books44 Chapter 421 - 413 - Rule by Right? Rule by Might!
Chapter 421 - 413 - Rule by Right? Rule by Might!
The prow of the [Sovereignty-class] starship slowly opened like a blooming flower bud.
The surrounding space transitioned from polar night to polar day in a silent shift. The power of [Destruction] coalesced into a dazzling, incandescent white jet stream. If this were 5,000 years ago, the veteran civilizations witnessing this scene would never have believed that a faction would dare to use [Destruction] to attack [Destruction].
Just then.
"Imperial Apostle!"
A broadcast signal from the public channel was transmitted from the [Great Attractor Substrate] to all starships docked in the surrounding berths.
"This is a 'Public Safety Zone.' Please refrain from using lethal force here!"
"I repeat!"
"Please refrain from using lethal force here!"
"..."
Countless smaller ships docked nearby, upon hearing the Interastral Peace Corporation's words, finally abandoned their terrified thoughts of escape.
That was the stellar-class main cannon of the Sacred Empire!
According to verifiable intelligence from the past millennium alone, more than a dozen Astral God [Emissaries] had died at the hands of this terrifying weapon.
The Interastral Peace Corporation and the [Great Attractor Substrate] were extremely reliable; the defenses of an Astral God's creation were sufficient to protect itself. But that did not mean it could protect these foreign starships, a mere stone's throw away from the "battlefield"!
It now seemed the IPC was preparing to intervene in the conflict. This was their home turf, after all. Not making a statement would be a huge loss of face. Besides, they had already shown "weakness" to the Sacred Empire: if any other civilization had dared to open fire here, they would have been instantly vaporized by the [Great Attractor Substrate]'s [Supergravity Annihilation Cannon] (a stellar-class doomsday weapon). They would never have used such an "amiable" turn of phrase as "refrain from using lethal force."
However, the situation developed in a way no one expected—
Also on the public channel, the Sacred Empire's [Sovereignty-class] responded to the "reprimand":
"This is the Sacred Empire starship Conqueror."
"I am an Imperial Saint, Saint Engraving III: 'Pillar of the Abyss'."
"Director Heitzfaller, the [Antimatter Legion] and [The Supremacy] should not be on your guest list. Are you certain you wish to use this as a pretext for the Interastral Peace Corporation to declare war on the Empire?"
"..."
The Bastion Major Nebula, which had been bustling just a moment ago, fell silent once more.
The "Director Heitzfaller" who had been called out by name was a high-ranking executive of the Interastral Peace Corporation and also one of the [Emissaries] of Qlipoth, the Astral God of Preservation.
His status was incredibly noble; he was an honored guest of any civilization he visited.
But!
When facing the Sacred Empire, he, who was usually so haughty, dared not voice his anger.
Declaring war on another superpower founded on military might—such a responsibility was something not even a Director, perhaps not even the Chairman who held the rank of Grand Monarch, would dare to shoulder. They were not [The Architects], after all. More like politicians and merchants than warriors, the "Directors" had long lacked the courage forged in blood and fire. They dared not gamble their own status on whether the other side would call their bluff.
What's more...
The one they were facing was not the [Apostle] Heitzfaller had expected, but a member of the Sacred Empire's highest echelons who rarely made public appearances: an Imperial [Saint]!
The structure of this power was very simple. Any civilization in the universe that had come into contact with the Sacred Empire knew the basics:
At the apex of power was the Imperial Emperor, who had slain Grand Monarchs and repelled Astral Gods. The "Order Grand Monarch" was the undisputed peak of [Grand Monarchs] in the multiverse, effectively an Astral God walking in the material world.
Ordinarily, this would not be a major concern for other top-tier civilizations, as they all had true Astral Gods backing them. The problem was, these top-tier civilizations knew certain secrets unknown to the "lower civilizations." And it was these secrets, concerning the Order Grand Monarch and the Astral Gods, that made them subconsciously choose to yield when facing this Emperor... just as they would when facing their own masters.
Beneath the Imperial Emperor were the pillars of the Empire, who held the "Sacred Engravings" from I to XI:
The Saints.
All eleven of these individuals were at the peak of the Super-Stellar [Emissary] level... Of course, only a fool would believe this superficial ranking. Countless painful lessons had taught the universe that the true combat power of any [Imperial Saint] (in their Collapsed State) could briefly reach the "Galaxy-class" of a fledgling Grand Monarch.
When commanding the Empire's super-titan starships, they could even use "non-standard armaments": [Isaiah] and the [Book of Enoch].
The [Book of Enoch], as a galaxy-class main cannon, possessed the largest and most powerful caliber in the entire cosmos. But compared to [Isaiah], this main cannon, capable of unleashing the destructive power of a Grand Monarch, seemed almost secondary.
[Isaiah]: A self-destruct attack of "Super-Stellar-class" power, released by a Saint who triggers a superposition of Quantum energy and an Imaginary Branch.
That's right.
[Isaiah] was the most outrageous weapon of all—a super-titan self-destructing with the force of Annihilation's final blow. It was an act of terrorism of the most insane order.
No civilization dared to bear this cost... not even the Astral Gods. In fact, if an [Isaiah] detonation was precise enough, a newly ascended Astral God of a weaker Path could potentially be "de-deified" by a mortal.
Beneath the Imperial Saints were the more common and relatively ordinary [Imperial Apostles].
The Sacred Empire had 99 Apostles, all with a standard combat power of "Super-Star-busting." Like the Saints, their true power could also be elevated through special means (the Collapsed State) to match that of a Stellar-class being.
To put it bluntly... that was 99 Emissaries!
For an Emissary of the same level, an Imperial Apostle might be relatively easy to deal with. But for a civilization with few or no Stellar-class beings, the appearance of an [Imperial Apostle] was a devastating, dimension-lowering strike!
After all... in the entire vast cosmos, the total number of [Emissary]-level combatants likely did not even reach 500. The Sacred Empire alone accounted for twenty percent of them.
It wasn't that no civilization had tried to turn these [Imperial Apostles], especially since not all of them were "native" to the Empire—nearly half of the Apostles came from civilizations that had "defected" or "submitted."
But!
Their loyalty to the Empire was utterly unshakable. The true reason was unknown... at least, the Empire's official explanation was: "A sense of belonging is far less important than a sense of security."
To be backed by an Astral God "in the flesh," and to even have one's lifespan and Path power increased by ten percent—the Imperial Emperor would bestow power upon those who swore fealty, a Dominion power that perfectly matched their own Path, and a tangible extension of their lifespan with no side effects.
This was an indisputable sense of security!
Unlike the limitations of [Immortality] on the [Dragonkin] retainers, or the mental shortcomings of [Abundance], the power granted by the Imperial Emperor had no negative side effects. Many civilizations scoffed at this claim, but they certainly didn't dare voice any dissatisfaction. Even with the exaggerated side effects of [Abundance], countless [Elixir Seekers] still followed the "Abundance," the Plaguespreader; it went without saying how numerous the Sacred Empire's "hounds" and "lapdogs" were.
(Incidentally, the reason for granting "lifespan" instead of "eternal life" was that the Monarch's [Dominion of Immortality] had been largely and permanently consumed in the battle with Annihilation, while the [Dominion of Finality], crucial for "eternal life," had vanished completely.)
---o---
"Saint..."
Director Heitzfaller shut off the communication device. At a time like this, face was something that could be discarded. The Sacred Empire was a key guest of honor for this IPC conference...
But these were all just flimsy excuses.
If the commander in that super-titan had been a mere [Imperial Apostle], Heitzfaller could have continued to apply pressure, as his status was higher. But against an [Imperial Saint] of the same or even greater rank, unless the Chairman himself intervened, Heitzfaller could only swallow his pride and take the humiliation.
Never mind whether the [Great Attractor Substrate] was a match for a [Sovereignty-class]. Even if it could defeat one, or even two... while the Sacred Empire's [Sovereignty-class] super-titans weren't exactly mass-produced, a full eleven different hull numbers had been sighted by various civilizations!
Remaining silent was the wisest choice.
Whoosh!
The mid-air shouting match ended quickly. Nezzat and his [The Supremacy], having lost all their trump cards—he had foolishly assumed the Sacred Empire wouldn't dare open fire here—began a desperate, final gamble.
Swarms of silver-black fighters poured out from the continuous armor plating of the super-titan.
[TIE · Space Superiority Fighters]
"TIE fighters" of various models regrouped in space and launched suicide attacks on the [Sovereignty-class] from every conceivable angle. Hidden within the black swarms were their last resort: all 40 of their [Havoc Vanguards].
Nezzat had no hope of destroying the Conqueror. The basic performance gap between the two super-titans wasn't that large. The real difference lay in the enemy commander's strength and the oversized main cannon of the [Sovereignty-class]. If he could just destroy the Conqueror's main cannon, he could buy enough time for [The Supremacy] to make a warp retreat.
But...
A boarding action of this scale couldn't even get close.
Fwoosh.
A purple cube engraved with dark silver patterns flew out from the Conqueror. It was a construct composed of eight identical smaller cubes, the standard close-range interception weapon for the Empire's super-titans:
[The Formless Void].
BOOM!
Like a firework exploding in deep space, [The Formless Void] completed an "expansion-contraction" cycle at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. The resulting ripple froze the dense swarm of TIE fighters in mid-air.
As for the Havoc Vanguards hidden within...
PEW!
Forty streams of light shot across the starfield.
The Conqueror's 460mm point-defense cannons, the [Midrash], took only an instant to burn all the Havoc Vanguards to ash. The Conqueror was equipped with 160 of these triple-barreled weapon systems, which drew power directly from the [Nexus Dyson Sphere Reactor]. For them, shooting down a Star-busting class target was no different from swatting a mosquito.
And then—
VMMMM!!!!
[Genesis] had finished charging while the IPC was still hailing them. According to the Empire's usual style, they should have fired long ago. The only reason for the delay was to give the surrounding ships a chance to evade the shockwave. The Empire's methods were exceptionally tyrannical, but they weren't about to offend so many neutral parties at once (cleaning up the mess afterward would be troublesome, as offending someone meant you had to completely annihilate them; this had been the Empire's primary modus operandi for the past millennium). Of course, the main reason was... there were still many allied starships nearby.
Even the most powerful empire could not fight alone. The Empire's allies were few, but they were all civilizations of a similar style... including the one that had put the bounty on Nightrea and his [Hecatoncheires].
Now, a brilliant radiance flashed across the cosmos.
[The Supremacy]'s main cannon, taking advantage of the precious time it had bought, reached 93% charge. But unfortunately, its despairing fall just before the dawn was already fated—
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
---o---
"That fool Heitzfaller!"
A powerfully built, humanoid giant with crimson skin and light blue glowing patterns strode down the corridor toward the spaceport connection. Eight Star-busting class "Constructors" stood guard around him. In this situation, these elite soldiers of [The Architects] could only serve as window dressing... and to bolster their superior's courage.
This was an Executive Director of the [Interastral Peace Corporation]. He was also the only [Emissary of Preservation] among the IPC's top brass to have reached the Super-Stellar level, second in power only to the Chairman:
Mitler.
"If you're going to be tough, be tough all the way. At least that would show our resolve," he grumbled. "Giving up halfway just because you hear it's a Saint..."
Mitler hesitated for a moment. He suddenly realized he probably wouldn't be much tougher himself when facing an Imperial Saint.
"Why not just pretend you didn't see anything from the start? What a disgrace!"
The guards, all professionally trained, couldn't help but crack slightly mocking smiles at Mitler's tirade. The [Pathstriders] of [Preservation] were all great individuals, and [The Architects] in particular led by example, sacrificing everything for the stability of the universe. However, because the cost of building the "Stellar Wall" was astronomical, the [Interastral Peace Corporation], which had split off from [The Architects] and grown powerful, had become the dominant party. Although they still adhered to the original path of preservation (they couldn't and dared not leave it), they had long lost the noble qualities of the era of [The Architects].
While they still wholeheartedly believed in "Amber Lord" Qlipoth, in some ways, they were already united in name but divided in spirit.
Click.
As the final star-gate opened, the [Sovereignty-class] super-titan docked outside Spaceport I came into view.
Mitler carefully straightened his attire, put on an "amiable" smile, and walked briskly toward the designated "welcoming" area.