Chapter 2467

2467 – Dot

Millions of light-years beyond the Shell—

Silence—

Here, where Space Beasts roam, beasts the size of planets, millions of them, and yet not a single heartbeat can be heard, not a single rustle stirs.

Here, where light does not exist, and the word "color" holds no meaning.

The Void was not a place where things existed but it was dark; rather, it was entirely empty. There was no

black

and something else—there was simply nothing for color to cling to… Here, whoever tries to define the color of what

they see

would be like someone trying to look through their own elbow; quite simply, there is no data.

Here, where an infinite number of universes return, and yet no bright star or shining moon can be seen, nothing in all directions.

The only thing that emits any level of light does not illuminate its surroundings, but rather seems like a lamp to attract insects and stray animals… It was Universe B-14 itself.

Near the Golden Gate, the details of the Shell cannot be seen, but the farther one moves away, the more certain features begin to become clear…

The Shell was immense, immense in every sense of the word. Even at a distance of millions of light-years, the Shell appeared as a straight wall extending to an invisible horizon. The wall was completely black, but interspersed with a number of extremely faint lights, as if fireflies were perched on the Great Wall… those small lights were the galaxies inside Universe B-14.

"……" Sakaar was watching that magnificent scene. He was extremely far from the Shell, but a simple technique from the city of Sky Opening made him able to observe the light of galaxies using his soul sense and translate it into a majestic scene in his head.

Then a voice came from behind him, cutting off his train of thought: "Marshal, you need to set the roadmap for the coming period."

"…." Sakaar turned his head downward, sighed, then turned his entire body around, toward a more realistic scene.

Before Sakaar stretched a massive industrial facility made from the scales, bones, and Space Beasts, but they were melted and manufactured with extreme precision, so it appeared as though it were made from metal alloys.

The ground was black slabs joined together, and on the horizon one could see a large number of demons assembling more slabs tightly together... At certain distances there were towers like stakes to create balance across the giant surface with their great weight.

Atop each one was also a giant blood engine. Whenever one side of the enormous platform tried to tilt, those engines would activate automatically to restore balance to the platform.

There were also several enormous arrays being carefully assembled across those slabs for the purpose of protecting the platform's inhabitants from any attack by an Adult Space Beast, light offensive arrays, and a method of using the engines to move the platform as a whole from its place... All of this operated on the blood power used by the demons.

When the construction of everything on the platform was complete, houses of smaller black slabs would be erected to serve as shelters for the demons' families... According to the plan, once finished, this platform would comfortably carry 100 million demons, along with food stores, vehicles for traveling toward The Shell, training sites, and all the necessities of living.

In general, that simplified platform was the product of the genius of the engineers of the Sky Opening cities, and it came out after advice and simple modifications from His Majesty, to create such a great edifice that one could live on safely outside The Shell.

"No decision is being made; everything has been decided on our behalf." Sakaar spoke.

Around him were a number of demon leaders. Some wore the crimson armor because they were used to it, while others had abandoned it entirely as a symbol of oppression and revealed beneath it their crimson bodies streaked with purple… but Sakaar kept his on in case he was summoned to go out again.

"Is this justice?" One of the Demon Emperors raised his voice. "How can they stop the production of platforms after we have already begun the migration process?!"

A message had reached them a short while ago stating that the Prime Minister had issued orders to convert all industry to Note Fleets and halt everything else, including their own living platforms.

Then that demon waved angrily, "We barely managed to establish and form only 17 platforms over the past three decades, and we still have not been able to see the other side of the universe. We need at least a hundred times that number before we can even think of carrying out the mission of circling the entire universe!"

"I don't know what we should do now… but we can't simply tell them to ignore that war they're talking about in Mid Sector 90." Another Demon spoke in a low voice.

"Hmph, if the Master gave his orders, we'd go and crush his enemies in Mid Sector 90 and be done with it, for him and for us. After that, we could expand and get more of the black substance!!"

"What do you think, Marshal?!" A third Demon spoke seriously, "Will we stay silent about this?"

"…There's nothing we can do. We can't protest, and we can't help." Sakaar spoke while looking down, "And don't forget, the Master will enter this massive war because of us… Everyone out there is talking about us, and yet he hasn't said a single word of reproach to me."

"……."

"It's fine. It's a good opportunity to plant our feet in our new home." Sakaar turned away, "We'll focus on increasing our numbers on the platforms, increasing hunting grounds, and increasing the space between each platform to cover a larger area, and at the same time increase the scout and vanguard teams… We'll do what we can until more come."

"…." Everyone nodded weakly.

"Marshal!!"

At that moment, a Demon came flying from above.

"We've spotted a glowing dot, Marshal! We've spotted a glowing dot!!"

"………?!?!!"