Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1382: Invasion

Outside —

BAAAAAAAAAAAM!!

The grand gate of the capital—an awe-inspiring monument that had stood for hundreds of thousands of years, weathering countless wars and the passage of entire eras—was obliterated in an instant. No warning. No buildup. Just a flash of devastation that shattered history in one breath.

”What’s going on?!”

Cries of alarm erupted across every district.

Within seconds, the eyes of every citizen turned skyward, then toward the massive void where the gate had once stood. A wave of dread rippled outward. For the weak-hearted, the sight alone felt like the end of days. Their knees buckled. Some wept. Others simply stared, unable to comprehend the nightmare.

But understanding wasn’t a luxury they’d be allowed for long.

BZZZT!

A rift tore open above the ruined gate, and she emerged.

Latania.

She burst through the spatial crack like a spear of divine judgment, clad head to toe in full black war armor, her form like a silhouette carved from obsidian and shadow. Even her face was hidden behind a fearsome helmet shaped like a snarling beast.

”WHERE IS MY SUBORDINATE, YOU MISERABLE WORMS?!”

Her voice thundered like metal grinding through bone.

The moment her boots slammed into the ground—

BAAAM!

She whipped one hand behind her, then slashed forward with the other.

SWOOOOSH!

A shimmering arc of compressed air burst forth—a curved shockwave howling with deadly resonance.

”No, run—!”

A desperate cry was all some of them managed to say.

Too late.

The arc touched down.

And everything it grazed began to disappear.

BOOF!BOOF!BOOOOOOOM!

One by one, people vanished—no blood, no gore, just erasure. If the arc touched someone’s chest, that chest was simply gone, leaving head and limbs to fall lifelessly. When it struck buildings, entire sections vanished into nothingness, leaving the upper halves to crash down in ruin.

This wasn’t wind.

It was The Humming Arc—an advanced frequency-based annihilation technique. With finely tuned vibration waves, it dismantled matter at the atomic level, disassembling molecules so rapidly that objects ceased to exist in any coherent form. They weren’t destroyed—they were redefined.

A single swing.

A single breath.

And the entire city entrance became a mass grave of silence and dust.

Those who had survived—just barely—glanced behind them in frozen horror. The image of a black-armored figure, her stance proud and unshaken, etched itself into their minds. Some collapsed. Others wept. The rest had no time for either.

Because then—

BZZZT! BZZZT!

BOOM! BOOM!

Two more figures tore through space beside her.

Malik. Wade.

Both fully armored, their presences towering like living calamities.

And together—standing side by side, releasing their full aura into the world—they looked like hell’s personal knights, handpicked by vengeance itself.

A choking silence gripped the crowd.

Then...

”KIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!”

Panic erupted.

Anyone who had survived the initial onslaught turned and ran—sprinting through the city’s alleys and roads like ants fleeing a burning nest. Entire families abandoned homes, shops, and possessions. Some parents left their children behind. Others trampled each other in blind terror. There was no shame left. No order. Only chaos.

”Ahhh, brings back memories.”

Wade chuckled, a wicked grin spreading under his helmet.

To his right, Malik simply cracked his neck twice.

”We keep pushing forward... until a real opponent shows himself.”

”The middle route mine.”

Latania growled through her helmet’s filter.

”That fool who got caught was under my command.”

She leapt again, winding up another humming arc.

”Ki ki ki~”

Wade drifted left with a laugh.

”Let me guess... that’s just your excuse to hog the glory for yourself. But hey, I’d cling to it too if it was my subordinate who got caught.”

He unsheathed his spatial dagger and began carving wide slashes through the air.

SWOOSH!SWOOSH!SWOOSH!

Each cut tore gaps into reality. Spatial rifts hung in the air like tears in a tapestry—and anything they touched was cleanly bisected.

KRRAAAACK!KRUNCH!

Shops. Watchtowers. Fortified military posts. All of them—no matter their defenses—collapsed like dominos, cleanly severed and split from the inside.

”Tch. No way I’m massaging anyone’s feet today.”

Malik sighed, stepping to the right with casual grace. He spun his short staff with one hand—then tapped it forward.

CRAAACK!KRRRRRRK!

A wave of temporal decay washed over the buildings in front of him.

Colors faded. Metal rusted in seconds. Stone crumbled under invisible weight. Entire walls and beams aged centuries in the blink of an eye. Wooden doors cracked, turned to dust, and blew away in the wind.

And then—

BAAAAAAAAAM!

The entire district collapsed like a ruined relic from a forgotten age.

”Aaaahhh—!”

The screams that rang out from inside the crumbling buildings were more than cries of fear—they were echoes of time itself unraveling. Some of the victims began their wails as strong, healthy adults... but by the end of their breath, their voices had aged, cracked, and turned brittle. Wrinkles formed. Bones hollowed. Hearts collapsed from sheer fatigue. They died before the debris ever touched them.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Even the birds of prey circling high above—the carrion-feeders that never missed a feast—abandoned the skies in terrified silence, wings trembling as they vanished beyond the clouds.

And then came the silence.

A suffocating, alien silence.

In less than two seconds, over ten percent of the capital city had been wiped from existence—each portion annihilated through a different, overwhelming method.

Frequency waves vaporization.

Spatial dissection.

Temporal collapse.

It was no battle.

It was a message.

”ENOUGH!!”

A roar thundered through the heavens.

In the next heartbeat, five streaks of light burst forth from the heart of the capital—each one leaving behind a sonic boom that shattered windows and shook the ground. They descended with divine fury, weapons drawn, powers ignited.

World Cataclysms.

”Finally...”

Latania came to a slow halt, her boots planting into the cracked pavement. She let the dust settle around her like a curtain of reverence. Then... she took a single step backward.

”Now...”

Her voice cut through the chaos like a sword.

”Tell me, you red rats—where is my subordinate?!”

”That armor—it’s unmistakable! The Black Wasps!”

”She’s one of them—detain her at once!”

SWOOSH!SWOOSH!

From her flanks, Malik and Wade moved in unison.

”Huh? What am I, chopped liver?”

Wade rolled his neck, blades in hand.

”How rude.”

Malik sighed with exaggerated disappointment.

In the blink of an eye, the two of them unleashed hell.

Two of the five World Cataclysms peeled off to deal with the flanks. One moved to the left, conjuring a fortress of layered barriers. The other charged the right, forming a shield of compressed flame.

They thought it would be enough.

They were wrong.

”What?!”

Both shouted at once.

They had misjudged their opponents completely. They thought Wade and Malik were still Martial Emperors—not even worthy of being considered opponents, that all they can do is run.

But their attacks tore through the defensive constructs like wet paper.

The defenders had no choice—they poured full power into reinforcing the shields.

Only then—only then—did the barrage stop.

”No escaping for you today, wasp!” In the center, the remaining three World Cataclysms surged toward Latania. The one at the front threw a palm glowing crimson-red, pulsing with the might of a planet’s doom.

”Escape?”

Latania’s laugh this time was guttural, like the purr of a predator surrounded by prey.

”No. I didn’t come here to run.”

She lifted one hand, glowing with layered etchings and sonic channels.

”I came here to rip your empire apart... brick by brick.”

Then she snapped her fingers.

”Interference Veil—deploy.”

FWWWWWWOOOMMMM!!

Latanya’s fingers shook with terrifying force, and a semi-invisible web shot out of them, growing larger with every step.

The crimson palm strike hit it square on—

And started shrinking.

That almost invisible net was the result of highly interfering, opposing waves aimed at attack joints and dispersing its energy!

”What?!” That world Cataclysm that had produced the attack stopped on his tracks, beginning to re-analyze whether his enemy was truly a Martial Emperor.

*Buzz* Within a split second, the size of the net had shrunk by half. Then, without warning, it disappeared.

*Baaam*

What remained of palm landed with less than half its power, yet it still had the devastating power to wipe out the ripple the three guards left behind. Unfortunately, its target was no longer in that spot!