Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2098 Bowing to reality

In a scene that could only be described as utterly terrifying, 12,000 armadas moved at once, their sudden motion shaking the silent depths of space.

Six vast squadrons, each containing 2,000 armadas arranged in disciplined formations, advanced from six completely different directions like the Day of Judgment itself descending upon the battlefield. Their mere advance shook nearby planets, their engines roaring like cosmic thunder, and terrified the innocent within their homes who could only watch the sky tremble in dread. The entire universe seemed as if it had finally awakened from the shock of the announcement when these reports spread across countless communication networks. Memories of the cosmic wars resurfaced in the minds of the ancient races. Memories of devastation, armadas clashing, and galaxies trembling returned once more. Memories of what was happening in the Mid sector 101 rose vividly to the surface. Thus, countless beings stopped what they were doing and turned their attention toward the same place, standing in silence as they prepared to witness the greatest battle in history.

When Lord Damir and his retinue saw what was coming, their expressions turned grave. They did not cling to pride or arrogance, nor did they delude themselves with the belief that they could somehow overturn such an overwhelming situation. There was simply no room for such thoughts. After Kaylisʼ devastating planetary assault that had already crippled their forces, and even after reinforcements had arrived from the accursed Behemoth galaxy, all the forces under Lord Damir barely exceeded two thousand armadas in total strength.

They immediately attempted to withdraw without hesitation.

But the Pureheart family had no intention of allowing them to leave so easily. Lord Orion, Lady Serene, and several of their siblings marched out boldly with roughly a thousand armadas of their own and engaged Lord Damir and his army directly, intercepting them before they could escape the tightening net. Although the balance of power was clearly broken in Lord Damirʼs favor, and although the armadas of the Pureheart family fell like dry leaves in autumn under the crushing might of his fleet, and although the familyʼs Law Dominants failed to secure victory on any front of the battlefield... victory had never been the objective in the first place. Their true goal had always been simple and desperate: to stop them for just a short time.

And they succeeded.

The six squadrons finally arrived and began an overwhelming siege that closed from every direction.

A siege whose purpose was not to exhaust Lord Damirʼs forces, nor to pressure them into surrender. No. Its purpose was systematic slaughter, a cold and merciless plan designed to wipe them out completely and erase their presence from the battlefield.

But matters were not so simple. In wars fought on a scale like this, the answer to one plus one was rarely two, and even the most overwhelming advantage could become complicated once the battle truly began.

Lord Damir immediately ordered a spherical defensive formation that compressed his fleets inward to reduce the damage and protect their vulnerable points. Then he personally led more than twenty Royal Soul Masters and Law Dominants toward the most dangerous battlefronts. They took advantage of the fact that the enemy squadrons possessed only six Law Dominants, and with their overwhelming experience they launched fierce counterattacks. Using their raw strength and techniques perfectly harmonized with the laws of the universe, they managed to halt the advancing enemy lines again and again, delaying the inevitable fate that loomed over them.

And indeed, the battle continued for an entire day without pause.

Not a single Law Dominant or Royal Soul Master with more than seven stars fell during that time, as those powerful figures fought with terrifying caution and skill. Yet hundreds upon hundreds of ships were destroyed in the chaos of the clash, exploding into clouds of fire and shattered metal... and most of them belonged to the allianceʼs side.

By the end of that day, Lord Damir and his followers had begun to retreat, both implicitly and literally. Their strength was no longer what it had been at the start of the battle. Their ability to recover energy was not nearly as fast as the rate at which they were forced to expend it. Injuries had begun to accumulate across their bodies from the countless barrages they had intercepted with their own flesh, blocking attacks that would have otherwise destroyed their fleets.

The inevitable had finally begun to appear on the horizon like a dark shadow slowly rising... but then it suddenly vanished.

Under those desperate and exhausting circumstances, several figures arrived quietly from one side of the siege.

Around twenty of them appeared together, moving with calm confidence. All of them were Royal Soul Masters with seven stars or more. Leading them was a man with long hair that flowed behind him in the vacuum of space, a smooth and almost flawless face, and dark eyes that stared with such piercing intensity that it felt as though he could see directly into the hearts of others, as if nothing within them could remain hidden from that gaze. He wore loose and flowing garments, yet the terrifying strength of his physique was unmistakable even beneath those robes. The aura of power surrounding him glowed with a deep black radiance that distorted the surrounding space itself, making it extremely difficult for anyone to look at him directly for long. Even so, those who forced themselves to glance at him could still glimpse the unsettling sight of black veins running across every exposed patch of his skin, crawling like living shadows beneath his flesh.

It was the accursed Behemoth Darvion himself.

By the time the Big Six sensed what was happening and finally noticed the arrival of the newcomers on the battlefield, it was already far too late for them to react properly. In that brief window of time the newcomers had already unleashed overwhelming destruction, destroying more than a thousand armadas completely, turning them into drifting wreckage and clouds of burning metal. They shattered the tightening siege with brute force and opened a massive path through the encirclement.

A path that Lord Damir and the roughly 1,700 remaining armadas under his command immediately used without hesitation, accelerating away at full speed in a desperate escape.

The Big Six immediately ordered all cannons to concentrate their fire upon the accursed Behemoth and those accompanying him, hoping overwhelming firepower could at least slow them down... but it was utterly futile.

A Behemoth could not be killed with artillery barrages alone. And certainly not when forty Law Dominants and Royal Soul Masters stood around him, forming an impenetrable shield of power and authority. From the moment the accursed Behemoth appeared on the battlefield until the siege was shattered and the retreat began, less than a single hour had passed.

The universe was stunned by the Behemothʼs personal intervention, the very same Behemoth who was later revealed to have arrived with his followers through the sectorʼs grand space portal, crossing unimaginable distances in order to intervene in this war.

As for the Big Six, they had no time to withdraw and lick their wounds after the failed siege. The Behemothʼs personal arrival, along with the sudden appearance of additional high level reinforcements, had complicated the situation in a dangerously unpredictable way.

Yet despite everything, the numerical advantage was still firmly on their side. It was an overwhelming strength that demanded respect and caution. If the Behemoth had truly believed he could win this confrontation outright, his followers would not have fled together with him earlier. That fact alone convinced them that victory might still be within reach.

Thus they began the pursuit immediately, their massive fleets accelerating across the battlefield while leaving behind the drifting wreckage of nearly 2,000 destroyed armadas from both sides, silent monuments to the violence that had just taken place.

And indeed, the pursuit did not last long before they caught up with them once again.

The accursed Behemoth and his sons immediately took action, forming a powerful defensive barrier between the two advancing armies. Forty Law Dominants and Royal Soul Masters gathered together under his command, standing as an unbreakable wall of power. Behind them were the 1,700 armadas that had barely escaped earlier, regrouping and preparing for another confrontation.

Together they stood face to face against the vast fleets of the alliance, along with the armadas of the Pure Heart family led by Orion.

And they held their ground.

The Big Six also entered the battle personally this time, yet even they did not recklessly advance to the front lines. Instead, they remained behind the main formations of their fleets, launching devastating attacks whenever an opportunity revealed itself, striking like predators waiting for the perfect moment.

This second battle proved just as brutal as the first. Several hundred more armadas were destroyed in the violent clashes between fleets, their shattered remains scattering across space. Yet more importantly, the battle showed the entire universe once again what it truly meant for a real Behemoth to stand on the front lines of war.

Simply by his presence alone, the morale and strength of his side seemed to rise dramatically. Through his overwhelming power and mastery of the cosmic laws, his side managed to resist an army whose strength was drawn from hundreds of different factions and forces.

Not only that, but he gradually forced them to retreat. Eventually the Big Six were forced to give the order to withdraw after four of them suffered injuries during the clash and the losses among their fleets began to rise at an alarming rate.

As for the accursed Behemoth, he did not waste the opportunity presented by their withdrawal. He immediately led his exhausted army and battered fleets forward. Many of those fleets had already run out of the Pearls required to power their cannons, leaving them dangerously weakened. Still, they pushed onward and attacked the nearest solar system. Their goal was simple. First, to replenish their supplies with anything that could still prove useful after such a brutal conflict. Second, to finally pause and recover, tending to the wounds that had accumulated during the two devastating battles.

The accursed Behemoth had seized a difficult and costly victory... yet the situation was far from secure.

He now found himself deep within a strange sector, surrounded by hostile forces on all sides, struggling to protect the exhausted remnants of his once mighty army.

Had he truly won this confrontation and reaffirmed the supreme status of the Behemoths across the universe?

Or had the Behemoth merely bowed before the alliance army, spared only out of reluctance to continue the costly battle, allowing him to retreat and gather the broken fragments of his scattered forces?

That question became the subject of endless stories, debates, and rumors throughout the entire universe during that period.