Chapter 532: Ch

"Wh-what are you saying, Duke of Darkness...?" Ben Lark of the Lark Corporation stammered nearby, his face utterly drained of blood as he spoke in disbelief.

"What am I saying? I am saying what needs to be said, Mr. Lark!"

Declaring that, the Archduke of Darkness shifted his gaze toward the Star Emperor, whose face had flushed a furious red—though whether from embarrassment or rage at being denounced by his own supporters remained unclear.

Ignoring the Emperor's darkening expression, the Archduke pointed an accusing finger directly at him. "How could you forget this, Emperor? How could you?! An event like this—every tenth cycle—is not something our Empire can counter on its own! Every single time, it is only through the joint armadas of multiple Tier 3 Orders and super-states that we manage to successfully defend against this calamity! And every time this happens, the—"

"Every time an Outer Realm erupts," Archduke Brian Leach suddenly cut in, carrying the thought forward, "the outer beasts and demons mobilize on their own. The entire northeastern outer region down to the northwestern outer region faces a total bloodbath. Even their sympathizers and embedded traitors become active, inciting every ounce of chaos possible just to prevent the other Tier 3 states and super-states from coming to our rescue!"

Brain aura surged once again, his gaze piercing facing star emperor. "For this very reason, more than a dozen Tier 3 and countless Tier 2 states have fallen in the past, reduced to barren territories ruled by beasts and demons. And what you have done, Emperor, is no different from extending a massive helping hand to them! You have given them the golden opportunity not only to wipe out our Star Empire, but to carve out a foothold in the inner galaxy—something they haven't achieved in eras!"

Gritting his teeth, his voice dripped with raw venom: "You have paved the way for our ruin."

Hearing the scathing denunciations from both opposing noble factions, and realizing the catastrophic scale of the impending crisis, the gathered nobility panicked entirely—regardless of their allegiance.

"D-dammit... H-how could the Emperor take such foolish action?" one noble stammered, shuddering where he stood.

"H-how are we supposed to withstand this now?" a veteran Viscount from the Emperor's own faction muttered in a stupor. Having survived the last Outer Realm eruption nearly a hundred thousand years ago, he knew intimately how terrifying it was. And this upcoming tenth cycle was said to be a hundred times worse.

He knew in that very instant just how impossible survival was with their current strength alone—to say nothing of the Order faction and their armada being completely unprepared along the outer perimeter.

"H-hey... It's not that huge of a problem, right? We can still deal with it, right?" a Count standing beside the Viscount asked hesitantly, seeking reassurance from the higher-ranking veteran.

The Viscount turned to him, shaking his head grimly. "It is not a huge problem yet..."

He paused, letting out a heavy breath. The Count and the surrounding nobles let out a collective sigh of relief—until the Viscount spoke again.

"...It is already an impossible one."

A collective choke caught in the throats of everyone nearby.

"You remember what Duke Leach said earlier? There were minor fluctuations, but nothing intense enough to suggest an eruption was imminent, correct?" the Viscount asked.

The nobles around him nodded frantically, hanging on every word.

"That subtle fluctuation is the problem," the Viscount continued gravely. "While I may not have faced a tenth-cycle eruption firsthand, the records left by my ancestors a million years ago stated it in black and white: the Grand Eruption—the tenth cycle—begins fundamentally differently from an ordinary one.

It does not erupt without warning like ordinary time's; Instead it builds momentum slowly. Because of that gradual buildup, these peculiar fluctuations appear. Some are small, some are massive, and their patterns are completely irregular.

You cannot confirm an eruption simply by instinct—you need the specialized detection devices the Empire holds. So Duke Leach blaming the Emperor is entirely justified. While ordinary senses cannot predict when the eruption will strike, that ancient device could have judged it precisely, for it was take out from that very place..."

Hearing this, the Count sucked in a sharp breath alongside the others, a sudden chill surging through their hearts.

The revelation painted a stark picture, laying bare the true reason why the Duke of Darkness had openly cursed the Emperor—a line that even Marquis Grey had refrained from crossing despite their tense standoff—completely stripping away the reverence one was supposed to hold for the figure seated upon the throne.

Yet he had his reasons, and now, everyone understood them. They finally grasped why the Duke of Darkness had insisted that while targeting the Loyalist faction was fine, this went entirely too far.

To a man, they all agreed. Being part of the Duke of Darkness's faction, they shared a deep-seated rivalry with the Order faction, having clashed with them for ages. Even so, what the Emperor had done crossed every acceptable line.

The consequences would not be borne by the Order faction alone; every noble present would share the cost.

If this Grand Eruption of the outer demon and beast realm truly unfolded as predicted—deprived of backing from the super-states and Tier 3 powers, and met only by the half-prepared, fragmented armada of the Loyalists—the Order faction would be utterly annihilated. That would leave only their own forces behind to face the catastrophe alone.

Compounding the crisis, the Celestial Void Human Empire was already knocking at their doorstep.

Then came the looming menace of the beasts and demons lurking across the vast stretch from the northeastern to the northwestern regions. They, too, would make their move without question. They had seized the opportunity during prior eruptions, and not a single noble doubted they would do the same now.

"D-Do those demons and beasts also know about this Grand Eruption, Viscount Cain?" Count Lynch suddenly asked, his voice wavering.

"There is no doubt about that, Count Lynch," Viscount Cain replied with absolute certainty. "They have intervened in every eruption, and without fail during every Grand Eruption."

A grim shadow fell over his face. "Yet even that is not the most concerning factor. What troubles me most is the turmoil currently engulfing the galaxy and the Galactic Net.

After the Celestial Void Empire tore through both the Bright Moon Republic and the Hegemony, followed by the political push we and our allies set in motion, the interstellar situation has grown hopelessly convoluted. We cannot even be sure whether the other Tier 3 states will answer our call if we plead for help."

"There is no doubt about the super-states—they will certainly intervene," Viscount Cain added, before gritting his teeth in frustration. "However late they may arrive, they will step in. But if this Grand Eruption is anything like those recorded in the past, their strength alone will not be enough to completely halt the tide..."

Thud!

Hearing this, Count Lynch slumped backward heavily into his chair, staring blankly at the vaulted ceiling with a hollow, hopeless gaze.

"Th-then what will become of our Star Empire? Our territories? If it truly is as you say, won't it be—" Lynch dared not finish the sentence. The sheer horror of that future was too immense, a grim reality he refused to accept. For if that came to pass, there would be no Star Empire left. And without the Empire, the Lynch Estate would cease to exist—everything trampled, laid to waste, and devoured by those encroaching fiends.

"—The Empire would be long gone," Viscount Cain finished the unspeakable thought for him. "And our estates, our fiefs, and our core territories would merely serve as breeding grounds and staging hubs for those beasts and demons to expand further into the inner galaxy."

Viscount Cain gave voice to the nightmare Count Lynch shrank from, because he knew for a harsh fact that doom was certain unless a miracle occurred. If the galactic situation stabilized, if the hysteria running rampant across the public net receded, and if the Celestial Void Empire finally halted its rampant onslaught against the Tier 3 states—only then might a sliver of hope remain.

"Yet that... is utterly impossible," Cain muttered bitterly, a sense of deep powerlessness washing over him.

None of the pieces were within his control—nor within the grasp of anyone gathered in this hall. Across the wider galaxy, every power bloc was ruthlessly advancing its own agenda, manipulating the masses like pawns to do their bidding while scrambling to carve out more territory. And the Celestial Void Empire had its own voracious ambitions to satisfy.

Not to mention, it was them...

No, not us, Cain corrected himself, his heart smoldering with resentment. It was the Emperor himself who provoked the Celestial Void Empire in the first place.

It was he who pushed things too far, Cain thought, his mind racing along a dark, treacherous tangent.

Almost without realizing it, the visceral reverence and blind worship he had harbored for the Emperor began to fracture and unravel.