<h4>Chapter 382 An Eternal Crusade</h4>


    ?Erich had spent hours conveying to Daelia that which he had already told Lunaria years ago. He had even provided the evidence that Mirage and her secret agency had gathered. The fact of the matter was that with Tia''s help, extra gctic travel was entirely possible.


    Meaning that the GSE had been busy thesest few years sending recon probes into Andromeda. They had, in this time, learned a lot about the whereabouts of the Naraku. In fact, the Naraku behaved vastly differently in Andromeda than they did in the Milky Way so far.


    In the Milky Way, the Naraku were a nomadic insectoid race, once that devoured all biological life they came across, stripping entire worlds bare in the process. And while this seemed to be the case in Andromeda, something else was observed that the recon probes recorded.


    After stripping the gxy bare, the Naraku then invested significant resources into rebuilding the barren worlds into giant hives meant to sustain the Naraku poption, and contribute more bugs to the hive fleets which would then venture to a new gxy and start over again.


    Perhaps the reason the Naraku, already in the milky way did not attempt this was because they were merely an advanced scouting force, and instead simply ravaged worlds for the biological material necessary to in a sense sustain their mission.


    This created a terrifying prospect. That the universe wasposed of entire gxies like Andromeda, where the only species that existed where the Naraku, and they existed in incalcble numbers.


    If this were the case, then it was entirely possible that Naraku infested gxies were the majority of gxies in the universe rather than the minority. This was a haunting prospect, as it meant that even if Erich united the Milky Way together to defeat the Naraku Invasion fleet originating in Andromeda, then there would really be no end to their war.


    As Erich''s newfound unified empire, or whatever form of government came to rece the currently fractured state of the Milky Way, would have to travel across the universe, purging gxy after gxy, until finally after countless millions of years the Naraku were entirely defeated.


    If even one Hive Queen survived, then they could simply start over. It would quite literally be an Eternal Crusade. This was the best-case scenario for the Milky Way. And Erich did not hesitate to sugar coat this horrifying prospect to Daelia.


    By the end of the discussion, Daelia was so mortified that she almost felt like giving up on life then and there. It took well over ten minutes for the ancient shadow queen of the Dark Elven race to realize what she was being told, and what she was seeing in document after document of solid verifiable evidence.


    In the end, she shook her head in disbelief and asked Erich what exactly he nned to do about this.


    "If what you say is true... Then.... Then we are well and truly fucked, aren''t we? I mean, even if we managed to unite the Gxy in a solid front against this extra gctic invasion, they will eventually juste back with more numbers, right? I mean, it is exactly like you say, we would have to take this fight to the Naraku. In a never ending crusade just so we can consider our civilizations safe.


    How long do you think it would be before the other gctic leaders back stabbed us? A century? A millennium? Even if you build a long-term alliance with Lunaria based upon blood ties, and marriage. How long do your people live for? 250 years? Will your sessors be willing to engage in this eternal crusade of yours?"


    Erich smirked when he heard this, scoffing as he approached Daelia and lectured her, whileplimenting her in a way that was both ttering and unsuspected.


    "You''re beautiful when you''re anxious. You know that right? But you don''t need to worry. You are forgetting something about my people, aren''t you? We are exactly what you say we are, a bunch of up jumped barbarians who idolize war. An eternal crusade against a never ending menace of bugs? My people will volunteer to join the front lines even if they never needed to do such a thing.


    War is our way of life, and besides, I''m not going anywhere. Like you and Lunaria, I have cheated death... No, I will be here leading my armies into the vast unknown until either the Naraku is well and truly vanquished, or until the heat of death of the universe urs. Whatever happens first, I suppose...


    The question is, Daelia, will you join me on this crusade? Or will you be one of those cowardly, and selfish gctic leaders, ones who would stab me and Lunaria in the back as we fight to defend you all?"


    Daelia blushed upon hearing Erich call her beautiful. It had been a long time since man had the nerve to flirt with her. But she immediately understood there was some hidden meaning in Erich''s words, and was quick to ask just what he was implying.


    "What... What exactly are you asking of me?"


    Erich smirked as he heard this, before leaning in close and whispering the words into Daelia''s ears that she thought she would never hear.


    "Marry me..."


    After saying this, Erich walked away and looked out the window while proposing a wild idea. All the while, Daelia recoiled in shock at what she had just heard.


    "I meant what I said. Marry me. Join your sister in matrimony as my brides and end this pathetic little feud the two of you have over ancient history. Together, the three of us can bring the Ghimderi, the Asurans, and the Ennead to heel. And ensure that they will never be in a position to backstab us.


    With my warriors on the front lines, and the might of the Elven fleet supporting us, we will wage an eternal crusade against the Naraku until thest bug has been crushed beneath our boot.


    And after we have liberated the universe from the Naraku menace, we will look to the future, enjoying ourselves in the peace we have created.Think about what we can aplish if we unite our races together into one Empire?


    So I''ll ask again, marry me?"