Sitting in the floating car arranged by the Empire Government, Leon gazed down at the Holy Terra Palace.

This place felt both familiar and strange to Leon.

Familiar, of course, because the overall structure, general layout, and style of the Terra Palace haven’t changed much over ten thousand years. He had been here many times before and could recognize many places.

This made him rather sentimental, yet somewhat puzzled: Hasn’t ten thousand years passed? How has the palace scarcely changed?

It’s hard to say whether it’s because under the Emperor’s personal supervision back then, the palace was constructed excellently, or if humanity truly has made little progress over the ten thousand years...

Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

As for the so-called unfamiliarity, it lies in some of the few changes in the palace that are particularly conspicuous.

For example, the flags; besides the Empire’s double-headed eagle flag, there is also a blue shield and sword flag.

Is that supposed to be the flag of the Alliance?

How could it even be planted in the palace?

There are even more government officials bustling about in the palace than during the previous Empire era.

Take a look at the guards on duty. The mainstay, the most common, is certainly still the gold-armored, red-plumed Imperial Guard. However, outside the government agency’s gate, there are some blue-helmeted, silver-armored warriors doing sentinel work.

At first, Leon thought they were some Starfighter Battle Group that had received special approval.

Though that also didn’t quite add up, because when the Golden Knight Legion was newly established and stationed long-term on Holy Terra, they were not allowed by the Forbidden Army into the palace as guards, so how could an unfamiliar battle group?

Leon still remembers how arrogant those self-proclaimed personal guards of the Emperor were.

Could it be that their temper has improved now?

However, when he got closer and saw the specific appearance of those blue-helmeted, silver-armored warriors on guard, he dismissed his previous guess and was even more shocked.

Aren’t these the Forbidden Army?

Did they think I wouldn’t recognize them just because they changed their paint?

But changing the paint job clearly presents a bigger issue, doesn’t it? Aren’t they following traditions? Can the ancestral methods even change?

All these points made him feel too unfamiliar.

Yet he held back all his words, pressing them in his heart.

Only because earlier on, he had already been astonished.

After accepting the invitation to meet from Gu Hang and Robert, he initially thought it would take him a long time to see his old brother and the current highest leader of the Empire Government.

After all, he knew he was in a remote part of the Southern Border of the Imperial, and no matter what kind of voyage he took, it would take at least over a year to reach Holy Terra.

That would be with favorable winds all the way.

However, Dante said, is interstellar travel really such an inconvenient thing?

He claimed that the new Empire now possesses a more convenient, faster way of interstellar travel.

Although transmitting an army and the resources needed for it is costly, requiring the construction of a massive Veil Spirit Gate and consuming enormous amounts of energy during transmission, this special method is not easily employed unless absolutely necessary.

But if transporting a person, small groups of troops, or a small fleet normally, it’s extremely fast and convenient.

To be honest, if it weren’t for Dante’s proper appearance as a Battle Group Leader of the Blood Angel Corps with a glorious history, Leon would never have believed it, merely regarding it as a clumsy trap.

Even so, he remained highly vigilant.

He brought some of his guards, a group of Interstellar Warriors, and publicly stated these were so-called ’Pardon Angels,’ part of the Death Angel Battle Group. He also brought some elite mortal soldiers known as the ’Lion Guard.’

A party of several thousand crossed the Veil Spirit Gate constructed on the planet’s surface.

They arrived in Comoros.

Leon also has a relatively deep understanding of the Dark Spirit Race. Ten thousand years ago, the Human Empire also interacted with these cosmic pirates of the Dark Spirit Race, who skirmished everywhere.

At that time, among the enemies the Empire assessed, the Dark Spirit Race was a relatively low-priority opponent, primarily because the destruction they caused was relatively less severe compared to other Aliens. Compared to the magnitude of the Empire, they were more akin to pests like flies and mosquitoes—annoying, troublesome, harmful, and spreading disease, but not deadly.

Of course, with the chance to swat a mosquito dead, it definitely should be taken.

The key issue, however, was that their strength wasn’t really just like mosquitoes. They were few in number, without much expansion desire in the real universe, but when concentrated in one area for battle, they were strong; and their whereabouts were incredibly elusive, making it unrealistic to engage them in direct confrontations.

In the rare large-scale battles against the Dark Spirit Race, it was always them seizing the opportunity to bully humans with localized superior forces, rarely offering chances for humans to attack them with superior forces.

This owed to their mysterious lair, Comoros.

During the time Leon was active ten thousand years ago, he had conceived many extinction plans for various human enemies, including the Dark Spirit Race.

Regrettably, even he couldn’t find a way to eliminate this powerful race.

However, it was unexpected that now the new Empire had conquered it?

And it wasn’t just a simple conquest.

In Comoros, he saw quite a number of Dark Spirit Race members.

They were clearly in some form of enslavement.

Although the general Empire policy for Aliens is to eradicate them thoroughly, adopting flexible attitudes towards those with special technology or special uses isn’t out of the question.

At least, Leon wasn’t like some of the Empire’s conservative factions, who were dogmatic.

While using the Veil Spirit Gate for rapid spatial travel, he carefully evaluated the reliability of these technologies, instinctively pondering the effects of applying these technologies to war.

The more he thought, the more he felt that the Alliance’s approach was reliable.

Although he still couldn’t fathom how Gu Hang had managed to conquer Comoros, the outcome was right in front of him, making him even more curious about the upcoming meeting with Gu Hang and Robert.

The meeting took place much faster than imagined.

When he arrived at Holy Terra, riding the floating car into a palace now used as the Prime Minister’s residence, in the reception room, Robert and Gu Hang were already seated.

Gu Hang maintained his posture, smiling and politely welcoming Leon to sit.

And Leon’s gaze was fixed on Robert.

"You... haven’t changed a bit."

"You’ve aged a lot," Robert replied.