Death... and me

Well, the twins' effort paid off in the end. They made Xila hate them more than the human race itself. It was even possible to see his delighted expression as he looked at the two get pummeled around by those on his side.

"Truly satisfying..."

Jana shook her head as she sighed.

'Why do I feel like everyone has been going as the twins had planned? Oh well, whatever.'

Deep inside the valley, under the red core of the natural formation, a man laid his back on a wall on the chamber where the Lakure Race ancestor was locked.  Obviously, the man that laid there was none other than Old Worm, who was currently talking with Laro.

If one looked closely at the inscriptions on the chains that sealed the chamber, they would see that they were all very dim. It turns out that whatever Old Worm did had made Laro's life incredibly simple. If Laro wanted to, he could break out straight away.

"What do you think, Laro? Aren't they good?"

Laro, who was locked in the chamber, agreed.

"No wonder you went to the extent of keeping this facade. However, there's one thing I don't understand. How can their cloning technique be that good? Even I can't see the difference at all."

Old Worm shrugged his shoulders as he said.

"Who knows?"

Laro didn't believe that Old Worm didn't know the truth.

"Whatever. How long are you going to ask me to stay here? I already agreed to your terms, you know?"

Old Worm nodded as he replied.

"Just a few more years. My descendants outside are doing quite an excellent job, attacking the natural formation to drain its energy faster. If that wasn't the case, it would take ten years in this accelerated time flow. However, it seems like the formation will fall in seven to eight years. Three years and two months have passed already, so there are only four more years or so. You have been in this chamber, cooling your head down for a few thousands of years. It won't be a big issue to wait just a little bit longer."

Laro narrowed his eyes as he uttered.

"That's easy for you to say when it wasn't you who was locked in this place."

Laro then paid attention to the place where the twins were being pummeled.

"Still, I'm surprised how they made that blockhead Xila yield with just this little. Perhaps there's actually a way to get along together."

Old Worm snorted.

"And you're the one to talk? You were hundreds of times worse than that guy in your time. Our human race didn't want to seal you guys at all. Once we arrived here, we only wanted to share the planet. Your Lakure Race only occupied a small part of it. Everyone could have lived together without any issues, but you guys had to insist on that meaningless war. Even during the war, we offered a cease-fire to you and your race eleven times!"

Laro bitterly smiled when he heard that.

"We Lakures have always been an extremely proud race. This was our planet, so we simply didn't want to share it. I won't say that everyone was like that, but at least 95% or more definitely thought like that. However, it doesn't change the fact that you were the ones who invaded our planet."

Old Worm sighed as he replied.

"It's not like we had that much choice either."

In the end, Laro couldn't help but ask.

"I've never cared about it during that time. But as the years passed while I was sealed inside this thing, those thoughts began to sprout in my mind. Jakiro, just what happened that your human race had to come to our planet? Were you attacked and forced out of your own planet since humans are the minority?"

Jakiro was taken aback by that question before he began to ponder about the past.

"It's true that humans are the minority... or at least, we are in this sector. I don't know much about the outside world, though. In any case, we didn't come to your planet because we were driven out of our world. No one gave us the order to do that either."

Laro became puzzled.

"You just said that you had no other choice. However, it feels like you decided to attack our planet on your own. It doesn't look like something you don't have a choice over. No, wait! Could it be..."

Old Worm showed a painful expression after hearing that. It was apparent that Laro understood what happened.

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then you've got it right. It was a natural calamity that drove us out of our planet. Our sun reached the end of its lifespan and went supernova. Before that happened, we had to escape. We asked the sector lord for help. Fortunately, the human race had a few dealings with him in the past, so he gave us a hand in moving out of our home."

"However, he didn't care too much about where he would leave us. He simply looked for any forgotten planet and threw us inside. That was the planet of your Lakure Race. We knew that we were the invaders. That's the reason why we offered to share the planet. After all, there was no place for us to head back anymore."

Laro felt helpless.

"Did you tell the others about this as well?"

Old Worm nodded as he replied.

"Obviously! We told the leaders of the Lakure Race of that time. Unfortunately, you were right about one thing. Your Lakure Race is way too proud. Let alone whether your leaders believed it or not, they simply didn't want us to be here at all. I hope you won't commit the same mistake."

Laro nodded.

"That goes without saying. I'm the only survivor of that time, so I won't let it happen. That's why I've always set my objective to be purely negotiation. By the way, how many of you are still alive from that time?"

Old Worm pondered for a bit before saying.

"I haven't gone out to see them in a long time. However, I believe there are still four or five of us. Chrole Empire just happens to have one. If my memory serves me right, that would be Palana."