The fall of Ixtal was celebrated throughout the Righteous Faction like it was the greatest event any righteous citizen had witnessed in their lifetime, as in every town square, market street and orbital boulevard the same scenes replayed: universal government banners unfurled, choirs singing paeans of purification, and children being lifted on shoulders like trophies of a war finally won.
Victory processions rolled through provinces like a cleansing tide, floats bearing sculpted suns and faces of the Great Gods glinting under the morning sky, while holoscreens looped footage of the bombardment of Ixtal until even the most mundane cafe terrace seemed like a shrine to the day's triumph.
Commoners stood in knots along the avenues, their conversations quick and hot as newly kindled coals, the words spilling with a raw certainty that the Cult had been erased for good.
"I heard that their Shadow Dragon forced some of the Cult members to hide inside a tainted dimension," one burly fisherman said, his jacket still smelling of salt, his teeth flashing as he mimed disgust, "where you slowly turn into a twisted beast incapable of speech in just a few days."
He spat the last syllable like an accusation, and his companion, a woman with a thin scar across her cheek, laughed softly and added, "I find it funny, because in my head that place was already the Evil Cult."
On a crowded tram, a retired teacher adjusted his cap and told the students leaning in around him, "If he led them into a time-stilled world, I say good riddance. Ain't no way even a single one of them is ever coming out."
Nearby, a small group of merchants argued with clenched hands and rising voices, the talk easing quickly into strategy and relish.
"The only Cultists we need to worry about now are the ones their Dragon Aegon Veyr led to the neutral planets," one of them said, eyes bright with a dangerous kind of calculation. "My suggestion to the universal government is to bomb all neutral planets and eradicate the greedy merchants alongside the Evil Cultists. A little bit of collateral to eradicate a great evil is acceptable."
Such talk did not sit as an outlier; it echoed across dining halls, in the quiet corners of bars where veterans swapped stories, and on GalaxyNet threads where millions typed the same few slogans until they became a chant.
"Good riddance," a barista posted beneath a looping clip of a crippled cultist dying, her words echoed by millions as GalaxyNet flooded with fireworks emojis and slogans like #PeaceAtLast and #TheLightPrevails.
Across cities and colonies, the same mood pulsed — a collective sigh of relief disguised as triumph.
Commentators praised the Righteous Fleet as divine instruments of justice, while children waved banners carrying the face of the Eternal Deceiver and Helmuth The Berserker, shouting that evil had finally been erased.
"I always said mercy was wasted on them," an old veteran declared on a broadcast, raising his glass to the screen. "Better ashes than monsters reborn."
The sentiment spread like wildfire. Dissenting voices that questioned the morality of the extermination were drowned out by cheers, their comments buried beneath tides of patriotic fervor.
For the people of the Righteous Faction, the fall of Ixtal marked not merely victory, but rather vindication.
To them, the universe finally felt safe again.
Or so they believed.
---
(Meanwhile, inside the Su Clan, Su Yang's POV)
Across the entire universe, if there was one member of the Righteous Faction who felt genuine sorrow at the Cult of Ascension's fall, it was Su Yang, who could hardly comprehend how fate had allowed the Cult to be exterminated before the Su Clan.
"No...No...No, you were supposed to be our hidden allies. You were supposed to be a faction that we could count on for support.
The only reason why we are not branded as public enemy number one, is because the Evil Cult still existed.
However, with you people gone, we might as well be branded as the new Evil Cult.
The next generation of public enemies that must be taken down."
Su Yang mused as he clutched his golden hair in disbelief.
"Also, what the fuck is Soron doing to let the Cult Of Ascension be destroyed like this?
What good is any adventure you go on if you don't have a home to return to?
I thought he was supposed to be the greatest God of them all.
But apparently all he is.... Is the greatest moron."
Su Yang continued as he buried his face in his palms and stared at the floor through his fingers.
"I can't believe I wanted to rely on these idiots to save the Su Clan from annihilation..."
*Sigh*
He let out a tired sigh and leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the flickering holo-feed that continued to replay the burning of Ixtal across every channel.
Each explosion, each collapsing tower, feeling like a nail being driven into his own clan's coffin.
"With the Cult gone... we're next," he muttered, the words bitter on his tongue. "The Righteous Alliance needs an enemy to stay together, and now that their great villain has fallen, they'll come looking for the next one. And who better than us—the Su Clan, the heretics who won't bow to their gods?"
He clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening. "The Cult's destruction doesn't make the universe safer. It just means they'll have more soldiers to throw at whoever they label as impure next."
For a long moment, he sat in silence, his golden eyes reflecting the fading light of the holoscreen. Then, softly, almost enviously, he whispered, "If only we had what Leo has... the technology to keep our people safe even inside a Time Stilled World."
He exhaled sharply. "If I could safely lead them into a dimension where no enemy can pursue us... that would have been salvation."
His gaze hardened as he rose from his seat.
"But we don't have that luxury. We don't have the technology to hide in such a world.
All we have is blood, grit, and the hope that when the flames come for us, we can repel them off."
He said, as he grabbed his sword and rushed out of his room to see his father.
(More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)