Chương 74: Chapter Twenty-Five, Part Two
THWACK-THUMP! THWACK-THUMP! THWACK-THUMP!
One thousand soldiers stood before him, locked in high intensity combat. Each one was identical, save for a stylized number hidden amongst their tribal tattoos. Darth Maul let the slightest trace of a smile drift onto his lips. Despite his continued confinement in this cursed, forceless world, he had been given a great gift.
"Happy, are we?" Ultron's voice grated away his good mood and left behind a sour taste. Maul turned and gave the droid a foul look.
"Never in your presence, insipid machine," He moved to walk from the chamber, but Ultron stopped him.
"Don't be so cranky," the A.I. 's face twisted in a grin as he offered Maul a metallic box. "It's time to finally give you your wish!"
"Your master has decided to recycle you?" Maul snorted as he shrugged free of the drone's grip. "It is a great day indeed!"
A burst of static filled laughter erupted from Ultron's throat. The A.I. waved a hand and displayed a hologram of the Republic Senate's central chamber. A vote was under way, to decide the next Chancellor.
"Your old friend Palpatine is about to get a promotion," Ultron zoomed in on the face of the stately fellow and locked it in place. "Soon, he will kill Plageus and assume control of the One Sith's legacy."
"Wonderful for him," Maul frowned. No love existed between him and his old master. The harsh upbringing he'd received from Sidious had made certain of that. Years of isolation, with only the callous Sith to call company, endless hours spent with combat droids to hone his skills.
"Indeed, but more wonderful for you!" Ultron walked forward and motioned for Maul to follow into the maze of hallways. "A friend of mine has come up with a plan, unnecessary but clever, if you ask me," the A.I. shook his head and sighed. "He wants you to land the finishing blow, to see if you can harvest the power of the One Sith for yourself."
"You want me to kill Master Sidious…" Maul's face shifted with his emotions. Greed and longing mixed with equal parts of fear and uncertainty. "I don't think you understand what he is…"
"Perhaps you're right, your magic has always held little interest to me," Ultron shrugged and opened a hidden door. The seamless wall slid into the floor and revealed an elevator. "Come discuss it with my friend, he is a magi as well as a scientist and he has spent the last five years crafting your master's death."
– – – –
"HOLY HELL!" Dan gasped, despite the lack of air in space. He'd never considered what it would be like to witness the inside of the zone with his own eyes. "How long were we in there, Venom?"
"Less than point zero - zero - one picosecond was spent within the phantom zone…" Venom's normally steady voice held a tremble of uncertainty. "We experienced far more time inside, but we are physically unaffected."
A ripple ran through his body as Dan shook off the last of the experience. He would have to get used to it, especially if he wanted the convenience of fast travel without a ship. Blue sunlight landed on his face, cast from this system's star, and triggered a memory.
"Did you see a light at the end there… like a very distant star?" Just before they returned, something had broken the featureless expanse, at least from Dan's perspective.
"We are… uncertain," Venom waffled. "We were focused on maintaining the connection that opened the return portal."
Dan shook his head. He would have to search again the next time they jumped. The comics, movies, and tv shows had a bunch of different variations of the phantom zone. Many had worlds, or even entire living universes within them.
"Let's scout this place for workable planets and move on," Dan raced toward the world closest to the star, prepared to work his way outwards. "I want to finish up as quickly as we can."
In Nolan's memories, the Coalition of Planets was the greatest threat to Viltrum. Dan would visit them as soon as he planted the fortress crystal. He could handle most of the Viltrumites that Omniman had met, one-on-one. Even two or three might be possible, if he gave everything he had. More than that would put him in trouble, not to mention their Emperor.
"This system isn't great," Dan drifted toward a planet, caught on an idea. "Venom, we're going to test our limits… get ready!"
Dan stirred the starfire of his ki, pulled from the endless ocean of lifeforce in his body. He channelled it into every cell, a stream of wondrous flame. His biofield became visible. A deep blue, spotted with static white. Thragg, Emperor of Vitrum, had destroyed entire worlds with his own hands. Dan was unsure if he could stand against the man alone.
Venom growled and joined his master's efforts. His own grey-blue ki joined the flow, seamless and well practised. Dan's biofield rippled, shifted to a midnight blue - flecked with stars. He turned to face the closest barren world, ready to do some experiments.
"First, let's see if I can figure out how to extend the biofield," Dan raced at top speed, until he floated just above the grey rock of the planet's moon. He placed a hand onto the sun warmed stone. "Superman could use his aura to instinctually carry whole planets, so I should be able to move this moon without breaking it up…"
He closed his eyes, focus divided between the connection his ki gave him to his biofield and a visualisation of what he wanted. A pair of hands to cup the world, hold the moon and carry it safe. The sensation was odd, as if he had grown large enough to grasp mountains like stones. Dan let his eyelids drift open, only to have them jerk up in surprise.
"That's a bit…" Dan gave a half-smile as he took in his work. The moon was wrapped in a layer of blackened starlight. "It looks like using Ki will make stealth operations pretty difficult."
His shoulders shrugged as he returned to task. Dan pushed, a slow up-ramp of force that sent a gentle rumped through the ground. Less than a tenth of his strength, no different than old memories of lifting a heavy box, and the moon shifted from its orbit.
A smile spread over Dan's face. He gave more force, careful to hold the moon together as he carried it in an arc around the system. He didn't play around like this in his own universe, concerned about showing too much about the real power of Krypton. Here, there was infinite time and no real concern about long term exposure.
"Let's try something bigger…" Dan let the moon tumble away, headed toward another barren world. The coalition turned the surface into a hellscape, planetary core exposed to the heavens. "If I can move actual planets around, things will be a bit simpler."
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
VendakSoth
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