Reincarnated As Tony Stark With A Skill - Volume 3 Chapter 99 Theathrics

Looking at D’ken’s dismembered body, Tony waved his hands. A fire suddenly appeared and wrapped around D’ken’s body. He made sure everyone present witnessed this.

He did this to remind everyone that is watching about the Phoenix. He wanted to remind everyone that the abilities they witnessed wasn’t all that he had.

When they go out, they will know more of the things he has done. They would only know about what he allowed them to but that should be enough as a show of his power. This scene would serve as a reminder to anyone that the powers he’s shown wasn’t close to the full range of his powers.

The flame burned fiercely, consuming the body. When the flame died, no trace of D’ken was left. Not even his ashes remained.

After making sure everyone in the Tribunal who saw the scene remembered it, he went ahead and dismissed them. Some high level officials tried to stay but were also driven away. The only people left were the guards and Lilandra.

He then went to the Emperor’s chair and sat on it. He looked at Gladiator, and then at Lilandra. Waiting to see what their reaction would be.

While Lilandra had a complex look on her face, she didn’t appear as to be angry or disappointed that she wasn’t the one sitting on the chair.

Even through the symbiote bonded to Lilandra, Tony felt no ill feelings directed at him, only concern. She was concerned about what the new emperor would do. She thought he might do something stupid that would not only bring to waste the years of work she did for the Empire, but would also lead to the suferring of their citizens or worse.

He took pity after learnig about Lilandra’s way of thinking. He was aware of how the Shi’ar people think. While she would be a great leader for the empire, she would have definitely failed if she became Shi’ar’s ruler. She was too kind.

While she may grow to be more ruthless if she became Empress, it would most likely be due to some serious incident.

The change in character would have been too late. A coup would have already happened. She may triumph against the coup but the damage would have been done.

Gladiator on the other hand just stood by. Even in his mind he was just waiting for someone to clarify things for him. If Tony didn’t know better, he would have thought that Gladiator is like some low ranking soldier. Someone who can’t influence the commands and can only follow orders given to him.

Tony wouldn’t completely trust him as his right hand man but he could trust him to protect the empire. He still left an offshoot symbiote on him just in case he did some funny business.

Tony:”Wow. You really do recognize the right by combat. That makes things easy.

I guess I really am the emperor now.

Gladiator, go out there. Call the Imperial Guards. Then go and start patrolling the Empire’s borders. Make everyone know that your group still exists”

They were surprised with Tony’s command.

Tony: “What are you waiting for? Some Skrull Invasion?

Go. Now. The spies in your empire should have just reported the event. You need to go out there and make a show of strength. Attack anyone entering the borders. Make them see that your empire remains strong”

Gladiator looked at Lilandra. She nooded to show that she also agreed to the commands.

Gladiator and Oracle went ahead to start their patrols.

____

Tony: “Now. Lilandra. Let’s about you.

I want you

… (Tony waited for Lilandra to panic)

to continue doing your job.”

Lilandra was shocked and a bit disappointed.

Tony: “What’s wrong? You think I’ll marry you or something?”

Lilandra: small nod.

She couldn’t help it. Though she still appeared to be a human in her mid twenties, she was actually older than that. She was already past the age Shi’ar women were usually married, yet she never even had any romance in her life.

Being a princess, she would have had suitors. But, they were all driven away by her sister.

After her sister was exiled, it was D’ken’s turn to control her life. He didn’t allow her to get married unless it was to a royalty from another empire or someone from a superior race.

But Shi’ar would traditionally conquer weaker empires rather than just build political ties. The only empires left didn’t require them to build political ties to.

It lead to Lilandra’s current predicament where she was bound to be forever single.

—–

Tony:”Yeah, No. I’m way too young for that. Also, the chaperone doesn’t approve.

I can sleep with you if you want it. I mean, I don’t know the standards in your empire but in my planet all the women I slept with gave me positive reviews.

But I won’t be marrying anytime soon.

Now focus. Tou still have work to do. Other than stabilizing the empire, you still need to find your sister.”

Lilandra:”My sister? Cal’syee (Deathbird’s real name here)? Do you want to marry her instead?”

Tony: “I don’t know if she’s Deathbird but yeah. Are you jealous? We haven’t even slept together and you’re already clingy.”

LIlandra:”that’s not what I meant. It’s just”

Tony:”She’s exiled. I know. But I still want her to be here. I may not be marrying you or your sister but I need to make it look like that to everyone. It’s the easiest way to stabilize my rule on your empire.”

_____

While Tony could easily stabilize his rule through his symbiotes, he didn’t want things to be that way. It might give full control but it would limit the empire’s growth.

Tony wanted the Shi’ar to grow so that he could get more benefits from it.

His plan was to essentially make the Shi’ar Empire the space equivalent of his Stark Industries. An endless supply of galactic credits.

There was just one problem, the politics. Tony already had it with the politics in Stark Industries. He wasn’t going to let things get as out of control here as it did to his company.

While the empire is under the control of the emperor, it didn’t mean that the emperor managed everything. There are Shi’ar elders and leaders of various races who took care of things for him..

Tony was too lazy to manage them all. Instead, he thought of creating some conflict that would force them to form factions. It would reduce the amount he needed to manage from a huge amount into two.

____

Since the leader of the empire was killed and his loyalist wiped out, a sort of power vacuum appeared. There is instability in the power and the greedy ones would definitely take advantage of it.

Tony had already panned to wipe out those whose interests directly oppose his. For the rest, he wanted them to fight over something. Some kind of conflict where they would benefit.

The only conflict Tony could think of for this situation is the fight for the next emperor. He would delay picking his wife and make them try and influence his decision.

By making it look like Lilandra and Deathbird are fighting for the Emperor’s favor, he’s essentially maintaining the royal bloodline. He wouldn’t have to deal with those kinds of problems. The elders of the Shi’ar wouldn’t oppose him as much.

This left the elders and leaders of each memeber race to form factions that would oppose one another.

If all goes according to Tony’s plan, they should end up trying to support either of the two princesses with the objective of influencing their future offspring/s.

There are alot of ways he could take advatage of this conflict. He could have some of his clones act as his trusted aid and have those factions bribe them.

He could also make them participate in a competition that should keep them working.

He would then influence them to increase their enthusiasm. Making them work as hard as possible while thinking that everything they did and every bribe they gave help in their cause.

____

After he finished giving his intentions to Lilandra, Tony went back to his mindspace and contacted the Phoenix. He asked if D’ken was properly taken care of.

Phoenix: “Yeah. His head is kept alive. I transported him to that prison of yours.

Are you sure you want him alive?”

Tony: “Yeah. You and I both know he deserves to suffer more.”

PHoenix:”That I agree with. What I don’t understand why did you put just kill them all and be done with it?”

TRony: “Other than the continuous source of money? Didn’t you notice it?”

PHoenix:”What?”

Tony: “Their god.”

Phoenix: “God? What god?”

TOny:”I’m not sure, probably the one they currently worship. My symbiote forgot felt something. If I wanted to kill every Shi’ar, they would definitely make their move just to stop me.”

Phoenix: “Couldn’t you also kill those gods? Based on your memories, that symbiote of yours was, and, used to kill gods”

TOny: “First, what are you doing looking at those memories.

Second. I’m don’t want to try that out without testing first.

Third. Even if I could, I’m not sure if I should. I might very well destroy the future of one of my future allies.”

(Look below at Author’s thoughts if you want to know more about this. )

Phoenix:”Alllies? Why do even need allies? Couldn’t you just make more of those shadow clones of yours and let them fight for you?”

Tony: “That’s not the point. My point is, I’m planning for my vacation. There’s no way my clones would work while I just ready. I’m pretty sure they’d also be on vacation when I am.

I’ll need others who could fight while I’m on vacation.”

Phoenix: “Vacation? What’s that?”

Tony: “You know what, you should try being human. It would make explaining things a lot of things easier for me.

Oh. But make sure you tell me or Jean first. I don’t want you to just go out there without supervision.”

Phoenix just tilted its head to the side.

Tony: “We’ll talk about this later. For now, let’s see what happened to that guy you almost killed.”