Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2422 Loving the game

Mid Sector 107—

At this moment, Zavaros was sitting on an enormous couch upon a densely forested planet, quietly gazing toward the distant horizon. His eyes weren't attempting to appreciate or admire the natural beauty of the planet surrounding him, but instead seemed to pierce straight through everything before him and look far beyond it... From where he sat, Zavaros could clearly see the buffer zone that led onward toward Mid Sector 108.

His expression remained calm and almost completely motionless, yet his eyes gleamed with an unmistakable seriousness that stood in stark contrast to that outward tranquility... It was obvious from the way he continued staring into the distance that he was planning something.

Nearly two full decades had already passed since he officially came under Lord Robin's banner and swore a solemn and binding oath of allegiance to him while lowering his head in shame... And from that moment until today, a tremendous amount had changed around him.

His former authority over Mid Sector 105 hadn't been stripped away or weakened after his submission. Quite the opposite, his galaxy had subsequently been reinforced, developed, and strengthened until it reached a level it had never witnessed before throughout its existence, nor had it ever even come remotely close to reaching such a level in the past.

Rather than having restrictions placed upon him or seeing his freedom gradually reduced, Zavaros had instead received substantial support that enabled him to take control of Sectors 106 and 107 as well, granting him a territorial domain larger than anything he had ever possessed before. The Shadow Swords had even contacted the various powers throughout those regions beforehand and directly informed them that their safest path forward was to coordinate with Zavaros and listen to his instructions, effectively granting him tremendous prestige and authority throughout his newly expanded territory!

And yet, despite everything he had received and everything that had improved since his oath... Zavaros still couldn't shake the persistent feeling that he was being neglected.

All the other Behemoths were seeing real action, carrying out genuine expansion, making plans and then personally plunging into enormous wars. Every one of them seemed to be standing at the forefront of some major event and constantly making headlines throughout the universe, while he alone remained tied down here with nothing comparable to occupy him.

There was no need to even mention what was currently preparing to erupt in Mid Sector 89, because the entire universe was already watching that place closely. Anyone possessing even the slightest degree of importance knew exactly what was happening there, while the enormous hordes of independent cultivators for whom Lord Robin had laid down a path that they could advance upon had already begun migrating toward that region in great numbers, intending to volunteer themselves for the coming war that would devastate an entire sector.

It would be the war that either stopped the True Beginning Empire in its tracks and finally placed a limit upon its advance, or established its prestige and position forever.

That coming war involved the Gravity Behemoth and the Temporal Behemoth, Marshal Aro together with the full forces under his command, the Shadow Swords accompanied by the military corps that had only recently appeared, and even an enormous number of Imperial Guards who had been gathered for the same battlefield.

The movement of all those forces together, once they truly began advancing and fighting, would undoubtedly be terrifying to witness... truly terrifying on a scale that couldn't be easily ignored.

But those were ultimately the men assigned to the eastern region, so Zavaros couldn't reasonably complain merely because he wasn't participating alongside them.

But then why was Kiryan allowed to freely expand and fight several Millennial Empires supported by the Syndicate throughout Sectors 116 and 117, while simultaneously preparing himself to invade Sector 118 as well, all while carrying out that enormous task entirely on his own?!

Kiryan had been completely relieved of his previous responsibility of fighting Helmor and had instead been given the much more suitable task of conquering the neighboring sectors one after another.

On one hand, they clearly wanted to take full advantage of Kiryan's offensive and expansionist capabilities, areas in which he excelled tremendously, especially since every single one of his disciples was capable of independently leading an entire starfield on their own... And on the other hand, assigning him elsewhere in this manner was itself a direct slap in the face and an insult aimed at Helmor.

Naturally, Helmor hadn't taken that decision well at all. After his entire army finally arrived in Mid Sector 114, he immediately began preparing to attack Mid Sector 115 and completely annihilate it once and for all. Yes... Helmor had openly announced at the time that he intended to destroy the entire sector rather than merely conquer or defeat it.

But the response to that declaration had been both decisive and extraordinarily swift.

Deputy Marshal Peon immediately dispatched a thousand Note-4 fleets, practically everything the First Army possessed at the time, and sent a number of Royal Soul Masters along with them as additional support. He also requested direct assistance from Kaylis, Zavaros, and Kiryan, taking five sons or disciples from each of the three...

That enormous force then suddenly appeared inside Mid Sector 115 without warning and immediately surged toward the border in overwhelming numbers, breaking straight through it the moment they arrived without even the slightest hesitation.

At the same time, Lord Hedrick had finally emerged from his period of seclusion and held a grand ceremony to celebrate his coronation as the Behemoth of the Major Fundamental Law of Destruction, a completely self-proclaimed and usurped coronation that had been carried out entirely on his own terms, yet despite that fact, no one had been able to step forward and say so much as a single word against it.

Hedrick left the ceremony on that very same day and immediately headed toward Mid Sector 114 through a Major Space Gate. There, without wasting any time, he directly attacked Helmor the Destroyer's advancing army, inflicted considerable losses upon its forces, disrupted and scattered its formation, and prevented it from continuing its advance any further, effectively trapping the entire force inside the sector and stopping its progress there.

True, Helmor eventually arrived in person and inflicted severe injuries upon Hedrick once the two of them clashed, but Hedrick nevertheless managed to retreat from the battlefield with his life intact, while also succeeding in injuring Helmor himself during the course of their battle, turning their confrontation into a tremendous event whose repercussions and significance shook the entire universe.

For the following three years, Hedrick continued relentlessly harassing Helmor's forces and preventing them from proceeding as they wished, until finally, the reinforcements coming from Mid Sector 115 arrived at the battlefield, and from that moment onward, what could truly be called the real war finally began.

An enormous and destructive war between two tremendous powers had now been raging continuously for years, with both sides still locked against one another and no clear indication whatsoever as to which of them would ultimately manage to emerge victorious.

But once again, throughout the course of that prolonged war, the Note-4 fleets proved themselves to be the greatest military force in the universe so far... Only one thousand fleets were fighting against four thousand fleets belonging directly to Helmor, yet despite that overwhelming numerical difference, they continued stubbornly holding their ground. Their numbers were declining only slowly as the fighting continued, causing enormous concern for Helmor's side while simultaneously forming an almost impenetrable wall against every attempt to approach Mid Sector 114.

Destroy the sector? At this point, even entering it in the first place had become practically impossible.

As for which side would ultimately emerge victorious from the ongoing struggle inside Mid Sector 114... no one truly knew. Even the inhabitants still living throughout the sector had become terrified by the continuing conflict, especially because of the sheer number of planets that were being destroyed every single day as the fighting continued without any sign of reaching an end.

After all, the two sides weren't fighting over conquest, occupation, or control of the territory itself. This was instead a pure war of destruction being fought upon land that was effectively neutral to both sides... At this very moment, the various local powers were communicating simultaneously with both the Shadow Swords and representatives of the Syndicate, attempting to decide which side they should ultimately fight for so that this terrifying nightmare surrounding them could finally be brought to an end as quickly as possible.

And incidentally...

This period was also the exact moment when the military wing of the Shadow Swords made its first true appearance before the universe. The assassinations, deep-strike destruction, and systematic sabotage carried out against the local powers of Mid Sector 114 that had chosen to submit to the Syndicate became material worthy of being studied within military science itself... The sheer scale of devastation caused by those operations even gave rise to widespread rumors claiming that these mysterious fighters were nothing more than the silent version of the Black Wasps.

...Completely unaware that they had, in fact, actually been trained at the hands of those very Black Wasps.

Three epic wars were currently unfolding at the same time, each one possessing its own unique characteristics, its own particular splendor, and its own group of followers closely watching every development that occurred within it.

And somewhere between all three of those enormous conflicts was him... Zavaros, sitting quietly in Mid Sector 107 and doing little more than watching everything unfold from where he had been stationed.

Crack Zavaros suddenly clenched his hand tightly and rose from his seat, the patience he had maintained until that moment finally reaching its limit. "Is everything ready?!"

Whoosh One of Zavaros's sons rapidly approached him immediately after hearing the question and gave his report without delay. "Yes, Your Majesty. Every army under our command has already been summoned, and all of them have been gathered and stationed beside the buffer zone."

"Good, then we're moving now!" Zavaros shouted immediately upon receiving the confirmation, showing no intention whatsoever of remaining there any longer.

"...Wouldn't it be better for us to wait until we receive the Shadow Swords' report first?" Zavaros's son advised with some concern, clearly believing that proceeding with additional information would be safer. "Helmor the Destroyer has invested heavily in strengthening the defenses of Mid Sector 108. There's an entire fortress waiting for us there, along with several of his sons."

"If I can't even enter a sector like 108 entirely on my own, then I'd be better off going back to playing in beast dung like I used to and finally stop embarrassing myself!!" Zavaros roared furiously as his enormous body began rising upward, his decision already made and leaving no room for further discussion. "Advance!!"