"What a lucky son of a bitch,"
In an expanse of space illuminated by soft white light, Zahara withdrew from her offensive stance and bit her lip with a dissatisfied expression.
"Looks like you can't even beat a rank 7." Miss Calamity snorted with disdain.
Zahara took a deep breath and glared at the haughty veiled woman. "Standing against the Princess, you're playing with fire."
"Am I?" Miss Calamity covered her mouth and let out an elegant chuckle commonly found among noble ladies. "Or maybe your Princess should stop being such a doormat. My senior sister whipped her clone when she wasn't even a pseudo divine."
"…you're welcome to say that in front of the Princess." Zahara replied.
Miss Calamity narrowed her eyes.
The messages from her clone who went inside the strange world were limited. It seemed like there was a 'censor' stopping any sensitive information.
But one thing was obvious.
'That place has something to let me hit the divine ranks.'
"I will face her sooner or later, she better be prepared then." Miss Calamity smiled with confidence.
"Tsk." Zahara gazed into the distance and clicked her tongue.
Boom!
A huge tsunami of vitality locked Zahara. But the woman only snorted and dissolved into the space-time fabric.
"You can save him now. You can't save him forever. The Warring faction is watching. Always."
Miss Calamity's brows furrowed and she gnashed her teeth.
A moment later, three powerful auras descended, materializing in the form of humanoids.
"It's an attack from Zahara Onyx under Eshala Starlight." Miss Calamity started reporting. "There is a mole inside the Pala kingdom that failed their security system and let a ninth ranker in."
The silhouttes, beings formed of pure aura, looked at each other, communicating in ways the veiled lady couldn't comprehend. Their faces had no features and it was hard to tell what they were feeling.
'A clone of peak rank 9. Yet, its strength breaches the strength of peak rank 9. Without the divine rankers, a bunch of these old kings and queens can overrun the entire Empire.'
Turning to her, one of them said.
"An investigation will be launched, though the chances of finding the culprit is unlikely."
The lady nodded. "I would like to request for more border security at the Pala boundary."
"Transgressions like these are intended for very specific purposes. Which, Miss Calamity, you are yet to reveal."
"…They are after Princess Isadora." Miss Calamity lied with a straight expression. "She was turning the world into a Prime World. They wanted to attack her in the moment of weakness."
"We need to verify. Where is the Princess?" They pressed.
"I do not know. She's gone."
"…Then where is the Prime World."
"Gone."
"Lying in investigation is a serious crime. Please cooperate."
"Coercing a future divine ranker is a bad decision. Please behave." Miss Calamity shrugged.
"…"
"I have nothing to gain from lying. You can check the traces of the Prime World and decide for yourself." Miss Calamity pointed to the empty space.
The powerhouses scanned carefully and looked at each other in disbelief.
"Perfect…"
"Such a perfect prime world…"
"A single aura responsible for everything…Isadora…what a monster."
Gasps of admiration and disbelief were the only response they could give.
Miss Calamity pursed her lips. She had just learned that this was the work of her brother-in-law.
"We'll take an investig—"
Miss Calamity and the three powerhouses all turned to one direction instinctively.
Their perception passed distances spanning entire duchies and reached the border area of the Alliance.
Pala border, Genesis Empire.
There were dozens and dozens of star systems, meticulously arranged to serve as the frontine of defense.
Troops, starting from rank 6 and going all the way to rank 9 were stationed in clever positions to tackle any problems.
A huge rainbowy curtain spanned across the entire boundary, reminiscent of aurora bueralis.
This was at the very edge of the milkway.
The nearby satellite galaxy was occupied by Jai Empire since a long time and was used as a launch pad.
Patrol units would patrol along the border without fail, ever alert.
The outposts of the Alliance were between this huge rainbow curtain and the satellite galaxy.
They'd inform the local base of any suspicious movements and depending on the severity of the issue, patrol units would be dispatched.
It's a standard protocol, one expected from a normal army on a normal planet.
Everything was going well so far.
The troops were training hard in prime worlds dedicated to the purpose and were trying to progress even a little further today.
The think tanks were analyzing the latest reports and working on the existing tactics.
The leaders were holding meetings, discussing the existing strategies and room for improvements.
The typical soldier stationed here, a rank 6—a powerhouse anywhere in the kingdom, was spending another day of mundanity.
Even though it might already be several centuries since his posting, he would continue to wish for such mundanity.
A life filled with training, rest, more training. It was a monotonous life.
Yet, no soldier here wished otherwise.
Because the alternative to this monotony was utter chaos and uncontrollable danger.
The small skirmishes that happen reguarly could easily kill a thousand of them and no one would bat an eye. They knew it because they did the same when people like them died.
Heck, even the death of rank 8s wasn't a big deal.
For people living a life like that, today seemed another fine day.
There were no skirmishes recently and the Empire's forces seemed to be withdrawing back, perhaps due to some internal troubles.
But then it happened.
Kaaa! Kaa! Kaa!
They thought it was the ground at first. After all, the first thing they observed was the objects in the soldier dorms shaking.
A small earthquake, it seemed.
But then the rooms themselves started shaking.
A large earthquake, maybe.
Soon, the planet. A moment later, the planets. Before anyone could act, the entire star systems began to shake.
"Oh shit."
Only then did it strike them.
It wasn't about the items or room or the planet...space itself was shaking.
Boom!
A red light blasted through the defensive curtain without warning and the armed forces under the 7th Prince breached into the Alliance.
(A/N: Volume Ends)
