Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 450

Chapter 450: Empty
Alex stood by, watching coldly.

“Power.”

Mira’s knees buckled, but she held firm, her expression twisting as the raw force poured into her.

Her veins burned with it, her body barely able to contain the torrent that tore through her muscles, her bones.

But she didn’t scream. She took it, every painful second of it, until the flow finally began to ease.

The planet’s voice echoed one last time.

“My gift to you, Mira. There will be no others. Use it.”

Mira staggered back, gasping for air. Her hands trembled, the energy still simmering beneath her skin.

She glared at Alex, her voice low and rasping.

“You weren’t kidding.”

Alex just nodded.

“I don’t waste words.”

She clenched her fists, the power still fresh and volatile within her, waiting to be unleashed. Whatever hesitation she had before was gone now. It had been burned away along with whatever boundaries her body once had.

“Don’t forget.”

Alex said, his voice lacking any warmth.

“This wasn’t just a gift. It was a necessity.”

Mira looked back at the black sphere, the last remnants of its ancient energy seeping back into the void.

Whatever bond it had with them was gone now, spent on them, with nothing left for itself.

“Yeah.”

She muttered, still feeling the power roiling inside her.

“I won’t forget.”

Without another word, they turned and left the listless cave system behind.

However, if Mira had paid enough attention, she would have realised that she was no longer a C- rank like she thought…

***

Alex stood on the bridge of his ship, staring out at the desolate expanse of the Telorn system.

The familiar stars twinkled in the distance, bathing the planets in cold light, but there was something deeply unsettling about the silence that permeated the void around them.

Mira stood beside him, arms crossed, her sharp gaze fixed on the empty stretch of space.

Her senses were heightened, still buzzing with the raw power she had absorbed from the planet.

But even that couldn’t pierce through the disorienting stillness.

She could feel something was wrong, an absence that gnawed at the edges of her perception.

“Where are they?”

She muttered, her voice tinged with frustration.

Alex didn’t answer immediately.

His hands moved over the console, scanning the system again, but the result was the same as before—nothing.

The ship’s sensors returned no signals, no activity, no signs of life.

Not a single Red Demon ship or outpost anywhere within the Telorn system.

“It’s not possible…”

He finally said, his voice low and measured, but laced with unease.

“There should be thousands of them here.”

Mira glanced at him, then back to the viewport.

Her mind raced, searching for an explanation.

Telorn was supposed to be crawling with Red Demons—their stronghold, a place so fortified that attacking it was considered suicidal.

Yet the star system lay before them, cold and lifeless, like a graveyard.

“It’s not just empty.”

She said, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s been wiped clean. Not even debris, no abandoned ships, no corpses. Nothing.”

Alex clenched his jaw, his mind struggling to make sense of it.

He had expected a brutal fight, prepared Mira for the chaos they would face upon entering Telorn.

But this… this silence was more unsettling than any battle could’ve been.

“Keep scanning.”

Alex ordered, his fingers moving quickly over the controls.

“There has to be something—some clue.”

But after several long moments, the results remained unchanged.

The system was as barren as it appeared.

No ships, no stations, no atmospheric interference. Not even signs of old battles. It was as if the Red Demons had simply vanished without a trace.

Mira turned to Alex, her frustration boiling over.

“What the hell is going on, Alex? They can’t just disappear like this. This system was crawling with them!”

“It was.”

Alex snapped, his tone harsher than he intended.

He took a breath, his expression darkening as he wrestled with the growing sense of dread.

“It doesn’t make sense. There’s no way they could abandon a system like Telorn. Even if they relocated, there should be some evidence. A trail. Something.”

Mira stared out into the void, her mind trying to grasp the implications.

The Red Demons were not the kind of enemy that simply left without a fight.

They were ruthless, relentless, and they never backed down.

If anything, they would’ve fought to the last breath to defend their territory.

“So what?”

She asked, her voice quiet but tense.

“You think someone else wiped them out? Took them down before we got here?”

Alex didn’t answer immediately.

His eyes narrowed as he considered the possibility, but even that didn’t sit right with him.

The Red Demons were too numerous, too well-entrenched to fall so easily, even to a superior force.

And who could’ve done it anyway? The Federation? Impossible. They didn’t have the numbers or the firepower to launch a secret assault on this scale.

“No.”

He said slowly, his mind working through the pieces.

“Even if someone attacked them, there’d be signs of a battle. This… this isn’t that. This feels more like…”

He trailed off, his words hanging in the air like a lead weight.

Mira turned to him, her brow furrowed.

“More like what?”

Alex stared at the empty screen, his brow furrowed as the silence of the Telorn system loomed over them.

His thoughts raced, trying to make sense of what they were seeing—or rather, what they weren’t seeing.

He let out a slow breath and rubbed the back of his neck before he spoke, voice tight with uncertainty.

“Maybe they… ran away.”

Mira blinked and turned to face him, her expression flat.

“Ran away? The Red Demons?”

She let the thought linger, the absurdity of it weighing heavily between them.

Her fingers twitched at her sides, still tingling with the residual power from the planet’s gift.

She wanted to use it, to test it in battle. But now… there was no battle to be had.

Alex held her gaze for a moment, then looked away, his fingers drumming lightly on the console.

“It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. No debris. No traces. If they were wiped out, we’d see signs of it. If they fought, there’d be wreckage, bodies. But this…”

He gestured to the vast emptiness displayed before them.