"Timeless Sword Arts: Past and Present."
Orion's most deadly technique by far.
He had spent years combining the effects of his domain with his sword arts, eventually developing the Past and Present technique.
This technique merged the past and the present inside his domain, effectively rendering distance meaningless. But more than that, the technique increased his output exponentially.
The moment he executed the technique, game over.
Moreover, getting caught in his domain almost always guaranteed death.
BOOM…!
Tonight, unfortunately, the odds were stacked against him.
Kennedy had not charged into his domain recklessly. He had a life-saving card for this exact moment. That had been the intent all along.
…To get Orion to unfurl his domain.
Orion had aimed for Kennedy's head. There was to be no chance at survival for the Council's Enforcer. But the moment his blade made contact, Kennedy's life-saving card activated.
A one-time use item, but it achieved its purpose.
Orion felt as if he had brutally collided with an immovable object, the rebound so forceful that he was sent hurtling backwards, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Almost instantly, cracks spread throughout his domain, breaking it a few seconds later.
Taking a knee in the air, Orion grabbed his chest in agony, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His helm had retracted the moment he spat the first drop of blood.
His breath came in heavy gasps, his face drained of colour, his essence less than a fourth of what he began with. Sweat beaded his forehead as he struggled to recompose himself. Fighting through the wave of vertigo and weakness, he looked at Kennedy.
Just then, an ominous grin stretched across the Enforcer's face.
Instincts warned of danger.
Something was wrong.
Orion reacted almost instantly, but was a tad too slow. Injured and disoriented, he failed to properly pinpoint the direction from which the danger came.
"Orion…!"
From three directions, he could barely register three figures with frightening auras on par with his and Kennedy's, materialised around him, their weapons aiming for different points on his body.
One went through his back, breaking through armour and flesh with sickening ease, piercing his heart. The second streaked across his neck like a hot knife through butter. The third did not even matter.
He was done.
'So this is it for me, huh…'
The thought flashed through his mind as his world turned upside down. Somewhere below, a desperate wail filled with heart-wrenching grief, echoed. He caught a glimpse of his wife.
She had been captured, her hands bound, her face pale. Tears fell as she struggled to break free of her bindings.
The clan elders unleashed their full strength but could change nothing, their numbers dwindling faster than ever.
'I'm sorry, Leah. I-I failed you and our son. I failed everyone…'
As his final thoughts left their mark behind, the world shook. The clan's hidden experts had finally made their move. Perhaps they had intended to save him, but it all happened so fast.
And now… the entire planet and its lifeforms were doomed.
The moment the Soren clan experts moved, the experts behind the Council's forces also moved. Rarely did they ever make a move within the bounds of a world.
But caution had been thrown out, consequences be damned.
"Retreat!"
As ultimate chaos erupted, Kennedy ordered a full retreat. This was no longer their playground. Thousands lost their lives from the shockwaves of the battle, erased without a shred of flesh left behind.
Nuclear-scale craters began continuously haunting the planet, with hundreds of kilometres of mountains and terrain wiped out in seconds. Dark clouds gathered as winds gained speed, and lightning crackled across the skies.
The world grieved.
Kennedy had called for a retreat as quickly as he could, but two space cruisers still became caught in the chaos, exploding in a sea of flames. The seas boiled, volcanoes erupted, and massive cracks spread across the continents.
Lives were lost in the billions.
Assets, precious knowledge and resources burned to ashes, forever lost in time.
The Intergalactic Council knew this would be the outcome of the actions, but they dared carry it out. It was a sacrifice they consciously chose to make.
And they had the perfect excuse.
On board the space main cruiser millions of kilometres away from the breaking world, Kennedy watched on with a dark expression, his fists clenched at his back.
'So this is the true might of those at the Dominion realm.'
A shudder ran down his spine. 'No matter what, I must and I will attain that realm, and even surpass it! The Sorens are incredibly powerful, their foundation running deep. But they had too many enemies… Too many people coveted what they had. What a sinister world we live in.'
"Sir Greywhite, Lady Leah has been secured in the holding cells."
A guard reported, breaking Kennedy's line of thought. Without so much as a change in his posture, he nodded and instructed, "Good. Prepare the ship's forcefield. You know what comes next."
His words hinted at the world's imminent destruction.
"Yes, sir."
The guard turned and left.
Left alone once more, Kennedy watched as the home world of the Sorens smouldered in a sea of flames, warping the surrounding space like a mirage.
The flames rapidly expanded, driving the world's core towards collapse.
When it reached a critical point, the core collapsed and exploded, scattering planetary debris in all directions.
This marked the fall of the Sorens.
Whether the experts survived and escaped, it mattered not. Severe injuries would definitely be guaranteed. They were destined to become vagabonds with no place to call home, forced to live the rest of their miserable lives in hiding.
The space cruiser shook a few seconds later, hit by the devastating force of the shockwaves. This lasted several agonising seconds before subsiding completely.
Kennedy caught sight of several figures flying towards the space cruisers at impossible speeds, quickly disappearing from view.
Soon, the cruiser hummed to life and prepared for departure.
Objective one was completed successfully.
Sooner or later, the Dimensional Shifter would be caught if he somehow survived and escaped the planet's destruction.
Satisfied with the outcome, Kennedy flashed a small smile, turned around and left.