Well, this was it. This was the day.

This was the end of the Grox.

No backing down now, no running, no, it was time to stand and fight.

Part of me wondered why I was thinking this over when annihilating the Grox would be a trivial task for me. The answer I got was that I just felt like it.

Oh well.

Well, anyways, I think that I should probably be getting to the battle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When I started attacking their last dozen systems, the Grox finally started fighting back: squads of spaceships would try to mob mine in an effort to destroy through sheer numbers, since I totally outclassed them in terms of firepower.

You think they'd realize that the strategy they were using would only work on an opponent that had a limited amount of ammunition, which was not a problem for me.

The end result was that they were down to one system in about 45 minutes. Seriously, Spore terraforming tech is OP. No nerfing, please.

I was expecting that they'd have one last force left to defend their home system, in a final, desperate stand against me. After all, that's what people usually do if their opponents won't let them surrender.

That being said, I was surprised by what I found there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I was in approaching the outer edges of the Grox home star (Bilfang, according to my Sporepedia). The grox inhabited all four of the planets here: Perchush, Mal-ti, Seudun, and, finally, their homeworld, Nan-Qur. Weird names, I know.

According to my SETI device, they had a good 20 ships in system. That was more than I'd ever fought, but nothing I couldn't manage. After all, I had at least 200 fighters with me, so numbers wasn't much of an issue. And since the Grox had no technology they could give me, I wasn't going to pull any punches.

Also, there were a lot of strange objects orbiting the Grox worlds. They were metal in nature, but I couldn't find any energy signatures coming from them, so I ignored them.

Then, to my surprise, the Grox hailed me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"We demand you surrender."

"Really?"

"Yes. You have proven stronger than any foe that we have faced before, but we will overcome you."

"Yeah, how? I just destroyed your entire empire. Easily."

"A little too easily, don't you think?"

"I..huh?"

"You didn't encounter any resistance surrounding most of our colonies. Don't you find it suspicious. After all, any empire that has last more than a few decades will guard its borders against threats. Yet you faced only tangential resistance."

"...Your point, cyborg demon?"

"Surrender.."

"NO."

"Very well. All ships, prepare for battle."

Just then, my sensors flooded with enemy signals. Suddenly, 20 had gone up to 2000.

But how...

I checked my earlier sensors readings, specifically those about the metal objects orbiting the planet. Then I cross referenced them with the new ships.

The results were conclusive: the metal objects had been grox ships. Apparently, they'd turned off all systems except communications.

Clever little aliens.

Anyways, things got crazy from there. While my followers panicked, I sent every ship I had at the Grox, and opened fire with my own. Numbers advantage or not, I still outclassed them in the firepower department, and had way better range. Before they were in range of my fighters, I'd already halved their numbers.

After that, well, that was a fairly epic battle.

The fighters I had were maneuverable enough that they were able to avoid the initial missile barrage from the Grox ships, at which point the fighting began in earnest. Here's where a big issue of the spore ships came into play: see, spore ships are mostly meant for fighting enemies head on, with ships clustering together and battling in a disorganized mob. Against other ships in the Spore universe, it works fine, but not against ships designed for dog fights, like my hornet fighters.

Because of this, they managed to take out a tenth of the defense fleet on their own, with only 3 casualties.

Then, the Grox got serious.

Since the couldn't out maneuver my ships, they decided to split into smaller groups and gang up on individual fighters. This actually worked, because it nullified the fighters speed and maneuverability advantages, allowing the more robust Grox ships to gain an advantage. I lost 10 fighters in that phase of the battle, with the Grox only losing 30.

Ok, time to end this.

I launched my flagship at the Grox, aiming at any ship I could find. My weapons were able to literally shred through most of the ships I encountered, with only a few resisting the onslaught of death for a few precious seconds before joining their brethren in oblivion. At one point, 10 ships actually decided to bail out, only to be hit with a barrage of antimatter missiles.

I was not going to let the Grox have the chance to return to haunt me in the future.

Approximately 13 minutes after the fighting had started, the last Grox ship was reduced to a burning pile of scrap, which my starship breezed past, looting the valuable spice and sporebucks it had once contained.

From there, I set about annihilating the last of the Grox: A frozen world was bombarded with meteorites until the ice fields became oceans. A lava planet saw a comet fill it with water. I literally drained the atmosphere out of one world until the sun started shining, with the Grox dying as the light hit them.

Finally, when I arrived at their homeworld, I activated my atmosphere generator and started pumping.

A final transmission came out from the leader of the Grox.

"WHY DO YOU OPPOSE US?! WHY DO YOU SEEK TO MURDER US?"

My reply was simple, but very, very true.

"You have only caused trouble for my creations. I want it to end. Now be gone."

As I said this, the Grox leader disintegrated before my eyes, which was actually less disgusting than I thought it'd be, while lightning cracked across the sky. The minute I finished my remark, it began to rain.

As the first drops fell, the Grox's buildings began to shake. Then, one by one, they crumpled over and collapsed, turning into huge piles of dust and rubble. Joining them were the Grox's machinery, which had fallen silent with the deaths of their pilots. A few planes actually fell out of the sky, only to turn into dust when they hit the ground.

For a moment, the entire world was littered with dust and rubble. Then, slowly, the rains moved the dust away, washing away all evidence that the Grox had ever existed. Even the rubble of the buildings was washed away, leaving no trace of their existence.

To my surprise, the plants that I put on planet to ensure the Grox didn't come back sprouted instantly, quickly overtaking the rubble that the rain couldn't move. Soon, all of the remaining rubble was covered, as if it had never existed. It was as if nature was wiping away a bad stay and starting over.

I took one more moment to enjoy the fruits of my labor, then I prepared to leave.

At that moment, my sensors picked up something strange coming from a pile of rubble at the center of what used to be one o the Grox's cities. According to the records I'd got from the scanner, this used to be their capital city, Mulos. Weird name if you ask me.

I used the abduction tool to move the rubble until I found the source of the signal: some kind of weird box.

I had no idea what was in it: a superweapon? The ultimate question, which 42 was the answer to (wait, already knew that)? An eldritch abomination?

Part of me thought about throwing it away, but that thought was soon quashed. If this was something, I was not going to pass it up, and if it was something bad, I think it needed a better storage place, where fools could not open it by accident.

So, I quickly moved it into my cargo hold. Then, I got ready to leave.

Before I did, though, I decided to do one last thing: put a wildlife preserve marker on this planet, then fill it with a bunch of species.

Because what better way to rub in your victory over the enemies of all life then by making their home world a shelter for all living things?

With that done, I set my sights on the Galactic Core. Steve, here I come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Looking back, I can't believe things started out with something as simple as taking a box with me. It seems so trivial compared to the rest of the things I've done.

But seriously, I think that moment was the one where things went different for me.

If you say that was destiny, shove it. I've had beings that can see the future flat out tell me they didn't see this happen; hell, ROB told me this was something it didn't see coming. As far as they are concerned, I don't have any destiny except the one I make for myself.

But if there was such a thing as destiny, then I think that taking that box altered it forever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!