"What's up, Daddy?" The AI asked cutely.
Darius smiled and gazed down at the replica of his daughter during her childhood with gentle eyes. "Miranda, the Insect race has been cleansed from Faust. You can move down into the underground and conquer it full henceforth."
Miranda nodded. "What about the Mole Race? they only temporarily emigrate from Pokterr during the yearly culling so as not to get caught up in it. Once it becomes known that the Insects have been exterminated, won't they return?"
Darius shook his head. "Even if news spread, with how shocking such a revelation is, it will take time to verify. By then, the war will have already begun, so forget about them. If they try to return, cull enough of them until the rest are scared away. I shall use my public identity as the Lord of Safemoon to recruit them and give them shelter."
"Okayyy… so what about the Demi-Gods? What am I to do with them?" Miranda inquired curiously.
"Hercules and Theseus will be coming with me after they sign the Soul Paper agreement. I still have many uses for them."
"Pyrrha will stay here to assist you in the war against the Demi-Gods, feeding you information and knowledge. Keep her captive in the chamber where Beelzebub was destroyed. Use the best possible Faraday cage possible." Darius ordered calmly.
Then he paused. "And as for Achilles, keep him in another Faraday Cage, but use him freely for all manner of experiments you want without restraint. It should be near impossible for him to die... and if he does, so be it."
Miranda noted Darius' order silently, planning to move to carry them out. However, Darius stopped her and continued.
"There are three tasks I want you to achieve within the next four months. The first and most important is the completion and successful launch of our first satellite. It needs to be able to cover the entirety of Faust reliably. You can send more satellites to enhance your computing power and the signal strength in time, but the first one is imperative. Without it, we will be 50% weaker during the war."
Miranda smiled. "Technically, I can launch today, this very instant. However, I will make use of the next four months to fortify the satellite and make sure that it can survive any dangers in outer space of Faust."
"Good. The second task is to build an underwater army. The underground of Pokterr connects to the sea, and the seas of Faust are an untapped resource that none have managed to lay claim to because of various difficulties."
"You, with your robot army, will face none of those difficulties as long as you construct special aquamarine units powered by the ever-present Source Energy." Darius spoke as he nodded calmly.
He flicked a finger below. "Start with the remains of that mermaid clan that the Insects brashly razed. Build your first base there and fortify it thoroughly, as it will be our main underwater encampment for expansion later on. We need to conquer Faust from all angles, and we have the resources to slowly do that."
Miranda clapped her hands with delight. "I was going to suggest this to you after we launched the satellite, but I should never have doubted your foresight, Daddy! It will also be fine to start now, I'm practically done with encompassing Pokterr."
Darius smiled softly and named the last task. "Finally, I need you to step up production of HoloBraces. We made a lot in preparation for our plans, but now that I plan to go on a rampant conquer of Fallon, all territories taken will be integrated with ours. As such, we need to have HoloBraces for every new 'citizen' to wear and integrate them into our society."
Miranda laughed gaily. "Easy peasy! I can have 300 million units ready by the end of the week!"
Darius gave Miranda some minor instructions on the side, then left to head to where the Demigods were kept. He called Theseus and Hercules into a room and placed a contract before the two of them.
They casually read through it and saw that the terms were extremely liberal and fair. Darius didn't even demand their loyalty or fealty.
They were only required to keep his secrets and defect from the Gods. Theseus was to return and become his spy from within, while Hercules would follow him back to Safemoon to be nurtured slowly into a True God.
Theseus also had the option to be nurtured, but it would have to be done after he completed his task for obvious reasons.
They were both pleased with these terms especially after learning more about Safemoon and Darius' power/operations through the HoloBrace.
They realized that Darius was going to be the supreme conqueror of Faust, and being one of his lieutenants would be far more fulfilling than serving those idiots called 'Gods'.
In fact, they had expected heavier terms since their livers were literally in his hands. Him using such liberal terms showed them that Darius valued their free will and hoped to win their allegiance with this.
Theseus and Hercules could not help but sigh internally.
Why couldn't they have met this fellow years ago?!
Centuries wasted serving idiotic pricks… all for nothing!
As for Achilles, he fought back within his cage as he was transported below, knowing that he would never see the light of day again, and his fate was to be filled with days of endless pain and agony that no sapient being should experience.
Pyrrha was carried down in much better treatment. She was almost like a visiting Princess if one didn't consider her inability to leave the continent as she wished.
Darius did not make Pyrrha sign anything because he didn't need to. That guilty conscience would eat her up from the bottom to the top, making her work for him even if he told her he didn't need her. She just needed to be alone with her inner demons for this to work, hence the captivity.
Finally, there was Medea. She was the most troublesome due to her malicious nature and her affiliation with Hecate. Her mind had been partially ruined, leaving her in a catatonic state, but Miranda had extracted swathes of useful information from her.
Darius would have Miranda send it over to him so he could parse it and understand the secrets of the True Lords and how they got their power.
