In the southern region of the Andromeda Galaxy, a fleet hung motionless in space.
"My lord, they've already left," a Kree reported respectfully, lowering his head slightly before Ronan, who stood gripping his massive weapon.
"What's the situation?" Ronan asked in a deep voice.
"The Supreme Intelligence has been destroyed, and the central continent of Hala has become an endless ocean."
Bang!
Ronan slammed his fist onto the table, leaving a deep dent. Although he had mentally prepared himself, the sheer scale of the loss was still difficult to accept, and the reporting officer shuddered in fright.
"Play the complete recording," Ronan said after forcing himself to calm down.
"Yes, sir."
...
After watching the footage five or six times, Ronan's fury reached its peak.
"Are the Accusers all idiots? A bunch of fools! If the situation was hopeless, why did they keep launching missiles? The enemy stood there without moving! They were the ones who slaughtered their own people!"
Unable to suppress his rage any longer, Ronan rose to his feet, and his body trembled, not only with anger, but also with fear.
They were simply too powerful. There wasn't even a clue as to how they could be defeated, and it was enough to make anyone despair.
...
"My lord, we've arrived at our destination."
A long while later, another subordinate came to report.
Ronan walked into the command center and looked at the planet floating outside the viewport.
"There are Skrulls on that planet?" he asked.
"Yes."
"That planet is an eyesore, just destroy it."
Ronan gave the order before turning and walking away. One high-yield missile after another shot toward the planet.
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion tore across the planet as shockwaves ripped through the continents, and massive clouds of smoke climbed into the sky, swallowing the landscape as fires erupted across the surface.
The explosions came one after another without end.
Buildings collapsed one after another, sending chunks of concrete crashing into the streets below as terrified civilians fled. Shattered glass fell from ruined towers, and blood stained the streets beneath the wreckage.
The cities crumbled beneath the destruction, while flames towered above the skyline.
The continents split apart as cracks spread across the planet's surface. Starting from its center, the world slowly broke apart, fragmenting into countless pieces.
A planet had reached the end of its existence. From this day forward, perhaps only wandering meteorites would preserve a few scattered traces of its history.
"Return to Hala. I need to rebuild the Empire."
Ronan's command echoed through every soldier's communicator.
...
Upon returning to Hala, Ronan held a meeting with the Accusers while carrying his weapon.
No one knew what was discussed. The next day, however, Ronan stood at the head of the Accusers, and a full Imperial assembly was convened.
Ronan and the other Accusers appeared as holograms before every Kree citizen, not just on Hala, but on every planet within Kree territory.
"Citizens! Three days ago, a terrible catastrophe descended upon Hala. In that disaster, we lost 987,654,321 of our fellow Kree.
Now, lower the flags to half-mast, sing the Imperial anthem in silence and bid farewell to our fallen brothers and sisters."
Across thousands of Kree worlds, flags were lowered, and hundreds of billions of Kree silently sang their anthem.
"Three days ago, Hala was invaded, and we were defeated."
Ronan spoke in a heavy voice.
"And our enemies, were only two people."
The moment those words left his mouth, every Kree living outside Hala exploded into an uproar.
They couldn't believe it. Just two people had breached the defenses of their homeworld? Just two people had slaughtered nearly a billion of their people?
"Revenge!"
"Revenge!"
"We want revenge!"
"We want revenge!"
Every Kree shouted furiously across countless worlds. Ronan waited over ten seconds before slowly raising a hand for silence.
"You may be crying for revenge. You may be cursing the defenders of Hala for their incompetence. You may believe this catastrophe happened only because we were careless, but that is not the truth!"
Veins bulged across Ronan's skin, and his face twisted with rage.
"The truth is that we could do nothing against them! In fact, our enemies never even fought back!
They stood there without moving and none of our weapons could harm them! I'm telling you the truth, they didn't even make the enemy bleed!"
He jabbed a finger forward violently.
"They didn't lose a single hair!"
Absolute silence, the once-roaring Kree citizens suddenly fell silent, as though invisible hands had closed around their throats.
Their mouths opened, yet no sound came out.
"That's impossible!"
After the silence came an even greater eruption.
The Kree were proud, and arrogant, so they simply refused to believe Ronan's words. On some remote worlds, enraged Kree began beating and killing their slaves and members of other races.
"This is the truth!" Ronan continued.
"The truth is... We Kree are still not strong enough! The truth is... Hala's central continent is gone! The truth is... Our Supreme Intelligence has been destroyed!"
He paused for several seconds.
"My fellow Kree citizens, we have fallen behind! We are nowhere near as powerful as we imagined!
After defeating the Skrulls, we became complacent. We stopped improving, and we believed there were no rivals left among the stars.
"So, we began indulging ourselves. Some among us even started longing for peace.
We believed our Empire had reached its golden age. The prosperity of our capital intoxicated us, it softened our hearts.
"And now, we've lost the very capital that made us weak!
"I will never approve the construction of a new capital!
"Tell me, what were the Kree born for?"
He stared into the cameras.
"WAR!"
"WAR!"
"That's right! We were born for war! And even now, it still isn't enough! We need more territory! More resources! Only then can we build even more powerful weapons!
"If planet-destroying weapons can't defeat our enemies, then we'll build weapons that destroy star sectors! Star systems!
"Until the day comes when I see the heads of our enemies hanging from the iron tower of our new capital."
"That tower will be built in memory of every compatriot who died in this disaster!
"We will not build a new capital until our enemies are dead!
"The Kree will never fall!
"Long live the Kree!"
Ronan raised his arm and roared.
"The Kree will never fall!"
"Long live the Kree!"
"The Kree will never fall!"
"Long live the Kree!"
"Warriors, take up your weapons, and contribute to the Empire's great campaign of vengeance!"
...
From that day onward, Earth Calendar, 1995.
The Kree Empire entered the Post Supreme Intelligence Era.
The rulers of the Kree Empire were now Ronan and the Accusers, and under their leadership, a new galaxy-wide war began.
And the one who had set all of this in motion was currently spacing out aboard a spaceship.