Published at 25th of October 2026 7:51 am

Chapter 2469: Scorn

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Hummm

The wall of the Buffer Zone began to liquefy before everyone’s eyes, its previously stable surface releasing dense, overlapping waves that continuously rippled across it, and then, amid those increasingly intense distortions, something gradually began to come into view from within.

The prows of thousands of enormous vessels began forcing their way outward at almost exactly the same time, slowly emerging through the liquefying wall in such staggering numbers that they looked like gigantic whales that had suddenly decided to break through the surface of the sea together and draw in a deep breath of air.

But that was not all. Once roughly half of those vessels had emerged through the wall, their countless cannons immediately began aiming wildly in every direction while their massive doors started opening, and even as this happened, all the remaining gaps between those gigantic vessels began rapidly disappearing; more and more ship prows appeared through every available space, slightly smaller than the first ones this time but emerging in far greater numbers, and once again...

In the blink of an eye, the entire wall of the Buffer Zone transformed into something resembling an enormous exhibition of warship prows. Not a single inch of the wall seemed to remain in its original state anymore; the seemingly endless fleets had completely occupied its entire visible surface, and the faint orange glow that had previously covered the wall could no longer be seen anywhere, having been replaced and utterly surpassed by the much stronger gleam radiating from the countless cannons of the emerging warships.

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The Grand Hall—Soul Society

Ever since the Shadow Swords began their live broadcast nearly an hour ago, everyone who happened to have free time, as well as countless others who still had work waiting for them, had gradually begun entering and watching, unwilling to miss the battle that was about to overturn the balance of everything.

For an entire hour, they had watched the astonishing grandeur and overwhelming might displayed by the followers of Lord Robin Burton, apparently the greatest demon of them all, and throughout that entire time their hearts had continued pounding with a mixture of fear and awe as they stared at that colossal army, terrified by the possibility that its impossibly long arms might eventually stretch far enough to reach them as well.

So, when the wall of the Buffer Zone finally began to liquefy and the long-awaited forces on the other side started to appear... the morale of those watching rapidly soared.

"AAAAH! The army has arrived! They’ve finally arrived, the ones who will stop that terrifying demonic force!!"

"My heavens, I’m afraid Renara’s army might suddenly open fire while the others haven’t even fully emerged from the Buffer Zone yet!"

"Hmph, they wouldn’t come out of that unscathed either! The cannons of Lord Butcher’s army are pointed straight at their faces right now. Secondly, doing something like that would be utterly despicable, and everyone would condemn them if they actually dared to do it!"

"Why would a demonic force like that care about something like condemnation in the first place?"

"..."

"Look over there, it’s him!"

"His Excellency the Butcheeeer!!"

"He’s talking! He’s actually saying something! What are they saying? There’s no audio accompanying the broadcast at all!!"

"Hmm? Why does he only have two swords with him?"

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Back in Mid Sector 90—

Krssh

Marlik casually walked down from the prow of the first vessel to emerge, keeping both of his hands tucked inside his pockets as he slowly surveyed the surrounding area through a pair of sleepy, half-closed eyes.

He did not deliberately release any particular aura to announce his presence, nor did he loudly declare his name or identity, but there was simply no need for him to do anything of the sort; his distinctive braided pink hair, the robe hanging open around his chest, and the swords resting at his waist were already more than enough evidence for anyone familiar with him to immediately recognize who he was... Although there were only two swords at his waist rather than the three that everyone had grown accustomed to seeing him carry, the appearance of those two swords and their familiar placement were identical to what everyone remembered. Perhaps the third sword was simply far too soaked in blood at the moment and had been taken away to be washed or something like that.

Behind Marlik, all the massive vessels that had already emerged began opening one after another, their doors spreading apart as everyone who was able to disembark started coming out from within them...

"...." Faced with the enormous scene currently spread out before his eyes, Marlik remained silent for a moment before his brows furrowed slightly. "Something is wrong."

"That’s right." Renara nodded calmly, as though the answer should have been obvious from the beginning. "It’s your presence here."

"Shhh—" Marlik immediately gestured for Renara to be quiet, cutting off the exchange before turning his attention back to the enormous army spread out before him. "There are supposed to be 1,500 fleets here. Where did the other 1,500 come from? That clown Kiryan and that beast Zavaros are here too."

Marlik then turned toward a particular vessel whose passengers had already begun disembarking, directing his question toward those emerging from it. "Didn’t you close the Major Space Gates to them or what?"

"They’re closed." One of Antares’s sons answered in a deep voice. "Secondly, even if they had somehow been opened sometime during the past three years, that still wouldn’t explain how all those additional fleets managed to cross over!"

Bam Marlik suddenly slapped the Dominator across the back of the head and shouted at him, "I’m the only one allowed to be sarcastic here!!"

Then, as though that brief interruption had settled the matter, he turned his attention back toward Renara and asked directly, "How exactly did you gather this army?"

"....." Renara merely smiled at the question, then slowly ran her hand across her mouth, using the simple gesture to indicate that it was completely sealed and that she had no intention of answering him.

"Oh, everyone’s in the mood for jokes today?" Marlik placed his left hand on the sheath of the upper sword resting at his waist and began walking forward slowly. "Then I’ll wipe those smiles off your faces first, and ask my questions afterward."

Whoosh Whoosh

At that moment, several vessels suddenly approached from both the right and left sides of the Horde Army, and as soon as they arrived, dozens upon dozens of Dominators and powerful Royal Soul Masters began descending from them one after another, continuing until the number of those who had appeared reached nearly 200.

One of those newcomers then stepped forward and greeted Marlik respectfully. "Your Excellency the Butcher, we have been chosen to follow you from this moment onward."

"...." Marlik said nothing at first, merely directing his gaze toward that person and slowly looking him up and down.

They were the 200 Dominators Qarun had sent.

Because he did not trust them, he had assigned them the task of traveling to Mid Sector 90 ahead of the others through the Major Space Gate and preparing the battlefield for them before the rest of the force arrived.

Marlik gestured with his head toward Renara and the enormous force gathered behind her. "What a fine job you’ve done preparing the battlefield." Then his eyes swept across all the newcomers standing before him, taking in their numbers before returning to the obvious comparison. "Their numbers have doubled and they’re all in excellent condition, while you’re six people short!"

"...." The representative of the Council of Thrones’ support force clearly felt deeply insulted by those words, but he nevertheless maintained his manners in front of Marlik and answered respectfully, "We destroyed many facilities and fortifications, as well as several fleets, but unfortunately, five of us fell at the hands of the Emperor Killer, while the last fell into an ambush prepared by Temporal Arkail, and then today arrived." He then stared firmly into Marlik’s eyes as he continued, "His Excellency the Lord of Thrones did not send any of the Twelve Thrones with us so that we could follow you and avoid dividing the command, and that is precisely why we were placed in this situation. Had we not been sent here alone, six of our brothers would not have been killed."

"...." Marlik stared at the speaker with intense bewilderment after hearing that explanation, then turned toward one of the Syndicate members beside him and asked, "Is that whore actually making excuses for his failure when he has 200 Dominators under him while the enemy only has 140 in total?"

The Syndicate Dominator simply raised his shoulders in a casual shrug while laughing at the situation. "What do you expect from the Dandy’s followers?"

"......?!" The Dominators of the Star Academies immediately felt deeply insulted, their eyes widening to their limits as they stared at the two men in sheer disbelief, shocked both by the words themselves and by the blatant mockery being directed at them without the slightest attempt to conceal it.

Marlik then turned his attention away from them and looked toward Renara once again. "All those people behind you... they came through Spacetime Gates, didn’t they?"

"...." Renara raised her head slightly as she looked back at him. "You know a lot."

"We know he uses Spacetime, and we know he can create permanent gates. He established them in the heart of Zavaros’s Galaxy, Kiryan’s Galaxy, and even Donara itself... We simply don’t know his limits yet." As he spoke, Marlik began looking around him once more, his gaze sweeping across all those forces that had gathered here from throughout the different sectors where Robin had set foot.

"Heh." Renara smiled faintly at those words. "No one knows his limits."

"....." Marlik frowned deeply upon hearing that answer, clearly dissatisfied with what little information it gave him, before asking, "Where is Hedrick? If all of these rabble are here, then he’s somewhere here too. Bring him out."

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