Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2411 tense stability

Mid Sector 107—

Inside a gigantic oceanic planet containing only a small number of narrow islands scattered across its immense waters, while enormous sea beasts could be seen roaming silently just beneath the surface without even breaking the water's tension despite their tremendous sizes... a figure sat comfortably on one of those isolated islands, calmly watching everything around him with a relaxed smile on his face.

Then, with a sudden Whoosh, someone dressed entirely in black robes and wearing a black mask appeared directly beside him without warning... It was a Shadow Sword. The Shadow Sword immediately bowed beside the enormous-bodied Behemoth before extending both hands respectfully toward him, holding a small card upon his open palms.

"..." Zavaros casually reached out toward the small metallic card and pulled it from the Shadow Sword's hands, then inserted his spiritual sense into it to examine the information stored within. "...Hahaha!" His expression immediately changed as laughter escaped him, then he tossed the card aside and began pounding heavily on his seat with obvious amusement. "Haaaaahahahahaha!!"

It turned out that the confrontation the entire universe had been eagerly anticipating since this morning, with countless eyes focused upon what would happen between the gathered forces, had ultimately ended in an astonishingly dramatic and completely unexpected fashion.

Lord Robin's famous Foreign Affairs Advisor had appeared at the critical moment and presented a proposal that managed to satisfy everyone involved, asking to speak privately with Gravor while the Syndicate Administrator would similarly speak privately with Arkail, in the hope that through those two separate conversations the entire problem might somehow be resolved without the need for bloodshed.

The result that came from those private discussions was astonishing.

Arkail attacked the Syndicate Administrator only five minutes into their private meeting after deciding that he had already heard enough of the man's provocative threats, and an extremely fierce battle immediately erupted between the two of them. At nearly the same time, the Syndicate's forces and the Temporal Behemoth's forces clashed as well, causing the confrontation to expand rapidly until the flames of battle could be seen spreading all the way toward the horizon in every direction.

But throughout all of that chaos, Gravor's imposing fleet remained completely motionless in its original position and refused to intervene in the fighting, even when orders came directly from the Syndicate Administrator himself, as every member of the fleet continued waiting for commands from their own master instead.

And indeed, roughly an hour after the battle had begun and the fighting had already reached a fierce stage, Gravor finally appeared once again, this time with an unusually serious expression covering his face...

And the first thing he did upon returning was order his entire army to turn their weapons around and strike the Syndicate's forces directly from behind.

The Syndicate's forces, which had already been struggling heavily against Arkail's fleet while simultaneously suffering under the pressure and encirclement of his sons, simply couldn't withstand such a sudden blow from behind. The damage inflicted upon them was far too severe and extensive for the situation to be recovered from once Gravor's forces entered the battle against them.

As for the only battlefield where the balance between the opposing sides had remained somewhat even until then, the confrontation between the Syndicate Administrator and Arkail himself, Gravor personally went over and attacked the Syndicate Administrator as well, instantly transforming what had previously been a direct confrontation into a two-against-one battle.

The Syndicate Administrator displayed tremendous strength during that confrontation, revealing power equal to what Helmor's sons had previously demonstrated, if not slightly greater, but Arkail also displayed the strength of the Time Path perfectly, demonstrating a level of mastery that surpassed expectations, while Gravor proved to be excellent support for him from the side... After a number of fierce exchanges between them, the Administrator ultimately chose to flee from the battlefield, and the surviving Syndicate Dominators escaped alongside him rather than remaining behind.

The Syndicate's army consequently found itself trapped between two millstones, being mercilessly ground down from both directions between the forces of two Behemoths without being given any opportunity to properly recover or reorganize. The final outcome was already decided by that point; half of the enormous fleet was completely destroyed while the other half somehow managed to escape from the battlefield... Around 1,500 armadas fled in different directions in their desperation to survive, some heading deeper into Mid Sector 93 while others broke through the buffer zone and escaped toward Mid Sector 92.

But there was absolutely no reason to fear those who had chosen to flee deeper into Lord Robin's territory, regardless of how far they managed to advance before being caught.

Gravor's forces and the Temporal Behemoth's forces would simply pursue those who had headed deeper into Mid Sector 93, continue hunting them throughout the sector, and eventually eliminate them sooner or later.

As for those who had chosen to cross into Mid Sector 92 instead? Their situation was considerably worse than that of their companions.

Crossing the buffer zone required an enormous quantity of fuel and supplies to accomplish, and before coming to this battle, Gravor had personally made certain that not a single one of those vessels possessed enough reserves of that kind, because from the beginning he hadn't wanted to become embroiled in a battle only to suddenly discover that the Syndicate's forces could simply flee from the battlefield and abandon him behind.

In a way, that decision had now ended up protecting him from a potentially troublesome situation... because the roughly 800 armadas that had rashly chosen to head toward Mid Sector 92 would never manage to emerge from the other side of the buffer zone.

"So, we've gained another friend, and Lord Robin's territory has now officially expanded all the way to Mid Sector 92." Zavaros nodded slowly as he considered the implications of the news he had just received. "That's extremely pleasing." Then he smiled, raised his head slightly, and allowed his gaze to drift upward. "...And enviable."

Compared to the eastern front, which continued expanding at a steady and stable pace as one sector after another came under their influence, their own western front was currently facing an enormous obstacle that couldn't simply be ignored or bypassed... the obstacle known as Helmor the Destroyer.

After that day when Hedrick revealed his true strength before everyone, Helmor had withdrawn from his previous positions until he occupied only half of Kiryan's galaxy, then began making extensive preparations for a comprehensive invasion, intending to follow the same approach Hedrick had used and break directly through the defenses toward the very heart of the galaxy in one decisive push... but that situation and the opportunity to prepare in peace didn't last for long.

The reinforcements belonging to Lord Robin's followers hadn't stopped arriving during that period either, but instead continued entering the battlefield and strengthening Kiryan's side.

Special forces arrived from the Purity Galaxy and from every Millennial Empire under Lord Robin's authority, along with ten Dominators sent from the Savage Behemoth's galaxy... Dozens of Dominators entered the battlefield in total, headed by the two Heads of Chaos, Omis and Omira, while behind and alongside them came the support of 70 Royal Soul Masters from the Burton family.

Another 500 new Nota armadas arrived as well to reinforce the already growing military presence, accompanied by the veteran Admiral Alexander, who came as their overall commander and assumed command over those newly arrived forces.

And after the galaxy itself had already been fortified and armored with a number of defensive arrays intended to strengthen its ability to withstand the coming battles, several offensive arrays arrived as well, adding yet another element to the rapidly changing balance of power!

Helmor quickly discovered that the period of preparation he had been relying upon to gather what he needed and eventually bring the war to an end had indeed succeeded in doing exactly that, except that all the benefits of that additional time had gone to the opposing side rather than to him... and as the situation continued changing against him, he was ultimately forced to retreat once again.

Anyone else placed in the same situation would probably have retreated toward the first quarter of the galaxy and begun reconsidering their plans from there, but Helmor understood that with such an enormous amount of support now gathered on the opposing side, he would no longer be capable of advancing without bringing his own army into the conflict as well. If he merely retreated and remained nearby, he would only be giving Kiryan and his tremendous reinforcements enough space to advance once again... which would eventually force him into yet another retreat.

So instead of continuing that cycle, he chose to leave Mid Sector 115 entirely... Everyone who happened to see him when he reached the Major Space Gate afterward spoke of the terrifying silent fury surrounding him, an anger so intense that it seemed almost capable of burning the very space around his body.

But Helmor didn't actually go far after leaving the sector. He headed directly toward Mid Sector 114, concentrated his sons there, and began summoning his true army to come and gather around him, preparing himself this time for a genuine invasion campaign rather than another limited advance, one intended to bring down the Conqueror's galaxy and the entire sector along with everyone inside it...

However, concentrating so heavily on Kiryan's front and directing so much of his attention toward preparing for that coming invasion inevitably created a small problem elsewhere.

Zavaros immediately took advantage of the situation and moved against the weakened positions, destroying every one of the Destroyer's strongholds throughout Mid Sector 106 and driving his sons completely out of the sector, before continuing onward and advancing toward Mid Sector 107 with his entire army!

While Helmor was occupied facing the west and concentrating his attention and forces in that direction... Zavaros was steadily approaching him from the east, advancing slowly but continuously while threatening everything Helmor had spent so long building.

Faced with that steady advance from the opposite direction, Helmor ordered one-third of his army, accompanied by a number of his second-rank sons, to move toward Mid Sector 108 and concentrate their forces there, not for the purpose of immediately using them to launch another offensive or to begin expanding farther eastward, but for one single purpose: to prevent Zavaros from advancing any farther while Helmor himself remained free to concentrate his attention and strength on Kiryan.

And indeed, that decision accomplished exactly what Helmor needed it to accomplish...

In this manner, after eliminating the Destroyer's remaining influence ahead of him in Mid Sector 106 and advancing with his entire army, Zavaros successfully tightened his grip over Mid Sector 107 as well... and then stopped.