Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 371: Shadows of the Xelvans

From the memories, they learned that Ikerth had left the universe shortly after encountering Sarina, sometime during Miranda’s initial search for him and before the Pinecone Galaxy incident happened.

They also found that among the last people Ikerth had met were Heilong and Eldros, and that meeting had happened in front of this Dragon Lord, Tasir, one of Ikerth’s Lieutenants.

Ikerth had arranged for his core subordinates to escape at different times, from different locations, and to different destinations after Miranda began dismantling all his businesses and establishments across the Vela Galaxy and beyond, following the Zotov incident.

It turned out Ikerth had introduced Eldros and Heilong to the Neo-Extinction Legion, and while Heilong had joined them outright, Eldros only worked with them to pursue his plan of seizing certain Estean Werewolf Territories in order to expand his influence, a scheme Miranda had foiled when she found and defeated one of his collaborators.

Miranda and Richard sifted through records of various conversations from different meetings Tasir had been present for, until she came across one that offered a lead on Ikerth’s whereabouts.

It was a line Ikerth had spoken to Tasir before departing: "I’ll head over first. Lay low and gather everything else before coming over."

This meant that wherever Ikerth had gone, Tasir was headed there as well.

Miranda ordered a search of the locations stored on the ship’s warp drive, only to learn that when Tasir had been discovered, he had already wiped the logs and smashed the ship’s main console before being captured.

"He cleared the logs? Then that means they existed at some point. Nothing a bit of basic time or recovery magic can’t handle," Richard remarked, having the soldiers escort him to the damaged console while he and Miranda continued combing through Tasir’s memories.

They soon uncovered another exchange, this one between Tasir and Eldros, which had taken place before Miranda stormed Zanerth-O1 to strip the Main Entities of their power.

In that conversation, Eldros had voiced his intent to go to ’where Ikerth was’, but Miranda had shown up soon after, forcing him to flee to a nearby giant-ruled galaxy, where she had eventually caught him.

That event had prompted Tasir to move to this galaxy, where he was now apprehended while trying to escape.

They also saw memories of Tasir receiving orders from the Dragon Supreme who had died three days ago, suggesting that the ones that dragon had been attempting to contact was most likely Tasir’s group.

That was the last of the useful memories they could extract, so the search ended there.

Miranda then turned her attention to combing through the rest of the ship, determined to find out what Tasir had been trying to collect that would make him remain in the Universe this long, despite knowing she was hunting Ikerth, his boss, and anyone tied to them.

During her search, she uncovered a stockpile of galvanised Ruindeum weapons, enough to arm an intergalactic army.

Continuing, she arrived at the ship’s main vault and, after carefully dismantling the numerous layers of protective and concealment magic cast upon it, finally opened it to find something that caused her expression to turn completely blank.

"This... Xelvan weapons!!"

Her loud exclamation made the Argent soldiers instinctively flinch, each of them wondering what these ’Xelvan Weapons’ could possibly be for it to draw such a reaction from her.

|Richard! Get to the vault, now!|

She called in her True Voice, and within moments Richard emerged through a Tier 10 Spatial Magic Gate, having left the restoration magic repairing the ship’s console running in his absence.

"What’s u-huh? Isn’t that the Xelvan Empire’s...?"

He immediately recognised the objects laid out before them as creations of the Xelvan Empire, their origin made unmistakable by the distinctive insignia that the Xelvans always engraved onto their work.

The vault contained an assortment of weaponry, ranging from massive mountable plasma cannons intended for use on space battleships to standard energy pistols designed for mid-range combat.

There was also something unusual, secured within a sealed container that was guarded by even more layers of protective magic than the vault itself. Inside it was a four-metre-tall obelisk, its surface covered in countless magic circles and runes.

The name ’Xelvan’ had been mentioned on several occasions in the past.

Back when Jamie was still on his Space Odyssey in Pinecone, Orikar, a summoner of Planet Kaelithis, had attempted to harness the power of summons in order to reopen the dimensional rift from which Kaelithis had once been invaded.

This rift had been sealed with the ’Stellar Keystone’, a vessel that, unbeknownst to them, contained a fragment of Jamie’s manifested Aspectual Power.

Jamie’s mere presence had disrupted Orikar’s preparations, and a chain of subsequent events had ultimately led to the complete collapse of his plan.

Because of this, Jamie had never learned that the world Orikar had been trying to connect to contained Xelvan Technology.

Now then, what exactly made ’Xelvan Technology’ so significant?

To understand that, one first had to know about the Xelvan Empire itself.

This was a vast Multi-Universal power that, more than 450 million years ago, was equal to the Zanerth Empire in might and influence.

The Xelvans were not a single species or unified nation in the traditional sense, but rather a grand conglomerate of plutocratic, commercial, and industrial powers bound together by a single trade language and a common goal: the pursuit of financial profit, which they elevated to the level of quasi-religious sacrament.

They amassed their wealth through the creation and sale of highly advanced technologies, with their primary trade being in weaponry, which they supplied to other universes and even to other Multi-Universal Empires.

Few were aware of it, but the Xelvans had played a role in the war against the original Extinction Legion, acting as their main weapons supplier.

This was due to the fact that nearly all planets and organisations within Zanerth capable of producing weaponry powerful enough to make a difference in a universal-scale war were under strict protection and surveillance.

As a result, the Extinction Legion was forced to look beyond the Universe for armaments, and it was the Xelvans who answered their call, eagerly selling weapons to the Destruction Supreme and even harbouring intentions to salvage Zanerth’s native technologies once the war was over.

More than that, they went so far as to deploy their mercenaries into the conflict to directly support the Extinction Legion, despite receiving explicit warnings from the powers of Zanerth not to go beyond weapon sales.

This decision ultimately sealed their fate and became the reason the Xelvan Empire now exists only in history.

Had they limited themselves to selling weapons, it might have been overlooked. But their choice to send mercenaries, even after repeated warnings, proved disastrous, especially since those mercenaries were responsible for killing several of Jamie’s subordinates, and even one of his favoured disciples, during the war.

As a consequence, they soon found themselves facing the wrath of a furious Zenith Heaven Realm existence in the aftermath of the Destruction Supreme’s death. Within a mere twenty-four hours, Jamie had slaughtered the entire Xelvan leadership and annihilated all of their core universes.

With their leaders gone, the Xelvan Empire collapsed swiftly, torn apart by conflicting ambitions, greed, and clashing interests, as multiple splinter factions attempted to seize power in their stead.

None of these successor groups managed to rise to the former heights of the Xelvan Empire, as Jamie’s allies in other Multi-Universal powers, many of whom had long disliked the Xelvans, intervened and crushed their attempts.

Thus, the Xelvan Empire’s reign came to an end.

As a side note, the fact that Jamie was already a Zenith Heaven Existence during the reign of the Destruction Supreme should serve as an indication of just how powerful he was, despite the latter being called ’Supreme’.

Anyways, neither Jamie nor his allies were able to eradicate every splinter group, as several had already fled during his purge of their leaders and high nobles.

To this day, Xelvan technology can still be found circulating through underground markets in many universes, with certain splinter groups continuing to manufacture weapons using techniques they had managed to salvage.

Their creations remain highly sought after by powerhouses, even if there was always the risk that some of these so-called Xelvan weapons were counterfeits.

However, Miranda and Richard were certain that the Xelvan weapons before them were genuine.