Read Novel Full Chapter 1554: Ambition in the Dark
Chapter 1554: Ambition in the Dark
First, Orion’s continued growth required him to relentlessly siphon power from The Void. Permitting the Council to study the Sealing Temple would inevitably interfere with that, so their research timeline had to be delayed as much as possible, ensuring the temple remained entirely intact for his use.
Second, compared to the sprawling bureaucracy of the Saint Gran Council, Orion and Leonidas only truly trusted the Deputy Commander.
Third, routing this deal through him ensured the Deputy Commander also stood to profit. It was a mutual exchange of leverage that would only deepen the tactical bond between them.
"In that case, my storm avatar will remain stationed here," the Deputy Commander said, his expression impassive. "Any discoveries or yields from the temple will be provided to you in real-time."
He gave a slight nod. In truth, he had anticipated this exact decision. He knew Leonidas, Orion, and the general operating psychology of the Champions Alliance members all too well.
"Furthermore, the Platinum Authority’s preparations are nearly complete," the Deputy Commander added. "They will make their move soon. Ready yourselves; your strength will be required when the time comes."
Orion and Leonidas had been anticipating the Platinum Authority’s operation for a while. They both nodded their acknowledgment.
Titanion Realm, City of Stoneheart.
The panic and uproar caused by the celestial anomaly only lasted for three days. After that, the populace settled back into their routines—eating, drinking, and surviving just as they always had.
What followed was a sunless darkness that stretched on for half a month. The pitch-black veil was only briefly banished when the two opposing starry skies above completely fused together. For a fleeting moment, it was as bright as day. Every star in the firmament flared with brilliant radiance, fully illuminating the Titanion Realm.
Unfortunately, this miraculous phenomenon lasted for barely fifteen minutes. After that, absolute, suffocating darkness returned. There was no night sky, no sun, no moon, and no stars. It was as if the newly merged cosmos had been swallowed or veiled by some colossal entity, leaving not a single trace behind. The entire world was plunged into a lightless abyss.
This time, the dread and anxiety that gripped the populace were far more oppressive. It was the primal terror of the unknown—a deep-seated unease regarding an entirely unpredictable future.
For Orion, however, this was a massive boon. Day and night, the number of tribesmen praying before his effigy skyrocketed, their devotion burning hotter out of sheer desperation. Orion could tangibly feel it; the faith energy he harvested during this period was exponentially purer and vastly more abundant.
"Orion, Lorelia and Myxara just sent word. The insectoid swarms have descended into a restless frenzy." Standing on the balcony, Lilith furrowed her brow as she relayed the latest intelligence. "Many of the lesser insectoids are losing control, spontaneously slipping into berserk states or triggering forced evolutions."
"Don’t panic," Orion replied evenly. "The world’s foundational laws are shifting, causing the dormant bloodlines within the Insectoid Race to awaken. Let them be. Whether their evolutions succeed or fail, any that refuse to obey orders will be slaughtered and reduced to livestock."
The world-merger was nearing its final stages. The cosmic laws favoring the Insectoid Race were being fully unleashed, and countless insectoids stood to reap the benefits. It was a double-edged sword.
The upside was that factions controlling swarms would see their military might drastically fortified. The downside was that the evolved insectoids would become hyper-aggressive, prone to desertion, or worse—turning on their masters.
Even now, within the bounds of Orion’s perception, swarms of all sizes were descending into chaos. Broodmothers were being cannibalized by their own kin, and countless Insect Kings were dying in brutal succession wars. This was the inevitable crucible of species evolution. It was natural selection at its absolute bloodiest.
"Orion, the feral insectoid populations in the wild are exploding, and their individual combat strength is surging. We’ve received numerous distress signals from settlements across our territory," Lilith pressed. "Should we dispatch rescue forces?"
In name, those outlying settlements were subjects of the Stoneheart Horde. As the Horde’s de facto administrator, Lilith felt a duty to intervene. After all, more subjects meant more faith energy for the Horde to harvest.
However, Orion’s response caught her off guard.
"This is the climax of a cataclysmic shift. Sending our warriors beyond the city walls right now carries an unacceptable level of risk. Furthermore, the settlements broadcasting those distress signals are the exact same ones that defied our orders to evacuate into the city."
Orion’s voice was frigid, displaying absolute apathy toward subjects who lacked faith and obedience. "They lack trust in the Stoneheart Horde. They have no sense of loyalty. They are not worth saving. What exactly do you think settlements like that can offer us? Loyal bloodline warriors? Devout faith?"
"All we need to do right now is hold our ground and observe the world’s metamorphosis," he concluded. "The true crisis hasn’t even revealed itself yet. Conserving our strength is the only logical play."
Since Orion had made his stance absolute, Lilith pressed the matter no further, sweeping her lingering anxieties aside.
The South, City of Blessings.
At the highest pinnacle of the Elven Palace, Rommath and his Broodmother were also gazing up at the lightless sky.
When the darkness descended once more and the stars vanished, Broodmother Laito let out a shrill screech. "Master, you must prepare for war."
"My inherited memories tell me the world-merger is nearing its completion," Laito rasped. "When the alien realm finally descends, the entire world will be crawling with insectoid swarms. Furthermore, the lands beyond the city walls will be littered with hives akin to the Wormhole Realm. It will be the perfect golden age to plunder resources. This newborn world will incubate countless rare materials prime for evolution—that is your Hope for ascending further, Master."
Laito’s voice was manic, trembling with raw excitement. And everything it said was absolutely true. Laito had personally lived through world-mergers like this countless times.
In fact, the native realm of the God-Devouring Insectoids had only grown to such terrifying heights by systematically devouring lesser worlds one by one. Laito knew full well that this merger between the Titanion Realm and the Insectoid Realm was being heavily dominated by the latter. Otherwise, the cosmic laws of the Titanion Realm wouldn’t be warping to favor insectoid development.
Moreover, the newly merged world would boast massively expanded territories and boundless resources, which would invariably birth a new wave of Demigods. To carve out a piece of the pie in the coming holy war, preemptively seizing resources was a mandatory step.
"Master, it’s too late for us to begin mass-incubating a swarm from scratch," Laito urged. "We must subjugate weaker Broodmothers and Insect Kings. It is the only way to rapidly expand our forces, and the only way to safeguard your City of Blessings and your royal palace."
Laito’s voice dripped with beguiling honey. In its rhetoric, the City of Blessings and the Elven Palace were framed as Rommath’s exclusive, personal property. In this moment, Laito was agitated, behaving erratically, and letting its mask slip just a fraction. If Rommath had been in his right mind, he would have undoubtedly grown suspicious.
Why did Laito know so much? Why did Laito possess inherited memories when none of the other Broodmothers in the Horde did?
Unfortunately, amidst the apocalyptic celestial shifts, Rommath was far from clear-headed. Truthfully, ever since he had breached the anchor point between the two worlds and seized the Wormhole Realm along with its massive haul of resources, Rommath’s mental state had been deeply warped.
His ambitions had bloated grotesquely, his inner desires magnified to infinity. To Rommath, Laito’s seductive whispers weren’t a warning; they were the encroaching drums of his own glorious ascension. He was about to ride the winds of change to the absolute peak.
The mere thought made Rommath’s body tremble with anticipation. For a fleeting, intoxicating moment, Rommath even visualized the legendary scene of himself crushing that vaunted Giant King beneath his boot.