Chapter 14: ch-14 The Ascendency
"Well... it all happened like this," William began, his voice carrying a weight only Elsa could fully understand.
He unfolded the tale—one born from ambition, strategy, and the kind of long-game only beings like them could play.
In his previous controlled reincarnation, he chose a universe ruled not by cultivation, but by pure technology. A realm where spiritual energy was myth, and science dictated reality.
He was reborn into the Terra Empire — a vast human dominion spanning galaxies — as the son of a powerful duke. From there, William began his journey. With strategic brilliance and a mind forged in countless past lives, he joined the Terra Empire’s Space Navy. He climbed the ranks fast, surviving mission after mission where death was almost certain. His calculated daring, his refusal to break, earned him not only victories but the loyalty of thousands across the empire.
By age 23, he was appointed Supreme Marshal of the Terra Navy — a rank never held by anyone outside the imperial family since the empire’s founding. But this wasn’t the emperor’s decision alone. The Terra Council — a body equal in power to the throne, charged with safeguarding the empire and overseeing the navy — saw in William something rare: potential, power, and purpose.
One year later, word spread through the galaxy: the mechanical race, long extinct, had stirred or remained. Their legendary home world, Utopia, once thought lost, had resurfaced.
He had planned to awaken the Ragnarok Ascendant—the very dreadnought he’d designed himself when he reached utopia.
According to ancient records, Utopia held a weapon of mass destruction — a relic powerful enough to shift the balance of the galaxy. The emperor summoned William and gave him a mission: seize control of Utopia before anyone else could.
He accepted, unaware of the trap waiting for him.
The mission was meant to be covert. Fast. Clean.
Until it wasn’t.