Chapter 2406: Race against Time

Soul Society—The Grand Hall

{"...I am Hedrick. I am Lord Robin’s sword."}

"..."

"...Did...?"

"The Cursed Behemoth has been killed..."

"The Cursed Behemoth has been killed!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"AHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

ClamorClamor

The Grand Hall, the place where the incarnations of wealthy and influential individuals from every sector and countless planets throughout the universe gathered solely to socialize with others of similar standing and listen to the greatest announcements, was now packed with people watching Lord Hedrick’s final battle live together. This time, however, they weren’t following the battle through their own small personal windows as usual, but through an enormous screen that broadcast every moment for everyone inside the hall to see, a massive public broadcast directly supported by the Soul Society itself.

The broadcast itself might have been completely free, but remaining continuously connected to the Grand Hall certainly wasn’t... The fierce and successive battles that had erupted throughout the past month, and especially today’s final battle and everything that had happened during it, had earned the Soul Society an absolutely tremendous amount of money!

But as far as the users gathered here were concerned, everything they had spent had been worth every single energy pearl and every last soul emerald!

"Haha, I still can’t believe it, hahaaaaahahahaha!!"

Hundreds of millions of people were watching the broadcast at this moment, and every single one of them possessed their own life, experiences, background, and personal goals, yet immediately after Hedrick made his final declaration, their reactions became remarkably similar despite all those differences.

Most of those present erupted almost simultaneously into loud laughter and excited shouts, while some of them were so overwhelmed by what they had just witnessed that they even began jumping up and down in pure joy.

Only yesterday, they had celebrated Zargul’s escape and the final end of his long era of domination over talismans. A tremendous number of experts and hidden forces that had spent all those years hiding from Zargul’s malice had emerged one after another, rejoicing and genuinely celebrating the beginning of an entirely new era, yet even the intensity of those reactions had come nowhere close to what was happening here today.

It wasn’t merely because of the epic battle they had just witnessed or because of Hedrick’s tremendous and almost unbelievable strength... but because everyone knew perfectly well just how vile the Cursed Tyrant’s deeds had been and how widely the consequences of those deeds had spread. Everyone knew about the assaults, the sacrifices, and the demonic dealings constantly taking place within that galaxy for the sake of accumulating greater strength and influence, especially on Arbistin Planet located within the first ring.

Everyone knew about the kidnappings and countless disappearances, and everyone knew about the unparalleled corruption that had spread throughout that place, yet despite knowing all of it, no one had ever been able to do anything except silently wish that Darvion would somehow disappear one day... No one had actually wanted to be the person who stepped forward and did something about it.

But now that he had truly been killed before their eyes, everyone rejoiced without reservation.

Another portion of the crowd, however, was in a completely different state. Some among them suddenly collapsed to the ground and burst into loud, uncontrollable sobs, while others merely remained where they were and stared toward the enormous screen in complete shock... These were the people who had genuinely suffered at Darvion’s hands in one way or another, the victims who had managed to escape from him, and the people who had actually been trying to stop him with whatever limited abilities they possessed.

Seeing Darvion finally being killed and completely disappearing before their very eyes felt to those people like an impossibly beautiful dream... a strange and wonderful dream they would rather remain trapped inside forever than risk waking from.

As for the smaller and considerably more perceptive group among everyone present, they continued watching the unfolding scenes with their brows slightly furrowed and their expressions noticeably serious, their attention no longer focused merely on the excitement of the battle itself...

Hedrick had publicly declared that he was a sword belonging to Lord Robin, meaning that famous genius Truth Chosen known throughout the universe as Lord Human, the owner of the Cosmic Academies that had spread across the universe with astonishing speed and demonstrated equally astonishing strength.

And now... that same person had someone possessing this degree of power working directly under his command?

Someone who was actually capable of killing a Behemoth inside his own galaxy?!

And there was one particular detail that had escaped the attention of most people amid all the excitement, but it certainly hadn’t escaped the attention of those standing at the very top...

Hedrick had declared himself the new owner of this galaxy?

Renara had also disappeared after Zargul’s retreat. Perhaps she was currently refining the Talisman Galaxy as well...

Those two were already insanely powerful to begin with, yet now they were going to refine fully established and complete galaxies for themselves? Had something like this ever even happened before? Had anyone throughout history actually refined a fully developed galaxy?!

And furthermore... Lord Human was now casually giving entire galaxies to his followers??

No one would miss Zargul or Darvion, there was absolutely no doubt about that, but regardless of how much everyone celebrated their disappearance...

The fall of those two today unmistakably announced the emergence of a tremendous fifth power within the universe.

No one yet knew any confirmed name by which they could call this new power, nor did anyone know of a specific location they could point toward and confidently identify as its territory... but that power was Lord Robin himself, together with all his followers and the countless, immeasurable riches under his control whose true extent remained completely unknown.

"Tsk." One of those present spat in irritation when he saw Hedrick begin attacking the armadas belonging to Darvion the Cursed in order to subdue them, then his incarnation immediately disappeared from the hall—

------

Outside—Mid Sector 93

One of them abruptly opened his eyes. "Damn it!" He slammed his hand hard against the armrest, then shot to his feet with such force and speed that the sudden movement nearly made the innocent chair beneath him pay the price.

"..." Another person slowly opened his eyes as well, his expression immediately turning grim after processing what he had just witnessed. "This is bad."

There were no fewer than thirty people gathered inside that room, and most of them began opening their eyes one after another as they disconnected their attention from the distant broadcast and returned their awareness to their surroundings.

But not all of them—

"Is there anything new in the live-streamed battles? You guys know I never planted a Soul Society seedling, so don’t leave me hanging here without telling me what’s happening."

"Hedrick killed Darvion and publicly announced that he’s a subordinate of Robin Burton."

"....?"

"What do we do now? Do we continue on our way as planned?"

Another person opened his eyes as well, but unlike the others, he calmly rose from his seat without immediately joining the discussion and began walking across the room until he reached a massive window, where he stopped and quietly contemplated the scene stretching endlessly before him.

They were in space—

Hundreds of thousands of vessels could be seen within his field of vision alone, densely occupying the surrounding space, and judging by the seemingly endless scene stretching far beyond what his eyes could directly perceive, it was obvious that there were considerably more vessels beyond them...

After taking some time to carefully consider the situation, that person finally spoke without turning away from the window. "Have any new orders arrived from the Butcher?"

"No. He and the Archon have both disappeared without leaving any trace for quite some time now... Most likely, they’re both inside the Heaven-Avoidance Cave."

"The Butcher remaining inside that cave for several weeks doesn’t bode well at all..."

"And does anything else about our current situation bode well?" One of them suddenly stood and pointed through the massive window toward the enormous fleet outside. "We’re supposed to be the Syndicate’s reinforcements for the Sorcerer Behemoth. We’re supposed to represent the Syndicate’s power, authority, and overwhelming might, five thousand armadas gathered from all its forces while we advance toward Mid Sector 98, deliberately moving forward with such majestic slowness that our very approach is supposed to terrify our enemies for ten entire years..."

Then he raised his voice sharply, his frustration becoming impossible to conceal. "Who exactly are we supposed to terrify now?!"

"Tsk... That bastard Zargul himself already ran away."

"At the rate events are unfolding right now, by the time we finally reach Mid Sector 98 ten years from now, there’ll already be a new Behemoth there, and he’ll probably have finished choosing the ranks of his sons as well! We’ve become the laughingstock of the entire universe!!"

"Enough!" The person standing before the enormous window suddenly waved his hand forcefully and turned toward the gathering, his aura as a Mid Monarch erupting outward and immediately suppressing the growing disorder inside the room. "We have our orders, and we’ll continue carrying them out exactly as instructed until different orders reach us. Have you all forgotten whom we serve? The Archon is a Grade-Six Causality user who knows everything. What, do you seriously think Robin Burton is somehow unaffected by causality or something like that?"

"...You’re right." Everyone nodded after a brief moment, visibly calming down somewhat after hearing those words.

"Listen to me." Their leader raised his voice once again when he saw that his words had produced a good reaction among them. "We’ll continue on our way exactly as planned, and ten years from now, you’ll find every single one of our enemies collapsing at our feet without us even understanding how or why it happened. That’s what it means to follow a Causality user!"

Rumble

"Hmm?" That person immediately turned his attention back toward the enormous window when he suddenly sensed strange disturbances coming from somewhere near the front of their formation.

BOOMBOOM

The vessels positioned at the very vanguard suddenly began exploding one after another, bright explosions rapidly appearing across the distant front lines without warning.

"What the hell is going on?!" the squadron admiral shouted as he immediately turned toward the others. "Someone show me what’s happening at the vanguard!"

Zwoom

At that very moment, a screen immediately appeared before the admiral and the rest of the squadron commanders, displaying what was currently happening at the front.

On the screen stood a man with a long pale yellow beard, dressed in a loose blue-and-white robe, with a scarf resting over his head, while forty people possessing similar appearances and dressed in a similar manner stood quietly behind him.

There were no squadrons surrounding them, no massive reinforcements supporting them, only that single man and the few followers standing behind him.

"...Arkail the Temporal?!" the admiral muttered in shock the instant he recognized the figure standing before their enormous fleet.

"YOU SHALL NOT PAAAAAASS!!"

Arkyle shouted with visibly exhausted eyes.