When the Inquisition fleet returned to Earth, they had already destroyed both the Elites' Urs system and the Brutes' Doisac system.
Of course, the reason was simple—
for Duanmu Huai, since he was already out here anyway…
destroying one star system or two made no real difference.
On the way back, he also stopped by Installation 05 and blew it into fragments.
He knew that 05 sealed a Gravemind.
Originally, the plan in the original plot was that the Covenant idiots would trigger the release, but Duanmu Huai couldn't be bothered with plot flow.
He simply obliterated the entire ring and the Gravemind inside it in open space.
And after destroying two star systems, Duanmu Huai naturally gained something as well—
his Annihilation Domain absorbed the souls of the vast number of aliens who perished on those worlds.
But Duanmu Huai obviously had no intention of recruiting these enemies of humanity as subordinates.
He directly threw these billions of souls into the Judgement Furnace inside his Annihilation Domain, refining them into experience points.
This raised his God of Destruction class by one level, to Level 6.
This was the true meaning of "the general's success is built upon ten thousand bones."
But for a God of Destruction, obliterating star systems was merely performing his job.
No conflict there.
"I imagine that after this, the Covenant will not have the strength to launch any major offensive for a while."
Duanmu Huai escorted Admiral Hood off the ship and said this calmly.
"Heh… perhaps for a very long time, they won't be planning anything of that sort again."
Hood chuckled.
To be honest, even now he still felt as though everything he had witnessed was a dream.
But his scientists had indeed confirmed supernova events from the two destroyed systems.
So Hood could be certain that it wasn't a trick or an illusion—
the Inquisition had truly destroyed two Covenant star systems by themselves…
achieving something the UNSC could not even imagine, much less accomplish.
He could now assume that for a long time to come, the Covenant would have no ability to attack humanity again.
"They simply cannot—not that they do not wish to."
Duanmu Huai clearly wasn't as relaxed as Hood.
"So… the Inquisition intends to continue fighting the Covenant?"
"Of course. It is our duty. And… I have also prepared a small gift for them."
"???"
Although he was very curious what this "small gift" was, since Duanmu Huai didn't elaborate, Hood wisely didn't press further.
After some polite conversation, Hood took his leave, and Duanmu Huai returned to the flagship.
"Knight, you don't seem to be planning to get too deeply involved with them?"
As a princess, Ann might act carefree most of the time, but when it came to political nuance, the little girl was surprisingly perceptive.
"Of course not. The UNSC is unlike the forces we've encountered before. They are a functioning political entity, so the Inquisition does not intend to interfere too much."
Duanmu Huai shook his head.
In Star Sea Online, each player had different views on the independent human factions across the galaxy.
Some players completed a faction's questline, got emotionally attached, then pledged loyalty to that faction.
Others acted like mercenaries—following whoever paid more, as long as they didn't violate Inquisitorial principles.
Some went full completionist, collecting goodwill from every human faction.
But that required terrifying levels of grind—each faction had a storyline comparable to a full single-player game.
And the galaxy had hundreds or thousands of independent human factions…
Only a true grind god could finish them all.
Now, none of these routes worked for Duanmu Huai.
He was the only "player" here, and he didn't have grind-god stamina.
So he adopted the mercenary-players' approach:
Just make contact, show that the Inquisition holds no hostility, and tell them they can ask him for help in the future.
But beyond that, the Inquisition would not intervene in the internal conflicts of independent human factions.
For example—
If the Guardian Civilization or the UNSC faced alien threats or demonic incursions, the Inquisition would intervene.
But if the Guardians and UNSC went to war with each other, or had internal rebellions, the Inquisition would not intervene at all.
Internal human wars were simply natural selection—unless Chaos, xenos, or heresy was involved, the Inquisition stayed out.
Strictly speaking, the UNSC had little real value to Duanmu Huai anyway—
their technology had nothing worth taking.
Of course, they did have one famously cost-effective product—
the pistol.
Yes—the UNSC sidearm.
In the game, it was a bestseller across the galaxy.
Players universally praised it: powerful, portable, two shots to break shields, one headshot kill.
Far more reliable than assault rifles and SMGs.
It even had a zoom function—people used it like a sniper rifle.
Many players made a killing selling them.
But Duanmu Huai didn't care about becoming an arms dealer.
He'd already introduced the UNSC to the wandering merchant Dardanelle.
Whether he wanted to buy or sell was up to him.
"So what are we doing next?"
"Going to a planet for an adventure."
"Adventure?"
Ann's eyes lit up instantly.
Floating around in a warship fighting space battles was extremely boring for her—she had nothing to do.
Hearing the word "adventure," she perked up immediately.
"Where are we going??"
"Heh, you'll know when we get there."
Duanmu Huai only smiled.
Their next destination was—
Onyx.
Yes—the prison world that held a Forerunner.
Duanmu Huai had already transmitted the coordinates of that world through the Covenant network, telling them he planned to kill the Forerunner and even kindly inviting them to watch.
He was certain that, given the Covenant's worship of the Forerunners, they would absolutely not ignore this message—
or their entire belief system would collapse.
And when the Covenant arrived at Onyx, Duanmu Huai would kill the imprisoned Forerunner Precursor right before their eyes and seize the Forerunner ship Keyship as punishment for the Forerunners' destruction of the Imperial Expeditionary Force.
Since the Forerunners believed they were destined to inherit the Mantle and rule the galaxy…
and were only spared from extinction by the mercy of the ancient Necron-like beings…
now that they had provoked the Inquisition, Duanmu Huai would show them the true meaning of failure.
And show the Covenant how their "gods" died at human hands.
This would be a psychological strike of the highest order.
Duanmu Huai was curious how the Covenant would react.
Indeed, just as he expected, the Covenant was now in shock and fury.
When the Covenant leadership learned of the destruction of two star systems, they could hardly believe it.
This was even more unbelievable than the annihilation of the Special Righteous Fleet.
But then they received Duanmu Huai's message transmitted through the Covenant network—
and they were enraged.
In the message, Duanmu Huai declared that the Inquisition would exterminate the Forerunners entirely.
He said he was going to a planet called Onyx to kill the "sleeping" Forerunner there and take its corpse as a trophy.
For a civilization that believed themselves the Forerunners' successors, this was intolerable provocation.
But more shocking—and enticing—was one detail revealed in the message:
There was still a living Forerunner.
"We must welcome the return of the Great Precursor!"
The Prophet of Mercy hammered his armrest, nearly screaming.
The Prophet of Truth frowned deeply, silent.
"Forgive my bluntness, holy Prophet,"
a Sangheili fleetmaster spoke up.
"but I suspect this is a trap. A trap for the Inquisition to wipe us out. If we go to Onyx, we may lose everything…"
"Are you suggesting we stand by and watch the Great Precursor be murdered by those filthy, vile, disgusting humans?!"
The Prophet of Mercy glared furiously.
The Elite fell silent—
their caste had always worshiped Forerunner relics as sacred, so they could not openly say they would abandon their creators.
This was an open conspiracy…
The Prophet of Truth was conflicted.
He understood perfectly well what the message implied.
The Covenant now had no choice.
If they went, they risked falling into the Inquisition's ambush and being annihilated.
If they didn't go, that meant abandoning their faith.
The Covenant existed because of their shared belief in the Great Forerunners—
that belief united their species.
If there really was a living Forerunner, and they allowed the Inquisition to kill it…
The Covenant's collapse would be inevitable.
No matter what they chose—
the Covenant's fate was destruction.
And now, there was only one path left.
"Gather all fleets. We go to Onyx."
"Prophet of Truth?!"
Everyone was shocked.
"You really intend to do this?"
"Of course. The Inquisition has challenged us openly. But we are not without hope.
Indeed, we may not be able to defeat the Inquisition…
but the Great Precursor can!
If we awaken the Great Precursor before they do, then we still have a chance!
With the Great Precursor's power, we will defeat the Inquisition!
Defeat those filthy, ugly humans!!"
Yes—this was the Prophet of Truth's only plan.
After hearing it, everyone agreed it was the only viable one.
The Inquisition had proven its might by destroying two star systems.
The Covenant could not win.
But—
the Forerunners might.
If they awakened the Forerunner, it could defeat the Inquisition.
The Covenant had studied Forerunner technology for countless years—
they knew better than anyone how powerful the Forerunners were.
They couldn't do it—
but the Forerunners could.
"Transmit the order. Gather all Covenant fleets. We depart for Onyx!!"
At last, the Prophet of Truth issued his command.
(End of chapter)