*THUD!!*
The very second those fragmented words slipped from the bleeding man's lips... "F... Father... M... Mother..." the entire atmosphere of the room shifted violently.
The Emperor did not hesitate for a microsecond.
He moved with blinding velocity, stepping in front of me like an impenetrable fortress, forging an absolute barrier between myself and this unidentified man.
*Bzzzzzz...*
An aura erupted from the Emperor's chassis. The aura of the "Axiom of Submission."
The air itself grew as dense as lead. The marble floorboards beneath the unconscious man splintered under the crushing gravity. It was so intense I could actually hear the man's bones groaning under the sheer pressure of my husband's aura.
"Stop!!"
I screamed suddenly, lunging forward to grab the Emperor's arm from behind.
*What is this sensation?!*
My heart pounded insanely against my ribs. There was a hidden "resonance" thrumming deep within my core. My "Pure Anomaly" was reacting directly to this man, fueled by a surging maternal instinct that flooded my veins like wildfire.
I looked up at the Emperor with pleading eyes: "Please... do not kill him! He... he harbors no intent to harm us!"
The Emperor shot me a freezing, sideways glare. Yet, he slowly retracted his lethal aura. He issued a command in a deep, absolute tone that permitted zero negotiation:
"Summon Eve... immediately. Transfer him to the scientific interrogation cell."
---
Midnight.
Beneath the harsh white fluorescent lights, all nine Wives were assembled for an emergency protocol. All standard operations were aborted. We all stood strictly behind the reinforced isolation glass of the interrogation cell, observing the man bound by magnetic restraints. He was wired to dozens of Eve's advanced diagnostic and life-support modules.
*SLAM!*
Roxy punched the reinforced glass, baring her fangs:
"An arrogant, cheap assassin! Using a pathetic trick to get close to Our Lord. Let me in there so I can rip his head from his shoulders!"
Kaori crossed her arms, adopting a strict samurai stance in agreement: "Indeed... cowering behind the word 'mother' is a cowardly tactic designed to disrupt an opponent's equilibrium."
From the corner, Layla snapped her fan open, speaking with her customary passive-aggressive mockery:
"Ara, ara... perhaps he is simply a 'Paradox' planted by one of our adversaries to tamper with the mind and hormones of our pregnant co-wife."
Camille nodded dreamily: "Yes... merely a theatrical prop manifested to twist her perception of reality."
Isabella shrieked, glaring at the floor with absolute disgust:
"Can someone please sanitize this mess?! His filthy blood is staining the pristine white floors of the palace!!"
Then, Layla turned toward me, flashing a venomous, mocking smile:
"How could this grown man possibly be your son? He appears to be in his thirties! Meanwhile, you barely possess the physical development of a twenty-year-old, even if your chronological age spans two centuries by Orion metrics! This narrative is completely unbelievable!"
*Enough... enough!!*
I could no longer tolerate it. I was no longer that timid Orion princess who bowed her head to their mockery. My pregnancy hormones, saturated with an explosive maternal instinct, and the raw energy of "Pure Anomaly" boiling in my blood... everything coalesced, causing me to snap for the very first time.
*SMASH!!*
I stepped forward with unprecedented aggression. I slammed both hands violently against the isolation glass, generating a shockwave that instantly silenced the entire room.
My eyes flared with a blinding blue light. I turned toward them, my features twisted into a furious snarl they had never witnessed from me before.
"He is my son!!"
I screamed, my voice echoing off every corner of the interrogation chamber.
"I do not care about your petty calculations or your mockery! This individual came from my womb! I can feel him... I feel him moving right here in my belly, while simultaneously lying there right before my eyes! It is him!"
A shocked silence suffocated the room. Layla took a half-step backward. Roxy's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. My sudden ferocity, coupled with the blazing blue aura in my eyes, successfully paralyzed the vicious tongues of all my co-wives.
---
*Pshhhh...*
The automated door to the isolated interrogation cell hissed open.
Eve stepped out with slow, calculated steps. But something was structurally incorrect. Her hands were visibly trembling... a physiological anomaly nearly impossible for a woman defined by her absolute zero.
She did not utter a single syllable initially. She tapped a command into the projector mounted on her wrist.
*Bleep!*
A massive holographic interface materialized before all of us. It was saturated with DNA sequences and Aether wave analytics.
Eve finally spoke. Her normally clinical drone carried an unmistakable trace of tension:
"I have concluded the genetic sequencing and Aether resonance matching... The results confirm a 100% genetic match with His Majesty the Emperor... and with Oria."
She paused for a microsecond to process her own subsequent data:
"Furthermore... his cellular structure is suspiciously saturated with residual chronal energy. This specific energy signature is generated solely by the violent tearing and traversing of the spacetime continuum... which validates only one logical conclusion."
Eve raised her head and looked directly at us all:
"This man... truly originated from the future. He is one of our sons."
Silence claimed the chamber. A silence heavier than mountains. No one dared to compute a single response.
---
*Step... step...*
The Emperor entered the interrogation cell with heavy, authoritative strides.
I stood right beside him, my heart clenching in pure agony as I stared down at this broken chassis wrapped in bandages and life-support tubing.
We detected a faint groan.
The man—the future Altair—forced his pitch-black eyes open with agonizing effort. He blinked repeatedly, struggling to stabilize his optics against the blinding lights.
Then... his eyes locked onto mine.
Tears pooled in those hollow black eyes, sliding down his pale, heavily scarred face.
"I succeeded..." he whispered, his voice trembling and breaking into a sob. "You are... alive..."
The Emperor took a single step forward. His massive chassis eclipsed the harsh light bearing down on Altair. He glared down at him with ruthless, freezing apathy.
"Who are you?"
The Emperor demanded, his voice deep and terrifying. "And what decimated your body, you temporal anomaly?"
Altair swallowed hard, tasting his own blood. He coughed weakly, holding the Emperor's gaze directly for a second, before shifting his despair-filled eyes back to me.
The words he computed next served as the absolute catalyst for the annihilation of the world as we knew it.
"My name... is Altair..."
He spoke with a raspy, broken voice, yet it was crystal clear enough to carve itself permanently into our minds:
"I traveled back from a future... where Earth has been reduced to a gray graveyard... and my eight siblings..."
He squeezed his eyes shut for a microsecond, his fist clutching the white sheets in pure agony.
"They are the ones who burned it... and they are the ones who murdered both of you, Father and Mother."
(And with those absolute words... the terrifying sequence initiated, destined to unveil the buried sins of the future.)