Chapter 990: Chapter 533

On the flagship of the Fury Flame Battle Group, the battle barge ‘Fire of Triumph’, an Interstellar Warrior with a bronze lower body and an upper body painted in bright orange, strode forward under the protection of a group of guards, heading straight for the command bridge.

The Mortal Auxiliary Army attempted to stop him, but were forcefully pushed aside by his guards.

He personally took charge, rudely pushing open the door to the bridge.

Wang Mengsong entered with large strides, followed by his guards.

The Fury Flame Warriors guarding the bridge had already heard the commotion outside.

Even though the ally’s arrival was expected, such a discourteous manner prompted them to place their hands on their weapons.

However, it was unlikely to escalate unless the ‘New World Torch’ warriors intended to make a move.

Wang Mengsong didn’t spare a glance at the tense Fury Flame Interstellar Warriors.

He was the Battle Group Leader of the ‘New World Torch’, boasting three hundred years of combat experience and essentially the first of the New World Torch warriors.

In reality, their entire warband was relatively young, having been established only three hundred years ago.

The military formation action three hundred years ago was named the ‘Faro Reconstruction’.

In the ‘Faro Reconstruction’, nine new battle groups were established to cope with the ever-growing regional threats in the Faro Domain within the Empire’s Southern Borderlands. After their formation, the nine were urgently dispatched to the Faro Domain to tackle the intermittent rebellions, invasions by two Orc Clans, and the expanding chaos from simultaneous outbreaks on multiple planets.

After a century of fierce battles, the situation in the Faro Domain gradually stabilized.

The tasks were completed, and it was time to claim their rewards. Logically, these newly established warbands should have settled in the region where they fought. A planet should have been allocated as the Warband’s Homeworld, with a Recruitment World, allowing the warband to securely guard a region.

However, the Faro Domain already had seven warbands, and all nine newly arrived ones couldn’t be settled down.

Naturally, this ‘impossible’ wasn’t due to the lack of worlds. Indeed, a domain under one jurisdiction usually holds from a few thousand to upwards of ten thousand worlds. Allocating nine worlds to arrange for these warbands, is that a difficult task?

It actually was a difficult task.

Allocating nine worlds isn’t difficult in itself. Even though the allocation does result in the loss of the Imperial Tax revenue from these worlds, it’s acceptable when compared to the massive scale of the entire domain.

Moreover, there’s no necessity for the allocated worlds to be particularly developed or wealthy planets.

Many renowned Interstellar Warrior Battle Groups have homeworlds that are quite barren, and whose environmental conditions are considered harsh and brutal.

Yet, this can be beneficial.

The people honed in harsh and brutal natural environments tend to be more spiritually resilient, physically robust, and culturally aligned with the needs of their battle group.

Regarding impoverished planets without sufficient material wealth foundations… for many battle groups, this isn’t an issue.

Maintaining and developing a battle group certainly requires a significant amount of wealth, but who says it must come from the homeworld?

Furthermore, typically, a battle group comprising a thousand Interstellar Warriors, a substantial Auxiliary Army, and a Battle Group Fleet cannot be supplied with the financial resources of just a single planet.

Every battle group has its own means to meet these wealth demands.

Working for the Sect of Mechanics, some work for the National Church, some work for the high lords on Holy Terra, work for the Tribunal, or for particularly powerful Empire Commerce Guilds…

This can be termed as the ‘working faction’.

The various ‘working’ situations are quite different. Some are independent, or purely collaborative, with consistent interests; while others are purely employment relationships, doing what’s paid for; and some are heavily dependent, though rare, but not nonexistent.

Some warbands rely on waging war to sustain themselves. This is more common among ship-based warbands, lacking a fixed domain, relying mainly on wartime loot to sustain and even expand their warband. They often respond to calls from various Empire forces, planets, star sectors, and star domains, participating in various battles and collecting their loot, along with rewards.

The most famous among this category is the Black Cross Legion.

Regardless, these two categories of warbands are relatively few. Among Interstellar Warrior Battle Groups, the most numerous have territories.

They leverage their homeworld as a core, extending their influence over the surrounding star domain or even across star domains. The exalted status, identity, and powerful combat ability of Interstellar Warriors indeed allow their influence to expand to such extents.

While ensuring a region’s peace, each world in the region more or less contributes to the warband… under various names, but essentially it’s tribute.

Only on a star domain level can a fully-fledged warband be sustained.

The conflict within the Faro Starfield back then lay here.

The New World Torch and the other eight newly established warbands urgently needed rest and recuperation after the war. They had completed their warband’s inaugural war, earned some reputation, and achieved accomplishments. Next was rest, recuperation, and warband development.

However, the Faro Starfield had been divided up; the remaining territory could barely accommodate one or two more warbands; accommodating more meant everyone would struggle to sustain themselves.

Who doesn’t need rest and development?

The New World Torch indeed secured a Recruitment Planet due to merit, but firstly, it was merely an ordinary planet, unable to sustain them, and secondly, they couldn’t expand their influence like a normal warband, as two other forces crowded the same star domain.

After some competition, the New World Torch became a loser.

At that time, despite reaching a manpower around seven hundred, their Auxiliary Army was weak, they had few battleships, lacked a battle barge, and their flagship was merely a Strike Cruiser, heavily damaged in the war.

They didn’t even have money to repair their ship!

Meanwhile, the warband frequently had to respond to summons, engaging in battles everywhere. Most often, the war spoils balanced the expenses and even left a surplus, but just one unprofitable war resulting in more casualties or insufficient loot would break the fragile cycle.

During the seventy years after acquiring a homeworld, the New World Torch struggled constantly. Their numbers slowly dwindled, and overall strength became increasingly frail.

Certainly, they didn’t face a crisis that would annihilate the entire warband instantly, but the chronic attrition and impending destruction, coupled with helplessness, was truly distressing.

Moreover, friction and entanglements with various local forces within the star domain, like the Star Domain Government and nearby warbands, left them mentally exhausted.

Under such circumstances, Wang Mengsong received an invitation from Humphrey Paolo one hundred twenty years ago.

After some clandestine negotiations, Wang Mengsong made a decision: relocation!

Relocation isn’t simply up to a warband’s will.

The Recruitment World had been designated, how could it easily be changed?

But one hundred twenty years ago, Humphrey Paolo assured them it was possible. A star system in the Spiderweb Domain could be provided for their stationing, entirely devoid of Interstellar Warrior presence.

He invited Wang Mengsong over and assured him that the change of Recruitment Planet could soon be arranged.

Wang Mengsong trusted Humphrey Paolo’s assurance.

Ultimately, Paulo succeeded in accomplishing this task.

When they declared their intention to relocate, the Central Empire initially reprimanded them in writing; however, soon after, the Central Empire’s stance shifted. They silently designated a planet in the star domain specified by Humphrey Paolo as their new Recruitment World.

From then on, the New World Torch naturally thrived in peace and contentment.

Soon after, the Great Bougainvillea Rebellion occurred.

Wang Mengsong hesitated initially.

Should they side with Iron Armor?

It’s hard to remain aloof after receiving benefits from Humphrey Paolo; they couldn’t just ignore the situation.

But, getting involved seemed unwise. The New World Torch had just relocated and settled, the warband hadn’t even had time to amass wealth, and now they were expected to first fight for Iron Armor and potentially offend the Central Empire?

Although, Wang Mengsong harbored no favorable opinion of the Central Empire.

Humphrey Paolo kindly informed them to stay put and remain as they were.

Then, Wang Mengsong witnessed the Great Bougainvillea Rebellion being effortlessly resolved. Three warbands met a tragic fate, as Iron Armor, along with Fury Flame and Bedrock Shield, experienced a century of rapid development.

Throughout, Wang Mengsong felt uneasy yet envious of the Iron-Fury-Shield trio.

Unease stemmed from their actions seeming… somewhat disloyal?

Yet envy arose from observing, even without knowing details, the palpable strengthening of those three warbands’ capabilities.

Not only did they hold a firm grip over the Princess Star Domain, but they also continuously siphoned resources from the Empire. The substantial income bolstered their capabilities; with enhanced strength, they not only managed the persistent Void Insect Species threats within the Princess Star Domain but also expanded their influence across many adjacent star domains, even reaching the southern Eastern Cosmos Domain.

In secrecy, he too commenced some… non-compliant actions. For instance, exceeding the prescribed limit of the warband’s numbers; or concealing income and controlling star sector governments on some planets heavily under their sway, underreporting taxes…

He considered his actions minor compared to Iron-Fury-Shield, merely small maneuvers.

However, he was ultimately discovered and received a serious warning from the Central Empire.

This prompted him to retract his overreaching ambitions.

Simultaneously, it deepened his dissatisfaction and even resentment towards the Central Empire.

He began more closely aligning with Iron-Fury-Shield in private, aiming to become ‘Iron-Fury-Shield Torch’.

Humphrey Paolo, a long-standing friend, welcomed this, but expressed hopes for the New World Torch to first wait. Resource support could be provided upfront, but the New World Torch didn’t need to immediately take a clear stance in favor of Iron-Fury-Shield, they should continue to remain quiet.

This waiting period extended until Iron-Fury-Shield officially raised the flag of rebellion.

NNaturally, as the Interstellar Warrior Battle Group situated locally in the Spiderweb Domain, the New World Torch merged with the Heretic Tribunal, forming a suppressive force, participating in the restraint of Iron-Fury-Shield.

Subsequently, naturally, they turned traitor, delivering a backstab, entrapping an entire Loyalist Warband, tens of thousands of combat-ready Battle Nuns of the Blood Rose Sorority, and many elite members of the Heretic Tribunal, all on the battlefield of Tianyuan VI.

Upon rendering significant contributions, the New World Torch officially became a part of Iron-Fury-Shield.