Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2483 Madness

Mid Sector 500—Dream Galaxy

Today, just like throughout the entirety of the past week, Lord Morval was not secluded within his luminous domain where he normally spent the overwhelming majority of his time. He was not present at some enormous auction site filled with countless valuable goods and transactions, nor was he inside one of the soul training centers specifically prepared for those who had surpassed the tenth star.

He wasnʼt authoring Soul Books for his brothers and followers as he often did, nor was he preparing some elaborate scheme to destroy soul geniuses somewhere around the universe, or attempting to locate the users of Master Laws scattered throughout its countless regions...

Today, Morval was instead sitting among his followers, right in the middle of all the commotion and constant activity surrounding them.

He was inside the Live Broadcast Administration.

The entire place was brightly illuminated from every direction as though they were standing at the very heart of a star, but unlike his usual circumstances, Morval wasnʼt alone this time. Thousands upon thousands of workers surrounded him and moved throughout the place, and every single one of them was a Soul Master possessing strength at the level of four stars or above.

Millions of pop-up windows floated before him and throughout the enormous space, each one representing a particular live broadcast taking place somewhere in the universe at that very moment... Some people were documenting their personal revenge by exterminating their wifeʼs entire clan, while elsewhere, someone was simply broadcasting how to prepare a potato casserole.

Dark matters and trivial matters alike took place here every single day without pause. Normally, there would be hundreds of billions of different broadcasts for people to waste their time searching through, moving from one to another in the hope of eventually stumbling upon something interesting enough to hold their attention, but today there were only a few million. Most sensible people throughout the universe had already understood that regardless of what they chose to broadcast or how interesting they believed it to be, they wouldnʼt be able to attract even a single viewer to what they were doing today.

All because of those ten enormous pop-up screens positioned prominently in the middle of the hall... They were displaying the footage transmitted directly by the Shadow Swords from the battlefield in Mid Sector 90.

Each one of those ten enormous screens showed an entirely different battle taking place within that vast battlefield, and each individual broadcast possessed hundreds of billions of followers of its own, watching it instead of the others according to whatever interested them most.

Anyone interested in uncovering the secrets of the Nota vessels and seeing what those vessels could truly accomplish in a real war followed what was happening in the particular battle that would eventually come to be known as the Ship Graveyard.

Anyone interested in individual combat and the clashes between powerful individuals would follow the intense, heavy battles taking place between World Cataclysms and Nexus States, where the fighting itself was enough to keep their attention fixed upon the broadcast.

Anyone interested in matters concerning the soul would naturally follow the movements of the Burton familyʼs Soul Masters and watch the seemingly endless trump cards they continued to reveal, and these broadcasts in particular were being followed extremely closely by the Soul Society itself.

Anyone interested in the true elite of the universe would instead focus upon the precise movements of the Behemoths and the other Dominators following them, watching their actions and the battles unfolding around those figures.

Anyone interested in what the cosmic order itself would eventually become after everything happening in Mid Sector 90 would watch all of the screens rather than choosing only one, nervously biting their fingers a little as they tried to keep track of every important development.

And anyone who wasnʼt particularly interested in any specific aspect of the war and simply wanted to watch and cheer for a good show would find that there was a place for them here as well.

There was a remedy for every person and every interest, and every possible taste was available among the broadcasts provided by the Shadow Swords for whoever sought it.

...With both hands clasped behind his back, Morval completely ignored the dense activity surrounding him, ignoring the movements of thousands of Soul Masters working in every direction and the millions of different screens filling the background behind and around them, while keeping his attention focused specifically upon those ten enormous broadcasts.

”...Put a recommendation on broadcast number seven. Things are heating up over there,” Morval finally spoke after watching for a while.

”Yes!!” A large number of his followers shouted in immediate response before beginning to work through different methods at once, carrying out his order without wasting any time.

In an instant, notifications appeared before an uncountable number of people, including both those who were already watching the war through other broadcasts and those sitting in the other halls, informing them that they should pay attention to broadcast number seven, and sure enough, most of those who received the recommendation immediately switched over to that broadcast and began watching it.

Within only a few moments, the number of views on that single broadcast multiplied dozens of times over, rising at a speed that reflected the enormous number of people who had responded to the recommendation.

”Weʼre making enormous profits... enormous profits!!” One of Morvalʼs brothers exclaimed as he read the numbers appearing before him, eventually grabbing his head as he continued staring at them.

The figures had already reached a point where they could no longer be properly counted or followed by sight alone. There was a number consisting of dozens upon dozens of digits continuing to rise rapidly before them, increasing without pause and showing absolutely no sign that it intended to stop growing anytime soon.

The Soul Society was undoubtedly one of the greatest beneficiaries of everything currently happening around the war, if it wasnʼt already the greatest beneficiary of them all.

Every Soul Society Headquarters had become completely booked by those wanting to watch the broadcasts, leaving no available place for countless others who still desperately wanted to see what was happening, so what exactly was someone who wanted to watch and was being eaten alive by curiosity supposed to do? Thatʼs right, plant a soul seedling.

The number of soul seedlings planted inside the heads of the universeʼs inhabitants had already reached an almost fantastical figure, a number so enormous that it was difficult to properly imagine its scale. Every single person among them had to pay a thousand pearls merely to obtain one of those soul seedlings in the first place, and after that initial payment, they would continue paying again at a fixed rate for every single hour they spent watching the broadcasts.

And that was without even mentioning any of the other profits being extracted from all those people through every other method available within the Soul Society, methods that naturally became accessible to them once those people entered and began using the Society... In truth, the mere presence of a soul seedling inside the heads of all those unsuspecting people was already a victory in and of itself, regardless of whatever additional profits followed afterward.

”Heh~” Morval revealed a confident smile as he continued observing everything happening around him and the numbers constantly rising before his eyes. ”Lord Robin is undoubtedly our greatest business partner.”

Even while fighting his sunless battle, even while seemingly drawing his final breaths beneath the enormous pressure surrounding him from every direction, he was still somehow continuing to make money for them!

”Lord Morval.”

At that moment, a female voice suddenly came from somewhere behind him, interrupting his attention.

”Hmm?” Morval responded casually without bothering to turn around, his attention still directed toward the broadcasts before him.

”Thereʼs another broadcast that has just started from someone marked as a Shadow Sword, but we canʼt evaluate it properly.”

”You canʼt evaluate it?” Morval finally turned around to look at the woman after hearing those unusual words, his attention immediately shifting toward the matter. ”What is it missing?”

According to the protocol that the Soul Society had previously agreed upon with Theo, anything broadcast by the Shadow Swords was to be aired without prior review or restriction of any kind, and it was to be promoted through every available means at the Soul Societyʼs disposal, with all the accounting and related matters simply being settled with them afterward.

Any broadcast coming from a Shadow Sword during a massive war like this was undoubtedly something important enough to deserve attention...

Instead of the ten enormous screens currently dominating the hall, there would simply be eleven of them. That alone meant an additional 10% profit!

”...First, this Shadow Sword was only registered today and only had a soul seedling planted in his head today as well, and within that very same hour, he was marked by the other Shadow Swords and officially designated as one of them. The entire matter is extremely strange and unexpected. It isnʼt like them at all to entrust broadcasts to a completely new individual like this,” the woman explained, clearly finding the situation difficult to understand herself.

”....” Morval furrowed his brows slightly as he considered what she had just told him. That truly was strange. The Shadow Swords were an extremely conservative organization when it came to matters like these, far too conservative to casually make mistakes of this sort or entrust something important to someone without sufficient reason.

”Second...” The woman herself looked increasingly puzzled as she reached the part that had confused her even more. ”The broadcast itself is strange and unimportant!”

”The Shadow Swords donʼt broadcast anything unimportant.” Morval immediately waved his hand, dismissing that possibility without needing to think about it any further. ”Show it.”

”Yes.” The mature woman nodded at once, then raised her hands and began rapidly writing a series of codes directly in the air before her.

Then—

Krssh—

A small pop-up screen appeared directly in front of Morval, displaying the mysterious broadcast that had caused all this confusion.

And immediately upon seeing what was being shown, his face paled...

The broadcast showed the point of view of someone walking atop what appeared to be a mountain peak completely surrounded by clouds, with every step the person took causing the clouds beneath and around him to dissipate from his path, creating an almost fantastical scene as he continued moving forward.

Within his field of vision stood a carefully crafted Glass House, clearly visible through the surrounding scenery, and in front of that house sat a person whose head and golden hair were barely visible from the approaching broadcasterʼs position.

Morval had never seen that person face-to-face before, had never personally stood before him or looked directly at his features... but almost immediately, a particular conclusion formed in his mind—

And the very next words transmitted through the broadcast confirmed his deduction beyond any doubt—

”Show this broadcast to everyone immediately, and donʼt give them any other options!” Morval suddenly shouted, his voice carrying across the entire administration as he issued the order without the slightest hesitation. ”Throw all the other broadcasts aside, all of them!!”