Chapter 2508: The Final Show

He was… dying?

Arkail, his eyes opened to their absolute limits in shock, immediately tried to slow time around himself and desperately search for any possible way out of the situation before the blade could finish passing through his body.

But nothing he tried worked on Marlik or his sword, which continued slicing through Arkail’s body with astonishing smoothness, moving forward as though his attempts to interfere with time had no effect on it whatsoever.

Arkail opened his mouth as brilliant light began pouring out from within his body. In a fraction of a second, he prepared himself to detonate the center where his energy was gathered before the strike could reach it, determined to take Marlik down with him if his death had truly become unavoidable.

But—

At that exact moment, a beautiful leg suddenly swept past beside him, crossing his field of vision before he could complete what he had been preparing to do.

Then BAAAAAAAAAAM

The sole of that foot planted itself squarely against Marlik’s face with tremendous force and sent him flying violently backward. "Ugh!"

Baf Renara landed directly beside Arkail immediately afterward and gave him a quick sideways glance, her attention shifting briefly toward his terrible wound. "…Can you move with injury, or do you need help?"

"…." Arkail dropped heavily onto one knee, his body cut open from his shoulder all the way to the middle of his chest. Even so, he managed to nod toward Renara with obvious gratitude for what she had just done. "I’ll leave."

Then he forced himself back onto his feet, took a single step backward, and disappeared from the area.

As for Renara, she immediately turned her attention back toward a certain direction, raising her head as she looked ahead. "I knew a vile person like you wouldn’t simply accept reality and would try to reignite the battle after it had already died down."

Bang Marlik emerged from among the shattered rocks, his face filled with resentment and intense bloodlust as he looked directly toward Renara. "Nothing has changed, and nothing has died down. The war continues exactly as it was."

Marlik drew his other sword and began advancing steadily toward Renara, his hostile gaze never leaving her. "This war began in the first place to restrain your shameless master and that cheating master above him, and that hasn’t changed in the slightest. That disgusting performance just now only proves the reasons this war began and strengthens them even further."

"That’s what you say." Renara calmly folded her arms as she watched him approach. "But your followers don’t seem to see what you see."

Then she raised one hand and pointed in a certain direction without changing her calm expression. "You’ll need more than attacking by yourself if you want to reignite the fighting."

"..?" Marlik turned his gaze and glanced in the direction she was pointing, and the moment he saw what was happening there, his fury immediately intensified as he roared with enough force for his voice to echo through space and reach every ear, "Rabble! Fools who can see no farther than beneath their own feet!!"

All of Antares’s children had already withdrawn together in one movement, leaving the battlefield behind without hesitation. They weren’t even standing somewhere at a distance to continue watching what happened next.

The Dominators of the Council of Thrones had completely evacuated the area as well. They hadn’t retreated toward any particular location or maintained some predetermined distance from the battlefield; each one of them had simply gone their own way, which clearly indicated that they hadn’t received any unified instructions telling them where to go.

Asteron had already gathered together with his enormous army, and his forces were currently preparing themselves to withdraw from the battlefield as well.

As for the various powers that had sent Dominators or fleets in order to support the Syndicate or Asteron during this war, they too had begun gathering their scattered forces together and preparing to retreat.

No one remained in place prepared to continue fighting except the Syndicate’s own Dominators and their followers among the Nexus States and World Cataclysms. Not a single warship anywhere around them remained in a state that suggested it was still prepared to continue the war.

The massive army that had originally come here intending to overrun the Sector had completely fallen apart before their eyes, and those who still remained on the Syndicate’s side were no longer capable of holding out in an actual battle for even a few minutes.

"If I were you, I’d go teach them a lesson." Renara pointed toward the retreating forces with a faint smile on her face, clearly directing Marlik’s attention toward all those who were abandoning the battlefield.

"….." Marlik raised his head slightly as he stared at her, and his gaze toward Renara became even more hostile than before. "No one who tried to mock me has ever lived… It has never happened."

Renara was clearly setting a trap for him.

All those forces were retreating because they were still overwhelmed by the shock and fear brought about by everything that had just happened. Instead of continuing to place blind trust in the overwhelming strength of the Syndicate and the Archon as they had done until now, they had suddenly found themselves forced to stop and think very carefully before making any further move against Lord Breaker.

If Marlik attacked them while they were still in that confused and uncertain state, however, there would be no shock or hesitation left afterward. All those powers would immediately be forced to make their decision, switch their allegiance on the spot, and turn around to attack the Syndicate’s forces instead of simply continuing their retreat from the battlefield.

So with those few words, Renara was either deliberately setting a trap for him and waiting for him to step into it, insulting his intelligence by assuming he wouldn’t understand what she was trying to accomplish, or simply rubbing salt into the wound while watching him struggle with the situation.

"Get used to it." Renara gently folded her arms as she looked at him. "This universe has new masters now. The Syndicate’s era is over."

"Your ignorant master used power that wasn’t his and said a couple of words far too big for him, and now you think that’s somehow become the new law?" Marlik nodded several times in obvious fury, suppressing the anger burning inside him. "Fine… Today belongs to you, but tell your master that the Syndicate’s flesh is bitter!"

Then he turned around without saying anything further, clearly preparing to leave the battlefield.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Renara summoned a new spear with a sharp Znnn, then immediately accelerated toward Marlik before he could get away. "Everyone else is allowed to leave. The Syndicate isn’t."

"What?!" Marlik spun around quickly to face her again, complete incomprehension covering his face as he stared at her.

He had given that girl a chance to live and walk away from this battle, yet instead of taking that opportunity while she still could, she was actually refusing it?

But his eyes immediately opened to their absolute limits as something else happened before he could dwell on that thought any longer.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

A massive explosion carrying an enormous wind of Destruction struck one of the nearby planets with overwhelming force and completely erased it.

Thousands of World Cataclysms and Nexus States belonging to the Syndicate had been standing on that very planet while following the broadcast!

"HEDRICK!!!!" Marlik screamed with all his strength, his voice exploding outward as he immediately realized what had happened.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The Nota fleets and their followers all rose and resumed their attacks at that very moment, unleashing their power once again upon the remaining enemy forces. This time, however, what followed could no longer truly be called a battle; it had become a one-sided bombardment.

Zavaros, Kiryan, Gravor, Kaylis, along with the wounded Arkail and their children, all began closing in around the Syndicate’s Dominators from every direction, with Hedrick standing at the forefront as he began destroying the space surrounding them and preventing any attempt to escape from the encirclement.

"Damn you all!!" Marlik shouted with obvious fury and alarm as he watched the situation suddenly reverse around him, then stomped against the ground with enough force to launch himself toward the battle and join the others.

But Bam, before he could reach them, a powerful strike from Renara’s spear slammed into him and sent him crashing straight back down to the ground.

Then she laughed as she looked down at him. "Haha, all your helpers sold you out, Marlik." She descended toward him with her spear still in hand. "Even if you somehow manage to leave this place today, everyone from the Syndicate who came here with you will remain here forever."

Then she revealed a smile perfectly worthy of her title as the Emperor Killer, raising all nine of her tails behind her as each one displayed a star of a different color. "You should’ve simply left with your tail between your legs like an obedient dog instead of putting on one final show of strength to convince your allies that you still have value, that you’re still capable of contending with Lord Breaker’s forces, and that you were the one who chose to retreat of your own free will… That move is going to cost you dearly."

BOOOOOOOOM

Hedrick blew up another planet along with everyone on it, completely destroying it before the trapped Syndicate forces could escape.

And Renara attacked downward with her nine stars.