Published at 9th of October 2026 6:08 am

Chapter 2437: The situation

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Mid Sector 118—

Clatter Clatter

Standing silently in the vastness of space... Kiryan the Conqueror watched the battle unfolding before him with visibly weary eyes, his gaze remaining fixed on the chaotic scene without making any move to interfere.

At this moment, forces directly under his command were attacking a planet... Yes, after everything that had happened and all the forces gathered here, their current target was merely a single planet.

Kiryan’s forces weren’t particularly numerous in this battle, consisting of only three of his disciples accompanied by around a hundred fleets, while the enemy forces defending the planet outnumbered them by a considerable and immediately obvious margin.

At least eight hundred fleets hovered around the planet and maintained its defense, while four Dominators were personally fighting against Kiryan’s three disciples. Those four Dominators repeatedly retreated after every direct exchange instead of committing themselves to a prolonged confrontation, but at the same time, they never allowed Kiryan’s disciples enough breathing room to fight freely, turn their attention elsewhere, or begin destroying the fleets surrounding the planet.

Anyone who stood here and watched the battle for merely ten minutes would be able to clearly recognize where things were heading, because every exchange and every passing moment made it increasingly obvious that this battle was moving steadily toward an imminent withdrawal by the attacking side.

The attacking forces were few in number and were constantly being forced to exert effort they simply couldn’t afford to waste, while their numbers continued decreasing at a steady pace because of the enormous numerical disparity between the two sides. The defending forces, on the other hand, were considerably larger, yet they clearly had no desire to increase their own losses by fighting with everything they possessed and were therefore content to maintain a passive defense... It was the kind of battle that would ultimately be won by whoever possessed the greater endurance, whoever could continue holding on until an opening finally appeared, and whoever had the greater ability to endure the losses accumulating over time.

Unfortunately... neither side possessed either of those two advantages to a degree that would allow this situation to continue comfortably.

Kiryan’s assignment to open the sectors toward the west had begun smoothly enough during the first few years. Throughout that period, he had successfully conquered Mid Sector 116 and destroyed every power that stubbornly rejected all forms of negotiation, while Glatheon arrived afterward to negotiate with the remaining powers regarding the terms they would accept, allowing the entire process to proceed with surprising ease...

Afterward, Kiryan headed toward Mid Sector 117, leaving behind only an extremely small portion of his forces in Mid Sector 116 before continuing his advance. Once there, he managed to fight across every front throughout the sector until he killed a number of its leading figures and caused the remaining ones to flee. Internal betrayals also erupted among the powers opposing him, several forces chose to surrender, and a number of others simply raised the white flag before any fighting against them even began. Then Glatheon and the Shadow Swords arrived afterward to conduct negotiations with those powers and calm the situation throughout the sector...

But Mid Sector 118 proved completely different from everything Kiryan had encountered during those previous conquests... He had begun invading this sector directly before Qarun’s declaration was made.

The resistance Kiryan encountered throughout Mid Sector 118 multiplied several times over after the local powers united against him instead of remaining divided. Every Millennial and Centennial Empire began attacking him with a strange degree of ferocity, while the external support flowing toward those powers was so obvious that there was no point in pretending it didn’t exist.

Kiryan was consequently forced to pull back slightly from his original plans and establish himself inside a solar system that he could defend while continuously launching attacks outward from it... But it wasn’t long before troubling news reached him that Mid Sectors 116 and 117 were no longer stable either. An enormous number of rebellions had erupted throughout both sectors, to such an extent that even small clans and planetary kingdoms had begun sending their own forces against the garrisons stationed there!

Because of that situation, Kiryan was forced to divide his already limited army into two halves and send one entire half back to help suppress the unrest and restore stability throughout those sectors, because otherwise those rebellious forces could continue advancing toward Mid Sector 115 and eventually attack his own home territory.

As for the other half of his forces that remained with him, Kiryan spread them throughout the entirety of Mid Sector 118, using them to strike at the allied powers within their own territories and attempting to force those powers to recall their armies before they could gather together and form one enormous unified army. From Kiryan’s perspective, deliberately breaking apart his own army in exchange for forcing everyone else’s armies to break apart as well was far preferable to allowing everything to culminate in one massive decisive battle... because he knew perfectly well that if such a battle happened, he would lose.

If a battle on that scale truly occurred and Kiryan found himself surrounded by more than ten thousand fleets at once, external support in the form of Dominators would undoubtedly emerge as well, surrounding him alongside those fleets and attempting to destroy everything he possessed in a single decisive blow. They would never allow an opportunity like that to pass once it appeared before them... No, compared to that possibility, fragmented and isolated wars fought separately across the sector were unquestionably better for him.

And today was merely one of those scattered wars...

Kiryan had arrived here with a portion of his army intending to strike the capital of one of the Millennial Empires, only to discover after reaching his target that three Dominators and eight hundred fleets were already stationed there to guard it!

If he requested reinforcements from the rest of his scattered forces and concentrated more of his army here, then additional support would inevitably arrive for his enemies as well.

If Kiryan himself personally made a move and entered the battle, then the people currently hiding and waiting in the shadows would emerge to engage him directly.

And if he simply ordered his forces to retreat without achieving anything, word would quickly spread that the Conquest Behemoth himself had been forced to withdraw and had suffered defeat, which would inevitably raise the morale of the inhabitants throughout the sector.

All of those possibilities left Kiryan with practically no option except to remain standing where he was and continue watching the battle unfold before his eyes... watching his fleets fall one after another at a steady, unchanging rate.

Huuum

"..." Kiryan immediately cast a careful glance in a certain direction beside him after sensing the disturbance there, his weary eyes shifting away from the ongoing battle for the first time in a while.

There, the fabric of space quietly split open without any violent disturbance, and ten people calmly emerged from the opening one after another, every single one of them carrying a powerful and distinctly unique aura that immediately revealed that none of these newcomers had come here casually.

Kiryan’s brows instantly furrowed deeply the moment he sensed them properly. All ten of those people were Dominators, and judging from the strength and uniqueness of their individual auras, not a single one among them could possibly be considered an ordinary Dominator!

However, Kiryan quickly recognized who they were, and his tense expression relaxed slightly as he addressed them directly. "What brings the Directors of the Star Academies all the way to Mid Sector 118?" Then his gaze shifted toward the three people standing prominently in the center of the group, and a faint smile appeared on his face. "And you gentlemen... You’ve traveled quite a long way to come here."

Those three figures standing in the center weren’t merely Academy Directors like the others; they belonged directly to the Council of Thrones, and all three of them were disciples of Qarun.

"Enough blood has already been spilled, Kiryan. Come to your senses and stop following the devil before this continues any further." The person standing in the middle spoke while holding his head high, addressing Kiryan with absolute confidence. "Even if you’re a Behemoth, you should understand that we won’t simply allow you to do whatever you please without consequence. Your attempt to destroy the universe will never succeed while we, its sons who remain vigilant over it and dedicate ourselves to protecting it, are still standing here."

"Huh?" Kiryan immediately found those grand words somewhat strange, and rather than responding to them directly, he began searching through his surroundings with greater attention. It didn’t take him long before a knowing smile appeared on his face...

He quickly discovered several people hiding on nearby planets while carrying recording equipment, and judging from the circumstances surrounding this sudden confrontation, there was a very high probability that everything happening here was currently being broadcast live.

Those three hadn’t merely traveled all this distance to confront him; they had come here specifically to create a spectacle at his expense and take a glorious shot while standing on his neck.

"The men who remain vigilant in protecting the universe, yes, yes..." Kiryan slowly nodded twice as though he had finally understood the noble role they were claiming for themselves. "A quarter of this sector, Mid Sector 118, has already fallen under the control of an enormous Plague nest. There are more than sixty Blue Plague individuals active throughout this sector, and every single one of them destroys an entire solar system every day. Since you’re so vigilant about protecting the universe, why don’t you go and protect it from that?"

"Wasn’t it your master who planted all those Plague nests in the first place?!" another of Qarun’s disciples immediately shouted back at him.

"My master, who hasn’t even completed a thousand years of life yet, is somehow responsible for the Plague nests that have been gnawing away at the universe for millions of years?" Kiryan couldn’t help laughing at those words, then raised his hand and pointed directly toward the gathered Directors of the Star Academies. "Every single one of these people knows exactly who truly plants those nests for you, who strengthens them, who brings them food, and who provides them with protection until they have enough time to become stronger. Everyone knows about the deal between the Hidden Hand and the Council of Thrones, but their cowardice prevents them from opening their mouths and saying anything about it." Then Kiryan raised his voice and shouted directly toward all of them, "If there’s a man among you, then let him call me a liar!"

"....." The Directors of the Star Academies remained completely silent after Kiryan’s challenge, none of them stepping forward to deny his accusation or answer his words, and instead they merely swallowed hard while standing where they were.

"Enough!" Qarun’s third disciple immediately realized that the scene they had prepared wasn’t progressing in the direction he wanted, so he forcefully interrupted before Kiryan could continue. "Kiryan, take your invading army and leave Mid Sector 118 today, or the Council of Thrones itself will take responsibility for purging all of you from this place... We can no longer stand aside and allow you to continue spreading the poisons of your hidden master throughout the universe!"

"....." Kiryan didn’t immediately answer the threat, instead slowly looking around himself while spreading his spiritual sense farther and farther into the surrounding region, carefully examining everything that could be concealed beyond his immediate sight.

There were clear signs that he had already been surrounded by several layers of hidden forces, and even if he completely ignored that encirclement, the three disciples of Qarun standing before him were extremely powerful in their own right. Those three alone possessed enough strength to keep him occupied, while the remaining Dominators would then be free to turn their attention toward his army and destroy it with ease.

"...." Kiryan remained completely silent for several moments as he weighed the situation before him, then finally raised his hand and waved toward his army, ordering them to withdraw from the battle. After giving the order, he turned around as well and prepared to leave with them, but not before casting his final words toward those behind him. "...Remember this day, Council of Thrones."

...The entire situation was undoubtedly humiliating for Kiryan, especially after being forced to withdraw in front of all those watching eyes, but at the very least, he had finally managed to get himself out of this pointless standoff where he had been doing nothing except standing there and watching his forces steadily fall.

Share