The executive decision was finally made. Lord Grania grew tired of sitting idly while only two of his four fleets engaged in combat with the Ethisians. After Lord Grania, Gravax, and Grim made a hasty escape to an uncharted sector deep within the Ethisian half of Akrina, they found themselves stranded in uneasy idleness, the silence of isolation pressing in as they wondered what to do with their time. The Granian Lord wrestled for hours with strategies to recover from their crushing losses. Jim, Anya, and Helda were gone, two priceless Gates lay in ruins, and the sudden arrival of Ethisian fleets had forced them into retreat. Yet he refused to let these defeats stand unchallenged. "We thought the Gates would keep the tides of war in our favor," Grania muttered, then steadied himself. "But we’ve already lost two of the four Blood Mutants, and now only One Horn’s fleet still stands. The right side of Akrina may be sparsely populated and rich in resources to pillage, but we can’t afford to leave that fleet unchecked. "Still, all hope isn’t lost. The Granians we left on the Bastion Planet have constructed two more Gates. Even now, they’re preparing to transport them here. Our fleets are too vast to depend on just one." And so it transpired. Within a matter of hours, two Granian Behemoth ships arrived, each bearing Gates larger and more refined than the early prototypes. The new Gates were rectangular in shape and wide enough for ten ships to go through at once. As Grim and Gravax’s fleets withdrew through the Gates to the Bastion Planet, a significant development took place aboard Gravax’s vessel—the first of two breakthroughs that would shape the conflict. The first breakthrough was the creation of perfected Granian clones. For a long time, Gravax had attempted to reverse-engineer the Yyrejites’ mercenary clones for his own use, but without success. Despite countless hours of experimentation, true progress eluded him—until now. With the aid of the two Blood Mutant siblings, Gravax achieved what had once seemed impossible: a self-aware clone, stronger than the average seasoned Granian soldier, and capable of growing ever more formidable through battle experience or conditioned training. With a few adjustments made, mass production of cloned Granians was bound to start very soon. And then there was the second "breakthrough" of sorts. When Gravax, Grim, and Lord Grania’s fleets returned to the Bastion Planet, the work began at once. Ships were repaired, the dead were buried with solemn rites, and the soldiers steeled themselves for their next deployment. Meanwhile, Lord Gravax withdrew into seclusion, devoting himself entirely to his work. His only company consisted of trusted laborers, fellow Red Scaled Granian scholars, and the Blood Mutant siblings. But why had he chosen to seclude himself from the rest of his kind? Didn’t he make his first breakthrough on a crowded vessel in the void of space where hundreds of eyes watched his every move? "The answer’s simple. I do all of this for safety purposes." In the remote wilderness of the Bastion Planet, Gravax set up his base of work. Behind him stood his Behemoth ship, a newly built laboratory where a small next batch of clones matured, and the stripped remains of an Ethisian vessel, once the property of a fallen Ethisian, now bound among the Blood Lord’s Blood Army. "...I’m working with a hazardous element I’ve never handled before and know only in theory. The Granian held the transparent box that contained the black hole. It still baffled him how the Ethisians were able to contain and harness something so powerful in a tiny, transparent box that felt like it was made of cheap plastic. ’Fascinating,’ the Granian placed the box back into the ship’s firing mechanism and activated it. Those who were with him stood at a safe distance, none willing to find out what would happen to them if things went wrong. "Shooting!!" He announced and then activated the mechanism. It started with a soft hum and then erupted into a long, sharp shrill. Gravax watched as a tiny spec from the box got sucked into the barrel. It then escaped from the other end and was fired. And then... "That’s it?" One of Gravax’s soldiers wondered. Like him, everyone else expected a more grandiose showcase of sorts. But nothing else happened. "Maybe we damaged something when we stripped the mechanism apart?" Gravax wondered and began tinkering with the box. "Or perhaps I didn’t input the right co..." Darkness flashed like a sudden strike, followed by a violent, unstable gust of wind that tore through the air in less than a heartbeat. A small black circle blinked into existence, hovered for an instant, then ballooned outward, large enough to swallow a car. Content orıginally comes from 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽 The circle twisted violently, warping space around it with ripples and shimmering mirages. It began to spin, a ravenous vacuum pulling dust, debris, and air into its ever-hungry center. "A black hole!!" Gravax shrieked in excitement and fear. He made a black hole. Well, more like a vague imitation of a real black hole. "It’s growing!!!" The hole started to expand in size, sucking in more dust, loose debris, and air. Eventually, Gravax, who was closest to it, felt himself fighting against the gravitational pull of the mini black hole he made. ’How do I stop this?’ he wondered, and then did the most logical thing he could think of. "SOMEONE GIVE ME A HAND!!" The Granian shouted as he tried to stop the ship’s firing mechanism from getting sucked into the black hole. Aiding him from a distance was Cherry, who stretched a few blood tendrils that she wrapped around the firing mechanism. As soon as it was stabilized, Gravax fired again, aiming directly for the hole’s center. The turret replayed the same sounds as earlier before firing a tiny black spec into the mini black hole. Interestingly, this one didn’t take a while to activate like the first did. Almost instantly, a smaller black hole formed directly in front of the larger. The tiny thing, however, was sucked right into the larger. Gravax and everyone else watching started to panic. The smaller hole was sucked in, and the larger continued to grow. That was until it vanished almost instantly. The mini black hole disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving no trace of its presence behind. For a few seconds, everyone who had watched what happened remained in absolute shock and silence, all for one person who broke out in cheerful screams. "IT WORKED," he celebrated, "I’VE FINALLY UNLOCKED INTER-DIMENSIONAL RIFT TRAVELING." No one else shared in Gravax’s excitement, but he didn’t care. The Granian looked at his assistants and commanded, saying, "Come help me put this ship back together. There are tests I wish to conduct. Quickly now!!!"