Time passed.
Was it proper to say such a thing?
No, it wasn't.
It had been roughly 10 months, which was an extremely short amount of time. Even for mortals, it could pass in but an instant.
Yet, far too much happened for it to be glossed over as just "some time passing."
The Nox stopped targeting the opposing armies with as much vigor and instead targeted worlds themselves.
Their movements became confusing.
It was hard to predict where and when they'd attack already, but it became even worse during this period.
As previously mentioned, the Beast Domain didn't have the forces to spread a net through their Sector that could remain active at all times. They could, at most, crush the enemy once they showed themselves.
They'd mostly been relying on Heaven's Army's support to gain information and strike fast enough to make an impact, but how could they do so properly anymore?
Elyssa Bloodlock was tasked to stay in the Beast Domain after her original task, and in this time, she'd lured a large portion of the army's generals to her side.
With information under her control, while it still reached the places it was supposed to, it was massively delayed.
Who was going to call her out?
There wasn't a single person with the ability and desire to stand on the side of justice and make a difference.
The situation deteriorated by the day.
Worlds would disappear without notice. Experts were sent to confirm, but it soon became clear that this case was different from the Giant Domain's tragedy.
This destruction was merely a matter of slow information flow.
The Nox were able to completely destroy worlds and plunder their World Cores before news of their movement reached anyone!
With months passing in a flash and wars raging all around, worlds kept vanishing from Grand Heavens Boundary, and their absence became the only way to track the war situation.
After all, in places where the universe's armies were doing their jobs as they should have, the war was quite even.
Both sides lost millions, but in terms of higher experts, the universe still came out on top.
New technologies were developed along with new strategies. Many research projects that had remained hidden thus far were brought into the light as their results came out and showed success.
One of such was a device that could temporarily lock a Higher Nox's connection to their Demonic Providence.
Those Nox who weren't given a chance to activate their greatest trump cards could only fall to their foes, and as the death toll stacked up, the universe's ferocity became clear.
Unfortunately, as if the war itself was a macrocosm of the Beast Domain's circumstances, these positive results concentrated in small areas didn't have much impact on the grand scheme of things.
Regardless of their success, the universe was still crumbling.
It was actually mind-numbing how much Heaven's Army broke down in a short period of time.
There was no way to understand the thoughts of traitors.
Well, perhaps even they didn't understand their own thoughts.
Obviously, in a situation where one turned traitor, there wasn't much thought involved, but it was impossible to stay naive for an eternity afterward.
Any rational person would've been able to understand the mistakes in their reasoning and regret.
However, rationality was absent from their minds.
For average traitors without enough status to be named, the Nox lineage forced into their bodies would corrupt their reasoning and make it impossible for them to have such thoughts.
And for those at higher levels…
At least 60% of them were being controlled as puppets. They didn't have such things as free will and choice.
And the other 40%…well, they also lacked the ability to think things through.
Not due to any fault of their own, but because they were subtly guided along such a path.
"What a fool."
The Karmic Emperor watched Immortal Blood Asura's back as he left.
Their conversations had been plenty in this time, and their movements towards the corruption of the universe were progressing more than properly.
What was the reason he said he turned traitor again?
"Ah, yes. Strength."
A man who only cared for himself. Such a man was easiest to control.
One might think these people were harder to rein in since they had no attachments keeping them in line, but for the Karmic Emperor, such limitations didn't exist.
If a man had family, the Karmic Emperor would make that man turn against them and slaughter them with his own hands.
It was harder to control those with strong emotions towards a cause or entity. These people were able to resist his coercion even if they were pure mortals, solely because of the depth of their feelings.
It was quite the esoteric concept to others, but emotions were the Karmic Emperor's specialty. He gained his title from toying with them until he gained full control over their output.
Immortal Blood Asura was a man who lacked emotions.
He was an empty slate.
In usual cases, drawing on this slate would be noticed and stopped immediately, but the usually heartless man had been spiking in emotion recently.
Those who ruined his good things, those who stood up to his power, these people became ever more prominent, and with their continued existence that he couldn't cull, Immortal Blood Asura lost control over his emotions.
It wasn't a constant thing, but it happened often enough for the Karmic Emperor to find an opening.
That man thought he was acting on his own free will. He thought he joined the winning side so he could become even more powerful than before.
The Karmic Emperor didn't doubt that even the completely rational Immortal Blood Asura would have eventually turned Nox. If it meant he could succeed, he'd willingly change his race and even the nature of his soul.
"Hahaha, there has not been a human who could entertain me like this in a very long time."
People often called the Inhuman Emperor the cruelest of the Nox Emperors, but that was merely because he was most forward with it.
Not one of them was sane.
The Karmic Emperor loved playing with people. He loved turning people against their original intentions and seeing their reactions when they realized what they'd done.
For Immortal Blood Asura, his plans didn't end so simply.
No, a man like that would explode when he was broken.
And the Karmic Emperor wanted to make that explosion as big and beautiful as possible.
He smiled to himself.
There only remained one living world in the Beast Domain.
The Fate Star was difficult to destroy so easily.
However, it would only be a matter of time.
'Will the Lord be pleased when we show him our success?'
The Karmic Emperor wondered about a higher being.
The only being he ever revered, and the only being he would never be able to control.
Not only the Fate Star, but the entire universe, it was only a matter of time before it fell.
The Beast Domain was no longer his main focus. It would be destroyed by those under him soon enough.
His focus shifted elsewhere.
The domain that once caused the Nox a severe amount of problems, the one that naturally repelled their presence…
"It is about time to start pushing the domain of Spirits."
The final periphery domain. Once it fell, there was nothing saving the remaining universe from their advent.
Its destruction would give the Nox an absolute advantage.
He couldn't wait to see.
Just how would those foolish beings act when they finally accepted hopelessness?
