bck spot on a white piece of paper; they paint it bck, but the spot still exists; it's merely hidden."

  Luna sensed Chu's deep-seated resentment towards this process.

  "My task is to find errors and expose them, ensuring they are addressed, not simply rationalized away."

  That was the error; the leader's role was correction.

  Luna considered this. "Are you saying you have no control over Tilted Station?"

  If so, many assumptions would be invalidated.

  Chu's control was indirect, maniputing the shared consciousness by presenting errors.

  "Correct. And you should know why you're wrong," Ay said, a smile on her face.

  Luna's assumptions were wrong. Targeting Chu was pointless; she was merely an external element. A game or program functions regardless of whether it has cheats. Chu's removal wouldn't affect Tilted Station.

  "But something's wrong!"

  Luna looked at Ay, seeking insight.

  "If you were part of the shared consciousness, you would sacrifice yourself without hesitation."

  "But you wouldn't. You won't compromise."

  "You're here to bring me into the game!"

  Ay—or perhaps Chu—smiled.

  "Since you understand, let's go. That so-called leader's words are nauseating, simir to the rhetoric I've encountered with other shared consciousness civilizations."

  Luna finally understood Chu's goal.