Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1590: Wrath of the Vixen - I

Somewhere in the Middle Belt — Sector 100

BOOOOOOOOM

”She is coming!!”

”Fall back! Retreat, now!!”

A tremendous mass of people with bushy tails and elongated ears erupted into chaos, scattering in every possible direction like a disturbed colony of ants after a flood of water strikes their nest... yet not all of them sought escape.

”Where are the cannons?! Where are the damned cannons?!”

A wave of soldiers surged onto the battlements of the towering city walls. Unlike the civilians, their tails were larger, thicker, and more numerous, their facial structures holding more human-like sharpness, betraying the thicker density of their bloodline. And yet—even with their hardened bodies and training—their voices cracked and their steps trembled, revealing fear no lesser than the terrified masses fleeing below.

”Ready yourselves!!” The commander of the guard raised his arm and pointed firmly toward the horizon, where nine ominous stars drifted closer and closer, their light bleeding slowly into the skies like a tide of death.

Creeeeak

The colossal towers of the city split apart as if awakening from slumber, exposing gargantuan pipes buried within their stone frames. With a mechanical groan, the colossal barrels extended outward, angling toward the threat. Their hollow mouths began to glow with furious light. Hoooom The pressure of condensed energy accumulating inside them was beyond imagination, shaking the very walls beneath the soldiers’ feet.

WhooooshWhoooosh

Then, beside those radiant cannon muzzles, four figures descended from the above. Each arrival was distinct: one landed with crushing weight that cracked the tiles beneath him, another drifted like a feather before striking the earth with a snap, a third carved the air with violent arcs of energy, and the last simply appeared, calm yet suffocating.

Their oppressive force was no less than the deathly cannons they stood beside, and their presence warped the very air.

”Hmph... you made the gravest mistake by daring to come here today.”

”You think your strength now makes you untouchable? Do you take us for the Earth Hall weaklings?!”

”Have you forgotten yourself? Forgotten the blood in your veins?!”

”Awaken from your dreams, tyrant! We shall never bow, not today, not ever!!”

”The honored Elders of the Inner Family have arrived!!” The captain of the city guard shouted with raw joy at the sight of the four. His voice thundered down into the control chambers below, where the gunners waited tensely. With newfound confidence burning in his eyes, he roared, ”FIRE!!”

Wooooooooom

In the span of a heartbeat, radiant orbs of condensed light coalesced at the mouths of the cannons, swelling until they could no longer contain their fury. Then—WHOOSH!!—they erupted upward in unison, piercing the heavens with their combined wrath.

”Hmph!”

The four elders moved as one, raising their hands, and their auras detonated outward in cataclysmic force. Even the weakest among them radiated the undeniable presence of a high-tier world cataclysms, while the strongest stood leagues above even that, a force unto himself.

The cannons, capable of firing blasts rivaling the firepower of motherships, combined with the devastating assault of four calamities of such magnitude... it was a vision of annihilation.

The night sky was erased, turned into blinding daylight, while the very space of the powerful planet trembled faintly under the strain.

To any onlooker, this joined strike would seem aimed at an ancient cosmic beast, the kind of primeval beast whispered of in legends—creatures that devour entire worlds in their hunger.

Yet in truth... their target was something far smaller.

”Pathetic.”

At that moment, a soft feminine voice rang out, yet shaking both heaven and earth.

The source was unmistakable: a woman. Her form slender yet commanding, wrapped in a modest black gown that flowed like liquid shadow. She descended gracefully, one hand resting over the other as though mocking the chaos beneath her.

Her skin gleamed pale as untouched snow, her eyes burned a crimson deeper than blood, and the hatred and fury etched into her expression could not be hidden beneath the cold serenity she wore as a mask.

Confronted by the overwhelming tide of destruction surging toward her, she simply flicked one of her nine sinuous tails.

From its tip, she released a blazing four-pointed star, burning like a fragment of a sun torn from the heavens. Swoooosh The star descended, swaggering with unbearable weight, dragging itself downward as if wading through invisible quicksand, bending reality itself as it fell.

Until finally—

It collided with the onslaught.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The sky above the planet ignited in a cataclysmic detonation, an inferno so blinding it seemed to tear apart the very heavens. A monstrous wave of raw energy surged outward from the epicenter, devouring the horizon.

It raced across the land with impossible speed, annihilating everything in its wake. Entire forests were ripped apart, ancient trees torn from their roots as though they were nothing but twigs. Houses and towers were wrenched from their foundations and hurled into the air like toys, crumbling mid-flight.

Within moments, hundreds of kilometers had been reduced to a wasteland of dust and fire.

”Aaaarghhh!!”

The wall guards were powerless before such devastation. Their defenses, their training, their courage—none of it mattered. Many were instantly crushed into pulp beneath the force of the shockwave, their bodies and armor disintegrating as though they never existed.

The survivors fared little better, blasted away like ragdolls, tumbling through the air without control, their screams swallowed by the roaring tempest.

”Damn it all!!”

Only four figures remained rooted to the ground—the so-called Four Elders. Their robes whipped violently in the storm, their bodies strained against the blast, but they did not fall. Yet their grim faces betrayed the truth: even they were shaken to the core.

”Renara, you tyrant!” one spat, his voice like thunder against the chaos. ”Do you wish to carve your name in history as the mad ruler who destroyed her own homeland with her own cursed hands?!”

”Hmph.”

Out from the swirling storm of dust and smoke, a figure emerged. Renara descended with imperious grace, her presence pressing down like a mountain.

Her crimson eyes burned brighter than ever, alive with fury, alive with vengeance. One of her nine tails shimmered, and where the star it had cast moments ago had been lost, another was born anew, blazing into existence.

Now her full form was revealed—nine tails, nine burning stars, nine searing colors that bled into one another like an aurora of destruction.

That terrifying sight alone crushed the courage of those watching. The elders below felt their hearts constrict, their breaths shallow. Even they, with all their might, were swallowed by the fear of what now hovered above them.

At last, her lips parted. Her words cut like a blade of frost.

”Is this all you have? Is this the pitiful strength you gained by prostituting your blood to foreign powers?!”

”Lies!” one elder bellowed, raising his arm in defiance. ”A slanderous accusation! You twist falsehoods into weapons to strike at us!”

”You work for the Twilight Spectrum Empire!” another cried out, his voice breaking through the storm. He turned, pointing toward a man crouched at the edge of the battlefield, clutching a strange device that captured every instant of the carnage. ”Look at her! This tyrant seeks to kill us only because she failed to protect her empire! Now she dares to shift the guilt onto us!”

The third elder soared higher, his body glowing faintly as he ascended until the entire city could see him. His voice boomed like a proclamation:

”People! Hear me! This woman is no longer your ruler—she has lost her mind! She has sinned against herself and against all of you! It was she who annihilated the Earth Hall and slaughtered its master! It was she who erased the Hall of Vibrations and assassinated its mistress! She is the true traitor!”

”Kill her!!” the fourth elder shrieked, his finger stabbing upward like a spear. ”If you claim to hold proof, Renara, then bring it forth! Come before the court and face trial, where judgment will be given! Not here, not through blood!”

”....”

Renara did not even turn her gaze toward them. Her blood-red eyes scanned the city below, deliberate and precise, as if each motion carved deeper dread into those watching. Slowly, she searched the ruins, her voice finally breaking the silence like venom.

”Where is she? The disgraceful mistress of your hall. I know she has slithered back into the city to hoard her treasures.”

”You still cling to your delusions?!” one elder snapped.

”Begone, Renara!” another roared. ”Your throne is dust, your legitimacy shattered! You have no ties to us any longer!!”

Even as they barked their accusations, a sharp, familiar sound rippled through the chaos. Bzzzzzt!

Renara’s head snapped toward the source. ”There.” Her crimson eyes flared. One of her nine tails twitched, then lashed out. The star upon it blazed violently, and—BEEEEEM!—a radiant lance of pure light fired forward. Unlike the slow, ponderous descent of her earlier stars, this beam tore straight through the sky in a merciless line.

BOOOOOOOM!

An entire district of the city was consumed in the explosion, swallowed whole in an instant. The shockwave rippled outward, buildings collapsing like cards, screams of the helpless drowned beneath the roar.

”RENARAAAAA!!”

The strongest of the elders bellowed, his face twisted in fury, his aura erupting in defiance. ”How dare you?! Do you understand what you’ve done?!”

”If word spreads that you are slaughtering your own kin,” another roared, ”your end will be sealed! You are finished, Renara! Politically, spiritually, eternally finished!!”

But Renara, high above, did not look at them. Her crimson gaze was locked upon the smoking ruins she had obliterated. Her voice, calm yet heavy with contempt, rolled down like thunder:

”Her position is revealed. Your existence is worthless now. Be gone—walk whatever path remains for you.”

Whoooosh

Four of her nine tails uncoiled, turning toward the elders below. Each one glowed with the deadly promise of annihilation.