Raymond carefully contemplated whether or not he wanted to probe a man as dangerous as Soron.
However, after thinking about how Soron had not intervened when Entrail and Streak had attacked Juxta, he decided to nervously test the limits of the Gods patience, by ordering his ships to advance very slowly.
’I need to check for myself as to whether or not Soron is within the Cult..... for if he is not, then we might finally have the opportunity we need to take the Cult down.’ Raymond thought, as he turned towards the Captain of his ship, and signalled for him to move the ship forward.
"Push it ahead, but very slowly.... Tell the others to stay behind us—" Raymond instructed, as the captain politely bowed and accepted his command.
*THRUMM*
*BZZZZ*
The ship trembled as the propellers pushed it forward only a fraction, yet the moment it edged across the invisible line Soron had once declared forbidden, the entire vessel seemed to fall into the grasp of something immeasurable.
*TREMBLE*
Suddenly, covering the entire ship was an aura so vast, so oppressive, and so suffocating that for an instant it felt as though the fabric of space itself had turned into stone, causing solid walls to close down on every crew member.
*CRACK*
*THUD*
Several weaker warriors collapsed outright where they stood, their bodies convulsing as their eyes rolled back, blood streaming from their noses and ears as life itself was squeezed out of them in silence, their corpses strewn across the metal floor like discarded shells.
The stronger ones fared a little better, pinned to the deck as though a mountain had been dropped onto their backs, their mouths gasping open to find air, yet their lungs finding none, as they clawed and scraped against the flooring steel, their faces purple with strain.
Even Raymond, son of Kaelith, heir to the Eternal Sovereign, and secretly a Demi-God himself, found his chest tightening until every inhale was agony, his ribs groaning as sweat trickled down his temples in fat, trembling beads.
His heart pounded violently, his vision blurred, and for a fleeting moment he was forced to accept the truth that if Soron had been before him recently, he would have certainly died a dog’s death before he even had a chance to lift his blade.
’What terrifying aura...’ Raymond thought, his pupils shrinking as every fiber of his being screamed at him to retreat, his pride as a Demi-God and his ambition as Kaelith’s son crushed beneath the weight of a forgotten God’s shadow.
Then, as suddenly as it descended, the suffocating tide withdrew, washing off the ship like an ocean wave retreating back into the abyss, leaving behind nothing but the sound of ragged coughs of the survivors.
*Cough*
*Gasp*
*Wheeze*
Raymond exhaled shakily, a deep sigh escaping his lungs, though his heart still hammered in disbelief at what had just occurred.
"It is exactly as father feared..." he whispered, his voice low yet heavy with dread. "Soron has gone nowhere."
He concluded, as he decided to not dare push his ship ahead even slightly.
His uncle had sent a severe warning shot by pushing forward his aura, however, he was probably not going to get a second one.
If he probed him again, there was a high chance that Soron could appear personally to end him.
And hence, he decided to stay out for now.
—---------------
Back on planet Juxta, the immediate situation around Charles was even worse than the fate that Raymond’s crew experienced up in space, as although Charles had directed the attack precisely towards Raymond’s ship, the faint traces of aura that still leaked into his surroundings were enough to knock both allies and enemies out.
Poor Dumpy, who had been watching Charles fight from the sidelines, now sat passed out with foggy acid leaking from his open mouth, as Charles couldn’t help but chuckle looking at his adorable unconscious form.
On one hand, he felt sorry for the poor creature to accidentally come into contact with Soron’s ferocious aura.
However, on the other hand, he believed it to be good training for him, as being exposed to strong aura on the regular was the best way to become resilient against it.
Thankfully, the effects of the aura leakage were confined to a mere one-kilometer radius around Charles, for once one moved further out and higher into the skies, it became impossible to trace where the pressure had truly originated.
Although it was Charles who had crushed the orb, there was no way for Raymond to confirm this from his vantage point, since at such a distance it was impossible to judge whether the suffocating force had come from a hundred miles away or a hundred million.
And thus, when the warning shot washed over his fleet, Raymond reacted exactly as Charles had hoped, halting his advance at once, which in turn gave the Monarch enough confidence to stop watching him altogether and instead devote his full attention to bringing the battle on Juxta to its conclusion.
—----------
In a mere timeframe of two short hours, Charles managed to completely wipe out the invading Righteous Faction forces from Juxta, as he flew to every continent on the planet, and single handedly massacred millions through AOE combat.
Whether it were the enemy’s destroyers in the sky, or their legions matching in formation on the ground.
Against a single slash of Charles, both became defenceless, as he massacred thousands with every swing of his blade.
With both the enemy Commanders dead, he became a one man wrecking crew, who was unchallenged and unstoppable, and hence, in just two short hours, he turned the tide of war completely, and ensured a secure defence of planet Juxta from enemy hands.
A few hours later, as the morning sun finally rose over the planet, and the commoners peeped through their window slits to nervously glance outside, it were the Cult banners flying high.
As much to the joy of the commoners.
The Cult had prevailed in this assault on their homeland!