Timeless Assassin

Chapter 1109: Implications

(Planet Yu Prime, Yu Clan Patriarch, Yu Rulo’s POV)

Yu Rulo received a deeply disturbing report that morning, as one of his senior subordinates informed him that Planet Satoru had fallen during the night to an unexpected enemy.

At first, when he heard that one of the Yu Clan’s planets had been captured, his mind immediately jumped toward the dragons, as in recent times, they had been the only force brazen enough to strike directly at Great Clan territory.

’Disgusting Beast Basta–’

A curse had already formed in his throat at the thought of Moltherak’s beasts acting rampant again, and yet, before he could voice it, the rest of the report made his expression darken in a completely different way.

"It wasn’t the dragons?" Yu Rulo asked, his voice low as his eyes narrowed slightly, while the scroll in his hand crinkled under the pressure of his tightening grip.

"No, my lord," the subordinate replied carefully, his tone restrained as he bowed his head a little lower. "According to all confirmed visual records, Planet Satoru was taken by the Evil Cult."

"The Cult?" Yu Rulo repeated, as the words left his mouth with visible disbelief, his brows knitting together while a faint pulse of anger surged through his chest.

"The Evil Cult dares turn its eyes toward the Yu Clan, even though Soron is dead?" he muttered, his voice dropping colder with each word, as the very idea seemed to insult him on a personal level.

For the Evil Cult to dare strike one of the six Great Clans so openly, and to succeed at doing so in broad daylight, was not just an act of war, but an act of humiliation that challenged the prestige of the Yu name itself.

"What is the status of the reinforcements?" Yu Rulo asked, lifting his head sharply as he looked toward the subordinate with expectation in his gaze.

"I trust they have reached Satoru in time to avenge the fall of the planet?"

He asked, as at that question, the subordinate’s face contorted ever so slightly, as though the matter he was about to explain was the true reason he had approached with such visible tension.

"My lord... that is where the real mystery begins," the man said, swallowing once before continuing, as his voice lowered under the weight of what he was about to report.

"According to our records, the reinforcement fleet did depart on schedule and was on course to make contact with Planet Satoru, however, a few hours before expected arrival, it appears they were intercepted...."

"Intercepted?" Yu Rulo asked, his tone sharpening at once as he frowned.

"Intercepted by the Dragons? Did they take the Cult’s side in this war?"

Yu Rulo theorized, as the subordinate shook his head in denial.

"No, my lord, it was not the Dragons" the subordinate replied, as he opened another report and glanced at it briefly before continuing. "Apparently, the entire fleet was stopped by a single Cult vessel."

For a moment, Yu Rulo simply stared at him.

"A single ship?" he asked, his expression flattening into something almost dangerous, as though daring the man to repeat the absurdity of what he had just said.

"That is what the final transcripts suggest, my lord," the subordinate answered quickly, as he bowed even lower now, unwilling to meet the Patriarch’s eyes directly.

"The last communication we recovered was between the fleet Commander and a Cult General who identified himself as Sparrow," he continued, his voice measured as he relayed the details carefully.

"This Sparrow figure warned the fleet to turn back immediately, and stated that if they refused, he would annihilate the entire reinforcement force within five minutes."

Silence followed that statement for a brief moment, as even repeating the threat aloud made it sound ridiculous to the ear.

"Our fleet commander, naturally, treated it as a joke," the subordinate added, as though trying to soften the insult through explanation. "He mocked the threat openly during the transmission."

Yu Rulo’s fingers tightened around the edge of the report in his hand, as his instincts had already begun to recoil from the shape of where this was going.

"And after that?" he asked.

"After that, my lord, the entire reinforcement fleet lost signal a few minutes later," the subordinate said, his voice now carrying the unease he had been struggling to suppress from the start.

"Our intelligence division has been unable to determine what exactly transpired after the final exchange, and at present, we have neither wreckage, nor survivors, nor even residual communication traces to examine."

He paused briefly before forcing himself to say the conclusion aloud.

"We do not know what happened to them, my lord... but we fear the fleet may have been completely destroyed."

Yu Rulo’s eyes widened slightly at that, as for the first time since the report began, genuine surprise broke through his anger and replaced it with something far more alarming.

"No..." he murmured, almost to himself, as the possibilities rearranged themselves rapidly in his mind. "That is impossible... unless the Cult has gained a Demi God."

The room fell silent again, this time beneath the weight of a realization that no one present wished to acknowledge too quickly.

If the Evil Cult had truly produced another being on that level, then the implications stretched far beyond the fall of one trade hub or the destruction of one reinforcement fleet, as the entire balance of power in the Rainbow Stream would begin to shift from this moment onward.

*Jump*

Yu Rulo stood up at once, the movement so sudden and sharp that the subordinate flinched instinctively, while the Patriarch snatched the compiled report from the table beside him without another word.

"Inform the ancestor that I demand an audience," he ordered, his voice cold and absolute now, stripped of the disbelief that had colored it moments ago. "Tell Lord Yu Kiro, that the matter today is about the survival of the Yu Clan as a whole."

The subordinate bowed deeply and stepped aside, as Yu Rulo moved out of the room without delay, his robe trailing behind him while his thoughts churned with growing urgency.

Because if the Cult had truly returned with a Demi God in its ranks, and that Demi God wasn’t even Leo Skyshard but some random man named Sparrow, then what had happened on Planet Satoru was only the beginning, and the Yu Clan could no longer afford to treat this as an isolated act of aggression.