Chapter 2503: Break-3

Mid Sector 500—Dream Galaxy

Crack Crack

Gulp Lord Morval raised both hands and placed them over his head almost instinctively, his pupils darting around wildly as he struggled to keep track of the terrifying changes occurring around him. Even someone like him, someone who had already crossed the barrier of the Purple Stars, couldn’t keep himself composed in the face of what was happening.

No one could possibly remain composed while feeling inevitable death staring directly at them, looming so closely that there seemed to be no path of escape from it, not even someone like him.

The sounds of cracking traveled through the vastness of space and struck every chest like invisible blows, spreading the same suffocating sense of impending death wherever they reached. It didn’t matter whether you were an ordinary mortal or someone who could draw power directly from the Purple Sea, it didn’t matter at all; before such excessive power, power capable of crushing all living beings beneath its overwhelming might… the feeling of death was the same.

Clamor Clamor

Morval felt time passing unbearably slowly as he heard the footsteps of his brothers and followers running madly in every direction around him. No one knew where they were going, what destination could possibly save them, or even what they could actually do under such circumstances; the instinct to leap out of a burning house had simply seized them all at once, driving their bodies to move even when their minds had no idea where to go.

He himself gradually began closing his eyes as well… The convulsions running through the Spacetime fabric had already become far too violent and uncontrollable for anyone present to do anything meaningful about them.

Escape? If only it were that simple. He possessed no means whatsoever of breaking through the shell, and even if he somehow forced his way through and managed to break it by sheer force, he still had no means of crossing the Desert of Nothingness without either being killed by an Executioner somewhere along the way or becoming hopelessly lost within that endless emptiness forever.

If dying there or dying here ultimately amounted to exactly the same thing… then he might as well remain where he was and die here.

"…." Morval slowly opened his eyes again and muttered under his breath, having apparently made his decision, "If death is the same either way… then let’s transmit the truth to everyone until our final breath."

Then he suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Is the broadcast still working?"

"Huh?!" One of his dazed brothers replied with a stammer, clearly having needed a moment just to process the question amid everything happening around them. "Y- Yes, the convulsions are affecting the broadcast a little, but it’s still working across the Sectors."

"Good, show me the broadcasts of the other Shadow Swords, quickly!!" Morval shouted without wasting another moment.

"…?!" His brother was confused by the sudden order for a fraction of a second before immediately obeying, bringing up and displaying the broadcasts of the others.

"…..!" Morval’s eyes opened to their widest the instant he saw them, and after staring for only a brief moment, he quickly pointed forward. "Split the broadcast so the Breaker is in the center, with the broadcasts of the other Shadow Swords surrounding him. Quickly, there are only a few seconds left!!"

"Understood!!"

——————–

Mid Sector 148—Greed Behemoth Galaxy

Craaaaaack

Poof The Greed Behemoth was violently thrown from his throne and fell to the ground, his heart pounding inside his chest like a massive hammer striking again and again. His soul might have been as powerful as that of a ten-star Soul Master, but even with such tremendous soul force, his entire body couldn’t withstand those successive shocks relentlessly striking his galaxy!

"What’s happening? What’s happening?!" Isaac, the Greed Behemoth, rolled around helplessly on the ground beneath the repeated disturbances until he finally managed to steady himself enough to rise back onto his knees, while sheer terror completely overwhelmed the Behemoth.

He had no idea what was truly happening around him. He had only become a Behemoth four million years ago, which was an extremely short period compared to the age of those ancient structures; he had been born with those buffer zones already in existence, surrounding the Sectors as though they were an inseparable part of the universe itself, and he had only ever heard anything about their origins through the old archives he had borrowed from Amat, the Conservation Behemoth.

Those buffer zones could actually be broken? Something that had existed since long before his birth could simply be shattered? And they were going to be broken by a young man whose thousandth birthday was today? And even if Robin Burton truly possessed the ability to do such a thing, would those buffer zones actually be broken as he intended, or would he end up breaking the entire universe along with them?

And who had sealed them in the first place, and why had they done it? What exactly were the origins of the Great Powers, and who were their patrons, those enemies of the Seer whose existence had now become impossible to ignore?

Who are we, and who are they?!

"Aaaaaaah!!!" Isaac screamed with all his strength as the questions piled upon one another inside his head, his mind no longer able to withstand the crushing pressure of everything he had learned and everything currently unfolding before his eyes.

Krssh—

At that moment, the image at the edge of his vision suddenly changed, drawing his attention despite his panic. The broadcast itself had changed…

The mad young man was still there in the center of the broadcast, continuously pouring a seemingly endless sea of gold into space, but the images surrounding him had changed into something entirely different.

Images of other places began appearing around him… images showing several different buffer-zone walls scattered across the universe.

Theo had told everyone to improvise according to what was happening, and that was exactly what they did. All the Shadow Swords immediately began working to support what their Supreme Commander was doing by broadcasting any visible signs related to what was currently happening to the buffer zones, especially those who had already been filming in Mid Sector 90 and therefore had their equipment focused directly upon the unfolding event.

Now everyone, every living being watching the broadcast, was staring at a crack that seemed to stretch from the highest heavens all the way down to the lowest hell, an enormous fissure so vast that neither its beginning nor its end could be seen, continuously spewing forth tremendous quantities of galactic storms and colossal cosmic winds. The immense force pouring from that endless fissure was overturning Phantom Shadow vessels and nearby planets alike, violently hurling them away as though they were nothing more than weightless leaves caught before a raging hurricane.

"No…" Isaac, the Greed Behemoth, finally began to understand what was happening as he stared at those terrifying images.

He might not know the exact details of what was happening inside the buffer zone, nor did he understand how such an enormous region had been isolated and sealed in this manner in the first place, but there was one thing he understood perfectly well… If this enormous fissure continued expanding and releasing what was trapped within it like this, then it would—

Craaaaaaack

Isaac’s eyes opened to their absolute widest at the deafening sound, and his jaw dropped toward the ground as whatever thought had been forming in his mind immediately vanished.

At that moment, the enormous crack spread outward in every direction at a terrifying speed, branching and extending farther and farther while the newly formed fissures expanded enormously within mere fractions of a second.

The nebulae, solar winds, and all the other cosmic phenomena surging through those openings suddenly struck with even greater and more horrifying force than before, their intensity rising together with the rapidly expanding fissures.

"Nooooooooooooo!!!!!" Isaac raised both hands instinctively and covered himself as best he could, abandoning every other thought as he prepared himself for the death he believed was about to arrive.

But—

Oooooooom—

"….Huh?" Isaac cautiously opened one eye, unable to understand why the end he had been expecting hadn’t arrived, and took a careful look at the sudden, unnatural calm surrounding everything.

At that moment, the violent vibrations abruptly ceased and an almost dangerous stillness descended upon the surroundings. Those gigantic fissures had stopped spewing out any more cosmic matter, while the terrifying disturbances that had accompanied their expansion had also completely come to a halt.

But in exchange for that sudden stillness, the light being produced by those enormous fissures continued to intensify, growing brighter and brighter as it began accumulating to an increasingly dangerous degree.

The fissures were now emitting such tremendous quantities of light and heat that they resembled millions upon millions of stars simultaneously reaching the verge of exploding.

And to Isaac, that terrifying sight could only mean one thing…

"Kh— Nooooooooooooo—!" Isaac continued screaming at the top of his lungs as he waited helplessly for the colossal explosion that he believed would turn the entire universe into a mass of molten matter. "I curse you, Robin Burton! Even after I die, I’ll turn into a ghost and hunt down your ghost for all eternity! I will—"

Krsssh—

Isaac suddenly saw something that made his final scream stop in his throat before he could finish what he was saying…

The colossal wall had shattered completely under the immense pressure bearing down upon it, its enormous structure breaking apart and transforming into countless fragments of light, luminous pieces that immediately began losing their brilliance, rapidly dimming and fading away like falling leaves drifting toward the ground.

Until every last one of those luminous fragments disappeared completely from sight.

And what came from behind them after their disappearance was a wonder in itself, something entirely different from the destruction Isaac had been expecting…

Whooosh~

A calm wave, gentle and steady like the rising tide of the sea, swept across every Sector.