Chapter 319 |
As Josh expected, the envoy sent to the Horde Empire soon returned with news that the leader of the Horde Empire, Hordak, was willing to meet with Josh.
Hearing the name Hordak, Josh felt a slight familiarity, but thinking that names can be the same even in different languages, he didn’t think much of it.
However, Josh took this meeting very seriously.
First of all, he definitely had to go in person; otherwise, the strength of his subordinates might not be enough to suppress the opposing leader.
Judging from the dark power encountered during their first confrontation, although the opponent’s strength was not as great as Josh’s, it was definitely stronger than Thor and Starhawk whom he had previously fought.
But if Josh went personally, then the defense at home became an issue.
He couldn’t be sure that besides the dark power user who had acted before, there wasn’t another such powerful being on this planet.
If a strong enemy sneaked into his home while he was away meeting Hordak, it would be very bad.
So to avoid such an awkward situation, Josh gathered almost all his strong subordinates.
His wife, Margot, who had been busy studying gemology at home, was also summoned to personally guard the Space Stone.
Besides that, Josh’s appointed New Sea King Narassus, Xu Wenwu, Vito, and many other strong warriors, as well as a large number of “Jedi Knights,” were all gathered in Eternia.
Even Sulawesi on Earth was entrusted to the care of Ancient One—though Josh hoped Ancient One could come to Eternia, but as the dimensional guardian, Ancient One couldn’t easily leave Earth.
After all this was done, Josh took Bursta and his personal guard and went to the meeting at the agreed time.
...
On a barren wasteland, two groups were meeting.
One side was the Ouroboros Legion led by Josh.
The other was the upper echelon of the Horde Empire.
The leader of the Horde Empire was an alien with a skull-like head and a body full of mechanical structures, exactly Hordak.
By his side was a figure shrouded in a red cloak, radiating immense dark power, causing Josh to look twice—it seemed this was the person who fought him that day.
Also present were the three female generals Josh had seen before and three aliens he hadn’t met: one with four legs, big eyes, and big ears looking quite comical; one with abundant hair resembling a Vrykul warrior; and a red-skinned lizardman.
The troops of both sides stopped far away, and only Josh and Hordak approached each other for a one-on-one meeting.
“I am Hordak, Emperor of the Eternia Horde Empire, and Prince of the Great Horde Empire. State your purpose, human from a foreign land!” Hordak said as they stood face to face.
“Hello, Prince Hordak. I am Josh Kane, leader of the Ouroboros Organization. Nice to meet you. As you can see, we come from a foreign land. Although there was a little unpleasantness before, I think that was just a misunderstanding. In fact, we believe we can fully cooperate!” Josh said with a smile.
“Cooperate? Hahahahaha! You occupied my territory and killed my people, and now you talk about cooperation? Do you think the Horde Empire is made of clay?” Hearing Josh’s words, Hordak laughed as if hearing a joke, then his expression changed, and he said coldly.
“Prince Hordak speaks harshly. Remember, it was you who attacked first, and in terms of losses, our side is not much less than yours. If you truly think this is an irreconcilable conflict, then let’s part ways here and settle it on the battlefield!”
"... Humph, are you threatening me? Don't think that I am afraid of you because you showed your skills on the battlefield before. The troops of Eternia are only a small part of the huge Great Horde Empire. As long as I report to my brother, it will be a matter of time to destroy you!" Hordak said with a gloomy face.
Josh frowned but still smiled and replied, “No, no, no, how is this a threat? I’m just being factual. Rather, Your Highness, you are the one threatening me with the power behind you, aren’t you? But if your so-called Great Horde Empire really supports you that much, why haven’t you taken down Eternia yet?”
Josh’s words made Hordak’s face even uglier because it hit his sore spot.
He led a branch of the Horde Empire to Eternia, nominally as a prince bringing troops to occupy it, but in reality, it was exile.
The real Great Horde Empire spans dozens of star systems, ruled by his brother, Emperor Horde Prime.
If Hordak’s position in the Great Horde Empire was truly high, how could he be stuck on such a single planet and unable to crush a few resistance forces?
“…How do you want to cooperate?” But as a dominant ruler, Hordak did not get angry at Josh’s words and instead asked about cooperation.
...
“Adora, do you think the leader of this mysterious force will really join us to fight against the Horde?" At the same time as Josh met Hordak, four people were talking in the reception room of the Ouroboros mechanical legion’s base. One was a woman with icy blue hair speaking to a golden-haired woman named Adora.
“I don’t know, Frosta, but they are already our only hope. We cannot fight Hordak with our own strength!” Adora sighed.
She was the princess of the Kingdom of Helya and one of the allied leaders resisting the Hord.
The blue-haired woman was Frosta, a court mage and army commander of the allied Moonlight Kingdom.
“Don’t worry, Adora, we will succeed. They just fought a big battle with the Hord. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They will definitely accept our proposal!” said an orange-haired man, a marshal of the now-extinct Kingdom of Esselia, now Adora’s deputy and a senior advisor.
“That’s what you say, but if they keep leaving us here alone, it’s not good!” The last to speak was a red-haired young man, a commander of the allied fleet.
“Wait a bit longer, just one more day!” Adora sighed.
“Bad news, bad news, Adora! Something big happened!” At that moment, a magical light flashed, and a small human-like creature with butterfly wings, only palm-sized, appeared in the room, shouting to them.
“What happened, Lublinna?” Adora asked anxiously.
“Their leader—he’s meeting with Hordak right now!” shouted Lublinna, the magical messenger from the Whispering Forest, her voice filled with dread.