Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1197 - 1197: A Binding Oath of Deception

It was during one of these tense meetings between the Galactic Rulers and the Regent, which had already begun to devolve into heated arguments, that every intergalactic weapons control system across the cluster, from military command centres to battleships and even orbital Galactic Cannons, suddenly came online.

The instant the systems activated, every weapon began charging in unison.

The Galactic Rulers tried to issue shutdown commands, generals shouted orders, and technicians fought to regain control, but nothing responded to them.

None of the weapons was under their control any longer.

Every orbital cannon and every dreadnought-class battleship charged its main armament and fired immediately at the attacking forces that were laying siege to them from all directions.

Sensing the energy spikes as the weapons charged, the attackers deployed their special barrier automations equipped with powerful defensive shields, while their Deity Level combatants reinforced those barriers through their Authorities.

And just as both sides concluded the bombardment would be mostly ineffective, nothing more than a waste of energy and ammunition, the space containing the special barriers was suddenly and literally carved away.

The fabric of space itself was torn apart, and with the destruction of the space in which the barriers existed, the barriers themselves vanished as well.

Then, the massive spatial rupture, stretching millions of light-years in every direction around the besieged cluster, repaired itself within seconds.

However, the shields were already gone, and the fired blasts continued forward at accelerated speed, colliding with the special barrier automations, the combat automations behind them, and several enemy battleships.

One flagship was completely destroyed, erased under the concentrated fire of multiple orbital Galactic Cannons.

The collective reaction was one of utter shock, a level of shock that left everyone momentarily stunned.

No one had expected space itself to tear apart and then repair itself immediately, and the speed at which it happened was absurd, just as the sudden acceleration of the attacks’ speeds was equally incomprehensible.

‘It was almost as if the repair of space had been time accelerated, too.’

That thought crossed the mind of the Galactic Cluster’s Regent just as the interface of the floating command screens before him changed.

The colour of the interface changed to brown, and it wasn’t limited to his display alone, as every Galactic Ruler’s command interface and every weapon control system UI changed to the same colour and began operating on their own, as though they’d all been seized by an external force.

The Regent and the other Galactic Rulers stared in shock as they understood what had happened, along with the reason why every weapon system had fired without their input and why they couldn’t stop it.

‘Highest level Command Authority?! Impossible! Only the Supreme god Queens possess that level of Authority!’

As soon as that thought surfaced, the Regent recalled the phenomenon of space being carved apart and remembered that one of those Supreme god Queens bore the title of ‘goddess of Space and Time’.

His eyes widened in shock as the realisation fully dawned on him, and in that same moment, a voice echoed within his mind and within the minds of every Galactic Ruler in the cluster.

[Take up your positions and assume the Crane Amplification Formation immediately.]

“!”

They hadn’t heard that voice in years, but they all recognised it without question.

Immediately, they took action, flying into the space above their galaxies and assuming the ordered formation.

Temporarily, the Galactic Rulers and the Cluster Regent all poured their energy and the power of their Authorities into Kirone, who hovered silently above them with her hand raised, condensing the combined power into a massive orb that illuminated the entire intergalactic region.

Her annoyed True Voice echoed through space.

|I came all the way out here, even while in a bad mood, because I thought I’d found a lead on something important, and all I encountered were poorly made replicas controlled by fools who dare convert my territory.|

She lowered her gaze after speaking, focusing on the remaining four flagships of the empires attacking the cluster as she added,

|Yes, I’m talking to you, foolish Galactic Rulers.|

The Galactic Rulers in question froze in shock and fear at the sight of her.

They hadn’t expected one of the Supreme god Queens herself to appear here.

Weren’t they supposed to be inseparable? Wasn’t the other already confirmed somewhere in the central galactic regions? Why was this one here now?

Those questions raced through their minds, but they were quickly suppressed as they ordered all their automations and battleships to open fire and personally unleashed their strongest attacks at her, hoping to stop her from charging the gigantic orb above her hand.

But it was all futile.

Their combined attacks were no match for the all-encompassing fury of Kirone’s attack.

The ambient cosmic energy permeating the universe swirled around the orb, which then transformed into a multi-layered magic circle, concentric rings of light expanding around the immense structure.

Then, words of power that bent the laws of the universe to her will left Kirone’s lips.

|Tier Amplification: World Magic: Spell Number 13: Judgment of the gods.|

A blinding flash erupted as the beam released from the spell circle consumed every incoming attack, erasing all the automations, organic combatants, and the fleets of battleships surrounding the cluster.

Everything was deleted beneath the powerful light of the beam as it swept through space in a curve around the cluster.

When the brilliance finally faded, Kirone lowered her hand and looked down at the weakened Regent and Galactic Rulers whose powers she’d harnessed to amplify her spell, then ordered, |The fools who commanded those machines are still alive. Capture them.|

Though the attack had annihilated roughly 90% of the attacking fleets, the High-Tier Deity Level existences within it, including the invading Galactic Rulers themselves, were still alive.

As a result, she commanded that they be captured for interrogation to uncover where they had obtained these automations from.

The interrogation proceeded quickly, as Kirone left the aftermath in the hands of the subordinates she had brought and personally approached the restrained Galactic Rulers herself.

“I have questions I want answered, and there are two ways this can go.

Either it goes the easy way, where you tell me what I want and I let you live, or it goes the hard way, where you refuse, and I forcefully search your souls, find what I need, and kill you afterwards.

The choice is yours.”

Kirone made this offer with a bright smile, seated on a table while swinging her legs and moving her head side to side as if she were listening to music or something.

For the record, she actually was. Mei silently facepalmed when she noticed the earbuds in Kirone’s ears.

As for the choices she presented, the ‘hard way’ was one of the most dreadful experiences imaginable for anyone.

Soul Searching was invasive, as it involved reaching into the root of someone’s existence.

If the one performing it wasn’t careful, they could inflict soul damage on their target, and in the case of a forceful soul search, it was guaranteed to cause harm.

In the worst case, the person could end up a spiritual vegetable afterwards.

None of the four Galactic Rulers wanted to endure that, but the problem was they weren’t sure Kirone would honour her word and spare them even if they gave her the information she demanded.

Kirone noticed their hesitation, and keeping her smile, she said, “I know you’re worried I’ll kill you either way, so how about I make a binding oath?”

As she spoke, she placed a hand on her chest, invoking the law of restrictions before declaring in her True Voice.

|I hereby pledge that if you grant me every bit of information I seek—true information, without a single lie—then neither I nor any of my subordinates anywhere in the universe will take action against you, directly or indirectly.|

“!!”

“Your Excellency!?”

Kirone’s subordinate Race Rulers were all stunned at her pledge, and naturally, many immediately tried to protest.

But the moment one of them raised their voice, Kirone turned toward them with a smile, tilting her head as she asked, “Did I…give you permission to speak?”

“Hik—!”

The man literally squealed in fear at the blatantly fake smile on Kirone’s face, his instincts screaming that saying even one more word would be dangerous.

Kirone silently returned her gaze to the Galactic Rulers, her smile still in place as she continued.

“Now then, your turn. Pledge not to speak a single lie, as that’s the only thing that keeps my pledge…”

She trailed off, her smile fading as she muttered the last word, “…valid.”

It went without saying that the Galactic Rulers did not hesitate for even a second to pledge to speak the truth and only the truth, and after a Q&A session, Kirone got the information she wanted.

The automations they had dared to use came from someone claiming to be from the Orithyia galaxy. The person had taken extreme care to conceal all details about themselves, as the Galactic Rulers all described them as a figure in a black hood, with darkness beneath it, and a voice that constantly changed in tone and frequency.

They described the sound of the constantly changing voice as an annoyance to listen to over time.

Once she’d gathered everything she wanted, Kirone nodded and snapped her fingers, undoing their restraints as she spoke.

“Now, get out. I don’t care how you do it, but get out of my sight.”

She then turned to her subordinates and ordered, “Have everyone stand down. No one touches them.”

Ignoring them, she returned her attention to the tablet where she had been jotting down details about the one who had provided the automations.

For a moment, silence fell as the four Rulers exchanged glances, but soon, Kirone’s subordinates, who were displeased with them, began glaring.

There was nothing Kirone could do because of the pledge she’d made, so after a few seconds of hesitation, the Rulers finally rushed out of the room.

The moment they did, there was a chinking sound, the kind made when water rapidly freezes into ice at extremely low temperatures.

Blood splattered, and three heads flew through the air, tumbling onto the floor and rolling across it.

“Wha!?”

In Mei’s hand was an icy blade, and she frowned at the cracks running through it.

“I suppose it was too much for a simple construct to take out four of them. They’re still Deities, after all.”

The sword shattered immediately after she spoke, and seeing this, the remaining Galactic Ruler’s eyes widened. He tried to muster his energy, but an immense force slammed his body onto the ground with such power that a humanoid-shaped imprint was left behind.

Frost crept over his legs and arms, and even the blood in his body slowly froze as he looked up at Kirone, who was still scrolling on her tablet, and screamed.

“You…you made a pledge!”

At this, Kirone raised an eyebrow and tilted her head toward him.

“Yeah. I pledged that neither I nor my subordinates would take action against you.”

Glancing at Mei, who silently constructed another sword of ice, Kirone shrugged and added, “Aunt Mei is quite literally my Aunt. She’s not my subordinate.”

Such an obvious loophole was why Beatrix had agreed to the pledge without hesitation, but of course, most of the Orithyia galaxy didn’t even know Mei didn’t work for Kirone, so how could these Galactic Rulers from far away have known?

Without giving the man another chance to speak, Mei removed his head, then turned to Kirone and asked, “It would be nice to get a heads-up next time you plan to do something like that. A single glance doesn’t provide much information.”

“I trusted you’d understand. I put a lot of emphasis on the subordinates, after all,” Kirone replied, returning her gaze to her tablet as she reviewed the specs of the replica automations and compared them to the real ones she had data on.

“Now then, we need to investigate this mysterious hooded figure. The location where they made the exchanges is also concerning,” she said.

“You’ve got a lot on your plate, huh?” Mei asked.

“Unfortunately,” Kirone replied with a sigh. “And here I thought Mallory was the only one trying to replicate the automations.”

At this, Mei, who had been freezing the corpses of the four Galactic Rulers, paused and then turned toward Kirone.

“Artemisia is trying to replicate them?”

“Yeah. She and Revi have been heavily focused on automations recently.”

Kirone sighed, recalling how deeply Mallory and Revi, the Master of the Regal Void Expanse, had been involved in the research the last time they’d met, even spending several months in their laboratories.

“Aunt Mei, can you help me check out the location in Orithyia these guys mentioned? I’d go inspect the galaxies of these fools, and maybe visit my mother-in-law afterwards.”

Mei had already been nodding in response to Kirone’s request, but hearing the last part reminded her of the real reason she’d accompanied Kirone, and she spoke.

“Don’t forget to stop blocking Artemisia out.”

At this, Kirone sighed, then snapped her fingers and said, “Done. I’ve stopped blocking the telepathy. I’m at the edge of our range, but if Mallory tries to say something, I’ll know.”

Mei nodded in satisfaction. It wasn’t the full resolution she wanted, but it was at least progress.

She instructed some nearby subordinates to deal with the frozen corpses before taking her leave, heading back to Orithyia to follow the leads they had uncovered.