Interstellar Age

Chapter 251 Apprehending a Sage

After being reborn into the body of a physically superior body based upon his own DNA, albeit with some alterations, Erich suddenly found himself in a peculiar situation. In truth, he had always relied on his mental abilities to overcome the fact that he was physically inferior to his peers. After all, he was not genetically designed with the purpose of being an elite soldier.

However, now he had a body that was superior to most, if not all, WRAITHs, and the mind of a political leader. Thus, he was perhaps the most imposing figure in the galaxy, even if nobody realized it yet.

Despite these newfound abilities, Erich did not immediately test them, and instead retired to his beachside mansion, where he waited for the day to finally arrive when the Sages would strike at him and his family.

With JT constantly surveilling the area for any sign of the spy, Erich could relax with his many women, who were now more attracted to him than ever before. Thus, he spent the next two weeks engaging in drunken debauchery with a plethora of beautiful women, while Mirage began to process the marriage papers.

---

Two weeks passed, and just as Erich had seen in his dreams, a Light Elf entered the starport on Teutonia. As a member of the species which were the Suzerains of the Germanic people, she was naturally given preferential treatment from the moment she entered Germanic Space.

Security barely even searched the contents of her luggage, as they allowed her through customs and onto the luxurious beach world. The sage took one glimpse towards the direction of Erich's estate and muttered beneath her breath.

"So this is the world which the Dark Sage calls home... It's peaceful.... Almost too peaceful...."

Immediately the sage embarked from the starport, and took a cab to the residential neighborhood where the wealthy elite of Teutonia lived. Which just so happened to be where Erich's mega mansion was located.

From the moment the sage stepped food into the neighborhood, JT had tracked them. Silently communicating with Erich via his NeuroLink as he did so.

"Yeah, I got eyes on the target. Elf female, blonde hair, blue eyes, somewhat pretty face. Short pointy ears. Target matches the description you gave me. They are currently headed in the direction of your place. You want me to nab them?"

Erich denied this and sent a message through his NeuroLink, giving JT his orders.

"Not yet. I need you to keep a close eye on them. If they approach my property, then you can apprehend them immediately, but until she makes a move, just watch her for me!"

JT responded to this message with a simple confirmation.

"Roger that...."

---

The hours passed until it was late at night, and by this point Erich had already gone to bed. But the spy was still watching his home carefully, all the while JT watched the spy with even more caution. Once the lights had finally turned off, the Sage finally made their move.

The moment she inched forward towards the door of the property, a firm grip reached around her waist, and suplexed her into the ground. Where her assaulter immediately took her back and choked her out with a rear naked choke.

Once this was completed, JT placed the cuffs around the woman's wrists, and dragged her off to the vigilance. Where Erich was secretly waiting within his captain's quarters the entire time. The moment JT entered the frigate and threw the prisoner into the holding cell, she began to kick and scream.

"You fucking criminals! You won't get away with this. Do you have any idea who I am?"

It was only then that Erich stepped out of the shadows, dressed in his Archon uniform, with a wicked smile on his handsome face.

"Indeed, you are a fugitive wanted by her majesty Empress Lunaria Asterion herself..."

When the sage witnessed Erich's figure appear before her, she felt a chill down her spine, as a single phrase escaped her lips.

"The Dark Sage..."

Erich smiled cruelly and nodded his head and spoke with a haughty tone in his voice. Before revealing his identity, despite the fact that the Sage already knew of it.

"In the flesh. Archon Erich Jaeger, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I must say that you are much more pretty than the last sage I had the pleasure of holding as a prisoner... Tia... If you will please provide the serum...."

Tia's robotic form stepped into the room. Dressed in what was clearly a nurse's outfit, she lightly flicked the transparent vial which contained the liquid substance that was her most recent improvement on the Truth Serum, which she had devised specifically to interrogate sages.

'Yes Master, by Tia's calculations, this improved serum has only a 25% probability of resulting in total brain death like the last time. Tia thanks Master for offering his brain for her research. Without it, she might never have been able to produce an improved variant. However, Tia would also like to remind the master that if we were to dispose of this meatbag, then it would be best to donate her body to Tia for further research."

Erich sighed and shook his head when he heard Tia continuing to refer to biological life forms as "meatbags". Although the term made him deeply uncomfortable, he permitted it, because it was a term that Tia liked to use, especially in reference to Erich's enemies.

The Sage, however, looked at Tia with nothing but fear in her eyes. Each of the Sages had a different interpretation of the "Bloody Bride". Most considered it to be a being of great power, who would enable Erich's rise to power. And because of this, many assumed it would be either Lunaria, or her daughter Celestia, to fulfil this role.

But the moment Tia said the word meatbag, as if she had a complete and utter disdain for biological life, along with the fact that her eyes suddenly flashed red with anger. This sage truly believed that this little robotic loli was actually the Bloody Bride.

For one reason, and one reason alone, the Bloody Bride was a figure whose identity could not be confirmed, something which none of the Sages could explain, other than the potential reality that she was also a Sage.

However, if the bloody bride was a sentient artificial intelligence, then it would have no ties to "fate" and because of this, there would be no way to determine its identity through visions. When the sage realized this, she gazed upon Tia's robotic form with horror as she voiced her fears aloud.

"The bloody bride..."

This comment confused Erich. He knew little of the Sage's prophecy regarding the Dark Sage, other than what Celestia had told him. In this prophecy, there was a partner in crime, so to speak. Said to be the Dark Sage's lover. One who would enable his rise to power, and corrupt him into a ruthless warlord the likes of which the galaxy had never seen before.

Until now Erich had paid little heed to these words. After all, although Lunaria had helped promote Erich's to a position of power within her domain. She was a deeply possessive woman, and a fiercely loyal one to her people. She was entirely unlikely to forsake the Alfheim Dominion's interests, so that Erich could go on to be a conquering warlord who set the galaxy aflame. And the same could be said about her daughter.

But Erich had not thought about Tia as a candidate. That is, until now. However, once he thought about it, it made sense. Tia only cared about him and advancing his interests. In fact, she long since begun compelling him to think with more ambition. She had even gone out of her way to acquire the funds necessary to purchase a barren world, one upon which she built a planetwide industry. So that he could fuel his war machine.

Tia, however, cared little about the prophecies of biological lifeforms, and thus, she immediately stepped forward and injected the prisoner with the new and improved variant of her truth serum. Now all that needed to happen was for Erich to ask the questions which he needed answers to.