Chapter 1298: Avergis’ Problem

"What?" the grandmaster asked in astonishment.

Rectis nodded with a firm expression.

"You heard it. Change the target of the total war to those rebels."

Silence hung in the air for a moment before the grandmaster released a sigh.

"That would be hard, Your Excellency. Those cunning bastards are hiding themselves well. I even have information that they might be hiding among our people as undercover agents. We do not know the extent of their power, something that is very different from Tarius' followers."

"With Tarius' followers, we know the extent of their power and the possible places where they could be hiding because we know all of their territories. As for the rebels, although we already suspect their bases' location, we know that is not their entire force."

"Fighting an enemy without knowing much about them is a fatal thing to do. We do not know what they are capable of." The grandmaster shook his head.

"The losses would be huge if we blindly attacked without enough knowledge. I'm afraid that something could go wrong, and we would lose far more than if we attacked Tarius' followers."

"That is even assuming that the rebels are indeed behind all of the recent attacks. What if it is true that Tarius' followers are the ones behind them? They would take advantage of the situation once our focus shifted toward fighting the rebels."

"But the same cannot be said if the opposite happens. The rebels do not seem intent on messing with us if we focus on Tarius' followers. If I had to bet in this game of uncertainty, then I would bet on attacking Tarius' followers first, Your Excellency."

Rectis was not surprised by the grandmaster's answer, as the rebels in the Higher Heavens were also difficult to deal with. He knew all the challenges.

But Rectis still continued.

"I understand your concern, but this is the best course that I could think of. It may be only my instinct, but I think we should keep focusing on those rebels. I am still of the opinion that if our judgment is actually wrong, then our loss will only be limited to the Second Heaven. Let's just say that even if we lose many people in the Second Heaven fighting the rebels, all of them will be necessary sacrifices."

"However, if we keep pushing Tarius' followers into a corner while we have actually picked the wrong target, then there will be no way back for us and Tarius' faction in the future. We will have to be ready to face the full might of their forces in the Higher Heavens."

The grandmaster frowned.

"Or you could make both Tarius' followers and the rebels the targets of the total war," Rectis said, causing the grandmaster to raise his eyebrows before releasing another sigh.

The grandmaster wanted to say something, but Rectis already beat him to it.

"However, I know that this will make the war much bloodier, as we will have to fight two factions at the same time. This is a much safer option than only targeting Tarius' followers, but it is still much riskier than targeting the rebels."

"Think much more thoroughly about whatever decision you want to make before it is too late. Like I said, your decision could lead to something far worse, such as a war between universes. You will bear the greatest responsibility for it."

Rectis then disappeared. His body turned into particles of light.

The grandmaster stood alone in the hall in silence. His gaze narrowed as he thought about Rectis' last words. He suddenly felt hesitant about his own decision.

After thinking it over again, he finally understood that this decision was not only about his god's influence in the Second Heaven but also something much greater. What he decided here would determine the future of two universes.

Avergis' universe and Tarius' universe.

The fate of countless people actually rested on the decision he made at this moment.

Was total war the correct answer?

After a few moments of thinking, he gritted his teeth.

In the end, he decided to keep going with the total war against Tarius' followers.

'Let's see how things go over the next few days first. If there is another development, then I can act based on it.'

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In another place, within the white realm, Avergis sat in meditation. His face was calm, as if nothing could affect his divine existence. However, deep inside, he was furious.

He knew what was happening in the Second Heaven. The situation had truly deteriorated since the last time he checked. He could sense countless people's faith wavering and how the surprise attacks were killing the powerhouses maintaining the Second Heaven.

The infuriating thing was that he also could not do much to help his followers in the Second Heaven.

The situation with Tarius had grown worse over time as Tarius slowly lost his followers in the Second Heaven.

Tarius, who had lost the entire First Heaven, had become more unreasonable and furious. They had already fought because of it, but neither of them had emerged victorious.

They still had not gone all out, and Avergis knew that Tarius was only showing him that he was ready to take matters much more seriously.

Tarius would not take the humiliation lightly and would make him pay for breaking the covenant.

Tarius then demanded that half of the Second Heaven be given to him, something that Avergis himself had considered in the past as compensation to de-escalate the situation, albeit with a much smaller territory.

However, as time passed, Tarius asked for more and more. He even demanded one of the artifacts in Avergis' possession.

Of course, he rejected such a demand. Although he realized that he was in the wrong, he would not go so far as to hand over most of the Second Heaven and one of his artifacts.

He would not let Tarius do whatever he wanted, even though he himself was the one in the wrong.

But because of that, Tarius started doing something that gave him great trouble.

Tarius started corrupting his connection to the Second Heaven, doing so with the help of the sacrifices of his followers to boost his power.

Thanks to that, his control over the heavenly laws of the Second Heaven was disturbed, weakening his control over it.

Because of that, what he could do in the Second Heaven became much more limited.

For example, his divine sense could no longer remain connected to the Second Heaven at all times. He also had difficulty sending his followers from the Higher Heavens as the heavenly laws of the Second Heaven became unstable.

Even when he sent his followers to the Second Heaven to track that dangerous individual, he had to expend great effort to send hundreds of them, something that had been quite easy in the past.

Even worse, he also had difficulty communicating with his followers in the Second Heaven.

With all of those disturbances, he could only check the situation in the Second Heaven but could do almost nothing about it.

He himself also found the series of attacks across the Second Heaven strange.

He was pretty sure that no followers of Tarius had descended to the Second Heaven, as far as he knew.

It was impossible to bypass his divine sense if they descended to the Second Heaven.

No matter how much Tarius disturbed his connection to the Second Heaven, completely blocking his control over a place that he had ruled for so long, or blocking his divine sense, was impossible...

Or not.

Unless Tarius possessed an unknown method like that dangerous singularity, one that could make him lose complete control over parts of the Second Heaven.

But he believed that Tarius did not have such a method.

The only one he knew with that ability was that singularity.

He had already tried to see the future of the Second Heaven, but every future he saw looked grim.

He believed that the problem there had something to do with that singularity. He believed it—No... he was certain of it!

But the thing was, he did not know how to find that man.

Since he had lost control over a small part of the Purple Lotus Sect's domain, he had not sensed anything like that again until now.

Without any sign of that man's ability, there was no way he could track his possible location.

How could he search for someone who had the mysterious ability to block the divine senses and clairvoyance techniques of all the gods?

That was as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack, and the haystack was as large as the Second Heaven.

Since he could not do much about the problems in the Second Heaven, he decided to leave the matter there entirely to his followers.

Tarius wanted to escalate their confrontation? Then so be it. He would let his followers wage total war against them, despite believing that all of this was somehow caused by that singularity.

He needed to do something about the dwindling faith in the Second Heaven anyway, and the total was the best course of action for now.

He also had the support of several masters of universes, and he could take advantage of it in the clash between him and Tarius.

The only thing that could stop all of this hostility between him and Tarius was the interference of the figure who had de facto become their leader.

He was the one who had led all of them in this endeavor in this universe.

However, the problem was that no one had been able to contact that figure not long after they had lost the First Heaven.

It was as if that man had disappeared, and with his absence, there was no one who could step in and de-escalate the situation between him and Tarius.

There was no one who could stop Tarius, who had been consumed by anger.

'Damnit, where is he really? Why did he suddenly disappear after we lost the First Heaven?' Avergis thought, truly frustrated.

For now, he could only do whatever he could to deal with his conflict against Tarius while also facing that dangerous singularity on his own.