Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2442 Hostile Brothers

Mid Sector 108—

”.....” On a completely lifeless planet, atop a vast gray desert illuminated only by the faint glow of moonlight spreading weakly across its barren surface, Theo stood entirely alone beside the recording equipment that the Soul Society had recently begun selling throughout the universe.

However, Theo wasnʼt using that equipment to record anything at all. Instead, he was using its capabilities merely to magnify and bring closer the epic scene unfolding only a few planets away from his current position... allowing him to watch everything from afar in complete silence, his brows tightly furrowed together and his expression tense and compressed as he continued observing.

The monitoring device positioned before Theo was currently displaying an enormous beast, a truly monstrous creature whose sheer size was comparable to an entire planet.

The beast resembled a colossal dragon possessing four relatively small limbs compared to the rest of its tremendous body. Its entire body was covered in dark purple scales, with every individual scale spread across its enormous frame being comparable in size to a human kingdom, while the two thick, elongated whiskers extending from its face were each as vast as seas, and its pair of sharp eyes resembled two enormous moons radiating an eerie and terrifying crimson light.

The presence of that beast directly beside the planet only made the terrifying scale of its existence even clearer, as the comparison revealed just how absurdly enormous its body truly was. Its tremendous length was enough for it to coil around the entire planet one and a half times, while the aura naturally radiating from its body had already begun unintentionally destroying the planetʼs outer atmosphere without the beast even deliberately doing anything... That thing was comparable in sheer physical size to an exceptionally enormous Young Space Beast that had already approached the point where it could earn the title of Adult Space Beast.

Yet despite what its physical size suggested, the aura emanating from that colossal body clearly indicated that its actual strength was even greater than that...

Even so, numerous traces of wounds could still be seen scattered across different parts of its enormous body, unmistakable evidence that this terrifying creature had recently gone through a tremendous battle in which even it had suffered considerable losses!

Directly in front of that enormous beast, there was a tiny point floating silently within the endless expanse of space, a point so insignificant compared to the creature before it that it couldnʼt actually be seen with the naked eye and could only be sensed through perception... a white-haired human.

Before that monstrously enormous beast whose body dwarfed nearly everything around it, Helmor the Destroyer stood firmly and steadily in place, both of his hands resting behind his back as he raised his gaze toward the beastʼs enormous face and stared directly into its eyes with a strange and almost unnatural tranquility...

”I salute your persistence, Zavaros. Youʼve certainly done justice to our old enmity by refusing to fall quickly before me...” Helmor finally opened his mouth, and despite the emptiness surrounding them, his voice was clearly heard throughout space. ”But for how long can you continue?”

”I could ask you exactly the same thing.” An extremely deep and heavy voice emerged directly from the enormous beastʼs mouth without its massive jaws moving at all. ”I can continue dancing with you for several more years if thatʼs what you enjoy, Helmor. I havenʼt retreated from this sector.”

”...” Helmor raised his head slightly higher as he continued looking toward Zavaros, and a trace of irritation gradually began appearing across his previously calm face. ”Does your useless army share that same opinion?”

”Grrr...” Zavaros, the enormous beast whose body rivaled a planet in scale, released a deep, low growl that seemed to carry his displeasure, but despite that reaction, he didnʼt say anything in response.

As for Theo, who continued watching everything from his distant position through the monitoring equipment, he released a weary sigh, ”Heh~” before lowering his gaze toward the ground with obvious exhaustion.

More than five full years had already passed since Helmor stormed into Mid Sector 108 alongside thirty of his sons, beginning the confrontation that had continued until the situation reached its current state.

By the time Helmor himself arrived, Zavaros had already been wreaking havoc and slaughter throughout Mid Sector 108. He and the foremost ranks among his sons had already managed to surround Helmorʼs sons who had been stationed within the sector beforehand, killing two of them during the fighting while forcing the remaining sons to abandon their positions and flee.

The escape of Helmorʼs sons didnʼt last for very long, however, because the local powers spread throughout Mid Sector 108 soon gathered together. Before Zavaros could even properly celebrate, believing that those local powers had finally decided to fight alongside him against the very people who had been devastating their sector for years... those powers instead elected those same people as their leaders and marched out against Zavaros under their command, creating a scene remarkably similar to what was currently happening with Hedrick in Mid Sector 113.

What Zavaros had originally believed would be nothing more than a light and relatively easy task consequently transformed into a full-scale war against an entire sector, forcing him to gradually abandon his expected role and adopt an increasingly defensive position while requesting additional support from the rear, whether that support came from the powers subordinate to them or from the followers of the Shadow Swords who could reinforce his side.

But as those requests for support began going out, a strange and unexpected situation gradually started to unfold... three quarters of all the powers that had been asked to provide support apologized for being unable to answer the request and refused to go.

Those who werenʼt bound to them by any powerful or inescapable oath offered no explanations whatsoever for their decision and simply refused the request outright, unwilling even to discuss the matter further, while some of them went considerably farther than merely refusing and actually chose to join the alliance being led by Helmorʼs sons.

Meanwhile, those who were bound to the Shadow Swords through powerful oaths, intertwined interests, or major scandals that connected their fates to them secretly went before the leaders of the Shadow Swords, knelt in front of them, and refused to go as well. They made their position unmistakably clear, telling them that they could imprison them, punish them, or do whatever else they wished with them, but regardless of what consequences awaited them for their refusal, they simply wouldnʼt go.

Most of those people remained completely silent about the actual reason behind such an extreme reaction and refused to explain why they were willing to accept punishment rather than answer the request... but eventually, one of them finally spoke and mentioned certain documents, documents that absolutely couldnʼt be allowed to see the light of day under any circumstances, even if preventing their release had to be done over his own dead body...

That was when Theo himself was summoned to personally come over, examine the situation, and judge how they should deal with the matter... and after understanding what was happening, he ultimately allowed those powers to withdraw from directly participating and instructed them to merely provide support from the rear. After all, if those documents involving Lord Robinʼs followers, people who were currently fighting under his name, were released to the public, it would inevitably become a devastating blow against them as well, and their current situation simply couldnʼt withstand any further damage or distortion to their already battered reputation.

Theo... knew about those documents, of course. He knew perfectly well about the documents and contracts being held over those people, things so severe that everything he himself possessed and could use as leverage over those same individuals seemed almost like childʼs play in comparison... He simply hadnʼt calculated that those documents would actually be brought into play and used this quickly.

Immediately afterward, Helmor arrived alongside several of his sons to personally take command of the alliance, an entire alliance that the Syndicate had practically prepared for him in advance and served directly into his hands on a silver platter... and with Helmor taking the lead, a fierce and relentless offensive against Zavaros and the army of the Savage Galaxy began.

Five years... This enormous war had already continued without reaching a conclusion for five entire years. Throughout that period, Zavaros had repeatedly relied upon his tremendous personal strength to prevent himself and his forces from being forcibly driven into retreat, while at the same time compelling his sons to transform and accept the terrible risk of accelerating the permanent loss of their humanity merely to gain a sufficient chance of standing against Helmorʼs sons and their insane levels of power... Had they not taken that risk and transformed themselves, they would have been defeated during the very first battle.

But even with everything Zavaros and his sons were doing to maintain their position, such a situation truly couldnʼt continue forever...

Zavaros himself and every one of his sons were already carrying injuries across their bodies, while the army under his command was being relentlessly bullied and battered by the unified army of the entire sector. Every single day brought the loss of even more fleets from his side, and every single day that passed left his remaining forces increasingly exhausted and caused their overall strength to weaken further and further.

17:25

”Zavaros, we really donʼt have to continue doing this...” Helmor slowly shook his head as he looked toward the enormous beast before him. ”You may not know it yourself, but you should actually be standing here beside me rather than fighting against me. Weʼre two sides of the same coin, serving the same side and ultimately striving toward the same result.” Helmor spoke with a confident smile upon his face and his eyes opened wide as he continued staring directly at Zavaros. ”Thereʼs absolutely nothing that should compel the two of us to continue fighting each other here, certainly not for the sake of Robin Burton!”

”I serve no one!” the enormous dragon suddenly roared, his tremendously deep voice shaking the surrounding space as it spread outward, before fixing Helmor with a savage glare filled with unmistakable murderous intent. ”But those words you just spoke confirm what I was told before... They confirm the very thing Iʼve spent all this time trying to convince myself couldnʼt possibly be true... Damn those things you serve, you filthy bastard, and damn every last one of you!”

”...What you were told?” Helmor completely ignored the insults directed at him, merely raising his eyebrows as his attention focused entirely on the unexpected information contained within Zavarosʼs words. ”What exactly were you told?”

”That without even realizing it, I had been serving the Unbou—” Zavarosʼs tremendously deep voice was abruptly cut off right in the middle of the unfinished word, after which the enormous beast suddenly fell completely silent and said nothing further. ”.....”

”...?” Helmor immediately stepped forward and shouted with mounting pressure in his voice, refusing to let the unfinished statement pass. ”Serving what? Finish what you were saying!!” Then his attention shifted away from Zavaros as he began rapidly looking around the surrounding space. ”I felt that. Did you just receive a soul message? Is someone speaking to you right now and telling you to keep quiet?”

Helmor immediately began employing every method available to him as he searched the surrounding area for the source of what he had sensed, until his gaze finally settled upon one particular direction, toward a dark, sandy planet some distance away. His eyes opened to their absolute widest as he fixed his attention upon that planet and pointed directly toward it. ”Theo, leader of the Shadow Swords and adopted son of Robin Burton... You dare interfere in my conversation, mortal?!”

Hummm

A dark beam instantly erupted from the tip of Helmorʼs finger and shot through space directly toward the planet.