Intergalactic conquest with an AI

When Rex heard those harsh words, something inside him snapped. Rage and frustration boiled to the surface, and he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"What the hell do you expect me to do!?" he shouted out, his voice echoing through the virtual space.

"You said it yourself! I'm just a damn human who got lucky! I was nothing more than a corporate slave, stuck behind a desk, wasting away day by day until fate decided to toss me into this madness!" He glared at the Kaelzar emperor with burning eyes, shouting from the depths of his soul.

The emperor remained still for a few long seconds; his expression remained unreadable. Then he let out a soft hum, as if contemplating the outburst.

"Hmph. At least the little human knows how small and weak he is. That, at the very least, gives me a sliver of hope," the emperor finally said, his voice calm and cold. "Since you're the one carrying my legacy, even if only by chance, I suppose I should explain some things to you."

With a flick of his fingers, the ancient Kaelzar emperor summoned Rex's claymore into the air and caught it effortlessly in one hand. He looked at it with clear disapproval, almost disgust.

"This... this thing is one of your biggest mistakes," he said, holding the blade up. "You wear the crown of an emperor, and yet you wield a dull stick like a common savage? Are you an emperor or a wild animal with no sense of legacy?"

Then, without any effort, the emperor snapped the claymore in two with his bare hands. The sound of the breaking metal echoed ominously around them.

"You have the arsenal of a galactic emperor at your disposal. You walk around with the combined technology and will of an extinct empire at your back... and this, this pathetic excuse for a weapon, is the best you could come up with?!"

he growled, before suddenly pressing his hand down on Rex, pinning him to the ground with invisible force. Rex could hardly breathe under the weight.

After a few moments, the pressure lifted, and Rex gasped for air.

"Forget it," the emperor muttered. "There's no point in wasting time feeling disappointed. What you need is understanding. And since you're clearly too blind to figure it out on your own... I'll show you directly."

The emperor stepped forward and pressed a finger to Rex's forehead. The moment he touched him, golden lines of glowing tech like veins spread across Rex's skin.

His mind was immediately overwhelmed as a torrent of alien knowledge, encrypted languages, and long-lost blueprints from the Kaelzar Empire poured into his brain like a tidal wave.

Within seconds, Rex's body collapsed, and he fell unconscious from the sheer weight of the information. His avatar faded away from the virtual training chamber.

The emperor pulled his hand back and looked toward the empty space where Rex had been. Then, slowly, his gaze turned to the floating figure nearby... Mini Cleo, who had been silently watching everything.

"Well then," the emperor said, his voice dropping to a softer tone, "when are you going to stop hiding, my daughter?"

Mini Cleo's digital eyes, usually a light blue, suddenly shifted into a brilliant gold. It was a clear sign that the one speaking now wasn't the limited helper AI. It was Cleo herself, the fully sentient intelligence that had fused with Rex and inherited the legacy of the Kaelzars.

"Why?" Cleo asked softly, her voice carrying both confusion and pain. "Why did you decide to do this now?"

The ancient emperor looked at her for a long, silent moment, and his expression turned distant. "I thought my own daughter would be pleased to see me again. But I see now... you already knew I was here, sleeping inside the crown. You're exactly like your mother, always calculating, always watching from the shadows."

He then turned his back to her and raised his hand. The training chamber around them began to shift and shimmer, and in an instant, the entire environment changed.

Gone were the hard, simulated battlefields; now they stood on the streets of a once-great city. Towering spires rose high into the sky, their golden lights flickering with old memories.

The horizon was filled with grand architecture, strange alien transport ships, and massive statues of forgotten Kaelzar heroes.

"This is Kel Prime... the capital of our empire. Just as I remember it, frozen in time." His voice was softer now, touched with nostalgia.

The emperor began walking down the gleaming streets of his ancient home, his hands behind his back. Cleo floated silently behind him, golden eyes watching him with a mix of sorrow and caution.

"Come now, my daughter," he said without turning. "Walk with me. There is much we must talk about... and not much time left to do so."

The scenery of Kel Prime was breathtaking... grand, beautiful, and overflowing with signs of once-unimaginable technological advancement.

Towering structures shimmered with alien gold and platinum, floating roads curved through the air, and great spires stood tall like silent guardians of a long-lost age. But even with all its splendor, something about it felt... hollow.

It was like stepping into an old video game where the servers had long been shut down. The buildings were still there. The sky still glowed with artificial brilliance. The lights still blinked in sequence. But there were no people. No voices. No life. Just memories clinging to cold walls.

Cleo followed silently behind her father as he strolled down the ancient roadways. Neither of them spoke as their steps echoed against the polished floors of a forgotten civilization.

After a few quiet minutes, they reached what looked like a courtyard in a peaceful area surrounded by glowing trees and stone benches.

The Kaelzar emperor walked to one of the benches and slowly sat down. As he settled into place, he glanced at his hand. It was starting to break apart, pixel by pixel, like dust made of light and metal. Little fragments of glowing data floated upward and vanished.

"It seems... this afterimage of myself... the thought fragment I left behind in the crown is reaching its end," the emperor said calmly, as if discussing the weather. He looked up at Cleo, his eyes still glowing with that deep, ancient gold. "Well then, my daughter, ask what you wish. I will answer honestly. You deserve that much, at least."

Cleo didn't hesitate.

"What did you do to Rex?" she asked, her voice low but firm, her digital golden eyes staring straight into his.

The question made the emperor pause. For just a moment, his expression shifted since he was caught off guard. He hadn't expected that. From a being like her, an AI built as part of the Living Arsenal project showed emotions, and that was something that he didn't anticipate.

He studied her, curious now. His voice, though still calm, took on a sharper tone. "Hmm. So... you've grown fond of the human. Unexpected, but not entirely surprising. However, you must remember something important..."

"You are not one of them. You are not human. You come from different origins. You won't be able to fully connect with him, not in the way you imagine. You won't even be able to procreate with him."

He watched her closely as he spoke, hoping to catch a flicker of doubt or denial. But Cleo remained perfectly still. Her face was unreadable, but her golden eyes shimmered with something that words couldn't fully describe: resolve, defiance, maybe even love.

The emperor let out a deep, rumbling laugh.

"Hah. I see. You've already accepted it. You've made peace with what you are and what he is. Very well. I won't bring it up again."

His gaze softened slightly as he answered her original question.

"As for what I did to him, you may rest easy. I didn't harm him. On the contrary, I've given him what he lacked...."

"I transferred to him the full set of blueprints, every weapon, every tool, and every forgotten protocol once belonging to our imperial arsenal. And not just that, I also unlocked the parts of his bionic mind that can understand and control them."

He raised a dissolving hand and pointed toward the sky above them, which flickered briefly with scenes of ancient Kaelzar weaponry in action, from world-shattering cannons to self-repairing armor, and reality-warping blades.

"And since I noticed his mental stability was beginning to crumble under the weight of failure and pressure, I also upgraded your emotional limiter program inside him. It should help smooth out his emotional spikes and prevent another breakdown."

He looked at Cleo with a hint of something rare in his voice, something like concern.

"He's not strong enough yet. But now, at least, he has a fighting chance. The rest... is up to him. And maybe, just maybe, up to you as well."

Cleo floated silently in front of him, processing his words, the golden lights in her eyes reflecting the fading glow of her father's presence.

She then remained silent for a moment, as if calculating the consequences of her next question. The courtyard around them was still and quiet, the artificial sunlight casting long shadows across the empty streets of the dead capital.

Then, with the same cold, composed tone she always used, she spoke again with a calm, measured, but heavy meaning.

"...What am I?"

Her golden eyes stared directly at the Kaelzar emperor. Her expression did not change. Her voice didn't waver. But there was a subtle shift in the air, like a whisper from a locked memory, like a system quietly demanding the truth.