Chapter 2509: The guava does not fall far from the tree

Somewhere on the surface of a planet in Mid Sector 90—

Creeeak A massive mothership descended and landed heavily on the planet’s surface, its unmistakable design, exterior details, and the markings covering its hull clearly confirming that it was one of the warships that had come here specifically to support the Syndicate!

The vessel was riddled with holes across its exterior, while the inside was dented and battered in several different places, making the damage it had suffered during the recent fighting obvious at a glance.

Krssh— The door slowly opened with a series of harsh grinding creaks, its movement far from smooth, making it perfectly clear that even this part of the vessel had suffered considerable damage.

A man with soft white hair began descending the stairs, wearing a strange and somewhat complicated smile on his face, one that combined obvious embarrassment with a small but unmistakable hint of pride.

When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs and placed one foot firmly on the ground, he calmly turned around toward the vessel behind him, smiled, and said, "Ummm," before raising his hand and awkwardly waving toward those inside. "Thanks for the ride, guys."

Inside the vessel stood dozens of people whose skin ranged between shades of red and brown, all of them possessing noses that immediately reminded anyone who saw them of squid-like creatures… Those people responded to Richard’s awkward wave by bowing toward him together. "Thank you for sparing us, Lord Richard."

Then their commander slowly raised his head and looked toward him. "Would you like us to stay together for a little while?"

Their commander had a huge bruise surrounding one of his eyes, half his nose was destroyed, and his armor was in such a miserable state that it was difficult to ignore. In truth, however, nearly everyone standing around him looked roughly the same, with the traces of what they had recently gone through clearly visible on them.

Seeing all of them standing there in that condition only made the embarrassment visible on Richard’s face grow even more pronounced.

Richard had grown accustomed to destroying enemy vessels from the inside and crushing anyone who stood in his way as he forced his way forward until he finally reached the engine room. Somehow, however, aboard every vessel he destroyed, the officers always seemed to know exactly who he was—Robin Burton’s son—and the moment they recognized his identity, they would attack him with everything they had, even calling for support from nearby World Cataclysms and Nexus States in an attempt to capture him, causing every battle to escalate further and become increasingly troublesome.

Even during his latest mission, right in the middle of a massive brawl taking place aboard this very vessel, while the fighting was raging around him and everyone was shouting for them to capture Richard, the son of the Great Devil, the broadcast suddenly began.

It didn’t matter whether someone admired Robin Burton, maintained a neutral position toward him, or regarded him as a sworn enemy… The moment the broadcast started, everyone seemed to take an involuntary break from whatever they had been doing and found themselves listening despite themselves, even though the discussion at the beginning was merely about something as ordinary as a birthday cake.

Things were no different inside this vessel… As soon as the broadcast began, the atmosphere gradually calmed down and the General withdrew from the confrontation. Then the remaining officers began easing their attacks as well, diverting part of their senses toward following what was happening in the broadcast, until eventually they went as far as offering Richard a temporary truce that would last until the broadcast came to an end.

Then the people who had been trying to capture one another only moments earlier actually sat down and watched the broadcast together.

One of them even turned toward Richard at some point and asked whether his father was really only a thousand years old, while another person went so far as to congratulate him.

The broadcast was filled with breathtaking moments and enormous secrets that none of them could simply ignore, and every time something new was revealed, everyone around Richard would instinctively turn their eyes toward him as though waiting to see his reaction to what they had just heard… The entire situation was extremely awkward for him.

That became especially true when the part about destroying the buffer zones arrived, and the entire vessel suddenly began swaying and jolting violently up and down while everyone inside became convinced that they were about to die. At that point, the eyes they directed toward Richard became filled with open pleading as they shouted at him to ask for forgiveness and somehow save them from what was happening.

And he actually did save them, in a way… Richard assured them that his father wouldn’t make a lethal move like they believed, explaining that his own children were outside and exposed to the same danger, so they simply needed to do whatever they had to do in order to survive. Then he began actively helping them keep the vessel stable and avoid the celestial bodies and other ships around them, while at the same time using the power of the Law of Anti-Matter to protect the vessel from the outside!!

When the situation finally stabilized and Richard himself had been pushed all the way to the point of exhaustion, leaving him in a state that should have presented them with the perfect opportunity to suddenly pounce on him… everyone aboard the vessel merely looked toward him with sweat covering them and fear plainly visible in their expressions.

Robin Burton had just broken the barriers of the universe in a fit of anger because he thought his children doubted his strength… What exactly would happen if they actually imprisoned one of those children?

The General’s seat, an iced drink, and massages for his legs and shoulders—that was what Richard ended up receiving while he waited until he finally managed to contact someone who could come and pick him up from the vessel, and in the end, he was even allowed to choose the landing spot himself.

"Don’t worry, guys, everything’s fine now. You can go." Richard waved his right hand several times toward them in reassurance, trying to make it clear that there was no reason for them to remain there any longer. "Stay safe, and let’s not fight each other again, alright?"

"Never!" The Admiral immediately bowed twice in succession, then closed the damaged gate behind him and hurriedly dragged his battered vessel away, fleeing the planet as quickly as the condition of the mothership allowed.

But what Richard didn’t know was that the Admiral hadn’t actually managed to gather enough courage to truly leave the area. Instead, he remained within the planet’s atmosphere for several more minutes, unwilling to go too far because he was afraid that someone else might suddenly target the young man down on the planet and unknowingly do something that would cause the destruction of the universe…

"Heh~" Richard scratched his head as he watched the vessel depart, the strange events that had unfolded aboard it still fresh in his mind. "What a dramatic battle."

Whoosh At that moment, a shadow suddenly came speeding down from above, rushing directly toward him, and Baf, it threw itself straight into Richard’s arms without slowing down. "Are you alright?"

"Mhm, better than I was when the war started, as you can see." Richard chuckled lightly as he wrapped his arms around Sirene and pulled her closer against him for a moment, then loosened his hands and looked at her face with a smile. "Are you alright?"

"Forget about me!" Sirene immediately took an annoyed step backward and stared at him. "Didn’t I tell you to stop those suicidal operations? You made me go around chasing after the Shadow Swords, trying to guess which vessel you’d landed in while searching everywhere for you!"

"What suicidal operations? Haha." Richard thumped his chest as though there was nothing wrong with what he had been doing. "I’ve accumulated an amount of energy I’ve never possessed before, and if it were up to me, I’d actually keep fighting." Then he shifted his gaze away and looked into the distance. "But after that crazy move, I doubt another shot will be fired."

His father had always been heavy-handed and crude in his decisions. Whenever he felt even the slightest provocation or sensed that something had touched his pride, he would ram straight into whatever happened to be standing in front of him regardless of what it was, completely forgetting in those moments that he was supposed to be a researcher…

Richard smiled at that thought… Well, in the end, that very pride was the reason behind his current status, not merely his research. If research alone were enough to explain everything, then countless geniuses had already existed before him.

It was that unique combination of qualities that had ultimately given birth to the person who broke the restraints of the universe.

"As far as the war is concerned, you don’t need to worry about that. Lady Renara and Lord Hedrick are leading a massacre against the Syndicate’s forces at this very moment, but…" Sirene gave him an awkward smile as she reached the important part. "It’s a battle in space against World Cataclysms and above."

"Hey!" Richard immediately pretended to be angry at the implication behind her words. "As soon as Nihari is upgraded, I’ll become a World Cataclysm too, and then you’ll see the Integrated Law of Anti-Matter at the height of its power. There are only sixty-two years left anyway—they’ll pass in the blink of an eye!"

"The blink of an eye? After what happened today, every single hour that passes will feel like an entire century!" Sirene placed both hands on her slender waist as she answered him. "Second, why don’t you become a one- or two-star Soul Master and contribute to the fighting if that’s what you want so badly? The Sacred Covenant Academy is producing Royal Soul Masters in droves over there!" Sirene quickly shot back in her own defense.

"No, thanks. I’d still rather be the strongest General on the ground than become one of the Soldiers in the sky." Richard waved his hand dismissively, clearly having no intention of changing his mind.

Sirene sighed at his answer and turned her gaze away. "…Your father’s son indeed."